Magic in Their Lives: Chapter 1

"Ready, sis?"

"...Yep."

"Okay, we go on three. 1... 2... 3!"

A young boy, clad in nothing but grey pants and a teal scarf, and an even younger girl, wearing beige pants and a much too big pale lilac shirt that went down to her thighs, crept as quickly and quietly as they could towards the nearest fruit stand. Earlier, the boy had placed a piece of silver in the road as a means to get the vendor away from the stand long enough for the two of them to grab some fruit and bolt without being seen. As soon as the vendor's back was turned, they made their move. The boy had managed to grab an orange and two bananas and stuff them into his pockets, but as soon as the girl managed to get her hand on a particularly large apple, another grabbed it shortly after. She quietly peeked over the stall to see a small brown monkey, wearing a tiny vest and fez, attached to the apple. With a determined look on her face, she tugged at the apple. But the monkey, equally as determined, refused to let go of it.

"Let go!" she quitely said with another tug. The boy had caught sight of this, and moved to help his little sister.

"There's plenty more here!" he whispered harshly at the monkey. "Get your own!" The monkey only chattered angrily in response and tugged on the apple. The boy and girl then tugged back in retaliation, and pretty soon, it turned into a game of tug-of-war. This continued until a large shadow fell over the three of them. They looked up to see an infuriated vendor holding a very big sword.

"Uh-oh", the three of them said in unison.

"Get your filthy hands off that apple, you little thieves!" the vendor yelled as he swung the sword over his head, aiming it right for them. The three of them let out a scream as the sword was brought down, and the monkey gave one last big tug on the apple, wrenching it out of the girl's grip. The boy quickly pulled his sister out of the way before the sword could strike her, leaving it to get stuck in the wood of the stall. The girl saw this as her chance, and sped off after the monkey, her older brother not too far behind.

"Rawiya! Wait!" the boy called after her as he ran. His striking bright green eyes then widened as he heard a loud crash behind him, and he glanced back to see that the vendor had managed to free his sword, resulting in splintered wood flying all over the place. "Oh, great", the boy murmured as he sped up to catch up with Rawiya, who was still chasing the monkey.

"Come back here, you thieves!" the vendor yelled as he took off after them. The boy finally magaged to catch up to Rawiya and the monkey, just as the monkey took off down an alley, with the two kids following close behind. Rawiya sprinted ahead of her brother, turned a corner, and promptly bumped into something that made her fall onto her back.

"Oww...", she murmured as she got into a sitting position, and her eyes widened as she looked up to see that the something she bumped into was actually a someone. An older boy, who was wearing white pants, a purple vest, and a red fez. And sitting on his shoulder... was the monkey. She shot the monkey a glare, but it wasn't like anyone could see it, due to the fact that the already messy bangs of her black hair were now mostly covering her eyes.

"Rawiya!" her brother called as he finally caught up with her. "Are you okay?" he asked as he helped her up to her feet. Rawiya brushed her bangs out of her eyes, slightly embarassed.

"I'm fine, Zaki..." she muttered looking down, refusing to meet her brother's gaze. From the older boy's shoulder, the monkey chattered at them. This earned another quick glare from Rawiya. The older boy then held up the apple.

"Did you guys take this from Abu?" he asked. Now it was Zaki's turn to glare.

"No, that monkey of yours took it from my sister! She had it first!" The older boy appeared to consider this for a second. He then shot a look at the monkey on his shoulder and held up the apple once again.

"Abu..." he started with an accusing tone. "Did you take this from her?" The monkey attempted to grab at the apple, but the boy pulled it away at the last second. "Abu!" he repeated, more sternly this time. "Well?" The monkey pouted, knowing the jig was up, and nodded. The boy then walked towards Rawiya, who shyly hid behind Zaki, and held out the apple to her with a smile.

"Here. Sorry about Abu." Rawiya slowly stepped out from behind Zaki, and hesitantly took the apple.

"Thank you", she quietly replied. "And it's alright. He's probably just as hungry as we are." The monkey pouted once again and nodded in response, and this made both her and the boy laugh a little. Zaki smiled and reached into his pants pocket, pulling out one of the bananas he managed to swipe back at the fruit stand. He then peeled it, and held it out to the monkey, whose eyes widened in response.

"Here. I know it's not an apple, but--" he didn't even finish his sentence as the monkey grabbed it greedily and dug right into it. After a moment, he looked up from eating and chattered happily at him.

"Abu says 'thank you'", the boy said. "But you know you didn't have to do that." Zaki and Rawiya smiled back at him.

"You're welcome", Rawiya said.

"And it's no problem", Zaki added. "We can always get some more later."

You're sure?" the boy asked. Zaki and Rawiya nodded in response. "Okay... Thanks again!"

And with that, the boy and monkey left. Zaki and Rawiya stayed in the alley a few more moments, and Zaki let out a sigh.

"Come on, Rawiya, let's go..." he said. Rawiya was just about to follow, when someone grabbed her by her shirt.

"Gotcha, you little thief!" it was the fruit vendor from before. "Captain! They're over here!"

Rawiya did the only thing she could do. She screamed. Zaki quickly turned around at the sound, and as soon as he saw that his little sister was in trouble, ran straight for her and the vendor.

