The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Retelling by VampWiz and Inara

[Inara]

Surely, the deformed young boy was in a dream. Or perhaps he had died and flown to Heaven. The young man began to lose himself, breathing deeply, as if he were afraid this moment would disappear. He felt Esmerelda's warm touch, and melted, for he could not remember ever feeling the loving touch of another human, and certainly not of a woman. Closing his eyes, his mind tried to focus on this new sensation, hoping that it would never end. For a few moments, Quasimodo felt he would have jumped off of this very roof had this angel asked him to. Surely such pleasure was a sin. Surely a demon such as he should not be allowed this joy, this feeling of love. He wished he could touch her, to make her feel as happy as she had made him. But he was too afraid to even dare imagine it. Besides, a demon's touch would be a curse, not anything like her angel's blessing.

When her hands fell, the young man opened his eyes, trying to memorize every aspect of Esmerelda's face. And then her lips began to move, releasing her melodic voice. But with her request, he came back to Earth, back to his senses and his life.

“I cannot. Master Frollo struck me for even daring to think of it today. If I went, he would be angry, have me beaten or worse. I'm not allowed to meet normal people. It's for my own good, you see. My mere appearance could inflame a panic. I would be rejected by the people, as well I should be. I am a monster, you know. I cannot disobey my master,” he ranted quickly and honestly. For some reason, he felt as though he could talk with this beautiful woman for hours, as if she would never hate him. “No, it is much better for me to watch from up here,” he concluded finally, staring into Esmerelda's eyes, his face apologetic.

[VampWiz08]

She watched him as he studied her, and as he spoke his words to her. Esmerelda couldn't help but shake her head. "I can see in your eyes that you want to go, Quasimodo," she told him sweetly. "Why don't we find a way to get you out of this place, and into the world you can only admire, huh?"

Esmerelda smiled widely at the thought, her eyes never wavering from his. She wanted to watch him, his face, his reaction to her words. He was such a nice young man that she couldn't understand why anyone would want to keep him locked up, never meeting anyone, never seeing anyone, never stepping foot onto the street. That whole idea was something that she couldn't comprehend. Just because someone was like him, looked like him, doesn't mean that they deserve this kind of treatment.

"What do you say, Quasimodo?"

[Inara]

It was true that he wanted to go. He … wanted to go more than anything. To see the faces of the people up close as they danced in merriment, to dance with the crowd and be part of the beautiful patterns instead of simply watching them from above. But they would never accept him. He would be a laughingstock, a pariah. But... but maybe if he were with Esmerelda, her otherworldly beauty would distract onlookers from his otherworldly hideousness.

The lonely hunchback could not say no to her enchanting face, her accepting words. Slowly he nodded. “Alright, I'll go. But I should ring the noonday bells first. It is nearly time. Hold on.” Without another word, he swept her off her feet and walked down the rooftop. The acrobatic hunchback grabbed the buttress with his free hand, holding onto the wonderful Esmerelda with his left, and swung them both down to the relative safety of the top balcony.

The sun was high in the sky; It was time to ring the noontime bells. Quickly, he grabbed two small pieces of cloth and handed them to the kind and beautiful lady. “Put these in your ears,” he said quickly, “Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but it will help to block the sound. The bells are incredibly loud up here, and too much exposure to them without protection will cause your ears pain, and for your hearing to gradually disappear. I already know I don't hear as well as I did even five years ago,” Quasimodo explained, putting pieces of cloth in his own ears, and a strange cloth hat that he had fashioned himself over his head. “Be sure to cover them too. The cloth alone is not enough. Even this isn't enough, really. But it's the best I can do for us.”

And with that, Quasimodo ran into the belltower, climbing up the rafters until he reached the gigantic rope that rang the three largest of the bells in tandem, Big Marie, Jean Marie, and Raissa Marie. Jumping up onto it, he pulled with his entire body, swinging from the rope rather than just pulling it. A dozen times the bells chimed, in their characteristic beautiful chords. For good measure, he swung himself around some of the smaller bells to complete the music, landing hard on his feet on the floor of the tower. Then, as though it was nothing, the hunchback walked, though as always, it looked more like hobbling because of his shape, back out to Esmerelda, grinning a little. He loved the sound, even knowing that it was likely going to deafen him by his last years of life, which would be around forty to fifty most likely.

“You can take out the cloth now,” he shouted so that the lady could hear him, removing his own protection as he spoke. “All right, I can go now. People would have noticed if the noontime bells had not been heard, you see.”

