Gil was freezing his awesome, albino butt off. He shivered and tried to stand; every movement made his little body ache, but none the less he stood up. Looking around, he found himself on a hill, white as his own fur, and colder then ice. Strange, he mused, he has never seen this white stuff before. It's never been in Italia. He tried some of it and it slid down his throat. Water. This stuff tasted like water, albeit a little dirty but still, water. He had to show Antonio. He grabbed the little hat from his head and scooped up some more of the white stuff in, stumbling off to find his friend.

He looked up and down the strange landscape but didn't see anything. He tried running and calling out, but after just a few seconds the little monkey was out of breath, his calls echoing unnoticed in the strange place. Gil also realized he was very cold. He was so cold that he could barely move his arms anymore. He dropped his little hat and started to whimper. Minutes passed and Gil still couldn't find Antonio. The wind was biting at his tail and the strange white powder was clinging to his fur in all the wrong ways. His legs were going numb and he kept on tripping, getting a face full of the substance.

A colored speck in the distance caught the little monkey's eye and he sped off in that direction. With his numb legs, and frozen arms, it took a couple of minutes for Gil to reach the object only to realize it was Antonio's vest- with no Antonio. Another whimper escaped Gil's mouth as he hugged the scrap of cloth, rubbing it against his face. The scent was strong- too strong. If there was no Antonio, why was his scent intensifying?

"Gil. What are you doing to my vest?" a voice asked from behind him and Gil leapt around. A vest-less Antonio stood there, tilting his head and looking down at his little friend. Gil looked from the vest to his friend, and proceeded to leap on the others head, going berserk.

"Gil! Calm down, Gil! I'm right here! Everything will be alright, I promise. Shhhh," The tan man comforted his little friend, hugging him close and whispering quietly. "We will find a way out, as soon as we find out where we are, exactly..." he said, looking around.

Antonio's head was throbbing and he tried to recall what happened. He had been with Romano, he remembered. Then, something had happened. Sadik came and the genie was there. Then a bright light, a rushing sound in his ears, and suddenly he was in this raging blizzard back in his peasant clothes. His peasant clothes... that's right, Antonio thought. He was changed back to his true self because Sadik had the genie now. And he was gonna take over Italia, and it was all Antonio's fault.

Gil scratched at Antonio's arms and the tan man looked down at the little albino monkey. "Sorry Gil. This is my fault, all my fault," he sighed, hugging the small animal close to him. But Gil was having none of that. He squirmed and wiggled under Antonio's grip until he could wiggle an arm free, pointing with his small fingers behind Antonio. The other man turned only to be tackled by an overly touchy piece of cloth. "Carpet!" He yelled happily. Without missing a beat, he jumped on the carpet with Gil in tow and the carpet sped off into the sky. "Now back to Italia!" Antonio cried.

Sadik smirked as he sat on his new throne, in his new palace, as the new sultan. He held his staff in his left as his right hand beckoned for his new handmaiden to feed him more grapes. "Come now, Romano. Stop frowning, it is very unbecoming for a slave to look at his master with such a face." he said with a wave of his hand. Romano threw a grape at the man's face, his frown deepening. Sadik sat up and glared down at the other man. "It is very satisfying to see you where you belong: kneeling on the ground in my presence," he sneered as Romano started to growl. "Though I know a better place you could be than begging for mercy," he said and Romano looked up at him. "At my side. As my queen," he stated and Romano gasped in disgust.

Heracles sat at his side and watched the spat between them, but something in the corner of the room caught his eye: a furry tail disappearing behind a pile of debris from Sadik's magic genie. He scampered over to the pile, getting ready to attack only to be grabbed from behind and smuggled with a rag.

Gil sat on top of the writhing cat and gave the thumbs up sign to Antonio. The peasant looked around the pillar and spied the two men that were currently in a heated argument.

"I am Sultan now you foul-mouthed boy. You will obey me and if I say you will become my concubine then you will!" Sadik yelled at the prince, who was tied in chains at his feet. In response, Romano spit on his face, attempting to wiggle away from the man that held him close. "Oh you will regret that. If you don't wish to follow me willingly, then I will make you," Sadik hissed. He turned to Alfred who was floating in the far corner of the room. "Genie! I wish for Romano to fall in love with me," he said with a smirk, his eyes still on Romano.

Alfred let out a small breath and looked at his new master. "There are some rules that a genie must follow, sir, and one of them is that I can't-" He started to say when Sadik suddenly turned to face him.

"Quiet, Genie, and do as you're told!" He yelled.

Suddenly Romano straightened up and grabbed a hold of Sadik's robes, pulling the other against his own body. "Sadik," the smaller man practically purred. "Didn't your mother tell you to be nice to others? Some people just aren't endowed as well as you are," he continued, licking his lips. Alfred seemed to be struck dumbfounded, but Sadik was pleased.

