Chapter Six and the finale of Act One! :D In this segment, Merlin shall make his entrance!

From the get-go, I didn't want to copy the Genie at all, but it was still fairly difficult to write Merlin's AU form- so with some advice from Spiritus Rex, who I'd like to take the time to thank for being so dedicated and believing in me to write this- I used inspiration from Merlin's Dragoon form as well as his cheeky self from episode 1 and basically Season one as a whole (as well as a bit of "A Servant of Two Masters" Merlin- he's pretty darn funny there)

Hope you guys enjoy!

Disclaimer: I OWN ZILCH- NADA- NOTHING- GOOSE EGGS!

Albionian Nights

A Merlin Aladdin!AU

Chapter Six: Friend Like Me

Deep in the dark caverns in the sealed Cave of Wonders, Arthur lay still on the ground, unconscious. He had a gash on his forehead where he was struck by the rock. Carpet flew over him concernedly, brushing its tassels on his face to try and stir the teen. It then went underneath his back, lifting him up off the ground. Arthur let out a low groan, bringing his hand to his bloody, partly clotted forehead.

"My head hurts like crazy," he moaned groggily, wincing at his own touch. He blearily looked up at the ceiling where the entrance was previously. "Looks like I'm trapped down here…" Arthur clenched his fist and slammed it against the wall, ignoring the pain he felt. "That two-faced son of a Bastet!" he seethed, scrunching up his face. "Leaving me here to die! I should have known not to trust him." He sighed, glancing at Carpet. "Whoever he was, he's probably long gone with that lamp." Carpet lowered its "head" gloomily, but then it perked up, pointing its tassel behind Arthur. "What? What is it?" the blond asked, turning around.

He let out a chortled laugh as he spotted what Carpet was pointing to- lying on the ground inconspicuously was the lamp. Arthur winced as he made his way over to it, narrowing his eyes and smiling like an idiot.

"What crazy luck!" he exclaimed, picking up the item and turning it over in his hands. "It still looks like a worn old piece of junk to me. I wonder what's so special about it." He took another look at the lamp and noticed what seemed to be engraving marks. "There's something written here!" he whispered incredulously. "I can't seem to make it out- but maybe if I just-"

He began to rub the lamp to try and clear it up, but as he did so, the lamp began to glow and writhe in Arthur's hands! Frightened, Arthur held the lamp above his head, when a beam of light shot out from the lamp's small nozzle and a crowing shout was heard from it. A large cloud of smoke formed above Arthur's head and formed into a human-like shape.

"OOoooohhh MAN!" a voice cried from the smoke cloud. "What a pain in the neck! Someone's gotta remind me to use a cushioning spell before I go back in there!" The smoke cleared to reveal a large figure of a young man, floating contentedly above Arthur. The being was wearing odd exotic clothing- a thin gold vest that left his chest bare, poufy purple, gold embroidered pants that were held up by a gold sash and on his head was a scarlet colored fez. He had bright blue eyes that twinkled and scruffy black hair that rivaled obsidian. And there were two distinct metal cuffs around both of his wrists.

"Um- excuse me, not to be rude or anything but who are you?" Arthur asked after a moment in which the magical looking person saw Carpet and high-fived, apparently knowing it. The young man looked over at Arthur for the first time, and he beamed widely, startling Arthur.

"Ah- sure! Not rude at all, not like you're a royal prat or anything," he joked, giving a lopsided grin and floating down to Arthur's level. He presented his hands to Arthur and from out of them a beautiful swarm of blue butterflies flew around in circular patterns. "Well, if you hadn't already guessed from the magical lights show, I'm the genie of this lamp!" Arthur raised his eyebrow.

"Genie?" The genie nodded enthusiastically.

