Learn to Be Lonely...

A/N: Hmmm well it hasnt been that long since I last updated right? Heheheh ;D Nevertheless here it is and hope you enjoy it!

SexyKnickers: I am aware that he was an ass in the past chapter...but then again its the Phantom ;D heheheh He cant be all fluffy and nice to her all of a sudden right? After all he still might be hurting from Christine, dont worry though I dont plan on making him look that bad for long :D

She stormed into the room, the nerve of the damn Opera Ghost to treat her in such a manner! She had seen it in his eyes as she sang to him, that brief moment when he wasn't looking at her, but at Christine. She reminded him of that soprano singer who shattered everything in his life ages ago, and she hated herself for it. She in no way represented the soprano with the angelic voice.

Her hair was black and straight unlike Christine's wavy chocolate curls. Her eyes were a deep shade of brown unlike Christine's light brown orbs. She in no way resembled the famous singer in any way, she was the complete opposite, even their voices were different, while Christine could hit the higher notes with ease she had to practice for a while or else she would struggle with them. She wasn't an angel of music, nor did she wish to be, she was simply human.

She stormed about the room kicking a pile of books aside as tears of rage spilled down her cheeks, how did she ever get herself into this mess?

She growled in desperation as she fell back on the bed while turning over lying face down crying. This was all a nightmare; she just wished she would wake sooner. Hell, she knew she wasn't dreaming, but why her? She laid there for a while, just thinking of the events in her life leading up to her being the Opera Ghost's prisoner.

She inwardly winced, perhaps she had said too much…she had accused him of thinking she was Christine, surely something like that would have him raging. She only wished she never had to leave the room she was currently in; sadly her stomach had other plans. It grumbled loudly as she rolled over again and walked quietly on her tiptoes to the entrance as she poked her head through the curtain and looked around.

He was nowhere in sight, it was now or never. She quickly shuffled around the lair looking for something to eat; the man had to have food right? Wrong, not a single scrap of food was to be seen, only an endless sea of papers, ink and roses. She huffed and pouted crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at the lair, her eyes scanning the place once more in case she missed something during the first run.

She growled quietly once she noticed there was nothing, what did he expect of her? Did he want her to starve? Of course he did, he was the Phantom of the Opera after all, the bastard probably did this on purpose. Had she not been too caught up with him and his damn music she would have noticed long before and she would have had a plan brewing by now.

She picked up one of his famous half masks she found on her way to the edge of the lake as she examined it closer, it was carefully made, probably hard to replace or fix. She wondered what lay behind his mask, was it truly that bad that he wanted to hide it from the world? She couldn't help but feel somewhat sad for him, how long had he been down here shunned from the world? How long had it been since he had someone live in his lair besides himself?

She sat down near the edge of the water as she looked down at her reflection bored out of her mind tossing little stray pieces of rock into it as she hummed to herself, the mask on her lap. This was torturing her and she was starting to get a headache, where was he when she needed him anyway? Despite all of her complaints she didn't really want to see him, what if he went psycho on her once more? Surely he wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

She sighed loudly, a little too loud as she closed her eyes for a brief second her sleepless nights catching up to her as she swayed lightly in her spot threatening to fall over into the river…again.

She failed to notice the dark figure standing over her, her eyes were completely closed by now as the Phantom towered over her, he hadn't forgotten what she had so hatefully yelled at him, nor would he, but now wasn't the time to argue with her over such things. She was about to fall in to the water and something like that would surely cause her to complain once more and give him another headache.

He caught her by the back of well, his shirt, the one she currently had on and pulled her back before she had a chance to fall in. She made no objections fully unaware of what he was doing. He picked her up and carried her back into her room as he set her down on the swan bed once more. She rolled away from him and hugged a pillow pulling it close to her as he started to walk away from her.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, what would have happened had he not been there? Truly she was wreck less…he would have to keep a better eye on her, had she not made that loud sigh he would have kept sleeping while she did yet another stupid act.

He glanced around his lair and found several of his things misplaced, clearly she had been searching for something, he paid closer attention, one of his masks was missing. He glanced around quickly slight panic in his eyes as he tore through the room with his calculative eyes. He shook his head slightly as he turned to look at her room, he had a feeling it was in there as he walked back to her again.

His boots echoed loudly much to his dismay, how she could walk so silently was beyond his comprehension. Then again, he was taller than her, obviously his build was more than hers, perhaps that had something to do with it was well. He ignored all of it as he stepped through and looked around her room.

