Chapter 2: New Enemies and Ruined Parties

Jehan's POV

My life has been filled with nothing but pain and misery. But it hasn't always been that way though, it use to be great, it use to be full of luxury. With my brother by my side and the greatest home in the world, I had all that I wanted. Then I got myself into drinking and partying with gypsies and nobles. My brother disapproved of it all, especially the archdeacon at the time. Then one day, I hooked up with a gypsy woman and it was my brother's birthday, so I thought I would give my brother a special surprise. But instead, he went ballistic and sold me out to the archdeacon. I was then kicked out, along with the gypsy woman.

Before we left, my brother came out and tried to apologize, but I was so angry that I told him off and left with the gypsy woman. We traveled to many places and everything was great, until she got pregnant and left me for another gypsy man. After that, my drinking began to get worse, and I lost all of my money. I came back to Notre Dame to beg my brother for forgiveness, but instead he kicked me out and disowned me. But before I left, I noticed a small hunched figure hiding behind him. He was smaller than any child that I've seen on the streets, and more disfigured and deformed than any of them. He didn't even look or seem human.

I tried to ask my brother more about him, but he banished me onto the streets. That was the last time that I ever saw my brother. For the next few years, I was living out on the streets begging for coins. It was a miserable life, I was scorned by the nobles, I was even mocked by the gypsies. I thought my pain and misery would never end. That was until a noble woman came up to me one day with some money and a bottle of wine. She took me out of the streets and brought me into a home and gave me shelter. She said her reason for doing it wasn't because she loved me, but it was because she had pity on me. Her life was a different story, especially her love life, but it was filled with as much pain and misery as mine.

Her love story was a bitter one. She fell in love with a soldier and the captain of the guard in France, and to her, their love was bliss. Then one day, he fell in love with a gypsy woman and he left her. She was heartbroken, she became bitter and she hasn't ever fallen in love again since.

As for me, life was starting to turn around and everything was great. But I always wondered about what had happened to my brother, what had he become? Especially that little hunchbacked child, he always sounded suspicious to me.

My answer finally came one day when one of my servants handed me a note. It said that my brother has been killed from the top of Notre Dame during a fight with the hunchback and two other girls. I always knew there was something suspicious about that monster. In anger, I crumbled up the note, threw it to ground and banged my head on the table.

I then heard the door open and I saw my beautiful mistress walk in, Fleur-de-Lys. She came over with a bottle of wine and sarcastically asked,

"What is it now, your grace?"

I groaned and said, "I'm not in the mood for it, harpy."

She then snarled,

"You dare speak to me like that?! After all I've done for you?! If it wasn't for me, you'd still be begging for scraps in the streets!"

I sighed and said,

"You're right, I'm sorry. I just received a letter informing me about my brother's death."

She looked down at the crumbled note and asked,

"You mean this?"

I answered, "Yeah." I took the wine and poured it into my goblet as Fleur picked up the note and read it.

As I took a sip out of the goblet, I heard her say,

"Hm. Oh yeah, I remember this. I heard about it two years ago."

In shock, I spat out the wine and asked,

"What?! Well why didn't you tell me about this sooner?!"

She answered,

"You were going through enough problems in your life, and I felt that it would've made it worse if I told you."

I took deep breathes and asked, "What more do you know about this?"

She answered,

"Well not much except for the fact that the hunchback or Quasimodo, had a part in Frollo's death."

When she said that, my anger got worse and I snapped,

"Oh, that little monster! I always knew that he would be trouble right from the start! I swear, I'll have my revenge if it's the last thing I do!"

And I banged my fists on the table.

I then thought about what he could be doing now, what's his life like now?

I then asked, "What more do you know about him?"

She said,

"Well nothing much, except for the fact that he's now engaged to some woman."

Once I heard that, I laughed and asked,

"You must be joking! That monster? Engaged?"

She then said, "No I'm serious, the news of it just hit this morning."

I then thought for a minute and asked,

"And what do you know about her?"

She said,

"All I know is that she came from somewhere else, and she also had a part in Frollo's death."

I nodded and said with a sinister grin,

"Well then, I guess they're both going to get a surprise that they'll never except."

I then got another idea and I turned my attention to Fleur and said,

"You know Fleur, I shouldn't be the only one having all the fun."

