Coco: Here's chapter 2, everyone! And to answer something that seems to have everyone confused, Monroe's tattoo on her chest is just a tattoo. It isn't the symbol of death. She mostly just got it as a joke when she was younger since Death has one himself on his neck. But the runic symbol for death (which Nordic-the one I'm using anyway) is a brand all Knights of Death have on their bodies somewhere. Humans don't really know much about the symbol only that it means death, but don't know that Death's servants go around wearing it and that they walk amongst the living. The older races/clans do, however, know, so they tend to steer clear of people like Monroe. I hope that clears things up :D
Now, shall we start the next chapter? lol
Monroe walked out of the bathroom while finishing drying off her hair. She tossed the towel into the basket in the bathroom then headed down the stairs. However, she paused when sensing some low-level presences outside the Boar Hat.
"Tch, they might be weak, but those aren't villagers outside the door." Monroe said as she hurried down the rest of the steps.
Monroe made it to the bottom to see Elizabeth up and about with Meliodas and Hawk. Looked as if Meliodas made her something to eat. Though if Monroe's memory serves right, Meliodas is a terrible cook.
"Lady Monroe, there you are." Elizabeth said smiling.
Monroe placed her finger to her lips to signal for Elizabeth to keep quiet. Elizabeth blinked in confusion before someone banged loudly on the door, which had the princess jumping.
"Open up!" A voice shouted from outside. "The villagers told us who's in there! We are the Order of the Beard of the Mountain Cat—serving under the Holy Knights from the foot of the mountain. Former Holy Knight Monroe—traitor of the kingdom and supporter of the Seven Deadly Sins—come out and do so peacefully."
Monroe sighed. She should have known this would happen after she scared those villagers away. But she supposes there's no helping it now.
"I was hoping to save the violence for later." Monroe said. "But I suppose there's no helping it. Princess, please remain here."
Monroe started heading towards the door, but Meliodas reached out to grasp the back of her jacket to tug her back. Monroe glanced over her shoulder to Meliodas.
"Now, now, Roe, there's no reason for violence just yet." Meliodas said grinning. "Let me handle this."
Monroe's brow quirked, but she did nod her head as she stepped back. Meliodas headed for the door as another voice demanded for her to come out.
"Please, hide in the back, Princess." Monroe instructed. "We can't allow them to see you."
Elizabeth nodded her head while quickly doing as she was told. Monroe moved over to the side to hug up against the wall to not be seen as she moved closer. She stopped near the door as Meliodas placed his hand on the nob. He looked at her with a clear look in his eyes that told her to behave. She snorted thinking he was the last one who should be giving her that look, but she nodded. Meliodas then opened the door.
"What's up?" Meliodas greeted the men outside.
"Who are you, little kid?!" One of them demanded.
"Well, I'm the owner of this place." Meliodas explained.
"Former Holy Knight Monroe is here—send her out." The same man demanded.
Monroe rolled her eyes since she wasn't sure how Meliodas was going to talk himself out of this one. He said let him handle it, but these men wanted her. And they'd try to force themselves inside if they must. Might as well skip to the violence in her opinion.
"Sorry, but I don't know who you're talking about." Meliodas said. "The only other living creature inside my bar besides me is a talking pig."
"Who is calling for me?" Hawk said as he walked forward. "I am Sir Hawk the Captain of the Order of Scrap Disposal!"
Monroe almost chuckled in amusement at that one as the men just denied Hawk's claim.
"Sorry about not having what you're looking for, but if you want, you can have this pig." Meliodas said. "Grill him up if you want."
"Give it a rest, will ya?!" Hawk demanded.
Meliodas was then lifted off the ground by one of the men who grabbed the blonde by the front of his clothes.
"You little punk!" The man hissed. "You've got some nerve making fun of knights like this."
Monroe's hands curled up into a fist. She knew Meliodas could take care of himself, but she didn't like her friends to be manhandled.
"Alioni, look!" One of the man's friends shouted. "A girl ran out the back!"
