The Angel and the Fae (Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction)

Aria

A single ray of sun made its way through the closed window to the young woman's face, illuminating it among the complete darkness.

Lisbeth woke up suddenly, with her pale hair tangled and her body cold, glancing at both sides with uneasiness. Yawning silently, it took her a few seconds to realise she had moved so much while dreaming she had tossed all sheets and blankets to the ground, something which was not at all strange. When the young woman fully remembered everything, she would have laugh without control were she not alone. What a strange dream about angels she just had.

Gathering her long and curly mane in a messy bun and putting on her earrings in the form of intricate Celtic stars, she thought how lucky she was to not wear the usual maid dress requested for almost every woman in charge of cleaning. Since she was designated to take care of most the backstage and places not shown to the public, she could get away with dressing in old and comfy shirts and pants. Once fully dressed, she looked under her bed to check if all her most precious belongings—a bunch of books about astronomy and astrology, a notebook and a telescope—were still there and stood up, tip-toeing her way towards the window which she opened quietly. Lying on the ledge was a bowl of milk, one she had placed the night before for brownies and other benign beings, just as her mother had taught her. As usual, though, the bowl has not even been touch and, without any remorse, she drank it whole, serving her as a quick breakfast before attending to her work.

Like she has been doing for two weeks, she has woken up three hours before the rest of the artists, at five o'clock in the morning, along with the cleaning staff. It might seem too early for most, but truth was she didn't get to sleep much with five other maids sleeping in the same room anyway. The managers had procured a bedroom for them that could very well pass for a storage room, which did nothing to hide the constant sound of snoring or sleep-talking. However, Lisbeth was the only one who stayed on purpose, as the others had an ever-changing shift in their work that, sometimes, forced them to stay the night to keep the place secure until past midnight.

Together, they dusted, polished, and generally cleaned the whole building along with the other workers. Were it not for her will to help Christine, the girl had to admit that she thought about quitting at times, as having to also deal with the artists and their whims didn't make it any easier. La Solleri needed a certain scent, La Carlotta an unique mist for her throat—half of the ballerinas behaved like dirty like pigs and the other like wild boars.

Oh, and how they liked to humiliate and laugh at her for being the sister fallen in disgrace, the one who didn't possess enough talent to even try to audition! To say that she ended her days sweating like she was in the middle of the desert and wishing to make everything go away was an understatement.

And then, to top it all up, there was the Phantom.

"He's here, the Phantom of the Opera!" would scream from time to time little Jammes, the youngest ballerina, alerting everyone as she fled running and throwing everything in her path.

"Shut it, Jammes! He's not even real!" another girl would respond while her whole body trembled.

No one wanted to admit it, but everyone was afraid of him to a certain extent. It was undeniable that there has been 'strange' things happening, like objects moving out of place without being touched or certain pieces that disappeared out of thin air. For Lisbeth, however, it evoked more respect than fear.

"The síth are really having fun", Lisbeth always thought with a shy smile when hearing about the Phantom and its deeds, remembering how her mother used to alert her of such mischievous creatures. It's not like she actually thought what happened was the work of mythological creatures, but for her it was far more likable to attribute those deeds to faes than to ghosts.