*I don't own Kingdom Hearts, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or any of their characters, though Heavyn is mine.
Quasimodo stared down at the square with listless eyes as he saw two of his friends tied to two stakes. He was chained to the bell tower, the place that had been his home and prison thanks to the man now reciting the 'crimes' that his friends committed. He used to feel so chained to this place… ironic now that he was actually chained, he felt nothing but despair. He could see Sora, Riku, Kairi, and all of the others housed in cages next to the platform where Esmeralda wore the white gown that was traditional for burning and Heavyn was just tied up (he had seen the guards try to stick her in the same outfit as Esmeralda, but she had raised so much of a fuss that they decided to leave her as she was in order to make sure that fireballs weren't sent their way).
"Quasimodo! What do you think you're doing?" came a voice suddenly inside of his head. His head shot up.
"Who's this?" he demanded, looking around.
"It's the X-blade! Who else do you think it is?" came the answer.
"What're you doing inside my head?" he asked.
"Because you need to wake up and realize your full potential! Heavyn and Esmeralda need you, and I can sense that you're just wallowing in self-pity!"
"I am not wallowing in self-pity!" he shot back.
"Oh, really? Then why are you allowing yourself to remain in these chains?"
Quasimodo was silent, for the X-blade had a point.
"What good will it do, anyway? Frollo's already won," he finally replied.
"Oh, really? So you're willing ruin Heavyn's plan just because you THINK Frollo's won?"
"What plan?"
"She has a sharp, pointy weapon that she can summon at will! You think that she's just going to stand by and let herself be burned?"
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Well, think! She can free herself and Esmeralda from the stakes, but then what? Where are they going to go? And how are they going to get there without having to deal with Frollo's soldiers?" replied the X-blade.
"I still do-" he abruptly cut himself off as he realized what the X-blade was talking about. Indeed, Heavyn and Esmeralda WOULD need a place where they could claim sanctuary. And what better place than the very same bell tower he was chained against?
"I see you got it. Now, are you going to let yourself be the monster that Frollo believes you to be, or are you going to become the man Heavyn knows you can be?" goaded the X-blade.
Quasimodo's eyes filled with purpose as he made his decision.
"GAAH! Why won't Heavyn let us help?" groaned Sora as he watched Frollo recite something from a scroll, an executioner wearing the traditional black mask standing next to him holding the torch that would set the deadly blaze alight. In front of Frollo, Esmeralda glared while Heavyn's face was surprisingly calm. All around them, the crowd was showing their disapproval of the situation by shouting and trying to break the barrier that Frollo's guards had set up.
"Well, you told me that she had a plan, you just need to have faith in her," reassured Clopin. After all, he had seen these Keyblade Wielders perform many incredible feats already, so why wouldn't Heavyn be able to perform another miracle?
"That's the thing! They've been up there for who knows how long, and Heavyn hasn't even ATTEMPTED to break free!" replied Sora.
"Sora, calm down. You're going to make the guards suspicious," came Riku's voice inside his head. Sora turned to see his best friend watching him from another cage with a calculated look on his face. On the other side of Riku's cage, he could see Kairi inside yet another cage alternating between watching them and watching the still-calm Heavyn. Phoebus, however, was looking as frustrated as he felt as he watched the scene from the final cage.
"Riku, Heavyn knows that we could easily break open these cages. Why would she tell us to just sit here and wait while she's sacrificing herself?" Sora shot back silently.
"I suspect it has to do with what I tried talking to you about earlier," came Riku's answer.
"What? About how she seems to know so much about this world?"
Riku nodded. "She did ask us to trust her. Let's see what she can pull off."
The two of them turned back towards the platform. Frollo had rolled his scroll closed and was now leaning towards Esmeralda. It was obvious that he was making a proposal towards her. Suddenly Esmeralda spat in his face.
"Oh, you just got REJECTED!" cried Heavyn, who had been watching the whole thing. The crowd's jaws dropped in amazement at her cry. Frollo glared at her as he shot back a reply, to which Heavyn just merely stuck her tongue out.
"The two witches have refused to recant their evil ways," Frollo announced to the entire crowd, grabbing the torch from the executioner's hands. He continued, "These evil witches have put the soul of every citizen in Paris in awful jeopardy! For justice, for Paris, and for their own salvation, it is my sacred duty to send these unholy demons back to where they belong!" He placed the torch next to the kindling and lit the flame.
