The Phantom of the Opera: Hellfire

As the daughter of a fallen noble family, Gloria Russell inherited her great-grandmother's extraordinary beauty from the day she was born.

Yet in late-nineteenth-century France, this beauty was nothing but skin-deep, and brought her no good fortune.

Her mother died young from exhaustion, and her father wallowed in the glories of the past, drowning in the dreamland of alcohol. Her fallen paternal family could not protect her, while her maternal relatives, who had cut ties long ago, considered her existence a disgrace. In the bitter winds of France, Gloria was like a neglected thornless rose, heartbreakingly fragile.

At seventeen, she caught the eye of a duke's son. He was impeccably dressed, but carried a venereal disease, and claimed he wanted to help an orphaned girl. In truth, he meant to keep her as a canary in his mansion.

Since childhood, Gloria had been taught to uphold the glory of her family name. Without a second thought, she ran.

Surrounded by pursuers, she fled blindly and accidentally fell into a hidden pit.

Beneath the opera house, the girl stumbled upon the ghost who haunted it.

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He was the “son of the devil,” with a hideous, terrifying face, hated by everyone.

Architect, designer, composer, magician, musical genius...

Despite all those illustrious titles, Erik still received nothing but fearful, disgusted stares, simply because his face seemed cursed.

A beast rejected by beauty and yet cherished by it, he spent his days wandering in the lightless darkness, lonely and disgusted as he spied on the bustling world above. And in the palace that belonged to him alone, he created peerless music fit for the heavens.

Then, one day, while making his rounds beneath the theater, the ghost captured a butterfly with iridescent wings that could no longer fly.

Her beautiful golden hair shone like gentle sunlight, and her pale face was as delicate as a porcelain doll. The girl was so beautiful she seemed otherworldly. Even unconscious, tears glistened at the corners of her eyes, and she was soft and meek as a lost lamb.

Unconsciously, she reached out and tugged at the man's sleeve. Her voice was faint as a mosquito's, each word a sob.

“Mommy, save me.”

The ghost: ??

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

The Bible”

A gloomy, misanthropic, disfigured genius x a fragile yet resilient, beautiful orphan

(A dark spider x a gentle butterfly)

They are both starved for love, and each has their own flaws. They save each other and learn to be accepting.

(Translation: They're both hopeless romantics. I want to write a clingy, lovey-dovey romance.)

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Warnings:

1. This is a Phantom of the Opera fanfiction, drawing on the original novel, the musical (the MC and UWE versions), and the movie. However, I've made up a lot of details and added plenty of my own ideas. This is my first time writing in this genre, so please be understanding if my research is incomplete.

2. To fit the original timeline, I've made the leads 32 and 17 when they first meet, with a 15-year age gap. The story is expected to span one year, and the romance will only begin after the heroine comes of age.

3. The heroine grew up starved of affection, leaving her personality underdeveloped. She's rather fragile and cries easily early on, but I don't like submissive protagonists, so she'll gradually grow stronger.

4. The Phantom is closer to his portrayal in the original novel. His entire face is disfigured, and he's gloomy, volatile, neurotic, and possessive, but incredibly fragile inside (.). In short, I combined all my dark preferences.

4. This will most likely be a passion project. Given the potentially controversial premise, I'm saying in advance that I won't accept overly aggressive criticism of the free chapters ><

Theme: Love and redemption