Good Knight

They arrived late one night. Dark had fallen some time earlier and the castle was mostly asleep as a whole. Still, the arrival of their third princess was enough to arouse nearly all of the inhabitants. Tales of the war the Seven Deadly Sins had waged against the Ten Commandments had made it back to Liones many times and knowing that their precious Elizabeth was no doubt along for the ride, all had been quite anxious for her safe return.

None more than her adopted family. King Baltra had been most concerned with her, though that was nothing new, while her sisters thought of her frequently. Veronica was quite busy herself, training with Guila and Margaret had her typical duties as the future queen to tend to, but both young women frequently thought of their baby sister and the trials she was going through.

News of her arrival back home, however, spread quickly through the castle and not soon after, they were all seated, the sisters and their father, in their usual dining hall, having a reunion of sorts. Elizabeth hadn't eaten in a day or so, but the others mostly sat there, watching her eat, awaiting her story of how things had gone.

Of course, when pressed, Elizabeth spent most of her time speaking highly of Meliodas, though the other Seven Deadly Sins came up frequently as well as Hendrickson. She also seemed quite enthralled with someone named Elaine, but Margaret was having a bit of a hard time keeping up with that part.

"Oh," the white hair girl giggled at one point, looking up from her plate to stare across the large table at her two sisters. "We ran into Griamor and Howzer as well. They fought with us many times. I-"

"Griamor and Howzer?" Margaret interrupted, though from the way Veronica was glaring at her, she was pretty sure her middle sister wished she'd allowed the younger to continue speaking. "Were they alone?"

Elizabeth grinned at her then, shaking her head a bit. "Gilthunder was there as well."

"Was he?" Margaret tried hard to seem neutral on the subject, but the hitch in her tone was quite noticeable. "How nice for him then, to have a chance to travel with the Seven Deadly Sins."

Nodding, her youngest sister said, "Yes, Lord Meliodas was quite-"

"We were quite worried about you, Elizabeth," Baltra interrupted, not truly interested in listening to his daughters skirt around their various male interests. "When we heard that Camelot was attacked-"

"I'm sorry, Father," she apologized softly. "Things were quite hectic and I wished to go with the others."

With a grin towards her, the man said, "It is no matter. You are home now."

"For now, I'm sure," Veronica interceded, as if excited. "Right?"

"W-Well-"

"If not," she went on, "perhaps it's time I take your place for a bit, huh? I can protect the kingdom just as well."

"I don't-"

"I suppose it is a worthless dream then?" their father sighed. "That all of my children could live in the castle peacefully for a bit?"

That fell between the women for a minute before, with a slight grin, Elizabeth said, "Sir Meliodas has said that, for a bit, he plans to stick around locally and operate Boar Hat. So I'll be around, Father. I'll just be-"

"Here," he said. "Won't you?"

"W-Well, I am the best waitress-"

"Elizabeth-"

"Did the others say what they plan to do?" Margaret was more hung up on that, apparently.

"Others?" Her sister looked to her then. "You mean the Sins? Well Ban is going to-"

"She's talking about the knights," Veronica said. "Or at least Gil, I'm sure."

"I am only curious," Margaret assured them, bowing her head slightly. "Of them all."

"I truly don't know," her youngest sister told her. "I did not ask. But...I'd think that assisting in defeating the Ten Commandments is more than enough atonement for all of them."

"Not for Gil," Margaret responded softly, looking off. "I'm sure."

Elizabeth slept at the castle that night (Baltra didn't seem as if he was letting her leave regardless), Veronica following her into her chambers, ecstatic over hearing about all the battles her baby sister had witnessed, wanting every detail from each and every one. Margaret, however, retired to her own bedchamber once more, making Elizabeth and Veronica promise to not stay up too late.

It was early the next morning that Margaret was proven wrong. The sun had hardly risen when she ran into Howzer. Err, rather, she saw him, walking around the castle with Griamor and knew immediately that meant that Gilthunder had to be around as well.

Finding him wasn't too hard. Just took a bit of waiting. The second that she realized he was in town, there was only one place he could possibly be.

"You were not waiting for long, I hope."

She just shook her head as he entered the edge of the tiny clearing. "Not at all."

He wasn't smiling at her, not truly, as he approached where she was seated upon a felled log. His head was down a bit and his pink locks fell over his eyes, but she could feel them on hers regardless.

"I foolishly went looking for you in the castle," he admitted.

"That was foolish."

"Was it hard?" He stopped in front of her. "Getting out of the city walls?"

