June 5th 1832
They wait silently and patiently. The day had come for the rebels to rise, Lamarque's coffin being pulled down the street as the whole city of Paris watch and wait. Enjolras and Marius wait on either side, Matilda on Marius' left and Combeferre on a Enjolras's right. Silently Enjolras starts to sing, building up the crescendo.
"Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men, it is the music of the people who will not be slaves again."
Now everyone had joined, the whole Les Amis. "When the beating of your heart, echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes. Will you join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me? Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?"
Enjolras runs out, flag in hand and jump on top of Lamarque's tomb. "So join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!"
Marius runs out too and so does everyone from Les Amis. Joly and Jehan now are on the rise with Enjolras and Marius, Matilda stays behind from below and walks beside them. They continue to sing as they roll down the street, Enjolras sneaks a glance at Matilda every now and then, making sure she's safe, making sure she's still there. They finally come to a halt, face to face with the police. Enjolras and Marius draw at their muskets, readying them in place. Matilda hides back into the crowd, getting shoved and pushed until she falls into a young boy behind her.
"So sorry, Monsieur!" she apologises without looking at him. The young boy hides his face, his Maroon hat covering his face in shadows as he walks off into the crowd.
A shot rings out and an old woman falls to the ground beside Matilda, knocking her to her feet. Combeferre runs down to the old lady who lays dead on Matilda's knees. "She was an innocent, you murderer!" he shouts over and over again. He runs to the soldier who shot the old lady, dragging him out by his collar and beating him restlessly.
A strong hand lifts Matilda off the ground, the old woman slumping to the dirt in front of her. She turns around to see Enjolras there, he had jumped off the tomb to help her not get stepped on. They both say nothing to each other, but they stare up into their eyes and smile. Enjolras bolts off to Combeferre who still continues to beat the officer.
"Combeferre! Combeferre stop! Stop it, can't you see he's just like us?" Enjolras shouts at him
He stops to beat the man. His bloody knuckles still curled into a fist. The young officer lays on the ground weak and bloody, he was no older than Combeferre himself, only following orders. What had gotten into him?
Enjolras pulls his friend away, a riot now starting amongst the people. The other officers now had drawn out their swords, charging at the crowds who runs away in fear.
"To the barricades!" Enjolras shouts.
Matilda runs beside him, taking longs strides to match his running pace. Marius rides past them on an artillery horse, carrying a red flag in his arms. They stop just outside of the Musain, the boys running in and out of a giant wood-furniture barricade. Matilda comes to a halt, skidding on the stone floor next to the leader in red. Had they built this over night? Why wouldn't they have built it with her? Enjolras looks at her, but Matilda - still stricken with awe from the barricade they had built - fails to look at him back. Enjolras looks at his boots, kicking a small pebble out of the way. He knows what his fate would be, either to die at the barricade, or to be a fugitive of the law for the rest of his life. Either way, he had to have Matilda for one last time.
"Matilda, I need to tell you something."
She turns to him and gets caught off guard when he crashes his lips onto hers. She hesitates to kiss him back at first, but then welcome the love passionately. The sound of silence now fills the air, everyone stopping to look at the two love birds. Matilda wraps her arms around his neck, Enjolras holding her by the waist, pulling her closer. His lips moving roughly, but slowly against hers, the taste of vanilla and strawberries on his lips. Matilda filled with butterflies, curls her fingers in his hair. All the times she had been furious with him, now all turned to joy. Loving him was something that she could never let go off, and Enjolras would never let go of her either, but they had to pull away. They stare into each other's eyes, Enjolras's cobalt blue eyes gleaming at her in the late bleeding sun.
Suddenly, the whole Les Amis rises in an uproar of cheers and whoops for the two. They both blush and smile, felling slightly embarrassed but happy they finally have each other again.
"Matilda, I am so sorry for anything I've ever done to you."
"You never did anything, I was over reacting, I should know that you did it because you loved and cared for me. Thank you." She kisses him one last time on the cheek before running off into the barricades, hiding behind the safety of the wooden defence line.
Marius had never felt more sadness than now. His friends finally being together, his friends of Les Amis laughing and jeering through a night of fear. Now he was stuck here alone. He had friends, but they were all too occupied with their own business. He sits down behind the barricade, leaning his back against a wooden table which now snapped in half after being thrown from a window. He rests his elbows on his knees, his dark navy blue trousers covered with dust. Cosette. He thinks. Why have you not asked for me yet? He rests his head on the barricade, watching his friends drowning out their fear with drinks and jokes. He would join them, but he felt a sudden pang of stricken grief every time he thinks about his fate, then Cosette. No. He would survive this fight and return to her. He had to.
