"Been a while … I know"

A while?

It was an understatement to say the least. Sinbad was only just aware that he must have looked like the biggest idiot at that moment with his mouth hanging open and his sword lying; slipped carelessly from his slackened grasp a few inches away from his feet. But he was finding it hard to maintain posture; seeing Proteus again had been one surprise and in his shock at seeing him, he hadn't given a second thought about his sister.

Serenity shook herself furiously out of the cloak which had been draped over her shoulders and Sinbad's eyes widened. She was wearing some kind of Celtic armour. Leather straps held fast over her shoulders complete with the arm straps, pushed further up than normal because of the tight bounds. The boots she was wearing laced up to the knee. Sinbad could only guess where she may have got all that from (Though he vaguely remembered a couple of them scattered around on people in one of the many places they went to some years back – they had been very tempting to steal.)

The girl had changed a bit physically in the years gone by. Her hair was a lot longer and she had gone through the normal stage of turning from a girl into a young woman but she was still the Princess he'd left behind in Syracuse – okay maybe not. A Princess of Syracuse would not dress like that …

'Oh for goodness sake 'a small voice in his head piped up laughing 'nothing about her now would make anyone think she was royalty.' Though judging by the way she had behaved in their childhood, Sinbad would not have been surprised if that was precisely what she wanted.

How old must she be now? Early twenties probably; she had been only thirteen when he'd seen her last.

Serenity meanwhile softened her glare somewhat and gave him a slight annoyed expression "You done gawking at me like a goddam fish?"

Those words made the pirate come to his senses. Shutting his mouth up tight and picking up his sword in one clean move he took a step towards her "Don't push me. Just because I know who you are doesn't mean I won't drive you through right here right now" He said through gritted teeth, twirling the sword around in his hand.

Serenity fought the urge to roll her eyes; seeing right through the bluff. "Uhuh" She said sarcastically.

Sinbad knew she'd see through it; still it had been worth a try, worth seeing if she had grown out of that little gift of hers that she loved using as a child on him and Proteus.

Shaking his head he sheathed the sword and crossed his arms "Care to tell us how you came into this situation?" He asked gesturing to her tightly bound wrists.

Serenity turned back to her original glare "I don't have to tell you anything."

Sinbad narrowed his eyes "Yes you do. I may not run a sword through you but I will knock your lights out easily."

Serenity shook her head with a loud laugh "Of course because knocking me out will definitely give you the answers."

'God damn this girl' Sinbad thought crossly. He tried not to look as though she'd stumped him for the second time in two minutes. "Look just answer the damn question, why did they tie you up?"

Silence greeted the second attempt as Serenity turned her glare to the floor; refusing to meet his eyes. For a moment Sinbad thought she may have been ignoring him – a common thing she used to do to both him and her brother when she was in a stubborn mood – but the more he watched her eyes dart furiously from one foot to the other, the more he came to the conclusion that actually, she didn't want to confess what she'd done. He cleared his throat and hardened the tone "Why did they tie you up?"

Serenity rolled her eyes "Those damn misfits thought I was nicking food" She half mumbled "One of those bastards had told me to go down and do a count up of all those disgusting eggs. The captain caught me just as I grabbed the first one … you get the picture."

"Uhuh"

The look matched the mocking she received from the captain and those two features alone were enough to tell her he hadn't bought a single word. As clever and as stubborn as Serenity had been in the past, one of the few things she had never been the best at was lying – she'd been one of the worst actually. Sinbad waited, one eyebrow raised, tapping his foot impatiently on the deck until at last the girl gave in "ugh fine, I was a little hungry, but come on, I didn't think eating one flipping pickle would cause such an uproar."¬

Truthfully Sinbad wouldn't have thought that either, knowing full well he probably would've done the exact same thing, but after having just that brief encounter with the big hunk of muscle who was the captain of that ship, Sinbad wasn't sure even he would've taken that chance with that man. He wasn't sure whether to consider Serenity brave or stupid.

"How long had you been on that ship anyway?" Sinbad questioned further.

Serenity huffed "oh what's it to you?" She sneered "If you'd had it your way I'd still be on it."

Sinbad couldn't deny that fact "We're not exactly on time's side at the moment." He said hurriedly. "If taking you got us moving then I'm happy, and look at that, we're moving so ta-daa, happy." His voice sounded anything but happy.

"As far as I remember you were never on anyone's side; especially not my father's."

Sinbad shrugged "I didn't exactly mind" he said lazily.

"Proteus did! Maybe you might have if you'd stuck around."

Sinbad's frustration started growing "You can talk" he growled "I don't see you prancing around Syracuses ivory tower. In fact it doesn't look like you've touched foot in Syracuse in years."

Serenity's anger remained high in the atmosphere but not before Sinbad caught another emotion flickering for a split second in her eyes … pain? But it was gone in the quickest of blinks.

"I still stand by what I said" Serenity half spat.

But Sinbad had had enough "Yeah well truth be told I'm not exactly his top favourite now either but your brother's neck is literally on the line and him along with daddy dearest are relying on me to save it!"

Sinbad hadn't meant to say that much so soon or so quickly … or so loudly. But now that it was said he couldn't help enjoying Serenity's expression morph from a mix of a glare and frustration to a mix of shock and horror. He gathered that hadn't been what she was expecting to hear.

"Proteus … he … what?"

Sinbad sighed "Listen it's a bit of a long story that I don't have ti-"

"MAKE TIME!"

Sinbad nearly fell backwards at the unexpected outburst from the princess. He bit on his tongue to keep from yelling back.

