A/N: I do not own the Phantom of the Opera or any of the characters within.

So, so, sorry for taking forever to update. Here I get to the most important cliffhanger and winter quarter starts. I got swamped with homework for the last two days, thankfully it's tapering off and hopefully I can finish this before I get laden with essays again.

And I really have to thank the reviewers, I think you all have more care and concern for my characters than I do. Your questions shall be answered, read on.(Eep!)

"You have to be joking."

Erik shook his head, "No, she hid it from me for two years. It wasn't until I returned early one evening that I heard her singing while she painted."

"So? What was her excuse?"

"She claimed that she told me that she did not sing, not that she couldn't."

"You would think that…" Raoul paused as people passed by them on the sidewalk, "you would think that she would have let something slip."

"I heard her once when I was ill, but could barely remember it," Erik said as they turned down their street, "I understood why she hid it once she confessed."

"Why?"

"She did not want to be compared to Christine; she didn't want me to remember something hurtful."

"Sounds like something Katerina would do."

Erik smiled wirily, "Does it?"

Raoul grinned, "Well, from what I know of the woman…"

He trailed off as they came to the flat. Erik froze for an instant. The front door was open an inch. Raoul went ahead of him and pushed the door. It swung open silently to darkness.

"Christine? Katerina?"

There wasn't a single sound save for Raoul's echoing voice.

Erik hurried up the steps to the darkened doorway, "Something is wrong."

Christine blinked; someone was gently stroking her hair. She shifted and coughed. She was lying in Katerina's lap and the woman was staring straight ahead. Christine's awareness rose. Her knee scraped against the stone ground and she recognized the grotto. Little more than a scraped out shell from what she remembered. She was in Katerina's lap, Christine looked up, a brilliant purple bruise was across Katerina's cheek and dried blood followed a little trail from a gash in her bottom lip.

"Kat…"

"Shush," her sudden whisper, "he wants quiet."

Slowly she turned to see what Katerina was staring at; a tall man in a black cloak that was pacing back and forth in front of the underground lake. She could see the black mask he wore, a glaring shape against his pale skin. His reddish hair was messy and he seemed to be talking to himself.

Christine gasped as she realized what was going on. The darkness flashed into her mind, the hands around her… her neck ached and something pulled on her wrist. She tugged on the manacle for a moment, rattling the long chain that tethered her to the wall, until Katerina shook her head and held up her own bloodied wrist.

"Katerina, what happened? He got you…?"

"Hush, stay quiet, just stay quiet," she whispered.

"Do I hear a little bird?" the voice rung out clearly with no echo.

Suddenly Katerina grasped Christine and yanked her down. Christine screamed as a gunshot sounded in the grotto and she heard it hit the wall above their heads. Katerina held her in silence for what felt like an eternity.

"I thought not, good little birds only sing when they're told."

Christine shuddered and began to sob as fear took hold of her. Katerina just wrapped her arms around her and held her.

Christine sobbed, "Raoul… Erik… they will come for us. Won't they?"

Katerina's voice was emotionless, there were no sounds of comfort or hope, "Yes, they will dear heart, yes they will."

Erik moved cautiously up the stairs and down the hall as Raoul slid into the study. It was too quiet, even if the women had gone up to bed…

Erik heard a muffled squeal followed by a thump. He slowly pushed the bedroom door open and saw a small figure in the darkness. He heard a scream and the bed rattled. Erik ran and lit a gas lamp as Giovanni tugged at the ropes that bound him to the bed.

"Raoul! Get up here!" Erik yelled as he yanked the gag from the boy's mouth.

"He took them!" Giovanni's voice filled the air with fear, "He took Madame and the Comtess! He made Madame go to the theater… he made her…"

Erik pulled the knots free as Giovanni began to cry. Erik scooped up the child as Raoul entered the room.

"What in Gods name…?" Raoul breathed as his eyes fell upon the sobbing child.

Erik shot Raoul a glance. A sign for the Vicomte to be quiet, and the room was silent, as Erik sat down on the bed and gently rocked Gio until he felt the tension in the small body ease against him.

Giovanni sniffled into his chest, "He said she was coming to his bal. She didn't say a word, she just left… He said he'd kill me if she didn't… Master Durand, I tried to run away… She…"

The little boy's shoulders shook and Erik tenderly smoothed the boys hair, "Hush, Gio, it isn't your fault. Let me take a look at you."

The boy sat back, tears still streaming down face, as Erik quickly looked over him. He was dirty and bruised but relatively unharmed.

Erik looked at Raoul, "he's fine, but the women are…"

"He has them, I know. There's a noose in the study."

Erik closed his eyes as Giovanni sought comfort in his arms. He didn't know how long he stayed like that, holding the child to his chest.

Raoul broke the silence, "If he means to harm them…"

"We will find out what he means to do or has done soon enough."

Erik stood leaving Giovanni on the bed. The small boy swallowed as Erik got down on his knees to face him.

"Giovanni, you must run to the police station, do you think you can do that?"

"Erik!" Raoul cried as Giovanni nodded ardently.

"Raoul, he will kill them!" Erik's sharp voice rang through the room, "I would gladly bear a cage than that."

Giovanni swallowed, "W-what do I tell the police?"

Erik smiled sadly, "Tell them of your Madame and the Comtess; tell them that the phantom has returned."

"He's not real!" Giovanni cried with a pained expression, "Madame said that you were the real phantom and that you wouldn't harm anyone. This man… this man…"

Erik cupped the boys chin in his hand, "Listen to me Gio, tell them what has happened and tell them that the women's husbands have gone after them."

Gio nodded as Erik stood quickly and helped Giovanni off the bed.

"Run Gio, quickly, like a rabbit."

