Sorry you guys for not updating in so long. There's a VERY long story to go with it. Heh heh heh. But I'm back. Wooooooot! On to ze chapta! …. I've started to talk like Erik/Elsa. Oy. … there it is again.

By the way, I just want to make a note of this, so that you guys will understand. Erik is not my main character, and therefore he is not the main focus of the story. Mainly Nicole and Elsa are the main characters. I don't want anyone giving me that "Oh, another Mary-Sue story sigh" crap. It gets to me. But no, Erik is not my lead character. He is mainly a sub character to add to the plot. The story is about the three girls struggling with the decision to try and find a way back home or not, and then the readers deciding if their decisions are altered by the love stories of Elsa/Erik, Raoul/Nicole, and Fayt/Danielle.

Alright… I'm stopping there. Next chapter. And it took me a looooooong time I know, but its a long chapter.

Danielle snickered at the small children they saw chasing a chicken through the streets of the slums. Fayt didn't have much money to take her anywhere, so this is all he could do with her for now. To him, this place was home; the broken cobblestones, the run-down (seemingly medieval) buildings, the smell of the muddy pigpens. Some of those aspects weren't so pleasant, but it was what he had grown up around. Now he only hoped that Ronald's wife, Shella, was fixing something good for dinner. What? He may be the new male lead at the Populaire, but going back for some of the food that she cooked would be a habit that would never leave him.

He lightly knocked on the heavy wooden door before he opened it, sticking his head in and looking around the lantern lit room, "Ronald! Shella! I've come back and I've brought a friend."

Shella came out from another room, Ronald following her. Her hair was long and grey, put back into a tight bun to keep it out of the way for her work. Lines in the corner of her eyes indicated that she had laughed for many years, and that she was aging. Ronald was the same way; happy, jolly, and growing old.

"Oh! Fayt! Come in, dear, please!" Shella exclaimed at the sight and sound of the boy she had raised into this fine young man. Once he had entered, she gave him a firm hug, as well as one to Danny before she stood back and looked the youthful woman over. "My, my, my! Fayt, you've brought home a lovely lady. How'd you get this lucky?"

She was teasing him, of course. Danielle was profusely blushing at the compliment she had just received. It being his home, she was still very shy and decided to stay back and silent unless she was spoken to.

"Shella, Ronald, I'd like for you to meet Danielle. Well, Ronald, you know this, but she's the new Prima Donna at the Opera Populaire. I had the privilege of her joining me for tonight," Fayt smiled over to his date as he said this.

After the introductions were made, Danielle finally had the chance to take in her surroundings. It wasn't much, but for Ronald and Shella, it was a home. It had the old, cold stone floors, blatant wooden walls, and the old oil and candle lighting instead of the new gas lights. To her, this was like being in a third-world-country. Everything was bare, hand made by Ronald's own two calloused hands. Fayt had even helped make some of it when he was younger. A rather new pot-belly wood stove was sitting not too far from the living area, which Fayt had bought with his first purse of pay that he had gotten from the Populaire. The smell of greens and pork filled the dense air.

Fayt pulled out a chair, which was the best one in the house though it still had the rough rickety structure. Danielle, taking the hint, sat down in it, straightening her cobalt blue dress. On to ze feast!

Meanwhile, back at the opera house:

Raoul walked through the doors with Nicole, hand in hand, giggling and carrying on about the highlights of the picnic. Today, of all days, felt right to Nicole. There had been no carriages, no servants following her and Raoul around. They had had a day of peace and quiet out in Parc Monceau.

Now, however, it was time for them to part. A sweet and gentle kiss was exchanged by the two at the bottom of the staircase before Raoul would hesitantly move away, his hand regretfully letting go of hers. Not wanting to take his eyes off of her for a moment as she walked up the stairs, he walked backwards towards the doors, taking each careless step with her own.

BUMP! KNOCK! GAH! TIP! BOOM! CRASH! SHATTER!…………… THUD! SMACK! GROAN!-

Nicole's head whipped around at the sounds, eyes wide as she looked upon the sight. There was Raoul, sitting on the floor, staring down at the pile of dirt and pink carnations in his lap. Pink, of all colors. Then again, it did match the marble. Apparently, the smitten Vicomte had knocked over a beautiful Victorian vase and broke it, sending dirt, flowers, and painted gold ceramic all over the place. At least he had enough money to pay for the damages, right?

