As it had turned out, Jehan Prouvaire was a friend of Raul's, and therefore was entrusted with taking Danielle home after the chandelier accident. There had been a general panic, but Jehan had been completely in his senses and asked to escort Danielle to safety. Raul immediately obliged, he had to see Christine, after all. Danielle thought it was the best Opera she'd been to; it was very exciting. All though, in all the haste, she'd left her book at the Opera house, which was very tragic and resulted in great mourning.
She was presently strolling through the Jardin du Luxembourg with a woman she had met at a party three nights ago, and her husband, the Marquis St. Vaine. They were undoubtedly fashionable people, but had a little too much interest in everyone around them. But apparently that was the purpose of the gardens, to see and be seen. It was a sunny, breezy day, just perfect for a stroll through the piazza, but more than anything, Danielle wished she could ride through these gardens. Horses were the best company; they didn't judge or gossip and they always forgave, no matter the offense.
"Did you see the trim on Maria Cujas' gown, my love?" The Marquess tugged her husbands' sleeve and nodded in the direction of the girl in question.
"I did not see her trim, my darling. Was it spectacular?" He asked with great interest, craning his neck to see Mademoiselle Cujas.
"It was, my love, it was! Imagine it, she was wearing lace trimming that had been dyed orange!" Her husband gasped and they both laughed gleefully. It seemed to be quite a joke between them. Danielle wished for nothing more than an intelligent conversation.
"Do you know lace has to be handmade? It takes great skill and a terribly long time; that's why it's so expensive." She informed them.
"Is it really? It's a good thing money's so abundant, eh?" The Marquis grinned to his wife as she succumbed to another round of titters. Danielle wouldn't introduce another cerebral topic. There were starving masses, for goodness sake, and these people were doing absolutely nothing to help them. They walked like that for some time; The Marquis and Marquess gossiping and observing while Danielle trailed behind, wishing for the afternoon to be over.
"Did you hear what happened at the Opera?" The Marquess pulled aside a young lady she knew and started chattering about it all. That had been their first topic of conversation; they hadn't even entered the gardens before the Marquess was speculating and reporting on all the events of that night. Danielle had been more than happy to pretend she knew nothing of the incident; if she admitted she had been there she would be drilled for information or invited to another Opera, and she wished to avoid both options.
Her only course was to gaze at the Luxembourg gardens around her while the vacuous conversation went on around her. It was gorgeous this time of year, she had learned the instant she saw it. Flowers were blooming and trees were blossoming, everything was so bright and green and colorful. There were fountains and benches spread over the entire expanse and the gravel and dirt pathway crunched beneath their feet. The air was fresh and pure, untainted by the squalor seen in the city. She was glad for places like this. It made one almost forget the cares and tribulations of the world; it made one feel what life could be like and desire to work towards it. She felt wonderful and happy, if only the beauty didn't have to be tainted by vapid words she would experience perfection.
Danielle scanned the surrounding area, the Marquis and Marquess were busy chatting with their friend and she wanted someone to speak intelligently with. There were two young aristocratic women walking and obviously attempting to gain the attention of a group of gentlemen loafing by a large fountain. She certainly had no desire to meet any of them. Her eye was caught be a grave and well-dressed duo coming down the narrow lane. It was a middle-aged man and a girl who looked to be about Danielles' age. They seemed like kind and sensible people, and she was exceedingly bored, so before she could comprehend it she was walking toward them. As she approached, the gentleman eyed her warily, but the girl looked welcoming and open, so she continued on.
"Bonjour," She greeted, "I am Danielle de Chagny, and was wondering if you would like to walk with me?" She invited them both. The girl looked to her father, who nodded almost imperceptibly.
"Bonjour," She said meekly, "I'm Cosette, and this is my papa, Monsieur Fauchelevent. We would be delighted to walk with you." She smiled prettily, and the two girls paired up, while the monsieur hung back a bit, while they started walking.
"Have you lived here long, Cosette? I just recently came from London, and I'd never been in Paris before. It's a very exciting city!" Danielle exclaimed.
"Oh, it is. We've lived here since I was eight." She responded quietly.
