It lives!

P.S. All credit to respective owners!

P.P.S. Some concepts taken from the KH manga.

-YARN

The Cave of Wonders was amazing in how intricate and ancient it was, the platforms and pathways were littered with gold and gleaming trinkets of riches long since claimed by the desert from unfortunate souls. It was mesmerizing in its own charm but it was not without its perils as several boulders rolled out from tunnels and gouts of flames erupted from what seemed purely decorative designs on the walls. Traps made to keep people who wandered or went into the cave from getting too far and keep the treasures of the cave hidden from the world.

And there were heartless.

The annoying specialized heartless of bandits, fire-breathing fat bandits, air soldiers, and their horde of shadows and magic lanterns.

And while it wasn't as numerous as the unending hordes we had been dealing with before, the area had large gaps in the floor that we had to mindful of or we would fall into the lower areas of the cave. When we fell — while fighting some fat bandits that decided that if they couldn't beat us they could at least slow us down by shattering the damn floor with an hard jump and stomp — it was possible to find a path back up to the top, but the more time we lost the more time Jafar had to use Genie to uncover the keyhole and let the Vizer let the heartless in and plunge the world in darkness. Even if The Genie himself forgot where it was located himself, his subservience to whoever held the lamp would allow him to unlock the keyhole to the world, whether he wanted to or not. With that thought in mind and worry of Jasmine, we powered our way through the heartless that infested the cave, smashing aside the opposition with a mix of magic and might.

We managed to get to the chamber that lay at the end of the Cave to see Jafar, an unconscious Jasmine, and some lady dressed in dark robes with a staff wearing a hat that were like two dragon horns on her head. They had been discussing something or the other and we were more than worried as we noticed that they keyhole to this world was right in front of them. The only saving grace was that it didn't seem like anything too momentous had happened since the reveal of the keyhole. Still — despite the already terrible situation we were in — who really caught our attention was the woman in black as she radiated darkness and power unlike anything we had felt before, except for maybe when our world was getting swallowed up by the heartless. It wasn't as crushing or heavy as that day, but the potency and fact we could sense it from where we stood didn't make us feel better about it.

"Wait a second." Sora called, "Are you… Maleficent?"

She smiled — cruel and smug — at us before she just faded from sight.

"Jafar!" Aladdin snarled, "Let Jasmine go!"

"Not a chance." Jafar scoffed, "You see, she's a princess. One of seven who somehow hold the key to open the door."

"Open…" Goofy began, puzzled.

"…the door?" Donald finished in confusion.

"The door to what?" I demanded, knowing enough about Jafar that if he was interested in said door, it was not something we wanted to open.

"It doesn't matter." Jafar replied haughtily, "As you fools won't survive to see what lies beyond it!"

He pulled out the lamp and we tensed and summoned our weapons as Aladdin drew his blade.

"Genie! My second wish." He called as genie materialized behind him with a defeated expression, "Crush them!"

"Genie, no!" Aladdin pleaded, hoping that somehow Genie would be able to resist the command Jafar had given.

Genie hesitated — wanting nothing more than to help Aladdin — but he cried out in pain as the golden bands he wore began to shrink, crushing his wrists. We all gasped at the horrific punishment for the Genie who was bound to the lamp, he was normally so loud and friendly; this was torture just as much to us as it was to him to see him in pain and be unable to help. That was the last straw for my patience and my greed and desire for three wishes, there could be nothing to stop me now.

If — no, when — I got that lamp, I don't give a damn about potential wishes, I am freeing the Genie from that cursed container no matter what and smashing the lamp to pieces for good measure.

"Sorry, Al." Genie replied miserably, the cuffs once again expanding as he resigned himself to the command, "The one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice."

Jafar lifted his snake staff and waved it as the eyes flashed red; a barrier formed in front of the keyhole and the exit, locking us in and preventing us from sealing the keyhole or leaving.

He turned to us with a malicious smile, "End of the line, street rats."

