"Prince Ali left." Jafar said, as I snapped back. "You better check that crystal ball again, Jafar."

"Tell them the truth Jafar, You tried to have me and my brother killed!" Aladdin accused Jafar. "What?" Jafar feigned innocence. I was standing by Aladdin's side who was angry as well.

"Yes, it's true! He had the guards gag me and throw me into the ocean!"

Jafar scoffed, and stepped away from me and over towards the Sultan. "Ridiculous nonsense, your highness. He is obviously lying." I gave Jafar a look of disbelief. He honestly didn't give a flying fart about us! He put the staff in the Sultan's face in order to hypnotize him deeper.

"Obviously...lying." the Sultan repeated Jafar's last statement in a very monotone voice. I looked at the staff, and  managed to sneak a peak at Aladdin and I noticed that he was looking at the staff as well.

"Father, what's wrong with you?" asked Jasmine worriedly as she ran over and put her hands on her father's shoulders. "I know what's wrong!" exclaimed Aladdin. With that he yanked the staff out of Jafar's hands and smashed it on the ground. There was a large flash and red smoke swirled out of the now broken staff.

"Oh my!" said the Sultan as he shook himself out of the hypnotized state. "Your highness, Jafar's been controlling you with this!" "It's true." I said.

"What? Jafar? You...you traitor!" The Sultan, was mad.

"Your majesty, all of this can be explained." Jafar was trying to save himself. We would have none of it. all four of us started advancing on him. "Guards! Guards!" the Sultan called.

"Arrest Jafar at once!" They grabbed him and started pulling him backwards. Jafar then pulled out a small vial. "This is not done yet, boys!" Jafar threw the vial on the ground and a large puff of red smoke flew out and surrounded all of us. I seriously could not see one inch in front of me. When the smoke cleared, all the guards were holding was each other. The broke away from each other and the Sultan cried out: "Find him! Search everywhere!"

Aladdin walked over and took Jasmine's hand. "Jasmine, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Jasmine replied. They leaned into kiss, but were interrupted by the Sultan. "Jafar, my most trusted counselor, plotting against me all this time. Just horrible."

"Your telling me." I muttered.  The Sultan was to busy worrying to notice her antics. "How will I ever..." he paused as he saw Aladdin holding Jasmine's hand. "Can it be true? My daughter has finally chosen a suitor?" Jasmine nodded enthusiastically. 

"Praise Allah! You brilliant boy!" The Sultan ran over and took Aladdin's hand. "I could kiss you! I won't, of course. I'll leave that to my--." He cut off his rant and got down to business. "You two will be wed at once! Yes, yes. And you'll be happy and prosperous." Then he moved over to me.

"And, of course, your brother will stay here with you in the royal palace, yes!" He shook my hands and smiled widely at me. Then, the Sultan moved back over to Aladdin. "And then my boy, you will be sultan!"

"Sultan?" asked Aladdin, excitedly. "Yes, a fine upstanding youth like yourself, a person of your unimpeachable moral character is exactly what this kingdom needs!" As the Sultan completed his impromptu speech, Jasmine snuggled closely into Aladdin's arms and I watched Aladdin's face. The joy and happiness had now given way to anxiousness and fear. I read his face perfectly. 'I can't do this.'

This is going to be rougher than I thought.

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I had a good sleep that night, despite my worry over Aladdin. I mean, I love my brother and everything, but this was the first time in over a year that we were able to sleep on something more comfy than the ground and some rags. Of course we were going to sleep like babies! But the next morning, all our fears came rushing back to us.

"This is going to be harder than I thought." I said as I pulled on my shoes. I was getting dressed before I headed off to meet Aladdin (and, of course Genie) in his complementary room. I then set off for Aladdin's room.

When I arrived about fifteen minutes later, I found Aladdin standing on his veranda; staring off into space. I walked up to him and stood next to him. He didn't move. I waved my hand in front of his face. Again, he didn't move. I sighed, exasperated, and snapped my fingers in his face. "Hey! Earth to Al!"

"Aladdin, you got the girl!" I added. He shook himself out of it, and then glanced to me. "Sultan? They want me to be sultan?" He accidentally rubbed the Lamp lightly and Genie zoomed out. "Huzzah! Hail the conquering hero!" He then turned into a one-man band and started playing an upbeat tune. Aladdin passed him, completely uninterested. The tempo to the song slowed as Genie became slightly disheartened.

He then started scratching his head in contemplation. I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder. "Sorry Genie, Aladdin is just a little...stressed." Genie nodded and looked at me. I looked back up at him and our eyes met. Memories of the previous nights encounter came flooding back into my mind and I could see the same happening to him. His eyes ticked down to my hand on his shoulder and he blushed. I saw this, and I moved my hand away from him.

You shouldn't be doing this, my mind scolded me. Not now, anyway. Genie needs to focus on Aladdin right now. Not on flirting with you. Let him be. I looked back up at him and nodded my head over to Aladdin in a 'try again' motion. He smiled at me and nodded. He zoomed over in front of Aladdin and held his hands up in a director scoping.

