L'amour Fou

by A.L.S.O.

Chapter X – Fleeing from a Nightmare

"Did you hear? Miss James took Mr. James' child!"

"Really? What ever for?"

"They had a one-night stand years ago and Sarah deserted her child."

"No!"

"Yes! And all of a sudden she just wanted the girl back!"

"Disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful..."

The rumors seemed to follow Christian everywhere. His business was falling and he hadn't seen Amour for two weeks. He didn't eat, didn't sleep, only cried day after day at what had been his life but was rapidly turning into a nightmare. He became thin and week, large bags formed under his eyes and his face went unshaved. He looked horrible and was falling into a state of depression and self-pity. He was becoming the one man he had refused to be: the drunken nothing in Hotel Blanche after the fateful night of Satine's death.

And yet Satine was not dead. She was just across the street, watching Christian carefully as he broke down to nothing, and trying to cheer Amour up at the same time.

Amour was unhappy and sad, always crying or asking for her father. Satine tried to deny it, but deep inside she knew that taking her away from Christian was the worst decision she had ever made. But Satine was not one to give into her feelings; she was stubborn and would keep Amour, keep Christian so depressed, anything to pretend that life was perfect.

Christopher was caught between emotions of everything. He was upset for Amour since she missed her father so but he was also happy that he had a sister, and who was living with him on top of that!

Money was no problem anymore, at least. The show "Spectacular, Spectacular!" had gone on, as Zidler said it would, and had a new star cast as the Hindu courtesan, also 'occupying' the Duke. It had made a breathtaking debut; a few weeks delayed because of the change of courtesan, it had made an incredible fortune for the Rouge. It kept as a theater ever since, and new plays came after another, written by their new writer. The club was making more and more money with every show; the Moulin Rouge was making thousands, and Marie selflessly sent Satine a sum of it every week.

But still...there seemed not one happy face in the town of Bedford anymore. Summer was ending, being enveloped in dark rain clouds that loomed overhead. A storm was brewing.

Life continued on as normal, or as normal as it ever would be, with both Christian and Satine trying to pretend they had the perfect lives to keep from giving in to their true feelings. It was hard, much harder than even hiding their love from the Duke, but they tried twice as much. It may have been less difficult for Christian, though, because he still hated Satine; he despised her even more now that she took his daughter, and it was incredibly easy to keep his romantic feelings towards her subdued if all that showed was anger.

September came and the children started school again. Christian had no chance to try and sneak a meeting with Amour, as Satine walked them to school and was there to pick them up a half an hour before the day ended. But it was then that he started getting desperate to be near his daughter again, and his mind formulated all sorts of plans, day and night, in search of one close to perfection. He did try to get a lawyer, but was told he had a bad case, that it didn't sound good on his part that the mother hadn't seen her daughter for six years. He tried writing to Marie, maybe to see if she could convince Satine to give him Amour, but he never received a reply. He tried and thought, tried and thought, until there seemed no reasonable ideas left.

It wasn't until mid-October that he came up with anything again.

It was a rainy afternoon, as most of the days had been since the end of summer, and Christian had just finished closing the shop. There really wasn't much of a point for keeping it open anymore anyways, barely anyone seemed to stop in. He sat at the counter, having nothing else better to do, and pulled out some books from under the counter. There were some old books gathering dust after they had been placed there when the shelves began to overflow. Christian would sometimes read them when he grew bored or on days the shop was going slow, which was usually every day now.

He opened one called, 'Nightmares in England' and out fell an old, yellowing paper. And then he remembered, that letter of Satine's he had found the night after they proclaimed their love for each other. He opened it and read:

Dear Satine,

How long has it been since I last saw my precious Sparkling Diamond? Long enough, dear, and it's time I came to visit. By the time you read this, I'll be well on my way and arriving not soon after. Of course Harold insisted he come as well, but I'm afraid it's not for the same reasons. You know that we love you and want only the best for you, so we have been keeping a secret from you for some time, and I think it has come to the point where the truth needs to be told. No matter what, you know that I'll always love you.

