Author's note: The idea for this story is one I've been sitting on for a long time and figured it would make for a good new Aladdin story. Main villain is Mozenrath (in case it wasn't obvious by the title). As usual, all characters, locales and original properties of Aladdin belong to their respective creators. The story itself and original characters are mine - just want to tell a fun story. Hope you enjoy. :)
Synopsis: In the middle of a major banquet held in Agrabah's palace, an arrangement of flowers sent by an unknown benefactor turns into a horrible nightmare of events. Will Aladdin and his friends escape the traps set for them in the sorcerer's powerful magic domain?
Black Sand Shadows and Blooms
Chapter 1: A Mysterious Arrangement
Mozenrath put the finishing touches of his magic spell coating the colorful flower arrangement he planned to send to Agrabah's palace. The dark sands turned the flowers and stems black initially, but as the magic seeped through the arrangement, the flowers returned to their usual colorful blood red and white hues.
Xerxes, who floated a distance away, appeared confused by his master's interest in the flowers. It wasn't like the Land of the Black Sand had any floral decorations to speak of. The land was primarily dead, with more darkness and decay around it than decor. Mozenrath's palace, for all its splendor, was devoid of anything this colorful. He knew his master preferred things that were more cloaked in darkness, not light.
Xerxes raised a brow as he flew close to his master, studying the individual bouquets of flowers. "Mozenrath giving gift to Agrabah Palace? Strange."
Mozenrath scowled as he put the finishing magic touches on the last batch of flowers. "This is no ordinary gift, Xerxes. Only the illusion of one from an anonymous benefactor. These flowers will be used to decorate the halls inside the Palace, where many guests will attend the upcoming banquet. The banquet will be at its highest gathering around sunset, when the magic of the Black Sand will come into full effect. The flowers will fill the hall with a mist that will weaken and put those exposed long enough to sleep. I will use my magic to summon the three I want to bring into my shadow labyrinth - Aladdin, Jasmine, and the beloved Sultan. The summons only work against those who are under the influence of the spell. That's when the party - for us - begins." Mozenrath then turned to look at Xerxes fully. "A death party, in case you were wondering."
"Oooh, Master has brilliant plan!" Xerxes said, finally understanding his Master's point.
Mozenrath casually shrugged, a small smile ticking up the corner of his lip. "Was there ever any doubt? I'm especially looking forward to seeing Aladdin fall to the power of these flowers, and to die by the shadows in the death maze that I created for him. I fully expect none of them to survive. Then Agrabah - and Aladdin's Genie - will be ours for the taking, an extension of the Black Sand kingdom that we will bend to our will."
"Yes! Mozenrath genius!" Xerxes hissed.
"Only a few more days," Mozenrath said as he looked outside the window to the moon shining high in the sky over the lands. "It should arrive just in time for the preparations of the Palace to finish. Can't come soon enough." His laugh echoed through the halls of the palace as he walked away.
"I wonder where these flowers came from? They're so vibrant and beautiful," Jasmine said as she examined the flowers that the guards brought into the Palace Throne Room. Several types of flowers had arrived to the Palace over the course of the past several days, outpourings of support from neighboring kingdoms and traveling merchants wanting to showcase their best arrangements in preparation for the Palace's bi-annual banquet.
Aladdin studied the second of flowers. "Doesn't have a name to it that I can tell. I'm guessing these flowers are going in the hall too?"
Jasmine clapped her hands together. "I don't see them going anywhere else. They need to be showcased where everyone can see them as they walk by. It's like they're calling to be noticed, you know?"
Aladdin shrugged. "Sounds good, I'll put these in the next batch for Carpet to haul over there. We only have a few more hours until we open the gates for the guests." His brow narrowed at a thought that came to him. "Where's Genie? Wasn't he supposed to be here helping us decorate?"
Jasmine winced. "Genie wanted me to tell you he was running a little behind. Apparently there was an accident in the kitchen and they had to remake several dishes."
Aladdin rolled his eyes, smiling a little. "Guess this is what we get for putting a semi-phenomenal being in charge of planning the food at the last minute. I hope that accident wasn't a certain parrot stuffing his face with the pastries when he wasn't supposed to."
Jasmine raised a brow, almost close to laughing. "What makes you think it was Iago that ate up everything?"
"Well, narrowing down possible culprits, I can say it definitely wasn't Abu. Iago said he'd help out in the kitchen because he kept sneezing when he was trying to help us arrange flowers earlier. At first I thought he said that just to get out of doing the work, but apparently, he's really allergic to all the flora. Abu's been helping me instead."
"I wasn't blaming Abu, actually. I was actually wondering what made you think it was Iago and not Genie that was the cause of the 'accident'?" Jasmine asked.
