She used to be my only enemy and never let me free,
Catching me in places that I know I shouldn't be,
Ever other day I crossed the line, I didn't mean to be so bad,
I never thought you would become the friend I never had
_

Mozenrath stiffened and groaned as the energy signatures warned him of an impending visitor. More specifically one he had no interest in entertaining at the moment. Not that this ever stopped her. Something in the back of his mind reminded him that he kept meaning to create barriers against her impromptu visits.

A swirl and green fire coiled in the air as a pair of bright cat eyes appeared. Mozenrath intentionally ignored his mother's entrance until she spoke.

"Well well, hard at work as always. So good to know you are such a dedicated student." Her voice grated on his nerves, both from its implied insult and that infernal patronizing tone. She walked over beside the chair and lifted her sons turban, licking the side of his face in welcome.

Mozenrath snarled and turned away. "Do you mind?" he growled out. "I happen to be very busy at the moment."

"Oh undoubtedly. I haven't seen your library in such a state since you started searching for the Book f Khartoum." She gestured about at the haphazard piles of books and scrolls, left wherever they landed when tossed. "Really now. I though Destaine taught you better than this. I certainly know I never let you be this untidy."

Mozenrath rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist casually. The debris began to lift into the air, righting itself into organized piled or resorting itself onto the shelves. Mirage nodded satisfactorily as the library came back into order. "Such an obedient son." She said with a mocking affectionate tone.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. "Mother, what exactly is your purpose here?"

Mirage pretended offense. "A mother can't visit her only son for the simple pleasure of his company?"

"As if you've ever." He couldn't help but smile. "The last time you dropped by unannounced was after that little fiasco with the obelisk in Agrabah. You barely had enough energy to make it here, much less get yourself all the way home." Mozenrath was immensely satisfied with the dark growl behind him.

"I underestimated the street rats cleverness."

"Hardly. You would have been much better served if you'd stayed in Morbia until you were certain of victory. At least then you would have secured the princess, Aladdin's annoying pets, and the magic carpet." He observed candidly. "Even when the shadow gambit failed you would have bargaining power."

"You are hardly in a position to judge my failed plans Mozenrath." She said with clear irritation. "When was the last time you managed to conquer a kingdom?" She smirked. "Ahh yes you conquered the black sands. All by yourself too. But then again it hardly could have been a challenge now could it. Destaine wasn't in his prime any more and you…well you knew exactly when he would be at his most vulnerable." She laid a hand on her sons mantle and grinned vindictively. "Caught him with his pants down eh Mozie?"

Mozenrath grit his teeth and caught hold of Mirage's claw, twisting it till she yowled in pain. "My former masters predilections aside, he was not as easy as you would assume. I won this Citadel and its lands fair and square. Unlike you mother dear." Before she could think of a comeback Mozenrath turned his back on her and picked up another scroll. "Now tell me what you're doing here. I have pressing matters and frankly no time for a family reunion."

Mirage stopped herself from rubbing her wrist in front of him and instead chose to cross her arms smugly. "What sort of a mother would I be if I didn't come to check up on my son when he's fallen ill?"

"Ill? I'm not sick…oh." He sneered. Of course she would know. "As far as that goes you needn't fret. I have no intention of quitting this life so soon. And certainly not without a fight."

"There's mommies dark little spawn." Mirage said with the faintest trace of satisfaction. "And wouldn't it be beneficial if you could skip all this research and hunting and get right to something actually useful?"

The necromancer took a deep sigh and rolled the parchment back up. "The question is what will it cost me for your assistance." He looked over his shoulder at the feline goddess. "And please, skip the diatribe. Just tell me what I need to do."

"Very well. As far as the charge goes you needn't do anything but cause a little disturbance for me…in Agrabah."

"Oh?" Not exactly what he'd have though, but also not something he was unwilling to do either. "And why do you need me for this?"

"You brought up the obelisk. Well it just so happens Aladdin still has that mirror. A mirror that shows the truth beneath appearances could cause me a lot of problems in the future and I'd rather it not be in the street rat's possession." Mirage coiled a finger around Mozenrath's black curls. "You distract his little rabble with a little wanton destruction, I replace the mirror with one a little more suited to my uses." She gestured, revealing a perfect replica of the jagged glass.

