The Bells of Notre Dame (10, Riku/Sora) Part 5 of 10
Title: The Bells of Notre Dame
Author:
aurons_fan
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Claim: Riku/Sora
Prompt Set: Orange
Prompt: 10. Never Was, Never Will Be
Type: Fanfic
Rating: T-R (Maybe in later chapters)
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers for the games Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2, and probably Kingdom Hearts CoM.
Disclaimer: Riku and Sora are owned by Square Enix and Disney.
Summary: After a mysterious note from the King, Riku and Sora adventure and get stuck in a world called Notre Dame
This Chapter Summary: The Festival of Fools!
A/N - Um...this was going to be up by Christmas, but I just got it back from my beta. (Sorry! :D) Annd... busy. Yay. :D
For
7rainbowprompts
Sora’s expression instantly turned into one of joy when he approached the festival. Loud, boisterous colors appeared in every direction, and it took Phoebus whispering down to his squire in order for the brunet not to get easily lost in the crowd. “Kid, you can’t just go exploring, you know,” he ordered, shaking his head when Sora gave him an innocently confused look. “We’re patrolling. It’s not like you can go freely about in this crowd. Besides...” he jerked his head in the direction of Frollo’s carriage. “He would easily notice and gut you.”
“My name’s Sora,” Sora mumbled, but nodded anyway and continued following after Phoebus’s horse. As a “squire”, he wasn’t allowed a horse and had to walk like the other people in the military, but he was still sticking to Phoebus’s idea to stay close to him.
When they finally reached the tent area and Frollo had exited his carriage and sat down onto his chair, he sent the Keybearer a strange look, in which Sora gave a violent shudder. “You alright?” Phoebus muttered over to him, turning his head to glance down at Sora.
Sora nodded, rubbing his arms to rid himself of goose bumps - even with a warm day like today, he still felt cold after Frollo’s creepy look.
Letting out a soft sigh and leaning against the wood (which Phoebus sighed at, but Sora wasn’t paying attention), the brunet frowned. Visiting other worlds had been so much easier with Goofy and Donald at his side. No one bothered the three of them …okay, yeah they did, but at least the three of them were strong enough to handle any problem by themselves.
Although, he could see King Mickey’s reasoning -a dog and a duck would be a bit more noticeable walking through here than they would be in other worlds, such as The Underworld, where the undead were hopping up to join and help him fight (although Auron was a strong warrior).
But, even so, why were they allowed in the Land of Dragons and not here? Shang hadn’t noticed, and if he had, then he certainly hadn’t cared.
Sora sighed and shook his head. If he wanted to make it through this world, he was going to have to find Riku, whether Phoebus could help him or not.
--
What had happened to the other Keybearer? Riku wasn’t sure of it himself, as he was too busy trying to untangle a man who had become caught in the tent’s dividing cloth, and fend off Djali with his other hand.
So much had happened in the past day (days? He wasn’t sure), but what he did remember was when Esmeralda had returned from her trip (and commented on his hair; he had scowled and rolled his eyes in a playful manner), she was bubbling with excitement and goading him to be prepared for the Festival of Fools. When he tried to ask her about it, she only shook her head and continued to teach him a simple dance that they would be performing together.
…With him portraying a woman.
He gave a soft growl remembering such, but focused again at the task at hand when Esmeralda had finally wrapped herself up in a robe and hurried over to help the man out (he looked away from her, feeling almost like some perverted teen -was it his fault that they had given the two of them one tent because they were both “women?”)
“Are you alright?” Esmeralda questioned, giving the man a warm smile. When Riku finally got a good look of the person stuck in the cloth, both he and Djali grimaced before he shook his head. Perhaps the man wasn’t the best looking guy out there…
“I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry…” The man attempted to apologize, lowering his gaze from both Riku and Esmeralda. Riku frowned at himself, almost ashamed. Okay, sure, the man was kinda creepy looking, but he at least seemed very kind.
