Jafar. Come to my room
The whisper was low but clear. Jafar stood up from his desk and picked up his scepter.
"Is it time?" Iago cackled as he flit off the desk and onto Jafar's shoulder. He was much more enthusiastic about having Aladdin go through a series of hypnosis treatments than anyone else.
"It seems it is," Jafar said, licking his finger and then polishing the head of his staff. They walked through the palace towards the royal wing. Once at her door, Jafar knocked, but upon hearing no answer, entered and shut the door behind him. From the bedroom came voices that Jafar followed in.
He stopped short, blinking in confusion upon the sight of Aladdin pacing frantically while Jasmine had her arms folded up, glaring at him in disdain. His gaze finally settled on the dead girl on the floor.
"What the fuck…!" Iago shrieked before catching himself. "Er…squawk!"
"In the name of all that is holy…!" Jafar cried out. "What is going on here?"
Aladdin's sight shot over to him, giving Jafar a mixed look of shock and dread. "Oh, shit, it's Jafar!" With wild motions, Aladdin did the first thing that came to mind, which was to grab the nearest weapon he could. He picked up a shard of broken mirror and ran at Jafar with it raised in the air.
Jafar snapped his fingers and the sheet on the bed flew off of it's own accord. It twirled around Aladdin and cocooned him so that only his head was exposed. With his arms restricted to his sides, Aladdin was struck off balance and he slowly tilted until gravity brought him down with a crash on the floor.
"Help-!"
The edge of the sheet tore off and balled itself up, lodging into Aladdin's open mouth.
"Aladdin brought-" Jasmine began, but was distracted when her hair brush flew off the table and gave Aladdin a few hard smacks on his backside, eliciting some muffled shrieking from the boy.
Jasmine's expression was neutral except for the raised brow she gave Jafar. "Was that really necessary?"
"Quite," Jafar answered. He could hear Iago still chuckling to himself as the sorcerer went to the girl lying on the ground. "Now, give me the facts."
"Aladdin brought a girl here," Jasmine said while Jafar investigated the body. "I caught them having sex. Her name is Aliya. She's been with Aladdin for several months. Her death was an accident when Aladdin pushed her into the mirror. About five people know she's with Aladdin and that he was taking her to the palace."
"There's nothing I can do for the girl," Jafar declared. "She's too far dead."
"Dead!" Iago cawed out, shooting Aladdin a dirty look.
"What do we do about her death?" Jasmine inquired. "There are enough people who know that she went off with Aladdin. If her body is found in or near the palace then it might be deduced that the ruffian claiming to be the future sultan really is Aladdin, so the truth wouldn't be outlandish enough to dismiss anymore, especially since she's not the first person Aladdin has been cavorting with. When the lies keep being revealed, word that he's a philanderer and a troublemaker will be taken as truth. Once that goes public, there might be some setbacks in terms of trust in the government. No citizen wants to hear about murder conspiracies stemming from the top of the hierarchy."
Jafar frowned down at the girl in thought. He had concealed many murders, however never of an innocent civilian. He was usually careful to ensure murders were useful to him and could be blamed on someone else. There was lots of planning before causing his victims to die of a health ailment, a fluke accident or by mysteriously disappearing in believable ways. Looking at Aliya, he didn't know this girl, who she was associating with, or who might be looking for her tomorrow when she didn't turn up. Of all the dead bodies he'd concealed, this young, naive woman's was probably the most complicated one he'd ever encountered.
"I need to know everything about this girl," Jafar stated, flicking his fingers towards Aladdin. The boy was hoisted into the air and stood up on his feet, looking like a free-standing mummy. The rag popped out of his mouth and he gasped out with loud, dry panting.
"Her name is Aliya," Aladdin replied shamefully.
"Give me something I don't already know," Jafar grimaced at him.
"She's seventeen years old. She has an older brother who's a total dick. She lives somewhere in the east end," Aladdin rambled off. "That's all I know!"
"That's all you know?" Jasmine berated. "You can't tell us anything else? Does she have parents? How does she make money? Who are her friends?"
"I don't know, okay?" Aladdin pouted. "I never thought to ask."
"Nothing at all?" Jafar said in disbelief. He stood up to approach Aladdin and shake some sense out of him, but Jasmine put her hand to the Grand Vizier's chest to back him off.
