Disclaimer: We all know I don't own Phantom of the Opera
enough said. I do however own Ariel, Darius,
Ghost, the Phantom's Lair Theater and the
company members of said theater so don't even
think about stealing it.
Story: Erik tries to end his life and instead falls into thepresent time where he finds a group of actors who
make a career out of rewriting his story on stage. He
meets the leader of the Phantom's Lair Theater and
sees salvation.
Note: Introducing Erik to the modern world is going to be the
hardest and probably the most confusing, unsmooth
chapter in this story. So please forgive the section
named Ariel the angel. It does make more sense as if
goes and Erik doesn't freak out as much. By the way
i'm am using the new movies phantom but the stage
production story. I needed the phantom to be around
Ariel's age and though I love Micheal Crawford dearly
he is too old to be the love interest here without me
feeling bad. So Gerard Butler is the phantom in this
story.
( Erik's thoughts) Ariel's thoughts Song in italics
Miranda de la Costa- Thanks so much for your review and the
help with my 'mamsielle' problem. Because of
you the story continues. And I love your story
too so keep it up.
Chapter 3: Ariel the angel
Ariel had no idea who she was pulling into the light, but she did know who he was pretending to be. She couldn't count how many guys played this game with her. Fortunately this one was easy to pinpoint and had not taken to the catwalk. She really didn't feel like chasing someone above the stage at three in the morning.
Ariel's hand was wrapped firmly around the man's wrist and she gave a strong yank. Out of the dark stumbled a disoriented man in a familiar outfit. A tailored black suite and white dress shirt, cape, gloves and the ever present mask. It was a white mask and only covered the right side of his face. Ariel knew she was dealing with the Andrew Lloyd Weber phantom and not the many other reincarnations including Gaston Leroux's book. It was a good thing she knew how to deal with the musical ones better anyway. They were less dangerous. The question was if he'd keep up character after he'd been discovered.
" Hello monsieur." Ariel said sweetly, not able to put any fear into her words. A cheshire cat grin on her face. " Is there something I can do for my secret admirer?"
The man straightened and Ariel managed to feel smaller though he was only an inch taller then her. This one definitely has the character down presence wise He stared down at her with two mismatched eyes. One cobalt blue and the other grey. Ariel had the urge to back away but stood her ground instead.
" Where am I ?" He said, ignoring Ariel's playful words. The question confused her and she could see the emotion was mirrored in the mans eyes. She was used to things like 'I am the Phantom!' or 'Looking for my angel, have you seen her?' Some even started belting out songs from the musical on the wrong key. But this was different.
" You don't know where you are?" Ariel asked, no longer playing around. There was something wrong here.
Erik put a hand to his aching head as he tried to keep his composure. Not long after she'd stopped singing Erik's distressing situation occurred to him fully. ( I should be dead )
The woman was still holding his wrist, realizing this he jerked out of her grip. Erik saw her flinch and he slightly regretted his actions. Meg's sisterly affection still fresh in his mind and he still couldn't accept human touch.
The woman had asked him a question. Knowing she wouldn't believe the absurd story Erik tried to find words to explain, fully expecting laughter to follow. He didn't know why he was telling her this, but he had no reason to lie either.
" I was in the cellars of the Opera Populaire with full intention to kill myself......" He began and immediately saw the concern flash in the woman's eyes. " But then I heard someone singing............you. And I followed it. Coming to the roof and there you were, singing to me with some ethereal glow about you."
Erik took a breathe, nervous for some reason. No doubt because the angel stood before him, her eyes growing wider with each word he said. Her nails pressed tightly against her palms. " You sang to me, you saw me and you smiled. I thought you were a angel, forgive my words madame. But when you sang I followed you without seeing the roofs edge and I fell. Thinking I was going to die I welcomed it. But I didn't die........I woke up here but honestly I don't know where here is." Erik finished with a frustrated sigh.
