Chapter Twenty-Six: Complications
A/N: Welp, here ya go! I'm a bit disappointed that this is shorter than the other chapters, but what can you do?
"HAKU!" yelled a familiar female's voice. The navy-haired prince's eyes shot open as he sat up instantly. Everyone was crowded around him. Tettia looked at him (from Alibaba's arms, I will have you know) with a gentle smile as she asked, "Are you alright, Haku? You looked like you were having a nightmare."
Aladdin smiled as he said happily, "We finished the two path trial. Morg carried you here." Hakuryuu took that news pretty hard. He could not even remember slipping unconscious nor could he believe that he was helped again. Shakily, he stood up.
"Is he really… alright," Tettia whispered to her lover, while still in his arms. Because she had used up a decent amount of her Magoi, Tettia had a hard time standing on her own for that point in time. Alibaba had no qualms about carrying his partner at all, in fact, he was the one who offered to carry her, to which she graciously accepted.
Morgiana and Aladdin packed up the makeshift bed they had made for Hakuryuu and the group continued moving through the dungeon. "We've made it pretty far through the dungeon," Morgiana said.
"Yeah! We have, I'm actually surprised how far we've come in such little time," said Tettia, her head laying on Alibaba's chest and tucked underneath his chin.
From above them, Zagan's voice chirped in, "Hey~! You~!" The Djinn appeared close to them, waving like someone who has been reunited with his friends, "It is me, Zagan~! You're doing pretty good, huh~~~? To think that you could clear the two path trial~ well, you're really strong, and I've started to admire you~! But~~ there is just one among you that isn't in your league~ a reeeeally unreliable guys who's dragging you down… who is he~~? Who is he~~?" Hakuryuu's bangs casted a shadow over his eyes as Zagan taunted. "Hey, don't pretend you can't hear me! It's you, the one with the scar on his face!"
"Excuse you, bitch! I will get put down so I can beat the snot outta you," fussed Tettia, angrily lifting her head off of Alibaba's chest. Her crimson eyes glared harshly at the blue-skinned, bratty Djinn.
Zagan ignored Tettia as he laughed and basically belittled Hakuryuu, "Hey you, they've been helping you since the beginning, right~~~? You really are a bother to everyone~~! I wonder if you are qualified to be their comrade~~! You really can't do anything… you're such a weakling~~~~!"
Alibaba kept a tight grip on his lover as she struggled to get him to put her down. "Hey, don't let him — Tet, quit wriggling dammit — get to you," he said as he struggled to keep him feisty redhead at bay.
Noticing his shaking, Tettia stopped wriggling against Alibaba and asked, "…Haku?"
The two-toned blue-eyed prince had large tears pooling at the corners of his eyes, streaking down his face. "I already know that!" he exclaimed and collapsed to the ground, where he continued to bawl like a baby. Everyone looked on, jaws dropped. "Why~~~~! I'm doing the best I can~~~~~! But I still can't do anything, why~~~!?"
Zagan sweat-dropped as he said, "Wowwwwww! H-huh? I made him cry? I made the weakling cry? Haha…"
"Shut up, you stupid masked pervert," snapped Hakuryuu.
Tettia jumped out of Alibaba's arms and let her lover approach the navy-haired prince. "C-calm down, Hakuryuu!"
With break-neck speed, Hakuryuu whipped his head over to look at Alibaba. Grabbing the blond by his shirt, Hakuryuu angrily spouted, "Shut up! What's wrong with you anyway!? Why is someone as irresponsible as you so strong!? You're someone who, along with his — whatever dagger-wielder is to you, abandoned his country and started fucking around in Sindria! Literally fucking around — with Tettia!"
Tettia waved her hands in front of herself, "H-hey, Haku! Ali and I haven't fu—"
Whipping his head to look at her, the imperial prince snapped, cutting her off, "Shut up, dagger-wielding superwoman!"
"Wait, Hakuryuu, that's too much…" Morgiana said sternly.
"Shut up superwoman!" yelled Hakuryuu.
Aladdin waved his hands in front of himself, saying, "Hey, Hakuryuu, calm down…"
"You should shut up too, Midget Assistant!" he snapped at Aladdin.
