A/N: I have a new respect for every single FanFiction author out there. Every single writer for that matter! All those who can fight off the dreaded... dundundun... writer's block! (tmotn hits evil virus with her keyboard.) I appologize that this took so long. Hopefully you all haven't abandoned me... (were you with me in the first place?) So, I have an outline written for the rest of the story, so hopefully the virus won't strike again (tmotn pokes lump of virusness on her floor.) Oh, and this is long! Hope it makes up for the delay. (reviews at the bottom...)
Kat was almost skipping as she left the managers office. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She squealed in delight. Kite and Alex also clamored their thanks. Christine offered to show Kat the dormitories.
"Raoul, perhaps you could show the other one to Kite and Alex?" She asked, when they reached a turn in the hall. Raoul nodded and motioned for Kite and Alex to follow him.
"They normally don't allow males in the girls' dormitory," Christine explained to Kat as they continued on down the hall by themselves. "Sometimes Buquet would sneak in, but your friends will have to stay out. Buquet didn't care much about his reputation, I'm afraid," she made a face, "or about the other girls'."
When she opened the door to the room, Kat looked in with delight. "It's so nice!" She exclaimed. "I love it!" Christine smiled.
"See if you still think that when everyone is inside with you." She said. "I don't sleep in here anymore, Raoul is letting me stay in his house. Also, you're welcome to use my dressing room, the one you arrived in, if you want, instead of the chorus'." Kat nodded. She and the others hadn't mentioned that they had not arrived in the dressing room, but in the passage behind the mirror.
"Could I see where Kite and Alex are staying?" She asked. Christine nodded and led her down more hallways. Kat tried to remember the way, but she soon lost her sense of direction.
"Don't worry," Christine said, noticing that Kat was looking around with confusion, "you'll learn your way around, it's not really as big as it seems." Kat looked skeptical. "Here we are," Christine announced. She knocked on a door, which was opened by Raoul. Kat peered in past him, and saw a room that looked similar to the one she would be staying in.
Kite and Alex were sitting on beds and talking. Raoul let Christine and Kat into the room. "We were just saying," he said, "that you don't have any other clothes than what you're wearing, and perhaps we should get you some more." Kat protested.
"Oh, but you've done so much already, getting us positions here," she said. Raoul shook his head.
"You heard the managers, they're so desperate that they would have hired anyone, regardless of whether or not they could sing." Kat nodded slowly.
"Well, if you do buy us clothes, we should at least pay you back! We'll get a little money from being in the chorus," Raoul smiled.
"Oh, I couldn't accept, mademoiselle, consider it a gift!" Kat shook her head.
"The money would be no good back in our time." Kite and Alex nodded.
"Well, we should go shopping!" Christine exclaimed. Raoul winced at the thought. "Don't worry, Raoul, you don't have to come with Kat and I," Christine hastened to assure him. "You can to the tailor's with Kite and Alex." She hurried out, and everyone followed her.
Kite, Alex, and Raoul were back at the opera house after about half an hour. They waited for another hour... And then a bit more... Finally Kat came into the room. She looked happy, if a bit exhausted, and she put an alarmingly large pile of things on the bed Kite had taken. He looked at it, then at his own pile of neatly stacked boxes. What was in all those bags? He wondered.
"Raoul, could you help me carry these?" Christine called from the hall. Raoul went out, and then poked his head back in.
"We'll be back shortly," he said, before following after Christine. Kat flopped down on another bed. "Geeze, it's insane!" She said loudly.
"That you bought that much? I'll say!" Alex agreed.
Kat glowered at him. "I mean, that clothes could be so uncomfortable! I don't think I'll ever complain about my costume again!" Kite looked skeptical.
"Right, I'll remember you said that," he informed her. She glared.
"Seriously, why does the phantom even need a torture chamber? He could just stuff intruders into corsets, and they suffocate without the help of a rope!" Alex looked confused. Kat sat up and rummaged in a bag. "Here, look," she said, holding up something that Alex assumed was a corset. "Just don't tell Christine or Raoul I showed you, it's the same as showing someone your underwear in this time."
Kite took it from Kat. "You're supposed to wear this?" He asked in disbelief. Kat nodded.
"I'm just thankful I'm thin, that means I can sometimes not wear it!" She took it and stuffed it back into the bag. "And seriously, the amount of fabric you have to have on to be considered decent... Like I said, it's insane!" Kite and Alex shrugged.
