"Oni-chan, Oni-chan"

"..."

"Oni-chan!"

There was a tugging at his side that he tried to ignore, a pair of emerald eyes staring up at him expectantly, yet her face seemed blurry, where was all of this light coming from? He tried to look closer, but her features seemed to be getting harder and harder to make out, still, he could tell she was smiling up at him.

"Sorry, I'm busy",

Yet still the tugging continued, getting stronger.

"I said I'm busy", he snapped, starting to become impatient. The light still seemed to be encroaching on his vision, just a pair of tiny hands left.

"Wake up!"

"...", Huh?

"I said wake up!"

Ja'far opened his eyes, light streaming into them through a small, barred window in the top corner of the room he was in. No, not a room, a cell, he thought to himself, realising now that what he had perceived as tugging had actually been kicking! No tiny hands, no beautiful emerald eyes to greet him, of course not, he thought to himself, a pang of guilt and realisation hitting him, she died.

He pushed himself into a sitting position, careful not to let his emotions show on his face, he didn't want to give his guard any signs of a weakness that may be exploited. Looking up carefully, he truly noticed his captor for the first time, inwardly congratulating himself for his luck. The man standing in front of him was wearing the crimson of Kou, no real surprise there, Ja'far thought to himself, but he was young, probably a new recruit or someone who hadn't seen many (if any), battles. This clearly showed that they either weren't aware of whom he was and what he was capable of or they were seriously underestimating him. He sighed inwardly. It was true that he could handle this young guard, but that was where the problem lay, the guard was young! Once upon a time Ja'far would have thought nothing of who he killed, but now, now he just saw the similarities between this guard and the ones in Sindria's Palace, eager to protect a country they were proud of without really knowing what they were getting themselves into. Also, it would be rash to make a move before I even know where I am and how many others are around, and what about Spartos? He was ashamed to admit, but thanks to his weird dream, he had initially forgotten all about the poor Sasan Knight.

As the guard pushed some food towards him, a small bowl of rice and some water, he noticed his blades hanging on the wall just through the door. Ah, good, he thought, some relief filling him as at least he knew where his household vessel was, making sure to quickly look away in case the guard decided to move them to somewhere more secure. He instead turned his attention to eating the bland rice that was in front of him and going through in his head what had transpired that day, sudden realisation hitting him that he had no idea how Sin was, or if he was there with them. The guards may not know what he was capable of, but he could be pretty certain that they'd be able to recognise his King. For now he would just have to try and gain as much information as possible, and maybe his youthful guard could prove to be a good starting point so as the guard turned round to leave Ja'far decided to try his luck.

"Could you possibly tell me where I am? I was travelling to Mercia to trade when I was caught up in a battle", he questioned as politely as possible, choosing to adopt his King's tactic of smiling as apparently no one would hit a smiling man. There was a slight pause whilst the guard seemed to contemplate answering him when there was a shout from outside his cell.

"What's taking you so long?" came the shout from a clearly more experienced guard. This one was older than he was and seemed to sport a set a of lovely scars over his right eye.

"Ah, the prisoner was just asking where we were as he got caught up in the battle by accident".

"Accident huh? You young'uns no nothin'. That's Sindria's garb that he's got on. It's a long way to 'accidentally' go. Fancy a little morning stroll across the sea did ya"?

Another inward sigh and I was so close too, he thought as his guards exited without saying another word, the small click signalling that his door had been locked. Still, it would take more than this little setback to keep Ja'far from his King and friends I will find out where I am and what's going on! Getting to his feet to try and peer out of his little window he managed to make out some of the view; thankfully it was still day or was it the next day? Damn, I don't even know how long I've been here! There wasn't much to see, mainly grass and fields that went on for miles, a few horses tethered here or there, but there was what looked like the beginnings of new buildings in the Kou style, which at least gave some signal that this wasn't the Kou Empire exactly, but a new area that, judging by the completeness of said buildings, was somewhere they had only just started colonising.

The Princess was, just as rumours had stated, incredibly beautiful. So much so, that had Sinbad not been inwardly panicking about the disappearance of two of his Generals he would definitely be trying to take some liberties here, although he certainly couldn't shake the fact that she resembled a certain someone. The Princess in question, Princess Safiya Pendraeg, had long flowing silver hair that was currently partially tied up into a bun, with a small plait neatly edging said bun and a silver rose pin with a small ruby inlaid into the centre pushed into one side, the rest of her hair trailing neatly underneath, her face framed by a slightly grown out fringe that was parted to one side and a pair of gentling falling curls. She was fair skinned, more so than he could ever remember seeing, but not in a sickly way. The light seemed to reflect from her skin and hair radiating back and giving warmth to her appearance that made her seem like the beautiful moon in the evening sky, or at least this was what Sinbad seemed to liken her to in his mind. A Dusting of little freckles danced across her nose, and above those, shining out like two twinkling emerald stars were her eyes, which, despite the situation, held warmth and gentleness, so much so he felt he could easily get swallowed up in their depths for hours without even noticing the time flowing by. And here lay the problem, as unbeknownst to him he had been staring at the Princess for a couple of minutes without saying a single thing, the only hint to him being the confusion slowly seeping into those eyes.