As Monroe's eyes widened at the man's words, Alioni dropped Meliodas roughly.
"What?!" Alioni demanded. "We have to inform Sir Twigo. It has to be that traitor Monroe!"
They took off running as Monroe cursed. Of course, Elizabeth ran away. She probably thought Meliodas was in trouble and took off thinking it'd make things better. Monroe took off from the tavern right pass Meliodas and Hawk. Monroe wasn't going to let anything happen to Elizabeth. Meliodas watched Monroe go then looked to Hawk.
"Well, let's go after them." Meliodas said.
Meliodas hurried off through the trees to get a head of the knights as Monroe hurried across the ground.
"Wait for me!" Hawk shouted as he hurried after them.
Monroe closed in on the knight at the rear while kicking him in the side. He cried out flying into a tree, which shook violently. She then reached two more of them while grabbing them by the heads to smash them together. As they fell, Alioni finally looked behind him with his eyes widening when seeing they were being pursued.
"If you want the Holy Knight traitor, you need to turn around." Monroe said as she narrowed her eyes.
She then blinked when Hawk was suddenly running alongside her. He was moving pretty fast for a pig.
"You're not getting away!" He told Alioni.
Monroe came to a stop just at the tree line as Hawk hit Alioni head on, which sent the young knight falling over a cliff.
"Not bad, Sir Hawk." Monroe said.
Hawk turned putting his head up high in the air as he let out a snort of pride. Monroe then turned her head to look up at the tree branch above her where Meliodas had Elizabeth.
"Good job, Melly, the help is…" Monroe trailed off when seeing Meliodas groping Elizabeth's boob.
She gave Meliodas a deadpanned look as Elizabeth just blushed not knowing what to do.
"Must you do that?" Monroe questioned him.
"Lady, just hit him!" Hawk said steamily.
"Are you sure that you're alright, Princess?" Monroe questioned Elizabeth.
"Yes, I'm fine." Elizabeth said. "Thanks to you and your friends."
Monroe nodded her head while just glad that nothing happened to the princess.
"We better get going before their reinforcements arrive," Monroe said. "While I'm sure it'd be easy to handle them, the less attention we draw the better in my opinion."
"Yes, that is best." Elizabeth agreed then looked towards Meliodas and Hawk. "Thank-you for your kindness. Maybe we'll meet again."
Monroe frowned at Elizabeth in confusion as the princess was bowing to Meliodas and Hawk.
"Princess, we aren't leaving them." Monroe said. "We're looking for the Sins, remember? Why would we leave the leader of them here?"
Elizabeth turned to Monroe gasping in shock, which had Monroe sweat-dropping. She then turned to Meliodas.
"Did you not introduce yourself earlier, Melly?" Monroe asked him.
"Huh, guess I didn't think about it." Meliodas said shrugging.
Monroe sighed shaking her head before moving to roll up Meliodas's sleeve to show Elizabeth the tattoo of the dragon on his shoulder.
"See? He's Meliodas the Dragon's Sin of Wrath and captain of the Seven Deadly Sins." Monroe said.
"What? But he's—How can he be when—?" Elizabeth stuttered.
"Those wanted posters of the Sins aren't that accurate." Monroe said as she pat Meliodas on the head. "This guy here really is the real deal. The Melly I've always known."
Elizabeth couldn't believe her eyes. Monroe has told Elizabeth a lot of stories about the Sins on their journey to find them, but she never thought Meliodas would be so tiny. He looked younger than both of them. Monroe then stiffened when the ground shifted underneath them. The cliffside then gave out just as Monroe turned to see some Holy Knight apprentice had cut the mountain. She frowned in annoyance as the cliffside started falling and crumbling away.
"Ah, give me a break!" Hawk cried as Elizabeth screamed in shock.
Monroe tched before she moved quickly. She grabbed Hawk as Meliodas grabbed Elizabeth. She was about to jump back up to the safety of the cliff when she saw Alioni down below. She cursed about to go after him, but Meliodas snatched him up instead.
