Change of Heart
By,
a charming young girl
who is capable of being terrible
Story-Wide Disclaimer
Do I fight for the right to owning Les Miserablés?
Yes, but sadly, it hasn't been quite successful.
So no, I don't own Les Miz.
Are you happy now?
Credit for the story's cover goes to Paul Tokarski.
Chapter 1
In my life...
He sees her through the crowd, all because of her familiar brown newsboy cap. The place where they are is full of people; bourgeois or gamin. He rushes through the streets muttering a few desolé's here and there to those whom he may or may not have accidentally pushed aside, and after a while he finally reaches his destination. Which is, of course, wherever the beautiful mademoiselle is. He lays a hand down on her shoulder, and she turns around to look at him then smiles at his very presence. "Bonjour, what's up today?" he asks, "I haven't seen around that much lately."
She shrugs, then not really answers his question. "You can always catch me in here." she says, "But don't fret, m'sieur Marius. Les cognes will never catch me." She smirks then grabs a book from his hands, Plato's The Republic then flips through the pages. "Wotcha doing, studying on such a beautiful day, m'sieur Marius?" she stops flipping through the pages on a random page, "I can read, m'sieur, but I can't readce charabia..."
"That's because it's in Greek." he replies, a smile playing on his lips. "I doubt you know how to read or speak it."
She harrumphs with an irked expression on her face. "Still, m'sieur, I'm not like the other gamin here! Don't judge a girl on how she looks, I know lots of things, I swear!" she hands him back his book, shoving it into his chest, "After all, the things I know, vous ne trouverez pas dans les livres de ce genre." She adds the last part in French, making him smirk slightly because of how right she was.
He laughs. "I like the way you talk, 'Ponine."
Éponine smiles at the compliment. "And I love how you always tease me." Little you know, Marius thinks, little you see. After that they talk for a bit, catching up the past few days that they haven't seen each other and Marius is grateful for being able to spend time with her. Which, of course, is why when Madamé Thenardiér interrupts the two of them, a very agacé look crosses his face.
"'Ponine, 'e's here, get to 'Parnasse and watch out for the law."
"M'sieur Marius, I've got to go." she says sincerely and apologetically, she starts to walk away but Marius grabs her shoulder, and he realizes just how much he can feel the bone beneath the skin. "Please, stay out of this, you'll be in trouble here! I'm of no concern in your bourgeois world, I'm not having you sacrifice your perfect reputation for me."
If only she knew how much he'd be willing to sacrifice for her.
"But, Éponine—"
"It's not your concern, m'sieur, you'll be in the clear." She cannot see this, but the corners of his lips quirk up into a tiny smile that appears just because she cares his wellbeing, not that he cares much about it. He's always had this idea where he could finally save her from the life that she's living; act as the knight in shining armor in a fairy tale.
"Fine, 'Ponine." Marius says, holding his hands up in mock surrender as Éponine laughs. Truly, a beautiful sound in his opinion. "Promise me une chose though."
She nods her head quickly. "Anything for you, m'sieur." His heart soars at those words. "Swear 'pon it."
"Come to the meeting at the Musáin tonight?" Famous last words. In all honesty, he thinks it is a good idea. However, he would look back on this moment later in his life, wondering why he just had to invite her. She hesitates slightly. "Promise me you'll come."
She smiles widely. "Of course, Marius! I will be there. I must go now though, adieu!" She tiptoes to kiss his cheek, leaving him dumbfounded in the middle of busy streets packed with busy lives. Then after a while, realization dawns on his face because of two things as he begins to walk away from the scene and to the Café Musain. Because, the first thing he realizes is that he is late to his meeting.
The second is that she didn't include the word monsieur before his name. He likes it.
She has burst
Like the music of angels
The light of the sun
Enjolras sighs as he watches his friends. They're having fun getting drunk, they're having fun recounting recent adventures, they're having fun not caring at all that the time is near. Even if it is so near, it's stirring the blood in the people's veins. Yet, they're sitting there letting the wine get to their heads! He looks around with a grimace.
