I do not own Danny Phantom or Aladdin. Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman and Aladdin belongs to all the wizards there at Disney. This is a blanket disclaimer for all the rest of the chapters, mostly because I forget to write them most of the time.
Danerik sighed and put his head in his hands. The new taxes had made people so irritable; he had been threatened thrice in one day! He looked around his small room and his eyes landed on a small gold ring, the only thing of value that he owned. Grabbing a threadbare blanket, he curled up on a small ledge. He didn't sleep, though, until the moon was high in the sky.
The next morning was somewhat better. An orange and a loaf of bread was all he could swipe from the street vendors, but he had managed to beg a few coins from a merchant. Enjoying his meal on an empty rooftop, he happened to glance over at the sultan's palace. To be waited on hand and foot, living the life of luxury! But what was he, a poor street boy, thinking of, becoming a prince? Impossible!
A loud fanfare from below him interrupted his thoughts. Peering over the side of the building, he watched as a tall, muscular young man atop a gleaming white horse paraded towards the palace. He could hear the gossiping townspeople below him, their voices carried up to him by the desert wind. "Another suitor for the princess?" "Why does she refuse them all?" "How many have there been?" "Too many." "If the sultan does not have an heir soon…"
Danerik tuned them out and went back to his meal. A dark-skinned girl leapt onto the roof with him and sat down. "A whole loaf of bread? They're getting careless." She remarked. He pulled the coins he had begged out of a small pouch and handed them to her. "Before I forget, Val, these are for everyone else."
"Not too bad for a morning's work, Danerik, especially with all the political garbage on people's minds." He simply grunted for reply as he tore into the bread again. The two of them continued their lunch in silence, watching the people come and go beneath them.