You ran and hid behind the bushes, breathing heavily, praying for your life that he wouldn't find you. That diseased menace that had been hunting you all day! You could hear the footsteps. He was coming closer, you willed yourself into a small ball to try to protect yourself, but alas! He had found you! "Cooties!" A young Arthur screams and throws himself on top of you. You shrieked and tried to get out of the little boy's grasp. "Get off! Get off! Get off! I don't want cooties!" You yelled and used all your strength to shove your friend off of you.
"But I thought girls had cooties, not boys." Arthur says, confused.
"No we don't! Bakka!" You yell at him. "It's you boys that are all dirty and germy! And if you thought I had cooties why would you want to touch me!?"
"So you wouldn't feel left out..." Arthur says shyly. "I know a lot of the other girls don't want to be your friend because you're too rough with them. So I figured if you gave me your cooties, then I'd be less different from you and we could be closer friends." Arthur says and smiles. You teared up and hugged the boy, using all your strength so you nearly crushed him.
"Oh Arthur! Why are you so sweet and polite!?" You exclaim and bury your head in his shoulder.
"It's just how I am for you Y/N." Arthur explains and smiles at you. "You're the most important person in the world to me..." He says and plays with his thumbs, blushing a bit. You didn't know how to respond to show him affection, so you just punched him in the arm and he fell over.
"Ouch!" He says and rubs his arm. But he was smiling because he knew you only hit him when you wanted to show him how much you cared about him. If that was your way of giving affection, he'd let you beat him black and blue. Suddenly they heard some horses running out down the path. You two looked up curiously from the bushes and saw that it was some Holy Knights, leaving for a mission.
"Wow..." You say, in awe of their splendor and power. "Aren't they amazing?" You ask. You could only imagine having that sort of power. You dreamed of growing up to be able to fight your enemies and defend the kingdom you loved. All those weak little girls that made fun of you now, would wish to be you once you got old enough to become a Holy Knight. The band stopped in front of a house. One of the Knights dismounted and walked up to the door. The others dismounted their horses as well.
"What's going on?" Arthur asks.
"I don't know..." You say and watch. The door opened and an old woman stood there. She smiled and gave an excited jump and ran back inside the house after the Knight said something to her. She reappeared with a young woman, who appeared to be around the same age as the Knight. The Knight got down on one knee and the girl gasped and smiled. "It's a proposal!" You exclaim and watch as all the Knights cheer for the newly engaged couple.
"A proposal?" Arthur asks you. "For what?"
"Marriage!" You tell him. "My mom told me about it. It's something adults do when they're in love. They have a big ceremony where they're made husband and wife, and then they live together for the rest of their lives and have kids and stuff." Arthur watched the scene with rapt attention. The Knight picked up the woman and spun her around before the two shared a passionate kiss. "Yuck!" You exclaim and stick your tongue out. Arthur however, didn't seem so disgusted by the scene. In fact it seemed like he enjoyed it. What you didn't know, was that he was imagining that being you and him when you were adults. He could see it now, himself in shining armor, walking up to your door and asking for you to give him your heart forever, and then he would pull you close to him and kiss you, sealing the promise that you would be his forever.
"I'm gonna be a Holy Knight one day." He tells you and you look at him curiously. "I'm gonna train hard and get stronger, so that I can protect you Y/N." You blushed at his kind words and just to show him how much you appreciated that gesture, you punched him in the arm again.
Now you walked next to Elizabeth and Hawk, playing with the locket that Arthur gave you. You couldn't help but think about him. Elizabeth's hand on your shoulder pulled you from your thoughts. "You're thinking about him aren't you?" You nodded.
"I hope he's alright..." You say.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." Elizabeth reassures you. "He's a King, he's very strong and powerful." You giggled. "What's so funny?"
"Well, it's just that I've never really seen Arthur fight that much. I've always known him as a weak little boy. It's crazy to think that he's grown into this powerful King." You explain. "Back then I was stronger than him."
"REALLY!?" Elizabeth and Hawk exclaim. You blushed and nodded.
"A lot of the women in Camelot said I played like a boy. I was always so rough that they didn't want their daughters to play with me. And because I was a girl, the boys never wanted to play with me. Arthur was the only real friend I had. We were going to become Holy Knights together one day. But then he got adopted, and I was left all alone..." You say sadly.
"Why didn't you become a Holy Knight?" Elizabeth asks.
