Chapter Twenty Five

My Death Was Greatly Exaggerated

Shaking off my feathers, I welcomed the warm air of the nightclub. Looking at the others I could tell that already they were feeling better by the way they were smiling. I assumed it was because of the warmth of the building, it was only later that I realized that they were happy to be there, to be considered a member of society.

When our tables were assigned to us, Dodger, Oliver, Beast, Esmeralda, Quasimodo, and Oswald headed to the right, while Lefou and I headed to the left. No one even noticed that we entered the room.

I saw Aladdin sitting across from me, accompanied by his father. I wasn't comfortable to say the least. Cassim may have convinced Aladdin and everyone else that he turned over a new leaf, but I wasn't even close to that point. Ironic right? Put yourself in my situation and you'd feel the same way, angry as hell. Why was Aladdin being so accepting of this guy? He hadn't seen him in- never, he never saw him and yet he has the nerve to deny me even the slightest bit of respect or affection that I have clearly deserved. Mad? I was past that, I was livid.

I flew over as fast as I could, completely ignoring the fact that Quasimodo and the other Outcasts were watching me, I didn't care-in fact, I wanted them to look, to see what I was going through. "Ah" Cassim said as I approached, "we were just talking about you" I huffed, "I bet you were you lying, deadbeat, poor excuse for a father piece of shit" I turned towards Aladdin and motioned for him to continue, so he did. "I was telling Dad how you almost killed me-twice. No hard feelings, okay?" Aladdin extended his hand, but instead of taking it I bit it, "You honestly expect me to just up and apologize?" I exclaimed, "For something I didn't do!" I got right in his face, this time making sure that the message would stay in his head, "I. SAVED. YOUR. ASS!" I yelled, "multiple times. I didn't come back from the dead just to get insulted. What do I have to do to get you to see that I actually care for you?"

Aladdin laughed, "You're serious? You care for me...I'm touched" He was mocking me, I could tell by the way his voice rose and then fell as he said the last part, "Listen Iago. I hate you, it's plain and simple. You didn't do anything to stop Jafar in the throne room, you did nothing to stop him when he came back-" I cut him off, "I fucking died you inconsiderate asshole!" Aladdin blew that off, "It was all part of my plan" He was talking out of his ass and he knew it, but worst of all, he knew that I knew that he knew. "So you're confessing to murder?" I asked, "Because I'm pretty sure that I died" Aladdin laughed again, "No you didn't" I got even more in his face, "Yeah I did. I saw the pearly gates. They were amazing. Not like you would see them or anything" Silence. "Isn't saying that hurting your chances?" Aladdin asked, "you know, be God like and everything?" I huffed, "I think He can overlook this one. Trust me, I told him about you, we're good on that account." Aladdin shrugged, "Right"

Dodger came over and stared at Aladdin, "Is this guy you told me about?" I nodded, and he continued, "What the hell is wrong with you man?" he was laughing now, "You are the stupidest guy that I've ever seen if that's how you treat people who gave you the skin off their back." Aladdin huffed, "I'm sorry, who are you?" Dodger got in his face, "I'm Dodger, Brooklyn New York. Remember me, cause one day, me, Iago and the rest of the Outcasts are goanna kick your sorry ass back to where it was that you came from." Aladdin laughed and turned towards Cassim, "Can you believe this guy?" Cassim huffed, "I'll believe anything once. But this is farfetched even for me" Cassim pulled out a knife, "But no one threatens my son and gets away with it" Dodger backed up, "You sure you want to get into this?" he asked, "Cause it's not going to end well for you" Cassim raised his hand, and in an instant all Forty Thieves appeared out of nowhere, stopping Dodger and everyone else in their tracks. "You were saying something?" Cassim replied, taking Aladdin by the hand, "Come on. We've got a treasure to find!"

The room was suddenly filled with smoke and when it cleared Aladdin, Cassim and the Forty Thieves had disappeared. Great. Just great.

Looking over at where they had been sitting, I saw that Cassim dropped a small piece of paper. The writing on it was almost illegible, but three words clearly stood out, The Hand of Midas...

Mickey came on stage after that to start the show. I knew that Aladdin was to be my foremost responsibility, but it wouldn't feel right if I just left on the spot. On top of that, the others had never been here before, and it would only make the situation even more awkward than it already was if I just left. So I decided to stay, it was the worst decision that I made in my entire life.

The cartoons were all Christmas themed, no surprise there, but even as I kept thinking about Aladdin and the possible danger he was in, I found myself unable to look away from the screen. The cartoon was one that I've never even seen before, in fact I don't think anyone has, mostly because I was apparently the star of the whole thing.

It was then that I realized that the cartoon was a parody on my life. I had no doubt in my mind that Mickey or Aladdin had made it happen, because it was the most offensive thing that I have ever seen.

Everyone was laughing at me, at my life. It was accurate, every detail was there- it was twisted and slightly negative, but it was there. When it came to the part about my getting sucked into the Lamp, I just about lost it.

When the cartoon was over, my nostrils were fuming. Never before had I experienced feelings of pain, anger and shame at the same time, but now I can say that I have. I began knocking things over, smashing tables, destroying studio lights, the projector and finally I began beating the hell out of Mickey.

The lawsuit came quickly. I was fined ten thousand dollars for damages on the studio lights alone. I was also banished from Toon Town, not a huge loss, but it also meant that I had nowhere to go, since Agrabah was out of the question.

Outside the city walls, I headed for the coast. I was hoping that the air would do me some good. But once again, I was wrong and once again, I found myself fighting for my life, as if it couldn't get any worse than it already was.