Title: Sanctuary

Author: brobdignagian

Rating: PG-13 for violence.

Disclaimer: I am not the owner the Hunchback of Notre Dame, either the book, which is owned by Victor Hugo, nor the animated movie, which is owned by Disney.

Summary: What if Clopin and Quasimodo had met before the Festival of Fools?

Notes: This story is based on the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as I have not yet finished reading Victor Hugo's book.

It's the day for breaking rules

Come and join the feast

Of…

Clopin stood ready to slide underneath the legs of his fellow gypsy, whom was parading as a priest. It was the annual festival—The Festival of Fools, and Clopin was in his element. They'd all practiced for weeks, unwilling to mess up and miss out on the money the Festival promised to bring.

As he stood, waiting for his cue, he glanced up at the Church of Notre Dame. He still wasn't able to forget the events that took place there, no matter how he tried….

Clopin stood up in the bell tower, waiting for the eventual ringing of the bells that would signal the plan going into action. He glanced at this cohort, the disfigured kind-hearted hunchback, who looked exactly as he felt about the plan—fearful, incredulous. Clopin sighed, the plan was simple enough, distract the guards so that Quasimodo could jump him from the Church to the nearest rooftop. Then Clopin would go from roof top to rooftop until he was out of sight of the guards, then climb to ground and finally, finally, make his way back to the Court.

It sounds easy, Clopin thought. But is it as easy as it sounds?

Quasimodo looked terrified. He always had the same sort of look on his face, Clopin realized. Nervousness, fear. Well, with Frollo as his "Master", that's not too surprising. Clopin shook his head at the thought. Frollo, Master. It was disgusting. Revolting. But what could he do? He was just a gypsy.

The hunchback needed a good laugh. That much Clopin could do. He reached into the pocket of his shirt, and felt around for the puppet he had only recently made. Little Esmeralda absolutely adored the puppet and the things Clopin made the puppet do. Quasimodo might be older than Esmeralda, but growing up with Frollo, he'd probably laugh at the same jokes.

With a glace at the hunchback (who was still looking out onto the distance), Clopin whipped out his look alike. He moved his puppet clad hand over to Quasimodo, poking him in the shoulder. The hunchback turned his head around, looking at what had touched his shoulder and blinked. He stared at the puppet, and then back up at Clopin. "What-what is this?" He hesitatingly questioned

"This?!" The puppet questioned, outraged, raising it's self to Quasimodo's eyelevel. "I'm a puppet, what else?"

The hunchback glanced once more time between Clopin and the puppet before obviously gathering what was going on. Quick one, he was. Quasimodo smiled. "Oh-oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Puppet. How are you?"

"Absolutely miserable! But you would be too, if you had to live in his smelly shirt." The puppet exclaimed, motioning back to Clopin.

Clopin scoffed, (relieving at the smile Quasimodo wore. The kid was too tense for his own good.). "Oh, please. You can come out any time you want, you know that full well."

The puppet made an exaggerated rolling of its eyes. "Well, I—" But what the puppet said next was drowned out by the sound of ringing Church bells. Quaismodo and Clopin glanced at each other. Clopin silently put his puppet away. They then turned their attention to the ground, at the confused guards. The Church bells never rang at this time, so of course the guards would be confused.

Suddenly, the attention of the guards was taken by the side entrance of the Church, as the candlestick maker ran out of the church with a barrel of wine. The barrel was big enough that it could, believably, hide someone inside of it. Clopin let out a bark of laughter at the cleverness of the candlestick maker. The guards would attempt to catch the candelstick maker, the open the wine barrel while Quasimodo and himself would escape. Brilliant.

As soon as the last guard rounded the corner, Quasimodo turned to Clopin with an obviously nervous smile. "R-Ready?" He questioned.

Clopin nodded. "Of course." He replied, as he took his sights off the ground and to the hunchback. Just don't look back down, he told himself. He was used to heights, yes, but Notre Dame was the tallest building in Paris.

The hunchback hesitatingly wrapped an arm around the gypsy's waist. Quaismodo closed his eyes, and started muttering to himself. It sounded something like, please don't let me fall again, please don't let me fall again.

Clopin felt a spike of panic flow through him. Fall? From this height? Surely they would be kil--! But before Clopin could finish his thought, the hunchback started running and jumped into the air. Clopin held back his scream and clung onto Quasimodo, as though the tighter his grip, the better chance they had to survive.

They stayed in the air just long enough for Clopin to think, with a sense of trepidation, We've died, that's it, we're dead, no more Court, no more Esmeralda, no more money, no more—

They landed hard. Quasimodo, surprisingly, landed on his feet, but the impact of the jump caused him to tumble to the ground, Clopin falling along with him. They lay there for a moment, breathing heavy, soaking in the feeling of being alive. Once Clopin had caught his breath, he shakily stood up, got to his feet and hurried across the rooftop. However, before he could jump to the other building, he stopped and turned around.

There lay Quasimodo, the poor hunchback tied to Frollo, still laying on the ground. Curing his good nature, Clopin turned around and helped the hunchback to his feet. He helped the hunchback get steady, before nodding. "We should get going," Clopin muttered. "Before the guards get back."

The hunchback nodded, "Thank you." He rasped out.

Clopin paused once more, shaking his head. "No, it should be I who is thanking you." He stated. "You saved me. You helped me escape. I owe you my life." He stated. The hunchback simply looked up at him with reverence so pure, Clopin had to look away. Thankfuly, before Clopin could say anything to make himself even more of a fool, the sound of angry guards reached his ears. "We must go." Clopin said, and hurried away, jumping to the other rooftop. He turned around once more, only to see the kind-hearted hunchback jumping off the roof, and then, moments later, climbing up the Church of Notre Dame.

Come and join the feast

Of…

That was his cue! With a grin, Clopin pushed away the thoughts of his escape and slid through the legs of the gypsy in front of him. "Fools!" He proclaimed, laughing as confetti showered around him.

He glanced all around him at the crowd, the smiling faces of the public, ready to be entertained. With a spark of realization, he spotted a figure in the crowd. He wore a dark blue cloak which covered his face, hunched down.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame was at the Festival of Fools.

Clopin grinned. He had just thought of the perfect way to show his gratitude to the poor hunchback. Grabbing Quasimodo's arm, Clopin danced and sung for all he was worth.

Fin.