She forgot where she was and bolted to find the stairway to access the bottom of the stage. She couldn't remember which door it was, she scrambled to find a stagehand to help her. Most of them were up in the flies, but she convinced one of the young ones, Raphael, to accompany her and unlock the door under the stage. She waited until he left before she walked through the door.

Before she could even turn around, she felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders. Reacting on instinct, she raised her hand up, and caught the Punjab noose before it could cut off her air. The noose cut in to her wrist, she felt the welt form, and quickly opened her mouth, "Erik, stop! It's just me." The noose lightened but continued to restrict her wrist and arm.

"Just you," he hissed, "One might ask what you would be doing wandering around the belly of the stage."

"One might ask you the same question," she spat out.

"You ballet rats never were able to mind your own business, and you know what they say about curiosity…" his tone lowered dangerously.

"So, I'm just your average, meaningless, silly ballet rat?" she felt the tears come and desperately tried to hold them back.

"I would simply love to discuss this further, but I have other, more important things on my agenda this evening. If you do not leave…"

"You'll kill me, Erik. You'd really kill me? That's how much you hate me. Fine, then kill me."

His grip tightened for a minute, then he released her, "Remove yourself from my sight before I change my mind."

She opened the door and shut it behind her quickly, leaning against it and letting her head knock into it a few times. The pain didn't go away. Any minute now… any minute now… she knew Erik cared for her, why couldn't he let Christine alone? What power did she have over him?

As more tears betrayed her, she felt the door behind her vibrate. She listened carefully to the music and heard the music darken and Christine's voice works its way up the scales into the stratosphere. She envied those beautiful high notes, crystal clear, until the note cut off… almost clipped. Then a crash.

The wall behind her shook and she heard a mute scream and a door snap. She burst through the door under the stage but there was no one there. It was completely dark, but she could vaguely smell something burning, maybe sulfur… she groped around for a latch on the floor but it was sealed, no way down.

She ran out and heard pandemonium backstage and nearly ran into a ballet dancer screaming that Christine had vanished. No one was dead this, time but the chandelier had crashed in to the audience. Amelia's heart froze. She prayed that no one was hurt, but hearing the panic and scream from the audience, those prayers felt useless.

Throughout the chaos backstage she saw a flash of a gentleman's jacket and white tie, Amelia got her first real glimpse of the Vicomte de Chagny. He was certainly handsome, no doubt about it, he had a strong jaw, bright blue eyes, and fashionably long sandy hair which at the moment he was worriedly running his hands through. He was also quite tall, Amelia almost forgot who he was as she stared.

Shaking off the moment, she ran towards him. This was how this was going to play out, she felt it. She nearly got knocked over by several panicked cast members and nearly knocked into the Vicomte, but he managed to reach him.

"Monsieur le Vicomte, please let me help," she nearly lapsed into English as she surged forward.

He narrowed his eyes at her, taking in her tattered appearance, "Madamoiselle, I hardly think you are up to the task."

His appearance suddenly was not so beautiful anymore, she rolled her eyes, this was no time to be coy, "I know where he took her," she said.

"Christine?" his face paled, "Who took her?"

Fine if he was going to play dumb, "You and I both know that it was the Phantom. We are wasting time please follow me, I know the way."

As she started walking she almost smiled as she said, "Oh and keep your hand at the level of your eyes."

"But why Madamoiselle?"

"The Punjab lasso, Monsieur, it is his fiercest weapon, if he gets it around your neck you are finished, now hurry!"

He began to follow her unquestioning, keeping his hand up. Amelia found the same steps where she had begun her journey. Down, down, down (once more) they went further into the underbelly of the opera house, past the stalls for the animals, the storage spaces for sets and props, until they reached the end of the stairs and the glow of the underground lake bounced what little light there was off the stone walls like a web.

"This is as far, as I dare go, you must continue on your own, Monsieur."

"There," he pointed to the lake, he lives there?"

"Yes, swim across the lake and be careful, he has many traps along the way."

He began to remove his jacket and tie tossing them gently on the stairs, as Amelia began to retreat back up the stairs, he asked, "How do you know so much about Christine and this Phantom character?"

Amelia could not look him in the eye to respond truthfully, but carefully answered, "She told me. I once saw the Phantom with my own eyes, and she was the only one who believed me."

"Thank you, Madamoiselle, I will bring her back." With that, he dove into the frigid lake and began to swim. As he disappeared from sight, Amelia sat on the steps looking out at this whole scene playing out. She waited just long enough, she was going to see this for herself, damn Erik, she could not stay away from this.

She quietly eased her way into the water silently cursing the cold. This time she knew the way and would not pass out. Eventually she could see the ripples from where the Count had swum and was careful to keep just enough distance and kept her legs just high enough to avoid tripping any of Erik's wires. This had to play out without her interference.

Eventually she saw the candles lit in the distance towards Erik's home. She also heard shrieking and quickened her pace. The Vicomte was already at shore and he began to call out, "Where is she you monster? You cannot make her love you! Come out and face me!" He started to search around the outside of the lair but there was no one there.

Raoul ran around he tried to gain access to the house. Eventually he was out of sight, so Amelia could sneak towards the shoreline and escape the freezing water. She hid behind some debris trying to warm herself a little bit, turn her fingers back to a pink color.

This was it, the moment of truth, and she would now see what really happened on this night. Did Erik really love Christine? Would she return that love, or was she truly destined to be happy with the Vicomte? All her life Amelia had always imagined that Christine went back to Erik and gave him the happily ever after he deserved, now… she wanted him to be happy, but at the cost of her own happiness?

She heard screaming and yelling coming from inside Erik's home. As it grew louder, she made certain that she couldn't be seen. This was the moment, it had arrived, she shivered and waited for her characters to arrive.