“Kid, when we get out of here, I want to introduce you to my biology teacher,” Alan mused. “Mrs. Amory will never know what hit her.”
When we get out of here. “You really do have an idea?” Sarah asked, wondering.
“’Course he does! He’s cool! Like Dad.” Matt grinned. “You’re going to save us, right?”
“No, not me, kid,” Alan said quietly.
Sarah winced. Such a quiet, gentle voice. From all the tales Domingo had brought home of Anne Ryan’s little break-and-entry specialist of a son, she’d never realized he could be gentle-
“It’s going to be your mom who does that.”
What?
Matt turned a wide-eyed, wondering stare up at her. Hazel eyes bright with belief.
Because Mom and Dad can do anything, Sarah thought with a pang. “Young man-”
“Can you see the butterflies?”
Caught off guard, Sarah stated at the shivering youngster in the water tank. Impossible. There was no way he could know about a much younger girl’s glimmering imaginary companions.
“I know you saw them. That psycho knows you saw them, too. It’s part of why he’s keeping you alive. People who can see them… you’ve got a gift. They’re not your imagination.” Gold eyes were fierce – and so oddly hopeful. As if all Matt’s young belief in miracles had been mixed with a bitter dose of reality, then distilled into the pure determination to make dreams real.
“You’re not seeing things, you’re not daydreaming, you’re not crazy,” Alan said firmly. “They’re real. They can help you. You can get us out.”
Slowly, Sarah shook her head. “We’re in shackles. I know you can get out of handcuffs, but these aren’t coming apart without a key.”
“You’re in locks.” Alan bobbed in the dark water, took a breath and shoved himself up again. “Locks are meant to unlock.” Another breath. “I know how crazy it sounds. We’re all scared. But I promise you this trick is real. As real as me driving half the cops crazy ‘cause I won’t stay in handcuffs. It works. And if you can see the butterflies – you can do this.”
“How?” Sarah snapped, temper frayed by fear. Her son – this awful place – and what were they doing to Domingo, if these madmen were holding them both to force his hand? “You don’t think they’d have left us alone if there was any way we could escape!”
“That’s what they’re counting on.”
Sarah rocked back against the cold bench, clutching Matt close. No doubt in that teen’s voice. No fear.
“That’s what every jerk who wants to rule the world counts on,” Alan bit out. “Trust me, lady, they’re all the same. They want people to think we’re weak. That the bad guys have all the money, all the power, all the guns to get whatever they want. They want us to think we can’t fight.” Gold eyes blazed, bright as fire. “And it’s all a lie.”
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
Oh nice twist. I didn’t expect it at all. But it makes so much sense.
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🙂 Thanks! Sahar was a Wind Magician, after all.
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At this rate Simon and Alan are going to run into reincarnations of every big name in the Sindria Kingdom. 😀
And given that we have the extended MacLea clan consisting of Fanalis’s of every varying purity out there, I bet that at least a few of the Fanalis Corps from the Reim Empire are kicking around as well.
Though from what I can tell even in this life Myron did not manage to take Morgiana home/abduct her to be a little sister. (Magi volume 20 extra comic)
http://youdontknowthings.tumblr.com/post/74362487647/magi-volume-20-extra-comic-part-1-vol-3-vol
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Well, they’re not going to run into everyone… at least not in this story. I make no promises for sequels. 😉
Oo, Myron… now the bunnies have odd wondering thoughts about how old she’d be and if she gets introduced to Matt…. Ah, bunnies. *Amused.*
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Blast it I was intending to put a link not the entire picture, How do I remove this?
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Hang on, I think I can edit that. 🙂
Yep, there! It’s fixed. *G*
Thanks for the link! That was awesome. 🙂
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>>Yep, there! It’s fixed. *G*
Thanks.
>>Oo, Myron… now the bunnies have odd wondering thoughts about how old she’d be and if she gets introduced to Matt…. Ah, bunnies. *Amused.*
Yeah Myron is an utter hoot. I just laughed seeing her attempts to appear polite, proper and refined.
And then the image is completely and utterly shattered whenever she gets frustrated or angered. Those Magnostadt soldiers could not have picked a worse person to insult/set off.
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“As if all Matt’s young belief in miracles had been mixed with a bitter dose of reality, then distilled into the pure determination to make dreams real.”
Wow. There’s writing, and then there’s wordsmithing. What you did here is the latter, and it is beautiful.
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Aww. Thanks! (And this is where editing time comes in; you get the rough draft, and then you go back and poke, “does that mean exactly what I meant, and if not, is there a better phrasing?”)
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And this is why, ladies and gentleman, the Al-Thamen had it in for Alibaba. Not only did he believe, he made others believe. It’s why the Kou Empire wanted him with them or dead or crushed. To a people who are trying to crush hope and dreams to call it peace, someone who inspires hopes and dreamers is deadly. There is strength to be found in dreams and in hope, and the Sinbad OVA’s are proof of it. It’s why Sindria was targeted so badly by Al-Thamen. They didn’t have to actually *do* anything but *exist* to be a threat. Their very existence proved the Al-Thamen were *wrong.* And now, now Simon got a chance to build Sinbad’s dream all over again, and he’s Calling his people home, only Alibaba and Aladdin and Morgiana, and Ja’far and Sharrkan and Masrur, they know the dangers and what could and has been brought to bare down on a King’s shoulders and against Sinbad in the past and Alan and Aladdin and Morgan, and Ja’far and Tiburon and Malachy will not let it happen all over again to Simon.
