When Writers Go Bad: Chapter Fourteen

A.N.: This is based off someone in my English class who actually looked up "Pimp," on google image search once. Needless to say, the results were rather….highly rated.

"Okay, fair's fair, I played your game, now let me see this Crystal whatever," Blakeney demanded the next evening.

Shadow reluctantly agreed, and snuck him out of his room after dinner, and toward the cellars. It resembled something like the Paris Opera House underground, with the notable exception that there wasn't a crazed musical genius living in it. A rat scurried by occasionally, and Shadow's torch only dimly lit the wet walls. Finally, after several flights of stairs, they reached the door she'd been searching for, and she took the key from her pocket, unlocking the door.

The carefully opened it up, the hinges squeaking their protests. She lit a few candles with the torch before sliding it into a holder on the wall, and blowing dust from off a small, round table, covered with a burgundy cloth. A bulge in the center of the table pointed out the object in question, and Shadow whisked away the dust cover with a flick of her wrists, causing more dust to rise. After the pair had their brief moment of coughing, Shadow began to pet the large, glass ball, which slowly began to light up.

"Globy," she whispered softly. "Come on, Globy, wake up!"

Finally, it began to glow in full force, and, though it lacked lips, it whispered "Sha…..dow?"

"This," she said to Sir Percy, "is Globy. If he seems a little over enthusiastic, that's just because he doesn't get many visitors."

"But why?"

"Cause," she whispered. "He's the most annoying thing on the face of the planet."

"Shadow!" it cried, the light pulsating it its joy. "Globy…not….see…for….long…time…"

"Globy, this is my friend, Sir Percy Blakeney." Percy bowed respectfully.

"How do?"

"Blake…..ney?"

"He's the Scarlet Pimpernel." It hummed, as though trying to process who that was. "Globy," Shadow continued, "Percy wants to see his home. Can you show him that? It's in Richmond, England."

"Riiiiiich...mond…." it whistled, and began to purr, searching through itself to try and find what Shadow wanted.

"Where on earth did you find this thing?" Blakeney asked, leaning in closer, curious.

"Ebay."

"What?"

Shadow's explanation was interrupted by Globy who wailed sadly "Cannot find….Richmond…..Globy failure!"

Shadow smacked her palm to her forehead and sighed. "It wasn't worth the money spent. It's really very useless."

"Globy wish he was dead!"

"Oh, do stop making that racket!" she cried, exasperated. "Here, try this: The Scarlet Pimpernel. Can you do that, Globy?"

It sniffed. "……Pimp?..." It began to purr again as Shadow fiddled with the dust cover.

"The dratted thing's like a google image search on a slow modem." Sir Percy stared blankly at her, the entire last sentence having gone completely over his head. Shadow looked down at Globy as he announced, proudly, he'd found something, and with a cry, she quickly covered him back up again. "Globy, that is not a polite image!"

Globy began to wail again. "Globy failure!"

Shadow's fist clenched, and she sighed. "No, it's fine, it's not your fault. Just….just try again."

After several more minutes of waiting, Globy announced the results of his final attempt. This time he struck gold; well, sorta, anyway.

"You see," explained Shadow "This is the way things are now, as though you, Marguerite, and Chauvelin, had never been born."

Armand was walking around the streets of Paris in a rather depressed manner. Louis was the most famous actress in France, but that was the only improvement. Cart loads of people were being slaughtered by La Guillotine, only France was more of a mess than usual. Well, after all, Chauvelin wasn't there to keep it in some form of order, the term applied loosely.

Shadow noted sadly that the find seemed more to depress him than anything else, and she slowly covered Globy back up again, and patted his smooth surface. "I'll see you soon, okay, Globy? Goodnight."

It was at that moment that the figure hiding behind the door fell, causing the door to swing into the room and bang against the door. Sheepishly, Raoul stood and brushed the dust from his trousers.

"Raoul de Chagny!" Shadow cried angrily. "Haven't you learned your lesson about listening behind doors?"

He shrugged and gave an awkward laugh. "Apparently not."

Shadow sighed. "Okay, let's just get you back to bed."

"But….." he protested, looking crestfallen.

"Oh…..you want to see home too?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

Shadow shrugged, in the mood to be charitable, and ushered him into the room, swiping the dust cover off Globy.

"All right, but then that's it."

"Wait!"

Yet another figure burst through the door: Marius.

"What on earth…?"

"He….kinda followed me," admitted Raoul.

Shadow smacked her head against her palm and sighed. "Okay, you can both look, but you had better not tell a single soul about this, or I'm going to kill you both!"

"We won't, we promise!" begged Raoul. "Now please…can I see?"

Shadow pushed him closer to the glowing glass ball, and gave Globy the proper instructions.

The imaged shown was of Le Comte Philip de Changy, who was looking very depressed, but alive, inside his opera box. La Carlotta was the star, and La Sorelli was still a superb dancer, but Raoul's heartstrings were tugged by his sad older brother's expression.

For Marius, the first image seen was that of Les Amis de l'ABC, who, all except Courfeyrac, who did seem a little sullen, were going on much as usual.

"They don't even miss me!" he cried angrily.

"Well, it's not like you went to a lot of the meetings," explained Shadow.

As for his father, he was still alive, and living happily, if poorly, with his wife. His grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormad, however, was quite depressed.

"That's all for tonight," insisted Shadow, covering an exhausted Globy up, and giving him a "good job," pat. "Come on, everyone, back to bed." Silently, she ushered them out of the room and up the damp steps.

…

A black figure crawled down those self same steps not an hour later, navigating expertly in the pitch black. They reached the door of the Crystal Globe and took out a key chain, which rattled slightly. Silently, they slid it into the lock, and opened the door, which creaked mournfully.

Carefully, the stepped into the room, and a trembling hand reached for the dust cover. Finally, they whisked it off, causing the surprised Globy to flicker and yawn into life. They rubbed at the glowing surface with one hand softly while they bent low and whispered words in hushed tones.

"Globy….will do….Master."

"Good," it purred, giving the glass ball a pat, before replacing the cover, and creeping noiselessly back out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

To Be Continued….