#people also assume that what Meg said about how her dad died was true which I mean it's very believable but

[freakwiththeknifecollection]

It's kinda laughable to me when people bring up Meg telling Jo that Dean only saw her as a little sister as like, definitive proof that's how he felt. Like demons never lie just to fuck with people

[huntershelper25]

Path of the Chosen: Ch 2

PotC: Ch 2

Summary: Brooke is a 21 year old girl who’s life is flipped upside down when she receives a phone call from someone she hasn’t heard from in years. This phone call leads to events that cause her to get sucked back into the lives of two young men whom she hasn’t spoken to in years. Her life is never the same. Along the way she learns a secret about herself that not even her father had known. She is forced to face her destiny. Which path will she choose: duty or family?

A/N: I suck at summaries. I started writing this fic YEARS ago. It was posted here on Tumblr, but I have made some edits recently and have decided to repost it. This requires some introduction. I had a thought one day of what the show would look like if there was a female character that was brought in that actually stuck around for longer than a season or two. And because the thought wouldn’t go away this story and Brooke were born. I had a lot of good feedback the last time I posted this years ago so I decided to repost it for my new followers with some edits.

Disclaimer: There is a LOT of direct quotes and scenes from the show. I do not own any of it. I only claim the character of Brooke and how she fits into the story. All else is credited to the writers and copyright holders of the show Supernatural

Warning: There is some rated MA smut thrown in randomly for the first 5 chapters as flashbacks to establish timeline, character building, and relationships, but after that the smut dies off.  Also, let’s just assume condoms are implied. They aren’t mentioned, but let’s assume they are used.

Word Count: 3297

Pairings (through entire story): Dean/Brooke (OFC), Sam/Brooke (OFC)

Previous chapters

  Chapter 1

Chapter Two

Brooke woke to the sound of voices, rolled over and saw that it was ten in the morning. She figured she better get her ass outta bed and make herself useful. If she kept herself busy she might be able to fend off another night like the last. She slipped on some fresh clothes and tied her hair up in a pony tail, before she made her way down the stairs. When she reached the landing she froze. The voices mixed in with Bobby’s were voices she knew. Voices she hadn’t heard in years. They belonged to Sam and Dean.

They were talking about how they had found the thing that killed their mom and how a demon that seemed to be working for it was killing off their friends because they had found the colt. The colt was rumored to be able to kill anything, even demons, not just send them back to hell, but kill them for good. All hunters believed this gun to be fictitious, but if a demon had its panties in a twist over John having his hands on it than the rumors must be true.  They talked about how the demon offered John a truce if he would give up the colt. Of course John wasn’t that stupid so he left the real gun with the boys and took a fake to meet up with the demon. Apparently the boys had located the thing that killed their mom and John was giving them the time they needed to use the colt and take care of it for good. That’s when he went missing.

Anger grew inside her at the mention of John, the man who was responsible for all this, the man that had gotten her father killed. She wasn’t angry with the boys; they obviously would have had no clue as to their father’s plan, that’s how John was. If the demon that killed her father had John and the boys planned on going after it she wanted in. She slowly made her way down the stairs, careful not to make any of the stairs squeak. As she walked into the kitchen she heard Dean say to Bobby, “Thanks Bobby, thanks for everything. To tell you the truth I wasn’t sure if we should come.”

“Nonsense,” Bobby replied, “Your daddy needs help.”

“Well yeah, but the last time we saw you, I mean, you did threaten to blast him full of buck shot. You cocked the shot gun and everything.”

“John seems to have that affect on people,” She said as she leaned against the door way with my arms crossed. Dean turned around; a look of utter surprise on his face, while Sam looked up from a book and without hesitating walked towards her and with his six foot five frame took all five foot nine of her up in a hug. Brooke noticed that she still had that same uneasy feeling in his presence that she had had when they were kids. “Hiya Sam.” she said when he put me down. She glanced over at Dean, who averted his eyes, “Dean.”

He nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“What are you doing here?” Sam asked with a hint of concern.

“Hiding out,” she shrugged. “Your dad called me yesterday and told me…” she couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, “told me what happened and, uh, said I should hide out here until this is all over, just in case.”

“I don’t know exactly how much ‘hiding out’ you’re gonna be doing here,” Dean said with a scowl on his face.

“What do you mean?” She glanced from Dean, to Bobby, to Sam, and back to Dean.

“It’s coming here, or at least we hope it is.” Sam interjected when Dean declined to answer.

“The demon? The one that killed… Pastor Jim and Caleb?” She just couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.

“Yeah, Bobby has this idea that we can trap it in one of these protective circles,” He walked back to the book he had been reading when she walked in. “See.” He turned to a page depicting a circle, within which were a pentagram and another circle. Within the circles were odd symbols and letters.

“They really work?” She asked. If Sam was right and that thing was coming here she wanted to be sure they could trap it and return the favor.

“Oh yeah, you get a demon in one they’re trapped, powerless. It’s like a satanic roach motel.” Bobby said as he took a seat on the edge of his desk.

“Man knows his stuff.” Dean said breaking his silence.

“I’ll tell you something else too.” He looked at Sam and Dean. “This is some serious crap you boys have stepped in. Normal year I hear of, say three demonic possessions, maybe four tops.”

“And?” Dean asked as he took a seat on the couch.

“This year I heard of twenty seven so far. You get what I’m sayin?” He looked them each in the face. “More and more demons are walking among us. A lot more.”

“Do you know why?” Sam asked.

“No, but I know it’s something big. Storms comin and you boys and your daddy are smack in the middle of it.” Bobby glanced over at Brooke, “and dragging others in with ya.”

Just then the dog began to bark. Bobby and Brooke dashed to the window and through the blinds saw the chain, but no dog on the end of it. Brooke’s head began to swim, “Something’s here,” she said just as the back door was busted down and in walked a gal with short blond hair.

Dean reached into his pocket and came out with a flask of which Brooke assumed contained holy water. He took a step towards the girl who took one look at him and with a wave of her hand sent him flying across the room. Definitely a demon!

“No more crap.” She turned her attention to Sam, “I want the colt Sam, the real colt, right now.”

“We don’t have it on us. We buried it,” Sam said as he backed out of the kitchen into the study.

“Didn’t I say, ‘no more crap?’ I swear after everything I’ve heard about you Winchesters, I gotta tell you, I’m a bit underwhelmed.” She slowly walked after Sam as Brooke helped Dean to his feet. “First John tries to pawn off a fake gun and then he leaves the real gun with you two morons. Lack luster man. I mean did you really think I wouldn’t find you?”

“Actually we were counting on it.” Dean said as he walked into the study with Brooke on his heels. The blonde chick gave him this evil look. To which Dean replied by looking up. Brooke followed his gaze to find one of those protective circles painted on the ceiling. If Bobby was right, this chick wasn’t going anywhere.

She stood back as she watched Sam and Dean tie the chick to a chair, bringing back memories of her time in the chair.  “So this is the demon that’s been ganking people, I assume?” Brooke asked Sam as he walked by. Her head continued to swim as she shared presence with the demon, a sensation she had gotten used to over the years, but still found unsettling. Her dad had been the only one who knew this about her.

“Yeah, that’s me.” The blonde chick answered for him. “You look familiar. Have we met?”

“Highly doubt it. I’m sure if we had you wouldn’t be here to talk about it.” Brooke took a step towards the girl, a menacing glee welling up inside her as she realized she was about to exact her revenge.

“Oh, now I see it. The family resemblance.” A smile crept across the girl’s face. “I’m the one that watched your daddy choke on his own blood. Yeah he looked just like you do right now just before my blade slid acro-“ Brooke slugged her across the face with all the force she could muster. The blonde chick just laughed.

Sam grabbed Brooke’s arm and pulled her out of the room, giving her a disciplinary look. She jerked her arm out of his grasp and turned to find Dean giving her a complimentary look from the other side of the study.