"No more than usual."

Still, she didn't rise and finally he smirked.

"Have I done something wrong, princess?"

"Of course not. I hear that you fought valiantly, after all, against the Ten Commandments."

"Yes, well," he coughed. "I'm sure whoever told you that was merely speaking fancifully."

"Is that so?"

"It is." Then, changing the subject, he said, "You should not sit on that, you know. You'll ruin your dress."

Not moving in the slightest, Margaret only hummed a bit, reaching up to push a bit of her lavender hair behind an ear. "I never rightly enjoyed this one."

"How could you not?" He held out a hand for her to take then, wishing to pull her to her feet. "The color is quite befitting on you."

"Honestly?" She glanced down at herself, as if to take her own assessment. "Blue has never rightly seemed to fit me, personally."

"Yes, well- Margaret."

Bypassing his hand altogether, the woman sprang to her feet quickly, tossing her arms around him tightly. Gilthunder let out a slight breath as she pressed her head against his chest, gently patting her on the back.

"Surely," he teased, "you were not that miserable without me."

"I wasn't." Taking in her own breath, she added, "But I missed you."

He bowed his head then, burying his nose in her hair. "I thought of you frequently."

"You did not."

"Why would you say that?"

Lifting her head, though she kept her arms around him, Margaret said, "I'm sure you were far more busy taking down the Ten Commandments."

"I hardly had a thing to do with that, I assure you." He glanced off. "Just along for the ride."

"I find that doubtful. Considering it was enough expiation to bring you back here," she challenged, "you must have done something."

That time he shook his head. "I am still unworthy, princess. I merely came back to be for certain that Liones was still here to come back to. With the Ten Commandments running loose for so long, I feared-"

"Then you will be leaving again? Soon?"

"Why speak of it right now?" He took a step back as she dropped her arm. "When there is so many other thing to discuss?"

Gathering herself, Margaret took a moment before saying, "Yes. I did wish to hear of your travels."

"Those are uninteresting."

"I find that unlikely."

"I'd much rather hear about what you've done all this time," he told her simply.

"What? You think that listening to me talk about rebuilding the kingdom is more interesting than defeating the Ten-"

"I wish," he told her softly, "that you would stop bringing that up."

"You're far too bashful, Gilthunder." Staring up at him, she said, "I only feel as if you would have far more interesting tales than I."

"How humerus." Returning her stare, he said, "I find that I would take far more interest in what you have to say than retelling any of my own stories."

"That is humerus."

"I thought so."

A beat passed then, with both of them just standing there, before, finally, Margaret said, "Gil."

"Yes?"

"If you are truly leaving soon, I wish that we would not waste what time we have together being so tense."

"I am not tense, princess." He raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Relieved, more like it."

"Over?"

"My sister, mostly," she answered truthfully and, though he was a tad disappointed, he more or less expected it. "And the kingdom's safety being restored once more."

"For the mom-"

"And you, of course," she added, just as quickly. "But you knew that before you asked, didn't you, Gil?"

It was a true smile, then, finally, as he told her, "Sometimes, it is just nice to hear such things aloud."

She was the one that was unable to meet his eyes that time, a blush creeping up her cheeks. After a moment, she only said, "I cannot stay out here for much longer. There are many thing at the castle for me to attend to."

"Is that so?"

Nodding, she just as quickly added, "I just wished to see you before I truly started the day."

"I will not keep you from your duties." He even bowed. If she wasn't still so enthralled (inwardly, of course) to see him, she might have made light of it. But having missed out on him for so long, it was definitely a welcome sight. "I am glad that you were able to make time for me."

"Always, Gil." When he rose, she moved closer to him once more, smiling brightly up at him. "Always."

"Margaret," he whispered, reaching out to gently cup her cheek with one hand.

Leaning into his touch, she said, "We'll be having a dinner tonight."

"A dinner?"

"Father and Elizabeth decided upon it last night, when she returned," she explained. "For the Sins, should they choose to come. Elizabeth thinks that her friend the pig will, certainly."

That made him chuckle, if only a bit. "Yes, I can see Hawk certain agreeing to that."

"Now that you've returned though," she went on, "you may come as well."

"Are you asking me to escort you?"

"It's not nearly that formal."

"Even still?'

Leaning up, she pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, causing him to freeze. Just as quickly, however, she was walking off.

"Even still."

Night couldn't come fast enough for either of them. Margaret wasn't lying, after all; his arrival did not mean that she could shirk her duties. With every passing day, she was coming closer and closer to assuming the throne; she was no longer a child. She knew her place. The kingdom came first.

