Thanks, Javert || Adopted by the Barricade || A Les Mis Fanfic

The next morning, when I went downstairs, I thanked Enjolras, who shrugged it off. I went outside to see if my father was still in the tavern or if last night had all been a dream. Feuilly and Jehan were outside the tavern keeping guard.

"Hey, Elaine. Good work last night," Feuilly greeted.

"Thanks," I replied easily. "Is he in there?" I asked, gesturing to the tavern.

"Javert?" Jehan asked, and I shuddered.

"No duh, stupid," Feuilly said with a grin, punching Jehan gently on the shoulder.

"Yeah, he's in there. He was knocked out cold for a while," Jehan explained. "Once he woke up, he demanded to be set free, yelled at us, told us we would all die and lose the war, and then went back to sleep," he rattled off, counting the events on his fingers as if they were no big deal. "I don't know if he's awake, but I don't think it would be good for you to go in." I nodded.

"I wasn't planning on it."

I said goodbye to the two students, but as I walked away, I wondered if that was a lie. Did I want to confront my father?

That's when I noticed that something was off. Everyone was more melancholic than normal. I saw that the barricade looked a bit different, a bit more beat up. Some people who were cleaning up from the inside muttered a few muted greetings, different from the enthusiastic hellos I was used to. I went back inside to the cafe, looking for Enjolras, thinking he would know what was going on. He had looked a bit upset and distracted earlier, kind of like he was hiding something. However, Enjolrwas was nowhere to be found. A bunch of the boys were sitting around on their own, sipping drinks from mugs. This made it obvious to me that clearly, something had happened overnight that I had missed. Marius was sitting at a table and I walked over to him.

"Good morning," I greeted. He looked up with tired, pain-filled eyes. "Hey. What's wrong?" Marius looked around the room at the others.

"Let's go for a walk," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

We walked in silence for a few minutes outside. I wanted to press Marius for answers, but I figured it would be better to let him talk on his own time. "There was an attack last night," he started after a minute, his eyes staring dead ahead. "After Enjolras came back downstairs right after taking you up, he had us all grab our weapons in case of an attack. He figured Javert was trying to lull us into a false sense of security. He was right. They came nearly 10 minutes after Enjolras returned." Marius released a breath. "I'm surprised you didn't wake up amidst the fighting, to be honest. It was rather loud. Enjolras sent Grantaire up to check on you at one point, but you were still asleep, so he let you be. Don't worry, though, at the first sign of defeat, he was going to send someone to take you and run. The second the battle was over, he sent someone up to check on you. Anyway, they shot at us and we shot at them. They began storming the barricade and I didn't think there was anything we could do. I had a stick on fire and a barrel of oil. I don't know what I was thinking," he said, running his hand through his hair. "Their leader looked at me and said, 'Blow up the barricade and take yourself down with it.' I don't know what got into me, but I looked at him and said, 'and myself with it.' He called his troops back, which I take as a win. I'm not sure what the boys thought of my little scheme. Some of them were saying that I saved everyone. Others were wondering what on Earth I was thinking. All I saw was Eponine, laying on the floor, holding a note out to me." Marius froze and I stopped with him. "The letter was from Cosette, but Eponine had never given it to me." I knew Cosette was the girl that Grantaire had told me Marius had a huge crush on. I was confused, until I saw the blood and the bullet." I looked down, having a feeling on where this was going. Eponine was Marius's good-if not best-friend. I felt so bad for Marius, and especially Eponine, as rumor had it she had a huge crush on Marius. I wasn't sure what was worse-dying or living without the person who died. "She died in my arms. I held her there until she passed." I wasn't sure what to say, so I just took Marius's hand in my own and squeezed it.

"I'm sorry."

We walked back to the cafe in silence. Enjolras, Grantaire, and Courfeyrac were waiting for us. They were talking when we walked in, but they stopped when we walked over, sad looks on their faces. Courfeyrac took one look at Marius's face and walked over, giving him a bro hug, slapping him on the back.

"I'm sorry," Courfeyrac muttered. Marius shrugged and headed upstairs, Courfeyrac following him. Enjolras and Grantaire looked back at me.

"You heard?" Enjolras asked and I nodded.

"Yeah."

"You saved so many lives," Enjolras said. "We were able to prepare."

"I couldn't save Eponine, though," I said, sadly.

"That's not your fault," Grantaire said. "Blame the government, or blame us for not fighting well enough. But don't blame yourself." I shrugged, accepting his point.

AN:

RIP Eponine.

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ImTurtled