-1A/N: It's been quite a while, I know. Please don't hurt me, I come in peace and bring a new chapter. Actually it's been senior year and lots of homework and all that jazz so, many of you probably empathize. Thank you to all of the people who hopped on the bandwagon after the last chapter, I really did appreciate your reviews and remarks. I hope you enjoy and, as always, feel free to leave comments of any kind. I apologize for any well…mediocreness on my part...I'm a little rusty. Oh yeah, and I've actually visited Paris and drooled over the Opera House since I last wrote, so that should cause some positive things.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to The Phantom of the Opera, either the book or the movie, and only use the characters and songs through the good graces and ambivalence of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gaston Leroux. Please don't hurt me, I'm not doing any harm.
Soft metal dronings filled the air and added to an already ripe feeling of suspense in the ominous cavern. Like the instant before a flame hits a fuse, the three of us awaited whatever hand fate would deal in the coming moments. Christine and I stood helpless, pawns of an unseen game, as the lattice rose and scattered murky water around me.
I quickly scanned her slight and frightened form for any evidence of foul play. She seemed fine, a little disheveled and frightened, but I could see no obvious marks of the man's cruelty and my nerves settled more in response. However, after seeing what this "Phantom" could do, my suspicions were in no way pacified or calmed. If he had so much as touched her with certain intentions or imperiled her for one moment… A quick pain from the cut in my shoulder served to calm me and interrupt the inciting emotions. I detained my rage and pervading thoughts, letting them lie until a moment arrived when they would be useful, and placed my gaze back on him.
Restraining every muscle and nerve, I held what little ground I could call my own. Adrenaline coursed through synapse after synapse as the one man I truly despised advanced on me, a glib expression on his face. Sarcasm poured through his words and hung heavily in the dank air, hardly offering any tangible proof of assurance.
"Monsieur, I bid you welcome! Did you think that I would harm her?" His words and gestures displaying any feeling but that of guilt and shame, the man spoke with an accusing tone. He prodded and provoked me to his challenge, to fight in a game in which I did not know the rules.
Both of us now knee deep in the cold water, equally indentured, we stood almost eye to eye for the second time. The first time, in the familiar environment of broad daylight, I should have stabbed the blade through his chest and finished it while I had the chance. Now I was at the mercy of an unfathomable mind and could hardly defend myself well in an alien setting.
Without my blade or any realistic hope of success, I stood with far less to reassure me and infinitely more to lose. I allowed my thoughts to meander back several months.
Freshly fallen snow made the cemetery grounds slick and strangely eerie; more so than any aura of death could bring. Without conscious thought or plan, I charged towards the masked tyrant and drew my weapon. At first, every move was defensive as I struggled to keep my feet under me and retain my position. I had not been prepared for the passion and hate that he would throw at me…and now, standing in the depths of the Opera Populaire, I still was not.
"Why would I make her pay for the sins which are yours?"
I stared with intensity into the eyes of the man that had caused only suffering to Christine and myself, and saw nothing there but fiery, calculating hate. I silently wondered how a person such as this could have a single feeling towards anyone, even that of lust; he hardly ever moved in a way that was not measured to produce the greatest destruction.
Turning a psychological examination onto myself, I began to prepare for the worst; clenching and relaxing muscles that screamed because of inaction. By this time, I felt as if every part of me was on fire; a sensation wasting away at my patience and control. Through gritted teeth and balled fists, I determined not to let my guard down anywhere near the terrible creature. Every sense became heightened and alert in the presence of this predator, and I could see Christine only lengths away looking on in fear. I resolved that I would not allow any force, no matter how potent or volatile, to stand in the way of freeing her. Fate had allowed us this much, and I would not let it go easily.
A resounding clank echoed behind me and my overanxious nerves caused me to take my eyes from the Phantom's for only a fraction of a second. I turned to see the lattice secure only inches from my back and felt a sudden, hard blow across my throat as a rope slung around me and pulled brutally. As I turned in a struggle to break free, the rope slid down to my arms, enclosing them in an inescapable way. My upper-hand became forfeited as I was pushed up against the wall of metal, pain exploding in waves along my skull and back.
