The Reflection of a Forbidden Love
While he sang, Christine knew he was singing only for her. As he sang the altered text of, „And now you are here with me/ no second thoughts," It signaled that he was ready, and their plan could finally begin. The emotion in her swelled to a passionate height and as he firmly grabbed ahold of her at the line, „What raging fire shall flood the soul?" She lost herself in the poetry of the song he had created for her. As she now started her lines, they seemed more than scriped text to her. She reached into her thoughts and dreams and the electricity from them fueled her notes into a meaningful call to him. She too, was ready.
The bridge seemed far away although it was just across the stage from them. The Phantom could see in Christine's eyes that she understood what no one else could...They were meant to be together. Together, in their love, through their bodies, and with their music. The connection between them was almost tangible and he felt her melt into him as he pulled her close. As he finished the line, pulling away from her slowly, agonizingly, he uttered the words, „What warm unspoken secrets will we learn? Beyond the point of no return." What truth they held! He knew already that the life they lived together would be one of truth, trust, and passion. This thought alone made each step away from her to his scriped place on the theater more torturous. The music's subtle change signaled the beginning of her part, and as she began to sing, a shot of pure raw energy shot through him, calling his aching soul to come back to her.
As they climbed the stairs, tantilizingly nearer to each other, the pull became stronger and Christine's last solo notes came out course with need, making them all the more fitting to the scene, the opera, that reflected their forbidden love. Their voices in perfect sync, they blended, yet remained individual, as they allowed their bodies to, at last, meet. The music from the orchestra died down but their own music swelled, the Phantom began a melody that, to Christine, was hauntingly familiar. It made her lust to be with him climax with his voice. As he sang the words, „Anywhere you go, let me go too./ Christine that's all I ask of..." It became too much for her and she cut him off by ripping open his flowing shirt, revealing what she craved.
The audience gasped with shock at the violent actions of Christine. Before their eyes they watched the pair of apparently very good actors expressing their love for each other but they now realized it was more than just acting. As 'Don Juan' and the servant girl passiontely kissed on the burning bridge, a man called out from box 5, „Christine? You'll pay Phantom!" This was definately worth their money!
As their lips touched, Christine's energy flared and she kissed the Phantom with an intensity she didn't know she possessed. As he wrapped his arms around her, his bare chest pressed against her quivering breasts, a shout came from the left of them. „Christine? You'll pay Phantom!" They were ripped from their embrace and Christine confusedly looked over to Raoul. The Phantom, sensing that his plan would need to begin now, pulled Christine to him and kicked a lever near his foot. A trap door opened, dropping them into the paper flames below.
Meanwhile, Raoul was weakly shouting orders at the hidden police while over and over again in his mind reran the scene that had just unfolden before them all. Christine, ripping open the Phantom's shirt while he charmed her with the song that Raoul and Christine had sung together not long ago on the opera house roof. It was their song, he remembered. How sweet and innocent Chrisine was when she sang to him that night as he had comforted her. She was afraid of the Phantom, afraid he would find them on the roof. And obviously, he had found them, and had heard their intimate moment. „Where was that fear just now?" he asked himself as the chaos around him grew. „He must have her under his spell, for she never would act so in reality!" he reasoned wildly. „I must find them and save my beloved!" With that he rashly jumped from the booth just as the commotion on stage became extreme. One of the gas lamps from the side of the stage had become blocked by the hastily pushed aside props and, as Raoul clambered onto the stage to pursue his love, the buildup of gas ignited, causing an explosion.
In the heat of the moment, the Phantom grasped Christine again after they had fallen through the prop flames. She responded yet again with a kiss, if possible, rivaling the first. He would have taken her then and there, his passion was so great, but the noise coming from above told him that they must flee if they were ever going to be together again. Christine too, seemed to sense this and she pulled him towards the passage. The Phantom led her down countless corridors and as they reached a set of stone steps, an explosion rocked the walls. They both stopped for a moment to see whether another would sound, but all they could hear was their own panting breaths.
Raoul climbed out of the rubble and what seemed to be flesh draped in Carlotta's costume. He retched miserably as the smell hit him but only one thing was clear in his mind. He needed to find Christine. He limped, clearly in pain and severly wounded, to the half filled-in tunnel.
