Snake wrapped a shawl around his head and chest so that it would cover his face and arms. He slipped down to a lower balcony of the cathedral and was met with the sounds of the festival.
"Come one, come all! Leave your loops and milking stools, coop the hens and pen the mules. Come one, come all! Close the churches and the schools. It's the day for breaking rules. Come and join the feast of ..."
"Fools!" shouted Joker, leading the festivities. Snake grabbed a rope and swung across to
a pole where he watched the fun below. He felt the rope suddenly slip and he went swinging down right into the middle of the party. He tried to sneak away but was caught up in the movement of the crowd.
Joker continued, "Once a year we throw a party here in town. Once a year we turn all Paris upside down. Every man's a king and every king's a clown. Once again it's Topsy Turvy Day. It's the day the devil in us gets released. It's the day we mock the prig and shock the priest. Everything is topsy turvy at the Feast of Fools!" Joker and the crowd chanted back and forth, everyone knew the routine since the festival had been held for years.
"Topsy turvy!"
"Everything is upsy daysy!"
"Topsy turvy!"
"Everyone is acting crazy. Dross is gold and weeds are a bouquet. That's the way on Topsy Turvy Day."
Snake tried again to get away from the center of the celebration. He tripped and tumbled into a tent. As he went down he reached for something and found a curtain, which ripped and fell with him to the ground.
"Hey!" said a voice. Snake felt the curtain being lifted off of him and he saw a teenage boy in front of him. The boy had an eye patch over one eye and dark hair. "Are you alright?" the boy asked kindly.
"I-I'm sorry, it was an accident, I-"
"You're not hurt are you?" the boy asked, bending to take a look at Snake. Snake quickly tried to keep his face covered by the shawl, but the boy pulled it back. "There," he said without missing a beat. "No harm done."
Snake smiled up at the person who had looked at his face without flinching. "Just try to be a little more careful next time," the boy said with a smile.
"I-I will."
"And by the way," the boy called after Snake. "Great mask, those scales look almost real."
"Topsy Turvy!"
"Beat the drums and blow the trumpets!"
"Topsy Turvy!"
"Join the bums and thieves and strumpets streaming in from Chartres to Calais. Scurvy knaves are extra scurvy on the sixth of January all because it's Topsy Turvy Day!"
Sebastian led his horse into the square, gesturing to his guards to take up positions all around. Judge Faustus took up his position in the seat reserved just for him with a canopy.
Joker leapt onto a platform in the middle of the square and proclaimed, "Come one, come all! Hurry, hurry, here's your chance, see the mystery and romance. Come one, come all! See the finest lad in France. Make an entrance to entrance. Dance la Ciel, dance!"
With a puff of red smoke, Ciel was on the platform and dancing to the song. He was in a different costume than earlier. It was a loose dark blue outfit that brought out his eye. Even his eye patch had been switched for one with blue gems decorating it. Ciel danced for the crowd, which cheered to his steps.
"Look at that digusting display," sneered Faustus.
"Yes sir," said Sebastian with a smile.
Snake couldn't help but feel that the boy looked pretty with his dancing. He knew that the boy was kind, the only person to ever show him kindness besides Faustus and Agni.
Ciel danced his way up to Faustus, who cringed away as if he would catch some horrible disease. Ciel wrapped a handkerchief around Faustus to pull him close before shoving the cloth in his face, temporarily blinding him. By the time Faustus had ripped off the offending fabric, Ciel was already back at his place on the platform, the crowd thoroughly enjoying Faustus' moment of embarrassment. Ciel bowed to the crowd as flowers were tossed on the stage. With a twirl and another flash of smoke, Ciel disappeared.
Joker once again took the stage, "Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for. Here it is, you know exactly what's in store. Now's the time we laugh until our sides get sore. Now's the time we crown the King of Fools! So make a face that's horrible and frightening. Make a face as gruesome as a gargoyle's wing. For the face that's ugliest will be the King of Fools! Why?"
"Topsy turvy!"
"Ugly folk, forget your shyness!" Joker said as various men climbed up onto the stage.
"Topsy turvy!"
"You could soon be called Your Highness!" Snake held on to Ciel's hand as the boy pulled him up onto the stage. Snake was quickly pushed to join the line of people waiting.
"Put your foulest features on display. Be the king of Topsy Turvy Day!"
Ciel assisted Joker in taking off the masks people wore to show off their faces. As the line of participants became shorter, Snake began to panic. He tried to jump off the stage but Ciel was already there and tried to pull off the mask he thought Snake was wearing. Ciel gasped when he realized that it wasn't a mask at all.
The rest of the crowd also gasped and suddenly the party came to a stop. Then the air was full of murmurs about Snake and his skin.
"It's snake skin!"
"It's not natural!"
Snake tried to hide his face, wishing that he had never left the cathedral.
