Phantom of the Opera Every Hope And Every Prayer

_Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom of the Opera, or any of the associated Characters. Not that I'd mind owning a few of them… *saucy smirk*_

_Summary: "Yet while he lives, he will haunt us till we're dead…" Raoul and Christine reflect on the Phantom's Opera, and what it means for them._

* * *

**HOPE AND PRAYER**

_"Christine, Christine, don't think that I don't care / but every hope and every prayer rest on you now..."_

It was the last thing that I wanted.

If there was any way to do this without involving Christine, without causing her such obvious distress, much less use her as bait, I would take it in a second. I was the Patron of the Opera Populaire, and I was Christine's fiancée. If I refused to allow it, there was noting that the Managers could do to force her.

I wanted, more than anything, to forbid her involvement, to insist that Christine be kept out of our plan, and to reassure her that she was safe. I wanted so much to promise that everything was, would be, all right.

But I would not lie to her.

The Phantom may be only a man, but his obsession with my soon-to-be wife had spurred him to almost supernatural feats already. If we did not act, he would never let her go, haunting us until all of our deaths. I wished that I could keep Christine out of it, but she was our best chance of success, perhaps our only chance.

I would remain close, take every precaution, be constantly on guard, and I would not force Christine to take part. But I would ask her to do this.

I had loved Christine since we were small children, and when I proposed marriage, I had promised to keep her safe and happy, a promise that I was about to break.

I didn't care how Society would react to our marriage, I only cared how the Phantom would react, the measures he might take and the lengths he would go to in order to keep Christine for himself.

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"_Twisted every way, what answer can I give?/Am I to risk my life to win the chance to live?"_

I was terrified.

I knew better than anyone what the Phantom was capable of. From my Angel of Music, who could find his way to my room, even when I swapped with one of the other girls; to the Phantom of the Opera, who struck terror into all of us, haunting the Company for the past three years; to the lonely, pitiable creature who had taken me far underground and held me there for days.

Something drew me to the Phantom, perhaps fascination for the mysterious figure he presented, with black clothing and white half-mask, or perhaps gratitude at the music lessons he had given me, or perhaps something else entirely.

But enough was enough.

At the end of this season, I would swear my life, love and fidelity to Raoul. I had made my choice between the two men in my life, and I had chosen Raoul. The Phantom would have to accept that and let me go. I had to be free of him before I could truly begin to live.

But it would be more dangerous than anything I had ever done, perhaps the most dangerous thing I would ever do in my life.

The Phantom had shown that he thought nothing of killing anyone who disrespected him, like the Props Manager. He thought nothing of hurting those who refused him or got in his way, like Carlotta. She would never know how fortunate she was that she merely suffered a 'frog-in-the-throat' when she refused to play the role of the silent pageboy.

I had read the score of the Phantom's Don Juan, and it did not escape me that several of the songs that my proposed role would sing bore a strong, eerie resemblance to Raoul's proposal, and to the serenade from the Phantom when we were alone in the caverns beneath the Opera.

If the Phantom had witnessed that, then it certainly explained the Chandelier.

But if the Phantom had discovered things that we had made such an effort to keep secret, what else did he know? Was there anywhere we could go where we could possibly escape him?

No matter how many times I told myself to stay away from the Phantom, to avoid allowing him to get me alone, I could never resist his seductive voice, so different from his monstrous visage. I became almost hypnotized at the first note. If the Phantom confronted me, would I be able to hold strong against him?

Raoul could always break me out of the spell, his voice calling me back to reality, but he could not be on the stage with me, and even if he did charge to my rescue as he had always done, as far back as when he had saved my scarf from the sea, it would be very difficult to get to me in time, especially through a panicking crowd.

I knew what my answer to the Managers must be, but at this moment, it was all too much.

I needed to get out of the Theatre. I needed to think, to clear my head of the thousands of emotions tearing through me. I needed to calm down, so that I could plan how to do this.

I knew my weaknesses, especially my inability to resist the Phantom's commands, and I would have to find a way to overcome them. I needed to push past the fear, the dreadful images that the mere thought of defying the Phantom conjured in my mind.

Raoul's face was before me, his eyes concerned. He understood without words, as he always had. "I… I can't."

* * *

"_I know I can't refuse and yet I wish I could/ Oh, God, if I agree, what horrors wait for me?"_

I understood the panic that Christine was feeling at the thought of going against the Phantom. Time and again, she had warned me of him, the fear in her voice plain. Christine was the sort of person who needed time to herself on occasion, to reflect before making a decision, which was why I made no move or command to stop her as she fled.

A call of her name was enough to promise that I would find her later, and that I would be there for her when she needed to talk about it.

The brief glance over her shoulder reassured me that we were doing the right thing, as I knew my unspoken support gave Christine strength.

She would go to the graveyard where her father was buried, to talk her way through her conflicting emotions, as the grave of her mother had been her refuge when we were children. I would do my best to calm everyone down, and then find her.

Together, we would face the Phantom, and overcome him. Whatever the cost to myself, Christine would not spend another day living in fear.

Soon, somehow, we would be free.

_poto_

_poto_

_poto_

_poto_

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_A/N: Gift-fic for Epionna, who reviewed my '__Love Never Dies_' _stories and asked me to do a Phantom of the Opera one, because there are far too few Christine/Raoul pairing s out there._

_This scene always struck me as a very moving one, because while Madam Giry is claiming that they can do nothing, and Carlotta and the Managers are blaming Christine, Raoul is concerned for her wellbeing. When he presses her to take part in the plot, it is because he knows how she fears and reveres the Phantom, and only wants them to be free of him. Christine does not reach for Madam Giry, the mother-figure who is a very formidable woman and who she had known for years, but for Raoul. She is secure in his love for her, and trusts him implicitly._

_If enough people are interested, I may do a follow-up taking place during the Finale Scene._

_Thanks, _

_Nat._


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Phantom of the Opera, Fantasy, Romance