Chapter Three
Concern was clearly written all across Jasmine's young face as she escorted Aladdin to the bed in his room at the palace. He stayed in this room whenever he spent an occasional night at the palace, which wasn't very often. As he sat down on the bed, he moaned in pain, bringing his heads to his temples and rubbing them, wincing in agony.
"Do you have a headache?" Jasmine asked, not knowing what else to say but the obvious.
"Yeah, I think so," Aladdin replied, barely audible. He groaned and flopped back on the bed, his head hitting the pillows in relief. "It feels better to lie down."
"Here," Genie began, turning himself into a doctor, "I recommend you take two of these and get yourself a good night's sleep." In his blue hands, Genie held out two pink tablets.
Aladdin stared at his blue friend's large hands, examining the pills with suspicion. "And what are these supposed to do?" he spat. "Put me out of my misery?"
"No, Al," Genie said, not really offended by Aladdin's outburst. "They will help with your headache. You make it sound like they're gonna kill you."
"Well, I don't need them!" Aladdin retorted, suddenly sitting up in bed. "I feel fine!"
"But, Aladdin," Jasmine pleaded, "you nearly fainted in the ball room, and just a minute ago, you were saying your head hurt..."
"I don't need your pity," Aladdin muttered. Jasmine tried to place her hand on his back, but he pulled away. "You know, Princess, it's really pathetic how you try to mother me. I had a mother a long time ago, and just because she's dead doesn't mean I need to be mothered. She did a much better job than you could ever do!"
Jasmine was completely taken aback by his words. She couldn't believe what her own two ears were hearing. Was this the same Aladdin who never once said a mean or rude thing to her? She bit her lower lip in hurt and stepped away from him, moving toward Genie and the others.
"Aladdin, what's happening to you?" her voice cracked. "You-you never treat me like this...or your friends." Before she could stop them from coming, tears spouted from her large eyes and spilled down her cheeks. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning, and I hope you come to your senses by then."
Aladdin just grimaced and folded his arms ignorantly across his chest. He turned his head away from her, and the poor princess knew there was nothing more she could do for now. "Keep your eyes on him," she whispered to Genie as she exited the room.
"I will, Jas," replied Genie sincerely. "I promise."
Once Jasmine had left, Genie returned to Aladdin. "You know, Al," he said in a serious tone. "I don't think hurting your fiancee is the best idea in the world."
"Hmph, how typical of you, Genie, to make a joke out of the situation. See, that's what I can't stand about you. You are never serious, even when the stuff going on around you is completely serious."
"But I'm not joking, Aladdin," Genie stated firmly. He had used Aladdin's full name, something he did very rarely, only if he were being serious. "If you couldn't tell by the tone of my voice, then believe it by the tears that are now streaming down your love's precious face."
With that, Genie disappeared into the lamp, leaving only Iago and Abu there. They had remained near the door the entire time, afraid to approach Aladdin. Aladdin heard Iago whispering something to Abu, which aggravated him.
"What are you two talking about?" he questioned demandingly.
"Uh, nothing of your concern," Iago lied, trying not to look at Aladdin in the eyes.
"You liar!" Aladdin yelled, standing up and charging toward them. Abu scampered out of the way and hid behind a vase. Iago tried to fly away, but just as he was eye-level with Aladdin, Aladdin grabbed the parrot fiercely around his entire body, pulling him closer to his face.
"Hey," Iago gasped, "what's the big idea? Al, I can't breathe with you holding me so tightly."
"You sound like you're breathing well enough to keep spouting words from that big beak of yours. You think this is tight? Well, that's nothing compared to this!"
Aladdin squeezed the poor bird's body even tighter, and Iago could feel the lack of air in his little lungs. His face turned scared, scared to the point he would have been had it been Jafar holding him.
"Al-" he gasped for air. "Please- stop... You're-"
Before Iago nearly passed out, Abu came out from behind the vase and bit Aladdin's ankle. It was the only thing he could do to save Iago from Aladdin, and even Abu knew something wasn't right with his friend. Aladdin howled in pain, grabbing his ankle, which freed Iago.
"Why, you little flea-bitten pest!" Aladdin yelled at Abu.
Abu began to run away from Aladdin, but he was close on Abu's tail, literally. Iago quickly regained his composure and noticed that it was Abu who needed saving this time. He risked it all and flew down toward the frightened monkey, grabbing hold of his vest and raising him up into the air. They were too high for Aladdin to reach them, and as Aladdin continued to yell menacing threats at them, Iago flew out the window and landed on the roof.
Aladdin muttered to himself incoherently and lay back down on the bed. He felt dizzy and tired away that fiasco. Closing his eyes, he found himself drifting into a foreboding sleep.
On the roof, however, Iago and Abu were confused beyond measure.
"He-he almost..." Iago couldn't finish the sentence. He didn't want to believe his friend would ever do anything to hurt him like that.
"I know," Abu whimpered. He wanted to cry, but he just couldn't find the tears.
"I don't know if I wanna go back in there," Iago stated. "Did you see how he lashed out against the princess and the genie? And then at us? I'm tellin' you, Abu, something's not right in that boy's head."
Abu held his arms up in a gesture that said, "I don't know."
