Hakuryuu doesn't like to admit it, but he is perpetually afraid of being alone. Especially at night. Especially at night in a city that he does not know, that he doesn't even know the name of.

Why had he even gone travelling on his own, again? He could barely remember now as he sat in the far corner of a local pub, keeping a watchful eye on the large group of very drunk men laughing loudly at the bar, running the palm of his wooden arm down the column of his glaive instinctively. He could see the irony in his need to be surrounded by people but being afraid of them at the same time, he really could, but he chose to ignore the fact that he had wanted to come in here, instead glowering at a bar maid as she tottered past on heels that really weren't advisory for her job.

He hated being alone. Being in the most crowded place he could find was actually making him feel worse rather than better, because while he was surrounded by people he wasn't interacting with anyone. He supposed he should go over to someone and strike up a conversation, actually talk to another human being after days of solitude, perhaps spark a friendship with them and arrange to meet up again tomorrow. He craned his neck, looking past the drunks at the bar to see who else was around: a small cluster of tittering middle-aged women; a gaggle of young girls who were doing shots together; two men who looked just a little older than him huddled together, eyes darting around the room suspiciously and talking in hushed voices; more drunk men at the other end of the pub, singing Happy Birthday out of tune to the one who happily sported a paper hat strapped to his head. None of them seemed like the type of people a prince should try and engage with.

A sulky voice in his ear (in his very mind?) made him jump violently and slop his drink down himself. "Oi, you're a rude little boy aren't you? You're not alone, master, I'm still here and just as miserable as you."

It was Zagan, Hakuryuu's newly acquired flamboyant Djinn. Hakuryuu rolled his eyes and put his drink on the little table in front of him, trying to mop up the wet patch on his front with a napkin. "I haven't forgotten about you," he thought, irritated now that he knew Zagan had been listening to his thoughts again when he had forbidden it a couple of weeks ago, "I just wanted to be in the company of someone who I can talk to face to face... And who isn't a complete pervert," he added as an afterthought.

"Ow, low blow there prince!" Zagan laughed, "Being a bit mean tonight, aren't you? I'm no pervert, how dare you make such accusations about your faithful Djinn?"

"You licked a young girl's body. I'd call that perverse."

"That wasn't me though, was it? Come on now, you remember, surely?"

"But it was created in your image, meaning that would be the kind of thing you'd do." God, why had Zagan chosen him? He couldn't think of anyone less suited to him.

"I wouldn't intentionally lick a human, ew, what do you take me for?" The Djinn made a dramatic retching sound; Hakuryuu curled his lip in disgust. "I hate humans. Magi are fine, but you humans are just... Ugh, it makes me shudder."

Hakuryuu sighed and crossed his legs, his eyes darting around the people in the pub yet again for what felt like the hundredth time that night, making sure that none of them were watching him, that his face wasn't giving away the fact that he was somehow conversing with a Djinn in his mind. He couldn't help but think that Zagan would be a lot happier in the company of Judal, who in Hakuryuu's opinion was of equal arrogance to him. "Then why did you choose me as your master?"

"Because Alibubu or whatever already has Amon, the git, and he couldn't support another Djinn."

Hakuryuu couldn't stop himself snorting into his drink at Zagan's mistake. "Show him some respect, he's Balbadd's third prince!"

If Zagan had been there in the flesh, Hakuryuu was sure he would have rolled his eyes and shrugged. "And? Like I care about the goings-on of humans. Being a prince or a princess or whatever doesn't make any difference to me, I hate you all the same."

"My, how kind of you." He drained the last of his drink and set it on the table, making to stand up and go back to the rented bedroom at the inn he was staying at. He had had enough of sitting alone and arguing with someone who seemed to like arguing just for the sake of it. "I'm heading back now," he informed Zagan, "and I don't want you talking to me on my way back. You're giving me a headache." And annoying me to no end.

"Eh? You're going back already?" The Djinn seemed surprisingly disheartened by this news. For the briefest of seconds Hakuryuu actually considered the possibility that Zagan wanted him to stay and try to talk to a couple of people, to be happy. Then - "That's too bad, I really wanted you to get drunk and taken advantage of. You look good when you cry."

Pervert.

