It has been far too long and that is entirely my fault. I'm not sure how many of you out there still follow this story or read it every so often. But I want to thank every single one of you that have read this story, Favorited it, Favorited me as an author. I really, really appreciate it. It's been bothering me that this story was never finished, as I missed working with Savannah and her story with Aladdin. I figured let me finish this and maybe I'll get around to retweaking the story and use many of your helpful suggestions. I had so many ideas for her and I want to complete it.
Compared to my other chapters with Savannah's strong personality, I thought we should get a glimpse of Savannah's more forgiving side. I think she's a little too forgiving when it comes to Aladdin, but we shall see, right? Anyway, onto the story, and again, reviews would be much appreciated! I do take everything you say into account!
The sand built feline head was intimidating to say the least. The trio of humans, plus one primate stood there, cowering as its eyes glowed menacingly in inquiry. Savannah held onto Aladdin's hand tightly with no intention of letting go. Aladdin, on the other hand, clutched Savannah to him to protect her from such a creature. The stray sand that whipped with the wind stung their skin, however, ignored it as the growling head inquired of whom had disturbed its slumber. Aladdin looked down at Savannah and gave her a reassuring smile as he approached the head, clearing his throat.
"It is I, Aladdin." What would come next, he wondered; thunder booming in the distance. The Cave of Wonders sized him up with a perk of its eye, judging whether he was worthy or not, ignoring the cowering monkey hiding in his vest.
"Proceed," it accessed. "Touch nothing but the lamp." The Cave warned Aladdin before resuming its rigid stance, mouth agape and its tongue transforming into a staircase, which descended to where Aladdin desired to be.
Savannah stared on, unsure of whether to allow Aladdin to go by himself or not. To hell with that, there was no chance she would leave Aladdin all on his own. She moved past the elderly man and stood by Aladdin's side. The elder man shook his head.
"Only one may enter! The girl will stay with me-" Savannah interrupted with a series of protests, getting in the elder man's face before he pushed her back like she was paper. "The girl stays here, otherwise you both die. And remember boy, first bring me the lamp! Then, I will give you your reward. A promise is a promise, after all." There was something sinister in the way he presented the promise of a reward. It made Savannah all the more unsure of whether to trust what he said about The Cave only admitting one. But, she couldn't chance Aladdin getting hurt because she refused to listen.
Before entering The Cave, Aladdin approached Savannah and took her hands into his own. He stared into those eyes, realizing then how much he had hurt her. This woman looked at him with adoration and something else he couldn't place; but overriding that, he saw the pain she was so desperately trying to hide. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let a princess make him lose track of what he had in front of him? Hormones were a funny thing. When he returned, they were going to have a talk about this, he vowed, even if to no one but himself.
"Hey, look at me..." He tilted Savannah's chin to force her to look up at him when she tried to look away. "I'll be back before you know it. And after that, you and I are going to have a talk, I promise. There's something we should discuss, about before."
Savannah shook her head, she had such a feeling of unease over this whole Cave of Wonders business. Call it women's intuition, if you will. "Just come back to me, Aladdin." And to make sure he knew what he'd miss if he didn't, she pulled him in, placing her lips upon his own in a sweet, but tender lock of lips. This caused Aladdin to grip onto her shoulders in pleasant surprise, upon feeling him return it, she sighed. The princess didn't matter then, call her a forgiving soul, but there would be time to sort out this mess when he returned. This was no goodbye. When they parted from the kiss, she turned him around to start his way inside with Abu. Aladdin was unsure what hit him, feeling his mind and his heart scatter in all different directions. He turned back to face her for a final time before entering the cave.
"I promise." And with that, he ventured within, descending down the narrow, winding staircase. He took a deep breath and focused on his mission, attempting to ease his partner who cowered still, trembling on his back. Aladdin shook his head, allowing his eyes to adjust to the lighting within. He was unable to comprehend how such a wonder could exist in the desolate sands near Agrabah. Lower he descended, finally reaching the end where he entered a hall of gold, rubies and other goods he could have only dreamed about.
"Abu! Look at all this," Aladdin said excitedly in a hushed voice, afraid the cave may hear him if he spoke too loudly. "A handful of this gold would make me richer than the Sultan himself...I can see Sav dripping in these rubies," he chuckled to himself. "How 'bout that?" Abu rolled his eyes and tumbled off Aladdin's shoulder, exploring the inner workings of the cave, staying on the created paths that were between heavy mounds of gold. He was warned not once, but twice by Aladdin to not touch anything and Abu was on his best behavior, for now. Temptation had yet to set in.
