Author's Note: I do not own Phantom of The Opera. Nor do I own One Love by Marianas Trench.
51
"We've changed our minds," Jamie said firmly, pulling Kayla towards the balcony as the final rehearsal of Act Three came to a close on the stage below. "You totally glossed over the fact that you turned twenty one, and I and the crew have taken it upon ourselves to rectify your incompetence in this matter."
Kayla, focused on the distant screeches of Reyer from the orchestra pit, took a moment to process Jamie's declaration. "Sorry, what?"
"You, Abbots, are an idiot if you think that we're just going to let your birthday pass without any formal recognition of this momentous occasion." Jamie's voice took on a pretentious sort of tone, almost as if he was channelling Raoul. The corner of Kayla's mouth twitched.
"I'm pretty sure that's some sort of slander, Blanchard."
"What? Acting like a certain nobleman?"
"Yes, exactly. I don't care though, go ahead."
"I feel like we've gotten wildly off topic… We're taking you out to a pub tonight; one final, responsible hurrah before the hardest opera we've ever done."
Kayla sighed and glanced down at the stage, where Carlotta and Piangi were walking into the wings arm in arm. On one hand, she was exhausted, emotionally and physically drained from all the work and stress, and going to bed early would be the most responsible decision. On other, this could be the last time she ever got to sit down with the boys under her command. "Not too late, I hope?"
Jamie looked affronted. "Nay, my lady. We'll be very responsible, let me assure you. It's not a dream of ours to get punjabbed."
Kayla snorted. "All right then. As long as we're ready for tomorrow."
"I have every confidence in our prowess as mature adults."
"Really? I don't."
Jamie gently punched her shoulder, and Kayla smiled.
A crowd of bundled up figures poured over the front steps of the Populaire as the light of the sunset completely disappeared under a blanket of inky black. The chill had yet to recede in favour of springtime warmth, and it was still quite cold at night. Kayla had her blue cloak wrapped around her, over her work clothes, a cardigan, and a sweater she had stolen from Clemens. She was surrounded by boys; once the cavaliers had caught wind of Jamie's plan and the occasion which had prompted it, the senior dancers had decided to tag along.
"The good thing about this place," Jamie proclaimed, taking Kayla's arm as they strolled down the gas-lit boulevard further into the city, "is that it's just fancy enough that the criminals don't hang out here, but just dingy enough that none of the upper class would be caught dead in such a place."
Kayla grinned at him. "Perfect."
A great fire crackled in sparks of red and gold in the giant fireplace at one end of the long room, producing long shadows that stretched out in inky black next to strips of orange light.
These are the things we lost in the fire, fire, fire…
A hand nudged her shoulder. "Drink up, Abbots, they say happy birthday for a reason," Clemens encouraged, holding out a foaming mug. Smiling, she grabbed the handle and took a swig, watching Jamie and the others pulling out benches and stools with uncaring clatters.
"A toast!" Avère called, standing on his stool and raising his flagon. "To brotherhood, to good beer, to a year well spent, and to the best stage manager to grace the Populaire! To Abbots!"
"To Abbots!"
The roar of the fire and the echo of voices around the hall was simultaneously joyful and grim, like a feast following one of the grand battles of Norse myth. Kayla raised her glass and drank.
"You've finally got all the choreography sorted, then?" Xavier leant across the table towards Leonardo.
The dark haired dancer leant back in his seat, his smile broad and relaxed. "I've got to say, with all respect the Madame, the choreography was a bitch to learn."
There was a chorus of agreeing laughter, the boys around the table clapping and hooting with approval. "It's the most complicated movements I've ever done, but I get to dance with Gaelle, I'm not going to complain," Avère added smugly as he clambered back down into his seat.
"Melting the heart of the ice queen, well done Avère!" Rene whooped, slapping the taller man on the shoulder.
"Enough, enough about the ballerinas, this night is about Kayla," Jamie teased.
"I thought it was a celebration of one last night before we all go up in flames!"
