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Gankutsuou Reborn	By : roryheadmav Category: +G to L > Gankutsuou Views: 5812 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Gankutsuou, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
DISCLAIMER: This story is a non-commercial
work of fiction based on the anime/manga Gankutsuou. Original copyright
of Gankutsuou belongs to Mahiro Maeda, Gonzo/Media Factory, GDH.
Absolutely no monetary gain has been made with this work.
GANKUTSUOU REBORN

© September 12, 2005 By
Rory V. Pascual

CHAPTER FIVE: Two Friends' Visit
Albert determinedly placed the copy
of "Le Fantome de l'Opera" inside his coat pocket. He had been seeing Etienne
for the past three Sundays, but, always, he kept on forgetting to give
it to the singer. He was already feeling guilty. Etienne had been giving
him privileged, albeit secret, performances at the Order's small church,
and yet he could not do something as simple as return a book to its rightful
owner.
He patted the book in his pocket.
This time, I won't forget.
The door to his chamber quietly opened
and his housekeeper entered. "Your Excellency, you have two visitors waiting
for you downstairs."
"Hildegarde, I thought I informed
the staff that I do not entertain guests on a Sunday," Albert reminded
the stern-faced woman with a trace of irritation.
The housekeeper bowed in apology.
"Forgive me, but they were very insistent. They said they were friends
of yours from Paris."
Albert whirled. "From Paris?" Despite
his impatience to go to church, he hurried outside his room, down the stairs,
heading for the front parlor. There, two people he never expected to see
greeted him.
"Lucien! Beauchamp!" the young Ambassador
gave his friends tight embraces. "You're a sight for sore eyes! What brings
you here to Luna?"
Beauchamp grinned as he tucked his
ever-inseparable camera under his arm. "We just thought we'd pay a visit
to our dear friend, the Ambassador to Luna." He trained his gaze on the
lovely landscapes and portraits adorning the walls of Albert's modest estate.
"I must say this place is a lot more cheerful-looking than when I was last
here. Old Benilde preferred military paintings � the bloodier, the better."
"True," Albert agreed with the journalist.
The former envoy's taste in art was too similar to his late father's. "I
had everything shipped to him in Paris."
"Is it true what your housekeeper
told us?" Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Lucien Dupre put in with a
twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "You are going to church today? I know
how painful it is for you to enter any place of worship. Something must
have happened to make you return to the faith."
"Yes, in a way," Albert reluctantly
admitted. "I hope you won't think me rude, but I don't want to be late."
"Why don't we go there together?"
Beauchamp suggested, much to Albert's chagrin. "My soul is in need of a
little cleansing."
"Beauchamp! I never knew you had
a soul!"
It was Lucien who became serious.
"To be honest, this is not a courtesy call, Albert. There is an official
matter that we need to discuss with you about."

~~~~~~~~~~
Albert was stunned by what his friends
revealed to him. "A white slavery ring? Here in Luna?"
Lucien nodded solemnly. "It's been
in operation for the past five years. I believe you are aware of the spate
of kidnappings occurring in this city. You were once a victim yourself."
"Yes, but in my case, it was more
of a kidnap-for-ransom."
"Well, not anymore. The Interior
Ministry has an agent here. According to him, the syndicate targets young,
attractive nobles � men, women and even children. They wipe out their memories
through an unknown brainwashing procedure and sell them to brothels all
over the galaxy."
"I came from the planet Aurelius
recently," Beauchamp then said. "A young prostitute had been found brutally
raped and murdered in the sewer. It turned out to be the son of Baron D'Estaing
who had been missing for five months now."
Albert's handsome face became grim
as he gazed out into the passing streets from the carriage window. "Who'd
ever thought that such atrocities are being committed here? Do you have
any idea on where their base of operations is?"
"Unfortunately, no," answered Lucien
in disappointment. "Our agent has yet to dig up its location."
"However," Beauchamp interrupted,
"from my own investigation, I've discovered that all the missing nobles
shared one thing in common."
"And what's that?" Albert inquired.
"That they were all regular patrons
of a popular nightclub here � the La Decadenza."
"LA DECADENZA?"
Lucien readily observed the shock
on his friend's face. "So you know the place. Have you been there?"
Albert shook his head. "No, I haven't.
The club's booked for two months."
"It seems that the owner is good
friends with whoever is running the syndicate." Beauchamp raised his eyebrows
in suspicion. "Why do you seem disappointed that you couldn't enter the
club?"
"I wouldn't say that I'm�disappointed.
