The semester ended and Christine and Meg had gone home for winter break. However the deans decided to throw a big New Years masquerade party for the whole school. At the party, everyone was drinking, dancing, and having an overall merry time. Christine and Raoul soon showed up, having gone out to dinner before the ball. Earlier that night at dinner, Raoul had given her a promise ring. She wore it around her neck on a chain, not wanting anyone to see that she was officially taken. "But why is it secret? What exactly are you hiding?" Raoul asked.

"Please let's not fight about this," Christine begged. "It's just that I'm only twenty-one. It's too early for anything official."

"Christine, let's not worry about that tonight. Please just try to have fun." He led Christine into the main entrance and they danced the night away.

Everything was going along perfectly until all of a sudden everyone felt a presence in the room. They stopped dancing and looked up to the top of the staircase to see a man dressed as the Masque of Red Death from Edgar Allen Poe's story, covered in red from head to toe and a skull mask. In his skeletal covered hands appeared to be some kind of manuscript. He took his precious time as he walked down each individual stair.

"Why so silent everyone? Did you think that you would see the last of me?" he snickered. "So has this upcoming semester's opera been announced yet?" Everyone remained silent, too scared to speak up. "Good. Well it just so happens that I have an opera right here for you," he said holding up the manuscript, "which will be performed. Don Juan Triumphant! I wrote it myself," he sneered smugly. He tossed it over to the deans. "Just know that as the composer, I have a few demands for the world premiere of my opera. And if last time proved anything, it's that my demands should be taken seriously, for everyone's sakes. Remember, there are worse things than a shattered chandelier. Now, first thing's first."

He turned to Carlotta. "Carlotta must be taught to act, not her normal trick of strutting around the stage." Carlotta's jaw dropped, as she stood there offended. Her boyfriend, Ubaldo Piangi, an overweight tenor who always got the lead like her, stood in between the two of them. "Our Don Juan must loose some weight. It's not healthy for a man of Piangi's age." It was now his turn to be offended. "And my deans must learn that their place is in an office, not the arts." He turned to Christine, whose heart was beating nervously as she held on to Raoul. "As for our star, Ms. Christine Daaé, no doubt she'll do her best. It's true her voice is good, she knows though should she wish to excel, she has much still to learn, if pride will let her return to me, her teacher." He held up his hand, gesturing with his finger for her to approach him. As if in a daze, she let go of Raoul and did so. When they were standing face-to-face, he grabbed her ring and pulled the chain from her neck. "Your chains are still mine! You will sing for me!" Releasing a puff of smoke, he disappeared.

Christine was now the center of attention, standing in the center of the room. Overwhelmed, she began to tear up as she ran off, trying to get away from everyone. "Christine, wait!" Raoul called as he chased after her. He followed her until she ran into the girls' bathroom. "God damn it," he mumbled. He started pounding at the door. "Christine, come out!" Wait, what am I doing? He thought. I'm no better than that monster she's hiding from. He backed away, leaning against the wall as he patiently waited for Christine to come out. Finally when she did, he looked up to see that her face was red and puffy from crying. "Oh Christine, come here." He pulled her in close to him, tightly wrapping his arms around her, pressing her head against him.

After a moment of silence, Christine finally spoke up. "This is all my fault," she said in barely above a whisper.

"What?" Raoul asked in shock as he pulled her away from him, placing his hands on her shoulders. "How is this your fault?"

"I'm the reason he's doing all of this."

"Christine, you've done nothing wrong. It's not your fault that he's so unstable. You didn't know." He sighed. "I know you don't want to betray him, but we have to get rid of him somehow. I'm afraid of what other damage he'll cause, but mainly I'm afraid of what he'll do to you if we don't stop him."

"We can't stop him," she said sounding defeated.

"That's not true. I know what to do to catch him."

"What?"

"We do exactly what he says and perform his opera."

"What?" Christine exclaimed.

"Think about it, if we deny him again, he'll only fight back with more hostility and cause even more damage. But if we do everything he says, he'll think that he's won. And in his moment of triumph, when he least expects it, that's when we'll capture him. He'll be put away in prison and you'll be safe, never having to worry about him ever again."

"But what if this whole thing is a trap to get me?"

"We'll stop him before he can do anything to you. I promise that no matter what happens, I will keep you safe through this whole thing."

"I can't do it. I won't."

"But isn't it your dream to play a lead?"

"That doesn't matter to me anymore. And if I do ever get to play a lead, I want it to be because I earned it, not out of force and blackmail."

"Christine, I'm not going to make you do this if you don't want to. But think about it. You'll not only save everyone here, but more importantly you'd be saving yourself from him. Everyone's fate rests with you." Trembling, bursting back out into tears, she broke away from Raoul to run back into the bathroom. Once again, Raoul patiently waited outside for her.

After thinking long and hard about it, Christine decided that Raoul was right and agreed to do the opera. Raoul informed the deans about his plan and that they should follow through on his demands and have the police secretly stationed during the performance to capture him. While they weren't too thrilled about the idea, they all agreed that this was best course of action. The worst thing was when the three of them had to inform Carlotta about the plan since the deans were contractually obligated. "Are you all freaking insane?" she shouted upon hearing the news.

"No, he is for asking such high demands of us."

"So my resume has to suffer because of some madman who's obsessed with some random chorus girl?"

"You saw what he did last time," Raoul said sternly. "Who knows what he'll do this time if we try to fight him."

"I don't care what happens to everyone else in this hell-hole, as long as I make it out alive."

"But what if he goes after you? Is your life really worth risking for your precious resume?"

"Besides, you've always gotten a lead. Your resume is enough to make any other post-college singer jealous. I think you'll be fine. And it's not like you're getting nothing this semester with your grad recital coming up."

Carlotta let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, but only because it's not worth putting my life at risk to fight against some crazy psycho."