NOTE: Do read. The timeline is when Alibaba went to the island where the Ren brothers were and tried to get one of them to help Kou Empire. The geographical image and the portrayal of the islanders in this fic is not canon. Characters are subjected to be OOC (of course) since I'm not the original writer (obviously). So, yeah.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the manga/anime MAGI nor do this fic gains any profit. This fic is made purely for pleasure purpose.
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TITLE: THE DIE HARD BOY
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After the call with Sinbad, Alibaba called Kougyouku and arranged for Koumei to be transported back to Kou Empire, not as prince but as criminal as they had agreed. Kougyouku promised to ready the preparation within three to five days.
Within that period, Alibaba did not really have anything to do on the island, so, he decided to practice his swordsmanship with Kouha. Sometimes, he got into a heated debate with Kouen and Koumei over different views and beliefs. Alibaba also got close to the islanders by helping them with some of the chores that they had to do every day. Since there were not so many people on the island, he managed to get close to every single one of them, even the guards that protected the Ren brothers.
Two days before the day that Koumei would be transported, Kogyouku called Alibaba to inform of the progress of the preparation and things would have gone as planned if not for the sudden disappearance of Alibaba. That night, there was a farewell party for Alibaba. Alibaba was supposed to go the party site with the Ren brothers since he stayed within the same building with them, but halfway there, Alibaba realised that he forgot to bring his knife with him, being in party mood and all. So, he went back to the building alone. However, when the boy did not return, the Ren brothers suspected that something must have happened and went back. When they got into Alibaba's room, it was empty save for a slashed pillow with its contents spilled on the floor and a knife embedded in it. Immediately, a search was conducted around the village for Alibaba.
Meanwhile, Alibaba was in the forest chasing after the man that had tried to assassinate him earlier for reason that he did not know. However, the more he chased after the man, the farther he got. The darkness of the night and the moonlight that got blocked by the tall trees had given him little help in navigating himself through the forest. He could only try to imitate where and what the man fleeing from him did to ensure he did not step on any dangerous spot. They got to a small clearing with boulders and rocks. Alibaba thought that it was his only chance to gain the upper hand and sprinted with his hands stretched forward to snatch the man's clothes when suddenly something dashed out of the forest and across him. Out of instinct to not injure the supposedly animal, Alibaba jumped, but he failed to gain a footing causing him to crash onto the ground, skidded and crashed backwards against a boulder. Pain exploded in his whole body and he blacked out instantly.
In the village, Koumei reported that he had seen two different footprints on the windowsill, assuming that one belonged to Alibaba and the other to the perpetrator who was deemed to be a man based on the size of the big shoe print. Koumei told his brothers that Alibaba may have gone to chase after the man within the heat of the moment and since there was no trace of the boy around the village the only plausible place for the two to be lost into would be the forest where the villagers had warned to never enter alone and without those who had experience with the in and out of the forest. With that, Kouen and the village's head agreed to send some men for a search party into the forest including Koumei for consultation and Kouha for extra strength. Since it was night, they agreed to start the search early next morning since Alibaba was not one who could not defend himself.
The next morning, Alibaba woke up when his eyelids were assaulted with brightness and something touched his face. His head throbbed. He groaned, touching the back of his head where most of the pain came from and winced when he felt a large bump forming and something sticky. He sat up, squinting until his eyes got used to the morning light and looked at his fingers. They were coated in blood. He turned his head to look at the boulder, but the movement only caused his headache to worsen. He groaned, holding his head gently, before again trying to look at the boulder, but this time he slowly turned his body instead of just his head. Surely, there was a splotch of blood on the spot where he assumed his head had made contact with and since the incident was last night, the blood had dried some.
A nudge on his hand that he used to support his body made Alibaba looked down. There was a cub, nudging and nuzzling against his hand before looking into his eyes. He stared dumbfounded before slowly looked around to find whether there was any lion nearby, but the clearing was empty save for him, the cub and a few birds chirping above the trees. Another nudge and Alibaba took the cub and cradled it to his chest. He petted the cub who gave a rumble, perhaps of satisfaction before seeming to fall asleep in Alibaba's hand.
"I wonder if you're lost as well," Alibaba said to the cub not really expecting any answer.
Standing up, he wobbled as his vision spun. He almost fell but managed to put out a hand and supported his weight against the boulder.
"Ugh. My head's killing me," Alibaba groaned.
He stood still, trying to get used to standing before wobbling out of the clearing, not really knowing where to go. He decided to just go with his instinct. Not long after that, with the cub awake and striding by his side, he found a river where he rested for a bit, drank, washed his face to stay refreshed and cleaned his bloodied head. As he rested, he watched the cub played with the water and sometimes chased after some random butterflies or birds that flew by it. At the feline antics, Alibaba chuckled and felt a bit relaxed. He thought of how to get back to the village.