Eugenie wanted me to go there because� I don't think there's a pressing
reason for me to get a reservation at La Decadenza now, especially after
I� But still I want to�"
Lucien's lips pursed in a disapproving
grimace. "Are you ever going to finish what you're going to say, Albert?
What does Eugenie have to do with La Decadenza?"
Albert breathed out a defeated sigh
as the carriage rolled over to a stop before the church. "I would've wanted
to come here alone, but I guess I have no choice. There is someone I would
like you to meet. However, please do not tell him anything about me, like
that I'm the ambassador and that I'm also a friend of Eugenie's. And one
other thing�" He turned to Beauchamp. "This matter stays out of the press.
Do I make myself clear?"
The two men were surprised by Albert's
strong requests. "You don't have anything to worry about, Albert," Beauchamp
reassured the younger man. "I can be discreet if I want to. Besides, I'm
working with the Ministry on this." The journalist frowned. "After I saw
Viscount d'Estaing's body, I swore to myself that no other boy or girl
would suffer his fate."
"I'm glad to hear you say that, Beauchamp,"
Albert praised his friend, smiling in relief, as he got down from the carriage.
Following after their young friend,
Lucien and Beauchamp's ears instantly caught the most wonderful voice they
had ever heard coming from within the church. The minute they entered,
they looked at once for the singer.
Etienne, who was singing in the choir
box, seemed crestfallen at first, thinking that his friend wouldn't be
showing up, until he saw Albert at the door. His face brightened as he
gave Albert a shy wave.
As Albert expected, collective gasps
rose from the two men behind him.
"My God!" Lucien exclaimed. "It's
the Count of Monte Cristo!"
"No, that's not the Count," Albert
told a shocked Lucien. "His name is Etienne Delacroix, but he is more popularly
known as the 'Nightingale of Luna.'"
Beauchamp stared at his young friend
in disbelief. "He's the 'Nightingale of Luna'? The star of La Decadenza?"
The journalist could not stop himself from slapping his hand to his forehead,
the sharp sound warranting a "Shush!" from disturbed churchgoers. "Damn
it, Albert! You always live dangerously!"
Albert simply shrugged and gave him
a sheepish smile. "Sorry. You know I could never resist an adventure."

~~~~~~~~~~
"Etienne, I would like you to meet
two good friends of mine from Paris � Lucien Dupre and Beauchamp."
Albert saw a brief flash of resentment
on the singer's face at having unwanted guests during their Sunday tryst.
Still, Etienne gave Lucien and Beauchamp a warm smile and a gracious bow.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen,"
the Nightingale said in greeting. "Any friends of Albert's are friends
of mine as well."
"Oh, no! The pleasure is ours, I
assure you!" Lucien declared, waving his hands. "Your reputation precedes
you, Monsieur Delacroix. I never imagined that Beauchamp and I would be
meeting Luna's talented Nightingale, much more that you and Albert are
friends."
"Please call me 'Etienne'," the singer
encouraged them. "Actually, I owe Albert my life. He saved me from being
run over by a carriage. His carriage, I might add." He gave Albert
a wry grin. "Besides, I couldn't ignore his offers of friendship even if
I wanted to. He is very persistent."
Beauchamp's laughter echoed in the
empty church. "Yes, Albert is indeed that. A pest!"
"How dare you!" Albert declared in
grievous affront.
Clearing his throat, Lucien carefully
began, "Please don't think me rude if I say this, Etienne, but after hearing
you sing, I'm convinced that your great talent is being wasted in a small
club like La Decadenza. You should be singing in the greatest opera houses
in Paris."
"That's what Eugenie told Signore
Tintoretto, my employer."
"You know Eugenie Danglars?" Lucien
absentmindedly inquired. He would have said more if Albert had not shot
him a warning glance. "Why, she's a good friend of�of Beauchamp and I.
We met her during one of her concerts, right, Beauchamp?"
Beauchamp swiftly nodded.
A hopeful smile lit up Etienne's
face. "Then, you're the friends that Eugenie wrote to me about!" To their
surprise, the singer took their hands in an earnest grasp. Both Lucien
and Beauchamp looked to Albert, the confusion written on their faces.
"I know we just met," Etienne exclaimed
in utter desperation. "But please, I'm begging you! Help me to leave La
Decadenza! I�I'll do anything!"
