A/N: Well, this is the last part – a big thanks to those who have been following this story so far (especially Myao smiles ). I admit the story has been a bit subversive (with a cruel Erik who saw Christine only as an object to be controlled) but I had to tell it (though endings are hard to write!).

Part 10

Lou's quarters were simply furnished but to Christine they were as splendid as the finest salon in Paris. There was a simple cot bed with a faded patchwork quilt in a corner and a brown rag rug on the stone floor. A brazier in another corner filled with glowing coals gave the room a dim light and a cosy feeling (though at intervals a whistling breeze blew through a tiny metal grill in the ceiling).

There was a tiny cupboard on one wall that when opened revealed a loaf of bread, half a wheel of cheese and an apple. Her stomach, aware that there was food nearby started rumbling hopefully and after tearing off a hunk of bread and some cheese with trembling hands she sank down on a wobbly three- legged stool.

The bread was a bit stale and the cheese hard in places but she gobbled down her portions in an un-ladylike way. Afterwards, she took off her dressing gown and laid it on the floor near the brazier, not caring if it got dirty. Eyeing a rough grey woollen tunic hanging on a hook over the bed, she took off her nightgown as well and laid it near the dressing gown. In the warmth of this room they would dry quickly and her body was already feeling dryer, for which she was thankful.

Sending a silent apology to Lou for imposing on him like this she took the grey tunic down from its hook and put it on quickly. It was quite large and scratchy against her skin but she was not about to complain. Giving a big yawn she climbed sleepily into the cot and was asleep before her head touched the pillow.

* * * *

Christine woke to a faint noise outside the room, but in her half-sleepy state she discounted it as it was just Lou out there, of course. Surely she was safe from Erik here. Feeling better and smiling sleepily she stretched out her arms, glad to feel warm. Although she was unsure of the current time she felt that enough hours had gone by to refresh her. She would make sure Lou was well repaid for his kindness!

She hoped her clothes had dried for she could see from where she lay that the coals in the brazier were now feeble embers. Pushing the quilt aside Christine got out of the cot and walking to the brazier picking a small iron bar hanging off a hook on it and stirred the coals until they flared into brighter life. Checking her clothes on the floor she saw in relief that they had indeed dried. Christine pulled the dressing gown on over the tunic she was wearing and laid the nightgown on the bed.

She decided to leave the nightgown for Lou – surely he would be able to sell it and fetch a good sum despite the water stains. Her bare feet made little sound as she went to unlock the door but in consternation Christine suddenly heard sounds of a scuffle outside the door and a cry from Lou, abruptly cut off.

Christine put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from crying out as well, for she heard a familiar, hateful voice from behind the door.

"No more rat catching for you for a while, hmm?" she heard the silky voice of Erik say. Then the door handle rattled sharply.

"Christine my dear, I know you are in there."

Her eyes opened wide in terror. Erik had found her – would she ever be free of him? Poor Lou – was he dead? He had been so kind to her…it was not fair!

The door rattled again and his voice was impatient. "It is time for your silliness to end – you went through this door so obviously you must come out through it!"

Christine blinked. He was not all knowing – for he did not know about the trapdoor in here…which was…where? On impulse she knelt on the floor next to the rag rug and pulled it aside. Yes! Underneath was a wooden trapdoor, well oiled by the look of it and with a small iron ring in its centre.

"Christine!" Erik called softly. "I will give you ten seconds and then this door will be no barrier to me!"

[I am one step ahead of you!] Christine thought grimly and grasping the ring pulled up the trapdoor, which rose up smoothly and quietly, revealing a ladder. Without hesitation she climbed down the ladder and shortly found herself in a narrow tunnel (that had an unknown light source for it was dimly lit). Feeling stronger after her sleep (though her legs felt stiff) she ran down the tunnel until it came to a dead end, whereupon she saw there was a ladder attached to a wall that ran up a shaft.

Muttering to herself about how she was fast becoming an expert in climbing ladders, Christine grabbed the rungs and started climbing. In the distance behind her she heard a door crash open. Biting her lip Christine increased her speed as much as she could, pausing when she reached a trap door.

She opened it and scrambled out on to the floor, finding herself in a tiny, empty storeroom. Gasping for breath Christine wished she had something that she could block the trapdoor with, for she could hear footsteps below that were getting louder as they approached her…

Nevertheless she shut the trapdoor to buy a little time (mere though it would be!) and hurried to the door, praying that it would be unlocked. The saints were smiling on her this day she thought for it opened easily and running out into a dimly lit corridor she ran into…Raoul?

"Raoul!" she gasped in relief and joy, clutching his arms.

"Christine?!" he said in shock as he seized her arms in return. Never had she been so glad to see him. Raoul was haggard looking though, his blonde hair dishevelled, his handsome face unshaven while his grey eyes blazed in sunken sockets.

"Christine, where you have been? I have been searching for you everywhere in this blasted place to find where that bastard took you…fearing the worst…." He broke off, his face filled with conflicting emotion.

"He took me to his house on the lake, but I escaped!" Christine panted, not caring that she must surely look like an escapee from an asylum in the tunic, her hair unkempt and her feet bare and dirty. "But he has been chasing me ever since then…oh, Raoul, he is right behind me!"

