So I was wondering how Thenardier would act to the news of his daughter's death. This is a point only rarely touched upon in productions of it. Obviously, being the man he is, he wouldn't feel too strongly about it. But Gavroche is my favorite character, and I've been toying with the idea of Thenardier finding out from him. Please let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I do not own Les Mis. If I did Gavroche wouldn't have died and Cosette would have been a much stronger character. _
"She's dead."
Bodies littered the sewers, marring the tunnels and blocking the pathways the boy usually used. Blood was lost in the filthy water. Aboveground, the battle had reached a lull as both sides postponed for a rare break. Soon more bodies would flood the tunnels, food for the world of scavengers. For now though all was quiet, and the boy's words rang out.
The man paused in his scuffling. The body he searched wasn't going anywhere. He could afford to take his eyes off it for the instant he glanced over the newcomer.
The boy was small in the dim light, layered with grime. Pinned to his chest was a ragged tricolor cockade, little more than a target now. A hat was jammed onto his head. He stared at the man, waiting for acknowledgement.
None came. With a shrug, the man turned back to his latest source of gold.
The boy took another step forward, wary not of the filth of the sewers but of the man who could not be called a father. "I said she's dead. Eponine. Soldier shot her." The man continued to rummage. "Don't you care? She was your daughter. Eponine's dead!"
"What's it to me?" He demanded, pulling the gold tooth from the corpse with particular venom. "Betrayed me, din't she? If she spends her time mooning over some bloody revolutionary, she had it coming. S'not my problem anymore. And what do you care? Not like she or you watched out for each other so much." With that, he moved onto the next body, glancing a final time at the figure. "You still here?"
Gavroche turned. He didn't run away, he flew; back to the revolutionaries, back to the promise of the future they had painted in his head. Gavroche didn't have a university education like the others, but he did have the full, profound feeling that this was not how life was supposed to be. This was not how family was supposed to behave. It wasn't. It couldn't be.
"It's a dog eat dog world!" shouted the man after him, "That's all there is!"
Fast as he was, Gavroche couldn't outrun the voice following him through the tunnels, up the ladders, upon the stones of the barricade. He would give Marius's letter to the Mam'selle, then get back to the fighting. There was nothing for him down here.