Title: Forgiveness
Fandom: Aladdin
Summary: While having an awkward moment to themselves, the Sultan and Iago end up sharing a few overdue words.
Notes: This takes place after the events in "The Return of Jafar".
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The room filled with laughter as the group gathered around for their extravagant dinner in the Palace; not having a care in the world. The sun was setting outside the marble walls of the palace, giving the room a warm light of reds and gold. Around the room were tall lanterns that were readily lit and prepared to keep the rooms lit once the sun set completely.
The dinner party itself contained several strange members; three humans, a genie, a parrot, a small monkey, and a magical rug. The seven of them however, seemed oblivious to this fact as they continued to laugh at the blue genie's antics.
"Oh! Now where did those spoons go?" Genie was asking himself as he scratched the top of his head; looking around himself. Genie was sitting at the far end of the table, opposite to where the Sultan was sitting. Aladdin and Jasmine were sitting to Sultan's left, while Abu, Iago, and Carpet were sitting on his right. Everyone had their own fluffy red pillow to sit on as they sat around the table. A blue and green rug lay underneath them and the table, contrasting nicely with the white marble flooring.
Sultan was already laughing hard but seemed to laugh even harder as the spoons started dancing on the top of Genie's head. Aladdin and Jasmine both laughed as well, though not nearly as hard as Sultan was. Everyone at the table knew how much the Sultan of Agrabah had taken a liking to their resident genie. Though in their opinions, it was very difficult not to love Genie and his silly antics and friendly personality.
"Genie, they're on top of your head" offered Aladdin with a chuckle.
Genie looked up and saw that the spoons were still dancing on top of his head. "Oh! Come here!" growled Genie as he tried to grab at the spoons with his hands. Thought the spoons started to fight back, refusing to be grabbed at and used for dinner.
There was only one member at the table who was amused with Genie's display with the spoons. "Oh, would you stop fooling around so that we can eat?" groused Iago, who was sitting closest to Genie.
Genie stopped in mid motion to look down at the parrot. "Well, excuse me! How would YOU like to be used as kitchen utensils!" With a swift movement of his hand, it looked as though the Genie was about to do just that: turn Iago into a spoon.
Iago cried out in alarm, ruffling his wings and waving them in front of him. "No! No, no! Don't you even think about it!"
Aladdin chuckled from where he was sitting next to Jasmine, one of his hands clasped firmly over hers. "Come on, Iago. He's just playing around. Let him have some fun."
Abu gave a cry of agreement as he glared at Iago from his seat beside him.
Iago looked around the table to see that he was completely outnumbered. "Geez, you say one thing!" He shook his head.
Sultan, who had stopped laughing the moment Iago had started talking; cleared his throat. "Uhh, yes, perhaps we should carry on with dinner, Genie. As entertaining as you and the spoons have been, we shouldn't let our meal go cold."
Iago blinked at the Sultan, having not expected Sultan to agree with him; of all people. It was not a secret that Sultan had a disliking when it came to Iago and usually jumped at the chance to put him down or insult him. It was also rare for Sultan to tell Genie, even in a polite way, to stop playing around.
Though if anyone else noticed any of this, they left it unsaid. Genie just grinned widely at Sultan and with a grand salute began dishing out the food to everyone, clearly not bothered at all by Sultan's comment.
"Father, if you would excuse me, I would like to go and wash my hands" spoke Jasmine. Sultan nodded to her, giving her permission to do so. Aladdin looked up as she stood; clearly saddened that she was leaving, even for just a few minutes.
The princess saw this and giggled. "You can come with me if you want" she said sweetly, giving him a knowing smile. Aladdin blushed furiously as he turned to the Sultan.
"Ahhh, I'm gonna go too….if that's okay…." He mumbled nervously.
"Go on, my boy" chuckled the Sultan.
After the two walked out of the room, Genie, who had been looking over the menu he had created for the evening's dinner, gasped loudly and dramatically, causing Abu and Iago to jump in surprise. "Ahhhhh! Oh, I completely forgot about the soufflé! Oh! I'll bet it's ruined!" His voice was high picthed and screechy. And without another moment the Genie was gone as he vanished into his lamp that was sitting between his and Aladdin's pillow.
