Chapter Fifteen


A/N: the last bit of the chapter will be switching back and forth between Erik and Christine and Raoul (you'll understand when you get there), but please understand that it will be jumping back and forth several minutes at a couple points so that it will cover Erik's POV and then Christine and Raoul's. Just a little FYI, though I probably just confused you even more.


The room was quiet as Nadir led them into it. Their boots made very quiet clanking sounds that echoed through the halls as they walked.

"Where is she?" Erik demanded.

Nadir turned back to his old friend, watching him carefully. He'd draped his own jacket over the Phantom's battered shoulders before he'd permitted him to go to his Christine. So great was the younger man's desire to see his angel that he nearly forgot his own injuries, pushing them aside acting as if they did not exist. Erik had long proved himself a very good actor. And though he forgot them with his mind fully focused on the task at hand, the Persian knew that once it ended there'd be hell to pay. Erik had never been a good patient.

"Patience, Erik," Nadir said lowly.

"I am not patient."

This brought a smile to Nadir's lips. "I know."

The door on the other side of the room clicked open and the two girls entered. Christine's eyes lit up when she saw her love. She ran to him, flinging her arms around his neck and sending him stumbling back several steps. He caught himself against the wall and nearly sunk to the floor as he clutched her tightly to him. She was sobbing and holding him tightly. "I never want to be parted again," she sobbed. "I thought they'd killed you when you didn't get back up."

Erik watched her, stroking her hair in a comforting manner. "It's all right now, Christine."

The room, which had been dimly lit, was then plunged into darkness. Electric lights took the place of the gas lamps that had been burning and filled the place with unnatural light, causing Erik to wince. A slow, deliberate clapping echoed through the room, causing each of its occupants to look around in a mild panic.

"Bravo!" the shah's voice echoed. A panel in the wall slid to one side and he appeared, followed closely by Kashim. "Very clever, Nadir Kahn, in what you did. I had nearly written you off and out of my plans. Surely, I thought, he would not be so loyal after this man killed his only son, but…" He waved his hand dismissively. "You were the one to help him escape Persia in the first place."

"Killed his son?" Christine echoed from Erik's side.

"Oh?" the shah mocked. "You didn't know? Surely Erik's told you of his time here. The Angel of Doom, Mother called him. As did the entire kingdom. He killed quite often and quite well. Did you enjoy it was much as you seemed to, Erik?"

"Enough," Erik growled, his voice cutting the air like a knife.

"You will not speak to the shah like that!" Kashim growled.

"I shall speak to whomever I choose however I choose!" the Phantom retorted.

"Not and live," the shah returned with a shrug. "Though you won't live as it stands now."

"I wouldn't speak so haughtily," Nadir advised. "Do you think I'd rush in here unprepared?"

"No, of course not. You were always very good at what you did."

The green-eyed man smiled slowly. "Yes… I'd advise you to give yourself up, your highness, considering this entire place has been taken by the police force."

"Impossible!" Kashim gasped. "We would have known… No… They would not have made it such a public thing. France arresting the Shah of Persia! Impossible."

"You are so sure of yourself," Nadir answered mockingly. "And yet your voice sounds as one only convincing himself of a non-truth."

The shah's eyes grew wide as he stared at his former chief of police. "Kashim. Take care of things here." That said, he left through the door he had entered.

Nadir noticed the slight twitch in the other Persian man's face as he pulled a gun from his jacket pocket. "You should have stayed out of Persia, Monsieur," Kashim said, his voice dripping with sarcasm in the last word. He turned his eyes to Madeleine who froze in place. "Now, Madame, you are his mother, no?"

"Yes," she answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

A small shrug lifted Kashim's shoulders and dropped them again. "Then fair is only fair, isn't it? Erik, you stole my father's life, so I shall take your mother's."

"That's supposed to upset me?" the Phantom asked. He was still leaning against the wall, using it to support the majority of his weight. "We have never been on good terms."

"Really?" Kashim's voice was light. "I'm sure you've learned to use a good bluff in your time, Angel of Doom. Quite good at lying, even?" He aimed the gun at Madeleine. "If you care or not, she will die. And then Mademoiselle Daaè. We will go down the line, I suppose, until I get to you. You will watch them all die, Erik, knowing that, once again, it was your fault."

Erik forced himself from the wall, Christine clinging desperately to his hand. He looked down at her, his mismatched eyes meeting her worried ones. A small, forced smile crossed his lips as he reached a hand to touch her cheek briefly, reveling in the feeling of her turning into his touch. Finally he turned back to the man holding the gun. "I will not be responsible for any of their deaths," he said slowly. "But yours… Yours I will delight in."

A wicked smile crossed Kashim's face at these words. "Really? Then perhaps I've brought the Angel of Doom out of his dormant slumber? I was just about to think you'd gone soft in your years as the Opera Ghost. Hardly a death on your record and all of that wiped clean if you were to help take care of us, hmm? It doesn't matter what the motives. Come at me. I dare you to! I want to see the infamous Angel of Doom that made everyone in Persia cower in fear!"

