A/N: this is based on a part of the book as well as the musical. I've merged both together and changed parts...enjoy :) Also, a big thank you to those who keep reviewing-means a lot and keeps me writing :)
Chapter Eighteen: Rue Plumet
Marius was lost in thought as he sat. He didn't realise Éponine had followed.
"Ah! There he is!" Her voice startled him from his thoughts. She was contemplating him with a look of pleasure on her pale face. She'd changed a little; although her face was just as dirty and sad, the wounds had healed. In her face, Marius saw the young lady she could have been if she hadn't been exposed to poverty. The strange emotions he used to feel for her the year before began to stir.
"Hello, Monsieur Marius." He remained silent. "You've got a hole in your shirt." She noticed. "I'll mend that for you!" Her expression was changing. "You don't seem very glad to see me." Marius still remained silent.
"Well, I could make you look happy if I wanted to!" She sighed.
"How? What do you mean?" He sounded unconvinced.
"You weren't so unfriendly last time." She sounded a little sad. He felt guilty, and spoke more gently.
"I'm sorry, my dear." Her eyes lit up.
"Yes, speak to me nicely!" She smiled.
"But what do you mean?" She bit her lip, hesitating. She sighed sadly.
"You look so miserable. I want you to be happy! But please do smile. You did promise you'd give me anything I asked for." She looked sad herself, but Marius didn't notice. "Yes, but tell me!" He said. She looked steadily at him. "I've got the address." Marius turned pale, his heart's rhythm changing. "You mean-" "The address you wanted me to find out. The young lady-you know..." She spoke the words with a deep sigh.
Marius rose, and took her hand. She stared at his hand on hers. "You know it? You must take me there, Dear 'Ponine." He stared away in wonder. His beloved was found! Eponine withdrew her hand. "Oh, how excited you are." She spoke this in a tone of sadness that would have wrung the heart of any beholder, but of which Marius was unconscious.
As they went onto the street, Marius overtook Éponine. "Fifty Five...Monsieur." Éponine's voice was hoarse.
Marius couldn't help but to gush all his happiness-he was here at last! He didn't notice Éponine behind him.
He didn't notice the way she was looking at him.
He didn't notice how much he was breaking her heart.
"In my life, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun! And my life, seems to stop as if something is over-or something has scarcely begun!"
Éponine was about to leave, when she felt his hand on hers. "Éponine-you're the friend who has brought me here!" He was holding her hands, and he span her around. "Thanks to you-I'm at one with the gods and heaven is near!" He let go, for they were outside the house.
"And I soar through a world, that is new, that is free!" He clutched the bars of the gate, and slipped through.
Éponine stumbled against a wall.
"Every word that he says is a dagger in me!" She whispered to herself.
In my life, there's been no-one like him anywhere...anywhere, where he is. If he asked...I'd be his!
Éponine went to the gate that Marius had slipped through. He was holding the bars, and he looked into Éponine's eyes. They both murmured the next part to themselves and to eachother.
"In my life...there is someone who touches my life!" Marius turned away, seeing Cosette sat on the bench. "Waiting near." He murmured.
"Waiting...here." Éponine watched as the one she loved walked away, as she herself backed into the shadows.
Cosette sat on the bench in her garden, annoyed about the disagreement with her father. She heard a branch snap, and looked up, startled. It was the man from yesterday.
"A heart full of love...a heart full of song." He was saying. He shook his head and looked away. "I'm doing everything all wrong." He looked back at her. "Oh god for shame, I do not even know your name-dear Mademoiselle-wont you say, will you tell?"
She overcame her shock of seeing him, smiled slightly and replied. "A heart full of love-no fear, no regret!"
"My name is Marius Pontmercy." The young man introduced himself, and bowed.
"And mines Cosette!" She curtsied gracefully.
"Cosette-I don't know what to say." Marius was wonder struck.
"Then make no sound." Cosette smiled as she pressed a finger to his lips for a moment, then pulled her hand away, and sat down on the bench.
"I am lost." He stared into her blue eyes.
"I am found." She stared back into his. She was found-she wasn't alone anymore!
"A heart full of light!" The starlight. Cosette's eyes. Everything was full of wonder tonight.
"A night bright as day!" They both spoke together.
He knelt and took her slender hands. "And you must never go away! Cosette, Cosette!" "This is a chain we'll never break." She took his hands as well, and smiled into his eyes.
"Do I dream?" He murmured, as he looked down. She put her hand under his chin and brought his head up. "I'm awake!"
Éponine was still watching from the gate, although the sight in the garden was hurting her badly-she could hear it all.
"A heart full of love!" That was Marius, speaking again. His heart full of love...for Cosette.
He was never mine to lose. A tear slid down Éponine's cheek. She blinked the rest away furiously.
"A heart full of you!" That was Cosette.
