What happens after Les Miserables?

Chapter 3

Étienne's POV

I watch as the silhouettes of Marius and Cosette walk off as I gently rub my bruises "generously" given to me from my fight with Marius.

"Étienne ," I hear a deep voice call. I look up and see Maitland standing in the doorway.

"Maitland. Have they left yet?" Maitland gives me a slight nod of the head and then turns and leaves. Maitland is a curious character; his personality is rather strange, but he is a hard worker and a loyal friend.

I hear the last of his footsteps against the creaky wooden boards and then they are gone. I take a deep breath and reach to my neck and pull up a chain with a cross attached to it. I hold the cold metal in my hand and look to the sky. I close my eyes tightly while looking up still and silently pray to god. I pray that we have a successful revolution.

As much as I despise Marius, I love the country and the people. I hate to see the majority of the population stuggling on the streets as the rich are completely oblivious of how poor and starving the others really are.

I pace about the room, carefully avoiding the shards of glass and wood. When I'm deep in thought, I tend to move around more; I can never sit still.

"Monsieur Étienne," I turn to find Alethea standing behind me. She looks down slightly and her cheeks grow rosy.

"Yes Madame, may I be of assistance?" Alethea opens her mouth slightly, but doesn't say anything. She waits a few moments before she responds.

"The people are waiting to hear the speech you promised to give," I had almost forgotten about the speech. I had to wait until Marius and Cosette left before I took the revolution in my own hands.

Marius has talked and talked about his "amazing" plan for the revolution, but hasn't executed it yet; I am beginning to think he never will. Marius is all talk and never action; I can see why Enjolras was the leader of the first revolution and not Marius.

I start walking out of the room and prepare for the speech. This needs to be perfect.

I stand up on one of the chairs and stare at the crowd.

"My friends, as you may know, Marius has done much talking, but what we want is action." I hear some mumbles of agreement.

"Unless we do something about it, we won't have a revolution." Now I hear some people begin talking frantically. Panic fills the room.

"Now my friends, this will happen; however, I have a plan. Then we will have the revolution we want. But before we do anything; Marius can't be leader; he just can't."