Chapter 31: Reasons

"I find my son and lose my enemy. You did your old man proud."

Cassim was walking with Aladdin, Iago, and Sora through hidden catacombs of the Forty Thieves' lair. Abu had stayed above; helping Carpet get ready for the trip home.

"To be fair, Sora done most of the damage to Sa'luk while I fought his Heartless." Aladdin corrected his father.

"True but the two of you managed to get rid off him by working together." Cassim shrugged. "And if you two hadn't fought, you both would've been killed."

"Does this code have any rules that don't end in death?" Sora asked.

"It's a strict code." Cassim replied. Apparently, no such rule existed. "But there are two things that I added: we never use Heartless and we never hurt the innocent."

"Uhh... for future reference, I'm as innocent as the day I was hatched." Iago said with the best innocent face he could manage.

It wasn't very convincing. Sora made a comment under his breath that only Aladdin heard, "Oh brother."

Cassim ignored this as he removed a small medallion from his blue cape. The medallion depicted what appeared to be a golden hand-the very same hand depicted on Aladdin's dagger. Cassim placed the medallion into a matching indent in the wall, and the wall slid back to reveal a hidden room. "My men don't even know about this place." he told Aladdin and Sora.

Cassim took a torch from just inside the wall and began to light several fires around the room to see by. The room was instantly illuminated enough for Aladdin and his companions to see the assorted knickknacks strewn about. "Listen, boy." Cassim told his son. "There is a treasure... the ultimate treasure. Compared to this, a pharaoh's tomb is a pauper's grave; a sultan's fortune nothing but... lunch money! And I am this close to it."

"That's tantalizingly close." Iago commented. Aladdin only frowned and crossed his arms.

"But it's on an island that's never in the same place twice!" Cassim added as he dug through a large cupboard nearby. At last, he removed from the cupboard a very large scroll. "The Vanishing Isle."

"That would be a problem." Iago observed.

"What is this 'ultimate treasure'?" Sora asked while Aladdin reminded the same. Aladdin could hardly believe it! His father had left him and his mother all alone to find some silly treasure that couldn't be found? It was ridiculous!

"The big one, boy." Cassim replied as he unfurled the scroll. "The Hand of Midas."

The scroll depicted what appeared to be a large turtle. On the turtle's back was a large, golden hand very similar to the one on Cassim's medallion. It was the most vague treasure map Aladdin had ever seen. "It's just a myth!" Aladdin said indignantly.

"It's not a myth, boy!" Cassim argued. He approached a curtain at one end of the hidden room and pulled it back. Beyond it was a narrow stone staircase leading to an underground inlet of the sea. "It was once right here! Look, boy! There's your proof!"

Aladdin and Sora descended the stairs and looked down into the water. What they found shocked them. It was a sunken ship, seemingly made form solid gold! "From stem to stern!" Cassim shouted. "Every piece of railing, every peg and board, all of it! Solid gold!"

"Woah!" Sora gasped. He had never seen so much gold in his life, not even in Port Royal.

"Touched by the Hand of Midas." Cassim explained.

"And sunk by it." Aladdin added angrily, ascending the stairs again while dragging Sora away from the view of the golden ship.

"You don't understand!" Cassim argued. "You don't know what it's like to have nothing! To stare up at the palace and know you deserve more! To be called... street rat."

Aladdin's heart skipped a beat when he heard the familiar words. "Yes." he sighed, remembering the countless times he'd been forced to outrun the sultan's guards and resort to petty theft just to survive. "I do."

"I knew exactly what I wanted for my family." Cassim told Aladdin, "The best. I couldn't give up and go back empty-handed! But weeks turned into months and months turned into years..." Cassim took a deep breath. "I came back to Agrabah one night. But I couldn't find my wife or my son." For the first time in a very long time, the King of Thieves had to fight back tears as he told his painful tale. "I thought my family was lost forever. At that moment, I would've traded anything to get your mother back."

"We never wanted gold." Aladdin told his father. "We wanted you." Aladdin fell into silent for a while, facing his old memories until he spoke again. "I wanted a father. I still do. Come to my wedding!"

"This time, you have an invitation." Sora added

"Aladdin, Sora," Cassim said, staring at the ground, which had now become inexplicably fascinating. "I just don't know."

"Dad, I'm not going back to Agrabah until morning." Aladdin assured the now self-conscious King of Thieves. "At least think about it." Aladdin and Sora left the King of thieves be while Iago stayed behind. The two were heading back to the lair to go to sleep when Sora began to talk to him.

"Are you sure that he'd come?" Sora asked

"It would be nice to have my father at my wedding." Aladdin replied. Sora frowned at the thought of his father. Sora knew that his father would come out of thin air like Cassim did.

"Yeah, I'm sure that your father will make the right decision." Sora agreed with Aladdin and smiled. The two then carried on to the lair.

BOWBOWBOW

Sa'luk was walking in the desert, wondering about his new power and was thinking of his revenge on Cassim and the others. He stood there in a thoughtful position as he looked at the path that leads to the Forty Thieves lair. He was about to carry on with his journey when he felt a presents behind him. Sa'luk turned around to see a dark figure behind him.

The figure seemed to be in some sort of Arabian clothing similar to Sa'luk. The figure was wearing a dark purple haik with the symbol of the endless holding it up. He wore white baggy trousers and was bare foot. Sa'luk was about to question this figure when he took off part of the haik that was covering his face. The figure had short silver hair and violet eyes. Sa'luk was shocked to see this person.

"Leo?" Sa'luk gasped, "Is that you?"

"It's Link now." He corrected as he took a black glove off his right hand, revealing his silver and purple claw.

