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toontowncrazy · 7 years ago

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WFRR Fanfic: Genie AU

Summary: Every few centuries or so, Jessica grants the wishes of whoever finds her lamp before being imprisoned in it once again. Then a dung collector rabbit found her lamp, who strangely can't think of anything to wish for.

Long One-Shot

When one had an eternity, years weren't so much different to minutes.

No clocks. No hourglasses. No sun to dictate the passage of time.

Jessica allowed herself to get lost in painstakingly carved stars. The precised asters expanded geometrically across the circular room in a never-ending web of golden filigree.

"Room" was what one might call it at first glance. A room she could never leave. It mattered not for her. For she goes, grants and returns back to her lamp.

Her whole world jostled and Jessica jumped in surprise. She had no idea where her lamp was right now. Her last master was by the river when she had granted his last wish. Then as her lamp was designed, she was pulled back into the lamp and it had jettisoned away.

She gripped the silk cushions for support when the whole room felt lifted. Her heart thudded, wondering what master would she served next -her only company outside the lamp. There were sounds of hands rubbing against copper and the whole room quavered at the friction.

Jessica closed her eyes as mist surrounded her, once more summoned to grant three wishes.

Heat caressed her body as soon as her room gave way. An expanse greeted her, obscured by her own magical mist.

"Greetings, Master. I am Jessica, your genie of the lamp," she duly recited. "Here to grant you three wishes. However-"

She paused. There was a prolonged croaking that she was certain wasn't a sound of any bird or beast.

Jessica looked around, finally able to see her surroundings with the fading of the mist.

She was in something that looked like a barren land. The sun beat harshly against the cracked earth. Whatever plant life that survived the heat was parched and struggling.

The still croaking sound was coming out of the slack jaw of an anthropomorph rabbit. His brown fur was caked with dust and dried mud, leaving him the color of earthy rust.

Her nose tried not to wrinkle at the sack he had over his shoulder. It emitted the strong stench of cow dung. Even his clothes looked crusty from the accumulation of his labor.

Jessica's brows only rose in reaction. He definitely needed some wishing. And washing.

"However," she monotonously continued, reciting from etched experience of eternity. "There are rules placed upon my powers. You cannot wished for someone's death. You cannot wished for someone to fall in love with anyone. You cannot wish for more wishes."

She folded her arms with a raise of a perfectly shaped brow.

"You cannot especially wish the genie to a marriage or any sexual or romantic situation." She glared at him pointedly. "Suggested or otherwise."

The rabbit continued to make that prolonged croaking noise at the base of his throat.

It was probably because her lower half is smoke trailing to the spout of her lamp. Or maybe because...

Jessica tried not to roll her eyes. She liked looking voluptuous in her bedlah -a fitted bra and a fitted belt richly decorated with her own taste of crystals and beaded fringe. However, couldn't a man take a little bit more responsibility for his own actions?

She bent down to his 3-foot height and tapped his mouth close.

That seemed to have snapped him out of shock. "I can have 3 wishes?" he gasped.

"Yes," she patiently said.

He ran his hand his dusty tuft of hair and rabbit ears. "Jeepers!" he exclaimed. "What should I even wish for?"

Jessica's eyes swept over his scraggly, dustball self and his equally dirt-trodden mule. "Anything?" A bath, maybe? she thought.

He scratched his head, shifting the sack of feces over his shoulder.

"Well, I got rhythm. I got beat. What more could I ask for?"

Jessica could only stare.

He then started talking to his mule who seemed to be braying out in frustration. "Jeepers, Benny! Calm down. What's gotten into ya?"

Jessica started to mentally list the things he could wish for -just to get it over with- like maybe another job that doesn't involve manure.

"What about you? What would you wish for?"

Her eyes focused on the rabbit again, jolted. "What would I wish for?" she echoed.

953 years and she never thought about asking herself what she had always asked of others.

Her body burned with fervor. She wished to see the world. She wished to never be trapped inside a tiny space again. She wished-

She shook her head, a stretched smile hiding a bitter pill. "I wish to be free. But that won't apply to you-"

"Okay. I wish you to be free!"

"Wait-" But too late. Her shackle bangles on her wrists shone fiery gold in a blast of light. She could feel the misty wisp of her lower half shaped and form into limbs as the shackles burst, disappearing in a flash of light.

She blinked, stunned. Below her fitted belt, her new legs could be seen through loose, harem pants. Her feet peeked out, firmly pressed against the cracked earth.

