DISCLAIMER: The only thing I own are my own copies of Kingdom Hearts I and II. I don't own anything else in this fic.
In this next world, Sora and his friends were in a medieval European world. Sora and his friends were eating at a table. While Sora and the others were eating, they were getting a lot of people staring at them.
"We're sure getting a lot of attention," commented Riku.
"Um, Riku?" Sora spoke up.
"What's up, Sora?" asked Riku.
"Is this even okay? This mean, I mean. We don't have any money to pay for all of this," Sora reasoned out.
"That's okay," Riku assured, "That's why we have 'the gods' favorite daughter,'" Riku said, indicating Kairi, who was playing cards at another table against some men.
Kairi was not sure how to play this kind of card game. She only looked at her cards, not sure how she was supposed to win.
"A full house!" the man triumphantly announced, "How's your cards, little girl?"
"Um, is it like this?" asked the hesitant Princess. Kairi laid out her cards, which showed the luckiest, and the most amazing hand of them all. Much to the card players' surprise, including Sora, Kairi held out four aces and a joker, which served as a wild card.
"Kairi really is 'the gods' favorite daughter,'" Sora thought to himself, while holding a surprised look on his face.
"That's the Princess for you," Riku told Sora, "Good luck 24/7."
"What!?" the man yelled in an outrage, "How could you win every single game!? What's going on!?"
"Are you cheating!?" the second man demanded.
Riku began placing the well-earned money in a bag. "Why would we cheat?" Riku asked the card players, "We don't have time for that."
The card players slumped down in defeat. They had given up on trying to beat Kairi.
Chapter 8: The Man in the Tower
"Nice job, Princess," Goofy commended to Kairi.
"Yeah, now we don't have to worry about our money problems," said Donald.
A waiter came towards the groups' table and served them drinks. "You're pretty good, little girl," the waiter commented.
"I didn't even know the rules to the game," Kairi admitted, "Is that okay?"
"You've got to be kidding!" the waiter laughed, "You guys are new, right? Are you tourists or something?"
"Yeah, we're looking for something, so we've been traveling around," explained Sora.
"Any ideas on where to go?" asked the waiter.
"Not yet," replied Sora.
"Well, a word of advice, boy. Whatever you do, don't go North," advised the waiter.
"Why not?" asked Donald.
"There's been a really scary rumor running about in that place," the waiter told the group.
This rumor immediately caught Sora's attention. "What kind of rumor?"
"There's been a rumor that there is a mysterious man who appeared in that place," the waiter began, "Except that he wasn't a man. He was a demon. He may look like a man, but it seems that the devil has transformed him, somehow. In that demon's possession, they say that he holds a magical object that will grant him mysterious powers."
"By any chance, is this just a legend?" Riku asked with interest.
"With the way other people were talking about it, I don't think so," the waiter asked, shaking his head.
"Then that means that this demon might be real," Sora commented.
"This rumor only started a few years back, though," the waiter explained further.
"But, because of this rumor, we shouldn't be going to the Northern part of this town?" asked Goofy.
"If I were you, I wouldn't walk there," the waiter cautioned.
The group began walking around the woods, walking towards their destination.
"…A magical object that grants him mysterious powers," Riku pondered, "That sounds pretty close to the Princess's Fragment."
"Mog doesn't feel any strong powers, kupo!" Mog informed the group, with Kairi holding him in her arms.
"Still, we should check it out anyway," Sora told the group.
"Sora, look," Kairi said, pointing out towards a sign.
Sora looked at a sign, which hung out outside of the world's city. "Paris," Sora read.
The party then heard some kind of commotion going on. "Sounds like there's something big going on there," Goofy noticed.
"We gotta check it out," Donald informed the group.
The party headed towards to where the source of this big sound was. It sounded like there was indistinct yelling going around.
The party arrived at the source of the indistinct yelling. To their surprise, they found the entire town having fun. It looked like there was a festival going on.
"Wow! A festival, kupo!" yelled the cheery Mog.
"This looks fun," Kairi said.
"It sure does," responded Sora.
"Hey, Donald," Goofy spoke up, "Do ya think the King might be around here?"
"I don't know," he answered, "But we better start looking around."
"Hey, Mog, can you feel the Fragment's presence?" asked Riku.
Mog concentrated hard, searching for the designated energy. "It's very faint, but it's definitely here, kupo!" said Mog.