“I salted the doors and windows. If there are any demons out there, they ain’t gettin’ in.” Bobby said as he entered the room screwing the cap back on a metal container.

The boys exchanged looks and Dean stepped in front of the girl. “Where’s our father, Meg?” The demon had a name, interesting.

She smiled, “You didn’t ask very nice.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Where’s our father, Bitch?”

“Geeze, you kiss your mother with that mouth?” She let out a little giggle, “Oh I forgot, you don’t.” Brooke closed my eyes and sighed, talking about Mary was a sure way to piss Dean off, which it did.

“You think this is a frickin’ game?” He practically yelled as he leaned over the chair, putting his face in hers. “Where is he!? What did you do to him!?”

“He died screaming. I killed him myself.” Meg said almost reluctantly.

Brooke watched Dean’s back go rigid just before he back handed Meg across the face.

“That’s kinda a turn on, you hitting a girl.” Meg said with a flirtatious look on her face.

“You’re no girl.” Dean said with disgust.

“Dean.” Bobby stood up and walked out of the room.

Dean turned to follow and Sam fell into step with him, “You okay?”

“She’s lying, he’s not dead.” Dean said in anger.

“Dean you gotta be careful with her. Don’t hurt her.” Bobby said once they were all convened in the kitchen.

“Why?” Dean said with a look of confusion on his face,

“Because she really is a girl, that’s why.”

“What are you talking about?” Sam interjected.

“She’s possessed. That’s a human possessed by a demon, can’t you tell?” They all looked back at Meg. Who looked back at them with a crooked, cynical smile.

“You’re trying to tell me that there’s a girl in there somewhere?” Dean asked with surprise.

Bobby just nodded.

Brooke instinctively reached up and ran her fingers over her scar, and quickly realized that yesterday’s makeup may not be covering it so well. She saw Dean’s gaze catch her movement. He saw her putting her hand to her face and the look on his changed from frustration to defeat. Then it hit her.

“That’s actually good news.” She said. She rummaged through the piles of books until she found the right one. “Exorcism.” she said when she received quizzical looks from all three of them. Each of them replied with a look that could only be described as “duh”. She quickly found the page they needed and handed the book to Dean, who happened to be looking over her shoulder.

“Nice.” He patted her on the shoulder. “Here Sammy, my Latin’s a little rusty.” He handed the book to Sam and walked back into the study. Sam gave Brooke a look asking if she wanted to do the honors, but she waved him off. Her Latin was a little rusty too, that and rather than worrying if she was pronouncing things correctly she preferred to watch the bitch suffer.

Back in the study Brooke stood directly in front of Meg, the better to see her squirm. She had killed her father and for that she was going straight back to hell.

Meg’s gaze moved from Brooke, to Dean, to Sam who was holding the book.

“You gonna read me a bedtime story?”

“Something like that.” Brooke smiled.

“Hit it, Sam.” Dean said from behind her.

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica.”

“An exorcism? Are you serious?” Meg looked Brooke straight in the eye.

“Oh we’re going for it baby, head spinning, projectile vomiting, the whole nine yards.” Dean said as he walked around the chair.

Through all this Sam continued to read. “Ergo, draco maledicte et omnis legio diabolica, adjuramus te, cessa decipere humanas creaturas,”

Meg began to cringe and Sam stopped reading and looked at Dean.

“I’m gonna kill you.” Meg said. “I’m going to rip the bones from your body.”

“No, you’re gonna burn in hell, unless you tell us where our dad is.” Dean leaned in from behind her and said in her ear. Meg just stared forward. “Well at least you’ll get a nice tan.” He looked up and gave Sam the signal to keep reading.

“eisque æternæ perditionìs venenum propinare Vade, satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciæ, hostis humanæ salutis, Humiliare sub potenti manu Dei, contremisce et effuge, invocato a nobis sancto et terribili Nomini quem inferi tremunt Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos, Domine.”