"I thought you were killed when the thieves thought you were a traitor." Sa'luk said

"A lot can happen when you learn about the remorse that was going through most of the thieves." Link replied

"So you just decided to kill half of the thieves then." Sa'luk grunted. Link just chuckled out of amusement of Sa'luk's complains. Sa'luk could see that he was being mocked and raised his golden claw, ready to fight. "What are you doing here?" Sa'luk questioned darkly. Link looked at Sa'luk and pointed at the right side of him, where half of him looked like a shadow.

"I was near the area as I'm helping making the galaxy a better place." Link explained in a mono-tone voice, "When I notice some similar energy that normally comes from Endless, I though I come to see who in the Order had done the damage and to see who our might-be-new member be." Link then turned away from Sa'luk and began to walk away.

"None of your useless members or those Endless had done this to me." Sa'luk said angrily while showing both of his claws. This caught Link's attention as he faced Sa'luk again.

"Was it a Heartless?" Link asked, sounding kind of worried

"NO! IT WAS THE STUPID, YOUNG KEYBLADE MASTER!" Sa'luk yelled at Link as his right hand flashed red and Heartless appeared from his rage. Link watched the Heartless as they changed into the form of Unbirths and then changed again into the form of the guards. Link looked at Sa'luk again, only to see that he had changed appearance too. He now looked like one of the royal guards from Agrabah expect for the claws, their was still showing.

The newly disguised Sa'luk smirked as he looked at his also disguised Unbirths, gaining himself a plan. He then faced Link who had a serious face to him.

"Perhaps we'll meet again, Leo." Sa'luk said. His voice had changed as well, it sounded more loyal like any guards voice would be. Sa'luk turned with his Unbirths and started to head for the forty thieves lair again.

Link stood there as he watched his former comrade get controlled by the Endless, knowing for full fact that he would meet his doom. What bothered him though was the fact of Sa'luk getting infected in the first place and no other Endless member have been on this world. Now that he had heard that the Keyblade Master was the one that affected Sa'luk. It only meant one thing and it wasn't good for either side of the playing field.

"I have to report this." Link muttered to himself as he summoned a portal and went though it.

BOWBOWBOW

Kairi, Donald and Goofy were currently walking the sand junes near Agrabah. Ven's portal had managed to teleport them in the middle of the desert but was able to see the palace. As the trio walked, they would gradually fall into conversation. While Donald and Goofy would ask Kairi about her childhood while on Destiny Island, she would ask them about their journey with Sora and what was Disney Castle like before the Order took it over.

Kairi quickly thought back on what Ven said to them and ran up to Donald, "Hey, how did Ven know the King?" Kairi wondered.

Donald was about to answer when Goofy beat him to it, "Well Ven was one of the Keyblade Weliders that came from the Land of-." Goofy said happily. Donald immediately summoned his staff and cast thunder. Goofy was electrocuted and fell to the floor, making him roll down the last sand junes that lead straight to the castle gates.

Kairi was about to question Donald's actions when Donald faced her and began talking, "Now what I'm about to say to you is under the strict code of the King and is not allowed to be told to anyone else." Donald told her. "Not even Sora and Riku."

"Is it that important that I have to lie to my best friends?" Kairi asked, a little confused at why Donald and Goofy would keep secrets from them.

"It is when there's a risk of the war starting up again." Donald sighed

"What war?" Kairi asked quietly

"A war that will never end and will mean the end to us all."

BOWBOWBOW

It was dawn. When Aladdin had said that they weren't leaving for Agrabah until morning, Sora had taken the words to heart and forced Aladdin to be ready as soon as the sun peeked out of the eastern horizon. Aladdin just shook his head and smiled when he could guess why Sora wanted to get back to Agrabah so much. Sora would never admit that of course but you could just see it. Still, when dawn came, everyone was ready to leave, Cassim included.

Aladdin was currently showing Cassim how to ride on Carpet. "Hop on, Dad!" he shouted.

"Oh no." Cassim argued. "It's a rug. You sweep dirt under it, you don't fly on it. At least I don't"

"Don't be afraid! It's fun!" Aladdin protested.

"I am not afraid." Cassim huffed. "Now get off that thing before you break your neck!"

"I trust Carpet with my life!" Aladdin pleaded.

"We'll take horses." Cassim insisted. "Horses were good enough for my father, and his father before him, and they have always been good enough for me."

"He sounds like a father all right." Aladdin sighed. Sora jumped on Carpet as he couldn't ride a horse even if he magically gained horse riding powers to ride the horse but will still fall off the horse or get kicked very far. Sora went over to Aladdin, who was getting on the horse.

"I'll fly near by." Sora informed him, Aladdin nodded. Sora, Aladdin and Cassim, a long with Abu and Iago on Carpet, then started their journey back to Agrabah.

A/N: I finished this chapter…YAY! I have 11 days until I turned 17. YAY!

Brian: what you doing for your birthday?

A/N: you already know!

Brian: Well at least tell me when I'm going to be in the story again. It's boring with Riku, he smells funny.

Riku: WHAT WAS THAT!

Brian: errrr….. (runs away from Riku.)

Riku: Now time for messages:

Kisdota- The Freak Gamer: Thanks for the review and that comment about your mistakes was just mean. Hope you pick my character and have a good time in OHANA. Lol

JuneBaby95: errr… Sora you answer the review.

Sora: Why me?

A/N: because she's asking about you so answer it!

Sora: ok

JuneBaby95: (Sora) I don't feel like a Heartless, I just don't know what's up with me lately. I'm sure that it'll past….I hope.

Ok, see ya next time

Kingdommad