Brave: A Les Mis AU

Chapter 5

"Archers, to your marks!" Cosette called to the competitors standing in front of the targets. Courfeyrac looked excited, Grantaire looked stoned, and Marius looked like his life was being threatened. "And may the lucky arrow find its target!"

First up was Courfeyrac. He aimed his bow carefully at the target... and hit the outermost edge.

"I thought you could do it," Feuilly sighed, and Bahorel shook his head.

"I can! I can! I did one this morning!" Courfeyrac whined, going to sit down again next to Marius. Marius had decided to sit and read until his name was called, but the two of them became fast friends and were talking excitedly.

Valjean turned to Eponine. "I'm sure he'd rather we were doing a comedy night," he whispered, and Eponine nodded, quietly nudging her bow out of sight. Cosette rolled her eyes at them, and the next contestant went up.

Grantaire stumbled up, looking very uninterested in Eponine. He seemed much more interested in the young blond man who had been standing in front of Marius earlier. He aimed, fired, and hit the third ring in--still not a winner.

"Did you people really think I would ever hit something straight? Did you really think that?" he said, taking a swig out of his bottle, and Joly stepped forward.

"At least you hit the target?" he said unhelpfully.

Valjean turned to Eponine again. "Isn't he a looker? Most attractive one out there, and he's even drunk out of his right mind."

"Oh, sure," Eponine said, completely unimpressed by the young man. She was still watching Marius in the corner talking with Courfeyrac. She wished she could be part of the conversation.

"The blond one looked better, didn't he?" Valjean sat back in his chair.

"I suppose," Eponine answered with a shrug. She saw Grantaire winding up to toss the bow, and she said to Valjean, "Whoever catches it, he's going to end up married to."

Grantaire tossed it, accidentally hitting the blond man in the face, and instinctively, the man grabbed it. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to hit you or anything, I just meant to put it down somewhere, I'm sorry..." he was apologizing profusely, but the young man seemed to be a bit shy, so he set the bow down and went to sit by the scorekeeper. The scorekeeper was another young man, wearing wire-rimmed glasses. Anyone could tell when Courferyac noticed the man, because he would not--or rather, could not--stop staring at him.

Finally, it was Marius's turn. Gillenormand seemed quite ashamed to admit that this awkward man was his grandson still, and tossed the oversized bow at him a little more aggressively than he should have. He caught it, then dropped it. Eponine felt bad for him. He really seemed like a sweet boy. He picked up the bow, and accidentally flipped his quiver upside-down, dumping all the arrows out of it. Some of the older audience members laughed. He stood up, aimed and fired his arrow--and hit it in the middle.

He looked at the target like he couldn't believe it, and his grandfather did something shocking. He went up to him and shouted, "That's a boy, Marius! You've manned up, finally, none of that sensitive stuff!"

Valjean looked shocked. "Well, how do you feel being married to that--" he looked over at the chair where Eponine had been sitting, but in her place, there was Gavroche, looking very bored, with Azelma in next to him, eating a cupcake. Both of their faces were covered in frosting.

"Oh, there you are, don't ever run like that again, please? You know I'm not fast," Jehan said, scooping the two children up and sitting them in their chairs, wiping off their faces.

"Eponine?" Cosette said, looking where her friend had been.

A dark cloaked figure was making its way onto the field. The figure pulled off their hood at the first target.

"Eponine! Don't!" Cosette shouted, quickly realizing what was happening. Eponine tossed her cape to the side, then lifted her bow and shot straight into the middle.

"I am shooting for my own hand," Eponine explained, walking over to the next target. Cosette started trying to chase her, but her dress got tangled around her legs, slowing her down. Eponine shot the next arrow, again hitting the center. The men around her looked shocked and impressed, except for Gillenormand, who looked like someone was threatening to steal his chance at something.

"Don't loose another arrow!" Cosette cried out as the last arrow went whirling through the air, and split Marius's arrow straight down the spine.

Cosette dragged Eponine into her sewing room. "What is your problem?" she shouted, Eponine had never seen Cosette actually mad, but now she was. "You've embarrassed them! You've embarrassed me!"

"I followed the rules!" Eponine retorted.

"You don't know what you've done! They'll want to kill each other if it isn't fixed!"

"If you'd just listen to me--"

"No, Eponine, you listen. This is how it has to be, and it's how it is going to be, got it?" Cosette snapped.

"You're never there for me! This whole marriage is what you want! Do you ever bother to ask what I want? No! You walk around telling me what to do, what not to do! Trying to make me be like you! Well, I'm not going to be like you!" Eponine shouted, grabbing a sword from a suit of armor standing by and slashed the tapestry of the royal family right down where Cosette had sewn hers and Eponine's hands together. "I would rather die than be like you!"

Cosette gasped, then grabbed Eponine's bow in retaliation and whipped it into the blazing fireplace. Eponine's face crumpled, and she ran out of the room. Cosette suddenly realized what she did, and raced out of the room after her, shouting, "Eponine! Eponine!"

She went back into the room and grabbed the bow out of the fire with her bare hands, singeing her hair in the process, tears streaming down her face as she heard the bow string snap from the heat. She couldn't ever be forgiven for this.