Rena started to stir at the sound of soft voices muttering around her.
"…can't let her go back…"
"…not safe…"
"…told us to get out…"
The various voices seemed familiar but distant as her eyes fluttered open and she stared up at an intricately painted ceiling. It was painted in blues and greens with colorful birds and even a tiger lying lazily in tall grass. This was not the Citadel, it was too cheerful to be such a dark and dreary place. Turning her head towards the sounds of voices she could see two young people, a man and woman, seemingly arguing with a shorter, pudgier man in a big turban hat and a bright blue genie. None of them seemed to have noticed she was alive, much less awake.
A deep, low growl came from her other side as something heavy plopped itself onto her stomach and began to vibrate. Looking down at the tiger's head in her lap she couldn't help but smile slightly, petting Rajah's head absentmindedly with her hand, the other strapped tight to her body with a silk sling. "Glad to see someone noticed I'm awake."
"Rena!" A female voice called, Jasmine coming to her side and carefully engulfing the woman laying down in a big hug. "I've been so worried about you!"
"How long have I been asleep?" She asked, looking up into the surrounding face, each one at a different level of concern.
"Nearly 3 days. The doctors were afraid with that head wound you wouldn't wake up at all."
Aladdin made a fist at his side, showing his anger. "Mozenrath will pay for what he's done."
"Please Aladdin," Rena said softly, looking at the young man at the foot of her bed. "just leave him be. Aaran has suffered enough for a hundred lifetimes."
"Who's Aaran?" Jasmine asked confused, seating herself in one of the few small chairs for people to sit on at either side of the small bed that genie so graciously accommodated.
"Aaran is Mozenrath. It was his name before Desdane got a hold of him." She tried to sit up but her body hurt too much to move. Genie, lifted her body with magic and repositioned the pillows so she could sit as she pleased. "Thank you Genie."
"I live to serve." He said, humor in his tone but mostly it just sounded like pity.
"How do you know all this my dear?" The sultan asked, standing next to his daughter.
"Because," Rena explained. "He was once my very best friend. My only friend in the whole of Bronze City."
The group around her seemed to take in a sudden gasp, like the air in the room had been stolen away and they needed to hold their breath or be suffocated. It was finally Aladdin who spoke. "I'm guessing you've got your memories back then?"
Rena nodded slightly, the action making her wince a little. "Yes. It came back to me a while ago. I tried so many times to tell someone but…things got in the way."
She could see the silent word that hung in everyone's mind. Mozenrath. Mozenrath had gotten in the way. The young woman couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped her lips. "It's alright, hopefully he's figured it out by now. But while I'm here I guess I should give you my full name."
Sitting up a little straighter, ignoring the pain in her back and neck, she lifted into a regal-like pose. "My name is Princess Serena, daughter and sole heir of King Balraj of the Bronze City."
Again, the room gasped, Iago squawking something about getting rich. Only Rajah seemed to be unaffected, still lying with his head on her lap. She couldn't help but smile down at the large cat. He'd been around royalty his whole life. He didn't care what she was as long as she scratched behind his big ears.
"But you're supposed to be dead. They said you fell from the tower window." Jasmine exclaimed, still in mild shock.
"I didn't fall, Jasmine. I flew. It was the only way to escape that place." As she sat there her guests began to bully her with questions, especially about how she and Mozenrath knew one another but Rena just raised a hand to quiet them. "Let me start at the beginning."
"Yes, King Balraj is my father, a bloody tyrant only interested in power and greed. Because of this he was cursed to sire no sons and only one daughter who would then fall in love with the first man she'd see other than the king himself. That's why the tower was built, to keep me locked away until he could find a rich enough husband to sell me off to and prevent me from ever meeting someone. But when my mother died and a wet nurse was summoned the only woman who'd take the job insisted she be allowed to bring her infant child along with her. This is how we met. We grew up together in the palace, hidden away from everyone and everything, his mother always keeping him dressed as a girl to protect him.
"It worked for several years until someone got wind of him being a boy. I don't know if anyone ever figured out who but my father found out. I remember him being ripped from my arms, still not understanding why he was suddenly being taken away, and telling him to run but it was no use. My father commanded for him to be beheaded at dawn the next morning and for me to be sealed up in the tower with my nanny as punishment until I reached a marrying age.
