Kingdom Hearts ~another side~ Ch. 8

[Hayate]

Only one may enter here… One whose worth lies far within… A diamond in the rough…

Kingdom Hearts ~another side~

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~ Report 8: Arabian Nightmare ~[/b][/u]

Stop #3 on Ciel’s interplanetary excursion sees the teal-haired teenager facing a fierce tempest of sand. Forced to make an emergency landing due to this world’s inconvenience of sandstorms, the wielder of the Keyblade traverses a great desert, shielding himself from the sandy winds with his scrawny arms, in search of civilization.

“‘Flies like a dream’, huh!?”, Ciel rants, echoing Snow’s words. “Yeah, right! A tiny bit of sand, and the NORA goes down like a rock! I’m gonna belt Snow in the face when I get home!”

After what seemed like hours -- but could just as easily have been twenty minutes -- of collecting sand in his socks, Ciel comes to a large wooden door in the storm. Coughing up assorted desert filth, he pounds desperately at the door with his fists. “Hello!?”, his gale-muffled voice cries out. “If anyone’s there, please open the gate!”

No reply.

“Hello!? Anyone!? …I can break this door down with my awesome magic, just so you know!”

Oddly enough, this shout garners a reaction from the gatekeepers on the other side, cueing them to open the gates and allow Ciel passage into the city.

Admittedly, Ciel was also surprised by the effectiveness of this. “Huh… Didn’t think that would actually work…”, he comments to himself before stepping forward.

As Ciel enters the city, the gates are closed shut behind him. He shakes the accumulated sand off himself, not unlike a canine shaking itself dry after a brush with water.

One gatekeeper walks up to help the dust-coated boy up. He asks, “You alright, little boy?”

“Yeah… Thanks.”

“You were fortunate.”, says the other gatekeeper. “Most know it to be foolishness to go outside Agrabah during a sandstorm.”

“Agrabah…?” The name would obviously strike Ciel as unfamiliar. Looking ahead, he’s greeted by a paradise of sandstone and trade. The style of attire in this world was chiefly Middle-Eastern; all are seen wearing turbans, fezzes, veils, and a variety of robes. The buildings that lined its many streets were all carved from a tannish-yellow rock that appeared to burn in the sunlight. In the distance, a majestic palace with ivory-colored walls and brass domed ceilings stood. Of all of Ciel’s stops on his journey, this was without a doubt the liveliest. If fate were so merciful, a clue to Roche and Marin’s whereabouts awaited him here.

A pathway with a decorative awning hanging above leads Ciel out of the plaza and into the main street. A number of trading kiosks catch his eye but nothing particularly draws his attention. Any attempt to inquire about his friends or Relena would be disregarded and met with cries of “Fresh fruit!”, “Meat and fish!”, and “Handcrafted jewelry!” Just when he’s about to concede defeat, a kiosk owner at the far end of the street calls out, “You there! Little boy!”

Ciel exhales a heavy sigh, expecting some other commodity to be thrown in his face.

“I take it by your expression that you’ve yet to find what it is you’re looking for.”

“Yeah… What about it?”

“Perhaps I can be of assistance.”

“Let me guess: You’re gonna try and sell me something too?”

“Now, now. I’m not that self-serving. Now come. If there’s a way I can help, I will.”

It was worth a shot, Ciel thought. Anything was preferable than being forced to purchase things he didn’t need. “…I’m looking for my friends. One’s a couple years younger than I am -- brown hair and eyes, turtleneck sweater. Kind of a wimp. The other’s a few years older than me -- long, red hair in a ponytail, striped shirt with no sleeves. Kinda bossy. …Really bossy.”

“Hmm… Don’t think I’ve seen anyone like that pass through here today. Got anything else to go on?”

“Uh… Oh, yeah! They both have Keyblades!” Ciel holds his left hand behind his back and draws the Pierce the Skies, holding it out in front of the merchant. “Like this one!”

“Ohhhh…!” In an instant, the merchant had all but forgotten about the kid’s troubles. “By Allah, such an exquisite weapon! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Um, mister? About my friends?”

“The bizarre shape! The lustrous finish! It’s remarkable! …What would you like for it!? I’ll give you all the gold I own in exchange for this sword!”

