Previously:

"More importantly, the biggest problem we have here is certainly the Fog Troupe. Since our opponents have a Djinn's Metal Vessel, as well as that many magical items… if we don't revise our battle plans, the situation will become very serious." Ja'far said grimly. "It looks like establishing contact with Sindria is still the best choice."

"I guess you're right." Said Sinbad. "Since I lost all of my metal vessels…"

"Hey, couldn't you teach Hope how to use hers?" Faith asked.

"I could… but it would take time." He replied thoughtfully. "It's not something you can master overnight. By the way, where's Aladdin?" he asked.

"Well…" Ja'far said, glancing at the twins.

"Aladdin's still upset over that jerk, Alibaba!" Faith huffed moodily, crossing her arms.

"Since then, he's been resting in our room." Hope added. "He might be a magi, but he's still a kid… and, to him, Alibaba was a very important friend… His rejection must've been a huge shock."

Chapter 40: Moon Watching

Standing alone in the dark room, illuminated only by the light of the full moon, Aladdin stared out of the window into the cool night.

"Ugo-kun, it has taken a long time… to reach Balbadd." He said quietly. "But, it's just like you said. Just like how I have experienced many things this past half year… Alibaba must have gone through a lot as well…" He felt a sharp pang of sadness when an image of Alibaba's face when he told him he couldn't fulfill their promise flashed through his mind. "All right! What should I do from now on? I have to set a new goal for myself!" Aladdin said brightly, trying to cheer himself up. "That's right. I should continue fulfilling my promise to Ugo-kun, to find the rest of the Djinn's Metal Vessels. And I should talk to Sinbad-ojii-san with Faith and Hope… and ask him about things like being a magi and dungeons… Ah! And if they figure out a way home, I can follow Morg-san and head over to the Dark Continent, too! I wonder what it's like? Hehe, to think that there were so many things that I can do!" He exclaimed, when his stomach suddenly growled long and hard. Aladdin paused for a moment and blinked. "I'm starting to feel hungry again! Come to think of it, I haven't eaten since yesterday… Let's find something to eat then!" he said brightly as he turned to step away from the window. "Huh?" Aladdin said, confused when his body suddenly went limp, and he fell into a kneeling position, sitting on his feet. "… I don't seem to… have any energy left…" he realized as it hit him how emotionally and physically drained he felt. "…" Aladdin stared up at the moon, thinking about all the adventures he'd had with Alibaba, as well as with Faith and Hope, and imagined what could have been if Alibaba had come with him, and the twins didn't have to go back to their old world. 'To think I was… so looking forward to it, too…' he thought sadly, suddenly feeling very lonely when it occurred to him that everyone would be leaving him soon or later. He sat there in the darkness as a cloud passed over the moon silence without moving. The room he was in and the night outside seemed perfectly still.

And then, everything seemed to happen all at once. Through the window, he saw a small shadow form on the moon, which grew bigger as it drew nearer, revealing itself to be Morgiana, who was flying towards him with Alibaba in her arms. As the door to the room was opened by Faith to let Hope in with a tray of food for Aladdin, Morgiana threw Alibaba in ahead of her through the open window, and the screaming teenaged boy was sent rolling past a very stunned Aladdin.

"WAAAAAAA!!!" Alibaba cried with tears in his eyes as he crashed into the wall near a pair of startled twins. Aladdin stared across the room at him, stunned. Alibaba stared back.

"H-Hey…" he greeted the younger boy a bit awkwardly with a lopsided smile. "Sorry for disturbing you… Aladdin…" A vein popped on Faith's forehead.

"You've got a lot more than that to be sorry for, jackass!!" she snapped with a dangerous look in her eye as she loomed over him, making a fist.

"Oh, so this is what you were up to, Morg-chan? Good job!" Hope said with a smile, setting down the tray of food in her hands and offering Aladdin and Morgiana some snacks. "Who wants juice?"

"Uwaah—It multiplied!!?" Alibaba shouted in alarm as he flinched in shock, seriously freaked out to see two Faiths in the room when he recognized the twins' faces, though one of them seemed distinctly less evil.

"Who're you callin' an it!?" Faith demanded furiously, giving him a good whack on the head. "That's my sister, dumbass!! You're just a big bag of asses today, you know that!?"

"…" Aladdin blinked as he watched Faith pummel Alibaba. To their surprise he started to laugh.

"Huh?" Faith said, so taken aback that she actually stopped as she and Alibaba stared at him, stunned. Was this really something to laugh at? She was trying to be serious, here…

"Hehe… Sorry, it's just… like old times, isn't it?" Aladdin said with a small smile, remembering how Faith used to beat Alibaba whenever he said something she didn't like.

"…" Faith frowned slightly in annoyance as she exchanged a glance with Alibaba before dropping him like a sack of rotten potatoes.

"Hmph! Whatever…" She grumbled as she plopped herself down beside Hope and Aladdin, and popped a rabbit-shaped apple slice into her mouth. Hope smiled wryly, while Alibaba sweat-dropped, glad she had decided to stop before his condition became critical. The five of them sat there in silence (or stood, in Morgiana's case) for a while, until finally Alibaba couldn't take it anymore.

"H-Hey! It seems like you're doing well." He remarked nervously to Aladdin. He really wished Faith would stop glaring at him…

"Mm! Alibaba, too!" Aladdin replied brightly.

"It's… been half a year, hasn't it?" Alibaba asked. "You look like you've changed quite a lot since then, no?"

