Aladdin, the Sorcerer and the King of Thieves
Chapter Eighteen: Epilogue
The day was a rare one; rain fell in the dust and cooled Agrabah, the earthy scents drifting into the throne room and over the heads of the seated guests, over Mozenrath's head. Maybe the weather sensed that the natural order had been breached, and it had been thrown off for a day. Who would have ever thought he would be a guest at his enemy's wedding? It hit him how wrong this was. He sat on a bench, dressed in a blue and golden robe with a white Egyptian linen turban adorning his clean black curls. Xerxes lay on his lap, lulled to sleep by Mozenrath's contemplative stroking. Cassim, his newly found father, sat beside him, a wide smile on his trimmed bearded face; the sultan had pardoned him on good behavior as well, and he seemed to have forgotten his shady past.
What he always feared had come true: his Citadel, his legacy and his gauntlet were all gone, burnt to the ground. He was back to the level he had been at age nine. His gauntlet was gone! And yet, the air seemed clearer. He could hear the rain, he could smell the earth and the colors of the room were brighter than any colors he ever remembered seeing.
Aladdin and Jasmine stood at the altar with the Sultan, looking into each others' eyes with a love almost too sweet to bear. They vowed to care for one another 'til death.
Why am I here? Mozenrath asked himself with a frustrated sigh. It had been over a month since the discovery of his kin, and he had contemplated leaving many times, sometimes Xerxes being the only one to keep him there. Where had that eel gotten such opinions? He hadn't considered leaving for several days now, but seeing his brother and the princess look at each other like that, all the happiness in the room concentrated on them, he had half a mind to sneak out and start down the road by himself.
Cassim quietly lay his arm around Mozenrath's shoulders and met his son's offended look with a smile befitting a good father. He was taken back to the years with Destene as a young child.
"Why won't you come, Dad?" he cried as loud as he dared at the bowl of water in his small, dark room. "Why won't you come?"
His father had finally come, he realized. Almost too late, but not quite. Xerxes had seen he was fading, and the catastrophe probably had happened just in time. He thought about his father's arm around his shoulders and watched Aladdin up on the platform: his brother. The bride and groom kissed and the audience exploded into applause and got to their feet. Mozenrath stood slower, bidding Xerxes to wake up; he did and settled onto his master's shoulders, which caused Cassim to jerk his arm away. Xerxes smiled deviously and Mozenrath did too at his father's humorous disgust.
As Aladdin and his bride passed by, he locked gazes with Mozenrath. Not a smile, but something that seemed to say, quite solemnly: "It's good to have you back, brother."
And though Mozenrath still had darkness scattered thickly throughout his soul, pieces of Ali were beginning to shine through and he nodded in reply: "It's good to be back."
THE END
A/N: I had been putting off writing the epilogue because I wanted to make sure it was good, and then while searching for the brainstorming notes I had lost, I found that I had already written it in my notebook many chapters ago. :) I hope you have enjoyed this tale. I am currently focusing on some original stories, poems and such that I hope to get published, but I didn't want to leave this story unfinished. Now that it is, however, I probably won't submit anything new unless I get a particularly inspiring fanfiction idea. It sure has been fun and a great learning experience. Thank you for reading and please review. :)