Serenity's cold glare seared into his own eyes "What do you mean my brother's neck is literally on the line?" She hissed.

"Uhh…" Sinbad wasn't sure how much he should say; or rather, how much he could say that would make a short summary make enough sense. He thought quickly though as the glare Serenity was giving the captain had hardened enough to a point that he was sure her eyes were going to turn into lasers.

"Basically, your father had me on the line to get the chop for stealing something I didn't steal, Proteus stuck his neck on the line instead and we have ten days to get the stolen thing back to Syracuse before his head gets dispatched." Sinbad didn't quite get his tongue around all the words properly in his hast to get it all out but seeing that Serenity finally blinked and took a breath, she understood the concept.

"This stolen thing …" she said slowly "Is that the so called "Book of Peace" I overheard you saying to the captain?"

"Correct and I'm just going ask you not to ask about that." Whatever look Sinbad had on his face must have been enough for Serenity to drop the subject.

"Sinbad! The sky!" The voice came from his fellow crew member Rat.

Sinbad turned his attention away from Serenity and realized with horror that it was almost dark. He turned sharply to Kale who had been standing there silently the whole time – along with the rest of the crew – observing the two of them. Sinbad growled "Get us back on course, now!"

The crew scattered to their posts. Kale disappeared towards the wheel and Sinbad started off in the other direction.

"Where exactly are you headed? Where is this Book of Peace' Serenity asked following him.

"Tartarus" Sinbad answered without looking back, knowing full well that was going to make her think he'd gone mad, just like everyone else in Syracuse and even some of the crew members thought, but he wasn't in a mood to particularly care.

Surprisingly though, instead of his predicted bewilderment befalling the girl, Serenity stopped and took a tiny step back with a quick intake of breath "Tartarus?" She repeated as if checking to see if she heard correctly.

"Yup, the lovely, completely non-intimidating Realm of Chaos" Sinbad said with fake excitement to match his grin, raising his hands as if celebrating.

"Oh… so … so Eris took the book?"

Sinbad stopped in his tracks and looked at her – as if making sure it was her that had said those words "You know about Eris?"

Serenity nodded "I haven't forgotten everything about my education in Syracuse … however short that was."

"And … you believe in stuff like that?"

Serenity closed her mouth and Sinbad could've sworn he saw a new emotion flicker for a split second in her eyes … was that fear?

Before he could investigate further however Kale's voice sounded from the wheel "Sinbad?"

Sinbad turned in the direction of his first mate and saw him make a very subtle gesture towards Serenity. Sinbad turned back around and saw exactly what Kale was referring to.

Sinbad drew his sword and raised it; much to the princess' alarm and sighed, "Sorry Serenity, but your just not much use …"

The sword came singing down hard – cutting the rope around her wrists clean off "… being tied up like that" he finished.

Shock turned into a mix of relief and surprise on Serenity's face as she tenderly brushed her fingers across the fat, blotchy, purple rings around her wrists, wincing as she did so; not doubting some of that would eventually settle into a permanent scar.

"Geez" Sinbad said as he winced himself at the ugly sight "They didn't play fair did they?"

"Believe me when I say, you really have no idea" Serenity answered, half shuddering at unknown memories.

Sinbad rubbed his face "Our journey to Tartarus hasn't been the easiest or the safest and I doubt it will get any easier the closer we get. You weren't part of the bargain but I won't decline another pair of hands, so welcome to the crew."

"So I'm not a prisoner on this ship?" Serenity asked.

"No, for three reasons" Sinbad answered "One, I doubt your wrists could handle another rope tied around them. Two, look around princess, my men are strong and know how to fight. They will take you down if you try any tomfoolery. Three, we're on a ship, there's only so many places you can go."

Sinbad turned back around "the sleeping quarters are down below and we take turns every four hours on night watch. Get some rest."

Serenity was a little confused "Why do you trust me?"

Sinbad laughed "I didn't say I trusted you, just said that you weren't a prisoner. Now I say it again, get some rest."

Truthfully Serenity didn't look as though she could sleep but nevertheless she dropped conversation and retreated to where her cloak lay discarded on the deck, wrapping it back around her shoulders.

"And Serenity …"

Midway back across the deck, the princess stopped. Sinbad smirked, "Don't steal too many pickles."

With an exasperated huff, the princess disappeared from sight down below, reminding Sinbad a little of Marina when she got frustrated with him after the sail through the Dragons Teeth – part of him still refused to accept that she had saved them all. He walked over to the bow of the ship and rested his elbows on the railing, placing his chin on his knuckles; hoping that allowing Serenity pretty much to waltz around the ship like she had always been part part of the crew from day one wasn't a stupid idea on his behalf.

"So ... that's Proteus' sister ..."

Sinbad turned to see the fiancé of Proteus herself walking over to him. He gave her a confused look, "Yes … you knew that"

"um, no" Marina answered, coming up beside him "I didn't … I've never seen her before."

She must have left immediately after I did, Sinbad thought incredulously, raising his eyebrows towards the sea. She hid that part well.

"Proteus has never mentioned her" Marina said lightly.

"What?" Sinbad looked at her dumbfounded "He must have, there's no way he could not have mentioned her."

Marina thought for a moment then shook her head, "Not to me he hasn't. In fact that's the first time I've ever heard of Proteus having a sibling."

Sinbad was lost for words as his head now burned with questions and confusion as he turned back away from Marina and watched the star on the horizon blazing in front of the ship.

What the hell?

Now there was a obvious piece to the puzzle he was missing about the Princess of Syracuse ... and one way or another he was going to find it.