"See ya!" the rabbit chirped, leading his exasperated mule away.

Jessica still stood there, wondering if she was in deep, dreaming slumber.

But the earth began to scorch her soles and she immediately zapped sandals on her feet.

Her eyes looked down on her legs, still not believing what had happened. Using her magic, she transformed her pants into a translucent, full skirt draped with equally rich array of beads and crystals. She twirled around, her leg momentarily exposed by its thigh-high slit.

Satisfied, Jessica focused on the magic floating around her hands. Her body thrummed with all the possibilities could offer.

She disappeared in a golden blaze.

XOXOXOXOX

Who knew I would get my freedom from a fool?

Jessica stood at the mountains of Himalayas, breathing in the cold, unforgiving winds.

He could've wished for anything! He could've wished for riches! Or at least a bath!

Jessica internally rolled her eyes, running her hand on the tiger's back in Bengal.

The fool wasted the one time he could be happy.

Jessica sighed at the background litany in her mind. She surfaced from the ocean again after exploring the Great Barrier Reef.

He could've had two wishes granted first if he really wanted me to be free. But no, he's so thoughtless-

Jessica finally set down the scroll about aliens that she's been trying to read in the restricted Vatican library.

-he forgot himself.

Fine, she told her mind. I'll help him back.

XOXOXOXOX

Inside a shack, the sun's first rays crept through the entrance. Roger snored. His whiskers twitched. Dried drool left a trail from the corner of his mouth. His left arm and right leg was draped haphazardly over the hammock.

The sun's beam finally reached his closed lids. He sighed at the warmth, burrowing deeper in his blanket. But the brightness of the daylight seeped through his eyelids, no longer to be ignored.

"Ah, Mr. Sun," he slurred with sleep. "Five more minutes?"

"I doubt Mr. Sun would stop doing what it always does for the last 4.6 billion years."

His eyes snapped open. He abruptly sat up and looked around so fast, he tumbled out of his hammock.

"What-Where-Who-?" he yelped on the earthen floor.

"The sun. In your house. It's Jessica."

His eyes landed on a woman watching him by his hammock. He clutched his twisted blanket to himself.

"What're you doing in my home?!"

"Your door's unlocked," she gestured at the cabin's entrance.

He tried to scoot back. "I don't have anything precious." His eyes landed on a lamp in one corner of his shack. "You're-"

She smirked. "So you do remember me."

The rabbit stood up, rubbing his eyes. From sleep or surprise, she couldn't say. "How can I help you?" he asked.

Her smirk became wider. She bent down and tipped his chin up with a delicate finger. "How can I help you?"

"Huh?"

She turned away, looking around his hut. "You've set me free, Mr. Rabbit. Surely, there must be a way for me to pay you back."

"It's fine, really."

Jessica raised a brow at the dirty-brown rabbit. His fur was as mud-dried as the last time she saw him. He gave her a sheepish grin. "Would you like something to eat?"

Before she could answer, the rabbit went out. A donkey brayed.

"Coming, Benny!" He grabbed a basket. "I'll just gather some grub."

She watch him scurry about with his morning chores. Sometimes tripping. Sometimes spilling. But always bouncing back. In a short while, he got a stew boiling in the fireplace. She watched him scoop contents into a bowl. The soup looked reasonably thick but its vegetables were meager. Beside him was another empty bowl.

"Genies have no need to eat," she spoke.

His ears bobbed as he nodded in understanding. She wondered if he saw through her intention.

She settled down comfortably on the mat. "So why live so far away, Mr. Rabbit?"

He took a sip from his bowl. "P-p-please call me Roger. I'm going to plant a forest!"

Jessica blinked. She looked around just to make sure they're on the same page. They were in a middle of a semi-arid land. Of baked red earth where the heat made the very air simmered.

She turned back to Roger again. "You're going to turn this desert... into a forest?" she clarified.

"Yup!" he brightly nodded. "That's why I collect dung! What're you doing?" he asked when Jessica stood up.

There was a smirk in her lips. Power glowed and coursed through her hands. Jessica walked towards the cracked plains. She now knew how to help Roger. Jessica pointed a hand to the wasteland. All she needs to do was grow him a forest.

"JESSICA, NO!"

She almost doubled over at the sudden weight that attached itself on her outstretched arm. Jessica smoothly straightened up again to see Roger wrapped around her elbow.

"P-p-p-please, Jessica! Don't do it! Magic ain't gonna to be the answer for this!"

