Can't speak. Must play Kingdom Hearts II or monkeys will eat my face… - Zerosoul
All's fair in love and sorcery; chapter seven: "wrongfully accused"
Unknown to the currently ranting and raving Mozenrath, Xerxes had taken this time to wander off since he smelled a familiar scent (which was odd considering how Xerxes didn't have a nose and this is what we call a 'plot hole'). He smelled the same scent from the old castle yesterday and he knew in his morbid little heart that if he found the girl like he was supposed to, then maybe his master wouldn't be so mean...or at least let him stop looking so weird. It even disturbed him on some level.
Up above Xerxes, Sadira was flying over the city on her magic carpet. She felt very - what was that word again? oh yes, - whimsical on her magic carpet. As if she could just get up and spin around, but that would be dangerous considering how high up she was in the air. She kept on the watch for the palace and a way to get in without drawing too much attention. She looked down below to see the usual over buff, overly pea-brained guards doing their usual thing and didn't want to have another run in with them.
'I wonder what Jasmine will say when she sees me…' Sadira thought. But there were only two options here: (a) happiness at the fact to see an old friend/love rival again or (b) anger at the fact that Sadira had never visited and had a plan of delayed revenge against years of abuse in the city when she was just a defenseless little girl and didn't have the firepower she had today.While joy was one thing and rage was another, she couldn't decide which she was looking forward to. Joy would mean guilt later and rage…well, that would just flare up her temper and make her less relentless when things came out in the end. Yes, her plans had failed before but this was foolproof! Why, this plan was –
"Why, that's strange…" Sadira said, her mind floating away from the topic of revenge.
Down below, nearby the palace gates where she was floating above, there was a strange creature. Well, the word "creature" would be ill fitting since Sadira understood that it was in the shape of some sort of cat or feline animal. It was dark and had bright red eyes, but there was something…odd…about it that sent bizarre shivers down her spine. It looked right up at Sadira and meowed. Then it jumped through the palace walls like they were nothing and was in the courtyard.
Sadira looked at the guards – they hadn't taken notice of it.
'Let's see…I'm on my way to commit revenge and all of a sudden a strange cat-thingy pops out of nowhere and it's setting my magick senses off,' Sadira thought, 'But the real question is: trap or not?'
There were choices: ignore it and go on with the mission or examine. Although she was burning to do the first, she had gone through painstaking measures to make sure the plan was fool-proof and she wasn't going to let a fluke like a cat-thing get in the way.
Slowly, she lowered the carpet down towards the courtyard, cautiously looking around for guards.
Concurrently, Mozenrath had finished ranting to himself in the old and abandoned place of the crazed old woman (or at least had been her place; he wasn't sure what Mirage had done with the old bat). And now that his anger was out of his system, he was allowed to think more clearly.
'What in all of the Seven Hells is she doing here?' Mozenrath thought. He rubbed his temples – he could feel a migraine coming on – the same throbbing and pulsating that always came when Mirage appeared back into his life to meddle.
There were also several things that were bothering him: (1) Mirage didn't care about him or his life unless there was some advantage for her, (2) Mirage never helped or aided him unless there was something for her in it, (3) Mirage never did anything unless it was for her, and (4) Mirage said Agrabah was going to be destroyed today.
'She's toying with me,' Mozenrath resolved, but the last part was bothering him. He wouldn't deny that Mirage was a goddess and evil incarnate and powerful and could see into the future, but the puzzle pieces weren't fitting.
The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The vendors were yelling. Water didn't turn into blood, the sky didn't darken, and Armageddon was obviously not on the way for Agrabah and the city had stood for a thousand years without being destroyed and everytime it was destroyed it was rebuilt or redeemed or renovated or redone by none other than Aladdin and his trio of obnoxious sidekicks. It had happened in the past. It happens in the present.
So…why today of all days for Agrabah to be destroyed?
While pondering this, Mozenrath left the little nook of a home and discovered that Xerxes was gone (good riddance) and that he could now return to the Land of Black Sands, since he had no interest in destroying it today (he had other plans).
"Meow,"The noise alone set Mozenrath on edge and turned in the hopes of flinging a fireball at Mirage only to see a strange…thing…sitting a few feet in front of him. It was feline in shape with blue eyes, but it was obviously alien to Agrabah and otherworldly. He suspected it was one of Mirage's lackeys and threw the fireball without a second thought.
The cat-thing dodged out of the way and ran down the streets. Mozenrath – who was already flared up in temper over Mirage and now this made it even worse – chased after it to see it was running towards the palace gates. It jumped right through the walls with another teasing meow.