The woman was silent and Erik looked at her to see the stunned expression on her face. " Thats not possible." She said in a breathy voice, as if she had run a ten mile race. " It's just not possible." She said again and walked across the stage before Erik could say another word. She retrieved a spiral notebook from her bag and returned to his side. She frantically flipped through its pages and then back up at Erik as if he wasn't real. " Oh god!"
Erik was worried about the woman by now, she looked on the verge of tears though he wasn't sure why. Misunderstanding the meaning for her distress he tried to take back what he said. " I apologize if what i've said upsets you madame, I.............."
" No." She said cutting him off. " Its not that I don't believe you....its just that.......well it just isn't possible for you to even be here. I mean......you can't alter someone's life by writing a fictional story.......it's just not possible!" She said frantically. " I wrote what happened to you. The roof and the angel but the angel wasn't me in the story. You coming to the present and being here at the theater. I wrote all that but it shouldn't of happened. I mean phantom's would be popping up everywhere if phans could do that stuff." She said with a nervous laugh and Erik wondered about her sanity.
Ariel was having a nervous break down, that was the bottom line. Who knew that writing fan fiction was going to put Erik right in her lap? After the fact fully hit her, she realized that Erik was getting frightened by her behavior. Tossing the notebook aside to consult later she calmed herself down before speaking.
" Look, your not going to believe me but your not in the 1800's anymore. This is the year 2005 and your in America at the Phantom's Lair Theater." She said, putting her hands up in the international symbol of keeping someone calm. Not that it ever really worked.
" What are you exactly implying!" Erik bellowed. Going quickly from confusion to outrage. To think this woman thought he was illiterate enough to believe such trash as that. And he'd thought she wouldn't believe his story?! She was obviously crazy. " Do you think Madame, that I would believe that for one second?!" The woman flinched at his voice but this time he could care less how she felt. Had the whole scene on the roof been an elaborate set up? Something cooked up by the young Viconte no doubt as a final blow to his heart. Erik quickly dismissed that since Raoul was not bright enough to think of something that grand.
Ariel watched Erik turn this over in his mind and realized she had given no proof that he should even start to believe her. And she thought pointing out the story he'd told her a moment ago wouldn't help the matter. So while he was preoccupied in his head, Ariel again latched onto his wrist and proceeded to drag him to the back door. Erik immediately started pulling in the other direction.
" Do you think i'm some kind of rag doll Madame lunatic? Keep your hands off me or i'll be forced to make you!" Erik ranted though he wasn't putting much effort into the threat. Ariel just blew a strand of hair out of her face and wondered why it is she liked the Phantom of the Opera anyway. The man was such a handful.
" Believe me monsieur I don't think you'll feel the same once you see this." Ariel said and when she opened the backdoor she thanked god it was five p.m. and that the theater was in the middle of downtown. Because the people on their way home from work were jamming up the street with their cars and honking rudely at each other to keep moving along. Ariel smiled at the familiar sight but Erik, who had stopped fighting her looked perplexed by the normal mayhem of the workday ending. People going off to clubs or coffee shops yelled at each other across streets and almost none of the women wore dresses and the men were less then gentlemanly.
" Where am I?" Erik asked for maybe the tenth time that night and Ariel felt slightly guilty for shocking him like this. But it wasn't her fault entirely.
" Like I said before. Your in America, the year is 2005 and this is the Phantom's Lair Theater." Ariel said gently, not wishing to startle him anymore. " And my names Ariel Gentry by the way."
Erik didn't respond, the phantom of the opera sank to the floor and let his face fall into the safety of his hands. Ariel's heart twisted inside. This was an all too familiar image burned into her mind of him. And of herself. "How did I get here?" His voice was almost lost, muffled by his hands. Ariel let herself slide down on the floor to sit next to him. " I'm not really sure. I can't really explain it to myself much less you."
She saw his shoulders sag and recognized the pure emotional exhaustion he must be feeling. It was starting to weigh on her as well and there was rehearsal for the new musical piece tomorrow morning she had to take care of. How am I going to get through tomorrow with him here?
