Half and Half

Chapter Thirty

"Aladdin?" Jasmine asked as her husband seemed to trail off.

"The food...that was one of the reasons Beast was sent to the Isle..." Elsa said, seemingly catching onto the same train of thought Aladdin had. "And...and if the food is still going bad then..."

"Then it wasn't Beast sending the food in its inedible state," Aladdin said and looked at Elsa. "There's someone still in Auradon working to make the food we send to the Isle unfit for consumption."

"We need to talk to Belle. Now," Anna said. She might not have known the full story of what happened during that fateful council meeting where the former King had been sentenced to the Isle of the Lost but she did know that children were still suffering despite it. "Kristoff, go ahead and call her—."

"Mama, Ben said he and his mama were going to be in the library today," Akiho said. "It's why Emir and I picked today to hide on the food barge! Ben wouldn't miss us."

Aladdin groaned. "Belle's going to be preoccupied for hours," he said. He would never begrudge his fellow parent time with her child, especially with him now being gone half the year, but Aladdin also knew it would take a miracle to get Belle out of her library.

"Then we go to Belle," Anna said. "The boys flew here on Carpet so he should be able to hold two of us and the boys with no issue. I think it should be Aladdin and Elsa who go, you're both on Belle's council so you'll be able to get an audience that much faster. I'll call Cogsworth just to let him know you all are coming so he's not taken aback."

"Are you sure?" Elsa asked, looking over at her sister.

"Elsa, it makes the most sense," Anna told her. "Besides, we don't have time to argue about this. The longer that food delays, the longer kids have to wait to get edible food."

"Right," Aladdin nodded and kissed Jasmine on the cheek. "Come on boys, come on Elsa. Let's go let Belle know what's going on."

"And we can see Ben?" Emir asked, a grin threatening to split his face into two at the thought of seeing one of his best friends.

"Yeah, you can see Ben," Aladdin nodded. "It'll be the last time in a long time since you'll be grounded after this though."

"But why papa?!"

Aladdin raised an eyebrow. "Really? You didn't think you'd be grounded for stealing Carpet, sneaking off to the barge, and planning to spend six months or longer on the Isle of the Lost and not letting your mama, brother, sister, or myself know?"

"...maybe..."

"We'll talk about that later," Aladdin sighed and gently kissed Jasmine on the cheek once more before the four of them got back on Carpet and made their way to Auradon City.

"Sultan Aladdin! Queen Elsa! Queen Belle's expecting you, she's in her study," Cogsworth said as they walked into the castle. "Prince Ben is in his room—."

"Thank you Cogsworth but I think Belle will need to hear what the boys have to say before they get too distracted," Aladdin said.

"Oh, yes of course."

Aladdin gave the smaller man a smile before the four royals made their way to Belle's study and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Belle called.

"Belle, apologies for barging in like this," Aladdin said as the four of them walked into Belle's study.

"Don't apologize Aladdin, I know you wouldn't have unless it was important," Belle told him. "What's going on?"

"The food barge is still here even though Emir said it said ten on the calendar rather than one, and Ben said the food barge leaves on the first, and all the food on the barge was smelly like Abby and Ash are sometimes when Emir and me were on it so we could surprise Ben on the Isle and never have to leave him again!" Akiho said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"How...how did you say that in one breath?" Elsa asked her nephew.

"You were taking too long, Auntie Elsa," Akiho shrugged.

Belle's hand went up to her mouth in shock. "If...if the issue with the food is still ongoing then...then it wasn't anything Adam did..." she whispered. "The real culprit is still at large..."

"You should talk to the people at the barge, Queen Belle," Emir spoke up. "They weren't nice. One guy didn't believe Akiho when he said he'd be ruling Arendelle when he grew up, and then the guy said he'd date Queen Elsa."

"Oh I already don't like the guy and I haven't even met him," Elsa shook her head.

"We need to have a full investigation done," Belle said. "I'll have the records for the shipping barge pulled immediately."

"Forgive me Belle for asking but...why wasn't an investigation done when Beast was sentenced to the Isle?" Aladdin asked.

Belle sighed. "I meant to...but then there was getting Adam ready for the Isle and breaking the news and then of course there was the election...and then a small part of me thought that with Adam on the Isle...the issue would clear up."

She shook her head. "I know, I know. That was wistful thinking and not the thinking of a Queen responsible for her subjects. But I need to make the issue right now. Elsa, Arendelle still controls the cameras on the docks correct?"

"We do, unless that's changed and Anna hasn't told me," Elsa nodded.

"Can you request the footage from the docks?" Belle asked. "I can get access to the records but I think seeing what's causing the issue might be better for when we confront them."

"Of course," Elsa nodded. "I'll call right now."

"Thank you," Belle said.

"What can we do?" Akiho asked.

"How about you go find Ben? Maybe the three of you can work with Mal to come up with ideas of what the Isle could have sent to them in an emergency barge," Belle said with a small smile.

"Come on Emir!" Akiho said, pulling his friend out the door. "Do you think anyone would notice if we put all the Brussel sprouts on the barge?"

"I don't think so!" Emir said. "I think the only thing that would be noticed would be if we put all the strawberries on the barge and that's just because Mal loves them so much!"

"You're keeping the Brussel sprouts!" Aladdin called as the two boys turned the corner but all the adults in the room could hear the groans of the two boys.

"Come on," Belle said as she walked over to her printer. "We've got records to go through."

"We?"

"You asked how you could help Aladdin. And I might be a book worm but I can't go through nine years of records by myself. Not with also raising two children and running a kingdom."

"You know you have help with the children raising part," Aladdin pointed out.

"Oh hush you," Belle shook her head. She knew he was only teasing, as they had developed a friendship as part of their Learning to be Royal club that they had helped set up. Pulling up the records of the food barge, Belle began to print them before looking at Aladdin.

"Let's get to work shall we?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Aladdin said, taking some of the freshly printed pages from her.