A/N: I was going to post this tomorrow but I was too excited after working on that chapter to wait longer. So here is a long chapter to make up for the short one coming next. The story is almost over for those who are interested, I'll be postingthe sequel very soon. Thank you for reading and hope you enjoy this chapter.

"Where am I?" Sinbad asked as he rubbed his eyes.

His head thumped but he didn't know why. He hadn't hit anywhere.

"You're in your cabin." Doubar replied.

Sinbad noticed that his brother wore a worried expression on his features.

"What happened?"

"We don't know. We found you laying in the hallway. Good thing Bryn happened to walk by because you would have spent the night in the hallway."

"What? How's that possible? I couldn't have been in the hallway, I was with Malika. We were in her cabin. We were..." Sinbad furrowed his brows. "meditating."

He rubbed his eyes once again. Everything was fuzzy and all he wanted was to go back to sleep.

"Malika is sound asleep and has been for the past six hours." Bryn replied, obviously concerned for her captain.

"What time is it?"

"The sun won't be up for another two or three hours."

Sinbad yawned.

"Could I be left alone, please?" he asked his crew.

His friends nodded.

"Of course." Doubar replied.

Bryn, Firouz, Rongar and Doubar left the cabin, leaving Sinbad alone with his thoughts just as he had asked.

What had happened? Why had he been found in the hallway when he had been with Malika? Had he dreamed all of what had happened in his heart? He secretly hoped not.

"Whatever it is," he thought, "will have to wait until morning. I'm exhausted."

He fell asleep a couple of seconds after finishing his thought.

The sun finally rose but when Sinbad awoke, it was already way up in the sky but hidden behind thick bad clouds. The captain opened his eyes to find his cabin drowned in darkness. He mumbled something before turning on his side. He didn't want to wake up, he was feeling really depressed and devoid of energy. But, after all, he was the captain and he needed to get up.

Sitting up slowly in his bed, he stretched his arms and yawned once again. As slowly, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and slid his feet in his boots. Getting up, he decided to skip breakfast. He wasn't hungry anyway.

On deck, small raindrops were starting to fall. Sinbad looked up at the sky and sighed. He felt empty, like a part of him had been taken away from him. Looking at the sky, he wondered if the weather of his heart ressembled what he was looking at.

Malika came up on deck shortly after him, Rowan behind her. They both went to the other side of the ship to play. Seconds laer, the rest of the crew followed. While the others scattered across the deck, Doubar decided to talk to his little brother.

"You seem tired little brother. What's up?" Doubar asked.

"Nothing."

"It doesn't seem like nothing."

Sinbad sighed.

"I just... I just feel like something in my heart is missing."

The captain stopped and stared at the sea ahead for a couple of seconds.

"You said you found me laying on the floor last night?"

"Yes, we did. You gave us quite a fright. We thought you had been attacked or something. Why do you ask?"

"I know you don't believe me, big brother, but I have no clue how I got in the hallway. I was with Malika. We were meditating in her cabin. She helped me open my heart and we went to this place where I saw Maeve. I had to let her go. She said it was the only way I could free her. I told her I loved her and she said she knew I did. Next thing I know, Bryn is calling out my name and I'm waking up in my cabin."

Doubar listened silently at his brother's tale not quite sure what to believe. None of this was making any sense to him and he didn't know exactly what to tell his brother. Secretly, he believed that Sinbad had simply dream this and, in his sleep, had somehow walked out of his cabin and collapsed on the floor in the hallway. Unfortunately, another part of him desperately wanted to believe what his brother was telling him, partially because he seemed to believe so much that all of that had happened.

"Are you sure you just didn't dream all of that?"

"I'm positive. I saw her, I touched her, I felt her. She was real. Everything about her was real."

Doubar shrugged.

"Well I don't know what else to say. Ask Bryn to go through her magic books. Maybe she'll find something in there."

Sinbad handed him the tiller and did as he was told. After filling Bryn in on the details, the pair went below deck and in her cabin. All morning, they searched through Maeve's old magic books but found nothing. Nothing in the books about a spell that ressembled closely the one Malika had used on him.

"Maybe it's black magic." Bryn said, thoughtfully, after closing the last book.

Sinbad's heart skipped a beat. Could it be? The person, the muttering, the dragon, the fire, Malika's eyes... Rumina?

"No, it's impossible. Malika doesn't practice black magic."

"And since when are you the expert in magic?"

"I'm not." The captain admitted. "But I've seen my share of black magic in the past years to know what it looks like. Malika's white magic all the way. She did mention something about a witch and not a dragon. The fire could have been black magic but why?"

"Do you know anybody who does black magic?"

"Rumina."

"Who?" Bryn asked, confused.

"Rumina. She's a black magic sorceress Maeve and I fought while she was part of my crew. Maeve wanted to kill her more than she wanted anything else in the entire world. I'm not sure why exactly, she never told me."

Bryn opened her mouth to talk but reconsidered.

"What could Rumina want now?" Bryn decided to say. "I mean, why burn down that particular island?"

