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The Dollmaker	By : roryheadmav Category: +G to L > Gankutsuou Views: 2881 -:- 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 and the comic
book The Sandman. Original copyright of Gankutsuou belongs
to Mahiro Maeda, Gonzo/Media Factory, GDH. Original copyright of The
Sandman belongs to Neil Gaiman and DC Comics. Absolutely no monetary
gain has been made from this work.
THE DOLLMAKER

©
December 6, 2005 By Rory V. Pascual
CHAPTER SIX
Albert had an inkling that this
day was going to be different from previous days, as he got ready for work.
Edmond never joined him for breakfast. He hoped that the older man would
go down before he left to eat the simple repast of bacon and eggs he had
set out on the table and bid him goodbye. However, even when he was about
to leave, the door to the attic remained closed.
"Edmond�" Albert said in sorrow
as he stole one last look at the attic door. With a sad shake of his head,
he went off to work.
It was midday when Edmond, at
last, emerged from his sanctuary. The breakfast that Albert had made sat
on the tabletop, cold and forgotten.
Edmond picked up the fork, only
to have it fall from his hand. He looked at his fingertips that were swollen
and painful and dotted with pinpricks. Instead, he picked a piece of bacon
up with his fingers and nibbled on it. It tasted bitter in his mouth.
"You don't look happy, Edmond."
It was Desire. The sly immortal was decked up in a blood red dress. The
skirt was obscenely short that it revealed a thong bikini underneath.
"I don't want to talk to you anymore,"
Edmond said dully. "Leave me alone."
"Awww! Don't tell me that things
didn't work out for you!" Desire clucked its tongue. "It's either you pushed
him too hard or Albert's one tough cookie." Clenching its fist in determination,
the immortal declared, "All right then! There's only one option left. You
must woo Albert."
A frown furrowed Edmond's brow
as he looked at Desire with obvious distrust. " 'Woo'?"
"You know! Give him flowers, chocolates�
That kind of stuff."
"Don't you do that for girls?"
"It works just as well with guys.
Listen. Why don't you prepare a nice surprise for Albert? There are lovely
wild flowers in the woods at Auteuil. You could make a nice bouquet for
him. There's also a small confectionary shop along the way. You can get
him a box of Belgian chocolates." Desire rummaged through its purse and
plucked out a gold coin, pressing it into his hand. "Here you go! Buy the
most expensive chocolate they have. It's on me."
Edmond gazed at the shiny coin
in his palm dubiously. "But I still have to clean up the house and prepare
dinner. Besides, I thought I'd just make Albert a doll instead. I was planning
to save the best doll for last, after I finish with Franz here�" He glanced
down at his jacket pocket from which the tiny head of a doll of Franz d'Epinay
peeked out.
"Nonsense! It'll take you forever
to finish that doll. Go on and get those flowers and chocolates!" Before
Edmond could argue, Desire was shoving him out the door. "Don't worry about
the housework. I'll take care of everything here."
"But�but�"
A hard push, and Edmond stumbled
outside the house. He turned to the red-clad figure that had assumed a
sultry pose at the doorway, with graceful arms propped on the doorframe
and a curvaceous thigh crossing over a long leg.
"Why are you so desperate to get
rid of me?" the mortal asked suspiciously. "You're up to something, aren't
you?"
"Of course not!" Desire exclaimed
in shock. "I'm your friend, Edmond! It is my fervent wish to see you happy.
Come now! Trust me!"
Edmond stared at Desire for a
long time, fathoming its sincerity. Innocence and the blind belief in the
goodness residing in every heart prompted him to grant his trust to the
cunning immortal.
"Okay! I'll trust you," said Edmond,
smiling. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
With a smirk on its face, Desire
waited patiently until Edmond had disappeared down the road. Closing the
door, it went up to the attic, where its two sisters awaited. Desire, Despair
and Delirium formed a circle around the four dolls sitting on the floor
that Edmond had finished earlier.
