A young pale boy came out from the alleyways with torn rags and drops of blood that could only mean that he had come from the barricade near Rue de Villette. He stopped for a moment, to simply gaze upon the busy city streets of Calais, as his hands traced along the sealed envelope addressed to the one known as Mademoiselle Cosette. The boy then took off his heavily-worn newsboy hat, releasing long wavy locks of hair that revealed the boy was not a boy, it was the eldest Thenardier girl. Eponine looked around once more trying to find the place of Cosette's temporary residency.

She trotted her way up the stone staircase to where the girl that Marius loved instead of her would be located. She reached the top of the stairs and the young girl held on to the railing as she caught her breath. Her grip tightened on the letter, she could turn back now and lead Marius to believe that it was too late and that the beauty that lit his world afire was gone across the sea. But she wouldn't do that. Cosette had gone through so much as a child and Eponine might have been able to stop her parents, the Thenardiers, from being so wretched to Cosette. Eponine held her breath and prayed to a god that she had long since given up on that Cosette would not remember her or the terrible things she had said or done to Cosette as a child.

Eponine tucked her hair back into her cap and rapidly tapped upon the door while trying to slip the envelope through the mail slot, only to have the door opened rather swiftly. There appeared a girl who could be described as a blushing bride. Eponine gritted her teeth and slowly raised the envelope.

"Letter from the barricade, Mademoiselle. From M'sieur Marius." Eponine muttered. Cosette's essence brightened at the mention of her beloved then darkened at the mention of the barricade. She graciously took the letter from the grimy hands of the anonymous deliverer. She looked up to thank the messenger and then without a second glance, the image of young Eponine sprung into the mind of Cosette as the messenger tried to walk off.

"Wait! Can it be? Are you… Eponine?" Cosette called out before the messenger could get away.

Eponine sighed, as her cover had been blown at last. She turned back to Cosette and nodded, removing her hat and letting her long, brown hair fall over her shoulders and drop to her back. Cosette stared in awe.

"Oh my goodness. Is this some ploy? How do you even know Marius? I bet you wrote this as an attempt of having your family steal me away again to get my father to give them more money!" Cosette rambled deliriously. She threw the letter at Eponine as she tried to close the door, but Eponine prevented it from shutting by jamming her bare foot between the door and its fixture.

"Marius is my neighbor, my family has no knowledge of either of us being here, this is from him I swear. Just take it so I can go back to the barricade." Eponine slurred.

"Wait, so the revolution has taken off?" Cosette asked Eponine, her voice mindful and delicate like the sun's rays.
"Yeah…" Eponine replied hastily, "Hey, do you mind not pushing the door so hard against my swollen feet?"

"My goodness, I am so sorry! I have just been a bit paranoid because, well… Your father and the Patron Minette-" Cosette began to ramble until Eponine shushed her.

"I know. I was the one who screamed and threw the note warning of the police." Eponine said, her boredom seeping through her voice.

"But… There were no police after all." Cosette stated. Eponine shook her head with the lightest hint of a smirk on her hollow face.

"Not right away, but they showed up later. What louses they are, hopefully the revolution will succeed and we will have the right people protecting our streets." Eponine muttered as she began to walk away, pulling her hair up and back into her hat.

"But at what cost?" Cosette said cautiously. Eponine turned around and bursted out with a mocking, sick, coarse laugh.

"My god! You are such a riot! But I must bid you farewell, from one riot to another." she snickered as she began striding away. Cosette then opened the letter and read out loud the letter from her secret yet not-so-secret lover...

"Dearest Cosette,

You have entered my soul, and soon you will be gone. Can it be only a day since we've met, and the world was reborn? If I should fall in the battle to come, let this be my goodbye. Now that I know you love me as well it is harder to die. I pray that god will bring me home to be with you. Pray for your Marius… He prays for you.

-Marius Pontmercy"

Eponine groaned at the unmistakable essence of love that the letter was filled to the brim with. She quickly scurried down the stairway to return to the barricade were hopefully she might be able to die with a man that she loved.

"Wait!" Cosette called out down the staircase until Eponine stopped and looked up at the young woman who looked as if she wanted something.

"What do you want, bourgeois pig?" Eponine growled under her breath, the insult being said quieter than the question. Cosette sighed deeply, but with one last squeezing grip on the letter and a few tiny but quick steps down the steps she said,

"I wish to accompany you to the barricade.

"Mademoiselle, I knew you were a riot but jokes can go a bit far! Admittedly that one was quite a quip but believe me when I say you don't want to go there." she spit out.

"I want to be with-" Cosette began.

"The man that you love." Eponine finished for her, As did she.

"So you know what it is like then, to be so selflessly in love with someone?" Cosette asked, desperation in her eyes. Eponine grimaced as her fists clenched; of course she did, she knew that feeling all too well.

"Your father would never let you." she spoke quietly, her voice cracking mid-sentence. She looked down at her feet, trying to avoid eye contact with Cosette.
"I will leave him a note, not specifying our future location." Cosette replied.

