Chapter 6
After Judar, Alibaba and Morgiana ate breakfast the blonde lady asked Judar about the topic she wants to discuss with him "Judar, why are you here? And how'd you find me?" Alibaba said with an earnest expression on her face.
This caught Judar's attention and as much as possible he wants to avoid the topic but seeing the serious face of the blonde, he knows that there's no way he could escape it. "Fine, I came here to ask for payment"
"What payment? Are you crazy? When did I lend something on you?"
"If you don't remember, well let me remind you. First, you beat me two times, sec-" Judar didn't get any farther when Alibaba laughed loudly, at first he was puzzled of why she was lauhging so hard but after giving a deep thought about what he said, he finally figured it out and now he can feel his eyes twitched.
"Hahahahahah Judar, how many times again? So pathetic. Hahahah" Alibaba said whilst laughing even harder and louder that even tears are flowing from her eyes. And when she said the word 'pathetic' she meant there was the slow realization of Judar of why she was laughing. "So slow"
"SHUT UP!" The raven haired guy got even more mad, thinking that he admitted he was beaten makes him feel more and more embarassed and idiot to no end. And because of the unstoppable laughing of Alibaba he decided to clutched her coat and gave her his best mean glare that specifically saying "Im serious, so shut up" thing.
"Ok sorry, sorry" Alibaba apologized to Judar but in reality she herself didn't buy the sincerity of her apology because she still let out chuckles.
"Tsk, don't say things if you didn't mean it" He said as he released the blonde. Just hearing the word 'sorry' made Judar content but he's still a bit annoyed.
"I think it's best if we move to the next question"Alibaba said. " 'Im wondering how does this guy found me, we made sure to kept everything under the wraps'
**********Flashback**************
" Lulu Im h-h-hungry"
"Oh my goodness princess, I thought it was something important" Lulu sighed in relief.
"It is Lulu! it's a matter of life and death, please lulu help me, give me food pleasee" The blonde princess said. And together with her puppy eyes she looked at lulu.
Lulu on the other hand show off an annoyed expression to her princess, she knows that her princess has a point about being hungry but she doesn't have to go to that extent.
"Ok princess, and please quit acting like a brat!"
Lulu didn't show any signs of astonishment when her princess cleaned off a meal that is equivalent for 2 days(meaning she was used to this) what caught her attention is when her princess ate without showing any table etiquette(Her princess didn't even touched the utensils) like she was not a princess before. "Princess why did you ate like that?"she said narrowing her eyes.
"Lulu im hungry and it will take me like forever if i consider table manners"
"But still prin-"
"Shhhhh, stop being a nag and tell me what happened while im sleeping" Lulu knows that her princess was just dodging her lectures again but she just surrendered and tell her what happened.
"I see, so they know" Alibaba sighed deeply
"Princess im really sorry"
"It's fine lulu besides time will come that they will know it"
"Lulu after what happened I realized something"
"What is it princess?"
"I don't want to spend another day here knowing that Ahbmad has tendencies to kill me. That's why I have to this now and I need you're help, I have to escape this night"
"I will always be here at you're side and will serve you anytime"
"Lulu I want you to get the Huangs(paper money) that I hide in my room, I placed it in the pit under my cabinet. Buy me things that I can sell cause obviously those papers are pretty useless then a cart, camel, new clothes and most importantly foods heheh. Then let's meet at the border gates when midnight comes"
"Princess will you tell you're friends about this? im sure they will help you"
"I will stay here and keep my unconscious act, I don't want them to know about this especially my parents.. Please don't tell anyone that im going to a dungeon, I must do it alone please Lulu im counting on you please.."
"Why don't we just go now princess?"
"Lulu if we will escape now they will easily find me before I can even reach the gate besides It is easier to escape at night"
"Are you sure you can escape here, ALONE?"
"Come on, have some faith in me! I can use the secret tunnels here in the palace to escape, im not a little girl anymore Lulu"
"Fine fine, I get it. So let's meet at midnight"Alibaba nodded while giving a pleased smile to her friend.
An hour before midnight comes the blonde haired princess started to escape the palace and like what she promised to her friend she managed to escaped smoothly and safely. At exact midnight she saw her friend standing and waiting for her patiently.
She run towards her friend, giving Lulu a tight hug as she say "Lulu make sure to wait for me i'll be back as soon as possible and when I come back you, me and my family will all go to sindria" she said as tears starting to flow on her cheeks.