Hakuryuu didn't respond, picking his way through the pub carefully, slipping through the doorway and out into the chilly night air; puffs of his breath rose in front of him as he huddled into his travelling coat, wrapping his arms around his body. The thought of going back to his chilly room was a sad, lonely thing; he had nothing to look forward to until the morning when he could move on. Until then he was to be left alone with his thoughts, provided that Zagan did as he was told for a change and left him in peace.

Ahh, if only.

As soon as he closed the door to his sparsely furnished room, the Djinn spoke up again. "You're wrong, you know."

Hakuryuu removed his coat slowly, hanging it on the back of the door before he replied, as if Zagan was testing his temper. "Wrong about what?"

"We can talk face to face. I can have a full body outside of my dungeon, you know."

Hakuryuu gaped at thin air for a moment, his brain frantically thinking back to all his conversations with Hakuei about Paimon, to the one time Alibaba had mentioned Amon, but couldn't remember either of them ever mentioning their Djinns appearing outside of a dungeon. "No you can't," he replied, sounding childish and silly, "my sister never said anything about Paimon appearing-"

"Paimon?!" Zagan roared with laughter, "Paimon is your sister's Djinn? Oh, that's fucking brilliant. Don't be so naive; she can appear on Earth as easily as anything, provided that your sister's magoi can support her. Where did you hear that we can't?"

"Well," Hakuryuu flushed pink, feeling rather foolish; had he assumed too much without really knowing anything about the being he had contracted with? "Amon said you shouldn't have a body outside of a dungeon, so I just assumed that..." he trailed off, unsure of how to justify himself further. He almost screamed in terror when he found himself in front of a very real, very much there Zagan, who was sat cross-legged on the floor due to his size, looking triumphant and smug.

"See?" He grinned, making a sweeping gesture at his own blue body to prove his point. "Here I am. Just because we shouldn't have bodies outside of our dungeons doesn't mean we can't, little prince. I'm sure there are people with Djinn wondering around outside of dungeons everywhere, probably including your sister and Paimon. I'm relying on your magoi to keep me here though, so watch yourself, ok?"

Hakuryuu couldn't help but think Zagan was behaving rather selfishly, draining his magoi for his own benefit like that when he hadn't even been summoned, but he couldn't bring himself to say it lest he offend the Djinn - not to say that he particularly cared what Zagan thought, but Hakuryuu was not a rude person by nature. "So, are you going to tell me why you've decided to appear now of all times?" Hakuryuu asked, his voice not as harsh as it had been when Zagan hadn't been there in body. "Why not before?"

Zagan raised an eyebrow and ran a hand through his silvery hair, contemplating Hakuryuu for a few seconds before saying, "because you're lonely, little prince. I'm here to keep you company. God, you're slow, aren't you? You were sat alone in that dirty old pub leering at the staff just to get some form of recognition from a human-"

"I wasn't leering at her!" Hakuryuu said hotly, perching on the thin mattress of the bed and starting to take his boots off, "I was looking at her as she walked past, that's all! And could you - I don't know - shrink yourself a bit, perhaps? You-you're taking up too much room in here." He had only just stopped himself short of saying you're intimidating at that size. Zagan, surprisingly, did as he was asked, magically shrinking to the size of a regular human male, albeit taller and broader than his master. "Thank you." Hakuryuu said, genuinely thankful that that request hadn't lead to more arguing. "Now really, can you please tell me why you've decided to show yourself now? Is there an ulterior motive that I don't know about, or are you just here because you actually do care about my wellbeing?"

Zagan shrugged unhelpfully, his smile wide but not unkind. "I already told you, didn't I? You're lonely, I'm bored, let's help each other out a bit."

"But I thought you hated humans?" The prince asked; he could not keep up with this man at all, no matter how he tried. First he said he hated humans, then he swore he would make Hakuryuu king, then he went back to saying he hated all humans equally, and then changed his mind again and decided to be sociable with one. Hakuryuu couldn't understand him, and wondered whether Zagan was actually lying somewhere down the line, covering up something only understood by himself.

"Did I specify I had been craving the company of humans?" Came the immensely unhelpful reply as Zagan picked at his teeth with one of his obscenely long nails, "I said I was bored, not looking to go frolicking in the gales whilst holding your hand and laughing."

