A New Destiny

Ch 2

"She jinxed me!" Arya kept muttering as she light rocked herself back and forth in the chair.

"Your grandmother did not jinx you, Arya. Now listen closely..." Madam Ellison said, sitting in the chair next to her new charge and faced her. "I can't tell you what you can and can't do when it comes to this situation that you are in... Only you can do what you feel like is necessary. This is a new path for you, only you have control over your destiny."

"I don't want to end up like her, Madam... I'm a simple nobody-"

"Not anymore, you're not. You are the prima donna. Maybe this is a good thing... Whoever this is, is willing to get your confidence up, and you'll need it for the show," Madam Ellison thought out loud. Arya looked to her with her eyebrow raised.

"You want me to go to this.. Lesson?" She asked in shock and confusion. Madam Ellison shook her head no.

"I want you to do what your heart tells you to do," She told the young woman gently. Arya looked down at the note in the ballet mistress's hand before sighing and nodded. "Anyway, it's time for bed... Let me walk you back to your room."

Arya followed Madam Ellison back to her room. Once there, she put the note and the rose the was left behind on her make up table and crawled into bed. She looked out the window that was above her bed and saw the shiniest star and closed her eyes.

"Please let me do the right thing..." She whispered before rolling over and going to sleep.

She woke up and stretched while she sat up. Getting up, she gathered her clothes for the day and went into the bathroom and got ready. She came out wearing a Sun and Moon graphic off the shoulder shirred dress with flounce sleeves. The skirt of the dress came right above her knees, making her wear white calf length leggings and on her feet were a pair of black faux suede closed toe platform wedge shoes with a ankle strap that buckled.

She looked into the mirror of her make up table and quickly braided two small braids that held the rest of her hair back with a black and silver rose clip holding them together. She loved that clip dearly as it was the last gift she was given from her parents.

Arya looked at the time and slowly walked her way into the kitchen. She was greatful to find no one but the cooks. She grabbed a cinnamon roll and thanked the cooks for making breakfast and sat at the table and ate her roll quickly before walking around the opera house to the auditorium and sat down with her knees tucked underneath her on the stage.

Mr. Martin walked into the auditorium holding a stack of binders and was curious as Arya was the only one there.

"Good morning, jeune!" He said with a smile on his face. Arya looked over to him and got up and helped him with the binders.

"Good morning, Mr. Martin... Looks like you got more than you could carry, sir..." She said with a gentle smile, joking. Mr. Martin laughed and nodded.

"I do tend to bite more than I can chew as the saying goes. Thank you for helping, but... You are here early..." He mentioned slyly as he laid out the binders, showing where to put the ones that Arya was holding. He handed her 'Christine' and she opened it. "Still can't sleep well?"

"Sort of... This is the first time I've been away from anyone in my family... My grandmother is all I have... My parents passed away a few years ago... Mama first with cancer... Then daddy from a car accident... They still haven't caught the one who caused the accident," Arya said quietly, reading the script in her hands.

"And your grandfather?" Mr. Martin asked gently.

"Passed away before I was born. Grandma said he was a war hero though... It's all she would say," Arya said with a shrug, before continuing, "I don't like crowds really... I figured if I was first up, I could miss all the action of not missing out on food and missing all the hot water."

"Fille intelligente..." He whispered to himself as he watched her from the corner of his eye. Something was not right with her and he wanted to know what was going on. She sat back on the ground, humming to herself.

The other actresses and actors started to show up as she got halfway through the binder. A cough caught her attention. Her eyes looked up at some blue jeans and then a normal black shirt to pale skin of neck to a wonderful smile on the lips, a straight nose, bright blue eyes, and short midnight black hair. Think of a young Hugh Jackman.

"I'm Arthur. Arthur Mote. I play the Phantom," He said in his low tenor voice. She blushed and went to stand. "Oh!" He reached for her hand to help her up, "Let me help you."

Arya gently took his hand and stood before him. Even with heels she was still a good 5 inches smaller than him.

"I.. I'm Arya.. Arya Hall..." She told him quietly.

"So you're the Christine!" He exclaimed. She nodded and looked down with a blush. "So timid already!" Arthur chuckled out. "Don't mind us, you'll get out of your shell soon. Here, let me introduce you to the cast." Grabbing her hand and placing her arm around his, he walked her around the stage.

