Gravity Fallen: Part 1

by SmilesThroughFandoms

"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…

2. Welcome to Gravity Falls!

Éponine's narration.

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

~June 3, 2013. Gravity Falls, Oregon.~

"Ah, summer vacation. A time for rest, relaxation, and just being with your family or friends or whoever you hold near and dear. Just a time to take it easy..

Unless, or course, you're me…"

They all screamed as the cart narrowly dodged one of the many trees in the forest. And the fact that it was gaining on them. Éponine pushed on the gas-pedal as hard as she could, but the cart was already going as fast as it could. But it still wasn't fast enough.

"It's getting closer, 'Ponine!" Cosette shouted at her from her position in the front seat.

"Can't this hunk-of-junk go any faster?!" Grantaire shouted from the back seat.

"You wanna take over, R? Be my fucking guest!" She shouted back to him.

"We're running out of road!" Gavroche shouted to his sister.

"I can see that, 'Roche!" Éponine shouted as she swerved the cart to make sure they stayed within the clearings.

"LOOK OUT!" Azelma screamed. Grantaire, Cosette, Azelma, and Gavroche watched as it picked up a tree from right out of the ground, and threw it over the cart. It landed sideways in their road.

They all screamed as Éponine turned the wheel as hard as she could and slammed on the brakes. Cosette grabbed the dashboard of the cart with an iron grip, Gavroche clutched Azelma who grabbed the pole that held the roof of the cart above them, Grantaire grabbed the pole opposite the one Azelma grabbed and threw out his other arm to prevent Gavroche and Azelma from being thrown forward, and Éponine's hands never left the wheel as the cart spun out of control and begun to tip over on its side.

"I bet you're wondering what the hell we're all doing here, right? Well I can assure you, there is a perfectly logical explanation."

~Yesterday Afternoon~

A seventeen year old girl with olive skin, dark brown, curly hair, and dark-brown eyes flipped through her magazine idly. She's read and re-read this thing at least a hundred times. "Stupid Pasadena Shopping Mall, doesn't have any damn good magazine choices." She thought.

She heard her sister squeal, thankfully the only people on the bus were her, her siblings, and the poor bus-driver. "Look 'Ponine! We're here!"

Éponine shifted in her position in her bus seat, which was about as comfortable as a bed of nails, and glanced out the window in time to see a sign that said "Welcome to Gravity Falls, Oregon!" and written in little black letter underneath that was written "Please don't feed the Goat."

"Great, we're here." Éponine rolled her eyes as she glanced at her younger sister. Most people doubted that she and Azelma were actually related. Éponine couldn't blame them. Éponine had curly-yet still tamable- dark brown hair, while Azelma had wild orange curls that she always pinned back with brightly colored head-bans of hair clips. Éponine had dark-brown eyes, while her sister had large, bright green-hazel eyes that always seemed to sparkle in excitement. Éponine had olive skin with freckles across her nose, Azelma had lightly-tanned skin and freckles all over her face.

Even their personality's and clothing options were different. While Éponine was more of a realist and perhaps a bit of a pessimist, Azelma was always happy and cheerful and looked on the brighter things in life.

And while Éponine always wore her favorite tank top-a black tank top with a red design of a Hollywood Studio with the words 'Hollywood, California' written in gold letters- a thin, dark brown jacket, dark grey skinny jeans, and black combat boots. Azelma always wore brightly colored sweaters that she made herself.

For example, today she was wearing a raspberry colored sweater with a shooting star with a rainbow streaming behind it on the front, a raspberry colored head-ban, a purple skirt, and she wore her usual white socks and black flats.

While Éponine loved her sister dearly, she knew that those two were complete opposite.

"I can't wait to see Cosette and everyone again!" Azelma cheered happily.

"Azelma, could you keep it down!" Their younger brother Gavroche called out to them. Most people failed to see the resemblance between him and his sisters. But at least Gavroche and Éponine shared the same color eyes! Other than that no resemblance. For Gavroche had fair skin, no freckles, and shaggy blonde hair. He was wearing his usual attire of a Batman t-shirt, jean shorts, and Sketchers sneakers.

"Why 'Roche? Are you trying to concentrate?" Azelma asked.

"No, I just want some peace and quiet." Gavroche shrugged. Éponine rolled her eyes at her younger brother, but smirked nonetheless, there was the family resemblance!

"Oh come on! Aren't you two excited for summer?! For seeing Cosette and her family again?" Azelma asked.

"Gravity Falls Bus Station! All off who are getting off!" The bus driver called to them as they pulled up. The siblings gathered their things and luggage and hopped off the bus. Éponine handed the bus driver a ten dollar bill.

"This is sort of an apology for having to deal with us since Pasadena."

"Frankly, miss," The bus driver angrily grabbed the money from her hand. "This isn't the beginning of the apology."

Éponine glared at the bus driver and walked up to her siblings who were glancing around the many faces at the Bus Station. "Where is she?" Gavroche asked. "I don't see her." Azelma said.

Éponine's eyes scanned the people at the station before finally resting on a blonde hair girl with wide, blue eyes, porcelain skin who was wearing a light pink sundress and light brown, high-heeled sandals. Éponine nudged her siblings and nodded toward the girl. "Found her."

Azelma turned to see the blonde hair girl and squealed. "Cosette!"

"Azelma! Gavroche! Éponine!" Cosette squealed as she ran up to hug them, she reached the fifteen year-old first. Both of them squealed as they hugged each other.

"You're not gonna do that all summer are you?" Gavroche asked nervously as Azelma and Cosette parted.

Cosette giggled and hugged Gavroche. "Of course not! And if we do, then I'll buy you some ear-plugs!"

"That's all I ask for!" Gavroche laughed as Cosette pulled away from their hug.

Cosette then hugged Éponine tightly, cutting off the brunette's supply of oxygen for a moment. "It's good to see you too, 'Sette!"

"It's so good to see you all again!" Cosette chirped happily.

"I know, we haven't seen each other since we were little kids!" Gavroche added.

"Yeah, can we just get back to your place, 'Sette?" Éponine asked as politely as she could. "The sooner we get this summer started, the sooner we can get it over with."

Éponine didn't even wait for Cosette to lead the way, she just started to walk away in the direction she assumed the parking lot was.

"I'm getting the feeling that she's still taking things pretty rough, huh?" Cosette frowned as she asked the two siblings.

"You know what 'Ponine's like. She practically raised us and when the government told her she couldn't be the legal guardian of us because she wasn't "Of Legal Age" she took it as a huge dent to her pride." Gavroche told the blonde.

"I'm just glad that you're parents agreed to watch us until we can find some people who'll adopt us!" Azelma added.

"That makes two of us." Cosette said as she, Azelma and Gavroche started to walk off in the direction Éponine walked off to.

~Later that Day~

"My parents are renting out the other guest room to my friend Grantaire, so you guys will have to share the other one. But it's pretty big, so you shouldn't have a problem." Cosette told the three siblings as she opened the door to the second guest room.

The Valjean family had all lived in Gravity Falls for about nine years now. Along the way, Cosette's father, Jean Valjean, had bought a Book Store and the apartment above it. So, his family lived above the store and during the day, worked there.

"Ta-Da!" Cosette smiled as she and the Thénardier siblings walked into the room. It was an average looking room, with three beds in the room. Two of the beds you could see immediately upon walking in, the third bed was tucked up against the back wall.

"Woah!" Azelma smiled as she and Gavroche ran past Éponine and Cosette. "I want this bed!" Azelma smiled as she threw her stuff on the bed closet to the right wall.

"I call dibs on this bed!" Gavroche smiled happily as he plopped down on the bed that was tucked up against the back wall.

Éponine rolled her eyes at her siblings before she walked over toward the only bed that was still available. She set her stuff down beside it and noticed that there was a large lump underneath the covers. She quickly grabbed the covers and threw them off.

"And I have a goat on my bed." Éponine frowned and crossed her arms. "Just like last Thanksgiving."

"Gompers! Get off her bed right now!" Cosette stomped her foot on the ground while she glared at the goat.

"Oh, and the goat has a name… That's a new one." Éponine rolled her eyes.

"Cool! A goat!" Gavroche rushed over to Éponine's bed.

"Hey there, goat friend!" Azelma smiled as she reached over to pet Gompers, but the goat only proceeded to chew on the sleeve of Azelma's sweater. "Oh! Yes Gompers, you can keep chewing on my sweater!" Azelma laughed.

Éponine glanced at Cosette. "This your goat?"

"No! Of course not! He's the town goat!" Cosette said. "He just seems to prefer our house to any other building in Gravity Falls."

"Of course he does." Éponine sighed.

"Hey, Cosette!" They heard a male voice call from downstairs.

"Up stairs, Grantaire!" Cosette called down. "Could you come up here? Gompers is back!"

"What? Again?" They heard the man ask. Soon after that, they saw a man that appeared to be about twenty-two years old with curly-black hair, blue eyes, and elfish like ears. When he stumbled into the room, everyone could tell that he was drunk.