"I believe him. You should have seen his face when I told him I was the princess. This was after several months of hints that he couldn't seem to connect. He's never aware of anyone but himself."
"You don't give me enough credit, you know," Aladdin said to the floor before glancing up at her in renewed courage. "I loved you, Jasmine, but you wouldn't let me be who I am. It breaks my heart to know that you're cheating on me. How could you, Jasmine?"
"Do you know what a hypocrite is?" Jasmine huffed, giving him a stern look.
"Why would you do this?" Aladdin began to cry. It was a clear manipulation tactic to make her feel bad. "We meant so much to each other…"
"First of all," she began, leaning towards him to get into his face. "You were also cheating, but for a much longer period of time and with more people. Can you explain yourself?"
Aladdin shrunk in on himself. "But you wouldn't sleep with me..."
"That's a bullshit excuse. Second of all, I lost all my respect for you around the time you refused to step up and learn how to be a sultan starting with the basic concept of reading. You couldn't even do what a five-year-old could."
"Reading is hard!" Aladdin exclaimed.
"Third, you are immature in every aspect and the only reason I fell for you in the first place was due to a subconscious desperation to humiliate the law pertaining to my obligations of marriage. You were the worst specimen I could find of that matter. It wasn't you I fell in love with. It was my idea of defying the sanctity of everything surrounding my royal duties."
"Who is he?" Aladdin shouted. "Who is pouring all these horrible ideas into your head?"
A hard slap to the cheek caused Aladdin's head to whip to the side with the sound of the smack echoing against the walls.
"Don't ever insinuate that she can't have ideas of her own," Jafar seethed, shaking the sting out of his palm. "Her brilliance has always been there but you're too stupid to notice. Next time you spout ignorance, it'll be my fist."
Aladdin's eyes went incredibly wide especially after Iago fluttered down next to Aladdin and cawed out, "Stupid!"
Jasmine looked at the bird in interest. "Hold on. There might be someone who can answer your questions, Jafar. Iago, did you learn anything while you followed Aladdin?"
"You had me followed?" Aladdin replied in shock. "Who the hell is Iago? What kind of name is th-"
Feathers scraped across his face as Iago tried to poke at his eyes. "Shut up! What kind of stupid name is Aladdin?"
"Aughh! That bird is talking!"
"Of course, I'm talking, you nitwit!"
"Iago," Jafar directed after rolling his eyes. "What did you learn?"
"Considering this numbskull doesn't know anything," Iago slapped at Aladdin again, "you'll be happy to know that I can answer your questions. Aliya doesn't have any parents or a job. She mostly does sexual favors in return for food or a place to stay. She and her older brother are not on good terms but he would definitely notice her missing. So would the hooligans Aladdin hangs out with. They tend to be a vocal lot so expect some of them to lash out when they realize she's gone."
"Who would they blame?" Jasmine wondered.
"Probably Aladdin. Most of them don't think he's actually the prince, but they might go loudly investigating through the streets and eventually wind up at the palace to inquire. Then you've got a problem with them recognizing him."
"Hmm…" Jafar mused. "This might actually be an ongoing problem because once he's sultan and a more visible figurehead, then that group might actually make the connection. I'm not sure we have the ability to silence them all."
"Or nothing could come of it," Jasmine surmised. "They're not exactly a trustful group."
"But they might have evidence that Aladdin is the ruffian causing all the trouble in the marketplace these past few months. That might cause some issues down the line."
"Especially since they consort with some serious criminals," Iago agreed. "They sometimes hang around these scoundrels living in the east end. I know blackmailers and they're definitely the type, not to mention a bunch of thieves, murderers and rapists. Oh, and one arsonist for sure."
"How would you know that?" Jasmine inquired.
"One of them said something about stealing money from a women's legion or whatever before torching it. Guy also gets off on watching fire. What a sicko…"
Jasmine shot a look at Jafar who intentionally evaded eye contact with her. "Well, at least that solves the mystery about who actually set fire to the women's legion headquarters a month ago," she said, looking for his reaction.
"Yes. Fine. I framed the former minister of education," Jafar shrugged. "He was in the way of my plans."
"This might actually benefit us," Jasmine replied. She looked to both Jafar and Iago. "I know what to do with Aliya, but I'm going to need both of your help."
"Please, Princess," Iago squawked out a laugh, "you don't have to ask. I got your back!"
