Beyond The Barricade | les misérables

eight

I walked toward them, watching them before anyone looked up at me. The chair I had begun to occupy remained empty between Enjolras and Marius. I smiled at this and walked closer, waiting for someone to notice. My heart was pounding as I looked over each of them. They had all papers and I assumed they were each thinking of ideas.

I looked at Enjolras, watching him think closely. His eyes moved up slowly.

This was it.

He paused, taking a deep breath before looking up fully. We met eyes and his eyes softened as he stared at me. I felt my lips pull into a smile slightly at his expression. I let myself stare at him as long as I wanted, just to make sure this was real and I wasn't dreaming. Marius looked at him, furrowing his eyebrows. I watched as his eyes followed Enjolras' gaze and they landed on me. His eyes widened and his shoulders relaxed. He shoved his chair back, startling everyone. I couldn't tell if he wanted to cry or smile, but he came toward me. Everyone looked back, a collective gasp leaving their lips. Marius rushed to me and wrapped his arms around me. I felt everything come up again and tried to stop myself from breaking down. Marius held me tight as I rested my chin on his shoulder. A tear fell as he pulled away, keeping his hands on me as he studied everything. His eyes landed on my cheek and his expression transformed.

"What did they do to you?" he asked, putting a hand on my face. I couldn't answer. The words wouldn't come out. Marius noticed as my eyes watered. I tried to stop it, but I failed. "Its okay," he whispered, pulling me back into a hug. "You're safe."

I felt a second pair of arms wrap around us and then more and more people joined in. I smiled as I felt the embrace of everyone around me. I pulled away after a second and wiped the few tears that had escaped. I looked around and smiled at everyone. Marius cleared his throat and everyone listened.

"I believe proper introductions are in order, yes? These are The Amis," he said, looking at the boys. They all nodded and smiled at me. "You know Courfeyrac, but there he is just in case you forgot." Courfeyrac waved at me and I smiled at him. "We have Combeferre, our philosopher. Prouvaire, the romantic. Feuilly, the hardest working man here." Feuilly smirked at Marius' remark and looked at me. "Bahorel, our dear old man."

"Marius! I am not even the oldest!" Bahorel exclaimed, making Courfeyrac laugh.

"Lesgle, the unluckiest man alive. Joly, our overly happy medic. And Grantaire, who is always-"

"Drunk," Grantaire interrupted with a smile. He held a bottle up in the air and swirled it around. Marius rolled his eyes and looked back at Enjolras, who was still bent over his paper.

"And of course you know our stubborn leader. Enjolras!" Marius said. He looked up from his paper and just looked at us.

"What about me?" a smaller voice called out.

"And how could I forget our little Gavroche?' Marius smiled at me as Gavroche walked toward me.

"I missed seeing you. Where were you?" he asked, pulling on my hand. I opened my mouth to speak but, once again, nothing came out. I looked to Marius and he nodded, looking down at Gavroche.

"She just was doing lots of planning," he said. I nodded in agreement as Gavroche smiled.

"I can't wait."

Marius took my hand and made me sit down. The Amis went on with conversations as Marius turned to me.

"I know its hard, but I need you to tell me what happened," he said in a low voice. I saw Enjolras look up out of the corner of my eyes and sighed.

"Marius.."

"I know. But I need to know." I sighed and leaned back in the chair, looking away from him.

"It started in the carriage he took me away in," I started.

"Is that the man your mother picked?" he asked.

"Yes. He took me to a carriage and as soon as the door closed, it started. He yelled and screamed the entire time about how I needed to learn my place and he'd make sure I knew. Then we got to my house, where my mother joined in. She screamed at me and then ordered for me to be taken upstairs. They locked me in my room. The only reason I got out was my father."

"How'd that happen?" he asked, pointing to my face.

"Mother. She came in this morning and threw a ring at me and when I refused it, she tried to force it. I held her off so she hit me."

Marius stared in silence. He reach out to me and grabbed my hand, squeezing it.

"If they find me.." I whispered, looking down at his hand. "If they find me I think they'll kill me."

He froze and Enjolras' head snapped toward me. I kept myself together and avoided Marius' eye. Instead I looked at Enjolras. He held a similar expression, though his read with more anger than sadness. I sighed and looked away from him.

"Then we won't let that happen," Marius finally said. I nodded and looked over at him, giving him a small smile.

The rest of the time I just sat and listened to conversations, sneaking glances at Enjolras' papers every once and a while. I'm sure he noticed but I didn't care, I wanted to know what he was so preoccupied with. The boys started to leave and that cued Enjolras to start cleaning his papers up. I stared at him for a second before opening my mouth to speak.

"I heard from a reliable source that you missed me," I teased. He looked up at me and smirked.

"You wish."

"Don't deny it, Enj." I watched as his face scrunched at the name. It was my turn to smirk this time.

"I sure didn't miss your attitude," he retorted.

"You mean you didn't miss being told your ideas are horrible."

He shook his head at me and stared at me for a moment.

"He missed you," Courfeyrac chimed in, slapping Enjolras on the shoulder with a laugh. He glared in Courfeyrac's direction as he walked down the stairs. I smirked at Enjolras before turning to meet with Marius. He looked at me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked into his eyes and could see the expression he wore. He looked at me with the same amount of worry as he did when I got here.

"You're coming with me," he said. "I need to know you're safe."

I nodded at him, refusing to argue. I watched as Enjolras walked toward the stairs, pulling his red jacket on. He looked over briefly and I could've sworn he smiled. I watched him leave, something in me wanting to stop me. I couldn't figure out why, but I wanted to call out to him. I felt Marius move and he walked toward the stairs. I stopped at the bottom, turning to get my stuff. I grabbed it from a chair and followed Marius out the door.

"Duck your head down and stay close by me," he said, grabbing my hand. I did as he said and walked beside him, my heartbeat quickening with every step we took. I watched my feet hit the ground as Marius hurried in front of me. I knew he was worried about this. His grip on my hand was enough proof. I stuck by him, keeping my face as hidden as possible. I felt safe, but something in me said something was missing. And something was. But what?

We walked inside and Marius lead me to his place. I set my things down as he made sure the bed was fit for me to sleep on. He smiled at me softly and pointed to the bed.

"Its all yours whenever you're ready."

"Thank you, Marius," I said, feeling completely relaxed for the first time in days.

"Anything for my dearest friend."