"I'll always love you… and I'll always be by your side"

The words rung through Diane's head as her hand hovered over the doorknob of the room shared by Ban and King, much to King's displeasure. It was now or never, she could not let King flit out of sight and out of mind again, like that day two hundred years ago.

"Would he still feel the same? Even after how I treated him during all our time with the Sins…" Diane knew she was second-guessing herself because of nerves. There was no way King… Harlequin… would completely reject her. He couldn't right? They did have a really enjoyable time during the festival the previous day.

Diane meant to breach the topic of their shared past the previous night, but seeing how delighted King was to float beside her and enjoy all the festivities, she could not risk ruining the mood with such a serious topic. King even won a plush bear toy for her at one of the stalls, he was so proud of himself back then, even if Diane suspected slight cheating with his telekinetic abilities. After all, knocking over three mugs of ale with one apple, especially by someone as scrawny as King, could be seen as slightly fishy. But the stall owner, possibly in gratitude towards the sins, luckily took it in stride and handed over the bear.

Diane shook her head and lifted her hand from the knob to knock on the door, even though she knew Ban was downstairs, too hungover to have made it back to his bed without the rare assistance from King who, more often than not, simply marched over Ban, even if he could simply float over.

The knock rang through the room but there was only silence. The hesitation rushed through Diane again as she pushed the door open slowly. "Is he gone again? But I watched the tavern area like a hawk, he couldn't have slipped by me, could he? Or does he not want to talk-"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the fairy king, still fast asleep in his hammock, thoroughly earning his title as the Sin of Sloth. He even had one arm bent underneath his body, Dolor only knows how he manages to stay asleep in that position.

"How does he even stay asleep until now? It's high noon already." Diane giggled as she walked towards King and sat down on Ban's bed, still unused for the day. "Might as well let him rest… we all fought really hard that day. Especially King's fight against that Helbram person" Diane wasn't very clear on the circumstances of that fight as she was barely conscious herself at the time, but even then she could sense King's anguish at having to repeatedly murder his best friend.

King slowly shifted in his hammock to find a more comfortable position as his current one was likely causing a dead arm.

"I don't think I could ever do that… I've been lonely so long until Harlequin took that loneliness away. If I had to kill him for any reason, I wouldn't be strong enough to do that." Diane's thoughts were interrupted as she heard a muttering somewhere in the room.

"Don't-… -gerrof-… -said I didn't want any-… -bram" The fairy seemed slightly agitated, but in the way he usually looks at Ban, or Gowther, or the Captain, or really anyone that says or does anything stupid around him.

"We're all pretty dumb aren't we, he has that look a lot. But I guess it comes with the job description of the Seven Deadly Sins." Diane smiled and turned her attention away from King. As fun as it was to listen to his sleep-talking, she wanted to give him a little privacy.

The miniature giantess looked towards her feet and kicked back on the bed, to rest her head on the pillow. "I won't go to sleep but maybe I could just lie down a little bit until he decides to wake up… Not like Ban can stop me now…"

King POV

King rubbed a hand through his bleary eyes as he stretched the other arm to regain the feeling before the pins and needles started hitting him.

This was the best sleep he had in a very long time. It even came with such a lovely dream, enjoying the festivities with Diane all day long. It really was blissful. He sat up in his hammock and looked out the window to where the giantess usually napped, but there was only an empty clearing. That was when King noticed the position of the sun.

"Crap! I overslept!" The fairy literally shot up from his hammock and grabbed his vest to pull it on quickly. The hood now included Helbram's helmet, which he had attached the previous night, inspired by their expedition to buy new outfits for the Sins.

"Wait? Wasn't that a dream? But I'm pretty sure we bought clothes… and the helmet is here too. Then Diane and I really…" King floated towards the door, still confused, until he realised that something was different in the room. His roommate wasn't drunkenly snoring and disturbing King's sleep with his gargling as usual.

King looked back at Ban's bed to see what the problem was, not that he cared all that much. That was when he saw the twin tails that were so familiar to him. After all, he had helped make them in the first place. But what was Diane doing here? King considered letting her sleep as she looked so peaceful, but he realised that she must have wanted to talk to him if she was in his room instead of downstairs or outside like usual.

He floated over to the bed and landed next to it before reaching out to gently shake Diane's shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times before suddenly sitting up straight, crashing her forehead against King's by accident. The force of the blow knocked King backwards and he did a quick hovering somersault before clutching his forehead with a few tears in his eyes.

"Oh my God! King, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, I swear-" But the cinnamon-haired boy quickly waved his hands to reassure her that he was alright.

"It's okay, really Diane. I've been told I have a thick skull so that just caught me off guard."

Diane sighed. "What a great start…" "Still, I'm sorry King. But I'm glad you're finally up. I've been wanting to talk to you about something..." She tugged lightly at her hair.

King tilted his head in surprise, "Sure, you know you can talk to me about anything and you could just have woken me up. What's troubling you?"

"Harlequin…I…" She started and King's eyes widened in shock. Last time she used his real name, she couldn't remember who it belonged to. But if she was addressing him by it now, does that mean the rest of her memories are…

"Uhm… Harlequin, do you remember to the promise you made to me that day?" Diane wasn't sure how to phrase her words, even after mulling it over all night.

King slowly nodded. Diane hadn't been specific about what day or promise she was talking about, but he still knew what she was referring to right away. That day back in the human village 200 years ago, when she had asked for his love. That was one promise he had never broken or forgotten.

"Back then I said it was okay as long as you loved me right? I want to change that promise if it's okay with you." Diane asked softly and King froze, his insides turning cold. "Is this it? Is she going to reject even the love she asked for?"

He opened his mouth as he looked away with a sad expression but Diane was first to speak.

"I told you back then that you didn't need to stay by my side forever, only love me. But if you're still willing, will you please do that too? In return, I promise to stay by your side forever as well… and love you."

King's eyes widened in shock. Had she really just said that? After all this time he was trying to confess his feelings to her through words and actions, and in the end, she was the first one to actually do it! In his shocked silence, Diane's courage started to crumble but she refused to backtrack on her words. She started to get up to leave before her nerves completely failed her, but she felt his hand catching hers in a gentle, but tight grip, showing that he had no intention of letting her slip loose.

The brunette looked back in hesitation and the familiarity of the situation hit her in a flash, Harlequin standing with his arm outstretched, her hand in his, inviting her to stay with him.

This felt right.

So… this was the product of an extremely bored mind in an office where she wasn't receiving a single bit of work to do for eight hours. I hope you enjoyed my first fanfiction in a very long time and I'm hoping my writing has improved from before. This idea sprung from an omake scene that shows Diane looking for King in his room after he disappeared with Ban and I always wondered what would have happened if King had never left, this is the baby of that thought and discussing with the lovely Alexandrorca made me put some more thought into this. The last paragraph might be familiar for astute manga readers ;-)

Ultrawolfie out!