Chapter Two: Desert Hyacinth and Grape Wine
Aladdin then deadpanned and asked a simple question. "Kissing? Um… how does that feel exactly? How do you do it?" he asked innocently.
His utter innocence caused both Alibaba and Tettia to be shocked. Alibaba looked back at Aladdin with a how the fuck do I explain this expression on his face. "… um… well that's… you go in…" the blond said, trying to explain how to kiss to a ten year old boy.
The bluenette boy just looked at Alibaba with a cute, innocent expression and asked, "You go in where?"
Tettia desperately wanted to help Alibaba out. "Well…" she began, "Umm…"
The woman and child were laughing at the three. "Hee hee, you three are a riot! My daughter loves to hear about dungeons and the treasures found in them," the woman said.
Her adorable little daughter spoke in a cheerful voice, "Mister, are all those things really in dungeons?"
"He's busy working, little one… ask later," the mother said to her child.
Alibaba looked at the mother and her daughter and smiled happily. Tettia looked at the child. "But, I'm not working. And let me tell you that: yes, all those things are, in fact, really in dungeons," said the Fanalis in a chipper tone.
The young girl was fascinated. "Wow! That's amazing, pretty lady!" exclaimed the child.
"Yeah, it is pretty amazing, little one," said Tettia.
That was when the fat Budel decided to voice his unwanted opinion. "Oh you poor people and your poor little dreams," he began, "Treasure hunter? Don't make me laugh. Is there really that much pleasure in fishing up sand and rats in the deserts for you? I know you're smarter than that, right driver?" Budel finished, stuffing his face with he precious apples.
"… Yeah," said Alibaba, which contradicted what he had just given a speech about.
That pissed Tettia off. She was never one to bow down to those who were more privileged than herself. Tettia was a Fanalis who stood up to those who thought they were better than any and everybody just because of money. She clenched her fists tightly as she sat beside the blond driver, cursing him.
That was, until the fat man kept voicing his rancid opinion. "Don't waste time with dreams that are out of your reach. Mice should just live as mice… rather than wasting their lives searching for garbage… right?"
Alibaba looked back at Budel with a smile gracing his lips, but remained silent.
"Right?" stated Budel in a drawn out manner, meaning that Alibaba had better agree with him or else.
The blond driver still only smiled at Budel with a smile, not saying a single word. It took a few moments before the driver's smile turned into an open-mouthed grin and he said in a cheery voice. "Yeah! Totally right boss!"
Tettia sighed and, like before, ran a hand through her red hair. I could tell that this fat pig is seriously irking Ali's nerves, she thought to herself as she shook her head in disapproval at Alibaba's words.
"I've got my hands full just being a driver," he continued. "Sad to say that my potential is only good enough to be a mouse, is that right?" Finished Alibaba, rubbing the back of his neck, still smiling stupidly for Budel. Yet his grip on the reigns tightened as he spouted those words the greedy, fat pig wanted to hear.
Both the young bluenette and his red-haired companion noticed his subtle actions. Unbeknownst to everyone in the cart, a monster's tendril had slithered around the wheel. The unseen monster than flipped the cart, which sent everyone flying from within. "Wh-what's going on?!" yelled Tettia and Aladdin.
Everyone in the cart was confused, they did not know what was happening. It was at that moment that the monster decided to show itself. Appearing from the ground below them, with a screech, was a flower-like monster. It's tendrils reaching into the air from its hole in the ground.
Aladdin and Tettia had never seen something like that. "What is that?!" exclaimed Aladdin in horror.
"A desert hyacinth!" exclaimed Alibaba. "It's a meat eating plant indigenous to the desert! You fall into the hole, and you're lunch! Forget the cart and get out of here!" He exclaimed as he noticed people trying to save the stupid carts.
"Hey! Grab the wine!" Budel demanded everyone.
Alibaba scrambled to save the wine. "Of course sir!" Holding one barrel of wine, Alibaba bent down to grab another barrel. As if I'd let my cash cow get eaten! thought the blond boy to himself.
Budel tripped the young girl and she fell into the hole with the monster. "Ah!" she let out a scream as she fell.
