Hi! Wow, I've never been so dedicated to a fic before. It's because the movie The Phantom of the Opera is coming out Christmas, and when I found out, I really went on a Phantom hype. Not that I'm not always a little on one.
I need to state before we get too far into the story that I'm...not a big fan of Christine. Or Raoul. It's because I really like Erik, and I don't like the way they treat him. I'm not going to do anything bad to them in my story. I just thought I should get that straight. Okay. Here we go...
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Raven lay on the sofa that served her as a bed in her dressing room. It was plainly furnished, but she didn't really need a lot here.
She was thinking hard. She knew that it wouldn't be easy getting hold of the boat to row across the underground lake, and that Erik had taken every deadly precaution to keep people like her out of his house. She considered other methods of finding him. She could hide in Christine's dressing room and listen to him speak, or follow her when she disappeared through the mirror. She could try to talk to him during a performance while he was listening in Box Five, or wait for him at the edge of the lake.
That was it... Better wait for him to come to her than risk venturing into his house. How would she get across the lake anyway?
Great...there's the plan...now how to find the cellars? Raven couldn't come up with anything better than to wander around until she found a trapdoor, or stairs leading down. She knew that the only accessible entrance was that on the bottom cellar, because the one on the third led only to the Torture Chamber, and that was certainly not the way to go.
"I'll start after practice this afternoon," she told herself firmly.
.:Later that night:.
Raven coughed and sang a quick scale. She wanted to be able to catch Erik with her voice, as Christine had. Practice had gone on longer than Raven had ever thought a vocal practice could, and she'd sat through three-hour practices. Her voice was a little scratchy now.
Darkness was already falling outside, but in the cellars of the Opera, it was always night. Taking a lantern with her, she changed into a slightly more functional dress (not that any women's clothing was functional then) and set off for the cellars. She took the first down staircase she came to.
"This would be the ground level, then," she said to herself. After wandering around for twenty minutes, she spotted a wooden square in the middle of the hallway. Glancing around the deserted corridor, she pulled it open, and sat on the edge, ready to venture into the Opera Ghost's kingdom.
"Hand at the level of your eyes," she reminded herself, and jumped in.
Darkness wrapped itself around her, but Raven was no stranger to darkness. After her eyes adjusted a bit, she took a quick look around. "First cellar." She could walk without aid in the dark, but the lantern was needed to find the next trapdoor. Raising one hand as if she held a pistol ready to fire, she directed the light of the lantern at the floor with the other hand. Then she got an idea. Searching around the ground, she found a metal rod – twice the length and thickness of a heavy-duty nail. With it, she engraved an X deep in the wood flooring, so she could find her way back up to the upper floors. Sticking the rod in her pocket, she began the search for the next trapdoor.
In an hour's time, she'd slowly made her way deep into the cellars of the Opera. "Second cellar." An X. "Third cellar." Another X. "Fourth cellar." Another X.
"Fifth cellar."
Here the ground was mainly soil and earthy material. Raven drove the nail itself into the ground to mark the spot where she'd begin her trek back to the surface. She wouldn't need the lantern as much here, she just had to find the lake.
She took a deep breath. She started walking.
The Opera cellars were almost like she'd imagined them. They twisted and turned, a weird world of every scene from every opera that had ever been performed there. Wooden planks crossed her path at odd angles, and the scene backdrops formed walls of a maze that led her to dead end after dead end.
She was thankful that she never ran into the Rat Catcher, and there were no fiery demons to catch her eye and distract her. Raven walked for ages in what seemed like overlapping circles, until at long last, she heard the ever so faint sound of rippling water.
She stood before a wide, deep lake of impenetrable darkness. The water came near her toes and she stepped back. With a quick look around, she saw that the boat was on her side of the water, meaning Erik was out somewhere, and she had no idea when he would return.
Not wanting to be discovered by the phantom standing beside his boat, Raven dashed behind a nearby set piece to wait.
She waited a while. She wondered where he could be. Perhaps there was a performance she hadn't known about, and Erik was busy concealed in Box Five. That didn't matter to her. She was going to stay right where she was until he returned. He had to come back sooner or later.
And he did.
After little more than fifteen minutes, a shadow slunk over to the boat. Excited, Raven stood up, bumping against the set piece.
He jerked his head up at the sound. Raven saw his glittering yellow eyes dart to the place where she was standing. He waited for an agonizing minute, and finally turned back to the boat. It was undoubtedly Erik.
Raven wasn't quite sure what to do. It was Erik...we all know what he's capable of...what would you do? She stepped out from behind the set piece, still holding her hand in front of her face. "Hello?"
Erik stared at her. She didn't dare uncover the lantern, and just left it on the ground. She took a step closer. "I...I wanted to talk to you...I've...heard so much about you..."
"What, the Opera Ghost?" he said coldly. "How did you find this place? What are you doing here?"
She was mesmerized by his voice. It was every bit as beautiful as she could have dreamed. "I had to meet you," Raven whispered, gaining a little courage. "I know you are Christine's Angel of Music, and –"
"How can you possibly know that?" he said shrilly.
"I know a lot...Please...Angel, will you teach me the music of heaven?" She came closer to him, and dropped her hand. "I know...you love Christine, and that is why you teach her, but please...I adore you so..."
Erik didn't seem to know how to receive this. It's not as if he was accustomed to such praise, or willfully given love. But this girl's eyes looked so pleading, and seemed to stare into his soul.
"I'm not a music teacher for hire," he spat.
"I know, but..."
"No," said Erik firmly. "No, I won't. And you should go now, or you will put yourself in great danger." He jumped into the boat.
"Fine," said Raven sadly. As he rowed away, she called after him, "I'm going to keep returning until you accept me! I know you better than anyone here! My name is Raven!"
She was still determined to have Erik notice her. She was careful not to use his name, to make him suspicious, in that first meeting, but she was willing to resort to anything to have him speak to her.
Raven threw a rock in the lake in her frustration. "Soon," she reassured herself. "He has to meet me." And she began the walk back up through the trapdoors.
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How disappointing. But one wouldn't expect him to welcome me with open arms right away, not after what he's been through. Read and review, please!