She asked as she poured more wine into my goblet,

"Oh? And what do you mean by that?"

I explained,

"Well, since I'm getting vengeance for my poor brother's death, I suggest that you'd do the same."

She asked, "Oh, and who do you suppose that would be?"

As she was about to walk out of the door, I said,

"Oh, maybe that old captain of the guard that left you years ago."

She paused and then said,

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I then said, "Are you sure? I believe I remember his name."

She then said, "Don't say it!"

I then said digging further, "Ah, I remember, it had to have been-"

She said, "Don't!"

I then said, "Phoebus."

And in that moment, she turned around and snapped,

"I told you to never to say that name in this house!"

I jumped back in shock. She started panting with fury. She then regained her composure and said,

"Look, that was a part of my past that I don't want to go back to."

She then sighed and said,

"That man, he hurt me. And he left me for other women. Especially for that, gypsy witch!"

I then said as I walked up to her and I wrapped my arms around her,

"Well don't you see? If I can get payback at the hunchback and the girl for killing my brother, then you can get payback on that scumbag. The one that hurt you years ago."

She nodded her head in response and asked,

"Alright, what's your plan?"

I simply answered,

"Well, we wait. And once the timing is right, we'll strike, right when they least expect it."

Natalie's POV

I stayed the night in the bell tower with Quasi. Then the next morning, I had to get ready to head back into my world for my graduation party. I planned to share the news of our engagement to everyone at the party. I wanted Quasi to come so we can share the news together, but he had to stay behind so he could help prepare for the Feast of Fools, which was tomorrow and I was actually dancing in it. Esmeralda couldn't dance in it this year because she's got her hands full with her son Zephyr, who was now about a year old.

As I was about to leave, I was putting on my ring and I looked at it. I was really nervous about sharing the news about our engagement to everybody, especially my family, what would they say? I saw Quasi walking up to me and he asked,

"Are you ready for your party?"

I answered laughing lightly, "No, not really."

He asked with a concerned look, "How come?"

I sighed and said,

"I don't know, I mean I'm just nervous about telling my family about our engagement, I mean like what are they going to say?"

He then said taking my hand,

"Don't worry about it, my dear. Look, no matter what happens, I'll always love you."

I sighed and said,

"Oh, I wish you could come so we could share the news together."

He said,

"I know. I'll tell you what, after your party, we'll spend the whole day together, and if you want, you can bring some of your other friends over too. It'll be fun."

I smiled and said,

"Alright, that sounds good. I'll see you in a little bit."

He nodded and said, "Alright."

And we both kissed each other goodbye.

Then we let go of each other's hand and I took a few steps back. I then closed my eyes and I thought about how happy I am to see my family and friends and how excited I am to share my news with them. And I felt the same warm glow circling around me and once I opened my eyes, I was back in my room in old world.

As I straightened myself out, I heard a bark and all of a sudden, I saw my dog Janie come in and she started jumping all over me. I picked her up and she started licking my face as I said through my laughter,

"Okay!, Okay Janie, I missed you too!"

And I smiled at her as she grinned at me.

Then I heard two girls calling me, "Nat? Natalie?"

I recognized them and said,

"Irena! Leslie! I'm in here!"

They rushed in and I said, "Hey guys."

Irena said, "Hey Nat."

Leslie said, "Hey."

Irena then asked, "Where were you?"

Leslie added,

"Yeah, everyone's waiting for you at your party."

I answered,

"Oh, I stayed the night in the bell tower."

Irena asked, "Oh, seeing Quasimodo again?"

I said, "Yeah, it was grand."

Leslie asked, "What happened?"

I said,

"I'll tell you all about it later, and I actually have an important announcement to make to everybody."

Irena asked, "What is it?"

I said, "You'll see."

I then asked as I looking at myself,

"Oh gosh! I got to go get a dress! Can you guys give me a minute?"

They nodded and Irena said, "Oh yeah, sure."

And they walked out of the room and closed the door to get ready.

Once I walked out, I was in a short purple dress with a black ribbon tied around it, and I was in black high heels. I met up with my friends in the living room and I asked,

"How do I look?"

Leslie said, "Oh my gosh, you look so pretty!"

Irena said, "Yeah you look great, come on!"

And with that, we all walked out into the backyard. Once we got there, my Dad said,

"Oh look everybody, it's Natalie!"

