"Erik?" Ella whimpered her hand on his shoulder. "Wer…were you…are you expecting anyone?"

He took a step back, pushing her away from the door. In his hands, she saw a Punjab lasso. "No, I'm not," Erik growled. "It may just be Antoinette, but I don't want to take any chances."

A second shadow appeared. "Erik, that's not just Madame Giry." Ella was terrified of whoever it was. If Archer had come with backup, then they were in for a fight. She didn't want Erik to have to get violent, but Archer would take her again if he didn't. Unless… "Is there another way out of here? A way we can run?"

"Yes," Erik replied with a nod. "But if I don't stop him, you'll be in danger from him forever."

She clung to his free arm. "Erik, if he hurts you, I don't think I could live with my…" Ella's voice trailed off as she saw who was there. "Meg!" she shouted, running to a wide-eyed ballerina who was being led by her mother.

"Ella!" Meg threw her arms around her. "Oh thank goodness you're alright!" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Has he hurt you?"

"No!" she replied. She looked over and saw Madame Giry and Erik a ways away, deep in conversation themselves, no doubt about Archer.

"Have you been here the whole time?"

She shook her head. "No, maybe a few hours at most...I think."

"You think?! Ella, what's going on?" Meg seemed hysterical. "You disappeared four days ago without a trace! The opera house is in chaos. We've had to cancel shows because you were gone and Jacqueline, your understudy, packed up and left the next day without a single explanation! Then my mother comes into my room and brings me down here without telling me where we're going or why, and you've been with the Phantom! He's hypnotized you or something. It hasn't been just a few hours, it's been days Ella!"

"If someone tells me I've been hypnotized or put under a spell one more time, I'm going to scream!" Ella cried. "Meg, he hasn't hurt me, he hasn't hypnotized me; he saved me! Archer kidnapped me!"

"He what?!"

"Archer hired a thug to kidnap me. He took me to his estate outside of Paris and kept me locked up there until I managed to escape."

Meg stared at her, her mouth hanging open. "Oh my God, are you alright?" she demanded.

Ella nodded. "I'm fine. Erik helped me. He came after me, found me, and brought me back home. Archer was planning on taking me to America, and probably would have if it weren't for Erik."

"Erik? Who's Eri-?" Meg's eyes tripled in size, and she looked like she was going to faint. "Oh...my…God…you're on a first name basis with the Phantom of the Opera?!"

"Well actually…" Ella started, shifting from foot to foot. "It's, um, more than that…"

"There's more?!" Meg shrieked. "I don't know how much more I can take."

She looked over and saw Erik glance at her as he continued talking with Madame Giry. "I, um, I, well…" Ella took a deep breath. "I'vebeentakinglessonsfromhimev ersinceIarrivedandnowI'minlovewithhim."

Meg stared at her, utterly dumbfounded. "Come again?"

"When I arrived, he heard me singing. He started giving me lessons, coaching me to get over my stage fright," Ella confessed. "And…I fell in love."

Her friend's hands flew to her mouth. "Ella, are you serious?" She nodded. "And you were seeing Archer the whole entire time this was going on?"

"Maybe," she admitted. "That's why I kept trying to break it off with him."

"Oh my God, you're in love with the Phantom!" Meg cried. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I kept pushing you towards Archer. I should have just let it go when you said you weren't interested."

Ella shook her head. "It's not your fault, you didn't know."

"But you really love him?"

"Yes Meg, with all my heart."

"Even after everything he's…?"

"He just needed someone who could love him for who he was, not to judge him because of his mask. Meg, Erik's been so kind to me. He's nothing like the man everyone thinks he is."

Erik and Madame Giry seemed to end their discussion, as they soon made their way back to the two girls. Meg still seemed uneasy around the Phantom, and was more than happy to keep behind Ella and her mother. "Ella," Madame Giry started. "We were wondering if you could tell us what exactly happened. After all, we know what happened before he took you, and after Erik found you, but you're the only one who knows what went on while you were with Archer."

Ella recanted the entire story, starting with leaving the café. She told them everything, the man in the alley, Archer's plans to go to America, her attempt to escape, getting out with the hairpin, the rider. "But then I blacked out. I don't remember anything after he found me again."

"Archer never caught you," Erik said once she finished.

"But the last thing I remember was a big black horse."

"You certainly shocked me," he replied with a smile. "I was on my way to rescue you, and all of a sudden there you were. You screamed, and then you were on the ground, and you weren't moving. I was afraid you had been kicked when Cesar reared up. You startled him as well."

"Cesar?" she questioned.

"My stallion," he explained. "I forgot that you haven't been properly introduced."

"A stallion?!" Meg squeaked. "Of course he has a stallion. My friend has been seeing the Phantom, who just so happens to own a horse even though he lives underground. Makes sense."

"So what happens now?" Ella asked.

"Well that, my dear, is up to you," Madame Giry answered. "You can choose to return upstairs and take your place as Prima Donna, you can remain here if Erik doesn't object, or you can do something else entirely."

"I do want to be able to go upstairs to sing and dance again, but what if Archer comes here? He'll come looking for me sooner or later."

"Actually," Meg piped up, "he's already here. He arrived yesterday afternoon, bringing most of the police force with him."

"That's just fantastic," Erik groaned.

"And that's not everything," Meg whispered, afraid to be talking directly to the Phantom. "He said if they couldn't find Ella by noon, he was going to have them come down here, to take Ella back and kill you."

"No!" Ella cried. "Erik, I have to go upstairs now! I can't bear the thought of him trying to hurt you. I can't let him find you."

"But if you go upstairs, he'll try to take you again," Erik protested. "I'm the Phantom of the Opera. They tried to find me before and they couldn't, what makes you think they could do it this time?"

"What if you both went upstairs? That way Ella, Archer couldn't take you, but you're not in danger for staying down here," Meg suggested.

"That might work," Madame Giry agreed. "Erik, what do you think?"

"I don't want to risk you again Ella," he said. "We can hide from them. No one knows the opera like I do. I can keep you safe."

"Erik, you can't know that. Things happen," Ella argued. "I won't let you get hurt because of me. I'm going back, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. I can't keep running forever. Maybe I can make him see reason."

He sighed in defeat before giving a nod. "Fine, let's go. But if you think I'm letting you go without me, then you're wrong. If Archer tries anything, I'll be there to stop him."