Aladdin held Jasmine in his arms, close to him, near to his heart, the place where he knew she belonged. He smiled contentedly with the feeling of that warm embrace, and he could say she was feeling as warm and comfortable as him. But they were not the only happy people in the room for the Sultan of Agrabah was quite happy himself too. He was already talking about marriage....

Yes! Him, Aladdin, the streetrat... the lonely boy from the streets of Agrabah, the little thief from the marketplace was going to marry the Princess of Agrabah herself, the most wonderful and beautiful woman on Earth. The happiness inside his heart was too much to hold. He happily rested his head on the hair of the woman he loved, the woman who was going to be his wife... the woman he was willing to die for....

"And then you, my boy, will become Sultan..." The idea had never occurred to him before. By marrying the Princess he'd become the heir of Agrabah's throne. Aladdin realized that with the heart of Jasmine also the power to rule over Agrabah would be his.... but as if they came from another world the words of the Sultan filled his ears and hit his head.... the Sultan was talking about Ali's unimpeachable moral character... about HIS moral character.... "A fine upstanding youth like yourself is exactly what this kingdom needs!"

Aladdin looked concerned about this. Suddenly all his hopes and dreams vanished. He loved Jasmine above all but he never wanted power or a throne or a royal tittle. He knew that he must accept the responsibility that came with marrying a Princess... but this was unexpected... never until that moment had he realized the size of the wish he had made. At that moment something inside his heart was feeling wrong.... he was Aladdin.... he was NOT Prince Ali... he was fooling the world.... no, it was WORSE than that, he was deceiving the woman he loved.... he looked down at Jasmine. He was so scared... he could not cheat her. Suddenly he did feel unworthy of her. He broke the warm embrace, even if he wanted to stay like that, holding Jasmine in his arms forever... but some how he just couldn't.

Jasmine looked lovingly at him, smiling gently and with a sparking look in her eyes. She looked deep into Aladdin's eyes. He couldn't look at her eyes. His sparkly eyes just showed some kind of fear... of pain... Aladdin closed his eyes and turn his back to Jasmine just to face the Sultan. He was still talking... he was still flattering him. The Sultan patted his back and told Aladdin that he better go to his guestroom and take a rest. The Sultan and Jasmine thought that Ali's sudden strange behavior was because he was tired. He also told him that next day, all his life without even knowing it. He never felt so perfectly happy before. That was magic, almost unreal.... with that kiss he understood the true meaning of his life: to live for her, to live with her... and to die for her.... for the first time in his life things were starting to go right. After that kiss he knew he could defeat anything for her. He could conquer the world for her.... She filled him with a powerful force, she gave him everything he needed. Now he knew that life was no life without Jasmine.

Sure, Jafar tried to have him killed but he had survived for her. Well, he had survived thanks to Genie in the first place, but when he was drowning in the ocean floor, when he thought he was about to die, he could think of nothing but Jasmine and she was his reason to live, to not give up... he would never give up having her as his inspiration and reason to live... before he fainted his last thought was for her.... and when he realized that he was still alive -thanks to the Genie-, his first thought was for her as well...

Regardless of that incident, everything was going great that night... he unmasked Jafar in front of Jasmine and the Sultan. He won Jasmine's heart and the Sultan's gratitude... he won Jasmine's hand, he was now the official fiance of the Princess of Agrabah.... he even was going to be the heir of Agrabah's throne.

And then, suddenly, he realized what the Genie was trying to tell him all along: he had to be himself. He couldn't lie to Jasmine anymore, not to her... he was Aladdin, not a prince at all. But how could be he sure if Jasmine liked that streetrat she knew in the market? He could say that in fact, she did like Aladdin, the streetrat.... he accepted Prince Ali until she realized that he was "the boy from the market".... why then was he so scared to tell her the truth?

He was feeling like a rat. For the first time in his life he had the feeling that he was indeed a rat. Not the kind of rat that everyone in the marketplace used to call him... no.... he was really a rat.... he hated himself.... he was betraying Jasmine's faith. Jasmine was in love with the wrong person. Ali was a fake and Aladdin was a liar.... how could he be doing this to her? She deserved the best and all he was giving to her was false hopes and lies. He was hurting her.

Aladdin buried his face in his pillow. He wanted to cry, to scream... he was not worthy of her... she didn't deserve all the pain he would cause her when she discovered the truth. He was the lowest creature on Earth. He was starting to understand that his true self, the thief, the street boy who needed to steal to live was much more worthy than the fabulous Prince Ali. At least that streetrat was real. Prince Ali was nothing but a liar.

He sighed and rolled on his bed. He could kill himself. He was willing to pay Jasmine's well being with his own life. He was willing to fight against the world for her, he could kill anybody who tried to hurt Jasmine... but the only thing he was doing was hurting her, cheating her... he hated himself. If only Jasmine knew the truth. If only she could look deep into his eyes and discover his true self, that self he was hiding deep inside... if only she could tell him: "I love YOU, Aladdin!" Prince Ali was NOT him...

After a long and painful night the dawn came from the east. Aladdin was so tired, so sad, so confused. He left his bed and went outside. He needed to take a walk, to have some fresh air after his sleepless night. He took a long walk through the menagerie. He went near to Jasmine's balcony and he stayed there for a long moment, thinking about her... he could imagine his Princess in her bed, still sleeping, dreaming about the charming Prince Ali... he shook his head. If he revealed himself as Aladdin he'd lose her. And he knew that he could never live without her. He couldn't lose her... but how could he keep this whole thing up? What if she discovered....? No, he could not think about that... that would never happen..... that just couldn't happen....

He was killing Aladdin... he was killing all that he was... he was killing the man that Jasmine was in love with.... he felt his head was about to explode... he blew a kiss to Jasmine's balcony and came back to his guestroom thinking about how he could never forgive himself if he killed the man she loved.

He leaned on a rail, looking at the wonderful gardens. In just an hour or so the Sultan would make the Royal Announcement... What should he do? Tell her the truth? He could lose her.... anything but that..... if he wanted to keep Jasmine by his side he must continue with his facade. That was the only way... it was wrong, that was true, but there was nothing else he could do.... he couldn't live without her.

Suddenly he realized something: if he wanted to keep things going, he needed Genie to help him. He couldn't do that on his own. He promised the Genie his freedom but that was before he.... besides, there were more important things in life than freedom... love for instance.... he was going to sacrifice Genie's freedom for Jasmine's love.... was it the right thing to do? Why he was feeling so trapped? He would be forever trapped in Prince Ali... Aladdin was no more, he was going to give up everything, his freedom, his honor, his promises, even his true self for her.... was that love? Why then did he felt so bad about the whole thing?

Maybe because he was also accepting something he knew he did not deserve.... Jasmine's love.... and even Agrabah's throne... he sighed. "Sultan? They want to make ME Sultan?" At that moment he knew he had to make his decision.... if he wanted to free the Genie and to free Jasmine he must first free himself....

The End . . .?

You can e-mail the Princess of New Agrabah at: villalon@tamnet.com.mx