And everyone shouted, "Yay!"

And I smiled and waved as I walked over to everybody. For the next few minutes I chatted with my distant cousins and my other family members. I told my parents about where I was and that I had a really important announcement to share with everyone later. My parents said I could share the news as soon as we started cutting the cake.

After a few minutes we cut the cake and after we ate, I made my way up to the patio and said,

"Attention everyone! Um, there's just a few things that I want to say to all of you."

And Everyone, including my parents were paying attention. I took a deep breathe and said,

"First off, I just want to say thank you to all of you for coming and thank you for supporting me throughout all of my years of High school. And second, I actually have a very important announcement to share with all of you."

I quickly turned around and looked at my ring and said to myself,

"Come on Natalie, you can do this."

I then turned my attention to the crowd and shouted excitedly as I revealed my ring to everybody,

"I'm getting married!"

Everyone erupted in cheers. Irena and Leslie both asked excitedly,

"You're getting married?!"

And my parents and siblings asked more in shock,

"You're getting married?!"

Then my friends came up to me and Irena said,

"Show us the ring."

Leslie said, "Yeah show us."

I showed them and they were amazed by it. As they were still admiring, my Mom and Dad walked up to us and my Dad said,

"Wow! Now that was a surprise that we didn't see coming."

My Mom asked, "Did he just do it last night?"

I said,

"Yes. Oh Mom, it was so romantic and it was a beautiful evening."

Dad then asked,

"Nat, are you sure you're actually ready for this?"

A little confused, I asked,

"What do you mean, aren't you guys happy for me?"

Mom said,

"Of course we are. But Natalie, this seems all too soon."

Dad added,

"Yeah Peanut, you just graduated, I mean, don't you think that you're going too fast?"

Hurt, I said,

"You know what, I thought you guys would actually be happy for me, but I guess I was wrong."

And with that, I started running back inside the house and my friends ran after me and Irena shouted,

"Nat, wait!"

I ran all the way into my room, threw off my heels and I sat down on my bed in dismay.

Irena and Leslie then came in and sat beside me and Irena asked,

"Nat, are you okay?"

I said as I shook my head,

"No. I can't believe it! I mean I thought they'd be happy about it. But, I just don't understand."

Leslie said, "Give it time Natalie, they just found out."

Irena said, "Yeah, they'll come around."

I sighed in response. I then said

"Now I don't even know how to tell Quasi. I mean, I already know he's gonna be disappointed."

Irena said,

"Don't worry about it Nat, everything's gonna work itself out. I mean, we're already happy for you."

I sighed and said,

"I know, and I'm glad you guys are happy for me and Quasi. You guys are really good friends."

They smiled and we hugged each other in response.

I then said "Do you guys want to stay here?"

Irena asked, "What do you mean?"

I answered,

"Well, I just don't feel like staying here anymore after what just happened."

Leslie then asked, "So, you're just going to leave your own party?"

I nodded and said,

"Yeah, I'll leave my parents a note so they don't freak out. But I just don't want to go back out there."

Irena said, "Alright, we understand."

I then asked, "Do you want to come?"

Leslie asked, "Us?"

I said,

"Yeah, like I just don't want to go alone. And it's been a while since the three of us just actually hung out. And I know that Quasimodo would sure like to see you again."

Irena and Leslie looked at each other for a minute and nodded and Irena said,

"Yeah, sure."

Leslie said, "Yeah we'll go with you."

Excited, I said,

"Awesome! I'll just leave a note for my parents and then we'll go."

They nodded in response. I quickly wrote a note for my parents telling them where I went and that I would be back in two days or so while my friends would probably head back sooner. I left the note by my dresser and I asked my friends,

"Do you have your crystals?"

Leslie answered showing hers, "Yeah."

Irena answered Showing hers, "I got mine."

The Blue Fairy gave my parents, siblings, and my friends magic crystals of their own so they could go along with me on my adventures if I ever needed them, and since they were the people that were close to my heart.

I nodded and said, "Okay."

And with that, we all joined hands and closed our eyes. I thought about how much I love Quasimodo and how happy he makes me and how happy I am to see him. I felt a warm glow wrapping around us and once we opened our eyes, we were wearing different clothes and we were back in the world of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."