And I'm back with part two. This is the last part so when this is over, it's over. This is going to be a lot less depressing, well, I think so. Super excited about this so I hope to hear your thoughts through out! Enjoy!

Retelling of Old Tales

"Do you think it's bad for me to feel glad that they died before they could get married?" Raoul asked Christine as they entered purgatory once more.

Christine glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "If it is, then I'm guilty of it too."

"It is sort of bad." Castiel stated appearing out of nowhere, startling Christine. "However, it also means process is being made. Your emotions towards you third are growing stronger."

"Yes, because envy is such a great thing to feel." Raoul remarked with a scowl.

Christine sent him a grin. "You were jealous?! I'll say that shows great progress!"

A scowl was sent her way, but she just grinned back. Christine has long since acknowledged her growing feelings for Erik as time went by. After his life that had ended in suicide, she was grateful that something useful ended up coming out of it. Raoul was beginning to accept Erik as their third, and was admitting to the fact that he had been jealous of Antoinette! She had also been jealous of the woman for being completely loved by Erik, it had brought back memories of Erik's devotion to her in their first lives. His love had been twisted because of his past, but to see it as it could be expressed was beautiful.

However, it hurt Christine to know that it had not been for her but instead another who was not Erik's soulmate.

Erik was theirs.

"Watching your beloved love another is painful isn't it?" Castiel remarked almost causally and Christine squinted at the angel.

"Wait…was that a set up?!" she accused.

Castiel shrugged. "It was a punishment for having brought Erik to us sooner than he was supposed to the last time. Erik and Antoinette were never meant to meet in that life, but my superiors saw the chance and used it to teach you two a lesson."

"That's…" Raoul gapped. "Harsh!"

Castiel shrugged again. "Now you know how Erik felt when he had to watch the two of you be together, yet you should be grateful."

"Why would we be grateful? That was a form of torture!" Raoul demanded.

Castiel leveled her eyes at the two of them firmly. "At least the two of you never had to go through the feeling of hope but then be rejected. To be completely in love with someone only to have them turn away from you in disgust and run to another. Whatever the two of you felt while watching your third be with another was nothing in compare to what he had to go through because of your actions in your first life."

Christine turned away in shame, knowing the angel was right. They had been jealous but did not have any grounds to be. Sure, the three of them were soulmates, but Erik has never seen them in that last life and as he had gotten older, he had stopped hearing them. They did not have a visible place in his life like Antoinette and her father did, who were able to express their love for him easier than Christine could.

Christine and Raoul were stuck watching over Erik, but that did not mean Erik had such chains. He was free to live and love whomever entered his life, Christine should be glad that Erik could feel such happy emotions, even if they were not towards her and Raoul.

"We understand." Christine whispered, gaining Castiel's attention.

Those intense blue eyes narrowed on her and there was a slight tilt of her head.

"Yes…I imagine you do." She declared thoughtfully.

The three of them stood in purgatory for a few moments in silence. Suddenly, Castiel blinked and straightened.

"Erik has been reborn." She informed them. "This life will be longer than the others, I suggest you put all your efforts in completing the mission in this one."

Before Christine or Raoul could say anything, they blinked and were abruptly back on earth.

1987-1997 – New York City

"Huh, so this is the infamous America." Raoul stated as the couple landed in a hospital room where a screaming woman was giving birth behind them. "It's a lot grayer than I pictured it."

"We're in one city Raoul. I doubt the entire country looks like this." Christine countered with a roll of her eyes.

"Meh, I'm not impressed." Raoul replied, but Christine noticed that he did not turn away from looking out the window.

Christine shook her head fondly but a horror filled scream pierced the air. Christine rolled her eyes again.

Could Erik not have one mother who did not hate him on sight? Apparently not.

"What the hell is that?!" she heard Raoul whispered in disbelief.

She went back to where Raoul was standing at the window and he pointed at something hanging from one of the buildings. Christine saw that it was a sign and cocked her head to the side as she read it.

"'The Phantom of the Opera?'" Christine read out with a frown, looking at the picture of a white mask with a single red rose next to it. "'On Broadway.' What's wrong? It's an ad for a musical."

