Chapter 24: They'll Blame the Opera Ghost in the Morning

Nextchapter upfinally! I'm sorry for the wait, but I've been busy, not to mention the blown modem, but now it is fixed and I can finally finish this thing! WHOO! And this chapter is longer! So yay!

"Danielle, keep up!" barked Raoul, walking quickly up the Opera Populaire's steps.

Danielle huffed, running after him, and slapped in the back of the head. He yelped and fell against the hard oaken doors of the opera house.

"Damn," he muttered. "It's locked! Tell me! Who locks the opera house?" he yelled unhappily.

"Um. Raoul?" Danielle sighed. "It's already 5 minutes 'til 9. Everyone's gone!"

Raoul sighed impatiently and dug in his coat pockets for a few minutes.

"Either this key works," he grumbled. "or I take that thing out of your hair and we break in."

"Hey!" she shrieked, raising her hands to her head, where her hair was perfectly placed with bobby pins. "Back off the nice hair-do!"

He cursed as the key wouldn't turn. He cursed louder, rammed the key into the lock, slammed it to the side a few times before finally getting it to fit, then gave a great turn, heaving himself into the door.

"Aha!" he cried, throwing open the door with a sharp crack. "Victory!"

"Watch the police come after us now..."

"Oh, tosh," he shrugged. "I'm the Vicomte of Paris!" he boasted, walking briskly towards-wait, where was he going?

"Where are you going, Raoul?" Danielle asked.

"No clue...Christine's dressing room? We can use the mirror."

"How many times must I tell you, there is a lever in the back of the mirror, so no one on the other side can get past it."

"Damn...Clever bastard..." he groaned.

"Yes, you've sad that," said Danielle bitterly.

"So...where do we go?"

A loud bang was heard throughout the foyer the two were standing in. Danielle jumped off the marble tile, and Raoul dug around in his pockets for his pistol. Apparently, the Vicomte keeps everything in his pocket.

"Nice way to get us caught, Gaston!" hissed a female voice through the darkness behind Danielle and Raoul.

"Christine!" thought Raoul feverishly, trying to make a run for her, but Danielle held him back.
Gaston? she was thinking. No, no, no. No way. He's alive!

"Sorry," a male voice mumbled in reply. "Didn't mean to slam the door..."

"Whose is that voice?" growled Raoul.

"Ssh!" commanded Danielle and pulled the two of them behind a statue. She didn't know what was going on, but she wanted to wait for her opportune moment, like Elsa would certainly tell her.

Raoul, thankfully, understood and merely gripped his gun in his pocket tightly. He, too, could wait for his "opportune moment."

Footsteps echoed on the marble flooring as they approached.

"I think she's waking up," mumbled the male voice-Gaston.

"Zut!" Christine cursed. "Hit her over the head again, then! Do something!"

What the...? both Raoul and Danielle were thinking.

"I can't reach my gun!" said Gaston. "Anyway, we'll need to prove to idiot Erik she's alive. Or he'll noose us, I suppose."

Christine gave an aggravated sigh, but followed Gaston as he walked right past the statue Raoul and
Danielle were hiding behind.

Raoul was frowning angrily. Is this the Gaston Danielle was talking about? Why was Christine with him? What were they doing? So many questions for one Vicomte.

Danielle was suffering from the same confusion, but decided to keep quiet and stay hidden. What could she do anyway? She did have one other question though. Who was the 'she' Christine and
Gaston were talking about? Who was waking up?

"Alright, so where is this opera ghost?" asked Gaston, pacing the foyer. "It is now 9 o'clock. He wouldn't be late would he?"

A low moan sounded through the hall.

"She's waking up!" groaned Christine.

"Oh, Christine," Gaston sighed. He loved her, yes, but she was awfully hard to get along with sometimes.

"Alright, I demand to know what is going on here!" announced Raoul, immerging from behind the statue.

"Raoul!" muttered Danielle. "Damn impatient Vicomte!"

Christine gasped. "Raoul! What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Raoul shot back. "And who, pray tell, is that?"

"Monsieur le Vicomte," Gaston said, putting out his hands innocently. "There is no offense in this, none at all. Christine was visiting me-I'm an old childhood friend-and I offered to escort her home. But when you proved absent, we decided to hunt for you here, at the opera house." He smiled.

Raoul milled this thought over in his mind a moment.