Jafar was already smiling evilly and seemed to know what it was she needed him to do. With a wave of his staff, he circled a ring of red light around Aliya's body, whirling it until she was fully immersed. The light suddenly turned solid, encasing her, then shrinking until it was small enough for Iago to grab in his talon and fly it over to Jafar. With another wave, the vanity repaired and righted itself while the rest of the area reassembled to look like nothing sinister had ever occurred in the room.
Jafar then pointed the snake staff at Aladdin and blue smoke circled around him. A flash of white light filtered through the smoke before it dissipated and Aladdin was gone. In his place was a white worm struggling to get out from under the sheet. With a flair in his step, Jafar picked up the worm and raised it to his eyes, laughing out a guttural chuckle. "You have bugged me for too long, boy." He pocketed Aladdin while Iago flew onto his shoulder and Jasmine followed him out the door.
Once they were inside Jafar's lab, the Grand Vizier set the worm inside a little glass jar and sprinkled gold dust on the solid red light that encased the miniature size corpse of Aliya.
"Make sure to hide her well," he told Iago, handing Aliya to the bird.
"Of course, O Mighty Cruel One," Iago saluted before clasping the body into his talon and flying out the window.
Jasmine went to the glass Aladdin was struggling to climb out of and tapped at it ruefully. "We'd better get on with his hypnosis before he causes anymore trouble," she said.
Jafar glanced over at Jasmine in deep thought.
Before him was a woman whose thorns had cut him on occasion before she blossomed into a stunning rose that had bewitched him. He had once entertained ideas of doing away with Jasmine. How much he would have missed should he have carried through with his plans.
And now she was his beautiful companion. He trusted her wholeheartedly, and in his heart he was certain that Agrabah needed her more than anything to reach it's peak of success. Agrabah needed both of them. Together, with their combined strength, power, wits, and determination, they were invincible. Compassion was one of many things he lacked that Jasmine brought to their alliance, and he was glad for it.
He looked back at Aladdin regretfully. Exactly how compassionate Jasmine was remained to be seen.
"I have an idea," he told her with some reluctance.
"I get the feeling I'm not going to like it," she said, side-eyeing him suspiciously.
"No matter how much trouble he's caused, Aladdin has been insignificant throughout his life. Even after marrying you or when given the Military Director's position, he made no impact."
"Yes, we all know he's a nobody," Jasmine responded. "What are you saying? That we have to kill him? Because I don't like that option."
"I'm afraid that's not the end of it, my dear," Jafar answered regretfully. "What if he never existed at all?"
A silence fell in the room, cold and sharp as the notion implanted itself with slow process, followed by the macabre meaning of such a statement.
"What?" Jasmine finally hissed searching Jafar's face for quicker answers. "What exactly do you mean? Wouldn't that cause some kind of issue with the present? For instance, he's the reason Zeyla was in the eastern village. She was there to kill Aladdin. If he never existed, then how would that have come about?"
"What I mean is that I can make it so that the world will simply have forgotten that he existed. In this case, he has lived his life, however once he's gone no one will notice nor remember. It will be as if he was never here at all."
"But…how?" Jasmine asked.
"It's a complex spell. I can make memory falter when focused on an idea."
"Have you used it before?"
Jafar looked up guiltily in the air. "On your father. Several times. But I haven't in a while because the spell is broken after a day or two. I stopped using it because your father, once the spell wears off, goes back to being persistent in his desires for his toys."
"Then what good would that do us if it only lasts for a little while? How could you possibly inflict the whole world?" As soon as Jasmine asked, she gasped once realization dawned on her. "The stone…"
Jafar nodded with a solemnity that frightened her. "Yes, the stone. Or at least one half of it. It will perpetuate the magic for centuries across the globe. This is why I am suggesting he has not had enough impact upon the world. All his actions can be easily explained away through simple pretexts. Your wedding day was simply a grand feast for your coming of age birthday. After the general died, no one took his place as military director because you took up most of the duties yourself. This is believable since you were the one pulling the strings and inspecting the borders. As for the fight in the eastern village, we can say that Rajah was the one that led the cavalry to your rescue near the eastern village. It would be easy to make people believe that the sorceress was trying to cause dissent among the citizens inside Agrabah and had no motive to kill a specific person. Agrabah would believe you had never married because you had been so stubbornly against it even before Aladdin was around. If Aladdin was forgotten, all his friends would feel the absence like a strange echo in the back of their minds, but no one would miss him and we wouldn't have to focus our efforts in reforming him for years to come."
