A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far.

To say that auditions for the Grand Duchess Christine Daae were going well would be a complete and utter lie. 50 actresses and Raoul could sense his brother's patience and stamina wearing down. And he couldn't blame him.

So far, out of these 50 girls, only 10 had the same naturally curly, long, auburn hair as the Grand Duchess Christine Daae. Of these 10, only 3 had the same eye colour as the Grand Duchess herself! The rest of the actresses either had horrible dye-jobs or didn't even bother to try.

"Nice, nice, very nice, thank you!" Raoul forcefully smiled as the actress strutted off stage, crossing her name off the list with a flourish.

"I look like a duchess and dance like a feather!" she called out from behind the curtain.

"O-kay, next please," Philippe finally spoke up.

A slightly older woman slowly walked onto the stage, a long brown fur coat trailing behind her, a cigarette holder protruding from her lips. Once she reached the centre, she wheezed, gasping for air.

"Grandma," the woman drawled, her voice gravelly and sultry "It's me". And in an instant, she dropped her coat to the ground, revealing the shorter version of a sailor's dress "Christine Daae"

She shook her hips and took a long drag from her cigarette.

"You have got to be kidding me…"

"It's me. Grandma. Your precious Christine Daae." The actress read her lines monotonously.

"It's not good," he pronounced, to the protesting woman in front of him.

"You're not even watching!" she complained and the con man raised an eyebrow. "I do not need to," he explained coolly "Your accent is abysmal, you don't look any bit like her, and you couldn't act to save your life. I'm trying to pull off the biggest con in history, not make myself the biggest joke in Europe! Get out!"

"Thank you, ladies," Philippe led the three girls in front of them to the exit "We'll let you know,"

"I'm not really an actress," she confessed with a shrug.

"No…"

"Come on girls, let's go, it's all an illegal getaway…"

"What you're doing is against the law?!" The actress pointed an accusing finger at Raoul "If you weren't so handsome, Raoul De Chagny, I'd report you!"

"Out," Raoul waved dismissively before repeating again "OUT!" causing the women to get out of the abandoned holiday palace.

"Well, dear brother," Philippe sighed "We're done for. There's no one to pretend to be the Grand Duchess Christine Daae."

"Oh, don't be such a downer, Philippe!" Raoul replied "She's probably somewhere right under our noses! One look at that box and the Dowager Empress will think that she's the real deal!" before fiddling with the music box, searching for a way to open it and giving up soon after.

"Stop fiddling with that thing! You're going to break it!"

"I can't get it open!"

"It's a fake!"

"Oh, how do you know?"

"No one spots a fake like Count Philippe de Chagny," he shook his head at the memory "biggest fake of them all…"

A loud knock resounded across the palace and the two brothers began to panic.

"I knew it! These women ratted on us!" Raoul groaned as he hid behind the sofa.

"At least they'll feed us in jail!" Phillipe snarked, hiding behind a trunk.

Christine gently knocked on the door of the palace, uncertainty filling her mind "What if he says no? What if I find myself alone again?" She shook her head and tried to push those doubts to the back of her mind, before pushing the door open when there was no reply. The young woman made her way inside as she explored the castle. The rooms were mostly dark, very little light filtered in through the windows. Cobwebs and dust had covered almost every surface. Tables, chairs, tapestries, along with other objects, laid in disarray. It was uncomfortably quiet but still… she was grateful for the shelter from the unforgiving winter.

Christine jumped up to the air and let out a small gasp as she saw a man crouching behind a sofa, looking clearly flustered.

"I'm Christine. I'm looking for someone named Raoul, Raoul de Chagny…" she began before a younger man spoke up "I'm Raoul de Chagny, what do you want?"

"I need exit papers and I was told you were the only one who can help me," Christine explained as he brushed past her into another room. "Rude," she silently thought to herself, glaring at him.

"Exit papers are expensive," he shrugged. She was used to people ignoring her but she still hated it.

"I saved a little money,"

"The right papers cost a lot," he brushed past her again back into the main entryway. "So this is how it's going to be, huh?" Christine thought to herself before blocking the entryway and piped up "You'll get your money! I used to wash dishes in Denmark and before that, I worked at a hospital in Sweden,"

"Sweden? That's a long way from here…"

"I know, I walked it…"

"You walked here?" he stared at her, his mouth agape.

"I had no choice…" for the first time, he stared at her… Now she had a proper look at him, he looked rather handsome… if not for that suspicious expression he wore. "Who are you running from?"

"I'm not running away," she confessed, "I am running to someone?"

"To who?" he continued interrogating.

"I don't know, but I do know they're waiting for me in Manhattan!"

"You don't need exit papers," Raoul shrugged his shoulders, still suspicious of her intent "There's a canal out there! Just jump in and start swimming! You'll be there in no time!" before muttering to the older man "What do we do with her, brother? She's crazy…"

"I'm not crazy!" she quickly defended. "I'm haunted," she wanted to add but she couldn't risk any more ridicule...

"You said something about papers?" Philippe asked, trying to defuse the situation.

"Yes," the girl shifted impatiently from foot to foot "I need an identity, a legitimate one. And a passport,"

"What's your last name?"

"I don't know," she looked down at her feet in embarrassment.

"You don't know?" His eyes widened in shock "Parents' names? Anything?"

The young woman shook her head "I don't remember anything about my past. I was found somewhere on the side of a road, they only knew what my name was… I couldn't remember anything before that…" The room was silent before Christine spoke up again as she pulled out a locket "I want to go to Manhattan, I believe my family is there,"

"And what if you couldn't find them?" he knew he was venturing into a sensitive topic but he somehow wanted to know…

"At least I know I tried."

Christine felt so vulnerable exposing herself to these two strangers, what if they laughed at her? What if they mocked her for her vain efforts? What if…

"Maybe we can help you" Raoul began slowly. His eyes had told her that he was formulating a plan, she didn't want to know what it was but she knew it would be more complicated than expected. "My brother, Philippe and I, plan to return the Grand Duchess Christine Daae to her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Valerius,"

"You look a little like her too," the older man, Philippe, nodded, now seeing the resemblance.

"And the last of her family is in Manhattan!" he added.

"Are you telling me that you think I'm the Grand Duchess?" she spluttered in shock before turning to notice a portrait behind her, a painting of the Grand Duchess.

"Look, I've seen many girls and none of them look as much like the duchess as you! Look at the portrait!"

"That's impossible, she's been dead for almost three years and-" she backed away before considering it. After all, it was possible. She was killed around the same time Christine got into that accident where she lost her family and memories, and it wouldn't hurt to find out… and the resemblance was uncanny.

"I guess every orphan would like to think they're royalty if they sleep on a damp floor," she nodded slowly. Maybe she could go to Manhattan after all…

Oh boy, the next chapter's gonna be a long one! Come chat with me and receive updates on my fics and other fics on Tumblr gracie-p8-officialblog