Margaurite Giry's eyes wandered from the side of the stage she was performing on, to her younger friend as she threw away the clothes of her maid character. Meg turned to the audience as she gasped in surprise along with her fellow actors beside her. Playingly Christine went in for a smooch with Carlotta.

Meg turned to the people beside her as, all three from the chorus, pretending to gossip about the scandals of the Countess as Carlotta began her solo part.

Meg's eyes moved back to Carlotta now, but not for long, for Meg heard an atrocious sound come from her mouth. Like the croak of a toad.

Carlotta's eyes went wide as did everyone else's on the stage. Worry flashed across the face of the diva as she tried once again to perform her aria while the crowd cackled with laughter.

"Oh fool he makes me laugh hahahacroakcroak." Carlotta's brows furrowed in rage as she could not make the desired sound.

Meg watched as the diva ran off stage screaming and crying to her ladies in waiting. Meg stepped back as the stage hangs pulled the red velvet curtain closed before her. She could hear the managers start to speak in front of the curtain trying to calm and quiet the audience. Christine was suddenly pulled from behind the curtain before Meg's eyes.

"Miss. Daae will be playing the role of the Countess." Echoed across the theater from Monsieur Firim before Christine was whirled away by costume workers. She looked back at Meg with a look of bewilderment and surprise.

"We will now perform for you the ballet from act 3 from tonight's opera." Monsieur Andre stated to the crowd who was still giggling with laughter. Monsieur Reyer must have not believed him for she heard Andre say, "Monsieur Reyer, the ballet!"

Meg eyes widened as she rushed out of the way as the ballet girls ran onto the stage getting into position. Many bumped unceremoniously into stage hands as everyone flew around stage, clearly surprised by this uncalled for scene.

Meg quickly walked into the backstage area where whispers were already flying about Carlotta's sudden voice loss.

"She has finally lost that horrid voice. Thank God." "Is she sick?" "No, it is the work of the Phantom. He must have something to do with it." Gossip hummed along the walls as Meg brushed through the crowd with her graceful ballet feet carrying her.

She saw her mother pulling Christine by the hand towards her dressing room with a bundle of fabric across her arm. Meg quickly followed them and closed the door behind her as Madame Giry helped Christine out of her boys clothes and into this new dress.

'Meg, grab me those pins over there please." Madame Giry asked with but a small glance of her eyes.

Meg nodded and quickly retrieved the said pins off of the dressing table. Meg's eyes caught suddenly on the object that lay beside it. A brilliant red rose with a small black ribbon tied to it's stem. Meg reached and picked it up gingerly and returned to her mother's side.

Madame Giry took the pins but Meg caught her lingering gaze on the rose.

Madame Giry quickly helped to pin the dress to it's correct proportions as Meg watched, the rose still in one hand held before her. Meg gazed at Christine's face in the mirror. Her friend's eyes seemed only to stare blankly back in the large mirror at the end of the dressing room. Looking away, she moved to her friend's other side and touched her elbow. Christine seemed to jump out of her trance and her gaze flew to Meg still with the look of bewilderment present.

A smile touched Meg's lips. "You will do fantastic Christine." Meg assured her and earned a small smile in return.

When Madame Giry had finished, Meg handed her the rose by dropping it into her open palm. Madame Giry once again lingered before turned to Christine.

"For you." She whispered handing it to the new diva standing there.

Christine looked into the roses petals as a look of worry crossed her.

"We must be going dear." Madame stated to Meg and started to walk towards the red-orange doors. "You will do fine dear." She stated pulling open the door and looking back at Christine who once again awoke from her trance. Meg gave her one last smile before walking out before her mother, hearing the click of the door behind her.

"Meg, make sure Christine goes on stage at the right time. I fear she is in a state of shock at the moment and will not be able to comprehend the time." Her mother said to her a few steps away from the door.

Meg looked into her mother's eyes seeing worry glaze over them making her look tired.

"Of course Maman." Meg whispered to her before her mother smiled sadly to her and walked into the bustling crowd towards where the ballet had just begun.

After a minute of so after her mother has disappeared into the mass, she turned back to the red-orange door and knocked sharply before opening it.

Christine was now sitting before the smaller mirror of the vanity playing with the ribbon of the rose she was handed.

"Christine?" Meg called gingerly.

Christine gracefully looked up with a small smile.

"I cannot believe I am playing another lead role in just these few weeks." She said dreamily as Meg came to stand beside her.

"That is because they have finally realized what talent was lying just beneath their noses." Meg said to her as she hugged her from her side quickly. Meg could tell her own words had a small hint of jealously in them, but she knew Christine was better for this role than herself anyway.

"I don't know..." Christine started but was interrupted as screams filled the hallway.

Christine stood quickly and rushed to the door pulling it open as a group of ballet girls rushed past her crying in fright. One stopped as fright filled her.

"The opera ghost. He has killed yet another. Joseph Buquet." The girl made a motion above her head and her neck as if she were being hung. The girl was pulled off by her friends quickly.

Christine took off quickly toward the stage area leaving Meg in her wake who stared wide eyed at the running figure.

Meg quickly followed in pursuit as Christine brushed through people who were running around the stage once more screaming and yelling. Christine was not the most graceful of dancers and stumbled a few times on her way, while as Meg gracefully ran through after her, brushing away from the sets that were being carried.

Suddenly Christine ran into Raoul and said something to him quickly, before pulling him along as he draped a red cloak around her shoulders.

