A/N: Wow, I didn't think so many people would enjoy this story! Thank you so much for all who have reviewed so far, your words give so much encouragement to write and continue. I hope you like all that I have in store for Moz and the gang, so please keep reading, and of course, reviewing. :)
Chapter Three
Mozenrath stood immediately, his eyes never wavering from the old man's. The sense of shock bombarded his body and mind so quickly, he had barely any time to react or deflect the severity of the words spoken to him. His mind went blank in a sea of thousands of puzzled questions, his heart thudded dully within his wavering chest and his eyes darted around madly, as if searching for some answer . . . some absolution. His initial, and over exaggerated, response was denial followed by a stupor that worked to calm him, blanketing his overheated thoughts and soothing his scandalized ego. The aged man stood next to where he sat, watching the changes wash over him nearly simultaneously. Memories warped in Mozenrath's mind, occurring and overlapping each other, pictures of Aladdin and faded images of battles they had between one another at some instance or another. At one point, those memories had been as clear as day to him, now they seemed to fall between the cracks of his head, making the effort to recall them ridiculously laborious. 'Is this because those memories never actually happened? Are they only more fragments of a past I have never truly liven?' He thought in a bleary daze.
He had always been drawn to Aladdin for some reason, it was only now that he finally had the pieces to put that mysterious fact and thought together properly. But still . . . his brother? Two years of battling the street rat and in actuality he was forging a fight between his closest relative? A part of a family he didn't even know he belonged to? After a moment of awe and a stunning revolution of comparisons to all the times he and Aladdin had been together, unknowingly, as brothers, the lurid side of Mozenrath took precedent and became outrageously offended and outraged. How could he possibly be related to gutter trash, street scum, the underbelly of society? It wasn't possible! How could he, a ruler and sorcerer of the Land of the Black Sands have blood stream relation to a mere boy who grew up a street rat and lived off of the food he stole? It couldn't be even remotely possible . . . but then again . . .
Oh, how his mind taunted him, turning one way and then another. For long, suspended moments he believed one life to be absolute and the other fictitious, but then his thoughts would flip sideways and shed light on another authentic memory, which caused him to lean against the previous truth. The battle within his mind continued, forging new memories to stir, new approximations to be brought fourth, leaving him with the only solid, staggering fact he had to live off, he had to believe above all else no matter how much he fought against it . . . Aladdin was his brother. Mozenrath broke away from his reverie for a moment to study the man that was watching over him. "So, where does that leave me?" He then stood, finding his legs a bit unsteady and his hands shaky. "Where do I belong now?"
"That is for you to decide. I've already given you a push in the right direction, it is what you decide to do with it that was written in your destiny." Mozenrath turned away and walked towards the edge of the rooftop, looking around the city he originated from so many years ago, a city he had once vowed to destroy. When he turned back towards the old man, a question looming on his lips, he found himself alone. Hesitantly he searched around, knowing within him the spirit was long gone. Sighing, he took another moment to calm himself before making his way back into the hovel.
Once inside, he saw the monkey he had previously missed, sleeping in his own puddle of drool sprawled out over a small throw pillow. Aladdin was still asleep on one of the steps near the expansive window and Mozenrath settled himself several feet away. The night drifted along, but Mozenrath neither slept nor rested, his mind barreling through thousands of unanswered questions about his life and the real person he was supposedly assumed to be. In half wonder and interest, he noticed the missing genie and carpet and made a mental note to find more about their whereabouts.
For a while he merely stared at Aladdin's form, finally catching the subtle likenesses between the both of them. The natural mussed hair he had spent years keeping tamed and slick, the posture he had lost over the years due to a slumped and bent spine caused from hours a night spent pouring over books. He also noticed the demand for acceptance, the strive to achieve more out of life from themselves and others and of course, the pure and simple fact that neither of them had any idea of their true natural childhoods, a vague and distant memory for the both of them.
