Love, Freedom and Beauty
A Moulin Rouge! Sequel by talking2myself
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so here's the thing. I'm trying to include songs in this story so the songs will be italicized. Sorry if this is confusing. Oh yeah and I don't anyone in this story or songs that may turn up.
Chapter. 1 Five Years Later...
Satine's soft voice drifts in from a distance. Christian and Satine move towards each other as they sing in the grand finale of their show. "I will love you until my dying day." Satine wraps her arms around Christian. The lovers are together for one last time. Suddenly, Satine backs away from him slowly. "Tell our story, Christian... Tell our story..."
BRING! Christian jerked awake as the typewriter bell clanged in his ear. He had fallen asleep on top of the typewriter... again.
"I don't want to ask him," he heard a voice whisper.
"He likes you best, Toulouse!" another snapped," Why don't you do it?"
"I can't run away as fast if he gets mad!" he heard Toulouse retort. Christian rolled his eyes and walked across the room to the door of his garret. He opened his door and the four bohemians spilled into his room. "Christian!" Toulouse cried with a ridiculous fake grin plastered across his face. "Lovely evening!"
"May I ask why you gentlemen are eavesdropping?" Christian asked closing the door.
"Us eavesdrop?" Toulouse asked innocently. "No never..." he elbowed the others hard so they quickly agreed. "Not us!" Wouldn't dream of it! Never." Christian raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Well, uh actually we did... um have a question," Toulouse said timidly.
"Very well then," Christian said," What?"
The Bohemians looked at each other. The Argentinian conveniently dropped asleep. The Doctor and Satie looked at each other and then shoved Toulouse forwards. "Oh okay!" Toulouse snapped," Very well. No need to push." He straightened his tie and tried to calmly address Christian," Well, as you well know Satine... has been dead for five years now. And you... you haven't written anything since..."
"You haven't sung a note either!" Satie piped.
"Or appeared at Moulin Rouge," The Doctor added.
"Or seen Spectacular Spectacular!" The Argentinian said. The men all looked at him. "Oh right!" he cried before plopping to the ground with a snore.
"And you haven't mentioned love..." Toulouse said," Or beauty or freedom since... And well we were kind of wondering if you have anything new."
Christian let out a heavy sigh," I'm sorry, my friends. Inspiration is hard to find. Love seems kind of empty..."
The Bohemians gasped even the supposedly unconscious Argentinian. "Now you see that's not good," he cried.
"I'm sorry," Christian said," My heart's just... just not in it anymore. You're going to have to get someone else to write your plays."
"No!" Toulouse cried," You can't do that!"
"We need you," The Doctor cried.
"You're the best!" Satie agreed.
"And you haven't even heard the bad news yet!" The Argentinian said raising his head only long enough to be heard.
"The bad news?" Christian asked.
The Bohemians once again shoved Toulouse forwards," Alright!" he snapped at his friends," The bad news is this." Toulouse drew a deep breath," Spectacular Spectacular isn't selling as well as it used to. The Moulin Rouge is losing business and... Zidler wants a new show. If he doesn't get it soon... he's... he's gonna throw us out."
"What?!" Christian cried," Where will we go?"
"So... you'll write one?" Toulouse piped hopefully.
Christian let out a sigh," I'll see what I can do." The Bohemians let out a huge sigh of relief.
"There you go," Toulouse said with a confident smile," I told you he only needed a little motivation. Now then let's get straight to work..."
"If you want to help then read through these," Christian said handing them a stack of scripts," Off with you."
"Oh right of course!" Toulouse agreed," Come on boys let's go!" The motley crew scurried out of his garret. Christian closed the door behind them with a heavy sigh. Write something? About love? Love had died three years ago. About beauty? Nothing seemed beautiful anymore. About freedom? He wasn't free. He was a prisoner of his own emotions. He let out a sigh and watch his friends scurry across the street to the elegant windmill that spun around and around. The Moulin Rouge. His palace. His playground. His Prison. Ever since Spectacular Spectacular! Had become a hit, he had become rather wealthy. He could go anywhere if he wanted to, but somehow he always stayed here. Perhaps it was time to leave? Perhaps he had to move on. He looked down at a picture of Satine sitting on his desk. There. She was the one thing holding him back. Christian let out a heavy sigh.
Christian crossed over to the window and lifted a glass of alcohol in a toast," Here's to the good life or so they say all those parties and games that all those people play." He looked at the mighty windmill and watched the ladies rush out of it," They tell me this is the place to be all these beautiful people and nothing to see." He closed his curtains with a sigh and threw up his hands" Sometimes I feel like something is gone here. Something wrong here! I don't belong here! Sometimes I feel like a stranger in town. And I've lost what I've found. It will all turn around!"