Jafar raised his staff and pointed it at us, a beam of light erupting from his staff as we darted out of the way. Genie seemed to slowly hover over to us and covering his eyes before swinging, giving us as much leeway as he could as Jafar had no control over how fast or how much power Genie used to fight us. I sprinted at the evil vizier, Abaddon Plasma a comforting weight at my side as Aladdin came in from the vizier's other side to cut him off. We vaulted onto his platform and rushed at him only to have to leap out of the way of another blast of light. He sneered at us before his staff was suddenly cloaked in flames and he swung the weapon at us, trying to burn us.

As we ducked away from the flames, he suddenly began to fly away with a mocking cry of , "Over here!"

Aladdin turned to me and said, "Be ready to meet him!"

I nodded as the scimitar-wielding street rat took off in a dash, scowling as the Vizier laughed at his attempt to keep pace. He was so caught up that he only noticed I was still on the same platform he had left a nanosecond before he actually reached it. He swung with his staff to try to knock me out of the way, but I knew the game and was ready to play. I caught the staff on my keyblade and used the teeth of my weapon to lock his staff as Aladdin caught up and moved in, his sword slicing a cut along Jafar's side before he could pull free. He let out a cry of pain before he simply dissolved into a inky black gas and shift out from between us to swiftly cross the chamber.

My friends didn't dither as they tracked his progress.

When he materialized, He knew one of us would be waiting, but didn't anticipate that it would be Goofy hiding in his blind spot. The royal knight smashed into him with a knocksmash the moment the Vizier reformed and followed it up with a Goofy Tornado for good measure. His attacks repeatedly struck the unprepared Vizier, who quickly transitioned back into his gas to avoid the knight beating him up.

In his panic to escape Goofy, he forgot we had a sorcerer on our side when he materialized.

Donald was there to meet him with a cry of, "Blizzara!"

Jafar only had the time to wave his staff himself before an explosion of ice sent him flying away from the platform he had the misfortune of trying to land on.

Sora narrowed his eyes at the airborne vizier and called out, "Thunder!"

A lightning bolt slammed Jafar into the floor in a cloud of dust.

I smirked, that combo would leave anyone at least dazed.

My smiled slipped as a multicolored orb that appeared from the smoke that surrounded Jafar as simply floated back up and dusted his robes before floating back into the air. He still had the bruises from Goofy and cuts from Aladdin, but that was about it when it came to actual damage dealt. The magic had burned some of his robes and caused him to feel a chill, but he had managed to mitigate the worst of the effects using his own magic.

"I see you buffoons do indeed know some magic." Jafar sneered, the orb fading away from his form, "Unfortunately for you, so do I!"

He spread his hands and ice blocks began to form in the air and swirl around the chamber in a literal storm as he swiped his staff sideways. I flinched at the sudden chill spreading though the cave as ice chunks that swirled into the existence smashed into our bodies, knocking us down and forcing us to dart around the storm. I quickly threw up an aero shield around myself, but all the wind barrier did was blunt the full impact of the ice hitting me, it did nothing to block the cold that was sapping our strength. Shivering from the cold, Aladdin was brought to his knees as he brought his blade up in a feeble guard against the the storm. The barrage of ice was suddenly halted and Aladdin blinked at the sudden stop only to realize that Genie had swerved into the storm, hand slowly and lazily swiping at the group as his body took the brunt of the storm without complaint. In response, I couldn't help the grin that surged its way to my face as Genie's intently mischievous and delighted look at the loophole he had wriggled into. Donald quickly cast fire in the slight lull as spiraling ring rose around the royal mage and chased the chill from the chamber we were in, rousing us from the daze the cold had put us in. Aladdin quickly dashed past Genie with a proud smile in his direction as he lunged at the incensed vizier. Jafar eyes widened and his staff glowed orange as a wave of heat of erupted from it an flames coated the staff.

"Get back!" Jafar roared as he swung his staff at the street rat.

