Chapter Text
24
Dance of Eternity
--
Mozenrath gasped, coughing and sputtering as a long stream of sand slid from his throat.
“Shhh, shhh, It’s okay. Don’t move. It’ll cut your throat.” Sadira ran a cool hand over Mozenrath’s face, brushing the hair out of his eyes. “There.”
Mozenrath’s vision wavered into clarity, and he could see Sadira, cut up and dirty, hovering over him. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He threw his arms around her, burying his face into her shoulder. The shame that weighed on him was so incredibly heavy that he wasn’t sure he could stand. She knelt there, holding him with gentle hands as the tears came fresh.
“Mozenrath…” she whispered into his hair, but he couldn’t say anything. He just clung to her. It had all come back. Everything he had done, every single mistake… “You’re scaring me…”
“I remember,” he choked. “I remember everything.” He pulled away from her, stricken with the reality at hand. “Where’s Destane?”
“I don’t know,” Sadira answered. “I nearly drowned in this sand, but I was able to manipulate it enough to get around it. I found you in it too, but I don’t know where we ended up.”
She helped him up to his feet though he stumbled on his trembling legs. “The Palace is probably overrun with Mamluks. What about Aladdin? Cassim?”
“I don’t know,” she said sadly. “I wish I could tell you more. Are you alright?”
He was getting his bearings, barely hearing her. They were running out of time. He wasn’t about to lose them again. “I have to get up there.”
Lightning cracked across the sky, lighting up the darkness if only briefly. He could see the glow of the fight far above them. Somehow, they had ended up in the dilapidated remains of the garden that he and Sadira had shared a kiss in not that long ago.
“Mozenrath.” He turned back to Sadira and her eyes were bright with determination. “Don’t think for one second that I’m letting you leave here without me.”
“Never again,” he said swinging an arm around her waist and pulling her into a kiss. Then, with ease, he concentrated his power below them and they began to take flight.
The sky was ominous, but he wasn’t afraid.
--
“Aladdin!” Jasmine screamed; her voice muffled against the glass. She searched to no avail for something that could break it, but it was so thick that it was hard to breathe.
Destane held a hand over Aladdin confidently, and Aladdin could feel the tension in his body. He struggled against the bind. He was certain he was going to be squeezed to death. Cassim threw himself into Destane’s body, knocking him back, the action distracting him enough that Aladdin was released back onto the sand. Destane’s attention turned to Cassim, and he blasted the man into the opposite wall with a force that knocked his breath from him. He winced, sliding down the plaster, clutching at his ribs.
“Dad!” Aladdin shouted, scrambling to his feet as Cassim crumpled. Iago fluttered over to him, scarlet feathers flying everywhere.
“Hey! Don’t go down like that!” he squawked, full of fear.
Aladdin was grabbed by the ankle before he could get close to his father, being dragged back to Destane by his army, struggling against them. He was hand delivered to the sorcerer who leered over him, unimpressed. Carpet flew to catch him but was immediately impaled by a giant piece of the ceiling, weighing it down to the ground.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” he muttered, scowling. He wrapped his hand around Aladdin’s throat and hoisted him above his head.
Aladdin strained against the gauntlet, feeling its power burning into the skin of his neck. He kicked his feet futilely, trying to free himself. His head was spinning. Had he actually seen this man before? Then suddenly, as if from a dream, he saw him, standing over his mother’s still body, sneering at the boy in front of him. Mahdi.
Mahdi.
Mahdi.
He felt like his mind broke open, and he gasped for air, digging his fingernails into Destane’s wrist. He could hear the struggles from Genie and Jasmine. Abu attempted to scrabble up Destane’s leg and was thrown aside like a pest.
“DESTANE! LET HIM GO!”
The sand in the room exploded away from the floor, crashing into the walls, freeing the people down below, partygoers crawling for the nearest exits. Mozenrath landed and released Sadira, frighteningly quiet after his demand. He walked calmly, coolly, toward his opponent. Aladdin continued to struggle, feeling his arms weakening.
“Your fight is with me,” Mozenrath hissed.
