Fall Is Beautiful

S3 Chapter 5: Do not despair

Jafar had taken the little girl away from all the destruction, hiding behind a burnt building. The smell of smoke and burnt wood was unbearable, and Jafar had to throw his mask off to get a breath of air. He gritted his teeth, grabbing his side. When he pulled away, blood stained his glove. Fuck. The little girl has passed out, whether if it was from exhaustion, fear or the lack of air, he didn't know. All he knew was that she wouldn't survive long. Yet, he couldn't get out of there, either. They were both doomed if Aiden, or anyone, didn't come to save them. He tried to take a breath, but started coughing. "God, this smoke is worse than that time Sin burnt the pizza- *COUGH COUGH*"

They sat there for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was only a few minutes, and slowly, the girls breathing stopped. Jafar frowned, his eyes downing as he sat the girl down on the ground. He put his hands together, doing a small prayer for the girl. He wished for her to live a long, healthy life in her next. Then he got up, staggering a little, before seeing flames.. walking? When he took a closer look, he saw that someone was resonating the flames. They were probably the reason for all of this destruction. At first, he wasn't going to do anything about it, already injured and weak as he was, but that's when he saw Sinbad. His eyes widened when he saw his brother being flung away from the flames, as if they rejected him. But he kept going, until he started yelling at the person, which only made the flames stronger. The person was hurting. Jafar felt their pain even from where he was, and he couldn't just watch. He had to put a stop to it, before everyone was burnt, even his brother.

...

Jafar easily entered the boys mind, searching for his pain. He found it, eventually, and it was like his heart was bleeding. Gently, Jafar reached out for him, and grabbed the boys spiritual hand. He went back in the boys memories, finding the ones that hurt his heart, and found something he didn't expect. None of the memories hurt him, instead, they were powering his sadness. Jafar watched as one of his memories floated above him, one of a younger him and another boy...

Alibaba cried, holding his knee, which was bleeding. Cassim sighed, using a blanket of some kind to get the blood off. "Alibaba, you have to calm down." He told his friend, who just cried further.

"But it hurts!" He wailed, and Cassim sighed, wrapping his arms around Alibaba, who froze in his crying state.

"I know that it hurts, but you have to be strong. I know it's scary, but you have to trust yourself that you'll be okay. I won't always be here to help you when you get hurt. One of these days, you'll have to help yourself. Okay?" Alibaba sniffled, but nodded. He wrapped his arms around Cassim, and refused to let go.

"You better not leave me, then..."

Jafar smiled sadly, almost seeing himself and Sinbad in them. He looked over at Alibaba's spiritual form, which was just a shining shape of his actual body. He walked over to him, putting his hands over his shoulders.

"You lost Cassim?" He asked, and Alibaba looked down at him. His face was stoic as he responded.

"Yes... what do I do now...?" He questioned, trying to find comfort. Jafar smiled sadly once more, bringing Alibaba's spiritual form into a hug. The latter returned the hug, starting to cry.

"You can live on for Cassim, because he'll always be in your memories. He'll always be with you. You can heal, just like you did with physical pain. Eventually, you'll come to understand that emotional pain, indeed a struggle, can heal, too. You just need more time for it to heal, and it hurts a lot more. But you have to be strong enough to make it through the pain. Do it not for Cassim, or anyone else, but for yourself." Alibaba stared at Jafar after coming out of the hug, and the boy smiled at him, a gentle and kind smile. Alibaba recognized the features that Sinbad had given him about his little brother, and immediately smiled back. He patted Jafar's head softly.