Gasping almost melodramatically, Tettia pulled Aladdin close to her as she said, "How dare you, Haku! Laddin isn't a midget, he is a child!" Her statement had everyone, but Hakuryuu, snickering; however, after a moment, everyone went back to looking at the bawling prince.
Sometime later, after Hakuryuu's breakdown, the six of them stood in awkward silence. Alibaba and Tettia looked at one another, the former stepping towards the navy-haired prince. "…Hakuryuu… we should move soon," the blond said to the sulking prince sitting on the ground.
"…Leave me behind. I cannot remain with you any longer…" he said lowly.
Alibaba looked down at the sitting prince, and begun, "Don't feel… embarrassed about before, okay? It's just that… you're staring to feel the burden of your responsibilities, right…? And… for something so important to you… mustn't you get out of here alive? You should borrow our power. You cannot do anything alone…"
"SHUT UP!" yelled Hakuryuu, thrusting his spear towards the blond. "I'm different from you! Even if I'm alone, I have to fulfill my responsibilities! I cannot stop just because I can't do it! And I have to do it all alone!"
On instinct, Tettia disarmed the imperial prince by throwing one of her daggers. Due to some impeccable aiming, the dagger bounced off of a surface behind Hakuryuu, coming back to Tettia, which ended up knocking the spear out of the prince's hands. The half-Fanalis skillfully caught the spear in one hand, while catching and sheathing her dagger with the other. "No one can do anything by themselves!" she exclaimed, pointing Hakuryuu's spear against him — which left the prince with a confused expression on his face.
Alibaba looked at his partner with amazement in his honey orbs as he stepped towards the navy-haired boy in front of him. "Listen to me, Hakuryuu! I was also like that… what I was in Balbadd, I felt like I had to do something… and I could only run in circles by myself," the blond began, "But… I was wrong. If I had borrowed everyone's strength, and not just Tet's… I would have saved a lot more people! Including Cassim…"
Tettia immediately lowered Hakuryuu's spear at Cassim's name, switched it over to her left hand and placed her right hand on his left shoulder. "Ali… you don't have to do this…" she said to the blond.
Alibaba clenched his right fist as he mutter to Tettia, "Yes, I do have to do this, Tet." In his normal voice, he continued, "That there was a way to help him and yet… I was sure… I-… I… I killed him!"
Moving her hand from his shoulder, Tettia pried open his clenched left hand just to entangle her fingers with her lover's. "No… I don't believe you did, Ali. Cassim wouldn't want you blaming yourself for what happened," she said in a soothing, comforting voice. She was trying the best she could to comfort her blond lover.
Aladdin and Morgiana gasped, "Alibaba!"
What is he… talking about…!? thought Hakuryuu as he looked confusingly at the blond and his redhead lover. It was then that Hakuryuu noticed that Alibaba had started to cry, and Tettia was still comforting him — having brought his left hand up to her lips just to press comforting and loving kisses against his skin. I wonder… what kind of person he is… could it be… that he is not the frivolous and irresponsible person I thought he was?
Alibaba sniffled and used his right hand to wipe some tears off of his face. His feisty redhead was whispered sweet nonsense into his ears, which had him just barely smiling. "Anyway… what I want to say is… that humans cannot do anything alone…" he said.
"You are right…" the navy-haired prince said.
"EXCUSE ME!?" exclaimed Tettia as she almost fell over.
Hakuryuu nodded to them as he said, "I'm sorry to have snapped and said those rude things… I'm a person that can't live alone, ever since I was you, I've had a weak personality and no power. I lived because my sister, brother, family and retainers helped me. I cannot remain like this… but now… will you lend your strength to someone as powerless as I am? Please let me fight together with you!" Hakuryuu had bowed to them as he said that.
"Sure!" they all exclaimed. Tettia held the bottom end of the spear she had taken out to its owner. "Here ya go, Haku. It's a very nice spear ya got there," she said as the navy-haired prince tool hold of his spear.
"Thank you," he graciously thanked her. Nobody had ever really held is spear, so he had never gotten complimented on it before.