“Mahdi,” Destane greeted in a particularly twisted way. “Or do you still prefer the name I bestowed you with?” He tightened his grip on Aladdin’s throat and Aladdin let out a strangled sound. “Interesting how no matter what… you just couldn’t save him, hm?”
Mozenrath bared his teeth, his eyes glowing white. He raised his hands and shot a blast at Destane that landed like a shockwave. Destane faltered from surprise, and Aladdin fell back to the floor. He struggled to right his blurry vision, to catch his breath, to get up and fight, but he felt paralyzed. All he could see was his mother wincing and fading away from him, and Destane’s dark, dark eyes.
“You’re going to pay for what you did,” Mozenrath seethed.
“I think I remember you saying something similar last time,” Destane laughed. “Clearly, the debt is still outstanding.” He raised his arms to the sky and the Mamluk army rose to attention, chanting in a hushed tone that filled the room like a roar. A bright white string of lightning crackled through onto the floor, erupting one of the curtains into flames that crept up the wall. A sandstorm kicked up around them, pressing Aladdin into the floor with the weight of the wind. He tried to pull himself up with all of his strength, his eyes watering.
“Mahdi!” he yelped, and suddenly he was a child again. And he was remembering. Remembering. Remembering.
Mozenrath attacked Destane with a battle cry so full of rage and grief that it rattled Aladdin’s bones. Aladdin drug himself over to where Cassim lay, unconscious, thrusting a hand into his coat pocket and pulling out one of the gems he had swiped. He placed a hand on his father’s face, checking on him. If he could get to Genie and cut the glass, he could have a chance.
“Aladdin!” Sadira yelled over the storm. She had managed to make her way over to him despite the circumstances, pushing away as much of the sand as she could, and she offered him a hand, swinging his arm over her shoulder to assist. When he looked her in the eyes, he could see it in her too.
The spell had broken. She was remembering too.
“You’re foolish, Destane,” Mozenrath said, dodging one of his spells and parrying another. “Those gauntlets are taking more than they’re giving you.”
They both fired a magical blast simultaneously and thus began the tug of war as they pressed all they had against each other. Mozenrath grimaced. Destane was so strong. He had to do this, for Aladdin, for his mother, for himself. The Palace shuddered under the weight of the collision. He could feel his feet sliding backwards. He planted them and pushed even more.
The Mamluks around him, despite their new abilities, began to crumble into dust, falling like the grains of sand around them. That was when Mozenrath knew he was right. “Those gauntlets feed off your energy, Destane,” he growled, pressing himself into his own power. “The more you use, the less you HAVE!”
He overtook Destane, overwhelming him with a bright light. The flames on the curtains began to spread, casting the Palace in a deep orange glow. Aladdin finally managed to limp to the Genie’s restraint, slicing at the glass with the diamond with shaky hands. Sadira pressed a palm against it and concentrated, and soon enough, it shattered. The genie immediately gathered Aladdin into his large arms.
“Al! Are you okay?”
“J-Jasmine,” he murmured.
“I got it!” Sadira said, grabbing the diamond and rushing off where the princess was trapped. She floated the diamond in front of her and magically transformed it into a long staff that she slammed into the glass.
The room filled with light and the storm died as quickly as it came. The genie used his power to grow large enough to shield them all from the attack. Aladdin squeezed his eyes shut. In his mind, he could see Mahdi’s silhouette against the backdrop of the setting sun, his curls gently swaying in the wind.
“I promised to take care of her, and to take care of you too,” he said.
The light faded. Aladdin opened his eyes, desperately trying to see around the genie’s shield of a body, and there he saw him again, silhouetted in the flames, standing over Destane. Mahdi.
“This is impossible. I—I should have more power than this—” Destane gasped. Mozenrath stepped on his chest, pushing him onto the floor.
“You used me,” he accused. “You needed my power to make the gauntlets. You needed my power to grow yours. You didn’t think I’d eventually figure that out?!” He ripped the gauntlets from Destane’s hands, revealing the rotting flesh within them. “You’re living your own curse. And you deserve it. Sadira!” He stretched out a hand for the staff she had made. She hesitated, then placed it in his palm. He held it to Destane’s chest. Cassim rose up blearily, wincing at the pain in his ribs.
