Fellowship & Fairydust

I blinked at Genie’s antics, a little weirded out by them. He acted like he was part of some eccentric comedy with how he rushed Jason out. A few seconds later, he puffed right back in, almost making me jump to the ceiling. “Is he always like this?” I asked Abu, who had climbed up on my shoulder. The simian nodded in response. 

“Scrooge? Razoul said you wanted to talk about some business?” The Sultan asked.
Brightening up, the elder duck nodded. “Ah, yes. While passing through the marketplace, I noticed there were lots of fruits and spices being sold. I believe that–” 

“Wait. When was this? Before or after the Heartless attacked?” I asked the elder duck, which earned me a glare from him but concerned looks from the others in the room. 

“The Heartless are back in Agrabah?” Aladdin asked. 

Nodding, the Genie went, “Yeah, but they were all like…” he then transformed into a bunch of the Heartless, albeit more laughable than what my cousin and I faced earlier. Then blue versions of Jason, Scrooge, and I showed up, attacking the Heartless with weapons and magic. The reenactment ended with the Heartless going poof while the blue versions of us cheered in goofy poses. 

Looking at the two of us, the Sultan noted, “So you were able to best the Heartless in battle.”
“Barely,” Razoul said. “I saw the battle, and these are inexperienced children. I would prefer if seasoned warriors were fighting the Heartless, and not some whelps.” 

That made my eyes narrow, but it was Scrooge who spoke up. “Inexperienced children? I’ll have you know that I was fighting warlords ten times as fierce while you were still a wee babe.” 

“Wait, you were?” I asked the duck, raising an eyebrow with surprise. 

Nodding, he answered, “Aye. That I have. But even I have not faced the likes of Mortem.”

“He and Jason fought each other, but not even my cousin was a match for him.” Looking at the Sultan, I added, “We fear he may come here.” 

The Sultan furrowed his brow at that. “Oh, dear…”
The doors opened, and Jason reentered, looking disheveled and with a fire in his eyes. “Where is that blue–”
“Jason!” The elder duck snapped at him. “Can’t you see that we’re in a meeting?”
His messy appearance caused me to do a double-take. “What happened to you?”
“Don’t ask.” was his answer.
“Your companions claim you fought this Mortem.” Jasmine directed the topic back to the warning we had come here to give. 

Nodding, my cousin answered, “Yeah. The guy is tough, I’ll give him that. What I don’t get is why he’d come here.” 

Jasmine pondered for a moment as she looked to be thinking about what we had told her. “Do you know what his goal is?”
“I’m afraid we don’t,” I admitted. 

“From what we do know, it seems a little coincidental that the Heartless show up around the same time he does,” Jason noted. 

“Especially not long after the terrible earthquake Agrabah endured.” 

That caught our attention. “Earthquake?”

“Yes. A few months ago, a terrible quake hit the city and put everyone in a panic. It was like we had incurred the wrath of Allah, but thankfully no one was injured. We’ve managed to rebuild what was damaged, but it seemed to hurt Genie and Carpet more.” The Sultan explained. 

“We’ve had an earthquake back where we’re from too,” Scrooge told them. “It’s how these two came into me life.” 

Turning into a scientist, Genie began, “Very unusual. No fault lines anywhere near the kingdom, yet we felt it like the city was the epicenter. It rattled the magic forces of the universe to its core. I should know. Here’s the data to prove it.” Genie held up a bunch of numbers and stuff in front of us as if that would confirm what he was saying. I don’t know what Jason thought, but it made no sense to me. 

“Umm…”

My cousin went into thinking mode. “Not only do Mortem and the Heartless show up about the same time, but both places experienced an earthquake that shakes even magic? It can’t be a coincidence.” 

“Everyone we know is trying to find the connection between all this,” Scrooge reassured the royal family. “We came to warn you in case the lad decides to show himself here.”
“In that case, thank you.” the Sultan told us.
There was still one thing that was bothering me. “Why would Mortem want to come here?” 

“I believe it is because of me.” The princess admitted

“What would he want with you?” Jason questioned as he crossed his arms.

Aladdin looked at the princess as if he was worried for her, but she just gave a reassuring smile. “They need to know.” Turning back to us, she answered, “Because I hold one of the Hearts of Light.”
“The what?” We both asked. 

With a sigh, the princess explained, “I am one of the Seven Princesses of Heart. One of seven maidens with a heart filled only with light.”

“Yeah, right.” Jason rolled his eyes, expecting this to be a joke. However, no one started laughing. Not even Genie. “You’re serious.” 

“Oh, she’s completely serious.” Genie nodded. 

“The princess does not make jokes about such matters.” The captain of the guard insisted. “She takes her duties seriously, unlike some I know.” 

Scratching my head, I wondered, “But if your heart holds no darkness, what use could someone make of it?” 

“I have seen men try to use the hearts for dark purposes.” The princess looked at us. “I can tell you that as a Keyblade bearer, you must protect the Hearts from those who would use them for evil.” 

 

***

Once we had finished delivering our warning, Scrooge got down to business. He began with the spices that he had spied in the marketplace and began going into detail about how he could help both Agrabah and himself profit from selling the merchandise in every market the duck knew of. It got too boring for both of us, so we had to excuse ourselves. Now we were waiting for our guide to finish with his business so we could get back to looking for Mortem. 

Crossing his arms, my cousin complained, “What is taking him so long? Why can’t he finish up faster?” 

“It could be that the deal he’s negotiating is taking longer than he thought?” I suggested with a shrug. 

Shaking his head he continued, “Every second we waste gives Mortem more time to do whatever he wants. We need to get going and find him. Why did we even come here if he isn’t here?” 

“Well, we know Jasmine has a heart of pure light, and people tried to take it in the past. Maybe that has something to do with it.” 

“Whatever. At least I got this back from the monkey.” Jason held up his holo-screen, which was deactivated right now. 

“That’s what he stole?” I raised an eyebrow at that. He nodded in response before something unusual happened: it started to beep. That surprised both of us as my cousin answered it, pulling up a holographic image of a guy we recognized from the program. 

He was about our age, a little older than Jason, but he had dark skin and dreadlocks. His blue eyes widened with surprise when he saw us. “Wha– who is this? How do you have Jason’s holo-screen?” 

A distorted voice came from behind him, alerting us to another of the people from the program. “Brax? What’s going on?” I recognized the voice as belonging to Eini, the most unforgettable person we knew. 

“Braxton, it’s me.” My cousin insisted. “I’m in Agrabah with Clair.” 

“Worbazz! You’re both alive!” Looking at us, he added, “Where’s this Agrabah place? We’ll come to find you.”
“That’s going to be a little difficult.” Jason began to explain. “I don’t know how it works, but I think we’re in a parallel existence. A reality that is different from our own. At least that’s how Clair keeps explaining it. All I know is that people here in Agrabah are incredibly primitive like they never had an Industrial Revolution.” 

Braxton blinked at that explanation. “I don’t understand. Yeller told us you were probably– we were trying to locate your bodies to bring them back home.” 

My blood froze at that. Everyone else thought we were dead? But Professor Yeller knew where we were. Why didn’t he tell them the truth? “I don’t know, but I can reassure you it’s us. We’re alive and we’re doing what we can to get back home.”

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