Hello! The usual announcements, phantom does not belong to me and English is not my first language, so let me know if something is wrong.
This is a sequel, it is not very necessary to read the previous part to understand this, the only thing you need to know is that in the previous part Erika confessed to Christine that she killed Joseph Bouquet, Christine does not care much who killed What matters to her is the small part of killing.
The story is completely inspired by the Takarazuka production of Yeston and Kopit's phantom, which is one of the Japanese productions of the scenic and musical version of the 90's mini series (Cherik), the biggest change between the canon version and this is that Christine didn't run when Erik took off her mask, so nobody is dead... Yet (just kidding!...or not?)
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would appreciate it if you could keep quiet, so we can start the meeting!" Cholet said, the man's face was red thanks to the effort of be almost shouting and yet, his voice drowns over the crowd, like a castaway roaring at the sea.
Christine tilted her head trying to understand what he was saying, but remained crestfallen. She had more important things to hide from. She was sitting in the last row of chairs placed in the auditorium, trying to go unnoticed. But of course, that didn't happen. She felt shameless glances, people turning their neck all they could to look at her.
She had become the new martyr of the opera after returning miraculously alive. But, although she hated to admit it, Erika was right. The rumors that it had been the phantom of the opera who had kidnapped her, had made no one want to talk about it.
That didn't stop her from feeling in the lion's cage. She felt so small and exposed, and yet, never so left behind .
Cholet had called all the employees with the purpose of discussing the ministry's plans for the future of the opera after the disaster of the last week. Usually, they would be sitting in the front rows of the stands, but the chandelier was still under repair. And nobody wanted to be under or even close to it, and risk the possibility of living something similar never again. Christine could hear the men who had been hired to repair it, even though she refused to look up. Every time she heard the chains grind, her breathing was cut, she was ready to jump at the sound of a bullet that thanks to heaven never came.
The opera was immense, and to maintain it, an impressive number of people were needed and everyone was gathered there. It was too many people, too much noise. Every inch of the auditorium was full. And the feeling of ballet rats breathing in the back of her neck and knowing that it was her of who they were talking about didn't help.
Everyone had an opinion about this, and nobody bothered to keep it to themselves.
It was utter chaos, people were scared and Christine writhed in guilt. She sighed nervously, feeling sick. She put a hand on her chest trying to calm her heart beating runaway inside.
She watched Cholet desperately try to get attention and felt sorry for him. No one was particularly fond of him, everyone still blamed him for Mr. Carrière's dismissal. And nobody, not even his own wife respected him.
Her heart stopped beating when she remembered Carlotta. Erika had assured her that she had done nothing to her, nothing more than a simple joke, and she did not know how much that was in Erika's standards. If the phantom of the opera was as it was painted, then she had done much more than a simple joke
Carlotta had ruined her debut and maybe her career, but considering how this was partly her own fault for not being able to control her ... phantom, -Why was it her responsibility to look after an adult woman? Love was not a valid answer, but it was the only thing she had to offer. - her conscience could not tolerate allowing itself to hate her. But even without her permission, she couldn't deny that the world seemed like a brighter place minutes ago when she didn't remember the existence of that woman
Why did Carlota hate her so much if she had never done anything to her? She was a good person, bad things were supposed to happen only to bad people. Was she cursed perhaps? It was her sentence to take death wherever she went and be forced to find her happiness and then lose it?
Because I killed Joseph Bouquet
A single sentence had destroyed the last of her remaining pillars,
''Christine are you okay, darling? '' Sorelli asked worried. Because of her position as one of the main ballerinas, she should be in front, just behind the actors. But her protective nature was more focused on taking care of Christine.
"Of course I am!" She replied with exaggerated false security, much more abrupt than her habitual sweet being.
Christine was sitting with Mireille and Sorelli at her sides, but not even the presence of her friends could bring her any security.
Mireille patted her back with raised eyebrows. It was hard to believe her when she could see the weird face she was making to retain her sobs
"Here you go." Mireille said, handing her a handkerchief, knowing that any attempt to cheer her up would only make it worse.
''Thank you,'' She replied too embarrassed that they saw her cry.
The humiliation was never going to stop?
Sorelli rubbed her back with a motherly affection in her gaze, attributing Christine's mood swings to her kidnapping. How strange, she was fine this morning when she arrived
Christine began to hear the inspector Ledoux clean his throat to attract attention, little by little, every person who saw him was silent, and that example silenced the rest. Soon he had everyone silently looking at him.
He had become the new local celebrity in the opera. Everyone considered him a hero for his participation in her rescue. The soprano had no idea of what they were referring to, but she was not going to ask. Until now Erika's advice not to go contrary was working very well
''Are you sure you are okay, Christine? ''Mireille asked, puzzled, listening to Christine make a dry sob
''I already said yes!'' She replied, quickly taking away the tissue of her face
Just in time it was when Ledoux gave the word to Cholet, which was a relief. The scandal overwhelmed her, but she couldn't tolerate hearing her own thoughts. Is this how Erika felt all the time?
She swallowed another sob together with her tears, she was going to cry every time she remembered Erika? Oh god this was ridiculous.
Everything in her life was ridiculous! She has here to act in operas, not to live them!