With a raised eyebrow, Ciel offers the following rejoinder, “Sorry. It’s not for sale.”, and walks away with pocketed hands and a disappointed glare. “…So much for that.”

“W-Wait! All the gold I own, and I’ll even throw in a free sword! Sharpest in all of Agrabah, guaranteed!”

On his own once more, the boy treks further into the city, leaving a trail of sneaker-prints in the sand behind him. Much to his -- and certainly the rest of the city’s -- relief, no Heartless thus far. As his trek leads him past an alley, a pair of faint voices catches his ear.

The first was of an adult man, whose low baritone chills Ciel to the bone. “Tell me again…”, the man starts (relative to Ciel’s entrance). “…What was this place called?”

The second voice was of a young woman, equally as menacing and unmistakable. “The Cave of Wonders.”

‘That’s Relena!’, Ciel mentally gasps. Desiring a closer look, he darts to the end of the alley and peeks around the corner, taking care to keep himself hidden. There, he sees Relena speaking to a man in extravagant pitch-black and blood-red clothing, complete with a cape, pointed shoulders, and a flamboyant black headdress with a ruby and bright red feather set in the front. ‘Who’s that she’s talking to?’

“Within its cavernous walls…”, Relena continues. “…lies the greatest treasure trove known to man: mountains upon mountains of coin, jewels, gems, and other priceless artifacts. A fortune fit for a king of kings.”

The man taps his fingers on the golden cobra-shaped scepter in his hands, reasonably skeptical of the tale. “And how exactly did you come to learn of this place’s existence?”

With a mere shrug, Relena answers, “Eh. I get around.”

“I see… And this treasure you speak of -- it would be sufficient enough for me to buy out that sloth of a sultan and rule over Agrabah?”

“Why settle for ruling this dump…when you can be the most powerful being that ever lived…?”

“…Go on.”

“Those ‘mountains upon mountains’ of gold I told you about? It all pales in comparison to what the Cave of Wonders really has to offer. Behind its plethora of riches hides an ancient, mystical lamp. Inside the lamp sleeps a great and powerful genie that, once awoken, grants he or she who summoned it three wishes -- three of their grandest and most desperate desires made real. ‘Ruler of Agrabah’? Try ‘ruler of the galaxy’. ‘Ruler of the universe’! …Think about it, Jafar.”

The man known as Jafar lowers his head to ponder. “Hmm… The idea does have merit. And, oh, how gratifying it would be to remove that puerile sultan and his spoiled daughter from power! Tell me, woman! How might I find the Cave of Wonders?”

Facing away, Relena answers, “It’s easy. You just need the right key to show you the way.”

“‘Key’, eh? …I must consult the sands of time.” As the ruby eyes of his scepter glimmer, Jafar vanishes in a cloud of crimson smoke.

“…” As Jafar takes his leave for regions unknown, Relena turns her head and looks toward the darkness, curling her lips into a smirk.

“!!!” Ciel ducks away, further into the shade, fearing he may have been spotted.

“…Naughty, naughty.”

“Aah!” Nearly stumbling to the ground, Ciel spins to his rear, where the eerily swift Relena now stood. “H-How did…!?”

“It’s not nice to eavesdrop, Ciel. Didn’t your parents raise you better than that?”

“What are you up to, Relena!?”, the 15-year-old barks, ignoring the madwoman’s penchant for condescension. “What angle are you working this time!?”

“‘Angle’? Why do I have to be working an ‘angle’?”

“Don’t toy with me!”

“Sheesh, for a little kid, you sure are loud. Wish I had a muzzle. …Or better yet…” Bringing her right hand up, Relena suddenly snaps her fingers.

“What was that? What’d you just do!?”

“I just flooded the palace grounds with enough Heartless to keep the Agrabah Guard busy for the next hour or so. …Can you hear it, Ciel? The cries of a dozen innocents as the Shadows consume them and make their hearts theirs?”

“You’re a monster…!”, the teen seethes.

“It’s your call, shorty. Stay here and try to figure out my supposed ‘angle’, or run off and be the hero that you so insist on playing.”

“Argh…!” As if it were ever a choice. Brushing shoulders with Relena as he runs past, Ciel bolts toward the palace grounds to, as the sadist put it, play the hero.

