Toil Until the Old Colours Fade

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Fanfiction
Title: Toil Until the Old Colours Fade
Author(s): drcalvin
Date(s): 18 March 2013 – 10 May 2013
Length: 94,307 words (7 chapters)
Genre: Groundhog Day
Fandom: Les Misérables
External Links: on AO3
on FFN
Graphic by johnuskglasss (2013)

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Toil Until the Old Colours Fade is a Javert/Jean Valjean fanfiction by drcalvin. It was inspired by a prompt on the Making Hugo Spin kink meme:

Javert drowns in the river and wakes up the next morning in 1820 having just moved to m sur m; he finds that if he dies again, through suicide or accident, his timeline always resets to that point. How long will it take him to learn to live? To change? To bang Valjean/M. le Mayor harder than a screen door in a hurricane?[1]

It was originally posted anonymously to the kink meme in parts. Once each chapter was edited and betaed, it would be posted to AO3, FFN and LJ.

Author's Summary

After his leap into the Seine, Javert finds himself back in Montreuil-sur-Mer on the morning of his first appointment with M. Madeleine. He soon discovers that while his choices can change the outcome of things, nothing can stop death from delivering him back to that same morning.

Now he has to defeat the game of fate or keep returning to 1820, eternally dying without finding peace.

Reactions and Reviews

Stuck in a Groundhog Day cycle of life and death, Javert is constantly resurrected and returned to the same moment until he manages to un-screw-up his life and become a better person.

Well, *eventually* become a better person. In one of his earliest time loops, he just goes and shoots Valjean in the head. That had to be cathartic. He needed to get that out of his system.

After that, though, he does slowly, convincingly evolve, but the core of the man still remains recognizably Javert. For example, when he goes to fetch Cosette from the Thenardiers earlier than Valjean retrieved her in canon:

The rest of the journey was spent explaining the more approachable applications of the Code Napoléon, sometimes using a folded rag-doll and a piece of wood to demonstrate the issues. Javert soon realized another reason for Valjean's attachment to the child: they shared the same stubborn insistence in viewing events from the most favourable angle possible. Even if the girl lacked the vocabulary and education to make her points convincingly, she definitely had the mindset of a defending attorney.

It was a great relief to deliver the child to her mother at last.

(Javert being awkward with children never ceases to amuse me.)

Along the way, Javert discovers that he can’t fix everything. No matter what he does, Fantine still dies young, being weakened from her earlier misfortunes, but she lives longer than in the original timeline, doesn’t become a prostitute, and has a few more years with Cosette.

Sometimes, events change in ways Javert cannot anticipate. For instance, since he rescues Cosette, Valjean never meets the Thenardiers; when Fantine dies, Valjean thinks it his duty to inform Cosette’s “foster parents” of the death and pay any remaining debts. Thenardier, being a rat bastard, is all, “Well, if Monsieur fancies little girls, we’ve another one right here,” and pimps out Eponine, who is about twelve years old at this point, to him; Valjean, quite understandably, is like, “OH, HELL NO,” throws a wad of cash at Thenardier, informs Cosette that she has a new sister, and adopts Eponine, too.

I could keep going mentioning stand-out moments in this fanfic, because, every time I think the author had written my favorite scene, she manages to add yet another new favorite scene. (Although, I think the scene where Javert invites Valjean to the roof of the Préfecture de police with him may win.)

What Javert needs to fix most of all, though, is not quantifiable nor about other people—it’s what he needs to change inside.[2]

This epic story would steal your sleep and you won’t regret it at all until the morning after when you must go out with massive eye bags.[3]

Javert becomes stuck in a Groundhog’s Day-style loop, returning to Montreuil-Sul-Mer after his suicide. He tries to break the curse, and befriends Valjean and learns mercy in the process. Yeah, this is so good I don’t know what to do with myself. This is the most To love another person is to see the face of God fic.[4]

Warning for Javert dying multiple times in multiple awful soul destroying ways. You will cry. An incredible emotional roller-coaster of a fic[5]

This is a Valjean/Javert Groundhog Day AU with everything I love about good Javert fics. The repetition inherent in the premise allows drcalvin to really detail every step of Javert’s redemption. You get to see how both his attitude and his actions slowly change, and it’s so immensely satisfying by the end.[6]

Inspired Fanworks

Fanart

Fanmixes

Translation

References

  1. ^ Javert drowns in the river..., Archived version at Making Hugo Spin. Posted 20 January 2013.
  2. ^ Les Miserables: Toil Until the Old Colours Fade by drcalvin, Archived version at Fancake. Posted 27 February 2013.
  3. ^ Toil Until the Old Colours Fade, Archived version Posted 17 May 2013.
  4. ^ Tell Me Quickly What’s the Story: Les Miserables Fic Recs!, Archived version Posted 27 November 2014.
  5. ^ Anonymous asked: any valvert fanfic recommendation?, Archived version Posted 23 August 2018.
  6. ^ Fic Bingo: T is for Toil Until the Old Colors Fade, Archived version Posted 14 February 2022.
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