The bell ringer in the tower was no one other then the "monster", Kiku Honda.

The very boy, Braginski had taken in.

Even without a strange name like Kiku, the young mans appearance alone was enough to tell he was not like any of the others in the city of Paris. He had short, black hair and was small and fragile in stature. But the most startling about him were his eyes. They were deep brown and slit-like, instead of round. It were those very eyes, that made people shiver and turn away, when they saw him. No one else in Paris had eyes like those.

Luckily, Kiku rarely got out of his bell tower, to trigger their hatred towards him, actually, he had never left the church at all. Since he was a toddler, Notre Dame had been his home. Here, he had been teached by Braginski how and when to ring the bells, how to clean them and the most important lesson of all: that he was a monster and should stay out of side as much as possible. Kiku believed what the Judge told him, without ever questioning it. And as such, he did his duty.

In doing so, he was rewarded. Always having to pull on the ropes to get the heavy bells into motion had given him incredible body strength, something no one would expect from such a small man, and maneuvering through the bell tower to clean the bells had given him quite amazing acrobatic skills. But Kiku also had some hobbies apart from working with the bells.

He was a really skilled woodcarver. He enjoyed making little figurines and models, out of crass wood. His current project, a model of Paris itself, with all it's little houses, shops and even Notre Dame, was standing on a wooden desk, close to one of the balconies. When Kiku had nothing else to do, he would sit there, watching the people underneath him do their daily chatter and work, memorizing each one of their faces to the smallest detail, so he could later on carve it into wood.

Sometimes Kiku felt a tiny twinge of pain in his chest, at seeing the people in the courtyard laughing and he found himself longing to be one of them. Kiku asked himself many times, why he couldn't just go down there, just climbing down the stairs, but he knew the answer himself already. Because he was a monster.

This very morning, Kiku had just finished with ringing the bells and was hopping down onto one of the wooden planks, scaring a swarm of pigeons. The birds rose into the air and flew through the stone door, out on the balcony and into the far off sun. Kiku followed them, a light smile on his face and went over to the rail, where two gargoyles in the shape of human man with horns were standing, one with his mouth opened wide. Kiku leaned over to look into the wide open mouth of the gargoyle, his smile widening, when he noticed the nest with the young bird in it. The bird had just woken up itself and gave a cute little yawn.

"Good morning." Kiku greeted him softly. The bird turned his head towards Kiku and gave a happy cheep for an answer.

"Will today be the day?" Kiku asked, "Are you ready to fly?"

The bird squeaked a little and shook it's tiny head. Kiku smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Won't you even try? You see" Kiku picked the bird up carefully and held it over the rail, "If I had to pick a day to take fly, this would be it. The festival of fools."

Down in the courtyard, people were already preparing stages and putting up decorations for the very festival, Kiku had been talking about. From so far up, it was quite a sight to behold. The bird gulped at the long way down and took an uncertain look back at Kiku, chirping in question.

"It will be fun!" Kiku reassured it, "The jugglers and music and dancing." While he talked, Kiku slowly pulled his hands away from underneath the bird and in doing so, made the little animal flap his wings and hold itself up in the air unconsciously. When the bird noticed what was happening, it chirped in joy and looked at Kiku proudly, who chuckled. He caught the bird in his hands again, just as another swarm of pigeons flew past the both of them. The young bird excitedly chirped after them. Kiku smiled down at it.

"Go on." he said warmly, patting it's head with one finger, "No one wants to be scooped up here forever." Kiku extended his hand and the bird took flight, following the swarm and making happy little noises. Kiku watched them fade into the horizon. A sudden sadness overtook him and he leaned on the rail with his arms.

Suddenly the gargoyle to his right, the one with the nest in his mouth began to cough and sputter and finally spit the whole nest out.

"Man! I thought he'd never leave!" the gargoyle exclaimed, still spitting out remains of his unwanted roomer. "I'll be spitting feathers for a week!"

"That's when you get, for sleeping with your mouth open, Gilbert." the gargoyle to Kikus left said, in a nasal, cautionary tone. The first gargoyle just dropped his right hand in dismissal at that.

"Ha-ha-ha, go scare a nun, Roderich." Gilbert snapped back at his companion. Then he went over to Kiku and swung his stone-made arm around the smaller mans shoulders, looking down at the courtyard, curious. "Hey Kiks', what's going on down there, a fight, a torture?"

"A festival!" Roderich said, eyes shining.

"You mean the festival of fools?" Gilbert asked, excited. Kiku merely nodded, his eyes still sad. "All right, all right! Pour me wine and cut the cheese!" the gargoyle shouted, dancing around on the rail.

