To Eden, in loving thanks for four years of
friendship, and looking forward to many
more.

__________________________________________________________________________

Dark  and Unfamiliar
an original story inspired by Disney's Aladdin
by Sedeara

Prologue

Dark and Unfamiliar, it is the night.
And sometimes, I am too.
But over the distance, I feel your light,
And I know I can do this,
Not for myself, but for you.
Mozenrath thinks I'm under his rule,
Ready to obey his every whim.
But Mozenrath, he is a fool,
And I do nothing for him.
Aladdin, I'm trying, you know that I am.
So please, hold on, be patient, and wait.
I have to keep up the deception as long as
I can,
While praying I won't be too late . . .

__________________________________________________________________________
 


~Chapter One~

        Mozenrath's eyes were cold and
restless.   He knew his power was
dying, fading away little by little.   But what can be
done about it? he
asked himself over and over.  What can be done? He glanced
down at his
gauntleted-hand, remembering with bitterness the price he'd paid for
his
magic.  He wasn't sure how much more he was willing to sacrifice
to keep it.
         "If I could save my
power somehow," he muttered.  "If I could only
keep it from draining so quickly!"  And that's when the idea came
to him.
         "What I need," he
told Xurxis, with a wicked grin, "is a servant.
Somebody to do my dirty work."
         "Mamlucks?" suggested
Xurxis.
         Mozenrath shook his
head.  "No, no.  Mamlucks aren't what I had in
mind.  I need someone who could sweet-talk his way out of a situation
if he
had to, someone who could roam around freely, without anyone suspecting
that he was working for me.  I need someone alive!  A companion
. . . a
partner.  He would have to be lower than me, of course. 
He would have to
know that I was Master.  Yet, he would have to possess
the skills needed
to get me what I want."
         "Master, remember
Aladdin?" reminded Xurxis.
         Mozenrath's face twisted
into a frown.  "Yes, Xurxis, I remember."
And all too well, he did.  He had tried to persuade Aladdin into
becoming his
servant, but had discovered that the boy had different plans and would
not
mold into what Mozenrath wanted him to be.  Quite the opposite,
he opposed
Mozenrath in everything, fought against him instead of with him, and
had
since then been his bitter enemy.
         "But this person is
to be different.  Aladdin was too arrogant, too . . ."
He didn't finish his thought.  "I need someone who is afraid of
me.  Someone
who would be submissive . . ."  Mozenrath paused and then laughed
evilly.  "I
need . . . a woman."
         Xurxis looked at Mozenrath
questioningly.  "A woman?"
         "Yes, of course, Xurxis,"
said Mozenrath, becoming excited by his
idea.  "I don't know why I didn't see it before.  A woman
would be afraid of
me.  A woman would cower in my presence!  A woman
would not disobey,
for fear of what I might do to her!"  Mozenrath smiled. "And I
could marry a
woman.  Then she would be mine!  My property to do as I pleased
with."
         Xurxis looked shocked. 
"Marry her?"
         Mozenrath glared at
the eel.  "It would be strictly a business marriage,
Xurxis.  Why, if she were royalty, it would be even better . .
. then I'd have
domination over her kingdom as well . . . Now, who is the lucky girl
to be?"
         "Lucky girl! 
Lucky girl!" repeated Xurxis.
         "She would have to
have fighting skills.  She would have to be
intelligent enough to learn of my ways in a short amount of time. 
She would
have to be able to talk her way out of situations without raising suspicions.
And, she would have to do everything on MY terms."  Mozenrath
thought
again of Aladdin.  His problem was that he had too many of his
own ideas.  It
was no wonder that Aladdin didn't work out, but . . . Jasmine. 
That was a
different story entirely.
         Mozenrath went over
his checklist in his mind.  Jasmine was brought
up in royalty; she knew how to use words to get what she wanted. 
She
possessed defensive and fighting skills.  She was intelligent
enough to learn
quickly what he wanted to teach her.  But she would still be afraid
of
 him.  Mozenrath knew that she feared him and believed that
without the aid
of a man, or magic, she wouldn't have the courage to challenge him. 
Yes, she
would be perfect . . . if only she wasn't on the opposite side.
         But a small matter
like that wasn't going to stop Mozenrath.  He had
his mind made up, and he was going to get what he wanted.  He
would lure
Jasmine onto his side somehow . . . trick her into joining him. 
But how?
How would he do it?
         He raised a gloved
hand, and black flames burst forth from it.  They
began spinning and formed a circle of fire.  Mozenrath peered
expectantly
into it, and soon the desired scene appeared;  He could see Jasmine
clearly.
         She was with Aladdin. 
They both sat near her fountain, and he
playfully splashed water at her while she raised her hands to repel
it.
Laughing, she pushed him away from her, then pulled him near her again.
Her arms went around his neck, and she kissed him.
         Mozenrath rolled his
eyes.  Pathetic flirtations.  But then he smiled.
She had just eagerly exposed her greatest weakness.
 

