Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Wheldon and The Phantom Of The Opera belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber. The songs in this story belong to the songwriters who wrote these amazing songs. Please don't sue me, I'm completely and utterly broke and it's for entertainment purposes only.

Timeline: Post-season seven, Buffy and during the movie The Phantom Of The Opera.

Pairing(s): Erik/Christine (a little bit!), Buffy/Erik, Dawn/Erik (friendship),Willow/Christine (friendship)

Author's Note: Well, dear readers, the fans have spoken. Here are the results of the pairings poll.

· Buffy/Erik – 13

· Willow/Erik – 6

· Erik/Christine – 8

So, the winning pairing is Buffy/Erik but don't worry for those of you hoping for an Erik/Christine pairing, this story will still contain Erik/Christine but only a little bit. Anyway, sorry for the delay. I've been very busy with work and other life-related issues. This chapter will contain a little bit of Buffy/Spike and some of the Buffy/Spike moments from previous BtVS episodes. The reason for this will be explained at the end of this chapter. Anyway, enjoy and remember no flames. I will ignore them and I have no patience for them.

Summary: Buffy met Raoul for the first time after she saved him from a group of vampires and was shocked to learn that he knows everything about the supernatural world and that she's the Slayer due to his brother being in England to study to become a Watcher. After the meeting, Buffy walked in on a bad situation between her friends and Erik after Christine removed his mask causing him to lose his temper and lashed out at her scaring her, Dawn and Willow. Desperate to calm Erik but was unsuccessful, Buffy hit him nearly revealing herself as the Slayer. Later that night, Erik had a horrifying but revealing nightmare about Buffy when she died her second death during the final battle against Glory via the Powers That Be.

Erik needs to know about us. I mean, he just had a nightmare about Buffy! When she died after battling a Hellgod! But how can we tell him without making him think that we deceived him? Goddess, how can we tell him?

That was one of the thoughts that rang though Willow's mind as she struggled with her decision. She made it after the events of the previous night after Erik's fit and then his nightmare about Buffy. She had already told Dawn and she agreed with the redheaded Wicca that Erik deserved to know the truth about them. The only question was to how they could tell him without making him believe that they deceived him. Willow squeezed her eyes when she felt tears welling in her eyes knowing what she, Dawn and Buffy were about to tell Erik could tear him to pieces. She opened her eyes and struggled to remain composed when she saw her best friend and Erik standing in front of her.

"What is it, Wills." Buffy asked.

Erik needs to know the truth, Buffy. Willow said telepathically.

Buffy narrowed her eyes in response. Willow, I know what you're thinking and the answer is no. He's not ready to know about this yet.

Is that what you said to us once you found out that Dawn is the Key? Willow challenged her. Do you really think that you can keep the truth from Erik forever after last night?

As much as she loathed to think it or to admit it but Buffy knew that Willow was right. I tried to shield Dawn from the truth about her being the Key and look what happened. I can't make the same mistake with Erik. Willow's right. He needs to know about us.

Buffy sighed and glanced at Erik with a sad smile. "Erik, there's something that we need to tell you about us. About me." She said. Buffy nearly winced when she saw Erik raising an eyebrow at her and she took a deep breath then made a gesture to Willow to speak.

Willow braced herself and began. "Erik, what you dreamt about last night. It wasn't just a dream about Buffy."

"It actually happened." Buffy finished for her. Her heart gave a horrible jolt when she saw the confused look on Erik's face and in his eyes.

"I don't understand, Willow." He said. "What are you and Elizabeth trying to tell me?"

Here comes the hard part. Buffy thought sadly. Telling Erik what really happened the day he found us and about our lives fighting demons, vampires and other supernatural beings.

"Remember the day you found us near your home?" Willow asked.

Erik nodded. "Yes."

Willow took a deep breath before she spoke. "We lied about how we got down there. We didn't come through a window as Dawn told you. We were sent down there. We're not from this timeline."

"We're from the twenty-first century." Buffy said. Her heart gave another horrible jolt when she saw the look on Erik's face change from confusion to anger. What happened next happened in an instant. Erik let out a cry of rage and grabbed the nearest object which was a wine glass and hurled it against the wall. It shattered into pieces against the wall and they fell to the floor.

"You lied to me!" Erik roared at them. His anger rolling off of him in waves. Once again feeling her own anger rising and her control over her magic slipping, Willow continued to speak.

"Which we didn't mean to." She said in a tightly controlled voice. "But we had no choice. If we told you about the truth earlier, would've you believed us?"

