Meponine drabble. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Les Mis or the characters
Hope
It was a cold night. Cold and dark. Very very dark. Eponine was walking through the streets of Paris, contemplating her life. She had just ran away from her father after a particularly bad beating. He'd very nearly forced her to go down to the docks, where the prostitutes worked, so she ran out before he could inflict anymore harm and force her to lose the last of her dignity. She walked, without realising she was doing so, towards the Seine. Ah, how wonderful death would be! What a relief death would be! How easy death would be! Oh I am so unhappy, but death... death would be my saviour!
Before she knew it, she was on the bridge overlooking the Seine. How blissful death will be... She looked down at the rushing water. Black, cold, and seemingly endless. Eponine couldn't help but shudder slightly. That... that is nothing, death will be quick, will it not? She stepped towards the edge of the bridge. Life... how strange it is... I start off with a loving mother and father, beautiful dresses with ribbons and frills, lovely hats and bonnets, shiny chestnut curls, no tangles, no dirt... I was happy. I wasn't so dangerously thin, I wasn't covered in grime or in bruises... My father never hurt me, my mother actually cared. Then it all went wrong... Every day, I starve. Every day, my father beats me, his gang beats me. Every day, I worry that Montparnasse will rape me. Oh how close he has come to doing so! Though she tried not to, she could remember all too well the times that Montparnasse had forced his mouth onto hers, how he had forced his slimy tongue into her mouth. She could remember the several times that he had come so close... then there was the time that he actually had. It had happened only once, for Eponine had made sure it would never happen again. Montparnasse had been particularly drunk...
"'Ey, Ep'nine! C'mere!" Montparnasse drunkenly slurred. Eponine ignored him, so he walked over to her. "I said C'MERE!" He shouted at her. He yanked on her hair. Eponine cried out in pain. He tilted her head back and kissed her forcefully, sliding his tongue into her mouth and rubbing it against hers. Eponine tried to pull back. He pushed her up against the wall and started to undo his trousers.
"'Parnasse, please no!" Eponine begged. He laughed and hitched her skirt up. "Please, please no..." She started to cry. She knew what was going to happen. He forced himself into her. Eponine cried out.
"Ya like it, Ep'nine. I know ya do." he whispered in her ear. He pulled back and then thrust in again.
"Please stop..." she whispered desperately. He ignored her pleas, just as he did for the rest of the night.
She had to try not to sob. No, Eponine. No tears. Tears are weakness. Need to be brave... need to jump... She looked down at the unforgiving blackness of the ice-cold water below. She was so close to edge now. One little step... just one little step... She told herself. She took a deep breath. I'm ready... Just as she was about to jump, she felt strong arms encircle her waist and pull her back. When the arms released her, she turned and found herself face to face with the handsomest man Eponine had ever seen. He had jet black hair and startlingly green eyes that seemed to sparkle.
"The edge of a bridge is not a safe place to stand." He told her.
"I'm well aware of that." She replied.
"You could fall into the Seine and drown."
"That was the point, Monsieur." She told him. He blinked, unsure of what to say. Yes, he had guessed that suicide was what had brought her to the bridge, but he hadn't expected her to be so blunt about it.
"But why?"
"Because I see no reason to live."
"There are many reasons to live!"
"Name one."
"Love." he offered.
"There's none of that in my life."
"Friendship." he tried again.
"None of that either."
"Hope."
"What do I have to hope for?" She asked with a laugh. "Every day I am brutally beaten by my father, every day I go hungry, every day is just another miserable day in my life. The only thing I have to hope for is that my father doesn't force me into prostitution." He gasped and Eponine couldn't help but smirk. "And you, Monsieur, are just the typical bourgeois. You come along talking of love; of friendship; of hope. These are things that come with money. With money you have a good life, you're not hungry, you're not dirty. People can bear to look at you. People tend not to look at me. Definitely not. No, who would want anything to do with a street rat, hmm?" He reached into his pocket and held out a five franc piece to her. She looked offended. "I do not accept charity. I'd sooner steal than accept your charity, Monsieur. You take your love, your friendship, and your hope. They are things that do not belong in my life. Not anymore."
"But they can, don't you see that?"
"How can they when there is no one in the world who cares about me?" She asked. "No one cares, so there's no love. No one cares, so there's no friendship. No one cares, so there's no hope."
