Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the story and a small few of its characters. Everything else is beyond my ownership, as it should be.

Chapter 9
The Slight Failure of Pride and Envy

Sean waited for Mozart and Salieri for a little while in Salieri's lesson studio, picking at the piano a bit more while he waited. When they finally returned, it was growing rather late in the day.
"Herr Schmidt," said Salieri, nodding to me as he walked in, "I apologize for keeping you waiting, but the matter was urgent."
"I hope everything is all right," said Sean.
"Oh, not to worry," said Mozart. "It was simply a discussion over whether my opera would be in Italian or German. I myself am tired of the boring old Italian operas, and I thought we were due for a German libretto. Maestro Salieri sided with the Direktor, however, when the Direktor mentioned that the emperor's law was that German opera is forbidden, as it is a vulgar language and not fit for royal ears in the form of music."
"Which is perfectly true," interrupted Salieri. "That was the emperor's law."
"Was, sir?" asked Sean.
Mozart grinned. "Yes," he said. "I managed to convince the emperor to change his mind. I told him it was a matter of national pride. We speak German in this country, not Italian. Why should we bow towards the whims of those pompous fools from Naples or Rome or wherever?" He leaned forward. "And besides, it would look good in the public's eye to allow an opera that they could understand."
Salieri inclined his head. "I concede your point, Herr Mozart," he said. "You have written remarkable Italian operas, however, if you recall," he added with a smile.
Mozart scoffed. "Yes, of course they were remarkable," he said, as though they couldn't have been anything but amazing. "I wrote them, and I am remarkable, so my music is as well."
Sean interrupted. "So the opera will be in German then?"
Mozart nodded. "And the public will definitely approve of the decision made by the emperor," he said.
Salieri turned to Sean. "Yes, indeed," he said. "However, it appears we have taken up too much of your time. The hour grows late. Do you have accommodations for the night?" Sean shook his head. "Then perhaps Herr Mozart may oblige you to stay with him and his family?"
Mozart looked at Salieri with accusing eyes. "I have only just been married, and Constanze and I have not really had a chance at time alone." He looked at Sean. "I'm sorry, but I truly can not accommodate you. My father has been staying with us for several months now and he has only just parted back to Leipzig. He never approved of our marriage." A glow came into his eyes. "But I truly do love my Stanzie."
Sean smiled. Even with all his pompousness and posturing, Mozart definitely had a human side to him.
Mozart turned to Salieri. "Perhaps you would be able to take him in," he said. "You live alone, after all. I'm sure you could use the company. Maybe you could even teach him a thing or two about composing."
Salieri inclined his head briefly to Mozart, then turned to smile at Sean. "I would be happy to oblige you, Herr Schmidt. My home isn't much, although the benefits of being Joseph's court composer are not quite what you would call modest."
Sean smiled. "I'm sure it's wonderful, Maestro," he said. "And I am very grateful for your hospitality."
Mozart smiled. "Well, now that's settled, I must get home to my wife, and we can finally be alone to do...you know." He winked at Sean, and laughed his ridiculous laugh. Salieri and Sean smiled to appease Mozart, albeit in a forced way. Mozart exited the room quickly, clearly very excited to get home and do unmentionable things to and with his wife. (side note: Mozart's son is conceived on this particular night)
Salieri glanced at Sean, then turned to the piano to gather his things. "You're lucky it's summer, Herr Schmidt," he said. "The nights are frightfully awful in winter." He picked up all of his work, and stood up straight with a genuine smile. "Shall we?"
They exited the emperor's palace and went towards the gate, where there was a carriage awaiting them.
"Herr Mozart decided to walk home today," said the guard on the left. Sean wasn't surprised to see a different set. There had clearly been a changing of the guard during his time inside.
The driver opened the door for Salieri, and he and Sean got in. They rode to Salieri's residence in silence. When they arrived, Salieri got out first and told the maid that he had a visitor staying with them that night and a bed should be prepared as quickly as possible.
Sean entered Salieri's home, and looked about in wonder. Salieri had said that it wasn't much, but it wasn't modest. It was truly not quite as magnificent as the emperor's palace, but it was certainly no hovel either. Sean hung his coat on a rack near the door and followed Salieri to the dining room where a meal had already been prepared.
"I knew that you would most likely be coming home with me today, so I sent word ahead to prepare a meal for you as well."
"What about that bit about asking Mozart if he'd take me in?" asked Sean, taking a seat. Everything looked delicious.