Without waiting for Erik to answer, Willow pressed on. "What you saw in that dream, Erik, happened a few years ago. A hundred and thirty one years from now."

Seeing the look on her best friend's face, Buffy spoke. God, where's Giles when you need him? "In every generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world. She alone can slay vampires; stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Chosen One."

To her surprise and utter dismay, Buffy saw a flicker of recgonization in Erik's eyes at her words. He glanced at her in a mixture of utter shock and rage.

"It can not be." Erik whispered. "It's a myth. Pure myth."

Looks like Raoul is not the only one who knows about the Slayer. Buffy thought as she saw Erik struggle with what he learned. She felt horrible for keeping the truth about her from him but she pushed her emotions aside.

"Erik." Buffy went to lay a hand on his arm but he jerked away.

"NO!" He shouted and he ran from her to his room and slammed the door behind him. Erik laid his hands on the first thing that he saw which was a box of hair pins and hurled them at a mirror which broke in a thousand pieces. In a violent rage, Erik destroyed just about everything he laid his hands on in the room. Then he slid to the floor against the door and burst into tears.

"Why Elizabeth?" Erik sobbed. "Why?"

God damn you, Powers! Why? What the hell do you want from me?

Upon hearing the crashing noise from Erik's room and then the sounds of him crying, Buffy felt her anger rising. She was angry at herself for keeping the truth about her, Dawn and Willow and she was furious at the Powers That Be for even giving Erik the nightmare of her death at the hands of Glory. Unable to hold on to her pent-up rage, Buffy grabbed the first thing she laid her hands on which was her bag and with a scream of rage threw it against the wall. Willow and Dawn both jumped back in fright. They had never seen Buffy that upset and angry.

"WHY!" Buffy shrieked in rage at the heavens. "What the fuck do you want from me? I fucking hate you!" Then she slowly began to break down crying herself.

"I hate you." She said around her sobs.

"God, Slayer. You hate us for giving your boyfriend a nightmare about your destiny?"

Buffy turned around and her rage grew when she saw Whistler standing in front of her. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pinned him against the wall near Erik's organ.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She snarled. "No, scratch that. I don't care."

"Actually, Slayer. I'm here regarding your boyfriend. The Phantom." Whistler replied.

"Okay, one, his name is Erik." Buffy snapped. "Two, he's not my boyfriend and three, why do you care?"

"Because, Slayer, your friend a.k.a the Phantom deserves to know about you, the Key and your witchy friend and the Powers figured that the only way to give him that knowledge was through dreams."

"You mean nightmares." Buffy said. "I just tore Erik to pieces by telling him that my best friend and sister lied to him and that I'm the Slayer and you're expecting me to sit by and let you assholes drive Erik to insanity by giving him nightmares about my exploits as the Chosen One? He's been through enough!"

Whistler looked very sympathetic as he spoke. "Listen, Slayer. I've already spoken to the Powers on your friend's behalf and maybe, this one nightmare that the Phantom had of you will be the only one since you've beaten them to the punch by telling him that you're the Slayer but what about the Key and your witchy friend? He doesn't know about them."

"Which he will." Buffy snapped once again. "Once he's calmed down enough, I'll tell him about Dawn and Willow or I'll let them tell him themselves."

"I hope so, Slayer." Whistler said firmly but flinched when he saw the look on Buffy's face that promised pain if he spoke to her in that tone again. "Now, would you let me go please?"

Sighing, Buffy let go of the balance demon's shirt and let him down. Whistler turned to leave but then he turned back at Buffy.

"Oh, by the way, Slayer." He said. "I would tell the Phantom about your past with Spike if I were you."

Buffy was flabbergasted and confused. "Why?"

"Because that young singer, Christine, is not the only woman the Phantom has feelings for." Whistler replied and then he disappeared. Buffy turned to Dawn and Willow who looked just as confused as she was.

"What was he talking about, Buffy?" Willow asked.

"I'm not su …" Then a realization hit Buffy like a ton of bricks. Oh, my God! Erik has fallen in love with me even though he's still in love with Christine!

"Erik has fallen in love with me." Buffy said stunned. "Even though he's still in love with Christine."

While Dawn looked shocked, Willow had a knowing look on her face. The redheaded Wicca had suspected Erik of having feelings for her best friend but wasn't sure how to approach him without making the situation out of nothing.

"I think you and Dawn should talk to Erik. Try to finish what you tried to tell him." Willow suggested gently.

"She's right, Buffy." Dawn said. "Erik needs to hear the rest of the story."