"After Arthur left I had no one. It was just me and my mother. I still wanted to become a Holy Knight, in hopes that I could see Arthur again and we could go through with our plan, but then my mother told me the real reason my father disappeared..." You looked away, you didn't want them to see you cry. "He was a Holy Knight, and he got killed during a mission. She told me how dangerous it is to be a Holy Knight, and even though I told her I didn't care, she said that she would never be happy again if she lost me too. I realized then that she'd be alone like me when Arthur left. And I would never want anyone to go through what I felt. So I chose to give up being a Holy Knight, and stay with her, for her sake."
"That's so noble of you Lady Y/N." Elizabeth says. "I can see why Arthur likes you so much. You always put the people you care about before yourself. You gave up your greatest desire for someone you love. I know how it feels. I'm the same way. You may not be a Holy Knight but I know that on the inside, you're just as strong as them."
"Thank you Princess." You tell her and hold her hands. "You're pretty strong too on the inside. We just both need to work on having that strength come out." Elizabeth nods in agreement. Suddenly you both hear Hawk squealing. You both run up to him and see him being tormented by Diane.
"Diane!" Elizabeth exclaims. She looks up at the two of you cautiously.
"Do I know you?" She asks.
"She must have lost her memories of me..." Elizabeth says. Your heart ached for the Princess. You knew how close the two of them were. It only got worse when Diane said she distrusted humans. Suddenly you felt the ground rumbling.
"What's going on?" You ask. Suddenly you saw the ground start to split. "Guys run!" You exclaim and start running as fast as you can, but you couldn't outrun it. Just as you thought you would fall to your doom, Diane caught you and took off away from the chasm. You all reached safety and she put you guys down. "Thank you Lady Diane." You tell her.
"Think nothing of it." She says simply. You all found a stream. "I think it's shallow enough I can walk through it." Diane says and makes her way through it. Suddenly she screeches when leeches attach to her legs.
"Diane! I'm coming!" Elizabeth exclaims and springs into action, jumping into the river. You watched, amazed by the Princess's bravery. She pulled the leeches off of Diane. You thought she would have been disgusted by the task. But she didn't care. She was being brave to help her friend and that made her strong. You got a determined look on your face and jumped in after her.
"Y/N! Not you too! You're all idiots!" Hawk exclaimed from the shore. You swam over to Diane and helped Elizabeth get the leeches off while Diane made her way back to land. Once on the shore, you all took a breather.
"Thank you so much..." Diane says. "I guess I really do know you. Only good friends would have done that for me."
"Well we are good friends." Elizabeth tells Diane. Suddenly she gasped. "Sir Meliodas!" She exclaimed. You immediately turned, your heart thudding with excitement at the possibility of seeing Arthur again! But he wasn't there. Your heart sunk. What if something happened to him!? Suddenly you noticed that Meliodas multiplied and was saying something about protecting a forest...You didn't entirely understand it, but you knew that this definitely wasn't Meliodas. Suddenly they all disappeared when Hauser and Gilthunder came back and attacked them. They told you guys that they got separated from the others. Suddenly something attacked Hauser. It was a small Earth Crawler. It went for Hawk next. You tried to pull it off but Hawk just ate and then became half Earth Crawler.
"Okay so that's a thing now..." You say and pale when a giant Earth Crawler appeared. You all screamed. It was huge!
"What do we do!" Hawk exclaims.
"We'll have to fight it!" You say.
"But we don't have weapons! We'll get eaten alive!" He squeals.
"We'll have to make do!" You exclaim.
"So this was your plan?" Dolor asks Gloxinia.
"Yes." He answers. "An Earth Crawler will devour the King's love, while he was helpless to save her, since he could not reach her. The blow will be devastating! A perfect tragedy don't you think?"
"I suppose." Dolor says simply, making Gloxinia irritated. You thought about how you would fight this thing. You didn't have any weapons, so you'd have to rely on some sort of magic. The problem was, you had no clue what that magic was. You clenched your fists and thought hard. You looked deep within yourself, trying to find something, anything that could help you. You felt some sort of magic flowing in you. It felt like something had been unlocked. Had you done it? Had you unlocked your magic power? You looked around for some way to test it, but there was so much going on. But you did notice something, it felt like everyone had gotten stronger.
Arthur charged the Earth Crawler he and Meliodas were fighting. But Meliodas killed it before he could even land a blow on it. Meliodas landed the killing blow. The worm squealed and died.
"Sir Meliodas that was amazing!" Arthur fanboys. "I can't believe you did that all on your own!"
"Yeah, yeah." Meliodas says, brushing off the praise. "Now how about we cook this thing. I don't know about you but I'm starving!" Arthur felt his stomach grumble. He felt a vibration on his head and looked up at Cath.
