Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Aladdin characters, nor do I own the settings involved with them. I only own Alisha, Jerky, Zadesh, Sabin, Brone, Daniel and Aatif.
Author's Note: Hoo-boy, do you guys deserve an explanation for such a huge delay of this or what? Okay, to start: my laptop took a HUGE pa-toot. I was farting around online one afternoon, and it just stopped working. Brand new laptop, just up and died for no apparent reason. So while we were trying to figure that out, I was using my OLD laptop. During this time, I was working on this specific chapter. And I don't know how or why this happened - I must have pissed someone powerful off - the charger for it died. Now I am stuck borrowing the family computer until my "new" laptop is fixed, which will hopefully be soon.
But that wasn't the main cause of the delay...when I had not only one but two electronics crap out on me, I was VERY angry. And when I'm angry that makes me not want to write. I began dreading finishing this chapter, which is not good for a writer. So I sat down one day and decided to start writing a few chapters for a couple other projects to take away the dread. I ended up popping out chapters for another story I am also writing as well. And if you have me in your alerts, you know what I am talking about.
I intend to get as many chapters I feel for A Change of the Heart now that I am excited to get back into it again, and then I will add a few more chapters to the other story afterwards. I won't rush this one at all, but I do intend to wrap it up soon.
In the meantime, enjoy the long awaited chapter twenty-six :)
Chapter Twenty-Six: Storm
Malcho didn't move from that spot once, not even after the Princess had left him alone. He wanted to fly. Flying always helped clear his mind when it felt heavy like this. He felt overwhelmed, brimming with so many different emotions at once. His chest wanted to burst. It only made Malcho feel even worse, especially knowing he didn't have the luxury of flight at his disposal right now.
He was stuck, forced to address the internal battle within himself without any means of escape.
Nearly every word the Princess had said struck a chord with Malcho. They echoed in his mind, haunting him from any relaxation.
"If you intend to steal back the medallion for your own malicious purpose, you will put Alisha's life at risk with the millions of others..."
He pressed his forehead against the tree, falling into his own clouded mind.
I am fully aware what could happen if I take it back... But Alisha's life would not have to be jeopardized. I could find a place for her, a place where I know she would be safe. And I know she would adore it if I showed...no. No. What am I thinking? Alisha is too smart to fall for something so naive. Not even lying would help. That would only make it worse. Then she would...she would despise me.
That last thought prodded into his guilt. Malcho rumbled to himself, a rush of aggravation befalling him. He hated the feelings Alisha caused him. He thought that by sucking up his pride and accepting the fact Alisha was truly his amiga they wouldn't bother him anymore. But lately they seemed to be getting worse each damn passing day!
Yet...as much as he hated them, Malcho secretly enjoyed them. To a degree, at least. They helped take his mind off the past. And, admittedly, it was a breath of fresh air to feel emotions other than anger or spite for once.
But this also made the Quetzalcoatl start to ask himself:
Would these emotions be the death of him?
Feeling warm emotions weren't natural, were they? Did they happen to everyone? Could they be directed towards more than one person?
If so, then why?
…
"I doubt the tree will ease your mind."
Malcho spun around in alarm, with the speed that only a creature like himself could move at, and confronted a most peculiar stranger standing just a few feet away from him. He was a very elderly man wearing a washed out garment, which closely resembled scraps of rags rather than clothing. Among the many peculiar things about him was the pale color of his skin. Even Alisha wasn't that pale when she and Malcho met. He looked almost translucent, like a mirage in the desert, especially with the long white hair on his head and face. But what stood out to him the most was the cloth covering his eyes...
The serpent tilted his head, very puzzled. Then it occurred to him — how had he not sensed the old man behind him? And where did he come from? He couldn't have lived in the palace. Malcho never recalled seeing him among Aladdin's companions, or even mentioned by them.
"You do not need to be so silent." The human said, touching the ground in front of his feet with his walking stick as he walked closer. Malcho, greatly to his confusion, drew back an inch.
"I know you are there."
He blinked, realizing the man must have very acute hearing.
Malcho scented the air...and then again...and then a third time. His eye ridges furrowed, his disarray growing. This scent was new and...and very alien to him. It wasn't normal, if not unsettling. Malcho couldn't describe it. He started feeling apprehensive, even though there was nothing threatening about this old man.
He spoke again, breaking Malcho from his reverie.
"Perhaps I can assist with whatever is weighing on your mind." He offered.
