Hello, so this is the first Les Mis fanfic that i've done. Eponine and Enjolras is an interesting ship especially since they dont actually ever interact in the movie (which is what i watched and got inspired by), yet a girl can dream and write. So i present this first chapter to you (any of you who care to read it) please let me know what you think read, review, enjoy
Saw Me There
Disclaimer: Don't own Les Mis. At all. One bit. Wouldn't have killed off everyone if I did.
Chapter One: Hiding in Plain Sight
She joins the revolution to be close to Marius.
Away from the world she makes this decision and away from the world's eyes she acts to make it happen. She binds herself tightly, leaving her dress for the clothes of an ordinary boy.
It is easy to find them, the revolutionary boys, shouting for the crowds to join with them in the fight. Eponine lets herself become part of the mass followingthe students, following her Marius.
Many have begun, in furious haste to construct the barricade when she arrives on the scene. She takes a moment, once on the other side, to look up in wonder at it. It is constructed of anything that the revolutionaries can find. Swallowing and reminding herself to breathe, that of course everything will be alright once she finds Marius, she goes into the café searching for him.
The café is basically devoid of its furniture but filled with the young men who lead the small band of revolutionaries that are still outside building up the barricade and gathering supplies. She recognizes these faces, hopeful and clean, but living in self made poverty for the sake of the patria. Her eyes linger on Enjolras, his bright red coat is easy to spot and stands out from the rest. His eyes are down, focused loading the gun in his hand. Most of the boys are doing the same. A few are pausing in their work to take a drink or two.
"What do you want, boy?" one of them says. And then they are all turning to look at her. Some of them have clenched their guns a little tighter, glimpses of fear written on their faces, but others relax when they see it is only one of the boys that came to join them.
It is now that she can see Marius, he turns like the rest of them to face her. It is all she can do to remind herself to breathe with him looking at her like that, so earnestly and wide eyed. She is glad he cannot identify her, because she believes he would not look at her so, with hope. Hope that another has joined them. That another person means another chance.
She clears her throat, trying to make herself sound deeper and more confident than she is. "I want to help fight," she answers in her most boy-like voice.
A few of them begin to laugh, but Eponine can see it is a release of tension and they are not laughing at her but more because they need to remember how to smile and find humor in their lives before the guns in their hands age them.
"Stop," Enjolras says. "Quiet." His voice is commanding, Eponine remembers it from the speeches he and Marius used to give in the streets about joining the revolution. She always went to listen, usually they were standing on boxes and doorsteps and sometimes tables inside cafes and shouting, rousing the people to their cause for France.
The crowd of boys is parting for Enjolras to walk through them towards her. Her eyes are on Marius so she does not realize what is going on until Enjolras is so close to her that she can smell the sweat and street on him. He regards her intently and asks, "Do you know how to use a gun?"
There is something in his eyes, something that keeps her from lying and saying yes of course she can shoot a gun and knows exactly how to load and reload it. Instead she averts her eyes and shakes her head, hoping to appear ashamed but fearing recognition. "No Monsieur."
She does not see the corner of his mouth and how it twitches upwards for a moment before returning to its normal state. She does feel his hand lightly hold her shoulder as though trying to steady her. Its funny, she didn't think she needed help being fixed in this moment, in this time. "This is the dawning of a new world, none of us will go by Monsieur. We are all equals." He gives her a friendly pat, welcoming her as a comrade. "You can help us by finding useful supplies that still remain in the café. That way you'll be inside if the fighting starts."
Eponine nods and suddenly she is no longer the new object of study, as the rest of the young men return to their previous activities, those cleaning and loading their guns do so in comfortable silence. Enjolras does not return to them, but rather seats himself on a nearly rotting chair near Eponine and sits down to clean off his gun. She sees his hands shake and her belly twists in discomfort.
Apparently she has been looking too long because Enjolras' hands stop shaking and he looks her in the eye. "Do you have a name, friend?" he asks, not unkindly.
"E-Eric," she says. Then she half walks, half stumbles away from him following into the group of boys.
