Beyond The Barricade (A Les Miserables FanFic)

ii. A Cafe Much Entered

Of the two young men sitting in the recently abandoned Cafe Musain, only one stood to attention as the mismatched pair of the gentleman and the urchin stepped over the threshold.

"Well, if it isn't Monsieur Pontmercy, back where he belongs at last!" He gripped his friend around the shoulders with one arm as he raised the bottle of wine in triumph with his other hand. He tugged playfully at Marius' perfectly-tied cravat - this action earned a disapproving look from his companion at the table - which he had adjusted on the way to the cafe on instruction from Eponine, who now stood in a darkened corner of the room. Marius nodded and turned slightly to face the man who had not yet spoken, "Enjolras, I..."

"Come and sit down, Marius," the man at the table said amiably with a small smile, "Grantaire." he addressed the other man in the room who dutifully sat beside him. It took some time, but, eventually, Eponine's pride allowed her, too, to venture casually over to the table to take her place beside Marius.

"So, Marius, you're back," said Enjolras, unheard laughter ringing in his voice. Marius, in all his anguish and misery, felt his heart contract further with guilt at the unspoken explanation behind his friend's slightly cryptic statement. Eponine looked at him in alarm, this change in emotion perfectly visible to her knowing eyes. She looked back at Enjolras, still strangely regal-looking, even in death, with his fair hair tied back with a black velvet ribbon at the nape of his neck. There was also an undeniably dynamic aspect of his appearance -- permanently loose cravat, billowing shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and dancing eyes that never seemed to rest on anything.

Presently, Grantaire stood up and declared to the gathered company the need for more wine. Marius placed a pleading hand on his friend's arm but Grantaire shrugged him off and continued to walk over to the stacked barrels of the drink without saying a word.

"Grantaire, no." Something changed in his eyes at the sound of Enjolras' voice. He nodded simply to show his agreement and both Marius and Eponine turned their heads to see him walked shamefully out into the street, his overly-long tawny hair disappearing from sight around a corner, his face weighed down, almost, by the years of drink he had enjoyed in life.

Enjolras, however, didn't look up from where his eyes were trained on the faded red tablecloth but something flickered momentarily over his face, the same emotion that had been on Grantaire's face before his sudden departure from the cafe. Enjolras turned his oblique grey eyes to his two remaining comrades at the table. He nodded graciously to Eponine, "Thank you for bringing him here." She found herself flinching involuntarily, as so many people did, at this evidently natural leader's commandeering gaze. Enjolras noticed this and continued talking to Marius, instead.

"I understand you came to the cafe while you were recovering from your injuries from the night... The barricade fell." He swallowed as if to compose himself. Marius nodded and Eponine was, not for the first time, overcome with both love and sympathy for the young man. Marius, on the other hand, was battling with the tears that came with the collective memories that came to mind of that final battle, the unintended revelation on the night of his wedding that it had been his father-in-law who had carried him single-handedly from the barricade that night and Cosette, whose beautifully healthy and living face swam before his clouded vision.

Eponine and Enjolras were both looking at him. Eponine, with that familiar -- at least, to her -- look of hopeless love on her ashen face and Enjolras still looking quietly expectant. It hurt Eponine greatly to see that both he and Grantaire hadn't seemed to notice just how desperately troubled Marius looked, almost exactly like he was still lying in the house in the Rue de Plumet, lying within hand-holding distance of death.

Now he was practically dancing, hand-in-hand.