Behind the party, Kairi noticed a mysterious figure, wearing a cloak with his face covered, trying to get past the crowd, until he was caught in the line of dancers. This mysterious figure tried to get out of the line of dancers until he ended up crashing into a tent.
Sora turned around and noticed Kairi looking off to where she witnessed a trivial accident. "Is there something wrong, Princess?" asked Sora.
"No, it's nothing," answered Kairi, "I just thought I saw something strange."
"A lot of strange things can happen in festivals, so it's only natural," explained Sora, "Let's go look for you Fragments."
"Okay," replied Kairi.
Sora and Kairi began walking with the party to go look for the missing King and for Kairi's Heart Fragment.
Meanwhile, inside the tent the mysterious figure crashed in, the mysterious figure realized he accidentally crashed inside a dressing tent, where he find a woman getting herself ready for her act, accompanied by her pet goat. He then realized his hood was off and tried to hide his face in fear. He knew how people would react to his horrible disfigurement.
"I…I'm so sorry," Quasimodo stammered.
"Are you okay?" Esmerelda asked, helping up the man.
"I didn't mean to…I'm sorry," Quasimodo said quickly, before putting his hood back on.
"Are you hurt?" asked the concerned gypsy, "Let me take a look at you."
Quasimodo tried to back away from her, but was unsuccessful. Esmerelda already pulled his hood off to check on his injuries. To Quasimodo's surprise, Esmerelda didn't gasp in fear of his disfigured face. However, Djali, Esmerelda's pet goat, sneered at the sight.
"No harm done," said Esmerelda, "Just be a little more careful, okay?"
"Oh, um, uh, sure," Quasimodo said, heading out the tent.
"By the way, great mask!" Esmerelda said, smiling at him. Little did Esmerelda know, there more to that "mask" Quasimodo was wearing.
Sora and his party continued walking around the festival. Most of the people were making some performances for the people of Paris. Sora and Kairi observed a man who was chugging down wine while holding a torch in one hand. With the wine in his mouth, the man blew the wine into the torch, turning the lit torch into a big flame. The flame was only halfway close to Sora and Kairi, but the big burst of the flame made the Princess gasp in fear and she turned away into Sora's arms.
"Are you okay, Princess?" asked Sora.
"Yeah, I'm okay. It just startled me," replied the Princess.
"Hey, what's going on over there?" Donald notified the group, pointing to where he saw a jester.
The party turned their attention to a masked jester on a stage.
"Hurry, hurry, here's your chance!" Clopin announced, "See the mystery and romance! Come one! Come all! See the finest girl in France make an entrance to entrance! Dance La Esmerelda…dance!"
At the last word, Clopin disappears in a puff of smoke, a gypsy, Esmerelda, appears in his place, performing a sultry dance in front of the crowd. The crowd was pleased to see her dance, all but one man, Judge Claude Frollo.
"What a disgusting display," Frollo muttered to himself.
"I kind of like it…" Phoebus said to himself with interest.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've been waiting for!" announced Clopin, "It's time to crown our King of Fools!"
"The 'King of Fools?'" asked Sora.
Clopin begins pulling contestants onto the stage. Quasimodo, still trying to avoid the crowd, was caught by Esmerelda and pulled onto the stage. One by one, Esmerelda pulls off the contestants' masks, revealing the men making ugly faces and getting themselves booted off the stage. Esmerelda then reached Quasimodo, who tried to keep away from her. His resistance wasn't good enough and Esmerelda tried to take his "mask" off. However, when she tried to remove it, she was shocked know that Quasimodo was not wearing a mask at all. Soon, the crowd began yelling about the revelations.
"That's his real face," Sora said in surprise.
"How terrible," Kairi said with sympathy.
"Is this the demon everyone was talking about?" wondered Riku.
Quasimodo realized that the people were disgusted by him and immediately hides his face in shame. Frollo watched the whole thing and he was not happy with what has transpired.
"Ladies and gentlemen, why the disgusted faces?" Clopin asked the crowd, jumping onto the stage to keep things lively, "I only asked for the ugliest face in Paris, and here he is! Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame!"
Immediately, the crowd began to applaud Quasimodo, and Clopin crowns Quasimodo as the King of Fools. The hunchback began enjoying his time in the spotlight. The people's disgust was immediately washed away as he was "crowned."
