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The Taming of the Cavern King	By : roryheadmav Category: +G to L > Gankutsuou Views: 3529 -:- 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
- 1
- 2
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.

Author's Note: Being particularly
depressed due to serious money problems, I ended up dredging old stories and I
found this one. Needless to say, I ended up laughing as I read it and it made
me feel a bit better. This was originally a contest entry to the "Slashing
The Bard" Highlanderfanfic contest, but I decided to rewrite it into a
Gankutsuou fic. Yes, Rory has done the unthinkable deed of SELF-PLAGIARISM.
Does this mean that I should sue myself?

* *
* * * * * * * *

THE TAMING OF THE CAVERN KING

Original
Highlander version � 2003 By Rory V. Pascual (under the name of Remillard);

Gankutsuou
Version � May 13, 2006 By Rory V. Pascual

PART ONE

"Albert, my friend, my buddy,
my pal!"

"Surely you wouldn't turn
your back on your two loyal allies who have stood beside you in all things.
We're brothers, are we not?"

Albert Herrera cocked an eyebrow
up at the two men groveling at his feet. The older was muscular of build, with
short-cropped brown hair and small eyes. The younger had shoulder length blond
hair, with a handsome face, the kind of youngster the girls swoon after. Both
men were clinging precariously to his trousers in abject supplication.

"Since when did we become
friends, much less brothers?" asked Albert incredulously, kicking his legs
out so he could loosen the grip of the two human leeches. "Allies? If I
remember correctly, you two deserted me at the pub two days ago. You left me to
fend off those drunken buggers in a brawl you started!"

The older man, Maximilian Morrel,
pressed a hand to his chest. "You know I would never allow a man to speak
ill of my beloved Valentine."

"Same also for her sweet
sister Eugenie," Franz d'Epinay, the younger, put in with firm determination.

Albert raised his finger.
"Ah, but that is my point! I cannot fight your battles for you, gentlemen.
I have more important business to attend to rather than help you in
your..." He waved his hand dismissingly. "...Your amorous dalliances."

"But Albert, you've been in
Paris for over a month and you still haven't found the man who murdered your
father," argued Franz.

"Be quiet. No one knows my
purpose for being here. If there have been any delays in my progress, it's
because you two keep interfering in my investigation. Now..." Albert
furiously pulled on his legs. "LET...ME...GO!"

In desperation, instead of holding
on to the young detective's struggling limbs, the two men grabbed handfuls of
his trousers, yanking them down to reveal tight white undergarments that were,
centuries back, known as Boxers.

Albert's eyes widened and he
howled in outrage and embarrassment. Grabbing his rapier, he rapped Maximilian
and Franz hard on the top of their heads.

At that moment, a voice tittered,
"FRANZ! YOO HOO!"

Albert's eyes rolled heavenward as
Eugenie Danglars flounced towards her beau and leaped into his arms. Following
behind her was her sister Valentine, who flew into Maxmilian's embrace.

Seeing them kiss with the passion
of dogs in heat, Albert grumbled in disgust, "Where's a vomitorium when
you need one? Damn, how I wish I had lived in ancient Rome! They had everything
during those times. Ah, those were the good old days!"

"I thought I'd never see you,
my love!" Maximilian muttered in heated passion as he smothered
Valentine's ivory shoulder with his kisses.

"And I you," Valentine
said in turn. "Oh, you just don't know how horrid it has been!"

"He didn't hurt you now, did
he, my sweet?" queried Franz in concern, caressing Eugenie's equally fair
cheeks.

"No." Eugenie's lips
pursed into a frustrated little pout. "But I swear he'll drive both of us
insane! It's a miracle we managed to get away!"

As he struggled to secure his
wayward trousers, Albert asked curiously, "And just how did you escape
from your chaperone, dear ladies?"

Eugenie snorted in disgust as she
gestured a few market stalls down. "He's haggling with the fruit seller.
He's such a brute! I just couldn't take the embarrassment any longer."

"It's hopeless,
Maximilian!" complained Valentine, a tear streaming down her cheek.
"Only a fool would marry that hellish adoptive brother of ours. I don't
know how Mercedes managed to put up with him."

"I don't think she was successful,
sister," Eugenie pointedly reminded her. "She married someone else,
remember? That delightful general, Fernand de Morcerf. It was too tragic that
he was murdered. Unlike Morcerf, no decent woman would want to marry our
brother. The only option we have is to kill him, but he's so damned hard to get
rid of!"

