Hey guys! So, this is my first story for Les Miserables, and I'm an Eponine/Enjolras shipper, so this story is going to be an E/E story. I know that E/E is not the most common couple here on fanfiction, but like it or not, they have surprisingly good potential. And if you don't like the couple I'm rooting for, close this now, because most people who do not ship E/E and read an E/E story don't usually have very nice things to say about those stories.

For the casting of this story, I'm fine with either David Thaxton or Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, but I'll cast Ramin anyway, since I noticed he has good reception with female audiences (although David looks right for the role of Enjolras, since he looks a lot like Victor Hugo's Enjolras), and for Eponine...Samantha Barks, Lucie Jones, Diane Pilkington, and Rosalind James are all there to choose from. Of course, if you want a different set of models for those roles, that is completely up to you.

Anyway, the plotline of this story is that Eponine, like it or not, is a prostitute. Not like those "lovely ladies" in the musical, but a little more serious. She only does what she does to make ends meet, thus showing the endless struggle the Les Miz characters all face. Remember, prostitutes are people too; it's not because they want to but because they have to, and that's what Eponine's first phase in this story is about. Soon, she realizes that she no longer wants to continue whoring herself, because she understands that if she does, no one will ever take her seriously, not even Azelma or Marius or anyone else she cares about.

As for whatever happens next, you'll have to read to find out.

Eponine walked the streets of Paris in the middle of the night, slightly tipsy from the doses of alcohol she accepted from a man who had asked for her services. She had no idea what time it might have been, but she'd guess it was an hour or two before midnight, and for someone who lived in Paris during that time, it was not safe.

She staggered on the rocky pavement, her bare feet struggling to keep her standing straight. She had spent some of her nights in a condition similar to this, but most nights were relatively relaxed, and spent talking and roaming around with her sister, Azelma. Like her older sister, Azelma also would put herself on the market, but only when very necessary. Other times, both of them would simply stay away from it, and just save themselves from the drunken men. There were a lot of times when they wished they didn't have to continue doing this, but after a while, they realized that they needed to.

It was the time of night when pubs were forced to close because they were bombarded with uncontrollable men who were under the influence of alcohol, and by that time, those men were out on the streets, looking for an enjoyable night.

Eponine groaned inwardly as she noticed them, knowing that they would try to go for her. She tried to walk a little faster, but found it rather difficult to do so, since she was barely even walking. It was only a matter of time before they noticed her and started walking towards her.

Two men were advancing towards her. She reacted by trying to get away from them, but they only caught up with her. Eponine had no choice but to make a run for it, and when she did, they only ran after her. She turned at one corner and hid behind a wall. From where she stood, she listened intently for clues on whether the coast was clear or not. A few moments of silence passed and she thought that they had left for good.

She leaned in checked to see if the two men were gone. There was no sign of them.

Reluctantly, she came out of her hiding spot and walked towards the direction of her home. As she walked there, however, she was quite shocked when she felt a strong grip hold her back.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Someone held her back and put their hand over her mouth before she could scream.

"Hello there little missy," the voice greeted devilishly, and it sent unpleasant shivers down Eponine's spine. "Now just where do you think you're going?"

Away from you, she thought, before biting the hand that was covering her mouth. Her attacker yelled in pain and drew his hand away from her mouth instantly, giving her enough time to make a run for it. Unfortunately, she was only able to run a few feet away from him because another of the two men had blocked her way. Almost immediately did she back away, but was stopped when she felt another one behind her. She turned around and felt her heart drop to her ankles. Both of them were there, and she had no chance against them, not in the state that she was in.

She looked around them helplessly as they drew closer to her. When one of them caught her, she yelped. "Get off of me!" she cried, and pushed away as hard as she could. "Leave me alone!"

And yet, it only seemed to motivate him. "Feisty one, eh?" he said, with a malicious smile. The other gave a sickening laugh as well.

And at the moment when she seemed most helpless, she realized all she could do was scream, like she did when she had to stop her father's gang from robbing Cosette's home. "AAAAAAHHHHH!"

