Chapter 19- And So It Begins

It was nearly 5 o'clock when Christine finally got back to her room. She had had to sit through 40 different auditions before finally finding a replacement for Piangi, Byron Larogue. She was not as tired as she thought she would be. Anybody who had just had to endure what she had would surely be ready to drop dead.

When she entered her room, she immediately saw that Porsche had somehow mustered up the energy to move from the floor to Christine's bed.

"Lazy thing", said Erik's voice in the back of her head. Christine smiled to herself.

"Come on Porsche, it's time to go…" She said, scooping up the cat in her arms. Porsche gave a weak 'meow' in protest, but did not seem to have enough energy to do anything about it.

Christine locked the door, and then headed over to the mirror. She stepped down on the middle tile as hard as she could, and watched as the mirror sank down into the floor. She stepped through into the dark passageway and then used the mechanism that made the mirror go back into its normal place.

How did Erik make the torches light up? She thought to herself, and then she remembered that he simply clicked his fingers. Christine, who had never actually clicked her fingers before, gave it a try, Porsche still clutched in her arms.

It took her a few minutes, during which she got very agitated when she couldn't manage it, to successfully click her fingers. When she managed it however, the arm-held torches along the walls, burst into flame. She walked along the now well-lit passage, and then reached the spiral staircase.

She paused for a minute. She was very nervous about using Erik's amazing shortcut, worried that she might fall off. Looking at it closely however, she saw that Erik had added railings round the outside, obviously to hold onto while using it.

She got onto the platform, made sure that Porsche was secure in her arms, and kicked at the metal mechanism. The platform instantly started plummeting to the depths of the catacombs beneath the Opera. She held on as hard as she could to the metal railings, until eventually the platform came to a halt.

Porsche seemed to have been woken up by this, because when Christine got off the platform, the cat jumped right out of her arms and started trotting along the passage to the boat.

A calm boat ride later, and Christine and Porsche were standing in the dock like area of Erik's home.

I wonder where he is… She thought to herself. Then however, she heard singing coming from one of the rooms, which she assumed would be the music room.

What raging fire shall flood the soul?

What rich desire unlocks its door?

What sweet seduction lies…

Before us?

This, thought Christine, must be a song from his 'Don Juan Triumphant'. Entering the music room, she saw Erik sitting at the piano, scratching away at a piece of music on the stand.

He did not seem to have noticed Christine enter the room, but then Porsche chose that moment to go and leap onto his lap and start kneading his stomach. Turning round, he saw Christine and gave a big smile. Putting Porsche down on the floor and standing up, he barely had time to move before Christine had flung her arms around him. They then kissed passionately.

A few minutes later, during which Porsche seemed to be getting very annoyed at the lack of attention she was receiving, they broke apart, looking at each other.

"I love you Christine." whispered Erik.

"I love you to Erik." She whispered back. Finally letting go of each other, Christine glanced over at the piano, then remembered that Erik had been singing. "What was that song you were singing?" She asked.

"Oh, it's erm… it's nothing important really…" He stammered, gathering up the pieces of parchment, and placing them into a large leather folder.

"Was it some of your 'Don Juan'?" She asked, Erik could tell that she was not going to give up.

"Yes." He replied, then feeling that it would be best to follow up. "It's a song near the end of the opera, called 'Point of no Return'." Christine looked a bit puzzled at this.

"Why is it called that?"

"I'll tell you when the whole thing is finished." He said, plainly. Christine then remembered something that Erik had been saying, when she had heard him composing what sounded like the very same song.

"No, that makes it sound like he is going to hang her." And "That makes it sound like they are playing the Bassoon". Christine smiled to herself without realising it. Erik however, did.

"What's so funny?" He asked her.

"I'm guessing it's not a song about two people playing the Bassoon is it?" Erik took a while to work out what she meant, then, realising what it was, he blushed a very deep shade of crimson. Something that, Christine assumed, he did not do very often.

"Or about one person hanging another…" He said, more to himself than to Christine.

Christine burst out laughing. She collapsed into Erik's arms. He couldn't help himself. He started to laugh too. For a long time they just stood there, Christine holding onto Erik for support, as her legs seemed ready to give way any second. She actually laughed so hard, that she developed the hiccups, which caused Erik to laugh even harder for a moment.

"… oh dear." He said with a smile.

"hic what?" Asked Christine.

"You're going to have to stop that. You've got a singing lesson later." Christine looked at him for a moment.

"But the hic managers haven't given us the hic, scripts yet." She said.

"I'm no manager." He replied. "Though I must say that I think that I would do a better job than them, don't you?" Christine simply hiccupped in response. "Anyway, I'll have to go and whip you up a cure for hiccups."

"No…no, I think they've passed…hic" Erik gave a small smile at this.

"You're not getting out of this, come on." He took Christine by the hand and led her to the kitchen.

It took him about three minutes to finish making his 'cure' for her. He set a goblet down on the table, which had some foul smelling liquid in it, and looked at Christine.

