A Star within the Barricade
When Marianne awoke, she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. In fact, more than a sharp pain - It was as if someone was stabbing a red hot knife into her shoulder and twisting repeatedly. "What are you doing?!" She lashed out with her able arm, only to look at the ceiling and hit the air. No one was with her, only a blood thickening silence..
It remained that way for the minutes that she was lying down, it was only when the tension of the silence became too much that she managed to pull herself from the thin padding of what she believed to be blankets and managed to get up onto her feet. She was in the Tavern, that's what she suspected at least. The place was so wrecked she could hardly distinguish where she was, each detail she would have usually recognised it from, torn away and battered and all that was left was a shell. The silence became even more daunting as she began to carefully approach the door. Each step echoing as it hit the floor.
Once she reached the door, she was horrified at what she saw. Bodies, everywhere.
ground was pooled with blood and dirt, the barricade in pieces and decorated horrifically with the bodies of soldiers and the Les Amis. She pushed the door open, shyly making steps towards the outside of the building to only see the horror worse, up close and unforgiving as it lay like a nightmare before her. Blood was everywhere, bodies left with no respect to simply rot with the elements. She could only stand and stare at the sight, watching the people she had once called her family lie, lifeless and gone. Nothing remaining but their bodies which had been stripped of respect and dignity. Battered and bloodied from battle which they had no chance of winning. She felt tears form in her eyes as she watched the scene, imagining their deaths and then crying with the fact that she couldn't of helped them. It was as she stood, her hand now firmly upon her lips as she fought a cry - That a wet drop hit her forehead..Dripping down her face and repeating. Dripping over at least three times until she touched her face and saw the red stain her fingers.
Marianne stepped away, turning to see what was dripping as she walked from the doorway. Only to see the body of Enjolras; riddled with bullets and dangling with a grasp on a flag. Determination still evident in his lifeless eyes as he dangled in his death. His hand gripping still to the flag he clutched in those last seconds. She felt herself turn sick with the reality she had his blood on her hands. The idea so horrible she wanted to rip her skin off and cleanse herself of the urge to scratch it away. More than this, though, she felt guilt. An impending sense that she could've helped them. But Marianne had missed those last moments; she had no chance.
Questions filled her mind, as to how they felt and what they went through. But one was stuck in her mind more than the rest. What had become of Eugéne's body?
So Marianne turned, looking at the building which his life had ended. She took brave steps, knowing if she didn't do it now she may not know what had become of her beloved husband. Marianne took a breath as she approached the doors and began to cringe as she pushed them open. Waiting to see what she did not wish to, waiting to feel her heart once again ripped off by an image...that wasn't there.
Nothing.
The building was empty and abandoned, even the floors were clean with no traces of blood or of a shooting. Nothing.
Marianne didn't understand, she couldn't understand. Surely his body should be there? Although there had been battle, she assumed that they would have been so distracted by it that the body would remain. But it didn't, leaving her once again filled with confusion and worry. What had become of him?
All questions which began to make her want to break down again, until a hand on her skirt alerted her of a second presence. Once which frightened her so severely she nearly hit the boy who touched her. She looked down to see the pale skin and terrified red eyes of Gavroche. He looked so tiny and weak near her, his eyes showing signs of obviously crying. His face bruised from the brutality of battle by the hands of the Guards. "What did they do to you!" She wrapped her able arm around the boy and threatened to almost squeeze him to death in her embrace. He clutched to her with equal determination. "I tried to fight, I stayed with you when you got shot because the men said it best if you had someone with you." He sniffled as Marianne ran her hand through his hair. "It's okay I'm here.." She offered a kind voice, willing him to continue. "Well everything began to get loud, the men got into the Barricade and quickly began to shoot everyone down. They came into the Café after Enjolras and some of the others, well..some went up, shot through the ceilings. Went mostly after Enjolras...Then Gr-..Graintaire woke and joined him. I heard lots of fire after that. Everyone was dead Mari', but I stayed next to you and hoped they'd think you were dead also...But they knew." He wiped his eyes over with one arm as he remained tangled in hers.