Feeling like he had to redeem himself, Riku leaned forward, helping to pull the cloth off the man. “Are you hurt?”
“N-no!” the man stuttered again, and pulled his face away. Riku blinked, almost believing that he saw something that resembled a blush innocently crossing on the man’s face. He shrugged to himself; Esmeralda was a very beautiful woman, and it wasn’t like it could be for him.
Esmeralda gave the man another smile and brushed the hair out of his face. “No harm done. Just…” She gave a soft chuckle and stepped away. “Try to be a little more careful, alright?”
The man gave a stammered “Yes,” before he almost tripped out of the tent. Before he could go, Esmeralda put a restraining hand on his shoulder and added one more comment.
“By the way, great mask!” Esmeralda exclaimed, smiling once more to the man and giving a slight wave as he stumbled out of the tent. Shaking her head, she turned to help Riku put the dividing cloth that separated the tent into two back up.
“I think you look very beautiful.” Esmeralda grinned to Riku, her tone slightly mocking. Riku scowled and continued changing into his outfit - a pair of blue baggy pants (if one didn’t look close enough, it could resemble a long skirt) and a tight black top. He lightly ran a hand over his braids and shook his head.
“Thanks, Esmeralda,” he muttered, tucking a stray piece of his hair behind his ear. He wanted to look in a mirror to see how horrible he looked, but lo and behold, the tent had no such thing and he had to make do. “I think the man was just looking at you though.”
There was a light scoff and Esmeralda peeked through one side of the curtain. “Nope! You look fine, so stop fidgeting!” she ordered as Riku continued to tug on his hair. “You look very womanly and that’s that.”
“But that’s the problem,” Riku hissed to himself, shaking his head. The beads and ribbons in his hair clinked together and he let out another sigh.
Sora…if you are in this world -which I hope you are, otherwise I’m beyond screwed - I hope you’re nowhere near enough to see this…
“Ah, Riku!” Esmeralda exclaimed, quickly rushing to the other side of the tent. “It’s almost time to go! Are you ready?” Riku let out a defeated groan and nodded as the raven haired woman came over and patted his shoulder. “You’ll do fine, I promise.”
He shook his head and adjusted his sleeve length. “No…it’s just… a friend of mine might be out in the audience, and…” He lowered his head. “I don’t want him to see me like this.”
She gave him another pat before adjusting the tiara that rested snugly in her hair. “Well, don’t worry.” Riku glanced up to her and she gave him a grin. “If he sees you, at least he’ll probably agree that you’re very pretty!”
Riku narrowed his eyes, but quickly shook his head and let out a chuckle. At least, even if he couldn’t find Sora and was being forcibly dressed like a woman, someone still had the ability to make him laugh. “Well, let’s put on a show!”
“Let’s!” Esmeralda agreed, and she began to give him instructions of how they were going to get onto the stage.
--
Phoebus sighed and finally gave up on scolding the brunet. Sora was so entranced at what was going on during the festival that he seriously doubted that the boy could even hear him.
Even though Sora was indeed having a good time watching the festival, he had a strange look on his face. Was that Quasimodo? he asked himself before being forcibly snapped from his thoughts as the music took a different turn.
One of the gypsies, with such an interesting outfit that Sora thought him to be like a court jester, had begun to sing. Sora watched the man as he leapt from the stage to right on Frollo’s platform, singing about “the finest women in France.” Sora gave a small laugh to himself -if poor Riku was here, he’s probably be forced to…
Suddenly, the jester man disappeared in a puff of smoke and a beautiful raven haired woman appeared on the stage, along with…
Sora’s jaw dropped about three inches, and Phoebus raised his eyebrow -no, not at Sora! Seriously now, there were two beautiful women on the stage, why would he care about Sora?
Riku!? Sora almost screamed aloud, but ...after the initial shock, it wasn’t that easy to mistake him. And he had found his friend again…
All he had to do was ignore the dancing his friend was doing. To anyone who didn’t know better, it almost seemed like some sort of... Sora shook his head. He was not going to think about Riku like that!
