Marius smiled as he watched the young girl run out of his apartment, holding onto the piece of glass like it was golden. He had always liked Eponine. She was very nice and always friendly, yet he wondered how she and her sister managed to earn a living. Sometimes he worried about them alone in an apartment without someone to care for them. Eponine was only seventeen and Azelma, three years younger. He had seen Eponine sneak out of the apartment late at night in her best dress, and he hated to think about where she was going and what she was doing.

I wonder who she is meeting? Marius thought. Jean Prouvaire is young... Maybe she's meeting him.

It didn't bother Marius that Eponine was meeting some other man; he was just curious. He had a beautiful girl that he was seeing after all. Cosette. Perhaps the most beautiful girl that he had ever met in his eighteen years of existence. She was very sweet and polite, with pure blond hair that was always pinned up in a mess of loose curls hidden by her hat. One day he would love to take all the pins out and watch the curls bounce down her back and run them through his was so innocent and oblivious to all the bad things of the world, childlike almost. She was only sixteen. Oh, but she could write. She wrote with the skill of an old man who had studied different styles of writing for years, and her letters were wonderful to read.

The date on her last letter read "Friday, May 30," just three days ago. Marius did the math on his fingers. If she sent the letter three days ago, and they were to meet in a week from that day, he would be seeing her in just four days.

"Eponine! What took you so long? Did you get the wallet?" Azlema asked, looking very excited.

"No... It uh... it was a scrap of paper," Eponine replied, biting her lip nervously. "I found this though." She handed her sister the piece of glass that Marius gave her.

"Oh. What is it? It's just a shard of glass."

"No, it's a mirror," Eponine replied, smiling. She watched as her sister's scowl slowly turned into a small smile. Eponine loved seeing her sister happy, it didn't happen very often with the rough life of an orphaned girl.

"Will you try and fix my hair?" the fourteen year old squealed.

"Of course," Eponine replied with a huge smile across her face. She pulled her sister over to the small cot that they shared as a bed. She sat her down on the thin mattress and took the small silver comb with flower designs etched into it out of the wooden box that held her most prized possessions. She gently combed through Azelma's light brown hair. Eponine had always been jealous of her sister's hair. It was light brown with a reddish tint, while her own was brown with no tint, curl, or anything.

"Ow! You're tugging!" Azelma whined.

"Sorry... It's just knotted and tangled," Eponine said, wrestling with the tangles. Small whines and squeaks escaped out of Azelma as she sat through her sisters tugs. Fifteen minutes later Eponine relaxed and looked at her work. "It's beautiful 'Zelma..." she sighed.

Azelma blushed and grabbed the glass to look at herself. She gasped as she saw her reflection. "Oh, Eponine! I love it!" she smiled. She ran her dirty fingers through her now smooth and silky hair. "Can I brush yours?"

"I guess so," Eponine agreed. She was planning on going out tonight for money, and she did want to look her best.

Marius checked his watch quickly and frowned. Agh. Late again. He thought as he straightened his old black hat and walked into the back room of the Cafe Musain.

"Marius! You're late!" Enjorlas, the leader of the group of revolutionary students, called from his position at head of the table.

"He was probably meeting with one of his lady friends," Courfeyrac joked. He was Enjorlas's best friend and sat at his right hand side. Marius had always liked Courfeyrac better than Enjorlas. He was much lighter and easier to talk about something other than politics with. Marius had stayed at his flat for a few days after running away from his grandfather's house. "What's her name this time? She's a pretty one isn't she?"

Marius felt the red on rise in his cheeks as he blushed deeply. "Cosette," he mumbled, staring at the floor.

"You should bring her to one of the meetings sometime," Grantaire said, bottle of wine in hand.

"Her father would never let her..." Marius replied. It was true; Cosette's father was very protective. And, seeing as he still didn't know that Marius was seeing his daughter, the thought of bringing Cosette to a meeting was next to impossible. Cosette didn't even want Marius involved in the revolution anyway. It was too dangerous for her taste. Marius remembered the time she asked if he was taking part in it.

He was sitting on the bench in the garden behind Cosette's house with her. He had been talking to her about politics and other stuff that men are interested in. She held his hand and listened politely, even if she didn't understand what he was talking about. Her face changed from a polite smile to a look of concern when Marius brought up the revolution.

"But Marius, surely you don't want to be involved in that do you?" she asked with wide eyes and a small frown. "It's too dangerous... You could get caught."

"I'll be fine, Cosette," he insisted even though he was not sure if that was the truth. He knew that the revolution would possibly lead to the death of him and his friends, but he did not want to worry Cosette any more.

"What is you die?" she replied shakily. "I could never live without you. I love you Marius Pontmercy."

"I won't die Cosette. Death cannot break true love.

It was late at night when Eponine woke up. She glanced over to her side to make sure that Azelma was still sound asleep. She quietly got up and padded across the room to look at herself in the mirror that she and Azelma had been looking in all night. She slowly pushed a strand of hair out of her face and sighed. She hated having to do what she was about to do, but she knew that the money was tighter than ever right now. She tip toed over to the small trunk that she and Azelma kept their few extra clothes in and pulled out the nicest dress she owned. She had once worn it back when her family had owned an inn in Montfermeil. Even though she was younger then, the dress was now a little loose because of how skinny she had become due to the lack of food. She squeezed her feet into her old, brown, boots, the only shoes she had.

She slowly walked out of the small apartment and into the street. The cool wind blew her newly brushed hair all around her face as she walked down the street. How did everything come to this? Eponine thought sadly. We used to play with dolls and giggle as the small girl did all of our chores. Now she is loved by the man who I love more than anything. Oh, how the tables have turned. She shivered as she walked down the road searching for the man she was supposed to meet. She hoped he wasn't scary. The last man was very rough and he scared her a lot.

Marius was walking home from the meeting at the Cafe Musain that ended up going late. He hated getting home after ten because once it started getting late, the streets became pretty dangerous. People would do anything for money, and Marius did not need to be mugged tonight.

He strained his eyes as he saw the figure of a young girl running towards someone much bigger than her. Oh my God, that's Eponine, he thought as the light from a nearby lamp shown on her face. She's running off with that scary man!

"Hey, Eponine!" he called from across the street. "Where are you going? I can walk you home if you need.

She turned her head quickly and glanced back to see who was calling her. Her heart leapt as she realized that it was Marius. She turned back around quickly and ran into the dark alley with the man she was meeting. She did not want Marius to see her like this.

"Don't worry about me, Monsieur Marius..." Eponine whispered quietly.

I've got you worried, I have. That shows you like me quite a lot."

~Eponine