"He's ugly, huh?" Guard 2 asked, "Watch this!" The guard took a tomato in hand and threw it at Quasimodo, hitting him right in the face, causing the crowd to go silent. "Now that's ugly!"
"Hail to the King!" Guard 1 yelled, mockingly as he threw another tomato into his face.
Soon, enough the crowd followed the guards and threw all kinds of produce at the defenseless hunchback. Shouts came from all directions and the crowd lassoed Quasimodo. The hunchback was defenseless against their numbers and he was soon tied down to a rotating platform. Quasimodo was spun around on the platform, with the crowd continuing their torment. From the crowd, Quasimodo spotted Frollo watching him.
"Master! Master, please! Help me!" Quasimodo desperately pleaded.
Unfortunately, Frollo only stood there. Not willing to help the hunchback. Phoebus, on the other hand, didn't want to see anymore.
"Sir, please, let me stop this nonsense," requested Phoebus.
"Not yet, Captain," Frollo said calmly, "A lesson needs to be learned."
Sora and his party, on the other hand, were disgusted with the sight.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Donald yelled to the crowd, only to have it fall on deaf ears.
"Yeah, what gives you the right!?" Goofy yelled.
"Sora, please, I can't watch this anymore," Kairi pleaded to Sora.
Sora nodded to the Princess, agreeing to the fact that there was no justice in the crowd's actions. "Mog, Pluto, please take the Princess somewhere safe," requested Sora. Pluto barked in agreement, with Mog riding on Pluto's head, nodding to Sora's request.
Pluto and Mog accompanied Kairi to a safer location, while Sora and the rest took it upon themselves to fix this dirty problem.
"Let's get him out of there," Sora announced to his friends.
"Hold on, Quasi!" Goofy yelled to the hunchback.
Sora and his friends charged through the crowd with their weapons and immediately cut the ropes off of Quasimodo, save for one more rope.
"Cease your actions, you fools!" Frollo demanded to Sora and his party, "Get down at once!"
Esmerelda appeared behind the downed Quasimodo. "Yes, we will, your honor," Esmerelda said, "Just as soon as we free this poor man!" Esmerelda cut the lost rope off with a knife, setting the poor hunchback free.
"How dare you defy me! All of you!" Frollo said in an outrage.
"So what?" Donald shot back, "You're the one picking on this guy. What kind of a man are you?"
"Silence!" Frollo demanded, "You will all pay for your insolence."
"Then we've crowned the wrong fool," Esmerelda challenged, "You're the real fool, Frollo!"
"Arrest them!" Frollo ordered.
The guards began to surround the gypsy and Sora and his party. With their weapons drawn, Sora's party immediately defended themselves against the onslaught of guards, surprising Frollo and Phoebus. The Captain, however, was impressed with Esmerelda's actions against the guards.
"Sorry, you guys, but it's time I made my escape," Esmerelda said to the group.
"No problem, you get out while you can," Riku said.
"Thanks for helping me free that man. He didn't deserve that kind of torment," Esmerelda said. Then, Esmerelda jumped over the group of guards and ran off, losing the guards immediately, much to Frollo's anger.
"Find her! I want her alive!" Frollo angrily ordered. Frollo then turned his attention to Sora and his party, who were completely surrounded by the guards. "As for all of you, I hereby place you under arrest, for defying a judge!"
"No, Frollo!" a man yelled, stepping in between Sora's party and the guards. Judging from the way this man is dressed, he seems to be one of the important figures.
"You…" Frollo recognized the man standing before him.
"You shall not arrest these men," the man said sternly, "How can you arrest them when they have committed no crime against you?"
"They openly defied my orders," Frollo emphasized.
"And they had rights to do so," the man argued. The man began to step forward, challenging Frollo's authority. "You did nothing to help Quasimodo, Judge Frollo. He pleaded for your help, and you just sat there, watching him get tormented by these people. You had a hand in his torment. These men simply set that man free because you failed to use proper judgment. And because of your improper judgment, I can report this to the higher authorities. If word gets to the King, you will truly be seen as the King of Fools."
Frollo hesitated to fight back against this man. He realized that the man was right. Whatever Frollo was going to say wasn't going to help him in his defense. "Guards, search for the gypsy!" Frollo commanded, seeing no other choice but to drop the charges on Sora and his party. Frollo slowly approached Sora and his friends, with a mean look in his eyes. "You and your friends are lucky, but I'll be keeping an eye on all of you." Frollo then gets on his horse begins to ride away, only to stop and glare at a figure who he was angry at. He saw a cowering Quasimodo, hiding behind a pillar, afraid to come out. Frollo glared at the hunchback, showing complete anger towards the poor man.
