"Diminished"

Work: the Phantom of the Opera
Genre: Angst
Character(s): the Phantom
Rating: PG
A/N: Since I began writing Dead Boy's Poem, I have really come to love writing vignettes, just little captured moments hanging in the fabric of something bigger. I feel this is a good way to practice putting a lot of power into very few words. Plus, I've been thinking about writing this for a while since I have an unnatural love of diminished chords.

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He sits before the organ in deep pain, savoring the harsh sorrow of its sound. He is playing nothing in particular, only idly picking out chords to match his mood.

G, B flat, D, he plays. D, F, A.

The organ sounds like a man's dying breath, the hopeless groan of a doomed soul; it is laden heavy with sadness. Yet it is not only sadness which he feels – there is also anger. And so he lets the fifth of each chord slip down into something darker, the dying groan shifting into a tormented growl.

A, C, E flat, he plays. E flat, G flat, B double flat.

They are diminished, just like his soul.