Part Three

"What do you want, winecask?"

"To see how you were, not that I have any real reason to bother." Grantaire said, but there was no real resentment in his voice.

"Then why bother?" Enjolras murmured, all the fight drained out of him. "Why bother to do anything... but sit... drink… always do anyway." He was struggling to breathe in between the words and his eyes narrowed in a silent command to let him be. The last person he wanted to see him in a weakened state was Grantaire, but there he stood and here he lay.

Grantaire watched him for a moment before sighing. "I'm sorry," he said heavily. He looked unsure, an expression Enjolras was unused to seeing on his face. He seemed nervous, even.

"You? Apologizing?" Enjolras grumbled.

"Who's being cynical now?" the other said slowly.

"I have a reason to, remember? Remember, Grantaire, I led my dearest friends - my brothers! Did you know I have no siblings? - to their deaths. Knowingly. I knew it. I thought... I thought we'd make a difference and look where it got us." A sob choked him and he shuddered.

Grantaire sat next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You still have brothers, Enjolras," he said. "You may have known, yes, but you had hope...hope, Enjolras. Do you have any idea what that means? As crazy as I think you are," He gripped the shoulder under his fingers a little tighter, "I would have died...would die for you. You have only to ask it."

"I have no right to ask it."

"We gave you -give you!- the right!" Grantaire said. "And if you refuse us you betray us." he added quietly. "That is your only fault, Enjolras. You deny the love of those who follow you."

"Only fools follow fools!" Enjolras screamed. He opened his mouth as if to say more and nothing came out. He stopped, shuddered violently and the coughing fit began. He doubled over, feeling Grantaire's hand on his back, unsure of what to do and screaming for the doctor.

Cosette entered the room first, her skirts whirling about her. "What happened?" she demanded.

The doctor rushed in behind her, blood covering his shirtfront. "Move, please, young man." he said firmly. Grantaire backed away and hugged himself. As much as Enjolras irritated him and made him angry, he didn't want him to die, didn't want to loose him.

Enjolras continued to cough, blood filling his cupped hands and the doctor forced him back against the piled pillows. He struggled against the doctor's firm hands on his shoulders. Grantaire's name, surprisingly, slipped from his blood-stained lips, barely audible.

Grantaire crossed to the other side of the bed and sat again, trying to help steady his friend. "I'm here." he said. "The doctor will take care of you, just hold on."

There was a loud slamming of the door, the front, from the sound of it, and Valjean's voice was heard. "You, sir, will leave immediately. I have not permitted-"

"You may not have permitted, but I hardly care!" a voice answered.

"This is my household, and you are not welcome here! You have no good purpose to be here!" Valjean shouted. "I have had enough of forceful, insufferable, and arrogant people for one day, and I will not have another!"

"I'll go see what the trouble is." Cosette said, and left to join her father.

Enjolras stopped struggling suddenly and became very still. His eyes closed briefly, as if he were searching for the strength he did not possess. Finally his eyes reopened and he pushed the doctor away and forced himself up, stumbled across the room and to the door that led to the hallway. The two arguing men turned to look at the wounded one, and everyone that followed him, demanding that he lie back down.

Valjean looked towards heaven. "I stole bread. I think you're overdoing the punishment a bit." he murmured. Cosette laid a reproving hand on his arm and shook her head slightly.

The other older man had stiffened at the sight of Enjolras. "You're a mess." He bit out.

"And you... are as cold as you always have been," Enjolras retorted, forcing himself up straight. He ignored the burning in his side and the blood he felt rising in his throat. He would not fall. Not before this man. No, even more so than Grantaire, he had to stay strong before his man.

"And you are as foolish as ever, I see. Is this all that's left of your little band of dreamers? Really, Enjolras, I would have thought your armies would have risen up behind you by now. The people rallied, coming to your aid-"

"Shut up!" Marius snarled from the staircase. His shirt was hanging off of him, and not all his wounds had been bandaged. He was barefoot and bare legged up to the knee, He looked ready to collapse, but anger burned in his eyes.

"Monsieur Pontmercy," the man greeted with the utmost sarcasm. "I see that my son has dragged you into this as well. I thought as much when you came to our home, whispering this and that about that fool Lamarque."

