A/N. Hiya! This is my first Les Miserables fan fiction so please be nice! I don't have a beta reader but if anyone would want to I would love some help. This is primarily an E/E story but will involve some M/C along with other pairings and one sided R/E. This is just a prologue…other chapter will be longer! Happy reading!

Disclaimer- I am not the brilliant mind that though up Les Miserables…got it? x

Eponine stood silently outside the doors of the Café Musain. She took a deep breath, collecting herself. She gingerly touched the fresh bruise on her arm and winced. Her father was constantly getting more unpredictable. One moment he would be giving her a fresh bit of bread and the next slapping her to the ground. The latest argument had come about through Montparnasse. She had refused to help him with his latest crime and all that it had earned was a beating. Eponine silently vowed to be more careful as she turned to the door of the Café. She had never been there before as it was generally considered the students place of meeting. However Marius had asked her to meet him there earlier in the week and this was the first chance she had. She wasn't going to pass up a chance to see Marius after all.

When he had first entered her life it had been as if he was the moon and the stars. He overpowered the darkness of the night that was her life. Eponine knew that she owed him a lot of her current happiness so if entering the Café was what it took, she would do it.

Her years on the streets made it easy for her to silently slip up the stairs to the upstairs of the Café. Her dark hazel eyes flicked around the room quickly, taking in her surroundings. There was a blonde-curly haired man avidly talking to another man who was listening just as intently, there was a smirking drunkard by the counter and…yes…there was Marius. She slipped over to join him she felt her heart skip a beat as he grinned at her.

"Eponine", he grinned, "You made it."

Eponine forced a smile. Pretending that there was nothing she would rather be doing than attracting stares. If she was being honest with herself she knew she would rather be here than at home, at least here she was reasonably safe.

"Anything for you, Monsieur Marius", she teased knowing he wouldn't recognize the barely hidden truth behind her outwardly casual words. She was proved correct when Marius turned to his companion who up to that point Eponine had not realised was there and began to introduce her.

"'Ponine, this is Joly. He's a medical student at the University."

This time Eponine's smile was not forced, "It's a pleasure to meet you Monsieur Joly", she said with a grin in her voice. Joly seemed like a nice man. Not the usual that she was accustomed to dealing with.

"Lovely to meet you too Mademoiselle," he replied and Eponine felt something leap in her stomach. No one had called her Mademoiselle in a very long time.

"Please Monsieur," she began, "I'm no lady. Eponine is fine-"

She was cut off by a voice talking over hers and whirled round to see the blonde haired man from before standing behind her. He smiled down at her and she couldn't help noticing how his whole face seemed to lift when he did it and the spark in his eyes grew brighter. Eponine snapped herself out of her day dreaming and focused on what the man was saying.

"You are certaintly a lady Mademoiselle and deserve to be treated as such. In the eyes of the republic everyone is equal. "

At this point the man turned to face the rest of the students in the Café and as if there was some invisible magnetic that attracted people to him, everyone's eyes seemed to focus on him. Even the drunk at the bar found the strength to put down his bottle and focus on the man, even if he did a strange look on his face. It was mostly a smirk but with a hint of…longing? Eponine shook herself and found her eyes refocusing on who she now believed to be the clear the leader of the bunch of students, as he began speaking again.

"My friends, the goal we strive to may seem far away but Patria is on our side my friends. We have each other and we know what is right. The path we have been set on lets us change the way of the world. For the people of Paris, we shall drive back the rich who squander there money and have no urge to help. The time is almost near. We have no fear and when the time is right the flame of rebellion will catch and its hold will never yield until we are victorious in our efforts and France is once again a free country as she was always meant to be. Vive la France!"

The man's speech was captivating and Eponine felt like she was in a trance like state. As the man's last cheer was echoed around the Café, Eponine found herself looking into the man's eyes. She had thought that the spark in them had grown when he smiled but now, as he talked about his passion, the spark has exploded into a raging fire that would always burn. Eponine turned back to Marius and Joly feeling her mouth slightly agape. She quickly snapped it shut as both Marius and Joly started to chuckle.

"That's Enjolras," laughed Joly, "Always leaving people wide-eyed."

Eponine found herself nodding without thinking about it. Enjolras. It was a nice name and defiantly suited the rebel that had such a way with words. Out of the corner of her eye she was her younger brother reluctantly accepting a piece of bread from Enjolras. She was tempted to go over and talk to Gavroche but found she couldn't bring herself to interrupt her brother who clearly looked up to all these men. Instead she excused herself from her current table and headed over to the drunk who was still looking at Enjolras. She made a point of sitting down next to him and was glad that, that caught his attention. He looked just as much as a misfit as she did next to all the clever, sober, school boys and she felt a strange need to talk to him. However, when she opened her mouth to say something he beat her to it.

"Bonjour Nina. You looking for anyone…thing special." The drunk leered at her suggestively yet she felt certain that he was messing with her so she put her attention to the more pressing matter.

"Nina? How did you get Nina…" Eponine struggled to think of the man's name while currently baffled with her surprising new nickname.

"Grantaire. And as for the 'how', well you know Eponine to Eponina to Nina. It all makes sense love."

Eponine giggled which was very unlike her, but his Grantaire was different to. "I that case I will have to call you 'Taire", she decided, "It's only fair after all" she said, winking at him which caused him in turn to laugh. He pushed a drink towards her. For him, the ultimate sign of friendship. Eponine picked up the bottle but before drinking turned her eyes to Marius who had barely noticed her absence. 'Little he knows, little he sees…' she thought before take a long gulp from the bottle. Little she knew there was someone else curiously watching her.