Hello! I'm alive!
This is a sort of test fic. Yes, that's it. Les Mis. :)
A little something I wrote up one day.
enjoy
A blurry light. Nausea, dizziness. But then nothing. Nothing was heard, seen, or felt.
He pushed himself up slowly, his small hands suddenly aching and head pounding. His chest was plagued with the oddest sensation.
As soon as he was up, all the pain was gone. He felt energy, he felt life more vibrantly than he ever had before.
Before?
What was before?
He thought hard. But all that was recalled was blurry nonsense. Voices, maybe. Clatters and bangs.
He was bothered that he couldn't remember. Was it a medical condition?
He chuckled to himself. Joly would help him. Joly knew lots of things about medicine and health.
Where was he?
The boy suddenly clued in to his surroundings.
Paris!
His city!
People milled about him, a quiet and general murmur emitting from the crowd.
He smiled. He knew his way around here!
With the newly sprung energy that only the most rested of people could aquire, he wove his way through the crowd, laughing and singing, sounds that blended in, creating an almost-song of voices.
This was where he was happy! He jumped along, picking up pebbles and tossing them at street lamps, fleeing in small, quick bird-like movements as he dodged through the crowd.
This was freedom!
And never had he felt so free! He spun and leapt around on his feet, dashing from street to street, grinning. A certain energy that had never been there carried him. What was it?
He was never out of breath, never out of stamina, and so he kept on, through alleys and crowds, a smile of simple joy lighting his face.
She sat alone.
She rested alone by herself, sitting against a wall.
This was it. She understood what had happened, what she sacrificed. It was her life. Not that it was much of one anyway.
It was much more fufilling to simply give it up for him. She hoped not to see him appear soon. She feared it. She feared watching him dazed, confused, realizing what had just occurred.
That's how it had happened for her anyways.
She had stood up slowly, blinking, disoriented.
Then she remembered the shot.
She glanced down at her stomach quickly, grasping her clothing, her side, as she realized she felt no pain nor blood.
Then she remembered.
It was her life that had been given up. For his.
So now, resting against that wall, her biggest fear was the notion that at any moment, Marius would be tossed into the world that she was now in.
Where was she?
It was Paris, that was for sure. But something was different. She wandered for a while, slowly taking in the place. It was all the same. But something was different.
The voices of people seemed lighter, the air more carefree. Perhaps it was only her, but every colour, every sound seemed to be vibrant and full of a certain energy.
She began to walk slower, looking down, smiling to herself. This was freedom. She let the noise fill her, closing her eyes, listening to the sound of freedom. Happiness.
She walked on for a little while before finding a place to rest. There she sat, knees pulled up, feeling at ease. At rest.
Some time later, she was shaken from her state of ease.
A boy ran out from an alley around the corner.
Her jaw dropped slightly.
Was she really surprised though?
"Gavroche..."
She swallowed the fear. Her fear. It wasn't Marius, but her brother she saw standing in front of her.
He stopped in his running, turned around, a nearly ecstatic smile still on his face. It faltered.
"'Ponine!"
Eponine shook her head slowly, shutting her eyes.
He didn't understand yet.
She spoke quietly, softly.
"Do you know why we're here?"
He shrugged. "Beats me, but it's a whole lot better than where we was before!"
He smiled a little and began to run off again.
Eponine sighed, tears forming at her eyes. She stood up and strode after him, grabbing his arm so he turned around.
"Gavie... wait."
This time his smile slowly faded altogether.
"You're not s'posed to be 'ere!" He shook his head. "Got me crazy, now you have! Another somethin' to see Joly about."
Eponine watched him sadly. Was there a point in telling him? He would realize soon enough.
He always had been clever.
And he did. Something clicked.
Gavroche remembered.
"I..."
Eponine could hardly stand seeing him in such a way. It was perhaps worse than any physical pain she could remember.
Gavroche put a hand to his chest, looking lost and confused. Of course he would be.
His eyes flicked around.
"I've been shot..."
Eponine closed her eyes and nodded slowly.
"I suppose you... have. I'm sorry."
He seemed to have a single moment of apprehension. Fear.
She held his hand.
Gavroche was scared.
And Eponine had never seen anything like it. Her fearless little brother had seen it all. She never knew he would find his fear. And here of all places.
It's hard to watch the people who never break, crumble slowly.
Gavroche's past energy had seemed to vanish.
He pulled his hand away from hers, trying to shove off any show of concern.
He swallowed hard, unsure, everything unclear. A day that had been filled with bliss turned around, and Eponine felt that peace harden into a sulk.
He turned around.
"'Ponine..."
She nodded.
Quietly, softly-
"I didn't wanna die."
Lost for an answer, Eponine knelt down to his height. She straightened his collar, she looked up at him.
"Listen, Gavroche."
He didn't nod, nor did he move.
"My brave, clever little brother."
Did he tilt his head?
Maybe.
"You've left that place for a reason. You've left fighting for other people. You've left a mark."
"Changed things for others, Gavroche."
He looked up a little more.
"And you're very, very gallant for it."
Eponine didn't smile. It was a serious truth.
When there was nothing but silence and a shaky sigh from her brother, she continued.
"Look around you."
She nodded towards the bright blue sky, the happily talking people.
"This is where we may have our freedom."
"Maybe freedom wasn't meant for us before, Gavroche. But here,"
She lifted his chin,
"we can be happy."