Marinette was sound asleep, her hair matted against the side of her head and Tikki snoring on her stomach when the sound of ringing bells made her sit up and scream in terror. She burst from the closed curtains with her hands on either side of her head and looked around her. There were at least six bells ringing at once around her. Their deep tones made the pit of her stomach lurch and twist. Tikki was barking madly beside her.
She ran to the edge of the large landing and looked over the edge where the ropes were moving. Below her, she saw Chat happily pulling the ropes. At last, he released the ropes and climbed to a nearby window. He was staring at something down below. Marinette walked to a window on the same side and peered down.
The bright light from the rising sun cast shadows on the streets as smoke from fires began to emerge from chimneys. Small specks of people began to move about as the day began. Soldiers circled the streets below, voices began to call out, and children began to run about. Marinette smiled as she rested her head on the sil, seeing the world from this place was truly an amazing sight.
"Mornings are always so much fun to watch," Chat's voice made her jump. "S-sorry!"
"You scared me," Marinette laughed, "but I can see what you mean. Seeing the town begin to stir as the new day begins, it is an amazing sight."
"The best part is seeing the bells in the morning light," Chat grinned as he turned to look at the shimmering bells overhead.
Marinette looked up as well, the bells shone like gold in the light. Her smile grew as she began to walk around the tower.
"Shall I introduce you?" Chat asked, as he followed her.
"I'd love to meet them," she answered, never taking her eyes off their glittering metal.
"This," Chat said as he climbed the pillars next to the bells, "is Matera, beside her is Patero. They are the largest bells of Notre Dame. A-and here are the triplets," Chat leapt from one pillar to another where three identical bells hung, "Hugo, Louis, and Emma. On the other side are their mischievous cousins," he swung around the pillar and placed a hand on the center bell, "Sah, Belxari, and Yval."
Marinette could not stop the huge grin on her face as she watched Chat introduce each bell to her.
"And here is the most beautiful bell in all of Paris," Chat said as he landed on a far platform, "We ring this bell on special occasions such as holidays and important festivals."
"What's her name?" Marinette asked as she walked up to the bell.
"Nathalie," Chat said with pride as he ran a gentle hand down the bell.
Marinette looked at the metal bell before her, "What makes her more beautiful than the others?"
Chat grinned cheekily, he had been waiting for her to ask, "Take a look inside."
Marinette crouched down and stepped inside. She felt her mouth drop as she was faced with gems larger than her head. She ducked out of the bell as fast as she could and stared at Chat, "That was…"
"Pretty cool, huh?" Chat said slyly, leaning on the side of the bell. There was something about the way she had looked at him as he introduced the bells to her that made him so comfortable. He had never felt this comfortable with another… human.
"Who was that?" Marinette's eyes had drifted beyond him and into a far corner. Chat turned and felt his stomach knot.
In the farthest corner of the tower, taken down and hidden below a blanket years ago, gathering dust, was Little Sister. Chat had hidden her away from Archdeacon Fu, unwilling to give her up.
"That was… Little Sister," Chat practically whispered as Marinette walked toward it and began to pull the blanket away. "No!" Chat pulled the blanket back over the bell, "I don't want you to see what happened to her."
Marinette frowned, "Why not? What happened?"
Chat smoothed the fabric quietly. How could he tell her that he had gotten angry and done that? What would she think? His strength alone was frightening, he knew that. What on earth would she say if she saw that when he got angry he could destroy an entire bell?
"A terrible mistake," Chat said at last, "That's all I want to say about it."
Marinette raised her eyebrows sadly, "I'm sorry."
They stood in silence for a moment until the obvious sound of Marinette's stomach rumbled in the space between them. Marinette's face grew red as the two laughed at the sound.
"I don't suppose you'd know where to get some food, do you?" Marinette laughed as the two made their way back to the living space.
"I know that Fu provides meals for those who are hungry down in the church," Chat said as he pointed toward the stairs.
In a moment, Chat's face fell from happiness to nearly dread. Marinette spotted it at once.
"What is it?" she asked as she called Tikki to her side.
"Judge Papillion, my master," Chat answered vaguely.
Marinette's eyes widened as she glanced from Chat, to her little room, and back again.
"He comes to see me every day, if he finds you are here…" Chat's voice trailed as he and Marinette had the same plan. They began to pull the little space for her down and pile it discretely.