Jasmine looked to Aladdin and felt her heart sink. Despite never having truly loved him, and for all his faults she still did not believe he was a bad person. She might have blood on her hands but it was not the blood of the innocent. She was the one who dragged him into this mess. He was too dim a person and too blinded by the beauty of riches to see the glaring problems that came with marrying her.
"Why can't we continue with the original plan?" Jasmine theorized, her doubts wavering her voice. "We can hypnotize him as often as we need to until he's established a respectful personality."
"There's still the problem of the group he associated with," Jafar replied. "If we spare Aladdin's life, we're up against the rumors already spreading about him cavorting around town, stealing goods, and badly bedding young women. With his friends alive to affirm all that, we are taking a giant leap of faith that it won't ever come back to cause damage to the crown's reputation. We would be forced to do away with them rather than Aladdin and that would potentially cause the issue to exacerbate."
"What about having Aladdin publicly renounced as the ruffian? We can nip it in the bud before someone else outs him."
"Do you really believe we should go that route?" Jafar questioned reluctantly. "Think of the pushback."
"No, of course not," Jasmine lamented, shaking her head. "That might be worse for the monarchy's standing among the public. They'll have lost faith in us." She quickly followed up with another idea. "What about dropping him into one of your interdimensional portal things?"
"Still doesn't deal with the fallout of having a missing prince and a group of people who know he's still, at heart, a street rat," Jafar discounted.
"What about keeping him locked in the dungeon? We'll let him out when he's needed for public appearances."
"How is that more benevolent than my plan? Also, it still doesn't solve the ruffian group problem."
"Isn't there something else you can do?" Jasmine began to plead with Jafar. "I respect your opinion but I'm not ready to kill him when there could be other options."
"I'm sorry, Jasmine," Jafar soothed, coming to wrap his arms around her. "If we want the kingdom to have the full backing of the public, we need to show that we are competent, professional people."
"This is the opposite of that."
"I only said show. Not be. Everyone is entitled to their mistakes, but the pressure to be perfect is worse on those in the public eye. I can make it so that there will never be any kind of problems like this again." He turned her to face him, making sure she was paying attention. "I can make it so that your future reign is perfect."
Jasmine felt the turmoil of her heart rack with the meaning of his words. He intended to make her the ruler of the land.
"You will be the greatest ruler Agrabah has ever known." With great shame, Jafar waved his hand at Aladdin who stared through the glass at them. "But there's an issue we have to resolve…"
Her heart sank again. She was the one that had to give the order to not only kill Aladdin, but to also deny him the charity of a legacy to leave behind. This was the harshest thing he had ever asked of her, and for the first time in a while she wondered how much did she really trust Jafar. A master manipulator through and through.
Could he have expertly planned this? Could he have set her up to be the arbitrator of her husband's death? Could he be influencing a scenario where her past ineptness would cause her downfall and the overthrow of the kingdom, only to seat himself upon the throne?
Her Jafar. Would he do this to her?
She looked up at him in and knew she trusted him more than anything, but it didn't stop her from pulling away from him to think.
"The baby," she said softly. "What will become of the baby?"
"The next sultan," Jafar promised.
"But without Aladdin, he will be seen as a bastard child."
Jafar came around to face her. "He is not a bastard." He lifted his fingers to her chin and gently tipped her view up to him. "Because he has a father," he smiled.
It took a second for Jasmine to understand, but then it suddenly became so clear to her. With eyes widened in enlightenment, she pondered it thoroughly. His plan. His hero's reward. It took a moment to sink in, the ramifications of such a proposal.
"Is that possible?" she wondered aloud.
"We have the power to make anything possible," he replied.
The idea of it made her heart flutter, but was this the price she was willing to pay? She had already killed before in the name of Agrabah. Was it worth not only taking the life of an innocent boy but also striking him from history?
She looked at Jafar and noted the ambivalence in his eyes. He didn't like to put her through this emotional labor but it wasn't his decision to make. She had to choose between mercy of a man whose pain she caused, or the scheme of a manipulative sorcerer she once hated.
