Disclaimer: I don't own POTO…I really don't know why I put this disclaimer here…it's only fan fiction, for Pete's sake.

Dreamless Wind: Yes, the POTO characters are definitely OOC…they're more like charicatures, really. But I'm glad you like this in spite of it.

eepybird: DVD in French rocks.

A/N: Shout out to Superman Returns. I was a stout Batman kinda girl…but Brandon Routh won me over.

And, yes, I have seen Pirates…went to the midnight show dressed like a pirate lass and everything…very last scene was the best part. I heart Geoffrey.

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ERIK CONTEMPLATES AND CRITIQUES NSYNC

A Blipic

Actually…that title is a bit misleading. There is nothing to contemplate about NSYNC. They weren't that complex. In reality, Erik was contemplating something far more serious and important as he and the cousins enjoyed a quiet morning by a fire in their sitting room.

They had managed to slip away from the Cheney house sometime during their overnight stay and sneaked back into the fifth cellar of the opera house. Erik was as relieved as Anna to be rid of that obnoxious detective, but he didn't allow himself the luxury of peace. Naught but a thin web of deception held the privacy of their existence together…and it wouldn't last much longer. A distinct snapping noise broke through Erik's thoughts. He glanced up to see Brooke tearing her fingernails to shreds with her teeth.

"For pity's sake, Brooke, would you please break that unseemly habit?" Erik growled.

Brooke whipped her hands out of her mouth and sat on them.

"Some Vicomtess you'll be."

Anna looked up from her computer. "OMG, Brooke, it just dawned on me that you're going to being freakin' French nobility."

"Now you know why I've been biting my nails!" Brooke shrilled and stubbornly stuck a finger in her mouth.

"It's a good thing we're not living during the reign of Madame Guillotine," Erik snarked.

"That's not helping, Erik!"

"Why ever not? I think it's reassuring, unless you want to be guillotined."

"Raoul's stick-up-their-butts friends are going to guillotine me…figuratively speaking. I literally came from nowhere as far as they're concerned."

"I can give you a dowry if it would help."

"So can the Poppins Bag. Money isn't the issue. It's my status…I'm not an heiress or an opera singer or even the scullery maid!"

Erik gave an elegant shrug. "Status can be easily bought."

Anna chipped in. "You could always just tell the truth."

"After which I'll go down in societal history as the biggest lunatic and greatest scandal that ever graced the gossip columns!" Brooke snapped.

"Scandal is attention."

"I DON'T WANT ATTENTION!"

Brooke's green eyes glittered manically. Her hair nearly stood on end. Erik and Anna shrank away. The brunette slumped back into her chair. All was silent for a moment before she spoke again.

"I wish you could go with me, Anna."

"Raoul can't have two wives…this isn't that sort of place."

"You know what I mean! I'd feel so much braver if you were around."

Anna shrugged, but didn't answer. Erik wondered if her silence meant that she didn't want to leave the opera house. He needed to think and he did that best while standing beside the organ.

"Excuse me, ladies," he said, rising from his chair and hurrying into his bedroom. The room looked much larger now that the Lothlorien tent was gone. The cousins had been greatly saddened when they saw the destruction Erik's wrath had wrought. He made it up to them by giving them the Louis-Phillipe room. He had even redecorated it in the Lothlorien style.

Now his room seemed empty and lonely. Erik strode to the organ and contemplated. He didn't notice the Poppins Bag lying nearby.

What's up?

"What? Oh…it's you."

Hello to you, too. Looks like something's bothering you.

"So what if it is?"

Well, I thought you could use a little one-on-one time.

"With a bag? No thank you."

Hey, I won't spill a word of it to the girls, if that's what you're worried about. See? My lips are sealed.

"You don't have…" Erik glanced over to see that Poppins Bag had zipped itself closed. The Angel of Music slapped a palm to his forehead.

So how about that one-on-one?

"Is there any way to get rid of your annoying presence?"

Nope.

Erik growled and ground his teeth. "Fine."

I'm all ears.

"Brooke's up-coming marriage to the Vicomte de Chagney has me worried."

Why? He'll be out of the way of you and Christine.

"You of all people…excuse me, of all objects, should know that I'm not in love with Christine anymore. I haven't been for some time now."

Uh-huh.

"The more we get involved with people from up there, the less unnoticeable my position as Phantom of the Opera becomes."

But you never really wanted to stay the Phantom forever.

"I never really wanted to be the Phantom in the first place. It was an easy solution to my problems. Now, the world has invaded my space once again…I can't shut it out this time."

Why not?

"Because…I…" Erik took a deep breath. "Because it would mean shutting Anna out, too. I can't ask her to live the rest of her life in darkness. She deserves a better existence than that, but I cannot bear the thought of never seeing her again."