"Not to worry,
precious," Maximilian smiled reassuringly. "Albert here can take care
of your fiendish sibling. He will get the monster out of our way."

"Whoa! Whoa!" The
detective raised a halting finger. "Albert DID NOT promise you
anything!"

"Come now, my friend!"
Franz slapped Albert in the back. In his surprise, the ties of his trousers
snapped in his hands. "He is so evil, who's to say he isn't the one who
murdered your father?"

Albert grimaced as he yanked his
pants up. "But you don't have any proof of that, do you?"

A grin formed on Maximilian's
face. "Even so, I know how much you love a challenge! Help us get rid of
the brother so that we," he glanced at Valentine who batted her eyelashes
at him, "can live happily ever after."

"Why, don't I deserve to live
happily ever after as well?" the detective argued. "In case you've
forgotten, I'm working on a murder case, and I have no intention of becoming
some lackey of lovesick fools. I have more important things to do than just run
about distracting the infamous Cavern King, the Count of Monte Cristo. Besides,
I don't even know what he looks like. From what I've heard about the man, he's
the Devil Incarnate himself! With my luck, he's probably as hideous as
Quasimodo, although the Notre Dame sexton had a much nicer temperament than
him."

As if on cue, a booming voice
declared, "RUBBISH!"

Hearing that voice, as one, the
two women groaned in abject misery, slapping their hands to their foreheads.
Albert felt heat wash over his body like molten lava.

Vendors and marketers at once
stepped to the side, clearing a path for the tall, menacing vision in black and
red flames, standing in front of a fruit stand. Hanging at his hip in its
sheath was a golden sword. The man's back was turned to them, but his long
midnight blue hair flecked with patches of gray, like clouds, billowed behind
him with the wind. The curled ends of his silken tresses teased his rump,
molded by his cloak that clung to his body with the breath of the wind, as he
moved his head emphatically. Hanging at the crook of his right arm was a
basket.

"Take a good look at this,
sir," the nobleman said icily, raising an apple in his hand. "This is
the apple you're selling. Inside is a worm you're selling along with it."

True enough, a worm was peeking
out from the apple's core.

The fruit vendor trembled as he
replied, "That's just one bad apple, but the rest are quite good."

Eugenie snorted again. Muttering
low to Maximilian, she said, "Sounds exactly like someone in my
family!"

" 'Quite' is not good enough
for the Count of Monte Cristo!" The young nobleman's head snapped to the
side to glare at the worm. "Don't you agree?" he asked it.

To Albert's amazement, the worm
nodded in approval.

"You're oh so right,
sir." The fruit vendor hastened to fill the Count's basket with shiny, red
apples. "Here you are!"

The nobleman took two copper
pieces from his wallet and slapped them into the seller's hand. "They'd
better be good..."

"But, sir, my apples cost
much more than this!"

The Count leaned forward and
glowered menacingly at him, continuing, "...Or else I'm coming back for you!"
As he said this, he poked the man's sternum hard with a graceful finger.

Albert grimaced, seeing the
terrified vendor drop to the ground in a dead faint.

The fiendish noble laughed as he
swiped another apple from the counter. Looking at the worm once more, he picked
the creature up daintily between his fingers and placed it on the edge of his
top hat. The worm even curled up comfily and drifted off to sleep.

At that moment, the Cavern King
spun around, sending his cloak flying, so that Albert caught a most delectable
view of the older man's long legs clad in tight, sleek black trousers. But it
was the nobleman's face that mesmerized the detective the most. Never in
his long life had Albert seen such a beautiful and exquisite creature. With
sparkling mismatched eyes � one gold, the other crimson, capped by full
eyebrows, a fine nose, high cheekbones, a pointed goatee, pointed ears with
tiny gold studs, and sapphire skin. Add a devastating smile, and that amorous
sight was enough to cause the young investigator's knees to weaken. When the
Count's lips closed, they were such sweet little pillows just aching to be
kissed.

However, that vision of loveliness
was merely temporary as angry, swirling pink marks blazed on his broad
forehead, noticing how the milling throng was staring at him. From those marks,
two golden eyes snapped open.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING
AT?" the nobleman exclaimed.

Contorting his face in a feral
glare, he hissed at the villagers, revealing tiny fang teeth. Vendors and
marketers alike hurried back to their own business.

Seeing his sisters, the Count of
Monte Cristo took a big bite out of the apple he had swiped and sauntered over
to them.

"And where the hell have you
been? I've been looking all over the market for you!" The Count glowered
suspiciously at the two young women. "What have you little twits been up
to?"

