I now know why authors have cliff hangers. Have fun~

The day they departed for the Kou Empire was one of the single most worst days of Kalini's life. First of all she had to go back to the place she hated most. Second Fahid had been there to see her off and proceeded to cling and yap in her ear. Third there was too much commotion over their departure. It didn't help Jasmine had practically abandoned her to nearly fly over to Shaku and Alim.

Thankfully Jafar eventually rescued Kalini when it was time for departure and she was bundled off towards Jasmine and Shaku both of whom had the shifty eyed look of mischief. Kalini was up for a bit of mischief to take her mind off things. "I want in." Was all she said and Jasmine grinned viciously.

It was about three hours later an exasperated Sinbad was chasing down his twin daughters, but mostly Jasmine, who had consumed more sugar than was possibly healthy while Shaku sat in a corner unable to stop laughing after Jasmine had managed to nearly parkour over a table only to land on her face. The resulting damage was the reason Sinbad was trying to catch Jasmine who seemed content in ignoring her injuries.

Their fun ended when a pissed off Jafar came up to see what all the noise was about and saw the blood. The resulting freak out out had Kalini scampering off with Shaku while sacrificing Jasmine who was now trapped in a corner by a ferocious Jafar and overprotective Sinbad. Shaku whispered a 'God bless your poor soul' before they exited.

The next day after a night where Jasmine was not seen nor heard from she appeared before them looking desperate to escape from whatever torment she had gone through. It didn't last long as Jafar soon came by and dragged the twins away to begin teaching them everything they needed to know about being princesses and the do's and don'ts associated with it. By the time night rolled around Jasmine was considering becoming a street urchin again and Kalini wouldn't mind just not existing by that point.

That was how their days were spent after that. With the twins being taught how to be formal and not cause a war and them sneaking away to play with Shaku or annoy Alim. Some days though at night Jasmine would dissapear with Jafar and come back looking like she just went a few rounds against a rabid bear and lost. It wasn't until the night before they were set to arrive at Kou Empire that Sinbad called for them.

"I wanted to surprise you since I know someone here doesn't like being fancy." His gaze rested firmly on Kalini. "But you will need these." He gestured at an open trunk that was full of the most beautiful dresses and clothes imaginable. "This is also to make up for all the birthdays I missed."

Kalini was already starting to shake her head no desperately when a pack of maids descended on her with conviction to make her look the part of a Princess or die trying. All of Kalini's training was useless in the face of desperate maids. Jasmine didn't even bother trying to fight back. The clothes were nice and she didn't really mind. Sinbad just stood back and smiled pleasantly like his one daughter was not being almost mauled by maids.

The next day as they arrived at port Kalini fidgeted in her new and extremely nice but expensive clothes. Jafar gave her the evil eye to make her stand straight though and as they exited the boat she managed to not want to rip the clothes off and run away to hide from Jafar's wrath. They were met with a crowd and given an entourage to escort them to the palace. The whole time Kalini either spent nearly huddled in Jasmine's side or trying with little success to hide under Jafar's robe. By the time they arrived at the palace Kalini was a nervous wreck, made even worse since they were all going to have to be introduced. In front of people. Lots of people. Who were all high in status. She was a bit grateful that even Jasmine looked like she was about to puke or pass out. Mostly pass out probably.

Being announced and introduced had gone about as well as Jafar had thought it would when he had explained it to the twins. With a lot of 'ha-hums' and 'diddly-dallying' and speaking in such round about ways that Kalini's head had hurt and Jasmine got that look on her face where she might actually cry. Thankfully it ended pretty quickly and they were dismissed to rest from their journey with the twins actually clinging to Sinbad's legs after they left the throne room and trying to communicate that they absolutely were not going to sleep in any other room but Sinbad's which ended when a nearby palace guard seemed to find that odd and Jafar's nightmare training kicked in and they grudgingly were led off to their separate rooms that had an interconnecting door.

Jasmine had managed to pass out pretty quickly and slept like a log until she woke up some hours later in the dead of night for no reason. Shrugging it off she reached for the nightstand for water only to find her jug empty. Huffing she got out of bed and padded across the room to Kalini's to snatch her jug. When she opened the door though she found an empty bed.

"Kalini?" Jasmine whisper yelled. "Hey!"

There was no response so Jasmine frowned and went to get the jug. Something on the bed caught her eye as she grabbed the jug and she turned to see red. So much red. Blood dripped off the side of the bed to form a puddle.

Jasmine dropped the jug which splattered and the water mixed with the blood to create a river of blood. She screamed.