Chapter 10
"To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life."
"Oh no" Cosette said under her breath yet Marius still heard her.
"What's wrong?" he asked. The worry in his voice was too obvious that he wanted to curse himself but Cosette was too frantic to even acknowledge his worry.
"I must go and find Enjolras" she said. "Though I did had a splendid time, Monsieur" she added, holding onto his hand. He doesn't let go and stares at her eyes, "How I wish I had known who you are" he said to her. Cosette managed to smile weakly.
"In another lifetime, I shall see you again. But for now, I must find the man I love the most" Then she left.
Marius stood there, awestruck-ed. His heart shattered there, in that very spot. He thought, by Cosette's words that she was inlove with Enjolras not knowing that if he listened, he could have known better.
Through all the confusion, the happiness, the curiosity and the glee, Eponine managed to sneak out to find her beloved.
She checked their chambers, the secret rooms only he and her knew about yet still he wasn't there. Then her feet carried her to the stable.
Archimedes, the horse beside Apollo, was missing. Just seeing this, she already knew where Enjolras went. She rode Apollo and rushed towards the meadow.
He heard Apollo gallop behind him. He knew the horse too well to even consider knowing the sound of his hoofs. He heard it a lot of times, he did work with the Empire's horses for 3 years already.
"Why had you followed me, Mademoiselle? Do you need my service?" Enjolras spun and turned at her. Her face showed sorrow. His heart should be aching, but he felt numb.
"Enjolras, please" Eponine pleaded, her tears trying to make her way out of her eyes.
"Why did you not tell me?" Enjolras asked, finally dropping all walls, all barriers. He had to know.
"I did not find the time to" Eponine said.
This broke him ever more.
He didn't feel sadness, just anger slowly boiling inside him.
"If it makes a difference," Eponine started, "I had no say in this at all" she added. He stopped in his tracks. He thought she wanted this. Enjolras wanted to run to her, to get her and just escape to a place where no once can find them. But his pride put up a wall, telling him he shouldn't.
"Did you even try to refuse?" Enjolras asked, walking towards Archimedes, unstrapping him from the tree.
"I did. Even until know, I'm trying" Eponine said. She meant it. He knew when Eponine was lying but now, she meant it.
Enjolras's heart started beating again. "It is only you that I love, Enjolras. No one else" He turned to face her. She was crying. At the sight of her, there was nothing he wanted to do more. He ran to her, crashing his lips on hers.
She felt relieved, as if all the pain was sucked out of her.
"I love you, Eponine" Enjolras said in between kissed.
"And I you" Eponine answered back.
Eponine broke away, staring down at the ground. Enjolras kissed her forehead. The relief flowing down her was indescribable. She wanted this, just this and nothing else.
Eponine and Enjolras laid on the grass, side by side.
They forgot everything around them. In that moment it was just them.
But like all good things, this had to come to an end.
They heard panting behind them and they quickly jumped, afraid to have been caught yet all they saw infront of them was a frantic Cosette.
"What is it, Cosette?" Enjolras asked.
He knew this wasn't good news, it was written all over her tear drenched face.
"Mere" Cosette whispered.
Enjolras shook his head, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to understand.
She bit her lip as if she can stop anymore tears from falling. It was like a river, how it flows down her face. "She's dead, Enjolras. She's gone"
Enjolras's world stopped around her. Again, pain coursed through his blood, paralyzing every bone in his body. His emotions switched off and he did not know what to feel or even what to say.
He heard Eponine take a sharp breath behind him.
He looked at Cosette, then at Eponine then slowly, forgetting about Archimedes, started towards their cabin.
He let his tears flow down as he looked at the lifeless body of his mother. But there wasn't any to cry out.
"How could this happen?" he said, not daring to look away.
"We did not have that much medicine to treat her" Monsieur Valjean said in between breaths. How could people be so selfish? If she was still in the hospital, she could still be alive. He refused to cry or maybe he just couldn't.
No emotion flooded into him, just pain continually wrapping his heart with stone.
The next day, just a couple of hours after Fantine's funeral, Enjolras tried reading, to take his mind of all that is happening. They stayed in the cabin, even though it let them remember too may memories every now and then.
Just as he flipped to the next page, they heard a knock on the door. They did not need to open because just a second after the knock, the door was forcefully kicked open.
Cosette screamed as she saw the men who invaded their home, drag her brother away.
"Enjolras!" Cosette shouted, trying to reach out to him. Their hands linked for a second but their bond was quickly wiped away, leaving a weeping Cosette on the floor.
