Meg is too preoccupied with running to notice the light that is coming toward her. She screams loudly as she crashed into a guard. Relieved that he is accompanied by many others Meg lead them to the cave.
"Hurry, we must hurry!" she says desperate.
When they reach the cave the gates are mysteriously open. Meg is now breathless but she still calls out to Christine, only there is no answer.
She tries again a little louder.
"Christine!"
This time a malicious laugh from behind a curtain responds.
The guards take their aiming positions and wait.
The curtain is opened by invisible hands and there stands the Phantom dressed in stunning evening apparel. His white mask in perfect position, his eyes glaring at the guards. The Phantom swirls his cape around him and deposits it into one of his arms. He takes a step forward.
"Stop!" the chief of police orders.
The Phantom does not listen.
"Stop or we will shoot!" the man threatens.
Meg watches as the Phantom speaks before he continues his path.
"Messieurs I bid you welcome!"
As he finished his greeting, dozens of gunshots ricochet through the lair leaving a ghostly trace. The Phantom slowly falls to the ground with his arms extended out before him and his head high. Far away, the sound of a violin brings chills to those who witnessed the death of a ghost. Gustave returned the kindness Erik had shown him on his death bed, he watched his friend take his last breath.
"No!" Madame Giry screamed as she pushed the guards aside to get to Erik.
Surprised, Meg watched as her mother cried for a murderer.
The commander instructs some of his men to search for Christine and Raoul. He then appoints two men to recover the body. He wants to display it in the center of town for everyone to see. The Phantom of the Opera is dead!
"I will not permit such a blasphemy!" Madame Giry exclaims offended by the man's words. "Erik is dead! In the name of God I demand that you take back that order this instant!"
"But Madame, he was a criminal." The chief of police argues.
"And so will you be if you commit such a crime!"
Defeated the guards leave the body where it first fell.
"At least let us see his face." One of the guards requests with a laugh.
Many more vicious laughs follow. Madame Giry's face is enough answer to them, her eyes are flame.
"Do you want us to take him to the funeral home?" the commander asks.
"No. he has no one that will mourn him. This was his home, and here he will stay." She responds.
Immediately after the guards in charge of the search return with bad news, there is no sing of Christine or Raoul.
"We will continue the search outside, and in what remains of the Opera house." The chief informs them. "Would you be so kind as to show us the way out?" He says looking at Madame Giry.
"Meg, please see that these men find their way out." The Madame says looking at her daughter.
"Yes, mother." The girl answers. "Come with me please."
The Ballet Mistress observes them as they leave and when she can no longer see them she makes her way across the lake to Erik. Looking down at him she cries for the soul of a poor man who knew no peace in his life time.
And contrary to her demands, curiosity got the best of her and she bent down to remove the mask from the body. Tears streamed down her face as she gazed at his face, but she smiled. Carefully, Madame Giry placed the mask back in place and then pushed the body into the lake. She watched it slowly disappear into the bottom, and when she caught the last view of the corpse she spoke.
"God bless you Erik. God bless you, wherever you are."
Within a few months the corpse in the lake will decompose to a point where it will no longer be recognizable. The once young flesh would have eroded away, leaving wrinkles and deformed traces that some will swear were hard to miss. In a year, the lake will be drained of its water and a fall out of the cave will bury the remains in dirt. An excavation not long after will uncover the body once again. The mask will be gone, but the man with the ring on his left hand will be forever known as the Phantom of the Opera. His story will be written by one, but it will be told by many. News of the disappearance of the beautiful opera singer Christine Daae, and her lover the Vicomte de Chagny, will once again circle the public of Paris. Made up tales of their quick wedding will precede them, their happy life afterwards will be the perfect ending to their love story. But nothing was heard of them ever again. In the minds of those who are romantic, Christine left with the love of her life. For others, she and Raoul were also victims of the Phantom's killing spree. In reality, no one really knew what happened to them. The truth is…
Somewhere in space, somewhere in time, a man embraces his wife in broad daylight while looking out their window in their house by sea. They live a simple happy life and their love is all they need. The man kisses his wife's cheek and sings into her ear. The woman turns to her husband and smiles.
"I do love when you sing to me Erik." Christine says to her husband.
He smiles and holds her hands slowly tracing his face with them. There are no more barriers between her flesh and his. He moves her hands to his lips, kisses them tenderly and breaths in deeply.
"I will always sing for you." He says. "I will always be here my angel."
