Chapter 8- Festival of Fools

Within the dark alleys of Paris, the echos of laughter and footsteps came as Sora and Kairi shot out of the alleyway, after losing Riku behind a couple of crates fulled with tomatoes. The two stood their ground for the moment, catching their breath as well as letting out a few giggles and chuckles before looking at each other's expressions and continued to laugh. Their laughing quickly halted as they heard some heavy footsteps and a dragging of a crate came from the alley. The two quickly looked around the area to see if their was anywhere they could hid, noticing that they were in a medieval time from the style of the houses, when Sora quickly dragged Kairi, by hand, to a group of crates that they quickly hid behind. As Kairi caught her breath, Sora looked around the corner to see Riku come out of the alleyway, covered in the tomatoes that he had crashed into, angrily trying to get the crate that was struck on his leg off before looking in Sora's direction.

Sora quickly hid behind the crates, noticing that Riku's garments had been changed to a simple cotton white sheeveless shirt with brown begger trousers, brown boots and that his silver hair was tied back with a black band. Soraquickly looked down at his garments to see that his clothing had done the exactly the same as his sliver armoured undershirt had changed to a chain armour that covered a cotton white shirt, he wore a brown worker's jacket and trousers that had many zips attacted to it with shoulder and knee guards attacted. The only thing that remained the same was his boots and his crown necklace. He looked over to Kairi to see that she was wearing a red and pink fluffy dress with black leggings and shorts underneath while her shoes just changed colour.

As he noticed the change of Kairi's garments, he noticed that she seemed to have trouble catching her breath, making him slightly worried. "Kairi, are you alright?" Sora whispered, hoping Riku wouldn't hear him.

She took a couple of breaths before looking at Sora, "That was so funny." she giggled. She felt Sora place his finger on her lips, signalling her to quiet down as he pointed to their friend that was currently stamping on the crate out of frustration. But the minute that he looked but at her held expression, the two released another burst of laughter.

The wielder of Dawn kicked away the remaining parts of the crate and began to rub off some tomatoes when he suddenly heard his friends laughter come within the area. He began to look around, only to see that they were at the side of some huge cathedral while the street had carnival decorations that led to the main party where most of the town people were as they watched performers that were wearing the only form of colour in the entire city. His rage continued to grow as his friend's laughter seemed to mock him for running in the crates of tomatoes as well as getting knocked down by Hikari. He kept turning around to see where Sora and Kairi's giggling was coming from, "YOU TWO BETTER COME OUT SO I CAN PERSONALLY RIPE YOU BOTH TO A MILLION PIECE, PUT YOU BACK TOGETHER AND THEN RIPE YOU UP AGAIN!" He closed his eyes and tried and listen to the source of the laughter, making his turn his direction to the pile of crates. I've got you now! Riku smirked as he began to approach the crates.

"Sir. I afraid you have to come with us." A voice came from behind.

Riku halted his actions as he turned to the two guards that were patrolling the area, the dark aura that surrounded the Wielder of Dawn that it made one of the guards run, leaving the other one to deal with Riku. "WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?" Riku shouted at the man, who was terrified of Riku's approach towards him.

"Well... Um...you seem to be drunk as we saw you shouting to thin air." The tall guard replied, backing away from Riku as he approached, not noticing the watching pairs of eyes.

The Silver haired teen growled at this, "I NOT TALKING TO MYSELF! I CALLING TWO People…" He stopped in the middle of the conversation and dropped to the floor.

The tall guard slowly looked back at the unconscious body before looking up to see the fat guard that had fled before over the teen with a glass bottle fill with light blue liquid. The tall guard signed with relief as he picked up one side of Riku while the fat guard dropped the remains of the bottle and picked up the other half. "Let's put him in a high cage and then we go tell Judge Frollo about this gypsy after the festival." The tall guard suggested, his partner nodded his head in agreement as the two took him away.

Sora and Kairi, who was watching the whole thing behind the stack of boxes, started to laugh their heads off again as Riku had just got arrested for being ticked off because of something that they had done, it's something you don't see every day. The two started to calm down slightly as Sora watched the guards disappear with their friend, "Come on. We better go and see if Riku is alright." Sora chuckled slightly

Kairi nodded to this, "Ok...Sora?

"Yeah?" Sora turned back to look at her again.

"Can I have my hand back now?" she giggled as her face brightened.

Sora looked at his hand and saw he was still holding her hand from when they ran out of the gummi. "Oh!" He let go of Kairi'shand and put his hands behind his head. "Sorry." He blushed.

