Another Angel: Ch. 6
A/N: Hola everyone, and welcome to Chapter Six! Nope, the story is still not finished and probably won't be for a while. I am way behind on everything…including this, so I don't know how often I'll be updating this, but I'll try. I really will. I've finally filled in the missing plot stuff, so I think I know what I'm doing, and writing shouldn't be too much of a problem. :) I just need to find time to do it. So, here goes. Hope you enjoy it. –AzIce
He was gone. She was confused at first. He was always here when she came down. And it looked like that he had been waiting for her too. Something laid unfinished in one of the rooms in the back.
'Maybe he left to get something,' she thought. 'I'll wait for him.' She waited for what seemed an eternity, but she saw not even a hint of him. 'Where are you, my angel?' she thought as she left, glancing back to scan the shadows for him one last time. She felt uneasy as she went back to the dormitories. He wouldn't leave without telling her, right? And she hadn't done anything against what he taught her.
Well…maybe not. The only thing she could think of was her actual singing during rehearsals and performances. Even though she was steadily getting better because of her lessons at night, she didn't show any of her improvement at the rehearsals and performances because she was frightened of La Sorelli's reaction. The last time someone became a remote threat to her status resulted in her friend's death. And even though he assured her time and time again that he would make sure that nothing happened, she still held back when she was singing.
'Could he be mad at me for that?' she asked as she slipped into bed. 'He's always been so patient and understanding with me. Why now?'
She had a hard time falling asleep that night. She couldn't help but wonder where he was. The flashbacks from the first day she met him in the fifth cellar eventually came to haunt her dreams.
The next day in rehearsal, she still searched for him in the rafters of the Opera House where he usually hid in the shadows to watch their rehearsals, but she neither heard nor saw him during the entire thing.
'Is he waiting for me to sing…?' she thought uneasily as the chorus part approached. 'He's been telling me to just sing normally for so long, but I'm so scared. Sorelli will not be an easy person to deal with. Okay. Fine. I'll do it. I trust him.'
Swallowing her fears, she entered flawlessly with the rest of the chorus, singing loudly making sure to sing every note in tune, just as they practiced during the night. She tried to ignore the stares that were starting to come from some of the people. She looked up cautiously and found herself looking at La Sorelli. There was a venomous glare in her eyes as she continued to sing her part. Reina immediately quailed from the glare and averted her eyes from Sorelli, although she kept her voice steady. Sorelli almost immediately stopped the rehearsal after that exchange of glances.
"You!" Sorelli snapped, pointing to her. "You are singing too loud. I cannot hear myself because of you."
"Sorry," she apologized. "I'll sing more quietly next time."
"You should be. We must start from the beginning of the act now because of you. Maestro, let us start," Sorelli said.
People groaned again. They had almost been to the end of the act. But Reina didn't say anything. Better the beginning of the act than the beginning of the play. Over the next few days, she suffered the same sort of criticism from Sorelli constantly. She became an example of what not to do. And Reina recognized everything. It was exactly what had happened to Liz, her best friend.
'My angel, where are you?' she thought desperately as Sorelli continued to criticize her during a practice. 'I have done what you asked. You promised you would protect me from her. Where have you gone, my guide and guardian?'
Erik sat in the cavern beneath the Garnier Opera house, looking at all the portraits of Christine covering the walls. He had never realized it until then at how close Christine and Reina were. He thought he had been over it, after all, he really had enjoyed all that time with Reina and the his love for Christine felt like it diminished to just a good friendship. But when Reina had started singing Past the Point of No Return, everything just returned—his love for Christine and jealous hatred of the Vicomte.
He wound up the music box and he let its Masquerade melody tinkle in the cavern, silent save for the constant lapping of the lake. Memories of Christine filled his soul as he remembered and savored each one. The music box stopped.
"Christine, I love you," he murmured, fingering the ring that was in his hand.
Days passed and she still heard nothing from her angel. By this time, she had stopped singing so well, and reverted back to the quality that she had sung with before, but Sorelli still constantly criticized her.
