*+MoJo+* A new chapter! YAY! PLEASE REVIEW!

Disclaimer: I do not own Moulin Rouge. If I did, I would be dancing with Brad Pitt, Colin Farrell, Heath Ledger, and Orlando Bloom in Morocco.

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Christian sat onstage in tears with his Satine lying limp in his arms. How much time had passed, he did not know. He kept thinking that if he held her just a little bit closer for just a little but longer, she would come back to him. She did not.

After everyone had left the stage and only Christian was left, holding Satine's body, Harold and Toulouse approached Christian. "Chwistian, Satine would not have wanted you to sit here and weep your life away over her. She would want you to continue on with your life, be happy with the memories of how it was, not sad with the way it ended. Do as she asked. Tell your story." Toulouse's words bounced off of Christian as if they were never said. He did not take in anything he had said. "Go away, Toulouse." The little man began to protest, but Harold grabbed him by the shoulder, and Toulouse backed away and left.

Harold knelt down next to Christian. "Come on son. You have to get on with your life. Leave her here. We will take care of her." Harold placed one hand upon Christian's shoulder and the other under Satine's neck. He gently lifted Satine from Christian's arms while pulling the boy back. "Wait," Christian protested, "She'll get cold here. I cannot let her get cold. She always hated it." Harold looked up at the boy, and then removed his jacket and placed upon Satine, covering her face.

"There son," Harold said, "Now go home and rest." Harold placed a hand on Christian's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "You were her world, boy. She loved with everything she had, but she would not want you to sit around weeping for her. Go on with your life. There is nothing wrong with memories, but living in the past can be a terrible thing. Just try to remember the good times that the two of you had together. Now go home, Christian." Harold walked him to the door of the Moulin Rouge and watched Christian as he left the building, sauntering through the grounds as if lost forever. Harold stood in the doorway just a bit longer, watching the boy, and then turned and walked back into the Moulin Rouge.

As he approached the stage, curtains still closed, he placed a hand on the curtains, and closed his eyes, and bracing himself for the shock and pain of seeing his beloved "Sparkling Diamond" lying dead on the floor amongst the rose petals. He stepped through the curtains and slowly opened his eyes. What was there, or what was not there, knocked him back a step.

Satine's body was gone, and what's more there were footsteps in the petals leading offstage. How could it be? Satine could not have just walked off the stage. She had lain in Christian's arms for so long without so much as twitching. It was impossible. He ran through the entire Moulin Rouge and could not find a trace of Satine having been there since the end of the play. Her dressing room was as it was before the play began, and no one had seen the woman.

He walked out of the side entrance and looked for footsteps in the mud. There were none. He wandered around to the front of the building. Looked around, and, saddened, said, "Goodbye my sparrow. You will be greatly missed, but the show must go on." He did not know what had happened to her body, but truly it did not matter, she was gone either way, and never to return. Harold wiped a lone tear from his face and walked back into the underworld.

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After she was sure everyone had left, including Christian and Harold, she left the stage. Just as the Duke instructed her, she took the back hall, which was rarely used and went out of the back entrance. She left everything in her dressing room just as it had been before the performance of Spectacular! Spectacular! As she exited the back door, she saw a carriage waiting for her just as the Duke had said. She stepped inside and was taken aback.

The seats were made of red velvet, something the underworld folk only heard about, but never saw. The curtains were made of a pale crimson silk, and there was a black satin cloak opposite her that had a collar encrusted with diamonds.

If this were any clue as to how her lie with the Duke was to be, she would be treated greater than a queen. And she would hate every moment of it.

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Satine woke gently when the carriage stopped. As the door closest to her opened, she was helped out into complete darkness. She was led to a concrete stoop, then a magnificent door opened in front of her, and there stood the Duke.

"Welcome my dear. Please come into your new home. I suspect that you are hungry from your many exertions tonight. We shall have dinner in the dining hall to celebrate your death," he said with a malevolent smirk,

"Natalia will show you to your room where you can change into something more suitable than those rags. Then you can join me in the celebration." He pulled Satine's hand towards his lips, and gave her fingers a gentle kiss. Satine could have vomited, but had to keep it in.

