Both revolutions built their barricades on the same day, and it was the most chaotic thing Cosette had ever seen. Everywhere there were people yelling and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It was amazing the anyone stayed alive long enough to make it to the barricades, really.

Cosette was at the barricades, of course. She hadn't thought that things would ever come to be this drastic when she'd first met Eponine again, and she probably wouldn't have gotten involved with any of this if she'd had the faintest hint that this was even possible, but it was too late to back up now—Cosette was more than a little afraid of what Eponine would do if she survived the barricades and found out that Cosette hadn't even shown up.

Besides, it wasn't like 'the cause' Eponine spoke of was such a bad one. There were, after all, worse things to die for than equality for all.

--

Marius was confused. He had been in low spirits since he'd met Cosette again in the streets several months earlier, and didn't know why. He was still inexperienced enough in cases such as this to understand that he was missing Cosette. He barely considered it as a possibility, because, after all, she was a wanted man… woman… whatever. And he didn't know anything about her except her name… and her crime.

And… she was going to the barricades…

It was her! Running past on the street with a horde of others, toward the barricades. His heart beating rather quickly, he almost leapt up and followed her, before his brain caught up with the rest of him. He couldn't go to the barricades… they would never let him through…

Unless…

Not completely sure himself why he was so willing to risk his life to see a girl he had managed to persuade himself he didn't even like, he jumped up from where he'd been leaning against a building watching the revolutionaries swarm past, and ran in the opposite direction.

--

The fighting at the barricade had calmed a bit by the evening, despite the fact that nothing concrete had been won or lost by either side. It was only now, after the constant barrage of noise, light, and deadly missiles had faded to the occasional pot shot by one side or the other, that Cosette had the chance to rest a bit. To catch her breath. To notice- him.

He had been watching her, with a cold stare. She moved out of his line of sight, and almost ran into a small boy, coming the other way, looking for once worried.

"Gavroche," she said in surprised recognition. She ought to have known the gamin wouldn't be able to keep far away from fighting of any sort. "What're you-"

"He's a spy," said Gavroche. "That one, over there." Gavroche gestured back the way Cosette had come, towards him. "He's from the police."

Cosette felt her spirits droop a bit at the confirmation of what she had only suspected until now. Not for a moment, however, did she think to doubt Gavroche's word. "I know," she said, "I was just going to tell Eponine."

--

Neither Eponine, nor Enjolras (who had not strayed far from her side since their first meeting several months ago) were at all happy when Cosette told them there was a spy in their midst, but there was only one thing to do. Cosette braced herself for the order she knew was coming. "Take care of him."

She nodded, and retreated, not at all sure wheter she would be able to carry it out.

--

Marius was starting to get worried. He was finally beginning to understand something, and the timing was horribly inconvinient. He loved Cosette, in a way that frightened him, and there was not a thing he could do about it. He had thought at first that by seeing her here, at the barricade, seeing her fall before the law, would make him forget… but instead, he had found himself holding his breath everytime a bullet came near her, felt his heart stop, sure that this time, she would not be able to get up, that he would see blood staining her beautiful face, or spreading in a dark stain across her shirt…

It was with decided releif that he heard the bullets slow and eventually cease almost entirely.

He spent the rest of the night staring at Cosette. At least, he would have, if she hadn't gone somewhere he could not see after only an hour or so, only to return, walk straight towards him, and say, in a loud voice, "Come with me, spy."

--

They went out of the barricade, but not towards the veritable army that attacked it, where Marius felt he might have some chance of getting help… although, of course, if he did make it through this and return alive, he would be mocked for volunteering for this mere hours before he was caught by a girl and had to call for help.

There was nothing in the place she led him to but shadows. He couldn't even see her face. He could, however, see the shiny, metallic gun that she pointed at him. He could also see that it shook a bit.

"What's your name?" she asked.

What? That was… not right. Why was she asking that? Perhaps she had qualms about killing him… maybe he coud still get out of this! "Marius," he said.

"Marius," she repeated, as though testing his answer for truthfulness. "What are you doing here, Marius?"

"I—I had to see you." Where had that come from? He felt like a child as his cheeks turned a bright red, glad of the shadows.

"Well you have," said Cosette. "And—and I've seen you, which is good because—I wanted to see you too."

What?

"I'll probably die here," she said, "I didn't think the fighting would be this bad… but I guess I was just lying to myself… Anyway, as I'll probably not make it out, I wanted to see you first, because I think I've fallen in love with you."

He could practically hear her blushing back. Maybe that was why he found himself saying back, "And I love you."

"That's why I can't kill you," she said, shaking slightly. "They'll know, but I can't—"

At that moment there was a loud shot from back at the barricade, and someone yelled "Gavroche!" There were sudden running feet—pandemonium.

"Go!" yelled Cosette at Marius over the sudden noise. "They won't know, now. Just—just don't come back."

He ran.

--

When Cosette returned to the barricade, she saw a small group of people huddled around Gavroche. There was a a lot of blood over him, and for a moment she thought he was dead. Then she saw the blood was only coming from his ear, which had apparently been grazed by a passing bullet, causing him to bleed heavily and pass out. The blood on the rest of him, she learned later, was from stealing bullets from the bleeding corpses of the enemy.

--

Sigh. At the last second, I just couldn't kill Gavroche. Probably a lot of people who were supposed to die are going to end up surviving… Oh well!