Gankutsuou Fan Fiction ❯ The Dollmaker ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )
Anime/Manga: Gankutsuou Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Hentai / Drama | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 12.05.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 358 | Status: Completed
THE DOLLMAKER
© December 6, 2005 By Rory V. Pascual
CHAPTER NINE
"Albert? Hey, Albert! Wake up, will you? And would you please wipe your nose and your mouth! You're embarrassing me in front of two important guests!"
Lifting his head from the pew he was lying on, Albert blinked drowsily to see the white tissue being waved at his face.
"Thanks," he mumbled as he dabbed at the drool at the corner of his mouth and then wiped the mucus from his nose with his shirtsleeve.
"Oh, man! You are so gross!"
"Shut your mouth, Franz!"
Albert stopped at once, realizing what he had just said. His eyes were as wide as platters as he beheld his late, lamented best friend grinning back at him. Standing behind Franz were two figures – a somber young man with a shock of shaggy white hair and a pretty girl who waved and greeted him with a snappy, "Yo!"
"Yes, it's me all right, you troublemaker," Franz confirmed. He gestured to his companions. "This is the Lord Shaper…"
"Just call me Dream," the starry-eyed man said.
Franz waved to the girl. "This is… Well, I think you know who she is."
For a moment, Albert stared at the trio in confusion, but when his eyes alighted upon Edmond's still figure lying in his blue rose-bedecked coffin, he knew in an instant their reason for being there. Quickly, he ran towards the coffin and shielded the crystalline corpse with his body.
"No, please don't take him away from me!" Albert cried, embracing the poor man's body tightly. "I haven't made amends to him yet for the cruel way I've treated him! I haven't told Edmond how sorry I am for hurting him!" Hearing his own words, he slumped against the coffin, bursting into bitter laughter. "What am I saying? How can I make it up to him when he's dead? That's why you're here to get him."
"Actually, no," Franz began. "The reason why we're here is to tell you that Edmond is still alive."
Albert only laughed harder at that answer. "This is one weird dream, isn't it? Just look at him. How can Edmond still be alive with his…body…like that?"
It was Death who offered a reply. "Spooky looking, isn't he? But, yes, he's still alive. Believe me."
"Just leave me alone. Wake me up. I don't care what you do. Just leave me be so I can mourn in peace."
The Lord of the Dreaming slowly approached the despondent figure. He lifted his hand and gave Albert a sharp smack on the face. Albert gasped to feel the contact of that angry palm upon his cheek.
"Is that real enough for you?" Dream pointed to Edmond lying in his coffin. "Take a damned good look at his heart."
Dazed and confused, Albert obeyed, leaning over to gaze at that red heart within its blue crystalline casing. He was dismayed to see it just a quiescent lump of flesh…until it made an imperceptible twitch. At first, Albert thought it was just his weary mind and eyes playing tricks on him. But when it beat a second time, he realized only then that his ghostly visitors were indeed telling him the truth. He turned at once to Franz, who nodded his head.
"Have you read the file that Ali sent you?" Franz inquired.
"Yes, but everything just went out of control and…" Albert admitted to his best friend. "It didn't make any sense to me. It's just a myth, a fairy tale – 'Pandora's Box'. And that other story…that legend from Janina."
"It is no myth, my friend. That story is real, and you have the proof of it inside that coffin."
"I…I don't understand…."
"The being you knew to be Gankutsuou is the same pitiful creature that was imprisoned inside that box, although that was not his name back then," it was Dream who patiently explained it to him. "When he was eventually released, he made good on his promise to free mankind of all the ills that had been unleashed upon them. To accomplish this, Gankutsuou found a mortal who shared his beliefs and who willingly shared his body with him. He then took into himself the darkness that existed inside men's hearts, making them clean once more. The cleansing was an addicting process for those who have been healed that they imprisoned Gankutsuou anew in a dark cave where only his acolytes knew were to find him. As his reputation as the 'Ruler of the Cavern' grew, so too did the sinners who came to be cleansed increased in number. But such an effort was not without its price. The darkness could get too overwhelming. If the mortal he shared his body with could not contain it, he would die, his flesh rotting away while Gankutsuou's spirit lived on, to wait for a new body to occupy. If the mortal was strong in heart and soul, they would metamorphose into this crystal form, cleansing itself of the darkness until it is pure again. Throughout this process, only his heart remained mortal."
