Across the Divide

After the door was closed behind Valjean, Javert faced the girl. She still had her back to him, eyes at something outside the window, the sky maybe. But Javert knew the sky was not what she was seeing. In her eyes was something else. Something he remembered only too well.

"I know what you´re saying." he spoke, feeling as if someone else was speaking through him. "I´ve seen the same void. I know it´s depth. It´s darkness."

Finally she moved, turning back around to him, startled, as if his voice had come to her from a strange place. Something she hadn´t expected to hear in the place she was in. Tears were collecting in her eyes. God, she was so confused, even cold separated Javert could see that.

"I know its sight." he repeated. "And I know it is calling you. It tells you that joining the darkness would end this pain. This suffering … I heard that voice too."

He watched her reaction, so desperate, and the words just came out of him, as if it wasn´t him who spoke. As if he didn´t have any control about his words at all. Now that her father was gone, he could speak freely at last, the last restraint gone. And the flood came pouring, almost devastatingly, from him, who had never shown to anyone what was really hidden inside, behind this mask of stone and righteousness.

He said: "But this call is deception. You mustn´t listen to it. Whatever you might think right now, whatever makes you so desperate to turn to this voice, you must know that this is the way of the devil. To lure us into his realm. You must never fall for that. You might not see the light right now, but I assure you it is there."

It felt strange. As if he wasn´t even inside his own body, when he looked at her. And she just stared at him, so mesmerized, and yet so defiantly.

"How do you know all this?" her voice was barely a whisper. "How do you know?"

And Javert realized that her question was no question. It was a demand. Give me a reason to believe you, it said. Give me a reason to even listen to what you have to say. What do you think you know, inspector?

"I know." he said, swore. "I´ve been there. … I- … I stood on the same edge, just like you do, right now."

Cosette glanced sideways, at the window in her back, just for a fleeting second.

"I was in the dark, and I saw no way out of it." Javert kept talking and she just stared at him, tears finally rolling down her cheeks, while the rest of her face remained unmoved, yet so painful, it hurt to see it.

"This darkness is in all of us." this voice that came from deep inside him, spoke. "It can find us, if we don´t watch out. You got pushed into it, and that shouldn´t have happened. I am deeply sorry for my part in this." He held out his hand, the same way someone else had once held out a hand for him. "Can you forgive me?"

The scarcely contained pain in her face finally broke free. "Forgive you?" she cried as if he were crazy. "I was the one who almost killed you."

Javert surprised himself, when he chuckled quietly at this. "It takes a lot more than that to kill me." he told her. "Mademoiselle. Don´t take that personal but … you´re not the best marksman in the world." He pointed at his shoulder, still bandaged, holding the sling. The place you wanted to get hit if you wanted to survive. Anyone else would have aimed deeper, closer to the heart. She hadn´t. He doubted that she´d aimed at all. "To be honest." he said. "I´m surprised you hit me at all."

For a moment she only stared at him, and her face had never looked more like a child than in this moment. And then she finally broke into laughter, startled, but grateful. It still sounded like sobs.

"I´m so sorry." she managed at last, between those sobs.

"Don´t be." he dared to take a step closer. "You tried to protect your father. And you were right to do so." he looked down on her, and allowed himself a tiny smirk. "I guess we both know he has a tendency to get himself into trouble, he can´t get out of on his own. Hasn´t he?"

And once again Cosette laughed out, sniffling. "Yes." she nodded. "Yes, he has."

Javert was satisfied with this reaction. "It´s a good thing he has you to look out for him then." he had chosen his words carefully. But not carefully enough as it seemed. Because all the sudden the suicidal girl was looking up at him, eyes totally serious. She seemed composed again, her tears forgotten. At least for now.

"And you." she said, making him frown, startled.

"What?"

"He also has you now." There was a hard edge in her tone, but the meaning was still unmistakable. Javert shook his head.

"N – no, I …"

"Yes." he voice was firm, and her gaze … her gaze was so fast on him, he almost felt the urge to back off. "I know who you are." she told him. "Don´t think I wouldn´t know." She shook her head regarding him closely. "You´re not as much of a demon as I used to believe." she found, her voice soft as a distant thunder. But then she lowered her eyes, and the softness was gone again. "But I know who you are." she repeated. "And what you did. To my mother. And him."

Javert felt how he tensed under those accusing eyes. And then, yet again, her gaze softened, along with her voice.

