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One
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Sitting at the dust-covered desk where his old typewriter sat, the young man stared at the blank paper loaded into the machine. He spoke aloud quietly as he typed, “This is a story... about love. The man I love-ed... is...” He paused, staring across the room, before he whispered almost silently, “Dead.”
As tears started down his face, he typed in the next line before beginning his story. On the white paper lay the opening lines to his story - their story:
This story is about love. The man I loved is dead. The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
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The new arrival walked down the dirty city streets towards the address he had been given. He was in a small city just outside of Paris and was looking for a place to stay while he remained in the area. Paris - the city of romance! He was a writer in search for inspiration to start his work. He was searching to write about love, although he had never been in love himself, and so had traveled through France towards Paris. Where else could one find romantic inspiration?
As he walked down a shadowed alley and came out along a street of small shops he noted various street performers along the sidewalks. The lower class lived on this side of the city and a number of revolutionists thrived in groups, aiming to change views by performing their arts. On one store window the man caught sight of a poster reading: Truth! Love! Beauty! Freedom! Smiling slightly, he kept on, finally approaching a multi-floor building with its paint flaking and wooden stairs rotting. It didn't bother him much, however and he entered the run-down apartment building and stopped at the office just inside.
“Excuse me?” he said, knocking lightly on the doorframe.
A middle-aged woman sat behind a desk piled with paper work. She looked up at him as he inquired about an apartment. She gave him the rundown of paying and rules of staying. She stood and led him up creaky stairs to the third floor.
He was let into his new apartment - although it looked ancient with its run-down interior - and handed the key. Then the woman was gone and he was left on his own. He set his bags down and slipped off his coat and hat.
This rather looked to be promising. He smiled and headed towards the windows that led out to a small ledge that settled for a balcony. Standing there, he looked over the city, getting a great view. Not too far away he caught site of a large complex that looked like some kind of club. He wondered what it was, but just then he heard a large crash. He spun around to see that the ceiling had collapsed and an unconscious man was hanging upside down in his apartment.
Approaching cautiously, the ginger-haired man chanced a look up from beneath the hole. Suddenly, the face of a young man appeared just in front of him. The face was grinning. “Hi! Sorry about this! This guy has a tendency to just keel over all of the sudden.” He laughed, making his long, braided hair swing back in forth.
Just then three people rushed into the room from the main door.
“Oh no, now what are we going to do? With Heero out, who's going to take over his part?”
Blinking and switching his gaze between the five younger men, the newcomer asked, “Uh... pardon me, what's going on..?”
He was ignored as the three in his apartment consulted with one another. The forth conscious young man was working on dragging the unconscious man back up into the apartment above. “Hey, new guy, help me out here!”
“I have a name,” he replied, moving over to help anyway.
“Really? Awesome, what is it? I'm Duo.”
“Treize Kushrenada. Pleasure to meet you.”
Duo finished dragging the other man up and then hopped down through the hole in the ceiling. Standing in front of Treize, he proved to be a great deal shorter and had to look up to see him. Grinning, he offered a hand to shake, “Nice to meetcha too. Last name's Maxwell, but that's not said much `round here. Where you from?”
Blinking at the energetic youth before him, Treize responded, “My family's from Russia. I've come to France to find inspiration!”
“Whaddya do?” Duo questioned, starting to walk over to the small group. Treize followed along, strangely drawn to this odd little group.
“I'm aiming to be a writer,” he smiled.
“Fantastic! See, we're working on a musical right now, but Heero keeps keeling over at the worst time and things just don't sound right! Lots of problems,” he laughed and turned his attention to his chattering friends. “Hey, what are you arguing about now?”
The blond who had spoken earlier looked over at Duo. “We can't keep rehearsing without Heero! Tonight we have to present the idea to Dorothy, you know! What are we going to do?”
Everyone fell silent, Treize looking on with vague interest. Suddenly four heads snapped towards him. He stared at them, feeling uncomfortable. “What is it?”
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Before he could adjust to what was happening, the small group was dragging Treize up the stairs to the apartment above him and he was participating in the original musical that the small band had created. The other members were introduced as Trowa, Wufei, and Quatre. Heero remained unconscious and Treize took up his script, looking through the part that he was standing in for.
Another argument started as Quatre played a series of notes on the piano. The line for the song was not working out.
“It has to fit for this `Spectacular, Spectacular'!” Wufei argued with Duo.
“A nun would not be saying `the mountains are quaking,' idiot,” Duo bit back, crossing his arms.
Treize looked on as the two continued arguing, Trowa and Quatre occasionally breaking in with ideas of their own.