"Mm! Alibaba, too…" Aladdin said, though there wasn't really anything noticeably different about him, aside from a slight change in wardrobe.

"…" Another heavy silence fell over the room.

"Please get to the point." Morgiana told Alibaba bluntly, making him flinch. "Yesterday, you even pointed your blade at Aladdin-san… so, please hurry up and explain why you are with the Fog Troupe."

"…" Alibaba furrowed his brow with irritation and bit his lip as he looked down, feeling a bit guilty. "You're annoying… I was actually getting to that part… but, since you said it like that, I don't feel like talking about it anymore…" he retorted rather petulantly.

"…" Morgiana furrowed her own brow slightly as she and faith stared at him with an extremely pissed off expression on their faces, while Hope watched with an equally unimpressed look upon her face. What was he, three?

"You want me to beat it out of you?" Faith asked with a scowl, getting ready to roll up her sleeves for another pummeling session.

"Please hurry up and explain it. This isn't a time to joke around." Morgiana said strictly.

"Do you even know what kind of situation this country is facing because of what your Fog Troupe is doing?" Hope asked with a frown as Morgiana clenched her fists.

"Trading has stopped because of this internal conflict… The government has abandoned its citizens… And those innocent people who ran away because of this… found themselves being caught by slave traders!" Morgiana said sternly, trembling with anger and a feeling of betrayal as tears began to form in her eyes when she thought of poor little Nadja crying while they were being held by Fatima and the thieves. "I never could have imagined that you would be carrying out misdeeds like these… When you were in Qishan… you were a kind person who was even willing to donate his entire fortune, just to free slaves like me! To think I was so grateful to you for that!!"

"…" A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Alibaba's slightly flushed face as he closed his eyes, ashamed.

"I seriously… cannot imagine you're the kind of person who doesn't even care about someone's well-being…!!" she yelled with tears in her eyes, flustered. A vein throbbed on Alibaba's heads as he sat there sulking while her cheeks puffed out angrily.

"Yeah, you tell him, Morg!" Faith encouraged the younger girl. "We're all super disappointed and pissed at you, Alibaba-san." She added scathingly, shooting him the evil eye.

"Hey, quit trying to throw more fuel on the fire!" Hope scolded her sister. Morgiana was totally right, of course, but this little tantrum fest wasn't getting them anywhere. "You're not helping, so let's leave this to Aladdin, all right…?" she suggested, exchanging a glance with him. The two boys probably had a lot to talk about. Aladdin gave her a small smile and nodded in appreciation.

"Calm down for now, Morg-san…" He said gently. "I can understand that you are angry because you have experienced a lot of problems. And I know you two have been worried about me…" he added, giving the twins an apologetic smile. "But, the five of us finally got the chance to gather like this… Speaking of which, the moon is very pretty today… So, let's talk about some happy things instead! Right, Alibaba?" Alibaba lifted his head, looking up at him in surprise.

"R-Right!" he answered as a bead of sweat slid down the side of his face. "… Speaking of which… where have you been all this time?" he asked curiously, sounding a little nervous. "Ever since we conquered the 7th dungeon… I only got to see this girl…" He said, pointing at Morgiana. "When you didn't come over to find me at all, I almost died worrying about you! Where have you been exactly? It looks like Faith managed to find her sister somehow, but… I mean, you are Faith's sister, right? Then… I guess you're also from another world, huh? … N-Nice to meet you." Alibaba told Hope a bit awkwardly.

"Yes, and it's nice to you meet you, too… though I wish it was under better circumstances." She returned his greeting with a polite smile, even though she was also upset with him for hurting Aladdin's feelings. The others had already given her a heads up that he knew about that. Alibaba sweat-dropped, not quite sure what to make of that. Receiving such a pleasant smile from someone with the same face as Faith (who was still shooting laser eyes at him) kind of gave him the chills.

"Hehehe." Aladdin laughed, amused at the odd expression on his friend's face. "Don't be surprised, all right? We were… at a place called the Kouga village all this time."

Then Aladdin started to talk about what happened at the Tenzan Plateau, where he and Faith ended up after leaving the dungeon. He talked about how they had found Hope, and all the other people they met over there. How they were seen as family members by the people, and how he met an important person there. And why that person died because of war… as well as getting closer to solving the mystery of this world. Even how Kouga village turned out to be Goltas' birthplace. He and the twins spoke about their journey together from the grass plains to the large desert… the sceneries and creatures that they saw for the first time… as well as how they got past a difficult crisis, and how they finally reached Balbadd…

"Whoa… to think that so many things happened!" Alibaba exclaimed with a smile. "It really was a rather exciting adventure!"

"Yeah!" Aladdin said with a smile. "Also, to be able to find you in this country… we ended up needing to help out with arresting members of the Fog Troupe." Alibaba's smile fell at that.

"Tch! We totally didn't expect you to be one of them, though…" Faith muttered, causing Alibaba to sweat-drop when she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Yes, from what I've heard about you, this doesn't seem to fit your personality at all…" Hope said calmly. "I think you must have your own reasons for being with them, something really important to you."

"I believe that as well." said Aladdin. "So, please… tell me… the reason why you decided to join the Fog troupe."

"…" Alibaba was silent for a moment. "Aladdin… do you still remember what I told you and Faith in the 7th dungeon? 'Do you think you could introduce me to your friend, Ugo-kun?' But before that… could you listen to me about a friend of mine?" he asked carefully.

"Sure! Of course!" Aladdin agreed with a smile.

"His name is… Cassim…"