"I absolutely have to go!"

He had told them, and they must think him quite heartless because he sounded so dismissive when they asked if he was going after Diane. But she would have to wait, and they would be fine, even if they were all in precarious positions right now. This was especially true for his friends, with all the trouble in Camelot and being led by the dubious Captain they somehow trusted so much- how were they so BLIND? It was so clear that Meliodas knew their enemies, was hiding things, was so obviously one of them- but that wasn't important right now. None of that was.

What was important was Oslow's disappearance and Helbram's words in his head, this sensation of something unnatural, and most of all, this slight feeling of hope.

Because King had something to say that was more important than anything, except what she would say in return. And he knew none of his friends could ever understand that. Only one person alive could even come close to what he was feeling right now, and it was to him that King speeded towards. As much as it killed him, he knew the sister he had spent centuries with would choose the man she knew for seven days over him. And as much as that knowledge broiled and stabbed inside of him, he tried to put that aside. Had been trying to for a while.

But that didn't matter now.

If his instinct was right, and for some unfathomable reason this was truly happening, the only thing that mattered was what Elaine would say.

She was really there. Elaine. She was alive.

"Brother!" She said with a surprised smile on her face.

He couldn't stop himself from dropping to his knees immediately after calling out her name. He couldn't help the fall, nor the tears that threatened the spring from his eyes. Because King could handle anything Elaine said, did, anything, but that smile.

She'd smiled like that before, too, at the Necropolis. That soft, gentle smile. He'd assumed it wasn't meant for him. As she explained that the only reason he could even see her was her strong desire for King to save Ban, he understood the distance between them now was more than the line between life and death. The smile then must have been some afterglow of being reunited with her lover, because how could Elaine smile at him like that?

Her brother, who, his past sins notwithstanding, had sunk so low as to betray his only friends left and conspire with the enemy to bring down the man she loved. He who had smirked in such a bitter joy, because it was just so delicious, the feeling of driving Chastiefol again and again through this man King had used as a scapegoat for his own failures. So how? How could she smile at him?

And now she had wriggled out of Ban's embrace and was gliding over to him.

"Harlequin? Brother, please, stand up, and please don't cry." He hadn't even realized that the tears had escaped and flowed down his cheeks. She offered a hand to help him up, but he couldn't take it. He couldn't touch her. He rose up on his own.

"Elaine, I-I'm sorry," each word came out of him like a gasp, and then slowly became shouts as the tears kept rolling down. "I'm so sorry, Elaine! For every single, possible, horrible way I failed as Fairy King, and-… and as your brother! I'm sorry!" It wasn't enough. It would never feel to King like he could say enough, and Elaine was silent for a moment as King stared at the ground.

"Brother, look at me. Please?"

After a pause, King shook his head vigorously.

Silently, Elaine moved closer. She grabbed his hands, and King shivered. "Harlequin, listen to me. I understand what happened to the forest and to me wasn't your fault. And even if I can never forget the 700 years alone, I promise, I forgive you. So please, forgive yourself."

King finally raised his head and stared at her in disbelief. This couldn't be happening.

"I saw what you did in the new Forest, brother. You were so brave, and you inspired everyone else to make their stand as well. I'm so proud of you."

And she kept smiling at him, and King was reminded of the last time she truly smiled at him like that.

It was a few days before Helbram was to leave, and yet the siblings were alone by a pond in the Forest. Harlequin was picking wild berries and clover blossoms, floating up and down so that he wouldn't have to reach very far. He placed them in the dip of a large leaf, and glided over to where his sister sat at the water's edge. He carefully took off his shoes, trailing his feet in the water beside her. She thanked him for the food, but after that no more words were said. None were needed. It was a beautiful day, and they were happy to have each other.

And now they had each other again, these fairy siblings, and King could barely believe what was happening. He stared at Elaine desperately, not daring to make a move, and Elaine instantly understood what her brother wanted. She threw her arms around him, and the Fairy King sobbed into her shoulder while Elaine rubbed small circles into his back.

"It's okay, brother." She whispered, sounding slightly startled at how upset her brother was, "I'm okay. You're okay. Everything is going to be okay."

Suddenly, an acrid voice broke the sibling's moment.

"All right, is someone going to explain what the hell is going on here? What is UP with him?"

King perked up his head to glare at the speaker. It took a moment to recall her name. Jericho.

Before he could retort, the hand at his back stopped, and King felt the full weight of Elaine's body fall onto him. "E-Elaine!?" Oh no. Oh, Goddesses, please, NO, he had his sister alive, please don't take her away again-

"I'm fine." Elaine said, but her voice indicated she clearly was not, and they needed to go find a doctor as soon as possible, and-

"King," Ban said, sounding pained. "We don't really know if she's going to be fine. Y'see…"

King listened to the story of Merascylla, Gerharde, and the walking dead very carefully. When Ban finished, King closed his eyes and nodded, taking shuddering breaths.

