23Today was Saturday, the ball had finally arrived. Everyone woke up late due to staying out late and shopping for by the time everyone had eaten and gotten ready it was almost time for the ball.
"What do you think?" Rapunzel asked as she walked into the tv room.
Flynn stood up. She looked gorgeous in her purple dress. But Flynn couldn't exactly get the words out of his mouth.
"You look gorgiful." He said dreamily not noticing his grammar mistake.
Rapunzel looked back up at him. "What?" She asked bewildered.
"Beautiful! And Gorgeous! But at the same time!...Uh, I mean, you look amazing."Flynn finished.
Rapunzel smiled back at him.
"Nice save." Naveen commented.
Then Tiana walked out and it was Naveen's turn to be tongue-tied. But Naveen was so taken back at how pretty his wife looked he was speechless.
"Well…?" Tiana asked.
Flynn waved his hands over Naveen's eyes and he didn't flinch.
"You might wanna try again in a little bit, I don't think he can process anything now." he said.
"You look great Tiana." Rapunzel complimented.
"Thank you." She replied.
"Ok is everyone ready to go?" two different voices asked from opposite sides of the room.
Ariel and Aladdin walked out of the two opposing hallways to face each other. They both stopped in their tracks and stared for a minute.
They way Ali looked at Ariel felt so familiar. But in a strange way. A way she didn't want to think about. She turned to everyone else who was sitting on the couches.
Meanwhile Aladdin was struggling to keep his composure as well. He felt the same as he did the first time he saw her all dressed up for Eric's he stopped himself. He couldn't let himself have some big reaction to Ariel, no matter how she looked. What if they got suspicious?
Flynn stood up and clapped his hands. "Well, if the awkward staring tension is over, then we should get going."
"Look who's talking." Rapunzel remarked as she took Flynn's arm and his cheeks heated up.
Everyone laughed and they got to the car that would take them to the ball.
Back with the villains…
"This blasted thing!" Ursula said agitated. She was pressing the button on the remote vigorously.
Miraculously something beeped. When it went off, all the villains raced to her side. The remote didn't do anything except flash and read something.
ONLY IN A TIME OF NEED
"Only in a time of need?" Jafar repeated.
"Of course! This darned thing will only work if we're in a time of need!" Gothel complained.
"I'd say we're in a time of need." The Shadow Man commented.
"Why put ourselves through all this trouble when it doesn't even need to be us in a time of need?!" Ursula questioned.
Jafar sat up. "Of course! Why put ourselves through a time of need when we can easily do it for someone else! Force them to use the remote for us! I have a plan…"
All six of our heroes were waiting in line to get into the ball.
Flynn, Rapunzel, Tiana and Naveen got through with no problem, but when Ariel made it to the front of the line, the guard asked: "Where's your escort?"
Ariel became nervous for a second until a voice spoke up behind her.
"That would be me." The owner of the voice linked arms with Ariel.
"Thanks Ali." Ariel said.
"Anything for you." He replied.
Ariel looked at him curiously.
Aladdin noticed what he had said and tried to cover himself up. "Well I mean, of course I'd do something like that for a friend. That's what they're for right?"
"Oh." Ariel sighed.
Phew! Aladdin thought. That could have gone worse.
They both pushed away some curtains to enter the ballroom. It was huge and filled with people dancing all around it, while a crowd waited on the side all gathered around refreshments. There was a band playing off to one side and huge chandeliers that hung from the ceilings. Satin curtains decorated the windows and it seemed the whole room was embroidered with gold. All six of them stood in awe.
"You don't think they have a nacho stand here do you?" Naveen asked.
Him and Flynn laughed. This wasn't their first party with a nacho stand.
"Come on let's dance!" Rapunzel said excitedly before dragging Flynn behind her.
Naveen offered his arm to Tiana, and they went off to dance too. Which left Ariel and Aladdin alone.
"You're a good dancer aren't you?" Aladdin asked holding out his hand.
"I don't know, sometimes it's like I'm not used to my own feet." Ariel joked.
They both laughed. Ariel was still sometimes was a little wobbly with walking from being a mermaid and all, but Ali wouldn't have known she was a mermaid. Why did he laugh? She looked at him. He smiled back at her as they began to dance. There was something so familiar about him. Maybe it was his voice or his laugh, but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was a good familiar though. She hadn't really felt like this around anyone before. Except once, but she refused to think about Aladdin while she was with Ali.
