A/N: Thankyou for the reviews…please keep them coming!

Just a couple of quick comments:

xHybridx : Yes I know there was a stage musical made, I've been to it. At the beginning I said "I'm altering reality" – in the 'world' of this story, no stage musical was ever made, only the book and then the movie (the one that was released in 2004) but that was released in 1992 to limited success.

Amaruk Wolfheart: Thankyou for your very enthusiastic review:P I hope you didn't hurt yourself too much – so I guess this chapter is for you.

GreenKhronic: Thanks for your nice comments too :) It's been a bit of an obsession of mine for some years too. And Ssssh! Don't tell anyone – but the story of The Phantom of the Opera is really true.

Galasriniel: Ahh.. my muse. LoL. Thanks for inspiring me to write this… even though you didn't know you were doing it. Anyone else reading this go check out Galas Phantom phanphic, it's good!

To others I missed: Thanks heaps and heaps! (kisses and hugs to you all)

Without further ado…

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CHAPTER 4:

PRAYING FOR THE CHAPELLE

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"So… where do we start?" Kari asked, already knowing what Moniques answer would be.
"The chapel…" she replied instantly. Then turned to look at Kari, "You think so?" she added.
Kari nodded, "Definitely. But we should look around while we make our way there, get a feel for the place."
Monique nodded, her eyes already darting around, taking in the surroundings. Kari watched her a moment, she saw in her eyes what she felt in her own stomach. The nagging presence of fear. "I wonder if that chandelier looks like the old one did?" Kari voiced a lingering thought aloud. Monique looked contemplative, "Well theres only one way to find out, right?" she cocked a brow.

Monique tried to follow her mental map of the theatre layout she had created from reading the book, but she ended up feeling disorientated. She didn't let her feelings of frustration cross her face, just continued to explore. Kari looked across at Monique, her face was calm, almost impassive, seemingly she was the only one who was now nervous… and slightly disoriented. They had wandered around the wings, immediate backstage area around and behind the (modern insertion of the) cyclorama – the place was filled with dismantled scenery and backdrops. Kari found herself studying the scenery wondering what Operas and Ballets they were for, and marvelling at how people could have the patience to create and paint such a huge (and beautiful) piece of art. Meanwhile Monique studied the bland, spider-web covered cement walls, the open plan ceilings, riddled with a vast number of intersecting gangways – almost a lighting technicians version of a spaghetti junction. She wondered about the Phantom roaming these deserted areas in ungodly hours – moving as though free while all the world slept or lived on none the wiser. She felt pangs of pain for him, awash with sympathy she strengthened her resolve. They had to find him. Silently she walked along the perimeter of the prop/scenery storage directly behind the stage, her mind toiling away as if trying to solve a puzzle, and in a way, she was.

Kari looked over at Monique, who seemed lost in a daydream, staring upward.
"Shall we move on to the chapel?" she called across the semi-darkness.

Monique turned, "Yeah, let's go." She followed Kari out of the alcove, and towards the wings once more. As they headed through the wings, Monique tripped over a rosin box and floundered, falling against someone. She looked up in mild shock, and apology. It was one of the stagehands from earlier. "Sorry." She mumbled. "S'alright." He shrugged and started off once more. "Hey.. could you tell us where the chapel is please?" she called after him. He stopped and turned, "What do you need the chapel for?" he replied. Kari sighed aloud, why did everyone have to ask them prying questions? "Uhh.. to pray. You know. Chapel… God. Prayer and all a' that." Kari replied, over gesticulating as she wondered what the hell she was going on about. "I'm in.. the show that's coming up. I'm up for a solo… so I thought a little bit of divine intervention wouldn't go astray." She added on the end, as if that helped the cause.
"Uh huh." He answered, then looked over at Monique, "And who are you?"
Inwardly Monique laughed, what was it with the questions? It was pretty obvious that he really didn't care for the answer anyway. "I'm her muse." She answered simply.

Karis looked skyward in disbelief, then snorted, "ANYWAY!" she cut in before anyone could say anything else, "Just.. please, can you tell us where the chapel is?"
"Well… there's one down the road." He shrugged.
"No.. no.. in the theatre. The theatre chapel." Kari looked across at Monique, it was a pity she hadn't stumbled into someone smarter.
He frowned, "There is no theatre chapel."

