Chapter 16: Following Familiarity

AN: Okay this chapter was painful. Wouldn't rwrite. Seriously. And its longer than I thought it would be! GIVE SOMEONE A TURN ELENA. JEES. Keep an eye on my profile for updates.

-April 6, 2009-

Elena's POV

Aladdin struggled and strained against his wrist bindings to no avail. I sighed, rolling my eyes, not attempting myself, "Aladdin. Aladdin. Aladdin, it's no use. Don't bother."

He paused in his movements, glaring in my direction, "What you're just giving up?"

I grit my teeth, "No, I just- Wait a minute okay? Just trust me."

No sooner had I finished speaking that a squawking came from above us. Aladdin grinned widely, "Abu!"

I cleared my throat deliberately, "Something you wanna say to me?"

Abu fiddled with the mechanics of the Aladdin's bindings before it opened. Aladdin rubbed his wrists, "Yeah yeah. I'm sorry okay? I'm a fool."

I opened my mouth to speak as Abu undid my wrist bindings as well as the ankle one connecting us. An old man's voice echoed from the furthest shadows of the dungeon, "Only a fool if you give up boy..."

Aladdin got to his feet with a cautious frown, "Who are you?"

Stepping out of the darkness, an old man with long greying hair wearing a ratty and dirty grey tunic tapped his wooden cane against the ground, "A lowly prisoner like yourselves." The man grinned a wide smirk with rotten teeth, rubbing his fingers together in front of him, "But together perhaps we can be more..."

Aladdin eyed the man warily, "I'm listening..."

The man's smirk grew wider, revealing further his rotting teeth, and a tooth glowing golden more than the rest at the front, "There is a cave, children. A cave of wonders. Filled with treasures beyond your wildest dreams. Treasure enough to impress even... Your princess, I'd wager."

My eyes narrowed as the man turned his back for a moment. Aladdin's eyes widened, a small gasp escaping his lips, "H-How did you know...?"

The old man faced us once more. He glanced at me and smirked. Cold and bitter rather than one from a crazy innocent old man, "Everyone has their secrets, my boy..." I swallowed thickly under his gaze, stepping back.

Aladdin's eyes narrowed at the man, "Why are you telling us this?"

"I need someone with a strong back and a pure heart to go in after it." The man walked further past us. I backed up further into the wall behind Aladdin to avoid him as much as physically possible.

Aladdin frowned, "Just one problem. It's out there. But we're stuck in here."

The old man hummed, "Things aren't always what they seem..." He poked the wall with his cane, revealing a small opening to a set of stairs cast in a red glow.

Aladdin walked closer to him in wonder. The man held out a hand, "So, do we have a deal?"

Aladdin nodded curtly once. I hurried to crawl through the opening, avoiding any contact at all costs with the old man. I heard Aladdin following behind. When we emerged from the staircase, we found ourselves deep into the desert mounds. A horse waited a few feet from the stone steps. Aladdin assisted the man onto the horse and we were guided into the night to a large dark tiger head, glowing eyes, and its mouth slightly ajar enough to reveal a staircase.

"Who disturbs my slumber?" The cave roared. I jumped. I couldn't recall it ever being that loud.

Aladdin cleared his throat, "W-We are Aladdin and Elena."

"Proceed. Touch nothing but the lamp." The cave demanded before opening its jaws as wide as possible to reveal the staircase more prominently.

The old grinned, his broken and gold teeth revealed, "Remember, children: first fetch me the lamp, and then you shall have your reward."

Abu shivered, quickly climbing through Aladdin's vest and clinging to his back, "C'mon guys."

I observed the shifting of the tiger's glowing eyes shifting to my person. A sharp pain ran through my spine. It left me in shivers before it disappeared as if it never occurred. I brushed it off mentally, putting the thought away for later, and hurried to follow Aladdin down the stairs. When we reached the bottom, we entered through a tall golden arch to a chamber filled with vast amounts of treasure.

"Would you look at that!" Aladdin breathed out, walking ahead of me. Abu, who had climbed down with stars in his eyes, squawked quietly in awe. Aladdin smiled, "Just a handful of this stuff would make me richer than the sultan!"

Abu perked up and began bolting in the opposite direction we were heading. I screamed his name. He stopped mid run, hovering over a rug, "Don't touch anything remember? We gotta find the lamp."

Abu grumbled and followed closely behind us. I stopped, letting Abu, although glancing at me curiously, continued after Aladdin. I faced the carpet that seemed closer and was lying innocently on the ground. I smiled slowly, "It's okay... Come on... I'm not gonna hurt you... I know you're a magic carpet... Okay?"

The carpet slowly lifted its front tassles twitching nervously a few times before it hovered over. It twirled around me. I smiled, a strange feeling settling in my stomach. It ran its tassles through my hair before swirling around me excitedly and stopping in front of me.

I giggled, before calling over my shoulder, "Hey, Aladdin! I think I found someone who can help us!"

