Chapter 02: Familiar Stranger

Nefir was furious once he and his companions returned to their hideout a good distance in the desert outside of Agrabah.

"I told all of you that this was an important mission! We had everything in place! We were only supposed to get inside Jafar's old lair, grab the tome, transform, and offer security arrangements to Agrabah and Getzistan in our human forms. It was the perfect money scheme to craft! A foolproof plan, but now they know we want the tome!"

Nefir's companions cringed as the imp yelled at them, but all were startled by a sudden shift in the air that occurred over the city of Agrabah - an aura of colors hovering in the air like the heat of the desert rippling with mirages. It was over as quickly as it began. They all had the magic bangles they'd found to protect them from the cursed magic the tome would bring once the spell was read. But Nefir realized what they did when they heard the sound - like a siren - coming from the Palace.

"I...don't believe it. They activated the spell?" Nefir said, raising a brow.

One of his minions pointed out that Nefir had likely read the spell wrong, which earned the minion a smack to the back of the head from Nefir's hand.

"That doesn't matter! What does is that we have another event that we can use as leverage in our favor. Likely Aladdin and his friends didn't take the proper precautions before that spell was spoken. Not like we have." Nefir pointed to the magic bangle that was cuffed to one of his wrists. "And that will cost them. I would be willing to bet - a lot of dinari I might add - that even their Genie doesn't have the information we do. And once he does, he'll realize that the boon they just unleashed isn't one without costs. Too bad we weren't close enough to experience it for ourselves."

Nefir laughed, clapping his hands together. "I have to say - this has worked out in our favor. Even better than the original plan. First, we'll wait for the effects to take place among their lot, then we'll swoop in when things...take a turn, to say the least."

"I still don't completely understand what happened," Jasmine admitted as she stood on the balcony looking out over the city that night. "So Abu, Iago, Carpet, and Rajah - and Genie - heard something that we couldn't?"

Aladdin leaned against the balcony rail beside her, his back to the city skyline as he looked at her. "Yeah. Genie said that it was only at a frequency that non-humans could hear. And magic beings for that matter. I can't say that I know how it works, but I can tell all of them - except for Genie - are still hurting from the effects of that spell."

Jasmine sighed. "Poor Rajah's been miserable all evening. He finally fell asleep after I had him calm down. How are the others?"

"Carpet's with Genie. Figured that whole incident was enough to put his threads on edge. Iago's sleeping and he's also with Genie. Abu was so turned off by everything that happened, he didn't want to sleep in the Palace. He's at the hiding place right now."

Jasmine gasped. "Oh no. Poor Abu. But he shouldn't have to sleep anywhere by himself."

Aladdin shook his head. "I'm going to stay with him for tonight so that he's not alone. I was going to head out that way in a bit. Do you mind that?"

Jasmine shook her head. "Not at all, I understand. Just let me know if you need anything. Either of you, for that matter."

Aladdin smiled. "For sure. I just hate that we don't know what the spell was or what it did. Genie's looking into it, but he's feeling, well, not great about what happened."

"You told him you weren't angry at him, right?"

"Never mad about it to begin with, only tried to warn him. Too late to do anything, though. But no matter what I told him after, he hasn't stopped blaming himself. Don't have any control over that." Aladdin ran one of his hands through his hair as he sighed. "I think we all need a night to recover. In the morning, we can see where we are. Maybe Genie might remember something about that tome or the spell. Or maybe he can figure out where to find answers. It might be worth searching through the library more."

"Aladdin, is that what you were doing earlier?" Jasmine said, her brow furrowed. "No wonder you look tired."

Aladdin shrugged, not looking at her. "Didn't really get that far to count - you know how many books we have in the royal library. Just trying to help. Wish I could say I found anything, but nothing stood out about Jafar's odd magic collections. I can tell how freaked out Genie was after that whole thing. It was a honest mistake, an accident."

"If Genie knew the effort you were putting in, he'd appreciate it."

