The Barricade Girl (A Les Miserables FanFiction)

Chapter Forty-Six

"I'm so sorry, Maggie..." I whisper, clutching on to Maggie as the boys disappear from our view.

"What are you sorry for?" She sobs as she dabs at her eyes.

"I wouldn't have introduced you to Courf if I knew it was going to break your heart so soon afterward..."

"Don't be silly, Miss Juliette", she squeezes my arm. "I wouldn't have had it any other way. I wouldn't have wanted to have missed out on meeting him..." Her voice trails off and I hug her to me.

"Come and sit in my room, okay? You're in no state to work today", I tell her. She nods, and we quietly walk arm in arm back to my room, sniffing through a few stray tears as we walk. I open my bedroom door and motion for Maggie to go in first, and I close the door behind us. My gaze falls upon something left laying across the bottom of my bed.

"He left his jacket..." I mumble under my breath, picking it up and folding it in my arms, hugging it to me, the smell of him still clinging to the burgundy fabric. "The idiot", I try to joke, wiping the remnants of tears left on my face, finally feeling like I can't cry anymore because there are no tears left to cry.

"You should take it to him", Maggie states before gasping. "Go to him!"

"I can't. He made me promise", I sit on my bed.

"And since when have you ever listened to anything Enjolras, or any man for that matter, has told you to do?" She raises an eyebrow and sits down beside me.

"Maggie...I..." I think about it. "I can't!"

"You can! Go after him! Do it for the both of us..." She squeezes my hand, looking at me sincerely. "As much as I would like to, I can't leave here. But you can! You can save this entire thing. Go to him, tell him what you said – tell him you don't want to lose him, and he'll have to listen to you, he'll end the whole thing, and you'll bring them back...you'll bring our boys back", she says, tears forming in her eyes again. And I look into her hopeful eyes – she truly believes I can make a difference. Looking in her eyes, I know I can't disobey her – I have no other choice but to go after Enjolras. Maggie helps me to get ready, and agrees to cover for me by telling Aunt and Grandfather that I've gone to stay with Enjolras' family for a few days – they wouldn't argue with that. She wraps a shawl around my shoulders, and hugs me tightly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Don't cry, Maggie...if you cry, I'll cry..." I try to laugh, but fail miserably, feeling tears pricking my own eyes. "I better go..." I rub her arm. "Thank you for everything, Maggie...you're a true friend. Look after yourself..."

"Why are you speaking like this is goodbye? I'll see you in a few days", she smiles through her tears, and she sounds like she really does believe I'll be back soon. And I sincerely hope to myself that this won't be the last time I'll see Maggie. I give her one final hug, and then leave the house, and Maggie stands watching me leave. Not wanting to prolong anything, I run as fast as I can until I am out of sight of the house, not wanting to drag on the pain for Maggie any longer than it needed to. When I get outside the walls of Grandfather's estate, I stop for a second, breaking down into the tears that I had been holding in. But then I pull myself together, getting it out of my system, and getting my mind focused on the task in hand, channelling my high emotion into uncompromising determination.

I run as fast as I can from the house to avoid being seen by anyone that might know me, and arrive at the Café Musain, crashing through the doors.

"Juliette!" Madame Houcheloup cries in surprise. "Am I glad to see you!"

"Am I too late?" I ask, gasping for air as I try to catch my breath from all the running. Madame rushes over to me, guiding me to a chair and sitting me down before quickly getting me a glass of water, almost pouring it down my throat to make sure I'm okay. The other waitresses gather around, checking to see if I'm alright.

"Enjolras has been in such a state. They all have! He wouldn't say why, but Courfeyrac said something about saying goodbye. But you're here –"

"Where are they?" I ask quickly, cutting her off. "Are they here?"

"They're gone already. I'm sorry, Juliette", she puts an arm around my shoulder as if to comfort me.

"Gone where?"

"General Lamarque's funeral. Why?" She asks. I stand up from my seat, swallowing the last drops of water from the glass and heading for the door. "Where are you going? You just got here!" She calls after me.

"I'm going to fix this". Madame and the waitresses erupt into cheers and, feeling empowered, I leave the Café Musain in search of the funeral.