Alibaba reached for the girl, meanwhile that greedy fart reached for the barrel of wine that had fallen in with the girl. "MY WINE!" yelled Budel as he caught the barrel of wine, not caring if the girl fell.
Budel's fat ass made it impossible for Alibaba to catch the girl. She fell into the monster's hole. Both Alibaba and the girl's mother wore horrified expressions on their faces. Tettia also looked on in horror. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed.
Wiping sweat off his forehead, Budel stated, "Oh thank god it's safe…" referring to the damn barrel of wine. He looked at Alibaba, who was on his knees, looking down into the pit at the girl. "Hey you! Start moving now!" he demanded.
Alibaba sat there and did not hear his demand for a moment, his face a sculpture of horror. "Hey! Someone save her!" screamed the girl's mother.
"This is our chance to get out of here! The desert hyacinth is eating its prey! Let's go!" yelled Budel, his only concern was his precious wine.
"She's going to die…" the mother screamed more.
"It won't be long until it's done with that little morsel! So let's run with my wine now!" yelled Budel.
The mother was distraught and clawed at the ground. "Someone… someone please…!" Budel's men had to hold her down.
Alibaba was torn. What should he do? Should he help the girl? Or run and be a coward like Budel? He did not know what to do.
"Hey! We've got wine to store!" screamed Budel. A sinister smile crossed Budel's lips as he said to Alibaba, "How about this, if you be a good little driver and work extra hard, I'll double your pay… or wait, triple it. How about it?!" Aladdin stared with cold eyes as Alibaba started to work again. The woman was still crying, so Budel made his way over to her. "Ah! Quit crying woman! If that child was worth so much to you… how about you make as many as you'd like with me?" he asked, basically preying on the mother.
That was when both Alibaba and Tettia had had enough. They punched Budel in the face. "Screw waiting for someone else!" yelled Alibaba. Budel went flying into his wine. "Take your dirty wine!" the blond yelled.
"You could never be able to buy a person's life, you fat dumbass!" yelled Tettia. She casted her red eyes on Alibaba. "If I fucking die, you look after Laddin, got me?" she stated sternly.
Alibaba's rage was quelled for a brief moment as he questioned what she meant by that. Oh no, don't tell me we were thinking the same thing? Alibaba thought to himself. Sure enough, when he looked away from 0.05 seconds and looked back, Tettia had jumped into the pit with a barrel of wine.
"Sweetheart, I'm coming to save ya!" exclaimed Tettia as she slid down the wall of the pit.
Aladdin and Alibaba's faces showed a shocked expression. The young magi ran to the edge of the pit. "Tet!" yelled the bluenette.
The blond young man noticed that the monster got her. "Shit! It's got her! Tet! What were you think?!"
"There's no way to do it better, that's why, Ali!" yelled the Fanalis as she got closer to the monster.
Budel was pissed that she had punched him. "You little fool! Die, die! I hope that monster eats you alive!" he wailed.
Aladdin's face fell and he decided he needed to act fast. "Oh no, Tet and that girl are…!" he exclaimed before he blew into his flute. The young boy was expecting his Dijnn, Ugo to appear, but Ugo did not appear. "Huh?" asked Aladdin, looking at his flute. "The flute is full of sand and Ugo won't come out… he's not coming out at all!" The mother looked at Aladdin worriedly.
Suddenly, Budel noticed that the Fanalis held a barrel of his wine in her arms. "Hey wench! What do you think you are doing with my wine?!" he yelled.
Tettia glared back at the man. "I am going to get this monster drunk off your crappy wine!" she yelled as she threw the barrel at the desert hyacinth.
The plant did, indeed, get drunk off of the wine and let the girl out of its mouth. Alibaba's brown eyes widened. "The desert blossom where the meat is digested can get drunk too! And while the alcohol runs through its system, it returns underground! It's the perfect chance for them to get the hell out of there!" he exclaimed. "So, hurry up, Tet!"
