Title: A Thoughtful and Gentle Farewell to an Unhappy Soul
Author: Camberleigh Fauconbridge
Rating: PG-13 / T
Pairings: Enjonine [Éponine/Enjolras], established Montponine [Éponine/Montparnasse], Mosette [Marius/Cosette], established Jolichetta [Musichetta/Joly]
Summary: We all know the June Rebellion of 1832 against the July Monarchy did not end well, by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps, if a revolution occurred in a twenty-first century Paris, things might turn out the same way— or perhaps very differently. Modern day AU. Éponine/Enjolras, Éponine/Montparnasse, Marius/Cosette.
Disclaimer: Les Misérables and its musical counterpart are the property of Victor Hugo, Cameron Mackintosh, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, Trevor Nunn, John Caird, all of the casts and all of the creative teams that have produced any production of Les Misérables.
Author's Note: I was listening to Les Misérables and reading "The High School of Notre Dame" by dochar ar bith ann (which you should read, by the way, it's absolutely fantastic), and this happened.
I think Les Misérables in a modern setting might actually work. For this, I will be focusing on the "younger generation": Marius, Éponine, Cosette, the Friends of the ABC, et cetera. I'm considering doing a "prequel" of sorts that focuses on Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, the Thénardiers, et cetera, but this will come first.
Three important notes that must be addressed before continuing:
1) if you has read any of my other Les Misérables fanfics, you know that I usually base my image of the characters off the 25th anniversary concert. For this piece, this is not the case, at all. This is not based off any cast of any production of Les Misérables, stage or film, because it would be taken that I am writing this as if the actors would really act this way. This is not the case. Good? Good.
2) as this is set in a modern Paris, I won't be mentioning any current leaders in the French government. This might upset some, but it will also anger others, so in the interest of confidentiality, there will be no real French governmental officials named in this piece.
3) no Marius/Éponine. I want to get that out there.
With that out of the way:
This won't be following the canon storyline, although there will be elements of it. There will also be an OOC character that will have a prominent part, as I realized as I was writing this that there was no antagonist. If you don't like OOCs, then please do not leave a harsh review.
I realize Montfermeil is, by now, a commune in Paris. For the sake of this piece, imagine it's a village just outside Paris like it was in the 1800s. I've been to Paris once, I've never been to the University of Paris, and have never been to the commune where Montfermeil is, so I'm not going to be quite accurate in that degree. Sorry.
Without further ado, here is A Thoughtful and Gentle Farewell to an Unhappy Soul.
Eponine lay motionless but just when Marius supposed her for ever asleep, she slowly opened her eyes and said to him with an accent the sweetness of which already seemed to come from another world: "And then, do you know, Monsieur Marius, I believe I was a little in love with you." She essayed to smile again and expired. Marius kept his promise. He kissed that forehead from which oozed an icy sweat. This was not infidelity to Cosette; it was a thoughtful and gentle farewell to an unhappy soul.
-Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Chapter One
In the village of Montfermeil, The Sergeant at Waterloo was one of those dingy, off-the-wayside restaurant-hotels that tourists and passersby generally avoided. You know the sort: dark, grimy, filled with cigarette smoke, covered in old neon signs advertising a lottery machine, and you can always expect the service to be lower than what you had originally thought.
This particular establishment was run by a married couple and their three children, along with minimum-wage staff. Times were tough; but even if they were not, you could guarantee M. and Mme. Thénardier (for that is the name of the devious and swindling couple) would extort you just the same.
Éponine was well aware of this, of course. It was hard to live in the same village for eighteen years and not know of her parents' not-quite-stellar reputation. She just tried to ignore it, and attempted to give the customers who came in for a sandwich or a drink or a room the best service she could.
She looked up from clearing off a dirty table, preparing to call out that she'd be there in a minute, monsieur (or madame) and would he (or she) wait a moment. But it wasn't a guest. It was her boyfriend of three years, Montparnasse.
Montparnasse wasn't his real name. He always maintained that Yves Laurent was stupid and girlish, and once he had visited the Montparnasse district in Paris... the rest was history, as they say. Although why he would like an artistic, bohemian-esque area of the capitol when he was only interested in cars, she didn't know.
Éponine abandoned her task and kissed Montparnasse, ignoring her mother's sharp reprimands to get back to work. When they broke apart, she thought to add a sheepish "hello".
"When will you be off work?" said Montparnasse.
"In an hour. Does the arboretum sound like a good place to meet up?" At the mention of a park devoted to flowers and trees, Montparnasse looked faintly disgusted but nodded anyway. Éponine smiled. "I know, I know. Thanks, 'Parnasse. I've got to get back to work. See you in an hour."
