~Chapter 40~

Joel

The tower whizzed through the air at incredible speed and all Aladdin and I could do was hold on for our lives. Suddenly the tower stopped hitting something with a harsh thud. Once we were certain that we were stopped, we got up and peered out the nearest window. Snow was pelting down from the sky and the air was thin and a harsh wind was blowing.

"Where are we?" Aladdin asked.

"I don't know, but I think it's safe to say we're nowhere near Agrabah."

"Ugh, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have left the lamp so carelessly." Aladdin said pacing the room. Abu hopped off Aladdin's shoulder and stood next to me.

"What do we do now? How do we get back? Jafar has Jasmine and the Sultan."

"And Noella." I added.

"Should we make our way down the mountain?"

"Considering we're dressed for summer. We'd sooner die from hyperthermia before we made it very far." I reasoned.

We opted to stay inside the broken tower at least until the storm mellowed out, but at these high elevations, who knows when that would happen. There was nothing within this broken tower that we could burn or keep warm. I started to pace thinking to myself of how to get out of this mess. Pacing helped keep myself warm, but it wasn't enough. Even inside this ramshackle tower, we wouldn't last due to the severe weather and our lack of protection. Aladdin started rubbing his hands together quickly and swaddled Abu under his vest. Abu's teeth were chattering and Aladdin's lips were turning bluer and bluer by the minute.

"This is my fault. I should have released Genie when I had the chance." Aladdin stammered trying to keep his teeth from chattering.

"Don't go there." I insisted, "We'll figure this out." I said putting my hand on his shoulder trying to seem confident. Over the next few minutes, I continued to pace and just brainstorm, but I think the cold was going to my head. It was getting quite hard to concentrate. It was then that I heard the rattling of chains.

"Shh...I'm trying to think." I said to Aladdin and Abu.

"That's not us." Aladdin insisted.

"Well, what in the world…" I said looking for the source of the sound.

The rattling continued and I looked up inside the rafters of the tower and I squinted my eyes to make out the magic carpet clasped to a chain against the wall.

"There's our way out of here." I said.

"Carpet." Aladdin said excitedly.

This must have been where the guards locked up the carpet after Jafar tried to dispose of us the first time.

"Abu, do you think you can climb up there and set him free?" I asked.

Abu screeched at me rubbing his hands up and down his arms chattering his teeth. Not that I could speak monkey, but I understood what he meant.

"We're all cold, Abu." Aladdin said, "C'mon the sooner you free carpet, the sooner we're out of here."

Abu looked at me, up at carpet, and back at Aladdin. He pulled out a small lockpick where he was keeping that I didn't want to know. He put it in his mouth as he began to climb up to where carpet was. If Abu was successful with this, he would deserve a whole bunch of bananas. Abu made it up there and soon a click of the chains was heard. Carpet flew down with Abu quickly swirling around Aladdin and I excitedly. Aladdin quickly hopped on as did and I.

"Back to Agrabah." I said tapping carpet.

"C'mon let's hurry." Aladdin added.

Carpet immediately took off through the cold and hoping we would find our way to Agrabah in time.

Noella

Jafar dragged us all inside the palace by way of a magic chain of sorts. We couldn't move, but had to follow like puppets frozen on an invisible leash. Jafar pushed open the doors to the throne room and took a deep breath. He then locked Rajah in a small cage and clasped the Sultan against the wall in irons.

"I think some redecorating is in order."

Jafar then raised his staff and tapped it on the ground and the whole room redesigned itself in a matter of seconds. The golden elephant above the Sultan's throne morphed into a large, golden cobra. Then the red carpet leading up to the throne was lined with lit up braziers. The floor turned to black marble and all other blue, gold, and green decor morphed into red or black.

"Ah, that's much better. Welcome home, ladies." Jafar said as we were pulled down the aisle. The annoying parrot Iago flew in joining us landing on Jafar's shoulder. He conjured up a tray of random food beside the Sultan.

"Go have some fun with your puppet, Iago." Jafar told the parrot and the bird flew off landing beside the Sultan. Once Jafar made it to the throne, he released Jasmine and I from the spell and we landed on the ground with a thud.

"Let my father go, Jafar!" Jasmine immediately said.

