Lean On Me

Sorry for the wait, I'm slow and straining. The lyrics are from Michael
Bolton's song, "Lean on Me". Coming Up; breakups, drama, fights, murder and
mayhem. Hopes that keeps ya hanging, oh, and for a certain reviewer…
I'm an overexcited teenager!

The sun streamed in unabated, along with a whispering morning wind, too lazy
to be as caustic as it was in The Land Of The Black Sands, insistently
demanding attention on its quest to wake the two sleeping forms on the
lavishly royal bed inside. It was tangible, warm, and filled with life as it
caressed the brow of the young man who yawned lustily, stretching his arms
wide and carelessly kicking the slight sheet from him, which evoked a
murmur; a mumble from the sleeping female beside him.
He blinked his eyes open with an equally languid smile.
No doubt the young woman was beautiful, the most lost of fools could
recognize at least that. But she was vibrant and graceful, even in sleep.
Her skin glowed with life, turning her dusky tan a honey shade in the first
light. She looked beautiful. Picturesque in the essence of innocence, with
her slightly parted lips and silken, perfectly groomed and carelessly
unrestrained black hair falling in her face gently, polite as to not hinder
her.
Aladdin sighed.
"Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow"
He waited for the guilt and weight of yesterday to set in. He put it off
with sleep, and the same pretty dance him and Jasmine always played when the
sun went down. He should have objected. He didn't feel up to it. He betrayed
her, somehow, somewhere. But she was shaking and oddly unstable for such
strong a woman, and he knew that. What he didn't know that the need she held
was to confirm he was there. He had to be there. He waited with baited
breath for the overbearing, downhearted feeling of anything other than now.
It was bound to end.
It didn't.
He heard the faint sound of the city carrying on: the growing sights, smells
and chaos of the market place springing to life, Rasoul barking orders,
somewhere, at someone, kids yelling and laughing…
Jasmine's eyes popped open and were left to look up, surprised, into a
grinning face, almost doting in quality as a playful kiss was placed on her
unsuspecting self.
"Mornin'" Aladdin said, somehow feeling the need to keep his voice soft,
though his voice was slurred as he hadn't quite grasped the concept of
speech.
A wave of heat crashed over Jasmine, and she blushed down to her roots. His
innocence and boyish ways were somehow double so now. A feeling of
reassurance followed and all that matter was the blessing that he was there
to let her know he was.
"Mornin' yourself Aladdin." She said, smiling at her contentment of the
moment and the slight "Oof" sound her fiancé made as she smacked him with a
pillow yanked out from under her.
She laughed.

There is something about exertion and productive work that brings steel to
the body and resolve. Mozenrath's bedroom was almost in perfect repair, at
least from the outside. Contrary to popular, if not ignorant, belief, magic
and whatever one did with it, did take force and effort on the part of
whoever used magic. Sweat trickled down unattended to into Mozenrath's eyes
as the sun insisted to be warm and somehow stifling as he continued. His
cloak fell to the ground as he watched with quiet concentration the block he
was levitating up to the Citadel outside wall. It wavered and he growled to
himself, pushing himself as the glow encasing the mid air building material
grew and was colored a violent blue. His arms shook as the cursing of
himself continued, until it burst at the slight cracks in the block and flew
in an explosive disarray. Mozenrath hit the dirt as a fragment flew by his
head. He coughed and sputtered angrily into the sand, spitting it out with
disgust at more than just the granules.
" Damn it all to hell!" he yelled, taking a kick at one of the miserable
remaining pieces of the boulder lying insolently in the sand.
"Master mad at rock?" Xerxes questioned as he flew to the call of his
master's anger.
Mozenrath's response was just a snarl aimed at his familiar.
Xerxes watched with approval as the mamlucks shuffled to place, going to
help the young Lord Of The Black Sands when he barked a single order.
"No!"
The zombie domestics drew back, surprised. They watched with expressionless
faces as Mozenrath shoved his sleeves up far, exposing milk white skin tight
in the sun, a rare occurrence as inside was his comfort zone. The sun tried
to knock him down, it seemed, as he wrenched up the rock with a magic
encasement, burning steadily. White knuckled, it was set into place. He
leaned back a bit to survey his work, and massaged his gauntlet
self-consciously.
It shouldn't have been that hard.
Dammit, where was his concentration?
He wiped a self-evaluating hand over his face as his expression twisted to
one of disgust.
Allah please, not him.

