The Phantom's Guardian (the Phantom of the Opera fan fiction)

Part 15 - A Fallen Angel

       

Part 15 – A fallen angel

Author Note: I do not own any character / song from the Phantom of the Opera books/ musicals/ movie. Only my characters (Desiree, Sharon, the old violinist, Alice, Clara, Madame Dubos) and any others I may add along the story are mine.

Hi everyone, here's another chapter . Thanks to a very useful advice by @Jessno2002 ,I've edited the last sentence of the part "Chaotic Opera" from "Joseph Buquet is dead" to  "A stagehand is dead". This part continues from there.

Attached is the video of the roof of Palais Garnier, to help you visualize the scene on the roof where... , oh well, just keep reading and you'll find out😇😇.

          "A stagehand is dead."

          "Oh My God!! What happened? Who died?", Madame Dubos asked.

          "Chief of flies, Joseph Buquet. He fell from the rafters with a rope around his neck, in the middle of the ballet number.", the Vicomte replied.

          Clara gasped and grasped Desiree's arm, hiding her face on Desiree's shoulder.

          Raoul sighed and continued, "Well, the managers explained the audience that it was just an accident and that we will resume the show as planned."

          "No, it was not an accident..."

          It was merely a whisper, but everyone in the room heard Christine's words. For a few seconds she stood rigidly, then her legs gave out and she pitched forward.

"Christine!"

Raoul rushed forward to catch her just in time. He cradled her head and pushed back the damp hair from her forehead.

          "Christine, are you okay?"

          She looked up at him dazedly at first, and then pushed herself away from him hastily.

"It's him! We have angered him! He killed Joseph Buquet. He'll kill you, Raoul! He'll kill us all!"

She looked wide-eyed at the walls, the mirror and all around the room, like a crazy person. Even Madame Dubos and Clara recoiled from her. Raoul tried to calm her down like he would a small animal.

"Christine, Little Lottie, look at me, please. What is happening?"

She turned to him and grabbed his hand.

"Raoul, I'm scared. He's always watching. He knows everything. I'm scared to death!"

"Christine, you are starting to worry me. You need to calm down. Come with me..."

"No, not here... to the roof. We'll be safe there.", she led him out of the room.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Desiree hurriedly untangled herself from a weeping Clara, mumbled something about helping other stagehands to Madame Dubos and left the room. The whole theatre was full of confused and frightened staff. Ballet girls were hysterical despite Madame Giry's efforts to hush them. Desiree saw the two managers hissing at everyone to keep it together although they looked worse themselves. Monsieur Andre's usually well-groomed hair was sticking up strangely like he'd been running his hand through it a lot. Monsieur Firmin seemed to be sweating profusely and he kept wiping his face with a handkerchief.

Desiree wanted to find out what happened with Buquet and how did he die as Erik's original plan was only to undermine Carlotta. However, she knew that it was neither the time nor place to look for answers. So, she focused instead on her mission to sneak up to the roof though a service ladder.