Chapter 11: Secret Deal

Genie did end up telling the whole story of things as he mixed different potions together in Jafar's lair. There were several times he had to stop in the middle of telling the group - Aladdin, Jasmine, Iago and Rajah - to mix some things carefully together within several vials. He was dressed in a scientist's coat with overly large glasses as he was doing so. Fitting for an experiment he was determined to make sure everything went right.

"I hate the fact that Abu and Carpet had to find out the way they did," Genie said, pausing momentarily to let the set of potions sit on the table in front of him. They needed to simmer before he could move on with the next part of making the cure. "But you came in through the clutch, Al, as usual. I wasn't expecting you to steal those bracelets from Nefir and his lot. Thanks kiddo. That saved me a lot of time."

Jasmine noticed that Aladdin didn't say anything to that, only a silent nod, which made her wonder. Aladdin didn't actually say he stole the bracelets from Nefir. Why is he being so quiet about it?

"You shoulda just told us the worst case scenario ahead of time!" Iago snapped. "None of this 'everything's just fine and dandy! I'll fix it, go do human stuff instead.' We were worried anyway!"

Rajah folded his arms across his chest, leaning against the wall as he studied the bangle bracelet on his wrist. The dull copper actually matched what Rajah was wearing that evening. "At the very least we aren't in mortal trouble with the protection of these bracelets. If Genie truly can make this mixture of a cure within the night's time, by the morning, we should be able to take it and return back to being ourselves again."

Iago wiped his forehead with the back of his hand in relief. "At least we can be back to normal. Not that I mind being this handsome person," Iago grinned and wiggled his eyebrows for emphasis. "But I wouldn't want to be him permanently! I miss my wings."

Rajah snorted, but it wasn't with any humor. "I'll admit I miss being 'myself' as well."

Jasmine surprised Rajah by hugging him around his waist. "Rajah, we talked about this, remember? Human or tiger or whatever form you take, you're still my friend. Don't ever feel like you can't be yourself around me."

Rajah's face flushed, his expression sheepish. "Y-yes, your highness."

That caught Aladdin's attention. The prince's brows lifted, his expression relaxing. He knew that he'd encouraged Rajah to talk to Jasmine about everything, but he wasn't aware of the exact conversation they'd had. Still, at least Aladdin was glad - in the mix of everything - that they'd had a chance to talk. Rajah did seem notably more relaxed around Jasmine in his human form, so it was a win.

Iago groaned. "I'm still gonna have nightmares thinkin' about the fact that if I wasn't wearing this bracelet, I was gonna die by bein' turned from the inside out into feathers. Talk about being careful what old spells you run into. Poor Carpet. Coughin' up threads probably traumatized the kid."

That surprised everyone in the room. Iago wasn't one to usually express that kind of concern for anyone beyond himself except on the rare occasions where things were serious. All things considered, Nefir's actions and the consequences of the spell were, indeed, serious. They were all too aware of it.

At that, Aladdin spoke for the first time in a while since Genie finished telling his story. "I should go check on Abu and Carpet. It's been a little bit."

Genie winced. "Guess they're really mad at me, considering I didn't even get a chance to tell them the truth before Nefir did. They didn't deserve that. You were right, Al. l should have told them sooner. Even if I wasn't sure it would happen."

Aladdin looked at Genie over his shoulder. "I don't think they're mad, Genie. It was just a lot of close calls at once. They were tired after the run in. Don't exactly blame them for it. Carpet getting sick like that scared me too. I knew you said it would be obvious, but it still freaked me and Abu out seeing it for ourselves."

"Oh Aladdin, we should have checked in with you too," Jasmine was quick to be at his side, holding him close to her. "Did they hurt you too?"

Aladdin shook his head. "I'm just glad that things didn't turn out worse than they did. For any of us." He gently stepped out of her embrace, before turning and walking up the stairs out of the room.

After he left, Rajah remained on the wall, at first watching Aladdin the whole time as he left the room. Then he turned to look between Iago, Jasmine, and Genie. "Something's off about Aladdin. It's not quite the same as he was acting when he went to the Thieves' Den on his own, but it feels odd for him."

