Adieu
The gamine runs through the streets, the cold and bitter wind nipping at her cheeks. She needs to get to the barricade, where the man she loves fights. He may already be dead, for all she knows. She has just delivered a letter to his beloved, a girl by the name of Cosette. It kills the gamine to know that he will never love her, that he loves his Cosette. That does not stop the gamine from loving him though, nothing can stop that. She will love him until the day she dies, which, she thinks, could be that very night.
She slows to a walk as she reaches the Rue de la Chanvrerie. She knows that the barricade is on this street. She creeps down the narrow street until she sees it, at the intersection of the Rue de la Chanvrerie and the Rue Mondétour. The barricade. It's huge. She remains hidden by the shadows, knowing that the revolutionaries are probably watching. She needs to get to the other side of the barricade. But how? Surely if she were to try to climb the barricade she would be shot at, would she not? Then she remembers that the Rue Saint-Denis is not blocked off. She turns and begins to run again, this time heading towards the Rue Saint-Denis.
It does not take the gamine long to arrive at the Rue Saint-Denis. She slows once again to a walk. She soon finds the barricade, this time she is on the right side. She looks about the barricade until she finds him. Marius, her best friend, as well as the man she is so hopelessly in love with. For a split second his green eyes meet her dark blue, but he does not recognise her. She is disguised as a boy.
She waits. They all wait, hardly daring to talk. Those who do, speak only in hushed whispers. The National Guard is, no doubt, planning their attack, which will be head on, as is the peculiarity of this kind of war. So they wait, but they do not wait for long.
A loud voice rings out over the barricade,
"Who's there?"
The leader of the revolution, a tall blonde man by the name of Enjolras replies,
"French Revolution!"
"FIRE!" comes the reply. The barricade is rocked by several men firing at once. The revolutionaries fire back, but not at random. They, unlike the National Guard, cannot afford to waste gunpowder. What they have is precious and must be used sparingly. The gamine never takes her eyes off of Marius. She can not help the revolutionaries fight, alas, she has no weapon.
The barricade is nearly taken, some National Guardsmen have started to climb over. Many of the revolutionaries are injured, but, fortunately, none have died. This barricade has seen no deaths yet. Marius suddenly disappears from the gamine's sight. Where has he gone? the gamine wonders. He soon returns, holding a powder keg and a torch. He climbs back up the barricade. The gamine sees a musket aimed at him and she jumps forward, grabbing the muzzle with her hand and guiding it over to herself. The shot rings out. The gamine falls. Marius reaches the top of the barricade.
"Fall back or I blow up the barricade!" he threatens. A National Guardsman laughs.
"Blow it up and take yourself with it."
"And myself with it." Marius says with a nod.
"Fall back!" the leader of the National Guard commands. The National Guard falls back. Marius has just saved the barricade. He climbs back down and brings the powder keg back to the Corinth, a wine shop within the barricade. As he leaves the small shop he hears his name called weakly from the darkness,
"Monsieur Marius!"
Yet when he looks around, he sees no one. He thinks, perhaps, that he has misheard, or otherwise imagined the voice. He thinks nothing of it, but then he hears the voice again,
"M-Monsieur Marius!" He cannot doubt it now. He looks again, but still sees nothing. "Look down." the voice says. Marius looks down and sees a figure dragging itself towards him. He also notices something that resembles a pool of blood. He quickly bends down. He is shocked when he sees the figure's face. It is the gamine. The hat she had been wearing has fallen off and her long dark brown hair hangs loosely at her waist.
"Éponine," Marius breathes, recognising his best friend, "what are you doing here?" he asks her.
"I'm dying." she replies, as though it is nothing. Those two words rouse Marius, even though he is already overwhelmed. Such words and incidents can do so.
"You're wounded!" he exclaims. "But you'll be okay! I can carry you to a room, they'll take care of you. You will not die, 'Ponine. I swear it, I won't let that happen. But why did you come here? It is not safe." He tries to lift her and, in doing so, he touches her hand. Éponine gives a weak cry of pain. "Have I hurt you?" he asks her. She nods. Marius takes a closer look at her hand and he realises that there is a hole in the middle of it. "'Ponine! My God! What has happened to your hand?" he asks her.
"It was pierced by a bullet." she replies.
"But how?"
"Did you see a musket aimed at you?"
"Yes, as well as a hand that stopped it." he replies. Éponine smiles grimly.
"That was mine."
Marius shudders.
"But that is nothing, then, 'Ponine. You'll be fine, just let me take you to a room. They can help you. One does not die from a shot in the hand." She shakes her head.
"The bullet went through my hand," she says, "but it exited out my back. Marius, it is useless to move me from here. Nothing can be done, I cannot be helped. Let me tell you how you can take care of me better than any surgeon or doctor ever could. Take me in your arms." Marius obeys, sitting down on the ground next to her and gently pulling her into his embrace. Éponine smiles. "Now that's better. How comfortable this is! There! I suffer no more!" Marius looks at her, tears gathering in his eyes. His friend is dying. He cannot help her, he cannot save her, and, moreover, he is the reason that she is dying.
"Éponine," he whispers, "why?"
"Why?" she asks, "Why did I save you?" Marius nods. "Ah, Monsieur, you truly are blind!" he raises his eyebrows. "It is because I love you, Monsieur. I have since I first met you."
"You... you love me?" he asks. She nods. Realisation dawns on him. Éponine loves him... How did he not notice before? And now, now that he is faced with her death, he realises that he loves her too. Oh God does he love her! She's his best friend, she's always been there for him. He needs her, he loves her! He loves her with every fibre of his being and now he is losing her. He wishes that he had realised his love for her sooner. Maybe then he wouldn't be at the barricade, and she would not be dying in his arms. "I love you too, 'Ponine." he whispers, his voice shaking. Tears fall from his eyes.
"You do?" she breathes, her voice weak and fading. He nods. She smiles, a heart wrenchingly beautiful smile. Then she gasps in pain.
"'Ponine! Oh, please don't leave me!" he begs of the dying girl. She does not reply. She knows she can make no such promise. "Please..." his voice is quiet now, barely more than a whisper. She only smiles at him before pressing her lips to his in a passionate kiss. He kisses her back tenderly, knowing that this will be the last time he will ever do so. The first and the last.
"I... l-love... you..." she gasps. Her head falls back and Marius believes her dead. She remains immobile. But then, she opens her eyes revealing the sombre profundity of death and she whispers to him in a voice whose sweetness seems already to come from another world, "Be happy, Monsieur. Forget about me..." She tries to smile again and dies.
Marius knows that he will never forget her, but he knows that he has to try to honour her last wish and be happy. Of course, he will not be able to do so immediately, he knows that it will be a while before that is even a possibility. But he will have to try. And he knows how he has to start. He needs to say goodbye to her.
In the French language, there are two ways to say goodbye. The first, and most commonly used, is au revoir, which, when translated literally, can mean 'until we meet again'. The second is one that is less used, adieu. Adieu translates to 'farewell', or literally to 'to God'. Adieu is a final goodbye. Adieu means that you will never see that person again. Adieu could be called a word of misery as it is oft spoken to the dead.
It is the latter that Marius whispers to Éponine. He whispers so softly, so sweetly, so tenderly to the dead girl, he whispers,
"Adieu."
A/N This was my first Les Misérables fanfiction, as well as my first fanfiction at all. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of this.