Another Angel: Chapter 4

A/N: Hey all again! Well, here's the next chapter. I just realized that I'm past that two week deadline. Sorry! It's a little bit short too, because I thought that I'd just give you what I had rather than make you wait. It's only the second week of school and I'm completely swamped with stuff already. Anyway, my friend just recently asked me what was my favorite song in Phantom. It's so hard to choose because there are so many good songs. But I think mine is the Point of No Return, but even that is tied with Music of the Night, Phantom of the Opera, and Down Once More. And most of the rest of the songs are close seconds. I can't decide! So, out of curiosity, what is your favorite song? Oh, by the way, for those of you who haven't read the Leroux book, the Phantom's real name is Erik. To me, it seems a little awkward to address him as "the Phantom" every time, so I'm using his name. And that's about for it. --AzIce

She seemed eager to see him, Erik noted as he met her in the fifth cellar. She was silent as he brought her through the maze of hallways as to not wake anyone, but he felt her excitement brimming as they neared the cavern he was staying in for now. "You did well tonight, Reina," he said as they entered. "A great improvement from this morning's rehearsal."

"Thank you," she replied. "But it was you who deserves the congratulations. Your criticism and encouragement was what made me better. But, tell me, how was it that you cast your voice so only I could hear it? They must think that I am in need of a doctor now because I told them I heard a voice."

He smiled slightly. "It's something that I picked up a while ago." He made his voice come out of various objects in the cavern, which entertained her for a while. But it was obvious that her mind was on other things. "You have something on your mind," he stated, returning his voice to normal.

"A girl from the Opera Populaire just told me what happened to their opera house," Reina explained. "It's terrible. Can you imagine…that chandelier crashing down on so many people? You said that that tunnel in the fifth cellar leads to the Garnier Opera house. Do you think I could go there? I want to find their Phantom of the Opera. That girl told me that it was he who brought down the chandelier."

"That tunnel is at least 2 miles long," he said. "It would be a long journey for you."

"It doesn't matter," she responded. "I've walked to the other side of the city before. And it's only 10:30. There's plenty of time."

"If you are that curious, then let me lead you there. The path to the Garnier Opera House is long and dark."

Reina got the feeling that he didn't particularly want to go. After all, it was probably the chandelier crash that made him flee to their Opera House. "I'm sure that the Garnier Opera House holds a lot of memories for you. You don't have to go with me. I'll be fine."

She found herself in the tunnel with a torch, wishing that she had asked him to come with her. 'It is dark in here,' she thought as she continued along the path. 'Even with the torch…' She had started walking down the tunnel about five minutes ago, but it seemed like an eternity had passed. Nothing decorated the drab, monotonous gray stone walls. And the torch only lit five feet in front of or behind her. After that was complete darkness.

In truth, she was actually slightly frightened of what, or who, she would find in the Garnier Opera House. That single tale of the Phantom of the Opera scared her. 'He brought down the chandelier,' ran through her head again and again and she could only imagine what other horrors he committed.

As she continued walking, she forced herself to think of other things. It didn't matter who was waiting for her there. And surely the Garnier Phantom was as human as she—he had to have a heart.

She had been right. He didn't want to go. That Opera House held too many memories. Too many memories of her. Even now after it was all over he still thought of her constantly, even with Reina as a new pupil. It was true that when he was with Reina, most of the thoughts about Christine vanished, but when she was gone, memories of Christine returned to haunt him.

But memory or not, he had to follow her. He was once again a guardian and an angel. Even though he doubted there was anyone left in the Opera House, there still might be people exploring the depths of his lair. He silently followed her torch, lingering behind where the darkness covered him. It was evident again that she was thinking of what laid ahead—the Garnier Phantom of the Opera. The girl from the Opera Populaire had no doubt told some horrid story about him, but he wasn't planning on revealing his true identity anytime soon. No one would know of the true story except him, Christine, and the vicomte. (A/N: It'd be nice to insert some Raoul bashing right there, but that's not nice…and not Erik-like maybe. I'm not sure if he would insult Raoul after he willingly lets her go with him.)