Aladdin dodged the clumsy swings of the vizier who had never been one to deal well with physical combat and slashed with renewed vigor. While he was distracted, I turned to Sora and pointed behind Jafar and mouthed, 'Ragnarock'. Sora's eyes gleamed in understanding as he nodded before stealthily scampering behind the maddened Vizier and into his blind spot. Jafar grit his teeth as Aladdin socked him in the mouth and surrounded himself in his magical barrier to force Aladdin back, eyes ablaze with rage and indignation. He shoved his arms out and let out a shockwave that knocked Aladdin off the block they were on and towards the ground when the Genie flew over and 'accidentally' cushioned Aladdin's fall with his own body and grabbed him in safety. He fired a beam at the dazed street-rat, But Goofy leapt in the way, catching the attack on his shield and keeping Aladdin safe while Genie carefully let Aladdin drop.

"Genie!" The Vizier howled, "You aid them when I hold the lamp?!"

"He isn't helping us at all!" I called, mocking clear in my tone, "It's not his fault he just happened to meander into the path of the storm while on his way to crush us! If anything, it's your fault you didn't make any good wishes and had no power until the darkness infested you . You're nothing but a weak-willed madman with no real power of your own to stand on!"

He turned to me with his staff glowing, and I was suddenly running for my life as chunks of ice, bolts of lightning, and gouts of fire began flying my way, missing me by inches. Donald immediately responded with his own salvo of spells to counter the attacks headed my way, but Jafar was holding nothing back, even dismissing his magical shield in favor of pouring more power into attacking me. To be fair, I had been the one who had been insulting him, prodding at his pride and self-aggrandizing with nothing but sass. He had every reason to want to kill us, but he had hated me with a very severe passion as I had done everything to make him loathe me. He was so bent on trying to kill me that he completely missed the fact that Sora leapt into the air behind him, body glowing as he positioned his keyblade to strike at him.

"Ragnarock!" Sora shouted.

Jafar turned only to be hit with several powerful swing of Sora's keyblade, being thrown back while crying out in pain as Sora's key glowed and fired a barrage of swirling blasts that homed in on Jafar and exploded on impact. As Jafar's concentration shattered and he began to fall, I angled my keyblade and rushed at him, focusing on my own Shotlock.

"Photon Charge!" I shouted, body blurring as I began to lance around the chamber, blitzing around the chamber with more power and speed that any of my Sonic Blade attacks had ever managed as I blasted Jafar around like a rag doll in different direction before a burst of light from my last attack hit exploded launched him into the sky.

As Jafar was still in the air, Aladdin jumped into the air and with a cry, sliced Jafar across the chest in a final blow.

As Jafar fell to the ground, inky darkness began spreading from the slash on his chest like a disease on fast-forward. He gripped his head and clutched at his chest as flickers of red and orange lightning until he was little more than a writhing black shadow. He exploded into a mist of darkness and we relaxed as we went to go check on Jasmine and the keyhole. Jasmine seemed to be fine, she was unconscious but there were no injuries and her breathing was deep and even as she even showed some slight signs of stirring. With her under Aladdin's watchful eye, we made to go to the keyhole when we suddenly smacked into an invisible wall. As we stumbled back in surprise, I realized this was the same wall that Jafar had erected in order to block us.

But wasn't he —

"Genie!" Jafar voice roared angrily, "My final wish! Make me an all-powerful Genie!"

We all felt a wave of horror as we turned to see the terrified Genie cover his eyes as he aimed his finger at Jafar and fired a blast of light purple energy at the incensed Vizir who despite his disheveled and damaged appearance was still alive.

The bolt of light struck the madman and he began to glow as the entire chamber we were standing in began to shake from the sheer energy being exuded from Jafar's body as he began to slowly float down. As he touched the ground he roared in triumph as the floor exploded to show a drop that led to lake of lava with moving stone platforms that had been hidden beneath. Several chunks of rock landed into the lake that a even larger tremor to shake the room. The force was enough to create a landslide of loose sand and stone blocks to fall into the lava. Eyeing the moving stones that shifted in the chamber we noticed that they were able to withstand the heat without melting. We wanted to stay above and avoid the literal lake of lava but if we didn't go down there Jafar would be able to use his new powers to kill us all in no time. With that unhappy realization, Donald quickly cast a lighter version of a combination of Areo and Blizzard to keep the heat from exhausting us as we all leapt down the hole in the floor.

