Chapter 8

A History Lesson

                Leeteuk led Katrina to his office, deciding to actually walk there instead of transporting like he normally would. Katrina seemed to still be a little frazzled, though she had calmed down quite a bit. In fact, now that she could accept the fact that she was most likely here to stay and that these men didn’t want to harm her, she thought this whole having powers thing was pretty cool. Heck, she bet she could use them to stir up all kinds of trouble. Perfect.

                As they walked down the corridors, Leeteuk started to talk about the building’s history.

                “This place used to be a catholic church in Paris, France until the late 18^thcentury when it was converted into an opera house.” Katrina nodded. She had to admit, this place was pretty cool. They passed by various rooms. “These used to be dressing rooms for the actors, but we now use them for bedrooms.”

                “So, where’s the stage?” Katrina asked.

                “Well, there was an accident many years back that  destroyed the place. After that, the opera house was eventually redone into a mansion, so the stage isn’t here anymore,” explained Leeteuk. Katrina pouted. Darn it, she wanted to see the stage. She bet it was huge.

                “The area where the stage used to be is now separated into three rooms: The kitchen/dining room, my office, and Chri-“ He stopped himself. “I mean, your room.” He corrected himself. But Katrina caught the mistake. She was going to stay in her mom’s room? She really didn’t know how she felt about that. Looking around as they rounded a corner, she suddenly realized something.

                “So, we’re in France right now?” she asked.

                “Uh, no,” Leeteuk responded. Katrina sighed in relief. Don’t get her wrong, she had always wanted to see France, but she wanted to see it with her dad, not live there with 9 men she didn’t know. “We’re in Korea.” Leeteuk finished. Katrina stopped in her tracks.

                “Korea!?” she exclaimed. That was even farther from home! How would she ever see her dad or Atlas or Philly? Leeteuk tried to calm her down.

                “You’ll be able to see them again Katrina, I promise. But it won’t be for a while.” Katrina slowly nodded. Looks like she was really here to stay for now. She would have to get used to it. They both continued to walk. “I know you’ll miss them, but I think you’ll find that you’ll be happier here with people like you. You’ll have a place to belong.” He smiled.

                A place to belong. She liked the sound of that. After all, wasn’t that what she always wanted?

                They had finally arrived at the place where the two corridors met. On one side was another staircase that led to the next floor.

                “That’s the way to the training room.” He explained. On the other side was three doors. Katrina guessed that these were the three rooms Leeteuk mentioned. He led her to the very last door and held it open for her. She walked in to find a huge elegantly furnished room. Unlike the rest of the dark black mansion, Leeteuk’s office was decorated in shades of white and light brown. The walls were lined with bookshelves filled with all sorts of books and various objects. A huge plush armchair sat in the middle of the room accompanied by a matching sofa and coffee table. The décor reminded Katrina of her dad. Leeteuk motioned towards the sofa as he settled himself in his chair. Katrina took her seat on the sofa.

                “So, what do you want to know first?” Leeteuk asked, placing his hands together and giving her a gentle smile. Katrina thought for a minute. There was so much she wanted to ask. After a minute or so, she finally decided.

                “What’s a Phantom?”

                “I’m glad you asked.” Leeteuk smiled, ready to tell of their history. “Have you ever heard of the Phantom of the Opera?” Katrina snorted.

                “Uh, no, I have never heard of the play that I’ve been obsessed with since I was young.” She replied sarcastically. Leeteuk rolled his eyes.

                “Anyway, that story is actually based on a true story.” He continued. Katrina’s eyes widened.

                “Wait, so there actually was Erik? There was actually a Phantom of the Opera?”

                “Indeed there was,” Leeteuk was amused. He hadn’t thought that she shared her mother’s love of the play. Apparently, he was wrong. “You see, back when this used to be a church, a young lady prayed to a baby of her own. Many years passed and she still could not get pregnant, so she seeked the help of a mystic who gave her a potion that would make her pregnant. However, the woman didn’t know that this mystic was actually a spiteful spirit who gave her a cursed elixir. When the woman gave birth months later, she was horrified to find that her son, Erik, was horribly disfigured. When she saw his face, she died of fright.” At this, Katrina snorted.

                “Coward,” she muttered. Leeteuk cocked an eyebrow.

                “So says the girl who almost had a panic attack when she found out she could teleport.” he gave her an amused smile. Katrina narrowed her eyes.

                “Continue,” she ordered.

                “Anyway, since his mother died, and the father couldn’t be found, he was sold to a traveling circus where he was tortured and abused. They displayed his ugly face for all to see, and everyone jeered at him and treated him with hate. When he was just a young boy, he discovered that he had the power to cause pain to others without having to lay a finger on them. He used this power to kill his keeper and escape. He found shelter in the catacombs of the old church, which had already been transformed into an opera house at that point. It was there that he discovered his other power: he could transport from place to place, making it easy to explore his new home. Now, as you might have guessed, these powers came from the elixir the mystic gave his mother. It granted him with wonderful powers, but it also cursed him with the inability to live with normal people. He may fall in love with them, but he may never be a permanent part of their life. They would either learn to hate him, or he would learn to hate them. Eric found this out for himself when he fell in love with a chorus girl living in the opera house.”

                “Christine,” Katrina smiled. Leeteuk nodded.

                “Yes. Christine Daae. He watched her all the time-

                “-and taught her how to sing, wearing the mask to hide his face. But she falls in love with her childhood friend Raoul, and Eric gets mad. So he starts to kill people in his rage and then Christine removes his mask and-“ Leeteuk cleared his throat, causing Katina to stop her ramble.

                “Do you want to tell the story, or may I continue?” he asked with a mix of sarcasm and amusement. Katrina sunk in her seat.

