Chapter Text
It was a fine spring day, with a cool breeze and the soft chirping of birds adding only to the sweetness of an early Sunday morning. The sun had barely risen, yet even so she’d felt that an early service had been fitting, if only because it had become a habit of her’s. Aside from that she liked to wander the grounds in the mornings- good exercise and good food for thought, she figured. And, of course, it a good time to care for the flowers and visit her father. A good year or so had come and gone since his passing, but the thought of it still ached, as was only natural, she supposed. Such terrible times for she and Marius, far too much death and despair in far too short an amount of time; a tragedy, in short. However, such a lovely morning was not the time to fret about such things.
Of course, passing through the graveyard didn’t help anything as far as thoughts of mortality went, but Cosette was adamant in her habit. Aside from the symbolic act of visiting her father’s grave and the literal act of ensuring the livelihood of the flowers, she figured that, as it seemed terribly lonesome to be dead, such visits would benefit the spirits by way of giving them company. They’d never said otherwise, so she had made it a habit along with her more traditional visits alone.
That morning, she busied herself with tending to the flowers while she thought. She’d done a lot of thinking lately, about life, death, love, that sort of philosophical thing. Recent events being the way they were, philosophy seemed like the right thing to be thinking about. Didn’t she tell herself to not fret over such things? No, not exactly. Certainly, she was thinking about such philosophical concepts, but that did not count as fretting. Thinking, fretting, very different things, really.
Her internal debate about this difference, however, was interrupted by the curious sight of a pearly white figure pacing around one of the newer graves, mumbling to themselves in the intense manner of someone who felt rather conflicted about their current state of being. The morning being quiet and fairly empty, she stood up and gave a small wave “Pardon me,” she said “but are you alright?” The figure stopped in their tracks and turned to face her. She noticed that they appeared to be a young man who had had an unfortunate run-in with, from her count, about nine bullets. “Bit lost?” she added, trying to be helpful.
He continued to stare for a moment before approaching her proper “You’re able to see me?” he asked.
She shrugged “I believe so, otherwise it’d be terribly strange of me to try and talk to an empty graveyard.”
“I see.” he said. “That is an extraordinary gift.”
She nodded “It really is something, isn’t it? I’m plenty used to it by now, but between you and me, it’s something of a secret, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go spreading that around.” she added with a teasing grin. “You didn’t answer my question from earlier, however. Are you alright, my friend?”
He looked at her curiously “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe we’ve met, mademoiselle. And that aside, I should think that my...current state should be enough indication of anything else.”
Indeed, nine bright red marks on a pearly white figure was a very good indication of a variety of topics. Still, some spirits did better with such situations than others. “All spirits are my friends, m’sieur. Or, at the very least, amiable acquaintances.” Though, come to think of it, the spirit seemed at least somewhat familiar. Perhaps she had seen the young man in life at some point, if only in passing. Truth be told, she found it hard to believe that she would forget such a fellow. He had a very distinct look and gaze that would have been hard for anyone to forget. However, come to think of it, it was likely that Marius had known him. All things considered, the recentness of the grave, the age, the- ahem- markings, it was extremely likely that they were in or around the same conflict that Marius had been involved with. Otherwise it was a very unlucky incident of some strange and unknown nature, but it couldn’t hurt to at least ask. “Perhaps I have seen you before. Are you perchance one of Marius’s friends?”
He looked extremely surprised by this question, or rather, who was asking it. “ You’re Ursule?!”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. Marius was far too mortified by the whole confusion to find the humor in the situation, but she thought it was rather funny. “My name is actually Cosette, but I believe you’ve just answered my question perfectly! You knew Marius after all.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Yes! I was afraid he might get himself killed over the thought of you!” a brief moment of silence and one look of realization later, “I’m sorry, that was thoughtless, I-”
“Mean that you feared he would have his head in the clouds and the rest of him riddled with bullets? I can’t blame you for your worry, it sounds like something he might’ve done.”
It was at this point that she realized that the spirit had kept a relative distance away from her “You can come and sit with me, if you’d like.” she said, seating herself in the grass by a grave “There will be no suspicions of a scandal or anything of that nature. Most people I know don’t have that level of activity in their imaginations.”
Seeming somewhat tentative about the whole situation for a moment, the spirit eventually took a more-or-less metaphorical seat across from her, “leaning” against another gravestone. Getting a better look at him, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the poor fellow was born to die. He had that sort of look about him, particularly around the eyes, bright blue and restless. There were many spirits like him, and most of them came to terms with that fact relatively quickly. Judging by his mutterings earlier, however, she doubted that he was quite there yet. “Pontmercy made it out alive then?” he asked, the concern in his voice a stark contrast from his agitation earlier.
“I should hope so!” Cosette replied “Otherwise it would have been a terribly strange wedding!”
“And married too!”
“Indeed! I’m just thankful that my papa was there to save him!” She continued, despite the slight twinge in her heart at the mention of her father “He was not terribly fond of Marius, but he was always a very selfless man. He wrote about helping the students at the barricades- did you see him?”
“The old man was your father?” he asked, dumbfounded by the sheer coincidence of it all.
She smiled “Yes, though I suppose in the end he couldn’t help you very much at all. I’m very sorry for your current condition, my friend. I would have liked to have met the friends of my father and my husband in life, but I suppose this isn’t too bad a meeting, now is it?”
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. “How thoughtless of me! Here I am talking about myself and my family and I don’t even know your name!”
“I am called Enjolras” he replied “Though I’m not sure how much that matters to you.”
