Better Run for Cover

Chapter 16: A Fallen Angel

((Prepare yourself... This is where I end up crying instead of finishing the chapter right away because of what must be done... Sorry for any errors - It's hard to see when you're crying... Hope you like the new chapter... -Wolf))

Chapter 16: A Fallen Angel

{André's p.o.v.}

The next morning, Feuilly's sharp whistle woke me. Grantaire was up and moving around, as were the rest of the boys.

"The rain," I could hear Marius saying to my brother, "It damaged the gunpowder. We're low on ammunition."

"We're the only barricade left."

Marius, and everyone else froze as these words left my brother's lips. I got to my feet, looking at him with real fear. "What?" asked Marius slowly.

"We're the only ones left," Enjolras repeated. "The people have not stirred. We are abandoned by those who still live in fear. Let us not waste lives. Let all who wish to, go from here," said Enjolras quietly.

The boys exchanged uneasy looks, until a familiar voice piped up. "Do you hear the people sing, singing the songs of angry men? It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!" Gavroche was sitting beside Combeferre, a small smile on his face as he sang softly. The boys exchanged more looks, and soon, they all joined in, as did I.

"When the beating of your hearts, echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"

The revolutionaries grabbed their guns and once more began to climb the barricade.

"Enjolras, we need more ammunition," Lesgles said to my brother.

"I'm going over, there are bodies there with dry ammunition," announced Marius.

"No," growled Enjolras.

"The gunpowder's wet through," protested Lesgles.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gavroche slip down into the barricade through our hole. "Gavroche?" I questioned, climbing down after him. He didn't hear me.

"And little people know, when little people's fight," he chanted under his breath as he climbed through to the other side of the barricade. He pulled a pouch of ammunition off of one of the dead soldiers.

"We may look easy pickin's, but we got some bite!" He grabbed another ammunition pouch. The soldiers stationed at the end of the street took notice of him then, as did the revolutionaries atop the barricade.

"Gavroche!" hissed Feuilly.

"Gav!" I called to him. "Get back!"

"Gavroche, come back," Feuily called again.

"So never kick a dog, because he's just a pup!" A gun went off and I screamed, but the bullet hit the barricade beside Gavroche.

"Gav!" I shrieked. "Come back!" He turned to look at me for a moment, gave me a lopsided grin, and then kept going.

"We'll fight like twenty armies and we won't give up!" Gavroche bent down to retrieve another pouch of ammunition. At the top of the barricade, I heard scrambling, as Courfeyrac saw him. "Gavroche!" he yelped, dropping his gun and lunging forwards, trying to get to the boy, but Combeferre held him back.

"Gavroche get back here! Gavroche, no!" Feuilly had to help as Courfeyrac struggled to get to my friend. I didn't know what to do.

Then, the shot rang out again. Gavroche made a pained, startled sound, and dropped to his knees.

"Gavroche!" I screamed, and I ran from my hiding spot, sprinting towards my friend.

"So you better... run for cover..." Gavroche managed to shout. I was almost to him, not caring about the fact that there were guns aimed at me now as well.

"Andy!" shouted Enjolras from above. "No!"

"Gavroche! They shot him! Ya bastards!" yelled Courfeyrac, managing to get closer to us, before the boys were holding him back again.

"When the pup... grows..."

A third shot.

Gavroche collapsed at my feet, the light already fading from his eyes.

"GAVROCHE!" I screamed, falling to my knees on the cobblestones beside his body.

Tears were pouring from my eyes. "No, no, no, no!" My body was shaking as I sobbed, grabbing Gavroche's body and hugging it to my chest.

A moment later, Courfeyrac was beside me, crying as well, and he wrapped his arms around Gavroche's body and I, picking us both up as well as the ammunition that remained in Gavroche's cold, dead hand.

Courfeyrac carried us to our side of the barricade, and then sank to his knees sobbing as well, cradling Gavroche's body and I in his arms.

A voice rang out above our sobs. "You at the barricade listen to this. The people of Paris all sleep in their beds. You have no chance... No chance at all. Why throw your lives away?"

The national guardsman stood at the far end of the street, his hands shaking slightly, and I knew from this that he had wanted no part in the death of Gavroche. He was just a child...

Fresh tears streamed down my face as my brother rose to his feet from where he had been kneeling beside me. "Let us die facing our foes," he said quietly.

"Make they bleed while we can."

"Make them pay through the nose," growled Feuilly, who was now holding Courfeyrac close, while I remained clutching my friend's body.

"Make them pay for every man," choked out Courfeyrac, his eyes going to Gavroche's still form.

"Let others rise to take our place, until the earth is free!" shouted my brother defiantly.

The man who Enjolras had let kill Javert silently picked up Gavroche and I, and carried us away from the barricade, putting us down in the entrance to the tavern. "Hide in here," he told me, before taking his gun and climbing the barricade to join the revolutionaries.

I nodded slightly, my teeth digging into my bottom lip as I tried to bite back the loud sobs that shook my body. "Gavroche," I whimpered, putting a hand over the bloody bullet hole in his chest. "Gavroche," I repeated.

I rocked back and forth slightly, trying to somehow calm down or comfort myself, but I couldn't.

My best friend was dead.

My Gavroche was dead.

I hugged his body to my chest once again, my tears darkening the shoulder of his jacket and matting his hair against his head. His golden blonde hair hung limp around his head, shining in the light like a halo.

He looked peaceful for a moment, as I tilted my head slightly so I couldn't see the bullet hole. He looked almost like an angel, with his golden halo, asleep in my arms.

And then the bullet hole came back into my sight, and he instead became a fallen angel. It was as if someone had knocked him from the heavens where he belonged and shot him down to the foul streets of Paris below.

My poor Gavroche...

How could he be gone? It began to dawn on me that I would never again see that lopsided smirk, like the one he had given me before he had been shot and killed.

And I would never again see his gleaming blue-grey eyes that reflected exactly what he was thinking, whether they were good thoughts or not.

And I would never again hear his laugh, and his carefree voice.

"What am I supposed to do without you?" I whispered into his matted hair.

"How am I supposed to go on without you at my side? Gavroche, what am I going to do?"

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((Ouch. It hurt to write this chapter, so I hope you guys like it... I love Gavroche :( I am now going to cry some more over his death. Please vote and comment if you liked it! -Wolf))