It was a warm mid-October afternoon as Jasmine sat alone on the large edge of the fountain at the back of the palace, burying in her thoughts as she stared at her reflection in the water.

It had been 17 years since Jahir was kidnapped from the palace, and it felt as if it was yesterday it happened.

Jasmine wasn't the same since her son was kidnapped at 3 weeks old. Sure, she loved her 3 children dearly, but there was a hole in her heart that needed to be filled when her son came home.

Flashback:

Jasmine was jolted awake by a muffling, strange sound coming from the twins' nursery.

She frowned as she sat up in bed while Aladdin was still asleep and leaned forward to listen closely to the sound.

She then heard something faint, like one of her sons was whimpering.

So, she instinctively got out of bed and immediately strode to the nursery.

By the time Jasmine entered the twins' nursery, her brown eyes widened in horror.

The nursery looked oddly normal but there was something off; the glow lights were left on, which caused Jasmine to furrow her brows. If she remembered correctly, before she left the room, she made sure that she turned off the lights. What's more alarming is that the curtain shifted and fluttered softly in the cool breeze. It seems as if someone moved it and entered the nursery…

Jasmine paused. Wait a minute…

In an instant, Jasmine dashed over to Aziz's crib on the right and saw him whimpering softly while sleeping. Jasmine sighed in relief but still felt uneasy. So she ran over to Jahir's crib and looked over and her heart dropped to her feet.

The crib was empty.

Jasmine's brown eyes widened in absolute shock as her hands that gripped the crib trembled. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

'No, no, no, it can't be!'

…and then she let out a blood-curdling scream, which caused baby Aziz to wake up in fright and Aladdin practically flew himself into the nursery.

'Jasmine, what's wrong?' Aladdin asked, sounding concerned as he went beside his wife before looking down at Jahir's crib. Aladdin gasped.

Jasmine turned her head to her husband, her slender body trembling and hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

'J-Jahir was kidnapped…' her voice cracked.

Hearing those dreadful words coming from his wife caused Aladdin to not say anything for a few moments, just lowering his head, hands at his sides, and fists clenched before he spoke in a low voice.

'Jafar.'

As she heard his name, Jasmine broke down in tears and Aladdin wasted no time hugging her tightly while baby Aziz was wailing at the top of his tiny lungs.

This was the worst night ever, and from now on this would haunt Jasmine.

End of flashback

To this day, Jasmine's heart ached at the night her son was kidnapped. A single tear rolled down her cheek softly and sniffed.

The Sultana had no idea how much time had passed because she didn't have her phone or watch with her and was deep in her thoughts and recollecting the time her son was kidnapped.

And then, Jasmine paused and flinched slightly as felt something, like a hand resting on her right shoulder. She looked from the fountain to the person to whom the hand belonged.

Aladdin.

Aladdin was towering over his wife as he fixed his eyes on her worriedly.

"Are you alright, my darling?" He asked, his voice gentle.

Jasmine sniffed again, pretty much answering Aladdin's question.

"Still thinking about Jahir?"

Jasmine gave an obvious look, signaling that he shouldn't ask that question when he knew the answer.

Aladdin sighed. He shouldn't have asked, but at the same time, he couldn't help it.

"I know he's out there, Jas," he reassured. "It's only a matter of time before we can find him."

"I know that dear but I have severe doubts," Jasmine's eyes averted from her husband's. "Sometimes, I have doubts of him passing away."

"Darling, don't say that," Aladdin told her, there was a hint of sternness in his tone. "Our son is not dead, at least as what he knows for now."

Jasmine felt a guilty pang in her chest. "I'm so sorry, it's just that-"

"It's okay, my love. You're very depressed, but I don't want hear you say that, okay? You're a strong woman, you can pull through and our son will come home. Just have faith and pray that he does."

Hearing her husband's encouraging words soothed Jasmine as she had a tiny smile tugging her lips.

"Thank you, Aladdin."

Aladdin smiled. "With pleasure. Plus, there's someone here to see you."

Jasmine frowned. "Who?" She wasn't expecting anyone to come and visit her today.

Aladdin moved to the side as Mulan came, smiling as she saw Jasmine.

Jasmine gasped. She wasn't expecting Mulan to visit but she wasn't complaining.

"Mulan!"

