A/N- Sorry it took me so long to update. Problems with my computer and internet. Unfortunatly this is my last chapter. I want to thank you all for your reviews. I'm finishing up with my Star Wars fanfics, plus starting another one. Thank you very much! Merci beaucoup! Grazie mille!

Meg glanced at Raoul's quickly retreating backside. This was happening way too fast for her to not do anything. She grabbed her own coat, and followed them out. Whatever was going to happen, she knew she had to stop it.

Christine hurried along the streets, reaching the opera house in record time. In moments, she was at Erik's lair. At least he tried to clean it up a bit,she thought as she entered by way of the shattered mirror, a short-cut she had found out only hours earlier. She walked slowly to the organ bench, sat down. Waited an eternity, and still Erik did not show. Sighing, she picked up a pile of sheet music that were carelessly thrown down, and organized it into a neat little pile.

"That didn't take long," a whispered voice said behind her, into her ear. She stood up and spun around.

"Erik!" she threw her arms around him once again.

"Christine." He said, " Something does not feel right."

"What do you mean?" she asked and pulled away from him.

"It just doesn't." he replied.

"Are you sure it's not just from being alone?...Are you paranoid?" she asked.

"It may be just an acute awareness." He said, and sat down on the bench. "Why were you here so soon? I was not expecting you for some time. A long while." He gingerly took her hands in his. She shifted her eyes downward.

"Raoul and I had a fight earlier, when I got home." She paused, "I came here right after. "

"Have you been...followed?At all?" he asked, and left her standing there. He stood at the lake's edge."Oh, Christine." He sighed, then turned around. "We must leave. Now. Or it will be too late."

"Then, let's just go. Quickly," she agreed. He leaped up the steps, taking two at a time. He grabbed her hand, preparing to exit through the shattered mirror.

Raoul had followed the old path to the Opera Populaire. Instinct drove him forward as he sought to once again claim what had been his. He reached the outer doors at a dead run. He stopped just in front of them, breathing hard. What was that way I took? He heaved the doors open with a slam., running inside.

"Christine! Christine!" He shouted in vain. His cries fell upon cold, dark, silence. He went along the way to the dressing rooms. The mirror that he seen Christine use...Could he remember how? With his breath coming in ragged gasps now, he silently opened the door to Christine's old room. The mirror was there, and it was open. Either Christine left it open, or it could be a trap. No matter what he was going forward. He stalked along the path that his wife had taken with Phantom years ago. It was ages, but he arrived at the entrance to the lair. Then he saw him. The Phantom. The monster.

"Hold it right there." Raoul spoke across the distance. He had taken out his pistol, and had it aimed. "I should have known...Phantom." He spat out the word as if it burned his tongue.

"De Chagny. I bid you welcome to the Phantom's opera." Erik walked towards him, arms outstretched as if to show him the vastness of the darkness. "Did you think that I would harm her? Why would I make her pay for the sins which are yours?"

"Your games are at an end, this time I will make sure." Raoul's voice was dangerously low and threatening. "Christine made her choice that night."

"I let her go. I knew she would return...eventually. "Erik smiled beneath his mask. "It was only a matter of when."

The Phantom now faced Erik, in knee deep water.

"Don't make me kill you. Return Christine to me. At once." Raoul said. His gaze traveled over to where Christine was standing, where she had those five years ago. "Christine. Please. Come over here."

Christine hesitated, unsure of what to do next. "No. Raoul. I can't. Not now." She stepped towards Erik, instead of going to Raoul.

"Christine! What are you doing?" De Chagny called out to her. "I belong to the Phantom now. Can't you see? Couldn't you see? Those years that have gone by. You took me away from my dreams that night. All those times I sang the words from that night. I'm staying here. I'm sorry, Raoul."

"Yeah." Raoul answered bitterly. "I'm sorry too."

"For what?" The answer took both Christine and Erik by surprise.

"For what I didn't do that night." Raoul lined up Erik with the sight on his gun.

"Raoul!" The voice startled him, and he turned to look. Meg ran up to them. Erik took that moment and leaped forward, trying to wrestle the gun from Raoul's hand. The Vicompte turned his attention back to Erik, who had a strong hand on the gun and was attempting to take it. He grabbed it in his other hand, trying to break Erik's hand.

A fight ensued. Raoul punched Erik in the jaw. Staggering backwards, he regained his balance and tackled Raoul. Both men fell into the water. Erik managed to grab the gun. He wrenched it away from Raoul's hand, grabbing hold of his wrist.

"You still can't beat me, de Chagny." He spit out Raoul's name. "Even though I am years older than you." Raoul broke free, crawling up the stairs to get away. The gun was now pointed at him.

"Why should I not shoot you now, just like you would have moments ago?" Erik said. He threw the gun aside. "Because I am not like you. Christine."

The woman came to his side in an instant. He turned to her, took her face in his hands, looked down on the face he loved so much. "Oh, Christine. Come away with me. Please."

Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked through his eyes, into his heart. His sincerity. His sadness. His pain. That is what she saw. She turned to Raoul.

"Raoul. I'm sorry. My choice is clear. Good-bye, Raoul." She took Erik by the hand. Walked away from Raoul, from Meg. She never looked back. They left by way of the shattered mirror. Never to be seen again for a long, long time. She had her Angel. They had each other. Raoul just let them go.

-----------------------------------------------

"I never really had her, did I?" Raoul asked of Meg, after a long silence. "She was never mine. I may have had her heart. I never had her mind, her spirit. Did I?"

Meg sat beside him on the steps in the Phantom's old lair.

"Oh, Raoul. I never knew she would betray you like this." She sighed before standing. "Let's go home." She pulled him to his feet. Then,they too left the lair.