Meg began to writhe in pain as Sam continued to read the exorcism.

“AH!”

Sam stopped reading.

Meg looked Brooke straight in the eye and said, “He begged for his life you know. Your father and theirs.” She looked from Brooke to Sam. “Your dad begged with tears in his eyes. He begged to see his boys one last time. That’s when I slit his throat.” Sam and Dean exchanged looks and Sam went right back to reading, a look of determination on his face.

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica”

Dean walked around and confronted Meg to her face. He leaned in and said, “For your sake, I hope you’re lying. Cuz if it’s true, I swear to GOD! I will march into hell myself and I will slaughter, each and every one of you evil sons of bitches, so help me god.” Meg cried out in agony as Sam continued to read. “Where is he?” Dean asked as he began to walk around the room once more.

“You just won’t take dead for an answer will you?” Meg said in between grunts and groans.

“WHERE IS HE?”

“DEAD!”

“NO HE’S NOT! HE’S NOT DEAD! HE CAN’T BE!” Every muscle in Dean’s body was tight as he tried to restrain himself from striking the demon, the only thing that knew where his father was. He noticed that Sam had stopped reading and that they were all staring at him. His eyes caught Brooke’s and a flash of surprised crossed his face as he recognized the look of anger and hatred that was set upon hers as she looked at Meg. He looked at Sam. “What are you looking at, keep reading.”

Meg began to scream. Watching her writhe around in that chair, watching her scream and moan, was almost too much for Brooke. She wanted to see this demon bitch suffer and be sent back to hell. After all, she had killed her father. But watching it all happen, and realizing the sheer hate and anger that was building up inside of her, stronger than she had ever felt before, it just all became too much for her. This demon was possessing this poor girl. This poor, innocent girl. Making her do things that were unspeakable. The demon may have been the one in pain, but what Brooke saw was this girl, trapped, and incapable of defending herself. Just like she had been. Her heart began to race, and she was almost in a panic as she realized she had to get out of there. She stormed out of the room, no doubt followed by everyone’s gaze, and planted herself at the bottom of the stairs.

She could still hear Meg screaming as Sam continued to read the exorcism, but she couldn’t leave the house. If Meg had brought friends they were certainly outside just waiting for someone to come out. So Brooke covered her ears and started humming to herself. She started humming an old Johnny Cash song, her father’s favorite singer. As she sat there on the stairs humming, tears rolled down her cheeks. She was getting her revenge. The thing that killed her father was being sent back to hell where it belonged, than why did she still feel so empty? So lost?

She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there, but she suddenly realized the screaming had stopped. She stood, wiped the tears from her face, and walked into the study. All three men kneeled over the girl as she lie on the floor. She was whispering something to them, as Brooke drew closer all she caught was the word “Sunrise” and then the girl was gone. All three of them had looks of remorse on their faces as they stood up. There was a moment where they all looked at each other, as the realization that this girl was dead sunk in.

“We should call someone.” Brooke said softly, her voice still choked up from crying.

Bobby picked up the phone and made the call while the boys cleaned up the chair and got rid of the restraints. Brooke couldn’t make herself do anything except look at the girl. She had nothing to do with this. She was just some poor innocent girl who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and was possessed by some demon, and now she was dead. She was used as a meat suit and made to do god awful things, including killing Brooke’s father.

“What happened to her do you know?” Brooke asked no one in particular.

“What do you mean?” Sam replied.

“I mean what happened to her that killed her? It wasn’t the exorcism; it had to be something else.” She turned to face him.

“She fell out a seventh floor window.”

She nodded and walked into the kitchen, another innocent victim of this fight against evil.

“Thanks.” Bobby hung up the phone. “You boys get everything cleaned up?”

“Yeah, no evidence of foul play.” Dean said as he wiped his hands on a dish rag.

“Well you boys better get outta here before the paramedics get here.” Bobby said ushering them out. “Brooke and I will handle it from here.” He gestured towards Brooke as she stood by the back door.