"Can you make it back up on your own?" Meliodas asked.
Monroe nodded her head then used some of the falling rumble as a spring board. She went up in the air to land on the opposite side of the knights. Meliodas was right behind her and threw Alioni to the ground once he landed.
"Look, it's Alioni!" One of the man's companions called.
Monroe sat Hawk down carefully as the knights continued to gawk in absolute shock.
"You there!" The apprentice called out. "How dare you survive without my say so. I will not be revising my death tally conclusion."
"Who asked you to anyway?!" Hawk demanded.
He practically growled at the apprentice as smoke seemed to blow out of his nose due to his anger.
"Hey, you okay?" Meliodas asked Elizabeth.
"Oh, yes." Elizabeth said.
"When I signal to you, run into the forest." Meliodas said. "Got it?"
"Actually, Melly, I'll just deal with this now." Monroe said as she started walking forward. "It's my fault they found us. You can head back to the tavern. I'll be there soon."
Elizabeth looked on in worry as the apprentice started walking forward as well to meet Monroe.
"You sure?" Meliodas asked. "You don't even have your sword."
She had left it at the tavern in the second bedroom Meliodas had shown her when she went to take her bath.
"Don't need it." Monroe said.
Meliodas shrugged his shoulders before he started herding Elizabeth and Hawk along. The sooner they returned to the tavern the faster they could prepare to leave.
"Please, be careful, Lady Monroe!" Elizabeth called.
Monroe nodded her head once as she came to stand nearly toe-to-toe with the apprentice.
"Hmm, silver hair and blue eyes." The apprentice said. "And those distinctive tattoos—one of them being the runic symbol of death. There is no doubting the obvious resemblance between this woman and the wanted poster. Conclusion, you are the traitorous Holy Knight Monroe!"
"And you're some Holy Knight apprentice." Monroe said. "This won't be much of a challenge."
The apprentice growled as he glared down at Monroe who didn't seem too worried. He then brought his sword down on her, which had Elizabeth gasping as she was looking over her shoulder.
"Monroe!" Elizabeth, who came to a stop, called out in worry as the attack seemed to hit.
Dirt flew up everywhere—making it impossible to see if Monroe was alright or not. Meliodas watched on calmly sensing that Monroe was alright. Once the dust cleared, everyone gasped when seeing Monroe had stopped the sword barehanded. But what was also shocking is that the sword was oddly warped. The end of it was twisted back to face the apprentice.
"B—but how?!" He demanded.
"It doesn't matter if it's made of iron or flesh and bone, with my magic power known as Matter, I can alter the state of anything's matter." Monroe said. "I simply liquified your blade to twist it out of shape before hardening it again. I don't think you'll be using it again."
Monroe then shot her fist forward with the apprentice's armor liquifying around where her fist was targeting. Her fist hit his unprotected flesh underneath his armor, and the force behind her punch sent the apprentice flying. The large man crashed into the ground creating a fairly large crater.
"Sir Twigo!" One of the knights called in worry.
Twigo hurried to sit up, but before he could gain his bearings a shadow loomed over him. He looked up with wide eyes as Monroe stood over him. She reached down grabbing Twigo by the front of his neck to lift him up off the ground over her head. She brought his face close to stare him right in the eye.
"I want you to deliver a message to Hendrickson and my uncle Dreyfus." Monroe said. "Tell them both their sins have not gone unnoticed, and that Death is coming for them. Oh, and that the Sins they scattered to the wind will be coming back together."
Monroe then tossed him up into the air. She gave a shout while delivering a strong uppercut to under his jaw. He went flying far again with his subordinates watching with wide eyes when he was sent into a grouping of trees. He went through a few of them as they snapped in half due to the force. He finally stopped, but the tree he hit last, snapped in half as well while falling straight down onto his head. It cracked loudly before he fell over to the ground unconscious.
"I hope he remembers what I said after his head stops ringing." Monroe said as she rolled her shoulders. "Well, really time to go now."
