These hunchback chapters are kind of short, I'm just noticing. Maybe that's because I'm following the movie so closely? Eh, whatever. Let's keep the ball rolling!

Kairi: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else he decides to use."

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Chapter 98: Breaking Point

Over two hours after Mickey and Frollo's verbal confrontation, things got particularly interesting.

Frollo and his men had travelled to a point just outside of the city, far enough away to where Notre Dame was a blurry outline. They stood in the parched, choked outskirts of the city, at the site of a simple family's small home. It was a small house with a roof covered by straw, built into the side of a windmill.

A little more than a dozen soldiers stood outside of the house, as a not-so subtle warning. A handful of simple civilians stood several yards away from them and the house, trying to get a better view of what was happening just inside.

Sora, Kairi, and Axel were among them, wearing disguises similar to those they had used the previous day to sneak into Notre Dame after the 'incident' at the festival. Nobody would have paid them much mind anyway, so engrossed were they at the events in the house.

Sora tugged at the sleeve of a tall man, disguising his voice, and being careful to hide his face beneath a hood. "What's going on?"

The man looked around, as though trying to make sure nobody was listening. "Frollo's gone mad. He's rounding up the gypsies left and right, and now he's come here."

"Do gypsies live here?" Kairi asked, still playing the part of Sora's caregiver, under her own hood.

"No. I know the people who live there, they're simple farmers. I can't imagine why Frollo would come to them."

Sora and Kairi traded looks, and sank slowly into the back of the small crowd. They nudged Axel, who was pretending not to be familiar with them. Together, they fell back into a small layer of trees behind the crowd.

"Can one of your friends get us an inside look?" Sora asked.

"Let's see." Axel said. He snapped his fingers, and a single Assassin emerged from the ground, totally silent.

Sora noticed that this one bore slight differences from the rest of its kind. The areas of its body that should have been violet were instead a pale red. It also stood at least three inches taller than its fellows.

The Nobody knelt down before Axel, speaking softly. "What is thy bidding, my liege?"

"Xonem, I need you to get a closer look at whatever's going on inside that place." Axel instructed, pointing to the house. "Don't let anyone see you, and patch your view through to me."

"At once, my liege." The Assassin sank back into the ground.

"He seems a bit different from the rest of the Nobodies." Kairi observed.

"The lesser ones aren't mindless, Kairi, even if they act like it sometimes." Axel answered. "They're just like the advanced ones, just not lucky enough to keep their shape. I'm actually pretty surprised that Xonem wasn't one of them."

"You know him from before?"

"It was just me and the other twelve in the Organization, and not all of them were the best conversationalists. Besides, he's second-in-command of the Assassins." He closed his eyes. "Hold on, I'm going to look through Xonem's eyes to see what he can."

Inside the house, Frollo (with Phoebus standing nearby, as always) stood over a balding, middle-aged man with dark hair and a beard. He was kneeling down in front of the judge, with his wife, young son, and infant child behind him.

"We found this gypsy talisman on your property." Frollo said, holding a small object in his hand. He showed it briefly to the man, before tucking it into his robes. "Have you been harboring gypsies?"

"Our home is always open to the weary traveler." The man explained, fear and desperation intermingled in his eyes and his voice. "Have mercy, my lord!"

Frollo looked down at him with distaste, and answered quickly as he turned away, "I am placing you and your family under house arrest, until I get to the bottom of this. If what you say is true, and you are innocent, then you have nothing to fear."

"But we are innocent!" The man pleaded, half-following Frollo and Phoebus out the door. "I assure you, we know nothing of these gypsies!"

His pleas went unacknowledged by Frollo. He slammed the door shut.

Xonem snuck through the ground to the outside, to further spy on Frollo and Phoebus. The judge took a spear from the nearest soldier, and shoved it in place to keep the door shut.

He looked at Phoebus, and growled two terrifying words, "Burn it."

Xonem's assistance was no longer needed, though he continued to observe. Sora, Kairi, Axel, and the crowd could see and hear them just fine. So they could all see Phoebus's expression of anger and indignation when he asked, "What?"

Frollo merely climbed onto his horse, as though he hadn't just ordered the deaths of four likely innocent people. He took a lit torch from one of the soldiers. They had been using them for light, as it was glowing late, and clouds were rolling in.

"Until it smolders," Frollo explained, handing the torch to Phoebus, "These people are traitors, and must be made examples of."

Phoebus took the torch, but his expression of anger and defiance never wavered. "With all due respect, sir, I wasn't trained to murder the innocent."

"But you were trained to follow orders."