"Order your fine horses now! Raise up your hands to the level of your eyes!"
In mere moments, I stood helplessly tied to the lattice, and despairing dread fell over me. Mock and derision spewed from the face in front of me, taunting the power I had held and surrendered over his life that day in the cemetery. I should have brutally killed him while I had the chance. Now…I was left to the powers at be.
"Nothing can save you now--except perhaps Christine…" He turned his attention away from me, and began pacing towards her. I struggled hard against ropes that I knew would not budge for the wishes of one lowly man. Helplessly I stood and awaited…
"Start a new life with me--buy his freedom with your love! Refuse me and you send your lover to his death! This is the choice--this is the point of no return!"
Though I was physically powerless, I was in no way conquered. Intense fury welled up within me… I was nearly certain that Christine would acquiesce to his demands, and I could not bear to bring a life of grotesque horror upon the woman I loved. Yet, despite all of this, I could do no more than stand and pray for death. Macabre though my wish was, it was infinitely better than the alternative. Now the fuse had been lit, and only silent suspense accompanied the encounter. Christine's lyric voice sounded, a blaring contrast to the dire consequences at hand.
"The tears I might have shed for your dark fate grow cold, and turn to tears of hate…"
The Phantom moved resolutely away, unaffected by his protégé's show of disdain. Fire was blazing its way along the untouched fuse, and I knew that I could only hope to convince Christine of which decision should be made before it was too late. Somewhere deeper than the logic in my brain, I knew that she would never make that choice. She would rather die first. And if I let her stay with him, she would.
"Christine, forgive me, please forgive me…I did it all for you and all for nothing…"
Christine paid no attention to my pleas and held her gaze on the man worthy of her venom, speaking only to him. Something in me broke to see the pain in her eyes, knowing that I could never again take it away or quell the tears now falling freely.
"Farewell, my fallen idol and false friend…one by one I've watched illusions shattered…"
Fear showed openly in all of her actions as the Phantom began to carry out his threats. Christine stood paralyzed, unable to stop the inevitable.
"Say you love him and my life is over!"
"No point in fighting--" The emphasizing point of these words was produced as I felt the noose of the Phantom's rope, and the import of the situation, slip around my neck and begin to tighten.
"Either way you choose, he has to win--you cannot win!" The noose grew ever tighter around me as the Phantom stopped and spoke the thought that all three of us knew to be exact; we could not win.
Desperate is not a strong enough word to describe the atmosphere at that moment, nor fear large enough to encompass the pain I felt at asking Christine to end my life. Both, however, were inescapable and neither, no matter their strength, could alter the path of fate.
"So, do you end your days with me, or do you send him to his grave?"
"Why make her lie to you to save me?", I embitteredly spat at the man holding the break of my neck at the flick of his wrist. Only part of me knew that I was willingly welling up his anger and asking for my own demise. Voices raised in confusion and heightened by the brink of choice, swirled in a cacophony of sound.
"Angel of Music, why this torment?"
"For pity's sake, Christine, say no!"
"Past the point of no return--the final threshold…"
"Don't throw your life away for my sake!"
"When will you see reason…?"
"His life is now the prize which you must earn!"
Despondency, desolation, self-pity, and pain crashed like waves in a storm, leaving no member of the cavern untouched and beating me the hardest.
"I fought so hard to free you…" My own voice emerged in a hardly audible sigh, intended for Christine's ears, and yet destined to fall at my own feet. Strength that had once urged me to fight on now fled and left only enough purpose to keep me standing.
"Angel of Music, you deceived me--I gave you my mind blindly." At that moment, I wished for nothing more than the ropes to break by some divine intervention and allow Christine one more moment in my arms, the Phantom only a distant memory. To once again be standing high above Paris, the world, and every possibility it offered, at our feet.