"I spent almost 15 years up in that tower hating my father for what he did, and refusing to see him until finally he took down the barrier to tell me he'd found a man for me to marry. By then I'd learned how to survive on my own. Cooking, cleaning, sewing, even a little magic, all in hopes of getting free one day. On the night before my wedding my nanny helped me cook up a spell that would help me fly out the window and escape from the tower when no one was looking but it was a trick. She's altered the recipe so it wouldn't last as long, hoping it would make me plummet to my death so she'd finally have revenge for the loss of her son. It was her body they found at the base of the tower that night as she tried to hinder my escape and kill me. I managed to make it past the city limits and into the desert before the spell finally wore off. Sadly I ended up getting caught in a sandstorm and being struck in the head with a rock. That's how I came to end up at Mozenrath's doorstep."
"But how did you know it was him?" Aladdin asked, getting lost in the story a little. "How did you know who he was?"
"At first I didn't." Rena admitted. "I only knew him as Mozenrath, evil sorcerer of the Citadel and personally that was alright with me. I didn't like that his plans were for evil but if people every bothered to look past his intentions you'd have seen a hard working young man, obsessed with taking back something that he'd lost years ago…the power to control his own life and protect the ones who'd been stolen from him."
"Eh, I'm confused." Genie admitted. "Is this the same evil sorcerer who just the other day tried to kill me? Or the guy who tried to switch bodies with Al so he could live longer?"
The copper headed woman just sighed, knowing it was a hard pill to swallow. "Yes. It is the same person. I cannot deny what he's done and what he's tried to do in the past. But then again I know why he tries so hard. He did it all for me."
When they didn't understand she continued. "Aaran obviously wasn't executed, but instead was smuggled out of the city through a hole in the garden wall. He was alive but ended up enslaved and sold off to Desdane as a test subject for his experiments. I don't know what all that man did to him but I've seen the scars. His body is covered in them. According to him Desdane eventually got bored of torturing him and decided to make him his apprentice, but only after removing his memories of love and compassion that kept him truly embracing dark magic.
"Mozenrath may have forgotten his own name along with my name and face but he told me he still remembered where he was from and his burning hatred for my father. He said he wanted to take over the world to change it. To take down the tyrants who ruled the seven deserts and make them pay for what they've done."
"He told me the same thing when we were bonded and down in the dungeons. But how do you know that's what he really wanted?" Aladdin asked. "How do you know he wasn't lying to you?"
Rena just looked up at him. The young man was angry, obviously, but his eyes also held confusion and even a little pity, which was probably fueling his anger even more. "Because I looked into his eyes when he said it, Aladdin."
When no one responded she just shook her head and chuckled. "Look I don't know how to better explain it. He and I have been like that since we were young. As long as I look him in the eye he has never been able to lie to me. Perhaps it's the magical curse that bonds us together but I know that bond was also the reason he took on that gauntlet and was willing to sacrifice his own life force for the power it possessed. Even with no memory of me he wanted to save me from that tower."
"Now that he knows who you are do you think he'll stop being evil?" Iago asked, perched on the genie's shoulder. "Magic's a tough addiction to break."
The hopefulness in Rena's face faded a bit, her head lowering enough to hide her brown eyes from view. "I don't know what he'll do now. He's not the same little boy I knew when we were young but even still I can't just give up on him. It's like breaking apart a mirror into many different pieces. You can eventually get it all back together by the image it presents will never be as smooth and polished as it was once before. Besides…I don't see that dark villain anymore, I just see the man."
For a long moment there was a pause of silence in the room. The air was heavy with unspoken feelings of anger, resentment, pity, and sadness. At last the sultan moved his plump little body to her side, taking her hand from his daughter and patted it gently. "My dear, there is not much I can really do for you in this situation. After all, love is such a fickle thing. But you must remember that even if he does love you he will never be rid of that stigma of a wicked man and you will have to carry that burden right alongside him."
Rena just gave the fatherly man a soft smile, squeezing his hand a little. "I understand, your majesty."