Jasmine turned away from Jafar to stare at Aladdin imprisoned in his glass cage. Aladdin might deserve mercy but she knew Jafar deserved Agrabah even more.
"It's not Aladdin's fault that he's in this position," she responded. "I don't want him to suffer because of it."
Jafar nodded, breathing out a short sigh of relief. "It will be a quick and painless death."
Inside the jar, Aladdin squirmed in horror.
As soon as Jafar transformed Aladdin back into his body, Iago flew back inside the lab.
"Everything is prepared, Jafar," he said, alighting onto his shoulder. He glared at Aladdin who was sat in a chair, paralyzed from the neck down. "Couldn't we have just stepped on him when he was a bug?" Iago pondered.
"Don't you eat bugs?" Jafar retorted as he thumbed through his tomes.
Iago gave him a look of disgust. "Ew, no. Aladdin smells like he hasn't bathed in weeks."
Jasmine watched Jafar as he strode around his lab, plucking strange things from jars and reading from his books written in ancient languages. Her fascination with him was a hundred times greater than any she'd had with anyone in her life. Tomorrow would truly be the first day of theirs with many to come.
"Please don't kill me, Jasmine," Aladdin said to her, breaking her thoughts. He was seated at the desk, unable to do anything because of the immobilization spell. He stared at her with sad eyes and it flooded her with guilt.
"I must do what's right for Agrabah," she replied with as little emotion as she could. She was unable to look him in the eye.
"How is this right for Agrabah? You're killing in the name of it."
Of all the times for Aladdin to wise up…
"Wouldn't be the first time," she retorted, swallowing the lump in her throat down. Aladdin hung his head in defeat.
"I see I can't change your mind." In the background, there was knocking of metal and spurts of fire while Jafar was making the necessary ingredients to cast his spells. Aladdin sighed and asked reluctantly, "Just…if I'm not the father of your child, who is?"
Jasmine glanced over at him, brows furrowed in bewilderment. His naivete had no limits. "Better you didn't know."
"Oh, god!" Aladdin cried in dismay. "I've just figured it out! It was the General, wasn't it?"
Jasmine stepped back in revulsion. "No, of course not. Not only did he die too long ago to be the father, but I can't believe you would think that."
"Oh," Aladdin replied, looking down in confusion. "The Professor then?"
"What? No!"
"Rajah?"
"If you haven't guessed by now, you're never going to get it."
"You gotta think harder than that!" Iago said, swooping down and knocking his feathered fist into Aladdin's noggin. "Hello in there! Anybody home?"
"Shut up, bird!" Aladdin screeched. "What do you know anyway, bird brain!"
"A whole lot more than you, worm wit," Iago taunted. "You can't even figure out that the father of Jasmine's child is-"
"No, Iago!" Jasmine shouted.
"-Jafar!" Iago ended. He looked over at Jasmine with his feathers to his beak. "Oh, was I not supposed to tell?"
"Jafar?!" Aladdin exclaimed in disgust. "Why him? Gross!"
"This is why I didn't want you to know," Jasmine explained. "I didn't want you to be a jackass about it."
"Ugh, Jafar though?" Aladdin gagged. "But he's so tall, and skinny, and…old!"
"Enough, Aladdin."
"I thought you hated him. Was that an act?"
"No, I hated him for a while."
"But now you don't? I don't get it. Are you sure you're not under one of his spells? I have a good idea that he may be a sorcerer, you know."
"Okay, you need to stop talking."
"He's so mean! Nobody likes him."
"Please, just stop talking."
"I heard he sleeps around a lot. You might want to talk to the maids 'cause they gossip a lot about it."
"Yes, I know all about that."
"What exactly do you find attractive about him? Because you could do better, you know."
"Shut up, Aladdin!"
"I'm totally better looking than him! I mean, why would you turn down me for him?"
"There are many reasons. Stop talking now."
"Is his penis bigger than mine? Is it his penis?"
Jasmine slammed her hands on the table and leaned over so her face was in his. "Jafar is brilliant, bold and ambitious! He has the capacity to change the political tide, the courage to single-handedly fight entire armies, and the power to bring kingdoms crumbling down. He saved your life in the eastern village, so you should have been thanking him, you dumbass! And yes, his penis is bigger than yours! But that isn't the reason I choose him over you! Jafar is exceptional in court, in council and especially in bed! He is better than you in every way, including being virile enough to impregnate me after one impulsive night even though you couldn't manage to do that after four years! So unless you enjoy hearing more about his prodigious distinctions and your tiny inadequacies, then shut the hell up!"
