Disclaimer: I do not own The Seven Deadly Sins. I'm merely borrowing the characters and having some fun with them.
I do own this story though.
Goldilocks and The Sins
Chapter 2
"Fairy King's… forest," Meliodas spoke slowly. Testing out the words. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It's a place where the fairies reside, dear traveler," Merlin told him.
He frowned. "It's Meliodas," He told her, his scowl deepening. "And fairies? Really? That's what you guys are going with?"
"I don't understand his line of questioning," Gowther tilted his head.
"You don't believe us?" Elizabeth queried despondently. It hurt that he thought they had made it up. Maybe he wasn't what she thought he was.
His expression softened as he eyed her quivering bottom lip. "Fairies Elizabeth? I don't know what world you guys live in, but where I come from, they don't exist." He told her gently, taking her shaking hand in his.
"Of course they don't." King scoffed, barely concealed rage behind his tone. "Your kind tried to wipe us all out centuries ago."
"My kind?" Meliodas replied as he struggled to keep his voice in check. "We're all humans here aren't we?"
His query met silence.
He felt his anger simmer as he repeated meekly, "Aren't we?"
"You are the only human here," Merlin told him.
Meliodas mouth went dry. "But, what, how then?" His words rushed out past his lips, jumbling into meaningless garble.
"Perhaps a better explanation is in order," Merlin suggested. "I'll start. I'm a sorceress, very proficient in magic spells and the like."
"I'm a doll," Gowther said simply.
"I'm a rare kind of human, whose strength grows with the sun." Escanor spoke.
"I'm a giant!" Diane exclaimed excitedly. Meliodas gave her a disbelieving look. "Well I take shrinking pills so I can fit in the building," she explained sheepishly.
"I'm a druid," Elizabeth smiled at him. Even through his shock he managed to return it.
"I use to be human, buuuut I can't die now after drinkin-"
"Enough Ban," King cut him off sharply. Said man frowned but didn't continue what he was saying.
"So what are you then?" Meliodas spoke, suddenly feeling entirely too tired to have this kind of conversation. All eyes shifted to King.
He stood straight as he stared Meliodas in the eye. "I am the Fairy King, Harlequin."
Meliodas' jaw dropped. "Wait, so that's your forest everyone disappeared too?" The cider haired man nodded. The blonde couldn't believe his ears. This man in front of him was a king? "But I thought your name was King?"
"A nickname," he shrugged. The Fairy King then snapped his fingers, a green and black triangle spotted pillow appeared. He proceeded to lounge back on it. The thing floating in the air.
"Fuck," Meliodas swore at the sight. Hawk headbutted him behind the knees. "Ow!"
"Stop swearing!"
He pushed the pig's snout away from his legs and looked at Elizabeth. "Didn't they say you were a princess before?" She nodded her head, a knowing smile coming up on her lips. "So are you like his daughter or something then?"
King fell off his pillow landing hard on the floor.
Elizabeth giggled. "No we have no relation whatsoever. I'm merely a princess of the druids that live in the Fairy King's forest."
"Huh," he thought outloud. "So not only fairies live there?"
"N-no," King stuttered out, floating back up to his pillow. Meliodas found he preferred the warmer King to the cold one from before. "The realm is meant for any magical being."
"Huh," he hummed taking a seat back at the bar. He raised the mug to his lips and took a long drink.
The workers watched him with varying levels of interest.
"You're takin' this real well," Ban complimented.
Meliodas shrugged. "Pretty sure I passed out in the forest somewhere and this is all just a dream," he reasoned. "Why worry about what's happening in a dream?"
The bartender chuckled. "What if it ain't a dream?"
"Eh, I'll deal with it tomorrow when I wake up then," his green eyes shifted over to the silver haired beauty standing next to him. "Someone did offer me a place to sleep afterall."
She blushed and he fought to keep the smile off his face.
"Well shit! Let's drink then!" The white haired man cheered loudly. He poured ale into the mug Meliodas had seen him sipping on.
