Disclaimer:  Berusaiyu no Bara & all characters © ® All Rights Reserved Ikeda 
             Productions 1972-1973, Tokyo Movie   Shinsha Co. 1979-1980.
	     Except faux Oscar	


Part 3:  Who's the Impostor? 
by Aria (crune@coqui.net)




	"What's wrong Andre? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

	You have no idea, he thought. Out loud he simply said, "Sorry you 
just surprised me, that's all."

	The impostor shrugged. "Sorry," she said as Grandma led her to the 
dinning room. Unfortunately the servants ate separately and Andre saw no more
of her.

	"Grandma," he asked, "didn't Oscar leave early in the morning for the
Palace?"

	Grandma paused chewing her bread. "I think so. But she came back 
shortly after lunch.  Weren't you with her?"

	The words slipped easily out of his mouth. "She didn't want me to 
follow her."

	Grandma only frowned.

				***

	It wasn't easy, but he tried not to give away any of what he was 
feeling. All his anger and curiosity was aimed at the figure that sat on the 
chair opposite his in the sitting room. She was reading a book, completely 
engrossed by the look of it. Andre stared at her trying to find something 
that could give her away. Had he been less worried about the circumstances, 
he would have been amazed. The impostor was *exactly* like Oscar. She had the
same long blonde hair, the same blue eyes even her figure matched Oscar's.
Her behavior was also like Oscar's. The few times he had spoken to her, she 
had answered like Oscar usually did--straight to the point.

	In a sudden motion the impostor dropped the book.

	"Okay Andre, what is it?" she asked in annoyed tone exactly like 
Oscar's.

	"What is what?" he deliberately tried to irritate her.

	An odd expression crossed the impostor's face.
 
	She leaned forward. "I want to know the reason why you've been 
starring at me the entire time I was reading."

	She leaned back once more. "What? Do I have food on my face?" She 
brought her hand to her nose.

	"No," he waved his hand dismissively. He realized what had crossed 
the impostor's face some minutes ago-- a strange kind amusement. She had 
realized he knew about her and wanted to play with him.

	Fine, he thought.

	"I'm just curious about your day. Seeing as to how you refuse to let 
me come with you" He smiled inwardly, I know my role well, do you know yours?

	She gave him an irritated look Oscar would have probably given him.  
"Nothing happened."


	"Nothing happened?"

	"You heard me."

	"But...didn't you find a lead yesterday?" That has to throw her for a
loop, he thought.

	The amused look appeared on her face again. "I said no such thing."

	Andre paled.

	The impostor smiled, as if taunting him. "In fact, I think what I 
told you was that I had no leads at all."

	She must have been spying on us, Andre thought as he fought to regain
his composure.  He hadn't expected her to know so much.

	"I guess I got confused."

	The impostor nodded. "I did hear the latest developments, though."

	"And they are?"

	"That the Princess is saying that the intruder attempted to rape her."

	"That's not what I heard."

	"Oh?"

	"I just heard that it kissed her."

	The impostor waved a hand dismissively, "Raped, kissed--it doesn't 
matter to either the court or the King. Both just want the individual behind 
bars, possibly executed.  Not that the King would get involved directly, it's
enough of a scandal as it is."

	Have you heard anything else?"

	Andre shook his head. So it ends without either of us winning, he 
thought.

	"I think I'm going to bed," he said and turned to leave.

	"Andre," the impostor called him.

	"Yes?" he couldn't bring himself to call her 'Oscar'. Turning around,
he saw her stand up.

	"You neglected to tell me about the impostor in the prison who looks 
exactly like me". Her words hit him harder that any punch. "And you forgot to
tell me that you followed me the entire day", her eyes hardened, "like a 
baby-sitter.  However, sometime before noon you followed the wrong Oscar."

	She blinked. "Her performance was awfully convincing Andre, I think 
you fell for it."

	He was speechless.

	"So you did. That much is obvious. Oh well. I can't help but wonder 
how well my best friend knows me"; she made a choked sound.

	Oscar wouldn't cry...Andre looked at the woman closely. She wasn't 
crying--she was trying to contain her anger. The woman's face was red and she
was shaking.

	All of sudden, she turned to exit the room. She paused halfway 
through the door.

	"Don't follow me again, Andre. You only get in the way."

	The words hit him even harder than the previous ones. The girl shut 
the door gently behind her. Andre watched her leave and sat on the chair. He 
was thoroughly confused. That couldn't be Oscar...it couldn't be...

	But why did her words hurt so much?

				***

	Andre slept uneasily. In his mind the two conversations played 
continuously--when he stood outside Oscar's cell and just a couple hours 
before. He realized painfully that he didn't know which was the genuine Oscar.  
Could it be that the Oscar in prison was the impostor?  When had he gotten 
confused? He didn't recall seeing two Oscars.

	But Oscar had been acting oddly when she was taken prisoner, he 
thought the next morning, too detached.  Could that woman be the impostor?  
After all, the woman Andre had talked to the evening before acted just like 
Oscar.  It had to be her.

	"Have...," his voice faltered, "have you talked to the impostor?" He 
asked Oscar later that morning.

	She shook her head. "News came in this morning. She is going to be 
put on trial."

	"What would be the sentence?"

