This chapter is dedicated to AchillesMaiden and EponineJavert, for their kind reviews. Thank you so much!
I do not own, and never will own, Les Miserables. All I own Mizzie-wise is a Javert plushie, a long black coat, tall boots, some CDS and the book. *cries*
_________________________
Sergeant Reginald Prideux winced as Javert fixed him with a disgusted glare and stomped down the block. He didn't think he was being that obvious--well, except for when he dove behind that tree and knocked over a trash can. Oh, and when he accidentally tripped an old lady by stretching his legs out while sitting on a bench. But other than that he thought that he'd been very careful.
Apparently Javert didn't think so. And he let Prideux know with the scorching glowers he shot every time Prideux came into his sight. Regardless of the probable physical harm he was earning for himself, Prideux doggedly kept on Javert's trail.
Oddly enough, the next place Javert stopped happened to be a café of sorts. Prideux crinkled his eyebrows in mild confusion and hung around the outside of the building; by occasional peering through one of the windows he kept an eye on his quarry.
Javert wove deftly through the tables and sparse patrons within, making his way towards a small table in the corner. After seating himself he kept his coat and hat on, ignoring the curious glances from the patrons. Almost immediately a serving-girl went over and took his order (Prideux never got service that quickly, he must have something wrong with his technique). The girl left, returned almost immediately with a bottle of wine, and left again with Javert pouring the first glass down his throat.
Outside a chill wind blew, slicing through Prideux's coat; he shuddered and, after a moment's hesitation, slipped inside the café. It was only to warm up--if Javert thought that he was coming over for an interrogation it wouldn't be good, but his other choice was to stay outside in the icy wind.
"Or you could just go home."
Prideux jumped, glancing around wildly to see who spoke. No one was looking at him, except for…whoops. He turned with what might have been theatrical slowness if he hadn't had the honest dread covering on his face.
Javert fixed Prideux with an irritated stare, which the younger man was loathe to meet. "Come on, Sergeant, sit down," Javert said with false politeness. "I'm sure you're frozen to the core after trailing me all day."
Prideux shuffled over and sat down while trying to keep as far away from Javert as was polite. Of course, Javert couldn't resist a jab at his silly attempts at trailing, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing. The inspector seemed unconscious of Prideux's discomfort except for the sparking glint in his eye.
"So, Sergeant…"--Javert leaned back in a good show of relaxation while Prideux shifted awkwardly under that piercing gaze-- "what precisely is your sudden interest in my daily life? Surely you don't suspect me of double-crossing or shirking my duties."
Double-crossing? The thought never crossed Prideux's mind in the least, and he protested his innocence. As far as shirking--well, Javert was the hardest-working member of the Corps. No one would even think of blaming him for slacking.
"Ah, I see. So…what would your interest be, if not professional?" Javert poured another glass of wine and sipped it instead of pouring the alcohol down his throat in one gulp.
Prideux hesitated, glancing at Javert sidelong, trying to measure how he would react if he knew the real reasons were under that top hat. "Well…"
"Come, we are colleagues, after all." Javert abandoned his constraint and finished off the glass of wine in a single gulp.
Prideux relented, tossed all precaution to the wind, and leaned conspiratorially over the table. "I saw your ears earlier today."
A single flicker of startled alarm crossed Javert's unconcerned face; then it vanished so quickly that Prideux wondered if he had even seen it. "What of them?" Javert inquired, twirling the empty glass in his fingers; Prideux had to marvel at the self-constraint the man showed in not strangling him right then and there.
"Oh, nothing much," Prideux replied, attempting to mimic the relaxed air Javert held by leaning back and putting his hands behind his head. "They just look remarkably like horse ears, that's all."
Javert froze; Prideux wondered belatedly if he should start running. Fortunately Javert didn't seem inclined to leap for his throat (yet). Instead, he set down the empty glass and fixed Prideux with a serious gaze. "What else do you know?"
Prideux felt his eyebrows fly up his forehead. He didn't know anything substantial yet, and he was about to say so when the serving girl came back with a bowl of soup and some bread. Javert gave the girl miniscule acknowledgement and began automatically gulping down the food, all the while fixing Prideux with that scrutinizing look. "Well?"
"Well…um, I don't know anything else," Prideux stammered. "I've only been watching today."
Javert snorted. "Fine job of watching. I've not seen a more clumsy specimen in all my years on the work force."
Prideux flushed. "I don't have much opportunity to watch people," he grumbled. "I'll bet you had the same problems when you started trailing."
Javert shrugged. "I wouldn't know."
Prideux watched in irritation as Javert continued calmly shoveling down the soup and tucking in pieces of bread as he tore them from the loaf. He'd always known Javert to be elusive and irksome, but those traits seemed to be multiplied when the inspector was alone.
In the next twenty minutes, Prideux watched with incredulity as Javert managed to eat four bowls of soup, the rest of the bottle of wine, and two loaves of bread. And he even had room left for a strange-looking dessert sort of thing.
"Erm…" Prideux stood as Javert finished off the dessert-thing (he still wasn't quite sure what it was). "I guess I'll leave you with your appetite…sir…"
"Hmm," Javert said, waving him off. Prideux began edging away, but Javert held up a hand. "First, come with me." The phrase was spoken in such a commanding tone that Prideux froze where he stood; Javert paid for his substantial meal, then escorted his subordinate out the door.
