AN: So…don't kill me. I have a legit reason for not updating. One act play, deadline, stress. Fun! And a bit of writer's block.
After everyone had finished either cooing or gagging over the Gerry-Christine kiss, Emmy raised her hand.
"Now I have a question—how is this going to work?"
Christine raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, no matter which one of us chooses to live in the modern world, in mine and Gerry's bodies, the age difference is not going to go over well with other 21st century people," she explained.
"What age difference?" cried many uninformed Eriks.
Emmy had to take a minute to explain this concept to them before they finally started pondering the likelihood of this.
"Well…technically, it's not illegal," said Gerry.
"Only barely," Emmy reminded him. He shrugged.
"Maybe we can keep it a secret for a while. Either way, shouldn't we be deciding who goes to which world?"
The four doppelgangers went silent, thinking—except for Gerik, who immediately voiced his desire to live in an unmarred body.
"Well, who the hell would want to be an Erik?" Kerik muttered drily.
"Actually, I wouldn't mind it."
Everyone stared at the handsome actor, who shrugged. "It's not really that bad. Yeah, I would prefer my own face but it could be worse. I mean, look at you guys."
The Eriks were offended on the spot but said nothing, as they all could accept that statement as a simple fact. Gerry continued.
"I'd have a really nice place, lots of privacy, a huge salary, and get to do something lots of people would kill to do—live in another time period. And yeah, living there with a beautiful woman is good too."
"Wonderful, it's settled then. When do we leave?" asked Gerik hurriedly.
"Wait, wait, we haven't allowed the ladies to have a say…" Derik pointed out, being a sappy gentleman as always.
Emmy and Christine looked at eachother, as if the other had the answer. They started speaking, more to themselves, and due to their identical voices, it was hard to tell which one was saying what.
"I don't know…"
"I don't want to leave so soon…"
"There's so much I haven't seen in your world yet.."
"And what about the people we all care about? Either way, someone has to say goodbye to the people they know and love."
"And we'll never see one another again, either!"
Lerik jumped to his feet. "Erik has a solution for that! It involves two little dears made of brass…"
"Oh good God, he's raving about those bloody things again…"
"The grasshopper hops JOLLY HIGH!" Lerik shrieked, then giggled maniacally, pulling a little box out of his pocket and opening it, revealing the brass insects. "He will give one to brother Erik and the Emmy clone, and the other to Gerry and Christine!"
"Great…how does that solve our problem?" Emmy sighed, annoyed by being called a clone again. Lerik rolled his golden eyes.
"Because, Mam'selle Rossum, they are enchanted…"
Some Erik in the back snorted. "He's mad."
"How mad can he be, considering body swapping and alternate dimensions and a whole load of other crap we can't explain?" Gerry said, then turned to Lerik. "Go on."
"Clever Erik will simply wish them to be a transportation device, and THIS will have it be done!" Lerik said excitedly, lifting up the crystal ball before clutching it and the little box close to him and staring intently into the ball. Everyone had a slight, creeping fear for their lives as he focused. After a moment, his head snapped back up.
"It is done!"
No one bothered to ask how he knew that, as he was certain to just boast about his intuitive powers or some other rubbish. Lerik merrily approached the two almost identical couples, moving strangely like the skeleton he was, and held out the box.
"You must choose!"
"Is there a difference between the two?" Christine asked hesitantly.
"They both have the power to transport you, yourself, through space and time! No more body swapping! Isn't that nice? Erik is considerate, you see…"
"How do you transport yourself?" Gerik asked impatiently.
"Why, you simply hold onto the little creature and invision the place you wish to go."
"Can we go anywhere we want to?" asked Emmy, excited.
"No. You may only come back here, or to the location of your doppelganger. But beware, you might cause quite a global stir if you appear out of thin air next to Christine if she is not alone!"
"Which is why we can come to you to see where everyone is," Gerik assumed. Lerik nodded his masked head eagerly.
"Correct, brother Erik!"
"And if we both need to go to the other world, we both hold onto the grasshopper or the scorpion?" Christine timidly inquired.
"Yes!"
"What if I brought someone aside from Erik?" Emmy asked. Lerik stared at her gravely.
"Terrible things would happen!"
"Like what?"
Gerry answered for her this time. "Like your friend going and telling everyone that dimension travel is possible and you both getting thrown in an asylum or the bloody government or something getting involved or something else. Don't you watch movies? Telling outsiders about crazy stuff like this never works out well."
Emmy looked at the floor, now slightly red. "Oh. Right."
Christine hesitantly picked up the scorpion and everyone slightly gasped. Nothing exploded, so Emmy took the grasshopper.
Lerik rubbed his skeletal hands together. "They are ready!"
"Wait, what about my—"
Emmy's protest was lost in that same, underwater screaming sound where time and space warped together in a colorful, confused blur as the four fell through and separated in dimensions. All of a sudden, Emmy and Erik breathlessly found themselves in the backseat of a car, which was being driven by a very chatty Mrs. Rossum. It took them a moment to realize this must have been where Gerry and Christine were before they all arrived in Lerik's lair. However, which country they were in, they didn't know.
At the same time, Gerry and Christine opened their eyes to find themselves in the backstage of the opera. Nadir and Madame Giry soon appeared around the corner, looking very confused.
"What happened?"
In this case, since the Persian and the ballet instructor knew all about the bodyswapping, the couple could spill the entire insane story. Unfortunately, Emmy and Erik could not do the same, and just had to ask a few seemingly stupid questions to Mrs. Rossum before they realized where exactly they were and what was going on.
As far as the opera house, Andre and Firmin finally abandoned it, believing it there was no hope for it, as well as having quite enough of things exploding. Another manager ended up taking over—Nadir Khan. As a much more intelligent manager, Gerry only continued the Opera Ghost façade for the public as well as his own amusement. 'Haunted' opera houses get much more publicity.
Christine continued on as Prima Donna while still keeping her personal life rather secret (aside from an exaggerated article in the Epoque about her separation with the Vicomte, who continued to visit the opera as a dear friend.) However, those ballet girls, stagehands, and other opera residents who had seen Don Juan had a fairly good idea of the truth behind the singer and the 'ghost'.
Erik and Emmy managed to pass off their relationship as simply a friendship/business relationship like she and Gerry had, even as the movie came out in December and their amount of publicity exploded. Any rumors of romance were quickly passed off as phangirl's wishful thinking. Emmy's mother thought the same thing for a while, since she had put Gerard on such a high pedestal, until the couple stopped bothering to sugarcoat why they spent so much time together. Erik encouraged Emmy to continue a singing career, naturally, and he grew rather fond of acting.
Every so often, both couples did visit Lerik and then the opposite world because they had become homesick (or rather, Emmy wanted to see the Victorian time period again, or Christine had a question about modern technology, or Erik wanted to know how his opera was running, or Gerry just missed his mum.) The first few times Erik appeared next to Gerry, or Christine popped up next to Emmy, or vice versa, screams and flying lampshades ensued, but after a while they became used to finding their doppelganger in their bedroom in the middle of the night.
So all in all, it was happily ever after.
Well, at least until Deriko got his hands on the crystal ball.