God Help the Outcasts: A Disney Crossover Fanfic

Chapter Eighteen: Shining Eyes

The streets were bathed in fire. The air they breathed, even from this height, was thick with suffocating smoke. Nakoma felt tears pricking at her eyes, called up by both the smoke and her rampant worry. Quasi, too, had shining eyes as he strained to see the city below them, desperate for some sign of life or normalcy, desperate to catch a glimpse of their dear friends alive and safe. After a moment Quasi coughed and turned away from the railing.

"Do you think they're alright?" he said. Nakoma followed him inside, away from the inferno, and shrugged.

"There's no way to tell. I just wish there was some way they could communicate with us."

"Yeah, well, with all those guards, and everything burning, and..." Quasi trailed off with a sigh and sat down at his work table, picking up the little sculpture of Esmeralda he'd been working on. "Especially that Phoebus. I don't trust him."

Nakoma sat next to him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"He showed up the night she escaped, pretending to be her friend."

"How do you know he was pretending?" Nakoma asked.

"How else?" Quasi stood up and jumped onto the platform with the bells. "He's helping Frollo burn down the city looking for her."

"I see," Nakoma said, and thought for a moment. "What if he's helping her, though? What if he is playing both sides to her advantage? Maybe that's why Frollo hasn't found her yet."

"That's crazy!" snapped Quasi. He sat down roughly on the platform and studied the clapper of one of the bells. "Why would he do something like that?"

"It's not so different than what you do for me," Nakoma suggested. "You hide me from Frollo so that I won't get caught, but the whole time you pretend that you're on his side. Do you see now?"

Quasi shook his head and leapt down from the platform. "Phoebus is different. I can feel it. He's one of those sneaky men who manipulate people to their own advantage."

"Quasi, that's a very harsh thing to say about a man you hardly know," Nakoma scolded. Quasi sat down at the table with a huff and began to carve at one of his sculptures. "Look, I know you're worried about her. We all are. I'm worried about Drizella, too. But we have to stay positive. Worrying about things we can't control will do nothing for us."

"And besides," chimed Hugo, startling them as he burst into life, "if I know Esmeralda, she's three steps ahead of Frollo and well out of harm's way!"

Quasi put down his sculpture.

"Do you really think so?"

"Hey, when things cool off, she'll be back. You'll see."

"I hope so." Quasi stood again. "I'm going to sit on the roof for a while. Maybe I'll find out something." He ran to the staircase, followed closely by Nakoma.

"Quasi, you know it will just make things worse," she warned. He didn't answer until they were both seated on the roof, surrounded by the smoke once again.

"I can't stop watching for her. I feel like...like if I stop watching, she will need my help and I won't be there." Nakoma didn't say anything for a while. She knew how he felt; she'd experienced it so many times with Pocahontas. She had always been running off, getting into trouble, without telling anyone where she would be, or for how long. It was always Nakoma that went out searching for her or sent someone after her when it got too late. But Pocahontas had always made it home, and always before Nakoma or her search party had returned to the camp.

"I think Hugo is right, Quasi," she said quietly. "She will find her way back, somehow. She's tough, and smart, and not afraid of anything." And she will protect Drizella, too, Nakoma thought, speaking as much to herself as to Quasi. As she closed her eyes against the stinging smoke, and the light began to fade, and the silence closed in between them and thoughts of Esmeralda's bravery began to form dreamlike visions in her mind, Nakoma slumped onto Quasi's shoulder in a gentle doze.

Quasi felt the sudden pressure on his shoulder and almost jerked away in fear, until he realized Nakoma had fallen asleep and was using his arm as a pillow. For a moment—just a small moment—he forgot about Esmeralda. He forgot about the burning city. He forgot about Frollo and Phoebus and all of those people he wished he had the power to stop. Here was a young woman, unafraid of him, not repulsed by his ugliness—so trusting in him, that she dared to fall asleep in his presence, and even dared to trust him to catch her. For a moment—just a small moment—he smiled at her, at the way her face was flat on one side because her cheek was pressed to his shoulder, at the way her breath tickled the hairs on his arm. Then the moment passed, and the smile faded, and he remembered Esmeralda and the city on fire.

"We'd better get inside," he whispered. Then he slowly gathered her up and carried her as she slept back into the prison of the bell-tower. 

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A/N: Oh my heart. I love this chapter so much! I hope you guys enjoyed reading it just as much as I did writing it. ^_^ Please don't forget to follow and vote if you're loving this story!