"How dare you, sir!"
declared Franz in outrage. "Your sister is not a twit!"

The nobleman sneered down at
Eugenie. "Oh, she's a twit all right and a cheap one too!"

"Excuse me!" Eugenie
exclaimed in righteous indignation. "I was never cheap!"

But their eldest brother ignored
her and turned to Valentine. "And this is her apprentice twit!"

"Oh, Maximilian!"
Valentine bawled on the shoulder of her beau.

"If I had my sword,"
Maximilian began, "I'd...I'd..." The man blanched, remembering who
exactly he was talking to.

"You'd what?" the Count
glared. "Are you forgetting you're talking to the best swordsman in
France?"

"No, we haven't
forgotten," Maximilian replied. Albert, who was too engrossed with trying
to find a way to keep his trousers up, suddenly found himself yanked forward,
so that his pants fell once more to his knees. "But this is the best
swordsman in all of Europe. Albert Herrera. I'm sure you've heard of him."

There was an evil grin on the
nobleman's face as he looked at the detective before him. "Aye, indeed I
have. I've heard you're also a brilliant detective, Monsieur, trained at
Scotland Yard. Are you undercover, Monsieur Herrera, that's why you're caught
with your pants down?"

"Just a minor accident,
Count." Albert kept his chin up as he stared back into the devilish
noble's piercing eyes. "I have nothing to be embarrassed about. My
endowments speak for themselves."

The Count burst into mocking
laughter as he focused on the man's tight undergarments. "I beg to
disagree, Monsieur Herrera. Your meager endowments leave much to be desired. I
don't think you would spark much interest for an old nag."

As the nobleman turned to his
furious sisters, Albert's face flushed crimson at that insult. His cheeks
became a bright red when the tip of the older man's scabbard connected with his
privates.

"I have to hand it to you,
dear sisters," the Count began in mocking amazement, ignoring the cringing
detective behind him, "but I truly applaud your extremely bad taste in
men!" Placing his heavy hands on their shoulders, he announced,
"Let's go home! Father awaits us! Farewell, gentlemen! I hope I never see
you again!"

The Count's flowing cloak caught
Albert's eye. Standing up, he eased his scabbard back, the tip catching on the
hem of the older man's cloak. In the blink of an eye, he unsheathed his rapier
and let the blade slice through the nobleman's belt, causing both the cloak and
his trousers to fall in a heap on the ground, giving everyone, Albert
especially, a most glorious view of his bare ass. The Count turned a brilliant
scarlet as he pulled his shirt down over his genitals, though his rump remained
visible to all.

"Oh, forgive me, Count, for
my clumsiness," Albert exclaimed in sincere, yet smug, apology as he
approached the flustered nobleman. Picking up the cloak, he said, "Here!
Let me fix your garments for you."

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
The Count warned, backing up from the grinning detective who held his cloak in
his hands.

Before the nobleman could get
away, Albert spread the cloak out. With a flick of his wrists, he let the
fabric fall behind the older man, just about his waist. In his surprise, the
Count nearly stumbled back. If his thighs had not found support from the
counter of pomegranates behind him, he would have fallen. With Albert holding
the ends of the cloak tightly, the nobleman was effectively trapped.

"LET ME GO THIS
INSTANT!" The Count bellowed in a rage.

"Ah, but I cannot leave you
in such a shameful state. Good thing I learned the fine art of tying a kilt
back in the Yard. This cloak will do just nicely."

"I DON'T NEED ANY HELP FROM
YOU!"

To his shock, however, the young
detective ignored his cries and went even closer. The Count's exquisite eyes
were large with fear and contained anger when Albert placed his hands around
his waist. Keeping his eyes on the younger man, Albert proceeded to wrap the
cloak around him. He could hear the gasps escaping from the Count's lips when
his fingers brushed against his hip.

"OOPS!" Albert suddenly
exclaimed, his hands at a most advantageous position at the nobleman's back.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN
'OOPS'?" The Count asked in growing alarm.

"I seem to have hit a snag.
Let me have a feel here. Oh, it got caught on a nail! Hold on a minute."
There was a wide grin on Albert's face as his fingers encountered a
pomegranate. "Hmmm..." he mused aloud. "This seems a little over
ripe."

Without warning, the detective
snatched the Count's bare rump and gave the delectable globes firm squeezes.
"Excellent fruit! They're just right! Indeed, firm and ripe for the
plucking!"

The Count of Monte Cristo roared
in a fury. He tried to punch Albert in the face but the younger man ducked out
of the way.

