This piece take place after the battle against Hendrickson and before leaving for Camelot. Charaters: Merlin, King.

Helbram have been completely cleaned and his wounds stitched back. Any non knowledgeable person could have assumed he was sleeping. But it was not the first fairy corpse that Merlin had seen. She could see the slight alteration of death on the body, stiff wings, the thoracic cage not going up and down, the hair color slightly less saturated.

The fairy king's best friend was simply put on her table, the same table in which she had autopsied so many bodies, living or dead, humans or demons. But she wasn't going to tell that to the grizzly sin. She knew that many despised her experiments, so she generally avoided talking about it. Especially now when her experiments have been used to evil means. She turned toward the sin of sloth.

"I can put it in a glass coffin to preserve it's beauty." she proposed.

The fairy shook his head. "No. No more coffin. I don't want anyone to get a hold on him. He suffered too much."

She could hear the voice of King shaking. Rage ? Or sadness ? She had heard the story of course, the dead fairy brought back from dead by the traitorous holy knight Hendricksen. Vivian told her everything, the means he used to do so, how many times he brought him back to life and every other experiment he have lead. The witch was not horrified by such acts, her comrade however, was.

He never wanted this to happened again to a friend and she could understand. She remembered Meliodas' struggle, each time he would come back, the despair in his eyes when he seen her face again after his many failed death. Never could he find peace. She understood King on a personal level, she too had to see a friend die too many times and come back always more terrible than he left. A definitive death was the only salvation they could find. Yet, unlike King, Merlin was not strong enough to do such a thing.

"When someone die, we are sent back to the tree. The tree gave birth to us so it's only normal that in our death we return to the tree... But the fairy tree is no more." He whispered defeated.

Her heart arched, she knew his pain. The guilt of the survivor, being the only left of a kind. Being responsible of the doom of her people, their scream and plead. And the after match. The ruins left behind, distorted in a way that you wonder if it's an arm or a timber, stepping on something and hearing the crack, the horror of the realization that drain on you, not knowing on what you stepped.

She did not liked this conversation, it reminded her of too many things, she felt too many emotions she would rather have left buried. Her nails dug into her skin, to get the images out of her mind and gave herself a mental note to ask Gowther if he could put aside some of her memory. First, she was going to help her friend get through this.

"What can I do then ?" she asked softly, not pressing him.

The fairy was looking at his feet. "I heard that in some kingdom they burn their dead..." his voice faded

"Yes, it is an honor reserved to the warriors who died into battle. I think it's fitting. We need to put him outside and add logs. Then we will light the fire up." She explained every step of the burial to the fairy, she wanted him to know what was going on.

King complied silently. Merlin could see tears in the eyes of her comrade. She didn't know how to cheer up others so she respected his mourning in silence. He said goodbye to Helbram, sobbing, sadness was making him shiver. When he came back, the tears he was holding back were dripping down his face. The witch felt weird, thinking he was trusting her with something so important to him. He was openly trusting her with his distress, something she could have never done.

"You can do it."

Fire lit up in her hand. It was pure fiery magic. A fire that would burn away any trace of the dead fairy, a flame that would burn high in the sky, like a great warrior deserve. With a single touch she lit the logs ablaze. The sun was setting, letting the night oversee the land. She stood there alongside King, watching the fire consume everything.

The stars where up in the sky when he finally decided to move. The boar sin had waited alongside him all this time, despite the harsh cold of the night and her stiff body. Her bones were cracking from staying put too long. She didn't want to leave him until he was ready. Death is not something you can face alone. He dispersed the ashes with dedication. Without the light of the fire the night seemed even darker.

"Thank you Merlin."

"It's okay." she answered.

And it was.