Sultan gave a sigh as he was now alone with two friends who couldn't speak and one of whom he had nothing to say to. Carpet looked back and forth between Iago and Sultan, sensing a tension between them that made the situation awkward. He glanced down at Abu, who was picking at a grape on his plate, waiting for the rest of the meal to be shared. He then glanced at Iago, who was clearly trying his hardest not to look in the Sultan's direction and attempt to be as invisible as possible until the others got back.
Carpet then made a decision; something had to be done. He prodded at Abu with one of his tassels. Abu looked up with a slight frown and Carpet gestured for the two of them to leave. The monkey cocked his head to one side, not understanding. Carpet continued to motion in the direction behind them, trying to get him to understand.
Frustrated, Carpet grabbed Abu around his middle and flew off; Abu screaming in protest the whole way out of the room.
Iago and Sultan had watched the exchange with curiosity, though had both remained silent. The two of them met each other's eye for a moment before both looking away immediately. Iago cleared his throat and ruffled his feathers a little as he repositioned himself on the pillow. Sultan cleared his own throat and sat back a little more leisurely.
The seconds seemed to last hours. The tension and awkwardness that had filled the dining room area was so thick it could be cut with a knife.
After what seemed like hours, Sultan finally sighed and began speaking quietly, "Iago….I know you and I are not exactly…..friends…" Iago's eyes had gone wide the moment the Sultan had begun speaking as he turned to look at the older man. He waited to see what more Sultan would say. "Though the reasons are clearly obvious…"
"I'll say…." Huffed Iago, being able to think of half a dozen reasons the two of them disliked each other so much.
Sultan seemed slightly annoyed by his comment but he took a moment to calm himself before continuing. "I suppose that is neither here nor there. Though I would like to say…I am sorry….."
"W-What?" sputtered Iago. Now Iago knew something was up. Something wasn't right here. The Sultan was apologizing to him?
"I am sorry for stuffing those crackers into your mouth all those times…." Explained Sultan as he looked down into his lap.
Iago couldn't do anything more but blink at him. "Oh…..uh…." He tried to form some coherent words. He regained himself a moment later. "Well, you should be, those things tasted terrible!" He said this is a light tone; almost teasing.
"All you had to do was tell me you didn't like them, Iago. I would have stopped" defended Sultan, his chubby fingers playing with a ring on one of his fingers.
"You would not! You were too blissfully unaware to notice my hatred of them every time you got them out! I would dodge you so many times but you still managed to get them in my mouth!" cried iago.
Sultan shrugged. "I would have noticed. Back then you didn't say much. Just occasionally repeated what someone said, like a normal parrot. Had you spoken like you do now, you could have told me."
The Sultan had him there. It was true; he never used to talk in front of people like he does now. He would only speak whenever he was alone with Jafar. Memories of his times with Jafar were still too painful and he shrugged away the memories. He didn't want to think about back then. He didn't want to think about the trouble he'd caused. He still does cause trouble, but nothing like he used to. At least now the trouble he gets himself into is usually in the aide of his new friends. Or his own personal gain for riches.
"Jafar didn't want me talking in front of anyone. And frankly, neither did I. I had nothing to say to you people" grumbled Iago.
"I always thought you were an adorable little parrot back then" commented Sultan.
"Yeah, yeah…." Grumbled the parrot. He paused though as his words sunk in. "Wait, you don't think I'm good looking now?" He refused to consider himself adorable. No, he was a manly bird. 'Adorable' was not a word he would use to describe himself. 'Handsome' or 'attractive' were far better words for him.
Sultan shrugged his shoulders, taking a hand and using it to adjust the blue feather on his hat. "Well, that was before I learned your true nature." This was said a little more quietly and Sultan's tone was no longer light.
Iago frowned, his beady eyes watching the Sultan behind his large orange beak. He grabbed at some of the grapes that were on the plate in front of them, dangling them from the vine in front of himself and picking them off one by one before eating them. Between grapes he said, "Well, sorry I didn't end up being the adorable little parrot you thought I was. But in my defense, I was just looking after myself."
Sultan, who was clearly looking as though he was regretting even starting this conversation, narrowed his eyes. "How so? Betraying Agrabah and doing Jafar's bidding was your way of looking after yourself?"
Iago backpedaled, seeing that he was now between a rock and a hard place in this conversation. He put down the grapes and gestured with his wings in a negative. "No! You don't get it! You don't know what Jafar was like! Alright, fine! I admit it! There was a time when I happily followed Jafar and worked for him. But that was back before he went insane and had himself turned into a Genie! After that, he changed! He wasn't the same guy I once knew! He threatened me!"