"FUCKING PERVERT!" The
nobleman screamed, his handsome face contorted with rage.

Albert pressed his right hand to
his lips in horror. "Oh my! Was that your derriere I touched? A thousand
pardons, Monsieur! You see, I have a specific appetite for round fruits, and
those pomegranates were luscious indeed."

A dark scowl formed on the Count's
face when he noticed that the detective's eyes remained riveted to a certain
spot behind him, and it was certainly not the fruit. Even greater was his
mortification when Albert dropped down to the ground and clutched his long
legs, left cheek pressed to his knees.

"Oh what have I done that I
should incur the wrath of the great Cavern King?" wailed the detective,
though he had a jester's mischievous grin on his lips. He could feel the older
man stiffen in his arms as his hands stroked up and down those shapely limbs
underneath his makeshift kilt. "Curse the day," he lamented
wretchedly, "that my beloved mother has passed on to me this miserable
craving for round fruits!" Reaching up, he cupped the nobleman's buttocks,
pinching and squeezing them fondly. "See! My hands have a mind of their
own!" Easing up, Albert's cheek encountered the Count's privates. "What
is this I feel against my face? Hefty pouches of grapes or chestnuts perhaps?
And this � scrumptious sausage, I think. If there is anything I love more than
round fruits, it is a good...old...sausage, thick...and...juicy!" With
each syllable, Albert rubbed against the Count's burgeoning member.

Unable to take more of that
obscenely sexual banter, the Count twisted to the side and snatched a
pomegranate from the counter. In blind fury, he smashed the fruit on Albert's
head. Before the detective could speak again, the nobleman thrust a bologna
inside his mouth.

"Choke on that, you
pervert!" the Count sneered at him. Seeing his sisters busting their
feminine bellies from laughing, he swatted them both on the rump with the flat
of his blade. "Be off with you, you little twits!"

Eugenie and Valentine shrieked in
fright and mirth as they fled from their brother's wrath.

Noting the suppressed giggles of
the villagers, the nobleman demanded, "WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?"

That menacing query did not bring
the desired effect, however, as the villagers were sent into gales of hearty
laughter. Face contorted in a grimace, the Count kicked the post of a small sweets stand. Its collapse produced a
domino effect that sent market stalls tumbling down one after the other. As the
coup de grace, the nobleman slashed through the rope securing the canopy above
their heads. The canopy billowed down, trapping sellers and marketers alike.

Seeing the figures trapped
underneath, the Count declared, "Let's see you get out of that one, fools!
HA HA HA!"

Before he turned to walk away,
firm brown orbs caught his mismatched eyes. No matter how hard he tried, he
couldn't break away from that steely gaze.

As Albert raised his chin, the
nobleman at last had a good look at the younger man. Handsome of face with a
proud nose, his sun-tanned features reminded the Count of the sea and space
farers of Catalonia. Deceptively slender with boyish good looks and bright blue
eyes, the nobleman had felt the strength in the sinews of the detective's arms
and in his callused hands that had earlier gripped him tight.

The Count wanted to roar at the
detective, challenge him to a duel, anything to save face. Judging from the
sternness in Albert's eyes, it was obvious that the man was daring him to do
so.

But his lips remained sealed. In
the end, the Count simply spun on his heels and stormed off after his sisters.

A triumphant grin quirked up
Albert's mouth as he looked at the departing figure. Indeed, the man would be
quite a prize to whoever catches him and tames him. That haughty glare held a
vulnerability to them, an existing ache that the detective could not define. It
was a challenge he could not resist. His father's murderer could wait. This
gorgeous nobleman could not.

Albert barely heard Franz plead,
"Albert, you must help us! We must free them from that monster!"

"You're our only hope,
Albert!" cried Maximilian in desperation.

Instead of answering them, the
detective began to walk off in the opposite direction.

