AN: I hope you're all still following along! We've broken the review record from my other story, Touch! Thank you so much! I'm super excited to continue this for you guys. Hope your exams and things are going alright. I'm on a roll now for some reason, so lots of updates for you guys. (: Apologies in advance for the sads.

CHAPTER TWENTY: No Way Out

"You have to come back."

Eponine laughs, right in his face, and Montparnasse balls his hands into fists. His jaw tightens and his back stiffens as he pulls himself up to his full, menacing height.

"This is no laughing matter, Eponine. Your father's gone round the bend, and he won't take no for an answer. You have to come back with me, now." His dark eyes bore into hers, and it's a test of wills to see who will glance away first.

Eponine scowls fiercely. "Why should I? I've done more these past two days than I've done my whole life up in that tower. You've no right to take my freedom away from me, Parnasse. Wasn't it you who was always saying I should run away? Face it, the only problem you have with this is because I didn't run away with you." Her finger jabs out at his chest.

Montparnasse looks away, and then she knows something is wrong, because he never backed down from a challenge, not from her. "It's urgent, Eponine. This isn't gonna wait just because you want to have a good time. At least hear me out. It's about Cosette." Montparnasse looks back up and sneers at her, and Eponine knows it's only because he's jealous and worried for her, and she's a little touched that he cares enough to help her find Cosette.

"Alright, let me just go tell him." Eponine yanks her arm out of Montparnasse's grip and stalks over to Enjolras, who is visibly tensed.

"Who is that?" Enjolras' voice is flat and cold, not the least bit relieved even though Eponine is unharmed.

"He's ... a friend. I told you. I just need to talk to him for a bit. Alone," she stresses, for Enjolras looks as though he has every intention of protesting.

"You already talked with him, what more does he have to say? I don't trust him."

"Then trust me," she pleads, and he relents, face softening by the tiniest degree. Enjolras says nothing as she walks away for the second time.

Eponine rejoins Montparnasse, and he leads her past a few storefronts and partly into an alleyway.

As soon as she is sure they are alone, Eponine turns to face Montparnasse. "This better be serious, 'Parnasse." She eyes his fancy clothes and shiny black boots disdainfully. Montparnasse always liked to collect pretty things, and while Eponine had never let herself become one of them, she was coveted nonetheless. If this was some kind of ruse to get her alone, he would pay.

"They have Cosette."

Her heart stops. Montparnasse would never joke around about something like this. She doesn't need to ask who 'they' is, and she doesn't need to ask how.

Three words, and she is helpless.

"You have to come back or they'll hurt her. I tried to warn you earlier ..." Montparnasse shakes his head, his swarthy features odd in the dim light.

But Enjolras, she thinks, and it's the thought of him, his face rising to the forefront of her mind that makes her hesitate. Eponine can't imagine leaving him now, not when they'd come so far ...

"You can't let him know. They're watching," he insists. "If you care about him, you need to make him believe you're leaving because you want to. Now let's go back, and then you're going to tell him you're in love with me."

Incredulity spreads across her face. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Make it good- he needs to think you want to come back with me. You're going to tell him that this whole idea of leaving your tower was a mistake. You're going to tell him you've changed your mind, and you're going to tell him that you're leaving. Your father gave me one chance to bring you back quietly, 'Ponine. He doesn't want to fight them if he doesn't have to. Don't mess this up."

She glares at him, but doesn't protest. Enjolras will never believe it, she thinks. "He won't believe it. He's too smart to fall for something like that." He knows that I would never do something like that, doesn't he? He knows how much I care. Worry consumes her. I should have told him. What if he doesn't know? I'll never get the chance to tell him now. He won't let me leave unless he thinks I don't want him. I can't do this. I can't. The very thought makes her sick.

Montparnasse smirks a bit, but it isn't the smirk she's used to, and it seems a bit forced. "Well, suppose you're going to have to do your best. Go tell your beau that you're not coming back."

"I'm sorry."

"I understand."

