Disclaimer: I don't own the very end of the Phantom song Masquerade or the Phantom song Why So Silent? (which I had to change to make sense).

A/N: I'll have phan art of Red Death Christine, along with phan art of Cameron and Emilie, up at some point.

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Two weeks later, it New Year's Eve, was the night of the masquerade.

Christine got ready quickly, anxious to get to the masquerade by midnight, when everyone would be there, singing, dancing, drinking, and celebrating. Everyone who worked at the Opera would be having some sort of party, and she was planning on going to the prominent one, where the more important people of the Opera - the managers, Pablo, Emilie Chastain's sister, Marie, who was the lead soprano, Cameron, and Emilie - would be.

When she was dressed, she shuffled over to the piano, where the score and designs for Genius's Mistake were sitting in a folder. She skimmed through the pages, making sure everything was there. Everything was there.

She walked over to a mirror she'd uncovered and checked herself. Her mask - which had originally been Erik's - was on correctly and intact, her gloves were on her hands, her dress was perfect, her red cloak was on, her shoes were on, her hair was pinned up, and her sword - again, Erik's at first - was on its belt. In a rare conceited moment, she told herself that she didn't look shoddy in the least bit.

Smiling with satisfaction, she picked up her cloak - which was long - so that it wouldn't hang over the gondola, grabbed her Genius's Mistake folder, stepped on the gondola, grabbed the rowing rod, and rowed away.

When she'd reached the dressing room and closed the mirror, she checked her pocketwatch. It was 11:58 - she had two minutes. She picked up her cloak and the skirts of her dress and walked quickly to the main hall, where the stairway was.

At midnight exactly, she could see the stairway of the main hall and could see everyone there. She glanced around momentarily, then saw the person she was looking for especially - Cameron, who was at the bottom of the stairway, standing there with Emilie. She smiled. Perfect.

Everyone started singing.

Masquerade!

Burning glances, tuning heads

Masquerade -

Stop and stare

At the sea of smiles

Around you...

Masquerade!

Grinning yellows, spinning reds

Masquerade -

Take your fill,

Let the spectacle astound you...

It was her time now. She stepped at the top of the stairway, and, for some odd reason, the lights dimmed. Everyone stopped singing and dancing and turned to the top of the stairway, where she stood.

Murmurs of fear and excitement at this new presence - who everyone knew was The Phantom of the Opera - started going around the main hall. She looked around at everyone, grinning wickedly.

The managers went pale. Pablo shivered. Marie glanced from her little sister, Emilie, to Christine. Emilie stood, glaring at Christine contemptuously. Cameron seemed to shrink.

Christine slowly started descendng the stairs as everyone stood and stared, dumbfounded. Then she sang:

Why so silent,

Good messieurs?

Did you think

That I had left you for good?

Have you missed me,

Good messieurs?

I have written you an opera...

Here, I bring the finished score -

Genius's Mistake

She threw the Genius's Mistake folder down on the floor and pulled her sword out of its belt. Then she continued.

Fondest greetings to you all...

A few instructions just before rehearsal starts...

She pointed her sword at Pablo.

Pablo must be taught to act,

Not his normal trick of strutting round the stage...

Pablo stuck his nose up in the air, then shrank under her cold stare.

She pointed her sword at Marie, who was always tardy to rehearsal.

And Marie must not be late -

You must be on time,

For your role, Marie, is great...

Marie blushed as Christine turned to the managers and pointed her sword at them.

And my managers must learn

That their place is in an office -

Not the arts...

The managers shrank at the fact that they were being told where to work by a teenager.

Then Christine turned to face out to the front of the main hall, where Cameron and Emilie stood. She put her sword back in its belt and looked at Cameron, who had his head bowed. Then she said in a soft and menacing voice, "And as for our star... Monsieur Cameron Luc..."

Cameron hesitated, then fearfully looked up at where she stood.