"We'll just hide this here, you can go down now so he does not find you on the stairs. Hurry!" Chat urged as finished hiding the addition.
Marinette nodded and rushed down the stairs as fast as she could, Tikki on her heels. She pushed open the door leading into the church and made her way into the sanctuary. She nearly tripped over Fu, who seemed to be waiting for her.
"I have a nice meal for you two right this way," Fu said as he ushered her toward another room in the large church.
The sound of the main doors opening dramatically pulled their attention. Judge Papillion and a small group of guards entered. Fu grumbled before advancing on him.
"No soldiers in pursuit of the girl are allowed inside this church!" he shouted angrily as Papillion glided toward the door Marinette just escaped from.
"They are my escort," Papillion defended mockingly as he opened the door, "the soldiers in search of the girl are at every single exit to this church. They will not enter, they will not drag her out," he added through gritted teeth. Marinette's frown turned into a scowl as he ascended the stairs in his haughty manner.
Fu eyed the guards warily before returning to Marinette, leading her to where he had placed her food, away from prying eyes.
Marinette sat down before the food and sighed, "How a man like him raised a person like Chat Noir is beyond me."
"I find myself asking the same questions whenever I am lucky enough to converse with the boy," Fu agreed as he presented Marinette with a serving of bread and soup.
"He tells me that you taught him a lot," Marinette mused as she accepted the food, "he is incredibly smart and intuitive. His work with wood shows how smart he really is."
"I have ever only taught him the very basics. I do not know where his knowledge comes from," Fu responded kindly before crossing himself. Marinette bowed her head as Fu blessed the food.
"Really," Marinette awed, "He must have had a nursemaid or someone like that to care for him."
"I cannot say," Fu mused as he glanced out the window to the streets beyond the wall, "Papillion was around as often as he could be with the boy, and I was around even less, it seemed. But the child was able to live, nonetheless."
"It can't have been his curse," Marinette thought out loud, "curses like that where the child is turned half animal does not give the human animal instincts. His ears and tail might move as a cat's, but he is completely human. There had to be someone who provided for him where Papillion did not."
"You know magic?" Fu asked, trying very hard to sound offended.
Marinette blushed hard as she took a long drink. She swallowed the liquid with difficulty before choking out an answer, "Technically, yes. But curses and hexes are not really in my code of ethics."
"Not really?" Fu repeated, a ghost of a laugh on his lips.
"Father, forgive me, for I have sinned," Marinette laughed back as she help her hands in a prayer-like position in front of her face. Fu only let out a hearty laugh.
"You don't disapprove of hexing some people?" Marinette asked, eyes wide and mouth agape.
"Of course I disapprove," Fu said, his mood changing suddenly, but his eyes sparkled once more with mirth, "But if there is anything I have learned from my studies of Who God is and who we are as man, is that we are all flawed. 'There is none righteous, no, not one,'" he quoted with a raised finger, to accent his point.
"Papillion would say otherwise," Marinette grinned down at her bowl.
"Judge Papillion is just as flawed as the rest of us. Being a man of power, he has lost sight of what is important. Someday he may come to see the light," Fu smiled as he accepted Marinette's bowl and cup, "but until then, we are all subject to his rule. Our Lord works in mysterious, and often times uncomfortable ways," he added as he heard Papillion leave the tower in his usual huff, "in time, it will all work out, 'for the good of those who love Him.'"
"And those who are called according to His purpose," Marinette finished as she followed him out of the room. "I just hope the people He calls are on their way. There are people out there who need help as soon as possible."
"Who knows," Fu grinned as he opened the door to the tower for the gypsy, "maybe the ones He is calling are in a world that is much too loud. He calls out to some in a very small, still voice."
Marinette returned Fu's smile before returning up the stairs to see Chat.
For a week this was the routine. They would wake up in the morning and Chat would ring the bells. He taught Marinette how to ring one of the bells, which was humorous to watch. She could not use her weight properly as a counter to the large bell for the longest time. Finally, she climbed up to a support beam and placed her feet upside down on it to form the leverage she needed to get the bell to chime. If only Judge Papillion, the righteous and upright judge of Paris, was being called to evening Mass by a girl with her skirt wrapped around her knees so she would not be exposed as she stood upside down and pulled the rope up above her head like a madwoman.
After the morning bells were rung, the two would walk around the tower together as they gazed at streets below. Their favorite game was spotting the most ridiculous incident of the morning. Chat knew which townsfolk would provide the best entertainment and he would always be the first to point them out. Marinette, who was just happy to see him smiling, did not mind constantly losing at the game.