Albert saw his two friends blanch
at that entreaty. They knew exactly what the poor singer was offering in
exchange for their assistance. Albert must admit the scene he had just
beheld surprised him as well. Etienne had never told him about Eugenie's
letter, perhaps because Albert himself had never introduced himself as
a friend of the pianist. In retrospect, he was glad he had not done so.
Thankfully, Lucien and Beauchamp knew better than to divulge his true identity.
If Etienne was this desperate to leave La Decadenza, then they needed him
to be close to the singer.
The same thoughts were running through
the minds of Beauchamp and Lucien. Together, they urged Etienne towards
pew.
As they sat down, Beauchamp began
gently and with much concern, "Please do tell us why you are so desperate
to leave the club, Etienne?"
For a moment, the singer hesitated,
glancing back at Albert, who gave him an encouraging nod. Etienne's voice
trembled as he told them about his life at La Decadenza � Tintoretto's
cruelty, his other 'duties'. Despite his talent, the singer was nothing
more than a common whore. Despite careful inquiry, they were able to glean
nothing about the white slavery ring or its connection with the club.
"Eugenie told me that I deserved
a better life than this," Etienne's voice was strained, on the verge of
tears. "Am I wrong to desire freedom?" He whirled around to look at Albert.
"Tell me, Albert! Do I not deserve to be free like everyone else?"
Albert took the singer's gloved hands
and squeezed them gently. "Of course you do! It's wrong for Tintoretto
to keep you locked up like this for him to do as he pleases."
"Very true," Beauchamp nodded in
complete approval. "You are not his property."
"So�" Etienne began hopefully. "Will
you help me?"
"Let me be frank with you, Etienne."
Lucien laid his elbow on the armrest of the pew and sighed. "This won't
be easy. If we are to free you from Tintoretto, we need to know if he is
doing something illegal, charges that will stick when we have him arrested.
We would need your help on this."
"You're talking about that white
slavery ring, am I right?"
"Yes. I won't lie to you. It's going
to be dangerous. But this is the only way that I could think of to get
you out of that damned club. Can we count on your assistance in this, Etienne?"
The singer nodded eagerly. "Like
I said, I will do anything to be free. Even if Tintoretto catches me�"
A tearful smile formed on his lips. "If he�kills me, death would be another
form of escape, isn't it?"
"Don't you dare think about death!"
Albert blurted out, shocked that the singer would even suggest such a thing.
"Nothing's going to happen to you! I won't let Tintoretto or anyone else
do you harm!"
Etienne looked at Albert, stunned.
"Albert�"
"Albert's right. Don't think that
way." Beauchamp patted Etienne's back. "We swear we'll free you from that
bastard somehow. Just be patient and hope for the best. And never give
in to fear or despair."
"Why should I be afraid," Etienne
asked, "when I now have very good friends who would help me?" The Nightingale's
odd-colored eyes focused on Beauchamp's camera. "May I ask you one small
favor, Beauchamp?"
"Certainly! What is it?"
Etienne blushed in embarrassment.
"I've never had my picture taken before. Signore Tintoretto does not want
my photo to appear in the posters at the club. Just one picture, please?
Together with Albert?"
Beauchamp readied his camera. "Why
just one? I think I still have enough film in here." Standing, he invited
the singer and Albert, "Come on, you two! Let's capture some memories for
posterity!"

~~~~~~~~~~
Etienne could feel Albert's quiet
presence behind him as he waved goodbye to the two men inside the departing
carriage. Even when the carriage was already out of sight, he was apprehensive
to face his dear friend.
"You never told me�" was Albert's
softly spoken words.
"Albert, I never made any pretensions
to be anything but a prostitute, you know that," Etienne told him bitterly.
"I wish I didn't have to divulge what I do at the club, but your friends
needed to know so that�"
"So that you can escape from La Decadenza.
But my real question is why didn't you tell me that you wanted your freedom?
I thought you and I were friends. I could help you. All you have to do
is ask." Albert's face saddened. "Or is it because you don't trust me.
When I told you before that I admired your voice, you mistook me for a
potential�client. Is that how you see me, Etienne? Do I look like a man
who would force his desires upon another who is unwilling?"
Etienne spun around on his heels
at those pained queries. "No, Albert! I never thought of you in that way!"
"Then, why did you readily trust
Beauchamp and Lucien? Why not me?"
"It's because�" The singer dropped
his arms helplessly to his sides, his hands closing into tight fists. "I
think of you as more than a friend, Albert. I didn't want you to get involved
in this mixed up life of mine. And�I didn't tell your friends everything.
Not even Sister Bertrille knows�."