"That over there Christopher Belue, he's playing Raoul," He pointed to a blonde headed man with crooked smile. "Next to him is Monique Deen, she's playing Meg. They're together." Arya took notice of them holding hands. She smiled at the love they held in their eyes for each other. Monique's hair was long and blonde, slightly curled at the end, her body small and lithe, built for ballet.

"You already know Madam Ellison. She's playing Madam Giry, kind self explainatory right?" Arthuer said with a chuckle, making Arya giggle quietly. Arthur introduced her to so many people, she didn't know if she could honestly keep up with all the names except for Arthur's, Madam Ellison's, Christopher and Monique's, and the boy who pushed her when their college class got there, Matthew.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen!" Mr. Martin called. Everyone stopped and turned to him. "Now that our cast is complete with Miss. Hall as our Christine, I would like for everyone to start practising their lines today. Tomorrow we will begin blocking and ques for our numbers. Miss. Hall, you and our dear phantom, Arthur need to be in the dressing room for measurements at 3 today," Mr. Martin began, going down by twos of everyone needing measurements and when. He told them how he expects everyone to be on time for all rehearsals that would start in two days time.

Once the meeting was over, Arya took her binder and quickly left, making sure no one was following behind her, racing through the halls to the chapel. She closed the door behind her after making sure that she was alone.

Arya looked around and found multiple pictures hanging around the room with candles underneath each of them. She read all the names and then found herself standing in front a glass window. It had the Mother Mary standing there with her hands in prayer as she watched over those in the chapel.

"I see that you followed my instructions, mon cheri," A man's voice rang through the room, startling Arya into dropping her binder.

"Oh no!" She quietly cried out, getting on her knees to pick up all the papers that fell out of the binder and placing them back in. "Forgive me, monsieur..."

"Nothing to forgive, mon cheri, it is I that beg forgiveness. I startled you."

"Nothing to forgive... Please, monsieur... How can you help me?..." She asked quietly, wondering if this... ghost... could hear her.

"Stand up straight my dear," The voice commanded quietly. She got off the floor and stood up straight as she would as if she was back in choir. "Now start on your scales."

She did as told and was taught for an hour. If it wasn't how she was standing, it was how she was breathing or how she was holding her mouth open. She was wondering who this person could be, to be playing the ghost. He sounded familiar but couldn't put a name or face to it.

"Go and rest with some warm tea. Don't forget to eat either. We don't need you passing out from hunger. Be here tomorrow night and we'll start with the first song," The voice said gently before it fully disappeared. Arya could only nod and leave with her binder under her arm after curtsying.

She hummed all the way to her room, a gleam in her eye, missing all the curious looks that were given to her as she passed by everyone. One caught her eye, making her stop in her tracks. Arthur was in a cape and climbing the ropes and catwalks over the stage. He landed on one of the catwalks and turned around when he felt eyes on him and waved at Arya. She blushed, did a quick wave back, and quickly started on her way back to her room.

Arthur watched as his co star left with a blush. She was cute. Quiet, but cute. He looked at his watch and noticed the time and slid down the last rope to the stage and ran after Arya.

"Arya!"

The woman in question stopped at her door as she heard her name being called. She looked around and opened her door long enough to go in put the binder on her make up table and head back out to run into Arthur. He caught her before she fell back and both stared at each other with a blush on their face.

Quickly noticing their position, Arthur straighten them both up and coughed into his hand to hide his embarrassment. "I'm sorry!"

"It's.. It's okay," Arya told him, looking down. He chuckled quietly and raised her chin up to have her look at him.

"Let's go get some lunch and then head to get measurements done, okay?" He asked her carefully. She nodded and let him put her arm around his and walked down to the kitchen together. It was there along the way where she felt like she was being watched. She looked around and shivered.

"Are you cold?" Arthur asked, noticing her shivering.

"No... It... It feels like someone is watching me..." She murmured.

"Well... This is a old place..." Arthur tried to explain something logical. She nodded.

"Maybe that's it... I'm just not used to it yet..."

"Give it a few more days, then you'll feel right at home," He told her with a smile. She blushed and ducked her head. He chuckled at her and made them both a plate of food and they sat at one of the high top tables there in the kitchen. They talked until it was time for measurements.

