Chapter 20: The Answer

Claude cried quietly in bed, aching from the bruises all over his body. He'd been beaten for the third time this week. The first time had been when he was caught staring at a girl passing through the neighborhood. The second time had been for slacking on his studies. The third time had been for sneaking food when he wasn't welcome for supper (part of his punishment for slacking).

The most recent beating had been barely an hour ago. Claude was upset. He knew he deserved these punishments, but they were so hard for him to bear. He wanted to be a good son for his parents, he really did. But it wasn't easy. He couldn't help disappointing them sometimes. Nor could he help crying over his pain and hunger, even if he had no right to.

Claude felt unsafe in his house. It felt dangerous to cry with his parents asleep nearby. He decided to go outside where he would be farther from them.

He went out to the street and sat down under the moonlight, hugging his knees to his chest. Claude let himself cry more freely now. He tried to think of a way to please his parents, to get them to forgive him for being such a disappointing child. But his thoughts were interrupted.

"Are you okay?"

Claude looked up. He saw a girl walking up to him, the same girl he'd been punished for staring at.

"I'm just hungry..." Claude replied.

The girl came and sat next to him. She handed him something. It was a piece of cheese.

"Here." She offered. "Eat this."

Claude took the cheese and ate it gratefully.

"Thank you." He said with a smile.

"Aren't you the professor's son?" The girl asked. "Your family doesn't seem like the type to go hungry."

"I wasn't allowed to eat tonight." Claude explained.

"Why not?"

"I slacked on my studies."

"So they didn't let you eat? That was mean."

"My parents aren't mean. They just want me to be good. But I'm... not very good at being good."

The girl touched Claude's hand.

"That doesn't sound right." She disagreed. "You seem good to me."

Claude looked into the girl's eyes. A warm feeling came over him. He wasn't used to being comforted like this, but he liked it.

His chance to enjoy it was brief. Two weeks later, Claude and his love were discovered. Claude waited for her return after he'd been burned, but she never came. He longed to again have someone comfort him like she had. The pain he felt from the burn was brutal, but his parents showed no signs of caring.

"MOTHER!" Claude called one day when he writhed in bed.

Claude's mother approached with no mercy in her eyes.

"Oh, what do you want?!" She asked.

"It hurts too much!" Claude complained. "Please help me!"

His mother responded by slapping him.

"You brought this on yourself!" She reminded. "Let it be a lesson to never do anything sinful again!"

Claude did learn a lesson. It was forced into him day and night by the pain of the burn and the nightmares of how it had happened. Even when the pain stopped, the nightmares endured. They bothered Claude for years. It was only when he was midway through university that they stopped for good.

Or so he thought...

Esmeralda stood by the window, looking into the sky as she waited. Dawn was nearing when the disruption came.

Frollo stirred in his sleep. His breathing intensified.

"It hurts..." He muttered. "Stop... Please... Stop hurting me..."

Esmeralda froze. The implication of those words took her off guard. Could it really mean what she thought?

Her thinking was cut off by her husband's hyperventilating breath. She had to wake him up. Esmeralda rushed to his side and started to shake him.

"Wake up!" She begged.

"Please..."

He was still asleep. Esmeralda shook him harder.

"Wake up!"

"Don't hurt me..."

Tears were starting to leak out of his eyes.

"CLAUDE!" Esmeralda finally shouted.

With that, Frollo's eyes broke open and he jerked into a sitting position. He was suddenly paralyzed, as if he hadn't just been panicking in a nightmare. He looked at Esmeralda with wide, unbelieving eyes.

"...What did you just call me?" He asked after gathering his voice.

"...I called you Claude." Esmeralda replied.

Frollo was frozen at the sound of his given name. He hadn't heard it in ages. These days he was anything but Claude. "Sir", "Your honor", "Judge Frollo", "Minister Frollo", and simply "Frollo" in the informal sense. No one had known him as Claude in ages. It wasn't a name anyone acknowledged nowadays. It was mostly a memory, the name his parents had given him...

"What?" Esmeralda asked in confusion. "It's your name, isn't it?"

Frollo tried to wipe his tears with one of his bandaged hands.

"It is a name..." He muttered. "That means nothing good."

The images of his nightmares started to creep into his head again. He tried to hold them back, but Esmeralda stopped him.

"You were saying things." She mentioned. "Begging someone not to hurt you..."

Frollo's heart nearly stopped. He should have known this would happen. It should have concerned him when Esmeralda had first heard him talk in his sleep, but he'd blocked out every thought of that. He'd been so desperate to pretend she knew nothing that he'd let this possibility slip his mind. He felt foolish and terrified. This couldn't happen.

"Is that... how you were burned?" Esmeralda asked.

Frollo tried to think of an answer. Anything that would keep Esmeralda from discovering the truth. But he couldn't think straight. The memories were filling his head. He couldn't stop thinking of the burn, nor could he stop the panic that began to rush through him. His hand automatically travelled to his scar, as if to protect himself from the flame that wasn't even there.

Esmeralda touched her hand to his cheek. Frollo looked into her compassionate eyes with terror. He trembled.

"...Did someone hurt you?" Esmeralda asked.

The question broke his composure. Frollo's fears of the truth and painful memories collided. His body shook violently and his breath came out in sobs. Tears were dripping down his face. Frollo struggled to take in a breath, which he let out with a scream, keeling over and burying his face in his hands.

Esmeralda took him in her arms like she'd gotten used to doing. Frollo couldn't resist returning the embrace, giving his distressed body something to cling to. Esmeralda held onto him until he started to calm, after which she drew away slightly. Frollo could see the look on her face now, which was just as pitiful as his. She was crying too, overwhelmed by the sight of him in this state. She touched his scar carefully.

"Who did this to you?" She asked.

Everything inside Frollo told him to push her away. To guard this secret with his life. But what good would that do? Esmeralda had already seen him at his most vulnerable. He'd already broken down in her arms and revealed every emotion that he'd buried for years. There was little left to hide. And if he did hide it, she would only keep wondering, theorizing about the truth. Frollo couldn't really hide it, and it occurred to him that he didn't even want to. He was done keeping this pain to himself.

He closed his eyes. The fire filled his head, along with his father's furious expression.

"My father..." He said between sobs.

All at once, Frollo's world came crashing down. He'd finally said it, for the first time ever. It was hard to believe. Part of him was relieved, another part ashamed. His tears started flowing violently again, and when he opened his eyes he saw shock and horror in Esmeralda's face. Frollo already regretted telling her the truth. This was too embarrassing. Too shameful...

But to Frollo's surprise, Esmeralda didn't respond with a question or an expression of pity. She just hugged him again, tightly and warmly.

"I still hate you." She whispered.

Frollo remembered her promise. Esmeralda had once said that her opinion of him wouldn't change if she knew what had caused his scar, that she would hate him no less. Sure enough...

Frollo hugged her back. This was the greatest gift she could have given him.

And it has finally happened...

Thanks for bearing with me to this point! I was a little slow to update due to being on vacation, but I'm not going to stop!

We have reached the turning point. Stick around to see where it all goes from here!