A/N: oops, this took longer to get up than I had hoped. Hope it was worth the wait.
I don't own anything, blah, blah, blah...
"The music ignites the night with passion and fire..."
Rent, the musical (is that how ignites is spelled?)
Raoul looked at him in surprise. Then Christine came up behind him. She was also out of breath.
"I...I surrender." Alex repeated. "Look, I'll, um, take off my sword! See!" He drew his sword with only a small bit of difficulty and dropped it on the ground. Raoul had tensed when he had drawn it, but now he asked,
"Who are you?" Alex was relieved that Raoul spoke English. Then he remembered that he had heard him speak in English to Christine.
"Idiot," he muttered to himself.
"Pardon?" Raoul asked sharply.
"Er, nothing. Not you. I mean, yeah, I'm Alex. It's, er, nice to meet you." He held out his hand, and Raoul shook it, though he let go quickly. "And you are...Raoul?" Raoul nodded. "I, uh, heard you through the door." Alex said hastily. Maybe it would be better not to say that he knew everything about Raoul, except how Raoul managed to sing over the phantom in the line, "Either way you choose, he has to win".
Christine moved and took Raoul's hand. "What are we going to do?" she whispered. Alex heard her anyway.
"Don't worry, Christine. Everything will be fine." he murmured back. "Monsieur," he addressed Alex, "I wish to know what you were doing in my fiancee's dressing room." Alex blinked. Finacee? They weren't married yet?
"It was...an accident..." he said. Alex thought that he really should let Kite do the talking. Or Kat. They would know what to say.
Kat bolted down the hall. "He can't be too far ahead!" She said to Alex. Then she rounded a corner, and ran right into someone. She looked up and saw Kite. "Oh, thank goodness it's you!" she said, then she turned and looked for Alex. She saw no one. "Alex?" She called. "Where did he go? I was sure he was right behind me!" Kat exclaimed. Then she heard a door slamming. "That might be him!" She said. Kite peered down the hall.
"Yeah, hurry, I forgot he's a really slow runner." Kite and Kat ran back down the way they had come. They just rounded a corner when they dived back around it.
"Did she see us?" Kat asked franticly.
"I don't think so." Kite said, he glanced around the corner. "She's gone into another room." he reported.
Kite and Kat had just decided to risk rushing past the door that Christine had gone into when people came out of it. They dashed back to the other side of the corner yet again and peered out. Kat saw that it was Christine and Raoul and, her heart sank, Alex. Alex was walking in front of Raoul in a very dejected sort of way. Kite noticed that Raoul was carrying Alex's sword.
"Oh no," he groaned, "he didn't try to fight, did he?" Kite looked down at the mask he was carrying. "Give me that! Quick!" He said as he tugged the cloak out of Kat's grasp. He fit the mask on, and then put on the cloak.
"Oh, no! You can't do that!" Kat hissed at him once she realized what he intended to do. Kite glared at her.
"We can't just abandon Alex!" He said. Kat tried to reason.
"Come on! We don't know that Raoul has any bad intentions! What would you do if you were at home and strange people suddenly burst out of your bathroom or your closet or something? You'd want to find out where they came from! That's all he probably wants to do! No, Kite, don't do it!" But Kite didn't listen. He grasped the handle of his own sword and stepped out into the hall.
"Vicomte!" He cried. Christine, Raoul, and Alex all turned. Christine gave a gasp and collapsed. Raoul just managed to catch her. Kite strode forward, drawing his sword. Alex stared at him. What was he doing? He wasn't seriously going to challenge Raoul, was he?
"Wh - what are you doing?" He cried. Kite jerked his head back towards the corner where Kat was peering out.
"Go on." he said. Raoul laid Christine gently on the ground and then stood up, grasping Alex's sword firmly.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I'm the phantom of the opera!" Kite said, standing up straighter.
"No, you're not," Raoul said, "the phantom is taller than me. And you're the same height as I am." Alex glanced between them. It was true, Raoul was just the same height as Kite.
