241Thank you all for your great reviews, and thank you for not being mad at me for my notice last chapter, especially newbornphanatic, you were really nice so thank you.
As for this chapter...I do kinda apologize for it ahead of time because it's not as good as the other chapters. A close friend of mine was in this story the first time I wrote it and I thought it would be nice if he returned in it now. However some people found him a bit annoying the first time so I tried introducing him in a different way...and I don't know if you guys will like him so...please try to get through it, the next chapter's better than this one. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do no own the Phantom of the Opera or anything in this chapter.
Interview with the POTO Characters
~Pranks Never Die~
"I can't believe how intense this is," Era said as she watched intently from her office chair as Christine and Daroga struggled to beat each other at an arm wrestling match across her desk.
"You're strong!" Daroga exclaimed as he used all his strength to try moving Christine's arm past the midway point. Christine bit her lip before using all her strength and finally slamming the Persian's arm on the other side, winning the game.
"Yes!" Christine cheered.
"Ouch!" Daroga said in pain as he held his arm close to himself. "Erik, did you know she was that strong?"
"Yes, however I think it would be more correct to say that I knew you were that weak," Erik answered from where he sat bored on the couch, Raoul sitting agitated beside him.
"One more round!" Raoul begged.
"Raoul, I hate you, but I'm actually trying to help you win at this point. Rock-paper-scissors is not a hard game," Erik said with a sigh.
"Then how come you keep winning?" Raoul exclaimed.
"You keep putting rock down as your first move, and every time I try to put scissors down so that you can win you change to paper…so I don't know how to help you," Erik answered.
"Is anyone else getting bored?" Era asked.
"Does that mean we can go home now?" Raoul questioned hopefully.
"No, you people are stuck here until I'm so sick of seeing that moustache on your face that I shave it off…which I'll probably do anyways," Era answered. Raoul made a horrified gasp as he placed a hand over his moustache.
"Still beating Raoul, Erik?" Meg asked as she entered the room with a cone of ice cream.
"Yes," Erik mumbled.
"Where did you get that?" Era asked, hypnotised by the ice cream.
"I asked Darius for it," Meg answered.
"Traitor," Daroga grumbled.
"Why didn't you ask if we wanted some?" Christine asked.
"…I asked Erik before I left," Meg said slowly.
"And I said no," Erik added in. "Though now that I think of it, if I had known my weakling of a husband was going to lose to a woman, I would have asked you to get one for him,"
"Why does that sound like an insult instead of it sounding like you were thinking of my feelings," Daroga asked while crossing his arms.
"Because it was an insult, just a hidden one," Erik answered.
"Conceal it better next time," Daroga grumbled.
The room suddenly went silent as a loud sound was made. At first, none of them could identify what it was, but as the sound got louder it became clearer that it was very large footsteps. As the footsteps continued to get closer to the door all of the characters stood in preparation: Erik pushing the Persian in front of him as a human sacrifice, Raoul hiding behind Era's chair, Christine picking up the TV remote as a weapon, and Meg just simply finishing off her ice cream cone.
Suddenly a loud CRASH was heard as a large man bursted through the door, making a large man-shaped hole in the space. The man straightened up, showing his seven foot tall height, and looked at them all with a very intimidating look. But the strangest part was his attire, looking identical to what one would associate with a butler.
As the butler stared them all down, a normal male sized head popped up from behind the man's shoulder with a giant smile.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late," the young male said as he hoped down from the butler's back, straitening his modern clothing.
"It's alright, you're perfect timing on my boredom watch," Era replied with a smile.
"Who's this weasel?" Erik asked while looking the boy condescendingly.
"This is my friend, Ds. We go way back…kind of like you and Daroga…except we're actually friends," Era answered.
"So you brought the obsessive-skull-face-zombie in, huh?" Ds commented while looking at Erik with a grin.
"What did you just call me?" Erik growled dangerously.
"Excuse me," the butler interrupted, looking at Ds, "Master Baiter, may I stand outside in the company of the two people at the front desks?"
"Ds!" Era exclaimed as she repeated the name the butler had for his boss in her head.
"What? It's a funny name!" Ds defended.
