Later that night, Ariel sat on her cot. She was hugging her knees tightly against her chest as she cried. She wanted to go home and see her sisters. She wanted her fin back and she wished that she had never realized a fear of heights. Her father had left her to rot in a world that she couldn't survive in, with a boy that she couldn't understand. It felt like her whole life was falling apart.

One of the beams behind her squeaked.

Ariel whirled around and would have fallen out of her cot if Quasimodo hadn't have caught her.

'Thanks.' She mouthed. Quasimodo smiled.

"Are you doing okay?" he asked her cautiously. "I heard sniffing…have you been crying?"

Ariel shook her head, hating herself as she did so.

"I know this tower is a lot to get used to." Quasimodo said softly. "But it's really not that bad…come with me, I'll show you."

Ariel shook her head and hugged herself tightly.

'I can't.' she mouthed. 'I'm scared of heights.'

"Come on," Quasimodo enticed. "You can't stay cooped up here forever."

Ariel sighed, unable to argue with him. She clambered onto his back and was surprised and rather pleased at how easily he moved—even with her added weight. He leapt higher and higher, dodging past the silent bells with relative ease. As he climbed, he told her the names that he had given them and the history behind each one. He described them as if they were alive and as if—Ariel realized sadly—they were some of his only friends.

"Now that you've met the ladies," Quasimodo said. "Would you like to meet the stars?"

Ariel nodded eagerly and silently screamed as Quasimodo jumped off of the beam they were on and catapulted from one to another.

Ariel felt slightly sick when they finally reached the ground. She slid off of his back and nearly fell onto the floor. Quasimodo caught her for the second time that night and supported her, smiling, as they walked out to the balcony.

Ariel was somewhat surprised to see Jim there. He was kneeling on the ledge, his head turned upwards. His eyes glowed in the starlight and a soft breeze ruffled his hair every which way. Despite his attitude and his odd ways, Ariel honestly thought that he looked beautiful.

"I'm sorry, Mom." Jim said suddenly. Ariel looked at Quasimodo, but he placed a finger to his lips. Frowning slightly, she turned back to look at the boy who saved her.

"I know I keep messing everything up and I know…that I let you down." He muttered. Tears were beginning to form around the edges of his eyes.

"You were always better than me, Mom. You had this big, generous heart and I just kinda…hated everyone. Can't say that I've changed much. But I feel like, lately I'm just—I'm losing this war. I can't kill the man who killed you"—Ariel sucked in a breath, her eyes wide—"and I can't forgive myself for not being able to. But I think I found another way to help you find peace. You see, I met this…girl. On the beach. Mom, this girl is my chance to make it all up to you. I thought maybe, if I keep her safe, then you'd be able to forgive me for not doing the same for you."

Ariel bit her lip and felt the tears begin to fall as Jim began to rub his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He murmured, his voice strained and emotional. "I'm so sorry."

Ariel moved to Jim's side and placed a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and turned to look at her.

'Jim…' she began, but he had already clambered off of the ledge and shrugged off her hand. He stormed inside the tower and she followed him, reaching for one of his swinging hands.

She managed to grab his wrist. Jim didn't even pause before ripping himself from her grasp.

"Leave me alone!" he muttered and Ariel felt her heart breaking at his tone. This wasn't the bitter Jim she was used to. He sounded so scared and so hurt.

'Let me help you!' she mouthed, but Jim was already running out of the tower and along the walkway. She made to follow him, but her legs weren't as accustomed to the motion as Jim's were: she fell down within a few steps and silently cried out as splinters dug into her knees. Footsteps sounded behind her. Quasimodo lifted her to her feet and quietly began to dig the little splinters out.

"Jim just needs a little time." He told her softly, throwing one of her splinters over his shoulder.

But a little time, Ariel soon found out, was not little at all. Days passed and she managed to only catch glimpses of him. When Frollo would come for lunch, she would hide amongst the bells and watch and listen from above.

On one such occasion, on a particularly dim and overcast day, she got alarmingly close to the conversation. She crouched directly above Frollo, her eyes set on new, but decidedly odd, friends.

"I'm glad to see you've been practicing the alphabet, Quasimodo." Frollo said, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. "And Jim! No outbursts at all! This is really quite the improvement."

Ariel smiled, waiting for Jim's retort, for a witty remark, for something, but he offered up none; if anything, he seemed to slip lower in his seat.

Frollo smiled and began to speak about his work with Quasimodo. Ariel was glad, for the first time ever, that she no longer had her voice: his acts of cruelty made her want to cry out.

"There was a rather haggard older woman who appeared before my court just yesterday." Frollo said. "Nasty thing. She stole a whole basket of food from one of the merchants and then had the gall to say that she was starving and poor and couldn't afford any of it! Yet when my guards and I arrived at her house to assess how poor she was, do you know what we found?"

"I don't know, sir." Quasimodo said politely.

"Guilders, my boy, guilders! There were so many that they were practically leaking out of the straw of her mattress. She stole the food out of greed."

"You planted it." Jim said sullenly.

There was a stiff silence as Frollo's lips curled.

"What did you just say?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.

"I said that you planted it." Jim said, rising to his feet. "You've done it before. You want to act like you're stopping crime and that you are the unsung hero of Paris, but you aren't. Instead of stopping actual crime, you're just forcing people into cells for doing little more than trying to survive!"

"Funny," Frollo said and from his tone Ariel gathered that it truly wasn't funny at all. "That Native American girl said the exact same thing during the interrogation I held yesterday."

"Native American girl?" Quasimodo asked. "Who is she, Master?"

"A woman named Pocahontas." Frollo sneered in response. He moved towards Jim. Ariel shivered as Frollo ran his fingers over the top of Jim's shoulders. Her movement, though imperceptibly slight, must have caught Jim's attention, because he was looking up at her now.

His eyes stayed locked with hers as Frollo began to accuse him of fraternizing with the prisoners. He did not make a sound as Frollo reached towards the wall and grabbed a small but heavy stone bust. All he did was look into Ariel's eyes.

'Run!' she mouthed.

But he didn't move.

Quasimodo leapt up the beams and grabbed her. They were lucky; every ounce of Frollo's concentration was going towards raising the bust. He did not notice Quasimodo's sudden disappearance.

'We have to help Jim!' Ariel mouthed, but Quasi couldn't see her face as he climbed higher and higher. They were halfway to the ceiling when the sound of the shattering bust filled the tower.

Ariel wanted to scream, but found that she could not. All she could do was watch Jim fall to the ground.