Another ripple ran through the air, reaching the Fairy King, as someone entered his forest. He looked over towards where he sensed the intruders, getting a sense of who they were, before suddenly blinking. Ban had finally returned...as well as...Elizabeth? He immediately took to the darkened sky, flying towards his companions. Only after a moment of noticing how fast he was flying did he realize he was actually glad to know Elizabeth was okay. Well, she seemed okay, but until he saw her, he wouldn't really know for sure...

Before too long, with his speed, he spotted two horses resting under a tree. Their riders—well, he spotted Elizabeth first. He wouldn't have if not for her helmet resting on the saddle of one of the horses. "Lady Elizabeth!" he called. Upon seeing him, the poor woman had a fright upon seeing the eye patterns on his wings in the dark, stumbling back and tripping over roots. He held out his hands, forgetting about that. "Wait! It's me, King!"

She stayed on the ground, stunned, but then looked closer, which was hard to do in the dark. His wings fluttered, and from them, dusty glowing lights went into the air. Slowly, the familiar face became clearer. "...Lord King?" she asked, head tilting.

He smiled at her, flying over and offering a hand. "Sorry for frightening you. I've become accustomed to my wings over the past ten years; sometimes I don't even notice them, myself," he admitted. She really didn't need to know about how he scared himself in the beginning...

She took his hand and stood up, but didn't miss what he said. "Ten years! Oh, my...I've only been awake for...three," she murmured, expression darkening.

King knew that look. "I understand. Something's happened..." He shook his head, sighing, "But never mind that..." He looked towards where he sensed the Fox Sin further away.

Elizabeth peeked under the wings towards the direction the king stared into, and then looked around the forest. With the gentle lights in the air, she was able to see more of the verdant. Though she believed her magical abilities were gone, she could clearly sense the magic and power around her. It was even in the air. Considering the Fairy King, she wondered if it was his power she felt...

"Lady Elizabeth—"

"Please," she interrupted, glancing away, "call me Elizabeth..." Her voice had lowered.

"...Well, alright. In return, you should call me King. Or Harlequin, even, if you want." He softly laughed at something. "And I think even you know Ban would love to have the formalities dropped altogether."

She smiled in understanding. "...Okay."

He then continued, "You don't have to stay in the forest for the night, if you want. The forest's animals won't bother you, but I would prefer you come to the Sacred Tree."

With a nod, she easily agreed. "Alright. Thank you Lor...that is...King."

-:ThFLTh:-

"I have heard much about you, Elizabeth Liones," Gerheade greeted as her king approached with the human not far behind. The two horses were also nearer than before. "Welcome to the Fairy King's Forest."

Blinking, Elizabeth nodded in respect. "Hello, thank you. Um...?"

"Gerheade. I advise Fairy King Lord Harlequin," she said, succinct and aloof. She bowed at King before floating away inside of the tree.

Seeing Elizabeth's confusion, and possible worry, King shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Elizabeth. She's had time to come to an understanding that not all humans are as wretched as they seem. Honestly, you have Ban to thank for that..." There's a lot to thank Ban for around here...

He led her inside of the Sacred Tree, hands behind his back, and allowed her a moment to marvel at his home. Unsurprisingly, she was ecstatic, her eye lighting up like a child seeing a fairy for the first time. It was as if she had never truly understood just where she was until then. Only then did it start becoming increasingly obvious to King that she was tired.

Being the gentleman he was, he offered his hand to her, explaining he was going to lead her to a place she could rest for the night. Permission granted, he took her hand and used his ability to levitate her, as he had done with his fellow Sin, and brought her through the tree's interior.

The path he took wasn't as complicated as before, and he brought her to a place lower in the tree where he explained had a path of roots leading back to where they had entered that she could use. There were many chambers alongside several fungi platforms along the heartwood that made the walls. They were all made private with ivy curtains. "The guest quarters," he called them.

Once he made sure she was settled in, he went straight up the tree. He flew through passages and intricate twists and turns within before he arrived at the top of the tree where the sanguine pool resided. Passing by Gerheade, who watched after him, he flew lower, but still high over the treetops. Locking onto the Fox Sin's presence, he flew towards it.

Unsurprisingly, Ban lay sprawled on the bed of flowers just a few yards from the large shape that was his child-flower. Snoring rather loudly. King heaved a great sigh upon smelling the alcohol upon his fellow Sin, but really, that was the norm. He did, however, wonder what the immortal had left the forest for to begin with. Surely not to get drunk for three days?

...Then again, he wouldn't put it past the man, he really wouldn't...

Briefly he approached the child-flower, smiling at it. The unique living energy within it was quiet, soothed...Soothed? He glanced at a certain immortal. With that noise? Well, it was definitely his kid. At first befuddled, the thought soon brought a larger smile to his face, his wings fluttering happily despite himself. It wouldn't be too long, now~

Deciding his wards were comfortable for the night, he took his time to return to the Sacred Tree for the time being. Under his protection, they were all safe. He floated to the highest canopy of the Sacred Tree, gazing about the forest and the land beyond.

He made sure of it.


Elizabeth awoke the next morning initially completely clueless as to where she was. But she shortly remembered from the smells alone. It smelled lovely, somehow like a sweet, bark-like tree smell, and the scent of flowers was in the air as well. A grumbling stomach was what really urged her to leave the surprising comfort of a flower bed as...well, a bed. The best part was not having to make it up! With that thought, she looked over herself, recalling taking off her armor the day before.

