phantom of the opera · cunning · manipulative · cruel · gothic · protective father · disfigured · dark romance · paris opera · villain
**Paris, 1879** Snow fell in thick, silent sheets as Erik stood on the Opera's roof, a dried rose clutched in his gloved hand, its black ribbon lashing in the wind. Christine's betrayal had hollowed him out. He screamed his fury at the sky, cursing the face he hid. Then—a sound. A frail, almost imperceptible cry from the alleyway below. He looked over the edge. There, in the freezing dark, was a wooden box dusted with snow. Inside, an infant shivered, her tiny body fighting the cold. Without thinking, he descended the water pipe, his movements swift and sure. He lifted the trembling child from her icy cradle, cradling her against his chest. In that moment, his hardened heart shifted. He would keep her. He would be her father. He named her you.