"My dear, you are in no position to make demands." Jafar sneered.

He pulled the lamp out from his robes and summoned Genie. Blue smoke emerged from the lamp in a slow stream and Genie appeared looking very sad.

"What is your final wish master?" He asked.

Jafar put the lamp on the armrest of the throne.

"These two are hardly dressed appropriately for me. Fix that." Jafar said.

"Is that your final wish?" Genie asked.

"Oh nevermind, I'll do it." Jafar snapped.

Jafar first aimed at me with his snake staff and he put me in a red top and matching pants and my hair weaved itself into a tight braid pulled to the side. Complete with gold hoop earrings and a gold armlet on my left bicep. Lastly, he clapped me in irons at my wrists and poofed a tray for me to hold full of food. He did the same to Jasmine except she held a tray of drinks and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail.

"Now, is that not more comfortable?" Jafar sneered.

Neither I or Jasmine answered, but rolled our eyes as Jafar pulled both our chain links toward him.

"It hurts me to see you two princesses reduced to this." Jafar said, "A single word could change your current situation." He said grabbing Jasmine's hand and conjuring a gold crown removing both our irons.

"What do you say my dear?" He asked, "Rule at my side as queen."

Jasmine immediately grew angry and spit at him and threw the tray at him.

"Never!" Jasmine growled.

"Impudence." Jafar roared standing up shoving Jasmine to the ground harshly.

I quickly grabbed an apple from my tray and threw it at Jafar's head, but he stopped it by magic making it fall to the ground before it hit him. I groaned, but then my body froze and Jafar picked me up moving me by Jasmine, but not before he slammed me against the ground knocking the wind out of me. Then the power releashed and I got my breath in.

"Don't worry Norah. You won't be left out in this equation. Every Sultan needs a harem." He grinned maliciously, "Or should I call you Noella?"

"How did you know?" I choked out as Jasmine grabbed my hand.

"Once I became sorcerer, I became privy to your lies." Jafar replied tracing his fingers up and down his staff.

"Enough stalling, Genie my final wish… I wish to have Jasmine's heart for all time." Jafar said grinning maliciously.

Jasmine squeezed my hand upon hearing this, but I didn't share the same fear considering I knew Genie was incapable of granting that request.

"Uh master…" Genie replied, "It is a rule that I cannot…"

Jafar immediately struck Genie across the face.

"Don't talk back to me slave...you are ordered to obey!" He yelled.

As Jafar dealt with Genie, I saw out of the corner of my eye the carpet fly in with Joel and Aladdin on it. They touched down and hid behind the pillars at the far side of the room. Relief swept over me as I nudged Jasmine and her eyes sparked up with an idea. She whispered to me before rising to her feet.

"Jafar…" Jasmine beckoned, "I never noticed how very handsome you are."

She slowly walked toward him while Genie's jaw quite literally dropped to the floor.

"Hm, that's better." Jafar grinned, "Now my dear, please continue."

"You're so tall and your beard is so twisted." Jasmine said in a very flirty tone.

As she went on distracting Jafar, I peered behind me at Joel and Aladdin who had stealthily moved closer pillar to pillar. By now they were a few feet from me. Joel waved at me to come to them, but I discreetly shook my head refusing. I knew if I made any major changes, Jafar would notice and we'd all be in more danger. Aladdin sent Abu across the room to release the Sultan by way of his handy-dandy lockpick. Abu would have to deal with that obnoxious parrot, but Abu was clever, I knew he could handle it. Genie looked on eagerly biting his nails nervously as Aladdin went for the lamp. Joel moved closer too following Aladdin and keeping to the shadows getting closer and closer to me. As Aladdin reached for the lamp, Abu had struck the parrot in the head knocking him out cold with a bowl, but it crashed as it fell to the ground. Jafar looked over suspiciously, but Jasmine stopped that by quickly turning his neck around and kissing him. We all looked on stunned. With Jafar's back to me, Joel ran up to me looking me over making sure I was okay. I put my hand on his cheek nodding reassuringly. Once he knew I was okay, he moved up ready to grab Jafar from behind. As he approached, Jafar suddenly spun around shooting a bolt of magic from his staff at Aladdin who was inches away from obtaining the lamp.