"They knew you were living, one of them; a weird looking one who seemed younger than the rest saw you and came over, I knew he'd try something so I stood up and warned him I did, but it didn't do much, he-..he tried to do something to you but I stopped him. I got him back and the man began hitting me but I kept him away." He began to cry in her arms and Marianne too felt her cheeks become wet with tears. "Oh, you shouldn't have, they could have killed you..harmed you." She dragged her trembling hand through the boys blood stained hair. "I'm here, no one will ever hit you again, Okay?" And so with that promise came even more tears as she held the boy. "It's okay...I had to otherwise he would've hurt you more. It was the one who shot at us..He wanted to hurt you more after that and I didn't let him. It was lucky because the men came down from the stairs and saw what he was trying to do, and the older men took him away when they saw you." he wiped his face over a few times as Marianne began to stand.
Elliot.
"It's okay now, it's all over we-..we need to get away from here." She offered a weak smile to Gavroche and took his hand in her own. "We'll be okay. We-..We'll find a way." She smiled with all the hope she could muster as they began to walk away from the tatters of the place they once called their home. Each drop of blood representing the horror and brutality of the king they were forced to live under; their life washed away so quickly with gunpowder.
They walked away from the scene as quickly as possible. Marianne felt a sharp pain in her shoulder but continued regardless. Taking the boy to a small place she knew was safe. It was strange to be in the place she had called her home recently, knowing in these walls she would never see her husband again. But, she had nowhere else to go, and the boy needed rest. She took to cleaning him up, spending time on getting the dirt and blood off of him; changing him into a fresh pair of clothes to sleep in and then tucking him into the bed she had previously shared with Eugéne. "Now, I want you to sleep because you need rest. I need to go find something." She smiled, running her hand through the boy's now combed hair. "You won't be far, will you?" He looked almost frightened. So, she light another lamp with a smile. "Don't be afraid, I'll be back as soon as I can. There's food in the larder if you get hungry. Help yourself to anything. She wasn't too sure if he would be okay on his own after such a traumatic event. She wasn't sure she would be either; but it had to be done.
Marianne made sure the fire was lit enough to keep him warm whilst she was gone, then she grabbed a shawl to keep her warm and cover her bandages on her shoulder. She cleaned herself up a little, knowing if she walked the streets looking exactly like she had been in the battles, well, it would be dangerous. Having to wipe the blood of Enjolras off her face was horrible. Like a reminder his blood was on her hands, that in her own way she was responsible. Like god was telling her something.
God...She felt her faith waver. If there was a God, why would be allow innocent men to die? Young men who were mostly younger than herself?
Allow a boy, so innocent and sweet to be beaten by a cruel, twisted officer? To let the people starve mercilessly and let people have power?
But it was all too much to consider as she walked the streets, it was dark now and the place eerily silent. Paris in mourning for its lost revolutionists. A bitter-sweet thing that they would be, for although the mourned. They did not support them, each man who had falsely said they would now lay in their beds. With something that the men who bravely did fight no longer had; their lives.
Looking at every lit up window, to see every street was a weird thing. To walk and be on her own. It was lonesome and the reality of what she had faced cruel. She found herself imagining Eugene was with her as she walked, offering her a supporting hand and a smile. A smile that was only for her. The way he did...That gentle half grin that only she saw and was flickering. Beyond his cold eyes that heart which she, and her alone was allowed access to. His beautiful soul.
As she walked the streets she found herself bitterly laughing. "Look at yourself Marianne..Pretending he's beside you when you're all on your own." She looked down at the cobbles as she walked, smiling and yet not for happiness, more for the fact she feared she was going mad. She debated the likelihood, which was every growing with each lonesome step on the cobbles of Paris. Each step seeming to shatter her resolve; Her whole world was different. How odd how a night can shatter everything you once knew. Everything you once loved.