Her scream was cut off when one of them put their hand on her mouth again, and this time it was accompanied by a sharp, cold knife pointed at her throat. "You say one more word, and it'll be the last one," he whispered. Eponine whimpered in fear. "Gilles, take everything she's got on her," he said to the other man, and Gilles' hands searched Eponine's pockets and got the few francs that she had earned that night. The girl groaned in protest, but was stopped when the knife was pressed more firmly against her throat.

There was nothing more that she could do. These men were rough and strong, and she was tired, drunk, and sleepy. She thought that she would die right then and there when she heard a familiar voice.

"I believe she asked you to leave her alone," the voice said. Eponine and the two attackers turned. It was Marius' friend, Enjolras, the student who lead the revolution.

"Mind your own business. We've got some unfinished work with this hussy over here," came the cold reply of the man who had his knife pressed against Eponine's throat.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Enjolras replied firmly, taking a few steps closer to them. "Let her go now."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," said the attacker, mocking Enjolras' earlier statement and trying to imitate his tone. He and Gilles laughed harshly.

Enjolras' expression remained cold and stern. "I'm going to ask you again to let her go, and if you will not do as I say-"

"Oh, and what's going to happen if we don't do as you say?" Gilles retorted as he and his partner, Arnaud, laughed again.

"You're going to have to face every one of us," said a voice from behind Enjolras. Neither Eponine nor the attackers knew who said it, since it there was a whole group of young men behind him. It was Courfeyrac, Joly, Grantaire, Combeferre and a few other student revolutionaries.

Arnaud's eyes hardened. "What're you lot going to do about it?"

"I don't think you'd want to know," Courfeyrac replied coldly as he, Enjolras and the rest of the group took a step forward.

A sound escaped Arnaud's lips that sounded like a yell, "You take one more step and I'll cut this girl's throat!" His hand was no longer covering Eponine's mouth and was firmly wrapped around her collarbone, supporting his grip on her.

Enjolras dared one more step towards them. He saw Arnaud's grip tighten on the girl, but he didn't cut her throat like he said he would. As his grip tightened, Eponine winced in pain. He might not have been cutting her throat yet, but the knife was starting to cut through her skin, and she felt the knife starting to move. "M'sieur, Enjolras...don't..." she started, but was cut off when she fell to the ground.

Someone had attacked Arnaud from behind, and from where everyone else was standing, it looked very much like an old man, no less than sixty years old. The old man had grabbed Arnaud by his shoulders, and once they were facing each other, he punched him in the face. Eponine and the students watched as Arnaud and the old man exchanged punches, but the sight of Gilles escaping got her attention. She was about to say something about that matter when Enjolras and the other students caught up with him and started punching him as well.

Eponine got up with what little energy she had left and walked slowly to the group of students. Before she got to them, Gilles was already knocked out. She ran to him, bent down and reached into his pockets and got the money that he stole from her. She put them in the pocket of her torn skirt and got up.

"Are you alright, Eponine?" she looked up and saw Enjolras and the other students looking at her with concern in their eyes. She knew all of them, and was good friends with every one of them, especially since she had been following Marius around, they were bound to notice her. She knew that they knew about her feelings for him. It seemed it was only Marius who was unaware of them. She looked around and Marius was not here. Eponine did not bother to think about where he might be, for she had a feeling she knew, and the thought of it would hurt her. She nodded and gave them a weak smile.

She felt a drop of warm liquid rolling down her neck, and when she put her hand over that area and saw her blood on her fingers.

"She's bleeding," murmured Enjolras. "Joly," he called.

"Yes?"

"We need to take her to the cafe, now. Part of her neck has been cut," and with that, just as she was about to lose her balance once more, Enjolras swiftly carried Eponine. He walked towards the old man; Arnaud had now been knocked out as well. "Thank you, Monsieur."

The man nodded at Enjolras and the students. His eyes went to Eponine, who was now half asleep, and half awake. "Tell her to be more careful," he said to them.

Eponine opened her eyes a little and realized that the old man was Cosette's father, the father of the girl Marius loved.

"Yes, monsieur. Thank you again," replied Enjolras. "Good night."

And they left the alleyway. The Cafe Musain was closed when they got there, so they took Eponine to Joly's flat so he could treat her wound.

Once they got to Joly's flat, Joly cleared the dining table-which was the one thing in his flat that he practiced his medicinal skills on; whether it was because he had to treat someone sick, or it was for his medical schooling. Once he had put everything away, he let Enjolras set Eponine down on it.