"It is a treat to watch the colorful pattern trail of the simple folks." Roderich sighed dreamily, starting to lean slowly onto Kiku, but being roughly pushed away, when Gilbert bounced into Kiku from the right.

"Boy, I love the live balcony seats for watching the festival FOF!" he smirked, nudging Kiku in the rips. Kiku just sighed.

"Yes, watch."

Without another word, the small man turned around and with a sad expression walked back inside the church again. Gilbert didn't even notice. He was still looking down, his eyes suddenly shining with a mischievous glint.

"Oh, look! A mime!" he said. With a mean smirk, he collected a pile of spit in his throat and bent over, but before he could really send it after his poor victim, Roderich rushed over and clamped his mouth shot. At Gilbert's angry, questioning gaze, he nodded his head over to the leaving Kiku. Finally noticing it too, Gilbert turned around, looking at the little man with worry.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, what gives?"

"Aren't you going to watch the festival with us?" Roderich asked.

Kiku just continued walking without taking a look back.

"I don't get this." Gilbert said, scratching his head, confused.

"Maybe he's sick?" Roderich offered.

"Impossible." a female voice, coming form the right passage of the balcony said. Gilbert and Roderich turned around to the source of the voice, a female gargoyle, who came their way, followed by a swarm of pigeons. "Twenty years of listening to you two hasn't made him sick by now, nothing will." she said, snickering and jumping down from the rail onto the balcony.

"But watching the festival of fools has always been the highlight of the year for Kiku." Roderich said, with worried eyes, also jumping down, followed by Gilbert.

"What good is watching a party, when you never get to go- argh, get away from me, go on you bunch of buzzards!" the female interrupted herself, angrily flailing her arms at the birds around her, who had been trying to settle themselves on her body, while she was speaking, "He's not made of stone like us," she continued, when she had managed to get rid of her offenders. She went inside the bell tower, the two males following.

Kiku was just climbing up the ladder to his table with the model of Paris and it's inhabitants. A slight smile went over his lips for a short time, when he saw the model, but it vanished as quick as it came. Kiku slumped onto the chair in front of the table and laid his head on his arms, his sad eyes wandering over the dolls and the buildings.

The three gargoyles watched him with pity, wishing they could do something to make him feel better. Eventually, the female went up to him and out a hand onto his shoulder.

"Kiku, what's wrong?" she asked, in a soft voice. "You wanna tell aunt Elizabeta all about it?"

Kiku sighed and put down the little doll he had been holding in his hand.

"I...I just don't feel like watching the festival, that's all." he replied, looking down onto the table.

Elizabeta bend down beside him and picked up a figurine herself, letting it wander over the model. "Well, did you ever think of going there, instead?" she asked, in a nonchalant tone, birds already starting to settle themselves on her.

"Sure." Kiku shrugged."But I'd never fit in out there." After a short hesitation, he added: "I'm not...normal." Elizabeta gave a soft chuckle.

"Oh, Kiku, Kiku, Kiku, Kiku." she mused, making a small pause to angrily flail at the birds. "Do you mind? I would like to have a moment with the boy if that's alright with you!" she snapped at the animals, hitting a fist on the table and making Kiku jump a bit.

"Hey, quit being around the bell tower." Gilbert, who had appeared to Kiku's right said, taking a small Kiku figurine from the model of the bell tower and walking it onto the courtyard. "What do we gotta do, paint you a fresco?"

"As your friends and guardians,"Roderich said, appearing on Elizabeta's side, "we insist, that you attend the festival!" With that he grabbed Kikus arm with both hands and pulled the smaller man towards the ladder. Kiku blinked confused.

"Who, me?"

"No, the pope. Of course you!" Gilbert grinned, stuffing a pope doll into Kiku's mouth.

Roderich rolled his eyes and pulled the pope out again. "It would be a valuable trip for you, an educational experience." he continued.

"Wine, women and song!" Gilbert chimed in, juggling a few figurines in his hands.

"You could learn, to identify various regional cheeses." Roderich added.

"Diving for snails!" Gilbert bumped in, holding a bucket of water out to Kiku, to emphasize his point.

"Indigenous folk music." Roderich said dreamily, closing his eyes and pretending to play an instrument.

"Dunk the monk!" Gilbert sneered, while emptying his bucket over Roderich's head.

"Kiku, take this from an old spectator: life is not a spectator's sport." Elizabeta said, laying an arm on Kiku's shoulder once again. "If watching is all you gonna do, you'll watch life fly away without ya'."

"Yeah!" Gilbert agreed, ruffling the little man's hair, "You're human. Made of flesh and hair and an ability to get sick. We're just part of the architecture, right, Roderich?"