"How many times do I have to kill you, boy?" Jafar shouted.

Joel immediately got his hands on the staff and began playing tug o war with him. I ran over to Jasmine making sure she was okay. Aladdin joined Joel trying to yank the snake staff out of Jafar's hands.

"Get the lamp." Joel yelled.

"Hurry." Aladdin added.

Jasmine and I bolted for the lamp as fast as our feet could take us.

"No!" Jafar yelled.

I got to the lamp first and whistled for carpet. The carpet swooped down and scooped us both up. Jafar then got the upperhand over Joel and Aladdin throwing them off aggressively.

"Ladies, you don't want to go now, do you?" He said zapping carpet making it unravel quickly. Jasmine and I weren't too high off the ground, but we still fell fast and hard. The lamp slid out of my grasp as I hit the floor and Jafar picked it up laughing maniacally. Abu hopped on Jafar's head and shoved his turban down over his eyes quickly getting the lamp. He ran toward me as quick as he could, but Jafar zapped him turning him into stone.

"Abu!" Aladdin yelled, "Give up you snake, you're outnumbered." Aladdin snapped.

"Easy Al," Genie warned, "We shouldn't poke the bear."

"Outnumbered, am I?" Jafar sneered leaving the lamp in the middle of the floor, "I will make my point very clear." He quickly conjured a tight circle of scimitars around the lamp. He then glanced over at the unconscious parrot and quickly zapped him.

"Iago, become the creature of legend, the bird of mass destruction and thunder, become the Roc."

The red parrot immediately began to grow. It's eyes began to glow as it screeched loud and in an ear piercing tone. The wingspan alone was the length of the room.

"Destroy the huntsman Joel while I take care of the street rat." Jafar growled and immediately the bird screeched again heading right for Joel. I quickly threw him a scimitar with what strength I had after the fall, which he caught easily and began to defend himself from the bird. Jasmine crawled toward the lamp, reaching through the blades, cutting her arm in the process, but Jafar blasted her with magic transporting her inside a large hourglass with the sand falling from the top.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin cried out.

"It's time to teach a lesson. Jasmine, you're out of time and Noella…" He quickly looked at me with a sneer, "It's about time that tongue was tamed."

He aimed his staff at my golden armlet and once it was hit with magic, it came to life sliding off my arm growing bigger as it moved down my body. By the time it hit my feet, it turned into a large boa constrictor and immediately began wrapping itself tightly around my legs and moving higher and higher up my body. The more I struggled, the tighter the snake became and soon the reptile was as my waist. If he got any higher, I would begin to lose oxygen. Jasmine was up to her waist in sand trying not to struggle because that would make her sink deeper in the sand. Jafar had morphed into a snake and was fighting Aladdin. Between the giant bird and Jafar, the palace was being destroyed stone by stone. I watched helplessly trying to struggle to get free of my own predicament. The snake had moved to my rib cage and it was increasingly becoming hard to breathe.

"Joel." I choked out and he looked over at me as he slashed away at the bird.

"Hang on, Noella." He yelled slashing at the beak of the bird.

Another pained cry rang out as Aladdin slashed the snake and went to break Jasmine free of her glass prison, but Jafar stopped him wrapping him in his coils.

"Give up boy." He growled, "You think you could defeat a sorcerer with powers such as mine? You fool! Without the genie, you have nothing and you are nothing."

Soon a screech was heard as Joel stabbed the giant bird in its gut falling down dead. Joel ran over to me and I was concerned seeing him covered in blood. However, my vision was beginning to blur. The boa had done its job and soon I wouldn't be conscious.

"Noella, don't give up!" Joel yelled.

He tried yanking the reptile off my body, but nothing would give. Carefully, Joel began hacking the creature with the scimitar as quickly as he could without hitting me. Meanwhile, I looked over at Aladdin who was goading Jafar.

"Psh, face it Jafar. Your sorcery pales in comparison to that of the genie. If the genie wanted to, he could take away your power." Aladdin yelled.

Jafar's reptilian eyes rose in acknowledgement of what Aladdin said and quickly uncoiled him slithering his way over to Genie. Once released, Aladdin ran over to the hourglass and smashed it open with the hilt of the scimitar. Jasmine rolled out with the sand as she began coughing heavily.