Her mouth hanged open. Collecting herself, she shook her arm free from Roger.

"Then how can I help you?" she asked. "Everyone has a wish."

He gave her a rag to dust her arm off, looking apologetic. "I'm good! You don't need to grant my wish. You're free!" he reassured.

She looked at him and those earnest eyes that spoke a frustrating naivety to her. "That's just it. You freed me." She placed a hand on her chest. "I feel a debt that I have to pay."

He opened his mouth to protest. But she stopped him. "I must," she said with finality.

"I..." Roger paused. Then he spoke, sheepish. "If I wish for a cup of water, would you feel better?"

Jessica snapped her fingers and a glass of water appeared in his hands. Roger drank from it and looked for her approval. But she only shook her head.

He looked away, his ears lowering. "I'm sorry, Jessica. I don't have anything that grand to wish for."

"Not even a forest?" she asked, the very thing that she could see he desired the most. Her finger swirled with magic. Just say the word...

"No." His tone was akin to a door firmly closed.

Her brows slightly knit together -a sole sign of her rising exasperation. Roger stepped back when she sighed.

"Alright." She calmly swept her hair off her shoulders. "Then I'm staying here." Jessica leveled him with a look that sealed their fate. "Until you wish for something."

His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. "What... What?!... I... You..." He glanced back at his mud hut before his shoulders drooped with a sigh. "My home's not much but guests are welcome."

Jessica approached his home, her hands glowing with magic. "Leave that to me."

"No!" He chased after her. "No magicking my hut!"

XOXOXOXOX

The town by the desert bustled with dust and activity. People clamored in the market as children played. Beasts of burden lazily stood by with flicking tails. The sun was less harsh with the buildings giving shade with their shadows. But the smell of warm winds and fried street food intermingled with the bright splashes of rugs and pottery.

"Oh. My. Goddess!" Clarabelle Cow breathed. She clutched the hem of her top, trying not to stare with the others.

The dung collector rabbit led his donkey. He moved stiffly. His mouth was a thin, discomfited line. People stopped what they were doing as soon as his cart approached. For in its passenger's seat, was a woman that they have never seen before. Her robes were loose and mute. But her face radiated a pristine kind of beauty found in royal courts.

The rabbit stopped by the line of oxen carts like he would usually do. He took his spade and burlap sack. The mystery woman, however, left his cart and proceeded for the stalls.

Clarabelle straightened up when she approached her tapestry booth. "Hello! Can I help you?" she asked.

The woman smiled. "Sorry. Just looking." She glanced at the rabbit who was now collecting feces. "I'm just here to accompany my friend."

Clarabelle bit her lip, her mind feverish with questions. More. More. Tell me more.

"It's been a while since I last saw him," she sighed, fingering an intricate rug. "How is he around town?"

Clarabelle beamed. She leaned on her booth, already in the zone at the spotlight. "Oh girl, you have no idea. That dung collector just comes and goes. Says he's going to plant trees at that wasteland. Mad, isn't he? Farmers have given up on those lands for years and he thinks that he can plant something there!"

She talked on and on. For if there's one thing Clarabelle loved more than listening to news (gossip), it was telling them.

XOXOXOXOX

The ride back to Roger's home was as long as he had informed her. But at least she was getting an idea about his daily motions.

"So where do you take the excrement, Roger?" she asked.

He hopped down from the cart. "Follow me!" he said, grabbing a sack of cow flops and a shovel-axe.

"This wasn't a desert before," Roger remarked. His ears curled over his head, creating a shade. Jessica absentmindedly tugged the scarf on her head closer.

"There would be droughts every now and then. But plants and trees always manages to grow back."

Magic kept her body cool, her genie form had no need for sweat. But even she could tell just by looking how parched the air was. Steam practically came out of the cracks in the ground.

"But that was more than 10 years ago. This is the longest drought this place ever has!" Roger exclaimed. "It didn't help that the farmers never let the land rest. Their crops sucked the earth dry!" He gestured with his shovel axe. "And don't get me started with those ranchers. They just let their cattle eat everything in sight without letting the grass grow back!"

There were struggling saplings scattered across the area. Roger headed for an empty spot and plunged the axe end of his shovel.

"Planting is hard enough to do with all the slopes around. Now all the soil falls down and gets hard without any roots to intervene!" Roger stabbed the ground repeatedly. "Which makes it just worse because the water supply wells become more shallow and no one's doing anything but go away and use things up and the rest are now paying it for it!"

