(BEING REWRITTEN) An Opera Ghost- A Phantom of the Opera Fan Fiction

Chapter Eight

A/N I have beat my writers block! MWAHAHA! Anywho, enjoy :3 Fan, Vote, and Comment! I love all of your comments <3 And also, if you'd check out some of my other stories and commented your thoughts on them I'd totally love ya cuz I wanna know whatcha think!!!

~Nerdy~

"Florence, my dear," Erik sighed, sitting down on his daughter's bed, "I believe we are going to have to make some changes to our current  daily activities." Florence frowned, not exactly understanding her father's words. She crawled across the ruffled sheets to sit beside her father, who pulled her into his lap.

"What do you mean, Papa?" Florence asked, her head tilted to the side so light shown upon her slight disfiguration.

"My dearest child," Erik sighed, "I can no longer allow you to wander about the opera house- not even in the presence of the Giry's." Florence pouted at this. What was she supposed to do? Live her full life in the underground lair of her father? Never see Madame Giry or Meg again? Erik, sensing Florence's disappointment and distress, hugged the child close to himself. "Now, now," he cooed to her, "do not fret. There are many ways to move around the Opera Populaire without being seen, and I shall teach you all of them. As for the Giry's... well, there is a room. A room with a secret passage we can access through the many passages. We may invite Meg to occupy it, if you would wish, my Florence."

"Would that mean I would still be able to spend time with Meg?" Florence asked, hopefully. Erik smiled.

"Yes, my darling," he assured her, "If she is in that room, then you may visit her to your heart's content. And sometimes, I may even be able to join you if she resides there."

"Yes then!" Florence cheered, excited that perhaps her father could come to meet Meg with herself. Perhaps Meg would even sing for him, and then he could see how well at it she was. Of course, he had heard her at her premiere, but it wasn't the same as being up close.

"I shall send word to her in the morning then," Erik declared, smiling at his child, "And you may visit her as soon as she is moved in. But, for now, I do believe it is time you went to sleep."

"But, Papa, I have slept most the day! I am not sleepy!" Florence protested, her face a pout. Erik wanted to tell her she needed the sleep anyway, but having a soft spot when it came to his daughter, he only shook his head.

"My Florence, are you going to be turning nocturnal on me?" Erik asked, standing with Florence still cradled in his arms.

"Yes, Papa!" Florence laughed, "I shall be a bat, and soar through the opera house at night!" Erik couldn't help but laugh with his daughter at this. She was exactly like him sometimes, it seemed.

"Well then, my little night owl," Erik chuckled, walking to a mirror in his own lair that was actually a door of sorts, "I suppose we may start exploring the secrets of the Opera Populaire."

~-~-~-~-~

Meg awoke early in the morning to see her mother was still asleep. Little light came through the windows, which Meg found odd. She had not pulled the curtains closed and her mother would not have. She glanced up to the wall between her and her mother's beds to see an aging clock which read that it was eleven. Meg sat bolt upright and jumped out of her bed. She would be late for rehearsals!

Rushing around her room to ready herself, Meg didn't even notice an envelope lying on the bedside table until she was about to wake her mother. Meg, immediately curious, didn't even shake her mother once before she reached for the letter. It was addressed to her in a beautiful sort of scrawl. Flipping it over she found a crimson skull seal was holding the letter closed and quickly peeled it off. Meg then opened the envelope and took from it a letter written in the same script:

Dear Meg Giry,

                I wish you to be moved into Christine Daae's old apartment in the Opera Populaire. I have already made the arrangements between the Messieurs and they will not dare go against my word. The room has been cleaned and is awaiting you. Pack your things. Do not tell your mother until you have left.

I wish to see you soon,

O.G.

Meg could only stare for a moment, and then reality hit her. She was to move into Christine's old room. Meg quietly ran about the room she was currently in, on her toes, collecting her belongings- which wasn't really much. After only ten minutes did she slip from the room with a small bundle of clothes and a sack of odds and ins such as socks and knick-knacks.

The opera house was quiet as she made her way through it, as if no one was there. Perhaps she had mistaken and today was a day off? But she was sure they'd have a rehearsal with a show the next night. Either way, Meg quickly found herself outside Christine Daae's old room. She was about to reach out for the door knob, when the door opened itself. Or, Meg thought it had until she saw little Florence standing there, her mask hiding the top portion of her face.

"Florence?" Meg asked, as the child stood aside to let her in.

"Papa said I could help you move into your new room," the child announced. Meg smiled and walked in, allowing Florence to shut the door with an almost inaudible click.

"So, this is my new place, hm?" Meg asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question. The room had indeed been dusted, the fixtures now almost reflective, and the floor had been swept. Now that it was clean, this room was beautiful.

"Papa said I can visit you here now, because I cannot come into the open anymore," Florence explained, a bit sadly, "There is a passage that leads straight here from my and Papa's room. He said he may even come sometimes." Meg smiled softly at the thought, though she knew her mother would be very unhappy with it. She had just told Meg the night before that she was only to be in the rehearsal area, and then in her bedroom. In fact, her mother had wanted to sever all contact with Florence and her father. And now, Meg was living with a direct link to their lair. She felt so... good, surprisingly, at breaking her mother's rules.

"Well, I will always be eagerly awaiting your visits, Florence," Meg promised the child, who smiled. Then the two set to work, putting away Meg's possessions and afterwards Meg bid Florence goodbye, as she really needed to be at rehearsal.

She arrived late, of course, but no one seemed to care. Meg was the Prima Donna now. Things went by her rules. And so, rehearsal progressed. The Messieurs and Madame Giry watched on, but as the Messieurs were watching the performance as a whole, Madame Giry only had eyes for her daughter. She had been awake that morning, though she had not tried to stop Meg as she had gathered her things. She understood that was a hopeless case and Meg was no longer going to listen to her. All Madame Giry could do was watch on as her daughter made unruly decisions.

"Good job today, Meg," Madame Giry mumbled to her daughter as she hurried out of the theater after the rehearsal was over . Meg faltered in her steps, looking round to see her mother's knowing gaze. Meg nodded her thanks, then continued  on her way.

That was the last Madame Giry spoke to, or of her daughter for a very long time.