"You want to see the Angel of Doom?" Erik echoed, his eyes bright with anger and fever.

"I want to see the Angel of Doom dead."

"Unlikely."

"We shall see." The Persian man turned his gun toward Erik, who was slowly moving towards him.

The shot echoed through the room, catching the Phantom's arm only slightly, leaving a small gash. It did not slow him, nor even made him flinch. He was on Kashim in the blink of an eye, his hand around the younger man's throat and had him against the wall. The Persian's eyes grew wide as he began to struggle.

Erik took hold of the other man's gun and twisted his wrist, causing the gun to fall to the ground. "You wanted to see the Angel of Doom, and yet now you look ready to flee for you life."

Kashim continued to struggle, thrashing wildly. "You're not human!" he gasped. "You're nothing more than an animal! A creature! A monster and a devil!"

"Too bad for you," Erik said slowly, "that my temper is far beyond being held today."

Marie screamed at the sound of their captor's neck breaking. She clung desperately to Madeleine who put an arm around her.

Erik let the dead man fall to the floor and turned to the others in the room, noting the two shaking women. Raoul stood near Nadir, both with stoic expressions on their faces. Christine crossed the space between them in half a moment's time and held him as he collapsed to the floor.

"It had to be done," Nadir muttered quietly. "A horrible deed, but it simply had to be."

"He killed a man!" Marie wailed.

"Would you have rather died?" Raoul spoke quietly. "Would you have rather seen all of us die one by one? Shot dead and then the next to follow in the same fate?"

"No," she murmured.

The sound of boots running on concrete floors made everyone look up and Mifroid appeared in the doorway. His eyes widened at the scene, then came to focus on Erik who he had not seen without his mask. He forced his eyes elsewhere and quieted the mutterings behind him with a stern look. "Is everyone… all right?" he managed. "Where is the shah?"

"He disappeared down a passage way," Raoul answered. "We have no idea where it might lead."

"That's not true," Erik mumbled as he forced himself up. Christine clung to him, murmuring to him that he should lie down. All of it was over and the police would handle it. The Phantom shook his head. "No… This place… is a replica… of the Mazanderan palace… I can show you… where the tunnels go…"

"You don't look in any shape to-" Mifroid began, but was cut off.

"It doesn't matter!" Erik was now on his feet, starting towards the secret exit. "Do you want to find him or don't you? I am the only one that can show you."

Mifroid nodded and barked instructions to his men. Some were to escort the small group out of the building and to safety, and some were to go with him and the Phantom to where the shah had run.

"Erik!" Christine called to him. "Please… be careful."

"After all this, I will not leave you now."

"Oh! Monsieur le Phantom! I nearly forgot! I found this," Meg Giry said hurriedly as she produced a white mask from the folds of the robes she wore. "I thought it looked like yours."

Erik grasped it immediately, slipping it on. "Thank you." He took a deep breath and turned to Raoul. "Watch out for her."

The vicomte's eyes widened in disbelief at his words. "Yes… Certainly."

Erik nodded his approval of the words and disappeared down the hidden passage.


The passageway was dark and just how Erik had remembered it in Persia. At least, how it had been in his plans. Mifroid followed him closely, his eyes trained on the dark jacket that fit a bit snuggly over the Phantom's broad shoulders.

"He would have followed this passage to the rooms down below," Erik explained.

"It must have taken him years to do this…" Mifroid mused. "How could we not have noticed?"

"Hush!" Erik growled out suddenly. Every footstep fell silent as he turned his attention to what seemed to be a solid wall. "There! Don't you hear it?" he demanded in a hushed whisper.

Mifroid strained his ears. "I'm afraid not. What is it I'm to hear?"

"That!" Erik hissed in exasperation. How could they not hear it? The low voices on the other side of the wall. The shuffling of boots and the pulling of something - perhaps barrels of some kind? – through the room. "Listen."

The sound of the footsteps echoed out of the room and finally stopped, as if they had left. Erik moved himself soundlessly to the door and pulled the lever to bring it up. The room was filled with barrels, and on closer inspection, they found them full of gunpowder.

"This would blow the entire place!" Mifroid exclaimed.

"There's little we might do about it," Erik responded with a shrug. "Let it go up."

"Yes, do," the shah said from behind.

Erik turned his eyes to him, frowning slightly. "I will finish our bargain here, sir, if you might allow it. Send your men away and keep everyone at a good distance."

"But you-"

"I will deal with myself. Leave now."

Mifroid found himself stumbling out of the room, ordering his men to follow.

"And what might you plan to do?" the shah asked.

"Kill you."

"Might you? You won't have time to get out."

"Then I shall not."

The shah chuckled. "And your girl?"

"She's in good hands." Erik's eyes flickered to a rope that lay on one of the barrels. Convenient, he thought idly.

