Her Life Was Cold and Dark

ÉPONINE:
"Pardon me, m'sieur," Éponine murmured apologetically, as she pulled off the dusty trousers from the body of the drowned man. She couldn't keep going around dressed as a girl, not now that she'd ruined her father's latest scheme. "Eurgh!" She let out a yelp of disgust as a rat scuttled out of the man's chest. Shaking off the man's coat, Éponine was relieved to not discover any more animals, and pulled it over her long frame, grateful to see it sufficiently covered her chest. After replacing her tattered skirt with the pants, the last step was to twist her tangled blonde hair into a ball and stuff it into her hat. She glanced down at a puddle. Good. She could pass for a boy. An effeminate boy, but a boy nonetheless.
"Marius… let me die with you…" she whispered, emerging from sewers for the Rue de Villette. She could hear Enjolras shouting commands long before the rising barricades came into view, his power and authority clear. A shiver ran up her spine at the thought of him…. Not of fear, but something else, something she couldn't identify. She ducked through a tavern to avoid an older rebel, who was leaving the barricades, and came out on the other side.
"Hey! Little boy!" She turned to see Marius and pulled off her cap, grinning widely. "My God…. The things you do, Éponine!"
"I know, I know. I shouldn't be 'ere, but I'd rather be with you."
"No. No. You have to get out, before the fighting starts. You could get shot, 'Ponine."
"Oh, are you worried about me?" she asked, smiling coyly. "You must like me quite a lot."
"Fine!" Marius threw up his hands in defeat. "You really want to help?" Éponine nodded eagerly, and he handed her a letter. "Please, take this to Cosette for me. Feuilly, let me help you."
"Oh, you care a lot!" she moaned, sarcastic and mournful at the same time. A tendril of her hair snaked its way out of her cap and she twisted it around her finger, hoping to give herself a pain to think about besides the one in her chest.
"Éponine!" She felt strong fingers grab her arm, and, even without turning, she knew it was Enjolras. "What are you doing here?" he asked, his dark, intelligent eyes filled with concern.
"Well, it looks like I'm bein' Marius' little cupid again," she muttered, holding up the letter. "Why I 'ad to be such an idiot as to go and fall in love with him, I'll never know."
"Will you come back?"
"If my father doesn't catch me an' tan my 'ide. But now, I've gotta go, 'Jolras. Can't keep darling Cosette waitin', right?"
"Be safe," blurted Enjolras. Éponine looked up at him in shock. It was the second time he'd said something so personal to her. "Promise me you'll be safe, Éponine." She nodded, slipping back towards the Rue Plumet.
Cosette's father was the one to answer the door. Éponine kept her head down, and held out the letter. "This is for your daughter, sir, from a boy at the barricades."
"Give it here, my boy."
"I'm s'posed to give it to Cosette, sir."
"She will receive it, I promise you." M. Fauchelevant pressed a coin into her hand, taking the letter from her. "Careful on your way home. There's danger in the streets tonight."
"I know," she whispered as he closed the door on her. She turned away, and closed her eyes, waiting for the bliss of being alone, and not at the same time. The mist warped the reflected light in the river and the rain-slicked pavement glistened silver, starlight just starting to peek through the trees.
"Do you need me?" A young man's voice began to whisper in her ear.
"More than ever," she sighed, opening her arms to him. He moved away. "Is something?"
"Time to grow up, Éponine. I'll only ever be your friend. You need to accept that."
"But… But, Marius—"
"You know a lot of things, but you need to learn this. You can't keep pretending. Doesn't it just make it harder for you to see me?"
"If you'd just acknowledge that you know what I feel, that you're not blind—"
"You're just as blind as I am!"
"What?" The moon was rising, but Marius was vanishing, a new form replacing him. "What do you mean?"
The new figure spoke, his voice ghostly, but familiar. "Éponine… Éponine… I'm fighting for you…" It couldn't be…
"Why?" she yelled into the night. "Why?"
"You know why…" Enjolras whispered before fading away. Enjolras…. Enjolras loved her?
ENJOLRAS:
He felt like an idiot for yelling at Marius. It was harder than he though to keep Éponine out of his thoughts. He'd thought of her when he'd caught sight of a brass bed-knob resembling her hair color. He'd thought of her when he'd seen the Seine turn the same mix of blue, green and grey as her eyes. It was getting nearly impossible to keep control.
"Victor's back," Combeferre announced, gesturing to the older revolutionary. Enjolras nodded, grateful for a distraction. "What can you tell us?"
"They have armies to spare… we'd need cunning to beat them."
