I'm back! I really like this story so far and I hope you do to! I realize that I messed up the time. I, stupidly, went by the graphic at the beginning of the movie and not what Christian said the year was. So, just pretend that the whole movie was in 1900 not 1899. Kay? Thanks.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Moulin Rouge but I do own Juno and the mystery man coming up!
Chapter 2: Juno's POV
Once I got out of that shoebox of an office and my overwhelming mother, I walked quickly to the stage area. I've always wanted to come here. I've heard stories from people at school about how it is haunted because there was a murder here 16 years ago. I don't know who was murdered but they say it was on stage at the end of the first play to be preformed here. I don't know about it being haunted but there may have been a murder. You never know these days.
I hiked up my skirts to go faster and walk easier. I like dresses and all but sometimes they can be a bit of an inconveinence to us ladies.
At the stage area, there were several people milling around not doing anything. It was mid-afternoon. But, there were also a lot more people on stage and in the band pit rehearsing. One person in particular caught my eye.
He was tall, around 6'2, and had impossibly black hair. The lights above made it shine. He also seemed to be built and lean. His skin was a light tan. I was too far away to see anything else.
I walked forward to see the man in front of me and to get a good look at my surroundings.
The interior was very beautiful. The walls were a romantic red and artfully sculpted. I could sit here all day and make up stories to go along with the masterpieces.
"Who are you?" a man's voice called out, taking me out of my musings. I looked from the walls to the stage. It was a different man than the one who caught my eye.
"Juno." I said simply.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with my mother. Just looking around." I said. The man looked at me with curious eyes. He looked over to a woman with cat eyes and black hair. He walked over to her and whispered in her ear something I could neither decipher or hear. She nodded once.
"Come here." he said demandingly. I was startled but did so anyway. Once I got on stage, I got a closer look at the man. His eyes were a dark brown that almost blended in with his pupils. These eyes were framed by thick dark lashes, making the white in his eyes stand out. His hair was the same color as his eyes, but had gray streaks throughout. "Sing." he said.
"What?"
"Sing a song for us." he said slowly as if I was dumb.
"I'm not daft. No need to treat me like it." I said in a defending tone.
"Okay. But can you please sing us a song." he said carefully.
"Fine." I said. I didn't know many songs but I had a favorite that my mom used to sing to me all the time.
Never knew I could feel like this
It's like I've never seen the sky before
Want to vanish inside you kiss
Seasons may change, winter to spring
But I love you until the end of time
The band started to pick up on my melody and started playing with me around the third verse.
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day
I started singing and a man joined in with me. It was the man that I first noticed. He had a captivating voice.
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a wast
It all revolves around you
And there's no mountain too high
No river to wide
Sing our good song and I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather
And stars may collide
But I love you I sang alone.
I love you he echoed
Unitl the end of time I sang alone once again and he echoed.
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you We sang together.
That was the last line. I just starred at him and vice versa. I don't know what compelled him to sing that with me, but it was great. His voice was beautiful. We sounded great together. I hope he's in the play. He deserves to be if he isn't.
I heard some gasps when we stopped singing. After we stopped singing, I looked from the handsome man's face, reluctantly I might add, to see peoples' reactions. They varied. Some were crying, some smiling, some gaping. The most disconcerning ones were the people on stage who were just staring.
Just then, a dwarf came rushing into the room. He looked up to the stage and stopped in mid-waddle. He rubbed his eyes ans shook his head. He kept staring at me.
"Satine?" He rasped. He must be drunk. I know I look like my mother, but I didn't think I looked that much like her.
"No. It's her daughter Juno." more gasps reverberated throughout the room. What about that was so shocking? I guess nobody knew she was pregnant. Oops, let the cat out of bag on that one. I didn't even know that she worked here until today.
"No. I didn't know she had a daughter. What's your name?" he confused.
"Juno."
"No. I don't know!" he said angrily.
"My name is JU-NO!" I said heatedly. God.
"Oh. I'm sorry madamoiselle. I thought you said you know but with a weird slur to it." What was he talking about? He had the weird slur! He added 'w's to everything! But it was cute.
"It's okay."
"You have a beautiful voice." he said waddling closer. "Where did you learn that song?"
"My mother used to sing it to me ever night as a lullabye. It's a favorite of mine." I said with a smile. He just nods and smiles.
"Do you know the history behind that song?" said the man who asked me to sing.
"No. I didn't know there was one."
"You have much to learn une petite." he said vaguely. I narrowed my eyes at him. (little one)
"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"I think your mother should tell you." he said. After a few moments of tense silence, I heard my mother's voice.
"Juno?"
"In here!" I called out. She walked into the room. When she saw me on stage, she stopped for a second but then walked foreward.
"Satine." the dwarf said.
"Toulouse. How have you been?" She asked casual yet tense.
"I've been better." Toulouse said, yet again, vaguely. "We just heard Little Juno sing. She has a beautiful voice and we are doing a play. I was hoping she would like to be in it." Toulouse said looking back to me. I was surprised. I widened my eyes.
"I don-" my mom started to say.
"Yes! I would love to!" I said. "Mother please? Can I do it?" I asked hopeful. She had this pained look at her face that said please don't make me do this. "Please Ma-ma." I said. That always got to her.
