Chapter 2
There was someone in his lair. "Who dares to enter the lair of the Phantom of the Opera?" He turned around coolly. He considered putting his mask back on, but this trespasser would not live to tell others what he had seen. "Don't you know that all those who have gazed upon this face have not lived to see the light of another day?" The stranger seemed unfazed. This surprised the Phantom because most would faint at the sight of his face. He decided not to think about it and he grabbed his lasso. As he threw it across the room, the blonde stranger put up his hand and laid his fingers on his temple. He obviously knew what he was doing. But how?
"Before you try to kill me," the stranger said, lifting the lasso off of his head, "allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jareth, and I have come here to help you."
"I need help from no one," the phantom grumbled. "Leave now and I will spare your life"
"I don't think you understand," Jareth said. "I've come to help you with your little lady friend." The phantom looked up. Jareth read his mind. "With Christine. You want her don't you." The phantom rose to his feet. Jareth continued, "I can see it in every fiber of your being. You want her so bad you can't even see straight." At this the Phantom took a flying swipe at Jareth with an unused sword. He would use any weapon he could find to destroy this man. He mentioned Christine, Christine! Didn't he know that she belonged to him? As he tried to strike, Jareth just mildly avoided him. The Phantom had never encountered someone like him. Normally taunting the phantom meant death for any mortal. Perhaps he was no mere mortal.
"What manner of man are you?" The Phantom asked breathlessly.
"None you need concern yourself with." Jareth flashed a smile "All that you need to worry about is that I'm here to help you. Now, I've had the courtesy to tell you my name, now why don't you tell me yours."
"No one can know my name" The phantom retrieved his lasso, which was still at the bottom of Jareth's feet. "I am the Phantom, demon, murederer…"
"Oh just cut it out!" Jareth fumed. "I know you want me to be scared of you, just like everyone else in this city seems to be but it just doesn't work. I've avoided your assassination attempts easily, and will continue to do so, so if we could just carry on like gentlemen it would make this go a lot smoother for both of us." Jareth paused, "and for Christine."
"Stop saying that name!" the Phantom roared. He glared into Jareth's eyes with an intensity that he had rarely encountered. But then something happened that Jareth did not expect. The Phantom's face suddenly grew soft. "Please," he murmured, " I can't listen to it anymore". Jareth's black heart almost shattered.
"Then I shall make you a deal." Jareth tried to lock his eyes with the Phantom, but his head was down, he noticed that he was donning a white half-mask. "You tell me your name, and I won't say Chris-, I mean her, name anymore, or unless you permit me to."
The Phantom stood back up. He seemed a different creature with his mask on. A rational creature, but a creature nonetheless.
"I am Erik" He looked down, almost ashamed at uttering his name. How very peculiar, Jareth thought, that one should be so immersed in other's perception of themselves, that they actually become ashamed of who they really are. Erik seemed so caught up in the fact that people saw him as 'the Phantom' that it seemed he didn't really know how to be himself anymore. Jareth pushed the thought away, and decided to go on, before he lost Erik's interest.
"Very good. Now tell me about your relationship with Chris-, I mean, the girl, I shall need to know everything if I am to advise you" Jareth waited while the Phantom paced around the room.
"Very well," Erik sat down, very near to figurine that looked like a monkey, and began his story.