Hey guys! Hope you haven't been waiting long! I finally got around to updating Fullmetal Heart. So here you go!

Chapter 11: Notre Dame part 1

Donald cast a spell that turned the ship invisible.

"Why'd you do that?" Alphonse asked.

"Technically, we're not supposed to be here, so it's best we try to lay low as much as possible."

Ed got out of the ship and sighed, placing a hand on his stomach in the process. "Yes! I didn't vomit this time!" he said with a sheepish grin.

Riku looked up at the Cathedral, almost falling back from tilting his head up so high. "So now what? Find the keyhole I suppose?"

"You mean to the heart of the world? And how do you suppose we do that?" Ed asked, placing his hands on his hips in frustration.

"The Heart, huh? Well, it seems like you travelers are in a bit of a pickle there! Hearts here in Parie are hard to find untainted with darkness," came a mysterious yet jeery voice.

"What? Who said that?" Alphonse asked, putting his hand on his sword, "You better not be a Heartless!"

"Heartless? Far from it!" said the voice again. It came from a man dressed in a harlequin's outfit and a mask. He pinched Sora's cheek, much to the boy's dismay and then bounced in front of the group with a bow. "I am Clopin, a jester of sorts! I can help you find this heart you seek if you listen to a little tale."

"No thanks! If you're going to violate my personal space again, I don't want to have anything to do with you!" Sora grumbled, rubbing where the gypsy had playfully hurt him.

Ed crossed his arms and glared. "I don't like the looks of this clown..." he muttered. "And why would you help a couple of outsiders like us?"

"Well...Maybe we should listen to what he has to say! It could help us..." Kairi said, walking up to Clopin. "I'm sorry about my friends," she said and curtsied.

"Oh, it's alright, they're just misguided," Clopin said, taking Kairi's hand and kissing it, much to Sora's displeasure, "But in all seriousness, I am an outsider like you. Here in Parie, we gypsies are being hunted like dogs."

"But why? Surely you just mind your own business around here," Alphonse said with concern.

"We do, that is the problem. I shall explain more if you follow me, we cannot stay here long."

Sora was about to question Clopin's sudden urge to flee, but soon saw it for himself. A dark figure riding a black steed seemed to be patrolling the streets. There was coldness in his eyes and it made the keybearer step back in fear. "Yeah, forget what I said earlier, let's follow this guy and get out of here!"

Ed frowned. "Gypsies, huh?" he asked and looked to the man in black. "I'm betting he's the one in charge around here..." he muttered, backing away with Clopin and the others as he saw a bunch of guards in silver armor follow the man, protecting him and following his orders at the same time.

"So where are we going?" Riku asked as they walked down some back allies.

"I bet it's someplace where all gypsies gather and can't be found, am I right?" Goofy asked with a grin.

Clopin stopped and turned to the group darkly. "Yes... and no. I can't take you to where we officially gather, but I can take you somewhere near."

"In other words, he doesn't officially trust us yet," Sora sighed as the group began to move forward again.

"But I understand his concern," Alphonse thought out loud, "I mean, if I was in his position, I wouldn't fully trust you guys either."

"Gee, thanks..." Riku muttered and continued walking pass the others.

"Well, we didn't fully trust him either, so it's understandable," Kairi said, looking to Ed who was looking back at where they came from. "Something wrong?"

"No...It's nothing," Ed spoke, turning back around and shrugging. "Just that, I felt something very dark about that man..."

"I did too," Sora said, "Who was he?"

Clopin opened a back door to a nearby inn, "Here, quickly. We'll talk inside."

Meanwhile, Pete appeared in the same spot the group had, looking around as he scratched his head. "Let's see. Maleficent told me to meet that guy here...OH!" he said, seeing Frollo in sight.

The judge known as Frollo stopped in front of the bumbling Pete. "Yes? Can I help you?" He said in a dark and asserting tone.

"Er!" Pete said, standing up straight. "You're Judge Frollo, yes? I'm sure you spoke to Maleficent already? About the heartless?" he asked, shrugging from Frollo's icy glare. "I'm here to help you defeat those keybearer brats and make sure they don't find the keyhole!"

The judge shook his head, "If she sent you, then it must be some divine joke. Leave me, I have no business with incompetents." He started his horse to keep moving but then stopped and turned back to Pete, "Unless... that is if you can provide me an army."

Pete's ears un-flattened and he laughed evilly. "But of course! I can provide you an army of heartless as long as you give yourself to the darkness. Then you can control the heartless and make them do your biding!" Pete said, raising his arms happily up as his belly jiggled.

"Darkness? As in Hell's Minions? Maleficent mentioned no such idea. I must strongly decline then, I can take care of the gypsy vermin on my own," Frollo sneered as he rode past the rotund cat. But it was already clear to Pete, as it was to Maleficent, that his heart was already tainted in darkness. He turned to one of his guards, "Escort this thing out of my city and one of you fetch Captain Phoebus. I need to speak with him."

Pete shrugged. "Humph! I don't need escorting! I can find my own way out..." he said and opened a dark portal. "Just remember, the offer is still open!" he said and walked through, thinking about crashing the festival that was coming up with a few heartless.

"Okay, NOW tell us who that guy was!" Alphonse said as he put his hands on the table. Sora was busy drinking cider to take over.

Clopin nodded with a smile. "He is known as Judge Frollo. He is the reason why gypsies are being persecuted here."

"And let me guess, the story you wanted to tell us will explain everything." Donald said with a cold look.

"Ah, yes! That!" At that moment, the bells from the cathedral rang for evening mass. "Notre Dame... she plays a big part in what happened."

Ed frowned and shrugged, cupping his glass of cider in his hands and tapped the glass with one finger as the others spoke. "Is this some kind of religious cult?" he asked, sneering at the thought. This was why he was never a religious person.

