What If… Jasmine Learned that Iago Saved Aladdin Sooner?

an Aladdin fanfic inspired by What If…?

by DecaTilde


Chapter 1 - Your Secret is Safe with Me


"I'll see that the sultan gives him a fair hearing," Aladdin said, having been rescued from the thief Abis Mal by Iago the parrot. We are at the marketplace.

"What?!" Iago shouted in shock.


Iago then found himself inside a cage at the palace gardens.

"The Sultan?!" Iago repeated. He tried flapping to the cage gate, but Aladdin locked it in assurance.

"Don't worry," Aladdin assured, "I'll talk to him. Soften him up a little."

"Are you kidding?" Iago replied. "He hates me. And what about the princess?!"

"No problem," Aladdin replied back. "I just have to make sure that Jasmine doesn't see you… until I've gotten her prepared."

"It's all right, Aladdin," the princess in question said, surprising both of them. She entered the garden. "I already saw the whole thing."

"You did?" Aladdin and Iago replied.


Well, this is a twist nobody expected. But to find out about it, why don't we go back to earlier in the day, back at the marketplace in Agrabah.


"No, wait, I'm serious!" Iago shouted as Aladdin tried to grab him. "I was under Jafar's power! He mesmerized me with his snake staff! Just like the sultan."

Aladdin didn't believe him, and kept chasing the parrot around the market.

"You traitor, you!" Aladdin shouted.

This summons got Jasmine's attention. The princess was at the jewelry merchant shop, wearing the same disguise she wore while escaping the pressures of palace life before she met Aladdin. She saw Aladdin chase Iago.

"Iago?" she thought. "Outside of Jafar's lamp? But that's impossible. He's supposed to be trapped in the Cave of Wonders."

She decided to spy on the scene, especially when Aladdin, his monkey Abu and Iago bumped into Abis Mal and his band of thieves.

"Abis Mal?" she continued in thought. "What are he and his band of thieves doing in Agrabah?"


In your universe, while Aladdin and his monkey Abu were on their stroll outside the palace, the fair Princess Jasmine was getting ready for a special dinner in honor for her father, the Sultan of Agrabah, to appoint his future son-in-law as his new Royal vizier. But in this universe, she went out to the marketplace in disguise, like she did when she met Aladdin, for a last-minute gift. And at the moment…


Aladdin and Abu were cornered. Abis Mal's band was ready to strike. Iago perched at a ledge.

"Mess with this bird, huh?"

He pushed a potted plant off the ledge. It landed on a plank that Abis Mal landed on after he slipped on a fish. The result launched Abis Mal into the air. He knocked the thieves onto an egg cart. Through it all, Jasmine just watched.

"And I got more where that came from!" Iago shouted, getting her attention.

While the guards led by Razul chased Abis Mal and his thieves away, Iago then joined Aladdin and Abu.

"Jerks," he remarked.

"Uh," Aladdin began, to Iago, "thanks for your help. You saved me."

"I did?" Iago replied, before realizing what he just did. "Right. Oh, yeah, of course, I saved you. It's my nature. I'm always rescuing things—cats, babies, guys like you—always rescuing."

Jasmine contently thought, as she crept behind a corner, "Hmmm, maybe there's some good in Iago after all."

And with that, she continued her duty.


Which brings us back to the moment in the gardens…


"Don't worry, Aladdin," Jasmine assured. "Your secret is safe with me."

She walked to the cage and opened it to pet Iago.

"Iago," she addressed, "this isn't easy for me to say. I had my doubts, thinking that you'd trick me, but before what you did for Aladdin, I was wrong about you."

And with that, she kissed him on the beak. For the first time, Iago felt loved.

Just then, a rumbling.

"What's going on?"

The waters in the fountain swirled. In a flash, the genie surfed on a board above the fountain waters. He has returned.

"He's big and he's blue," he introduced. "He's back!"

Aladdin and Jasmine were happy to see him, and rushed to give him a hug.

"Genie!" Aladdin called.

"You came back!" Jasmine added.

"Oh, boy," Iago worried.


Author's Note: I would like to dedicate this fanfic in memoriam of a comedy legend, and Iago's voice actor.

GILBERT GOTTFRIED

(1955-2022)