Quickly, without no doubt, she ran to the palace. She passed by guards who quickly followed her. Once she got to the familiar room she had only been in once, she knocked.
But misfortune outdrew her as she felt two pairs of muscular hands pry her away from the door. She screamed, thrashing around, trying all that she can, spilling all her luck for the guards to let her go.
"Let her go" Cosette heard from the distance. Even she shivered with that authority present in her voice.
"Mademoiselle Eponine" The two guards bowed, yet still refused to let Cosette go.
"I said let her go" Eponine's voice rose and that rarely happened. Scared of what might become of this, the two guards let Cosette go.
As soon as Cosette was out of the guard's grasps, Eponine ran to her, putting down all the walls of authority.
"What is it, Cosette?" She asked, too worried to even calm either of them.
"They got him" Eponine shook her head, not understanding. "They got Enjolras. A couple of guards went to the house and dragged him out" she said, elaborating her earlier statement.
Eponine can feel the pounding of her heart in her chest, crashing through, beating as fast as it could. How could they have known?
"Where is he?" Eponine managed to say, stammering the words out.
Cosette shook her head, "I don't know" Yet as if on cue, they heard a scream echoing on the walls, piercing each ear.
Eponine turned towards Cosette, "You have to gather all your necessities. I will handle this and I promise to give you back your brother"
Cosette nodded and ran to the direction of the cabins.
Again, as Cosette got farther and farther away, Eponine heard another scream. She couldn't take it. With every scream, bone by bone in her body weakens. The thought of her amour under torture, being whipped to death made her weep.
She got to the oak doors, the doors that open to the inquisition area. Only a few people were allowed out there.
No guards were standing watch. As if they wanted Eponine to see this, as if it was all planned.
"Stop!" she shout as she managed to reach the other end of those doors.
Everybody stares at her, curious on why she let the whole thing stop. Eponine looked at her mother.
"Mere, please"
Madame Thenadier's eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks so prominent and her hair out of place. She laughed hysterically.
"No" she said, smiling.
She's gone mad. Eponine thought to herself.
"This man" she says, pointing at Enjolras, "this man is the sole reason you defy me, the reason you refuse to marry the man I have asked you to." Eponine didn't know what to say. How did her mother know all about these things?
Her mother made a face as if saying to ignore Eponine. The inquisitor raises his whip but she shouts again.
Eponine was left with no choice.
"Fine!" Eponine shouted. "I will marry the man you set me to marry" Her mother smiled. Just like a kid who just got candy.
"Eponine, no" he said, looking at her.
"I have to. They'll kill you" she said. The world stopped around them. They ignored everyone who was there, it was just him and her, doing what's best for both of them.
"I'd rather die a thousand lives than see you with another" Enjolras said.
Eponine smiled weakly, "I will never be able to live through those thousand lives thinking that you are dead" she said. She closes her eyes, letting all the tears spill, letting all her emotions flash before her mother, let her see her daughter broken under her control.
Eponine turned to one of the maids and ask them to take her mother in. Surprisingly, she didn't fight yet she refused to be held.
Eponine walked towards Enjolras, though flinching at the sight of his blood flowing down from his almost torn back. She reached for the keys above the post and unlocked Enjolras's hands from the cuffs. As soon as his hands were free, he hugged her, though this made the blood flow even more. Eponine let go, seeing the blood.
"I would've died for you, Eponine" Enjolras said to Eponine as she bandaged his wounds.
Enjolras slowly turned her head to look at her. She wasn't looking at him, she's more concentrated on his wounds.
"I want to know that you're alive somewhere, thinking about me from time to time. I want to know that there's more to this life and I can't know that if they kill you" Eponine said, not bothering about her watery eyes, and the waterfalls that come after she blinks.
"Eponine" he said, trying to reach out to her. She looked away, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"You must go, Monsieur. Cosette is waiting for you" Eponine said, leading him to the shortcut towards the cabins from the inquisition area.
As they got to the cabin, where Cosette, with Valjean, had all their things packed, Eponine looked at Enjolras and said, "Know that I love you, Enjolras. Wherever you go, whatever you see, I will always be with you" He smiled weakly and kissed the back of her hand he was holding. It was the right thing to do, knowing that she was no longer his. Before he let go, he said, "I will write to you" She just nodded. "Goodbye, Eponine" and with those words he let her go. It broke her thinking that it wasn't only her hand he was letting go of, but herself as well. As their hands left each other, she knew that it will be long after those hands find each other again