         "Okay, Abu, you're
on our team," Aladdin said.  Abu scampered up his
arm and sat on his shoulder.  Aladdin glanced around at his team-mates,
Jasmine, Rajah, and Abu, and then at his opponents, Genie, Carpet and
Iago.
         "Okay, here are the
rules," Jasmine began.  "A player runs all the way
around the palace one time, then slaps the hand of the next player. 
The first
team to finish wins.  Oh, and since we have one extra player,
someone on
your team will have to go twice."
         "I'll do it!" volunteered
Genie.
         "Great.  And
Iago, Genie, Carpet, no flying OVER the palace,"
Jasmine told them.  "You must go around it."
         "Just to cut back
on cheating," said Aladdin, "why don't you give
yourself legs, Genie.  Then you have to run like the rest of us."
         "Sure Al!"  Genie
zapped his tail into a pair of blue legs with red curly-
toed shoes.
         "Don't go telling
me that I need to run!  Otherwise I'm not playing!"
squawked Iago.
         "Iago and Carpet can
fly.  But just remember, you can't fly over the
palace.  No cheaters."  Jasmine looked at pointedly at Iago.
         "I don't believe this! 
You honestly think I would cheat?  That hurts.
That really hurts."  Iago turned his back to Jasmine.
         "Ah, don't worry bird-man!"
said Genie.  "We can't lose!  We have
Carpet on our team!"
         "Okay, let's get going,"
said Jasmine.
         "Abu, you're going
first."  Aladdin picked Abu off his shoulder and
placed him on the ground.
         "O-Kay!" agreed Abu.
         "You're going first
on our team, Iago." Genie pushed Iago to the
starting line.  Then he transformed himself into a large green
flag.  "All right
racers . . . On your mark, get set, GO!!"
         Abu and Iago both
shot off and were soon out of their team-mates
sight.
         "I'll go next, Jasmine,"
Aladdin decided.
         "We're gonna win! 
We're gonna win!" taunted Genie.
         "Yeah right, Genie. 
You don't stand a chance against us!" laughed
Aladdin.
         A short while later,
Iago was seen coming around the palace.  Genie
got ready to go next.  "Give me four, Bird-man!"  Iago, panting,
flapped by
Genie and slapped his wing to Genie's hand.  Genie shot off running.
         "C'mon Abu!" whispered
Aladdin.  "We can still win."
         Abu scampered into
view.  "There's Abu!" cried Jasmine. "Get ready,
Aladdin."
         "All right, Abu!" 
Aladdin slapped the monkey's tiny
 paw as he slowed down beside him.
         "Go, Aladdin!" yelled
Jasmine.
         "Yeah!  Yeah!"
encouraged Abu, hopping up and down.
         Aladdin shot off. 
Soon he had rounded the first corner of the palace.
"The other team has a head start, but we can still win,"  Aladdin
told himself.
It wasn't long until he came into view of Genie.  Now, if he could
only catch
up with him . . .  He quickened his pace, his legs began moving
faster, as he
drew nearer and nearer to Genie.  "Almost there," he kept telling
himself.
         Then, just as he almost
caught up, his foot was stopped by a loose
stone in the palace walkway, and suddenly the ground was coming up
to meet
him.
         His head hit the stone. 
He raised it slowly and shook it.  It hurt, but it
wasn't serious.  If he got up now, he could still catch up with
Genie.  As he
picked himself off the ground, his eye was caught by a small black
object.
He turned and bent over, examining it.
         It was a flower! 
A black flower with a dark blue center.  The petals
were soft and large.  Peculiar . . . he had never seen a plant
like this in the
palace gardens before, and there weren't any more growing near it. 
But it
was beautiful . . . and perfect for Jasmine!
          He pulled it
out of the ground and turned it over in his hands.  Yes,
 she would love it.
         He began to run again,
with the stem of the flower held tightly between
his fingers. He couldn't wait to present it to Jasmine.
         He was soon around
another corner of the palace, but he was slowing
down.  His legs felt heavy, and the vision before him began to
blur.  He
slowed to a walk and didn't begin running again until he had rounded
the third
corner.  He was almost done.  He picked up his pace and forced
himself to
continue with the race.
         Finally he saw Jasmine. 
He brought himself to her as quickly as he
could, then leaned against the wall to catch his breath.  Why
was he feeling
so dizzy?
         Jasmine walked up
beside him.  She looked at his down-turned face,
which was damp with sweat.  "Aladdin, are you okay?"
         He nodded.  "Yeah. 
I'm just . . . tired."  He lifted his head and smiled
at her, holding out the flower.  "For you, Jasmine."
         Jasmine gasped. 
"Oh, Aladdin!  It's beautiful!  I've never seen one like
it in my life!"
         "Neither have I. 
That's why I thought you might like it."
         "I love it!" 
She hugged Aladdin.  "Let me run into the palace.  I'm
going to get a vase for it."
         Genie, who was waiting
for Carpet to finish the lap, came up beside
Aladdin.  "Hey, Al, where'd Jasmine go to?  Is she ditching
her turn?"
         Aladdin shook his
head.  "No, she's getting . . . " Aladdin paused,
feeling he didn't have enough breath. "She's getting a vase . . . for
. . . this
flower." Aladdin held it out to show Genie.
         "Aw, isn't that sweet!" 
Genie pinched Aladdin's cheek. "You little
Romantic, you!"
         Aladdin began coughing
and bent over, gasping for breath.
         "Al?  Al, are
you all right?"  Genie asked.
         "I'm fine . . ." panted
Aladdin.  "Just tired."
         Jasmine came out of
the palace, a shining gold vase in her hands.  "Isn't
this a beautiful vase?  I thought it would be perfect!" 
She ran over to
Aladdin.
         He placed the flower
into the vase and smiled weakly at Jasmine.
         "Aladdin?"  Jasmine
put the vase down. "Aladdin, what's wrong?"
         "Nothing," he answered,
although he couldn't focus his eyes on
Jasmine's form in front of him.
         "You're awfully pale,"
Jasmine whispered, lifting his face to get a
closer look.
         Aladdin tried again
to focus his eyes, but everything was looking
distorted.  He could feel hot sweat forming on his face, and he
swayed,
unsure if he could keep his balance.  What was wrong with him?
         Suddenly it began
getting darker, and darker, and
darker . . .
         "Aladdin!"  screamed
Jasmine.  It was the last thing he heard before he
was lost in the blackness.
 

