Chapter 4: Kindred Spirits

The next day in the marketplace, Aaliyah and Aba were on top of a watermelon stand. "Okay, Aba, go." Aaliyah said to the monkey.

Aba nodded and climbed down, and hanging on by her tail. The seller had his back turned to Aba as he was calling to people to buy his melons. "Try this. Your taste buds will dance and sing." He looked back just as Aba grabbed a melon. "Hey! Get your hands off that!" the seller yelled. Aba just makes funny faces as him. "Why you!" Angered, he set the melon he was holding down and struggled to get the melon away from Aba. "Get away from here, you little pest!"

On the other side of the stand, Aaliyah leaned over the edge and happened to grabbed the same melon the seller put down. Aba, seeing that Aaliyah had succeeded, let go of the melon she was holding. The seller smiled and walked over to put the melon he was holding next to the one Aaliyah had just taken.

Seeing the melon gone, he looked confused and turned back at Aba. "Bye bye!" she said before joining Aaliyah on top of the stand.

"Nice going, Aba." Aaliyah said as she split the melon in half. "Breakfast is served." She said as she and Aba began to eat their own halves of the melon.

Not too far away, Jamal was walking among the crowd, amazed at all he could see and do.

"Buy a pot, no finer pot in brass or silver!" A man said as Jamal walked by his stand.

"Sugar dates and figs! Sugar dates and pistachios!" Another man said to him.

"Sir, would you like to buy a necklace for that special someone?" Another asked. Jamal thought wistfully if he ever will find that 'special someone'.

"Fresh fish!" A man holds a large fish in front of Jamal, snapping him from his thoughts. "We catch em, you buy em!"

"No thank you." Jamal said as he backs away, accidentally bumping into a pretty young woman in a bellydancer outfit, who was so startled she accidentally swallowed the fire she was using for a crowd trick.

"Excuse me, ma'am." Jamal said to the female fire-eater who was struggling to breath. Then suddenly she burped out a flame, making Jamal jumped back in surprise, causing his hijab to fly off his head. "I'm very... really sorry." he chuckled nervously as he moves on while the fire-eater glares at him.

Aaliyah looked back to see what all the commotion was and saw the most handsome man she had ever seen. "Oh!" she exclaimed, as Jamal put his hijab back on. She was so lovestruck she dropped her half of the melon and stared dreamily at Jamal with a lovey-dovey smile on her face, and resting her chin on her arms.

Aba noticed Aaliyah is staring at this guy. "Hello...?" she said, as she waves a hand in front of Aaliyah's face trying to get her attention.

Meanwhile, Jamal spotted a little girl in ragged clothes and barefoot, eyeing hungrily at some apples from a booth. "You must be hungry." He said to the girl, who nodded in response. He takes one of the apples from the stall and hands it to her. "Here you go."

The husky saleswoman witnessed the scene, "Hey! Hey! You're stealingl from my cart."

"Stealing? No, I-"

"You better pay for that."

"But, ma'am, I don't have any money." Jamal said.

"Then you're a thief!" The woman yelled.

"I am not a thief!" Jamal argued. The woman then grabbed his hand. "Let go of me! The queen will hear of this!" he yelled, as he pulls his hand from her grip.

Aaliyah and Aba are watching this, and sense that it's about to get ugly.

"You think you can just steal bread I worked all day baking?" The woman questioned as she pulls a sword out towards Jamal, who isn't backing down. "Those children were hungry! I-" Suddenly Aaliyah stands between them and she grabbed the sword, handing it to a confused Jamal.

"Thank you, kind lady. I'm so glad you found him." Aaliyah shakes the woman's hand, then turns to Jamal giving him a scolding look. "I've been looking for you."

"What are you doing?" Jamal whispered.

"Just play along." Aaliyah whispered with a sly face, as she tries to get him to walk away. But then the woman grabbed put her hand on her shoulder.

"You know this guy?" The woman asked.

Aaliyah sighs. "Sadly yes, he's my brother." she answered, in a tone that sounds like she's ashamed. "He's a little crazy." She twirls a finger by her head.

"What?" Jamal said, insulted by that remark.

"He said he knew the queen!" The woman grabbed her by her arms.

"He thinks the monkey is the queen." Aaliyah said, pointing to Aba who tried to steal from a nearby peasant.

Jamal caught on fast and kneels to Aba's level. "Oh wise queen, how may I serve you?" Jamal asked, bowing before Aba.

