Disclaimer: See chapter 1, I don't feel like typing all of that out again.

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Deux

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Come inside

Come inside and see the devil's child

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Climbing the bell tower had not been so complicated as Sora had originally thought. The first problem had simply been getting above the ground floor pavillion without anyone noticing. After that, the symmetry of the place had worked to his advantage- if he could reach one part of one 'floor' of this tower, he could reach them all by vaulting from one bit of masonry to the next, stopping only occasionally to decide the next path. So far, no one had seen him.

The second problem appeared once he had climbed up to the walkway about halfway up the towers that joined the two halves. A leaping figure, too far away to be identified but too squat-shaped to be human, making its way down the parapets at twice Sora's rate. Who is that? The bellringing monster?

He did not get past that much observation before problem number three arrived. Appearing out of nowhere to stop him from vaulting the rail after the mystery figure, a painstakingly familiar display of opulent white garments that fully concealed the face and skin of the wearer. Elsewhere, similar beings snapped into existence around the walkway, not only preventing a rail vault but blocking both the doors to boot.

Instinct tensed Sora's arms and legs into warrior's implements. "Nobodies... Monsters." A person seeing these bizarre white husks for the first time might actually consider some of them to be sort of cute right up until the point where they were tearing their foes apart with their various weapons, but Sora knew better. Though much more pleasant to look at than the abominable Heartless, Nobodies were generally far more intelligent than their dark bretheren, and more dangerous for it if their chosen master decreed it.

He did not see a master controlling them here, only briefly flashing through memories of the twelve men and one woman in black robes who had once directed thousands of the things. Gambler Nobodies wielding razor-tipped cards and transformative magics, who had once served Luxord. Eternally-floating Sorcerer Nobodies who used their own potent magics as both a weapon and a shield, who had served as the final guardians of Xemnas' inner sanctum. I guess they must have found another master after I defeated them. But who in Notre Dame would have taken them in?

It didn't matter. All that mattered now was not hesitating to fight them all off. Sora raised one hand to sky, making his own weapon snap into being just as quickly as his old enemies had appeared before him- a giant key. Like the Nobodies, someone unfamiliar with all this weapon was capable of might scoff at it... But not for very long. Certainly, by now Nobodies and Heartless alike had learned to fear the Keyblade's touch.

Not that this stopped them, or even made them hesitate. Dozens of cards flew his way and a pair of cube-shaped barriers flared up to guard their casters. These Sorcerers also enjoyed the advantage of an elevated battleground, floating over the cathedral's roof just out of reach of the railing. Undaunted, the boy warrior instead charged the Gamblers, cutting two down before the innocuous spheres of glowing silver growing in their palms could reach full size.

"No thanks, guys! Being turned into a card is not my idea of a good time." For that was exactly what had happened a few times in the past, and the transformation had never failed to grind his nerves. Aside from that little trick, the pink-tinted Gamblers were actually one of the weaker kinds of Nobody, and before long he'd managed to whittle down their numbers to nothing. All the same, he could not help but imagine how much easier doing so would have been with his friends there.

Donald should have been off to one side, energetically blasting at the Sorcerers with his own elemental magic, healing Sora and the rest whenever things got tight. Goofy should have been fighting alongside him with gentle-hearted courage and might, capable of withstanding blows even Sora would have had difficulty shrugging off. Riku should have been there, watching his back in a way that only best friends were capable of doing, the only one Sora knew who had ever mastered the powers of Darkness without losing his heart to them. Together, they could defeat anything. They had defeated anything, everything Organization XIII had thrown at them.

Kairi should have been there...

But they weren't. He was alone. There was no one here to watch his back except for himself- already, the Sorcerers had tagged him with their shots a handful of times. He responded in kind, hurling the Keyblade directly into one of them, knocking it several stories down but not out of the battle entirely. In the time it took to spin around and draw a bead on the other one, the Keyblade had rematerialized in his good hand as it always did. A second quick toss destroyed the Sorcerer's barrier, leaving it open for the third to finish it off.

Sora looked around. All that remained now were the two guarding the doors- Nobodies of a type he had never seen before. Slightly shorter and thinner than the Gamblers, they wore both a seamless white mask concealing their true faces as well as a large hood over top of it, decorated with various symbols. The hood also extended down to wrap the rest of the body in garish white, comically large sleeves eclipsing any arms they might have had. Only now did they raise these large sleeves to the pristine blue sky above, as if in prayer.

Whatever they were doing, he wouldn't wait to find out. Dashing over to one, he was surprised when the creature did not resist, did not even manifest any kind of weapon to fight him with. It simply allowed itself to be bisected by the Keyblade, priestly robes fluttering to the ground before-

Unable to help himself, Sora cried out as more cards pierced his backside. What?! Did I miss one? Sure enough, there was a Gambler sitting there at the other side of the walkway, near the new Nobody, but something was different. Before now, he had never seen a Nobody with what could only be described as a white halo hovering over its head. Looking closer, he was even more surprised to see slash wounds decorating the creature's garments- he had made every one of them.

