Here you go! The final Chapter! It has been a while, and I can't really bellieve it's done! :(

I own nothing...

Chapter 40

"Who on earth are you?" he demanded, his breathing rapid in fright. He looked warily over at Christine and Raoul, looking between him and them curiously...

"And... and how..." he swallowed nervously, looking at Christine again.

"How do you know my name?"

Christine gasped.

Erik glared at Henri and Madame Dupet angrily, demanding them to tell him what he needed to know. Nobody knew his name! Nobody except Antoinette Giry, and he knew she wouldn't tell anyone... would she? He narrowed his eyes slightly, but the Phantom had fled, and Erik felt bare and empty and alone. What did these people want with him? Why now, when he was exceptionally weak, when his heart felt shattered and empty?

Madame Dupet stared into her son's eyes hungrily; she had not seen him for so long... He was so real! And a man... the last she had seen – properly – he had been hiding in the Gypsy camp, beaten and abused, his small eyes innocent and pleading.

Henri stepped forwards, setting his hand on his mother's arm, and looking out at his brother.

"Well?" Erik demanded, his hands shaking, very much aware of his deformity on show, his weakness.

"Erik." Madame Dupet began to speak; her eyes trained on his vulnerable and scared ones, but he was determined not to show it. "My name is Madame Dupet."

Erik frowned, that name... it was familiar, as if from a dream, or a nightmare. He looked to the man, about his age, stood next to her. Henri gulped, his eyes dropping to the floor.

"I am Henri Dupet." He whispered, and then Erik remembered.

He gasped and stumbled backwards, as a barrage of memories attacked him, of his lying prone on the floor, his arms thrown up to protect him as his father stood over him, his brother stood next to him, his golden hair glinting, his eyes menacing, laughing.

"You!" Erik hissed, his eyes darkening in hatred.

He lunged towards the bars, and Christine darted out of the way, but Erik paid her no heed, his eyes fixed on his brother, who watched him warily. He slammed into the bars, and Henri yelled in fear, backing away from the pure hate shining out of his brother's eyes.

"I'm sorry!" Henri gasped out, "I was a child!"

Erik growled at him through the bars, "It's your fault!" he cried, "I hate you! I could have had a life! I could have been content!" His eyes narrowed as his voice dropped to a menacing whisper, "I should kill you for what you did to me!"

Christine whimpered. Who were these people?

"And you!" Erik turned to his mother, "I never did anything wrong!" he cried, tears beginning to run down his cheeks as he felt again like the small child with no friends, who couldn't understand why his own mother hated him.

"You shunned me." His voice became a sad whimper, "I was a child. I didn't know what I'd done. I thought what you did to me was normal." He backed away, "but of course. I was a monster. What was it? The devil?" he lowered his gaze, "I was a child." He repeated, his voice cracking, "and no child deserves that. You have no idea... no idea how much it hurt, to try and try to impress you. To be shunned, and hated, by my own mother. I tried everything! But you never saw past him!" he gestured at Henri, whose face was full of shame.

Madame Dupet's face was wet with tears. "There was nothing I could do!" she cried out, "My husband would have killed me!"

Erik turned away from them. "Go." He growled, "I never want to see you again." He glanced at Christine and Raoul, who were staring, their mouths agog. "Any of you." He pressed.

Then he heard it...

Track down this murderer, he must be found!

Track down this murderer, he must be found!

He yanked the lever to open the gate, to let Raoul and Christine out, his eyes widening worriedly. He did not wish to be found by the mob. Christine and Raoul did not move, but his brother and mother did, splashing their way into his lair.

"Go!" he growled at them, "Do you have a death wish?" his eyes darted to the entrance of the lair, where the voices were growing louder.

"What about you?" Henri demanded, "How are you getting out?"

Erik narrowed his eyes. "What if I don't want to get out?" he hissed, watching warily to see if the mob was close.

Christine whimpered, stepping away from Raoul. "You can't!" she half screamed, and Erik's gaze snapped to hers... he had almost forgotten she was there. Her face was pale and damp with tears as she pleaded with him, "You can't just give up!"

Erik scoffed, "what do I have to live for?" he asked her quietly, and she gasped before giving a helpless sob and turning into Raoul's arms.

Henri stepped forwards, and Erik flinched away from him, a flash of the past lighting in his eyes. "Don't touch me." He growled, warningly.

The splashing grew louder, and Erik could hear the mob approaching.

"Goddamn it!" he cried, "Why don't you just leave? Leave me in peace! Get the hell out of here!" Raoul was frowning at him, trying to get Christine away from the danger zone, but she was determined to stay.

