Chapter 68: The Curse

"It's going to be okay, Esmeralda. Really!"

Esmeralda cried on Clopin's shoulder, struggling to believe him. Her aunt was gone, taken by an incurable disease. How could anything be okay anymore?

"Nothing is okay!" Esmeralda sobbed. "She's gone! She's DEAD! We don't have ANYONE now!"

"That's not true!" Clopin insisted. "We have each other! We're still a family!"

A family of two orphans. It wasn't enough, but it would have to be. They needed to find a way to be alright together.

Clopin ushered Esmeralda into their shack and revealed a surprise he'd prepared for her: A basket of strawberries. Nothing could possibly end the suffering right now, but the berries provided a much needed moment of sweetness.

While they ate the strawberries, Clopin showed Esmeralda his puppets.

"I know what we can do," He shared. "We can be performers. We'll make a lot of money!"

Money. That was something they desperately needed. They'd have to do whatever was necessary for it.

The bells signaled a new morning.

Claude expected that today would be a slow day. A day of continued waiting for Esmeralda to feel better.

That was what he thought when he went to change her bandage. It was an unsettling task, so Claude decided to get it done as soon as possible. He composed himself before standing over Esmeralda, peeling back the fabric that covered her, and undressing her wound. But Claude's composure started to crack when he saw where the knife had pierced his closest friend. The wound had been sutured shut, but it was still fresh and surrounded with bruising. Claude couldn't help being distressed by the sight.

"Claude," Esmeralda whispered. "Don't..."

That one word seemed to contain multiple sentences.

Don't think about it. Don't blame yourself. Don't stop here.

Claude snapped back to reality. He nodded and continued what he was doing, carefully cleaning the site of the wound and applying a new bandage. He pulled the sheets back over Esmeralda and looked at her with concern.

"How are you feeling today?" Claude asked.

Esmeralda shrugged. She still felt weak, and the pain seemed to be getting worse.

Claude frowned.

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked. "Anything at all?"

Esmeralda tried to think of something that would make this situation better. Unfortunately, the things she really wanted were not available. She wanted to love Claude without any conflict. She wanted Phoebus to get over his attitude about Claude. She wanted to hear Clopin's laugh and the light sound of Djali's hooves hitting the ground...

When she thought of Clopin, Esmeralda suddenly remembered a moment of comfort from her childhood.

"Strawberries..." She mumbled. "I want strawberries..."

Claude didn't know where this desire for strawberries came from, but he was naturally willing get whatever Esmeralda wanted.

"Strawberries." Claude repeated. "Understood."

He hesitated to leave. Claude had something on his mind, but he struggled with the idea of bringing it up. This didn't seem like a good time, but would there ever be a better time?

"What's going on?" Esmeralda asked, noticing Claude's distracted expression.

"I've been wanting to ask something." Claude shared. "But the last thing I want right now is to trouble you."

"The last thing I want is you worrying about something." Esmeralda insisted. "What is it?"

Claude still hesitated, but after a moment he let it out softly.

"Why did you come back that night?" He asked.

It was now Esmeralda's turn to hesitate.

"I just needed to see you." She replied. "Talk to you..."

"About what?"

"Something. Anything. I just couldn't get you off my mind..."

Esmeralda stopped just short of saying that she could never get Claude off her mind, that she was completely in love with him. But even though she didn't say it, Claude seemed to sense what she was thinking.

Claude didn't know what to say apart from the simplest truth.

"I feel quite the same about you." He shared.

Their eyes met painfully, in a manner that said they were stuck. Cursed to be unable to stop wanting each other and just as incapable of avoiding each other.

Claude thought it best to end this awkward moment.

"I'll be back with strawberries." He promised before exiting.

Strawberries always reminded Esmeralda of Clopin. Now she worried they would also remind her of Claude.

Elaine had a plan. She'd filled her uncle in on the circumstances and listened to his thoughts on the matter. Jean admittedly doubted his ability to give good romantic advice, but he'd still done his best to offer some help.

"He needs to find a way to move on," Jean had said, referring to Quasimodo. "I think, if you allow him enough time to get over Esmeralda, he will become more open to loving someone else. At that point, I'd be shocked if he didn't realize what was right in front of him."

It was a flattering thought, that a little moving on was all it would take for Quasimodo to return Elaine's feelings. However, Elaine doubted that it would really be that easy. She would hope, though.

Elaine also hoped that Quasimodo would be more talkative this morning than he'd been the day before. He hadn't had much to say after returning from the Palace of Justice, apart from assuring Elaine that things were fully resolved between him and Frollo and passing on Esmeralda's thanks for the flowers. He'd been too lost in thought to share much else, so Elaine was left curious.

Luckily, Quasimodo was eager to talk over breakfast that morning.

"Frollo said I could tell you everything." He revealed.

Elaine was shocked that she was to be let in on such private matters so soon.

"He said that?" She questioned.

"He sure did." Quasimodo confirmed.

"Just recently he didn't want to tell me much at all!"

"You've been better to him than most people. I'm not surprised he thinks you deserve an explanation, especially since it helped me understand him so much."

Elaine realized that what had been common decency to her had been much more significant to the Minister of Justice. She'd gained his trust, something she now understood to be a difficult task. Now that was something of an honor.

She had some expectations before Quasimodo told her what he'd learned. Elaine expected some kind of sad story, since Claude Frollo obviously had a fair amount of sadness in his life. But what she soon heard was far worse than a sad story.

It was a violent and horrifying story.

Hello! I'm still writing, just slow to update right now. This chapter is a little short, but I thought I wanted to put something out to reward y'all for patiently waiting! The next chapter will be longer. See you then!