10 years later.

The Thenardier Inn took a turn for the worse a year after that man took Cosette away. Money stopped coming in but the people didn't. Eponine's things were sold, her beautiful clothes, her toys, she wore rags, old dresses, stolen things, dull and dark with age. Thenardier's robberies became a thing of habit, he had a gang that roamed the streets, roamed their prey and Eponine was almost always involved. Everything changed in those 10 years apart from Marius. He stayed by her side, despite her family going into even further disrepute. Marius taught her to read and write, educated her. He was her friend but she was undeniably in love with him.

Eponine wasn't sure when she finally knew she was in love, perhaps when she felt lost when he wasn't with her. She only felt happy when he was, when she knew that she would drop anything and everything just to spend one more minute with him. He was her haven, her safe place because her home had become so rancid, and her father unbearable.

She was washing herself. She had cold water and a tub that sat outside, hidden from the rest of the street. Though it was March and quite warm it was the morning and freezing. Eponine scrubbed herself raw with a carbolic soap and then poured every ounce of freezing water and took it off her skin. She washed her hair as best as she could and hung her head under the fountain. Her father managed to attach their water supply to the wealthy ones. It was freezing but it was clean. She rinsed all soap suds from her hair and rinsed her body through one more time before winding an old towel around herself and sprinting upstairs. She didn't want to hear what her fathers' friends were heckling. Her mother's dressing room had a cracked mirror, the only one in the house. Eponine rubbed herself dry. She pulled on her undergarments, covering the most private parts of her body. Parts that should have been kept private for much longer than her father let them be. She hated her body now. She was so thin, thinner than Cosette had ever been, so much thinner than she had ever been as a child. Her ribs were so prominent and her waist was so thin, but she was strong enough to carry out every day and run fast enough to get away from her father.

She had a horrid, putrid, vibrant purple bruise underneath her left collar bone, her father had pushed her against the wall for telling him she wouldn't take part in the next robbery. There was a slight twinge to every step. But she was Eponine and she could get over pain.

Despite practically rubbing her skin raw, Eponine couldn't rid her skin from the colour and the dirt she gained for being outside every day. How she envied those pale women with the beautiful dresses, their faces so smooth, one colour of white, as white as whitest rose, only penetrated by coloured red lips. Every ounce and a while she imagined what her world would be like if she was born to a family like Marius's. If she wore the beautiful dresses, and never feared the belt of her father, if she could hold a parasol, if she had meat beneath her skin instead of just bone, imagine if she wasn't just skin and bone, well-fed even, well educated. Oh, if she weren't a Thenardier.

She dressed, looking as smart as she could with her tatty clothes and dull belt. She wore leather boots on her feet her hair down, because she knew Marius likes her hair down. Her boots kept her feet warm, and kept out the water, they gripped the ground. They were moulded to her feet.

She walked down the stairs of her home, trying as hard as she could to be quiet. She didn't want to see her father today.

"EPONINE?!" he shouted. Eponine didn't stay to listen, she sprinted out her home. Down her road, through the streets, almost smiling because every step she took, she was one step closer to Marius. And then, all of a sudden. He was there. He turned and smiled.

"Eponine." He smiled and he hugged her, Eponine inhaled his sweet scent, grinning, loving the feeling of his hands on her back.

"I have to see Enjorlas at the Cafe, will you meet me there in an hour or so?" Marius asked. Eponine's heart sunk slightly.

"An hour it is." She smiled. Marius bumped her chin and smiled.

"Until then." He said and he strode off with two other of his friends. He was so happy. Eponine watched him for a moment after, watched him turn the corner and leave her sight, and she was happy.

"Eponine!" a coarse voice boomed. Eponine was thrown against a wall, her face grated. She let out a grunt, the air snatched from her lungs. Her arm was pinned behind her back.

"Where did you go this morning Eponine?" her father snarled.

"I'm sorry father-"

"Sorry isn't going to put food in your belly or clothes on your back! Is it?!" he grunted, pushing her harder against the wall.

"No! No, I'm sorry!" she cried. Her father relinquished her and Eponine fell to the floor gasping for breath.

The company surrounding her was compiled of her father, Montparnasse, Claquesous, Babet and Brujon, otherwise known as her father's gang, the people she grew up with. It was their stares and words she learnt to ignore. It was those hands who touched her first, who scarred her body and her mind.

"We've got a job to do girl." Her father snarled.

"Alright!" Eponine snapped. She was fed up of fearing her father. She knew the drill, she was to look out, always, for the police, for everyone coming after them. This time it was the Gardinar household, they were out of town for the week. They started picking the lock and eventually they were in. Eponine's heart thudded, it felt like every eye was on her. She didn't want to go to prison, but she was 18 and could be taken away just as they would be.

They were in the house for such a long time that Eponine started to think she could run, but then Marius turned the corner and ran over. Noticing her concerned face he touched her arm but she yanked it away.

"Marius you must go, stay out of this!"

"But Eponine-"

"You'll be in trouble here! It's not your concern! You'll be in the clear!" Eponine struggled. She didn't want any of this to be a part of Marius, she didn't want Marius getting in trouble.

"Who are these men?!"

"Leave me alone!" Eponine snapped and she tried to run.

"Hey Eponine!" Marius started and he ran after Eponine but he bumped into a girl. A girl Eponine hadn't seen before, she didn't think. He looked at her and she looked at him and they almost smiled.

"I didn't see you there, forgive me?" he mumbled. The girl smiled and was rushed away by her father. Something about that blonde hair, something stirred in her mind but then she heard the familiar click clack of horses hooves on the ground.

"It's the police! Disappear! Run for it! It's Javert!" Eponine screamed. Her father and his gang tumbled out the house and she grabbed Marius's hand and they ran. Marius, though he was fit, wasn't as fit as Eponine. They sprinted down the road until they were out of sight.

"Eponine, were they robbing again?" Marius asked. Eponine looked at her hands, shamefully, her cheeks went red and she nearly started crying.

"You can't do it, you can't continue dear Eponine." Marius said. Eponine concealed a grin. She loved it whenever Marius became interested in her and concerned for her.

Eponine's eyesight suddenly went all dark, she saw stars.