Thanks for giving this story a try!
Warning: Some information may not be accurate from both universes! I try my best. :)
There may be some grammatical and spelling mistakes so please forgive me beforehand!
"I swear I don't know anything about that man!"
A thug was thrown aside and he quickly ran off from the alley. It has been six months now since she had stepped foot on this country called Balbadd and she has not found any definite clues to where to find the man cursing her own country. It was quite frustrating since she also didn't like how she was changing so rapidly. The more she was disguised as Sheik, the more immoral ways she was resorting to in attempt to get information. She had already threatened to kill plenty of thieves and slave owners if they knew anything. She had snuck into important politician's homes to find any records of their corruption being influenced by an outside force. At the moment, she felt as though she was failing Hyrule and the more time she spent here, the more her people suffered. Just seeing how people suffered here made her worry of her own.
The no longer princess headed back to her temporary home. Throughout her time here, she was actually grateful for the old lady that allowed her to live in a spare room for a decent fee. There was a time though when the old lady accidently walked in on her while she was changing and discovered that "Mr. Sheik" was actually a "Mrs. Sheik." And so somehow the lady suddenly became similar to a worrying mother who disliked the idea of Zelda dressing up as a man and going out to do who knows what.
"Sheik, you're home?"
Zelda closed the house door behind her attempted to quietly go to her room. In all her hidden years as training as a Shadow with Impa, she never thought that a mere old lady would sense her presence so easily. The lady poked her head out of the kitchen, "Ah, there you are! Why did you not reply?"
Zelda pulled the wraps covering her face down; if she didn't then the miniscule magic she applied onto the cloth would mask her voice into a deeper tone, "I simply did not want to disturb the peace and quiet."
"Nonsense! If anything I want you to speak! I thought having a roommate would liven up the place but you're quieter than a mouse!"
"That's what I strive for." Zelda chuckled.
The old lady sighed, "Oh Sheik, I wonder when you will stop being a man? You're a wonderful and beautiful young lady that shouldn't be dressing up as such."
"The day you accept this lifestyle of mine perhaps." Another melodious laughter filled the air.
"Anyway, did you hear? The King of Sindria is visiting Balbadd!"
Zelda pulled a chair from the living room table and sat down with her arms and legs crossed. She was too comfortable with her masculine side perhaps, "Who is he?"
The lady seemed to swoon as she took a seat across from her, "His name is King Sinbad and he established his own country not too long ago! I heard he's a really handsome man."
Zelda disregarded the last comment, "What is he visiting Balbadd for?"
"Apparently he is good friends with King Rashid. He's coming tomorrow!"
"I see…" A spark ignited within Zelda. Why didn't she think of it before? Why was she targeting low lives of the poor streets of this country when she should be reaching higher? Politicians are nothing compared to Kings. Kings have power and knowledge and if she could get to them, perhaps they might have the information she needed.
"Ah, but I hope the Kings will be heavily guarded when they meet each other. With two Kings in one area, there is bound to be an idiot who will attempt to assassinate them." The old lady gave Zelda a strange look. Perhaps she was suspicious of her.
It didn't matter anyway; Zelda or Sheik never killed a person…
"The kingdom of Balbadd! It's been so long since we've been here!" A young king vocalized. His golden eyes gleamed at the city before him and his right hand man smiled in response.
"It's been years since we first established Sindria Trading Company here, hasn't it? We've come a long way." Ja'far replied while connecting his sleeve ends together.
"Let's go Ja'far, king Rashid is waiting!"
When the two men arrived to the palace, servants immediately ushered them to a room with two couches and a table in the middle. On one end, the king of Balbadd was already waiting for them with his hand resting on his crossed legs, "Welcome gentlemen! It's rather nostalgic meeting again."
"Yes, but I am no longer the fifteen year old boy you've mentored."
"Ah, but I would like to take credit for the jumpstart of your career." Rashid smirked and Sinbad only chuckled in response. Ja'far restrained himself from rolling his eyes and briefly cleared his throat, "I believe we need to get onto the topic at hand." The room quickly got silent with the men's faces becoming strictly serious.
"There has been trouble brewing across all the lands." Rashid nodded.
"I've never felt this uneasy since the day the first dungeon appeared in Parthevia." Sinbad said.
"There has been word stating that a mysterious group formed in the far east. The group has somehow attained dark magic and had started off terrorizing small villages but now they are targeting bigger cities." Ja'far began, "People who have fled to the west here, I've been told that before they see their homes go into flames, the sky is red like blood and the ground becomes a lifeless black. These lands are being nicknamed bloodstained countries apparently."
"That is going to be a problem if this continues to spread; however, on my end, the Seven Seas Alliance cannot take action as we are not to start any wars with a conflict that isn't directly affecting us." Sinbad sat back in his seat and crossed his arms.