"I'm sorry if I have inconvenienced you. The people I was walking with have no sense and I was growing tired of their drivel, and you and your papa seemed such kind people, I was eager to make your acquaintance. If you'd prefer I leave, I will." Danielle offered nervously. She didn't want to go.
"No! I don't want you to go." Cosette reassured, "I just don't know how one acts with friends." She admitted pitifully.
"Cosette, consider me your new friend. And please, don't worry about how you act. Be your God-given self and we'll get along famously." And they did. They talked of their mutual interests; from horses to reading, from their preference of riding to their disgust in 'Romeo and Juliet'. Soon they laughed and chatted as old friends and arranged to go riding in the more open area of the gardens on Wednesday. All the while, Monsieur Fauchelevent looked on with a ghost of a smile. His daughter had made a friend; a sensible, compassionate, clever friend. He could not ask for more.
Eponine was an interesting girl. It was obvious that she was completely in love with this 'Marius Pontmercy' fellow. She spoke of him often and it was all Danielle could do to change the conversation to something else. The two girls, along with Sabine, were sitting together on the ground together and having a wonderful time. It had been necessary for Danielle to tell Eponine the truth; that she was a bourgeois dressing as a pauper, because Eponine had seen her as a aristocrat and would have to see Danielle dressed as a beggar. The girl made a solemn promise to never reveal Danielle's most heavily guarded secret. It had also done something to their friendship; Eponine was more trusting and clung to Danielle whenever she didn't have Marius to see. Danielle had come to spend the entire day with her two friends; Alain had been instructed to just escort her and come back around seven o'clock. She felt safe with the two street-savvy girls.
Now the girls were taking turns in the reading of 'Much Ado About Nothing', because Sabine didn't know how to read and Danielle thought you had not lived until you read that particular Shakespeare play, so not only did they read it aloud, but also in distinctive voices for each character.
"Prince: I will see thee, ere I die, look pale with love." Danielle read dramatically, "Benedick: With anger, with sickness, or with hunger, my lord, not with love. Prince-"
"Well, if ever thou dost fall from this faith, thou wilt prove a notable argument." A quiet, shy voice interrupted her and she turned to see Jehan, smiling sheepishly, and surrounded by three other students. Danielle smiled and pointed to her book.
"We are improving our minds through extensive reading." She tried to convey that she wished not to talk of her present poor state of dress at that moment, and kept talking, "What brings you here?"
"Ah, I'm meeting with some friends at the Cafe." He seemed to understand her avoidance of that particular topic. It also helped that, by nature, he wouldn't want to bring up any delicate or awkward subject. "Would you like to come in with us?" He invited, as one of his friends stepped forward.
"Prouvaire, perhaps you should introduce us all first. Like they do in polite society." The young man reminded teasingly. He appeared to be about twenty five, with a bald head and wide smile.
"Oh, yes, that is Bossuet, he's heading in the legal profession-"
"Heading there, but I like as not won't arrive!" He laughed heartily.
"He laughs at everything, Mademoiselle, but is also dreadfully unlucky." Another man supplied. This one was, like Bossuet, dressed poorer than Jehan, and carried a stack of medical books. "I'm Joly." He held out a hand for her to shake while balancing his books in the other. "It's alright if you don't take my hand. I believe I have the plague." He informed her gravely. Danielle looked in shock to her two friends, still sitting down. Eponine looked highly amused while Sabine seemed frightened out of her wits. Danielle smiled at her reassuringly and turned back around.
"He doesn't actually have the plague." Jehan told her.
"Yes I do! My skin is getting a grey pallor and I feel-"
"He's a chronic invalid is what he is!" The fourth, and final student yelled, then turned to look at her, "I'm Bahorel, pleased to meet you." He tipped his hat to her and then turned to watch Joly and Jehan argue over the formers symptoms. Bossuet looked at her and grinned.
"Would you like to meet the rest of us, Mademoiselle?" He offered teasingly.
"Oh, naturally! Especially if they're all reserved and polite, also." Danielle laughed.
"Now you can tell me your name, and we'd be what they call 'acquaintances', although that's a dreadful term, if you ask me. People ought to be friends or they ought not; it isn't a science." He informed her as he tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and walked regally to the Cafe.