Raoul watched the boy shot off into the night, "Will he be safe?"

"Safer than us."

Katerina closed her eyes at the sound of breaking glass. He was getting restless. Christine stayed huddled in Katerina's arms. More glass shattered followed by loud cursing. Christine flinched and Katerina opened her eyes as the woman began to cry again.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut her up!"

Katerina stood quickly and shoved Christine behind her as the madman came rushing up the steps. He ignored her and tried to lunge at Christine.

But Katerina got in his way and his fist fell upon her face as Christine gasped and tried to push herself against the wall.

Katerina ignored the blunt pain in her jaw, "Monsieur, you don't seem at all content."

The man froze and Christine blinked at Katerina's calm voice.

He regarded her with sea green eyes that glittered in the sparse candlelight. Katerina could see twisted scars around the edges of his mask. He smiled as the gentleman returned to his features.

"Non, mademoiselle, I am not content at all. How could you tell?"

Katerina smiled politely as if she were dealing with a reporter, "You seem to have much on your mind."

Short barking laughter filled the echoing grotto, and then he glared at her with a sickeningly twisted smile, "Shall I speak to you my worries? Shall I tell you my troubles, little artiste?" He quickly moved into her space, so that she could not move backwards without tripping over Christine, "Non, I don't think I shall. I think the phantom is capable of keeping his own secrets."

He whirled away and Katerina clenched her fists, "Why don't you tell me about Aria?"

She watched him freeze and his muscles tense under his cloak. She felt Christine grip her skirts.

His voice was angry and halting, "You should not talk about what you do not know."

"I know you found her body in the Rue Lepic. I just thought that was rather odd, what was a ballet dancer doing in the Rue Lepic? No decent girl goes there unless she is looking for trouble or making it. Was your sister decent a decent girl Monsieur?"

She knew the madness in his eyes as he spun on her. Christine screamed as he slammed Katerina into the stone wall. He was trembling as his fingers dug into her arms.

"She was perfect! She was pure! She didn't need to be there! She didn't need to whore herself out for coin! I would have given her all she wanted!"

Katerina heard the tone in his words and looked into the green eyes of the man before her. They hadn't softened, they had just taken on an edge to them; slowly she spoke, low enough for him to hear,

"You killed her, didn't you?"

"Whores deserve to die!"

The cry echoed through the catacombs and suddenly he released her and stumbled back. He blinked as if he had just come out of a stupor; he looked at her for an instant with confusion in his eyes. Then just as quickly he grinned.

His eyes sparkled, "You think you're clever, trying to get a rise out of me. You always think you're so clever, with your smiles and your curves. Men will fall at your feet for your dainty lips, your golden curls…"

Katerina watched him walk back to the underground lake babbling to himself. Christine looked up with fearful eyes,

"What did you do that for? He could have killed you!"

Katerina slowly shook her head, "He might have; I don't think he would have. Not yet, all the players aren't here. That's why he's nervous, he's thinking about what he's going to have to do. Murderers do that."

"How would you know?"

Katerina slid down the wall into a heap of skirts, "My father, a surgeon as I have told you, took me to an asylum when I was fifteen. He explained to me how those people worked, what made them sick, not in their bodies but in their minds."

Christine hugged her knees to her chest, "To think, they called Erik mad."

Katerina smiled, "He is mad sometimes, but never beyond the point of breaking himself; he has come close, but only close."

Katerina closed her eyes. Erik. Had he found them missing yet? Had he found poor frightened Giovanni? Raoul must be going out of his mind, they both must be. Katerina frantically searched her mind for anything that could free them from this horror. All she could wonder is who would tell Thomas and William that she was dead.

"This man is broken."

Christine's soft voice broke Katerina's thoughts.

Laughter sounded from the lake and Katerina nodded without opening her eyes.

Raoul walked down the alley behind the theater trying to not think too hard about what he was doing. Erik went swiftly ahead of him like as shadow. It took most of Raoul's concentration just to see the man as he flitted ahead, studying the wall for some secret only he knew. After a moment Erik stopped and cocked his head seeming to look at a blank wall. He rapped a brick with his hand and Raoul saw it suddenly move out of the wall. Erik pressed it back in and Raoul saw the small passage open before them.

"I don't think he knows about this passage, I had forgotten about it myself until Katerina was fixing the theater."

Raoul nodded, "Always full of tricks, aren't you?"

"Trickery is a hobby of mine."

Raoul checked his sword in its sheath and the pistol in his belt. He had been checking them since they had left the flat. They were oddly comforting to him. The madman was outnumbered, that was a consolation. Only a small one because terror whispered at him that they could already be too late. Erik nodded after a moment and slid into the darkness like a whisper. Raoul swallowed and followed the man.

He didn't know how long they moved in the dark until a light appeared ahead of him.

"Whores deserve to die!"

The words echoed through the passage and Raoul flinched. Erik pressed back into the shadows for only an instant and then slid forward. Raoul stayed pressed against the wall.

"They are there, alive."

Raoul felt the panic in him ease as Erik's whisper filled the passage.

"He has them shackled in an alcove, perhaps…" Erik's voice trailed off as the man thought.

"Perhaps?" Raoul whispered after a brief second of not wanting to interrupt the man's thoughts.

"Perhaps if I provide a distraction I can give you time to reach them. There is another passage, not far from here that will take you behind the mirror near the alcove."

"And perhaps Giovanni will return with police before he has a chance to notice they are gone at all."

Erik nodded, "A fleeting chance is better than no chance at all. I will show you the passage."

Yay! A plan! Thank you for waiting! I will update much sooner now that I have done all my schoolwork for the next week, gotta love it when they assign everything at the start of the quarter. Patience and cake for all!