I was shoved in a metal cage with Djali, Clopin, Sara and a few other gypsies I did not know that well. I was claustrophobic at the best of times but with my claustrophobia and the fact that the guards had dragged Esmeralda away from the cages completely and away from me I had completely gone insane. No matter how much I screamed at the guards to at least bring her back to me knowing that they wouldn't let me go which caused them to jeer at my pathetic attempts, I had lost all sane hope. I kicked and pulled at the bars of the cage frantically, crying out loud in frustration when they did not even budge. I could not see through the stream of tears that persistently fell from my eyes, even Djali, who never failed to make me smile, could not make this any better. Eventually I fell to my knees as Djali jumped into my lap, nuzzling his head into my chest. Sobs wracked my body as the gypsies and Sara looked at me, sympathy and sadness in their eyes whereas Clopin was completely at a loss on what to do, not that he could comfort me in the slightest or not that I would let him.

"Genevieve, please stop crying." He whispered, sitting down opposite me.

"Why?" I spat, "Making you look bad again am I?"

"Can you please just stop being so stubborn?! vous me conduisez fou!" He exclaimed, taking his purple hat off his head, running his hand through his hair before placing it back on.

"In case you haven't noticed, my cousin, all I have in the world, has been dragged off to god knows where!" I screeched, burying my face in Djali's fur as the tears fell once more.

"She'll be okay, she will be." Clopin stated, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"I thought I told you to stay away from me." I mumbled, shrugging his hand off.

"You say a lot of things, which reminds me I haven't had a secret in a while." He said, causing me to look up in shock.

"You're absolutely despicable! Just move to the opposite side of this cage and don't speak to me." I demanded as he held his hands up in defense.

"I was just trying to lighten the mood-"

"You drive me insane-"

"Just stop!" He shouted, "Stop this now, you are being stupid." He continued as he moved to sit next to me.

I did not utter another word, not even when the sobs began wracking my body once more and I found his arms around me in a tight embrace whilst my head fell onto his shoulder.

"I can't lose her." I sobbed, burying my head in his chest.

"You won't lose her, I'll make sure of that." He replied, running a hand through my hair softly which caused me to move back in surprise.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean-"

"What is going on?" I sighed, "This is just too much."

"Everyone needs a friend-"

"Clopin." I said, stopping him in his tracks.

"There is nothing else, I am comforting a friend."

I nodded, accepting this before placing my head back onto his shoulder once more.

I wasn't aware I had briefly fallen asleep until I was awoken by Clopin shaking my furiously. My eyes darted open and I stood up automatically, knocking Djali out of my lap as I did so. I muttered an apology and ruffled his fur as he bleated softly.

"What's going on?!" I exclaimed.

Clopin just shot me a look I couldn't read as I glanced around the numerous other cages, catching Phoebus's eye as he gulped before looking into the distance at something I could not yet see. I noticed that dawn had began to break as I began to search frantically with my eyes until I saw the sight that made me scream out loud and run to the front of the cage. Esmeralda was tied to a pole with some form of hay surrounding her as Frollo stood opposite he with a flaming stick of wood in hand.

"The prisoner Esmeralda has been found guilty of the crime of witchcraft. The sentence: death!" Frollo announced.

"Let her go!" I shouted as I began pulling at the bars frantically once more, cutting my hands in the process, but of course, it proved to be fruitless.

"Help me!" I yelled to the others in my cage as they all began to try and break the bars also.

"Genevieve these aren't going to give way, they were meant to hold and are built with the sturdiest metal – they will not give." Sara said glumly.

"That's my cousin!" I yelled, "I do not care, I am not going to stop fighting!" I insisted as I continued to punch and yank the bars.

Frollo leaned into her and said something that I nor anyone else could hear, but she replied by spitting in his face, angering him further. The crowds surrounding them both were utterly horrified by what he was doing, and it made me feel a little reassured they could finally see him for that he was – a monster. My hands bled and beads of sweat dripped down from my head but I did not give it a moments consideration as I swore I would never let anything happen to her.

"The gypsy Esmeralda has refused to recant. This evil witch has put the soul of every citizen of Paris in mortal danger!" He yelled, "For justice, for Paris, and for her own salvation, it is my sacred duty to send this unholy demon back where she belongs!" He finished as he set fire to the hay surrounding her.

"No!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, crying once more, begging the bars to give way.