"Put her down!" he yelled, and was just about to leap at them, when a pair of muscled arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind, pinning his arms to his sides. He struggled and looked behind him as best as he could to get a look at his captor, and paled when he saw that it was a guard. That's when the captain and the rest of the guards showed up.

"Well, what have we here?" said captain with a cruel smile, revealing a couple missing teeth. He glanced at Zaki, who was still struggling in the guard's arms. "A little street rat..." He then grabbed Rawiya by her shirt, lifting her off her feet. "...and an even smaller street mouse!" Scared for her life, Rawiya began to cry, sobs wracking her tiny frame. Seeing this, Zaki struggled even harder.

"PUT HER DOWN, YOU BIG APE!" he screamed, and began to kick his legs furiously.

"Shut up!" the captain yelled. Suddenly, a furry brown blur flew up and landed on top of the captain's turban. Zaki's eyes widened when he saw that it was Abu. The little monkey smiled at him, and then pulled the captain's turban down over his eyes, causing him to drop Rawiya. As soon as he saw that she was out of the captain's grasp, Zaki smiled, opened his mouth, and bit down as hard as he could on the arms of the guard that was holding him. The guard let out a pained yell and dropped Zaki, who ran over and grabbed Rawiya's hand. Suddenly, Zaki felt someone grab his hand. With wide eyes, the two kids looked up and saw that it was the older boy from before. He winked at them and pulled them both away from the guards. They ran through the streets, alleyways, past old crumbling buildings, and at last came to a stop at an old abandoned building. While they caught their breaths, Rawiya, who was still in tears, clung to Zaki, who hugged her back just as tightly.

"Are you two okay?" the boy asked after finally catching his breath. Zaki rubbed small circles on Rawiya's back as an attempt to calm her down. This seemed to work, as her sobs finally subsided into small hiccups, and the tears stopped flowing.

"We are now, thanks to you", Zaki said with a small smile. It was at this time that Abu finally appeared. "Both of you", he added, his smile turning into a grin. Rawyia sniffled a little, and wiped what was left of her tears away, looking up at the older boy.

"Thank you", she whispered hoarsely, her eyes meeting his. The boy shrugged with a smile.

"No problem", he said. Then he curiously raised an eyebrow as he finally got at good look at the color of her eyes. Or rather, colors. Her left eye was the same vivid green as her brother's eyes, while her right was as blue as the sky. He'd never seen something like that before. It was a rather interesting sight, and for some strange reason that he couldn't explain, he felt that they suited her. Zaki's voice then pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Well, thanks again for saving us" he said as he stood up. "But we'd better get going. Come on Rawiya." Rawiya nodded and stood up as well. They started to walk away, but the older boy stepped in front of them.

"Wait a minute. Where are you going?"

"Home... or whatever you wanna call it." Zaki said with a small shrug. The older boy frowned a little at this.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, but then realization seemed to dawn on him. "You... you guys don't really have a home. Do you?" Sadness crossed the brother and sister's faces, and Zaki sighed at this.

"Well... no", he sadly stated. "Not for a while, now."

"We used to", Rawiya murmured. "But..." she trailed off with tears in her eyes, unable to bring herself to finish. Zaki put his arm around her.

"But we're ok. Really", he said. The older boy didn't buy it.

"No, you're not. Not if the two of you are all alone. Let me help you. Please." Zaki looked at the boy with slight suspicion.

"Why? Why you spend your time on a couple of kids that you just met?"

"Because it's the right thing to do", the boy simply said with a smile. He then got serious again. "Do you two have any parents?" Zaki looked at the ground, sadness in his eyes.

"No. Our dad died when I was only 3. Rawiya wasn't even born yet, so she never knew him."

"What about your mom?" the boy asked. At this, Rawiya's eyes once again filled with tears.

"We lost her about a year ago", Zaki stated quietly. The boy winced at this.

"Oh...I'm sorry. If it's any consolation to you, I lost my mom when I was younger, and I never knew my dad, either."

Zaki and Rawiya looked up at the boy, their eyes meeting his.

"I got an idea" the boy said with a smile. "Why don't you guys come live with us?" The little monkey then climbed up onto Zaki's shoulder and chattered something that sounded like a 'yeah'. Rawiya and Zaki's eyes widened at this.

"Really?" Zaki asked.

"You mean it?" Rawiya added, with hope in her eyes and voice.

"Of course. If you want to." The older boy held out his hand with a smile. Zaki hesitantly shook it.

"Okay." he said. Rawiya and the boy smiled.

"My name's Aladdin", the boy said as the monkey leapt up onto his shoulder. "And you've already met Abu." Abu then chattered something that kinda sounded like 'hello'. Rawiya giggled and shyly waved at him. Zaki smiled at Aladdin.

"I'm Zaki" he then gestured to his sister. "And this is my little sister, Rawiya."

"It's nice to meet you both", Rawiya said with a small smile. Aladdin grinned.

"You too. Now c'mon, guys. Let's go home."

"Home..." Rawiya murmured.

"We like the sound of that", Zaki added with a smile, as the two of them followed their new friends to their new home, and the beginning of their new lives.