"No one's going to go up in flames, calm down Maurice…"
"We are taking orders from le fantôme, Gaston, anything could happen…"
Kayla took another gulp of beer and slammed her glass onto the table. "I've had enough Phantom to last me two thousand years, someone change the subject!"
There was a moment of silence.
"Do you remember when we had to save Abbots from the police?"
"What? No, was that just the crew? Where the hell were we?"
"Oh my god, Jamie…"
And with that, the conversation leapt into safer waters.
Hours later, almost everyone present was teetering on the edge of wasted. Kayla herself was feeling ridiculously tipsy, though she had pushed her mug away before she ventured once more into the territory she had explored at Carlotta's wedding reception.
"Okay, okay, okay, but if it came down to it…" Jamie paused as he threw back the remainder of his beer. "Would you rather marry the Phantom or the Vicomte? Hypothetically, of course."
"The Vicomte, obviously. He's got the finest ass I've ever seen, even if he's got the intelligence of a brick wall," said Dennis, taking a delicate sip of his drink. Baptiste snorted so hard that foam came out of his nose.
"But apparently the Phantom can freaking sing!" Clemens argued, gesturing violently with his mug. Kayla grinned. It was nice to see them arguing over something that was not her, as it had been at the beginning of October. They seemed to have grown up quite a bit since then. "Voice beats ass any day. I may love girls more than the managers love money, but I know that much."
"Abbots? What's your verdict?" Leonardo shoved Kayla with his shoulder, chuckling.
"I don't think either choice would result in a super healthy relationship." There were groans at her pronouncement.
"That's not the point, the point is hypothetically, which would you rather spend the rest of your life with?" The boys leaned eagerly towards her.
"For heaven's sakes, Abbots, I just admitted that I think the patron has an excellent ass," Dennis snapped teasingly. "I don't think you can shock us any further."
Kayla resisted the urge to chug her beer to stave off the question for a little longer. She took a deep breath and smiled. "I've got a fatal flaw of being into dark, musical, and mysterious – "
"So Leonardo, then."
"- so I've got to say Phantom. Marriage to the Vicomte would end in one of our murders; we'd argue each other to death."
"So besides the call of mystery, why else would you go for the Opera Ghost?"
Kayla threw piece of bread at Xavier's head, but Jamie dove across his fellow crew member and caught the bread in his mouth. "Shut up, Xavier! None of the others got this much grilling!"
"You're the only girl here, it's an experiment. We want to know what the ladies look for in a man," Xavier grinned. Baptiste stood up, walked around the table, and slapped Xavier in the back of the head before returning to his seat. "Ow, sacre bleu, Baptiste?!"
"Abbots is not a cheat sheet, she's our boss." Baptiste accepted Jamie and Marius's high-fives as he sat down, smirking at Xavier.
The crew and cavaliers applauded.
"Thanks, Baptiste."
Baptiste blushed and sunk down in his seat.
"I still think Abbots should answer the question," Xavier protested, rubbing the back of his head. "Dennis did."
"Dennis is sitting right here, and he stands by the fact that de Chagny would look excellent hanging off my arm," Dennis remarked mildly. Rene started choking, and Avère smacked him on the back.
Kayla rolled her eyes, sighing exaggeratedly. "Ugh, why do I put up with y'all?"
"Because we can lift the heavy things?" Clemens suggested.
Kayla nodded. "You make an excellent point there. It'd be a bit hard to build a spiral staircase all by myself."
"Oh, for god's sakes don't mention the bloody staircase," Marius moaned, slamming his head against the table. "I'm emotionally traumatized by that experience."
Xavier banged his mug against the tabletop. "We're missing the point! Abbots, why the Phantom?"
That was the whole question. Why the Opera Ghost? Why the Phantom of the Opera? Why had she been willing to stay in an unfamiliar world for months, a world that she did not know as well as her little sister did, and yet thrive? Why hadn't she tried to leave?
"I think… everyone's got a past. A dark side. Something they want to hide. It's in human nature. And even though I don't agree with all of his actions, surely there's something behind that, and he obviously has a lot to offer the world. Like, what do you think of his opera?"
Avère frowned thoughtfully. "It's wildly inappropriate and incredibly dark." His face broke out into a sudden grin. "It's gorgeous. I love it."
