Chapter Twenty Nine

The Hand Of Midas

The first thing I saw was the ship. The flag was a blue banner with a yellow cross and the Hand on the upper right hand corner. The flag of the Forty Thieves.

Othello then saw them, Cassim and Aladdin who were leading the others, The Outcasts, to a small beach. We walked over and it was then that Genie realized his mistake, we had arrived on different parts of the island, but The Outcasts appeared on the ship itself and were recaptured.

Othello turned to me, "Let me go up there" he said, "he knows me" I nodded, not willing to argue with logic, just wanting this to be over with as possible.

Aladdin lined them up according to size, meaning that Oliver was first, followed by Oswald, Dodger, Lefou and then Jasmine. He pulled out a sword and spoke, "By the authority of The King of Thieves and I, Aladdin, Prince of Agrabah. I condemn you all to die by beheading." Oliver turned toward Dodger, "Dodger?" Dodger immediately looked his way, tears were rolling down his cheeks. he didn't want to speak, but he somehow he found a way. "Yeah, kid?" Oliver hesitated, knowing that by doing so, he only gave the signal for Aladdin to continue, "Outcasts stick together." Dodger nodded, "That's right. We do" Dodger laughed, remembering all the things that they had been through. Oliver continued, "I love y-" before he could finish Aladdin brought the sword down on Oliver's head.

Othello came up almost immediately after. He saw Oliver's body and turned towards Cassim, his face expressionless and void of all feeling. "I have him" he said, Cassim raised his hand, stopping Aladdin from moving on to Oswald. "Bring him to me" Cassim ordered, Othello bowed and quickly returned with me following close behind.

As soon as Cassim saw me, he pulled out a large bag of money and handed it to Othello. "Very good Othello" Cassim whispered, "You remember your end of the bargain?" Othello sighed, "Sir, things are different now. I can't just-" Cassim pulled out a knife and pointed it at Othello's throat, "Do as I say!" Cassim sneered, "or I'll have you join him" he pointed towards Oliver's body, his head was nowhere to be found. Othello nodded and took the knife from him and made his way towards me.

"What's going on?" I asked, Othello wrapped his wings around me and stabbed me in the back without a second thought. I immediately had the look of confusion and utter despair, for in my eyes, Othello had betrayed me. "I'm sorry" Othello whispered in my ear, "but you can't get in the way now" he then pulled the knife out of my back and let me fall to the ground.

Cassim then turned towards Aladdin, "Take them. Take them all" Aladdin nodded and had The Outcasts march along the beach, but Oswald and Lefou stayed behind, for they were not needed and only extra weight as far as Cassim was concerned. Othello stayed with them, making sure that they didn't try to escape.

As soon as Cassim, Aladdin and the prisoners disappeared behind the hillside, I stood up. I was in extreme pain, but I knew that I had to continue, I had to stop this. I had to, because no one else would, at least that's what I thought.

Cassim reached the chamber, followed by Aladdin and the others. I had discovered a small balcony that I managed to fly to and sit upon unnoticed, one of the advantages of being me. Cassim then began to laugh, "This is it!" he raised his fist in the air, "the moment I've been waiting for" Aladdin raised his eyebrows, "Whatever happened to father and son? Taking the Hand and using it to control the world?" Cassim turned around, "You're joking right?" Cassim said, "Like I would share the infinite treasure with a Street Rat? Think again boy!"

Aladdin clenched his fists in anger, but he would do the same thing in Cassim's place. In fact, why not? He was in the room after all, all he had to do was push Cassim over the small walkway and into the chasm. It was too easy.

Aladdin pulled out his knife and moved slowly towards Cassim, I wasn't about to let it end this way. Flying down, I got in between Cassim and Aladdin, the former turned around. Cassim stared at his son, "So you were trying to kill me?" he said threateningly, "Yes" Aladdin answered, "you're a backstabbing asshole. The treasure is mine" I couldn't listen to this anymore. "Enough" I butted in, "Don't you see? This thing, The Hand, it's controlling you."

Cassim made me turn towards him, "Bird" he said, his face showing signs of seriousness and warmth, "thank you. Thank you for giving me your son" I was confused, so I let him continue, "Aladdin is not my son, he is yours. He has always been yours." I sighed, "Then I am a failure at parenthood" I laughed also, but it wasn't sincere. Cassim stopped me, "It is not you who as failed. It is him" Aladdin stared at his father in utter confusion, "What are you talking about!" he yelled, "You're the one who said I should do this. You made the plans, you gave the order to kill Esmeralda, Beast and Quasimodo. It was all you!"

