Why, hello there

A/N- Why…hi again! I've been updating rather quickly, so yay:D Usually, months could pass before fics are updated (just look at some of my other stories), but since this is a comm list of prompts…I post faster. :D

Thanks a billion for your kind reviews! (When I say "I want reviews!" I usually don't expect to get any. So thanks!)

Well, onto the next chapter of The Bells of Notre Dame, in which…well, you'll see. :D

Chapter 3 –Nail Polish

Beta - Rainbowserenity


Frollo had finally left the bell tower. Sora climbed from under the table to see the three gargoyles crowding around Quasimodo as the hunchbacked man leaned over a railing of the cathedral with a sad expression. "Why would he say such things?" Sora questioned, approaching Quasimodo. "I mean…true you're not like others but…"

Quasimodo just shook his head. "I'm just a monster," he replied with a slump. "Master's raised me for twenty years; he would know it best." The man sighed again before returning his gaze to the city. "Just one day, I'd love to go down there…"

"Well, make it today!" the fat gargoyle, Hugo chimed in, hopping onto the railing with surprising ease. "The grand FoF! Best day to go down!"

"But we've already brought this up," the thin one, Victor commented. "His master would notice extremely quickly."

Sora blinked, looking from bell ringer to gargoyle. "FoF?" he repeated, raising his eyebrow (as much as he could, anyway). "What's that?"

Laverne had finally gotten the birds off her for a moment, so she took the time to answer. "Festival of Fools; all the common folks go down and have a good time. Except our Quasi here…"

"I bet those people down there don't even realize how great they have it…" Quasimodo mumbled, resting his head on his hands. Sora bit his lip, feeling bad for the man, but he still had to leave and find Riku! And…well, whatever King Mickey wanted them to do was still important, but Riku had the parchment in his clothes.

Not wanting to bug Quasimodo or pester Hugo, Sora quietly tapped Victor on the shoulder. "Um, excuse me..." He didn't know how to feel: stupid for talking to stone gargoyle (though he'd done so before) or underclassed, seeing as Victor seemed very…mature for some reason. "Is there a way to get out of here? Without using the stairs?"

Victor was about to respond when Quasimodo jumped up. "I'll help you!" the man grinned, beginning to lean over the railing, looking for good footholds. "I'll get you out of the tower!"

Sora's eyes widened. "Wait…wait! I just meant a back door or something! You don't have to do this—"

He instantly shut up, though, when Quasimodo easily hefted him over his shoulder, and the bell ringer hopped over the edge of the railing. "You're not afraid of heights, are you?" Quasimodo asked, realizing that it was kind of too late for Sora now if he was.

Was Sora afraid of heights? No. Was Sora slightly nervous about being dangled off a gianormous bell tower, hanging on to a man who only had one hand attached to the building? Yes, yes he was, and that was probably why Sora didn't respond and simply clung tightly to Quasimodo's neck, praying to someone that he didn't fall.

"Well, hang on!" Quasimodo smiled for the first time since Frollo left and jumped down the bell tower.


"You want me to what?"

Eyes, all different shapes, sizes, and colors, stared back to the silver-haired teen as he stood in disbelief. Riku shook his head, about to run a hand through his hair, only to stop, remembering the braids in it; the bracelets on his arm jangled quietly, louder than anyone was currently breathing at the moment.

Clopin simply stared back to him. "And why not? You seem to have the body of a dancer, or at least a warrior. From far away, the people won't notice!" The man allowed a broad smile to spread on his face. "It shall be a perfect addition to the festival!"

As the gypsies around him cheered, Riku shrunk in his seat, mumbling to himself, "I can't even dance!"

As though that was the magic words, at least thirty people surrounded him, each smile wider than the last. "I can teach you!" one man exclaimed, attempting to push in.

A group of women raised their eyebrows at him. "There is no one that likes the boisterous way a man dances…"

"Like they can dance at all," someone added, and the people laughed. One of the woman, who looked about as old as Esmeralda, walked up to him with a smile.