As Relena vanishes through a Dark Corridor, her sweet yet sinister voice lingers in the air. “And so it begins…”

Meanwhile, true to Relena’s word, dozens of Soldiers, Bandits, and Fat Bandits cover the palace courtyard, laying waste to all they touch and seizing the hearts of ill-fated bystanders. Members of the scimitar-wielding Agrabah Guard appear on-scene to combat the black-fleshed fiends, but find their non-magical weapons pose little threat to their unearthly nature. The Heartless back a faction of five guards into a corner. To this faction’s rear, two more residents of Agrabah: an adult, rather portly man with a full white beard and moustache, and a little girl, no older than 7 years of age, with long black hair bound into a ponytail by blue ribbon and wearing a light-blue bedlah with bustle pants, a blue headband with a sapphire set in the center, a golden necklace, and golden slipper-like shoes. The two cower in the corner as the guards form a protective semi-circle around them. Shouts one guard to the others, “No backing down, men! Protect the Sultan and princess with your lives!”

“Stay close, Jasmine!”, says the Sultan to his daughter. “Don’t leave my side for even a second!”

The girl Jasmine tightly clutches her father’s pant leg. “Yes, Father…!”

Ciel arrives onto the chaotic scene moments after, watching as the Heartless have their way with the city and its people. Without hesitation, he draws the Keyblade and lunges in…

…only to have his path cut off by one of the Agrabah Guards, presumably their captain. “Halt!”, the burly soldier yells at the boy. “No citizens allowed beyond this point!”

“Let me through! I can help fight those things!”

“The Agrabah Guard has the situation under control.”

“But I--!”

“I won’t say it again, boy! Leave here at once!”

“Grrrr…!” Ciel briefly looks past the pile of arrogance standing in front of him; it was evident that the situation wasn’t as ‘under control’ as advertised. Without the intervention of a Keyblade master, it would only get worse before getting better. “Sorry about this!”, the boy says, readying the Pierce the Skies and conjuring some wind.

“About what-- Aah!” Before he could react, the guard is hurled into a side wall by a blast of air.

His path now free of obstacles, Ciel races forth to mow the Heartless army down.

“Agh!” The last guard protecting the Sultan and Princess Jasmine falls to the edge of a Bandit’s sword.

As the Heartless close in, the defenseless father and daughter press their backs to the wall. “Stay back, you vile beasts! You’ll not have my daughter!”

A lone Bandit steps forward and readies its weapon.

In an instinctive act of love, the Sultan shows his back to the Heartless army and holds Jasmine close. “Jasmine!”, he cries, wanting his last thoughts to be only of his precious daughter.

“Father!”, little Jasmine cries in return.

“TIME SPLICER!!!”

Much of the army nearest to where the Sultan and Jasmine were standing finds itself frozen in a time pocket, their perception of the passage of time severed. Just then, as if from nothing, Ciel materializes before the lone Bandit and cuts into it with a single swing of the Keyblade. Identical slashes are delivered unto the other Heartless in his vicinity, and as time resumes, they vaporize into powder.

Jafar bears witness to Ciel’s power and ability from a nearby rooftop. His eyes glint with intense fascination. “That’s it…!”, he whispers through his grin. “The ‘key’ I require…!”

The remaining Heartless move in for their long-awaited kill, but Ciel denies them this by lifting the entire legion off the ground with a courtyard-wide whirlwind. Then, with a forceful upward motion, he catapults them into the sky and out of the city.

“Wow…”

Facing the Sultan and Jasmine behind him, Ciel finds the two in awe of his immense strength.

“My word…”, the stout ruler of Agrabah mutters. “T-That was…extraordinary, young man. You did away with those creatures like they were nothing. My daughter and I owe you our lives.”

“Heh. No problem-- Whoa!” Cut off midsentence, Ciel is hoisted off the ground by his collar…

…courtesy of the Agrabah Guard captain from earlier. “You know what I do with felonious little street rats like you!? I make sure they never again see the light of day!”

“H-Hey! Let me go, you gorilla!”

“Razoul!”, spouts the young princess. “This man saved us! Unhand him right now!”

“But, princess, he--”

“Right. Now.”

Even at a young age, Jasmine commanded quite a bit of authority, and disobeying a direct order from her was synonymous to a death wish. “…As you wish, your Highness.”, Razoul complies, setting Ciel down.