They say that all change happens in a moment. Well, that was one of those moments – that at that point in their lives, totally changed everything. A silence descended upon them like a dark cloud. And as though beneath a dark cloud, both girls hung their heads. The stage hand frowned, and shook his head, "strange" he muttered under his breath and turned and resumed his journey away from them. Then silence descended once more. And in that silence, Kari was sure, that she heard Moniques heart shatter.
Monique didn't know what to do with herself, she wanted to run… or scream… or hide. But she couldn't find a single resource of energy in her body, so sank down to the ground, and sat, staring at the floor.
Kari sighed inwardly. It had been a wasted journey. Now as she looked back she cursed herself for going along with her, for not looking through all the details to think rationally and force herself to live in reality. She cursed herself for letting the journey happen, letting Monique go through it, and cursed herself for watching her break in half but not having the energy to do anything about it.

'Say something' she demanded of herself. "The chapel doesn't necessarily mean anything. I mean, maybe that was just a detail they added in to alter the theatres presence… maybe we're still on the right track." She offered, trying to convince Monique of something she didn't believe herself, even as she said.
"I don't think so." She responded slowly "The chapel is a recurring scene, her fathers death is a central theme. I don't think the chapel was fictional. The whole damn story was fictional." Her voice was dark and hollow.

Kari didn't know what to do. "Well… didn't you notice the absence of the chapel on the plans?" she wondered.

"The plans didn't have any of the rooms labelled as to what they were for, it was mainly to show location of stage and the amount of floors and size of the place. Not a map of where to go." She answered flatly.
A minute of silence passed, as if they had mentally agreed to mourn the passing of a belief.

But then, another minute of silence passed, so perhaps it was just coincidence. Monique pulled the small backpack from her back, and pulled out a little drink bottle, she took an angry swig of the now lukewarm water. She snapped the lid back closed, taking her frustration out on it, guiltily she then gestured the bottle over at Kari, offering her some. Kari shook her head and Monique shoved it roughly back into her bag, allowing silence to reclaim it's place.

Finally Monique sighed and got to her feet, "I want to get out of here." She said unemotionally and started walking. With each step the emotions boiled, frustration, anger, disbelief. She was angry at herself, angry at the theatre, angry at her parents once again. "All because of a fricken chapel!" she snapped, "why couldn't this godammed theatre have a chapel!" she demanded to no one. Her outburst only fuelling her own anger.

She was stopped in her tracks by a man stepping out of the shadows before her. An older man, with greying hair, fine features and a thin frame. He eyed her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. She shrank beneath his gaze. "There WAS a Chapel here." He suddenly said. Another of those life changing moments.

Both Monique and Kari flickered to life once more, as if they had just been plugged in for charging.

"What do you mean?" Kari stepped up beside Monique.
"I mean there was a Chapel… and now is no longer. One of the last few owners decided he didn't want a chapel in his theatre. It was rarely used and he wanted the space used more efficiently. Plus… they say," he lowered his voice "he resented God. He was…" he lowered his voice even further and Kari and Monique felt themselves leaning in unconsciously "Homosexual" he whispered as if this was a worthy scandal. Monique fought the urge to laugh, this was France, it wasn't as if same sex relationships were rare. Kari looked bemused, "So.. can you tell us where the chapel was then?" she enquired.
"Yes, it was down this way." He gestured, "You must go as far as you can on this floor, then take the spiral case that spiral right and it shall take you down 3 floors, to the room that was once the chapelle." His voice was light, as if he was scared to tell them.
"Thanks, uhh… " she raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, your name is?"
"Barron Benois." (Ben-wah) He replied, with a slight incline of his head, "And I apologise, but I must go." He breezed past them, disappearing through the wings towards the stage area.
Monique turned to regard Kari, "Alright, this way it is then." Her moments of deepest despair and heartbreak were seemingly forgotten.

They hadn't walked far, when they encountered significantly sized obstacles in the form of scenery cut-outs, and the stagehands milling about between them like sheep.
One very frustrated man walked by then, stopped and glared at them. "You can't be here." He snapped, looking at the two of them as if they were something filthy on the bottom of his shoe.

"We just need to get through here, there's a staircase back there that leads to a place we need to.. get to." Monique tried a relatively honest approach.
"First of all, who are you? Second, it doesn't matter who you are, because you can't come back here. We're working."

"Well, FIRSTLY, I'm her muse." Monique pointed to Kari, who grit her teeth in glare-come-smile. "Secondly, she is about to star in this show that you are currently preparing for, and third we need to get to the staircase, to get down to the chapel." She finished smartly, then added, rather superfluously "To pray." She looked up into the mans beady eyes with a wide-eyed 'don't resist me' stare.

