On the seventh day of Christmas a present I did give...
...a Phantom of the Opera fic for arti_chan13 and evilteddybear40.
~~~
Phantom of the Heart
Aware of the police and mob entering the cavern, looking about with awe, Meg hurries through a curtained doorway. A quick look around reveals no Christine, no Raoul, no Phantom. Something in the corner of her eye catches the girl’s attention before she rushes on in her search. There. On a small table with something that might have been a music box with a little monkey on top, is a piece of white.
Her heartbeat quickening, a strange weight settling in her stomach, Meg slowly, reluctantly, walks to the table; she kneels next to it. For a moment she can only stare. It is his mask, the Phantom’s. Carefully she picks it up, a mix of emotions stirring inside her. Gently she rubs her thumb over the mask that feels cool to her skin. It has been a while since he had worn it.
A long, silent sigh escapes the girl. He is gone. She cannot explain how she knows, but she just does: the Phantom of the Opera will not be bothering anyone again. The realization makes Meg sad. She wishes she had been able to bid him farewell.
Meg Giry had grown up knowing the Opera Ghost was a very real presence at the opera house. Madame Giry had always warned her daughter about him, advising her not to speak of him and that keeping silent was wise. The girl knew the story of how her mother had brought him here, to hide him from the world.
The night when Meg, at only fourteen, made her debut with the corps de ballet, she had been in the wings putting on her ballet slippers. At one point she had turned her attention away from the singers on stage and glanced behind her to discover a man watching her from the shadows. The girl had been surprised rather than frightened. She was too far away to be sure, but she thought the right side of the man’s face was covered by a mask. When she looked up again after securing the ends of her ribbons, he was gone.
Over the next few years the girl glimpsed the Phantom a number of times - before the accidents began and he became enamored with Christine Daae.
The ballet girls often talked about the Opera Ghost in half-excited, half-frightened whispers as the accidents became more frequent and he was spotted throughout the opera house more often. Meg had always been silent, never joining in the discussion, though she listened with interest. If she made known her thoughts the girls would be both amused and frightened by her, thinking she was crazy, and her mother would have been worried.
No one ever knew of the pity and compassion she felt for the Phantom. No one guessed she was jealous when she realized the Opera Ghost was the one who taught Christine and loved her. None knew of her secret wish: that she could be the Phantom’s muse to both his music and his heart. And earlier - was it just a couple of minutes or hours ago? - when Christine unmasked the Phantom before all, Meg had not given hint to the pain she felt for him and the anger towards her friend.
But it is all over now. Both are gone. And Meg knows she will never see one of them ever again.
She presses the white mask to her chest for a long, final moment. Tears begin to blur her vision.
Goodbye, Erik, she says silently.
THE END
~~~
Phantom of the Heart
Aware of the police and mob entering the cavern, looking about with awe, Meg hurries through a curtained doorway. A quick look around reveals no Christine, no Raoul, no Phantom. Something in the corner of her eye catches the girl’s attention before she rushes on in her search. There. On a small table with something that might have been a music box with a little monkey on top, is a piece of white.
Her heartbeat quickening, a strange weight settling in her stomach, Meg slowly, reluctantly, walks to the table; she kneels next to it. For a moment she can only stare. It is his mask, the Phantom’s. Carefully she picks it up, a mix of emotions stirring inside her. Gently she rubs her thumb over the mask that feels cool to her skin. It has been a while since he had worn it.
A long, silent sigh escapes the girl. He is gone. She cannot explain how she knows, but she just does: the Phantom of the Opera will not be bothering anyone again. The realization makes Meg sad. She wishes she had been able to bid him farewell.
Meg Giry had grown up knowing the Opera Ghost was a very real presence at the opera house. Madame Giry had always warned her daughter about him, advising her not to speak of him and that keeping silent was wise. The girl knew the story of how her mother had brought him here, to hide him from the world.
The night when Meg, at only fourteen, made her debut with the corps de ballet, she had been in the wings putting on her ballet slippers. At one point she had turned her attention away from the singers on stage and glanced behind her to discover a man watching her from the shadows. The girl had been surprised rather than frightened. She was too far away to be sure, but she thought the right side of the man’s face was covered by a mask. When she looked up again after securing the ends of her ribbons, he was gone.
Over the next few years the girl glimpsed the Phantom a number of times - before the accidents began and he became enamored with Christine Daae.
The ballet girls often talked about the Opera Ghost in half-excited, half-frightened whispers as the accidents became more frequent and he was spotted throughout the opera house more often. Meg had always been silent, never joining in the discussion, though she listened with interest. If she made known her thoughts the girls would be both amused and frightened by her, thinking she was crazy, and her mother would have been worried.
No one ever knew of the pity and compassion she felt for the Phantom. No one guessed she was jealous when she realized the Opera Ghost was the one who taught Christine and loved her. None knew of her secret wish: that she could be the Phantom’s muse to both his music and his heart. And earlier - was it just a couple of minutes or hours ago? - when Christine unmasked the Phantom before all, Meg had not given hint to the pain she felt for him and the anger towards her friend.
But it is all over now. Both are gone. And Meg knows she will never see one of them ever again.
She presses the white mask to her chest for a long, final moment. Tears begin to blur her vision.
Goodbye, Erik, she says silently.
THE END