"Oh, R, you were drinking again weren't you?" Cosette asked.

"'Sette, when am I not drinking?" The man asked with a cheeky grin.

Cosette laughed and rolled her eyes at the man before turning back to the Thénardier children. "Guys this is Ricky Grantaire, he's the one my parents are renting out the spare room to. Grantaire, this is Azelma and Gavroche and-"

Grantaire nodded to Azelma and Gavroche. But then his eyes landed on Éponine and he smiled cheekily. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Éponine. The girl with the goat on her bed" Éponine smiled at Grantaire and pointed to Gompers, who was still chewing on Azelma's sleeve.

"Oh, right!" Grantaire said as he pulled Azelma's sleeve out of Gompers's mouth (Thankfully the worst damage was that it was covered in goat saliva) and he picked up Gompers and set him down on the floor. "Go on, git!" He said slapping the goat on the back. "Go on ya goat, git! Git!"

Gompers just simply bleated and ran out of the room and down the stairs; the five friends could hear the sounds of glass-breaking. Cosette's eyes widened. "I should probably go clean that up…"

She quickly told the siblings that if they needed anything, come find her, before quickly running out of the room.

Grantaire leaned on the wall near Éponine's bed as he smirked at the three. "So, you're the infamous Thénardier siblings, eh?"

"We're trying to get our names changed to Jondrette, just so you know." Azelma smiled at him as she plopped down on her bed and started to unpack her bags.

"So, why didn't you guys just get shipped off to some relatives' house?" Grantaire asked. "I mean, don't you guys have any relatives who are better than your parents… Or at least not in jail?"

Éponine remembered Cosette telling her that she had one hell of a time explaining her and her siblings' situation to her friends and boyfriend. So, she wasn't surprised when Grantaire asked the question.

"We were originally going to go to our Uncle Benny's place in Michigan!" Gavroche piped in from his spot on his bed. "But then he got arrested two months ago… And then died about a month ago in jail…"

"And after that, all our relatives are either in jail or dead or both." Éponine told him.

"So how'd you guys end up here?" Grantaire raised his brow at the three.

"I called Cosette to tell her, you know to vent, but I got her dad instead. So-" Azelma started to explain.

"Say no more!" Grantaire smiled. "I understand, Mr. V is one of the nicest guys I've ever met!"

"He seemed pretty nice when he came to pick up Cosette nine years ago." Éponine smiled fondly at the memory. True, after Cosette left, Éponine and her siblings became their parent's new punching backs, but she was glad that Cosette got out when she did.

"So," Grantaire rocked back and forth on his heels before standing back up. "Like Cosette said, my name's Ricky Grantaire. But you guys can call me Ricky, Grantaire, R, Dionysus, or my friends sometimes call me 'Grantaire-put-that-bottle-down!'." Grantaire stopped for a second while the three of them laughed. Then he turned to Éponine and leaned one hand against the wall and smirked flirtatiously at her. "But you can call me any time."

Éponine just smiled up at the drunk before she stood up and pushed his hand off of the wall, causing Grantaire to fall onto her bed.

Once all of their laughter subsided, Grantaire's included, the drunk rolled off Éponine's bed and into a sitting position on the floor and glanced up at the brunette. "Miss Éponine Thénardier, I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship!"

Éponine smiled and offered her hand to the drunk. "I agree."

~The next morning~

The next morning, Éponine and Azelma and Gavroche started their jobs at the Musian Drive Book Store alongside Grantaire and Cosette. But only Éponine, Gavroche, Grantaire, and Cosette were the only ones working.

Azelma stood behind a book-shelf, she peeked out from behind the shelf as she looked at a cute, brown-haired boy around her age. "He's looking at it! He's looking at it!" She whispered excitedly.

The boy picked up a note, unfolded it and read it. "Check one: Do You Like me? Yes… Definitely… Absolutely?" The boy then glanced around to see who wrote this odd note.

"I totally rigged it!" Azelma smiled.

"'Zelma," Éponine smiled at her sister as she dragged her sister back over to the counter where Cosette, Grantaire, and Gavroche were. "Look, I know you're still going through your whole "Boy Crazy" phase, but for the sake of humanity, could you please tone it down on the entire Crazy part?"

"What?" Azelma asked, offended. "You guys are the crazy ones! I just want to have my first epic summer romance! Is that so bad?!"

"No it isn't, but do you have to flirt with every guy you meet?" Éponine asked her sister.

"What? Name one time I've done that!" Azelma said, sticking her nose in the air proudly and crossing her arms.

"What about this morning when you were supposed to be stacking books?" Grantaire asked

-Flashback!-

"Hi, my name's Azelma!" Azelma said, smiling flirtatiously at a red-haired boy around her age. "But you can call me the girl of your dreams!" The boy looked at her oddly before Azelma started to giggle madly. "I'm joking!" Azelma laughed before shoving the boy, inadvertently causing him to fall to the floor, knocking over the books Azelma was supposed to be staking.

-End of Flashback!-

"Or yesterday at the bus station?" Cosette asked

-Flashback!-

Azelma walked over to a guy sitting on a bench at the front of the bus station, he was holding a turtle and looked around college age. "Oh my gosh!" Azelma smiled. "You like turtles? I like turtles too! What is happening here?!" Azelma gestured between herself and the man, smiling sweetly.

-End of Flashback!-

"Or yesterday when Mr. and Mrs. Valjean took us all to the Mall?" Gavroche asked.

-Flashback!-

"Come one! Come all! Come to The Mattress King's kingdom of savings!" A geeky looking teenager dressed up like a renaissance king. Azelma then chose that moment to pop out from behind the colorful balloons that were behind the "Mattress King"

"Take me with you…" Azelma whispered.

"AH!" Mattress King screamed.

-End of Flashback!-

"You practically gave that poor guy a heart-attack!" Gavroche told his sister.

"First of all: I asked for one time! And second: You guys can mock me all you want, but I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right-Now!"

Azelma then pointed to the door near the back, and at that moment, Cosette's father, Jean Valjean chooses to walk into the front room.

"Ah, what?!" Azelma cried as she saw walk through the door, while her friends and siblings just laughed.

"What's so funny?" Fantine Valjean, Cosette's mother, asked as she walked in behind her husband.

"Nothing mom," Cosette laughed. "An inside joke kind of thing!"

"I won't ask." Valjean smiled. "Grantaire?"

"Yes sir?" Grantaire asked, standing up.

"Could you go to the Café and give these magazines to Mr. Hucheloup? Tell them they came in early." Valjean asked, handing Grantaire a stack of magazines.

"Who's Mr. Hucheloup?" Gavroche asked.

"Our friend and the owner of the Café Musian. That building across the street." Cosette explained pointing to the building that was at the front of the place where the street turned into a sort of Y form.

"Our friends hang out there a lot, so we'll have to take you three there one of these days!" Grantaire smiled before exiting the store.

"Éponine?" Fantine asked, walking over to the brunette.

"Yes, Mrs. V?"

"Could you go run down to the store at the end of the street and pick us up some tomatoes and mushrooms? It's for dinner tonight and I just remembered that we're out."

"Of course, I don't mind!" Éponine said as Fantine handed her a twenty dollar bill. As Éponine walked out of the store she heard Fantine shout to her "I expect change back!"

~Fifteen Minutes Later~

Éponine had meant to walk straight to the store, buy the tomatoes and mushrooms, and then walk straight back. But something caught her eye.

It looked like a shadow but it also didn't. Plus it was shaped like a triangle, and Éponine saw no triangle shaped things anywhere. Éponine couldn't explain why, but she felt drawn to this thing. So, that is the reason, when the triangle shadow started to move quickly toward the woods, she followed it.

Before Éponine knew what was happening, she was lost. The shadow disappeared when it moved onto some tree near where Éponine currently was.

"Hello?" Éponine shouted. "Is anyone here? Hello?"

Éponine's eyes landed on the tree that the shadow disappeared on. She didn't know why, but she felt something was amiss. So she glanced around cautiously before approaching the tree.

"It's just a tree, 'Ponine." Éponine told herself. "Nothing dangerous about a-" Éponine stopped mid-sentence as she rested her hand on the tree. It felt slightly… colder than the muggy Oregon heat would allow a normal tree to be.

Éponine knocked on the tree a few times, each one she heard a metallic sound, before she realized that there was a layer of dust covering this "Tree". So, she wiped away the dust, and then she jumped back as a panel slid away, reveling a hole in the tree. "What the…?" Éponine cautiously approached the square shaped hole in the tree before she actually saw what was in it.

A weird machine, one that Éponine's seen before. This machine has two switches on top of it. Éponine flipped one switch, nothing happened. Then she flipped the second switch, and she heard something move from behind her.