"I'm Glaia," she smiled to him, and he gave a weak smile back. "I can teach you to dance. But, even in the outfit you're wearing, you'll have to dance in a much more…feminine fashion."

"Can't he be dressed as a woman?" one person shouted, and although they all laughed, their eyes were serious. Riku looked from person to person, realizing that it would be rude to make an 'X' out of his fingers and run away, especially after they'd taken care of him, but there was no way they were going to make him dress like the woman did here.

And besides, he had a noticeable lack of cleavage, something every woman had in abundance here.

Glaia must've recognized the same problem because she pointed it out to the group and some of the men and women sighed. One woman, however, simply approached him with a smile. "If we make his pants a little…bigger and his shirt a little tighter…we could pass him off."

"…Not as a woman?" Riku asked hopefully. The other woman nodded and Glaia tapped her chin.

"You might need a few more hair ribbons," she joked with a smile as Riku rolled his eyes with good nature. Esmeralda had said the little ones would take care of his hair, and that they did. The top hair of his hair was braided (with ribbons entwined in the braids) and pulled back and the bottom part was hanging free. Although he would never do such a look again, he had to admit that it looked slightly cool.

"Alright…so… let's go get my outfit, huh?" Riku gave a weak smile as the woman and Glaia began to drag him away. "Oh…where's Esmeralda?"

Glaia playfully rolled her eyes. "On the streets again. She loves dancing and since she does receive money for it, it's not like Clopin can really scold her for it." She shook her head and forcefully shoved Riku into a tent against his protests and quickly hurried inside.


"Sora…Sora? Are you alright?" Quasimodo questioned, shaking the brunet Keyblader.

Sora was currently staring up to the sky, wondering if it just became bluer because he died. That last jump was too far of a jump for either of them to have lived. Great, now he was dead and stuck in heaven without Riku or Kairi…

Thump.

Sora jerked up as Quasimodo stared at him, a statue of Mother Mary looming behind him. "Why'd you drop me?" Sora scowled slightly, rubbing the back of his head. Quasimodo shrugged.

"You weren't answering and it certainly woke you up," he replied in a good-natured tone. Sora sighed before nodding. "You'll want to head that way." He pointed in one direction. "That way..." Quasimodo pointed in the other direction. "Heads out of Paris, and if you and your friend were traveling together, he's probably still in the city."

"So…this is where we part ways, huh?" Sora frowned slightly, but he did realize that the bell ringer refused to even step foot out of the tower. Quasimodo nodded, but leaned his hand down. Sora leaned up to shake it and added, "I'm sure we'll see each other again."

Quasimodo opened his mouth to say something when the clopping of horses cut him off. His eyes widened and he gave Sora a quick wave before bounding up the side of the cathedral again.

Sora spun around to see a solider approaching, his head in a map and his horse following by faithfully. Every once in a while, the solider would look up, attempting to speak to someone, only to cut off when they would quickly pass by them. Almost shrugging to himself, Sora decided that he would go meet the person (better than being lost and/or attacked down here), and as he did, the person began crumpling up his map, rolling his eyes to his horse.

"You leave town for a couple of decades and they change everything," he muttered and continued walking, almost crushing Sora. "Whoa! Sorry there, kid. Didn't see you…" He raised his eyebrow at Sora and the brunet instantly knew what the problem was.

"I'm…kind of not from around here…" Sora began, realizing that his clothing was going to have to be changed. At this rate, he would be arrested before finding Riku!

"I noticed," the man replied, his eyebrow raised humorously. "You seem just as lost and bewildered as a fawn…or at least, me." With a roll of his eyes, he held up the map he'd crumpled. "Paris has changed in the last couple of years."

"Paris…where's that?" Sora questioned, feeling curious. The man's eyes widened slightly.

"Kid, you're standing in Paris. You know…Paris, France?" Sora blinked back at the man and he simply sighed. "Yeesh, wherever you're from, you mustn't be taught well. So, where? England? Germany? Hm…" With a stroke of his beard, he added, "Your skin is almost dark enough to maybe be from the Indies everyone keeps discussing…"

Sora blinked again, wondering if maybe all this information was in the King's letter. Riku had been the one to analyze it!