Mozenrath arched an eyebrow. Normally he avoided doing anything to assist his mother, but a giving Aladdin and crew a hard time could help liven up his mood a bit. "Sounds like fun. But you haven't said exactly what you plan to give me in exchange."

Mirage placed a hand to her chest. "Why the mirror of course. An article like that has a lot of potential, especially given your current situation." She smiled. "Besides, I'd rather it went to you than stay in Agrabah's treasury."

He considered for a moment. The mirror itself was not particularly powerful, but it carried several implications. He knew from the magical signatures of his previous mentor that there were still pockets in the Citadel he had not accessed yet. It galled him on a personal level that Destaine could still keep things from him. Besides, who knew what he might find there.

"Very well mother. I suppose it has been a while since I graced Aladdin and company with my presence. I'd hate them to think I'd gotten complacent."

Something about setting fire to a square block of homes and merchant stalls did wonders for his general confidence level. Mozenrath smirked with dark glee as the people of Agrabah grabbed what little possessions they had and took flight for their lives. He casually considered incinerating a few of them on the spot, but they were off before he could entirely make up his mind. Just as well. He could already see the purple and gold rug approaching at a quick speed.

"Why Aladdin!" he said in the most cordially mocking tone. "It's been a while. Did you miss me?"

"Yeah but my aim has improved." Aladdin shot back with a smart assed attitude. "In all honesty we were starting to worry. Last time I saw you, you were floating away in a hot air balloon. That was what, six months ago."

"Well sorry to keep you waiting street rat." Mozenrath grinned as the blue-black magic of his glove flared and he shot a wide lace at the carpet. "I'll keep in mind that you like your perils on a regular basis."

The carpet dodged and Aladdin leapt off, aiming for the sorcerers chest. Mozenrath dodged but the street rat was quicker than that. He made his landing and turned, grabbing Mozenrath's fleshed arm and snapping the sorcerer around into a wall.

He recovered quickly, bringing up his knee and kicking Aladdin away from him before they could close in. Without thinking he grabbed the ladder above him and swung up out of reach for the moment, his gauntlet blasting out again as Aladdin dodged hi attacks.

I should really do this more often. He though privately. Despite the ache from where he'd been slammed, he felt more alive right now than he had in weeks. There was something very natural about the antagonism here. It felt familiar, reminding him of who he was and what he was capable of. Hell he wasn't even really trying to hit the street rat. He was just reveling in seeing how close he could come and still leave singe marks on his pants.

"Hang on Al!"

Mozenrath was abruptly reminded why he usually planned his attacks with more care as a large blue hammer the size of an elephant slammed down towards him. He leapt aside just in time, grabbing hold of the side of the building as the thing crashed down. He landed safely on the second story roof just in time to see Aladdin come barring at him. "Not this time street rat!" he snarled, his magic engulfing the hero and sending him spiraling backwards off the roof.

"Al!"

"And as you for genie!" He turned and pulled a crystal of Ix from his cloak.

"Nice try wiz kid. But we both know that isn't enough for a genie."

"Oh I'm sure it isn't. But then who says it's for you?"

"What's your plan this time Mozenrath?"

He turned a little and saw Aladdin had recovered from his hit and returned, this time carrying a curved scimitar. "You should think twice about pointing a weapon at me you don't intend to use." He smirked, taunting Aladdin's unwillingness to get blood on his hands. "I on the other hand have no such compunctions." He tossed the crystal in the air and shouted out: "Ixtabor!"

There was a sound like a maelstrom crashing down, the green glow of the crystal overshadowed the flames of Mozenrath disappearing from the scene. A flash of brilliant scarlet momentarily blinded the hero's and Aladdin covered his eyes. He dared to look into the light just in time to see a mass of claws and teeth, the color of dried blood, head for him with vindictive fury…

Mozenrath chuckled to himself as he reappeared in the palace treasury rooms. He had been waiting for the opportunity to test out that little beast. A mutation on one of his mother's firecats, the saber cat would at least keep Aladdin occupied a little longer than usual. If nothing else, its sheer size and ferocity would prove to be daunting.

