Disclaimer: I do NOT own Gravity Falls, Alex Hirsch does! And I do NOT own Les Miserables! That belongs to Victor Hugo and whoever created the musical version of it! I don't own anything!
Side Note: Every chapter, including this one, will include some special dates or hidden message(s), just like the original Gravity Falls show. You just have to look for them.
Gravity Falls, Oregon. Year: 1996.
Fantine couldn't believe she was doing this. She had come all the way from California just to bury that stupid book! Oh sure, she really wanted to see her cousin and best friends and tell them something that just needed to be put out in the air, but she manly came to put that damn book back where she found it all those years ago.
"You're nineteen years old, Fantine, you're allowed to do this kind of thing." Is what she told herself when she drove up here. But now that she was actually walking toward her cousin's apartment, she was scared about what would happen.
Maybe she should just turn back. I mean, would anyone really care? No, she had decided what to do with it, and she wanted to keep it! That is the thought that helped her find the courage to knock on the door.
It took about three knocks for someone to come to the door. And she was utterly relieved to find that her cousin had answered it.
"Fantine?"
"Javert!" Fantine smiled as she hugged her cousin. "I haven't seen you since Christmas! How are you?"
"I'm doing quite well, Fantine." Javert smiled at his cousin, the only one he smiled to. "Please, come in."
Fantine smiled at her older cousin and happily entered his apartment. Once she was seated in his living room he turned to face her. "So, Fantine, what brings you back to Gravity Falls?"
"Tell him the truth!"Her mind screamed at her. "But which one?" She countered back.
"What? I can't come back and visit my cousin and my best friends?" Fantine smiled on the outside, while on the inside she was mentally kicking herself. "How are Jean and Henri anyway?"
"Jean is doing well. He was even offered a job in California not too far from where you live. But he is still considering the offer." Javert said. Fantine smiled at the fact that her childhood friend might be moving closer to her. "And Henri… Well…"
"What did he do this time?" Fantine asked her cousin. She knew by now that they all should've been used to Henri's antics, but they never would be.
"Remember last New Year when I said that he set his and Elisabeth's house on fire?"
"She still mad at him for that, isn't she?"
"You could say that."
"So, what was his punishment, this time?"
"Kicked out of the house, cut off from his family… The usual."
"Why doesn't Elisabeth just file for a divorce?"
"She already did."
"What, really? When?"
"About two or three months ago. But he was the one who gained custody of his daughter, so she's been living with him."
"And where have they been living?"
"Unfortunately-" Javert sighed, but before he could finish, the door burst open.
"I'm in a bad mood, Javert! Don't talk to me!" Henri said bursting into the room, a scowl on his face, and a one-year-old baby girl in his arms. The cousins watched as the man enter the kitchen. Then Fantine smirked over at Javert. "In three, two, one-"
Henri appeared at the kitchen doorway, his eyes widened in surprise while the baby girl's arms just gurgled with her arms outstretched. "Fantine?"
"Hi!" Fantine smiled at her old friend.
"Fantine!" Henri shouted happily as he ran up to hug her. The baby in his arms started to whimper so he had to cut the hug short.
"Sorry Musichetta got caught in the moment!" Henri told the baby in his arms.
"Could I hold her? I haven't seen her since Christmas." Fantine asked Henri.
"Well…" Henri seemed to be contemplating something.
"Please?" Fantine asked sweetly. Then she widened her eyes pleadingly and added a trembling lip. If she knew her boys well, and she did, she knew that they were all suckers for her pout.
"Oh, alright!" Henri said, carefully handing Musichetta carefully over to Fantine.
"Hi 'Chetta! Remember me?" Fantine asked the baby girl. Immediately after she asked that question, Musichetta looked away, her short-attention span caught by something that the adults couldn't see. "Guess not!" Fantine laughed as she study the one-year-old in her arm. She had lightly-tanned skin, curls of red hair forming on her head, and big, round, brown eyes that reminded Fantine of a fortune-teller. Fantine could tell that she would turn plenty of heads when she was older, just like her mother.
