Hey, just wanted to say that this fanfic is going to be a boyxboy between the OC Esmeralda and one young justice character, but I won't tell you who yet because spoilers;)Also, there is going to be a little twist on this OC Esmeralda, you'll all see later in the story.
For those of you who don't know, all the "civilians" mentioned in the last chapter are actually the secret identities of the justice league members present at the debriefing for this mission in Paris. Bruce Wayne: Batman, Arthur Curry: Aquaman, etc.
I do not take credit for the art work or the music. Enjoy the chapter!
3rd POV(heroes)
As the heroes in disguise walk into the town, they take in the sights around them. Townhouses and large, old fashioned cottages lined the streets, along with many merchant carts and shops. As the heroes walk, they notice a tall man with a blue cloak treading alongside a grey horse with a black mane. The man appears to be lost by the way he is twisting and turning the map, looking at it with squinted eyes.
(Please listen to the video while reading, it will help understand what's happening)
Making confused sounds, the man eventually balls up the map and turns towards his horse.
"You leave town for a couple of decades and they CHANGE everything." He throws away the map and continues forward, horse in tow, until he sees two guards pass by him on patrol. He leans forward and raises a finger in question. "Excuse me, gentlemen, I'm looking for the palace of justice could you..?" The guards stride right by him, not even stopping to acknowledge his presence. The man puts down his finger and sighs with a flat expression.
"Hmm, never mind." He says, deadpan.
As he continues onward, the heroes follow a little ways behind. Kid Flash speaks up, "jeese, those guards weren't very friendly, huh?"
Robin narrowed his eyes behind his shades while John answered "indeed not."
The heroes begin to hear music, slowly getting louder as they move forward. As they turn the corner, they see the man in the blue cloak and his horse standing in the street looking around. The music is coming from the man's right, where two people in bright colors and jewelry are playing music, while a goat jumps and dances around a hat filled with coins.
A woman and her child are walking by, when the child catches sight of the street performers. The girl squeals happily, beginning to run towards the performers, before the mother stops her by grabbing her hand and walking away quickly.
"Stay away, child, they're gypsies," The woman says with fear and distaste. "They'll steal us blind."
The heroes all narrow their eyes at the woman's words, obviously noticing the disdain towards the performers. Their attention is then drawn to Robin, who's hands are clenched into fists and shaking slightly. Kid Flash notices and bumps his shoulder comfortingly with his friend. Robin's shoulders loosen a little and he sigh's, frustrated but swallowing his anger. But if Bruce Wayne watches the boy worriedly for a little longer than normal, no one comments. Dinah Drake goes to brighten the mood.
"Why don't we get closer and watch the performance. The music is very upbeat, and the goat is a nice touch," she says with a smile. Oliver Queen mimics her smile and nods, "sounds like a plan."
The group approaches the performers and end up standing next to the man in the blue cloak as they watch. There is a middle aged man playing some kind of wind instrument with the goat jumping around a hat, and a teenage boy playing a tambourine, while a young boy sits on the ledge above clapping along to the cheerful music. To everyone's surprise, Robin reaches into his pocket, throwing a few coins into the hat. The man in the blue cloak follows suit, throwing in some money of his own.
Right at that moment, the teenage gypsy turns around to face the group, and their eyes widen.
The boy is dressed in purple pants, a sash going around his slim waist, and a loose white shirt, sliding off his shoulder and showing off his smooth, glowing caramel skin. His golden gypsy jewelry jingle with every movement, and his wavy, thick black hair billows out slightly as his bright emerald eyes shine enchantingly.
The young heroes are captivated, and the man in the blue cloak has his eyebrows raised with an appreciative grin on his face. The boy makes eye contact with the man and turns his body to the side, shaking and patting his tambourine coyly.
The boy then lets his gaze sweep over the rest of the crowd, before his eyes land on the group of undercover heroes. The boy looks surprised, and ends up locking gazes with Aqualad. Their eyes meet, and Aqualad can't help but blush and smile, giving a friendly nod. The gypsy boy looks surprised for a moment longer, before giving a small, genuine smile back.