"We're childhood friends, 'Parnasse and I, see, and-" Eponine can see the struggle on his face, the pain as he tries to understand why, even as he lies through his teeth to her, saying he understands-

"I understand," he pushes out. His indifference hurts her, and she tries not to show it. She wishes he would yell at her for abandoning her, that he would call her names and curse her foolishness, but he doesn't. She wants him to say he doesn't believe her, but he doesn't. She doesn't understand, how could he so easily push aside their evening together? Did it mean so little to him?

No, that's not true. I felt it. I know it meant just as much to him as it did to me. Why is he doing this?

"Alright. Good luck with your republic, Enjolras." She's completely genuine as she says this, open-faced and honest, and he must see it, because there is a brief melting of the ice in his eyes. Eponine tells herself that there is no other option, no way out. Telling Enjolras the truth would only put him in danger, put their friends in danger, and she didn't want that.

"Thank you." His lips curl a little sadly at the edges, and Eponine wants to tell him, right then and there, but the idea of Marius and Cosette's heartbroken faces is too much to bear. She's going to put their happiness before her own, even if she has no idea how she's going to help Cosette escape if she's also a prisoner. She wonders, looking into his eyes, if Enjolras would have done the same.

"No, thank you, Enjolras. For everything." And then she's turning away before she loses her control and rushes back towards him, biting down hard on her lower lip and trying not to let the broiling emotions inside of her spill out as she walks back towards Montparnasse.

I'm sorry, Enjolras.

He's watching her walk away and he doesn't understand why he's not doing anything to stop it.

Was it something I did? Something I didn't do? What changed her mind so suddenly?

Her friend catches his gaze and he offers a smirk in return, making Enjolras' hands shake as he sees the man's arm slip around her waist. Eponine jerks slightly at the movement, but he says something and she stills. There's the brief, fleeting hope that perhaps something is wrong, that Eponine was being taken from him against her will, but she doesn't look back, not once, and he's wonders if it's only wishful thinking.

This isn't right. Eponine believed - believes - in our cause. She believes in me. I'm sure she does.

A breeze catches her hair, and a few purple flowers fall, fluttering to the ground. Eponine catches one with her fingertips, holds it for a brief second before letting it drop. The feeling that something is off intensifies.

She'll come back. She'll change her mind. I'll just wait for her. It won't take long. She can't possibly want to leave with that ... that ...

What is he going to tell the others? They adored Eponine's wit and stubbornness. Grantaire would miss her, even if he wouldn't admit it. And Bousset, poor Bousset who's bad luck even magic couldn't fix permanently, it seemed.

We meant something to her, he thinks firmly. This wasn't for nothing. She can't go back to her tower after this. Not when she knows about the whole world waiting out here for her. Not when she knows I'm here waiting for her.

His feet remain firmly planted on the ground as Eponine and her escort reach the corner. Eponine's steps slow, and her head stills for just a moment, enough for Enjolras to catch her gazing slightly out of the corner of her eye at him.

Triumphantly, he smiles at her. Yes, I'm still here. You didn't think I would leave? I'll be here, as long as there's a chance you'll come back. I will make this kingdom a better place, and I will come for you.

Indecision flickers on her face as her friend tugs her arm, a sharp look on his dark face, and that's all the reassurance Enjolras needs. "Eponine," he says, and the wind carries her name across to her.

Her mouth opens slightly, and he's sure she's about to come back when 'Parnasse yanks her sharply around the corner.

Enjolras bolts down the street after them, his boots thumping loudly on the cobblestone as he calls out her name again. "Eponine!"

What greets him on the other side, or, rather, who greets him, shocks him into inaction.

A tall, scrawny man whom Enjolras assumes to be Eponine's father leers at him. Next to him, regal and unmoving as stone, the Chief Royal Officer. Javert's eyes are hard. Two guards flank him, swords drawn.

"There he is!" Thenardier exclaims, pointing a yellowed fingernail directly at him. "The man who stole my daughter!"