The man sighed. "I suppose it's a good thing you speak French, then." Sora was about to ask what this 'French' was when the man reached into his saddlebag. "Kid, take these clothes. At least people will stop looking at you so strangely."

Sora blinked a third time, realizing that the clothes were a pair of tight pants and a simple white top. "So…um, thanks, but who are you?"

The man blinked as well. "Apparently all that I've done in the wars hasn't been noted. Captain Phoebus, which means 'sun god'." Phoebus looked proud of the fact, but Sora simply blinked in confusion. "…Kid, maybe you should stick with me. With eyes that innocent, you're more than likely going to be mugged."

Sora nodded and a few minutes later, had changed into his new outfit (he at least snuck into an alley to change. He didn't do so in broad daylight!). Phoebus raised his eyebrow at the clothing Sora handed back to him, but he didn't question it and simply placed it into his saddlebag. "I'm Sora! And…um…where are you going?"

"The Palace of Justice, if I can find it," Phoebus sighed with a shake of his head. "At this rate, though, we might be lost forever, Sora." Although his tone was serious, he was smiling, so Sora smiled in retribution.

They began walking again when Sora heard a faint sound. "What is that?" he questioned, looking around before finally setting eyes on a girl with long, black hair and dark skin who dancing alongside a goat. He was about to ask Phoebus who she was, but Sora turned to the Captain to see that he was staring at the girl in a very captivated manner. Uh oh…

Apparently a little girl thought that the woman was pretty as well and reached forward to touch her before her mother jerked her back. "Stay away, child - they're gypsies. They'll steal us blind!"

Sora raised his eyebrow and Phoebus approached the woman, dropping a few coins in her hat that lay on the ground. She looked up to him, smiling slightly, when there was suddenly a whistle that broke the moment. The man playing the instrument fled and the goat attempted to run. The woman began to run as well, before quickly heading back and grabbing the hat full of coins, only to be stopped by two guards.

"Alright gypsy, where'd you get the money?" the first guard with a long moustache asked, grabbing one of her arms.

The woman glared at the two. "For your information, I earned it."

The second guard, a fat one, sneered. "Gypsy's don't earn money."

"Maybe a day in the stocks will cool you down," the first one smirked before the woman kicked him in the face, knocking the smirk off his face. "Why, I oughta…"

"Hey! She said she didn't steal it, so lay off, you jerks!" All three of them stopped moving as Sora stood, pointing his Keyblade at the guards. "I saw her earn the money so stop bugging her!"

The gypsy, glad for the distraction, kicked the guard who was holding her down where the light doesn't shine before sprinting off. The thin one with a long mustache fell to the ground in pain, and the fat one almost started chasing her when Phoebus suddenly spoke. "Achilles! Sit!"

The first guard yelped in pain as Phoebus's horse sat on him. Sora grinned up to Phoebus, who smiled back, before the fat guard pulled out a dagger. "You peasants don't know who you're dealing with…"

Phoebus quickly unsheathed his sword. "You were saying, Lieutenant?" The fat one's eyes widened before he attempted a salute, only to bean himself upside the head.

"At your service, Captain!"

Phoebus smirked slightly. "I realize you both are busy, but would you be so kind as to show my squire and I to the Palace of Justice?" he asked, instructing his horse to stand again. The first guard leapt to his feet, nodding, and the fat one began to instruct people to move out of the way for Captain Phoebus.

Sora bent down, collecting a few fallen coins, and handed them to Phoebus. "What type of weapon is that?" Phoebus questioned as they began following the guards.

"Uh…heh, heh, heh…" Sora grinned sheepishly and Phoebus shook his head.

"It might be wiser to keep that key…thing hidden for now."

Sora nodded and turned to continue following the guards, but he didn't miss when Phoebus stealthily dropped the coins into a beggar's hat. A quick turn of his head showed him that it was the same girl, and she smiled at Phoebus, although the Captain couldn't see it.