Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't care. Dislike this de ja vu.
It's shorter than normal, but I like how it ends, so, I stopped there. Sorry Toulouse's accent - or dialect, or whatever he has - his way of speaking isn't done very well, but he only has, like, three sentences, so hopefully it won't matter too much. Enjoy!
Chapter 7: Sympathy (sometimes)
Nini wasn't sure what she planned on doing, as she mounted the steps to Shakespeare's garret once more the next morning. As she arrived on the landing, the door opened and Toulouse came out, looking worried. "I wouldn't go in there." He warned her.
"Why not?"
"He – he's not –" Toulouse stammered and glanced back at the door. "Satine bwoke up with him last night." Nini stared at him, mouth open.
"Really?" she asked faintly. Toulouse nodded and headed up the stairs to his own room.
"I can't think why though – she woves him, doesn't she?" he said as he left.
Nini deliberated, hand on the doorknob. Sparkles knew, then, of the Duke's plan – she had to. She hadn't been sensible enough to see this coming, otherwise she wouldn't have waited so long. So, she had to know. After another moment's hesitation, Nini pushed open the door and entered.
Shakespeare was sitting on the bed, staring blindly into space. He didn't seem to realize she was there, but he didn't jump when she spoke either. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"What?"
"You know, for all your brilliant ways with words, you're sure not very good at comprehending anyone else's." Nini laughed humorlessly. She sat down on the bed as he watched her closely. "What'd she say?"
"I don't want to talk about her." He said shortly.
"No? Too bad, because I do." Shakespeare made to get up, but Nini caught his arm. "Look, you've got to understand – she doesn't care about you. I bet she didn't say it like that, she's much too nice for her own good sometimes. But that's what she meant, and the sooner you accept that the better. She doesn't love you!"
Shakespeare wrenched his arm out of her grip. "Your worse than Toulouse." He said forcefully, standing up.
"Why?" Nini asked with equal force, and stood up too. "Because I tell you the truth and he just says what you want to hear?"
"I DON'T want to hear it!" Shakespeare shouted. "Not from Toulouse, not from you, and not from Sa – from Sati –" He broke off, unable to finish Sparkles' name. He sank back onto the bed, head in his heads.
Nini stared at him in silence for a few minutes. Did he really believe that they were in love? Yes, he did. She felt inexplicably sorry for him but she knew there was no time for sympathy. "Go away, Shakespeare. Just go away, please. Forget her. Forget about all of us. Forget the Moulin Rouge. Go." She paused, then added under her breath, "We'd be better off without you anyway."
She left, wondering why the last sentence rang so true, when she knew it wasn't. Opening night of Spectacular Spectacular had sold out – something that surely wouldn't have happened if Audrey had stayed.
Shakespeare was, at least in some ways, the best thing that had ever happened to the Moulin. His story, however unrealistic, was amazing and Sparkles had never sung as well as she did after he had come. By the same token, he distracted her from the financial needs of the play and he would – if he stayed – lead not only to their ruin, but his own death. He had to go.
"Come on, Nini" Nini was startled out of her thoughts by Mome Fromage who grabbed her hand and pulled her into the dance hall – the auditorium now – saying, "We're late, hurry up!"
Nini let herself be dragged without protest. Sparkles was on stage, practicing the new final song, which was a version of her Sparkling Diamonds number, "Kiss . . . Hand . . . Diamonds . . . Best friend." Nini examined her closely – her eyes were dry, and rather than looking broken-hearted, she simply seemed completely emotionless. She stared at the back wall dully and danced without taking her eye off it the entire time.
"Here, memorize this now." The stage manager shoved some music into Nini's hands and hurried away. She read through it quickly, mouthing the words and hearing the notes in her head. They rehearsed the new final scene – which ended with the Courtesan exchanging wedding vows with the Maharaja, of course – for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. Harold declared with no small amount of bitterness in his voice, that the scene was as learned as it was going to be at such short notice a few hours before the show was supposed to start.
Nini wished he hadn't – she would've gladly kept rehearsing right up until people started arriving, if only so Sparkles would not have time to think about what she was doing in between. She'd vanished shortly after Harold's declaration, so Nini searched and quickly found her in the new dressing room the Duke had given her. She was crying, as Nini had suspected she would be.
"I can't do this, Nini." She sobbed quietly as Nini entered.
"You already have." Nini said told her. "You can't go back now, so go forward." She steeled herself to put a hand on Sparkles shoulder – her sympathy for Shakespeare did not extend to Sparkles and it never would. "Think about it. You'll be a real actress, you'll – have everything you've ever wanted . . ."
Sparkles pulled away and crossed her arms. "That's what I told Christian." She interrupted coldly. "But it's not true – I don't want that anymore, I want him!"
""Well, you can't have him." Nini's voice was cold too. "It's done, Sparkles, he's gone. So forget him and go back to your old dreams. They're more attainable." Nini started to leave but stopped in the doorway. "Don't mess this up Sparkles. Please don't mess this up."
Surprisingly, Sparkles let out a small laugh. "Last time, you were going to kill me if I did."
Nini returned the smile, "Yeah, well, I'm still not above murder. Believe me."
There, you who have read If Only You Knew, don't you like the ending? I do. Hopefully it makes up for the shortness and almost completely conversation-driven-ness of the chapter. Partly, anyway. The rest, I hope, is made up by the quick update. :)
Review, yes? Please. (Please, please, please, please, please, please, please). I'm not desperate for reviews at all. No. Not at all.