“Excuse... hey... hello?” Treize tried breaking into the conversation without any luck. Sighing, he continued watching. Suddenly a line came to him and he tried suggesting his idea. No one was listening. Rolling his eyes, Treize was about ready to leave, but then he sang loudly, “The hills are alive with the sound of music!”
The room fell silent as everyone turned to him.
Duo's eyes were wide. “My God, that's it!”
Quatre rushed to the piano playing the music as Treize started again, “The hills are alive with the sound of music, with songs they have sung for a thousand years!”
As he finished singing Heero suddenly stood up and walked forward. “That's it! Brilliant.” The next moment he was down again. Duo blinked at him, shrugged, and looked up again grinning.
“It's perfect! Let's continue!”
Laughing a little, Treize decided that he was rather enjoying himself. They continued on with songs and the script. By the time evening fell, they had completed the musical.
Duo was talking extremely fast, explaining to Treize that they had to dress up and head over to the nearby Moulin Rouge to present their musical to Dorothy and Zechs. When Treize questioned about the two, Duo brushed it off and continued on with what Treize needed to do to present the idea.
“We really need this to go through! I'll be sure to arrange everything so that you can present it to Zechs! Read off some poetry; recite something from the script, anything! We just need to get approval so that we can perform this. Got it?”
Treize nodded as Duo shoved him into his room, telling him to hurry up.
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The Moulin Rouge ended up being the complex that Treize had seen earlier from his window. There were large numbers of men of all ages dressed up and heading into the complex. Treize just continued to follow the group of five in front of him; he did not feel like getting lost. Loud music sounded from all around thanks to the orchestra set up on a balcony above the large, crowded hall. Treize looked around with an amazed gaze.
Singing, whistles, and laughed echoed all around, entwining with the music. Numerous showgirls were lined up in formation, dancing, their skirts kicking up with their movements.
Quatre tugged Treize over to a booth that they had found, and the six of them crowded in, watching all around them.
Duo spoke loudly to be heard over the noise, “The Sparkling Diamond, Zechs, will be coming up in the next act. I'll set everything up so you can meet him and read off the poetry.”
“Fine... but who is this person?” Treize questioned over the din.
Quatre stared at him wide-eyed. “You really are new around here! Everyone knows of the Sparkling Diamond. You'll see him up next!” He grinned, something sparkling in his eyes.
“Him?” Treize asked, trying to get more information.
Just then the song ended and the dancers moved off to the sides and onto platforms beneath the orchestra. A spotlight came on, uncovering something above the crowd. There were gasps and whistles as the gorgeous figure was revealed.
“The French are glad to die for love.” The voice was incredible, already taking Treize's breath away as the music started up loudly while the trapeze that the lithe figure on lowered.
Long hair of pale blond was streaked with hair glitter, catching the many lights that came on as the music picked up. As the new figure jumped off the trapeze and landed on a platform in front of the orchestra, a pale face was revealed: lips painted red and cheeks faintly stained with rouge, ice blue eyes shining behind the shade of bangs which fell softly over the beautiful face. Everyone drank in the sight of the tall, lithe body covered by a shimmering skintight outfit.
Duo left the booth, disappearing into the crowd, but Treize hardly noticed, his full attention held by the vision parading down the platform and singing. Long white gloves covered pale arms. Around the beautiful neck rested a necklace of shimmering diamonds. The back of the tight outfit played dangerously low about the slim waist. The long legs were a vision to take in, the upper thighs barely covered by short sequined shorts. The upper portion of the outfit started a bit below the collarbone and was held up by a white piece of fabric that circled to the back.
The words of the song were lost to Treize; he was too entranced by the amazingly beautiful figure that was reaching out to the hands that were reaching up to try and touch the lovely body. With a toss of long hair and a wink, the beautiful vision disappeared behind a circle of showgirls.
“That,” Wufei said, looking to Treize, “is the Sparkling Diamond.”
Treize looked over the table at Wufei, slowly coming back to reality. “I'll be meeting... with her?”
“Him,” Trowa corrected, a faint amusement coming to his green eyes.
Quatre noted the flash of realization cross Treize's face. Frowning the blonde questioned, “Will that be a problem?”
“Ah... no... never mind,” Treize looked towards the circle of showgirls still hiding the two pale-haired figures that had slipped into their midst.
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A conversation between the owner of the Moulin Rouge and a possible benefactor had taken place in the booth beside the small group. The plan was to create a splendid theater to house performances of “Spectacular, Spectacular”.