"Hi, Jasmine!" Mulan greeted, still smiling.

Jasmine exchanged looks with Aladdin and asked, "That's why you came here? To tell me that Mulan was coming?"

Aladdin shrugged. "Partially. I also wanted to check on you."

"Oh," Jasmine said as she slowly rose from her seat and went to hug her friend or sister as Jasmine would call her.

Mulan and Jasmine were best friends, or sisters rather ever since the land of Auradon was formed. They also became very close friends with Tiana, Rapunzel, Meg, and Esmeralda among other princesses.

"How are you, sweetie?" Mulan asked as she and Jasmine pulled away from their embrace, but still held on to each other lightly.

Jasmine gave her friend a lopsided smile. "I dunno to be honest but I'm holding on."

Mulan's cheerful smile was replaced with sadness. She knew very well what Jasmine went through.

"Oh Jas, do you wanna talk about it?"

The Sultana nodded slowly as she laced her fingers with Mulan's. "Yeah, a little."

Mulan nodded in understanding as she and Jasmine started to chat about other things as they entered the palace.

Aladdin smiled softly at his wife and friend entering the palace, chatting casually. He knew that Jasmine felt much better knowing Mulan was here.

With that said, Aladdin went into the palace to study to work on some paperwork.

…..

Later that day….

Jay was at his locker, taking out a couple of books for his last class for the day, Grammar.

As soon as he took out his Grammar notebook, his ears perked up at a soft banging sound, probably thinking it was Carlos leaning against the locker beside him, waiting on him so that they could walk to class.

But, as soon as Jay closed his locker, he turned his head to the left and saw a boy whom he was unfamiliar with leaning against the locker beside Jay and staring at him, lips curled into a small smile.

Jay raised a thick brow at him. He doesn't think he has seen this kid before. At the same time, Jay couldn't help but look up and down at the boy as he looked kind of familiar, as if he'd seen him before but couldn't remember where.

"Eh, do I know you?" Jay asked, looking uncomfortable by the boy's presence.

Realizing that he didn't introduce himself, the boy apologized with a bow.

Jay gave him a look. 'Weird kid.' He thought.

"My apologies," the boy spoke, he looked as if he was related to Aladdin. "The name's Emir. You've probably seen me at Tourney practice before."

Jay hummed as he tried to remember if he saw Emir at Tourney practice, but no result so he shook his head.

"Nope, can't recall."

Emir hummed for a moment then bit his lower lip as he leaned off of the locker.

"I'm #26 on the team," Emir said, hoping that Jay could remember his player number.

As soon as Emir mentioned his number, Jay's eyes widened as his memory resurfaced.

"Oh, it was you!" Jay replied in astonishment as he adjusted the bag strap on his burly right shoulder. "You're the fast one?"

Emir chuckled softly. "Yep, that's me. Also, I've heard my siblings talk a lot about you."

Jay huffed as he folded his arms. "Huh. Are Aziz and Jamilah your siblings?"

"Yup."

"Wow, I thought they're only two kids of Aladdin and Jasmine? I didn't realize they had a 3rd kid."

Emir flushed but he wasn't surprised. People tend to forget that he was the youngest child of Aladdin and Jasmine.

"Yeah," the young prince scratched the back of his head. "I'm the baby of the family."

"Also, what's up with you guys being attracted to me? First, it was Jamilah, then Aziz and now you. What am I? An Agrabah royalty magnet?" Jay joked lightly at the last part.

Emir laughed lightly and shrugged. "Maybe, but we thought that you're cool."

'Not necessarily, but you kind of looked like Mom,' Emir thought.

"Well, that's good. It's nice that I have fans take a liking to me," Jay said, winking at Emir.

A hush silence loomed between the two boys for a moment until Jay spoke.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Emir," Jay told the prince. "Like how you're on the Tourney team, we could practice more often."

"Oh yeah, since you're the new superstar of the team."

"What can I say? I'm Jay after all," Jay said, his tone sounding as if he was boasting. "Anyways, I gotta go to Grammar class."

"Huh, what a coincidence, I have the same class too! I guess we could walk to class then," Emir suggested.

And Jay had a small smile on his face. "Heh, I'd like that. Let's go then."

Emir nodded and went beside Jay as the two boys went to Grammar class together.