True to her word, an hour later the two were walking through a park filled with exotic and/or endangered trees and plants. When they reached the lake filled with swans (which did not make the lake romantic, only disgusting), Montparnasse asked, "Have you told your father yet?"
"No. I'm... waiting for the right time." But it was a feeble excuse, and they both knew it.
"'Ponine, you have to tell him sometime. Going off to Paris for university is not something to take lightly, you know."
"I know that, but— I'm the first one in my family to actually continue studying after secondary school, 'Parnasse. University isn't something they understand."
"Isn't that a really old-fashioned view?"
"You didn't go to university either, 'Parnasse."
"That's because I screwed around in lycée and blew off the entrance exams. I knew that I probably should have tried harder to get in, but there's not a degree in mechanics, is there? Seriously, 'Ponine, you need to tell them. You already applied, for God's sake. What if the acceptance packet comes in the mail and your father sees it before you've had a chance to explain?"
"Wish me luck, then," said Éponine.
"University?"
She had expected this reaction from her father, but it still hurt. "Yes, papa. University."
"But in Paris?"
"Well— yes."
"Why not one of the universities here in Montfermeil?"
"They— they don't offer what I want to study."
"And that is?"
Éponine flinched slightly at his tone. "French literature and Creative Writing. And maybe journalism."
"You want to study writing? My God, 'Ponine! Writers don't make any money!" Éponine could have named several— J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, Suzanne Collins (none of them French, but all of them women)— but her father wouldn't care.
"Papa, please. This is important to me. I've... already applied. To the University of Paris."
"Have you gone mad? The cost is enormous!"
"I've raised almost enough money for four years, papa."
"That's why you've been working so much," her father muttered. "'Ponine— no. You're not going. You're going to stay here and work in the restaurant. Your mother and I have done perfectly fine in life without going to university, and so will you."
"Papa, please—"
"I said no, 'Ponine!"
Before she could think about it, she threw out to her father, as he was leaving the room: "So you're just content to live some squalid little life here in the backwaters? There's nothing wrong with wanting to better myself and get out of this stupid village while I can! There's nothing wrong with a little ambition!"
"Enough, 'Ponine! You are not going to that university! Now shut up and get back to work!" Her father slammed the door behind him, forcefully, making it clear the discussion was over.
Éponine knew she making her case worse by not going back to work, by leaving the restaurant and sitting on a bench outside the building and trying very hard not to scream in frustration, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Her mother found her a little while later.
"'Ponine? What are you doing? You can't just leave in the middle of a job!"
"I just did, so there's no use discussing it, is there?"
"'Ponine—" Mme. Thénardier sighed and sat on the bench next to Éponine. "All right, what happened?"
"Papa is refusing to let me go to university. I have almost all the money and everything."
"Where is this university?"
"In Paris."
"Ah."
"Just—" Éponine didn't know how to say it. "Papa— you all, really— you're just... content to stay here and not do anything with your life. I can't do that. Going to the university in Paris means everything to me, maman. Please tell me youunderstand."
Her mother sighed again. "I don't, 'Ponine, because I've never had that drive that you have. And even if I had wanted to go to a university... you were born when I was very young, scarcely a year after your father and I married. I couldn't have gotten a degree with you to look after."
"But surely you don't want to see me to do nothing with my life."
"I'll talk to your father tonight and see what I can do," said her mother.
"Thank you, maman!" Éponine threw her arms around her mother and hugged her, grateful that at least somepeople understood.
"All right, all right. Get back to work, 'Ponine."
This time Éponine did not protest.
The words were muffled, but she could hear sentences here and there: "—should think about letting Éponine go to that university in Paris."
"And why should I do that?" —that was her father— "If she goes, it'll be one less pair of hands to help around here. And she wants the University of Paris. Don't you know how expensive that is?"
"She told me she has almost all the money raised."
"Still, I don't think she should go."
"Why?"
"She isn't exactly going to be sending money from Paris, is she?"
"Your only concern is the money? Not even that she shouldn't be moving to Paris where all manner of terrible things could happen to her? Just the money?"
There was no response from her father.
Her mother continued. "I really think she should go. Montparnasse lives there, he'll be leaving Montfermeil just when Éponine would start classes. He'll take care of her."
"I thought you didn't like him."
"I don't, but he's better than nothing."
Another pause from her father. Then:
"Whatever. If she wants to go, fine. I'm not paying for anything, though."
Éponine smiled, getting up from her place by her parents' door, and went to her room.