Chapter Twenty-two: Desperate Rescue and Plans
Khaleel watched the water desperately as Abu clung to his shoulders, squeaking and chattering anxiously. "Come on," Khaleel pleaded. "Come on. Allah, please help him."
This couldn't be the end. This in no way could be the end. But what if it was? What if by throwing Genie's lamp down there, Khaleel had thrown away their only possibility of saving Agrabah? Even if something happened to Aladdin, the prince would want Khaleel to ensure that Jasmine was protected. To make sure that Agrabah wasn't taken over by a villain.
A brief flash of light from below the surface. Khaleel drew in a deep breath. Genie was out. It would be only a matter of minutes now.
Genie rolled his eyes with a grin at his blue ducky. "Never fails, you get into the tub and there's a rub of the lamp," he said. He looked over at his new pal. "Hey, Al–" He froze.
The young man who gave so freely of himself now hovered between life and death as bubbles floated from his lips.
"Oh, no, don't you dare give up!" Genie yelled, grabbing his lapels. "You just hang in there for me!" Right! Written wish! He fished around the vest pockets. He heaved out a breath when he found the squashed scroll. But when he opened it, the ink was already washed out by the salt water.
"AAHH! What to do? What to do?" he worried. He needed a wish in order to help. At least that was the rule. Sure, he fudged some, or allowed himself to be tricked the odd time or two. But, there was always the fear of something backfiring.
"Oh!" He whirled into Sherlock Holmes. "Rapid fire deduction time," he said with his new British accent. Pulling out a pocket magnifying glass, he studied the paper, even as his momentarily enhanced brain pulled together clues from last night.
"If I am unable to voice it, this is my second wish. I'll keep it on my person until either it's used or there is no longer a threat."
"This is his second wish, in case he was unable to voice it. Obviously to get him out of a bad situation, especially if it was life threatening," Sherlock-Genie deduced. "Ah-ha, 'saved from certain doom.' Well–"
He whirled back to himself. "That's all I need. Now to get you out of here without calling attention to you too bad."
An instant later, he tucked Aladdin into a submersible teleporting machine. "And we're out of here!" A single glance upward showed that Carpet at least was topside. He popped above the surface just long enough for them to see before he warped himself and Al back to the guest rooms.
As soon as he spied Genie, Khaleel grabbed Carpet's tassels and sent them back to the guest chambers. He half-fell off Carpet as he scrambled over to where Genie was laying Aladdin on a couch. "Kid!" he cried. He nearly knocked Genie away as he fell on the edge of the couch, grabbing his friend's, his ward's shoulders. "Wake up!" he pleaded in urgent desperation.
He was still. Far too still. His chest wasn't moving. Was the blood already draining from his skin?
"Please! Come on," Khaleel repeated, shaking the boy. He was barely aware of Genie hovering on the other side, of Carpet and Abu floating behind him. It couldn't end this way. It just couldn't. They'd survived mud monsters! Defeated evil genies! His friend, the boy that was almost a son to him, couldn't have been bested by mere water.
Aladdin gasped, immediately choking.
Khaleel twisted the boy towards him without thinking, giving an easier outlet for the salt water. Later he'd cringe at the brine mixed with traces of bile that soaked his pants and spattered the edge of his coat. For now, he was too relieved that his friend, his boy was alive. As the coughing and choking was finally exchanging for cleansing gasps for air, the former genie hugged his boy to his chest, not caring that his own clothes were quickly soaking through with sea water. "Thank Allah," he gasped, tears of relief making slow trails down his cheeks.
"I-I'm okay," Aladdin said.
"Just let me hold you til I'm assured of that," Khaleel returned. "I was helpless. Helpless. I couldn't do anything."
"You got Genie to me," Aladdin said, his deep breaths slowly evening out. "That helped a lot."
"Definitely a team effort," Genie said, wrapping his arms around them both.
"Do I even want to know what happened?"
Khaleel looked up to see Mozenrath standing beside the closed chamber doors.
"I come over, in hopes of seeing what our plans are, only to see the doors flung wide open, and nobody here," Mozenrath said. "And that was seconds before Genie teleported in with my half-drowned brother followed a half-second by everyone else."
"The cobra made his strike," Aladdin said. "According to him, if I died, I was really the prince I say I am. But, if I survived, I am nothing but the street rat who stole 'his' treasure."
Khaleel held him a little tighter. "He'd have ended up with more genies than he knew what to do with," he nearly growled. "All of them eager to tear him apart."
"It's okay, Khaleel," Aladdin said, weakly returning the hug. "I'm right here. He didn't succeed."
"So, what now?" Genie asked, settling down.
"First, thank you for saving my life," Aladdin said. "Second, we need to stop Jafar."
"That's not going to be easy," Mozenrath said as Khaleel forced himself to give Aladdin some room. "From what I've seen and heard, the Sultan trusts him completely. Everyone's been fooled by him."