"I don't care if you have to get to the hospital down there to fix a broken leg – you can't come through. I'm the Stage Manager, it's my ass if you get hurt. It's against safety regulations to let you down there. I hate to break it to you, but there isn't a chapel down there, nor is there a stair case. That was removed a long time ago, it's now a prop lift down to the prop storeroom. So you have no purpose here." He explained pompously, as if he thought what he was doing was brain surgery.

Monique glared at him. "But Barron told us it was this way." She implored him.

"Barron?" he ran a hand distractedly over his closely shaved head.

"Barron. Barron Benois. One of the stagehands." She replied.
The Stage Manager scoffed, "We have no stagehand of that name. No crew member at all of that name. I suggest you leave and stay out of the way. We're running behind schedule, and not feeling friendly today." He explained with a fake smile, revealing a row of heavily tobacco-stained teeth. Both Kari and Monique recoiled slightly, but he was already turning on his heel and leaving; stalking away angrily.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kari looked over at Monique as they walked back towards the stage area, so far they hadn't achieved anything, bar making it through a few bizarre encounters relatively unscathed. Monique shrugged, "I have NO idea. I mean, who the hell was that man! He doesn't work here, they've never heard of him – but he knew where the things were, except, he was a bit out of date." She thought aloud.
Karis eyes widened, "the whole bloody theatre is full of phantoms." She muttered to herself.

They arrived at the very edge of the wings once more, the stage in front of them, hallway leading to the dressing rooms behind and to the left of them, and the stage door exit, one floor down and directly behind them. Monique turned and looked at the exit to the outside world, then shifted her gaze to the hallway towards the dressing rooms and rehearsal spaces. "Well, I don't know really know what our next move should be." She admitted quietly.
Kari followed her line of sight, looking at the exit. "You're not thinking of abandoning the search are you?" she frowned.
Monique didn't answer immediately, "No." she said finally, "I was tossing up between trying to explore the dressing rooms, which could well be locked – and aside from the whole mirror thing, I'm not sure what we'd be looking for. And I have an inkling the mirror wont be there anymore anyway. OR trying to get to the lower level of the theatre from the outside." She pondered.

"Well that's originally how he was smuggled into the theatre." Kari responded, "From the outside apparently."
"Yeah, but it wasn't specified where it lead, it was some kind of trap door in the outer wall of the theatre."

"And somehow they ended up in the Chapel." Kari added.

Monique nodded, her eyes were unfocussed – she was still thinking.
Kari looked upward, her eyes following the paths of the technicians gangways overhead. She wondered if, from up there they might get a better perspective, or find something interesting.

"What if we went up?" / "What if we went down?" they spoke at the same time, Kari voicing the former.

They looked at each other a moment, seemingly weighing up each others suggestions.

"Well this was your idea, so what's your downward idea?" Kari questioned.
"Well I figured the labyrinth is down there, so heading downward is at least in the right general direction. It's just a matter of getting down there that is the problem. But I wondered about service tunnels? From the outside I mean. They adjust the water levels beneath the Opera house to act as a ballast right? So they must be able to get down there to check the water levels, or to open up the flood gates in some way, surely?"

Karis face changed, this sounded promising, although "Well, I don't remember seeing any big signs on the outside saying SERVICE ENTRANCE, Phantom this way! With a big arrow on it or anything." She said.

Monique gave her a short glare, "Well, your right, I didn't see a service entrance either. But then again, we weren't looking. But, maybe we should look in here. It'd be safer for the entrance to be inside, that way only authorised personnel could get into it, well… in theory anyway." She replied.

"Okay… I say we head this way." Kari decided and headed off towards the dressing rooms. Monique shrugged and followed her, wishing they had bought along the architectural plans, and/or actually made a decisive plan on how to locate the clandestine lair.

