Chapter 50: I Want to be Your Canary

"Peace is but a shadow of death, desperate to forget its painful past."

Morning came over a city on the bank of a river, the rising sun waking up to brighten the cobblestone roads and all buildings from the humblest peasants' home to the largest noble's manor. Morning bells rang out from the cathedral as the people came out to greet each other and the morning, cheerfully calling to neighbors while opening their windows or emerging from their homes.

Soon enough, the cheerful chatter of people filled the streets, accompanied by the scent of baking goods wafting up from open bakery windows. Children played in the streets all across the city, including in front of a rather large manor near the recently deceased judge's old residence.

"Though we hope for promising years. After shedding a thousand tears, yesterday's sorrow constantly nears."

A noblewoman in an expensive, figure-hugging red dress lounged on an equally extravagant sofa, the cushions made of the finest silk munny could buy. A morning glass of wine was in one dainty hand, while the other held one of the writings of her personal favorite author, Marquis de Sade. She chuckled at the page and combed slender fingers through her bright blonde hair. After a sip of the wine there was a knock at the noblewoman's door.

"Enter."

The book and glass were set down on a marvelously crafted end table of mahogany and glass, patterns carved into both. The sofa and the table were of course not the only extravagancies in the room, with blood red curtains and imported foreign rugs accessorizing the room. Scented candles sat in every corner, as the large glass door that led onto the balcony was closed to shut out the noise of the morning. The centerpiece of the room was a large round bed, a thin veil hanging from the ceiling and falling around the mattress. Her collection spoke of affluence and munny to spare, and indeed the noblewoman was one of very high class and wealth.

The large double doors with fleurs-de-lis carved into them opened slowly, the man in the clinking, heavy plate armor on the other side slightly hesitant to see the madame of the mansion. But she was not one to be kept waiting, already reaching for a knife sitting next to Sade's book. And so the brave, loyal, and frankly rather large soldier entered the rest of the way into the room and saluted with an arm over his armor-clad chest.

"Madame…"

"How long has it been, Steiner?" she asked while examining her knife.

Adelbert Steiner flinched slightly at her cold tone of voice, and she knew what he was thinking: why ask? She knew perfectly well how long it had been. Still, he answered faithfully. "About half a year now, Madame. Since the fire that struck the city."

"Yes, since the fire. And in that half a year, have you found any sign of her?"

Another second's hesitation. "…N-No, Madame… I have not. But this is a large city, and—!" A knife flying past Steiner's head, inches from his face, cut him off. He stood tall and rigid as the blade stuck itself into the wood of the door.

"Yes, it is a large city, and full of holes for thieving little vermin to hide in besides," the noblewoman mused as she retrieved her book and lied back onto the silk cushions. She looked up and met Steiner in the eye, one manicured finger tapping the cover impatiently. "Do you follow, Steiner?"

"The heathens? You think that she's with…?"

"I do, because their court is the one place we will never be able to find. But not to worry." She smiled wickedly, motioning to out the window to the cathedral that towered over the city. "They're holding a party in the square, another festival. Surely she can be found there."

Steiner jumped to his feet. "Then I shall do my best, and retrieve the lady from her kidnappers posthaste! Madame, by your leave!"

The noblewoman rested her cheek on her fist and opened up Sade's book. "Go with my blessing, Steiner." She didn't look up as she heard the heavy clanking of his plate armor slowly fade into the distance, opting to turn the page in her book instead. But after a minute passed, when she was sure Steiner had left the mansion, the room began to darken.

The candles went out and the curtains closed over the windows of their own volition. The noblewoman glanced up at the growing darkness but paid it little mind, quickly turning back to the pages instead. As dark fire rose up from the shadows and formed into a number of humanoid shapes, she didn't even give the newcomers a passing glance and instead flipped the page once more.

"You go after her as well," she said calmly to the creatures, their steepled hats casting a shadow over all facial features but their glowing red, jagged eyes. "Something tells me Steiner won't quite be successful."

The creatures raised their arms without a word, melting back into the shadows and retreating before the candles flickered on and the curtains opened once more.

x-x-x

Xion couldn't hide her happiness as she, Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked down the narrow cobblestone streets, surrounded on all sides by humble, if tightly-packed, homes. As she took in her familiar surroundings with a smile on her face, her friends followed while admiring the many sights and sounds of the city they had arrived in.

Black boots clicked against the stone road as Xion led the group through town. After the incident with Treasure Planet, Xion's old clothes had become…less than usable. It turned out to have been a good thing that Shiki had dragged her along shopping after all. The blue seashell-print shirt was accompanied with a black hooded jacket, a bit thicker than the one she had worn before. A matching leather skirt, unzipped at the side for ease of movement, was over the short denim shorts that she had been wary of buying before.

