In The Wings

Act IV Scene VI

Christine forced herself to take a deep breath. She should technically be happy - her blue dress that had been soaked by the rainstorm was now fine, and she was wearing it at the moment. All she was doing was really walking around aimlessly in the park to release stress. She had forced herself to leave her phone at home, as she didn't want to get involved in anything.

But as she walked along, she heard the faint sound of a voice. Christine strained her ears to listen, steppping towards what she believed to be the source of the noise. It didn't take more than a few moments for her to be completely intrigued by it all. As she listened intently, the voice got louder as if it were getting closer. She recognized the melody and the lyrics with a start, but continued focusing nevertheless.

"Il mondo era vuoto

Le ombre lo riempivan

La luce non pariva mai." It was Il Mondo Era Vuoto! That was Paul's big solo sing in the Light in the Piazza. It was probably one of Christine's favorite songs, and not just because her boyfriend was singing it.

But this most certainly was not Paul's voice singing it now. It was too rich, too full, with too much ringing and a different tone. No, she knew this voice all too well. Her heart sunk into darkness with the wisp of a thought of who she thought it might be.

"Christine, la luce nella piazza,

Christine, mia luce, mio cor!" Clara had been replaced with Christine. The song was being sung for Christine, a song of love, of coming out of the darkness to see the light that was her. She could hear that in their voice. The notes poured with more emotion than she had ever thought possible

"Ora che sono sveglio

All'ombra non vo tornar." Without a doubt, it was the Phantom singing to her. He was the one singing "Christine, my light, my heart." Christine shook her head, but she was unable to move herself from the spot. She just heard the voice getting closer and closer and more beautiful. The thoughts of the English translation she had looked up flew through her head. No, the Phantom was evil. The Angel of Music was no Angel. The Angel of Music wasn't supposed to fall in love with her. She refused to believe that the Phantom was falling in love with her.

And yet, his singing voice told her otherwise. Paul's voice couldn't compare to the Phantom's voice. As lovely as Paul's voice was, it just simply wasn't the same. The Phantom could fill her soul with the music where Paul could only fill her head. No matter what the Phantom sang, it would always bring tears to her eyes. He believed in the music as more than just music so when he sang there was more to it. He believed that Christine was the essence that he was missing so when he sang, even though he sang the words in Italian, the meaning poured out.

"Non sapevo di sentirmi solo

Privo del senso della vita

Era cosi!" In her mind, Christine felt herself needing to escape. A rush of adrenaline came over, a sign that told her that she should run. But the moment she tried to lift her feet, she found she could not. The music was keeping her there, rooted down like a tree. She had to listen to its beauty, it was impossible for her to just run away from it.

This was the curse of the Phantom's music - it was unearthly, beautiful in a way that no other being seemed to be able to produce. If he hadn't taken a dark road, Christine was sure that he would have been a prodigy of music, one of the greatest composers to ever live. He could have done something, anything rather than what he did end up doing.

"Christine!" he sang out, so many layers of emotion within those two syllables that Christine couldn't have named them all if she had tried. There were now tears blossoming in her eyes, and she moved her hand to wipe them away.