There was a crash and the couple turned as one to stare into the storeroom to see the Phantom of the Opera standing by the trapdoor, looking like an angel from hell in his evening clothes and cape, his white mask gleaming like bone, his eyes malevolent. Part of Christine's mind wondered if he had dived for his mask or whether he had spares at his house, like some macabre Masquerade collection…

"You have something that belongs to me, Vicomte!" Erik breathed heavily. "I suggest you hand her over before you get…hurt.."

"I am not yours, you heartless monster!" Christine hissed at Erik as she and Raoul slowly backed away.

"Christine, get behind me" Raoul murmured and she did so.

Erik looked exasperated. "I have moulded your voice into that of an Angel – I would have married you and loved you forever!"

"You do not love me!" Christine spat, her face flushed with righteous anger. She wished the Phantom had never heard her sing, for so far her voice had really only brought her misery. "You loved the drugged doll you turned me into!"

"DRUGGED?" Raoul said in a terrible voice.

Erik sighed. "Enough talking, I grow bored of this." He made a motion with his hand and a lasso appeared in it. "Your suffering will be quick and soon over Vicomte, for I am not without mercy."

Suddenly Raoul pushed Christine to the floor and dropped down beside her as a cold feminine voice spoke from behind them. "I have no mercy for you, you devil!"

There was a sound of a gunshot, a gasp, a cry from Christine and when the smoke cleared it revealed the still body of the Phantom on the ground. He was dead.

"He is dead…it is over!" Christine whispered as Raoul helped her to her feet and when she turned around she saw Carlotta standing there with a smoking gun in her hand, a grim smile on her face. "No one calls me Queen of the Swamp and gets away with such insults!" the diva sniffed, looking like a ship in full sail in her black silk dress. Christine could have embraced her.

"People have been searching for you for this past fortnight ever since you vanished!" Carlotta continued. "I declare that if I never come this far down into the Opera again I will be content for all time."

"Thank you!" Christine said sincerely. She had never thought that Carlotta of all people would have bothered to search for her as well…

Carlotta looked uncomfortable. "I owed you anyway for telling that filth to stop tormenting me – I had hated you as a rival and yet you tried to help me."

Relieved that her ordeal was over, a grateful Christine smiled warmly at Carlotta for the first time. "That is all right!"

Carlotta tentatively smiled back. They had been enemies – maybe one day in the future they could be friends.

Christine gazed at both of them, elated that she had survived and shaken at the thought of how close she had come to being recaptured.

"Thank you for looking for me – after I escaped he was always a step behind me." Christine shuddered. She knew that she would be having nightmares for a while…

Raoul's face was grim as he looked at her. "When I think of you Christine, as his drugged prisoner, subject to all kinds of indignities...it is fortunate that he is dead!"

Christine put a hand gently on his arm. "Raoul, he never...did what you are thinking."

His face relaxed slightly. "Thank heavens. Though I want you to know…it would not have changed the feelings I have for you."

"Thank you!" Christine whispered shyly, her heart filling with love for him, and then Raoul smiled and offered her his arm. "Let us go and leave this place to the authorities, my dear."

"I agree!" Carlotta sniffed, well pleased with herself. People would think twice indeed about crossing her in the future, she thought.

However, Christine shook her head determinedly. "I cannot leave until I know if Lou – the rat catcher who gave me shelter – is all right. He was attacked a little while ago by…him…I had to run…I would never forgive myself if he is dead!"

Raoul looked at her intently. "Christine, tell me where to find him and I will see to it."

But Christine shook her head. After the kindness that Lou had shown her, she would not abandon the kindly old man. "No, I will show you myself."

While Carlotta sniffed that she was not going to go down any more trapdoors, thank you, Christine retraced her steps with Raoul along the tunnel, climbing back into Lou's quarters on the ladder she had fled down. To her relief Lou was alive, though unconscious, and after he was revived complained of nothing more than a headache – it appeared that the Phantom had been more concerned with recapturing Christine rather than the elimination of someone who had merely been in his way…

But with the death of the Phantom, a dark era at the Paris Opera had come to an end at last.

* * * * *

Epilogue

After they returned to the world above they were hailed as heroes (Carlotta taking great delight afterwards in reminding people this).

Lou was made Chief Rat Catcher of the Paris Opera with a doubled salary.

Christine went on to become the Opera's premier singer and had a glorious career, living with her husband Raoul in a nearby mansion.

Carlotta decided that her true vocation was writing operas (under a pen name), not singing them, to the relief of all. Surprisingly, she showed writing talent and her work 'The Opera Ghost' gained widespread popularity when it was performed. After M. Firmin's pointed suggestion to M. Andre, part of the profits went towards a new chandelier.

The Phantom's body was put in an unmarked grave, his house eventually found and destroyed.

Apart from her wedding dress, Christine never wore white again.

Afterwards it was said at the Opera that if you went down to the lake at night and listened, you might hear the Phantom of the Opera, in a voice both compelling and mad, calling Christine's name……



A/N: Hate it? Love it? Let me know with the handy button below but flames will be used for cooking!