The moment is broken by a sharp, shrill warning whistle from the little boy on the ledge. The gypsy breaks eye contact with Aqualad, turning his head and gasping. He begins to run along with the other gypsy, while the goat uses his teeth to lift the hat with money and follow.
However, when the goat lifts the hat all the money begins to fall out! The goat makes a sound to get the gypsy's attention. The boy with the emerald eyes turns back around and hurries over, but the moment he kneels down to put the coins back in the hat, two armored feet stop in front of him. He looks up with unyielding eyes at the two guards in front of him. One of the guards bends down and tries to take the hat out of the boy's hand.
"Alright, gypsy, where'd you get the money?"
The boy pulls the hat back into the crook of his arm, "for your information I earned it."
"Gypsies don't earn money," the first guard says condescendingly with a roll of his eyes. The second guard sneaks up behind the boy and grabs his delicate arms from behind in a tight grip.
"They steal it," he finishes with a snarl.
The man in the cloak raises an unimpressed, but confused eyebrow.
The younger heroes look ready to move forward and interfere, but the adults step nearer to them and subtly shake their heads. Bruce steps forward and places a hand on Robin's shoulder.
"Just wait." He murmurs. The heroes and the cloaked man continue to watch, despite the growing urge to interfere.
The gypsy turns around to the guard holding him and says with a sneer, "you'd know a lot about stealing."
The first guard tries to take the hat again, "troublemaker, huh?"
The boy grunts and leans back, lifting his foot and kicking the guard in the chin. The second guard tightens his grip on him while the first recovers, "maybe a day in the stocks will cool ya down."
At this, Robin steps forward, but before he can get far the goat rears back and rams into the guards with his horns. The guards let go of the gypsy and crumple to the ground, while the gypsy and his goat jump over the soldiers and run off.
"Get back here, gypsy!" The soldiers yell as they begin to chase after the boy. Thinking fast, the man in the cloak pulls his horse forward to block the soldier's path, causing the soldiers to run right into the animal and fall to the ground. The man turns back to his horse and says sternly, "Achilles, sit." The horse immediately sits on the first soldier, causing the man to let out a surprised cry, trapped in the mud under the horses rear. The crowd that had gathered around the commotion began laughing, and the group of disguised heroes couldn't hide their amused smiles or their snorts of laughter.
"Oh, I am sorry!" The man in the cloak says with fake surprise. He turns to his horse and says with mock seriousness, "naught horse, naughty!" He then turns back towards the guards and leans an arm on the horse. "He's impossible, really, I can't take him anywhere."
Out of the corner of their eyes, the heroes can see the gypsy and the goat watching from behind a cobblestone wall. The boy ducks his head with a small, quiet huff of laughter, before disappearing around the corner, his goat following.
The guard, still underneath the horse, speaks up with a whine. "Get this thing off me!"
The other guard turns towards the cloaked man and pulls out a dagger. "I'll teach you a lesson, peasant!"
The crowd gasps when the man tosses aside his cloak to reveal golden armor, unsheathing a sword with a smug smile. "You were saying, lieutenant?"
The guards eyes go wide, and he starts fidgeting with nervousness. "OH! Uh, c-c-c-captain! OW!" The guard goes to salute and whacks himself on the head. He drops the knife and salutes again. "At your service, sir!"
The captain digs his sword into the ground next to the first soldiers face, cutting off a bit of his mustache. "I know you have a lot on your mind right now but, the palace of justice?"
...
A moment later, the guards are leading the captain through the streets, shouting to get people out of the way.
"Make way for the captain!"
"Come on, make way!"
"Make way!!"
The captain suddenly stops as he spots some coins on the ground. The heroes watch as he lifts the coins and turns to his right, where there is a beggar in a hooded grey cloak with a pipe sticking out, and a hat in front of him. The captain walks forward and drops the coins in the beggars hat before continuing on his way.
Dinah smiles, "it's nice to see some people here can be kind."
Robin speaks up with slight anger, "but not to gypsies."
The others look to him with sadness, but then Robin startles and says quietly, "look!" He points in the direction of the beggar, and they all look to see the grey hood be pulled down to reveal the emerald eyed gypsy! The goat has the pipe in its mouth, head peaking out above the boy's, while the boy is looking at the captain's back.