Frollo, apparently, was appalled as well. “Look at that disgusting display,” he ordered, shaking his head.
Grinning, Phoebus lifted his helmet to see better. “Yes sir,” he replied, the expression on his face almost matching the look of every man watching.
Sora wanted to put his head in his hands, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sight. …Wait till Kairi heard about this.
--
At first, Riku didn’t even notice Sora. He was too busy attempting to keep up with Esmeralda -almost mirroring her - and to remember the dance moves that he had been taught. Luckily, the gypsies said this happened only once a year and he wouldn’t be on this world for a year. At first, he let himself simply dance to the music, enjoying himself. Heck, he even allowed a smile on his face and let his strangely decorated hair flow in the wind.
But when he opened his eyes and noticed an angry church official, a captain, and a young boy who looked quite out of place, he froze as though the boy’s eyes had placed a sell on him. Sora?! his mind screamed, but his face simply looked utterly shocked.
Luckily for him, Esmeralda had a plan in case poor Riku were to go into this type of stage fright -although it was for different reasons that she had first planned. She pulled a scarf out of nowhere (truthfully, a small pocket on the dress she was wearing, but most people couldn’t see it), ran up to where Frollo was seated, and sat on the edge of the chair, smiling almost wickedly the entire time. She then playfully wrapped the scarf around his head, pulling him closer and closer until she pushed his head away at the last moment, and ran back to the stage.
She gave Riku a side glance, as if trying to ask him if he was alright, and when the silver haired teen nodded, she smiled and the dancing continued.
As Esmeralda went from doing a split to stealing a guard’s spear to twirl on it (as they had practiced), Riku was doing simple dance moves. An idea struck him at the last moment and before the dance ended, he did a back flip, twirled around, and landed on his feet like the fighter he was.
They both gave a bow and Clopin continued singing/talking while Esmeralda hopped to her feet. “What happened?” she murmured under her breath, although it didn’t look like she was even talking to him. He blinked and his eyes automatically went to where Sora was standing before he lowered his gaze.
“My friend is here,” was all he said, but she easily understood it and continued clapping.
“Well,” she whispered back. “Let’s finish this and then you’ll be able to talk to him.” Glancing over, she gave him a wink. “I’m sure he’ll think you were pretty as well.”
He flushed, but nodded his head -at the very least, it was a chance for the two friends of them to talk.
--
“You certainly have interesting friends.” Sora glanced over to Phoebus as he looked back, giving the brunet by a smile. “The girl with the silver hair… she can’t be a gypsy, and yet she deals with them. Hm… where she could be from, I wonder.”
Sora coughed to himself. “Yeah, h-she was always a strange one where we lived.” He then looked away, his eyes wide. Riku…how in the worlds did you get convinced to dress up like a girl? He gave a soft snicker, ignoring the thought that was continue to run through his mind: But he does look kinda… cute.
A loud thud alerted him and he glanced up, seeing people who were attempting to look scary being booted off the stage by the goat. When the woman (Sora then remembered that the jester guy had called her Esmeralda) reached the last person and went to pull of his mask, Sora’s eyes widened. That’s Quasimodo! He was about to look over to Frollo when a loud gasp came from the audience.
“That’s no mask!” one man exclaimed, pointing to Quasimodo in horror.
“That’s his face!” a woman replied.
“It’s hideous!” another woman cut in, covering her mouth in horror.
A final person stepped up, pointing accusatorily at him. “He’s the bell ringer of Notre Dame!”
Sora was finally able to shoot a look over to Frollo - and the man looked very angry. Frollo had gripped the edges of the chair he was sitting on, while Quasimodo was looking down in shame. The jester shook his head and exclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, don’t panic! We asked for the ugliest face in Paris, and here he is! Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame!”