Meg quickly ran forward and found her friend as she started to pull Raoul up a wooden staircase. 'They're heading for the roof!' Meg said to herself as she ran back from whence she came, knowing a quicker way to reach it. She had to get there before them, for if she followed, they would see her.

Quickly Meg burst into a small room that held only a winding wooden staircase and an endless looking ceiling. These stairs were not used often for they had some boards missing or holes where feet could slip through. Meg rushed forward and made her way up. She kept her eyes on the stairs making sure to not step through any holes or on molded boards. The stairs seemed to continue and she was gasping as she reached the top. She silently unlatched the wooden door that led out and stepped out onto the roof. Meg shut the door quickly, as it seemed to simply mold and blend back into the wall.

She ran along the wall until she came to a large statue that would cover her completely. The statue of the three sisters, Artemis, Aris, and Athena, each holding their own gift in their outstretched hands, waiting for men to come to them in pursuit of riches, power, and love.

Ducking slightly, Meg was able to be hidden completely, just as Raoul and Christine burst through the door to her left at the other end of the roof.

"Christine. There is no Phantom Of The Opera!" Raoul said to her a little winded from the stairs.

Christine brushed past Raoul and stepped into the middle of the rooftop. Raoul donned a sorrowful look as he gently hugged Christine from behind as she leaned into him. Suddenly Meg heard the Viscount sing, for the first time since she had met him.

"No more talk of darkness,
forget these wide eyed fears.
I'm here, nothing can harm you,
My words will warm and calm you.
Let me be your freedom,
let daylight dry your tears.
I'm here, with you beside you,
to guard you and to guide you."

Raoul had a nice voice, but Meg found it to be somewhat...how do you say?...effeminate? Meg rolled her eyes toward the sky. No one's voice was perfect, she shouldn't judge. As Meg's eyes hit the dark midnight sky, her brow creased in puzzlement a moment as she saw little white drops against the blackness. Her eyes widened with delight as she realized it was snowing. Holding out her hand she caught a flake and pressed it against her smiling cheek, feeling the chill.

"Say you'll love me every waking moment,
turn my head with talk of summertime.
Say you'll need me with you now and always,
Promise me that all you say is true.
That's all I ask of you..."

"Let me be your shelter, let me be your light.
You're safe no one will find you,
your fears are far behind you..."

"All I want is freedom a world with no more night.
And you always beside me,
to hold me and to hide me."

"Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime,
let me lead you from your solitude.
Say you need me with you here beside you,
Anywhere you go let me go too.
Christine, that's all I ask of you."

Christine-
"Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime,
Say the words and I will follow you."

"Share each day with me, each night, each morning..."

"Say you love me.""You know I do."

Meg watched with a small smile seeing her friend happy and almost carefree. She felt a jolt of jealously though, that Christine was getting all these things. Two lead parts in an opera in less than two months, a man who vowed to love her forever, what more could she get?

"Love me that's all I ask of you."

Meg watched the couple as with a smile as Raoul lifted Christine off the ground before setting her back down.

"Anywhere you go let me go too, love me that's all I ask of you."

Meg turned away with a small blush, letting them have their privacy at the moment, as she leaned further into the cold stone of the statue watching as millions of snowflakes gently glided down from the sky.

Meg turned to see Christine and Raoul climbing back towards the door.

"Christine. I love you."

"Order your fine horses,
Be with them at the door."

"And you always beside me"

"You'll guard me and you'll hide me."

Shutting the door behind them, the happy couple disappeared. Meg let out a breath of air and watched as it formed a wispy cloud before her face. The crunch of boots walking behind her caught her completely off guard that she froze completely wide eyed at the thought of being found by someone alone up here.

Suddenly she heard them stop and she felt herself automatically hold her breath.

"I gave you my music,
made your song take wing.
And now how you've repaid me,
Denied me and betrayed me."

The voice was soft at first and Meg had barley missed the first sentence since it carried soft as the wind. Someone else had been up here watching them as well, but Meg could tell it was definitely no accident.

"He was bound to love her,
When he heard her sing. Christine."

His sob made her heart leap out to him as tears glimmered at the corners of her eyes. She heard the man gasping in angered breaths and as she looked up a few seconds later, he had already bounded across the roof and was climbing on the back of Pegasas.

'Oh no! He's going to jump.' Meg gasped as she saw him climb.

'Please no.' Meg whispered as the black figure rose to the top.

He stopped making Meg sigh in relief as she put a hand to her heart. He wore a completely black cape that flew behind him as the wind caught it.

"You will curse the day you did not do,
All that the Phantom asked of you!"

The Phantom! Meg's eyes widened. This man was the notorious Phantom Of The Opera. No wonder he was so heart broken. Meg had already put two and two together before this night. Christine's angel was none other than the opera ghost.

Meg quickly ducked out from behind the statue and tried to make her way silently back to the corner where the door was located. Only a few yards more. Meg used her gracefulness as she headed towards her exit. As she looked back though, she knew she was lost. For the Phantom Of The Opera had jumped off the great steed and was staring straight at her.

"No." She whispered as she completely forgot about silence and picked up her skirts and ran towards the small latched door.

The Phantom let out a sound filled with anger behind her and she heard him as his footsteps ran across the stone right behind her.

So close now! Three yards more. So close to freedom from this nightmare.

"No!"She screamed as an arm grabbed her around her waist.

--

I do not own the Phantom Of The Opera or any rights to it...I can however dream of how I am Erik's one and only love. sighs dreamily Review s'il vois plait?