A/N: This is about Cosette & Marius and based on the musical, therefore there will be a certain friendship and friendliness between Marius and Eponine. This was a major storyline written during one of the many Les Miserables RP's that are around. This one is from a yahoo group that I've been a member of for many years now: http/groups. played Cosette, while Kirsty, my co-writer, played Eponine and Marius. We wrote this story on the RP and figured that it would make a great fic, so we decided that I would write it in a fiction form. I will follow the story as it happened on the RP, adding lines where necessary.

Since I'm not a native English speaker, this story was beta-read by my dear friend Aimee, thank you!

Summary: Cosette and Marius meet and fall in love. There is a slight problem though: Eponine. Will Cosette and Marius' love be strong enough to withstand the problems they face? Will Cosette be able to accept her fate?

Love in misery

There was a slight breeze in the air. The trees of the Jardin du Luxembourg enjoyed the fresh wind, their leaves bouncing in a magical rhythm. A lot of people were out for a stroll in the summer air, treasuring one of the most beautiful pieces of nature left in Paris.

A young student bit his lip as he scribbled something on a piece of yellow paper. Marius Pontmercy had come out of his humble room to enjoy the warm sun and the fresh air. Opposite him sat a young woman with a ragged chemise and a torn skirt. Her black hair was dirty and hung loosely around her face. A brownish belt held her clothes together. Even in her poverty, she had a smile on her face as she observed the young man in front of her.

"What yer doing?"she asked; a nice voice, hidden underneath the dirt.

Marius turned a page of a reddish book cover. "Taking notes for my class…" he mumbled.

She sighed. "I don't need books, I know everything!"

Marius looked up at her and laughed. That laugh alone was worth 500 francs to her.

"Eponine, the things you know are not quite that same as what's in here."

They smiled at each other and she fell still, to allow him to study. She didn't mind watching him in silence, as long as he was by her side, as long as she could be by his.

Suddenly, one of the papers that lay by his side was taken by the wind. Marius jumped up to catch it, as Eponine reached forward to prevent the others from flying as well. Marius ran after the important summary that he had spent precious time on and spun around fast to catch it.

"Look out!" Eponine yelled as he lost his balance and stumbled backwards. He bumped against something soft and fortunately managed to stay on his feet.

"What was that?" He heard a soft voice behind him.

He was still facing Eponine, who was waiting for him. He feared the reaction of the person standing behind him but, knowing that he had to apologise, he decided to turn around. Turning round, he stared into the most delicate face he had ever seen. He discovered that he had bumped into a young woman and that with that, he had bumped into one of the most beautiful creatures he had ever seen. Her skin was like that of a peach; soft and light, her eyes were a gradient of brown that was indescribable, her lips were a perfect shade of pink. She wore her dark hair in delicate corkscrew curls. Her black dress with a white neckline was modest and smooth. He had seen all this within a split second.

"My apologies," he whispered, barely able to speak. His heart raced as he waited for her gentle reply.

She smiled, dimples in her cheeks, "Apology accepted."

Marius could see hundreds of flowers, bees, and butterflies. Her voice was like heaven and as sweet as honey. After what seemed like hours, she broke their eye contact and glanced to her right. Marius's curiosity got the better of him and he followed her glance to see what caused their break-up. He saw an older man waiting impatiently. There was a frown on his face and Marius stepped away from the young woman slowly.

She looked back at him, her eyes tried to hide their sadness. "I'm sorry, my father is waiting."

Marius could do nothing but nod and the young woman left his side. He continued to watch her until she disappeared behind the blossomed trees.

He was torn out of his dream-like state as Eponine took a hold of his arm. "Monsieur Marius?" Her eyes looked worriedly at him. "Didn't you hear me?"

He looked down on her with an empty gaze.

"I was just calling to you that I managed to save your writings!" She smiled at him, trying to force a smile on his face also. She lifted the paperwork to show her efforts.

He walked past her, ignoring the work. Eponine frowned bitterly and stared to the place where she had seen the girl disappear. She could swear she knew that face from somewhere… She looked at Marius scornfully as he walked back to the spot where he had left his books. He swayed a little. He was clearly lost.

She rolled her eyes, thinking. That girl… she knew her. "What was it again? Colette? No, that wasn't it. Cosette? That was it, Cosette." She knew that name. Where had she heard it before? "Oh my God!" she realised. "It was her, the girl they used to call The Lark!"

She spoke in an undertone. "Cosette, now I remember. Cosette, how can it be? We were children together…" She looked down at her dress and thought bitterly about what Cosette had been wearing, "Look what's become of me."

Marius had turned around and was now walking toward her. She smiled at him, trying to focus his attention on her.

"Eponine, who was that girl?"

Her smile disappeared in an instance and made way for a frightening feeling, something new. She shook her head to make it go away and cast the smile back on her face. "Some bourgeouis two-a-penny thing."

Marius didn't seem to hear. "Eponine, find her for me."

She raised an eyebrow. Was he serious? "What will you give me?" She mocked him.

"Anything." He pleaded.

She pushed him back playfully. "Got you all excited now but God knows what you see in her. Ain't you all delighted now." She poked him on the chest. He pulled a coin from his pocked and tried to give it to her. "No, I don't want your money sir."