Aladdin stared back at her in repulsion and offense. She stood up with a groan of disapproval and suddenly felt a presence behind her.
"Anything I can help with?" Jafar asked with a smug smile.
"Ttch…" she waved him away. "Just…go make things happen!"
"As you wish," Jafar replied, catching her hand and kissing the inside of her wrist with an enthralled grin, "my beautiful Sultaness." He went back to making a racket, reading his tomes and preparing his magic, but he couldn't seem to wipe the smirk off his face.
Half an hour later, Jafar was ready. He came and snipped off a lock of Aladdin's hair, placing it inside a vial filled with a cloudy liquid. Upon the vial was a paper adhered to it with one word written: Aladdin.
"I've erased thoughts before," Jafar stated as he performed his magical ministrations, "but I've never erased people. The concept is the same, just this time there is a physical manifestation of what we're trying to wipe from all the memories in the world."
"What are you saying?" Jasmine asked. "That this might not work?"
"No, I'm saying brace yourself," Jafar said to Aladdin. "This might hurt." He gripped the vial in his fist and focused on it. Instantly, the contents began to bubble. A dim light of the same color purple surrounded Aladdin in a faint glow.
"Nah, it doesn't hurt," Aladdin said, giving Jafar an insolent grin. "It sort of tingles."
The purple liquid sloshed inside the vial like a raging storm contained within, and the light grew around Aladdin in greater intensity. Aladdin's smile faded back till he was gritting his teeth and veins visibly popped out of his neck. "Yep," he groaned out, fighting back a whimper. "Totally tingles. How much longer did you say…?"
"Only takes about five minutes," Jafar replied in wicked amusement.
"Good…thing…this…doesn't…hurt…" Aladdin answered through his locked jaw. His eyes were squeezed shut and tears streamed down his cheeks.
"How much longer?" Jasmine demanded, placing her hand on Jafar's forearm.
"Did you not hear me? It will take-"
"Make it quicker," she said forcefully. He gave a mild frown but immediately the purple light surrounding Aladdin swooped into the vial like a river. Jafar trapped it with a stopper wedged into the opening.
Sudden relief set in and Aladdin slumped his head to the side, resting it on his paralyzed shoulder. Sweat dripped down his face and he was breathing hard like he had just sprinted a marathon. "So…tingly."
"So tingly that you almost passed out," Jafar rebutted.
"You…are…" Aladdin began, trying to catch his breath. "…dumb."
Jafar grabbed Aladdin by the vest and pulled him up till they were face to face. "You're the idiot who can't even read!"
"Boys!" Jasmine admonished. "Enough from both of you! Put him down, Jafar!"
Jafar reluctantly did so, but not without making one last jab under his breath so that only Aladdin could hear. "I have a bigger penis."
"Could we just get on with this?" she begged impatiently.
Jafar refocused on his task and took one half of the stone, placing it on an iron slab. With one hand on the stone and the other holding the vial, Jafar read from an ancient looking book, tattered and yellowed by age.
He began to chant a single phrase from the ancient manuscript. The vial glowed brightly, becoming a blinding white the longer he went on. He touched the vial to the stone and suddenly the room lit up in white light, enough that Jasmine and Iago had to shield their eyes.
Jafar switched to a different chant, waving his hand around the pinpoints of light that seemed to swim around his fingers like a school of fish. The stream of light circled around Jafar before he directed it to the stone where the light danced across it's surface. The stone trembled with the power and took on a red glow as the heat from it kindled.
Jafar waved forth the light and it scattered out in every direction, frittering away through the walls. The lab was suddenly dim again except for the glowing red of the stone and the purple liquid that pulsed inside the vial.
There was silence for a while until a high pitched squeak issued from Aladdin.
"Whaaaaaa…?" he replied in awe.
"You are nothing now," Jafar told him. "Outside of the people in the room, you are not even a memory."
"Now I know for sure you're a sorcerer," Aladdin accused. Few people were able to render Jafar speechless as he was at that moment. Luckily, there was Iago to be the immature one for Jafar when he needed it.
"Where did you dig up this bozo?" he asked Jasmine, giving Aladdin a few slaps with his feathers.
