Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Yes, this is Championshipping (Ash x Lance) as well as Bouldershipping (Ash x Brock). Deal with it.
Warnings: Angst, death, grotesque descriptions…
Chapter 6
“So…”
“You see,” Ashline flushed, “He had a beautiful voice – I heard a beautiful voice in my dressing room and assumed it was the Angel of Music, and Grandma Agatha said that of course it had to be, and when I asked, he said that yes, he would teach me, since he was the Angel of Music and my Father had sent him from Heaven, so…”
“So…?”
“I never saw him for the first sixth months, I only heard his voice, and it was so beautiful… you haven’t heard him sing, Brock, but he really has a wonderful voice, and my own vocal training began to improve until I hardly knew myself when I sang, and when Carlotta lost her place in the gala due to illness and I sang for her…”
“Yes, whomever he was, he did know how to teach.” Brock said abruptly. “What happened next?”
“Well… do you remember the night of the gala?”
“Oh yes,” Brock said. “You were wonderful…”
“You see,” Ashline flushed, “While I thought he was the Angel of Music, I made a vow… I had to promise not to have any suitors, or else he would leave and go back to heaven, and what could I do?”
“You were confused,” The aristocrat said reassuringly.
“Yes, I suppose I as… and that is why I pretended not to recognize you when you came into the room… that was why I didn’t… why I…”
“Shh, it’s all right.” Brock hugged Ashline as she began to cry. Poor girl! This story could not end well, with this deception going on…
“I…I will never forget it… not even if I live to be a hundred…”
“Um…”
Ashline finally stopped sniffling. “Oh Brock… I am so sorry…. What can I say? I thought…. Well, I should never have torn his mask off, but now… oh gods!”
“Ashline! Who is ‘he’?” Brock was having a bad feeling about his…
Ashline gulped. “My Angel… he was the … the Phantom of the Opera…”
No. No! But at least she had realized it. That was good, right? He continued to hold her. “What happened?”
“He… I took off his mask… and he… he screamed at me… Look! You want to see? See! Feast your eyes; glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! Now you know the face of the voice! You were not content to hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like? Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? I’m a good-looking fellow, eh? … When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me forever! I am a kind of Don Juan, you know!”
Ashline broke down into sobs at this point. Brock waited, before she spoke again.
“And-and then he, he dug my fingers into his face, his horrible, that horrible dead flesh, and… he tore at it with my nails! And I tried to look away, but I couldn’t, until finally, he crawled out of the room and I could hear nothing but the organ, so I fled…”
“Oh Ashline…”
“Brock, please, take me away from here…”
“Of course I will!” Brock said wholeheartedly. Poor girl, what a trial she must have endured… “But Ashline, do you still love him?”
“Love him?” Ashline choked. “How could I love him after… after this? He’s a monster, a horrible, horrible monster! Oh Brock, if it hadn’t been for him manipulating me, I would have gladly been yours! Take my lips and we’ll seal this promise!”
Brock needed no further coaxing… and they kissed beneath the last rays of the setting sun…
They had made it down to her dressing room in haste, almost exited, knowing what would happen next, but as Brock pulled her into another kiss, Ashline suddenly gasped. “Oh no!”
“What’s wrong, darling?”
“My ring! The ring he gave me!”
“Oh, so he did give you that ring!” Brock had wondered, seeing the plain gold band on her finger…
“Yes, but you don’t understand…” Her mind flashed back, ashen-faced… “But he had conditions. He told me that as long as I wore the ring, he would be my friend, but if I ever lost it, he would have his revenge! And… and oh no, when I kissed you on the roof under Apollo’s Lyre, it must have fallen off… or it’s somewhere on the stairs… the ring is gone, and now we’re both in danger!”
“Let’s leave at once!” Brock said.
“No, no! It would be too cruel… listen, Brock, even if he was a horrible monster, he still gave me lessons… let me sing for him one last time, tonight…”
Brock sighed. “Tonight?”
“Tonight. And Brock, he may try to seduce me again, so if I will not leave, you must carry me off by force! Order your horses, be with them at the door…”
“I understand.” The viscount reassured her. “I will not leave you alone, Ashline. I won’t abandon you.”
“I’m so glad…”
They shared one last kiss before Brock left and Ashline began to get ready for her performance…
So that’s that. Lance said, as he penciled in a note. I’m finished…
Don Juan Triumphant glittered wetly beneath the candles of his subterranean home. The score was finally completed…
He turned to his writing desk, where there was a small model of the Opera Populaire, quite pretty, with a wax figure of Ashline on stage…
“I hate to cut the fun short, but the joke’s wearing thin, let the audience in, let my Opera begin…”
He tipped over one of the candles and watched as flames engulfed the miniature.
They were giving Faust, and Brock was watching. Ashline’s voice was as wonderful as ever…
However, that was not all…
There was roughly a second before the stage was plunged into darkness, and then another, and then before anyone could react, the chandelier began to descend, plummeting into the audience below…
Screams raised from a thousand throats as flames backlit the entire house… panic set in, and only then did Brock notice that Ashline had vanished…
Oh no!
The flames were beginning to fade as firemen rushed in and began beating them back, but that was not his concern now.
He had to go save Ashline!
Brock rushed down to the ground floor and found Karen gathering her ballet girls. “Please, help me!”
Karen blinked at him.
“Don’t you know where the Opera Ghost resides?”
“Of course not.” Karen said primly. Brock groaned. What was he to do now?
End Chapter
Completed 7/30/05
Started 7/29/05
I like Karen. But I wouldn’t pair her with Lance…