"You try my patience--make your choice!" A sharp tug on the noose clutching my neck brought me back to the reality, impacting my throat and allowing a gag to get the better of me. Obviously, this man would not trifle with indecision and would not allow any more time to slip through his fingers. Slowly, I watched the flame of the situation travel closer and closer to a sudden explosion and knew that the end of my life could not be far. Christine looked towards me with soft, strengthening eyes and mouthed a word too slight for me to catch. She then turned her gaze towards the mutilated being in front of her, as if a decision had been made.
"Pitiful creature of darkness…what kind of life have you known…?" Grace and tenderness met in her aspect as she waded forward towards him, slowly grinding my heart with each step.
"God give me courage to show you, you are not alone…" Peacefully, she slipped a ring onto her finger and sunk closer towards the man who was killing me even now. Unsure of what would happen, I was unable to keep my eyes from the scene and could no sooner wrench my heart from it, than will a better fate into being. With sureness of purpose and a loving gaze Christine wrapped her arm around his neck and pressed her lips to his. The moment was so silent, so inevitable; my heart stopped for an instant. Sparkling in the dim cavern light, wrapped around the man's neck, I could see Christine's engagement ring. My engagement ring. Suddenly, the wrenching in my heart stopped. It did not hurt, it did not anger, it did not sicken. Simply put, I did not feel anything. Water drops fell into the larger dark green mass, my heart continued beating, and Christine did not pull away.
I watched as she took her lips from his and stared into his eyes. Those eyes in which I had only seen malice and hatred; did she now view something entirely different? With a breath of confidence, she moved towards his wondering form once more and kissed him passionately: deeper and stronger than the last. A stab of something large and unbearable hit me then, and I had to look away.
I closed my eyes, which now felt gritty and hot. The picture of the two of them remained etched in my brain, however. Staring at the tableau Christine had created, a surge of strength hit every piece of my body; Christine had given up everything for me willingly. The lonely and struggling future, no matter how long it would be, was nowhere near my heart at that moment. I could only love her deeply. My eyes re-opened when the sound of many voices hit me, and I struggled to turn my confined head to find the source. Instead, I heard words which held much more weight.
"Take her--forget me--forget all of this… leave me alone--forget all you've seen…go now--don't let them find you!" Christine rushed towards me and began to fumble at the restraints holding me to the lattice, allowing me a breath of free air as she slipped the noose off of my neck.
"Take the boat, swear to me never to tell the secret you know of the angel in hell. Go now! Go now and leave me!" He screamed in anguish, as I held Christine with all the strength I could muster. Wrapping my arm around her waist, we waded through the water to a small boat hidden in a dark corner, water lapping quietly around it's hull. The sound of footsteps mixed with a sad tune, long covered by the dust of several months, filled the halls of the cavern and Christine stopped dead in her tracks.
Looking down into her eyes with confusion, I quietly asked, "What is it?" Christine merely looked back towards the echoes of slow music in return, and squeezed my hand. As she began to move back towards the Phantom, anxiety got the better of me and I grasped her arm to stop her. Turning calmly back to me, she merely whispered, "Trust me, Raoul." and I acquiesced.
No sound but small footfalls to the cavern and back could be heard. I did not even know if she saw him again. I only knew that when Christine returned and wrapped her arms around me, she no longer had the ring on her finger. Shoving off from the small landing, I stood with Christine next to me as we made our way back to the reassurance of the outside world. Only the slight movement of hair against my shoulder let me know that she had allowed herself one last look at the life she had almost been bound to. A strong, despairing voice sounded as she turned her head to look up at me.
"It's over now, the music of the night…"
The crash of shattered glass was the last sound that we ever heard from that cavern. And the last sound that I ever hoped to hear come between us. As we hit solid stone and I led Christine up onto the street, I pulled her tightly into my arms.
"Anywhere you go, let me go to."
The only response was a reassuring embrace, as she buried her face in my shirt.
Wow. Well, I hope that that was thoroughly enjoyed. I REALLY liked writing that last one, and I hope that does not mean that it was crap to everyone else.
The Libretto was my savior for this chapter. Whew!
This chapter is dedicated to Nathan. Why? Who knows. Okay, well, it's because you were my Phantom for Halloween. Thanks. ; D