"Maybe not everyone," Aladdin said, taking a couple final deep breaths. He pushed himself up, gingerly swinging his legs to the floor. "I need a fresh set of clothes. Carpet, if you're willing, I need a ride over to Jasmine's balcony."
Carpet nodded.
"Khaleel–"
Khaleel froze as Aladdin pressed Genie's lamp into his hands.
"I need you to be ready to ask Genie for help if things go wrong," Aladdin said.
"Genies can't make wishes on other genies," Khaleel protested.
"And that information would be important because?" Mozenrath asked, confused.
"Your wish was to be human," Aladdin said, momentarily ignoring his brother. "It wouldn't be genie asking genie."
"Wait," Mozenrath said, realization dawning. "Khaleel used to be a genie?" He threw his hands up. "That explains it. Genies never have spirit animals. My little brother has essentially surrounded himself with freed genies."
"Very protective genies," Khaleel added. "Keep that in mind if you ever decide to take a chance at him."
"Khaleel," Aladdin said, "you're the only one I know who would know what to say, what to wish, if we ended up in a bad way during this confrontation."
"And my part?" Mozenrath asked, apparently setting aside his new realization.
"Shielding and keeping us informed of any magic attacks Jafar will attempt," Aladdin said, turning to him. "Whoa."
"What?" Mozenrath said.
"Not only do you actually have hair that you've been hiding but you're also capable of wearing something that doesn't include black," Aladdin said.
Khaleel's eyebrows shot up as he noticed the prince was right.
The Lord of the Black Sands was casually dressed in suede boots, light brown pants, and medium blue shirt with dark blue trim. A blue belt with an attached wide panel hanging to his knees. Then of course, his constant magical glove. He was also bare-headed, revealing that he had a full head of curling, black hair.
"Yes, yes," Mozenrath brushed aside with an eyeroll. "Did you honestly think I forever wore my formal robes?"
"We had no indication of otherwise," Aladdin pointed out.
The wizard heaved a sigh. "Childish." He swept a hand out, sending magic around Aladdin.
Khaleel stiffened until he realized that the magic was merely drying Aladdin's clothes. Yeah. He was definitely still needing to get used to Mozenrath being an ally and not an enemy.
"Now, get over to your princess and tell her the full story so that we can get rid of a power-hungry vizier," Mozenrath said.
"On it," Aladdin said, standing and meeting Carpet a couple steps later. "I'll be back after a while." Then they flew out.
Khaleel turned when Mozenrath cleared his throat. "I hope you realize," the young wizard said, "that I have a lot of questions to ask you once we've won."
"I'm fully aware of that," Khaleel answered, tucking Genie's lamp into his sash.
"Uh, might want to change," Genie suggested.
Khaleel looked down in momentary confusion. Then he noticed the mess that he was. "Eh, yeah," he said, finally registering the chilled wet clothing. He stood and headed over to his stack of belongings, hoping that they would prove successful before morning's end.
Aladdin sat on Carpet, looking out over Agrabah as they floated over to Jasmine's balcony. He really should have done this earlier, but had wanted to do it the traditional way. Not to mention he'd been wanting Carpet to have a break. Did magic carpets need sleep or some equivalent to it?
He pushed that aside as Carpet came to a stop. "Princess?" he called without turning. He had no intentions of accidently spying her in a compromising state.
"She is in the other room," Dalia's voice came from behind him. "It is safe to turn."
Aladdin swiveled round. "Good morning, Lady Dalia," he greeted. "Might I enquire if the princess would allow me to break fast with her?"
"Hm," Dalia mused. "Princess Jasmine," she called back, "do you wish to share your morning meal with a roguish prince?"
"Only if he enjoys jumping between buildings and evading Jafar's guards," Jasmine answered, her voice floating out. She stepped from behind the back curtains.
"Wow," Aladdin murmured.
Jasmine smiled coyly offering a slow circle. Admittedly, while possibly one of her casual outfits, it was no less gorgeous on her. A rich purple accented with gold were her colors. A short-sleeved top, perfectly fitted; paired with pants full enough to almost be mistaken for a skirt and a flowing over skirt. Her rich, black hair fell to her waist, held back from her face only by a pair of jade and gold combs. "I hope you realize," she said, partially breaking him from his trance, "I don't preen before just anyone."
Aladdin bit his tongue before something foolish could spring out. Something along the lines of "I should hope not," sounding like some jealous, possessive jerk when he didn't have any real claim to her. He forced himself to nod, even as he had to acknowledge to himself that his princess had had to dress to impress other potential suitors. One being Prince Anders. If that didn't make his blood almost boil from jealousy, he wasn't sure what would.
"So, the great Sultan of Ababwa wishes to dine with the Princess of Agrabah?" Jasmine asked, stepping further into the room.