"Thanks, Princess." Jasmine placed a hand on Aladdin's chest as she leaned in to kiss him. A full kiss on the lips that made her feel his heartbeat quicken beneath her touch. When they pulled apart, Aladdin nodded to her. "Think I'll start my walk towards the city then."

Jasmine frowned at him. "I know why you're not taking Carpet, but shouldn't you have Genie take you to the hiding place? That's quite a walk."

He pointed to the lamp at his hip. "I know, but I don't want to rub this and disturb him from whatever he's doing. If I need him for something more urgent, I'll let him know. Besides, I could use the exercise."

The princess laughed. "Fine, just be careful. I'll leave you to it. Goodnight, Aladdin."

"Goodnight Jasmine, I'll be back at the Palace tomorrow morning. Sleep well. I love you."

Jasmine smiled. "I love you too."

When Aladdin arrived at his hiding place, he saw that Abu was finally sleeping comfortably on a cluster of pillows away from his usual sleeping place. He didn't want to possibly wake the monkey after it took him so long to finally relax. From the look of it, Abu was no longer as tense as he'd been earlier in the day. The monkey lightly snored, his tiny chest rising and falling with every breath.

Aladdin placed the lamp in its usual place and lay on his makeshift bed, staring up at the starry Agrabah sky. "Talk about a long day," he said aloud. "I would rub the lamp and check in on Genie, but I don't want to bug him. I'll try to get some shut eye and check on Abu in the morning. Maybe once we put today behind us, we'll have more energy to go after whatever Nefir wanted."

The prince closed his eyes, allowed the quiet to settle around him. Even he couldn't tell how much time passed because of shifting in and out of a dazed, dreamless sleep. But sometime before dawn, the early morning when stars still shone in the sky and the quiet among Agrabah had settled in, a startled, very unfamiliar scream sounded from behind him.

Aladdin's eyes opened wide and he sat upright. At first he thought it was the remnants of an all too real nightmare that had shocked his senses. But then the voice came from directly behind him.

"Oh this is bad. This is very, VERY bad. One moment I was sleeping, next I'm awake and I look like this. Don't know what to do, I don't..."

Aladdin slowly turned around to find a slim, dark brown haired guy - not too far from his own age - pacing the floor directly across from where he had been sleeping. A street rat? A merchant? Aladdin wondered. He'd never seen the guy before in his life. But something about him seemed familiar. The fez and purple vest the stranger wore were a lot like Aladdin's. He was barefoot, wearing dark brown pants that didn't really match the vest or fez. He definitely looked like a street rat, just like he'd been years before.

At the very moment Aladdin realized that Abu was missing, the stranger noticed that Aladdin was staring at him in wordless silence. Both of them yelled at the exact same time, startled.

But the stranger was the first to speak after their shock faded. "Oh, Aladdin...it's just you. Forgot I fell asleep here."

But Aladdin blinked without words for a moment. His chest rose with panicked breaths. "You know who I am? How? Why are you here? How did you find this place?"

"Oh, well, um, you see..." The stranger stammered, speaking fast and almost too quickly for the prince to keep up with. "Okay, I get it, you don't recognize me. Don't even recognize myself right now, but still..."

Aladdin went from slight panic to a cold anger. He quickly got to his feet, standing mere steps away from the stranger. "What did you do with Abu? What did you do with my friend?"

The stranger's eyes went wide with horror. "I didn't do anything! Aladdin..."

"I don't know you! " Aladdin snapped, cutting him short. "Stop trying to pretend like you know me. I've never seen you at any time before now and I'm really starting to wonder how you found this place. What's your deal?"

"Listen, I don't know what's going on either, but I'm still, I...I..." The stranger's voice choked up, on the verge of tears. Aladdin felt his anger fall, not as quickly as it came, but enough to realize something about this was very wrong. He didn't know where Abu went. Aladdin realized the stranger may not have had anything to do with that, but the fact that he'd somehow found or ended up in their hiding place was weird. The prince had so many questions.

Aladdin closed his eyes and let out a long breath before he tried to speak again. "Look, I'm sorry. Think if you were someone who wanted to hurt me, you would have done so by now. Not to mention you're clearly freaking out more than me." Aladdin said. "Take your time. What are you trying to say?"