The carpet hid behind me as Aladdin and Abu approached. I coaxed it into a state of calm once more before inquiring about the lamp. The carpet motioned for us to follow him. We soon emerged from a long cave into a vast underground cavern. At the centre of the room sat a tall pillar, a staircase heading up, surrounded by water with unevenly placed stones forming a bridge. At the top of the pillar was a clichédly placed beam of light.

Aladdin set Abu down, "Wait here!" I began to follow him until he held up his hand, "You too. I can go grab it."

I frowned, eyes narrowing before sighing and nodding. Abu grumbled before his eye, as well as mine, caught a shrine in the corner of a golden monkey. Its outstretched paws held a large gleaming ruby. Abu all but hovered over to it. I whistled innocently, stepping onto one of the panicked carpet's corners before he could stop Abu. The small monkey grasped the gem and the room began to shake violently. Aladdin screamed his name.

"Infidels!" The cave's voice echoed.

Abu grit his teeth with a wince, "Uh oh!"

"You have touched the forbidden treasure!" Abu placed the jewel back onto the paws only to have it began melting with the golden monkey shrine, "Now you will never again see the light of day!"

Aladdin attempted to race down the steps but they flattened into a ramp. My heart stopped as fell towards the water that had boiled into lava. I was swept off my feet as the carpet slipped from beneath my foot and under them. We went soaring down catching him. Aladdin grasped Abu as we passed him. It was then that the carpet was forced to spin too quickly for me to hang on. I screamed as I spun towards the lava. Darkness took over before I hit the surface.

00000

I gasped abruptly, sucking in as much oxygen as I could. When I was able to fully open my eyes, I observed my surroundings. Not Agrabah. Not home either.

I resided in a black abyss atop what looked like a stained glass platform. I slowly got to my feet and stepped back to get a better look at the image.

There was a girl facing the front with a neutral expression on her face, her eyes black as the abyss surrounding. She had jet black hair to her upper back, her bangs just above the dark eyes. She wore a thigh high black off shoulder v-dipped dress with long sleeves that ran down to hug the middle knuckle, covered in navy and violet sparkles.

The girl resided on a platform with the outer layer of black, the middle layer of navy, and the third layer of violet. The platform contained smaller circles of maroon alternating with what looked like a pencil, an eraser, a sharpener, a mechanical pencil, a pen, a bottle of white out, a quill, a bottle of ink, pieces of lead, a highlighter, a pencil case, a hole puncher, a pad of sticky notes, a book, a red notebook, an orange notebook, a yellow notebook, a green notebook, a blue notebook, and a purple notebook. The entire platform's background looked to be of words written in calligraphy style.

"Do not be alarmed, Princess." My eyes widened at the sound a familiar female's voice, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't place it, "All will be well."

"Who are you? And what's going on? Where are my friends?" I demanded, searching the darkness for the voice's source.

"Your questions will be answered soon." Three short pillars rose from the ground at different edges of the platform with floating weapons. One with a sword, another with a shield, and the third with a staff.

I groaned, "You've got to be kidding me."

The voice chuckled, "It seems quite familiar. You know what you must do."

Reluctantly, I walked over to the sword. It disappeared not even a second later, "Now what will you give up in exchange?"

I made my way over to the shield, sighing when it disappeared as well, "You've chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the guardian. Is this the form you choose?"

I nodded, "Now can I have an answer?"

The answer was not what I wanted. The sound of shattering. I glanced down slowly as the glass shards of the platform began floating away. I screamed silently as I floated down through the abyss.

When I felt myself gently touch solid ground once more, I observed that I was on another platform. This was of a dark ocean blue surrounded by a lavender ring, and a dark violet ring outside of the light one. On the inside were seven circles. The top contained a human-dog like figure in a hat on a bright yellow background. Next was of a young female with dark forest brown hair to her chin with eyes the color of snow on a silver background. Next was a young female with long black hair, her eyes as black as night, on a dark, almost black, background. Next was of a white duck in blue clothing on a bright orange background, next was of a girl with long golden brown hair, her left eye black, the right eye white, on a snow white background. The sixth contained a girl with chestnut hair to her shoulders, her eyes glowing a golden yellow, atop a blood red background. The middle circle contained a familiar boy in red with chocolate spikes.

Shadows began seeping up from the floor, eyes glowing a golden yellow. My eyes widened considerably, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

A light floated down in front of me. I shielded my eyes for a moment until in its wake were two fairly sized silver swords, each handle black. I almost missed the dark calligraphy engraved into each hilt, Anti-Princess Of Heart.

They floated in the air for moment before I grabbed each with shaking hands. I frowned, eyeing the moving shadows nervously, "As you grow and learn, so will your abilities. Look within yourself and you'll be fine."

I attempted to defend myself but it was if they were going through the shadows without touching them. They were invincible. The shadows pounced. My screams faded as blackness overtook my senses once more.