Kat stood, "come on, let's explore!" She said. Alex glanced at the door.
"Are you sure? What'll Raoul and Christine think if they come back and we're not here?" Kat shrugged.
"Here, I'll write them a note," she said, pulling out some paper from another bag. "I did get some things that are useful. And look," she held up a fountain pen, "isn't this cool?"
She carefully wrote a note to Christine, saying that the three of them had gone exploring, and that if they weren't back in an hour or so, that she should come looking for them.
Kite read it and shrugged. "I suppose that's all right..."
Kat folded the note and placed it on the floor where it would be immediately visible to anyone who came into the room.
"Come on," she said, walking out the door. Alex and Kite followed, both thinking that this was really not a good idea.
The phantom slowly picked up the mask which lay on top of the pile of Alex's, Kat's, and Kite's things. He stared at it and turned it slowly over in his hands. Was it his? He looked again. No, it was not his. There were words written on the inside of it...
"Property of the drama club?" He said out loud in confusion. Then this was a prop from the production he had heard about through the mirror.
A production of your life story, your attempt to seduce Christine, and her rejection.
He shook his head. "I didn't try to seduce her..." he said, "and they couldn't have meant that my life thus far has been written into a story." He glanced at what had lain underneath the mask, and his heart nearly skipped a beat. "The Phantom Of The Opera, by Gaston Leroux, music by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart"
Written below that in blue was, "Kite, the phantom" he looked at the other scripts and saw each of them had blue writing on them. "Kathryn, Christine" and "Alexander, Raoul". He took up the script that had Kite's name on it, along with the mask, and a strange disk he found there as well. Then the phantom turned and went back through the mirror.
Kite and Alex followed Kat as she poked around the opera house. They had to admit, it was fun. They were careful to keep away from the places that were under construction, but there still seemed to be an endless amount of doors and hallways. When they came to a staircase Kat stopped before it.
"Well, gentlemen, up or down?" she asked.
"We've just been on one floor?" Alex asked in disbelief. "You could fit our whole school in here twenty times!"
"Yeah, it is huge," Kite agreed.
"Up or down?" Kat asked again. "Say, I wonder if we could find some other way into the phantom's lair?"
"Up!"
"Up, definitely!"
Kat frowned, "Oh, come on, you two have no sense of adventure."
"I'd prefer to think that I actually have common sense, unlike someone I know..." Alex said, looking pointedly at Kat. She shrugged.
"Ah, well, up it is." After several more flights of stairs, Alex was beginning to regret climbing after Kat in the first place.
"Are we - almost - up yet?" He panted.
"Yes," Kat called back down. Alex gave a sigh of relief when he reached another floor. Kat pointed gleefully behind him.
"Look!" She cried in delight. "More stairs!" Alex groaned. "Come on, you said you wanted to go up," Kat said, hurrying over to the stairs.
"Not this high!" Alex protested. He followed Kat and Kite, however. After they had climbed the stairs they came to a door. Opening it, Kat gasped.
"Oh, wow!" She said. "Come on Alex, this is worth the climb!" Alex stepped out after her onto the roof. He did have to admit, the view was wonderful. "This is one of those times I'm glad I don't suffer from vertigo!" Kat cried, running out across the roof to get a better view. "Apollo!" Kite and Alex heard her say, "come on, let's climb it!"
They hurried over to the base of the enormous statue to see Kat already hanging from a fold in Apollo's metal tunic. She clambered swiftly up, and sat on his outstretched arm, gazing around. Kite and Alex followed. Kite swung himself up easily, leaving Alex on the ground staring up at them.
"Aren't you a bit, well, unstable?" He asked nervously as a gust of wind blew across the roof.
"Not at all!" Kat cried back down to him, "Come on up, you can see everything!" Alex pulled himself up onto the base of the statue and started climbing up. Once he reached the top - the climb had been easier than he had thought it would be - he perched nervously on a shoulder and gazed around.
"Woah, you can see everything!" he agreed, though he clutched Apollo's head when another gust of wind hit them.
"I still expect to wake up at any moment," Kat said. Kite and Alex nodded in agreement. "But I suppose that there are good things about being here, besides the mere fact that we are here."
"What're those?" Kite asked her. Kat smiled.
