I'm sure you all know the spiel by now, I don't own Phantom, fic takes place in present day, blah blah blah, REVIEW…

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Lenore rubbed her eyes tiredly. She felt like she was just coming out of a drugged stupor. She remembered limping through the underground, dragging her left foot along despite the pain. Luckily for her, she ran into one of the Navy SEALs quite literally and began clinging to him for support. He told his five teammates that he was taking her back up right away and that they should continue searching for Erik.

"Don't, just leave, right now," Lenore pleaded. "He'll kill you if he finds you. We have to get out while there's still time."

But they hadn't listened to her, not at all. The man she clung to left another in charge and then helped her back aboveground. An ambulance was waiting outside the Opera House and she was rushed off to be checked out. There had been endless scans and blood tests, all blurring together in her mind.

She opened her eyes, staring in confusion at the white, padded walls around her. Lenore got to her feet, padding over to the door. She tried to open it, but it was locked. What's going on? Why am I in here? She stumbled over to a corner of the room in a daze, sitting down and hugging her knees to her chest. It's a mistake, just a mistake.

When the door opened a few minutes later and a nurse walked in, Lenore leapt at the woman. "What's going on? Why I am in here? Who are you? Where am I?"

"Calm down, mademoiselle," the woman said. "You need to take these pills." She proffered said drugs, and Lenore tried to make a break for it. The nurse grabbed her by the arms

"I'm not taking your drugs, there's nothing wrong with me!" Lenore shouted, squirming.

"Doctor! Doctor!" the nurse screamed desperately.

Two big men came rushing into the room, each taking one of Lenore's arms. "Let me go! There's nothing wrong with me, I'm not crazy!" she insisted. She continued wriggling fruitlessly as the nurse rushed out of the room to retrieve the doctor. When the nurse returned with him, Lenore's jaw just about dropped. "Sebastian! You have to help me!"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do, but you need to take zese pills first," Sebastian said soothingly.

"No. I'm not crazy," Lenore informed him. We're friends, aren't we? Why aren't you helping me out? Why don't you tell them that I'm not crazy? Deciding it might look better for her case, she quit struggling. "Why am I in here? What makes you think I'm insane?"

"You've had a very trying time," Sebastian said carefully. "It's not your fault at all, and if you take your medicines, you can leave in three days. Won't you just take your pills?"

"Will they put me to sleep?"

"We won't give you a tranquilizer unless you become violent," he promised her.

"Alright then, I'll take them. But I demand to know what's going on," Lenore demanded. "I want to hear it from you, and I want to hear it in private."

"Just as soon as you take the meds."

Lenore held out her hands and the nurse gave her the little pills and a small paper cup with water as the two guards released her. She placed the pills in her mouth and washed them down with the water. "Open your mouth. Alright, lift your tongue," the nurse said, inspecting Lenore's mouth for evidence that she'd faked swallowing the pills. "Good girl. I'll leave her to you, Dr. Rousseau."

Who knew Sebastian was a psychiatrist?

"Well, let's head down zee hall to my office," he suggested, taking her arm gently.

Lenore looked around warily as they proceeded down the hall. She could see through small windows into the doors of other rooms like hers, with people who were trembling fitfully, or talking to themselves, or staring off into space. I don't belong here, there's nothing wrong with me.

Sebastian gestured to a cushioned chair in front of his desk as he shut the office door behind them. "Now, this may come as a shock for you," Sebastian said, sounding very professional. "Zee doctors at zee hospital believe you have been zee victim of a new drug."

"What? That's preposterous," Lenore griped.

"Zee authorities have yet to catch zee man who introduced you to the drug, so ve're not quite sure what you've been exposed to," Sebastian continued.

"What man? Do you mean Erik?" Sebastian gave her a blank look. "Erik, the Phantom of the Opera."

"Ve're all agreed zat zis man gave you some form of hallucinogen, and that you believed him to be to be zee Phantom," Sebastian explained.

"You don't have any proof of any drug," Lenore protested.

