Heh. Hate to disappoint you all, but you won't find out the winner until next chapter. Heheh. And now, many of you are going, "Then what could be happening in this chapter, Aislin? Tell us so!" Well, you'll find out. (Thanks to everyone who read my new one-shot! It made some of you cry…I have the power to draw both tears and laughter! Seriously, I never thought it was enough to make anyone cry.)

Eat-drums: Really? (is sad) Sorry…I have a lot of reviews, it's hard to keep track. I really did look hard, though. Here, have a cookie.

ButterflyofLothlorien: I'm glad I portrayed you well! It's always nice when you see yourself in a fanfic exactly as you are.

Kianra: Nope…(sigh)...I'm not an actual contestant. I wish I could win, though. Yay! Same grade.

Raveene: Hey, I like their new stuff! If you mean Origin, I can't find it anywhere. (shakes finger reprovingly) You had your turn! I still have…(counts)…twelve people to cameo! BTW, you won Kianra's When Erik's Phangirls Attack.

MetaChi: …Wouldn't it? (sigh) And I'm forming a support group (in a way) as we speak. I'll give you the website link when I'm done.

IcySunset: Take your mind off him? As if…none of us will ever be cured of him…yay! (That's a good thing.)

Phoenixthemenace: The living in the lake was sarcasm. Though I'm sure any phangirl would be happy and willing to live on a raft if it was on Erik's lake.

Danica Enjolras: Hee…cool. I never really connected Erik with that song, but now I'll think of him every time I hear it. ENJY? (grins and cracks up) Does Enjolras really appreciate that? I'm totally going to call him that now. I love Enjolras. You know, the book doesn't actually show him dying? He could still be alive. (nods)

Lackaz: Love Frank Sinatra. I can see Erik doing him too…I should have put a Sinatra song in his lounge repertoire.

LinhDog: No, I'm not participating. (kicks a rock) I think I'm only relatively normal because my impulse to jump on him is balanced by my awe and respect for him. (shrugs)

Willow Rose: Sure, no problem. But do you want me to start an account for you or post it on my account with a note saying you wrote it? E-mail me – it's in my profile.

…………………………………..

Erik slept well that night. There was no anticipation of a date the next day…no more tortuous phangirls. Erik would finally be able to go back to his quiet life under the Opera. True, he'd have to go with a phangirl for an extended amount of time, but it was really a trial period. At the end he could say it hadn't worked out and make her leave.

After that, he would have seen the last of the phangirls.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Aislin woke him up around noon the next day by putting her Phantom CD in the stereo and blasting the Overture throughout the room. It sent a rush of happy, excited energy through her, and effectively awakened Erik. He fell out of bed at the sound of the organ.

"Oh, good you're awake," she shouted over the music. Her energy was showing itself in the way she walked quickly around Erik's bed, punching the air in time to the music. She didn't speak again until it was over, then she dove at the stereo to turn it off before Carlotta's voice replaced it.

"Um, Erik? I have to tell you something." She was now wringing her hands nervously.

"What is it?" Erik straightened his mask grumpily, getting out of bed to change.

"Well…you know, you have a lot of phangirls," she said helplessly.

"You don't have to tell me that…potato throwers, singers, shoppers, gothics, Project Phantomers…I have it all, now don't I?" he finished sarcastically.

"Yeah, well…a whole lot more than the ones you got to date are out there. And they…kind of found out that this was your last day here. So uh…well, just watch your back around the hotel. They know you're here, and they know this is their last chance."

Erik's heart sank. What would be waiting for him when he left the room? He decided he'd better order room service for breakfast, just to be safe.

Fifteen minutes later, a girl dressed in the white hotel uniform wheeled Erik's table into the room.

"Thanks," he said, and offered her the prepared tip. She didn't take it, however. She merely stared at him. Erik then noticed the red glass rose on a chain around her neck, and the emergency white half-mask sticking out of her pocket.

And it was then that Erik realized the lengths to which a phangirl would go to see him.

She grinned and jumped on him. "ERIK!" He fell backward onto the bed, inadvertently kicking a plate of bacon to the floor. "Erik, my name's Katrina and I love you so much! I was horrified to find you weren't taking any more dates. I know you could love me if you gave me a chance – maybe you could squeeze in just one more date?" He pulled himself out from under her, shoved the tip into her hand, and proceeded to push her out of the room.

"But Erik, we haven't even had a chance to talk, come on, I just want to spend a little time with you. I brought you breakfast!" And Erik snapped the door in her face.

Sighing, he went back to his breakfast table and sat down on the bed to eat. Presently, he was aware of an odd rubbing against his leg. He looked down to see a hand fingering his pants.

He yelled and pulled away the long tablecloth. It did that cool thing where it flies out but all the dishes stay in place. Under the now bare table was another phangirl. Nothing in her person gave away the fact that she was a phan, but who else would ride into Erik's room under a table to feel his clothes?