“Gather your men, Razoul.”, the Sultan instructs. “Assess the damage to the city and tend to the wounded. And heavens, see to it our young hero is well rewarded! Hohoho!”

At that moment, Jafar makes his entrance from the side. “Allow me, my liege. I shall personally ensure the lad is recompensed for his selfless service.”

“Splendid, splendid. I think I’ll retire to my chambers. Too much excitement is bad for someone my age. Hah. Come along, Jasmine.”

“Coming, Father. Thank you for saving us, sir. Bye.”

With that, the Sultan, Princess Jasmine, and Razoul take their respective leaves of the courtyard, leaving Ciel and Jafar by themselves. The man’s goatee alone unnerved the boy. “…”

Opting the break the silence first, Jafar speaks. “I watched from afar as you dealt with those foul creatures. Allow me to first commend you for saving the lives of the Sultan and the princess. All of Agrabah owes you a debt that it cannot possibly hope to repay.”

There was an insincerity in Jafar’s tone that made Ciel even more uncomfortable. “…Sure.”, he simply responds.

“The Sultan’s requested that I reward you for your trouble, and I believe I know precisely how. I am in need of someone with your particular ‘talents’ to help me gain access to the greatest trove of riches this world has ever known or will ever know. Lend to me your power, and a portion of those riches is yours.”

“…Y’know, if I were like all the money-hungry merchants in this city, I would’ve taken you up on that offer… But it’s not the treasure you’re after, is it…? You want the magic lamp.”

“…How do you know of the lamp?”

“Enough to know what you plan to do once you have it! And I won’t be a part of it!”

“…I see. The time for diplomacy is past, it would seem. In that case…” Jafar holds up his cobra scepter in such a way that its ruby eyes meet Ciel’s. The rubies start to emit a hypnotic crimson glow.

The glow is mirrored in Ciel’s eyes. “W-What are you…!? Argh!” The Key bearer is resistant at first, but Jafar’s magic proves far more powerful than he could withstand. Red swirls appear in his pupils to indicate the hypnosis taking hold. “Ah… Wha…?”

“You will open the way to the Cave of Wonders for me.”, the sinister sorcerer directs.

In a feeble monotone, Ciel replies, “Y-Yes… Jafar…”

“Hahahaha…”

Several feet away, outside Jafar’s vision, Relena watches as Ciel is made the villainous vizier’s puppet. “…Hmph. Guess the kid couldn’t hack it after all.”, she mutters before departing through a Dark Corridor.

…One relocation into the desert later, Jafar is led by the spellbound Ciel to an area in the vast sea of sand where little sunlight had reached. A mound of sand giving off trace amounts of light and a large wall of boulders surrounding it lie before the two. “This is the location that flaxen-haired woman specified.”, Jafar states. “…Open it.”

“Yes, Jafar…”, Ciel drones in his continued state of hypnosis. Drawing the Keyblade, he holds it straight out in front of him. He then rotates the blade 90 degrees onto its side, and the sound of a lock coming undone is heard.

In response to this, the mound of sand rises with a violent rumble and takes the form of a tiger’s head with its mouth hanging wide open. From beyond its fangs of sand, a warm light of red and orange emanates. The entrance to the legendary Cave of Wonders was now open.

Jafar is beside himself with excitement. “Magnificent…!” He walks forward with scepter firm in hand and prepares to enter the cave and claim his prize, but not before turning back to face Ciel. “You’ve performed your task admirably, my little pawn. And now that you have…I no longer have a use for you. And since you now know of my true nature, I can’t very well let you live, can I?” With a short motion of his staff, Jafar dispels the effects of his magic over Ciel…

“H…Huh? What did I just…?”

…and summons a throng of assorted Heartless to divide them. “Dispose of him.”, Jafar orders, promptly siccing his legion of lapdogs on the boy.

“What the!?” Ciel instinctively defends himself with the Pierce the Skies, striking the Heartless down one-by-one as they bear down on him. Through his gritting teeth, he snarls, “Jafar!”

His snarl is met by indifference, however, as Jafar turns his back on Ciel and makes his way into the Cave of Wonders.

