Disclaimer: I do not own Les Miserables, which makes me *les miserables*.
A/N: Hi there! This is my second Les Mis fic, and my first that focuses on Valjean and Javert. I really love these two characters, and I wanted to take a deeper look at the scenes relating to their interactions at the barricade and from there on. It will be a multi-chapter story. I hope you enjoy! Please leave me a review and let me know what you would like to see.
The streets are dark tonight. I can feel the tension mounting around me as I walk- the very air seems to grow thicker. It is cool. I pull the uniform tighter around myself and try to ignore the quiet, and the lingering scent of factory smoke that follows me through the city. I hope that was not a gunshot I heard in the distance.
Almost there. I'm close enough to the Rue de Villette to see the barricade a few corners over. I have to remind myself why I'm here in the first place. This is a battlefield, and I am long past my prime. But I must go for her. Dearest Cosette- she is no longer mine. She will always be my daughter, but it is time for her to play another role, and to pursue another type of love; she has found it with this young man. This I cannot deny her. She is the sun in my dark hours- those nights where I think I see the faces of the past in the shadows. If I can help her to be happy...if I can give my life to make her happy, I will do it. There will be no hesitation.
Now I have that chance. I turn towards the final street between the students and I. If I can aid this boy, this Marius, and see him home safe to Cosette...It is my duty. I am bound by what is right. Long ago I would have scoffed at such an idea, but times have changed. I know the meaning of mercy now. Kindness was shown to me in my time of suffering, and I will repay it. I can hardly call my raising Cosette for her mother that payment- it was a gift. Perhaps now I shall pay back this debt.
Calmly, I approach the barricade, and I can hear the young defenders exclaiming my appearance. I hold myself with as little cause for suspicion as I can manage when I announce,
"I come here as a volunteer."