She smiled. "HI! My name's Lexi. I heard you turn that other girl down. Don't worry, she didn't know I was down here. Want to go for some ice cream?"

Erik sighed. "Yes, why not?" Excited, she jumped up beside him. Erik escorted her out of the room. She continued to babble all down the hallway, and while they waited for an elevator. It arrived on their floor, and the doors opened. Erik pushed her inside, then quickly hit the button for the fifteenth floor and ran for the stairs. Lexi protested loudly as the doors closed before her.

Well, now he was on the first floor. He ran from the elevators so Lexi wouldn't catch him. Unfortunately, waiting around the corner was a group of girls with the telltale black shirts.

Project Phantomers.

"Digimitsu, look!" One girl pointed at Erik as he tried to back away. "He took an alternate route!"

The girl she'd spoken to turned, and gasped. "Everyone, THERE HE IS!!!"

Digimitsu led the other four girls in a wild chase after the poor Phantom. He dashed with

all the speed acquired as a ghost, and still couldn't elude them. They pounced on him as he was nearing the front doors.

"Erik, I'm Digmitsu, you want to catch a movie –"

"Erik, my name's Rose (A/N: shortening of MoonlightRoseGoddess), let me sing for you, just a little while –"

"Hey, Erik, I'm Claire, let's go back to Paris and get away from it all –"

"Erik, Erik, I'm Claire too, but my net name's Goddess of the Neon Rose – let's go to a club somewh –"

"Forget them, Erik, I'm Katherine, come with me –"

"STOP IT OR YOU WILL ALL PERISH AT MY HANDS!!!" The girls all fell silent. Erik took a deep breath. "Digi, Rose, Katherine, Claire…Claire. The one thing you could do to make me hate you is what you are all doing now. I advise you all to leave me alone, and I will like you twice as much."

"Quick, run away!" Claire#1 ran off as fast as she could, the other girls following. "We'll write you Erik!" called Rose, and Katherine really seemed to be resisting the urge to glomp him in farewell. Soon, they were gone.

Erik straightened his cape, and groaned. "I need a drink." He headed for the lounge.

A small cluster of people applauded as he entered the now-brightly lit lounge, and at first, he dreaded more phans, but they turned out to be a group of people who had been at his concert of a few nights ago. They raised their glasses to him, and he couldn't help but smile. He sat at the bar and ordered some wine. The girl at the bar served it to him, and then stood in front of him as if waiting for something.

"I have already paid you," he said shortly, and he looked up at her. She was staring deeply into his face with a look of extreme happiness. "I thought you might come back in here," she murmured happily. "I'm Kara…no, not the first Kara," she said impatiently, as Erik began to protest that she didn't look like the Kara he'd met. "Mind if I join you in a drink?" And without waiting, she sat on a stool behind the bar and grabbed a soda from an innocent customer. He sputtered angrily for a moment, and Erik looked helplessly at him. The poor guy shrugged and walked off. Erik followed suit, Kara looking very disappointed, but deciding not to pursue Erik, for which he was very thankful. In gratitude, he waved goodbye. Kara finished her stolen soda.

Erik figured he'd better go back up to the room now. It was too dangerous in the lobby. He got an elevator and headed up.

There were two other girls in the elevator. Erik got in warily and the doors closed. As soon as Erik was trapped, they closed in on him.

"We've been riding the elevators for an hour hoping you'd get in one," said one girl happily. "I'm Willow Rose –"

"And I'm Mystery," piped the other.

Erik fumbled for the panel and pressed the button for the fifth floor. As they were just passing the fourth, the doors opened and Erik slipped out, running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

Too bad he forgot that the fifth floor is the pool level.

Erik ran straight into the shallow end of the pool. He floundered in the water, cape floating around him and mask slipping off his face. As he was surrounded by small kids in the shallows, and he hadn't had much luck with them so far, he was careful not to lose the mask and freak them all out.

Noticing that, since Willow Rose and Mystery hadn't chased him for some reason (phangirls were getting smarter and smarter), he had jumped fully clothed into a pool for no reason, he said some things that made the parents around him gasp and climbed out.

He was suddenly glomped from the side, falling back into the pool with the daring phangirl.

"Hello, Erik, I'm Linh," said the dark haired girl in a distinctly German accent. Funny, she looked Asian. "Want to come swim with me?"

"No, no, sorry, I'm afraid I must get back up and change. Contest business, you know, and I can't go all wet." He pulled himself away from Linh, and escaped.

"The phans would like you much better that way," she called as he fled.

Erik made it back to the room without incident, and sank his poor, sore body into a hot bath with lovely scented oils and fragrant bubbles. Not many people knew that the Phantom of the Opera enjoyed things like this, but it was true. After Christine had left, he had turned to spiritual meditation, finding a lack of love and happiness in his life had left his chakras far too closed. True, meditation really didn't help him much, but he enjoyed it all the same.

Still, music calmed him far more than meditation. So he sang himself into serenity.

………………………………

There you go. Only one chapter left! I'm sad. Well, review!