Chapter 3: Missing

Mozenrath slammed his hand on a table within his castle in the Land of the Black Sand. He then sank into his chair at the table, resting his forehead against his clenched fists after seeing the vision from Agrabah play out before him. Nothing had gone as he'd planned.

Xerxes saw fit to remind him in that moment. "Master failed to take Aladdin, Princess, and Sultan."

Mozenrath's eyes flashed in the flame of the torches that burned in the room. "I am well aware of that, Xerxes!" He threw a scroll at the flying monster, who barely managed to dodge it. Xerxes screeched and hid behind a piece of drapery hanging in the room. "I am very much aware that nothing as I visioned, despite my careful attention, went as planned." He thought a long moment before taking a long breath. "But let me think of what did work from this turn of events. I don't have either the Princess or the Sultan, but I do have Aladdin. He's without his Carpet and Genie in a realm where he can easily meet his end. He's with friends that will likely be of no use to him against the dangers in that realm. Matter in point, they'll meet their ends sooner than him. That to me is good news."

"Good news?" Xerxes echoed, peeking out from behind the drape he hid behind.

"Very good news. Perhaps I can still make this scenario work to my advantage. The deaths of the Sultan and the Princess can come later. I had wanted to crash their party entirely by capturing all of them, but it seems that taking Aladdin might give them some trouble. Enough for a thorough distraction. Especially with the Genie witnessing Aladdin's, the bird's and the monkey's unfortunate fates if you will." Mozenrath turned to Xerxes then with a sly grin. "For now, none of the Palace members suspect that they're here, so that works."

"What is new plan?" Xerxes said, daring to inch out of his hiding place and approach where Mozenrath stood, using his magic to shift the vision to where Aladdin lay motionless on the ground in a darkened realm, with Abu and Iago not far away from him.

"I usually don't like waiting when it comes to deciding how to kill my enemies, but for now, that's the plan. I'd like to see what Aladdin does in a realm where he's at a clear disadvantage. If he comes close to dying in a way that is satisfying to me, I won't interfere. But I'd rather be the hand that deals the final blow." His grin widened as he watched the bird and monkey stir. "And I will make sure he's well aware that I'm behind it."


"Man, my head hurts," Iago said, using his wing to rub the area he'd fallen on at one point. "Talk about hard landings. Speaking of...where are we?"

"I don't know," Abu said, rubbing the top of his own head with a paw as he looked around. Both Iago and Abu noticed they were in some kind of underground area where there were vines covering the walls around them, a dirt floor, and a path ahead of them that was dark and slightly damp with strange sounds echoing through the path.

"Would it be weird of me sayin' that I don't think we're in Agrabah anymore? I mean, I'm pretty sure none of us are dead - with the possible exception of the kid over there - but this is definitely NOT Agrabah."

Abu wasn't listening to Iago anymore as he made his way over to where Aladdin lay on the ground. The monkey used his paws to shake Aladdin's shoulders, which woke Aladdin after only a brief moment.

"You guys okay?" Aladdin asked, his voice groggy.

"Just peachy. I'm sure I've never been happier in my life," Iago said, dusting off his feathers with his wings.

"I can tell when you're lying, Iago. Just so you know," Aladdin groaned as he put a hand to the side of his aching head. He sat up, glancing around the area warily. "Looks like we fell into a trap. Razoul was right after all. That attack was definitely planned to take place at the Sultan's banquet. Just not one any of us expected."

"Attack by who?" Iago asked. "Poison magic flowers could've been any number of your enemies, so that doesn't narrow down the list at all."

Aladdin slowly stood. "Think we might have to figure that out by exploring wherever 'here' is. Looks like some sort of underground maze. And I don't think it's as easy as you say, Iago. Whoever it might've been, I may not have been the one they were meaning to catch. Nor you guys. We were just the ones that ended up being trapped."

Iago rolled his eyes. "Oh, that makes me feel SO much better. I walked into this trap, so I deserve the fate of whoever this trap was meant for, even if that includes certain, inescapable death."

Abu climbed up to perch on Aladdin's shoulder as the prince shook his head. "That's not what I meant! None of us deserve to be here. Sorry that I even suggested otherwise."