"Monsieur Noirtier was right in that regard," Franz interrupted. "The only way to destroy Gankutsuou was to strike where he was most vulnerable, and that was his heart. However, such a fatal blow could not be given physically. We were mistaken in the weapon to use. So although the point of my sword was driven right into his heart, he did not die. We never counted on Gankutsuou and Edmond Dantes, the mortal whose body he eventually possessed, falling in love with you. It was this love that joined them permanently."
"Remember, Albert," Death reminded the stunned young man, "in the legend, aside from the creature's wish to save all humanity, he also wished to find someone to love, and he found it in you. Sadly enough, the desire for revenge that existed in Edmond's heart overshadowed the love they both had for you. I only have my younger sibling to blame for that. It goaded Edmond to pursue vengeance, despite the cost. I think you've heard about it from Edmond himself. It was the one who was tormenting you with unexplainable desires, the same being whom Edmond had thrown an ashtray at."
Albert's jaw dropped as he remembered that incident. "So Edmond was telling the truth."
"He never lied to you, Albert," Franz revealed. "With his precious dolls, Edmond had been making right all the wrongs that he had done to you, your family and your friends. But you were also consumed by anger and hatred to see the good that he has been doing."
"What must I do?" Albert pleaded with the three entities before him. "Tell me what I have to do to bring Edmond back to me."
Dream's eyes focused upon the Albert doll that was sitting on the pew. "Do the same thing that Edmond had done. Make a doll in his likeness."
"But…but I don't possess any magical powers like he and Gankutsuou have. I can't even sew a button."
"You don't need magic to make something that comes from your heart," Death said with a patient smile. "The love will do its magic for you."
"However, you have to make this doll in two days time." Dream reached out and touched the point between Albert's eyes. "Look at him, young Albert."
Whatever it was that the Lord of the Dreaming did to him, Albert could see pink tendrils and twinkling stars emanating from Edmond's body.
"That is his life force. He is giving up all his energy in order for mankind to have a fresh start. When his life force is exhausted, so too will his life end. My sister stalled the process by imprisoning his soul within its body. But for as long as he continues to expend his life force like this, he will die."
"Why would he choose to die?" asked Albert in bewilderment. "Don't tell me it's because of me? With the things I did to him, he could've moved on to love someone else. Lord only knows I am not worthy of his love."
"Unfortunately, his heart and soul has become bound to you," Franz explained. "Edmond and Gankutsuou made the decision to be…reborn…if you can call it that. He sought to start anew with you by erasing all those painful memories, but you have wounded his heart to the quick. Still, he could not move on, as you have said, because he will love no one else but you. Rather than continue living in grief and sorrow for a love that could never be, he had chosen to give the humanity he so cherished the opportunity to begin new lives all over again."
"If you truly love him, Albert, you must show him how much you care for him," Death said firmly. "No one else could awaken him from this slumber. It took great effort for me to contain his soul, because he was that determined to die. Give him a reason to live again."
To the young man's surprise, Dream got down on his knees before him. "I am begging you, Albert. Although it is unseemly for the Lord of the Dreaming to plead to a mere mortal, I ask you in great earnest to save Edmond Dantes. Same as you, I have failed him, but only you can deliver him from this final passage into eternity. Albert, please. Help him to live again, so that he may know the happiness that we were never able to give him."
Death was startled by Dream's words. She looked at Franz, but the boy only gave her a knowing smile.
With the preternatural gift of sight that the Dream King had given him, Albert gazed at the slumbering figure in the coffin and the bright pink aura that was being exuded from him.
"I'll do it," Albert said in firm determination. "I don't know how I could manage something so impossible, but I will do it. I will make Edmond a doll."
"Albert? Albert, wake up."
Albert's eyelids fluttered open to see Lucien smiling down at him.
So it was just a dream after all, Albert thought bitterly as he slowly sat up. He was hugging something and he saw that it was the doll that Edmond had made for him. Albert swallowed hard to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.
