Erik: With Piangi gone, I walked out and over to her. She enslaved me with her delicate body and sensuous voice. I was able to touch her again, and I cherished the sensation.

Our bodies melted within each other, her scent deluded my senses. I caressed her skin as she leaned into me. It was our song, our duet, and we sang with desire.

I watched as the audience fell under my spell, my voice enchanting them with it's uncanny tone and timbre. I watched Raoul as he watched us, and his face was a mixture of disgust and horror. For spite I leaned in towards Christine and began to gently caress her waist as I sang the song that Raoul had sung to her.

She had already come to me, made her final descision, and now, as soon as Act II was finished, I would carry Christine into the fire, as the play had been written, but instead of us reemerging for Act III, we would be well under the Opera and making our way out of France.

However, we never even finished Act II. Christine, the fucking tart, the selfish, irritating little rat, ripped off my mask AGAIN! This time for the entire world to see!

I hesitated, afraid. Never before had I felt so vulnerable, so open and hurt. My heart raced, I began to sweat in terror. Then, in a flash, something within my mind just snapped. I simply fell off the edge of reason and fell off the bridge we were standing on into the fire. I snipped the rope and the chandelier fell.

That was all I could remember until the blackness receded and I found myself staring at Christine in my lair, holding a veil and somehow looking at Christine in her wedding costume.

I don't remember forcing her into it, and I didn't know why she was crying. Had I hurt her somehow? In the black veil of my distorted mind, had I hurt my beloved Christine? Who or what else had I harmed in my insanity?

Ann: I had prayed long that morning, before the performance. I had said my prayers quietly to God so Erik could not over-hear. I stood silently off to the side watching the performance as Act I finished. Piangi disappeared beneath the curtain and I motioned for the Ballet Troupe to take their places.

Suddenly my heart stopped and my fist's clenched. Erik had appeared. His voice rang out and I realized he was bespelling the audience.

I myself was not ensnared as badly as The Vicompte, whose face registered the horror and shock of being so powerfully moved by one man's voice.

I found it rather amusing, but I did not find Erik's performance amusing. Obviously he knew the police would be there, and he told Christine to keep silent. She obeyed his every command and I wondered if she, somehow, was making her decision.

They danced and swayed, their bodies moving in such precise desire that I hardly believed it to be an act. It was emotional, and I found myself smiling at the obviously love-lorn couple. Erik began to sing off-cue, and Monsuier Remy looked at the managers in confusion.

They too were confused as whether or not to send down the Police, but just then the inexplicable happened. Christine ripped off Erik's mask in full view of the audience! I screamed, "You Dirty Bitch!" as I ran towards Erik.

Before I could reach him, however, he cut down a rope and fell through the trap-door. This was not what I had expected. All those time's he'd told me about Don Juan, it had seemed as if he wanted the entire play to be performed with him as the lead actor.

Instead, the chandelier came crashing down and Erik had kidnapped Christine Daae; again. Raoul ran towards the backstage and I tried to avoid him. I had to reach Erik before he hurt the poor child; I had seen his eyes go blank and knew his mind had blacked out. Raoul ran to me as did Megan. I didn't want either of them to be hurt, but my daughter was more important.

"You stay here!" I told Meg, although I knew she would try and find Erik's lair without me. I led Raoul towards the first cellar, and then the second. I made sure to position him above the water trap-door that Erik had installed on the bottom second cellar floor. "This is as far as I dare go." I told him. It was true in a sense, I hardly dared go past the third cellar except in emergencies, but now as I heard the splash behind me I raced to find my daughter and the Police.

Erik: She sang to me, she sang a song of love and remorse. I walked towards her sullenly, needing her comfort. I knew then that she would go with me, whether it was in her heart or not. She did, somewhat, love me for who I was.

Suddenly I heard splashing, and glared at the intruder. "Raoul!" Christine screamed. I knew in that split second all that had occurred several seconds before was lost. She would never consent to leave with me if her damn Vicompte was here to rescue her.

I flashed back to that graveyard, to her insidious refusal to help me, and again I blacked out. I came too several minutes later, only to discover I was holding a rope across Raoul's neck as he screamed for me to let her go. Christine was screaming back, and I was screaming from sheer frustration.

I needed her, she was my only salvation from an ever increasing insanity. The hands of madness had wrapped themselves around my mind and I was helpless to resist. I screamed, "Make your choice!". Christine looked from Raoul to me, and she came to the edge of the water. I watched in anger as she walked towards me.

I couldn't understand what she was doing as she slipped the ring around her finger, and then leaned in to kiss me. She pressed her soft, passionate lips against mine and all thoughts of anger, madness, and fear were swept away in a comforting embrace. I grasped her lips with mind and moaned. It was so warm, so intoxicating, as our bodies melded into one another. She leaned back and I leaned foreword.

I needed more, honestly, my body was raging with pent-up emotions and my lips were stinging with desire. She looked at me with love and kissed me again, more passionate and arduous than before. I felt my heart leaping and my mind racing. She would stay with me, forever, and we could leave immediately.

However, as our second kiss ended and I leaned back, I thought of all the actions that had brought this about. I thought of how I had deceived her, for so many years she had thought I was an Angel from her father. I had kidnapped her, black-mailed her, almost tried to murder her childhood companion, and now I was, in a sense, forcing her upon myself.

I began to cry, deep and honest, as I thought of how happy she appeared with Raoul. She had not smiled once during the half hour we had been in my lair, and I sobbed. She may have wanted to stay with me, but I couldn't force her to love me as honestly and innocently as she did Raoul.

Their love came about not from deceit and treachery, but from a real connection. I realized from that wonderful kiss that Christine and I had no connection, that our relationship was one-sided. "Go..Take..Him...Leave me alone!...Go Now and LEAVE!" I screamed as I pushed her away, and she ran to Raoul.

I saw that connection, as she helped untie him, and knew that if I made her stay with me, in time she would be miserable. I ran to my bedroom and sobbed, grabbing my music box and listening to the soft lullaby. A few minutes later and I heard the sound of the mob coming to my lair.

I looked up and saw Christine. "I love you." I whispered. She did not reply, but handed me the ring, so expensive and ornate. She had tears in her eyes and I repeated, "Christine, I love you." Again, she did not reply, and I knew, deep in her heart, she did not love me romantically. She pitied me, she felt sorrow and remorse at my fate, and she loved me as a father or guardian, but not as a companion.

I would always be her friend, but never would she love me as I loved her.

I watched them sail away as she took one look back at me. I cried, and then looked at my lair. One final glance before I began to smash my hidden mirrors and screamed. I screamed as I busted the one mirror that led to the Paris Catacombs and my escape route.

I ran until I was exhausted, and began to sink to my knees in despair. "Christine!" I screamed. "Christine...