Behind her, Sora's voice rose up above the sounds of the city. "Xion, you haven't told us why you were so anxious to come here yet."

"It's a surprise!" Xion said, casting a glance to him over her shoulder and grinning. "Come on, we're almost there!"

When they had first come across this world, Xion had been extremely excited. Though she didn't expect to find any ways into the Realm of Darkness here, it wouldn't hurt to look. Besides, it was an old favorite of hers and she couldn't wait to see everyone again. The others kept asking her just what the deal with this world was, but Xion's lips were sealed. It would be better for them to see the square themselves.

The road widened slightly and morning bells began their ringing as they approached the center of the city. Around the next corner, a decently sized crowd of children caught the group's attention. They were laughing and singing along with a man behind a curtain, puppets on his hands. Sora, Donald, and Goofy stopped and watched in confusion, but Xion grabbed them by the wrists and pulled them forward.

The man was dressed in bright purple and yellow, and a jester judging by his hat. The children grew into a hush as he began to speak in reference to the bells. "Listen, they're beautiful, no? So many colors of sound, so many changing moods. Because you know, they don't ring all by themselves."

"They don't?" The jester rose up his puppet and mimicked a child's voice.

"No, silly boy," he whispered to the puppet, then gestured to the towering building still a few roads away, so tall it could be seen from even here. "Up there, high, high in the dark bell tower lives the mysterious bell ringer. Who is this creature?"

"Who?" the puppet asked.

"What is he?"

"What?"

"How did he come to be there?"

"How?"

He bonked the puppet on the head, causing giggles to rise up from the assembled children. "Hush, and Clopin will tell you. It is a tale, a tale of a man—and a monster…"

"Aren't you forgetting a few other people?" Xion asked from behind the crowd with a grin on her face. All eyes on her, not just the children and Clopin but her friends as well. A few moments passed before recognition registered, but when it did Clopin broke into a huge smile and jumped up out of his puppet stage.

"Well! If it isn't Mademoiselle Xion! And I see you've brought company."

Goofy grinned. "Gawrsh, you must be a friend of Xion's! I'm Goofy, and these here are our pals Sora and Donald!"

Clopin tipped his jester's cap. "A pleasure, to be sure. A friend of Xion's is a friend of mine."

Xion shook her head. "Right, friends try to hang their friends."

Xion ignored her friends' shocked and confused gasps, and Clopin chuckled. "Water under the bridge, hm? Just a part of the show! Esmeralda vouches for you, and besides I could never hurt someone who helped to stopped Judge Claude Frollo!"

"Judge…who?" Sora crossed his arms and tilted his head.

"Ah, you are new here?" Clopin leaned in close to Sora, his eyes practically touching the boy's, before he jumped back into his puppet stage to the sound of cheering children. "Well, you shall learn along with the children! Dark was the night when our tale was begun, on the docks near Notre Dame…"

But before Clopin could begin his story, a harsh woman's voice shouted from behind the crowd. "Henri, you get away from that no-good Gypsy!"

"Victor, you know better than to approach their kind!"

"Huh?" A shocked Xion stepped aside as two women came up and grabbed their moaning children by the arms, pulling them away from Clopin's puppet show. This called attention from more mothers, repeating the process again and again as upset children got pulled away, leaving only Sora, Xion, Donald, and Goofy at Clopin's miniature theater.

Xion could almost swear that Clopin's hat was drooping, and his mask couldn't hide the hurt look in his eyes. She took a tentative step forward. "Clopin, what…?"

Clopin sighed and shook his head, quickly returning to his peppy character. "Ah, Xion, I am afraid that's the fact of life. Frollo was hardly an exclusive case."

Xion's heart fell at the news, but she supposed it made sense. In such a large city, there was sure to be a wide variety of opinions. And the loudest among them vanishing certainly wouldn't have made those feelings go away, people didn't sway that easily. It…was like Braig, she supposed. Xehanort's period of amnesia, which might as well have meant he wasn't even there, hadn't stopped Braig's own plans. Was that a fair comparison? Xion wasn't sure.

Donald crossed his arms. "Could we get some info? I'm kinda lost."

"Yes, indeed you shall! Come, I will inform you while we go to see Quasimodo and the others." Clopin placed his puppet into his pocket and then motioned for the group to follow, weaving through the crowds as they stepped down the ever widening roads of Paris. The occasional concerned mother pulling her child back did not go unnoticed.

