Disclaimer: I don't own Les Mis, Victor Hugo does

Summary: After Eponine leaves to deliver Marius' letter to Cosette, Marius' conscience gives him a bit of a talking to…

Only in Your Mind

You don't even watch her as she dashes off down the street, reluctant to do your bidding yet still eager to please you. You are too absorbed in your thoughts of that fair-haired stranger to care. You are still entranced by this vision, this ethereal girl with her pure, childlike grace and her dewy skin. Why would you think of frail, lank-haired Eponine as anything other than your friend?

What will you give 'Ponine in return for delivering this message? Will you give her your love?

No, of course you won't.

You don't like to admit to yourself that she loves you, do you? You don't like not being the perfect revolutionary hero. You'd like to pretend that all Eponine Thenardier wants is to be your friend, when you know that the real fact of the matter is that you just can't love the mangy wildcat of a girl. I can't disagree with you. I'm your conscience, after all. We must think some similar thoughts, mustn't we?

Now, let's be reasonable about this. I'm not asking you to love her. You can't change your feelings. We can't change our feelings.

I'm not asking you to tell her how you really feel, either. I doubt you'd get her to believe that you'll never love her, and if by some strange chance you did get it into her head, it would break her heart. And you don't want that.

No, I'm not asking either of those things. But I think, Marius, I really do think, that you could have had the common decency to give someone else that letter to deliver. Asking the girl who loves you with all her soul to take that note to the love of your life? I know you are not cruel, Marius, merely ignorant and in denial. But you are young, and that will change.

So how about this, boy? You don't flaunt your love for this Cosette in front of Eponine. You keep it to yourself, all right? Because Eponine, well she might not be a beauty like the other one, but you know you have her soul. It's yours for the taking, and if you're any sort of man, you'll think twice before destroying the fragile soul of a lady.

A/N: Because Marius seems to me to be a little pompous at times, I've given the voice of his conscience a bit of a condescending tone as well. I imagined his conscience to be the voice of maybe a father figure, I think.

Anyway, hope you all liked it! Please review! XD