Author's Note: Hallo there! There's going to be two chapters up today... yes, you did hear me correctly. This one's a bit more informative that I had hoped for, so I figured you, my readers, deserve more than just an informative chapter. Besides... well, only I know what I'm talking about, but if I don't keep it going, I'll never get to ... what will happen in Chapter Seven. XD So I'm moving it along just a little bit faster.

Reviewers, here are your personal thanks!

Theresa: Well, Katherine hasn't entirely met him just yet. I hope you like this chapter, the next, and the ones following!

oMAo: I'm still writing... I don't think I'll ever stop, actually.

MiChEllE: You can't wait to find out what happens next, eh? Well... you shall find out in this chapter. Thanks for believing in me, I appreciate it a lot. Makes me want to write even more (which is beneficial to this story, right? XD).

atheshar: Your reviews always make me laugh. You do not think things are going well between them? -laughs- Yes well, that is the whole point! However, I don't think it will be problematic, not at all. You shall see... -hands you another rose with a white ribbon- Oh, I don't see any paint on this one. Though perhaps it would look nicer? -holds out a paint bucket-

WriterofWill: You can't just review on the first chapter, you just can't! Hope you read the ones following it soon. xD

♥

Onto the chapter... the next shall be up in just a little while. -soft music-

A FULL WEEK…

Had passed since the destruction of her first scene. Katherine was, a the moment, sitting comfortably in an audience chair, observing all that was going on in front of her on the stage. The singers were patiently singing their scales while the dancers stretched with all of their might. The Orchestra played flawlessly to the melody off all of the practicing – much to the Maestro's liking, and Katherine's, of course.

Her freshly painted scene stuck out from all of the commotion, and Katherine eyed it with a sigh of accomplishment. She had spent the beginning of the week outside of the city to sketch, thus taking some of the masked man's advice. She took her time on it, and painted into all hours of the night.

Madame Giry, M. Firmin, and the cured M. Moncharmin very much liked the finished work, and, as they stood on the stage, observing it with wonder, Katherine remembered the matter she intended to speak to them about, today.

She removed a piece of curious parchment from her pocket, and, reading it again, the groggy and early hours of the new day came to her, as if they were called from the parchment itself.

She had just finished the scene the night before. Tired, hungry, but confident, she cleaned up her supplies (to avoid anymore paint-related problems) with a yawn. As she did so, she heard a soft fluttering noise and looked up to see an almost weightless object floating at her from the rafters above the stage.

It was a letter!

Katherine went to it, forgetting all of the earlier suspicions she had that evening of not being alone in the Theatre, for, she had heard and turned to stare at every little noise that she heard. You could say, since the incident the week before, she was careful, and perhaps a bit paranoid.

Careful not to spill any of the paint she was lugging in her other arm, she saw that the letter was sealed with a crimson wax in the shape of a skull.

Quietly, she put the paint bucket down, sat on it (no, the lid did not cave in, XD), and unfolded the letter. It was covered in crimson ink –to match the seal- and was written with a short sort of script. It read:

' Mademoiselle Katherine,'

She paused. The writer knew her name? 'No wonder I'm paranoid,' she thought.

'I am pleased with your work with this scene, though I can see, without a shadow of a doubt that you did not listen to any of my advice. I do hope that you see that this – what you have just finished – is much more of a masterpiece than those very abstract and unfitting scribbles – which I had the pleasure of seeing… up close – you began with. After all, Rome was not built in a day, and, when I saw what you were doing in the very beginning – it had seemed as if you sought to prove the world wrong.

I must ask, however, how it is possible to wash that mortifying blue paint off of anything porcelain. There must be an antidote.' -O.G.

Now, as Katherine approached the stage where the Managers and the Madame were still looking at her scene, she knew that she had no choice but to inquire the three of the matter. They made no mention of much of anything when they had stormed through the doors a week before. Katherine recalled how M. Firmin and Madame Giry had simply called servants to clean up, and had moved off to the side to whisper to each other. All Katherine was able to catch were the words, "He's back," and "…we must not bother him." The only full sentence her ears seemed to strain for were Madame Giry's words, "You cannot capture him, he did, after all, rebuild the Opera and reinstate you in your managing position."

Then, Madame Giry had suddenly turned and the talking ceased. Katherine was told that it ' was getting late', and she 'could start again tomorrow.'

Now they could not keep anything from her – she would not let them.

"So," she said, catching their gaze, "Do you like it?"

M. Moncharmin beamed, "Oh yes, it's wonderful!" He had seemed to forget, at that moment, that under shoe and sock, his toe was still faintly bruised, but it obviously didn't hurt anymore.

M. Firmin nodded in agreement. "This is exquisite work."

Madame Giry would have nodded or agreed if she hadn't already seen the envelope Katherine was holding carefully in her hand.

"He has written to you, 'as he?" she asked earnestly. She extended her arm out, as if to see it. Katherine handed it over and spoke to the managers while the Madame read.

"I would like to know who this man is," she said, "for not only has he written this letter to me, but he is also the man," she turned to Madame Giry as she said this, "who I happened to almost flatten last week."

Madame Giry looked up and said, "He is the unknown benefactor that all of the papers were talking about."

Moncharmin nodded, "He was also the same one who burned it to bits."

M. Firmin then said, "We do not know much more."

'That doesn't help at all,' thought Katherine with a sigh.

The subject had then changed – Katherine could not manage to get them to clear anything else up for her, though she did repeat glorious amounts of "But, but…"- And she was sent to work for her next scene while the first one dried by the back of the stage.

Second Author's Note: They are not saying anything... Will Katherine be able to contain her curiousity? Our dear Phantom has quite a sense of humor... Read and review if you don't see the next Chapter up yet! x) Though you know, I would really prefer if you reviewed both this one and the next. -sticks out lip and puts on puppy dog face- Though I may want it to be up tonight, I may not manage without some...encouragement.