A/N: All right, guys, new poll. Should Erik allow Ari to sleep anywhere near his presence? This chappy will be a random interlude to let you tell me. I know, I'm committing the cardinal sin, having every character age except for Erik, but I have to. It's important to the random interlude. And I'm going to beg y'all shamelessly to visit my homepage.

All right, I have to elaborate about how Ari got to be named Ari. My friend Kim really does draw awesome anime (I'm not slighting you, Anya, Demetria, y'all are great too!), and her current project is Hell's Lullaby, where you've got reincarnated Jack the Ripper and a bunch of Lords of Hell running around. Armand and his twin sister are the ones I find the coolest, so I had to name a character after them. I was going to incorporate Jack the Ripper too, but someone already stole that plot arc (mock glares at Silvermasque). I mentioned that Armand has a twin sister. "Why couldn't you just name her after Armand's twin sister?" you ask. Well, Armand's twin sister's name is Lotte. And I wouldn't ever curse even a mild phan with that name.

Just so you know, I'm basing most of the characters' histories on Leroux, with some from Kay, and just a bit of description here and there from the movie. And I apologize, but I'm not making fun of Raoul much, but he will be humiliated when he first comes into contact with the girls, as well as some physical pain.

Review responses!

mrs. malfoy-yes, a coffin for two, although it might get a little uncomfortable in there after a while. XP

Reltastic-whoa…I've already had reports of another rabid phan named Ari who's read this phic. What a coincidence. At least I haven't met any Raoul fans named Ari, or they'd want to kill me for making someone with the same name as them Erik phans.

Maidenhair-surely you know me well enough by now to figure out that odd describes me pretty well. There was another saint, Thomas Beckett, I think, whose remains someone dug up and shot out of a cannon, saying, "Beckett is the only saint to be canonized twice."

Nota Lone-I never thought about how long a jiffy was. I just thought it was something like 'the other day,' that doesn't really mean anything. But if the Popsicle says it, it must be true!

"It's none of your business where I go, mother!" Stephanie yelled.

"Oh yes it is, as long as you live under my roof, mademoiselle!" Christine yelled back.

Stephanie screamed, "Do you think I'm some kind of streetwalker or something? That I go out at night and sell myself?"

"You have no idea how dangerous the streets of Paris are at night!" replied Christine, top volume.

"And you do? You, who spent your life either being doted on by grandfather or Grandma Valerius or holed up in that opera house? What do you know about danger?"

"Don't talk back to your mother," Raoul said exhaustedly from behind his newspaper.

"And what do you know about anything, father? You spent your life being doted on by Uncle Philippe!" Stephanie snapped back.

"I know more than you ever will. About danger in particular," said Raoul sharply. "Now go to your room and don't let me see your face until you learn some respect for your elders."

"Fine. I was about to leave anyway," Stephanie said breezily as she exited.

After Stephanie had gone, and both Raoul and Christine were completely sure that she wasn't eavesdropping—a skill in which she had grown quite proficient—Christine perched next to Raoul on the arm of his chair, and the two decided it was time for a serious talk.

"What are we going to do?" Christine asked. "I tried to raise her as best I could, I just don't know where I went wrong," she laid her head in her hands.

"It's nothing you did," said Raoul, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We just didn't expect her to be so…" he searched for the right word, "…independent. We wanted her to be more reserved, more like we were as children."

This inspired a wet chuckle from Christine. "You? Reserved? Weren't you the one who ruined your expensive suit jumping into the ocean to fetch my scarf, as well as ignoring the protests of your aunt?"

Raoul shrugged. "More like you were as a child, then."

"Are you positive she's not eavesdropping?"

"Yes, dear, I'm sure."

Christine still seemed troubled. "Maybe we should tell her. About you know," she said suddenly. "She's bound to find out anyway. I'd rather she heard it from us than from L'Epoque."

In her room, Vicomtess Stephanie de Changy was furious. She tried various activities to calm herself down. She had a good shout at her maid for tying her corset strings crookedly. She savagely brushed her wavydark brown hair. She threw her silver-backed brush at her mirror, shattering it. She picked up the pieces and of glass and attempted to make a mosaic out of them. She finally grew frustrated with that pursuit and decided that she was going out. She ordered her maid to give her some time alone. When the girl refused, Stephanie had another opportunity to shout at her. Terrified, the maid scuttled out. Stephanie grinned.

Grabbing a cloak from her wardrobe, Stephanie threw open the doors leading to her balcony and walked out. From there it was short work to climb down a trellis on which dark red climbing roses grew to the ground. All of the groundskeepers had retired for the night, so the young Vicomtess didn't have to worry about being caught on that front. Once she was free of the Changy household, she put on her cloak and put up her hood. She didn't want anyone recognizing her tonight, and she had enough friends in the city that that was quite possible.

"Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle's gone!" Stephanie's maids frantic cry shattered the calm that had developed between Christine and Raoul.

"What?" they asked simultaneously.

"It's true, sir, lady, she yelled at me t'leave till I was too afeared t'say no, and when I checked on her a few minutes later, there weren't no sign of her!"

"I do not believe this," said Christine crossly. "I suppose we shall have to go look for her."

"Tell the stable master to ready our carriage," Raoul commanded the maid.

"I should've known something like this would happen," Christine moaned.

Despite all the commotion in the Changy house, five stories below the ground, and a fair distance away, Ari was happily humming "Prima Donna" off key, simply to annoy both Erik and Brittany—who had regained consciousness—at the same time.
A/N: I know it's short, and rather not funny, so I suppose I shall have to change the categories, as I shall be using the Stephanie plot arc more in the future.