"Oh, I knew that he would not accept the invitation to take you in. I merely wished to judge how he would deny you lodgings, and let you see what sort of man he is." He smiled knowingly. "I am well aware of Herr Mozart's doings, and his father has indeed been staying with him and his wife for the past several months, but it grew unbearable for Leopold, and he left Wolfgang and Constanze on bitter terms." He sighed. "It is unlikely that Wolfgang will see his father alive again."
"How do you know?" asked Sean.
Salieri smiled. "I did not part on good terms with my own father either. Several years of not talking to him later, I received word that he had passed away. Typhoid, I believe it was. I did not mourn him, but I went home to be with my mother." He looked somewhat sad. "She did not last the next year," he said. "My father's death hit her quite hard."
All of a sudden, and quite without warning, Salieri's hand banged against the table. Sean jumped, startled.
"Are you all right, sir?" he asked, concern written in his face. He wondered if maybe this was the effect of one of the homunculi.
He wasn't disappointed, for Salieri's next words were: "That little bastard! Why should he get all the talent when I am the one praying every day?" These words were shouted. The maid ran in to inquire as to what was going on. Salieri waved her out, and glared at Sean as though it was his doing.
"I'm afraid I don't know, sir," said Sean. He waited with bated breath. This could be the moment to put the first phase of his plan in action.
Salieri continued to glower until Sean said, "Shall we get back to dinner?" He looked at his meal, which lay untouched. "It looks delicious. I wish I was as powerful as you that I had the money to afford a maid and a cook this good." He eyed Salieri, wondering if a change would come over him, as Envy's focus turned to Sean.
Unfortunately for Sean, Envy was not to be dissuaded from his target. "I know what you're trying to do, human," whispered Envy's voice in his ear. "And I'm afraid it simply won't work. You see, if we observe humans naturally behaving the way we want them to, we're actually less inclined to exert our influence over them. It's a waste of our energy if they're just going to do it themselves." There was a sneer in the voice as Sean searched behind him for the source.
"Of course you can't see me right now," said Envy. "I don't want you to. And you'll just have to go back to the drawing board to come up with another plan to get rid of me...or you could just give up, because it's not going to work with me."
Sean heard this last word, and clung to it with what hope he had. He didn't want to reveal what he had learned from Envy's careless use of the personal pronoun "me". So he kept silent and turned back to his meal.
Salieri was staring at him as though he had gone mad. Perhaps he had. All Sean knew was that he now had a little bit of hope. And that was what made the difference.
Envy appeared behind Salieri. "You can see and hear me now," said the homunculus, "but only you can. You'll be seen as mad if you respond to me, and I can just go about my business, and you can't do a thing about it." He leaned over Salieri's shoulder to peer at Sean. "Mozart will die at the hand of Salieri, or through his efforts at least, and you are powerless to stop it." Sean said nothing. "That's right, human," said Envy. "Accept fate as the inevitable." He laughed. "I don't even need to be around Salieri anymore. He's now become intoxicated by his own personal envy of Mozart and has resolved to go on a vendetta against him. You know how this will play out, so you can just go home and watch the movie of it if you don't want to sit here and see it in person. I wouldn't blame you, because it'll take about six more years to come to fruition." He laughed again, and vanished.
Sean didn't trust Envy, so he said nothing. He knew that Envy was probably still around, working his mojo, just in case Sean tried to convince Salieri to give Mozart another chance.
Salieri stood up at that moment. "I'm afraid I've lost my appetite," he said. "Rachel!" he called, and the maid came bustling in. "Go and give this to the children in the street. They deserve some charity."
With that, Sean saw Salieri's compassion in action, something that was uninfluenced by Envy, because why would Salieri be jealous of street urchins?
Sean knew that this could be the key to his whole plan. He just had to get rid of Pride somehow.

The next day, Sean accompanied Salieri to Mozart's home, claiming to want to see where the master composer worked. Salieri had grudgingly agreed to come along and show him the way there, but only because he had business with Mozart as well before he went to the palace.
When they arrived, a beautiful young woman opened the door. She smiled at Salieri.
"Herr Salieri!" she said warmly. "What a surprise, and what a pleasure it is to see you!" She opened her arms, and Salieri, who seemed genuinely pleased to see her as well, enveloped her in a hug.
When their embrace ended, the woman looked at Sean. "And who is this?"
Salieri smiled. "This is Herr Johann Schmidt," he said. "He claims to be something of a musician himself, but I have yet to hear proof of that. I hope to work with him more today when we reach the palace. At the present he wishes a tour of your home so he can see your husband at work, and possibly where he gets some of his inspiration." He turned to Sean. "Herr Schmidt, this is Constanze Mozart, Wolfgang's wife."
She held out her hand, and Sean took it and kissed it. "I think I have already found where Herr Mozart receives his inspiration from," he said. Constanze blushed.
