Casus Belli Chapter 9: Do You Hear The People Sing?, a les miserables fanfic

AN: Hi everyone, I didn't realize I had posted the same chapter twice! Here's the actual chapter for everyone and I'd like to thank reviewer Eponine S Daae for letting me know otherwise I would've never known lol. Also If you guys ever reread chapter 5 again I added in an extra paragraph that I felt was needed about half way through where Esmeralda ponders on the likeliness of Enjolras to Mr Darcy.

Esmeralda woke the next morning to loud shouts from the street below her room's window, the one she had managed to come upon the night before. She peered curiously down into the street, watching multiples of people scurry around each other, all heading in the same direction towards the main square where the Elephant de la Bastille stood proudly.

Esmeralda hurried to throw her fathers clothes on, however extremely large she used one of the sling ropes from her bag as a belt to hold up the trousers on her waist as she folded the lengths of the trousers to her ankles. The large coat was big enough to cover her torso generously, letting her forgo the time-consuming task of bandaging up her chest. Tucking her trouser into her leather lace-up boots, she realized one thing.

She had no hat.

No hat meant that her whole disguise would go to failure, as it was her face and her hair that gave her appearance away immediately. With an irritated sigh she tied her hair up into a messy bun at the back of her head, letting small black ringlets of curls frame the sides of her face.

She grabbed all her belongings and soon rushed out of the room and down the inn's stairs. She kept her head down and avoided all sort of eye contact as she rushed out the door and into the busy street. An explosion of chatter sounded around her as she found herself amongst the busiest of Parisians as they all pushed their way forward to the main roads.

As much as her curiosity told her to go investigate the commotion to her left, the need of a hat came first in her perspective. She didn't want to miss all the commotion on the end of the street, yet at the same time she couldn't spot any kind of store that sold any type of hats, it wasn't till her eyes caught on multiple small figures that were adorned by just the type of hat she wanted on the other side of the street from her.

With determination gleaming in her eyes she marched over to the young group of boys, no older than thirteen or so, who had taken no notice to her until she was standing right in front of them. The one in the middle gave her an odd look, as if to say, "What do you want?", with a raise of his eyebrow.

"How much for the hat?" Esmeralda asked seriously.

The boys around her gave her an incredulous look, before the one she had asked finally replied.

"Not for sale." He replied haughtily.

With an irritated sigh she dug through her bag and retrieved several sous and a franc out and held them out in front of the boy. It didn't take much persuading from then on for her to acquire the hat.

Tucking the last strands of her hair into the hat she had newly acquired, she rushed to the main square and stood among the throngs of people that lined up against the road, as if they were waiting for something. She quickly tapped the shoulder of a man next to her, her curiosity one-upping her patience.

"Excuse me monsieur, do you mind telling me what's happening?"

The man seemed to raise his eyebrows at her question before responding.

"Didn't you hear lad? General Lamarque passed last night! This is his funeral march," explained the monsieur.

The crowd around her seemed to mute itself as the weight of the words finally set into her stomach, her mind. She felt the cold sweat form on her brow as she recalled how the boys said they were simply waiting for a sigh, for the spark to set off the canon that was the revolution… and General Lamarque's death was their answer.

Today.

Today was the uprising.

Today was the day of the revolution.

Esmeralda's legs almost buckled from beneath her as the reality set in. That it was about to happen any moment now, and that all her boys were merely waiting for the right moment to strike.

She pushed her way to the front of the crowd, her mind to anxious about the well-beings of the boys she had come to know in the past two months. Who knew it only took two months to form multiple new relationships, beautiful friendships; who knew it only took two months to fall in love. Esmeralda finally reached the front of the crowd as she stood on the edge of the pathway before the road in front of her. Down the road, Esmeralda could just make out the bright red coats of the beginning of the parade as it slowly made its way down the street. Her eyes darted about up and down the street, trying to spot the familiar faces of anyone from the Les Amis.

A flash of vibrant red caught her eye and to her immense happiness, there stood lion-hearted Enjolras on the other side of the street about fifteen metres away from her, in all his gold and red glory. It had only been two days since Esmeralda had last seen him, but it had felt like two years for her. Seeing his fresh face amongst the grimy solemn crowd lifted her delicate spirit, and soon she was able to spot more of the Les Amis members on both her side of the street as well as the other side.

Esmeralda kept her head down, and spectated the scenery before her from under the brim of her hat. The sounds of beating drums was slowly increasing as the parade made its way towards them. The air was still and the crowd quiet behind her as the first of the soldiers marched past her on their brunette steeds, with the sound of the beating drums echoing around them like the strong thrum of a heart.

The thrum of the Republic.

"Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!"

Esmeralda's luscious green orbs were trained solely on Enjolras as he stared stoically forwards while singing along with the rest of the crowd in their growing defiance. Her heart pounded thunderously in her ribcage as the adrenaline raced around her body, as it readied itself for the next move.

"Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?"

She felt her own breath hitch in throat as her heart skipped a beat in her chest as she watched Enjolras give a firm nod to Marius, who stood opposite him, before rushing out into the middle of the parade with a fire in his eyes more powerful than the sun, waving a blood red flag in the air with all his might.

"Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!"

He was beautiful.

By now each of the Les Amis had managed to climb on top of the parade carriage, singing their mighty hearts out as they waved flags of vibrant red, white and blue as the guards and officers panicked on what to do. More and more citizens broke from their neat spots on the side-lines and had become more dispersed as they ventured into the middle of the street, shouting and singing cheers of the Republic.