Everything was in its place, untouched except for a pile of books he recalled being neatly stacked up one on top of the other. They were currently tossed about the room; he ignored that and looked at her. He was about to go out once more when something white in her hand caught his attention, it was his mask.

He tried to quietly walk over to her as he crouched down and started to remove it from her grasp as she sighed softly, his eyes shot up to her only to notice she was still sleeping, her grasp on the white mask however lessened as he slipped it away from her and stood once more.

He stood up once more and started to leave until something caught his attention and caused him to freeze in the doorway; he had caused her to wake.

"Why must you wear that tormented thing?" she asked softly stretching on the bed having woken and lost her interest in going back to sleep. She could tell as soon as it slipped out of her mouth she hit a personal chord, she regretted saying it almost instantly. He tensed visibly as his shoulders dropped dangerously. She jumped when he spun around quickly a glare on his eyes as he stalked over to her.

She backed away as he drew closer; she could tell this wasn't going to end well…why she had asked such a stupid question was beyond her comprehension.

"Why? Why? Are you truly that idiotic, child!" he thundered at her as she flinched when he rose his hand above her and fell off of the bed landing face first. The loud thud echoing through his sensitive ears followed by the soft cry only he could have picked up. He blinked for a couple of seconds before realizing what he had done.

She struggled to pick herself up and stared up in fear at him as he caught himself and immediately pulled back, he had gotten out of control once more. If this continued she would no doubt hate him if she didn't already. Now calm he turned to look at her, she hadn't even moved from her place on the ground. She was terrified of him and he could easily tell, she probably viewed him as a monster and nothing more.

She stared up at him in fear, had he really intended to hit her? She could only assume things; he had controlled himself after all. She gasped in fear once he moved over to her, his gloved hand wrapping around her arm, she winced slightly despite his gentle grip, the bruise he had made before burned despite him being careful with her.

"Come," he told her once she was on her feet as he released her and walked out of her room, she hesitantly followed after him still shaken up by what had happened a second ago. She made a mental note to never ask him of his mask…ever.

How he could change personalities that fast surprised her, one minute he was raging and the next he was calm. Something like that had to be fixed, and she was questioning whether it had all happened due to him living down here all by himself. Yes of course, that had to be it.

She followed behind his huge frame quietly almost cowering in his shadow. She looked around the lair, several things were out of place, and surely he would go on and on about how she should never touch anything that didn't belong to her. She prepared herself for a lecture when she ran into something solid.

He glanced back as she ran into his back, had she really been that distracted?

"I'm sorry," she murmured backing away immediately fearing to be hit at the very least, much to her surprise he simply continued to walk, she followed swiftly behind as soon as she noticed he didn't acknowledge her.

"I suppose you are hungry," he told her motioning for a table with a swift movement of his hand, the gesture seemed to be hypnotizing to her, he put such grace into the simplest things which made it seem like he had years and years of practice.

She followed his hand to see the table which had once been empty assorted with various plates of food, her eyes widened as she turned to look at his retreating form as he headed once more towards his organ thinking of music to compose. She walked over shyly to the table and sat down quietly as she glanced back up at him and noticed he was not going to join her.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked quietly as he looked up from the organ and back at her, his eyes focused on hers as she looked away embarrassed. He held back the urge to laugh; she truly seized to amaze him. One moment she was cowering in fear and the next she was worrying over his well-being.

"I already ate," he lied to her as she nodded her head slowly, she had a feeling as well that he had been lying but decided to dismiss it, besides it looked like he wasn't in need of any nourishment for the time being. His well-built frame told her that much, perhaps the Opera house had a say in that as well, he needed to be in shape in order to get around up above the stage between the never-ending seas of ropes and props.

She began to eat slowly as he resumed his mussing over his sheets of various operas he had come up with over the years. Her eyes being brought up to him once she noticed his fingers settle over the keys as he began to play a soft tune as she continued to eat in peace. She sighed in content; the notes flowed flawlessly through the lair and echoed off of the walls giving it a chilling tone to it.

It was then that she noticed that for a brief second she felt at home, like she wasn't his prisoner, like she had been destined to meet the famous Opera Ghost. Of course this was all preposterous. Something like that was impossible and she knew it, she scolded herself for it as well as she stabbed a piece of apple from another plate and brought it up to her mouth but stopped once she noticed he was nearing the end of the song.