"I'm Danielle, and those are my friends, Sabine and Eponine." She responded politely. Eponine followed them, but Sabine hurried off as Danielle waved to her. The bickering continued behind them.
"It is a pleasure to meet such fine friends of my lady, here. They were at the door, and Bossuet held it open for the two girls. "Now, the rest of the inmates are upstairs, if you please."
"The inmates of where, may I ask?" Danielle asked with the same posh tone he was using.
"Why, the inmates of the madhouse, of course! Now, I must tell you something dreadfully important before you meet the others." He leaned closer, "My name is not really Bossuet!" He laughed, "It's actually Laigle de Meaux, but you may feel free to call me by anything. I respond to it all!" He laughed heartily, again, and led them upstairs.
Another young man passed them, coming down the stairs and reading a thick book. "That's Feuilly, He's educated himself completely! He's orphaned, but has adopted mankind as his parents, and our glorious country as his mother! You will not meet a man with a warmer heart." He spoke with affection. It became clear to Danielle that these boys had a bond, a communion that could never be broken.
They arrived upstairs to find three gentlemen sitting at a table, two of which stood when they saw the ladies. The first had been deciphering hieroglyphics, by the look of it, and looked at the ladies with a gentle, earnest expression.
"This is Combeferre, ladies and gentlemen. He provides us with the philosophical and learned way of thinking, and is imaginative to the point of fantasy." He summed up the mans character, while Combeferre simply smiled and went back to his hieroglyphs. The second man had actually moved to bow to each individual girl and smiled warmly.
"I will tell you my name before Bossuet here does and gives you a full account of my attributes. I am Courfeyrac and my virtues you'll have to find yourself. It makes things more interesting, I think." He smiled kindly as Eponine looked around.
"Where's Marius?" She asked the general vicinity.
"He'll be walking in the Luxembourg garden again. Contemplating his solitude." The third man sighed and turned to face them and Danielle was accosted with that same impertinent student she had tried to avoid. He seemed to recognize her, also, as they stared at each other all the while Bossuet introduced him.
"And this is our fearless leader, Enjolras! As for him, it must be said that he scarcely notices a rose, is unconscious of Springtime and pays no heed to the singing of birds." That summary did not surprise Danielle in the least. "And now, we must introduce the ladies; we know Eponine, Marius' little friend and secretly very poetical, I think. But this rare and beautiful flower is Danielle, who acts like Springtime and is as graceful as a swan." He chuckled at his word play. Danielle blushed under his overestimation of her merits, but didn't look away from Enjolras. She was determined not to break first, and was curious as to his expression. He looked at her as though she were a particularly difficult puzzle that had pieces missing.
"Welcome to the ABC society, ladies." Courfeyrac said, offering them each a chair at the table he and Combeferre were inhabiting. The girls thanked him and sat.
"Monsieur Combeferre, are you deciphering hieroglyphs?" Danielle asked quietly. He looked up and set his pen aside.
"Yes, I am. Do you know about them?" He seemed surprised.
"Oh, not really. I read about them in a book once. I thought it was extraordinary how similar they are to modern writing, with punctuation and whatnot. It also seemed much easier to learn than modern languages!" She shared happily.
"It is! I've been trying to tell that to these fellows!" He exclaimed, seemingly glad to have found someone to understand. Courfeyrac laughed.
"You always make it sound so boring, we can't help but believe that it is incredibly dull." He defended lightheartedly.
At that moment, a handsome, breathless young man came up the stairs and sat at an empty table; Eponine hurried to join him and they conversed as old friends. Danielle leaned forward to Laigle.
"Who is that?" She nodded in the boys direction.
"That is Marius Pontmercy." Courfeyrac answered before Laigle could.
"He's from a wealthy family, but has been living in destitution for the cause." Laigle still managed to get his opinion in.
"What cause?" She inquired curiously. He had made it sound terribly important.
"Equality for all!" Laigle shouted, banging his fist on the table. Danielle was shocked. All these people believed in fairness? She was not the only one?
"How do you mean?" She asked, breathless from the realization that her passion was shared by so many others. But her joy and happiness soon ebbed as Enjolras stood and walked gracefully to the head of their little table and looked her straight in the eye.
"We will fight for justice until the eyes of the government are upon us and we can be heard." He stated with passion.