She continued:

No doubt he'll do his best -

It's true his voice is good;

He knows, though,

Should he wish to excel,

He has much still to learn,

If pride will let him

Return to me, his teacher...

His teacher...

All was quiet as the spectators watched for what would happen next.

Christine looked down at Cameron from where she stood pleadingly, silently willing for him to come back to her.

Cameron stared up at his Angel of Music for a moment, then slowly let go of Emilie's hand and started walking away from Emilie, his fiancee, towards Christine, his angel.

Emilie tried to restrain him, but when she placed a hand on his arm, he merely shrugged it off and continued walking. She stood there silently, wondering what Christine might do to him if they got any closer.

When Christine saw that Cameron was walking up the steps towards her now, she slowly started making her way down the steps towards him. She felt a small sense of satisfaction going through her. He was coming back!

When they'd met in the middle, Cameron stared at Christine, who was still slightly higher than he. He was spellbound, but not under any kind of power, like a trance. He was just astonished that his angel had returned; he'd thought that he'd lost her forever.

Christine scanned Cameron up and down, then somehow had her eyes wander to his left hand, where he had a small gold band on his ring finger - an engagement ring.

Fury went through her. She grabbed the ring off of his finger and cried out,

Your bands are still mine!

She leaned in slightly closer to him so that her angry eyes met his now terrified ones and waved the ring in front of him, hissing, "You belong to me!"

Feeling her left hand twitch - a sign that she was angry and ready to kill -, she stormed up the stairs to stand above a trapdoor, then grabbed some powder that her father had had to create fire on contact with solid ground and threw it down on the floor. An explosion went up around her, and then she stomped on the trapdoor, causing it to open, and she fell through it.

Cameron's eyes widened when the smoke cleared and he saw that she was gone. The trapdoor was still open, however, so he quickly made his way toward it. He'd just seen his Angel of Music for the first time in six months, and he wasn't about to lose her again. He jumped in the trapdoor.

"No!" Emilie cried out as he jumped in and the door closed after him.

Underneath the trapdoor, Cameron looked wildly around the tiny mirrored room for Christine. Then a flash of red caught his eye. He saw Christine walking away quickly, towards a small door, and rushed after her.

When they were close enough so that she was within his reach, he grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. "Angel!"

Christine looked at him. "Cameron," she murmured softly. "What are you doing down here?"

"I - I thought you'd abandoned me, Angel," he said hurriedly. "I haven't seen you in six months... I thought you'd left me."

"I never left you, Cameron," she said quietly. "Now go back up with your fiancee - you can't come with me now."

"But Angel - "

"You're engaged!" she exclaimed. "You cannot come with me, not when you're about to get married. You'll not see me again, Cameron, but you'd better make sure that everyone follows my orders for my opera. Now go."

He gave her a look of despair. "Angel, please - don't leave me! I need you... tell me how I can be with you and Emilie. I'll do whatever you want to keep you here so that I can see you again... anything!"

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Anything?" she echoed hesitantly.

"Anything, Angel - anything for you."

She was silent for a moment as she thought about a plan quickly. "All right - I know, but you'll have to make a decision about something if you want to see me again." She paused. "You must decide if you want to marry Emilie Chastain or continue furthering your career under my guidance. If you choose Emilie, then you won't see me again - ever. If you choose to continue furthering your career under my guidance, then you must break off - or, at least, postpone - your engagement to Emilie Chastain. And then, when you decide that you want to marry Emilie after having been with me for a time, then you must tell me, and then you won't see me again. I shall meet you in the dressing room with the mirror a week from today. We shall go down to my lair and have tea, and then you shall tell me your answer. But you have to swear that you will come next week... do you swear to come back, Cameron - even if the answer is no?"

He contemplated her proposal. It seemed fair enough. He nodded. "All right."

"Good." She paused, and there was the bang on the trapdoor above. They heard the sound of Emilie shouting to someone to get a sledgehammer. "I must go," she said, then exited through the small door that she stood by, leaving him alone.