"Haven't you been drinking all night?" Meliodas asked as he calmly took a sip.
Ban grinned, "notice that did ya?"
They shared a laugh. Elizabeth scowled, "Ban! You know I don't like it when you drink on the job."
He rolled his eyes, "Sorry boss," he apologized out of habit. She always scolded him like this.
Meliodas whipped around to look at her. "This is your bar?"
"Uh y-yes," she stumbled with her words. It only made her even more attractive, he was pretty sure this girl could do no wrong by him.
Before he could stop himself, "that's hot," filtered past his lips. She immediately lit up with the most ferocious blush he'd seen her wear yet.
"You bastard!" Hawk shouted tackling him off the chair once again. "Keep your grubby hands off Elizabeth!"
"I haven't even touched her yet!" he argued. The rest of the bar, minus Elizabeth, roared with laughter.
"Yet?! Never!" The pig continued to stomp on his chest.
"Ow! Knock it off!" The pig was relentless. "Hey Ban! Mind if I use the kitchen? I'm thinking I should make my special pork chops!" Meliodas asked the barkeep through the pig's attempted punches.
"Nice try buddy! We don't serve pork here!" Hawk smirked as he paused in his tirade.
"Guess you'll just have to do," he responded casually.
"Eek! Elizabeth! Don't let him hurt me!" Hawk cowered behind her legs. She scratched between his ears to calm him.
"Are you alright Sir Meliodas?" She fretted crouching down in front of him.
The view was spectacular, he didn't answer, or move in fear of ruining the gracious look at her panties she awarded him with. She mistook it for him being hurt.
"Oh! Here let me help you." She placed her hands on his chest.
Her silver hair begin to float softly around her, revealing her hidden eye. It was orange and had an insignia he didn't recognize inside of it. Then her hands glowed and a feeling of peace washed over him.
"There," she smiled, hair falling back into place. "That should do it. How do you feel?"
"Really good actually," he placed his hand over hers on his chest. "How'd you do that?"
Pink spread across her cheeks from him touching her hand in such an intimate gesture. "I'm a druid. My magic is healing."
"That's pretty amazing," he told her with a tender smile. For a moment it was just the two of them again. The rest of the bar fading into the background.
"Get a room you two!" Ban laughed, popping the little bubble of peace the two had been in.
Elizabeth "eeped" and withdrew her hand. Meliodas was disappointed she pulled away from him but shrugged it off. He got up and took his chair for the second time tonight.
"So are you guys a guard of some sort?" He questioned. It was bothering him. Why was there a bar to pass through before getting into the Fairy King's forest? Didn't seem to make much sense.
"Of some sort yes," Merlin nodded. "This is the only way into the Fairy King's forest. We are here to ensure that no one enters who shouldn't."
"Like me?"
"That is still up for debate," she smirked.
"He did make it past the first layer of defense," Gowther noted. "He also holds no ill will towards us," he reminded them all.
"Huh?" Meliodas furrowed his brow at the first part of what the pink haired man said. "What defense? I didn't notice anything."
"You're not supposed to be able to find this place so easily," Diane told him. "That's why we asked how you got here."
"I just walked around the woods for a few hours."
"That shouldn't have let you in though," King answered thoughtfully. "Were you lost?"
"I suppose," he shrugged. "I woulda found my way out eventually.
"I wonder," the Fairy King leaned forward to examine him. "Do you have magic in you?"
"Huh?"
"I felt it when you and Elizabeth shook hands. There was a spike in magic pressure for a split second, but it was there," King told him as he hovered around examining Meliodas from a different angle.
"Is that what that was?" Daine pondered aloud.
"Knew there was something different about ya," Ban grinned.
"Whoa hold up!" Meliodas shouted holding his hands out in front of him. "I don't have magic! If Elizabeth hadn't just healed my ribs I wouldn't even think it existed!"
"There's no other explanation," King shrugged gliding back to lounge on his pillow.
