A.N: This is going along pretty smoothly. I hope you all liked the previous chapter. And to answer some questions, I wanted the Phantom to "reveal" himself because, I think, that because he hid from the world and Christine at first, that's why he lost her, and he realizes this, and doesn't want to make the same mistake.

Chapter Four: Guide and Guardian

As Amy, Sarine and Erik walked onto the stage, Tara and Rose silenced. By the looks on their faces, you could tell they were frightened. Sarine walked over to them, waiting for the onslaught of questions.

Sure enough, Tara pulled her away from Erik and to the group of girls.

"Who is he?"

"What's his name?"

"Why was he holding your hand?"

"Can he sing in our opera?"

"Slow down!" Sarine said exasperatedly. "First of all, his name is Erik. He is the Phantom, as impossible as that may seem. And I don't know if he'll sing. You have to ask him."

"But he's the Phantom of the Opera!" Rose exclaimed.

"And?"

They all turned to where Erik was standing, but he wasn't there. They looked around and found him kneeling at the chandelier. Sarine walked over and kneeled beside him.

"I was trying to fix that earlier," She said, picking up a broken piece. "You really did a good job on it."

He looked at her sadly, "I'm sorry. It seemed the only option at the time. If you'd like, I could fix it for you."

"If it's fixable," Sarine said.

"Anything's possible."

And with that said, he went to work. Taking off his jacket and vest, he folded them neatly and placed them to the side. He took a little pen-like tool out of his pocket and started carving the pieces of glass. He paused when he realized she was still next to him. He looked over to her.

"Don't you have an opera to practice?" he asked.

"No," Sarine replied sheepishly. "I have yet to find one."

Erik smirked and turned to the girls, "May one of you ladies please go up to box five and bring down the package I left on the seat?"

When Tara ran to get it, Erik turned back to Sarine, who looked shocked.

"You did ask for an opera, did you not?" he asked, still smirking.

"You wrote an opera…" Sarine began, bewildered. "Because I asked you to?"

He nodded, looking back to the piece in his hand, "I heard you singing that day, when you were cleaning. I knew then that I wanted you in an opera. So, I wrote one for you."

"But I wouldn't be singing," Sarine said. "I don't sing on stage."

"You do now. That's my first condition. My second is that box five is to be left empty for my use. And the third is that I design the costumes and the sets," Erik said, focusing on the glass shard in his hand.

"Will you help us?" Sarine said, placing her hand over Erik's. "Will you sing? I'll accept your conditions if you do."

Erik hesitated for a moment, then pulled his hand from under hers and caressed her cheek, "It's a deal."

As if to finalize the deal, he pulled her hands up to his lips and kissed them both.

"Sarine! Come look at this!" Tara yelled from the side of the stage.

Erik nodded his head in Tara's direction, "Go look at your opera."

He went back to carving the pieces of glass. Sarine watched him for a moment then stood up and walked over to Tara, who was already surrounded by the others. Silently Tara handed the packet to her.

The outside casing was made of soft leather, and the words "The Phantom of the Opera" were written in gold on the cover. Opening it, there was a script and sheet music inside. Sarine took out the parts and handed them to the girls, giving Amy the part of Madame Giry, the part of Meg to Tara, and Carlotta's part to Rose. She reluctantly kept the part of Christine for herself.

"I don't want to do this…" she whispered.

"What?" Tara asked. "The opera?"

"No, the part. I'm not good on stage. I freeze up," She said, shaking.

"Did you tell Erik that?" Amy asked, helping Sarine sit down on the stage.

"No," She said, starting to cry. "He made our opera, he's fixing the chandelier, and he's singing for us. I couldn't say no, but I'm so scared…"

She broke down then, and sobbing, hid her head in her hands. Erik heard her crying and looked up. Putting the tool and glass down, he stood and started to walk over.

"Sarine," Tara said, standing her up. "You'll have to tell him if you don't go to your office now. He's coming over here."

Sarine looked over and saw him coming, so she ran. Erik ran after her, but was stopped by Amy taking his arm.

"She needs time to think," Amy told him. "She'll be alright."

"That's what I thought the last time a girl I loved cried. And I ended up hurting then losing her," He replied, pulling his arm from Amy's grasp and going off stage.

He didn't need to touch the door of the office. Well, not the main door, anyway. Hidden in the wall was a secret door that he made years ago. He opened it and walked in, hiding in the shadows of the corner.

Lying on the couch, sobbing, was Sarine. She had pulled her hair tie out, and now her hair spilled out over her back and hid her face. Erik could see that she had thrown things about the room. Luckily he mirror, which was actually a door, was left untouched. He had made most of the mirrors in the opera house doors, for escape reasons. They can easily be slid aside. And shattered.

Gathering his courage, Erik stepped from the shadows and walked to her. Hesitating at first, he laid a hand on her back. Sarine curled up tightly, purposefully hiding her face. Erik brushed the hair away from her face and pulled her to a sitting position. He then pulled her in a tight embrace against him. Sarine wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder.

"I can't… I can't…" she kept sobbing.

"Shh…. It's okay… Everything will be alright," Erik whispered.

"I'm so scared… I can't sing in front of everyone… I can't…"

Erik pulled her closer and rested his head on hers, whispering to her, "It's alright. Your angel of music is guarding and guiding you. Your angel will help you. I'm here, my sweet Sarine."

Slowly her sobbing stopped as she fell asleep. Erik laid her back down and covered her with her cloak that he pulled off the mirror. Almost as an afterthought, he lay behind her with his back to the couch. He draped his arm over her waist and pulled her closer to him. Quietly, he sang to her as he too fell asleep.

"You alone can make my song take flight. You helped me make the music of the night."