Disclaimer: I obviously don't own magi because I'm not amazing enough to be able to create such a masterpiece.
Chapter One
Flashback
"I can't take it anymore, anything would be better than being stuck here!"
Her loud outburst echoed around the whole dungeon, tears well up in her eyes, refusing to fall. She refuses to look weak when her brother is right next to her, he's already crying so for his sake she needs to stay strong. She grabbed his hand in a protective grip, she's tired of seeing him bored out of his mind everyday, she's tired of the questions that are never answered. But more than anything, she's tired of being stuck in this room for who knows how long.
"I, the great magician shall grant your wish. You can even wish for great fortune, to rule over millions of stars, or for eternal life. Now...what is your wish?"
"I wish for…."
"Food, mister, water and food, help…"
Aladdin begs, panting as sweat rolls down his face. Alina is in the same condition as him though she's sitting on the ground instead, her weak and fragile body isn't used to this. She hates to see her brother reduced to begging but they really need water and food, she wipes at her forehead, wishing for the sweat to go away.
The men looked awfully suspicious but the twins didn't notice this, they barely knew any humans so they found the men to be normal. What they didn't know was that the men were a gang of thieves, thieves that prey on the weak.
"You fools, you come to a den of thieves and ask them for help?"
A cloaked man questions with an annoyed tone, Alina looks up, finally noticing the men had weapons. Most were armed with daggers while the leader seemed to observe from his place on top of a rock, his face contorted into a repulsive grin that stretched across his mouth. Alina stood up dizzily, pushing off the ground for support.
"Take everything they have and sell it, I doubt they much in the first place though."
The leader sitting on top of the rock ordered his men and they were more than eager to do his bidding, he looked at the only girl with a lecherous grin while she only narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't get the meaning of the look but she sure didn't like it.
"They're only weak little children!"
One of the men exclaimed as he grabbed Aladdin by his vest, shaking him while Aladdin waved his hands around, trying to show that he was harmless. His twin glared at the man who had dared to grab Aladdin and rushed forward, she punched him, putting as much effort as possible but her punch didn't make a difference. She rubbed her hands and jumped up and down as she paced on her feet, her hand hurt!
"Ouch, that hurt!"
She blurted her thoughts out loud as the leader stared at her with amusement, the man didn't release his grip on Aladdin and ignored her futile attempts. Big blue arms suddenly extended from Aladdin and all they're eyes widened except Alina, who only sighed in relief.
"Gyaaaaa!"
Their screams made the twins flinch and cover their ears, not used to such a magnitude of noise, all the men slumped in one corner after Ugo gave them a quick whooping. Aladdin and Alina grabbed onto the leader as he tried to crawl away, he struggled and waved his arms around as he cried dramatically.
"Food..,give us food already!"
The twins demanded as the man cried over his doomed fate, in his opinion he was simply too young to leave the world. He certainly didn't expect two blue haired kids to be the cause for his death, goodbye world, the man looked up at the sky miserably and sighed.
"Come once, come twice. We've got the freshest watermelon, hami melon, white apricot, and palm that you'll ever see. You can't get this from anywhere else!"
A woman proudly merchandised all fruit at her stall, her loud and cheerful voice attracting the attention of many passersby. She gestured to her stall with a bright look in her eyes as people looked in her direction curiously. Many people gathered by her stall to see what she was so proud of, she smiled at them confidently.
"You, mister with the bread, why don't you get some of our watermelons?"
"Our watermelons are the best that you'll ever have so why not buy some today?"
Her personality attracted many customers as they considered buying the watermelons that she kept on going on and on about, some shook their heads because they didn't have the money for such luxuries while others decided to give it a try.
"We're definitely gonna sell all this!"
Leila, the young woman talked good naturedly with her companion.
"Amazing, it's all thanks to you, Leila!"
The dark skinned girl smiled at her companion kindly, admiration displayed on her face. Sasha looked up to Leila and hoped that she would be able to be as confident and open as her friend someday.
