This was inspired by a picture I found on... well, I don't know the actual website. I found the picture through google images. It's a picture of Marius about to twirl Eponine around on the top, and then on the bottom a picture of her, dead in Marius' arms. In the middle it says 'One minute there then she was gone'.

Disclaimer: I don't own Les Mis, nor do I own the characters.

One Minute There Then She Was Gone

Marius twirled Eponine around, surprising her as he did so and causing one of her rare laughs. They were walking together, through the streets, as they often did. They talked about anything and everything. Marius told her a bit about his classes, and Eponine shared with him a story about one of her 'adventures' with Gavroche and how they had narrowly escaped Inspector Javert. Marius enjoyed these times, when they walked together. Eponine always seemed so happy. He liked it when she was happy. He loved the sound of her laugh. It was soft and almost musical. He loved seeing her smile. Her smile was so beautiful, it brightened even the gloomiest of days, it was brighter than the sun's rays. Marius smiled to himself. He was starting to sound like Prouvaire.

He looked at the girl that walked beside him, his best friend, Eponine. She truly was beautiful. The way the sun hit her chestnut brown hair almost made it look red, and her large, hazel eyes looked more green than brown and almost seemed to sparkle. She was thinner than she should have been, yes, and that was worrying. Yes, her hair was tangled and matted with dirt. Yes, she wore threadbare rags with many rips and tears. But she was beautiful. There is so much more to beauty than what is on the outside. After all, it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what's essential is invisible to the eyes.

Eponine was uncommonly kind. Even though she did not have much to give, she always tried to help others. Even though her life could be dark and miserable, she always tried to see the good in others. She was a very good friend to Marius, always doing anything she could to help him, always cheering him up when he was down, always there for him. Marius knew that she did not think much of herself, but in his eyes, she was perfect... He loved her...

And now she was gone. She was dead, in his arms. She was gone. His best friend, his beautiful Eponine was gone. Tears fell from his soft green eyes as he cradled the dead body of his best friend, and he kissed her forehead softly. She would never laugh again, never tease him, never joke with him. She would never again smile at him her beautiful smile. She was dead. He loved her and she was dead. He couldn't change that, no matter how desperately he wanted to. He just wished... he wished he had told her. He wished that she could have died knowing that he loved her. But now she would never know. She was dead when only moments before she had been living. He looked at her body. She almost looked like she could be sleeping... apart from the bullet wound in her chest, where blood still poured out in torrents. It was hard to believe that she was really gone, that his beautiful, beautiful Eponine was now only a body. Dead. One minute there then she was gone.

Marius hurried to the top of the barricade, a powder keg under one of his arms. He was barely aware of the musket pointed at him and the hand that stopped it. Upon reaching the top of the barricade, he grabbed one of the torches and, holding both the torch and the powder keg up, he called out,

"Fall back or I blow up the barricade!" The Guardsman in front of him laughed.

"Blow it up and take yourself with it!" Marius nodded and started to lower the torch to the powder keg.

"And myself with it." he said, the torch almost touching the powder keg.

"FALL BACK!" The Guardsman shouted. Marius placed the torch back in it's place before climbing back down the barricade as the National Guard fell back. He put the powder keg down and was then greeted by cries of 'Well done, Marius!' and 'What were you thinking!?' He looked around the barricade to see if anything needed to be fixed or re-enforced. His eyes landed on a pale figure lying on the ground in a pool of blood. He walked towards the figure, wondering if he (for it appeared to be a boy) was dead or alive. Upon nearing the boy, Marius realised that he had been wrong. This was no boy, it was Eponine. She was hurt.

"Eponine!" Marius exclaimed, kneeling down next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm dying." she replied simply, as if the fact was no more interesting than the weather.

"What? No, you... you can't be!"

"Monsieur, please... it is okay... I am going to die. I accept it." Her voice was weak and it broke several times. Tears were already forming in his eyes. "That's not right, Monsieur. You shouldn't cry for me, you shouldn't be sad."

"Eponine, you're my best friend... you can't die..."

"It's okay," she repeated, "please, just let it be."

"I can carry you to a room, they can dress your wounds. You'll live, 'Ponine... you'll live..." he tried to lift her and in lifting her, he touched her hand. She yelped. He looked closely at her hand and saw the bullet hole in the centre of it. "Your hand..." he whispered, horrified. "How?" he choked out.

"Did you see the musket aimed at you?"

"Yes and a hand stopping it... Mon Dieu... that was your hand..."

"Yes."

"But if that's all then you'll be just fine. One does not die from being shot in the hand." He made to lift her again, but she stopped him by saying,

"It is no use, Monsieur. The bullet went through my hand and out my back. It will do no good to move me from here."

"But there has to be something I can do!"

"There is, Monsieur," she said quietly, "hold me." her voice was soft and pleading. Marius gently took her in his arms. She smiled weakly, a beautiful, heartrending smile. It broke his heart. "That is much better, I suffer no more!" She was in his arms and, for once in her life, she felt at home, she felt that she was somewhere that she belonged. With effort, she turned her head so that she could look at him. "I saw the Guardsman aiming at you," she told him, "and before I knew it, I was running forward and grabbing the muzzle. There was only one thought in my mind... that I couldn't let you die. I took the shot and then dragged myself over here. I waited for you. I knew you would come, that you would find me. And now... now you're here and... and it's like I've come home from so far." She smiled again, that same weak and tragically beautiful smile. "Silly, I know. How can one feel at home by simply being with a certain person? But I feel at home with you. I feel like I belong here, in your arms." Tears fell from Marius' eyes. Eponine convulsed in pain and blood started to come out of her mouth. Marius glanced down at her chest wound where, with each pulsation, there was a flow of blood like a jet of wine from an open cask. She was fading fast. Soon she would be gone. "Promise me something?" she asked, her voice far weaker now and barely even audible.

"Of course, 'Ponine. Anything!"

"When I die... promise to kiss me on the forehead. I'll feel it somehow..." Marius nodded. Eponine smiled and then closed her eyes, her head resting against his shoulder. She remained motionless. Then, just at the moment Marius believed her forever asleep, she opened her eyes, revealing the sombre profundity of death and she whispered to him in a voice whose sweetness seemed already to come from another world, "And then, do you know, Monsieur Marius, I believe I was a little in love with you." She tried to smile again and died. Her head drooped forward, now resting against his chest. She was dead. Life had left her, leaving only a body. One minute there then she was gone. And she had loved him, just as he loved her... He hadn't even gotten the chance to tell her...

He kissed her forehead again.

"Oh God, 'Ponine." he murmured, his voice shaking with tears. He held her close to him. His beautiful 'Ponine...

One minute there then she was gone.

Well I certainly hope y'all found that to be rather depressing. Please review!