Of Masks And Roses

Notes

Erik groaned, head swimming as he slowly sat up. He blinked weerily, gazing around confused and puzzled. The last thing he could remember was having a row with Scarlet. They had shouted at each other, Erik yelling at her for sending Christine out with the fop, and Scarlet accused Christine of not loving Erik, but instead loving the patron. Erik saw red, and then...

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, the memory of running stupidly into the door flickering through his mind. He gasped, then pulled his hands away in horror. His mask was missing. He dug through his pockets. So was his spare key. Looking up and through the mirror a gleam of white caught his eye by the door. It must have fallen off when he had run into it. Carefully he stood up and re entered the room, making his way to the mask, and next to it was the missing key.

Kneeling down Erik plucked the piece of porcelain off the ground and studied it carefully. It had a small crack at the edge of it, but it was fixable. Besides, there were more down in the lair, ready to use. Erik grabbed the key, stowing it in his pocket and carefully placed the mask on his face as he made his way back to the mirror, closing it behind him softly.

He stopped short, a revelation coming to mind. He slowly grazed his fingers against his mask as he turned back to the mirror, eyes wide.

Scarlet has seen his face.

'She saw me,' he thought to himself, 'She saw the monster. But why did she put me back behind the mirror, after seeing my face? Why didn't she run screaming for someone to come and take me away? To get rid of such a horror?' Erik sighed and looked down at my feet, 'It doesn't matter, she saw my face, and she left. I'm a monster.'

Erik turned, ready to leave, when the jiggling of a door handle caught his attention. He spun towards the sound as the Prima Donna's room opened, and Christine walked inside. She was humming to herself and had a far off look in her eyes as she made her way to the dressing screen to change.

Erik grinned, 'This is it,' he thought, 'I have a second chance.' Erik quickly prepared himself as he waited for her to change. When she came out she was dressed in a white nightgown, and was heading to the door, arm outstretched for the handle.

He smiled as all the candles in the room blew out at once.

XxX

I slowly opened the door, peeking outside, listening for any sign of the Phantom. But even the quietness of the morning seemed too loud to tell if he was near, not like I would be able to tell anyways. He wasn't named 'The Phantom of the Opera' for nothing. If he wanted to sneak up on me I wouldn't know until it was too late. Last night's feud with the Phantom still plagued my mind. I'm sure he was fully awake and pissed, and to be honest I was a little mad at myself as well. I had just messed with the entire plotline of the movie, who knows what could have changed. I had messed with everything Erik had planned. I knew that he wasn't going to forgive, at least not quickly. And to think, we were getting along well. We could have become friends.

Slowly I walked into the hallway, closing the door behind me and stowing my key in my pocket. It seemed safe, the noises of the Opera House waking up barely reaching me. Making my way downstairs, I stopped when I reached the grand staircase. Looking around I spotted Monsieur Firmin enter the opera house, striding to a couple of well dressed guards. He handed one his hat and gloves, then peeled off his coat and handed it to the other. I hid by a pillar, watching as he made his way to the staircase.

"'Mystery after Gala night,'

It says 'Mystery of Soprano's flight.'

'Mystified' all the papers say,

'We are mystified, we suspect foul play.'" Firmin rushed up the stairs, pausing in the middle landing.

"Bad news on sopranos's scene.