"I guess we could eat it. I'm not sure how good it will be though." Arthur says. Meliodas cooks it up and they both take a bite. Immediately Arthur ran to the other side of the path and threw it up. Cath threw up too, but thankfully since Arthur was bending over it didn't get on him. "Wow. The rumors were true. That was awful!" Arthur says and Meliodas nods.
"Now did you mean the meat or my cooking?" Meliodas asks. Arthur immediately blushed.
"The Earth Crawler meat of course!" He says quickly. "I'm sure you're an amazingly talented cook!" Meliodas laughed.
"I'm the worst!" He says and smiles. "Luckily we have Ban to make up for that." He notices Arthur looks sad.
"What's up kid?" Meliodas asks Arthur.
"It's just...I wish I could be strong like you." Arthur says. "I couldn't protect Merlin, the person who has done so much for me. More than I could ever repay. And I can barely protect Y/N, the girl I love with all my heart. It just seems that no matter how hard I try, I'll never be good enough for them."
"Hey don't think like that." Meliodas tells Arthur. "Merlin and Y/N love you just the way you are! You don't have to be so upset about it!"
"But I do!" Arthur says. "Especially for Y/N! It's worse for her...I can't even tell her I love her..." He says sadly. "And I've caused her so much stress because of that! I'll never make it up to her!"
"You will." Meliodas says. "By never leaving her side again once we find her. Tell her you love her, and then do your best to protect her and make her happy. That's all that matters. You just have to try."
"Thank you Sir Meliodas!" Arthur says. "Once I find Y/N I'm going to tell her how I feel! But what if she doesn't like me back!" Arthur exclaims.
"Trust me I'm positive she loves you." Meliodas says.
"How do you know!?" Arthur asks.
"Her heart beat increases whenever you're around." Meliodas says.
"How did you sense that?" Arthur asks.
"I didn't really sense it so much as groping her breast sometimes when she looked at you." Meliodas says.
"YOU DID WHAT!?" Arthur roared in surprise. You gasped and looked at the wall beside you.
"What is it Y/N?" Hawk asks.
"I could have sworn I heard Arthur..." You say and run over to the wall. You placed a hand on it. "He's on the other side!" You say.
"Sir Meliodas! Why were you groping her!? You know I like her!" Arthur complained. Any other guy and he would have been pissed but he admired Meliodas too much to be that mad at him.
"That's why I did it." Meliodas says. "I was just getting a lay of the land for you. She didn't even feel it she was so focused on you."
"R-Really?!" Arthur perked up. "H-How did they feel?" He asks then his face turns red.
"How did what feel?" Meliodas asks. He knew full well what the King was referring to. He just wanted to hear him say it.
"Her...Her boobs." He stutters.
"Oh! Eh they were okay." He says. "Sure they were soft and springy but most breasts are like that."
"No they're not!" Arthur argues. "Y/N has the best breasts! They're perfect!"
"And how do you know that?" Meliodas smirked and Arthur started sweating and tugging at his shirt collar.
"I mean, they look so great...In my mind I just imagined them as something incredible..." Arthur admits shyly.
"Ooohhhh in your mind. Having wet dreams about your childhood friend are we?" He asks and Arthur blushes worse.
"No no no no! It's not like that!" Arthur insists. Meliodas doesn't change his expression. "Well...it's only happened twice..." He admits softly.
"Ohhh! Not so innocent anymore are we!" Meliodas teases.
"No! I didn't even go to sleep wanting to have one! It just sort of happened..." Arthur says. "Ever since that vision Gowther gave me...the thought of doing something so intimate with her hasn't left my mind! Her beautiful naked figure haunts me and makes me think about the dirtiest things I never thought I could imagine before!"
"So that explains why your sheets were dirty two nights ago." Meliodas says. "I mean I can see why. I could see Y/N looking pretty hot naked. Maybe I should peep on her sometime while she's bathing?"
"I can't allow that!" Arthur declares, getting in front of him.
"Right. Because you'll be doing it yourself." Meliodas says.
"Right!" Arthur says then realizes what he's just said. "Ah! No! I mean-" Meliodas just laughs.
"Relax kid it's fine. It's natural to want to think about her like that." Meliodas says.
"No it's not. Y/N is special...I don't want to think about her just as some object of desire. Sure she's sexy and I'd love to make love to her some time but she's so much more than her appearance...She's just unique. And that's what makes her perfect in my mind." Arthur says. Suddenly he senses something. "Y/N..." He says and touches the wall.
"Arthur..." You whisper.
"I'm right here my love. I'm coming for you, and once I have you in my arms again I'll never let you go. I promise..." Arthur declares.