Chapter 1
Eponine trudged through the familiar streets of Paris once again. Everything seemed to fade into the background as it poured. Pulling her thin, ragged shirt tight around herself as well as she could, she shivered slightly. She could not do anything but stare on bitterly as the rich hurried past, warmly clothed and barely glancing at the poor. As the beggars cried for mercy and asked for alms, the rain seemed to sweep them off the streets, reminding them of the filth that high society treated them as. She must have walked these roads for the hundredth time, each time seeking solace, yet her walks seemed to remind her of her place more than ever.
A flash caught her eye, and she whirled around. The familiar gait, the familiar black coat that he wore... Marius Pontmercy! she thought, smiling. She beamed and decided that she ought to approach him. Or perhaps, she thought, I would serve her better to follow him, and to find out where he had been going all this while.
Dressed in his best clothes, Marius Pontmercy walked down the streets of Paris once again. He gazed sorrowfully at the poor, the oppressed. He knew that Enjolras was fighting for their cause, that they would be liberated. Soon. They had been terribly distraught by the state of everything, by the living the poor were living. The begging for bread, the pain and hunger... it was all too clearly written on their faces. Their eyes were empty, devoid of all feeling, emotion or hope. That was what Enjolras wanted to change. The idealistic young students up at the Café Musain supported the cause wholeheartedly, and Marius knew that with every day that passed, with every day that approached the day of their attack...it was a day closer to freedom for the poor. The underdogs, les abaissé.
As he approached Rue Plumet, he straightened up and gazed at the house. He would adjourn to the garden and wait for his love. He smiled at Cosette as she practically flew down the stairs and whisked into the garden. As they met in a close embrace, Eponine realized that tears were stinging her eyes painfully. She clenched her cold fists together as she looked at the rich young couple – the young lady clad in satin, while here she was, begging for her meals and padding barefooted in the snow. It was no wonder Marius loved the lady from Rue Plumet, she thought bitterly. Looking down at her dirty hands and her torn, ragged shirt, she realized the stark difference in class. She would never be one of them, no matter how much she pretended to. No matter how much Gavroche managed to persuade her that the downtrodden were equal to the rich, she knew that they would ever be. Not even if she married Marius. She sighed again, before heading back to the Thénardiers'. Perhaps she'd pass Saint-Antoine once more, and gaze upon the towering barricades they were building. It gave her hope, long-forgotten hope, that one day she would be liberated, far away from the Thénardiers, far from the poverty-infested streets.
"Marius mentioned that he would come," Combeferre said causally, nodding.
"Well, he's been off visiting some lark in Rue Plumet, is it not?"
"There has been a planned attack on us tonight, and he ought to show up, even if he is just a student," Combeferre said, his voice unwavering. After all, as one of the closest to Enjolras, he had realized the importance of the freedom of the people, and would fight to the death for it.
Eponine overheard everything, her mouth hanging open slightly. She feared for his safety. After all, the people at the insurrection were bound to die, it was almost a guarantee. Their sacrifice would be useless – they would die for nothing, Eponine knew. It was not the first of the sort in blood-drenched Paris, and nothing ever came out from it. She shivered slightly, nearly forgetting the cold rain beating down on her. She hurried off the streets and turned into a deserted alleyway before reaching the Thénardiers' small room in the house they lived in.
"Where's the money?" Thénardier barked at her gruffly once she had entered.
"I couldn't get any," she muttered, ignoring the fact that she hadn't even bothered. There was too much on her mind at that point, and she couldn't possibly think of robbing the rich at this time.
"Well, do you want us all to die? Go write to some philanthropist and get money, you spoilt brat! We do need to survive, even if you don't!" Thénardier shouted at her as she slunk out of the door again. She was practically doomed to live outdoors, and she was resigned to her fate.
"Hey, 'Ponine!" a voice called out to her as she walked down.
"Oh, Gavroche, it's been dreadful. Dad just sent me out to get money, and I can't return till I get some," she cried.
Her brother sighed. "Well, why not join us at the barricades?"
Eponine realized that that was a spectacular idea. She would go to the barricades, and lay her life in front of her. Whatever happened next would all have to be fate. And furthermore, she would finally get to be with her precious Marius. Images flashed before her eyes...Marius asking her where Rue Plumet was, once so long ago...him smiling at her when she told him she could write...She knew that it would be such a pity if Marius died at the barricades, and the mere thought filled her with grief. She would be there to protect him, be his guardian angel. She might die, but it was worth it, she told herself. It was all worth it, anything for Marius.