Disclaimer: I don't own it sighs sadly, but Carmen and all other none Phantom of the Opera characters are mine, though. Mine! My own! My precoiusssssssssss!

Many thanks to all who reveiwed chapter uno!

Alot of people were asking stuff like how Eric got into the future and stuff. Don't worry, all of that will be answered very soon (as in, in either this chapter or chapter three), and don't worry, Songwind! The mask will play a more important part in this chapter. The only reason it wasn't in the first chapter more is that most of that chapter occurs in a timespan of about a half an hour (tops), so Carmen hasn't really digested the fact that he might not be some geek in a costume, so the mask hasn't been any weirder than the rest of Erik's ensamble.

I'm really, really sorry about the stupidly long time it took me to update, particullarly after I said I'd have this chapter up the day after chapter one came. First, I was plauged by writer's block, and then my dad went and rearanged our home networking system, crashing the internet in the process. It's all fixed now, so I think we can realisticly expect chapter three to be up in about a week, give or take a few days.

Also, I know I might be marring a few facts, both from the movie and from real life, but in order to eliminate some big problems, the facts must be marred. I could get around marring them if I had to, but it would detract from the story, so marred they shall be.

Chapter Two: The Truth at Last

Carmen could almost see the cogs turning in Erik's head. She didn't see what was so hard about telling the simplest of truths. He knew who she was, so why the hell was he being such an idiot? Didn't he trust her by now?

Erik sighed. "How can I convince you that I'm not lying to you? Besides, you think you're confused, I don't even know where I am, or how I got here."

Then, Carmen had an idea.

"Take off the mask." she said, hoping that the tone of her voice would communicate to Erik that this was not a request.

"What?" he asked, backing away from her a bit.

" You heard me. Take it off." she repeated. "If you really were the Phantom of the Opera, you'd be malformed beneath the mask."

"But..."

" Do you want me to beleive you or not? I just got hit by a semi while saving your sorry ass from becoming road pizza! I think you owe it to me to show me who I saved!"

"FINE!" Erik roared. He stood up and ripped off the mask, revealing something that reminded Carmen of pictures of bombing victims she'd seen on the news. She tried not to look too frightened or horrified, but judging by the sad and ashamed look on Erik's face, she could tell she'd done a bad job of it.

"This", he sighed Is why I must wear the mask."

"It's not really all that bad."Carmen observed. " A good plastic surgeon could fix that fairly easily."

Inside, Carmen flinched. She let her guard down. She'd made it seem like she beleived him. If there ever was a time for him to break out of character and laugh mercilessly at her, now was it... But Erik wasn't laughing. Instead, he was staring at her with unparalleled interest.

"Before you go on, which you most certainly will," he began slowly, " You must first answer me a few questions. First, do you beleive me now?"

" I beleive as much as you could possibly"

"Yes or no?"

Carmen paused for a moment, "Yes." she answered finally.

"Good. Now, where are we?"

"Were in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.."

"The nation of Ohio, you say?"

" No, the state of Ohio, in the nation of the United States of America."

"What year is it?"

" Two thousand five."

Erik made a funny choking sound and fell off the sofa... "Two thousand five!" he finally managed.

Carmen nodded. "Yeah."

It was a while before Erik recovered from the shock. " So, what has happened in the past century and a half that's worth telling me about?"

"Well, the British Empire collapsed, we've had two world wars, the United States is now the world's most powerful nation, and we've invented the internet, a wonderful aspect of life which I will introduce you to later."

Erik nodded. "And do you have any idea how I ended up here?"

Carmen shrugged. "None whatsoever."

"...Back to that plastic surgery thing, you said it could fix my face?"

"Without a doubt. I've seen them fix things alot bigger and alot worse than what you've got-"

"-And how does one go about one of these plastic surgeries?" he interrupted her, clearly eager for an explanation.

" You go to a doctor and make an appointment. Then, probably about a month later, you go in, they'll put you to sleep wth a drug called anastesia, and then I'm not really sure what they do, but when you wake up, your face would look normal... well actually, It'll be all bruised and puffy for a few weeks, and then it'll look normal. The only downside is that it's rather costly... I don't know how you'd get the money... because I certainly can't afford it."

"Yes, I suppose that could be a problem..." Erik was silent for a few miniutes, apparently deep in thought. After a while, he looked up at her. "Do you know what the Bank of Paris does with accounts that have been innactive for centuries?"

"I imagine they'd be terminated, but it's worth checking into." Carmen went over to her computer, her vision was still a bit blurry from her blow to the head, but she could walk on her own.

As it turned out, the bank of London did terminate accounts after they'd been innactive for a certain amount of time, and Erik's acount had probably been gone for more than a hundred years.

"Damn!" he'd swore upon their finding this. "Well, so much leaving inheritance for whoever found my lair..."

Inheritance! The word sparked a memory for Carmen. When her grandmother had, died, she'd left her a quarter of her estate, which was a sum of about a quarter of a million dollars. Now that she was legally an adult, she money was hers..."On second thought, Erik, I think I might be able to help you out..."

(Meanwhile...)

"Did the spell work?"

The man paced in front of Stella, his leather boots clicking on her bare floor. True, he was the love of her life, but he was still a demanding leader, and being his lover did not gain her any favor amongst the Association of the Gifted. To gain the next rank, the coveted position of master chaneller, she would have to succesfully bring someone from the past back to life, just like any other candidate.

" I don't know." she replied. " My damned roomate broke my meditation, so it would have had a delayed effect."

" Then perhaps it would be prudent to pay her a visit and discover if there have been any unusual occurances recently."

"Yes." she nodded in agreement, "That would be an excellent idea. I shall do so immediately."

Carmen nervously twirled a peice of her long, maple syrup colored, hair around her finger. Erik was grinning uncontrollably, and she didn't blame him. It finally looked as though the infliction that had plauged him all of his life would be lifted, and he had every right to be happy, but Carmen couldn't figure out why she was so eager to help this man, whom she'd known only for a few hours, and hadn't even trusted untill a few miniutes ago. For some reason, she felt like she'd known Erik for years. But then again, hadn't she? Perhaps she'd only known him on a face-to-face basis for a few hours, but she'd always felt attatched to his character in the book, and even more so to his slightly more likeable character from the movie, whom he seemed to resemble more, both in appearence and personality.

A wave of nausia interrupted Carmen's thoughts , and she was forced to sit back down on her futon sofa with Erik. Her head was still spinning, so, more out of curiousity than of a need to lie down, she laid her head on Erik's shoulder. To her surprise (and releif), he didn't move away or give her an odd look. Actually, he looked rather amused.

The girl was quite a gem, Erik thought. She'd saved his life, and now she was willing to help him again. Words, he decided, were too weak to describe the gratitude he felt towards her, so instead of saying anything, he merely placed an arm around her and allowed her to fall asleep on his shoulder.

There was a knock at the door, but Erik didn't want to answer, so her gently laid Carmen down on the sofa, and crept silently over to the door.. and locked it. After what seemed like an eternity, the knocking stopped, and he heard someone walk away.