Chapter 1: Out There
Eglise Soleil,
The bells tolled loudly in the cathedral as capital city of Corona began its day. Deep within the bell tower of the ancient church, a figure moved about, pulling the ropes of the bells in order to keep the massive instruments ringing. After a few minutes he stopped, and the bells ceased ringing, the sound of their vibrations echoing off the wooden beams and stone walls.
Grabbing one of the ropes, the figure jumped and swung through the beams before landing on the wooded floor below. A door lay open nearby, leading out onto the battlements of the church. The sun light flooding in illuminated the figure as he righted himself.
He was a young man in his late teens, with auburn hair and blue eyes. His head was slopped forward to an unusual degree, especially over his left eye which caused his eyebrows to be uneven. His nose was round and bulbous, pointing upwards. His back had a noticeable hunch to it, causing his back to be higher than his head as he walked, and forcing him to walk hunched over. He had powerful looking arms and legs with a chest to match. He wore a long green tunic over brown pants, secured with a simple belt along with simple brown shoes on his feet.
Walking to the door, he disturbed a flock of pigeons that had gathered around it, causing them to fly off. He hobbled outside, leaning against the stone guardrail just beyond the door. Flanking him were two gargoyles. Both only showed the upper part of the creatures. One was majestic looking, with a powerful chest, pointed ears and feathered wings growing from its back. The other gargoyle however, resembled a pig, with cloven hoofs, a pot belly and a large snout. Long, pointed horns grew from its head, while tiny, bat-like wings grew from its back. Its mouth was opened wide, revealing rounded teeth. A bird's nest had been built within its agape mouth.
The young man turned to the bird's nest, looking inside with a sense of wonder. A small white bird sat sleeping inside.
"Good morning," he said, waking the bird.
Turning the white bird took notice of him and chirped happily.
"Will today be the day?" the young man asked excitedly, "Are you ready to fly?"
A look of nervousness passed over the bird's features before it let out a nervous chirp.
"Are you sure?" he asked, looking out over the city, "Good day to try."
He gently reached down and scooped the bird into his hands before turning towards the guardrail.
"Why, if I picked any day to fly, oh, this would be it," he stated holding his hands over the railing, "The Festival of Fools!"
Lowering the bird, he made sure it could see the open area in front of the cathedral. Down below, numerous tents of all colors and sizes had been set up. Colorful banners were hung between the buildings as the people walked about, jovial music floating up to their ears.
The bird gulped nervously as it looked down at the ground far below. It looked back at the man and let out a nervous chirp.
"It will be fun!" the young man exclaimed, "It will have jugglers and, and, music and dancing!"
As he said this the bird closed its eyes and began to flap its tiny wings, slowly rising into the air. The young man quickly moved his hands away, watching with wonder as the bird began to fly. He laughed knowingly as the bird opened its eyes and looked at him. He held up his hands, showing he wasn't holding the bird anymore, before the bird looked down to check. The bird let out a chirp of happiness, causing the young man to laugh again. Holding his hands out, he let the bird land in them. As he did, a flock of birds flew past. Seeing them go, the bird chirped excitedly before it looked back at the man.
"Go on," he encouraged, stroking its head, "Nobody wants to be cooped up here forever."
The bird chirped happily before flying off, leaving the young man behind. Watching it go, a look of sadness fell across the young man's face. As it did, the pig-like gargoyle sprung to life. Gagging on the nest, it spit it out in a cloud of straw and feathers.
"Man!" he exclaimed, in a coarse voice, "I thought he'd never leave! I'll be spitting feathers for a week."
As he spoke, the other gargoyle came to life. Straightening up, he crossed his arms and glared at the other one.
"Well that's what you get for sleeping with your mouth open," he admonished in a cultured voice.
"Heheh, go scare a priestess," the fat one shot back.
He hopped over to the young man's side, looking down at the courtyard below.
"Hey Quasi, what's going on down there?" he asked, "A fight, a flogging?"
"A festival!" the other gargoyle exclaimed, hopping over as well.
"You mean the Feast of Fools?" he asked, excitedly.