His axe accidentally hit stone. That jolted the rabbit out of his rant. He blinked, mouth pressed shut, finally realizing that he had been mouthing off.

"Sorry," he mumbled. His eyes trained on the ground as he flipped his tool and used the shovel part to widen the pit. "I'm just frustrated that people think there's nothing to be done."

"Don't be." She stooped down, peering at the hole he was digging. "So what have you been doing?" she asked, deciding that Roger would be better at focusing on things he wanted done.

He knelt down and dug the loose earth with his hands. "Dig a hole, mix the soil with the dung. Then plant." Roger opened the sack beside him. Jessica tried not to wrinkle her nose. "The manure isn't just fat for the sapling, it keeps the earth moist."

"This is going to take a while, is it?"

"Yup!" There was something confident in his voice. "But it'll be worth it."

Jessica remembered how townspeople couldn't decide if he was crazy or a fool. Why toil that long when he could just have a better life somewhere else?

She straightened up, her hands glittering with magic. "How can I help?"

Roger responded by giving her the shovel-axe. "No magic." he pointedly replied. "Just good ol', honest labor."

Jessica looked down on the tool in her hands, momentarily at loss.

"I'm used to digging with my hands." His rabbit ears waved in emphasis. "It's okay if you don't wanna. You don't really need ta help me."

She looked up to him, feeling her pride prickle. Maybe Roger didn't intend the effect. But she did ask and Jessica always granted wishes.

XOXOXOXOX

Jessica had always been graceful... until now.

Too used to willing things into reality with just a zap of magic, she discovered she lacked the trained coordination on hitting the earth.

Red-faced but determined to master such a mortal thing, Jessica focused on solidly axing the earth as hard as Roger had done before. For someone who cracked jokes in the cart ride, she was glad that he wasn't making fun of her.

"Want some?" he asked, offering her his flask. Jessica shook her head.

"A genie doesn't thirst."

She got the feeling she was slowing his routine. But Roger was patient. "You're doing better than my first time!" he cheered while swiftly mixing the loose soil with manure.

The sun was setting when Roger decided to stop. They returned back to the hut. Only to see a covered wagon and a coyote's figure.

"Wiley!"

Wiley waved. Roger rushed to his side.

"Jessica, this is Wiley, my neighbor!" he gestured Wiley to her. "Wiley, Jessica!"

Jessica shook his hand. "A pleasure."

"Do you need stool samples again, Wiley?" Roger asked.

"I'll leave you two boys to your talk," she murmured, walking towards the hut.

Wiley waited for Jessica to disappear before turning to Roger. "So who is she really?"

"Uhh..." Roger's eyes flickered to the side. "A friend who's just visiting?" he offered.

His yellow eyes looked wry. "You live in the middle of nowhere, Roger," he pointed out.

"Well, I do have another life before I came to live here," Roger replied.

Wiley studied him before looking away.

"Just making sure. Word in the street was, you met her in a faraway land, rescued her during a world war and got married. Then she cheated on you with a rich, old man whom you murdered. But eventually, you were framed for it. Yet you left. To give yourself space from everything that happened. Then she followed you here."

Roger looked like he was suddenly introduced to advanced calculus.

"Clarabelle," Wiley explained.

A light switched on in Roger's eyes. "Ah," he nodded in understanding.

Wiley cleared his throat. "And yes, I'm going to need stool samples of those oxen."

After biding Wiley goodbye with his stash of samples, Roger approached his cabin with a sigh. "Finally. Things have calmed down- what the?!"

He stopped by the entrance, looking at the smooth, wooden walls and floor of what used to be earthen ground and decrepit interior.

"Jessica! I thought I told you not to magic my house," he exclaimed at the genie's innocent smile.

"I... didn't exactly transform your hut into something else." She shrugged her bare shoulders, now free from the loose robe. "It simply went through a speeded, natural process."

Roger pressed his lips together, wondering if she was going to wheedle her way through every boundary he would set.

"Now that the cabin's all polished and clean," she thrust her hand to Roger's direction and water blasted out in full force.

He yelped as he was thrown backwards. Sputtering, he tried to stand up. Only to get blasted back by a barrage of bubbles and foam. Jessica hummed, blasting him with water again.

Roger spat out soap and water, fur dripping wet. He caught himself just in time when hot air roared in his ears.

By the time Jessica was done, Roger stood shakily in a daze.

"I didn't know you're white," she said in surprised.