Above all else.

Yet when night fell and Gilthunder arrived at her chambers to escort her to dinner, Margaret would be lying to say that she wasn't excited. Gil, on the other hand, was more concerned with something else.

"Who was that, Margaret?" he asked once they set off down the halls of the palace. "That knight?"

"Do you not know him?" She knew, of course, that he was speaking of the man that had been stationed outside her bedchamber. "He has taken your place as my personal guard."

Gil didn't falter in the slightest, but did swallow a bit. "Has he?"

"Father's orders," she sighed. "I have plenty of guards, all around, but he insists that I keep one close to me at all times."

"I suppose it is safer that way," he agreed slowly. "Considering all that has gone on recently.'

"Even you never stuck so close to me though," she sighed, glancing at him. "Posted outside of my chamber, following me around the palace; it was hard enough to ditch him this morning to go see you outside the walls."

He smiled a bit, just from the mention of it. For years he and the princess had begun meeting there, in the seclusion that only the forests surrounding the capital could provide, in that clearing that belonged only to them.

"I am glad you put in the effort."

"And I am glad that you convinced him to go on break." The woman shook her head a bit, glancing down at her and Gilthunder's interlaced arms. "Else he might have followed us."

"Are we going somewhere other than dinner, princess?"

"Of course not. But..."

He couldn't help his smirk. "You are safer with me anyhow. My power far surpasses his."

"I suppose so."

Dinner was certainly...an event. There were few places within the palace that Diane could freely move around, but luckily enough one of them was a dinning hall. She, along with many of the other Sins, were in attendance. It had been some time since Margaret had seen all of them too, but the most interesting of all to her was, by far, not a Sin at all; rather, it was the Captain of Leftovers.

"I thought," she whispered softly to her youngest sister at one point, nodding over at where Hawk was scarfing down some grub, "that Hawk was a...pig, Elizabeth?"

"Hmmm? Oh." She glanced over at where the (semi) animal was. "You're speaking of his appearance?" At the moment he was, after all, mixed with some sort of other animal. The back half of his body consisted of fur and black and yellow stripes. "When he eats something else containing magic, he becomes that thing for a bit. But believe me, he's still all Hawk."

"For better," Meliodas, who was with Elizabeth, muttered, "or worse."

Veronica rather enjoyed the night on her side of things. She and Griamor were not nearly as awkward together as Gil and Margaret. He told the woman everything (including the less savory things, such as the child-state experience), which Veronica listened in rapt silence, hanging on every word. She'd heard most everything, of course, from her younger sister, but it was far more hypnotizing to her when the story came from Griamor.

And while it was Hawk who had the greatest night of all (royal scraps far outweighed bar scraps; if it wasn't for his Mama, he might have asked Baltra to adopt him too), Margaret didn't see anyone smiling brighter than Elizabeth. Nearly the entire night she was beaming, enduring all of Meliodas' pervy comments (that he only made when Baltra wasn't listening) and actions with not nearly enough detest as Margaret would have hoped.

But Margaret had a nice enough night. Around others, she and Gil were even more closed off with one another, though she did note that he stayed by her side the entire night. They didn't speak on anything heavy, but she was certain there would be time for that later. And, when dinner came to an end eventually and Elizabeth started her pleas with her father to be more open to the idea of her clear talents a waitress, Margaret took to Gil to the side.

"Do you think," she whispered, staring up at him while his eyes only watched hers, "that you could...tonight?"

"I have no plans," he assured her with a nod. "But your guard-"

"At night, it is his job to patrol the whole area around my chambers," the woman told him simply. "Not stay posted outside."

"Unsafe," he remarked.

"But it has it's perks."

"In this single scenario, sure." Still, he nodded slightly. "I suppose I could stop by."

"You only suppose?"

He started to respond, but Howzer, who somehow managed to get an invite to the party (though it was more to interact with Diane than any of the other), was calling out to Gilthunder then, taking his attention. He'd given her so much up to that point that Margaret only excused herself, allowing him to speak with his friend as she went to speak with one of her sisters.

She must have waited up for hours that night, in her bedchamber, so long that, eventually, she fell asleep.

It was the sound of a sharp knock to her door that made her lift her head from her pillow, confused only momentarily as, just as quickly, the door was opening.

"Margaret? Are you still-"

"Gil." She didn't even rise. "Shhh."

"Are you sleeping?"