Iago raised a brow, looking at Aladdin with concern. "Hey, I was only being partially serious. We're in certain danger, but...hey! Don't walk off like that!"

Aladdin had already started walking forward, his face turned away from Iago.

"Aladdin?" Abu asked, clearly concerned for his friend even as Aladdin didn't say anything for a long moment.

"Can't say much about why we're here, Abu, but I'm at least partially responsible for it," Aladdin said slowly. "Makes sense that I'm responsible for getting us out. No use staying in one place and arguing about it. We have to keep moving."

"Uh Al, think you might wanna pay attention to your surroundings a little more, cause the creepy factor in this underground maze just cranked up to 15!"

"15 out of what, Iago?" Aladdin said looking over his shoulder at the bird, who was just then catching up.

"10, definitely 10. In case you're confused, it's beyond ranking on a scale."

Aladdin looked forward to where Iago pointed with his wing and gasped. The area they were in was filled with large vines with giant versions of flowers that were similar to the ones that were in the mysterious arrangements sent to the Palace earlier that day.

"Those are the same flowers that decorated the Palace hallway earlier, just bigger versions of them," Aladdin said. "The walls are covered in vines down here too. There's gotta be a place where we can get to higher ground and get out of here."

"Does that give us anything as to who might've trapped us down here?"

Aladdin ran his fingers through his hair, lost in thought a moment before he spoke. "Hard to know for sure. Definitely doesn't seem like Mirage - this place is too grounded in reality for her magic. We haven't seen any evidence that we're in Chaos's realm either."

"The Al-Muddy, then?" Iago asked.

Aladdin shook his head. "No. We haven't seen any of them yet. Unless they have a new leader, they aren't capable of wielding this kind of complicated magic, poison flowers especially. Look, Iago, I'd rather find clues as to who it might be instead of making random...Ahh!" Aladdin's startled cry came from his hand trying to find a spot on a nearby wall to steady himself, but his hand grazed a large thorn from a vine along the wall. A few drops of blood dripped from his hand to the ground. Aladdin held his clenched fist against his chest, steadying his breath against the pain.

"You need to worry more about where you put your hand next time, especially in this place. Yeesh, Al. That looked like it hurt," Iago said.

"It's so dark in here, it's hard to see where things are. Didn't mean to do that."

Abu gave Aladdin a side eye glance as the prince closed his palm, not having seen how bad Aladdin's wound was for himself. "Lemme see."

Aladdin raised a brow at the monkey. "You serious?"

"Aladdin..." Abu said in a warning tone, meant to mimic Aladdin's tone from earlier when Abu cut his paw on a thorn.

Aladdin rolled his eyes. "Fine. But unlike you, it's not like I'm trying to hide it. Guess I'll have to improvise treating it for now." He opened up his palm, where the wound looked pretty bad on its own. But Aladdin's and Abu's eyes widened as they realized, very quickly, that the wound was healing itself before their eyes. Iago clearly noticed too, as he squawked when the blood disappeared, leaving only a thin red line on Aladdin's palm where the wound had been. Aladdin held up his hand, studying it carefully as he rotated his palm up and down.

"So, Al, care to tell us when you suddenly developed magic powers to heal yourself? 'Cause we didn't get that memo OR that ability," Iago said, breaking the silence between the three of them.

"That wasn't me, Iago, least I don't think it was. I should be thankful it healed. It doesn't hurt anymore either, but..." he trailed off.

"Scary," Abu screeched.

"Yeah, that's where I'm at." Aladdin looked between Abu and Iago, his breath staggered. "Just what exactly IS this place?"


"You think they might've been captured?" Jasmine asked in the privacy of the Throne Room, standing along with Genie and Carpet. The Sultan was outside tending to the guests himself, calming them and carrying on as close to normal as they could after the harrowing events of the evening. It was fully night by then. No one - apart from Jasmine, Genie, Carpet and the Sultan - knew that Aladdin, Abu, and Iago were missing. The "official" story - at least the one given to the guests - was that Aladdin had left to investigate the cause of the fire, but Jasmine knew differently.

Genie rubbed the back of his head. "Captured, abducted, kidnapped - all of the above. Someone planned that, Jas. If I weren't semi-phenomenal, I could tell who did it in a heartbeat, but no one immediately comes to mind. They were all under some kind of poisonous sleeping spell. Glad it wasn't worse than that, but wherever they were taken to couldn't have been good."