"I don't even want to know what you found wrong with that name," Daroga said to Era with a sigh.
"Yes, Butler, you can leave," Ds excused. Butler nodded his head before turning around and exiting through the hole in the door.
"Wait…what's his name?" Era asked.
"Butler," Ds answered.
"A butler named Butler…"
"Is there a problem?"
"…I guess not," Era trailed off. "Well, everyone, Ds has actually decided to accompany us for a while to keep us entertained, or at least keep me entertained,"
"We're doomed," Raoul whimpered as he went over to where Christine stood.
"He's just a child, he can do us no more harm than Era," Erik retorted.
"I'm not a child…" Ds mumbled. "But then again your over a hundred, so what do we know,"
"Are you calling me old?" Erik growled again.
"I'm not calling you young," Ds replied with a raised brow.
"Ds, you're really starting a war now?" Era sighed.
"I have to get them all to hate me," Ds replied innocently.
"Why?"
"Because it's a rule; in every single story I'm in, I've got to make them hate me…or fear me, I like the later better," Ds smiled and Era laughed.
"Alright, if you have to,"
"What? You're going to let him do bad things to us?" Daroga exclaimed.
"He's harmless," Era answered with a wave of her hand as she stood and began walking around her desk.
"But the question is: what do you find harmless?" Erik pointed out.
"Think of it this way, both me and Ds are Gemini, so we count ourselves as twins…and I'm the good twin," Era warned, giggling at the horrified looks everyone gave her. "Erik, I can easily say you've met your match,"
"I highly doubt that-" Erik turned around stunned when he saw Ds standing right in front of him, holding his hand close to the phantom's face.
"I got your nose!" Ds said cheerfully while holding his thumb in-between his index and middle finger. Erik growled darkly as the boy looked at him with fake shock.
"Whoops," Ds said with a shrug.
"You're honestly putting me on the same level as him?" Erik exclaimed.
"Yes," Era answered flatly.
"He's not even a criminal mastermind or anything remotely close to-"
"MINE!" Ds announced as he held up a pristine pocket watch in his hand. Erik looked at the watch and then to his pocket.
"Give it back!" Erik yelled as he charged at the boy. Ds smirked triumphantly before turning and running out of the office followed by Erik.
"Hey, isn't that my watch?" Raoul wondered out loud.
"So a thief takes a watch from a thief…no good things can come from this," Daroga sighed heavily.
"Well, it keeps Erik occupied," Era reasoned.
"Are we going to let Erik kill him?" Christine asked.
"We'll see," Era answered before strolling to the office door. "I'll check up on them," she called back as she walked out of the room.
"…I hope that Ds kid isn't saving us for later," Raoul said nervously.
Era looked around the waiting room, curiously looking for both Erik and Ds. A loud tangent of French swear words were heard nearby and Era sighed.
"What did you do know, Ds?" she wondered.
"I tied his lasso into a knot when he wasn't looking," Ds' voice answered as he poked his head around from where he was hidden behind Darius' desk.
"How did you get down there without Erik seeing you?" Era asked amazed. Ds just shrugged.
"I'm quick?"
"Well, you're lucky," Era said with a sigh. "And aren't we a little old to be doing this? It's been three or four years since we last pranked anyone, let alone drive anyone crazy,"
"We're keeping our youth, and I wouldn't necessarily call what I just did a prank," Ds answered.
"What would you call it?"
"…Showing Erik I'm a bigger fish in the sea than he is? And that I can beat him at anything,"
"You always say that, but I don't think childish things like this are going to crack him," Era complained.
"I think it will, otherwise your Phantom book wouldn't bug him so much," Ds retorted. "By the way, where's Butler? I thought he came out here…"
"He went out for coffee with Darius," 21 answered.
"Dang it…" Ds mumbled unhappily.
"So…until Erik gets back, why don't we go back to the other guys," Era suggested.
"Okay…that'll be fun. Do you think I can convince them that I'm worse than Erik?" Ds asked hopefully.
"That's a long shot…can't you try to be nice?"
"…I'll try," Ds answered before following the girl back to her office.
"Where's Erik?" Meg asked concerned.
"Off trying to find a new lasso, I'm sure," Era answered with a wave of her hand.