They had wandered around the 'talent' areas for sometime - randomly trying doors, which all happened to be locked - before they opened their eyes enough to see a sign directing them towards more storage and servicing areas. The followed the sign, down two flights of stairs and down a hallway with more storage areas. Sound, lighting, Music cupboards, they were all here. They walked further along, reaching what appeared to be a dead end. A dead end that perhaps held promise. It turned out not to be a dead end for when they got there they found a small alcove veered off to the left, and found a hint on the 'dead end' door. AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY, the door declared. A smaller sign was mounted on the door KEY PROPS, STAGE SERVICING. Moniques heart raced, but quickly pulled out of it's race when Kari unnecessarily tried the door – they both knew it would be locked. Monique wondered about kicking the door, but disregarded that thought. That only worked in movies, she was sure. Just as she was about to bemoan the hopelessness of the situation, they heard voices. From behind the door. Kari looked at Monique, Monique looked at Kari, both having perfect 'oh shit!' expressions on their faces, they dived for the alcove and hid behind the small outcropping of wall. Kari flattened herself into the small shadow, while Monique peered around the wall with one eye.
Two lackadaisical looking glorified props boys emerged from behind the door, carrying (rather carelessly) a large box, one man at each end. They headed off down the hall before the (obviously) self-locking door began it's slow return to it's hinge. Moniques insides burned, she could see the door closing – knowing it was their chance, but knowing they were close. Should she risk it?
The door groaned as it closed in on it's destination, and Monique could take it now more. The lackies were talking, the door was groaning, her lungs were begging her to breathe. It was now or never. Without knowing what she was going to do, she threw herself like an attacking lion at the door, grabbing it with one hand before it would click into place. It wasn't exactly what she'd pictured – considering the door was so heavy and rather then stopping nicely, it continued to close, giving her hand a decent crush. Kari rushed out in an instant and grabbed the door handle, pulling the door back from her hand. "Ta." Monique breathed, picking herself up from the floor, casting a weary eye over her offended hand, before disappearing inside. Kari followed suit, letting the door clank shut behind them. Plunging them into inky darkness. "Oops." Karis voice floated eerily, disembodied.
"Yuh… we should'a planned this better." Monique laughed, "But I didn't come completely unprepared." She shrugged one arm out of the small backpack on her back, and pulled out a small torch. She pushed the button and a weak yellow light cut through the darkness.
She shined it around their surroundings, which now, in the small sliver of light, seemed even more creepy. She searched the walls, and found a light switch, which Kari went over and turned on.
"Come on.. lets keep going."

They made their way slowly around their new surroundings. It was like an unfinished building, walls seemed half made, things lay in the way, hallways lead nowhere. Eventually they found themselves walking down a stone stairway, Monique had the torch going once more, as the lights from the previous rooms didn't stretch this far. They descended in silence, each lost in their own thoughts as they travelled the seemingly endless staircase. Kari shivered, she noticed the temperature had dropped quite considerably, and her arms were rippled with goosebumps. Monique walked slightly ahead, shining the torch along the ground to provide them a safe path. Suddenly the stairs ended. They found themselves on a hard, cold stone floor – and though they couldn't see, they both sensed the enormity of space around them.

The torch light was growing dimmer. In her haste she'd forgotten the crucial thing – to check the batteries. They had come completely unprepared, Monique shook her head at the naivety of it. The darkness seemed to be taking over, the cold hand of fear tickled at the hairs on the back of her neck. She shined the torch to her right, catching a glimpse of Kari, and reached out and took her hand. Kari willingly grasped her hand, suddenly this all seemed very frightening, not too mention she had the nagging feeling of wondering how they'd get out of there. So they decided to keep going straight, even as the stone path intersected with another that crossed them – giving them the option of going left and right, they stayed on their path. The air was cool and still, giving the feeling of being in a museum on a cold winters morning. There was a slight mustiness, or staleness to the air, like when you opened up your house for the first time after being on holiday for a few weeks – the air inside hadn't been circulated for sometime. They were surrounding by cold, nondescript stone on all sides, long (now slightly downward sloping path) stretching before them, huge walls of stone to their left and right. It reminded Monique of a crypt. She shivered at that, pushing the thought from her mind. So the two of them walked along the path hand in hand, descending further into the cool darkness wordlessly, just the sounds of their own quickly beating hearts to occupy their ears. Monique wanted to suddenly yell, or speak loudly to see what the echo would be like, but was too scared or too in awe to make a sound. As she contemplated asking Kari about whether she should or not – she wasn't given a choice. A violent jolt pulled her arm downward, and a shocked scream escaped both her and Karis lips as Karis hand was suddenly ripped from hers. There was a clatter as the torch dropped from Moniques other hand, and she was plunged into complete blackness. The last second of her high pitched scream reverberated from the walls once more, then died. Monique froze. Paralysed by fear and the sudden realisation that she was now in complete silence, complete darkness and terrifyingly; completely alone.

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Sorry, I didn't realise how long it really was!

Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think! (I spent a fair bit of time on this chapter, so let me know I'm not alone here!)

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More drama to come. Please stick around.