It was more clear to the serpent than ever that this human couldn't see. Even so, Malcho was quick to decline.
"I would much rather be alone..."
Malcho didn't understand why this man's scent and presence made him so nervous, but he wasn't one to question his instincts in situations like these. The sooner this human shoved off, the better. That was all Malcho was positive of.
"Oh, and how much of your dilemma have you accomplished alone?" the old man inquired.
Malcho's gaze narrowed. "My dilemma?"
"Ah," he responding, giving an affirmed nod, "not very much."
Malcho rumbled, his expression hardening. Whether this stranger made him uncomfortable or not, he wasn't in the mood to be trifled with.
"Move on, old man." Warned the Quetzalcoatl. "I'm not feeling very magnanimous at the moment."
The human agreed, walking a few steps closer. "So I can tell. I assure you, my friend, I will gladly leave you to attend to your thoughts after I speak with you. There are some things I would like to discuss with you."
"What business does a blind man have with me?"
"I assure you, there is far more to myself than meets the eye." Then the old man smiled confidently at him. "And that goes for you as well, Malcho."
Malcho's eye crests lifted with surprise. He knew his name? Then again, his name was known throughout many lands — in both worlds of man and beast. And any person associated with the palace would know it, also.
He could be an acquaintance of Aladdin's... thought Malcho, instinctively looking for reason behind his own questions. If not the Princess'.
"You are quite familiar with my name, even though I'm more than certain we've never met before now..."
"You would be surprised by what I know of you." He replied.
Malcho snorted. "I'm sure."
"Do you doubt me?"
He chortled. "More than you realize."
The human paused thoughtfully. "...I see."
Malcho was fully prepared to tell him to leave him be again, until he suddenly said:
"If I may..." the stranger began, in a thoughtful manner, "allow me to enlighten you."
Malcho wasn't given the opportunity to protest—as the man removed his blindfold—when he was lost for words, for a brief moment he met the stare of one crescent colored eye.
Then, as quick as a gasp of breath, a bright light flashed suddenly before Malcho. He turned his head and shielded his vision. It was so blinding, so unexpected. Malcho waited to open his eyes... When he did, slowly, a panic went through his heart to find that everything was black. Malcho reached out to the tree he knew was close beside him, but all he grasped at was air.
Malcho's heart started pounding but he didn't let himself panic. He moved his wing around while shifting his tail against the ground to feel for anything familiar, like the grass, leaves—anything from his previous environment. At the same time he scanned around and everywhere, hoping to find the tiniest flicker of light in the black abyss.
...But he couldn't find anything. There was only darkness and himself. It was as if the bright flash had erased the entire world from existence. Even the old man was nowhere to be found.
He didn't know what else to do besides —
"Where am I?" he demanded into the empty space. His voice carried, and Malcho was able to hear the panic clearly.
Malcho was relieved — surprised — to hear a response.
"This is a reflection of that which weighs in your soul."
He noticed it was the voice of the old man speaking to him.
"Nothing weighs in my soul." Malcho called back, confused.
"Exactly," the human agreed. "You see, Malcho, a soul is similar to a puzzle. It becomes filled with numerous pieces one finds throughout their life — from the moment they are born until their very last breath. That being said, it is common for someone to have a piece or two that are missing."
Malcho's eyes widened as the mysterious wheel began turning.
"The soul grows," continued the old man. "It's depth reflects on the pieces that are gathered throughout a person's life. You, Malcho, have lived beyond more years than an average creature..."
Malcho slowly shook his head. "This can't be..."
"Do not deny what is before your eyes, Malcho." The old human said. "You know very well where you are. It has been with you for a long time, growing in the pit of your soul."
"This can't be real!" shouted Malcho. "It can't be!"
"Why do you reject it?" the human questioned. "Does the truth frighten you that much?"
But Malcho refused. He refused to answer, refused to accept all of this as reality. None of this was real, it couldn't have been. If anything, it had to be a nightmare.
I'll wake up any moment now. Malcho thought, shutting his eyes tightly. This will all go away. Everything will be back to normal.
He took a deep breath and started counting back from ten. He knew by the time he got to that last second he'd wake —
The silence was destroyed by a loud splash as the ground violently swallowed Malcho whole. There was no time spared. No time for him to brace, no time for him to take in a deep enough breath; the only thing given to him was panic.
He would have screamed had his mouth not been gagged by the darkness. Malcho was sinking fast. Into what? He didn't know, but he had no intention to find out.
