Erik staggered. His white shirt was stained with scarlet gore.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Christian's cry of anguish echoed throughout the cavern. He pushed Jezebelle to the floor and bolted toward Erik.

"Erik! Erik-!" he exclaimed in horror. Erik's face was had a frozen expression of surprise on it, his breathing was labored.

He saw a curtain move out of the corner of his eye. Madame Giry and Meg dashed out from behind it, out of breath, as though they'd been running. Meg wore a shirt and trousers, with her hair tied behind her head.

"What's happened? What was that gunshot-?" Madame Giry started.

Their faces turned pale at the sight of Erik's bloody body lying on the floor. They had come too late to help their friends.

"What am I going to do now?" Christian sobbed.

Madame Giry ran over to his side. Quickly examining Erik, she turned to him solemnly.

"I'm sorry, Christian... there's nothing that we can do." Christian's face contorted in agony. He could not believe it at all. The man that he loved was dying...

"Well, will you take me now, Christian-?" Jezebelle said nonchalantly.

Christian whipped around, incredulous.

"Do you declare?" she fluttered her eyelashes.

Jezebelle fell hard on the stone floor, half-stunned. Christian had picked up a heavy book and thrown it at her, hitting her right in the chest. He was furious.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU GODDAMNED WHORE! I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU THAT NIGHT ON THE ROOF, YOU GUTTER SLUT! YOU STUPID BITCH!" Christian bellowed with anger and pain. His face was flushed and moistened, his voice was rasping and husky. "YOU'VE KILLED HIM, YOU GODDAMNED FUCKING WHORE! GOD CURSE YOU! DAMN YOU, JEZEBELLE DE CHAGNY! YOU'VE KILLED HIM! My Angel...!" The boy practically shook with fury.

Jezebelle backed away, horrified by the coarse language, realizing that he was telling the truth.


"Chr-Christian..." Erik's voice was barely audible.

"Erik?" Christian grimaced in pain, trembling, his anger of moments before deflating rapidly, replaced by a pain that seemed to inflate within him, attacking his heart with such brutality. He pulled his wounded lover into his arms.

"Do not mourn, beloved- I am free... from my past..." Erik's red blood was dripping from his mouth, the sound of it in his throat was making his once beautiful voice sound flinty and harsh.

"Erik... don't leave me! What will I do...?" Christian's voice was so choked that he could barely speak. He planted desperate kisses the scarred side of Erik's face.

"Remember me, love... remember that an angel... will be watching over you... protecting you... loving you..."

His eyelids fluttered feebly. His breath came out in an almost silent hiss.


Christian stared in disbelief. Erik was gone.

Madame Giry and Meg tried not to listen to his howls of grief.

"He really did love the Phantom...! What have I done?" Jezebelle's initial thrill at having gotten Christian back gave away to horror and guilt as she realized that she'd committed murder... on the very man that her beloved Christian loved more than anybody else in life.

"He'll never speak to me again!" she made her way toward the water, attempting to escape...

She fell to the floor before she knew what happened. Meg had hit her over the head with her mother's staff.

"You will never be welcome here again... and nobody, let alone men, shall ever look at you again without a shudder of disgust when I'm through with you!" Meg thought angrily as she brandished a dagger, preparing to work on Jezebelle's face and hair, crudely hacking away at the damp tresses, cutting great chunks of them away at the roots, cutting vicious patterns deep into the skin of Jezebelle's face, chest, and back.


"O God...! Oh, my darling, my darling...!" Christian's anguished cries were in vain. Nothing could be done to bring Erik back. Madame Giry and Meg clenched their eyes shut, unable block out the sounds of his grief, unable to bear such tortured sounds.

The roars of the mob grew louder... they were coming closer. Madame Giry flew to Christian's side, frantic to get Christian away from any more trouble.

"Come, Christian, we must leave! Before the mob comes!" Madame Giry urged.

But Christian was deaf to her. His face was ruddy and stained with tears. He cradled Erik's body in his arms, sobbing as he looked upon the face of his beloved, who he would never see alive again.

"Please, Estelle...!" Christian tried to clear his throat to speak, "Bring the gun to me...!" Madame Giry's eyes went wide. She couldn't bring herself to accept that Christian wanted to commit suicide. She embraced him tightly.

"Christian, you have a gift at singing, do you really wish-?"

"Yes I do! Please-! I can't bear it...!" he sobbed on her shoulder.

"But Christian, you know that suicide is a sin...!" Madame Giry stopped herself, knowing that Christian did not take kindly to the Bible now, after all of the cruelties that had been expressed toward his type, "You're a dear friend and a gifted performer; do you honestly wish to put an end to yourself? What would...?"

The pain was unbearable for Christian. He let out a shuddering sob as he gazed at Erik, resting his head on his beloved's still bosom.

"Oh Erik, my darling Erik-!" he cried in anguish.

Madame Giry sighed deeply, knowing how much that it was torturing him. Christian had lost half of his soul. She understood that grief; she'd lost her beloved Jules years before when Meg was a child, and, for her daughter's sake, she pushed it away and kept on going.

Madame Giry left Christian and crossed over to where Jezebelle's unconscious body lay bloody and scarred, her golden hair chopped short. Madame Giry winced as she reluctantly picked the gun up, trying to block out the thoughts of what he was about to do.

Christian trembled at the feel of the horrid weapon. The trigger was warm in his hand. He gasped out, "Tell them that I loved somebody very much... tell our story to them! I don't care what they'll think... I don't want Erik to be forgotten!"

Madame Giry and Meg nodded. They knew that it wouldn't do very well to tell anybody that the Opera Ghost and Christian Daaƫ, the leading tenor of the Opera Populaire, were in love. If Erik and Christian were to be remembered with any fondness, they would have to hide the love affair.

Christian gazed down at Erik with such pain and such love that the Girys felt that they were intruding.

"I will see you again, darling..." he murmured. Sniffling, he gave one last sob, "... I love you Erik...!"

Meg and her mother winced as the trigger pulled. The guilty weapon fell to the floor. Christian fell limply, on top of Erik, his life fading.

Meg stared on, tears seeping down her face, barely hearing the mob approaching the gate.

Would anybody at all ever know that the cavern was once home to two lovers... that died in the darkness there?


No sooner than had the Girys fled, the mob had reached the gate and proceeded to tear through it.

"Mademoiselle De Chagny!" one of them cried out in horror at the sight of Jezebelle's body, which lay mutilated but still alive.

Henri and Phillipe entered the lair, glancing about... stumbling upon a dark mass, covered what looked like a cape.

Phillipe pulled the dark fabric off. The mass was gone... all that remained was a white mask, wet with what looked like tears...

"It's over now, the music of the night..."

Finis