Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, nor do I own Le Fantôme de l'Opéra.
Chapitre deux: Le "Wicked" de l'Opera: L'amour d'Alphia
Fayt entered the baroque doors to the two hundred year old opera house. Marble flooring with a grand staircase were some of the many decorations the foyer had. He waltzed through the doors entering into the vast theatre. A chandelier made out of gold illuminated the entire theatre, dangling down from a chain suspended from the ceiling. On stage there were several female dancers were swaying their bodies in ballet fashion. Standing beside the dancers was a woman looking disgusted with a cigarette resting on her lips.
"You call that dancing?" The woman hollered in a drunken tone while whipping the dancers. "My sober monkey can dance better than you!"
"Uh, hi!" Fayt introduced himself, walking towards the stage, sticking his hand out towards the blond woman with the whip. "I'm the new owner, Fayt Leingod."
"I'm the dancer teacher, Madame Koas, but you can call me Mirage." Mirage greeted, shaking Fayt's hand with a wink. "That's my stripper name, hott stuff!"
A young dancer with brown hair named Sophia huddled towards her friend whispering, "I can't believe it! That's Fayt a friend from childhood."
"When are we doing my scene?" A young man around Fayt's age waltzed in with his arms crossed around his chest, holding a designer bag with a small dog poking out. "La Chiquita has a busy schedule!"
"Hi, I'm the new owner, Fayt Leingod." Fayt greeted, offering his hand, but the man turned his head the other way, ignoring him. "La Chiquita?" Fayt asked, puzzeled. "You must be her manger. How is my prima donna doing?"
"Are you stupid?" The man growled, throwing his shoe at Fayt. "I'm La Chiquita! Because we aren't on stage, you can call me by my male name, Lieber."
"You're prima donna isn't going to do so well." A sinister voice growled in a whispering tone, but it was loud enough to be heard by the entire theatre.
"It's the Wicked!" Some of the dancers cried out, huddling towards each other. "He's near!"
A small envelope fell from above, twirling around, eventually landing in Fayt's hands. A seal with the letters, 'Wicked' held the envelop in place. Breaking the seal to open the envelope, He unfolded in paper and read, "Welcome to my Opera, new owner. Follow my demands and no one will get killed. I want Mademoiselle Esteed to be the lead when this performance starts next week. I also want a million Fol each year and a pretty dress to insinuate my beautiful curves, er I mean for Mademoiselle Esteed."
"Who's this 'Wicked?'" Fayt questioned, stuffing the letter back into the envelope. "How dare he say he owns this place and expects a million Fol each year. Who does he think he is?"
"Mmmm…. The Wicked." Mirage starred into space drooling, and then blinking back into reality. "You better do what he says otherwise he will kill you."
"Where is Mademoiselle Esteed?" Fayt asked, looking around towards the dancers.
"I'm Mademoiselle Esteed." Sophia replied, taking a step away from the crowd. "I know the part and I'm a student to an excellent teacher."
"Sophia." Fayt blurted out in shock. "Is that really you?"
"It's me!"
"SOPHIA!" Fayt called out, frolicking towards her in slow motion as the scene turned into a meadow. "FAYT!" Sophia beckoned, frolicking also in slow motion. When they were close to each other they jumped into each other's arms, but tripped, smacking their foreheads, landing on the stage.
"WHAT," Lieber stated in shock, but his nicely plucked eyebrows twitched in anger, "How she take the lead! If La Chiquita isn't the lead then La Chiquita is out of here!" Lieber pouted as he stomped out of the theatre with his hand sticking out.
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"You sang so beautifully, Sophia." Fayt complimented as they walked towards her dressing room. "Who gave you the roses?"
"My teacher." She responded, smelling the sweet fragrance, opening the door. "He always gives me roses. All that singing is making me tired, so see you in the morning."
"Sophia, I have…something to tell you." Fayt stuttered, nervously. "I'm in love with you!"