"Stop it," she said, but the blush stayed on her face for a while, and she couldn't stop smiling and glancing at him as she called for her husband.
"Wolfie!" she said. When there was no response, she turned to them. "It was something of a late night last night," she said as explanation. "He was exhausted. Let me go wake him up." And with that she went out of the room.
Salieri smiled at Sean. "That is another thing I am jealous of," he whispered conspiratorially, gesturing to the door that Constanze exited through. Sean grinned.
"I can certainly understand why," said Sean.
That moment, Constanze came out with Mozart in tow, his hair tousled from the pillow.
"Herr Salieri, Herr Schmidt," he said, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "To what do I owe this unexpected and altogether far too early visit?"
Salieri took the liberty of answering again. "Herr Schmidt wished to see your humble abode," he said, "and to see how your work can be so inspired, and where the inspiration comes from."
Mozart swelled at these words. "Why, my work just comes to me," he said. "I never make copies, and I never make adjustments to my written work. There are never any errors to it, because it comes out onto the page completely finished in my head" He grinned as he pointed to his cranium.
"How long would you say it usually takes you to put an entire symphony down on paper?" asked Sean, genuinely curious.
Mozart shrugged. "I'm not really sure," he said. "I've never timed myself." His eyes brightened. "Shall we find out? I only have just gotten an idea for a brand new work. So new it will blow everything I have previously done completely out of the water!"
Salieri interrupted. "But what about your German opera, Herr Mozart? For the emperor?"
Mozart waved his words away. "The emperor can wait," he said dismissively. "This will be a fun experiment!"
"How long would you say this piece will be?" asked Sean. "Only, that matters when we're taking the timing of it into account."
Mozart thought for a moment. "It's about 45 minutes long," he said.
Then Sean put the plan into action with his next words. "What say we make a small wager?" he asked.
Mozart crossed his arms, his eyebrows raised. "I'm listening."
Sean smiled, and winked at Salieri. "I bet that you can't get this piece written in two days, while still eating regular meals, and getting eight hours of sleep in between each day. And no writing during your meals," he added.
Mozart scoffed. "Easy," he said. "What do you wager?"
Sean considered for a moment, then smiled at Salieri. "I wager a night with your wife," he said, wagging his eyebrows.
Mozart looked taken aback at this. "You mean, if I am unable to complete this task, I will allow you to spend a night with my wife?"
"Doing whatever I choose to do with her," added Sean.
Mozart steeled himself. "Very well," he said.
"Wolfie!" said Constanze. "How could you? Betting me?"
Mozart smiled at her. "Don't worry, my love," he said. "There's no way that I won't complete this task he's set me. Then I can get back to the opera for the emperor," he said to Salieri.
Salieri looked at Sean, his eyebrows raised, then back to Mozart. "And what do you wish to have if you should complete the task?" he asked.
Mozart considered this for a moment. "I want your position on the emperor's court."
Salieri started at this. He looked positively affronted that such a thing would be suggested. "But the emperor chose me as his court composer personally, Herr Mozart," he said, attempting to control his anger.
"And when I complete this task," said Mozart, "you will go to the emperor and tell him that I am a far better composer than you are, and you wish for me to take your place on his court."
"Done," said Sean, and Salieri turned to glare at him.
"What do you mean, done?" he said. "Don't you think this should be my decision, not some little upstart musician from God knows where?"
Sean pulled Salieri aside. "Don't worry, Antonio," he said, using Salieri's Christian name in an attempt to appease him. "I'll ensure that he's unable to finish it. And I will keep tabs on him to ensure that he's caught working while eating."
"You had better be right about this," said Salieri. "The emperor and I maintain a close friendship, as close as an emperor can possess with one of his subjects, and I will not have that jeopardized to satisfy your, and more importantly his," he said, gesturing to Mozart, "ego!"
"Trust me," said Sean, and then he leaned in close to whisper in Salieri's ear. "His ego will be crushed after he fails to do this." He clapped Salieri on the shoulder and turned back to Mozart.
"Do we have an accord?" asked Mozart pompously, and barely containing an already triumphant grin.
Sean glanced at Salieri, who shrugged, though obviously still skeptical. "We do indeed," he said, sticking his hand out. Mozart shook it firmly, then offered his hand to Salieri.
Salieri looked at Mozart's hand, then up to his face.
Mozart looked at him pleadingly. "In the spirit of our rivalry and friendship," he begged. "I need a challenge such as this in order to keep me where I belong, at the top of everyone's thoughts and on the tip of everyone's tongues!"
Salieri sighed. "Very well," he said, defeated. He shook Mozart's hand. Sean winked at Constanze.