"You just completely humiliated Erik in front of us…" Raoul suddenly realized while looking at Ds. "You're…my hero!" he exclaimed before kneeling down and hugging Ds' legs.
"Guess no one cares when I humiliate Erik," Era said with a sigh.
"I'm not worthy!" Raoul continued to praise. Ds huffed.
"You're annoying me," he said while looking down at the Frenchman. "Era, please open the entryway to the beast's lair,"
Era rolled her eyes before nodding; she then opened another secret door on the wall, this time on the opposite side, leading to an identical replica of Erik's torture chamber, the only different being that inside slept the terrifying Khanum from Susan Kay's book. Ds grabbed Raoul by the collar of his shirt, dragged him to the entrance before tossing him inside. Era quickly closed the door just as Raoul let out a terrified scream, waking the slumbering Khanum.
"Raoul!" Christine cried out as she ran to the hidden door, unable to open it.
"Wasn't that…overboard?" Meg asked.
"I think it was just the right amount of board," Ds retorted.
"…I have an overwhelming feeling that we're next," the Persian pointed out.
"If you don't bug me, I might forget about 'pranking' you next," Ds warned with an innocent smile.
"By the way, what does your name mean?" Meg asked.
"Nintendo DS," Era answered with a grin.
"No it doesn't," Ds whined. "It stands for my username, nothing else,"
"Or so he says," Daroga mumbled.
~oOo~
"Insolent boy," Erik growled unhappily as he walked into the office later that day, finding a new lasso, and then searching for Ds. He looked around the empty office curiously for a moment.
"Where did they all go?" he wondered out loud before turning around to go search somewhere else. He froze when he noticed Ds trying to walk into the room, the later pausing when he realized what was in his face.
"I'm not apologizing!" Ds cried before turning around and running for dear life. Erik snarled as he went to chase after Ds, only to collide with Era, who was also trying to get into the office.
"What the hell!" Era exclaimed as she looked up at Erik, rubbing her head where it bumped into the man.
"I'm trying to kill that little pest!" Erik growled.
"Here, I'll go find Ds, you go make sure Raoul hasn't died in the torture chamber yet," Era instructed.
"Torture chamber?" Erik echoed, distracted.
"Yes, it's in the hidden door on the left side…I'll magically open it for you. Don't worry, the torture chamber isn't on, but I would be careful of the Khanum," Era warned before turning and leaving the phantom by himself.
"…Why can't we switch jobs?" Erik grumbled unhappily as he went back into the office and to the hidden door that was now open. Peaking inside the torture chamber from the small opening, Erik cautiously opened the door wider.
"De Chagny?" he called quietly. It took his eyes a minute to adjust to the darkness before seeing Raoul trapped on the ground by the Khanum, who was sleeping behind him, but holding him in her arms in a tight teddy bear hug.
"Erik?" Raoul whispered back. "I've never been so glad to see you! Help me!"
"How did you get in here?" Erik asked with a raised brow.
"Shh!" Raoul hushed. "Ds threw me in here,"
"Oh…well, at least he's attacking you too," Erik snickered quietly.
"Get me out of here!"
"What do I get out of it?"
"I'll help you get revenge on Ds," Raoul offered.
"I can do that on my own," Erik retorted.
"I'll help! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I won't name call you ever again if you get me out of here," Raoul begged. Erik blinked surprised before thinking about it.
"Alright," he finally said. "And I can talk to Christine whenever I want about whatever I want without complaints from you,"
"But-"
"Not buts,"
"…Fine," Erik smirked before he quietly entered the torture chamber and slowly helped Raoul to slide out of the Khanum's grip. Once out, the two quickly exited the room before shutting the door firmly behind them.
"Alright, let's get that little insect," Raoul said determined. Erik grinned.
"Let's,"
~oOo~
Ds sat bored on the couch as he watch Era set up their new video game in one of the spare rooms of the building.
"Are you almost done yet?" he asked.
"It's just loading…I've got to say, using Fanfiction powers to make a video game of ourselves was a great idea," Era complimented.
"Thanks,"
"Alright, here it goes, ready to play?"
"Yes!" Ds exclaimed as he held his controller eagerly. Era quickly sat beside him with her own controller in hand.