Buffy nodded her head and together, she and Dawn walked down the hall and as they passed Erik's room, the Summers sisters heard soft sobs cutting through the silence. At that point, Buffy and Dawn could hear Erik crying through the closed door of his room and the Slayer regretted not revealing the truth about her, Dawn and Willow to him before.

This is all my fault. I never should've lied to him. I should've told him the truth before.

An idea running in her mind like a videotape, Buffy turned to Willow. Wills, I have an idea that doesn't involve words at all. To her surprise, she saw that the Wicca had a knowing look on her face and in her eyes.

Don't worry, Buffy. Willow replied telepathically. I think I know what you have in mind and I agree.

Grateful for her best friend's support about her plan and upon hearing Erik's sobs, Buffy let tears of anger and pity run down her cheeks and slid down to the floor. Her back against the door with Dawn sitting beside her. Willow quietly began to chant so that the distraught Phantom would not hear the words of the spell that was slipping off the tip of her tongue. It was a spell that the Wicca had created a few days after the final battle against the First Evil for Xander to help him remember the good times he had with Anya just before her death and now she was going to use the same spell on Erik to tell him the story of the relationship between Buffy, Dawn and Spike and also of the sacrifices her best friend made during her early days as the Slayer.

Glancing at each other as Willow was chanting the words of the spell, the Summers sisters took hands and together, they began singing a song they both heard on the radio once after Spike's death during the final battle against the First Evil. It was called Shine Your Light. When they first heard the song playing on the radio a few days after the destruction of Sunnydale, Buffy and Dawn both thought of Spike and his actions that led to the victory over the First Evil.

God, Spike. If there was ever a time when I need you. It's now. I miss you so much.

As he was crying, Erik could hear voices singing to him and he realized that it was both Buffy and Dawn. They were singing a song that sounded sad but yet had a story in it. A story that had yet to be told. Then suddenly, his mind teemed with memories that were not his. He saw a younger looking Buffy standing against the wall with a young man with white blonde hair and dressed in black standing behind her and the words they spoke to each other rang in his mind like an echo.

"Nice work, luv"

"Who are you?" Buffy asked the young man.

"You'll find out on Saturday." The young man answered.

"What happens on Saturday?"

"I kill you."

Then another memory ran through Erik's mind like a VCR. He saw Buffy still looking younger and the young man. This time, Buffy was standing while the young man was tied to a chair in front of her.

"You're a pig, Spike." Buffy said to him.

"Yeah, I'm not the one who wanted 'Wind Beneath My Wings' for the first dance." The young man Buffy called Spike said.

"That was the spell."

As suddenly as it came into his mind, it was replaced by another memory. A memory that brought tears to Erik's eyes. This time it was in a crypt with Buffy and Spike standing together.

"Why did that Glory hurt you?" Buffy asked.

"She wanted to know who the Key was." Spike said rather quietly.

"Oh, I can tell her …"

"No!" Spike shouted. He coughed heavily before he spoke. "You can't ever. Glory never finds out."

"Why?"

"Because Buffy, the other not-so pleasant Buffy. Anything that happens to Dawn could destroy her. I can't bear her being in that much pain. Rather let Glory kill me first. Near bloody did."

That memory faded and another came in its place and as it did, tears ran down Erik's cheeks. This one took place in a house. Buffy was going up the stairs and Spike was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"I know you'll never love me." Spike said. "But you treat me like a man and that's …"

As he continued to listen to Buffy sing and his mind filling with memories that were hers, Erik kept on sobbing and crying as the words of her song hit home in his ravaged heart. He could hear the remorse, the guilt and the pain she had felt at having to keep such a secret from him about Buffy being the Slayer. He didn't want to believe her but he could tell by the look in her green eyes that she was telling him the truth. Now as he was listening to her and Dawn singing, Erik saw another memory. One which made him cry harder. Buffy was walking in a darkened church and she turned as Spike appeared before her. He was wearing only dark pants and had a despairing look on his face.

"Hello." He said simply.

Buffy whirred around. "What the hell are you …?

"It didn't work. Costume. Didn't help. Couldn't hide."

"No more mind games, Spike."

"No more mind games. No more mind.

"Tell me what happened to you."

"Hey, hey, hey! No touching! Am I flesh? Am I flesh to you? Feed on flesh. My flesh. Nothing else. Not a spark. Oh, fine. Flesh then. Solid through Get it hard. Service.

Although he was powerless to force the memory out, Erik tensed when he saw that Spike was unzipping pants and the mixture of shock, disgust and embarrassment on Buffy's face.

