The Point of No Return

By: Kaitlynrose

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Not profiting.

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Raoul pulled frantically at the ropes that held him captive as he heard Christine tell the Phantom that she hated him.

"Christine forgive me, please for give me. I did it all for you and all of it for nothing."

He watched at the Phantom walked over and picked up the hang man's noose. This was it. He was going to die, but at least if he sacrificed his life she would be free to leave.

"Say you love him and my life is over! For any way you choose he has to win!" Raoul cried to her as the Phantom placed the rope around his neck and tightened the noose.

"So do you spend your days with me? Or do you send him to his grave?" the Phantom screamed at her.

"Why make her lie to you to save me?" Raoul spat before the phantom jerked the roped. The rough fibers scraped at his neck.

Desperately Raoul continued to pull at the ropes to try and free his hands. Christine had been right. The Phantom was going to separate them forever, but he would not beg for his life.

"Christine, say no. Don't throw your life away for my sake!" He saw her tears streaming down her face, tears she was shedding for him. Pity and sorrow began to take hold of Raoul as he realized their future together was doomed. "I tried so hard to free you." He could no longer hold back his own tears as he saw the pain she was in.

"You deceived me," Christine told the Phantom. "I gave you my mind blindly."

"You try my patience. Now make your choice." With those words the Phantom gave a powerful jerk on the rope, finally cutting off Raoul's ability to breathe completely. He gagged and felt his tongue force its way out of his mouth. Oh God, it was really going to end like this. He twisted his head slightly and was able to pull in the shallowest of breaths, but he knew he didn't have long left.

"I love you." Christine didn't actually say the words out loud but merely mouthed them. He knew she was fearful of how the monster before them would react if she had uttered them aloud, but he knew she had said them none the less, and he was grateful that if he had to die then at least the final words she said to him were words of love.

Christine was desperate. As much as she couldn't imagine a life of living in eternal night, she wouldn't let Raoul die. His life was worth more than her happiness. Slowly she walked into the water.

"Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known?
God give me courage to show you, you are not alone."

She placed her hands on his face, closed her eyes, and kissed him softly at first and then deeper. She had to convince the Phantom that she was truly willing to stay with him for the rest of her life. Raoul's life depended on it.

She pulled back and looked into the Phantom's eyes and was shocked. She didn't see love, or obsession, or even satisfaction. She saw heartbreak, but she also saw that he was weakening his hold on the rope. Once more she leaned in and kissed him more deeply, more passionately, than she had ever even kissed Raoul.

Raoul closed his eyes. He couldn't watch his beloved give her life away to save his. He couldn't watch such a passionate moment when it involved the woman he loved and another. Without even realizing it, though, he breathed more deeply as the rope gave way a little. All was silent and still and when Raoul finally opened his eyes he saw something unexpected. The monster was crying. Why? He did not know, but crying he was.

"Track down this murderer," came a chorus of voices from somewhere in the caverns.

Hope! Blessed sweet hope! Help was coming. 'Oh God, please let them arrive before it was too late' Raoul prayed.

"Take her! Forget me! Forget all you have seen!" the Phantom cried as he walked away from Christine.

Both Raoul and Christine were dumbstruck. Was the Phantom really going to let them both go and live to tell the tale?

"Tell no one what you've seen!" the Phantom continued.

Finally Christine realized they were being set free and she rushed to Raoul. Quickly she released the knot from around Raoul's throat and tossed it away. Raoul gulped in a ragged breath and coughed. The moment Christine freed his hands from the ropes that bound him he reached out and pulled her to him and held her tight. He breathed in the scent of her and felt momentarily faint with delirious happiness. They were free. They were alive. She still loved him, even though he had failed her.

"Go now! Go now and leave me!"

Raoul didn't need to be told twice. He walked over the lever that controlled the gate and moved it. The gate began to climb. Raoul led Christine to the boat. His only thought was to get her out of this hellish place of despair.

"Raoul, wait!" she said. "There is something I need to do."

He saw her start to walk toward the Phantom. "Christine?" he questioned.

"It will be okay," she told him, and he believed her. They hadn't come this far to lose now. Besides, help was on the way should the Phantom try something else.

As he stood on the boat he watched as Christine walked up to the Phantom and stood before him like some kind of offering.

"Christine, I love you," the Phantom sang to her in the most heartbroken voice Raoul had ever heard. He actually pitied the broken and disfigured man before him, but not enough to forgive him of the murders he had committed or for the violence done to Raoul himself, and he certainly didn't pity him enough to let him have Christine.

At first he was uncertain of what it was Christine had given the monster, but then he saw it was the engagement ring. The one he had bought for Christine a month ago. That had been such a joyous occasion. It had been the most beautiful ring in the shop. Now Raoul never wanted to see that ring again. It was forever tainted. He was glad Christine gave it away.

Finally she returned to him. He held her once more, still trying to prove to himself that they really were alive and together. He used the long pole to push off and moved the boat down the channel. Their nightmare was at an end. They were free. They were alive. They were in love. Raoul vowed to never lose her ever again."

"Say you'll stay with me, one love, one lifetime. Say the word and I will follow you…" he sang to her. His heart swelled as Christine returned the words to him. He saw her glance back at the Phantom one last time before the boat finally rounded the corner and the Phantom was out of their lives forever.

They looked into each other's eyes as they both sang the words, "Love me, that's all I ask of you." Then Raoul stopped pushing the boat long enough to lean in and kiss her, softly at first, and then more passionate. He wanted his kiss to erase from her mind the one she had shared with her Angel of Music.

When the kiss finally broke she pulled back and said, "You saved me."

"No," he replied, "you saved me. I'm sorry I…"

She silenced him by putting her finger over his lips. "We saved each other," she stated, her mouth forming a perfect smile for him and her eyes brimming with love.

"Christine, I love you."

The moment was shattered by the breaking of glass and the howls of pain coming from the Phantom's lair. Raoul could picture in his mind's eye the carnage taking place behind them. He continued to push the boat forward. Sentiments would need to wait until they were truly safe. They still had to make their way back to the surface, and avoid anymore traps or torture devices on the way. He would need to focus.

"Christine, do you know a safe way out of here?" he asked.

"Yes, I know how to get back to my dressing room."

"We might not be able to go that way. The opera house is on fire," he said.

"What? But how?" she gasped.

Of course, she didn't know. She had fallen before the chandelier had crashed.

"The Phantom rigged the chandelier to fall after he escaped with you. Several people were killed and the theater room burst into flames. I don't know if the fire has now spread to the backstage area, but if it has we will need to find a different way out. I hope it hasn't. Christine, this place is full of dangerous traps. I almost didn't make it out of the one I fell in to. I want to spare you any more danger if I can."

"Oh Raoul, what terrors you have had to endure and all for my sake," she cried.

"Hush now. I would do it all again, a hundred times over, if it would mean that you would be safe." He quickly kissed her cheek before he continued moving the boat. "We must hurry. Time is of the essence. We must beat the fire before it spreads too far out of control."

Finally they came to the waters edge and saw several directions to go.

"This way," Christine said. She tugged on Raoul's arm and they hurried off, moving as quickly as they could up the grade. They made several turns, each taking them higher and higher. Finally the ground leveled out and they were in a long tunnel with candelabras lining the walls.

"Almost there," Christine said.

He knew she was right, for the air grew warm and the stench of smoke burned the throat and lungs.

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I hope you are enjoying my version of events. I'm glad to learn that I'm not the only Raoul fan out there.