Dorothy, the Moulin Rouge owner, gazed across the table at the dark-haired noblewoman. “It's settled, then. You shall meet with our `Sparkling Diamond' and in return you will provide money for our theater?”
Nodding slowly, the noblewoman, Noin, replied, “Of course. But nothing is official until after tonight.”
“Yes, of course,” Dorothy answered, her gaze drifting towards the star performer of the Moulin Rouge. “I must be going! I will see you at a later time.” She hurried through the crowd and onto the platform where the showgirls were already beginning to close off the audiences view.
Within the ring of dancers Zechs began slipping off his costume and changing into a different one; Dorothy was doing the same. They were part way through performing the “Sparkling Diamonds” number and, while the audience watched dancers during a musical interlude, Dorothy and Zechs hurried to change into their costumes for the second part of the song.
“Is it set?” Zechs questioned, fastening the new outfit.
Dorothy smiled at him, “Of course. You're to meet in your room once you change.”
Giving a sly smile, Zechs questioned, “And how shall I act... shy?” As he ran through the personalities he put on a different look. “Gentle? Slow and sensuous? Wild and fierce?”
Smirking, Dorothy replied, “Try the wild and passionate. Remember, if you pull this off, you can be a real actor.”
The look that crossed Zechs' face was of a happy dreamer. He smiled and went right back into the performance as the circle around them broke out. He continued his song, dancing out along the narrow platform that crossed the entire hall. His new outfit was just as form fitting as the previous one. White pants were laced down the sides, giving glimpses of the pale flesh concealed beneath the tight material. He wore a sleeveless shirt of gauzy white material that was almost see-through. As he crossed the platform Dorothy nodded towards the booths and said, “The one shaking out a handkerchief.”
Zechs twirled and chanced a glance in the direction that Dorothy had indicated. He was surprised when he saw a handsome ginger-haired man holding a handkerchief, eyes away from the performance. As he passed Dorothy he asked, “You sure?”
The next time that Dorothy passed, she replied, “Yes.”
Taking one last look towards the booths, feeling a tingle from nervousness and excitement, Zechs let himself be lifted up by some of the other performers as they took back towards the trapeze.
As to what had happened with the handkerchief mix-up, Duo had returned to the booth in a hurry, announcing that the meeting was set up; one thing he did not realize, however, was that Zechs had never heard his calls over the loud crowd. In his rush, he bumped into the table where Noin was sitting, and the glass of wine on the table tipped over, spilling on her. As Duo apologized profusely, Noin dug out her handkerchief in disgust and started to dry herself off. Dorothy had looked over at that time, but by the time Zechs was able to look over, Treize was taking out his handkerchief to give it to Duo to help Noin. Dorothy once again caught the scene as Noin was wiping herself off and the misunderstanding was complete.
As the trapeze rose high over the crowd, the lights dimming and a spotlight catching Zechs, his melodic voice rang out the ending of the song.
“...Diamonds are a... girl's best...”
His throat closed, and only a soft sound escaped his lips. He inhaled quickly, or at least tried to do so. The room spun suddenly, and he couldn't breath. He gasped, trying to force the last word out. He felt as if time had frozen, and he could feel the entire crowd's eyes on him. A hand rose to touch his chest as he continued to gasp, trying to grab air. His vision blurring, Zechs felt his hold on the trapeze loosen, and he fell, unconscious. Otto, one of the performers, caught the fallen star, looking worriedly at the pale face.
Dorothy eyed the scene below her with worry but knew that she did not need the crowd disturbed. She put on a brilliant face and started clapping, beginning the cheering. Oblivious, the crowd followed her lead. Otto exited to the backroom with his burden, some of the other performers following to find out what had happened.
Dorothy announced the start of the can-can before going back to find out what was happening.
When she arrived, Otto, Hilde, and Une were gathered around the chest on which Zechs had been laid. Sally was kneeling beside him, checking him over.
“What happened?” Dorothy demanded. She looked at Hilde and Une, “Get out of here; we need you in the crowd.”
“Yes ma'am,” the two hurried back out to the hall.
Dorothy looked down at the pale face, briefly caressing the soft head of hair. “You better hold in there...” she murmured softly, a small bit of worry lacing her words. She nodded at Sally and Otto and then returned to the crowd. Her night wasn't over yet.
As the owner left, Zechs began coughing, eyelids fluttering, Sally waved smelling salts beneath his nose to coax him awake. A dark-colored spot on the white cloth lying beneath Zechs' head caught her attention. Face grim she pulled the fabric up a bit and stared at it. She looked back at Otto. He, too, noted the blood.
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