"Should I follow the flow of the river? I think they had a few farm built along the river near the village, so I should be able to reach there if I follow this path," Alibaba thought out loud.
The cub came and plopped onto Alibaba's leg, looking at him with a tilt of its head.
"What about you? I wonder if you're lost too?" Alibaba smiled as he patted the cub's head. He looked up to one side and caught sight of a thin branch that curled at the top. He immediately thought that the branch could be made as a cane to help his manoeuvre better. Not wanting to waste energy by walking across the little distance, he looked at the cub and thought of an idea.
"Hey, can you help me? See that branch over there, can you bring it here? Can you understand me? There, that branch over there," Alibaba tried to ask the cub as he pointed to the cane-like branch.
The cub stared at Alibaba, then at the branch and repeated it as Alibaba too repeated his order before the cub bounded over, gnawed the branch and dragged it to Alibaba. Alibaba thanked and praised the cub, patting and rubbing it gently which seemed to make it happy as it rolled over and over and rumbled happily. With that, Alibaba stood and used the cane to help his unsteady limbs and set out to follow down the river way with the cub by his side.
Meanwhile, the search party was calling out to Alibaba as they walked around the forest. They had been at it since the dawn. Since they could not be separated from each other too far, it took a while for them to scout even one area since they needed to move together from one spot to another, thus causing the time it took to make sure Alibaba was not at any place to be longer. Nothing could be done since the forest was very dangerous and mysterious even for the experienced. It was noon when they found the clearing where Alibaba was before and saw the boulder tainted with Alibaba's blood.
"Whose blood is this? Don't tell me it's Alibaba's?" Kouha asked.
"Hm…the blood's dried, but it still seems to be from a fresh wound and not even three days old. It could be an animal's but coincidence is just another side of fate, so, I think we should not rule out the probability that it's Alibaba's blood. Besides, the thickness and smell seemed very similar to a human's blood," Koumei stated as he assessed the blood.
"Then, I think we need to find sir Alibaba quick if there's a possibility that he's bleeding. Animals are after all easily attracted by the smell of blood," a tall and broad man stated.
"Everyone! I found a corpse!" someone suddenly shouted.
Everyone dashed to the scene and saw an unidentifiable corpse being ravaged by a group of wild birds. Everyone gave a sigh of relief when they realized that it was not Alibaba, looking at the height and the weird clothes worn by the corpse. In fact, Koumei said that it was likely the perpetrator that tried to attack Alibaba assuming from the large feet of the dead man that were still intact. However, after that, the search became more frantic under the watchful eyes of Koumei and Kouha, since they had seen what could happen to Alibaba who was hopefully still alive wandering around the forest alone in a forest when alone basically guaranteed one's death, though Kouha had huffed at them when one of the villager voiced his concern over Alibaba's state.
"That guy's hard to kill. He might be injured, but I doubt he'd kick the bucket already," Kouha had stated, shrugging as though that was a simple fact.
Meanwhile, Alibaba was shivering in an abandoned cave that he had found when he went to find for some edible food. His concussion had become quite a challenge for him to wak safely. In fact, he had fallen into the river three times and almost drowned the last time he fell into it if not for the cub jumping into the river and dragging him to the bank with its little might which was why he was now shivering in front of the little fire that he made using some rocks and dried leaves. He was fortunate that he had come from the slum and had learned various ways to survive without the help of everyday necessities. Hugging the cub in his arms for extra heat, he let the sleep claimed his tired body and concussed mind, praying that he would be saved soon.
"Argh! Where is he?! Alibaba!" Kouha shouted in exasperation, tired and despite not wanting to admit it to himself, a little bit worried for the boy who had become kind of a friend to him and his brothers. In fact, he suspected that Kouen saw Alibaba as a precious pet while Koumei saw the boy as a worthwhile debater when he wanted another opinions or views.
Koumei sighed. It was already night. He looked around and saw that most of the villagers had given up on the survival of Alibaba except two of them whom he had seen had interacted with Alibaba quite a lot and maybe considered the missing boy as a precious friend. He also wanted the boy to be alive for the sake of Kou and he could admit that he had a soft spot for the boy as well and he knew his brothers did too.
"Alright, everyone. Let's camp out. We'll continue tomorrow," Koumei suggested. With that, they looked for a place to camp and set up the fire. They took out the few blankets that they brought and huddled into a few groups around the fire.
"I'll be on the lookout first, so everyone can sleep. Next, who would change with me? Alright, you'll change with me next. Then, everyone, goodnight," said Koumei.
