AN: Hello! This is my first Phantom of the Opera story, and I really hope you enjoy it! I used Crawford for Erik's last name... I know... it's soooo creative *sarcasm*. Anywho, this is set closer to modern times. Not exactly 2012 modern, more like 1980's modern. I was always rather fond of that time period... ahem. I do not own Phantom of the Opera, the great Mr. Gaston Leroux does. However I am using Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Erik design, so that belongs to him too. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Hello, Mr. Crawford! So glad to meet you!" Mr. Jean Clyde was a short, balding man with a bushy grey mustache and beady eyes. He wore a plum-coloured velvet suit that clashed horribly with his bright yellow tie. He held out one stout hand to the other man, who grasped it firmly in greeting.

"Likewise, Mr. Clyde." Erik Crawford stared at the realtor straight in the eyes with a business-like demeanor. He was the opposite of Mr. Clyde in almost every way. Erik was tall, with neatly combed black hair and piercing blue-green eyes filled with a brightness and maturity. He was dressed in all black, save for the intimidating white mask that adorned the right half of his face.

"Oh please, Mr. Crawford, call me Jean." Jean smiled and led Erik into the large building. Erik looked around at the gorgeous complexity of the interior; rich dark mahogany walls, golden pillars, ivory staircases. It looked like a palace to someone who had lived in an apartment building for most of his music career.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Jean remarked, enjoying the look of admiration on Erik's face, for that meant he might buy it and get the old place off of his hands.

"Yes," Erik answered. He was utterly humbled at the sight before him.

"I'll show you some more, come on," urged Jean, gesturing with his hand as he led them further into the building and out of the grad foyer. He let Erik feast his eyes on the ornate hallways, showing him the costume and prop storage areas, and multiple ballet dressing and practice rooms. There were also empty rooms that didn't seem like they were ever used for any purpose at all. Erik viewed every aspect of the building with absolute awe, unable to believe that such a beautiful place even existed, and at a very affordable price, also!

"This place... it's perfect," said Erik. Jean merely smiled, continuing to lead Erik through the intricately decorated building.

"There has to be a catch..." Erik remarked jokingly.

"None that I can think of, dear sir!" Jean chuckled. "Not only is this place... impressive, it has a rather intriguing story to go with it."

Erik looked over to Jean curiously. "What do you mean? What story?"

Jean stopped walking, his smile unfaltering. "This place isn't some ordinary building."

"Clearly," Erik interjected.

Jean nodded. "It used to be an opera house. It was called the Opera Garnier. Very popular in the late 1800's, I'd say."

Erik's eyes widened. "So... this building is about one-hundred years old?"

"That would be correct. Anyway, while this place was in its prime, there was often talk of an 'opera ghost', more specifically, 'the phantom of the opera'."

"The phantom of the opera?"

"Yes. Apparently, this guy micromanaged the entire business, but people rarely saw him, which is why they refer to him as a ghost."

Erik narrowed his eyes at this bit of news. "That's certainly... interesting..."

"Of course," agreed Jean. "The mystery of the opera ghost is probably a factor in their success. The Opera Garnier's, I mean."

"Well... the public always loved a good mystery. That much hasn't changed, for sure..." Erik mused, thinking. Jean began walking again.

"Ah, here's a place that hasn't changed much at all!" Jean said excitedly, stopping in front of a simple wooden door with a gilt doorknob. Jean turned it and opened the door, revealing the interior. He and Erik stepped in, with Erik observing the room inquisitively.

Mot of the room was decorated rather lavishly, with pink being the main colour, combined with various mauves and golds. In Erik's opinion, that part of the décor was extremely gaudy, and would probably only appeal to a rich noblewomen with small poodles and ruffled dresses. He looked to a painting on the wall, framed ornately. He seemed to be correct about the rich woman with a poodle assumption; the painting depicted a grandly dressed lady in pink with cascading red curls down her back. Some of her hair was piled on top of her head, and she wore a pink hat that did not go well with her hair in the slightest. In her arms was a black poodle with a pink bow. In the background, there was the very room they were standing in, but it seemed even more richly decorated, if that was even possible.

"Who is that?" Erik asked.

Jean following Erik's gaze and he stared at the painting also. "Oh, I know who she is, but her name eludes me."

"I take it that this was her dressing-room?"

"Yep. She was the leading soprano for about the last five years of the Opera Garnier's business. Many people seemed to love her performances, all except for the actual staff and the opera ghost himself."

There was that ghost thing again! Erik's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"She was a diva in every sense of the word. Snobbish, high-and-mighty, and many of the old reports say she sung rather 'overzealously' and 'obnoxiously'."

"I can imagine," Erik inwardly cringed, trying to imagine what the nameless diva was like.

Jean chuckled, as Erik turned his attention to the darker part of the room, which was decorated with more brown and ivory things that the rest of it. A small table with a vase and mirror was pushed up against the wall; Erik assumed it was for hair and make-up purposes. The colours in this portion of the room appealed much more to the taller man. Jean saw him observing in that direction and smiled.

