Better Run for Cover

Chapter 15: Drink With Me

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Chapter 15: Drink With Me

{André's p.o.v.}

"Gavroche," Marius asked quietly. Gavroche looked up from where he was sitting beside me, inside of the barricade. We had found a hole and managed to crawl inside. "Will you do something for me?"

Gavroche looked at me, and I nodded. "Anything," he said to Marius. "Without you, I'd have bitten dust."

Marius handed Gavroche a letter. "It's for Cosette," he murmured. Gavroche nodded, taking the letter and heading off, smiling slightly at me over his shoulder.

I waited for what felt like hours in the hole in the barricade, for Gavroche to return. The cry of, "don't shoot! Don't shoot!" drew me from the hole.

Gavroche had returned, but so had someone else. My pistol once more in my hand, I climbed to the top of the barricade, hovering near Combeferre's elbow with Gavroche at my side as I looked down on the older man dressed in the uniform of the King's men. He was holding up his hands in a defensive manner. "I come here as a volunteer," he then said.

My brother hesitated for a moment, but then nodded, and Bahorel and Prouvaire pulled away a section of the barricade to let the man through. Almost instantly, the boys had him surrounded.

Enjolras snatched his gun, as Prouvaire said, "You see that prisoner over there? A volunteer like you!" He indicated Javert, tied up in the tavern, with the barrel of his gun. "A spy who calls himself Javert, he's going to get it to!"

"Get in there, get inside," growled Combeferre, poking the man with his gun. Javert tilted his head ever so slightly, the rope around his neck not allowing him to move further. His eyes held a broken look.

"Wait!" shouted Gavroche, jumping down to look at the man more closely. "Don't kill 'im! I know 'im."

The man nodded at Gavroche, but something caught his eye and his head turned towards the roof. "Enemy marksmen!' he shouted, wrenching his gun from my brother's grasp and firing at the soldier on the roof.

"Eyes on the roof!" shouted Enjolras.

"On the roof!" Gavroche and I repeated in unison.

Shots went off as the boys fired at the hidden soldiers. I shot at one, and hit him. The man then fell with a sickening crack to the cobblestones below.

"Thank you, Monsieur," said Enjolras once we were sure the soldiers were gone.

"Give me no thanks, Monsieur, there's something you can do," said the man.

"If it is in my power," said Enjolras slowly.

"Give me the spy, Javert. Let me take care of him."

At his name, Javert attempted to look up again, licking his cracked and bleeding lips. His gaze met mine for a moment, and then the man's.

Beside me, Gavroche nodded and held out his pistol. Enjolras sighed and gave his consent, taking the pistol from Gavroche and handing it to the man. "Do what you have to do, the man belongs to you."

I froze. He was going to kill Javert. I should be unphased, I tried to tell myself. This man had arrested me, and he cared not for people like us. But another part of me knew that somehow, that wasn't entirely true. Javert, in keeping me prisoner, had put a roof over my head and food in my stomach. He had even taught me to read, write, and speak properly. I owed him quite a bit actually.

"Enjy, no," I whispered, but the man was already walking away. Enjolras looked at me for a moment, sighing, and put his arm around my shoulders, turning me away from the man with the gun and Javert.

My eyes met Javert's once more, and his eyes were pleading. A tear slowly dripped down my face. I attempted to thank him for what he had given me, whether he realized it or not, with my eyes, and then Enjolras pulled me away.

"C'mon Andy," he murmured, noticing my tears, but saying nothing.

I climbed back down into the hole in the barricade, tears streaming down my face for the second time that night.

A gunshot echoed out in the night and I bit my lip to hold back a sob.

Enjolras looked like he wanted to say something, but I turned my back on him, retreating further into my hole in the barricade, not wanting to hear what he had to say.

No matter what Javert had done, he did not deserve to die.

The man came back out from the tavern, gave the boys a wordless nod, and sat down off to the side, looking up at the dark sky.

The boys were sitting around the barricade, most with bottles of wine in their hands, save for a few, like Marius and Enjolras. "Courfeyrac, you take the watch," said my brother quietly. "They may attack before it's light. Everybody keep the faith, for certain as our banner flies, we are not alone. The people too must rise."

Courfeyrac nodded and climbed to the top of the barricade, sitting down with a gun across his lap. Marius was still moving about, readjusting pieces of the barricade. Enjolras sighed and went over to him. "Marius, rest," he murmured. Marius looked at him for a moment before nodding and sitting down in the corner, away from the rest of the boys.

"Drink with me, today's gone by." Grantaire's suddenly sang softly.

Slightly curious, I wiped away my tears as best I could and hoisted myself up out of the hole, sitting down silently beside Grantaire, who wrapped his arm comfortingly around my shoulders.

"To the life," joined in the rest of the boys.

"To the life," repeated Gavroche and I softly,"

"That used,"

"That used,"

"To be."

"To be." We continued like this. "At the shrine of friendship, never say die. Let the wine of friendship never run dry."

The boys passed around a bottle of wine, their expressions distant as the song came to an end.

"Here's to you,"

"Here's to you,"

"And here's to me."

Grantaire smiled at me and gently kissed my forehead. "You going to be okay Andy?" he asked me quietly.

I nodded but said nothing and leaned against him, the arm he kept around my shoulders making me feel secure. It took only a few moments, and then I was sound asleep in the warmth of Grantaire's arms.

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