"Yet, if you chip us, will we not flake?" Roderich asked, voice slightly muffled by the bucket. Taking it off and dumping it on Gilbert's head instead, who immediately started flailing, he continued, "If you moisten us, do we not grow mold?"

"Come on, Kiku," Elizabeta smiled, taking the young man by the arm, "Grab a fresh tunic and a new pair of hose and-"

"Thanks for the encouragement," Kiku interrupted, patting Elizabeta's arm, "But you're all forgetting one, big thing."

"What?" the three gargoyles asked as one.

"My master, Braginski." Kiku said, taking the figurine of Braginski into his hand.

"Oooh." the gargoyles sighed, understanding and slumping their shoulders in disappointment. Then, Gilbert choughed slightly.

"Um..." he began, not quite sure how to formulate what he was about to say.

"Well..." Roderich came to his help, rubbing the back of his neck, nervously, "When he says your forbidden from ever leaving the bell tower, does he mean ever ever?"

"Never ever!" Kiku said, putting the Braginski doll back on the table. "And he hates the festival of fools! He'd be furious, if I asked to go."

"Who says you gotta ask?" Gilbert smirked, rubbing his hands together in an evil manner. Kiku's eyes widened, when he understood what the gargoyle meant and he shook his head wildly.

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes~" Gilbert said,"Sneak out!"

"It's just one afternoon." Elizabeta encouraged Kiku further.

"I-I couldn't!" Kiku stuttered.

"Aaand, you sneak back in." Gilbert sing-songed, making a sneak movement with his hands.

"He'll never know you were gone!" Elizabeta added.

"And if I got caught-!" Kiku clutched his head in his hands at the mere thought.

"Better to beg forgiveness, then permission." Roderich said, wisely.

"He might see me!" Kiku exclaimed.

"You can wear a disguise!" Gilbert said, snatching up an old cloak, lying on the floor. "Just this once! What Braginski doesn't know, can't hurt 'cha!"

"Ignorance is bliss." Roderich recited.

"No one wants to be cooped up in the tower forever!" Elizabeta added, smiling. Kiku looked at her for a moment, then his eyes lit up and he jumped up form his chair.

"You're right! I'll go!" he said loudly and enthusiastically, making a march toward the ladder.

"Yeah!" the gargoyles cheered, following him.

"I'll get cleaned up!"

"Yeah!"

"I'll go down those stairs!"

"Yeah!"

"I'll march through the doors and-" Kiku stopped dead in his tracks. Right in front of him stood Ivan Braginski, carrying a basket in one hand.

"Good morning, Kiku." he greeted the terrified man, his voice as emotionless and strict as ever.

"G-Good morning, master." Kiku muttered, stumbling back a bit and averting his gaze to the floor.

"Dear boy, whoever were you talking to?" Ivan asked, while passing by Kiku and the gargoyles who were now nothing but silent statues.

"My...my friends." Kiku said quietly.

"I see." Ivan said. He knocked on one of the statues head lightly, "And what are your friends made of, Kiku?"

"Stone." Kiku answered, lowering his head.

Braginski put one hand under Kiku's chin and made him look up at him. "And can stone talk?"

"No, it can't." Kiku answered, like a good boy.

Braginski smirked and let go of him. "That's right. You're a smart lad. Now," he said, sitting down at a small wooden table with a chair on each side, "Lunch." Kiku nodded and hurried back to his quarters to get the table ware, a fine, metal plate and cup for Braginski and a dusty, wooden one for himself. When they both were seated, Braginski pulled out a book from his basket. "Now, shall we review your alphabet today?"

"Oh, yes master, I would like that very much." Kiku said, but his tone made it rather obvious he wouldn't. Braginski nodded, pleased with the answer. Getting a bottle of wine from the basket as well and pouring it into both of their cups, he began with the "lesson".

"A?" he asked.

"Abomination." Kiku answered, hanging his head.

"B?"

"Blasphemy."

"C?"

"Contrition."

"D?"

"Damnation."

"E?"

"Eternal damnation!"

"Good!" Braginski nodded in approval and took his cup. "F?"

"Festival." Kiku blurted out before he could stop himself. Braginski spit out the wine he had just drunken.

"Excuse me?" he asked, while drying his mouth with a handkerchief.

"F-Forgiveness!" Kiku tried to correct himself, quickly, but it was to late.

"You said festival!" Braginski growled.

"No!" Kiku exclaimed desperately.

"You are thinking about going to the festival." Braginski stated, getting up and going over to the stairs again.

"I-It's just that...you go every year!" Kiku stuttered, with a bit of defiance in his voice.