Tettia grabbed the girl and handed her back to her mother. Alibaba reached his hand out, grabbed Tettia's hand, pulled her out but fell into the pit. Just as Alibaba and Tettia switched positions, the desert hyacinth got over its drunken stupor. Its tendrils started to move again and they shot for Alibaba. "Alibaba!" exclaimed Tettia, who held out her hand, trying to help Alibaba out of the pit. However, one of the desert hyacinth's tendrils snatched Alibaba before Tettia could help him out.
"That wine wasn't enough! Damn!" exclaimed Alibaba. The tendril did something to him and he continued in a drawn out manner, like he was drugged as he was dragged into the blossom, "Ugh… I can't… die… he…re…"
Tettia looked at Aladdin with tearful eyes. The bluenette did not need to meet her teary gaze. He grabbed his turban and snatched it out of his hair. This neatly braided blue hair came undone and was free-flowing as he got on the cloth and said, "Fly, magic turban!" The turban picked up all the remaining barrels of wine as it lifted off of the ground.
Looking towards Alibaba, Tettia called out, "Hold on, Ali!"
Meanwhile, Alibaba had accepted his death and could not hear Tettia's voice. I… I went and showed off by saving Tettia, but in the end I screwed up when it mattered. Damn… am I really gonna die a mouse like he said…? he thought bitterly to himself.
"Don't give up, mister!" called Aladdin. Alibaba looked up and was utterly shocked at what he saw. The bluenette floating above the pit with all the remaining barrels of Budel's wine and his Fanalis companion. Aladdin and Tettia looked down at Alibaba, smiling.
Everyone but Tettia was throughly shocked. "HE'S FLYING?!"
Aladdin continued to look at Alibaba. "Lying's not good mister! You still have to tell me more about money, wine and other things you can't buy!" he exclaimed with a wide smile.
"What am I, huh, chop liver?" scoffed Tettia, crossing her arms in a huff.
Alibaba looked at the two with an unbelieving look on his face.
"AAAH! Stop that! What are you doing with my grape wine?!" wailed Budel as he noticed. "Stop it, or I'll make sure you both regret it! That wine is expensive! It's worth three hundred people, way more than one stupid driver brat!" That fat man was trying to bargain with Aladdin and Tettia. "Think real hard about it! Between that little brat and my wine… which do you think is worth more…?! Stop it, I beg you both to stop! NOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled Budel as with a big grin (on Aladdin's part) and a dangerous smile (on Tettia's part), Aladdin let all the barrel of wine fall into the desert hyacinth's pit.
Tettia laughed loudly as she watched Budel become so visibly distraught that he fell over. "HAHAHAHA! Take that! You fat, over-privileged pig!" she exclaimed as she and Aladdin pulled Alibaba out of the tendril.
"Thank you for saving my daughter!" The mother thanked Tettia.
Tettia smiled. "No need to thank me, I wanted to," she said.
A man looked at both Alibaba and Tettia. "You both saved our caravan… we'll be glad to pay the compensation for that grape wine!"
Alibaba smiled a happy smile and said, "I've decided that smacking that old bat was worth way more than the money… I'll just work hard to replace it myself."
Tettia's lips were curled into a sweet smile. "I just always wanted to hit that pig," she stated simply.
Aladdin was adorably trying to get Ugo to come out of his flute. "He won't come ouuut…" he spoke, blowing into the flute again, with no result. "Won't come ouuut…" he pouted.
Alibaba looked at the bluenette and was trying to figure out what he was doing. "What had you been up to this whole time?" he finally asked.
Weakly, Aladdin blew into his flute. "Hmm… he won't come out…" he moped.
Tettia laughed. "Don't worry, I'm sure he will soon.
"What?" questioned Alibaba, looking over at the young blue-haired magi.
The flute suddenly made a noise. "Ah! There we go!" exclaimed Aladdin.
Patting the young magi on the back, Tettia spoke, "See, I told ya so."
"Come on out, Ugo!" exclaimed Aladdin as his Dijnn began to appear from the flute. Only Ugo's arms came out though. Everyone looked on in utter confusion. And then they all screamed, not sure what to make of arms coming out of a flute.