Chapter Twenty Two
A/N: Thank you to Lylex96 for reviewing the last chapter.
The golden light dimmed before long, grey clouds gathering in the sky, in a way that seemed to offer something much different from hope. It did not prevent Montparnasse and Éponine from taking to the streets, determined to find Marius before the police officers had the chance. The young woman was almost staggering with the effort, having to stop at every second corner to lean against a wall, but neither of them made any comment. The pain of searching for her beloved was nothing compared to the pain she would suffer if they did not find him in time.
They trawled every street, ignoring the scathing looks of the bourgeois and the hungry glances of the beggars, searching the cobbles, the walls, every door and every window for a sign of the man. He would have left their apartment not long after Éponine- he had enough about him to realise it would be necessary- but she had no clue where he could have gone. He would not want to put friends or family in jeopardy by lodging with them, which meant he would have taken to the streets. That was what worried her more than anything; if he had taken to the streets, why had they not found him yet?
At a loss for what else to do, Éponine sighed in defeat, tugging on Montparnasse's jacket sleeve to get his attention. "We need to go to the flat."
He turned to look at her, frowning in confusion. "I thought you said he would have left."
"Of course he would have!" Éponine exclaimed in frustration. "But we're getting nowhere here. At least if we go there, we might some clues about where he's gone."
Montparnasse shrugged heavily, but followed her all the same. The young woman knew exactly what he was thinking- it was the same thought that had swirled through her mind through their hours' trek- but surely it was worth the risk of being caught in a trap. As far as she could see, it was their only chance.
The apartment had the same heaviness in the air as it had done when she had run the previous night, the cold enough to make 'Ponine shiver. Marius had not lit the fire last night, the embers in the grate cold and dark. Years enough of abandoning crime scenes in a hurry had taught her what the police would look for, the ways they would find to track them.
"He must have left not long after me." Éponine called out. Montparnasse was stood at the window, watching the street for any sign of police. They might not be searching for them, but they were unlikely to turn down the opportunity to arrest two survivors of the Patron-Minette.
"He could be anywhere." the man surmised. It was not the most helpful thing he could have said, but he would say almost anything to get them out of that tainted apartment while they still had a chance. "'Ponine, what are you looking for?"
"He wouldn't just have gone." Éponine answered, speaking as much to herself as to her friend. "No matter how angry I was the last time we met, he must have known I would come back. He wouldn't have gone without leaving me a clue."
"Wouldn't leaving you a clue be leaving one for the police as well?" Montparnasse observed. Éponine shook her head.
"Not if he's clever." Her eyes were suddenly drawn to a crumpled piece of paper, inconspicuous on the edge of the room. She smiled. If there was one thing Marius was, it was clever.
The page was almost fully covered in a charcoal drawing of a tree. It was innocent enough to an outsider, offering no real hint other than that the occupant had a talent for capturing the natural world. To them, it was simply a tree. But 'Ponine needed nothing more than that drawing. Among the thousands of near identical trees in Paris, there was only one significant enough for Marius to draw it.
Éponine barely stopped herself from laughing in her relief, quickly folding the sheet into her pocket and reaching for Montparnasse's hand, dragging him through the open doorway. She answered his frown with a joyful shout. "'Parnasse, I know where he is!"
They ran for a dozen minutes or so, the strain almost unbearable after the longevity of their search. Éponine imagined, each time her legs threatened to collapse from beneath her, that it was her heart allowing her to push forwards, each rapid thundering beat pulling her closer to Marius.
Finally, the park appeared on the horizon, the branches silhouetted against the bright ombré sky. The light itself seemed to personify hope, the glow of an angel watching over them. Éponine had never really believed in churches and sermons, but there was something about the idea of winged celestial beings guiding her path that she could not help but have faith in.
She moved a little slower now, not wanting to alarm her beloved when he saw her. The frustration still bubbled away beneath her skin, but its intensity had faded. Danger had a way of distinguishing between the things that truly mattered and the things that did not. That fight would be resumed, no doubt- Éponine was too stubborn to allow it to be otherwise- but not until both of them were safe.
The branches twisted and turned against the crimson sky, like phantom arms reaching out towards her. From a distance, the tree looked as if it were trying to embrace her; now it was closer, it was far more threatening, its fingers clutching at the air. It was not dissimilar from the clutches of the police officers, wrestling a young man in a dark coat into the back of a wagon.
The fatigue weighed so heavy on her that it took her far too long to notice how familiar the figure was. Her mouth dropping open, the young woman staggered forward, shouting and waving, but the officers paid no attention, whipping the horses so ferociously the poor beasts cried out in pain. Éponine fell to her knees in the road, tears streaming down her face. She had taken too long; not even her angels had been able to save her. She tried to gulp air into her lungs, forcing herself to complete the mechanics of life. It was difficult to think of such things now; they almost seemed trivial.
If Marius' life was forfeit, then so would hers be.
A/N: I'm sorry! The drama's not quite over yet, I'm afraid. Please review!