After taking a break to stuff their faces, the group was back on track. "Ah~ I'm so full~" sighed Aladdin. "Sorry, I always eat a lot."
"Don't worry, Laddin! You used a lot of magic, so you have to replenish your strength," the older half-Fanalis spoke sweetly, ruffling the bluenette's hair.
The young Magi looked at Tettia with concern as he said, "What will we do if the food runs out, Tet?"
Tettia waved off his statement with her retort, "Eh, we'll be fine. Not only did I bring plenty of food, we'll conquer the dungeon before that happens! Right, Ali?"
Nodding, Alibaba added, "This dungeon has been quite kind to us. We know the way to the treasury… and the creatures of the labyrinth are different from the ones we met in Amon's Dungeon…"
"You're right," answered the young blue-haired Magi, "They resemble human… and they don't attack up unless Zagan commands them to…"
Laughing, Tettia said, "Haha… it would be nice if the other dungeons were like this, too!"
Like countless times before, Zagan's voice came from above and all around, "I'm glad you like it! My dungeon is stylish, no? I'm in a good mood, so I'll show you the good things in here!"
Shrugging their heads forward, Tettia and Alibaba said, "The only thing I don't like here is him…"
"Good things…?" questioned Aladdin.
"Take a detour into that tunnel," came the Djinn's voice, referring to the tunnel in which some dungeon monsters were entering. "You can obtain profitable information in there," Zagan said, smirking deviously to himself.
Looking at the entrance, the original dungeon-diving trio questioned, "Profitable… information…?" The three then looked at one another. Tettia was the first one to shrug and say, "What do we have to lose, eh? Might as well." After that, the group walked towards the tunnel's entrance. The sight they saw was appalling to say the least. The trees were made of contorted humans, faces full of agony — what were the creatures doing, one may ask? Why, they were harvesting honey that came out of the agonizing trees.
"What in the hell is this fuckery?!" exclaimed a hysteric Tettia as she looked at the trees. Sadness washed over her — this was the fate of anyone who entered this dungeon and failed to conquer it? Harsh, Zagan, real harsh.
The smile on his face was clearly heard as Zagan said cheerfully, "Those trees are people from the Toran Village." Everyone gasped in horror and disgust. "Just look. They all became young trees! Zagan is the Djinn in charge of the power of Earth… with that magic, I can manipulate plants of the labyrinth, making them parasitic in humans. Then the roots absorb Magoi from the humans… and the labyrinth creatures are born! What do you think? Cute, right? Don't worry, they won't die! They're useful to me. The humans' filthy lives are… nourishment… for my dungeon…" Zagan then started laughing — the cruelty and incompatibility to feel any kind of remorse for his gruesome actions echoing in his laughter.
Morgiana looked horrified as she spoke in a shaky tone, "What a terrible thing to do!"
"I'm sure that girl's parents are here too…" stated a shaky-voiced, terrified Aladdin.
Alibaba stood there, shaking in some kind of emotion, with Tettia by his side stroking his shoulder to calm him down. Moments go by and then, suddenly and with vigor, Alibaba lunged at one of the trees in an attempt to pull the human free. "Alibaba, sweetheart, it's useless. Unfortunately, pulling them out won't help," Tettia sadly spoke. The blond looked over his shoulder at her with pleading eyes, There has to be a way, Tet, his eyes conveyed.
Aladdin came over as he clarified further, "The only way to bring them back to normal is to use magic…"
"Only magic!?" exclaimed Alibaba. He wanted, more than anything, to save these humans from this terrible situation.
Nodding, Aladdin said, "Yamu told me… she said that in magic, there are frightening techniques that transform humans into other things… but that's done with a complicated formula… I don't understand why, but… only the person who cast this magic can return them to their original state!"
Tettia clenched her fists tightly, almost making marks on her palms. "Let's get to that fucking treasury," she said in a low, serious tone. "There, we'll make Zagan reverse his magic, even if that means by force!"
The other, younger, pure-Fanalis furrowed her eyebrows together in concern as she said, "Tet, are you saying that we're going to fight Zagan!?"
