Promise Me You'll Stay
(Insert the usual Disclaimer here)
Note: Just something I have been meaning to write. One-shot.
The night hung from the street lamps that dotted the occasional street. The wind used the empty streets to sing its eerie song as it rushed by. Winter had taken Paris by surprise and forced all indoors on Christmas Eve. All but one.
He stood in the shadows of the alley, blending in perfectly with his black clothing. His black hair was tied back, his weathered skin covered with a black scarf. In one gloved hand, his nightstick was hidden between his leg and the wall. In the other, a woman's locket. He knew what was inside, but he didn't dare open it. Too many horrible memories, all good but bitter to remember, were locked within. Their first meeting, their first kiss. Their first night of love and passion that were followed by others.
But she was gone. Taken from him by a thief. The thief was never caught but he could swear he had seen her on the street, selling her body to disease-infested sailors who hated love and loved simple things. He had been watching her from afar until he was sure. Now, on this night of nights, he was going to take her back. If she wasn't made ill from some terrible thing, he would love her again. If she were, he would show his love another way. He had seen what those illnesses did; he wanted no part of it.
A carriage passed, the sound waking him from his thoughts and he casually stepped out, swinging the nightstick as if he had nowhere to be and no intention to go anywhere. He watched the carriage slow to a halt and an elaborately dressed man climb out. Even from the distance, Javert could tell he was old. Underneath his black silk hat, he had grey-white hair and a brilliantly white moustache. Two other men climbed out of the carriage, both holding firearms. One man stepped up to the house and knocked on the door.
The door opened and a woman in a thin shawl stepped out. He recognized her at once. Jeanine Laurent. Brown hair, cut terribly short and a short skirt to reveal ankles to "customers". Even with her fall to evil, Javert still found her beautiful and prayed to the Lord to forgive him for still loving her. He ducked into the shadows again and watched the man and Jeanine speak. He could tell by her body language that she was being asked the impossible. She seemed flustered and unsure. The richly dressed back shook his head and waved his hand. To Javert's horror, the two armed men took Jeanine's arms and began dragging her to the carriage. Now or never. He thought as he stepped from the shadow and ran to his love's aid.
"Where are you taking my wife?" He said, pushing the armed men away. Jeanine, who was startled at the sudden appearance of the cop, slipped and fell into the icy road. Javert gently lifted her up and stared angrily at the two men who looked at the rich man. He was already in the carriage. The man leaned forward and looked at Javert with annoyance.
"Who are you?"
"Gaspard Laurent."
The man sneered. "You've been away from your wife too long. You should see what she does for a living."
"I am sure God saw what you were going to do to her. You are just as guilty, sir."
The man huffed. "God doesn't care. If he did care, he would give the poor bread to eat instead of having to steal it like heathens."
Javert shook away his own experiences with a certain thief and hardened his look. "Who are we to sit idly by and wait for something that is never going to happen? And again, who are you to take my wife?" He put a protective arm around Jeanine. "If I have forgiven her, I am sure the almighty God can forgive her as well."
The man gave another impatient huff and waved his guards into the carriage that soon drove out of sight leaving Javert and Jeanine looking curiously at each other.
She became suddenly angry and slapped him. "You disappeared for three year and then you randomly pop up one night saying you're my husband! You sicken me."
He smiled grimly. "Was I not faithful?"
Her anger, quickly spent, turned into unquellable sorrow. Tears began to overrun her cheeks. "I'm so sorry." She sobbed. He drew her in and slipped something in her hand.
She opened the locket and looked up at it confused.
"You gave it to me so I will never forget you. Well, as you can see, I didn't. I never went far, I always kept a watch on you. And I am very sorrowful that you didn't wait for me."
She looked at the ground. He put his hand under her chin. "Promise me you'll stay this time."
"Forever." And he kissed her. Notre Dame's bells chimed midnight and the beginning of a new day.