Genie watched the two fondly, with growing approval of the situation.
Something had gone missing with his little buddy and the princess, or seemed
to. And it looked as if it was back. Aladdin's smile was fuller as he looked
upon everything before him, his friends, his loved ones, his new life, and
more prominently, his girlfriend. Jasmine was beaming, acting for all the
world as if the sun would never fail to shine, blindly clutching to Aladdin
as if she we're still wary of him floating away. But it wasn't necessary,
Genie assured himself. Really it wasn't. He continued to observe the pair,
along with the monkey and Iago maintain their lighthearted conversations and
play. Carpet batted him on the nose and he looked down at an irate piece of
floor covering. It put its tassels to its side and tapped his bottom ones
crossly in a perfect imitation of impatience.
"Sorry Carpet, guess I kind zonked out, huh?"
He looked back down at their chess game, a magical set up in the Palace
gardens, right next to sitting little group of his dearest friends.
Yes, Aladdin definitely had his head back on.
Aladdin ran his fingers idly through Jasmine's hair, her perched artfully
next to him on the fountain side, as he listened and nodded politely,
laughing when appropriate, to some conversation he was supposed to be in.
He wasn't.
He was breathing deep, and twitching at random, sporadic moments. But
quietly. No need to bother Jasmine. Restlessly, he turned his face up at the
sun, leaning back and…
"Ack!"
"Aladdin!"
Aladdin looked up sheepishly from his new station in the shallow waters of
the Palace fountain.
Jasmine delicately picked a lily pad from atop his head.
"You know I'm getting you back, right?" She crawled out awkwardly from the
fountain, harem pants making an unattractive squelch.
"Aww Jas, I'm sorry."
She laughed.
"I'm not mad Aladdin" her expression became suspicious, "Why would you think
I am?"
Iago tried to hid the phrase "guilty conscious" under a not-so-cleverly
disguised cough. Abu, loyal primate as he is, tackled the bird. Aladdin
glared, suddenly defensive.
"I'm not guilty about anything. Geez."
He shifted uncomfortably under their excruciatingly mild looks of surprise.
"Hey, C'mon guys. Lets do something, anything. I'm bored."
As if on cue, Genie zoomed up, taking Aladdin's hand and shaking it
robustly.
"Nice to meet you, I'm plank"
Aladdin laughed.
"But, if we are wise
we know that there's always tomorrow"

Mozenrath slid down the relieving cold of the Citadel wall, feeling
uncomfortable in his heavy, now sweaty, robes, but the heat zapping his will
to do something about it. But the work felt good. Nice to actually do
something.
"Memo to self, be productive" Mozenrath said aloud.
Xerxes snickered faithfully as he slid around a corner, settling under
Mozenrath's hand, hanging limply by his side.
Mozenrath smiled, a remotely genuine gesture, and scratched the top of his
familiar's head. Xerxes purred, pleased. Mozenrath stared at the ceiling of
the entranceway, ridiculously tall and encompassing. He needed to get his
head together, all this Aladdin business was making him distracted and, in
his eyes, stupid.
He headed purposefully for the library, after a quick swing by his room to
get into something more appropriate for a hot desert day.

"Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long, till I'm gonna need
Someone to lean on"
"Ya sure it will only take a minute Jas?" Aladdin yelled back through the
veil separating the balcony and the princess's room. Carpet stirred beneath
his feet, though his balance he developed over the years kept him from
tumbling from mid air.
There was a flutter of clothes inside, and a female voice,
"Yeah. I can't stand this heat." Jasmine made a disgusted noise, Aladdin
following with a noise of his own in surprise, a pillow smacking him in the
face when he tried to sneak a peek about the curtain.
His eyes widened as he felt his precarious stand on an air born Carpet lurch
backwards.
Jasmine grabbed his hand, lightening fast. Her face was pure apology.
"Sorry, Aladdin. Didn't mean to. Well, you know what I mean."
He laughed and wrapped his arms about her.
The wind smacked them in their shared shoulder and Aladdin inadvertently
leaned into it. Jasmine sighed and pulled away. " It might take me awhile to
get ready, I got a messenger and father wants a word."
"You in trouble?" Aladdin asked in concern.
Jasmine laughed, and he knew his answer by the tone of her laugh. But she
said it anyway, "No Aladdin, I'm not in trouble. That's your job. Its
boring, government stuffed."
Aladdin wrinkled his nose in pity.
Jasmine laughed again. "Go ahead and take a fly by yourself, we can have one
later. A night one like the first." And in that moment, her eyes danced, and
Aladdin was sad that it passed so quickly.
"You sure?" he asked, unsure himself. Jasmine dismissed the question with a
wave of her hand as she headed back inside, " I'm sure about everything
Aladdin, don't you know that by now?" She said playfully. Aladdin smiled his
fondness for her, and turned, Carpet letting him fall back and cradling him
apologetically for the first time.
"So, what do you say, you up for a ride Carpet?"
The magicked rug gave a burst of speed almost vertically up as his only
answer. Aladdin whooped with the sheer adrenaline of being propelled the
wrong way gravity wanted you to. Carpet peaked as high as he was comfortable
with taking his human friend, and leveled off. He waited, and Aladdin dared
to look down onto the spiraling sea of sand and white below. Then Carpet
slipped…
Right from under Aladdin. Aladdin couldn't stop the yell that erupted from
his throat as gravity took hold and jerked him down as fast as its claws
could. But it wasn't a yell of fear; it was of freedom. Carpet caught the
boy in plenty enough time, and they hurtled themselves over the horizon.
Aladdin's heart pounded in his chest, and he rolled over to his back,
clutching it.
But he loved the feeling of flying.
He scanned the land beneath him, and was surprised to realize they were
headed over darkening sands. He looked up, brown furrowing, and sure enough,
he could see the steeple like structure of the Citadel coming up fast. He
looked down at Carpet questioningly. He could swear his pal plotted
non-stop. But any mirth in that was lost as a stone tumbled in his gut. He
could turn back. He could. His last time there was…uncomfortably revealing.
But he couldn't place the word complacent with it. Sooner than he had
noticed, he as directly over the city, and found himself trying to place the
sorcerer's memories to the places that sped under him. The old woman's
house, was that it? The barrier, could it have been there. Aladdin
immediately found himself drawn to a certain pile of rubble on a hill
adjacent to the east Citadel wall. That had to be the stable!
He whispered to Carpet to let him alit on the battered, half-caved in and
old and molded. But it was still a trip for Aladdin. He sat down and stared
in awe at the view he was given of the sprawling black city, and wondered if
Mozenrath had stared in the same way.
"Hey!"
Aladdin fell backwards in absolute shock at the indignant bark that seemed
to come from everywhere. The dead woodwork didn't react well to the violent
motion, and Aladdin was lost in a cavern and cloud of dust and rubble.
Carpet dived down anxiously.
Mozenrath found himself hating the laughter that tried to issue itself from
him as he heard Aladdin yell out ridiculously loud,
"I'm O.K!"
"Like I care, Now what are you doing here or do just have a strange
affixation with stalking?"
Aladdin lifted his head from the chaos of the ruined structure, and finally
located the source of a voice he recognized instantly. Around the backside
of the Citadel was where apparently the more lavish bedrooms were. Mozenrath
was standing on a balcony of what had to be one, leaning on a far corner
rail to see him. He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, "Er...Do I get
a third choice? Wait, was that even two choices?"
Mozenrath rolled is eyes sufferingly. "Don't fret your idle head about it,
street rat, just concentrate on counting your last breaths." His gauntlet
fired up, and Aladdin could see it.
His eyes widened and he held up his hands in defense, scrambling for
purchase on Carpet. "Hey, C'mon! Lighten up!"
"You destroyed my…property." He managed to get out. He looked bitterly at
the fallen stable house. He should have rebuilt it… Ah, but too late now.
With new resolve, he doubled his efforts in letting the magic build in his
gauntlet as quick as it would, cinders of it making Carpet shrink in fear.
Aladdin frowned, knowing he did wrong. But it wasn't his fault. Really it
wasn't. But he saw a black, flickering wick in his enemy's eyes, and knew
such an injury wouldn't die easy. He shifted the weight from one foot to the
other, and decided in a surprisingly short amount of time.
Mozenrath quirked an eyebrow at Aladdin's queer posture. His arms were
spread, bare chest made more so by the arching of his spine. His eyes were
cloaked, but honest, and the contrast made it hard for Mozenrath to realize
that it was a position of totally vulnerability.
"C'mon Moze, you want to shoot me, do It." In an undertone he was confidant
Mozenrath couldn't hear, he whispered to Carpet, "If he does it, drop out
from under me and I'll duck it, then we can get out of firing range."
He looked back up, and was surprised to see visible unsettlement in
Mozenrath's face, and his arms sagged for a moment, as if he was remembering
something, and didn't seemed to be far from the Land Of Black Sands. Aladdin
was about to ask, but his heart leapt in his throat as a blazing blue-black
ball roared his way, and just as he felt himself try to duck, knowing it
would be too late…
It sputtered out with a mocking puff, inches from his nose. When he felt
safe to open both eyes completely, he could see Mozenrath was still his same
grouchy self.
"I don't like to be tested Aladdin". Aladdin just gaped. He was so sure…
He guided Carpet up after Mozenrath's retreating frame, then thought better
of it, landing in the sand in front of the Citadel. He looked about it him,
and remembered with a start that this had been rubble and destruction not
too long ago. He looked up in awe at the thoroughly patched up area where
Mozenrath had himself blown a new sunroof. Something dark caught his eye
though. Carpet took him up so he could see it better, and sure enough, a
piece was missing from the original structure. Even as he watched, the
cement and marble about it slid and grated down.
"You can call on me brother when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem, that you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on"

