A/N: I was watching this movie the other day, and I couldn't help thinking how great it would be if some of the Les Mis characters were thrown in there instead! This isn't a one-shot, I'm going to continue it, don't worry! Haha, I had such a great time with my friend, we were assigning all sorts of characters... though I may have changed it around a bit!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Les Mis, nor do I down the story line of Swiss Family Robinson! (secrets out, kudos if you got it from my A/N!)
"GEET ON THERE, 'YA SCUM!" shouted Thenardier. Eponine nudged Azelma who hurried on board the boat, then grabbed Gavroche's hand and pulled him on with her. They followed their mother, who clobbered down the stairs, making the boat rock with each step they took. They reached the bottom of the boat, the poor section.
They squished in the back at their father's request to not be in front of anyone. Their mother walked first and anyone who got in her way bounced off of her. She was quite a plump one. When they got to the back of the boat, they sat on the last wooden bench, which had turned green from sea water splashing on it. Their mother took up most of the bench, so the three children were smushed together.
To give you more of an idea what their seats looked like, picture a middle sized boat with two floors. On the top floor was a closed-in cabin. The captain's room was in front of the seats in the cabin. The upstairs cabin could seat 20, maybe 30 people maximum. It had space for your feet in front of you, and there were life boats on the sides of the windows on the cabin.
Now, let us go downstairs. There are about 30 benches crowded into this small room, which has no windows and takes half an hour to load. Why half an hour? Because there are no assigned seats. You pay a coin or two to get on, then you push and shove until all the seats are filled. It never gets cleaned, and the benches were so close together that the Madame Thenardier had to pull her knees up to get in. Of course, the Thenardier children could just fit, with their malnourished, skinny legs.
The seat the Thenardiers had chosen, however, was possibly the worst seat in the entire boat. Since it was the very last row, the motor was ever so loud and constantly sprayed the family with water. The seat was sticky, (the two cleaning ladies hardly ever cleaned past the first row anyways) and the children were starting to feel stuck to it. Gavroche was the first to complain.
"I can't stand up! I'm stuck to the seat! Honest! Eww, is this gum?"
Back on the top floor of the boat, a young man by the name of Enjolras was taking a seat with another young man by the name of Marius. The seats on top were not overly expensive, they were just more than the Thenardiers could afford. Enjolras and Marius could afford them just fine.
Enjolras was looking out the window, already bored though they hadn't even departed yet, and Marius was blabbing on about how good it would be for Enjolras to take a vacation, and how the men would be fine back at home, et cetera! Enjolras, however, was not happy about taking a vacation just before the revolution. He had only gone because Marius would give him no peace until he went. (And you know how annoying Marius can be!)
Enjolras closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, in the hope that Marius would shut up. However, Marius did not shut up, so Enjolras had to resort to more desperate measures.
"Marius! Shut UP! If this truly is a vacation, I'd like to get some rest."
"Oh, alright!" was Marius's reply, his spirit obviously not dampened by Enjolras's remark. "When you wake up, I'll tell you all about this fish journal I've gotten us so we can record the types of fish we see!"
"Mmph." And Enjolras fell asleep, happy for some quiet.
Enjolras was later awakened by a loud crash of thunder, and rapid swaying and swirling of the boat. It seemed to not be under control. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked over at Marius, who was asleep and was raising his eyebrows up and down unconciously. Enjolras rolled his eyes.
He then stood up to see what other passengers made of this, but he was in shock when he saw there was none. What happened to them? He ran to the captain's room, but he found the captain missing also. Then he realized the lifeboats were gone too. They had left without them because they were sleeping?
"DAMN IT!" shouted Enjolras. The volume of his shout woke up Marius.
"Enjolras, turn it down!" he muttered. "And you were telling me to shut up..."
"No, Marius, you must get up now!" Enjolras shook Marius, who was trying to get back into his dream. "We're in a storm, and the people have left us!"
"What?" asked Marius, becoming suddenly alert. "What about the people downstairs?"
"I don't know, I haven't-" Enjolras was cut short by the boat hitting a rock and turning on its side to the left. Enjolras and Marius were thrown up against the window, their faces pressed hard against the glass. Some abandoned papers and luggage came to join them. Their view was unobstructed since the lifeboats had already been used.
While they were there, they saw the most horrible sight. People from the bottom deck were being thrown off the boat into the water. They had no seat belts or walls, so they were all sliding off the boat. Among them was a plump lady who flew over three kids, grabbing onto her husband's shoe. Her husband was holding onto his bench for his life, and her weight and his combined were obviously too much for him. He proceeded to try to jiggle his shoe off and get the woman to let go, but she held fast. His hands then let out, and both of them fell into the water.
Enjolras and Marius, looked at the three children left behind, perhaps the only ones left on the boat besides them. They had horrified faces for a moment, but then broke into a cheer as they knew they would never have to see their horrible parents again.
"Why didn't they fall too?" asked Enjolras, as the boat slowly started to right itself.
"I don't know," replied Marius. "They seem to be stuck to the bench. Is that...? No, it couldn't be...yes, it is, that's Eponine!" erupted Marius. "And that's her brother! I recognize him! And I remember Eponine telling me she had a younger sister, that must be her!"
Enjolras's eyebrow raised at the mention of Eponine. Everyone -except Marius- knew that she adored Marius.
"Well, come on, we have to go help them," said Enjolras. He started to walk. The boat seemed to be righting itself. He stole a quick look out the window. The boat would remain right side up from now on, but it was speared on a rock. It would never sail again.
By the time he had checked, Marius had already run down the stairs to see if that was really Eponine or he was just imagining it.
"Oh, Eponine!" said Marius. "I'm so sorry about your parents! Are you alright?"
"Of course we're alright!" said Eponine, with a surprising grin on her face. "We never liked them, they beat us. Petit-Gavroche was just about to run away, in fact!" Gavroche nodded in approval and confirmation. "Oh Marius, its lovely to see you, I didn't know you were on this boat!"
"E-excuse me, Monsieur...Marius, if that is your name...could you please help us up? We s-seem to be...well...erm...stuck." It was Azelma. She looked flustered, as she always was when she was talking to a man or someone she didn't know.
"Look at me, I can get up by myself!" bragged Gavroche. "They just can't do it because they're girls!" Gavroche stood up with a loud ripping sound. He turned around to see he was able to stand up, but at the expense of a pair of his pants. "Aww man!"
By that time, Enjolras had arrived downstairs, and he put an arm around Gavroche. Gavroche smiled up at him, knowing Enjolras from meetings of the revolutionary students. Behind them, Azelma blushed, realizing she didn't know anyone.
"Come on Gavroche, there are clothes in some of the luggage people left behind. We'll find something for you to wear, okay?" Gavroche nodded and went back upstairs with Enjolras, his ears turning slightly red.