Was she? It felt like a dream, mostly, still. One she'd had quite often in his absence.

The man crossed the room as silently as possible, coming to stand at her bedside. When she sat up, he said, "I thought it was you, princess, who wished to see me?"

"I do," she mumbled, peeking at him with one eye open, the other shut. "Gil."

Staring down at her, he breathed, "I'm glad you do. Now that I'm here, I don't think I could bare to leave."

Slowly then and with a rather louder than she planned yawn, the woman sat up a bit. "I suppose I got tired, awaiting your arrival. To think I could wait all these months, but a few hours and..."

"You've waited a lot longer than a few months for me."

"Gil."

At her urging, he moved to sit on the edge of her bed. Just as quickly, she wished for something else.

"Let me see your wounds."

"Margaret-"

"Let me."

It was slow, him pulling off his shirt was. He felt far more comfortable walking around in his armor just as much at night as he did day, it felt as if a second skin to him, but was far too clunky to be sneaking around the palace (and the princess's bedchamber) in. Though she far more enjoyed him in it (and helping him out of it), it did make getting him shirtless much easier that night.

There was no light to help them see, but the moon was bright that night, giving them just enough. Margaret was not surpirsed at the bruises and wounds that covered the man's body, but still did not find them appealing.

"For someone," she whispered softly as he sat there, allowing her to gently stroke at his bicep where he had a massive, healing gash, "that had nothing to do with the Ten Commandments being taken down, you seem rather beat up, Gilthunder."

"It is hard to atone for the despicable," he remarked, "without having the despicable done back to you."

"I don't feel as if you've done anything this despicable."

"Perhaps not to you." He patted her hand that was on his bicep with his other hand. "Or rather, perhaps you choose to not believe so."

"You're too hard on yourself."

"And you are not?"

"I am to be a queen one day," was all she told him, tiredly. "I must be hard on myself."

He just let out a sizable sigh. Then, after a moment, he added, "That feels nice."

She was still stroking at his arm and, grinning, continued on. "Just being here feels nice."

"Mmmm."

For a solid two minutes, they just soaked it up. But both knew that their time together, whether he chose to stick around the capital or not, was short; he couldn't stay in her room forever. Not without getting caught.

That was always one of his biggest fears. For a multitude of reasons, one being, of course, his indubitable sense of honor (and there was no honor in fraternizing with the princess; none), but another big one being the rather large embarrassment it would be for Margaret. As she'd stated, she was to be queen one day. It would no doubt be humiliating for her to be caught with a man, being unmarried as she was then.

Just thinking of that made him glance over at her before whispering, "I take it you weren't promised to another while I was gone?"

That got him a gentle shove to his arm. "Gil."

"What? It is an innocent inquiry. It will happen some day."

"And I will decline." That almost went without saying. Almost. Then, looking off, over towards the window, she whispered, "But to answer your question, no, I wasn't." It didn't take long for her to come back with her own, however. "And you?"

"And me what?" He grinned a bit. "Was I promised to someone?"

"Gilthu-"

"No," he told her with a goofy grin, one that she would only get out of him in such times, late at night, when they were completely alone. "I don't even think I could be given away at this point. Even with money included. Other than to you."

Hunching forwards, she rested her forehead against his shoulder. Then, softly, she said, "That's not what I meant."

Grin fading, he whispered, "I know."

Not liking his lack of an answer, she said, "Your life was in jeopardy, after all."

"After all."

"And you were out with...Howzer."

"I was."

"Not to mention Meliodas," she added. "And if the way he treats my sister is any indication, I'm sure-"

"Margaret," he stopped her. "I think at times you wish I would lay with another."

"W-What?" That got her to lift her head. But he wasn't looking at her then, rather facing straight ahead.

"That it will make it easier," he went on. "When you must marry another. That then we will be even. That I will have broken our unspoken vows long before." And he turned so quickly that it shocked her. Eyes staring down into hers, he said quite forcefully, "I won't. There is no other. There is no weakness. There is no interest. I think only of you. I am weak only for you. No matter what becomes of us. So do not trouble yourself otherwise."

Her eyes were almost watery then, just a bit, as she whispered his name. Just as quickly though, he was pushing his head closer still to hers until, at last, they were able to truly kiss and, even though it only lasted a few seconds, Margaret felt heated when they broke apart.

Gilthunder had wounds in various processes of healing all over his body. Margaret found one along the side of his thigh most concerning, about the same time that he found her thighs concerning for a different reason entirely.

