Enjolras squeezed her arm, trying to stop the blood that was starting to soak through the makeshift bandage. "It's going to be okay, Éponine."

She gasped in pain, leaning her head back against his chest. "It hurts."

Enjolras laughed, "It could be worse though." Or it could be better if he had never had to take the first shot.

"Always put things in perspective." Éponine shook her head, "The bone feels broken."

"I'm sure it is. I think the bullet shattered the bone." He wrapped his arm around her waist, burying his face in her hair. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault, I just had to come and find you. I can't listen to orders."

There was a large explosion that rattled the Barricade, "I need to get you out of here."

"Take the sewers." Éponine whispered, trying to get up.

"No, let me help you up." Enjolras stood up, bending down to scoop Éponine up. "Are you alright?"

"As fine as I can be with a painful hole in my arm."

"Enjolras!" Marius shouted, "Where are you going."

"I'll be back." Enjolras mouthed, before speaking loudly, "I'm taking Éponine somewhere safe."

Enjolras took the back ways through the city, before taking the lower levels of the city. Éponine helped him navigate them, knowing them like the back of her hand.

"Here! My father hasn't used these sewers since I was a child. Will you stay with me?" Enjolras settled her down, letting her lean against the wall.

"I have to go back to my men. I'm sorry," He stroked her cheek tenderly. "It is my duty and my honour. You are safe now and that is all that matters now." He pulled a knife from his pocket, using it to cut the sleeve from the shirt, pulling it away from the wound. He pulled his cravat from his neck, untying the one from her arm. "I don't want to leave you."

"Then don't."

"There are men fighting that need me. I have led them all this way and I will not leave them now." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, "I'll be back when it's all over."

Éponine nodded slowly, covering her wound with her hand. "You can't leave me alone now. Not after everything."

Enjolras kissed her slow and passionately, savouring the taste and feel of her. "I will be back." He had to go now or he would never leave her. His conscious weighed heavy that he was the one who had shot her, causing her the pain and the grief. He could have killed her. His aim could have been just a little to the left and he could have shot her through the heart.

"Please God, bring me home to her."

~o~

The battle was bloodier than he had imagined. Many of his friends were falling around him. He fought with Éponine's name on his lips. He fought beside Marius, fighting together in the names of the women they loved.

Had Enjolras been so mistake throughout his life? He always thought love and women distracted you from your duties and your judgement. But with the fire burning in his soul for Éponine he felt empowered to fight like he had never dreamed that he could.

By the end of the battle they were the only ones who had survived the war. By the grace of God had they lived but their friends fell. When the fighting came to a standstill, they stowed away into the sewers.

"We lived!" Marius cheered, collapsing in exhaustion once they were deep enough into the bowels of the sewers.

"By God and love." Enjolras sank to the ground beside Marius. "Éponine was injured. She disguised herself as a boy and came to fight."

"She was hurt? How bad?"

"It was only her arm. But that is not the most troubling part of the injury. Gavroche warned us of someone lurking in the shadows.."

"Éponine." Marius gasped.

"Yes."

"You shot her?"

"I did not know it was here. I would have rather been shot and killed than to hurt her."

"Then you do love her?" Marius asked curiously.

"Yes, I love her more than I thought that I would. God had smiled upon us. I would not have been able to fight the way that I did without the love of Éponine empowering me on."

"Cosette is the same for me. She awakened a world inside of me that coloured this world."

Enjolras stood, "You are not hurt?"

"No."

"I have to go and find Éponine, I left her somewhere down here."

"Go find 'Ponine, Enjolras."

~o~

Éponine had no idea how long she had been down there in the sewers. Waiting.

The pain had started causing delusions. Enjolras was there with her. Wasn't he?

Wasn't he the one who had come and taken her from the sewers? Telling her she would be alright, all she had to do was hold on. But it hadn't felt like Enjolras, he was not careful and gentle with her. He was not caring and loving with her.

She had been tossed over her imaginary Enjolras' shoulder and hauled onto a carriage.

Had she died? Was this how you were taken to heaven?

The rocking and racket of the carriage adding to the pain of her injury. Her head was throbbing with pain, her arm aching in agony.

"Enjolras?" She asked, forcing her eyes to open.

That was not Enjolras beside her.

"No. 'Parnasse."