Chapter 60: The Blood

Claude woke up feeling miserable. Again, too much drinking. He groaned.

At least this time he'd been smarter about it. He'd ensured an empty schedule for the next day before getting drunk, so he'd be able to take his time recovering. Still, it would have been smarter not to drink to the point of another hangover. But that hadn't seemed like an option last night.

The soldier whose throat Claude had nearly cut was now locked up, and so were the other men whom he'd named as participants in the crime. It had been satisfying to arrest them, but Claude hadn't been able to stop thinking of the disgusting comments he'd heard before drawing his knife. He'd been livid after that, spending the rest of the day fighting the urge to run to the dungeon and kill the man who dared to fantasize about violating the woman he loved.

But it wasn't Claude's place to do that. He needed to ask Esmeralda what should be done with her attackers. So instead of going to the dungeon with a knife, he had ended up drinking to calm himself.

He wasn't going to make a habit of consuming that much alcohol, but Claude didn't quite regret last night's choice like he regretted the night before it. He felt that it had been necessary. This second hangover felt worthwhile, and he was able to stay in bed for as long as he wanted to.

He did end up going out that afternoon to see the blacksmith again. The item he'd asked for was ready, and Claude gladly picked it up. He wondered if he should find Esmeralda and give it to her, but it didn't feel proper to interrupt her while she was taking her space, so Claude decided to wait and give it to her whenever she came to talk to him.

Hopefully, that would be soon.


Esmeralda had been keeping to herself. She'd informed Phoebus of the events that led to her staying at his house, but she hadn't been interested in talking much after that. Thankfully, Phoebus had kept his promise not to judge or share unwanted opinions. He'd only listened to her and assured her that she could stay for as long as necessary, although Esmeralda sincerely hoped it wouldn't be a long time.

She spent her time cleaning, since it an easy way to earn her keep. And a good distraction. Esmeralda found herself thinking about Claude if she didn't keep busy, and that was too much to handle at the moment.

"Are you alright?" Annette asked when she noticed Esmeralda scrubbing some dishes a little too intensely.

Esmeralda stopped, realizing how strange she must look doing that.

"Oh, I'm fine." She lied.

Annette came to join her with the dishwashing, offering a sympathetic look as she began to pick dishes up.

"I'm sorry about... Whatever is going on." She expressed.

"It's nothing." Esmeralda insisted.

"It's bad enough that you felt the need to stay here." Annette noticed.

Esmeralda shrugged.

"Maybe I'm just being too sensitive." She suggested.

"Do tell me if I'm not allowed to ask," Annette started. "But, did Claude do something to upset you?"

"No!" Esmeralda replied immediately. "It's not him, but... It's complicated..."

Annette looked confused, but she didn't question what Esmeralda said.

"Well, I hope you know he really loves you." She said instead.

Esmeralda's eyes darted to Annette in surprise.

"Who said that?" She asked.

"No one." Annette replied. "But it's so obvious! You should have seen how he lit up when he talked about you. And he had such nice things to say. Things men only say about women they're in love with."

Esmeralda felt a light blush fill her cheeks. This wasn't news, of course. The fact that Claude loved her was something she knew well. But she hadn't realized it was so obvious to others.

"I do hope everything is alright between you two." Annette said compassionately. "You make such a lovely couple."

"Um..." Esmeralda started awkwardly. "We're... Not a couple."

"You're not?!"

"No... We wanted to be one, but... Well, it just didn't work."

"Why ever not?"

"He wasn't too popular with some of my friends."

Esmeralda only gave half the reason that she and Claude were not together. The other half of it was a little too personal to share.

"Don't tell me Phoebus has something to do with this!" Annette said with a rising anger.

Esmeralda suddenly realized the implication she'd made by mentioning "friends".

"It's not his fault." She insisted.

"He probably didn't help too much, though! Do I need to have a word with him?"

"It really isn't about him. He said he would support me no matter what. It's more to do with... Someone else..."

Annette sighed.

"Well, I'm glad Phoebus was supportive, at least." She shared. "But sometimes I do wish he wasn't so stubborn. I know he doesn't like Claude, but I do. And I think he'd be wonderful for you. Maybe this isn't very mature of me, I know things can be complicated. But I can't help feeling that people who love each other ought to be together."

