Chapter Seven- Only you.
The Midnight Vigilante is Aladdin! Jasmine swung her hand and slapped him across his face. The tingling sensation followed by a warming effect on his cheek. Aladdin held his cheek.
" Ow! What was that for?" he asked
" Where have you been! How come it took you never contacted me! Why did you leave me! How did you! What's up with this whole Midnight Vigilante gig?"
Jasmine was asking a millions of questions that Aladdin couldn't answer. He kiss her again to shut her up. Jasmine pulled away again.
" I explained everything in the letter I wrote you." said Aladdin
" Letter? What letter?" asked Jasmine
" The letter that was placed on your dresser. Didn't you get it?"
" You know you're not a good liar."
" I'm not lying! I promise to you that I wouldn't lie to you."
" And you promised that you wouldn't leave either and look where it got us."
Their yelling was causing the oil lamps from the windows to light up. " Please Jasmine keep it down. The people are waking up. They can't find us here. We've got to go. I don't want to be discovered."
" I'm not going anywhere with you." Jasmine snapped.
" Look! There's the Midnight Vigilante!" Someone cried out.
Aladdin grabbed Jasmine and jumped to the tarp below. They bounced out and pulled Jasmine into the shadows. He covered her with his cape to blend into the background. " I love you. I still want those dreams that we both want. Come to Bastailan tomorrow and we can talk there."
" Aladdin, I can't tomorrow. Father is having a royal ball for me. He doesn't have that much time left. He invited all the bachelors to come and court me. Since that you've been gone a long time. I've decided to move on with my life. I think that you should move on too."
" What? Why? You know that I'll come back to you. You know that I'll find a way and this is my way of being the Midnight Vigilante. You love me. Admit it because you kissed me back. "
" Things are not as simple. You can't just leave and expect everything to be okay. It doesn't work."
" You can't take things back Jasmine especially that kiss."
" I think you should follow your own advice about taking things back." Jasmine pulled away from him, stepped out of the shadows, and into the moonlight.
" Jasmine!" called Sadira. " There you are! It was Genie all along! For moment there I thought Aladdin was back."
Jasmine turned around and the Midnight Vigilante was gone. " Yeah. Me too."
The Royal Ball that was for Jasmine came the following evening. Aladdin was determined to win back Jasmines' hand and to prevent any other guy to take his place.
Aladdin was sharply dress to impress. Looking dashing like a prince. His turban wrapped around his head, wearing a formal military uniform, and a red sash that went diagonally across from his outift. He added sideburns to his hair, a moustache to hide his identity and a eye spectacle. Lexie was next to him looking pretty in her blue color ball gown and her long silk gloves to match.. They were on the steps of the palace waiting in line to get in.
" Remind me to talk to that bird when he gets back from his vacation. How come you didn't warn me that I was going to see Jasmine last night?" Aladdin asked
" And ruin the anticipated reunion? Never." Lexie smiled.
" She wasn't very happy to see me. At first she was and then when I removed my cowl. Jasmine swung at me. I have to know for sure if she still loves me or not. "
" This is exciting. My first royal ball ! Thank you for taking me. Remember, let me guide you and warn you if there's any sign of trouble."
Aladdin joked with her, " Isn't supposed to be me guiding you? You don't want to cause attention."
" Did you bring your costume? Wait. We're next in line. It's showtime."
There were two palace guards on each side of the door and the doorman standing in front with the list. " Name?" he asked.
Lexie cleared her throat, " The Duke of Abdullah Oblongata and his advisor Femura."
The doorman scanned his list and found nothing, " I'm sorry. Your name is not on that list. I don't think that you were invited."
Lexie looked at Aladdin and Aladdin stood with dignity and full of confidence. He motioned his hand for Lexie to carrying on. " That's why he's here. The duke is apalled that he wasn't invited. There must have been a mistake. All of the high, rich, and powerful elite are here."
" Why is he not talking?" said the doorman.
" Because why should he waste his breath by talking to the likes of someone who is lower than him. Are you guys going to let us in or not? He has other important events to attend to and Agrabah should be lucky that they have his presence to be here. There's the other option. We could write to our King Cranium about this incident and how the Duke was humiliated here in public. I'm sure that your sultan would love to hear that."
The doorman looked at the palace guards and they immediately opened the doors, " Yes! The Duke of Abdullah Oblongata! My apologies to you high and powerful one! Your invitation got lost in the caravan to your city. Please enjoy this evening's festivities." said the doorman sucking up.
" Gee, I wonder how they guard the palace at night if the guards are so gullible." wondered Aladdin
They walked through the door. The atmosphere of the ball tingling Lexie's senses! The catering table that had aromas of spices and sweets. The sound of the music playing and the people talking and laughing! The feel of the intensity of light that luminates the room. The colors of the ballgowns and decorations glowed wildly. The vibes that people give to each other and Lexie picked up that were so joyous of the celebration. All the five senses that she could feel gives color of the vision that Lexie sees through her head. It adds color to her psychic abilities. Sometimes she feels that her appearance of her eyes makes her paranoid.
" Look at them." said Lexie " They're staring at me because I'm a freak. They never saw someone with white pupils. The doorman and the guards kept looking at me."
" Really? They were? I thought they were staring at you because how beautiful you look. A person that has adversity such as yourself makes the world colorful. You shouldn't care what other people think. It's about knowing who you are and what kind of person you represent." said Aladdin.