Why didn't Mozenrath put that back, the whole thing would fall apart again!
Mozenrath groaned when he found the temptation to see if Aladdin had left
too great, and was forced to go back on the balcony. He looked about, and
found himself alone with a silent Citadel, and noiseless pile of rubble.
"See there?" he scolded himself. He was about to turn back in when he heard
a very un-building like yelp of displeasure. Curiosity most assuredly
piqued, he craned as far as he could to see about, and then huffed,
realizing he couldn't see a damn thing. He hovered between going inside and
let whoever it was stew in their juices, then decided just to…
Pop! He was there, down on the sand, the rushing speed of traveling through
magic's help still not letting his heartbeat calm. He looked up and
immediately found the source of the sound, but neither rhyme nor reason to
what in Ra's name the hero was doing. He was hovering about the Citadel's
north face, routinely shoving and throwing his weight onto something jutting
out.
He cursed when he realized it was a forgotten building block to the damn
wall, but was struck still when he saw the whole thing shudder and move
collectively.
Aladdin will be crushed, and my home will be lost…again.
His gauntlet flared to life, and he walked as fast as he could ford,
determined not to let one happen, he stopped when he realized Aladdin was
beating him there first.
He was helping.
High in the air, the rug a current beneath his feet, he toiled in forcing a
ridiculously too big-for-him boulder bit into its place, grunting, wiping
furiously away at a sweaty slop of bangs, his shoulder acting as a battering
ram.
"Please swallow your pride, if I have things
You need to borrow
For no one can fill, those of your needs
That you won't let show"
Mozenrath found himself watching with stayed breath, and there Aladdin was,
flying back down, dusting rock dust off his hands. They locked eyes with
each other when they finally realized each other were there, and the spell
was broke. Battling for who could say something carelessly first, Mozenrath
finally won.
" I didn't need you to do that. " he said, refusing to break eye contact.
" Like you would have noticed until it was too late" Aladdin said with a
laugh. He watched as Mozenrath bristled indignantly, so rushed to intercept
an onslaught.
"Besides, it was nothing. You can thank me now, though" he said, smirking
as he crossed his arms.
Mozenrath snorted, "You wish street rat." But he was relieved all the same
there was nothing to I, he didn't think he could sort that out right now.
"You think an army of undead would make decent carpenters." Aladdin
pondered.
"I didn't let them do anything, this is my home."
"So…you did it? Geez." Aladdin said with a note of admiration Mozenrath
could pick up on and savor.
" Just because I'm not bounding fresh from puberty like some of us, doesn't
mean I can't look out for myself."
Aladdin laughed. "Ok, old man, I believe you."
Mozenrath rolled his eyes, and watched in a detached way as Carpet flitted
above them, almost relentlessly agitated as the two talked, oblivious to the
fact that they were supposed to be enemies. The seemingly overpowering
awkwardness of last night and the day before was slipping through the cracks
of their disappearing hostility. Aladdin still found himself, though,
wondering if Mozenrath was ever going to look as vulnerable as he did those
times, when he seemed more human and unfamiliar as he had ever seen. In
flashes in his head, he had pieced together this; Mozenrath was a
complicated person. A real person, the insight into his past let him see
that, and surprisingly, he did not look upon the experience in disgust. The
sun tinged the sky with red, and Aladdin suddenly noticed it creeping to his
feet, shocked as he realized how long he had just been standing there,
having a relatively civil conversation with a man he was believed to hate.
He didn't, did he?
Mozenrath cocked his head and finally realized Aladdin had grasped the
length of the time he was there, and that his princess going to be none to
happy.
"Crap, Jasmine is going to kill-"
"You," Mozenrath finished, his tone sharper and he didn't know why, "Yes,
the entire cosmos knows who wears the pants in your fling".
Aladdin was confused. Mozenrath was almost pleasant a minute ago, what set
him off? He shrugged, and turned to mount Carpet, then stopped and faced
Mozenrath again.
""If there is a load, you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road, I'll share your load"
"Hey, if that dooms-day place of yours starts to give, well, you know where
to find help" he offered a friendly smile. It wasn't that hard. Really. He
laughed,
" Its not like you won't come storming into Agrabah with some-"
" I won't" Mozenrath interrupted, blurting it out. It was the first
intelligent thing he managed to reply. Aladdin looked him in the face, and
was unprepared for the sincerity.
A truce.
A thank you.
A safe city.
"If you just call me...call me
If you need a friend....call me
If you need a friend....If you ever need a friend
Call me....Call me...."

Aladdin pondered his words as he got back on Carpet and started his rise to
cruising height and finally yelled back.
"Hey, since we're not killing each other any more, guess that makes us
friends?"

Dean