A frown creased the two men's
brows when Albert broke out laughing, declaring to the village, "Round One
to Albert! Yes, oh yes! Round One to me!"

~~~~~~~~~~

"Edmond, I will not tolerate
your crass behavior any longer!" an enraged Louis Dantes roared at the
dining table. "Your sisters told me about your latest shenanigans in the
market! You're the son of a merchant ship's captain! My heir! You're supposed
to set a good example for everyone! If you destroy Paris, there won't be any
city left for you to lead! BLAH...BLAH...BLAH...YADDA...YADDA...YADDA..."

Louis's only child stuck his
tongue out spitefully at his traitorous younger siblings, who, in turn, sneered
back at him. Having perfected the art of letting his father's diatribe pass
through one ear and out the other, Edmond picked a fresh cabbage leaf from the
vegetable salad and placed it on the small silver platter he had set out for
his pet worm.

"Go on, Baptistin!" the
Scot prodded, nudging the worm with his finger. "Eat! Don't mind
him!" At this reassurance, Baptistin ate the leaf with gusto.

"If I didn't know better, I
would think you're Beelzebub himself," the beleaguered captain of the
Pharaon concluded, "possessing the body of my bonny son!"

"Now, now, Louis," their
visitor, Princess Haydee of Janina, chided him. "You know that's not true.
Gankutsuou is not a demon. Why, if it wasn't for him, Edmond would still be in
the Chateau d'If up to now! If he were a demon, we would never have been able
to take Edmond inside Father Luigi's Church. You saw for yourself the exorcism
didn't work."

"Aye, but he trashed the
Church and throttled Father Peppino! The poor priest had to be sent off to the
asylum in Avignon because of it!"

"Well, wouldn't you throttle
a man who tried to stick a branding iron to your bonny behind? If I were in
Edmond's place, I would do more than just throttle him. I'd stick that branding
iron to his rump myself!"

Louis waved a hand to his fianc�e.
"There! There's the problem! You pamper this ragamuffin, woman! That's why
he acts like the devil, he knows that his future mother will stand up for
him!"

Haydee got to her feet and whacked
her soon-to-be husband on the head with the soup ladle. "I will not have
you call my beautiful bairn a devil, Louis Dantes! Father Luigi told us about
the merging of Edmond and Gankutsuou into one distinct personality. Give him
time, husband. He just needs to adjust to his condition."

"That's telling him,
Haydee!" Edmond crowed in glee.

Louis leaned down and glared at
his son. "At last, the vagabond speaks!" His eyes fell upon the worm.
"What is this?"

"Father, this is Baptistin,
my new pet," the young Dantes introduced. "Baptistin, this noisy old
goat is my father!"

The irate ship captain raised his
beefy fists. Knowing what was about to happen next, everyone at the table
lifted their plates. Edmond even placed his little pet on his own plate as his
father's fists came banging down.

"I WILL NOT HAVE A MAGGOT
SUPPING AT MY TABLE!" Every word was accentuated by a load bang.

"There, there now,
Father!" said Edmond in mock concern, batting his eyelashes. "Your
heart! Remember what the doctor told you. You should always control your
temper."

Louis stared his son right in the
face. "You'll be the death of me, Edmond Dantes, the Count of Monte
Cristo!" As he paced around the room, the poor father began tearing his
hair out in frustration. "What am I to do? How am I going to rid myself of
this enormous thorn in my side?"

"That's going to be
difficult, Father. I fancy none of the girls in the village."

"That's because you're too
damned busy destroying Paris! Have you no pity for your sweet little sisters
who desire nothing more than to find a loving husband and raise children of
their own?"

Edmond glanced up at Eugenie and
Valentine, who gazed back at him pitifully. Spreading a large glob of butter on
his honeybun, he said firmly, "NO! And why did you agree to my suggestion
to take them in in the first place? Baron Danglars and Judge Gerard de
Villefort were bastards who got what they deserved!"

"Father!" cried
Valentine in despair.

The self-proclaimed nobleman
gestured emphatically with his bread knife. "Humans are such abominable
creatures, no matter the gender. Women, in one way or another, always break
your heart. Men, on the other hand, are far worse because all they care about
is fondling breasts and sticking their cocks up women's knickers."

"Edmond!" Haydee stared
in horror at her friend. And this hot-tempered gentleman was going to be her
future son? "What kind of language is that?"

"Well, it's true!"
Edmond argued. "Believe me, Haydee, I'm doing both of them a favor!"

Eugenie leaped to her feet.
"I don't need any favors from you! I want a man to stick his cock up my
knickers!"

"EUGENIE!" gasped Haydee
at the girl.

Her adoptive brother stood up as
well and slammed his hands on the tabletop. "Tough luck, sister! While I'm
still alive, I'll damned well make certain that neither of you gets married until
you're ash and brittle bone in the city graveyard!"

At this pronouncement, the two
women burst into tears and exited the dining room in a flurry of skirts.

"That's it!" Louis
muttered under his breath. "I've had enough out of you! I'll disown