"That seems logical..."

"Gaston!" Danielle cried, deciding to speak. She ran to him and hugged him. "I thought you had been kidnapped!"

"Kidnapped?" he asked, confused.

She looked at him strangely. "Remember? When we were waiting for Celui out in the corridors? You disappeared." She still hadn't pieced the facts together...

"Ah, yes," he stuttered. "You see, I, uh, well, I just got a case of cold feet and needed to leave."

"But you told me you were going to go look for Celui-"

Christine sighed, perturbed. "You silly girl! Gaston, please explain to her, and to monsieur de Chagny what is really going on here."

"Christine?" asked Gaston and Raoul simultaneously.

"That will be quite alright, Gaston," boomed a voice from behind the whole group. "I will tell you what is going on, monsieur de Chagny!"

Everyone whirled around, and Christine gave an astonished cry when standing before them was Erik, looming dangerously, a hand gripped tightly around a burning torch that illuminated he foyer.

Gaston cursed quietly, Christine bit her lip, and Raoul and Christine shared looks of confusion.

"You see, monsieur, mademoiselle, Gaston is-"

"Erik?" came a soft voice from...below him? "Is that you?"

"Elsa?" Danielle asked.

"Dammit, girl!" growled Gaston, pulling Elsa to her feet. "Must you ruin everything?"

Elsa, who had been abandoned and lying in the floor, finally gained her senses and attempted to ask Erik, who was standing on her hair, to get off. But now Gaston had dragged her to her feet, so she was relieved of that pain.

"I told you to kill her before we left," mumbled Christine, hiding herself behind Gaston, who had retreated away from the Phantom.

Erik narrowed his eyes at the pair of offenders. Raoul and Danielle still shared looks of confusion.

"Give her back to me, Gaston," said Erik.

"Hah! You think I'll just hand her over, just like that?" he laughed. "Not until you give me the papers!"

"Yes, hand them over, Erik," Christine said.

"Christine," Erik said sadly, "you really are with him?"

"Yes, I love him!"

"Christine!" yelped Raoul. "You don't mean that!"

"Raoul," Christine sighed. "I despise you, you pathetic Vicomte."

"Chri-!"

"Now, Raoul, be quiet! We're trying to finish a deal here!"

"A deal?" Danielle asked.

"The Opera Populaire for her, just as we said, Phantom!" said Gaston.

"Okay, can you let go of my arm?" asked Elsa, yawning. "Damn..."

"Shut up!" Gaston growled.

"How many times have I told you not to tell me to shut up?" yelled Elsa, tired of being mistreated by some stupid boy barely older than herself.

"Why are you so difficult?" asked Christine.

"Quiet, all of you," Erik commanded. He took the roll of papers from under his cloak. "Here are the blasted papers, Gaston."

"You mean you're really giving me the Populaire?" asked Gaston, surprised.

Christine nudged him in the ribs.

"I mean, yes! Give them here then," he said.

"Erik, don't," said Elsa, rolling her eyes. "He's an idiot. He doesn't even have the guts to kill me."

"Elsa, don't test me," he said, twisting her wrist.

"Ow, thank you. But no, you won't kill me. You're pathetic! Christine came closer to killing me than you. Okay, so you gave me some bruises, but-!"

Gaston slapped her hard across the face.

Click.

Both Raoul's and Erik's pistols were aimed at Gaston. A quick appreciative glance to Raoul, and Erik threw the papers at Gaston's feet.

"Many thanks," Gaston smiled as Christine picked up the papers, leafing through them and looking at them in the dim light.

"Now, let her go," Erik said. "Or I'm afraid she'll kill you before I have the chance to shoot you."

"Wha-?"

Elsa, after rubbing her face, landed a hard punch in Gaston's stomach.

"Hit me again, Gaston," she threatened.

Danielle laughed. That was Elsa, alright.

"Why, you llittle-"

A loud bang echoed through the foyer. Christine screamed and covered her eyes. Danielle winced and covered her ears. Elsa looked wide eyed at Gaston, who was nowat her feet. Erik looked at Raoul.

"You shot him, Vicomte?"Erik asked, his hand slightly trembling. He hadn't even planned to shoot.

"Yes, he was getting on my nerves," he muttered, looking at the distraught Christine.

"Oh, damn," said Elsa quietly, backing away.

