"Bon jour, Mademoiselle," Monsieur Andre smiled. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, please," the young brunette nodded. "Could you possibly tell me where Miss Meg Giry is, please, Monsieur?"

"Ah, I believe Miss Giry is in the dormitories. I can call Madame Giry over to take you there."

The girl nodded, twirling a strand of her medium length, curly hair around her finger. "Thank you, Monsieur."

Monsieur Andre sent her a pleasant little smile before heading off to find Madame Giry, leaving the young brunette alone.

She took in a deep sigh and glanced around the beautifully decorated entrance to the Opera House. "What a gorgeous place," she whispered to herself.

"DiDi?" An older woman's voice asked in a thick French accent from across the room.

The young newcomer turned her head. "Bon jour, Madame Giry," she smiled brightly, her round, turquoise eyes shining.

"Oh, DiDi, it's so wonderful to see you!" Madame Giry smiled. "It's been so long. How old are you now, dear?"

"Eighteen," DiDi nodded. "Goodness, when was the last time I saw you?"

"I believe it was when Christine got to perform at the gala," Madame Giry said after a moment. "That was indeed a very long time ago."

"Yes, it was. It's been about two years since she left, if I'm not mistaken," DiDi sighed.

"Yes, it has been," Madame Giry nodded slowly. "Well, I believe you wished to see Meg. Just follow me." She took off down a hallway.

DiDi gathered the skirts of her purple and black dress in her hands, and followed Madame Giry through the relatively well-lit passageways and up a couple flights of wooden, creaky stairs.

They soon arrived at a large door, which Madame Giry opened with a smile. "Meg, come here."

The young, blonde chorus girl complied and approached her mother. "Bon jour, Maman."

"I have a surprise for you, my dear," Madame Giry smiled, stepping aside.

"DiDi?" Meg smiled brightly.

"Hello," DiDi chuckled, hugging her friend. "Oh, Meg, it's so good to see you."

"Come, we must talk," Meg said excitedly, pulling her friend onto her bed. "What have you been up to these past couple years?"

"Well, I've been studying art," DiDi smiled. "Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet. That sort of stuff."

"That's wonderful," Meg gushed.

"What about you? I heard about the strange affair of The Phantom of the Opera. Is it odd to not have Christine around?" DiDi asked with great interest.

"A bit," Meg nodded. "But I've pretty much gotten used to it by now. She has a two-year-old son, by the way. His name is Gustave."

"Oh, good for her," DiDi smiled. "So, do you know what happened to The Phantom of the Opera?"

"Well, not exactly," Meg lied, stammering out her words.

DiDi frowned in suspicion. "No?"

"N-no."

"Alright," DiDi shrugged, though in the back of her mind, she was still skeptical.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Meg smiled.

"I was hoping to stay with you," DiDi chuckled.

"Of course," Meg nodded. "We have an extra bed. You can sleep there."

—————

Late that night.

DiDi looked around the room at all the sleeping chorus girls and gave a sigh.

What she was about to do was risky.

She quietly pushed the bedsheets off of her and swung her stocking covered feet over the side of the bed. She stood up after fixing her white, silk nightgown and winced slightly as the floor boards creaked under her weight, though she was a slender girl.

Slowly, DiDi crept through the room and out the door, being sure not to wake the other girls. Once the door was quietly shut, she made her way down a couple flights of stairs and into the Prima Donna's dressing room.

"Wow," DiDi whispered, moving over to the mirror. Carefully, she ran her fingers around the frame and found a small spring, pressing it in. "Yes!" She exclaimed a bit too loudly before her hand flew to her mouth, clamping over it tightly.

After looking around and making sure no one had heard her, DiDi stepped cautiously through the mirror and into the dark passageway. She walked through slowly but confidently, her eyes like a hawk's, sharp and alert, as she carefully took in her surroundings.

