Ever wondered why it is that the princess always gets her prince in Fairytales.

Fairytales are only for princesses and princes...aren't they?

What happened to the ordinary girl that is just like you and me?

Meet Karin.

She's a fesity, knife-wielding street rat who's like your everyday girl. She's also Aladdin's childhood best friend. But when she unknowingly stumbles across a sinister scheme that has taken decades to put into place, will she be able to escape alive?

When she is faced the hardest decision she'll have to make, what will she choose? - her best friend or her greatest dreams come true?...Or could it be that her two choices aren't so seperate after all?

And what happens when the everyday girl finds out that her best friend is marrying a princess? Doesn't every girl deserve her own happily ever after?

But then again...

...what sane guy would ever choose a street rat over a princess?

For Karin

~Mirages of Love~

A Novella

"Hope is the expectation that something outside of ourselves, something or someone external, is going to come to our rescue and we will live happily ever after" - Dr Robert Anthony

-Prologue-

The first thing I remember about that night was how cold it was. Funny how you remember the most random things about a night that truly changes one's own life.

I was leaning against the wall of the goldsmith's shop, staring out at the dark, deserted streets. My only long, torn cloak was wrapped tightly around my body and head, doing a bare minimum to keep me warm. I let out a heavy sigh, pulling the cloth more tightly around me. If it had been morning, things would be different and I would not have been able to stand in such peace near a shop like this.

Street rat. That was what they called us. Absolutely unable to think of anything more creative, anytime we would pass a shop which had remotely expensive goods in it, the owner would be waving a sword at our faces and calling us that name. Street rat.

Being called it so many times, I had even responded to Street Rat a couple of times. Fantastic.

I was repeating those two words with disgust in my head over and over again, so much so that I did not notice that a person had been saying those words out loud until too late.

My legs then chest hit the cold, stone road with a painful crack before my wrists were twisted behind my back. A sharp, icy point against my neck sent a tingle up my spine.

Freaking dang. My life was not supposed to end so unceremoniously.

"You die tonight, Street rat." The man spat those words out with such venom, it seemed almost possible to die just from his tongue.

There was one thing that I hated most in Agrabah. But this was not it. This was the second thing which I hated most in all of Agrabah – id-faced men who slammed me unsuspectingly onto the ground and thought that it was absolutely okay to kill another person without any thought. Firstly, men like this thought that I was some helpless creature who could not defend myself. Secondly, they actually thought it was okay to kill people for no reason and get away with it.

Stupidheads.

"Get off me, Id-face!" I yelled, attempting to kick at his legs but missing on account of my face being buried into the ground.

Due to the fact that I had missed my admittedly failed attempt to attack the man and thus, set myself free, I had expected to be punched or cut. Instead, what followed was a moment of silence before a large hand grabbed a chunk of my hair and used it to pull my head up, off the ground.

"My, my, my. If it isn't a female street rat." His breath was dusty and filled with the rich bouquet of some sort of expensive wine which could feed a whole family like mine.

So he was a rich, drunk id-face. Good to know.

It was not so much what he had said, though, that caused my breath to catch in my throat. Being pulled off the ground, I had been able to see for the first time, the menacing glint in this large man's eyes that bode anything and everything bad for a girl like me.

"You-you have no reason to kill me!"

I cursed myself for stuttering. His response, though, was only to let out one throaty laugh before grabbing my shoulders with both his meaty hands and ripping my whole body off the ground. The movement had been so abrupt, that everything became a blur as I lost my balance and fell into his chest, only to hear the rapid thud of the id-face's heart.

He let out another sadistic cackle before breathing into my ear, "don't worry, love. You won't die just yet."

Feeling the hairs at my ear tingle, I knew that enough was enough. One does not live on the streets without learning how to defend herself.

With a mighty cry, I suddenly elbowed him in the gut before turning around and kneeing him at his manlihood. The response was a highly satisfying yell of agony as he clutched his manlihood whilst eyeing me with a sudden madness. His mouth was set into an ugly snarl as he cursed under his breath through his pants of pain.

