Hello everyone and here is another scene, please enjoy!

chubbysquirrel132: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! By the way my favorite animal is a squirrel!

Bookworm Gal: Thanks! I enjoy writing it!

rollingbell: Yes it's adorable isn't it?

Friendship

(Takes place before the series and sometime after the Return of Jafar)

Iago didn't learn until one fateful evening, how much Alaric really cared for him.

Iago swooped and flew about the sands outside the marketplace, stretching his wings. He dipped and dived, hovered and circled. Freedom in the skies, he often had wanted and now that freedom was possible. Jafar had never let Iago out of his sight for long, unless sending him on some secret spying mission. That was his specialty, the silent-winged ninja to the creepy old vizier.

Only…now he didn't have to live like that anymore. He could fly around and do what he wanted to do. No more listening to psychotic sorcerers and no more punishments for talking aloud. He could finally break away from the 'dumb' parrot guise.

As he flew in the fading sunlight, he became aware of a pair of eyes following his every movement. Iago chanced a brief look in the direction and rolled his eyes. Alaric was perched on the top of the last rooftop, watching him with that grin on his face. Iago never understood why the boy gave him that look. For some reason that single solitary hopeful happy look, unnerved him.

"Hey, Iago!" Said boy greeted, grinning like a kid that just won the Jackpot when the parrot finally flew over to him.

"Finally decided to stop spying on me?" Iago asked and Alaric flushed.

"I wasn't spying on you." He murmured and then when Iago raised a brow he quickly added: "Honest! I was just curious where you had gone too." The parrot scowled. Couldn't that kid just leave him alone for one minute without showing up?

"What were you doing out here anyway?" Alaric asked and Iago snorted.

"Flying. What did it look like?" He replied in his usual snarky tone. He waited to see if Alaric actually reacted to his attitude and couldn't help but smirk at the small twitch that his tone gave the kid.

"Was it fun? It looked fun." Iago didn't answer and didn't really want too. He noticed that Alaric seemed to be watching the dying light and Iago sighed. So much for flying in the starlight, now he was responsible for taking Alaric home. Because if he didn't, he would get into trouble by just about everyone and that was something that the parrot did not want to mess with tonight. It would just be another excuse for the Sultan to hate him more.

When the boy had jumped down from the roof to the awning and back on solid ground, Iago flew down to fly ahead of him. Iago's mind suddenly produced images of sleep and the parrot stifled a yawn.

They passed a few houses that were lit with small lights, showing sights of children and their parents sitting together or being put to bed. Iago noticed that Alaric paid these people no mind, keeping his eyes planted firmly elsewhere. Did the boy even have parents? Were they dead? Did Aladdin really raise him alone?

"Are you okay?" Alaric asked, when he noticed the parrot's wondering mind.

"Just thinking." Iago answered and pushed on ahead of him. There was no need to tell him what he was thinking. He was pretty sure Alaric didn't care. He ignored the boy when he started telling him about something or another. The kid could ramble about things that Iago felt no desire to listen too. After a few more minutes of this not letting up, Iago's temper flared. Why was this kid getting on his nerves so bad? Could he not shut up and leave him be? Iago wanted nothing more than to suddenly fly out of sight and let the kid find his own way home.

"…I knew though." The boy concluded and Iago actually let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't heard however. "I knew it when I saw you." Iago paused. He had been talking about him?

"What?" Iago voiced aloud and Alaric turned to him.

"That you would be my friend. I just knew it." Iago felt his blood boil. What the hell was wrong with this kid? The parrot had had enough. First, he had had his flight interrupted, second the kid wouldn't shut up, and third….Well that kid was extremely annoying!

"Would you just shut up?" Iago snapped. "It bad enough that you follow me around constantly inside, but now you can't stop following me outside? And on top of that, you won't stop talking!" Alaric flinched, but Iago was on a roll, not caring when hurt flashed in the boy's ocean blue eyes.

"Hey, news flash, genius! I'm a parrot, but even I need some freakin' space! And some quiet too! Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"Fine!" Alaric snapped back, making Iago instantly regretful. "I just wanted to hang out with you. I thought that since you are my friend, that we could talk without Abu or anyone else getting in the way. I didn't know it was me you were trying to get away from!" The boy's gaze had anger and hurt mixed together so passionately that there was no doubt that he was really feeling it. Iago slumped when the boy turned away from him.

"So, I'll just take my leave then." Alaric stomped off into the darkness, leaving a very mixed up Iago alone.

"Hey, kid, wait!" Iago cried and flew after him. Iago searched the shadows, but found nothing. "Kid?" He called again. All was silent until he heard the shout.

