Chokers

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Magi does not belong to me.

A/N:

This has some trigger warnings; gore, blood, etc. Death, although it isn't explicitly mentioned.

Warnings:

Slavery (sort of), foul language, romantic relationships between males (though not for quite some time or maybe not at all), potential OOC, blood, gore, death…please tell me if there's something I forgot…

Aladdin ran as fast as he could through the palace, skidding around corners - why was this place such a maze? How did anyone ever get around? – and trying to remember the fastest way to the south gate. When that failed, he opted to find the nearest window instead, jumping out into open air and flying southwards.

He could easily tell where to go from the way fire and smoke was billowing up in plumes, the gate a wreckage of burnt wood and twisted steel. As he got closer, he could see the scorching flames of Alibaba's metal vessel still flaring and blazing brightly as the small, bright figure darted amongst the shadowy forms of the six remaining dark djinn.

There was a loud explosion as Morgiana used her household vessel to great effect, taking out two of the djinn in one go and keeping Alibaba from being crushed underneath a giant fist. For a moment, he wondered why Ja'far had left the scene of battle to find him, but after another survey of the area he realized that Sinbad wasn't there, so Ja'far would have been unable to activate his household vessel.

Seeing as Alibaba and Morgiana appeared to have the dark djinn under control, he turned to the situation behind the remainder of the gate and almost threw up. No matter how many times he saw the consequences of an attack by Al- Thamen, he couldn't quite get used to it, not that he really wanted to.

Aladdin dreaded the time when he could look at devastation like this and be numb to it, whether it was convenient or not, because it would mean the loss of a certain part of him that empathized with the pain of others- and he had already suppressed too many of his instincts. The ones that cried, "You can't go to war! Don't hurt them! There's a person inside that djinn, a person! We can save them!"

He still tried to save the ones who had fallen into depravity enough to become dark djinn, but too often it was a choice between the life of the one in the djinn or the lives of many others, the innocents who were trying to defend their homes and their lives. When that happened, he would always, always save the innocents first.

Too often. Like now. Aladdin descended lightly to the bloodstained ground, gently closing the eyes of a soldier who had the lower part of his torso crushed – probably under the foot of a dark djinn. He moved on quickly though, unable to spend time on the dead when the living were in need of aid.

Sphintus was already there, and beads of sweat were dripping down his face as he healed two men simultaneously. When he noticed Aladdin he gave the magi a grim smile and jerked his head in the direction of a group of soldiers not quite as seriously injured as the ones he was keeping from death, but still in need of immediate healing.

Aladdin let out a little sigh of relief when he noticed there weren't any serious internal injuries in the group of wounded Sphintus had assigned to him- he had none of the white haired teen's delicate touch in the area of healing, but managed as a battlefield medic due to his capability to overpower the spells enough for an immediate healing.

It had saved everyone's their lives at one point or the other, although once the injured were transported out of the site of immediate danger, the wound generally had to be opened again for a more delicate healing.

"Yoah Reg." It was the most basic of healing magics that generally only cured fatigue and healed minuscule cells, but pumping enough magoi into it allowed Aladdin to heal serious wounds. It was also the only Life Magic spell that he knew.

There was another explosion and Aladdin expanded his Borg to shield Sphintus and the other soldiers from the wave of dust and bits of debris that came flying at them. Alibaba called out a hurried apology from above them before easing seamlessly into a pincer formation with Morgiana that took down the last djinn.

The two of them didn't bother celebrating their victory; instead, Alibaba got to work applying what he knew of basic first aid, while Morgiana sprinted in the direction of the palace to get water and bandages. At this point, it was a practiced routine- a single second could mean the difference between life and death.

"Alibaba-san." Morgiana was already back, balancing a bucket of water under each arm and cradling a bundle of cloth. Sphintus let out a noise that could have been interpreted as a thanks and went back to work, while Alibaba gratefully snatched up the bandages.

"Ah! Morg, do you know whether the medical squad will be here soon?" Aladdin asked, continuing to maintain the Life Magic even as he turned to look at her.

"Yes. I passed them on my way back. They should be here soon," The Fanalis responded solemnly. The magi let out a little sigh of relief.

"That's goo-!"

"Oi, Aladdin! I need you over here now!" Sphintus called, waving at a man with part of the gate on top of him, and twisted lengths of metal piercing his shoulder and gut.

"Sphintus, you know I'm not good at internal injuries…"

"Yes, yes, that's fine. Just keep him alive while I heal him. He's the last of the ones who might die on us; the medic squad can heal the rest. Morgiana-san, you too." The two of them moved over hurriedly, standing to either side of the injured man as Sphintus gave them instructions. "Okay, on the count of three, Morgiana will lift up the gate, then Aladdin, start with the Yoah Reg immediately. Don't start before Morgiana lifts the gate, we don't want him healing around it."

They positioned themselves around the weakly moaning man.

"Ready? One, two, three!" With a great heave, Morgiana lifted the entirety of the wreckage off the man. She strained for a moment, and then managed to push it all back before letting it fall with a thunderous crash.

"Yoah Reg!" Aladdin chanted, the patient quickly slipping into a deep sleep.

"It's worse than I thought," groaned Sphintus. "His spine is broken too…"

Aladdin concentrated on keeping the man from bleeding out, and avoided healing the wound in his gut or the break in his spine; those he would leave to Sphintus. They were so focused that they never noticed the medical squad arriving two minutes later, nor Morgiana occasionally coming over to feed them some water.

A full hour later they both sat back.

"He's… alive, at least…?" The words ended with an uncertain little lilt.

"Yeah. But he'll never walk again." They both stared at the young – so young, he was barely out of his teens- man who would never again be able to stand on his own two legs. A second after, they jumped and turned as Morgiana put her hands on their shoulders.

"You can't do everything. He's alive, and he'll go back home to his family." Aladdin managed a trembling little smile, leaning into the reassuring comfort of her hand as on her other side, Sphintus' tense shoulders relaxed with a heavy sigh.

"He's alive. We did the best we could."

A/N:

I'm actually pretty proud of this chapter. Some more Morgiana for you fans out there… Reality is a little harsher… A little over a thousand words, not including ANs in one day :') Is there anything I missed? What do you guys want to see?

FireLark