"Much better," the evil man said as he leaned in close to shackled prince. "How endowed am I compared to the average commoner- say, Antonio. How endowed am I compared to him?" Sadik asked, missing the look of disgust and shock that crossed Romano's face before it was replaced with a mask of boredom.

"Why do we have to talk about him? He was such a bore. I would rather talk about our future together," Romano purred, looking like the devoted slave. "You are the Sultan, the one ruler of Italia. You have the kingdom- now what are you going to do?" Romano asked, cozying up next to Sadik's side, giving him the most lustful face he could muster. He turned his head slightly, trying to spot Antonio in the corner of his eye again, trying to see if the idiot had yet to move. He was so distracted that he almost missed Sadik's whisper in his ear of a 'new and better world.'

Antonio was speechless. He watched in silent horror as Romano seem to meld to Sadik's body seamlessly. He couldn't even move. Gil looked from the two to him and urged him with a flourish of his human-like hands to do something. Heracles was trying to wiggle out of the little monkeys grip, trying to yowl and hiss through the rag Gil had stuffed in his mouth. Antonio noticed that he wasn't gonna stay like that for long.

Across the room, on the stairs leading up to the Sultan's throne was a lamp, a dingy, overused, always dusty lamp. And that's what Antonio knew he had to get to end this all. He began to crawl. He hid behind nearby piles of debris and gold on his way over, making sure to never be in the line of sight of old mister I'm-going-to-steal-your-lamp-and-your-prince-and-try-to-kill-you-in-a-cold-wasteland. Antonio was going to have to revise his nickname for the man.

He gave a silent sigh of relief when he got halfway to his destination, still keeping an eye on the display Romano put on. Jutting his hip out and giving a flirty smile. Touching Sadik on his shoulder and arm. Being way too close to the man in general. What was he doing, Antonio thought as he tried to focus on the task at hand.

That was when a yowl erupted across the room. Gil had lost control of the little kitty, and Heracles managed to scramble away. Yowling for help and danger and whatever else cats yowl about.

Sadik stiffened and turned to the genie. "Genie, I wish to become a powerful sorcerer," he said without hesitation. A snap of the genie's fingers later and Sadik seemed to glow with an unearthly light. He picked up his newly transformed staff, turned towards the direction of his annoyance, and with a tilt of the stick in his hands, Heracles had disappeared.

"Don't worry, my cupcake," he said with a slight purr in his voice when he turned back to Romano. "He is used to this. I merely sent him to another room where the doorknob is too high up for a little cat like him to reach," he laughed as Romano tried to calm his pounding heart.

That was very close, both Romano and Antonio thought. They both slightly turned to assess each other when their eyes met; a second later they turned away, no one in the room noticing their silent exchange.

Hope renewed, Antonio sent off on his journey through the other half of the room. Heracles was gone and he just had to focus on Sadik and his powerful, magical qualities now. No pressure.

He sidestepped a loose sword, ducked beneath a ripped tapestry, and practically dove behind the throne which was now the only barrier between him and his only savior. He ignored the exchange between Sadik and Romano at this point and just focused on retrieving the lamp. He shifted slightly, one foot out from behind the throne. Now two. And now one arm, the other, and, finally, his head. Sadik was facing the other way, distracted by whatever nonsense the enslaved prince was now saying. He tiptoed across the small platform, inching his way toward the lamp.

"I think that curl, on the back of your head is just so...cute," Romano whispered to older man, watching as Antonio reached down to grab a hold of the lamp.

"Why thank you, my sweet prince." he said turning around, but Romano grabbed his robes in a panic.

Antonio watched as Romano grabbed Sadik to face him again and plastered a pout on his face. "Where are you going?" the prince asked innocently. "Please, don't leave me. I already had one man leave me and I couldn't bear to have you leave, too," Romano seemed to whimper, looking up at Sadik through half-lidded eyes.

Antonio froze. One man had already left Romano. Romano had someone else before him? And for a little bit, Antonio had thought that there was something between the two of them. Unless Romano was talking about him, but, Antonio had never left the boy. Unless you counted the time he was dragged away in chains by the royal guards when he first met him. Or if you counted the time when Sadik used magic to float him off to some god forsaken place that no one knew of. Either way, it wasn't his fault, so Romano couldn't blame him for that.

Distracted by the thoughts that now were a hurricane in his head, Antonio's hand bumped into the side of the lamp, causing it to lose balance and clatter down the steps loudly.

Romano was gonna kill him for that.

I am just gonna place this here and walk away.

Please read and review! Especially review because then I will be tempted to write much more.

~Maple