Meanwhile as Tiana and Naveen danced, she noticed how the lights around them changed. They were pink and green, just like her first dance with Naveen on the lily pads. They were frogs back then. So much had changed from then to now. How much had changed while she was gone? She wondered about her restaurant and her mother.
"Naveen, do you think we'll make it home?" Tiana asked him.
Naveen spun her around. "Of course we will."
"But when we came here the villains were just left in Neverland. And they've got the remote too." Tiana said.
"I don't know." Naveen responded. "But even if we are stuck here, I won't mind."
"But our whole lives are in New Orleans, my restaurant, our family, Lotte-"
"Tiana, I have you. And that is all I will ever need."
Tiana smiled at him.
The lights changed again to warmer colors and floated all around the room. Flynn looked down at Rapunzel.
"I don't think we've danced like this...ever." Flynn commented.
"There's not really much time for dancing in a place like this." Rapunzel said.
"True." Flynn agreed. "We should do this more often though."
Rapunzel laughed. "Yeah we really should-"
Whatever Rapunzel was going to say next was cut off by a series of gasps. Everyone turned to the center of the dance floor where Ariel and Aladdin stood.
Aladdin collapsed as a tall figure ripped a bloody dagger from his side. Ariel struggled to keep him upright and was desperately calling out his name. Shocked at what was happening, Rapunzel and Flynn ran up to the center of the ballroom to meet them. Tiana and Naveen met them in the middle. Rapunzel crouched down to help Ariel, and they all looked up to face Ali's attacker.
"I thought you already got what you wanted." Flynn snarled.
The figure stepped forward. "Ah, yes but there's one more thing I need from you." Jafar said as he stepped into the light. He tossed the remote on the ground and it slid towards the group.
"You see," The Shadow Man began sliding out of the shadows. "That remote only works in a time need."
"So now that your precious Aladdin is in a time of need," Ursula added.
"Aladdin?" Ariel echoed.
The villains looked at each other and laughed maniacally.
"Are you all really that daft?" Jafar asked. "Just a change of clothes and he's a new man?" Jafar snapped his fingers, and with a flash of magic, Aladdin was in his old street rat clothes again.
All five of them looked down at Aladdin. They wanted to be mad, disgusted even, that he had lied to them. That he had made them care again after hurting them. But he was dying. They couldn't turn away now.
"I'm sorry." Aladdin croaked. "I wish I could have told you but-"
"But your running out of time…" Ursula teased shooting a bolt of magic at Aladdin.
He cried out in pain.
Ariel took the remote.
"What do I have to do?"
"Simple, just press the button. Even you could do it" Gothel directed.
Ariel looked down at the remote. It was set for the control room. It was where Jiminy Cricket had worked so long ago. Where he watched over the stories and controlled them. Where he brought them together. If the villains got there, there's no telling what they could do. Ariel took a deep breath.
"Ariel, you won't know what'll happen if you let them go. People will die." Aladdin said.
She ran her finger over the keypad. "But If I don't do this now, they'll keep putting us in a time of need until they get what they want."
Ariel looked up at them, aimed the remote for the floor and she pressed the button. A shock came from the antenna, but instead of being the purple light it normally was, it was white. It circled the area where the villains stood. They all looked at each other excitedly as the portal swallowed them up.
Then it was silent.
"Ariel! What did you do?!" Rapunzel asked afraid.
Ariel looked down at the remote and grinned. "I sent them to a place where there truly are no happily ever afters."
Everyone had turned to Aladdin and was trying to make him as comfortable as possible. Someone in the crowd had called for an emergency vehicle. But he was losing blood fast.
"Aladdin I-" Ariel started.
"No, I'm sorry. That I lied to you. I didn't know what you would think if I tried to talk to you otherwise." Aladdin said weakly.
"We know why you did it."Flynn said.
"And even though you made some wrong choices, without you, we probably wouldn't have been as good of friends as we are." Naveen added.
"Friends." Aladdin repeated. "You guys are my family."
Ariel took his hand.
"I'll miss you the most Ariel." Aladdin said.
"Don't talk like that." Ariel replied. "They said help was on the way."
"I don't know how much time I have left. I love you. Please don't forget that." Aladdin brushed Ariel's hair out of her face.
"I love you too."
"We all do." Rapunzel said.
They stood for a few moments in silence, hoping that help would come, but as they looked anxiously for movement around them, Ariel felt Aladdin's hand become limp in her own. She turned to him and saw that he was completely still. The others saw too. They had crouched to the ground to try and comfort Ariel who had started crying, but she wouldn't let go of Aladdin's hand.