"Tragic, isn't it?" Aaliyah said, as she snuck an apple from the stand with her foot and hands it to the saleswoman. "Welp, no harm done." Then she begins to lead Jamal away. "Come on, brother, it's time to see the doctor."

Jamal saw a camal in front of him and smiles while making a blank expression. "Hello doctor, how are you?" he asked.

"No, no, no. Not that one." Aaliyah said. Then she turned to Aba. "Come along, my queen."

Aba bowed and everything she had stolen from the cart fell out of her vest. She screeches in a panic.

"What...?!" The saleswoman yelled. Aba quickly took what she can and ran after Aaliyah and Jamal. "Come back here you little thieves!" the woman yelled. But Aaliyah, Jamal, and Aba just ran away.

In Jasira's secret lair, she was preparing to find the diamond in the rough by using a giant magical hourglass. Desdemona is forced to run on a gear in a bizarre contraption which is generating a storm inside a large glass ball.

"With all due respect, Your Obnoxiousness," the parrot said, out of breath and very tired, "couldn't we just wait for a real storm?"

"Save your breath, Desdemona." Jasira sneered as she puts the blue diamond between the beaks of two giant gold statues of rocs, which held a massive hourglass in their wings. "Faster!"

"Yes, oh devious and selfish one!" Desdemona responded before taking a deep breath and runs faster.

The sand in the hourglass started to move with the diamond and the storm that Desdemona was creating. The sands took on the form of the Tiger Goddess' head, as Jasira chanted, "Part, sands of time. Reveal to me the one who can enter the cave."

The sand then slipped through the hourglass, showing an image of Aaliyah climbing up the ladder to her hovel. "Yes. Yes!" Jasira had the biggest grin on her face as she curled her fingers around the hourglass. "There she is, my diamond in the rough."

"That's her?!" Desdemona questioned, when she got a glance at the image, disappointed that the person who could enter the cave was some girl in boyish clothing. "That's the bimbo we've been waiting forrrrr-!" Lost in thought about the reveal of the Diamond in the Rough, she accidentally lost her footing and got sucked into the gears of the machine.

"Let's have the guards extend her an invitaiton to the palace, shall we?" Jasira grinned as she briefly played with one of Desdemona's feathers floating around.

Desdemona goes flying past an unfazed Jasira and slams into the wall upside down. "Swell." she said breathlessly before coughing and dropping to the floor.

Jasira laughed wickedly as she looked into the hourglass.

Meanwhile, Aaliyah and Jamal nearly made it to the roof.

"Almost there." Aaliyah told Jamal. Aaliyah hold Jamal's hand as he climbs off the ladder. He almost tripped and had his arms around Aaliyah. The two briefly looked into each other's eyes and started to blush before they separated awkwardly.

"I want to thank you for stopping that woman." Jamal thanked.

"Uh, forget it." Aaliyah grabbed a pole. "So, this is your first time in the marketplace?" she asked as she used the pole to propel herself to the next building.

"Is it that obvious?" Jamal asked, still on the previous building.

"Well, you do kind of stand out." Aaliyah said with a small lovestruck smile as she looked at Jamal, who smiled at the compliment. This caused Aaliyah to snap back. "I mean, uh, you don't seem to know how dangerous Agrabah can be." She said as she put a blank in between the two buildings, expecting Jamal to walk across.

Instead, Jamal used his own pole and propelled himself across.

"I'm a fast learner." Jamal smiled as he tossed the pole to Aaliyah who's jaw dropped along with Aba. Aaliyah falls for him more.

Aaliyah shook her head back to reality and handed the pole to Aba who glared at Aaliyah for making her drop a few apples from the rooftop.

Aaliyah leads Jamal up some stairs to the hovel. "Welcome to my humble... abode."

"So this is where you live?" Jamal asked.

"Yep, just me and Aba. We come and go as we please. I know it's not much..." Aaliyah pulled the curtain aside to reveal a beautiful view of the city. "but it's got a great view." she concluded.

As Jamal walked up next to her to enjoy the view, Aaliyah stared at the palace. "Wow. The Palace looks pretty amazing, huh?" she asked.

Seeing the palace disheartened Jamal, he sighed and sat down. "Oh... yeah, it's wonderful."

Aaliyah sighed, "I wonder what it would be like to live there, to have servants and valets..."

"Oh, sure." Jamal scoffed. "People who tell you where to go and how to dress."

"It's better than here." Aaliyah shrugged, and snatched an apple that Aba was about to eat. "You're always scraping for food and ducking the guards."

"You're not free to make your own choices." Jamal continued.

"Sometimes you feel so..."

