The Snake Princess (Magi Fanfiction)

Chapter forty

Chapter forty

That night at dinner, the generals quickly realized their mistake in making Amirah and Sinbad talk with each other. For the most part they ignored each other, and what they did talk of lacked any real feeling- like they were complete strangers. The next two days went by equally as awkward, the two rarely interacting, refusing to speak with each other even when the ship from Askal arrived, Askalian soldiers and crew members helping to load whatever luggage was being transported onto the ship.

Ja'far and Sharrkan planned to join Amirah and Zaahira on the trip, staying for the wedding and for a few days afterward to help the females settle into their new life. Alex and Leonidas were surprised by this, the former ignorantly asking: "Isn't King Sinbad coming as well?"

It was no surprise the young prince hadn't noticed the rift between Amirah and the king, even though everyone else had. Leonidas proved this by jabbing the prince in the stomach with his elbow, giving him a glare as Amirah seemed to shrink into herself. Luckily, Ja'far knew how to respond:

"He decided not to come incase anything were to happen to Sindria. Just a safety precaution," Ja'far offered Alex a small smile, continuing to say, "If anything happens during our trip I'm sure we will suffice anyway."

"Oh, alright..." Alex quickly realized he should take the hint and run, Ja'far's smile clearly not just a kind gesture.

Drifting away from the now-intimidating generals, Alex walked over to Zaahira who had begun talking with one of the ship's crew members. "Hey, where'd Amirah go?" He asked after excusing himself for interrupting their conversation.

"Uhm," Zaahira paused to survey the area, growing confused herself when she realized the princess was nowhere in sight. "Maybe she's in her cabin? You're sharing the same one, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'll go check on her-"

"Hey," Zaahira cut the prince off, grabbing his sleeve as he turned away, "be careful. This isn't easy for her."

"R-Right..." Alex nodded, mustering up any courage he could find to deal with whatever state he'd find the princess in. Making his way through the decks of the ship, Alex couldn't help but conjure up horrible scenarios of what would happen when they arrived in Askal.

If things went well, there wouldn't be any bloodshed- at least for a while. Sinbad was their target, and being able to wiggle someone into a position to kill him would take quite some time and effort. Then there was always the option of all-out war once they were in a stable trading position with the Alliance, but that was far too risky and messy for even their mother to try. Finally, of course, there was the worst scenario Alex could think of: Amirah or anyone close to her figuring them out before their plans were finalized.

This was the hardest to avoid for Alex, as seeing how Amirah reacted to certain things regarding her captors and how painful it was for her to leave Sindria nearly drove Alex to confess everything to her several times, his next encounter just the same.

As Alex approached his and Amirah's cabin door, the soft sound of singing rang in his ears, causing him to stop walking. He'd never heard her sing before, but he'd heard tons from the generals and Zaahira of how well she could. It was just as beautiful as he'd imagined, if not more. Alex reached out to turn the wooden door's knob, but froze at her next line, which was overflowing with emotion:

"'Kimi wa hitori de heiki dakara...ne?' to, / 'You'll be fine on your own...right?' you said,

oshitsukete sayonara. / forcing it upon me then saying goodbye."

Alex pulled away from the door, frowning sadly at the dark turn Amirah's singing had taken. With a sigh the prince turned his back to the door, letting himself slide down it until he was sitting on the ground, his head and back pressed up against the door. He closed his eyes as he continued to listen, worried Amirah would only grow more upset if he interrupted her mid-song.

So, he closed his eyes, listening intently as Amirah's voice cracked and broke, tears eventually overpowering words.

"Ame wa itsuka yamu no deshou ka? / Will the rain ever stop, I wonder?

Zuibun nagai aida tsumetai. / For a while now it's been rather cold.

Ame wa doushite boku wo erabu no? / Why does the rain choose me?

Nigeba no nai boku wo erabu no? / Why does it choose me, who has nowhere else to go?"

Amirah trailed off there, and the room fell silent for several moments until she continued, tears staining her cheeks while her voice quivered:

"Ame wa doushite boku wo erabu no? / Why does the rain choose me?

Tsutsumarete ii kana.... / I wonder if it's ok to let it cover me..."

~

Clouded, bloodshot, golden, eyes stared out a nearby porthole window, watching the waterline dip up and down, splashing against the glass as the ship rocked gently along its course. Tears had long since dried up, words lost to the creaking of the ship and sounds of people walking on upper decks.

Only when the sky grew dark and the noise of outside grew close to silent did Princess Amirah dare leave her quarters again. The floorboards groaned under her feet, making the princess cringe and walk on her tiptoes to lessen the noise. When she made it to the door, Amirah wiped her tear-stained eyes and cheeks, fixing her hair and patting Akito gently on the head. With a deep breath, Amirah pulled the wooden door open, letting out a yelp as someone fell into the room, their head landing on her feet roughly.

"A-Alex?!" Amirah stepped back instinctively, not realizing it'd lead to the prince hitting his head once again until he, too, yelped, sitting up somewhat and holding his head in pain.

"Ow... Amirah?" Alex's eyes widened as he looked up at the princess, recent events coming back to him. I fell asleep?! Standing, the prince sputtered a string of apologizes, accidentally adding: "I promise I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you it's just, I heard your singing and I just-"

"Wait, you what?" Amirah found herself blushing, taking a few steps away from the prince.

"I'm really sorry," Alex repeated, raising his hands and taking a step forward "I meant to leave but your voice was so beautiful I think it put me to sleep..."

Amirah blinked. Then she frowned. She looked down at her belt, pulling out her fan. Just as she thought, the eight pointed star on its handle was glowing. "I should be the one to apologize... My metal vessel does strange things when I sing with it nearby... I should have thought of that."

Alex laughed lightly, or tried to. He was still clearly nervous, and slightly uncomfortable. "At least it didn't do anything worse than that, right?"

"True," Amirah agreed, turning her fan over in her hands. "It can do some nasty things depending on how I sing."

"Really? Like what?"

Amirah shrugged. She felt far too emotionally drained to really want to have a conversation with the prince. "Can I...tell you later? I just want to relax for a bit right now."

"Uh, yeah, sure, that's perfectly fine," Zaahira's words of caution echoed in Alex's ears, though despite them he still added: "Are you alright, though?" He mentally slapped himself after he spoke; it seemed his mouth wouldn't agree with his brain that morning.

"Yeah...I'm fine," Amirah assured half-heartedly, giving Alex a small smile as she walked from the room.

~

Author's note-

Song Amirah's singing is from one of my new favorite anime, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's such a good anime I 1000/10 recommend it. This song in particular is one of my favorite openings, though the fourth one is my #1 favorite :3

Sadly, the only video I can share of the full song is a live performance (which is great, but) the full version video I'd listened to several times apparently got taken down for copyright D: 

The first line she sang I cleverly made sure Sinbad actually said on purpose cause I thought it'd fit nicely xD and also be really depressing... the whole song is depressing on its own anyway tbh...

I hope you enjoyed this chapter~ heh~