Prologue

Everything you know is wrong. Let's get that out of the way, shall we?

Hopefully at this point in your life, you know not to believe everything you hear, not to believe only one side of the story. You'd be surprised at the sheer number of people who think this way.

I almost believe telling this story to be pointless. You don't know who I am. You have no reason to listen to anything I tell you and yet, here you are. Somehow, there is a part of me that chooses to hope.

Whether or not you believe anything here is entirely your choice, but know that every bit of it is the truth.

For now, I take you to a place you may or may not already know. Our story begins on a dark night, where a dark man waits, with a dark purpose, and ends with a genie freed, a villain defeated, and true love overcoming all. And as that story ends, another story begins, a story of wrongs righted.

On a dark night, where a dark man waits, with a dark purpose.

Agrabah…

He dirt of the Agrabah streets crunched under his feet. The Royal Guards' shouts weren't far behind him. The violent pound of his heartbeat threatened to consume him as curious onlookers cleared the way for the Royal Guard, murmuring amongst themselves as they tried to decipher what was happening.

Yet, despite all of the noise around them, the babies were silent. As if they knew.

Perhaps, if he'd not slipped into a hole in the walls, perhaps if he'd not known a passageway that led into the underground, they would've found him.Perhaps if he had the time, if he'd not been the one pursued, he would've laughed at the bellows of rage erupting from the Royal Guard of Agrabah.They were the least of his worries.

The smell of the earth became stronger as the steps spiraled deeper, deeper into the underground. His steps did not falter. It was pure muscle memory that guided him through the passageways that formed Agrabah's underground.

Eventually, the man found his way through the network of tunnels running under the city, and then, he wasn't under the city at all. Eventually, he'd found the place he needed to be, the place where all others met.

As carefully as he could, he removed his robe and dropped it onto the ground, and he placed the girl carefully on the bunched up fabric. She began to squirm, searching for the presence of another, a presence she'd known until now.

He stared down at the second baby in his arms, a boy. The boy stared up at him, with dark, expressive eyes. For only a brief second, they flashed their true color, reminding the man of all he could be, and of all he may never be. The boy continued to stare up at him, waiting, wondering. It was almost painful to look at the baby. It was just as painful to turn away.

His throat burned with all the words he wanted to say, and the tear that escaped his eye fell onto the baby's cheek. The man cradled the infant to his chest, possibly the only time he'd ever get to, and placed a kiss to the boy's tiny forehead.

Gently, he placed he placed the boy to the fussing baby girl, and she calmed immediately. The boy fidgeted, as though trying to get closer to the girl, and the man smiled.In the midst of all the darkness that threatened to shroud him at any moment, still, there was light to shine through it, if only a little.

He clutched at his chest as the darkness in him threatened to consume him, and he began his spellwork. And in that moment, he sent up a thousand prayers to all the gods that existed that one day, the babes would be safe, that they would both know the truth.