He ripped a page from his typewriter in a flourish," In a little while I'll be thinking about you." He crumpled the page and chucked it at a wastepaper bin. It missed. "In a little while I'll still be here without you. You never gave me a reason to doubt you. In a little while I'll be thinking about you, baby..." He picked up the paper and dropped it into the bin. He paced back to his desk and gazed at her picture thoughtfully. She was in costume for Spectacular Spectacular! "On the other side of the coin there's a face. There's a memory somewhere that I can't erase." He picked up the picture and paced over to the window gazing at the magnificent Moulin Rouge. "And there's a place that I find someday, but sometimes I feel like it's slipping away..." He flung open the windows and sang out to no one in particular," Sometimes I feel like something is wrong here! Something is gone here! I don't belong here!" He gripped his waste basket full of crumpled up scripts as well as Satine's picture.He sat out on the balcony staring out and holding Satine's picture close to his chest. "Sometimes I feel like a stranger in town. And I've lost what I found! It will all turn around... In frustration he throws the crumpled paper into the air so it falls down to the ground like confetti In a little while I'll be thinking about you. In a little while I'll still be here without you. You never gave me a reason to doubt you. In a little while I'll be thinking about you baby..." He watched the white paper flutter to the ground sadly. "Some things are lost. Some left behind some things are better left for someone else to find." He rolled his eyes skyward as though talking to Satine," Maybe in time I will finally see, I just wonder, wonder if you think about me..." He looked down at Satine's picture again," Sometimes I feel like something is gone here. Something is wrong here!" He jumped to his feet yelling at the world," I don't belong here! Sometimes I feel like a stranger in town! I've lost all I've found and I can't turn around!" Christian set his picture on the ground and softly sang the last refrain," In a little while I'll be thinking about you... but in a little while... I'll still be here... without you..." He gazed out at the moon and the beautiful Parisian skyline and sighed wistfully," Without you..."
"No!" Toulouse said tossing a script away as his friends read over his shoulder.. He quickly scanned through the next one," No." The next one. "No. No. No! Oh forget it!" He threw the entire stack of scripts up in the air.
"It's no use!" Satie cried," There's nothing in there as good as Spectacular Spectacular!"
"So what are we supposed to do?" The Argentinian asked," Leave?"
"No!" Toulouse cried jumping to his feet," We can't do that! We can't just give up on Christian! That's not the Bohemian way now is it?!"
"No!" the others cried as they jumped to their feet.
"Anyway," Toulouse continued," The writing itself isn't bad, it's just not good either. He's needs something. He needs a muse. Some sort of inspiration."
"We need to find him another girl?" the Argentinian asked.
"No, no of course not!" Toulouse cried.
"Wait!" the doctor interrupted," He may be on to something there."
"What?!"
"It's true!" Satie agreed," If he falls in love again, he'll find his inspiration again and then..."
"We can stay at Moulin Rouge!" the Argentinian cried.
"No!" Toulouse said," That's awful! We're exploiting his love life..."
"We're not exploiting, Toulouse," Satie said.
"We're just helping a dear friend," The Argentinian said.
"I don't know about this," Toulouse said.
"Toulouse look!" Satie cried. He pointed at Christian's silhouette in the garret window. "Each morning he gets up and dies a little. Can barely stand on his feet."
The doctor continued singing," Takes a look in the mirror and cries Lord what you're doing to me..."
The Argentinian interrupted," We spent all five years in believing him. But he just can't get no relief."
The three of them joined together," Lord! Somebody."
"Somebody?" Toulouse asked.
"Somebody," they sang back," Can anybody find him somebody to love?"
Toulouse shook his head," This is ridiculous! We'll never find anyone for him. Not after Satine. Who could we find?"
"I don't know," Satie shrugged," Some nice bohemian girl maybe?"
"It's worth a shot," the doctor agreed.
"But wouldn't it interfere with his work?" Toulouse asked.
"Now who isn't sounding very Bohemian?" The Argentinian retorted," He works hard. Every day of his life. He works till he aches his bones."
"And at the end of the day," Satie chimed in," He comes home to his garet all on his own..."
The Doctor dropped to his knees as though in prayer," gets down on his knees and starts to pray. Till the tears run down from his eyes."
"Lord!" they sang now all surrounding Toulouse on their knees," Somebody. Somebody. Can anybody find me Somebody to love?"
"Oh come on!" Toulouse cried," Isn't there a chance that inspiration will come back to him?"
"He's got no feel!" The Doctor sang throwing away script.
"Got no rhythm!" The Argentinian sang doing the same.
Satie started playing a quick tune on the piano," He just keeps losing the beat."
"He's alright!" Toulouse sang. They stared at him incredulously," He's... okay." More stares. "He's not gonna face defeat!"
The men surrounded Toulouse singing strongly," We'll get him out of this prison cell. Someday he's gonna be free. Lord!"
The Argentinian sang first," Find him somebody to love."
The Doctor joined second," Find him somebody to love."
Then Satie," Find him somebody to love!"
"Find him somebody to love!"
Finally Toulouse burst out," All right! All right! We'll find him! Somebody tooo... LOVE!!"
The songs are In A Little While by Uncle Kracker and Somebody to Love by Queen