"I can see where you're coming from Sinbad, but what happens we suddenly encounter this conflict?" Rashid stroked his beard, "What happens when this unknown enemy reaches our lands? I'm sure you've thought of preventative measures."
"I have, but it might be quite controversial to state it."
"Do tell, Sinbad."
"We close off our borders to refugees from these bloodstained lands."
Ja'far closed his eyes as if he was silently apologizing for not being able to draft a better plan for these kings. King Rashid was shocked that Sinbad would utter such a plan since he thought the young individual in front of him was always a generous and sympathetic man, but he knew better than to judge immediately, "Please explain."
"Look, whatever is taking over those small villages and cities, it's doing it because of the people. If there are people, then there is a reason to conquer and stay. If there are no people, then there are more reasons to continue destroying."
"So what you're saying is, if these people stay in their lands that are being taken over, then this unknown being will slow down the process of spreading their dark magic?"
"Exactly, this being will be occupied with reforming and unfortunately, enslaving them. But it is important to remember that this will give us time to find answers to what is happening and strengthening our guard against the future."
"I understand that your people and allies are priority then, but isn't this a bad publicity turn of events?"
"If the news of this dark being spreads then yes; however, I know only authority figures of every country has gotten word of this and I've been doing my travels to propose this plan."
As expected of Sinbad. He had already enacted out his plan long before contacting Rashid and the king of Balbadd didn't know whether he should continue being impressed or afraid of how Sinbad can be so devious. Sinbad on the other hand, was actually confident on taking action even though he was basically abandoning innocent people calling for help. He had done many things that he regretted over the years. He knew he was going to be condemned forever but Sinbad had an obligation to protect his own people before saving another country after all.
"Okay, well how do you propose we prevent these 'other people' from the east from coming in?"
"I already have agreements on our allies' navy ships patrolling the border waters and higher security on travelers coming from the east. I know there are merchants traveling across the world so entrance to our countries shouldn't completely be closed for now."
"Still thinking about the merchants, hm?"
"Of course! So, what do you say? Will you join forces and contribute Balbadd's navy to preventing the east land's people from overflowing or will you be the next bloodstained country?"
Rashid chuckled at the underlining threat Sinbad gave him, "I'll have to give you my response in three days time. Unfortunately I can't just send my men out to sea with no notice so I'll have to discuss this with my generals."
"I suppose I can be patient." Sinbad grinned.
"Well then, are there more to discuss?" Rashid questioned but before anybody could reply, Ja'far suddenly grabbed Sinbad and pulled them both to the floor. A dagger was lodged into the couch at where Sinbad was sitting and all eyes were widened until he realized the figure standing upside down on the ceiling. He noticed how they were wearing a dark blue suit with wrappings all over. A turban was wrapped tightly around their head with the rest of the wraps covering their face and their long loosely braided hair hung down with them. He was also more curious of the eye symbol on their chest as it resembled the third eye of djinns.
Ja'far didn't hesitate to quickly get back on his feet and shoot a red wired dagger at the intruder. They dodged by landing on the floor on their feet with their right knee flexed and their left leg fully extended. The person ran towards Ja'far and skillfully jumped forward to dodge his next attack and pushed him back with both their feet causing him to fall before jumping off of him and wrapping their legs around Sinbad's neck. The intruder (now possibly assassin) flipped the Sindria king backwards to the floor and swiftly switched their legs to their arm around his neck with a dagger that made him even more curious.
He was really calm to be in such a predicament because he already knew nothing will ever happen to him. The strongest man just let things happen since it entertained him after all. So all he did was eye the dagger being pointed at him. It didn't look like any normal dagger for it looked like the tip of a spear with carefully wrapped blue fabric around it and once again, the eye symbol was carved onto it.
"Sin!" Ja'far got up aching but was ready to fight again. Rashid couldn't do much but stand and watch with sweat forming over his brows.
"Do not worry, I won't harm him," The person said, "I was just here to listen to your discussion. However, I would like some answers to my questions."
There was an intense silence in the air, "I will answer any of your questions if you answer mine." Sinbad finally spoke.
"I am not here to negotiate."
"I'll have you know that you are holding hostage a man that have captured seven dungeons. If I were you, I'd be smart enough to take this offer or else you won't even be able to hear your answers at all."
"…"
Zelda wanted to strangle this man. From what she saw how the discussion went earlier, she knew she should have been more mentally prepared to deal with this man. This man had probably driven many kings and leaders into a corner to conduct his plan and here he was, giving her no choice as well. She knew she had no chance of winning if a fight broke out between them since she felt such power radiating off of him. She nodded and slipped her dagger back into her leg holster and backed away from him. This allowed the other two men to relax and take a deep breath.
"Who are you?" Ja'far angrily began.
"Nobody of importance to you all; what is important is why I'm here."
"What do you mean?" Rashid now spoke.