"I'm glad that you joined our caravan."
Leila only ducked her head in embarrassment, a healthy blush coating her cheeks. She giggled slightly and headed towards the transported merchandise, she hummed and slowly lifted up the curtain that covered all the merchandise. Her eyes became slits as she stared blankly at the sight infront of her, it would've been a comical scene if the murderous aura didn't leak from her.
"Kyaaaah!"
Sasha screeched, holding her hands to her chest. Her face looking ashen grey as fear coated her face, she certainly didn't expect this.
"Who the hell are you?"
Leila took out her dagger and pushed Sasha behind her, despite her fear, Sasha's safety came first.
Two children turned to face her, watermelon juice dripping from their chins. They were too busy devouring watermelons to notice the women, they both looked at each other and then back at the women. They had matching smiles on their faces, smiles that showed their innocence.
"Hi, I'm Aladdin"
"Nice to meet you, I'm Alina"
"We're travellers!"
They both chorused at the same time, surprising the women with easy going smiles. They didn't understand the gravity of the situation, not in the least.
"I was just having a meal,"
"Of this sweetest red fruit."
Alina finished her twin's sentence as she took another humongous bite out of the foreign but delicious fruit, Aladdin nommed on the fruit happily next to her.
"The hell you were, you sneaking thieves!"
The woman screamed furiously, as she sweatdropped. Sasha only stared at the scene with wide eyes as she sweatdropped, she hadn't expected two children to be the cause for their fear just a few seconds ago.
"Those fruits are our precious merchandise!"
She pointed to the watermelons, her mind clouded with fury at the two children's stupidity. Aladdin and Alina stood up, both sweating out of slight worry.
"Precious..?"
"Then we've done something inexcusable…"
"What should we do to make up for this?"
The twins looked apologetic as they stared at the women, they really didn't know how precious those watermelons were to the women.
"You'll work without pay for three days!"
The angry woman handed a bundle of fruits to both of the children to carry and they grabbed it with open arms, Aladdin carried it on top of his turban with no problems while Alina had slight trouble clutching it to her chest. Leila threw two bundle of fruits over her shoulders with ease, Sasha grabbed it from her though.
"I can carry it myself, you don't need to always carry everything."
The words held deeper meaning than what they conveyed, after a few more shaking of heads and reassuring nods, they set out.
The two blue haired twins eyed the district with interest and and small smiles, exchanging eye contact once in awhile. Their eyes showing wonder and amazement, they weren't used to any of this.
Alina paused to readjust the strap that connected her dress together, without it, her dress would just be a short white shirt with short sleeves that showed off everything except her chest and a white skirt that ended at mid-thigh. The blue strap was tied to her skirt with a silver ribbon that surrounded the top of the skirt, it was always over her shoulder so it could be a pain to always adjust it when it started to fall off. (Looks the same as Sheba's dress with minor adjustments)
"Wow, there are so many things for sale."
Aladdin said with an amazed look in his eyes, eyes darting from place to place. He didn't notice Alina's struggles and didn't relate either, after all, he only had to wear a turban, arabian pants and had bandages that covered his chest along with a blue vest. Just like his sister though, Aladdin didn't wear any shoes. Aladdin had a ruby engraved in his turban while Alina had a ruby engraved in the dress, right in the middle of her chest.
"That's because this is a bazaar."
Sasha explained patiently with a small smile on her face as she payed attention to the children, she found them interesting.
"What's a bazaar?"
Alina asked curiously, her eyes lighting up with childish curiosity.
"You really don't know about them?"
Leila looked at them with a disbelieving expression, the older woman found it hard to believe that they don't know what a bazaar is. Sure, they were a bit strange but, how could you not know what a bazaar is?
"People gather around oases like this so they'll have access to water and then people build a town so they can live here. Caravans like ours travel to those towns to sell our merchandise and then Bazaars naturally form."
