Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunchback of Notre Dame or anything to do with it. However, I do own Diamanta Devereux, her father, Oliver, Cecile Devereux, Madame Doreen,and Judge Thomas Gautier.

Note: No, the story isn't finished. I, too, am a Clopin fan and refuse to finish the story with such a terrible ending as I have in this piece of it. I don't know how many chapters there will be, but there'll be enough for the story to make all Clopin fans fulfilled.

I am also sorry to say that I may not be updating for quite some time due to several towers of homework, but I will complete this story.

Chapter #12

"Well, well, well. We meet again, gypsy," Gautier hissed. Before she could say anything, she was surrounded by soldiers. Diamanta saw Gautier look past her with a surprised expression. "Captain Phoebus, I am terribly disappointed in you. Harboring gypsies in your very own home. I thought I could trust you. Well, never mind that." He turned to his soldiers. "Capture him and anyone found in his home."

Diamanta reached into the deep pocket of her skirt to grab some sort of vanishing powder. Unexpectedly, something heavy struck the back of her head. That was when everything went black.

Diamanta awoke in a dimly lit jail cell with three others. She recognized them at once: Esmeralda, Phoebus, and Oliver. All four of them were chained to the stone walls, all wearing plain white outfits belted by rope.

"Where am I?" Diamanta questioned.

"In jail, about to get the death penalty along with the rest of us," Phoebus said quietly.

"It's all your fault!" Esmeralda screamed suddenly at Diamanta. "If you hadn't left, Oliver wouldn't have followed you—"

"You followed me?" Diamanta said, now looking at Oliver.

"I had to. Someone needed to go with you."

"Why can't you trust me for once?" Diamanta said.

"Why can't you appreciate me for once? I risked my life going out there for you. I was caught and tortured for you! Now I'm going to die! All for you!" Oliver shouted.

Diamanta suddenly recognized what he was doing. She was surprised it didn't hit her sooner. Every time Oliver was in a tight situation, he would try to appear as someone noble, which made her out to be a selfish brat. Another thought came to her. He doesn't really love me.

Usually when she was angry with Oliver, she would bottle up all her emotions and pretend nothing happened. Suddenly, the word spilled out of her.

"Liar," Diamanta heard herself say. Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Oliver. You lied to me."

"Don't talk to me like that, woman. After all I've done for you—"

"You haven't done anything for me. The only reason you did all that was because you didn't trust me. You risked your life because you didn't trust me, and you thought I was cheating on you."

"I was worried about you," Oliver said. "I was worried that you might get hurt."

"If you were so worried, then why didn't you do anything when my father hit me?"

"I didn't see you get hit. By that time I was captured."

"Yes you did!" Diamanta exclaimed. "You were the one wearing the cloak. When Papa looked down the alleyway, he was looking at you."

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Oliver said in a snide tone. Diamanta ignored him and continued.

"If you trusted…no…loved me, we wouldn't be here."

"Or," Esmeralda said bitterly, "would we have not been here if you loved Oliver?"

"What?" Oliver gasped.

"Esmeralda, no…" Diamanta said in an almost pleading voice.

"She went through the soldiers into danger simply to ask me if she should discontinue seeing you, Oliver," Esmeralda said, despite Diamanta's plea. "You see, your loving Dia had eyes for another supposedly handsome man." Diamanta lunged toward Esmeralda, only to remember she was in chains and she wasn't able to move her arms any more than a few feet.

"At least I love others for their personality, not their living status," Diamanta rasped, "or their physical appearance." Phoebus' jaw dropped open, for what Diamanta said suddenly made sense. Before he could say anything Oliver began to speak.

"Don't change the subject, woman. Who?" Diamanta gave Oliver a confused expression.

"What do you mean by 'who'?"

"Don't play games with me. Who is this other man you've been secretly seeing?"

"I haven't been seeing anyone!" Diamanta exclaimed.

"Woman, you must have forgotten your place," Oliver said dangerously. "Do not ever lie to me. If it wasn't for me, you would have been dead by now!"

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be on death row now!" Diamanta screamed. A long silence broke out between everyone in the cell.

"Who is he?" Oliver said in a voice like poison. There was no need to answer, for seconds later the four of them heard the sound of jingling keys and someone whistling a joyful tune. Soon Clopin appeared in the stone hallway swinging a ring of keys around his index finger. Oliver's eyes grew wide as he realized the man who Diamanta was in love with was Clopin. "You," Oliver said darkly.

"Me," Clopin said in a voice to match Oliver's. In an instant, Clopin's puppet appeared.

"Or," it said in a high but dark voice, "me."

"How did you get in here?" Esmeralda asked. Clopin put a gloved finger to his lips as he unlocked the cell door.

"There are ways which a gypsy can slip through walls unnoticed." He unlocked Esmeralda's chains as well as Diamanta's. He greeted the two with tight hugs, causing Oliver's face to turn a dark shade of purple. Clopin unchained Phoebus. "Yet again we meet with you in mortal peril," Clopin said with a laugh as he pulled him up. He turned to Oliver, who gave him the cruelest look he could muster. Clopin ignored this and unchained him. Without warning, Oliver lunged at Clopin's throat.

"You stole her!" Oliver bellowed. Phoebus made an attempt to pull him back, but he elbowed him in the face. Esmeralda took Phoebus' bleeding jaw in her hands.

"Stop!" Diamanta shouted. Clopin's hand moved toward his knife, but Oliver was quicker. He took Clopin's dagger out of the sheath and edged toward him, a crazed look in his eye.

"I stood up for Diamanta when no one else would. She was all that I had, and you take her from me!" For the first time in her life, Diamanta noticed a flicker of completely untamed fear in Clopin's eyes. A tear rolled out of Diamanta's eye.

"Don't kill him," she pleaded. Clopin was now backed into a corner.

"He took you from me," Oliver rasped, "now I take him from you." With a sickening sound, Oliver stabbed him in the chest.