Roger tapped the side of his head, trying to get water out of his ears. "I don't know what's the issue with humans and that kind of thing." He jumped on one foot, tapping his temple again. "Us rabbits may be found everywhere, but we're just one race."

"No, I mean your fur. It's actually white."

Roger looked down on himself. "I sure know I ain't purple. I could never stay clean in this desert though. With the dust and the dirt and the heat and the wind." He scratched his temple. "I can wear robes to protect myself but I really don't mind."

"I can still fix that," Jessica said, lifting her hands again.

"Nope!" He ducked as fast as he could. It was probably why grime didn't seem to stick on her. "No magic!"

This was going to be some getting used to for the both of them.

XOXOXOXOX

As noble as Roger's cause was, Jessica couldn't forget her own.

"Do you have a wish tonight?" she asked after the day was done. After Roger had lain down on his hammock. He had tried to build her a bed. But after a swollen thumb and a what could only be called a badly-nailed-together planks, Jessica said she had never slept in a hammock before.

Laying in her own hammock, she glanced at Roger whose hammock was beside hers.

"None that I really wanted," Roger replied, looking up to the cabin's ceiling. He closed his eyes. "Sleep well, Jessica."

Jessica smiled. "Genies have no need for sleep. But-"

"Slumbering sure felt nice, doesn't it?" Roger asked in the dark.

She smiled. For some reason, she was certain Roger was also grinning.

XOXOXOXOX

If Roger was being truthful, he felt partly to blame for holding Jessica back. When she had said she wanted to be free, the longing in her voice was painful. She hadn't seem to be aware of it. But Roger certainly heard.

So after work, Roger decided to show her around town. It was a good thing Jessica gave him a surprise shower. The town barely recognized him. But at least he looked more presentable. He showed her the winding markets. The streets where the well-to-do live. Even the community well. Roger tried not to think of its lowering water level.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked as they walked back to the town square.

Jessica glanced at the cramped shanties. "I think the people are all crammed into this town."

Roger nodded. "I know. They're actually homeless." He shrugged, grimacing. "But where else can they live?"

There were almost to the cart when a burly guy bumped into Roger.

"Shitstain," the guy muttered, looking down at him.

Roger didn't miss a beat, putting on a zany grin. "That's because you don't wipe."

Jessica's eyes widened. But Roger kept walking so she followed him.

The man stopped. Turned around. His eyes widened, finally catching on what Roger meant. He stalked after him.

"Hey-" He suddenly howled in disgust, stepping on cow manure that wasn't there before.

Jessica turned away from the one-legged dance he was now doing and climbed aboard the cart. She stared pointedly at Roger who continued to hum.

"What?" he asked at her "he-could've-pummeled-you-dead" look. "It's how I cope."

She raised a brow. "By having a big mouth?"

Roger laughed and urged Benny forward, "And maybe a poopoo pocket."

XOXOXOXOX

Jessica couldn't help but count the many chances Roger could've wished it.

When Roger was lugging a barrel of water for the plants, Roger could've just wished it.

When Roger could have had a better equipment for planting and transport, Roger could've just wished it.

When the town thought he was crazy for planting in the desert, Roger could've just wished it.

But no. He carried that tank all the way to the saplings. He bought another shovel-axe. He continued on his way.

"Why do you always choose the hard way?" she one day asked.

He didn't even look up to the sapling he was tending. "Because it has to be earned."

Jessica pressed her lips together. Who on earth passes the chance for instant gratification?

Yet there was something satisfying in having planted seed. To see them sprout with the deadly desert surrounding. A small but significant defiance.

"I didn't know rabbits could climb trees," she poked at him as she watched him clamber up a trunk.

"The trick," he yelled, his ears covering over his eyes, "is not to look down."

He climbed higher and higher; until he got into the tender, young branches. "The cuttings from here can make instant saplings," he explained to her down below. "If I'm lucky, I can find their fruits and plant them," he gestured at the nearly skeletal tree he was on, "But it's not always the case."

As if to prove his point, the branch gave.

"Roger!"

Before she could think, she ran as he fell down screaming.

Roger didn't know what happened. One minute, he was clutching his cuttings. The next, he was falling.

"Oof!" Something caught him and Roger looked up to see Jessica's brilliant green eyes.

His heart drummed from the excitement. Jessica looked surprised and relieved.

"You didn't use your magic," he noticed.

She looked down at him in her arms. "I... I didn't," she said with a new layer of shocked.

"No one was here to catch me before," he said. Roger shifted, suddenly conscious that he was making her robe dirty. "You can put me down now."

