Sing Once More (A Phantom of the Opera Phan Fic)

Chapter 11

Reagan grabbed onto Chip's shoulder, groping around in the darkness of where ever they seemed to be. "Where are we?" She whispered.

Chip took a half step forward and moaned as he hit something with his knee. "I don't know..." He muttered, rubbing his knee.

"We're in a costume closet." A voice called from behind them.

Both Chip and Reagan jumped out of their skin, spinning around to see where the voice was coming from.

The figure struck a match and the distinct porcelain mask lit up. "We time jumped somehow."

Chip scrunched his brow. "Got that part, captain obvious."

Erik scowled. "Keep the names to yourself, fop."

"Erik, why don't you shut up?" Reagan hissed, crossing her arms.

Erik about said something more but bit his tongue before digging himself into a deeper hole.

"So where are we if we time jumped?" Chip asked, looking around in the darkness of the room.

"Ouch!" The match burnt down to Erik's finger tips and his quickly dropped it, stomping it out before lighting another.

"You deserved that..." Reagan muttered half under her breath.

Erik's eyes lit with malice. "Excuse me?!"

Chip gulped and pulled Reagan towards him more. "Why don't we just take a breath and figure out where we are."

Reagan rolled her eyes and pushed past Chip, knocking her own knee on something. "OUCH!" She screamed.

"Shh!" Erik hissed, trying to make his way over to where Reagan was to silence her. "Oof!" He tripped over something or other, falling flat on his face.

"HA!" Reagan smirked, rubbing her knee.

"Shut up!" Erik grumbled, pushing himself up to his knees and trying to get a look at what he stumbled over. "A chest?" He muttered. "Ah, of course. We're in the storage room in the right wing."

Chip offered a hand to Erik. "So, where does that put us to the stage?"

Erik snubbed his hand and stood on his own. "Just a bit further down the hall..." He muttered.

Reagan sighed to herself and tried to trudge through the chests and luggage. "Who owns all this stupid luggage any how!? There's enough here to clothe like twenty armies."

Chip banged his knee again and bit his tongue before a whimper could escape. "It's too cramp in here..."

"Well, I'm sorry life can't be perfect." Erik mumbled.

"Erik, one more comment and I swear I'll..." Reagan was cut off from her anger rant as she sank straight through the floor boards.

Chip grew wide eyed as his feet began to sink as well. "Erik!" He yelped, grabbing on to Erik's waistcoat before slipping through the floor too.

Erik only had time to let loose a mild obscenity before sinking along with Chip.

The three fell straight down to the cellars, far below where any person in there right mind would go in those days of the Opera Populaire.

By the time Chip and Erik had fallen down, Reagan was already up and exploring. She took a sharp right, heading down a darkened tunnel.

"Where did the girl go?" Erik asked, looking back and forth with evident fear on his face.

Chip shrugged his shoulders. "She does what she wants. I have no dictation over her." 

Erik muttered under his breath, springing up and dashing around through the cellars.

"Hey, wait up!" Chip got up, dusting his pants off and following close behind Erik.

Reagan dashed down the tunnel, stopping as she say a red curtain overcasting a whole in the rocks. She pushed it aside gingerly, gasping at what lay before her eyes. She was really there! She was in the Phantom's lair! It was more beautiful then she could have ever imagined.

Erik and Chip caught up with her, Erik however slipped into the shadows.

"What is this place?" Chip whispered over Reagan's shoulder.

"It's his lair..." Reagan whispered back, stepping out into the candle lit fortress. She gazed around in complete awe. This was something she'd wanted to see for as long as she had known about the Phantom. To know he existed was good enough, but to also witness his very lair was almost too much to handle.

"Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation

Darkness stirs and wakes imagination

Silently the senses abandon their defenses..."

 Reagan sang the lyrics softly, her voice almost echoing off the walls.

There was a slight stirring in the curtains off to one side of the room. Both Chip and Reagan froze in place, Chip grabbing onto Reagan's hand in case of danger.

"Who's there!?" A half-slurred voice called out.

 "Monsieur, we mean you no harm or disrespect. We...we were just looking around and stumbled upon your lair." Reagan called back, unsure if he'd buy it. She had been wanting to meet the past Phantom. She had thought that perhaps he would have less malice towards the world while his heart was still soften by Christine's innocents.

There was silence a moment before the man replied. "You're not welcome here...you must leave."

Reagan frowned. "But why?"

Chip pulled on her sleeve. "Reagan, we need to go. Now."

"No, Chip. I have to meet him." Reagan protested, slipping from his grasp and running towards the curtain.

"Reagan no!" Chip growled, chasing after her.

The sudden slope of the rocky floor and the dampness of the cellar made the floor rather slippery, causing Chip to miss-step and fall over the edge into the shallow water.

Reagan gasped. Erik's head popped out from back by the secondary cellar entrance. The old Phantom appeared outside by the corner of the lake.

Chip's head hit the bottom of the shallow lake with a sickening crack. Everything became foggy and distorted. Then, everything went pure black.

"Chip!" Reagan yelled.

Finally after a long moment of time, Chip's body floated to the top. His skin was pale, and he looked almost lifeless.

Reagan jumped down into the lake, cradling Chip's bloody head in her arms. "Chip...please...say something...anything..." She whimpered, tears forming in her eyes.

Erik stayed his distance, and for a split second made eye contact with his past self before disappearing within the cellars.

"Reagan..." Chip's weak voice pushed through. 

Reagan smiled weakly, wrapping her arms around him in pure joy. "Oh thank goodness your alive!"

Chip tensed surprisingly, feeling his eyes and face. "Reagan...is it dark where we are?"

"N-no..."Reagan hesitated, holding his head out of the water.

A worried expression filled Chip's face. "Reagan...I...I think my vision is gone..."