"King Sinbad?"

"...Ah! Sorry, I think I'm still feeling the effects of that magic from just now, Safiya-hime, I did not mean to stare", well, it's partially true he reasoned with himself, he truly was still feeling slightly sleepy after whatever that light had been, though he would be more than happy to just stare at the Princess all day long, and somehow, the fact that she resembled Ja'far in certain ways made her presence comforting.

"Oh I'm so sorry about that, I didn't realise you were over there! Although, if I have to be honest, I probably would still have released my Extreme Magic, that one only sends people to sleep, I hope you can excuse that", and, to give her credit, she really did seem apologetic towards him, her eyes an open book to her emotions, and he felt he couldn't let the uncertainty in them last any longer.

"You do not need to apologise, you were simply protecting your people, and I can find no fault with that. I'm actually quite impressed, you managed to deal with a whole army with just one move!" and worried about making you into an enemy. As if reading his mind she shone the most beautiful smile back at him which, he thought to himself, could light up the darkest corner of the darkest room, he defied even Rukh to stay black in her presence. Suddenly aware of his thoughts he couldn't help but think that perhaps there was a hidden power to her Extreme Magic, as he couldn't ever recall being this focused on one woman for so long, even with political reasoning.

"Why thank you, it means a lot to get praise from someone so experienced with Djinns. Ah, also, I should have done this first, Buer, release the spell please". There was a faint light as the eight-pointed star on her metal vessel, the rose in her hair it transpired, glowed and then he felt his strength and senses coming back to him, though, he mused, the Princess still seems as beautiful to me as before. His head clearing, he managed to focus on the most pressing point at hand, the location of his Generals.

"Safiya-hime, I believe I could enjoy conversing with you for hours, but I have to ask, have you, or any of your men, seen the two of my Generals that I had accompanying me? One could possibly have been mistaken for one of your own, Spartos, a Knight from Sasan. The other was wearing the official's robes of my country and a green Keffiyeh, he is my Vizier, Ja'far". At this name he was pretty certain he saw a flash of recognition go across the Princess' eyes.

"I see, Guin-chan, Elaine, please go and ask around and see if anyone has seen them. King Sinbad, would you like to accompany me back to our tents? I can understand you wanting to find your men; however, I don't believe standing here will be of any benefit".

Sinbad could tell that there was something slightly off about Safiya-hime ever since she had heard about the disappearance of Spartos and Ja'far, the light had gone from her eyes somewhat. Having only just met her he couldn't quite tell if she was concerned about her role in their possible vanishing or if it related specifically to Ja'far, that look he had briefly caught a glimpse of intriguing him, not to mention the definite similarities between the two.

"Thank you hime, I believe I'll take you up on that offer, but if you don't mind me asking, is it possible you know Ja'far? I could be wrong but I thought I saw some recognition in your eyes when his name was mentioned".

"Oh, I see...No, I doubt it though, it's simply that he shares the same name as my older brother, but he was killed when we were younger. Hearing the name simply brought back memories", the Princess stated and she let out a sigh, staring up at the sky as they made their way through the Mercian Army to the red and white tents to the back, turning round only when she noticed the King had stopped in his tracks.

"King Sinbad? Is something wrong? Has anything else happened?"

"Safiya-hime, I hope you don't mind me asking about your past, but, you were adopted into the Pendraeg family, is that correct?"

"Ah, yes, it was surprising really, as I'm originally from Parthevia, but Queen Eigyr thought I was cute and apparently wouldn't take no for an answer as they have no daughters. Why do you ask?"

Well that explained everything! Of course, if she really was Ja'far's long lost younger sister (that he admittedly had never heard Ja'far speak of), he was definitely going to get killed if his thoughts from earlier came to light.

"May I ask one last question?"

"Why yes, I don't mind"

"Does the name 'Sham Lash', mean anything to you?"

He didn't even have to wait for a verbal reply to this, the shock and horror that went across her face made it clear she knew exactly who they were. No, not just shock, but, fear? If anything it was actually a similar response to the one Ja'far would have should he hear the name, and, although he had seen glimpses of Ja'far's past, he had never ventured to ask exactly how bad things were there. Whilst contemplating this, Princess Safiya had walked up to him and dragged them into the nearest tent.

"How do you know that name?!" she said in a whisper barely audible. She clearly didn't want to make this conversation public, and he couldn't say he blamed her, if that place was where she had to grow up.

"Judging by that reaction you know who I'm talking about, which means, if I'm right, the Ja'far I know is more than likely your older brother".

To my followers (I'm so happy that this story has some :D), sorry it's been a while since the last update. It's partly down to me starting Uni, and partly wanting to see what would happen after the time-skip in the Manga (actually, still don't know what's going on! XD)

Quick note for anyone qho picks up on this, "Onii-chan", is spelt wrong on purpose (I will explain later :) )

Thanks for reading, and happy (belated), Halloween :)