Everything and Nothing

Notes- Thank you to BaffledSeraph, killinjoke, MoonDancerCat, Chocobo Surprise, erm… Shadray (all right, I'll update those as soon as I can), Angel-of-Music1331, and Tango1. To Tango1; I'm glad you enjoyed what you've read so far. The story's main purpose is to give people a warm fuzzy concerning Phantom of the Opera, which I believe a number of phans crave. I also wanted to give Erik and Christine some happy times together, before everything… well, you all know the story. But I am really happy to hear that I'm more or less keeping everyone in character.

Chapter Six: A Plan Set Into Motion..

It was astounding how quickly time seemed to pass over the next two weeks. Christine was as apt a pupil I could hope for, considering her age. After all, one could not expect children to have more than a fifteen-second attention span at any given time. Unless, of course, you had food as a bribe. In which the attention span lengthened to an entire twenty seconds.

Unfortunately, the Angel of Music was not well known for his cooking, so I could not use that as a way to keep the young girl's attention.

Christine handled the new change to her daily schedule and the new addition to her life with remarkable ease. I cannot recall being so accepting of anything when I was that age, but the youngling took many things in stride that I would have been outraged about. When her instructor decided to punish the girls one day with a late-night practice (they'd pulled what I thought to be harmlessly funny pranks on some stagehands), she only sighed and nodded.

I found myself sitting at my organ as often as before, but my mind would be elsewhere, imagining what Mademoiselle Daae could possibly be up to. I would have arguments with myself over the idea of going up to check on her at odd times during the day. She was in no particular danger, and she was not ill. There was no reason to visit her other than during our lessons.

Yet…

More and more frequently, I would groan, mutter a few curses, and give in to my wish to see how she was doing.

My vocabulary has certainly been getting more creative lately.

But Madame Blanche was getting testy, as the management was dithering about putting on a new production. And of course, the group of future ballet dancers was getting tired of behaving.

It was only a matter of time before little Giry came up with something to occupy herself, if not also my new pupil…

I happened to be watching the day that little Giry approached Christine with a plan.

At first, Christine did not do much but blink in surprise. Then, slowly, she said, "The Ghost lives under the Opera Populaire?"

"Of course he does. The roof's too cold," little Giry said matter-of-factly. "Anyhow, he lives under the stage somewhere. So if we go down there, we should be able to find out where he haunts. And then I'll prove the Opera Ghost exists!"

While little Giry looked positively gleeful about this, my pupil seemed doubtful. Bless her.

"I don't know, Meg," she said slowly. "We're not supposed to go down there. Your mama said that we'd bother the stagehands if we did…"

"Aw, they don't have to know! We're not putting on any operas right now, so nobody stays about once it's sundown!" little Giry said. "All we have to do is wait until we're sent to bed."

"But your mama always checks on us."

"Christine!" little Giry said, sounding mildly offended. "I'm not stupid, you know. I've thought of everything! We can set up some pillows and things like that to look like us while we sleep."

"Ooh," Christine responded thoughtfully. "Well, if we're not gonna get caught, then I guess it will be all right..."

"Of course! So we go down there, I show you the Opera Ghost, and then we come back up and go to bed," little Giry said brightly.

Christine looked up, and to my surprise she wound up staring at almost the exact spot that I was hiding. "Um…"

I shook my head, hoping that though she couldn't see me, she may somehow feel that this wasn't a good idea. You don't want to go down there, I thought at the two girls.

My mind filled with horrors at the thought of Christine venturing into the world beneath the Opera Populaire. All of the traps I had laid out… the water, the labyrinth that sometimes even got me lost. I, who had traversed every step of every path too many times to count! These young girls wouldn't stand a chance down there. No, it would be best if Christine could get herself out of this before anything happened.

"Well?" little Giry asked impatiently.

Christine nodded. "Yes, let's go!"

I groaned.

"Wonderful! Let's go tonight!"

"What? Tonight?" Christine asked. "But we've got testing tomorrow!"

"In the afternoon," little Giry reminded her.

"Oh," Christine said.

There was a pause as my pupil registered this.

"All right, but we have to take a light with us," Christine said.

"Well of course! The last time I went out without a light, that weird man Buquet scared me," little Giry said, glancing about.

"He scares me in full daylight," Christine remarked.

Young Meg paused. "You know, he scares me all the time too," she admitted. "But especially at night if you don't have a light."

"So, a light. And we can't go too far down. Your mama said there's a lake down there, and I don't know how to swim," Christine said. "What time are we going tonight?"

The two younglings laid out their plans, and headed off for supper.

I did my best to get Christine alone for a while to talk her out of this idea, but unfortunately tonight the other little dancers were convinced that it was time for Madame Giry to tell them all a story. I could hardly write a note to Christine- she couldn't read, from what I could see- and it wouldn't do to have anyone notice that the Angel of Music and the Phantom had the same handwriting…

Sitting at my organ with some music propped up to play, I rested my chin on my hands as I wracked my brain for a way out of this. I didn't want to scare Christine away from her newfound Angel. And I didn't want to cause lasting harm to little Giry. The thought of her being harmed in Christine's place held just as much horror for me as my earlier worries.

Then…

Perhaps…

A small idea came to mind. The only time I would be able to get to Christine and little Giry would be once they were attempting to travel down my paths. The paths themselves weren't too dangerous if one had a lamp, until about the second floor down. If I could intercept them, rattle a few chains, that sort of thing…

After all, while I didn't want them harmed or frightened for the rest of their lives, I did want to give the girls a show. And I did want to encourage them not to invite themselves into my domain anymore.

In a matter of moments, I was already back in my home beneath the Opera Populaire, writing out a few ideas.

If they want to meet an Opera Ghost, then they shall meet the Opera Ghost indeed! I thought.

And despite my concerns about frightening Christine too badly, I began to grin mischievously. After all, it had been a while since I'd had this sort of fun…