The Man and The Monster

I awoke the next morning to the sleeping quarters being eerily quiet. I sat up quickly, glancing around as I furrowed my eyebrows, utterly confused to why I was the only one in there as I presumed it was still dark, judging by the lack of light within the room. I stretched slightly before grabbing clothes and heading towards the door, placing my hand on the knob and twisting it slightly. I furrowed my eyebrows once more as I noticed the majority of gypsies weren’t actually within the main section of the hideaway either. Shaking my head I headed into the bathroom and closed the door behind me as I hurriedly showered and dressed, curious to find out what was going on. I proceeded to take my sleeping clothes back into my room before making my way back out, my eyes landing on Sara who made contact with me before turning away quickly. I raised an eyebrow as I made my way over to her, crossing my arms as I did so.

“Hello,” I half smiled as she turned to face me, her expression changing into one of fake positivity.

“How did you sleep?” She questioned, avoiding eye contact with me.

Ignoring the unimportant question I unhooked my arms before placing them on her shoulders, “Sara, what is going on? Where is everyone?”

Glancing around once more I felt my stomach drop as I cut her off before she could reply anything other than a letter, “Where is Esmeralda?”

“You slept for a long while, it’s mid afternoon which is why hardly anyone is here-“ She started as I cut her off, worry and anger beginning to build up inside me.

“Sara! Where is my cousin?” I pushed as she stared at me for a moment before sighing.

“She’s gone out, she ordered me to not let anyone disturb you so you would not worry about her as she hoped to be back before you awoke.”

“And where is she?!” I urged, worry beginning to kick in increasingly.

“She hasn’t returned yet. She left two hours ago.” Sara said as she glanced at me worriedly.

I ran a hand through my hair before cursing under my breath and walking away from Sara and towards the sewer.

“Genevieve! “ I heard Sara call after me but I didn’t respond as I picked up the pace. I stumbled through the sewer blindly due to the lack of light, but it was the last thing on my mind as I pushed through the shallow water quickly, not caring that I was causing it to splash forcefully around the bottom of my dress. Pushing the lid of the coffin aside as quickly as I could I scrambled outside, replacing the lid before rushing through the graveyard, yanking the gate open and running outside down onto the Parisian streets. I can’t even begin to express how angry I was that Esmeralda had only promised me the previous night that she would lay low yet she had intentionally let me over sleep so she could sneak out without my knowing and get back before I could find out what she did as, knowing her, she would insist that I had ‘nothing to worry about in the first place’ as she had returned, but that was the point, she hadn’t returned. I pushed my way through the people scattered around the town, earning disapproving ‘gypsy’ remarks as I did so, but I had other things on my mind so I let their words fly over my head even more so than usual. My eyes landed on Clopin, leaning out over the front of his cart casually and I couldn’t help but groan out loud as I made my way over to him, preparing myself to be civil in order to find out if he knew where Esmeralda had gone. What I wasn’t expecting though was that as soon as his eyes locked onto mine he jumped up abruptly and began to make himself look busy within the cart.

“Clopin!” I shouted as more people around complained about my shouting and behavior.

“I’m kind of busy at the moment, Genevieve.” He insisted as I watched him move his puppet from one end of the cart to the other.

I swore as I leaned into the cart and grabbed him by the front of his jester costume and pulled him so close towards me that I could feel his breath on my lips.

“Do not play games with me, where is my cousin?” I demanded loudly.

“Genevieve-” He began but I cut him off quickly.

“Just answer me!” I replied as I began to grow impatient. Before he could respond though I found myself being pulled away from him roughly, my hand being pulled from the firm grip I had on him as my back hit a well build body.

“Get your hands off me!” I shouted at the guard who’s tight grip remained around me as I began to kick out behind me, hoping I could cause him a bit of pain in order for me to break free and make a run for it.

“What a feisty gypsy we have here, maybe a day in the stocks will cool you down!” His thick-skinned partner replied on the other side of me, dodging a punch I attempted launch into his face before grabbing my fist in his hand tightly.