         Carpet came around
the palace and stopped in alarm when
 he saw Aladdin.
         "Genie, get some water,"
commanded Jasmine.  She lifted Aladdin's
head onto her lap.  "He's passed out."
         Genie came back shortly
and touched Aladdin's face with a cold rag.
Carpet began fanning Aladdin with his tassels.
         Aladdin's eyes slowly
opened.  Through blurred vision, he saw Genie
leaning over him with the rag, and Carpet fanning him.  He felt
Jasmine's lap
beneath his head.  "What happened?" he whispered.
         "I don't know," answered
Jasmine.  "You just fainted . . . I don't know
why . . . Are you all right?"
         Aladdin shook his
head.  He couldn't pretend anymore.
          "Let's get you
into the palace," suggested Jasmine.  "You need to lie
down.  Can you get up?"
         "I think so."
         "Is he all right?"
Iago whispered to Genie after Jasmine had helped
Aladdin to his feet and brought him over to Carpet.
         Aladdin looked over
his shoulder at Iago.  "I knew you cared."
         "Well, it's just that
medical bills are so high and all . . . " Iago said,
trying to cover up any concern that may have shown on his face.
         Aladdin crawled onto
Carpet and laid down.  His head was beginning
to throb mercilessly.   He closed his eyes again.  A
soft bed would be very
welcome.