Christine sobbed and fell to her knees beside Gaston's still form.

"Elsa," Erik said softly. He could care less about Christine at the moment, and he wanted to hold Elsa close to him.

She looked at him and smiled, running to him. Jumping into his arms, she almost cried just looking up into his eyes.

"I never thought I'd see you again," she said, blushing.

He wanted to kiss her, just kiss her, not caring about whoever else was in the room. But he didn't. He was a little self conscious of Danielle and the Vicomte standing next to him. So he simply smiled at her.

"Christine," said Raoul quietly. Was their relationship over? He feared it so...

"Leave me alone," she snapped at him, getting to her feet. "Just leave me be!" she cried and ran out of the Populaire.

Danielle thought about running out to her, trying to reason with her, but Raoul sighed and disagreed.

"Let her go. She'll catch the train to Soho to be with her aunt...Just let her go."

"But what will you do?" Danielle asked. "What will people say?"

"Oh, so there will be a scandal in Paris. The Vicomte loses his wife, I can see the headlines now." He sighed heavily and after a moment of thought said, "Let's go home Danielle."

"Wait, Raoul," she said, then hugged Elsa tightly. "I'm glad you're alright. I worried every night about you, I thought I'd lost you, and-"

"Will, it's fine. I'm safe," Elsa smiled, hugging her again.

"Hey, did he-Was it a Johnathan Waters thing?" she asked.

"No!" laughed Elsa. "I wouldn't let him do that to me!"

"Oh, good," Danielle sighed. "But...He was Celui?"

"Yes he was..."

"He lied to me," sighed Danielle, her eyes growing misty.

"He lied to everyone," Elsa said. "Don't blame yourself."

"But I'm responsible for letting him-"

"I don't want to hear it," said Elsa, putting up her hand. "Now go on home. Go to bed. You could use some rest."

"That I could," sighed Danielle. "Alright. I'll come and see you tomorrow."

"I'll be here," she smiled, taking Erik's hand discreetly.

He smiled and gripped it tightly, not wanting to let her go and lose her again.

"'Night Jack," Danielle said, following a slient Raoul out of the opera house.

Elsa siged when they were gone, leaning against Erik for support. She was bruised and in pain, and didn't know if she could stand on her own any longer.

"Elsa," he said quietly, wrapping his arms around her, "I missed you so much."

She smiled. "I missed you too...Erik?" she asked, looking at him.

"Yes?"

She bit her lip nervously. "Never mind," she mumbled, looking away.

Hmm...he thought. Perhaps...? No...

"Well, I say we get you back to my home and into bed. You look tired."

She nodded. Damn, shoulda kissed him, she yelled at herself. She winced when she took a step. Oh, sore. Ow.

"Any broken bones?" he asked, supporting her.

She shook her head. "Just many, many bruises."

"I'm sorry," he said sadly. "I wish I had been able to-"

"Don't even think it, Erik," she smiled. "I'm fine. Not that weak, ya know. I did punch him in the stomach."

"Yes, that was very admirable."

"He was an idiot, trust me. But you're right, we should go down now," she prodded him. "Please?" She wanted to leave!

"Oh, yes, of course. Anything."

"Oh, but what about him?" she asked, looking back at Gaston.

Erik frowned and looked at the fallen body.

"Leave him," he muttered, turning her away from the sight. "They'll blame the opera ghost tomorrow morning."

"But I don't want you to be blamed, Erik. It hurts me when they treat you-"

"I know, I know," he whispered. "But put it from your mind. They're used to the occasional murder," he smiled grimly.

"Fine, you win," she said. "But what about the papers?"

"Fake, so don't you worry," he laughed.

"You are a genius," she smiled, and walked with him out of the foyer.

She was glad it was all over, and so was he.

"Ah, I just remembered. I have a gift for you," he said.

"You have a what?"

"Oh, nothing. I didn't say anything."

"But you said you-"

"I didn't, I'm sure you're mistaken," he said, shaking his head.

"Oh, I see your game," she said, crossing her arms. "Leading me on, are you?"

"No, of course not."

She eyed him carefully. "Uh huh...sure then."

He smiled to himself and continued the long walk to his underground home, Elsa's arm in his, feeling a happiness he hadn't felt in quite a while.

I hope you liked it well enough. I told you it was long! Leave your comments, you know I love 'em.