Author's Note: I do not own Phantom of the Opera. "I Found" belongs to Amber Run.

55

Kayla fell through the darkness, surrounding by curling shadows and snarling spectres, tumbling down a hole that she was sure would never end. But end it did, with a distantly painful landing on a surface that was equal parts soft and rock-like. She laid there for a moment, the air knocked out of her, music ringing in her ears.

"Down once more, to the dungeons of my black despair…"

Kayla swore and scrambled to her feet, racing after the torchlight flickering away, boots thumping on what must have been stone. Red and yellow and orange swam across shining black rock, trailing behind two struggling shadows.

"Down we plunge, toward the prison of my mind…"

Her lungs were burning as she sprinted through the tunnel, the figures in the distant steadily growing clearer.

"Down that path, into darkness deep as hell!"

The pain in the voice cracked through her heart, sending tears down her cheeks and a stab through her chest.

"Why you ask was I bound in chains in this cold and dismal place

Not for any mortal sin, but for the wickedness of my abhorred face!"

She heard Christine let out a shriek of pain, but judging by the shadows dancing on the walls, her girl was putting up one hell of a fight… far more, in fact, than she had remembered from the movie…

"Erik!"

The spectre turned and stared at her, light glinting in his wild eyes, shadows making his face look like the skull he so often compared himself too. His lip curled almost imperceptibly, but he immediately turned back around and stormed back down the tunnel once more. Distant voices echoed in Kayla's ears.

"Track down this murderer, he must be found

Track down this murderer, he must be found…"

Erik burst into the lair like a bat out of hell, dragging Christine after him, Kayla following closely. "Erik, calm down, you don't have to do this…"

"Hounded out by everyone," Erik snarled, pulling Christine towards the stairs.

"…met with hatred everywhere,

No kind words from anyone, no compassion anywhere…

Christine…"

His voice broke, glass shattering out of his mouth and his heart falling in pieces to the stone below. Pulling her like a desperate child to the alcove, he ripped back the curtain, revealing the wax figure of the soprano.

"Why?"

Christine stood silently, her eyes apologetic but unrepentant. He shook her shoulders. "Why?"

Kayla rushed forward and tried to force herself between them. "Erik, stop. You're a better man than this."

The Phantom let out a bark of laughter. It echoed around the cave like the screams of ravens. He stepped away nevertheless. "I am not a man, little magician. I am a monster."

"Monsters are not monsters by default, Erik."

He laughed again.

"What do you want?" Christine demanded, her brown eyes fiery and her curls mussed. Her sleeves hung off her shoulders, but she didn't seem to feel the cold. "I have been manipulated, tricked, and forced into situations I did not wish for ever since I became soprano. What else do you want from me?"

He stared at her, flaming brown meeting blazing green in a chorus of sparks.

"He wants you to play your role." Kayla stared at the Phantom, realization creeping through every vein. "He wants you to play the role that destiny has chosen for you."

Christine glanced at the dress, her eyes widening. "No! I did not choose this, and I will not."

"I don't think you have a choice, love."

Christine raised her chin and stared down the man in front of her. "Fine," she snapped. "I will play your game."

Erik smiled, the crooked corners of his mouth curling. "You've already begun."

"Keep your hand at the level of your eyes…"

"The level of my eyes…"

The voices echoed in Kayla's mind. She rubbed her temples with her fingers, frowning. What was the point of any of this? She had not truly changed anything. She had let Erik down.

"I'll use you as a warning sign

That if you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind…"

The lyrics slipped quietly from her mouth without any prompting. She bit her lip. At least, if the spirit of musicality was hitting her now, it was doing so quietly. She had no desire to try to compare her voice to Erik's.

Erik had shed his coat and vest, and was hunched over the organ, the muscles of his back clearly visible beneath the thin white shirt.

"Dude. Do you lift?"

Erik swivelled around and glared at her. She raised her hands in surrender. "Sorry. I'm tired, and I have no filter."

"I'll use you as a focal point…"

"This was my moment!" he snarled. "My moment of triumph, and now it is in flames."

"Honest to God, Erik, why couldn't you have just left the Populaire alone? I know Raoul and the managers were being little bitches, but maybe you could have avoided the arson?"

Erik cocked his head at her. "Arson? I did not commit arson, little magician."

"I think setting the Populaire on fire counts as arson."

"I didn't."

"…What."

"I did not cut the rope. I saw you… and I could not. Did you know my plan all this time?"

Kayla could only nod.

"I never would have, you know. This opera house means so much to you."

"So I don't lose sight of what I want…"

Kayla gaped. "Means so much to me?! It's your home, and I've been here for, what, six months?"

"It is your home as much as it is mine. It is a part of us now. We have created our own worlds here."

"I've moved further than I thought I could…"

She glared at him. "You complete asshole." Trying to look at everything but the slightly calmer Phantom, she noticed her bag sitting innocently by the mirror: the final door. "You could let her go. Christine, I mean. We could go to England. Or Italy. No one gets hurt. It'd be easier."

"But I miss you more than I thought I would…"

Erik grimaced. "I have crossed too far into hell to back away now."

"I'll use you as a warning sign…"

Kayla walked towards him and sat next to him on the bench, tentatively putting a hand on his shoulder. "Do you ever wish…I don't know…Do you ever wish that none of this had ever happened?"

"That if you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind…"

Erik let out a bark of laughter. "More times than I can count, little magician, in years gone by. But Christine, you… I would live these past months over and over again. For an eternity."