Suddenly, no chore could keep Claude off Esmeralda's mind anymore.


To be hers for a moment...

To taste the best of life...

Claude put the quill down when he finished writing.

His sickness from earlier that day had worn off, and he'd managed to write a poem by the last light of the day. The sun was now setting, and Claude read his freshly finished work under the fading light. This was probably his favorite of every poem he'd ever written. He wondered what Esmeralda would think of it. If only she were there with him.

An unexpected knock came at the door.

"Sir," called the voice of a guard. "Your presence is requested downstairs."

"By whom?" Claude questioned.

"Your wife. She has returned."

Claude jumped up from his desk excitedly.

"I'll be there shortly!" He shouted.

He frantically tried to adjust his appearance so that he didn't look like someone who'd spent most of the day recovering from a hangover. Claude pushed his pillow-disrupted hair out of his face and tore off the tunic he'd been wearing for too long, quickly changing into another one. He looked himself over and decided his appearance was acceptable, then left his room and practically ran downstairs to the main hall.

But when he got there, he looked around to find the room deserted. Esmeralda was nowhere in sight.

Before Claude could even question the reason for that, he felt several pairs of arms grab him and throw him to the floor.

He hit the stone surface with a loud grunt. A cruel laugh came from behind him.

"There you are, the Minister of Justice all to yourselves."

Claude recognized the voice of the guard who had just summoned him down here. He struggled to his knees, looking up and noticing about seven men gathering around him. They were all soldiers, armed and prepared to fight. Leading them was an angry-looking lieutenant.

"Much thanks to you, my friend." The lieutenant said to the guard. "It's about time..."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Claude shouted, rising from the ground.

A swift kick to his back forced him back down. Claude grunted in pain again.

"We're sick of you, Frollo!" The lieutenant yelled. "Not only have you gone so soft that we can't show our authority to peasants, but you've had us working manual labor! And on top of it all, you've just arrested four of our pals!"

Claude looked up with a scowl.

"That's what this is about?!" He snapped. "I will have you know I regret none of it. Especially not arresting those men!"

"You never would have cared about what they did before!" The lieutenant spat.

"Well, I do now! They committed a violent crime!"

"Against a gypsy!"

"How dare you- AGH!"

Claude received a strong kick to his side.

"You're even soft on gypsies now!" The lieutenant complained. "This has gone too far. But we're willing to give you a chance. Just let our friends go, and we'll be out of Paris by morning."

Claude looked up at the officer, furious.

"If you've come to ask me to release those monsters... I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you!"

"Just what I thought... Well, good thing we have another plan."

The lieutenant drew a large dagger.

"We sent your guards away, so don't even bother-"

"THERE! STOP THEM!"

The sudden yell came from the corridor, from which several armed guards were now running. Whatever the intruders had planned for them had clearly backfired. The soldiers surrounding Claude reacted quickly, most of them rushing to fight the guards while the lieutenant ran at Claude. But the judge took the attack well, dodging an incoming stab and dragging the lieutenant to the floor.

They started to wrestle as Claude attempted to keep the knife away from him. He wished that one of the guards would make their way over to help him, but they were fully occupied with the other intruders.

Claude prayed that he could hold his attacker off long enough for a guard to reach him. He was a good fighter, but so was the lieutenant, and being unarmed put Claude at a dangerous disadvantage. He had to spend all of his strength avoiding the hand that repeatedly tried to stab him.

Finally, the soldier climbed on top of him, held the dagger in both hands, and drove it toward his chest. Claude barely managed to catch his attacker's wrists in his hands, holding the knife back.

They struggled against each other for what seemed like ages. Claude exerted all his strength to keep the blade from piercing his heart, but he didn't know how long he could keep this up. The blade started to inch closer to his chest as the lieutenant pushed against him.

Claude prayed for his life. He couldn't die like this! He couldn't leave this world now! Not before ensuring that Esmeralda was happy! Not before knowing that Quasimodo was okay! He couldn't bear the thought of leaving so much unresolved!

But the blade started to inch closer to his chest...


Esmeralda didn't know what she was doing, but she had to see Claude. She didn't know if it was a good idea, or what she could possibly say to him at a time like this, but she had to see him. She just had to.

