The frantic screams of the people frightened Christine so that she grabbed a coat and ran to see what had happened.

"He is here!" said a dancer as she ran towards the ballet room.

"Who?" Christine asked worried and nervous.

"He is dead! The Phantom killed him!" screamed a chorus singer.

Christine felt her knees weakened. That can't be! She thought. The angel would never do such a thing! She held on to the wall to catch her breath and just then Raoul came running toward her. Grabbing her by the arms he pulled her into one of the halls.

"Christine we are not safe her, we must go." He said to her concerned.

Christine wasn't sure what he was talking about but she knew that she rather be accompanied by some one if indeed there was a murdered in the theater. She griped his hand and directed him to a staircase in the back of one of the halls.

"I know a place where we nothing can harm us." She told him as they walked.

Erik had committed another crime, another sin. His hands were dirtied even more now because he could have saved that man. If only he had not acted like such a fool. Why did he fall into that stupid pursue match? Why?

Seeking shelter from the demons that haunted his mind Erik went to hide in the roof of the theater. He paces back and forth rubbing his hands in desperation until the door that leads to the inside opens. Erik quickly hides behind a statute as he sees that it is Christine but she is with Raoul. If only she had been alone, if only he could tell her he didn't do it? Without intent Erik is once again a witness to their dialogue.

"Why have you brought me here?" Raoul asks.

"I told you. This is a safe place; I used to come here when I was a child." Christine said. "I heard the dancers say that the Phantom killed Buquet, is this true?"

Raoul looks at her like she is crazy.

"You people are all insane! There is no Phantom of the Opera!" He says very convinced.

Erik narrows his gaze at the snow on his feet; the night is cold and windy.

"But I have seen him!" Christine says mad that Raoul does not believe.

Erik is shocked by her confession. He does not how to respond to her imprudence.

"This phantom is a fable, please believe me," Raoul tells Christine. "there is no Phantom of the Opera."

"If that is so then…" she starts to say in awe, then unexpectedly her tone changes to fearful one. "My God, was that man? He hunts to kill?"

Erik is hurt by her doubts but he maintains his position behind the statute, limiting himself to listening to their voices.

"What…?" Raoul tries.

"It's true; he wore a mask of death!" Christine says in tears. "I can't escape from him now, I never will! And in this labyrinth, where night is blind the Phantom of the Opera is here inside my mind."

Raoul is afraid to think that the voice that Christine hears in her mind, her angel as she called it, could be the ghost that people claim haunts the Opera house.

"There is no Phantom of the Opera." He repeats to her.

"Raoul, I've been there, to his world of unending night, to a world where the daylight dissolves into darkness. And I've seen him! Would I ever forget his touch? Can I ever forget that his face was hardly a face, in that darkness?"

Intrigued by her denial of reality Raoul continues to listen to her tale. Christine's voice has now taken a different pitch; she begins to sing almost in ecstasy.

"But his voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound. In that night there was music
in my mind. And through music my soul began to soar!" she smiles to herself. "And I heard as I'd never heard before."

Erik hears the trail of delight in her voice as she remembers his and his hope is renewed. In contrast Raoul witnesses as Christine slips away from the truth that he believes to know and he insists.

"What you heard was a dream and nothing more."

Christine looks at him confused and turns away to sing to the sky.

"In his eyes I saw all the sadness of the world. Those pleading eyes that I now dread, and yet, adore."

"Christine," Raoul says trying to comfort her. "Christine."

But Christine only hearsa ghostly echo of her name in the voice of her angel. Christine . . .

"What was that?" she asks alarmed.

Raoul does not answer her. He walks over to her and pulls her to another part of the rooftop where the moon light makes their faces more clear. Erik slowly turns and watches as them embrace.

"No more darkness, see?" Christine smiles at Raoul's question. "Forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here to protect you, but let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears.
I'm here to guide and guard you."

Excited by what he has offered her, and with expectation of a child's first love Christine responds.

"The, say you've loved me every waking moment, turn my head with talk of our summer times. And say you need me with you, now and always. Promise me that all you say is true, that's all I ask of you."

Raoul laughs at her request and she pulls away but he catches her hand and pulls her back into his arms.

"I can be your shelter, just let me be your light. You'll be safe, no ghost will haunt you, and with me your fears will be far behind you."

"All I want is freedom, a world with no more night." She says. "And now you, always beside me to hold me and to guide me."

"Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Let me lead you from your solitude. Say you need me with you here, beside you, anywhere you go, let me go too. Christine, that's all I ask of you."

"Say you love me." She asks.

"You know I do." Answers Raoul.

"That's all I ask of you." She finishes.

In response Raoul kisses her lips as a heartbroken Erik watches them, tears falling from his eyes.

"We must go or they'll wonder where we are!" Christine says interrupting the kiss.

The pair entered the Opera house and Erik was left alone, a devastated man. His heart aching with the realization that Christine's love belongs to Raoul. His hope that she could be his is gone forever. Erik is angry at Gustave for having asked him to love his daughter, and mad at himself for allowing this to happen. But mostly he is irritated by Christine's false kiss and her vicious games. He had given her the gift of music, making her voice take wing, and now she repaid him by betraying him.

Raoul was bound to love her when he heard her sing. Why Christine, why? Erik wordlessly asked, Why would you do this to me?

Slowly Erik came to the conclusion that she did not need him anymore, and perhaps more true was that he did not need her to cause him pain anymore. From that moment on she would no longer have an angel. Erik would disappear from her life forever and she would curse the day she deceived him.