"The hell?" Éponine wondered aloud when she saw the small, square shaped hole in the ground. She knelt down to inspect the hole. She wasn't expecting what she saw. It was a dust covered was a six-fingered, gold-colored hand with the number 3 in the center. "Woah, what is this thing?"

Éponine started to flip through pages of this book. But her eyes landed on a certain one.

"April 11,

It's hard to believe it's been six years since I started to document the strange and wonderful secrets of Gravity Falls."

Woah. What? "Strange and wonderful secrets?" Éponine wondered aloud. "What is this thing?"

She flipped a few more pages before something caught her eyes. Written in big, bold letters were the words "TRUST NOBODY!"

Éponine glanced down at the little text that appeared on the page before this warning. "It is just as I have feared, I'm being watched." Éponine read. "I must hide my journals where 'he' will never find them. But if they are found, who ever may be reading this book and perhaps the others, remember this: In the town of Gravity Falls, there are many wonderful and frightening things, but in this town there is absolutely no one you can trust…"

"No one I can trust?" Éponine pondered this for a moment, all thoughts of the triangular shadow from earlier gone. She had just arrived in this town yesterday, and now she found this journal, which she gets the feeling should've stayed buried, that says there is absolutely no one in this town that she could trust.

SNAP!

Éponine was used to being on high-alert. But now, she just felt like she was being watched intently. Without thinking, Éponine snatched up the book marked 3 and headed back in the general direction she felt town would be.

~Fifteen Minutes later, with Enjorlas~

"Are the leaflets prepared?" Enjorlas asked his friend, Combeferre, from over the phone. They had a rally coming up soon and a meeting that night.

"Yes, I just picked them up; they'll be at the apartment when you get home." Combeferre told him.

After thanking his friend for doing this favor for him, he said good-bye and hung up his iPhone. No sooner did he stuff the phone in his pocket, when he collides with someone, sending them both to the ground.

"I'm sorry!" They both said at the same time. He looked up to see a seventeen year old girl with olive skin, large, honey brown eyes, and chocolate curls. Enjorlas observed as the girl quickly scanned the ground before finally seeing a book, which laid face down in front of Enjorlas. This girl snatched it up quickly before Enjorlas could even consider picking it up and handing it too her. As she searched, Enjorlas couldn't help but get a tad bit distracted by the way her brown curls fell.

"That must be a very interesting book." Enjorlas told the girl once he shook his head to straighten out his thoughts.

The girl looked up at him. She seemed to be studying him for a second before she answered. "Yeah, it's pretty good."

"What's it about?" Enjorlas nodded toward the book that was carefully tucked under the girl's arm. From what he could see of the book, it looked old. Very old.

"Oh," The girl glanced at the book; she seemed to be mulling something over in her mind. But she finally turned back to him and smiled. That's when he noticed the dimples in her cheeks. "It's a Historical Fiction."

Enjorlas could sense a lie in the girl's sentence, but he couldn't tell where. "Historical Fiction?" The girl nodded. He got up and offered her his hand in assistance, but she just shook her head and stood up. "What's it about?"

The girl's eyes widened ever so slightly, just enough for Enjorlas to catch her. "Um… It's sort of like a National Treasure kind of thing… Y'know?"

Enjorlas nodded. It was another lie. He could tell, but why would this girl be lying about a book? He decided not to press it. That's when he noticed what was written on her shirt, he tried to ignore the fact that it was written on her chest and he tried to control the blush coming to his face as he read it.

"Hollywood, California?"

"Huh?"

"Your shirt. It says Hollywood California. You from there?"

"Close, I'm from Pasadena." The girl smiles at him. "But I want to go back to Hollywood one day."

"So why did you come up here?" Enjorlas asked. He didn't hate his home town, he just imagines that if you lived in California, then why come up here?

"Because I didn't have anywhere else to go and the government wouldn't let me do what was best for me and my family!" The girl grumbled. Enjorlas was just about to elaborate on her obvious resentment toward the government when they both heard it.

Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby

Let me know

Girl I'm gonna show you how to do it

Enjorlas tried his hardest not to laugh as the girl's cell phone played the song and as the girl turned a deep scarlet. She hurriedly pulled out her phone and hissed into it. "What is it, R?!"

Enjorlas, for whatever reason, thought of his friend Grantaire. His friends had often called him that. And that song, it was one of his favorites. The girl's face softened. "Yeah I went to the store, at first! But then I got… sidetracked."

The girl rolled her eyes at whatever the person on the other end said. "Look, I tell you and everyone else when you come pick me up!" Another pause, then she narrowed her eyes. "You said last night that you're always drunk!"

The person she was talking to was named R and this person was always drunk? This was starting to get a little disturbing. How did this girl know his friend?

"Yeah, just come pick me up! I'm on," The girl glanced around until she found what she was looking for. "I'm on Hugo Drive." Another pause filled with short "Uh-huh's" and "Mm-hmm's" before she smiled sheepishly. "One more thing, could you maybe drive me to the store? I still need to pick up the tomatoes and mushrooms… Yeah, I know Grantaire. I'll explain when you pick me up… I hate you too… K, bye!"

She hung up her phone and turned to face Enjorlas, but before he could question her on how she knew his friend, she smiled up at him. "Look, I gotta go meet my friend. But it was nice talking to you!" She started to walk backward slowly. "Again, sorry I bumped into you, but hey, maybe we'll see each other again, Crimson!"

She started to walk away when his mind registered one thing. "Wait, why crimson?!"

"You're wearing a red shirt, stupid!" She called back. He noticed her smile and somehow, he felt a bit entranced by the way she looked when she smiled.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Enjorlas's face as he watched her leave. He had the feeling he would see… He would see… Crap, he didn't get her name!

~Half Hour Later, with Éponine back at the Store~

After bluffing to Fantine and Valjean about why it took her so long, a clever lie her and R came up with in the car about her being stuck in the longest line in grocery store history due to them being short staff that day, she somehow managed to gather Cosette, Azelma, and Gavroche into the living room alongside her and R. And she also managed to explain how she found the journal marked 3.

"So, you just found it? In the woods? Hidden?" Cosette asked.

"Yeah!" Éponine told her blonde friend. "And get this, after awhile, the pages just stop. Like the author of the book mysteriously vanished."

Wow Cosette and Éponine's siblings 'oohed' and 'aahed', Grantaire smiled at her. "Cool, let me see!" Éponine carefully handed the journal to Grantaire who flipped through the pages idly. "Woah, this stuff is amazing! I'm mean listen to some of this stuff; Gnomes, Zombies, a Butternut Squash with a face!"

"Is it weird that I want to find that squash?" Gavroche stage-whispered to Cosette, who merely shrugged.

"And all this stuff was originally found in Gravity Falls?" Cosette asked.

"I think so, yeah! But it's been so long since anyone has seen this journal I'm not sure if it's still there." Éponine shrugged as Grantaire handed her back the journal, but not before he found a page with the words "TRUST NOBODY!" written on them.

"Trust nobody?" Grantaire asked.

DING-DONG!

"Who's at the door?" Cosette asked no one in particular.

"Uh-Oh," Azelma smiled happily. "Guess it's time for me to spill the beans!"

"Wait, there are beans here?" Grantaire asked. "Why wasn't I told?!"

"Get off the beer, Grantaire. It'll do you a favor." Cosette rolled her eyes before she turned to face the orange-haired girl. "You were saying, 'Zelma?"

"Well, what has two thumbs and a date?" Azelma asked cheekily before wiggling her thumbs and saying loudly "THIS GIRL!" and rolling onto the floor giggling.

"Woah, what?" Grantaire asked
"You're kidding!" Gavroche looked at the red-head in shock.

"Let me see if I got this right: In the one hour I was gone, Azelma you manage to find a boyfriend?" Éponine looked at her sister skeptically.

"What can I say?" Azelma shrugged helplessly before smiling. "I guess men just find me irresistible!"

"That's debatable." Gavroche said, deadpanning at his sister's antics.

DING-DONG! DING-DONG!

"Oh! I'm coming!" Azelma shouted as she skipped off to answer the door,

"Has she always been like this?" Grantaire asked.

"For about as long as I can remember, yeah." Éponine told the drunk as she plopped down into the living room couch while Cosette, Gavroche, and Grantaire seated themselves on the floor to start a card came.

"What are you all doing?" Valjean's voice startled them all. Éponine quickly stashed the book under the couch cushion and grabbed a nearby magazine without even looking at the cover.

"We're just playing Go Fish, papa." Cosette said as Grantaire dealt out the cards.

"And I'm just reading-" Éponine paused for a second to glance at the cover, and cringed when she read it. "Home and Garden Monthly…"

Valjean smirked at the children, amused. "I didn't know you liked that magazine, Éponine."

"Neither did I!" Grantaire chuckled.

"Oh," Éponine smiled down at Grantaire threateningly. "Shut up!"

"Hey guys!" Everyone turned to see Azelma standing in the doorway to the living room and someone in a dark hooded sweater and dark jeans. "Meet my new boyfriend!"

