The Bells of Notre Dame
Author's Note: First in the series of Disney Christmas Crossovers. I just had the idea while listening to the Disney song, The Bells of Notre Dame, which is the opening to this story. Please don't skip over it, even if you just treat it as a poem. I translated the Latin myself (and seeing as I don't study Latin that takes work!) and had to write out the lyrics by ear so forgive any minor mistakes... This chapter is short, seeing as it's a prologue. Just so you know the characters equivalents (if you know the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame) here's a list:
Quasimodo: Tsuzuki Asato
Judge Claude Frollo: Muraki Kazutaka
Clopin: Watari Yukata
Esmeralda: Kurosaki Hisoka
Archdeacon: Kanoe-kachou
Captain Phoebus: Tatsumi Seichiirou
The Gargoyles (Hugo, Victor and Laverne): Minase Hijiri, Saya, Yuma
Gypsies: Wakaba, Oriya, Tsubaki-hime, Touji Hisae
Guard: Terazuma Hajime
Synopsis: The mysterious bell ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral is said to be a deformed monster whom the church took in. Hidden away from the world by his Master, Judge Kazutaka Muraki, he believes that he is too deformed to even go out in public. It isn't until he meets the beautiful gypsy boy, Hisoka Kurosaki, that he begins to realise that maybe he was wrong. Tsuzuki dreams of freedom as he slowly in falls in love with someone out of his reach, but Muraki will put a stop to it. After all, that gypsy witch has a date with the gallows...
A Tsuzuki/Hisoka fiction, set in the French Renaissance... (Hints of Muraki/Tsuzuki, Tatsumi/Hisoka, Terazuma/Wakaba, Hijiri/Tsuzuki, Tsubaki/Hisoka, and various other canon pairings. Unfortunately, I am unsure whether there will be any Watari/ Tatsumi simply because, well... Clopin is the King of the Gypsies and Tatsumi is the Captain of the Guard...)
Chapter One: The Bells of Notre Dame
Clopin:
Morning in Paris, the city awakes
To the bells of Notre Dame.
The fisherman fishes, the baker man bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame.
To the big bells as loud as the thunder,
To the little bells soft as a psalm,
And some say the soul of the city's the toll of the bells;
The Bells of Notre Dame.
Clopin: (Speech)
Listen, they're beautiful no? So many colours of sound, so many changing moods; But as you know, they do not ring by themselves?
Puppet: (Speech)
They don't!
Clopin: (Search)
No, silly boy. Up there, high high in the dark bell tower lives the mysterious bell ringer. Who is this creature?
Puppet: (Speech)
Who?
Clopin: (Speech)
What is he?
Puppet: (Speech)
What?
Clopin: (Speech)
How did he come to be there?
Puppet: (Speech)
How?
Clopin: (Speech)
Hush, and Clopin will tell you. It is a tale, a tale of a man and a monster...
Clopin:
Dark was the night when our tale was began
On the docks near Notre Dame.
Man 1: (Speech)
Shut it up will you!
Man 2: (Speech)
We'll be spotted!
Woman: (Speech)
Hush little one!
Clopin:
Four frightened gypsies slid silently under
The docks near Notre Dame.
Man1: (Speech)
Four guilders for safe passage from the palace.
Clopin:
But a trap had been laid for the gypsies.
As they gazed up in fear and alarm;
At a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells
Man2: (Speech)
Judge Claude Frollo!
Clopin:
The bells of Notre Dame.
Choir:
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
Clopin:
Judge Claude Frollo longed to purge the world of vice and sin.
Choir:
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
Clopin:
And he saw corruption everywhere except within.
Judge: (Speech)
Bring these gypsy vermin to the Palace of Justice.
Guard: (Speech)
You there! What are you hiding?
Judge: (Speech)
Stolen goods no doubt. Take them from her!
Clopin: (Speech)
She ran!
Choir:
Dies irae, dies illa (Day of wrath, that day)
Solvet saeclum in favilla (Shall consume the world in ashes)
Teste David cum sibylla (As prophesied by David and the sibyl)
Quantus tremor est futurus (What trembling is to be)
Quando Judex est venturus (When the Judge is come)
Woman: (Speech)
Sanctuary! Please give us sanctuary!
Choir:
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
(The woman is killed)
Frollo: (Speech)
A baby? ...A monster!
Clopin: (Speech)
"STOP!" cried the Archdeacon.
Frollo: (Speech)
This is an unholy demon. I'm sending it to hell where it belongs.
Archdeacon:
See there the innocent blood you have spilt
On the steps of Notre Dame.
Frollo: (Speech)
I am guiltless, she ran, I pursued.
Archdeacon:
Now you will add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame?
Frollo: (Speech)
My conscience is clear!
Archdeacon:
You can lie to yourself and your minions!
You can claim that you haven't a qualm!
But you never can run from
Nor hide what you've done from the eyes!
The very eyes of Notre Dame!
Clopin:
And for one time in his life of power and control
Frollo felt a twinge of fear for his immortal soul.
Frollo: (Speech)
What must I do?