And it was wrong, just as it was always wrong, when they lay together. She knew as much. She was supposed to save herself, as everyone was, but her above all else. As the eldest of the Liones sisters, barring dissension or her death, she was to be the queen, married off to another, where he would no doubt expect…

But, she frequently argued with herself when she began to feel any guilt over this, perhaps she would marry Gilthunder. It was not an idea that either was oppose to and her father did not seem to be forcing her into anything with another. He knew her feelings for the knight (thankfully not to the extent that it had gone, but that was neither here nor there) and had never been a harsh man.

"Shhh," Gil shushed her quite frequently, as he always did, that fearfulness of being caught always kicking in at the worst times. And she'd always respond just the same, that no one would enter her bedchamber without her consent, but it didn't matter.

Gilthunder was always the rather safe than sorry type of guy, after all.

At one point, when he was staring down at her and she laid there, under him, staring just as heavily back at him, he mumbled something or other about her new personal knight and how he thought he could hear him, making rounds, and she knew that she'd have to address that eventually with him as well. Rarely did the man get possessive, but apparently, the idea of another spending every day with her bothered him.

Margaret only turned her head though, staring at his arm as it rested next to her, keeping him from bearing down too heavily against her. Gently stroking at it, she said, "He's gone. Please, Gil."

And he knew what she needed, he'd always known, been the only one given a chance to know, and it was just better that way. The two of them. They'd always been better together. Always.

He didn't hold her when it was over, but that was normal for them. Just shifted away from her on the bed, catching his breath, as she watched him out of the corner of her eyes.

"One day," she promised softly, "your place will be here. With me. And you won't have to leave like a bandit under the cover of darkness."

"One day," he agreed softly. "Princess."

"Or," she kept up, yawning through it. "Perhaps I will abdicate. And we can go atone together. You and I. And we can leave the silly kingdom behind us."

"You will always love your kingdom more than me." Turning his head from the pillow then, he stared over at her. "That is the way it's supposed to be."

"And what of you? Are you not supposed to love it more than I?"

"You are my kingdom. The thing I'm sworn to above all." Shutting his eyes, he added, "And if you abdicate, the throne would go to Veronica. Who, if she knows you're out having adventures, would abdicate. Then it would go to Elizabeth who, apparently, has her hearts set on working at Meliodas' bar."

"Or worse yet," Margaret sighed, "Elizabeth takes the throne and the Sins rule the kingdom."

"That's not so bad."

"From one standpoint," she agreed softly. "But on the other, would you want the man that...touches my sister in the presence of our king to be one himself?"

"You are truly stuck on that tonight." He even laughed, softly. "And Meliodas cannot become king. You know this. If Elizabeth married him, the highest power he could assume is-"

"i have stopped putting limits on what he can do."

Turning onto his side, Gilthunder reached out a hand, gently resting it on the woman's cheek. "You almost sound jealous, Margaret."

"Of?"

"I do not know. Would you like that I….touch you the way that Meliodas-"

"Gil." And that was the deepest blush of the night. He only leaned over though, brushing his lips against hers. Margaret, however, said simply, "And I am not jealous. I am...happy, at least, for Elizabeth. She is always protected with him around."

"More than you know."

Their time was up, however, about then as Gilthunder slowly shifted around on the bed, sitting up. He took some time stretching, which Margaret found odd, but figured it was only an attempt to buy more of that time they had no more of.

Eventually he had to dress once more, which she watched silently. When he finished with that, he only went to tuck her in, as if she were a child and needed such a thing, gently nuzzling his head against hers about the same time.

"If you decide to stay," she told him softly when he turned to leave, "in the capital… If your atonement is done, I am sure that I can find a new job for my current personal guard."

He grinned back at her. "Oh, I would make sure of that, Margaret. We cannot let just anyone keep watch over our princess, can we?"

"I hear," she went on, "that the security is lacking so that even disgraced knights can sneak into rooms these day."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"Hmmm. Someone should look into that."

"Someone should."

Shaking his head a bit, that time, when he headed for the door, his steps were deliberate. They were done for the night.

"Goodnight, my princess," he whispered as he left the room. Margret only settled down into her bed, knowing that sleep would be rather far from her for a bit longer.

"Goodnight, my knight."

This, obviously, takes a lot of liberty with the ending of the Ten Commandment arc, some rather obvious (such as them eventually beating all of them), some not so obvious (Liones never being hit with an attack), but since we're in the middle of that arc for the foreseeable future, I figure this is okay. No harm, no foul.