FAREWELL

 

Christian placed the finished manuscript beside him on the desk and stood, looking out into the fading light. He had finished finally the story he had promised her. It had taken him over a month to sit down and even begin, but once he had, the words seemed to flow from his fingers onto the paper without even the slightest effort. Walking out onto his balcony, Christian took a deep breath, and smiled, remembering the last night he had spent with Satine before the horrible events of the days directly before her death.

Shaking his head, he turned and walked back inside the hotel room, catching a glimpse of his face in the mirror. He looked much older than his twenty-three years, due a thick beard that had grown when he was too depressed to care what he looked like. Nodding to himself, he went about the process of shaving, and changing out of his dirty cloths.

 

An hour later, he walked outside into the evening air, making his way to Satine's gravesite. He had been far to lost in his own self-pity to attend her funeral, and hadn't even left his apartment once since they had taken her body away. Stopping at her grave, he placed a red rose at the head of it, and attempted to choke back the tears. Suddenly, he was struck by a presence behind him. Turning, his eyes widened in shock. S-Satine??

She smiled and nodded slightly, smiling at him. She wore the white dress she had worn in the show, and as she approached him, it swirled around her feet. "Why are you still here Christian? Chasing shadows. It's all right to grieve, but I'm gone. You needn't stay and watch over me any more, my love. His voice was choked as he tried to reply. "I- couldn't. It's-" She placed a finger lightly on his lips and shook her head, again, smiling. "I'm always with you Christian. Go home, to England. Make up with your father, and never forget me. But you must go on. Even if you leave France, I'll still be watching over you. She kissed him softly. "And when the time comes, we shall be together again. Farewell, my love. "NO!" He yelled, again fighting tears. "Don't leave... I-you can't." The pain in his voice catching her up short as it always had in life, she stopped, and turned back to him, sympathy etched in her features. Moving back towards him, he took her in his arms and held her as tightly as he could. Wrapping her arms around him, she whispered in his ear. "Christian, you have to! Staying here won't accomplish anything. I love you, I always will, and I know you love me too, but I'm dead. And I'm not coming back. I'll see you again, you know that that's the truth. Come what may." With that, she faded to nothing, and he collapsed on the ground, sobbing, and finally, falling into a dreamless slumber.

 

When he awoke the next morning, it was to male hands shaking him. "Christian, wake up!" He blinked and saw Toulouse staring at him. "Are you alright, Christian. You look almost dead. "I'm fine, Toulouse. Better than I have been in months actually. I'm going home. I- I finally said goodbye." Toulouse grinned. "I'll walk you back to the hotel. We shall have to have a drink first in celebration of your return to the land of the living!" As he laughed for the first time in months, Satine's words echoed in her head, and looking at her gravestone, he could finally look at tomorrow. "Come what may." He murmured softly, as he allowed himself to be led back to his room, and to his friends.