Mozenrath saw red at this point…in a fiery and very literal sense.
(Meanwhile, Xerxes was very, very, very lost since his sense of smell was imaginary and he didn't really have one...but nobody cares about an ugly flying eel-thing.)
Sadira was doing her best at being stealthy when approaching the cat-thing. She didn't want to cause a scene and attract the attention of those irritating guards or worse…have Jasmine or Aladdin discover her presence. Sadira's main plan was to entice the creature over to her but the cat-thing seemed to do everything in its power to avoid her. The closer she moved, the more it dashed away. It hissed at her, and Sadira saw quills rise up on its dark body.
"Come here you little monster…come here…" Sadira crooned to it. The quills slowly lowered and the creature let Sadira get a little closer. However, the closer she got to it, Sadira could sense some sort of hidden power. Something that sent more shivers down her spine, "…a little closer…"
In a perfect world, Sadira would have gotten the cat-thing to come over to her and persuaded it to her side and held her in her plan and the world would be a better place (or not) but this was an imperfect world and this was where things went awry.
First of all, another cat thing came flying out of the gate and ran into Sadira, knocking her own. The new and blue-eyed cat-thing hissed at Sadira – raising quills – and the red-eyed one soon joined it. It appeared they were a pair.
The second thing was that the palace gate to the courtyard exploded into flames with the painful outcries of guards floating in the air and standing in the remains of the gate was the sorcerer from before, looking about as angry as he was when Sadira first met him.
And then the two made eye contact and it was hate at first sight all over again:
"…YOU AGAIN!" Sadira and Mozenrath both yelled.
"What in the Seven Deserts are you doing here?" Sadira demanded.
"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Mozenrath said, walking over to the sorceress, "This is my turf!"
"Your turf? You don't own the place!" Sadira answered
"But I'm the one that terrorizes this city! Get your own!" Mozenrath replied.
"Hit the road! I grew up in this crummy place! I was here way before you!"
"No you weren't! "
"Yes, I was!"While the two magicians were bickering like children, the two cat-things were running around and destroying all they saw. They did a lot of damage – clawing up the marble, ripping up plants, hurling hairballs at the wall – anything within their power and then the two of them saw their destruction and then disappeared as mysteriously as they had arrived.
"I don't have time for this!" Mozenrath said, breaking off the argument, "I've got better things to do than dispute silly things with a little girl!"
This statement struck a chord with Sadira – she had always been mocked her size and stature.
"Who are you calling little!" Sadira said, chucking a fireball at Mozenrath's head.
Mozenrath set up his barrier and deflected the fireball, "Don't bug me. I'm in too much of a bad mood to deal with amateurs,"
"I'll show you who's an amateur!" Sadira snarled. She was ready to chant an earthquake spell when a shrill cry rang out:
"MY GARDEN! IT'S RUINED!"
Both sorcerer and sorceress froze at this. They both looked up to see Jasmine and Aladdin standing to behold their destroyed courtyard and part of their love nest. Sadira couldn't help but gawk at the two of them. Two years and four months of absence had changed them. Jasmine was dressed as a queen and Aladdin as king.
Aladdin was too busy staring at their unannounced guests, "…Sadira? I haven't seen you in ages it seems!"
"Long time no see?" Sadira said, with an innocent shrug. Mozenrath made a face.
"Oh no…" Jasmine wept as she looked over to see her roses wilting pitifully, "…my beautiful roses! It took me so long to get them that beautiful and big!"
Aladdin's look of happiness disappeared when he saw how upset his wife was; "You two are responsible for this, aren't you?"
"What? No!" Sadira yelled.
"Aladdin, I may hold a grudge against you and be your enemy but I've got nothing against gardens," Mozenrath answered.
"All I see is a destroyed garden and you two in the middle of it!" Aladdin said.
"But it wasn't meeeeeeeee!" Sadira wailed.
"It was probably those…" Mozenrath. He trailed off when he realized that the cat-things were gone and that the both of them were in a predicament, "…crap," He looked at Aladdin. "Well, Aladdin, it's just like old times all over again,"
"Old times my ass! I'm king now! I have my underlings do the fighting now!" Aladdin snorted. He headed back inside of the palace with Jasmine on his arm, "Genie! Guards! We have intruders!"
At least fifty guards came pouring into the courtyard and encircled Mozenrath and Sadira so closely that they were back to back.
"This is your fault," Sadira said.