"That's it, I'm breaking out of here!" Sora growled, getting ready to summon his Keyblade.
"Wait, Sora!" came Heavyn's voice inside his head.
"Heavyn, you're going to die! I can't just let you do this!" he responded back.
She gave a mental snort. "Did you really think I was going to die that easily? Look at me."
As he looked, he saw that Heavyn, using the flames as a cover, had summoned the X-blade and maneuvered it so that the sharp edge was sawing through the ropes binding her hands. Next to her, Esmeralda started to choke on the fumes of the flames.
"Okay… but how are you two going to get off that platform?" he asked.
"Let's just say I had the X-blade do me a favor," she responded back.
Sora was about to ask more, but was cut off by a strange sound. Listening closer, he realized that it was the bells vibrating as if a great earthquake was rumbling under their feet.
"HA! I knew he wouldn't let me down!" came Heavyn's mental shout.
Sora glanced up at the bell tower as Heavyn continued to saw through her bindings. He watched as bits and pieces of the bell tower started to collapse.
"What's going on up there?" he cried, pointing towards the bell tower.
Everyone in the cages looked up at his cry. Amidst the shocked cries of the Gypsies, Riku grinned.
"Looks like Quasimodo's finally breaking free," he replied mentally.
"Wow, he's strong!" came Kairi's observation.
As they watched, two columns suddenly collapsed. Three seconds later, a figure came flying down the side of the church, a rope unraveling behind it. As the rope pulled taut, Quasimodo (for it could only be him) was suddenly swung to the side of Notre Dame. Quasimodo took a moment, then ran alongside the edge of the building, swinging out towards the square. At that moment, Heavyn's efforts finally paid off. She used the X-blade to cut Esmeralda's bindings in one swing as Quasimodo landed on the platform. Guards started to swarm the platform as Heavyn grabbed Esmeralda (who had passed out) and swung her over her shoulder. Nodding at Quasimodo, she allowed him to pick the two of them up and swing them towards the church before the guards could reach them.
"QUASIMODO!" Frollo roared in anger as the crowd cheered.
"Wait for it…" came Heavyn's voice through the mental connection.
Quasimodo and his two passengers climbed up the side of the building, finally reaching the balcony that connected the two bell towers. He set down his friends, then took the unconscious Esmeralda from Heavyn's hands and raised her above his head.
"SANCTUARY!" he cried, looking down over the crowd. As the villagers roared their approval, he repeated his call twice more, Heavyn smiling at his side.
"Captain!" Frollo ordered suddenly, drawing the captive Keyblade Wielders' attention back to him.
"Sir?" replied his new Captain.
"Seize the cathedral at once!"
"WHAT?" cried out Sora as Frollo's guards hurried to do his bidding. Glancing up, he noticed that Quasimodo had taken Esmeralda inside the cathedral. Heavyn, however, was leaning over the railing.
"Okay, what'd Frollo order?" she asked her fellow Keyblade Wielders.
"They're going to lay siege to the cathedral!" replied Kairi.
Heavyn nodded, then briefly disappeared into the church. Suddenly, Quasimodo came flying down the side of the building, landing inside another part of the church. Thirty seconds later, a heavy beam came flying out of the church, landing (and promptly destroying) on Frollo's carriage. The guards scattered.
"Come back, you cowards!" Frollo shouted. He grabbed a couple guards and ordered, "You men, grab that beam and break down the door!"
As his guards rushed to follow orders, Heavyn's voice cried out through the mental connection, "NOW!"
"Finally!" cried Sora as he summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at the door to his cage. As he unlocked it, Riku and Kairi did the same to their cages. Phoebus, however, took a more novel approach as he knocked a guard out and stole his keys and spear. As Sora opened the door to his cage, Phoebus swung onto the top of his.
"Citizens of Paris!" he cried, raising the spear above his head. "Frollo has persecuted our people, ransacked our city, and now he has declared war on Notre Dame herself!" He grabbed the spear with both hands and held it high as he asked, "Will we allow it?"
"NOO!" cried the villagers as they finally broke the barrier.
"No wonder he was made Captain. He sure has some charisma with the people," remarked Riku as he jumped out of his cage.
