Chapter 10: A shocking revelation
A/N: Hey everyone, so yay, here's the continuation to the cliffhanger! So read on and please read and review!
Marie Claire drew ragged breaths as she ran, desperate to find someone, anyone, backstage. She was relieved when she saw a familiar blonde head in front of her.
"Aunt Meg!" she exclaimed urgently. "Moncharmin isn't who we thought he was!"
Meg stared at her goddaughter, her light blue eyes confused. " What do you mean, Marie, who is he?"
"He's disguised himself, he's really the Phantom!" exclaimed Marie without further ado.
"What!" she exclaimed, "The Phantom of the Opera!" yelled Meg, a little too loudly.
These words prompted a dead and shocked silence among the people backstage.
"Yes, he tried to kidnap me, but I managed to get away ." said Marie Claire, the unbridled panic clear in both her voice and expression.
At these words, Meg grabbed Marie's hand and ran towards the one person whom she knew to trust: her mother. When they reached Madame Giry, her normal look of stony composure had been replaced by a look of determined panic. She already had a shocked looking Arthur by her side. And without a word she led them all to Christine's dressing room, the only place that she could think of to keep them all together. A confused Christine stood before them. She had been about to go back out for the second act.
"I heard a scream, what's going on?" she asked, a feeling of dark foreboding taking her over.
"Mama," said Marie Claire tremulously, "Erik has disguised himself as Moncharmin. Its been him all along."
Christine's eyes widened in a shocked fear, as she instantly gathered Marie and Arthur to her in a motherly fashion. Why oh why couldn't Erik change? She knew that he had it in him to be a normal person, rather than this dark Phantom that he had become. Just then, the door flew open and Lizzie came in with a confused looking Felix. As the door opened, the scared whispers of the backstage occupants could clearly be heard.
"He's here, the Phantom of the Opera..."
"That's it," said Arthur firmly, "I'm going out there." he said, his brown eyes fiery now. His former teacher had gone to far.
"I don't think so," said Madame Giry in a firm tone, "I am going to settle this before anyone is hurt. This opera will go on without any disaster." she said, her eyes worried as she closed the door behind her.
Christine scooped Felix up in her arms as she looked around at the group. She simply coudn't believe that they had fallen for this deception, but now she realized, was not the time to worry about that. There was something much more important to worry about, as there was a key member of the family missing from this group.
"Raoul..." she whispered in a voice filled with tears that she would not allow to fall. She had to be strong, for her family's sake.
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Erik breathed heavily as he stopped a few feet from Christine's dressing room. He couldn't believe that he had allowed Marie to get away from him. And he couldn't remember a time when he had seem a girl run as fast as she had. There was no doubt that the whole opera house was now onto his plan. But as he contemplated what to do, he saw an unwelcome figure walking in his direction.
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Raoul knew something was wrong the moment that he walked backstage. He heard tense whispers and there seemed to be some sort of chaos going on. He felt a deep feeling of worry for his family, and began to walk swiftly towards Christine's dressing room. But before he could make it there, he felt the point of a sword in the small of his back. His muscles automatically tensed, for he knew who was there behind him.
"Good evening Vicomte." said Erik, his voice dripping with contempt.
Raoul turned, and gave a start as he saw what was before him. And suddenly he realized what he couldn't believe that he hadn't realized before.
"Its you," he said, his voice shocked. "You've been decieving us all along."
"Bravo monsieur," said the Phantom sarcastically. "Now draw your sword, for what I shall assure you will be the last time."
Raoul drew his sword reluctantly as he heard the muffled sounds of the audience taking their seats in the theater for the second act. He hated that he had to fight, but he knew that he had to, for the sake of his family. He had to protect them from the darkness that he never wanted to over come them. How he wished to have never had to fight this fight again, but it seemed as though it would never end. It was a fight that he was bound to, for the sake of those that he loved.
A crowd began to gather about the two as the fight raged on. They watched nervously, for the news had spread about Moncharmin. But Raoul and Erik seemed oblivious as to what was going on around them, each intent on the other's next move.
"I grow tired of this fight monsieur," said Raoul, a sadness showing through his anger. "Don't you as well?"
"I do not grow tired of anything until I have achieved my goal." said Erik stonily, not allowing himself to show the Vicomte any of the raging emotions that were pent up inside.
Raoul sighed at his opponent's answer, as he fought with all that he possessed. But just then, another sword joined the fight. It was that of Arthur, who, much to Madame Giry's dismay, had left Christine's dressing room, which had of course, prompted the others to follow.
CLANG!
Raoul smiled faintly at his son in law's determination, feeling it restore his own. But somehow he knew that this wasn't going to end well. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his wife, daughter, and son, along with Lizzie, Meg, and Madame Giry. It seemed as though out of instinct that he turned to make sure that they were alright. And as he did, he heard a desperate cry:
"The three of you will stop this now, before any one if you is injured any further!" cried Madame Giry in a serious, yet pleading tone.
But she was too late for as she spoke, the group had moved ever closer to the curtains and at that moment, Erik's sword, flew into the ropes that held the curtain secure after a missed attempt at Arthur. The beautiful curtains came tumbling down on onto the stage. The audience, who had been expecting the start of the second act, found themselves stunned at what was before them. All three, even Erik dropped their swords at this. A dead silence fell over the entire opera, as Andre and Firmin tried their best to calm the now frantic audience.
"Don't be frightened ladies and gentlemen, its only part of the show, please remain in you seats." they pleaded as the backstage crew manged to get the curtain back up well enough to cover those on stage. But that rapidity hadn't kept Erik from seeing the guards before the doors.