"Now, now everyone," cooed Joker. "This is just what we were looking for, is it not? We wanted the ugliest face in Paris and here it is!" To Snake's surprise, the crowd's emotion changed from fear to elation. "Everybody!"
"Once a year we throw a party here in town."
"Hail to the king!" Joker threw a cape around Snake and placed a crown on his head. Snake smiled and raised his hands to the crowd in triumph.
"Once a year we turn all Paris upside down."
"Oh, what a king!"
"Once a year, the ugliest will wear a crown."
"Girls, give a kiss!"
"Once a year on Topsy Turvy Day."
"We've never had a king like this. And it's the day we do the things that we deplore on the other three hundred and sixty-four. Once a year we love to drop in where the beer is never stopping for the chance to pop some popinjay. And pick a king who'll put the "top" in Topsy Turvy Day! Mad and crazy, upsy-daisy, Topsy Turvy Day!"
The crowd cheered and Snake glanced over and saw that Faustus was livid. Snake had never seen him so angry. He offered a small smile and a look of apology and decided that he would apologize later.
Suddenly a tomato hit the side of his face. He wiped it off and heard the laughter of one of the guards.
"Look, he's even uglier!"
People started laughing and before Snake knew it, lots of people were throwing things at him. Eggs cracked against his head, the sticky fluid like glue in his hair. He tried to jump off the platform but a rope snagged around his neck, pulling him back. Another looped around his hand and he used the strength he'd built up from ringing the bells to yank the rope free. Before he could completely free himself, more ropes latched onto him like leeches and he was pulled down to his knees. The platform was rotated and he was spinning around and around as more food was thrown at him. Snake felt like he would be sick. He looked up at Faustus, begging him with his eyes to save him, to end this.
Sebastian stepped up and asked Faustus, "Shall I put an end to this cruelty, sir?"
"In a moment," Faustus waved dismissively, sharp eyes watching every moment of Snake's torment. "A lesson needs to be learned here."
Suddenly the crowd went silent and Sebastian and Faustus looked to see Ciel climbing onto the platform.
Snake felt someone's presence and snuck a glance. He saw the boy from earlier, Ciel, leaning over him. Ciel had a cloth in his hand and reached for Snake's face. "Don't be afraid," he said calmly. Snake couldn't stop himself from flinching but looked back when Ciel gently wiped the mess off of his face. "I'm so sorry," said Ciel, a knot in his throat. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."
Faustus' eyes glowed red. "You there, gypsy! Get down at once!"
Ciel stood and turned. "Yes your honor, as soon as I'm done helping this poor creature."
"I forbid it!"
With fire in his eyes, Ciel pulled out his hidden dagger and cut Snake's ropes with one move.
"How dare you defy me you gypsy filth," hissed Faustus.
"You have mistreated him the same way that you have mistreated the people of this city. You use your words of justice to hide the disease that you have inflicted upon Paris."
"Silence!"
"Justice!" Ciel shouted, lifting Snake to stand on his feet.
"Mark my words, you will pay for this," promised Faustus.
"Oh well then it looks like we've crowned the wrong fool," Ciel taunted, grabbing the Snake's crown and hurling it to land at Faustus' feet. "Because the only fool I see here is you."
"Captain Sebastian, arrest her," he ordered.
With a snap of Sebastian's fingers, a group of guards moved to surround Ciel.
"Hm," said Ciel, looking over the guards. "So there's, what, ten of you and only one of me." He put on a sad pout. "Whatever am I going to do?" He pulled out a handkerchief, sobbed once, then blew into it and a giant cloud of smoke enveloped the stage. When it cleared a moment later, he was gone.
"Witchcraft," gasped Faustus.
"Hey boys," Ciel's voice called. He peered out from behind a stall on the other side of the square.
"There! Get him!" yelled the guards. Ciel scrambled away only to be faced with more guards. However, his fellow gypsies distracted the guards and prevented them from catching Ciel. Whenever the guards got close, they would end up with poles their faces or in the mud. Sebastian watched in wonder as this boy, with some help, outsmarted all of his guards. Just when Ciel thought he was in the clear, two guards on horseback charged him. He ran and the gypsies threw a long pole into the riders' hands. Before they realized it, they were heading straight for Faustus. They clotheslined his canopy, which crashed in a piled of fabric and beams. Faustus reared out of his, his black hair misplaced and his face disheveled. He looked up to see Ciel being hoisted on top of a stall. Ciel gave a bow and disappeared with a twirl, an empty sheet being the only thing left on top of the stall. His nuisance gone, Faustus turned his murderous glare on Snake.
"Find him, captain," Faustus said venomously. "I want him alive." Sebastian nodded and began giving out orders for the streets to be cleared and sealed off.
Snake lowered his head and climbed down from the platform. As he passed Faustus on his horse, he said, "I'm sorry, master. I, I'll never disobey you again." With tears in his eyes, Snake ran the crowd of people who backed away from him. Without a look backward, Snake stumbled into the cathedral and slammed the door behind him.