"Is there anything you would like me to do to help with your recovery?" He asked, trying to brighten the mood.
"If you wouldn't mind keeping who I am a secret I'd appreciate it." She said, leaning back against the pillows behind her. "I will go home to the Bronze City soon enough, but I'd like to make sure I'm completely healed before they get wind of my still being alive."
The sultan simply nodded, understanding her concern. "In that case, perhaps it's time we let you rest. I'm sure you're still very tired."
Rena nodded, her eye lids already starting to get heavy. Genie was kind enough to readjust her back to a lying down position before he and the other's left, making sure to take Iago and Rajah both with him as he left. Jasmine headed out too, talking softly with her father about doctors and dinner plans until only Aladdin was left behind. He stood there, at the end of her bed, hands still in fists at his side and staring at the floor. She looked at him curiously, knowing what he wanted to say. "Say it out loud Aladdin. Get it off your chest."
"How?" He demanded, throwing his arms wide as he spoke. "How can you love a man like that? He's tried to kill us, your friends, repeatedly for his selfish personal gain and yet you expect me to pity him because he's had a hard life?!"
"No, I don't." Rena said flatly, "I don't expect you to do any more than you've done already. I understand you hate him, Aladdin. You probably know better than anyone how his mind works and it's a justified emotion. But that is just who he is."
"He's evil, Rena! Amal told me about the time Mozenrath nearly choked you to death. I've seen the bruises and the cuts from all the work he makes you do. If you go back what's to stop him from treating you like this all over again? He's bad for you!"
"He's dying Aladdin!" She yelled at him. "Every time he uses that damn gauntlet the sand in his hourglass falls a little faster and he's running out of time. Even if he's careful he may live another year or two at most! It is the price he paid for that magic and all of that was just to try to save me from a tower I wasn't even in anymore!? You're choosing to see only one side of the coin when you and I both know there's more to him than that. We are bound together just as you are to Jasmine."
"Then why hasn't he come for you?" Aladdin snapped. "If Jasmine were laid out like you are I'd never leave her side. I would do anything for her whether it was fetch her shoes or align the planets and he hasn't even sent Xerxes or a mamluk to see if you're even alive! If that doesn't show you what kind of man he is that I don't know what."
To his surprise she said nothing, just looked at him, a small knowing smile on her face. "He is not the same kind of man as you are Aladdin. In a lot of ways he's still that little boy I knew as a kid, throwing a tantrum and wanting results. He will come when out of hiding when he's ready. He's not perfect, but he's not as heartless as you think either."
The young man stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. She was demented if she honestly thought that bastard could ever love her more than he loved himself or magic. She was going to end up dead by Mozenrath's hands if she went back to him, Aladdin was sure of it. Jasmine caught him fuming in the hall and pulled him close, not bothering to ask him what was wrong. Holding each other like this always made him feel better. "Do you think he'd ever hold her like this?"
Jasmine buried her face against his shoulder. "I don't know. They don't have the same kind of relationship we do, after all. But what can we do?"
"She won't listen to the truth Jasmine. He's nearly killed her once what makes her think he won't do it again?" Jasmine just kissed him sweetly to break off his rant.
"Right now she just needs to recover. Let's just let her sleep and try again tomorrow, alright?" He peered down into her dark almond-shaped eyes and smiled, nodding a little. He could never stay mad when she was around.
Jasmine took his arm and tugged her love along with her down the hall, offering a nice warm meal and a game of cards to help settle his mind. Meanwhile Rena just laid there, Aladdin's words echoing in her mind.
'Why hasn't he come for you?' It was a good question. She'd hoped that now that the barrier on his memories was broken he'd start to come back to the way he'd been with an open familiarity to her. Each night that passed she looked out and up at the moon, hoping to see him come out from within those shadows and take her back to Citadel with him. But every morning came and he didn't. Aladdin's words along with whispers of other's conversations soon reached her ears and doubt crept into her heart. After a while getting better no longer had the appeal it once had, nor did food. Eventually she stopped eating altogether, preferring to sleep or just stare out the window in her room, her body healed but still very weak.
He wasn't coming after all. And that thought hurt worse than any broken bone.