“What are you gonna tell ‘em?” Dean asked as he put his jacket on.

“You think you guys invented lying to the cops? I’ll figure something out.” He handed Sam the book that contained the protective circles, “Here. You might need it”

“Thanks.” Sam said taking the book.

“Thanks, for everything,” Dean said with a nod.

           “You boys just get your daddy back, and when you do, you bring him around, you hear, I won’t even try to shoot him this time.” Bobby gave them a half smile and turned back to the study.

           Brooke opened the back door for them. Sam stooped down and gave her a hug as he said good bye, then headed out the door.

           Dean paused with his hand on the door and turned to look at her. “You alright?”

           She tilted her head up to meet his gaze, at six foot one; her eyes were just about level with his nose. “No.” she replied softly.

           He closed his eyes and sighed. “Sorry, stupid question.”

           “It’s just a lot right now, you know,” He nodded his head slowly, “but don’t worry about me.” She punched him lightly in the stomach and gave a half assed smile. “I’ve been through a lot in my life, and I’ll get through this too, eventually. You just worry about finding your dad.”

He didn’t say anything. He just put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a heartfelt look, then walked out the door.

[sutzrainbow]

An alternative to “Love Never Dies”

(Warning: I do rag on LND a fair amount in this, but I’m pretty gentle. Please don’t feel got at if you happen to like it. My issues with it are plot and character-based. The music’s fine. Except the sex song. Ew.)

Watching the 25th Anniversary of Phantom of the Opera completely reignited my love for the musical, especially since I could now look at it with an adult perspective and do all this fun character analysis.

I found the Phantom - Erik - engaging for similar reasons I found Josh Washington from Until Dawn engaging. A human being that does despicable things, but who is still understandable and sympathetic. If anything, Erik is worse than Josh, because he actually goes into full jealous-lover-control-mode, and he kills a couple of people. And yet I still really, really like him and would have loved to see him get a happy ending.

That said, I still think Phantom’s ending is perfect, because it has Erik making this huge jump in character and performing his first act of legitimate true love: letting Christine go. It’s brilliant, and beautiful, and bittersweet.

Which is why I take such enormous issue with Love Never Dies.

Now look, if you enjoy Love Never Dies, then that’s absolutely fine, more power to you. I absolutely understand why it must be cathartic and gratifying to see Erik and Christine as a legitimate couple. No one should ever try to take that away from you. I have pieces of media that I love, even though I know they’re riddled with flaws and other people might hate them.

The reason I hate Love Never Dies so much is because it removes everything about Erik that I find interesting or even sympathetic. He has tons of money, a support network, already had sex with Christine offscreen somewhere (which I feel totally invalidates the kiss she gave him at the end of Phantom), and a kid - and yet he still acts like he did in the last one, threatening and bullying. It’s like he learned nothing. He’s no longer a tragic character whose actions are understandable: he’s just an entitled douchebag. Also, making Madame Giry and Meg the villains and killing Christine; what the heck was all that about? What in the last story made it even plausible that this is where things would go?

I don’t feel Phantom honestly needed a sequel; the ending was perfect and wrapped up all the loose ends. We don’t know what happens to Erik, but we don’t need to.

That said, the sheer screwing around Love Never Dies does with the story and established characters made me so mad and got under my skin so much that I felt the only way I could purge it from my mind was think up my own sequel idea, one that I tried as hard as I could to keep in line with the story of the original. So that is what I humbly present to you today: my sequel idea to Phantom of the Opera, in place of Love Never Dies. As yet it has no title.

So where could the story go after Phantom? The only thing I could honestly think of was continuing the lesson Erik began learning, i.e how to love. How about he learns about a different kind of love? Say, platonic love, maybe?

Let me tell you a story...

It is five years after the events of Phantom. Christine no longer works at the Paris Opera house, and instead has disembarked to a smaller one elsewhere in the country, where she is much happier with a relatively successful career as an opera singer. Amongst the regulars is a young girl of Romani background whom Christine has taken under her wing. Let’s call her... hmm, what’s a traditional name from that period...? Maria. Let’s call her Maria.