She walked back towards the others as Hawk and Elizabeth just stared with wide eyes. Meliodas said nothing as he focused on her hand that had taken the blunt of Twigo's attack. He noticed her sleeve had cuts on it—even if only small ones. Yet there wasn't a single mark on her hand. She's human, so that shouldn't be possible, right?
The next day came and Monroe and Elizabeth were traveling in the Boar Hat with Meliodas and Hawk. Yes, actually traveling. Apparently, a large green pig carried this bar around—something Monroe has never seen in her entire life. Speaking of Monroe, she wasn't exactly a happy camper at the moment.
"I refuse to wear this garbage." She hissed as she glared at Meliodas.
Elizabeth learned away from Monroe as a sharp killing intent rolled off of her in waves. Meliodas didn't seem too worried about the glare as he smiled at the girls.
"But you look good in it, Roe." Meliodas said. "Besides, it's the tavern's uniform!"
"Way to put your pervy thoughts on display, dude." Hawk said sarcastically.
"And you two are going to work here to help gather information, remember?" Meliodas continued as if Hawk hadn't spoken. "On the Seven Deadly Sins and the Holy Knights."
Monroe's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she tried to pull the shirt farther down across her torso. It didn't budge though. She also didn't like how tight it was across her chest. Didn't he have a bigger shirt?
"I still refuse." Monroe said. "Now where are my other clothes?"
"I threw them out." Meliodas said as he walked around Elizabeth appraisingly.
"Eh, what was that?" Monroe asked as she smiled a very unfriendly smile. "I hope I didn't hear you right."
"You did." Meliodas said as he lifted Elizabeth's skirt.
Elizabeth squeaked at the invasion of her personal space as Meliodas stared at her butt. Meliodas then grunted when Monroe punched him mercilessly over the back of the head. He hit the ground hard with it cracking underneath him.
"You totally deserved that." Hawk said as Monroe started heading towards the stairs.
"I'm going to take a nap." Monroe said. "Wake me up when we make it to the next town."
Monroe traveled up the steps while going to the second bedroom. She shut the door behind her while giving a sigh. She seemed to do a lot of that these days. She kicked off her shoes before going over to the bed to plop down on it. She hugged the pillow to herself as she stared at the headboard. She was happy to find Meliodas, but there was one Sin in particular she was very eager to see again.
"Ban…" She whispered.
Monroe let out a huff as she stood on shaky feet in front of Hendrickson. They've been training for hours, and she hasn't landed one hit on Hendrickson. And she even had Griamore on her side, but her cousin was down for the count as he laid off to the side panting for air.
"You've reached your limit." Hendrickson said. "That's enough for today, little one."
"No!" Monroe said stubbornly as she shook her head. "Gil and Howey are still training!"
She pointed towards her other cousin and friend as they continued to fight against Dreyfus. Both of them looked exhausted, but they fought on too.
"Yes, but they are training to become Holy Knights." Hendrickson said.
"I am too!" Monroe said. "I am the eldest child of the Holy Knight Asthore! I want to defend the kingdom like my father! And like you, uncle Dreyfus, and uncle Zaratras!"
Hendrickson smiled down at Monroe as she stared up at him with determination in her eyes.
"Very well," Hendrickson said as he got into another fighting stance. "We will continue."
Monroe grinned then let out a calming breath before she charged forward while giving a mighty shout. She jumped up trying to go for Hendrickson's head with her wooden sword. He blocked it with his own, but what he didn't expect was for Monroe to swing her body around while she was still up in the air to lash her foot out at his head. He barely had time to catch her foot with his free hand. His eyes widened partially at the force behind the kick considering Monroe's size. He quickly tossed her away, and she managed to land on her feet.
"Very good," Hendrickson said. "Where did you learn that?"
"Ban!" Monroe said with a big smile on her face.
"Why am I not surprised?" Hendrickson asked chuckling.
