Disclaimer: Still don't own. Still don't care. Still don't like feeling of deja vu.
I like this chapter - the last chapter in this story. In it, I was able to leave the storyline completely and that was extremely fun. It's longer than normal, but oh well. Enjoy!
Chapter 8: Hatred
Nini found, during the performance that night, that her ever carefully focused concentration was breaking – she kept staring out the back window at their huge red windmill, wondering whether Shakespeare had taken her advice and left. More than once, she nearly missed a cue because of this.
Sparkles, too, seemed distracted. She had dried her eyes since Nini had last seen her, but replaced the tears with an intense, even scary, glare that she fixed everyone with. It was hard to believe she was in love – with either the sitar player or the Maharajah. Just as well, she supposed – the audience would be less disappointed when she chose money over love at the end.
Nini also watched the Duke, sitting smugly in the front row, staring at Sparkles as though she were a piece of meat to be devoured. Through the play, Nini began to realize that she hated the Duke. She hated him more than she'd ever hated anyone, ever before. And considering how many people she'd hated . . . that was saying something.
The final scene, the one that had replaced Come What May, began. Nini wondered who'd written it, silently berating them for the terrible scene. Toulouse was chanting "I only speak the truth!" over and over, the colors were garish, the steps insultingly simplistic. Maybe the Duke choreographed it.
"Chhamma Chhamma! Re Chhamma Chhamma!" she sang, grateful to the terrible writer for one thing – for the first time in her life, Nini was allowed to let her voice be heard over everyone else's. This was, she knew, only because Harold had finally realized that apart from Sparkles, she was the only Diamond Dog able to memorize music after only rehearsing it a few times. Still, it meant she had the limelight at last, if only for a short time.
Nini was beginning to think nothing would go wrong – that they would finish the play without a hitch. Sparkles' last solo, if still pretty intense, was soon over and all that was left was the wedding.
"I raise high my ceremonial wedding sword . . ." Nini thought Harold was going a bit overboard, but the audience seemed to disagree – they hung on his every word and laughed or gasped exactly when he wanted them to. "Jealousy has driven the sitar player into hiding!" Why would jealousy drive someone into hiding? Nini wondered. "Let the palace doors be opened!" Everyone looked at the doors, but they remained closed. "Open the doors! Open the doors!"
The doors were opened. Immediately, Nini wished they'd close again. The scene in front of her was strangely picturesque – Shakespeare and Sparkles were perfectly framed in the doorway, Sparkles on her knees, apparently trying to refuse money from Shakespeare. They couldn't have shocked the crowd – not to mention the cast – more thoroughly if they'd planned it.
Harold, with all his normal pompousness, quickly retrieved control of the situation and tried to convince the audience that Shakespeare really was the sitar player. Shakespeare played his part of jealous ex-lover all too well. He dropped Sparkles wrist and she fell to the floor, gasping for breath and tears streaming down her cheeks. "This woman is yours now." He threw the money he'd been trying to give her to the floor. "I've paid my whore!" He told the crowd contemptuously. "I owe you nothing. And you are nothing to me!" he added to Sparkles who started to cry harder than ever. "Thank you for curing me of my ridicules obsession with love . . ."
Shakespeare, too, was choking back tears, but he walked off the stage without another word. Nini watched him leave, half-hoping he'd stop. No! She thought forcefully. He has to go!
Harold was talking again. "This sitar player doesn't love you! See he flees the kingdom!" 'Flees' wasn't the word Nini would've used. 'Walks dejectedly from' was more accurate, but there was no time to argue word choice. Sparkles was still sobbing on the floor and she didn't seem to have any intention of getting up soon.
Without thinking, Nini dropped to her knees next to Sparkles. "Stop this, Sparkles!" she hissed. "Your messing it up, like I told you not to!" Sparkles stared at her incredulously.
"So, what, you're going to kill me?" she whispered.
"Not if you get up now! Just finish the play."
"And after the play, Nini? After it?" Sparkles murmured, but she grabbed Nini's hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She took a deep breath and straightened slowly. Once she seemed steady, Nini let go and stepped back to her place in the dancers. She glanced at the audience in time to see Shakespeare vanish out the front doors. He was, then, finally gone for good. She tried to tell herself she was happy about this.
She directed a glare at the Duke, who looked murderous but seemed to be calming down now that Shakespeare had left. Her hatred for him reached a boiling point.
Nini barely listened as Sparkles shakily but clearly began to exchange wedding vows with Harold. Just before the final 'I do', however, Nini heard a loud gasp from her and suddenly she was paying full attention. Sparkles was holding her chest and trying to breathe in without much success. She managed a few shallow breaths and then she collapsed onto the stage.
For the second time that evening, everyone froze in shock. Sparkles lay motionless on the floor. Nini recovered first and again knelt down next to her, this time joined by Harold. "What do we do?" Nini asked him quietly.
"Improvise." He whispered immediately. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes – she'd been hoping for something more specific. Improvise was his solution for everything.
Improvise. Nini bent down and pretended to check if Sparkles was breathing. She was. Improvise. I can do that. Nini theatrically clapped her hands to her mouth and let out a fake sob. "She's dead!" she cried loudly.
"Dead?" Harold repeated, horrified. You told me to improvise.
Nini nodded and stood up, still pretending to cry. "Dead! Sh–She was sick! With consumption!" Nini fabricated wildly.
Harold stood up too and brandished his precious ceremonial sword. "Why wasn't I told of this?" he yelled in his best Maharajah voice. Nini fell to her knees, as she knew good subjects should.
"She was scared, my lord!" she answered quickly. "P-please! All she wanted was to make you happy! Sh-she didn't want –" Unsure what Sparkles wasn't supposed to want, Nini didn't finish, instead breaking into more sobs.
