Brothers United

Eden burst out of the room. "You won't believe it!" She squealed. "You can go in. Now Dhondi, let's go home, and I'll tell you all about it." With that, she and the small girl vanished.

Sadira and Carpet launched themselves through the door, to see a weak but happy Jasmine sitting on the bed in a white hospital gown, her knees bent upwards.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Sadira sang, sprinting over, then freezing.

In Jasmine's arms, was a baby wrapped up in white. Lying across her stomach was another baby with a white blanket draped over it.

"This," Jasmine said, "is my beautiful baby boy. And she," she leant up slightly to croon over the other baby, "is my independent little girl."

"Wow." Sadira relied on her instincts and scooped up the little girl. "Any name ideas?"

"No, I was going to wait for... Aladdin..." Jasmine's eyes filled with tears.

"No- Jazz don't cry! The babi-" Sadira began, but suddenly the room was filled with odd smoke which gushed in through the window like liquid.

Sadira heard Jasmine's scream, then felt the smoke suddenly wrench the baby girl she was holding out of her arms. "No!" She cried, shooting her arms into the smoke, trying to snatch her back, but it was too late. The smoke, and the babies, were gone.

"Ah, that'll be- oho! This, is, interesting!" Destane yelled. The others all looked at each other, except Aladdin, who struggled to break free.

"No!" He gasped, when the smoke furled above Destane's head.

"Oh yes. Now, watch," Destane hissed. The smoke suddenly split into two. Aladdin swayed, face pale, looking sick, clearly thinking that his newborn had split into two. Destane laughed. "Oh don't worry- your child is still in one piece! This is the surprise." The smoke cleared, revealing two teenagers.

Aladdin's face was almost as pale as Mozenrath's. "They were twins?" He whispered, staring at them.

The girl- now wearing a black and navy blue corset top with a grey skirt and a dark blue hooded cape with plum-coloured wristbands- was the perfect mix of Aladdin and Jasmine. Her eyes were definitely Jasmine's, and her nose was similar to Aladdin's, her hair was too; only longer, and less poofy, but her face was almost Jasmine's, yet not as curved, a bit more angled.

The boy on the other hand -who was wearing a navy shirt, black vest, plum belt, black trousers and a cape exactly like his sisters- had Jasmine's nose and face shape, but other than that he looked exactly like Aladdin- his hair was the same, as was his mouth and eyes.

They both looked at the floor sadly, seemingly deaf to the calls of their friends and relations as their outlines blurred in and out of focus.

"Impressive, is it not?" Destane grinned. He turned to the twins. "Now move aside." They both looked at him. The boy raised his arm and rubbed his neck the exact way Aladdin did, looking nervously at his sister, who was staring at Destane defiantly. "MOVE!" Destane snarled, blasting them with his gauntlet, so they fell to their knees, their attractive features twisted in pain.

That was the final straw for Aladdin. He wrenched his hands out of the wall so violently that they were scratched up. He lunged at Destane, who dodged.

Destane raised his hand. "Another stunt like that, street rat," he hissed "AND..." A large, familiar crystal appeared out of nowhere. "Your brother and best friend had better watch out."

Aladdin backed into the wall beside Mozenrath. "What is that?" He hissed in a low voice, but unfortunately Destane heard him.

Destane laughed. "The street rat doesn't know what the Crystal of Ix is? Oh, how about a demonstration?"

"A Crystal of Ix can capture a nearby magical being" Mozenrath said through gritted teeth. "and can only be controlled by a magical being- wait!" He said suddenly, turning his head to look at Aladdin, who had been slyly trying to tug Mozenrath's right hand out of the wall. "But you-" Aladdin clapped a hand over Mozenrath's mouth, with a made gleam in his eye, making him look uncannily like his older brother. Abandoning his attempts to free Mozenrath's arm, Aladdin grabbed the only part of the gauntlet he could reach.

There was a resulting flash. When it cleared, Mozenrath and Aladdin were still where they were, only they had swapped clothing. "Right first time." Aladdin whispered triumphantly, breathing heavily. He then ran forward, disappearing into the shadows.

"Ah!" Abu said, who was hanging two feet from the floor.

"Agreeing with the monkey" Iago said (his feet were planted in the wall, giving the impression he was defying gravity by standing on the wall), "WHAT is wrong with Al?"

"It's the gauntlet's power- it's changing him." Mozenrath said quietly, in a shocked voice. "He's come into contact with it so much today- he's not used to it's dark power..."

Destane stood beside Cassim. "Looks like I took the wrong brother after all." Destane grinned into the shadows. "Could that be Altzenroth? The son I never had?" Destane called mockingly.

Aladdin's face appeared, ten feet up the wall, lit up red by the now glowing gauntlet- he appeared to be hanging off something. "Maybe." He said, before the gauntlet dimmed and he vanished again.

"We'll see." Destane said, walking away from Cassim.

"No he isn't! Aladdin, take that glove off!" Cassim shouted.

"Don't worry Dad, I can take him." Aladdin's voice was echoing creepily around the dark.

"Remember what happened last time you said that?" Cassim replied.

"That was different- Sa'luk was your enemy." Aladdin replied, echoes still making it impossible to pinpoint where he was.

"Destane's more my enemy than yours." Mozenrath retorted.

"No offence, but you don't look like you could handle him right now." Aladdin responded again. "I can."

"Aladdin- you don't know what he can do!" Mozenrath managed to tug his right hand from the wall (his hand was normal as Aladdin had that pesky gauntlet, thus meaning Aladdin had the skeleton hand).

Aladdin didn't respond, and no one noticed him appear next to the Crystal of Ix- except Mozenrath, who was (surprising himself) relieved to see he looked more like himself, and not a potential bad guy.

I'm going to use this Aladdin mouthed pointing at the Crystal, to get him. Aladdin then pointed at Destane.

Mozenrath nodded. Then throw the gauntlet to me. He mouthed back, pointing to the cursed glove then himself. Aladdin nodded.

"Ixtalar." He whispered, causing the Crystal to silently light up, shooting a beam at Destane. The others all swung their heads around in shock.

Aladdin hastily peeled the gauntlet off of his bone hand and threw it to Mozenrath, who caught it, causing him and Aladdin to turn back to normal. Aladdin flexed his right hand appreciatively as the flesh appeared on it again, as Mozenrath freed everyone.

Destane lit up his hands and plunged them into the ground. His fingers dragged across the floor. As Destane was pulled towards the Crystal, he glanced at Mozenrath, who looked up at him. Destane's face cracked into a smile as he half glanced in Aladdin's direction.

"No!" Mozenrath yelled, lunging forwards as Destane pulled his fingers from the floor.

Aladdin looked from Mozenrath to Destane, who was getting closer. Aladdin attempted to dodge, but it was too late. Destane seized his throat and pulled him into the Crystal of Ix.