Alright, so, here is chapter 9 at long lost. We are well on our way to finishing this fic. Aren't you excited to see what happens in the end? In this chapter, I touched upon a tough topic for some, so, if any of you are offended, or anything related to that, let me know and I'll make my corrections. I hope you like this chapter, though. I tried to touch more on Al and Sav in this chapter, it's not by much, but, it's coming along. I just didn't want to rush it. So, yeah! Please continue to read and review, I love all of your comments! I really do!

Chapter 9- Dungeon Life

While the newly discovered princess cried in her tower above, the two street rats dwelled beneath, chained up to the wall in the darkest depths of the dungeon to ensure they would be forgotten about and left to die. The young male, the one called Aladdin had been having a conversation with himself, mostly in shock from the recent discovery. The young woman who had won over his heart was none other than the princess of Agrabah herself! How could he have been so stupid!?

"I can't believe it…she was the princess…" A sigh seeped out from his desperate lips. "I must have looked so stupid to her!"

A body groaned in response to reveal it to be none other than Savannah herself, chained up beside her male companion, but the guards were sure they kept their distance. She was quiet and kept to herself, more than likely trying to think of what to say to him. He almost kissed another woman right in front of her, he fell for that same woman… She couldn't help but question what that other woman had that she didn't?

"Sav?"

She picked her head up, she'd drive back to that question later. Right now it wasn't of any major importance.

"Yeah?" She responded, one could hear the exhaustion in her voice. She cleared it. Aladdin gave a slight wince, if one could consider the slight flinch one.

"Are you alright…?"

How was she to respond to that? 'No, I'm not alright, you almost kissed some other girl in front of me, it bothers me and you're acting like a total asshole to me?' …Nah. Well, she could…but she wasn't going to.

"I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me, I'm fine." Now it was her turn to wince. The thick shackles were cutting into her wrists. They hurt.

"Don't move so much," he said to her, instructing her as though he knew exactly what to do. "Just take it easy…relax…It won't hurt as much." He had gotten into tight spots before, mostly as a child, so, he knew quite well. When he looked into her eyes and watched her, he somehow felt her pain. He almost kissed another woman…he saw her…he saw the pained look in her eyes and yet his mind and body were compelled to that other woman, he felt he needed her and her comfort at that moment, and not Savannah. He really was a jerk.

Savannah took his advice and ceased her movements, leaning against the wall still. Well, at least she was sitting and wasn't anything like the skeleton across from her whose shackled were up high on the wall. The skeleton made her eyes widen. The one thing she never admitted to anyone was that she was afraid of death, and now she was staring it in the face.

"It's okay," Aladdin assured her. "He's not going to move." He didn't need for her to say anything, that look of horror said it all. She still said nothing and merely stared.

It was going to be a while for them, he assumed, he would have to try to talk the other out of being so frightened. Even he had to admit that skeleton was creepy and he was sure throughout the dungeon there were several more and more than likely decomposing bodies. But he didn't want to think about that at that moment. His main concern was snapping the female beside him out of her fearful trance.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the shadow of a small body shimmying down the bricks in the dungeon lair. Savannah took no notice. Instead, Aladdin picked his head up further, wondering, but as he caught a better look, he had a better idea of who it could be.

"Abu!" He said happily in much relief. The monkey chattered in response , stopping at his master's feet, dangling a set of keys in hand.

"C'mon, Abu…" Aladdin tried to compromise with the other, however, the money wasn't buying it. Instead, he teased his master with the keys, taking on the appearance of that slender, tantalizing female from earlier, trying to tell him that he screwed him over for a woman! Just as he did with Savannah the first time they met!