"Beauchamp and I got all the dolls that Edmond made from your attic," Lucien said, sitting down beside him. "We'll be distributing them to everyone for whom they were intended."
"Yes," Albert agreed with his friend. "Edmond would have wanted it that way."
The Chief Secretary handed the younger man a very familiar bag. "He retrieved this for you from their hideout."
Albert turned in the direction of the chapel door where Lucien had gestured. Standing hesitantly at the doorway was Benedetto.
"You probably won't agree with what I've done, but I was able to get a parole for Benedetto," Lucien revealed with great reluctance. "He was the one who helped us in apprehending the pirates. It was his phone call we traced. And he did care for Edmond while he was their hostage. I don't know what Edmond did to him, but Benedetto's different now, like he was cured of the madness that had afflicted him. You have no idea how devastated he was by what happened."
"Perhaps because he himself had experienced it. He had been buried alive by his own father when he was just a baby."
"Benedetto begged me to ask your permission if he could help you at this wake. You could say no if you don't want to…."
Albert made up his mind. Getting to his feet, he approached the blond who was hiding in the shadows. He could see a Benedetto doll waving to him from the rogue's coat pocket. Before Benedetto could say a single word, Albert took his hand and brought him to the small room where the refreshments and the dolls that Lucien had retrieved were kept.
As Benedetto looked at him quizzically, Albert simply said, "I would really appreciate your help, Benedetto. You're part of the Count's family after all. I'm sure this will make him very happy."
That answer made the rogue smile. "I believed that you would refuse. Thank you, Albert. This will give me the opportunity to make amends to those I had hurt in the past." Benedetto took Albert's right hand and gave it a firm squeeze. "Franz said that you need me here, that there's something very important that you have to do."
Albert shook his head in confusion. "Wha…what are you talking about?"
Benedetto pointed to the coffin. "Look over there."
"Oh my God!" Albert could barely stifle his gasp, seeing the pink aura that surrounded Edmond's form.
"Franz told me to remind you that you only have two days. Let me take care of your guests while you do what must be done."
"But…I don't know where to start."
Benedetto gave him a gentle shove. "Just go and get to work, will you?"
Albert trudged miserably back to the pew where Edmond's sewing kit sat. With a heavy sigh, he opened the bag, only to be surprised to find paper patterns for the doll's parts neatly folded inside. There was no question who made it for him.
Turning back to the grinning blond, Albert mouthed two words. "Thank you."
~~~~~~~~~~
The next two days was a flurry of activity as many came to pay their respects. Mercedes Herrera was the first to arrive at the chapel. After sharing tears with her son as well as the good news that his father's coffin had not been damaged in the construction accident, she assisted Benedetto in entertaining the guests. Haydee came afterwards, and she ordered Bertuccio, Baptistin and Ali to keep out any journalists and interlopers that escaped the inspection of Lucien's agents. Even Maximilien and Valentine came, together with Renaud and Peppo. Despite the sad occasion, everyone was cheered to hear that Valentine was with child after so many years and that Renaud and Peppo were soon to be married.
There were surprise visitors at the wake. Heloise Villefort and her son Edouard came. With tears in her eyes, she narrated to everyone who cared to listen how the Count of Monte Cristo had visited her in the asylum and healed her mind, allowing her to be reunited with her son. The biggest surprise was the arrival of Victoria Danglars, her daughter Eugenie, together with her fiancé Louis d'Armilly. At first, Albert stopped what he was doing to greet them, fearing that they might react negatively to Benedetto's presence. Emboldened by Albert's concern, however, Benedetto shyly approached his mother and sister, bearing two roses, which he gave to the two women.
Bowing to them in all humility, he said, "I wish to tell you that I am very sorry for all the terrible, shameful things that I did to you. You don't have to forgive me. It's enough that I have told you what's inside my heart, and my sworn oath that I will do no harm to anyone else ever again."
Although not expecting anything from his mother and sister, Benedetto got the forgiveness he longed for in the form of tear-filled embraces, and something greater.
Benedetto hurried towards Albert who was struggling to piece together the doll's arms. "Albert, I must tell you first. Mother and Eugenie told me that I won't be using the name 'Benedetto' any more. From now on, I'll be Andrea Danglars. I have a family now."