"You have to leave." Christine said imploringly, and Erik couldn't help but let his gaze soften as he looked at her. "Please." She begged, "Please, Erik."

Erik gasped, and his eyes filled with tears, so he turned his face away to hide his shame. He could not deny her... not when she spoke his name with such... care.

"Damn you Christine!" he cried, turning from the group and lifting a candelabra, hearing the mob getting louder in every second. "Why couldn't you just go?"

He brought the candelabra down, smashing it with such force into a mirror that it shattered into a million pieces, raining down, glinting in a rainbow of colours. Ignoring the distant pain of glass embedded in his skin, Erik held back the curtain above the mirror to reveal a secret passage out of the lair, and he stepped back.

"Go!" he growled at them, and finally, they did as he told, as the roar of the mob grew louder, they disappeared into the passage, Erik leading the way, Madame Dupet and Henri straining their eyes to see his figure as they followed, Christine – with Raoul's arm around her protectively – brought up the rear.

Step after step, they inched along the dark passage, Erik easily leading them through the catacombs until, after it seemed eternity had passed, he pushed open a door revealing the starry skies above them and the dimly lit streets of Paris at night.

Erik felt far too naked as he felt the cool air against his deformity, and cautiously pressed his hand against the side of his face, cursing himself for not bringing his mask, or even a cloak.

He turned back to the others.

"There." He growled, "I'm out. Now go!"

Raoul tugged on Christine's arm. "Come on, Christine!" he implored her, "let's get out of here!"

Christine placed a hand on his arm and begged one more minute of him. Frustrated, Raoul crossed his arms, but nodded, watching her warily as she approached Erik.

Erik's green eye glinted in the dark, one hand still pressed against his face. He watched her approach, his heart desperate for her to have changed her mind, to have chosen him... please God. I don't know how much more I can take of this...

Christine stood in front of Erik, her hand reaching up and taking hold of the one covering his face, pulling it down. Erik turned his face away from her, distressed.

"Look at me." Christine muttered, and Erik's eyes felt drawn to hers, unable to disobey her simple demand. "I'm sorry." She told him, and his eyes – not looking away – filled with pain again.

"Please." He whispered, "Don't draw it out. Just go."

Christine's brown eyes filled with tears and she tugged the ring off her finger, reaching out for his hand and curling his fingers around it. Erik looked down at it, trying to hold back the sobs, as he clutched at the ring.

"I'll never forget you." Erik told her sadly. "I love you so much." He brought his hand up to trace her face gently, his breath catching, before lowering his hand and his eyes.

"Go." He said once more, and she stepped away from him, walking back to Raoul, who took her in his arms, sending a flash of pain across Erik's face, and the older man closed his eyes against the image.

"Goodbye, Erik." Christine whispered, and Erik's eyes flashed open to connect with hers one last time before she disappeared into the night.

Erik breath caught in a sob as she vanished from view, backing against the wall, bringing his hands to his face and sliding down the wall until he was hunched into a ball on the floor, his shoulders shaking.

Henri looked at him helplessly, his eyes damp, feeling his entire self consumed in guilt.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, looking at his feet, but Erik ignored him, rocking slightly, flashes of images cascading through his mind.

He kept muttering to himself, "Gone... she's gone... Oh Christine... I love you... Why? ... Gone... Gone forever..." Then he could no longer speak over the sobs wracking his body.

Madame Dupet crouched down next to him, and set a hand on his shoulder.

Erik flinched away, opening his wide, green, agonisingly vulnerable eyes, and looking at her.

"Mother..." he muttered, and she enveloped him in her arms.

"Oh, Erik." She said sadly, "I'm so sorry. God, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault... All my fault."

Erik just shook with sobs, leaning desperately into his mothers embrace.

Henri sat cross-legged on the floor, his eyes trained upon his mother and his brother, desperately trying to hold themselves together, ripped apart by the past and desperately trying to fix what was broken.

Hopefully, Erik would one day forgive him for what he'd done.

Hopefully, Erik would be able to heal.

But for now, they sat in the darkness, the starry skies glinting far above them as they clung to each other, the promises of the future dim and unsure.

The End

Thank you so much to everyone who has read, and especially those who have taken the time to review. I hope you have enjoyed Lonely Angel... I do not think there will be a sequel - Go and watch Love Never Dies if you want one. But thankyou so much, it is you lot who have kept me going all this time.

So one last time, I beg your opinions I value so much...

Thankyou so much for the last time...

Oreal