"Did something like this happen to you before, Ed?" Kairi asked from across the table.

"Kinda..." he mumbled and looked to Clopin. "Continue..."

Clopin laughed, "I can hardly say that Catholicism is a cult! But Frollo does tend to take the word of God too seriously."

"He doesn't think of himself as a prophet, does he?" Alphonse said, knowing exactly what Ed was talking about.

"No, just a servant." Again the bells rang, and Clopin paused to listen.

"Who keeps doing that? It's driving me crazy!" Sora whined.

The gypsy smiled, "I was hoping you'd ask. Now my story can really begin."

Dark was the night when our tale was begun
On the docks near Notre Dame
Four frightened gypsies slid silently under
The docks near Notre Dame
But a trap had been laid for the gypsies
And they gazed up in fear and alarm
At a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells
The bells of Notre Dame
Judge Claude Frollo longed
To purge the world
Of vice and sin
And he saw corruption
Ev'rywhere
Except within

"Bring these gypsy vermin to the palace of justice."

"You there, what are you hiding?"

"Stolen goods, no doubt. Take them from her"

She ran:

"Sanctuary, please give us sanctuary!"

But to no avail. Frollo caught up to the mother and struck her down.

"A baby? A monster!"

He took the child to the well to drown it then-

"Stop!"

Cried the Archdeacon

"This is an unholy demon. I'm sending it back to hell, where it belongs."

"See there the innocent blood you have spilt
On the steps of Notre Dame,"

"I am guiltless. She ran, I pursued."

"Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame,"

"My conscience is clear."

"You can lie to yourself and your minions
You can claim that you haven't a qualm
But you never can run from
Nor hide what you've done from the eyes
The very eyes of Notre Dame!"

And for one time in his life
Of power and control
Frollo felt a twinge of fear
For his immortal soul

"What must I do?"

"Care for the child, and raise it as your own."

"What? I'd be settled with this misshapen...? Very well. Let him live with you, in your church."

"Live here? Where?"

"Anywhere...
Just so he's kept locked away
Where no one else can see,
The bell tower, perhaps and who knows, our Lord works in mysterious ways,
Even this foul creature may
Yet prove one day to be
Of use to me..."

And Frollo gave the child a cruel name
A name that means half-formed, Quasimodo
Now here is a riddle to guess if you can
Sing the bells of Notre Dame
Who is the monster and who is the man?

Ed shrugged. "Frollo obviously..." he said after the jester was done with his tale. "You can't judge someone by their looks but by their heart. Right?"

"Exactly," Riku said, looking to Ed. "This is why the keyblade chose you. You have a pure heart that sees the good and bad in things," he said, placing a hand to his chest.

Kairi smiled as Ed blushed slightly and turned to look at Clopin. "So...Quasimodo is stuck up in that bell tower all the time?" she asked, sadly.

"That's not cool! We have to save Quasi!" Sora said, pounding his glass on the table.

Clopin shook his head, "No one goes up to the bell tower, Frollo forbids it. If he finds you, you'll burn at the stake and be accused of heresy."

"B-Burn? That sounds horrible!" Alphonse whimpered.

"But that pure heart of Quasimodo's might lead us to the keyhole to this world!" Donald hissed to Goofy.

Clopin stood up and bowed to the group again, "Well, mon amies, I must take my leave for the night. There's a bit of a festival going on and I'm quite the big part of it. Adieu!" And he snuck out the back door and left the six on their own.

"I still think we should check out that bell tower," Sora pouted, going back to his drink.

Ed sighed. "Well, maybe we can somehow sneak in? We're still welcome in the church, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but we may have to sneak past Frollo anyway. For all we know, he could be working with Maleficent, which means he could already know what we look like," Riku mentioned, standing up just as Clopin was leaving.

Goofy turned to Donald and nodded. "Yeah, we just need to figure out how to get up there..."

"Maybe if just a few of us go. It'd be easier to sneak in then." Alphonse suggested. "I'm too big and my armor makes too much noise so I'll stay here."

"I'll go! It's my job as the bearer of the Kingdom Key!" Sora said triumphantly.

Donald sighed, "And that makes you more elite... how?"

"I'm the original!"

"Right..."

"I'll go!" Ed said, raising his hand. "Since I'm new at this, I'll need someone experienced to show me what to do."

"I'll go too then... Someone needs to keep an eye on the two idiots," Riku said with a smirk.

"HEY!" both Ed and Sora yelled at once.

"I'll stay here with Alphonse then," Kairi offered.

"Maybe three's enough. I'll stay here too," Goofy offered.

"Yeah, we'll sit this one out. Don't screw anything up!" Donald scolded.

Sora saluted, "We know better, Donald! Besides, what could go wrong?"

"A lot of things," Alphonse said, looking directly at his brother, "Remember Lab 5?"

"What happened in Lab 5?"

"My brother the over curious idiot almost got us BOTH killed."

"How was I supposed to know there were two guards at a supposedly abandoned building?" Ed grumbled. "Don't worry, we'll be fine!" he said waving his hand at the others.

"Good luck!" Kairi waved.

"Yeah, yeah. See you guys later. You try to stay out of trouble too," Riku said, glaring at the remaining group.

"Should we look around town anyway?" Goofy whispered as Ed, Sora, and Riku left.

"Yeah, let's see what the locals can tell us," Alphonse said, "See if this 'gypsy outbreak' Frollo's worried about really is justified."

"I highly doubt it is, but it doesn't hurt to ask anyway," Donald replied with a nod and they left as well.

End chapter 11. Hope you guys liked! We tried going to a world that was never in Kingdom hearts to give it a little more originality XD Chapter 12 coming soon!