Education of the Heart

Summary: Mostly based on the ALW Musical. I have Ramin Karimloo in the 25th Anniversary in mind when I write this. What if the managers and Raoul had the decent idea to ask the magistrate for help? A dedicated young magistrate has an idea how to catch the Phantom alive and the Phantom has to make the hardest decision in his life and is getting a chance that might save him - or destroy him. Starring: almost all characters from ALW Phantom of the Opera and some OC.

How to ensnare a Phantom

The masked ball had been a disaster. The Phantom, who had been absent for six month, was back and he was even more dangerous than ever. Giles Andre and Richard Firmin wished he would only demand money - they'd gladly paid 20.000 Franc a month if in return he would stay away from the opera. But this was not about money or some changes in the cast - this was a personal vendetta of the Phantom against... against whom? Well, he hated La Carlotta. This the managers could understand to a certain degree, that woman had a terrible temperament an was an utter drama queen. He hated the managers for they had defied him and he hated the patron Raoul de Chagny for he was Christine Daae's fiancee. And the Phantom had great interest in Christine Daae, no one could overlook that.

The three men - Andre, Firmin and the Vicomte de Chagny - sat in the office of the magistrate, a young man called Clemenceau. Clemenceau was the man who had been investigating the murder of Buquet and the chandelier-crash, which had killed even more people. He had not found out much since the Phantom had disappeared after the chandelier crash and he had suggested the Phantom might have fled to avoid being arrested, but at the masked ball the Phantom had been there, standing tall between thousands of people, threatening them, blackmailing them again.

"What can we do?" Andre sighed, "What can we do without risking him killing again? He said: 'There are worse things than a chattered chandelier.' What do you think he could be up to?"

Clemenceau shrugged. "If I knew I would be as criminal insane as he is. No one knows what madmen are thinking. But I agree that we have to catch him before he commits another crime."

"If we perform his work like he wanted us to do? If Christine Daae sings as he demanded, he will attend to hear her. We could lay a trap," the Vicomte suggested.

"A trap in the midst of an opera? Endangering thousands of people?" Clemenceau replied "I don't think so."

"But what else could we do? Wait for him to kill again?" Firmin was close to hyperventilate.

"Monsieur le Vicomte - I read the reports and I know that the only person who ever saw him is Christine Daae. You said that he kidnapped her and let her go again, you say that he claims to love her. Is that correct?" the magistrate asked, adjusting his glasses.

"Yes, that is correct," Raoul answered uneasily.

"In that case - what do you think our Phantom fellow is willing to do to help Christine Daae if she needs him?"

"She said he'd kill a thousand men for her," the Vicomte answered, "And from what we have seen I am afraid that is exactly what he will do if we do not stop him."

Clemenceau smiled: "Then we try it like this. I will have Christine Daae seemingly arrested and claim that she is the Phantom's accomplice."

"Are you mad? He's going on a killing spree if he hears that!" Andre shrieked. He really shrieked.

"Who else could know something about the Phantom?" Clemenceau asked.

"Madame Giry, she always delivers his letters," Firmin answered, "Do you suspect her to be his accomplice?"

"I do not suspect anyone without having any evidence. She could as well be another victim of his blackmail. So... I need to talk to Madame Giry and to Mademoiselle Daae. I need them to tell me everything they know. Then we can set a trap."

It was not easy to persuade Christine Daae to talk about the Phantom. Clemenceau learned that the girl was terrified of the deformed madman, but at the same time pitied him and did not even want him to be arrested. She clearly was his victim, but a victim who somehow had grown fond of her perpetrator, she wanted to help him and the only way Clemenceau could get her to tell him anything was when he promised that he would try everything to help the deformed man. "He clearly needs help," Christine said, "He's not a monster, he's just... I do not know... he has done horrible things, but... only because he's so lonely and he has suffered so much abuse."

"Mademoiselle, I see you have a good heart and are willing to forgive him..." Clemenceau started, wondering if he should send the girl away for her own sake, she was mad to beg for help for the man who kidnapped her and threatened her constantly, "But you understand that we need to arrest him before he commits another crime?"

"If you lock him behind bars, be it a prison or an asylum for the criminal insane, it will kill him," Christine sobbed.

Clemenceau sighed. There was a certain character flaw in women - their unpredictable need to help someone, their hope that the culprit who had wronged them would turn out to be a good man at heart. Why did all women hope they could change a man? A beast is a beast and never turns to a prince. That is something that only happens in fairy tales. "Mademoiselle Daae, I promise I will find a way to help him. You see, if we want to arrest him, we need to put him under pressure to the breaking point and then offer him a way out. It has to be a way out he could appreciate, otherwise he'll never give himself up. You see, there are certain doctors who want to make an experiment. They claim that criminal insane could be cured and want to test a completely new treatment. If he agrees to be the first patient to undergo that treatment and he would be cured, he will be rehabilitated and might even be able to reintegrate into society. If not, he will be treated well, he might actually be happy."