She did and Roger turned back to the tree.

"I'm sorry about that, I'll have to water you more often," he promised, patting their trunks. Roger held the cuttings with care. "Don't worry, I'll take care of them."

Jessica couldn't help but smile. She had traveled the world in search of new experiences that the lamp had kept from her. But being with Roger might be a whole new experience on its own.

XOXOXOXOX

When it became clear to Roger that Jessica was there to stay, he knew he had to make some changes.

First, he had to plant more vegetables. He would also have to buy more things in the cabin. Probably had to repair some things in the cabin itself.

But Jessica was already way ahead of him.

"Where did you get that?"he asked when they were back in town, a basket full of food in one hand.

"Bought it," she replied. "Although I might've cheated a little." She did the swirly finger movement that she would do when granting wishes.

Roger shrugged, feeling a bit disappointed at himself for not providing better. "Everyone needs help in getting started."

"You're not mad?"

"It's either this or I'll find you zapping a farm in my backyard."

Jessica put a hand over her mirth. "You think you know me?" she asked, a smirk hinting in her words. Maybe working with her hands had been opening up some things she hadn't known about herself.

Roger stood up on his cart. "I'd like to think so," he said with a playful grin. "You think you know me?"

"I'd like to think so," she said back, a challenge dangling in her words.

In the following days, Roger had to admit. She was good at borrowing and bartering. Primarily through her charm. Every day that they would go to town, he would see her mingling in the marketplace. Roger had the feeling she was following her own code that wasn't exactly for the genies. He heard that Clarabelle always wanted a certain kind of scarf, and wouldn't you know it, Jessica coincidentally have a bolt of its fabric that Clarabelle could make out of her own hands.

Their cabin (Roger wondered when did he start thinking it as theirs), slowly began to fill with food and wares. His barrel of water became two and now comes with a spigot. After a lot of back and forth, Roger finally agreed to let others repair their home and a better outhouse.

"This way, you can focus on planting trees," Jessica said as Roger watched the men hammer away. She stood behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. "After all, everyone needs a little help."

He nodded, relieved that he was able to tuck away his belongings just in case. Roger looked up to see her smiling down at him.

His shoulders were suddenly hyper-aware of the gentle touch of her palms. He wasn't used to sudden changes and his friend was bringing it practically everyday.

It wasn't long before she caught the eye of the richest man in town.

XOXOXOXOX

Clarabelle had never been reminded of an exquisite vase and an earthen jar together than the two of them.

As the town gossip, her eyes never missed a thing. She'd seen the playful banter. She'd seen the dried mud rabbit imitate a zombie that had dug out of his grave as she gave the most tinkling laughter. Roger literally froze in hearing it, making him look like a mud statue. She'd seen Jessica towel him wet after work while he protested. There was an amused smirk in her lips but the smile in her eyes told Clarabelle a different story.

This friend of his that was simply visiting strangely had been staying for weeks. If he hadn't told anyone, they would've assumed he suddenly got a wife out of nowhere. But she was a friend, not a wife. Hence to why Lord Acme had taken interest.

Acme never missed a day Roger and Jessica would go to town. Roger became more subdued, putting down his head and working while Acme whisked her away to the rich part of town. By the time Roger was finished, Jessica would be back and laden with costly gifts.

Even at the distance from her stall, Clarabelle could see his forced smile as he helped her to the cart.

XOXOXOXOX

Jessica had always found silence to be peaceful. But Roger's silence was a bit unsettling. After all those times that he had chattered away for the both of them.

"Do you have a wish tonight?" she asked as they lay down in their respective hammocks. The question was becoming more of a habit than an inquiry.

"None that I could think of," he replied as he usually did.

This time, it was punctuated with a sigh.

"Jessica..." There was hesitation in his voice, something akin to preparing oneself. "You don't have to stay here."

She turned her head. Roger began to gesture with his hands, lost as he began to ramble.

"I mean, if I finally figured out what my real wish would be, I'll just go to ya. You're better off living with Acme. Genies are more used to luxury and in here, I can't give you much." He felt his face heat at what his words could be interpreted to. "As a friend. I can't give you much as a friend. I chose this life and there are times I wished I was doing something else for a living by the time I met you so that you'll be better off with me." He slapped a hand over his eyes. That doesn't sound so strange. "I mean you'll be better off with me. As friends."

Roger was certain Jessica could hear his heartbeat from her own hammock. The silence was too deafening as she just lay there.