The man standing next to Azelma turned around revealing a pale skinned teenager with black hair, and grey eyes. "S'up?"

"Hi?" Éponine narrowed her eyes in confusion at the teenager before her.
"How ya doin'?" Grantaire's expression mirrored Éponine's, and Cosette and Gavroche weren't that much better.

"His name's Nathan and we met at the cemetary and he's really deep!" Azelma gushed as she squeezed Nathan's arm. "Oh, um, got a little… muscle there… That's-That's cool!"

"Nathan, are-are you bleeding?" Gavroche asked, taking notice of the suspicious red substance on Nathan's cheeks.

"It's jam!" Nathan said shakily. It seemed that he wasn't so sure of himself.

"Oh my god! I love jam!" Azelma laughed as she shoved Nathan playfully. "Look at this!" She smiled gesturing between her and Nathan.

"So, you wanna go hold hands or something?" Nathan asked.

"Oh, oh my goodness…" Azelma giggled as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Don't wait up!" Azelma then grabbed Nathan's hand and led them both out of the house. Once she was gone, Éponine, Grantaire, Gavroche, and Azelma exchanged glances.

"What just happened?" Cosette mouthed to them.

~Ten minutes later, in Éponine and Azelma and Gavroche's room~

"As you can obviously see, there was something odd about this "Nathan" guy. And I've seen enough odd-balls in my life to know one when I see one. Not really knowing what else to do, I decided to consult the journal."

Cosette and Gavroche were seated beside her as she flipped through the pages of 3. "Ghosts?"

"No, that's not it." Cosette told Éponine.

"Barf fairy?"

"Does Nathan really look like a fairy to you, 'Ponine?" Gavroche asked in an obvious tone.

"Gnomes?"

"Ok, now you're just messing with us!" Cosette told her. "C'mon, there's gotta be something in there that-"

"Wait, guys listen to this!" Éponine told her friend and little brother. "Known for their pale skins and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken as teenagers!" Éponine read aloud.

"Pale skin, bad attitudes, sounds like Nathan to me!" Gavroche told Éponine.

"Beware Gravity Falls's nefarious-" Éponine flipped the page to reveal a creature that bared a striking resemblance to Nathan. "ZOMBIES!"

Cosette gave a little shriek while Gavroche gasped.

"What's going on? I heard screaming!" Grantaire asked, bursting into the room, a broom held in his hands like it was a weapon.

"Look at this!" Cosette told Grantaire, handing him 3. Grantaire read over the two paged quietly before he turned to face the others with wide eyes.

"Please tell me you guys are shitting me." Grantaire said.

"Why?" Cosette asked.

"Because Azelma and Nathan are outside." Grantaire told the blonde.

"WHAT?" Éponine all but screamed as she and Gavroche practically leapt toward the window with Cosette and Grantaire behind them.

The four of them glanced out the window to see "Nathan" walking toward Azelma, who smiled sweetly at her new "Boyfriend".

"I like you, Nathan!" Azelma said.

"Oh no!" Éponine shouted.
"Azelma!" Gavroche shouted.

"No, no, Azelma! Watch out!" Cosette shouted to the red-haired girl below.

All four of them held their breath as "Nathan" walked closer and closer, up until "Nathan" raised his arms high above Azelma's head. Cosette gasped, shut her eyes, and turned away, Gavroche and Éponine hugged each other tighter than they ever have before, and Grantaire was calculating the quickest way to kill a zombie from where he stood.

But when, "Nathan" backed up slightly, it revealed that he put a necklace of daises around Azelma's neck.

"Oh, I love daises! You're so sweet!" Azelma cooed.

"Well," Grantaire was the first out of them all to speak. "That was anti-climatic."

"I can't believe we just did all of that for nothing!" Gavroche groaned as he flopped back onto his sister's bed.

"Maybe…" Éponine started, walking away from the window slowly. "Maybe it wasn't for nothing?"

"'Ponine, what are you talking about?" Cosette asked.

"Well, think about! He looks like a zombie, he acts like a zombie-" Éponine started before Grantaire cut her off.

"And how many brains did we see this "Nathan" guy eat?"

Éponine lowered he head in defeat. "None."

"Look, it's not that I don't believe you guys, it's just that we have no real-rock-hard solid evidence." Grantaire said. "I mean let's face it, for all we know- that book could be a liar!"

"So what you're saying is, get the evidence, and get the proof!" Gavroche smiled.

"Exactly!" The drunk smiled at the twelve-year-old.

"And you're going to help us do that!" Éponine smiled up at Grantaire.

"I would," Grantaire started. "But I figured I would to a lot of that when I die and got to hell."

"Please?" Éponine asked while smiling up at the drunk sweetly.

Grantaire stared at Éponine blankly for a moment before sighing and dropping the broom. He turned to Éponine and glared at the brunette. "You're lucky you're hot."

While Cosette giggled and Gavroche just rolled his eyes, Éponine smirked at him and started to push him out the door. "Yeah, I know!"

~Two Hours Later~

Azelma was brushing her hair, humming to herself in the room her and her siblings shared. She had yet another date with Nathan today and she was excited.

"Azelma!" The girl turned to see her older sister, little brother, and her two friends standing behind her. Éponine approached her. "We need to talk about Nathan."

"Isn't he the best?" Azelma swooned before turning to face everyone. "Check out this giant smooch mark he gave me!"

Azelma turns her head so everyone can see the large, round, light pink mark on her cheek.

"Gah!" Cosette and Éponine looked appalled.
"Woah," Gavroche stared at his sister weirdly.
"That's just not right!" Grantaire cringed.

Azelma laughed at the four of them. "You guys are so gullible! It was just an accident with the leaf blower!"

-Flashback!-

"Kissing Practice!" Azelma said happily as she turned on a leaf blower and put a picture of Nathan on the leaf blower, only his mouth was cut open.

Azelma puckered her lips and leaned in slowly, but the picture got sucked into the leaf blower along with Azelma's mouth.

"AH! SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF!" Azelma shouted as she banged the leaf blower on the ground, trying to shut it off."

-End of Flashback!-

"That was fun!" Azelma smiled.

"No, Azelma, listen to us." Éponine told her sister sternly. "We're trying to tell you that Nathan may not be what he seems."

It was then Éponine held up her recently acquired journal marked 3. Azelma gasped. "You guys think that he might be a vampire? That would be so amazing!" Azelma said in a sing-song type voice.

"Vampire, no." Gavroche deadpanned.

"Zombie, yes!" Cosette told Azelma.

"Zombie? This is not funny, you guys." Azelma told the four of them, slightly irritated. "I mean, do you guys have any proof that he might be a zombie?"

"Baby, we got tons of proof!" Grantaire told the fifteen year old, shoving a Flip video camera into her hands.

"Wait, how did you guys get the proof on video?" Azelma asked somewhat accusingly.

"Um…" All four of them averted their gaze away from the orange-haired girl.

-Flashback!-

Azelma and "Nathan" were walking up to a restaurant that was in town. That's when Grantaire noticed something pretty suspicious about "Nathan". He pulled out his phone, and spoke into it. "Subject appears to have a very serious limp. Not uncommon in a zombie!"

"You getting all of this, 'Sette?" Gavroche asked the blonde.

"Every second, Gavroche. Every second." Cosette told the boy, smiling as they all watched "Nathan" and Azelma approach the front door.

"Why are we in the bushes exactly?" Éponine turned to Grantaire. "And why are we wearing bush hats?!"

"Yeah?" "Why are we doing this, R?" Cosette and Gavroche's statements came all at once.

"Because it's cooler this way." Grantaire told them. It was then they heard the sound of glass breaking and turned to see that "Nathan" punched a window, but to their dismay, he just turned the side of the door-knob that was inside, and opened it and let Azelma go in first, with him following closely behind.

"Subject appears to have broken a window… And I'm pretty sure he just broke some type of law." Grantaire spoke into his phone, with a raised eyebrow.

"Should I tell my Uncle about this or not?" Cosette asked no one in particular.

-Flashback: Part 2!-

"Subject is on the move! I repeat subject is on the move!" Grantaire hissed into his phone.

"The subject isn't going to be the only one with a limp if you don't shut up!" Éponine threatened the drunk.

"Touchy," Grantaire muttered as the four of them (as silently as possible) followed Azelma and "Nathan" who were running hand-in-hand through the cemetery.

"Woah!" They all heard Azelma shout as they all saw "Nathan" fall face first into a grave that was somehow filled with dirt. But when "Nathan" reappeared, he and Azelma just laughed as if someone had told them a funny joke.

"You got that on camera, right?" Éponine asked.

"Yeah…" Cosette trailed off.

"What just happened?"Gavroche asked Grantaire, who just shrugged.

-End of Flashback!-

"You guys spied on us!" Azelma cried out.

"This "Spied" is such a harsh word, "Grantaire started sheepishly.

"But yeah, that's what happened." Gavroche told his sister in a guilty tone of voice.