DiDi continued cautiously down a long, winding staircase and made her way to a vast, glassy lake. There she found a boat and a long rod. A small smile crept onto her face as she picked up the latter item.

"The Phantom must be down here," she thought, climbing into the boat and beginning to row off. As she approached a decent sized room, the rod got stuck in the land beneath the water. She tried to free it by jerking it back and forth, which only resulted in her toppling over into the water with a high-pitched scream.

—————

Erik sat at his organ, trying to compose a new piece. He would play for a minute or two and then write something down on a piece of paper. Once he finished writing, he would go back to playing for a few minutes. And like this, the pattern continued.

Erik had just begun to write down a few notes on the paper, when he heard a loud scream followed by a splash. He immediately sprung up from the organ bench.

Who was there? Who dared to enter his home?

He looked over the lake and noticed that a decent distance away, there was a woman in the water who was quite clearly struggling.

Erik quickly jumped into the water and swam towards her. Just before he could reach her, though, she began to go under.

"Oh dear," Erik thought to himself before diving under the water, his mask in his hand to keep from losing it in the dark lake. He saw the girl and quickly wrapped his arms around her, carrying her to dry land and resting her gently on the floor of the main room of his lair. Immediately, he checked to make sure she was breathing and that she had a pulse.

After finding both of those in tact, he tilted her head back slightly.

The girl awoke with a start and began to cough up some water. "W-what happened?" She choked out hoarsely.

Erik quickly secured his mask before wrapping a blanket around the girl. "Well, I can only guess why you were here, but you were rowing down the lake and you must have fell in."

He felt torn. He wanted to be mad and get angry with her, to curse her for being the little prying pandora that she was. But on the other hand, he felt bad for her. She had nearly died and right now needed to be cared for.

He decided on the latter option.

"Oh, yes, I remember now," the girl sighed. "I'm sorry. I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is DiDi Cartier. Are you...who I think you are?"

"I guess that depends on who you think I am," Erik chuckled softly. "My name is Destler. Erik Destler. It's good to meet you, Miss Cartier."

"It's good to meet you too," DiDi smiled. "Are you...are you The Phantom of the Opera?"

"Indeed," Erik nodded. "Or at least, I used to be."

"Oh, it's so wonderful to meet you!" DiDi grinned.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm afraid I don't exactly do much haunting anymore."

"Oh?"

"I unfortunately had to give it up to continue living here."

"The managers don't know that you're here...do they?" DiDi asked slowly.

"No, they certainly don't," Erik sighed. "Are you a new chorus girl? I don't believe I've seen you around."

"No, I'm just visiting my friend Meg. I'm only in town for a few days. I actually study art in England."

"Wonderful," Erik said with a small smile. "Well, you had better go back to the dormitories and change out of those wet night clothes."

"Yes, I should," DiDi nodded. "Thank you so much. You saved my life."

"Well, let's just say that I know a bit about needing someone to rescue you from a not so easy situation," Erik nodded, helping her up. "It was good to meet you, Mademoiselle."

"It was good to meet you too, Monsieur."

Erik adjusted the jacket of his dripping suit. "I'll go retrieve the boat for you."

"Oh, you don't have-" DiDi started, but Erik was alright in the water, mask in hand.

He was careful to keep the deformed side of his face away from her, but DiDi still caught a glimpse. She saw the twisted flesh, but it didn't frighten her.

Erik quickly retrieved the boat and rod before bringing them to the shore and putting his mask in it's rightful place.

"Thank you," DiDi smiled, getting in the boat and taking the rod from him. "Listen, do you think maybe...would you mind if...c-could I see you again?"

"I suppose I wouldn't mind," Erik smiled. "You know where to find me. I hope to meet with you again soon, Miss Cartier."

Author's Note: This one shot was requested by Phantomofgryffindor. Thanks so much to her for her support!

The picture to follow shows the purple and black dress DiDi wore in the beginning (I apologize for the watermark), and the one after shows the nightgown she wore when she met Erik.