Despair reached for the doll closest
to it with a fat, clawed hand. Raising her hooked ring towards the doll's
belly, she hissed in undisguised anticipation and glee, "Well, sisters?
Shall we play?"

~~~~~~~~~~
"Monsieur Herrera! MONSIEUR HERRERA!"
Albert nearly jumped out of his
skin as his secretary barged inside his office without bothering to knock.
"What is it, Alicia?" he asked the portly woman. "What's with that racket?"
The secretary gestured, trembling,
to the console on his desk. "You should watch the news, sir."
Frowning, Albert saved the draft
he was finalizing and switched to the news channel. The image that appeared
on the screen was the gray façade of the Paris asylum.
"Tragedy struck the Paris Institute
of Mental Health a mere hour ago," the reporter announced in the bombastic
manner characteristic of all broadcast journalists. "Former Chief Justice
Gerard de Villefort was killed in a freak accident. According to eyewitnesses,
Justice Villefort was in the recreation room with other patients when a
large window broke off from its frame and fell right on top of him. A sharp
shard decapitated the judge, killing him instantly. Chief Justice Villefort
had been a patient at the Institute for five years, following that much
publicized trial wherein he was tried and convicted for the attempted assassination
of the Count of Monte Cristo and�."
Albert felt his blood run cold
at that news report. Before he could even recover from his shock, his computer
alerted him to an incoming transmission from the Interior Ministry. It
was Lucien.
"Lucien!" Albert was happy to
see his friend's handsome face. "Did you see the news about Villefort?"
"Yes, I'm afraid I did." There
was an expression of dread on Lucien's features, as though he were debating
on whether or not he should inform the younger man of what he knew. "Albert,
there's something else you should know."
"Huh? What is it?"
"I just received a report from
one of our agents." Lucien took a deep breath. "After five years, Baron
Danglars was finally found."
"Eugenie's father? Where did you
find him? Is he all right?"
"He's dead, Albert. His body was
found in an abandoned spaceship drifting at the border of our solar system.
Space pirates seized the ship. Our agents had to fight them off before
the vessel could be secured. The whole ship was loaded with gold. Just
tear off the cushions from the seats and you'll find more gold bars."
"Oh my God!" Albert was stunned.
This was clearly the Count's handiwork!
Lucien continued with great reluctance,
"Albert, I want you to contact Eugenie. Despite all our efforts, a few
media people were at the spaceport when the vessel was towed in. Some of
our new recruits unwittingly spilled some�details�that we would rather
not have made public. If Eugenie should find out�."
"What? Tell me what it is. Does
this have something to do with the Baron?"
"The circumstances of Baron Danglars'
death� Apparently, the man was abandoned without any provisions. The Baron,
surrounded by all that wealth, was left to starve to death. The poor man
must have been so hungry that�"
"What? What?"
Lucien looked grimly at his young
friend. "It seems the Baron had found a stash of pain-killing drugs on
the ship. He doped himself up so that he could�chop off�his own leg with
a cleaver and� He died from severe blood loss. The floor of the ship and
the gold on which his decomposing body lay was covered with dried blood."
Albert's face assumed a sickly
green color. For the Baron to resort to such a gruesome, desperate act
to sate his hunger was just too horrible to comprehend.
"I'll talk to Eugenie, Lucien,"
he promised, his voice shaking. "I'll call her up in New York right now."
Relief shone on Lucien's face.
"Thank you, Albert. Beauchamp and I are going to try to impose a news blackout
on this."
"Good luck, you two."
Just as the transmission ended,
Alicia called out his name, the telephone receiver in her hand. He had
not noticed that his secretary had answered a phone call while he was speaking
with Lucien.
"Monsieur Herrera�" Alicia looked
pale. "It's your mother."
"Try to get Eugenie in New York
for me. The number is in my address book." As Alicia hastened to do what
her employer asked her on the computer, Albert snatched the phone and answered,
"Hello, Mother? I'm really sorry if I can't talk to you long, but an emergency
has come up and I must speak to Eugenie."
