A/N: Yeah, sorry about the delay folks. Summer caught up with me. As usual, I don't own Aladdin. I just own everyone that was not mentioned in the movie.

"…You're one microscopic pawn in his catastrophic plan, designed and directed by his red right hand…."~ Red Right Hand, Pete Yorn. I was listening to it and figured that line just had to go here. It certainly sums up the chapter. Anyway, read and enjoy!

Chapter 5: Puppet Playing

Marid moodily scrubbed at the mountain of clutter that still hung like a dark cloud. His hands moved rhythmically, orderly, but his mind was a whirl of angry thoughts that spun in the same manner of a tornado. She had turned him down, again, and the thing that was supposed to make everything better had rules against such things. A jinni could not even grant his wish! The world seemed to be spitting in his face.

So imbedded in his thoughts, Marid hardly noticed as another shadow stole over, behind him and in his mind.

Genie was sure that this was either really good or really bad. His lamp hadn't been rubbed yet, but as far as he could tell, he hadn't been so much as put down. Did this person (if it was even a person] know what was inside the little golden object? The part of him that relied on humor knew this was going to kill the element of surprise that he usually used when it came to his gags. The other, more jaded side could not shake the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong before the night was out. He hated to be pessimistic, but after the battering to his optimism it seemed like a pretty good course of action.

Just when he was starting to wonder if this possible master might have been an animal of some kind that just happened to pick up his lamp, he felt the very familiar call of someone rubbing on the golden metal. Coming out with his usual flair of blue smoke, Genie prepared to settle back into the usual happy-go-lucky genie of the lamp mindset, and was slightly put off by the tall, sinister looking man that greeted him. It was the kind of master that he'd rather get away from as fast as possible, for the sake of all those around him.

"Genie of the Lamp. Unlimited wish fulfillment sans killing, bringing people back from the dead, and making people fall in love. What can I do you for?" The blue jinni got out in one breath, plastering a grin to his face that didn't at all match the way he felt on the inside. His internal 'I'm going to feel very bad about this later' alarm was only kicked into high gear by the sickly, spiteful sneer that began to cover his new master's face.

"Yes, I believe there is something you can do for me…" Turning, the man walked out the door, carrying Genie's lamp with him, giving the entity no choice but to follow. By the time the man stopped, he was right back on the banks of the river at which he had first found his lamp. There was a brief calming moment during which the only sound was the rushing of the rapids and the wind through the distant recovering palm trees. It reminded the jinni of the river spirit that had helped him get to shore. The memory also made him slightly uneasy over the fact that he had exactly no idea why they were here, or what this man was planning to do. Once the man seemed assured of the fact that Genie was behind him, he gestured vaguely to the flowing waters.

"I wish for you to dam this river, starting at the source."

The waters were always constant, always flowing, and always cool. It was the only thing that mattered to her. The life of the inhabitants that lived off it was secondary. Their lives were their own, and it was not the immortal's duty to babysit. Provide if necessary, but not babysit. Besides, it was a rare few that could actually take their teaching and do something competent with it. Most would get a swollen head from the sheer pride.

If there was one thing she could agree on, it was that man had grown greedy and blind to the world around him. It was not a good combination when it came to the fact that there were others in this universe that lived much longer than man, and would not take kindly to things such as effluence and the need to 'tame' the world around them. Still, while there were people that just faded down into the anomaly for the spirit, some seemed to make time to stick out like a sore thumb. Such as that boy. Others might not see it, but she could tell very well the difference between the kind of love that saw a person through and still cared, and the kind that was only to the skin and appearance. Although, there were other reasons to her brusqueness, the difference in life spans for one. And there was also that dark miasma that permeated the village like a predator that waited endlessly for its prey. The smell of this…thing, if it was even a man, had been on the boy as well. It circulated his house after he had visited to care for his ailing mother. If anything, her illness seemed to grow worse with every appointment. Still, it was none of her business, all the more of a reason why she was considering the option of simply not leaving the river at all anymore. Her long, serpentine body, invisible to the mortal eye, flicked through the rapids of her river as she turned to go back upstream.

Suddenly, the waters began to fade, their vivacity and life draining away by the second. The immortal twisted in panic as she tried to understand what was happening without revealing herself, but her efforts were proved futile. Before she could react, the water level had lowered to the point where the only use the river had now was a series of puddles that led down the riverbank. And her form, now totally visible, writhed lightly in the remaining pools of water, struggling to regain her power that faded with the absence of the water. Gazing up at the rise of land that was once part of the river bank, her eyes easily landed on the man that was the cause of the stench that evaded the village over these past few years. And above him, floating with a sky blue wisp as it's legs, was the jinni that she had just drifted to shore, looking down at her with a mixture of surprise, and something else she had no time to identify before the man turned, addressing the azure entity with a careless gesture.

"And now, genie, I wish for you to send me and this river dragon to the cave I have prepared. It is a little ways further down the river."

So, yeah, short. Sorry about that. I promise more in the next chapter! See you guys later!