The Bet

"Two francs, then."

"A measly two francs?" Esmerelda growled as the bearded gypsy man standing across from her put his bet on the barrel. "Do you really have no confidence in me?"

"I have a slight confidence, but when the day comes, who knows? You might freeze up like a toad in winter." The other men standing around the upright barrel laughed at this cynical comment. "Better to have two francs on the table rather than ten."

"Tobar," Esmerelda smiled a sweet sardonic smile. "Let me be frank." She lend over the barrel to put her hand on her acquaintance's shoulder. "You are being foolish." Her tone changed to a rather minatory one. "I'm the one carrying out the deed. What are the chances that I won't do it?"

The stubby man to her left snorted. "Well, one could catch cold before the time comes. Or one could be stifled by the very sight of the judge himself. Even though we all hate him, we still fear him you know. Also, if you are like any other human being, you might consider the consequences. The consequences might not be inviting…He might arrest you for life…Sentence you to death. So, it would only be natural for someone, such as yourself, to back out of the bet."

Esmerelda glanced to her left and stuck out her tongue. "If you are keen on diminishing the chances, it might upset you to learn you can't. I'm the one performing the challenge and besides, the consequences you named are so fantasized. Whatever I do, I'll be able to get off easy. And when I get to your challenge I'll be sure to perform each action with emphasis so that the entire world sees and so that you pessimists can't miss a single thing. I can't wait to prove you wrong." She turned her head back to Tobar, "Therefore, Tobar, I am telling you to raise your stakes."

"Oiy, Esmerelda…" Tobar sighed then looked at the amount he had set on the barrel. He was probably thinking how difficult it would be to earn that amount again if he were to lose it. "Fine." He said after a short while. "But don't back out on me. I've lost enough money as it is." He pulled out another franc and threw it clumsily on the barrel. "Three francs, then," he said. Esmerelda looked at the franc with disgust. The fact that it was still spinning and had not stopped vexed her, but what annoyed her the most was that it was a single franc rather than ten.

Huffily, she slammed a hand over the single franc still spinning and said in a sharp piercing tone, "If you don't put at least fifteen francs on this barrel right now, I'll back out on the spot and you won't see these three francs again. In other words, you'll gain NOTHING."

"Fifteen francs?" The stubby man retorted, "That's ridiculous! I'm not betting fifteen francs!"

Esmerelda turned to the other two men. "You were the ones who were excited to make a weeks earnings with this one bet." She made a mocking pouty eyed face, "What? Lost your confidence already?"

The stubby man's face turned red. "I haven't lost confidence. You'll fail and I know it!" He reached for his pouch and pulled out a handful of francs. Mumbling to himself he threw fifteen francs onto the barrel. His partner did the same.

Esmerelda looked at the pile of money with satisfaction. Then she looked up at Tobar. "Tobar? It's up to you. Whatever you say goes and I assure you, that at the end of this bet, you and I will walk home with thirty francs in our pocket." She reached into her pocket and pulled out fifteen francs, herself, placing them on the barrel in an organized clump.

Tobar sighed once again, looked at the pile of money on the barrel, then reached into his pouch and pulled out twelve more francs. He looked unwilling to give them up, and it took some exertion to actually lay them across the barrel, but he seemed to know it was the only way to reconcile with Esmerelda. When he had finished, he had given a sigh of relief, and glanced up at Esmerelda who was now smiling in a friendly manner.

The stubby man on the other hand, had his arms crossed, and was snarling. "Well, now that you two have raised the stakes, it would only be fair for the opposing side to give a few extra propositions."

"Propositions?" Esmerelda asked confused. "Of what kind?"

"Well, it would only be fair if we brought up a few extra… challenges one could say."

Esmerelda raised and eyebrow, crossed her arms and stood up straight so that she towered over the two opposing men. She would not be unassertive in this conversation. She may have lacked propriety at times but she was never one to let that lower her standing and become the weakling in certain relationships. "Go on." She said.

"Alright, we make the rules."

"What?"

"Well, like I said, it's only fair. It must be too easy for you right now, considering how acceptant you were of the idea. I want to see if we can make you plummet. Besides, we can tweak it to make it all the more interesting for the audience. I do say, they do get rather roused up after a couple of good laughs."

"It's not happening. The bet was stated, I am performing it as it is."

Esmerelda was about to turn and walk off when Tobar interrupted, "Not so fast. Esmerelda, if you've ever gambled before, one side has to give the rules, the other side decides how much to bet." He looked around bashfully. "It's just, with your hastiness, you sort of set it in rather thickheaded way. We should have waited for them to set the challenge so that we'd have the option to back out or not without losing any money."

Esmerelda stopped in her tracks and thought for a minute, then she turned back towards the men. "Fine. Be as it may. But tell me what it is you are changing."

"So you will do it?"

"Yes, yes! Just tell me!" Esmerelda growled, beckoning for them to continue fast.

The stubby man looked sinisterly to his partner and rubbed his hands together. Then he turned back to Esmerelda. "You'll be wearing a revealing dress."

"Easy."

"You'll dance. Clopin can make the arrangements."

"Clopin and I are already involved with the Festival of Fools. We won't be needing any further arrangements."

"You'll dance with a sense of eroticism."

"I am not very thrilled about that, but I'll do it."

"You'll make your way to where the Minister of Justice is."

"Like we've said already."

"And you'll whack him on the head."

"Yes."

"But…before you do…"

"What? What could I possibly do before that?"

The stubby man inhaled slowly, as if to purposefully stall for time. Esmerelda knew he was trying to irritate her as best as he could. With a small malevolent glance to his partner, he exhaled and said,

"You'll kiss him first."

He obviously wanted the information to sink in afterwards, for he became very silent. However, his partner wasn't very good at leaving an effect, for he began to chuckle. Esmerelda, on the other hand, just raised an eyebrow, "On the nose."

"On the mouth." The stubby man snapped.

"You said you wanted me to kiss that old sack of potatoes. You didn't say where, so I'll kiss him on the nose…easy."

"You'll kiss him on the mouth."

"On the nose."

"On the mouth."

"On the NOSE! On the nose and that's final. That seems to be worth fifteen francs to me…Good day to you gentlemen" She did a little dramatized curtsy and turned, but before she left, she said, "Will that be all?"

The men were unable to speak. It was apparent that they couldn't come up with any more ideas at the moment so Esmerelda decided this was a good time to leave. It was smart of her to leave so suddenly, because their next idea would have been to flash the Minister of Justice which, most likely, wouldn't have ended in a very dignified fashion. It was either that or take a bow and attempt to pierce the Minister's heart with an arrow. So there Esmerelda walked, unthinking of future and only vaguely interested on what present things she had in store.. What Esmerelda didn't know however, was that this bet was morbidly beneficial to one side, and that the winner would be the one that lost…

Little did she know that this bet would change everything she had ever known so drastically…

Authors notes: I was going to make this a full out story but then I had a better idea elsewhere and decided this should just be a one-shot. The next story I make could be tied to this but it'll be more concerning Frollo, and maybe even Clopin. Besides, I was too lazy. Anyhow, thanks for reading!