beauty and a barricade || enjonine

8: warmth

at musain, there would surely be warmth.

candlelight and fires would be warming the small back room, radiating through it.

dusk had just fallen, and éponine could clearly envision les amis. they would be crowded around tables, occupied by planning or drinking. they would be speaking passionately of freedom and equality. they would be speaking of the future... with some exceptions. grantaire came to éponine's mind: he was probably passed out in the corner.

éponine inspected her surroundings. there was no warmth here, no friendship. she stood, stalling, beside of a house her father had ordered her to rob. she had forgotten their name and any valuable item they could possibly have to steal. if she were honest with herself, she hadn't been paying much attention to the details. she only knew that her father was inside: talking to someone, fooling his victim. it was his cruel method, enacting a play with whomever he intended to steal from.

a gust of wind lifted her hair from her shoulders. éponine shivered.

she longed to be at the cafe.

an unexpected noise startled her. several ominous figures darted from the house. one came near éponine, and grabbed her arm, yanking her away.

the pair stopped somewhere in the shadows of a street.

"what were you doing? the cops practically walked right past you!" hissed thenardier.

éponine wriggled out of his grasp and glared. "i didn't see them."

"useless!" her father groaned, suddenly slapping her across the face. "you better make sure you see them next time."

he abandoned her in the street.

éponine gingerly brought her fingers to her cheek. of course, there was a reason she hadn't seen the police: she hadn't been looking.

say she had cared about keeping watch, she would have done a beyond-perfect job. she was a novice in crime. no one saw her, yet she saw everything. she could slip in and out of places unseen. darkness did not frighten her a bit. she had perfected her role as a starving, pitiful street girl.

much of this was taught to her by her father, who she could not decide whether she loved or despised. éponine still reminisced in the days where her parents doted upon her. her brother, gavroche, was different. her parents never cared much for him. éponine knew how it felt to be wanted.

now, however, she felt as though things could be different. éponine had a feeling that she could finally be worth something. she could use her life to improve Paris, rather than corrupt it.

éponine's letters with enjolras indicated that she was part of les amis now. but was she an ami? was she a friend? how could be a friend of the other amis, or any of the students, if she continued to help her father?

friend was a powerful world for éponine. a friend was someone who would help, but not control her. surely she could care for someone but continue to be independent. her father was not a friend. her mother was not a friend. marius—

oh, marius.

marius had been kind to her before anyone else had even considered it. she had fallen in love with him— or perhaps the notion of him.

but he was not a friend. he never was. spending time with him was not freedom.

éponine did not return home that night.

instead, she walked right into the musain the following day. alone. she now had a right to be there. she was part of the revolution.

another student she did not know approached her.

"mademoiselle," he began, "it is a pleasure to meet you. my name is jean prouvaire. i was asked to deliver this to you." he reached into his pocket and revealed a letter. "i promise you that i have kept it safe and i know nothing of its contents." he forced it into her hands.

"thank you," she said, perplexed.

"i hope that we can be friends," he said, and éponine could detect the sincerity in his voice. he meant it.

"of course, monsieur prouvaire," éponine smiled. he grinned at her as though this was the best part of his day. "how long have you had this letter?"

"just since yesterday. you did not visit and i did not know where to find you."

by now, éponine had located enjolras. he was talking with courfeyrac.

"would you excuse me?" éponine asked prouvaire. she made her way over to enjolras.

"hello, enjolras," she said boldly.

enjolras had turned to look at her immediately. his eyes were wider than usual, and he stood like a statue in his place. he was entirely shocked.

éponine did not wait for him to respond. she doubted he would ever say anything to her. instead, she marched away.

all eyes in the cafe were fixated on the immobile, marble enjolras, who was still staring in utter surprise.

she did not go far before she opened the letter and began to read.

Mademoiselle Eponine,

Should you actually try to strike up a decent conversation with Grantaire, he, well, I'll just warn you in advance and apologize for his behavior. Try not to slap him. I will tell him that this counts as conversation, not because I care what he thinks but more because I want him to shut up about it. One thing you'll learn about Grantaire is how much he fancies teasing people. You should have heard him the night Marius showed up after meeting that other woman he speaks of so fondly.

If you don't mind my asking, how come you put aside material things? What happened?

You story of liberation from Marius makes me very happy and strangely... proud of you. Yes.

What if I survive the revolution? If I am to be honest, I stared at that sentence for quite some time. I never really consider whether I will live or die. Of course, I am fully willing to die for the cause, but one never envisions themselves dying. If I survive, I would try to set up an equal, better, fair, people-governed government.

I study a lot of things, mostly history, but nothing as big as the medical classes.

Would you rather live as you do now or in the upperclass?

Vive la Révoltion!

Enjolras

éponine read the letter many times, considering his ideas and questions and feeling rather strange when he said that he was proud of her.

she decided that there was a good possibility of enjolras becoming a good friend.

-

Ooooh cliche Thenardier scene anyone? I THINK YA

i heart this story so much that i updated again hehehe

VOMMENT

xx your worst nightmare