"Wait, I don't understand how this works," Meg said while holding the game controller wearily.
"Each button does something different…just try to stay alive," Era advised.
"Why can't Daroga play instead of me?" Meg whined.
"Because Daroga's napping and we need a third player," Era answered while looking at the arm chair in the corner of the room where the Persian was faking sleep.
"Alright, ready?" Ds announced. Meg nodded her head. "Begin!
"DIE!" Era yelled as the game began. All three of them slammed their fingers violently on different buttons on their controllers trying to win.
"No fair, let me up!" Ds whined as Era's character punched him to the ground repeatedly, enabling his character to stand.
"All is fair in this game-KAROTE CHOP!" Era exclaimed, snickering as she went.
"Where am I?" Meg asked while looking around the screen confused.
"In the right corner," the Persian answered, one eye opened and looking at the screen.
"Hey! You weren't sleeping!" Era accused.
"Ha! I'm back up! Chuck Norris KICK!" Ds screamed as he attacked Era's character while she was distracted.
"What? No! No, wait, I dodged it! Loser!"
"No one dodges Chuck Norris, look again!" Era made a loud gasp.
"No! Get up mini me! Get up! Wait…Ds, how the heck did your character transform into Butler?"
"That's for me to know and for you to find out,"
"I don't understand this game," Meg exaggerated with a sigh, not even trying to win anymore.
As the two continued to play their game with Meg sitting on the side lines, Erik and Raoul crept around the corner of the room, watching the Dynamic Duo intently.
"What exactly is your plan?" Erik whispered to Raoul curiously. "You claim you have a good one,"
"Just watch, you'll see," Raoul answered with a mischievous smile.
"I'm thirsty," Ds announced as he stood and stretched. "Want a drink?"
"Sure, I'll pause the game," Era answered with a smile, pressing a button on her controller to stop the game.
"Meg? Persian guy?"
"I'm alright, thanks," Meg replied.
"I'll have whatever you're getting," Daroga answered, both eyes now opened. Raoul's expression became more excited as Ds nodded before walking over to a small mini fridge in the opposite corner of the room.
Ds turned the handle of the fridge and opened the door. Just as he did so, a whipped cream pie came flying at the boy from out of nowhere. Seeing the flying object out of the corner of his eye, Ds crouched down, the pie soaring above his head and continuing until it met Christine, who unfortunately came into the room searching for Raoul. Christine gave a cry as the whip cream smeared across her dress and her arm and neck.
"Chris-" Raoul began, only to be cut off by Erik smacking his hand over his mouth.
"Hush!" he hissed. "If Ds finds out that it came from us, we're done for,"
"Why did you do this?" Christine cried as she looked at Ds.
"No, whip cream pies aren't my style," Ds answered.
"It's idiotic," Erik whispered in agreement.
"It's probably your husband-"
"Ex-husband," Era quickly interjected.
"Ex-husband," Ds corrected. Christine broke into tears as she turned and fled out of the room.
"…Strange," Daroga commented.
~oOo~
"DDDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH HHH! DU DU DU DU DUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH!" Era sang as she skipped ahead of Ds down the hall, heading towards the waiting room from the game room. Ds just laughed as he followed casually behind her.
"I'm hungry, I hope the Persian guy told 21 our pizza order already," Ds said with a smile.
"Me too, otherwise what's the point of letting him leave our video game tournament so early?" Era replied.
"And Meg," Ds commented.
"Yeah, but I'm glad she left…she was destroying us in that game," Era cried.
"I guess car games are more her style,"
As the two talked they didn't notice Erik and Raoul following behind them in secrecy, Erik just returning from setting up his own trap.
"It's your turn now, make it count," Raoul advised.
"Watch and learn, Vicomte," Erik replied with a grin. An ear splitting scream was suddenly heard from the waiting room, making Era and Ds look at each other.
"What was that?" Era asked alarmed.
"Let's go find out," Ds answered before the two ran off in the direction of the scream.
"…Oops…" Erik mumbled unintentionally.
"Oops? What do you mean 'Oops'?" Raoul asked panicked. Erik didn't answer but ran off towards the waiting room, Raoul close behind him.
