A/N: Next chapter, hot off the grill! I have finished Leroux's book, plus Phantom of Manhattan, by Frederick Forsyth (spelled it wrong? I don't care.). Leroux was a master novelist, but Forsyth fell flat in so many ways. His OCs were okay, but his portrayal of the canon characters was depressingly fangirl-ish, the ending stank, and the plot was totally improbable (Raoul unable to have children, and the kid Erik's? Puh-LEEZ.).

To stop people asking me, I will write letters from the following people: Erik (complete), Raoul (complete), Christine (complete), Madame Giry, Meg, and the Persian. I will not (better to say, cannot) write for Carlotta because her character is really about being visual and in the moment. Simply put, she wouldn't have the patience to sit down, organize her thoughts, and write a coherent letter. When you think about it, she is so hilarious because she is so loud and extravagant and visual, all of which would be hard to portray in a letter. Also, I will/can not write for the managers, because a.) I would have to write two different letters, in two different tones, that make references to two different sets of events, and b.) I just couldn't please everyone. Hope that clears up a thing or two.

Dear Phanfiction Writers,

When I first heard that a group of young ladies was writing fictional accounts of our lives, I was not wholly against the idea. I support fellow artists, of course, and expected charming, if perhaps a tad clumsily done, tales of Raoul's and my children, or perhaps a gap-filler for my years at the Opera Populaire. I couldn't have been more wrong.

First and foremost, I would like to ask the lot of you to stop twisting my personality, and that of the others. If you were to be believed:

I am either a complete idiot, a "bitch" (which I take to mean an extremely cruel and unsavory person), a "slut" (which I take to mean a harlot. I beg your pardon!), a combination, or all three. I would like to ask where on earth you got those ideas.

My darling husband Raoul would be either an ineffectual coward, or a wife-beating, evil bully. I will discuss this distortion in greater depth later.

Erik, whom I still respect, and even love a little, is sweet and charming. If you didn't notice, I ended up terrified stiff of him. I believe I one sang of him: "he kills without a thought, he murders all that's good." If this isn't enough, consider this: in "All I Ask of You," I sang, "all I want is freedom, a world with no more night! And you, always beside me, to hold me and to hide me…" When you couple this with the fact that Erik's "theme song," if you will, is "Music of the Night," you should be left with few illusions as to my wishes. Of course, you obviously don't give a bent sou for my wishes! (If you don't know what a sou is, you're even worse than I thought. It's the approximate French equivalent of your American penny.)

My mentor and benefactor, Madame Giry, is a rigid, unforgiving, and cruel slavedriver. Yes, she is stern and makes us work hard, but she is an excellent woman, and acted as a mother to me for many years, and cared for me when I was grieving for my father!

I said I would write more on Raoul, so here it is. I have never seen anything so appalling as the defamation of my husband (yes, I did marry him, contrary to popular opinion). He was willing to die for me (and still is), and rescued me from my kidnapper. Now, I'm not saying he is perfect (although he very nearly is), but his charming, gallant, and gentle, if rather brash and impulsive, personality is much preferable to Erik's madness. Don't get me wrong; I still respect, even understand, Erik. I believe I sang, "This haunted face holds no horror for me now. It's in your soul that the true distortion lies…" If Raoul really were the cruel monster you portray him as, I would have gone with Erik in a heartbeat! As he is not, the reason for my choice should be clear.

Put yourselves in my place. One of the men you love threatening to kill the other if you do not marry him (the murderer). You have recently discovered that your true love is the one with his life in danger, willing to die so that you can go free. What would you do? Probably just what I did, sacrifice your happiness for his life, although everything turned out all right in the end.

Sincerely,

Vicomtess Christine de Changy

P.S.: Hello everyone, this is Raoul again. I was extremely heartened and touched by the number of supportive responses that my letter received. I hope you realize that any… less than kind comments were made to my detractors, not my fans (I was quite shocked to learn that I had any!). Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

I had planned this postscript to make a few points that I had neglected in my letter (the defamation of my wife, for one. I hope you so-called fop-bashers know that, at least in my time, the useful tradition of dueling is very much alive, and I would challenge any number of you, were it not for your youth, sex, and stupidity.)

Blonde Charger: laughs and applauds.

Maska: I'm with you all the way, although isn't "me encanta la Vicomte" Spanish for a French novel?

Leotabelle13: sorry if I seemed a little harsh, and yes I did read them. "Fop" means a cowardly dandy who is only concerned with their looks. Nothing at all like our dashing Vicomte. Personally, I never saw what people had against poor Raoul. When I first started reading phanfiction, I thought the situation would be totally reversed! The masses would love their dashing, romantic, underdog (less by 30 years and about 40 pounds, it seems) hero and deplore the skull-faced homicidal maniac.

Angel of mystery: He would probably punch you right back and break your nose.

Daisy Diva: I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree on the Carlotta chapter idea. If you wanted to write one and submit it, I would be more than happy to post it, with a special little note acknowledging you.

Shandethe Sanders: glad to hear that Raoul's letter got a few chuckles. I agree on the R/C munchkins idea. I'm currently searching for a good story in which the children ARE Raoul's.

Kchan88: I'm glad you liked this one, too. I'm writing this at about three A.M., so humor me if I say something melodramatic. Here it is (drumroll please): I really enjoy your reviews, and you seem like a cool person. God, that was stupid. It came out really badly. Forgive me.

Mrs. Malfoy: Maybe you could check your spelling next time? "ur right! i never really…" comes off sort of idiotic. Just some constructive criticism. Other than that, thanks for the praise!

Kitty Foxglove: I am extremely anti-Raoul-bashing, and you'll probably find some indicator of that in each chapter, more or less. Sorry, I already have a beta-reader, but thanks for the offer. Please see the A/N at the beginning of the chapter regarding my decision on who to write for and who not to. But if you want to write a managers chapter and submit it, I'll put it in, with a special little header giving you the credit.

TheQueenSarah: I took a lot of heat for the "second-rate singer" bit, but you must consider it from Erik's point of view. His voice actually convinced Christine that he was the Angel of Music, for Leroux's sake! He has been surrounded by the best operatic singers in the world for most of his life! I think he would consider anyone below Michael Crawford or somebody like that "second-rate." Nothing personal against Gerry. I'm sure he did the best he could.

Elvenwriter: I know. I actually have very little hope for making people respect Raoul, but it's a fight worth fighting. I'm glad "Letters" is so popular!

Kaledena: wow, the "mental stability" one was an unexpected hit! As I said at the very beginning, I am going mostly off the movie/musical here. Have you, by chance, read the annotated Leroux!POTO, with notes by Leonard Wolf? He says basically the same thing.

Elizabeth: Raoul said at the beginning of his letter that he wasn't exactly going to be civil. As far as he knows, these people have dedicated their lives to ruining his. Erik, on the other hand, has only benefited from the phans' attentions. I would be glad to hear your ideas on the Dagora.