Raoul shook his head and scowled. "I don't know, but for some reason, I have a feeling it is not just a musical."

"I think you're reading too much into it. Come. We have to focus on Erik." Christine persuaded, hooking her hand in Raoul's elbow and pulled him away from the window.

Erik's first few years consisted of him being shortly abandoned at an orphanage by his mother and his father was never in the picture. Luckily, the people in charge of the orphanage was able to put Erik in a foster home, and the middle-aged couple were very caring towards the deformed child. Christine was happy about that and she knew that Raoul was pleased to. Erik grew up more carefree and playful since he was not constantly told that he was hated because of his appearance.

When Erik was three, another boy showed up and Christine was shocked to find out that it was Nadir! The boy was seven years older than Erik but the toddler latched himself onto the older and Nadir accepted his new role as big brother almost immediately. Two years later when Erik was five Antoinette showed up, she was three years older than Erik. The three of them grew up together and became a misshapen family. Nadir would watch over the younger two but was also their friend. He would claim that when he got older he would become a cop. Antoinette wanted to be a dancer and Erik would say that he did not know what he wanted, but it will be something that involved music.

That came as no surprise. As soon as the foster parents realized that Antoinette enjoyed dancing and Erik liked music, the couple signed both of them up for classes, both of them did extremely well over the years. Erik learned to harness his voice to acquire many skills and learned to play the violin and piano.

He was writing his own music before the age of ten.

Because of his love for music, the foster parents got him involved in musicals, to which Erik soaked up eagerly. For Erik's tenth birthday they treated Erik to a special occasion.

They took the whole family to see the musical sensation that has the highlight of Broadway for the past decade.

The Phantom of the Opera.

Erik was ecstatic to find out that he will get to see the highly praised musical. The parents refused to tell him what the musical was about, as a result, neither Christine nor Raoul knew as well. They only told him that it's based on a book that was published in the early 20th century. When Raoul had heard that they were going to see it he got ansty.

"I don't know why, but I …don't like this." Raoul told her when she asked.

The night the family went to the musical, Erik and Antoinette were beaming in excitement, whispering to each other eagerly while Nadir walked behind them with an entertained grin as he watched the younger two.

They were not in the front, but they were close enough that they had a great view of the whole stage. Raoul and Christine watched from behind the seats since they found it too strange to be next to Erik when he was surrounded by other people, making the two of them stand through other people.

The lights dimmed and the show began.

Christine watched the first scene curiously. It has been a long time since she had been able to watch a musical. She found the overture a powerful piece, watching in awe as a chandelier rose into the air from the stage and stop above the audience in the front.

If this was what the whole musical was going to be like, she knew that it was going to be wonderful.

But then, the people on stage began calling out each other's names.

Frowning, Christine watched as the 'diva' was named Carlotta and one of the men called one of the actresses Mme. Giry. A group of girls came on stage and did a ballet piece.

"Christine Daae concentrate!" the woman named Mme. Giry called out to one of the girls.

Christine froze in shock.

"What the…" she heard Raoul whisper next to her.

The musical continued and Christine watched in disbelief as the story progressed. Seeing 'Christine' be called out by the managers then sing and do her performance. Then 'Raoul' showed up and then there was the mirror scene.

A deep voice echoed through the theatre and then the 'Phantom' shows up and takes 'Christine' through a mirror. While the voice of the 'Phantom' was good, it had nothing on Erik's voice. The title song came and if Christine was not half in shock, she would be impressed by the stage effects for the scene.

The Phantom's song was impressive and seductive, the 'Christine' looking positively hypnotized on stage, until she fainted at the sight of the bride mannequin.

Scene after scene Christine watched the musical, not being able to appreciate it because she remained in amazement the whole time. Raoul was standing beside her quiet and she would not be surprise if he was in a state of shock as well.

Then the rooftop scene happened and Christine gasped at 'Christine' and 'Raoul' as they confessed their love to one another and then it showed the 'Phantom' on top of one of the angel's. The chandelier crashed onto the stage soon after then the lights turned back on to signal intermission.

Christine blinked as everyone around began standing up to stretch their legs. Quickly, she turned to Raoul who was gapping.

"What was that?" she questioned frantically.

Raoul blinked.