With only one wing, Malcho fought to swim back up. He did his best to keep from fully panicking. That would only doom him to drowning. He kept his mind focused on getting out of whatever he was in. It was difficult, for his swimming skills were poor. He never saw the need to perfect skills he believed were pointless when he had wings yo carry him wherever he wanted.
If there was ever a time to regret that decision, then now was the best. But Malcho would have to save that for later.
His lungs were screaming for air, making it hard for him to concentrate. He was doubting he'd make it in time.
Just when he thought he was going to drown, Malcho's head breached the surface. He sucked in the air like never before, like his lung had no limits.
His heart pounded ferociously. He could hear every beat loud and clear.
BOOM! BOOM!
When his brain wasn't so hazed from the near-drowning experience, Malcho finally had the sense to observe his surroundings.
For a few moments at least.
The second he gathered his thoughts together, a wave collapsed upon him from his blind spot. Malcho was helplessly pushed underwater again, forced down by the wave's unrivaled power. Bubbles of the air he had just taken in erupted from his mouth and lifted to the surface.
His adrenaline started kicking in and Malcho started fighting his way back up once again. He breached the surface and sucked in another deep breath of air.
His heart still loudly pounded in his head.
BOOM! BOOM!
He needed to find something to hold onto!
Malcho frantically scanned the area, desperately searching for a scrap of land. In the darkness beyond he could make out a formation. Malcho wasted no time. Although it wasn't too far, getting to it was still a challenge. He wasn't sure if he would ever approach any large body of water ever again if he made it out of this experience alive.
The formation was nothing more but a flat, high cluster of rocks, but Malcho had no complaints. He grabbed and hoisted himself up on them, heaving as much of his long body onto them as the rest wrapped around the base to protect himself from falling off.
Then he dropped, like a dead corpse, winded and tired beyond his comprehension. And still his chest pounded:
BOOM! BOOM!
He noticed his heartbeat seemed louder than before, but —
A loud crack cut through the air, stopping Malcho's heart for a brief second. Then a bright flash followed in its wake, unraveling across the black sky.
Malcho instinctively pressed himself low against the rocks. At last he realized those loud drums were not of his heart but —
BOOM! BOOM!
Thunder.
Malcho also finally noticed the heavy rain pelting down on him. His eyes were wide, how had he gotten here? Where was he?
Another bright light shined from above. Malcho pressed himself down again to wait for the bolt to draw its course.
"Do you still believe all this isn't real?" asked a familiar voice.
The Quetzalcoatl looked up and found the aged human was levitating in the air before him, untouched by the pouring rain.
Malcho — drenched and panic struck — shook his head at him. Every ounce of doubt was gone.
"Where are we?" Malcho asked, shaking from the bitter cold and gripping fear.
"Another reflection of your soul." Answered the mysterious man. "A much darker, violent reflection."
Malcho slowly turned to the raging storm. Waves clashed in the black beyond as more thunder and lightning danced their loud and flashing duet across the heaven, causing the rain to pour down harder against the earth. He began putting it all together in his mind, thinking back to the old man's explanation from before.
"Just like the last, this has grown with you for a long time now." He said to the silent serpent.
Malcho couldn't look away from it.
"...I never wanted any of this to happen to me." He finally confessed after a minute, when he was sure his current, heavy emotions wouldn't betray him. "I never intended for myself to become what I am now."
"Intentional or not, it no longer matters." Said the man, without a shred of sympathy to spare. "Years of enduring and spreading pain has wrought the person you are now. A storm that roars for power."
"The soul of a monster." Malcho finished, numbly. "To think I believed I would become something memorable...someone great. But in the end I am no better than..."
Malcho didn't want to finish. To even utter his name would have been a new form of shame.
"What was it all for, Malcho?" the old man inquired.
The serpent glanced at him to see if it was a legit question he wanted an answer to. But it was pointless. Malcho couldn't detect any emotion under that blindfold.
Even so, Malcho wasn't going to deprive him of an answer.
"I had people I wanted to protect." He began. "There were three who I cherished above anything at that time. The three who accepted me through the good and through the bad."
Malcho had wanted to keep them safe — it was the only reason he kept the medallion after finding it. He took the responsibility of bearing such great power for their sake. Malcho closed his eyes for a moment, embracing the memories he'd sealed off years ago—of a warm voice and gentle touches, of sharp whacks on the head and vast words of knowledge and of cheerful chatter and laughter.
Just thinking back brought tears to Malcho's eyes. He had forgotten how much he missed them...