"Uh huh," Quasi confirmed.
"All right, all right!" the gargoyle exclaimed, "Pour the wine and cut the cheese!"
"It is a treat to watch the colorful pageantry of the simple peasant folk," the taller gargoyle agreed.
"Boy, nothing like balcony seats for watching the old F.O.F. huh?" the fat gargoyle asked, elbowing Quasi in the side playfully.
"Yeah," Quasi said glumly as he turned and began walking away, "Watching."
"Hey hey, what gives?" the fat gargoyle asked, turning towards Quasi.
"Don't you want to watch the festival with us?" the tall one questioned.
Quasi didn't respond as he walked back into the cathedral.
"I don't get it," the fat one said as he shook his head.
"Perhaps he sick?" the tall one suggested, placing his hand on the fat one's shoulder.
"Impossible!" exclaimed a new voice, sounding older and feminine.
Looking over, they saw a new gargoyle approaching. She only possessed an upper torso like the others. She had a wrinkled face with pudgy cheeks and skinny arms. Two cone-like horns grew from her head and small, feathery wings grew from her back. As she approached, she was desperately trying to fight off a group of pigeons that seemed dead set on using her as their perch.
"If eighteen years of listening to you two hasn't made him sick by now, nothing will," she laughed as she hopped off the guardrail onto the ground in the direction Quasi went.
"But watching the Festival of Fools has always been the highlight of the year for Quasimodo," the tall gargoyle explained.
"What good is watching the party if you never get to go?" she asked, before she quickly waved around as more birds tried to land on her, "Get away from me! Go on ya bunch of buzzards!"
Once the bird was gone, she turned and entered the cathedral the others following.
"He's not made of stone like us," the girl explained.
As the gargoyles followed him, Quasi climbed up to another floor of the bell tower. Passing by a table covered with various woodcrafters tools, he walked up to a table where he had made a recreation of the cathedral and the surrounding area in crude but loving detail and color. Sitting next to it, he looked at his creation forlornly, the gargoyles watching behind him.
Walking up to him, the female gargoyle placed her hand on Quasi's back and looked at him with sympathetic eyes.
"Quasi what's wrong?" she asked, as he played with one of the carved people "You want to tell old Laverne all about it?"
"I just don't feel like watching the festival, that's all," Quasi explained.
"Did you ever think of going there instead?" Laverne asked.
"Sure," Quasi replied with a shrug, "but I'd never fit in out there. I'm not…normal."
"Oh Quasi, Quasi, Quasi," Laverne said, patting him on the shoulder. She was interrupted though when one of the birds landed on her face.
"Do you mind?" she asked, before shaking her body to displace the birds, "I would like to have a moment with the boy if it's alright with you!"
As she did it, the fat gargoyle hopped up onto the table, reaching into the model cathedral and grabbing the Quasi-figure from within its bell tower.
"Hey, quit beating around the bell tower," he said, turning to put the figure on the table with the other people, "What do we got to do? Paint you a fresco?"
"As your friends and guardians we insist you attend the festival," the tall one stated as he pulled Quasi to his feet.
"Me?" Quasi asked.
"No, the archpriest," the fat gargoyle joked, "Of course you!"
"It would be a veritable popery of educational experience," the tall one explained.
"Wine, woman and song!" the fat one shouted as he juggled some of the figurines.
"You could learn to identify various regional cheeses!" the tall one added.
"Bobbing for snails!" the fat one continued, holding up a bucket of water.
"Hear indigenous folk music," the tall one stated, miming playing a guitar.
"Play Dunk the Monk!" the fat one shouted as he slammed the bucket of water on the tall gargoyle's head.
"Quasi, take it from an old spectator," Laverne said, putting her hand on his shoulder, "Life's not a spectator sport. If watching is all you're ever going to do, then you're going to watch your life go by without you."
"Yeah," the fat gargoyle chimed in, "You're human, with the flesh and the hair. We're just part of the architecture. Right, Victor?"
