No, I __don't__ own any of the Moulin Rouge characters except for Michael, though if I owned Christian that would be cool. But that's off the subject. *cough*

********Also—for those who are familiar with my work, you will notice that my other stories, The Evil Star of Impending Doom and Can You Hear Me Now?, are missing. The reason for this is the fact that FanFiction.net has new rules and regulations. It pained me to take them off, but fear not! They will soon show up on my fiction site that should be coming up any time now. I'll also be working on my senshi story and my LotR story, so there will be new works by me up. Also, look for Evil Star in THEATRES in the coming years********

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It happened during one of the rehearsals for Spectacular, Spectacular.

"Hello." I heard the unmistakable sneering behind me in that chipmunk voice. I slowly turned around in my chair.

"Greetings," I returned to the Infamous Duke.

"I need to talk to you," he said. I eyed him, then his manservant Warner, then I stiffly got up from my chair and followed him. He led me down the hall into a secluded room. I recognized it as Ziddler's conference room and wondered why in the world the Duke was leading me into there. Once we were safely within the borders that were the walls of the room, he turned to face me.

"I need you to do me a favor," he said. I nearly laughed in his face. Why would I do him a favor?

"Go on…" I slowly said.

"I notice that you and Satine are becoming…..chums."

"What does it matter?" I asked. He circled me and I obviously became intimidated.

"I don't like other people touching my things is all," he began, "you understand I hope. But I am willing to make an agreement with you rather than become hasty all at once." I looked this man over. What were his motives? What could he mean?

"What exactly do you mean?" I asked slowly.

"I mean, I am willing to offer you a large sum of money in exchange for you not being near Satine." I immediately stood up and stared him down.

"How dare you?" I demanded. "How Dare You? Satine may be The Sparkling Diamond, but she is not a sparkling diamond that you can hold and play with! She is a human being with a beautiful soul and unlike the other men here I am not one to take advantage of her or anything like that! You have nothing to worry about in that area. But still, you need to treat her more like a person! Goodbye sir!" I immediately spat upon him and walked out the door. How could I know it would put my life in danger?

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While I slept peacefully, just a block away there was no peace in the Moulin Rouge. The Duke was raging in the small room he had rented out in the Moulin Rouge to be nearer to Satine.

"How dare that little punk?" he screamed as he threw a plate at the door. Warner carefully picked up the shattered china and put it in a bag.

"I mean, yelling at me! How dare he? Doesn't he know I am a powerful man? A rich duke? The ungrateful childish person!" he yelled out along with various profanities while smashing more fine serving platters.

"Perhaps I should deal with him," Warner suggested. The Duke stopped his sputtering and looked at Warner.

"Yes, that is a fine idea. Go deal with him." He smiled evilly. "Kill him." And for once, Warner smiled.

"Oh no," Satine, who was behind the door, gasped. She then raced out to the doors and then to Christian's apartment to find me and tell me.

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I awoke to a series of rapid knocks on the door and groggily sat up. I then awoke Christian and together we opened the door. Satine flew into the room and then turned to me quickly.

"You're going to be killed!" she screeched.