"I love you too!" Sophia said, cheerfully, throwing the roses behind her. "Let's confess our love, Broadway style!"
Fayt and Sophia pranced around backstage, singing how much they were in love for no apparent reason in a choreographed fashion. At the end of the song, they arrived back at the doorway to the dressing room as if nothing happened, only to finish the song with a kiss. Sophia closed the door while waving goodnight, then turned around giggling like a school girl on crack.
Her smile faded as she turned to the mirror that leaned against the wall. Smoke crept from the mirror as a man skinnier than a stick figure held in his hand a watch, which he swung back and forth, whispering, "You are getting very sleepy."
"I am getting very sleepy." Sophia repeated in a trance.
"Now, follow me!" The man commanded, offering his other hand to her, still swaying the watch. Sophia took his hand, with her eyes still dazed, resembling a stoner. The hand that dangled the watch wasn't a hand of a human; it was made out of metal. Not only was his hand made out of metal, the arm inside his suit hid a mechanical arm, covering something. The man guided her through the mirror and into the sewers in a gondola. They arrived in a lair buried deep in the sewers that was decorated quite lavishly, as if Barbie was the designer.
"Welcome, Mademoiselle Esteed." The man welcomed, helping her off the boat. "Shall we begin the lessons?"
"Where am I?" Sophia asked, taking in the lair. "You're the Wicked, aren't you?"
"I have a name you know." The man answered, guiding her towards a mannequin. "It's Albel. How do you like my life-sized figure of you?"
"That's creepy," she replied, horrified by the doll that looked identical to her, "So you must be my stalker?"
"It's not stalking, it's just watching you twenty-four seven." He defended, playing with her hair, then placing an arm around her waist. "I'm in love with you. There isn't a second when I don't think of you! I've even carved your name on my chest."
"Oh, I thought you know… you were…ummm." Sophia mumbled, rolling her eyes.
"I'm?"
"You know…. One who drives on the 'other side' of the road." She finished, looking around the flamboyantly decorated room. "I mean look at his place."
"Hey, just because I ran over fifty old ladies that day and smashed the carriage into ten streetlamps, does not mean I'm a bad driver!" Albel answered, oblivious to what Sophia was trying to say. "It took me years trying to decide if the colour scheme should match your eyes or hair!"
"No, that's not what I mean." Sophia said, calmly. "You're a great designer. Forget about what I just said."
"You're in love with that new owner, aren't you?!" Albel hissed, drawing her closer to him using the hand around her waist. He placed his human fingers on her cheek and starred deep into her turquoise eyes, with anger in his. "Forget about him, you're mine."
"Why do you kill people and hide out in the sewers?" She questioned, cautiously. "Why are you so obsessed with me?"
He let go of his grip around her, taking a few steps back. Taking off his jacket, he rolled his left sleeve up to reveal a mechanical arm, explaining, "This is why. My arm is so deformed that when people see it they call me a monster and some try to kill me."
"That's sad, you're arm doesn't look that bad." Sophia spoke, sympathetically, placing a hand to the mechanical arm. "Can I have a look?"
"NO!" He growled, snapping his arm away from her. "You must never see the hideousness of this arm! Those bastards deserve to die! I'll burn the opera to the ground with all of them, except for you, inside! I can't wait to hear their screams of pain."
"I think I need to go back to wash my hair." She added, with her eyes wide in shock, trying to slip back into the gondola.
"NO!" Albel screamed again, grabbing her arm. "I'm in the mood for knitting tea cozies! You're knitting with me!"
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Sophia waited backstage, walking back and forth with a sheet of paper, doing some last minute cramming. A scream was heard from above, causing her to jolt her head upwards. A muscular man fell tens of metres away from her. Instead of falling on the floor a rope hung from his neck, strangling him. Blood gushed from his chest in the shape of a "W", marking whom the murderer is. The entire backstage squealed in fear, running away from the dead man. Another envelope flew from the sky, as Fayt caught this one, ripping it open.
