A/N: Apologies again! My attention span can get very finicky with updates bleeeeh…I've also posted my new fic: A Disney Pharoah! Please check out my profile in case you want to check it out! It has a different writing style though, so hope you don't mind! Besides that, hope you enjoy this chapter!

The sun scorches the sandy ground from above with little to no clouds hanging around the sky, nothing being seen except one lone bird with the brightest colors of red and blue–standing out from it's surroundings like a glistening ruby gem with a few bits of sapphire to add more variety.

This creature began to reach it's destination, which is revealed to be a large kingdom made of stone buildings with one giant palace that seems to draw in the naked eye to it's glorious design. On the streets of the kingdom are the people who inhabit it, many that are currently wandering around seem to mostly be vendors or guards with the occasional civilian looking around the market stalls–or simply doing various chores for their households.

As the bird flew closer to the streets, it abruptly landed in a random alleyway nearby the marketplace, however it was silent with noone even walking past it. The bird landed on a random barrel before, in a flash of it's bright colored feathers, it became the woman from before with her deep maroon/red hair flowing down and over the dark brown robes she wears.

Taking a deep inhale, she carefully covered her head with the hood once more–tucking her hair inside it as she did so–and wiped her hands down her face in exhaustion whilst she looked up at the sky. "And…that would be 12 hours of flight…ugh…why wasn't it just a wee bit closer to Agrabah? Bleeeh…"

She leaned her back against the cold stone wall behind her before taking out a canteen to take a sip of water, only to find it empty. Groaning, she threw it to the wall opposite where she sat on the barrel as she took out a small pouch–containing the golden pieces of the scarab beetle from before, aswell as a few pieces of gold. After a few moments of contemplating, she looked from her pouch to the marketplace streets at the end of the alley with a resigned expression, "Well…he did say to use it when necessary…" she thought to herself, before jumping off the barrel to walk into the streets.

Through the streets she took, the marketplace was eventually revealed–all of the vendors shouting to potential customers passing by or looking, all of the merchandise in question ranging from jewels to fish, a couple more guards patrolling the area as it is a hotspot for thieves, etc.

Walking by the first few stalls, all of the vendors she passed rambunctiously began shouting in her direction with much more enthusiasm than the other civilians who passed just moments before she did, some even trying–and failing–to show off their strength by flexing their arms towards her, "Why did that damned dust storm take my mask off all things?" she thought as she vehemently faced forward to avoid looking at the vendor's attempts. Her mind briefly flashing back to her human form being caught in a dust storm–remaining untouched, but her face angry as a flash of the storm ripped her mask away from her face.

Mentally shaking herself away from her recent memory, she turned to look at a stall that was selling baked goods–mainly freshly made loaves of fluffy bread, all being sold by a much older woman who seemed to be beginning to reach her twilight years.

The robed woman, after thinking it over for a few moments, approached the stall by the older lady. "Excuse me, how much are these?" she inquired as she looked over which particular piece may be the most appetizing to eat.

"Oh, each one costs 1 gold–but if you are unable to, I can also accept 2 silver or 3 bronze." The older woman responded, a joyful and kind smile upon her face as she patiently awaits the other's reply. The robed woman hummed in thought, looking over the pieces for a moment, then pointed to one of the loaves in front of herself. "I would like to pay 1 gold for this, thanks–oh! And do you know where the well may be? Just came back from a trip and I haven't gotten a wink of sleep yet….so my brain's a bit weird at the moment." she asked, before taking a single gold coin from her pouch and carefully placing it back into her pocket whilst she held the money in ready to trade for the food item, "The well? It should be a little further down this street, towards the palace." The older woman answered before reaching out, about to hand over the bread and make the trade…

*YOINK*

When a monkey suddenly appeared from the roof of the stall's tent, taking the loaf and jumping up and down in accomplishment.

"HA! THIS IS MY FOOD NOW!" It chittered excitedly–noone understanding it excluding the robed woman–as it prepared itself to race away when said woman grabbed it by it's small shirt, "OI! That is mine. Little Monkey." she growled as if she was more lion than bird. The Monkey squirmed, afraid yet determined to try to escape her wrath.

"ABU! Hey, let him go!" A young man in his late teens shouted, running towards the commotion with a concerned look on his face as he saw the situation unfold before his own eyes. The robed woman raised an impatient eyebrow at the man, "Why should I? This…" she gestured to the monkey with her chin "Little Thief was trying to steal the loaf of bread I was going to buy." she then briefly glanced to the monkey's hands that held said food item to gesture once more to the man.

The young man's concerned face melted into one of slyness as he spoke, "But…why would he be a Thief to you if you hadn't even bought it yet?" There was a pause, silence filling the air for a few moments as the woman's expression deadpanned before she gestured to the stall with her head "You do realize that excuse won't work as the original owner is literally right next to us so your argument is invalid, right?"

Silence filled the air once again, lasting for much longer, the young man's face became one that said "Oh Shit" and didn't respond for a while. The Monkey, sensing the awkwardness, used it's tail to face palm in embarrassment.

"STOP! THIEF!" A voice bellowed, belonging to a man in a guardsman's attire with a sword in his belt who raced towards them–seemingly targeting the awkward young man. Who, after the bellow snapped him out of his thoughts, yanked the monkey and the loaf of bread from the robed woman's grasp before doing a one finger salute at her. "Well, hope we don't go through that again. Bye!" he exclaimed as he ran off.

The two women, getting their mind wrapped around the quick situation that had just unfolded, looked at each other in silence with their faces in disbelief.

.

..

…

"Can I get another loaf please?"

And yet, the transaction persevered as if nothing had occurred.

A few hours later, the robed woman–in her brightly colored bird form–flew through the hallways of the Palace as quietly as possible, avoiding detection from passing guards as she did so.

