Another accidental video - re-entry with a new canon point

[makeflowersgrow]

[Dirty fingers brush over the NV screen when it switches on, leaving bloody streaks across the screen. The whole video is vibrating; as the fingers move, a view of the Newcomer apartments from the baseball diamond is clearly visible. Whoever is holding the NV is clearly a newcomer and clearly in some kind of trouble.

After a minute, there's a shallow gasp and a moan; the voice is high pitched, obviously a girl's. The NV falls, and goes black; it's camera down in the dirt. But it lasts only a minute. The owner of the voice goes to pick up her NV, gasping in agony as her hand curls around the device. It's obvious why; there's a hole shot clean through her palm and out of the back of her hand.]

Marius? Marius, where are you?

[The voice has a heavy French accent when she speaks, and just for a minute, Eponine's face comes into view. It's dirty and tear stained. Her hair is a mess, greasy and tangled but that is the least of Eponine's concerns. She's forced herself into a sitting position, and one hand she presses to her chest, - a chest which is bleeding profusely. She gasps again, and sinks down onto the ground and out of sight of her NV.Without anything to support her weight, she can't keep herself upright any more. She knows she's dying, and tears wet her cheeks. She feels sick and dizzy and the world - wherever she is, fades in and out. She needs to see him before she dies. Her breathing is getting more and more shallow. She has to ask his forgiveness.]

Mariussss...

Comments

[makeflowersgrow]

Yes, of course... You must have seen. I ruined your fight. I am sorry, M'sieur.

[She's quiet for a minute, trying to think.]

I was...shot. Here. No, when the Core transported us.I was shot by a man in a shop - here.

[She touches the top of her bandages, near to her lungs]

Hattie - Madame - she held me as I died. And then... then I was outside the house on the Rue Plumet, and the grate over the sewer was still open where Papa had disappeared and I was on the floor and my cheek stung where he had hit me. I thought this place, it was a dream. And then I was with you, and the fight by General Le Marque's hearse. And then the soldier pointed the gun at M'sieur Marius and... Is he alive still?

[antinouswild]

[Enjolras doesn't know what happened after the barricade was taken. He saw all of his bravest and most dear shot down around him. However, he knows that he did not see Marius after they entered the wine shop. And, he knows that Marius was not there.

Most of all, he knows that Marius was alive for some time after this poor child died. And, he doesn't know for a fact that Marius was killed. He can presume so, but he doesn't know.

So... it's not really a lie.]

Yes. Marius is.

[makeflowersgrow]

He survived!

[She beams, her whole face glowing with the good news] Then this was not in vain. Of that I am glad, M'sieur. Although... if we had both died, perhaps...

M'sieur, did he forgive me? Is he cross with me?

[antinouswild]

Mademoiselle.

Please forgive me. I do not have the answer to that. Marius Pontmercy may have survived the barricades. I did not.

[makeflowersgrow]

You died? But - but the revolution? And 'Vive France'? And everything? It FAILED?

[antinouswild]

There were less than fifty of us. I know that you're not naive. They cut us down and washed our blood off the street. That is all that happened.

[His tone is ice cold. Yet, there's pain behind the hardness of his eyes.]

You are here now, as I am. Now, you need to recover.

[makeflowersgrow]

M'sieur, I am sorry. I am sorry it failed. And that you..

[She nods] I'll be okay. I always am. Take care of yourself, M'sieur. I will see you when I am out of this place.

[antinouswild]

Don't be. I knew what my fate could be long before the barricade rose, and I accepted it. And, if others can remember us, and if our deaths can serve to inspire others I do not count our lives wasted.

But you... your business was never with us. You should have been safe, and for that I am sorry.

[makeflowersgrow]

You forget I chose to be there. I could have been like the women who hid. I could have done as Papa wished and hid in the sewers until you all died and then robbed you. M'sieur, I chose to dress as a boy and fight with you. Perhaps it was not the right reason, but I chose it. So you must NOT be sorry for me. I chose even to die, really.

[antinouswild]

And yet here we are, still carrying on... Death is much stranger than I ever imagined.

[makeflowersgrow]

I do not understand. I came here from Paris when I showed Marius to the Rue PLumet - you remember I fetched him from the cafe? And I was alive - but then I was killed here by a man who said I was bad and to be made an example of - and I was back on the Rue Plumet, on the floor where my Papa had hit me. And then I carried on - I stole his letter, and just days later, we were making the barricade and I was shot again. So I do not know if this is even the afterlife, you know?

[antinouswild]

[Enjolras' eyes are thoughtful and he's silent for some time.]

I cannot say. Though I always thought the afterlife was the only thing that made any sense. Though, I have been told otherwise. Perhaps it is all a dream, and you are right. I cannot say.