"Ummm, really I think they've hic…" Resigned to the worst, she picked up the Goblet and downed the contents in one. It tasted surprisingly better than it smelled. Christine waited for a moment, looked up at Erik, and then gave a very small belch.

Erik chuckled. "That means that it has worked I think." And sure enough, there was not another hiccup that escaped from Christine's mouth.

Christine felt surprisingly refreshed after she had drank the 'cure', and also wide-awake.

"Right, lesson time I think." He said, briskly. Christine got to her feet, took Erik's hand and followed him to the music room. Christine remembered something.

"A little girl called Zurie asked me to give her singing lessons…" She said faintly, Erik turned and looked at her at this.

"Well, are you going to?" He asked her.

"Well, I said I would… but I'm not really sure how." She sounded a bit worried by this.

"Well, start with breathing techniques and warm-up exercises." He began. "Then move onto songs. Always start a lesson with ten minutes warm-up as well, like we do." Erik then sat down at the piano. "We will do that now as a matter of fact, pick a scale."

"Ummm…" She felt up to quite a high scale. "B minor."

They did warm-ups for ten minutes as always, then Erik pulled out a script from behind the stand on the piano. Reading the front, Christine saw the word 'FAUST'.

"Where did you get that?" Christine asked.

"The library, I have most operas in there somewhere." He replied, handing the script to her. "Page 70."

Christine turned to page seventy and read 'Margarita's Ballad of the King of Thule.'

It took her perhaps, fifteen minutes before she really grasped the tune of the song. They practised a verse at a time. Erik told her that this was one of her two main songs of the opera.

"Right, you seem to have grasped that one pretty quickly. We just about have time to look at your second song I think, page 135."

This song was called 'Meine Ruh ist hin'. It was much more complex than the ballad. Yet by the end of the lesson, she was quite pleased by her progress with it.

"Very good." Said Erik. "Faust may just be the best production this place has ever seen. Especially with that toad gone." Christine gave a small laugh at this.

"Did you watch the auditions?" She asked him.

"Indeed I did. I must say that I really didn't think that anybody was going to be better than Piangi. Well, not in that lot anyway." He looked over at Christine. "You had best be getting back."

"Can't I stay here tonight?" She asked.

"I would not have thought that you wanted to..."

"I need you close by. Just in case I have another bad dream." She said, blushing slightly.

"OK, I'll go and prepare your room then, shall I?" He asked.

"Ummm actually..." She said, shuffling her feet and looking down at the floor. "I was wondering if... if well, I could uh..." She paused and then said very slowly and quietly, so that Erik nearly had to lip read her next four words. "... stay with you tonight?"

This was definitely not what Erik had been expecting, but he finally managed to stammer. "Umm, yes of...of course, I mean that is... if you're sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. I just need you there with me, so that I know I'm not going to lose you." She said, looking solemn.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said, rising to his feet and taking Christine in his arms. "I promise you."

"But what if..." The rest of her sentence was silenced by Erik's lips being pressed against hers.

When they broke apart Erik said. "Trust me Christine, I'm not going to leave you..." They kissed again, and Christine eventually cheered up. "Come on, let's get some dinner."

They went back to the kitchen, where Erik cooked one of his amazing dinners for both of them. Christine nearly had to wrestle Porsche away from her food, which the cat seemed to have caught the scent of pretty quickly.

"Greedy lazy cat." Said Erik, tickling her chin. "What am I going to do with you, eh?" He poured Porsche out a bowl of milk and then returned to his dinner.

"Well it looks like you got her a bowl of milk." Said Christine slyly, this earned her a scowl.

"Who says I was talking to the cat?" Said Erik, Christine tried to scowl at him, which she thought must have looked like a puppy-dog pout.

The rest of the evening was quite uneventful. After dinner Christine went to the library, and found out that Erik had not been lying when he said it contained just about every Opera. While Christine was in the Library, Erik went to the armoury. He thought it would be best to keep his blade skills sharp, just in-case Christine wanted a rematch.

When Christine was tired of reading, and Erik was simply tired, they went to bed. Erik was very nervous yet couldn't understand why. They weren't exactly going to do anything. Christine just wanted him to hold her and yet still he was nervous.

-

Morning came and Christine was the first to wake, held by Erik. Looking at him, she saw that he was still wearing his mask. Thinking that this could be in no way comfortable, she gently removed it from his face and then put it on the table next to the bed. Erik started muttering something in his sleep.

Awww bless him. Thought Christine. Erik then started muttering something about timpani and percussion. It seemed that his subconscious mind was always on music. Christine heard a noise outside the room. Thinking that it was Porsche, she tried to go back to sleep, but then she heard someone cry.

"OUCH!" Christine jumped out of bed, got dressed and then bolted to the door. Opening it very slowly, she looked outside and saw...

"Meg!" Meg, who was jumping up and down clutching her foot, looked over at Christine.

"Ah, there you are." She winced in pain. "You've got to come back now, Managers...reading...cast."

"Oh damn! One moment." She went back into Erik's room and nudged him awake.

"Urrrgghh?" He grunted.