"But - I -," he stopped. This was too much! For them to think he had magic of all things? That's just crazy talk.
"Perhaps he's meant to be the eighth?" Escanor announced suddenly, drawing all eyes of the occupants in the room. "W-What?" The man with the mustache stuttered.
"Hmm," Merlin hummed from her chair. "We knew he would be coming eventually. It is one of the more important sins afterall."
"Sins? What are you guys talking about now?" Meliodas grumbled, his hand going up to push his bangs out of his face in frustration. They fall right back into place a second later.
"Here," Ban handed him another mug. "You're going to be wanting this." Meliodas nodded his thanks, taking a swig instantly.
"We are the Seven Deadly Sins." Gowther told him undoing the top buttons of his uniform. "I am the Goat Sin of Lust." He pulled his shirt down to show him a tattoo on his right collarbone.
"Serpent Sin of Envy!" Diane exclaimed, showing him the mark on her left thigh.
"Grizzly Sin of Sloth," King yawned lazily turning his left ankle for him to see.
"Fox Sin of Greed," Ban grinned widely, standing up to show his ink above his waist on his left side.
"Lion Sin of Pride," Escanor showed him the large back tattoo.
"Boar Sin of Gluttony," Merlin showed him the mark on the left side of her neck.
There was a long pause as all eyes fell on Elizabeth. "Well," Meliodas prompted. "What are you then Elizabeth?"
She blushed as she slowly began to undo her top buttons. His eyes widened and a dusting of pink took over his cheeks.
"Uh, Elizabeth, what are you…?" He was silenced as he saw a tattoo of a humanoid creature above her left breast.
"Pixie Sin of Despair," she told him softly.
"Huh," he leaned close to her, not noticing the tensing of everyone else in the room. "Doesn't seem like a good title for you."
"Our sins aren't necessarily a description of our character Meliodas," Merlin told him. "They are faults of our past. Please do not judge us too harshly."
"Who's judging?" Meliodas leaned back in his chair. He took a swig of ale, a distant look coming over his face. "We all have things in our past that we aren't always proud of."
King shifted uneasily in his pillow, that hard gaze from earlier returning. "What aren't you proud of Meliodas?"
He laughed dryly. "You guys first."
No one answered him.
"Thought so," he finished his drink, waving Ban to refill it. He let out a sigh. "Let's just say I used to have an anger problem…"
Collective gasps filtered in from around the room. Meliodas was disappointed. He thought for sure they would understand. They each had a sin from the past. He figured they could accept his as well.
"Wrath," Elizabeth whispered. His green eyes found her aqua and she smiled. "You are the eighth," she exclaimed. She threw her arms around him and squeezed him in a hug. "Thank goodness! We've been waiting for you for so long!"
"Huh?" He huffed out, confused. But he wrapped his arms around her, savoring the feeling.
"The Sins started off with Elizabeth as it's sole instigator. She opened this bar to serve as a gateway to the Fairy King's forest," Gowther explained. "King was not far behind. The rest of us came after that."
"A prophecy foretold the protectors of the Fairy King's forest would be eight," Merlin stepped in. "We've been at seven since Escanor came and that was a long time ago."
"Uh, how old are you guys?" Meliodas asked skeptically. "You mentioned a couple of centuries ago… You can't possibly have been there."
"Not all of us," King chuckled. "Just me and Elizabeth actually."
"Uh…. what?" He looked down at the young woman in his arms. She smiled shyly at him. "No way are you two hundred years old!"
King and Ban laughed loudly. "She wishes she was that young!" Ban hooted.
"Elizabeth is almost as old as I am and I'm going on fifteen hundred!" The fairy wiped a stray tear from his amber eyes.
"King!" Elizabeth wailed burying her face embarrassedly in Meliodas chest.
"Knock it off you guys!" Diane hissed at them.
"Oh you're almost as bad!" Ban laughed "It's eight hundred years for you!"
