Eponine

"When I dream, on my own, I'm alone but I ain't lonely, for a dreamer night's the only time of day...And I'm free like the wind, like I'm gonna live forever, it's a feeling time can never take away." - Santa Fe; Christian Bale

I am dreamer, self-proclaimed and proud. The idea of being free fills every single one of my dreams. It's what I want most in my life. A change of scene, where I have an opportunity for a fulfilling future. In my dreams I am limitless. It's the one place where I can let my thoughts stray and not have to be focused on the one thing in my life; survival. I want to live a life, not just survive one. I want freedom and once I attain that the world around me will change. As a child I thought I had it all; caring parents, loving siblings and secure circumstances. Never did I imagine that life would change so drastically. Fast forward nine grueling years and I look back. How is it possible that everything could go wrong? Parents thieving, siblings leaving and I'm grieving. I am now 17 years old and everyday is an immense struggle.

My parents used to own an inn of sorts. It was a trivial hotel in the worst part of the town. Location provided the worst people too. These were people who had done unspeakable things to innocents, including my siblings. People who were convicted and escaped criminals. Clearly our parents didn't care who intermingled with their children. The only thing they truly cared about was money. They could put on a good facade, it was their job afterall. Con people out of their money so they could provide for us, but in reality, they wasted all of that money. The inn was taken away when I was about eight years old. That's when they picked up our entire lives and moved us to the city, where the good money was, and turned us into crooks just like them. But that wasn't the end of it. Not by a long shot. Unfortunately we were just children then, and we didn't realize the extreme injustice of their actions.

We used to think that life was perfect. We had an entire hotel to play in, and new people to meet. We thought that we were the small town equivalent to royalty. It seemed that this was a place that so many people wanted to be. My siblings, all younger than me, included a sister Azelma , a brother Gavroche, and two younger twin brothers named Vincent and Henry. We were the royal children to our magnificent parents; a child's confused sense of reality. We believed anything and everything our parents told us, that's just how it was. We never thought that every single word our parents uttered to us would be so wrong. So twisted. Looking back I can't pretend that I don't see the trend. When we were needed for one of their scams, we received presents and sweet words. Any child would gladly do what their parent wanted of them if their were presents and praise involved. So we became their perfect partners in crime. How could a good person refuse to help a helpless child?

Growing up and moving to a big city was petrifying. There were even more horrible people we got involved with, my father becoming their leader. We even changed our last name. The amount of warrants out for their arrest was proof that we were a bad family. Bad people of all ages. In that group I found one of my best friends. His name was Montparnasse and he was in the same fucked up situation as I was. That's how we bonded. We saw each other all the time, since we were forced to be at the gang's meetings. We talked about the injustice of it all and how we wanted out. We even began to think about running away together. But no one got away from this life, especially not with my father involved. He knew about everything, so when he found out about what Montparnasse and I were planning, he was furious. The result was a vast change in Montparnasse, from a sweet, innocent boy trapped in his circumstances to one of my father's gang-buddies. By this time I was fourteen and he was sixteen. The gang forced him to do the unspeakable, after he paid of course. It was this incident that made me view things in a whole new light, made me realize that I could never look at my father again without wanting to faint. A father would never do this to his own, trusting child, but "the Master" as we were forced to call him, did. He sold me, and made my best friend hurt me in a way that never should have happened. I should have run away when I had the chance. After the deed was done, "the Master" returned with two of his buddies, Jack and Bruce, and beat me, but it didn't end there. Everyone was punished. My four siblings were also beaten, and Montparnasse was instructed to kill a man if he wanted to live. They took away his goodness, his innocence, and replaced him with a monster who was an exact replica of them.

Gavroche found that he had had enough of "the Master's" abuse. He rationalized that children should not be beaten, should not be malnourished or under clothed, and should never be forced to participate in crimes. He was absolutely right, and he was only eleven years old, so he left, thinking of his siblings the entire time. We were the ones who pushed him to go when he came to us with the idea. The four of us who were left reassured him that we would never reveal where he had gone, no matter what punishment was served. I never used to have a wall with people, but these events made it difficult for me to trust anyone ever again. Beatings became more often, and I took the brunt of them, protecting my young siblings from the gang's drunken rage. I couldn't bear to see them hurt. They were the only good thing left in my life, but trust my parents to make that change too. Now, I plan to do everything in my power to change my life, because I am Eponine Thenardier and a dreamer and I am stubborn as hell and I know what I want.

Enjolras

"Rise up, be counted, Stand strong and unite, Wait for the outcry, Resistance is calling tonight. Far too many years, Of chaos and unrest, Far too many voices, Brutally suppressed. We fight for what is just, For all that we believe, We fight till death or glory, Fight to be set free. The streets are bathed in blood, Time to step down and time to walk away, You'll never rule me now,Though you may stand upon my grave." -Outcry, Dream Theatre.