[VampWiz08]

With the man sweeping her off of her feet, Esmerelda let out a tiny scream out of surprise and excitement. She hadn't realized he was as strong as he was even though she watched as he climbed to the top of the church by himself, then help her up before she could fall to her death. She couldn't help but think how amazing this young man was.

She held onto him as tightly as she could without hurting him as he grabbed the buttress with his one free hand and swung the pair of them down into the bell tower. Once on her feet, she watched him in awe and amazement as he walked away. Esmerelda nodded when he handed her the cloth pieces and put them over her ears. Heading his words, she clamped them tightly with both hands and watched as he jumped onto the ropes and pulled them down. What a strong, athletic man he was. But that thought was soon interrupted as the bells rang. How he had not become completely deaf by this point she wasn't sure, but she knew that she didn't like the sound at all. She nearly collapsed onto the floor from the sound.

And before she knew it, he was shouting at her to take the cloths out. She did so ever so carefully, and tossed them aside. "Wow," was all she could say to him as her hearing came slowly back to her. She now understood what it was like to be him, with the ringing of the bells and how loud they actually were. The sounds from the street below, people laughing, shouting, singing, sounded much more wonderful than ever before. "How do you do this every day, more than once a day?"

[Inara]

Quasimodo blushed a little and shrugged. “That's why I started wearing the cloths. The first time I heard these from up here, I was only eight or so. My ears ached for three days.” The hunchback shuddered at the memory, when he had dared cry out, dared to weep with the pain.

“Oh grow up,” Frollo chastised, his voice frigid as he had backhanded the young boy hard across the face. But then he had knelt down and touched the boy's cheek. “You are doing God's work. It is unseemly to complain. This is your life, serving God. He and I have blessed you with food, and shelter, when your own mother abandoned you to the streets. Surely you don't want to make Him, or me, angry? Now do you, Quasimodo?”

“N-no, M-master,” the young hunchback had answered, his young voice frightened. Once Frollo left, he had looked around the church for scraps, and made his first pair of earplugs.

Coming out of his reverie, which took no more than a few seconds, Quasimodo looked back at this amazing angel who stood before him.

“Besides, once you get past the volume, the sounds are beautiful, and all of Paris gets to hear them in the wind. If they weren't so loud up here, then no one would be able to hear them down there. A little hearing loss is a small price to pay to know that I can share my friends' music with the city,” the bellringer said, smiling shyly.

Briefly, he looked out from the balcony at the fluffy clouds lining the royal blue sky. From there, his eyes traveled down past the tallest buildings, to the small shops, down to the tiny people talking and gossiping below, entering and exiting colorful carnival tents. The Festival of Fools was just beginning, and Judge Frollo sat in his tent. His face wore a pure scowl of disdain at the “vile” festivities, but from the balcony where they stood, that was not actually visible. Just upon glimpsing the man, though, Quasimodo involuntarily trembled, a look of near-terror crossing his face.

[VampWiz08]

In silence, Esmerelda listened to the beautiful young man and watched as he stared down at the festivities. It was evident to the dark-skinned young woman that the hunchback desperately wanted to go, just by the look of longing in his face, even though he was trembling. She walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, a gentle smile appearing on her face. There was something in her that wanted to plant a kiss on his cheek, but she refrained, and joined him in watching the festivities, listening to the laughter and joy from below.

After the silence became a little too overwhelming, Esmerelda dropped her hand and turned the man towards her. She stared at him for a few moments, the gentle smile still on her face. "It's going to be okay," she whispered at the still trembling young man, placing a hand on his cheek. "Do not worry, Quasimodo. This is going to work, okay? We will get you into the festivities."

Her smile not wavering, grew into a pearly white smile and she took his hand. "Do you have any extra clothes? We can disguise you and get you down there. I think I can do it, if you have the right materials."

[Inara]

"I.. I don't really have anything else besides my cloak," Quasimodo replied, embarrassed to say anything against this wonderful woman's idea. "I suppose I can just wear that and keep my head down and away from my Master. It's the Festival of Fools, very likely everyone else will think I am simply wearing a mask," he joked, chuckling a little. He was really going. He was really going to be with the people, to see their joyful and carefree expressions up close. He was finally going to see the streets of Paris up close, instead of from the birdseye view of his lofty tower. The secluded young man was as excited as a boy getting to travel to another city miles away. It was going to be incredible. And ... this amazing, beautiful, kind woman... maybe, maybe she would stay with him and show him around. It was... more than he could have hoped for.

"Are you ready to go?" the young hunchback asked, reaching for his cloak.