A/N: This is the third chapter. Thanks for the reviews! I'm grateful for any I can get be they positive or negative (though now they are predominately positive). And I think we'll actually see some of the plot on this fine day.

Disclaimer: Is this necessary? It's still fairly obvious that Phantom is public domain (I'm pretty sure), but the original characters are M. Leroux's idea and ALW altered them for his own PotO be it movie or stage musical.

The Formation of a Plan

There was a moment of silence between the two. Erik stared at Gerik and visa versa. Finally, Erik spoke up, seeming to have come back from his state of confusion.

"Well, how do you put up with it?" he asked Gerik who still seemed to be lost in thought.

"Put up with what?" he asked absently, since Erik had just pulled him back to earth.

"The authoresses, obviously. Good God, man! How do you put up with your glaring lack of privacy?" Erik fired back urgently, remembering a time long ago in which an authoress had sent a "Mary Suzette self-insertion" down to his home. He recalled feeling violated of his privacy and the girl quickly became a victim of hypnotism as a result of Erik's ventriloquism skills. She was sent out unharmed save for the state of shock he had put her in. He never really knew what had caused the strange apparition, but now he did.

"I suppose I just live with it now..." muttered Gerik, thinking about a time when it was just he, Christine, and his organ. Those were the days...

Now there were beautiful and not so beautiful women winding up in his lair at least twice a day. At first he didn't mind. He liked it actually...who wouldn't? All of them were incredibly nice and could relate to him perfectly. Heck, they even knew some of his favorite songs! What's not to love? Well, the women and teenage girls kept coming...more and more of them. Several times, he felt the need to cease the storyline the authoress was putting out. Once, a woman was killed in the process. That only led to temporary peace, though. Next thing he knew, he was tied up in a chair next to a girl typing furiously on a computer. She held him hostage to get reviews on the story he had nearly destroyed. It was then he realized that the same force that gave him cookies, could also be terribly dangerous...The girl had learned how to use a Punjab Lasso quite efficiently and demonstrated without restraint on many common household objects. Then, there was her Closet of Phantom. Gerik learned what his Christine felt when he showed her the life-sized model of her in a wedding dress. It was not a good feeling. Gerik shuddered, reliving the terrible memories of seeing poorly drawn pictures of him and the girl together, listening to the music he sang innumerable times on a CD, and even worse-watching his every action on film three times straight with the girl singing along to Christine's parts with her crackling voice. Forget Carlotta! This was the girl he should have made that backdrop fall on! Since then, he had let authoresses do whatever they wished in his home in fear of having to go through another experience like that.

"Destler?" Erik called softly. Gerik's face had gone nearly as white as his mask. "What is wrong?"

Gerik blinked a bit. "You are right...I shouldn't have to put up with this! A Phantom has his rights!" he answered with a sudden fierceness that made even Erik back away slightly.

"So true!" Erik said in strong agreement. "But...what are we going to do about it?" he asked, losing steam.

"We are going to stop them." Gerik said sternly.

"Yes...but how?" Erik prompted, hoping for more description.

"We are going to stop them." Gerik said again with conviction.

Erik face-palmed and made a small groan. It was clear to him that Gerik's experience with the "drivel that is phanfiction" had caused him to lose some necessary qualities. Planning, for instance, was essential is a Phantom's life. How else would they know how to manipulate the managers?

However, one authoress's story in which Gerik needed to make a plan for saving Christine, was poorly written. The plan Gerik was made to carry out was incredibly generic and when set into motion it was sort of ridiculous and even a bit redundant. Unfortunately, it had rubbed off him, and made him quite useless in the field of planning.

"Well, first...perhaps we should visit your place since it seems to be the hub of this problem." Erik suggested. "...You do know the way back, right?" he asked, realizing what he just suggested might be more easier said than done.

"Actually, I'm not too sure I do. I wasn't completely conscious of arriving, remember?" Gerik replied. "I am willing to try, though." He added on bravely.

Well, here goes nothing... Erik thought as he rolled his eyes. It would seem that this "plan" would be harder than he thought.