"Yeah! Well you're only five hundred! You're practically a child!" She challenged.
"What was that?" Ban growled. "I'm no kid! Ask King's sister!"
A collective "oooo" spread through the room. Most of it supplied by Meliodas and Diane.
"Damnit Ban! Shut up!" King threw his pillow at him. "Don't talk about Elaine like that!"
The argument continued. Meliodas laughed as he listened. Upon hearing a small giggle from underneath him, he remembered the woman in his arms. He glanced down and saw her smiling face watching her friends. He smiled too.
"Ya know," he said drawing her attention to him. "I don't mind that you're older than me," he told her sincerely. She blushed, hiding her face from him once again against his chest.
Because truthfully he didn't.
So what if she was probably over a millennium older than him. That didn't stop his heart from beating faster when he looked at her. Or the way his breathing would stop when she smiled at him. He couldn't be happier being in this weird bar in the middle of nowhere.
He'd stay here as long as they let him.
He'd have to write home eventually he supposed. His family would worry if he didn't. But they couldn't stop him from staying here.
Slowly the room cleared out. Escanor, Merlin, and Gowther being the first to retire. King and Diane followed about an hour after, heading to their own room. Apparently the two were a couple. This left Meliodas, Ban, Elizabeth and Hawk.
"So where's your room Elizabeth?" Meliodas wiggled his eyebrows suggestively after the silverette let out a long yawn.
"No way bub!" Hawk scolded. "You're sleeping in the basement!"
He shrugged, too tired to argue. The remaining members followed Hawk down the steps behind the bar. Meliodas found a clean spot and laid down. He shifted this way and that, but couldn't get comfortable.
"Too hard," he complained jumping back up. "Somewhere else?" he suggested hopefully.
"You can give the extra mattress in my room a try. King use to sleep there before he and Diane started dating." Ban walked up to the main floor and then lead them to the stairs. They went up a couple of flights before they arrived.
Meliodas collapsed onto it and sank in. He almost couldn't get out! The bed had way too much give!
"Uh, help? This is way too soft," he protested as Ban rolled him out of the bed.
"Don't suppose there's any beds left?"
"No-" Hawk said and Elizabeth interrupted immediately with "Yes."
She led them back down the stairs to the second floor room.
Suddenly he felt like he was in a fairy tale he knew by heart. Except the character he was playing was suppose to be a little girl with golden hair and there were people instead of bears. There was also the fact that instead of a house in the woods, it was a bar. Okay. Maybe this wasn't like the fairy tale he was thinking of.
It is similar, he admitted taking the steps down slowly. The ale was starting to catch up with him. A bar in the forest. People gave me food and now I'm being shuffled around from bed to bed. If I remember right this next one should be perfect.
They stepped into the room and he only noticed one bed. He was so tired he collapsed onto it. Just like he thought, it was perfect. He didn't even speak as sleep tugged at his consciousness.
"Well, now what are we supposed to do?" Ban's voice came out garbled through his sleepy haze.
"We could always make him one of the Sins?" Elizabeth suggested and he felt himself smile at hearing her speak so sweetly. "I believe that he is the one the prophecy spoke of."
It became harder to keep conscious. Hawk was the last he heard speak before he fell asleep.
Hawk snorted. "Yeah he can be the Dragon's Sin of Wrath," he told them.
Meliodas figured he was joking, but he had to admit;
He liked the sound of that.
A/N: And that's a wrap people! Kidding of course XD But this was were I was originally going to end this lovely little story. But my wonderful beta dear Jenarla told me to think about adding to it. If it wasn't for her you guys may not have gotten anything past this second chapter! So huge shout to her! Make sure to thank her guys ;)
This story has quickly become one of my favorites to write! Being my first AU (we aren't counting Genie since you guys have only seen the one chapter. Which I also love) it was really satisfying to make something that was my own. Hopefully you guys will like it as much as me and my beta do! :D
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favorite! I'll be seeing you next week!
Luv~