"Both Phillippe and I warned you not to marry that girl in the first place." A middle-aged man said as he pointed at Raoul with hand and cradled a glass of sherry with his other. "We told you she wasn't going to turn out well. Too many ghosts involved." The man muttered, swishing the liquid in his glass.

"She'll get better!" Raoul insisted to his late brother's friend, Nicolas Jules, the Marquis de Bonnaire. "Jules, I know she will!" The Marquis's father and Raoul's own father had been quite close and so, naturally, their eldest sons grew close as well. Jules had, to some degree, helped Phillippe raise his much younger brother and now with his friends demise, he had determined to guide his young friend into a path safe for his feet to tread. The Marquis himself was familiar with the curses of marrying a weak-willed wife but, had been freed of her when she had abandoned him for another man. Never once did he resent the other gentleman's misfortune in brides.

"How do you know? She is a fragile creature and it seems the stress of the last several months has taken its ultimate toll on her body. She's dying, Raoul." Silence ensued in the room as the word that none wanted to think of was spoken aloud. Tears formed in the Comte's eyes as he turned away from his friend and hung his head.

"And...if she dies...I'm afraid I'll die with her."

"Oh, cease these melodramatics!" Exclaimed Jules as he set down his sherry glass and walked over to his friend. "Those operas you listen to have gotten into your brain. You will do no such thing. You will survive even if she doesn't." Clapping the young de Chagny on the back, Jules walked past him to the door.

"But, if I were you, I'd start looking beyond those doctors and nurses that seem to know nothing. Surely you know someone who can help?" With that question hanging in the air, the older man left, showing himself out of the mansion.

Raoul kept silent for a few moments before whispering,

"I do know someone."

E-OC

"Monsieur, I'm leaving for town. Is there anything you need?" Candela asked as she knocked lightly on the door leading into the Opera Ghost's scarlet chambers. A shuffle of papers greeted her ears and she knocked once more, aware the preoccupied man probably hadn't heard her.

"What do you want?" A frustrated voice hollered from within and she smiled quietly to herself before re-asking her question and the reply coming back as a negative. A lightness in her step, she grabbed her basket and pocketed some coins before heading out the door and untying the small boat moored there.

"Off to town I go then." Hopping lightly into the boat, she pushed herself away from the dock and propelled herself through the dark waters she had learned easily within the first month. Frightening as they might have seemed to some normal human being, she, the mad girl, found them quite appealing.

"Garish light of day." She sang softly to herself, remembering a song she had found one day while cleaning the Phantom's small house. "I have to agree with you there, Monsieur Phantom. Light is quite bright and overrated."

Without another worthwhile thought or word, she made her away up to the surface.

E-OC

"I must be going quite mad, Little Lotte. I'm considering asking for the help of a madman. A madman who hates me. But, he loves you. Jules said to find someone who could help you." Raoul whispered to the listless woman lying on the bed, her eyes closed in a drug-induced sleep. Two weeks previous, she had completely collapsed and in a desperate attempt to save her life, the doctor had prescribed heavy sedatives while her body calmed itself and returned to equilibrium. It was all they could do for the Comtesse.

"I love you, Christine. Remember that. I'm gambling my life in the hopes it might save yours. If I fail..." He trailed off as he stood up and grabbed a heavy overcoat, draping it over his arm. "I won't fail." He said firmly as he strode to the doorway and called for the maid to watch her mistress.

"I can't fail."

The wind was icy cold as the Comte stepped out of his door and too the few short strides to his waiting carriage. Subconsciously, he pulled his overcoat closer about him but his mind didn't acknowledge the temperature, his whole being haunted by the blank looks in Christine's eyes.

As the carriage clattered its way through the Parisian streets, Raoul went over every moment of the horrible night which he would never forget. He didn't think he had forgotten the path shown to him by the Persian. He suspected he could still find his way back to that boiling hell of a place. Perhaps though, the creature wouldn't be so violent this time, perhaps his temper wouldn't be aroused.

"Perhaps he will help his love." When the Phantom had released them, Raoul knew his love for Christine was great. It was a self-less love that allowed him to let her go. No obsession crazed monster would have released them. No, the creature had a heart and Raoul would go to his lair and appeal to that side.

Appeal for the sake of his love.

E-OC

"Oh! Forgive me! I didn't see you there!" The marquis exclaimed as he accidentally jostled the shoulder of a dark-haired woman causing her to drop her parcels. "Here." He stooped down and helped her gather them before glancing into her eyes and pausing a moment to admire her dark eyes paired with her tan skin.

"Think nothing of it, Monsieur." The girl said, taking the parcel from him and tucking it back under her arm. After a quick assessment of her clothing, he assumed her to be middle-class lady, her bearing holding up to this assumption. As he was about to take his leave of the woman, his eyes locked momentarily with hers and he hesitated.

"My name is Nicolas Jules, the Marquis de Bonnaire." To top off the introduction, he swept a polite bow to her. The girl stepped back from him and her lips curved into a frown.

"I am Candela de la Vega."

