Christine lay on the ground, streams of tears rolling out from her eyes. She refused to look in the direction of the Phantom, of Eric, knowing that she would only be giving him precisely what he wanted by doing so. But her curiousity and her fear was great - she could hear him shuffling around behind her, mumbling under his breath.

Finally, she felt a mound of fabric being tossed upon her. She finally turned to look at him as she saw what was laying in her lap. Her face immediately paled as she ran her fingers over the crisp white ruffles and the piles of tulle.

"Change into it," the Phantom demanded.

"So you're forcing me to strip in front of you, are you? I see how it is!" Christine yelled as she rose to her feet, her rage and terror erasing any thoughts of reason from her head. "You've finally gotten enough for your blood lust, and now you're lusting after me! I should have known!"

Eric looked a strange combination of furious and also rather sad and pitiful. "No," he said. "No, it's not like that at all."

"Then what is it like?" Christine said. She wanted her voice to spit out like poison, but it was too soft and sweet.

"Nothing in my life has ever gone right, and this scar has always been the root of it. The reason why I must wallow in blood is the same as why I have been denied the joys of the flesh."

"That's no excuse," Christine said. But she still doubted what she said even as she spoke it.

"My face is poisoning our love," he said. "I know, it has only earned me hatred in the past. But you have no choices left now, Christine. Change. Now."

She glared over in his direction, although it didn't translate into anything that seemed to be particularly threatening or anything else. With tears beginning to fog up her eyes, she reached a hand back to unzip her costume dress and change into the one that he had thrust towards her. Much to her surprise, Eric immediately turned away and refused to look until she stopped rustling around.

When he finally turned to look at her, his expression remained perfectly blank. But in his hands was yet another piece of fabric.

"Now turn around," he said. "Turn around and face your fate!"

Before he was given the opportunity to raise his voice towards him, she turned around and felt a veil being placed on top of her curls. Her hands immediately snapped up to feel it there - a veil. A wedding veil. He grabbed her wrist and snapped her around, the fury returning into Eric's eyes.

"Just think! An eternity of this before your eyes. You must loathe it so..."

After swallowing back her tears, Christine responded, "Your face doesn't scare me, not anymore. No, it's in your soul where the real distortion is!" She had to choke out her last few words.

Eric seemed ready to start pouring out venomous words, but he spotted something over Christine's shoulder. "Wait, my dear, I think we have ourselves a guest!"

"Paul!" Christine cried out, the chains immediately linking in her head. She started to turn around, but Eric's grip on her wrists only increased.

"Oh, sir, this an unparalleled delight," he said, beginning to swagger over towards Paul. He finally released Christine from his grip, sending her tumbling into a pile of fabric as white as snow. "I had hoped you would come, and now it seems that my wish is coming true. You have truly made my night!"

Paul came bounding down the catwalk, looking up in an attempt to see Christine. But he knew one thing for certain - she was up there with the Phantom. And he wasn't going to stand there and take it.

"Free her! I don't care what you do, just free her!"

Part of Christine foolishly hoped that somehow the Phantom would listen to Paul, but that soon ended up being squashed as soon as he turned to her and smirked, saying, "Your lover makes a passionate plea, my dear."

"Paul, it's useless," she yelled, trying to get towards the edge where she could be seen. But the fact of the matter was that the Phantom was far too prepared to hold her back and far away from the one she loved.

"No, no, no!" Christine cried as the Phantom began to push her aside and move towards Paul himself. "Don't do anything to him, don't do anything to Paul. Please."

Paul squeezed his eyes shut. "Just don't hurt Christine, my Christine. I love her, doesn't that mean anything? Show some compassion!"

Eric laughed, a hard sound pounding the ear. "Compassion? You want me to show compassion? What do you take me for, a fool? No one has ever shown compassion to me."

"That is exactly why you should show it to others," Paul said, struggling.

"What a fantastic show of logic," the Phantom mocked.

"Let me see her!" Paul roared, his anger and passion overtaking him after all that the Phantom said. He was quivering as if he were extremely cold, but it was the exact opposite. He was burning, burning hotter than all of the stars in all of the universe combined.