He got confused when she sat up. Then terrified when she knelt down beside him, her face close to his.

"Roger," she said quietly in the darkness, "do you have a wish tonight?"

"None that I could think of," he managed to say over the lump in his throat. He swallowed, at the mercy of those watchful green eyes. "Do you have a wish tonight?"

Her slim fingers gripped the edge of his hammock. "Only if it's the same as yours."

His breath hitched when she lay her palm softly over his heart. The beats traveled through her fingerprints, over her arm. She sat on his hammock, cupping his cheek. Ever since she had been freed, she had been following her own choices. Her own whims. Her own wants getting more defined for the past weeks. This night, it was crystal clear this special kind of want burns.

"Your wish..." she thoughtfully murmured, looking at those vulnerable eyes, his emotions laid bare. Her hair draped like a waterfall as she leaned closer. "It's not a wish if it's true already."

Roger welcomed her as she closed the gap between them.

XOXOXOXOX

Twenty years had passed. Mighty acacias spread throughout the once dusty plains. With the vast forest giving shade, the climate changed. It rained more often with water vapor precipitating over the coolness the forest gives. The trees held back the soil from eroding, allowing the once-dead river to trickle with rainwater and slowly, it's course widened. Dry wells soon resounded with splashes of buckets and the town's water well rose several levels. Snakes and other hungry wild animals that had been considered pests, had left the town; preferring to have the the forest as their new home.

With their success in planting and farming, the other farmers began to listen.

"I'd never thought it was possible. But you made it, buddy," Wile E. Coyote said. He and Roger hanged back, letting the people mingle after Roger gave them lessons in his farming methods.

Roger rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess so." He brightened up. "I couldn't have done it without Jessica's help though."

"I must say, I know there had been a forest here before but I never thought it might be magical."

Roger froze at the word "magical". Jessica kept her word on never magicking trees and she did make sure she was being discreet. But still...

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Wile shrugged. "Perhaps I should live by the forest too. You don't seem to age."

Roger blinked. Wile smiled at him, his fur speckled with white. The laugh lines around his face etched deeper than he had noticed before. He looked around. The townspeople he had known for more than 20 years were suddenly cast in a new light. The skin sagged with fur dulling with white. Wrinkles that Roger was now becoming more painfully aware. And was Porky using a cane?

He looked down on himself. He still felt the same. Twenty years, and he still felt his same, old self; that didn't feel like twenty years had passed at all.

XOXOXOXOX

"Jessica!"

Jessica jolted, turning around to see Roger had returned home.

"Hello darling," she greeted. But Roger still looked worried.

"Have you done something to me?" he asked, spreading his arms.

Jessica tried not to smile. He would need to be clearer than that because she had certainly "done" him several ways. However, his troubled look made her humor paused.

"All my friends are getting old but I'm not! Jessica, what did you do!?" he asked, bewildered at the fact of his friends dying all around him; until he was the only one remaining.

"I... might've frozen your youth," she let out.

"Why didn't you ask first? Un-immortal me back!" he exclaimed.

Her eyes widened in hurt, her mouth tightening. "Why? You've been immortal before."

Roger stiffened. "What do you mean?" he carefully asked.

Jessica got up and opened one of the shelves. She carefully unrolled a lamp unlike her own. "You'd think I'd never found this while cleaning all these years?" She placed the lamp between them, it's top handle curved curiously like bunny ears. "When were you going to tell me you've been a genie before?"

Roger gaped at the familiar sight. Slowly, he cupped it; staring at its dull glow.

"I didn't want to look back," he finally said. "A genie must always grant wishes."

He looked up to her, realizing that she made him immortal for the same reason he wanted to be un-immortal-ed.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," he sighed. "I hadn't imagined what it would be like for you if I'm gone."

She knelt down and kissed his cheek. "How? Why?" Even after all these years, there was a lot of things she didn't know of her husband.

"It's a long story."

"I got an eternity," was her dry reply.

Roger grinned at her banter. He sighed, twirling the lamp in his hands. "Two hundred years ago, something peculiar occurred when I was still inside this." He held up the lamp. "Everything was still. Then everything began to bounce." He shook the lamp. "I really didn't know what was happening but it was definitely rubbing my lamp."

He sat down as Jessica listened. "I was summoned. But when I appeared, there was no one there." Roger laughed. "I was actually excited. I liked giving a good show."

"So what did you do?" Jessica asked.