By this time, the girl was holding onto the banister, seemingly for dear life, as her hysterical laughter echoed through the halls. Oh! The spleen! It hurt so much from laughing! Well, at least the muscles around it did. The sight of her lover, the oh-so-not-clumsy Raoul de Chagny, sitting in the floor with a pout on his face as he looked to the carnations on his lap was one that could never be beaten. It was too funny.

Once she had regained her composure, Nicole made her way down the steps until Raoul held up a hand to her. "No, go on up to bed. I'll take care of it."

He stood up, the dirt and flowers falling away from him with a rustle, then knelt back down to clean up his mess. Nicole continued on her way to the room that the trio had for themselves in another outburst of laughter, which continued until Elsa took her friend by the shoulders and shook her vigorously, shouting, "For the love of rum! Get a hold on yourself!"

A good fifteen minutes later, which had been spent explaining the previous event through laughs, giggles, and highly unnecessary squeaks, Nicole had finally gotten back to her normal state, that is, after attempting the 'breathe like you are in labor' method a few times. They didn't turn in until Nicole described every little detail about her date to Elsa, and then it was her turn to ask the questions.

"Umm… Elsa?" Nicole feebly asked from the bed adjacent to the one being questioned.

"Yes?" The soon to be 'grilled' one answered.

"Well, I was wondering…" Hesitation from the interrogator.

"Errg… what is it? I'd like to go to bed some time before the Titanic sinks."

Nicole stifled a giggle at her friends 'predicting' of the future. Alright, time to get serious. "What have you been doing lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where have you been disappearing off to? Like the other night when you worried Danielle to death. You didn't come back until after I did, and that was around two in the afternoon. You left before I did and came back after me. That was an awfully long time to get the paper. Where in the world--" She paused. "I feel like I'm going to break out into song with Meg's part of 'Angel of Music.'"

Uh oh. Nicole knew something was up. She had to. She wasn't that dumb. Elsa thought hard for a moment to think of an excuse.

"No diversions this time, Missy," Nicole narrowed her eyes playfully as she said this.

"Hey, that's Mister to you!"

A sigh from Nicole gave the signal that the comment made by Elsa was the last huzzah for the night. "Elsa, I know you are seeing Erik. It's not that hard to figure out. You're a good liar—or should I say actor?—but you aren't so good that I can't tell that something is going on. I know you all too well."

"I know, I'm sorry I didn't tell you," there was an air of guilt in her voice.

"AHA! So it is true!" Nicole's body popped up in the bed so that she could point a finger at her friend and give a rather maniacal laugh.

"Damn it! I fell for it! I can't believe it. Darn you! Darn you all to heck!" She was shocked that she had fallen for it. It had been a trick that was used in almost every single movie she had seen, and yet, Nicole managed to still get her with it. Well, now she knew. Big woop. Her attempts at secrecy had failed, and she was defeated by a fop.

"It's okay… if I wasn't so lazy, I'd be over there patting you on the shoulder right now. Seeing as I am so lazy though, I'm just going to sit here, a safe distance away."

"I hate you, Vicomtesse."

"Hey, hey, hey! I'm not a vicomtesse," she looked down to the sheets, "Not yet anyway."

"What! He didn't propose did he!"

"No, fool! But I'm in love, I really think I am. He's just so… he's everything I've wanted. Forget about Lennon… he's back there… I don't want to go back to him. He's boring, and a pansy."

"I'm glad you have some one. Now that you and Danny both have boyfriends, I don't feel so alone and guilty. Well… Danny and that one guy aren't officially together, thank God. He insulted my clothes!"

There was a moment of silence between the two as they stared at each other in the dim, pale moonlight coming in from the single window they had in the room.

"So," Nicole broke it finally, "is Erik a good smoocher?"

Pillow thrown to head- "ACK!"

Another note so no one will get confused:

The "Her attempts at secrecy had failed, and she was defeated by a fop." might have been like, wtf? to some of you all. I dont know if I explained it or not, but me and my friends have aliases from the movie, and my alias is Raoul, and they call me Raoul. Constantly. And Fop. So yes. Raoul is a fop, so therefore Nicole (I) am a fop. Cleared up? Good. Now review... you know you want to.

Nicole