"You look good with a kid, Fanny!" Henri smiled and nudged his friend.
"Please don't call me Fanny." Fantine warned her friend.
"That doesn't change the fact that you look good with a kid!" Henri told her. "Like a… Like a mom!"
"My cousin? A mother?" Javert asked Henri skeptically. "Maybe in a few more years, but she should at least get her career going, shouldn't she be starting college or at least her career?"
"If only you could hear the irony in your own words Javert…" Fantine thought sadly.
"Now that you two are done talking about my future," Fantine told them both. Both men shrunk back, knowing quite well what she could do to them if she were angry. "I'd like to propose a proposition."
"What kind of proposition?" Javert asked his cousin.
"Why don't we all-" Fantine was cut off by Musichetta giggling in the blonde's arm. "Yes, even you Musichetta. Why don't we all go to that one restaurant we all love and catch up? You know, like old times?"
"I suppose so," Javert shrugged.
"I've got nothing else to do and it's been awhile since I've taken 'Chetta out." Henri said, taking his daughter back from the blonde. "I'll call Jean and tell him."
"Amazing!" Fantine smiled before standing up. "Now, if you two will excuse me, I think I'm gonna go walk around the town. Maybe go for a walk in the woods."
Javert and Henri visibly tensed at the mention of the woods that surrounded the town.
"The-The woods?!" Henri choked out, his brown eyes the size of dinner plates.
"Fantine, are you sure?" Javert was on his feet, looking down at Fantine with concern. "We all know very well what resides in the Gravity Falls, Forest."
"Get off my back, Phillip!" Fantine glared at her cousin. Both Javert and Henri were taken back. Fantine rarely ever used Javert's first name unless she was either upset with him or she was deadly serious about something. "I'm just going for a simple walk! I won't even go that deep into the woods if it bothers you so much!"
Fantine didn't waist anymore time, she hurriedly walked out of her cousin's apartment, making sure to slam the door in the process. When she was out of the apartment, Javert and Henri exchanged glances. Fantine wasn't one for angry outburst, not unless she had good reason. For awhile, the only sounds in Javert's apartment was the thick silence and Musichetta's whimpers
~One hour later~
It was done. She buried it. It took Fantine awhile to find its original hiding spot, but she found it. And after about fifteen minutes, but after making sure that the old hiding place would be secure against everything, Fantine buried the book, closed it and locked it up tight, turned around, and ran.
She wanted to be done with that damn book! She wanted to be done with it and all of its knowledge. Of its fun, of its excitement, of its danger, and especially of its secrets.
Fantine remembered all too well what happen when she and her friends were kids. She remembered the day it happened, she remembered how it happened, and worst of all, Fantine remembered… Him...
She wanted it to be safe from him. He said he knew everything, but she and her friends knew that he was nothing without those books. She buried hers and she walked (ok, she ran) away from the book. She was done with that damn journal and she prayed to god that she would never see that journal ever again!
But the main reason she buried the book, she didn't want it to have to deal with the possible relapse of danger that the book had. He did say he would return to Gravity Falls one day. She hoped that one day meant one day when her and her friends and it have lived life and were long gone.
Fantine found herself in the town square. She didn't remember running in this direction. But then again, she didn't think much about anything once she buried the book.
"Fantine!" She heard a male voice shout at her from behind.
"Jean?" Fantine smiled as she turned around and saw the curly, auburn-haired man with soft brown eyes, and a bright, kind smile run up to her. "Jean!"
Fantine laughed when Jean Valjean picked her up and gave her the biggest hug she's ever received. "It's good to see you too, Jean!"
"What are you doing here?" Valjean asked once he set Fantine down. "Not that I don't like surprises, but it's still a surprise."
"I just came to… Well I-" Fantine was never able to speak proper English around Jean Valjean, not that he was that much better when he was around her half the time.
"If you don't want to tell me, it's fine." Valjean said, smiling down kindly at Fantine, who thankfully had notice that his ears turned a bright shade of pink when he hugged her. "I got Henri's call, and I would love to join you all for dinner. I've got a job to do, but I'll see you soon!"
