A/N: I do understand it's very lyrical at the moment. It's just the lyrics are so amazing and fit the story so well, they just seemed to fit into the introduction of my story. Some of my chapters will include lyrics from the musical, some won't. So anyway, for the next chapter (which is partly lyrical.)
Chapter Two: Beyond Rubies
"What?" Thenardier was dumbfounded a moment, before his nostrils flared with anger. Eponine flinched slightly. Madame Thenardier grabbed her husbands arm, whispering to him, "Wait until the customers are gone."
"Fuck that." Thenardier muttered, striding over to the old man and the boy.
"Yes?" The old man sounded tired.
"Do you have fifty francs for that meal?"
"Fifty francs? It's worth two!" Cried the old man in shock.
"Pay up!" Growled Thenardier.
"I'll give you ten, Monsieur. Now we are just going to leave." The man rose, placing the coins on the table before grabbing his grandson and pulling him away. Thenardier tried to follow, but he kept getting lost in people. People Eponine had tricked into blocking Thenardier's path.
Outside the inn, the old man scolded the boy. "I decide where we go from now on."
"But Grandpa, it so looked warm!"
"I've seen their kind before, Marius. They'll be warm in hell, they will." His Grandpa shook his head, glared at the inn and dragged Marius away.
Marius glanced back to the inn, catching the eye of the girl in the doorway. The one who'd helped them escape. He'd seen what she'd done.
He waved slightly. She just stared.
Cosette hummed to herself as she stumbled through the shadows of the woods. She shivered, half from cold and half from fear, as she bent over the stream to fill the bucket.
She didn't see the coin gleaming in the snow. She'd dropped it: the coin she'd been given by Mme. Thenardier to buy bread. Everyone had forgotten the coin.
Heaving the bucket with her bony arms, she headed back towards the inn.
Valjean walked through the woods, when he saw something move. As he emerged into a clearing, he heard a gasp and saw a flash of blonde hair disappearing behind a tree. All he could see in the clearing were small prints in the snow and a bucket full of water. He slowly walked around the tree, kneeling to a lower level to talk to the child he saw.
"Do not be afraid of me, come with me now, show me where you live! Tell me my child, what is your name?" He spoke gently.
The little girl studied him with bright blue eyes, before she replied. "I'm called Cosette."
Valjean picked up the bucket, and offered her his arm.
As they approached the inn, Cosette was giggling. However, when she heard cries of pain, she stopped short.
"'Ponine." She murmured in surprise.
Azelma sat in the doorway of the inn, trying to block out her sister's cries, when she saw the man approaching...with Cosette.
"Mama! Papa! There's a man with Cosette!"
Thenardier dropped the belt he'd been hitting Eponine with. He was slightly drunk and extremely angry he hadn't been able to rob the richest people who'd visited them. He hadn't taken it lightly when Azelma had pointed out that Eponine helped them slip out of the inn.
"Not a sound from you." He snapped at her. Eponine cried as scurried into a corner.
Thenardier was finished buckling his belt when a man appeared at the door, Cosette peering timidly out from behind him. Her moment of merriment had faded into her worried little face.
"And what can I do for you, Monsieur?" Thenardier's smile was more of a leer.
"I found this little girl trembling in the woods." Jean Valjean set the bucket down.
"Come here, Cosette. Where's the bread?" Madame Thenardier said.
"S-sorry, Mademoiselle. I forgot." Stammered Cosette, reluctantly walking over, glancing at Jean Valjean every now and then.
"Where's the money?" Madame Thenardier's false smile was fading. Cosette was afraid as she felt her pockets, which were empty.
"I dropped it!" Cosette whined in terror and ducked under a table. A hand grabbed her disappearing ankle. She grabbed onto something to try and hold on; to her surprise, she felt something warm and wet and there was a yelp.
She realised Eponine had been using her hiding place. She hadn't had the time to let go, so both girls were pulled out. As a fuming and slightly drunk Monsieur Thenardier glowered over the girls, Jean Valjean silently stepped over and helped both of them up.
"Is this what you're looking for?" Valjean held up a gold napoeleon. Both Thenardier's eyes lit up, in excitement and shock. Monsieur Thenardier took the coin and bit it greedily.