"Ohh," Aladdin said, rubbing the back of his neck as the realization dawned on him. "Yeah, that would make sense too. But then again, could've been both of them for all we know." He shrugged before picking up one of the pots of flowers. "Anyway, I'm gonna finish up the arrangement in the hall. Feel like this new batch brought in should complete the run. We can use the other flowers to decorate other areas of the palace."
Carpet helped haul the mysterious batch of blood red and white flowers to the hall, where Aladdin and Abu made the final touches on the arrangement.
"Think we followed Jasmine's instructions the best we could, Abu," Aladdin said, stepping back from the work they'd done. "What do you think? If we added any more flowers here, it would look too crowded, right?"
"Uhh..." Abu sat perched on Aladdin's shoulder, not sure what to say.
Aladdin groaned. "I'm not the best at knowing anything about ideal flower arrangements either, pal. But I think this is enough. Guess I could shift a few more flowers to even it out a bit, though." Aladdin had been wearing gloves and an old tunic to work on the flowers. It wasn't something he did often, especially considering he wasn't used to working with the flowers, not even for the royal garden. But he'd told the Sultan he wanted to help prepare for the semi-annual banquet in any way that he could. The Sultan had said they had plenty of volunteers and staff among the royal decorators to get the job done by themselves. Still, Aladdin wasn't one to sit around and not do anything before big events like this. He was happy for the work.
If the only thing he had to worry about was getting fitted for his new outfit for the night and preparing for all the socializing he'd do that night, he'd go stir crazy. This gave him something else to focus on for the time being.
Abu's sudden shocked screech made Aladdin snap right out of his thoughts. "Owwie! Owwie!" the monkey yelped.
"What's wrong, Abu? What happened?" Aladdin approached his friend, realizing that Abu had cut his paw on trying to arrange a flower that had thorns hidden on the base of it. The flower was partially pulled up, the thorn sticking up in plain sight. Aladdin didn't see the monkey's wound at first because Abu covered his paw. It wasn't from the newer flowers they'd brought in, but rather another arrangement that Abu had tried to shift to even it out.
Aladdin sighed. "That's why you shouldn't have tried to work with the flowers without wearing gloves. Genie could've made ones that fit you if you asked for them. Lemme see."
"Nuh-uh." Abu said, shaking his head stubbornly.
"Abu, come on."
"No, no, no." Abu was being deliberately stubborn, puffing out his lip in defiance as he held his injured paw close to his chest.
"Abu..." Aladdin's tone was soft, but firm in warning.
Abu finally sighed, holding out his paw for Aladdin to examine. Aladdin took Abu's paw as gently in his hands as he could, but the monkey still cringed. "Looks like you cut it deeper than I thought," he said, seeing the blood well along Abu's paw. "Come on, let's stop here and get this bandaged up for you. Think we're done here anyhow."
Aladdin didn't take too much time doing what he could to bandage Abu's wound. The monkey had provided a little resistance. In the end, Abu was surprised how quickly it was over with, twisting and turning his paw up and down to study his bandage. But the monkey still looked troubled about something, even as they sat in Jasmine's room.
"What's wrong? Does it still hurt? I'm not a medic, but I definitely put enough medicine where you shouldn't be feeling the worst of it anymore."
"No, no," Abu said. He screeched a series of statements that caught Aladdin by surprise, making the prince's eyes widen at the revelation.
"Huh? Bad omens? Didn't think you were that superstitious," Aladdin said, before exhaling a long breath that made the hair above his brow flare upward. "I think things are gonna be fine at the banquet tonight. We've done this before, you know? I'm not the kind of person who would believe in the tall tale of spilling blood before the night of a full moon of a major event would mean something bad happening. Even if that were the case, we'll deal with it as it comes. We always do."
Abu muttered a few statements, but Aladdin heard them.
"Nah, I feel like the worst thing that could happen tonight is just some of the royals from neighboring kingdoms giving me a hard time because of my background as a street rat. I'm prepared for it, though. It's not the first time they've said things like that, and it won't be the last. Even if I were married to Jasmine for decades or scores beyond now, I think they'd still treat me the same because I wasn't born with royal blood. I can't change what they think or how they treat me. I've stopped trying a long time ago."
Abu looked worried then, thinking he'd hit his friend at a raw nerve. "Aladdin."
Aladdin shook his head, smiling a little. "No, I'm good. Tonight'll be fine. If you're really that worried about attending, you should skip out on the social parts. I'll be with Jasmine and the Sultan the whole time. I think Iago's planning on not sticking around either, except for the part where we're serving food. Genie's going to be welcoming guests in the Palace from the outside. You could also join him if you want." Aladdin suddenly looked outside, eyes widening. "Whoa, getting close to our time to start. I'd better go get changed."
Even as Aladdin left the room, Abu curled up on the cushion on Aladdin's bed, wondering if the bad feeling he had really was just a figment of his imagination.