She shrugged “It’s a matter of being personable, I suppose. Marius doesn’t talk much about his friends these days, after all that happened. We work through things in our own way, I suppose.” She fiddled with a small flower between her fingers for a moment “From all that I’ve heard, however, from both the living and the dead, I should think that what you all did was very brave. I’d like to say that, had I been able, I would’ve liked to stand by you all, but I am not one for fighting, you see.”
A somewhat sad smile crossed his face “You sound like a very good friend of mine. He believed that in a perfect world we wouldn’t need to fight to bring about change, but...well, you know how everything ended.”
“I think I might have liked this friend of yours.” she said “Perhaps one day I shall run into them. Paris is a city of ghosts, you know. It’s very easy to find wandering spirits.”
“I doubt he’s still here. He deserves far better than a restless death- they all do, really.”
“I’m certain they think the same of you!” she replied “Moreover, I’ve found in my experience that mosts spirits stick around awhile if they have good reason to. This friend of yours might be trying to find you so that you may pass on together.” She’d seen many spirits that had done that. It wasn’t too far fetched, really.
Still, doubting that was understandable and she could see that he had extreme doubts about that concept. “I must ask why you are here in the first place if you believe your friends to be beyond you now?” she added as gently as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally set off a spirit. That never ended well for anyone, as it usually resulted in a mess of broken hearts and property damage.
He grew pensive. “I don’t know.”
A certain distance appeared in his eyes, and his hands fidgeted ever so slightly through his stiff posture. Cosette knew she was by no means all-knowing, but she had learned a thing or two about people in her days, sheltered as they may have been. “Are you certain of that?”
Silence. She took a deep breath. “I never really knew my mother very well.” She began, speaking steadily “I was very young when she had to entrust me to an innkeeper and his wife in order to find work, but my papa told me that everything she did was out of love for me. He told me about her unfortunate story. He didn’t know her before the end of it all, but he swore to take me in for her sake, and I’m thankful for that every day.” She had moved from the flower to mess with the cloth at the end of her sleeves as she spoke “He didn’t really tell me the full extent of everything ‘till I was older. She was a very unfortunate woman. She had to sell herself to try to pay for my “care”, you see. She didn’t even know how badly I was off when she died and I never really got the chance to know her better. All the same, I can’t help but admire her courage. To love, to lose, to believe oneself to be tainted from their actions done for what they believed was right...she went through all of that, steeling herself and her heart to be brave through it all, and she kept being brave even to the point of death. I think she truly deserved the peace I saw on her face when...when she came for Papa.”
More silence. “Why tell me all of this?”
She looked him straight in the eyes “Because I believe you should know that.”
He nodded slowly “I see…”
There was yet another lull in the conversation. She hoped that lull meant that he was able to understand and absorb what she was implying.
“Cosette, how long have you been able to see spirits?” he asked quietly.
It seemed that he’d caught on to other implications as well. “As long as I can remember. I don’t like lingering on the past, however.” She replied, hoping to change the tempo of the conversation somewhat. “May I ask a personal question now?”
“I suppose it’s only fair.”
She gave it a moment of thought “What exactly were you fighting for?”
In the next spectacular second, she could’ve sworn he was about to fly away from sheer silent enthusiasm. This was, of course, before he even began to speak. Serious and passionate all at once, he spoke with the tremor of a hymn. “A better future for the people! To aid the world in conquering the darkness that plagues mankind and rising again in a glorious dawn of liberty, equality, and brotherhood! My friends fought valiantly for such a world, a world where-!”
He continued on in such a manner for a good while and Cosette listened intently. Was this all off the top of his head? More importantly, was he even aware that he was talking for so long? Gracious! She would have wondered if he’d breathed at all for the duration of his speech, had it not been for the fact that he was, of course, quite dead. It also occurred to her that this was the, for lack of better wording, most spirited she had seen him during their whole conversation. Once he had finished, she took a moment to fully absorb it before simply saying “Then your bravery was well warranted! I wish I could say that I would be at least half as courageous for such a cause.”
“I’ve learned that there are other ways of being brave.” A sincere smile “I want to thank you for being so kind to a lost soul.”
“I’m happy to have lent a listening ear to a lonely soul.” she replied.
His expression faded slightly “Ah, that-”
“Is true. The way you spoke of your friends has shown me as much.” she said seriously. It was at that point that she noticed clouds gathering overhead, and the first few drops of rain. “I must go now, but how about we strike a deal, you and I?”
“What sort of deal?”
“I will return here next Sunday morning and find you again. In the meantime, I shall do all I can to learn about Marius’s friends and then we shall find them together.” She said “I do so wish to meet them, and I believe they will be longing to see you again.”
He faded “I doubt that-”
“Rubbish!” she exclaimed “Do not have such little faith in the hearts of your closest companions! Are we in agreement?”
He seemed to think it over for a moment. “I suppose there is no harm in trying.”
She stood, grinning “Excellent. Farewell, brave spirit, I shall return before you know it.” she added as she walked towards the gates. Turning to take another look at the spirit, she found that he had already vanished from view. Not the sort for casual conversation, perhaps, but she couldn’t help but admire his outburst of enthusiasm. If she were lucky, that enthusiasm would reappear the next Sunday morning. In either case, her mission was clear and, never the type to give up on a friend, Cosette felt determined to see it through. After all, what good is it to simply speak with spirits if you could not help them every once in awhile? It was a noble cause that required a different sort of courage and she had plenty of that.