Aladdin shook himself, reminding himself of the reason for the early morning visit. "If the Sultan-to-be of Agrabah will allow a lowly street rat to do so," he returned. He smiled at the pleased blush that sprouted on Jasmine's cheeks.
"She allows it and welcome," Jasmine answered.
Aladdin quickly dismounted from Carpet as Dalia went to prepare the table. "I hoped to tell you what I couldn't last night," he confessed. "Especially since things have escalated just this morning."
"What happened?" Jasmine asked, concerned.
"I'll start from the beginning once we're seated," Aladdin answered. So over the morning meal, he told her everything that had happened since he departed from her after returning her bracelet. He recounted Jafar's capturing him and "manipulating" him to enter the Cave of Wonders. Meeting Carpet and the Genie (okay, so he glossed over the cave collapsing, but most important, he survived it). Reuniting with Khaleel and the rest of his camp. Jafar's momentary offer before the Festival and finally that morning's near-death experience.
Jasmine fell back against her chair from her perched forward position. "I can't believe this," she said. "Well, I can believe it, but it's such a shock. He is wanting a Genie, for what?" She paled. "Will he destroy Shehrabad?"
Aladdin stiffened a little. Mother said that one of her closest friends lived in Shehrabad, one of the only reasons he had connections who told him about a street rat starting to rise through the ranks. "He wishes to destroy Shehrabad?"
"I can't tell you the number of times that he's tried to convince Baba to attack them," Jasmine said. "But it's Mother's kingdom, one of our oldest allies."
Aladdin sank back as well. "If that's the case," he said, fighting back his own worry, "that could be the intention for one of his wishes. But more than anything, he wants power. 'Either you're the most powerful man in the room, or you're nothing.' That's what he told me."
"We have to stop him," Jasmine said, instantly straightening in her chair.
"And we have every intention to," Aladdin said, leaning forward. "Your father trusts you, and that is why we need your help. Yes, there's Khaleel, Mozenrath, and myself, even Genie for back up. But, we've barely been here twenty-four hours. There is no real reason for your father to trust our words."
"Why don't you just free Genie?" Jasmine asked. "That could buy some time, right?"
"Perhaps," Aladdin admitted. "But there is an odd balance. A genie tied to their lamp and the rule of three wishes are at their most powerful. A freed genie, even if they desire only freedom from being confined to their lamp and being a slave, loose a great deal of their power. You'd never know it, unless you've seen it."
"Almost a check and balance," Jasmine said thoughtfully. "A genie is so powerful that Allah requires them to be controlled lest they create chaos, and so in order to be free, their power is reduced to a more manageable strength."
Aladdin nodded, impressed with how quickly she caught on. "And, while Mozenrath doesn't believe Jafar to be too big of a threat in the area of magic, I would rather we have a full-strength Genie just in case."
Jasmine nodded in firm agreement. "If we go now, we'll meet Baba on the way to his study."
"We'll remain hidden, just until we hear how Jafar will paint my disappearance from Agrabah," Aladdin said.
"Alright, we must move swiftly," she said.
Aladdin could only admire her more as she called for Dalia to join them as they headed out. She was more than worthy of the title of Sultan in his opinion. And so, they headed off to face the serpent.
Author's Note: Okay, Aladdin was rescued, Mozenrath got the shock of his life, and Jasmine now knows everything. I'd say that's a good way to head into the Christmas week. :-)
For any who are wondering what version of Sherlock Holmes Genie used: it's up to you. There was a reason I was somewhat vague. I know a good number may only be aware or used to the stereotypical Victorian version, while others one of the modern versions. So, let your imagination soar.
Something that fans have complained about at least for the cartoon was how Aladdin didn't technically use a wish, and even in the live action, it's a bit of a gray area. Thus why I had Aladdin write out his second wish just before the Harvest Festival and after Jafar tried to enchant him. Even if Aladdin and Khaleel should potentially invest in waterproof writing supplies.
I just had to make Mozenrath clueless concerning Khaleel and so many others being freed genies. Mozenrath may be a powerful sorcerer, but he isn't all knowing. Even if he would like you to believe otherwise. And, yes, Mozenrath, I had to lightly poke some fun at how you never had a costume change in the tv series. And no, an additional cloak or the occasional transformation spell does not count.
And then, I will confess, I had to create another genie headcanon in order to make it believable as to why Genie couldn't be immediately freed. Aladdin is already a born prince, he doesn't have to keep up a false front in order to win the girl or the Sultan's favor. He doesn't need Genie's magic to continue fueling a lie. But, I didn't want to have Genie freed just yet. Thus, the theory/headcanon of the power balance. I can't recall if I have come across something similar before that influenced it, or if it is something that just popped into my head and made perfect sense to me. Either way, I hope it explains why Aladdin hasn't already made his final wish for Genie's freedom.
So, they shall soon be confronting Jafar. How do you think it will go? Will our heroes succeed? Will Jafar get away? What do you think the future holds for our characters?