There was another loud scream the same time as mine as I noticed some of the stone pillars of Notre Dame begin to shake violently. I gasped as I noticed Quasi, chained to said pillars break himself free as they crumbled before grabbing ahold of some rope, tying it around another pillar before scaling the cathedral, knocking the guards out of the way and grabbing unconscious Esmeralda.

"Quasimodo!" Frollo screamed as Quasi began his way back up to the top of the cathedral.

I began to shake furiously, repeating thank you under my breath to Quasi. I prayed that she was alive, if anything happened to her I would never able to live with myself or forgive myself.

"We need to get out of here!" I spoke loudly as I noticed Phoebus grab a guard outside of the cage he was contained in before hitting him hard and grabbing the keys off of him.

After the lock sprung free on his own cage Phoebus made his way over to ours, telling us to step back before unlocking it. He shot me a reassuring nod before making his way over to the other cages, dodging the guards that were now fighting gypsies as he went. I couldn't seem to move off of the spot, all my emotions had fused together and I had no idea what to do, I felt numb with shock at what had happened and I did not want to move incase Frollo had succeeded in killing Esmeralda. I wanted to be sick, I did not know how much more I could take. Sara and the other gypsies leapt out of the cage and began joining in the fight, disarming guards and claiming their weapons as they went.

"Come on." Clopin said softly, extending his hand out to me. I glanced from it, up to his eyes, and back again.

"Genevieve, come on." He pushed, reaching for my hand.

I hesitantly moved my hand and placed it in his before he pulled me out of the cage.

"Do you trust me?" He asked quickly, pulling me out of the way of the fighting for a moment.

"I am not-"

"This is no time to doubt me, Genevieve. Do you trust me?" I repeated.

I bit my lip as I stared at him for a moment, "I trust you."

"Good. Then do exactly as I say and follow me."

I breathed in deeply as he entwined his fingers with mine quickly, attempting to pull me out of the way of the fighting but he was not quick enough as an oncoming guard lunged out and kicked me forcefully to the ground.

"You stupid girl," He sneered, placing a steel booted foot hard on my stomach and pressing down with all of his weight. The pain was excruciating as I screamed out loudly, much to the guard's delight.

I did the only thing I could think of at that moment in time, which consisted in kicking out as hard as I could. The guard yelped in pain, momentarily distracted as he moved his foot off of me. I kicked out at his shin as his hands automatically reached out, dropping his axe in the process. I leapt up and grabbed it a split second before he recovered and hit him over the head with it forcefully as he fell to the concrete, unconscious. My ribs ached but I tried to push the pain to the back of my mind as it was the last thing I needed to be concerned about. I pushed my hair out of my face before glancing around, the guards were falling left right and centre due to the strength in numbers of the gypsies which was one promising factor. My eyes landed on Clopin who had just knocked a guard to the floor nearby, a part of me was glad that he did not try to interfere once the guard had knocked me down as he knew me well enough to know I could handle myself, but I couldn't help but be slightly annoyed as a thought entered my head: if it were any of his people he would have helped them. I pushed that to the back of my mind also as it was not relevant, especially as my eyes had then landed upon Frollo's furious and vengeful face in the distance whilst he swung his sword in the air and pointed at the locked door of Notre Dame whilst his guards followed his command and tried to break down the door forcefully with a beam.

Sucking in a deep breath to try and ease the pain I began to run forward, dodging and hitting out at guards with the back of the axe as I did so, with the hopes of getting into Notre Dame before he did when a sudden realization came to me which filled me with hope: I knew of an alternative entrance. Clopin's eyes locked onto mine and in an instant we both knew what the other was thinking as he ran over to me frantically.

"Let's go," He commanded as we took off around the other side of Notre Dame as fast as we could. The other entrance was not known to many, Clopin had mentioned it to me as he confessed that he once was looking to gain access to the cathedral but could not just walk through the front door due to his gypsy status when he discovered a few loose bricks in the wall before pulling them apart and making his own personal entrance. He frantically pulled out the bricks, scratching himself in the process but not even taking a second to wince as we both clambered in. I gulped as I noticed that the beam was now through the front door.

"No!" I gasped, noticing that the archdeacon was sprawled across the floor, trying to lift his frail frame up off of the ground. I ran over to him and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling him up with all of my might before moving him away from the stairs and sitting him on the floor to recover.