To think someone had toyed with his only family like that, had disturbed his sister's peaceful rest just to serve their own selfish desires. Thank goodness those demons were stopped.

He opened his eyes and glanced over at Ban with a hint of reluctance. "Thank you for protecting her. You too, Escanor."

"Hey, what about me!? I carried those two morons of my back for-"

But the Sin who had been in hiding was looking at him in confusion. "Excuse me, I don't think we've been formally introduced yet." He entered a bow, and looked positively silly with that ludicrous new mustache. "I am Escanor, Lion's Sin of Pride. Did I hear your name was Harlequin?"

King laughed, not quite realizing what was going on. "What are you talking about, Escanor? It's me, King!"

Now Escanor laughed, "young man, that's very funny, but I can't see how someone so little could be-"

"Oh." King transformed into his human form and asked in a comically deeper voice, "do you believe me now?"

Escanor's eyes widened and Elaine giggled and clapped her hands. "Harlequin, you still like making that funny human face?"

King grinned and whispered, "the humans really liked it, so I kept doing it!" They chuckled about that together, but Escanor still looked surprised when King changed back with a tired smile.

"Amazing! I can't believe this boy is KING!"

"Don't worry, Eskie, once you realize he's still a whiny crybaby, you get used to it real fast."

"Hey," King said, flushing, "I'm not-"

But everyone started laughing, even Elaine, so he just sighed. As he glanced down at his sister, he allowed himself to really get a good look at her. In particular, he noticed her flowing dress of intricately woven red leaves.

"That's new." He muttered, and Elaine eventually realized her brother was talking about her new clothes.

"Yes, it's not quite Harlequin-made quality, but it does well enough." And they smiled at each other as they both recalled how Harlequin had insisted upon making Elaine's clothes for centuries after he had learned how, even if they were identical to ones she already wore.

But after a while, Elaine started to fidget a bit. "Brother, you can let me go now."

"Oh. Okay."

He did as she wished and she shuffled a few feet away from him. At first King felt stricken, until he realized she merely wanted to be closer to Ban. That was something he needed to get used to. But he would try to be happy for his sister.

Still, he wondered if Diane would ever stare at him so lovingly. Diane…

"Diane!" King yelled, and took to the air. As he looked down his puzzled companions, he explained all about Diane's memory loss and disappearance, and about the danger in Camelot.

"Jeez. Looks like the Captain needs some rescuing again. Guess we'd better go help them out, ah?" Ban said as he moved behind Elaine.

King felt terribly conflicted. "But… Diane…"

"Brother, listen. We don't know where Diane is, and I'm sure you're worried sick about her! But we know where your other friends are, and we know they're in trouble, so let's go help them first."

"But…All right." King said, slowly descending to the ground.

Ban smirked and put his arms around Elaine from behind, resting his chin in her hair. "How do you always know the best things to say?"

"I don't know." Elaine replied, turning her head up to grin at him.

Ban bent down and caught her lips in a deep kiss, and King immediately flushed and began to fly around them frantically.

"H-Hey! What are you…right here!? Elaine, now's not the time to…Ban, get OFF of her."

They broke apart suddenly, Elaine as red as her brother.

"H-Harlequin! You- You don't have to watch!"

Jericho snorted. "Well, when you do it in front of everyone…"

Elaine blushed harder, "I didn't mean- I…"

"N-no, it's okay, you should do what you want Elaine, I-"

Ban laughed at the two mortified fairies. He draped an arm around Elaine and pulled her close to his chest, which calmed her stuttering. "Take it down a notch, King. It's only cute when Elaine gets like that."

King frowned, about to protest, but Escanor cut him off. "Shouldn't we get going? Merlin- the others could be…"

Ban finally stopped laughing. "Yeah, let's go clean up their mess."

I want this to be AU. I want Nakaba to come out with some sort of scene of reconciliation between these siblings that invalidates my fic, because it's clear that King needs it so badly. I just rewatched the Capitol of the Dead Arc, and I'd forgotten how Elaine completely blows poor King off. She does say nice things about him, but they're said in voiceover that never reaches King's ears, so they might as well not have been said. I just feel that Elaine is the biggest source/representation of King's guilt, and he can never live with himself until he's forgiven. So WHY Nakaba, especially after Elaine now seems to be dead again, can't you include a quick scene where King is able to move on and stop hating himself? God I just want my sweet, broken Fairy King to be happy and go have beautiful multi-species children with Diane. I don't care if fairies probably don't have kids that way. It should happen.