Despite all of these thoughts, those that he has thought before, and the constant insistence of his friends, the marble statue or however you may want to refer him as still refuses to believe that he is un rabat-joie.
He does a quick check of members before beginning. He sees everybody. Combeferre and Courfeyrac are exchanging stories, R is inebriated (he always is, so that's nothing new), Jehan is trying to convince Feuilly to read the poem he's written for his latest love, and Marius...
Is not there.
Late. Again. Or maybe this time he decided to miss out on the meeting all together?
He stands up quickly and people know that he's about to start another riveting and compelling speech.
"It is time for us all to decide who we are," he begins, and instantly, everybody's attention focuses to him, Enjolras never knows why he has this effect on people, yet he finds it useful. "You're treating this like a game! But rest assured my friends, the army we fight is a dangerous foe and the price we would pay will be great. The time is near, my friends, I can feel it. We need a sign now, to rally the people and bring them in line!"
Some erupt in cheer to the speech that Enjolras himself thought was nothing much, then his eye caught sight of Pontmercy entering the room quietly, as if hoping not to be seen.
Apparently, he's not the only one who notices this. "Marius, you're late." Jehan remarks, and Marius scowls slightly at being found out, as everybody's eyes dart to him aside from those not paying attention.
Joly takes note of how Marius looks, as his face looks flushed, then in his normal hypochondriac attitude, starts to worry for his friend. "Is there anything wrong? You look as if you've seen a ghost!"
Grantaire raises a bottle of wine. "Here's some wine, now say what's going on!"
Marius grins slightly, the negative expression being wiped off her face because of some memory that he is obviously caught up in. "In some ways you are right, Joly. She was just like a ghost to me." he says, and Enjolras knows that the poor young boy is in love. "One minute she was there, this one moment where everything wrong felt right and everything right, wrong. Then she was gone."
Enjolras takes note of how Marius' hand absentmindedly reaches up to touch his cheek, obviously thinking about something (scratch that, someone) with that lovestruck expression in his eyes.
Before Enjolras can say anything, Grantaire speaks, standing up from his chair. He is unbalanced, and nearly falls to the ground, if it isn't for Feuilly. "Finally! You admit you're in love, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the very thought of this speak of fighting for a right to a night at the opera, Apollo, yet this night is getting better than an opera itself!" Enjolras scoffs. She's hardly lucky considering it's Marius who has fallen in love with her, though he gives her credit at being able to make him fall in love.
Marius is still smiling dopily at the thought of the unknown mademoiselle. "Do you know what Jehan speaks of in his poems? That feeling, that burst of light in your world, I actually felt it. Like, my world has changed just because of her very presence, and it will never be the same." Marius rants, "The feeling is truly amazing!"
"Marius, stop acting like a lovesick puppy, these kinds of stories are only found in fairytales for children. Honestly, mon ami, there are things more important than a girl, there are things more important than our own little lives." he says, "Imagine, finally, despite the darkness possessed by the ages before us, we will finally be able to witness a world about to dawn! The night that ends–"
Then, as if on cue, a girl walks up the stairs.
She's wearing a big brown coat that's too big for her, and a newsboy cap that sits on top of her messy and tangled brown curls. It's easy to tell that she's poor, a gamine, because of the dirt smudged slightly into her face. Her brown eyes are scouting the room, looking around, and his blue ones meet hers for just a second and they both find that neither can pull away. He's never seen her before in his life, but she's beautiful.
He clears his throat then breaks his gaze with the beautiful mademoiselle. "At last." he finishes, though with not as much fervor and passion as its preceding words.
Enjolras suddenly feels very hypocritical.
And my life
Seems to stop
As if something is over
And something has scarcely begun!
Marius Pontmercy watches the exchange.
He feels completely and utterly helpless.
AN: I dreamed a dream where the roles of Éponine and Marius were reversed, where Marius was in love with Éponine, Éponine was too blind to see it, and Enjolras is who meets Éponine. Then again, Éponine, Marius, and Enjolras aren't exactly alike to their "real counterparts" in the musical/book/movie. Not sure who Éponine's gonna end up with though.
Review? It's all I ask of you...
-a charming young girl
who is capable of being terrible