"That part of the room was probably for that one girl who was briefly the lead soprano, right before the Opera Garnier went out of business. I've heard that she was a mere ballet girl, but the opera ghost gave her the opportunity to be a star. Caused a lot of stir, that did."

"She certainly had better taste," Erik remarked, which was met with good humour by Jean. Did that guy ever stop smiling? He reeked of desperation and bad cologne, and Erik knew all Jean wanted was to sell the building and get on with his day.

"I agree with you there." Jean watched as Erik stepped further into the room, pausing by a dress mannequin to gaze into a dusty mirror. He reached up and caressed the simple wooden frame. Although the mirror was quite dirty and plain, Erik found it to be the most beautiful thing he'd seen so far.

"Pretty nice mirror, huh?" asked Jean, standing next to Erik. "It's strange though... every time I look into it, I get a strange feeling. Almost like I'm being watched."

Now it was Erik's turn to chuckle. "Who knows, maybe it's the opera ghost," he said, moving past Jean to stand in the doorway to the room. "Care to continue the tour?"

Jean gulped, looking into the mirror for a few moments longer before plastering his usual smile on his face and following Erik out. "There's just one last place for me to show you," he said, taking the lead. "Follow me."

He led the masked man through two elaborate golden doors, and Erik couldn't help but gasp at the sight.

It had to be the most gorgeous and auditorium he had ever seen. The seats were upholstered with red velvet, the boxes had an intricate gold accent that went nicely with the brown wood that made up the walls. The room was huge; it would sit well over a thousand people. Erik then turned his attention to the stage. It was also large, with eaves along the edge that must have originally held candles to illuminate the stage with a soft glow.

"Wow..." Erik whispered, looking at the ceiling, which depicted angels and clouds on a sky-blue background. The only thing which made the room less than perfect was a large hole in the ceiling; Erik could see right through it into the dusty rafters beyond.

"It was restored just a few years ago. Took quite the budget... probably the most expensive job they had ever done, considering the sheer amount of damage," said Jean.

"What happened?" Erik asked, his curiosity piqued.

"It was the disaster that ended the Opera Garnier's career. The opera ghost, as I said before, controlled the entire business. There were these two managers that, unlike previous ones, were extremely skeptical about the whole ghost thing. The managers ignored the commands and instructions of the opera ghost. I guess that their 'disobedience' angered the ghost, and he cut the rope of the chandelier that used to hang over this very stage." He gestured up to the hole in the ceiling.

Erik frowned. "That sounds horrible."

"Yeah. It would have been frightening, being in the audience at that time."

"Wait. The chandelier fell during a performance?"

Jean nodded. "The opera was called 'Don Juan Triumphant', or something like that. The opera ghost had written it himself, and its debut performance was on the night he cut the chandelier down."

Erik furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Why would he ruin the first performance of his own opera?"

Jean shrugged. "Perhaps it wasn't good enough? Well, anyway, the chandelier actually killed a few people and injured many others. The chandelier started a huge fire that completely ravaged the auditorium and several adjacent rooms."

"This restoration much have been a huge job, then," observed Erik, taking another look around.

"It was. Luckily, it was only the auditorium that was destroyed. Even so, the Opera Garnier was never able to pull itself out of that rut, and it went out of business."

"It looks nice now, though. I really like it."

"May I ask, Mr. Crawford, what you are planning to use this building for, if you buy it?" inquired Jean.

"I am looking to open a school of music. Music has always been one of my passions," Erik answered.

"Oh, you are a music teacher?"

Erik nodded. "I used to do private lessons from my apartment in addition to my job as a police officer."

"That's very interesting. Well... anywho... unless you want to see sixteen more floors of dressing rooms and such, do you want to buy it now?" Jean asked hopefully, hoping that the ghost stories hadn't scared the mask man away from the deal.

"I was planning on looking over a few more properties today, but none of them would be remotely as grand as this place. I'd love to buy it."

Jean smiled brightly. "Excellent." He led Erik out of the auditorium, and to a smaller room which was clearly an office. "This used to be the office of the opera house managers. Quite a proper place for our business transaction, isn't it?"

Erik nodded, taking a seat in front of the old desk as Jean sat behind it, procuring a few papers from his coat.

"Just sign here, you can turn in your payments monthly."

Erik frowned. "Actually, I'd rather pay off the entire thing now." He got out his checkbook, writing the full amount on it and handing it to Jean before signing the papers.

Jean looked surprised, but shrugged. "Well, it's yours now," he said happily.

"Thank you," Erik said as Jean showed himself out and handed Erik the keys to the front door.

"Good luck!" Jean called before driving away, leaving Erik with his newest establishment.

Erik smiled, admiring the grandeur of the former opera house. However, he got the feeling that there was much more to the opera ghost's story than he knew...