Lulu pulled away from the blonde then wipe her tears while saying "Hey you said you're not a little girl anymore. By the way be careful to you're surroundings, be attentive and please princess don't pick fights ok"
Alibaba noddded then Lulu gave her a small piece of paper"Here present this to the guards at the front gate so they will let you leave" before the blonde lady turned her back she gave her friend one last tight embrace then said "See you soon"
**********End of flashback***************
"So how'd you find me?"
"I have a lot of connections you know" Judar said trying his best to convinced the blonde to believe in him.
'Is this guy think im a fool. The last time he looked for me he almost killed the head chef in the kitchen. Could it be..."
Alibaba grabbed her sword from her waist and point it to Judar's neck "What did you do to her?" Despite the fact that there's a sword on his neck he was still able to maintain his composure. He's confident that the blonde was just scaring him 'I guess it can't be helped' he sighed deeply before narrating his story
*****************Flashback********************
The day Alibaba woke up.
It was a one hot hell afternoon for Judar whose roaming the market of Balbadd to get some peaches, he doesn't trust the servants to get his favorite fruit because the first time he ordered them, the peaches they bought does not suit well in his delicate tounge.
Unexpectedly he saw a familiar figure talking to a camel merchant 'What is she doing here?I thought she was looking after Alibaba? If she's not there, then who is looking after Alibaba?'
The morning they discovered Alibaba's dissapearance
While kougyoku is busy being so dramatic, Judar headed towards his own room and lay down on his bed. He was planning to search for the blonde and abruptly he remember a certain person that could increase the chance to find the blonde.
'I think im starting to get it now, As far as I know camels are well famous in this kind of country as a means of transpotation' And without any hesitation he approached the door, grab the door knob then twist it. He was Stupefied from the figure he least expected to see(Actually not infront of his door), her hand was raised in a fist, ready to knock the unreachable door.
"You're Alibaba's friend, right? From what I observed, compared to princess Kougyoku you have much lesser responsibilities. That's why Can you help me? Or Can you help her?"
"What do I need to do Lulu?"he said before giving a wickedly grin. Lulu informed Judar about Alibaba's plan and before leaving, she told Judar to keep their conversation a secret.
****************End of Flashback****************
Alibaba was flustered as the words slowly registered to her mind. She can't completely say that Judar was lying because she knows Lulu very well and this was not the first time Lulu did this, but what bothers her most is that of all people why does it have to be Judar?She removed her sword from Judar's neck as she sat back to her seat and bury her face on the table while muttering"why? Did she do this to me?I assured her that I can handle it alone, and why the hell she asked this rat idiot whyyy?"
The blonde lady was snapped from her thoughts when Judar asked this question "So, when will we go to a dungeon?" This made her eyes twitched, imagining that the two of them together inside a dungeon irked her extremely. "Hey! Did I even give you a permission to come with me? Lulu was the one who asked for help, not me! So get the hell out of here!"
"Listen to me BONEHEAD BLONDE, im just here to assure that you will be able to pay me, alright. So wether you like it or not I will come with you"
"You're not making any sense AIRHEAD, I can handle it my own"
"BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH" Judar said while covering his ears with his hands.
"Don't blah blah me! And listen to me!"After spending a few minutes talking to Judar,the blonde lady surrendered and sighed deeply then headed to morgiana's direction
holding a glass of water and medicine.
"Here morgiana drink this" the red headed girl grabbed the glass and medicine.
"Thanks Alibaba, when im ok I will help you" Morgiana said while forming a litte smile.
"Help me on what?!Oh never mind just rest and later we will change you're bandages"she said while stroking morgiana's hair. Suddenly Judar hugged her from the back that made her flinched and a bit nervous "W-what the heck a-are you doing!" she said while squirming her body to get out of Judar's tight hug "get off of me!"
"No, answer my question first!" he said while cuddling to Alibaba's back. Inside him, he was also asking himself of why the hell is he doing this? He knows that he just wants to pester the blonde but why did it goes like this? It's like his body was moving on it's own.
"When morgiana's ok! Now Get off" Judar let go of the blonde with an annoyed look on his face. Dissapointed, he thought that he should have make it difficult, then he asked himself of why he was thinking like that? why is he craving for it? He shook his head and tried to erase his thoughts earlier. But he can't deny it to himself that it felt good, the warmth made him feel unbelievably comfortable like never before.