"Ah! A Spaniard." Jules exclaimed pleasantly, finally placing the skin tone and accent he hadn't really noticed before. "My friend and I spent some time in Spain at one point. Oh, about twenty years ago. A charming place." The girl merely nodded and gripped her basket and parcels tighter, glancing about her at the daylight which was quickly fading.

"Yes, a charming place indeed." The maid dropped a quick curtsy and said, "If you will excuse me, I must be getting back home. the light is failing."

Ever the gentleman, Jules felt chivalry demanded he escort this woman home. she was obviously alone in the market and with the sun setting, Paris would quickly become a dangerous place for a lone woman. for the tiniest of moment, he faltered, remembering his chastisement to Raoul about courting the presence of a lesser woman but surely this evening could come to no harm. She was of the bourgeoisie. Probably the daughter of a merchant from Spain. A respectable girl without a doubt.

"Please, allow me to escort you to your home. It isn't safe for you to be alone." He offered, not failing to see the moment of panic in her eyes before she argued,

"I wouldn't wish to inconvenience you. I just live nearby. Near the Opera House." A pearl set of teeth nipped a pale pink bottom lip as the Marquis instantly straightened and replied,

"Then, I must insist to accompany you." While Jules was a logical man, he well knew there were some seedy folk that hung about the Opera House as well as the legends of the Opera Ghost might have inspired some cunning thieves. While it had been several months since the last incident, he would run no risks with the health of the lady in question.

"I assure you, I'll be fine." Taking a few light steps to go past him, Candela tried to put him off but the Comte's stubborn friend refused and insisted, leaving her no room for argument, to accompany her to safety. And, while she would have to think up a clever way to get away with him before disappearing down into the cellars, it would be beneficial for her to have an escort. The dagger in her girdle could only do so much against an attacker.

The first block was walked in silence as the two tried to think of something to talk about so the awkwardness would leave. Candela knew a sufficient amount about the Marquis to know he was a kind man if a little imperial. She was unsurprised when he didn't recognize her. While never rude to any of Raoul's servants, he never paid any mind to them. So, even though he had been served by her many times, he obviously remembered nothing of it. The clothes do make the girl. She thought as the Marquis spoke up,

"Mademoiselle de la Vega, I don't believe I have heard of someone with your last name in the city. What does your father do?" Here, the Spaniard hesitated. She had no idea who her father was, let alone what his occupation had been.

"My father has been dead for many years. As well as my mother. I live with my uncle. He's a...retiring man. You wouldn't know him." But, you would know his name. Candela completed her sentence in her head and hoped the Marquis had bought her little lie. Why she didn't give him her usual spill about the Phantom being her husband, she would never know. Her impulsiveness took over.

"Ah! That's why he allows you out unchaperoned." The Marquis replied, not meaning any insult to the gentleman but surprised he would care so little for his niece.

"Usually I'm not out this late." Came the curt reply, cutting off that vein of conversation with a moment's hesitation. The Marquis accepted that was the end of the exchange on that subject and for the rest of the short distance, they contentedly discussed Spain.

As they arrived within a hundred yards of the side street Candela would need to turn down and she paused, quickly gathering a fake story to tell him.

"My house is just down the way. I'll be alright this last little way. It would a pleasure meeting you." She curtsied, her dark eyes giving him no choice but to bend to her will and bow to her.

"It was a pleasure making your acquaintance, Mademoiselle de la Vega." As she turned to walk away, he called out to her, "Wait, do you ever attend the operas at the Opera House?" When Candela shook her head, he continued, "Perhaps, you'd be willing to meet me at the steps four days from now? They will be showing Faust and I have an extra ticket."

At this, Candela vacillated for a moment. In truth, she was impressed that a Marquis was interested in her. Not many housekeepers found such attractions in their futures. Even with that puff of pride, she reminded herself that he believed her to be the daughter of some wealthy, untitled man and was likely to inherit all upon his death.

Yet, surely, going to an opera couldn't hurt too much.

"I...would be delighted." She said, smiling politely at him. "What time?"

"Say, eight o'clock? The front steps four days from tonight?" A silent nod was all the consent Jules needed before he bowed one last time to her and turned around to leave, glancing back only one time to see that the Spaniard had disappeared like a ghost from beneath the gas lamp.

E-OC

Candela glided through the stone doorway, not noticing the darkness around her as she was still blushing and grinning at the Marquis advancements. His manner was polite and while Phillipe had always been a womanizer, the Marquis never seemed to.

"Well, Candela de la Vega, you have a date with a very important man. You better wear your best dress and look extra nice for him." Unable to erase the grin from her face, she hurried down the passages and upon arriving at the lake, froze.

Pacing before the black water was the shape of a man. A lantern was setting on the gravel and only showed the bottom of what must have been a fancy suit coat. Seemingly preoccupied, he had yet to notice her lantern, and so she quickly extinguished it and drew close to the man in question but not close enough to be within the aura of light.

"Who trespasses!" She demanded in her loudest voice, the reverberations echoing off the walls of the cavern they were within. The man grabbed the lantern and shot his hand high in the air, looking around for owner of the voice. By doing so, he reveled his face to the peering eyes of Candela.

It was the Comte de Chagny.