"Ow!" Aladdin squealed. "Quit it! Your feathers are prickly!"
"I think you mean tingly!"
"Stop it, Iago. Just leave him be," Jasmine said, ordering Iago to relent. She turned to Jafar with some skepticism. "How do we know your spell worked?"
The sorcerer lifted the vial to look upon the paper attached to it. There was nothing written on it. "It worked," Jafar stated, leaving no room for debate.
The room went cold again, though Aladdin seemed to not understand.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" he asked.
Jafar paused in reflection, finding he wasn't going to enjoy this as much as he imagined in the past four years. "Any last words?"
It did not seem to occur to Aladdin that this was coming though by the frozen expression of fear he understood what Jafar meant by it.
Jasmine touched her hand on Jafar's arm, looking up at him beseechingly. "Quick and painless."
Jafar gave a solemn nod to her and bent on one knee in front of Aladdin. With his staff he touched the head of the snake to Aladdin's temple.
Aladdin swallowed hard, unable to make a sound. His throat was too restricted.
The snake staff felt cold against his temple until warmth from Jafar's magic began to flow through it, heating the gold.
Aladdin's fear culminated in his heart beating faster than a hummingbird could beat it's wings. The strain made his chest ache and he grit his teeth with the unbearable weight of knowing his heart would burst soon and he would die without anyone to remember him when he was gone.
The physical pain of death was minor compared to the emotional pain of his impending nonexistence. He had done nothing to ensure he would be remembered throughout time. There was no past action of his that would thwart their plans to erase him from history. He was a young man born in the worst circumstances and they had used him.
They had used him. Jasmine, who betrayed his love. Jafar, his hated nemesis who took his wife from him. His usefulness spent, they intended to get rid of him like trash.
With Jafar's power directed to kill him, the sorcerer was no longer focused on the immobilization spell that had kept him paralyzed. Aladdin tensed his arms and felt them move under his order. He fought for his life one last time.
"No!" he screamed as he broke free of the spell and knocked the snake staff away. It went hurtling across the room and clattered to the floor. Jafar stumbled back in surprise while Jasmine gasped out a shriek.
In an instant, Aladdin was up and running. Jafar tried to grab at him but was only successful in stumbling over his own feet. Jasmine backed away, not wanting to be in the path of his anger. Aladdin ran past her and grabbed the vial of gold dust sitting on the desk, shaking it out on the rug he stood on.
"Go!" he ordered the carpet just as Jafar managed to retrieve his scepter. The carpet took on life at once, floating up into the air and jettisoning out of the window with Aladdin on it.
With a laugh, Aladdin looked back to see Jasmine and Jafar watching him from the minaret as he sailed away into the night sky. Jasmine raised her hand in a good bye wave. He could see the tear she shed, knowing she would never see him again.
He now realized they were never good for each other but he would miss her anyway. He looked ahead to the glowing horizon where morning was beginning to rise. The sunlight grew brighter by the second till it fully encompassed him in a blinding flash and he flew away happier than ever, prepared to begin his new journey away from Agrabah.
The glow from the ruby orbs of the snake staff faded out until they were nothing but lifeless, ordinary gems. Jafar removed the snake scepter from the temple of the slumped form, pale and cold, that had once been Aladdin.
"What did he see before he died?" Jasmine reluctantly asked him, wiping a tear away.
"Life," Jafar answered. "The one he truly wanted."
There was no sleeping for Jasmine and Jafar that night. In the cover of darkness, they stole away on their horses into the barren desert. Jafar guided them to a remote place lost between the dunes. Pulling out two charms, he made a show of attaching them together into the image of a scarab. Immediately the beetle flew off in front of them and embedded itself into the dune where a giant tiger's head made of sand rumbled out of the ground.
Jasmine and Iago had no time to be amazed. Jafar directed them deep into the cave where he stopped them inside a small chamber dug out from the main hall. He fabricated a tomb and placed Aladdin's body inside as well as the purple vial and one half of the stone.
Once outside, Jafar ordered the cavern to recede back into the sand, and retrieved the beetle charms from the top of the dune. He came to Jasmine with one half of the scarab and placed it into her hand.
Together, they rode off back to Agrabah without anyone having known they were gone.
