Disclaimer: I do not own this. Thank you.
Erik sneaked into Christine's dressing room and left a red rose with a note from her angel. He then ran back into his own dressing room to get ready for Act II. He slipped the skeleton mask on, even though he really didn't need to wear it. After all, he was a living corpse. Erik chuckled to himself at this as he put on the rest of his costume. Soon the trumpets were blazing as the cast got ready for the entrance.
The curtains opened as Andre and Firmin pranced out with the masquerade dancers and started to dance.
"Masquerade, paper faces on parade.
Masquerade, hid your face so the world will never find you.
Masquerade, every face a different hade, masquerade, look around there's another mask behind you.
Swish and swirl, fish and fowl, gull and goat, skull and scowl, flash of green, splash of brown, ace of hearts, face of clown.
Faces take your turn, take a ride on the merry-go-round in an inhuman race.
Kurd and king, bird and beast, ghoul and goose, fool and priest, curl of lip, twirl of cape, trace of rouge, face of ape.
Faces, drink it in, drink it up, till you've drowned in the light, in the sound,"
As Raoul and Christine made their entrances the crowd started to clap, "But who can name the face?"
"Masquerade, grinning yellows, spinning reds.
Masquerade, take you fill, let the spectacle astound you.
Masquerade, burning glances, turning heads, masquerade, stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you.
Masquerade, seething shadows, breathing lies, masquerade you can fool any friend who ever knew you.
Masquerade leering satyrs, peering eyes, masquerade, run and hide, but a face will still pursue you,"
Madame Giry came out of the crowd of dancers, "What a night,"
Meg stepped up next, "What a crowd,"
Then Andre, "makes you glad,"
Firmin pushed Andre aside, "makes you proud, all the crème de la crème,"
Carlotta stepped up to the edge of the stage, "watching us watching them,"
Mother and daughter now sang, "And all our fears are in the past,"
Erik waited up in the rafters until it he had to go on. Instead of climbing down he just jumped down right in the middle of the staircase that they were all dancing on.
"Why so silent good monsieur?
Did you think that I had left you for good?
Have you missed me good monsieur's, I have written you an opera!
Here I bring the finished score, Don Juan Triumphant!" Erik actually threw down his real score written in red ink at Andre's feet.
"Fondest greetings to you all.
A few instructions just before rehearsal starts,
Carlotta must be taught to act, not her normal trick of strutting 'round the stage.
Our Don Juan must loose some weight, it's not healthy in a man of Piangi's age.
And my managers must learn that there place is in an office, not the arts.
As for our star…Miss Christine Daaé
No doubt she'll do her best, its true.
Her voice is good, she knows more.
Should she wish to excel she has much still to learn, if she will return to me her teacher….her teacher…" Christine walked towards Erik as Raoul drew his sword.
"Your Chains are still mine, you belong to me!" Erik looked her in the eye and vanished through a trap door in a cloud of smoke.
Erik ran through the cellars of the opera house to his apartments to grab his violin. There was just enough time to do so before he was required to come back onto the stage. Besides, he had to remember the way back if he were to continue with his plans.
Christine walked back out on stage. There were tombstones everywhere. She was overcome by emotion. She knew that she was singing for her father that night. And, her angel. She looked at Box 5 and saw the usual twirl of cloak before she started to sing.
"You were once my one companion, you were all that mattered.
You were once a friend and father, then my world was shattered.
Wishing you were somehow here again, wishing you were somehow near;
Sometimes it seemed
If I just dreamed,
Somehow you would be here.
Wishing I could hear your voice again, knowing that I never would,
Dreaming of you
Won't help me to do
All that you dreamed I could." Tears streamed down her face
"Passing bells and sculpted angels, cold and monumental.
Seem for you, the wrong companions;
You were warm and gentle."
Erik ran to the stage and sat behind one of the buildings and started to listen to Christine. Ahh, my angel. Soon, only I will be able to hear you…My wonderful, wonderful Christine!
"Too many years
Fighting back tears,
Why can't the past just die?
Wishing you were somehow here again, knowing that we must say goodbye.
Try to forgive.
Teach me to live.
Give me the strength to try.
No more memories, no more silent tears,
No more gazing across the wasted years…..
Help me say…good…bye.
Help me say good bye!"
Erik started to play the Resurrection of Lazarus, just like that night so long ago. Christine thought that it was her father who was playing the song. She was swept up in the music, it was almost trance-like. She walked over to Erik who was now in front of the building.
