Chapter One:

TRUST ME, I'M ONLY REWRITING HISTORY

Paris, 2004…

The front door exploded open, and Kari jumped with fright dropping the book she had been reading, and the musical score that had been balancing on her lap and looked over towards the door. Much as her rational mind had expected, Monique was stumbling through the doorway, her arms heavily laden with books, large scrolls of paper and the such. Kari sighed as Monique dropped her load onto the floor and looked over at Kari with a Mona Lisa style 'I know something' smile. "What? What is it now?" Kari asked with feigned frustration, "More discoveries?" she ventured. She couldn't really be frustrated at her, for they a strong bond, both lovers of the arts, visual, literary and of course, performance art. They had met at the acclaimed Straata Theatrical Arts Academy in London, where Kari (who had moved from the USA to be there) was training and at the top of her game in 'Classical Vocal and Theatre Art', and Monique, coming from a dancers background had entered to take part in the Modern and Musical Theatre course. Their paths intersected in Theatre Skills, Theory of Stage Production and Ensemble Vocal classes, and from a chance meeting they had become nearly inseparable.

Moniques smile widened, and she cocked one eyebrow "Oh yes… yes indeed." She nodded, a cheeky look on her face.
"I thought you were practicing your part?" Kari raised an eyebrow quizzically, casting an eye over the MOULIN ROUGE! Script that had fallen from Monique's pile of things. Monique had gained the lead role in the new stage production, styled on the successful movie MOULIN ROUGE!

"And I thought you were going over your Aria?" Monique countered eyeing the score that lay at Karis feet. Kari was part of the Pierre De Coueluff Opera Company, who regularly performed in Paris, and other parts of France. Kari was secretly crossing her fingers and aspiring for more touring of an international flavour.

"Touché'" Kari responded.

"I have been indulging my love of history." Monique announced, seating her self inelegantly on the floor, and spreading her legs to a wide 'V' to organise her books and papers in front of her. "It started off quite innocently, I assure you. I was looking for history about the Moulin Rouge, you know, for my understanding of the theatres history, to glimpse into the lives of the real courtesans and patrons, to help with my portrayal of Satine. and then I… went a little too far back into history and found myself looking at other French theatres – namely some Parisian Opera Houses." She raised her eyes from the books she was leafing through to regard Kari sheepishly.

Kari sighed, letting her head fall to one side to regard Monique seriously, "Oh... I'm sure it was all 'accidental'." She shook her head, "You're obsessed!"
"You can talk!" Monique cried back in mock horror, gesturing to the book that had fallen to the floor beside the Aria score, 'Le Fantome de l'Opera' by Gaston Leroux.

Kari laughed, "I didn't say that being obsessed was a bad thing…. I just said you're obsessed. Almost as much as me."
"What!" Monique looked back indignantly, "I am SO obsessed as much as you ARE!" she near-shouted, "If not more..." she added wickedly.
Kari snorted and rolled her eyes.
Monique straightened up a bit, "I saw the movie before you did!"

Kari threw her hands up "BY ONE DAY!"
"Uhh, make that one day, 2 hours and 30 minutes, thankyou very much!" Monique smiled triumphantly; she loved lording that fact over her. "Annnddd," she added, deliciously, "I've read the book more times than you have!"

"Argh! You said you'd read it 21 times! This is my 21st time reading it now… and I'm almost half way through now… so… THERE!" Kari countered.
Monique looked smug, "I just finished my 22nd time, last night!" She folded her arms across her chest looking victorious. They glared each down for a moment, then finally broke to laughter. "Why the hell are we fighting about this?" Kari finally asked.
"'Cos I love him more!" Monique replied in a singsong voice.

"Shut up and tell me your so-called discoveries." Kari replied; "I love him more," she muttered under her breath, but Monique didn't hear it.

Both girls had been obsessed with Le Fantome de L'Opera book since they had discovered it, and with the The Phantom of the Opera movie since its release in 1992. They had been diehard fans since as long as they could remember when they were both children, and were shocked to find out that fact about each other when they met each other at the Academy. They loved the story for its passion, its wonderfully twisted plot, its tragedy, but they both also happened to believe the story was true. No press releases from publishers or movie producers could convince them it wasn't. The first time Monique had read the book, before she'd even opened the cover, she had thought she had picked up a historical book- and that it was supposed to be a true story. Since then she had believed it to be fact, even after learning it was a fiction book on completing her first read, she'd only been momentarily deterred. She had to believe in the Angel of Music. She wanted a Man to look up to, with no real Father, she had little else. Kari was the opposite, she had known the book to be fiction, but the more she had read it – the greater the passion infused her soul, and she felt the emotions to strongly to believe them to be fiction.

