Love at Last

Crossovers: Phantom of the Opera & Les Miserables

Pairing: Erik & Eponine

Rating: M

Summary: Both longing to be loved. Both deserted by those they had adored. When their worlds collide, will they be able to love again?

Chapter 1

She ran desperately through the city streets, away from that house. Away from the man she had loved. Away from the woman for whom he had professed his love. Away from this nightmare. She ran until her legs gave out and she sank down right on the street, the drizzling rain soaking through the thin material of her dress and stockings.

Eponine was no stranger to the world's cruelties. As a child she'd had the best her parents could afford, but everything had changed when her father was revealed as a thief. Since then they had barely scraped by, and her parents had threatened to disown her, claiming she cost too much to keep. Eponine had been glad to go; she'd walked out on them that very night with nothing but the clothes on her back: an old dress she'd sewn from scraps, stockings with more holes than Swiss cheese, a pair of dirty boots, her father's too-big coat, and an old had she'd found at the factory.

Eponine had fared well on the streets. She worked in the factory every day, and earned enough to buy a loaf of bread each week. She also made friends with several of the orphaned children, including the spunky Gavroche. He was small, quick, and witty, and was usually around when Eponine got off from work.

However, she didn't have his cheerful company today, because Eponine hadn't gone to the factory. Instead (and little Gavroche will be most displeased with me for saying this) she had gone to the aid of her best friend, Marius Pontmercy.

"Eponine, please take this letter to Cosette," he had begged. Eponine was reluctant, but then, this girl was just a friend, and she was being a better friend in helping him.

But then she had discovered that Marius did in fact love Cosette. And it was from overhearing his statement at Cosette's house that she had run.

Now Eponine knelt on the cobblestone, not caring that it was raining, not caring that her legs hurt, not caring about anything but Marius' betrayal. Her heart felt like it would break a million times again just knowing that he didn't love her.

"How could I have been so stupid?" she sobbed angrily. "No… How could he have never noticed? I loved him every day of my life, I did everything for him, and now… now I'm just a friend. Une bonne amie. Une très gentille amie. That's all."

The sobs wracked her body and her head hit cobblestone. Eponine's already-dark world faded to black.

No one noticed a cloaked figure carrying the girl into an alley, out of the rain.