Outfoxing the Inpector (A Les Mis Valjean X Javert fanfic)

Chapter 3: The Alley

Chapter 3: The Alley

A man's yelling can be heard ahead. Valjean's head perks up as he starts listening to the sound. It is coming closer. He can now distinguish the yelling:

"Maire, Maire!" The man on horseback yells as he sees Valjean. Valjean is fully intrigued as he looks at the soldier.
"What is it, soldier?" Valjean asks loudly.

"A good man is being beaten up at the corner of *insert street name here*! He needs help from the officials, for there are too many abusers to handle for one person!"
"Go tell my officials now! I will meet you all there!"

"Yes, Sir!" The soldier rides away to the location of Valjean's officials.

Valjean looks around. A crowd has gathered to see what the conundrum is about.

"You there!" Valjean points to a nearby man who has a horse. "I need this!" Valjean hurriedly grabs the horse's reins from the man, mounts it, then tosses gold coins to the rattled man, making his angered mouth turn into an accepting smile. With that, Valjean rushes towards the street with the supposedly abused man.

As he speeds through the streets on his steed as he shouts for people to get out of the way. The French people dodge him, some only narrowly avoiding the large stallion's racing hooves. Once at the location of the street, Valjean halts his horse to a stop, causing it to rear on its back legs and then stand restlessly. On top of his perch, Valjean looks around for the man and his abusers. As he searches the dimly lit street, he notices...nothing. There isn't a single soul in the area. What is happening? Surely this must have been the location. Valjean's brain starts questioning his eyes, for this must be the place! That poor man needs saving! Not a sound can be heard; nothing but the sound of distant, erie crows in the night. Seconds of confusion pass. Was this all a trick? Was the soldier even a real official or just a kid playing a prank?

At that moment, the very person that Valjean was pondering about appeared in front of him. The soldier from before stood dismounted next to his horse. He had a smug expression. How strange.

"You there...what is going on?" Valjean asks cautiously as he dismounts.

The man said nothing, instead, he smiled an evil smile. His eyes make their way to a dark alley. Valjean's aloof eyes follow. Valjean whips his head around, petrified, his bright eyes scanning the dark alley, squinting when he sees a vague figure emerge from the shadows. He can tell from the figure's complexion that he has been drawn into another of Javert's "smart" traps.
"Come back for more, eh Javert?" Valjean says with as much courage as he can muster. The figure doesn't respond, only approaching quickly to close the distance, his face covered in a black mask. Valjean immediately senses that this man can't be up to any good. Instinctively, he backs up cautiously. Keeping his eye on the dark figure, only to run into a big man; only slightly taller than he; clad in black staring back at him with a crooked grin.

"Ah....you look like a fine gentleman....isn't the moon rather lovely in Paris?" Valjean cries rather sheepishly. The man only looks with disdain, putting a hand on Valjean's to turn him back towards the alley. What was only one man has turned into three. They twist out from behind one another like serpents emerging from a nest. Each of them is clad in black, bearing the imprint of the Royal French Monarchy on the sides of their neck. Valjean feels hysterical, "How am I supposed to fight these men?" he thinks. As the figures loom closer, he sees a familiar face approaching behind the gang of men. That brooding, cold, face that could only belong to the heartless Javert.... A man who had exchanged the grace of life with him, only to be back with a sinister smile.

"Javert, what is this about? I thought you'd change." Valjean questioned.

"Ha! I have changed before. The moment you spared my life, I decided to change my whole world. I became good. But every time I was 'nice' or did an act of 'kindness' guess what happened." Javert snapped at him. Valjean didn't answer. He didn't know how to answer Javert's question. Javert continued, "Every time I was nice it bit me in the derriere. Once I gave a poor boy a piece of bread. Then I was accused of stealing! I spent 2 months in prison!" Valjean rolled his eyes at that familiar statement. "Whatever, that was clearly a flaw in the system. But then it happened again!" Javert's voice started to grow in volume and anger. "Then I was going for a midnight walk to clear my head, when all of a sudden I saw a man-whore. Can you believe that?! What a disgraceful human! I had to restrain myself because you taught me, Jean Valjean. You taught me to always be kind no matter the circumstance. So, of course, I tried to avoid him so as to not spike my anger. But he spotted me and came running over to me-I mean, who could blame him?" Valjean rolled his eyes once more. "He tried to seduce me. What a disgusting move. So I, a changed man, told him to stop and I continued walking once more. Then, suddenly, two officials came over and put both me and the man-whore in chains! What were they doing? Well, apparently, they thought we were a couple! Sacre bleu! I almost threw up right there. Despite my persuasion skills, they would not even hear me out. Instead, they threw me in the barracks again! 6 months! 6 months, Jean Valjean! Look where your 'advice' has taken me! And that isn't even the end of it. Many similar situations happened after that! You know what that means, Valjean. Your advice was faulty! Goodness doesn't get a man anywhere! In fact, it does the opposite! You have caused me suffering yet again!"

Valjean grows fearful. Nothing is worse than a mad, corrupted foozler* with more power than he needs. Trapped on his knees and being held down by the strong men, he cannot escape. Yet somehow he is not panicking. Javert pulls out his gun, but Valjean is still level-headed. A few seconds of silence pass, the remnants of Javert's story still processing in the cold air. Javert is visibly shaking from anger, a sight that has never been seen before considering his usual eerie emo calmness. "Men!" Javert yells to his henchmen. Their ears perk up in obedience to their Official yielding a gun. "Leave us at once! I need to do this myself." The men look questioningly at each other, then they release Valjean's shoulders with a shove as they take their leave. It is now only Jean Valjean and Javert in the dark, narrow alley.

Javert holds the gun up to Valjean's head. An exact replica of them just one year earlier.

"Javert," Valjean says calmly, almost in a whisper. He looks, without moving his head, into Javert's eyes and only sees madness. This man will not listen to reasoning. Valjean thinks to himself.

"Oh, I am very excited about this, Old Friend," Javert says as he smiles dementedly. The madman steps closer to Valjean and kneels in order to be at eye level with him. Javert's eyes are wide open in madness as he stares into Valjean's blue ones. Javert whispers like a ghost in Valjean's ears."You took everything from me. It was you who I am to defeat. The reason for my life isn't to be good or kind...the reason I exist is to kill you! As long as you roam the earth, the world will not be at peace. It is either Valjean or Javert!" With that, Javert caulks the gun and aims right at Jean Valjean's forehead.

He pulls the trigger.