Albert beamed at the good news. "I am very happy for you, Andrea."
The blond gazed at their guests, each and every one of them holding a precious doll. "Edmond did what he had promised. He put everything back to right."
"What did you expect?" Albert smiled at his beloved who slumbered in his coffin. "The Count of Monte Cristo always makes good on his promises. Now, it's my turn to do the same for him."
Time ticked away after that. However, the more time passed, the more Albert's frustration grew at his lack of progress. His fingertips were swollen and dotted with bleeding pinpricks. The doll itself did not look anything like the Count, just a misshapen lump of textile and cotton. But Albert refused to give up. What he did not count on was the weakness of his mortal body. Grief, lack of sleep, exhaustion…all of it was taking its toll upon him. Soon, Albert was nodding off at his appointed duty.
It was Mercedes who first noticed her son, asleep, his head leaning against the bench's corner post. Smiling, she took the doll and finished the legs with neat, even stitches. She even made nice shoes for it. When Albert had jerked to wakefulness, he saw that the legs were already attached. His mind numb, he thought that he had done it. It never occurred to him that someone else had assisted him.
The next time that Albert dozed off, it was Haydee who found him. Picking up the doll, the Princess of Janina trimmed its torso until it was as lean as the man it was supposed to resemble. Again, when Albert awoke, he believed it was he who made the correction.
The hours passed, and the same thing happened over and over again. Lucien was the one who made the doll's arms, while his lover Beauchamp meticulously removed excess cotton and re-stuffed less bulkier wads inside its body. Valentine sewed the head, after seeing that it had a too broad forehead. Maximilien helped in finding the right color buttons for the doll's mismatched eyes. The brave captain even painstakingly made the doll's ebony locks with black and silver skein, brushing it to a fine lustrous mass with his comb. It was the Danglars who completed the doll's clothes, sewing the dark, flame-designed coat and trousers that the Count favored. Not to be forgotten was a top hat made from felt and cardboard. The gold cane was made from the scepter of a broken image of the Risen Christ that Benedetto had purloined. However, as the doll sat before the critical eyes of all, they realized that there was still something missing. It was Edouard Villefort who stumbled upon the answer – the doll did not have its trademark goatee. The child snipped a fine goatee from a slip of black velvet, which his mother Heloise sewed on the doll's chin.
Through it all, Albert was oblivious that his mother and dear friends had helped him to complete the doll.
Mercedes sat the charming toy on Albert's lap, smiling. "Give this doll to Edmond, my son, with all our love." At these last words, she and the others left Albert alone to retire for the night. Even Benedetto was asked by his mother to join them at their new estate.
With no one to wake him up, Albert slept on, blissfully unaware that his beloved's life energy was down to its last dregs. When the young man's eyes eventually opened, that last twinkling pink light winked away into nothingness.
Albert was delighted to see the completed doll grinning up at him. Rushing towards the slumbering figure in the coffin, he exclaimed, "Look, Edmond! I've finished it! Isn't he handsome? He looks just like…"
The words died from Albert's lips as he at last noticed the absence of the pink aura. "No, Edmond," he mumbled, shaking his head, as his tears of guilt streaked down his pale cheeks. "This isn't true! Don't tell me that I've failed you again!"
As he gazed down at the man he loved, the doll fell from his grasp, landing on top of Edmond's hand. He was horrified to hear something break, and then cracks began snaking across Edmond's face and hands.
"I'm sorry, Edmond!" Albert wept, bending down to kiss those cold lips one last time. "I am so sorry!"
The prospect of seeing his beloved Count's body disintegrating before his eyes was too heart-rending for him to endure. With a strangled sob, Albert fled from the chapel.
Unknown to him, a large chip of crystal had fallen away from the back of Edmond's right hand to reveal tanned skin underneath. An index finger moved and the crystal case covering the hand broke completely, allowing it to close around the doll. The love and wishes of everyone who had made this precious toy coursed up that hand, streaking through the crystal cover like jagged lightning, cracking it open like the shell of an egg. Soon, the body shone with a bright white light that was gradually replaced by that vibrant pink aura of life.
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