"That's exactly what she's saying! We don't have the time to think about dungeon conquest anymore. We have to fight and save the people of the village," Alibaba answered Morgiana before Tettia could.
Turning her head, Tettia looked at Hakuryuu as she asked, "Haku… you're okay with this too, aye?"
Nodding, the navy-haired Hakuryuu responded with a hearty, crisp, "Yes!"
"Good! Wait for us, Zagan… we will… stop this atrocity with our strength!" exclaimed Alibaba.
Zagan was none-too-pleased with that and so he sent large wolf-like creatures to fight them. With Amon's Sword already equipped, Alibaba went straight to hacking and slashing the wolves; Aladdin used his fire magic to defeat three wolves simultaneously; Tettia, daggers drawn, used her speed to slay four wolves in succession. While she was preoccupied with her own wolves, Tettia had not noticed the enemies sneaking up behind her lover — it was only with Hakuryuu slashed one of the creatures that Tettia noticed how surrounded her love had become.
"You saved me, Hakuryuu," said the blond, grateful for the navy-haired male's help.
Stopping forcefully, Tettia focused her attention towards the two princes. "Thanks for that, Haku," she thanked.
Hakuryuu nodded at her and said to Alibaba, "Leave the back to me! I will fight beside you with all the power I possess!"
"That's good to hear. Now, duck!" exclaimed the half-Fanalis, throwing one of her daggers at the blond and navy-head. The two males did, indeed, duck and the dagger plunged into the heart of a wolf-creature that had come up beside them. In the blink of an eye, Tettia was near the two princes and had picked up the thrown dagger from the floor. "Hello, boys," she said with a smirk.
Morgiana looked back at the two princes and her talented half-Fanalis friend. Alibaba and Hakuryuu… I was worried about how things would turn out between them, but that atmosphere now… she thought to herself. Witnessing how the two princes worked together had happiness and relieve coursing through her body. I'm really glad! I, too… she kneed one enemy and kicked another, moving ahead of her friends.
"Morg! Don't get too far ahead," called out Tettia from over her shoulder.
Looking over her shoulder and smiling at the older Fanalis, Morgiana answered, "But I'm… really happy! Because I can fight on par with all of you!"
Tettia smiled as she spoke with happiness, "I'm glad you're happy!"
Having fought through many creatures, the group had finally made it. They had made it to the treasury. "We're finally here," huffed out Alibaba and Tettia in perfect unison. The treasury was a room filled with large flowers of many different species. "Release the villagers immediately, Zagan! Or we'll put an end to your jokes!" demanded the blond as he pointed his blade at the towering Djinn.
As a response, Zagan tilted his head and stuck out his tongue at the blond's demand. "Try it, but I don't think you can…" he taunted.
"Bastard!" yelled Alibaba and he ran towards Zagan. He jumped up and sliced the Djinn's neck, seemingly decapitating him.
With his eyes bulging out, Hakuryuu exclaimed in hysteric confusion, "He died that easily!?"
Zagan's head reattached itself to his body, like his neck was an extendo-neck. Smirking knowingly, the Djinn said, "Die? Me? Ha… I pity you… you don't know… this dungeon's absolute rule…"
The semi-wavy haired redhead's jaw dropped as she exclaimed in immense irritation and slight curiosity, "There are rules to this bullshit?!"
Making plant-copies of himself, Zagan enlightened the group of humans, "The Djinn is the absolute ruler of the dungeon. That's why, no matter how much you struggle… you cannot ever kill a Djinn inside of their dungeon!" The many copies of Zagan started to attack the group. Alibaba ran away, one of the copies' arm grabbed the blond and he cut the hand off. "It's useless! I can restore myself as many times as I want… thanks to the nutrients in the soil of this dungeon! Zagan is the Djinn of the Earth!" he exclaimed as roots sprouted out of the copy's wrist, grabbing onto Alibaba.
"Shit—!" the blond exclaimed before he was picked up and thrown into the wall. The force of impact caused Alibaba to loose his breath.
