The girl raised her hand towards him benevolently, beatifically. Her dark brown hair was bathed in a soft, heavenly glow, and she wore a tattered dress of white and dark blue. They were the tatters of the barricade, not the tatters of years of living on the streets in desperate poverty. Her breast was bared, yet he could see below her blouse that the blood from a bullet wound in her stomach made up the red of the French flag. Her face was impassive as she addressed her beloved angel, returned to heaven at last.

"Monsieur, wake up. You have done well."

Enjolras shook his golden hair groggily and aroused himself. "Am I dead?"

"Yes. You are in heaven, along with all those who died on the barricade."

Enjolras squinted at her. "You look familiar. Who are you?"

The girl came closer. "You may have heard of me as Éponine Jondrette. In my life, I was a lowly criminal, Marius Pontmercy's shadow. I died last night, taking a bullet for him. But in a larger sense, I am your beloved. I am Patria."

Enjolras' eyes widened. "...You are France?"

"If any one person could represent a country, then yes. I was of the poorest, most debased class in all of France, and I secretly loved you all along. I admired the passion you had for me, like no one before. It killed me not to tell you, to pretend to be in love with Marius instead. But I had no choice but to stand idly by, to watch in silence as you and all your friends blindly sacrificed yourselves for me."

"Marianne is France," Enjolras contradicted her with as much skepticism as he could muster. Had Enjolras believed in heaven before his death, he would have thought that he would be greeted by Grantaire, the man who had died for him. Or perhaps Combeferre or another one of his friends. Certainly not a girl whom he had never before met, claiming to be his beloved mother country.

"Marianne is the French Republic," Éponine explained patiently. "She represents France as you wanted her to be. I represented France as she was. There is quite a large difference."

Enjolras saw that she was telling the truth. He became silent and fell to his knees in a gesture of deference and ultimate devotion, as if humbly waiting to be knighted.

"Rise, my child," said the girl gently. "My love, my friend; you are everything to me. I adore you. Do not pity yourself for my sake. Do not pity me, for I never really died. Ideas never die, they are merely reincarnated. And so I shall soon be gone, back to earth to inspire some other revolutionary. It is my duty, the least I owe to those who willingly give so much for me."

"...But I want you to stay with me," said Enjolras, unable to believe her words. "I shall never get another chance to speak to the incarnation of Patria."

Éponine smiled. "You have always been so selfless, Enjolras. It's one of the things I admire most about you. Don't start being selfish now. Not that I think you will. And don't worry, we will meet again someday."

Enjolras sighed. "You're right," he conceded sadly. "They need you more than I do. Go, and godspeed." He kissed her hand, the way he had kissed Mabeuf's hand the night before when he was still alive.

"I will always love you, monsieur," said Éponine kindly, staring deep into his eyes. "You and your friends, those who have come before you and those who have yet to come... you will always have a special place in my heart. Never forget what you have done and what you stand for to so many people."

"I will always love you too," Enjolras said, holding back tears. "Even though you were the reason for my death. If I didn't love you so much, I'd still be alive. But I regret nothing, nor could I ever forget."

Patria grasped his shoulder sympathetically. "I know, citoyen. I know. I never wanted you to die for me. But I permitted it because you seemed to want it so badly. And because, let's face it, I am worth it."

A/N: I know this premise is really corny and probably overdone, but... review anyway, please? I just wanted to take a break from my other stories and do another Enjonine fic. Like many E/É shippers, I don't really see my ship and Enjolras/Patria as mutually exclusive, so I wanted to write something that combined them. Hope you liked it.