"Genie, my final wish is that I demand to be an all powerful genie!" Jafar ordered.

"Ugh fine. Way to go, Al." Genie grumbled looking away pointing his finger at Jafar.

The magic took off and Jafar's snake appearance morphed into that of a large, red genie with a long black ponytail at the top of his head. Jafar burst through the roof as a black lamp appeared below him. By this time, Joel got me free of the snake and I could breathe again. He hugged me gently and I pressed my face into his shoulder knowing we would be okay. Jafar summoned up large blasts of wind and swirled magic energy around in his hands.

"The universe is mine to command and control." Jafar laughed maniacally.

Joel held onto me tightly as the wind began to pick up so we wouldn't get swept away in the vortex.

"What have you done?" I called to Aladdin.

"Trust me." Aladdin replied.

Aladdin slowly and carefully crawled to the black lamp and snatched it quickly.

"Don't forget Jafar...the perks of being a genie." Aladdin yelled.

Jafar looked down on us curiously.

"Everything that goes with it." Aladdin said.

Two gold bracelets snapped onto Jafar's wrists as he began to be sucked down into the lamp.

"No, you filthy street rat!" He yelled all the way down.

"Itty-bitty living space." Aladdin joked winking at Genie.

"Aw Al, your a regular Einstein." Genie replied patting him on the head.

"Who?" Aladdin said.

"Nevermind." Genie laughed.

Over the next couple of seconds, everything Jafar had created and destroyed fixed itself. All was made right in a matter of seconds. Jasmine and I were given our old princess attire back. Jasmine's red became blue and mine purple. Abu cracked back to life, Carpet was rethreaded and put together, Rajah became a tiger again, and Sultan was released. Everything returned to normal including the palace back down into the heart of Agrabah. We all hugged each other excitedly knowing the threat was now over. Genie took the liberty of flicking that lamp out into the horizon out of sight.

Aladdin grabbed Jasmine's hands and looked at her remorsefully.

"I'm sorry I lied about being a prince, Jasmine."

"I understand why you did." She replied.

"So this must be goodbye." Aladdin said glumly.

"Ugh, this isn't fair!" Jasmine cried, "Forget the law, I love you!"

Joel and I were watching them feeling bad there was nothing we could do for our friends. It really wasn't fair. Genie walked up putting his hand on Aladdin's shoulder.

"Hey Al, you have one wish left. Just say the word and you're a prince again." Genie smiled.

"But Genie...I made you a promise."

"Hey, this is love. Surely you won't let her go just because of a technicality." Genie insisted. Aladdin turned toward Jasmine with a smile and she nodded in understanding.

"Genie." Aladdin started to say, "I wish for your freedom."

I "What?" Genie replied.

Immediately smoke emerged from his lamp and encompassed Genie head to toe. His golden bracelets fell off and his feet emerged from the smoke as the lamp fell.

"Al!" Genie cried giving Aladdin a big hug, "You're the best friend I ever had and no matter what anybody says...you'll always be a prince to me."

Sultan began discussing the law with Jasmine giving her permission to marry Aladdin regardless of the law. Genie smiled wiping a tear from his eye.

"Aw this is a Kodak moment." Genie smiled, but soon a big grizzly bear suddenly poofed in out of nowhere and Genie laughed awkwardly poofing it away.

"I said Kodak, not Kodiak." Genie complained, "Geez, I guess I do have some tricks up my sleeve. Well, I'm off to see the world. I've gotta blow this popsicle stand."

Genie hugged Jasmine and Aladdin one final time before turning to Joel and I.

"Good luck with everything." Genie said shaking Joel's hand before turning to me.

Genie gave me a big hug.

"You'll find your mom, Noella. I'm certain of it. Who knows maybe we'll see each other again."

I smiled warmly as I patted Genie's back smiling at the thought of running into Genie in Seattle. It made me laugh.

"Take care everyone." Genie nodded and blasted off out of sight.

The Sultan quickly walked up to Joel and I smiling proudly.

"You've down this city a great service you two. How can I ever begin to thank you?"

Joel and I exchanged looks as the Sultan looked at us curiously.