"Happy? All she's done is make me angry!" He threw down the sword to show his great anger. He turned toward the crowd and shook his fist at them. "I will have my revenge! No courtesan in India will survive my wrath! I shall –" What else Harold – or the Maharajah – was going to do, no one ever knew. Nini picked up the sword and shoved it in between his arm and stomach, making it seem like she'd stabbed him. He fell backwards, leaving Nini still holding the sword, visibly bloodless.
Nonetheless, she held it above her head, "The Maharajah is dead!" she shouted triumphantly. "We're free from his tyrannical reign forever!"
Arabia began to cheer. Mome Fromage and China Doll quickly joined her and Nini threw back her head and laughed as the rest of the cast started cheering too. Whoever was in charge of the curtain realized the play was over, and the bright red and gold curtains swept over the stage as the audience burst into applause.
Harold stood up. "What were you thinking, saying she was dead?"
"You told me to improvise." Nini said accusingly. "I improvised. Hey, they liked it!" she added, gesturing to the curtain, behind which the crowd was still going wild.
Before Harold could say anything, the stage manager came on stage and called, "Stand by for curtain call! Dancers, positions, please!"
"Are you crazy? She's unconscious!" Nini told him, pointing at Sparkles, but at she chose that moment to wake up.
She sat up quickly and said, "Christian!" Harold helped her to her feet. "W-what happened?" she asked.
"The play's over." Harold answered. "It's time for the curtain call."
"Over? But, how –"
"I'll tell you later, get into position!"
Curtain call went as it had been rehearsed until the very end, when Nini decided that, as the true savior of the courtesan's kingdom, she deserved more attention than she had gotten. She stepped into the middle of the stage and bowed all by herself, smiling widely. The curtain closed once more.
She turned toward Sparkles, her grin fading. Sparkles was staring at her. "How did the show end again?" she asked faintly. "Never mind. Christian . . ."
"You are a girl of one idea, aren't you?" Nini grumbled. She had, in the exhilaration of the last few minutes of the play, almost forgotten about Shakespeare and what Sparkles had had to do in order to save him. What she still had to do. "Come on, Sparkles. You have to get ready for the Duke."
"The Duke . . ."
"Yes, the Duke, you're supposed to sleep with him tonight, remember?"
"Oh, but I -!" Sparkles' eyes were filling with tears again. Nini quickly interrupted her.
"You have to, Sparkles! You know you have to!" Sparkles nodded helplessly. "Mome!" Nini called and Mome Fromage appeared next to them. "Help her get ready, hmm? And stall her as long as you can!" She added in a whisper.
Mome looked at Sparkles, who was still fighting tears, and muttered. "That won't be hard. But why?"
"Never mind why, just do it!"
Mome and Sparkles left in the direction of Sparkles' room while Nini headed in the direction of the Duke's, where she was supposed to meet him soon. She walked determinedly toward the door, where Warner was, as usual, standing guard. She had no idea what she was going to do, but something drove her to do something.
"Hey Warner." She said as she approached him.
He looked at her closely. "Is the girl coming?"
"Yes, yes," Nini said impatiently. "She'll be here in a few minutes. But I didn't come to talk about her. I came to talk about – the play. What'd you think of how it ended?"
"Oh no, I didn't watch the play. I had to be on the lookout for that boy." He said gruffly.
Nini gasped, faking indignation. "You didn't get to see Spectacular Spectacular just because the Duke wanted you to make sure Shakesp – Christian didn't come back? That's just wrong!" She took several steps closer.
"Yeah, but try telling the Duke that." He agreed, sounding upset.
"Well, I think," Nini said sympathetically, slowly sliding her hand into his jacket. "That is one of the most tragic things I've ever heard." Her hand closed on his gun.
"What are you -?" Warner began, but Nini pulled back quickly, still holding the gun.
"It's tragic," she hissed. "Because if you'd seen the play, you'd know what I wanted to do to your precious Duke. So perhaps you could get out of the way so I can." Warner, however, was more loyal to the Duke than she'd expected. He refused to move and so she closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
When she opened her eyes again, Warner was on the floor, a bullet hole through his forehead. She clapped a hand over her mouth, horrified that she'd actually hit her target with her eyes closed. No time for that now, Nini. She told herself, and opened the door to the Duke's room.
He'd been alerted by her last gunshot and was staring at the door as it opened, looking scared. Nini closed the door behind her and took several steps toward him, gun at her side.
"So, what did you think of my ending?" she asked coldly.
"I – I thought – did you just kill Warner?" He asked suddenly.
"Maybe." She raised the gun again and began to walk toward him. He backed away, but she followed. "I told Sparkles I was capable of murder – what do you think?" She stopped, the gun about a foot away from his chest. "I killed the Maharajah. Should I kill the Maharajah's counterpart too?" she whispered. "Free the Moulin Rouge from his tyrannical reign?" She closed her eyes once more, and pulled the trigger.
A/N: I love cliffhangers, but this one is ruined by the fact that the sequel is already written and posted. If you wish to know what happens to Christian, Satine, and Nini after this, I suggest you read (and review) If Only You Knew if you haven't yet.
So, I have a prequel plot bunny for this story running around in my head - I don't know about you, but I've noticed Nini randomly mentions her mother a lot. This sparks my curiosity - who was her mother exactly? If you are interested in another prequel to this story, one that details Nini's past, please tell me in a review. I'll write for anyone - if only one person wants to read it, I'll write it. If anyone doesn't want to read it, then they don't have to. Yay? Yay.
Ok, now is review time! (It's the last chapter - seriously, if you haven't reviewed any of the others, please review now!)
