Why, hello there

A/N- Why, hello there again! Here's the second installment of this bout of insanity, "The Bells of Notre Dame". Thank you for the…two reviews, and the…one favoring and alerting. Um. Although, I hope people do know this, that reviews make me update faster! Especially on ff(dot)net. Seeing as I could probably go a week or so without ever touching this site, even though I updated on LJ.

Anyway. Oh. If the chapter titles confuse you, they're the prompts for the community I'm writing this for. No need for confusion. :D

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 2 – Angel Fallen from Above

Beta - Rainbowserenity

"What is he?"

"He must be a demon!" a hushed voiced responded, sounding nervous. "Just look at his hair! His pale skin!"

Riku groaned, and there was a sharp intake of breath. "He lives!"

"Quick! We must strike him down before he can harm us all with his power!"

Barely able to understand what the voices were talking about, Riku put his head back down, keeping his eyes closed.

A fourth (or was that a fifth? He couldn't keep track…) voice cut in, scolding the others. "Demon or not, he's only a boy. We can care for him."

That was all Riku could comprehend before plunging into darkness again.

Sora barely moved a muscle, wanting to rub his head in pain, but could only whimper; his arm was bleeding (lightly, but it still was) and he was getting a growing headache from the obnoxiously loud ringing. He didn't mean to hit the stupid, giant bell, but he did nonetheless, and his throbbing head was the result.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Sora froze, wishing that he could melt through the cracks on the floor.

"It could possibly be nothing more than a pigeon," a second voice replied. "However, shouldn't we check?"

"Pigeons couldn't do that kind of damage," the first voice retorted. "I bet its dead, though!"

"Hello?" Sora raised his head and blinked. He blinked again, hoping that it was just the way he was looking at the man made his face so…well, disoriented. Blinking again, he realized that the man did indeed look like that, but since the man was holding a cup of water and quickly heading over to him, he decided that this random person must be quite nice.

Or he was planning to drown him.

"Are you alright?" the man inquired, spooning a bit of water and holding it out. Sora groaned with a yes, thankful for the water, before holding his head in agony. He must've been losing his mind, seeing as now there was some walking (or hopping) and talking gargoyles.

"Quite a fall, young man," the younger and thinner of the three (was he younger? He couldn't really tell seeing as they were not human) informed in, shaking his head. The fatter one grinned before hopping next to him and whacking him upside the head.

"Yep. He's dead!" the fat one exclaimed. "You owe me munny!"

"I'm not dead!" Sora exclaimed, sitting up despite his throbbing head. "Where…who…"

The man blinked before realizing that not only was the boy wearing some, well, intricate clothing (nothing like he'd ever seen before), but was probably confused out of his mind. "I'm Quasimodo," he began with a slight smile. "He's Victor," he added, pointing to the thin gargoyle.

The fat one continued whacking Sora upside the head until the brunet scowled and pushed the gargoyle away. 'Victor' and the fat one began to argue as Quasimodo continued. "Well, that one's Hugo and the one covered in birds is Laverne."

"Well, I'm Sora," Sora smiled, ignoring his aching head. "And…where are we?"

"France!" Hugo exclaimed, shoving Victor away with a sarcastic smirk.

"Paris!" Victor corrected, closing his eyes and playing the scholar he was.

Laverne didn't respond to Sora's question, seeing as she was bickering with the birds that rested on her to fly off.

Quasimodo then spoke. "We're in Notre Dame…which is this cathedral." Sora, who had only been half paying attention as he looked around, snapped his attention back to the bell ringer in awe.

"This is Notre Dame?" Quasimodo nodded in response and Sora jumped up, almost slamming his head against a bell. "Wow…and whoops…?" He winced when the bell ringer had rushed over to him to…comfort the bell. Sora blinked in confusion. "Sorry…I'm trying to find my friend Riku. If you see him around here, could you tell me?"

Quasimodo shook his head solemnly. "Sorry. I can't leave here."

Sora was now utterly confused. "Why not?"

"My master." The bell ringer sighed dolefully before perking up. "But maybe your friend is around the bell tower!"

The fat gargoyle, Hugo, snorted. "From the way you made an entrance, I'm sure we would've heard your friend as well."

Sora sighed as well. "Oh…" He began looking around, seeing if there were any obvious exits in which he could use to escape from said "master".

After a moment, Quasimodo suddenly spoke. "How…how about I show you around the bell tower? You'll be able to get a feel for this place, and you might spot your friend below."

Sora grinned and nodded. "That would be great! Thanks!"

"…I think he's waking…"

"You're going to be watching him, you know. His food will come from your stash. And make sure he doesn't know the way in or out. Can't have any outsiders blabbing our secrets to…"

"I know already! Will you leave?"

Riku blinked his eyes open, glad to be under some tent of sorts so the light of the sun couldn't bother him. What he did see, however, was a woman with long, black hair, pressing a cold cloth to his forehead with a smile. "Are you alright?"

