Chapter 2

"SWEET GROUND!" I squealed when we finally got to Azad and all the girls were being let off. Bucket Head unlocked my chains, rather grudgingly, but before he could help me down, I leapt off and hugged the dirty ground. "I love you! I'll never ever take you for granted again!" Well, I'd just been on that stupid wooden thingy for who-know-how long, and I was happy as crocodile with a new toothbrush to get off. But before I could finish thanking the ground for its existence, Cranky McRuin-all-the-fun wrenched me away and practically dragged me along with him.

When I had my footing again, I twisted myself free and shouted, "I have legs, you know! And I was taught how to walk when I was one! So hands off!" He released me, but kept a death grip on my shoulder, like he expected me a turn and bolt at any second. I decided to finally give him a break and went along quietly. The guy put up with me the whole way here, after all I guess he kinda deserves it. Kinda.

The palace looked big enough in the game, but in person, well, HOLY CRAP. When we were inside the palace, I couldn't help but gape like a fish at the whole place in total awe. The sultan of this place really knew how to live! Talk about luxury! Maybe being given off to slavery wouldn't be so bad… as long as I landed a job in this place, I'd be happy as a kid at Christmas! Okay, maybe not that happy, I'd still be a bloody servant girl, but at least I'd be living in a palace.

I caught a glimpse of the Royal family as we made our way to the throne room. When I saw, well, him, again, I practically started hyperventilating. My guard dog squeezed my shoulder threateningly and I was suddenly once again acutely aware that I was not dreaming. I bit my lip, trying to piece together just how I got here in the first place, and how I was supposed to get home. There had to be someway to get out of here! Right?

Anyway, I remained silent as I watched the Sultan and King Sharaman greet each other and whatnot. Really, at this point, I wasn't complaining at all, because where I was standing, I had a real nice view of the Prince's butt. I couldn't hold back my stupid, pathetic fan-girl grin when I realized that, and I hardly even paid attention to much else.

What finally snapped me out of it was the unveiling of the Sands. Ohhh, shiny! Even though this shiny stuff was chaos in an hourglass… and would soon take over the world… and the only protection against it was to have an artifact related to the Sands in your possession… and everyone else would be turned into big ugly zombie people with glowing stomachs… uh oh. Ooohhh…. Noooo….

"EEEEK! " I practically leapt into the Grouch of the Round Table's arms. "Not that! Anything but that! Mommy! I wanna go home!"

"Get off of me!" Kermit the Crank ordered. I wasn't listening though. Too busy trying to climb over his shoulder and out the door. Needless to say, I was kinda creating a scene.

"No! No no no no no no! Get me outta here! Get me outta here! I can't be in the same room with that deathtrap in a bottle!"

"Would you…! Get off!" Finally he grabbed me around the waist and slammed me back on the ground, which knocked me for a loop momentarily.

"…I know I dropped my gum here somewhere…" I slurred. It took me a few minutes to recover. Enough time for people to top staring and return to their own business.

"The Sand… why does it… glow?" the Sultan inquired, pressing his chubby face against the hourglass.

"I can answer that," the Vizier interrupted. I frowned. I knew what was coming. "Inside the hourglass, in a marvel that no living man has seen." Marvel my butt! That thing was anarchy in a bottle! "Alas, only the dagger can unlock the Sands of Time, and it belongs to a greater one that I. A young Prince, dearer to his father than all the wealth of India." At this point, I was BADLY tempted to start screaming about what a lying, viper in the grass, one-foot-in-the-grave, greedy, no good, slimy, backstabbing old geezer he was! But then I looked around and saw all the guards… I decided against it. Yeah, big fat mistake. "Perhaps he would apply it?"

I watched in scorn as the Prince scoffed, put one hand on the Dagger and started towards the Hourglass. At this point, I realized my mistake. I heard Farah start shouting at him to stop. I soon joined her, forgetting all about Mr. Sardine Can Knight behind me.