They paused again for breath at the end of a tunnel. The Phantom gently pulled on Christine's hand. „Just a little more my love," he crooned to the melody of 'no return'. „At last together/ the chains are gone, our path ahead is free./ Just a step beyond for now/ then rest with no fear./ I'm here, right here, to guard you and to please./ I've had to prove to you before, but now at last I can show too/ how much I need you, here, beside me..." And with that, he pulled her into a hidden doorway which led to his domain.
Just looking at him wasn't doing enough! Christine's entire being felt as though she had swallowed lead and the Phantom was a magnet, drawing her towards him. As he once again sang to her, the ghostly melody aroused more than goosebumps. These foreign feelings she felt were more than just exciting, they were her primal instincts. And as he brought her to his bed, she let them take over. Before he could lay down beside her, she grabbed his arms and pulled him onto her. With ragged breathing, they kissed with all the urges and longing that had been pushed below for so long. He was amazingly gentle, yet firm, as he held her down and trailed a line of sweet seductive kisses along her neckline. She sighed with delight as he continued downwards, stopping at the line of her low-cut dress that now hung off her shoulders. She hiked up her skirt so that she could wrap her bare legs around him. Her hangs were threaded through his hair and she tenderly pulled him up to eye level. If she wasn't sure before, she was now as she looked into his deep brown eyes that seemed to melt into her. She rolled him over and removed what remained of his shirt with trembling hands. „This is it," she thought as she ran her hands down his sculpted torso. She started to remove her own dress, carelessly tearing at the fabric. As she finally got it off, she once again began to kiss him, her lips tasted his warming flesh and she nipped playfully at his raised nipple. His hum of enjoyment encouraged her to continue and she gladly did so. His neck, his stomache... It all was so much, yet for her, not enough. She wanted more, she needed more! Her hands started to explore more, first rubbing his now glistening Adonis, then back to kissing. During this, he inexperiencly fiddled with her corset lacings. As it became looser, her breathing didn't ease. On the contrary, she became more excited at the prospect of being able to have her skin open to the crisp cavern air, and to him.
Her perfection was obvious as she kissed him, but only more so as she pulled him onto the bed. He couldn't get enough of her and as he kissed her neck and face, it were as though he were parched and the only salvation was her milky skin. He drank it up and was pleased by her pleasure in it. She pulled him up and flipped on top. This aggressiveness made him begin to harden, and he helped to speed up the undressing progress that she had started with his shirt. He nervously untied the lacing of her corset, watching her sense as it loosened and came away in his hands. His astonishment must have been evident for she smiled with joy. Her young body was ripe for the picking and the Phantom thought to himself, she was ripe for his picking. He noticibly swelled and Christine, who was sitting on his pelvis area, gasped and her eyes widened. Without a word, she slid to his legs and undid his trousers. She had never een any man before, but could tell that he was going to be perfect for her. She rolled his pants to his feet and ripped them off. He then followed suit with her undergarments. They happily examined and explored each other for a few moments before the Phantom rolled once again on top of her. He knew she was scared when he felt her shaking and he lovingly kissed her for reassurance. As he ran his hands along her curves, reaping the benefits of his patience, she pressed her hands on his lower back, begging him to continue.
He slowly eased himself between her warm thighs. He parted her legs with his, then slipped inside of her.
Her startled gasp made him pause with concern, but she thrust her pelvis up to meet his, deepening the connection. As they made sweet, tender, yet desperate love, she let out several moans and whimpers. They continued, more and more quickly when finally, she came, letting out a surprised scream that the Phantom muffled with his mouth. Soon after, he came, grunting and moaning in pleasure. It was painful yet beautiful to them, and as they finished the first round, they didn't move apart but stayed next to one another, basking in the warmth and love radiating from their tired yet satisfied bodies.
Raoul slowly, painfully made his way down the dark tunnels. Weeping silently, his tears burned his seared flesh, too tender to touch. Several times he heard echoing moans and believed it to be Christine, being tortured by the Phantom. These thougths only spurned him on, step by agonizing step. Finally, he reached a point where the scuff marks on the dusty floor stopped. He frantically looked for another trace and barely noticed a small rock ledge jutting out. Prying it a bit more open, he stepping into a crimson and black decorated room where he stopped dead.
A slight draft lifted the pages on which the Phantom was writing his next piece, inspired by their love. He slowly raised his head and what he glimpsed was shocking. A blood covered, disfigured Raoul stood in the hidden doorway, staring down at the lifeless looking body of Christine. She was barely covered by the Phantom's silk sheets and at her fingertips lay a single black rose. The Phantom slipped around to a back door, still unnoticed by the overwhelmed Raoul. He ran to grab his sword and used his knowledge of the caves to reach the door which Raoul stood in front of. He peered cautiously inside and saw that Raoul had now stopped in front of the bed.