"Yet if you chip us, will we not flake, Hugo?" the tall one, Victor, asked, the bucket still on his head, "If you moisten us, will we not grow moss?"
Victor managed to pull the bucket off his head before forcing it on the Hugo's head.
"Quasi, just grab a fresh tunic, and a clean pair of hosen," Laverne said as she grabbed his arm.
"Thanks for the encouragement," Quasi interrupted her, placing a hand on hers to stop her as he sat back down, "but you're all forgetting one big thing."
"What?" they asked together.
"My master," Quasi replied, picking up the appropriate figurine, "Frollo."
"Oh," they all sighed.
"Well, when he says you're forbidden from ever leaving the bell tower, does he mean ever?" Victor asked.
"Never, ever," Quasi confirmed, "And he hates the Feast of Fools. He'd be furious if I asked to go."
"Who says you got to ask?" Hugo asked, an evil grin on his face.
"Oh no," Quasi said, a look of worry on his face.
"You sneak out," Hugo explained.
"It's just one afternoon," Laverne added.
"I couldn't," Quasi replied.
"and you sneak back in," Hugo continued.
"He'll never know you were gone," Laverne assured him.
"If I go caught," Quasi thought worriedly, running his hands through his hair.
"Better to beg forgiveness then ask permission," Victor mused.
"He might see me," Quasi said.
"You could wear a disguise!" Hugo replied, "Just this once. What Frollo doesn't know can't hurt you."
"Ignorance is bliss," Victor agreed.
"Nobody wants to stay cooked up here forever," Laverne added.
"You're right!" Quasi exclaimed, standing up, "I'll go!"
The gargoyles cheered as Quasi began to walk away from the table.
"I'll get cleaned up," Quasi stated, pumping his fist enthusiastically, "I'll march down those stairs, I'll march through those doors and-"
Quasi came to an abrupt halt as he suddenly found Frollo standing right in front of him, holding a basket of food.
"Good morning, Quasimodo," he said, glaring down at the young boy.
The wind quickly left Quai's sails as he stumbled backwards. Glancing to his side, he saw the gargoyles were just lifeless stone again.
"M-Morning, master," Quasi replied uneasily.
"Dear boy," Frollo said, looking at Quasi skeptically, "Whomever are you talking to?"
"My…friends," Quasi replied nervously.
"I see," Frollo replied, tapping Victor on his head, "And what are your friends made of Quasimodo?"
"Stone," Quasi admitted.
"Can stone talk?" Frollo asked, cupping Quasi's chin.
"No, it can't," Quasi admitted.
"That's right," Frollo congratulated, "You're a smart lad.
"Now," Frollo said, sitting at a small table and putting the basket down, "lunch."
At the word, Quasi quickly leapt into action, grabbing two sets of plates and cups, one made of worn wood, the other from silver and set them before the two seats at the table.
"Shall we review your alphabet today?" Frollo asked, pulling a book from the basket and opening it.
"Oh, yes, master" Quasi answered, nodding his head, "I would like that very much."
"Very well," Frollo replied as he pulled out a bottle of wine and poured them both a drink, "A?"
"Abomination," Quasi replied.
"B?" Frollo continued.
"Blasphemy," Quasi answered.
"C?" Frollo asked as he put the bottle away.
"Contrition," Quasi answered.
"D?" Frollo asked, picking up his glass.
"Damnation," Quasi provided.
"E?" Frollo continued.
"Eternal Damnation," Frollo answered readily.
"Good," Frollo congratulated, "F?"
"Festival!" Quasi said happily, before his face fell as Frollo spat out his drink in surprise.
"Excuse me?" Frollo asked, wiping his mouth.
"F-Forgiveness!" Quasi quickly corrected.
"You said festival," Frollo pointed out, closing his book.
"No!" Quasi exclaimed.
"You are thinking about going to the festival," Frollo surmised as he stood from his seat and walked away from the table.
"It's just that you go every year!" Quasi explained, following Frollo.
"I am a public official, I must go," Frollo shot back before walking down the stairs to the lower level, "but I don't enjoy a moment! Thieves and cutpurses, the dregs of human kind all mixed together in a shallow, druken stupor."
