Aladdin awoke with a start when he heard Jasmine's voice call out to him urgently. He figured something was wrong, but he didn't know what.
She saw him push back the drape that led into his hiding place.
"Jasmine what's wrong?"
"You know very well what's wrong, Aladdin. I'm not a fool. How could you do this?" She said, her voice passionate and frustrated.
"Wait a minute, what is it that I..."
"And don't think Father won't hear about this. I can't even believe that you would actually take money from the citizens of Agrabah on this project of yours. I know you wanted to help the people of Agrabah, but even you should know that you're going against everything you're standing for by doing this!"
"It's not what you..."
"I don't want to hear it." Jasmine said, picking up the sack of coins and thrusting it into Aladdin's arms. He had to struggle to catch it, to keep it from spilling. "You are going to take every coin from that bag and return it to the people you took them from. And if you can't even do that, don't bother coming back to the Palace."
"Jasmine, you don't mean that..." Aladdin protested. But even as he saw her brush her hands against her eyes, she looked back around at him with a stern glance.
"I do mean it. And you'd better do it tonight, or I will have a royal order against you to do it by sunrise. You don't leave me much of a choice."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out, time out!" Genie appeared between both Aladdin and Jasmine, separating them in a referee's uniform. "I'm trying to get some beauty sleep and you two are in foul territory. What the heck's going on?"
"Did you know Genie? About Aladdin's 'project?'"
Genie frowned. "Not only did I know about it, I helped him with it. Now what is it that..."
"You helped him? I don't believe this." Genie winced with Jasmine's exasperated shout.
"Hang on a minute. Al didn't do anything wrong." Genie protested.
"How can you not even think this was remotely wrong? I heard enough about it from Iago to figure it out."
"Iago?" Genie and Aladdin said at the same time.
"I don't want to hear about it from either of you. I'm going back to the palace." Jasmine said, hopping aboard Carpet. Carpet looked apologetic as he flew away with Jasmine.
Aladdin sighed as his body sank against the wall, with the sack of coins in his hand.
Iago and Abu didn't get to Aladdin's hiding place fast enough to catch Jasmine, because when they arrived, saying that it wasn't a good confrontation would be an understatement.
"I guess we missed the fallout." Iago said, as they flew to Aladdin's window and saw Aladdin against the wall, his head lowered.
"Iago, what did you tell Jasmine?" Genie's face grew about ten sizes larger, red, and oriented toward Iago so much that it made Abu screech in fear.
"I didn't tell her anything! She assumed all that stuff on her own, I swear!" Abu screeched something that made Iago sigh. "Okay, I'll admit it - my wording was terrible, but she..."
"It doesn't matter, Iago."
Aladdin's voice made them all turn their heads.
"Al...?" Genie began as his face returned to normal, but Aladdin shook his head, firm.
"No, she's right. It was a stupid idea. I know where most of the coins in this bag came from, so I'm going to return them all. And I can walk there without Carpet." Without another word, Aladdin threw aside the drape leading into his hiding place and disappeared. Abu ran after him, screeching in protest.
"I guess that's the last time I'm involved in any charity project you guys ever make." Iago said with a scowl.
"No, you're always welcome as far as we're concerned." Genie said. "But we've really gotta work on your ability to break news to people, even in casual conversations. This is the kind of thing on why Othello and Desdemona didn't work out - understatement." Genie groaned. "Guess I'd better find some way to talk to Jasmine on behalf of Al."
The three members of the U-Serpents watched from a distance as Aladdin and his monkey walked out in the streets of Agrabah.
"So there's the boy who's been taking from out profits-s." Ajan hissed bitterly. "I believe we should follow him and let him know that we don't appreciate those who interfere with our business-s."
"You said it, boss-s." Garan and Faran agreed.
"I still can't believe Jasmine would think that I'd take this money from people in Agrabah in a bad way." Aladdin mused as he returned the last of the coins in the city. Abu pouted, running between Aladdin's heels as they paced through the empty marketplace of Agrabah. Night closed in, the moon shining overhead in a clear, star studded sea.
Aladdin sighed, crossing his arms across his chest while looking above the towering buildings into the sky.
"I should've listened to Genie when he warned me about all this." Aladdin's tone sharply rang in the still air, causing Abu to wince.
"Sorry Abu. This isn't your fault."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Abu dismissed the apology casually, as if it were nothing at all.
"Ssave your apologies-s for s-someone else, boy. You'll have plenty to make to us-s." The hissing voice came from a distance away, and Aladdin's head jerked upward at the sound.
"Who's there?"
A looming figure crept from the shadows of the alley, and Aladdin could see its burning eyes before it came into the full view of the moonlight. That made Abu scurry up to Aladdin's shoulder in a panic.
"Just s-someone whosse bussiness you decided to ruin with your little project. Good riddance your princess sstepped in where she did. Makes-s our job easier."
Aladdin saw the creature as half human and half beast with heavy limbs. His claws were long on his fingers, and his jawline protruded with fangs gleaming ivory in the moonlight. He stepped back, startled.
"Oh, are you s-scared of me, boy?"
"I'm not scared of you. Who are you anyway?" Aladdin demanded.