"Well, at first I was confused because the genie code didn't say anything about that kind situation. Then I actually heard it, the voice of my new master. It was the forest itself. Or what was left of it." His rabbit ears drooped. "I saw telltale signs that humans used to live here. But they left because of the drought and famine. I zapped the land with greenery and the lamp pulled me back to my room."

"Just like what I would've done," she said, wondering where she had been during those times.

Roger nodded. "I wondered what would happen next. Who ever heard of being contractually bonded to a forest? During my stay in the lamp, I began to hear sounds of civilization back." He played with the spout of the rabbit-eared lamp. "During the next fifty years, my lamp must've been hidden by the soil. But I heard people living, hunting, going on with their lives."

Jessica could only relate to his tone of envy.

"Then I began to hear chaos. Screams. Fire. Like there was a war. A very long war." His eyes were wide. "I couldn't help. I think I heard the word conquering. But there was just silence after."

He gave an empty laugh. "There was rain, I think, and the dirt grains running against my lamp must've have summoned me back." His tone became hollow. "When I appeared, there was nothing again."

Jessica rubbed his back and Roger just exhaled. "Whatever tribes were fighting, they burned down the forest to kill each other. Trees have a high pain tolerance but still, I can hear the pain of the surviving trees."

He pushed out his hands in a familiar genie granting gesture. "So I granted the forest's second wish: to live." Roger gave a rare, ironic laugh. "The next fifty years, the people came back to the forest. Wiser. Unfortunately, greedier."

Jessica watched his thumbs rub against the dull brass. "They cut down the trees for their plains and overpopulated the grasslands with their bulls." He ran his finger over his hair and rabbit ears. "I understand they're trying to have a good life. But they took and took and took without giving back in return."

"So the last wish was..." Jessica lingered but it was already dawning on her.

"It was windy when I had been summoned once again for the last wish," Roger said. "The rough, dead grass must've rubbed over the exposed part of my lamp." He clutched both of his rabbit ears, remembering what happened. "The land was so much worse than before. I barely recognized it."

His fingers worried the lamp's handle. "The cries from what used to be the forest, was so faint. The land wasn't just dry. It was barren. But I knew the wish was the same."

Jessica sat back, surprised. "So you've been granting the forest's last wish for this past twenty years."

"I knew that if I just zapped the forest back, it'll just be gone again." He looked down on the ground, his ears lowering. "I had to make its last wish count."

"So you've made yourself mortal." Even when she said it outloud, she still couldn't grasp why.

"The mortals are the forest's hope. They need to learn that the forest needs them as much as they need it." Roger looked down. "It was a choice of giving the forest a wish that wouldn't last or a wish that would stay granted forever."

"But sacrificing your immortality? The Genie Code would've let you have the first option."

He shook his head. "That's not what the forest really wanted and I knew it. I thought for a long time before throwing away my immortality." Roger waved his arms around, remembering the surge of energy that would wrap around his hands. "To communicate to the mortals well, I have to be one. How can I understand why they keep doing such dangerous things if I have infinite cosmic powers?"

"What about death?" she pointed out.

Roger gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Perhaps I'm really the town crazy. But life inside a lamp is no life at all for me." He rubbed his arms. "It was hard in the first few years, alone and powerless. Then I met Wile. He helped me back on my feet."

A grin tugged his lips. "He always thought it was odd of me to live like a hermit in the middle of nowhere. But then again, the town considers him an eccentric for his scientific studies."

"So that's why..." Jessica said quietly. All along, there were hints here and there that Roger was a genie. She suddenly have a flash of insight.

"Roger," she said, holding his arm. "You did it. You granted the forest's last wish. The mortals are now learning how to take care of the forest." She smiled at him. "You're free."

He only give her a troubled smile. "Am I really? Mortals can be so unpredictable."

"They learned their lessons. They're learning your ways. Just say the word. I'll grant your wish and we can be free. Together."

He stilled. Jessica pushed forward.

"I can wish you back into a free genie. Don't you think you need a little reprieve?"

Roger fell silent and looked out of the window. "Mortals are so simple and so complicated."

"Do you know we have a mirror?" Jessica dryly asked.

He laughed. The mortals may have to prove themselves first. But for now...

Roger took her hand and kissed it. "Just a little longer, Jessica."

THE END.

Author's Note: This story has been sitting in my backburner for far too long. Have a good Sunday, guys. Read more fanfics here.

#who framed roger rabbit #roger rabbit #jessica rabbit #fanfic #disney #au #disney au #fanfic au #genie au

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