Chapter Summary: In the middle of the night, a dangerous man breaks into the little Princess's rooms to kidnap her...but finds himself face to face with an angry, protective tiger instead.
A lot of planning had gone into this scheme well before it was executed. The man who'd hired him had had the layout of the palace, the placement of the guards, the timing of their shift changes. He'd been given the proper equipment to scale the walls and sneak into the palace, carefully finding his way into the young Princess's rooms.
His instructions were clear: steal her from her bed while she slept, now old enough to be in a separate room from her parents. Get in, take her, then get out just as quickly before the alarm was raised.
Slipping into the room, he padded quietly across the floor to the girl's bed. If he had a heart, he almost would've felt bad about what he was doing. Kidnapping a child wasn't exactly a crime to be proud of, but he had his orders and the money he'd been handed was well worth any potential moral objections he might have had.
He was almost disappointed by how easy this job was turning out to be. He thought sneaking into the royal Palace of Agrabah would be much harder than it was. His boss had truly outdone himself with how well planned this was.
As he reached for the Princess, a low rumbling growl sounded from behind him. Freezing in place, he glanced over his shoulder.
Okay so maybe not everything had been accounted for.
The large tiger staring at him made his face go white as sheet. Gulping loudly, his hand twitched, wanting to desperately reach for the knife at his belt, but knowing that in doing so, the tiger would most definitely attack. His foot slide an inch backwards and immediately stopped when another growl was let loose.
So that's how it was going to be, huh? He was damned no matter what he did. Steeling himself, he made up his mind.
His hand flew to the knife, yanking it out just as the tiger lunged, knocking him to the ground. Strong jaws and razor sharp teeth clamped down on his forearm, instantly tearing through flesh like tissue paper. He let out a blood-curdling scream, his other arm flailing about wildly, trying to sink the knife into the beast pinning him down.
The tiger released his shredded arm and the last thing he saw was a gaping mouth descending upon his throat. Pain ripped through him.
And then nothing.
Jasmine jolted from her sleep at the sound of screaming and roaring coming from her daughter's room.
"Aladdin!" she shouted, hearing him scramble behind her as she ran towards the loud commotion.
Throwing open the door right next to theirs, Jasmine halted in her steps and gasped, her hand covering her mouth. Aladdin ran straight into her back, not having expected her to stop so suddenly. His eyes went wide at the scene.
Rajah was hunched over an unmoving body on the floor, blood slowly dripping from his muzzle. Jasmine had never seen such fire in his eyes and for the first time, she truly realized what a terrifying creature he could be.
Sitting up in her bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes was Amina. She looked around with a terrified expression.
Quickly, Jasmine went to her side and shielded her view of the corpse lying beside her bed. She gestured for the newly arrived guards to deal with the mess. Picking her little girl up, she went over to Aladdin and handed her off.
"Keep her in our room and double the guards. I'll be in shortly, I just…need to help Rajah get cleaned up."
Recognizing that now was not the time to argue, Aladdin gave her a short nod and did as he was told.
"Rajah, come." She led him away towards the washroom, gathering a bucket of water and a cloth. Sitting on the edge of the tub, she grabbed Rajah's face and started cleaning off the blood and gore.
"That man," Jasmine said, clearing her throat. "He was going to hurt Amina, wasn't he?"
Rajah huffed and she took that as a yes.
"And you stopped him."
Rajah blinked at her.
Dipping the cloth back in the bucket, Jasmine went to work on his nose, carefully rubbing to get some of the more stubborn red flecks off.
"You saved my daughter." She took his freshly cleaned face in her hands and pressed her forehead to his. "Thank you."
Nuzzling his head closer, he made a purring noise of content.
"I love you so much, Rajah." She pressed a kiss to the top of his head and wrapped her arms around his powerful shoulders.
Rajah was no spring chicken anymore. He was getting slower, lazier, loved to lay around more than usual. The fur around his mouth—the mouth that was used to kill a man who dared to sneak into her daughter's room—had long since turned grey. Jasmine wasn't sure how much more time he had left with them, but she would forever be grateful he was here tonight.
"I don't know what I'd do without you."
He huffed again and nudged the side of her face, licking a stripe up her cheek and causing her to smile.
"Come on, then." She stood up, gesturing for him to follow her. "You'll get an extra treat tomorrow, I promise, but for now let's go back to bed."
They walked back to her and Aladdin's room and she was glad to see guards posted in every corner of the hallways and outside the room. There would be an ugly mess to deal with in the morning with trying to figure out who that man was and what his purpose was, but that would wait. She was tired and she needed to check in on her little girl.
The second she walked into the room, Amina yelled her name and ran over to her. Bending down, she scooped her up, holding her close, the tension finally leaving her body.
"She wouldn't go back to sleep until she saw you," Aladdin said from his position on the bed.
"Oh my love, it's okay," she cooed. "I'm here, Baba's here, Rajah's here. Everything's alright now."
Amina shook her head and buried her face into her mother's neck. "I was so scared, Mama. I heard Rajah roar and then someone screamed and I didn't wanna open my eyes and—"
"Shhshh, Amina, it's okay. That bad man can never get to you again. Your father and I won't let anything happen to you," she said while she rubbed Amina's back. "And Rajah would certainly never let anyone near you. He protected you tonight and he'll protect you tomorrow. And every day after until he no longer can. Isn't that right, Rajah?"
The tiger gently bumped against Amina's foot as if to say yes.
Gradually the hold Amina had around Jasmine's neck loosened and she pulled back to look at Rajah. Wiggling free of her mother's arms, she jumped down and wrapped her arms around Rajah's neck, shoving her face deep into slightly dampened fur.
"You'll always save me, right Rajah?"
He made a noise that sounded like an agreement and Jasmine smiled down at them. She glanced over at Aladdin and saw him smiling fondly at them as well.
"Come on, love, it's time for bed," she said. "I think we've all had quite enough of tonight."
Amina let go of Rajah and jumped back into bed, followed quickly by her mother. She snuggled up to her father, his strong arm holding her close as she nestled safely between the two of them.
Jasmine placed a hand over her daughter's while the other hung over the side of the bed, coming to rest on Rajah while he laid on the floor.
Things could've gone very wrong tonight if Rajah hadn't been there. But he was getting older and he wouldn't be there forever. Amina had been begging them recently for a new pet and they'd staunchly refused, concerned she wouldn't be able to handle the responsibility. But after this…maybe she and Aladdin could at least consider it.
Her fingers lightly stroked smooth fur and she faintly smiled. No one would ever be able to replace Rajah.
But just maybe.
