Notes

Whose is that voice?

"Christine?"

Where was she?  I had only been gone for a few minutes she couldn't have left.

And that man. That man who's voice I heard, where was he? Who was he? Surely Christine didn't invite another suitor into her dressing room only seconds after I'd invited her to dinner. And how did they leave? It was as if they'd vanished into thin air. 

I searched the room, frantically.  There were no other doors for them to go through, they had to still be here somewhere.  But where could they hide?  Christine's dressing room was rather bare as her promotion to leading lady had been rather abrupt.  It was decorated with little more than a vanity and a green gown on a dress form.  I looked under the vanity and behind the dress form though I knew they couldn't be hiding there.  Knowing it was futile I scanned the walls for a door I might have missed.  Nothing.  My eyes caught on the large mirror.  Where could she be?

I practically ran back out into the hallway where a trio of ballerinas were passing, giggling to themselves.  "Excuse me," I called.

"Yes, Monsieur?"  one of the girls asked, tucking a lock of light brown hair behind her ear.

"Have you seen Miss Daae?" I asked.

"Is she not in her dressing room?" the blonde one asked.

"She was, but I came back five minutes later and she was gone."

"Hmmm," she mused.  "In that case I have no idea where she may be."

I sighed.  "Did you see a man go into her dressing room?  Do you know who he is?"

Her eyes widened. "A man?"

"Yes, I heard a man's voice coming from behind her door, but when I went in the room was empty."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't know of any man." Suddenly her look of confusion turned to one of suspicion. "I am sorry I cannot help you, Monsieur, but I must be going now. I am sure Christine will turn up, and until then, it would do you well to refrain from entering her dress room without permission."

She spun on her heel and briskly walked away with her two friends, leaving me struggling to come up with an explanation. How dare she assume I was at fault when Christine was missing! Where could she be?

Still fuming a went back to where my brother was waiting for me. "Well, is she coming or not?"  His voice was accompanied by a scowl. 

"She's gone." I snarled back.

He gave a short laugh.

"I left her for five minutes and she's gone."

"Welcome to the real world," he said. "Not every woman wants to go to dinner with you."

"Do you think I'm throwing some petty temper tantrum because I like a girl who doesn't like me back?" This was a serious matter and here he was trying to belittle the issue.

"Exactly." He glared at me. "We've wasted enough time here, let's go. I'm hungry." He began to walk away.

"You don't understand." Thankfully there weren't many people in the lobby otherwise I would have been causing a scene. "She's missing, she could be in trouble-"

"Raoul," he growled under his breath as he stalked towards me.

Phillipe grabbed me by the arm and pulled me off to the side. "I heard a man in her dressing room, but when I went in, there was no one in there."

"You're making something out of nothing."

"I'm not! Christine was in there with a man!"

He rolled his eyes. "So she already has a suitor, no wonder she didn't want to go to dinner with you."

"No," I insisted. "He was saying something strange about an angel of music."

"Couples have little inside jokes and pet names all the time."

"What if she's been kidnaped?"

"Oh, my God, Raoul." He looked at me in exasperation. "You're overreacting, it's hasn't even been an hour."

"But what if?"

"Listen, Raoul. We're going to go home now. You can come back tomorrow and if she's still missing, we will consider it. Okay?"

I glared at him. He was wrong, Christine wouldn't deceive me like that. Something was wrong, but I knew I'd been beat. Phillipe's words made sense, as much as I hated to admit it. He'd always won our arguments when we were children with logic. That hadn't changed.

"Fine," I consented. "But I'm coming back first thing tomorrow to look for her."

Phillipe sighed. "You do that."

~ Raoul de Chagny

A.N.: Hope you guys liked this chapter!

~ Meg