So what's the hold up?

"Several things. Once Brooke is married Anna must go to live her or with Cecily Cheney. It wouldn't be decent for Anna and I to continue living together…besides, it would be more than my self-control could withstand."

Wow.

Erik clenched his fists. "I can't help it. I am still a human man, however, shadowy I may be, and Anna's external appeal hasn't gone unnoticed."

Apparently. Well, so Anna has to leave. Is that the problem?

"Yes," Erik moaned. His thin shoulders slumped.

Then why don't you leave, too?

"How can I? I'm the Phantom of the Opera. I'll be wanted for all manner of crimes once my identity is uncovered and with that smug-faced detective sniffing around, it won't be long until everyone finds out."

But you have friends now. They all know who you are and they haven't done anything about it. If you don't try, then you'll never know if you could succeed.

"I have tried to exist in the world above. It never worked."

But you didn't have Anna with you before either.

Erik stood in silence. He knew it was true. He had fully agreed with Brooke. With Anna around, he'd feel so much braver. Suddenly, the door flew open and Anna herself breezed in. Erik's heart leapt as she walked toward him, computer in hand.

"Erik, you have to listen to this. I just bought it off of iTunes."

Erik shied away. "What is it?"

Brooke popped up behind her cousin. "The Very Best of NSYNC."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"It's either NSYNC or watching 'Charlie the Unicorn.' It's your choice," Brooke said.

"But you'll make me do both anyway."

"True."

"Then I really don't have a choice at all."

All the while, the cousins closed in on Erik, backing him against the organ. Anna was so close Erik could actually catch a faint whiff of her perfume with what working olfactory sensors he had. She smelled like peonies. He nearly fainted when her body brushed his.

"We're still giving you a choice of which you listen to first," Anna said.

Erik shook himself. "Fine. Fine! I'll listen to this NSYNC, if you don't mind explaining what it is first."

"It's a boy bad."

Erik's lips twisted in disgust. "What does that mean?"

"Just listen."

Anna turned on the music. "It's Gonna Be Me" was the first song up. The track hadn't played for more than thirty seconds when Erik howled and clapped his hands over his ears.

"What the bloody hell is this!" he shrieked.

"Teeny bopper pop," Anna said with a giggle. She had always been amused by NSYNC.

"It's rubbish! No…that isn't a harsh enough word…it's, it's…" Erik clutched his head in agony, "It's so inane that it's robbing me of my capacity for word choice!"

"Aw, it's all in good fun," Anna said.

"On the same level of fun as watching Mary-Kate and Ashley videos," Brooke commented.

Anna's face went deadly serious. "No, anything to with the Olsen twins does about as much for your brain as a good dose of morphine."

"Bye, Bye. Bye" was the next song up. Erik couldn't take it anymore. As soon as the song hit the chorus he shot out of the room like a bat out of hell.

"Get him, Anna!" Brooke hollered.

Anna was on Erik's heels in an instant. She cornered him on the shores of Lake Averne trying to make a get away in the boat.

"Erik, you still have to watch 'Charlie the Unicorn'!"

"I've had enough brain-damaging intake for one day, thank you very much!" With that Erik jumped into the boat, but Anna didn't let him off the hook that easily. She jumped in after him, causing the boat to rock dangerously. The motion threw Erik on top of Anna. She clasped him tightly.

"Ha! Gotcha. Now you have to come back."

Erik shoved her away and sat up. "Don't do that!" he hissed.

Her smile disappeared. "Is something wrong?" Her voice was small and meek.

Erik's breathing was ragged, but his eyes softened when he saw the look of hurt on her face. "Oh, mon merle, you don't understand what happens to me when…when you're that close. Now please, get out of the boat."

Anna was certain her heart must have stopped beating for one moment. The beating started up again, pounding with increasing intensity. She scrambled out of the boat and ran for the door. She flung it open, but paused and turned to Erik once more.

"No, Erik, you're wrong. I do understand what it does to you…that is, if it's the same thing that happens to me." Without a second glance, she disappeared into the house.

In an instant, Erik felt his face burning with the deepest blush. Now he really needed to think. Donning the extra mask he kept in the boat, he quickly poled across the lake and began the long ascent to the rooftop.

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Back inside the bat cave…

"What happened to you? Where's Erik?" Brooke quizzed her cousin.

"I don't know where he went…he didn't want me to touch him," Anna replied, half-dreamily, half-confusedly.

"Why not?"

"He said…it did things to him." The redhead flushed as the words left her mouth.

Brooke let out a low whistle. "Wow. That's kinda intense."

"Yeah."

Cue awkward pause.

Brooke shifted her weight. "So…you wanna go indoctrinate the ballet rats with NSYNC?"

Anna brightened. "You're a genius!"

"I know."

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To be continued…