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes, wondering whether it was time to call it a night and go to bed. However, he knew that all that awaited him under the thin covers was a broken night's sleep of nightmares featuring hot blood, the dying screams of his brothers and the evil smirk on his mother's face. He shivered at the thought, bringing his knees up to his chest and circling his arms around them, resting his chin on top. Talking to Zagan, no matter how infuriating and unfathomable he was, no matter whether he followed his train of thought, was a far better choice than welcoming the nightmares too early.

"So talk to me then," Hakuryuu said, looking his Djinn in the eye now, "relieve your boredom a little, keep me company for a couple of hours. Is there anything in particular you'd like to discuss?"

The Djinn looked at him instead of his nails now. "I want to discuss you, if you really want to know. We haven't had a serious conversation since leaving my dungeon."

Hakuryuu balked. "M-Me?" He asked, blinking, "you want to actually talk about me rather than wind me up? And it's not my fault we haven't talked properly, I have tried."

Zagan held his gaze, his smile gone now, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked more serious than Hakuryuu could remember ever seeing him. "I want to know you better, little prince," he said, not a trace of his former annoying ways, "if I am to pledge myself to you. I made the right choice in picking you, regardless of the fact that you were weak and useless." Hakuryuu visibly flinched, the need to defend himself swelling up in his chest. "However, there's something not quite right about you. I've felt it in you; you're so miserable, so hurt, and no one has tried to help you before. Why is that? What is it that you're keeping to yourself? I... Well, I've never actually..." Zagan broke off, looking away from Hakuryuu now and furrowing his brow, rubbing the back of his neck as he did. "A lot of people have tried to conquer my dungeon before, you know. A few even got to me, or at least they thought they did at any rate. They all disgusted me with their ridiculous inflated self-importance; who the hell did they think they are? They were just arrogant little men looking to wield the power of a Djinn for their own benefit, to show off to others, to be little shits and use me to prove their pitiful existences. Why would I want to be bound to someone like that? I'm not a common mule, for god's sake, I won't just follow someone around because they tell me to."

Hakuryuu nodded as Zagan finally, at long last, addressed why he hated humans so much, and he actually dared to speculate, to hope, where this was going.

"And then you came along," the Djinn continued, looking back at Hakuryuu now, his expression serious, "and at first, I thought it was a mistake. You were a crybaby, a hinderance to your companions, one of which was a bloody Magi. But after your temper tantrum I saw there was something that tormented you inside, hidden very deep in you, hurting you. I picked you because you're not like the others before you; you have a real purpose, a proper, legitimate reason for wanting my power. I believe that purpose is connected to whatever is hurting you so badly."

Hakuryuu sat in silence for a moment, absorbing all that Zagan had just said. It made sense, really, that he had not wanted to be bound to any of those people before, made sense that he would come to believe that all people were like that. He couldn't help but feel that he had been misjudging the Djinn all along, thinking of him as shallow and hateful without reason.

"You're right," he said at length, hardly daring to believe what he was doing; Hakuryuu had told only two people about his mother's betrayal, both because that had been the only thing he could do in the situation at the time. No one close to him, not even his beloved sister, knew the truth. And yet, it didn't feel that strange to open up a little to the Djinn, despite his previous misjudgement of character. "The reason why I sought you out, why I came to your dungeon, was indeed to conquer it and obtain you, your power. I apologise if you see this as arrogance, but somehow I don't think you will." He took a deep breath in, glad to see that Zagan was not messing around with something else and lost interest; he was listening intently for a change, and what a nice change it was as opposed to his usual moaning about everything and nit-picking all of Hakuryuu's short-comings. "When I was much younger, my mother had my father, the Emperor of the Kou empire, and my two older brothers murdered by Al-Sarmen. They died in a huge fire that was planned out by her. My oldest brother saved my life by co-covering me with his blood, to stop me from burning, but I still got this," he touched the left side of his face, willing his voice not to shake again; he had to be strong here, not succumb to the pain of the betrayal and loses again, "and it serves as a reminder of what happened, and what I must do."

"And what is that, little prince?" Zagan asked quietly, not breaking their eye contact. He had known it was going to be a painful tale, but he would have never have guessed it to be something like this.

"Start a war within the Kou empire, and drive out my witch of a mother and Al-Sarmen for good." Hakuryuu said, his expression deadly serious. "King Sinbad of Sindria has already agreed to aid me when the time comes. I haven't told my sister yet, but I am sure she will help me too. This is what I sought you for, so I can become much stronger with your power and take back what I can that my mother stole from me."