Moving a good distance away from him, I folded my arms across my chest and said with all confidence, "And that's why you don't mess with Karin…Id-face."

I was so, thoroughly delighted with my achievement that I did not react when the man straightened and, with incredible speed for someone his size, pounced at me with outstretched hands and an angry yell.

A second later, he was on the ground at my feet, unmoving. All I could do was gape at the back of his balding head, wondering if all this had really happened. I put a hand to my chest, feeling my heart thud passionately against in and breathed in deeply. Sometimes being a "street rat" was just a little too exciting.

"Hey, Street rat."

My head jerked up as a jumped from the shock of hearing another voice. I had automatically moved into a fighting position, elbows to my sides and fists clenched in front of me only to see that it was…him…

Holding a very large rock, at that.

Seeing my fists fall to my sides, he shot me a crooked smile and threw the rock to one side, dusting his hands with such animation, that it seemed that he had just finished a great deal of work.

I couldn't help but grimace.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him accusingly.

He was moving towards me, tossing his long, annoying fringe out of his eyes so that he could stare innocently at me with his large, dark eyes.

"What do you mean, 'what are you doing here'?" He asked me in a hurt tone. He then motioned to the Id-face on the ground. "Without me, I think you'd be in really big trouble, Street rat."

"Don't call me that!" I snapped at him, folding my arms across my chest. "And for your information, I was handling in perfectly well without your help."

"So much for gratefulness." He said with a sniff before absently glancing at his shoulder then back at me.

His motion reminded me of something.

"…where's Abu?" I asked him curiously. One thing I knew only too well about him was that he never went anywhere without Abu at his side or on his shoulder. Abu had become like an extension of him and seeing him without his friend only made everything feel odd.

He took another step closer so that now he was only a foot away from me. The familiar smell of a mix of old clothes and fresh bread rushed over me, making my whole body quiver. Being here…being with him…reminded me of the many years we spent and kind of grew up together, braving the streets together. Without him, I knew, life would never be the same. He was like my shelter and my safest place. My older brother, best friend and loved companion all in one.

But if I only saw him as my best friend…why did I feel this way when he looked down at me with such depth and sincerity that it made me want to explode with a million times five thousand emotions?

Why did I feel this way? We had spent so many days stealing food for survival together. So many nights lying on the flat rooves of people's houses and staring at the bright stars above, wishing that we could explore every star in the dark sky. I had only felt tingles of warmth and happiness as one does when you're near a close friend. Jolts of excitement when he would touch my hand and point excitedly at a shooting star…

…could this all mean something?

No, that was crazy. No. Way.

"Karin?" His voice was low and soft yet it caused me to jump.

His dark eyebrows shot up and he asked, "Are you okay, Karin?"

"Of course I am." I snapped a little too spitefully.

He did not look convinced as he rubbed this back of his head and looked away from me into the night. Still not looking at me, he murmured, "ummm…Abu's not here because…because…I have something really important to tell you."

My jaw dropped. "What?!" Forgetting about the crazy feelings that had overwhelmed me a second ago, I grabbed both his broad shoulders and shook him madly. "What happened to Abu? Was he caught? Is he injured? Dang it, Aladdin, you dumbface, why can't you take better care of him?!"

"It's not that!" He shouted at me.

I let go of his shoulders immediately, gaping at him.

We had mock fights, sure. We teased each other and we argued for the sake of arguing.

But he had never shouted at me that way before.

He must have seen the pain this caused me because he proceeded to stare at the floor and mumble an apology before sighing deeply.

"What is it, Aladdin?" I was whispering. Suddenly, for the first time that night, I was actually scared.

"He…he's in the palace."

I gasped. "In the dungeon palace?? I knew that your disappearance for a two whole weeks meant something serious, Aladdin! What did you do?!"

"I did nothing, okay?!" He was yelling again, raising his arms in the air in frustration. Staring up at the sky, he let out a yell before staring me straight in the eyes with such force that I took a step back. "I'm marrying the princess. Princess Jasmine. We're getting married next week."

If it's possible for your heart to die and your body to live, my heart died that day.