An Opera Ghost - A Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction

Chapter One

"Soon." He swept down the long hall that led to his dungeon of a home. Rats scurried around him on the ground, fleeing from the touch of light his torch provided in the otherwise dark area. If it weren't for his own residence, this area would never see light. "She will bring it soon..." He smiled to himself, knowing the pain he was causing the woman he had loved so dearly. The woman who had cruelly betrayed him. The woman who he had secretly deceived. Miss Christine Daae. The new Countess de Chagny.

Christine had left a little under a year ago with her lover, abandoning him to the mob her dearest Count had led down to his home. He, of course, had hidden. After all he was a Phantom and his opera house had many places to conceal one's existence from onlookers. The men who had come to take his life had hovered around his home only a couple of weeks, in small groups to keep a watchful eye as if the Phantom might decide to surrender himself to their justice. In the end, he wasn't sure if they had grown bored with the search or if they had realized their utter inability of capturing a man who wasn't quite a man at all. Probably the first—men weren't known to admit to incompetence. The only one who known he hadn't gone, who was aware of his stable presence in the Opera Populaire was Madame Giry, who he held carefully under his thumb with the threat of her daughter's life. She knew it was no threat to take lightly. His were never those to be ignored. And so, she kept her mouth shut and kept her place at the opera house as well, watching as he had instructed her.

Yes, Christine had left him with a ruined life and a broken heart that still managed to beat in his chest—something he was once sure must be hollow—, but he had given her something worse to take. He had given her his seed, his child. The night she had been him was much less innocent than she had painted it to be to her little Count. Of course, she had been entranced with his song and a good bit of wine, but she had been the one approaching him with a coy grin. Perhaps that night she had wanted to prove something. Her worth, maybe. Or maybe she wanted him to know how unafraid she was. He had not known until recently about Christine's pregnancy, but rumors spread fast in the city, especially scandal. She was too far along to have been conceived within the few months of marriage shared by the de Chagny's, who had taken time to arrange a ceremony so glorious it was as if they were trying to paint themselves into a fairytale ending. The prince fought the monster and swept his bride-to-be away. It had to be his own. And if he was right—he was hardly ever wrong—nine months was approaching. It'd be born soon, a punishment for Christine from the hell that controlled his fate. Perhaps even a gift for himself for all the troubles. She would know if the child was his rather than Raoul's if she already hadn't. He was sure she had kept up her act as a sweet little virgin until the moment she bulged with child, she'd never let Raoul know she would act as a whore, a lesser woman. The Count could just pick those sort off the street. The Phantom hoped the child would look like himself, that it would have his eyes. One a different color than the other, the only abnormality in himself he somewhat appreciated. The eyes would show Christine instantly that the child was his even if she tried to deny it to herself. She had called his own beautiful.

Once upon a time, she had.

Christine would not be able to bear having a reminder of himself, of their time together. She wouldn't be able to keep a ghost of her past. He was almost sure of that but if she could, if she was strong enough and her new husband noble enough—which the Phantom highly doubted that he was but maybe for once he would be wrong—, the child would eventually find its way to the opera house. His child would feel the call to come to the true home of its blood and he would claim it as his. The time wouldn't matter, not really. He had all the time in the world. He had eternity to wait.

He was, after all, a phantom.

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A/N: So I currently have TEN chapters of this written and ready to post (well almost ten). That is about 57 pages of text. I am currently planning to update weekly. More likely I will move to Mondays but since I am on today, I figured I would start now! I'm eager to hear what old fans of the original think of the new and improved version... While originally I planned to keep things relatively the same... Well, things change. The first couple chapters hold close but there are differences.

Please like and comment if you enjoyed! It makes my day to hear from you all, I've missed it so much!

Want something else written by me? I run a blog now! It is about teen dating abuse and relationship abuse in general. I will be updating every Monday (hopefully!) with a new post, topics varying from abuse to positivity and optimism! Find me at https://speakupstandtallagainstabuse.blogspot.com/ :D