He started to walk away, and just her luck, that's when she decided to tell him her news. "Jean, I'm pregnant!"
"Damn it!" Fantine mentally cursed herself as she watched Valjean turn back around to face her, his face the mere definition of the phrase: 'What did you just say?!'
"Pr-Pregnant?" Valjean asked. "Is it-"
"Yes, it's Félix's!" Fantine told him, she could feel the tears forming at her eyes. "But he's not going to be in this child's life! He's not going to be in my life…"
"Fantine," Valjean said softly as he brought Fantine into a hug. As much as it pained him, he knew how much Fantine loved Félix. "How far along are you?"
"Two months." Fantine sobbed into his chest. "I didn't find out until last week."
"That's why you came up here, to tell us in person." Valjean said as softly as he could.
"Yeah, that's why…" By her tone of voice, Valjean could tell that Fantine came back to Gravity Falls for another reason. He decided not to push it; she would tell him when she was ready. "Félix left me not to long after the baby was conceived."
"Are you going to be ok?"Valjean asked the blonde in his arms.
"I'm going to keep it, Jean." Fantine said looking up at him. "Even without its father, I want to give this baby a good life."
"You're a brave woman, Fantine." Valjean smiled down at the woman in his arms. But then, his face turned serious. "Does Javert know?"
"No!" Fantine said quickly. "And neither does Henri or your sister! So don't tell them until I do!"
"I won't, I promise!" The thing about Jean Valjean, when he promises something, he keeps that promise. Especially if that promise is to Fantine. "Are you sure your ok about this Félix thing?"
Fantine giggled. "Yeah, after he left me, I threw all of his stuff into the ocean!"
Now normally, Valjean would scold Fantine for doing this kind of thing out of anger. But, since her anger was directed toward Félix Tholomyés, he just laughed and pulled the blonde into another hug and said happily. "That's my girl!"
Pasadena, California. Nine Months Later. December 24, 1996.
Javert calmly yet quickly made his way toward his cousin's room. He and his friends had checked into a hotel when Fantine had called and told them that she was due any day. They had left Emily's three children and almost a two year old Musichetta with Emily's husband, Chase. Javert was currently praying for the poor man. He knew how wild Emily's children could get and Musichetta had recently taken up an interest in throwing whatever object she could get in her hand. And she had one hell of a good arm for a baby.
When he walked in, he saw Valjean sitting by Fantine's bedside, the both of them looking down at the baby wrapped in a little pink blanket, he saw Henri with the TV remote in his hand, flipping through channels idly, and he saw Valjean's older sister Emily standing by the window and looking out at the city at night.
Javert cleared his throat. Everyone looked up to see the police officer standing in the door. Emily smiled.
"Took you long enough, law-man." Emily said as she went up to hug the officer whom she hadn't seen since New Years.
"It's good to see you too, Emily." Javert nodded to the woman once she pulled away. He looked down at her baby bump that had started to form. "Who would've thought you would end up having four children one day."
"Oh please!" Emily rolled her eyes. "With Chase and the kids in the house, I'll have five children by Easter!"
Javert rolled his eyes and turned to see his cousin, looking beyond exhausted, smile up at him. Holding her little pink bundle close to her. "Come meet your god-daughter, Javert."
Javert nodded as he walked up to his cousin and friend. He looked down and saw a baby girl with large blue eyes and peach fuzz that looked like the start of blonde hair. "What's her name?"
"Cosette Nicole Javert." Fantine told him. A ghost of a smile appeared on Javert's face when he heard the baby's middle name.
"You named him after Uncle Nicholas." was all Javert said as he looked upon the infant Cosette.
"It was the least I could do," Fantine smiled sadly. "After what he did to Uncle Nicholas after all."
A moment of silence passed through everyone in the room as they all remembered… That day and what Nicholas Javert did for everyone and the town of Gravity Falls. But then, Fantine smiled up at him. "Do you wanna hold her?"
After living with Fantine for awhile, Javert learned which battles to pick with his cousin and which battles to neutralize before they even started. He realized that this was one of those battles. He nodded as Fantine handed him Cosette.
