Heartsbreak
Title: Heartsbreak
Author/Artist: wtfjustgoforit
Character/Pairings: Ti Moune and young Javert
Fandom: various musicals
Prompt: #3: sky
It isn’t Andrea’s fault.
Ti Moune has to fight hard to remember this. The back of her mind shows her the look that passed between Daniel and Andrea, the look of “you didn’t tell her?” and “but I don’t want to tell her.”
Andrea was the one who told her the truth. Ti Moune cannot blame her for telling the truth.
Are the gods just playing with her? She promised her life to Papa Ge so that Daniel would live - Asaka showed her the way to the Hotel Beauxhomme so that she could be with him - Erzulie told her that they would always be together.
And she believed them. Of course she did. They are the gods.
She remembers everything else, too. Everything everyone always said.
“There can never be anything between a peasant and a Grandhomme!”
“Marry you? You are mad!”
“Now, what can he want with a woman like that?”
“If he lives, how angry the gods will be!”
“The boy has the will of the devil himself.”
“He’ll soon throw her out!”
“That girl will have the gods to repay!”
And she remembers what Daniel said. Some girls you marry, some you love. He’d told her. She just hadn’t been paying attention.
She is still inside the ballroom, still standing stricken in front of Daniel and Andrea. She is indoors, but it feels like the world is upside down and she’s hanging over a bottomless night sky about to swallow her up.
She wishes it would. Because now she realizes what she never realized before: Daniel was playing her the whole time.
She wants to slap him. She wants to make a scene, to scream and wail and hurt him the way he hurt her. But she can’t.
She hasn’t seen him. Then again, with what just happened, he can understand that.
The bastard. The complete, utter, bastard. He led her on, let her think they would get married, and he didn’t even have the intestinal fortitude to tell her himself. His fiancée had to do it for him.
Javert wants to arrest him, to throw him in prison and see him in a chain gang. But he can’t. For one thing, he isn’t a police officer. And for another, what possible reason would he have to arrest Daniel Beauxhomme? “I charge you with playing with the hearts of girls.” If that were a crime punishable by Law, there would never be enough prisons.
No, the Law says nothing about breaking a pretty girl’s heart.
He feels himself tearing in half. The first half is the animal that wants to hurt Daniel, painfully tight inside his chest, angrier than he has ever been before - so full of rage that it frightens him. The other half wants to forget everything else and run to Ti Moune, comfort her, - and it shouldn’t, but that frightens him too.
So he does nothing, but watches helplessly as her heart breaks.
And, out of nowhere - in the middle of the dazzlingly lit ballroom - Papa Ge is there.
“There were promises made in the darkness …”
No …
“Promises made in your sleep …”
Yes, yes, in her sleep, because this is all a dream, this can’t be real …
“Promises the gods demand you keep.”
He disappears from behind her shoulder and materializes in a cloud of blackness in front of her.
Papa Ge. Darkness incarnate - night in the shape of a giant of a man, with scarlet eyes and grinning white teeth. He terrifies her.
“You gave him love - love that he’d soon betray …”
She knows. Gods, she knows. And it’s ripping her apart.
“You gave him life …” He leans forward, and he looms over her, his face mere inches away from hers, but she feels no breath - because of course Papa Ge would have no reason to breathe. “I am the price you pay.”
Her eyes well up with tears.
“Sure as the grave,” he whispers, “you must accept what is. Now” - he laughs - “your life is forever mine!”
Ti Moune is crouched in on herself now, a horrible expression of frightened anguish on her face. Without even thinking, he elbows his way through the crowd and puts his arms around her. She automatically buries her face in his shoulder; other than that, she doesn’t seem to register his presence.
“Please don’t,” she says chokingly. Then: “What?”
And now Javert hears a voice that sounds like chain links clinking together, sounds like doors slamming shut, sounds like a million muttered curses: like prison.
You saved him. You loved him. Why should you die for him now?
What the hell is this?
Kill him, Ti Moune! Kill the love you have for Daniel. Prove that death is stronger than love, and you can have your own life again - just as if you had never loved at all.