Era and Ds couldn't help being shocked by what they saw. Poor Meg was hanging upside down by a lasso attached to the ceiling, the Persian was on the ground in pain beside a patch of ice, and an upright coffin with spikes on the insides was open with human remains inside.
"What the hell is going on?" Era exclaimed.
"That's a good question," Meg replied with a sigh.
"I heard a scream, is everyone alright-" Christine began as she ran into the room, but was cut off when she slipped on the patch of ice, landing next to the Persian.
"I…made the same…mistake…moments ago…" Daroga huffed as he tried regrouping himself.
"What is going on? And whose body parts are those?" Era asked while pointing at the coffin.
"Carlotta," Meg answered. "I saw the whole thing,"
"How did she get back in here?" Era wondered out loud.
"Who knows," Ds answered with a crinkled nose, looking at the coffin in disgust as he slowly closed its door.
"What the hell is the matter with you? Are you mentally insane?" Raoul exclaimed quietly while slapping Erik in the arm.
"I was aiming for Ds to slip on the ice and get into the coffin…and the rope was for Era…she needs to be kept alive for us to go home," Erik answered while crossing his arms.
"Are you INSANE? What if Christine had fallen into the coffin?" Raoul asked angrily.
"…I have no answer for you…except that we got Carlotta, that counts," Erik retorted.
"Hey, mask face," Ds called as he noticed the phantom. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
"Of course not," Erik replied instantly, not showing any signs that he did anything while Raoul squirmed beside him in panic.
"…I don't like the look he's giving us," Raoul whispered frightened to Erik.
"Neither do I, but he has no proof it was us. Besides, what's the worst he can do?"
~oOo~
Era groaned as she sat up under her sleeping spot under her desk annoyed. She couldn't sleep, and the constant movement from the other side of the desk where the others were was annoying her. Crawling around the desk, she paused when she saw Ds sitting cross-legged beside Erik's head, careful not to be too close to the Persian.
"What are you doing?" Era whispered as she crawled over to her friend and sat down beside him.
"Nothing," Ds whispered back. Era looked down at his hands and noticed a permanent black marker.
"I see the marker," she pointed out. Ds paused for a moment.
"…Okay, I'm drawing a funny face on him," he admitted before shifting slightly to let Era see the marker drawings on Erik's unmasked face.
"Why?" Era asked while rubbing her eyes tiredly with a yawn.
"We both know he pulled that whole coffin thing and Raoul with the whipped cream pie," Ds answered. "They're trying to prank/kill us,"
"Prank/Kill you, not me, they need me…and why are you just punishing Erik for it? Raoul was there too,"
"Don't worry, he's next," Era watched for a few minutes as Ds finished giving Erik clown-like features, a moustache and a uni-brow.
"I'm done! So, what do you think?" Ds asked. Era shrugged.
"It's okay," she answered.
"Well, onto the other one," Ds announced as he began crawling over to where Raoul slept.
"Wait," Era said while grabbing his shirt
"What?"
"If you're going to do this to two of them, I think should do something mean to all of them," she advised with a grin.
~oOo~
The next morning was greeted by a chorus of high pitched screams. Around the room, each character looked at each other in horror of what they woke up to. Raoul had woken to his hand being placed in a bowl of warm water, a strange warm liquid now traveling down his pants, and the words 'Master Baiter' written in marker on his forehead. Erik had wakened to the same markings made on him by Ds the night before. Christine had awoken to her hair completely missing, some strands of shaven hair placed on her body to make the reality hit her harder. The Persian woke up with his wrist handcuffed to Erik's with the handcuffs Dray had given them and his hat nowhere in sight. And Meg was…Meg.
She looked at everyone shocked, but noticed nothing was wrong with her.
"Meg, you got me ice cream yesterday when I asked, so you have sanctuary," Ds announced with a smile.
"Unfortunate for the others though…" Era trailed off with a yawn.
A/N-*laughs awkwardly* I really don't know what to say...Umm, I guess I hope you guys liked it and if not...the next chapter's better. Please review with your thoughts, and if you could let me know if you like Ds or not because I changed him slightly to try and make it more entertaining so I want to hear what you think of it. Please review!