"Let me go!" Iago gulped, now recognizing that this was the part of Agrabah that most decent people avoided. "Let go!" Alaric cried again and the parrot located the boy. Peering around a corner, he spotted Alaric being held off the ground by a really tall thief, while his normal sized partner thrust a dagger at him.

"Where is that friend of yours you was talking too?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have any." Alaric replied, giving the thief a dirty look. "Now let me down!"

"The parrot, brat! Where is he?"

"Flew the coop I guess, but I really don't know what you are talking about." Alaric responded. Iago was puzzled. The boy was...hiding him?

"We both saw you! Chatting away with it you were. Now where is it?"

"Maybe he flew south for the winter? How would I know?" Iago rolled his eyes. That kid spent too much time around the Genie.

"Keep talking like that and I'll gut you now." The dagger thief hissed, while the only holding Alaric gave the boy a rough shake.

"Start talking, street rat, or you'll get hurt."

"But he said not to talk to him. How can I answer you if I can't talk?" The boy questioned and Iago snickered quietly at the look on the thieves' faces.

"Hmm, he's got a point there." The tall one stated. "What do we do now?"

"Let's just take what he's got and go."

"Wha-Hey, stop it!" Alaric shouted as he was held down. The thief with the dagger searched the boy's vest and Alaric gave him a good kick in the face. The thief yelped and fell backwards, giving the boy time to wriggle out of the other's hold and take off sprinting down the alley.

"Oi! He took my gold!" The tall thief stated and Iago looked at Alaric who stood at the end of the ally, a sack in his hand.

"Oh, was this yours?" He asked. "My bad." Alaric grinned and took off with the gold. Iago flew after him, but he didn't get far when something snatched him out of the air. He squawked in surprise and hoped that Alaric had gotten far away.

"Looky, here I found the parrot!" The tall thief stated and Iago gulped.

"So the little brat was telling the truth. He really didn't know where the parrot was."

"Now we got him!" Iago tried to get out of the hand, but the grip was way too tight.

Wham!

The dagger wielding thief went down like a sack of potatoes, a barrel covering half of his body. The tall thief looked all around in alarm, but didn't see anything and Iago looked around too. Suddenly another barrel came from the sky and it hit the thief in the head, directly knocking him out. Iago was released as the thief went down and he jumped when someone snickered behind him.

"Hm, that last one didn't work out like I wanted too, but at least he's out." Alaric murmured and Iago looked up at him. The boy didn't meet his eyes. "Well, come on then. We better go before Al and Genie start looking for us." Iago flew up and hesitated a moment before landing on the boy's shoulder. Alaric never pushed him off like he expect, but no reaction from him, made him guiltier.

"Um…kid? Why did you do that, after everything I said?" Alaric shrugged.

"I couldn't leave you there."

"Well….thanks."

"Look, Iago." Alaric murmured. "The truth is…I only hang around you so much, because I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what? You just took out two thieves on your own!"

"I was afraid that you might leave."

Iago was shocked for a moment. "I promised didn't I? I promised I would stay."

"Promises have been broken before." The hurt in his voice made Iago wince and the parrot put a comforting wing on the boy's head, though that itself was awkward, since he wasn't really sure of what he was doing.

"I made a promise and I don't play to break it." Iago said sincerely, not really sure where the words had come from. Alaric looked at him.

"Really?"

"Honest." Iago had never really felt that he deserved the friendship that Alaric had so freely given him, but he couldn't deny that it made him feel safe, like someone actually cared for him.

"Okay, then I will make you a promise."

"What's that?"

"I will protect you."

"Protect…But why?"

"Whether you like it or not, I'm your friend." Alaric stated firmly, the eleven-year-olds voice sounding very grownup. "And so, I will take watch your back."

"Really?"

"Have I let you down so far?" He asked and Iago thought about it. No he hadn't. Just this morning he had helped Iago escape from a livid Rasoul.

"No. No, I guess you haven't." Iago concluded and Alaric actually beamed. "And I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

"Me too. I'm just glad to know that I won't wake up one day and find you gone."

"I'll let you know when I want to go kid. For now, I like hanging around this place."

"Good, because I like having you around." Alaric stated and Iago felt warmed by those words. No one had ever said that before.

"Hey, 'Laric?" Iago ventured, trying out a nickname he had been thinking of using. To his surprise, Alaric's eyes lit up with a full blast of happiness and they practically shimmered. And what was more surprising was the fact that Iago had hoped for that reaction.

"Yeah, Iago?"

"I guess you're not such an annoying kid after all. Thanks for being there for me."

"No problem, Iago. What are friends for?"

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