It was nearing early morning and Marcus had not slept. Just like Meg. She cried 'til she could not cry anymore and shut her eyes. But she did not fall asleep. After her mother left the room, she got out of her bed, went to her mirror and stared at herself in it the entire night. Wondering how she could be the offspring of such a foul man. She decided to sneak out to talk to Marcus. Somehow she just knew that he had not slept either.
Marcus had in fact been awake the entire night because of what he told Meg. On top of the many thoughts continued to race through his mind. He also wondered what in the world Erik could be planning. "Why the stables?" he wondered aloud. He had thought very hard if he could go on helping Erik. He knew that even though he might lose Meg, he could not allow someone as innocent as Christine to fall into the clutches of the mad man known as the, Phantom Of The Opera.
Before he knew it, Erik's voice called for him from behind the wall. "Come, it's time. Be at the stables in fifteen minutes. Marcus." He sunk his head in shame. He knew there was no choice and had to go through with it. What neither one of them knew, was that Meg was standing outside the door. When she heard Erik give the instructions to Marcus, she ran to her room and grabbed her cloak before sneaking out to hide at the stables. Being sure she stayed ahead of Marcus and wasn't seen.
Marcus quietly made his way down the hallway. He saw Raoul sleeping outside Christine's door. Which he was not at all surprised by. He shook his head and continued to quietly go to the backstage door and out to the stables. He found Erik waiting in an empty stable. Meg was hiding in the one across from it next to a horse. She watched Marcus approach Erik. She carefully listened to find out what her love was going to be forced to do.
"Good Monsieur," Erik said before continuing, "My plan has worked. Scare Christine into wanting to see her father's grave. It is there I shall entice her into coming back to me and leaving the Vicompte."
"Erik, you can not seriously be stooping this low. I know our deal but I can not withhold and remain silent this time. I believe what you're planning on doing is too far. Will you be rational for just a moment?" Marcus replied.
Erik grabbed him by the collar of his coat, "Do not forget our deal. She is my Angel Of Music. Too far or not, I will do what I have to, to keep her and make her mine. Same as you did to be with my daughter," Erik shouted.
"I just don't believe this to be right. Erik, I cannot nor will I go through with this," he answered as he pulled Erik's hands off of his coat.
At that same moment, Erik suddenly put a lasso around his neck and backed him up against the wall. Marcus managed to slip his hand inside of the loop and allowed himself to be backed into the wall. He did not fight. He only resisted so that he would not aggravate the situation any further. His eyes never left Erik's. Then the Phantom began to speak again.
"You will do what you are told and you will stop asking questions and being defiant. If you continue to be so, I will do worse than kill you! I will make you look as I do! Then you shall know pain and what it's like to lose the love of the woman you care most for," he shouted and loosened the lasso before punching Marcus across the jaw and into the wall.
Marcus stood up rubbing his face. "Apologies, Erik. I will honor what we agreed upon."
Meg held in a gasp. She silently moved to another stable to find out what was going on. She didn't like that Marcus had to go along with Erik. But she kept silent and tried to listen while Erik whispered instructions in Marcus' ear. Erik jumped onto a black horse that was saddled up and rode off from the Op'era House. Marcus took a deep breath before he went looking around the stable yard for something.
Suddenly Meg watched him duck and hide behind a bale of hay. Christine had come out and asked the driver to be ready to take her to the cemetery. The driver said okay and prepared the carriage. She went back inside and Meg watched Marcus reluctantly come out from behind the hay bale. She covered her mouth again when he took the horse whip and hit the driver over the head with it.
After dragging the driver's unconscious body away from the carriage, he put on the drivers cloak over his own. Both of cloaks together covered his hair and most of his face. With only his shadow covered eyes exposed. Without thinking about it, Meg ran and hid in the baggage compartment of the carriage when she saw Christine coming. Marcus looked back at Christine, wanting to tell her of the trap but he couldn't. For fear of what would happen to himself or Meg. With a sigh, he jerked the reigns to get the horses moving and headed to the cemetery.
Once they arrived to the cemetery a while later. Christine got out and walked to her father's mausoleum. Marcus hopped down from the carriage and let out another deep sigh. He kicked the carriage with a shout of frustration then dropped to his knees while holding back his tears. Meg came out of the luggage compartment and went to comfort him. She startled him when she wrapped her arms around him. He grabbed his sword but quickly realized it was her. When she sat next to him, he laid his head on her stomach and cried.
"Marcus, my love, I'm so sorry. I went to your room to speak with you when I heard my fathers voice, then you came out. So I followed you to the stables. I know I shouldn't have but I had to. I know what he has made you do. Please, be strong. We can still help Christine. We still have time," she anxiously said to him.
"If we do that, he'll kill me and or her. If we don't she's still doomed. Either way he wins," he said defeated after he stopped crying. He stood up and looked at her defeated, "I don't know what to do now. I am damned either way!"
"Is there more to this Marcus?" she asked.
"He knows Raoul will come. He's decided to take the matter into his own hands since it seems like Raoul keeps managing to barely thwart me. He plans to get Raoul into a sword fight and kill him. He said if I try to stop this he'll burn down the Op'era House. Starting with the dormitories. As much as it would hurt him, he told me he will still do it,." Marcus explained.