Tettia gasped, "Ali!" Then she was knocked back, into the wall, loosing her breath as well. Collapsing to the floor, she gasped, trying her hardest to regulate her breathing again. "F-fuck me… ack, ack! …running…" she coughed
"Sir Alibaba! Lady Tettia!" called out Hakuryuu before he, too, was knocked forcefully against the wall.
Morgiana bolted towards the three of her winded friends. "Hakuryuu!" she yelled as she grabbed the navy-haired prince. "Tet!? Can you stand," she asked her half-Fanalis friend.
Tettia nodded, staggered as she stood up, then picked up Alibaba. "Y-yeah… I'll be fine in a few minutes…" she wheezed.
"Morg! Tet! Let's retreat for the moment," called out the young Magi.
"Yes!" the two female Fanalis answered. Throwing Hakuryuu over her shoulder, Morgiana began to retreat, where to, they did not know; Tettia followed after, holding Alibaba in her arms. Aladdin followed after his friends.
Zagan laughed darkly as he said, "Are you running away? Sorry… this is my room, so… you will not get away!"
With a snap of his fingers, the floor beneath the five of them opened up. The five fell into the hole. "Fuck you Zagan!" screamed Tettia. Looking around, Tettia grew anxious, there was no way they were going to be saved.
It's deep…! What's that below us!? thought Morgiana to herself.
As if hearing her thoughts, Zagan called out from outside the hole, "That's my real body, you know~~! If you fall in my mouth, my gastric juices will make you disappear in a second."
"WHAT!?" the two Fanalis' shouted in unison.
Aladdin took off his turban and said, "Everyone, ride of the turban!" Just as everyone was on the turban, a root slashed through the fabric and everyone continued their plummet.
"Everyone!" yelled Morgiana as she reached out to try and save them. Aladdin, Tettia, Alibaba and Hakuryuu had fallen farther down than she had — they were still falling faster. I don't want this! They all will vanish… my important friends… and the future we swore to live together! My hands! I can't reach them! My legs too! I can't reach the wall. I… can't jump off… I can't fly! If I was like a bird, it would be alright… if I had wings to fly and reach them… I would… thought Morgiana to herself. Just as she thought that, she had not realized that some of her Magoi had been transferred to her arm ornaments and the chains seemingly came to life. Embedding one wrist's chains into the wall, Morgiana used the other set of chains to catch her friends.
Tettia looked up at Morgiana in both surprise and horror. This could not be — Morgiana could not have a Household Vessel, too, could she? No! It would kill her, she thought to herself. "Morg… what are these chains…?" she asked.
"Huh…? What's that sound…?" questioned Zagan as he heard loud thudding. Looking back towards the hole, he was surprised as Morgiana appeared from the hole, carrying her four other friends. "W-what!? How did they get out of there…!?" he asked hysterically.
Morgiana landed on the ground, letting all of her friends down. "Morg, let's go deal with Zagan's true body," said Tettia, readying her daggers. Nodding, Morgiana agreed to help Tettia — since she was Alibaba's Household Vessel. Running towards the edge of the hole, they jumped down once again.
Zagan laughed, licking his lips as the two Fanalis' jumped down the hole, "Haha! Have you lost your mind!? You just got out of there because of a fluke! To think you would jump into my mouth all by yourself… I'll turn you into a skewer and then eat you!"
As sharpened roots began to surround Tettia and Morgiana, the older female grabbed onto the younger one, "Go, Morgiana! Propel us downwards!" Morgiana smiled and made her chains propel the duo down towards the bottom of the pit, right passed the skewers. As Zagan's true form can into view, Tettia exclaimed, "Wrap your chains around that thing, okay?"
Nodding, Morgiana manipulated her chains into wrapping themselves around the creature. Activating her Household Vessel, Tettia launched a huge ball of fire at Zagan's true form — with the combination of chains and fire, the creature could not stand the heat and was defeated. Landing on the ground, Tettia and Morgiana rejoiced — however, that moment was cut short when Tettia noticed the blood oozing out of the younger Fanalis' eyes. "We… did it, Tet…" Morgiana uttered before collapsing to the ground.
Tettia immediately got on her knees and placed Morgiana's head in her lap. "Guys! Come down here," she yelled up at the three males.