It was the most magnificent and spectacular moments Esmeralda had ever witnessed in her entire life.

"Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance
Some will fall, and some will live
Will you stand up and take your chance?
The blood of the martyrs
Will water the meadows of France!"

There wasn't a moment Esmeralda could recall where she was prouder of being part of the Les Amis more than now. She reached into her bag hastily and drew out her tricolour rosette and pinned it proudly to the lapel of her father's oversized jacket. Without realising it, her feet were carrying her slender body forwards, pushing herself through the crowds of cheering civilians till she reached the carriage that the boys stood proudly on top of, keeping her head down, but still mouthing the words of the people's song along with them.

"Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the songs of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!"

Silence flooded the thick air as the people finished their song with a cry and a cheer. Esmeralda gazed up at Enjolras who stood up on a pedestal above her, panting heavily as he held the red flag tightly in the palms of his hand as he gazed across the throngs of people who had merged together during the song.

Esmeralda felt the hair on her neck rise as she spotted the ensemble of red coated guards who had drawn their scabbards and were lining up uniformly in front of them. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest again as she held on to the carriage in a vice-like grip with one hand and she slowly reached into her bag with the other, drawing out her own weapon, one of the tiniest revolvers known to man. Before she had left the house, she had once again rifled through her father's belongings, the ones he had left behind and had come upon the small revolver gun she now had pointed towards an officer's chest. Although her grip was slightly shaky, she knew she wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet through one of those officers if they threatened the lives of someone she cared for.

In all the commotion, more pieces of Esmeralda's hair had fallen from her hat making her disguise less inconspicuous that it should have been, but it mattered not when she had multiple guards pointing rifles and scabbards at her and her comrades.

A sudden shot rang through the still air and screams of terror and pain rose up into the sky as an elderly woman fell to the ground in a heap. Shouts of the word murderer echoed through the atmosphere as Esmeralda rushed over to the collapsed elderly woman as bystanders cradled her frail body in their arms. The crowd was in uproar as people pushed and shoved against each other towards the guards.

Esmeralda kneeled on the grimy cobblestone floor as she reached towards the old woman, pushing past the other bodies in order to get to her. To Esmeralda's surprise and luck, she locked eyes with Combeferre, who was also tending to the woman with his gentle care, but before either of them could say a word to each other Esmeralda was suddenly hauled upwards by the collar of her jacket as she was thrown roughly to the ground by a guard.

More shots were fired around her, bullets whizzing past her ears as she scrambled to her feet again, away from the carriages and towards the rest of the crowd. She cried out in horror as she watched Courfeyrac get tackled to the ground a few feet away from her, but soon he was up and running again from the help of a stranger wearing blue.

"CHARGE!"

The order rang in Esmeralda's ears as she spun on her feet to see five soldiers on their steeds charge directly towards her. One of them had his sword raised as he came barrelling down the road to her. Her heart thrummed in her chest and her hands shook with fear as she tried to hold her revolver steady aiming for the charging man's chest.

But she couldn't take the shot.

She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the cold impact of death, but instead shot rang out in the air, causing her eyes to snap open to see the guard who had been charging at her fall unceremoniously from his saddle to the ground with a sickening thud as his steed kept cantering forwards without him. Esmeralda's body swivelled round to wear the shot had rung out from to be greeted with the spectacular sight of Enjolras lowering his gun as he shouted orders to those around him.

"To the barricades!"

Esmeralda felt her heart constrict painfully as she watched Enjolras climb onto a horse and gallop towards the direction of their beloved café. He was leaving her too quickly, she wasn't prepared to say goodbye yet. She felt the panic set in her chest as the whole crowd dispersed into different streets as an increasing number of guards arrived at the scene. There were too many people, too many bodies to get through to make her way towards the street for the café.

Cursing under her breathe, she burst into a sprint down the nearest street, weaving in and out of the numerous running bodies. She ducked into the alleys and finally found herself in the street next door to the one that lead to the café. She carefully evaded all the furniture being thrown out of windows all around her as men she didn't recognize picked each of the pieces up and threw them together in one massive pile, creating a barricade as fast as possible.

She was so close to her boys, just one street away.

"We need more hands!"

The shout made her pause.

Esmeralda felt an inner dilemma swarm in her mind.

Did she stay to help these people build their own barricade before the officers showed up? Or does she run now and hope she can still make it in time to see the Les Amis. If she stayed now, she might not even be able to make it out of this barricade alive to see her boys one last time, but if she left now these people might not even live to see the end of their own barricade.

She always hated a guilty conscious.

Her body sprang into action, hauling nearby broken chairs towards the heap in the middle of the street as the barricade slowly built up and up towards the sky. More furniture landed around her as she grabbed everything she could find to help build an indestructible barrier, ignoring the wooden splinters that pierced her fingertips as she pulled half of a dressing table to the top of the barricade.

Shots whizzed past her ears as her head jerked up to see a group of soldiers about one hundred metres away, marching towards them. Esmeralda stood still for too long because before she knew it her upper-arm felt like it had been engulfed by flames. The impact of the bullet sent her tumbling down the barricade and soon enough she was being hauled to her feet by helpful hands and into the nearest building.

So much shock and adrenaline pumped through her body it was overwhelming and darkness consumed Esmeralda before she could even utter a word.