Chapter 2 – Boar Hat

Later on in the Boar Hat, Meliodas and his group were all hanging out. The men had all put on the bar's outfit and Meliodas kept trying to get Arcadia to also put on the uniform. However, the girl refused to. Even so, that wasn't what was on the girl's mind at the time. She was focused on how Hendrickson was now approaching her.

"Lady Arcadia. May I ask you a question?" Hendrickson questioned once he was standing in front of her.

"Don't call me 'lady', it's weird, but sure."

"Tell me about your connection with Fraudrin."

"Oh... Um, alright I guess. Since you asked so nicely...Not that you worded that like a question anyway..." She was sarcastic and a little irritated, but she decided to speak anyway. She noticed how Gilthunder and Howzer also walked over to hear her story, but she didn't say anything to them. She kept her eyes on Hendrickson's. "Well, I guess you could say he and I were romantically involved. As romantically involved as a demon can be anyway. I don't think he actually cared too much for me, but I had once cared deeply for him."

"Cared? Past tense?" It was Gilthunder speaking now, he'd stepped closer to the girl. She sighed and turned around to face the young man.

"Yes. Once he killed Liz, Meliodas's previous lover, the love I felt for him died away. I took that as a betrayal due to how close I was with Liz. He knew she meant a lot to me, yet he killed her anyway. Now, my only feelings towards him are those of hate and the need to kill him."

"I see. However, why didn't you make sure he was dead after Meliodas destroyed Danafor? Why did you leave him at the bottom of that crater?" Hendrickson questioned, getting a little emotional over the situation.

"I will admit, I knew he was alive then, but I was in so much shock over Liz's death that I just left and never looked back. I never expected any humans to go down there. I didn't know it would happen."

"Just because you didn't know doesn't mean anything to me. You turned a blind eye on the situation and that caused my father and many others to end up dead."

"Gilthunder, it isn't her fault." Hendrickson was trying to defend the girl now.

"Listen, kid, there's more to the story than what I can tell you currently, but just know I never meant for any of this to happen."

"I don't believe you. How could you have just let him live? You can't tell me that you didn't know Sir Dreyfus was possessed by that demon. Even if you didn't know, you should have been paying attention to the mess you left!" Gilthunder was getting quite emotional now over Arcadia. She just looked to the ground and sighed.

"I never said I didn't know someone got possessed. I knew, but I chose to do nothing about it. I have been weakened over these years, and I feared that getting involved would only lead Fraudrin to get a hold of my powers and use me for worse things. I'm sorry, Gilthunder. I should have at least tried something, but I was scared he would use me to hurt or kill even more people than he could already."

"You should have gotten involved. You should have tried to do something!"

"Gil, man chill out. She said that she could have been used to do even more damage." Howzer spoke as he put a hand on Gilthunder's shoulder. Gilthunder looked over at his close friend and sighed.

"Everything was my fault. If I hadn't been consumed with the darkness left behind by when Fraudrin possessed me for those seconds, then none of this would have happened." Hendrickson was clearly trying to take all of the blame, but the girl wouldn't let him. She turned back to him and shook her head.

"It's my fault for not watching over him better. I should have found some way to stop anyone from going down that crater. It couldn't be your fault. You didn't ask for any of this to happen to you."

"Arcadia..." Hendrickson wanted to say more, but suddenly the cries of the young man turned boy was starting to be heard coming towards them. The four of them turned to see Slader walking down the stairs with the now clothed crying boy in his arms.

"Is something wrong with him... other than the obvious?" Arcadia questioned, a little sad for the crying boy.

"I'm not sure, he just won't stop crying anytime I hold him."

"Her! I want her to hold me!" Griamore cried out as he reached his arms out for the only girl in the room.

"Um, what?" Arcadia just looked around at the guys with horror written all over her face. Gilthunder just nodded his head at her. "But... okay I guess." Arcadia then walked over to Slader and took the boy from his arms. As soon as he'd seen her, he'd stopped crying so now he was just wiping away his tears.

"Hi," Griamore spoke as he smiled up at the girl.

"Um, hello. Why do you want to be held by me?"

"You are less scary."

"Oh..." Arcadia wasn't sure how she felt about that. She didn't want to be 'less scary' she wanted to be a powerful being who people feared. Yet here was this child that wasn't a bit afraid of her.

"Put me down now." Griamore's voice broke the girl out of her thoughts.

"Sure." Arcadia then put the child down on the ground only to watch him walk over to Hendrickson and raise his arms up at him.

"Pick me up," Griamore stated as he wiggled his fingers at the older man.

"Me?" Hendrickson was clearly confused but complied with the little boy's wishes anyway. He picked Griamore up and held him in his arms. The little boy seemed just as happy as he was when the girl held him.

"I guess you and Arcadia have now become Griamore's parents for the time being." It was Meliodas's voice startling everyone in the room. He'd walked down the stairs with Elizabeth in tow without anyone even hearing them. Everyone else began to pour into the main area of the Boar Hat now as if they were all summoned by something. However, before anyone could say anything, King burst into the room and declared he was going to leave them all now. "You're going to move separately? Are you going to look for Diane?"

"That's one of the reasons, but there's something else, I absolutely have to go."

"Then we'll come with..."