Archdeacon: (Speech)
Care for the child and raise it as your own.
Frollo: (Speech)
What? I'm to be saddled with this misshapen?... Very well... Let him live with you in your church.
Archdeacon: (Speech)
Live here? Where?
Frollo: (Speech)
Anywhere...
Frollo:
Just so he's kept locked away so no one else can see...
Frollo: (Speech)
The bell tower perhaps? And who knows? Our lord works in mysterious ways...
Frollo:
Even this foul creature may yet one day prove to be
Of use to me.
Clopin: (Speech)
And Frollo gave the child a cruel name. A name that means half-formed. Quasimodo.
Clopin:
Now here is riddle to guess if you can,
Sing the bells of Notre Dame.
Who is the monster and who is the man?
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells of Notre Dame...
There was a man in Paris. All the children were talking about him. He dressed like an old fashioned jester, in bright yellow, purple and a bright mask. He was famed for his puppet shows. All the children gravitated to his cart, shirking chores to hear what tale he might tell today.
Of course, the fact that they were forbidden to talk to him made them even more determined never to miss a show.
The man's head popped up from the bottom sill of his little window. The children cheered. He was blonde haired, despite his gypsy colouring. A few children whispered that it was gypsy magic that made his hair that way… His name was Watari, although there were those who called him Clopin…
"Gather round children, gather round," He said, looking around at the gathering gaggle of children. They were all dressed in weary, drab looking clothes, most covered in patches. Compared to them, this bright, exotic looking man was an attraction.
"Have you ever heard the story of the bell ringer?" Watari asked. The children shook their heads. Watari smiled and launched straight into his story, upon the backdrop of Notre Dame and to the sounds of Morning Mass…
Three gypsies sat in the boat, worriedly casting their eyes around. There was nothing to raise their suspicions but they still felt uneasy. They had been warned about their ill-timed visit to Paris. I was said that there was a new judge in the capital, a man whose life mission was to destroy all cultures except for the pure Christian way. The man was described as a tall, stringy demon, who wore robes of black and had dark, steely eyes in which the fires of hell were said to dwell. Judge Kazutaka Muraki, responsible for the murder of over three hundred gypsies ever since he managed to get his position in the Halls of Justice.
A beautiful gypsy woman cradled her child, trying to silence it's cries. Her beautiful baby boy squalled, until one of the men angrily shoved a piece of sweet bread into the boy's mouth, silencing him. The woman smiled at him gratefully, gently rocking her son. Large, abnormal purple eyes looked up at her from the soft blankets wrapped around him. He gargled a little and she smiled, rubbing her nose with his.
Her fingers then went to the small band around his wrist. Inscribed upon it was his name, Asato Tsuzuki, named after his father. The man had come to Paris before them, they were meant to meet him at the Court of Miracles later that night. If they ever arrived... The boat man seemed to be taking far, far too long…
"We're right in the docks of Notre Dame herself…" One of the woman's traveller friends said. He looked up at the tall walls of the cathedral, then frowned.
"But this is all wrong. We should be on the outer docks. We'll have to walk straight through the main square outside the cathedral… What is this man thinking?" Her other friend asked. The woman worriedly looked down at her child, her beautiful Asato. He was still trying to break up the tough sweet bread with his gums and not succeeding. Perhaps he was teething?
They pulled up silently against the docks and the boatman held out his hand.
"Four guilders for safe passage from the Palace of Justice," The man asked. The woman reached inside her baby's swaddlings and produced the money. There was the sound of horse's hooves on cobbles and then the clink of armour. The three gypsies turned to see they were surrounded by guards.
"You tricked us!" One of the men roared, but he was restrained by the guards. The woman clutched her child to her chest.
"It's okay little one…" She whispered. The guards didn't restrain her, after all, she was a woman, but they were close by behind her. The horse came into view, a demonic looking thing, an Arabian stallion… It looked the picture of Death's horse… And it housed the Devil himself…
"Bring those gypsy vermin to the Palace of Justice," Judge Muraki ordered. He looked down at them with eyes that danced in the idea of blood. The woman held the child closer to her chest in fear. Her poor child, he must know life…
"The woman's bundle! What's in it!" One of the soldiers asked. All three of the gypsies remained silent, but the woman began to panic. Her baby… Her child… She wouldn't let them take her child!
"Gypsy witchery or stolen goods, take it from her," Muraki ordered. The woman's eyes widened and she turned on her heel and ran. The guards grabbed at her clothes but their leather gloved hands slipped on the fabric and she managed to escape.
She could hear her heart pounding in her chest, but soon she discovered it to be the sound of the horse's hooves. She turned around, the snow covered ground making her stumble, and saw the demon horse of the Judge.
Panic set in and she turned into the backstreets, hoping and praying that she might be able to find somewhere that might protect her, if even only for a short while… It was then that she stumbled upon the main square and Notre Dame.
She ran up to the solid oak doors, trying to pull the iron rings but he doors were locked. She banged against the door in desperation. Surely there would be someone up for prayer?