“D-d-don’t,” Destane choked. “I—I raised you! I was more of a father to you than your own father was.”
“My father left,” Mozenrath growled. “But you’re the reason he had nothing to come back to. You killed my mother. You took me prisoner. You left Aladdin for dead. That was all. YOU!”
“Don’t—” Aladdin reached out, not wanting Mozenrath to cross the line, to kill Destane.
But Mozenrath didn’t listen. He plunged the staff right into Destane’s chest. Destane sputtered, black tendrils creeping from his chest and climbing up the staff. Aladdin broke free of Genie’s hold and sprinted toward Mozenrath’s back. Destane’s body shifted dramatically, first to the appearance of a corpse, and then to deep grains of sand, and then to nothing. He disintegrated like he had never existed except for the harm he caused. Mozenrath took a trembling step back just as Aladdin approached.
“Mahdi,” Aladdin gasped. He turned to look at him with wide, dark eyes, filled with tears.
They fell into each other’s arms, collapsing to the floor. Cassim watched from afar. Clouds billowed above, mixing with the smoke from the fire, and then, just as the two brothers had, split open, spilling rain upon the land. The flames extinguished into charred remains. The brothers didn’t even notice.
“Would you look at that, Iago,” Cassim whispered.
“The storm?”
Cassim tearfully shook his head.
--
The damage to the Palace had been enormous. There was a visible gaping hole in the ceiling and the great hall was a burned up, sand-filled mess. The Sultan had gone quiet, incredibly embarrassed at his lack of judgement (again). The genie, fortunately, had at least nearly phenomenal cosmic powers, so he assured the Sultan that the Palace would be right as rain (which he then flinched at, as there was currently rain pouring through the ceiling), as soon as possible. Mozenrath had slipped away with Destane’s gauntlets in hand, completely unaware that he’d been followed.
He slid the curtain of the hovel closed, not wanting to peruse the damage he had caused to the Palace, a place where his dreams had once resided, so quickly dashed by mere hubris. He sat on the floor quietly, staring at the gloves in his hand. He had come back to Agrabah for this.
“Don’t,” Cassim whispered softly from the shadows.
Mozenrath raised his gaze to the man and his son, both of them waiting expectantly in the doorway.
“I should be angry at you,” Mozenrath said. His voice was heavy with weariness. “I should be furious with you because you left.” He blinked back tears, struggling to swallow them. “But I’m just sitting here thinking that I failed you.”
Cassim withered, creeping forward to pull his son into an embrace. Mozenrath clung to him. It had been so, so long. “I was the one that failed, Mahdi. Not you. Please, don’t think for a second that any of this was your fault. I only hope that you can forgive me. I love you, my son.”
He actually didn’t know. As much as he cared about Cassim, the knowledge that his absence had caused so much pain was still incredibly present. He knew, however, that he wanted to try. Aladdin stepped into the light and settled next to him.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t remember,” he murmured. “I don’t know why I didn’t—”
“It was a memory charm. I knew Destane placed one on me. I had no idea he’d placed it on everyone who knew me. He made sure no one knew I existed. No one would come looking for me. He needed me, so he isolated me. Now… no one knows me. I don’t even know me.”
“Well,” Aladdin sighed with a gentle, welcoming smile. “We can always try to figure that out together.”
“I would like that,” Mozenrath replied. “There’s just something I have to do first.”
“What’s that?”
He held up the gauntlets. “I have to go find a volcano to throw these in, so they never come back.” He gave a breath of a laugh even though he was serious. “But… then, maybe… I could come back, if you’ll have me.”
“You’ll always have a home here,” Aladdin said. “Just… make it quick. We have a lot of time to make up, hm?”
“I don’t know. I think we’ve been fighting like siblings pretty well for a long time.” Mozenrath smirked, getting to his feet.
He stepped out of the hovel and into the glow of the sunset, still feeling like he was a stranger in the world around him. He wasn’t certain if he would ever feel like he belonged, if he ever felt like he did in the first place. But he knew that Aladdin was telling the truth. He had a home. He saw Sadira approaching with two horses in tow.
“Are you ready?”
He smiled at her, then back at Aladdin and Cassim. He was.
He couldn’t wait.