"What happened?" came Alibaba's voice.
Beginning to panic, Tettia screamed, "It's Morg! Just get the fuck down here!"
The urgency in her voice caused the three boys to scurry down the pit. "Morgiana! Morgiana!" exclaimed Alibaba as the three boys came to sit around her. "Hey, open your eyes! What happened!? Morgiana!"
Tettia looked at her lover as she held Morgiana's head up. "She… doesn't have any Magoi left," she said in a solemn tone.
"What!?" her blond lover exclaimed.
Speaking up, the navy-haired prince said, "I'm sure she used too much Magoi in order to manipulate her chains… she probably didn't have a lot of Magoi to begin with, and yet she was so reckless… and in this way… if you lose a lot of Magoi in a single instant… you can lose your life!"
"I know that, Haku," mumbled Tettia.
Despite knowing somewhat about that, Alibaba gasped, "What!?"
Nodding, Hakuryuu continued, "That's what I learned when acquiring the skill of Magoi manipulations… her desire to save us must have unlocked an ability for her to manipulate her Magoi. Now that she's this weak, it's impossible for her to recover by herself! We have to bring her to a doctor!"
Morgiana tried to move, but was too weak. "I… I can… still…" she weakly said before she collapsed into Tettia's lap. "To think… that I would finally… be of use to everyone…" she sniffled, tears overflowing from her red eyes.
Tettia grabbed onto her hand, that she reach out weakly, and said with tears, "You did enough, Morg! It was only thanks to you that I defeated Zagan!"
"We'll get out of here immediately and heal you!" added Alibaba, placing a hand on Tettia's shoulder.
"But how should we do that… since we killed the Djinn," asked Hakuryuu.
Aladdin was looking at the creature and deduced something. "This… is no Djinn," he announced to his friends.
Alibaba and Tettia got up, walking towards the young Magi (Morgiana was left in Hakuryuu's lap), saying in disbelief, "What do you mean by that, Aladdin… are you saying that this isn't the Djinn?"
Just before Aladdin could answer, something else answered, "That's right…" The source of the voice walked towards the group. It looked like a tiny version of Zagan, chibi and pouty.
Tettia looked down at it; immediately, she grabbed her sides as she burst out in hysteric laughter. "Y-you're Zagan? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" she bellowed out in even more hysteric laughter.
Remember the Toran village girl from earlier, yeah, well she climbed out of the dead creatures mouth, speaking in Toran. Aladdin pointed to her as she ran towards Hakuryuu, exclaiming, "Ah! The little girl from Toran is here!"
As his lover laughed hysterically, having fallen to the ground in laughter, Alibaba drew his sword. The creature threw its hands up in defense as it exclaimed, "Wait! I'm returning the little girl! I'm the last flower! I don't have any power left…!"
Deadpanning, Tettia asked, "Flower…?"
The flower nodded and kicked at the ground. "It is as the Magi said. We're not the Djinn. We're just labyrinth creatures that Zagan created in imitation of him… well, we broke free from the real one's control and pulled a little trick, that's all," it said.
"Tricks, you say…!? Are you kidding me!? Return the people of the village to their original forms, and release all of them from this dungeon immediately!" yelled the lovers.
The flower threw its hands up again, exclaiming, "The only one that can do that is the real one! The real one is in the treasury! If you go to the treasury, the real Zagan will reverse the magic on the villagers and release them all!"
Tettia narrowed her crimson eyes, "…Are you sure about that?"
"Yes. …that's how I arranged it with the real one just now," it said, pointing to the vine attached to itself.
Lowering his weapon, Alibaba sighed out in relief. "Thank goodness. Just a bit longer… and we'll get everyone out of here soon," he said, looking at the crying Toran girl.
Sighing in relief itself, the flower said, "Th… thanks. I'll tell you the way to the treasury…" As the flower was telling the group how to get to the treasury, the three merchants from earlier stood above them — listening in. "… Got it? Now you'll be able to reach the treasury," said the flower. Promptly, the flower was killed by the female merchant by using her earth magic.