He moved throughout the treasure room, ignoring the vast amount of wealth piled up everywhere. He was not avaricious to such mundane items. He noted with derision that the walls were used to display memorabilia, some of which he recognized as trophies from his encounters with the street rat. Mozenrath quickly teleported the thirdack collar and winged shoes back to the Citadel. But he was annoyed to find out that the targeted item was not among them.

He looked about. Mirage had not yet arrived. Excellent. Of course he had no intentions of trusting his mother's word to just hand the mirror over to him. No doubt she was just using him to cause a little destruction without taking the blame while she foisted the artifact for herself. After all, it's exactly what he would have done in her place.

Still, best not to dawdle. No telling who would appear first, Aladdin or Mirage. He began to search with his undersenses, picking apart the room to see if he could discern anything of magical value.

Beyond a few of the mementos, he couldn't discern anything that would have been the mirror. But a second pass brought his attention to the back corner of the room. There was something there, not magical by nature, but rather a definitive lack of any magic that caught his attention. He reached out with more precision and smirked. A secret passage. One lined by the slight glint of anti-magic metal. Mozenrath actually found himself admiring the handi-work. The anti-magic properties were being used to hide the presence of magical objects. A little more subtlety in the design and he might have missed it entirely.

He reached out to open the locks…

A whip snap caught his attention and jerked his gloved hand back, sending him toppling to the floor. "Princess." He said in a voice of annoyance and loathing.

Before he could send a bolt through the whip and lashed it back, snapping the cord just close enough the make him dodge. "I don't know how you found the cache Mozenrath, but you won't be getting anything in there." Jasmine brandished a weapon fiercely.

Unlike Aladdin, who simply did not possess the stomach for violence, Mozenrath long suspected the princess more than able to do serious physical injury. He didn't fear her by any means, but he wondered if Aladdin had figured that out about his wife yet. "How nice to see you again princess." He said, recovering with aplomb and flicking some imaginary dust from his cloak. "I'm a little surprised to see you here. I thought for certain you'd be helping defend your pathetic city from my new pets."

"Aladdin can handle your pets any day Mozenrath." She answered sharply. "I stayed here just in case you actually had something clever planned."

"Why do I necessarily have to have anything planned? Can't a man indulge in a little chaos and disorder without having a bigger goal in mind?" His magic coiled viciously and fired at the princess. She dodged it narrowly, the flames leaving a hateful black mark on the clean white marble.

"Others maybe, but not you." Jasmine lashed the whip out again, defending against the attack. "You always have some scheme Mozenrath. And we will always be here to stop you."

"Nice to know I've acclaimed such a high standard." He prepared another bolt and gasped as the whip actually made contact. She had caught him across the chest, slash his black and gold tabard and knocking him back into a pile of gold. He girt his teeth and fumed at the woman. "That's going to cost you, your majesty." He warned and flared his gauntlet at the various bejeweled weaponry that littered the room.

Jasmine took a step back as a dozen or more swords and spears lifted off the ground with malicious intent. She managed to lift her own blade just in time to knock aside one of the heavier broadswords so that it caught in the tiles.

Mozenrath smiled and cast his magic over the suits of armor in the corners, sending them to do his bidding. "That should keep you busy while I finish my business here. It's been so lovely to see you again princess. If you ever get tired of having a street rat for a husband, do feel free to drop by the Citadel anytime." He laughed as Jasmine was side swiped by one of the suits of armor and had to rush to block a spear thrust. "Assuming you survive of course." He undid the locks to the doorway and stepped through.

"Genie!" Aladdin shouted as he dodged a claw and coughed from the heat and smoke the creature belched. He could see the heat waves it radiated, hazing his vision as the giant cat came closer. It's eyes were pools of black pitch and it's body was slick greenish yellow. Flames licked and coiled in the air like waving fur as it eyes it's prey.

"No worries Al!" The blue djinn hollered out, transforming into a fireman and brandishing a hose. "Wet t-shirt contest ahoy!" he hollered out, water blasting from the spigot and drenching the beast.

