CHAPTER 8

Emmy appeared extremely calm on the outside but she was constantly second guessing about the Erik/Gerry situation. After all, it was extremely hard to believe. And yet, how could she not believe what was right in front of her? She was never one to be in denial. There was no solid proof aside from the man's behavior, which could only point in one direction—the one he claimed had happened.

After she had distracted him by teaching him how to use the TV remote, she went back to the computer to do some research, unsure if whatever information she found would be helpful or more confusing.

By the time Erik had somehow managed to get stuck on a soap opera and couldn't change the channel (and consequently, was barking at Emmy to fix it) she had found nothing except for books and movies about body swapping.

Of course, she thought disappointedly, getting up to show Erik what mistake he had made with the remote.

"Is this what people do now instead of going to see performances? Fascinating though it is, I don't understand how these pre-recorded stories are more exciting than knowing that some sort of…disaster could occur in the middle of a play," Erik commented, chuckling a little. Emmy rolled her eyes.

"There's live TV, like the news that you were watching earlier. And people do still go to plays, and concerts, and yes, even operas. Not as often as people used to, I'm sure, but it does happen."

He nodded. "Well, then I have a sliver of hope for this generation after all."

"Please, I know you love it here. Everything's all new and shiny and cool to you."

"Cool? Where I lived was a much colder place…"

"Agh…it means interesting. I have to teach you language lessons as well, apparently," Emmy said with mock exhaustion. Erik didn't get it and he just huffed.

"Excuse me! My fault again."

"It was a joke."

"Oh."

Emmy studied his face for a moment. "You aren't used to joking either, are you?"

He shook his head. "Not particularly. I made my own amusements."

"Like tormenting Carlotta?"

He smirked. "Yes, that. I wish I had done something like that supposed 'original' version of me did, making Chagny go mad. Or the fireball idea from the play this movie is based on…"

"After seeing all those other versions, do you feel a little bit better about your own life?" Emmy asked curiously. He nodded vigorously.

"Well, I'm very glad I'm not attracted to rats…"

Laughing, Emmy said, "Yeah, me too. I meant your face though."

He sighed. "I can't say it was any easier, since people reacted to it as badly as they did with any other version. I admit most of them are worse than mine, though. But it hardly matters to me anymore, since it seems I'll never have that face again."

"Yeah, if we can't get you back," Emmy said thoughtfully, wondering to herself how that would even be possible.

"I'm not sure I want to go back."

She turned to him abruptly, looking shocked. "Why?"

Gesturing around him like it was obvious, Erik said, "Like you said, everything is 'new and shiny and cool' to me. It's fascinating. Every day life is so much easier and comfortable, not having to worry about temperatures or availability of necessities like food and clean water, not to mention how casually one can dress on a daily basis—aside from those jeans you showed me. Those are horribly uncomfortable. But as I was saying, it's a whole new life. A normal one, like I always wanted! Actually, above normal, since I'm now apparently a famous, attractive actor whom everyone loves. Why would I not want this?"

"Well, Christine, for one thing," Emmy said bluntly. Erik swallowed and looked down at his hands, twisting them together slowly as he thought about this.

"You make a very good point."

"Don't you want to get back to her? Even if there's only a chance that you'll actually get her?"

Sighing, Erik looked back up at her, reminding himself yet again that who he was looking at was only the image of Christine. "I do. But you can't imagine the pain involved. Now I know what happens afterwards, don't I? Since everything we film happened in my life. I let her go."

"If you did go back, to that same moment, would you still let her go?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying very hard to imagine what he felt like at that moment. It seemed very distant for it only happening a few days ago.

"I honestly have no idea. I desperately want her to be happy, but I can't stand the thought of what we filmed today actually coming true. Just thinking about that kind of sacrifice is painful. Perhaps I would not even remember this and I would just go back to being who I was before all of this. If that were true, I would let her go and live the rest of my miserable life in solitude. And if I did remember, and made her stay, she wouldn't truly want to be there with me."

Nodding sympathetically, Emmy replied, "Well, this is a tough situation. I don't know what Gerry thinks about this, but I can guess he's not much happier being you than you were."

"Assuming he's not used to being hated, hunted down, and surviving without modern technology," Erik quipped, adjusting himself comfortably in Emmy's beanbag chair.

