I absolutely adore Hakuryuu as a character; he's my second favorite, right behind my beloved Ja'far. But just because I love him and his character design, and can easily empathize with him, doesn't mean I agree with all of his choices – and I think that Alibaba, Aladdin and Morgiana all played a large part, however inadvertently, in pushing him into making some of the worst of them.

So, this is how I think the Umm Madaura arc should have ended.

Disclaimer:I disclaim.

Pairing(s):strong hints of AliHaku pre-slash.

Word count:4205

Warning(s):angst. Angst angst angst. Seriously, I have never written something this weepy in my entire life, but let me reassure you now, things do look up in the end.

Hakuryuu, eyes brimming with barely suppressed hostility, tossed the short sword at Alibaba's feet – thankfully aiming the blade away from said appendages – before he stalked off down a narrow alleyway between two grimy buildings, and for a few moments Alibaba's mind was assailed with such bitter familiarity that he felt the world spin dizzily around him.

The fine material of Hakuryuu's Kou-style attire, the silky quality of his tightly bound dark hair, it wavered like a heat mirage until a similarly slim, tall figure seemed to be walking in his place, clad in ragged off-white robes that contrasted sharply with a bundle of long dreadlocks. It was happening all over again. By hesitating to act, by remaining speechless when there was so much he ought to be saying, Alibaba was letting one of his dearest friends walk down a path that would only lead him to yet more death and tragedy and pain – again.

A courageous person, Aladdin had called him whenever he felt as though said courage was about to abandon him completely. Well, it was high time Alibaba finally lived up to his smallest friend's expectations.

He lingered by the docks just long enough to secure the ex-pirates' lives and keep them from completely Falling into depravity – he couldn't see the rukh like Aladdin or Yamuraiha-san could, but even he had been able to tell that the steadily darkening expressions on the children's faces spelled nothing good – before he turned on his heel and, without another word to magi or Fanalis, rushed off down that same alley.

He had a wayward Kou prince to find and knock some sense into.

As Hakuryuu stood by the gates of the small Aktian coast town and stared out at the oncoming sunset painting the horizon a beautiful orange, he wondered why he'd even tried at all.

Tried forming true bonds with someone, that was. Tried opening himself up to someone in a way that he hadn't since his beloved brothers' deaths; because when he'd lost them, he'd essentially lost everything.

His mother was alive, but he would've been happier if she had perished in the Great Fire alongside brothers Ren and Yuu, because at least then he would never have known of her treachery, never have had his heart broken in such an irreversible way when he learned that he was, for all intents and purposes, less than dirt under the tastefully embroidered slippers of the person he had loved and trusted the most in the world.

His sister had also survived, but Hakuryuu had spent the last ten years simultaneously hating himself for keeping the truth of their brothers' murder from her, and hating her for slowly but surely falling under Kouen's spell, looking upon him as her future Emperor when it was only Brother Yuu she should've ever thought of in such a way.

Hakuryuu's step-siblings were a moot point, as he either hated them with the passion of a thousand burning suns, or was utterly indifferent to them, depending on how aware and accepting they were of Al-Sarmen's influence over Kou. His friendship with Judal had died a swift and brutal death, despite the magi's best efforts, as soon as he'd learned of Judal's involvement with That Organization and That Woman. And to the rest of the palace staff, save perhaps for his personal combat instructors who held a certain respect for his hard-working nature, Hakuryuu may as well not have even existed.

He hadn't come to Sindria expecting to form any bonds – just to obtain Sinbad's word that he would back Hakuryuu when the fourth prince finally amassed enough power to strike out at Gyokuen, kill Kouen before he could attempt to usurp the throne that rightfully belonged to Brother Yuu, and bring the Kou Empire back to its roots: a country that was beautiful and prosperous and, yes, warlike, but not unreasonably so, not to the point of believing itself the chief authority of the world and being all too willing to crush any and all dissenters under its figurative heel. Hakuryuu hadn't actually trusted Sinbad's word for more than a minute, of course – the wry, almost regretful look Sinbad's chief parliamentary officer hadn't quite been able to hide as the king of Sindria confirmed his willingness to unofficially become Hakuryuu's ally*, had seen to that – but all the same, he'd felt like he'd accomplished what he'd gone there for.

And then there were his three…friends.