She placed her fork down and walked over to him once more. She silently stepped up behind him and watched him play for a while as the song flowed through both of their minds, she thought she recognized the tune for a brief second but dismissed it as he closed his eyes feeling the vibrations coming from his organ. He hadn't noticed she was there; he was too into his song to have heard her approach.

It then hit her that the song he was playing had been in the movie, well his movie, 'The Phantom of the Opera'.

She hummed along but quickly found she had been singing and not humming as his eyes shot open and then turned to look at her, he continued to play as she sang to him, it was the first time someone had sang something to him in ages.

"Child of the wilderness

Born into emptiness

Learn to be lonely

Learn to find your way in darkness

Who will be there for you?

Comfort and care for you?

Learn to be lonely

Learn to be your one companion

Never dreamed out in the world

There are arms to hold you…

You've always known your heart was on its own

So laugh in your loneliness

Child of the wilderness

Learn to be lonely

Learn how to love life that is lived alone

Learn to be lonely

Life can be lived

Life can be loved

Alone…"

He stopped as she held out the last note as he turned to look back at her, their eyes met for a brief second as she finally ended as well. Her face turned bright red once she noticed she was literally leaning on his back as he blinked once or twice at the words in the song.

Learn to be lonely, that was something he had learned well. Hell he was the master of it, and yet he wasn't as lonely anymore. The lair seemed brighter, more alive than before. She put a touch to it that just made it seem more at home.

"I-I uh…I'm sorry for interrupting you," she apologized backing away from him once more as he turned to look at his sheets of music, his mind running wild. The angel was back, and he was just dying to release all of his ideas down on paper. Something with her just seemed to bring back his ability to compose and he was thankful for it, for years he had been cursed with the inability to write.

He rose slowly and turned to look at her as she backed away by instinct.

"Do not fear me, child," he told her his deep voice racing through her mind as he offered his hand to her as she looked at it and then back up at him. She took it after a moment of debate with herself as he pulled her closer to him and over to the organ.

She followed without protest as he motioned for her to sit; she silently obeyed as she sat at the famous organ that belonged to the Phantom. Just by the mere vibe she was getting from it she could tell it was a privilege to even sit near it, now to be actually allowed to touch it. Now that right there was a miracle.

She ran her fingers carefully over the keys as she looked up at him expecting for him to say something, anything really as he walked out of her sight and returned seconds later with paper and ink. He handed her a pen as she took it willingly and ran a hand through her hair pushing it back and out of her face as she waited for him to give orders.

"Write that song down on the paper," he told her calmly as she glanced back at him and began to write down the lyrics for him in cursive dipping the pen down occasionally into the blood red ink and writing again. He watched as her hand flew across the paper, he could tell she had done this before, no one in her time could have written so perfectly with a pen of his time without practicing first.

"Have you done this before?" he asked moving out of her sight once more as she chuckled slightly, if only he knew.

"I have actually, I used to help my father write letters to 'employees'…" she told him her voice turning to dark as she paused writing and stared blankly at the paper before her, flashbacks flooding through her mind as he paused as well to look at her. Someone with a keen ear as his would have noticed she didn't like talking about that subject so he let it slip and picked up a book as he opened it and began to read calmly as she shook her head.

She resumed writing as she paused slightly once more and dropped the pen picking up on something as he too looked up from his book and closed it with one quick movement and placed it down over the keys of the organ as he moved over to her and paused to hear.

"Ok guys don't make so much noise!" someone said as they heard the familiar sound of people walking through the water. Monica looked up at the Phantom, she didn't recognize the voice but somehow she knew it wasn't something pleasant once his eyes glazed over in rage.

"There is no Phantom of the Opera why are we down here we could get lost!" another whined as Monica turned to look at the Phantom in concern, she could tell they were already getting on the nerve of the Opera Ghost, probably like she and her friends had done.

"I heard music so don't tell me I'm crazy!" the other replied as the splashes grew closer. Monica got up slowly from the organ and walked over to his side as she took his arm without thinking and pulled him away, he refused to budge.

"Come on!" she whispered desperately to him as she tugged harder, it was useless, he was ripped and there was nothing she could do to move him. He suddenly moved away from her and over to the side of the organ as he pulled out something from the side and turned to face the entrance once more. By the sounds of it he could tell there were only two, male and young about Monica's age perhaps a little older.

