Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews… This is going to be the last and final chapter. I want to thank everyone for reading this, and I hope the ending satisfies everyone's LND craving. I did however listen to some previews of the songs, and I have to wonder about the ending. I mean supposedly Meg has a crush on the Phantom and goes into a jealous rage when he gets back with Christine…she even tries to drown Gustave!!! WTF? If you want to fill your ears with wonder go to and type in love never dies. The whole track listing is there with previews. I also hope that you all turn over to my new story "Miracles Of Madness." It's a story about Erik and another girl named Lauralye and a freak show…very good I think. Ok I'll stop boring you with such nonsense, and get on with the final chapter…

Erik's POV

The night after I had that dream about Christine, my whole outlook on life changed. I stopped crying over her, and began my new life with my son. Yes, Christine was gone, but part of her was still with me…I had Gustave. We were inseparable, father and son, the best of friends. After the rain had stopped, we both fixed the roof together. Who knew my son was just as good a carpenter as me…he definitely was his father's son. I however had other business to attend to. I took my savings from Coney Island, and bought Christine a grave right beside her father's tomb; she would have wanted it that way. I know how much she cared for her father, and it would have been wrong to burry her anywhere but there. The night before her funeral however was a night that would live in my memory forever. My son and I sat down to eat dinner, and without a word, Gustave pulled my mask from off my face. I glanced at him, only wondering why he had done such a thing. He simply looked upon me and smiled…he had Christine's beautiful smile, and for the first time, it no longer pained me to see her being brought out in my son.

"I don't want you wearing that mask anymore." he said angrily.

We both ate together, as if I weren't deformed. He no longer looked upon me as a monster, but as a man, and father. That night, I put my son to bed, but found him knocking at my door only minutes later. Ever since we moved into the house, Gustave hasn't spend one night in his room. He always had an excuse as to why he wanted to sleep beside me, usually it consisted of him having bad dreams, but I didn't mind the company. I believed that he became lonely at night, so lonely that he missed his mother and came running to me for comfort. The following morning, I dressed in my finest suit, before dressing Gustave. It was time for the funeral, and I was dreading the thought of having to bury my wife. As we left the house, I glanced down at my son to notice that he was carrying the monkey music box.

"Why are you bringing that?" I asked.

"I'm going to return it to mother." he replied.

I didn't bother arguing with him, and continued walking to the grave yard. It had been so many years since the last time I was there. I still remembered the last time I was there…I had sung to my angel as she cried over her father's grave. As I stood on the stone steps of his tomb, Gustave approached me and tugged at my sleeve.

"Father, who's grave is that?" he asked.

"Your grandfather's."

Gustave then knelt down on the steps, and bowed his head.

"Grandfather, please watch over mother, until I can meet her again."

This had brought tears to my eyes. Gustave didn't even know the man, yet he was praying to him. When Madam Giry and Meg arrived, I knew it was time to start the ceremony. I tugged Gustave's sleeve for him to follow me. As soon as I stepped in front of Christine's casket, I began to cry. This was it, I was burying my wife….she was gone forever. Madam Giry said a few words, before Meg lied a red rose on her casket. There was a moment of silence, before Madam Giry hugged me and Gustave. When she and Meg were gone, I glanced down at Gustave, and wiped my eyes.

"Is there anything you'd like to say, Gustave?"

He nodded, and placed the music box on her casket.

"I miss you mother. There's not a day I don't think about you, or miss you. Father has let me stay beside him at night, and I enjoy his company. I thank you for giving me such a great man to be my father. He's just like you…I love him. I know that you'll watch over us until we meet you again. I hope heaven is beautiful, just like you…"

It was now my turn…my final words to my wife…Once again, I wiped my eyes, and ran my boney fingers over the coffin.

"Christine, you are my breath, my body, my heart, my mind, and my life. I won't ever stop thinking about you. I still remember the day I first saw you…you were so small and beautiful. You wanted an angel, and therefore I gave you one. I know I've done things that angered you, but there's not a day I regret coming into your life. Christine, I promise to visit you everyday…for the rest of my life. I love you…"

Once more I cried, and turned to walk away, when Gustave ran back to the casket. I turned and watched, as he took the music box off it.

