Well, this is long in coming! Sorry guys. I've been… uh… distracted. –cough-

I hope that you enjoy this chapter. I had fun writing it. It has a bit of "suggestion" in it, and I am not sure whether to move it up to 'T' or not. Hmm…

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK IN YOUR REVIEW!


Erik paced back and forth in the dark alleyway. This wasn't right. He couldn't be the Vicomte! It was just… wrong. He'd been gone about an hour. Christine was sure to be nervous soon. Besides, what had happened to Raoul? Why had he been cursed to the man's body?

And what had happened to HIS body?

Deciding to go to the opera house and see what was going on, Erik set out from the dark of the shadows. Many girls looked at him, and the gentlemen tipped their hats. Erik slowed down a bit and tried to enjoy the attention he was getting, even if it was on account of Raoul's body.

When the Opera House came into view, he started up the steps. A large sign declared the newest opera and a large picture of La Carlotta. He rolled his eyes. She'd come crawling back the Paris Opera House after getting rejected by seventeen other opera houses.

People nodded to Erik as he walked in the door, and one girl tried to hug him. Gosh, was Raoul that much of a ladies man? Really, Erik wasn't surprised. He walked down the hall to the place where he could most discretely get in to a trap door.

When he finally had gotten down the trapdoor (he wasn't used to Raoul's useless muscles) and to his home, he thought he heard weeping. Rolling his eyes, Erik went up the steps.

Erik's body sat in the coffin bawling. It muttered, "Why? Why do I have to be SOOO ugly?"

"Raoul?" Erik ventured.

"Who are you?" the man's eyes whipped up to meet… his own.

"I'm Erik. What are you doing in my body?" he asked.

"I DON'T KN-KN-KNOW!" Raoul stuttered. "Here I am all ugly and look at you, Mr. Handsome!" the man burst into a new set of sobs.

"Raoul, you have to calm down." Erik said.

"How can I? You get Christine and, well, it's just not fair!" Raoul said.

Erik hadn't thought about it quite like that. As long as he was in Raoul's body, he could have Christine all he wanted! An evil grin lit his face.

"Well, we have to figure out a way to get switched back." Raoul said.

"Right. I want my body back before you kill me. That'd be bad." Erik paused. "Maybe you better not stay down here in the cellar."

"Why? I don't want people to see me! I'm so ugly!" he said.

"Raoul. Enough with the ugly thing. Its just dangerous down here when you don't know what you're doing… or who you are." Erik rolled his eyes. "Though I have to admit that it is nice to not have to wear that mask for a bit."

"See? SEE! You get all the good stuff out of this switch. You get Christine, you get a beautiful face, and you get a beautiful home and servants. What do I get? An organ, a lake, a mask, and a bunch of bras." Raoul spit out the word.

Erik's brow knitted together. Bras? Oh. "Don't you mean 'candelabras', Raoul?"

"Whatever." Raoul muttered.

Erik sighed and walked over to his coffin. He stood and stared at it for a while, fingers to his temples. Raoul just couldn't be him. HE COULDN'T!

Erik sighed. "Alright, Raoul. Come with me. I'm taking you to an apartment complex. With your money I'm going to rent you out a room, and you'll live there until we get this all sorted out."

"What if I won't go?" Raoul asked stubbornly.

"I'll take you by force. Please don't make this difficult."

"Fine." Raoul pouted.

XxXxX

"Sir. I'm taking this... Phantom away. He'll be MUCH happier where I'm taking him. You won't have to worry about him anymore." Erik said, gritting his teeth and forcing a smile.

"Oh, brava Monsieur!" the current manager beamed.

Raoul didn't have to try hard to look disgusted, though he was disgusted only for the reason that Erik was acting perfectly horrible!

Or was he just being like Raoul?

XxXxX

Christine frowned as she paced back and forth on the carpet. Where was Raoul? He'd been gone over an hour and it was odd for him. Usually if he went outside at all it was to pick up something that accidentally blew out the window.

This was very odd.

XxXxX

Erik had dropped Raoul off at the apartment complex. The place had been slightly furnished already so Erik didn't have to worry about somehow getting him stuff to sleep on and cook with. Hopefully the man wouldn't burn the place down.

As he walked to the door of the Vicomte's home, he was shocked to see an angry looking Christine standing outside of the door. "Christine." He breathed.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, RAOUL!" she exclaimed. "You never go outside unless you're forced to!"

"Uh… I decided I needed a little fresh air." Erik stammered.

Christine's gaze looked fit to murder.

"Its Thursday." She said.

"Yeah, so?"

"Raoul! You should know by now that this is our special day." Christine looked crestfallen.

"Did we miss last week?" Erik asked.

"No. We had a great time." Christine waggled her eyebrows.

Realization sank into Erik as he realized what "Thursdays" consisted of. Taking Christine's hand, he led her into the house.

Oh yeah. The switch was worth it.


R AND R!