There were cheers of approval from the rest of the table.
"Exactly! There's something deeper there, this isn't just a spectre. There's a man behind the mask with a story to offer the world. I'd love an opportunity to get inside his head a little. Plus," she added jokingly. "I like a man in a cape."
"Amen," said Dennis.
The stars were brighter than ever as the group wandered, some stumbling, others walking arm in arm, back up the boulevard towards the Populaire. Despite the late hour, the outside of the Populaire glowed under the flickering gaslights, gold and marble shining in the light. "It's beautiful," Jamie murmured, arm hooked around Kayla's shoulders as they walked. "I'm lucky, really, to live here."
"I might not be living here after tomorrow."
Jamie stopped short and looked at her. "What? Why?"
"I just have a bad feeling about how tomorrow night is going to go down… I'm going to have a meeting with everyone before the opera, but do you promise to make sure everyone listens to me?"
"Abbots, you're scaring me."
"You don't need to be scared. But do you promise?"
Jamie nodded sharply. "I promise."
Kayla smiled sleepily and let her head drop onto his shoulder. "You need to go ask Meg out, kay? Do that for me, too."
"My uncle wants me to come back home and live with him," Jamie murmured. "If I do, I think I might ask Meg to come with me. To marry me."
Kayla immediately perked up, punching him excitedly in the shoulder. "Yes yes yes! Go for it! Do it! But don't be an asshole, listen to her if she says no."
"Don't worry, I think I've gathered what not to do from watching the Vicomte."
"Who's your uncle?"
Jamie ducked his head. "I ran away when I was about ten, got into the set crew at the Populaire purely because I was strong for my age and I was pretty smart. My uncle knew, he helped me, actually. My parents didn't really listen to me, and they didn't particularly care, and they died a couple years later. So my uncle adopted me, but he let me stay on at the Populaire, purely because I loved it. But I'm going to turn twenty one in a couple of months, and my uncle thinks I had better at least come and live with him, even if I do stay on and work at the opera."
"But who is he?'
"Baron Christophe Blanchard. He's my dad's brother, and he inherited his title because I was so young."
Kayla's eyes widened. "Meg marries a baron. This is so book meta."
"What?"
"Nothing, Jamie, don't worry about it. I just think you should go ahead and propose, just in case. But make sure it's romantic, Meg is too sweet for it to be anything else."
Jamie grinned. "An unromantic proposal would be impossible."
"But go ahead and go for it. I've got a good feeling about this."
"I wake up tonight, feeling paper thin and I'm paper white
You say, "Just come back to bed"
Voice sounds strange, but I soon forget…"
Kayla stood in the centre of the stage, swaying slightly to the tune in her head as she sang to the boys sitting in the dark seats. There was something intoxicating about the dark stage, the red paint and dark wood which would become a masterpiece tomorrow night – or tonight, rather. It was past midnight, but Kayla was drunk enough that it had taken very little prodding from the boys to get her to sing for them, one last time.
"And your sad blue eyes, like mine
Full of pity now, but I don't know why
The light dims without regret
'Til now you're nothing more than a silhouette…"
She glanced up at Box Five as the curtain shifted slightly, a shadow moving through the dark. She smiled.
"But just hold quick, you're fading right
In a cold trick of the light
I'm just so sick, I thought you might be here
But you di-disappear…
Now I wake up and I forget that you were gone
A phantom limb is all that I am hanging on
So don't stop, no stopping it yet
What if the one true love's the only one that you get?"
Erik stared down from Box Five, trusting the darkness to hide him from the crowd of boys sitting in the theatre below. Judging by the twinkle in Kayla's deep blue eyes, he could not hide from her.
"And you've been wishing but you don't know how to stay
And I've been broken but I'm better every day
So don't stop, no stoppin' it yet
What if the one true love's the only one that you get?
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get…"
Tears were prickling at the back of Kayla's eyes. How was she going to let all of this go? She loved these boys, she loved her job, she loved the building, and she loved…
She cut off that train of thought. Despair would not going to help anything.