Kairi pushed him playfully before getting up, "Come on. Lets go." She smiled down at him as she started to walk away. The Keyblade Master chuckled at this before following her, leading to where the guards had tooken their friend.

BOWBOWBOW

Meaning, the youngest Devon wandered through the crowd as he searched for any clues that could help him find what he needed, looking at the multiple colours that decorated the festival and all of the acts that came along with it. "It must be the Festival of Fools that Scott always came to." he said to himself, if I was Gypsy's gold, where will I be? Brian thoughts were interrupted went someone came on stage. Man. He looks like a colourful and yet disgraceful version of Zorro. Brian listen as the man on the stage started to say something.

"Come one, Come all! Hurry, hurry here's your chance. To see the mystery and romance." He sang, going to members of the crowd before jumping back on stage, "Come one, Come all!" he appeared in the crowd again and started to push a small, hunched, cloaked man to the edge of the stage before going on stage once more. "See the finest girl in France, make an entrance to entrance. Dance la Esmeralda. Dance!" After that, he threw a pink ball on the floor to make smoke appear as well as making the man disappear but in his place was a woman with a red dress and had long, curly, black hair.

Brian's eyes widened as well as most of the crowd as they watched her dance. I can see why Scott always comes here. He smirked.

BOWBOWBOW

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Only if you say it calmly and nicely…"

"…and put please at the end of it."

Riku was locked up in a cage hanging above a stage near the festival with Sora and Kairi standing below him on the stage. His hands went back to normal after getting knocked out, his clothes were covered in eggs, tomatoes plus more rotten food. Riku sighed deeply and looked at Sora and Kairi, still clenching his teeth. "Could you guys please let me out. Please." He said calmly and innocently.

Sora looked at him curiously as he put his hand on his chin, "The voice is convincing but your face ruins it all." He chuckled, "We can't let you out Riku."

"WHAT!" Riku shouted.

"See Riku, now that's not calmly OR nice." Kairi pointed out, "Just calm down."

"I would be calm if you two didn't GET ME IN THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Riku said calmly at first but then yelled at the end of it.

"We were only trying to help you get noticed by Hikari." Sora explained, referring to what happened back on the gummi ship.

"Yeah. I got notice alright." Riku said sarcastically, he looked at Sora and Kairi and they seemed to be whispering something to each other. "JUST GET ME OUTTA HERE!" He yelled at her once more.

"We can't free you with all these guards around and Brian said we had to stay blended in." Kairi told him as she looked at the guards that were guarding his cage, they were lucky enough just to see him.

"WENT I GET OUTTA HERE I GONNA…." Riku threatened but paused when he noticed his two friends jumping off his stage to face him.

"See ya later Riku." Sora waved happily before walking away casually.

"We'll come back and free you after the festival." Kairi told him and went with Sora to the direction of the festival.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE WHEN I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF THREATENING YOUR LIVES!" Riku shouted, walking his two friends disappear. He groaned as he smelled his worker shirt, "Argggg!"

BOWBOWBOW

The two wielders gasped at the festival as they saw the crowd drawn to the dancer on stage, Kairi looked throw the crowd for any sign for their comrade, "Where do you think Brian is?" she asked. Sora shrugged at this as the crowd began to push their way through the crowd, in searchfor the mage. "Sora! There he is." Kairi quickly pulled at Sora's jacket, grabbing his attention as she pointed to the spiky red head in medieval clothing.

"Hey Esmeralda! How about you do a special showing, just for me?" Brian flirted, which only has him getting jabbed in the stomach by her goat, making him hold his mid-section as he fell to the ground. As he got back up, holding his stomach in pain, Sora and Kairi quickly made their way towards him. He shook away the pain, standing back up as he turned towards the two keybladers. "Hey Guys" he greeted casually.

"What was that about?" Kairi asked him, looking back at the act that was waiting on stage with her goat.

"I was just pulling my irresistible charm." Brian answered as he brushed the dirt off his medieval garments. Brian wore a white ripped, sleeveless workers shirt, black worker gloves, brownworker thousers that were ripped like his jeans and black boots.

"Didn't look that irresistible to me" Sora muttered as he looked around the festival.

"That's because it only works on girls." He laughed at him. Sora clenched his fists as he tried to keep a straight face in front of Kairi, who giggled slightly before giving Sora a slight smile. The mage ignored it as he looked around for islander number three. "Speaking of Riku, where is he?" Brian asked them.

"Long story." Both of them answered.

"Anyway, there're about to do the main event of the festival and I thought that Sorawould have won all the way through if he took part." Brian smirked as he looked back on stage. Before Sora could ask, the two looked at what Brian was looking at, only to see one of the festival hosts jumped on stage.

"Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for. Here it is, you know exactly what's in store. Now's the time we laugh until our sides get sore. Now's the time we crown the King of Fools…" he sang.

Sorashot a look at the mage, "Ha, Ha. Very funny." he said sarcastically, he was trying to keep his keyblade at hand as he felt his rage built up. Brian laughed at his expression before he carried on watching the show. If there wasn't a law on this world saying no magic or any type of summoning then Brian would have properly been dead. Sora held his thoughts to himself and carried on watching the completion.

"…So make a face that's horrible and frightening. Make a face as gruesome as a gargoyle's wing. For the face that's ugliest will be the King of Fools!" The host sang.

Ten people came on the stage including the hooded man Brian saw early as they watched the dancer who was named Esmeralda to unmasked them only for them to make a horrible scary, making the crowd go 'boo' which made the goat rear them off the stage. Everyone was getting rear off when Esmeralda unmasked the hooded man to see that his face was deformed, he wasn't wearing a mask. The crowd gasped at this as they saw his face before they started to muttered under their breathes at his appearance. While Brian tried to listen in on what the crowd might be muttering to each, Sora and Kairi looked at the frightened man on stage, he looked just as frightened and confused as the crowd were of his appearance.

The host smirked as this, not affected by the man's appearance as he told next to him casually, "Don't be alarmed." The host assured the crowd, guarding their attention away from the deformed man. "We asked for the ugliest person in France and here he is, our new King of Fools. Quasimodo!" The crowd started to cheer for the deformed man as they began to followed him and the host to where Sora and Kairi left Riku. The three watched as the deformed man, who was named Quasimodo, was then dressed up like a king, standing on a stand as the crowd cheer.

Sora chuckled at this, "At least he's having a good time." He smiled as he saw the deformed man shed a tear of joy.

"I wouldn't be to sure of that." Brian said darkly as his view wasn't directed at the 'King of Fools'.

Suddenly, a rotten tomato came out of nowhere and hit Quasimodo in his face which made the crowd gasped once more, Sora and Kairi quickly turned to Brian to see that the guards that had taken Riku away was laughing as the new king, they figured out where the tomato had come from. Soon after that, the crowd began to become violate as they soon began to throw tomatoes and vegetables at him which soon led to them tieing him down to the spinning wheel that was one the stage. As Sora and Kairi tried to convince the crowd to stop this, Brian stared at the act as he watched Quasimodo roared with rage as he tried to get out of the trap that he had fallen into, breaking the ropes with his strenght. Soon his strenght faded as the two guards quickly tied his to the spinning wheel and span it as more rotten food was thrown at him. "Help me! Anyone help me." He cried for mercy, wanting to be free.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other, thinking the same thing, as the two started to move towards the stage until they were stopped by Brian. "We can't meddle in other world's affairs." Brian reminded them, knowing their habit of ignoring this rule.

Sora looked at Brian angrily while Kairi continued to look up at the torture on stage. "I'm not gonna let him get tortured just because of his appearance." He raged, not believing that he was thinking of leaving him to suffer.

"Guys! Look." Kairipointed to the stage, the two halted their argument and looked at the stage as the crowd had come to a complete silence. The dancer from before, Esmeralda, came on to the stage and went over to Quasimodo, kneeling next to him as she spoke to him.

"You there! Gypsy girl!" Aold man spoke from his formal stand where he sat comfortably as he wore a black robe and a purple striped french judge hat. Sora and Kairi can only guess that this was the Judge Frollo the guards were referring to when they were taking Riku. "Get off the stage at ONCE." he commanded her.

"Yes your honour, just as soon as I free this poor creature." she replied.

"I defy it!" Frollo yelled. Esmeralda ignored him as she cut the robes holding Quasimodo, Sora and Kairi quickly pushed past Brian and started to head of the stage in anyway to assist."How dare you defies me." Judge Frollo growled at the black haired woman that stood aside the deformed being.

"You mistreat this boy the same way you mistreat me people." Esmeralda defended, "You speak of justice yet you are most cruel to those more need of your help."

"Silence!" Frollo demanded.

"Justice!" she shouted back with just the same amount of force. She looked to her side to see a boy with spiky brown hair climb up on the stage and join her, soon followed by a girl with auburn shoulder length hair. She smiled at the two for supporting her as the three stared back at Frollo, who looked at them furiously.

Brian groaned at this, not wanting to get involved in something they shouldn't be involved in but he noted one thing in his mind. At least they haven't blown their cover yet. He looked back at Frollo as he warned the three of them,"Mark my word Gypsies; you will pay for this insolence." Frollo warned them.