And as they walked, Xion and Clopin told Sora, Donald, and Goofy about her first visit to La Cité des Cloches several months ago, with only a few questions between the three of them. She spoke about the Feast of Fools and Judge Claude Frollo, of Quasimodo's history and her meeting with the flirty Zidane. Her friends' faces turned to worry as Clopin spoke about Frollo's hatred for the Gypsies and the fire he had started nearly half a year ago now, how Quasimodo had defeated him while Xion and Zidane had bested 'that hooded rogue'—Demyx.

And they continued to speak as the towers in the distance, the ones rising above the city and visible from any location, drew ever closer. The summary came to a close once the road they traveled down abruptly stopped, and the densely-packed buildings with it. Many roads in the city led to the massive square that stretched out before them, the cathedral in the center standing strong in the sunlight.

Notre Dame.

But Notre Dame wasn't the only thing in the square that day. A large stage, recently constructed based on the piles of lumber to the side, stood in another part of the large plaza. What appeared to be the walls of a castle sat atop it, with stairs leading from the stage proper up to the top of the walls. All in all it was a very impressive creation, one which caught the group's attention.

"What's this for, Clopin?" Several seconds passed without an answer, prompting Xion to turn around. To her surprise, Clopin had completely vanished from the group, having run off to who-know-where while the four of them had admired the stage. "Well, that's nice of him."

Sora laughed. "Well, I guess he didn't say he'd stick around after he led us here. Come on, let's go check out that stage!"

"Sora, hold on!" Donald cried out as the boy ran over and jumped onto the stage. But his warnings were ignored as Goofy, and Xion as well, caught up in her curiosity, moved to join him. Donald let out a sigh and his shoulders drooped. "Okay, hey! Wait for me!"

The stage was just as impressive up close, if not more so. From here, however, a bit of theater's mysteries gave way to the mundane: the castle walls were constructed out of plywood, not stone, and the doors that had appeared to go into it were just painted on. Closer inspection of the ground beneath them revealed trap doors, three of them. No doubt for the actors to come and go in a billow of smoke.

"I wonder what show they're puttin' on," Goofy mused as they examined the stage further.

Xion shrugged. "Not sure. It definitely wasn't here last time, though."

"Xion? Xion, is that you?" A new, but familiar, voice caught Xion's attention. She stood up straight and turned around just in time to see a familiar woman and blond man emerging from Notre Dame. "Well I'll be, it is! And you've brought friends!"

Xion burst into a large smile and she waved the two over. "Phoebus! Esmeralda! Hey, great to see you two again!"

"You too!" Xion hopped down from the stage to meet the two lovebirds on the ground. Esmeralda looked just as she remembered her, with flowing black hair and a fit, hourglass figure. Phoebus, on the other hand, was dressed in a simple white tunic and unarmed now that he was no longer a captain. But her smile faltered slightly, though never vanished completely, as Xion noticed a certain someone was missing. "Where's Quasi?"

As if in answer to her question, and before Esmeralda or Phoebus could answer, a cheerful holler came up from above. Heads turned to see a short, stout figure leap from the roof of Notre Dame between the bell towers, swooping through the air on a rope with dozens of brightly colored flags attached to it. Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, circled the square on his rope just as Xion had seen him do the night of Frollo's fire before he landed atop the stage. He tied the rope tight to a post, forming a steady stream of flags that soared above their heads from the cathedral to the stage.

After wiping his brow, Quasimodo looked down at the gathering at the stage. His eyes locked on Xion's and he smiled widely. Jumping down (and giving Donald a shock in the process), Quasimodo hurried over to the black-haired girl and embraced her in a deep hug. Xion flinched as his mighty arms squeezed her tight, but he let go soon enough and looked up at her with a smile so kind it made his eyes sparkle.

"Xion! It's so good to see you again."

Xion couldn't help but reciprocate his smile, it was just infectious. "You too, Quasi. And these are my friends, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Guys, I met Phoebus and Esmeralda last time. And I told you about Quasimodo." She watched them carefully for their reactions to Quasimodo's appearance, but except from a bit of nervous swallowing from Donald no one even commented on it. Thank goodness.

"Nice to meet you lads," Phoebus said with a chuckle as he wrapped a hand around Esmeralda's waist.

"You too," the trio chorused.

Esmeralda smiled and placed her hands on her hips. "And you four have come at a great time! We're putting on a play here in the square, to show the people of the city that Gypsies aren't all bad."

Quasimodo nodded solemnly. "Even after all these months, things are still a little hectic. Some Gypsies aren't exactly taking what Frollo did well, so we want to put the people at ease."