There were sobs on the other line,
and Albert felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end. "Oh,
Albert!" he heard Mercedes cry out.
"Mother, what's wrong? Are you
all right? Oh, please tell me you're not hurt or anything!"
"No, no! I'm just fine! But your
father's grave�"
"What about his grave? Mother,
what happened?"
"I told you that one of the prominent
families here in Marseilles is having a mausoleum made near our family
plot. There's been an accident at the construction site."
"What kind of accident?"
"I don't know exactly what happened!
According to the workers, iron bars were delivered to the site. Just as
they were unloading them, the side of the truck just cracked open, probably
from the weight of those bars." Mercedes burst into a wail. "Albert, it
was horrible! Those iron bars plunged into your father's grave like spears!
They are trying to remove those bars right now but they seem to be wedged
tight. I can't even look! I don't want to imagine what state your father's
remains will be in after they're done!"
Albert found himself dropping
the phone in his shock, his mind numb that his mother's frantic voice on
the other end no longer registered to him.
"I have Monsieur d'Armilly on
the line. But I'm afraid there's a lot of interference."
It was Alicia who turned the monitor
so that it was facing him. "Louis, are you there?" Albert called up, his
heart pounding like thunder in his ears. "Louis, I must speak with Eugenie."
Then, the violinist's tear-filled
face appeared on the screen for a moment and a few choked words were uttered
before the transmission was completely cut off. "God, Albert! Eugenie...Our
baby�."
Albert rushed out the door, ignoring
Alicia's cries. There was only one thing on his mind � to go straight home.
"I'm jealous of all the people
to whom you can easily say 'I love you' when you can't say it to me!" Those
words raced through his mind again and again as he dashed down the stairs,
through the Embassy lobby, heading for his motorcycle.
How could I be so stupid? Albert
cursed under his breath as he leaped onto his motorcycle. As the bike roared
to life and zoomed onto the street, he thought in fury, If anything
should happen to Eugenie and her child, Edmond, I won't forgive you! Heaven
help you, I might kill you myself!

~~~~~~~~~~
At that moment, Edmond was picking
out some chocolates in the confectionary shop when he felt his heart suddenly
begin to pound like a jackhammer.
Clutching his aching chest, Edmond
fell down to one knee. What is going on? Why do I feel like something�terrible�has
just happened?
Something tugged on his jacket.
Glancing down, he was surprised to see the Franz doll clinging tightly
to his jacket.
"Hurry home, Edmond!" a
voice spoke beside him. "Eugenie's in grave danger!"
Edmond's eyes flew wide, seeing
the spirit of Franz d'Epinay at his side. There was grave concern on Franz's
handsome face. Dropping the flowers he had gathered, much to the shock
of the shop owner, Edmond dashed out into the street. He did not stop running
until he finally arrived at Albert's home. As he pushed the front door
open, he was horrified to see blood seeping through the crack of the attic
door. Racing up the stairs, he entered the attic, gasping in horror at
the sight that greeted him.
"Welcome home, Edmond!" Despair
cackled in glee.
"Hi, Edmond!" Desire greeted in
turn. "We thought we'd play with your dolls for a bit."
"Sorry but I got carried away."
Delirium tossed the headless doll of Chief Justice Villefort into his shaking
hands. At her feet, the leg of Baron Danglars' doll had been torn off.
"Anyway, I know you can fix them."
Desire pushed in a few more pins
deep into the doll of Fernand de Morcerf. "I'm sure he could. Our Edmond's
quite an expert dollmaker."
"I doubt if he could fix this
though." Despair raised the Eugenie doll by one arm, revealing its belly
that was ripped open by a sharp barbed hook. It was from this doll that
blood poured.
Rage, like Edmond had never known
before, surged up inside his heart, causing him to emit an aura of red
flames. The marks on his forehead flared up, but they were no longer pink,
but blood red to match his fury.
"Looks like we made Edmond angry,"
Desire clucked to its sisters. "We'd better go."