Caring for them, caring about them, had come far too easily. It was impossible to conquer a Dungeon alongside someone else and not end up forming some kind of bonds with the people in question, after all; especially when taking into account the fact that thanks to them, Hakuryuu had had the chance to fight Al-Sarmen – no matter that it hadn't been the foul, loathsome Witch who was his true target – by their side, and win. The four of them, together, had been powerful enough to defeat a powerful sorceress in a black djinn equip, an immortal master swordsman, and a true-blue higher-up in the despicable Organization that had ruined Hakuryuu's life.

Morgiana-dono, who knew the pain of being without one's family; Alibaba-dono, who understood the agony of having one's beloved homeland ripped away and twisted into something unrecognizable by the object of one's hatred; Aladdin-dono who, despite his childish ways, was far wiser and worldlier than he appeared.

Hakuryuu had hoped that they would understand, maybe even support him if he explained his circumstances to them. That they would tell him he didn't need to fight alone, as they had inside Zagan; that they would insist that he let them in, and offer him their help. He hadn't truly believed that they would, but he had hoped.

That was his mistake.

Hakuryuu… Hakuryuu was nothing. Compared to Alibaba-dono, compared to Kouen, compared to his late brothers. He was strong now that he had Zagan, but far from the strongest; clever, but not clever enough to keep his cool in stressful situations, whether it be entreating Sinbad for an alliance or fending off a crazed bear-like creature inside a Dungeon. He had none of the regal presence and charisma of a good emperor, had even been chosen by his Djinn as a last resort, simply because no-one else present when they reached his treasury had even vaguely suited the Djinn's taste. If Hakuryuu were ever to disappear off the surface of the Earth, no-one would truly mourn him, or at least not the real him, the dark, vengeful, twisted thing he had become after the Great Fire: his sister was unaware of said Thing's existence, and a single look at It had been enough to make shock and dismay and even disgust paint the countenances of the three people he had begun to think of as true friends.

Hakuryuu was worthless. But that was all right. He didn't need friends, didn't need family, didn't need love to obtain his revenge. He simply needed power, power enough to finally annihilate the murderess who had torn his entire world to pieces, and then, and then—

MayBe the World, tOo—

"HAKURYUU!"

The fourth prince of Kou spun around, the near-desperate call of his name knocking him out of the abyss of dark thoughts he had unknowingly fallen into. There, a few dozen meters behind him and rapidly gaining, was an exhausted-looking Alibaba, his golden eyes locked on Hakuryuu's face with a look of absolutely steely determination.

When the blond Dungeon conqueror made no move to slow down in his running even as he neared Hakuryuu, and in fact raised his arms as though he were about to attack him, Hakuryuu instinctively readied his guandao – only to gape in a most undignified fashion when the Balbadd prince simply knocked it aside before leaping forward, wrapping his arms around his Kou counterpart in a near-smothering embrace.

As Hakuryuu fought to keep his balance even as Alibaba's weight and gathered momentum threatened to knock them both to the ground, he could only wonder what the hell his ex-friend thought he was doing now.

Hakuryuu was still here. He was here, warm and solid and alive in Alibaba's arms, he hadn't given Alibaba one last sad smile before dissolving into intangible, tragically beautiful golden birds right before his eyes—

He was also squirming in Alibaba's admittedly tight hug, making small noises of mingled confusion and irritation that were actually quite adorable, but Alibaba didn't care. He needed to make sure that he hadn't been too late, hadn't lost one of the few people he cared most dearly about in the world due to his own carelessness and cowardly nature. He'd let go when he was good and ready.

Eventually, Hakuryuu seemed to get the message and stopped struggling, settling in to wait Alibaba out; unless the blond was much mistaken, his friend was even leaning into him, just the tiniest bit, and just the thought that he hadn't ruined everything yet, that his friend still trusted him just the tiniest bit, was enough to make him feel so light, he thought he might be able to defeat a hundred black Djinns now if given the chance.

It took several long minutes, but Alibaba managed to gather himself enough to step back and release the poor red-faced prince. He remained standing quite close to his friend though, keeping his hands at his side and refraining from clinging to Hakuryuu's clothing like a scared child through sheer force of will, and gazed into Hakuryuu's heterochromatic eyes seriously as he prepared to deliver what would be an impromptu but hopefully very inspiring speech.

"Tell me."

