10

Éponine could have kicked herself for not having thought of conjuring a lantern earlier. With the light from its flame, they could see much better, and with Éléonore's help she could navigate the streets much faster.

"Did he have any hiding spots when he was alive?" Éléonore asked as they paused to allow an elderly man to hobble past.

"I'm not really sure," Éponine admitted. "We – we never lived together. Gavroche was homeless."

Éléonore glanced at her, but didn't say anything. "So, he could have gone anywhere?"

"Basically," Éponine muttered, hoping she could be more helpful.

Éléonore suggested asking passersby if they had seen Gavroche, even though Éponine had explained she had already done that. She was slightly disgruntled to find people were more responsive and polite towards Éléonore, even if they hadn't seen Gavroche.

Éléonore stopped to ask a woman passing by if she had seen a little boy. Éponine squinted at the woman, and recognised her; she knew she had spoken to the woman earlier on in the day, before it went dark.

The woman wrinkled her nose at Éponine, but answered Éléonore's question politely enough. "Yeah, I saw him earlier on in the day," she said. "He was heading down towards the river. He wasn't on his own, though."

Éléonore raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Who was he with?"

"A man," the woman said, cautiously. "Look, Guardian, I've got places to be –"

"I won't keep you much longer," Éléonore said. "What did the man look like?"

"Tall, blond." The woman pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders as a slightly dreamy look passed over her face. "Handsome."

Éponine rolled her eyes. "Enjolras," she said. "He's with Enjolras."

That was a comfort, at least. She knew that Gavroche wouldn't get in any trouble as long as Enjolras was around; the blond man was one of the few people Gavroche would listen to. And she knew that Enjolras would look after him as well.

The woman pushed past them. Éléonore's brow furrowed. "Enjolras?" she repeated. "Is that the one who was so curious about the Portals?"

Éponine nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. He's a good man…"

"But we should still find your brother," Éléonore said.

"That, and Enjolras' friends are looking for him as well," Éponine said, shrugging. "None of them have seen him since he left that day."

Éléonore didn't respond. She adjusted her grip on the lantern and nodded her head forwards. "Let's keep on going," she said. "We should head towards the river if that's where the woman saw them going…"

"Éponine!"

Éponine whirled around at the sound of her name. By the glow of the lantern in the narrow street, they could see Combeferre jogging towards them.

"Before you ask, no, I haven't seen Enjolras," Éponine said as the man drew level with them. "Have you seen Gavroche, by any chance?"

"He's missing too?" Combeferre exclaimed.

"Yes," Éponine said. "But I've got Éléonore to help us now."

Combeferre glanced at the Guardian, who smiled at him in greeting.

"We just spoke to a woman who said she saw a little boy of Gavroche's description with a man who matches the description of your friend," Éléonore informed him. "And she said they were heading down to the river. Would you care to join us?"

Combeferre nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. They slowly began to amble down the street together.

"How are you both finding your new homes?" Éléonore asked.

"I haven't really had time to settle in," Combeferre admitted. "We were too worried about where Enjolras had got himself to that we didn't really think about furnishing the place…"

"I'm sure he's fine," Éléonore reassured him. "As I've said countless times before, there's not that much that can harm him. My only worry is he might have attempted to find a Portal – he seemed very interested in them the last time I saw him – which is not a road I would encourage him to go down."

"The thought had crossed my mind," Combeferre said. "Why do you think Gavroche ran off, Éponine?" he added, changing the subject.

"Bored, probably," Éponine shrugged. "I don't know what goes on in that little boy's head half the time. He wasn't ever keen on the idea of having a permanent home, to be fair to him, so I guess I should have expected it."

"It was unfair of both of them to go and not tell you where they were going," Éléonore said. "What I think is the likeliest situation was they were lost. Enjolras, especially, considering he doesn't actually know where his apartment is. Is he sharing with anyone?"

Combeferre nodded. "Myself and our friend Courfeyrac, but everyone is looking for him. I just hope he hasn't run into any of those National Guard people…"

Éléonore's eyebrows shot up at that. As briefly as possible, Combeferre explained the situation that brought them all to this place, and the incident in the square involving Éponine.

"They can't physically hurt him," Éléonore said slowly. "So don't even worry. The worst they can do is throw words at him."

"It's not him I'm worried about," Combeferre said dryly. "You've never seen Enjolras lose his temper."

Their conversation turned to Éléonore's work as a guardian; Combeferre seemed to be incredibly interested in it, but Éponine couldn't have cared less at that precise moment in time. She observed that the buildings were thinning out somewhat, and then they were descending a flight of stone steps and walking along a riverbank.

The part they were walking on was paved, with little tufts of grass growing in between the slabs. There was a slightly raised lip running along the length of this paved area, and then there was the river itself. The black expanse of water gleamed in the darkness, and was perfectly still, almost like glass.

But it was the other side that intrigued Éponine. The other side was just grass, rising upwards into a hill, and beyond that was just a vast stretch of nothingness that was completely undisturbed.

"What's beyond there?" Éponine said, pointing.

Éléonore's eyes followed the direction Éponine's finger pointed to. "No one knows," she said, lightly.

"How? Has no one bothered to explore?"

"Oh, yes," Éléonore said. "But only a select few people can get across the river. It's really quite curious. And those that do never come back. As I said, no one knows because no one has ever come back. Look, I see people further down."

Éponine had no time to ponder the curiousness of what Éléonore had just said because she could indeed see two people sat on the raised lip. One was a small boy, the other a man, and they were unmistakably Gavroche and Enjolras.

Éponine slipped past Éléonore and took off, increasing the pace of her strides until she was almost running. Her footsteps alerted Gavroche and Enjolras to her presence, and they both turned around to look at her.

"What on earth do you think you've been doing?" Éponine snapped, planting her hands on her hips. "Gavroche, I've been going out of my mind with worry. I have spent all day and most of the night wandering this place trying to find you! You could have at least told me you were leaving the apartment!"

Her younger brother kicked his legs. "Nothing happened," he said, rolling his eyes. "I've been keeping Enjolras company."

Enjolras ignored her, looking past her towards Combeferre. Combeferre drew to a stop beside Enjolras and Gavroche.

"I think you've been given enough time," Combeferre said. His voice was level, but Éponine could sense some irritation in his tone.

Enjolras turned away, gazing across the river.

Éponine rolled her eyes and reached down, placing her hand on Gavroche's shoulder. "Come on, Gavroche," she said. "We have an apartment to furnish."

"I don't want to," Gavroche muttered mutinously, but he clambered to his feet nonetheless.

"Tough," she said. "At the minute, we have one sofa. I'm not going to sleep tonight until we've got some beds as well."

"We don't need to sleep," Gavroche pointed out. At those words, Enjolras' shoulders did an odd jerk.

"I'd wondered why I hadn't felt tired yet," he muttered. Then, slowly, he stood up, running a hand through his mop of blond curls.

"You're living with Courfeyrac and I," Combeferre chose to say next. "I actually think we live quite close to here."

"You do," Éléonore called from behind them.

Enjolras nodded his head. "That is fine." He turned towards Gavroche, and looked down at the young boy. "Thank you, Gavroche, for keeping me company today. I appreciated it."

Gavroche beamed up at him.

Eponine glanced between the pair, then sighed. "Come on." She wrapped her fingers around Gavroche's. "Let's go home."

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews/alerts/favourites, I really appreciate it :)