DISCLAIMER: Monster High and all related characters and situations belong to Mattel.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame and all related characters and situations belong to Victor Hugo and the Walt Disney Company.

"The Bells of Notre Dame" tune and lyrics belong to Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz, and the Walt Disney Company.

This is a not-for-profit work. I am not making any money, nor am I attempting to negatively affect the market for any of the materials shown, or take proceeds from their creators, but rather to expand the fanbase and keep the pre-existing fanbase strong.

RATING: K+ (for some action violence, dark themes, character death, and slight possible ideologically sensitive material, all taken directly from the original HoND Disney film)

Note: If anyone feels this needs changing, please alert me. It technically contains rather more violence and dark themes than is typical of K+, but almost all of it's taken directly from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is rated G (although I must admit, it's a miracle it squeaked by without being at least PG, if not PG-13).

SHIPS: One-sided OC x Claude Frollo (innocent, no smut)

CHARACTERS FEATURED: Rochelle Goyle, Laverne, Victor, Hugo, Quasimodo, Judge Claude Frollo, other characters from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, various OCs

AUTHOR'S NOTES: A few things to keep in mind:

1) This assumes that the Gargoyles in HoND were real, not Quasi's imagination. (This is probably the only time I will treat them as such. Ever. They normally annoy me to no end. Part of the reason I'm writing this is to find a way to not despise them.)

2) A lot of what happens in this will totally contradict Scaris: City of Frights. This is because I came up with this story, and wrote one and a half diary entries, before the film came out. I stopped writing for a long time after that, but eventually decided that as I'd already fallen in love with the idea, and I'm not a big fan of that particular MH movie, I'd just go ahead with it anyway. So just pretend Scaris never happened. (I mean, MH already has at least 2 totally separate canons anyway. What harm's a third?)

3) The writing is not always correct English. I am attempting to replicate the style of the actual diary that came with Rochelle, with the overly formal, slightly awkward-sounding English that comes with writers who are somewhat new to the language. The "crossed out" words/phrases are places where she used French, caught herself, and replaced it with English. (She obviously didn't catch all of them, but her English will improve slightly over the course of these entries.)

4) My French is not very good, so please correct me if I screwed up!

1 septembre

I am making myself write this in English today, as it is one of my last days in Scaris. I look forward to so much, for Monster High is said to be an unusual place and I have heard it is très jolie, but still I can not help feeling [crossed out: triste] sad. I have watched over this city for 415 years, my whole life. So I try to think of a way to say au revoir to Scaris.

I am thinking I have an idea. It came to me [crossed out: ce matin] this morning as the city awakened. A human street performer (only I should say... "normie," n'est-ce pas? So the Americans call them, according to mama)... so a normie stood near my rooftop and told a story to the passerby (mostly they were tourists I think). It was funny, because I've heard the normies tell this story so many times and it never changes. The only difference is that now there were cars instead of horses going by as he told it.

So the way they tell this tale is through the music. He started to sing, and this is what he sang:

"Morning in Paris, the city awakes,
To the bells of Notre Dame.
The fisherman fishes, the bakerman 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..."

The same words, the same tune, for longer than I can remember, since before I was an egg. And so I think to myself: Maybe the soul of Scaris (that they call "Paris") is not in the bells alone, the huge peals that shake the city, but in the story of them, non? For the normies have their tale, but we have one as well, the gargoyles. Ours is better too, I think, because we have seen it. Well, not I personally, but ma mère and mon père, and Laverne [crossed out: ma grand-tante] my great-aunt, they were there. For they used to live atop the roof of the great cathedral, Notre Dame herself.

So I listen to the normie spin his tale, his words like clever spider's legs. He paints for the tourists a tale that begins with murder on a snowy night, and ends with triumph in the sunlight. And in between, hatred, and prejudice, and death: a corrupt judge, a misshapen hero, a beautiful gypsy princess.

At last he finishes, as they always do:

"So here is a riddle to guess if you can,
Sing the bells of Notre Dame.
What makes a monster and what makes a man?
Sing the bells of Notre Dame!"

The tourists, they clap and cheer, but me, I bristle. It is just like them, non? Always about monsters.

So, here is our tale... the one my ancestors saw with their own eyes. I hope with it, I can bid adieu to Scaris, and yet still hold a piece of it always in my heart...

Attendez! Mama is calling me for dinner. I will return soon. And I will ask her to tell me the story once again.