"Actually your majesty, I have question for you." I said quickly.

"Certainly, what is your question?" He replied.

"Do you know anything about a diamond in the rough?"

The Sultan paused scratching his head curiously and looked down at his hand that held a small diamond ring. He slid it off his finger putting it in my hand.

"This ring has been passed down over several generations of my ancestors. This is the only diamond that I was told was more than what it appeared to be." The Sultan replied.

"May I?" I asked.

The Sultan agreed and I put the ring on my finger and cleared my throat.

"Come forth." I beckoned.

Soon a pillar of light emerged like a hologram projector, but it was just the ring. A face appeared in the light and looked at me with a smile.

"You have found all but one of my brethren. Everyone in your party are strong and are quite the pack. Courage is not a quality you lack." The entity in the ring said.

"Where is the final mirror?" I asked quickly, "I wish to find my mother and return home as soon as possible."

"Beyond the barrier to the east is a white covered wonderland of ice and snow where the ground starts to glow. You must seek a woman known as Elsa who is queen and the least bit mean. Be warned she has incredible powers. Show her the light and you and your family might make it out alright." The mirror said before disappearing into the diamond again. I took off the ring handing it back to the Sultan.

"Thanks for everything." I smiled

"Glad I could help." He shrugged.

The Sultan loaded us with provisions for the road and in the meantime I went back to my room to grab my backpack. Jasmine found Joel's leather armor and weapons in his room from before and returned them to him, but I wasn't too lucky. I still had the summer attire of Agrabah going into the next province. It would be cold, but it wouldn't be too hard to find a store or shop of some kind. It would be my first priority. We said our goodbyes to Aladdin, Abu, Jasmine, and the Sultan before moving our way out of Agrabah. Joel checked in with Eugene by way of magic mirror and said he would make his way to our location as quick as he could. We got on the horses and headed east and because the desert was one general color scheme, the barrier was not hard to spot. It was a short ride out from Agrabah. I wonder how many people thought that everything leading up to this wall was just a big desert, but never noticed a magical barrier. Well, without taking anymore time, I placed my hand on the wall and it crumbled. Just beyond I felt a chill in the air without even moving and maybe several yards ahead, I saw trees begin to take form and slowly morph from desert sand to thick, dense forest trees. Before moving forward, Joel helped me down off the horse while we waited for Eugene to show up. I looked at Joel and he looked perplexed and I didn't like the look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Just not looking forward to snow." Joel joked lightly, but I didn't believe it for a second.

"Where do you think Eugene is?" I asked curiously.

"I'm sure he'll be here shortly." Joel said assuredly.

I sighed heavily as I began to carve my fingers in the sand trying to be patient. After a few minutes of silence, Joel grabbed my hand giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Joel? What's wrong? You're beginning to scare me." I muttered looking confused.

He gazed at me intensely and then leaned in to kiss me. This was different, it felt different. Something was wrong and I knew it. Once he pulled back, he brushed his hand against my cheek sweetly.

"Joel…" I muttered.

"Noella, I love you. I care about you more than anyone else in the world…" He began to say and I put my hand on top of his hand interrupting him.

"I feel the same Joel, but seriously this isn't the time for this. We have to move on to find my mom. After that, we'll have all the time in the world." I smiled.

"Noella…please let me get this out" Joel started again and I could tell he was really at war with himself right now, "I love you…" He repeated again, "And it's because I love you that I have to tell you something."

"Alright." I nodded.

Before Joel could share, a woman in a hooded black cloak appeared out of nowhere with long brunette hair hiding underneath the hood. She didn't look familiar to me, but Joel called her the Nightingale.

AN: Oh man, action scenes are so tricky (anybody else know the struggle?) XD

I just passed the 200 page mark in my document so that already is crazy to me, not to mention my word count. Keep moving my story forward day by day :)

So doing my due diligence as a writer, the bird that Jafar transformed Iago into is based off a mythical bird legend called "Roc" (pronounced Ruk" apparently). I just wanted a way to get rid of Iago... I never liked that parrot. XD

Next chapter will be up soon! Betrayal is imminent...are you all ready? ;)

Until next time readers! Please review, follow, or favorite if so inclined. You all rock!