"Gavroche!" Grantaire, Éponine, and Cosette hissed.

"What? I can never lie to my sisters!" Gavroche held up his hands in defense.

"It's true," Éponine nodded.

"Look, I know you guys are just looking out for me, but can't you just trust me to make my own choices." Azelma smiled as she put on her favorite pair of star shaped earrings.

"But remember what the journal said: Trust nobody!" Éponine told her sister.

Azelma spun around to face her siblings and best friends. By the look in her eyes, the four of them could tell they were in trouble. "Listen to me you guys, Nathan and I are going on a date tonight. And I'm going to be adorable and he's gonna be dreamy-"

"But, Azelma-" Éponine spluttered as she and the others were forced to back up, less they wanted to face Azelma's wrath.

"And I'm not going to let any of you ruin this for me with any of your crazy conspiracies!" Azelma shouted as she shoved the four of them out the door (quite literally) and slammed the door in their faces.

The four of them just stood there, starring at the door. But finally, Grantaire shrugged and looked at his wrist-watch. "Well, I've got about two hours until the Les Amis's meeting, and I really need a beer!"

-Ten Minutes Later-

DING-DONG!

"Coming!" Azelma shouted as she hurried down the stairs while putting on one of her sweaters. She opened the door and saw Nathan standing there. "Oh my god, he's sooooo cute!" Azelma thought.

"Hi Nathan! How do I look?" Azelma learned long ago that if a guy really loves you, he'll compliment whatever it is you're wearing. And now, she was wearing a mint green skirt and head-ban, white socks, black flats, and a bright purple sweater with sparkles all over it and a pink kitten's face and the words "MEOW WOW" written in bright pink letters.

"Shiny!" Nathan says.

"Ah, you always know just what to say!" Azelma squeezed his hand and smiled up at him. "C'mon! Let's go!"

-Meanwhile, with Éponine, Gavroche, Cosette, and Grantaire-

Éponine watched her sister walk off into the woods with Nathan, she sighed. "Ugh, I messed up guys!"

"Hey," Grantaire, who was now on his third beer, placed a comforting hand on the brunette's shoulder. "We did our best and got the evidence. What else could we do?"

"What evidence Grantaire?" Gavroche asked as he flipped through channels on the TV.

"Yeah," Cosette sighed sadly as she watched a video clip of Nathan and Azelma playing hopscotch, which ended with Nathan falling flat on his face. "I mean, what real evidence do we have? Maybe we were just being paranoid and-" Cosette stopped short as she watched a clip of Azelma snuggling up to Nathan's side, with Nathan's arm draped over her shoulder. But what caught her attention was that Nathan's hand fell off from his arm. "WAIT, WHAT?!"

"Cosette, what's up?" Éponine asked as she and the two boys looked at their blonde friend in concern.

"Guys, we were right!" Cosette shouted, terrified. She hoped up from her chair, rewound the clip from the beginning, and showed it to her friends. They all screamed.

"WE WERE RIGHT!" Grantaire shouted.

"NATHAN REALLY IS A ZOMBIE!" Éponine and Gavroche shouted in unison.

It was then that all four of them realized one thing. Nathan was a zombie, and Azelma was out alone, in the forest, with Nathan!

"AZELMA!" The four friends shouted.

"R, is your truck fixed?" Cosette asked frantically

"No! It's still busted since Jehan's graduation party!" Grantaire told the blonde. He turned to Éponine and Gavroche, and as if reading their minds, told them "Don't ask!"

"Ok, ok! I got it! Éponine and I will go run and ask Musichetta if we can borrow the Café's Cart." Cosette told them.

"And Gavroche and I will grab some weapons of-" Grantaire started.

"You better say defense, Ricky!" Cosette told the drunkard sternly.

"I was gonna!"

"No time! C'mon!" Éponine shouted at them both as she grabbed Cosette by the arm and dragged her out of the house.

-Not to Long afterwards, with Enjorlas-

Try as he might, Enjorlas just couldn't help but get that brown-haired girl out of his head. And this worried him. Especially since he had many meetings and a rally coming up soon, and he couldn't afford to be distracted.

But still, and he was not one to usually notice the female gender, she was bloody beautiful! That hair, those eyes, that smile, and those damn dimples! Enjorlas shook his head, grumbled something even he didn't understand, and returned to his book. But he knew that he wouldn't be reading it anytime soon.

"You okay, Marble?" Enjorlas turned to see his friend Musichetta, girlfriend of his friends Joly and Bossuet, standing in front of him. She poured him another cup of coffee and stated. "You seem a bit distracted. If that's even remotely possible."

"Just nervous about the rally that's approaching." Enjorlas lied.

"Bullshit." Musichetta told him, smirking and placing her hands on her hips. "Who the hell are you thinking about?"

Enjorlas set down his book, which he hadn't really been reading, and raised his brow at Musichetta. "And what makes you think that I am thinking of someone?"

"Oh, so you got a goldfish recently?" Musichetta quipped at him. "Enjorlas, just tell me what's up. It'll save you a lot of trouble in the long run, you know it will."

Enjorlas rolled his eyes at the barista. Her father owned this Coffee Shop and he allowed him and his friends to hold their weekly meetings here. They even had their own table. But, Musichetta was sometimes just to smart.

"'CHETTA!" Enjorlas and Musichetta both turned to see Cosette pound up the stairs to the Amis's table. She looked absolutely in a panic. This unnerved the leader and the barista. Cosette was usually one of the most mild-mannered girls they knew.

Enjorlas was about to question the blonde, when he noticed her. The girl that he ran into on the streets. She was standing beside Cosette, looking more panicked then the blonde. Enjorlas felt something that he labeled as concern for the girl. But then he realized something, how did this girl know both Grantaire and Cosette?

"Cosette, what's the problem?" Musichetta asked.

"No time to explain!" The brunette told the barista. "We just need to borrow your cart or whatever it is!"

"Right now?" Musichetta asked, appalled.

"Please!" Cosette begged.
"It's an emergency and I really need to borrow your cart, now!" the brunette pleaded with Musichetta.

The barista glanced between Cosette and the petite brunette beside her. Then she dug through her jean pocket and tossed some keys to the brunette.

The girl in question glanced at the keys and Musichetta in surprise and disbelief. Musichetta smirked. "Just try not to hit any pedestrians, ok?"

The brunette girl then smiled brightly and quickly hugged the barista. "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" She practically shouted. Enjorlas had never seen a person so happy. The brunette turned to Cosette. "C'mon, the boys should have enough weapons by now!"

"Kay!" Cosette nodded toward the brunette as said girl ran down the stairs. Cosette turned to the barista. "You have no idea how much of a live-saver you are!" She turned to the leader of the Les Amis and nodded. "Hey Enjorlas!"

"Come on, Cosette!" The brunette shouted.

"I'm coming!" With that, the blonde left the café.

"Ok," Musichetta watched as the two left. But what Enjorlas didn't know was that she knew that Enjorlas was watching the one brown-haired girl. Musichetta knew something was up, but decided not to question the leader. Instead, she just shook her head. "I'll have to ask R about that when he comes to the meeting tonight."

"I might beat you too it." Enjorlas told her as he returned to his book.

-With Azelma and "Nathan", in the woods-

"Finally, we're alone!" Azelma smiled as she let go of Nathan's hands and observed the area of land that her and Nathan had found.

"Yes. Alone…" Nathan said as he studied Azelma intently. Very intently.

-Meanwhile, with Éponine and Cosette-

After Cosette showed Éponine where the Hucheloups' keep their cart, Éponine sped through the streets toward the book store. She screeched to a halt. "Get in! Get in!" She and Cosette screamed to Grantaire and Gavroche as the practically dove into the back seat.

"I've got a shovel for the zombie!" Gavroche said as he sat up, holding the shovel like it was a weapon. Which in this case, it might as well have been.

"And I've got a bat just in case we see any piñatas." Grantaire said, holding up the baseball bat.

Éponine and Cosette turned to face the drunk. Their faces the mere definition of the word 'Um…'

"Ok then…" Cosette trailed off, not sure how to continue with this situation.

"Just drive the damn cart, woman!" Grantaire shouted at Éponine.

"We're coming Azelma!" Éponine shifted the cart from park to drive, floored the gas pedal, and drove straight towards the woods.

-Back with Azelma and "Nathan"-

"Uh, Azelma, now that we've gotten to know each other, there's… there's something that I need to tell you!" Nathan said as he approached the orange-haired girl.

"Nathan, you can tell me anything!" Azelma smiled up at her boyfriend. While on the inside she was thinking "Please be a vampire! Please be a vampire! PLEASE BE A VAMPIRE!"

"Alright, just… Just don't freak out! Keep an open mind and… And just be cool." Nathan said as he reached for his hood and pulled it off.

Azelma's eyes widened in shock as she saw that Nathan was actually just five gnomes (Four of them having grey or white hair while the one on top had black hair) standing on top of each other!