"I guess you can say…I am one of the 'refugees' that have come here from another land in hopes of stopping the evil that is taking over."
"You are from the east lands?" Sinbad finally took over the conversation.
"No, I am from another country that I cannot tell you of. But I can tell you that this evil that is wrecking havoc so close to your countries began from my land. It is a person that has already caused my country's devastation and somehow he has acquired strong dark magic by traveling far over here."
"So you are pursuing this man?"
"I suppose I am, thus why I need to know if you have any information." Zelda narrowed her eyes. She wanted to get what she needed quick and get out of here but the calm disposition of this Sinbad fellow made her so uneasy. It was like he was already planning ahead of her on what to say and do.
And he was.
"We didn't have much information until now actually." Sinbad smirked.
"What?!"
"Yup, it's exactly what I said. All we knew was what you heard during our conversation earlier, so it's quite ironic that only you knew the most of what's going on here."
"Tch, then this was a waste of time," Zelda reached into her back pocket to get ready to use her light bomb.
"Wait a minute; I still have plenty of questions for you. You never introduced yourself. Who and what are you? Where is this country you said this evil began from? And…you can use some sort of magic can you? I can sense a different aura from you."
Zelda stood her position and stayed quiet; she surely didn't want to say much about her identity and origins. These were people that were supposed to forget about her in due time but the longer she stayed in this room, the more they were going to become curious. Sinbad sensed this and quickly choke slammed her onto the floor making her yelp and gag. She had been caught off guard and was actually afraid of the consequences.
"Ja'far!" Sinbad commanded and his right hand man was already tying her up with his wires until she was unmoving on the floor. The three men towered over her and she scowled under her mask.
"What are you going to do with him?" Rashid asked curiously; obviously relieved that the stranger was apprehended.
"Hm, I don't know. This person is quite peculiar to me and kind of reminds me of someone…" Sinbad chuckled and Ja'far glared at him, "However, I am very curious to where he came from so I'll take him back to Sindria with me."
"What?!" Both Zelda and Ja'far exclaimed.
"You got to admit it Ja'far, his skills are on par with yours. Perhaps when we get to know each other, we'll become allies, don't you think?" Sinbad asked more so towards her and smiled. She looked away and the only thing she could do was develop her next strategy in her head. If she was up against this Sinbad that is known to be a world innovator in these countries, then she had to be as quick as him. She had to remember that her goddesses bestowed the power of wisdom to her and now was not the time to be lacking it. She thought about how if she just went along with him, she'd use him to fight the growing evil. She would have to gain his trust and be his ally of course to much her dismay. This was going to be difficult without revealing her true identity since if she could save Hyrule with his help, she knew he would use her royal status to gain some sort of position in her country.
This was a game of chess between two intelligent beings and she was determined to win.
"Do you want me to call somebody to pick this boy up?" Rashid asked.
Zelda restrained a yelp as she felt herself being lifted over Sinbad's shoulders, "Nope, for a man, this guy is pretty light. Wow, he really is like you Ja'far."
"Shut up!"
For such a powerful man, she did feel like Sinbad was such an interesting man. He would not save dying people from another country yet he stated he wanted her as an ally after she attacked him. The bickering between him and Ja'far reminded her of Impa and Link and she could guess that Sinbad was still a man that valued friendships. Her eyes softened before stating, "Sheik."
Sinbad raised an eyebrow at the body over his shoulder, "What was that?"
"My name…is Sheik."
Another small smirk played the violet haired man's lips, he had made his first move on the chessboard already, "It's nice to meet you Sheik…I'm Sinbad."
Zelda had fallen into a trap the moment she pursued the king, but she was going to use it to her advantage.
Story is still developing a little slow but give it time! The next chapter is with Zelda now in Sindria so the fun stuff will start happening, hehe. Also, nobody is getting confused with Zelda being Sheik and being called "he" by other characters while I use "she" for her thoughts and point of view right? I hope everybody can identify whose thoughts are whose since I use the omnipotent 3rd person storytelling.
Melantha4: Thank you for the first review! I actually only recently got into Magi and this idea popped up when I realized Zelda was really similar to that universe. I hope I can make this story successful but as long as there is somebody reading, I'll continue writing this story. :) And hehe, he won't even know what her real gender or what she actually looks like for a long time! I'm going to have their relationship/friendship develop while Zelda is still disguised as a man! Mwahaha, we'll see what happens.
Roningirlkisa: You have to get your hands on one of the games then! Legend of Zelda games are known worldwide to have the best puzzle/adventure game play. If not, I do suggest you looking into what the characters look like at least if you haven't ever seen it. :) Other than that, I guess you can just view this as like any other story. Thank you for reviewing!
And thanks to my new followers/favoriters: Anime-master1000, ShinDragonX, Twilight Dark Angel, Yusuke Kurosaki, and bookishangel! Don't be shy to drop a review, I'd really appreciate it! 8)