"I don't need your help!" King snapped before looking away from the group. "Didn't I tell you? I don't trust you."

"Well, well, well, that's a problem."

"King! How can you say that?!" Gilthunder yelled out at the fairy king. "What happened in the land of the Druids?! What part of Meliodas can you not trust?!"

"Everything. I can't believe you guys actually trust him. Someone whose true identity is unknown... someone who refuses to tell who he really is." King had now turned completely away from everyone as he spoke. Arcadia then, in turn, turned to Hendrickson.

"Is he always such a jackass?"

"No, he isn't. Something must truly be bothering him." Hendrickson responded as he watched as Elizabeth was now speaking to King.

"I'm the same... I don't know who my real parents are or who I even am, but Lord Meliodas and Lord King, you've both helped me." However, her words were lost on the man. "Lord King!"

"Sorry... I have to go." King then began to fly out of the door.

"Give us a holler if something happens, and we'll go to you right away!" Meliodas yelled after him with a smile on his face. Even though King didn't trust him, he still had full trust in the fairy.

Arcadia ended up taking the kid back from Hendrickson so he could do some cleaning. The two ended up going to the top of the Boar Hat with Gowther. Arcadia had heard of the books he kept with him, so she wanted to go and check them out. Her and Griamore spent the rest of the day reading with Gowther. Well, it was more like Gowther and her read the books to Griamore, but still.

"Arcadia, is Griamore hungry yet?" Hendrickson's voice shocked the two people out of their books while Gowther just stared at the older man.

"I'm not sure, are you hungry Griamore?" The little boy nodded his head so Arcadia stood up. "Alright, who do you want to carry you?"

"Him." Griamore then got himself up and made his way over to Hendrickson. The white-haired man picked up the little boy and began to descend the stairs. Arcadia thanked Gowther and followed after Hendrickson.

"I wonder where everyone is going to sleep tonight. There are so many people and such little room."

"I suppose people will have to sleep in the bar area. I'm sure Gilthunder and Howzer won't mind. They have done it before." Hendrickson smiled a little as he spoke, which send flutters through Arcadia's heart. However, she shoved those aside and began to worry about whether or not she'd have to stay in the bar part as well.

"Don't worry Arcadia. You won't have to." They'd reached the bottom of the stairs where apparently Meliodas had heard their conversation.

"Huh? Why not? Not that I want to anyway."

"I've decided that you, Hendrickson and Griamore can take Elizabeth and I's room."

"Why?" Arcadia was clearly confused about the situation.

"You guys are a little family now, so it's for the best." He smiled at the girl, confusing her even further, but even so, she'd take it. She didn't want to deal with sleeping in the bar anyway.

So, now that it was dinner time, everyone sat down to eat together, minus Gowther, due to him not eating. No one particularly liked the food Meliodas had prepared for them, but they all ate it anyway. Except for Arcadia.

"Not hungry?" Hendrickson questioned when he noticed the girl didn't eat anything.

"No, just not wanting to get food poisoning from his food again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, many years ago I got pretty sick from his food and nearly died."

"I apologized for that!" Meliodas yelled out at the girl.

"I nearly died, you ass, an apology doesn't make it better." Arcadia snapped back with a smile on her face. The group around them smiles at the interaction. It was nice to have some normal bickering among all the heaviness that was going on around them constantly.

Once everyone was done eating, they all split off into little groups of their own. Certain people remained in the bar part to drink a bit while others went off to do their own thing. Hendrickson, Arcadia, and Griamore ended up heading to their bedroom. Griamore wanted both of them to read him a story before he fell asleep and neither of the adults wanted to drink anyway, so they all just wanted to go to bed.

"This is a big bed. I guess all of us can fit on it." Arcadia noted as she sat down on the right side of the bed.

"I wanna sleep in the middle!" Griamore instantly jumped onto the bed and got under the covers. He looked expectantly at the adults with a smile on his face.

"I'll go grab a book and I'll be right back." Arcadia quickly ran up the stairs to grab the book she'd been reading to Griamore earlier. Once she returned, Hendrickson was climbing into bed while Griamore was chatting about the things in the book. Both of them had shed their suits and were in their undershirt and pants. "Alright, I have the book, who do you want to read from it?"

"You already read to me earlier, so I want Hendy to read to me now."

"Alright." Arcadia then handed the book over to Hendrickson and climbed into the bed with the two others.

Arcadia, herself, nearly fell asleep listening to the story, but she managed to stay awake longer than Griamore did. Once Hendrickson noticed that Griamore was sleeping, he stopped reading and marked the page with the bookmark Arcadia had put in it earlier.

"Goodnight Griamore," Arcadia whispered to the now asleep boy. She made sure to tuck him in better and then got herself situated. She slept on her stomach and was facing away from Griamore. "Goodnight... Hendy." She spoke with humor in her voice and nearly laughed as she called him by his nickname.

On his side of the bed, Hendrickson was blushing, much to his concern. He'd never had a girl refer to him as Hendy before, and this time it felt completely different than when the others would call him the name. He was so shocked, that he couldn't even respond to the girl. He just laid down and faced the ceiling. He was thankful that no one was able to see his red face at that moment. He just was also so confused about it as well. He added that to the list of things he needed to talk to Dreyfus about when he got him back.