"I found love where it wasn't supposed to be…"

"After all the trouble I caused you? After swearing at you in Swedish? After basically forcing you to deal with the Vicomte constantly? For drinking all your alcohol?"

Erik snorted. "I would live every day since Hannibal a million times over."

"Right in front of me…"

"What about me drunk crying in your house? Even that?"

He was much closer to her than he had been when the conversation had started. "Every minute of every day, Kayla."

"Talk some sense to me…"

She leaned slightly towards him, and found that his arm was around her shoulders. She propped her head on his bicep. "Are you sure you don't want to just go to Italy? Or we could go to Iceland. It's apparently lovely this time of year."

"I will not flee, Kayla. I have come to close to victory to turn back."

"But you could lose everything."

She could feel the warmth of his disfigured skin against her hair. "I could not care less at the moment."

"I found love where it wasn't supposed to be…

Right in front of me

Talk some sense to me…"

"What are you singing, Kayla?"

She stiffened. Slowly turning her head, she stared up into the amused green eyes of the Phantom of the Opera. "Amber Run?" she squeaked. "It's a band?"

"You have a lovely voice. Not exactly opera worthy, but roughly beautiful, nevertheless."

Kayla nudged him none-to-gently. "Gees, you really know how to make a girl feel special."

"You cannot fault a monster for an honest tongue."

Extracting herself from his arm, she straddled the bench and put her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "Listen to me. Are you listening? Good. You're not a monster. Got it? You may have made mistakes, but you're only a monster if you refuse to change."

"I wouldn't even begin to know how to change."

Kayla wanted to say that she knew he would. Instead she said "When the time comes, you'll know what to do."

"Your blind faith in me is comforting and useless."

"Just trust me, Erik. Please."

"I trust you, Abbots."

There was a tapping of slippers on rock. Kayla and Erik both turned.

"Have you gorged yourself at last in your lust for blood?"

Christine's voice was rich, angry and fierce and afraid all at once. Erik turned from the organ, lips parting as he gazed upon the sight of his angel draped in white. Christine was not simply an angel now; she was an avenging angel.

"Am I now to be prey to your lust for flesh?"

Standing and walking towards the furious girl, Erik stared at her, his eyes loving and gentle. "That fate which condemns me to wallow in blood…" He reached a trembling hand to her cheek. "…has also denied me the joys of the flesh…" Christine turned her head away, and Erik's voice broke. Kayla took a shaky breath and stood, moving a step closer to the angel and the demon. "This face, the infection… that poisons our love…" His hands hovered over the soprano's shoulders, shaking, before he drew away and walked back towards the organ.

"This face, which earned a mother's fear and loathing

A mask, my first unfeeling scrap of clothing…"

Kayla watched Christine's eyes soften, brown glistening with the beginnings of tears. Both girls gasped as the phantom jolted back around and grabbed Christine, pulling her close.

"Merciful heavens, Erik!"

"Pity comes too late, turn around and face your fate:

An eternity of this before your eyes…"

Christine, deviating from what Kayla expected, gently wrapped her small hands around his trembling wrists.

"This haunted face holds no horror for me now…

It's in your soul that the true distortion lies..."

Erik let out a quiet, shaky sob, his green eyes vulnerable and afraid. Silence fell, and it was Kayla who broke it.

"I'll use you as a makeshift gauge

Of how much to give and how much to take…

I'll use you as a warning sign

That if you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind…"

Her voice trailed off, and Erik's eyes glistened. A clink broke through the stillness. Erik's head snapped back up with animalistic ferocity.

"Wait! I think, my dear, we have a guest!"

A sopping wet figure appeared on the other side of the gate, droplets of water rolling down blond locks. His shirt was open down to his navel. It was not exactly high fashion.

"Raoul!"

"Sir!"

"Shit!"

"This is indeed an unparalleled delight!

I had rather hoped that you would come!"

Erik dragged Christine closer to him, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and holding her close to him.

"Erik, come on, this isn't a contest…" As Kayla put a calming hand on his shoulder, Erik's other arm shot out and circled her hips, yanking her into his side. Kayla shrieked.

"And now," Erik crowed, looking as smug as only a man with two girls on his arm could, "my wish comes true! You have truly made my night!"

"Free them! Do what you like, only free them!

Have you no pity?"

"I found love where it wasn't supposed to be…"

Erik whispered wickedly into Christine's ear. "Your lover makes a passionate plea…"

"Right in front of me…"

Christine rolled her eyes and shot an almost annoyed glance at Raoul. "Please Raoul; it's useless…"

"I love them!" Raoul yelled, shaking the iron bars. "Does that mean nothing? I love them!

Show some compassion!"

Erik bared his teeth, spitting out each word. "The world showed no compassion to me!"

"Talk some sense to me…"

"Christine! Kayla! Let me see them!"

"Be my guest, sir…"

Author's Note: ... Do you guys hate me yet?

I just finished my two final research papers, so I'm posting a chapter to celebrate! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited, followed, etc, and to Liandra2428, Minha, guest, Catherine, E-man-dy-S, Jennifer, Guest, guest, and Michelle Desler for their guest reviews. If I missed anyone, apologies, its been a long day.

As far as the Inkitt Fandom2 contest goes, I've sunk down to the 20th spot, and I held 2nd for all of fifteen minutes. So if you haven't voted yet, please do, because apparently only the top 10 make it into the next round. I'm being beaten by Tomb Raider, for heaven's sakes. So if you'd like to keep voting, I'd deeply appreciate it.

I love you all, and thanks so much for all your support through this year of writing.

love, Tierney

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