There was a split second of hope as the flaming saber cat yowled in fury and pain. But it was extinguished just as quickly. The water created a massive cloud of boiling steam and the beast inside raged, turning its attention to its new attacker. It opened its maw and roared, a stream of shining oil coating the genie.

"Ewww! Cat spit yeeeeowch!" Genie screeched as flamed engulfed him, burning intensely for a second until a poof a smoke revealed a crisped lamb kabob with the djinn's face. "Now I know what a gyro feels like!"

The cat snarled as turned its attention back to the main protagonist.

Aladdin moved quickly, dodging the next spray of oil and flame as the building caught fire. "Oil." He stopped and turned as Genie began to ready the cannon again. "Genie wait!" he waved his hands. "That thing is made of oil! Water only makes it worse!"

"Oh!" Genie sheepishly hid the water cannon and scratched his head. "Of course! But…what puts out an oil fire?"

Aladdin jumped, slashing at the saber cat and yelping in pain at his sword heated in a split second. He dropped the weapon and backed up cautiously. The wall behind him was already blazing and he moved to avoid a falling curtain of fire. "Flour!" he shouted. "Use flour!"

"Oh of course! Just like back in mom's kitchen!" A blue poof of smoke and the blue ifret had transformed into a pudgy, past middle aged woman with a round jaw and curled hair. "Today we are going to cook a lovely bouillabaisse, yes. Just add a pinch of flour…" the high pitched, vaguely British drawl of her voice bordered on annoying as she took a huge sack of flour and dumped it onto the beast, a huge billowing cloud of flour coating everything in a thin residue. "Bon appetite!"

Aladdin jumped onto Carpet and joined his friend in the air just as the building began to collapse. "Nice job Genie." He congratulated as the beast disappeared into a pile of rubble. "You take care of the rest of the buildings. I'll find out where Mozenrath disappear too…"

A thick, wet sounding growl brought their attention back around to the ground. Slowly, sluggishly, a massive head full of blackened teeth pulled itself from the wreckage. A congealed mass of tar and batter, vaguely formed into the shape of the saber cat, snarled and turned back to the town, raising its head as it oozed sludge from every pore.

"Oh great." Aladdin groaned.

"I got this Al." Genie said with confidence. "You go find out what happened to Mozenrotten."

Aladdin looked from the djinn to the tar cat. "You sure you can handle this?" he asked dubiously. Whatever else Mozenrath had intended, the saber beast was obviously intended to be a distraction while he carried out his real purpose. Still, he was reluctant to leave his friend.

"No worries Al. You go make sure Mozenrath isn't causing any more problems."

Aladdin nodded cautiously. "I'll be back as soon as possible." He promised and headed towards the palace, where Mozenrath was almost certain to have headed next.

Jasmine was sweating, a cut across her left and bleeding down and slickening her grip on the sword. Three of the armor sets lay disassembled at her feet as two more advanced. She had managed to fend off most of the weaponry, but she was starting to get tired. She barely avoided the next slash in her direction and parried forward, knocking the spear to the side as she snapped the whip at the helmet. The move left her back open for just a split second too long, and the tip of a sword made a fine cut across her shoulder.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin hollered as he saw his wife fall to the ground. He leapt off the carpet and soared right into the offending suit of armor, sending it into a crashing pile of metal and debris. The princess regained her footing and lunched forward, knocking the remaining armor into the wall as it split and disassembled. Aladdin got back up and rushed to her side. "Jasmine are you alright."

"I'm fine Aladdin. It's not as bad as it looks." She promised and winced a little as she covered the cut on her shoulder. "You have to hurry. Mozenrath found the magical cache. He's been down there ten minutes. There's no telling what he's after."

"Are you going to be alright?" he questioned, checking and finding out that the wounds were bleeding like crazy, but none of them life threatening.

"I'll be fine. Just go. Stop Mozenrath." She encouraged and leaned against a wall.

Aladdin could tell she wanted to go to, but was too exhausted to be of any help. "You stay here. Genie will be back soon." He picked up on of the swords laying about. "I'm going to go have a talk with Mozenrath."