"Stop it!" She shouted and she smacked Spike's hand. Reacting to her hit, he grabbed her by the throat. In turn, she grabbed his shoulder and threw him across the room.

"Right. Girl doesn't want to be serviced. Because there's no spark. Ain't we in a soddin' engine?"

"Spike, have you completely lost your mind?"

"Well, yeah. Where've you been all night?"

"You thought you would just come back here and … be with me?"

Spike shrugged. "First time for everything."

"This is all you get. Tell me what happened." Buffy said.

"I tried to find it, of course."

"Find what?"

"The spark. The missing … the piece that fit. That would make me fit. Because you didn't want …" Spike broke down and looked away. "God, I can't … Not with you looking."

Good merciful Lord! Erik thought as he saw that Spike had walked away from Buffy and went to the window. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists as the memory continued to run it's course through his ravaged mind. As he did, he whispered.

"Oh, Elizabeth."

"I dreamed of killing you." Spike replied. "I think there were dreams. So weak. Did you make me weak, thinking of you, holding myself, and spilling useless buckets over your … ending?"

"Angel … he should've warned me. He makes a good show of forgetting, but it's here, in me, all the time. The spark. I wanted to give you what you deserve, and I got it. They put the spark in me and all it does is burn."

"Your soul." Buffy whispered.

Spike let out a hollow laugh. "Bit worse for lack of use."

"You got your soul back. How?"

"It's what you wanted, right? And … and now everybody's in here, talking. Everything I did … everyone I … and him … and it … the other beneath … beneath you. It's here too. Everybody. They all just tell me go … go … to Hell."

My God, what happened to him?

That was the question that rang through Erik's mind as he continued to watch the memory. Still crying, he tried to keep himself under control as he watched the last few moments of the memory.

"Why? Why would you do that?" Buffy asked her voice rising.

"Buffy, shame on you." Spike replied brokenly. "Why does a man do what he mustn't? For her. To be hers. To be the kind of man would nev … to be the kind of man. She shall look on him with forgiveness and everybody will forgive and love. He will be loved."

Spike had been walking and stopped in front of a cross. He looked at it mournfully.

"So everything's okay, right?" Slowly, deliberately, Spike slung one arm over each side of the cross bar and laid his head in the corner of the intersection. His body sizzled with the contact of the cross and smoke rose from his skin.

"Can … can we rest now? Buffy … can we rest?"

As the memory faded and another one was beginng to appear, Erik could hear the love in both Buffy's and Dawn's voice for him. Love that had become that of a family. Still crying but wanting to face them, he got up and opened the door. He looked down to see that Buffy and Dawn had been sitting at the front of the door. When they saw him standing before them, they quickly got up on their feet and looked at him. Erik sobbed softly when he saw the tears running down Dawn's cheeks and the guilt in Buffy's eyes as they looked at him.

"I'm so sorry, Erik." Buffy whispered trying hard not to burst into sobs. Then she and Dawn began singing again and then Erik became lost in another memory.

"Buffy."

"Spike!" Buffy shouted as she ran out the way of a ray of light. Then what looked like a cave began to tear apart. Rocks falling onto the ground like bombs. Buffy came to Spike who was pinned in place with energy blasting from him.

"I can feel it, Buffy."

"What?" Buffy asked in an emotional voice.

"My soul. It's really there. Kinda stings. Go on then."

Buffy shook her head. "You've done enough. You can still …"

"No. You beat 'em back. It's time to do the clean-up." Then in a tender voice, Spike said. "Gotta move, lamb. I'd say school's out for bloody summer."

"Spike."

"I mean it. I gotta do this."

Spike's hand was held up frozen in a haze of pain. Buffy took her own hand and interlocked it with his. After a moment, both of their hands burst into flames. They barely noticed it as they looked at each other.

"I love you." Buffy said shaking as she said the words.

Spike smiled kindly. "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it."

As she sang the last verse of her song, Buffy placed her hand on Erik's tear-stained cheek and she wiped away the tears that pooled around his eye with her thumb in a loving gesture. Finally, the memories that had been running in Erik's mind subsided and for the first time, he understood what Buffy, Dawn and Willow had tried to tell him and he felt guilty for how he reacted. With tears streaming down his cheeks, Erik opened his arms and the Summers sisters fell into them gladly both of them crying.

"I'm so sorry, Erik." Buffy sobbed. "We wanted to tell you but we didn't think that you were ready for the truth. I'm sorry."

"No, Elizabeth, this was not your fault. I was a monster to you, Dawn and Willow." Erik whispered. "Forgive me."

