Mystere La Amore
Headaches and Discoveries
*All elements of Mystere belong to Cirque Du Soleil
The next morning, Moha-Samedi found his head pounding. As he rubbed his head, he realized the rest of his body ached as he got up. As he tried to shake the fatigue off, he noted that he should try to start getting to bed earlier. After all, he usually didn't get headaches like this unless from lack of sleep. Still, that didn't explain the fatigue and aching of his bones and muscles. He didn't do any form of over-straining exercise, did he?
However, as he began to move around, he noticed the picture of him a La Belle Red bird and her fellow creatures of Mystere had drawn for him yesterday. Someone-or something-had torn the picture right down the middle-a broken heart.
"What in the name of Aphrodite-?" He wondered who could have snuck into his room and done this, his memories of last night still blurred and fuzzy. As far as he could re-call, Ruby bird had been the only one to sneak into his room, and she had been the one to give him the picture. Surely she wouldn't tear her own "masterpiece," would she?
However, as he reached to pick up the piece, a familiar burning sensation shot up his hands, causing him to flinch back with a hissed 'ouch!' under his breath. As he stared at his fingers, a faint, red glow emanating from the pain, memories from the very night before began flashing before him;
Dark, ringing whispers,
The burning sensation under his skin,
A dark pair of seductive eyes,
The Black Widow's face,
"Oh Zeus…Aphrodite…why, why, WHY did she…?" Moha-Samedi bent over the desk, the flash-backs feeding his head ache and filling his stomach with nausea. In order to distract himself from the horrible feeling of neglect, he looked at his pocket watch, conveniently placed on his desk…
It was 6:30. He'd slept late. "Matkchria Churtvf!" He cursed in Cirquish under his breath as he immediately grabbed the watch and rushed behind his changing screen to get ready.
By the time he made it to the back stage lounge, the rest of Mystere's denizens where already there, going through morning meeting. Moha-Samedi felt ashamed for being late, as it was his job to translate the Stage manager's English to Cirquish for those who were not so good at the English language. The stage director smiled, almost amused as the man in pink rushed in.
"Well, thank God, I was thinking of sending someone to fetch you! You alright? You're not usually this late!" the manager said with a sly grin. "Sorry, overslept," Moha said quickly as he took his place front and center next to the manager. As he continued going over rehearsal schedule, Moha noticed two specific faces looking at him.
The first was, of course, his La Belle. Note, "his" La Belle, because now that he knew his feelings for her had been returned, he truly felt they were both one and the same. She smiled at him, almost blushing as she waved at him shyly. He smiled at her warmly as he translated the stage manager's words. However, as the noted where being wrapped up, he noticed a second face, staring at him from the shadows…
The Black Widow was leering at him, a dark, cheshire cat smile across her face. She knew he remembered, and as far as she was concerned, she was going to make him remember every moment of that dark, forbidden night…even if they hadn't gone that far.
Moha-Samedi felt his stomach turn as she glared at him. As the meeting broke up, La Belle noticed Moha-Samedi's discomfort and approached him.
"Good morning, handsome," she said, a smile on her face. Moha was caught off guard (as always, up to this point) by her eagerness, but happier than words to see her. "Good morning yourself, beautiful," he took her hand and kissed it. "Is everything alright?" she asked, "You look pale this dawn…" She stroked his face, placing a point. He was quite pale that morning, and the Cirquish marking* on his face did little to hide it. The emcee shook his head. "No no, just a hard night sleeping, I was…uh…" he thought quickly, not wanting to scare her. "I was just…thinking of you, and how lonely it was without you." He took her hands and kissed them, smiling at her.
"Oh, you have such a way with words!" La Belle happily wrapped her arms around his shoulders, giving him the embrace that melted all his fears and discomforts away. As he returned the embrace, he noticed Widow, still watching from the shadows, leering at them.
Moha-Samedi, feeling confident and protective with La belle in his arms, glared back at her, as though to say "I don't know what you're up to, but I'm keeping my eyes on you." The Black widow simply smirked, as though to say, "Don't worry…I'm counting on it," and then disappeared into the darkness.
