Chapter Twenty One

The Things We Do For Those We Love

It wasn't long until I found myself going with Aladdin, Jasmine and the Sultan on an outing by the river. The river would've made for another perfect romantic scene, similar to the garden that me and Jasmine were in, all of that seemed like a lifetime ago.

I sat down by the river not trying to cause any trouble, when suddenly I felt a slight shift in the wind. Looking around, I saw nothing out of the ordinary and so continued staring at the fish who were happily swimming downstream without a care in the world. It was then that I heard someone come up behind me, followed by a cold and clammy hand, like the hand of a dead fish. My fear rose ever suddenly as I knew who it was, but then I heard it speak, "Poor Iago" it said, "You don't get it do you?" I turned around and met Jafar.

"H-h-how did you escape?" I asked, Jafar sneered at me, "Details Iago, don't really matter here. All that matters is that I'm here" Jafar picked me up and sat me on his shoulder, a position that I knew all too well, "What do you want?" I began, Jafar laughed menacingly, "I want Aladdin's head on a pike. Right next to yours" I was confused and terrified at the same time, "Why do you want Aladdin dead? He did nothing to you!" Jafar gave a dead man's stare, "I want Aladdin dead, because he is next in line to be Sultan" Of course that what it is. Jafar is obsessed with power and even being an All Powerful Genie couldn't compare with the materialism that being Sultan provided.

I flew up on a nearby branch, "Look" I began, "I know it's not him that you hate. You don't want to kill Aladdin, you want to kill me. That's fine. But what about this instead?" Jafar was intrigued, he would have to be in order for this to work, "I give you my service-forever, on the condition that you will leave Aladdin and Jasmine alone." Jafar thought about this, I could tell that he was weighing the options in his head. On one side, he wouldn't become Sultan, but on the other, he would have me, a ever binding servant for life. Jafar smiled and held out his hand, "You got yourself a deal" As soon as I took his hand, a bolt of lightning struck and we disappeared, never to be seen again in Agrabah or anywhere else...

It was close to noon by the time I returned to my hotel room. All I wanted to do was rest a bit, maybe watch some TV. As soon as I walked in the door however, I saw Jafar standing in the middle of the room. I flew over and looked at him, he was staring out the window, looking at the buildings, I'd say he was imagining them on fire followed by the screams of ten million people as they died in a burning inferno. If I had a bet a billion dollars...

"Iago" he stated grimly, "my friend, my servant" I was already concerned since he managed to get into my room, but his tone only made it worse. Turning towards me, Jafar pulled out his staff, "Your services are no longer required" In an instance, a green beam emitted from his staff and hit me square in the chest. It felt like my body was being ripped apart, every organ at that moment was blubbing up inside of me, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything.

Jafar breathed in heavily, the beam was making him stronger. Suddenly he stopped and I collapsed to the floor, "Congratulations. You just caused the death of everyone you ever cared about, by making me the most powerful person in the entire world" I stared at him with all the hate and anger I could muster, Jafar kneeled down and got right my in face, "I'll be sure to tell the others who really killed Aladdin. After all, you did swear your service to me, and now that service is complete." Without warning, Jafar disappeared and left me to die in the room.

This is another one of those times when friends really do matter. Because at that moment, Quasimodo and Dodger burst in, ready to attack. Seeing me on the floor, bleeding internally and only minutes away from death, Dodger carried me to Genie, who had been waiting outside the hotel.

After Genie healed me, I immediately sat up and looked at Dodger, "How did you guys know?" Dodger smiled, "I smelled that creep from the alleyway, he had a bad vibe about him so I decided to follow it. Lucky we did eh?" Quasimodo held out a blue carnation and pinned it my feathers, "Us Outcasts stick together. To the end" I smiled, "To the end"

A loud boom came from down the street, in the direction of the nightclub. I looked at Dodger, "Get to the nightclub as fast as you can. Bring the others" Dodger nodded and ran down the nearest alleyway. I turned to Quasi, "You're with me. If Jafar won't stop us, the staff will." Quasimodo nodded and immediately headed towards the nightclub. Genie put his hand on shoulder, "I don't know what it'll do, but if you'll have me, I'm ready"

Reaching the door of the nightclub, Quasimodo stared at Max, who was the usher, "Let me in" he yelled, Max shook his head, "I'm sorry Quasi. I can't do that" Quasimodo immediately went in a rage and pushed him to the ground, "This is a matter of life and death. Move!" I reached the door seconds later, followed closely by Genie and the three of us headed inside.

Jafar was standing in the middle of the room in front of a large cage covered by a sheet. A large circle of Villains and Heroes were around him, as if the whole thing were a gladiator match. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Heroes and Villains of all types, I give to you to the ultimate test!" It was then that he pulled the sheet off, revealing Aladdin tied in chains and gagged. The Heroes began to move, but as soon as they did so, Jafar pointed his staff at Aladdin. "One move" he threatened, "and the Street Rat dies!"

