A/N: The idea for this came to me when I was singing "Castle on a Cloud" while doing chores. My mom overheard me and said that she thought the "place where no one cries" sounded like Heaven. I agreed, then I wondered how Cosette would have heard about Heaven—certainly not from the Thénardiers! So I came up with the idea that a traveling priest may have stopped at the inn and Cosette learned a little bit about God and the Bible from him.
All sorts of people came to the inn at Montfermeil, most of them nobodies, layabouts, or worse. But Cosette had never seen anyone like M. Fontaine before. He was dressed in a black suit and always managed to stay neatly groomed. Cosette noticed the big black book he carried under his arm. He also mostly kept to himself. He never stayed up late drinking himself under the table like the inn's other guests. Which was just as well, since that meant Thénardier never got an opportunity to hustle him.
But the Madame was still as cruel as ever. After beating Cosette for not getting the floor of the kitchen clean enough, the little girl ran off to hide. She chose the one place she knew the Thénardiers would never look—-Fontaine's room. If Fontaine came in while she was still there, she would just pretend to be cleaning.
It was just her luck that the man was sitting at a small table in the room, his big black book open, and scribbling notes. Cosette scurried under the bed, not making a sound. She thought she had evaded Fontaine's notice, but he straightened up and looked toward her hiding spot. "What are you doing in here, little lark?" he asked with a kind smile.
"Please don't be angry! I'm sorry, I'll leave."
"No, child, you may stay if you want to. Will you come out?"
Cosette cautiously crept out from under the bed, waiting for the man to make any sudden movements. He did not, just waited until she was on her feet again. She looked at his book, filled with curiosity. "What is that book, monsieur?"
"It is my Bible. I am a curé."
"What is a curé?"
"I tell people about Jesus."
"I've heard Master Thénardier say that name before, when he's angry about something. Who is Jesus? He doesn't sound like a Frenchman."
"Jesus is the Son of God. He came to Earth from Heaven to save us."
"Where's Heaven? What is it like?"
"Heaven is where God is. It is a perfect place, without sin, suffering, or death. Here," Fontaine reached for his Bible. "Let me read about it to you."
Fontaine read a section from the book of Revelation that talked about the wonderful paradise. Cosette listened with rapt attention. She had never heard anything like this before. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'"
When he was finished, Cosette let out a longing-filled sigh. "Heaven sounds like the most beautiful place to ever exist! How do I get there?"
"I will tell you what Jesus said: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one cometh unto the Father but by me.' You must believe that Jesus paid the punishment for all the wrong things you've done, and trust in Him to save you. Then, when you die, He will take you to Heaven."
"Will you help me pray?" Cosette whispered. At Fontaine's guidance, she knelt and asked for forgiveness and salvation.
After the curé left the inn, Cosette never forgot the only Bible lesson she had been taught. When the days of hard labor she had to endure grew too much for her, she thought about her future home in Heaven. "In My Father's house are many mansions." Her child's mind thought mansions must be like castles. She wondered what it would be like to live in a castle of her own. And who else would she meet in Heaven?
One night, she had a dream. She had just arrived at the castle waiting for her in Heaven. Someone was there to greet her. It was a woman dressed in white, with golden hair similar to Cosette's own. She folded her into a warm, soft embrace. "Cosette, I love you very much," she whispered.
Madame Thénardier's shrieking jerked her awake. Cosette was devastated to be woken so suddenly and harshly. She felt tears welling in her eyes, but she held them back. "No crying," she chided herself. "There will be no crying in my castle in the clouds."