"Is this… Is this weird?" The black haired gnome asks Azelma. "Is this to weird for you?" He's only greeted by Azelma staring ta him in utter shock. "Maybe you should sit down for this one kid. Ok, so I'll explain. So we're gnomes!" As the top gnome spoke, Azelma sat down on a nearby rock and face-palmed. "Just to get that outta the way."

"Nathan is a bunch of gnomes. I was dating a bunch of fucking gnome." Azelma thought to herself.

"My name's Dean! This is Hugo, Frankie, Victor, and…" Dean trailed off as he listed the gnomes that stood below him; he trailed off to the one that served as the right foot. "I'm sorry! I always forget your name!"

"Grangor!" The gnome, obviously Grangor, answered in a hoarse like voice.

"Grangor! Yes!" Dean then turned to Azelma and smiled sweetly. "Look, long story short, us gnomes have been looking for a new queen!"

"QUEEN! QUEEN! QUEEN! QUEEN!" Came the other gnomes' replies.

"Um…" Azelma frowned.

"So, Azelma, what'd ya say?" Dean snapped his fingers and the gnomes got down into a kneeling like position. "Will you join us in holy matri-gnome-y? Matri… Matri-mo-ny! BLAH! I can't talk today!"

Azelma sighed and awkwardly rubbed her arms. "Look… Guys, you're really sweet… But I'm a girl and you guys are gnomes… But these types of relationships never work out. You understand, right?"

Dean sighed sadly. "We understand. We'll never forget you, Azelma Thénardier."

Azelma smiled at Dean.

"Because we're gonna kidnap you."

"Wait, what?!" Azelma shouted after she heard Dean say that. But instead of responding to Azelma the normal way, Dean leapt off the top of the gnomes and toward Azelma's face. The orange-haired girl barely had time to scream.

-Ten Minutes Later; with Éponine, Gavroche, Cosette, and Grantaire-

"Azelma!" "Azelma!" "Azelma!" Éponine, Cosette, and Gavroche shouted out while Grantaire kept look-out for the orange-haired girl and Éponine drove the cart quickly through the woods.

"Where are you, kid?!" Grantaire shouted.

Then they heard it.

"HELP!"

Éponine stopped the cart immediately. "Azelma?"

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"It's Azelma!" Cosette gasped.

"Where's it coming from?!" Éponine looked around in all directions, looking for any type of hint.

"HELP!"

"That way!" Grantaire said, pointing the baseball bat straight forward and to the left.

"Go, 'Ponine! Go!" Gavroche yelled at his sister.

"Hang on, 'Zel! We're coming!" Éponine shouted as she sped the cart off toward Azelma's location.

"The more you struggle, the more awkward this is gonna be for everyone! Just, just… Ha-ok, just get her arm there, Victor!" They all heard a voice shout to someone. Wait, that didn't sound like "Nathan's" voice.

"Woah," Grantaire remarked as he noticed that the woods, as they drove closer and closer to where Azelma was, seemed to get more… plant-y. He saw various types of plants, some predominant trees, mushrooms, and various types of moss fungi. To be honest, it looked like something out of a fairy tale. It wasn't long until Éponine drove them all down a steep slope; it was then that Grantaire noticed the few shards of glowing crystals in the ground.

Éponine screeched the cart to a halt. That's when the four friends saw them.

"Are those… Garden Gnomes?" Cosette asked.

"Aren't those things supposed toe be made of clay?" Gavroche asked.

"And stationary?" Grantaire asked.

"LET GO OF ME!" Azelma shouted as she punched one gnome and kicked a second one in the chest. Éponine watched as that one gnome started to barf-up a rainbow.

"What the hell is goin' on here?!" Éponine asked. A gnome ran past her and her friends and little brother and hissed at them before running off to try and subdue Azelma.

"Guys! Nathan turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they're total jerks!" Azelma shouted as she tried to fend off the gnomes, until they started to pull on her hair.

"Woah, gnomes?" Gavroche asked.

"We were way off on this one!" Grantaire said

Éponine pulled out 3, which had been tucked inside her coat, and pulled it out and flipped to the pages that talked about gnomes. "Gnomes. Little men of the gravity Falls Forest."

"Weaknesses, unknown!" Cosette read over Éponine's shoulder.

"Oh come on!" Azelma cried. When the four friends looked back up from the book, they saw that Azelma had been subdued and was tied down to the ground by ropes.

"Hey!" Éponine slid easily into, what Gavroche and Azelma called, "Pissed-off 'Ponine" and walked up to the gnome with black hair. "Let go of my sister you bastard!"

"Oh hey! Theirs the maid of honor!" The gnome smiled.

"The maid of what?" Cosette asked as she and the two boys joined Éponine. The bat in Grantaire's hand and the shovel in Cosette's.

"What're you talking about, gnome?" Gavroche asked.

"First off, if I'm gonna be your brother-in-law; then you should call me Dean." Dean said. "And this is all just some big misunderstanding!"

"Oh really?" Éponine asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah!" Dean cheered. "You see, your sister isn't in any danger, she's just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our gnome queen for all eternity. Isn't that right, pumpkin-pie?"

"YOU GUYS ARE DUMB-ASSES! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR-" Was all Azelma could say before the gnomes cut her off.

They had seen enough. Grantaire and Cosette held up their "weapons" threateningly at the gnomes while Gavroche glared at them and Éponine leaned down toward Dean and said icily. "Give back my sister right now, or else."

"You kids think you can stop us?" Dean asked them dangerously. You have no idea what we are capable of. The gnomes are a powerful race!" Grantaire, Éponine, Cosette, and Gavroche exchanged unimpressed glances. "Do no trifle with the-" Dean was cut off from his little speech by Grantaire picking him up, and hitting him as hard as he could with the bat in his hand.

Cosette rushed forward and chopped the ropes that held Azelma down with the side of the shovel. Gavroche and Éponine came forward and kicked all the gnomes away while Grantaire pulled Azelma up.

"Come on! Let's go!" Éponine shouted as the five of them rushed back toward the cart.

"They're getting away with our queen! No, no, no!" Dean shouted in vain.

"Ready?" Éponine asked them all as she started the cart back-up and backed it up and away from the little gnome forest.

Dean watched as Éponine drove away with Azelma in the back seat. He growled and clenched his fists. "You messed with the wrong creature, kids. Gnomes of the forest: ASSEMBLE!"

Dean stood proudly as his gnome brethren assembled around him, forming one of the most unstoppable creatures known to man.

-A Few minutes later, with Éponine, Cosette, Gavroche, Azelma, and Grantaire-

"Hurry, before they come after us!" Azelma told her sister.

"I wouldn't worry about it, 'Zel." Éponine told her sister.

"She's right, Hambone." Grantaire smirked. "I mean, did you see their little legs. Those sons-of-bitches make preschoolers look like King Kong."

Cosette was about to say something, until she saw what looked like a gigantic shadow looming over her and her friends. Then they heard it.

STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!

Éponine stopped the cart and the five friends turned to see it. A gigantic gnome made up of all the other gnomes stood behind them. And at the top was none other than Dean.

"Damn…" Grantaire was the one that said the word that was on all of their minds.

"Alright guys, teamwork! Just like we practiced!" They heard Dean shout.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" Azelma shouted at her sister as Éponine pushed down hard on the gas pedal.

"Come back with our queen!" Dean shouted at them.

"It's getting closer, 'Ponine" Cosette shouted.

The gnomes started to launch themselves at the cart. Grantaire grabbed the bat and started swinging at the gnomes that came toward the cart. But he couldn't stop them all. So, the others started pitching in to. Gavroche punched every gnome that came to close to Azelma.

"GAH!" Azelma saw Grantaire get attacked by a gnome, which was scratching his face.

"I've gotcha, R!" Azelma shouted as she started to punch the gnome on Grantaire's face until it let go and fell of the cart, taking the bat with him.

"Thanks, 'Zelma." Grantaire said woozily. When punching the gnome, Azelma also punched in Grantaire in his face, several times.

"Don't mention it!" Azelma smiled, oblivious to his current state.

Meanwhile, Cosette and Éponine were managing pretty well in the front seat. Éponine swatted away the one or two gnomes that tried to take control of the car. While Cosette used the shovel to smack all the others away with a shovel. But, of course, plans don't always go the way you want them to.

"GRANGOR!" Said gnome shouted as he launched himself at Éponine's back.

Éponine screamed in pain as Grangor dug his claws into Éponine's back and started to tear up her favorite jacket and shirt and a layer of skin. He eventually made his way toward the front of Éponine, making sure he starched her up on the way, and toward the steering wheel.

Finally, Éponine couldn't take it. "Cosette, take the wheel!"

The blonde turned to see her friend in a tight spot, so Cosette leaned over and started to steer while Éponine grabbed Grangor by the pointed hat, and started to smack him against the dashboard with all her might.