Underneath her armor, she wore more sensible clothes that would have made her sister Veronica proud. White leggings adorned her legs, and she pulled on her armored silver boots that came to her knees. Her top consisted of a moderately long, long-sleeved dusty pink tunic that she held in place with a simple brown belt about her waist. Smiling, and smelling of flowers, she pushed the ivy curtain aside.

There were fairies everywhere. Of course, they were all overhead, traveling here and there. She noticed that they seemed particularly excited in comparison to the way they were the night before. Blinking, she examined the layout before her. The most obvious path to take must have been the thick vine (or was it a root?) that was beyond the platform of a mushroom cap she currently stood upon. There were other paths like them, leading to all sorts of directions, within the tree, outside the tree...

"Ah! You're awake!"

To Elizabeth's right, a small fairy girl approached her, eyes kind and a bright smile upon her face.

"Hello, my name is Ende," she said, placing a hand to her chest. "Pleased to meet you, Elizabeth. I was instructed by Fairy King Harlequin to lead you out of the tree—something marvelous is happening!"

"Something—?" Once again, Elizabeth was lifted into the air and brought alongside Ende as they swiftly moved through the tree. But not too fast.

"I apologize! I'm very excited to make it in time!" the fairy explained, her smile never failing.

Feeling honored to witness something that obviously meant so much to the fairies, Elizabeth had to ask, "What is happening?"

Holding her hands together, Ende briefly closed her eyes. "Lord Ban's child-flower is blooming!"

...Eh?

Wait, what?!

-:ThFLTh:-

It was interesting, if nothing else, Ban had to admit. He glanced around the forest, hands in his pockets. Though he knew there were many fairies watching...

He didn't see any of them.

His attention then returned to his child-flower, the tips of the stigma and reddish-black anthers within showing past the cocoon of soft petals, which themselves had parted by a bit. Apparently, that was the sign, because the moment King saw it, he lost his shit. Scarlet eyes glanced over to the fairy in question, the only visible fairy around. King had calmed significantly since then, which meant roughly...oh...five minutes of silence from the small king in total, now.

The filament was moving, and sounds of soft movement could be heard from within the cocoon, if he strained his ears. He kept his eyes on the reddish tips, watching their idle movement, if for other reason but to keep calm. He seemed fine on the outside, and this was from his own observation. Inside, however...he wasn't too sure what was going on inside of him.

Save for the rustling from the trees as a gentle breeze swept through, there was no sound. It was quiet. Too quiet. Too still.

And then he thought the tips of the petals moved apart, just by a few inches. He swore his heart jumped to his throat, his eyes widening. Did it...just...? There was a more prominent, almost deafening silence as everyone present seemed to hold their breath at once.

It happened again, the then visible outer layers of petals parted from one another and from the shorter, smaller ones, revealing they were a darker, deeper red color closer to the sepal. It was happening so slowly, delicately. But the long minutes seemed like seconds in his eyes. Only once the first petals parted completely, no longer moving, did the smaller encasement of flowers begin to completely open.

Gradually, so slowly, the sides of the connected petals parted, giving a glimpse of a familiar bluish color between the slits. Once again, he felt his heart jump to his throat, visibly startled, which caught King's attention.

The truth was, both of them weren't very close to the child-flower. Hell, Ban was further away than King was. King didn't question it. Didn't even think about it. The man was still adjusting, apparently.

At last, the smaller petals slipped apart, giving a near perfect view of what everyone really came to see.

Curled on their side, a small child, infant-like, lay on the curled form of the pistil itself, the style circling around before rising over the child's head of light, so light blue that the blue was platinum hair. The hair reached to the child's slightly pointed ears, the only visible sign of fairy heritage. The child made small movements, small hands curled to a small face, eyes closed. The flower itself, however, was not done blooming.

Only upon seeing the child did Ban slowly. Slowly. Tentatively. Approach. And still, no one breathed. By the time he was within arm's reach, the petals had fully stretched out, revealing the smaller petals were speckled with a soft, yellow-orange color closer to the ovule. Suddenly, the child raised their head and yawned before opening their eyes.

In that simple movement, two things became shockingly apparent.

One was that—and this was what made King break his silence with a soft snicker—without a doubt, the unusual and unique trait of Ban's fangs had definitely passed on to the child. And the second was reconfirmed when the child turned their head to reveal honey-gold eyes to their father, inherited from their mother.

When the gazes met, whatever doubts of parenthood that lingered within the Sin of Greed dissipated into the air. There were never any to begin with, as far as he was now concerned. Whatever fears he had that he was going to have a child...became sadistic fears for whatever sad, soon-suffering, long-suffering, painfully-suffering, soulless cusp of a being that dared to hurt his child. His son. Elaine's son. Their son.

For the first time that day, Ban smiled. King had never seen such a soft, admiring smile upon the immortal's face before, and etched every bit of it into his memory. Upon seeing the smile, the child giggled in perhaps his own approval, eyes sparkling with life and the love that created him, and didn't even have to reach out to be held before he was gently taken into his father's arms.

"Heeey~," Ban whispered to him, cradling him with one arm. With his free hand, he dangled long fingers over the boy's face, and one was taken into the small mouth to suck on while still holding eye contact. Cracking a grin, the Fox Sin continued, "What say you to the name...Lancelot~?"

The small, pleased sound that emitted from his son was taken as approval.