Sora jumped down beside Xion. "A play! That sounds fun! So, who are you guys playing?"

Esmeralda winked. "It's a secret, kid."

"Gawrsh, I bet you too are playin' the leads! Ya sure look like a happy couple," Goofy said with a laugh.

Esmeralda and Phoebus glanced at each other for a moment before their faces went beat red, then pulled away ever so slightly. Phoebus rubbed the back of his neck and Esmeralda looked aside, causing a Quasimodo to sigh.

"No, they aren't," Quasimodo said, turning away from the pair and back to Xion and her friends. "The leads are—"

Quasimodo was interrupted by a flurry of smoke pellets that flew from one of the trapdoors when it was flung open suddenly. As the area was clouded in a thick white smoke, Xion saw the shadow of a figure leap out of the trapdoor and bolt up the stairs. Instinctively she blew away the smoke with a weak Aero spell and then summoned her Keyblade to her hand, looking up at the newcomer and watching him cautiously.

"T'is foolishness! If all were so easy, why, none would suffer in this world!"

A black hood and cape billowed in the remaining winds from Aero, but not one like those that Organization XIII wore. Made of a thinner fabric and not covering the legs, just about the only thing that this coat did hide was the newcomer's face. In one gloved hand he spun around a double-bladed sword, as if two blades had been joined together at the hilts.

"Expect no quarter from me!"

The cloaked figure leaped off of the castle wall, sword in hand and aimed right at a dumbfounded Donald and Goofy. Responding quickly, Donald held up his wand and cast Reflect. The cloaked boy crashed into the hexagon dome and was knocked back as it shattered, slamming hard into the wood of the stage and knocking his hood back.

Xion's eyebrows shot up at the new sight of his long blond hair, tied into a ponytail. "Wait a second—"

"Zidane!" The boy sat up and removed his cloak at the feminine voice that called him from backstage. A girl dressed in orange and white ran out from behind the plywood castle, her dark brown hair cut short. She grabbed the boy—Zidane, the skirt-chasing Gypsy that Xion had met during her last visit—and dragged him up to his feet. "I told you, you would get hurt if you did that!"

Zidane grinned. "Well, yeah—but you probably didn't expect it to be like that, did ya? What did you think, Dagger—impressed?"

The girl, Dagger apparently though Xion thought that was a bizarre name, rolled her eyes and turned away from Zidane with her arms crossed. Zidane eyes Dagger's back and looked like he was going to say something (probably something naughty, knowing him) but Esmeralda stopped him prematurely by clearing her throat.

"Ahem." Zidane and Dagger's heads turned to Esmeralda, and to everyone else. The woman crossed her arms and nodded her head over to Xion. "Zidane, we have a visitor. Aren't you going to greet an old friend of yours?"

Zidane blinked and looked over to Xion, who offered a wave and a smile. "Hey, Zidane! Long time no see, huh?"

Zidane's eyes narrowed, but not out of any sort of suspicion. Rather he looked…curious? Like he was studying Xion. She tilted her head in confusion as he examined her face, then narrowed her own eyes and raised her arms up when his gaze drifted a little lower. Finally, after an uncomfortable moment of eyeing her up and down, Zidane snapped his fingers.

"Elise, right?" Xion's eyebrows shot up. What—what did he call her? That wasn't her name. Reading the expression on her face, Zidane scratched his head. "Right, right. Sorry about that, Jeanne." That wasn't right either!

"Did you…forget me?" That was absurd. There's no way he could… I mean, we weren't exactly close, it was a short time, but…

Zidane sighed and shook his head. "Xion, I'm just messing with you. Come on, there's no way I'd forget you—not when you were in my dreams every night these last few months." Xion groaned and rubbed her face as Zidane fell right back into his old habit. Of course, messing with her. Well, he succeeded at that. Though…why did the idea of someone forgetting her hurt so bad?

Zidane hopped off the stage to meet everyone on the ground. "What are you doing back here? These your friends?"

"Yeah, nice to meet you." Sora held out a hand, which Zidane took with gusto. "I'm Sora, this is Donald and Goofy. We were, uh, in the area, so Xion wanted to stop by."

"Oh, couldn't bear to be away from me, huh?"

"Zidane!" Zidane turned around as Dagger called him, then rubbed the back of his head while looking like a kid who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Right, right, sorry! Xion, this is my friend Dagger. She joined the troupe just a little bit after you left."

"Nice to meet you," Dagger commented with a dainty smile as she sat down on the edge of the stage, her legs dangling over the sides. She seemed like a sweet girl, but something about her seemed off; and it wasn't just her skin being a few shades too pale for a Gypsy. She looked…familiar. What was—

The cellar was dark, but the fires up above kept it lit well enough. Zidane found their target – a girl with brown hair dressed in orange - in the corner, backing up in fear from the crackling up above.