Sora gave the man a horrified look and a glance to Riku showed him that they both thought the same way. Yeesh! What kind of society was this, that they were so cruel to people who weren’t exactly the norm? …Speaking of which, what year was this, anyway?
While Sora had been pondering, the people of Paris had carried Quasimodo to the center of the square, singing and dancing. He gave a small smile -at least the man was enjoying his time now, even though Frollo would probably be horrible to him later. He turned to face Phoebus about to ask what would happen now, when one of the guards who had been pestering Phoebus smirked to his friend.
“You think he’s ugly now? Watch this!” Sora’s eyes widened (and twitched) as the guard threw a tomato at Quasimodo, hitting him square in the face. The other guards started laughing and continued throwing things at him; Sora’s eyes widened still and he grabbed Phoebus’s arm.
“What are they doing?” he exclaimed, tugging on it. “That’s inhumane! Make them stop!”
Phoebus couldn’t answer; he was too surprised at the fact that onlookers had begun tormenting poor Quasimodo, tying him down onto a platform, and the sheer fact that they were laughing about it and throwing more food at him…? “Sir, request permission to stop this cruelty.”
Frollo shook his head, continuing to watch the scene with amusement. “In a moment, captain. A lesson needs to be learned here.”
Sora glared up to him and was about to run up to the stand himself when it suddenly grew quiet. Spinning around, he saw Esmeralda kneeling next to Quasimodo, Riku hovering behind her.
“Don’t be afraid,” she offered to him, brushing his face with her shawl. “I’m sorry. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Frollo glared at her before standing up. “You! The two gypsy women! Get down at once!”
“Yes, your honor. Just as soon as I free this poor creature,” she replied, nodding her head. His eyes flashed again.
“I forbid it!”
Riku, who was already sick of how this world was behaving, summoned his Keyblade and quickly cut through the ropes. A second later, he realized that it might have been a stupid mistake, seeing as the Keyblades were probably not normal around here, but he still felt defiantly glad when he saw Frollo’s face screw up in anger.
“How dare you defy me…” he hissed, pointing to the two of them.
Riku glared back, but it was Esmeralda who replied to him. “You mistreat him the same way you mistreat my people! You speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help!”
“Silence!” Frollo exclaimed, pointing an old finger at her.
“Justice!” Esmeralda shouted back, glaring just as angrily.
Meanwhile, Sora and Riku had locked eyes, and they could almost communicate. Riku shook his head, running a hand through his silver hair, wondering why, out of all the unvisited worlds, did they have to go to one with such cruel people?
The next thing either realized was the crown that was placed on Quasimodo’s head landed at Frollo’s feet, and that Frollo instructing the guards to arrest Esmeralda. Phoebus began to do so, but Sora shook his head. “This is wrong! Why don’t you stop it?”
Before the captain could reply, Esmeralda had disappeared into a puff of smoke, leading the guards on a wild goose chase that went throughout the crowds. It cause so much pandemonium, however, that Riku leaped from the stand, and attempted to push past the crowds who were rushing about in fear. “Sora!” he shouted, although he might as well have whispered it, seeing as Sora couldn’t hear him anyway.
“Riku, just hang on!” Sora easily abandoned his post next to Phoebus and attempted to grab his friend, but just when he was five feet away, a guard plucked Riku off the ground and threw him over his shoulder.
Sora stopped short, his eyes wide, before he found his resolve and continued to rush the guard, summoning his Keyblade. “Let go of him!” he shouted, easily striking the man down and grabbing Riku’s arm so he wouldn’t stumble. “Come on!”
They attempted to rush through the crowds, when they were stopped by a wall of guards who were easily able to over take Sora. Frollo’s voice pierced through the air and made Sora’s blood run cold. “Find the gypsy woman, Captain! I want her alive!” As Phoebus went to carry out the task, Frollo walked over to Sora and patted his shoulder. “Good, squire. Now that we have one, the other will surely come back for her.”
Sora could only let out a soft, “Riku” as his best friend was dragged away from him, more than likely to be put in the dungeon -or to death.
