"Where is she? The audience is beginning to get irritated, if we don't start soon, we are going to lose all of them..."

"She has not been seen since yesterday's evening. We can't drag it on forever, we need to find a..."

"Honestly, does she really think she's such a great star? I can understand a lot, even the fact she hasn't come to the dress rehearsal... but now..."

"Has anyone even thought of the fact that something bad might have happened to her?"

Meg finally could not contain herself. Her eyes glistening with anger, she stepped closer to the nervous men, muttering about her friend. Right now, she was even more unsettled than before. That day she had come to see her friend several times, but the door had been locked all the time. It had surprised her a lot... but Arlette had every right to want some privacy. However, now as she had not come to the performance...

The men were the worst of it all. None of them had even taken that under consideration. All of them seemed to just accept the fact that the girl had become so arrogant that she looked down at them, even though that evening was a chance for her to finally shine.

"All you're saying is just rubbish. It makes no sense," she added, her voice trembling. Nevertheless, it was not fear sounding in it – it was anger. "None of you have even gone to look for her, right? None of you have even thought of it..."

"If you excuse me, miss, we had your mother go and check on her, but she said she would appear later on," answered the director, joining the group. His pale face was now covered in little droplets of sweat; it was obvious he was getting quite terrified. Having pulled out a handkerchief he quickly dried his forehead off.

Meg blinked in surprise and squinted slightly looking at the man in front of her. She seemed not to see him, though. Her thoughts were far away.

How was that possible? Where had her mother seen Arlette...?

"Mother?" asked Meg, turning back to catch her Madame's sight, however, the woman was nowhere to be seen. It only made Meg more nervous. "Sir, I have been to her room several times today, and the door was locked. I don't believe she was in her room... and if so, I have no idea where my mother could have met her."

The director's eyes widened and he looked at his companions who seemed to be just as horrified. Meg felt her heart sank.

"Excuse me, monsieurs, I should go and talk to my mother," said Meg as she quickly turned back and ran away.

***

He was getting impatient. What were those imbeciles doing? Why had the performance not started yet? That was something he downright hated. It was an opera house, not street theatre; how could they not have enough respect?

The man stood up. His gloved hands clenched on the banister of his box as he tried to see something, but even though he could see the stage perfectly, there was no way he could notice anything outside of it. Nevertheless, every now and then he did catch a glimpse of someone glancing at the irritable audience through the curtain.

Something was wrong... but how much? What was happening there? Why would they not let the real star shine?

Frowning with anger, he turned back and left the box. He would need to find the only person he could talk to and get to know why those idiots of men had allowed such a delay to take place. It should have never happened, and he, as the owner of the opera house, should have taken care of it. If he had not done that before, he would need to do that now.

***

The performance must have already started... Arlette closed her eyes trying to fight off the tears but they somehow managed to find their way onto her cheeks. But that was not the right time for crying. Right now, she needed to get out of there, there had to be a way!

Never before would she have even thought that she would regret not getting to know how to pick the locks, but at that moment she wished she would have. But well, if there was no other way, she would need to find out how to do it right now. Having pulled out a hairpin out of her locks, she knelt down in front of the door.

***

Of course, the staff and the rest of the cast would never accept him, therefore there was no point in trying to walk in amongst them. There was another way, much better than that, to find the familiar face. This building was his home; he knew perfectly well how to move above the stage and backstage without being noticed.

His steps were quiet and careful as he kept glancing down. There were people, all of which seemed to be nervous; his ears, even though they were so sensitive to catch even the littlest change of voice, were not able to hear the words leaving those men's mouths. However, it was not the thing that worried him most. That thing was the fact that he could not find Arlette's silhouette anywhere. Did it mean they wanted to...

No, it was not possible. Arlette had made such a great progress since she had finally joined him in the his kingdom... no-one could be any match to her. Even those imbeciles must have noticed that. Even if they tried to get her out of the performance, they would lose.

He flinched ever so slightly as he heard someone standing on the stage saying that because of the technical problems they would kindly ask the audience to enjoy another piece of music whereas the stuff would try to fix the problem. After some not enthusiastic clapping of hands, the orchestra started playing.

