The hours before the gala was all a blur. From costume fittings, to makeup testing, and wig fitting, everything was decided.

I get to wear the dress.

That's right the white dress that sparkles every time the fabric catches the light. I was fan girl screaming in my head until I realized this.

It was heavy. About twenty pounds of fabric not including the petticoat. I refuse to wear a corset due to the fact of what happened to Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean "Curse of the Black Pearl." Those things are death traps.

I wore the jewels in my hair after I put it in a braid, and let it sit for an hour, so my hair could have more definition in my golden brown waves. This is when I wish for a curling iron. I could've put my hair in ringlets. Oh well, you do what you have to do. Especially if you live in the nineteenth century. I wanted to wear my small chain with a music note that surprisingly came from the real world, but I guess it clashed too much. Also maybe a little too modern by a couple hundred years.

A/N: I know it isn't accurate, but it's close enough to the movie version. It's a custom I found online. I looks very similar though.

When I looked in the full length golden framed mirror, I gasped. I looked stunning. Like a bride. Like a princess. Like a prom or homecoming queen.

Like an angel.

"Oh my goodness," Meg exclaimed, "You look beautiful Rachel!"

"Thanks," I replied.

"Really, you look like royalty," Christine complimented.

"Oh stop, you guys are making me blush," I joke.

"Well gotta go, mother said she needed me," Meg said as she bounced out the door.

"Well isn't she excited?" I ask Christine.

"She's always bubbly before galas," Christine replies, "You're so busy being Prima Donna that you forget that we all were just like that once."

"Oh yeah," I say, "Well it was great to see the both of you anyways."

"So Rachel," Christine starts, "Do you think he will be there."

"You mean our angel of music?" I ask.

"Well duh, who else?"

I laugh. Then our tone grew serious.

"I guess he'll be there, I mean I am one of his vocal students," I answer carefully.

"Yeah, I guess," Christine stared off into space.

"Still thinking about Raoul?" I tease.

"Yeah, it's just," Christine takes a breath before continuing, "I thought he'd notice me."

"Senpai notice me!" I sing forgetting that I am in a different story.

"Huh?" Christine looks at me funny.

"Your Senpai," I explain, "the special someone you love more than anything."

"Oh, where did you learn that?" Christine asks.

"My father taught me a bit of Japanese," I lie.

"That explains it," Christine sighs, "I just wish he would speak to me, I know we don't have as much money as his family does, but you would think he would speak to his best friends from childhood."

I got mad then. How dare he make my "sister" upset! This is more proof Christine made the wrong choice. Raoul sure is a fop! What can us phans and phangirls say. The phanbase is never wrong.

"Well I have to get going," Christine gets up to leave the Prima Donna room, "see you after the performance."

"Bye!"

After Christine left, I looked really close into the mirror. Maybe if I saw a flicker of Erik, I would be less nervous about performing. After staring for what felt like hours finding nothing, I sighed and went to the vanity where a glass cup and a pitcher of water sat. I turn the cup over and start playing the rhythm that I knew since Pitch Perfect came out. I do this ritual every single time I perform. It's my way of pounding out the nerves. Instead of singing the lyrics to "Cups" however, I sang a medley of the songs from the musical I'm living in.

Erik's POV

After watching my angels converse, I watch as the younger sister, Rachel, the one I feel more strong towards, examine the mirror. I first took to teaching Christine, then when Rachel heard about me from her sister, I found it only fair to give her lessons as well. As the lessons progressed, I found she had a more mature sounding voice than Christine. From about eight years old to now her sixteen, I have built her voice to perfection. Well almost. There's always room for improvement. Now she became my golden honey throated songbird.

I hold my breath, hoping she couldn't see me. After a few minutes her face got a defeated look and she walked over the the vanity. She took a cup meant to hold water and flipped it over. I questioned this, thinking she must've hit her head harder than she thought. Then she started to create a rhythm that I never heard before, after repeating the rhythm a few times, she started singing what sounded like a mashup of many different songs. She went from "Think of Me" to a song about the Phantom of the Opera which referred to myself, then changed it to the song I just finished writing for her.

"The Music of the Night" and she knew it by heart. From the lyrics to the pitch, she knew it. But how? I've stayed in the liar twenty four seven in exception to this rehearsal. The rehearsal this angel got the credit she deserved. My voice I built and shaped finally put to good use.

Then she changed the song again to a love ballad what seemed to be for two people. I wonder who? Then to a song about a party, a masquerade ball to be precise. Then a passionate piece that was from the opera I'm currently writing. Then an end to "Music of the Night." How does she know these songs? Most of them don't seem to be from this century. If only I could just open the mirror, and see her.....

No, not yet. I pull my hand down to my side. I'll wait until tonight, after the performance. I'll finally get to truly see her face to face for the first time. I'll take her down to the lair and introduce her to the music of the night. Show her a world she can live in. Live in with me.

I walk briskly down to my home in the catacombs of the opera house. I clean the place I call home for a bit, just to make things presentable for later, double check my white half mask that hides the monstrosity that lurks beneath is on tight, and go to box five to watch the performance.

Back to Rachel's POV

Well here it is, time to perform in front of more people here than I have in a lifetime. I step out onto the stage and sing not caring who's looking. Only caring if it were Christine and Meg and someone else.

We never said our love was evergreen

Or as unchanging as the sea

But if you can still remember

Stop and think of me

Think of all the things we've shared and seen

Don't think about the way things might have been

Think of me

Think of me waking silent and resigned

Imagine me

Trying to hard to put you from my mind

Recall those days

Look back on all those times

Think of the things we'll never do

There will never be a day

When I won't think of you

I look as everyone applauds. Then I hear a voice. It's Raoul singing as he walks from the box seat.

Can it be

Can I be Rachel

He yelled "Brava!" before leaving my line of sight.

Long ago it seemed so long ago

How young and innocent we were

She may not remember me

But I remember....

I listen for my cue, then started to sing again.

Flowers fade

the fruits of summer fade

They have their seasons so do we

But please promise me that sometimes

You will think...

Oooooof Oooooof oooooooooooof ooooooooooooooof meeeeeeee!

I exaggerated the final line, hoping to make the audience have chills. Also to make Erik proud. I could feel his presence as I was singing. I hope me being here will make him come and take me down to the lair tonight. I can only hope.

Erik's POV

She was magnificent! My Phoenix! My bird of fire rose from the ashes that used to be her tragic life, and carried that voice, that angelic voice through everyone's heart including mine. My heart longed for her, to hold her, to love her.

There was no time to waste. I slipped into the Prima Donna dressing room and put a single blood red rose with a ebony ribbon tied around it's yellow green stem freshly plucked of thorns, and set it on her vanity. Hopefully she'll see it and know I was captivated by her. I could tell her tonight when I formally introduce myself to her at last.

I shall show her the music of the night.

Hey guys! I was actually able to update this weekend. Go me! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to due to the fact I had an orthodontics appointment and two show choir concerts. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be very eventful I assure you. See you all later! Bye!