"For now, we need to figure out where those flowers came from. That's our only clue to being able to find them. I wonder if a clue might be in finding out the people that knew the banquet was being held tonight."

"Could've been anybody, but we should definitely take a look at tracing those flowers from the marketplace, see if people around town saw anyone suspicious and work from there."

Jasmine nodded. "Good idea. I really hope those guys are alright. It just seems strange that they'd take Abu and Iago along with Aladdin."

Genie folded his arms across his chest. "So I tried thinking along that angle too, and that makes me even more confused as to who would do it. Iago and Abu have some enemies at the Thieves Den, but none that I know who would use magic."

"That's a good guess with the Thieves Den. Aladdin would be connected there too, considering his past. It wouldn't hurt to check for any clues there. I hate thinking that way since Aladdin left that behind a long time ago, but maybe it's someone who had a grudge against him for that long."

Genie gave Jasmine a quick salute. "Rug Man and I are on the case. We'll check those two areas and we'll be back lickety..."

"Genie!" Jasmine cut him off sharply. "You are not going anywhere without me! I can't just walk back to Father's party and pretend like my husband isn't missing, hurt or worse! Same with Abu and Iago."

Genie and Carpet shared a guilty look. It was a long moment before Genie began again. "I wasn't suggesting anything like that, Princess. I know you're worried. But I don't think it's a good idea for you to wander the streets of Agrabah and tip off anyone who might be responsible for Al and the others going AWOL. Plus, what do you think it would look like if you weren't here, especially with everyone within an Agrabah-sized radius knowing the banquet's tonight?"

Jasmine had to admit Genie had a point. She sat on her father's throne, lost in thought for a moment before speaking again. "Still, even if you do go out, what's to stop the person or magic being responsible from trying something again here?"

Genie beamed. "That's why you have the handy-dandy, always trustworthy lamp. Give it a rub, and I'll come back, no problem! Also, if you're covert about it," Genie transformed into a secret service agent with very big shades. "We can catch the bandit red handed."

"You think whoever did it might still be here?" Jasmine asked, looking doubtful.

Genie thought about it a long moment, then sighed in defeat. "You're probably right. Whoever did it probably made like a tree and you know." He transformed into a tree with legs and started running around the room, leaves falling behind him.

"I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but I trust you, Genie. If you can find any clues about where Aladdin and the others were taken to, then I leave it to you." Jasmine was surprised when Genie suddenly appeared in her hands, as a leaf.

"Aww, you got my pun!" Genie said brightly.

Jasmine finally realized what he meant, then groaned.


Xerxes looked annoyed as Mozenrath watched the group wander around the underground maze with his magic mirror. "More interested when Aladdin was bleeding."

"Actually, that happened sooner than I was expecting," Mozenrath said casually. "Didn't think he would be that careless, but at least it sets up the challenge."

"Challenge?" Xerxes asked, confused.

"Aladdin is a little too clever for his own good. I thought I'd up the stakes as insurance."

"But Master's magic healed his wounds!" Xerxes argued.

Mozenrath smiled a little. "That's only what it looked like. The branch of Black Sand magic I'm using now is more like a dark poison, just like the flowers were. It only healed him to seal something inside, not cure him."

"Oh. OH!" Xerxes said, his grin matching Mozenrath's. "Poison kill Aladdin slowly."

"This particular poison isn't lethal, not on its own," Mozenrath said seriously. "But it will definitely make it easier to kill Aladdin. Watch and learn, Xerxes. In that realm, I make the rules. And I set high expectations for myself in forms of entertainment. I have no doubt that you'll be interested to see how this scenario breaks my mortal nemesis down. Just a matter of time."

Mozenrath briefly used his magic to show a split scene in the mirror between Aladdin, Iago, and Abu making their way around the maze and another showing Genie searching for Aladdin in Agrabah's streets. "And don't think I haven't forgotten the crown jewel. Destroying Aladdin, the Princess, and the Sultan is just one part. I still want Aladdin's Genie. I'm just waiting for the moment that Genie discovers the truth. Then I'll gladly take his magic for myself and for destroying Aladdin, whichever comes first."