Chapter 3

Éponine and Enjolras followed Elrond and the bearded man back inside and down a hallway. They were both burning with curiosity, full to bursting with questions that they wanted answered. They soon arrived at a room that Elrond quickly closed the door to, before he and the bearded man turned on them with questions of their own.

"Who are you?" Elrond asked first.

"As I've already told you, my name is Éponine," Éponine replied immediately.

"And my name is Enjolras," Enjolras replied. "Who are you?"

"It seems fair enough that we tell you our names since we know yours," the bearded man replied. "I am Gandalf, Gandalf the Grey, they call me. And this is Lord Elrond of Rivendell."

Enjolras scoffed slightly at the title, and Éponine shot him a quick glare as Elrond raised an eyebrow at Enjolras' response.

"And what brings you to Rivendell?" Gandalf asked.

"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us, actually," Éponine said slowly. "Right before I woke up here, I died. We were in Paris, France, in a very different world from this one, and I definitely died there."

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Gandalf asked curiously.

"I was shot in the chest. There was blood everywhere," she told him.

"She was dead, I watched her die," Enjolras added. "She had no pulse and wasn't breathing. And I died the next day, and I'm pretty sure that at least most, if not all, of my friends did as well."

"And what were you doing that resulted in your deaths?" Elrond asked, his eyes narrowed.

"We were in the middle of a rebellion against the monarchy," Enjolras replied without a moment's hesitation.

"A rebellion against the monarchy?" Gandalf questioned, clearly still curious.

"The King of France is corrupt and doesn't care about the people," Enjolras responded.

"I see. And this "France" is in a different world?" Elrond asked.

"Yes, it is. There are no elves, dwarves, or magic world-ending rings there," Éponine confirmed. "And none of those short hairy footed people either."

"Hobbits, or halflings," Gandalf explained. "Very cheery, simple people, with a great love for food and drink, they prefer a peaceful life. I really am quite fond of them. They're also remarkably resilient."

"Never mind all of that," Enjolras snapped. "The rest of my friends, are they here as well?"

"There were eight other men found and brought here," Elrond replied, "as well as a child, a young boy."

"My brother's here?" Éponine asked, her eyes wide. Enjolras shot her a look.

"Your brother?" he asked.

"Yes, Gavroche is my brother. And now his idolization of you and your friends has got him killed!" Éponine told him with a glare.

"I'm not so sure that this really counts as being killed," Enjolras retorted. "I don't exactly feel dead right now."

"Well he was killed in Paris at your stupid barricade since he's here now, and I am definitely going to continue to blame you for everything!" Éponine shot back.

"On the topic of you being here now," Elrond cut in, a hint of frustration in his voice, "what are we going to do with you until we can get you back to your world?"

"Well, we're dead in our own world, for starters," Éponine replied, "and we don't really know anything about this world."

Gandalf studied them for a moment. "You said you were in the middle of a rebellion in your world?"

"Yes," Enjolras replied proudly. "I planned and led it myself, with the help of Combeferre and Courfeyrac."

"You may be useful then. I'll look after them all, Lord Elrond," Gandalf decided. "They can come to Mordor with the Fellowship. Perhaps, along the way, we'll even find a way to send them home."

Éponine and Enjolras glanced at each other.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Éponine asked. "We don't know anything about this place, or your quest, or anything really. We don't even have the same weapons in our world. Won't we just be in your way?"

"We won't be leaving for several days, so we can give you the information you'll need to know before we depart," Gandalf assured her. "And our hobbits don't have any skills with any weapons, so you won't be alone in that."

"Good to know," she muttered. She was not overly keen on being swept up on some journey in a world she knew nothing about. Furthermore, Elrond had said eight men. Counting Enjolras, there had been ten, twelve if she counted herself and Gavroche. Someone was missing, but who? Could it be Marius? Had he survived and gone off to prance around with Cosette, marry her, and live happily ever after?

She supposed that if that were the case, an adventure might be a good way to distract herself from the heartbreak. Better yet, if Marius had not survived and was now in Middle-Earth with them, then the adventure would be a good opportunity for her to make him fall in love with her instead. Thinking about it, going off on a quest in a strange world might not be so bad after all.

"All right, you've won me over. I'm in," she said after a moment. Enjolras looked at her, a bit surprised by her answer.

"Good, because I wasn't going to give you a choice in the matter," Gandalf replied.

"Can I see my friends now?" Enjolras asked. He didn't appear to have even really thought about the journey that they would soon have to go on.

"Yes, you may," Elrond told him. "They'll probably be waking up soon. And it would be better to have all eleven of you together while everything is explained. As you're from a different world, it will likely be quite complicated."

"Yes, I imagine it will be," Éponine said dryly. "A piece of jewelry is equivalent to the end of the world. That doesn't happen where we're from."

Elorond shot her a look that gave her the feeling that he didn't appreciate her sass. She was beginning to get the feeling that he could be a bit stuck up. She decidedly liked Gandalf, however. He seemed to be quite kind and at least had a bit of a sense of humour.

"Now then," Elrond said after a moment. "If you would be so kind as to follow me, I will take you to your friends."