"Maybe she knew Malika was communicating with Maeve. Rumina has her ways of finding out stuff on her own. But it doesn't really matter right now. All I want at the moment is to find Maeve and Dim-Dim. The rest isn't important. It can wait."

"Land ahead!"

It had been a week since Sinbad had came back from his trip in his heart and he still felt like something was missing from it. He hadn't talked to Malika liked he had planned to, too busy trying to keep his ship from sinking in the ravageous storm that had lasted three straight days. He had her talk to Maeve several times during the week and, the more he listened, the more his heart hurt. He really wanted Maeve to come back but he didn't know how. Maeve had said that if he opened his heart and let her go, they would be free but a week had passed and nothing, absolutely nothing, had happened.

The voice of his crewmember brought him back to reality.

"What do you mean land ahead? I don't see anything." He yelled back.

"It's still pretty far." The man replied. "Only a tiny dot. Maybe Firouz would see something."

"Firouz! Can you see any land?"

Firouz, who had been examining the west side of the ship through his magnoscope, turned the lens to the north.

"Yes, I do. And there's something... weird about it."

Sinbad sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Not again. What's wrong with this island now?"

Firouz turned to his captain. Sinbad noted that the scientist looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Looks like someone is throwing fire balls or something."

"Fire balls?"

Fire balls: Maeve's specialty.

Sinbad let go of the tiller and ran to Firouz. Snatching the magnoscope from his friend's hands, he then looked into it. He could see the island clearly and just like Firouz had observed, fire balls were in fact being thrown in the air. Sinbad felt his stomach contract.

"Bryn! Do that wind spell again!"

"Aye aye Captain!"

Seconds later, the wind blew stronger. The ship sailed faster and faster that it started to tip. Running back to the tiller, Sinbad tried to control his ship. Waves hit the deck and splashed on the crew holding on to ropes for dear life.

"Counter-curse it, Bryn! We're almost at land." Sinbad barked through the wind.

Bryn did as she was told. The wind stopped as immediately as it had started and so did the fire balls. Sinbad ordered the longboats to be taken out.

"Where are you going?" Rowan asked, coming out from below deck.

"On this island. You two stay on the ship. It might be dangerous."

"At least take me." Malika said.

Sinbad had been about to agree but was cut off by Rowan.

"Why should they take you? Should they take anyone, it should be me. I'm older."

"I'm a witch!" Malika bit back.

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not."

"Yes I am!"

"No you're NOT!"

"YES I AM!"

"Okay that's enough you two." Sinbad said. "You can both come. Malika, you stay with me. I might... need you."

"You sure will," Malika said, looking back at her brother in a triumphant way as she got in the longboat.

The rest of the crew followed.

The island seemed deserted as they set foot on it.

"Curious..." Firouz said, puzzled. "I was sure someone was on this island."

A cry was heard from above. They all looked up to see Dermott flying straight for the forest ahead of them. Malika's voice made them look back down.

"There are people on this island but unfortunately, the only person who will be able to see them is Sinbad. That's if he is able to look into his heart once more."

Sinbad shifted uncomfortably.

"Malika, I didn't want to tell you but I don't think this place in my heart is still there. For the past week, I felt like something was missing."

"Yes!"

Malika seemed happy.

"Why are you so happy?" Bryn asked the little girl, disapprovingly. "It's actually pretty sad that Sinbad feels that way."

"If Sinbad feels that way, it means that the spell worked and that Dim-Dim and Maeve are saved. You even saw her fire balls. Only people who truly cared about her would be able to see them. It's part of the charm of this island."

Sinbadwas surprised by the child's revelation.

"Tell me more about this island, Malika, as you seem to know a lot about it."

"This island, Sinbad, is called the Island of Memories. Every person has one, they just need the proper guidance to find it. When you let go of Maeve in the garden, it was because you had made the decision to let her go. By doing that, you were deciding to give up you long-time wish to ever see her again. You accepted the fate that you might not ever see her again. That's the key to this spell. Only you could make it work, even though you need a sorceress to help you."

The captain felt like his breath had been knocked out of him. This wasn't making any sense to him. He was pretty sure Malika had left out some valuable information.

"Then what?"

"It's simple. You know how when you lose something and that you start looking you rarely find it?"

"Yeah...?"

He wasn't quite sure where she was going with this.

"Well it's always after you stop looking that you find whatever it was you were looking for. Consciously or unconsciously, you have been searched for Maeve and Dim-Dim for years and it was only by stopping looking for them that you would find them."

He wasn't sure he understood what she was saying. He turned to his crew who also wore the same confused expression on their face.

"But where were they?"

"In your heart, Sinbad. They were in your heart all along. Once you make the trip to your heart and come back from it, that special place disappears and transforms into an island. The island only appears when the person has completely stopped looking for the person they hold so dear. You stopped looking for Maeve some time ago and Destiny made sure you would find me. That way, I would be able to help you find your lost friend."

"What about the dragon?" Rowan asked, amazed at what his sister was revealing.

"That was Destiny... and Rumina."

"Rumina?" Sinbad asked, surprised.

