Chapter Text
Flashes of a glowing chandelier growing closer before it culminated into a spectacular crash. Screams and the rumble of people running rang as a cacophony in his ears. The heat of the resulting fire.
Phantom sat up on his bed with a cold sweat as Miss Christine crawled to his lap. It was always the same old nightmare, even if nine years had passed since Phantom's final performance. Looks like he was not going to get any sleep today then.
Well, it could be worse. For example, Mirror could have been coercing Phantom to let him sing to Rhodes Island. Of course Phantom would not fall for that, but it was definitely annoying. It did not help that Mirror looked exactly like Phantom when he was in his prime theatre actor days. Days he missed but can never return to.
'Let's go, Miss Christine. The music of the night could be a good distraction.'
Within minutes, Phantom reached his favourite place, the music room. Doctor was thoughtful enough to place Phantom in a dorm near the music room, where various instruments were placed for the operators for their recreation. Phantom had watched some the others practice or perform during the day. Rhodes Island was a lively place which reminded Phantom of his former troupe. That pop idol had a good voice, the red haired Sarkaz could do some good riffs on her guitar, and the Cautus closest to Doctor played her violin elegantly.
He never made himself known to them, of course. He could not risk the possibility of Mirror taking over and harming others. Hiding was easy, for there were many curtains and equipment to conceal himself. Sometimes he imagined himself performing, but he knew that it could never happen again, while he was like this. They were in the light, while he was stuck in this neverending darkness.
Nonetheless, Phantom knew that he would have an audience no matter what. Mirror was always watching him, and so was Miss Christine, who leapt on top of the piano. At least he could take refuge in music for now to forget his troubles. It may be temporary, but it still brings relief.
For nine years, Phantom was deprived of even such a simple source of joy. Any sound he made would immediately kill any living thing around him. So he spent this time more or less mute. All communication was done through writing, such as the assassination request that led him to Rhodes Island.
Upon being defeated by another Feline whom he suspects to be in the same line, Phantom was surprised that Doctor employed him after removing his mask. Although he caused trouble, the Medical Department still treated his Oripathy. The collar he now wore on his neck helped to control his blood originium levels to the extent that he could now vocalise without causing harm to others.
However, the medic in charge, Ansel, reminded Phantom that the rest of his treatment was up to him to control his originium arts. There was still a possibility for losing control, since Phantom's mental state was something that could not be treated even with the most advanced of medicine. It was suggested that Phantom had to take measures to improve his mental health, such as picking up his interests again and interacting with other operators.
The former he could do, but not the latter. All those Phantom got close with in the past are now dead. What if Rhodes Island ended up like his previous theatre troupe? He had grown to care for Rhodes Island, like he used to do to the troupe. Some of his nightmares had the fire occurring at Rhodes Island instead of the theatre. Being a shadow of the darkness was his fate since that incident. He can never go into the light again, not with the weight of the dead spirits he had killed. If he became more involved with Rhodes Island than he already was, then a disaster beyond his imagination will occur. He had told all this to Ansel before his emotions got the better of him and he blacked out.
The next moment he came to, Phantom was in his dorm. What did Mirror do when taking advantage of his weakness? Hopefully nothing too bad happened to Ansel. Anyway, the other medics should be able to do something.
Still, were they not afraid of how he was a ticking bomb which could just kill them at any moment? Phantom cleared his throat before he started to sing and play the piano.
' Stranger than you dreamt it
Can you even dare to look
Or bear to think of me?'
A slight shiver went down Schwarz's spine as she heard a distant singing voice. It was a beautiful voice, yet it was laced with so much pain and sorrow.
While most of the operators of Rhodes Island are asleep, Schwarz was up tonight to investigate the source of the mysterious singing and sounds which plagued many operators recently. Ever since the arrival of the new operator Phantom, the Medical Department has received multiple complaints of insomnia. Therefore, Ceylon sent Schwarz to observe this new operator before the Medical Department had a meeting about how they were to tackle this problem.
Phantom... Schwarz met him while on the way to meet Doctor. It was the right timing, for if she were to pin down Phantom any time later, Doctor might have been dead. Her eyes met his once. Even though Phantom was masked, Schwarz could see the cold glare he gave. It was as if Schwarz was looking at a reflection of herself, of when she was still trapped in the nightmare of her mercenary days. It took a good few years after being employed by Herman before she could sleep peacefully without waking up from nightmares in the middle of the night. Even up til now, she was a light sleeper and memories of the battlefield haunts her sometimes.
The information Schwarz received from Doctor and a few other operators confirmed her suspicions about Phantom. His previous theatre troupe was actually a criminal organisation made up of assassins who used Arts to kill. Whenever they toured, they accepted assassination requests. But this ended when Phantom lost control of his powers and killed everyone in a theatre in an incident 9 years ago.
As Schwarz lingered a little longer at the door to observe Phantom, she could not help but wonder that she might be in a similar darkness if not for Herman employing her after her failed assassination attempt. She made a mental note to hug Ceylon later in the morning.
'This loathsome gargoyle, who burns in hell
But secretly yearns for heaven
Secretly... secretly'
Miss Christine raised her tail and walked towards the door. Upon seeing that, Phantom stopped singing. 'Is anyone there?'
However, Miss Christine walked back to Phantom. He stroked the fur of his only companion. 'Ah, as if I could even perform to anyone else but you.'
At the same time, Schwarz dashed back to her dorm. She never accounted for the cat to give away signs of her presence to Phantom. The recurring nightmare that had not happened for a long time happened, this time with images of a masked man and a haunting singing voice.
As swiftly as he came, Phantom left the music room and went back to sleep. Little did he know that there were others who had actually watched what he did that night.