"Be my guest!" the Phantom cried in response, stepping to the side to reveal Christine standing there, teary eyed. Paul moved forwards, starting to find a way to climb up to her.

"Christine!" Paul said, his voice immediately softening and turning to the loving gentle care he was known for. "Has he done anything to you?" But as he stared at the love of his life, he noticed that despite there being no physical wounds, there was still something very wrong.

"That's not Clara's wedding dress," he said.

"No, it's not," Christine replied. It was true. Clara's wedding dress was made for the time period and was shorter and sweeter, just like everything in the Light in the Piazza. But Christine was wearing a dress that swooped all the way to the floor. It was sparkling and reflecting light with every slight shake of her body, as if actual crystals had been sewn into the fabric. Ruffles circled around the elegant skirt. She looked like something out of a fairytale. But she felt as if she was in a nightmare.

"No," Paul said, comprehending what was going on. "No, you can't marry her! You can't buy her love by killing and threatening, no!"

"I can do whatever I want," Eric replied. "I am willing to do whatever it takes to rid the world of you and all of the pests like you. That way Christine and I can be together in a much purer place."

"But that's just plain murder," Christine wept. "You sound like you're committing some sort of genocide! I won't marry you. I can't marry someone like you."

"You would dare break a promise that we have kept for so very long, Christine?"

"What?" she asked, finding her tears gradually beginnng to drift away as she started to think more logically. "What do you mean?" she whimpered.

"You didn't notice?" Eric said, lifting his eyebrows. "I find that rather difficult to believe."

"Didn't notice what?" Christine said, pursing her lips slightly in her concerned confusion. Had she done something that she simply didn't remember for whatever reason?

"Your necklace, your chains. The chains that bind you to me. It's not just the links."

Christine picked the necklace out from under her dress, holding it in her hand. It took a moment, but then it hit her. How could she have been so blind as to never have noticed it before?

It was a ring on that chain. It was her ring, her engagement ring to the Phantom. She had accepted it in a daze all those days ago and was now paying the price. She was to be married to Eric, who was now dirtied by blood and crime. Christine had brought this fate upon herself blindly.

"She won't marry you. She won't. She can't!" Paul said, his voice cracking in desperation.

"Silence, good sir," Eric replied. "If you think you can change my mind, you'll find that you are sorely mistaken."

Christine started to turn the ring around her fingers, as if examining every last detail of it would end up allowing her to find something that made her feel more comfortable with the situation. She certain;y had never guessed that this was meant to represent her getting engaged to Eric. Now that she thought about it, she had apparently been engaged for quite some time.

"No," she gasped under her breath. "No, Eric."

"I don't see what is so shocking about all of this," he replied.

"After all of this..." she began. "After all of this...I thought you were an angel, or if not an angel, you were certainly a genius. Then you were the auditorium ghost. I don't know who you are any more, after all of this. Why would you do this? Who are you?"

"It is true, Christine!" Eric said, "I am not an angel, nor a genius, nor a ghost. I am Eric. You were foolish enough to find yourself falling under all sorts of ideas that I was something preternatural."

Paul chose this time to find his way up to the platform where he'd be able to actually make a difference to the events that were currently playing out in front of him. He started to rush in Christine's direction, her arms draped in white cloth reaching out for him. But no matter how quickly he moved, t wouldn't be fast enough for Eric to end up losing.

Eric pulled out a gun, brandishing it right towards Paul. Everything in the room seemed to become frozen in those moments. Even the particles of dust floating around seemed to suspend in the air, as if they would never move again. Christine couldn't even let out a gasp, she was so shocked.

"I don't know what you've been told about me, but I don't believe you heeded their warnings," Eric taunted. "Mrs. Leary and Mr. Cade must not be far behind, are they?"

"Leave them out of this," Paul said with gritted teeth. "They only wish to do what is right - they have nothing to do with Christine or anything else."

"Oh, but surely they're on their way, right? I would hate for it to be only the three of us here."

"Eric, no!" Christine shrieked, immediately making a start towards Paul.

"Silence!" he roared in response. "Well, well, well, my friend, it seems that there is nothing that can save you now - nothing, except for perhaps Christine!"