"Xonem," Axel muttered, "he even looks like he'll burn the house, then you take him out."

"Don't do it Phoebus..." Sora muttered under his breath, getting ready to leap into action if things took a turn for the worse.

The Captain's inner conflict was clearly visible on his face. For just a moment, he looked like he might follow Frollo's twisted orders, taking one step backwards toward the house.

But then, he plunged the whole torch into a nearby barrel filled to the brim with rain water. Steam rose from it in a huge cloud.

Sora and Kairi beamed. Frollo scowled.

"Insolent coward." The judge took a second torch from a soldier, and steered his horse over to the windmill. As soon as one of its blades was within arm's length, he touched the torch to it.

The windmill caught fire surprisingly quickly. Despite the brief rain of the previous day, the wood was extremely dry. The house to which it was attached was blazing even faster. There was a collective exclamation of outrage and fear from the small audience.

"That disgusting-" Axel began. He stopped short when he saw Phoebus rush into the house though the window. Over the roaring flames, they could hear crying and shouting from inside.

"Fire guy, do something!" Sora shouted.

Concentrating hard, Axel stretched out his hands, looking as if he were clutching something in both of them. Miraculously, the flames lessened, and seemed almost to be lifting off of the house, leaving charred, blackened husks behind.

Frollo gaped at this anomaly for a moment, before the door flew open, and Phoebus rushed out, carrying the two children, and with their parents following right behind him.

Axel slowly pressed the flames together into one massive ball, and threw it into the sky in one massive burst. All that was left of the house were the burnt remains of old timbers and framework, being licked at by tiny flames.

Phoebus handed the children back over to their parents, who gasped out their thanks as they ran for the city as fast as they could.

Phoebus himself, however, wasn't so lucky. A soldier came up behind him, and smashed the hilt of his sword into his helmeted head.

He keeled over, nearly losing consciousness. His helmet bounced off his head, rolling a foot away. The soldier pulled him to his knees, forcing his neck out. One of his partners held his own blade over his head as Frollo trotted up to him on his horse.

"The sentence for insubordination is death. Such a pity, you had such a promising career."

Phoebus glared up at him, eyes blazing with defiance. "Consider it my highest honor, sir."

The soldier raised his sword, and prepared to bring it crashing down on Phoebus's neck. Unfortunately for both him and his boss, he died before he could deliver the blow that would behead his former captain.

As his body slumped forward, Xonem emerged from the ground behind him.

Phoebus used the brief window of opportunity to throw the other guard off of him, and beat his face in with one punch.

"What!" Frollo exclaimed, looking at Xonem. Then Sora was crashing into him, pinning him to the ground.

The Keybearer smirked at Frollo from the other side of Oblivion. "Hey, Judge! Remember me?"

"You..." Frollo said, with narrowing eyes.

Within three seconds, they were surrounded by a ring of soldiers, each with weapons pointed at Sora. "I'll offer you a choice, boy. Surrender quietly, or die."

Sora wasn't afraid. "I think my crazy girlfriend and pyromaniac friend might have a problem with that."

Perfectly timed, a large blade of Light shot over the two of them, sending the soldiers flying off their feet. Sora leapt off of Frollo, and Axel dove toward him, chakrams ready to strike.

Nobody had actually expected Frollo to fight back.

With reflexes that a man his age was unlikely to possess, he threw himself backwards across the ground, and was on his feet inside of two seconds. Axel's weapons struck the ground uselessly.

Frollo straightened his hat, and glared at them. For a moment, his eyes flashed gold.

Suddenly, Sora could feel the Darkness emanating off of the Minister of Justice in great waves. How he had acquired this power, he didn't know. But he had a good guess on who was behind it.

Frollo raised his fist, Dark fire covering it. "DIE!" He shouted, lashing out with his fist, and sending the fire directly at Sora's chest.

He quickly brought his blade up horizontally, blocking the fire with the blade.

"Xonem, get Phoebus out of here!" Axel shouted, throwing his chakrams at Frollo.

"At once, my liege." He replied, rushing toward Phoebus. The gold-armored man had drawn his sword, and was holding off one of the soldiers that had gotten to his feet. Xonem leapt completely over him, and cut the soldier cleanly in half before he knew what had happened.

"The horse." Xonem said to him.

Judge Frollo's horse had stood unnoticed by anyone after Sora had knocked its rider off. Catching onto the Nobody's line of thinking, Phoebus ran to it, and leapt into the empty saddle.

Grabbing the reins firmly in his hands, Phoebus took off, with Xonem following close behind.