"The brain scans, mademoiselle, came back rather curiously. You see, zere's zis sort of distortion, a blurriness. Zey tried several different machines and always came back with zee same result," he informed her. "Ve think it's an effect of the drug, but you von't be exposed to it again, so in time, zee scans should become clearer. Some of your medicines are to help with zat. You'll suffer withdrawal symptoms, though quite frankly, ve're not sure what to expect, as ve've never encountered a drug like this before. To affect zee brain in such a fashion…'tis quite fascinating, really."

"Let's assume for a minute that I believe you. Why would I let some stranger give me a drug?"

"It's natural to experience depression after zee accident you 'ad, and you refused anti-depressants and counseling. Pent up depression can cause you to try things you wouldn't normally," Sebastian began. "Zee drug he gave you made you hallucinate, and you enjoyed zese hallucinations, so you kept taking it until you became so addicted zat you needed it every moment. So you vent to live with 'im, in 'is 'ideout under zee Opera House."

"Why would he be making drugs under an Opera House?"

"Zee building 'ad been abandoned for two years, which meant little chance of disturbance or being discovered. Zee authorities agree with zis theory; zey found a cave zat looked as though it 'ad been lived in recently. He probably fled when you escaped."

Hours later, alone in the padded room once more, Lenore realized that the theory was entirely credible. I was such an idiot! How could I possibly believe that the Phantom of the Opera was still alive? I should have known it was all some sort of twisted dream. How could I have been so gullible? I mean, didn't I know the guy was fishy from the start? There he was asking for an extraordinary amount of money, probably to finance his experiments. He was violent with me, threatened me…And he never gave me a last name so that if I did try to expose him, he couldn't be caught. God, everything always happens to me. First, that car accident, and now being the victim of drug experimentation.

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"How's she doing, doctor?" Mrs. Parker asked on her visit. Lenore had been in the institution for two days now.

"She's doing much better," Dr. Rousseau assured her. "She admits zat zere is no Phantom of zee Opera, zat it was probably all in 'er mind. She takes 'er medicines without complaint. I'm quite impressed that she's not suffering nightmares from withdrawal."

"Well, the doctors said they didn't recognize it, and if it's a new drug, then withdrawal symptoms might be peculiar. You haven't noticed any peculiar behavior, have you?" Mrs. Parker inquired worriedly.

"Zee only symptom she seems to 'ave is a recurring 'eadache, but I wouldn't worry about zat much," the young man said calmly.

"I'll be so relieved to see her today," Mrs. Parker stated as they came to a small recreation room in the institution. Lenore was sitting next to a window, staring out of it with a bored expression. She looked so pale, much paler than usual, no doubt from all her time as a captive under the Opera House. Mrs. Parker took a seat next to her daughter, not even noticing that Dr. Rousseau had left. "Lenore, how are you?"

"Oh, hi Mom," Lenore said brightly, turning to look at her mother with a smile. "I'm doing alright. And…I'm sorry about all this."

"It's not your fault, honey. You didn't know, you really were convinced it was the Phantom because of that drug," Mrs. Parker said supportively.

"Yeah, but I should've gotten counseling or something for my depression after the accident. Then I wouldn't have tried the drug," Lenore responded. "You know, the weirdest thing was that I didn't even know I was depressed. I thought I was just fine. I mean, yeah, I was sometimes sad or mad, but I never thought it was too bad."

"Well, it's normal not to realize it. And Dr. Rousseau said, in your case, even if you had recognized your depression for what it was, you probably wouldn't have admitted it to yourself. He said that sometimes, people are so desperate to believe that everything's going to return to normal after a terrible accident that they convince themselves that they're fine, even if they know they're not."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. "Some luck I've got, hm?" Lenore chuckled wryly after a moment. "Kinda makes me wonder what's next for me."

"God willing, you'll settle down with a nice man and start a family," Mrs. Parker said positively. "I met a very nice boy who seemed very concerned about you. Felix Deville. He's planning to be a lawyer, you know."

"Oh Mom," Lenore muttered with a smile. "Are you implying that I should marry him for his money?"

"Of course not, you've got plenty of that," Mrs. Parker replied. "I was just saying. He seems very nice, and he's obviously planning for the future. And he was very worried about you."

"Well, I'll think about it."

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