"I found proof." Monique announced bluntly. Kari just stared back at her, she'd heard Monique telling her for sometime that she was on the path of a great discovery, but so far, not many fruits of her labour had been shown to be worthwhile. While Kari's emotions begged her that the story be true, the rational parts of her ignored tried to ignore the voices, and was happy to let the story live in her heart. Monique was much more aggressive with her belief, she wanted to prove it… wanted to find it… touch it. It seemed she expected to find the Angel of Music and tell him he rocked... or something like that.

Monique looked into Kari eyes, seemingly reading her thoughts. She breathed out slowly, her lip quivered, "No… Kari, I really have this time." Her tone was completely serious, her voice slightly wavering.
Kari leant forward; Monique was too serious this time. "What?" she slid off her chair and joined Monique on the floor, amidst the old, dilapidated musty-smelling books that lay piled on the floor.
"The book! Gaston Leroux's first release was privately funded." She turned a book around, so that it faced Kari, her finger marking a section she wanted her to read. It was an excerpt from an old English newspaper clipping; the caption stated it was from 1890. The main body of the news article mentioned a new Opera Score that had been released, and further down, it mentioned books about Opera house's – and just as the very bottom before the clipping had been cut was the mention of Gaston Leroux, "a privately funded limited release of the oft' told fable of an Opera Ghost, by Gaston Leroux has been met-" and there the clip cut off.

Kari frowned, looking at the rest of the page, the page had other numerous clippings and advertisements for Operas in the late 1800s, the point was to show the popularity of the Opera as an entertainment medium. The part about Gaston Leroux was only there by chance, just that it happened to be inside the frame that was cut. But, this was hardly a great discovery, yes it was odd that the novel had been privately funded, rather then subsidised by the Chancellor of Literary Arts, as was the usual course of action in those days, especially by fledgling writers; but it was by no means completely unique.
"Okay...this is... umm, interesting, but I don't see where this is going." Kari looked up at Monique.
Monique reached for another book, "Gaston Leroux's novel was funded privately, but from the business sector, from a subsidiary of Savion d'Buisson. Now, they were not a printing company for books, they printed posters, advertisements and flyers for businesses, and... theatres, in the 1800s." she showed her some pages from more dust-ridden books that had been taken from the rarely-used early history vault of the library they belonged to. Kari nodded, starting to get lost, and not following Monique's path at all. "So... I looked further into it, and Savion d'Buisson got a few other mentions regarding private funding, but it was the subsidiary of Savion d'Buisson. A company that stamped its contracts with a seal, containing SBDC." She paused and pulled a thick book towards them both, it had a faded maroon cover, that was nearly ripping off its spine, in embossed lettering on the front cover it declared The History of French Nobility. She opened the book to where a scrap piece of paper hung from it like the tongue of a tired, old dog. "Monsieur Françoise de Chagny, with the wealth inherited from his father, bought out a subsidiary of the trademark Savion d'Buisson, and trades under the conjoined acronym of SBDC." Monique read.

Karis insides twirled, connections started to fire in her brain, she didn't want to get ahead of herself. She had heard 1 + 1 and had come back with the answer 5.
Kari opened her mouth to speak, not sure which thought to vocalise first,
she didn't get a chance, "Yes, Françoise de Chagny, is Vicomte Raoul de Chagnys' Father. He bought out Savion d'Buisson when Raoul would only have been little." Monique flicked over another page, "de Chagny was widowed 2 years before his own death by consumption, leaving his families wealth to his only Son, the soon to be wed, Raoul de Chagny." She pointed at the paragraph she had just summarised from. Karis eyes widened, was all this real? And if it was, did it mean anything?
Monique looked over at Kari, "Gaston Leroux was never heard of again after he published THE book… it was said he acquired sufficient wealth, and too much unwanted attention from the release of it that he went into hiding, and died shortly after, of uraemia; at the age of 59." Monique looked skywards thoughtfully. "59, gee.. guess he didn't get much chance to enjoy his wealth." Kari muttered. Monique shrugged, "He didn't have any chance to enjoy his wealth at all, he didn't need to." Monique eyes Kari, waiting for her to take the bait. She did, "Why?" she inquired.
"Because Gaston Leroux did not exist." Monique looked completely confident of what she'd just said. Kari frowned, "Uhh... okay... well, that's great... coming from someone living in 2005, only over a hundred years after his lifetime." She smiled, and started to inch away, the great discovery it seemed had been another excited daydream of Monique's.