"We get singing practice, and we get paid for it, and we get to learn some history, especially if we get the newspaper from Raoul, and best of all, there's no math class!" Alex cheered at the last one. "Of course, there are bad things, too," Kat added.
"No, no, don't spoil the moment!" Alex cried. Kat grinned.
"Yeah, but still, I'll be horribly out of practice when I go back to my debate club."
"Debate club?" Kite asked, "I don't remember their being a debate club." Kat shook her head.
"It's not through school," she said, "it's just a community thing. You can sign up at the library if you want, it's a fun club."
"So, what do you do in it?" Alex asked her.
"Well, recently we've been working a lot on defense. Like, you get something that you have to defend, and then you need to defend it in front of people, and you get points on how well you do, and how good your defense is."
"Give us an example," Kite said.
Kat shrugged. "Well, say I was asked to defend, uh, Christine, I might say that she's just someone who wants to sing," she shrugged. "Yeah, that's what we do, and we work on other kinds of debate and things." Kite nodded.
"Erm, interesting." Alex said. "So, what about Christine? Could you defend her more?"
"Did anyone ask if she even loved either Raoul or Erik? I mean, getting dragged all over creation, when all she wanted to do was sing and mourn her father. Not be stalked by evil men who watch her get changed from behind her mirror."
"Point taken," Kite said. Alex nodded.
"It does sound like a neat club. Not as cool as the drama club though..." Kat nodded her agreement.
"Yep, I don't think anything could beat the drama club." She said. "Look, the sunset's so beautiful." Kite and Alex looked out over the city at the sunset. Sunset?
"How long have been up here?" Alex gasped. Kite shrugged. Kat hurriedly started to climb down the statue.
"Darn, they're probably looking for us!" She said as she hurried across the roof. Alex slid down most of the statue and fell the rest of the way.
"Ow..." he moaned, as he staggered off after Kat. Kite jumped off the base of the statue.
"You okay?" he asked. Alex nodded.
"But just thinking of all those stairs makes me ill," he said. Luckily they met someone as soon as they had climbed down a few flights of stairs.
"Is one of you Monsieur Kite?" The man asked them. Kite nodded.
"I am," he said. The man grinned.
"The Vicomte is looking for you, I'll take you to him." He said before leading them through the opera house until they found Raoul and Christine. They all sighed with relief, and the man went away humming with the money Raoul had given him.
"Sorry!" Kat said, "We lost track of time!" Raoul frowned, but Christine laughed.
"I know, it has so many places to explore doesn't it?" She asked. Kat, Kite, and Alex all nodded.
"Well, let's go eat something," Raoul said. Everyone nodded. Food sounded wonderful.
As they walked towards the exit Raoul pulled Christine ahead out of earshot of Kat and the others. "Are you sure it's safe for them to wander around?" He asked Christine quietly.
She looked at him, confused. "Of course, the construction isn't dangerous," she said. Raoul shook his head.
"I mean, you don't think that there's any... other danger?" Christine looked away from him.
"No, I don't think there is," she said quietly.
Christine doesn't thing so, but is there? Hmmm, I wonder...
Dancer Of The Opera - Well, published fanfiction is just what i call it. there are not that many, too. (sorry if i got your hopes up!) but if you think about it, even the musical is a fanfiction, just in musical form. i mean, it's leroux's story... so, there's Phantom by Susan Kay, and Phantom Of Manhattan byFrederick Forsyth, and there's Angel Of The Opera by Sam Siciliano, and there's... hm, Maskerade by Terry Pratchett, which is an insanely funny parody. (i'll try to think of more.)
Jinxd n cursed - thank you!
smgirl - sorry that this isn't exactly soon...
Christy Day - Yeah, I've seen the musical once... it was good.
Kchan88 - ah, i haven't been on the computer a lot lately, buti did manage to read a bit of your story! i liked it! and there appears to be a sequel? good!
Lunasariel - ah, well, the story kat and kite and alex are in is pretty much the movie, but there was no swordfight in the cemitary. i don't know how it worked out, but it did. yeah, there's another soundtrack floating around out there, and it has the chandelier falling in the middle, right before the intermission, right after the phantom says, "you will curse the day you did not do, all that the phantom asked of you!" and that is the production kat and others are doing. sorry this is short (and with no capital letters, i have to hurry, but i'll try to answer any other questions you have.)