Wooo! Chapter 10 at last! …Thanks everyone for your wonderful support! …And I just want to say a proper "thank you" to all those of you who've posted reviews for my story! So thanks all of you, so very much! Please know that I read each one, and doing so is the highlight of my day. They're such a pleasure! ^_^

Chapter 10

"Shouldn't we be getting back?" the voice, muffled from within the folds of a knapsack I wear slung around my shoulders, has to speak rather loudly to be heard over the jumbled conversations filling the crowded street where I stand.

People are everywhere, all around me, shouting and laughing and joking with one another as they walk from stall to stall of the many venders which line the narrow streetway.

The noise is overwhelming, and the dry heat makes it all the more uncomfortable. Beneath the loose robe I wear, which covers me all the way down to my ankles, I'm drenched in perspiration. All I can think of is a nice, cold shower and a glass of iced lemonade…

"Just a little bit longer," I reply to the voice, which belongs to the rabbit. "It feels so much better here in the shade."

"They'll be waiting for us, you know. Donald won't like that."

I ignore this statement, knowing full-well that it's true. When we arrived here earlier this morning, Sora had suggested that we all split up to search for any sign of the King. We'd agreed to meet up in front of a large restaurant selling specialty food and drink around noon. Looking up at the sky, I know it has to be getting close to the appointed time. But it's so hot, and I've been looking for hours with nothing to show for it. I just need a sec… to cool down… here in the shadows…

I lean against the clay wall of a building, behind a man selling fresh fruit. I close my eyes and sigh.

Agrabah. A sparkling city of marble, gold, and beauty beyond what I could ever have imagined. The buildings are tall, shapely, and pale against the red sand of this desert valley.

But even in this city, I've seen poverty. The poor are housed off into a separate section, forced to live in their scarcity out of sight from the rest of the world. A few streets back, I caught glimpse of a pair of scraggly children, sneaking their way among the vender stalls, stealing bits of rations that had fallen, discarded, to the ground.

I rub my eyes, feeling fatigued and dehydrated. How those children must have felt… so much thirstier and wearier then myself. Between my fingers, I glimpse sight of them again. They are headed my way, slinking along the wall with hallow cheeks and skinny limbs and tattered clothes.

Donald gave me a little money before we all went separate ways, in case of an emergency. I decide this is close enough. Walking over to the produce man in front of me, I buy a couple of exotic-looking fruits—the likes of which I've never, ever seen before in my life—and go over to where the children are crouching, behind a crate of garbage.

"Hey," I say as I draw near. They jump and look up at me with wide, skittish eyes. It's hard to tell their age, or even their genders. But I can guess that perhaps they're brother and sister, since one looks slightly more feminine, and their faces hold such a resemblance to each other. "You guys look hungry," I say, squatting down to make myself less threatening. Though I hardly doubt I'm a very threatening-looking person to begin with…

They don't reply, but their eyes watch me, eager and wary for whatever it is I'm going to say next. Now that I've come this far, I'm not really sure what to say. I can feel myself going red. Quickly I thrust out the food for them to take.

"Here," I say. "I-I don't need these. You can have them."

After a moment's hesitation, they reach out and accept my offering, the brother taking some and handing it first to his sister, then keeping the same amount for himself. They don't say anything, but I don't need thanks.

I didn't do this for thanks.

I did it to help.

As quick as I can, I turn and merge into the crowded streetway.

"Good job," the rabbit says softly. I can just barely hear it. "Good for you."

"It… was nothing," I say, reddening all the more. But I know that's not true. It was something.

To those kids, it was really something.

And that's what makes it a million times worth it.

A shout from up ahead makes me give a startled jerk, and I realize that people are making way, scrambling to the sides of the street, allowing something—or someone—to pass by. I'm jostled by the horde and dragged over to the right, accompanied by the troubled squeaks of the rabbit from within my knapsack.

"What's going on?" it asks, frightened.

"I…I don't know," I reply in a low voice, trying not to draw attention to myself. Then I see it—an enormous sedan, carried on the shoulders of six well-muscled men, making its way through the narrow passage of venders and loud, bubbling people.

"Oh… it's just a—" I'm about to reassure the rabbit, when through the sedan's heavily drawn curtains flies an enormous bright red bird. Its eyes, yellow and hard, glare at the activity below with a distrustful air of malevolence. The bright blue feathers at the tips of its wings blur as the bird moves higher into the sky, soaring above the city, moving rapidly from sight.

In the smothering heat of the city, I shiver.

As the sedan passes on its way and the people surrounding me once again go about their business, I find I cannot move.

That bird can only mean one thing.

And as I realize this, my blood goes cold.

--End chapter 10

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