There was a sudden blue spark of magic and Genie appeared. He saw Aladdin and raced over.
"Al! I'm so sorry! If only I'd come sooner. I could have saved you." Genie picked up Aladdin and held him tight to his chest.
Flynn saw the remote on the ground and picked it up. "All for this little box. He had to die for this stupid-"
"Flynn calm down!" Naveen said trying to take the remote from him.
"If it wasn't for this, then we'd never even met" Flynn began pacing.
"Don't say that." Rapunzel interjected.
"But if it wasn't for this, he'd still be alive!" Flynn yelled whipping the remote to the ground. When the remote crashed against the marble floor, it broke. A ring of light surged from it reaching all ends of the ballroom. Everyone looked up.
When that ring of light hit Ariel and the rest, they vanished. Where they appeared there was grass all around. There was a small beach ahead as well. Across the ocean land masses were moving around. Different terrains were revealed around them with different atmospheres and climates. They all merged into each other and the clear lines that separated them before became blurred. Buildings and castles rose and people appeared, all flocking towards the borders of their land to see the new people on the other side. But as soon as it started, it stopped.
"What just happened?" Naveen asked.
"I think I can answer that for ya," A voice behind them said.
They all turned around. Jiminy Cricket stood, same as ever with his tiny clothes and top hat.
"The remote held a connection with each world, closing off its borders from all the others." Jiminy explained. "But now that the remote's broken, the connections broken too, so all of the worlds are together in one."
"But why hasn't this happened before?" Tiana inquired.
"We were never sure what would happen, and we didn't want to risk it. But turns out it's quite the opposite of what people predicted!" Jiminy answered.
"What about Aladdin?" Ariel looked up at Jiminy.
But he couldn't hold her gaze for long before looking away.
"I'm sorry about him, I truly am. But there's nothing I can do."
Everyone looked at each other somberly.
Flynn broke the silence and changed the subject. "So if all the worlds are one, where are we now?"
"Perhaps it'd be better if I showed you," Jiminy suggested. With a snap of his fingers a magic carpet big enough for all of them to fit on. They rose up to where they could see everything.
"There's Corona!" Rapunzel said pointing out her kingdom.
"And there's New Orleans!" Naveen added on.
"Everyone's kingdom is here." Ariel said looking down at the different places around them.
"Even Agrabah." Flynn mentioned.
Everyone looked to the right and saw the arabian castle glimmer in the the sunlight. They stared for a minute and wondered if it would make any difference to the people there if Aladdin was gone.
Jiminy sighed. "Now that the barriers gone you can go to any world for as long as you like."
"We can all be together?" Tiana asked.
Jiminy nodded. The carpet descended onto an island in the middle of all the different worlds with a enormous blue castle on it.
"This is what your place looks like from the outside?" Flynn questioned.
"It's not just my castle," Jiminy began. "But speaking of it, I really should get back."
"We better get going too." Naveen said as they got off the magic carpet.
They both said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
The five of them walked through the grass as they saw towns across the sea racing to meet each other.
"What do we do now?" Rapunzel thought outloud.
"We finally don't have to separate anymore." Flynn said.
"And we can go home when we want too." Tiana noted.
"We have everything we ever wanted. But it feels…" Naveen started.
"All Mixed Up?" Flynn finished.
They came upon a beach. The waves came in gently combing over the sand before retreating back into the water. They all sat down at the edge of the ocean.
" It won't be the same. Not without-" Ariel stopped herself from finishing her sentence. She didn't want to start crying again.
Tiana put a hand on her shoulder. "I know."
"Should we just go home?" Flynn suggested.
Everyone looked at each other. What else was there to do?
Rapunzel spoke up."No we shouldn't. After everything, we need each other now more than ever."
Everyone looked at each other in put their arms around each other and watched the waves crash upon the sand. It was nighttime now. The stars twinkled in the sky as a cloud passed by that looked like soft serve ice cream.
Epilogue:
It had been a few months since the barrier had broken between the worlds and most people had gotten used to it. Tiana's restaurant was thriving with all of the new costumers and Corona had become one of the best kingdoms in all of the land. Meanwhile Ariel was one of the main figures to help the mermaids become acquainted with humans. But even with their new lives, the five of them always found some time to be together.
"Hey you got a head start!" Ariel called from behind.
"Ha! You should've seen your faces, you all looked-"Flynn started as he ran ahead and looked back at the other four running to catch up to him. But as he looked back he didn't see the tree that was in front of him and crashed into it. "Ridiculous." He finished weakly.