"We need to find Jasmine and talk to her," Iago thought aloud. "That's the only thing I can say for now. "We can't get to Genie with the lamp being in the same room, so I guess that's all we can do."
In the back of his mind, Iago was deeply hurt by Aladdin's words and actions. It wasn't just fear; no, it was something more. He was sure the others felt it, too. He didn't want to admit it, but he himself wanted to cry. Someone had to do something, though, and for once, he took the more practical action, even though his fear told him to do otherwise.
They waited a little while on the roof top, trying to sort out their thoughts. It was late, but not too late that night to pay the princess a visit. The two animals wondered if she would even be asleep yet, since it couldn't have been more than an hour since she had left Aladdin. Iago picked Abu up by the vest and flew toward the balcony that lead to Jasmine's bed chamber. There wasn't a single light coming from the room, so they assumed she might indeed be asleep.
Once they entered the bedroom, there was just enough light from the stars penetrating the room to see where they were going. Abu and Iago slowly crept over to the princess's bed, and they could hear hard, fast breathing coming from her body. It was obvious that she wasn't sleeping well. She suddenly groaned and flipped over on to her other side, momentarily startling the parrot and the monkey.
"I'll see if I can wake her up," Iago whispered to Abu, who just nodded in agreement.
Iago landed on her bed, right next to her face. He felt very awkward in this position and prayed she wouldn't be mad at him for coming into her room like this and waking her up.
"Uh, Jasmine?" he asked, being as soft as he could. He tapped on her cheek with his wing.
She stirred, but didn't awaken. "Jasmine?" he repeated, only a little louder this time. "Come on, Jasmine..."
Jasmine opened her eyes in a jolt, and she gasped when she saw a shadowy figure standing in front of her. She had just awoken from a nightmare, so her mind hadn't yet adjusted to reality. She pulled the covers up against her body and moved away from the figure, but that was all very short-lived. When her eyes had adjusted enough to realize that it was only Iago standing there, she felt a bit embarrassed for being so afraid.
"Oh, Iago," she sighed in relief, "it's just you. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I don't know how else to tell you this, Princess, but I'm not sure the monkey or I wanna sleep in the same room as your deranged beau. He's not exactly at his best right now."
"Yes, I know," she sighed sadly, recalling what had happened in his bedroom just a little while ago. "Did he say something to you, too?"
"'Say something' is putting it rather mildly, Princess. Try more like 'do something.'"
"What do you mean?" she asked, concern in her voice. "Is Genie with you? Where's Abu?"
"The genie's in his lamp, and Abu's right here, but it's me I'm talkin' about here," Iago's voice started to rise. "He's not just spouting off rude things, ya know."
"No, I didn't know, Iago," Jasmine confessed. "I'm sorry, but what did he do?"
"Finally," Iago muttered, "we're getting somewhere. He tried to squeeze the living daylight outta me, that's what. Does that sound like your dear Aladdin to you?"
Jasmine paused for a moment, wondering if Iago was really telling her the truth. Based on his past methods of twisting situations around to somehow please only him, she wondered if maybe, just maybe, Iago was actually desperate enough to take advantage of Aladdin's strange behavior and use it against him. Jasmine and Iago didn't have the best understanding of each other in the world, but Aladdin had been acting rather strange.
"Are you telling me the truth?" she plainly asked the parrot.
At the remark, Iago was completely taken aback. Because it was the truth this time and his life had been threatened, he was in no mood to argue over what he had said. This was proving more difficult than he had thought.
"What do ya think?" he asked, his temper beginning to flare. "Why would I make something like this up? Are you callin' me a liar, just like Aladdin did?"
"Oh, so you were lying to him?" Jasmine inquired, feeling annoying. "Well, that explains why he might have been mad at you."
"Abu," Iago addressed to monkey behind him, "you're my witness. Am I telling the truth?"
Abu nodded and squeaked something that sounded like, "Yeah, uh-huh."
"See," Iago spoke in a harsh tone toward her. "And you're accusing me? I don't think so!"
Jasmine sighed and figured it was pointless to argue with the parrot. It never did any good anyway. She had been hurt by Aladdin herself, and she was tired and confused by this time at night. Her head was whirling.
"Okay, okay," she gave in. "I believe you, but maybe you're over-reacting a bit. Aladdin would never do anything to physically hurt you, Iago, or any of us for that matter. He's just not feeling well. You two can sleep here tonight if you like, and hopefully, if all goes well, Aladdin will be feeling better tomorrow morning."
Jasmine had some doubts, though. In the back of her mind, she feared the worst, that maybe Aladdin wouldn't be better. Maybe he would be...worse.
"It's about time," was all Iago could say. He was exhausted and tired of arguing as well.
Yawning, both Iago and Abu lay down on some pillows and finally fell asleep.
In a dark land, the dark sorcerer gazed through a portal. Mozenrath sneered at the good guys, knowing their doom wasn't too far away. Xerxes joined Mozenrath by his side and laughed evilly.
"That's right, Xerxes," Mozenrath cooed, stroking the eel. "Their demise awaits. In a couple of days, they will be wishing they were dead, and well, Aladdin might just grant them their wish."