Sighing, Mozenrath turned over and shut his eyes, trying to stop his thinking and induce sleep onto his tired and weary body. Just as the faint whisper of sleep crept upon him, two hands grabbed his shoulders and shook his body rapidly. Whirling, Mozenrath turned over, expression hard and cold, senses alert and ready.
"Whoa," Aladdin said, suddenly backing off after seeing the demoniacal glaze in Mozenrath's eyes. "I was just trying to wake you." His hands were raised in front of him, palms out, in a sign of non-aggression. Behind him, the sun kissed the bottom of the sand dunes and slowly began to rise. "Are you feeling all right? You look a little pale." Before Mozenrath could stop him, Aladdin put his hand against his forehead and looked over other vitals.
"I'm fine." Mozenrath snapped, momentarily appalled that he was touched by him. "Just leave me alone, stree–" His sentence halted on his lips, the reality came flashing back to him and slightly humbled his demeanor. "I'm fine." He repeated softly, pulling himself off the stone floor as he stretched his tired limbs.
"All right." Aladdin murmured skeptically, taking one more glance over his brother. "If you're sure." Turning, Mozenrath watched Aladdin try and wake the slumbering monkey in the corner of the room, but to no avail. "Fine Abu," He muttered, giving up hope and beginning to walk out. "I wouldn't mind having your share of breakfast." Within seconds the monkey had broken its sleep and was perched rightfully on Aladdin's shoulder, rubbing the remaining drowsiness from his eyes. When Mozenrath didn't follow, Aladdin stopped in the doorway. "Aren't you coming?"
"Where are we going?"
". . . to eat." Aladdin responded slowly, dazed by the change he saw. "Moze, are you sure you're feeling okay?" When Mozenrath simply nodded, Aladdin looked at Abu and shrugged, continuing down the stairs. "Come on!" He shouted from the bottom. "We gotta eat and then we're going to the Palace, remember? I'm sure Jasmine won't want us to be late." With that, he disappeared around the corner and Mozenrath began his grudgingly decent downward.
"Oh goodie," He muttered under his breath, cautiously dodging the beams above his head. "As if the street rat isn't enough, I've got to deal with the pampered princess too." Sighing, he stopped and stared upwards momentarily before mouthing the word, 'Thanks.' Once he had made his rocky way down the building and onto the crowding streets, he found Aladdin standing near a building, casually watching the market place.
"Looks like Fasal has some nice ripe fruit, but then again Muham just got a fresh batch of fish in last night." He muttered, his eyes never wavering from the commotion in the streets, keeping a carefully trained eye on the constant lookout for the random guard that could appear at any moment. "It's your turn."
"My turn for what?"
"To pick what we're having for breakfast." Aladdin broke his gaze and turned towards Mozenrath. "Seriously, what's gotten into you?" Crossing his arms at his chest, he watched his brother quizzically.
"Nothing . . ." Mozenrath mumbled, finding it constantly harder and harder to blend in and to keep from suddenly lashing out and wielding his right hand around manically. Yet, only a small part of him wanted to do that, the other had no problem whatsoever with getting breakfast . . . with just accepting what he was. It was almost as if with each passing moment more and more of the old Mozenrath was slowly disappearing and was being replaced by a subdued and humble commoner. 'Perish the thought.' His mind argued cynically. "I'm just . . . hungry?" There was a battle occurring within him, a battle between the old and evil Mozenrath and the new docile, simple human he was just beginning to become acquainted with. The side Mozenrath overall preferred was still undecided.
"We'll let's get in place. Abu, you know what to do." Aladdin stretched out his arm and allowed the monkey to run down the length of it and jump nimbly onto the ground, leaping in to the throngs of the crowd, becoming lost within the sea of commoners. Aladdin waited a beat before tapping Mozenrath playfully on his chest. A coy smile across his lips, Aladdin darted across the street. "Come on."