"It feels like I've met you before... Like I've known you my whole life... " Arya admitted to Arthur quietly. She kept her head down as they walked back to their rooms after their fittings,

"You know... I was just about to say the same thing," Arthur said with a soft smile. Arya looked over to him and blushed and looked back down quickly as she saw him staring at her. They stopped in front of her room and he lifted her head to have her look at him. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

"May this start the beginning of a beautiful relationship..." He whispered in her ear before walking away to his own room. She leaned against her door for a minute before going in and sitting on her bed. She giggled to herself and then grabbed her laptop from the armoire. She turned it on and logged into her email and wrote her grandmother about the past two days.

Quickly hitting send once she was done, she noticed the time and went in search of a light snack and tea before heading back to her room to finish going over the binder. Sipping on her tea, she read over all her lines until it was past dark. She closed her binder and put the empty tea cup down on the make up table and went into the bathroom.

She came out to a rose sitting on her pillow. She picked it up gently and put it with the other rose which now sat in a small vase. She turned slowly and looked around the room, "Thank you..." She called out quietly before going to bed.

Over the next month she would spend her mornings with Arthur, afternoons with the company at rehearsals, and at night with her phantom. The very last night she got into a fight with the phantom.

"Do you not understand me?! Do not go with that boy!" The voice cried out in anger.

"I will do as I please, monsieur! I have followed your every command, your every request, but I will not follow this one! He makes me happy!" Arya cried out to retaliation.

"I should make you happy!"

"How can you make me happy when I have never seen you?!" She asked. "All I hear is your voice! All you do is teach me! We never talk!"

"Then talk to me! Not to that petit garçon ennuyeux!"

"Not like this I won't! In fact... I'm growing tired of hearing nothing but your voice! Show yourself to me!" Arya commanded. She did not want to end up as Christine in real life.

"When the time is right I will..." The voice said quietly. His voice full of frustration and tiredness.

"And until you do... No more meetings..." Arya said, trying not to stutter. She didn't like confrontation or arguing. She left quickly, racing to her room. She closed her door and paced. She didn't like having this heavy feeling on her chest. She shook her body out and changed into her night gown and went to bed.

"Arthur!" A voice cried out in worry.

"Arya?"

Arya was running towards him, but looking behind her as she did. She was trying to out run some crazy paparazzi that had managed to get in. He quickly caught her and pulled her into a unmarked room before they were seen and shut the door and held her to him as she tried to control her breathing. He listened as the footsteps slowed down and then picked up after a "HEY!" was heard. "You can't be in here!"

It was quiet after a few moments. He pulled back and watched Arya open her eyes. He was already in his make up and half his costume. She looked at him and him her and she stood on her tip toes, closing her eyes and kissed him. He rolled his eye back as she kissed him and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back.

She pulled away with a blush. "Thank you..." She whispered.

"It was my pleasure, mon amour. I think it's safe to go out now... You still need to get ready, Christine," Arthur said teasingly. Arya chuckled and nodded.

"I'll see you on the stage, fantôme," She told him with one more kiss and left to go back to her dressing room. Arthur watched with amazement and wondered how he got so lucky in having a woman like Arya like him. He quickly finished getting ready and waited on the backstage.

Arya showed up with Monique in their slave outfits with pointe ballet slippers on. Mr. Martin wished everyone to break a leg and let the show begin. Arya was nervous everytime she wasn't performing. She felt the hair on her neck raise as she knew she was being watched. She stuck close to anyone who she would be with next on stage. It was then she noticed, Arthur was never around when she felt this way.

"Good work everyone! Gala tomorrow night for the first night of success!" Mr. Martin announced as everyone dispersed to their own rooms or down to the kitchen for the own party.

"Brava, brava, bravissima," was whispered gently in Arya's ear as she was the last one on the stage. She tensed up and slowly turned around to come face to face with a masked man.

She couldn't breathe. She took one good look at the mask before fainting into the man's arms. He picked her bridal style and walked off with her without anyone noticing.

"Arya?" Arthur called out for her as he headed back from his dressing room, noticing she wasn't in hers. "Arya, where are you?"

"Arthur, is everything okay?" Madam Ellison asked as she stepped out of her dressing room with the other ballerinas. He shook his head, his face filled with worry.

"Arya is missing," He told her as he went to the stage and looked around. He heard footsteps to the left backstage and raced over to see a door shut with Arya's hair hanging in view.

"Arya!"