Sultan continued to listen to Iago's side of the tale; having never heard it. He had never given the parrot a true chance to explain himself for his actions. Ever since Jafar betrayed them all and tried taking over Agrabah, Sultan no longer saw the sweet little parrot who always sat on his royal vizier's shoulder when he looked at Iago. Instead he saw a loud-mouthed parrot who had tortured him in his very own thrown room by having him dressed up as a jester while he stuffed crackers into his mouth.
Iago continued to defend his side of the story of the recent events that had taken place in Agrabah. "It wasn't until Aladdin saved my life that I-" he paused, not knowing how to word his thoughts. He shifted uncomfortably. Iago was not the type of bird who shared his emotions with others easily. It was even more difficult since he was speaking to the Sultan; of all people.
"It was then you realized your mistakes" offered the Sultan.
If Iago could blush he would be blushing furiously as he turned his head away. "I guess so you could say that…."
"Well" started Sultan, adjusting the way he was sitting on the pillow. "I am sorry, Iago. I am sorry for treating you harshly when you came back here. However, after what you had done-Well, let us just say it was hard to put things in the past."
Iago sighed and nodded, not knowing what to say to that. There was a small part of him that just wanted to start laughing at the Sultan's face. There was a part of him, that at one time, would have LOVED to hear these words coming from the Sultan of Agrabah. There was a time when he would be taking his words and throwing them back at his face.
Yet now, after all that has happened, Iago couldn't find it in him to do such a thing. He was now friends with people he had once despised. He was now living a life as the 'good guy' rather than the bad guy. This didn't mean he didn't still have his moments of greed and ignorance, but it meant that he now appreciated what he now had before him. He was thankful he was not rotting in the dungeons at this very moment, just like he would be had he been anyone else in the kingdom after what he had done.
It was his off-handedness that won out as he finally replied, "Eh, don't worry about it! Let bygones be bygones! And frankly, I'm sorry I did what I did back then. Honestly, it's not something I like to think about. Jafar is finally out of my life and I would like to keep it that way! I appreciate what all you guys have done for me. I may not show it all that often….but….I do. And….I'm sorry too….."
Sultan smiled at his response and opened his mouth to say something else, but it was at this moment that Aladdin and Jasmine walked back into the room. They were holding hands and talking quietly between themselves; not even an inch of space between them. The two of them looked like the happiest couple on Earth; so content and comfortable with each other.
"Hey, where did everyone go?" asked the dark haired young man as he noticed the absence of Genie, Abu, and Carpet.
"Genie said something about a soufflé and went into his lamp and the carpet and the monkey disappeared somewhere. I don't care! Let's eat! "snapped Iago. It seemed his moment of honesty and maturity was over and he was back to being his annoying and loud-mouth self. Sultan could only smirk at the parrot; it seemed old habits die hard. Abu and Carpet entered the room a minute later, both of them receiving curious looks.
"Where'd you go?" demanded Iago accusingly. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn the two of them had left on purpose to allow him and the Sultan to be left alone. Though he held too much pride in him to give Carpet and Abu that much credit; especially the latter.
Abu scowled at Iago and turned his head in the other direction; tuning him out, much to the parrot's annoyance.
Several minutes later Genie re-appeared from his lamp with a large frown on his face. "Well, that was a disaster." He was covered in baking powder and vanilla cream. "Sorry, everyone! Let's get back to the meal!"
Everyone cried out in agreement on that for they were all starving. No one asked Iago or Sultan about what they spoke about while they had been gone and for that Iago was grateful. It was not a conversation he wished to share with anyone. It was a matter between him and the Sultan. He was thankful to have the Sultan's forgiveness and to know that the Sultan knew he too was sorry.
Yet as Genie placed a plate of food in front of him, Iago practically forgot all about his talk with the Sultan, too buys thinking about the wonderful food he was eating and how lucky he now was to be living at the Palace without the burden of guilt. Life at the Palace was great, thought the parrot as he happily ate his food.
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Author's Note: Alright, so this was down right random. Aladdin was on TV and I ended up watching it and this idea popped into my head and refused to leave me alone until I wrote it. It's pure fluff. I'm also very sorry if anyone was out of character. I've never written in this fandom before so I tried my best to remember how everyone would react. Please review and let me know what you think. -EricaX