She turned her back on him, "Eponine, do this for me. Discover where she lives, but careful how you go. Don't let your father know." He put his hand gently on her arm. "'Ponine, I'm lost until she's found!" He let go of her and started running towards the trees where he had seen the girl disappear.

"You see, I told you so. There's lots of things I know..." she said, then she sunk to her knees as she watched him disappear behind the trees. How unfair… Why Cosette? Would she try to find her?

Crawling up, she followed the path towards the buildings. With pain in her heart she began her undertaking. She had loved the boy ever since she laid her eyes on him. It was a couple of months ago now, back in the Gorbeau Tenement, when her family firstarrived. Marius and she were neighbours. She had never known the feeling of love before, in her whole life. The feelings she had for her mother were totally different than the feelings she had for Marius. Once her life had been good; her father had been an innkeeper and they had been reasonably wealthy. She had worn nice clothes and she didn't have to do the nasty jobs she had to do nowadays. Way back then, there was a girl her age called Cosette. The Thenardiers had used this ragged girl as their slave and Eponine used to tease her and call her names. Cosette had been skinny, unhealthy and unhappy. Until one day… one day an old man, the same old man who had been with Cosette just now, took little Cosette away from the inn when she was nothing more than a skinny brat. Now look at her. How things had changed!

Eponine cursed herself for her promise to Marius. Part of her wanted to lie to him, to say she couldn't find the girl. The other part wanted him to be happy and it was this part that won out.

She started running through the streets, trying to head in the right direction. They couldn't have gone far. She knew exactly where the nearest exit of the Luxembourgh was and decided to check that first.

Reaching the gates of the Garden she looked around. She couldn't see the old man with the young lady dressed in black. She cursed once again and ran to a street across from the exit. There, she was just in time to see Cosette and the old man climb into a carriage. Without hesitation Eponine ran after the departing carriage and jumped onto the back of it. She sat down on the wood as she tried to ignore the staring faces of the bystanders. She carefully memorized the streets as they passed, in order to remember her way back later and to be able to inform Marius of Cosette's whereabouts. She rode the carriage all the way to Rue Plumet, where it slowed down. To avoid being seen, she jumped off, causing her to hurt her ankle. With an abusive phrase on the tip of her tongue, she hopped to find a place where she wouldn't look suspicious.

"Little you know, Marius… Little you care…" She muttered to herself, rubbing her sore ankle. The pain would hopefully subside in a few minutes.

She trained her sight on the girl and old man getting out of the carriage. They walked to a house with a huge wall and gates surrounding it. The man unlocked the gate and they went inside. Eponine waited a few minutes, letting her ankle rest during the time. Then she started walking towards the house she had seen them enter. Eponine's cheeks started to glow with anger as she saw the bourgeois home. Surrounded by a huge wall with an even larger garden, the house seemed very impressive to her. Again, she wondered how life could have been so cruel as to switch their roles. It could have been her, living in that majestic house… Instead, it was the Lark. She quickly took note of the house number, 55, and turned around again. She hoped Marius would be pleased. She wished with all her heart that he might laugh at her in delight when she gave him the address. She started to run.

A good hour later, she reached the Gorbeau Tenement. She hoped that she would find him in his room. Her hope was unnecessary for he was waiting for her on the corridor. That fact alone would have made her happy for a whole week if only she hadn't known the reason why. Nonetheless, a slight smile appeared on her face as he ran happily towards her and took her hands. His eyes shone in a way that was new to her.

"Well?" He asked, his voice carrying the sound of hope.

"I found 'er," she answered, in a calm voice. She tried to keep it from trembling. "It's 55 Rue Plumet." She noticed how his smile faded away. His hands left hers. Her hands felt cold. "I can take you there, I know the way."

His face cheered up in an instant, "Oh Eponine, you're the best of friends!" He spun past her and forgot his coat in his hurry.

"If only it could be more than that…" she thought.

It was early in the evening when she ran, with Marius, to the Rue Plumet. All the time, her head was telling her to stop, to tell him that she was wrong, that she didn't know where the girl lived after all. What a fool she was to lead him there. The street looked beautiful in the moonlight. The leaves on the trees glistened.

"There it is." She pointed sorrowfully to a black iron gate that served as the entrance to the house on the Rue Plumet. Marius ran to it and, slowly, Eponine joined him. Through the metal bars she could see the beautiful Cosette who was sitting daintily on a bench. A beauty… Eponine stared at her torn clothes, and a beast.

Marius spoke. "In my life, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun. And my life, seems to stop as if something is over and something has scarcely begun." He looked away from the young woman for a second.

Eponine sniffed bitterly. He didn't even know her name.

The bitterness vanished as Marius took her hand in his. "Eponine, you're the friend who has brought me here, thanks to you, I am one with the Gods and heaven is near! And I saw through a world that is new that is free." He turned his back to her again to watch the creature in the garden who was consuming all his attention.

Eponine looked away from him. He was so happy, so ….. in love, she feared. "Every word that he says is a dagger in me!" She wanted to cry out. "In my life, there is someone who touches my life…" She turned to him and only watched as he climbed over the gate into the garden.