A strange encounter
A strange encounter

Author´s note: So… this is my Secret Santa story. It was written for Dani, who requested a self-insert phic including some kind of romance. I was seriously tempted to do a love story involving her and M.Firmin, but decided for the more obvious in the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from "The Phantom of the Opera". They belong to Gaston Leroux / Andrew Lloyd Webber. I also don´t own Dani – she just allowed me to insert her into the story. Normally Dani belongs to herself.

What a peculiar place this was! One corridor led into the next, but they never seemed to end. After the first few minutes Dani had had lost her way, so she couldn´t even go back anymore. She didn´t know how long she had been walking through the passageways that led her deeper and deeper into the cellars of the gigantic opera house.

´This is the reward you get for your curiosity.´, she scolded herself. ´You hear one word about a ghost from the other members of the chorus, and here you are, on the way to his house.´ Actually it had been far more than one word. Christine and Meg had tried to persuade her for at least half an hour before she had finally agreed. "It´s absolutely harmless.", the ballet teacher´s daughter had assured her. "Every new chorus girl has to do it. You just have to stay down there for an hour, then we´ll open the mirror and let you out."

That was how she had ended up here. She had been given a lantern, but the little light it produced was nothing compared to the overwhelming darkness. Behind every corner Dani expected to see someone hiding. Of course she knew it was impossible; the other girls had told her that the Opera Ghost always wandered around in the upper floors of the building at this time of day. Still she felt as if she was being watched.

A sound made her spin around. Her heart beating wildly, she peered into the darkness, but she couldn´t see anything, not even a rat. Did the pointless walking and the silence make her grow insane? She could have sworn she heard footsteps behind her. Then she understood: Surely the two other girls had followed her and were now trying to scare her. Dani lifted the lantern high above her head to have a better view and called: "Christine? Meg? I know you´re there. I´m not afraid of you.".

She had been sure they´d come out of their hiding place, laughing and telling her that she had won. Yet nothing happened. When she lowered the lantern, however, a voice broke the silence, as unexpected as a bolt of lightning on a sunny day. "But you should be afraid of me, mademoiselle." She looked around, only to find the corridor as empty as before. "Why should I be afraid of you when I don´t even know who you are?", she asked. She tried to sound bold, but a slight trembling in her voice gave away her true state of mind.

"I´m certain you´ve heard of me." By now Dani knew that it was a man talking to her. And what a wonderful voice he had! She found it hard to concentrate. Still his next words made her pay more attention. "I´m commonly known as the Opera Ghost or the Phantom. This is my opera. So what gives a stupid little girl like you the right to sneak down into my world? Do you wish to end up at the ground of my lake or in the torture chamber?" "No!", she managed to get out. Her body was shaking. What had she got herself into?

"Why are you here then?", the Phantom asked. Once more Dani tried to locate the source of his voice, but it was in vain. It seemed to come from all directions at the same time. "Meg and Christine sent me here.", she replied timidly. "And of course I´ll leave at once. Could you perhaps… show me the way out?" It felt very strange to ask the man who had just threatened to murder her for help.

The man seemed to be of the same opinion for he only chuckled. "Not that quickly, little one.", he said. "Let me have a look at you first!" The girl heard a snapping sound, and suddenly the corridor was brightly lit. Dani blinked nervously, partly to get used to the new light and partly because she felt self-conscious. For a while nothing happened, and she was almost certain that he was no longer there. Yet the moment she turned to leave – no matter in which direction, just away from this place – he called: "Stay where you are!". So she did exactly that, staring at her feet and waiting for him to be finished with whatever he was doing.

A few minutes later the Phantom said matter-of-factly: "You´re pretty. Beautiful hair and eyes… You´re better than the last ones Christine sent me.". It took Dani a bit to take in those two different pieces of information. So far, she had considered her brown hair and eyes completely normal. Yet as pleased as she was about the compliment she couldn´t ignore what he had told her afterwards. "Excuse me, monsieur…", she addressed him politely. "Christine didn´t send me to you. On the contrary: She was sure I wouldn´t meet you down here at this time of day."

He gave a short laugh that made a shiver run down her spine. "Yes, that´s my Christine: always a nice story to tell.", he remarked dryly. "It is part of an agreement we have. You probably know that she´s in love with that young Vicomte. But she promised me not to look at other men as long as I´m her teacher. Since she didn´t want to lose either of us she sends new chorus girls to me every now and then, hoping that I´ll fall in love with one of them and leave her in peace. It didn´t work yet…"

It was clear that he tried hard to keep his voice free from emotion, yet in the last few words Dani had heard a trace of his hurt feelings. It made her braver to know that even this man, who was nothing but a disembodied voice for her at the moment, suffered from emotional pain, just like everyone else. "Maybe you should show yourself to the girls instead of only watching them.", she suggested. He didn´t reply, but moments later a dark figure emerged from the shadows right in front of her. Dani looked in amazement at the tall man dressed completely in black and wearing a white mask. Despite her fear she felt a tingle of excitement in her stomach. She wouldn´t have imagined the Opera Ghost to be this handsome.

"What are you hiding behind that mask?", she asked. Of course she had been told dozens of tales of his terrible disfigurement, but she wanted to hear it from himself. "I´m hiding what no human eye will ever see.", he replied calmly. He didn´t seem to mind her question. "It is the reason why not even my own mother dared kiss me. Nor did anyone else ever do it. I cannot blame them. Could you imagine falling in love with someone like me?"

Dani wasn´t certain whether this was a rhetorical question. Her mind was still clinging to the fact that no one had ever kissed him. Maybe it was caused by the gentle light, but his lips looked very appealing. So she did the only thing that seemed logical to her: In a swift movement she brought her mouth to his. He started at her wide-eyed, not moving a muscle. Only his lips pressed against hers softly.

After a moment the kiss ended and an awkward silence spread between them. The Phantom was the first to break it. "Was that supposed to be an answer?", he wanted to know. He didn´t sound angry at all, just a little breathless. "Well… erm…", the girl stammered. Actually it had only been a spontaneous action and not a decision of some kind. She was spared the embarrassment of not knowing what to say by voice sounding through the corridor. "Dani?" "Dani, are you there?" "Christine and Meg!", he muttered. "I have to go." She held him back for a moment to look into his eyes. Then she smiled. "Yes. I could very well imagine falling in love with you.", she whispered. "Will we see each other again?" "Of course.", he answered. "After all, it´s my opera. And tell Christine that she´s free to do whatever she pleases." His last words still hung in the air as he vanished.

Just a few seconds later the two other girls arrived. "We were so worried about you.", Meg exclaimed. "Usually the Ghost returns the girls after just some minutes, and you were gone for ages." Ignoring her for the moment Dani addressed Christine: "He told me that you can do whatever you want now.". The girl smiled. "You know what that means, don´t you?" Dani returned the smile. "I guess I do."

The End