Diamond In The Rough

Prologue

Once upon a time in a faraway land, there sat a kingdom. The kingdom was Altea. Its rulers were King Shiro and Queen Allura. A year after marrying they had a son who they named Keith. Keith looked very much like Shiro, black hair and pale skin. His eyes were violet made from a mixture of his parents' eyes. Allura passed away when Keith was four and Shiro was left to raise Keith and rule a kingdom on his own.

But enough back story. Let's get to the story. To begin we follow a traveling merchant named Slav, on his way to Altea.

"Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place

Where the caravan camels roam

Where it's flat and immense

And the heat is intense

It's barbaric, but hey, it's home

When the wind's from the east and the sun's from the west

And the sand in the glass is right

Come on down stop on by

Hop a carpet and fly

To another Altean night

Altean nights, like Altean days

More often than not

Are hotter than hot

In a lot of good ways

Altean nights, 'neath Altean moons

A fool off his guard

Could fall and fall hard

Out there on the dunes "

Slav was busy setting up his shop that he didn't notice the reader was standing in front of him watching him. He turned around and jumped letting out a shriek as he saw the reader staring at him. After calming down he cleared his throat and spoke, his accent clear in his voice.

"Good evening to you worthy friend. Please, please, come closer," the reader stepped forwards, perhaps a little too close. "Too close, a little too close," Slave said pushing the reader back a few steps. "Much better, Welcome to Altea, a city of mystery, of enchantment, and the finest merchandise," Slave motioned to the items laid out "on sale today, come on down!". He picked up a strange looking item which confused the reader on what it was.

"Combination hookah and coffee maker--also makes Julienne fries. Will not break," he tapped it on the table a few times and jumped as it broke. "It broke," he stated glaring at the item and tossing it to the side, picking up a new item "Ooohhh! Look at this! I have never seen one of these intact before. This is the famous Dead Sea Tupperware. Listen to this," he pulled the lid off a little bit and made a raspberry sound with his mouth. He laughed to himself.

"Still good," the reader rolled their eyes and turned to leave, but Slav ran in front of them stopping them. "Wait, don't go!" the reader stopped to listen to what the crazy merchant had to say. "I can see that you're only interested in the exceptionally rare. I think then, you would be most rewarded to consider...this," Slav reached into his sleeve and pulled out another item. It was a golden lamp. The reader was confused on why the merchant would think they would be interested in a plain old lamp.

"Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what is outside, but what is inside that counts," the reader once again turned in a different direction to leave but was stopped by Slav once more. "This is no ordinary lamp! It once changed the course of a young man's life. A young man who liked this lamp was more than what he seemed. A diamond in the rough. Perhaps you would like to hear the tale?".

The reader shrugged and stayed put. Slav tilted the lamp and out poured glowing purple sand.

"It begins on a dark night," he spoke throwing the sand in the air. "where a dark man waits, with a dark purpose."

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In the dark of the night, in a desert, a man sat on a horse waiting. He was dressed in black and on his shoulder sat a black bird with purple eyes. In the distance, another man rides up on a horse dressed The man had purple skin and yellow eyes. He had ears on his head, all traits signaling he was galra. He was dressed in long billowy black pants, a red blouse, a dark gold belt around his waist, a black sleeveless long vest, brown shoes. His name was Morvak.

"You're late," the other man spoke glaring at the other.

"A thousand apologies Lotor," Lotor rolled his eyes.

"You have it then?". Morvak nodded and reached into his pocket.

"I had to slit a few throats just to get this for you," he spoke pulling out half of a golden medallion. Lotor reached out to grab it but Morvak pulled his hand back. "Ah, ah, ah the treasure!" the bird on Lotor's shoulder squawked and picked the medallion out of Morvak's hand flying back to Lotor and giving him the piece.

"Trust me, you'll eventually get what's coming to you," Lotor pulled out the other half of the medallion and connected the pieces together. The medallion begins to glow and flew out of Lotor's hands. The horse startled and reared up, the medallion flying off towards the dune. "Follow it!" Lotor snapped as Morvak got on his horse and they rode off following it.

The medallion flew until it reached a large sand dune, separating into two pieces again and plunged into the dune. The dune then began to rise slowly forming a lions head that glowed a soft white. The medallions serving as its eyes, Lotor smiled.

"After all my years of searching here, it is, the Cave of Wonders!" Morvak sat on his horse in awe. Lotor turned to Morvak "remember, bring me the lamp, I don't care for the rest, that lamp is mine," Morvak nodded and climbed shakily off his horse. He approached the lion's open mouth which with a glance down was the entrance to the cave. With Morvak far enough away, the bird on Lotor's shoulder, Sendak began to speak.

"Where did you dig this pathetic mutt up?" Lotor turned to him with a glare.

"Shut it you," he turned back to Morvak. Startling all of them the lion begins to speak.

"Who disturbs my slumber?" Morvak shivered at the deep voice of the lion.

"It is I, Morvak a humble thief," the cave responded.

"Know this. Only one may enter here, one whose worth lies far within. A diamond in the rough." Morvak turned to Lotor who glared and motioned forward.

"What are you waiting for? Go on!" Morvak turned back to the cave, its mouth opening again to allow entrance. He stepped inside and made a move to continue walking. The lion then slammed its mouth shut and slowly returned back to being a sand dune, the medallion falling to the sand again. Lotor glared the medallion and let out a scream of rage.

"Seek thee out, the diamond in the rough," Sendak glared at the sand dune.

"I can't believe it. I just don't believe it. We're never gonna get a hold of that stupid lamp! Just forget about it. Look at this. Look at this. I'm so ticked off that I'm molting!" Lotor turned and slapped the bird off his shoulder, Sendak flew and picked up the medallion pieces.

"Patience Sendak, Morvak was obviously less worth than he seemed," Sendak rolled his eyes back on Lotor's shoulder.

"Oh, there's a big surprise. That's an incred--I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from not surprise! What're we gonna do? We got a big problem here, a big prob-," Lotor growled and slammed Sendak's beak closed.

"Yes, we do. Only one may enter. I must find this one, this...diamond in the rough."

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Authors Note: Want to see the outfits in this AU? Check out my DeviantArt account under the name animelover8224. The outfits will be under the folder titled Klance Aladdin AU in my gallery,