Magi: The Tale of Faith and Hope

After the Battle

THUD.

"Whoa!!" Alibaba exclaimed when Hope abruptly collapsed the second the enemy was gone. Her arms and hands returned to normal as soon as she hit the ground.

"!" Sinbad turned his head when he heard the commotion and quickly approached them to see what was wrong.

"Are you all right!?" Alibaba asked her, concerned.

"... Yes..." Hope said with a cough, chagrined. Falling on her ribs made it even harder to breathe than it already was. She was also pretty sure she had managed to make the damage to her ribs worse, too. "Sorry, I guess the pain finally caught up with me... I just couldn't take it any longer..."

"Excuse me," Sinbad said as he kneeled down to examine her. She flinched when he touched her ribs. It seemed she was mostly unscathed, apart from some bruising and one fractured rib. But he was impressed that she had been able to move with such speed, especially after summoning a partial djinn equip on her first try. That was a feat even he hadn't been able to manage so quickly, although he had been four years younger than Hope at the time.

"How's everyone...? Faith?" she asked, trying to get her point across with as few words as possible, since it hurt to speak.

"Faith? Uh... Don't worry, she's all right!! It doesn't look like she's awake yet, but I'm sure she'll be fine..." Alibaba tried to reassure her after a quick glance around. Faith was still safe and sound right where Masrur had left her.

Hope furrowed her brow with concern upon hearing that her sister was still unconscious and tried to push herself up into a sitting position.

"Hey, wait!! I don't think you should move!" Alibaba said.

"He's right, one of your ribs feels broken," Sinbad told her, reaching out to brace her before she hurt herself.

"I'll live. It hurts, but it doesn't feel like anything vital's been punctured," Hope said, not giving up. Faith had broken a rib before when they were younger, so she knew there was nothing to do except to wait for it to heal on its own. "She's my sister. I need to go to her..."

Sinbad sighed. It was true that he hadn't felt any other damage, but he had only done a quick check through thick clothing. If she tried to walk over there on her own two feet, she might exacerbate her wounds. The next thing Hope knew, she was in the arms of the king.

"!?" she said, glancing between him and Alibaba in confusion, while he carried her over to her sister bridal-style. "I-It's all right! I can walk by myself!" she told Sinbad, starting to feel embarrassed. He smelled like a warm mixture of the sun and the sea, sandalwood, citrus, and other exotic scents and spices.

Sinbad simply gave her a polite, yet dazzling smile that sparkled in the moonlight in response and kept walking, causing Hope to sweat-drop.

'... That's a really dangerous weapon he has there...' she thought, letting her protests die in her throat, while she fought the reflexive temptation to blush, even though she knew he was just being nice. He should be more careful where and who he fired that thing at. 'But... He kind of reminds me of someone...'

"..." Alibaba stared after them for a moment in surprise before shaking his head and getting up to follow. The truth was that he was also concerned about Faith.

"... Thank you," Hope said quietly when Sinbad set her down next to her sister. "Faith...?" she said, reaching out to smooth her twin's hair out of her face and check her vitals. She was still breathing, but her pulse felt weaker than normal. "Faith, please wake up... Don't do this to me," she pleaded, taking her sister's hand in hers and giving it a squeeze.