V. I. T. R. I. O. L.

TAGGED BY ...   kidnapped it from @songinspire TAGGING ...   @clockswork  &&  @carvienne  &&  @copiesofme  &&  @gloryreign  &&  @maegtig​

❝ merci, monsieur. i don’t intend to be caught off guard again. ❞   she will not be attacked so easily, period; it’s embarrassing that she was so easily caught this time. scarlett doesn’t mind his offer of protection, however. perhaps she’s just craving the company of another human being.   ❝ i wouldn’t have wished the journey to be anything else, if i’m honest. i should hate to lead a completely safe, mundane life. ❞   she finds a lack of danger to be missing something. there’s a spark to threat that helps drive her.

❝ i could take it off your hands. ❞   there’s a note of excitement in scarlett’s voice that she doesn’t even attempt to hold back. the rosicrucian order is intrinsically linked with the history of alchemy, and she’s never excluded the possibility of its members playing a role in the concealment of the philosopher’s stone, which has become the focal point of her entire world. this man has no idea what kind of a treasure he’s inherited -- not a treasure with any true value in the modern world’s market, not in the way people value things today -- but a treasure to her.

❝ not to your country, no -- but it will be my first to your city. ❞   scarlett has had an unconventional life, an especially unconventional childhood, raised abroad on the hunt for something that most people no longer believe exists. her father considered paris an extremely dangerous place, and refused to let her go until they had no choice but to search the city for more clues. now, she’s here.   ❝ i have a friend in the city, though. my father’s friend. ❞

once the horse is within reach, scarlett’s fingers brush through her mane and trace down her neck as she moves to mount. she settles into the saddle properly when the musketeer mounts up behind her. in a very unladylike manner, she allows her skirts to bunch up, sitting astride the horse as opposed to side saddle.   ❝ how long have you lived in paris, monsieur aramis? ❞

❝ thank you, aramis. ❞   she can hardly contain her excitement. it’s been a very long road to reach paris, and that road has been littered with tragedy and danger. she can’t shake the feeling that her father should be here with her, since it was his journey to paris as a young man that sparked this quest... but she is resolved to finish this. whatever may come. scarlett wants to waste absolutely no time, and she moves to mount his horse, not waiting for him to offer a boost.

already, scarlett has decided she likes aramis: he’s to the point, and he’s adaptable. he hasn’t blinked twice at her mention of saving the world. he also hasn’t given her the usual ‘the mademoiselle must be mad’ stare, nor even a quizzical look.   ❝ s'il vous plaît, monsieur. perhaps if you have a moment when we arrive, you might be able to direct me to cimetière des innocents. i’m looking for a specific grave and i’ve come a very long way to find it. ❞

when her wrists are freed, scarlett rubs the red skin in relief. her fingers brush her pulse point before she tears her eyes away from her hands and looks back up at the musketeer.   ❝ i’m grateful you were here. you might have just saved the entire world as we know it. ❞   she staggers to her feet, needing a moment to get her balance back but determined to stop being such a damsel.   ❝ they, unwittingly, might have expedited my search. we are just outside paris, non? ❞

my personal solution: nicolas flamel, clearly, did not die. he constructed a secret chamber below his grave prior to the existence of the paris catacombs in which to hide the philosopher’s stone. in an early version of the script, it’s revealed that the dead man in the crypt (dubbed the ‘rose chamber’) directly before the stone’s room (dubbed the ‘alchemy chamber’) is the founder of the mysterious rosicrucian order, christian rosenkreuz -- an alchemist. i’ll theorize that flamel got involved with the rosicrucian order and the order involved itself in the construction of the catacombs in order to ensure they did not disturb the secret chamber, and to link the catacombs to the chamber with the clues & hidden door we see in the film. there was another, much more difficult to reach entrance to the chamber previously, that was essentially reoriented to be accessible via the catacombs to those savvy enough to decipher flamel’s clues.