He survived. [Again, it was all she heard. The stinging in her nose is sharper now, turning the end of it red, and she shuts her eyes, swallowing with some difficulty.]

Marius Pontmercy survived the barricade.

[And then there's that sharp laugh that she has, trailing off into something tragically bubbly at the end.] Marius survived! Of course he should! Why should he have fallen with the rest of us? Why, out of everyone, would he not be the one to walk! Oh he is a fine man, that Marius. Worthy of of the life I gave for him! [On her side of the screen, something can be heard crashing to the ground and breaking.]

[She laughs again, refusing to open her eyes. To do so would be to ease open the flood gates.] Why would he not survive. So that he can have the happy ending he wanted. So that I can pretend I had mine, but it has continued and it's lost! All of it! Lost and gone and wasted and useless! Such a funny thing, is it not, m'sieur? Some should have everything while I am reduced to nothing. Not even my dreams are untouched from the darkness that I live in!

I can have him here, but if he leaves then I will not have him any longer. It will be one of those dreams, stained dark with ashes! Oh, no! He is not mine, he has never been mine, I shall never have him! I should have let that bullet take him!

[Her small shoulders hunch forward and she drops her head, wrapping her frail arms around herself as she shakes from the force of her sobs.]