His attention, though, was soon drawn away from all that happened on the stage. Right beneath him a woman ran, calling her mother. He had heard that voice before... he had seen that face before, too, as he soon noticed bending slightly. After a moment he decided to follow the woman wondering where she would lead him. He tried his best to remain unheeded, however, he thought that the woman beneath him would not probably see him even if he did not pay much attention to his steps; she was in way too much scurry.

Finally, the woman ahead of her had to come to a halt; this place was secluded, there was no way they would be overheard.

"Meg, you should not be here," the older woman said, and the man recognised the voice of his lifelong friend. She was the only one who knew the opera house almost as well as he did... and she also knew the majority of its secrets.

"Why, mother?" asked Meg, a frown upon her face. "The director told me that he sent you to check on Arlette... and you lied to him, didn't you? I was there, in her room, and it was locked, there was no way you could..."

Madame slapped her daughter's cheek, her eyes colder than ever.

"Don't you dare..." she hissed, watching Meg touch her face in disbelief. "You know of nothing, Meg, you should hold your tongue before someone gets hurt."

At that moment the man's heart was set aflame with fury. Did it mean that Madame Giry, the woman he considered a friend, once again tried to deceive him? Even though she knew everything... she was aware of the dangers her behaviour could cause...

She had betrayed him once again. One of so few people he would have never considered harming... and yet, she had just stabbed him in the back.

"What did you do to her?" Meg spoke up despite the tears in her eyes. She was just talking his mind at that moment, so he leant a bit so his ears would not miss a word. He needed to know what had happened to his Angel.

"She's all right, that's all you should know, Meg," replied the lady, moving away, but not leaving just yet. "Go now and join the rest, that's where you should be."

No longer could he stay there in silence.

"It is fascinating how much you have to say about what people are supposed to do while you do not realise what you should do," he said and both women cast their eyes up. He remained hidden in the shadows, there was just enough light for them to see the shadow of his silhouette. "I expected more of you, my friend."

Nothing but silence answered him. However, he had not thought she would say anything; fortunately, she knew when to keep quiet.

"I thought that I stated clearly what was going to happen to everyone in the opera house if any of you should try to prevent my student from performing," he continued, feeling some kind of satisfaction as he saw Meg's face turn white. It was obvious she was terrified. Nevertheless, her mother's face had not changed at all. She was probably used to hearing his threats, she had heard so many of them.

However, he would have thought that she had learnt her lesson: that his threats were not empty. Ever.

"I am going to keep my promise, no matter if you try to explain yourself that you were doing that for her own good. She does not belong to you anymore. She is mine, and mine only, and her fate is to perform tonight."

His voice was still quiet and surprisingly calm; probably that was why Meg felt so uncomfortable. She looked like she would rather like to leave, yet something was keeping her there, completely speechless.

"It is you I am trying to keep her away from," replied Madame after a while, and her daughter was shocked hearing that her voice was just as calm as the Phantom's. "I am not trying to keep her away from the audience. You are the one I need to protect her from. She does not belong to either of us; she belongs to herself, and she has a life to live..."

"A life she has decided to live with me, to serve to my music!" snapped the man. At that moment, his masked face, still hidden in the darkness, seemed to be a madman's face, his eyes glistening with fury and some sick fascination.

"She does not know anything of life!" argued the lady. "You cannot take it away from her before she learns anything! Let her go, she deserves that! She deserves happiness, for God's sake...! You cannot keep her locked away from the world...!"

The man did not respond. Never before had he felt such rage. It was trying to burst out of him, turn him into a pile of little shreds... His hands kept closing and opening, wishing to clench around someone's neck... His breath was now loud and heavy, as if he found it hard to inhale some air into his lungs.

"Then... then you are trying to keep her locked away from what should belong to her? From greatness? From her dreams?" he asked, his voice no louder than a whisper, but it was so full of emotion that he could have been shouting just as well.

No-one spoke at that moment. The silence between them seemed to be trembling with the unspoken. Finally, the man broke it.

"Where is she?" he asked.

The woman did not reply, even though even her daughter tried to quietly prompt her. She only shrugged Meg's hands off of her and walked away.

"Fine then... we shall have war, if this is what you wish," he said quietly to himself after Meg had left as well.

But first, he needed to find Arlette.