"My fault? I didn't do a thing and you saw me!" Mozenrath said.
"Yeah, right! For all I know, you could be the one that was causing this!" Sadira replied.
"How the hell is that even possible? I was arguing with you the entire time!" Mozenrath yelled.
"I don't know, I'm just an amateur!" Sadira sniped, flinging her arms in the air; "You're the expert apparently! Why don't you just tell me?"
The guards were closing in on them.
"I don't know about you but I'm not going to spend the rest of my days rotting away in some dungeon over something I didn't even do!" Mozenrath answered, "We can argue later!"
Sadira looked around them – outnumbered and with this many guards around; she was bound to get exhausted easily. She made a face and sighed, "Agreed. We can…we can…" She choked the words out, "…work together…"
On top of the angry and snarling royal guards, the annoying Genie appeared.
"Pests, eh?" said the Genie, cracking his knuckles. The blue behemoth looked down at them with a smile, "Well, I guess I'm the castle exterminator!"
"Gods, I hate that Genie," Mozenrath growled.
"Ditto," Sadira murmured.
The battle began with Mozenrath making the first move. It was a long and epic battle – good vs. evil (or vice versa in this situation), right vs. wrong, magic vs. swords, and other 'versus' phrases that are often put in what modern day people call "movie trailers". Mozenrath was offensive. Sadira was defensive.
(Xerxes wasn't as lost anymore and at least found his way towards the palace gates, but still…nobody cares about an ugly eel-thing.)
Sadira managed to force back the wave of guards but they were unrelenting in pursuit. It made matters worse that they were familiar with the both of them and had a strong habit of not going easy since they knew they could take it. Mozenrath was busy clashing with one of the bigger guards, who wasn't exactly bothering by flames.
The guard dove towards him and slashed him down the side of the ribcage. Mozenrath let out a curse and pushed him back with a quick blizzard spell, but still it wasn't enough. There was only two of them and still thirty or so guards left standing the Genie made things worse by healing the fallen guards and getting in the way.
"There's too many of them!" Sadira said. Mozenrath and her were huddled together.
"No shit," Mozenrath growled, holding his side. It was sticky with blood.
A guard dove towards Sadira and she dodged. The blade grazed her thigh and something fell out of her pocket and clinked onto the ground. Sadira's eyes widened and Mozenrath paled when he saw it.
"…is that what I think it is?" Mozenrath murmured.
"Yes," Sadira said meekly.
The Pendant of Viper's Calling was lying on the ground. Then a light began to pulsate from within it.
"I think…I think the Working of Decay…is going to go off," Mozenrath growled.
"Well, we've got one option now," Sadira said.
"What?" Mozenrath asked.
"Run," was her reply.
She whistled for her flying carpet and it came running. Sadira and Mozenrath hopped on and they took off even before the Genie could catch them.
"You idiot!" Mozenrath said to her, "What were doing carrying around that thing? It could have killed us both!"
"Well, I was going to use it, that's why I had it," Sadira murmured.
"Reckless amateur," Mozenrath said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, be grateful! The only reason why I'm even flying you out of here is because you're injured!" Sadira growled.
"How kind of you…" Mozenrath said with false appreciation. He noticed Xerxes was wandering around. "Xerxes!" he called, "Xerxes, get over here! We're leaving!"
Xerxes quickly responded and rejoined his master.
Meanwhile, the Genie was preoccupied with the Pendant.
"What's this little doo-hickey?" the Genire said.
Ill-chosen last words.
Sadira was flying them far. As far as she could think of (or as far as the spell would work over the carpet). They were outside of the city now but she wanted to get as far as possible – just to be safe.
"When is that thing suppose to go off?" Mozenrath asked, looking towards the tops of the Agrabah palace.
"Right about…" Sadira began.
A large sonic boom filled the air, knocking Mozenrath and Sadira out of the sky and into the sands below. The two of them were trapped underneath the carpet as sand rushed over them and disease and death and despair and plague spread all throughout Agrabah, killing everything that was living within the city (even cute little monkeys).
And so on the 13th day, of the 7th month, or some unknown year, the city of Agrabah came to its end on a lovely summer afternoon not because of some rampage of mechanical monsters, not because it was hopelessly destroyed by an angered god, not because a Wind Jackal did it, and not because of Jafar…but because of a stupid mistake and two cat-things (which were still unexplained and unknown to both Mozenrath and Sadira).
What will happen to our heroes/villains now?(loves leavingreaders in suspense)- Zerosoul