	Oscar's face was emotionless. "I think they'll give her the death 
sentence. She doesn't want to return the ring and besides..."

	She paused.

	"What?"

	"It seemed...unorthodox of the impostor to kiss Marie Antoinette."

	"What!"

	Oscar poured herself some orange juice. "Girls don't go around 
kissing other girls."

	Under other circumstances the remark would have been humorous, but 
neither Andre nor Oscar found any humor in it at the moment.

	"So they're executing her for being a thief and a pervert?"

	Oscar gave him an odd look. "Yes," she conceded. "Though I think that
they would go easy on her if she just gave back the ring."

	"She's adamant about it?"

	"Actually she's adamant about the fact that she's not guilty at all. 
She says that she's me."

	"What does the General have to say about all this?"

	Oscar shrugged. "Nothing. The matter is pretty much solved any way 
you look at it."

	She finished her orange juice and Andre asked, "So when's the trial?"

	"Noon. We were lucky the entire thing has been kept pretty much 
secret."

	"I'm going with you," he expected her to say no.

	She just looked at him and slowly nodded.

					***

	Andre was there when they brought the impostor out flanked by two 
guards.  Since he sat to the side, she didn't see him. The woman walked with 
a quiet dignity. As soon as she sat down she said indignantly, "What kind of 
trial is this?"  

	Andre had to agree with her, the trial was a farce--there was no 
defendant, no jury.  Either way, she'd be found guilty--which she was.  She 
wasn't on trial for stealing, but rather for the humiliation she had caused. 
After all, more that anything the stolen ring represented the guard's failure
to protect the Princess.  In some way that impostor had asserted that she had
more power than anyone else--the Princess' life had been in her hands. 

	That's when he realized that he had unconsciously come to a decision.
He had recognized *that* Oscar as the impostor.  Somehow the events of the 
night before had convinced him.

	The judge looked at her scornfully, "You've done enough damage as it 
is, the trial shall be kept within the fewest people possible."

	"But I'm not the impostor."

	The prosecutor came up to her.  His dark eyes flashing angrily "So 
you say, but we've talked to several of the servants of the Jarjayes--they 
say you arrived at noon to 'your' house."

	Anger flashed in her eyes. "Then it was the impostor, not me."

	"Please," the prosecutor said. "Why don't you spare yourself the 
trouble and tell us where the ring is."

	"I don't have it."

	"Then you'll be executed."

	The impostor tossed the words away. "And where is the *real* Oscar 
then?" she asked.

	Oscar neared the woman. "Here."

	The impostor looked at her closely and closed her eyes. "That's not 
me."

	He'd seen Oscar close her eyes that way countless times...

	"Have you asked her--questioned her?"

	"Of course," the prosecutor said snidely.

	"I'm sure," the woman said sarcastically.

	"Quiet! You're out of line."

	"But this isn't a trial!" the impostor yelled.

	"No you're right it isn't," the prosecutor told her, "because you 
don't deserve a trial. You should be grateful that we have allowed you this."

	"And what is 'this' anyway?"

	"Your chance to live. If you tell us where the ring is, we'll simply 
give you a life sentence, if you don't you are executed by the same person 
whose name and honor you tried to stain," he leaned forward, "This mockery of
the loyal servants to the King will not be tolerated.  You are to be an 
example!"

	The impostor looked at Oscar. There was no fear in her eyes, just 
surprise.

	"But she's not me"; the woman said calmly starring quietly at Oscar.

	//I'm not doing this for anyone else//

	The so-called impostor's words were delivered in the same tone: Oscar
stating a simple fact. That same tone.

	It came back to him suddenly, the flashes of foreign emotion in 'Oscar
's' face the night before--that odd kind of amusement.  The taunting...it had
been a complicated game of cat-and-mouse with a cunning adversary who had 
obviously been observing them for some time! How could he have been so blind?
He had been right the day before-- the Oscar that was free was the *wrong 
one*.  He had to stop the trial.

	"She's right!" he said, standing up.

	The prosecutor glared at him. "Who are you?"

	"I'm Andre Grandier, I've known Oscar since childhood and that," he 
pointed to the woman that was standing,"is not her,"

	For a second panic invaded the woman's face. She knows it too! He 
thought with satisfaction. The expression faded too soon.

	"I can't have her getting into my personal affairs anymore," she 
said, "she's even alienating my friends."

	The prosecutor smiled at her and the judge said, "It is at your 
discretion then, Oscar Francois de Jarjayes, the details of the execution. 
The case is closed."

	The true impostor nodded.

	"No!" he yelled, "that's not her!" Guards were leading Oscar away.  
She walked with them out as she had before--without resisting.

	He wanted to run to her, but was stopped by some guards who held him 
down. He could only thrash frantically as the impostor followed, trying to 
find a way to save Oscar.  People began to walk out.

	After a few minutes a solitary shot was fired.

	The impostor walked out a minute later and said in an impossibly 
aloof voice, "It's done. She tried to get away. I had to use a gun".

	Andre's denial was tightly locked in his throat. The sound of the 
shot kept replaying itself in his mind. Then something inside him gave away 
and his world went black and only one thought remained:

	I didn't even have one last look at her.

to be continued...
END part 3


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