She found out that in addition to missing him because he was her angel, she missed him as a friend—as someone she could just talk to and relate her troubles to. Most of the girls excluded her now because they all blamed her for the extra long rehearsals that no one wanted to stay at.
One day after rehearsal, Madame Giry, the caretaker of the Opera Populaire girls, approached her.
"Excuse me, Reina, may I have a word with you?"
Reina turned at the unfamiliar voice and saw Madame Giry there. "Of course, Madame Giry." She followed Madame Giry to an empty room, where she closed the door. At the closed door, Reina started to feel slightly uneasy. Why would Giry approach her? Especially since they hadn't talked previously.
"Please, don't be frightened. It is just that the topic I am discussing with you is very secret. Is he doing well?"
Reina was confused at what she meant. "I'm sorry, Madame Giry. I'm afraid I don't know what you mean…"
"I recognize his work. Your singing has greatly improved these last few weeks. He has been tutoring you, hasn't he?"
"Do you mean…you know who he is?" she asked.
"Yes. I believe he goes by the Phantom of the Opera. I rescued him from a gypsy fair when I was younger." Giry told her tale of saving him and leading him to the Opera house, where he grew up. (A/N: I'm using the plot from the movie, so I'm assuming all of you have seen the movie so I don't have to write it all out. If you haven't, go see it. It's good.)
"I'm sorry, I don't know where he is," Reina said quietly. "I found him in the fifth cellar a month ago—the day when the Garnier Opera house burned down. I don't know what had happened to him, but he was in tears he was such a miserable, dejected person. And I couldn't just leave him there. I assume it was just because the Opera house was somewhere he had spent a lot of time at. And his friend, the Garnier Phantom of the Opera had just had his love taken away from him."
"Wait," Giry interrupted her. "Are you saying that there are two Phantoms?"
Reina nodded. "There's the one that lives—or lived—here…and there's the one that lived in the Garnier Opera House."
Giry saw how he thought now. He had probably not lied to her, but told her something so that she would assume that there were two Phantoms. "So, tell me about the night that he disappeared."
Reina sighed, but she went on. "I went down to the cavern as usual. He wasn't there, so I assumed he was in the back making something. He is really magical. He can make anything happen." She smiled at the thought of his amazing magic tricks. "So, I looked around the cavern for a bit. There was a new piece of music on the stand and I sung a little bit from it to see what it sounded like. But he never showed up. I went to the back and it looked like he was in the middle of preparing something, but there was nothing in sight."
"Tell me, what was the name of the piece of music?" Giry said.
"It was an opera I have never heard of before: Don Juan Triumphant. It sounded really good though."
That was it, Giry thought. Why he had left. He probably came here to try to get away from Christine, so he took up a new pupil. But when she sang that song, everything came back. It had been the cause of his demise.
"Ah," she said. She knew she should tell this girl the truth, but she didn't know how to do it. She had such an idealistic view of him, just like Christine had had. She thought he was amazing, an angel, a guardian, a guide, and perhaps even a friend. She didn't know the dark secrets of his nature. "Reina..."
"Hm?" she said, looking to Giry.
"Your Angel of Music is the Garnier Phantom of the Opera."
A/N: I think this is the longest one yet, but it's still not that long. Aren't you all proud of me? But it sure did take forever. \ I'll try to get the next one up sooner. I don't have homework this weekend, so I'm going to continue writing right after I post this on To my reviewers: futureChristine—I'm glad that you like my fanfic:) And of course it's not complete…it's just in slow progress. MoonCat—Yes! I make sense at 11:00 at night. I agree that it was the downfall of the relationship between the two. He was just a voice to her for so long. And Genius of Music—Hola to you too! I'm sure you're perfectly good at writing. And I have to agree that writing isn't my strong suit either. \ I just spew it out at once and I don't bother to change it or check it to see if things can be better worded, but I hope it all makes sense to you readers. Well, that's it folks. Thank you to all of my readers! Comments, criticism, etc. etc. (you know the drill) are always welcome. Until the next chapter, —AzIce.