Demon's Run

by katnissahsokapotter

It is the night of June 5, 1832. The night of the barricades. Jehan Prouvaire is reminded of a poem he read before.

I don't know why, but I was reading this poem one night, and thought, well, that it fitted with Les Miserables. I could imagin Jehan Prouvaire reading it at the barricade and, well, this happened. Enjoy.

Jehan looked around the barricade. It was dark and the summer night was filled with the stench of blood. The others were all grieving losses. He saw Marius crying over a letter. Gavroche was in the corner sobbing silently. Enjolras and Comberferre were looking out over the barricade somberly. Jehan could tell they were both upset. Grantaire seemed to be drowning his sorrow in wine. The young men had known that some would be lost in the battle, but they never expected it to feel like this. They never expected that close friends and family would be killed.

Jehan stood up and walked to the front of the café. He began to remember an old poem, one he had heard years ago. He felt it fit the atmosphere of the barricade.

"Demon's run. Where a good man goes to war." Jehan recited softly. A few heads turned and began to listen, but nothing more. He looked out at his friends mourning their dead. "Night will fall and drown the sun when a good man goes to war."

Jehan saw Bahorel's lifeless body and bowed his head. "Friendship dies." He saw Marius holding a letter with the body of a young girl beside him. "And true love lies." By now, Jehan had caught the attention of most of the barricade. He looked over at the blood at his feet. "Night will fall, and the dark will rise, when a good man goes to war."

Jehan couldn't remember the rest of the poem. That morning, Gavroche ran over the barricade and began to collect ammunition. As the young boy was shot and killed, Jehan remembered the rest of the poem.

Jehan and the rest of the men were shot and killed that day. It was a tragedy for the city of Paris, that these young men had such dreams for the future but ended up dead fighting for others.

It is said that engraved in the floors of the Café Musain are these words: "Demon's run, but count the cost, our battle is won, but the child is lost."