Cassim sighed, "I never gave you an order. I never said any of those things. All I suggested was that we find the Hand of Midas." Aladdin was even more confused, "What about The Outcasts? What did they serve?" Cassim answered his question, "To get him" he pointed at me, "involved. To share in this great adventure that is only really a journey. I want him to share in The Hand"

I was moved and afraid for my life at the same time. Cassim reached for The Hand, and I didn't stop him, for I can see that this is what he was meant to do. His hand immediately turned gold, it went up his arm and across his body, the last words he said was, "It is a horrible thing...this addiction to money. Thank God there are people like Iago. Thank God"

Othello released Lefou and Oswald, "Come on, we have to help the others" he said. Lefou communicated to Oswald what Othello was saying, they having worked out a system of signs and gestures. Oswald and Lefou nodded in agreement and headed towards the main chamber.

They got there as soon as Cassim was nothing more than a statue. Aladdin screamed in pain, Othello immediately led them down the pathway and on top of the small balcony overlooking the situation.

Aladdin turned towards me, all of his hate and anger now completely manifested in this single moment, "You killed my father!" he screamed as he thrust the knife towards me, which I avoided by flying upwards. Aladdin was close to falling into the chasm, but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back up. Even still, Aladdin tried to kill me.

I made my way to the others, hoping that they would help me. The only one who moved was Jasmine, the one person I wanted to stay out of this. Jasmine began throwing rocks at Aladdin, several of them hit him square in the face, but did nothing else then cause small bruises. "That's the best you got?" Aladdin taunted, he turned towards me, "You're relying on a selfish bitch to fight your battles? How pathetic!"

I turned around and met his insult, "Two things...one, Jasmine is a saint. Two, if anyone is a bitch around here, it's you." Aladdin lunged forward, his target was nothing, and still he lunged, it was almost comic. But I was laughing, because once he found his target, I froze.

Aladdin removed the small knife from Jasmine's torso, he twisted the knife left and right. All the while, Jasmine made no sound, because she was already dead. The boy I had raised into a man was dead. What was left was a monster, an empty shell of nothing that could be defeated by nothing.

I looked up, Othello was on the ledge. He began pushing rocks down, for what reason I don't know. Then I remembered the dream. Othello was destroyed the structure, it would be down in minutes.

Aladdin laughed as he turned towards me once more, ignoring the fact that The Outcasts had slipped out the room, for there was little they could do in chains. "So this is the end?" Aladdin asked rhetorically, "I guess so" I replied. Then we both made our move.

I pushed Aladdin down on the ground, but he immediately threw me off. Othello pushed the final rock down and then he, along with Lefou and Oswald, who were also pushing rocks, left.

I was up against a wall, even if Aladdin did kill me, the chamber would kill indefinitely. But I wasn't going down that easy. If I was going to die, I wanted two things to happen, one Aladdin to go down with me and two, to be dead. If I was going to die, I didn't want to come back, I wanted to just be dead. I was tired of constantly reliving the same pain, opening the same wounds despite my best efforts to close them.

Aladdin tripped on a rock and fell on the ground, the knife impaled his body, he was dead. Standing up, I noticed that Jasmine's body was gone, then I saw a trail of blood leading towards the exit, she was alive. I knew it, she just had to be alive.

It brings me great pleasure to tell you that The Outcasts escaped with their lives. It gives me great pleasure also, to tell you that I am dead. I am happy and free. Do not let my passing bring you any sorrow, for I am surrounded by friends and family. Heaven can be a place of great happiness, but then you don't have to be in Heaven to be happy. As long as you are surrounded by people who care about you, it doesn't matter where you are. Friends can make even Hell worthwhile. I can say now that by guilt of association, I am in Hell. Jafar is to my left, Aladdin to my right. I am not surrounded by friends, that was a lie. But still I am happy. I am happy because people like Jafar and Aladdin are no longer troubles to the world...

Genie recovered my body from the ruins of chamber. He then did the worst thing that I have ever experienced. He brought me back to life.

Waking up, I was surrounded by friends. Dodger, Jasmine, Lefou, Oswald and Genie gathered around me as if at any moment I would stand. I stayed there, lying on the ground, and cried.

We returned to Agrabah's Palace. Jasmine picked me up and kissed my forehead, "Thank you Iago" she said as she pulled me in for an embrace. Even as this was happening to me, I felt empty. It wasn't real. She didn't care about me at all. Jasmine only did what she did out of thanks for the moment, not out of thanks for what I did for almost her entire life. It was empty and meaningless.