However, deep down, Jay was uncomfortable at the fact that all three Agrabah siblings took a liking to him all of a sudden, especially Emir. Is this what Auradon kids do or do they want something from Jay? He may never know for sure, but he would soon find that out eventually.

…..

At the library, after school…

"Did you find anything about Jay?"

She sighed. "Yeah, though there's not much about that can strongly convince me that he is my long-lost brother."

Shang huffed softly as he leaned against the chair.

Jamilah was filling Shang with the details about what she found about Jay from last week. Even though there was some evidence of Jay having traits of Aladdin, it still wasn't enough to prove that he was the long-lost son of her parents.

"So what you're gonna do?" Shang asked as he had a worried expression on his face.

Jamilah only shrugged. "Um I Dunno, I'll still want to look for him but I have my doubts. Even Aziz didn't bother looking for him as it was impossible."

At this point, Jamilah felt as if looking for Jahir was no use. She wanted to give up like how school work was giving her hell, especially the science subjects.

And Shang could see the doubt and stress forming on his friend's features. Shang knew very well that Jamilah was a determined girl and she wasn't the type to give cups so easily.

But in this case, he could see where Jamilah was coming from. It would be so difficult to find a missing loved one, especially when they were kidnapped as a newborn.

Shang pursed his lips as he started to spin his black pen between his fingers.

Silence lingered between the two teens for a moment before Jamilah broke the silence with another sigh.

"I hate seeing Mom being depressed every day about her son," Jamilah said, her eyes not meeting Shang's. "Her health has deteriorated over the years and I couldn't bear to see her in that state."

Shang fixed his eyes on her and bit his lower lip. He noticed that Jamilah wasn't looking any better either. At this point, he doesn't know what to say other than telling her this: "I'm so sorry, Jamie."

"But I'm still going to find him though," the young princess said, sounding determined and a bit hopeful.

"How?" Shang asked. "By finding out more about Jay and his demeanor?"

Jamilah nodded. "Yeah. That's probably the only way to find out and see if he's my brother. For now, I'm completely drained as there are lots of chemistry labs that I need to finish," she leaned her head back and let out a groan.

Shang huffed. "Just wait until you reach your senior year, that's the time if you're wondering if you're sane or insane."

Jamilah gave her friend a look before stifling another groan. Shang chuckled softly.

"I don't think I can manage," Jamilah admitted doubtfully. "If the chemistry and physics labs are a pain in the butt in my junior year, then I won't be alive for my senior. Just look under my eyes, they have dark circles because I haven't slept for a couple of nights now."

Shang shook his shoulders and hummed. "If you say that, it's gonna happen."

"Hey!"

"I'm just telling you the truth, Jamie."

Jamilah folded her arms across her chest, her lips quivered before she pouted.

"Well, how are being so calm in your senior year without losing your mind?"

"It's easy. Have a routine," Shang replied simply. He sounded as if it was nothing.

The girl arched a brow. "What's your routine?"

"After school, if I'm not busy with extracurricular activities, I take a walk, and listen to calm music so that I feel more refreshed and rejuvenated," the older guy answered.

"Ah, I see. That's why you look so calm."

"Exactly," Shang gave a short nod. "You should try it too. Starting today."

"Today?"

"Yeah, after we had our little session, you and I can take a little walk outside of school so that you could feel more at ease. Wear something nice and carry your earbuds too."

Jamilah's mouth gaped slightly. She doesn't know what to say about Shang's offer. On one hand, she'd love to walk with Shang since Nina was at work with Aziz right now and Lonnie writing another newspaper article, but on the other hand, she was skeptical because she thought that Shang was indirectly asking her on a date. She flushed at that thought, but she reassured herself that Shang was taking her for a walk because he genuinely cared for her and her well-being.

After careful consideration, Jamilah nodded. "I'd like that. I need a little break."

"Great!"

Shang then stretched his right hand across the small table and tapped on Jamilah's nose using his pointer finger. Jamilah gave him a look.

"What's that for?"

"I just wanna make you smile," he replied as he tapped her nose again. "Smile! You deserve it."

Instead of smiling, Jamilah giggled and this made Shang's heart flutter happily.

What Jamilah admired about Shang was that he always found a way to make her feel better whenever she was in a stressful situation and for that, she was forever grateful to have him as a great friend.

AN: let me know what you all think of this chapter! :)