That Arabian Night.....

Aladdin held Jasmine in his arms, close to him, near to his heart,
the place where he knew she belonged. He smiled contentedly with
the feeling of that warm embrance, and he could say she was feeling
as warm and comfortable as him. But they were not the only happy
people in the room for the Sultan of Agrabah was quite happy himself
too. He was already talking about marriage....

Yes! Him, Aladdin, the streetrat... the lonely boy from the streets
of Agrabah, the little thief from the marketplace was going to marry
the Princess of Agrabah herself, the most wonderful and beautiful
woman on Earth. The happiness inside his heart was too much to hold.
He happily rested his head on the hair of the woman he loved, the
woman who was going to be his wife... the woman he was willing to die for....

"And then you, my boy, will become Sultan..."
The idea had never ocurred to him before. By marrying the Princess
he'd become the heir of Agrabah's throne. Aladdin realized that with
the heart of Jasmine also the power to rule over Agrabah would be
his.... but as if they came from another world the words of the Sultan
filled his ears and hit his head.... the Sultan was talking about
Ali's unimpeachable moral character... about HIS moral character....
"A fine upstanding youth like yourself is exactly what this kingdom needs!"

Aladdin looked concerned about this. Suddenly all his hopes and dreams
vanished. He loved Jasmine above all but he never wanted power or
a throne or a royal tittle. He knew that he must accept the responsability
that came with marrying a Princess... but this was unexpected...
never until that moment had he realized the size of the wish he had
made. At that moment something inside his heart was feeling wrong....
he was Aladdin.... he was NOT Prince Ali... he was fooling the world....
no, it was WORSE than that, he was deceiving the woman he loved....
he looked down at Jasmine. He was so scared... he could not cheat
her. Suddenly he did feel unworthy of her. He broke the warm embrace,
even if he wanted to stay like that, holding Jasmine in his arms
forever... but some how he just couldn't.

Jasmine looked lovingly at him, smiling gently and with a sparking
look in her eyes. She looked deep into Aladdin's eyes. He couldn't
look at her eyes. His sparkly eyes just showed some kind of fear...
of pain...  Aladdin closed his eyes and turn his back to Jasmine
just to face the Sultan. He was still talking... he was still flatteting
him. The Sultan patted his back and told Aladdin that he better go
to his guestroom and take a rest. The Sultan and Jasmine thought
that Ali's sudden strange behavior was because he was tired.  He
also told him that next day, ll his life without even knowing it.
 He never felt so perfectly happy before. That was magic, almost
unreal.... with that kiss he understood the true meaning of his life:
to live for her, to live with her... and to die for her.... for the
first time in his life things were starting to go right. After that
kiss he knew he could defeat anything for her. He could conquer the
world for her.... She filled him with a powerful force, she gave
him everything he needed. Now he knew that life was no life without Jasmine.

Sure, Jafar tried to have him killed but he had survived for her.
Well, he had survived thanks to Genie in the firts place, but when
he was drowning in the ocean floor, when he thought he was about
to die, he could think of nothing but Jasmine and she was his reason
to live, to not give up... he would never give up having her as his
inspiration and reason to live... before he fainted his last thought
was for her.... and when he realized that he was still alive -thanks
to the Genie-, his first thought was for her as well...

Regardless of that incident,  everything was going great that night...
he unmasked Jafar in front of Jasmine and the Sultan. He won Jasmine's
heart and the Sultan's gratitude... he won Jasmine's hand, he was
now the official fiance of the Princess of Agrabah.... he even was
going to be the heir of Agrabah's throne.

And then, suddenly, he realized what the Genie was trying to tell him all along:
he had to be himself.  He couldn't lie to Jasmine anymore, not to
her... he was Aladdin, not a prince at all. But how could be he sure
if Jasmine liked that streetrat she knew in the market? He could
say that in fact, she did like Aladdin, the streetrat.... he accepted
Prince Ali until she realized that he was "the boy from the market"....
why then was he so scared to tell her the truth?

He was feeling like a rat. For the first time in his life he had
the feeling that he was indeed a rat. Not the kind of rat that everyone
in the marketplace used to call him... no.... he was really a rat....
he hated himself.... he was betraying Jasmine's faith. Jasmine was
in love with the wrong person. Ali was a fake and Aladdin was a lier....
how could he be doing this to her?  She deserved the best and all
he was giving to her was false hopes and lies. He was hurting her.

Aladdin buried his face in his pillow. He wanted to cry, to scream...
he was not worthy of her... she didn't deserve all the pain he would
cause her when she discovered the truth.  He was the lowest criature
on Earth. He was starting to understand that his true self , the
thief, the street boy who needed to steal to live was much more worthy
than the fabulous Prince Ali. At least that streetrat was real. Prince
Ali was nothing but a lier.

He sighed and rolled on his bed. He could kill himself. He was willing
to pay Jasmine's well being with his own life. He was willing to
fight against the world for her, he could kill anybody who tried
to hurt Jasmine... but the only thing he was doing was hurting her,
cheating her... he hated himself. If only Jasmine knew the truth.
If only she could look deep into his eyes and discover his true self,
that self he was hidding deep inside... if only she could tell him:
"I love YOU , Aladdin!"  Prince Ali was NOT him...

After a long and painful night the dawn came from the east. Aladdin
was so tired, so sad, so confused. He left his bed and went outside.
He needed to take a walk, to have some fresh air after his sleepless
night. He took a long walk through the menagerie. He went near to
Jasmine's balcony and he stayed there for a long moment, thinking
about her... he could imagine his Princess in her bed, still sleeping,
dreaming about the charming Prince Ali... he shook his head. If he
revealed himself as Aladdin he'd lose her. And he knew that he could
never live without her. He couldn't lose her... but how could he
keep this whole thing up? What if she discovered....?  No, he could
not think about that... that would never happen..... that just couldn't happen....

He was killing Aladdin... he was killing all that he was... he was
killing the man that Jasmine was in love with.... he felt his head
was about to explote... he blew a kiss to Jasmine's balcony and came
back to his guestroom thinking about how he could never forgive himself
if he killed the man she loved.

He leaned on a rail, looking at the wonderful gardens. In just an
hour or so the Sultan would make the Royal Announcement... What
should he do?  Tell her the truth? He could lose her.... anything
but that.....  if he wanted to keep Jasmine by his side he must continue
with his facade. That was the only way... it was wrong, that was
true, but there was nothing else he could do.... he couldn't live without her.

Suddenly he realized something: if he wanted to keep things going,
he needed Genie to help him. He couldn't do that on his own. He promised
the Genie his freedom but that was before he.... besides, there were
more important things in life than freedom... love for instance....
he was going to sacrifice Genie's freedom for Jasmine's love....
was it the right thing to do? Why he was feeling so trapped? He would
be forever trapped in Prince Ali... Aladdin was no more, he was going
to give up everything, his freedom, his honor, his promises, even
his true self for her.... was that love? Why then did he felt so bad about the whole thing?

Maybe because he was also accepting something he knew he did not
deserve.... Jasmine's love.... and even Agrabah's throne... he sighed.
"Sultan?  They want to make ME Sultan?"
At that moment he knew he had to make his decision.... if he wanted
to free the Genie and to free Jasmine he must first free himself....

The End . . .?