"Oh, c'mon, she was in trouble," Aladdin tried to get his partner in crime to understand. The monkey still didn't take the bait. "But don't worry, I'll never see her again. She's a princess, and she's got to marry a prince." He took a moment to himself and whispered, "She deserves a prince."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Abu muttered, moving up onto his owner's shoulders and undid the lock, then moved onto the female beside him who still kept that cold, horrified expression. When her lock was undone, Aladdin moved over to her, taking caution in his steps before pulling the other into his arms, blocking her view of the frightful bones. He could feel her fingers biting into his vest, clinging to him on so tightly.

He stared at the trembling body in his arms, tightening his grip around her, attempting to comfort her. For a moment, he had a sudden realization of the world around him, of Savannah, of Jasmine, of everyone and everything. "I…was such a fool," he murmured gently.

"You're only a fool if you give up, boy."

It seemed they weren't alone. Aladdin looked up from his trembling companion to the owner of the voice, only to find the skeleton had been blocked, instead a limping, elderly man was in front of the trio.

"Who are you?" Aladdin asked, his hands coaxing Savannah's back. The young woman, once hearing the other voice slowly looked up, and began to sit up on her own, but refused to move from the others arms.

"Just a lowly prisoner, just like yourself," he said, glancing from one to the other. "But perhaps we can be more than just prisoners."

"I'm listening." Aladdin was tempted to hear what this man had to say. The old man seemed quite pleased.

"There is a cave, boy, a cave of wonders! Filled with treasures beyond your wildest dreams, and perhaps even beyond that." The more Savannah listened, the more something didn't sit right.

"Why would you share such information with us?" She inquired, sitting up completely to stare this elderly man in the face. "Wouldn't you keep something like that to yourself?" Even Aladdin had to agree that there was something odd about this offer.

"I need a pair of strong legs and a strong back to go in after it." The old man was clever with his responses, chosen carefully to tempt and persuade. "You my dear, should stay here. I did say strong legs and strong back."

"I can pull my weight," Savannah argued. No one was going to tell her she wasn't strong enough.

The old man was at a loss. She wasn't the diamond in the rough, she couldn't go in. The cave would never admit her access.

"And how do we know this cave exists?" The female just had questions all around that evening.

She wanted proof? Fine, he'd show her proof. He reached into his tattered and molded robes, plucking out red gems, flashing them to the two, making them smell and taste the treasure. He was sure he had them hooked now.

"Even enough treasure to impress your princess, I'm sure." Now he knew he at least had the boy. The girl still didn't seem convinced, not fully.

"There's one problem," Aladdin said. Savannah was sure, from the looks on his face earlier, that he realized the cold truth that he was out of the princesses league. "It's out there, we're in here." Her face dropped. He was hooked and snagged like an ignorant fish.

The elder man's lips curled into a smile, taking the cane he had been leaning against, he counted bricks on the wall before pushing it out, hearing it fall onto the sand below, that one brick must have triggered something as a few other bricks fell after that, creating a hidden passage way out, beams of moonlight poured into the dungeon more so than the bars had provided.

"Savannah, are you sure you want to come?" Aladdin asked. He gave some thought into this. It seemed like a dangerous trip to take, because he even knew you don't get something for nothing.

"I won't leave you," she said, looking up at him. She was headstrong, the two of them knew and knew it well. "I can't…and I don't want to."

The male sighed gently. "It might be dangerous…I don't want you getting hurt."

"It's me," she smiled in response. "You know me. I always bounce back."

He shook his head, but then smiled. There just was no stopping her. "Fine," he said, letting her out of the dungeon first, Abu following second, the old man, then him.

"First, we need a camel," the elder man said. "This trip will be a long one."

They walked off into the citadel. They'd have to steal one for no one was up at this hour of the evening. Aladdin helped Savannah from the top of a wall as she jumped and landed into his arms, voices could be hears in the background. They paid no mind to it and ventured off forward to find their camel.

The owner was asleep, just as they assumed. Abu slipped into the open stable and pointed out a healthy one, Savannah slipping through next to unlatch it and would leave for Aladdin to take it. Together, it worked out without the owner waking from his pleasant sleep. Again, they heard the shouts of fighting.