you!"

"In case you've forgotten,
Father, I've talked to that shyster Baron Danglars and had Judge Villefort draw
up the documents. You cannot disown me. I have the papers to show that I will
inherit everything you own. Even if you do disown me, I'm the Count of Monte
Cristo, the Cavern King. Gankutsuou's vast riches are also my own."

"That may be so, but mark my
words, Edmond, I will see you leave this house and your sisters married,
so help me God!"

Edmond sneered at his father.
"And just how do you intend to do that?"

A wicked gleam shone in Louis's
eyes as the idea struck him. "Aye, I have the perfect solution indeed! I
will see you become, like your sisters, a little wife!"

Edmond stared incredulously at his
father. Then, he burst out laughing. "The wine has truly addled your wits!
Me? Your son? A WIFE?"

"True, so true! If no woman
meets your fancy, then I'll see you wedded off to a man!"

"The Church forbids it!"

"Father Luigi would be
willing to make an exception in your case. Even he agrees with me that a good
husband could bring you down to the lowly status of a wife. Maybe another man
will prove better at keeping you in line."

"Do you think I will allow
you to do that? No, Father! I will kill any man who would dare take me for his
wife!"

"It is out of your
hands!" Louis pointed in the direction of the manse's huge front doors.
"The first suitor who walks through those doors, asking for your hand,
shall claim you for his wife. And that's FINAL!"

A fierce snarl formed on Edmond's
face. "Let's see you try, Father! Let's see you try!" Saying this,
the younger Dantes snatched the breadbasket and his worm from the table. Before
he could storm off, he went back and grabbed the butter dish as well. Head
raised, with large, measured strides, the Count of Monte Cristo strode out of
the dining room, kicking the door close with a deafening bang.

Silence filled the dining hall.
Then, Haydee stood up as well, the displeasure obvious on her face.

"Haydee..." Louis began
hesitantly, knowing full well what this meant.

"I shall have the servants
lay a cot for you in the stables, Louis," was his fianc�e's curt reply.

The captain was crestfallen.
"Do not be heartless, woman!"

"Harrumph!" Haydee
snorted. "As if you were not heartless towards your own son!"

Saying this, the true head of the
Dantes household left the room in a huff.

Sinking to his knees, Louis raised
his hands to the ceiling and wailed, "Why, Lord? Why? What did I do to
deserve this?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Inside his room in the manse's
dark basement, Edmond Dantes sulked up a storm. The food he had swiped from the
dining room lay untouched, the butter melting away in its dish. Baptistin had
crawled up to the braided edge of the basket. Although without sight, the worm
could still sense his master's distress. Then, something wet fell on his head
and Baptistin toppled back onto the table.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my tiny
friend." Edmond hastily wiped the tears away and carefully lifted the worm
up between his fingers. Slowly, he stood up and laid Baptistin on the bed.
Feeling the soft sheets beneath him, the worm's head cocked up, startled.

"No, it's all right,
Baptistin," Edmond reassured him, brushing his finger over the black tuft
of bristles on the worm's head. "I don't sleep in my bed...well, certainly
not like I used to."

The nobleman closed his eyes and
lowered his head to the soft sheets. Though the covers were freshly washed and
pressed and the pillowcases new, he could still smell something � scents from a
not so distant past, scents that disturbed him and didn't want to be reminded
of. But then, having been cursed with a crystal clear memory that was a gift of
the entity that had possessed his body, he doubted if he could ever forget.

Edmond playfully slapped his hands
on the mattress, letting the worm jump in the air. As it landed on the sheets,
Baptistin wiggled about for a few seconds, before stopping to glare at his
master.

"You take the bed,
Baptistin," said the Count, laughing.

Whistling, Edmond went towards his
dresser and pulled out three thick quilts that he himself launders secretly,
and a fluffy goose down pillow he had bought from the market. He then laid out
the two quilts on the cold stone floor and placed the blanket and the pillow on
top of it. Standing beside the door of the dresser, he peeled off his shirt and
donned a sleeping gown. Edmond then removed his trousers, and put on a worn
pair of jerkins. After putting a few strokes of the brush to his glorious
waist-length mane, he settled down on the floor, pulling the blanket up to his
chin.

Gazing out the small window,
Edmond saw a comet streak across the face of the full moon. His lips set in a
firm line as he fought back the urge to cry, recalling the argument he had with
his father in the dining hall.

"It'll be a cold day in hell
before you see me married off to a man, Louis Dantes!" the nobleman swore
between gritted teeth as he drifted off to slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~
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The Taming of the Cavern King

THE TAMING OF THE CAVERN KING