Frollo walked out onto the cathedral's balcony, Quasi following behind him.
"I didn't mean to upset you, master," Quasi apologized.
"Quasimodo, can't you understand?" Frollo asked, turning back towards him, "When your heartless mother abandoned you as a child, anyone else would have drowned you! And this is my thanks for taking you in? For raising you as my son?"
"I'm sorry sir," Quasi replied, walking up with a bowed head.
"Oh, my dear Quasimodo. You don't know what it's like out there," Frollo said as he gestured towards the city, "But I do."
"The world is cruel. The world is wicked. It is I alone who you can trust in this whole city!" Frollo sang as he placed his hands on Quasi's shoulders, looking him dead in the eye, "I am your only friend."
"I, who keep you, teach you, feed you, dress you!" Frollo continued, cupping Quasi's face, "I, who look upon you with you fear. How can I protect you boy unless you always stay in here, away in here."
"Remember what I taught you, Quasimodo," Frollo said as they made their way back inside and up the stairs, "You are deformed"
"I am deformed," Quasi echoed.
"and you are ugly," Frollo continued as they reached the second floor.
"and I am ugly," Quasi repeated.
"and these are crimes for which the world shows little pity," Frollo sang as he walked up to Quasi's model city, "You do not comprehend!"
"You are my one defender" Quasi sang.
"Out there they will revile you as a monster!" Frollo explained.
"I am a monster," Quasi sang, picking up the figure of himself.
"Out there they will hate, and scorn, and jeer," Frollo continued.
"Only a monster," Quasi sang sadly as he picked up the figure of a normal man in his other hand.
"Why invite their calumny and consternation!" Frollo sang as he placed the basket of food down, "Stay in here! Be faithful to me."
"I'm faithful," Quasi answered.
"Be grateful to me" Frollo continued.
"I'm grateful," Quasi replied.
"Do as I say, obey," Frollo sang as he took the figure of Quasi and put it back in the model cathedral, "and stay in here!"
"You are good to me, master," Quasi said solemnly, "I'm sorry."
"You are forgiven," Frollo replied as he walked away, "But remember Quasimodo, this is your sanctuary."
With that Frollo turned and walked away, disappearing down the stairs.
"Sanctuary?" Quasi asked as he slowly turned to look out one of the windows. Looking down at the festival below, he took a calming breath.
"Maybe so. But I still need this. Just a day. Just one day and that will be it. That will be all I need," Quasi said to himself, nodding his head.
"Now, where did I put that cloak?" he asked as he hopped down and began rummaging through his things.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the wilderness
Sitting deep within the forest was a small valley completely surrounded by rock walls. A waterfall fell over the rocks on one side of the valley, providing water to it, which collected in a small pond. A few trees were scattered about, with most of the valley being meadows.
A lone tower stoos at the middle of the valley. It seemed centuries old, fitted together with rough, hewn stones. It was slightly crooked, with a cone shaped roof made of blue tiles. Ivy grew all along the tower, adding to its aged look. There was no door at its bottom but near its top was a large window, with a few smaller windows around the tower as well. A wooden bar stuck out from the top of the large window, along with a window garden sitting in front of it.
Flitting through the sky, the small white bird from the cathedral settled on the windowsill, its chest puffing as it tried to regain its breath from its long flight.
Suddenly, a figure was at the window, startling the bird slightly. The person was a young girl, roughly the same age as Quasi. She was faired skinned, with slim yet athletic build. She had bright green eyes and of course, extremely long blonde hair. She wore a dress which was a deep purple in the skirt, which came down to her shins, while the top was a lighter, lavender color. She wore no shoes, showing off her delicate feet.
"Hi, little fellow!" she cooed as she leaned down and smiled at the bird, showing her slightly bucked teeth, "Did you have a long trip?"
A/N: This was fun to write I have to admit. I know that most of it isn't different from the beginning of Hunchback, but I felt I needed to start somewhere. Don't worry though, next chapter is where the real deviation begins! Hope you guys enjoyed this! Please review!