Maria has a very pleasant voice which Christine sees a lot of potential in. Unfortunately the girl lacks technique and has poor breath control. Christine thinks she could become a great singer with the right training, but because Maria comes from a difficult background, no one is willing to spare the time or the money to train her, and because she abandoned her star role at the Paris Opera, and has a growing family, Christine cannot fund her training either. She attempts to teach her herself, but Maria’s progress is slow.

Christine is tempted to send Maria to Paris, hoping that the Phantom may still be living there and might teach her. Her husband Raoul, understandably, is not keen on this plan. (They’d probably have a long duet here weighing up the pros and cons.) Maria overhears their conversation and insists she is not afraid. Eventually they decide it’s possible Erik might have changed and it may be worth the risk. They send Maria to Paris with some funds, a letter for Madame Giry and Meg who are still working at the opera house, a letter for the Phantom if they find him, and a young man Christine employs to look after Maria. This chap is Auguste and he wants to be a doctor. He’ll be important later.

In Paris, Maria and Auguste are greeted by Madame Giry and Meg, who manage to find them some rooms to stay in. Madame Giry and the owners audition Maria and agree that while the girl’s technique is all over the place, if she improves, she may land a job as a chorus girl. Maria and Auguste intend to go searching for the Phantom, but Meg warns them against searching for such a dangerous man. When Auguste and Maria point out that getting lessons from the Phantom is the only reason they are here, Meg reluctantly admits that she believes the Phantom made a new lair somewhere in the Paris catacombs. The next day, the two enter the catacombs, but quickly lose each other in the darkness. Auguste gets out offscreen, but Maria hears eerie organ music playing and follows it, only to come across a dark chamber and the Phantom, though all she can see is a vague silhouette (they could have a lot of fun here with lighting and effects). The Phantom is now sporting a black half-mask instead of a white one, because why not.  At first he doesn’t believe that Christine has sent Maria, thinking that she would have tried to forget him. Maria insists:

“She has not. She speaks of you often.” “What does she say of me?” “She says that you were her teacher, and that you were the best.”

The Phantom is still reluctant, but he asks her to sing for him anyway. Maria ends up singing an exercise she used to do with Christine, which turns out to be one which the Phantom taught her. This finally convinces the Phantom to begin training her.

Cut to a month or so later, and under the Phantom’s tutelage, Maria’s voice has grown strong enough that she now has a job as a chorus girl. Hijinks ensue at the Opera house when one of the bitchier girls, Jeanette, sabotages Maria’s performance, but later slips on a wet patch on the stage, earning her a twisted ankle. Auguste cares for her, being a trainee doctor. Meg and Madame Giry wonder if this could be the Phantom’s doing and fear that he may have returned to the opera house, but when they check his original underground lair, they find nothing. Still, stories begin to spread about the opera ghost’s return.

Maria, suspicious, attempts to quiz the Phantom in their lessons, but he keeps the topic strictly on their task, snapping at her if she tries to change the subject. He reveals to her that he is still writing music, and has in fact written a short aria intended for her. Maria is shocked and doesn’t think she’s even close to being ready to perform a solo. The Phantom assures her - surprisingly gently - that he has put in many short phrases, to help with her breath control, and that he believes she will soon be skilled enough to perform it. Thrilled and full of gratitude, Maria kisses his cheek before she leaves, leaving the Phantom stunned.

Later Madame Giry and Meg overhear Maria singing her aria backstage. They suggest she submit it to the opera house’s current owners, and ask the identity of the composer. Maria makes an excuse and leaves, eventually voicing her concerns to Auguste. She has grown to care for the Phantom (basically he’s been playing Grumpy Dad to her), and she wants his music to be heard, but knows he is not welcome here. Christine never told her why, but she did mention the Phantom’s deformed face, so Maria assumes it’s because of that. 