"I am your angel of music, come to me angel of music…" Erik said as he stopped playing.
"CHRISTINE! NO!" Raoul yelled as he ran out with his sword drawn.
Christine stood back as Erik and Raoul fought. Raoul nodded at Erik when the crowd was cheering to repeat the actions. It was a 'vicious' battle. Finally, Raoul had Erik pinned to the ground ready to kill him.
"No Raoul! Not like this, don't kill him like this…" Christine begged. Raoul glared at him and rushed Christine off.
Erik slowly got up, "Now," he said breathless, "Let it be war upon you both!" with a swish of his cloak he rushed off stage in the opposite direction.
Christine and Raoul enter the scene.
"Raoul, it's too dangerous for me to perform. I'll never be free again!" she sobbed.
"Unless we do this, he will haunt us until we are dead…" he took Christine's hands. She embraced him.
"He kills without a thought, he murder's all that's good, I know I can't refuse, and yet I wish I could. Oh God if I agree what horror waits for me, in this the phantom's opera?"
"Christine…" Raoul kissed her.
Erik saw this from the rafters and knew that that was no stage kiss. He almost forgot to sing. But when he did, it was just as powerful as that of the angel's, that Raoul jumped a little and Christine looked all around
"Sing my fate tonight, I hate to have to cut the fun short, but the joke's wearing thin, let my opera begin!"
Piangi came out as did the rest of the crew as they started to perform Don Juan Triumphant. Erik was surprised. That boy learns his lines quickly…too bad it was all to waste. He quickly tied the noose. Piangi stepped backstage for some water before he had his duet with Christine. Erik was waiting instead of the usual water boy.
"Wha..? CKKKSL!" Erik lynched Piangi and left him hanging by his own dressing room. Before Erik went out, he grabbed Piangi's mask and slipped it on.
"You have come here in pursuit of your deepest urge,
In pursuit of that wish which till now has been silent, silent.
I have brought you that our passions may fuse and merge,
In your mind you've already succumbed to me, dropped all defenses, completely succumbed to me, now you are here with me, no second thoughts, you've decided…
Decided…"
Christine recognized the voice. It was her angel's! But why was he singing?
"Past the point of no return, no backward glances:
Our games of make believe are at an end.
Past all thought of 'if' or 'when', no use resisting, abandon thought and let the dream descend.
What raging fire shall flood the soul?
What rich desire unlocks its door?
What sweet seduction lies before us?
Past the point of no return, the final threshold, what warm unspoken secrets will we learn beyond the point of no return?"
No….it can't be….my angel can't be….Christine looked at the eyes. They had a yellowish glow to them. Erik!
"You have brought me to that moment where words run dry,
To that moment where speech disappears into silence, silence.
I have come here hardly knowing the reason why,
In my mind I've already imagined our bodies entwining, defenseless and silent and now I am here with you,
No second thoughts, I've decided,
Decided.."
She headed up the opposite flight of stairs that Erik was going up, looking into his eyes the entire time.
"Past the point of no return, no going back now, our passion play has now at last begun.
Past all thought of right or wrong, on e final question:
How long should we two wait before we're one?
When will the blood begin to race?
The sleeping bud burst into bloom?
When will the flames at last consume us?"
"Past the point of no return, the final threshold, the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn.
We've passed the point of no return."
Erik took her hands as they met at the top.
"Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime.
Lead me safely from my solitude.
Say you want me with you here beside you,
Anywhere you go let me go too…
Christine, that's all I ask of-"
Christine removed his mask. Erik cut the rope that held the chandelier up and that also released them through the trap door. He never let go of Christine the entire time. He dragged her through the tunnels. Raoul and Madame Giry quickly jumped down the hole, Meg following. The cries of Carlotta were heard screaming that Joseph was dead.
"Giry! Do you know where Erik might have taken her? Raoul asked.
"No…wait…there is one place…I've been there before, come with me!" she said.
"Mom, I'm coming too!" Meg said.
"Like hell you are! Go back up for help, please Meg!"
"Down once more to the dungeons of my black despair, down we plunge into the prison of my mind. Down once more into this deep and dismal Hell!" Erik chanted over and over insanely as he led her down.
"Why are you doing this?" Christine cried.
"Why! YOU ASK WHY?" Erik cackled.
"This is where I leave you, from here, I have no clue where to go. I'll go back up and bring help back down. Raoul, bring her back at all costs," Madame Giry said as she ran back up the stairs to the main floors of the theatre.
