"Lyssa?" Asked a muffled voice in Lysette's head. Any sounds that came to her now were all distorted. She slowly opened her eyes. "Fox?" She could see that she was sitting in a chair. "What…what happened?"

"Well, apparently your wonderful performance overwhelmed you." Mulder replied with a smile as he caressed her hair. "I'm just glad you're all right."

Lysette slowly sat up and noticed there were many eyes on her. "I…I performed?"

"Yes, in front of everyone here in this restaurant and they were quite pleased, I might add." Mulder glanced over at the owner. "Miss Willoughby will be fine now."

"Oh, thank god." The owner replied in a relieved voice. He then turned to the restaurant. "Miss Lysette Willoughby has recovered ladies and gentleman and is fine." The entire restaurant was filled with applause from its concerned audience.

Mulder kissed Lysette's hand and then moved away from her and to his chair. "I hope you don't mind but I already ordered for us."

Lysette shook her head. "No, I'm….I'm sure whatever you ordered will be fine. I still can't believe I fainted like that. I..I really don't know what came over me."

"I guess it's the sign of a good performance?" Mulder asked jokingly. "Although it does give the audience quite a scare."

"Maybe." Lysette answered as she took a sip of her wine.

"Lyssa, I want to talk to you about something. That is…if you feel you are up to it?" Mulder replied as he took a sip of his wine.

"Of course, Fox. What…what is it?"

"Was there someone else in your room before I got there tonight?"

Lysette took the glass from her lips. "Someone….someone else? What do you mean?"

"Because when I was outside your door I heard you singing with another voice that was clearly male." Mulder answered as he took another sip of his wine.

Lysette then suddenly realized what Mulder was talking about. He had heard her singing with Rose! "Well, it…it was a recording I was singing along with."

"I didn't see a player in the room when I walked in."

"It was under the dresser where you couldn't see it."

"You were able to hear it that clearly under there?"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Lysette asked in an annoyed tone.

"No, I'm not. I'm just trying to figure out what I heard." Mulder answered as he put down his wine glass. "There was no one else in that room and yet I clearly heard a male voice and not just singing but speaking as well. And then after you let me in, you fainted just like you did here tonight." He reached across and took her hand. "Lyssa, as a friend I'm concerned for you. You told me….sometime ago that you had heard a voice. Is that the voice I heard in your room?"

"Fox…" Lysette answered as she tried to avoid his eyes.

"Lyssa, please talk to me. Tell me what's going on and I might be able to help you. I don't….I don't want to read an article about you fainting at another performance or worse. And….who is Raoul, Lyssa? Why did you call me that?"

Lysette looked at Mulder upon hearing the name Raoul. "I…I called you that?"

"Yes, you did. What's going on, Lyssa? Please tell me."

"If…if I tell you then I may lose my teacher." Lysette whispered.

"Lose your teacher?" Mulder asked in a confused voice.

Lysette lowered her head. "I was told…if I spoke about her to anyone that she would stop coming to me."

"Her?" Mulder asked as he raised Lysette's head gently. "Who, Lysette?"

"Rose."

"The woman who was your former voice instructor and was murdered?"

Lysette nodded. "Yes. She's….she's been coming to me and teaching me. Her voice….is what you heard in the room, Fox."

Mulder chuckled. "Lyssa, the voice I heard was male not female."

"She is an angel, Fox." Lysette replied in a serious voice. "Angels can make any sound they wish. That's why she was able to produce the music and sound you heard. She's been teaching me."

"Is she the one who doesn't want me to see you?"

"What?"

"Oh come on, Lyssa, it's clear to me that something happened since that day I asked you out. You agreed to go out with me with no hesitation whatsoever. And then…the next thing I knew you said you didn't want to go with me at all but then only if we were just friends? You said you didn't want to get close to me, why?"

Lysette could feel herself trembling as she looked back at Mulder. "I…"

Mulder reached out and touched her cheek. "What is it, Lyssa?"