To see earlier tables for this prompt, click here
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Author:
aurons_fan
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Claim: Riku/Sora
Prompt Set: Orange
Prompt: 10. Never Was, Never Will Be
Type: Fanfic
Rating: T-R (Maybe in later chapters)
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers for the games Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2, and probably Kingdom Hearts CoM.
Disclaimer: Riku and Sora are owned by Square Enix and Disney.
Summary: After a mysterious note from the King, Riku and Sora adventure and get stuck in a world called Notre Dame
This Chapter Summary: The Festival of Fools!
A/N - Um...this was going to be up by Christmas, but I just got it back from my beta. (Sorry! :D) Annd... busy. Yay. :D
For
7rainbowprompts
Sora’s expression instantly turned into one of joy when he approached the festival. Loud, boisterous colors appeared in every direction, and it took Phoebus whispering down to his squire in order for the brunet not to get easily lost in the crowd. “Kid, you can’t just go exploring, you know,” he ordered, shaking his head when Sora gave him an innocently confused look. “We’re patrolling. It’s not like you can go freely about in this crowd. Besides...” he jerked his head in the direction of Frollo’s carriage. “He would easily notice and gut you.”
“My name’s Sora,” Sora mumbled, but nodded anyway and continued following after Phoebus’s horse. As a “squire”, he wasn’t allowed a horse and had to walk like the other people in the military, but he was still sticking to Phoebus’s idea to stay close to him.
When they finally reached the tent area and Frollo had exited his carriage and sat down onto his chair, he sent the Keybearer a strange look, in which Sora gave a violent shudder. “You alright?” Phoebus muttered over to him, turning his head to glance down at Sora.
Sora nodded, rubbing his arms to rid himself of goose bumps - even with a warm day like today, he still felt cold after Frollo’s creepy look.
Letting out a soft sigh and leaning against the wood (which Phoebus sighed at, but Sora wasn’t paying attention), the brunet frowned. Visiting other worlds had been so much easier with Goofy and Donald at his side. No one bothered the three of them …okay, yeah they did, but at least the three of them were strong enough to handle any problem by themselves.
Although, he could see King Mickey’s reasoning -a dog and a duck would be a bit more noticeable walking through here than they would be in other worlds, such as The Underworld, where the undead were hopping up to join and help him fight (although Auron was a strong warrior).
But, even so, why were they allowed in the Land of Dragons and not here? Shang hadn’t noticed, and if he had, then he certainly hadn’t cared.
Sora sighed and shook his head. If he wanted to make it through this world, he was going to have to find Riku, whether Phoebus could help him or not.
--
What had happened to the other Keybearer? Riku wasn’t sure of it himself, as he was too busy trying to untangle a man who had become caught in the tent’s dividing cloth, and fend off Djali with his other hand.
So much had happened in the past day (days? He wasn’t sure), but what he did remember was when Esmeralda had returned from her trip (and commented on his hair; he had scowled and rolled his eyes in a playful manner), she was bubbling with excitement and goading him to be prepared for the Festival of Fools. When he tried to ask her about it, she only shook her head and continued to teach him a simple dance that they would be performing together.
…With him portraying a woman.
He gave a soft growl remembering such, but focused again at the task at hand when Esmeralda had finally wrapped herself up in a robe and hurried over to help the man out (he looked away from her, feeling almost like some perverted teen -was it his fault that they had given the two of them one tent because they were both “women?”)
“Are you alright?” Esmeralda questioned, giving the man a warm smile. When Riku finally got a good look of the person stuck in the cloth, both he and Djali grimaced before he shook his head. Perhaps the man wasn’t the best looking guy out there…
“I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry…” The man attempted to apologize, lowering his gaze from both Riku and Esmeralda. Riku frowned at himself, almost ashamed. Okay, sure, the man was kinda creepy looking, but he at least seemed very kind.
