Elaina found the source of the crying to be a little girl covered in ashes trembling under a chair that hadn't been crushed by the falling chandelier nor consumed by the fire.

"Hey, sweetheart, where are your parents?" Elaina asked calmly despite her heart racing as the fire grew hotter around them.

The girl just shook her head and continued sobbing.

"Come here."

The little girl slowly came out from under the chair into Elaina's arms. She held her protectively to her chest. This felt so similar to her nightmares when she held the young Erik close to her in an attempt to shield him from the gypsies' abusive hands. She just hoped this very real moment didn't turn out the way her nightmares always had.

She started towards the back entrance to the theater, but the fire blocked her way.

"It's going to be okay," she said to the girl. "I'm going to get you out. We're going to find your mother and father."

She went back up on the stage to get to the wings where the fire had not yet reached.

Suddenly, the little girl let out a frightened scream. Elaina turned just in time to see a huge portion of the set falling in her direction.

She quickly pushed the girl out of harm's way as it crashed down onto her.

The ballet girl from before ran up to her and tried to lift the set piece off her.

"Don't worry about me!" Elaina said firmly. "Get the girl and find her parents!"

The girl looked at her with surprised concern. "But…you might die."

"I'll be fine! Now go!"

She reluctantly picked up the little girl and ran offstage towards the exit.

Elaina managed to free herself from the set piece but not before her mind started going foggy from inhaling too much smoke.

Lacking all the strength to stand, she tried to crawl away from the stage towards the left wing where she hoped she would be able to breathe.

She started coughing violently from the smoke constantly entering her lungs.

With one last hope she cried weakly, "Erik!"

She didn't know where he was or if he would be able to hear her desperate cries for help. Despite him knowing everything that went on in the Opera House, he was most likely all the way down in his lair with Christine not giving her a second thought.

But he was her only chance.

She coughed more before weakly crying out, "Erik!"

Erik scoured the burning remains of the Opera House looking for Elaina. He didn't understand why he was trying to find her.

He had told her he wanted her to leave, that she belonged up here rather than down below cut off from the world like him.

And any sane person would've escaped the moment the fire started.

As he entered the stage from the right wing, the thick smoke stung his eyes and burned his throat.

Surely Elaina wouldn't be here, would she? She would die within minutes if she was breathing in the acrid smoke wafting in the air.

He was just about to turn away when he heard very faint cries.

It…sounded like someone was saying his name.

He had never told anyone his name…except Elaina. Terrified that she was trapped or worse, he covered his mouth with his sleeve and walked further onto the stage searching for the source of the voice.

He nearly missed her, but there was Elaina collapsed onto the ground. Her costume was ripped and singed in several places and black ash streaks marred her white skin.

Erik quickly knelt down next to her and took her head in his hands. "Elaina!"

Her eyes slowly fluttered open. "Help me," she whispered.

"I'm here."

Ever so gently, he picked her up off the stage into his arms. She put her hands around his neck and rested her head against his shoulder, reminding him of when he'd carried her when she had fallen ill.

At some point in the walk, he could tell she succumbed to unconsciousness but she was still breathing. He pulled her closer to him protectively as if she would remain alive so long as she was inside his arms.

Having nowhere else to go, he headed in the direction of his lair, hoping that the mob had left the place clear when they found no trace of him.

If they were still there, he could easily stay in the tunnels until they'd gone. It wouldn't be the best option, but it was the only thing he could do at the moment.

Fortunately, when he arrived at his home, the place had been completely trashed but it was devoid of people.

He was sure the police would return in search of him, and he wouldn't be able to stay for long. He just needed to be sure that Elaina was okay. Then he could disappear.

He gently placed her down in the swan bed, pulling the blanket over her frail body. She still looked…so beautiful, despite the unfortunate circumstances.

Tenderly, he began to stroke her face and let his fingers run through her long brown curls. Then he found himself singing to her softly:

Nighttime sharpens,

Heightens each sensation.

Darkness stirs and wakes imagination

Silently the senses

Abandon their defenses.

He remembered singing this song to Christine after he had first brought her down to the lair. She had always been his music of the night ever since the moment he'd first laid eyes on her. And he had been sure that she would be the only one who could be his music for as long as he lived.

But now…was it possible that Elaina was his music?

It would explain why he'd constantly thought about her for the last several hours when he was supposed to be focusing on Christine.

Elaina was different from Christine in many ways. She was nearly ten years older which brought about more wisdom and maturity. She had seen her share of ugliness in the world and experienced difficult times which had made her into the person before him.

The beautiful and confident person he knew her to be. The only one who truly understood him.

But…she'd seen his face.

When he thought back on everything that happened, he realized that his first thoughts were not on what the audience was thinking or about how Christine had betrayed him yet again.

His first thought had been that Elaina had seen him unmasked.

The one thing that he'd managed to keep from her the entire time he'd known her was revealed. His chances with Christine had been ruined the second she had seen his face, and he knew it would hurt that much more for Elaina to have the same reaction.

She must be terrified of him now.

She had to be.

She'd seen him.

But then…why had she called his name for help when she was trapped by the smoke?

Erik shook his head. It had to be because she was scared and desperate. It was not possible for someone as beautiful and perfect as her to ever have feelings for someone like him. If he was not worthy of Christine, he could never be worthy of Elaina.

Erik quietly finished his song and left her to her dreams.