He then motioned her forward. She came at him and they swapped swings. Hendrickson blocked all her swings, but all of his made contract. He cracked the wooden sword across her knuckles, which had her hissing in pain as she dropped her wooden sword. It left her wide open as Hendrickson was bringing down his wooden sword. She flinched bringing her arms up to try and protect her head. However, the blow never came. She blinked looking up to see that Hendrickson had stopped his attack, and that his wooden sword was missing.
"That isn't very nice, Hendy." A familiar voice spoke behind the two sparring.
Monroe whirled around seeing Ban standing there while holding Hendrickson's wooden sword.
"You could have hurt my little girl." Ban said smirking.
Though there was a dangerous look in his eyes as he narrowed them at Hendrickson. Hendrickson said nothing in return as both men stared each other down.
"Ban," Monroe whined. "You're interrupting training."
She jogged over to take the weapon away from Ban who chuckled as he looked down at her. He crouched down in front of her, so they were closer to eye-level.
"I just worry about you, Mo." Ban said tapping her nose. "Besides, aren't you happy to see me?"
Monroe looked off to the side while blushing slightly as Ban continued to grin at her.
"Y—yes," She said then looked him in the eyes again. "But I need to train! I want to be strong enough to protect the kingdom, but I also want to protect you!"
Ban seemed surprised by her words as Hendrickson just smiled from behind the little girl. Her devotion for the Fox Sin was always so apparent. No one understood it, but the little girl has been taken with Ban ever since he came to the capital and met her.
"Me?" Ban asked.
"Yes, because you're one of my precious ones." Monroe said nodding. "I love you."
She gave him an innocent, childlike smile as she said this as Ban's eyes grew even wider. Ban then chuckled as he looked down at the ground.
"You sure have a terrible taste in men, kid." He joked.
"What's that mean?" Monroe asked blinking in confusion.
Ban just laughed as he ruffled the little girl's sliver-locks, which messed them up more than they had been.
"Ban!" Monroe whined.
Monroe's eyes snapped open from the dream while slowly sitting up. She looked towards the window seeing the light had drastically changed. It must be midday by now.
'I slept that long?' She thought to herself.
Monroe got out of bed while deciding to go see if they made it to the next town. Considering it seemed that they stopped moving, she'd say they did. She placed on her shoes then walked out of the room to head down the stairs. As she was walking down the steps, she heard Meliodas speaking to an unfamiliar voice. She made it to the bottom seeing some kid was in the tavern.
"A customer?" She asked. "Melly, I had no idea you let kids into place. Seems like a bad image to give your tavern."
Meliodas just turned to smile at Monroe as the boy jumped at her voice coming out so suddenly. He turned towards her as she moved behind the bar to grab the bottle that Meliodas had left out. She poured herself a mug.
"Did you sleep good?" Meliodas asked. "I went to wake you earlier, but Elizabeth said to leave you be. Something about you not sleeping well ever since leaving the capital."
"I slept fine." Monroe said then took a sip of ale.
"I'm sure you did since you kept saying Ban's name as you slept," Meliodas said coyly as he grinned.
Monroe spit the ale right out of her mouth rather comically, which had the boy jumping again. She coughed hitting her fist against her chest as she tried to catch her breath. She then glared at Meliodas as her face turned bright red.
"Just what are you implying there, huh?" She demanded.
"Nothing," Meliodas said innocently. "But maybe I should. That was one heck of a reaction."
Monroe frowned though said nothing as she went back to drinking the ale she poured. Meliodas chuckled. The group then turned towards the door as Elizabeth and Hawk came in.
"Oh, you two made it back." Meliodas greeted.
Elizabeth didn't reply as she turned her attention on the kid while placing her hands on her hips.
"So, Mead," Elizabeth addressed the boy. "I hear you're quite the prankster with a bad sense of humor. The chief in your village told me so."
"What's it to you?" Mead asked. "Who do you think you are? My mother?"
Elizabeth didn't get upset with his tone as she knelt down, so she could look him in the eye much better.
