A/N. Hi! Okay I know this is really short but I realized this is all I wanted from this chapter so I hope you like it. As always, please review, you have no idea how happy it makes me and thank you to all those reading.

TotalToTheMax: Haha cool. I wasn't really going for anything but now that you mention it, I did want her character to be like his.

SarahBob: Thank you thank you! I'm sorry I'm slow at updating.

For Les Amis De L'Abaisse, it had not been a very standard meeting. It began oddly and didn't improve very much. When the Amis entered, it was to find Enjolras and Grantaire already there, talking intently with each other at the table in the corner. They both looked up, almost startled when their friends entered and quickly got up to greet them. If they thought it was strange that their leader and he least loyal member of their group were having a conversation they clearly didn't want the rest of them knowing about, they didn't remark upon it.

So the meeting went on. Courfeyrac expressed his surprise at Grantaire's continued sobriety ("Two meetings in a row! Should we celebrate this day forevermore?"), Combeferre started speaking about a medical lecture he had attended, and then promptly got into an argument with Joly on the proper way to treat a fever, before both of them became distracted by Bahorel's arrival, adorned, as he was, with some souvenirs from a recent fight (Feuilly wasted no time in telling him what an idiot he was.) Order completely disappeared after that point, there was more drinking and yelling than the back room of the Café Musain had seen in a while.

That ended however when Enjolras got up to speak. As soon as he stood up, silence fell over the room, glasses were put down and seats were taken.

He started with something out of the ordinary. He smiled at them. "My friends, today we are going to do something a little different." He paused and almost smiled at their looks of surprise. "We are all going to the Barriere du Maine. Pamphlets are in the boxes in the corner."

It took a second but then everyone started to move, grabbing boxes and moving out the door and in the commotion no one saw Enjolras slip Grantaire a reassuring smile. It was no mystery how badly Grantaire had messed up when he tried to convert those who frequented the Barriere du Maine to the Amis' way of thinking, perhaps this was a chance for redemption for the cynical (not-so) drunk?

In any case, ten minutes later saw them arriving in style at the Barriere du Maine. They were clearly expected as there wasn't any violent opposition to a group of young revolutionists invading their gambling space. Courfeyrac led the charge in attempting to press pamphlets into hands while Enjolras made his way to the front and conferred briefly with one of the men sitting closest to the raised platform used as a stage on the rare occasion there were performers. The man could be seen to acquiesce to something and Enjolras, satisfied, jumped onto the platform and waited for silence.

That which he got soon enough.

He knew that his speech would have to be convincing to get them on their side…. Or did it?

"As you all know, we are here to convince you of something. And that thing is to change. Specifically yourselves. There are people living in dreadful inequality while you sit out here, drinking and gambling your lives away…"

He went on in this fashion, catering his regular speech to people who, to all intents and purposes would prefer to waste their lives in this bar then lift a finger to help those in need.

When he finished he asked if there were any questions in the imperious attitude that his friends had gotten used to, but often ruffled the feathers of those not used to it, which may have been the reason for the tone the first question was asked in.

The man Enjolras had spoken to earlier, whom the Amis guessed to be the leader stood up. "That's all very well, but why should we? We could live our lives in comfort and luxury or we could give up our wealth to suffer on the behalf of others with no thanks and when we die, impoverished, we would die in the knowledge that we spent our short time on earth unhappy and not having changed anything. Because we won't you know, nothing we can do will make a difference."

The others nodded and murmured their assent to their leader's question while the Amis looked to each other in dismay. They knew he had made a legitimate point, or at least, his followers would think it was.

Enjolras however had been expecting exactly that. Time for the surprise. He smiled. Grantaire hesitated a second before returning the smile, albeit a little nervously.

"That is an excellent question." Enjolras addressed his rival leader. "One which I should love to answer. However today I think I shall leave it to one of my friends… Grantaire?"

Shocked expressions were exchanged between the Amis and Jehan actually gasped, though that was probably more out of excitement than anything else, as Grantaire made his way up to the stage.

"Okay" he started slightly awkwardly with his hand in his pockets. "I just wanted to… okay." He said again but this time, he straightened his posture and began to speak.

"I understand completely what you are saying. I mean who doesn't enjoy drinking and gambling. God knows I do" he looked down and smiled a little self-deprecatingly while some astonished laughter broke out among his friends. "However" he continued. "There comes a time when we must make a decision. One that acknowledges our position as not being the center of the universe. We can choose to ignore all of those around us who desperately need our help, or we can choose to provide that help. Yes means giving up comfort. Yes it means a little less immediate happiness. But the rewards are there, and they are immeasurable. I'm not going to talk of souls or the quest for heaven, simply because I am not religious and I know you don't take that seriously. Instead what I will say is that things will change. And they will change because of us. We probably won't live to see all of our fellow humans living in equality, but we can live to enact small changes that will make a number of people happier. And that is reward enough. For you see, we could waste our lives, drinking, smoking, spending money on brief pleasures before retreating back into the darkness, or we could accept our less than perfect existences and step out into the light, even if it burns our eyes. For then, we would die, not regretful, but content in the knowledge that we tried, that we did our part to change the world." He paused, had he said enough? Too much? Never mind, he should practice what he preaches, he tried. Oh god, let him not have failed again, just when Enjolras trusted him to do something…

"Thank you" he finished.

Silence stretched over the room, and Grantaire felt his heart thudding against his ribs. He kept his gaze resolutely down, unwilling to glance at his marble leader, too afraid of the look of disappointment he was sure to find there.

Then, the leader, the one who had questioned Enjolras, the one who looked like he wanted to break Grantaire's teeth out, stood up and walked over to Feuilly who was holding a stack of pamphlets, and took one. This action sparked the rest of those who frequent the Barriere du Maine. It seemed to Grantaire that he blinked and suddenly everyone had a pamphlet and was discussing the revolution with the enthusiastic Amis. Grantaire looked up to meet Enjolras' eyes now. A small smile graced the leader's face, one that Grantaire returned silently, not trusting himself to speak just yet.

OoOoOoOo

Back at the Musain afterwards, everyone congratulated Grantaire and questioned him as to when he had started to believe in the cause and why he had kept it a secret. They were so engrossed, for the first time, in their (former) cynic, that they didn't notice their leader slip out. They did however, notice him return, face pale, with a piece of parchment clutched in his hand.

"Lemarque is dead. His funeral is tomorrow."