"Stop you idiot!" I yelled, jolting forward as the Prince began 'applying' the dagger. The guards caught me before I got too far. "What the hell are you doing!" The Dagger was almost in… "STOP! NO!" Too late.

The ground started shaking. I knew exactly what was about to happen, and like hell I was about to stick around. As soon as the guards let go of me, I immediately darted back, dodging any and all grabs made for me and I ran. I ran my ass off as the Sands spilled from the hourglass and onto the floor and started wreaking havoc. I didn't ever look back when I heard shrieks of agony and the growls of newly formed Sand Monsters. Nope, I ran and ran and ran until my legs burned, and even then, I kept running.

Finally, things were silent, except for the rumbling of the palace. I stopped for a moment to rest and try to figure out where I was. I recalled old memories of the very beginning of the game, and explored the immediate area. I was in luck. I'd managed to follow the Prince's path almost exactly and I was in familiar territory. Finally, some good luck!

I walked through the halls, turning corners and slowly building a mental map of the place incase I got turned around and eventually ended up at the start of the huge area where the player first fights the Harem girls. I remembered that place. The very first time I played the game, I pulled my hair out for about ten minutes trying to find ways to beat them. Now, however, I knew how to beat them. The only problem was that I didn't have super mad princy acrobatic skills and I was unarmed. Oh, and my fighting skills about equaled that of a dead fish. All that, and I was terrified of heights. Just looking downward at all the Sand thingies that were now there made my face turn white.

At a loss of what to do I wandered around the halls, looking for something that might help me get down there, but I didn't find much except rubble, a pile of sand, a hole in the wall—hey, hold on… I don't remember there being a hole there… Curiously, I looked inside, seeing silk curtains hung from the ceiling, and a darkened corridor. Is it one of those fountains that increased your health? But there wasn't any of those here! What in the world? Well… no one else seemed to be around… maybe if I drank some of that water, then I'd be strong enough to do something more damaging than breathing on the enemy in a fight! Besides, this wasn't supposed to be here in the first place!

Shrugging, I climbed through the hole and hurried down the corridor incase someone decided to come around the corner at the last minute and see me go through the wall. I walked through that veil of darkness at the end and immediately felt a chill down my spine. Only, it wasn't one of those chills that tells you that something bad is waiting for you stumble onto it and that you better leave if you want to stay not dead. No, it was more like a 'wow, this place is so beautiful' chill that sort of makes you feel like you belong there.

"This place is even prettier than in the game…" I mused at I ran my fingertips along the side of the rope bridge. I looked around a little, at all the bridges off in the distance that seemed to illuminate them. I slowly walked across the bridges, letting my eyes and mind wander, completely forgetting about the Prince, the Sands, and everything else. For some reason, this place had a weird comforting feeling to it. I felt as though I were at home, sitting my big butt at my computer, staring at the screen like I always do.

I approached the fountain somewhat cautiously and looked down at the water. It seemed to shimmer by some supernatural means. I know it gave off a real good reflection. Almost every detail of my skinny sixteen-year-old features accounted for. Messy blonde hair, light brown eyes, ridiculously fair skin (all sun burnt, of course, from spending all that time out in the hot desert) and even that damn small bit of acne I had on my cheek.

Coming back to reality, I remembered what I'd come for. I cupped my hands in the water, wondering what the prince felt when he drank it. The water itself felt refreshingly cool, and it tasted ever better! It was almost like drinking fruit juice; only there wasn't really a fruity taste to it. I can't say it was like sugar water, either… it was like it was so clean and so fresh and pure that it had a new type of sugar in it that no one knew about yet.

