Chapter 2! Yay!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Phantom of the Opera
Interview with the POTO Characters
~Christine~
Era waited in her office with a smile as he next victim walked into her office. Christine looked around the room nervously as she closed the door behind her and slowly walked across the room to where her seat was, never taking her eyes off of the girl in front of her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Christine. Please, sit down," Era said while motioning to the chair across from her. Christine nodded with a small smile before sitting down.
"Thank you,"
"You're welcome. My name's Era and I'm just going to be asking a few questions. Just remember," Era made a dramatic pause before looking serious, "Everywhere in this room are cameras and tabs, anything you say or do will be used again you, do you understand?"
"W-What?" Christine asked nervously, not understanding what the girl was talking about.
"So, let's get started. Place of birth?" Era questioned.
"Sweden," Christine answered hesitantly.
"Favourite color?"
"I like them all,"
"Favourite food?"
"Salad, I guess,"
"I see," Era commented with a raised brow, "Like to keep your looks up. Alright, favourite drink?
"Water,"
"Is it true you were abducted by the Opera Ghost at the Opera Garnier?" Christine blinked surprised at the question.
"…Yes," she answered slowly.
"And that you left afterwards with the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny?" Era inquired.
"Yes,"
"And by that definition leaving your poor, unhappy Erik to die there alone?" Christine's expression turned to shock and Era smiled. "Ah, yes, I know all about that,"
"I…I didn't know he was going to die," Christine answered.
"Really?" Era questioned as her grin widened, picking her book up from where it lay on her desk and flipping through its pages. "'…I made Christine swear to come back, on night, when I was dead, crossing the lake from the Rue-Scribe side, and bury me in the greatest secrecy with the gold ring, which she was to wear until that moment…'" Era looked at the other. Christine was silent for a moment.
"I understand why Erik was yelling about burning a book now…" she mumbled.
"So you did know about his death," Era stated.
"…Yes…"
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"No,"
"Are you sure about that?" a short silence fell over the room before Christine suddenly burst into tears.
"I'm sorry! I knew! I knew! I-I'm so sorry! A-After he came back f-from bringing Raoul to the surface I was p-prepared to live the rest of my miserable life there with him. B-But after he told me to l-leave, and go and marry Raoul, I couldn't refuse! I didn't want to! H-He brought Raoul back and I-I couldn't help myself! All I want was to spend the rest of my l-life with him! I k-kissed him right there! A-And Erik saw, a-and watched! I-I felt so guilty, b-but I couldn't help myself! I-I'm so sorry!" Christine's tears turned into sobs as she cried into her hands. Era just handed her a tissue from her tissue box resting on the desk and sighed.
"Well…you love Raoul more than anything, right?" Christine nodded her head. "Then, I guess I understand. Besides, with you out of the way, I can make a move on Erik," Era smiled dreamily at the thought as Christine gave her a look of shock and horror.
"W-What?"
"I can make a move on Erik. You know, go out on a date, walk around to romantic places, those kinds of things,"
"That is not something to joke about," Christine said seriously.
"I'm not joking, and neither are a million other people around the world who also agree with me," Era answered.
"There…are people who like Erik?" Christine asked shocked.
"Welcome to the future!" Era announced with a smile. "Where everyone liked Erik, and doesn't really like you without Erik by your side, and thinks Raoul's gay,"
"Raoul isn't gay!" she countered angrily.
"Whatever you say. So, after leaving Erik, did you and Raoul get married right away?" Era questioned.
"Not right away. We got Mamma Valérius and went to one of Raoul's safe houses in Paris first. Then we got married, I later went to bury Erik's body, and then we left," Christine answered.
"Okay, now there are some rumors saying that you only went after Raoul because he was rich, good looking, and that you're picky. Is that true?"
"Absolutely not! I love Raoul for who he is!" Christine argued.
"You hanged out with Erik more than you did with Raoul after the two of you were reunited!" Era countered.
"Raoul and I spent plenty of time together in the Opera House. And that will never change the fact that Raoul will always be ten times the better man than Erik will ever be!"
"There is nothing wrong with Erik!" Era yelled.
"He's a murderer, a thief, and a kidnapper! He's mean and cruel and doesn't care about anyone but himself! He almost killed my husband and the Persian in the torture chamber and almost destroyed the Opera House with all of us in it! And he has a horrible temper that scares me even now!" Christine argued.
"I'm not going to argue over the anger management thing, and being mean and cruel is the same thing! And yes, killing people is awful, but he cared about you more than anything in this world! You had a chance to change him into a better man! He would have died for you, and he practically did anyways!" Era countered.
"I don't understand what you mean by that, but that doesn't change the fact he tricked me into believing her was the Angel of Music!"
"You're the one who put the whole Angel of Music idea in his head! And didn't that make you happy? He made you happy by pretending to be the Angel of Music. You probably would have ran away scared if he came to you in person, which is what you did anyways!"
"Well, if he was straight with me from the beginning then-"
"Then what? You would have seen him for who he truly is? Bullshit! He did come out straight to you after he thought he was going to lose you! He came and showed you who he was! Not including the fact he kidnapped you, of course, but Erik treated you with nothing but respect and wasn't even planning on keeping you in his home forever. Five days! Enough time for him to try and make you realize that, hey, he wasn't such a bad guy. I think you just resented him because of how he looks," Era countered with a nod.
"I don't judge upon appearances! He wouldn't let me see how he looked, so how was I supposed to trust a man who hides his face? Besides, he overreacted when I took his mask off which only frightened me more!" Christine shouted.
"I wonder why? Hurting you was a bit extreme, but you really can't blame him. There was a reason he didn't want you looking at his face. He wanted you to see what's on the inside, not the outside," Christine was silent as she stared at Era, unsure of what to say next.
"You can't imagine what he's been through that made him like that, or what he's still going through, all because of you," Era continued.
"…Me?"
"Yes, you,"
"I don't understand,"
"How do you think he died?" Era asked. Christine looked at her confused.
"For different reasons. Perhaps he was ill and knew he was going to die, but I mostly assumed it was from old age," she answered honestly.
"…He's not that old," Era commented.
"I couldn't tell his age from his appearance…his face was too distracting,"
"Well, he died because of you," she informed.
"I don't understand,"
"You broke his heard, and he died from it. The pain of you leaving him killed him. You can hardly call that a happy death," Christine's eyes widened at the news.
"W-What? That's impossible! T-That's not enough to kill someone!" she defended weakly.
"Apparently it is," Era mumbled.
"No…No it can't be true…it can't…" Christine whispered to herself.
"It's true," Era leaned forward and whispered, "You killed Erik. You murdered him in one of the most painful ways possible," she leant back, "Emotionally, of course," Christine burst out into sobs.
"No! It can't be true! No!" as she continued crying Era casually pressed a button on her desk leading to a microphone.
"Can we please have an escort bring Mademoiselle Daaé…or is it Madame De Chagny now? Anyways, can someone come in and escort her outside for some self-reflection?" she asked.
"Sure," a female voice answered on the other line.
Moments later the Persian's servant, Darius, who was working part time for Era, entered the office and took the trembling Christine outside.
Once again the characters in the waiting room watched as yet another person had been cracked, this time in uncontrollable tears.
"Oh Raoul~, you're next," Era called with a small giggle.