"I've got to go. Cast list is being read out." She gave him a quick kiss, then headed back to the boat with Meg.

"I'll tell you what..." Began Meg. "This new leading male is very good looking, don't you think."

Christine, who had been thinking about Erik, looked up at her. "Huh, what? Oh yes, I suppose so."

"Daydreaming about lover boy eh?" She then changed to her sing song voice. "You lurrrve him, you lurrrve him!"

The wild ride on the platform shut Meg up at once. Christine clicked her fingers to make the torches light up.

"That's a nice trick." Said Meg who was still in a very shocked state from the lift ride.

As soon as they were back in Christine's room and the mirror was closed,they bolted to the main theatre, getting there just in time.

"OK, as you all know, our new production is Faust, so if you would all listen carefully. The cast list goes as follows." Began Firmin.

"How much do you know about Faust, Christine?" Whispered Meg.

"Not that much, it's about a man who sells his soul to the devil just so that he can be with his true love." Christine whispered back.

"Well that's more than I knew."

"The role of Faust will be played by Monsieur Byron Larogue." Meg turned very red at hearing his name.

"Somebody has a crush on the new lead male." Said Christine jokily, then, imitating Meg she began to sing. "You lurrrve him, you lurrrve him!" This earned her a painful jab in the ribs.

"The role of Margarita will be played by Miss Christine Daae." Said André.

"No surprises there then." Shouted Meg to Christine over all of the applause.

"And finally, the role of Mephistopheles will be played by Arnaud Fortesque." There was another polite applause, Arnaud was bested only by Piangi when he was around. Therefore it was clear why he was given the part.

The rest of the cast list was read out, including the dancers and Margarita's mother, who happened to be Meg.

"YES! WHOO HOO! I'm not a dancer, and Carlotta isn't in this production!" Meg was positively over the moon with her part.

After the casting Christine went to get an early lunch. She did not have time to have any breakfast and that was now fast catching up with her.

-

She had as much as she could eat, everyone had congratulated her on the leading part of Faust and had given a warm welcome to the new recruit who was to take Piangi's place. She had noticed during lunch that Meg was glancing over at him every chance she had, and apparently had the same look that Christine had when she was thinking about Erik.

She slipped away from the lunch room and headed back to her own room, where she found Zurie waiting for her.

"Zurie?" Christine looked surprised. "What are you doing in here?"

"I'm sorry Christine, I just came to check that we are still ok for the singing lesson at six this evening?"

"Yes of course we are. See you then."

"Alright, oh and congratulations." Zurie whispered.

"What part did you get Zurie?"

"Me oh, I'm just another dancer." She sounded downhearted.

"I'm sure one day you will get to have a huge part, keep trying. Oh and thank you." Christine replied.

Zurie nodded and headed out of the door. Christine stood in her room, thinking.

She reminds me of myself sometimes. But if she is determined, then I will help her, like Cecilia helped me.

There was a knock at the door, tearing her thoughts away from Cecilia. "Come in." Christine called.

The door opened to reveal Byron Larogue standing in her doorway with a bottle of champagne and a small bunch of flowers. Indeed he looked handsome, with his hair slicked back, similar to Erik's style, but off to the side. It was a light brown colour which matched his eyes perfectly.

"Miss Daae?" Larogue inquired, Christine could tell he was nervous at seeing her. "I – I bought these for you."

He handed Christine the bunch of flowers which she took and sniffed.

"Oh, wow, what lovely tulips. Thank you Monsieur Larogue, what a kind gesture." She said smiling. She went to put the purple flowers into a vase. "I will have to find them some water soon."

"Thank you, I'm glad you like them. I have not had the chance to talk to you properly, as we are going to be working together mainly I thought it would be best for us to get to know each other." He said a bit more calmly than before.

"Yes, I believe we should be acquainted at least. So you have settled in rather well?" Christine inquired.

"Yes everyone has been telling me great things about the Opera Populaire and also of the Phantom of the Opera…" He trailed off.

"Take no notice of what the girls tell you. They always make up things." She replied.

He has only been here five minutes and already they are taunting him with stories of Erik. They don't even know the truth.

"I will take your word for it. Would you care for champagne?"

"Why yes that would be nice."

Byron poured out two glasses and handed one to Christine.

"By the way, I think you have a fantastic voice. Have you had any sort of training?" She said, taking a sip from the glass.

"Yes, but have never really been able to use my voice. The auditions have given me this wonderful opportunity and I get to do something that I have dreamed about for years and I'm able to meet the famous Miss Daae." He said enthusiastically.

Christine giggled slightly. "Thank you Monsieur."

"Please, please call me Byron." He said quickly.

"Then you may call me Christine." They both chuckled slightly.

Byron raised his glass. "I propose a toast, to the start of a new friendship and to the success of future productions." He lowered his voice. "I have also been told of the infamous La Carlotta and Monsieur Piangi."

"Now that is something you can believe." Christine raised her glass. "I have a feeling we are going to get along just fine."

"I do too." Byron finished. "To friendship?"

"To friendship!" Christine said softly before draining the remains of the champagne.