"Go on, Alex." Kite said. Raoul lifted his sword defensively.
"I don't know who you are, or why you are dressed in such apparel, but if you intend to fight, I will gladly defeat you." Kite advanced and was preparing to attack when Kat ran out from her hiding place.
"Kite! This is insane!" She said. Kite lowered his sword and took a step back.
"You sure, Kat? I'm sure I could beat him. I've gotten really good." Kat frowned at him.
"Come on, all you know is what's in the play," she said. Alex hurried over to her.
"Um, you might not want to mention the play...in front of Raoul, I mean." He whispered. Kat looked over at him and nodded. Kite sheathed his sword. Alex gaped at him. "How did you do that?" He asked in awe.
"What?" Kite asked, looking around for whatever he had done.
"Sheathe your sword like that? I mean, it was all...flowing and neat. You didn't even have to try and find the sheath, it just...went in!" Kite looked down.
"Oh, I don't know, it just...worked." Alex frowned.
"Not fair." he announced. "So, what do we do now?" He asked in a quieter voice. Raoul had gone over to attend to Christine.
"I suggest that you come with Christine and I and explain things." He said. Kite took off his mask.
"There isn't anything to explain," he said, "we're just...uh..." He looked at Kat for help.
"Don't look at me like that! I don't know what to say!" Kat said quickly.
Raoul stood up with Christine in his arms. "I do suggest that you come with me." He said. His tone indicated that it was not entirely a request. Kat shrugged, and followed him. Alex looked at Kite, and then they both followed Kat. When they arrived back at Christine's dressing room, Raoul led the way in. He laid Christine in a chair and then he shut the door, surreptitiously turning the lock.
"Well now, pray explain." He commanded as he searched among the draws for smelling salts. Kat looked at Alex. Alex looked at Kite. Kite looked at Kat.
"Well..." Kite began.
"You see..." Kat also began.
"We're not from...here." Kite said. "We're from a very different place, and when we got here, we didn't know where we were. So we decided to lock the door until we figured out where we were. And... Then you came and tried to open the door, and we decided to move to a different room since this one needed to be used, and then you saw us leave." He finished.
Raoul seemed to have found the salts, for he went over and waved something under Christine's nose. She gagged and opened her eyes. "Oh, Raoul, it's you," she said. Raoul nodded and then nodded over at Kat and Kite and Alex. "I was just asking these three to tell us what they are doing here. Don't worry, my dear, you haven't missed anything. So," he turned back to Kite, "where did you come from?" Kite looked uncomfortable.
"From the future!" Alex said. Kat glared at him.
"Hush!" she said. Kite sighed.
"It's true, I'm afraid. We come from what is the future to you. This is the past, but not entirely. In our...homeland, this is fiction. Your lives, and adventures, have been written into a book, and a play, and we are three of the people who perform the play. Well, we haven't actually performed it yet, we're still rehearsing. But I play the Phantom, Kat here is Christine, and Alex is...you." Alex and Kat nodded. Raoul was now looking at them as though he thought that they were not quite sane.
"Look, we can prove it. Here's the script." Kat said, handing her script to Raoul. Alex handed his to Christine.
Raoul glanced through it. "This is...amazing." He said to himself. "This is almost exactly what happened." Kat glanced over at him.
"Almost? What's different?" Raoul flipped another page and looked at it. "Well, there wasn't all this singing, but this song from the Don Juan performance is pretty much the same. This swordfight didn't happen either." Alex glared triumphantly at Kite.
"Aha! See! There was never any dumb swordfight!" Kite shrugged.
"And I wouldn't know if this part with "The Music Of The Night" is true. Christine?" Christine nodded. She was looking pale.
"It's true. We were going down and I was singing for him, and then when we got there he told me all about his music...his kingdom. Then he showed me a statue of myself and I fainted. And when I woke up I did take off his mask and he got angry with me." A small sob escaped her. Raoul put a comforting arm around her.