Mozenrath opened his palm and a mage light rose in the air in front of him, then expunged quickly. Frowning, he held his hand up against the wall and sent his undersenses search outward. Automatically there was a recoil and he jerked his hand back. He moved the light closer and frowned. "Of course." He could now see the thin shining metal woven in the brick. "You know I'm really starting to regard having created those manacles." He mused. The wall was laced with anti-magic metal, rebuffing any attempts to explore further without going down himself. He gave another quick probe and found that both the ceiling and floor were similarly protected. He didn't like it one bit. He was magically blind down here. This all felt terribly like a trap.

I would not put it past that sodding feline. The thought that his own mother might have intentionally manipulated him like this brought no shock. But still, he wasn't going to go to all this trouble with nothing to show for it.

The sorcerer put his fleshed hand against the wall and began to walk down the steps. They were slick with moss and moisture, making his footing precarious. No light told him how far he had to go, and within moments the light of the entrance was no more than a pin prick at his back. Mozenrath groaned a little, but closed his eyes, opening the a few seconds later. No one would have been able to tell you, especially not here in the dark, but if you could have looked closely, you might have seen the change of his pupils. There were nearly as wide as his iris now, taking in every sliver of light refracting around the stair case. There was not much to work with, but Mozenrath used it to his benefit.

He summoned another mage light, letting it spark just long enough to illuminate the next few feet of tunnel in his cat like eyes. Another ten feet. Another quick spurt of light for him to bounce the surroundings off of.

Finally, Mozenrath put his hands out and felt a block. A dead end? No. He could feel, just barely, the faint hum of power behind the wall. Surely they wouldn't have just bricked it up. There was no door here but he felt along the cemet between the bricks, running his fingers down line by line until…

"Ahha!" he said in triumph. Al the bricks were lines up perfectly, save one. On the right hand side he could feel a pronounced divot between one bright and the next, the sign of worn plaster as oppose to hard cement. He gripped the end and pushed it, the brick sliding to the side to reveal a hidden compartment. In it, Mozenrath could feel a lever.

With a pull the brick wall groaned and scraped and slid open. He winced in the sudden light, his pupils contracting back into cat-like slits. Angrily he closed his eyes, opening them again only when he felt sure the human quality had returned. He stepped inside the store room and smiled.

"Oh how I wish I'd have known about this sooner." He grinned.

The room was stacked with careful precision. Mozenrath was pleased with the items he could identify off the top of his head. A golden feather in a glass case, almost certainly from a Roc, a blue rose floating in a perfume bottle, nestled on a pillow, a scorpion styled helmet of black and gold…any one of these could cause Aladdin and friends several hours of trouble in the right hands. He was even more enticed by the objects he didn't know, a set of armor that looked vaguely Japanese in design, a chest full of spice with a necklace nestled on top…that one in particular he could feel a powerful curse on. He was sorely tempted to transport them all back to the Citadel for further study. It put him out a bit to remember that if there was anti-magic through the tunnel, this place was likely coated with the stuff.

Besides, no time for that. Now that he knew these objects were here, he could always come back for them later. Even if they were moved he would recognize the energy signatures. Best just to find what he'd come for and get out of here before Aladdin came crashing in.

He looked around and saw the mirror, sitting in the middle of the room on a gold stand. He smiled, running his finger over the edged. No one would make any assumptions about such a thing. But he could feel the quiet power under the glass. There were hundreds of magical mirrors in the world, most of them hardly more than cheap parlor tricks. But he could see how this mirror in particular could vex someone. Truth was, at best, a flimsy perception. And truth could be as painful and vindictive as a lie. No wonder Mirage wanted it out of the picture. Evil forbid Aladdin and his friends ever got a look at her in this mirror. He chuckled and lifted the glass.

For as much as Mozenrath prided himself on cleverness, it really should have occurred to him not to look. Or at least to cover the mirror with a cloth.

Whatever he might have expected to see, it was not the reflection that stared back at him. Mozenrath froze with a fear that made him feel cold into the very center of his being. "T-this can't be." He whispered hollowly.

The face that stared back at him was his own, but not as he knew himself. His clothing was haggard and torn, reflecting years of wear and filth on it. His thick black curls were replaced with wisps of grey and white clinging to a thin scalp. His eyes were milky pools with a baleful blue flame in the back, giving them a haunted, mournful look.