Another 2 days had passed when morgiana got completely well conditioned. During those days Alibaba endured all Judar's pestering which includes throwing different stuffs on her, saying mean things on her(that leads to their combat fights) and Judar's demanding attitude. During those days Alibaba felt like lunacy was slowly taking over her body and destroying her sanity.
Unlike Alibaba who was disgusted being together with Judar, unfortunately it was utterly opposite for the raven haired guy. He unanticipatedly enjoy the blonde's company though they fight most of the day, which is his faults all the time. He experienced a great satisfaction everytime he sees the reddening face of the blonde(because of anger) and her fiery glares(Alibaba is unaware that she was pouting while glaring).
On their last night before diving into a dungeon, Morgiana vigorously asserted that she should sleep on the floor so Alibaba can have the bed. The blonde agreed but much to her dismay Judar also insisted that he should sleep on the bed too. In the end they ended up sleeping together because none of them wants to surrender.
"Hey you're forgetting something!" a fiat tone came out from Judar's mouth. Everynight the raven haired guy borrowed the white coat of the blonde, and when the blonde was entirely asleep, Judar will pushed himself closer to Alibaba then wrapped his arm around her waist.
"By the way, why'd you want to go to a dungeon blondie?"he said after wearing the coat.
"My desire for a real and breathtaking adventure started when i came to read 'The Adventures of Sinbad', that book comprises inspiring, heart-stopping, and bravery chapters. King Sinbad is an extremely marvelous man, Im really hoping that one day I could meet him personally. And lastly the treasures" Alibaba's golden eyes glitters in excitement.
Somehow it pissed Judar. And for the umpteenth time he asks hismelf again WHY? but he couldn't find the answer or better yet he doesn't want to find the answer. "Are you saying that the STUPID KING inspires you? You're an ABSOLUTELY IDIOT blondie!"
"How dare you say that to King Sinbad! Aren't you aware of how awesome he is? He's the conqueror of the 7 dungeons, High King of the Seven Seas, and the man who managed to build his own country. In short he is the king of AWESOMENESS. How can you not know that?Do you read books?or do you even know how to read books?"Alibaba said indignantly.
Now, the raven haired guy was totally consumed by anger. Anger for the fact that Sinbad is undeniably awesome. Anger towards Alibaba because she made him admit that awful fact and lastly because Alibaba seemed to admire Sinbad. He grabbed his pillow and like a child he initiate a pillow fight against the blonde. The blonde was shocked at first but then it was replaced by a great amount of rage to fight back.
After 30 mins of nonesense pillow fight, both combatants were exhausted, panting, and glaring at each other. The room was filled with the sound of their heavy breaths and no one dared to speak, until alibaba broke it by moving away from the bed. Seeing this, Judar immediately took action through grabbing her hand and jerked her backwards "Where are you going?!"
"I will sleep beside morgiana! Cause I can't take you're nasty personality. IDIOT!" She said while tugging her hand. Instead of getting offended, Judar abruptly pushed her on the bed then hugged her. Alibaba was appalled by Judar's sudden action and a tinge of red spread through her cheeks. "Let go of me!"she said while struggling. "No, sleep. Coz we have a long day ahead of us tommorow" he said.
The blonde lady suddenly stopped struggling and realized that Judar has a point. A dungeon is an extremely dangerous place, who knows what kind of risky challenges they're gonna face. Obviously, alertness is the key to success and lack of sleep will not give it to her, but that didn't change the fact that Judar is hugging her"Fine I'll sleep, you can let go of me now".
He remained silent and made his hold even more secured by tightening his hug(cue for sayig no). This hug gave him a nice comfort and he can't let it go, and he don't want to let it go. He's aware of his peculiar actions, preferably he was starting to realize that something has changed, an odd feeling that is new to him. Cornered, Alibaba has no choice but to sleep since she knows that Judar is a hard headed man and she will just waste her time and effort on fighting back.
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After being chased by a freaking dozen of ants, kicking the ass of a giant ant monster and crossing a deadly blade trap that could tore and crashed every piece of human flesh; the 3 ended up and was greeted by 3 doors.
"Alibaba do you think we're in the right track?"morgiana said.
"If im not mistaken, we have suffered along the inwards of the dragon earlier, right? So one of these doors must be the 'truth' " Alibaba said.
"Are you implying to the blade trap blondie?"Judar asked and Alibaba nodded then said"I think we should part ways to confirm which door is the 'truth', in that way we can save much more time. What'd you think?'