"Sanctuary! Please give us sanctuary!" She cried. She heard Muraki's horse nearby. She turned to run across the market square but the horse caught up with her. He trampled her beneath the hooves of his horse, upon the very steps of Notre Dame, the Cathedral of Our Lady.
"Now we shall see what stolen goods were housed in this deceptive packaging," The Judge said, rolling her body off the small bundle and remounting his horse with it. He opened the blanket and his eyes widened as the angry yells of a child echoed around the square.
"A-a monster!" He gasped, staring into the unnatural eyes of the child. His face was so ugly, his eyes were that of a demon's. No human would have purple eyes… He moved his horse to the well in the middle of the yard, holding the child over the well and preparing to drop it into the abyss.
The children's faces were wide in shock. They weren't used to stories like these… There was death! Actual death! And the gypsies weren't being portrayed as the evil stealers of children or the suspects of witchery! And it even had the current head of the Palace of Justice!
"What happened then?" One of the children asked. Watari smiled and pulled out a puppet. It was a priest…
"STOP!" cried the Archdeacon. Muraki paused from where he was holding the child above the well. He turned to the priest, who was holding the trampled woman's body, closing her eyes and wiping the blood off her face.
"Look what you have done! You have killed a woman right here on the very steps of the cathedral!" The Archdeacon said, removing the gypsy amulets from around the woman's neck and wrists.
"I have no guilt. She was a gypsy under suspicion and she ran. Am I not meant to pursue?" Muraki asked. The Archdeacon looked about to explode. He began to wave his arms about as he spoke.
"Now you will murder her child as well!" He yelled. Muraki held the child out for the Archdeacon to see.
"This child is a demon. His eyes show this. I was merely sending him back to the depths of hell with his with mother," Muraki replied. The Archdeacon stood then, the blood of the innocent gypsy on his robes.
"You can lie to yourself and you're minions, you can claim that you haven't a qualm! But you never can run from, nor hide what you've done from the eyes! The eyes of Notre Dame!" He turned and gestured to the statues of the saints, of the Lord Jesus and Our Lady, whose stone, impassive eyes had witnessed the act of supreme violence, who had heard every bone crack and anguished cry.
"What must I do?" Muraki asked. The eyes of the statues bore into his very soul. He felt the fear of God, and he knew he must avoid the man's wrath…
"Care for the woman's child, raise him as you'd raise your own son," The Archdeacon said. Muraki looked at the demon's eyes and shuddered, thinking of a way to carry out his penance without having to claim the boy as his own son…
"Let him live with you, in the church. He could live in the bell tower and when he was old enough he could ring the bells for you," Muraki reasoned. The Archdeacon swelled up in anger as he lifted the woman's corpse from the steps. Muraki smiled as the Archdeacon nodded however, and left the babe in the snow, galloping away.
"And Muraki gave him a cruel name, a name that means half-formed… Quasimodo…" Watari finished. The children looked at each other and then at the towers of Notre Dame.
"Let me ask you one little question about this story, then you must go and do your chores… Who do you think is the biggest monster? The gypsy demon, who had barely had drawn breath before he was condemned, or the Judge who murdered his mother just by her heritage," Watari asked. The children dispersed, murmuring about the story, the bells in the background stopped. Through the children a small man walked, his emerald eyes dancing. He smiled briefly at Watari and leaned against the cart.
"The old fable of the bell ringer again?" He asked. There were two marks on the backs of his hands that marked him as a bearer, one of those males who were destined to bear children by other men. The mark stood out clearly against the pale colour of his skin, so abnormal for a gypsy.
"You don't believe my stories, Hisoka?" Watari asked, smiling. The gypsy boy rolled his eyes.
"Your tales are of bastard sons of King's taking the throne and hideous beasts becoming the lovers of Princesses. Only children believe in such stories," He said. Watari pouted, the bells on his hat tinkling as he removed it, tying his hair up with a red ribbon before replacing the hat at an odd angle.
"Yet you are an idealist, are you not? Surely, in your perfect world, a hideous looking monster, such as the bell ringer, would have a chance with the most beautiful of gypsy dancers?" Watari asked, his green-brown eyes looking deadly serious.
"Don't you mean Princess?" Hisoka asked. Watari smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Of course, of course. What did I say?" He asked. Hisoka frowned, pushing off from the cart and walking away. He paused, looking up at beautiful gothic masterpiece that was Notre Dame.
"In my perfect world, a bell ringer would dance with the most beautiful of princesses… But this world is far from ideal," Hisoka stepped over a muddy puddle to go find his flute player. In the recesses of the nearby street, children were starving in tattered clothes and the disabled were begging for small change. The world was far from perfect…
End Notes: I describe Watari's eyes as green-brown rather than amber for a reason. Seriously, who except cats have amber eyes? No one. Therefore it wouldn't fit with the story. However, I do know someone who has very light green eyes with brown flecks and they look sorta ambery… So I've adjusted his eye colour… Sue me…
Coming Soon: Chapter Two – Out There… A young Tsuzuki dreams of going to the Festival of Fools…