"…I think so," he responded softly, feeling uncomfortable. Then it hit him. "Um, where are my clothes?!" He realized that luckily he was still wearing boxers, but still! Everything else!

The woman gave a smile that could've been taken as a smirk. "When you fell, your clothes... well, Djali, could you bring them?"

Riku glanced down to the small goat, who carried a small bundle of shredded cloths in his mouth. His eyes widened his slight horror when he realized that those shredded cloths were his clothes. Suddenly feeling extremely naked, he wrapped the sheet that he lay under tightly around him. "Can…I borrow some clothes?" he asked, feeling embarrassed to even have to ask such a question.

The woman smiled again before gesturing over to a chair, where a bundle of clothing sat. "It's just a simple pair of pants and a shirt…" She trailed off as Riku shuffled over to the clothing and politely snatched it out of the chair. "Well, if you wish to stay with us, you might as well dress like us…and…" She pulled out a bundle of bracelets from behind her back. "And since your hair is fairly long…"

Riku resisted scowling at the woman, realizing that she was only trying to help him. "I'm very sorry, but I'm not cutting my hair. I don't care if that's a custom for the males around here, but…"

The woman quickly shook her head. "No! No, I'm sorry." She gave a slight laugh that reminded him of a wind chime. Involuntarily, he smiled back before shaking the smile off his face to hear her out. "Oh, and before I forget, I'm Esmeralda. Your name is…?"

"…Is this an interrogation?" he asked, stepping away and holding his new clothes out as though they were weapons. When she fiercely shook her head, he answered, "Riku."

Esmeralda smiled. "Alright then, Riku. My people usually have their hair grown out…so…if you don't mind a few braids in your hair and maybe a few…" She reached into the pile behind her and pulled out some ribbons. "...of these, then you should fit right in."

Riku exhaled. "…I'll do it. But…can I ask you something?" She nodded. "Have you seen a boy, about my height and age, but with brown hair, around here? I was travelling with him, when we suddenly fell out of our gummi ship…"

"Gummi…?" she repeated. "Is a gummi ship what they use in the wars now…?" Her mouth thinned into a line and she took a step closer to Riku. "Are you a spy, sent to destroy the gypsies?"

"The who?" Riku asked, stepping back with every step Esmeralda took. "No! My friend and I were…erm…traveling! Yes, we were traveling, but we fell out of our ship and landed here…and…" He frowned. "I'd really appreciate finding him…"

She sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Riku, but I haven't seen him… We'll keep a look out when we visit the city, though."

Riku blinked. "Visit…the city?"

Esmeralda gave another laugh. "Yes, of course! How long have you been in Paris to not see gypsies around the city?"

Riku blinked again, realizing he wasn't getting the whole picture. "…Paris? Where's…that?"

She raised her eyebrow. "You must've hit your head pretty hard there to have forgotten about Paris." With a sigh, she placed the bracelets and ribbons down onto the bed. "Dress quickly, and then bring these. The little ones can do your hair later on and then I'm sure we will be able to at least go by Notre Dame to pray for your memory before the festival…"

Riku jumped up. "Notre Dame? This is Notre Dame?" She quickly reached a hand to his forehead, looking genuinely puzzled when she retracted it.

"Strange…you don't have a fever." She shook her head and added, "Notre Dame is the cathedral, Riku. Now hurry up. Clopin got a look at you and thought that you might the perfect addition to the Festival of Fools. Please stop giving me that look! Everyone knows about the Festival of Fools!"

"They…do?" Riku asked, feeling dumber by the minute. Esmeralda sighed yet again.

"Yes, so please get dressed! I'll be just outside this tent to take you where you need to go." With that, she gracefully exited, leaving Djali and Riku staring at the flap.

"So…what now?" Riku heard himself ask the goat. The goat bleated and ran out of the tent as well. Sighing, Riku stepped into the tight pair of pants (he refused to use the word "leggings" when the thing was going on his body) before sitting down on the bed, the blue shirt lying dejected beside him.

'Sora…you are here somewhere…right? '

"And that's that," Quasimodo declared proudly, leading Sora back to the main area. Sora had quickly gotten over his attitude after seeing the bells and the awesome view of Paris one could see from the bell tower. Although he was a bit upset he still hadn't found Riku, he felt that the silver-haired teen would be okay, and he planned his next move – escape.

"Thanks, Quasimodo…but I have to go look for my frien –" He cut off quickly after hearing the creak of the door. "What was…?"

"Quick, hide!" Quasimodo ordered, and Sora dove under the table in a flash. He had enough of a view to see who was coming, and when he finally saw the person, he inched even farther under the table.

The man was obviously some sort of church official with his robes and the interesting hat he wore. But what kept Sora hidden were his eyes; eyes that shone with some hidden sort of anger, and seemed as if he wouldn't have flinched if someone was being beaten in front of him.

"Good morning, Quasimodo." Sora shuddered, shrinking against the back of the table. That man was creepy. Weirder than creepy – frightening.

With that, Sora realized that he had to get out of here and find Riku as soon as possible.