Chapter 11: Limbs and Tangles

Genie held the large flask in his hands. "There we go, perfectly made and ready for you guys to drink. It's a little toasty from the heat, but once it cools a little, I think we can work with it."

"I don't think we need that much of the potion between the two of us, Genie," Aladdin said. "That thing's huge!"

"Well, maybe to you two little puppets. Were there any other puppets that were under the same curse that you two were?"

Fara and Aladdin shook their heads.

Genie scratched the top of his own head and sighed. "Well, at least if some of it spills, we'll have some left over."

A high pitched screech startled them all. "If I have anything to do with it - you'll not save a precious drop of that tonic!"

The three of them turned to see Mirage standing in the entry of her tent, her eyes glowing brighter than the candles that illuminated the area. Before Aladdin could shout a warning, Mirage sent a blast of magic that sent Genie spiralling backward.

The glass containing the tonic flew from Genie's hands, spiraling down to the surface of the table.

"Fara, look out!" Aladdin cried, and the two of them flinched as glass and the bulk of the tonic contents rained over them. The two were swept off their feet by the liquid rushing down, spinning and separating them across the surface of the table.

Genie coughed, scrambling to his feet as Mirage stomped over to him. "Heh, I guess you haven't had your warm glass of milk this morning? That would put anyone in a cranky mood."

Mirage hissed at him. "I don't think you've even begun to feel the burden of my wrath. And since I've acquired the power those demons have blessed upon me, I'm wondering just how effective it is on semi-phenomenal Genies."

Genie winced. "Being target practice wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

Aladdin struggled to catch his breath as he knelt on the surface of the table, coughing. He was soaked from head to foot in the tonic that was meant for him and Fara, streams of dark liquid still pouring from the edges of his damp hair. He shook his head, brushing small shards of glass from it as well. He clenched the sides of his arms with his hands, and realized in the same moment that his limbs - all of them - could move normally again. His hands as well. Even as the potion had spilled on him and Fara both, it still appeared to take away parts of the curse he'd been under. He felt human again and the pain he'd had from earlier had subsided.

The only problem was that he was still puppet height, and there wasn't much he could do to help Genie like this.

"Aladdin, help me!"

"Fara..." He looked around, but couldn't see Fara anywhere in his line of sight. It wasn't until he followed her second cry that he realized where she was - hanging precariously off the edge of the table. He hurried toward her, though not without slipping several times on the slick remains of the tonic on the table surface.

"Give me your hand!" he cried, reaching for her.

"I can't reach you!"

"Keep trying, you're so close!" Aladdin inched his hand closer to hers, and realized it was also human again, compared to the jointed limbs she'd had from before. The horrible thing about it was that if either of them slipped off the table, the fall would kill them, as opposed to when they were more in their puppet forms.

It was enough that he reached forward and grabbed her hand and gripped as tight as he could. He pulled her up, but had to maintain his own balance against the slick surface of the table. He was too to the edge, struggling to keep from falling over himself.

With great effort, Aladdin used the last of his strength to pull Fara to safety. The two of them sprawled on the surface of the table.

"Thank you, dear Prince. That was quite a way up from the ground."

Aladdin shook his head, using his fingers to rake back damp strands of his hair. "No kidding. Now I have to figure out how to help Genie. Mirage isn't letting up on him at all."

"I think we can help a little with that," a familiar voice came from a distance away. Aladdin looked up to see Jasmine looking down at them, concerned. Abu was on her shoulder, and Carpet floating by her side. "Are you two okay? We heard what happened from Fitz and Darbin."

Aladdin grinned. "Yeah, I'm glad you guys are here. " He whistled and Carpet's knobs responded. "Go help Genie, Carpet. Hurry!"

Carpet rushed over to where Mirage was about to aim another magic blast at Genie, but wrapped himself over her eyes so that the blast missed Genie and hit a mirror, to reflect the blast.

Carpet flew away from Mirage in time to dodge the blast, but Mirage noticed - too late - that her own magic headed towards her. It hit, surrounding her in a green light, just before shrinking her to nothing more than a small toy cat.

Genie started laughing as he picked up the toy cat to examine it closer. "Look at that, she's too cute. Like a little chew toy. I don't think she's going to be too happy whenever this spell wears off. Thanks, Rug Man."

Genie put the squeaking toy cat that was Mirage (because it was obvious she was complaining, just wasn't understood by anyone in the room) in his pocket. He flew over to where Aladdin and Fara were. Jasmine held the two of them in her cupped hands gingerly.

"How are you holding up, kid? Hey...You guys are back to normal! I mean, sort of. At least you're not puppets anymore."

"Still haven't addressed the height problem," Fara admitted, holding her skirts at the sides.

"We have to worry about it later. We have a play to finish or there are going to be some seriously angry demons ready to level Agrabah and Getzistan if we don't help the other puppets," Aladdin said.

Genie winked. "Well then, let's give 'em a show they won't forget, with a little Genie magic flare."

Aladdin raised a brow. "Wait...Where's Iago?"

Jasmine looked around. "He was behind us when we went out of the puppet show."

Genie felt Carpet tapping him on the shoulder frantically. Carpet made a series of gestures and Genie's eyes widened. "Rug Man says he ran into a couple of demons in the viewing area. They didn't look too happy."

"Carpet, why didn't you say so earlier? I don't speak...rug." Jasmine winced at her own words.

Genie grinned. "Oh it's easy, all you have to do is do a bit of this and that, and this." He made a series of motions with his hands, but Fara, Aladdin, and Jasmine just stared back, confused. Abu seemed to understand, but his enthusiasm went as quickly as it came.

Genie rubbed the back of his head. "Guess we could afford language lessons later. Probably better to save our feathered friend before his feathers get plucked."