(A/N - Sorry. I lied. This took a lot longer than it was supposed to. Which is surprising, because it's mostly just lyrics now, as it will be until I've done most of the major scenes in Phantom. Ah well. I hope it lives up to whatever expectation there may be for it.)
"There is no Phantom of the Opera!" Eric sang fervently. Boston had no doubt he believed this, but she herself was doubtful of her own beliefs.
"Raoul, I've been there…" Rio murmured, as much as one could murmur into a microphone. "To his world of unending night… to a world where the daylight dissolves into darkness… darkness…"
Neither Rio nor Boston had ever taken a road beneath the opera house, and the chapel had not seemed dark. It had seemed dim, and dusty, and lonely, but never dark.
"Raoul, I've seen him, can I ever forget that sight…? Can I ever escape from that face? So distorted, deformed, it was hardly a face… in that darkness… darkness…"
Boston shivered. She had her own vision of that face, but did not find it frightening. She found what was behind it frightening; in that tortured mind.
"But his voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound… In that night, there was music in my mind… And through music, my soul began to soar… And I hear as I've never heard before!"
"What you heard was a dream, and nothing more." Eric insisted. Boston had almost convinced herself that what she'd heard, the music of the night, the week before, had only been a dream as Raoul believed.
"Yet in his eyes…"
All the sadness in the world. Boston finished the phrase in her thoughts. She could believe that line – the face behind the mask had looked infinitely miserable.
"Those pleading eyes that both threatened and adored…" Rio finished, looking up at Eric. Boston knew her friend had plenty of trouble looking at Eric so close to her without revulsion.
"Christine… Christine…" Eric murmured, touching her face.
"Christine…" Aaron's voice echoed from the shadows.
"What was that?" Rio whirled around, looking in vain.
"No more talk of darkness, forget these wide-eyed fears… I'm here, nothing can harm you – my words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears… I'm here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you…"
Boston had never liked Eric, or the character of Raoul, but this song was sweet and touched her somewhere were she feared all the strange goings-on in the opera house. Even as she enjoyed the comforting words, however, she felt as if she was betraying some unknown person.
"Say you love me every waking moment, turn my head with talk of summertime… Say you need me with you now and always… promise that all you say is true – that's all I ask of you." Rio replied.
"Let me be your shelter, let me be your light… You're safe – no one will find you, your fears are far behind you…"
From her place behind the curtain, Boston could only see Eric's face – he was engrossed in the performance. Jess, hovering at her shoulder, whispered, "I think he's a little too into this, don't you?" Boston giggled despite herself.
"All I want is freedom, a world with no more night… and you, always beside me, to hold me and to hide me…" Rio turned from Eric and gave her friends a subtle wink before walking a few steps from her character's lover.
"Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime… let me lead you from your solitude… Say you need me here, beside you – anywhere you go, let me go too – Christine, that's all I ask of you." Turning back to him, Rio returned to Christine's vapid, loving attitude.
"Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime…say the word and I will follow you…"
Aaron became visible in the corner of the stage, supposedly behind a statue. Beneath his white half-mask, he looked terribly sad.
The two at center stage sang together: "Share each day with me, each night, each morning…"
"Say you love me." Rio demanded.
"Peer pressure." Jess muttered, shaking her head. Boston stifled another giggle.
"You know I do…"
They drew closer, and the phantom in the corner blanched visibly. "Love me – that's all I ask of you… Anywhere you go let me go too… Love me – that's all I ask of you…"
They kissed, and Jess make several small gagging noises.
Rio drew away a little sooner than Christine probably would have. "I must go! They'll wonder where I am… Wait for me, Raoul!"
Eric, looking drugged, followed her across the stage. "Christine, I love you…"
"Order your fine horses; be with them at the door!"
"And soon, you'll be beside me…"
"You'll guard me and you'll guide me…"
They disappeared. Aaron walked slowly onto the stage and knelt, picking up the rose Rio had dropped. "I gave you my music… Made your song take wing…"
Aaron made the audience feel the phantom's pain every time. Often, real tears came down his cheeks.
"And now, how you've repaid me… denied me and betrayed me… He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing… Christine… Christine…"
Rio's and Eric's voices came from offstage. "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime… say the word and I will follow you… Share each day with me, each night, each morning…"
Aaron crushed the rose in his hand, his pain turning to anger, and stood, running over to stand on one of the 'statues'. "You will curse the day you did not do… all that the Phantom asked of you! Go!" he wailed aloud, causing both Jess and Boston to flinch.
Jess flinched because his voice was loud and angry and emotional; Boston flinched because she heard someone, far off, sobbing like a child.