"You must have truly cared for them." The old man replied, able to hear the genuine emotion in his words.
"Those three..." Malcho said, his voice filled with heavy emotions, "were the only family I ever had. But they're gone now, and there was nothing I could do to save them."
One by one, their lives went out like candles. Even after everything Malcho had done...
All that was left was Malcho. All alone. Left to bear a responsibility he didn't want anymore afterwards. He didn't see the point of ruling any longer if there was a chance he would fail to protect more creatures. He didn't want that weighing on his conscience again. A burden like that was too great for even him to carry by himself.
Malcho glanced at the human again. Out of a simple whim of curiosity, he asked him:
"Have you ever lost someone you cared for?"
The question drew the old man back. He must not have expected Malcho to ask him something so personal; nevertheless, he answered.
"Yes. Yes, I have. And not a day passes when I do not think of them."
"And does it...still hurt?"
He nodded. "The pain subsides sometimes, but...I always know it is there, even when I cannot feel it."
Malcho wasn't expecting such an emotional response. It made him feel bad for prying.
"Forgive me." He apologized, looking away. "I didn't know I was bringing up something so personal to you."
He could feel the human looking at him. To think he had something in common with a complete stranger... It made him dwell more on the past.
"For so long, I believed their deaths was what drove me to become such a terrible ruler. I never admitted this out loud, but telling myself that I would be changing things for the better would kept me going." He hardheartedly chuckled at himself. "I hid behind that excuse like a coward for years."
Malcho didn't hide the disgust in his tone.
"And in spite of your past...you have started to realize the wrong you have done as of late."
Malcho nodded.
"Why?"
"...Why do I need to tell you, when you already know the answer?"
There was a brief silence between them. Strangely, although it had been a complete shot in the dark, Malcho didn't feel he was wrong. His response wasn't condescending either. It was filled with knowing. A knowing that this human was what he appeared to be.
"Although," Malcho admitted, "I have been confused for quite some time now."
"By what?"
"Is there a point in changing?" he asked the human, truly perplexed. "Would it make a difference?"
The old man gave that some thought.
"The past is the past." Continued Malcho. "There is nothing I can do to take back what I've done."
"That is because the past can never change, Malcho." The human explained. "But that does not mean you cannot. Don't you think you have changed a little since the time of your reign?"
Malcho paused at that. The question prodded his mind...but there was an even greater question bothering him. He stared at the human.
"Who are you?" he asked the stranger, finally, after getting the courage. "I saw what you're hiding under that blindfold. At first I thought I was seeing things, but—after all this—I can't doubt anymore. Are you —"
"Human?" the stranger finished. "'Who am I? What am I? Why did I do all this?' You ask..."
Malcho gave him a solid expression. Knots started tightening in his stomach.
With the wave of a hand, the world around them stopped. Malcho, alarmed, could only stare at the stranger with profound astonishment.
"Who I am is of no importance." The man said calmly. "I have simply here to give you fair warning."
Malcho's eye ridges furrowed. "Warning?"
"I have seen a dark outcome of your path, Malcho. In it I saw..."
He seemed entranced by something. Before Malcho could speak to him, the human's was already talking. His voice became omnipresent.
"Upon the ground you lay in red. Should you choose to intervene a moment of fate, come fall the tears of dread."
A shiver went up and down Malcho's back. "I...I can change that, yes?" he asked, his terror apparent.
"The future is an intricate web of change and possibility." The human explained. "Should you choose to redirect the course of your path, you must be absolutely devoted. No masks and no lies."
Malcho swallowed a thick lump in his throat. All this information wasn't sinking in fast enough. That premonition shook him to the core. Even worse — he didn't understand what it meant, other than death. Could that really be changed?
"I..." Malcho shook his head, "I do not understand."
The stranger only smiled kindly. "You will." He reassured.
"But —"
A blast of thunder raged from above, cutting Malcho off and startling him —
Malcho's eyes snapped open as they bulged wide awake. He panted, his heart pounding fast.
He looked around...everything was back. Lifting his head, Malcho blinked at the palace. Then he looked upwards. Early morning sunlight shined through the gaps of the leaves. He did a double take of his surroundings again, brushing back his hair in confusion.
"It was all a dream?" he wondered aloud, his voice breathless.
Then a breeze smoothly slipped across the air, blowing past Malcho. For a moment, and only a moment, he could have sworn he heard a whisper say to him...
"Remember all that I showed you."