"Lamarque was no fool!" Enjolras roared. "He was a brilliant man that fought for those that could do nothing! Those that rot in the street because the king is too blind to see what is happening in Paris and other places!"

"I refuse to argue politics with you until you loose these ridiculous ideals you've attached yourself to."

"At least he has the backbone enough to stand up for what he believes is right and doesn't parrot everything he is told." Marius said sharply.

"You, boy, would do well to keep your mouth shut!"

Enjolras crossed the distance between himself and the man that had declared himself his father. "And you yours in a place where you are not welcomed! Marius is right. We stand for what we believe, ready to fall even. But you in your comfortable home with your servants... I know how you treat them, I've lived there! I've seen what you do when you think no one is looking and how you treat those you consider lower. You, sir, are the one lower for thinking of others as you do and heaven help me, the people will rise above those like you!"

Thank God, Marius thought, Enjolras lives. "We have all seen it." He said out loud. "There is a...a better...world...a...new dawn..."

"One that you will see in our lifetimes, Father. We will live to see it. Our friends deaths will not be in vain, so help me!" Enjolras continued, caught up in the flare of emotion, not noticing Marius' unsteady look or the fact that his torn shirt was nearly entirely crimson now. He shook, but his eyes held the fire that they did when he stood on the tables in the cafe and spoke to his friends, called his followers, and gave hope for a better day.

Enjolras' father gave a snort of contempt. "You very well may live. I think you would just to spite me." He nodded over his son's shoulder's to Marius. "But I think you'd best give him your fond farewell."

A set of blue eyes followed to where Marius was standing pale and nearly collapsed. "Marius!" Enjolras gasped. He turned to the doctor. "Don't just stand there! Get to him! Please!" He whirled around on his father, eyes blazing still. "It's you.. your people! Your people that did this!"

Cosette and the Doctor supported Marius as his legs gave out. "Monsieur, I am going to have to ask you to leave or remove yourself from talking to my patients. You are distressing them and I cannot allow this to continue." Dr. Flaubert said firmly.

"I am distressing them?" Enjolras' father asked sarcastically. "I am? What was distressing is seeing these foolish boys in the streets this evening! Did you see them, sir? They thought they could overthrow the king! I should have the police here now to arrest you all."

"Father, do shut up," Enjolras snapped.

Valjean squared his shoulders. "I assure you, sir, there will be no more arrests made this night, and if there are any more fights to take place it will be when I subdue you. Now either make yourself scarce to the kitchen or be gone."

"I will not have you ordering me about. It is my son I've come for and I shall have him."

"If you take me tonight you shall take a corpse," Enjolras answered coldly.

"Never care...'bout...him before." Marius gasped. "Won't let you...take him now."

: Enjolras moved to his friend. "He won't," he assured the younger boy. "I won't go. I'll be here. We'll start anew."

"Promise?"

"I swear upon my life."

Marius smiled, a genuine smile, and could fight no longer. The Doctor caught most of the younger man's weight. "For God's sake, this nonsense can go on no longer. Help me get him back to bed this instant and you as well!" he said, indicating Enjolras.

The revolutionary leader nodded and felt Grantaire lead him back to bed, the rest was a blur as he stumbled over the beginnings of the carpet and fell. He knew Grantaire caught him, but he wasn't sure what happened next as he was plunged into darkness.

Michelle: Oh we're working on it each night… staying up far too late for either of our good. Lol! I don't know about Anna, but I've been about to fall over all day, we were up 'till one thirty last night working on this. I explained Valjean's sudden appearance to a previous reviewer as he was at the barricades in the book at the time, so in my mind it made since. Lol! Someday I'll learn that my mind is not always the best thing to base it off of… Dangerous, it is. And to say before anyone asks, Anna and I do plan to explain how Valjean escaped Javert, don't worry. It's coming. The interaction between Cosette and Enjolras is not supposed to be romantic, to clarify. Both Anna and I are strong Cosette/Marius supporters. :) She might not have been so calm, but I think she's got a lot of strength that no one thinks of. Cosette's been through a lot in her life, outside of the convent, of course. Here's the next chapter for you! Hope to hear from you again and thank you!

TBC

Takada Saiko and Anna Maxwell