- 1 –

A PASSION THAT CANNOT BE CRUSHED

The Aftermath

After his defeat and losing Christine the phantom left the opera house in search of Christine. He looked sourly at the mirrors that lay shattered on the ground. He'd smashed three mirrors, which meant twenty-one years bad luck. The bad luck couldn't have been worse than the last few months when Christine had turned away from him and left with that pretty boy Raoul. He cursed the day that he let her meet him; he should have hung Raoul when he had the chance.

The phantom decided to visit box five which was the only box that survived the fire. He smiled at the thought of all the people screaming and running in fright from the falling chandelier. That was the best thing he had ever done since deciding to teach Christine how to sing. He remembered when she had been a little girl and had been hidden under a cape and looking lost.

He had spoken to her in sleep. He remembered how she had smiled when he had told her he was the angel of music. He knew that he and Christine had been destined for each other, soul mates. But then Raoul had come along, why did they have to be child hood sweet hearts? Life just wasn't fair. He was a musical genius, master craftsman and architect. He should have Christine, to help him with his music. Their strange duets still lingered in his mind.

He closed his eyes and started to hum,

Past the point of no return - no backward glances:
the games we've played till now are at an end . . .
Past all thought of "if" or "when" - no use resisting:
abandon thought, and let the dream descend . . .
What raging fire shall flood the soul? What rich desire
unlocks its door? What sweet seduction lies before us . . .?
Past the point of no return,
the final threshold - what warm,
unspoken secrets will we learn?
Beyond the point of no return . . .

He frowned, why couldn't he just see Christine once a week. Why did Raoul have to hog her all day and night? With his little frolicking and "catching up". They were probably talking about what they could do with the rest of their life. Damn, the song just didn't work, he couldn't sing her part and it was far too high for him. H sat down and started to think about a new song to make up. Or he could give up music and resort to poetry he knew a few from Shakespeare, Madame Giry had taught him. Aah, he remembered when Madame Giry had rescued him and kept him under the opera house.

He didn't have any money to have food delivered since the fools of mangers hadn't paid him. It was HIS opera house anyway, and he needed the money more than they did. He had sold the ring Christine had given him a week ago to buy food and invest a new cream that would get rid of the burns on his face. But the cream had been a disaster; it had just given him a 'healthy' tan according to Madam Giry.

Raoul was just changing when he heard a knock on the door.

"Raoul? It's your mother; she's sent yet another telegram. She needs to learn that we have a life and need time to ourselves." Christine was in a huff, she hadn't slept and her dreams were plagued by the phantom. She shuddered, she'd had to put up with Raoul's mother ever since the wedding, and she wanted to be there to support them. So what if their parents had been friends, that didn't mean that she, had to assosciate with Raoul's mother.

"Christine, be fair. She is my mother and she needs to know about what we are doing. Anyway I was thinking about going on a brief holiday to London soon, as a sort of retreat from my mother" Raoul was just trying to be nice, sure he had the money to spend but was Christine's love dying away? Had she just married him to get away from her obsession of the Phantom? God she loved the way his hair fell across his face when he was mad.

Shaking her head she walked back to the kitchen. She looked over at the shirt that Raoul had asked her to fix. A button was loose, men were pathetic. Had Raoul married her so that he could have someone look after him all day and night? He needed to learn to grow up, sew his own buttons on.

"Christine! Have you fixed my shirt yet? I need it for later today" Raoul was standing in the kitchen door looking at her. Why couldn't he see for himself that the shirt wasn't ready and it never would be if he kept pestering her?

"NO! I have enough to do without having to fix your shirts every week when you break a button in some mysterious way." Turning around to face him she folded her hands over her chest and glared at him. She hated it when he was like this, do this and do that. Wives should not be treated the way she was being treated.

Not waiting for an answer Christine pushed past him and went upstairs to tidy her hair. She wished that she was back at the opera house where Madame Giry would be teaching her dance and the managers asking her to sing for them. She hated the stuck up cow Carlotta and wished she would stick those stupid little dogs up hers. How dare she try and sabotage Christine's career? She smiled at the memory of when the phantom had replaced her mouth spray with something; she must ask him when she had the chance what it was. Maybe she could try something with Raoul so that she didn't have to listen to him all day and night.

The Phantom was in a bad mood. There was nothing to do and he had no idea where Christine was. Should he ask Madame Giry where she had gone? No, she wouldn't tell him despite their friendship. He started to compose yet another gloomy song. The songs that he wrote now were not filled with love but despair of not having Christine. She had inspired him for all his works and creations. He had to find something else that could replace Christine until he found her. Then he had an idea, he would use the opera house to lure her back, then he could take her for himself without that snotty nosed Raoul to save her. She must be tired of him by now.

The Plan

The Phantom had written pamphlets about his new opera. He had planed to have auditions and he knew that Christine would not be able to resist performing again.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have decided to stage a new opera, "The Scandal". I am looking for these parts to be filled The Duchess, The Duke, The servants, stage crew, ballerinas who will be trained by the world famous Madame Giry. Auditions will be held within the next month. All those who are willing to participate should come to the "Opera Populare" within the next few weeks to sign up.

Yours Sincerely

The opera manager

He knew that if he put down Madame Giry's name that Christine would come as where Madame Giry goes so does Meg who was great friends with Christine. Stamping the bottom with the opera seal he went about trying to find Madame Giry who was still using some on the rooms to train her ballerinas.

Madame Giry was worried about the Phantom; he hadn't come to see her for a day which was very unusual. She knew that he was still upset about Christine marrying Raoul, she knew what he was underneath all those smiles and she hoped that Christine would find that out before it was too late. Hearing a sudden noise she turned around to see the Phantom gazing at her.

"I've come up with an idea to get the opera house back in its original form" Handing her the envelope he gestured her to open it.

"I'm glad to see that you have finally started to be your old self again. I was missing the genius you were before" Opening the letter she read it carefully through twice to make sure that she understood.

"So, what do you think? Will it make this dump a palace again?" Turning to question her he accidentally knocked over a candle but quickly extinguished it before a fire started.

"Why must you always cause disasters with fire? I think that your idea is great; I will put it towards the managers. They are contemplating about going back to the junk business and sell the opera." Waving her hand to say that he could go the Phantom did a bow and simply stated

"I'm glad that we both agree on something" Then with a swish of his cape he was gone as quickly as he came.

The new opera appealed greatly to the managers and they agreed to help restore the opera to its former glory. With help from the public the opera was soon ready to stage auditions. The leaflets went out across the town and nearby and everyone was anticipating finding out who would play the Duchess.

Christine needed something to do, her days were filled with sitting on a couch thinking about the Phantom and not getting anything done. She finally decided that she would go for a walk, grabbing her cape she closed the door and told the butler where she would be.

She walked down the street and into the shops, a poster caught her eye. The Opera Populare was opening again with auditions for a new opera. Taking the poster Christine read the details, she knew that with a bit of luck the Phantom would still be there. Now all she had to do was convince Raoul that she really wanted to do this. He was always going on about what a good singer she was, why couldn't she just do this opera. It would take a while to get organized at everyone had agreed that she was one of the best singers and it would also give her time to meet with the Phantom and beg for his forgiveness.