Disclaimer: I do not own Seven Deadly Sins or any of the characters except for the mysterious stranger.

Part 1 - The Mysterious Stranger

Ban's POV

I guess I hadn't really planned for today to be a prison breakout. At least, not for anyone aside from myself.

But that went out the window when I heard the singing.

Leaving the Holy Knight's bleeding body on the ground, I started down the hall. The guards had scattered, either out of fear for their lives or to warn other soldiers in the proximity. That didn't matter right now.

I passed other cells, most of which were silent. I admit that I wondered about the people who may or may not have been inside, but that didn't stop me. There were some cells containing people screaming for their lives, but I ignored those too. I had my sins to atone for, and they had theirs. There would be no mercy for their damned souls today.

But the cell at the end of the hallway was the one that changed my mind.

The person inside was singing.

I couldn't understand the words, as they seemed to be in a different language, but the person's voice was clear, like shards of glass, or a perfectly cut diamond. I faltered in my stride, and merely stood there for a minute, listening. The voice had a seemingly indefinite range, high notes mingling with low, running up and down the scale effortlessly. The music conveyed thousands of emotions at once, and soon I found myself bracing against the door, fingers taught around the handle.

I ripped the door out of the frame and walked inside the containment area.

Inside, shackled to the wall, was a kid.

Elix's POV

When the door flew off the wall and a half-naked man walked into my torture chamber, I knew today was going to be a interesting day.

I stopped singing and just stared at him for a moment, evaluating what to do if he was here to kill me.

He was built for battle, heavily muscled. He looked to be fairly fast, but I was willing to bet I could outrun him if I managed to get out of my chains. He had a scar on his neck, indicating he had been in a rough battle. I found myself wondering about how he had gotten it, multiple scenarios running through my head at once.

His head tilted as he examined me, a lock of pale grey hair falling into his eyes, pools of pink-purple cutting through me. I felt as if he was staring directly at my soul. As if I needed a stranger to see how broken I am. It's not like I haven't heard it before.

"Qu'est-ce que tu veux?" I asked, meeting his gaze steadily. He raised his chin slightly, not understanding.

"What do you want?" I corrected myself.

"Who are you?" he responded.

"Who are you?" I shot back, a whirlwind of unanswered questions swirling around the cramped room.

He scanned my face, eyes trailing down my body. For a moment, it was like I saw through his eyes. This damaged child, chained to a wall. Wrists rubbed raw, scars up and down the arms, face bleeding. Hair tangled, covering the eyes, which were storm clouds of blue-grey, angry and wild. Great, I thought. This is exactly what I wanted today to be like. Thanks, world.

Finally, he responded, "I'm Ban. The Fox Sin of Greed. And you?"

Ban's POV

How did this kid get here? He—or she, for that matter, it was difficult to tell—didn't look like a murderer or anything of the sort, but then again, looks could be deceiving.

They had an air of defiance to them, a silent signal to the world of 'you don't own me'. Their blonde hair hung around their face messily, but still in a natural way. And their eyes were absolute beauty in the finest, rawest form, blues of the sky and the ocean mixed with greys of steel and bone.

"I'm Elix." they answered finally, quietly. They pronounced it like AY-lix. Their voice gave away nothing of gender. It was simply soft and fairly low.

"Why are you here?" I prompted. "Murder? Treason? Come on, give me a good story," I grinned ferociously.

Elix, who had been avoiding my eyes until then, seemed to get riled up by this question. Leaning as far forward as they could against the chains, newfound fire burning just below the surface of their eyes, they answered simply, "Well, they say I'm insane."