The rest of them laughed as they passed him up except for Rapunzel who giggled as she stayed behind to help him up.
As they ran further ahead, the forest that was around them began to thin out and the air grew stiffer and hotter. It was Naveen who was able to run ahead of the rest of them and reach the end of the forest first. He was faced with a desert, but luckily this desert didn't stretch before too long before it was met by a town. The rest had caught up with him now.
"Agrabah." Rapunzel said.
"We knew we'd run into this place at some point." Naveen sighed.
"Should we go in?" Tiana asked.
After they lived in a world without barriers for a while, they all decided not to go into Agrabah. It would be too painful. But now some time had passed, and they were here.
"Aladdin said he had a house here. Maybe there's something in it. " Ariel recalled.
"Ariel are you sure you're ready for this?" Flynn asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." She replied.
And with that they set off into the city. It looked and felt the same as the last time they had all saw it. Except it was nighttime when they were there, they were trying to clear Aladdin's name after he had been framed for a crime he didn't commit. Now where it was quiet except a few guards roaming around, it was bustling with people and full of life. Vendors in stands were shouting out bargains and street performers were trying to catch people's attention as well.
They wandered around all day. None of the buildings looked like Aladdin's house, and now it was getting dark.
"We're never gonna find it!" Rapunzel complained.
"We have to keep looking." Ariel said determined.
"We can always come back tomorrow." Naveen suggested.
"No! If we don't-"
"Shh!" Flynn shushed them.
"But if we can't-"
"Shh!"
"Why do you keep shushing us?" Tiana asked annoyed.
"Do you hear that?" Flynn asked.
Everyone was quiet. And in the distance, they could hear singing.
"Riff-raff, street rat, I don't buy that
If only they'd look closer"
Down the empty street they saw a lone figure where the voice was coming from. It was a young man who was going home. He wore baggy pants, a vest, and a small fez on his head. All five of them looked at each other in disbelief, and they followed him.
"Would they see a poor boy?
No siree,
They'd find out, there's so much more to me"
They had originally planned to find Aladdin's house just to feel like he was near again, but instead they found Aladdin himself sitting on his windowsill and looking out at the view. When the barrier broke he must have been reset to be here.
"Aladdin?"
He jumped. "Who are you?" he asked curiously when he turned to see him.
"I'm Ariel. This is Naveen, Tiana, Flynn and Rapunzel." Ariel introduced everyone.
They stood silence for a moment hoping he would run to them or something, but he just sat there.
"You don't remember do you?" Naveen asked defeated.
"Remember what?" Aladdin repeated.
Ariel stepped forward. "It's ok, that doesn't matter. What does matter, is your here, and we can help you."
"With what?" Aladdin asked.
"We could get out of here, see the world?" Flynn offered.
Aladdin's face lit up at that. "Like away from Agrabah? Forever? Hear that Abu? We're getting out of here!...Wait. How do I know you guys are telling the truth?"
"You can count on me." Ariel replied holding her hand out to him. "What do you say?"
Aladdin stood up and looked at them. They didn't look untrustworthy, they almost felt familiar. But for sure they looked the type who've had a few adventures. And maybe now he could too.
"Alright then." Aladdin agreed as he took Ariel's hand in his.
All 6 of them left Agrabah and for once, they all felt whole again. A family reunited. Over time, Aladdin was able to rebuild the friendships he didn't even know he had. He fell in love with Ariel again and rescued Genie from the Cave of Wonders too. However, no matter what they tried, none of them could jog Aladdin's memory. But that was ok because he was alive, and there were tons of new memories to make. The possibilities were infinite.
THE END
Hello, It's been two years...whoops.
When I started writing on here I made a promise to myself, that no matter what happened I would finish this story. Because I hated reading other stories on here and finding they were abandoned in the middle, it took me a while, but I'm glad I kept that promise.
I've said stuff in other author's notes about more All Mixed Up stories in the future but I think this it. When I was younger I wanted this to actually be four stories long but because it took me so long to finish this, I sort of lost motivation for continuing it.So much time has passed since I started these stories. I got braces, I became obsessed with Disney Infinity. And now all of that's over, braces are off, Disney Infinity is discontinued. I've grown up since then. I think I've grown as a writer too, if you compare this chapter to the first one, there's a huge improvement.If I ever did come back and write stories I'd probably write the whole entire thing before putting it on here. Just so there's no two year gaps. But anyways, thank you to everyone who's read or given feedback because it really means a lot to me.
Thank you guys,
Sgalati528