Prideux followed stiffly, wondering what Javert had in mind. It wasn't until they had walked for nearly a block that the Inspector halted. "First, stop following me around. It gets rather annoying after a while. Second, while I don't want you following me I do want you to find out everything you can about animal and people combinations. Third, I'm putting this coat on your cleaning tab, because that coffee you splattered all over it refuses to come out."
At the first two Prideux nodded, agreeable enough, but the third made him pause and peruse Javert's coat. There didn't seem to be any stains on the coat (although there were burns aplenty). This was probably payback for been an irritating idiot--
"Go on, go home," Javert said, giving Prideux a shove. Prideux stumbled, but managed to stay on his feet--a minor miracle in itself, because the Inspector wasn't exactly a weakling. "Don't forget what I told you."
"Small chance of that," Prideux replied, shoving his hands into his pockets; as he leaned into the breeze that blustered through the streets he had to wonder about Javert's powers of reasoning. Those three unrelated requests…well, it wasn't his place to judge superiors. He would do as he was told.
--------------------------------
Another nightmare, another morning, another strange addition to Javert's already strange bodily additions. This time he awoke when a tail grew and tangled furiously with the sheets; once he untangled the mess and got his bearings, Javert felt mildly relieved. A tail wasn't quite as obvious as, say, horse ears. He had tried to sleep with said ears covered, but after being imprisoned for most of a twelve-hour period they protested vehemently with sharp pain. So they were left free and twitching at every little sound.
Actually, there seemed to be a mixed advantage to the ears, hateful though they were to look at: their funnel-shape snatched every sound for two blocks and sucked up said sound until he was on the verge of going crazy. Craziness aside, he managed to overhear three love sonnets and a plot for some gamins planning to break some street lamps. Idly he wondered what it would sound like in court if he would overhear a real plot: "And where were you on the night of such-and-such?" "I was lying awake in bed, Your Honor." Talk about awkward.
But back to the tail--the flesh and bone was about twelve inches long, with jet black hair extending another three feet or so, enough to drag on the ground. With a little twisting and turning he managed to put the hair into a thick braid (the easiest way to contain it) and placed it so that the hair ran down the back of a pant leg. It tickled the back of his leg, but not enough to be too distracting. With the long coat there was no way anyone could see it.
Javert eased his hat gently over the ears--thankfully they didn't hurt anymore, but the sensation was decidedly uncomfortable and every sound was muffled. It sounded like the world was speaking through cotton. Or silk, considering the hat's construction, but that was beside the point.
He exited his apartment and shuffled down the stairs to the first floor. Mme. Gillette had left for her morning ritual of breakfast at the bistro down the street, so she didn't accost him as he exited the building. Even though the woman aggravated the hell out of him, he kind of missed her greeting that day. Perhaps it had something to do with this crazy transformation--he seemed to be desiring human company. Or he could just be going insane.
The latter seemed more possible, given recent circumstances. But Javert didn't have much time to dwell upon the chances of going insane, because the sound of a person running some distance behind him caught his attention.
Sergeant Prideux was sprinting towards Javert, long legs stretched out to their full length in order to slap his feet down against the cobblestones with a wince-worthy smack. A long red scarf trailed behind him, his coat was open and flapping, and his uniform had most definitely not been ironed recently. All in all, it was a most unsatisfactory turnout, and Javert was about to say so when Prideux yelled (still from half a block away), "I found something about your ears!!"
Javert winced at the bellow echoing down the street. Fortunately the only people on the block didn't seem to notice the red-haired young man screaming his lungs out at Inspector Javert; all he could do at the moment was wait for Prideux to gallop up and screech to a halt.
"I found…something you might…find interesting…Inspector," Prideux wheezed, bending over and slapping his chest in an attempt to slow his exercise-induced panting.
"Yes, and now everyone else for two blocks knows that as well," Javert snapped. "What you need is a couple hundred lessons in nuance and subtleties."
"Erm…whatever you say," Prideux replied with infuriating happy-go-lucky-ism. After a few more moments of gasping cold air he captured his breath enough to explain himself. "As I was saying, I went to the library and was poking around for some information on your ears--"
"Good God, man, can't you keep your voice down?" Javert grumbled.
"Well, excuse me," Prideux replied. He looked around with an exaggerated cautionary air, shooting faux suspicious glances over his shoulders, and said in a stage whisper, "I found out that the only creature that is part human and part horse is a centaur."
"Is that all?"
"Pretty much, at this point. None of the pictures seemed very accurate, though: they were mostly disproportionate and had a whole horse section from the waist down."
"Did you come across any sections that dealt with someone actually turning into one?"
"Nope. According to mythology (that's where centaurs are most common) they're created magically." Prideux shrugged. "I'd take it for a bunch of hokey nonsense if you didn't have the ears."
Javert nearly told him of the tail, but caught himself. The tail was a very delicate subject at this point, irritating him to no end (in more ways than one) and he didn't see the need to let Prideux, still an annoying subordinate, to know about it. And anyway, why was he being so damned open with this man?
"I'll just be leaving now…" Prideux eased away upon seeing the beginnings of a glower on Javert's face. "You do realize if you keep making those kinds of faces it'll stick that way…" With that last parting shot Prideux took off down the street again.
_________________________
To be honest this isn't my favorite chapter, but oh well…please R&R!