Makes two. Éponine thought. But only one could have him. What made better sense than a rich, beautiful young lady-not a poor, dirty streetrat.
Why regret what could not be? Éponine did regret what could not be. Her and Marius couldn't be...that hurt her deeply.
"A single look and then I knew!" Marius was on the bench beside Cosette. He had an arm around her, and both of her hands held his free one. They were staring into eachothers eyes, so close.
"I knew it too!" Cosette replied.
These are words he'll never say... Éponine was painfully aware of that. Not to me...
Marius was oblivious, as he stared adoringly at Cosette. "From today." He couldn't believe he was with her! And she loved him too!
Not to me...Not for me. Éponine shook her head.
"Every day." Cosette stared back at Marius adoringly. "For it isn't a dream."
Both lovers in the garden realised. "Not a dream after all!" They leant in, and their lips touched.
He wouldn't feel the pain of watching the one he loved with another. And he would never feel the way he did about Cosette to Éponine.
He will never feel this way!
Éponine heard footsteps and talking. She turned. In dismay, she saw her father. She hid by the pillar of the gate, in a shadow. How had he escaped?
"This is his lair, I've seen the old fox around, he keeps himself to himself, he's staying close to the ground. I smell profit here!" Thenardier addressed his gang. "Ten years ago, he came and paid for Cosette. I let her go for a song, it's time we settled the debt. This'll cost him dear!"
"What do I care, who you should rob? Give me my share, finish the job!" Brujon said.
"You shut your mouth! Be glad there is no watch hound! Or you'd be in there first!" Snapped Thenardier.
"But there is a watch hound." Eponine emerged from the shadows.
"What have we here?" Brujon pulled her into the middle of their gang.
"Who is this hussy?" Thenardier wondered who dared stop them.
"It's your brat Eponine, don't you know your own kid? Why's she hanging about you?" Thenardier realised it was Eponine.
"'Ponine." He began, using what Montparnasse had told him Marius had said mockingly. "Get on home, you're not needed in this! We're enough here without you!" He continued.
She stared him in the face, unafraid, anger burning in her eyes.
"I know this house, I tell you! There's nothing here for you! Just the old man and the girl, they live ordinary lives!" Thenardier grabbed her by the hair, and spoke into her ear. "Don't interfere, you've got some gall! Take care, young miss, You've got a lot to say!" He threw her onto the ground.
"She's going soft." Brujon smirked as she gasped in pain.
"Happens to all." Claquesous remarked.
"Go home, 'Ponine, Go home, you're in the way." Montparnasse stroked her neck and whispered in her ear. She slapped him across the face. He stumbled.
"I'm gonna scream, I'm gonna warn them here!" She stared at them all defiantly.
"One little scream and you'll regret it for a year!" Her father stepped menacingly towards her.
"What a palaver! What an absolute treat! To watch a cat and it's father, pick a bone in the street!" Claquesous leered.
"Not a sound out of you!" Brujon turned to Claquesous.
"Well I told you I'd do it, told you I'd do it..." She turned, held the bars of the gate, and screamed at the top of her lungs. She was pulled away by her hair again.
"You wait my girl! You'll rue this night." Her father pushed her away. "I'll make you scream."
She spat in his face.
"You'll scream alright." He struck her across the face. She fell down again.
"Leave her to me, don't wait around! Make for the sewers, go underground!" He kicked her for good measure, and as he heard footsteps, he ran as well.
Éponine stood up shakily. It was Marius at the gate...holding Cosette's hand. "It was your cry sent them away! Once more 'Ponine saving the day." He turned to Cosette, and kissed her before slipping through the gate. "Dearest Cosette, my friend 'Ponine Brought me to you, showed me the way!" He introduced them both.
Cosette looked at the girl, who she recognised from the robbery. So it was Eponine? How could it be?
"Someone is near, let's not be seen! Somebody's here!" Marius kissed Cosette one last time before walking away.
He'd forgotten Éponine again. She stood against the wall as Valjean appeared at the gate.
"My God, Cosette! I heard a cry in the dark! I heard the shout of angry voices in the street!" Cosette's father examined her to see if she was alright. She quickly looked outside the gate, before moving to stand in front of her father.
"That was my cry you heard, Papa. I was afraid of what they'd do. They ran away when they heard my cry." She lied.
"Cosette, my child, what will become of you?" He hugged her. "Three men I saw beyond the wall, Three men in shadow moving fast!"
The scream of Éponine had chilled her to the bone. Valjean led Cosette inside. Éponine sank against the wall, having nowhere to go.
"Eponine?" Cosette said. She'd snuck back out wit a letter.
A dirty, now bleeding face appeared.
"Give this to Marius for me! Make sure it reaches him! Thank you!" She ran back inside.
Curiosity got hold of Eponine as she broke the seal and read the letter, walking away.