We all landed and looked around while Jafar's maddened cackling echoed around the chamber as the walls began to shift, pushing out to make more platforms and sloshing the lava that bubbled around us. We all looked around to see where Jafar may have been when the lava exploded behind us in a geyser of hear as Jafar emerged.

As a genie, he actually had the same aesthetic as Genie himself did, except for the fact he was red, totally yellow eyes, and had a superior smirk on his face.

We blanched when Donald noticed Iago flying around while toting a black lamp that was giving off the same glow as Jafar.

"The lamp!" He shouted, pointing at the panting red bird, "It's Jafar's. We can use it to seal him away!"

Jafar apparently took exception to that as he plunged into the lava only to emerge with a giant rock that was glowing with heat as lava ran down the sides. He hefting the molten rock over his head for a moment and launched it at us, causing us to scatter before it crushed us. I chased after the bird, face set in a scowl as I leapt off one of the shifting platforms to swing at him. Iago managed to swerve around my attack and drifted away, squawking in dismay as he realized we would all focus on him. Donald cast a quick blizzard spell that forced Iago down lest he be frozen only to realize that Sora and Aladdin had begun to box him in. Goofy was about to grab the bird when Jafar's hand swung through the air, sending a wave of lava at us to keep us from Iago. We couldn't grab the bird while Jafar was playing defense so someone had to distract him so he'd pay more attention on trying to stomp that person rather than defend Iago.

I sighed and threw my keyblade that bounced off the back of his head before I recalled it back to me as he turned to face me.

"Heya!" I mocked, "What's wrong old man? Can't catch me? Even becoming a genie couldn't fix the fact that you are a third-rate creep!"

He glared and lifted his arms, lava laced with heated rock rising beneath his palm as he swung the molten rocks at me like whips. I ducked beneath one and scuttled away from another that would have burned straight through my arm. I hoped that Sora had realized what I was doing because it was quickly becoming apparent that this would work for long. He was already trouble enough with his magic, as a Genie he was infinitely more powerful and able to crush me if he caught me. A lash of lava roared towards me and I rapidly began to cast Blizzara at the approaching attack, hoping to keep from getting burned. Even as the lava cooled to rock, the blow connected and I could feel something in my side shatter as I was launched across the room. I hit the wall and landed on the ground, coughing and trying to breathe.

"Finally…" Jafar purred, dark satisfaction dripping off every syllable as he raised a sizable rock of lava, "Time to die boy."

I met his eyes with defiance, he would not see me fear him.

"Not happening Jafar!" Sora shouted angrily, "Back to your lamp!"

Jafar froze as black cuffs formed around his wrists and he began to scream in fear as his body was being pulled towards the lamp in Sora's hands. I cast a healing spell and sighed in relief as my pain began to quickly fade away as the magic fixed the damage caused by Jafar. As the genie was finally sealed away and Iago no where to be seen, we quickly were assisted back to the keyhole via Genie carrying us up. As we landed, Sora rushed over to the keyhole and pointed his keyblade at it while Aladdin called out for Jasmine who had mysteriously vanished. I took a moment to assess the black lamp Sora had passed to me as we were carried up and I carelessly tossed it into the lava filled room below, it landing on rock surrounded by churning lava.

"Good luck being found." I muttered to myself.

I scanned the room, trusting Sora to handle the keyhole and feeling a dark foreboding feeling as Jasmine was nowhere in the chamber.

Suddenly the floor shook and we all stumbled as the very chamber seemed to be affected by a angry earthquake. We all panicked and Aladdin called more desperately for his love when the magic carpet darted in from the entrance to the chamber and flew at us. Despite dragging a struggling Aladdin on and me nearly falling off again, the carpet took off in a burst of speed towards the exit. With the cave collapsing around us, we had to grab onto any of the fabric to keep from flying off as the carpet weaved through the falling debris and streams of fire. I nearly let go when one turn twisted my wrist too far and only manage to grab a tassel to catch myself again. We flew out of the mouth just as the mouth that was the entrance let out a burst of dust and rock after us.

The flight to Agrabah was made in heavy and despairing silence.

Despite the fact we beat Jafar and sealed the keyhole, Jasmine was gone.

And the whole group — sans the grieving Aladdin — knew who took her.