Demons. That’s all it is. He’s heard of demons before - his mother used to whisper stories to him - but he never really believed in them. Now he does.
Ti Moune feels arms around her - strong arms holding her in a warm embrace. Papa Ge wants her to kill Daniel. Has she gone mad?
“I am the road leading to no return,” the demon of death sings. “Secret of life, finally his to learn …”
Erzulie murmurs in her ear, “The courage of a dreamer.”
She feels a heart beating, not hers. Whose is it?
“You are part …”
“I am the car racing towards distant shores …”
Papa Ge puts a knife in her hand. Simple thing, really: just a piece of sharpened metal, black, with silvery twisting patterns on it. Death’s own knife. The first and only weapon. Her fingers wrap around it gingerly. Does she want this?
“Part of the human heart …”
She breathes in slowly, and she feels the other person’s breath. Her eyes close and a soft brown color floods her.
Javert?
What is he doing here? If she’s not imagining him …
Ti Moune pulls away from him.
She has a knife in her hand. Where in the world did it come from?
She looks up, and her eyes shift focus; she recognizes him. But apparently she sees the question forming on his lips: she shakes her head once, a fierce jerk “no”.
And Javert stands there, and watches her walk towards Daniel and Andrea.
(Kill him, Ti Moune!)
The knife. Oh God. No. No!
He darts forward and grabs her wrist, but she wrenches free.
She is up close to Daniel now, standing right in front of him, and she raises the knife slowly -
The metal flashes in the light of a million chandeliers -
And it drops from nerveless fingers, to clatter on the floor and then vanish in a curl of gray smoke.
Of course she can’t do it. She loves Daniel. For all that he strung her along, lied and cheated and deceived her, she still loves him.
Besides, Javert would never forgive her.
“I can’t.”
Her voice comes in one soft shuddering sob. “Daniel, I love you.”
And Javert stands there behind her, frozen, the one arm still reaching for her - and then he drops his arm, and he bows his head: because now he realizes what he didn’t realize before, that he loves Ti Moune. And now it is beyond too late.
And he does nothing, but stands there helplessly while his heart breaks.
Author/Artist: wtfjustgoforit
Character/Pairings: Ti Moune and young Javert
Fandom: various musicals
Prompt: #3: sky
It isn’t Andrea’s fault.
Ti Moune has to fight hard to remember this. The back of her mind shows her the look that passed between Daniel and Andrea, the look of “you didn’t tell her?” and “but I don’t want to tell her.”
Andrea was the one who told her the truth. Ti Moune cannot blame her for telling the truth.
Are the gods just playing with her? She promised her life to Papa Ge so that Daniel would live - Asaka showed her the way to the Hotel Beauxhomme so that she could be with him - Erzulie told her that they would always be together.
And she believed them. Of course she did. They are the gods.
She remembers everything else, too. Everything everyone always said.
“There can never be anything between a peasant and a Grandhomme!”
“Marry you? You are mad!”
“Now, what can he want with a woman like that?”
“If he lives, how angry the gods will be!”
“The boy has the will of the devil himself.”
“He’ll soon throw her out!”
“That girl will have the gods to repay!”
And she remembers what Daniel said. Some girls you marry, some you love. He’d told her. She just hadn’t been paying attention.
She is still inside the ballroom, still standing stricken in front of Daniel and Andrea. She is indoors, but it feels like the world is upside down and she’s hanging over a bottomless night sky about to swallow her up.
She wishes it would. Because now she realizes what she never realized before: Daniel was playing her the whole time.
She wants to slap him. She wants to make a scene, to scream and wail and hurt him the way he hurt her. But she can’t.
She hasn’t seen him. Then again, with what just happened, he can understand that.
The bastard. The complete, utter, bastard. He led her on, let her think they would get married, and he didn’t even have the intestinal fortitude to tell her himself. His fiancée had to do it for him.
Javert wants to arrest him, to throw him in prison and see him in a chain gang. But he can’t. For one thing, he isn’t a police officer. And for another, what possible reason would he have to arrest Daniel Beauxhomme? “I charge you with playing with the hearts of girls.” If that were a crime punishable by Law, there would never be enough prisons.