Cosette looked up at him and gurgled or whatever babies do when they're only a few hours old. Her tiny fingers somehow found Javert's and she wrapped her fingers around one of his. Javert, for once, actually smiled.
"Ha!" He heard Henri laugh quietly. "I told you all! If Javert smiles at Cosette, then we are all doomed to a life of being wrapped around her itty-bitty finger!"
"Just like we all were with her mother!" Emily teases them all, but she is looking at her younger brother. Javert thinks he can see Valjean blush slightly while he glares at his older sister, who just smirks.
Javert sent Henri a warning glance as he handed Cosette back to her mother. Everyone then continued on with what they were doing before Javert walked in. Henri went back to flipping through channels, he and Emily started to have a conversation about nothing in particular, and Valjean stayed by Fantine's side and smiled down at Cosette like she was his own child. Which Javert would've preferred to who was truly her father. It was truly a moment of peace and perfection.
But of course, all of these moments had to be ruined for them.
"I buried my book." Fantine's voice caught everyone's attention. Valjean looked at her with wide eyes and a slack-jaw, while Javert just starred at her.
"What?" Everyone chorused.
"I buried my book at the place I found it." Fantine told them. Then she glanced over at Javert. "And I think you two should do the same."
"What?"Emily asked, eyes widened.
"Oh my gosh," Henri gasped out, his face one of shock.
"Sweet Jesus." Was all Javert could say.
"How long ago did you bury it?" Valjean asked Fantine.
Fantine looked between her friends uncomfortably. "Well… Remember when I came back to Gravity Falls a few months ago to tell you that I was pregnant?"
"You buried it back then didn't you?" Javert asked.
"Bingo!" Fantine nodded at her cousin without even looking at him.
"Why would you bury it?" Emily finally regained her composure. "What would possess you to do that?!"
Fantine's normally bright blue eyes clouded to one of danger. Javert knew that very soon, all hell would soon break loose.
"I buried that damn journal because I didn't want Cosette to have to grow up and face the possible relapse of that journals' inevitable danger and his possible return!"
"That is a sentence with a lot of words at which I don't know the meaning of!" Henri said as he massaged his temple.
"How did you graduate?!" Emily asked Henri.
Javert rolled his eyes at the two before he narrowed his eyes at Fantine. "And why should we-" Javert gestured between him and Valjean. "Bury our books?"
Fantine looked at them as if they were doing the dumbest thing on Earth. "Because we know very well how dangerous those things could be, we know that he can't come back unless all of the books are unearthed, and answer me honestly when I ask: Have you even looked at that book since that day?"
Javert was right, all hell did break lose, not in the way most people would expect, but in Fantine's way. It probably didn't help their situation that she was A): Tired from giving birth a mere four hours ago and extra crabby. B): Her hormones were still all over the place. And C): Even though none of them would ever admit it, she was right.
"Fantine," Javert began. "We all know that those books are as dangerous in the ground as they are in our hands. But they're not as safe as they are!"
"He's right, Fantine." Valjean said. "If we bury our books, there is still the possibility that they will be discovered once again."
"And this time," Emily said. "The people who find them might not be so… "Friendly"."
This was it, the moment of truth. Fantine glanced over Javert's shoulder. "Henri, answer me honestly and think of Musichetta when you do, don't you think that these books should be buried?"
"The parent card, well played but sill low nonetheless, Fantine" Javert thought.
Henri's eyes widened. "Well, I think that… I think it depends on… I mean think about all the good times we… I plead the fourth!"
"It's plead the fifth." Emily told him.
"What she said!" Henri said pointing at her.
"Look," Javert and Valjean glanced back at Fantine. "I know, I'm putting a lot of pressure on you guys, but could you at least consider burying your journals? If not for me or Henri or Emily, but for Cosette and Musichetta?"
Javert and Valjean exchanged glances. They were both unsure about burying their journals, but for Fantine and Cosette, well, it's like Henri and Emily stated earlier, both of those men were wrapped around their fingers.