"There's always hope." he said quietly. "Every sunrise brings hope, every smile brings hope. A new day is dawning, soon France will be free and no one will suffer any longer! France is changing, and its people will change with it. And as for love... everyone deserves love."
"And what of friendship?"
"I believe I can help you with that." He offered with a smile. She didn't smile back, but her lips did twitch upward for the briefest of moments. "My name is Marius Pontmercy." He introduced himself with a bow.
"I'm Eponine Thenardier." She replied. Marius could have sworn that what he saw in her eyes was hope as her hazel eyes looked into his green ones.
...
Marius and Eponine became friends rather quickly. When they talked, they talked about anything and everything. Marius, it turned out, was not the typical bourgeois. In fact, he did not actually have much in the way of money. He refused to accept money that he had not earned. Marius told her about law school, and he told her all about the society of Les Amis de l'ABC. He even took her to some of the meetings. Eponine got along well with Les Amis. She could tell that, despite their differences, they all had one common goal: to free France. Eponine liked the idea of a free France and she soon became a regular at the meetings.
Eponine soon became friends with all of Les Amis de l'ABC. She particularly enjoyed annoying Enjolras, the leader of Les Amis. Eponine had also taken quite a liking to Marius and she was very thankful that he had convinced her not to kill herself. It was not long before Marius and Eponine were best friends.
But despite these welcome changes in Eponine's life, her life was far from perfect. Though she did have happiness in her life, she was still regularly beaten by her father, still regularly went hungry, and still had to deal with Montparnasse's advances.
...
Eponine went home late one night. She hadn't stolen much; it had been a rainy day and there hadn't been many people out and about in the slums of Saint-Michel. She dreaded going home as she was sure her father would not be happy with her. She had only stolen 2 francs.
She sighed and walked into the Gorbeau house. She walked up several flights of stairs to her floor. She glanced at the door that led into Marius' living quarters and sighed. Whatever happens to me will probably be heard by him... She turned her eyes onto her own door. She hesitated before entering, dreading what she would find.
Her father was drunk. Well, drunk was an understatement. Her father looked at her and then stumbled over to her.
"Gimme the money." he slurred. Eponine shakily handed him the 2 francs. He looked at the two coins. "Two francs? Two francs!? This's all yeh bring me!" He shouted. He grabbed her by her hair and slammed her against the wall. Eponine whimpered. "SHUT UP!" He yelled, punching her hard in the face. He shoved her to the ground, took off his belt, and began to whip her with it. Eponine let out a shriek of pain. Thenardier continued to brutally beat her to within an inch of her life.
...
Marius awoke to the sound of a girl screaming. Eponine. He thought. He quickly got out of bed and got dressed. He heard the sound of a door slamming shut. He left his apartment just in time to see Eponine limping down the stairs as quickly as she could.
"Eponine?" Marius called out to her.
"Leave me alone, Monsieur." she called back. Then she missed a step and fell the rest of the way down the stairs.
"Eponine!" Marius ran down the stairs and over to where she was lying on the ground. He knelt down next to her and noticed the blood. So much blood... "Oh God, it's everywhere..." he whispered. Eponine moaned in pain. He noticed the fresh cuts and bruises, and the marks from her father's belt. "Eponine... did your father...?"
"No, it was a bloody leprechaun." she snapped. "Of course it was my father." She tried to get to her feet, but collapsed. Marius caught her and helped her to her feet. She pulled away and limped towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Marius asked her.
"To sleep on the streets." she replied. "There is no way I'm going back there, not tonight..."
"You can stay with me." he offered. She looked at her.
"I wouldn't want to impose..."
"You wouldn't be imposing." he assured her. She nodded after a moment and limped back over to the stairs. Marius went over to her and picked her up. Eponine was about to protest but then Marius said: "Would you rather fall down the stairs again?" He carried her up and brought her into his flat. He placed her down on the bed and got some bandages and a wet cloth and tended to her wounds. When he finished, Eponine got up and walked over to the couch. "Eponine–"
"No, Monsieur. You've done enough for me. I'll sleep on the couch." she told him. Seeing that he wouldn't win the argument, he nodded. Eponine layed down on the couch. Marius brought her a pillow and a blanket. "Thank you, Monsieur." He smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
"You're welcome, Eponine." he replied, "Oh, and Eponine?"
"Oui Monsieur?"
"Call me Marius."
Well, there ya go. I hope you liked it. Not sure if I'm gonna make this into more than a one-shot, what do you guys think?