"You will fight?" She asked skeptically. He seemed to catch on to her disapproval.
"It is better than giving people little baskets full of trinkets." He defended. She stood and knocked her chair over in her haste.
"Those baskets can be what keeps them from starvation and disease! At least I'm doing something instead of sitting around, planning it!" She said with vehemence.
"We are planning something great! A revolution that has not been seen in all of history! Do you think your baskets actually help in the scheme of things?"
"Yes I do! It gives them one more day to live, if necessary! Did you forget that we had a Revolution not even fifty years ago?" She reminded him less than civilly.
"This one will succeed. We will change your life, why do you fight?" He inquired gently.
"Because you have the power and knowledge to make a difference and you wish to throw it all away on some foolhardy notion that you can overpower the monarchy! Progress needn't be won on a battlefield." She answered with conviction.
"You don't speak as a peasant." He growled, obviously frustrated with her. The force was such to her that he might as well have yelled.
"You speak exactly as I would've imagined a bored child plotting to steal a pie." She responded. She knew it sounded absurd, but it was all she could think of. He actually had the nerve to appear amused, which angered her further. She turned to the rest of the room, all of which were staring at the both of them with mixed expressions, and curtseyed. "If you'll excuse me, I remembered I have very important things to attend to. The least of which is convincing a bull-headed child that it's better to earn a thing than steal it."
She swept from the room, fuming, and ran down the stairs. Leaving the Cafe, she realized she had absolutely nowhere to go. Alain wouldn't be there for two more hours. She saw movement in the shadows of a building to her left and backed away. But she was too late, a sinister looking man emerged as another came behind and grabbed her, covering her mouth with his hand. She tried in vain to scream, but it was no use. The first man walked closer, twirling a knife in his fingers.
" 'Ello, Mam'selle Danielle De Chagny." He smiled showing yellow teeth. Her eyes widened; they knew who she was. "We 'ear your mamsy-pamsy brother 'ill pay a good 'mount of money for your safe 'eturn." She bit down hard on the second mans hand, but he didn't even flinch. She struggled and writhed to get out of his grip, but he didn't even move. It was like being held in a vice. Then she got mad. First it was that insufferable Enjolras, and now these two men who obviously didn't suffer from an overabundance of schooling. She was better than this. She had to be. She got as angry as she could, it would give her adrenaline, and elbowed the man holding her as hard as she could. Thankfully, his grip loosened and she turned and kicked him in the shin with her hard-toed boots.
Then she ran as fast as she possibly could to the Cafe. Unfortunately, Jehan and the others had gone inside as she was coming out; there was no one to help her. So, she screamed as loud as she could and looked back. They were gaining on her. She was terrified, but she couldn't think of that right now, she could only think of how angry she was and that would give her power. But then, she felt something catch her foot and she fell to the ground. They would get her now, they were so close before, she got up anyway and ran again, but when she looked back, there was a third figure. It wasn't helping them, it was fighting them. Danielle stopped and realized it had nothing to fight them with but it's bare hands. She happened to know where Sabine kept their spare revolver and went to get it from their house, yelling some excuse as she left. When she was back on the street, the figure was still fighting off the two men. She walked closer, until she was sure she could make the shot, and aimed the already loaded gun.
With a bang, the man that had held her crumpled to the ground as the other two men looked to the source. One ran to her, but the other stopped it with a punch square to the jaw. She aimed again, but her rescuer hit the other man in the temple with a pocket watch he had grabbed when the other man staggered from the punch, and then it was over. Both men lay on the ground, unconscious or dead, Danielle didn't care right now.
Every person in the Cafe came pouring out, curious as to the source of the commotion, but Danielle only saw her defender. Everything was growing hazy. Her anger seeped away and left her with the after effects. Then her savior came close, so close, and she could see who it was. Oh, God, why did it have to be him, was her last conscious thought.
A/N: Thank you to everybody who followed my story! I'm going to say that means you like it so far? That, or you want to see where the train wreck is heading and to that I say: you and me both, pal.
So, I tried to make it exciting! Was it good? Also, I realllllyyy hope they're all in character enough. It's a lot harder than I thought! Especially Enjolras, actually. I think I just want him to be perfect. Because he is! :D