~A few hours later~
Javert shot straight up in the bed. "Damn it!" He thought.
Ever since he came back from the hospital, ever since he went to bed, Javert kept seeing him in his nightmares. He had seen him in his nightmares before. But this one was different.
Javert saw him, nothing out of his ordinary there, but he also saw a few other people. He saw a young, brown haired girl, an orange haired girl in a the most colorful sweater he had ever seen, a man with black hair and elfish ears, and a young blonde haired boy with a cheeky grin, and then Javert saw those four, the imagines of Fantine's old journal appeared beside the brown-haired girl.
He also saw a man with greasy black hair and a snake like smile and a young girl who looked exactly like Fantine when she was only seventeen years old, and then he saw his journal appear in between them, but it ended up going to the young blonde girl.
And finally, he saw a blonde haired young man with a scowl on his face and images of Valjean's journal appeared next to him. No other people, just this man and the journal.
Without thinking, Javert threw his covers off of him and then made his way over to his suitcase. He opened it quickly and right on top of his clothes, he found what he was looking for.
"I really hate it when she's right." Javert shook his head as he picked up the journal and his wallet and sat at the end of his bed.
While the journal looked normal, a burgundy background against a golden, six-fingered hand with a black 2 in the center, it contains all of his towns' greatest secrets. And its greatest dangers.
"And are you really worth it?" Javert asked the book in his hand. He set his wallet down and flipped through the pages of 2 without really looking for any page in particular. But finally, he landed on one page.
"February 26,
In my investigations of this town of Gravity Falls, I've made a shocking discovery. I've discovered that _ watches it daily! I've yet to discover if he is as trust-worthy as he claims to be. But I am looking into it, and if all goes well, I may finally have the information I so desperately need to unlock the mystery of Gravity Falls. Could _ really be the answer to all my problems?
Only time shall tell…"
Javert quickly closed 2 and set it aside. He hadn't realized it was one of his pages until he read it. He then glanced at his wallet. He opened it and picked out three separate pieces of paper.
These papers were photographs that he carried and treasured throughout his life. He looked at the first one. It was of him, Fantine, Valjean, Emily, and Henri back when Emily was still in college and the rest of them were still in high school. He thought back to those days fondly. Forget Scooby-Doo, he and his friends were the real Mystery Incorporated
He smiled at the picture. Fantine had her arms wrapped around Valjean's neck as she stood behind him, Emily was leaning between him and Henri, and Henri (being the loveable idiot he was and still is) had made a face just as the camera flashed.
The second one was of him, Fantine, and Valjean. Henri had found them all reading their respective journals at the same time and thought it was right to only capture the moment. He received the end of Fantine's annoyance shortly after.
The last one, the one Javert treasure most, it was a family picture of him, Fantine, and their Great-Uncle Nicholas. He and Javert shared the same, emotionless face but Fantine smiled brightly at the camera. It was one of the only pictures Javert had of his and Fantine's guardian.
Javert had made up his mind. "When I get back to Gravity Falls, I will bury this journal."
~Somewhere beyond our Earthly Realm~
He watched as Fantine buried her journal months ago, he watched as Javert buried his journal only days before New Years, and he watched on January 1st, 1997 Jean Valjean buried journal number 1 back where he found it.
"Do you really think that can stop me?!" He laughed as he watched them. Those three had buried their books because the wanted their little brats-what where their names, Musiaetta and Colette? Whatever!-to be safe from him. They thought that by burring those journals, that they would be safe. The idea was so hilarious to him; he couldn't resist laughing at it!
But they're forgetting, the old man buried those books long before them, and they found those books. And he knows, for a fact, that they will be unearthed again. They're forgetting that what their names aren't the only baby girls born into their world. The baby girl that he is watching intently was born August 24 of their year 1996.
"You think that buy burying those books that you can stop me from coming back?!" He laughed. It was like they were playing a game. But it was in fact he who was playing the game. But this was one game he was winning. He was winning their game; he was winning their game of reality. Their reality was a game to him
But he always did enjoy games…