Saudade (Sinbad x Reader)

Chapter 3 - Ruins Of Artevia

In Sindria on the port was a ship crew that were loading a few things on a ship. This ship was heading to Artevia. A kingdom that was left in ruins by the Kou Empire. The king was making his way to the ship, his right hand man walking next to him.

"Do we have everything ready?" The king questioned.

"Yeah. Everything and everyone is ready to ship out to Artevia." The ex-assassin said.

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"Three days at most. We should be there on the third day in the morning" the white haired man said. The purple haired, lady-killer nodded with a smile.

"Good, shall we get going then?"

"Whenever you're ready Sin" Sinbad nodded before asking

"Oh and.."

"Hm?"

"What about the tiger?" Sinbad looked over at his pale friend with a questioning look while he did not look back at him

"I took care of it"

"But what exactly did you do with it?"

"We were able to put it in a cage and send it back to wherever it came from. I had some help from Yamraiha to know where it was from."

"I see..."

"Why?"

"No, just wondering"

"If you say so..." Ja'far looked at his king with suspicion before they both got on the ship. "Ready to set sail then?" He asked, looking at his friend.

"Ready as I'll ever be" Sinbad said, grinning. Soon enough, the sails to the boat opened up as wind started to push the boat with ease.

During the two nights of sailing, Sinbad continued to have dreams of the mysterious girl he so longed to know. Though, on the last night, he woke up from his dream. Unable to go back to sleep, he goes out of his room of the ship and onto the deck. He smelled the salty sea he so dearly loved ever since he was a child. He looked out at the distance of the sea, the stars and moon being his only source of light.

"Sinbad?" His name was called out. Out of instinct, he turned his head to see his friend. He smiled at the white haired general.

"Ja'far, didn't expect you to be up late at night."

"Same goes for you. What're you doing?"

"Couldn't sleep, so decided to get some fresh air. You?"

"Just to take a small stretch before I finish up with all the bills" the purple haired king nodded, before looking out into the sea again. It was quiet between the both. A comfortable silence. The king motioned his friend to come look out at sea with him. Without saying a word, the general walked over and stood next to him, admiring the view.

"Hey.." the king started.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you stop Yamraiha from letting me see her?" He questioned. The general stayed silent, gripping the boat a bit. He hesitantly spoke.

"I..." he stopped, thinking carefully on his words. It was silent again, this time, a bit awkward and uncomfortable. He only sighed before setting his hand on his king's shoulder "You should get some rest, it'll only be soon til the sun rises, and we can't be tired as we look around Artevia." Without another word, he quickly left the deck and back into the ship to his room. The king sighed a bit in frustration, knowing his friend won't tell him anything.

After a while, the king took his general's advice and went back inside the ship to continue his sleep before they made it to their destination.

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The sun had risen a few hours later as the crew started to get ready to dock the ship at whatever was left of the Artevian port. Setting down the board walk onto the port, it let out a loud thump. The king, who was half awake half asleep, yawned and started to walk down the board walk and onto the porch.

"Be careful your majesty!" One of the crew members exclaimed. Sinbad only gave them a tired, reassuring smile.

"Ah I'll be fine. Where's Ja'far?" He questioned. And on cue, the pale freckled general appeared.

"I'm right here, but you go on ahead of me, I have some stuff to take care of on this ship. I'll meet you up later."

"Whatever you say" Sinbad said, before firefly walking off the porch, small creaks joining every step he took on the wood. As the general watched his king go out of sight, he looked over at Hinahoho, who wanted to join along as well, and nodded at him.

"Take Napolious out"

"On it" he said. Without another word, Hinahoho went inside the ship and opened the door where they kept storage. There, a tiger was laying down and it looked at Hinahoho with curious eyes. He showed the tiger out of the storage room and to the deck. The crew members watched the tiger with caution while the tiger played no attention to them. Going to where the walk board was, it stopped and took a look around at its surroundings.

There were many plants that seemed to be outgrowing. There were sounds of bugs croaking. The tiger took in the view, before running down the walk board and making a dash into the wild, going off to search for someone important to them.

"Come on, let's go" Ja'far said. "Sin is probably waiting for us" Hinahoho nodded.

"Yeah" the two generals then started to walk down the walk board themselves, taking in the scene in front of them. Unable to recognize the kingdom they once knew all that time ago.

After a long walk, they made it to what used to be the kingdom of Artevia. They look at what remains as Artevia, sadness becoming noticeable in their eyes. Going up the few steps that led to the front, they saw their king stare at the once prosperous kingdom.

"You didn't go in?" Ja'far questioned. Sinbad looked over at the two and shook his head before looking back at the rubble.

The two generals joined him before they also stare. Disbelief and sadness in their eyes, seeing how badly the Kou Empire had done to Artevia. Without a word, the king started to make his way into the once called kingdom. There was nothing left but rubble and dirt. It almost seemed unbelievable that it was a kingdom once with how it looks now. On the sides is what seemed to be destroyed arches. It looked like it used to be a ballroom looking at the size with stairs in the middle. At the bottom it was quite wide as it curved at the ends, but as it slowly went up, it became a little less wide.

The stairs were gradual and not steep at all, though, the stairs were collapsing a bit. The three men made their way to the top of the stairs and in front of them as a small hallway, s leading to what they were guessing was the throne room. Making their way to the throne room, they were all quiet. There were no doors to the throne room, as they were on the ground. The throne room was also big with broken arches on the side. A little further and there stood one throne. It wasn't on the legs of the chair but on the side of the chair itself on the ground. Another throne was thrown to the side, the queen's. Then there was another throne that was on the other side, the princess's.

They couldn't believe on what has become of Artevia. Every room they went to was destroyed. Not only the kingdom, but the village as well. There were signs of it being burned to the ground. After looking around Sinbad sighed quietly.

"I'll be back. I have to check for something" without waiting for a reply, he left the two generals behind who had glanced at each other. Once the king was out of site, a new voice was heard.

"Heartbreaking, isn't it?"