A/N: Now, I'm going world by world, just like I did with the other ones, just so you know. I hope you like this so far! Enjoy~
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Shadow & Kurai. Refer to the first disclaimer if you want to know where I got the game script.
Kingdom Hearts 3D, Shadow's Story
Chapter 2
Sora and I woke up in an old-fashioned-looking town with a huge bell tower. We made our way to the bell tower, but as we walked into the square, a man in a long black robe with a red sash hanging from his triangular hat paused as he walked past us, staring at us intently. I felt the eerie vibe from his stare, and I shivered.
"Stop," the man barked, and Sora paused.
"What? Who, us?" the brunette asked, confused. The man walked closer to us, examining Sora's clothes.
"I've never seen you before, or a creature such as that," he remarked, and I bristled angrily at the comment. "Your names?"
"I'm Sora, and this is Shadow," Sora told him when I remained silent.
"Such disgusting attire," the man spat. "I know what you are."
"Judge Frollo. Sir!" a man clad in gold armor shouted, running over to us. I rolled my eyes at the armor; it was nothing against Denkou's brilliant topaz armor.
"What is the matter, Captain Phoebus?" the man, obviously Frollo, demanded irritably. "Can't you see…I am interrogating these gypsies?"
"This kid and lizard here? But sir, he's just a boy with a lizard," the captain said, and I immediately snarled.
"I shall be the judge of that," Frollo sniffed. Phoebus looked hesitant to speak. "Now, Captain, did you have something to report to me or did you not?"
"Yes sir. Monsters—they've invaded the square!" the captain informed him.
"Monsters? We'll take care of it!" Sora declared, and the two of us ran off, the brunette summoning his Keyblade as we ran. I needed to destroy something anyway, just to burn off the anger I currently felt.
"Hey, wait! It's not safe!" Phoebus cried out after us, and followed. Sora and I ran into the cathedral square, where a festival was apparently taking place. There was a man with a hunchback in a king's robe and false crown sitting atop a Zolephant Dream Eater, waving at the crowd around him. Several other Dream Eaters flew about as the crowd cheered.
"I knew it was the Dream Eaters!" Sora said as we saw them. Upon noticing the man atop the Zolephant, however, we paused.
"What are you doing? You need to run!" I warned him.
"Oh no, I couldn't. Today's the festival. And look, I'm the King of Fools!" the man told us with a smile. A Komory Bat flew over to Captain Phoebus as he entered, who swatted it down with his sword while Frollo walked into the square. Upon noticing the man on the Zolephant's back, however, he scowled.
"Quasimodo!" Frollo snapped. The man atop the Zolephant gazed at Frollo in terror.
"It's my master," he whimpered, and I noticed the Zolephant's eyes light up when it detected Quasimodo's distress. Rearing up, it trumpeted loudly, knocking Quasimodo off its back. The man got to his feet and was surrounded by Nightmares. They began to go berserk as his fear grew. "No! Oh please, stop! Why doesn't anything ever go the way I want it to?" Sora and I ran over, the brunette's Keyblade ready to fight and my claws glowing in response.
"Get to safety!" I ordered.
"Let me help," a woman's voice said, and a dark-haired woman in a violet dress walked over to us.
"Huh? Who are you?" Sora asked her.
"I'm Esmeralda. I'm a gypsy," she answered.
"Thank you. This is Sora, and I'm Shadow," I smiled. Esmeralda held her hand out to the dejected Quasimodo, who accepted the helping hand with a smile of his own. They quickly ran towards the cathedral doors while Sora and I returned our focus to the matter at hand.
"Okay, now you've got our attention," Sora and I growled, and we quickly fought off the Dream Eaters. When we finished, the brunette and I looked at each other. "I wonder if that guy is all right. Quasi…what was it?"
"Let's go find out," I suggested, and we walked into the cathedral. As we walked inside the bell tower, we passed three gargoyles that remained motionless as we entered. We saw Quasimodo introducing Esmeralda to the large bells in the bell tower rafters.
"This is Big Marie," he told her.
"Hello-o-o!" Esmeralda called, touching the bell's clapper.
"She likes you," Quasimodo smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"Looks like Quasi's gonna be just fine," Sora remarked with a small grin. I heard a small grinding sound, and heard a voice speak up.
"Indisputably," the voice said. Another grinding sound and another voice.