"We will do no such thing!" Enjolras interrupted, adopting the bold tone Éponine had used on the Rue Plumet. "Cunning is the way of the enemy. It spoils the game! We will overcome their power without their sort of tricks!"
"At least let me say what I heard of their plans! They won't be attacking until we've been starved out, then they'll hit us from the right."
"Liar!" Gavroche's little head popped up from the barricade. "Me an' Éponine, we know you, Inspector! Lovely evening, isn't it?" He gave a mocking little bow. "I see you've all met Inspector Javert, my friends. I just 'ope you don' believe a word wot's come outta 'is lyin' mouth! But there, see? I told you little people can 'elp!"
"Bravo, Gavroche!" Grantaire lifted the gamin onto his shoulders. "Top of the class!"
"So what do we do with him?" Prouvaire demanded, turning his gun on the spy.
"Nothing, for the time being. Tie him up, take him into that tavern, nothing else. We will leave it up to the people to decide his fate."
"Just shoot him now!"
"He'd have killed one of us without hesitation!"
"You all would have deserved it!" Javert spat. "Death to all traitors!"
"YOU are the true traitor," Enjolras hissed, leaning in furiously. "You are meant to be a protector of the people, and instead, you have enforced a system that has turned them to suffering and misery! Bring him through, then get back to work!" A breeze began to blow, carrying the scent of summer rain.
"There's a boy climbing the barricade!" Joly yelled. Enjolras climbed up to get a better look. The brown overcoat… the occasional snakes of dirty blonde hair… the slightly turned-up nose…. Éponine was back. A gunshot fired from behind and she whirled to face it, holding out her left palm. What was she thinking? There was no way she could stop the bullet!
"Éponine!" He yelled her name just as the bullet pierced her hand.
"Aah!" she yelped, turning back. Then the second bullet pierced her back, right between her shoulder and her neck.
"Éponine!" he shouted again, forgetting his own safety, and leaping over to her side of the barricade. "Éponine!"
"En… Jolras… where's Marius?" she gasped, clutching at her shoulder.
"Forget Marius! You need help!" He pulled her into him, not caring if her blood stained his clothes. "Joly! She needs help!"
"Just… let me see… Marius… one more time…." she gasped.
"It won't be one more time! Not if I can help it! Hold on, Éponine! Just hold on!"
"You've got more important things… than me at stake…"
As if he'd been summoned, Marius appeared, running towards them. "My  God! 'Ponine, are you insane? Why are you back here?"
"She's… got the letter…. It's time to say… good-bye… 'cause it 'urts too much… to love you… any longer." Éponine's knees buckled and Enjolras released her gently, letting her fall into Marius' arms, ignoring the wave of jealousy rising in his stomach. "Only… I don't feel any pain... I guess....  something like a little bit of rain isn't enough to 'urt me anymore..."
"You... you love me?" Marius looked down at the dying girl, his face a mix of shock and amazement.
ÉPONINE:
It was official: Marius was too blind an idiot to have ever realized it on his own. And she was just as much of a fool for letting herself fall in love with him, especially when she could have had Enjolras.
Enjolras, who wasn't afraid to say what he thought. Enjolras, who was filled with the fire of the sun. Enjolras, who had risked his life to get her to Marius, and was trying to save everyone. Enjolras, who loved her. And the more she thought about it, the more she wished she had loved him instead of Marius.
"I loved you..." she corrected. "But it's too late for that now..." She caught sight of Enjolras and gave a little sigh. "The skies are beginning to clear... and I've come home... I'm home...."
"Sleep now, Éponine." Enjolras' firm hands brushed her hair away from her face gently. "We won't desert you. I swear it." She caught his hand and held it against her cheek.
"When this is over....teach me 'ow to be more like you..." She said it so softly, she didn't know if he could hear her. Then, her eyes flickered shut, just as the first drop of rain landed on her cheek.
ENJOLRAS:
"Éponine... Éponine!" She couldn't die.... she couldn't die! Not now!" "Éponine!"
"Enjolras... you need to let go of her... Let me treat her in the tavern," Joly requested, gently prying his fingers from Éponine's arm. "Everyone's waiting for your orders."
"Right..." Enjolras swallowed, standing to face his friends. " It is possible that Éponine Thénardier will be the first of us to fall. But the battle is not over. Not for her or anyone else. Not so long as there are others to fight here, in her name, and in the name of all she stood for, all she believed in. Freedom. Hope. Light... love."
"For Éponine," Grantaire nodded quietly.
"For Éponine," Lesgles agreed.
"For Éponine," Marius repeated, setting his jaw firmly, which somehow transformed him from a lovesick boy to a somber young man.
Enjolras raised the hand still smeared with her blood, threw back his hand and shouted her name. "ÉPONINE!"