"I suppose." she said. I ran up to her and hugged her.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" I said rushed. She hugged me back.
"You can come back later. Right now, I want to show you something." she said. I was curious.
"Wait one minute Satine." said Toulouse. My mother stopped and turned.
"Yes Toulouse?"
"Christian or the Duke?" he asked. I don't know what he was talking about. I looked to my mother for an answer but got nothing.
"Christian." She said simply.
"Okay. That's good." Toulouse said in a relieved tone. I was even more confused. My mother just nodded.
"Let's go."
"See you soon Little Juno" Toulouse said.
"See you soon Toulouse." I said with a smile. I walked to catch up with my mother. "Where are we going?" I asked.
"The place where I fell in love with your father." I said. We exited the Moulin Rouge and went to a huge elephant. "Wait. We're going up there?" I asked.
"Yes, dear. Come on." I sped up the steps to catch up with her. Once we were inside, the first thing I saw was all the colors. There were so many. I loved it. It was so romantic. I can see why she fell in love with my father here.
"I do not see Father being here. Ever." I said truthfully.
"He was only here once." she said standing on the balcany. "I need to tell you something Juno." she said.
"What is it?" I asked even more curious than before.
"My late husband is not your father." she said. OH MY GOD! That explained so much. I was nothing like my father. I didn't look like him and he never seeemed to like me.
"That explains so much." I said under my breath, but she heard me.
"What?" She asked bewildered.
"It's just that, I'm not suprised. I mean, come on Mom. He didn't go out of his way to talk or spend time with me. Also, he didn't seem to like me." I said.
"That's not true. She said." I gave her a look. She laughed. "Yeah okay. I see what you mean. But I didn't think that you would assume that he wasn't your father." she said.
"Who is then?" I asked. I think it's important for one to know one's father.
"Christian. I don't know his last name. He was a English writer that came to the Moulin Rouge. We met in the ballroom because I chose to dance with him because I thought he was a Duke. But he was dressed like one. He read me poetry and sang to me."
"Was the song Come What May?" I asked.
"No." She said with a smile. "Though he did write that from me. It was so that whenever we sang it, we would know that we love one another, no matter how bad it got. He even got it into the play. That he first song was called 'Your Song'. It was so beautiful. I wasn't expecting his voice to be that way. I was enchanted. After that I found out he was a writer not a Duke. A few moments later, the actual Duke came in and I had to hide Christian. I distracted the Duke and Christian tried to go but he came right back in. Being what I was back then, I seduced the Duke. But Christian was right there so I said we had to wait until opening night." I furrowed my eyebrows. "The Duke was the investor of the play." Oh. I nodded. "Then he left only to come back a few minutes later to get his hat. At that precise moment, Christian was on top of me. I said we were rehearsing."
"Wait, why was he on top of you?" I asked. That could be a very comprimising position.
"I fainted and then her caught me and set me on the bed. I fell after me. Anyway, then Toulouse and three other people that you don't know came in and started acting like we were setting up. We had to give a pitch of the play to see if the Duke liked the story. He did. Christian came up with it all. He was the writer."
"So, that's why I like to write stories." I said.
"Yep. After that Christian convinced me we should be lovers. We kept it hidden so well for the next few weeks. It was bliss. We would use the play as an excuse. It worked until Harold found out about us. And then when we were practicing Come What May, he slipped up. The Duke didn't want my character going with the penniless sitar player but with the maharaijah. Metaphorically, the Duke was the maharaijiah and Christian the sitar player." It was all fitting in my mind. This was the play were the man was murdered on stage. My mother was there that night. On stage. That must have been so scary. She must be scarred for life. "The next night, the Duke and I had a dinner date and he figured out more throuoghly that Christian was my lover. So he got mad. But Chocolat was there and punched the Duke on the side of the head knocking him out."
"Go Chocolat!" I cheered. My mother just laughed.
"Then I ran to Chirstian. We were going to run away. But Harold stopped me and he told me if I didn't do the show and if Christian came to the show Christian would be killed. I even told him this but he still came anyway. He was so stupid. Christian also came on stage which was even stupider. He basically broke up with me but I sang 'Come What May' to him and he came back to me. We were on the last verse when he shot him. Christian was standing right next to me. I was about to kiss him to. But he fell to the ground with a bullet through his head." She stopped. Tears were streaming down her face. I hugged her and she hung on to me for dear life.
"Shh. It's alright Mom. I'm right here." I said soothingly. A sob came out of my mother's body. I felt so bad for her. My dad was the man who was killed. The man who I thought was my father all these years, was my father's killer. I can't believe this. How could she live with that man? "How could you live with the Duke if he killed Christian?" I asked.
"The Duke said he would killed Harold if I didn't go with him. I've been with him ever since. I wasn't happy until you came. It wasn't until you were ten when I figured out that Chirstian was your father. I was so happy. I hated the Duke for what he did. He didn't even let me go to Christian's funeral. I also kept you away from him as much as I could. I didn't want you tainted by his sick mind. He is a jealous man." She turned around and looked me in the eyes. "I hope you find your true love. Once you do, do everything you can to be with him forever. You never know when he will be gone." She said. She kissed me on top of my head."We should get going. I'll drop you off tomorrow for your play rehearsal." I smiled. I couldn't wait for this. I felt my life was about to change.