A Life They Might Have Known

by katnissahsokapotter

It is June 4th. A small group of courageous students have gathered at a barricade. All has been well so far. Of course, until a girl around their age appears from the Cafe. She comes from another time, and another place. Can she lead them to victory? Or will the barricades fall once more? K for violence and swearing.

I wake up lying on cold stone. My head hurts, like someone whacked it with a stone. I blink. Everything is blurry.
I see a large amount of people around me. A girl, about my age, is kneeling next to me. I smell a familiar scent. Wine. "Haymitch..." I mumble. I look up. There's a man, a little older than me, holding a musket to my head.
The girl begins to talk. "She's awake." The man nods. A little boy runs up to the girl. "'Ponine, who is she?" He has a thick accent, but I can't place it.
The man shakes his head. "We don't know, Gav. But stay away. She might be dangerous." And another man put the boy on his back.
A young man with brown hair and freckles walks over to the other man. "Enjolras, why are you holding that gun to her head?"
The man frowns. "She might be dangerous." And all the others nod. It's obvious that he's the leader.
But the girl rubs my forehead with a wet cloth. "You're scaring her. Put that gun down."
He frowns, but lowers the gun. The girl smiles at me. "I'm Eponine." I nod, and try to sit up. But I fall back down.
I hear a voice yelling. "Don't sit up!" It's a young man's voice, and a panicked one at that.
The voice is coming from a young man with pale skin and short brown hair. "Eponine, you should stay away from her. She might be sick." Eponine shakes her head. "Stop worrying, Joly. She's fine."
And Eponine whispers in my ear. "That's Joly. He's a medical student. He's afraid of all kinds of germs." I nod, and she continues. "The blond boy who pointed a gun at you was Enjolras, our leader. The freckled one was Marius, Enjolras's best friend, and complete idiot when it comes to romance. The small boy is my brother, Gavroche, whose 12. The man who wrangled him in is Corfreyrac."
I nod, and begin to talk. "Where am I?" A man with curly, black hair and wine breath replies. "You're in your grave, also known as the Barricade."
Enjolras shakes his head at the man. "Calm down, Grantaire. You're drunk."
I roll my eyes. "I'm Katniss. What District are we in?"
They all look confused. Gavroche eventually replies. "We're in the slums of San Michelle, in Paris."
I shake my head. "Paris? Huh?"
The leader, Enjolras, smiles. "Patria, also known as France. In Europe."
I'm still confused, but Enjolras continues. "We're fighting against oppression, against the monarchy who sits around and bathes in riches while children starve on the streets."
I nod. "But we already defeated the Capitol, a few months ago." They all look confused, but Gavroche speaks up. "We defeated the king long time ago. But he came back. Then we toppled him, and another king gained power. We're trying to overthrow that king so we can have freedom and liberty."
I stand up. "Ok! This is crazy! You are all completely insane!" And I run over the large structure blocking them from the rest of the world. I begin to escape, when I turn a corner and a rough hand grabs my shoulder.
I keep running, but more people grab me. I punch one of the men in the nose. He falls to the ground when the musket hits my forehead.

I wake up, ropes binding me to a wooden pole. I hear yelling, and a man walks up to me, his musket pointed. "Who are you?"
I scowl. "Where am I?" He smirks. "You're the captive of the French National Guard."
I struggle against the ropes. "Whadda you have against me?"
He frowns. "You were seen coming out of the barricade. A sympathizer of the rebellion, no doubt."
I try to untie the knot holding me. "You know, I'm not with them. I'm secretly a spy for your side of the fight."
He whacks me in the face. "Very likely story."
I wince. But the knot obviously wasn't made by a very skilled person. And I need to find the perfect time to escape.
I start thinking, but the guard hauls me up, dragging me by the rope until we're right in front to the barricade.
He shoves his musket to my head, and another guard yells over the structure.
"YOU, ACROSS THE BARRICADE! WE HAVE CAPTURED ONE OF YOU! COME OUT, AND END THIS FIGHT, AND WE WILL LET YOU LIVE!"
I can see the young boy, Gavroche, poking his head over. I can tell he's scared. He reminds me slightly of Prim, but in a boy form, and his personality resembles Rue's.
The girl, Eponine, rushes in front of him, determined to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. She points her gun at the man holding me, and she fires.
The man falls down, and I quickly finish untying the rope. I take his gun, and fire at the men formerly holding me hostage.
I can see that across the barricade, the boys are struggling to fend of the guard.
I climb atop it, and wipe out some of the soldiers. We keep firing until one of them climbs the barricade.
I don't know what was going through Marius's head at that moment, but it was either insane or genius. He holds a torch to the man, and says, "You come any further, I torch this place."
The man yells back. "Go ahead, and take yourself with it!"
The man readies his gun, about to fire on Marius when a figure runs up and grabs the nozzle of the musket. She draws it away from Marius, and it fires, hitting her square in the stomach.
Enjolras and I take out the final few guardsmen, and then I rush to her side.
"Eponine!" I yell. "What did you do!" She smiles, and Marius has her in his arms. He is sobbing, her stomach is wet with blood. She hands him a letter, and mutters something. Then she falls dead, into his arms. Just like she's sleeping.
Marius cries silent tears, as does Enjolras. The little one, Gavroche, runs up to the body.
"Eponine! Eponine! Wake up!" He is racked with sobs. I know how he feels. I walk over to him, and I'm sad, too.
"It's alright." And he shakes his head.
"It should have been me! I should have taken the bullet for her!"
I kneel down to where he is sitting. "Listen. I know how you feel. When I was a little younger than you, my father died. I had to care for my mother and my little sister. I've seen more death than the normal person can imagine."
He nods. "Why are you telling me this?"
I put my arm around him. "It's okay to be sad. I expect that. You're only so young. But just, know that she loved you. And if it gets very bad, just think of all the nice things you've seen anyone do. Count them."
He looks up, into my eyes. "Is that what you do?"
I nod. He walks away and clambers into a small box.
I go over to Marius and Enjolras, who are talking. "You must get Gavroche away from here. It's far to dangerous for a 12-year-old boy." They turn around.