"Yes, Rumina. She came to our island because she knew that I was able to communicate with Maeve and she came to get me. She's the one who burned our island but then again she could burn down every single island on this world, she would never find me."

"And why is that?" Firouz asked.

"Simple. She's looking for an adult and I'm only a child."

"How's that possible?" Bryn asked.

"In her oracle, I was an adult, the same adult I had been while being stuck in mid-air by the Vorgon. That's who she sees communicating with Maeve every night. Even if she came to the island where I live, even if she would have been looking straight at me talking to Maeve, she would have only seen a child. Even if I would have been in the same position or even in the same spot. Dim-Dim made that spell to protect me from her. In her eyes, I'm an adult."

Malika stopped talking and she watched as the crew exchanged puzzled looks. She giggled softly.

"So what do we do now?" Sinbad asked, excited that his search might be coming to an end.

"Let me handle it." The little girl replied.

She sat down in the sand, legs crossed, hands on her knees. She looked at Sinbad who knew the drill. He did the same.

"Don't move. Don't close your eyes, just wait for the signal. Then we'll start meditating."

Then, turning to the crew:

"Not one sound out of you." She warned.

The crew looked at each other.

Malika closed her eyes and murmured something. Sinbad looked up at his friends. They all looked puzzled. Sinbad smiled.

The girl continued to mumble her incantation when, all of a sudden, Sinbad felt something hit him in the chest. A wave of energy and happiness flew into his veins. The missing piece, it had come back.

Sinbad start meditating. He heard in his mind.

The captain closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. He was getting better and better at it and inside five minutes, Malika put her hand on his. He knew what it meant. The contact had been made.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"We're in Dermott's body. Look, he's flying over the forest right now. He's going to tell us when he finds them."

"How?"

"You'll see."

They watched as Dermott flew above the vast forest. Minutes later, they both heard a cry. The bird had found something. They watched as he zoomed quickly towards what seemed like a house. Dermott perched himself on the window frame and looked inside. Sinbad could see a kitchen with empty plates still on the table.

"Go to another window, Dermott." Malika told the hawk.

Dermott flew to a window on the second floor. Sinbad recognized the room as a bedroom. Clothes, familiar clothes, were laying on the bed but otherwise the room was empty.

"Derm, hit the window with you beak."

Dermott did and seconds later, a man entered the room. Sinbad could hardly believe it. Dim-Dim, it was Dim-Dim.

"Sinbad, we found them! Now focus on this image you are seeing of Dim-Dim."

"Okay."

Sinbad looked at Dim-Dim in the eyes. It felt weird. All of a sudden, he heard four voices in his head.

"Mahaka rah ij tchi hema!"

The voices sounded familiar. He was pretty sure he recognized one of them as being Dim-Dim's but the man's lips weren't moving. Maybe he had other ways of doing incantations.

"It's not working." Malika said. "Sinbad, focus. Look at Dim-Dim. Forget anything else, just look at him."

The same voices repeated the incantation. Sinbad didn't know what actually supposed to be happening but what was going on was certainly not it. The image was becoming darker and darker. Dim-Dim, along with the room and the house, was fading away. Sinbad felt himself on the verge of blacking out. Something was wrong.

"Sinbad!"

Malika's voice sounded desperate.

"Concentrate. You are losing us."

"What do you mean I'm losing you?"

"If this doesn't work, Dermott, Maeve, Dim-Dim and I are going to die. Please, you need to concentrate."

Suddenly, the fourth voice started making sense to him. Rumina. It was Rumina's voice. Somehow she had found out about the spell.

"It's her, isn't it? It's Rumina. She's fighting it, isn't she?"

"Yes and please, we're begging you. Do not let her. Sinbad, it's us against her. We can fight her. Together, we can win. All you need to do is concentrate. Please, we are begging you."

Malika's voice was pleading. Sinbad tried his best to concentrate on only what he saw. It seemed to work. The image grew clearer and clearer. He could see the room, the bed, the clothes. He tried his best to keep his gaze on Dim-Dim but he was getting distracted. A mirror came into view.

"Okay Sinbad, this is our last chance. This is draining a lot of energy from me."

He focused even more. The voices tried the incantation once more.

"Mahaka rah ij tchi hema! MAHAKA RAH IJ TCHI HEMA!"

"It's working!" Malika announced triumphantly as everything around them started spinning. "Keep your eyes closed Sinbad, if you don't want to be sick. This may take a while."

Sinbad sensed that Malika was truly happy from the tone of her voice.

Just as the child had predicted, the spinning lasted a long time but finally everything stopped. Sinbad and Malika opened their eyes. Sinbad noticed that they were still sitting on the beach, in the warm sand, his crew watching them curiously.

"So? Did it work?" Sinbad asked his friends as he got up and dusted the sand from his pants.

They all shrugged.

"There's only one way to find out." Malika said, pointing at the clearing that had appeared at the entrance of the forest.

They all turned around expectantly and looked at the clearing. Seconds later, Dim-Dim and Maeve were materializing in front of their eyes.

See in you the last chapter!