"W-what?" she stammered.

"Start a new life with me, Christine! Purchase your Paul's freedom with your love for me. Or you could refuse me, very well, as long as you wished to send your lover to his grave. This is your choice! This is the point of no return!"

As if everything hadn't already been horrible enough for her, Christine now found herself in a moment where she felt helpless. There was nothing for her left to lose, she felt. All hope had deserted her, so she could be as bold as she so chose.

"Maybe I would've cried for all the dark things that have happened to you, Eric," she said, beginning to stand up on wobbling legs. "But now those tears grow cold, and turn to tears of hate! Goodbye to you, my fallen idol, my false friend! I remember when we had hope, but that's all gone now. It's shattered!"

"It's too late for either of you to turn back now," Eric said. "No prayers or pity will save you here!"

"Please, Christine," Paul said, his hands up in the air. Either decision that Christine made would end up hurting him. "I did it all for you, please forgive me...but just know that if you say you love him, my life will be over."

"It's no use, Paul!" Eric cried out. "You can't cry out for help any longer! Either way she chooses, neither of you can win! So, Christine, will you end your days with me, or will you send him to his grave?"

"Why would you make her lie to you just to save me?" Paul asked, shaking his head. His eyes remained fixated on the gun that was being aimed towards him. "Just...just say no, Christine. Don't do anything for my sake."

"This is the point of no return," Eric said. "You make your decision, and you cross the final threshold!"

Christine stared between the two men who she had to choose between. What had she done to deserve this? Did Eric have no mercy? Everything was rigged so that he would always end up on top, and she would have to lose. He had claimed that, time and time again, but it wasn't until that moment until she fully believed it.

"Angel of Music, you decieved me!" Christine hissed, her despair turning into fury. She dug her fingers into the white gown she wore, knowing that she couldn't marry Eric. She just couldn't. Her feelings were far too strong at the moment for her to simply succumb. "I gave my mind blindly!"

Only a brief moment of silence allowed everyone in the room to breathe properly.

"You try my patience," said Eric. "Now, make your choice, or I shall choose for you!"

Christine looked up at him with shining eyes for several moments, calculating precisely what she was going to say next.

"You are a creature of the darkness, a pitiful one...what kind of life have you known?"

Eric looked at her, the unfamilar shimmer of confusion in his eyes. He did not speak, sensing as she stepped closer to him that she was about to continue with what she was saying.

"God give me courage to show you...Eric, you're not alone!"

As if she were a majestic wave crashing over in the ocean, she dove to him in one fluid motion and pressed her lips against his. Her eyelids were softly closed, but his popped straight open. He found tears welling up in his eyes as she continued to kiss him, her dainty hands perched upon his cheeks as if they were lovers.

Paul immediately squeezed his eyes shut, unable to watch the scene that was unfolding in front of him. There was the girl he loved, kissing another man. The gun was no longer fixated on him, but he knew that he could not leave. When she broke away for a moment, she spotted the glimmer of tears in Eric's eyes. Before they could develop into anything further, she ended up diving straight back in for another kiss.

Christine followed precisely what her heart told her to do, whether or not it was what was best for everyone else. For once, her instincts just needed to continue guiding her along. When she decided it was time to end the kiss, she held Eric in her arms, resting her head on his shoulder in a tender manner.

Soon she felt his strong hands pulling her away from him. Christine raised her face up to see him, watching the emotions fly past in his eyes. With a sudden jolt, he dropped the ground on the floor and turned towards Paul.

"Take her, forget me - forget all of this, everything you've seen. Just leave me alone. Go now! Don't let them find you."

Paul rushed over to Christine, taking her hands into his. He could feel the wetness of Eric's tears still on her palms, but he said nothing. Eric continued to speak, his words turning into near shrieks.

"Swear to me never to tell of the secret you know of! I am the Angel in Hell! Go now! Go now, and leave me!"

Before he could say another word, Paul had taken Christine's hand and yanked her away. They were going with Eric's blessing, leaving never to return.

A/N And the final lair is there. Yep. And I'm too lazy to write anything here.