"What am I to do?" Christine asked, feeling horrible for she betrayed the man who loved her so much, the man who had raised her from a chorus girl to a diva who rivaled the current primadonna of the Opera Populaire.

It was hard to believe, but Madame Giry was even more protective of the Phantom than Christine. She talked about him like he was her wayward son, telling endless stories of the man she had seen years ago in a travelling fair. A deformed man, put on display for the crowd to gawk at. He had been ill, the rags on his back barely covering him, his body bruised and filthy, close to death. His tormentors had boasted he was an architect, a musician, a scholar, an inventor - but all she had seen was a man close to death in a filthy cage without protection against the cold weather.

"Where was the magistrate when they tortured him like that?" she challenged, "Where was the magistrate? I went to them, I reported what I had seen - what did they do?"

Clemenceau thought about this. So there was a file about this man, only back then he had been the victim. "I will take that into consideration," he answered, wondering if this Madame Giry was really a victim or the Phantom or the accomplice. She was the second one to speak in his favor, and this after she admitted that he had ensured her cooperation by threatening her daughter. How could a mother speak in defense of a man who threatened to take her daughter hostage and torture her, if she did not cooperate?

This Phantom must be a master in manipulation, a really charismatic man who would be able to manipulate his victims to pity him. This Phantom might be the most dangerous criminal in France of all times.

"Madame, if you reported that I will find the file and of course consider it in his favor," Clemenceau promised, "If it is true then my plan might be the best for this man - he would get the treatment he needs to overcome that mental illness that makes him so dangerous. As Mademoiselle Daae has already pointed out to me - this man is mentally ill, he can't be held responsible for what he does, but if we do not catch him, he will go on killing people. Once he is in our custody he will get the treatment he needs and if he can be cured he even could be a free man again, don't you see that this is in his best interest?"

And so they began to lay the trap. Madame Giry left the Phantom a note from Christine, she asked him to meet her, she needed his help. She would wait for him at her father's grave. The Phantom did not like this - leaving the opera house and going to the graveyard was an immense danger, especially now when catching the Phantom was priority number one in the police. But he could not say no and he understood that Christine could not come to the opera house now that it was full of policemen who searched for him.

He debated with himself if this might be a trap - if Christine would be followed by the police. She would not betray him, would she? But she could be followed. So he decided that he would follow her and dispose of everyone else who followed her. But she went on foot from her flat to the graveyard - without being followed. Since no one but her knew when and where they met, he felt save enough to reveal himself.

That moment he noticed that he had walked right into a trap. Policemen were everywhere, they had awaited him. He turned his back to a large gravestone and grabbed Christine, holding her tight, using her as a shield. "You betrayed me," he whispered in her ear, "You lured me here, you bitch!"

"It is for your own sake," Christine answered, "They can help you."

"Help me? What, by beheading me? Chaining me up behind bars?" the Phantom snarled.

"Surrender yourself or we shoot," Clemenceau cried out.

"You wouldn't dare!" the Phantom hissed, still using Christine as a shield. A bullet hit the gravestone close to their heads and Christine cried out in shock.

"The next one is for her - she's you accomplice so why should we spare her?" Clemenceau called out, "You have no choice - surrender or we shoot you both!"

The Phantom stared at Christine in his arms. Her face was white and she was shaking with fear. Had he been alone he would have attacked the policemen by now, he was rather willing to die instead of being arrested, but Christine? He could not bear the thought of his lovely Christine being hit by a bullet and die bleeding in the mud of the graveyard. Not even now that he knew she had betrayed him. He still loved her.

"Don't shoot!" the Phantom called out and let go of Christine, waiting for her to run from him, but she did not. "Christine - go. They want me. They will not shoot you."

"But they will shoot you," she whispered. She had not realized this was exactly what he was hoping for.

"Go," he whispered desperately. Why didn't she understand? He needed her to go, he needed...

BANG

A shot rang out and the Phantom sank to the ground. The marksman had hit his target - the Phantom's left leg. Not deadly, but incapacitating him. The Phantom groaned in pain as he reached for the small derringer he had. He had to kill himself now, kill himself before they could arrest him. But then he felt Christine's soft hands on his, she held him so he could not turn the gun against himself. "Do not do this," she said, "Please. You have to trust me. If you love me, if you love me as you claim you do, you surrender. Or you have to kill me first."

The Phantom stared at her, stared at her beautiful eyes, and found he could not do it. Bleeding, hurt, unable to walk, surrounded by police - he had could not do it. He could not fight her and risk to shoot her by accident while fighting for the derringer. She would not let go, he knew that, he saw the determination in her eyes. "Will you visit me?" he answered miserably. Being imprisoned without ever seeing her again was unbearable. "Yes, I will," she promised. He let go of the derringer and it fell to the ground.

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I have too many ideas right now. So I have now two fanfics to write... well, why not.

This was the first chapter, and much happened - they lured the Phantom into a trap and caught him. Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out if the magistrate keeps his word of finding a way to help the Phantom.