She finds Marius, rooting around corners of the café, gun in his right hand.
"What are you looking for?" she asks.
He turns when he hears her voice. Grins a bit and says, "Anything useful." Then he blinks and looks her over thoughtfully. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
She shakes her head. Yours is a face I would not forget, she thinks. "I have heard you give speeches on the streets but we have never met."
Marius nods but appears distracted. Eponine guesses that he must be thinking of Cosette, but it does not matter because she is with him. She pulls back a lock of black hair from her eyes that finds a way of slipping underneath her cap. Eponine gives Marius a smile, but tries to keep it tame and not one containing all the love that she feels for him.
He returns the smile kindly.
As Eponine and Marius work together, Enjolras still seated on the chair, observes the two from a distance. His gun is as clean as he could want it, but he is still absently wiping it down just to give his hands something to occupy themselves with. His eyes are on the new recruit rather than his old friend Marius.
Eric.
Enjolras shakes his head.
Not likely.
How many people need a moment to remember their name? And how many men does Enjolras really know who look such an odd mixture of masculine and feminine? Besides which, Enjolras recognized her when she walked into the café. He had hoped he was mistaken, his own mind playing tricks on him, his fears getting the better of him. Enjolras has seen a face such as hers in the crowds when he and Marius used to give speeches to French citizens on the streets. It feels already like many yesterdays ago. But there in the sea of faces was one identical to the one helping Marius sort through supplies and ammunition. Her dress of rags exchanged for a boy's coat and pants. Mounds of thick black hair, knotty and unruly, swept back underneath a cap, with only bangs poking out.
And if he does not recognize her from that, then her image comes to him again and again on the streets always when Marius was nearby. He almost believed she was a part of Marius' shadow, close and distant at the same time.
Eponine.
Enjolras sighs. Just when Marius has shaken his mind free of that other girl, what's-her-name, but Eponine should come in to the scene. He is glad for this moment that Marius is blind and clearly cannot tell that the boy beside him is a girl, who is satisfied just to be in the same room with him. Yet should he find out it would distract him, obviously, Marius becomes distracted with such things. Tonight is not a night for distractions.
He hates to see her here because he wishes that she is far away from this place. Eponine is a thing made of sticks who will shatter easily. It is true, he muses, that the men, his comrades, are similarly made of weak matter who bleed and bruise in red and black. But, and at this he lets himself smile when he sees his friends at work, they know what is waiting for them on the other side of the barricade, and are prepared to die for the sake of France.
Eponine is here for the wrong reasons, and will die for the wrong cause.
Marius is not a cause worth dying for, Enjolras thinks to himself as he gets up from the chair and decides to add it to the barricade. He carries it easily in one hand, the gun is in the other. Walking outside he sees the barricade and cannot help but think that it is not enough, nor are the people supporting it, and supporting the cause, enough. So in that sense it is good that Eponine is here, because she is one more person in the fight.
As he adds the chair to the pile, he hears Marius and Eponine talking together, carrying bundles in their arms.
Loving another is not a cause worth dying for, he thinks. He decides that, as the leader, he will have to do something about Eponine's presence. And that he needs to take care of it before the fighting starts because he does not want to see her die for nothing. Enjolras begins to make his way over to the two of them when from his post at the watch Joly calls, "Someone is approaching!"
The supplies in Marius' hands drop, and his hands go to his gun. The call brings out all the boys from the barricade, guns at the ready, heading towards the barricade to get a look. Enjolras sees Eponine start to follow Marius but he holds out a hand to her.
"Stay here…Eric."
He does not realize his heart is racing until he is already loading and readying his gun. He does not realize that his forehead is sweating until he climbs the barricade and can see what the rest of the lads are looking at.
A man approaches them slowly. He wears a revolutionary pin. His hands raised in the air. He is older than any of the lads who have joined the cause to fight. His beard is full and thick, his eyes dark and grey.
"Don't fire!" the man yells in protest. "I've come to join the cause!"
With guns still pointed at the stranger, Enjolras' friends turn their eyes to him, looking to him for the next move.