Suddenly Raoul rode up and jumped on Marcus from off of his horse. He held Marcus down by the throat and demanded to know why he was helping the Phantom. Meg hit Raoul over the head with a branch to get him off. Marcus stood up, drew and placed his sword against Raoul's throat to get him to listen. They explained to him what the Phantom had planned and Raoul let out a sigh before Marcus moved his sword away.
No words were exchanged after that. Raoul stayed silent as he faced the truth that Marcus had actually been protecting him and Christine the whole time. Hence the constant attitude toward to him. Then the realization set in for Raoul, that everything that happened leading to this moment really was his fault. Without a word, he got back on his horse and rode to where he could hear Christine singing when they all heard the familiar distant voice of the Phantom.
Meg decided she would try and reason with her father. Marcus decided that they only had the option of trying to reason with Erik. When they got to the mausoleum of Christine's father, Erik and Raoul were in the midst of a sword fight. Meg hid behind Marcus in fear as she put both hands over her eyes and he drew his own sword for just in case.
After Christine stopped Raoul from finishing Erik off, Marcus ran up to Erik. Meg followed him. They got to Erik when he looked at Raul and Christine and said, "Let this be war on you both."
Erik turned to Marcus and put the blade of his sword under his chin with one hand and smacked his sword away with the other.
"Why did you not continue the fight? I had him where I needed him," he demanded.
"Because he ambushed me on my way to meet with you. By the time I recovered and managed to get here, he was riding away with Christine. I didn't think I could risk hurting her," Marcus replied and carefully shoved the blade out from under his chin.
Erik glanced at Meg and sheathed his sword. He then grabbed Marcus by the shirt and pulled him in close. Marcus was noticeably startled as he grabbed Erik's shoulders, trying to push him off. Marcus was not sure whether to be afraid or confused. He was also noticeably angry that Erik was disregarding the fact that his daughter was standing right before him, watching the exchange. He gritted his teeth while Erik screamed at him. Trying not to punch him again.
"Dear boy, you better find a way to redeem yourself for this! You have failed the biggest task I have given to you and failed me again when I needed you! Now everyone will pay for your failure. You get to live with that. Pray, I don't see you until you make up for this," he screamed and then threw Marcus against a Tombstone. Causing him to smack the back of his head on it. Knocking him out.
Before getting on his horse. He looked at Meg in awe. Erik then shouted, 'Don Juan Triumphant shall be the last production at, Op'era Populaire. For when I am defied and denied what is mine, everyone loses," with a burst of smoke he was gone. Meg ran up and checked on Marcus as he was just opening his eyes. She helped him to his feet and back to the carriage. They took the carriage back to the Op'era House to tell Raoul what Erik said. They believed that they could save the Op'era Populaire if they let the Phantom call the shots for Don Juan Triumphant. Then maybe he would return to hiding. But everyone needed to play along. Marcus prayed it would work as everyone met him on the stage so he could go over his plan.
Three Days Later
Marcus left the Op'era House with Meg in the early morning hours. It was a silent walk at first while they held hands and she rested her head against his shoulder. They were glad they had decided to forgo a carriage. The entire morning Meg had been worrying about Marcus because he was acting nervous the entire time. She ignored it the best she could to enjoy the rare day off they had with everything going on.
When they got up to the French River, they sat at the nearest bench and stared at it in a comfortable silence. As much as Meg didn't want to ruin the morning, her anxiety was beginning to get the better of her. She sat up and turned to him. She waited until he did the same. He was waiting for her to speak. Instead she asked a different question.
"Do you think we'll ever go beyond the river my love?" she asked him.
He smiled before he answered. "Not beyond the river. No. We'll see the world and everything beyond it," he answered.
She smiled and snuggled back up to him. "Will this plan put my father at ease?"
He sighed. "I just do not know my dear. I truly do not. What I do know is you have come to accept what I told you about your father."
"Neither you nor my mother would lie. Especially about something that serious. I spent all that night looking in the mirror. Seeing him days ago in the cemetery, I now know he really is. That look he gave me. I could just feel it. I can no longer deny it. It's just like my love for you," she explained with a smile.
"Hopefully this is almost over my love. We'll get this op'era out of the way without issues and he'll be happy. But if he does something to Christine, I will break my vow and stop him. I can not look the other way anymore," he said and held her closer.
At that moment he felt that someone watching them. He looked around when the felling hit him. He was sure that like always, he and Meg were not alone. Normally it would annoy him. But this day was far too important to allow it to take priority of his thoughts. Opera Ghost or not, they did not matter at that moment.
"Are you really going to risk doing something like that?" she asked him very surprised.
"Raoul has made a terrible mess of things. But I haven't helped in making it better either. I have to redeem myself, my love. This is my last chance to help Christine. If Erik kills me, then he'll do so. If he can do it," he replied with his attention back on her.
"I am glad that you really do care about Christine as much as the others think you don't. Do what you must and I will help you the best I can. I just hope you can put my father at ease. I don't know what I'd do if you are to die," she told him.
They shared a kiss and continued to stare into the river. As she looked at the boats and at what was beyond, she felt Marcus slip away from her. She looked down to see he had dropped to a knee and was holding up the ring Erik gave him in his hand. She immediately blushed.
He asked her, "Will you marry me?" She blushed with her hands on her mouth and she stood silent for two very long minutes. She then took a deep breath, smiled and said yes. After he put the ring on her finger and they kissed, he saw Madame Giry smile, turn and walk away.