A/N: One more chapter after this one. I don't own Les Miserables.
Getting up from the pavement, Eponine's eyes searched for Enjolras. She was thinking of a way to try and help him when the bullet pierced her stomach. She didn't know what it is at first. Thinking something had jumped up and bit her, she looked down at her feet for a sort of vermin.
Nothing was there, just blood. Some of which was coming from her. She glanced down at her stomach, the source of the pain, and recognized she had been shot. Her fingers dug into her wound, as if to verify it was real.
She gasped out, the pain sharp and quick as she pulled the bullet out of her skin. She held her hand out in front of her face, glancing at it with disbelief. Her free hand held her abdomen, blood already gushing out of it. A second bullet wedged in her stomach only moments later.
Eponine couldn't help but scream, her breath catching in her throat. Everyone went silent. She fell, her body thumping against the cold, hard pavement. Her hands shook, splattered dark red with blood.
"Enjolras..." Eponine whispered, her bloody hands outstretched towards the top of the barricade.
"Eponine!" A familiar voice not belonging to Enjolras cried out towards her. Marius's hand cupped the back of her head, holding her up. Her body fell limply against his. She blinked rapidly, searching into his eyes. Her vision was getting blurry. He moved her closer, hiding her safely behind the barricade.
She looked down at her stomach. Marius took a knife from his pocket and cut the fabric of her dress away. The skin of her stomach was bloody and raw. She brushed her fingers over her wounds, a stinging sensation ran over her abdomen.
She was going to die.
And she was okay with it.
A few weeks ago, this would have been the happiest moment of her life. Dying in the arms of her one, true love. But now all she wanted was Enjolras there with her.
"Enjolras... Get me Enjolras..." Eponine whispered, her voice shaking as black spots appeared in her vision.
"I'm here..." Enjolras's voice was soft and beckoning, pain filled his already tired eyes. Marius looked up at him, and handed her over to him. He sat down awkwardly on the uneven cobblestone, cradling her in his arms.
"I'm here, Eponine..." Enjolras whispered to her, his hand stroking the side of her face. She looked so helpless lying there. He found it hard to believe that she was the strong, fearless, beautiful, young revolutionary who he had fallen in love with."I'm here... Oh... Oh God..."
Eponine glanced down. Blood was gushing from her stomach. She was starting to go numb, her eyes glazing over.
She was no longer hurting.
She smiled up at Enjolras reassuringly. He tried to smile back, but he struggled.
Rain suddenly began falling from the sky, washing away the sweat and dirt from her skin. It was oddly refreshing. She relished in it, both the wounds in her stomach and her smiling mouth gaping open wide. Blood stained the rainwater on the ground.
A wave of nausea hit her. She needed to start talking. But where to begin? What could she say to him? Her words first pulled at her tongue urgently, but they came out slow and relaxed.
"Don't you fret... M'sieur Enjolras... I don't feel any pain..." Eponine slurred softly. "A little fall of rain... Can hardly hurt me now..."
Enjolras's lips parted, he exhaled heavily, looking away from her. He swallowed a lump in his throat, looking down at her once more, biting his tongue. She began to jerk around in his arms, her small body trembling. But she couldn't have looked any happier.
"You're here... That's all I need to know..." Eponine's shaking hand cupped the side of his face, pulling him down closer to her. She looked up at the sky, a small sort of smile coming across her paling lips. "And you will keep me safe... And you will keep me close. And rain... Will make the flowers... Grow."
Enjolras shook his head. He couldn't help but let a tear roll off of his cheek. He held her body closer to his, feeling her heart beat slowing against his quickening one. A sort of choked sob escaped his throat, and she shushed him, her bloody hand resting on his cheek.
She shook her head, still smiling slightly. "Just hold me now, and let it be... Shelter me, comfort me... And you will keep me safe... And you will keep me close..."
"Hush-a-bye, dear Eponine... You won't feel any pain. A little fall of rain... Can hardly hurt you now. I'm here." Enjolras joined in, rocking her back and forth slightly, his bottom lip quivering. "I will stay with you... till you are sleeping..."
"And rain..." Eponine could feel her eyelids growing heavy, a slight pressure building on her chest. This was it. But she was happy. She was in the arms of the one she loved.
"And rain..." Enjolras assured, nodding.
"Will make the flowers..." She inhaled softly for the last time.
"Will make the flowers..." He brushed her hair back before her body went limp. Her eyelids fluttered shut as she exhaled her last breath. "Grow..."
Enjolras sighed sadly, planting a kiss on her forehead, his eyes shut tightly. Marius stood by his side, looking down at his dead friend sullenly. Gavroche stood behind him, sniffling. Marius laid a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry..." Enjolras whispered, turning to the boy.
Gavroche shook his head quietly, unable to say anything, wiping at his eyes.
"We will fight for her." Marius said strongly.
"For Eponine," Enjolras's voice cracked.
"For Eponine." The group agreed.
Enjolras wanted to do it right. He wanted to fight for her. But all he could see was her gasping for breath, her hand on his cheek, her dead body in his arms. He just wanted to be with her. He wanted to be able to hold her again, just to be able to feel her in his arms.
Hours later, the barricade was beginning to fall. Almost all of his men were dead. Gavroche had been shot shortly after Eponine. Marius was nowhere to be found, but Enjolras had heard the shot and saw him fall. Everyone and everything around him was falling apart. Months and months of work.
But he was proud of himself. He hadn't succeeded, but, damn it, he had tried. A huge smile came over his face, maybe the biggest one ever.
Then we can be together for as long as we want... For forever.
The minute Enjolras heard Eponine's voice speaking, a new faith was restored in him.
For forever.
He finally felt a feeling of content inside of him. It was sad, but it was still something. He thought about everything and everyone waiting for him on the other side. Eponine, Gavroche, his friends, his mother and father, the miserable ones of France for whom he was fighting for today.
Enjolras held up his gun and the French flag. "For Eponine! And for the miserable everywhere! Vive La France!" He shot aimlessly into the crowd of soldiers.
They shot back twice as hard.
Enjolras grinned as he collapsed backwards on the barricade, tumbling towards the ground. The bullets had hit him in the chest. It must have been somewhere near a main artery, because he was bleeding profusely.
It was happening quickly, a thick haze covering his vision and his mind.
It was the happiest he had ever been, but not that he would ever be.
A white light was glowing at his side, slowly forming into something. A silhouette of a woman.
An angelic silhouette of Eponine.
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