The younger siblings of the Endless
attempted to fade out the way they usually did, but to their shock, they
found that they could not leave at all. Some strange force was keeping
them in the attic. They gaped at the furious mortal in growing terror.
It was impossible for this man to possess such power as to confine the
Endless.
"DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL!" Edmond
roared as he attacked the three immortals with all the power that was in
his possession.
Desire, Despair and Delirium shrieked
in agony as their bodies were mercilessly stabbed and torn to shreds, just
like the dolls they had mutilated. Any attempts to fight back or to defend
themselves were futile. They who did not fear death realized that their
end was near, and to die at the hands of a mere mortal was a shame that
was truly incomprehensible.
"STOP IT, EDMOND!"
Edmond would have ignored that
strong command, if cold fingers had not stayed his hand from delivering
the final blow. Turning, he found himself gazing into the twilight orbs
of the Dream King.
"They are bad, Dream!" Edmond
cried, his cheeks wet with his tears. "Look at what they did to my friends!
Let me kill them!"
"It is not your task to punish
them, little brother," Dream told the anguished mortal as gently as he
could. "Let we, the elders of the Endless, give them the punishment that
they deserve."
"But�but�."
Desire, Despair and Delirium took
advantage of Edmond's indecision to flee.
Dream took the bleeding doll of
Eugenie in his hands. "Forget about your anger. Only you can save Eugenie
now." Saying this, he laid the doll into Edmond's open palms, before disappearing
to pursue his wayward siblings.
Edmond hastened to his sewing
kit and picked up a needle and fine silk thread. As he began to sew up
the tear with meticulous care, he sobbed, "I'm so sorry this happened to
you, Eugenie. Please be strong. Have faith in me. I promise I'll save you
and your baby."

~~~~~~~~~~
Eugenie was fighting for her life
in the operating room of a New York hospital.
"Please, God," she mumbled under
the gas mask, a tear trickling from the corner of her right eye. "You may
take my life, but please spare my baby."
"Don't say that, Eugenie!"
That panicked cry caused the pretty
pianist to open her eyes. Even though her vision was blurry, she readily
recognized that handsome face that was looking down at her.
"Count�"
"Go to sleep, Eugenie. I swear
nothing's going to happen to you and your babies."
"My�babies�?"
Soon, the anesthetic began to
take effect on her. As the Count's visage slowly faded from her sight,
Eugenie smiled and whispered, "To you we entrust our lives�Edmond Dantes."

~~~~~~~~~~
Edmond bent his head down to repairing
the ravaged doll, pouring all his heart and power into the effort. Time
was of the essence. Precious lives were at stake. He was only halfway through
when the attic door banged open and Albert stormed inside. The sight of
the blood and the doll in Edmond's hands was confirmation enough for the
enraged young man, more so when he saw those telltale pink marks on his
brow.
"I was right!" Albert snarled,
his face a mask of pure fury. "You did it! All those terrible things that
happened today � Justice Villefort, Baron Danglars, Father's grave, and
Eugenie� It was you and these infernal dolls!"
"No, Albert! It wasn't me! I swear
I�" Edmond's head whipped to the side as a hard punch was driven into his
face. As he dropped to the floor, blood trickling from a cut at the corner
of his mouth, Eugenie's doll fell out of his hands. So too did Franz's
doll drop out of his pocket. Albert made to seize those dolls, but Edmond
grabbed them at once. He tried to crawl away, but Albert twisted his tresses
in an iron grip and yanked his head up.
"What are you going to do with
those dolls?" Albert demanded. "Are you going to mutilate Franz's body,
the same way you did to my father's? Are you going to kill Eugenie and
her unborn child?"
"NO!" Edmond gasped out, the tears
streaming down his face. "I'm trying to save Eugenie, protect her from
those bad people who have hurt her!"
"Don't lie to me!" Another rough
pull and strands of dark hair were painfully yanked by the roots from the
older man's scalp. "All the men who had wronged you are dead! Why do you
still persist in seeking vengeance upon us?"