                                                                                                            -Marie

Christian gasped. Satine had known? She had known that soon her secret would be out and ruin everything, and yet she had led him on and made him fall in love with her? He had found it the day after that special night, so she would have had to known even then... Every day he seemed to find a new reason to hate her even more.

He sighed and let it go, not exactly in the mood to start crying again. Instead he slid it under the counter and flipped to the back of 'Nightmares in England' to see the summary of the story.

"Doesn't sound half bad," he muttered when he had finished reading it. It was about a drunk who had his daughter taken away from him because he couldn't care for her; but when she was taken away, he learned of his mistake and begged for her back. In the end he resulted to kidnapping her and running—

"That's it!" Christian cried suddenly, after thinking about the book in depth. He could kidnap Amour and run! Satine had ran away from her problems before, and why shouldn't he? He smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever and his mind set to work once again to perfect his plan.

A week went by since the night of 'Nightmares in England' and since then, the shop hadn't opened once and the door and display windows were boarded up. Satine grew curious at what was going on, but kept it at that, afraid she would finally fall in to what she was fighting against most. She shrugged it off, pretended it wasn't important.

But it was, one of the most important decisions that Christian had ever made. He worked endlessly, no longer slept or took care of his shop, just made everything perfect for that one night...

And then it came.

He was no longer cool or confident about what he was doing. His hands shook and he felt he was missing something, but tried to keep a steady mind. He grabbed his knapsack off of the counter, counting off the items. "Paper, check; pencil, check; alcohol fluid, check; matches, check; clothes, check; money, check. All set then."

The plan was beginning. He took out the alcohol fluid and splashed it everywhere; the office, the shop, the apartment, until it was all soaking and smelling of the liquid. He snuck out the back door and took out the matches, lighting one and watching The Penniless Poet, his pride and hard-work, burst into flames. He snuck up the alley and across the street, going quickly to Satine's apartment before anyone noticed the fire.

Knowing the door would be locked, Christian pulled out a key Satine had given him before the revealing of her identity, and softly clicked it in the lock and opened the door. He put it back in his pocket and took Satine's copy off of its hook on the wall, placing it on the floor in exactly the right place.

Then he took out the paper and pencil and scrawled in his best child-like script, 'Went to Papa.' He placed it on the counter and slinked into the children's bedroom. It was neat and orderly with two beds, and from the light of the moonlight, he found Amour and picked her up quietly. She stirred, but Christian rubbed her head and hushed her as he made his way out.

Everything was perfect. He left; leaving the door ajar, so with the letter and the key on the floor, Satine would think Amour had gone to the shop to see him. The fire started...the little girl and father inside...both dead. He could see the front-page headlines now.

Satine would be heart broken but a heartless arse like her deserved nothing better, Christian defended himself as he walked swiftly to the train station. He had thought about taking Christopher, too, but realized that was just as cruel as Satine taking away Amour.

"Two, please," said Christian when he reached the ticket booth. He paid and took the tickets, boarding the train as quickly as possible. People would be starting to take notice of the fire just about then, and Christian dreamed of Satine's horrid face when she registered what happened; but it was not with a happy heart that he slept.

But what was done was done. The storm was gone, there would only be peace from now on, or so Christian hoped. He had fled from a nightmare that was tearing him to pieces, and yet he couldn't help but feel like this ruined his life even more.

Besides, where would he go? What would he do? He would think about it in the morning.

A/N: Well...glad that's done with. It wasn't as good as I hoped, but I tried. Dunno what's gonna happen next. Wait, yes I do, never mind.

Special Thanks: Reviewers, I love you guys! You make me so happy. J I read each and every one of your reviews, and I get so happy and I cry when I hear your great feedback!

Translations:

None

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Moulin Rouge or any of its affiliates. If I did I certainly wouldn't be here whining about it.

I don't own the songs either:

None – in the next chapter, though, I promise