After their morning stroll, they would hide Marinette's bed away and she would go down for her early lunch. While there, she would talk to Archdeacon Fu about who could have possibly nursed Chat. She once had a man who had come for prayer join her and added his own wild schemes of how it was done.
"Maybe a large bird would care for him at night, thinking it was one of her own chicks," he offered.
"He's allergic to feathers. He has a terrible time walking around any of the gargoyles who have nests on them," Marinette shot down.
"Maybe a cat got up there?"
"Possible, but I doubt an animal like that would try to care for a toddler," she reached out and pulled on the man's shirt as a toddler would a cat's tail.
"He has his own to pull," he added, smoothing the sleeve again.
"Which means he probably pulled it a lot and cried," Marinette said, as if this were the key to figuring it all out, "so some person had to be there to get him to stop crying."
This would go on until Papillion left. He would scan the foyer for Marinette before sneering and walking out.
Marinette would return and talk to Chat about what Papillion had to say. Chat was often times depressed after these times because Papillion would fill his head with talk about how Gypsies were evil and should never be trusted. These times were difficult because Marinette had to try to change twenty years of lies from a man that he trusted with his whole being into as much truth as she could give.
They would continue their talks, albeit with difficulty, as Chat rang the bells at different times of day. Their talks would turn more lighthearted and enjoyable as the two completed the various chores about the tower until the sun set.
Then, the two would climb atop Notre Dame and watch as the sun set. Then they would lay back and find the constellations above.
The week turned into a month faster than they expected.
What happened even faster was the rate by which the two grew closer. Their conversations after Papillion left turned from truth finding to enjoyment much faster than before. Their jokes were much more vague but also more deeply rooted into their personalities than before. Marinette's bed was situated much closer than is was before. Their conversations lasted much MUCH longer than before. Marinette and Chat also realized they were much happier than they ever were before.
Marinette could not say for sure when she fell in love with Chat Noir. Was it when he first showed her Nathalie and grinned the way he had? Was it when they read one another's palms? Was it the first time he fell twenty feet while polishing Hugo? Was it the first time they saw Judge Papillion nearly get run over by his own carriage and they laughed so hard she snorted?
She did not know.
Chat knew the very instant he fell in love with Marinette. It was when he made Papillion mad at him for arguing about Marinette's sins compared to Papillion's. He had said that they were equal. Papillion had let him have it after that. He told him all about his evil mother and how she had cursed him to look like a cat demon and only wanted him dead. He told Chat all about how she was ready to drown him in a well when Papillion intervened. She had taken his sword and cut herself across her chest, declaring how much she hated Chat and wished one of them would just die, and if Chat would not be kind enough to do it for her, she would die herself.
Marinette had not gone down to eat that day and was sitting on one of the crossbeams, listening. Her gut had twisted itself terribly and her heart ached as she watched Papillion share this story with Chat. From his body language, he had told Chat this before. But that did not change the amount of hurt Chat felt as Papillion glided out of the tower.
Marinette wasted no time in running to him and wrapping her arms tightly around him. She said nothing, just let him cry. She kissed his head and ran a hand through his hair as he wailed about how unfair it all was. He cried until his tears ran dry. That was when she finally spoke.
"I wish your mother could see you now," she whispered as she held him in a tight hug, "I wish she could see that you are a strong, smart, lovely man. You have made a home for yourself here. You have used your talents to create a beautiful world from what you see below. You even have a friend who loves you with every ounce of her being. No curse, no hateful word, no ill will can ever take that from you, Chat. Please don't be sad about the past. I'm here, Tikki's here, we are here for you and we will never hurt you."
That was the moment Chat fell desperately in love with Marinette.
Marinette, however, had grown incredibly restless. Everything she had learned from her time in Notre Dame was leading her in every different direction possible.
She wanted to find out who cared enough for Chat Noir that they kept him alive without Papillion or Archdeacon Fu's knowledge. Someone like that had to still care for him now. If she could find this person, then he would have the parental figure he desperately needed. On top of all this, she was also in desperate want of seeing her own parents back in the Court of Miracles. It was common knowledge that Marinette, the famous gypsy dancer was trapped in Notre Dame under sanctuary, and Marinette was more than ready to leave and go home.
But now she had both a mission to complete, and a person she never wanted to leave.