"I am okay dear child, you must hurry! He has locked the door and he has taken my key, you must break it down!" He commanded as Clopin searched for something to knock the door down with, but there was nothing in sight. He resorted to throwing his body against it forcefully, but it did not give way.

"Our body weight combined may just work," I stated as he nodded, both of us running in unison into the door, causing it to crack as we both began to kick it furiously, gaining access. I bit my lip, my ribs screaming in agony as Clopin shot me a concerned look.

"Are you okay?" He questioned.

"I'm fine," I said quickly as I ran up the next set of stairs with Clopin in pursuit.

As we reached the second floor of Notre Dame I heard a citizen below shout to the others, "Up there!"

Clopin and I ran to the pillars in unison as we glanced above. Esmeralda was holding onto Quasimodo with all of her might as Frollo stood up tall on one of the stone gargoyles and raised his sword. His cold laugh echoed loudly, causing me to snap back into reality.

"We need to get round there!" I exclaimed, grabbing him roughly and pulling him with me.

We ran to the set of pillars that were directly below them and looked up just in time to see the gargoyle crack and Frollo fall, clutching it tightly. However, it was not enough as the stone broke away, sending him into what had become a fiery pit below.

"Quasimodo, Quasi!" Esmeralda willed as Quasi didn't have the strength to hold on and neither did she, "No!" She screamed as he slipped from her fingers.

Despite the fire in my ribs I reached out at the right moment in order to catch him. I grabbed hold of him tightly, pulling him close to me.

"Genevieve?" He mumbled as I smiled before turning to Clopin, ushering for him to help me. Together we pulled Quasimodo through the pillar and out of harms way.

"I am so glad you're okay," I whimpered, pulling him into my arms.

"Thank you for saving me," He replied.

"Don't be ridiculous, thank you for saving my cousin," I cried gratefully.

"Oh thank goodness," Esmeralda breathed as she ran over to us with Phoebus in pursuit.

"Frollo's dead," I said in disbelief, "That monster can do us no more harm."

"Everyone knows how much of a hero you are, Quasimodo." Phoebus said, pulling Quasi up off of the floor and embracing him.

"You are finally free," Esmeralda piped up as she too took it upon herself to embrace him.

"Thank you," I mumbled to Clopin who nodded in response before patting Quasimodo on the back.

The five of us made our way down to the remains of the front door of the cathedral. Quasimodo trailed behind me slowly as I turned around to reassure him.

"Everything will be okay, I promise," I said, reaching out and gripping his hand tightly.

"I believe you," he whispered.

Esmeralda, Phoebus and Clopin made their way outside as I followed in pursuit, only for Quasi to let go of my hand.

"I just need a minute," He said, disappearing back into the shadows.

I nodded, even though he could not see before I stepped outside into the sunlight. Esmeralda turned and reached her hand out through the door, praying Quasimodo would grab it, which to all of our relief, he did. The towns folk did not know how to react at first, but as a small girl dressed in purple stepped forward and walked up the steps towards Quasimodo, it was clear to see that progress was being made. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around him lovingly before grabbing his hand and leading him down the stairs towards the rest of the people who, much to our delight, began to pat him on the back.

"Three cheers for Quasimodo!" Clopin exclaimed as the town folk and gypsies alike did just that.

I couldn't help but smile slightly as Clopin lifted the little girl dressed in purple into the air, taking his puppet replica of Frollo out from his pocket and making her giggle. I cheered loudly with all of the citizens of Paris as they continued to do so as they gathered round just before Quasimodo was carried off on the shoulders of two men as the crowd followed behind.

Against my will I finally succumbed to the pain as I fell to the floor, unable to stand from the constant ache any longer.

"Genevieve!" Esmeralda cried as she broke her hand away from Phoebus' grip and ran over to me.

"I'm fine, my ribs are just a little painful." I muttered as I chuckled lightly.

"I've got it," Clopin said as he picked me up off of the floor and into his arms. I was in too much pain to complain as I wrapped my arms around his neck gently.

"It hurts," I whined as I bit my lip. I hated complaining, but even I knew that my ribs had taken a battering and were most likely broken from the combination of events.

"I know," He soothed, "It won't hurt for much longer."

Strangely, his encouraging words made me feel a little better. I began drifting in and out of consciousness due to the pain and could not fully process what was a dream and what was actually happening, and due to that I could not work out whether me reaching up and pulling Clopin's head down slightly and placing his lips on mine as reality or a figment of my imagination.