Feeling like he had to redeem himself, Riku leaned forward, helping to pull the cloth off the man. “Are you hurt?”
“N-no!” the man stuttered again, and pulled his face away. Riku blinked, almost believing that he saw something that resembled a blush innocently crossing on the man’s face. He shrugged to himself; Esmeralda was a very beautiful woman, and it wasn’t like it could be for him.
Esmeralda gave the man another smile and brushed the hair out of his face. “No harm done. Just…” She gave a soft chuckle and stepped away. “Try to be a little more careful, alright?”
The man gave a stammered “Yes,” before he almost tripped out of the tent. Before he could go, Esmeralda put a restraining hand on his shoulder and added one more comment.
“By the way, great mask!” Esmeralda exclaimed, smiling once more to the man and giving a slight wave as he stumbled out of the tent. Shaking her head, she turned to help Riku put the dividing cloth that separated the tent into two back up.
“I think you look very beautiful.” Esmeralda grinned to Riku, her tone slightly mocking. Riku scowled and continued changing into his outfit - a pair of blue baggy pants (if one didn’t look close enough, it could resemble a long skirt) and a tight black top. He lightly ran a hand over his braids and shook his head.
“Thanks, Esmeralda,” he muttered, tucking a stray piece of his hair behind his ear. He wanted to look in a mirror to see how horrible he looked, but lo and behold, the tent had no such thing and he had to make do. “I think the man was just looking at you though.”
There was a light scoff and Esmeralda peeked through one side of the curtain. “Nope! You look fine, so stop fidgeting!” she ordered as Riku continued to tug on his hair. “You look very womanly and that’s that.”
“But that’s the problem,” Riku hissed to himself, shaking his head. The beads and ribbons in his hair clinked together and he let out another sigh.
Sora…if you are in this world -which I hope you are, otherwise I’m beyond screwed - I hope you’re nowhere near enough to see this…
“Ah, Riku!” Esmeralda exclaimed, quickly rushing to the other side of the tent. “It’s almost time to go! Are you ready?” Riku let out a defeated groan and nodded as the raven haired woman came over and patted his shoulder. “You’ll do fine, I promise.”
He shook his head and adjusted his sleeve length. “No…it’s just… a friend of mine might be out in the audience, and…” He lowered his head. “I don’t want him to see me like this.”
She gave him another pat before adjusting the tiara that rested snugly in her hair. “Well, don’t worry.” Riku glanced up to her and she gave him a grin. “If he sees you, at least he’ll probably agree that you’re very pretty!”
Riku narrowed his eyes, but quickly shook his head and let out a chuckle. At least, even if he couldn’t find Sora and was being forcibly dressed like a woman, someone still had the ability to make him laugh. “Well, let’s put on a show!”
“Let’s!” Esmeralda agreed, and she began to give him instructions of how they were going to get onto the stage.
--
Phoebus sighed and finally gave up on scolding the brunet. Sora was so entranced at what was going on during the festival that he seriously doubted that the boy could even hear him.
Even though Sora was indeed having a good time watching the festival, he had a strange look on his face. Was that Quasimodo? he asked himself before being forcibly snapped from his thoughts as the music took a different turn.
One of the gypsies, with such an interesting outfit that Sora thought him to be like a court jester, had begun to sing. Sora watched the man as he leapt from the stage to right on Frollo’s platform, singing about “the finest women in France.” Sora gave a small laugh to himself -if poor Riku was here, he’s probably be forced to…
Suddenly, the jester man disappeared in a puff of smoke and a beautiful raven haired woman appeared on the stage, along with…
Sora’s jaw dropped about three inches, and Phoebus raised his eyebrow -no, not at Sora! Seriously now, there were two beautiful women on the stage, why would he care about Sora?
Riku!? Sora almost screamed aloud, but ...after the initial shock, it wasn’t that easy to mistake him. And he had found his friend again…
All he had to do was ignore the dancing his friend was doing. To anyone who didn’t know better, it almost seemed like some sort of... Sora shook his head. He was not going to think about Riku like that!