"I thought you were leaving that?" I asked.

Gustave shook his head.

"No, not here. I saw mother last night."

"You did?" I asked.

"Yes, I went to her heaven. She asked me to return this to her heaven so it could be complete."

"And where is this?" I asked.

"Follow me…"

I followed Gustave all the way into the city, and when I realized where we were going, I gasped. In my dream Christine's heaven was in the lair of the opera house, which was where Gustave was leading me now. Could it be that Christine's soul was actually in the lair of the building? I didn't ask questions, as Gustave lead me towards the steps of the opera house.

"I'm not supposed to be anywhere near here." I warned.

Gustave stopped, and glanced down at the music box.

"Please father, for mother…"

I glanced around to make sure no one was looking, before continuing to follow my son inside the opera house. It didn't look as it did when I used to roam the halls. Everything had burnt down because of me, and now it looked totally different. I found the steps that lead down to the bottom catacombs, and kept Gustave close to me as we descended. When we arrived in my old lair, to my surprise, it was still the same as I had left it. Besides being a little dusty, everything was still the same. Gustave wandered around, looking at my old drawings that plastered the stone walls.

"Is this where you lived?" he asked.

"Yes, many years ago." I replied.

Without another word, Gustave wandered into my bedchamber, and sat the monkey music box on my old nightstand.

"Now mother can have this in her heaven." said my son softly.

I stood by his side, glancing at the music box, back in its old spot.

I smiled.

"Yes Gustave, back in its old spot indeed."

After leaving the opera house that day, I didn't return. There never came a day when I returned to that horrible, but sweet memory. My son and I became the best of friends, and I never left his side. I became a full time father; home schooling my son, teaching him everything I knew. He of course took after me with everything from music to building things. I kept my promise to Christine, and returned to her grave each and every single day, Gustave almost always accompanied me. There came a time though, when I had to let my son go off on his own. He became a fine young man, who got a job as a carpenter at the young age of twenty five. There wasn't a day that he didn't come to visit me though. He joined me for dinner every night, along with joining me in music afterwards. He would play the violin, while I played the piano. There even came a day, when he brought home a young girl. Her name was Alisha. I'll never forget how beautiful she looked the first time I ever laid eyes upon her. I had expected my son to marry her, but instead they just spent many years dating, and traveling the world….something that I never got to do…I was happy for him though. By the time I reached my early sixties, the opera house ran out of money, and closed down. Madam Giry spoke about an auction, and suggested that I accompany her…but I declined. I had better things to do…like visiting Christine's grave. What happened that day, would live in my memories for the remainder of my life. Now each day before descending to the cemetery, I would go to the closet and fetch my cloak. Today however when I grabbed my cloak, a box from off the shelf fell to the floor, spilling its contents. When I bent down to pick them up, I noticed Christine's wedding ring. I smiled, and knew what I wanted to do with it. I walked to my kitchen, took a fresh cut rose from out of my small rose bush that I kept in the window, and tied the ring to it with a black ribbon. My son would have accompanied me to the cemetery, but he was off in Italy with Alisha….

When I arrived at the cemetery, I approached her grave, and lied the rose down.

"This is for you, Christine." I replied. "I found it this morning, and thought you would want it back."