Lysette looked back at Mulder and could see his face thin slightly. She then saw his hair turn much lighter. She then gasped as she saw scratches and gashes appear across his face. "No!" She pulled away from Mulder.

"Lyssa? What's wrong?"

Lysette quickly rose from her chair. "This…this was a mistake. I…I have to go." She then headed toward the couples dancing on the floor.

"Lyssa!" Mulder called after her. He then got up from his chair and started after her. He carefully made his way through the many couples until he spied the dark green gown. "Lyssa!" He reached forward and grabbed her hand. He then pulled her toward him and was surprised to find her struggling. "Lyssa?"

"No! He'll kill you!" She screamed out as she continued to struggle against his hold.

"Kill me? Who, Lyssa? Who will kill me?"

Lysette stopped struggling and looked into Mulder's eyes. "She said that he had come back for me and would kill anyone who got close to me."

"Who did? Rose?"

Lysette shook her head. "Melinda."

Mulder sighed and looked around as he could feel all the eyes on the only couple not dancing. "Look, I don't want to make a scene so why don't we talk while we dance ok?"

Lysette nodded and the next thing she felt was Mulder's arm around her waist. He pulled her close to him as they started to waltz.

"All right, now tell me what happened with Melinda." Mulder replied as he continued dancing with her.

"In her room…she told me that he had come back for me. That…he had caused her accident so that I could sing. And that anyone who got close to me would die."

"Was this what happened in her hospital room?"

Lysette nodded. "And….she called me Christine. And…I also had a vision of her and I as children but….not from this century."

"I had a vision too." Mulder answered in a soft voice.

"You…you did?" Lysette asked as she tilted her head toward him.

Mulder nodded. "When you were singing, I saw you but in a long dress. And…you were singing in front of this piano. And…" He paused. "I…I heard people shouting Christine at you."

"Oh my god." Lysette whispered. "What's…what's happening to us, Fox?"

Mulder swallowed, as he looked deep into her eyes. He was finding it more and more difficult for him to concentrate on their conversation instead of her. "I think….there's some kind of bond with us, Lyssa." He whispered back.

"A bond?"

"Yes…something deep within us. I almost feel as if we have been in this situation before. That we have…danced this very same waltz a long time ago." He leaned into her face more.

"How…how is that possible?" She whispered as she half closed her eyes.

"Do you believe that it's possible to love someone you've only just met?" He asked as he tilted his head. "But…that you feel you've loved this person much longer?"

She felt her breathing becoming labored as she felt Mulder's lips so close to hers. "I…I think I do."

Mulder brushed her lips. "Lyssa, you can stop me any time." He whispered.

"Oh god, is this really happening?" She whispered back.

Without another word, Mulder closed the gap between them with a tender kiss.

Lysette sighed contently as she returned Mulder's kiss. It was unlike anything she had ever known. The warning that Melinda had given her completely faded from her mind as she placed her arms around Mulder's neck.

From the shadows an unseen figure watched as his beloved was kissed by his sworn enemy. She had betrayed him….again. He could feel his anger growing as he watched her lips covered by another's.

"No! Christine!" He screamed as he held out his hand toward her. "You have betrayed me!" He then held up his cloak and disappeared.

Melinda found herself walking in a beautiful garden with many paths. Birds were singing around her and a gentle breeze caressed her face. She squinted her eyes as the sunlight filtered through the clouds and reflected onto the ground. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, smelling the flowers around her. She then heard some ballet music and found herself impulsively dancing through the flowerbeds. She threw her arms up as she leaped into the air and then came gracefully back down. Ballet was also something that had come natural to her ever since she could remember. She did a perfect pirouette and then did a pose as she leaned back, closing her eyes. She then heard a voice.

"Hello Melinda."

She opened her eyes and turned to see a figure in a black cloak staring at her. Once he removed his hood revealing a mask, she instantly knew who it was. "You."

"I suppose I should address you by your real name." The figure replied with a smile. "Meg Giry."