…Well. Alibaba's forte had always been economics rather than politics, but even then, he was usually more articulate than that.

Hakuryuu appeared rather startled, but mostly pissed off at having been given an order, not to mention such a vague one; but at least he hadn't bashed Alibaba over the head with his metal vessel and stormed off yet, so Alibaba shook himself and hastened to clarify:

"Why you did that, I mean. You didn't explain much, just told us that your mother was part of the Organization, and, well – I think I know you pretty well at this point, Hakuryuu—" Said Kou prince's face darkened ominously at those words, so Alibaba hurriedly went on. "—and you're not an unreasonable guy, or a violent one. So your mother must've done something truly awful, something you could never forgive her for."

Alibaba swallowed dryly, and schooled his expression into a mild but disapproving one that made hurt flash, lightning-quick, across Hakuryuu's features. "Something that made you so bitter that you'd even hurt a bunch of children in such a cruel way, just to make them ache as much as you do."

Alibaba expected the punch that came soaring towards him at that point – Hakuryuu, for all that he was a generally polite and composed person, had a temper that simmered very close to the surface and tended to boil over if prodded just right at just the wrong time – and didn't even try to dodge: he just took it. His head snapped to the side, blood filling his mouth as his teeth cut into the inside of his cheek.

(He couldn't help but smile wryly to himself for a split-second: even when lost in the throes of burning fury, Hakuryuu hadn't aimed for his nose or eyes, and had only put maybe a tenth of his strength into it, if that. Alibaba had no idea how he could've ever thought Hakuryuu dangerous, even as he'd seen him behead Umm Madaura with a serene smile: to the people he truly cared about, Hakuryuu was about as threatening as an angrily fluffed-up cat.)

"SHUT UP!" Hakuryuu was roaring in his face, using the same fist he'd just slugged Alibaba with to grab the Balbadd prince's collar and haul him close. "You understand NOTHING! That Woman…the entire world would be better off if that Woman had never existed, and though Madaura wasn't worse, she was certainly no better! Compared to blindly giving all of yourself to someone who wouldn't spit on you if you were burning to death right in front of them – killing that person is obviously the right thing to do!

"I don't care if those children thought the Great Holy Mother was everything she pretended to be…I don't even care. I'm not like you, Alibaba-dono, always seeing the bright side in everything! What matters to me isn't following the right path or making everyone happy – I just want to kill her. As long as I can kill her, make her suffer before she dies, then I DON'T CARE EVEN IF I DIE AS WELL!"

There was a long, heavy silence, broken only by the occasional plip-plops of blood dripping off Alibaba's chin, and the sound of Hakuryuu's harsh, panting breaths. The two princes glared into each others' eyes, one pair filled with the desperate aggression of an injured, cornered animal while the other was completely unreadable – until Alibaba broke the silence at last.

"Hakuryuu." The blond prince's voice was quiet, but his voice was so saturated with barely contained rage that Hakuryuu was visibly startled upon hearing it. "Don't you ever say that again."

Said Kou prince was opening his mouth for a no doubt equally angry retort, but Alibaba steamrolled over him before he had the chance. "You still haven't told me why you're so dead-set on killing your own flesh and blood, so I'll try not to judge you for that – yet. But don't ever say that you'd be fine with losing your life. Never again.

"Aladdin, Morgiana and I, we all care about you. We're your friends, even your best friends – or at least I thought we were. We'd miss you so much if you were gone: we'd be devastated. You hear me? Just from hearing you talk about throwing your life away so easily, I'm already like this." And, before Hakuryuu's astonished eyes, Alibaba lifted his hands, revealing the violent trembling that had overtaken them.

"We don't want you to die, Hakuryuu. We want you to be happy and safe and healthy, because we're your friends, and we'll do pretty much anything to ensure that you will be exactly that. So please…please, stop thinking that your life isn't precious, and just tell me."

In the end, it was probably the tears welling up in Alibaba's eyes, and the way his voice had started cracking with the force of his repressed sobs, that convinced Hakuryuu to finally open up to him; but Alibaba didn't care. He didn't mind showing weakness in front of Hakuryuu – his dear, dear friend, he hadn't realized exactly how dear until he'd been confronted with the very real possibility of losing him forever – because his pride didn't matter at the moment: what mattered was allowing Hakuryuu to finally drain the poison from the festering wounds that had marred his heart and soul for so long.