(The goat is a boy, don't mind the girlish appearance.)
After a moment, the boy turns around and spots the heroes staring at him. His eyes go wide with alarm, but Robin gives a comforting smile, making a zip sign across his lips before throwing away the key. The gypsy quirks his lips appreciatively, briefly smiling at Aqualad before throwing his hood back up, grabbing the hat and walking away.
The heroes turn to look at Aqualad and see him blushing. Arthur turns to the boy and pats his shoulder smiling. "See something you like, Kaldur?" He says cheerfully. "Because he seems to like you." Kaldur's face heats up, and the others laugh as he turns away in embarrassment.
The heroes end up loosing sight of the gypsy when they follow him into an open area, where there is a mini-puppet theatre with a jester looking man talking to some children. The group approaches it, while Bruce discretely whispers to John, "follow the captain. See where he is going and find out why he is here." John nods, before separating himself from the group and vanishing.
The heroes stay a distance away from the children listening to the jester looking man, the gypsy standing next to him, and listen intently as he begins to tell a story.
(Listen to the whole song please. What you hear in the song is what the heroes are hearing from Clopin's story.)
Morning in Paris, the city awakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
The fisherman fishes, the baker man bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
To the big bells as loud as the thunder
To the little bells soft as a psalm
And some say the soul of the city's
The toll of the bells
The bells of Notre Dame
Listen, they're beautiful, no?
So many colors of sound, so many changing moods
Because you know, they don't ring all by themselves
- They don't? -
No, silly boy.
Up there, high, high in the dark bell tower
lives the mysterious bell ringer.
Who is this creature - Who? -
What is he? - What? -
How did he come to be there - How? -
Hush, and Clopin will tell you
It is a tale, a tale of a man and a monster.
Dark was the night when our tale was begun
On the docks near Notre Dame
Shup it up, will you!
We'll be spotted!
Hush, little one.
Four frightened gypsies slid silently under
The docks near Notre Dame
Four guilders for safe passage into Paris
But a trap had been laid for the gypsies
And they gazed up in fear and alarm
At a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells
Judge Claude Frollo
The bells of Notre Dame
Kyrie Eleison(Lord have mercy)
Judge Claude Frollo longed
To purge the world
Of vice and sin
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
And he saw corruption
Everywhere
Except within
Bring these gypsy vermin to the palace of justice
You there, what are you hiding?
Stolen goods, no doubt. Take them from her
She ran
Dies irae, dies illa (Day of wrath, that day)
Solvet saeclum in favilla (Shall consume the world in ashes)
Teste David cum sibylla (As prophesied by David and the sibyl)
Quantus tremor est futurus (What trembling is to be)
Quando Judex est venturus (When the Judge is come)
Sanctuary, please give us sanctuary
A baby? A monster!
Stop!
Cried the Archdeacon
This is an unholy demon.
I'm sending it back to hell, where it belongs.
See there the innocent blood you have spilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
I am guiltless. She ran, I pursued.
Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
My conscience is clear
You can lie to yourself and your minions
You can claim that you haven't a qualm
But you never can run from
Nor hide what you've done from the eyes
The very eyes of Notre Dame
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
And for one time in his live
Of power and control
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
Frollo felt a twinge of fear
For his immortal soul
What must I do?
Care for the child, and raise it as your own
What? I'd be settled with this misshapen ...?
Very well. Let him live with you, in your church.
Live here? Where?
Anywhere
Just so he's kept locked away
Where no one else can see
The bell tower, perhaps
And who knows, our Lord works in mysterious ways
Even this foul creature may
Yet prove one day to be
Of use to me
And Frollo gave the child a cruel name
A name that means half-formed, Quasimodo
Now here is a riddle to guess if you can
Sing the bells of Notre Dame
Who is the monster and who is the man?
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells of Notre Dame
Hey! How'd y'all like the chapter?
Have any of you figured out the love interest, or the twist yet? Feel free to guess in the comments.
I wanna thank the Devian Art artist and Pinterest posters for the great artwork of male Esmeralda, and Youtube for the music, and the Disney lyric site for the lyrics and latin translations of the above song.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please continue to read!
Warm regards,
Writer-san.