"There's a musical about our lives…" Raoul whispered in disbelief.

"It wasn't completely accurate." Christine tried, knowing that she sounded partly hysterical.

Raoul snorted. "They got the general idea right. I can't believe this is happening."

Raoul placed his hands to his temples and Christine turned back to find where Erik and his family went. Not seeing them, she grabbed Raoul's arm and pulled him with her as they made their way through the crowd. Christine eventually spotted Erik at one of the souvenir stands where he was begging the foster parents to buy him the CD. The foster father agreed and paid for the CD, handing it to an eager Erik who clutched the CD to his chest.

"Of course Erik likes it." Raoul groaned upon seeing the family.

"Well, you can't blame him. He doesn't know what we do. You have to admit, the music is very well done." Christine stated then avoided Raoul's eyes when he sent her a scowl.

"Great. You like it too. That's just perfect." Raoul grumbled and walked away from her.

Christine sighed. She went back into the theatre when everyone began making their way back in. Raoul was already inside and she went to him.

"I'll admit that I like the music." Christine confessed. "However, the story I'm not all too happy about. Our story with Erik did not end happily, I'm not looking forward to whether or not this musical will end the same."

Raoul nodded and the lights of the auditorium went back down.

Together they watch the opening scene and Christine was surprise to see it as a masquerade, where the 'Phantom' later showed himself and was dress as Red Death. Christine shuddered at the sight. It had not been a pleasant memory in her life. The musical continued, not everything was like what had happened in reality but it was close enough that when the final scene came and the 'Phantom' let them go, Christine's eyes were pooling with tears.

However, unlike her life, 'Christine' came back on stage by herself and for a brief moment Christine wondered if there was to be a happy ending for the 'Phantom,' but instead she had only returned to give him back his ring.

"Christine, I love you." The 'Phantom' pleaded with a musical note, drawing the sentence out.

Christine gasped brokenly and the tears that had blurred her vision streamed down her cheeks. She felt Raoul wrapped his arm around her, but for once it did not comfort her. She watched as the heartbroken 'Phantom' kneeled on stage and in the background she saw 'Christine' and 'Raoul' escaping. As the 'Phantom' sang the last line of the musical, Christine continued to cry, tears sliding down her cheeks one after another. All the memories of their first life came to her and she was reminded how much the Erik in that life had loved her. He had been insane but he worshipped her and she had left him because she was scared and disgusted by him.

The memory of Castiel telling her that if they had stayed, Erik would have gotten better did not help.

Christine deserved the punishment heaven had given to her. She deserved every second of it.

The clapping of the audience broke her out of her guilt. She looked up and saw everyone standing, clapping enthusiastically with nearly everyone in sight having tear marks on their cheeks. The actors and actresses slowly came on stage, the sound of cheers getting louder as the more important roles came out. 'Raoul' came out and the crowd cheered loudly, 'Christine' came out and the cheers got louder still. However, when 'Phantom,' cleaned up with his mask back on, walked out the crowd roared with applause. Together, the cast took each other's hands and bowed. The curtain closed on them and the clapping faded out.

Everyone began making their way out and she spotted Erik and the family. All of them had tear marks on their cheeks but Erik was smiling the widest smile Christine has ever seen.

"That was amazing! It's my favorite!" Erik exclaimed excitedly as they made their way out.

When they got to the street, Erik grabbed Antoinette's hands and began pulling her. Antoinette laughed and let him.

"Sing once again with me, our strange duet! My power over you, grows stronger yet!" Erik began singing playfully to Antoinette. "And though you turn from me, to glance behind. The phantom of the opera is there! Inside your mind!"

"That's your favorite song then?" Nadir asked with a grin.

"Oh, I can't choose! They were all great! Especially the Phantom's! He had all the best lines and lyrics!" Erik replied admirably.

"Well I guess we know who your favorite character was." Antoinette stated with a grin. "Happy Birthday, Erik!"

"Best birthday ever!" Erik declared with a beaming smile.

Yay! We've started! There is a reason why I brought the POTO into this, you'll find out later! ;) Hoped everyone liked it and be sure to leave a review! They are much appreciated and keep me writing! Next chapter will be in Christine's POV. See ya next time.