"Not joining in with us, Mari-oos?" a drunk voice comes from beside him. A heavy body slumps down next to him, reeking of alcohol. His green shirt vest stained with a blotch of a spilled drink, his trousers wrinkled and reeked.
"Not in the mood, R."
"Yes I see that, but you see... Enjolras is drinking tonight as a celebration for his new," he burps. Marius swats away his terrible breath. "relationship, with Ms Matilda." He starts chuckling wildly.
"Is that even a good idea? He has a revolution to run in the morning."
Grantaire chuckles deeply, the stench of his alcoholic breath filling his scent. The drunk pushes himself up by his free hand and stumbles back inside the cafe.
Marius just wanted to be alone for a while. His life would cost him for this, for the revolution. Is he prepared to die after he just found the love of his life? Just go to sleep, Marius. He tell himself. He shuts his eyes, leaning his head upon the barricade. Shutting his eyes, he pictures his grandfather sitting behind his desk at their house. He thinks about how he made him believe that revolutions were pathetic and useless against the government, how he found out his father was a hero in a revolution which caused a bitter sook between them. Then he thinks of Cosette. Her flowing blonde hair in the wind, the way they first looked at each other when he knocked her to her feet, her blue eyes gleaming in the blinding sun.
"Go Enjolras!" a voice cries out. Marius snaps awake to find his leader atop the barricades drunk.
"Friends!" he shouts. Marius now gets interested and joins the crowd who surrounds their leader in red. "We.. Have to help France from... POOPIE HEADS!" Laughter fills the barricade, this is the first time they have seen him drunk in years and it was hilarious. "Poopie heads, are not good. They are bad. VERY bad. We need to..." he pauses, as if he didn't know what to say anymore. "We need to..."
"What is it? What is it Enjolras?"
"I don't know."
A face emerges out of the cafe, her sweet face confused to see Enjolras drunk. Matilda stares at him, gazing at the new person she's never seen before.
Enjolras catches her eyes gazing at him no jumps off the barricade with a loud thud. "Matilda! You're here, do you know why I have to stop the Poopie heads?" he asks slurring. He throws an arm around her and leans lazily.
"The what?" she asks, amused and confused.
"The Poopie heads. The bad people."
Matilda looks at the rest of her friends, Courfeyrac and Gavroche imitating the government and a slave. Finally she understands. "Oh! Right the... Poopie heads, um. To free our world from slavery and inequality."
Enjolras says nothing for a moment, trying to think about her answer. "Huh, okay then. Did you know I slept with a prostitute a few years ago?" he says into her ear.
She feels a sharp pain in her stomach. Matilda knew she would have to live with the fact Enjolras had slept with a random woman before, she just didn't know it would hit her so hard. Without saying anything, Combeferre instantly knew that Enjolras had mentioned something to her and jumps in to drag him away.
"Enjolras, go get sober. Matilda can you find out if we have enough guns for the night?" he asks dragging Enjolras away.
Matilda freezes for a moment then smiles. "Sure."
The sound of marching soldiers now fills the dark sky. The sun had gone down quickly and none of them had realised. Marius rushes to the front, hiding behind a cabinet, peeking through a small crack to see what was happening. Most of the Amis now joined him, wanting to see what would become the worst for some of them. Rows of soldiers and the National Guardsman stood by them, bayonets on the top of their carbines, ready to be trusted into the backs of the rebels.
"Oh god," a voice comes from beside him. Matilda now kneels next to Marius, looking through a hole in the barricade. She stumbles back, running to warn Enjolras and Combeferre but bumps into a boy knocking him to his feet, throwing his cap aside.
"I am so sorry..." she trails off. The boy, wasn't a boy. They had long brown curls that were unbrushed and filthy, their face covered with filth, almost making the green eyes upon their face seem to loose its colour. "Eponine?" The person looks up at her and she felt a pain of anger in her chest. "What are you doing here?!"
Yes so, Enjolras is quite OOC in this chapter, well more OOC then usual since he's never really been in love, or drunk in the brick or musical. Hope you enjoyed this different chapter.