"It's all right. It's all in the past. Christine, shhh, I'm here." Christine took out her handkerchief and tried to compose herself.
"But I suppose the true issue is, how are we getting home?" Alex asked. Kite and Kat looked at him. "Do we even want to? I mean, how cool is this? No one ever gets to go inside a story." Kat glared at him.
"Of course we want to get back! There are our families, and friends, and who would play the three main characters if we weren't there?" Kite nodded.
"We do have to go home, but while we're here, I don't see any reason we shouldn't enjoy ourselves!" Kat nodded happily.
"Yeah! An opera house...wow. But isn't it rather quiet? I thought that opera houses were noisy and full, but that's just the impression I got from the movie." Raoul nodded.
"Yes, they are normally much more crowded than this. After the chandelier fell, the managers gave everyone a week off so that they could have construction teams working without everyone getting in the way." Alex frowned.
"So then this is after the chandelier? When did it fall?" It was Christine who answered.
"During Don Juan. It's different than in your play." Kat glanced at Kite.
"We're doing Webber, but that is similar to the movie...Raoul, did you fall into somewhere with a lot of mirrors at the Masquerade?" She asked. Raoul nodded.
"Though I wouldn't say I fell. I went after the phantom." Alex glanced at Kat.
"Still more like the movie." She commented.
"What is this movie?" Asked Raoul curiously. Kite looked at Alex.
"You know how these things work," he said. Alex nodded.
"Well, a movie is a series of pictures which are shown so fast that it appears to be continues motion. I think that there are twenty-four pictures a second, though I'm just pulling that number out of the air. Seems like too much. So when you take these pictures, with a special device, then you can play them back and...others can see what happened. Won't be invented for a while, though."
Raoul was clearly struggling to understand. Alex shook his head. "Never mind. It's just that, since the story has been made into many plays, most of them portray characters differently. The movie is pretty much Webber's version, but it does have some changes. For the better. And some that," he glanced at Kat, "some people don't approve of." Kat shook her head.
"Raoul said himself that the swordfight never took place."
Kite nodded and then turned to Raoul. "It's interesting. In the movie, you fight the phantom in a cemetery, but unlike in our play, you win." Raoul raised his eyebrows.
"And?" He asked.
"And... Christine intervenes on the half of the phantom, and you spare his life." Kite said with a glance at Christine to see how she would take this. Christine nodded and Raoul, after a second, nodded as well.
"Well, I'm glad that we didn't have to face that situation." He said. Everyone sat in silence for a moment. Then Kat spoke up.
"You know, you look a bit like you do in the movie, but Christine, you don't. Makes me wonder what the Phantom looks like." Christine shuddered.
"Horrible," she whispered.
"Why would you want to know?" Raoul asked. Kat grinned.
"'Cause in the movie, the phantom's a really hot guy." Alex rolled his eyes.
"And say hello to miss Gerard fan. Ooh, ooh." He said with sarcasm. Kat twiddled her thumbs, whistling innocently. Raoul glanced between them.
"Hot?" he asked. Kite waved his hand around.
"You know, handsome, appealing - to girls, that is! It's difficult to explain." Raoul nodded distractedly.
A/N: more random trivia...
names, and where they come from and what they mean...
Erik, Norse, means "ever ruler" hmmm, not to bad. feast day is May 18 (wait, that's soon!)
Gerard, Teutonic, means "strong spear" cool! feast day is october 16
Raoul, "french form of Ralph"
Ralph, "from Randolph"
Randolph, "shield wolf"? (feast day, may 27)
Carlotta, "feminine varient of Charles"
Charles, Teutonic, "man"..."man"? so, Carlotta's name means "man"! wild...
Oh, i can't help myself...
Orlando, Italian for Roland
Roland, Teutonic, "wide famed" well, sure got that right, orlando bloom is, like, reeeeeally wide famed nowadays!
XD review!