„The Phantom," thought Raoul, „must have forced her here, ravaged her, and layed her dead corpse shamelessly naked here." He lovingly pulled the sheet to cover her and as he touched her pale face she stirred. „She lives!" his heart exclamed, and as he opened his mouth to speak consolling words to her, that he would save her, no words came out. A drop of blood from his cracked and burned sores dripped off his bleeding face and landed on her cheek.
She felt a hand stroke her cheek and she smiled without opening her eyes. She remembered how he had sung her to sleep after they had consumated their love. She was about to sing out the last line of „Phantom, I love you," when a drop of something landed on her cheek, the same spot he had just stroked a moment before. Her eyes jerked open and she uttered a ear-piercing scream! A monster! Something horribly maimed and bleeding stood over her, pain reflecting in it's eyes. It's hand reached out to silence her but as it grazed her flushed skin, a figure darted out of the shadows behind the thing that she realized with horror, must be Raoul. The Phantom brandished his sword and Raoul stepped away from Christine in shock. As the Phantom walked between her and Raoul, Christine could not have been more grateful. The man that had once walked with her in dreams, had somehow become her worst nightmare.
Raoul stood on defense, his tired body only wanting to lie down and sleep, his mind, alert with the problem of saving Christine and escaping alive. As the Phantom stepped between him and Christine, he let out a warning grumble and advanced a step. The Phantom once again threatened him with the sword, but Raoul continued to walk forward, rasping out that he would either take Christine in peace, or kill the Phantom in the process. „Just let her go, you can't force away our deep love for each other with a song! Let us go without more bloodshed!"
Behind the Phantom, Christine had wrapped the blanket around herself and stood, now between the two rivals. She felt no more love for Raoul, only a burning pity, which she knew no being should have. She signaled to the Phantom that she was going to try to talk to Raoul, and he lowered the sword slightly. „Raoul, what happened to you?" she whispered. A tear escaped her control and slid down her face. He looked pained and responded, „Nothing that our love can't heal. I still love you no matter what he has done to you, and wounds fade with nothing left to show for them but scars." He bitterly looked at the Phantom's face, scarred too, by past wounds that healed into something feared by most. „I don't need to be handsome, I know you are not the shallow, unforgiving monster that mankind is. Our love is fast, and looks or reproach cannot break it." With these words Christine let out a sob that wracked her body. She tenderly, gently, leaned up and kissed Raoul. She knew it pained him but he kissed her back as her tears mixed with his. She pulled away and he kept his eyes closed, forever printing the kiss in his memory. Christine took the sword from the Phantom and, still sobbing, ran it through Raoul's heart. His eyes snapped open with surprise and as he saw that Christine held the sword, they clouded with confusion and pain. „Remember our love," Christine whispered between tears. „Remember our love..." She pulled the sword from him and they both collapsed, he to the floor, she to the Phantom's waiting arms. Raoul's eyes were once again closed, never to open again. But at her last words, his still bleeding face had relaxed at the waves of death that numbed the pain. He would remember their love she knew, for he knew nothing of its end.
She lay weeping in his arms and he knew not to say anything. „I couldn't bear it," she wept into his chest. „The pain that would come when he found out I no longer loved him would have been the death of him. He would never be able to live with himself, alone, in pain and unloved..." She broke off as the Phantom pulled her up to look into his eyes. „Dearest Christine, you did what you knew to be right. You are too pure to lie to him, and I would have never expected you to. He is at peace now, knowing that you did love him, even if that love faded. You have also saved him from the pain of a life like mine. As he said, society and mankind are cruel and unforgiving. You saved him from that fate." He carried her to the bed and laid her down, wrapping the blankets around her carefully. As she fainted into an exhausted slumber, the Phantom knew he had work to do. He carefully cleaned the blade and the bloodied floor. Laying Raoul's body in a cloth, he dragged the corpse to the end of a corridor in the direction of the opera house. As he reached an alcove, he pulled out a set of explosives he had hidden in a crevice. The rocks came crashing down, buring Raoul and separating his home from the opera house that he had haunted so long. No one would be able to get through this way he knew, and he headed back towards his home, back towards his love, Christine. The money that he had saved from all his years of terror would be more than sufficient for them both to leave this haunted place of Phantoms and death, to start over...they would start over together...