"When I was young, I used to get scolded by my father for pulling pranks." Elizabeth said.
"Feh, and that means what to me?" Mead asked with a scoff.
"I really wanted his attention." Elizabeth continued as if Mead hadn't spoken. "He wasn't the father I was born too. One day, when I was a little girl, I climbed a really tall tree in the garden hoping to give him a good scare. He turned pale as a ghost and started up the tree to try and save me—this man who never climbed one in his entire life. And then he fell out of the tree and hurt himself. Luckily it wasn't serious. But still I remember every bit of it as if it was yesterday. If he died, I know I never could have forgiven myself."
Mead sat up in his chair as he pressed his hands firmly on the wooden table in front of him.
"I don't do this stuff because I don't feel for them." Mead said. "They're all really good to me."
"Why do you?" Elizabeth asked.
"My mom and dad were always going from place to place." Mead began. "I was even born on the road, but when we stopped here in Bernia a few years ago there was an epidemic then they got sick and died. That's when the people of the village took me in and raised me as one of their own. And I was so thankful they did, but I wasn't apart of anyone's real family. I got jealous cause I knew I'd never get what they had. I started lying and pulling pranks."
Mead started crying while wiping at his eyes while Elizabeth pat him on the back.
"Is that why you put the bug in the Holy Knight's drink too?" Elizabeth asked. "Because you were upset?"
Monroe blinked as she tried to keep up with what was going on as she continued to enjoy her ale.
"No!" Mead said as he slammed his hands on the table. "I did that because the knight treated everyone in the village like they were crap."
"I'm so lost." Monroe said. "What'd I miss?"
"Oh, that's right, Monroe was asleep during all of this." Hawk said as he turned towards the woman. "A Holy Knight used a sword to dry up all the water around here, so the villagers can't make their famous ale because Mead put a bug in his glass."
"…Oh, okay…" Monroe said shrugging.
Monroe then finished off her ale while placing the empty mug on the bar. She then jumped over it to join the others at the table.
"We just care so much about it." Mead said. "Everyone in the village put their heats and souls into making that ale, but he insulted them! Holy Knights are no good bastards."
Monroe sweat-dropped though a part of her couldn't deny that considering how most of them have been acting lately. But not all of them were no good bastards.
"Okay, and what about you saying you're good friends with the Seven Deadly Sins?" Meliodas asked.
This had Monroe's attention. She had a few leads on some of the Sins like Ban, King, and Merlin. But Diane, Gowther, and Escanor's whereabouts are completely unknown.
"Well, I lied." Mead said.
Monroe sighed though wasn't too surprised most of the word on the Sins was nothing but unreliable rumors.
"Too bad." Meliodas said. "Gotta admit, I almost had my hopes up."
"What made you tell a lie like that?" Elizabeth asked.
"The Seven Dead Sins are wanted by the Holy Knights, right?" Mead asked. "If the Holy Knights are going after them, doesn't that mean they're the good guys?"
Hawk and Elizabeth just looked at Meliodas silently as Monroe thought about it for a second. She loved all the Sins, but they weren't saints that's for sure. Especially the pervert near her right.
"What?" Meliodas questioned when seeing the looks.
Hawk and Elizabeth just smiled when suddenly the sound of shouting could be heard from the village.
"That's coming from the village." Mead said.
He hurried and left with Elizabeth telling him to wait, but he didn't. Elizabeth and Hawk quickly went to follow him as Meliodas was finishing up his ale. He then stood.
"You coming?" Meliodas asked.
"No thanks." Monroe said as she picked up his glass. "Probably shouldn't leave a tavern unwatched, right? Besides, I'm sure you can deal with whatever's going on."
Meliodas nodded then went to go after the others. He opened the door with Monroe calling out to him.
"Take care," She said.
Two simple words. Didn't seem like much, but it was something Monroe and Feoras both said whenever the Sins stepped outside their family's estate. Meliodas grinned.
"Always do." He said then stepped out with the door closing behind him.