"My name is not important. But my business is. You nearly ruined that, and it's-s time we had a little talk."
"And what business are you working for?"
The creature smiled. "It's-s quite the contrary to your former occupation."
Aladdin's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute, you're responsible for the destruction of the buildings in Agrabah? The accidents that have been going on in the city?"
"Yes-s, you could s-say that. Although I prefer to call it restructuring. It makes a tidy s-sum among all the cities we've been to s-so far."
"In that case, we have nothing to discuss. And you can bet Agrabah's guard will have a lot to say to you." Abu chimed in with a enthusiastic "Yeah!" before Aladdin started to walk past him. Yet the creature wasn't amused and thrust a talon at Aladdin, which he barely dodged by stepping back to keep from skewering him.
"You don't have much of a choice in this-s matter. The deal is-s done. We lost much of our business because of you." He hissed.
Aladdin didn't have much time to react before he saw Abu snatched from his shoulder. Two arms grabbed him from behind, in something of a strongly held hug, only this was far from friendly.
Ajan's partners showed up without warning. Faran held Abu by the tail, his tongue writhing just inches from Abu, who screeched wildly in protest.
"Hey! What are you doing? Abu! Let him go!" Aladdin struggled against Garan's firm grip, but to no avail.
Ajan smiled. "Of course we'll let him go. He has nothing to do with us-s. You, on the other hand, won't be s-so lucky."
Faran opened a nearby pot in the streets, and dropped Abu inside, closing the lid with a firm grip. Abu writhed inside the pot, causing it to bumble, but not tip over. There was a tiny hole in the front of the pot, enough for Abu to see through, but not reach his tiny paws in order to force his way through. He saw Aladdin try to force his way out out Garan's grip again, kicking his feet on the ground, but Garan lifted him with ease, and put a hand over Aladdin's mouth before he could say another word.
"What s-should we do with him? He's already s-starting to get on my nerves-s." Faran said, his eyes narrowing.
"How about the obvious-s, destroy him." Garan said. "That'll be easy. Crushing him is my s-specialty." Garan's grip tightened, and Aladdin winced.
"No, you fools-s!" Ajan scolded, and his shout had the desire effect of getting his accomplices attention, causing Garan to losen his tightened grip somewhat, and Faran's eyes to snap to his boss's. "Destroying him would be far too easy. And ineffective. We may have s-some use for him. I've a better idea."
Ajan walked to where his tongue slithered just inches from Aladdin's face. Aladdin's eyes widened momentarily, but narrowed in just as quick a fashion.
"I s-say we give him 'the Treatment'. His is a worthy s-soul."
Garan and Faran's faces lit up from what Abu could see inside the pot at the recognition. Faran spoke first. "That is-s a great idea. S-should we do it here?"
"Where else, you dimwit?" Ajan hissed. "Unless-s you want him to give us trouble on the way to the Cave of Wonders-s."
"We're taking him back?" Garan said.
"Yes-s. The process needs time to adapt of course. Would you like to do the honors-s, Garan?"
Garan smiled ruefully. "My pleasure." Before Aladdin could react, Garan sank his front fangs, venom included, firmly into Aladdin's shoulder. Abu screeched in protest as Aladdin yelled. Abu writhed inside the pot frantically before it tumbled over. The pot didn't break, but rolled until it reached under the sole of Ajan's foot.
"I think our work here is-s done. But first to take care of a minor distraction." Ajan said. He kicked the pot, causing it to roll down the dusty street. Abu screeched as it rolled off into the distance.
The three U-Serpents laughed before going on their way, carrying an unconcious Aladdin as they left Agrabah.
"Ugh!" Iago said, flying out of the Thieves Den. He'd gone in for the evening wondering if he could make a quick fortune in a game, but erred on the side of watching some of the other cutthroats getting swindled. Somehow he didn't feel like getting himself in a much deeper hole than he'd been in earlier.
"I knew I should've never gone along with it. Now I'm having a guilt trip. I'm getting soft in my feathered...WHOA!"
Iago leapt into the air, flapping his wings just as a pot, which would've hit him directly if he hadn't flown, went hurdling down the path past him.
"How about you watch where you roll your pottery!" Iago yelled, annoyed. He didn't expect the pot to start screeching when it did, nor the familiar tone as it barreled on its way.
"Is that Abu? Hey, wait up!" Iago flew after the pot for a distance until it collided with a wall, shattering into pieces. Sure enough, Abu emerged from the cracked pot, a little disoriented and stumbling, but otherwise okay.
"Geez, no one ever told you to go joyriding like that." Iago grumbled. Abu shook his head out of the dizziness that plagued him from the ride, looked around a moment, then started screeching frantically at Iago.
"Hey, hey, whoa, whoa! I have a bad enough headache enough as it is after Jasmine gave Al a lecture this evening, and then I got one from him too! I don't need another one!" But Iago heard Abu's interpretation of events and went wide eyed.
"Al's been captured..and they did what? Okay, my headache just went through the roof. We gotta get back to the Palace. But I'm not getting myself in any more trouble tonight. I've done enough good deeds for the day. Frankly, it's making me sick."