A Little Bit of Sunshine

Chapter 4

Eponine had spent the day alone with her friend, if she could even call him that. It had passed quickly, with Eponine taking care of him and reading. They had gotten through "Book First" of The Hunchback of Notre Dam, and the girl's mouth felt like she'd stuffed it with cotton. Now, night was falling fast, and an air of awkwardness had set in. Really, all Eponine wanted to do was sleep. Yet, she knew that the chances of her actually sleeping were slim, but exhaustion was taking over at the moment.

Enjolras could feel just how tired she was; it rolled off of her in waves. Her eyes drooped, she was slouched in her chair, and she was moments away from falling asleep. "Eponine, if you are tired, you can go to bed. I'll be fine for the rest of the night," he persuaded. The revolutionary might not have known how to deal with the troubles of the heart and soul, but he knew more than enough on how to keep a body well.

It was not as though he would get a wink of sleep either. Throughout the past few nights, it had been him and his thoughts, and that was how the nights passed. He was quite surprised when Eponine shook her head at him. "Wouldn't be able to sleep even if I did leave. My brain won't stop working, and when I finally get to sleep, my dreams aren't pleasant. Don't really want to move either. I've finally gotten comfortable," she breathed. Her eyes closed and didn't open again for half a minute. With enough help, she'd be asleep without a fuss.

"Can I tell you a story? I think it might help you. I told it to Gavroche one night at the Musain. It was raining so hard that night, and none of us wanted to leave in that. Plus, if we left, he would have left, too. Poor thing would have caught his death out there, and nobody wanted to be held accountable for that at all. We wouldn't have been able to bear it. He was just like a brother to so many of them. Anyways, he really enjoyed it, and I thought you might, too. Can I tell it to you?" At her nod, he began his tale. He had written it once for one of his classes in his first year of higher education.

"Here begins the story of a frozen boy who possessed a heart as warm as the sun. His name, Frost…" Enjolras spun his little tale while she listened. It wasn't ten minutes before he stopped himself and looked over at the sleeping nineteen year old. A smirk spread across his face, and the revolutionary was quite smug. This feeling did not last long, though.

As the night grew older, more thoughts plagued him. Regret and remorse filled the air, and the man could not see how Eponine was not awake by now. He needed someone to listen to his ramblings, someone to help bear the weight upon his chest. The weight of living was becoming too much. All he could see were dead faces and empty stares. There was nothing but hopelessness. All was lost, and nothing remained. His breathing was so much quicker now, while his heart hammered.

Tears were falling from his eyes, and Enjolras could not catch his breath. The room became blurred, but he wasn't sure if it was because of his tears or something else. He was trying so hard to keep himself under control; it was not working. "E-Eponine. Ple-please wa-ke up. I - I need he-help," his voice was breaking off, and the words were slurred.

He did not know when, but suddenly, there were arms enveloping him. The worst part was that Enjolras could not tell if the feelings were becoming better or worse. It was killing him, and he could not control himself. Minutes passed, or maybe it was hours. It was so hard to tell when the only thing that he knew would keep him alive was the hardest thing in the world to do. It was such a mundane thing, but he could hardly do it. Then, he could breathe again. His heart did not feel like it would burst from his chest.

Eponine was smoothing his hair from his face, while small whispered words of comfort came from her mouth. "You're alright. I'm fine. We are okay. Just breathe, Enjolras. That's all. Breathe," she said softly.

The blonde had her to help him sit up and began crying in earnest. This was so much different than before. Anytime before those few days, he would never have cried. He sobbed and felt like screaming, letting go of so much. "I just don't know why anything happened to them. They were all good people, good men. Hell, some of them were little more than boys.

All we - all I wanted was to make a change in this god-forsaken world. S-some of them just followed me blindly. They didn't care if I was leading them to die. I didn't care if I was leading us to death. None of them said their goodbyes. I feel so awful. I can't even die properly. Even the captain goes down with his ship, and I deserted them! They are dead, and I could have prevented over half of them if I would have thought for a moment. God, what have I done?" Enjolras cried. He did not know that Eponine was still sitting right beside him. Then, she grabbed his right hand, pulling his face toward her.

"Let me spell it out for you. It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. Everyone is capable of making their own decisions, and your friends made their own. Even I have made my own. When you are well enough for travel and I have things prepared, we will leave together. We may go to the countryside, or we may leave the country. I know how to go about these types of things. Either way, you are leaving Paris, and we won't be back for a while. Try to get some sleep, Enjolras. You look like hell." She moved back to her chair, dropping his hand in the process. "I will be right here."

The sun dawned the next morning, bringing Evan Sabret with it. The physician walked into his patient's room and smiled to find the girl there with him. They were both sound asleep, Eponine with her head leaning against the very edge of the bed. It was a truly perfect moment. The man quickly left the room before either of them woke up. The sleep was, definitely, needed.

Enjolras woke up slowly. The sunlight that filled the room shone directly into his eyes. There was soft breathing coming from beside him, and he was relieved to see Eponine still sleeping. The worry lines that were so prominent in her face were now smoothed, and she looked her age, not any older.

Slowly, she started to stir awake, and he looked away quickly. There wasn't any reason for an awkward interactions between the two of them. Eponine looked around and appeared to be confused before she settled for a moment. She didn't speak as she looked down at her lap. "I think Sabret is back," she whispered. He hadn't any idea why she was being so quiet.

Then, she leapt from the chair, her face alight. She looked like a thought had just struck her, and she walked very quickly out of his room. As she went through the door, she looked over her shoulder and loudly exclaimed, "I'll be back later!"

The revolutionary shook his head and pushed deeper into his pillows. 'She's such an odd girl,' he thought.

I'm extremely sorry about the delay. I've had a lot to do this past week. I will try to post something later this week, but I'm not sure if I will be able to. This week is when I'll be having week long standardized testing. I'll try to post it on Thursday if I do get something done. I'm just not sure if I will be able to. Those kind of tests wear me out, and I have a feeling that most of my week will be spent sleeping. It has also been very hard to finish that last little bit. It's still missing something, but I am writing this A/N before I've completed it… so yeah.

That last part is completely awful, but I've got something big-ish planned for the next chapter. I mean, it's not going to be straight out, but yeah. Jeez, I'm awkward even in my A/N.

- AEW