"I'm sorry, Master," Quasimodo whispered sadly, "I'll never disobey you again." Quasimodo hung his head down in shame and headed inside the Notre Dame Chapel.
The guards dispersed, resuming their search for Esmerelda, as soon as Frollo rode away from the scene. Kairi finally came out of hiding, with Pluto walking with her and Mog safely in her arms. "Are you okay, Sora?" asked the concerned Kairi.
"Yes, I'm okay, Princess," Sora assured.
"Things sure have gone crazy," Goofy noted.
"And we've attracted a lot of attention, kupo!" said Mog.
The man approached Sora's party. "I'm sorry for the trouble you all went through," the man humbly apologized, "I am nobleman of Paris, Count Saix. May I ask your names?"
"My name is Sora," he introduced.
"I'm Kairi," she introduced.
"Donald Duck!" he exclaimed.
"Goofy!" he announced.
"My name is Riku," he introduced, "This is Pluto and Mog."
"Nice to meet you, kupo!" Mog said happily, followed by Pluto's introductory bark.
"I must say, it was very noble of you to set that man free, when no one else would do anything," Saix noted.
"We just thought it was the right thing to do," replied Sora, "Besides…" Sora looked at Kairi. He remembered how Kairi reacted when she saw Quasimodo being tormented. He hated to have her watching something so horrific.
"Still, what you did was very commendable," Saix said, hinting some praise. The group began to notice the clouds gathering, giving way to rain. "We should leave before we catch a cold. Why don't you come with me to my mansion?"
Saix led Sora and his party to another part of Paris in the nightfall, where they entered a large house, belonging to Count Saix.
As they entered, they saw how nice the entire place was.
Saix made them some tea and invited them to sit near his fireplace.
"As a compensation for what you've done today, I will allow you and your friends to stay in my mansion," offered Saix.
"Thank you for your generosity," said Sora.
"Please allow me to explain everything," Saix said, beginning his explanation, "That man who you just encountered, the official, is Judge Claude Frollo, the minister of justice."
"From the way he acts, he doesn't look like a man of justice," commented Riku.
"I thought the same thing, as well," replied Saix.
"How does Quasimodo and Frollo know each other?" asked Goofy.
"A long time ago, it was said that Frollo found him, abandoned in a snowy winter," Saix began, "When he found him, he began to care for the boy, as if he were his own son, or so I heard. However, I believe those stories are beginning to prove false, by the way you saw what happened."
"Some father figure he is," Donald grumbled.
"Quasimodo lives most of his life in the towers of the Notre Dame Chapel," Saix explained to the group, "Constantly hiding his presence from the world below."
"The demon in the tower…" Sora began to ponder, "We did hear rumors about this demon in the tower. Could it be about Quasimodo?"
"I have been hearing rumors about that as well," Saix answered, "When I started following those rumors, I realized they were all related to Quasimodo. And so, some of the people here claim Quasimodo as the demon of the tower of Notre Dame."
"That's such a sad life," Kairi said, "How could they treat him like this? When I looked at his eyes, they were full of innocence. I could tell that he was a kind person."
"…Princess…" Sora said, surprised by her sincerity.
Saix looked outside and saw how dark the town was tonight. "It seems like it's getting late," Saix noticed, "You should all get some rest. It has been a long day for all of us."
"Yes, it has," Sora said, "Thank you for letting us stay."
"The pleasure is all mine," Saix said with a kind smile. Saix then left the living room area, heading towards his bedroom to call it a night.
"You know what? The way these people spread their rumors, it sounds pretty serious," Riku commented.
"I wonder if the rumors about Quasimodo holding a sacred object in towers are true," Sora wondered. Next to Sora, Kairi gently collapsed onto Sora, resting her head on his shoulder. "Princess? Princess? Are you okay?" Sora asked, checking on Kairi. Much to Sora's relief, Kairi just fell asleep. Today's chaotic event must have taken a toll on Kairi.
Sora gently carried Kairi to her bedroom and gently laid her down, draping a blanket over her body, before Sora and the others went to their own reserved rooms.
In the next morning, Sora and his party will start an investigation of their own.
To be continued…