"Guards!" cried Kairi, pointing with her Keyblade.
"Taken care of!" suddenly replied Clopin as he and several other Gypsies engaged said guards.
"Not THOSE creatures again!" came a villager's voice. The three looked to see Heartless emerging out of the ground.
"They're ours!" cried Sora as they ran to meet the Heartless in battle.
"Breathe, Esmeralda, breathe!" muttered Heavyn as she continued to administer CPR to Esmeralda, who was lying on Quasimodo's bed. When she had come back in here and asked Quasimodo to delay the guards, she had checked on Esmeralda and found her not breathing. Thankfully, she had made the mental connection with Quasimodo earlier so that she could implement the second half of her plan while concentrating on saving Esmeralda's life. Suddenly, Esmeralda started to cough.
"Whoa… take it easy, one breath at a time," Heavyn coaxed, wiping her forehead with relief.
"What… happened?" croaked Esmeralda.
"You suffered mild asphyxiation, and I had to administer CPR," replied Heavyn.
"Huh?"
"You had stopped breathing due to the smoke from the 'holy cleansing fire', and I had to force you to breathe again."
"Oh. What's going on out there?" asked Esmeralda weakly.
"Frollo's laying siege to the cathedral while the villagers revolt against him," answered the X-blade, appearing in Heavyn's hand. It added, "Heavyn, the Heartless have shown up in the square, and it probably won't be long before they try to stop Quasimodo from delaying the soldiers."
Heavyn nodded, then looked at Esmeralda as she ordered, "Now, get some rest. Your body needs it."
Esmeralda nodded. "Thank you, Heavyn," she sighed as she closed her eyes.
Heavyn smiled. "Not a problem," she murmured before rushing out.
"So how're we doing, Quasi?" asked Heavyn as she entered Quasimodo's base of operations.
"Pretty good," he answered as he flung a stone block down onto a ladder, breaking it.
Heavyn leaned over the edge and noticed that some guards had thrown a rope up, and was now climbing it. Waiting until she was sure they would land in the water below, she aimed a fireball at the rope.
"Wow, the one guard really DOES sound like Goofy," she thought as she saw them falling into the water. Suddenly, she head Quasimodo yelp. Turning, she saw that the X-blade's prediction came true.
"You worry about the soldiers, I'll handle the Heartless!" she cried to Quasimodo as she rushed in to meet her foes.
"Kairi! Behind you!" cried Sora.
Kairi turned, then destroyed the Soldier Heartless that had been trying to perform a sneak attack. "Thanks, Sora!" she called back.
"Uh, guys? I think we may have a problem…" warned Riku, looking towards the platform.
As the three watched, a massive Heartless started to appear from the flames of the fire that had been meant to kill their friends.
"A Heat Saber?" shouted Sora, recognizing the Heartless despite never seeing it before.
"How do you know what that Heartless is?" asked Kairi curiously.
"It's probably thanks to Roxas' memories. Now, how do we destroy it?" replied Riku, holding his Keyblade at the ready. The Heat Saber jumped and landed in the space between the Keyblade Wielders and the door to the cathedral.
"Well, there goes the plan of stopping Frollo BEFORE he enters the cathedral," remarked Sora. He thought for a moment, then added, "If I'm reading Roxas' memories right, it's weak to Blizzard magic, but strong against Fire magic."
"I'll let Heavyn know that Frollo's on his way," said Kairi, a little disappointed that the only magic she knew would be weak against the Heartless. As one, the three ran to meet the Heartless in battle.
"Heavyn! We're being stalled by something called a Heat Saber, and we can't stop Frollo from entering the church!" came Kairi's voice.
"Okay! Thanks for letting me know!" Heavyn replied as she batted aside a Shadow. She was currently the only one in that part of the church, for Quasimodo had successfully stopped the soldiers from coming up into the church and had run off to make sure Esmeralda was safe.
"Heavyn, am I reading your memories of this world's story right?" asked a worried X-blade.
"Unfortunately, yes. Frollo will be trying to kill Quasimodo, which is why we have to hurry up and finish off these Heartless!" Heavyn replied as she shot a fireball at a group of three Shadows. She parried an attack from a Gargoyle Knight, unaware that at that moment Frollo had broken down the door and was climbing towards his unwanted charge.