Frollo, apparently, was appalled as well. “Look at that disgusting display,” he ordered, shaking his head.
Grinning, Phoebus lifted his helmet to see better. “Yes sir,” he replied, the expression on his face almost matching the look of every man watching.
Sora wanted to put his head in his hands, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sight. …Wait till Kairi heard about this.
--
At first, Riku didn’t even notice Sora. He was too busy attempting to keep up with Esmeralda -almost mirroring her - and to remember the dance moves that he had been taught. Luckily, the gypsies said this happened only once a year and he wouldn’t be on this world for a year. At first, he let himself simply dance to the music, enjoying himself. Heck, he even allowed a smile on his face and let his strangely decorated hair flow in the wind.
But when he opened his eyes and noticed an angry church official, a captain, and a young boy who looked quite out of place, he froze as though the boy’s eyes had placed a sell on him. Sora?! his mind screamed, but his face simply looked utterly shocked.
Luckily for him, Esmeralda had a plan in case poor Riku were to go into this type of stage fright -although it was for different reasons that she had first planned. She pulled a scarf out of nowhere (truthfully, a small pocket on the dress she was wearing, but most people couldn’t see it), ran up to where Frollo was seated, and sat on the edge of the chair, smiling almost wickedly the entire time. She then playfully wrapped the scarf around his head, pulling him closer and closer until she pushed his head away at the last moment, and ran back to the stage.
She gave Riku a side glance, as if trying to ask him if he was alright, and when the silver haired teen nodded, she smiled and the dancing continued.
As Esmeralda went from doing a split to stealing a guard’s spear to twirl on it (as they had practiced), Riku was doing simple dance moves. An idea struck him at the last moment and before the dance ended, he did a back flip, twirled around, and landed on his feet like the fighter he was.
They both gave a bow and Clopin continued singing/talking while Esmeralda hopped to her feet. “What happened?” she murmured under her breath, although it didn’t look like she was even talking to him. He blinked and his eyes automatically went to where Sora was standing before he lowered his gaze.
“My friend is here,” was all he said, but she easily understood it and continued clapping.
“Well,” she whispered back. “Let’s finish this and then you’ll be able to talk to him.” Glancing over, she gave him a wink. “I’m sure he’ll think you were pretty as well.”
He flushed, but nodded his head -at the very least, it was a chance for the two friends of them to talk.
--
“You certainly have interesting friends.” Sora glanced over to Phoebus as he looked back, giving the brunet by a smile. “The girl with the silver hair… she can’t be a gypsy, and yet she deals with them. Hm… where she could be from, I wonder.”
Sora coughed to himself. “Yeah, h-she was always a strange one where we lived.” He then looked away, his eyes wide. Riku…how in the worlds did you get convinced to dress up like a girl? He gave a soft snicker, ignoring the thought that was continue to run through his mind: But he does look kinda… cute.
A loud thud alerted him and he glanced up, seeing people who were attempting to look scary being booted off the stage by the goat. When the woman (Sora then remembered that the jester guy had called her Esmeralda) reached the last person and went to pull of his mask, Sora’s eyes widened. That’s Quasimodo! He was about to look over to Frollo when a loud gasp came from the audience.
“That’s no mask!” one man exclaimed, pointing to Quasimodo in horror.
“That’s his face!” a woman replied.
“It’s hideous!” another woman cut in, covering her mouth in horror.
A final person stepped up, pointing accusatorily at him. “He’s the bell ringer of Notre Dame!”
Sora was finally able to shoot a look over to Frollo - and the man looked very angry. Frollo had gripped the edges of the chair he was sitting on, while Quasimodo was looking down in shame. The jester shook his head and exclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, don’t panic! We asked for the ugliest face in Paris, and here he is! Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame!”
Sora gave the man a horrified look and a glance to Riku showed him that they both thought the same way. Yeesh! What kind of society was this, that they were so cruel to people who weren’t exactly the norm? …Speaking of which, what year was this, anyway?
