A Phantom Christmas Carol - *Phantom of the Opera*

Chapter Three

A/N: - I did the video version a lot different than the written for this, since visuals require more action and less dialogue- added a whole other bit - so if you want to watch it, it will be different than the written (as all the chapters are similar, but different too) - for video story: Gerard Butler as the Phantom / Erik, and Alec Guiness as the ghost... clips from: "Phantom of the Opera" (2004), "Scrooge," and "The Fog". Music - selected clips from "Sleepy Hollow" and "Devil's Advocate" by Immediate Music.  Intro from Phantasia.

Talking in Riddles

III

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He stared at the fearsome shape towering before him. Hue and detail remained lost within the gray mist that moved and leered as it spoke. Sinister shadows of black and ash, the lines undefined and blurred, made up its sole composition.

"I bid you bon nuit, Opera Ghost, as you are wont to call yourself." The colorless ghoul affected a stiff, mock bow in greeting. The shackles and chains that bound his skeletal wrists clanked with the motion. "Although the name is more befitting to one of my condition. Would you not agree?"

The pitiful remains that bore little resemblance to a man rasped a keening chortle that curdled the Phantom's blood, closely followed by a prolonged moan, as if this creature from the realm of the undead suffered grave pain. The din resounded off the walls of granite, echoing as a death knell throughout the underground chamber.

"If the wine has not been drugged, then I must be dreaming," the Phantom whispered, never taking his eyes off the specter. Numerous hours devoid of slumber had at last taken their toll. In all likelihood he had fallen asleep while composing his latest aria. He slapped his left cheek, hoping to rouse himself to wakefulness.

"Perhaps you wish for me to try?" The vile spirit lifted its arm, bony fingers and claw-like nails poised to strike.

The Phantom backed up a step in haste. "What do you want from me? Why have you come to my inner sanctum? Do you intend to torment me in preparation for bedlam? Has my mind detoured the realm which men call sane and approached the very depths of madness?"

"My friend, if only the situation were so simple." The eyes within the terrible visage of the ghoul burned white, boring through to his soul.

The Phantom's pulse rate did not diminish, though he worked hard to conceal his fear. With a cavalier lift of his chin, he narrowed his eyes.

"Explain your presence then."

"I have come both to make an announcement and to issue a warning. You, alone, have chosen to live a life unfulfilled."

"I chose nothing! This," the Phantom shifted the rope to his left hand and slapped his right hand to his mask, "...is what destiny chose for me!"

The dead black lips pulled away in a smirk, exposing rotted teeth. "You choose your own destiny, Phantom. It is not meted out to you."

"I did not covet this!" He tore his mask away and threw it to the ground, revealing the full impact of his distortion. "I nurse no personal sadistic machinations. The superstitions and fears of others made me into the creature you see before you now."

"What you are is the essence of all that you select to inhabit. Isolation makes a poor bedfellow, and reprisal offers trivial satisfaction, if indeed it offers any true merit at all."

"Riddles and platitudes, is that what you seek to offer me?"

"You have much to learn, Phantom, but you will..."