"I don't know what you're talking
about! I�don't�remember�"
"You asked me to remember everything
that happened five years ago, while you conveniently forgot! Or did you,
really? Is this your plan, Edmond? Is it your intention to destroy my life
completely?"
"No, Albert! I wanted to make
you happy! All I wanted was for you to love me!"
"Well, I don't love you!" Albert
roared at the older man, breaking his heart into a thousand pieces. "I
cannot love a man like you whose heart has been warped by hatred and the
desire for revenge!" He bent down to grab the dolls. "Now, give those dolls
to me!"
Edmond shook his head, wincing
as more hair strands were pulled from his head by that desperate gesture.
"No, I won't! I must save Eugenie and her baby!"
"The only way they could be saved
is by taking those accursed dolls away from you! Give them to me, you demon!"
"NEVER!"
The obstinacy of the older man
only served to stoke the fires of rage that were consuming Albert's heart.
He shoved Edmond face down on the bedroll, and started pummeling the helpless
man with heavy blows to the head and body, believing that Edmond would
surrender the dolls to him to end the beating. But this Edmond did not
do. While the punches rained down upon him non-stop, he held the two dolls
protectively close to his chest, shielding them with his crossed arms.
This infuriated Albert even more.
Reaching down, he tore Edmond's trousers from waist to ankle, jerking the
ruined garment off his long legs. Roughly, he spread Edmond's legs and
positioned himself in between them.
An anguished scream was torn from
Edmond's lips as he was brutally entered. The thrusts that followed were
hard and relentless, and all the child man could do was whimper and weep
at the torture the man he loved was putting him through.
"Why do you cry, Edmond?" Albert
growled in his ear. "Isn't this what you wanted? I thought you wanted me
to love you."
Edmond did not give the younger
man any response. He endured the abuse with the helpless acceptance of
one resigned to his punishment.
A low grunt rumbled from Albert's
throat, and then Edmond felt warm fluid gush inside his belly. As if waking
from a bad dream, Albert was horrified to see what he had done to his ward.
He pulled away with a painful jerk, blanching at the blood and semen that
trickled from Edmond's battered bottom. Albert was stricken by what he
had done, as he leaned his back against the wall and buried his face in
his hands.
"Damn you, Edmond! Look what you
made me do!" Albert's voice was heavy with bitterness. "You turned me into
a monster, just like you!" Slowly, he got to his feet, fixing his trousers.
"I'm taking you back to the monastery first thing tomorrow morning. You
can't stay with me any longer. Just the mere sight of you makes me sick!"
At this cruel announcement, Albert descended the stairs.
Despite the pain, Edmond forced
himself to a sitting position. Pulling his sewing kit to his side, he continued
sewing up the tear in the Eugenie doll's belly. The Franz doll, sitting
with its back to the leather bag, was looking at the poor child man. A
crystal drop formed at the corner of the doll's button eye.
"I'm all right, Franz," Edmond
soothed the doll, although he himself was crying. "Please don't cry! I'm�just�fine."

~~~~~~~~~~
It was half-past midnight when
Edmond went down from the attic. His backpack was strapped behind him,
the sewing kit slung over his right shoulder. Quietly, he opened the doors
of the alcove, placing two small figures beside Albert's pillow. His guardian's
brow was etched with deep lines, as he slumbered in troubled sleep.
The marks of Edmond's forehead
cast a soft pink glow upon the sleeping figure, as he bent down to give
Albert one last kiss.
"I love you, Albert," Edmond whispered,
closing the alcove doors. "Goodbye!"
One final look at his temporary
home, and Edmond Dantes strode out the front door, closing it behind him
with an irrevocable click.

~~~~~~~~~~
"Franz? Is that you?"
Albert was back in their childhood
hideout, an old room at the top floor of an abandoned building. It was
indeed Franz d'Epinay sitting at his work desk.
There was an expression of
deep sorrow and disappointment on Franz's face as he asked in a condemning
tone, "What have you done, Albert? Good lord! What�have you�done?"
"I love you, Albert. Goodbye."