I stood there for a moment of silence, when all of a sudden, my moment of silence became interrupted. I heard a carriage approaching, and quickly hid behind one of the taller graves. When the sound of horse hooves came to a halt, I peeked my head around the corner to see a black carriage parked right beside Christine's grave. Who on earth would come here was beyond me, but I didn't look away. A nurse then stepped out of the carriage, and opened a wheel chair, before escorting who ever was left inside out into the crisp air. It was an older man, dressed in the finest suit a rich man could buy. I didn't recognize him at first, but when I noticed the monkey music box in his hands, my blood boiled. It had been so many years since the last time I seen the item…it belonged to my son, and now someone had bought it from the auction. When the man denied the nurse's help, he began to slowly step forward. Who was this man! And why did he have my beloved's music box in his hands? As the man continued to step forward, I glanced at the carriage, and the family crest that I saw took my breath away…Dechangy! It was Raoul! That rat had the nerve to come and show his face to Christine's grave! The grave that I bought! The grave that I buried her in! the grave that I visited each and everyday. He certainly didn't age well, probably from all that drinking. I wondered if he still drank, or if he quit many years ago? He simply lied the monkey music box down on her grave, and then paused when he seen my rose lying there. I saw his head cock to the left and right, as if he were looking for someone…he was looking for me. I thought about what to do… but I knew it was time to confront the past. I then stepped out of the shadows, and stood there in my mask, looking at the man who killed my dear sweet Christine. His round face went pale at the sight of me…it was as if he were looking at a ghost of so many years ago.

"So you're still living.." were the first words out of his mouth.

"Why have you come?" I asked angrily. "You're not welcomed here."

Raoul stepped closer to me, and bowed his head at the sight of Christine's grave.

"I didn't come to fight. I came to apologize to her."

"Well it's a little too late for that don't you think?" I asked.

"When did she die?" he asked.

"A few days after we left Coney Island. The burns were too much for her."

"It's a nice grave you chose for her, Erik."

He called me Erik! For once he called my by my name, and not by monster.

"Why have you come here?" I asked.

"For years I have drank myself to the point of death. I had no one to love, no one to be with…It was only a year ago that I gave up the drink for good. I wanted to find Christine and apologize to her and you for causing so much pain. It was only when I went looking for her did I find that she had died. I wanted to come to her grave and tell her that I was sorry."

I looked at Christine's grave, and half smiled.

"I'm sure if she were here, she'd forgive you."

"How is Gustave?" he asked.

"Gustave.." I began. "Is doing well. He's a carpenter, and he has a lovely girl. They travel a lot now a days."

"And yourself?" he asked.

"I can't complain. I've always hoped that Christine would have lived long enough to travel the world with me, but as we know, she didn't…"

Raoul sighed, and glanced up at me.

"Do you know why I drank, Erik?" he asked.

"I don't know…why?" I asked.

"Because Christine regretted leaving you that night. She chose me out of pity and nothing more. I knew she loved you, and it killed me. Day after day after day it was all about how she missed you and wanted you…it drove me straight into the bottle. I drank because I knew she didn't love me…and when that letter came to go to Coney Island, she flew straight there…and when she found out it was you who wrote the letter…well let's just say I knew my marriage was over. Her love for you never died…even when I tried to kill it."

For once, Raoul was being kind, and honest.

"She loved you too Raoul. Her love for you was like a family love…it's not your fault."

Raoul smiled, and offered me his hand.

"Well, I must go. I have a train to catch back to Germany."

I shook his hand.

"It's been nice seeing you again, Erik."

I smiled, and didn't respond.

"And thank you."

"For what?" I asked.

Raoul began to walk back to the carriage, and before getting into it he turned to me once more.

"For giving Christine the life and love that I couldn't."

Those were the last words he ever spoke to me. I never saw him again, but my anger and hatred towards him had died….I no longer had the urge to hurt him, nor did I tell Gustave about our meeting. I lived out the remainder of my life happy as can be…I had a son who loved me very much, and a wife awaiting me in heaven. Each and every night before going to bed I thought about what Raoul had told me in the cemetery. Even after Christine left me at the opera house, her love for me lived on. Her love for me never died, and even after I'm long gone, I know her love for me shall be waiting….for my love for her will always live on…just as hers shall. I had proof, Raoul had been my proof …proof that Love Never Dies…

Ok…I hoped you liked the Cemetery scene! I always wondered what happened after Raoul won the Monkey Music Box at the auction…In the movie you get to see him lie it on Christine's grave, but in the musical you never know…I filled in the gap. I hope everyone liked the story…thanks again, and if you could read my other story Miracles Of Madness. Thanks!