Outside, Savannah eagerly awaited Aladdin's return, her arms crossed. The elder man seemed more anxious than her and she only wondered why. What was so special about some lamp, anyway? When she tried talking, or asking about it, the elder man ignored her. She distracted herself on something else. For the first time, in what seemed like ages, Savannah prayed to Allah for his safe return, putting all of her heart into this wish. She dropped to her knees and looked up into the heavens, asking her mother and the father she had never known to watch out for him. "Can't you see by now what he means to me?" She asked before the elder man told her to hush. She returned with a glare and felt her patience waning thin. Remaining on her knees, she returned her gaze to the opening. "Come on, Aladdin..."
The light from the gold ended and darkness simmered in. Aladdin had gained a new alliance with The Cave's Carpet. The animated tapestry was showing Aladdin the way and he couldn't have been more grateful, excited to see more. This was part of the adventure he had been waiting for and he couldn't help but bite his bottom lip with anticipation. He looked up at yet another narrow staircase that was supposed to be his next challenge before finding the prize bathed in moonlight at the top. Once more, he warned his partner to not sink his greedy little paws into anything before he ascended the stairs, feeling the burn in his thighs set in. His heart began to pound and his palms began to sweat, reaching the top to the platform that held what looked like a slightly rusty lamp. This was what all the excitement was over? What the old man was paying him gold and rubies for? Aladdin shrugged his shoulders and gently picked it up, handling it with such care, like an infant.
"This? Really? This is it? This is what we came all the way down to-" He turned around to prattle on with Abu before his face fell and his eyes widened. "Abu! No!" The monkey had already plucked the large ruby from the structure it had been sitting upon. The area began to vibrate, rocks falling from the ceiling of the cave before a large growl sounded from The Cave itself.
"INFADELS!" Abu attempted to put the gem back, only to find the structure melting, the temperature rising as Aladdin looked at his surroundings in horror. "You have touched the forbidden treasure! Now you will never again see the light! Of! Day!" The cave growled emphasis on those final words, the platform that held the lamp erupted in flames before Aladdin, causing him to jump back; the ceiling began to rain heavily with stones and large chunks from above, informing Aladdin that the belly of the cave was collapsing and advising him to make haste in his leave.
Savannah heard these words and her eyes widened, "Aladdin!" she called out, hopeful that he could hear her. But she was doubtful, prepared to go in after him to save him if she could, however, felt herself held back by the third member of their party. He was certainly strong for a man up there in age. Perhaps he worked out? "I have to go to him! Let me go!" She fought and was only held tighter.
Aladdin hopped onto the carpet and fought past the lava, fire and many boulders that crashed down from above. He was determined to get the treasure back to the old man, and more importantly, determined to have that talk with Savannah. All he could think about was holding Savannah and apologizing for being so ignorant to her and her feelings. He owed that to her. He urged the carpet forward, to move as fast as it could without crashing into any type of fixture. Eventually the carpet did crash, he clung to the stairs as Abu began to scramble up to an awaiting Savannah who was very much teary and all smiles for his return. She was absolutely relieved he came back. "Aladdin!" She broke free from their unwanted companion and reached down to help him up. Aladdin extended for her hand when Savannah was knocked back by the bald one. Aladdin called for her, only for the old man to step in front, in his way of freedom. What concerned him more was that he was beginning to slip, and he was unsure for how much longer he could hold on.
"Give me the lamp!" The elder demanded.
"Savannah!" He called out. "I can't hold on!" He looked at the stranger. "Give me your hand!"
"First give me the lamp!" After numerous throwbacks of the same sort of pleas of assistance and demands for the lamp, Aladdin reached into his vest and pulled out the lamp, issuing the relic into his grimy hands. The elder peasant held up the lamp in triumph, dancing with glee and Savannah crawled over to attempt to help Aladdin up, he had a good grip of her hand and with his upper body strength, he was able to begin helping her help him out of the cave. He couldn't help but smile at her effort. The elder, however, watched the two.
"How touching," he said in a monotone voice. "I shall give you your reward. In fact, I'll issue you both a reward right now. Eternal rewards." He withdrew a dagger and Savannah felt herself pushed forward. She shrieked and caught onto Aladdin's ankle, clutching for dear life. They possibly only had minutes left before the cave collapsed on itself and now a stranger was to kill them over a lamp. She heard Aladdin call out to her to hold on and she clutched on for as long and hard as she could muster, not daring to look down. Aladdin found himself being picked up by the elder, his eyes widening as he caught sight of the blade. Savannah lost her grip as Aladdin was raised, crying out as she slipped fell into the abyss. Aladdin hollered back for Savannah, Abu crawled up the stranger's arm and sunk his teeth into the others bony arm, causing him to cry out, flinging Aladdin back to join his friend in her demise. So long as he had the lamp and those two were dead, business was taken care of.
Jafar watched the last remnants of the monster's life before ripping off his beard and disguise with sheer glee, searching for the lamp to bring his treasure home, only to find it missing from his persons and caused him to let out a longing cry of frustration. Little did he know that he would have much more on his plate come morning.