"The trip will be long. I don't have enough money for food for me, let alone for you as well."

"I have money set aside, I can bring some to help pay for the food and lodging if needed."

Eponine snarled, irritated as Cosette had an answer to everything. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her over-sized coat and drug her foot slightly across the floor.

"What of Monsieur Marius? Would he really want you in such danger?" Eponine whispered breathlessly. Surely if he was worried for the safety at the likes of Eponine Thenardier, the robber girl who had tatters of cloth for clothing and a hollow face that was almost unrecognizable of a child, then he would care ever so much more for Cosette.

"I could disguise myself as a young boy as you are." Cosette stated, making a gesture at her tattered guise. Eponine had no more reasons to deny Cosette from coming with her, besides the sheer facts that Eponine indisputably resented Cosette and did not wish to reunite her with Marius. But as heartless as Eponine tries to make herself seem, she couldn't just say those things out loud. So, with a half-hearted sigh and remorse in the heart of Eponine Thenardier, she said without fail,

"Hurry up then, you have only minutes to be ready to leave."

She walked back up the stairs with Cosette and scowled under her breath as she made her way to the wall closest to Cosette's residence so she could sit and rest her feet for the aspiring journey back to Rue de Villette. She slowly wiped the minimal sweat off her brow with her forearm as she waited for Cosette to finish getting ready. Eponine peered in and watched as Cosette scurried around the place, packing a bag and collecting as many francs and sous that she could take without leaving her father without money. Cosette then scrambled around an old desk in search of paper, a quill and ink. She gathered those supplies and began to write a note for her father posthaste.

"Dearest Father,

I go in search of my beloved. I shall be back i two weeks time at most. I am so sorry for keeping this secret, but I didn't know how to tell you. I suppose you could understand, as the secrets you keep from me…

With Love,

-Cosette"

Cosette hurriedly folded the note in half and held it as she collected her bags and made her way to the door. She placed the note down on an end table and walked out, accidentally forgetting Marius' letter in the process.

"Are you ready?" Cosette asked uneasily.

"I was ready to leave before I got here." Eponine muttered darkly. She began making her trek down the stairs with Cosette following swiftly behind her, a bag in hand. Once they reached the outskirts of the building Eponine pulled Cosette toward an alleyway and they slipped through it.

"Eponine, what exactly is the plan?" Cosette asked, only to be quickly shushed by Eponine.

"Speak quieter." Eponine hissed under her breath.

"Ah, I am sorry." Cosette whispered.

"The plan is to sell your clothes and buy some clothes suited for a young man for you. And a hat." Eponine explained. Cosette nodded and followed the grimey girl to a back alley shop not too far from where they left. Eponine kept Cosette at a distance as she talked to a man whom wore a dirty brown trench coat and a ratty hat. Cosette peered at the two as they discussed in harsh, venomous hisses. Eponine pointed at Cosette for a mere second before motioning to her own clothes. Cosette cleared her throat as quietly as possible, and smoothed out the fabric of her dress to distract herself. Eponine ran towards Cosette and started whispering to her.

"You are to strip and trade clothes with this man. Give him 10 sous for his troubles."

Cosette gaped, was she expected to unclothe herself out in the open. The gamine sighed and started hustling Cosette behind a dumpster. Eponine gave her a glare and turned her back to her, as to block Cosette from the viewing of the man. Cosette breathed a sigh of relief as she quickly removed her garments. Although it took a certain amount of time to remove her various undergarments she did it in record-breaking time. Eponine tossed the clothes to the man and he threw his to her. The gamine handed the masculine clothes to Cosette and she began putting them on, trying to cover herself as quickly as possible. Eponine murmured a command to dress faster and Cosette complied. She quickly pulled her hair up into the hat as Eponine did and emerged from the side of the dumpster. Cosette tossed the man ten sous and gave Eponine a swift nod and they both strided down the alley.

They made no conversation. The only sounds being Eponine's heavy feet dragging their way through their path and Cosette's breathing which was ragged and worn-out. Eponine lead, her head ducked and few strand hairs out of place from her cap. Cosette struggled to keep up with Eponine, having not been used to scurrying about the streets and such, but she couldn't help but admire the gamine ever-so-slightly. It would be a lie to say Cosette didn't resent Eponine at least slightly for how she treated her during her childhood, at least how Eponine treated her in the very vague memories she had; but with a glance at Eponine, Cosette could tell the girl had gone through quite a change throughout the years. Her skin was rough and smeared with dirt, her hair messy, and smelt as though she hadn't bathed in years. Cosette couldn't help but wonder what had happened after her "father" had taken her away from the Thenardiers, and if Eponine (or even her sister, Azelma) were as bad as originally intended. For if Eponine truly despised her, she would of told Cosette not to accompany her. So it was determined that while her main objective was to be with Marius and see to it no harm came to him, she made it a goal to reconcile with Eponine and find out what happened with her and her family.