"I killed Monsieur Fitter because I didn't like his face." Fayt read the letter out loud. "I also killed the lead male in this production, Monsieur R.S. Huxley. His body is in your office, Monsieur Leingod. Since the curtain will open in five minutes, I will be playing the lead male. The Wicked."
"I'm scared!" Sophia sobbed, wrapping her arms around Fayt. "What are we going to do?"
"We'll play his game," Fayt snapped, with venom, "But, we'll have the police in the audience and they'll shoot him."
"Don't shoot him!" She cried out, letting go of Fayt. "He's a good person deep down. We were the ones who created this monster."
"Sophia," Fayt sighed, and paused for a moment. "Never mind, the curtain is up. Be careful."
She nodded, handing her lyrics to Fayt, then skipped towards the stage. Albel was already on the stage, standing there with a smile on his face. His mechanical arm hid under the left sleeve, but the hand was visible. He pulled out a pocket watch from his pocket, then lifted it up towards eye level and swung it, putting her in some sort of trance.
"Who do you choose, Leingod or me?" He asked, still swinging that pocket watch.
"I choose you." Sophia spoke in a monotone, like a robot.
"Cheap trick!" Fayt yelled, chucking random props at the pocket watch. Albel unsheathed his sword, slicing the props with one hand, using the other to hypnotize Sophia.
"Don't worry Fayt, this doesn't actually work." Sophia added, moving her eyes in sync with the watch. "Even a two year old knows that."
Albel growled, shoving the watch back into his pocket, and snatched her hand. A poof of smoke appeared, concealing Albel and Sophia. Using the sword to slice through ropes, they fell under the stage, disappearing when the smoke cleared.
"You chose me, therefore you will be my bride!" Albel hissed, running towards a stairwell that descended towards the sewers. "We'll run away together to paradise, the sewers of London! They are much more cleaner than the sewers here in Paris."
"Uh… Yay!" Sophia cheered, sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Why don't we live somewhere else besides the sewers? After all, we are leaving Paris and no one will find us."
"How about the catacombs to some rich family!" He suggested, as they reached the gondola. She sighed in disgust, shaking her head.
"How dare you take my Sophia away from me?" Fayt hollered, holding a pitchfork in his hands. "Sophia doesn't want to spend her live with a psycho like you!"
"Fayt, you are a very kind person and a great lover, but…" Sophia turned around to explain, "you cry during sex. Albel may be psychotic, but it's kinky in the bedroom. Also, you're a moron! It took you how many years to clue in that I liked you?"
"Shut up and die, fool. You've just been dumped!" Albel snickered, drawing his sword.
Before Fayt could attack with his pitchfork a small dog hit Fayt in the head, causing him to pass out. Lieber stood behind him, frolicking towards Albel, shouting, "I'm in love with you, The Wicked!"
"Oh, so you drive on 'both sides' of the road!" Sophia thought to herself out loud.
When Lieber leaped into Albel's arms a whip went around his neck straining him back. A young woman, slightly older than Sophia, with blue hair dragged Lieber back towards the opera saying, "You're coming home with me!"
"There you are!" Mirage grunted, sprinting towards Albel. His eyes were in shock, as he pushed Sophia into the boat, and paddled as quickly as he could. Mirage stood at the edge, shaking her fists in the air, yelling, "You deadbeat father, you owe me fourteen years of child support payments! Where do you think you're going? Come back here!"
La Fin
Albel is The Phantom
Sophia is Christine
Fayt is Raoul
Mirage is Mmm. Giry
Lieber is La Carlotta
Pepetta is Meg
(Albel, Cliff, Fayt, Maria, Mirage, Nel Sophia, Adrey) I'm kinda pumped because I'm going to go see this musical on Tuesday! Nelbel fans rejoice, for the next chapter is about them. This chapter isn't nearly, actually far from, as cheesy as the previous; then again it's Aldrey! How can one be serious by writing about Aldrey!
Thank you Dragon Chyld for spotting the typo.