Night had well and truly fallen by the time Hakuryuu fell silent, and some time ago they'd moved off the road to the city's gates, settling down cross-legged on the dusty ground. Alibaba didn't even notice the growing cold, though, or the mosquitoes that had already started feasting on his exposed neck, or the tears that had long ago overflowed and streaked clear paths down his dirty cheeks as Hakuryuu kept talking and the pain in his chest just got worse and worse.

Alibaba was compassionate, but he wasn't the most empathetic: he simply wasn't very good at understanding people in the way that Aladdin, for one, seemed to be instinctively able to, and he knew that. Still, it was impossible to watch Hakuryuu narrate his sad, no, horrible excuse for a childhood with such a dead, monotonous voice and such heartbreak in his eyes, and remain unmoved by the Kou prince's pain.

Losing everything in just one night: his brothers, his parents – one to death and the other to unforgivable treachery – his sister whom he could never interact freely with again, his rightful position, his only friend (and Alibaba now hated the black magi he had already disliked for his role in Ugo-kun's death even more than before). And then, being forced to keep living completely alone in the world, as everyone around him moved on as if his loved ones had never existed, as if he, himself, had never existed, never mattered.

Hakuryuu must've been so, so lonely. So full of burning, venomous, pitch-dark hatred he could never escape, never even express because no-one who might've cared would've believed him if he had tried to point fingers, and no-one already in the know would've cared. For ten long years, Hakuryuu had carried that burden alone, shouldering his brothers' dying wish and using it, along with his grudge, as his sole reason for living, for even existing at all.

Alibaba was a pacifist at heart, but even he couldn't help but think: no wonder. No wonder Hakuryuu was dead inside, was angry enough to strike out at anything and anyone who got in his way or dredged up those painful memories, if only just to get rid of a fraction of the hate whose grip on him was so strong he could barely breathe through it.

Hakuryuu was just sitting there across from him, his eyes empty as they gazed down at the broken blade of the guandao lying across his lap. His slumped shoulders, his expressionless face – Hakuryuu was resigned. He wasn't even dreading the rejection and disgust and scorn he thought Alibaba was about to heap on him, because he'd never expected anything else in the first place.

Let him reiterate: Alibaba was a pacifist. But even he had a limit to how much he was willing to withstand before he would retaliate with violence, and what Ren Gyokuen had done was so far past his tolerance threshold, it was basically on the other side of the Great Rift. Surely, Hakuryuu didn't think that Alibaba's morals were so rigid that he couldn't understand the Kou prince's pain and desire for revenge? Surely, Hakuryuu didn't think that Alibaba would be so determined to retain the moral high ground no matter what, that he would willfully ignore Hakuryuu's agony?

(Alibaba tried not to think about what would've happened if he hadn't listened to his instincts, if he hadn't learned from Kassim's death, if he had simply taken Hakuryuu's words and actions at face value and had allowed himself to judge his friend without truly hearing him out. Just picturing what might've happened – Hakuryuu leaving without a good-bye, driven into a corner, more bitter and lonely and obsessed with revenge than ever before; and then the two of them meeting again later, on opposite sides of a battlefield – left a sour taste in his mouth.)

"I've told you before, haven't I? That no-one can do everything alone."

Hakuryuu's shoulders twitched slightly in surprise at hearing Alibaba speak after such a long stretch of silence, but he still didn't look up. So Alibaba reached out a hand and, carefully, tipped up Hakuryuu's chin until those red-rimmed heterochromatic eyes were staring into his own still-weeping ones.

"Hakuryuu." Here, Alibaba paused, trying desperately to find the right words and not screw this up at what he could just feel was a tipping point in both their destinies. "I'll never be able to grasp the full extent of your pain, not really. But even though it's impossible for humans to think in completely the same way, we can still understand each other just enough to love or hate each other. To be willing to do anything to help someone we care about, whether we think that the cause they fight for is just or not.

"And, after thinking about it carefully…I don't think that your wanting to kill the one who did this to you is wrong, after all."

Hakuryuu was hanging off his every word, Alibaba could tell. He was staring rapturously at Alibaba as if the blond prince was granting him enlightenment, and suddenly Alibaba thought he must've worn the exact same look in the past, whenever Aladdin or Sinbad-san helped him build up his confidence again until he could stand on his own two feet. The thought that his words, his very presence at Hakuryuu's side were serving to finally heal the other boy at least a little bit, filled Alibaba with pride.