"But you´re here." she said, stating a mere fact. "Against all odds." And after a moment of contemplation: "Maybe something wanted you to be here."

She didn´t say: Not me, but something higher, a greater power that I can´t argue with.

And of course Javert heard it anyway, even in her silent stare. He knew. Of course he knew. And keeping his composure was not easy. Still he managed it. Somehow. He had to bring this to a good end.

After another moment he eventually could bring himself to reach out, and take her hand, firmly.

He said: "And the same something wants you to stay in this world, Mademoiselle. There are people waiting for you. A fiance that is worried sick. A father that doesn´t know what to do with himself if it wasn´t for you. You can´t leave them behind like this. They´d be useless without you."

Cosette regarded him, silently for a moment, smiling ruefully, and he nodded at her.

"Sometimes," he said. "… staying alive and facing the battle is the braver decision … than to just lie down and die."

And in this moment he knew who had been talking through him all this time.

...

Marius did not know what had happened at Cosette´s place. Neither did he know that someone was already talking to her, or why. Coming here had not been his idea. His grandfather had taken him, in his carriage, insisting that he´d try to talk to his young fiance. That only trying and trying again could finally lead to the goal. And Marius, too weak in his heart to put up a fight, had come along, not really daring to hope for much.

The more did his heart leap, when he saw the other fiacre before the house, and Cosette´s father waiting there. Just as his grandfather´s carriage pulled up beside it, Cosette exited the house, led by no other than the man she´d feared and hated ever since this whole thing had started.

Marius could not believe his eyes. His love seemed content with this man´s presence all the sudden.

She met her father, hugging him, and his smile was so grateful, so relieved that Marius could only begin to guess what must have happened before they came here. Monsieur Fauchelevant embraced Cosette, as if afraid to ever let her go again, speaking never ending thanks to the man who only stood beside them, watching like a bystander. And when at last he broke the hug, to look into his daughter´s eyes, something was between them, something unspoken, but yet so strong and grateful that even the guards standing aside the scene, must be able to feel it.

Marius jumped out, onto the street, and Cosette´s eyes found him. The tears he saw were finally not made of sorrow anymore. But of happiness. Happiness to see him here. And the joy he felt when he realized this, was not to be compared to anything in the world.

He didn´t know what had happened, what had made this miracle possible. All he cared about was Cosette, and this warm embrace when she finally, finally fell into his arms again. Something he had barely dared to hope for, anymore.

...

The room was eerily silent. It lay in darker shadows than Javert would have ever believed it possible. Even darker than when he´d been here the first time, at night, his mind way darker than every shadow could have been. But in that night Marianne had been there, still so alive and her spirit had lit the room. Somehow she had been able to enlighten even the darkest night, with her beautiful mind. And just thinking of that now, in this eery silence of her place, was hurting him. Deep inside.

The blood had been washed away. The place was open to be rented anew. A vegetable store was supposed to open here soon. Life would go on. The world would keep turning. Even without her.

Marianne.

As if she´d never been. A shadow fleeting across a surface, so quick you could miss it in the wink of an eye. But Javert had seen her. She had been there. She´d been real. Not a shadow, but a light, drowned within shadows, too powerful for her. And maybe he had been only one of them.

Yeah, maybe he´d been part of this darkness that had swallowed her. But if he had been she hadn´t blamed him. She still didn´t. He could feel that, as if she was still here, so close, that if he reached out a hand now, he would be able to touch her.

Marianne.

He would always remember her. No matter how much time went by. The angel that had lived on earth, only for a while. Just long enough to save his pitiful life, and show him the way out of darkness.

Marianne.

A name like any other. But not to him. Not to him.

He didn´t even realize that he had raised his hand, as if he really intended to touch something – something that was invisible before him – until the footsteps behind him brought him back to reality. He didn´t need to look at Valjean. He knew what he would see in his face. And maybe that was the reason why he couldn´t turn around to him, knowing that he would lose control after all, if he´d allow this man to touch his soul. Now from all the times in the world.

"Can …" he had to clear his throat before he could speak clearly. "Can your lawyer find out where her sister lives now?" he asked, and his voice was far less steady than he wanted it to be. "I´d like to tell them what happened to her personally."

"Of course." Valjean´s own voice was hoarse, as if he´d been the one who knew Marianne before she died. He stepped closer and finally Javert managed it to turn around and face him.