"I come here because I don't approve of the state of affairs. I want to stand with you and fight for the freedom of France," the man insists.
He steps closer to the barricade but Enjolras' yells, "Stop." The man does so. Enjolras carefully climbs down the barricade, working his way through the assorted and stacked objects to stand beside the soldier.
"You want to join us," he asks uncertainly.
"Yes." The man nods. Enjolars must be giving him a skeptical look because the man's eyes darken as he says, "Do you know I risked the life and the life of my family making this decision?"
The mention of family tugs at Enjolras, thinking of those on the other side of the barricade, who also chose to leave their lives and families behind for the sake of a higher calling. This man gives Enjolras a bit of hope, something he has been without since Eponine's arrival. He urges the man to follow him around the barricade and join the rest of the men, calling them down to welcome their new comrade.
During this time Eponine, though against her own desires, has stayed behind while the others went with guns to the barricade. But she remained outside, listening and watching, wondering if there was anything among her pile that she could use as a weapon if need be. She is glad to hear that there will be no fighting yet, that the man apparently gets Enjolras' approval. But it is when Enjolras leads him to the other side of the barricade that she knows something is not right. His voice is sharp like a dagger in her ears, as he proceeds to tell them whatever story he has cooked up.
And it is the voice that brings her to her senses.
She lunges forward without thinking, moving through the crowd of boys standing around him, past Marius even though not without a little regret. Remembering to breathe and speak deeply like a boy she yells, "No!" This helps her get through the rest of the boys to the center of the circle.
Enjolras is looking at her funny while the man next to her is doing the same. This does not deter her.
"This man is not just a soldier," she states, keeping her voice as steady as she can. "Its Inspector Javert."
The man accused of being Javert gives a short chuckle. "I am not." But of course it is Javert. They have had their share of run ins, she and Javert. It was when she was younger, and Javert's beard was not so full. When she and her parents were less good at thieving, in the days when she still saw her parents and did as they told her to, were also the days of trying to avoid Javert. They were caught once or twice, but ran, or talked their way out of the charges. She recognizes him, and hopes that he does not see her for what she is.
Acting fast Enjolras grips the stranger's coat so he cannot leave should he try. Glaring at him firecly he asks, "Is this true?" He'd like very much that it was not true. He'd like to believe that this is just an ordinary man who looked around at his life, at his work and realized that there was something horribly wrong with the state of things in France. That he couldn't sleep at night for thinking of France and the knots twisted in his chest seeing the horrors of his world. But Enjolras wondered how many men felt as he.
"No," says the man suspected of being Javert. But Enjolras, looking into the man's dark grey eyes does not see much love or compassion within. There is distrust, he guesses.
"But it is!" He hears Eponine insist.
Enjolras sighs and turns away from Javert to Eponine. She is looking at him so beseechingly and earnestly. Why would she accuse this man of being Javert if she was not absolutely certain of it? She knows the streets better than any of them, of course she knows who is an enemy and who is a friend. It is then Enjolras realizes that Eponine has just saved his life. His little life and the little lives of his friends.
"Tie him up, and put him inside the café," Enjolras insists.
Two men step forward to take Javert away, they have to pull at his arms because he keeps twisting his way out. As he is being led away he calls, "You can't win, you know! My men will find you and then they will kill you. All of you!"
Javert's last words still ring in Eponine's ears even after he is already safely inside the café and silent. She wonders if he will recognize her. Perhaps he already has.
"I guess you were right, Eric," Marius says from somewhere far away that she does not quite hear him. He hits her shoulder affectionaty which manages to bring her back to reality and away from her thoughts. Rubbing her shoulder she gives him a small smile.
But Enjolras is not as happy as the rest of the men seem to be. They are congratulating themselves and Eponine on the good luck and the good beginning of their revolution. Already they have caught Inspector Javert, perhaps they do have a chance. The light from the sun is fading and a few men are searching for scare candlesticks and matches for some source of warmth and light. Enjolras looks towards the café and shakes his head.
