Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Aladdin characters, but you already knew that!

Golden Aspirations

By Sindie

Chapter One

"Oh, c'mon, Blue Boy! If it's as easy as pointing your pinky finger and making stuff appear, why can't you just do it already?"

The small red parrot pointed an accusatory feather-finger at the large blue genie as they stood in a face-off in Aladdin's hovel.

"I've told you before, Iago," Genie replied in an annoyingly calm manner, "if I went about giving people gold like it cost nothing, it would cheapen its value. Agrabah's economy would suffer."

"I'm not talkin' about the whole city!" Iago shouted, pulling at his head feathers in frustration. "I meant just me!"

Genie folded his arms over his chest and purposefully turned his head away, refusing to look at Iago. He sighed, then changed into a college professor, blackboard and all behind him. He pointed at some mathematical figures on the board and said in a deliberately slow voice, "Too much gold will ruin not only Agrabah, but anyone who wishes for it." He whisked away the board and the teacher attire, adding, "If anyone could just have everything they ever wanted, they'd never know the value of a buck or an honest day's work. I spent thousands of years being a slave to other people's whims. I'm not about to start that over again now that I'm finally free."

Genie's normally jovial face was frowning.

Iago, for his part, didn't seem to care a whit about Genie's morals or slowly disintegrating mood. Finally, Iago had enough, and he flew directly into Genie's face, beak to nose, and shouted, "Fine! I can take a hint! The bird risks his tail feathers time and again as you bozos drag me on one wild goose chase after another, and for what?! So I can come away empty-winged every time, without fail, when treasure was promised?! You don't wanna help me? Fine! Go frolic with Aladdin and that hairy primate and compare notes on how you're somehow ethically superior to the bird!"

"That's the best idea you've had all day," Genie muttered between clenched teeth. "Don't blame me that you're missing out on dinner at the palace." With those parting words, Genie vanished, leaving Iago alone.

Iago sat down with a huff and crossed his wings over his chest, glaring at the palace in the distance.

"So, what?" he groused to himself. "Let him go off all happy and jolly and make merry. It's all too easy for him."

Iago's stomach growled, and he wondered what dinner at the palace would be. In spite of himself, he hated to miss such an opportunity. He never understood why Aladdin insisted on living in this mouldy hovel after he was engaged to the princess. While they spent the occasional night and plenty of time during any given day at the palace, the group didn't live there. For that, Iago resented his friends.

I had it all when I lived in the palace, Iago thought with envy. Wealth, power, comfort…

"But who am I kidding? I'd never go back to living with the likes of Jafar again," he said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. "Still, why can't Al just live at the palace? Is it so wrong to want to be well off?"

Having calmed some, Iago made up his mind to fly to the palace. It was times like this when he was glad he was a bird. Flying over the palace walls made it much easier to enter. Iago could well imagine Rasoul and the other guards giving him the third degree about trying to go inside. He wasn't sure if the guards disliked him on account of his previous association with Jafar or simply due to the fact that he could be annoying and loud.

The sun was already setting by the time Iago flew into the dining room. Some fruit remained on the table, and Iago was surprised to find that the main course had already ended. Dessert of baklava was piled high on several plates lining the length of the table, and Iago's mouth watered at the sights alone, let alone the smells.

He dropped onto the table between Aladdin and Jasmine and didn't waste a second announcing his presence. "All right, Al, pass me the baklava!"

Aladdin hadn't seen Iago come in and startled upon hearing the parrot's grating voice.

"Iago!" he exclaimed, then quickly recovered. "Nice of you to finally join us."

Iago detected sarcasm in his friend's tone, which immediately set him off. "Huh, what's that supposed to mean? Can't a bird ask for a handout?"

"According to Genie, you were asking him for more than a handout," Aladdin said with a raised eyebrow.

Iago glared at Genie, then at Abu, who was wagging his finger at him. He growled and shot up into the air, thoroughly irritated. "Jeez! Is nothing secret around here?! Did ya spend the whole evening chattin' it up about me?!"

"Iago, calm down," Jasmine tried to reason. "No one is trying to accuse you of anything."

"Except greed," Genie murmured.

"What was that?" Iago turned hotly toward Genie.

"Uh, except Greece," Genie corrected jokingly, wishing to lighten the situation. He couldn't stay in a bad mood for long and so turned into an Olympic athlete. "I was just saying to Sultan that Agrabah really could use some discus and shotput games. Go long!"

Genie threw a disc, and as it went whirling through the air, it came straight at Iago, who didn't have enough time to move out of the way. The fast moving projectile caught him in the stomach and hurled him through the hall, ending in a painful crunch into the wall.

Everyone gathered about the table chuckled. Iago's back and head were on fire with agony, and they were laughing! He peeled himself off the wall and was tempted to explode, his anger at its limit. When no one seemed concerned for his welfare, Iago swallowed down his rage, which settled inside as a hurt more painful than any physical hurt he was feeling. Without a word, he left the dining hall.

The laughter stopped.

"Uh-oh," Genie said in a small voice. "Did I go too far?"

"Aladdin, someone should make sure Iago's okay," Jasmine said, guilt etched on her pretty features.

"He's fine." Aladdin tried to wave off Iago's departure. "I don't think going after him when he's like this is going to help."

"Can we trust him by himself?" Sultan asked. "That bird is likely to try to find trouble even when there's none about."

Aladdin inwardly cringed at Sultan's words. While there was truth in them, Aladdin didn't wish to think the worst of someone he considered a friend.

"I said I'd look out for him when he first came back," Aladdin stated. "Maybe I should check on him."

"That was over a year ago," Jasmine replied, "but then again, maybe Father's right." Having an idea, she turned to Abu. "Abu, why don't you go see if Iago's okay? Maybe he'd take better to you than any of us."

Abu scowled and squeaked indignantly, but he relented when he received glares from the others.

"Oh, alwight," he said, scampering away.

x x x

Iago didn't want to be found. While it was true that he had stolen away in Jafar's old lab before, he returned now, desperate in his frustration to find something, anything, that would help him find treasure, or at least a way of getting riches without having to do a lot of unnecessary nasty footwork.

"Let them laugh," Iago said to himself. He puffed up his chest in pride, trying to quell the weakness in him. "They'll be the last ones laughing when I'm finally rich, and this time, I don't care what I have to do to get it. I'm sick and tired of being the brunt of their amusement, of risking my feathers for their charity causes, of being denied what I really want."

The rational part of his mind knew he should have avoided Jafar's lab at all costs, that he would do well to stay away from reminders of his past. For the first time in a long time, Iago was second guessing everything he had come to believe since becoming friends with Aladdin and the rest of them.

In his heart, he knew he would never be like them, so they could never understand him. Maybe it was time to embrace who he really was.