"Lost and gone so fast
You get me every time
But I live with that
I might do this to myself
Only made it worse but I just can't help
You know I get so attached
Listen everyday 'til the dark is back
Now I pine for phantom pain
It's the only time that I see your face
So just hold quick you're fading right
In a cold trick of the light
I'm just so sick, I thought you might be here
But you di-disappear…"
Kayla was not the most beautiful singer he had ever heard, nor the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. But there was something about her, something that had not been there when he first met her. The little girl had grown up into a magician, and her art had changed her… On stage, she was swaying, eyes shut and singing with abandon, her voice, more alto than soprano, husky and relaxed, was, in the moment, the most joyful and most despairing thing the Phantom had ever heard.
"Now I wake up and I forget that you were gone
A phantom limb is all that I am hanging on
So don't stop, no stopping yet
What if the one true love's the only one that you get?
And you've been wishing but you don't know how to stay
And I've been broken but I'm better every day
So don't stop, no stoppin' it yet
What if the one true love's the only one that you get?
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get…
What if you still feel me too, still?
What if there was still a way of taking care of this?"
Kayla's voice trailed off as she walked towards the front of the stage, clumsily sitting down on the edge of the opera pit, watching the boys in their velvet seats, watching her proudly. Her voice quieted, taking on a wistful tone.
"What if I wake up tonight and you are real?
What if we could find a way to try to heal?
What if there's no stoppin' us yet?
What if the one true love's the only one that you get?
What if there was still a reason not to go?
What if there was still a little bit of hope?"
Hope and hopelessness; a sense of irony gripped Erik as he listened to the magician's song. Tomorrow was the end, and judging by the single tear glistening down Kayla's cheek, it was an end for her too.
"So don't stop, no stoppin it yet
What if the one true love's the only one that you get?
One love, one love you get
One love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love you get
One love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get
One love, one love, one love you get…"
The crew and cavaliers burst into applause as Kayla's voice trailed into silence. "Well! I may be too drunk to remember that properly in the morning, and I hate to sound like a lowbrow twit, but that was far more beautiful than an opera!" Rene slurred, swaying as he clambered up out of his seat.
"You are a lowbrow twit."
"Shut up Dennis."
Kayla jumped down into the opera pit, walked across, and then clambered back up into the auditorium. She held out her arms and the boys huddled around her in a giant embrace. "I might have to go back to Canada in the next couple days," she whimpered. "But I just wanted to say that I love you guys, and I'm going to miss you all so much, no matter what happens tomorrow."
The group hug tightened, and they held onto each other for a long time before they all let go and stepped away, some of the oldest boys surreptitiously wiping away a tear or two. "Okay," Kayla sniffled, trying to regain her normal composure. "Final set checks, tomorrow at ten, since I am merciful."
"Did you say merciful…?"
"Shut your face, Jamie."
Everyone laughed. "Okay, people, to bed with all of you. I don't know what Madame Giry's going to want with the dancers, so all y'all cavaliers had better find out, I'm not in charge of you. I will see you in the morning, and set crew, we'll be meeting in the second balcony half an hour before doors open, don't be late!"
With murmured goodnights and final hugs, the crowd dispersed. Kayla walked up the stairs, into the backstage, and turned, without really thinking about it, into the passageway to the boxes. She stopped by the door to Box Five, and it opened without her help. She stepped through the door and stared at the shadow in the corner. "One more hug? For luck?"
He slowly lifted his arms, and Kayla did not wait for further invitation. They stood there in the dark, both silently comforting the other, knowing that tomorrow, nothing would be the same.
What if the one true love's the only one that you get…?
Author's Note: So on one hand, I missed the contest deadline. On the other hand, I've been getting longer chapters done more regularly? But next time there's a fanfic contest on Inkitt, I am all in.
Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favourited, etc, and to Guest, sherlollyshippergirl, BeMyHeroSeverus, GrandmaPaupla, and Liandra2428 for their guest reviews. I really appreciate the support from all of you.
Not much longer to go now! Hugs for you all for sticking with me this long!
Love Tierney
readpaintwrite
