The Barricade Girl (A Les Miserables FanFiction)

Chapter Fifty-Six

Grantaire raises his glass, and some of the boys do the same. Enjolras takes a swig out of his own bottle, and then offers it to me.

"That better be water", I raise my eyebrows.

"Of course yours is water, Princess", Grantaire lowers his drink, as if I've halted his drinking song, and drunkenly makes fun of me. "I'm the only one allowed to touch the alcohol around here!" He reminds me, laughing at himself.

"Oh, we know!" I snort, taking a mouthful of water from Enjolras' bottle before handing it back to him. Grantaire raises his glass again.

"Drink with me to days gone by!" Grantaire resumes his drinking song.

"Sing with me the songs we knew!" Feuilly takes up the song in a more serious manner than Grantaire had treated it.

"Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads!" Prouvaire carries on.

"Oi oi", Grantaire points at me, winking. I try not to respond with too much disgust.

"Here's to witty girls who went to our beds!" Joly adds.

"Oh boys..." I tut, shaking my head.

"Here's to them", the rest of the boys join in. "And here's to you!" They sing, turning to each other. Enjolras turns to me, kissing my hair. Marius turns to Monsieur Valjean, clinking his bottle with his. I catch Courfeyrac's eye as he keeps watch, nodding my head respectfully to him – here's to you, dear Courf.

"Drink with me to days gone by!" Grantaire takes his song back, but his joyful and jolly drunken beginning turns to a tone of bitterness – bitterness aimed at Enjolras. "Can it be you fear to die? Will the world remember you when you fall? Can it be your death means nothing at all?"

"Enjolras...go to him..." I whisper softly. I lean forward to release Enjolras' arm from behind me, and Enjolras goes to calm Grantaire.

"Is your life just one more lie?" Grantaire seethes, staring Enjolras down. Instead of fighting back, Enjolras just opens his arms in a rare moment of physical affection offered toward Grantaire. Grantaire doesn't hesitate to accept, and collapses against Enjolras, showing the first signs of emotion that I had ever seen in Grantaire about the revolution. Grantaire was just as scared as the rest of us. His confidence was just bravado. And then I realised – Grantaire uses alcohol to hide his fear. And for the first time in our friendship, I felt sorry for Grantaire.

"Drink with me to days gone by! To the life that used to be!" The boys sing together, sharing smiles between one another, enjoying what may be our last moments, with all of us together. I gaze around silently, taking in the scene, fixing it in my memory for eternity – or however long I myself may have left. My dearest friends. My family. My brothers. Enjolras and Grantaire release the hug, Enjolras finally having managed to subdue Grantaire's drunken anger. Grantaire goes to take a seat by Prouvaire and Joly, and Enjolras returns to my side, wrapping his arms around me as the boys continue to sing. "At the shrine of friendship never say die...Let the wine of friendship never run dry! Here's to you and here's to me!"

"Do I care if I should die now she goes across the sea?" I hear Marius talking to himself. "Life without Cosette means nothing at all. Will you weep, Cosette, should Marius fall? Will you weep, Cosette, for me?" Marius, his emotions in turmoil, tries to get comfortable as he lays down on the ground. He closes his eyes, trying to get some precious moments of sleep, holding the hat that Eponine had been wearing when he died close to his heart. Monsieur Valjean, having listened intently to Marius' wonderings, silently excuses himself and heads into the Café Musain, clearly touched by Marius' words. The rest of the boys take Marius' cue and settle themselves down to try and get what rest they can. As they say goodnight to one another, sing the refrain of the drinking song quietly.

"Drink with me to days gone by. To the life that used to be", they sing.

"Are you okay?" Enjolras looks at me.

"At the shrine of friendship never say die", the boys continue.

"I'm just taking it all in...who knows how much longer we'll all be together..." I reply. "I've never been happier than when we're all together...It breaks my heart that, come morning, some of us might not be here..."

"Hey, don't think like that", he hushes me, hugging his arms around me tightly.

"Let the wine of friendship never run dry!" The boys still sing.

"It's true though...I don't want to lose them...and I don't want to lose you..."

"Then marry me..." is Enjolras' reply. I turn my head to look at him, silently gasping at what I've just heard. "Right here...right now..." He looks at me, looking surer than I've ever seen him before as the boys finish their drinking song.

"Here's to you, and here's to me..."