“Tch!” Ciel blows away the nearest Heartless with a Windcutter and backs away a few feet. The wall of enemies before him being too wide to go around, he decides to burst straight through. As if gripping a boomerang, Ciel holds the Keyblade behind him and enshrouds it in Aero magic. Then, with a mighty fling of Ciel’s arm, the Keyblade goes flying. But rather than return shortly to the hand from which it was flung, the weapon sails through the air for several seconds, guided by its own whims, and clears a path through to the cave. The blade returns to Ciel’s hand, and he immediately gives chase.

All of a sudden… “A WORD OF WARNING, INTERLOPER.”

“Huh!?” The ‘interloper’ Ciel stops in his tracks to look up at the tiger’s head. “Did you just…?”

“TOUCH NOT THE FORBIDDEN TREASURE. ONLY THE LAMP IS YOURS TO CLAIM.”

“…” On one hand, Ciel was being addressed by a tiger’s head made of sand. On the other, Jafar could be seizing the magic lamp at this very moment. Priorities, thought Ciel. Taking the head’s warning to heart, he leaps into the tiger’s maw and descends the stairs into the cave.

Further into the cave’s depths, the duplicitous Jafar effortlessly works his way through its many twists and turns, past the treasure room and into the lamp chamber. Across a pool of deep water and at the summit of a long stairway, Jafar’s sought-after prize comes into view: the magic lamp. The ceiling above allows a narrow shaft of sunlight to cast a bright light upon it. The sorcerer could barely contain himself. Absolute victory was but a hop, skip, and jump away. “At last…!”, he whispers elatedly…

“JAFAR!!!”

The outcry was a fingernail scratching at the blackboard of Jafar’s mind. Turning to his rear, he sees a breathless Ciel brandishing the Keyblade. “Hmph. Bothersome pest.” Striking the ground with his scepter, Jafar causes the ground at Ciel’s feet to come alive and imprison him in a tight-fit cage of limestone bars. “There. That’ll hold you.” Upon accomplishing this, Jafar looks to the lamp and uses his mastery of magic to lift himself into the air.

“No! Come back here, you… Argh!” In a position in which almost zero movement was possible, Ciel frantically weighs his options, few as there were. With his arms restrained as they were, he could neither free himself from captivity nor attack Jafar from a distance. ‘C’mon, Ciel, think!’ Just then, barely outside his field of vision, he notices a strong red gleam. At the gleam’s source, a golden monkey shrine stands. In the monkey’s outstretched paws is a giant cut ruby. ‘…That’ll work!’ Ciel points the Keyblade out at the shrine and lifts the ruby into the air with a controlled wind. As it glides on the breeze, the giant jewel floats toward Ciel’s hand. ‘Come on… Almost there…’

“…Hmm?” Halfway between Ciel and the lamp, Jafar briefly looks to his rear as a sort of ‘magic sense’ draws his attention elsewhere. He notices Ciel bringing a piece of the ‘forbidden treasure’ to himself -- a sight that makes him widen his eyes with dread. “Stop, you fool! You’ll doom us both!”

Ciel retorts, “That’s the idea!”

As soon as the ruby touches Ciel’s palm, the entire cavern begins to tremble, and the voice of the Cave of Wonders booms. “INFIDELS! YOU HAVE TOUCHED THE FORBIDDEN TREASURE! IN DOING SO, THIS PLACE SHALL BE YOUR TOMB!”

The ruby in Ciel’s hand, along with the golden monkey shrine, melts into a viscous liquid. The water turns to molten lava. The ceiling over Ciel and Jafar’s heads starts to crumble.

“The lamp!” In an act of desperation, Jafar soars toward the lamp at high speed, but the pedestal on which it was displayed is suddenly enveloped in a wall of flames. “NO! My destiny!”

The ceiling directly above Ciel shifts in such a way that fractures the bars holding him in place, allowing him to easily free himself. Realizing there was no way for Jafar to seize the lamp now, he makes a mad sprint for the exit. He navigates the collapsing cavern walls, blasting obstacles away with magic where necessary, in a feverish attempt to escape. To his surprise, Ciel finds that he too is being blasted at with magic. Glancing back, he sees the incensed Jafar in hot pursuit, bombarding him with heated lightning from his scepter. “Oh, gimme a break!” Faced with both a crumbling cave and a sorcerer’s fury, Ciel doubles his efforts, freezing the soles of his sneakers with ice so he could glide along the pebbly ground as though riding a skateboard. As the chase leads into the treasure room, and the rest of the treasure devolves into slime, Ciel makes further use of Blizzard and freezes the melting gold to bar Jafar’s path. Now the only thing between him and freedom was a flight of stairs leading up. Ciel races up the steps as they crumble at his heels. The final stair breaks away, and Ciel leaps as high and as far as he could, successfully grabbing a hold of the surface ledge. He attempts to pull himself up when something takes him by the wrist. “!!!”