Nor did the shocks end there. In the space of seconds, he had slashed through the Gambler several more times; to absolutely no effect. Attacking it did not even slow down its casting of the same annoying transformation sphere as before, which Sora was careful to dodge. In that same space, he also saw the new Nobody pray a second time. To their left, an injured Sorcerer rose up with a halo decorating its head.

Though admittedly far from the brightest person on the Destiny Islands, he had seen enough. Those ones can return their allies to life and make them invincible! I've got to take that one out before it does the same to- ARGH!

Losing concentration had allowed the revived Sorcerer to tag him with the strange magic cubes it used to create it's barrier. By the time he'd recovered from that, the barrier had imposed itself between him and the new Nobody... which was again raising its massive robe sleeves in silent prayer to revive another one of it's buddies. What is this?! I've never encountered that kind of Nobody before. Sure, there are Heartless that can heal their allies, but this? Who commands them?

He'd had enough. Nimbly dodging another card barrage took him onto a nearby statue of some ancient saint. Before the second Sorcerer could revive as well, he'd made it up to the next ledge and well away from a lost battle.

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"Look at that disgusting display", Judge Claude Frollo observed in chagrin at the crowd, the ire of his dulcet tones aimed at his new captain in particular but not averse to the ears of all near him. "Peddlers, clowns, shysters, the dregs of humankind, all mixed together in a shallow, drunken stupor. I will never understand its appeal to the rabble."

"Once a year, we throw a party here in town!"

Strong and stoic beside him, as seemed to be his default setting, Captain Hyral shrugged noncommittally at the semi-legible drinking song erupting before them in the crowd. "Agreed, minister. I don't doubt this would be the perfect diversion for pickpockets, either. I'll send some of the men to mingle with the crowd."

Frollo gave him a disdainful snarl. "Why bother? They bring this upon themselves in being lured here to watch gypsy heresy. You clearly have not spent much time here in Paris, Captain. We are infested with heathen parasites, and this is the one time of year their nest is allowed to appear in broad daylight. Because of softhearted politics, we cannot interfere."

"Every clown's a king and every king's a clown!"

"And the other 364 days of the year, sir?"

Inwardly pleased that his new Captain had caught onto the real war so fast, he leaned in closer to the lad. "It is called the 'Court of Miracles', my boy. A sanctuary hidden from the eyes of Notre Dame. Yet in twenty years, my men have not found the slightest inkling of it beyond the name."

Hyral nodded in understanding. "Impressively resolute, these people, however misguided they may be."

"It's a day a devil in us gets released!"

Frollo tightened both fists and fixed Captain Hyral with a warning glare, the kind that had broken the will of corrupt nobles and sympathetic peasant-folk alike. "I stopped finding their resolve admirable long ago, Captain. Now it is merely... aggravating. We alone maintain the Justice here in Paris. We alone purge the people's forever-sinning hearts, do all we can to save their souls from eternal damnation in the hereafter. We saved these people's lives three years ago. And whatdo we receive in return for these services? Naught but secrecy and resentment. No, these outsiders are not adversaries to be admired, nor to be underestimated. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir." Deciding it unwise to discuss the matter further, the captain returned his attention to searching the crowd for irregularities. There were jugglers and dancers and sping-mounted mannequins of every color and description, though only now had some kind of structure been imposed on the festival, with the floats being paraded out through the square for the approval of their massive audience. He had not been in town long enough to be sure, but would estimate that fully half the city's population had turned out for the gathering. It had only been through the soldiers positioned around their pavillion that they had been able to speak at all above the growing din.

Beside him, the minister suddenly let out a gasp, growing even paler than usual. "Impossible...!"

"Are you all right, sir?"

"Because everything is Topsy-Turvy at the Feast of Fools!"

Recovered in the space of a second, Frollo merely tipped his purple and black-cushioned hat. "A moment, Captain. The stench of this hovel may be having a worse effect than I realized." With that, he ducked away from the podium to take his leave among an escort of two.

This suited Captain Hyral just fine, as he had just spotted his own impossibility. Unlike the minister, he knew better then to chalk it up to the cheap alcohol wafting around the place. Sometimes impossible coincidences just happened. It was up to each person whether they would run from them, or use them to their advantage.

"Take over, Jaques", he called to his top suboordinate, a muscular, chestnut mustachioed fellow bearing a fancy family crest on his armor from the steps down the minister's podium. "I'll be back shortly."

His target didn't see it coming until it was too late. Immersed thoroughly in the crowds despite having partaken of no drinking and little revelry, he must have believed himself protected against the suspicious eyes of Frollo's men. After all, there were a great many citizens his age clustered around the semicircle of tents, and just as many bearing mops of youthful blond hair. He had not counted on someone he had known for the majority of his life to be searching the crowd for rabble-rousers, nor for that person to be able to take autonomous action against him with no sign from the soldiers that something was up. As it was, he did not start to move away from the crowd's epicentre until he'd spotted him forcing the crowd to part around him with the combined weight of his authority and his strange-hilted sword. By then, it was only enough to get him out of sight and into a dead-end street before that strange sword extended out and ripped a gash in back of the other man's blue shirt.