It was a long moment before the stranger spoke again. "You really don't recognize me? Don't blame you 'cause it's not like I'm the splitting image of what I was before. Even my own voice sounds strange to me. Still trying to get used to it."

Aladdin shook his head. "No, I don't. And not sure I understand - what you used to look like? Your voice? What changed? How do I know you?"

The stranger groaned, clearly frustrated, but it wasn't directed at the prince. "Let me move into the light a little more. It's hard to see this early, but I need you to really look at me. See if anything clicks before I say more. 'Cause if I say it, I'm not sure if you'll believe it. Not that I'd blame you." The stranger moved closer, to where Aladdin had a better view of him in the light of the moon that still shown in the sky from the window behind them. Aladdin saw the stranger's ear length, medium-dark brown hair and dark brows, light brown eyes. It took a moment for Aladdin to take in his appearance. They were about the same height and age, though the stranger was only slightly shorter than Aladdin. What clicked for Aladdin was the combination of the stranger's eyes and the shape of his face, though it wasn't exactly obvious.

The shock hit him so suddenly that Aladdin gasped, staggered until his back hit the wall behind him. Aladdin flinched at the pain that momentarily struck him. The stranger's expression turned to panic. He began to reach out for Aladdin with one of his hands, but Aladdin held up his own to indicate he was okay.

"No way. There's no way...Abu?" Aladdin asked, even hesitant to say it because he feared he'd be wrong.

Abu's smile was small, but his shoulders relaxed. "Yeah, you got it. It's extremely weird. Trying very hard not to panic, but don't really know what else I can do." Abu held up his hand, palm forward. Aladdin approached Abu, placing his palm against the very human palm of his friend. "Does this make me seem more real?"

Aladdin had to take a minute to find his words. "Now that I know it's you, I definitely believe it. You're different, yet the same. Don't know how else to say it."

Abu lowered his hand. "Right? I mean, it feels weird to be able to look at you at eye level without being on someone else's shoulder or sitting on a ledge of something. But still - I woke up, looked like this, thought I was dreaming. Next thing I knew, when I realized I really wasn't dreaming, I freaked out. And it's gonna bug me that I scared you. Sorry, I didn't know you were here."

"Don't be. Wait a minute," Aladdin realized something as he thought about the previous day's events. "The spell! That's the connection. You probably changed because of the spell Genie read from the tome!"

"Really?" Abu's brows rose with recognition. "You think I'm not the only one who ended up like this?"

"Wouldn't be a stretch. We can check with Genie to be sure. Though you might want to prep yourself for the fact he won't recognize you immediately."

Abu rolled his eyes. "Oh brother."

Aladdin bit back a smile that crossed his lips. He admitted to himself that Abu definitely sounded different having a "human" voice, but his mannerisms, expressions, and phrases were exactly the same. When he tried to rub the lamp to summon Genie, nothing happened. He tried again and still didn't get any response.

"Genie's not coming?" Abu asked.

"Doesn't seem like it. Wonder if something happened."

Abu folded his arms across his chest. "If what happened to me happened to the others, he might have his hands full. Or maybe everyone's still sleeping this early."

Aladdin shrugged. "Hard to say. Wonder if I can summon Carpet from here." Aladdin turned towards the skyline view at his window. He whistled a few times and waited. When no response came, he tried once more and realized the effort was wasted. "Doesn't seem like Carpet's available either. Something seems wrong. Rather not sit on it and head over to the Palace even if it is really early."

"Is it okay if I go with you?" Abu asked, looking on edge. It surprised Aladdin that Abu sounded so unsure. "Really don't want to stay here by myself. Not like this."

"I wasn't expecting you to," Aladdin said, frowning. "I'm not going to leave you on a limb, Abu. Especially not after something like this happening." For a moment he thought about something and his expression shifted. The smile the prince gave his friend was sheepish. "Can't ask you to take a ride on my shoulder though. You'll just have to keep me company while we both walk to the Palace."

Abu smiled back at him. "Fine by me."