As the days went on, Moha-Samedi had never realized how much free time he had possessed in his schedule until now, that he had started a relationship. Whenever he wasn't rehearsing, like usual, he found himself spending more and more time with la Belle, verses simply sitting in his tower room, struggling with his artistic work. He really liked the change, being able to discuss his ideas with someone who appreciated his work verses struggling and arguing with himself (aka his puppet companion). However, one day he would realize that it was actually performing his work that impressed her, not just talking about it.
As he and his puppet companion where making their way through the theater, when they saw La Belle by the band tower, looking bored out of her mind. "If I had a quarter for every time you and this chick get set up for romantic moments like this, I'd be rich by now!" His puppet smirked in Moha's ear. Moha-Samedi shushed him, accidently getting La Belle's attention.
As she noticed him, she smiled, shyly waving down at him. He returned the expression of joy, bowing to her presence. "Hey, hot stuff!" his puppet companion called to her. Moha gave him a stern look. "Puppito! That is no way to talk to a woman!"
"Well, why not? She IS your girlfrie-GAK!" The puppet gagged as Moha-Samedi grabbed him around the throat to shut him up, and quickly threw it back stage, pulling out a violin in its place.
"Perhaps this would create a more tolerable sound for M'Lady?" Moha-Samedi called out to La Belle as he spun the violin with his years of cane-twirling experience. La Belle nodded eagerly. After all, ever since that night where she had first saw him fiddling with the notes and strings of the instrument, she had been longing to hear him play himself.
So it was that he played, a soft, soothing melody from when they first met, the same piece she had danced to express her love for him. Her eyes closed as she relived the familiar exhilaration from when she had first heard the music, her heart dancing and flying to the notes. Of course, she was not the only one whose heart was flying…
As Moha-Samedi played, the Ruby bird, Stas and the Lizards watched and listened as the Man in Pink played for La Belle. As he did so, Ruby couldn't stop staring at him. The way he played with his heart and soul, how with each note he seemed to be expressing his heart to the one he adored…it was so romantic, like a true fairytale romance.
Ruby had always liked Moha-Samedi, the way he had helped to teach her the ways of the theater and Fire bird's dance when she stepped up to take her brother's place in the show. He had always inspired confidence in her, and told her never to give up. Even though she had joined in the others teasing of him a couple of times, she wasn't as harsh as the others, who made fun of his temper, or the way he would speak Cirquish when most of the audience didn't have a clue what he was saying. She would sometimes steal his cane and dance around him, but she'd always return it to him in the end. One time she had even gotten revenge for him by stealing a loaf of bread from the dinner basket Brian le petit was using to flirt with a lady in the audience. As she made her 'exit-stage-left' with loaf in hand, she did NOT expect Brian to come after her for the bread-or for Moha-Samedi to actually risk HIS neck saving her…which she still owed him for, since Brian knocked them BOTH out.
Either way, Ruby was grateful for the Man in Pink's presence to Mystere, and could never seem to deny the feelings she had for him…but alas, his heart belonged to another, so all she could do was watch from afar with her friends as he played this beautiful song for the true beauty of Mystere.
However, her thoughts where suddenly interrupted when Stas, the yellow bird-imp and hand balancer who was almost like a best friend to the Pink ringmaster, suddenly caught hers and the Lizards attention, pointing directly down towards the shadows cast by the tower upon which they stood. As they all looked down, they saw none other than the Black Widow, staring out of the shadows, a blank expression on her face. The four creatures stared at each h other briefly before staring at the Widow once more, as though to ask one another "What's she doing here?" and reply "No idea."
As the Black widow stared at the man in pink, her eyes suddenly darkened, a sly, twisted smile appearing on her face.
Just as Moha-Samedi was about to finish his song, he felt it-a numb, ringing ache in his head. He immediately stopped playing, a hand slowly raised to rub his suddenly aching head.
"Darling?" La Belle called down, a worried expression in her voice. What had happened? Why had he stopped playing?
As Ruby, the Lizards and Stas noticed the pained expression on the man in Pink's face, they immediately realized that the Black Widow must have had something to do with it. However, as they glanced back to where she had been standing, she was no longer there.
Well, whatever had happened as Ruby and the others looked for the Black widow, she had no idea of what happened next ahead of time. One moment she had been looking for where La Bell's opposite may have gone, and the next thing she knew…
A pair of burning hands, shoving her from behind,
The Lizards and Stas crying out as she fell through midair,
Then she was lying on her back, her left ankle aching, the lizards and Stas looking down in alarm.