" You've been hanging around Mr.Yamymogo too much. But I see greatness in you cousin. Pure greatness."
Towards the ballroom floor, they were people dancing, twirling around and waltzing to the music. In admit around these people, there she was Aladdin's love of his life. She curtsied as her partner bowed and they began to dance. Jasmine looked so radiant in Aladdin's eyes. Her hair shined like opal. Her skin was in perfection and completely flawless. Her beautiful exotic eyes that shined like stars or maybe it was the light that was reflected off them. She wearing a red dress that was the latest style in the seven deserts. It had spaghetti straps, hugged her figure as it flows to the ground, and it had a slit to make Jasmine move around. She looked so stunning in that dress. Her royal crown jewels that she wore sparkled against the light. Jasmine smiled and was having a good time. The minute she smiled, Aladdin blushed. Butterflies were developing in his stomach and his knees felt like butter.
" Aladdin?" called Lexie. Aladdin snapped out from his own little world. " There she is. Here's the moment that you've been waiting for. Destiny a waits." Lexie shoved him toward Jasmine's direction. " Go get her tiger. Don't worry about me! I'll be fine."
Jasmine politely curtsied and danced with every prince, king, and political leader that her father invited to the ball. With every partner that came her way, Jasmine tries to imagine her future by closing her eyes. A future life of children, new adventures, and experiences. Nothing seems to come into Jasmine's mind. Maybe she doesn't love any them. Maybe they came for the wrong intentions like for political power and property gain. Maybe this whole idea seemed to be hopeless case. Jasmine looks sadly and stared off into oblivion.
The annoucer called out a new person into the scene, " The Duke of Abdullah Oblongata."
Jasmine didn't give eye contact to the gentlemen. She curtsied to him and he bowed to her. He took her into his arms and danced. Jasmine moved her head to his left shoulder and closed her eyes. Something sparked through her mind.
He whispered into her ear, " Come to Bastailan with me."
She opened her eyes and glanced at the Duke. Jasmine recognized the person in front of her.
" What are you doing here?" she asked.
" I'm here trying to win your hand just like everybody else here." Aladdin twirled Jasmine with his arm as she unravelled out.
" Well, you had your chance and you blew it." She twirled back in.
" Why are you doing this? This isn't fair." They traveled across the room.
" Do you think that it's fair to me? The man that I'm was going to marry just suddenly leaves. When you left, everyone was assuring me that you would love me enough come back. Suddenly days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. I just lost all hope. I thought that my love wasn't enough for you. Maybe your love wasn't enough either."
" I'm here am I ?" Aladdin dipped her as she gave Aladdin no response to his question.
" You just don't get it do you?" said Jasmine as Aladdin tilted her back up.
" Get what?" Aladdin moves forward as Jasmine steps back.
" We're supposed to be married. You walked away from your commitment. You walked away from our love." She moves forward, Aladdin moves with her and they switch sides.
The announcer introduced another man into the group. " Prince Versai."
Aladdin and Jasmine just danced right passed him.
The Prince of Versai saw them pass, " Hey! Isn't supposed to be my turn?" He looked at the announcer, " Does that mean she has chosen a suitor?" The announcer shrugged his shoulders with no clue. Sadira looked at Jasmine signaling her if she wants a way out from her partner. Jasmine shook her head no.
" What do want me to do? Turn back the hands of time? " Aladdin spins her and Jasmine spins back in..
" I think that you should leave. Your presence here, is going to get you into a lot of trouble. You're on Agrabah's most wanted list. Do you know? If you're caught? We can't be together. Even if you turn back time, fate will play itself again." Jasmine thought about Sadira's research on differenet wedding traditions. " Maybe it wasn't meant to be." They stopped dancing. Jasmine looked at Aladdin sadly and she could tell that his heart was breaking. Tears were swelling up from her eyes.
Aladdin couldn't believe what came out of his beloved's mouth. " I was a thief before I met you and that couldn't stop me from being with you. All I want to know is that if you still love me? Risking my life being with you here is worth it. You're worth it. This is worth it. " Aladdin leaned into Jasmine for a kiss.
" Aladdin I-" Jasmine was magnetized by Aladdin's words and actions.
When their lips were about to touch. Another female's voice called his name, " Aladdin!" It was Lexie. She was standing between them, " The guards had just realized that there's no Abdullah Oblongata. We got to go!"
" Who's she?" asked Jasmine. Aladdin noticed that there was a swarm of guards spreading out the room looking for them.
Jasmine jumped into conclusions. " Here you are, dancing with me and telling me sweet nothings. You have the nerve to bring another woman here? I said ' To move on' but so soon?"
" No Jasmine, this is not what this looks like. I explained everything in the letter. If you read it then you would understand."
" Again. Aladdin what letter? Give me an explanation now."
" There's no time to say anything." Aladdin look over Jasmine's shoulder and the guards were getting closer.
Lexie extended her hand to make the situation a little better. " Hi, I'm Lexie." Jasmine turned away with her arms crossed and glaring at Aladdin. " And I'm-" she continued.
" There's no time and explanation. We got to go!" Aladdin interrupted as he grabbed Lexie hand to the nearest exit.
Jasmine watched him leave, " There he goes." she said folding her arms.
Before she could move, Aladdin came back and stole a quick kiss, " I love you. Believe me there's no one. Only you." Aladdin left to run for safety.