There was something unspoken between them. A form of understanding that Javert had no name for. He doubted that Valjean knew how to call it.

"You know what she told me?" he broke the silence. "That nothing happens without a reason." A new pain threatened to clutch his heart, and he shook his head. "But I see no reason. Not even now."

"You´re alive." Valjean objected. "You live to see another day. And make the world a better place because of it."

Javert could only laugh about this. "Yeah, sure."

"Maybe that is the reason." Valjean insisted. "Don´t you think that this is possible? That Marianne could have been right? You already saved Cosette from her dark mind. The Javert you were ten years ago, wouldn´t have done that. Maybe you were forced through all of this, forced to stay alive even, to make up for the things you regret to have done." He halted for a second, before he added, more quietly: "Maybe we both were."

It was this last thing that made Javert frown, more than anything else. "You don´t have anything to regret." he stated, matter of factly, but Valjean shook his head.

"I do. So many things. I´m not a saint, Javert. I´m just a man. And I have done many things wrong. I wish to make up for it."

There was a confession hidden in there, somewhere, Javert knew that. And even though he wasn´t sure what kind of confession, those words alone gave him new hope. Maybe Valjean knew … what he didn´t know.

"How do you want to do that?" he asked, praying for an answer. Maybe if he told him, he finally would know how to do this. How to make up for his sins. If anyone would know, it was Valjean.

But once again Valjean shook his head, helplessly "I don´t know." he took a breath, not noticing Javert´s disappointment. "But I will try."

Javert looked into those eyes, so worn by the labors of life but yet so confident in the future. He looked at the sling that still held Valjean´s arm, so similar to his own – God, was it coincidence that their shot wounds matched almost perfectly? – and somehow he could see the hope this man held, for himself and the people around him, all in this one glimpse. In the way he stood, the way he smiled. And regarding him now, Javert could hear Marianne again, her voice sounding to him across the divide: As if she was calling for him, even now, from out of the grave.

Sometimes staying alive and keeping up the fight is the braver decision, inspector. It takes a lot more than to just lay down and die. A lot more.

He closed his eyes only for a second, to keep control over himself, at the sound of this voice.

"Maybe you´re right." he managed at last. "24601."

He had never spoken those numbers the way he did it now, and even while he spoke them, he didn´t know for sure what his own tone truly meant. But Valjean seemed to know.

"Maybe we both still have a chance after all." Javert nodded. "Even now."

And facing the silent smile in his old foe´s face, Javert did something he´d never done with anyone, not with equals and not with subordinates, as far as he could remember. He offered Valjean his hand.

The other man frowned, looking down on it, staring into his face as if he wasn´t sure what the gesture meant. And for a moment it looked as if he would not want to take it. Not ever. As if he was frozen by his own shock, forevermore.

Javert rolled his eyes. "Oh, Christ. Come on now, Valjean. I can´t hold it out for that long."

Valjean flinched, only for a second. He didn´l look at the sling that held Javert´s arm. His eyes never left his. And Javert could see the change happen, from startled, to disbelieve, to amused, until at last he broke into a heartfelt smile.

When their hands finally touched it was as if a lifelong spell had been broken. And no matter how ridiculous this thought might be, in this moment Javert just knew that somewhere above them, Marianne was at peace now. For now her mission was complete at last.

...

If that was something to be grateful for, it was at least to be appreciated, that after months of trial and investigation, the case was closed at last on their behalf. Not that they had been forced through endless questionings (although there had been days it felt like that) or locked away like criminals. But just the shadow of this case that was still hanging over them, was quite enough to make them nervous, if not even paranoid.

At least it was like that for him, Valjean. An ex convict who suddenly was on the other side. Helping the law instead of fleeing it. It was just weird. And strange. And wonderful. To know that he was not alone in this. Would never be alone again, to hide a knowledge so much greater than the case itself. And from so many.

In some way things were still the same. And yet, it was so different than before. Javert was not his shadow anymore, the danger that would chase him everywhere. Cosette now knew, knew everything. No secrets left between them evermore.

Well … almost none.

He closed his eyes, savoring this thought one more time. No secrets. Not from those that really counted. It was a miracle.

Alone the fact that they were here, alive and save and mostly sound. They were together, all of them. And that was all he really needed to know. It filled his heart with such a gratefulness that almost nothing could befoul this feeling. Almost.