Albert whirled to see Edmond
standing at the bottom of the stairs with bags in hand. Giving him a sad,
little smile, the older man started to walk away.
"No, Edmond! Wait!" he cried,
as he realized in growing horror that his ward was going to leave him.
By the time Albert burst through
the door, Edmond had already disappeared into the darkness.

"EDMOND!"
Albert sat bolt upright from his
bed, his body cold and clammy with sweat. Rubbing his face with his hands,
he mumbled, "It was just a bad dream, thank goodness!"
As he lowered his left hand, his
fingers touched something that was lying beside his pillow. His bright
blue eyes widened at the sight of the dolls of Franz and Eugenie. The Eugenie
doll was as good as new, wearing a pretty red dress. In its arms, the doll
carried two smiling baby dolls.
At that moment, Albert's phone
began to ring. As he hastened to answer it, he saw that his computer was
alerting him to a message with a bulky attachment coming from Janina.
"Hello? Albert Herrera speaking."
"Albert, is that you?" Albert
recognized Louis d'Armilly's voice in an instant. "Sorry for calling you
up this early, but there's someone here who wants to talk to you."
There was the sound of the phone
being passed on to someone. Then, the weary voice on the other end brought
a relieved sigh to Albert's lips. "Albert�"
"Eugenie!" Albert exclaimed in
joy. "You have no idea how worried I was about you! How are you�and the
baby?"
"We're fine, although at first,
no one believed that we would survive." Eugenie then revealed, "A reporter
called me up yesterday in New York. He told me about my father, and he
was asking for a statement. The shock was too much for me."
"I could just imagine. I couldn't
believe it when Lucien told me the details. I was about to contact you,
but�"
"I heard that Judge Villefort
passed away as well."
Albert's jaw hardened at the memory
of the former judge's gruesome death. He did not tell his childhood friend
what had happened to his father's grave. "The Count is to blame for all
this. He and his insatiable desire for revenge�"
"I thought you had forgiven him.
Lucien said that he was living with you," Eugenie asked in surprise. "All
this time, you're still harboring a grudge against him?"
"Can you forgive him, Eugenie,
knowing the terrible fate that your father had suffered?"
"Yes, Albert, I could, for it
was my father who instigated the ruination of Edmond Dantes' life. If it
were not the Count, it would've been someone else who would take revenge
upon him. My father was an evil, greedy man. If he wasn't, he would never
have forced his daughter into a marriage she never wanted."
There was a moment's pause. Eugenie
then continued, "I owe the Count my life, and that of my child's. No, not
just one child, but two. I have twins, Albert. All the doctors had given
up on us, saying that we would die. But Edmond came to me in a vision.
He told me that he would not let anything happen to me and my babies."
"You were under anesthesia, Eugenie,"
Albert argued. "It couldn't have been the Count. In fact, it was he who
destroyed the doll that was made in your image. He has been using dolls,
like a voodoo priest, to hurt those I care for."
"If he had destroyed my doll,
then why am I still alive? Tell me, Albert. He repaired my doll, didn't
he?"
Albert felt his skin crawl. If
it was indeed Edmond's intention to kill Eugenie, he would never have fixed
the doll.
"It wasn't me, Albert! I swear!"
he
remembered Edmond's words. "I was protecting Eugenie from the bad people
who were trying to hurt her!"
Eugenie must have been troubled
by Albert's sudden silence that she inquired, "Albert? Please tell me you
did not do anything to the Count!"
"I'll call you back later, Eugenie,"
was all Albert could say as he put down the phone and went up to the attic.
He was crestfallen to see the attic empty, the bedroll rolled up in the
corner.
The dolls that Edmond had made
sat primly on top of a box. Even the dolls of Baron Danglars, Justice Villefort
and his father had been restored. The Fernand doll was holding a small
note, on which was written, "I'm sorry, Albert. Goodbye."
Albert crushed the note in his
right hand as he fell to his knees, weeping in remorse. "Heaven forgive
me! What have I done to poor Edmond?"

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The Dollmaker