Monique flicked the page back over, to the beginning of the section on Françoise de Chagny, "Hey.. trust me, I'm only rewriting history here!" she sniffed. Kari humoured her and came closer once more. "It briefly mentions Françoise's wife, Aevery, who came from a commoner background, daughter of a farmer Bastion Leroux, AND." She grabbed another book, a much smaller, thinner, but equally decaying book; it appeared to be on the history of Symphonic Orchestras of the 1800s. "A much renowned musician, the Swedish violinist Gustave Daae, who's heart and muse, it was said, lay in France. Sir Daae to some, but often, the more French sounding 'Gaston' to his French accompanists and those close to him." Monique read from a stained page, hanging on to the book by two threads. She sat up and looked at Kari. "Gaston Leroux… was a creation… a fusion of Christine's beloved Father, and Raouls Mother, a former proletarian, and long time lover of the arts. Christine and/or Raoul wrote the book! Gaston Leroux was just a pseudonym, to hide and protect their true identities, just as the Opera Populaire is a creation to hide and protect the identity of the real Opera House that belonged to the Phantom!" Monique sat back and studied Karis face. Kari sat back also, in stunned silence. As crazy as it was, it DID sound plausible, in a conspiracy theorist kind of way; suddenly the dream of knowing seemed that little bit closer. But how? How could two obsessed young ladies discover the truth about a possible 'fairytale' some hundred years later… it didn't seem possible.

"I know, I know, I know. It all seems too much… too unbelievable. How come no one talks about it much? But then again… I don't think I've met anyone who's even a quarter as obsessed as we are. I mean, most people we know don't even know what The Phantom is! This book –" she touched Karis book with her foot, "The movie, the story, the songs, they were my refuge during my parents divorce… I guess it's embedded in my psyche. I can't let it go." She sighed and turned away, busying herself with looking through the scrolls. Kari looked on, mentioning her parents was always a sobering experience for Monique.

"So..." She turned around to face Kari once more the sadness gone, or at least hidden. "This is an old architectural plan for the Paris Opera House, which most people agree the Opera Populaire was based on." She rolled out the scroll, and turned it to face Kari. Kari looked at it closely, analysing the symbols at the side, to decipher the faded drawing, "Well, I can see why they would say this seems to be the theatre it was based on, I mean there are seventeen stories – seven of those are beneath the stage level – plenty of room for the Phantoms labyrinth." She seemed enchanted by the pictorial of the famed Opera House. Monique nodded, "I know… at first it seemed so likely, BUT in this book," she grabbed another volume, "talks about the small backlash, mainly by the impoverished regarding water supply. The surrounding areas were deprived of water to support the lake the ran beneath the Paris Opera, and that lake was kept at full level from 1880 – 1884, at request of the Opera owners for their lavish productions. Therefore the tunnels beneath the Paris Opera would have been completely flooded… the Phantom can't have been there."
"Oh." Kari replied, suddenly saddened, she had been bitten by Moniques 'need-to-find-him' bug. "What's the lake for anyway? I know you told me before, but I forgot." She asked.
"It acts as a ballast against the weight of the stage, the level of water is altered according to the weight of the stage." She replied, reaching behind her to grab another scroll, "But I found something interesting out, indeed the Paris Opera Theatre was gutted by fire, and restored, but that was not a rare occurrence in the time. Theatres during that era used gas lighting and lamps, there were fires in all the major theatres of the time, many theatres suffered multiple fires, often they were able to be contained, some theatres endured varying amounts of damage, and half a dozen theatres were completely ruined by fires. A couple of these theatres were small and less significant, but the rest I had a little look at. Turns out, our friend Monsieur Charles Garnier didn't just own the Paris Opera - which was his first purchase, and a reasonably successful one at that – but he bought two others. Both of them had been significantly damaged by fire. One of them had been completely damaged inside by the fire, a theatre that rivalled the Paris Opera for success." Monique looked over at Kari, raising her eyebrows, enjoying the moment of holding back the piece de resistance.

Kari was entranced, "And?" raising her eyebrows back at her.

Monique smiled, "See… you're totally curious!"
"Yes, YES! I admit I am. You've got me. Now tell me." Kari demanded.
"Okay.. okay. Oh, hold on… I need to pee." She jumped up and disappeared towards the bathroom.

"URGH!" Kari growled in frustration and flopped down to the floor, her mind reeling.

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Just thought I would be mean and leave you there, with enough to whet your appetite.

I promise it'll get more interesting and pace will start to pickup as more details are revealed. And then… well, that's when the fun begins. :)

Please do me the courtesy of leaving your reviews. :)