"Grangor…" Grangor said weakly before Éponine held him off the side of the cart and then let go of the gnome. She nodded thanks toward Cosette and took control of the cart once again.

They all screamed as the cart narrowly dodged one of the many trees in the forest. And the fact that gnomes were gaining on them. Éponine pushed on the gas-pedal as hard as she could, but the cart was already going as fast as it could. But it still wasn't fast enough.

"Can't this hunk-of-junk go any faster?!" Grantaire shouted from the back seat.

"You wanna take over, R? Be my fucking guest!" She shouted back to him.

"We're running out of road!" Gavroche shouted to his sister.

"I can see that, 'Roche!" Éponine shouted as she swerved the cart to make sure they stayed within the clearings.

"LOOK OUT!" Azelma screamed. Grantaire, Cosette, Azelma, and Gavroche watched as the gnomes picked up a tree from right out of the ground, and threw it over the cart. It landed sideways in their road.

They all screamed as Éponine turned the wheel as hard as she could and slammed on the brakes. Cosette grabbed the dashboard of the cart with an iron grip, Gavroche clutched Azelma who grabbed the pole that held the roof of the cart above them, Grantaire grabbed the pole opposite the one Azelma grabbed and threw out his other arm to prevent Gavroche and Azelma from being thrown forward, and Éponine's hands never left the wheel as the cart spun out of control and begun to tip over on its side.

The cart slid out into the clearing, tossing it's passengers out and causing them to land hard on the ground.

Éponine, Azelma, Gavroche, Cosette, and Grantaire groaned in pain as they stood up. They all saw that they were on the very edge of town. The only building in sight was a Home and Garden type shop. Azelma was the first to notice the leaf-blower that was on the side of the building.

STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-STOMP!

The gnome monster roared as the five friends backed up toward the building. They were cornered.

"S-Stay back, man!" Éponine shouted as she picked up the shovel and chucked it at the gnome monster, which just grabbed it with one of its hand and crushed.

They all screamed and huddled together. "What do we do now?!" Grantaire screamed.

"It's the end of the line kids! Azelma, marry us before we do something crazy!" Dean shouted down to them.

Éponine brought Azelma and Gavroche close to her, Cosette huddled closer to her friends, and Grantaire stepped forward protectively. Azelma glanced between Dean, the monster, her siblings, and her friends before her eyes finally landed on the leaf-blower which was directly to her left. That's when she got an idea.

Azelma stepped forward. "I've gotta do it."

"WHAT?!" Her friends and sibling shouted as they turned to face her.

"Azelma, are you crazy?!" Gavroche asked.

"You can't possibly be serious!" Éponine looked down at her little sister with concern.

"Trust me."

"Huh?" Came the chorused response from her siblings and friends.

"Guys, look, I know that I've messed up in that past, but for once in your lives, just trust me!" Azelma begged them.

Éponine looked at her sister, and instead of seeing the little girl that she normally saw, she saw a serious Azelma who looked like she had a plan. Éponine, reluctantly, let go of her sister's arm, and backed up. Prompting the others to do the same.

Azelma smiled sadly at them before turning to face the gnomes. "Alright Dean, you win. I'll marry you.

"Hot Dog! Help me down there, boys!" Dean said happily as he made his way down the giant gnome monster. Once down, he ran up toward Azelma and produced a tiny bow with a ring in it. Instead of a diamond or regular gemstone, it had three crystals in it. "Eh? Eh?"

Azelma smiled sweetly and allowed Dean to put the ring on her finger. "Bada-bing! Bada-boom! Let's get you back to the forest, baby-cakes!"

"You may now kiss the bride!" Azelma said as she looked at the ring. Éponine and Gavroche, not wanting to see this, turned their heads away.

Dean smiled. "Well, don't mind if I do!"

Dean and Azelma started to lean in close to each other, puckering their lips. But, just before they could kiss, Azelma leaned back and turned on the leaf-blower and set it to "Suck" setting.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Dean opened his eyes and started to back away. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's goin on-AH!" Dean shouted as he got sucked into the leaf-blower.

"That's for lying to me!" Azelma told the gnome angrily. Meanwhile, her friends and sibling watched on in surprise at what Azelma was doing. Azelma increased the suction power. "That's for breaking my heart!"

"OW! MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!" Dean shouted.

"And this is for messing with my sister, brother, and best friends!" Azelma smiled and beckoned for the four friends to join her. "You guys wanna do the honors?"

Grantaire, Éponine, Gavroche, and Cosette joined Azelma at the leaf-blower. They put all their hands on top of the switch that set the leaf-blower on either "Suck" or "Blow" and aimed it at the giant gnome monster, who gasped.

"On three!" Cosette told them.

"One, two, three!" They all said in unison before they pushed the leaf-blower back onto "Blow". The force from blowing Dean through the gnome monster (which sent them to the ground), thus breaking it apart, and sent Dean flying through the air and back to the woods.

"I'LL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS!" Dean shouted as he flew toward the woods.

"Who's giving orders? I need orders!" One gnome said.

"My arms are tired." Another said before they looked up and saw Azelma moving the leaf-blower back and forth, smirking along with the others.

"Who's next?" Éponine asked.

The gnomes all screamed as they started to scramble to get away quickly and make back into the forest. Except for one, who get's it's limbs stuck in some trash and struggles it get free. Until Gompers comes by, picks up the trash with its teeth, and carries it away. The gnome that it trapped screaming the entire time.

"Phew!" The five friends sighed as Azelma shut off the leaf-blower and let it fall to the ground. Cosette looked back at the cart, which was tipped on its side.

"I'll text 'Chetta and tell her to come pick it up." Cosette said as she pulled out her phone.

"Hey 'Ponine, 'Roche," Azelma said, gaining everyone's attention. "I, um… I wanna say I'm sorry for not taking your advice. You guys were just looking out for me."

"Hey, don't be like that. You totally saved our buts back there!" Éponine said comfortingly.

"I guess I'm just upset that my first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes." Azelma said sadly, picking a leaf out of her hair.

"Look on the bright side, maybe the next one will be a vampire!" Gavroche told his older sister.

"You guys are just saying that!" Azelma smiled.

"Awkward sibling hug?" Éponine asked, she and Gavroche stretched out their arms.

"Awkward sibling hug." Azelma smiled as she and her siblings' hugged each other.

"PAT-PAT!" The Thénardier children said, patting each other twice on their backs. "Ow!" The three cringed as the pulled away.

After watching the siblings hug out their problems, Grantaire and Cosette became equally aware of how much pain they were in.

Grantaire noticed Éponine's back. "Um, 'Ponine… I think you're bleeding.

"What?" Éponine said.

"It must've been from when that one gnome attacked you." Cosette said.

"When we get back, I'd look for a new shirt. And jacket" Gavroche said.

Grantaire pulled off his leather wind-breaker and draped it over the petite brunette's shoulders. "Until then, you can use this.

"Damn, this was my favorite shirt and jacket too." Éponine said sadly.

"Come on, we've got a long way to walk." Azelma said as she and the others began to walk (or in Grantaire and Éponine's case, limp) back to the shop.

-Half Hour later, in town-

They had managed to make it halfway into town. They pain seemed to increase for everyone with each step they took. But thankfully, someone just happened to be driving by.

"Cosette? Richard?" The five friends turned to see a stern looking man with cold blue-eyes, light grey eyes, and wearing a police uniform hop out of squad car. "What happened to all of you?

"Hi Uncle," Cosette smiled sheepishly.
"S'up Javert?" Grantaire rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Are you all right?" Javert asked the children.

"Define: Alright." Cosette told Javert. Cosette knew that Javert wasn't really her Uncle, but her second cousin. It just felt right to call Javert uncle instead of by his name.

"How did this happen?" Javert asked.

The five friends exchanged wide-eyed glances. They hadn't come up with a good excuse yet. And they obviously couldn't tell Javert the truth, he'd think they're nuts!

"We we're playing-" Éponine started

"-In the woods!" Cosette said.

"And we fell-" Grantaire started

"-Down a hill-" Azelma continued

"-With lots of rocks-" Gavroche continued

"-And sticks." Cosette said.

"Very big hill!" Éponine stated.

"Gigantic actually!" Azelma countered.

"Ow." Grantaire muttered as he rubbed his chest, which received a pretty big bruise when the cart crashed.

Javert, being chief of police, was used to people lying to him on a daily basis. So he could see right through the kids' lie. But that wasn't important. What was important was getting these kids back to his cousin as soon as possible.

"Here, I'll take you kids home." Javert said. Cosette nodded as she slid into the passenger seat, and Grantaire, Éponine, and Azelma slid into the back seat. Azelma, the one who was the least injured, pulled Gavroche onto her lap before buckling up.

Once they were on their way, Javert turned to Cosette and asked. "Didn't you two have a meeting to go to tonight?"

"Yeah, but it's not until eight or something." Cosette answered.