And his flesh…his flesh was barely there at all. Scraps of skin hanging onto weathered and yellowed bone. Within his ribcage, where a heart should have been, there was a dull blue stone, held in place with thick barbed wire that was hooked into his ribs like a chaotic spider web.

The thing in the mirror stared back at him with the same expression of horror and shock, if any emotion could be said to reflect in those dead, empty eyes. Mozenrath realized his hands were shaking and his chest began to feel tight. Panic washed over his mind as he saw, standing behind this creature looking at him, a shadowed and familiar visage of a tall man in a pointed hat.

Mozenrath started to feel the mirror slip and grasped ahold of it hard. It tilted, now reflecting the room behind him, releasing him from the terror he had been shown.

And instead revealing Aladdin behind him.

Mozenrath grasped the mirror and rounded on the street rat, his gauntlet flaring with deadly magic. But the response was not quite what he expected. Aladdin was brandishing steel at him, but his face showed the same horror as Mozenrath's. He was now looking at his nemesis up and down, as though trying to see if the image in the mirror looked at all like the (mostly) human man he now faced.

The sorcerer suddenly felt claustrophobic in the large room. He was putting all his power into keeping his gauntlet lighted and it was costing him internally. The metal woven into the room was making it hard to preform even the slightest magic. I can't fight him here. Not like this. He recognized. He searched for a quip or something to reestablish his composure, but his tongue was dry in his mouth.

Aladdin found his voice first. "Hand over the mirror Mozenrath." He ordered, preparing for any strike. "You can't use your magic here. You're trapped."

Mozenrath was almost grateful for the set up. "Trapped? Aladdin, have you ever known me to get into a situation without a back-up plan?" Alright so that was a blatant lie. But he wouldn't risk Aladdin gaining the upper hand. "How is your princess fairing street rat? I do hope I haven't torn up your meal ticket." He grinned faintly, putting on as much bravado as he could. He didn't dare glance at the door, but if Aladdin was here how far behind could the djinn be. He had a minimum of time to escape before he actually would be trapped. "But I digress. You want the mirror so bad?"

Mozenrath launched the jagged glass at his enemy and used as much power as he could muster the blast it to piece mid-air. Aladdin covered his face from as shards of glass exploded in all directions and was shoved rather unceremoniously out of the way and Mozenrath slammed past him to the tunnel.

The sorcerer heard a satisfying yelp as Aladdin landed on the broken glass and was probably getting several painful cuts along his arms and chest. His own fault for wearing a vest all the time. Mozenrath mused as ran up the stairs as quickly as he could. He still could not use his magic until he was out of the blighted tunnel. And even then he was going to have to be quick.

Sure enough as he saw through the secret doorway he was met with the swords of princess Jasmine, a half dozen guards, the djinn aiming what looked like a fabric hose with a copper metal spigot dripping water at him. Mozenrath grimaced. He was still in the tunnel. Aladdin was behind him and he had no way of using his magic unless he could get past. And suicide was not high on his list of escape plans.

"You're surrounded Mozenrath!" Princess Jasmine called from the top of the stairs. "Throw down the gauntlet and come out peacefully and we'll give you a fair trail."

"Followed by a swift beheading." He shouted out, grateful that he could see through the dark better than they could. Aladdin was quickly coming up the stairs. "No thank you princess! I'd just assume keep my turban right where it is!" He readied himself. Perhaps he could grab Aladdin and use the hero as a hostage…

The scent of fire and magic flooded his senses and he saw a violent green display of power occur behind the amassed hero's. Perfect timing. He grinned as shouts of panic echoed.

"Mirage!"

"It's evil incarnate!"

"Genie quick! You help Aladdin with Mozenrath while we…"

"Not a chance princess!" Mozenrath stepped from the tunnel, his magic catch Jasmine full in the chest and she went flying through the room and into a pillar. Mirage said nothing, but her expression was obviously surprised to see him still there. He supposed he could have hissed a warning to her that the mirror was a lost cause, but he just wasn't in that damn charitable of a mood. He gathered his power as quickly as he could, lifted his cape, and vanished with a flourish of blue-black flame.