The others had gathered around the table, Enjolras standing beside Joly, while Courfeyrac, Combeferre were on the other side of the table. Grantaire was a few feet away, lying down on Joly's couch, quite hung over from his last bottle of ale.

"This won't take very long," Joly told Eponine, who woke up when she felt herself lying on the dining table.

"Wh-Where's...Marius?" she asked, still half asleep. Joly looked at Enjolras, not knowing what to say. The Courfeyrac and Combeferre had also looked to the young man who lead the revolution.

The leader of the group noticed this, and said, "He's not here."

Eponine opened her eyes and looked at the group of young men looking at her. Indeed, Marius was not there. She wasn't surprised. She didn't want to think of where he might be, more importantly, of who he might be with, because she was afraid that she already knew, and it broke her heart. She stared at the ceiling miserably, occasionally wincing as Joly used a disinfectant to clean her wound. It stung. But not as much as the fact that Marius was not there, that he was not with her, and that he did not love her.

Enjolras just stared at Eponine sadly, wondering why Marius was so blind not to notice how she felt about him, how he had never even bothered to turn his head and look at the poor girl who was hopelessly in love with him. At the same time, he was astounded at the thought that she wasted so much time on a man who barely even knew she existed; there were so many other smarter, more handsome men in Paris, and why Eponine had fallen for this one, he did not know.

After Joly had stuck a bandage on her wound, he said, "Alright. It's done." He said, putting the set of bandages and his bottle of disinfectant back inside his medical kit.

The girl turned to look at him and gave him a small smile, a smile which Joly returned. She felt the bandage on her neck gingerly, sat up slowly and pushed herself off of the dining table. She almost lost her balance when she landed on the floor. She turned to the boys and gave them a thankful smile. "Thank you."

They smiled back at her and nodded in an acknowledging manner.

"I should really get going now," she told them. "Goodnight."

"Eponine," Joly called. She turned when she heard her name. "Try not to get attacked again."

She smiled at him. "I'll try," she teased, shrugging innocently. The boys laughed a little at that. Grantaire was asleep on Joly's couch, his mouth slightly open and a trail of saliva escaping his mouth. If Eponine was not so exhausted, she would have laughed. Enjolras, however, wore an expression that was quite serious yet unreadable. Eponine noticed this and her stare slightly lingered on him. "Goodnight."

Upon exiting the building, Eponine looked up at the night sky. The stars were shining brightly, but the moon was not with them tonight. She folded her arms so that she could warm herself and sighed. Of all the things in Paris, it was the night sky that was always beautiful. The only time it would change was at dawn when the sun would rise, but when night came again, it was still beautiful. It was the only thing in Paris that remained beautiful and constant, not like people. People change and grow, sometimes for better, but Eponine mostly experienced them changing into something worse, and she hated it when they did.

Her train of thought was interrupted when he heard the door open and close behind her. She turned around and saw Enjolras. "I thought that you would need someone to walk you home."

She smiled at him. There weren't a lot of people in Paris who were as kind as the revolutionaries. "That's very kind of you, but I'll be fine."

"I insist," he said. "After tonight, you need to be more careful."

He was right. So Eponine agreed and let him walk her home. Side by side, they walked the streets of Paris in silence, until Eponine broke the silence. "Paris is beautiful at night," she said.

Enjolras looked at her, then at the sky where she was looking, and agreed. "Yes it is."

A short silence followed before she spoke up again. "So, how did you know?" she asked and he looked at her. "That I was being attacked?"

"We just finished a meeting at the Cafe Musain, when we hear you screaming, and we followed the screaming and we found you with those two men," he said.

She nodded in understanding. "If you and your friends hadn't come and found me, I'd probably have been harassed, or beaten, maybe even killed."

"Well, we're lucky to have found you."

Eponine dared to ask him something she's been wanting to ask him for a while. "What made you decide that you had to fight for your country?"

Enjolras thought for a moment. "My instincts. I knew that my country, my Patria needed me to save her, and so I put up the cause."

Eponine was more reluctant when she asked the next question. "Are you afraid of dying at the barricade?"

Again, he thought for a moment. "Yes," he said. She looked at him. There was something gentle about him, and his warm brown eyes always told of everything he felt. "But what's going to unfold will unfold, and dead or alive, I will make sure that my Patria is free."