When Moha-Samedi heard the cries, for some reason his first reaction was too look up at La Belle. She had also looked up, an expression of shock now upon her face as she covered her mouth with her hands. Then he whipped around, suddenly snapped out of his head ache, and saw the Ruby bird, lying in shock on the stage, gripping her ankle.
He rushed over as fast as lightning, accidently dropping his violin in the rush of adrenaline, and was by the female red bird's side in a heartbeat. As he took her in his arms, he felt his heart skip a beat. She was far too agile to have fallen, so how had she…?
As Ruby opened her eyes (which she had clenched shut in the pain suddenly shooting up her ankle), the first sight she saw was Moha-Samedi's. She suddenly had this longing to say his name (even if she could only speak in chirps and bird calls), just to let him know she was alright. On the verge of tears from the pain, however, all she could do was chirp weakly.
"Ruby, are you alright? From where did you fall?" Moha-Samedi whispered to her in a hushed, worried voice. Ruby pointed up towards the tower, where the lizards and Stas looked down in concern. Moha-Samedi called out to them in Cirquish:
"Did you see anyone else up there?"
The three animal Cirques shook their heads.
As Moha-Samedi looked back down at Ruby, who was desperately trying to rub her ankle without hurting herself to sooth the pain, the narrator thought he saw someone dart into the shadows out of the corner of his eye.
It couldn't have been…he prayed to Artemis it wasn't.
La Belle finally made it down to the stage, violin in hand, as Moha-Samedi was picking up a whimpering Red bird in his arms. She felt concerned, "is she alright?"
He nodded, "Yes, she just twisted her ankle from the fall. She'll be alright." He and La Belle walked off stage to the back, as Stas and the lizards followed.
They made it to the Red bird's room, where they laid Ruby down on the lower half of the bunk bed which she and her brother had shared. "Darling, could you watch over her while I get an ice pack and some bandages?" La Belle nodded. As Moha-Samedi walked out of the room, he called to the lizards and Stas; "Find the stage manager, tell him what's happened here." They nodded and scurried out, leaving La Belle and Ruby alone.
As Ruby laid on the bed, she looked eagerly out the door to see where everyone was going. "Don't worry child," La Belle assured her, "They'll be back. You'll see."
Ruby sighed, laying her head back on the pillow. La Belle noticed her irritation, and unknowing to Ruby as of yet, La Belle knew the source of it as well. "You really like them all, don't you?"
Ruby stared up in confusion. "Well, I mean the Lizards and your brother where close, and being a friend of his, Stas really sealed the deal with the narrator watching over all of you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your brother and Samedi where close too, weren't they?"
Ruby nodded, shifting to get comfortable without causing too much pain. She whimpered a little as her tactic failed. La belle decided to be of assistance as she took a pillow from the top bunk of the bed and placed it carefully and tenderly under the red bird's ankle. "There you go," she whispered.
Even though she was more comfortable now, Ruby was still confused by La Belle's words. La Belle decided to cut to the chase as she leaned close to Ruby's ear, whispering, "You really like Moha-Samedi, don't you? He's such a talented, compassionate character, even if many of our own do not understand him. You and I, however…we see him for who he truly is, and what's not to love in a misunderstood genius, right?"
Ruby felt the blush crawl up onto her face. She didn't realize La belle would be bold enough to bring up this topic. The beautiful dancer simply smiled and held out her arms. Shyly, and carefully, as not to cause any more injury to herself, Ruby sat up and hugged La Belle, realizing how Moha-Samedi could have easily fallen for this beautiful woman. Her arms where warm and soft, entirely the opposite of the sharp, burning hands that had pushed her off the balcony…whoever that had been.
"Don't worry," La Belle whispered, cradling the young Red bird in her arms like a mother and her child, "he'll realize you're feeling for his heart. One day, he'll see that it's not just about talent, or appearance of beauty…it's all about the heart."
*SCENE, CUT, BREAK PEOPLE! Whew, another day of nothing to make something. So yeah, not much in this chapter, even if it is a little bit of a rambler, but I seem to be getting more ideas from this story the more I write it…anyway, I guess I've given away the surprise pairing, but I don't wanna give away anything else…so from now on, here and there I'll use to translate Cirquish, and I'll try to keep it a T rating at least.