He looked at Marius and his Cosette, chatting heartily outside in the garden. Their talks had gotten better with each passing day. Where they had talked of heavy stuff in the beginning, their subjects had diverged into the wedding yet again. The baron sure as hell, was more than willing to participate in all their planning.

Valjean sighed.

"You don´t like this all that much, do you?" Javert addressed this sound, regarding him with curiosity. The always present scrutiny of an inspector.

"I can´t keep her in a cage." Valjean surprised himself when he smiled saying this. "She´s free, to live her life …" he shook his head. "Even without me. Who am I to keep her caged?"

Javert said nothing, only nodded, and even with this mocking smirk on his lips, Valjean felt glad to have him here. To have at least this one man standing by his side, in all of this, that would have left him all alone, had things been different. How strange that it was this man, from all in the world. Heaven, sometimes God had a strange sort of humor.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." Toussaint addressed him, startling the ex police man, by coming out of nowhere. "There is a visitor for the two of you."

"Both?" Valjean stopped chuckling.

"Yes. He says he is a friend of yours."

And at this, with sudden certainty, Valjean knew who it was, before he even entered.

"Gentlemen." Vidocq gave them a little bow. "I´m glad to see you´re doing well."

"Eugene." Valjean replied, politely nodding. "To what do we owe the honor?"

The eloquent man became a little stiff at the question, even though his smile never vanished.

"You read the papers, I presume." he started. "About my … retirement?"

"I´m sorry." Valjean offered but the smaller man just shook his head, waving a hand.

"It was always my risk, playing in this league. And sneaking my way back in by solving a staged robbery could only last for so long."

"I knew it." Javert suddenly barked, making Valjean flinch. "I read about that case. I always knew that you were in on that."

Vidocq only smiled, shamelessly, and shrugged a shoulder. "Sometimes there are sacrifices that have to be made, to serve the greater good." he lectured the former inspector but of course Javert would not agree.

"Getting yourself back on the payroll is serving the greater good?" he asked, stridently, and once again Vidocq did not falter.

"If it helps to solve crimes like this latest, I´d say so. Wouldn´t you, inspector?"

Valjean lay a hand on Javert´s arm, before he could give an even sharper response, and Vidocq instantly used the break to continue.

"Anyway, I´m thanking God that I was never the one to linger in the past. Gentlemen. I´m here to make a suggestion." He reached into his inner pocket, eloquently. "I already made plans to move on from here. My men are still loyal, but I could always need more."

He offered a small card to Javert, who refused stubbornly to even reach out for it. So Valjean took it.

"More?"

"More good men. You two seemed to have worked well together, so I was wondering if you would like a job. To be quite frank, your talents would be wasted in a factory, inspector."

Valjean searched the gaze of the other man, but Javert would not say a word.

"What kind of job would that be?" he therefor asked for both of them.

"That depends entirely on the case we´d get." Vidocq shrugged. "Take this last case as an example and you get the idea."

"You want me to join your bunch of criminals?" Javert finally spoke.

"Ex-criminals." Vidocq corrected, mildly. "And let´s be honest, Javert. This is exactly what you are now."

This time it was Javert who searched Valjean´s gaze. There was something resigned in his eyes. We become what we fear. Indeed, we do.

"It´s an offer." Vidocq repeated. "I never forced any of my men to break the law. Neither did I expect them to keep it like a dogma. You´d be totally free in your actions. As long as you can confirm it with your conscience."

"To do what we can, for the right reasons." Valjean offered, raising his brows at Javert. "It could be worth thinking about it."

"Just as I said." Vidocq seemed satisfied already. "You don´t have to decide now. Send me a note. You´ll reach me at this address." He pointed at the card again, just before placing his hat back on his head, raising his finger to the brim. "Gentlemen."

And with that he was gone.

Valjean looked after him, watching Javert curiously from the corner of his eye. "What do you think?" he asked, and Javert snorted.

"I´d rather keep that to myself." The ex police man turned around, his gaze on Valjean, significantly but silent, before he finally walked away.

Valjean chuckled. He read the card in his hand, smiling lightly to himself. Yes, it definitely would be worth thinking about it.

For all of you who care, I´m thinking about a sequel. So if you´re interested to see how this continues, let me know.

And for the few of you who´re interested in how this story came about in the first place, feel free to read my author´s note. Right next door. Just in case you were wondering too: What the hell was she thinking?

To all the others, I have only one last thing to say. It was a blast and thanks for reading.