To her surprise, the Phantom agrees to submitting his aria, and they put it in under his real name, “Erik”, to avert suspicion.

Rehearsals are under way and the opera house has an unexpected guest: Carlotta, with her new partner. Turns out lovably bitchy Jeanette is her niece. Carlotta expresses distaste that this young gypsy upstart with little experience is going to sing a solo - reminds her of another unfortunate series of events that occurred not too long ago. Cue over-the-top grieving for Piangi. When Maria asks her to elaborate, Carlotta tells the story of how the Phantom abducted Christine and killed both Buquet and Piangi, before disappearing. She insists that the Phantom’s influence alone was what started Christine’s career, that she was never truly talented, and after he disappeared she had nothing left, hence why she moved away.

Maria, of course, tries to protest this, but there are too many questions now, and too few answers. She knows that there’s something really iffy going on and that the Phantom and Christine have both kept lots of things from her. Once again she has a conversation with her teacher, which becomes pretty fiery. 

“You know everything you need to.” “You are a man with two faces! You tell me your real name, but you won’t let me see the truth! Christine told me what that mask is concealing; surely it cannot be worse than what I have imagined! I’m a gypsy - I’ve seen my fair share of freak shows!”

The Phantom is incensed, and almost kicks her out, but the sound of the Masquerade music box makes him hesitate. He calms.

“I will tell you - after your performance. As soon as I know your future as a singer will be secure, I will tell you anything you want to know.” “Do I have your word on that?” “You have my word.” He touches his hand to his mask. “You have earned it.”

Première night comes, and Auguste drops a hint to Maria that the Phantom may well attend, in disguise, to watch her sing. He reckons the old grouch has grown - gasp - fond of her. As the final act begins and Maria prepares to sing her aria, she notices a masked figure slip into Box 5 next to Auguste. She sings and gets a round of applause, then pleads with the crowd to meet the composer of the aria, hoping that the Phantom’s different mask (not the half-one this time, but a full-face one vaguely similar to the one he wore during Masquerade) will disguise him.

Unfortunately Carlotta remembers the Masquerade incident and recognises this man as the one who killed her husband, so interrupts and accuses him of Piangi’s murder. When the Phantom doesn’t deny it, Carlotta’s boyfriend, who is a trigger-happy chap at the best of times, fires two shots at him. The first misses, but the second catches his mask a glancing blow, shattering it. Erik flees back to the catacombs and chaos descends on the opera house.

Maria sets off for the catacombs to find Erik, but Auguste begs her not to go.

“I need him to tell me the truth!” “I’ll come with you!” “No - no, I daren’t. He’ll trust me better if I go alone. Get help. Hide outside the lair in case something goes wrong.” “Maria - how can you think of going there alone, knowing what he is?” “I’ve always known what he is - but if we don’t give him the benefit of the doubt, he’ll only act as we expect him to. He deserves one chance, Auguste.” “All right. For pity’s sake be careful, Maria.”

She reaches the lair just as Erik arrives, now back in his black half-mask. She is furious with him and gives him a huge mouthful: is it true that he committed those murders? Did he lie to Christine? Has he been lying to her? Should she truly have been afraid of him all along?

Erik denies nothing, and when she’s run her mouth for a while, he admits that it’s true, all of it. Why did she think Christine gave her all those warnings about him? He hoped that by teaching her as Christine requested, and looking out for her, he could atone for the dreadful things he did. But now he knows that the people will never accept him, not just for his deformed face but for the severity of his crimes. He removes his mask to demonstrate: he is a monster inside and out, and he knows it. He cannot run from it, however hard he tries. No wonder Christine walked away.

Then he collapses. Turns out the first bullet did hit him, in the side. 

“He shot you!” exclaims Maria. “I didn’t know...” “Of course not. I never said.”

Maria is horrified as she rushes to tend to him. Erik of course goes through that usual tirade that ‘it’s better this way’ and ‘better kill the monster before he harms anyone else’. At this, Maria snaps.