"I am a public official, I must go." Braginski said, his face scrunching up in disgust, as he went down the stairs, Kiku following close behind, "But I do not enjoy a moment! Thieves and cut-throats, the drape of human kind, all mixed together in a shallow, drunken sewer."

"I didn't mean to upset you master." Kiku muttered, looking down. By now, they were on one of the outside passages. Braginski sighed an leaned onto the stone rail, his look drifting over the roofs of Paris houses underneath him.

"Kiku, can't you understand?" he asked, in a dreadful tone, turning around to Kiku, "When your heartless family abandoned you as a child, anyone else would have drowned you. And this is my thanks for taking you in and raising you as my own son?"

Kiku bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Sir." he said, his expression sad.

"Oh my dear Kiku," Braginski sighed, putting an anrm around the younger man's shoulders and leading him to the rail, "You don't know what it is like, down there. I do. I do."

"The world is cruel, the world is wicked." Braginski sang. He gripped Kiku's shoulders firmly, looking him straight in the eye. "It's I alone, who you can trust in this whole city! I am your only friend," he stroked softly through the short, black hair, "I who keep you, teach you, feed you, dress you!I, who look upon you, without fear."

Braginski let go off Kiku and strived backwards, towards the latters chambers. "How can I protect you boy, if you don't always stay in here? Away in here?" Kiku let himself be led in again by Braginski, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Remember, what I've told you, Kiku." Braginski went on. "You are deformed."

"I am deformed," Kiku sang, sad.

"And you are ugly." Braginski sang.

("And I am ugly.")

"And these are crimes for which the world shows little pity!" Braginski went over to Kiku's table with the woodcarvings. "You do not comprehend!" he sang.

"You are my one defender." Kiku sang, softly taking the doll of himself into one hand.

"Out there, they will revile you as a monster!"

("I am a monster!")

"Out there, they will hate and scorn and jeer!"

Kiku picked up another doll and held it close to his own, looking at both of them with sad eyes. "Only a monster!" he sang.

"Why invite their calumny and consternation? Stay in here!" Braginski swatted the wodden dolls on the table aside with a swift move of the arm. "Be faithful to me!"

"I am faithful." Kiku promised.

"And be grateful to me." Braginski sang, putting the basket, containing their meal on the table.

("I am grateful.")

Softly, the Judge took Kiku's figurine of himself out of the younger man's hand and put it back onto the model of Notre Dame. "Do as I say, obey and stay in here."

"I'll stay in here." Kiku repeated, eyes dropping. "You were good to me master, I'm sorry."

"You are forgiven." Braginski went back to the stairs. On the head of the steps, he turned around one last time, his eyes piercing into Kiku's. "But remember, Kiku: This," he waved a hand around the room,"is your sanctuary."

"My sanctuary." Kiku repeated quietly. Braginski smiled satisfied and left. As soon as the Judge had left, Kiku let out a sigh and looked up to the bells.

"Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone, gazing at the people down below me." he sang, climbing up to one of the bells window and looking down at the courtyard with sad eyes.

"All my life I watched them, as I hide up here alone, hungry for the histories they show me." Kiku went back to the table and picked a doll from the floor, setting it back onto the model. He took another one and placed the two of them close together.

"All my life, I memorized their faces, knowing them, as they will never know me" Smiling a little, he put the doll of himself between them.

"All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day. Not above them, but part of them!" Grinning wildly, Kiku rushed to the window again, leaning himself wide over to see better.

"And out there, living in the sun," he hopped right over the window sill, grabbed a column below and slid all the way down to the passage underneath him, landing exactly between Gilbert, Roderich and Elizabeta, who all smiled at the young man's antics.

"Just give me on day out there, all I ask is one! To hold forever!" Kiku sang, taking Gilbert and Elizabeta into his arms and then lean himself down from another column.

"Out there, where they all live unaware, what I'd give," he sang swinging from column to column.

"What I'd dare, just to live one day out there!" he sang, jumping down and leaning onto the balcony.

"Out there, among the millers and the weavers and their wives, through the roofs and gables I can see them! Everyday they shout and scold and go about their lives, heedless of the gift it is to be them!"

Kiku jumped onto the water passage under him and slid down on it all the way to the fountainhead, sitting down on it and admiring the view. "If I was in their skin, I'd treasure every instant moment out there, strolling by the Seine, taste a morning," Kiku splashed some of the cold water into his face, laughing and then climbed up further, until he was on the top of the tower and leaned out, holding onto the thin metal cross on top of it.He stretched his hand out into the air.

"Out there, like ordinary men, who freely walk about there, just one morning out there and then I'll swear I'll be content with my wishes, with my share, won't resent, won't despair, old and bent, I won't care, because I would have spent a day out there!"