"I look forward to our night together," he said, taking her hand and kissing it again. Despite her previous objection to the wager, she blushed a furious red.
"I suggest you get to work, Herr Mozart," said Sean, turning back to the young composer. "Dusk comes soon tomorrow."
Without a word, Mozart whisked into another room, came back with quill, ink, and staffed paper, and sat himself at the desk. He didn't look up at them, he just started writing.
Sean looked at Constanze. "Make sure he is eating regular meals. He is due for breakfast in one hour, lunch at one, and dinner at seven. He is to go to sleep promptly at ten tonight, and wake up at six tomorrow to continue working. His breakfast should be served at nine tomorrow morning, and lunch and dinner again at one in the afternoon and seven in the evening, respectively."
He leaned in to her ear and whispered. "Be sure to give him some extra inspiration as well, as you see fit." He then kissed her on the cheek.
She blushed again and pushed him away with one hand while touching her cheek where he kissed her with the other. "And you had better leave now, before I get ideas about what to do to inspire you!" she whispered so only he could hear her.
With that, Sean bowed, and he and Salieri turned to leave.
"Herr Schmidt?" said Mozart, not looking away from his work. Sean turned towards him.
"Yes?" he said politely.
"Don't think for a moment you're going to come away from this wager victorious," said Mozart, finally turning away from the paper in front of him and looking at Sean seriously. "I will not let you take away my wife's honor from her, or my own from me." He then waved them out, and turned back to the desk.
Sean and Salieri left the Mozart family to themselves, and headed towards the palace.
"It's not nearly quite as nice as your own home," said Sean to Salieri, jerking his head towards the building they had just left.
"It comes with the privilege of being happily celibate, and devoting my life to God," said Salieri stiffly.
"Why would you be jealous of that then?" asked Sean.
The aged composer sighed. "Because, Herr Schmidt..." he started, "because they have each other."

For the next two days, Salieri and Sean did not discuss Mozart, and when the emperor asked where the great young composer was, Salieri averred that he was diligently working on the opera, as the emperor had requested. Joseph nodded at this, but still looked thoughtful, as though he wished he had made a different decision about something, though Sean couldn't say what.
When the time came to leave the palace on the second day, Sean and Salieri both rode the carriage to the Mozart family's home. It was an hour after dusk when they arrived.
They knocked on the door, and a bedraggled Constanze opened it.
"Come in," she said. "We've been expecting you." Salieri and Sean exchanged a curious look. Constanze led them into the sitting room, where Mozart laid over the desk he had been working at, and there was a distinctly offensive odor about him. It was clear he had not taken time to bathe.
"Has he eaten as was instructed?" asked Sean to Constanze, a little too sharply. She nodded. "And did he get his eight hours of sleep?" She nodded again.
Sean's gaze softened. He had known, of course, that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was many things, but he was not a cheat when his self-worth was on the line. And he had set a few of the street children a watch on the home to make sure that Mozart was doing other things besides working. And the things that the children reported were quite vulgar, to hear them tell it. Constanze had certainly taken care of her end of the bargain and kept Wolfgang busy, although not in the way the composer had necessarily wanted.
Mozart, however much rest he had gotten, looked positively exhausted. He raised his head slightly at Sean's voice.
"Well, Herr Schmidt," he said with a weak, and certainly not a triumphant smile, "come to gloat?"
Sean looked perplexed. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Is it finished?"
Mozart chuckled. "I told you, it's always been finished up here," he said, lifting his arm with a great effort to point at his head. "But alas, I was unable to put it on paper within the time you required I do it. The wager is yours."
Salieri tried very hard to contain his glee at this news, and fortunately succeeded while they were in Mozart's home. Sean smiled. "I did not mean for the task to take such a great toll on you, Herr Mozart," he said, though of course this was exactly what he had wanted. And he could feel it in his heart that it was not only exhaustion that Mozart was feeling, but humility as well.
Sean then told Mozart that he had no wish to take away Constanze's honor or his own, and conceded the wager.
Pride had left him. And with Pride's departure from Mozart, Salieri felt no more jealousy of him, as it had now been proven that Mozart was human and could fail. So Envy was forced out of him as well.
Salieri and Mozart remained good friends until illness took Mozart at the age of thirty six. This was how history remembered the composer, though in that time he died a pauper, and was buried in an unmarked grave. Sean attended the burial with Salieri and Constanze. He then left Vienna behind.
He had not defeated Pride and Envy, not by a long shot, but he had definitely stalled them and given them something to think about.

There's Chapter 9, I'll post number 10 later tonight or tomorrow. Please read and review!