“Why you-“ He began before cutting himself off, “Isn’t this the gypsy girl that Frollo wants captured?” He said as he turned to his partner who let me go briefly only to spin me around and push the weight of his hands down on my shoulder as he eyed me up and down. My stomach sank as I glanced over at Clopin who looked just as alarmed as me – they thought I was Esmeralda. I took a deep breath before interrupting the quiet discussion they were having amongst themselves.

“Yes,” I said boldly, “That’s me.”
My eyes locked with Clopin’s as I shot him a look, warning him not to utter a word as both guards reacted very smug to my confession.

“I knew it, come along, gypsy girl,” The guard with the ever-tightening grip replied as he moved to grab my arm instead in order to drag me along.
I bit my lip as fear began to swell in the pit of my stomach, causing my hands to grow sweatier by the second as I was pulled through the streets and up towards the Hall of Justice, ignoring the curious yet also approving looks of some of the onlookers. As I was dragged through the dimly lit corridors of the building, a scream emitted from somewhere above us, causing me to jump which earned a snide laugh off of both of the guards.

“Get used to it, girl. It’s all you’re going to be hearing for a while until Frollo decides what to do with you.” The one with the grip on my arm said smugly as I gulped, hoping my face did not convey how truly worried I was. I was lead to a rather large yet extremely dark cell as the guard loosened his grip on me completely before pushing me inside with one hand and slamming the door closed and locking it before I even had the chance to turn around properly.
I took in my surroundings as they both walked off, disappearing out of sight. I knew that I had done a foolish thing by pretending to be Esmeralda and I shuddered at the thought of what would probably happen to me when Frollo came down to see Esmeralda and would find me instead, it was just that when it came to her I never thought with my head I thought with my heart which did not happen very often in many other cases. There was nothing in the room that I could even think to use as a way for me to escape, in fact there was nothing in the cell at all I realised as I took a seat on the concrete floor, bringing my legs up to my chest as I did so. I had absolutely no idea what to do or where to start in an attempt to break free.

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Clopin’s POV

Once the guards were out of sight with Genevieve I packed up my cart hurriedly before running back to the hideaway as fast as my feet could carry me. I had sworn to Esmeralda that I would not reveal her whereabouts to Genevieve previously in the day so she could not get mad and track her down and who was I to object as it meant I had a way to push Genevieve’s buttons even further but everything had just spiraled downhill from her saying that she was Esmeralda, and regardless of how much she infuriated me, she belonged to the Court of Miracles and I did not let any of my people down under any circumstances. I prayed that Esmeralda had returned by the time I got back as I pushed my way through the gates and over to the all to familiar coffin lid before sliding it off and running through the sewer, pushing through my fellow gypsies who were ready to take out any intruders as they stepped back on realizing who I was. As I made my way through the hall I breathed a sigh of relief but also dread as I spotted Esmeralda who was clearly in a quite heated conversation with Sara.

“How could you just let her leave?! I-“ Esmeralda began as I cut her off, pushing Sara back slightly so Esmeralda would pay close attention to what I had to say.

“Genevieve’s been taken to the Hall of Justice.” I forced out, trying to maintain my calm exterior, ignoring the nagging at the back of my mind, which was trying to come up with a suitable plan but to no avail.

“She what?! Why?!” Esmeralda exclaimed loudly, earning the other gypsies to glance over at us curiously.

“She pretended to be you.” I replied, shifting from foot to foot.

She didn’t say another word as she began to dart for the exit quickly as I thankfully caught up with her, grabbing her arm tightly as I did so.

“Let go of me, Clopin!” She yelled as she turned to face me, trying to pull her arm out of my grasp.

“You cannot go, if you go then you will get captured too and what she has done will be for nothing. You’ll be playing right into Frollo’s hands-“

“But-“ She began as I cut her off, removing my hand from her arm as I trusted her not to run off once more.

“I’ll go. I will get her back here safe, you know that.”

She stared at me for what felt like a good couple of minutes before sighing in defeat and nodding her head.

I nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder reassuringly before making my way into the dark sewer once more. I had no idea what I was going to do as I hurried through the water as quick as I could, but I knew I had to act as soon for Genevieve’s sake, but also for own sake and sanity.