Éponine quietly slipped into the alley and observed the situation. Enjolras was breaking down the steps of a staircase of a small bar three buildings over with Lesgles and Feuilly at his side. The soldiers had just made it over the barricade and were coming towards their general direction. Nonetheless, the staircase Enjolras was breaking was on the opposite side of a closed door inside the building.
There was a chance.
Éponine craned her neck around the corner of the building and headed towards Enjolras. Soon, she was behind the optician's shop next to the pub Enjolras seemed prepared to die in and Marius couldn't be far behind.
"Monsieur! Monsieur over here! I have safe cover!" Whispered Éponine just loud enough to get Enjolras' attention. He scanned his surroundings for Éponine's voice with wild eyes. He found her with such an intense stare that she wondered if he would kill her right on the spot.
As Enjolras discovered she was Éponine, his hard glare softened. He jumped down agily from the broken staircase, and signaled for his men to follow Éponine.
Yet he stayed.
Enjolras continued to climb his decrepit staircase again when out of impulse, Éponine burst out of the shadows and into the pub to meet Enjolras.
"Please Monsieur, I have a safe hiding place. Hurry, we don't have much time." Pleaded Éponine.
Enjolras grabbed her hand and squeezed it firmly.
"Madamoiselle, you know I led these men into this mess. Now it's time for me to finish what I started." Said Enjolras, without flinching.
"Enjolras, listen to me. You must come with me NOW."
"My revolution has cost the lives of too many. This is the way it has to be."
"I won't leave without you! You saved my life, remember?"
"You must go."
"I'm not taking no for an answer."
"Nor am I."
"Enjolras do you even realize the good that you've done?"
"I've killed innocent men and led a useless suicide mission. I should have the right to pay for-"
" No, you've sparked the fire of rebellion in the people! You've shown them that they can do something about the hardships that they face! Enjolras, this revolution has only begun. You can finish what you've started by having the King's head on a stick, that's how! It's not over yet!" Said Éponine, with tears in her eyes, now gripping Enjolras' shoulders tightly over his red jacket.
Enjolras stared at the floor and chuckled.
"You'd make a good lawyer, you know." he grinned.
Éponine laughed along with him, relieved that she wouldn't have to live with the fact that she left the man who saved her life to die.
"Quickly, the National Guard will be here any minute now!" Éponine whispered, minding the nearby murmurs of the National Guard and urgent-looking signals from the men waiting behind the next building.
Enjolras motioned Éponine forward in agreement and scurried behind her back into the shadows. He was astounded by her surprising agility and the way she effortlessly led him and the rest of the group through the alleys, slipping away into nooks that he passed by every day and had no idea existed. Watching Éponine creep between buildings and evade the police deftly was quite fascinating to him. Soon, they came to the back door of a quaint wine shop that appeared to be empty and closed. Éponine approached the shop, broke one of the small wooden panels on the shutter of the window facing a tight alley, squeezed her hand through the opening, and unlatched it.
"I have a bad feeling about this, they're going to find us!" Whispered Lesgles anxiously.
Enjolras considered the concept of capture for a moment and realized how real the possibility was. Even if they did escape, a huge monetary reward for them, the rebels, dead or alive, would certainly be put in place. People in this day and age would do anything to escape the dark abyss of poverty, including selling them all out. This hiding could not realistically be sustainable for long.
Éponine gave Lesgles a reassuring grin.
"True. But the least we could do is delay them for a bit, yes? Go ahead." Said Éponine.
Feuilly crossed his arms and knit his eyebrows skeptically.
"How do we know that you're not working with them and that the police aren't waiting for us inside?" He said.
Éponine scoffed and pointed to her side.
"Please, Monsieur. They threatened to kill me AND my friends. How could I ever side with THEM?"
"They paid you, didn't they?"
"Siding with the enemy is enough to accuse me of. But to take money with the blood of my friends on it? That's absurd."
"Friend? Madamoiselle, I hardly know you."
"Any friend of Marius is a friend of mine."
Lesgles, stifled a laugh and chimed in, "Oh so YOU'RE that girl who always follows him around! I KNEW I knew you from somewhere."
Éponine looked down, mortified.
"Hurry up and get inside before I change my mind." Éponine mumbled frustratedly.
Lesgles smirked and piled through the small window, followed by Feuilly and Enjolras, who had a little more trouble getting through. Éponine jumped into the shop easily, closed the shutters, and put the broken panel back into place.
"Is this it?" Said Feuilly observing the openness of the shop, "Your brilliant hiding spot?"
"Maybe I'll hide, and YOU can stay up here!" Snapped Éponine.
As Feuilly opened his mouth to reply, Enjolras got between them and said angrily, "That's enough! Stop this for heavens sake, we're all on the same side here. Proceed, Éponine."
She nodded, headed over to the carpet, and placed a quiet knock on the ground, met by silence.
"Bahorel, it's me, Éponine. I've got them."
A slight bout of shuffling from under the floorboards suddenly sent the carpet gingerly rising, with the nervous eyes of Prouvaire peering through the small opening. The trapdoor then fully opened with a thud and the men under burst out to meet their friends.
"Good God, you're alive!"
"Nice to see you, man."
"Thank goodness you're alright!"
"I thought I lost you!"
The joyful reunion was interrupted by a series of loud, distorted, walking sounds from outside.
The group froze in fear.
Bahorel quickly got everyone back down into the room while Enjolras and Éponine temporarily stayed above, with loaded pistols, just in case.
As Éponine was lowering herself down through the trapdoor, she heard the front door of the shop open with a crash.
YOU ARE READING
Even The Darkest Night Will End
FanfictionÉponine and Enjolras suddenly find their destinies collide as their well-known fates in the movie and musical adaptations of Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Misérables, are changed by one decision that will alter their lives forever. Both are batte...