"He's tough," the second voice agreed. Yet another grinding noise and voice.
"We may be hard as stone, but Quasi's stronger," the third voice said.
"I know…" Sora nodded as we turned, and saw the three gargoyles had come to life and were speaking to us. Sora jumped, shocked. "WHOA! Talking gargoyles?"
"Excuse us for havin' personality!" the third one huffed. Esmeralda started to leave, walking past a table with a model of the city on it.
"You could stay here forever, you know," Quasi told her.
"No, I couldn't," she sighed.
"Oh, yes. You have sanctuary," he assured her.
"But not freedom. Gypsies don't do so well inside stone walls," she murmured. Quasimodo's expression became determined.
"You helped me. Now, I will help you," he promised.
"But there's no way out," Esmeralda argued. "There's soldiers at every door." Looking at the model of the cathedral, Quasi seemed to think of something.
"We won't use a door," he said simply, walking over to her. "It's all right. Are you ready?" Taking her in his arms, he leapt out the window onto the parapet, where he jumped down and swung his way out of the cathedral.
"Didn't expect that," I commented. Turning back to the gargoyles, I asked, "So how come you and Quasimodo are so close?"
"We've been friends for years," the third one, named Laverne, told us.
"More than a decade of camaraderie," the first one, named Victor, added.
"Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!" the second one, named Hugo, chimed in.
"He never leaves?" Sora gasped, and I shivered at the thought of being trapped like that.
"Oh, he's not allowed to leave," Laverne said. "Judge Frollo forbids it."
"Why?" I asked, bewildered by Frollo's ruling.
"Care to pull up a stool?" Victor offered. We sat down.
"The short version is, Frollo thinks he's doing a Quasi a favor by keeping folks from seeing that mug of his," Hugo explained.
"After a lifetime of watching from the nosebleed seats, Quasi just wanted to go to the Feast of Fools," Laverne added softly. "And we're so proud of him for working up the courage to do it."
"'Tis a shame those creatures dashed his hopes," Victor sighed.
"You should talk. When's the last time you looked in a mirror?" Hugo taunted.
"Well, you broke it!" Victor retorted, and they moved closer aggressively.
"Oh, a wise guy, eh?" Hugo growled.
"Knock it off! Ya couple of blockheads!" Laverne snapped at them, and she knocked the two away. "I just hope this one failure doesn't cause Quasi to give up. He was so close."
"He can't let his heart be a prison," I said, shuffling my wings on my back slightly. Sora and I ran to the entrance.
"Don't worry, we'll go talk to him!" Sora promised, and we left. As we walked into the town, we passed Phoebus.
"Oh. Hello again," he greeted. "Sora and Shadow, was it?" We stopped and turned towards him, noticing he was no longer clad in his armor.
"Hold it. You're that guy with Frollo," I said icily.
"Easy. I'm not looking for any sort of fight," he assured us, and Sora lowered his defensiveness. "Finally someone sensible. I'm Phoebus. Tell me, is she still safe in the cathedral?"
"If 'she' is Esmeralda, then Quasimodo helped her escape," Sora told him.
"Blast," Phoebus growled.
"What's wrong?" the brunette asked. Phoebus looked up at the bell tower.
"It's Judge Frollo," he explained. "He's obsessed with destroying the gypsies, and his mind is in a dark place. When I objected to his barbarous actions, he banished me from the guard."
"What? That's not fair," Sora grumbled.
"Don't worry about me," Phoebus said. "Frollo said he's found the 'Court of Miracles'—the gypsies haven within the city. Esmeralda and her friends are in danger. We have to find them and warn them before Frollo gets there." Suddenly, there was the sound of something dropping, and we looked at the source to find Quasimodo.
"Quasimodo, Esmeralda's in trouble!" Sora told him urgently.
"Where did she go?" Phoebus demanded.
"I don't know. She…she vanished into the streets," he mumbled sadly. Looking down at the necklace, he picked it up. "She…gave me this pendant. Esmeralda said this would help me find her." Thinking on it, he murmured, "'When you wear this woven band, you hold the city in your hand.'" He suddenly gasped in realization, and held up the necklace to show us. "It's the city! It's a map, see? Here's the cathedral and the river. Go this way, cross the bridge and—the Court of Miracles!" Phoebus patted Quasimodo's back.
