Chapter Twenty Six

Reunion

One Year Later...

I had found a small apartment in southern Florida and was currently working as a tour guide for a small time nature reserve. From the time I left Toon Town up to now, life was good. I played the piano more than ever, kept in touch with Dodger and the others and even tried the dating scene, I might have tried a little too hard or may have said too much, but you can't blame a guy for trying, right?

Just when I thought that I was free to live again, I got a phone call from Cassim. Picking it up, my breathing immediately slowed and my first thought came to Aladdin. "Listen bird" Cassim said slowly, "I know that you still care for him." I had been trying to find Cassim and the Forty Thieves for the past year, having come up empty and searching most of the globe, "You might be pleased to know" he continued, "that we now have Jasmine and your Outcast friends."

Standing up, I flew towards the balcony outside a small slide in door, "What do you want from me?" I asked, knowing that whatever it was would be impossible for me to do, "Simple" Cassim sneered, "Find the Hand of Midas. You have twelve days." I was sweating, "How do I know that you won't kill them right now?" Cassim laughed, "You're smart. I like that. How about this? I'll send one of my men to assist you, keep you out of trouble. Listen to him and your friends will live, when all of this is over, you will all be set free." I nodded, "Alright" I replied, "Where?" Silence, I repeated myself, still nothing.

Hanging up the phone I tried to remain as clam as I possibly could. My friends, Jasmine and Aladdin were all being held against their will by a crazy lunatic and a ragtag group of even crazier lunatics. To make matters worse, I was supposed to find the Hand of Midas that most likely didn't exist or was in an impossible place that would take more than twelve days to get to. Nothing to worry about.

Once I calmed down a bit, I heard a knock at the front door, walking over nervously to answer it, I opened the door. I was greeted by a strange, extremely short, hooded figure. "Are you the-?" I was cut off before I could finish, "Yes I am" he answered, "I'm here to make sure that you stay alive, I get paid and we both walk away from this ordeal getting exactly what we want." Looking at the figure's hands I noticed that they weren't exactly hands, more like feathers. I shook it off as mere shock and allowed the hooded figure to enter.

Sitting on the couch once again, I stared at him, "Who are you?" I asked, the figure was hesitant to reply, but he answered anyway, "I'm not surprised that you don't remember. It's been a long time Iago" I stopped, "How do you know my name?" the figure laughed, "How could I forget the bird who saved his brother from his homicidally insane parents!" I recognized the voice, but I didn't want to believe who it was, "Is this some kind of joke?" I replied, "cause I'm not laughing" he smiled and then removed his hood. It was Othello.

Othello was the splitting image of me, his feathers were mostly gone off the top of his head and he looked as if he had gone through more hell than I would care to, but the resemblance was unmistakably there. "You're alive?" I asked, "I should ask the same of you Iago" Othello replied, "Saving your friends like that. If I had a hat on-" I stopped him, "We don't need that here" I said, Othello only laughed and nodded in agreement, "Now, let's get down to business"

Othello pulled out a small map and laid it on the kitchen table. "This map" he said, "Will lead you to the Hand" I looked it over, and of course the Hand would be located on a moving island, "How am I supposed to find something if I don't know where it is?" I answered, "This map could be ancient. We don't even know if the Floating Island is still there!" Othello laughed, "The map is ancient. But it's also extremely powerful. It knows where the Island is." I have heard about such maps before, Jafar would talk about them constantly, which is how he began his obsession with the Cave of Wonders. "So the map is magical?" I asked again for clarification but Othello only glared at me, which told me that I had said the wrong thing. "Let me make something perfectly clear" Othello began, "I didn't come here because I wanted to. Cassim personally asked for me. I don't care about you, I don't care about your friends, I only care about one thing- getting what is mine. Are we clear?" I nodded in understanding and we continued to make the plans.

I realized two thing about my brother very quickly. One, he was now void of all compassion for me, and two, he was even crazier than I thought. Not only did he have to keep me alive, which is easier said than done, but he also had to resist his natural urge to jab a knife in my throat the entire time. I could actually sit and watch as he constantly pulled out the knife he had hidden on his person, only to put it right back where it had come from and grumble to himself. I could tell already that tomorrow was not going to be an easy day.

We headed out at the first sign of daylight. The plan was very simple, we would head for the Bermuda Triangle, the last known location of the Floating Island, if it wasn't there and chances were high that was the case, we would search near the wreckage of the Titanic, another known location of the Island.

Othello would not stop glaring at me, as if he was just waiting for me to screw up, which would be a bad thing for him because he wouldn't get paid, but I had a feeling that he stopped caring about the money after the first forty five minutes of being with me. Now he just wanted me dead, and I guess the only reason that he hasn't killed me now, is to appease Cassim.

"Listen Iago" Othello said to me after we passed Cuba, "Our organization, The Forty Thieves, doesn't take prisoners" I was confused, why was he telling me this? I had gotten the call from Cassim himself, he said that he had Aladdin, Jasmine and the others. But I had a feeling that he wasn't talking about that, "What do you mean?" I asked, "I got a call-" Othello cut me off, "Cassim will kill them before the twelve days are up. It's a trick, Iago." I stopped mid flight, I wasn't going anywhere until he started making sense, "Why are you telling me this?"

Othello stopped as well, he turned towards me and spoke, "Because you're my brother Iago. I could care less about your friends, really I could. But I was lying when I said I didn't care about you." I couldn't tell if he was being sincere or if he was lying when he said he lied about not caring about me, so I took a chance, "So does that mean that you're not going to kill me?" Othello laughed, "I repressed that a long time ago! I'm after Father now. Is he still insane?" I returned his laugh, one of the many similarities that we had, "Insane would be putting it lightly. Dad's a homicidal lunatic" At this we both started laughing, almost causing ourselves to suffer the effects of down draft, which would've sent us plunging to our deaths in a watery grave.

We stopped to rest on a small island just outside the Bermuda Triangle. It was then that Othello told me how he got in with the Forty Thieves. In order to get into the organization, he faked his death by allowing himself to be buried in a coffin. When the coast was clear, he broke out using a crowbar he had hidden inside. After that he roamed the desert for years, searching for his purpose and he found it after witnessing a robbery that turned into murder, to destroy the Forty Thieves. To accomplish his goal, Othello joined the organization, learning everything that there was to know about stealing, stealth, and perhaps the most important thing-how to fight them.

I had a hard time believing that Othello was who he said though. For one thing, if he was alive why didn't he try to contact me? Another thing was that he had an obvious loyalty to Cassim and a deep love for money, if that isn't enough to raise my suspicions then nothing would've worked.

After a short break, we headed off again, this time to the North Atlantic. It was going to be a long twelve days indeed.