Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Well, half of the plotline and credit for typing it through. But that's all. No suing. I can't pay you.

A/N: For lack of something better to do, I have decided to type yet ANOTHER chapter of Differences: yes, I know. You all love me! This could go on the plus side of things! Woo hoo!

I apologize if the last few chapters were either confusing, short, or OC. The plotline is so complicated that I'm a little confused myself.

Chapter 20

Aftermath

(Jala)

Jafar was going to come back.

All of a sudden, my world that had been violently shattered into pieces magically built itself together again, like an enchanted puzzle. My perspective was bright again, I could think, and my soul was no longer a tortured one.

Over the past days, I had been long gone into a kind of deep depression that nobody could explain. I had been awfully foolish, rash, and utterly unlike myself, the facts of which I hoped Jasmine would understand when I would go to explain the scimitars to her.

It did not matter to me at all the fact that Jafar would most likely be furious with me once he was back. No, all that mattered to me then was that I would be seeing his face again soon, no matter what kind of expression it was bearing. Silently, I chided myself half-heartedly for being such a love-blinded fool. But it was for naught. He was coming back: nothing could dampen my spirits then.

The consoling thought was all that kept me sane for the next afternoon. Haillie was gone. It made me realize how much I relied on her to keep me normal the days that Jafar had gone missing. Jasmine had vanished, not having been seen by anybody except for her own mother since yesterday. Aladdin was sheepishly avoiding everybody, as was Sorrah. Only Genie and the Sultana remained, but I had no wish to talk to either of them.

I spent the long hours that stretched into a millennia curled into a tight little ball of anticipation in my lamp, trying not to accidentally do magic while I was feeling the adrenaline rushing into my veins. (Figuratively speaking, of course). It was dangerous for me to be without my master, without wishes for too long. It gave me the ability to use my activated magic for my own purposes, and genies were not supposed to do that.

No, genies were created to serve humans, as my master had so bluntly put it.

The memory put out my excitement for a while, but not a very long while. I did not care if Jafar hated me. The fact that he had no feelings for me was quite plain in the air. I was a genie, for Allah's fate, and it would never work out. My heart tugged at my conscious in a mad game of tug-of-war. A little voice that sounded strangely like Haillie when she sucked on helium kept repeating in the back of my head, arguing with me about the finer point in a humble genie's life.

Stop being a lovesick fool.

It's not something I can help!

You're Jala, for crying out loud! Why are you being so cruddy un-Jala like?

Oh, shut up.

You see what I mean?

Go away.

So it continued, and I endured.

……………………………….

I had gone into the trance-like state that genies substitute for sleep, when I was awakened by a loud BANG! Groggily, I floated out of the lamp, rubbing my eyes and cursing whoever had interrupted my rest so rudely. The unfriendly feelings vanished quickly, however, when I saw who it was.

Haillie. And Jafar.

Though it wasn't strictly necessary for genies to breathe, I stopped for a moment. It was rather uncomfortable, but I did because I seemed to have forgotten how to. Haillie had the usual expression on her face: bored, insane, and out of sorts. Jafar looked just plain disoriented. This made me happy. A surge of hope shot through my chest. If he was looking disoriented, and not mad, then my chances were better than usual.

His glazed eyes shifted around his surroundings, as if not daring to believe what he saw. His eyes drifted over me with indifference, as if I were a lamp or the bed. This normally would have made me rather unhappy, but for now, I endured. Then, so suddenly that he even startled Haillie, he let out a wild whoop of joy and knelt to kiss the ground. I started. This was so very unlike Jafar.

What had modern civilization done to him?

After my sister had explained everything to me, and Jafar was put under a leash, as Haillie would put it, we all sat down. Before, I had not worried about a trivial thing like conversation. Now, the urging need to break the ice overtook my senses. The moment was very uncomfortable, altogether. Jafar looked at me, and I looked at him. He looked quite different. Maybe older.

"What have you been up to while I was gone?" he asked wearily, finally. I opened my mouth to answer, delighted. Then I realized that he was talking to Iago. Disappointment burned through my lungs like wildfire. My tongue flopped down uselessly like a big nuisance in the way, dying to do something useful for a change. I sighed. My master noticed the noise and turned slightly, without interest: like I had spoken and he had to answer. Like it was a duty, an obligation.

Iago chirped something rude and did a tango. I ignored him.

"You're back," I finally said, deciding that it was neither rude nor polite. It was simply a fact that had to be stated. Jafar nodded. "Yes, I am." Well, so much for that line of conversation. "I…missed you," I choked out. A pained expression crossed his face for a moment, but vanished so quickly that I thought that I had imagined it. "I…could say that I missed you too, but that would a lie, wouldn't it?" he finally replied, trying to sneer but without success.

A jolt of pain flashed through my chest, like I had been burned. "Yes, it would a lie," I finally whispered weakly in reply.

And that was it.

………………………..

The next day wasn't much better. Something seemed to have happened in between Sorrah, Jasmine, and Aladdin. None of them would speak a word to tell me what it was about, though I guessed that something was very seriously wrong by the way they refused to meet each other's eyes or speak. Their current hobby was to avoid each other throughout the vast palace, (it wasn't hard to do).

Genie and Haillie weren't taking it too well, but being insane, Haillie quickly got over it. Genie, on the other hand, was concerned in his usual cocky manner for Aladdin's health. He promptly stated so, drawing a weak smile from Laddie. Jasmine was like the shell that she had been when Aladdin liked Sorrah again. I really didn't like the hard version of Jasmine.

We had bigger problems, however. Like who was in line for the throne?

A/N: (again). Thanks for the reviews, Jafarcrazy! I love the long ones. I wish Haillie and you both good luck on the contest ;)