"Well done, Quasimodo!" he praised.
"Yeah, Quasi, nice!" Sora cheered.
"Yes, I'm going to save her," Quasimodo said confidently. We made our way through the graveyard and underground tunnels until we reached the Court of Miracles, where we found Esmeralda standing in the center.
"Quasimodo? What are you doing here?" she asked worriedly.
"Phoebus and I came to warn you," he explained. "Frollo's on his way!"
"Take what you can and flee!" Phoebus added. Suddenly, we were surrounded by Nightmares.
"Well done, Captain Phoebus," Frollo said as he walked in. "Thankfully, you are every bit as predictable as I had hoped." Phoebus growled in response. "Dear Quasimodo. I always knew you would someday be of use to me." Quasimodo looked to the ground, defeated, as Frollo approached Esmeralda and leaned in closely, making her back away. "I have you at last, you witch."
He ran behind her and grabbed her wrist, placing his other hand on her shoulder, his face close to her neck. She struggled, but couldn't rid herself of the man.
"There'll be a bonfire in the square," Frollo stated, and then began to lead Esmeralda away.
"No. Please, Master!" Quasimodo begged. Frollo merely looked down at him with contempt.
"Frollo, we won't let you do this!" I snarled, and we started to charge at him, but suddenly, darkness surrounded Frollo, stopping us. We felt a presence behind us, but when we turned, both of us were immediately knocked to the ground by a powerful Dream Eater. When we came to, Sora opened his eyes slowly as I sat up, groaning and clutching my head.
"No!" Sora gasped, sitting up quickly. Looking around, we realized the Court of Miracles was deserted.
"Quasimodo! Esmeralda! Phoebus!" I shouted, but there was no answer. I lowered my head sadly.
"He's taking her to a bonfire in the square…We gotta hurry!" Sora told me, and I nodded with a growl. We ran to the cathedral square, where we saw a wooden platform where Esmeralda was tied to a large stake. The fire burned around her, forming a red haze in the area.
"Esmeralda!" I yelled as we ran to the platform. Quasimodo stood on Notre Dame, looking down, and then descended along a long rope. He ran along the cathedral exterior and swung to the platform, where he rapidly began to untie her.
"Way to go, Quasi!" Sora crowed. When Quasimodo finished, he grabbed the rope again and swung back up onto the cathedral, walking up the side of the church. Once he reached the parapet in front of a large window, he raised Esmeralda into the air.
"Sanctuary!" he cried out fiercely. Frollo, from where he stood, scowled furiously and started running towards the cathedral. Sora and I began to follow him, but paused when stone started to fall down from above. Looking up, we immediately scrambled away as a Wargoyle crashed down onto the wooden platform. Sora readied his Keyblade, the Nightmare growling at us as we prepared for combat.
Sora and I fought with help from Meow Wow, and quickly defeated the Wargoyle. Afterwards, we met up with the other three in the nave of the church. Sora and I walked over with the three gargoyles to see Quasimodo happily watching Esmeralda and Phoebus hold hands.
"Quasimodo. You can't let your heart be a—" Sora started to say, but was interrupted.
"I know," he said. "I can't blame Frollo for putting walls around me. It wasn't the walls that were holding me back." We all nodded and Quasimodo walked towards the entrance. "But my heart is free now. I'm ready to see what's really out there."
Later on, Sora and I were standing alone near the altar, looking at a statue.
"All that time, Quasimodo let himself be trapped inside the nightmares Frollo gave him," I murmured. We started to walk towards the beam of light shining in from the stained glass window, but stopped when I bristled at the sight of a figure walking towards us.
"Hypocrite," the young man from Traverse Town said. "You are the ones who have made your hearts prisons…"
"You again," I growled. "What are you talking about?" For a split second, though, something stirred in our hearts, and we saw in the young man's place a boy with black hair similar to Sora's and a dragon similar to me standing before us.
"Even if you are not the prisoners," he said, and the image faded.
"Huh?" we uttered, completely bewildered. The young man disappeared through a dark corridor, and a Keyhole appeared in the stained glass. After sealing the Keyhole with Sora's Keyblade and my light, we looked at each other curiously. "Our hearts…are prisons?" We closed our eyes, letting the light wash over us.
A/N: And there's that chapter! R&R, peeps!