"Cosette," Javert nodded toward the radio in the squad car. "It's almost ten o'clock."

Grantaire and Cosette's eyes widened in shock while the Thénardier siblings exchanged glances. None of them realized that they had been gone that long. But finally, Cosette and Grantaire face-palmed.

"Apollo is gonna have our hides for this, isn't he?" Grantaire asked.

"Who the hell is Apollo?" Éponine asked.

-Ten Minutes Later, at the Musian Drive Book Store-

Fantine and Valjean knew that the kids had gone out. They had expected that they had simply gone to the Café Musian. So, when Javert brought Grantaire, Cosette, Éponine, Azelma, and Gavroche home, the children looking as though they had all been in some sort of fight, the Valjean's didn't know what to think.

"Good heavens! What happened to you all?" Fantine cried as she rushed forward, her motherly instinct taking over. She glanced down at Éponine. "Oh Éponine, what happened to your shirt and jacket?"

"I tell you later. Right now, I need to lie down!" Éponine yawned.

"Of course, come here, all of you!" Valjean said as he, Fantine, and Javert led the children to the couch and chairs in the living room.

Once they were all sat down; Valjean grabbed the first aid kit and started to apply some disinfectant to Éponine's back and the bandages, Javert grabbed some aspirin and heat pads for everyone and some raw steaks for Grantaire's eyes, and Fantine (after looking at Éponine's shirt and jacket once again) told everyone she would be right back and disappeared upstairs.

"What happened to you kids?" Valjean asked.

"To tired and sore to respond." Cosette said.

"To tired to tell you that I'm twenty-one years old! And too tired to say that I'm-" Grantaire started.

"Shut up!" Éponine said to Grantaire, glaring at the drunk.

Fantine came back down-stairs, with a card-board box in her hand. Gavroche looked up. "What's in the box?"

"Well, I figured Éponine would be needing a new shirt, so I dug through some old stuff and found this!" Fantine held up a black tank top with a silver question mark on the front and written on the back, in silver colored writing, written on the back, was Gravity Falls, Oregon. "It was mine from when I was your age. I want you to have it."

Éponine smiled and grabbed the shirt from Fantine's hands and looked it over. Her style, her favorite color, and frankly not that bad looking either. "I'll try it on tomorrow!"

Fantine nodded and turned to Azelma and Gavroche. "And I figured you two could pick something put from this box to have. Just one thing though!"

Azelma and Gavroche nodded and started to dig through the box. Gavroche spotted and old Mad Magazine and happily took that, he and Grantaire were now both reading the section titled "Smokey and the Band-Aid."

"What'cha gonna take, 'Zelma?" Éponine asked.

Azelma smiled brightly. "I'll take a… GRAPPLING HOOK!"

Everyone, even Javert, looked at the orange-haired girl strangely while she cheered for her find. Valjean peered into the box and spotted one of Fantine and Cosette's old doll. "Uh, Azelma are you sure you don't want a-"

He was cut off by Azelma shooting her grappling hook upwards, which grabbed onto the beam of the ceiling, and it rocketed her upward. On the way up, she knocked over a book-shelf. "GRAPPLING HOOK!" Azelma smiled happily.

"Cool!" Cosette, despite her injuries, sprung up and ran up to where Azelma hung.
"Lemme try! Lemme try!" Gavroche, Éponine, and Grantaire practically trampled each other to get to where Azelma hung.

"Um, how do I get down?" Azelma turned to face Valjean and Javert and Fantine.

-One hour later, in Éponine, Gavroche, and Azelma's room-

Éponine, who was now wearing an old, black, Queen's Concert (that was so big she practically drowned in it) that went to her mid-thighs, red pajama shorts (that couldn't be seen from under her night-shirt), and she had her hair pulled into a messy bun, sat on her bed. She looked over to the other side of the room.

Gavroche (who was now wearing grey sweat-pants, a dark-blue Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt, and white socks) sat on his bed, reading his new Mad Magazine.

Cosette (who was wearing a baby pink tank top, silky, baby pink and light blue and light purple colored pajama shorts, baby pink flip-flop slippers, and her hair in two ponytails) sat on the floor with Grantaire (who was only wearing sweat pants for his pajamas) and the two were currently playing a game of Cat's Cradle.

Azelma (who was now wearing a long, lavender nightgown with a sleeping moon ironed on it, grey socks, and a lavender head-ban) was jumping up and down on her bed excitedly, grappling hook in hand.

Éponine, after having some big revelation, quickly reached over to her and Azelma's nightstand and grabbed her lucky red pen, and then reached under her pillow and pulled out 3 and flipped it open quickly to the first blank page. She uncapped her pen and began to write.

'June 3, 2012

Finally back home safe and sound after having one of THE WEIRDEST days of my entire life! And all because of my little sister Azelma (whom I love!), her ex-boyfriend "Nathan" (who turned out to be a bunch of fucking gnomes [Me and my friends thought her was a zombie!] of all things), and this journal. I still can't believe I found this journal. I can't help but wonder who wrote it. I get the feeling that he (or she) didn't want this book to be found. I wonder why? I mean, I just can't help but feel that this person was wrong. This journal told me that there was absolutely no one in Gravity Falls I could trust, but after you battle side-by-side with five people against hundreds of gnomes, you realize that they've pretty much got your back. No matter what. And in the end, they'll have the bumps, bruises, scars, and possible sprained limbs to prove it!

That's all for now, but I've got a feeling this is just the beginning of something big! Forget National Treasure, Gravity Falls is the new Adventure!

Signed,
Éponine Thénardier.'

Éponine closed the journal and looked over at her siblings, foster-sister, and best friend. She laughed as Azelma used her grappling hook to steal one of Gavroche's pillows. Gavroche glared at his sister jokingly while Cosette and Grantaire smiled.

"Don't know 'bout you guys," Grantaire said, standing up. "But my ass is beat and I'm heading to bed."

"Me too," Cosette yawned, standing up. She turned to face her new foster-siblings. "One of you guys turn out the light, ok?" Cosette nodded toward the fire-light, glass lamp on the night-stand.

"I've got it!" Azelma told the blonde, aiming her grappling hook at it.

"No! No! Azelma don't-" Gavroche tried to stop his sister.

SMASH!

Grantaire and Cosette turned around to see Azelma had blown away the lamp with her grappling hook, and that said hook was lodged in the wall, not too far from Éponine.

All four of them turned to look at Azelma. Said girl only smiled as she retracted her Grappling Hook. Once it was back in its holster, she threw her arms up above her head. "It works!"

At first, no one said anything, but then Azelma started laughing. And soon afterwards, Gavroche started to laugh at his sisters antics, and Éponine also started to laugh because this was just Azelma being Azelma!

Finally, Cosette was come over with a fit of giggles. And Grantaire just chuckled and shook his head in amusement.

"Missed a meeting to go save my friend, got beat up by a bunch of gnomes, barley made it out alive, and Enjorlas will be on my ass about it tomorrow." Grantaire thought, but then he smiled. "But it was totally worth it!"

-Around midnight, with Jean Valjean and Fantine-

Valjean had always been a light-sleeper. Always have and always will. So, when he was startled awake by his wife bolting upwards in bed, he turned over.

"Fantine, is everything alright?" Valjean asked. Even today, he still thanks God for blessing him with Fantine as a wife.

Fantine was panting heavily, she had awoken in a cold sweat, Valjean realized. Fantine turned to her husband. "Jean, I saw… I saw…"

"What? What did you see?" Valjean asked, sitting up.

"I saw my old journal, I saw Éponine, and I saw…him"

Valjean felt his blood run cold. He brought Fantine into a comforting hug. "It was only a nightmare, honey. He's gone and so are the journals."

"I know… But I saw Éponine in my dream. I'm used to seeing him in my nightmares, but not Éponine." Fantine told her husband.

"It was only a dream," Valjean was telling it more to himself than to Fantine. "Let's just go back to sleep."

Fantine smiled lightly and nodded as her husband kissed her forehead. And as the two lied back down, Fantine couldn't help but pray that her husband was right. She knew what he was capable of, and she didn't want Éponine or anyone else to have to deal with him.

And Valjean, as he layed trying to get back to sleep, couldn't help but get the feeling something had suddenly begun that day. Something incredible. Something wonderful. Yet something completely out of his control.

And he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Chapter will normally be long because I just don't feel like splitting them up. Plus I'm back at school, so it will take me a long time to update this story! So just bare with me!

Main couples: Jean Valjean/Fantine, Enjorlas/Éponine, Jehan/Azelma, Marius/Cosette, and Joly/Musichetta/Bossuet. Just so you know.

Oh, and if anyone caught one of the dates from this chapter and last, let me know, and I'll give you a sneak peak at an upcoming chapter! Remember, you've got to look really hard and take notice of Les Mis stuff and stuff that's important to me!

And yes, I said I would upload this after I was done with my What if Les Mis were Disney story, but I just couldn't wait to publish this!

Review!