" Things may make more sense in the morning. Come on Erik, you might as well stay with me. It's my fault your here anyway." Ariel said, standing up and waiting for Erik to do the same. But Erik was staring up at her with weary eyes.
" How do you know my name?" He asked and Ariel smiled. " Erik, you will be suprised just how much I and millions of other people know about you. Now come on we both need some sleep and i'm not letting you bunk down here."
Erik followed her up the stairs to the flat she had in the theater. Her way of thinking was if she owned the theater she may as well live in it.
Ariel knew that Erik was only compliant with her wishes because he was so confused and out of his territory. She had a feeling that if things didn't change in the near future there would be two permanent residence in the theater.
Chapter 4: Good Boy Ghost
It was extremely early in the morning when the alarm clock on Ariel's night stand went off much earlier then she had set it. Blurry eyed and with hair that resembled a enormously funny red afro, Ariel tried to make out what time it was through all the sleep in her eyes.
5:00 a.m. ! She hadn't set it that early. Rehearsal wasn't till seven, she usually got up an hour beforehand to get herself together. Curious but not really caring about the malfunction, Ariel fell back on the bed and was determined to get an hour more of sleep. Then she heard the distinct bark of her hybrid, warning her that someone was in the house other then her.
All the memories from last night came back in a rush and she sat straight up in bed. " Oh Shit!"
It took Ariel all of five minutes to get a robe on over her pj's and try to navigate a brush through her hair and rush out into the living room where she'd left a certain masked man the night before.
Erik had woken up that morning to utter confusion, a familiar feeling as of late and a set of sharp teeth that growled at him in a none too friendly way. (Merde) Firstly checking if his mask was still on, Erik then backed away from the teeth to see that they belonged to a pure white hybrid wolf dog with cobalt blue eyes. The dog barked once and Erik stared it down.
" Hush now. We can't be friends if you go waking up your master now can we?" Erik said, weaving in the hypnotic note to his voice that had given him control over so many weak willed people. Unfortunately the dog was not included in the list of people his voice worked on. The hybrid only crouched low and growled more viscously in preparation to pounce.
" Ghost No!"
The dogs ears flattened at the command and but it soon perked back up and bounded over to its master. Erik followed the dogs progress with his eyes and saw it sit at attention next to Ariel with her face gentle from sleep and a dark blue robe wrapped around her body. Her red hair contrasting sharply with the fabric so that Erik once again remembered the seeing her on the roof. With the wolf sitting next to her it was like a painting come to life.
Ariel looked guilty as she patted the wolf dogs head. " I'm sorry about Ghost. He's very protective and I forgot to let him know you were a guest here." She said and held the scruff of the dogs neck and hauled him back over to the couch where Erik was still sitting. Ariel reached out for his hand and Erik recoiled from her touch. Ghost growled.
She looked at him apologetically. " This is the only way he'll accept you. If I can't trust you neither will he."
Erik felt his heart leap at this. He knew it was only about the dog but he couldn't help finding his own meaning in her words. Could he trust this woman? ( Her names Ariel you fool ! ) Erik didn't know if he could bring himself to use her name though. He almost laughed realizing she was an angel by name if not anything else.
He hesitantly let Ariel take his hand and she smiled. Then holding his hand she brought Erik's palm to Ghost's snout. The hybrid sniffed his hand, nuzzling his wet nose in Erik's palm and he almost jerked back at the alien feeling. Ariel's thumb started to run gently across the heel of Erik's palm and he calmed at the touch.
" This is Erik." She said to the dog. " He's a friend, so be nice to him Ghost." The dog gave an excited yip and without warning planted both of it's front paws on Erik's chest. For a moment all the wind was knocked out of the phantom but when he registered Ghost was licking his face as if he were a long lost master unrestrainable laughter managed to fill the room.
Ariel was shocked and delighted as she watched the phantom start to laugh at Ghost's actions. She had expected a million different reactions but this one.