"These two girls must cost you a lot-cuts and bruises take money to heal." Valjean stated. "It must be hard for such humble people. So if you wanted them off your hands, I'll settle any debt that you think proper."
Both Thenardier's looked at eachother and whispered. Then, they turned back. "What to do? What to say? Shall you carry our treasures away?" Monsieur Thenardier said. "What a gem!" His hand reached out for Eponine, and he pulled her towards him. "What a pearl!" He did the same thing, pushing Cosette in a poorly-disguised rough manner towards Madame Thenardier.
"Beyond rubies are our little girls!" The woman joined in the charade.
"I do understand. Yet Cosette's mother is dead."
"Let's not haggle for darling Cosette!" Thenardier thought a moment after his wife gasped dramatically, whilst the meaning of the words slowly registered in his brain.
"Dear Fantine, gone to rest..." He paused again. "We've treated her child so well. Shared the bread, shared each bone. Treated her like she's one of our own!" Valjean looked at Cosette in her rags and Eponine in her silk dress, then looked back to the Thenardier's sceptically.
"Like our own, Monsieur!" Madame Thenardier encouraged, stroking Cosette's hair. Cosette squirmed, her eyes never leaving Valjean.
"Your feelings do you credit, Sir, Madame." Valjean nodded at them both. "I'll leave you a moment to discuss with your daughters. I'll be back in a moment." He walked outside as the Thenardier's and Cosette stared in silence.
Azelma was the first to speak. "It'll be costly to keep 'Ponine and the Lark here, Mama. 'Ponine may refuse more errands and the lark's mother can't pay you now. I'll do errands."
Eponine could not believe this. Her sister was trying to throw her out! The sister she'd defended and cared for-betraying her! Her parents were glowering at her. She'd been beaten by them. She'd had enough. Doing another thing she'd never done before but often seen street kids doing, she spat in Azelma's face.
"That settles it! Darling Azelma has a point! Let's get rid of both of these brats!" Madame Thenardier said, pulling Azelma in for a hug. Monsieur Thenardier poised to hit both Eponine and Cosette- Eponine for what she'd done and Cosette for the fun of it- but Madame Thenardier hissed, "No, he's coming back."
On cue, the door opened. The gentleman opened the door, with a bag on his shoulder. "Have you decided yet?" He put his hand in the bag on his shoulder, then placed a smaller bag of coins on the table. "Let us not talk of bargains or bones or greed. Now, may I say-we are agreed?"
Monsieur Thenardier oggled at the coins, most of which were napoleons, for once at a loss of words. However, Madame Thenardier knew bargains, and felt she should have more.
"That would quite fit the bill, if they hadn't so often been ill! Little dears, cost us dear. Medicines are expensive, M'sieur."
"No more words. Here's your price. Another bag of coins and two silver candlesticks."
Monsieur Thenardier was practically drooling.
"Take them both." Whispered Madame Thenardier.
"Come, Cosette and Eponine. Say goodbye. Let us seek out some friendlier sky!" He addressed the girls, who were pushed towards him. Eponine reached for her doll, but Azelma snatched it away, smirking. Valjean laid his hand gently on Eponine's shoulder as tears sprung to her eyes again and turned to her parents.
"Thank you both for Cosette and 'Ponine. It won't take you too long to forget." Valjean left the inn, with Cosette pulling a reluctant Eponine along behind him. Eponine glanced towards the inn sadly, pulling her arm away from Cosette, who was thrilled to be free.
"Will there be children and castles to see?" Her blue eyes glowed.
"Yes, Cosette, yes, it's true. There's a castle just waiting for you." He smiled and spun her around in the air. He set her down next to Eponine, and knelt in front of them both.
He reached into the bag, bringing out two dolls. The exact one from the window and one of a similar style. A slight light dawned in Eponine's eyes. Cosette gasped in delight.
"Will you be like a Papa to us?" Cosette took the doll that had been in the window.
"Yes, Cosette. I shall. Dear 'Ponine, don't be sad for too long-I'll never raise a hand to you. Your wounds will be treated soon. Where we go, I won't let anyone take your new doll." He placed the other doll in her arms.
"Merci, Monsieur." She smiled slightly. Valjean walked with both girls, before stopping a carriage to take them to Paris.