Raoul continued downward only to trigger a trap door and plunged into a mirrored room. He looked around. There was an iron tree and a noose in the corner.
"Erik…please….tell me why?" Christine sobbed.
"You have to choose, the grasshopper, or the scorpion. Make your decision wisely. I've been working on a new piece. I wouldn't want it to be a mass requiem, now would I?" Erik looked over, they were already in his place. It looked more like a dungeon now.
"And it seems we have a guest in the torture chamber…"
Raoul heard Erik's voice and yelled, "Let me see her! If you harmed one hair on her body I'll…" Erik walked into the torture chamber and tied Raoul's hands up before letting him out.
"Be my guest!" Erik said as he threw him out into the room, "Monsieur I bid you welcome, did you think that I would harm her? Why would I make her pay, for the sins which are yours! Christine is the only one who can save you now!" he turned to Christine, "You see? This is the point of no return!" Erik held Raoul up by one hand now, choking him against the wall.
"The tears I might have shed for your dark fate, have turned cold and turned to tears of hate!" Christine sobbed.
"Christine forgive me, please forgive me!" Raoul choked out.
Erik laughed.
"How can my angel of music do this to me? My angel of music how could you deceive me?...Please…let me be alone to make this choice…" Erik dragged Raoul out of the room.
"Just remember Christine, either way you choose Christine, you cannot win. So, do you end your days with me? Or will you send him to his grave?"
Christine sat in the room. Her angel of music was Erik. How could she not tell. She'd been living with him for so long…and she couldn't tell. She started to cry. Not out of frustration. But out of sorrow.
"Erik…what has happened to you that has made you this way…how can I save you…?" Christine walked into the room where Erik and Raoul were.
She walked up to Erik and kissed him passionately on the lips. Once she pulled away she looked at him. He had started to cry. No woman had ever kissed him before. Even his own mother wouldn't hug him or kiss him, yet this woman he deceived kissed him.
Raoul looked in disbelief. She chose to give up her own life to save his.
"Christine…you may go….just….just go….please…." Erik sobbed as he sunk to his knees.
Christine untied Raoul and they embraced. Raoul and Christine made their way out of this hellish home. Once they reached the surface, Christine turned to Raoul.
"Raoul…I have to tell you something…"
"What? Tell me anything…I'm just so happy that you are alive and well!"
"That's the thing…I am not well. Not at all…I'm sorry Raoul…but I can't keep this. I have made my choice, and I shall keep it," Christine put the engagement ring back in Raoul's hand and went back into Erik's home. Raoul stood there in disbelief as it started to rain. He looked at the ring and then at the moon. He took his shoelace, slipped the ring on it, and slid it under Erik's door.
"May you both be happy with your choice…" Raoul said through tears as he walked off into the night.
Christine was searching Erik's place for him. She called out to him. Where could he be? The only place I haven't checked is his room… She ran to the deepest part of his domain. Christine threw open his bedroom door only to see him sitting on the edge of a coffin, crying over a picture of herself.
"Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known, God give me courage to show you, you are not alone!" Christine sang softly.
Erik turned his head to look at her, "I thought I told you to go…why did you come back? To laugh at the Angel in Hell?...well, do it if you must…then, I can just lay here and die…" he looked back at the ground.
Christine walked back over to him and sat at his feet just like she used to do during the "angel's" voice lessons.
"Sing for me Angel of Music…" she whispered as she lay her head on his lap.
"Christine….Christine….how can you forgive me so….quickly?"
"It's easy to forgive the ones you truly love Erik," Christine said.
"You are the only one who could ever make my songs take flight and it seems, as if our music shall never end. I love you Christine," he said as he kissed her.
Christine graciously returned the kiss and then pulled back to look at his face.
"I never saw a monster hiding behind your mask. And I don't see how you always could. Why you always chose to remain lonely,"
"You learn to be lonely Christine…."
"No you don't…you'll never have to be lonely again Erik, because I love you and I chose you. Not Raoul…you. Remember that…" Christine whispered.
Erik started to sob and hug her, "I love you too Christine, I love you too…"
Fin
I just wanted to thank you all for reading this story and that it has been quite fun writing it. I have poured my very essence into this story and have spent many a night writing these final chapters. I hope all of you enjoyed this, The Monster Behind the Mask. Thank you again!
Love you all:
Erika N.