"Yup! A wish-granter extraordinaire, master of magic and disguise, and I am a fan of pranks, especially fun ones!" he explained proudly, puffing out his chest. "Oh yeah, and you're my new master! A lot smaller than I expected, but it'll do." All of a sudden, the genie grew larger and shook his fists at the ceiling triumphantly. "Ya SEE you big ol' ROCK HEAD! I WON! TAKE THAT!" He glanced back to a very confused Arthur. "Me and Kilgharrah the stone-faced wonder go way back, and he bet me that no one would come to free me in 20,000 years, but I WON! Because you came along, and it was only 10,000! Thank you for that." Arthur was still a bit dumbfounded but he nodded. "He's also not the greatest conversation companion, that lizard only speaks in damn riddles!"

"Ah, sure, no problem," he replied slowly. The genie crossed his legs and floated a bit above the ground, glancing up at Arthur with his twinkling cerulean eyes.

"What's your name, anyway?" he asked in a sing-song voice.

"Arthur Pendragon, what's yours?"

This threw the genie off a bit, causing him to actually lose balance and fall on the ground. "Nobody's ever asked my name before…" he said softly, smiling. "It's Merlin, just Merlin. It's nice to meet you, Arthur Pendragon!"

"Just call me Arthur, and it's nice to meet you as well, Merlin," Arthur replied genially. "You said before, you grant wishes?" Merlin nodded, back up in the air.

"Three wishes to be exact, but none of that wishing for more wishes junk, it doesn't work," Merlin chuckled. "Believe me, people have tried." Arthur stared at him, unsure of his sudden luck. "You can't substitute or take 'em back either. What you wish for is what you get."

"I must be dreaming- I hit my head harder than I thought!" the blond teen muttered. Merlin raised a dark eyebrow and floated over to Arthur, glancing into his eyes and scrutinizing the teen's features.

"You don't look unconscious to me, but just to make sure…" Merlin rolled up his sleeves and pinched Arthur in the arm, hard. Arthur yelped in the brief pain and Merlin shook his head. "Nope, you're awake! That one works every time!" Arthur blinked confusedly. "I don't think you understand here," Merlin pondered, growing larger and floating on his side, hand stroking his chin. "You're my master and I grant your wishes! To put it simply, you ain't never had a friend like me!" With these words, Merlin threw up his hands and his eyes glowed a molten gold, sending an array of fireworks and colored lights through the air. Arthur glanced up at the jubilant genie.

"So," he began slowly, as Merlin shrunk down to his size and sat on a nearby rock. "You'll grant any three wishes I want?" Merlin hesitated in answering.

"Well, about that, there are certain limits on my all-powerful cosmic magic," the genie admitted sheepishly. "I can't kill anyone, so don't ask. I don't make people fall in love, and I don't bring people back from the dead- both are not really pretty pictures and I really don't like raising the dead, not fun aT ALL." Arthur thought for a moment before he got a really fun idea. He plastered a disappointed look on his face.

"Limitations?" he said to himself, but loud enough for Merlin to hear. "On wishes? Some all-powerful master of magic genie, I bet he couldn't even get me out of this cave. Looks like I'm on my own for that one."

Merlin's eye twitched and Arthur smirked just a bit at the reaction, proud of his plan.

"Excuse me?" he whispered, irritated, growing in stature. "Are you smirking at me? Did you rub my lamp? Did you wake me up? And now you're trying to be a clotpole and walk out on me? No way, you're getting your wishes, so climb on that carpet and SITDOWN!" Arthur held back laughs as he did what the genie said, and when he stepped on, Merlin joined him, steadying Carpet. "Now in a case of emergency, just scream as loud as you possibly can and try not to fall off because the exits are everywhere!" Arthur grinned as Merlin's blue eyes flashed gold and a jet of magic spurted from behind Carpet, thrusting them into the air. "Blast off!" Merlin crowed as they blasted through the ceiling and out into the night.

WOOP! That's the end of Act One, everyone! *applause* There will be a brief one week intermission, so relax and feel free to actually watch Aladdin and see how it compares now that you've read this far.

Reviews are love!

-DMRA