AN: I do not own HOND or its characters, but I do own all OCs. This story switches back and forth between points of view. Starts a little before the beginning of HOND and continues to sometime between the end of HOND and the beginning of HONDII.

(Simza POV)

Swiftly and silently the caravan I traveled with my family were sneaking over the Spanish border into southern France. The caravan's plan was to sneak over the border, across France, into Paris and into the Court of Miracles to join the caravan that was already in Paris. I was holding my younger brother Punka and my younger sister Tsura, my older brother Ion was sent ahead of the rest of the caravan to inform the King of the Gypsies that we would be joining them at the Court of Miracles, and our parents were outside driving our cart. Our crossing of the Spanish border was going smoothly until our cart suddenly stopped; I looked out the window of our cart and noticed that everyone else had stopped too. Suddenly our cart wobbled as if it was going to tip over, the smell of smoke filled the air, the shrilling voices of our friends and family pierced the night. It was an ambush, somehow the Spanish army had found out that we were sneaking over the border, I quickly returned to Punka and Tsura grabbed them and we jumped out of the back of our cart. Picking up one in my arms and the other riding on my back, we ran for shelter where we would be safe and unnoticed until the ambush was over.

The flames of fire and the puffs of smoke had made navigating through the ambush near impossible. Once I had found a safe cave that was far enough away from the ambush that nobody would notice us. I held Punka and Tsura while they shivered and hid their faces in my clothes as I watched and listened to the destruction of our caravan. The sound of the screams was too much for me to bear: I was starting to faint, and the last screams I heard were the screams of my parents.

I woke up at dawn the following day, Punka and Tsura were still sleeping soundly. I quietly sneaked out from our hiding spot to assess the damage that the caravan had suffered. The only remains of the caravan were charred carts and trinket, there were dead bodies buried under the charred remains. I turned around to head back for Punka and Tsura, but I heard the crying of a baby, then it was the crying of two babies. I followed the crying until I found a wooden door that was propped against a cart wheel. I lifted the door to find two twins. Both twins opened their eyes; however their eyes were clouded over. Two ten month old, orphaned babies were now blind. I grabbed the two babies and headed back for Punka and Tsura.

I quickly was returning to Punka and Tsura as fast as I could with the two blind twins, but by the time I got back to our hiding spot Punka and Tsura were wide awake and were eating berries on the bushes that grew nearby. Punka and Tsura saw the twins that I had carried with me. I told them that they were our new brother and sister. Since there was no names left with the twins we decided to name the boy Yoska and his twin sister Aishe.

I knew that my family could not stay here on the border or else there might be another ambush. However we did not have enough supplies for five people to walk all the way to Paris. I gathered the twins while Punka and Tsura walked closely behind, we grabbed some gold coins so that we could pay for safe passage into Paris. However we would probably still have to walk most of the way to Paris, and with four young children I had no idea of how we were going to make it there. Luckily not too far from the Spanish border we found an abandoned boat and were able to float upstream into Paris. Luckily we were able to get into Paris safely, barely though. Aishe and Yoska had almost given away our position to the guards when they started crying.

I tied our boat to the docks and sneaked off into Paris to find a place to stay for the night. However when dawn was about to break, I saw a cart with a tall, lanky man dressed in gypsies attire. I sneaked back into the shadows wondering if I should ask him for directions to the Court of Miracles. I didn't ask him due to the fact that any gypsy in their right mind would give out the location of their hide away to just anybody. I tripped over something that was also in the shadows I was standing in with the children. The gypsy man had suddenly stopped attending to his cart and started to approach us.

The man walked directly up to me he asked me something that totally amazed me. Are you looking for the Court of Miracles? This was the first time I was asked that question. I had quickly answered yes. The gypsy man told us to stay and watch his puppet show that he will take us to the Court of Miracles afterwards. I let Punka and Tsura approach the cart along with several other children. I held Yoska and Aishe and moved close enough to the cart for them to hear the show. We were enjoying the performance of the gypsy man and his silly puppet doppelganger until the man began to tell the story about how the Hunchback of Notre Dame came to be. The story made me fear that something similar would happen to me and my younger siblings. The puppeteer's story made me fear Judge Frollo more than I did before. Suddenly I heard the whistle of a young gypsy boy. I saw the puppeteer quickly closing his cart.

I expected the puppeteer to run off without taking us to the Court of Miracles. However I saw the puppeteer grabbing Punka and Tsura by the hand and lifting them into the back of his cart. He quickly ran towards me, and grabbed my wrist and helped me and the twins into the back of his cart. Then we suddenly rushed off towards what I assumed was the Court of Miracles.

The journey in the back of the puppeteer's cart was bumpy and uncomfortable. After several minutes of riding in the back of the cart I began to feel sick, but all of the sudden we had come to a stop. I heard the movement of gravel from outside of the cart. The puppeteer had come to the back of his cart and helped us out of the cart into what looked like a massive graveyard.

The puppeteer had grabbed my wrist, as carefully as possible so I wouldn't drop one of the twins. Punka and Tsura had clutched the fabric of my skirt as we followed the puppeteer. We followed the puppeteer through every nook and cranny of the graveyard until we arrived at a large crypt with a heavy stone on top of it. The puppeteer struggled for a few minutes to push the stone off of the crypt to reveal a hidden staircase. The puppeteer had helped us into the crypt, and we descended down the staircase that leads to the dark and dreary catacombs beneath.

The catacombs were filled with ankle deep sewage water, bones, and other slimy things. Torches lined every wall of the catacombs; even with all the torches it was still very dark and cold. Yet the puppeteer had managed to find his way through what seemed to be unending darkness. We trekked through the catacombs until all of the sudden all the torches had died out. When the light reappeared we were surrounded by gypsies that were waiting to ambush us. However the puppeteer had stepped forward and the others backed off. He suddenly turned towards me and apologized. I am sorry for their behavior mademoiselle; they thought that we were intruders. I opened my mouth to respond, but he spoke before any words could escape my lips. I am Clopin Trouillefou puppeteer extrodinar and King of the Gypsies. Now who are you? I had realized that we had not introduced us to Clopin. We are sorry for not introducing ourselves earlier, but I am Simza, these are my sisters Tsura and Aishe, and my brothers Punka and Yoska. Clopin gave us a very flourished bow as he escorted us to the Court of Miracles and a gracious welcome. Welcome to the Court of Miracles.

AN: Next Chapter will repeat some of the information in this chapter. Next chapter will be told from Clopin's POV. In case you are wondering about the characters here is their ages:

Simza: 18

Clopin: 21

Ion: 20

Punka: 6

Tsura: 4

Yoska: 10 months

Aishe: 10 months

You will learn the outside characters' appearances next chapter. Meanwhile please review. Thanks.