Till I Hear You Sing Once More

Chapter 1: Join the Opera Ghost

{So... This is my 2nd story on Wattpad and this time, it's a Phan Fiction. Feel free to check out my 1st work too, "Better Run For Cover," a Les Mis fan fiction. I hope you like "Till I Hear You Sing Once More!" Please comment and vote if you like it!}

Till I Hear You Sing Once More

Chapter 1: Join the Opera Ghost

I could feel the blood dripping down my face from my broken nose as I stumbled away from the angry crowd. Their shouts of "DEMON!" and "FREAK!" rang in my ears as they threw stones and sticks. Almost my entire body was covered in cuts, dirt and bruises, and, as they threw things at me, the crowd just added more. "MONSTER!" shrieked a woman, throwing a stone at me that hit the good side of my face, slicing open a new gash. I cried out in pain, staggering back further, until I felt something against my heels. I turned around and gaped at what I saw.

The Opera Populaire loomed before me, dark and foreboding. I had heard rumors that it was haunted by a ghost, and that after the fire, it had remained there, with the Opera House as its domain. Another rock hit me in the back of the head and I began to stumble up the steps, trying to remain conscious.

"Go back where you belong, you freak!" snarled a man as he hurled a stone at me, hitting me in the side. I groaned and continued to climb the massive steps.

"Yeah! Go join the Opera Ghost!" snarled another. "Go back to your demon friend!" spat a woman.

After taking several more hits from the stones, I made it to the top of the steps.

"Stay away!" snarled another man.

After another stone hit my head, I turned by back on the mob and pulled open one of the massive doors to the Opera House, barely making it through the entrance before I lost the strength to hold the door open. Groaning, I collapsed on the cool tiles, my eyes closing slowly as I desperately tried to remain conscious.

The last thing I saw before I slipped away into blackness was a pair of black dress shoes and the bottom of a long, flowing, black cloak.

...

A soft melody floated through the air as I slowly blinked my eyes open. For a moment, I was very confused. I couldn't really remember what had happened. Then, as I tried to move, I realized I was lying on a bed. The bed, it turned out, was shaped like a swan and covered in a velvety red sheet.

I blinked, still confused, and swung my legs over the edge, slowly getting to my feet. However, because of my injuries, I could barely support my own weight and fell forwards, hitting the ground and realizing the hard way that it was made of cold, rough stone.

That was when I remembered the events that had occurred before I had blacked out.

I silently touched my nose and found that it was back in place, even though it hurt terribly. Glancing down though, I noticed that I was still covered in cuts and bruises and my clothes were dirty and stained with dried blood. Slowly, I got to my feet, leaning heavily on the edge of the bed for support. I looked around. The bed along with a small dresser and a small table and chair were in a small...cave, I guess, though it was furnished like a room. The walls were made of stone, and they curved upwards at the ceiling, leading me to believe that I was underneath something, somewhere underground.

A curtain surrounded the stone room on all sides where there wasn't a wall, and a rope hung down near the bed. Stumbling forwards, I pulled the rope and the curtain rose, revealing the way out of the cave-like room. Limping badly, I managed to get across the room to the entrance, noticing one leg was good enough to walk on as long as I kept my weight off of the other. I looked out and was amazed. My cave-like room opened into a massive cavern, the walls made from large blocks of stone.

There was a path down to another smaller room that went around a bend so I couldn't see what was in it, but what amazed me most was that down the path the other way, there was a massive theatre organ...

And, sitting on the bench, writing something down on a sheet of music, was a man, and he was wearing a white dress shirt, black pants, black dress shoes and, a strange, white mask made from porcelain that covered half of his face.

A little ways past him, the floor of the cavern ended, giving way to water. A small boat sat silent and still near the shore, of what appeared to be an underground lake. Turning back to look at the man, I realized he was looking at me, with deep, intense, dark eyes. I stood there for a moment, not sure of what to do.

Then, slowly, taking a risk, I began to limp towards him. He continued to watch me for a moment before rising to his feet. I stopped when I was about five feet away and after a moments pause, I asked, "Are you the one that brought me from the Opera Populaire?" I assumed we were no longer there, because this didn't look like the opera house to me.

He nodded. "Are you alright?" he asked slowly, his eyes never leaving my face. His voice was surprisingly gentle.

That was when I realized he wasn't technically looking at me, he was looking at the right side of my face. My eyes darkened and I turned away from him, covering the scarred and burned part of my face with my hand.

"Wait!" the man said quickly. Slowly, I turned to look at him again, continuing to cover my face.

Silently, the man touched the edge of the mask that covered half of his face. "You... you... you're... like me..." he managed to say, ever so softly.

He moved towards me, reaching out his hand and gently touching my hand, then slowly pulling it away from my face. His grip on my hand tightened momentarily, then he dropped my hand, reaching out and gently touching my scars.

I watched him silently, not moving as he finally pulled his hand away from my face. "Do you sing?" he asked suddenly. I froze for a minute, confused by the sudden, strange question. "Umm... I guess a little," I told him. "I'm not very good or anything though," I then muttered.

"Please... Sing for me..." he whispered.