Frollo noticed his ride as he dodged an attack from Kairi. "Get him!" He ordered his men who could still stand, "And don't harm my horse!"

Any men that were still able to fight took off after Phoebus and the Nobody. Several pulled out bows, with several arrows at the ready. Only one managed to get off a shot at Phoebus before Kairi and Axel were on them.

Unfortunately, this one shot was all that was necessary. It struck Phoebus in the back, and he fell off the horse, clutching the wound. Less fortunate was the fact that he had been crossing a high bridge over the river at the time, and he fell a long way.

Sora only had a moment to notice this and panic, before Frollo attacked him. Normally, he likely wouldn't have been much of a threat, but whatever powers of Darkness the Brotherhood had granted him made him a deadly opponent.

Frollo thrust out his hand, sending a large blast of Darkness shooting at the Keybearer. Sora dodged out of the path of the attack, which shot into the small patch of trees, blowing one to shreds.

Sora and Frollo ran at each other at the same moment. Frollo conjured up what appeared to be a sword made of pure Dark energy. They met in the middle, their blades meeting with a burst of Light and Darkness.

The Darkness was having a similar effect on Frollo that the trident had had on Morgana. It had made a clearly inefficient warrior into a passable one, with the ability to stave off most of Sora's attacks.

Sora leapt backwards, and swung his blade in an arc, sending a stream of fire at Frollo. He dismissed his energy blade, and summoned a shield of Darkness, which absorbed the blow with little difficulty. Frollo then turned it from a barrier into a projectile, firing the whole thing at Sora.

The Keybearer threw the Keyblade into the air, and allowed it to change into the Keyfist. The instant before the wall of Dark energy collided with him, he punched it with his metal fist, blowing it apart.

Once again, Sora ran toward Frollo, punching first at his chest, and then at his face. Surprisingly, the judge was able to dodge both of these potentially bone-breaking attacks. When Sora aimed a third punch at his face, he actually caught the blow with both hands, which were enveloped in Darkness.

He pushed the magic fist off of him with as much force as he could muster, and swiped at his head with a newly conjured blade. Sora brought his arm up to block the strike, making the blade slide harmlessly off of it.

Sora drew his fist back for another punch, this time wrapping icy cold air around it. He punched forward, and found his mar this time. Frollo flew backwards nearly ten feet, biting particles of ice clinging to his body.

He landed in the midst of his very unfortunate men, most of whom were either unconscious or dead from the beatings Kairi and Axel had dealt them. The only one standing was a tall guard with a black moustache, who seemed to be the only proficient swordsman among them.

Of course, this wasn't saying much, and Kairi had disarmed him in three moves, leaving him open for Axel's fireball.

Frollo only registered that his men were down when he staggered back to his feet, using Darkness to break off the ice clinging to his skin and robes. He snarled, and his eyes flashed gold again.

Heartless appeared around them, encircling the four combatants in a ring.

Sora surveyed them calmly, then looked at Frollo. "So you've joined the Brotherhood, huh?"

"I don't know the name. But a powerful ally did approach me." He replied. "And now, I have immense power… Power enough to destroy you."

As he spoke, Sora caught sight of three beings behind him, near the bridge. One was Phoebus, who appeared to be unconscious (or getting there). He was being supported on either side by Xonem, and (to his surprise) Esmeralda. She was partially obscured by the dark cloak she had worn before with Djali underneath.

Frollo hadn't noticed, but Kairi and Axel had.

We need a distraction.

Kairi gave a barely perceptible nod in his direction. By this point, moments of silent understanding between them weren't unexpected.

"Don't count on it, gramps." Axel countered, throwing his burning chakrams into the Heartless ring. The shining blades destroyed two immediately, and the fire destroyed another four.

Kairi began to glow silver, and stood totally still for a few frozen moments while Frollo and the Heartless advanced on her. Sora jumped into the judge's path, keeping him at bay with the newly restored Keyblade.

Axel and Sora protected Kairi from all attacks as she continued to grow brighter and brighter to the point where she was blinding to look at directly.

This continued for several minutes, but finally, Kairi cried, "Purifying Pulse!" And let the Light go in one massive burst. Frollo was tossed backwards like a rag doll, and landed in the wreckage of the house he had just burned down.

He got wearily back to his feet to discover that the Heartless had been destroyed. But what was worse was that Sora, Kairi, and Axel were gone.

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No, I didn't forget the Assassins. And admittedly, I might be totally wrong about the Nobody chain of command, but does anybody really mind? So, hope you liked this one!

Review please!