Les Couleurs du Monde (An Enjolras Les Misérables Fanfiction)

Chapter XV ~ The First Attack

"When are they coming!?" exclaimed Enjolras impatiently.
Silence.
Suddenly, out of the darkness, the students and citizens at the barricade heard an ominous distant sound. The sound of the marching feet of hundreds of men, marching in unison. First soft, then building louder and louder, closer and closer. Boots on cobbles. The sound came right into the end of the street. Elise slipped back into the Café in the silence, holding her breath as she listened.
Enjolras and all the students manned the main barricade. More silence.
They peered cautiously over the barricade. In the pitch blackness, all they could make out were hundreds of bayonets and musket barrels dimly lit by the reflection from the torch.
A voice shouted out from the darkness..
"Who's there?"
At the same time they all heard the clatter of guns being levelled.
Enjolras hesitated. Maybe it was because he was unsure, but the strong and secure leader of the students had indeed hesitated before shouting, "French Revolution."


"Fire!"

The flash of guns turned all the facades of the street bright crimson as though the door of a furnace had suddenly open and shut.
A dreadful explosion burst over the barricade, causing Elise to start and to collapse onto the floor and squeeze her eyes shut while covering her ears.The red flag fell, the pole sliced through. Bullets ricocheted off the houses, bore into the barricade, and wounded several men.
"My friends, do not fire back! Do not waste powder!" shouted Enjolras as the students returned fire. The sound of Enjolras' voice just outside brought Elise back, only to worry about his well being.
Enjolras picked up the fallen flag and was about to take it up when the old man Father Mabeuf who had seen many insurrections before this took the flag and ran up onto the top of the barricade.
"Vive la France!" shouted Mabeuf.
"Fire!"
A second volley, and Father Mabeuf fell down, dead. While everyone was reacting to the dead old man and the wounded, the men were distracted from noticing that some French soldiers have used the cover of darkness to creep down the street. Enjolras knelt down by the Father, reverently giving the holy old man a kiss on his hand.
All at once the first full attack began. Shouts and the rattle of gunfire filled the air. The students ran for their guns and returned fire. They were taken by surprise. All could be lost in the first instant. Some soldiers made it up to the top of the barricade, where they were driven back by the fierce resistance of the defenders.
In the eat of the battle, Éponine spotted one soldier aiming his rifle at Marius- she threw herself bravely in front of Marius just as the rifle fired - and Marius was safe.

They were all being overrun. Panic ensued. Marius, in a flash of inspiration, realized that all was lost unless they do something. He dragged a barrel of gunpowder to the top of the barricade, grabbed the torch, and with a face of deadly resolve he tipped the torch towards the barrel.
"Clear out or I'll blow up the
barricade!" he exclaimed.
Everyone froze.
The army officer looked disbelievingly at him. "Blow it up then, and take yourself
with it!"
"And myself with it." Marius said, dead serious, bringing the torch closer to the powder keg. But already the soldiers have cleared out.
Marius came down from the barricade.
Feuilly exclaimed to Marius, "Thank you!"
"What were you thinking!" Lesgle said.
As everyone surrounded Marius in amazement he spotted Eponine lying propped against the barricade.
Marius rushed to her side. "Eponine! What have you done?"
He knelt by her. Éponine was dying.
"Here... It's from Cosette..." she mumbled, "I kept it from you... I'm sorry."
With a struggle, she pulled the letter out of her pocket, and pushed it into his hand.
'Don't be too hard on me..." she added.
Marius was shocked to find blood pouring from her wound. "Éponine, you're hurt! You need some help!"
Gradually, rain began to fall gently onto them.
"Don't you fret, M'sieur Marius. I don't feel any pain. A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now. You're here... that's all I need to know. And you will keep me safe. And you will keep me close. And rain will make the flowers grow..." said Éponine, breathing shakily.
"But you will live, Éponine... Dear
God above! If I could close your wounds with words of love." Marius cried.
"Just hold me now, and let it be." smiled Éponine, accepting her fate. "Shelter me... Comfort me..."
'You will live a hundred years if I could show you how... I won't desert you now..."

"The rain can't hurt me now... This rain will wash away what's past. And you will keep me safe. And you will keep me close. I'll sleep in your embrace at last." smiled Éponine weakly.
Marius tried to comfort Éponine in his arms. "Hush-a-bye, dear Éponine, you won't feel any pain. A little fall of rain can hardly hurt you now. I'm here."
"So don't you fret, M'sieur Marius. I don't feel any pain. A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now..."
"I will stay with you 'till you are sleeping." muttered Marius.
"That's all I need to know," Éponine cried. "And you will keep me safe. And you will keep me close. And rain.. will make the flowers... grow..."
Eponine died in Marius's arms.
Marius looked up at the others, his eyes full of tears.
Elise, having overheard the last bit of Marius and Éponine's interaction, rushed out with a scared expression on her face. Enjolras grabbed her and embraced her comfortingly, holding her back as she tried to reach her friend. Eventually, she stopped struggling and sobbed heavily into Enjolras' chest. She never had the chance to say goodbye to her best friend.
"They were the first to fall. The first to fall upon this barricade." Enjolras said gravely.
Marius sobbed, "Her name was Eponine! Her life was cold and dark, yet she was unafraid!"
Combeferre looked down onto Éponine's body. "We fight here in her name..."
"She will not die in vain..." Jehan murmured.
Lesgles frowned, "She will not be betrayed..."
They picked up Eponine's body and carried her into the tavern.

Courfeyrac turned to Gavroche, who had a devastated look on his face. "Are you alright?"
Gavroche's eyes were full of tears. "That was my sister."