"You're just..."

"...trapped." They said together, prompting them to look at each other. Both realizing that they connect.

Jamal smiled at the beautiful and brave girl in front of him.

Aaliyah blushed, realizing just how perfect Jamal was for her. Then she snapped back to reality again and snatched another apple from Aba, and rolled it down her arm towards Jamal. "So... where are you from?" she asked.

Jamal caught the apple and just scoffed. "What does it matter? I ran away and I am not going back!"

"Really? How come?" Aaliyah asked after she took a bite of her apple. She then gave it to Aba as she sits down next to Jamal.

Aba stared at Aaliyah in anger. "Why you-" Her frown turned into a devilish smirk when she saw Jamal had not eaten his apple yet.

Jamal sighed. "My mother's pressuring me to find a bride." he explained

"Oh. That's... that's awful." Aaliyah replied distraughtly, thinking about what it would be like if Jamal married another girl. Then she glanced to her right and saw Aba was about to take Jamal's apple. "Aba!"

The monkey scuttered away and started chattering angrily at Aaliyah, who's making a peculiar expression on her face, as if understanding what Aba was saying.

"What?" Jamal asked.

"Aba said, uh..." Aaliyah stuttered. Then she smiled and turned to Jamal. "that's not fair."

"Wha..." Aba blinked in confusion.

"Oh, did she?" Jamal teased.

"Yeah, of course." Aaliyah replied, playing along with this.

"And does Aba have anything else to say?"

Aaliyah slid a bit closer to him. "Well, she wishes there was something she could do to help."

"Oh brother." Aba mumbled.

Aaliyah and Jamal gazed at each other. "Tell her that's very... sweet." Jamal said.

The two nearly gotten close to kiss.

"HERE YOU ARE!" One of the palace guards shouted.

Aaliyah and Jamal leaped up. "They're after me!" They both shouted, then turned to each other in confusion. "You?!"

"My mother must have sent them..." Jamal muttered, raising his clenched fists up, ready to fight. Aaliyah looked out the window for an escape, then she turned to Jamal.

"Do you trust me?" Aaliyah asked.

"What?" Jamal asked turning.

"Do you trust me?!" Aaliyah repeated, and held out her hand.

"Yes...?" Jamal said, both questionably and nervously as he grabs her hand.

"Then JUMP!" Aaliyah yelled as the two of them jumped out the window, escaping the guards and landing in the hay softly.

They started to run away, but ran into Razoul who grabbed Aaliyah's arms and raised her to his eye level. "We just keep running into each other, don't we street rat?" he sneered.

Aba pulled down his turban to cover his eyes, making him let go of Aaliyah, who grabbed Jamal and they ran for it. They tried to run out of the alley, only to find the other guards blocking the way. So they turned around.

Razoul pulled Aba off him and threw her into a jar.

"It's the dungeon for you, girl!" Razoul grabbed Aaliyah by her vest and threw her into the arms of the other guards.

"Get off me!" Aaliyah shouted, struggling to break free of their grip.

"Let her go!" Jamal yelled as he grabbed Razoul's arm.

"Look what we have here, men, another street rat!" Razoul laughed as he pushed Jamal to the ground. The other guards laughed as well, while Aaliyah looks on with concern.

Having had enough of this, Jamal stood up angrily. "Unhand her!" Jamal demanded, and removed his shawl to reveal himself. "By order of the Prince!"

The guards all stared in shock before bowing to Jamal.

"Prince Jamal!" Razoul's eyes widened and gasped, then bowed down.

The rest of the guards followed suit, and forced Aaliyah to bow as well.

Aaliyah looked up shocked. "The Prince?"

"The Prince?" Aba repeated from inside the jar.

"What are you doing outside the palace? With this street rat?" Razoul questioned. While she's used to be called a street rat, especially by the guards, but it somehow hurt when he called her that in front of Jamal. The Prince. Making her realize that she would never be up to the level of the man she has fallen for.

"That doesn't concern you, captain! Do as I command, release her!"

"Well believe me, I would, my prince. Except my direct orders come from Jasira. You'll have to take it up with her." Razoul said as his men drag Aaliyah away.

"Believe me, I will." Jamal said, glaring at the guards.

Aaliyah looked up at the prince and bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, your highness." Which pained Jamal to hear those words from the thief that had stolen his heart, as he fears she'll now see him for his title rather than the person she has loved.

Author's Note: The dialogue between Prince Jamal and the female seller is similar to the one between Jasmine and Jamal the seller in the live-action remake..