No, the Law says nothing about breaking a pretty girl’s heart.
He feels himself tearing in half. The first half is the animal that wants to hurt Daniel, painfully tight inside his chest, angrier than he has ever been before - so full of rage that it frightens him. The other half wants to forget everything else and run to Ti Moune, comfort her, - and it shouldn’t, but that frightens him too.
So he does nothing, but watches helplessly as her heart breaks.
And, out of nowhere - in the middle of the dazzlingly lit ballroom - Papa Ge is there.
“There were promises made in the darkness …”
No …
“Promises made in your sleep …”
Yes, yes, in her sleep, because this is all a dream, this can’t be real …
“Promises the gods demand you keep.”
He disappears from behind her shoulder and materializes in a cloud of blackness in front of her.
Papa Ge. Darkness incarnate - night in the shape of a giant of a man, with scarlet eyes and grinning white teeth. He terrifies her.
“You gave him love - love that he’d soon betray …”
She knows. Gods, she knows. And it’s ripping her apart.
“You gave him life …” He leans forward, and he looms over her, his face mere inches away from hers, but she feels no breath - because of course Papa Ge would have no reason to breathe. “I am the price you pay.”
Her eyes well up with tears.
“Sure as the grave,” he whispers, “you must accept what is. Now” - he laughs - “your life is forever mine!”
Ti Moune is crouched in on herself now, a horrible expression of frightened anguish on her face. Without even thinking, he elbows his way through the crowd and puts his arms around her. She automatically buries her face in his shoulder; other than that, she doesn’t seem to register his presence.
“Please don’t,” she says chokingly. Then: “What?”
And now Javert hears a voice that sounds like chain links clinking together, sounds like doors slamming shut, sounds like a million muttered curses: like prison.
You saved him. You loved him. Why should you die for him now?
What the hell is this?
Kill him, Ti Moune! Kill the love you have for Daniel. Prove that death is stronger than love, and you can have your own life again - just as if you had never loved at all.
Demons. That’s all it is. He’s heard of demons before - his mother used to whisper stories to him - but he never really believed in them. Now he does.
Ti Moune feels arms around her - strong arms holding her in a warm embrace. Papa Ge wants her to kill Daniel. Has she gone mad?
“I am the road leading to no return,” the demon of death sings. “Secret of life, finally his to learn …”
Erzulie murmurs in her ear, “The courage of a dreamer.”
She feels a heart beating, not hers. Whose is it?
“You are part …”
“I am the car racing towards distant shores …”
Papa Ge puts a knife in her hand. Simple thing, really: just a piece of sharpened metal, black, with silvery twisting patterns on it. Death’s own knife. The first and only weapon. Her fingers wrap around it gingerly. Does she want this?
“Part of the human heart …”
She breathes in slowly, and she feels the other person’s breath. Her eyes close and a soft brown color floods her.
Javert?
What is he doing here? If she’s not imagining him …
Ti Moune pulls away from him.
She has a knife in her hand. Where in the world did it come from?
She looks up, and her eyes shift focus; she recognizes him. But apparently she sees the question forming on his lips: she shakes her head once, a fierce jerk “no”.
And Javert stands there, and watches her walk towards Daniel and Andrea.
(Kill him, Ti Moune!)
The knife. Oh God. No. No!
He darts forward and grabs her wrist, but she wrenches free.
She is up close to Daniel now, standing right in front of him, and she raises the knife slowly -
The metal flashes in the light of a million chandeliers -
And it drops from nerveless fingers, to clatter on the floor and then vanish in a curl of gray smoke.
Of course she can’t do it. She loves Daniel. For all that he strung her along, lied and cheated and deceived her, she still loves him.
Besides, Javert would never forgive her.
“I can’t.”
Her voice comes in one soft shuddering sob. “Daniel, I love you.”
And Javert stands there behind her, frozen, the one arm still reaching for her - and then he drops his arm, and he bows his head: because now he realizes what he didn’t realize before, that he loves Ti Moune. And now it is beyond too late.
And he does nothing, but stands there helplessly while his heart breaks.