I imagine the first person to try and separate and isolate Simon will be surrounded by very unhappy people. Armed for dragon and quite willing to spread the joy around.
Much like Sarah is going to spread her joy around. Because while Alan can’t do his lock trick while floating in a tank and stopping Fomoire chains, he probably *can* walk Sarah through how to do it. After all, Alan didn’t know about the butterflies when he first pulled this trick. Man, it’s a good thing Simon is already making plans to walk off with an FBI agent and assorted family. How many people can say they’ve been kidnapped from their kidnappers? … Besides Alan/Alibaba. … Both lives. By basically the same people each time. You could count Morgan and Aladdin running off with Alan to Boston to be kidnapping if you squint and tilt your head a little. And as my grandfather used to say, Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
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Yes! Exactly! *G* At one point in the manga Hakuryuu compares and contrasts Sinbad and Alibaba and calls them both dangerous to him and his goals: Sinbad because he has a light that makes people believe in him, Alibaba because he has a different light that makes people believe in themselves.
The whole point of Sindria – and of how Balbadd would have been, if Alibaba had had the chance to get it off the ground – was to show there was a better way. A place where people could choose to work together and build something more hopeful than the past. Of course Al-Thamen had to destroy them both!
And yes. This is a second time around, and given a lot of our heroes know how badly hope blisters the tongues of people with ill intent, they plan to be armed and prepared. And look as innocent as humanly possible until it’s too late for bad guys….
*EG* Why yes. That’s a very good read on exactly what Alan plans to do. Not that it’ll be easy… but he’s pulled through tougher spots!
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I was at work the other day, thinking about Around, when it struck me why Al-Thamen had to arrange things so that Sinbad and Alibaba were not able to be buddies. Because Sinbad was being pushed and shoved and had the Humiliation Conga going against him, Alibaba could have stopped it. Sinbad was looking faith, and Alibaba could have stopped and reversed that. Cue Bad Guy Damage Control, ASAP.
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Well, in order for that to work out Sinbad probably would have had to run into Alibaba when the kid was five… drat.
Interesting and plausible thought, though! I do think Al-Thamen targeted Rashid, who was one of Sinbad’s major allies. He got too conveniently ill at just the wrong time.
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Woohoo! More primer being set out. *big grin*
And Sarah is learning why people who want things to go a certain way should never let Alibaba talk. There is a reason that Sinbad and crew knocked him when they kidnapped him.
It will be nice to see our heroes doing “This is our second chance. To what we wanted to do before. What we tried to be before. And this time any jerk with plans of grinding into dust is going to get a very nasty surprise. For how dangerous we all are, we are shockingly good at looking innocent and/or harmless enough to be easily taken down. Sometimes, it is so good to be underestimated.”
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*G* One of the things my bunnies say Simon sometimes does is show up at school… dressed as an ordinary guy looking for the principal. Anything from building inspector to IRS agent to who knows what.
As in yes, he is an actor. 😉 And teaches other people to follow his lead. And that was before magic cropped up again. I suspect the school is going to get even more interesting, now….
After all, attacking a kingdom is one thing. But a school, spreading students and ideas everywhere? That could end up being a much harder target. *G*
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Because you can kill a kingdom and you can kill people. You cannot kill ideas. They have this annoying tendency to cork back up to surface eventually.
Through thinking about it, that particular trait of ideas would have eventually bitten the Kou Empire in the butt. Al-Thamen maybe not since most of them wanted to destroy the world . . . of course many also wanted it remade as ‘it ought to be’ which if they wanted to keep entirely their way, they better have selected ‘no independent thought’ otherwise those ideas would occur to someone eventually. Because they always do.
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*Nod* I suspect that’s one of the reasons Simon and Ja’far came up with a school to begin with. “I want people’s lives to be better. There’s the obvious route, politics and leading them – but damn it, that’s boring. It involves paperwork. And all kinds of nasty personal tactics from people who don’t agree with you.
“But if I teach people to make their own lives crazy and interesting… say, this could work….”
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I love your last paragraph.
” “They want people to think we’re weak. That the bad guys have all the money, all the power, all the guns to get whatever they want. They want us to think we can’t fight.” Gold eyes blazed, bright as fire. “And it’s all a lie.” ”
Lately, in my bible study group, there’s been a lot of discussion on Satan’s tools in this modern world. And the above paragraph describes his plan perfectly. And the response we should have. Love it.
Thank you for sharing this. All of your writing brightens my day when I read it – because your heroes aren’t perfect, and the bad guys often have the upper hand… but the heroes never give up. And that is why they beat the bad guys and save the day. Because they know that so long as people fight for what is right, evil cannot win. ^_^
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Glad you liked it. 🙂 I believe that there is good and evil, and people can learn to be heroic – and part of that is surrounding yourself with stories of what it is to be a good guy, so you have an example to lean on when Real Life kicks in and it’s tempting to make the easy choice instead of the right choice.
When it comes to writing fantasy, and what that might possibly have to do with real-life struggles of good and evil, I love this quote from Tolkien:
“I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which ‘Escape’ is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it.”
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