Just outside the ‘Cave-in of Wonders’ stands Jafar, giving Ciel his signature scowl. He roars into the boy’s face, “You…ruined…everything!!!” With a crooked dagger in his other hand, Jafar makes ready to end Ciel’s life…!

But Ciel was not without defensive means; drawing the Keyblade into his free hand, he delivers a powerful upward slash to Jafar’s chest.

“AGH!”

With this, Ciel latches onto Jafar’s arm and pulls him down into the cave with him.

“W-Wait! What are you…!? No! NOOOO!!!”

As the two tumble down into the deepest depths of the cave, Ciel encloses them within a Reflect bubble as a way of softening the landing. The bubble ricochets off the cavern walls like a pinball as it falls.

The tiger’s head sinks into the sand, effectively sealing the cave’s entrance and trapping Ciel and Jafar inside.

…After a short bout of unconsciousness, Ciel and Jafar come to inside an airtight cave hollow. Upon awakening and regaining their composure, their eyes meet, prompting a simultaneous gasp of “You!” before springing to their feet.

Jafar fires off another stream of hot lightning, which Ciel narrowly avoids. “You squalid little urchin! Have you any idea of what you’ve just done!?”

“Saved Agrabah from being ruled by the king of all lowlifes? Does that about sum it up?”

“I was within arm’s reach of having all the power I could ever imagine!”

“And now you’re stuck in here with me. Funny how that works out, huh?”

“I am a master of sorcery, boy! A hindrance such as this is child’s play for someone of my repute to overcome! Don’t assume for a moment that your aptitude for the arcane holds a candle to my own!”

“Oh, yeah?” In a direct challenge to Jafar’s assertion, Ciel generates a cave-wide Reflect bubble to keep himself and Jafar in. “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is, you snake!?”

Jafar bares his teeth in a grin. “A ‘snake’, am I…? An interesting turn of phrase…” Through the magic of Jafar’s scepter, the white of his eyes become coral red, his pupils flatten as opposed to being circular, his canine teeth elongate and become like fangs, and his tongue becomes forked like that of a serpent. “Allow me to show you firsthand just how…sssssnake-like I can be!”, Jafar hisses, transforming the whole of his body, save for his rapier wit, into that of a colossal cobra. “If there’s one thing the guardian of the cave and I can agree on…”, Jafar continues. “…it’s that you will not be leaving here…ALIVE!”

[BGM: The Encounter]

As the sorcerer-turned-snake hisses menacingly, Ciel loosens his stance. Jafar thrusts his head down to snap his teeth at the boy. Ciel quickly slides out of the way, causing Jafar’s teeth to snap at nothing but air. As Jafar moves in a second time, Ciel strikes first with an Aero-propelled cut. Jafar reels back for a moment, allowing Ciel to bolt toward the end of the cave behind him. Jafar predictably pursues, slithering along the cold ground. Upon reaching the cave wall, Ciel darts up, causing the in-motion Jafar to crash. Once several feet off the ground, Ciel pushes off the wall, rotates his body in midair, and unleashes a handful of arcs of wind into the vizier’s slithery form. Jafar retaliates with a swing of his tail, forcibly whacking Ciel to the ground, and subsequently slamming his midsection onto Ciel’s back. The Keyblade is thrown from the boy’s grasp, leaving him temporarily defenseless. While he struggles to wriggle free, Jafar bares his fangs in his face, breathing heavily and hungrily. Ignoring the giant snake’s foul breath, Ciel frees one of his arms and ‘calls’ the Keyblade back to his hand, driving it into the mass of snakeskin smothering him. Jafar reels from the pain, giving Ciel ample opening to lift Jafar’s body off himself with Aero. On his feet once again, Ciel runs alongside the length of Jafar’s body, freezing him in place with a continuous show of Blizzard. When Jafar closes in to snap his jaws at the Keyblade wielder, he finds he’s unable to with the rest of him glued to the ground as it was. With the precious seconds brought him, Ciel prepares to deal the finishing blow. However, Jafar manages to squirm his way through the ice and free himself! Jafar lunges forward, driving Ciel rearward into a wall. “Agh!” As Ciel’s body goes limp, Jafar hooks his teeth into his shirt, launches him into the air, opens his mouth wide, and leaves the rest to gravity. Now it was Ciel’s turn to bare his teeth; the boy had just about enough of people trying to eat him. He keeps himself elevated with a whirlwind, and then electrocutes Jafar from the inside with a Thunder spell down his throat. Jafar winces with numbness while Ciel plants his feet on his head. Gripping the Pierce the Skies in reverse, he lets out a cry of intense anger as he jabs the blade into Jafar’s right eye. The snake shrieks in agony. Ciel leaps down as Jafar, in his state of throbbing pain, returns to human form.