"You're strong now, Hakuryuu, probably stronger than I am now. But you'll become stronger, and for my part, I'm going to learn magoi manipulation so that I can perform a full-body equip, and Aladdin is going to study magic as hard as he can, and Morgiana will master the use of her household vessel – and we're going to help you. The three of us, when you confront Ren Gyokuen, we'll be fighting right by your side, and we'll win. We'll win, and you'll finally be free, and after that we'll still have problems to take care of – like reclaiming Balbadd and destroying the rest of the Organization and stopping whatever it is they're doing at Magnoshutatt…

"But the most important thing is, we'll always be together, the four of us. Aladdin, Morgiana and I will always be by your side, on your side, because you're our friend and we want nothing more than for you to be happy. So don't push us away again, and please believe in us, okay? Please, Hakuryuu."

The fourth prince of the Kou Empire was silent for a long minute, just looking at Alibaba as if he would be able to ascertain the truthfulness, or lack thereof, of the blond Dungeon conqueror's words through the force of his gaze alone. And then, seeming to decide that Alibaba wasn't lying or playing a cruel joke on him, he gave a slow, stunned nod of his head, then a swifter one as Alibaba's words truly registered and settled and made their home in his heart and mind – and then he smiled.

Under the light of the full moon, the droplets of tears that clung to Hakuryuu's long lashes sparkled like dew-drops, a few of them falling to course down his slightly flushed cheeks. His white, white skin seemed to almost be glowing, and those strands of silky dark hair that had slipped free of his topknot gleamed the same color as the night sky above. His mismatched eyes, warm and astonished and glimmering with hope and relief, looked more silver than blue in the sparse light, and the beauty mark on his chin irresistibly drew attention to the slightly wobbly but unmistakable upward curve of his lips – still small, still unsteady, but a thousand times more real than any other smile Hakuryuu had graced him with since they had first met, what already felt like years ago.

Scarred or not, boy or not…Alibaba couldn't help but think that, at that moment, Hakuryuu was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

(And if Alibaba's heart had just skipped a beat in a way that it usually really, really didn't when in the presence of those he only considered friends, well, no-one had to know that; though it was certainly something he'd think more deeply on later.)

For now, he would simply bask in the knowledge that he had just managed to keep one of his best friends from blindly rushing to his doom, in a way that he hadn't with Kassim. He would bask in the feeling of Hakuryuu in his arms – this time, it was the dark-haired boy who had initiated their vice-like embrace – and in his anticipation of Aladdin and Morgiana's joyful reactions when both princes returned to them, happy and safe and sound and still together. Even though they would all be parting ways soon, eventually they would reunite, and then they'd never be apart again if they could help it.

Alibaba had a feeling that he had just changed the course of fate. But, unlike the kind of changes the Organization tried to implement, he liked to think that this was one that the rukh would wholeheartedly approve of.

- THE END -

Writing this soothed my soul.

I like HakuMor just fine, but it's not my OTP for Hakuryuu – that would be JuHaku, actually, but I like AliHaku a lot too as you all can clearly see. Mostly, I saw his sudden confession to Mor-san as an act of desperation, his last-ditch effort to keep from going back to being all alone, to cling to the friendships he'd managed to build but was now forced to leave behind both for the sake of accomplishing his goals, and for fear of said friends' reaction upon learning of said goals.
Also, you'll note that I didn't actually imply that Hakuryuu reciprocated whatever new "feelings" Alibaba has just discovered in himself, so technically I didn't deviate from canon in that regard. So there.

* Seriously, go check out that page again – on Mangafox, it's page 18 of the 112th chapter, the panel on the lower left corner – and witness exactly how bad poor, conflicted Ja'far's poker face is at that moment. Oh, Ja'far.

Btw, did anyone notice that I was trying to replicate the "Morgiana smiles tearfully at Hakuryuu with the setting sun shining behind her and Hakuryuu is star-struck" scene after Dunya's funeral, only with Hakuryuu and the full moon and Alibaba being the one dazzled? 'Cause I was.

Thank y'all for reading and, hopefully, enjoying this story. If you're in a charitable mood, please drop me a review on your way out.

Saggezza out.