He continued to follow her and she appeared to be deep in thought as she continued the stone corridor. Obviously, too deep in thought, for she tripped over a step that led into his lair. He had to rush forward to grab her so she wouldn't fall and hurt herself.

Reina was completely surprised and slightly scared that someone was there. She had been thinking about various things when she tripped over a step and someone grabbed her from the darkness.

She circled the torch around and found him there behind her.

"You should pay attention to where you walk and engage in less deep thought," he said with an smile on his face.

But she was still surprised. "But I thought you were staying…" she said. "Why?"

"I am your Angel of Music," he replied. "I am here to guide you and to guard you."

She smiled. "I know it must be hard for you to return, but I'm really glad that you are with me." She truthfully felt better knowing that he was here with her. As she moved a heavy cloth covering a doorway, she found an huge cavern. After finding many candelabras and lighting a few with her torch, she found that the cavern was very ornately decorated. Art covered the walls, from portraits of a girl to sculptures, and a huge organ dominated the far wall and there was even a lake that came to the foot of the living space. It looked like that the lake was the only other way to reach the secluded living area. Reina couldn't help but wonder in awe at the cavern.

"This is amazing," she said. "Whoever lived here couldn't be evil. A musician, an artist, and from the looks of it, a composer as well," she said, examining some music on a stand. "This is where their Phantom of the Opera lived, right?"

"Yes," Erik replied, looking through some of his stuff. He could tell that they went through some of his papers, but other than that, pretty much everything had stayed the same. Then the tinkling of the music box filled the cavern. He started walking over there, the memories flooding into his mind. 'Masquerade, paper faces on parade. Masquerade, hide your face so the world will never find you,' he thought in tune with the monkey's music. Surprisingly, he heard his thoughts being sung, except a different verse.

"Masquerade," Reina sung softly. "Every face a different shade. Masquerade, look around there's another mask behind you."

The music died away and the words returned to his mind. ' "Christine, I love you." ' He had to stop a moment because that memory meant so much to him.

"Look, it's a music box. It's the same music that the Opera Populaire had playing at their masquerade at the beginning of the year. Madame Ellisa made us leave early though," Reina said, reminiscing. She held the music box in her hand. "Hello? Is anyone here?" she called out, but her voice only echoed into the depths of the cavern. "He's not here anymore, is he?" she asked, turning to Erik.

"No," Erik responded to her question. "He fled because they were trying to murder him for what he had done."

"Did you know him then?" she asked, placing the music box back where she found it. "Because you came from here last night, right?"

"Yes," he replied after a pause. "I knew him."

A/N: This is going rather slowly, isn't it? I promise the next chapter will have something exciting in it. And if it doesn't you can all hunt me down and throw things at me. (Actually, I'd prefer it if you didn't. Getting hit by things hurts). Actually, I think that my version of the Phantom is very off character (I think that's the word for it. But you get what I mean. He's the Phantom, but he's not Phantom-like). \ I just can't imagine him doing/saying/thinking some of these things. I'll try to keep that in mind for the next chapter. If there's anyone who agrees with me, let me know. Otherwise, I won't think very hard about it because no one agrees, so I won't strive to change it (if that made any sense at all. It's midnight and I'm about to fall asleep and I'm very crazy at midnight when I'm lacking sleep.) And acknowledgements to the returning reviewers! PhantomLover2005, thank you for providing the solution to my lack of lexicon in the last chapter. Obviously, I am not in my smart mode when I write this. SpeedDemon315—Thanks for your well wishes. I think I'm rolling again. :) And BlackRose37—I'm glad you like it! I hope that you'll continue reading. :D So, I'll leave you guys now. Comments, random blurbs, and plot ideas are still welcome from anyone out there. Already working on the next chapter, your author, --AzIce