" To think you were going to kill me not a moment ago and now i'm your best friend. Your a puzzling creature Ghost." Erik said with a chuckle and a smile that lit up the left side of his face and his eyes.
Ariel patted Ghost's back as the dog continued to lavish affections on Erik. Good Boy Ghost. She smiled and after a while hauled Ghost off her guest. She laughed.
" Now that you've had an early morning bath would you two gentlemen like some breakfast?" Ariel asked and was immediately answered by Ghost's happy bark. Erik smiled. " I believe Ghost speaks for both of us Madame Gentry. But I insist on helping you."
Erik began to get up but Ariel pushed him back onto the couch rather unlady like but tough shit. " Your not helping me with anything Erik, your staying right there. Ghost keep him on the couch." Ariel said in a way that left no room for argument. Ghost leapt onto the couch and laid his front paws and head out on Erik's lap and looked up at the masked man imploringly. Erik scratched the dogs ears and Ghost's eyes closed and his tail wagged in response.
Ariel laughed at the sight before noticing all the books and scripts laid open on the coffee table. Among them was all three Phantom books by Susan Kay, Gaston Leroux and not so popular 'Phantom of Manhattan', the Andrew Lloyd Weber Musical Libretto with pictures and some fan fiction scripts of her own. The movies and cds had been scattered about and the jewel cases left open, and Ariel realized Erik had no idea how they worked. Erik must have stayed up all night reading this. It would sure save her a lot of explaining but not embarrassment as the fan fiction scripts were romantic ones.
" Did you sleep at all last night ?" She asked with concern, starting to gather the books and putting them back on the bookshelves. She saw Erik sober from his recent outburst and Ariel was sorry for asking.
" I don't sleep that often and they were necessary for me to read. I understand a little better whats going on. Just not how I got here." Erik's voice was low and controlled as he still absently scratched Ghost's ears to the dogs delight. He sounded more like the Erik she had known through her stories now and she felt like she was on familiar ground.
" Maybe I should explain where you are then. Phantom's Lair Theater is a place where we take your story, the versions you've read and well change them to how we think things should have happened." Ariel said carefully and saw Erik nod his head, taking in everything she said. " In this theater we take those stories and make them into plays or musicals and act them out on our stage. It's called Phantom's Lair because we only do alternative stories about you and the other people who were part of your life."
" Like the two you wrote?" He asked, indicating the ones on the coffee table and Ariel nodded. " Perfect examples of what we do here." She said, turning into the kitchen and turning on the coffee pot. She was making coffee for twelve anyway.
" And the players for the theater, do you have someone who plays me?" Erik asked in the other room.
" Yes, but Anthony is leaving the company soon. You can meet the whole cast if you like, they'll be here in an hour." Ariel smiled as she started cooking breakfast. " I think you'll like our resident Raoul a lot." She said cheerily, deliberately baiting the man. She heard a distinct growl that was not from Ghost.
" And why do you think that?" His voice was cold and very close. Ariel turned to see him sitting at the kitchen table, take a tentative taste of the coffee she'd left there for him. She didn't react to his reaction and only smiled. " Because Darius Ojeda, the man who plays Raoul in all our productions is gay and he loves you ."
Erik's first real gulp of coffee was ceremoniously spit across the room and Ariel started to laugh and try not to knock over the eggs she was cooking. While Erik stared at her aghast. (The world has gone mad) And Erik's assumption wouldn't be far off the moment the Phantom's Lair Theater players showed up for rehearsal.
:: Evil laughter:: Poor Erik is not having his best day. But he'll be more himself in the next chapter I promise.
Next Chapter: We get to see what Ariel meant by Darius loving Erik. And there will be songs in the next chapter as you'll get to see a piece from one of the Phantom's Lair Theater productions. Erik will get to see one of the stories about him played out on stage.
Keep reviewing and the chapters will keep coming. See you on the stage again soon.