A short, plump woman with bright green eyes and red hair approached her. "Me name's Natalia, miss. I'll be showin' ye' to yer' room. Follow me." the woman led Satine up a grand marble staircase and down a hall filled with beautiful pictures of various landscapes. When they reached the end of the hall Natalia turned left and Satine was led up another flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs was a solid wood door. Natalia pulled a key chain from her pocket and unlocked the door. She pushed it open and stepped in.

As Satine entered, she could see nothing, but after Natalia had lit a few lanterns Satine's breath escaped her. "Everythin' alright, miss? Do you need some tonic, perhaps?" Satine shook her head and Natalia bowed her head and left the room.

Satine's quarters were bigger than the auditorium at the Moulin Rouge. She had a lavish sleigh bed, made of solid, beautiful, black marble. The bedspread was purple velvet, with diamonds on the edges, and the sheets were made of pure silk. There were several chairs throughout the area; all made of pale pink satin with diamonds along the edges.

There was a changing screen in the back right corner, and in front of that was a table with a box on it. Satine walked over towards the table. She opened the box and again gasped at what was inside.

A pale blue dress with no sleeves, a low cut neck, and matching shoes. She stepped behind the screen to change and saw a bell attached to the wall. She wondered what it was for. She proceeded to put on the dress. Upon putting it on, she realized it had a corset that needed to be tied, which she could not do herself. She decided to ring the bell and see what would happen. She pulled the string underneath it, and within seconds, Natalia appeared in her doorway.

"You rang for me, miss?"

Satine nodded, "Yes. I will be needing some help with this dress if it is not too much trouble."

Natalia hurriedly walked toward Satine, "Oh of course not, miss. I'm always 'ere to 'elp 'ye. Just ring that bell o'er there, or any one of the bells scattered throughout out your quarters and I will be 'ere to 'elp you with anythin'." Satine nodded and Natalia proceeded to string up the dress.

When she was finished, Satine picked up the matching shoes and sat down in a chair. When she bent down to put them on Natalia snatched them from Satine's hands and pushed Satine back into the chair. She lifted Satine's left foot, put on the shoe, and buckled it accordingly. Then she repeated this with the right shoe. When Natalia was done, Satine stood and looked around the room for a mirror.

She found one a few feet away above a dresser that had some cosmetics, a hairbrush, a hand mirror, and a wash basin. She walked over towards it, and stepped in front of the mirror. She felt like a princess and wished that Christian could see her. She quickly pushed Christian from her thoughts as Natalia came behind her and began to do her hair. After several minutes, Satine glanced up into the mirror. She looked stunning, but the Duke did not deserve her beauty. She excused Natalia and made her way down the stairway. When she reached the bottom of the grand marble staircase the Duke was waiting for her. Here her life with him began.

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Weeks passed and Satine became accustomed to her regal treatment. She rarely saw the Duke except for meal times, and she was thankful for that, at least.

One spring afternoon the Duke called Satine into his office, which surprised her. "My dear," he said, "I have some business to take care over in Paris. I shall be leaving tomorrow evening and I will not return for two and a half weeks. I will leave you here in Natalia's care. You are free to go into town and shop, and don't shy away from sending some of the servants into the market to pick up any goods that you would like."

Satine stood there trying not to speak, but she could not hold it in. "Darling, why not bring me along. We hardly see enough of each other as it is, and I would truly like to spend some time in the city. I miss it so."

"I'm afraid not my dear. I can not have you running about the city getting into trouble. Besides, could you imagine the trouble it would cause, all the people thinking you dead and then you showing up, alive and well. I think not my dear. Nice try, but you will have to be more clever to outwit me."

"Duke, I really must protest. I do not want to visit any of my friends, just the city itself. Please, Duke, please bring me along."

"No," was his simple reply and with that he rang the bell next to his desk and Warner came and escorted Satine back to her quarters. She could not stay here when there was nothing here worth staying for.

She would get to Paris, if it cost Satine her life.

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End Chapter!

Please review! Hope you liked this one. Please review and let me know what you think I should do with the story. Your comments keep me going!

*+MoJo+*