Eagerly Aladdin lead Mozenrath on top of a merchant's canopy, overlooking the street as the food rested below them. When Aladdin and Abu were in place, he motioned for his brother to begin. Once he caught on to the plot, Mozenrath reeled back. "We're going to steal it!?" He hadn't stolen anything that wasn't truly worth stealing in years, just for the fun of it. He had always thought of himself as a cultured man, and stealing melons and apples didn't quite appeal to that behavior.
"Shhh!" Aladdin cocked an eyebrow at his brother. "We're going to have to talk about what's going on with you." He sighed, turning back to his work. Sure, they could always get free food at the palace, but Mozenrath always preferred to dine and dash, it was a part of living on the streets that he had a hard time letting go. Aladdin on the other side hating stealing anything, even if it was for the welfare of his own health. But he always had a hard time going against his older brother, especially about the things he was adamant and passionate about. "Now be quiet, you wanna get us caught?" He whispered, watching the streets and keeping a low profile. One of these days they were going to get caught, Aladdin mused, and the guards would have a field day.
It didn't take long for Abu to distract, them to take what they wanted and eat gleefully on top of a nearby building. The munched on the melon quietly, each lost within their own dwindling thoughts that cascading throughout their minds, Aladdin's not nearly as heavy. He noticed the change in his brother and was bothered by it. He seemed more distant, his posture was different in the effect of how much more he slumped over, and his overall mannerisms had changed; becoming more erratic and unlike the normal suave and graceful Moze he knew.
After dining on a quick and easy breakfast, they made their way towards the Palace, entering through the main gate. Mozenrath was quite amused at how easy it was to just waltz in with no distractions or problems, save for the sideways glares of Rasoul and his guards. Once inside the throne room, Mozenrath looked around in a newly developed awe. Although he had been there several times before, he never had the time to simply look back and admire the expansive gold and silver taste, the decor and the massive feeling the room created.
"There you are." Jasmine smiled as she appeared from behind a thin tapestry, dressed in her everyday blue harem outfit. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten to come." She began to approach them, and Mozenrath sighed. 'Oh yay. The love puppies reunited again. I'm sure it was an agonizing twelve hours apart.' To his immediate and distant surprise, Jasmine went straight into his own arms, hugging him passionately before serving him a sweet and dwindling kiss on the lips, short and playful. Hesitantly, he returned the kiss, finding no reason to go against her obvious wishes. 'I always knew she had a thing for me.' He thought slyly.
Mozenrath then turned he attention towards Aladdin who he would've believed to be outraged by the gesture, but was simply smiling proudly at the two. Once Carpet entered the room, his attention shifted and he began to communicate with him and the monkey. Still, to his surprise and fading interest, the genie never appeared.
"I've missed you." Jasmine murmured softly and kissed him on the cheek. She too, noticed the same changes in him as Aladdin had.
"I missed you too . . ." Mozenrath responded unevenly, unsure of how to answer and act in her presence. It was the first time since he had really known her that she hadn't said something snippy or shouted for the guards. 'I could get used to this.'
"Come on." Jasmine suddenly grabbed him by the hand and led him outside, a playful smile crossing her lips. "We'll be in the garden guys!"She shouted over her shoulder, leading him down the steps and over towards the peacock fountain. Once they reached the edge of the pool of water, Jasmine threw her arms around his neck and leaned in for a long and steamy kiss, full of longing and lust, an experience Mozenrath finally realized he had always wanted. They broke the embrace, and Jasmine looked him over questioningly, pursing her lips and cocking her head to the side with her hands on her hips. "What's going on?"
Backing away, he turned from her and stared down into the crystal waters and the flittering goldfish that lingered below. "What do you mean?"
"You seem so different. You feel . . . different." She replied, sitting on the ledge of the fountain. "Almost distant." She paused and watched him stare into the water at his reflection pensively. It was almost as if he didn't recognize the man staring back at him from the shallow pond. "Is something wrong?" He looked at her a long and agonized moment before inhaling deeply and shrugging.