"Aladdin, you've just won the heart of the princess. What are you gonna do next?" Aladdin looked at him, and looked back down, sadness apparent in his eyes. he flopped himself down,  I followed close behind him and leaned against the wall. Genie poofed himself next to Aladdin. He was holding an Aladdin script and was wearing glasses. He whispered, via a prompter on a show: "Psst, your line is 'I'm going to free the genie.'" After Aladdin didn't say anything, Genie made the 'come on' motion with his hand and said "Anytime."

I giggled to myself. Genie glanced over at me and winked. Then, Aladdin had to ruin our silent interaction with the bomb he dropped. "Genie...I can't." Genie, who though Aladdin was just kidding...or something of the sort kept going, "Sure you can." He then grabbed Aladdin's face and treated him as a ventriloquist's dummy. "You just go 'Genie, I wish you free.'"

Aladdin elbowed Genie off of him and stood. "I'm serious. Look, I'm sorry, I really am. But they want to make me sultan-no! They want to make Prince Ali sultan." His voice softened and he turned to look at Genie with a hopeless, self-pitting face. "Without you, I'm just Aladdin."

"Al, you won!" Genie said, trying to make him see reason. "Because of you! The only reason anyone thinks I'm anything is because of you." Aladdin angrily exclaimed. "Aladdin, you got what you wanted." I said. "Or don't you remember? And I quote: 'Someday Abu, and Besnik...things are going to change. We'll be rich...live in a palace...and never have any trouble at all.'" Aladdin winced as his own words haunted him. I continued. "Well, we're there, Aladdin. So what the hell are you complaining about now?"

"What if they find out I'm not really a prince? What if Jasmine finds out? I'll lose her." I flinched as he said that last bit, because I heard the same desperation in his voice that was in mine when I talked about the possibility of Genie not having feelings for me. "Genie, I can't keep this up on my own." Aladdin continued, "I can't wish you free."

At first the look on Genie's face was pure and utter betrayal. It broke my heart and made me extremely angry at my brother. Then, his expression changed to one of bitter offense. "Fine, I understand." Genie said, sarcastically. He then started shirking into his lamp. "After all, you've lied to everyone else. Hey, I was beginning to feel left out. Now, if you'll excuse me, master."

After he spit out the word 'master' as if it were poison, he made a mock bow to Aladdin before completely disappearing into his Lamp. I heard Abu make an 'ohh' noise from where he and Carpet were watching from the window above my head. "Genie, I'm really sorry." Aladdin said, picking up the Lamp. A tongue came out of the spout on the Lamp and blew a raspberry at him. Aladdin got mad and through the Lamp on the bed, slamming a pillow on top of it. "Well fine! Just...STAY IN THERE!"

He then glanced up to where Carpet and Abu were watching the scene. "What are you two looking at?" he snapped. Abu and Carpet both withdrew a bit. Then, they both developed a look of hurt and started to walk (or float) away. Aladdin tried to call them back, but the damage was done. "Look, I-I'm sorry. Wait, Abu-wait-I'm sorry, I didn't-wait, c'mon." Once they were out of sight, he turned to me. "You understand right?"

"How can you even ask me that, Aladdin!?!" I asked angrily. At his clueless face, I growled. "You just went back on your promise to a guy who has gone above and beyond the call of duty just to make this whole Prince thing work for you! You treated him as if the deal meant nothing to you! You're treating him like...like a slave." I spit out the last word.

"you've got to understand what I'm going through right now. I'm-" 

"What, Aladdin?" I interrupted him. "You're what? You're in love and trying to keep the woman of your dreams? That's bull shit, and you know it." He was about to protest but I cut him off again. "Let me finish. If you really loved this girl, you would've told her the truth a long time ago. But no, instead you've decided to betray the man who saved your life just to keep up this stupid lie; so the woman you claim to love can never really love you. 'Cause let's face it, Aladdin. This isn't you."

I could see the anger gowning on his face. "Oh, I get it now."

"What?" I asked confused. "Looks like there's a romance going on behind my back. No wonder you're taking his side over mine." Aladdin accused me of. "Excuse me?" I was no longer confused; I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Oh, no. I understand. I mean, why stand up for your brother, who's poor as dirt, when you can save your boyfriend, who can give you anything you want with a flick of his wrist." I. Was. Pissed. I walked over and slapped Aladdin hard across the face.

"How dare you." I hissed out at him. "You have NO right to speak to me like that. I am your BROTHER. You know me better than that! I am not defending Genie because he can give me anything I want. I am taking his side because he's RIGHT. You are a COMPLETE AND TOTAL JACK-ASS. You're just trying to get rid of your guilt by passing the bill to me! Well, it's not going to work.And for your information, even if you don't deserve it, we do not have THAT kind of relationship." I stormed away from him, not even turning back as I shouted my last statement at him.

"AND EVEN IF WE DID, IT WOULD BE NONE OF YOUR BUISNESS! Come and get me when I get my brother back; instead of this pompous jack-ass who doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself." And with that, I was out of the building