"I never dreamed you'd show up here of all places, Ramza", Captain Hyral spoke up icily behind his old friend, pressing his sword into the armor beneath it so he could not move without being cut. "Why would a wanted heretic take refuge in the most devoutly religious city in the entire kingdom?"

"You left out that it's the top refuge for political outcasts in the kingdom, Delita", the young man replied almost as smoothly, though his retort was curbed by the affection for another they still shared from when they were teens. He did not try to move. "And I should be asking you the same question- why are you here in this world? Still playing the church's lapdog?"

"Playing", Delita emphasized. "And not for much longer. Pretty soon, I'll have the power I need to make the changes I've always wanted. No one will ever die again for getting in the way of a noble's bloody ambition."

"Only for getting in the way of yours", Ramza Beoluve countered him, still unable to turn around and face him with the sword against his back, building more pressure now as its wielder drew close enough to whisper into his ear.

"You know my friend, it's a good thing your hair's that color."

"Why?"

"Because it makes you look a lot more like him."

He did not need to be told which 'him' he spoke of. This particular 'him' haunted the youngest Beoluve just as often as it did Delita Hyral, despite the fact that he was long dead. "It wasn't our fault, Delita."

"Sure it wasn't. All your brother did was hand him a crossbow to shoot her in the heart with. Clearly no involvement there at all. But enough of this speculation." The sword's pressure abruptly lifted, at last allowing him to turn around and face his friend eye-to-eye as he spoke. "Go home, Ramza. You can't do any good here. These fortune-tellers and palm-readers might oppose the church with all their hearts, but they're no rebel army. Continue to interfere, and I'll have to kill you." The heat in his eyes left no doubt that he would. All he would have to do is take a moment to imagine his friend with flattened hair with a single curl of blond, an upturned lip much like Minister Frollo's, and a slightly taller build.

That was how he always did it, though he took great care not to mention his little mind game to anyone. He had killed Algus Sadalfas at least a dozen times now. More were to come. However many it took to accomplish his goals, here in Notre Dame.

* * *

Amazingly, the sounds of the celebrating crowd below did not significantly diminish once Sora had managed to swing his way up to the topmost levels of the bell tower. If anything, they had grown. From here they appeared a matte of every possible color, packed together almost to the point of overflowing the square. The occasional balloon floated up to his level on random air currents, as if taunting him before ascending beyond mortal reach.

Sora forced himself to look away and ducked into the structure itself. Though he had been a good climber since he had been old enough to realize it, no human could feel entirely safe exposed at this altitude; especially not when there were Nobodies chasing you. Though the grid of ceiling beams he now tread upon was equally precarious, he nonetheless relaxed considerably once inside, beholding the massive bells for which this mighty tower was named.

There were rows and rows of them all on ropes and brackets, of varying size and shape, all in regal bronze and kept in surprisingly good condition. As little as a year back Sora might have yielded to the temptation to ring them just for fun, even though it would blow his cover. With the way the roof above his head curved towards the windows such as the one he'd entered through, the sounds of these massive bells could echo their time and date out across the entire city. As it was, he contented himself with shouting "Helloooo!" into one of the tall ones and listening to the distorted timbre.

Only one thing was missing here- the supposed 'bell-ringing monster'. Curious, he dropped off the rafters and into a proper living space, complete with cabinets and a broom. What really stood out however, was the model on the table in the centre. Even someone new to the city as he could tell it was a model of the very cathedral he had just climbed, complete with dozens of wooden replicas of the townsfolk!

"Amazing", he gasped involuntarily. Something had to be said for it, considering where he'd found it. The more he looked, the more the detail became apparent. Statues and motifs just as intricate as the real ones outside layered the stone edifice all the way up. The carefully crafted joining walkway, this one thankfully devoid of Nobodies. Bright paints duplicating the massive stained-glass windows that both the real towers had. Most amazing of all was something that did not occur to him until he tried walking out of the room- the model cathedral was too big to fit through the door, or even the windows he'd entered through! Someone made this entirely in this room, he realized with a shock. And they're not even done yet! For several featureless blocks of wood lay off to one side of the table along with a carving knife and brush. The blocks would no doubt eventually be carved and painted into more models. It was a strange, fantastical sight in the mind of a boy who had experienced a lifetime's worth of strange, fantastical sights.

Still no bellringing monster. Sora was sitting on one of the chairs, idly wondering if the Nobodies had attacked him too, when a sharp cry from below- and the silence that came after- called him to the main balcony.

"Wow", he remarked at the sight below. "No wonder he's not here!"

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Our passion play's at last begun

How long to wait before two are one?

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M: Since the other two 'visitors' to Notre Dame are from Final Fantasy, I don't consider this to be a crossover, but feel free to correct me. Fast update I know, but only because it was requested. I intend to update once a week barring any unseen problems.