After I gulped it down, I started getting this strange tingling feeling in my chest and it spread to my arms, then my legs and down to my toes. Then I started feeling a little light headed and dizzy… then I started hearing voices whispering in languages I didn't understand and the world started darkening. I felt a strange sensation of energy surge through me, and it seemed to focus mainly around my shoulder blades. But just before I conked out, I heard something I did understand: "We found you at last… Angel…"

I didn't know who this 'Angel' person was, or who 'we' was, but I do know that when I came to again, I felt like I could wrestle a grizzly bear! And lose! I opened my eyes, finding myself on the floor, and tried to roll over on my back, but found that I couldn't. Something was in the way. I reached back to grab it and movie it out of the way, expecting a rock of a board or something along the lines of broken up rubble, but instead grabbed a handful of… feathers? What the crap…? I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked over my shoulder. I saw a wall of white feathers sticking out of my back. Surprised, I yelped and leapt to my feet. I grabbed at them again and pulled. There was no way they could be attached to me! I felt pressure on my shoulders when I pulled on them. They were attached to me!

"Holy crap, I've turned into a bird!" I exclaimed. But then another thought came to mind. With wings… I could fly! …Right? That meant I could get down to the bottom of that one room! …Right? Oy, better give these a test run, first.

I tried to move them, but they wouldn't budge. I focused manly on the muscles in my upper back, trying to will my new limbs to move… but no such luck. I grabbed them again and moved them. They seemed real… and they seemed to be properly jointed… I tried again, and again, but still nothing.

"Well, that's just great!" I yelled, now discouraged, "I finally think I'm getting a break, I wake up and I've got wings, but they don't flippin' work! What kind of stupid gift is that?! Somebody up there must be laughing their butt off at me right now! Well, it ain't funny!" I folded my arms and sank to the ground. "Why does this always happen to me?" I sighed.

"Uh… excuse me?" I nearly leapt out of my skin. I was suddenly on my feet, my face flustered, staring directly at the Prince of Persia.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people like that, you know!" I shouted, the sudden adrenalin rush getting the better of me. I sighed, and waited for my heart to calm down a little.

"Hey," he broke the silence and stepped closer to me, "aren't you that girl that was tormenting that soldier in the desert?" My shoulders slumped a little and my face paled somewhat. I was hoping he'd forgot about that…

"Well… er… yeah. Maybe… eh… uh…" Oh, get it together, girly! "Um… yes. Yes I am." I put my hands on my hips and pushed my chest out a little, then stuck my finger in his chest. "And just who might you be, exactly?"

"I am the Prince of Persia," he answered.

"Well, your highness, that was a really stupid thing you did back there, you know that? Opening that stupid… thingy! What a mess!"

Deciding I need a minute to get back into my happy, preppy mood, I brushed past him before he could argue with me.

"Hey! Wait!" He called. I stopped at the hall entrance.

"Yeeeeesssss?"

"Just wha- who are you?"

"Weeeellll… My name is Naomi Fox. Or just Naomi." My good mood slowly returned to me. "As for that first question, I really don't have that one figured out yet…" I coyly touched my wings again and took notice of the Prince's inquisitive stare. "…They don't work."

"I'm sorry?"

"The wings. I just got them right now. They don't work, or I just haven't figured out how to use them yet."

"Oh, I see."

"So… are you the only one that isn't a big ugly beastie?"

"No, there's a girl. Farah. And the Vizier. Other than that, I don't know." As if I didn't already know all that. Well, it was fun to pretend.

"Well… since I have the fighting ability of a teddy bear, and you have a sword… I guess I'm tagging along with you. You don't mind, right?" I didn't give him to chance to answer, "Of course not. Lead the way, Galahad!"

"Wait a moment, I—" I stepped behind him and gave him a quick push

"Off we go, the dynamic duo, off to save the world!"

"But I—"

"You can thank me later, Prince. Let's go!"

Kiri: woot! Another chapter in the bag! Not much had to be done with this one, and I think I got all the typos... Christmas is getting closer! Can't wait! I'm hoping for a ps3, personally. That way I can play the new Prince of Persia game! That game play looks realllly good from the trailers! I'm just kinda sad it;s not picking up from the Sand of Time trilogy... That was the only game series I ever got so freaking hooked on I speant hours analyzing every piece of it! but enough about that. I'll start work on the next chapter soon. Until next time (singing So long! Farewell! Until we meet again...!