He does not like the idea of Javert alone on this side of the barricade. What's more he feels like an idiot for bringing him over, inviting him right inside and endangering the entire revolution. What if he had managed to gather information on them and then—
It is then when Enjolras gets, what he believes, is a great idea. "I'm going to question him," he says aloud. The men stop their celebrations.
"Can't you just enjoy this moment?" Grantaire asks, with a grin on his face.
Shaking his head Enjolras says, "No. There is still a revolution to fight. And that man in there must have information, information that may save our lives if not our cause."
"Its better to leave him be," says Courfeyrac . "How do you know he'll tell you anything? Or that if he does it will be true?"
Thinking quickly Enjolras nods to Eponine. "You, Eric. You know this inspector Javert?"
She shrugs suddenly she is not so loud. He wonders for a moment if he frightens her with his question.
"Do you think," Enjolras asks slowly, "you would be able to help me figure out if he was lying?"
He watches her shrug again but she does not say no. That is all he needs. "Alright," Enjolras says clearing this throat, "Eric, come with me. And you too Marius, but the rest of you stand guard. We don't know if this inspector has already told his men where he is going or where we are. Be alert everyone."
He wishes he had been so earlier.
But it does not do to dwell in the past. He will learn from his mistake. He will be on alert. Enjolras motions for Eponine and Marius to follow him to the cafe. As they walk through the cobblestones on the fight night of the revolution Enjolras feels both very old and very young. Once he deals with this Javert problem he will figure out how to quietly fix the Eponine situation. Out of the corner of his watches Eponine and Marius who are walking closer together.
Eponine keeps twisting her fingers anxiously as they walk. She would rather be at the barricade with a gun at her side fighting off soliders than approaching and questioning Inspector Javert.
"How did you know it was him?" Marius asks her quietly.
"I recognized him," she answers in deepish voice. "I'd, uh, seen him on the streets."
"Well I'm glad you were around," Marius tells her and even though it is dark she can feel the smile. She expects it to fill up her insides like a flood the way his smiles usually, no, always do. But this time it does not work so easily. Of course she feels happy. But it does not stop her nerves and she keeps on twisting her fingers hoping that neither of the men will be able to see her this way.
Eponine glances at Enjolras but sees that he is looking straight ahead with determination. She does not understand how he can carry all of this revolution on his shoulders and appear as though he feels none of it. But she does understand burdens, and the pain that comes from carrying. Eponine always feels it, though she says nothing about it to anyone. Maybe her little brother, but he is running around the streets and she wonders if he will not pop up here too soon. So maybe he is good at hiding in plain sight.
Through the cafe windows they can see Javert, gagged and tied with ropes. The men who brought him in are finishing the knots in the ropes.
"The people should decide what to do with him," Enjolras mutters before they enter. "We are not enough to decide his fate."
"We're not going to torture him?" Marius asks, shaking his head. "I won't be part of that Enj-"
"Of course not," Enjolras says quickly. "No matter what he has done he should be tried and-"
"He's a monster," Eponine states flatly. Then she swallows and wishes she could take back her words.
"He's a human being," Enjolras says calmly, but he feels the sweat on the back of his neck.
"He is cruel. And horrible, you do not know what-" But then she stops herself, clamping her mouth shut before she says anything else.
Enjolras looks at Marius. "Go inside, we'll be there in a minute."
Marius does so not wanting to be part of this confrontation any longer.
When he is inside Enjolras realizes that he could tell Eponine the truth. That he knows her secret. That she should leave now. But part of him believes that with her, with her knowledge of this Javert, he could save the revolution. Maybe. No. Look at her, she's so small and skinny and if he really wants to bring on a new and equal France he should not begin by using her in this way. He sees her hands shake, she is scared. How much does she hide in herself, he wonders.
"Don't be scared," he tells her because it is something he wishes someone would say to him.
She looks at him, eyes cool and face composed. "I'm fine."
He sighs and shakes his head. "Of course you are."
Enjolras walks in first and does not see Eponine behind him take a very large and much needed deep breath before she enters the cafe.
So what do you guys think? I have plans, but i hope that you like this so far.