Buffy and Dawn pulled away from him and glanced at him. "You had every right to be angry at me, Dawn and Willow." Buffy said. "We kept a secret from you about us. About me. A secret that you had every right to know because we trust you or at least beginning to."

"A secret about you that I did not want to believe." Erik said. "But when I looked into your eyes, I knew that you were not lying about it. That you were telling me the truth. That you are the Slayer. It also explains your long absences during the night and your insistence on going out alone. When I noticed it, I thought that I was fooling myself into believing that the Slayer exists and assured myself that it was only a myth."

"Until now when Willow and Buffy told you the truth." Dawn spoke up.

Erik nodded. "Yes." He said.

"Just out of curiosity, how did you about the Slayer?" Buffy asked.

Erik wiped the remaining tears out of his eyes as he spoke slowly. "It was a story that was told to me as a child. An old woman told me the story of how a young girl she once knew became what she called 'the Chosen One'. The only girl in the world who is chosen by a higher power to destroy and slay vampires and other creatures of the night. The girl was only fourteen at the time of her calling and she ended up slaughtered by vampires two years after she was called. I thought it was only a story and dismissed it immediately as a myth. But that did not stop me from accoring books about the Slayer to learn more about her. I was curious and once I learned what I wanted to know, I never spoke of it again."

Dawn looked at Buffy nervously. Should I tell him about me being the Key? She asked telepathically.

Might as well. Buffy replied. Erik's nightmare has a lot to do with you too.

Dawn turned away from her sister and took a shaky breath before she spoke again. "Buffy told you her secret. Now I have a secret of my own to tell you about me."

Erik glanced at her. "What is it?" he asked wearily.

Once again, tears welled in Dawn's eyes as she spoke and she struggled to keep her voice even. "What Buffy tried to tell you back there was something that involved me. You see, months before, she discovered information about a ball of energy called the Key. A monk told her that a Hellgod named Gloricus or Glory was trying to find it so she could go back to her home demsion. He also said that he and other monks made the Key into human form in the form of a sister that the Slayer would protect with her life."

At first, Erik was confused as to what Dawn was trying to tell him but then he put two on two together and kept his gaze on the distraught teen.

"It's you." He said. "You are the Key."

Dawn nodded with tears running down her cheeks. "Please don't be angry, Erik. I wanted to tell you so badly because I trusted you but I wasn't sure how to tell you or whether that you were ready for the burden of knowing about us."

Erik knew that he should be furious at Dawn for keeping secrets from him but upon seeing the distraught look on her face and in her eyes, he felt nothing but pity for the teen and for Buffy and Willow. Then Dawn spoke again this time with strength and conviction.

"Once everyone else found out that I was the Key, they risked their lives to try to protect me. To keep Glory from finding out that I was the Key. Unfortunately, she found out and kidnapped me. She tied me up to a tower but before she could bleed me to open a portal to her own demision, Buffy killed her. Then a demon did the job for Glory and did this."

Dawn lifted her shirt to reveal scars running across her abdomen. Erik's eyes widened when he saw them.

"Good lord!" he whispered.

Dawn nodded her head. "The demon cut me and my blood opened the portal. The only way to close it was for me to die but since I was made from Buffy …"

"She jumped in your place." Erik said as the memories of his nightmare came into his mind uninvited. He squeezed his eyes shut trying in vain to force them out.

"And it killed me. I died. Had a funeral and everything." Buffy piped up.

"But months later, I brought her back."

Buffy, Dawn and Erik turned to see Willow standing before them. She looked exhausted and sad. The Slayer sighed in experation.

This is going to be fun trying to explain to Erik about Willow being a witch and how she nearly destroyed the world.

For those of you hoping that I would get Buffy, Dawn and Willow to explain everything to Erik in one chapter, sorry. I tried to do that and I ended up having to split the chapter in half because it didn't really work the way I wanted it to. Anyway, the reason I put the Buffy/Spike moments in this chapter is to give it a little more of a romance/angst edge. After the next chapter, this will be end of the angst (for now). The memory spell that Willow cast on Erik is an inspiration from the book Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix and all of the Buffy/Spike moments in this chapter are from the episodes School Hard, Something Blue, Checkpoint,The Gift, Beneath You and Chosen. More Buffy/Spike moments will appear later on in the story. Anyway, I'll have the next chapter up soon but don't expect it for a while since I'm very busy with my job which leaves me very little time for writing and remember no flames! I will ignore them and I don't have the patience for them.