"Is there anyone else here?" Xion asked as they approached.

The girl shook her head. "Just me. Everyone else was out in the city when the fires started."

Zidane helped her up and winked. "Your heroes have arrived. Come on!"

Zidane climbed out first, and then Xion lifted the girl up into his arms from below before she followed. Unfortunately, as they went back the way the came wood and stone came crashing down and covering the doorway.

"Do you see any other way out?" Xion asked.

Zidane looked around desperately before his eyes fell on the window. "Hold on tight!" He picked the girl up and held her close, then ran at full speed and broke through the window. Glass went flying and cut at his skin, but the girl was unharmed.

"You're crazy," Xion said behind him.

Zidane flashed a smile. "Crazy works for me."

The girl climbed out of Zidane's grip and dusted her clothes off before bowing. "Thank you for saving me."

"Ooh, polite and pretty! Can you find your way out of here safely?"

"Yes. I know where my guardian is... Um…" She hesitated, blushing slightly. Or maybe that was just the glow of the fire. "If I may ask, why did you risk your life to help a total stranger?"

Zidane looked surprised by the question, but then he gave a lighthearted chuckle. "You don't need a reason to help people."

"…I see. Well, thank you. I hope we meet again!"

Now she remembered! It was after she and Zidane had fled the Court of Miracles and found themselves in Paris in the middle of Frollo's fire. They had come upon a house on the verge of collapsing and had to tear apart the wooden floor to save the girl trapped in the cellar. Her image was hazy through the smoke and ash from that night, but Xion was sure of it. "You're the girl we saved from the fire!"

Xion could swear that Dagger and Zidane's faces fell for an instant, but they recovered so quickly that she couldn't be sure that she hadn't just imagined that. Dagger nodded. "Yes, and I should thank you again for that night."

Xion shook her head. "Nah, don't worry about it. Besides, Zidane was the real hero back there."

Zidane tilted his chin up proudly with his hands on his hips. "Yup! Maybe I should get a thank you kiss!"

Light laughter rippled among the group at Zidane's comment, though Zidane didn't join in and just looked dejected. After it died down, Goofy turned to Phoebus and Esmeralda. "So uh, what play are you fellers puttin' on anyway?"

"The play is I Want to be Your Canary—it's a romance," Phoebus explained. "Zidane here is playing the main hero, while Dagger is playing Princess Cornelia."

"Hey, that sounds like fun!" Donald said.

Quasimodo nodded. "It's quite unlike anything I've done before. Even just setting up everything is all very exciting."

Sora held his hands behind his head. "Anything we can do to help?"

Esmeralda rested one hand on her hip and the other on her chin. "Well… Construction is actually pretty much done, sorry to say."

"Oh…" Sora's shoulders fell, but he recovered quickly enough. "Well, we'd love to stick around to see it. I'm sure it'll be a great show!"

"Indeed it will!" Clopin—just where had he been?—called out from nowhere. A trapdoor opened on the stage and out the jester rose, a large bucket of props in his arms. He set the bucket down and then flipped over to the edge of the stage, stopping next to Dagger. "And it will be even better when you four joined in!"

"Us?!" Donald gasped. He backed away, shaking his hands in front of him. "No way, I don't think—"

Goofy scratched his head. "Gawrsh, I don't think I've ever been an actor before."

Donald nodded rapidly at Goofy's words. "Yeah, we can't act!"

But Clopin just laughed and tossed Donald a wizard's hat, which landed perfectly atop his head—and ended up being too large, sinking down over his eyes. "Nonsense, anyone can do it!" He reached into the bucket and pulled out more props, tossing them to Xion, Sora, and Goofy.

Xion examined the fake sword and matching leather sheathe that she had been given, then looked up to see her friends with their own props. Back up on the stage, Zidane slipped back into his black hood and gave Dagger a cheeky grin as she put on a white robe with a red triangle pattern.

"Well…why not? Could be fun."

Not much going on in this chapter outside of that opening, but I think if I went into the action here there wouldn't be a good place to stop for a while and it would end up dragging too long.

I've said this before, but Hunchback is my favorite Disney movie and IX is my favorite Final Fantasy game, so I can't resist merging the two of them. That said, this visit is going to contrast the last one in that it's leading far more to the FFIX side of things. Still, the Hunchback cast will be far from left out and the conflict going to tie into the setting. This has been in planning since the original visit, so how many of you caught that that was Dagger way back when? ;)