“I don’t think you’re a monster! You’ve never been a monster to me. You were good to me; you taught me. You were strict, you were stern, but you were patient. Christine warned me, she told me to be wary, but you never gave me a reason to fear you. Not even your face."

Erik is deeply touched at her words, and wonders if by caring for her he has earned a place in heaven, as before him stands an angel, in a form he recognises.

Of course it’s not an angel. It’s Christine. She came to hear Maria sing his music. Because despite the bad history between them, she still cares for Erik, too.

“Why did you return?” “Because I believe you still have so much to give to the world. Hearts soared with your music tonight. You made people happy.”

She’s so proud of him. She heard what Maria said. She feels he’s finally learned to love, and earned someone else’s love in return. It’s not the romantic love he always craved, but it’s love nevertheless.

Following her is Auguste, Meg, Madame Giry and Raoul - and of course Auguste is a trainee doctor. Maria begs him to save her teacher. Auguste says he’ll try - but the wound is very deep... (lights down! Cliffhanger! Aaah!)

An unspecified time later, the opera is preparing for another performance. Madame Giry meets with the opera house owners. It appears the dramatic première night only served to sell out tickets.

“Nasty business, though, very nasty business. You say the man died?” “Indeed Monsieur, there was nothing that could be done.” “Do we know if he truly was this so-called ‘opera ghost’?” “As he died before he could give a confession, I feel we may never know.” “Pity. He may have been a criminal, but the chap wrote good music.”

Meanwhile, Christine, Raoul and Auguste watch Maria sing her final aria. The music swells. The audience applauds - and in a dark, distant corner of the opera house, a man in a mask can be seen, watching.

...Okay, so it is fanficcy, but y’know what, it’s lot less fanficcy than what we got in Love Never Dies. I hope I managed to keep all the returning characters in-character, with their development from the first story intact. No drunken, gambling Raoul, but a sympathetic and cautious one. No villainous Giry or Meg who are loyal to the Phantom for some reason; they’re a neutral force as always. No kid whose parentage drives the plot. An active Christine who makes her own decisions and isn’t treated as an object for the guys to fight over. God, that pissed me off!

Honestly, there was no chance of Christine and Erik getting back together. Their romance is toxic, sorry guys. And their story is over when he lets her go. That said, I didn’t see why Christine couldn’t be part of his later character development. Erik does still angst about her, because she’s the only person who has ever shown him compassion, and she still walked away. Christine could be the catalyst to help him start changing, but for the main lesson, I had to start him afresh with someone else.

I like to think Maria is not a Mary-Sue - for a start she doesn’t hook up with Erik, and she isn’t a singing prodigy like Christine either; she’s got potential, but she needs a lot of work. She doesn’t go searching for Erik in an attempt to ‘fix’ him; she needs something from him. He’s her teacher who at first she cautiously respects, but later grows more attached to as he does legitimately nice things for her. At first Erik only does this to honour Christine’s request, but later it’s because he genuinely wants to. He learns to love, and he also learns that yes, his deformity is a huge social handicap, but if he’s kind and does good things, he can still earn love. That was the best reward I felt I could give him - but he had to earn it, and he couldn’t have everything. After all, this guy’s a murderer. So no, he doesn’t get accepted into society, he doesn’t get Christine - but he does earn applause for his music, he earns Maria’s love, his relationship with Christine becomes a whole lot healthier - and he becomes a better person.

So yeah, if you hate Love Never Dies as much as I do, I hope that was cathartic - at least as much as puncturing an abscess could be.  And to be fair, there is one good thing that came out of that wretched musical: the ultimate Phantom/Christine power duo that is Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess. They met through LND and have since forged a friendship that is the purest, sweetest, cinnamon-coated bond I’ve ever seen. And when they’re playing Erik and Christine, their chemistry is so hot you could fry eggs with it. I absolutely understand why they were picked for the 25th Anniversary version. And they make LND almost tolerable. Almost.