Finding the room she was after, one that seemingly belongs to a worker within the Palace's administration–as it was dressed up in a professional manner befitting to one who would rather work than relax in any capacity. As she flew past the desk, which was practically covered with scrolls and other paperwork, she hovered in front of a blank spot of the dark red wall before abruptly transforming into her robed human form. She turned her head momentarily to double check on the security of the room, then used her fingers to reach and poke through a near invisible gap in the wall, pushing it to the side to reveal that the wall was–in actuality–a secret passageway.

The sight of an ominous stone spiral staircase greeted the robed woman, who determinately walked up the stairs–quickly closing the passageway entrance behind her–with the air of someone with intense familiarity of their surroundings.

Usually, in such a darkened staircase, one would be cautious when attempting to navigate it as they wouldn't know if they may or may not miss a step. However, the woman had no such caution as she strode up the stairway as if she could see exactly where she needed to step next.

A good while later, she found herself at a wooden door that was opened by a crack–the light inside spilling out like flowing water–to show what was in the room.

Opening the door wider, she was met with a very spacious room filled with various items ranging from ancient stone tablets with carved out runes to shiny gold objects that somehow held an eerie aura from merely staring at them. In the middle of it all was a grotesquely terrifying older man whose face grinned maliciously with glee whilst he was writing something on a scroll, wearing black and red attire with a matching turban upon his head, the shoulder pads of his clothes further accentuate a sense of grim foreboding.

The robed woman took a deep breath before closing the door behind her and walking up to the sinister-looking man. Not noticing her, the man suddenly began cackling wildly at whatever he was writing down loudly with no restraint…much like a typical villain would do.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Throwing his head back and raising his arms in the air–as if in victory–he was oblivious to the bird shapeshifter who took a quick look at the scroll he inadvertently revealed to her with his psychotic laughter. Upon looking at the scroll, there were no words or anything of value, it was simply a poorly drawn stick figure drawing of a man sitting on a…dog? No–Elephant? Wait. What IS that?

"Yo, Jafar, did you draw yourself taking a shit?" The woman questioned.

Instantly, the man–Jafar–halted his laughter in surprise as he fell onto his back from the woman's words. "W-WHAT? NO I WAS NOT DRAWING ME RELIEVING MYSELF!" he exclaimed as he hopped back up at his feet, rolling up his scroll, he gestured it towards the woman with a scowl. "For your information, this is critical plans on how I would tame a Thirdack*…yes…with one of those vile creatures under my command…the rest of the world…WILL BE MINE! HAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHA" he cackled madly once more.

*SLAP*

"Are ya done now?"

"Yes, yes, I'm done. Why must you do such brutish things when I get a little…eccentric at times?" Jafar questioned as he rubbed his cheek from where the woman slapped his face. She simply grinned in response, causing him to groan in frustration before his eyes lit up in realization.

He gripped the woman's shoulders intensely, "WHY DID YOU DISTRACT ME IARA?! How was it? Were you able to access the Cave of Wonders?" the woman–now known as Iara–nonchalantly reached into her pocket to hand both pieces of the golden scarab, "What do you think?" she replied with a smug smirk.

Snatching the pieces from her hands, Jafar grinned evilly as he started to laugh psychotically once again, much to Iara's dismay. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

"But, apparently, Gazeem was unable to retrieve the Lamp because of an enchantment riddle blocking the entrance…so he died and it's sealed again." she shrugged, turning to a wooden table–that held two chairs with a large pitcher of water and two cups on either side of it–ignoring Jafar's pause in laughter and the anger that was quickly filling the air as she sat down and poured herself a drink.

*SLAM*

"WHAT? RIDDLE? THERE WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE A RIDDLE!" Jafar roared in fury as he slammed his hands onto the table, as if she was expecting it, Iara already picked up the cups and the pitcher just before he could potentially spill the water. She sighed before placing the pitcher and cups back down, "Hey, I'm not the one who made the gods-damned place. Take it up with the guy who made it…what was his name? OH YEAH!" she cheekily grinned as she snapped her fingers mockingly in epiphany, "Michael McDoesn't-Exist?* That guy was bound to leave us a "How to" guide to open up his most precious safe in the world, right?"

Jafar growled in annoyance before he crossed his arms impatiently, "There was nothing in the legends, runes or journals that mentioned it…unless a certain someone translated them wrong." he sneered, causing Iara to glare right back at him, "Don't you even think it, Jay." she takes a sip of water before continuing–keeping her glare aimed at the scary looking man. "There's practically a list of how many things I'm bad at; Languages? They ain't even near that list." she leaned toward him menacingly, despite how it didn't seem to affect him.

"So, it ain't me." letting her glare dissipate, she sighed, "This was either a secret from whoever created the cave in the first place, or perhaps it was stricken from all records mentioning it…hell, we've seen that kinda thing before." she hummed in thought, sipping some more water as she did so.

Jafar's expression, while still mad, softened a bit in response, "Oh, very well…what is this riddle?" he asked before taking a seat on the other side of the table, filling his own cup of water.

"Well, apparently we need to find a "Diamond in the Rough"...whatever that means. Do ya think it means an item or a person?" she questioned, "There's only one way to find out…" Jafar responded, his face starting to twitch back into a crazed smile once more as Iara's expression darkened in realization.

"Oh, Gods, please don't say we gotta use the Sands of Time." she pleaded, even knowing that the now cackling man was already planning to use said item despite her wishes.

A/N: Hope you guys didn't mind Jafar, since he is one of the craziest villains in disney–and he had a bit of an addiction to cackling madly–I decided to emphasize it a bit.

*Michael McDoesn't-Exist: Hellsing Abridged reference, lol.

*Thirdack: A Magic-Eating creature featured in the Aladdin cartoon.