The older woman explained patiently and the twins listened as though their lives depended on it.
"I see.."
"Ohhh…"
They both nod with understanding looks on their faces, they found the woman's explanation quite easy to follow.
"A journey…"
"It sounds fun."
Aladdin starts the sentence and Alina finishes it for him, the older women found it a bit disturbing.
"It is fun."
"But it's not all fun. There are a lot of bands of thieves in the desert."
Sasha gives the children a gentle smile, explaining how there were downsides as well. The children gave her their eager attention, excitement bursting from their tiny bodies. They soaked in knowledge like a sponge that had never been used, knowledge is power after all.
"Band of thieves?"
"They are scary people who hide out in the desert and steal the merchandise from passing caravans. And the thieves live by selling that merchandise on the black market."
"Didn't we run into a band of thieves earlier today?"
Alina asked her brother, she looked at him with a thoughtful expression. He looked at her for a second before he lit up like a light bulb, his face showing realisation.
"Ohhh.."
"Don't go 'ohhh' to that. How do you not know this?"
Leila looked at Aladdin with clear annoyance on her face, she was starting to doubt the kid because no one could possibly be that unaware.
"What?"
"I don't trust you, kid! Don't do anything weird to Sasha, you too girl! I'll slap both of you!"
Alina and Aladdin clutched each other, their bags forgotten. They looked at each other and then back at the older woman, their bodies shaking all over. The word 'slap' repeating in their head over and over again, Sasha bent down in front of the twins with a warm and reassuring smile on her face.
"Leila's kind, so she's worried about the caravan because there's a thief who pretends to be dying in order to sneak into a caravan."
"You may look scary but you care about your friends."
"Uh, huh. I don't think you're a bad person."
Alina nodded along with her brother, she really doesn't think that the woman is a bad person.
"Well, thanks."
"So, why did you two head out into the desert?"
"Me and my brother are looking for treasure along with our friend!"
"Especially musical instruments and lamps made of metal."
"Does that even count as treasure?"
The woman asked with skepticism, they sold that everywhere so she didn't understand how that could be a treasure.
"Our friend is looking for something like that so we want to find it and make him happy."
"He's our precious friend, if he's happy then so are we."
The twins stood with matching smiles, looking like the picture of innocence. Leila watched them with a fond smile on her face, she clutched the watermelons to her chest.
"Ohhh, I'll introduce you to him!"
Aladdin grabbed his flute and Alina shot him a panicked look.
"Aladdin, do-"
She didn't get to finish what she was saying because Aladdin played on his flute as blue smoke came out, two blue giant arms emerged from the flute. They loomed in front of Leila, they looked threatening."
"This is my precious friend, Ugo-kun!"
Ugo grabbed the watermelons with one hand as the other disappeared, his remaining arm disappeared within the flute as well. Alina facepalmed as the caravan members looked at the flute and Aladdin with horror.
"See, I was trying to tell you to not summon Ugo-kun."
Alina knew perfectly well what would happen so she could only watch as everything became silent, Aladdin tried to explain but the caravan members only stared at him with open-mouthed shock.
"Sorry, he can be a little shy around women."
Aladdin explained with a slightly worried look on his face as he looked at the caravan members and back at his flute, he should've thought this through.
"Gyaaaaaah!"
Screams were let loose in the air, many people looked back with shock and fear.
"Wh-wh-what were those arms or were they snakes!?"
Leila took out her dagger and stood in front of Sasha, she felt afraid but she needed to make sure that Sasha stayed safe.
"No, it was Ugo-kun!"
Aladdin exclaimed as he innocently showed them his flute, he played the flute and this time there was music. He played obliviously, not noticing how the caravan members were panicking.
This kid...He isn't just a normal kid ignorant of how the world works. He's tamed some strange monster, that's in that flute! Leila thought to herself as he panicked. Who is this kid!?
