Oh, and by the way, the only reason the scientists were not afraid of Erik (like, his face) was that he had a rubber, flash-like mask on, and they did not notice it, and thought he had a regular face like everyone else, and he still has it on right now, sorry if there was any confusion...
Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom of the Opera. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher, and Gaston Leroux do (...luckies pout).
"In sleep he sang to me...
In dreams he came...
That voice which calls to me...
And speaks my name...
And do I dream again?
For now I find...
The Phantom of the Opera is there...
Inside my mind..." No. It couldn't be. Erik wandered carefully closer to the house, cautiously hopping over the chain link fence in the back. He heard the sound come from one particular room, and crept over to it.
"Sing once again with me
Our strange duet...
My power over you
Grows stronger yet...
And though you turn from me
To glance behind...
The Phantom of the Opera is there
Inside your mind..." That... That was... him! Erik recognized that voice as himself! (A/N: I kinda made this a Gerard Phantom, but you can make it any Phantom you want in your mind...)
But how... How is that possible? he asked himself, How can my voice be in there when I'm out here? Ok, that's stupid, because I know that I am the greatest ventriloquist in the world, but... I'm not even talking! Or throwing my voice! Or... anything! And yet, I hear my voice! How?
"Those who have seen your face draw back in fear.
I am the mask you wear..."
"It's me they hear..."
"Your/my spirit and your/my voice
In one combined
The Phantom of the Opera is there
Inside your/my mind..."
Erik had to find out how he could hear his voice. To confuse him further, he also heard Christine's! He realized that the female voice was indeed Christine! How was that possible?
He reached out a hand and took the handle for the sliding door in his hand, carefully pulling it open.
The room was painted blue, and had a rather tropical theme to it. There was a huge couch, and a number of electrical devices that Erik had never seen before. He wanted to stop and inspect all of them, but the song was louder inside, and that took over his curiosity.
He followed the sound, wandering around a corner and down a long hallway. Erik strived to be as silent as he could, and made a little more noise than a lioness hunting her prey would.
Photographs (in color!) lined the walls of this great hallway, and he saw many different people in them. He was able to recognize the girl he had first seen, and paused to stare as he looked at pictures of her for every year she had grown, all lined up in a row on the wall in chronological order. Erik counted 14 pictures, and gazed for a long time at the most recent one.
The girl did have dark hair, and Erik decided that it was more of a dark brown color. Her complexion spoke of Filipino origin, just like ones Erik had seen many times as he had wandered around Asia in his earlier years, yet her eyes had a certain air about them that set them apart from other eyes he had seen.
All of the other eyes he had looked upon in his life had been plain and mundane, but these eyes had a bit of a... longing in them. Hidden in the shadows of her dark eyes, there was a sparkle that spoke of dreams... of pure soul. Of feeling, and emotion.
This, above all, intrigued Erik. He also had this glint in his eyes. The fact that it was hidden in the shadows of her iris was interesting, too. Erik could not help but wonder if this was because the girl did not want anyone to notice her hopes, her, perhaps, weaknesses. He wondered if it was because she didn't trust other people, very much like himself...
The sound of Christine's familiar ecstatic vocalizing brought him back to reality. He crept down the rest of the hallway, arriving at the door of the room at the end, where the music was coming from. Peeking through a crack in the door, he saw that the girl's back was to him.
Erik read a sign on the door that said "Anna's room! Parents, ye be warned..." and wondered what the hell it meant. Deciding that he would ask 'Anna' what it meant after finding out why he heard himself and Christine singing, he pushed the door open with a muffled creaking sound. The music deftly began to get quiet, which, of course, made Erik confused.
Anna rolled her eyes and turned her chair around, aiming her gaze at what she thought was her father's shoes, "Dad, you could at least knock! I could hear you coming from down the..." her voice died away as she saw not her father's Nikes athletic shoes, but a pair of fancy, black leather shoes. Her eyes traveled slowly up the pair of black pants and to the black tuxedo coat. From there, they traveled to the soft, gentle face.
"Oh my god..." Anna breathed, and, for a second, she and Erik were both afraid that she was going to faint. She breathed deeply, her wide eyes never leaving Erik's. He took a step into the room, and she almost fell over in her haste to get father away from him.
"Child, do not fear me. I won't hurt you," Erik spoke at last, using his most entrancing voice. Anna stared at him for a second or two.
Why do I feel like I've seen him before? I mean, he almost looks like... but no, his face is normal, not like... His... Anna's mind was racing around and around in circles, making her increasingly dizzy.
"Who... Who are you?" she squeaked at last, feeling that she had to say something.
"I am... well, I was..." Erik cleared his throat and straightened his posture, furious with himself for sounding so tongue-tied, "The Phantom of the Opera."
Anna blinked her eyes, "Wha... What?"
"The Phantom of the Opera."
"No... No, you can't be! That was like, 200 years ago! You can't be him! That, I mean, the Phantom... You can't be. You just... can't be."
"Can I not?" Erik's eyes traveled to Anna's desk. He eyes grew large as he saw, not the paper she was working on, but the white mask beside it. He knew that it wasn't his, but he still was amazed that she had one just like it. Realizing that it was the only way Anna might believe him, Erik removed his flesh-like mask (with his back to her, of course) and grasped the white one on her desk, slipping it over his face.
Anna gasped as she saw his face, now with the white mask on. It... It was him! She couldn't believe it. She stared blankly at him, then shook her head and chuckled to herself.
"Good God, have I really gone that crazy?" she asked herself out loud, smiling and returning to her paper, "I have become so involved in my story that my imagination is taking over!" She giggled and bent over her work.
Erik walked over to Anna and put his hand on her shoulder gently, "On the contrary, mademoiselle, you seem to be quite sane, and I am real. I am the Phantom."
Anna turned around slowly, considerably calmer than when she first laid eyes on Erik, "How are you... here? How are you alive?" she asked. She now quite believed him, for his hand was warm, and felt... real. It actually surprised Anna that she wasn't scared, but he seemed so kind, and anyway, she felt that Erik would probably not hurt her, after the whole escapade with Christine Daae and Raoul de Chagny.
"Actually, I myself have no idea. I think I was frozen or something, and I was... brought here. That's what the old man said, at any rate," Erik explained, suddenly realizing how ridiculous his story sounded.
"Ook..." Anna muttered, her eyes telling Erik that she thought him to be a lunatic, "The old man said it... How reliable."
"Look, you don't have to believe me. I just want to know how I can hear myself, and Christine Daae. I heard them -us- in here. How?"
Anna thought for a second, then her face lit up as she figured out what Erik was talking about, "Oh! Oh, that! It's my CD player. See, I have your movie's soundtrack on CD, so I was listening to it, and then you heard it."
"And a CD is?"
"A compact disc," Anna answered.
"And a compact disc is?"
"Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot, you have no idea, of course! How silly of me! Ok, uh, a compact disc is... Well, it's hard to explain, but a compact disc is like... Ok, it traps sound and plays it over and over again. It can be used for music, people talking, all kinds of things. So yeah, the people who made your movie put the sound on this CD, and I can play it over and over again!"
"People who made my... what is a movie?" Erik could feel himself getting confused all over again.
"You have a lot to learn," Anna grinned, chuckling to herself.
Yeah, so this is Chapter three, and thank you (so so so much!) to everyone who reviewed! If you have any suggestions as to anything I should change about it, tell me in a review, and I'll see what I can do (HaHa! It rhymes!)