She froze as they finally appeared and looked at her with confusion.

"I didn't know the Phantom was a girl," one of them added as she looked around desperately for the Phantom, he was nowhere in sight.

"Well she's a pretty one isn't she," the other added as an evil glint flashed through his eyes as she shook her head and backed away from the pair slowly, where the hell was the Opera Ghost when she truly needed him.

"Ya' thinking what I'm thinking?" The same one asked as he turned to look at his friend who was already moving over to her faster than before the loud splashes echoing through the lair.

"Pretty girl down here all by herself…hmm, I like the sound of that," the other replied as they reached out for her as she backed up quickly her hands resting on the keys of the organ as it emitted the low notes eerily as she glanced around for the one man she could actually trust in this situation, he was still nowhere to be found.

"You hold her down and make sure she stays quiet," the other told his friend as they pulled her away from the large organ as one of them held her hands back and held her in place for his friend.

"I'm gonna enjoy this," the other told her whispering into her ear as she shuddered in disgust and swung her leg at him landing a hard blow to his stomach as he recoiled and fell back as his friend tightened the grip he had on her to the point where she felt her wrists were going to crack.

"Bitch stop moving!" he thundered into her ear as she winced at the tone, this situation wasn't in her favor and it was getting out of control. She dropped her head in defeat, this was just plain enraging to her, she couldn't do anything.

"Damn it get off of I'll call the Devil on you," she growled regaining her stubborn side as she readied herself for another attack at them as the other guy recovered and stood while clenching a fist and walking over to her dangerously.

"The Devil is busy at the moment," he told her mockingly as he raised his fist ready to bring it down on her to teach her some manners.

"The Phantom however is not," a voice thundered at him as a lasso flew through the air and wrapped around his arm pulling him back brutally as a yelp escaped from his lips as the Opera Ghost forced him to slam down on the cold hard ground a boot over his neck as he glanced back up at his friend.

"Oh fuck…" he choked in horror as he released Monica causing her to stumble and fall once more into the river as she surfaced gasping for air and shaking at the cold water.

The Phantom however was seeing red with rage by now as he undid the lasso around the arm of the one he had pinned and tossed it at the other, the rope wrapping around his neck as he gave it an animalistic pull satisfied with the crack he heard as he dropped dead before he even reached the ground.

He glanced down at the one he had underneath him as he prepared to kill him as well before something startled him and caused him to look up.

"No!" she yelled at him as his eyes shot up to meet hers, there was something truly amazing about her, no one had ever dared to order him around. She had tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked at him pleadingly, "Enough!" she yelled catching him off guard. How many had he killed already? Enough…he had never been told that it was enough, that he should stop. No one was that foolish.

He glanced back down at the boy he had underneath him, he would surely run and tell that he existed, and as much as he wanted to let him go, both he and Monica knew that it wasn't possible now that he had seen all of this, his lair, his hiding place, he had seen the Phantom himself.

He decided to end it quickly as he crouched down and took his face into his gloved hands, for a second he pitied the boy, had he not come looking for the Devil this wouldn't have happened. He looked away as he turned his head quickly, a crack coming from his neck as well as he released his body.

He stood up and walked over to help Monica out of the water, he offered his hand but she slapped it away in fear.

"How could you?" she asked softly as she looked at the bodies of the dead guys who now lay unmoving on the ground and then back at the Opera Ghost in horror.

The Phantom on the other hand was feeling nothing but rage, "They were about to-" he started as she interrupted him.

"You killed them nonetheless! You could have spared them…was that too much to ask for?" she yelled back as she got out of the water and brushed past him leaving him standing there bewildered.

He decided he would get rid of the bodies first, once he did he would decide what to do next and move on, the Opera house had to be back in working conditions and soon, they couldn't risk anymore unwanted visitors showing up looking for him.

Once he had taken care of the pair he walked towards her room solemnly, he knew what he did was wrong but he wasn't about to let them take advantage of her either, perhaps killing them had been extreme…that was the reason Christine detested him.

He killed without remorse, he couldn't afford to have Monica mad at him as well, much less afraid. She was his muse of music after all and he needed her now more than ever if his legend was to be revived once more….

Review dont just put it on alert...thats right...you know who you are! Dont make me team up with the Phantom and track all of you down ;D Make me happy and just leave a little note telling me what you think...I wont bite I promise ;D