Perplexed, Jasmine searched for her next question, but before it could reach her lips and be voiced, Aladdin appeared from inside the palace and came over to join them."What's up with him?" Jasmine called out as he descended the steps, hoping he understood what his brother was going through.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Aladdin shrugged as he reached them, sitting on the ledge and looking up at Mozenrath. "He woke up like this today, I can't figure it out either."
"Moze, why do you seem so confused? So . . . out of place?" Jasmine questioned softly, laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder for comfort.
"I don't know." He answered, sitting near Aladdin on the ledge. He had nothing left but to be truthful, at least as much as they would believe. "I don't really remember what's happened to me. Like, parts of my life are missing." Who better to fill him in than the people that obviously know him the best?
"What don't you remember?" Aladdin crossed his arms over his chest and waited patiently.
"Everything."
"Do you remember how we met?" Jasmine asked encouragingly, starting from there and hoping to move forward and discover what was wrong with him. When he shook his head negatively, her heart dropped and sorrow filled her eyes. It was one of the most important days in her life and he didn't remember it?
"You can't remember anything . . . meaningful?" Aladdin asked, and when Mozenrath shook his head, Aladdin sighed deeply and rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe you have amnesia."
'Just go with it,' Mozenrath thought. 'They'll try and refresh your memory and in the meantime you can learn everything you want to know without them becoming too suspicious of your 'different' behavior.' Mozenrath sighed thoughtfully, pausing a moment for dramatic effect as if playing with the idea and thinking it over. "Perhaps that's it." He nodded, looking from Aladdin then to Jasmine.
Over the course of the next hour, Aladdin and Jasmine tried desperately to try and shake some remembrance into him outside by the fountain, telling him about adventures they had gone on, the way Mozenrath and Jasmine had met in the market place one day when he saved her from losing her arm to an angry merchant. Later they had gone on to tell him of how he freed Genie and used his three wishes to meet Jasmine and save Agrabah from Jafar. A life, previously owned by Aladdin. Everything Aladdin had done in their other life had remarkably always been meant for Mozenrath to achieve. They told him of how he beat Jafar when he made a remarkable return and destroyed his magic and sent the conniving and devious Iago away. They then enlightened him about Genie's decision to leave spend a while with Eden, his girlfriend, and had been already gone for months. He learned more about his "real" life in an hour than he had ever dreamed possible. He was a hero.
Mozenrath sat back and watched them wish him to remember, but none of that mattered. Only one thought whispered constantly throughout his mind, careening over his minced thoughts and battered memories. He was always meant to be what Aladdin was in his other life. He had Jasmine, he shared their friends and though the old man's words came flashing back to him suddenly, he timidly grasped the fact that he was going to become the next Sultan of Agrabah. Despite the awful creature he once was, he found himself nearly gleeful at the second chance that was beginning to dawn upon him.
Jasmine sat down next to him and clasped his hand within her's, looking at him hopefully. "Is anything coming back, Moze?" She asked, running her other hand down his back and rubbing it reassuringly.
"Slowly but surely." He stated with a smile, and merely because he could with no fear of ramifications from Aladdin, he kissed her suddenly and played it off as a sign of reassurance. There was nothing stopping him from just becoming what he was originally supposed to be, and the plain and basic fact of him becoming Sultan gave him the power he always dreamed of, ruling over a large and powerful city. Whether it was this flourishing land or the desolate and deserted Land of Black Sands didn't really matter . . . he was to rule nonetheless. Not to mention he had the beautiful Princess Jasmine obviously head over heels in love with him at his beck and call and Aladdin on his side for a change.
But what to do with this new power? He could reign like he did over the Black Sands, cold and heartless, or he could use his second chance for the better. Either way, he was handed a new life just because someone screwed up ten years prior and they were finally making amends. It seemed that the only thing he was going to have to do was find away to get used to the change and discover a way to actually get along with his new found brother- once believed enemy. The world was at his fingertips, now the only thing he had to decide was what to do with it.
To Be Continued . . .
Please R/R!