By the first light of morning, Jafar sent a squad of guards to a nondescript location in the east side of the city. Before they arrived, the sorcerer summoned the gold dust upon Aliya's corpse to transform her back to her regular size. The guards broke into the house just as the gang inside discovered the dead body in the bed of the arsonist.
"I don't know where she came from!" he pleaded in innocence. "It wasn't me, I swear!"
"Tell that to the judge," the guards replied. "With evidence this strong, I doubt he'd go easy on a known rapist like you."
The brother of the dead girl took it upon himself to punish the rest of the gang of their transgressions.
"You killed my sister!" he exclaimed as he beat the others.
"Didn't she say she was going to the palace last night?" one of Aliya's accomplices mentioned in passing.
"Why would she go to the palace?" Another questioned. "It's not like she knows anyone there…"
The council meeting took place in the morning with everyone in attendance. The seat of the military director was the only empty one, but that wasn't abnormal considering the position hadn't been filled since the death of the General.
"Why have we not filled this position yet?" the Sultan demanded. "Jafar! Find a new military director! I don't want my daughter wasting another moment on it when she has other tasks to fulfill!"
"Of course, my liege," Jafar agreed. "In fact, I happen to have a nomination ready. With the courage and intelligence this man has shown in the past week, I believe Rajah would make an excellent military director and should replace the General's role."
"I second the notion," Jasmine replied, starting off the calls as others pitched in to agree.
"Then there we have it," the Sultan claimed happily. "Rajah will be the new director. Any other issues to share?"
"Only that a gang in the east end of the city has been eradicated due to the discovery of a murder inside their headquarters," Jasmine answered.
"What about the man claiming to be the future sultan?" The Professor inquired. "Yesterday the Grand Vizier said in court that he was caught and detained but I hadn't heard anything else about the matter."
"He has been fined and released," Jasmine replied. "He was simply a ruffian pretending to live better than he deserved. I don't think we'll hear from him again."
The council meeting went on but Jasmine leaned in towards the Professor, who had the strongest mind aside from Jafar that she knew of. "Have you seen Aladdin today?" she inquired.
"Who is Aladdin?" the Professor asked, furrowing his brows in thought.
"Ah, never mind then," Jasmine dismissed.
In a rare meeting inside the main court, the Sultan sat on the elephant throne with his daughter to his right. Everyone employed within the palace, hundreds standing around in attendance, wondered why they had been called there.
"Why did Jafar summon this meeting?" the Sultan wondered aloud. Just then the doors burst open and the Grand Vizier made his way down the red carpet with long, determined strides. In his hand was a roll of parchment.
"Your majesty," Jafar stated before he even reached the stairs. "I would like to request my hero's reward."
"That's what this is about?" the Sultan said, taken aback. "A bit dramatic, but I suppose it's more fun this way. What wish do you request?"
Jafar bent down on one knee and looked up at the Sultan. "I request the hand of your daughter, Princess Jasmine, in marriage." His gaze went to Jasmine in hope.
The entire crowd gasped at the audacity including the Sultan who nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise. Jafar raised the scroll in the air to submit as evidence.
"I have here a long forgotten law decreeing that should a princess remain unwed by the age of 23 she has the right to choose her suitor regardless of royal heritage."
The Sultan scrambled back in his chair looking confused and rattled. "If this is true, then it still stands to reason that I don't have the capacity to fulfill your request. It would be up to Princess Jasmine to-"
"Your request shall be fulfilled," Jasmine interjected, trying to hold her eagerness at bay. "I accept your proposal."
"Hwaht?!" the Sultan cried out. "After dismissing all those princes, you're willing to marry Jafar?"
"Yes. He's the perfect choice," Jasmine proclaimed. "Who else but the Grand Vizier has worked so hard to loft Agrabah into prosperity? Who else has the bravery to face foes and conflict in every arena, be it physical or political? Who else has the intelligence to guide this kingdom and it's people towards the best possible outcome? If you won't fulfill his request, then fulfill mine. I wish to marry Jafar. He will be the greatest sultan this land has ever known."
The crowd erupted in deafening cheer, persuaded by the princess's speech of Jafar's competence to rule.
The Sultan knew there was no defying his daughter. "When shall we schedule the wedding?"
"Immediately," they both replied.
Author's note: I decided to post this chapter early so that I can post the epilogue on Thursday, and then that's it! Took me a year and a few broken promises, but this story is coming to it's end.