The shah barely put up a fight as the Phantom's hands did their quick work. The elder man was strung up with hardly any effort put into it.

The fuse was growing far too short and he knew there would be barrels elsewhere in the building. He took a deep breath and forced his body forward, ignoring the racing pain as he stumbled through the corridors.


"Monsieur!"

Mifroid looked back to see Christine Daaè and Raoul de Chagny running towards him. The young diva's eyes were wide with fear. "Where is he?" she demanded. "Where is Erik?"

"He told us to go, Mademoiselle. There was little we could do but to obey his wishes. Now, please move back. The place is set to go up."

"Go up?" Raoul echoed, eyebrows knit.

"Gunpowder," Mifroid answered, coaxing them back further.

"But Erik's in there still!" Christine cried desperately.

"Mademoiselle, there was little we could-" His words were cut off by the explosion.

Everyone ducked down on instinct, away from the blast as it set debris flying here and there. Christine let out a cry of anguish and Raoul had to hold her back.

"But he's in there!" she sobbed. "Let me go, Raoul! Let me go this instant! He's in there and we have to find him! Erik!" Her voice had turned to desperate screaming as she sobbed and fought against her former fiancé.

He gripped her harder. "Christine! Get a hold of yourself! No one could have survived that!"

She turned to him, ready to turn her wrath against him until she saw tears standing in his blue eyes. He brought a shaky hand up to her shoulder and she launched herself into his arms, sobbing and moaning her love's name over and over.


He could see the street lamp' light against the darkness of the sky. He could see the moon's light. Just a bit further and he would be out of that forsaken building and back with his Christine. The explosion shook him hard, sending him into the wall and then rolling again. He let out a cry of pain and shuddered on the ground. Erik's mismatched eyes turned upward to see if the ceiling would come down upon him, crushing him. Contrary to how his luck had been falling, it seemed in decent shape. He'd been far enough away from the blast to give him time to escape.

He forced himself up and down the hall, pulling his injured body from the rubble that had been a doorway. Looking back it had been a miracle that he survived the explosion of all. Perhaps God had been watching out for him.

People swarmed here and there, trying to get fires put out and get questions answered.

"Monsieur!"

Erik turned to see Mifroid and the chief of police looked at him expectantly. "You have no worries about the shah of Persia," the Phantom said quietly. "He went up in his own explosion. Terribly tragic, don't you think?"

The police man laughed at the twisted humour in it. "Yes, terribly. Your girl is over there. Horribly distraught, I daresay."

Erik nodded his thanks and forced his aching legs to move him forward. "Christine…" he began, his voice dying off when he came upon them. His Christine being held tightly by the vicomte de Chagny. He saw them pull apart and Raoul whisper something to her. She nodded and turned her large, dark eyes toward him. He felt his head spin and his knees give way. What did it matter? He had always known it would turn out like this… Who, after all, could love a monster?


"Oh Erik!" Christine sobbed into Raoul's shirt. "My love… Why did he have to stay?"

"I was wrong about him," Raoul whispered. "So very wrong." They pulled apart. "Will you ever forgive me for how I treated him? It does little good now, but…"

Christine nodded slowly and turned her eyes back towards the smoldering building. She blinked once, thinking perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her. Erik stood there, eyes wide. Then he collapsed into a heap on the ground.

"Erik!" the diva screamed.

Raoul released her as she ran for her love, falling by his side. She cradled him to her, sobbing his name and begging him to wake. "Raoul! Please! We need to get him help!"

The aristocrat nodded. "We'll get him to my summer house. A doctor lives close by. He's very good."

"Can he save him?"

"I hope so, Christine. We will do all we can."

She nodded, fresh tears welling in her eyes as she held him close to her again, silently pleading for him to wake.


A/N: Angst is my specialty, can you tell?


Mariah:Thank you so much! I'm pleased to hear that you think the moments are powerful. That really makes me feel as if I've accomplished something in this story. Yes, you might be right about the Christine/Raoul thing. That would be my hatred for Raoul peeking through…. Lol

LostSchizophrenic: I think Raoul has really started to understand a bit more of Erik through this, and it makes him a more likable character (in my opinion) I'm not a huge fan of Luciana… so it was more Erik and Giovanni I hurt for when she died in the book. I hope your little sister is enjoying it!

Golden Lyre:I'm sorry you can't find it. It's so blasted expensive here in the States. I got mine from the library, therefore I have to give it back. I wonder if I just disappeared with it and gave them the money that it says on the cover if they'd be too angry… Hmm… Lol!

Lynx Ryder: hehe… I'm an equal opportunity injurer! Lol! Yeah, poor Raoul… I'm starting to like the one that is emerging from this story… Confound it! And goodness, Naomi! Surely you should know that with my writings, something else can ALWAYS go wrong! C'mon! Now Erik thinks Christine's betrayed him all over again! Never any rest for the weary, what can I say?