With feet as iron and her heart hanging low in her belly, twirling with anxiety, Eponine hurried down the street.
She could hear a muffled cacophony of overlapping conversations as she as climbed up the private stairway of the Cafe Musain. She stepped onto the top landing, through a cloud of smoke and searched the crowded room until her eyes fell on a group at the back. Marius was among them.
Courfeyrac noticed her first and let out a short, "Marius," nodding in her direction. The rest in the group, along with Marius, turned in her direction. Eponine darted her eyes away from Enjolras', which had, for the briefest of seconds, locked with hers, and met Monsieur Marius'.
"Eponine!" he gasped out as he hurried towards her.
"I have the address."
He gasped again, in jovial relief, and Eponine said, "Remember, you promised me something."
Marius offered her an offhand nod and fumbled into his pocket.
By the time Eponine realized what he was doing, he was already holding out five francs in his hand. Her hand caught his by the wrist with wounded determination and pushed it away from her; casting her eyes to the floor for fear they would reveal the anger she willed her tongue to hold back.
"I don't want your money." she said with a little sadness and a lot of insulted pride, finally meeting his eyes.
Marius seemed to not hear her at all, for he merely took a soft but urgent hold of her shoulders and begged, " Please, Eponine. Show me the way."
"Follow me, Monsieur Marius."
...
General Lamarque was dead. The news sunk quickly into him, like heavy stones in water, and an ardent fire burst inside of him.
"His death is the sign we have awaited," he declared to the quiet room which instantly roared with life. "On his tomb, the barricade shall rise!" he continued, and felt every cell in his body vibrate as the men cried out again. "And when we call, they shall come! The people will come!"
"Look here, Enjolras." Combeferre placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him away from the room full of inspired men as he stretched out a map on the table and began to mark the possible route of Lamarque's procession.
"Marius," Courfeyrac interrupted them in a low voice, and they all followed his gaze to the stairs where an emaciated figure stood.
It was Eponine.
Her eyes met Enjolras' briefly before turning to Marius.
Enjolras couldn't help the surge of annoyance he felt at the sight of her. She came with news of Marius' lady love, no doubt, and this was not the time for such distractions. Not tonight, out of all nights.
He watched their exchange for a moment, and saw the deep devotion in her eyes and the even deeper well of ignorance in his. Her hand came up suddenly and caught his wrist in mid air.
There was a coin in his fingers and Enjolras recalled the dim shimmer the coins gave in the alley floor all those many nights ago, before Eponine had snatched them up to her chest.
He blinked against the memory and found cold comfort in the fact that after tomorrow, France would be changed.
The two of them disappeared down the stairs and Enjolras turned to the group once more giving thoughts of Marius no more of his time and frustration.
That night, he spent it turning restlessly in his mattress, and only until the dawn came, did exhaustion settle in place of anxiety. But it came too late, and the time to sleep had passed him.
Mentally, he berated himself the whole walk to Courfeyrac's, knowing full well how much the lack of those precious hours of sleep would affect him on this, of all days.
But, when the time finally came, and he fired at the National Guard, his hand did not tremble and falter, but was as steady as it was precise.
His lack of sleep did not disorient him, and numb him to his surroundings as he had suspicion it might, but instead it sharpened his senses. Colors were vibrant and he could smell and taste the smoke in the air, and the gun powder and the promise of rain. He was too alert, too alive, too focused, that it was all too surreal.
The barricade rose swiftly and all fell into place at a hasty pace.
As he stood to examine the wall before him, a small creature at the base of the barricade caught his eyes.
With a coat too big and a cap clearly hiding a bundle of hair, the small girl dragged a large half of a table and piled it on a chair.
Enjolras stomped towards her with a set jaw and spoke low, but harshly as soon as he was behind the impudent girl.
"You need to leave."
She whirled where she stood, dark eyes wide with something bright and lively he had not noticed in them before.
"I won't." she stated.
Enjolras sighed, and turned to see if he could find someone else he could charge with seeing her out. Where in God's name was Pontmercy?!
"I know you believe you can be of some service, but trust me, Mademoiselle, you will only be in our way. I salute and admire your courage, even though it brinks on lunacy, but-"
"Lunacy?" she huffed out a mirthless laugh, "Monsieur, you are the lunatic."
Enjorlas blinked at her strange and rather ridiculous accusation and swallowed down his temper. "Mademoiselle," he whispered out, but the rest of his sentence died behind his lips as she took a step towards him and met his offended tone with her own angry one.
"They won't come." she spat out in a whisper.
Enjolras clenched his jaw. "They will." he corrected her.
"They won't. You know they won't." she looked around at the men and up at the barricade. "You're a smart man, I've heard you speak. You know." she shook her head at him. "You know."
Enjolras felt more sorry for Eponine than he could deem possible at that moment.
She not only lead a miserable life, but a hopeless one too.
"They won't come and you're outnumbered. You need all the help you can get." she said to him and he merely nodded at her, giving her consent to stay because their was no use in wasting time arguing with her.
She had just as much a right as any man to chose how she lived or died.
Hello!
Firstly, I want to thank the two reviewers who were so kind, not only to review my story, but welcome me to the fandom.
For those savy with both book and musical, you will notice I've included the essence from both the novel and the musical lyrics.
I have not read the book (yet) but I have skimmed through the parts with the barricade boys and Marius and Eponine to get a proper feel on them.
After next chapter though, it will be all me making up the story as I go.
Please review this chapter. I want to hear what you all think!