"Thank you for paying your attention." Was the first thing Cholet said with cheeks colored with shame, and irony in his voice.
He cleared his throat before continuing. ''I don't think it's necessary to remember the reason we are here today, something outside my usual work values, but I consider it necessary because we can't waste time. ''
''puff, values.'' A male voice snorted softly
"I will speak clearly, the ministry is not happy with the debut of our latest production."
It would have hurt Christine less if him had stabbed her in the back. She felt all the eyes go to her. But she didn't dare to look up. She hunched over herself, squeezing the handkerchief Mireille had given her, buried her fingernails in the palm with such force that she wondered if the moisture in her hands was sweat or blood
She had never felt more humiliated. She heard her friends talk to her, but she couldn't hear anything else, she refused to listen to anything else.
''between the monetary losses of Titania and the fall of the candlestick, the damage account scales to more than one hundred thousand francs, and will continue to rise. '' He speaks
The murmurs began again, Christine opened her eyes wide and took a single deep breath. She stopped listening to the background noise while her mind shouted a single question into the air, how was a disaster of this magnitude possible?
''Sirs! Without making a scandal! '' Cholet say quickly, trying not to lose control again
'' If our new production does not raise enough to cover expenses, the ministry could make drastic decisions, anyone could lose their job. That is why I beg you that when we announce our next production in a couple of days, do your best, we will have to cut our usual budget and stretch every penny to its maximum. '' He said, due to stress and fear in his face, Christine knew it was serious
Many came to the same conclusion, as they began to murmur in panic. Christine swallowed, nothing that had happened today felt real, it must be a dream, a nightmare, so much anguish shouldn't be possible.
'' AND WHAT ABOUT THE PHANTOM!? '' One of the sceneshifter shouted from the top of his lungs from the balconies.
And the chaos began again. Everyone began to speak loudly in anger and fear.
Christiane's heart beat so hard to get out of her chest, shattering the icy facade he had tried to keep standing
she began to breathe heavily, feeling the drops of cold sweat sliding down her burning skin.
'' Christine, are you- ''
"I have to get out of here," she whispered in a choked voice, clogged by the knot of anxiety and guilt in her throat.
'' Darling, wait '' Sorelli called her trying to take her hand
But she only took the air. Christine was gone
Christine hyperventilated sitting in her dressing room's vanity chair. - Was she still her dressing room? Would she ever have one again? - wiping the cold sweat on her forehead with a damp cloth courtesy of one of the maids who had seen her run here
There were distant murmurs ringing from time to time in the silence, the meeting was silent, probably Cholet had given the word to Ledoux again.
She looked at her reflection. Those eyes didn't look like hers.
There was a different woman than this morning. Haggard and red eyes, sticky and oily skin, her hair was a mess and it looked like straw. Her almost cadaverous appearance fit with what was going on inside.
When had she given Erika so much power to destroy her? That would not have bothered her this morning when she was convinced that she would never try.
Out of the corner of her eye she visualized the full-length mirror, the passage. Her heart beat firmly in her throat
Since she had met her maestra, Christine had sworn not to judge her. She wanted to know, she wanted to understand, but the hardest thing would be to make Erika talk. She was a complicated woman, she didn't do anything if she didn't want to do it and that was her virtue and her curse.
She got up with trembling legs and with hands clasped in front, trembling but tense, trying to fake the feeling of security, she faced her reflection,
Would she be there? Could she hear her?
She knock the mirror as if it were a door, afraid to break it.
''Erika?'' She whispered, her voice cracked into a sob-like sound
''Angel, are you there? If you're there, can you open the mirror so we can talk, dear?'' She asked, understanding her palm on the surface of the mirror
She had her stomach touching the reflective surface, afraid someone could hear her and find them
"Erika, I want to understand, help me understand," She begged
The silence that responded formed a giant knot in her stomach
She sighed, a little sob escaped unintentionally. Who did she want to fool? She knew Erika's presence too much to know if she was there or not. And she wasn't here.
She groped for the switch to open the passage, but she couldn't find it and quickly lost her patience
''Oh god.'' She whispered frustrated
She keeps searching for a few seconds until she lost all of her patience. She hid her head over her forearms, blaming her inability to find and activate a simple button on her trembling hands. She had entered without problems this morning, seriously Erika had caught her off guard.
Someone knocked on the door made her jump into place and immediately she moved away from the mirror as if it were about to explode. Whoever it was, she couldn't let anyone see anything weird with the mirror, she never allowed anyone to find her.
'' Christine? Sorelli told me that you were not feeling well, come on, I'll take you home. "Philippe said worried.
She silently hiccups and wipes the last remnants of tears. she confronted her reflection for the last time.
Oh Erika, what have we done?
First chapter! After much thought, I decided to start this sequel. I became too fond of Erika and Christine to leave them with such an ending. There are many topics that I want to include here, common things in other phantom adaptations that this one does not have, for example, the masquerade, the marriage proposal, the ''choose me or I'm going to kill myself '' many things that may or may not include. Most of the story will be from Christine's point of view, but Erika will come to take charge at some point, and yes, it will be a disaster. Comments and kudos are very much appreciated :)