As soon as she was sure that they were well concealed from the audience, Madame Giry rounded on the three, and even Erik didn't interrupt her.
"Now look what you have done," she breathed, somehow remaining calm. "I will not have this fight be the ruin of this opera house. And I will not have it be the ruin of any of you. I care for you all, and this is ridiculous." she said simply.
As she said this, the voices of Andre and Firmin were heard, and they were frantic.
"He's over there lieutenant, that's him!" they said as they pointed in Erik's direction. That wasn't the wisest thing for them to do, as Erik's temper and emotions were raging.
And before he even did it, Madame Giry seemed to know what it was that he was going to do.
As he took one last look at them all, he wrapped his cloak about him and dissappeared in a flash of fire.
"This shall not be the last that you see of me!" yelled Erik as he dissappeared, causing the stage to be set on fire. Piercing screams resounded throughout the opera house as the audience members were escorted out of the opera house with the utmost speed. The opera clearly, was over for the evening.
"Christine, Marie, Felix!" yelled Raoul as he and Arthur ran to find them through the smoke.
They managed to find them on the other side of the stage with Meg and Lizzie. Raoul grabbed Christine's and Felix's hands as Arthur grabbed Marie's and Madame Giry grabbed Meg's and Lizzie's and the group sprinted as fast as possible off of the stage and through the theater. It was hard to see through the smoke that seemed to be spreading, and everyone's vision became blurry. The vile substance filled their lungs, and their coughs rang through the opera house. Finally though, they reached the lobby, which seemed to be unharmed, and went out into the cool evening. It seemed that everyone inside had gotten out relatively unharmed, though there were a few injuries sustained.
"Oh my god, is everyone alright?" asked Arthur, looking around and trying to sustain the damage as he checked Marie Claire for any burns.
"I think that everyone is alright," said Raoul, as he checked Felix and Christine for injuries. "It seems that everyone got out alright."
Tears of fear slid down Felix's face as Christine picked him up and held him in a comforting embrace. Raoul pulled the two of them to him and soon Marie and Arthur joined the intimate embrace. All whispered a silent prayer of thanks that they had remained safe. The fire had not been on the same scale as the Don Juan fire, but it was a dangerous situation nevertheless.
"I just can't believe that we didn't see it before, I can't believe that we fell for such a deception." said Marie Claire, her blue eyes, sad and confused as she let herself be wrapped up in Arthur's warm embrace.
"Neither can I," said Christine, shaking her head, "But it was an excellent disguise, I don't know how we could have known." she said, sighing as she buried her head into her beloved Raoul's shoulder. "How can we feel safe again?"
"We wil find a way." said Raoul, wrapping his arms around her, and hearing her heart beat against his chest, only wishing to keep her safe.
"Papa, may Arthur and I stay with you this evening?" asked Marie, her voice sounding much like it had when she was a little girl.
"Yes darling, of course you can." said Raoul as he kissed his daughter's head.
Then as the group regained their senses, the ranting of Andre and Firmin could be heard.
"We're ruined Andre, they'll never come back now!" yelled Firmin, pacing. "And how will we ever afford to pay for the damage to that priceless stage?"
"I don't know Firmin, I don't know." murmured Andre, his head in his hands.
At hearing this, Raoul walked over to them. "Gentlemen I will help pay for the damage done to the stage. I'm really sorry about all of this monsieurs." he said sincerely.
"I will help to, as it was our fight that caused all of this." said Arthur gravely.
"Oh thankyou gentlemen." said Firmin, as he bowed and thanked him profusely.
Everyone stood in silence for a few minutes, still trying to take in what had just happened. No one daring to believe that any of this was true. It was Lizzie who broke the silence.
"I just can't believe that Moncharmin and the Phantom are the same man." she said, her voice sad, "They didn't seem the same at all."
"No," said Madame Giry, "They don't. But perhaps if we find the person that Moncharmin is, under the dark Phantom, then perhaps this conflict will end." she stated simply as she looked around at them all. Her gaze followed around the group of cast member and stage crew, and her gaze finally rested on the de Chagnys and the Pages, and she smiled at them, as though trying to reassure them. "I think it best if all of you go home and rest. I am sure that we will all need it, for this is bound to be all over the morning papers, and there will be a lot to deal with." she said as she ushered them all into their carriages.
And as they all traveled home, each dreaded what they knew the morning would bring.
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A/N: Hello everyone, and thanks for reading! Ya I know its pretty dramatic huh? Things will get better for all invovled I promise. I would also like to emphasize that there are no character deaths in my stories, so never fear. My fics always have happy endings! Please read and review! All of my characters will thank you for it!
Raoul, Christine, Marie, Arthur, Felix, Erik, etc- "Please review Kchan's story!"
See I told you! Anyway, thanks fo reading!
BlazeLoganlover- Thanks so much! I'm really glad that you like my story, and I hope that you will like it even better as the story goes on.
Samantha- Thanks for your continued support! It seems that he didn't catch her this time, but who know what will happen later? But at least for the time being they all got away!
Asia1st- Thanks for your continued support! Oh, they aren't stupid, it was just a very good disguise! It was an intelligent plan on Erik's part though.
I am the Angel of Music- I'm glad that you reviewed and I'm glad that you like my story! Oh, and the three words Erik said were ' angel of music', those words revealed him to Marie. Sorry for the confusion on that. By the way, how did your play go?
mrmistoflees- Thanks for reviewing! It seems that now everyone knows who the Phantom is!