"In you go!" It was the voice of Razoul, and the aches and groans of an elder man as he had been shoved onto his knees. Savannah stared curiously after they rounded the corner, the old man with them sighed. He didn't have time for this. Yet you couldn't pull the bunch of teenagers now.

After the elder man was on his knees, Savannah remembered him as the man she saw a while prior to this evening, the man she met in the marketplace that day who had his opinion on the sultan and thought the princess would serve Agrabah well, the same man she and Aladdin saved and rescued on top of the balcony when the couple wasn't home.

"What's going to happen to him?" She looked up at Aladdin for the answer, but by the look on his face, he either knew and wasn't saying anything, or he was just as confused as she was. Aladdin remained silent.

"Savannah, maybe you shouldn't look…" his arms were around her waist at this point, ready to snag her away from the scene if what he thought was going to happen was going to take place.

They lowered the elder man's head onto a box of sorts, Razoul removing his sword from its sheath. "You stole from the royal garden, and a number of proprietors caught you stealing from their carts. How do you plead?"

The man said nothing.

"How do you plead!?" Razoul questioned, demanding his answer. He raised his sword, but found he couldn't do it, which brought on relief to Savannah and Aladdin, but just when they thought there was hope and a few extra years on that man's life, Savannah watched Razoul test the blade and found it wasn't sharp enough to do the job that it needed to do. Another guard handed Razoul a freshly cut blade. Smiling with satisfaction, Razoul took the blade and raised it over his head, the man's eyes clenched tightly, then they relaxed, which showed to the teenagers that he wasn't afraid of death, and even though he couldn't seem them at that moment, that they shouldn't be afraid, either.

Razoul then brought it down and the sound of him completing his mission could be heard throughout Agrabah. The others cleaned up the mess so there wasn't question or disgust in the morning.

Savannah, once more, stared in horror, this time, felt the tears in her eyes. Aladdin quickly turned her, wouldn't allow her to watch the clean up while he held the other so tight in his arms. Her face was buried in his chest and her eyes once more cried the Nile river. She wasn't sure what to feel, or how to react at that moment. It was just all too much to take in, it made her hate the royals and the stupid caste system all the more.

Aladdin swallowed hard. It was hard for the both of them. How could they kill like that? So easily? He had a feeling they even wrongly accused him. And that burned him. It made him realize how important a human life was. When you're a street rat, you don't take much into consideration. Just stay alive...no time to go in depth on the topic. But now that he saw it...in a way...he felt more like a man for despising it. In a way, Aladdin grew up a little on the inside. When he became sultan, things would change...and maybe...even in the change Savannah had wanted. Now he was beginning to understand what she meant. They connected a little on the inside.

"Why did it have to happen…?" So the man was one of them… the man had hopes that his future may have been saved by the Sultan, or the princess. He never knew it would be the law that ended his life.

Aladdin refused to let the other go. "Don't be afraid," he assured her nonetheless. "Don't let this break your spirit… You're stronger than this, Savannah." This was the second time he saw her cry, the second time she let her guard down in front of him. Yet Aladdin had shed a tear or two himself, even though he kept telling himself he was strong, that he hadn't cried since his mother had passed away. Alas, there was always an exception for breaking even the longest vows to yourself.

"Why did this have to happen to him!?"

Still, there was no answer and he knew there would never be an answer. He knew Savannah also knew. The old man was growing impatient. Aladdin turned, cleared his own throat, with the back of his hand, he wiped the stray tears, and saw the irritated look upon his face and walked over with Savannah, placing her onto the camel, he wasn't going to make her walk. He helped the elder man up as well and ventured out into the desert, feeling the sands whip him the further he walked.

And indeed it was a long journey, but he would see that it was well worth it in the end. Now that he saw the impressive tiger head before him, the one who would pass judgment upon the street urchin.

"Who disturbs my slumber!?"