Maybe it was enough to to drive her mad, which seemed very likely as she reached a bridge, she recognised it to be the Pont Au Change. She walked along it, staring at the cobbles and remembering meeting Eugéne on it, laughing to herself as tears rimmed her eyes. Those very bricks being the place that altered her life, and also at this moment crushing her heart. So, it was a giant surprise to her that as she looked up; already thinking herself mad, that she saw the figure of a very familiar man upon the bridge. Staring out at the River Seine. Like he did the day they met. So real was his figure before her.
Each step closer confirmed the impossible; that he was standing quite literally before her eyes, not dead but alive, And dangerously close to the edge of the bridge. Each second that passed as she began stepping closer made her feel nervous. He was walking along the edge dangerously, causing her palms to begin sweating and her pace as she walked quicken until she broke out into a run to get to his side. "EUGÉNE!" She cried out as she neared, only a few steps away to his side and catching his attention. His eyes finally met hers once she was close enough to see him fully. His face, slightly bruised with signs of dried blood. His eyes red and sunken. A look of a man defeated.
As he neared the edge he convinced himself it was right. He didn't fear death, but he feared Purgatory, the idea of being stuck for an eternity and denied the paradise he had longed for. suicide was a sin and yet it was the only redeeming, logical thing he could do. It was not a test from God, more a confirmed solution. So, Javert should have jumped. He already had decided it was what he could do. What he had to do, yet he lingered for minutes. Talking the situation over in his head, the world he had known was lost in shadow. His love was gone, this man destroyed his years of dutiful work. What was there to do now but to end it? Yet, as he neared the last step a voice called to him. Not just any, but hers.
Marianne.
To hear his beloved's voice for a last time in his mind was like a cruel bittersweet thing, to hear it blissful and yet like a sword to his heart. Like flames twisting his soul and devouring him. A horrible reminder of his love's death and demise. Knowing he would never really hear it again. But what was the worst matter in this was that his eyes fooled him. Seeing her figure, uninjured and ever beautiful in his eyes - as she once was before being shot; running towards him with wide eyes and an outstreached hand, calling his name.
"Heaven." He smiled towards his love, seeing her figure lightened by the flames of a near street light, seeing her running towards him and calling his name, her hand ready to take him to paradise. He saw it now. His angel, leading him to salvation. Perhaps god was kind? offering him the last sight of the one thing he had loved. Calling for him, offering her hand, allowing him to go. Taking him with her..
"EUGÉNE!" She called again, urgently. Urging him on to paradise. He smiled again, feeling his heart swell and knowing it was to be. Knowing that it was his last seconds and seeing her fill them. He felt whole and completed as he turned back to the River Seine. She was now at his side, waiting. "What are you doing!" She was breathless, looking up at him with horror, but he could only smile. "You one said it was odd to stand on edges. That was how we met. So considerate was my Marianne..Even to an ignorant ass." He laughed at the image, knowing he treated her like dirt. "When I saw you I thought you were some conniving little hoodrat, I thought you were planning some distraction with bad intentions. But ah', was I wrong. No, I should never have thought so low of my Marianne. So kind she was." He looked forward at the River as her voice begged him to come down, to stop being foolish. But it was on deaf ears. "Even now after it all she still wishes me to have paradise, pulling me away from Purgatory from beyond the grave.." He laughed bitterly, looking down at her worried expression for a moment. "I've got to escape from this world, my love."
So endearing as he spoke and yet it was like a knife in her chest. "Eugéne you know not what you say, we can be together!" She laughed, smiling. Hoping he would understand whatever he thought was a lie. That, like her he believed it to be an illusion but seeing it was reality. As he looked down at her, smiling so hopefully with those words he finally felt at peace. "Together." He sighed, looking at her once more with his subtle smile which was only for her, as it had always been. "We will be, finally together, My love." And with those words he did the unthinkable, right in front of her eyes he turned, smiled once again and gave her hope. She offered her hand, reaching up to take his and yet he just looked at it with yet another bitter laugh - Then fell back into the dark water of the Seine as Marianne could only stand there and watch. Helpless as he plunged towards the watery depths of the River Seine...