                “Sorry, go ahead.” She muttered. Leeteuk started again.

                “Well, since you know the story, I’m not going to go into details. I will say that Christine loved the Phantom at first. However, since Eric’s curse caused him to hate and kill the other people in the opera house and eventually to destroy the opera house itself, Christine grew to hate the Phantom of the Opera, as the people called him. So yes, Christine ended up marrying Raoul, but there is something that the story doesn’t tell. You see, just a month after their marriage, Christine became pregnant with a child, but after the child was born, it was found that the father was not Raoul.” Leeteuk let this statement sink in. It took a few moments, but Katrina finally realized what he was implying.

                “You mean, Eric was the father? But that means….Ew!” Katrina exclaimed, causing Leeteuk to sigh.

                “Will you please be mature?” he asked, causing Katrina to calm down. “I’m not going to get into specifics, but yes, the father of this child was Eric. However, despite this discovery, Christine and Raoul loved their daughter. She, unlike her father, was very beautiful and kind, but, like her father, she also held the curse. She could also teleport, and when her parents found this out, they instinctively hated her for it due to the curse, and eventually kicked her out of the house when she was just a child. Hurt, she searched for her true father, who now lived in the outskirts of Paris. When she finally found him, he surprisingly welcomed her with much love and raised her himself. You see, the curse does allow a little reprieve: they may be hated by normal people, but they can be loved by others with the same curse. They traveled throughout the country over the years, and found others like them who had been cursed by the same mystic. Thus, they began the Phantom clan, led by Erik. They secretly transported the deserted opera house to an abandoned part of Europe and made it into their home. They were the ones who transformed this place into the mansion it is today. Ever since then, each member of the clan would go out into the world, fall in love with another, and wait for the child to be abandoned so that they may offer their child with a home and a loving family. That’s how our clan has grown to what it is now.”

                Katrina tried to take all this in. She found this story cool, yet very, very sad. She still was having a hard time believing that she was one of the descendants of this clan.

                “Next question.” Leeteuk smiled.

                “So, why is my mom your guys’ source of power?” she asked. She was still confused about that part.

                “Well, our ancestors found that the women of the clan were able to strengthen the powers of the men because of their attachment. The men loved the women of the clan, and this connection gave the men more energy and more drive. Without them, their powers would fade over time, and they would no longer be able to love anyone, not even other Phantoms. This is why when Eric’s daughter came to him, he felt the drive to find others like them. She is why the clan came together. This is also why the members had to mate with normal humans. You see, a Phantom and a Phantom can’t create a child. It has to be a Phantom and a human. If they don’t mate, the clan risks being womenless, for women tended to live shorter lives than the men. This is why your mother is so important to us.” Leeteuk smiled fondly.

                “If women are so important, then why haven’t I seen any others around?” Katrina asked. Leeteuk gave her a sad look.

                “Because, besides you, she’s our only woman that we have in the clan right now. You see, about sixteen years ago, one of our clan members grew evil, and killed all of the clan members in sight. Only Siwon, Sungmin, Yesung, and I were able to escape. Everyone else died, including all the women. Your mother, however, was very lucky because at the time, she was living in America with her new husband, Charles, and she had just given birth to you; she hadn’t left quite yet. We found her the night the clan was attacked, and when she heard the news of the clan’s destruction, she was forced to leave you and Charles that very night. She had to make sure that we and the other undiscovered Phantom children would be safe, so we transported the deserted mansion to Korea, our new home base. She would have brought you with her, but she realized that the one who wanted to destroy us was still alive, and he would no doubt be hunting for her and any children she produced. So, she was forced to leave you with Charles until your powers fully developed. Since then, she has supplied us with power we need and has seeked out the other Phantoms and offered them a home here. That’s her individual power: she knows where others of her kind are at all times. Thus, she became our mother of sorts. We would go out and mate to make more children, but it’s too dangerous right now with our enemy still on the loose.” At this, Leeteuk grew very sad.

                “But even we moving the base to this location didn’t help for long. Just two weeks ago, the enemy and his minions stormed the mansion and kidnapped Christine.” At this, Katrina grew panicked.

                “Where did they take her? Is she ok?”

                “We don’t know. We’ve been searching for her ever since, but we can’t find her. We think she’s still alive; Ryeowook can’t find her spirit on the other side yet. We believe that they’re waiting to find and kidnap or destroy you so that there is no chance of the Phantom clan reviving. Last night, he almost did kill you, but thank goodness you were able to transport out of harm’s way. It was at that point that we knew you needed to stay with us for the time being. Here, you can be safe. We’ve moved the base again in another part of Korea, and we’ve taken more precautions in our security system of sorts. So, they shouldn’t be able to find you again.” After that, the room became silent. Katrina was having trouble soaking all this in. Her mother was being held captive who knows where, and her kidnapper was hunting for her herself. This was crazy.

                “Who is this person that killed the clan? Who has my mother?” she finally asked, breaking the silence. Leeteuk looked away, staying silent for a few minutes before answering.

                “His name is Onew. He is… was my brother.”

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Ok, that took forever! And it's sooooo long! @.@ Oh well, there's your backstory ^^ If you're confused about the origin of the Phantoms, feel free to ask me any questions. I'll be happy to answer them. :)

And I've finally revealed the bad guy: Onew! (My bias in Shinee ^^ hehe) Speaking of which, as you've probably guessed by now, Shinee will be making an appearance in this story. It'll probably be a few chapters before they show up, but you will see more of Onew and the others ;)

Hope you like this chapter, and I hope it didn't bore you to tears. As always, thank you for the comments and subscriptions! I really do like your input :D

~Justjoking <3