She'd been reminded of a simple fact today, and that was that she and Claude were in love. And so, whether they could be together or not, Esmeralda couldn't see a way to simply avoid Claude. Trying not to think of him had been driving her insane. She was done trying to force him out of her head. If she could only be friends with him, she would deal with that. But she had to see him.

She knocked on the front door of the Palace of Justice that evening. But to her surprise, no one came to the door. That was strange.

As she stood there, Esmeralda realized that some kind of commotion was occurring inside. She heard yelling and clanking metal. Could that be... Swords?!

Panicked, she tried the door, which luckily wasn't locked, and rushed inside.

What she saw was horrific.

A group of guards were fighting with other soldiers. And in the middle of the room, Claude was on the floor, desperately trying to hold off a man who was inches away from plunging a knife into his chest!

Claude didn't notice the front door opening. He was too focused on keeping the knife out of him, which was becoming more and more difficult.

He closed his eyes. If this was the end of his life, he didn't want his murderer to be the last image in his mind. He thought of Esmeralda instead. Sorrow filled him as he thought about leaving her. He prayed that she would be alright, and that his death wouldn't destroy her. He wished he'd had more time with her...

He would miss her...

Suddenly, the pressure on his muscles was removed. Claude thought he'd died at first, but he heard a scream. He opened his eyes and was struck with horror.

It had all happened so fast, but Claude saw that his attacker had been tackled off of him. The blade that had nearly stabbed him had instead stabbed the person who had come to his rescue. And that person was...

Esmeralda...

The lieutenant cursed, angrily yanking the knife out of her. Esmeralda screamed again as blood quickly spilled out of her wound.

Claude lost his ability to think. Words did not exist in his mind now. Thoughts could not sufficiently respond to this.

Instead he had feelings. Primal, bloodthirsty, fiery feelings. Claude felt his rage carry him as he rushed toward the lieutenant. Every ounce of strength he would ever have suddenly empowered him. Before the lieutenant could even look at him, Claude had lifted him into the air and thrown him down on the floor aggressively. The soldier hadn't even absorbed what had hit him when Claude started to punch him repeatedly with more force than he'd known he was capable of. After several blows to the head, the soldier stopped moving, passing out.

Claude could have continued, but he remembered Esmeralda and urgently made his way over to her.

"Esmeralda!" He cried, taking her limp body into his arms.

Her eyes weakly made contact with his.

"Claude..." She managed.

Blood was beginning to cover her.

"NO!" Claude panicked.

He quickly pulled his tunic off and held it against the wound, attempting to stop the bleeding.

"Claude..." Esmeralda repeated weakly.

"You're going to be alright!" Claude insisted. "I'm right here!"

"Claude... Ugh..."

Esmeralda struggled to speak as the blood loss made her dizzy. Her eyes started to close.

"Darling, please!" Claude begged. "Don't leave me! PLEASE!"

Tears filled his eyes.

Esmeralda felt her consciousness fading. She wanted to say something, but she could hardly form a thought as her body weakened. There were only a few words she could think of right now.

"I love you..." She said just before she fainted.

"NO!" Claude yelled tearfully. "Please! DON'T LEAVE ME!"

He continued to beg even after she'd obviously lost consciousness. When he realized it was futile, he turned his eyes to the guards.

Esmeralda's interference had luckily distracted the intruders long enough for the guards to fight them off and detain them. Now they all stared in shock at the sight of the Minister of Justice sobbing as he clung to his injured wife.

"What are you all doing?!" Claude snapped. "GET HELP!"

"Uh- Yes, Sir!" One guard responded. "Everyone, get the traitors to the dungeon! I'm getting a doctor!"

Claude ignored them all while they moved around him. His soaked eyes stuck to Esmeralda.

He pressed his head against her chest and felt her heartbeat. She was alive. Claude just needed to keep her alive. He pressed his now blood-covered tunic more tightly against her wound.

"Stay with me!" He begged, even though he knew he wasn't heard. "Esmeralda, stay with me!"

Waterfalls of tears were rushing down Claude's face. He'd never cried this much.

"God, please!" He sobbed in prayer. "Please don't take her!"

A scream rose inside him.

"DON'T TAKE HER FROM ME!" He shouted through his tears.


I'm sorry for the violent turn of events, but bear with me! We're not done yet!