She smiled. "Spoken like a true patriot," she said, and he smiled back at her. He should really smile more often, she thought. He's always so serious and reserved.

A few more moments of silence passed as they walked. Eponine looked around and she saw a young man and a young woman sitting together on a bench. They were canoodling and very romantic with each other. Eponine's face registered sadness as this only reminded her of Marius, and how he loves Cosette...and not her. How she gave him her address and showed him the way to her house, and how he even introduced her as a friend the night she drove her father's gang away from the house. Perhaps that's all she will ever be to him, just a friend and nothing more. Tears began to sting her eyes at the thought.

"Eponine," she was snapped out of her thoughts when Enjolras said her name. She looked at him. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing," she lied.

In truth, Enjolras knew what she was upset about, and he took this as a hint that she didn't want to talk about it, so he remained silent.

They finally got to where she lived. "I should go in, my parents will wonder where I've been," she said, turning to look at him. "Thank you for walking me home."

"Not a problem," he replied. She turned and walked towards her home, when she heard him say her name. "And Eponine," he called. She turned to him again, but he walked towards her and said in a soft voice so that only she could hear. "Don't waste your time on him, there are so many other young men in Paris who would truly love you," and he gave her a single nod and turned on his heel to walk away, leaving her quite surprised.

She couldn't quite believe he had just said that. He and his friends all know how she felt about Marius, but none of them had really told her to find another man, let alone tell her that there were 'other men in Paris who would truly love' her. Eponine stood there for a few moments, still quite dumbfounded before she went inside her parent's house.

Upon entering the house, she saw Azelma, who was fixing the chairs. Azelma looked up. "Eponine! Where have you been?"

"Long story," she replied to her sister. "Where are maman and papa?"

"They're out doing business," her sister said. "'Ponine, what happened? You don't look so good."

She shook her head, not quite knowing where to start. She sat down on one of the chairs, and invited her sister to sit with her and she told Azelma everything, starting from when she was walking home, then the attack, the students coming to save her, how Cosette's father had fought with Arnaud, how the students brought her to Joly's house where she was bandaged and how Enjolras had walked her home.

Azelma sighed in wonder when her sister finished telling her the story. "Wow, that's amazing. They're very kind to have done that," she told her. "And they're the friends of M'sieur Marius, aren't they?"

Eponine nodded.

"Wow," she repeated. "They are so kind, especially M'sieur Enjolras."

Again, Eponine nodded. "Azelma...maybe we should stop...with our business..."

"What's making you say that?"

"Well, if we continue this business, we could very possibly get sick..."

Azelma thought for a moment, and then nodded. "That's a valid reason. But there's something else, isn't there?"

Eponine knew she couldn't hide that other reason. She'd been thinking of withdrawing from the prostitution business for a few months now, and it wasn't just because she could get infected by the pox. "What if...what if I continue this business? What will become of me? What will become of us? We'll just be spending the rest of our lives selling ourselves and not ever settling down."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if we want to have a life, a real life, we have to withdraw ourselves from this business...if we don't, no one will take us seriously."

There was a pause as Azelma was trying to think about this matter. "This is about Monsieur Marius, isn't it?" she asked.

Eponine did not nod or shake her head. "I just...thought that if I continue this business, he won't take me seriously. No one will."

"I've been thinking about this too, 'Ponine, and I think you're absolutely right."

The elder sister raised her eyebrows at her younger sister. "Really?"

"Yes, I mean, what woman wouldn't want to settle down and be taken seriously and have a real life?" Azelma said, smiling.

"Yes!" Eponine said, beaming brightly at her sister before hugging her. "You're the only person in this household who really understands me, 'Zelma."

"You should get some sleep, 'Ponine, you're exhausted," Azelma told her and they both lay down on their usual sleeping places on the floor, in front of the cold fireplace which was full of black, burnt coal. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, 'Zelma."

Eponine was exhausted, and a million thoughts were racing through her mind. Still, she pushed them aside for the moment, and let herself drift off to sleep. All those problems, thoughts and petty feelings could wait until she woke in the morning.

So, what do you think? It's only the first chapter, so there's more to come! Please tell me what you think!