LES DÉSCENDANTS

~Le Mariage, Partie 2 (The Wedding, Part 2)~

A/N: A brief summary of what has happened since the barricades, to remind the reader and myself:

1. Grantaire returned the artifact to Enjolras's hand, saving all lives lost during the Final Battle, including E and Av who were shot by the Guard.

2. Since then, E has been pushing for Av to find her parents, whereas Av recognizes they aren't strong enough to do so yet, and need to take the time to process the barricades and hide from the Guard, who have boarded up the Musain. Av seeks closure with Jehan, and ends up watching him die again...but first he passes her a cryptic letter pertaining to her parents...Enjolras wrongly thinks Lamarque is her father but Av says she would have known that when she met Lamarque.

3. Av rebels against the Guard with Montparnasse, who also seeks to avenge Jehan's death. She sets traps and Monty presumably is killing members of the Guard. Av realizes it's crossed a line when Monty starts targeting family of the Guard, and returns to Enjolras to heal.

4. Av and E escape to the outskirts of France where they can live safely. A wedding invite arrives, and they decide to attend Marius's wedding in their bloody, torn revolutionary clothing as a protest to the bourgeoisie. Av catches the bouquet Cosette tosses purposefully her way. She then brings it to the Corinthe to plant at the barricades with Enjolras, but Grantaire is there too, showing Marius and Cosette around the area. Marius has decided to pay respects before their reception...or was it a mutual decision?

And now it's reception time!

The wedding carriage slowly rolled its way to the Gillenormand château. Marius was somberly quiet, and Grantaire was trying to help.

"We gave up a lot in the name of justice. What does-"

"Don't ask me what our sacrifice was for," mourned Marius. "These feelings, this grief...I tried to block it out, but...it came back. I can't describe what's going on to me. This pain, it eats me from the inside, it goes on, and on, and on..." Tears ran down the groom's cheeks. "This grief cannot be spoken, Grantaire. Just let me sit with this."

Across from them, I introduced myself quietly to Cosette, and her response surprised me: "I know." I looked at her questioningly and she went on. "Marius has mentioned you fondly. But I could see it in your eyes...you, like me, have seen a lot of pain." 

I froze, and I felt Enjolras's gaze on her as well. This was not the lovey-dovey Cosette who distracted Marius from revolution. This was a warrior. 

She went on: "I wish I had known about your group before. We could have started off on a different note. I would have encouraged Marius to continue, but he was secretive, and I thought it was dangerous."

I blinked. "I see. And going forward?"

"I'd be glad to take a pamphlet and do what I can." She paused, and was quiet a long time. "I wasn't born into this life," she whispered. "I was born into poverty and...my childhood was..."

"I know," I muttered back. "You don't have to revisit those memories on your wedding day, Cosette. Both of our childhoods, we couldn't control. None of us deserved what happened to us. Life threw us into situations we had to quickly learn how to handle. It's our actions going forward which count now. I don't want Marius getting sucked into this life...living as a shell of a man, in a plastic, painted, bourgeoisie manor."

"I know," she said quietly. "It makes me so uncomfortable."

"So talk to him, Cosette. And talk to your father."

"He isn't here," she cried.

"I know, you need to rebuild that connection, Cosette. Otherwise, I fear he may die of a broken heart." The look I gave her told her that I didn't fear. I knew.