This is my first fic so let me know what you think :)
Disclaimer: All rights go to Dreamworks. I own nothing except the OC.
Chapter 1: An Unexpected Encounter.
The seas were calm; a sight which one so used to sailing stormy waves should capture firmly in his mind to keep forever. The late afternoon sun poured down its warmth onto the one lone ship sailing through the endless ripples of the ocean. It wasn't a very big ship; but big enough for a Captain and his crew to maintain a comfortable living on.
But for Sinbad and his crew, this moment in time was no comfortable status. They were three days into their ten day time limit on a task that Sinbad had had no plans to commit to. His original plan had been to steal the Book of Peace for himself and his crew; the priceless treasure which had been recently residing in Syracuse now rested in the hands of Eris; the Goddess of Discord and was now a far harder and dangerous place to retrieve it back from and return it back to Syracuse.
Sinbad rubbed his face with one rough hand. If it were up to him, the mission would immediately be aborted. He was a pirate ... and a thief, true; but travelling to Tartarus of all places and taking from a goddess of all things was a little out of even his comfort zone.
'Proteus, you bastard ... why did you hang your neck on the line' Sinbad thought stubbornly. Proteus, his childhood best friend was the entire reason he hadn't killed off the mission. The prince of Syracuse was currently in Sinbad's place to be executed unless Sinbad returned before the sunset of the tenth day with the book.
Sinbad huffed loudly. The past three days had been no stroll around the ship; the sail through the Dragons teeth had only made a successful escape because of the ships stowaway Marina, who wasn't ruptured by the luring sirens, and the stop on the island to get tree sap for a new coating on the ships damaged wood result to a close escape from the 'island' which turned out to be a very well camouflaged giant fish.
Sinbad huffed again, part of him knew some of this was Eris' doing. He knew she was probably watching him make his way to her realm and was thinking of sending yet another obstacle to slow him on the journey.
"Captain!"
Sinbad glanced up at his first mate Kale "What's going on?"
"Captain, we have company"
Sinbad jumped to the main deck from the steering wheel and looked over at the oncoming ship towards them. It didn't look much different in comparison to his own ship. Small yet intimidating, possibly capable of harm. Sinbad hoped it didn't plan to intrude; time wasn't exactly a friend of his at the moment.
"Do you think they're harmful?" Kale asked.
"Won't be anything we can't take on" Sinbad said easily.
"Don't you think we should-?"
Kales words were cut short as an arrow flew narrowly passed him into the mast.
"Arm yourselves!" Sinbad yelled out to his crew; finishing and answering Kales question at the same time.
The bandits of the other ship had swung across with swords drawn and daggers raised. Their Captain; a tall muscly man with a short messy beard walked lousily over to Sinbad; his sword swung lazily over his shoulder.
"We don't want any trouble" Sinbad said cautiously. On any other day he would have pounced on the opportunity to take this misfit down, but he had bigger fish to catch right now. "Whatever you're after we don't have it"
The Captain laughed as though Sinbad had told a very lame joke "On the contrary" he said "we're not seeking goods, in fact we're doin' the complete opposite. We're lookin' at gifting you with a good." He hid away a snigger that wasn't gone unnoticed by Sinbad "If a good is what you wanna call it."
Sinbad groaned "I don't have time for this" He said irritably "Unless that so called gift you have is the Book of Peace, I am not interested."
The Captain ignored Sinbad, sheathing his sword, unfazed even by the mere size of Kale who could easily scare the entire room by just walking through the door in Syracuse much less by the swords he whipped out from the sheaths at his back. "It's nothin' fancy I'll admit; just a bit of unwanted cargo."
Without waiting for Sinbad's upcoming protest he gestured to a couple of men behind him who walked – with slight difficulty - to his side; half dragging another figure behind them. The figure had a sack covering their head and was bound tightly at the wrists, writhing with all their might to come free of their strong bounds. The men – who were easily no match for the prisoner - threw the young soul at Sinbad's feet.
Sinbad looked at the angrily defeated being before him and huffed "Look, we have enough on our hands right now without more unwanted meat to worry about." (Marina hadn't exactly been part of his bargain either; she was one extra, he didn't need another.)
The figure at his feet gasped at his voice but spoke nothing, their masked face pointed solidly at the wooden deck of the ship. The captain – who was only a little less muscular than Kale (possibly why he was so unfazed by him) – just shrugged.
"Well we ain't carryin' on with tha' with us" He said simply. Sinbad came to an assumption by the way he talked about the figure that either they had caused a lot of trouble or were incredibly mistreated. He sighed "What makes you think that we want him then?"
"You're a pirate aren't ya?" The Captain inquired as though the answer was obvious, "you should know 'ow this works; like a game o' tag" He leaned forward and shoved the prisoner forward so they lost their balance on their knees and hit Sinbad's knees hard. He smiled harshly showing a maximum of only four teeth "You're it."
As much as Sinbad wanted to argue with this dickhead, time was ticking and he knew he couldn't waste any more time with this "Okay fine, if it gets you lot off of our tails and on our way, I'll take him."
The Captain nodded "Wise choice sailor, besides" he said catching the rope from his ship in one strong fist to swing back which his bandits had already done, completely unseen by Sinbad "It may come of some use to ya later on, who knows."
Before Sinbad could say anything the opposing ship was already sailing off with one less person to worry about; the captain at the wheel and not looking back.
Kale walked up beside Sinbad "Now what?"
Sinbad cast his eyes downward at the slumped new crew member on the ground in front of him."We continue on" He said indirectly to Kale "we've lost so much unnecessary time now, let's just get moving"
Kale crossed his arms "And what about him?" he asked, nodding towards their new piece of cargo who, since the ships parted separate ways, had refused to move or speak.
Sinbad furrowed his brow and turned away "Do with him what you will" He said, clearly not caring about what happened to him "I've got other things to worry about."
He pushed passed Kale and headed back to the wheel, knowing Kale wouldn't move the figure until he had exact orders on what to do with him "Take him down under the deck, wash him up, tomorrow I'll -"
"SINBAD!"
Sinbad turned and ducked, very narrowly avoiding the figures tied hands from hitting his head. "Hey…"
Immediately the figure was restrained in the Kales muscular arm and Sinbad had his sword at the ready. "Sorry Captain" Kale held the victim firm with near no effort "He moved before I could stop him."
Sinbad glared at the figure who hissed at him. They could clearly see through the sack around their head. He made a face of disgust "I should just kill you now and be done with you" He growled.
"Go ahead!"
Sinbad nearly dropped the sword in surprise. The figure had spoken ... and was no male. His surprise quickly turned to irritation 'Great' he thought 'first Marina now this one ... two females ... bloody perfect.'
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Well, you would know if you uncovered me, wouldn't you Sinbad?" Something about her voice was nagging at Sinbad's brain, as though he'd heard it before. he narrowed his eyes, unable to ignore his curiosity at this turn of events. Without looking away from the unexposed woman he addressed Kale "Remove the sack."
Kale wrapped his hand (not the one restraining her) around the top of the sack and with a final nod from Sinbad, pulled it off.
The sword was dropped then, along with Sinbad's jaw as the removal of the sack exposed the girl's identity. He was seeing things surely. It couldn't possibly be.
"You? … No … it can't be ..."
It was. Though it had been well over ten years, he immediately recognized the raven-haired beauty with the emerald eyes that use stray him away long ago. He could still hear a fifteen year old Proteus' playful disgusted voice "I cannot believe you. Of all people Sinbad, really? My little sister?!"
Serenity growled and elbowed herself out of Kale's grip which had slackened at Sinbad's change of emotion.
"Been a while … I know."
