Well, I swore I'd never write a songfic...now, my second story here, look what I've done...whoops. This begins shortly before the scene in which Toulouse enters Christian's garret and the "I know she loves you..." "GO AWAY!" scene ensues.

Using random verses from the song, "Hallelujah" from Shrek, which is a surprisingly disturbing song for a children's film :-S

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters from Moulin Rouge (but I can dream, can't I?), they are property of Baz Lurhmann *plots schemes to get Lurhmann to marry her*, or the song Hallelujah, which is owned by Leonard Cohen, and probably also by Dreamworks. Yada Yada Yada. Disclaimer over. You can wake up now.

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It couldn't be true. It couldn't. But it was. What had the Duke done to entice her in that way? Christian didn't know. All he knew was that somehow, somewhere along the line, Satine had stopped loving him. And he couldn't bear it. Over the past few days, Satine had withdrawn into herself. And he hadn't known why.

There was a time you let me know

What's really going on below

But now you never show it to me, do you?

I remember when I moved in you

And the holy dove was moving too

And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Of course, now it seemed obvious. She didn't love him at all. That was why she seemed to have changed. She was a whore, that was all, a common whore. When she tired of one customer, she moved on. But it had seemed so real, and he'd been taken in. Gullible. That was all he was. Gullible. She'd been using him. Using him until someone better came along. He'd been so innocent when he'd first come to Paris...she'd taken advantage of that and sucked him in. He'd been overwhelmed by her that first night...her beauty, her talent...it had been too much. And she'd seen that and pretended she'd loved him too. Now...

Well, now she'd hurt him, hadn't she? He should have seen it coming.

Your faith was strong, but you needed proof

You saw her bathing on the roof

Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

She tied you

To a kitchen chair

She broke your throne, she cut your hair

And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

He went to the window and gazed at the windmill that seemed to taunt him with its very presence. He could see little of what was happening inside, but he guessed they were still working on Spectacular Spectacular -his show- as though nothing had changed. He could see it in his mind's eye...Satine in her long, dark dress, Zidler speaking his lines in his deep, loud voice, and the Duke -the Duke- overseeing everything. Just as everything had been before. Except it all seemed so different now that he was on his own again.

Baby I've been here before, I know this room

I've walked this floor

I used to live alone before I knew you

I've seen your flag on the Marble Arch

Love is not a victory march

It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

He hated her. Hated her. His first love...and his only love. He'd never be taken in like that again. Never. He'd been an idiot to think it could have lasted. Love...what was love? Perhaps the Duke had been right all along. A lifetime of security- that's real love.

A lifetime of security. You couldn't get much less secure than falling in love with a courtesan, could you? He'd been so stupid. Well, it was never going to happen again. Never.

Maybe there's a God above, all I ever learned from love

Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you

And it's not a cry you can hear at night

It's not somebody who's seen the light

It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

But he had loved her so much. He'd wanted to be with her all the time, and when he couldn't be with her, he'd be daydreaming about her...all the time, he'd wanted to touch her, to place his hand on hers, to hold her and never let go. Even to brush against her accidentally had been a thrill. And he'd thought she felt the same. The way she looked at him, the way she'd spoken to him...like nothing he'd ever known. And it had been a facade. All another of Satine's shows.

But what a very good actress she'd been.