Elaina slowly woke up and coughed a little, her lungs still expelling the smoke they had unintentionally inhaled. Unaware of her surroundings at first, she soon noticed that she was in the swan bed back in the lair.

She could just barely remember Erik finding her and carrying her away from the fire with a gentleness one would not expect from the Opera Ghost.

When she turned her head, she saw a glass of water sitting on the small table next to the bed. She picked it up and eagerly drank the liquid, letting it cool her scratchy throat.

Once she had composed herself, she slowly went out to the lair and found Erik seated at the organ.

"Erik?" she said softly. "What happened with Christine?"

Erik didn't say anything for a long time and she wondered if he had even heard her. Finally, he spoke, "I had to let her go. She was never going to love me."

Elaina remained silent. She wasn't sure what to say to comfort that kind of pain even if she had known all along that it was next to impossible for Christine to have feelings for him.

"I'm such a fool," he continued, putting his head in his hands. "Who could ever love a monster such as this?"

"Me!" Elaina blurted, the word leaving her lips before she could stop it.

Erik whipped his head around to look at her, surprise in his green eyes.

She'd already said it, so she may as well say the rest of it. "I love you, Erik."

Erik slowly got up from the organ and came over to her, towering over her as much as ever yet not in such a menacing way.

"How long?" he simply asked.

"Since the Masquerade Ball," she admitted.

Erik was stunned. She'd loved him for that long?

Elaina felt ridiculous. Here she was confessing her love for a man she was definitely not supposed to love, someone who only had eyes for one woman and kidnapped her because of that love.

"And yet…you still hoped that I would be able to win over Christine?"

"I wanted you to be happy. Even if it meant you weren't with me."

Erik felt as if he couldn't breathe. In all his years of living, no one, much less a woman, had ever put his happiness above their own.

Erik had done so much for Christine over the years. He had given her voice lessons and comforted her when she became saddened about her father's death. Later on as he realized his supposed love for her, he had convinced himself that all of his actions, even the obsessive and cruel ones, were justified because they were all for her.

In return, she'd rejected him and betrayed him. But he would never be able to hate her for the same reason Elaina could not hate her own mother who had neglected to offer her any affection.

And the entire time he was focused on trying to earn Christine's affections, Elaina put aside her own desires so that Erik could have a chance at being happy with the woman he thought he loved.

But she had been right. What he felt for Christine had not been love.

Elaina looked down in embarrassment, not wanting to meet Erik's eyes.

So she was quite surprised when she felt Erik gently take her chin in his hand to lightly force her head upward.

Then she felt his lips on hers much to her shock. She allowed herself to melt into the kiss with him, only pulling away when she absolutely had to.

Everything that Erik had dreamed of feeling during his kiss with Christine he felt as he kissed Elaina.

He looked at her deeply when they parted. "My dear Elaina, I love you too."

Elaina's eyes darkened. "But what about Christine?"

"It's…been a long time since I've felt what I used to feel for Christine. I'm not even sure what I felt for her anymore. All this time, as much as I tried to hang onto my feelings since they were one of the few things in my life that made sense…I've found myself falling for you more and more every day." He gently touched her cheek. "You once told me that love is that the other person's safety and happiness is always most important to you. It's…why I told you to stay at the Populaire. I thought you would be happier up there rather than down here with me. And for the last twelve hours, my thoughts have been centered around you, wondering and hoping you were okay after the fire started. Even when Christine was right beside me, all I could think about was you."

"So…you really did come looking for me?"

"I had to. You were right before. I only thought I was in love with Christine. If I was really in love with her, I would've left her alone after that night on the roof when I heard how happy she was with the boy. I wouldn't have brought here down here last night by force and tried to make her stay with me. I couldn't love her…because the one I love is you. Please…forgive me for being so blind to what was right in front of me."

Elaina could feel tears of joy in her eyes at his heartfelt confession. She slowly reached up and touched his mask.

Erik's hand quickly caught it and clutched onto it tightly.

Elaina said nothing as she met eyes with him, silently telling him that it was okay for him to show her what he kept hidden from the world.

He slowly removed his hand from hers and she ever so gently removed the mask from his face.

"You can love this monster?" he asked quietly.

Elaina set his mask down and caressed the deformed side of his face. "I love you," she repeated. "I love every part of you. You told me I belonged up at the Populaire, but you were wrong. I belong wherever you are."

She kissed him passionately as she felt Erik's hands grip her back, tightly pulling her close to him.

All her life, Elaina felt as if everything she wanted was ripped away from her, from her mother's love to her mentor when she worked as a servant to the chance at being a lead to her entire life upon being taken down here.

But for the first time, she had gained something that was hers and hers alone.

For the first time, life was fair.

She never would've guessed that she would be in this position after the first night she had come in contact with Erik. But now he was all she could ever want. She would give up anything if it meant she could be with him for the rest of her life.

When they broke for air, Elaina looked deep into Erik's eyes and saw that all the anger she had seen before was now gone.

Now they were filled with a deep longing for love.

The love that she gave him now.

The love he never got from Christine. The love that Christine could never give him because her heart belonged to another.

But Elaina's heart belonged solely to Erik.

For he was not a monster or a ghost but a man.

A man who just wanted someone to look behind the monster he had always believed himself to be.

And now, he had finally found what he had truly always wanted.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read this, especially everyone who read the first draft. It was so much fun for me to expand on Erik and Elaina's relationship and show them growing to love one another. I hope you all have enjoyed reading my little contribution to the Phandom :)