We stopped at the door. Quasi wanted to rush in head on, but I knew it would be suicide. Just like the in the throne room, we would have to use stealth. Up on the roof, I could see Dodger, Oliver and Esmeralda in the rafters, in the corner was the Beast, hidden in the shadows. I turned to Genie, "Your our messenger" Genie nodded and listened closely as I told him the plan. It was very simple, Quasimodo and Beast would do crowd control, getting everyone else but Jafar out of harm's way. Meanwhile, Esmeralda was to distract Jafar enough so that Dodger could get his staff and Oliver could free Aladdin, then I would somehow go in for the kill.

Genie then split himself into seven different pieces and conveyed the message, once that was done, the plan began. Quasimodo pulled the fire alarm, while Beast let out various deafening roars to scatter the crowd into a frenzy, ultimately causing them to leave the building.

Jafar looked around suspiciously, until his eye caught sight of Esmeralda, immediately transfixed on her dancing abilities. While this was going on, I moved a little closer, still remaining out of sight but managing to get inside the main room. Oliver opened the cage, but as soon as Aladdin stepped out, Jafar turned around and drew a dagger. Dodger left on top of Jafar with everything he had, but he wasn't strong enough and Jafar threw him off with ease, sending him into a pillar and knocking him unconscious.

Aladdin got behind Oliver, somehow protecting him, when Esmeralda drew her knife, but Jafar turned around and hypnotized her, causing her to stand there stupefied. Jafar then turned towards Aladdin, "So" he began laughing, "It seems that Street Rats stick together after all" I moved closer, "and here I thought that you were past all that!"

It was then that I remembered one very important thing. Jafar was a Genie, without his Lamp he would be unstoppable. I frantically began looking around for it as if my life depended on it, finally finding it nestled away in the corner of the room. It would be a long shot if I reached it in time, but I had to try.

Flying as high as I could, at the very moment that Jafar raised his staff, I began pushing myself to fly faster. Jafar placed a spell upon Aladdin, freezing him and everyone else on the ground in their tracks. It was all up to me. "I'm going to kill you" Jafar yelled to Aladdin, who said nothing, "Then I'm going to kill your friends-horribly" Reaching the balcony, I had one chance to make this right, picking up the Lamp, I flew just above Jafar's head. "Hey Jafar" I yelled, causing him to look up, his face now full on rage, "I'm growing really tired of this repetitiveness!" he screamed, shooting a blot of lightening my way.

Dodging the blot with relative ease, I tightened my grip on the Lamp, "Really Jafar?" I began, "That's the best you got? What happened to being an All Powerful Genie?" One of these days, I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut, because my saying that, only made the situation one million times worse. Jafar began laughing as he transformed into the demonic version of the Genie, "If you insist" he threatened, raising his hands and creating a large atomic energy source from nothing and then hurling it towards me, managing to knock me down. He then sent another one, this time causing half of the building to land on top of me, crushing my body and sending the Lamp flying across the room, landing on its side and freezing it, simultaneously making it indestructible.

Jafar stood before me, reverting back to the wizard. The only thing I was able to hear was the sound of his evil laugh, "You are worthless. Why do you fight when you know that it's futile?" he said, looking at him I answered, "I fight...because I'm the only one who can." Jafar laughed again, "What about Aladdin? Let him fight his own battles!" I smiled a bit, "It wasn't his battle to begin with, you know that. Besides, it's always good to know that you have friends backing you up" Jafar raised his staff, "Friends? Who needs friends when you have power?"

I stood up, if I was going to die, I was dying on my own terms, "I have strength through my friends" I answered, "Even if it goes unnoticed." Jafar nodded, "You're as pathetic as you are stupid" I raised my wings in surrender, "Then I'm the stupidest bird in the world." Jafar was done talking, raising his staff even higher, he slammed it down on the ground, producing a large wave of fire and ice, just one blast alone would be lethal. "The things we do for those we love" I whispered. Genie appeared suddenly, holding Jafar's Lamp, gave the Lamp to me and then disappeared.

As the blast drew closer, I held the Lamp in front of me, Jafar's eyes went from hungry with power, to terrified. I felt the heat of the fire burn my skin, coursing through my body and out the other side, then I felt nothing. At the same time, I heard the loud and sudden explosion of Jafar's final demise.

Everything that Jafar had done was immediately undone, the building returned back to normal, and The Outcasts along with Aladdin were unfrozen. Looking around, they all saw two piles of ash. On top of one of them, was Jafar's hat, on the other was the remains of a small yellow beak.