Melinda assumed her normal pose. "You will never have her, Erik. Or shall I call you by what you are best known as? The Phantom?"

The masked figure bowed to her. "Whichever is best befitting for you Miss Giry."

"I already warned her about you." Melinda replied as she took a step back from him. "It's too late."

"It's not too late for me, Miss Giry." The figure replied as it took a step toward her. "You see…she has already betrayed me. Even now she is in the arms of the man I have despised through the years."

"Then why have you come here?" Melinda asked as she continued to step back.

"For revenge of course. While she is embracing her love, she is leaving her best friend unprotected."

"Erik, I know there is good within you. My mother told me."

"Spare me your words, Miss Giry for they fall upon deaf ears."

"You have caused so much pain and death in your life, Erik. You can change all that if you try."

"I have waited a long time for her to come back to me. I have….wandered in my dark prison all that time! Do you really think I am just going to let her escape me?"

"You can't make her love you. Love is not an emotion that can be forced."

"She said she would give her soul to me when she bought the choker."

"She didn't know what she was saying!" Melinda shouted back. "She had no idea that a ghost was going to haunt her!"

"All of her talent is because of ME. I was the one who gave her that voice! Without me she would still have been singing in the chorus! Even YOU can not deny that, Miss Giry."

"Your life…"

"My life was spent underground in darkness!" Erik shouted. "The first thing given to me when I was born was a mask! Society caused me to be an outcast!"

"What you did was by choice, Erik. Society did not force you to…"

Erik leapt forward and grabbed Melinda by the throat. "Do NOT try and tell me what my life was like, Miss Giry! Not even your mother knew of my real life! And the only thing that truly saved me from that eternal darkness was the angelic voice of Christine. Her voice pulled me from that darkness and I will NOT spend eternity in it alone EVER!"

Melinda looked back at Erik. "She will not go with you willingly." She replied in a raspy voice.

"Then she will go as my prisoner." Erik pulled out a lasso.

"The Punjab lasso." Melinda whispered with wide eyes.

"You are correct Miss Giry. And now.." He placed the rope around her neck. "You shall die." He then pulled tightly on the rope and watched as Melinda started to choke.

On the dance floor Mulder and Lysette continued to indulge in one another. Their bodies followed the rhythm of the waltz as their lips continued to exchange kisses. As the music crescendoed their kisses became more deep and passionate as the two former lovers once again reconnected. Everything and everyone around them faded into the background as they focused on the kiss that neither one of them had ever experienced before. For this was not just a kiss to reunite former lovers but their souls as well.

For one instance Mulder pulled back from the kiss and saw Lysette dressed in a white dress wearing what appeared to be a mask.

"Fox?" Lysette asked breathless. "What is it?"

Mulder shook his head. "It's nothing." He whispered as he touched the side of her face gently. "You are…so beautiful." He then leaned toward her and took her lips once again in a kiss.

In her hospital room, Melinda began to gasp for air from her bed. She tried desperately to reach the nurse's button but found her vision fading out.

A nurse walked by and saw Melinda choking. She immediately ran into her room and over to the bed. "Miss Cuthbert! Oh my god!" She ran over to the door and called into the hallway. "Code blue!"

Within seconds a crash cart was wheeled into the room. "What happened?" Asked a medic.

"I…I don't know I was walking by her room and saw her choking!" The nurse answered.

The medic watched as Melinda's face started to turn white. "Oh god! She needs oxygen! We have to get a tube down her throat now!"

Melinda continued to cough and gasp for air as the medics tried desperately to get oxygen to her. She sat up in the bed and took one last gasp before falling to the bed unconscious.

"She's flat lined!" A medic yelled. "Get the defibulator now!"

The medical staff tried to resuscitate Melinda for nearly five minutes but with no success. The ghost had claimed another victim. And now Lysette's only ally against her unseen obsessive admirer was gone. Now…there could be only ONE Christine Daae.

Note: A special thanks to those of you how have been avid readers of this fic! Your reviews are GREATLY appreciated!There will be more to come I assure you!