These lyrics blasted through my headphones and into my mind, swirling and nagging at me. In my mind, thoughts of a student uproar formed, not from the song necessarily, but it certainly helped fuel such ideas. I'm studying at university and have had enough of the injustice. Many of my fellow classmates could not afford schooling alone, and many who were supposed to be granted financial aid were denied. "Your money doesn't exist" the offices had said. Unfortunately I had lost many a schoolmate to this, many having to drop out because prices were so expensive. Even my own tuition was sky-high, and the only reason I'm even in school is my parents, who I didn't agree with. My beliefs countered theirs in every aspect of life. The only thing we agreed on was that I needed the money to help get me through school, but there was never any contact. The fees were paid when due, and the last time I had heard from my parents was when I had left all those years ago which has been secretly killing me deep down. It wasn't my father I missed. No; it was my mother. Or rather, who my mother used to be.

I had always been very lucky when I was younger to have a loving family. Based on modern standards many families were breaking up due to divorce. But not my parents. They loved each other, at least that's what I believed as a child, but something had happened that changed all of that. I knew my parents, Camille and Antoine Enjolras, had married young and had a child not even a year later, but I believed them to be very much in love. What I hadn't realized until later on in life was that I was the cause of their marriage. I was an accident that happened between people who didn't love each other enough. Things had gone downhill since that marriage, fights that were always hidden from their young son. My childhood's false sense of reality had been destroyed the day I went straight home after school only to find my mother with another man. That's when things really started to change. My parents grew distant and tension was always present. I kept quiet, not knowing what else to do. I was only sixteen at the time and I had been spending more time in after school activities to keep away from my loveless home situation. One such activity was mock-trial. Our group,lead by our history teacher who had actually passed the bar-exam, used real-life cases which really opened my eyes to the true injustice in the world. And of course, this was also when I was contemplating running away. Eventually, after having enough of the messy divorce and missing the woman my mother used to be I made up his mind. I left the night before the final hearing about the divorce. This was the one where I would have to decide who I wanted to stay with and if I didn't the court would decide. Under the cover of darkness I left, with a small bag filled with necessities only. Apparently my parents had put out a missing person's notice, but when I was found I had made my way to Paris. My only request was that they allow me to stay so I could study at the university. I was the right age anyway and would have been leaving sooner or later. They agreed to support me through school, but they weren't overly thrilled with my field of study; law. They wanted me to be a doctor or a CEO but I didn't believe in them anymore and I didn't want to let them rule my life.

Thats how I found myself in my class on the Intellectual Property Law. This was one that held most of my interest. It spoke of rights for creations of one's mind, such as art, music, literature and many other things. Many of my friends, who I met with regularly at the Cafe Musain, would benefit greatly from these laws. Feuilly with his paper fans that he crafted, Jehan for his poetry and even his flute compositions, and Grantaire who, despite his cynicism towards the whole purpose, was an excellent artist, often crafting the pamphlets the group used. I had many other classes as well, dealing with different aspects of law, but it was the people I wanted to fight for. The underdogs. I wanted to help and I definitely wanted to be better than the cheap scumbag lawyer who had been hired to help my family through the divorce. I wanted a better life, a better world, one where there was no struggle. This class I sat in would help people with their livelihoods.

Now though, as I sit in class and listening to my music to help me concentrate, I see a familiar figure walk in. She approached our professor with many papers in her hand. He read over them carefully then grinned and shook her hand. He seemed excited. I knew this girl, as strange as that was for me. Ever since my mother became the monster she is I stayed away from women. Except this one. She would frequent the Cafe and was friends with many of my buddies. She was arrived with Marius but was quick to mingle with everyone. I was the only one she didn't really talk to, and that was my doing. The first time I saw her I was amazed. She was covered in bruises and was dangerously thin, emaciated even, but still she was beautiful. She was introduced to our group by Marius and ever since then she had grown close to us, becoming a part of our group. I had always wanted to speak to her, to get to know her, but I could never make myself do it. Her name was Eponine Thenardier and now she stood in my class with my excited professor. This was going to go over well.

Welp, that's the prologue. So I'm really excited for this story. I now have two Les Mis/Enjonine stories going, this one which is a modern one and my other one "When the Beating of Your Heat" which is more on point with 1832. It is summer and I should be able to balance these two a little better now. If you have read this far thank you and please let me know what you think. Also, I couldn't believe my luck with the two songs I quoted for each of them. They are way too perfect and actually the second one, Outcry, is a song my marching band did my rookie year. Its way too perfect and is totally Les Amis modern theme song! Anyway thanks and I love you!