The sorcerer briefly staggers, looking at Ciel wrathfully while covering his eye. “You…wretched street rat…!”, he fumes. “No… Not even a rat…! You’re an insect! A filthy little bug!”

Propping the Keyblade on his shoulder, Ciel gives a triumphant grin. “No one likes a sore loser, Jafar.”

“…” Moving his hand away, Jafar exposes his bloodshot eye. “Are you still under the impression that you’re walking away from this? Need I remind you that my magical prowess far surpasses yours?” Turning his scepter on the Reflect keeping him in, Jafar unleashes a stream of elemental power that ruptures the bubble within seconds.

“!!!”

“I don’t need to kill you. All I need do is leave you here and let the slow acerbities of starvation and delirium take hold of you. Enjoy eternity, boy. Hahahaha!” The vizier vanishes in a cloud of red smoke, his malicious laughter fading with him.

Ciel falls back onto the ground, sitting upright and winded. Though he succeeded in preventing Jafar from obtaining the magic lamp, he wasn’t as proficient with teleportation as Jafar was. And any forceful attempts to break through the ceiling would surely result in another cave-in. Would he never escape?, Ciel wondered. Would he never see his friends and home again? If the hunger didn’t get to him first, the solitude most certainly would. Looking ahead, the young Key bearer examines what was likely to be his coffin…

…until a glimmer in a distance catches his eye.

“…Is that…?” Jumping to his feet, Ciel heads toward the glimmer, discovering something jutting out from under the earth at its source. He digs through the dirt with his fingernails and stumbles upon… “…The lamp!”

Coated in a thin layer of soil and sand, the magic lamp sought by Jafar now rest in the Keyblade master’s palms.

Ciel leans on a cave wall and takes a moment to examine the relic. To him, it looked like nothing more than a worthless, worn-out trinket. “Hmm… Three wishes, huh…?” As he sinks into a state of deep thought, he strokes the side of the lamp with his thumb. “Well… Right now, all I want is see my friends again… I never even got Claire a birthday present…”

Reacting to Ciel’s touch and heartfelt wish, the lamp begins to glow a bright shade of red.

And in that instant, Ciel could swear he heard laughter. “Huh? What’s…? W-Whoa!” A strange force suddenly picks Ciel up off the ground and wraps him in blue smoke and flashy fireworks. “What is this!?” To severely dizzying effect, Ciel could feel himself being moved elsewhere. All slowly becomes brighter and dustier, and he’s dropped back onto the ground. “Ugh… What the heck just happened…? …Huh?!?”

The teal-haired teen rubs his eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on him. Somehow, he was picked up out of the sealed cavern and set down right in front of the NORA.

Moreover, the lamp had disappeared from his hands.

Ciel was at a profound loss for words. “What just…!? How did…!? Who…!? …HUH?!?”

Like a whisper on the desert wind, the odd laughter that Ciel had heard moments ago fades into the distance.

“…Was that…the genie…?”, Ciel speculates. Facing forward, he looks up at the NORA cockpit. It was no illusion or trick of the light. His wish had been answered. “…Well, whatever happened, I guess I should be grateful it did.”, says the boy with a shrug as he boards the Gummi Ship.

Talking tiger heads, an ancient treasure, and a lamp that grants wishes? Aside from Wonderland, this adventure definitely ranks as one of the strangest Ciel has ever experienced.

~ Next Report: Second Star to the Right ~