"Yeah, probably not."

"So do you wish us to switch back for his sake? I understand, he is your coworker."

"And friend," she added. "I'm really worried for him…"

Erik sighed, feeling extreme déjà-vu.

"But I don't want you to be miserable either," continued Emmy. Erik perked up at this.

"If it were possible for us to switch back, would you still let me stay here?"

"Well, I'd want to check on him, and maybe see if it's possible for us all to be here…"

Erik shook his head, chuckling quietly in sarcastic amusement at that notion. "Our souls swapped bodies, we can't move our physical beings through space, time, and alternate dimensions!"

"How do you know? Souls swapping bodies is pretty crazy in itself!"

He narrowed his eyes at her, then shrugged. "True."

Pacing in the small trailer, Emmy fidgeted with her hands as she thought this through. "So maybe…we have to do the same thing again."

"You mean you and I and Christine and Gerry simultaneously kiss again? But how do we know if they're trying it as well?"

She ran a hand through her curls absentmindedly and sighed, "That's my problem. I don't know how we're going to do that."

Rising to his feet, Erik smirked a little to himself, thinking, Well, Christine-clone, you'd better get used to me then, because it looks like I'm going to be here permanently.

/

"There are mental illnesses that could have caused this. I honestly would not be surprised at all if Erik was schizophrenic," Nadir suggested.

"What does that mean?" Christine asked. The Persian explained, "A schizophrenic person has delusions, such as hearing voices or believing themselves to be another person."

"Sounds more like her, actually. And I love how you keep talking like I'm not standing right here," Gerry muttered.

"Sounds like me?" Christine gasped, appalled at that suggestion.

"Yeah, the whole Angel of Music thing was kind of an insane thing to believe," Gerry snickered. Nadir quietly began to observe the man's behavior, very interested in how he managed to take on an entirely different personality, accent, and simple way of speaking.

"Insane? I was in mourning and my father gave me a promise. Many people truly believe in angels!"

"Right, right. Well, still, from what we've acted out, the Phantom wasn't the only insane character in the story."

He's completely separated himself from 'the Phantom'…referring to him as a character in a story, an insane person…and most importantly, he doesn't appear to be particularly affectionate towards Christine, thought the Persian, taking mental notes.

Turning back towards Nadir, Christine ignored Gerry and politely said, "Please go on."

Nadir calmly continued. "The delusions usually start later in life, around Erik's age. Sometimes, they can act completely normal in conversation, but then act out in a nonsensical or violent way, and believe it to be a rational thing to do. Like when Erik killed Buquet, he thought he did a good thing."

Christine nodded. "This makes sense…"

As Gerry was about to protest, Nadir made another suggestion.

"However, I'm rather sure I would have noticed other signs beforehand. And it also makes sense that Erik would be a strange person in general, due to his past and lifestyle. Because of the way he's been treated, he has different morals than other people. So I can't immediately say it is a mental illness. It could indeed be something supernatural."

"Like what?" Gerry asked.

"Well, in my faith, we believe in things such as miracles, and some believe in curses. It could possibly be a lesson from God, or someone else's prayer carried out on you."

Gerry grimaced at this idea. He wasn't about to get religious with this. It was freaky and complicated enough. But Christine appeared hopeful.

"Yes, I can see that. A lesson…Erik becoming a normal person and seeing the error of his ways!"

"Then why did I have to be involved, hm? I didn't kill anyone," Gerry pointed out.

"You probably have something to learn as well," said Nadir simply. This didn't satisfy Gerry, but he stayed quiet.

Christine carefully asked, "But if it's not an act of God, what about magic? Witches or spells?"

"I personally do not believe in such things," was all the Persian could say about that. Christine was not sure she believed in witches either, but she did believe what Gerry said was true. The three sat together in silence, each wondering different possibilities.

"Ok, hypothetically, if a body swap did happen, then what can we possibly do about it?" Gerry finally asked. Monsieur Khan looked at him almost regretfully, not really knowing what to say.

"I can only guess that you can either do the same thing that swapped you in the first place or learn whatever lesson there is to be learned."

AN: If you have a question for Erik (or Gerry, or Christine, or Emmy) feel free to put it in a review and I'll incorporate it into the next chapter if at all possible. If I can't get it into the chapter, it should be in another following chapter. Thanks!