Hi guys, so thanks for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it! Please review and be kind, this is my first story on this account, and my first ever Les Mis fanfic! Enjoy (I hope)!

Everything had happened so fast, Éponine thought dimly, her mind drifting back to those few frenzied seconds. The moment when she had seen Marius through the haze of smoke. When she had seen a guardsman pointing his gun at her Marius- no, not her Marius, Cosette's Marius- and leapt forward. Her dying brain replayed the moment in sickening detail, how her world had narrowed to two points, Marius, and the gun pointed at his head, how her mind had changed to one thought: get to Marius. She remembered how the shrill cry had torn itself free of her smoke-parched throat, and leapt unbidden from her lips, "No!"

She remembered the burst of adrenaline that shot through her veins. She remembered the cold metal against her skin as she grasped the barrel of the gun, pointing it toward herself. Then searing pain, gasping for air as her injured body fought to stay alive, sliding down the barricade, just feet away from where Marius stood, oblivious to her sacrifice. She had not screamed, unlike many of the Les Amis had done, simply slid to the ground in a heap of grey cloth and red blood.

Éponine was no stranger to pain, no, after a lifetime with her abusive parents, they were old friends, pain and she. Indeed, with the adrenaline pumping through her bloodstream, and with her mind teetering at the brink of unconsciousness, she could barely feel the wound. With shaking fingers she reached into her coat, withdrawing Cosette's letter. She regarded it thoughtfully, strange that this scrap of paper could cause her more suffering than a bullet in the gut.

She didn't hear the commotion among the students as Marius threatened the guardsmen. Didn't see Enjolras take the torch from his friend's hand, staring at his face in shock. Didn't notice the yelling as Marius descended the barricade. It wasn't until he was standing over her that she saw him. Marius looked down at her, his bewilderment evident in his gaze.

"Éponine? What are you doing here?"

"I kept it from you, it's from Cosette. I'm sorry."

The injured girl held up the letter, a little stained with rain and blood, but still readable. She turned away quickly as he took it, ashamed, and unable to look him in the eye. But his glance rested on the note in his hand for a second only before it turned back to his friend.

"What have you done?"

She flinched, ready for the scolding that would surely follow for not delivering the letter. But the young man knelt beside her, placing his hand over hers, gently moving it away so that he could see the wound. She smiled weakly, heart leaping for joy that he had not abandoned her, that he still cared. She raised her head, looking at his face, imprinting it into her memory, from the dark rings around his eyes, to the way his hair fell damp and dark across his pale forehead.

"Don't you fret, Monsieur Marius- I don't feel any pain."

He looked up at her face, nodding shakily. She grinned at him as he fussed over the wound, it was too late now. It had been too late since the moment she had first seen the man pointing his gun at Marius. Still, she let him fuss over her, knowing that it kept him busy, kept him together, and, most importantly, kept him beside her.

"A little fall of rain, can hardly hurt me now-"

She broke off, half laughing, half crying. He stared at her in consternation, how could she laugh now? But it was funny in her mind, that he was pretending to be poor, that she lay dying in the rain. At last she saw the comedy in their too-little story. She had loved him, and had helped him to win the love of another.

"You're here. That's all I need to know. That you will keep me safe, and you will keep me close. And rain will make the flowers grow."

Through clouded vision and half closed eyes she saw it dawn on him. What had for months escaped him (and nobody else), now came crashing down. But he drew her a little closer, letting her rest against his shoulder one last time. Her eyes closed as he drew himself together before speaking to the dying girl.

"You will live 'Ponine! Dear God above, if I could close your wound with words of love!"

"Just hold me now, and let it be! Shelter me, comfort me!"

Her eyes opened in shock as he spoke, spoke words she had never thought he would ever say. She grasped his hand that had been over the bullet hole in her abdomen. Twining her fingers through his, she lifted both their hands to her heart. Through the rain that fell on them both she smiled radiantly at him.

"So don't you fret, Monsieur Marius-" Here he joined her, perhaps to reassure himself, perhaps her, at that moment neither of them really knew.

"Don't feel any pain, a little fall of rain, can hardly hurt me now-"

"I'm here-"

He rested her head into his shoulder, letting her dying body rest against him. Gently, he tucked her under his chin, resting his head on hers. She looked up at him, perhaps for the last time, smiling.

"That's all I need, to know. That you will keep me safe-" He drew away to look at her.

"And I will stay with you-"

"And you will keep me close-"

"Till you are asleep-"

"And rain-"

"And rain..."

"Will make the flowers-"

"Will make the flowers..."

She sagged back into his arms, the hand that had cupped his cheek sliding down his rain and tear streaked face to rest on her stomach. Her eyes closed softly for the last time, as her breath left her, and her weak, faltering heartbeat died away. He watched her for a moment before completing the words she had never gotten a chance to, and pressing his lips to her forehead.

"Grow..."

The soul of Éponine Thénardier slipped away from the heap of rags that had- moments ago been her. She watched as Marius pressed his lips against her forehead, sweet but chaste. Even through the haze of death, the dying woman had known. Marius had spoken those loving words to her as a way to appease her, to make her last moments happy, he had not meant them.

His heart belonged to Cosette, not to her. He loved her, yes, it was true. But he loved her as a sister, not in the way she wanted him to love her, not in the way she loved him. She watched as Enjolras and Combeferre gently pried her body away from Marius, watched the latter carried her away, as Enjolras knelt beside Marius, comforting him as best he could.

The young woman could feel the inexorable pull of something that called to her, something warm and happy. But she could not leave, not yet. So she waited till dawn, till gunshots rang and one by one, the students fell. Only when she saw Marius borne away to safety did she depart, to wait for them in another place. And so it was that Éponine died in Marius' arms, as the night sky weeps tears of rain at her passing.

Okay guys, so please, no flames! I was tired when I wrote this and it's not my best work, if you want to leave some constructive criticism that's fine with me. Not sure if this is going to be a one-shot yet. Review to tell me what you think should I add some other characters perspectives? Tell me, please review, thanks!