"Wha!?" exclaimed Hakuryuu and Aladdin.
Tettia growled, sensing the previously undetected threat. "I fucking told you I didn't have a good feeling about them," she said lowly, casting her dangerous gaze upwards.
Following her eyes, Aladdin and Alibaba saw the three. "Who are they!?" the blond questioned.
Just the way the three trespassers looked at him, Aladdin knew something was very wrong here. "Everyone… hurry up and go to the treasury. We can't let them get there before us!" exclaimed the young boy, the symbol on his forehead beginning to glow.
"Haku! Grab Morg and let's go!" exclaimed Tettia. The boy did so and they all bolted towards the treasury's door. They ran quickly and urgently through the necropolis and as they neared the door, Tettia exclaimed, "Laddin! That's it!"
"Good, it's still closed! Open… sesame!" exclaimed Aladdin as he opened the treasury door. A dragon-like mass of rocks attacked the group, Aladdin shielding himself and them from the attack.
"Well, we meet again… Magi," came a dark voice. Everyone looked up at the three people on a hunk of rock. The one who had spoken was at the tallest point of the hunk of rock.
Tettia immediately recognized who spoke and growled dangerously, "You!"
"You're…!" exclaimed Aladdin, probably recognizing the masked man just like Tettia had.
Alibaba was confused, he looked at his sweetheart and asked, "Who are they!?" Once he looked at the three, it hit him. "Aren't they the merchants that we met in the Toran Village Market…!?"
"Yeah, but they are no merchants!" spat Tettia, hissing at them.
The tallest, green-haired man spoke, "This is the first time we've spoken directly… Aladdin. But I know a lot about you. Since the Balbadd Incident… you, and the king you chose, were the object of our interest…"
The blond's eyes widened in realization. "Impossible," he growled.
"Oh no, it's fucking possible," Tettia answered.
The other, black-haired man started to draw his sword from its sheath, but the light green haired woman raised her hand in opposition. "Isaac, I didn't command you to do anything, did I?" she questioned.
"My deepest apologizes… that insolent fellow addressed her majesty the queen as a merchant again…" answered Isaac.
The queen smiled and replied, "Don't be so angry. It's fine."
"We disguised ourselves as merchants in order to enter the Toran Island… because we wanted to obtain the Djinn Zagan… and because it was a good chance to meet you now that you're away from the Kingdom of Sindria. In order to offer them to our father, we will take Solomon's Wisdom and the life of king Alibaba," the masked man said. The rock dragon then attacked the young Magi once again.
"Haku! Take Morg and the girl to a safe place!" exclaimed Tettia.
Hakuryuu looked at the unconscious Morgiana in his arms and nodded, "Yes!" Then he took off, leading the girl to safety.
"Alibaba, Tet, if they get their hands on Zagan — it will be the end. We won't be able to get out of here. In order to save everyone, we will defeat them… we will defeat Al-Thamen!" exclaimed the brave young Magi.
Tettia and Alibaba looked at their young blue-haired best friend. They nodded, looked at each other and said, "Yeah!" The trio then stood together in the face of their adversaries. Filled with determination and the will-power to live another day.
"I AGREE!" came a familiar female's voice from a distance. Zipping through the necropolis, all the trio saw was a blob of gold. As they were wondering who that could have been, Marina appeared beside them, sword draw and a huge childish grin plastered on her face.
"Marina?!" exclaimed Tettia in complete surprise.
Turning her purple eyes towards the redhead, Marina's grin widened impossibly further as she said, "You know it! Surprise!"
Almost falling over, Tettia was only kept standing due to Alibaba wrapping his arm around her waist. In a hysteric tone, the redhead asked, "Why are you here?!"
"Isn't it obvious? To have fun," came the queen's simple answer. "Now, we don't have time to talk, Tet. Get back on your feet! You can't fight leaning on Baba, now can you?" Nodding, Tettia got her footing back and separated from Alibaba, getting back into her battle-stance. Marina looked at the half-Fanalis and smiled; turning her attention towards the enemies in front of her, Marina's demeanor changed. Her eyes narrowed and the childish air around her was replaced with that of a powerful warrior.