As he watched the night sky littered with thousands of twinkling stars, Koumei thought of what could be happening to Alibaba and what would happen to Kou if Alibaba really disappeared again. Shaking his head, he watched the fire as he stayed guard. The hours went by and when he looked up again, he saw that the sky hat gotten quite lighter in colour. It would be dawn soon and he needed to sleep to continue their search later on. He got up to wake up the next person when suddenly he heard a rustle from the nearby bushes. Quickly, he woke everyone up who quickly snatched and readied their weapons, facing the still shaking bushes.
"What is it?" Kouha whispered to his brother.
The bushes stilled before something jumped out and everyone was about to attack it when Kouha stopped them. It was a cub. It looked at them, growling with its little vocal cord before bounding over and went to nuzzle against Kouha's legs, looking up at him as though it wanted to tell him something when Koumei saw what was wrapped around the cub's neck.
"That, isn't that…" Koumei trailed, pointing to the red rope wrapped loosely around the cub's neck.
"It's Alibaba's!" Kouha exclaimed. He bended down to get the cub into his hand, but it evaded him and bounded away.
"Wait!" Kouha exclaimed, instinctively following the cub. Koumei and the others quickly followed Kouha since they could not let even one of them lost in the forest, putting out the fire with the water from one bottle and leaving most of their belongings behind except the few that they kept in their bags that they snatched away before they ran in pursuit as well. It was chaotic for a while before everyone managed to gather back into one group as they followed the cub that fortunately did not seem to try to lose them. In fact, it seemed to stop when they almost lost the sight of it, before continuing forward. It was quite a distance when they saw a cave and the cub disappearing into it. They stopped at the mouth of the cave, not knowing whether they should venture into a space that could be the nest of some dangerous animal.
"What should we do?" Kouha asked Koumei, waiting as his brother seemed to ponder the risk as the others waited behind them for Koumei's decision when they suddenly heard something like a voice and a tiny growl replying.
"Is that…" Kouha was cut short when the cub came back and stopped in front of them, growling cutely and bounded into the cave again. "Shouldn't we go in?" Kouha asked his brother.
Koumei nodded and signalled for some of them to follow him and Kouha while the other guarded the cave just in case. With that, they went into the dark using the magic torchlight. It was not deep into the cave when they saw a dwindling fire and when the torchlight landed on a shivering figure where the cub was nudging against but without success to wake the person up.
"No…it's to-too cold. L-let me sl-sleep," the person stuttered.
Quickly, they ran to the person and when the light flashed upon its face, they all exclaimed Alibaba's name in relief.
"Do any of you have extra blanket? Give it here," Koumei asked and took the blanket from one of the villagers. "Kouha, help me undress Alibaba," he instructed his brother. They got rid of Alibaba's damp clothes and wrapped the boy with the blanket. Instantly, Alibaba gave a relieved sigh as he burrowed further into the warmth of the blanket. Koumei checked Alibaba for fever, but fortunately, the lucky boy was only cold. They were fortunate that the island's weather inclined towards hot and dry and not cold. After that, everyone outside the cave was called and they decided to camp in the cave until the sky was bright so that they could get back to the village safely and easily.
When the sky was bright enough that even the cave was a little less dark from the sunlight streaming from the outside, with Koumei carrying the boy in his arm since Alibaba did not wake up, they all went back to the village safely. After that, Alibaba was cared and guarded just as tight as the Ren brothers were guarded lest another attempt on the boy's life was made by some unknown party. The preparation to transport Koumei back was also delayed until Alibaba fully recovered.
A few days later, Alibaba was talking with the Ren brothers, already healthy and fit as a fiddle when a thought came to his mind.
"Wait, did you see a cub nearby me?" Alibaba asked.
"Oh, yeah. It was the cub that actually brought us to you," Kouha stated.
"It was clever of you to put your rope around it," Koumei complimented Alibaba.
"Ah, that cub," Kouen stated, already hearing the full details of what happened in the forest from his brothers and Alibaba.
"What happened to it?" Alibaba asked curious.
"It went back into the forest of course. The moment I untied your rope when we were about to get back here, it went away just like that," Kouha explained.
"Oh, I didn't even give it my thanks yet for staying with me," Alibaba said.
"Indeed. Based on the village's head, you were probably still alive because the cub kind of protected you or something like that involving the cub," Koumei stated.
"You're really hard to kill. What even are you? Creepy," Kouen deadpanned.
"That's right. You're weird," Kouha agreed.
"Mysterious," Koumei added.
"Eh? What? Why?!" Alibaba sputtered as the Ren brothers bullied him away with scandalous remarks and he protested, trying to defend himself.
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FINISH
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NOTE: Yes! Finally, it's finished! I'm so proud of myself. Sob sob sob. Anyway, I'd love to get some comments and thoughts on the stories and even the words I used. I'd really like to improve myself, so any critical comments –no thrashing please, do distinguish between simply thrashing and critical commenting- are most welcomed. With that said, thanks for reading and good day ~0~