"No!" Morgiana and Judar said in union. Their argument didn't go any farther when each doors promplty opened and ropes came out from each doors, wrapping each one of them and pulling them inside in a quick and forceful way.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When she opened her eyes all she could see was nothing but darkness and felt nothing but coldness, coldness coming from the empty place. But No, it's not about the place that brings her coldness, it's the loneliness that envelopes her in coldness. Because for the first time, she is alone, absolutely alone in a dark isolated place.
No, no. I already reach this far. She thought when fear tried to sluggishly crawl through her body.
After slicing the ropes that encircled her body, Alibaba stand up and ambled to the path of darkness, she wants to run but she can't because she knows that fatigue will consumed her body if she runs in an immeasurable path. She continued to walk, thinking of where the hell she was and hoping that at the end of the path she will find her friends.
A drop of liquid landed on her shoulder interrupting her trance, she touched it and as drop after drop fell, it's scent becomes more and more familiar to the blonde, Gas.Comprehending of what could possibly happen next Fire and worst of all her toasted body will comes next, with that thought she motioned her legs to run in lightning speed.
Alibaba slowed her pace, sensing that she got away from the area where gas drizzled or the drops of gas that was falling on her stopped, well she didn't bother to think of which among the two happened for she was distracted on the outcome of being utterly bathed in gas.
Hell! What was that?! What is this place? Why is gas raining in here? And most of all im in a closed space area, this is ridiculously illogi- her inquisitive thoughts were cut when she tripped on something hard, probably a stone(she thought). Because of the uncontrollable motion she managed to fall head first, making her face kiss the rough ground "Shit"she mumbled.
Alibaba doesn't need to raise her head to know that she was in a near death situation, the fire is now surrounding her, a wild blistering fire. She rose up from where she had fallen and that's when she realized that she fall into a trap, the stone that she thought tripped her was actually a button disguised as a rock.
The reality of being entirely wet in gas didn't help her to face the dilemma she was currently in I'll definitely be burned if I cross now and i will totally die in suffocation if i stay here for a long period of time HELL!. So which is the lesser of the two evil? But Alibaba didn't get a chance to choose or to actually think of which is the right thing to pick when a figure suddenly appeared in front of her.
Fear goes up through her spine realizing that the figure in front of her is non other than herself. The only difference is that the figure has blood washing over her body, wounds were deeply carved on it's skin and the emptiness of it's eyes reflects pain. Before Alibaba could do anything her clone said "Hi there useless princess" the clone said mischievously.
Alibaba attempted to speak but as she tried to form her first word the smoke assaulted her, stealing the air inside her lungs and leaving her coughing. But that didn't deter her to spoke out her thoughts as she said"Get the*cough* *cough* hell out of my way *cough* freaking monster!"
Her clone smiled at her viciously then said "At least you have the courage to admit that you're a freaking killer monster, you're highness"
The memories of pain, sorrow, and guilt was creeping on her mind again, and those memories are now invading and torturing her sanity and her will to fight. The poisonous smoke that seeps through her nose and mouth annihilate every air that she takes and her chest becomes more heavier as time passed by.
Because of emotional and physical pain she was experiencing her knees were not able to support her and that led her to slumped on the ground with her eyes wide open with full of grief and horror while looking at her clone.
Alibaba's clone seemed to enjoy the show, the satanic smile on her face becomes bolder and wider as she saw tears fell down on Alibaba's golden orb eyes "No matter how much you cry our sins will never wash away, Princess. The day we let our beloved mother die in vain-"
"Shut up! *cough* *cough* you *cough*don't know *cough* anything!"
"Earlier you seemed like you're admitting everything but now... Stop telling moronically mendacious things. And just... listen to the truth" she said while ruffling Alibaba's hair.
"You have all the luxuries in life, expensive dresses, jewelries, servants and high quality education. The people in the palace was showering you all the love and care, teaching you everything you need to know and respects you. Everything that every person would dreamed of was given to you by you're father, the King of Balbadd. But look at the mess you've done to us, a princess turned into a dirty peasant maid, have you no shame!
'Truth huh. The King did not even gave me a single glance of support or concern when Im inside the palace, im all alone there, ALONE. And those bastard people in the palace are all fake. Those royalties, nobles, scholars and even the servants were all the same, Contempt are all in their eyes when they were looking at me. No one believes and appreciate my existence there'
After giving you everything, what did you do? You betrayed and killed him, you choose you're adapotive brother than you're own blood and flesh. And what did you get in return? Cassim's sweet BETRAYAL?
'I did not do that! I know it's my fault, it's me who spilled the secret tunnels but I did not do that intentionally, if I just know..'