Albert's brows knitted together in
a frown. "What do you mean?"
"While Tintoretto may be my employer,
he is not my true owner. It is someone else. Someone very dangerous.
Someone who has no hesitations about killing." Tears streamed down Etienne's
cheeks. "I don't want him to hurt you, Albert! That's why I've been keeping
our friendship a secret! If anything should happen to you, I'll just die!"
Albert flung his arms around the
poor singer. "Nothing's going to happen to me, Etienne. It's you I'm more
worried about. Listen." He pinched Etienne's chin between his fingertips
and bade him to look up. "I promise you we'll do everything we can to take
you away from that place. I swear that I'll be careful, if you'll also
promise that you'll be just as cautious yourself."
Etienne crushed Albert in a tight
hug. "I promise, Albert. For both our sakes!"
Albert pulled away from the singer's
embrace. Grinning, he said, "Before I forget, this belongs to you." Taking
out the novel, he pressed it into the Nightingale's hands.
"My book!" Etienne exclaimed. "I
completely forgot all about it! Have you been keeping this for me all this
time? Thank you, Albert."
"There's something else that I want
to give you." Albert reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny gold
watch on a chain. "Keep this�as a token of my affection."
Etienne flipped open the lid and
read the inscription, " 'Death is certain. The hour uncertain.' How morbid."
"I thought so as well when it was
first given to me. It belonged to someone who was very dear to me. I want
you to have it."
The singer pressed the book and the
watch close to his heart. "I shall cherish this forever."
Pulling Etienne into his embrace
once more, Albert leaned forward and gave him a loving kiss.
So enrapt were the two men with each
other that they did not notice the black car that was parked on the opposite
side of the street. Signore Gasparde was seething in fury at the sight
of his favorite whore kissing another man.
"Do you think you're too good enough
for me, Etienne Delacroix?" he muttered ominously as he patted the thick
billfold inside his pocket. "Well, we shall see about that!"

~~~~~~~~~~
"Lucien! LUCIEN!"
Lucien almost jumped out of his skin
as the door to Beauchamp's dark room banged open. "What the hell's the
matter? You scared the shit out of me!"
"Come here, will you?" Beauchamp
cried urgently.
"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" The
flamboyant Chief Secretary sauntered over to the dark room, taking his
time to go inside. Through the dim red glow of the lamp, he growled, "What
is it?"
"I just developed the pictures of
Etienne Delacroix, and�" Beauchamp hung up the photos one by one on the
line. "Damn it! Just see for yourself!"
"What? I don't see anything," he
argued, as he gazed at the picture of Etienne and Albert standing in front
of the altar.
But as he looked at the other photographs,
Lucien felt his blood run cold. The singer's head was shrouded by a dark
pink halo, which slowly began to cover his face with each successive shot
taken, eating away his handsome features.
It was the last photograph that caused
Lucien to shudder involuntarily. It was supposed to be a close-up of the
singer and Albert. The two men were laughing and smiling when Beauchamp
had taken that picture. But Etienne's face was now completely covered by
pink marks. Six eyes blazed from those eerie markings.
"Gankutsuou�" The Chief Secretary
breathed out the dreaded name of the demon that had destroyed an innocent
man's life and nearly ruined his friend's.
"God, I thought he was dead! Lucien,
we must tell Albert about this," Beauchamp told Lucien. "His life could
be in danger!"
Despite himself, Lucien gazed again
at the photograph of Gankutsuou. There was something about that picture�.
In the end, Lucien shook his head.
"No. Not yet. This�is not the right time."
Beauchamp stared aghast at his friend.
"What the hell are you talking about? Etienne Delacroix is Gankutsuou!
We cannot let him harm Albert! This happened before with the Count of Monte
Cristo. We knew something was dreadfully wrong with the Count, but we did
nothing! Are we just going to sit back once more and let him destroy our
friend?"
"No, Beauchamp. I'm just saying that
we wait and see what Gankutsuou is up to."
"But Lucien�!"
Lucien did not say anything more
as he took Gankutsuou's photograph and tucked it inside his pocket. Quietly,
he went outside the dark room. Alone once more, he pulled out the picture
and gazed at it closely.
No, Beauchamp would not understand,
the Chief Secretary thought. How could he explain to his friend that he
could not detect any aura of malevolence emanating from the creature in
this photograph? How could he tell Beauchamp that Gankutsuou was regarding
Albert beside him with undisguised fondness?

* * * * * * * * * *
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- 6
- 7
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Gankutsuou Reborn