"Well it appears we have crown the wrong fool." Sora said as he grabbed Quasimodo's joker hat off of him, "The only fool we see is you." He threw the hat at Frollo, the crowd started to laugh in their favor. The Keyblade Master smirked at this, turning to look at his caged friend, who was watching the entire event, to see him looking at a number of guards approaching them before the judge clicked his fingers, summoning a number of Blink Unbirths and Shadow Heartless.

From the sight of the Unbirths and Heartless, the crowd started to panic as they tried to save their own lives, running around like a stampede. The young mage tried to push through the crowd to reach his comrades, only to feel the force of the panicky crowd pull him away from the fight, "Hey! Get out the way!" He yelled as he tried to get through the crowd.

The dancer looked at the creatures with fear, "What are they?" She asked them.

"We'll explain later." Sora said as he and Kairi summoned their keyblades. "You take on the guards while we take these guys." He quickly commanded, making the dancer disappear with her use of stagecraft. As soon as Esmeralda was off the stage, dealing with the guards, Sora quickly turned to his friend, "Cover me! I'll try and free Riku while you look for Brian." Before Kairi could have her say, Sora jumped off the stage.

He quickly landed as he saw the Blinks in front of him coming closer to him, Sora quickly slashed at them, taking a few strikes at them before they vanished. As he turned his attention to the Heartless that approached him, he couldn't help but feel that the Shadows feel somehow different from a normal Shadow, he quickly ignored it as he blocked an attack from an Unbirth, quickly stepping back. I need to get into my element.Sora looked back at the stage, where Kairi was covering herself by striking Shadows that were climbing the stage. The stage is only a high jump away. Sora smirked at this as he jumped into the air, jumping over the Unbirth and Heartless and into a table that was set between him and the stage. He groaned at his forgetfulness as he forgot that he was wearing new garments with none of his abilities. As he pushed himself back up, being covered by Kairias he got up, a small Shadow emerged from the shadows themselves and jumped on his back. "Huh? Hey, get off!" Soradisposed of Kingdom Key and tried to reach for the Heartless, wandering away from the stage that he was trying to get to. He smirked as he grabbed the Heartless off his back but soon yelled in agony as he felt the Heartless' sharp teeth pierce through the skin of his right arm. "Ahhhhh...Fire!" Sora aimed his left arm at the Heartless, blasting the Shadow off of his numb arm before getting jumped by the Unbirth.

The Princess of Heart turned towards Sora's cries of agony only to see him get jumped by a number of Unbirth, "SORA!" She quickly jumped off the stage, changing her keyblade into pure enegry as she landed, being faced with a number of Blinks. As they began to approach the unarmed princess, the pure enegry quickly went into her body, allowing her to access her element. "Take this!" Kairi placed her hands in front of her and casted Water towards the Unbirths. At times, she missed them completely but managed to make the Blinks fade away with the help of bursts of flames that seemed to come from the other side of the horde. She quickly ran past the remaining ashes of the Unbirth to see that Brian was producing fire balls from his hands to get rid of the Unbirth approaching, the fire symbol remaining on his thouserlegs before looking down at the injured Keyblade Master. She didn't question Brian's ability as she quickly ran to Sora's side as Brian took care of the rest of the Blinks, the Heartless had mysterious disappeared after Sora's injury. "Sora! Are you alright?" Kairi looked at him with a worried expression.

"I can't feel my arm." Sora gasped as he held his right arm with his left, panicking about his arm.

"We're done interfering!" Brian finished fighting the enemy and turned to the two of them, lifting Sora up from the side of him, "We need to get in cover."

"What-arggg-what about Riku?" Sora groaned from the pain.

Brian quickly looked to see that Esmeralda and her goat were riding on Riku's cage with Riku still inside it, taking out the rest of the guards before running off to safety. The door brokeopen, freeing the captured sliver head."I'M FREE! I'M FREE!" Riku shouted happily.

"He'll catch up!" Brian quickly cast 'Vanishaga' to make him, Kairi and injured Sora invisible and quickly moved to the stack of boxes.

Riku looked around for Sora, Kairi and Brian, only to trip on the cage that he was trapped in into a stock, which locked itself the mintue he landed into it, "DAMN IT!"

While Kairi got a bandage out from Brian's bag and sorted out Sora's arm, Brian watched Judge Frollo call out more Heartless to search the city fro them and the dancer. The mage watched the judge glared down at the hunchback darkly, watching the tormented soul jump off the stage as limped back into his stone prison; the cathedral of Notre Dame.

Kingdommad