It felt good to tell someone without getting angry about it, and he had felt he owed the Djinn an explanation of what he had planned for them in the future. He had wanted to tell him straight away, as soon as they had got away from the dungeon so that they could start working on a plan as soon as possible, but after taking Zagan's personality into consideration he had soon put it to the back of his mind. But now that the gates were open, he couldn't stop it any more.

"Will you help me, Zagan?" He asked, trying to keep the tone of desperation out of his voice but not quite achieving it. "Will you help me take back what is rightfully mine, to avenge my lost family and empire?"

Zagan regarded him for a moment, and Hakuryuu had to bite his tongue to stop himself from launching himself at the Djinn and shaking an answer from him. He was trembling with nerves, so desperate for Zagan to agree, for him to aid him. At length, Zagan folded his arms and nodded once. "As you know," he said slowly, watching Hakuryuu's face to gauge his reactions, "I do not care for the happenings of kings, empires or the like. I actually don't think I could care less about the squabbles of humans, or the humans themselves, if I tried. However," he raised a hand quickly to stop Hakuryuu from interrupting, as he had been just about to, "you, little prince, are different. You are genuine, selfless, and strong-willed. I lied to you earlier; I don't hate all humans equally, because I don't hate you. I knew I was right when I thought there was something about you. You have my word that I will help you to the best of my abilities. I will make you king, Hakuryuu. And besides," he added in a much lighter tone now, a smile cracking his features, "you're so useless you wouldn't be able to do it without me anyway! Think of me as your saving grace, ok?"

Hakuryuu smiled back at his Djinn, his facial muscles actually aching because he hadn't smiled since Sindria, hadn't had a reason to, and he didn't know if he wanted to punch the Djinn for his snide quip at him or if he wanted to hug him for being there for him like no one else had ever been. He chose to smile brightly, letting go of his knees now and sliding down to the floor to sit in front of Zagan, matching his cross-legged position and bowing a little to him, his right fist balled into the open palm of his wooden left hand, taking up the Kou empire's form. "Thank you Zagan, from the bottom of my heart," he smiled, said heart fluttering as he revelled in the fact that he was closer to getting his revenge than he ever had been, "I really, truly cannot thank you enough."

Zagan waved his hand dismissively. "It's no big deal," he said humbly, "but I'll do what I can. I'm here for you." He held his hand out towards his master, who took it and shook it with vigour, both of them grinning at the other. This felt like the real contract, their first actual bond between them.

Hakuryuu felt warm and comforted as he climbed into bed later on that evening, rolling over to face Zagan, who was sat on his knees beside the small bed.

"I don't know if it's appropriate to say this or not," the prince said, his cheeks colouring as Zagan watched him intently, "but... I mean, there's only one bed, and there's not a lot of room, so I was wondering, if you aren't bothered by it - I mean, I'm not, I don't mind sharing with people, I shared with Aladdin on the ship to your dungeon and it was no problem-"

"Thank you, but I'll be ok here," Zagan interrupted him with a laugh, making Hakuryuu blush harder at his rambling, "as long as it's acceptable for me to pet your hair as you fall asleep, little prince. You have such lovely hair, I'd love to feel it." I'd love to comfort you for once in your life, let you know you're not alone anymore. Since when had he become anything other than vain and selfish? Zagan put it down to Hakuryuu; after all, he had not met a human like him before. Maybe that was all he had needed to stop being so self-centred.

Hakuryuu shrugged, trying to brush the request off as something of little to no importance. "If it pleases you, then do as you will," he said, surprised and grateful at not receiving a jabbing retort about his offer to share his bed with his Djinn. What had he been thinking? What had he even hoped would be Zagan's answer? He himself didn't know, and didn't want to think about it, putting it down to being emotionally riled from the night's conversation. "Goodnight then, Zagan."

As he blew out the candles on the bedside table and laid back into the horribly thin pillow, he felt long-nailed fingers thread into his hair and stroke through the strands gently, more tenderly than anything he had felt for a saddeningly long time. Hakuryuu felt something bubble up in his chest, felt intensely happy and safe beside the Djinn.

"Goodnight, Hakuryuu."

I took some liberties with the whole "Djinn's appearing on the earth" thing. If I've got it wrong, then just nod and smile and pretend that all Djinns can run around merrily like Ugo did.