Jasmine turned to Rajah. "You noticed too?"

"Nah, I get where Al's head's at. He's upset about a lot of things," Genie said sadly. "Some of that is at me, I know. He won't say it because he doesn't want to hurt me. He's also blaming himself for what happened."

Iago slapped a palm against his forehead. "Oh great, that makes sense. Al's just a second degree removed from the pity party Genie's been throwin' himself this whole time."

Genie raised a brow at the former parrot. "You think this is a pity party?" He used his magic briefly to make a bunch of black and white balloons appear in Iago's hands. Even the kazoo that was in Iago's mouth was monochromatic. "There we are. Less pity, more par-tay."

Iago frowned at Genie, blowing the kazoo briefly before removing it from his mouth. "Still depressing, though."

Jasmine started for the staircase. "I'm going to check on Aladdin and the others. I'm sure he'll be okay once everyone is safely back to normal."

Iago yawned. "I'm gonna take a page out of Abu and Carpet's book and go turn in early. And I'm gonna hope it's nightmare free."

Rajah watched as both Jasmine and Iago left the room. Genie briefly looked up from the vials of potions to look at where the former tiger remained on the wall. "You're not going to join them?"

"I'd rather stay here. Going to my room and not being able to sleep doesn't sound all that appealing right now."

Genie grinned. "Fair enough. I can multitask."

Rajah raised a brow. "Multitask?"

"I can make this cure and be an ample source of entertainment for a party of two. No charge."

Rajah snorted, but this time it was one of humor. "Fair enough."

Aladdin knocked on Carpet's door a few times. He figured that Carpet was probably sleeping, but he still wanted to check on him, regardless. To his surprise, Carpet's door was open when he tried the handle, though he had been about to walk away. He entered the room quietly, immediately seeing Carpet curled up on his bed, sleeping. The boy had been so tired that he didn't even bother pulling the blanket over himself.

The prince approached the bed, pulling the blanket up and covering Carpet up to his shoulders. At first Aladdin thought to leave after that, but he found his feet rooted in place. He couldn't. Ever since they'd returned to the Palace, he'd had the same weight of guilt bearing down on him. On what happened. On what he still had to do. There was a part of him that hoped that Abu was sleeping too because he didn't want to have that conversation with his best friend on what he'd do next. Not now. Not regarding the deal he'd made with Nefir. He had at least a night to think about it, but Aladdin realized he didn't want to wait that long and risk something going wrong or Nefir changing his mind, just because.

None of this nightmare was over. Not yet, anyway. At least he'd bought them time. If Genie had more time to make the cure, then it would be worth it to help his friends. But he still needed to get the tome without Genie or any one else noticing. Abu and Carpet knew, but no one else did. Then there was the errand Nefir wanted him to run before they went to Getzistan. Nefir had been insistent on not telling him the details until he brought the tome to the imps, without delay. That had been the deal he made for getting the bracelets without Nefir returning to the Palace to bother his friends again.

Aladdin turned, taking a seat on the bed next to where Carpet slept. At the very least, Carpet seemed like he was dreaming peacefully. The prince only hoped that his dreams stayed nightmare free.

"I'm sorry you guys went through all of that today, Carpet. Especially with what happened to you," he whispered. "Definitely going to make sure that I keep you guys out of whatever Nefir has planned next. I promise. Need to figure out the next part of the plan and thwart it. Just hope it's enough to keep both Agrabah and Getzistan safe."

He sat on the edge of the bed a few moments more before he stood and left the room. Aladdin hadn't made it a few steps out of Carpet's room before he saw Abu's door open and close. To his surprise, Jasmine had emerged from Abu's room at around the same time.

"Hi, my handsome prince," she said with a small smile.

"Hey Princess. Abu's sleeping?"

Jasmine nodded. "For the moment. You weren't kidding. Both of them must have been tired after everything you told us."

