The Sorrows We Embraced
by She's a Star
Disclaimer: Moulin Rouge is mine! Allllll mine!!
...Fooled ya there for a second, didn't I?
Ah yes, zee song isn't mine either. Belongs to Jennifer Paige.
Author's Note: Little on-a-whim thing. Was better in my head...ah. Story of my life.
~
There must have been a thousand roses.
They surrounded her with their lingering scent, evoking bittersweet memories as silky as the velveteen crimson petals.
Now, all she saw was the thorns.
Her entire soul seemed composed of an aching, a yearning for him. It had been ten hours, perhaps less, and yet she felt as though an eternity of separation had passed.
All around her, people were hard at work - making last minute repairs to extravagant costumes, straightening sets, running through lines.
Spectacular Spectacular would make its magnificent premiere in an hour and a half.
She didn't want to act. Didn't want to do anything - didn't want to live, didn't want to breathe. She prayed that the dark sickness that had enveloped her take its toll.
Perhaps she could find solace in death.
Or maybe she would keep missing him.
Forever.
All she wanted was one last kiss, one last whispered 'I love you', one last spur of the moment song.
And she wanted that kiss, that 'I love you', that song to last forever.
But nothing was forever.
Nothing but pain.
"I'm looking for a way to feel you hold me," she sang softly, pulling a single petal from the rose and dropping it to the floor. "To feel your heart beat just one more time."
Another petal fell, and she watched it dance through the air with a delicate lightness that somehow broke her tattered heart.
"I'm reaching back, trying to touch the moment," she breathed, closing her eyes and picturing him, "Each precious minute that you were mine..."
'It's about love; it's about love overcoming all obstacles'... 'Love is like oxygen.'... 'My heart aches completely every hour every day, and only when I'm with you does the pain go away'...'We love each other, that's all that matters.'...
'The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.'
When she opened her eyes, she found her vision clouded with a sheen of crystalline tears.
What they'd had was beautiful and rare and perfect...something that no mere mortal deserved. She'd somehow always known that their love would leave her crying, and yet she'd ignored it, promising herself that she'd consider the darkness in a little while, but not now...now everything was too blissful.
She had been foolish and naive and utterly swept away - she hadn't considered the darkness.
And now it had found them.
Corrupted them.
A single glassy tear dancing down one pallid cheek, she stared upward weakly and questioned the majestic red curtain, "How do you prepare, when you love someone this way, to let them go a little more each day?"
The tears began to fall with more intensity, and she wished faintly that he were there to brush them away, to soothe her aching heart.
"The stars we put in place."
The soft melody filled her ears, six simple words that ceased her tears at once. It was his voice - sweet, pure, and true. He'd returned to her...
Turning around with a shaky intake of breath, her eyes landed upon him, and her heart immediately soared amongst the angels. Every tragedy she'd ever experienced was made up for at that moment. For that glimpse, she would have sacrificed her soul to an eternity in hell.
"The dreams we didn't waste," she sang back softly, sapphire eyes slightly widened in disbelief. She reached up for his hand, longing for the sweet caress of his lightly callused fingers.
"The sorrows we embraced." He lightly kissed each fingertip, bringing her tormented soul temporary peace.
"The world belonged to you and me," she reminisced with a bittersweet smile, lightly tracing the line of his jaw.
"The oceans that we've crossed..."
"The innocence we lost..." Her eyes fell, downcast, to the floor as she whispered, "The hurting at the end..."
Would he forgive her for hurting him?
Could she have forgiven him for doing the same?
He lightly cupped her chin in his hands, fixing his gaze with hers.
"I'd go there again," he promised before pressing his lips to her forehead.
A genuine smile danced across crimson lips. "Because it was beautiful..."
The entire world seemed to fade, leaving them enveloped in stardust and endless blue. The moon's sweet serenade filled her ears as her feet glided along the ethereal sky. Sweet serenity calmed her soul - as glitter danced like rain from above and strewed across fiery curls, he pulled her close, and she knew a thousand lifetimes could never be worth this single instant.
"It was beautiful..."
~
"Darling...lovey, it's time to wake up. The show is in less than an hour."
Dark lashes fluttered against ivory skin as she awoke to find activity bustling around her. Her perfect dream world had shattered, leaving her with the cruel reality that she would never again dance across the sky.
And as Satine slowly rose from her slumber, she felt oddly comforted at the fact that her last dream had been a sweet one. Nightmares would never again plague her...bliss had returned for a fleeting instant, and she'd savored it.
But now it was gone, and cruel reality would sink its merciless teeth into delicate flesh.
'Why live life from dream to dream...and dread the day when dreaming ends?'