I can't blame all the people around us, it's all you're fault ! It's all you're fault why people keep betraying us! Even our brothers hates us !Oh except for Sahbmad, our one and only brother who treated us with care, concern and acknowledged us as his sister. But what did you do? You also killed him!"
"SHUT UP!"Alibaba said loudly, ignoring the suffocation that slowly kills her. But the clone did not show any mercy as it continue to dragged Alibaba down the death route.
"You also killed the people of Balbadd, people you were supposed to take care of. The King of Balbadd clearly declared that you will be his heir, his successor to the throne. You have the power and all the rights but you did nothing, NOTHING! you just let them all die!"
The murderous toxic smoke that fog her mind and takes her breath away are not able to ceased her from bursting in anger. Though she's in agony the anger was more heavier, giving her sufficient strength to stand up and to loudly convey her thoughts.
"You're not me! You don't know anything! You don't know the feeling of being belittled by everyone. You don't know how it hurts when they're rubbing on you're face that you're nothing but a slum rat wearing jewels and expensive clothes that deserves nothing. ESPECIALLY you don't know how much it hurts when you want to help but you can't do a thing because no one believes in you! No one wants to listen! No one wants to support you!. I don't even know why the King picked me"
Alibaba's last sentence draw her to ask questions on herself. 'I was born with a filthy disgusting blood, nonetheless he still chose me. Why? Am I oblivious that I didn't notice that the king was somehow sees all my efforts and appreciates me? Could that really be possible? 'Slowly she realized something, making her to cry out loud.
The clone of Alibaba was puzzled by the transition of the blonde's emotion. But did it matter? Well of course not, so Alibaba's clone continued to taunt her "Well, whatever you were crying for does not matter at this moment cause you will die in here like the people you killed. We will die here together and our death will serve as payment for the lives we've destroyed. No matter how much you denied it, we are the sa-"
The clone was cut off when she felt that a sword was menacing her neck. Aghast over the unforeseen offensive attack and confused of why she didn't notice it's arrival. Alibaba leaned close to her clone's ear then whisper "I don't need you're fucking blabberings, you runt" The clone was not even capable to say a word when the blonde lady completely sliced her head violently.
Alibaba was left utterly baffled when her clone turned into ashes, asking herself of why the heck did it turned into ashes when it was not even touched by the fire? But she doesn't seemed to care about it any longer because even after killing her clone, the reality of being trapped in a thick smoke that continuously kills her didn't change and based on her calculations she only needs a few more minutes to die in suffocation.
Not long after she found out that a great amount of sweat was streaming on her body, washing out the gas that clings into her. Alibaba take her coat off and wrapped it around her head(covering her hair) and arms. "It's now or never Alibaba, you can do it!" She screamed before running at the wall of fire.
She run, run, and run, shutting her eyes closed and keeping her speed as fast as possible. Until a loud explosive sound vibrated, making her fall on the ground. "ALIBABA!" Hearing two familiar voices made her mood shine brightly. She opened her eyes and met a red headed girl, a raven haired man and an immoderate size of hole on the wall.
Because of too much happiness the blonde let her reflex do the job. She dive into the two and gave them a huge bear-hug, squeezing them tightly like they are some pillow.
"I never thought that you missed me this much blondie" Judar said in a teasing tone.
" Ughm Alibaba I can't breathe" Morgiana said.
The blonde continued on squeezing her two friends, ignoring their complains. After a few seconds the two noticed that the grip was loosened, and then they found a sleeping blonde.
"Alibaba looks really, really tired. Give her to me and I'll carry her"Morgiana said.
"No, I'll carry her"Judar said. Morgiana didn't try to insist because the raven's tone was clearly saying that it's final.
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Shinning, shimmering, glittering am I in a dream? Then she heard someone says "Alibaba's awake!" the sound was loud but gentle, probably it's morgiana. Then a moment after she felt a soft, warm, wide hand messing her hair but more likely stroking.
And because of Alibaba's half asleep state the raven put a little more effort in waking her up "Blondie! we're here" Judar said in a cheery tone. Is that Judar? Wow he sounds so happy. "wake up sleepy head!" from stroking her hair Judar is now shaking her, both hands holding Alibaba's shoulder.
"J-judar s-stop" the blonde said. He returned on messing Alibaba's hair when he got the entire consciousness of the blonde"Good, now get up"
Alibaba sat up, rubbed her eyes, and then her jaw harshly dropped.