While Sora had been pondering, the people of Paris had carried Quasimodo to the center of the square, singing and dancing. He gave a small smile -at least the man was enjoying his time now, even though Frollo would probably be horrible to him later. He turned to face Phoebus about to ask what would happen now, when one of the guards who had been pestering Phoebus smirked to his friend.
“You think he’s ugly now? Watch this!” Sora’s eyes widened (and twitched) as the guard threw a tomato at Quasimodo, hitting him square in the face. The other guards started laughing and continued throwing things at him; Sora’s eyes widened still and he grabbed Phoebus’s arm.
“What are they doing?” he exclaimed, tugging on it. “That’s inhumane! Make them stop!”
Phoebus couldn’t answer; he was too surprised at the fact that onlookers had begun tormenting poor Quasimodo, tying him down onto a platform, and the sheer fact that they were laughing about it and throwing more food at him…? “Sir, request permission to stop this cruelty.”
Frollo shook his head, continuing to watch the scene with amusement. “In a moment, captain. A lesson needs to be learned here.”
Sora glared up to him and was about to run up to the stand himself when it suddenly grew quiet. Spinning around, he saw Esmeralda kneeling next to Quasimodo, Riku hovering behind her.
“Don’t be afraid,” she offered to him, brushing his face with her shawl. “I’m sorry. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Frollo glared at her before standing up. “You! The two gypsy women! Get down at once!”
“Yes, your honor. Just as soon as I free this poor creature,” she replied, nodding her head. His eyes flashed again.
“I forbid it!”
Riku, who was already sick of how this world was behaving, summoned his Keyblade and quickly cut through the ropes. A second later, he realized that it might have been a stupid mistake, seeing as the Keyblades were probably not normal around here, but he still felt defiantly glad when he saw Frollo’s face screw up in anger.
“How dare you defy me…” he hissed, pointing to the two of them.
Riku glared back, but it was Esmeralda who replied to him. “You mistreat him the same way you mistreat my people! You speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help!”
“Silence!” Frollo exclaimed, pointing an old finger at her.
“Justice!” Esmeralda shouted back, glaring just as angrily.
Meanwhile, Sora and Riku had locked eyes, and they could almost communicate. Riku shook his head, running a hand through his silver hair, wondering why, out of all the unvisited worlds, did they have to go to one with such cruel people?
The next thing either realized was the crown that was placed on Quasimodo’s head landed at Frollo’s feet, and that Frollo instructing the guards to arrest Esmeralda. Phoebus began to do so, but Sora shook his head. “This is wrong! Why don’t you stop it?”
Before the captain could reply, Esmeralda had disappeared into a puff of smoke, leading the guards on a wild goose chase that went throughout the crowds. It cause so much pandemonium, however, that Riku leaped from the stand, and attempted to push past the crowds who were rushing about in fear. “Sora!” he shouted, although he might as well have whispered it, seeing as Sora couldn’t hear him anyway.
“Riku, just hang on!” Sora easily abandoned his post next to Phoebus and attempted to grab his friend, but just when he was five feet away, a guard plucked Riku off the ground and threw him over his shoulder.
Sora stopped short, his eyes wide, before he found his resolve and continued to rush the guard, summoning his Keyblade. “Let go of him!” he shouted, easily striking the man down and grabbing Riku’s arm so he wouldn’t stumble. “Come on!”
They attempted to rush through the crowds, when they were stopped by a wall of guards who were easily able to over take Sora. Frollo’s voice pierced through the air and made Sora’s blood run cold. “Find the gypsy woman, Captain! I want her alive!” As Phoebus went to carry out the task, Frollo walked over to Sora and patted his shoulder. “Good, squire. Now that we have one, the other will surely come back for her.”
Sora could only let out a soft, “Riku” as his best friend was dragged away from him, more than likely to be put in the dungeon -or to death.
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