"For sure. It was a lot." Aladdin had told them everything except about the deal. Genie didn't need one more thing to worry about while trying to make the cure, so of course he left it out. But a lie by omission was still a lie. He knew Genie knew about that all too well, considering. There was a part of him that was mad at himself for letting the lie by omission to Abu, Iago, Carpet, and Rajah go on as far as it did. Even if it wasn't a certain thing. Now, he was keeping the lie going by involving himself in it. Part of him wanted to blame Genie in terms of looping him into an impossible situation where he couldn't refuse Nefir's offer. It would have meant...no, he wouldn't think like that.

Jasmine had closed the distance between them, holding him close to her again. "Your hair looks better since Genie made it grow back."

Aladdin's grin was a little sheepish. His hand reached up to his hair on instinct. "Yeah, he did a pretty good job restoring it after Nefir cut it earlier. Said that he didn't mind the 'punk' look on me, but he said I had to commit to the poofy look or that one. That I couldn't pass off as both. Still don't know what it means."

"The shorter look would have looked nice on you too," Jasmine followed up, her hand teasing the ends of his longer hair. "But I think I agree with Genie - you needed to either choose one or the other, not both."

Aladdin genuinely laughed then. "Fair deal. I'll keep that in mind the next time I try a different look. On my own terms, that is."

But when she rested her hand against his chest, Jasmine was shocked. He hated that he made her worry. "Aladdin, your heart's beating so fast."

Aladdin took the moment to try to offset his nerves with something else. He raised a brow at her, his grin a little too wide. "Uh, you sure you're not having that effect on me?"

She laughed, but she hadn't been fooled. "Nice try. If I had that kind of power, I'd calm you down, not the other way around."

"Too bad. Kind of like the rush."

"Stop it!" She laughed again for a bit, but then her expression turned serious as she looked directly at him. "No, seriously. I'm worried about you. After everything you all went through today, I want to know if you're okay."

He nodded slowly. "I will be, Jasmine. I promise. Just need sleep, I think. And knowing for sure everything'll be okay tomorrow with Genie getting a cure ready." Nothing he said then was a lie as he looked at her. He wanted her to know that.

She smiled again, and this time it stayed. "Same here." He leaned into the kiss she gave him. It didn't go easier on his rapidly beating heart for the moment, but at least the rush was a better feeling than he had before. And he could live with that.

It was very early in the morning - still dark - when Jasmine woke with a start. It wasn't so much that she'd been woken by any particular thing - not a loud noise or a bad dream. But she was very aware that Aladdin wasn't beside her. Where did he go? she wondered. Maybe to check in with Genie? Somehow she wasn't sure that was the case.

She made her way down the Palace hallway, nearly to run into her father who was carrying a mug of water. Some of the water sloshed around, but it didn't spill on the polished floor.

"Jasmine! You nearly spooked me." The Sultan was jovial even for this time of morning.

"Sorry. I woke up a little bit ago. Have you seen Aladdin?"

"Quite funny you should ask. Abu just asked me the same question not long ago. It seems like everyone's up late around this hour in the Palace."

"Abu?" Jasmine's confusion was a little lost on her father, who continued without a second thought.

"Oh my, yes. He was up and wanted to know where Aladdin had gone. It's still surprises me how much like Aladdin he is as a human, even down to the way they speak! But I suppose I never thought much about it until this interesting spell turned him and the others. At any rate, Aladdin told me earlier that he wanted to take a bit of a evening walk since he couldn't sleep. I believe he was headed towards town. The...er..." Sultan frowned, trying to remember.

"His hiding place?" Jasmine followed.

"Yes, that was it! But I wouldn't follow him, dearest. He would be more worried about you being up this late worrying over him." Her father pat her hand in the same way that he'd done when she was a child. There was a part of her that usually felt comforted by the gesture, but not this night. "Off to bed with you, dearest."

"If he's with Abu, then at least I feel better about it." She made the statement to placate her father into thinking she'd go back to sleep, but even as she watched her father disappear down the hall, she knew the nagging feeling she'd had earlier wasn't without merit. Aladdin had seemed worried - distracted - about something when they'd kissed earlier that night.

She'd always been a curious princess, and it rarely ever steered her wrong, though not without getting into some sticky situations. If Aladdin was in some sort of danger, or helping the others avoid it (or both), then she would do whatever she could to help him.

Even if he didn't want her anywhere near it.