A/N: While writing this chapter I watched weeks worth of Law and Order, I ate enough pizza to feed a family of six, and I may or may not have sobbed over a toilet, while projectile vomiting over a picture of Lance Bass. I have gained six pounds. Lickitysplit took time out of her busy life to comfort me, but mostly to join me in the madness that has taken over our once simple lives. God Bless coffee. (Lickitysplit here: it really wasn't that dramatic. We just took our time so we could find out what the devil was going on in the manga, and how it would affect this story.) (Woundedowl here: one of us is being overdramatic, one of us is telling the truth of reality and it's harsh mistress. It could be either of us, who knows)
Cerulean Grace: Yes, we did throw in all the things at once, didn't we? Tristan, our poor poor Tristan. A lot of readers including you think he's getting the bad end of the stick. Hehehehhe, it worries us that you don't know what's going on- but it will get better? Maybe?
sassykitten1701: Hell, a lot of stuff is happening dude, don't you worry.
Lunabellla: Mmmhmm, yep. Kind of late for that love.
BettyBest2: Ah love. Whenever we see you review, we always love to read it. Your reactions are the best part of getting feedback, you are lovely and wonderful! Yes Meliodas is surprised, just because his son is his mini-me, he was hoping so much that his children took after Elizabeth, maybe he was in complete denial that any of them could be like him. This is also Tristan's first experience with true danger, so his demon side is just now revealing itself.
confused: Lancelot is dead.
SirensEye91: OOOOOOH YEAAA. Because we may be slightly evil. Thank you love, we really do appreciate you, and a little torture always makes the love go down just a little better hehehe.
Leanna23: Thank you, we are super happy that you like it.
Peacerockgirl123: Yep yep, *passes you a paper bag to breathe into* You'll need this. *passes over a bottle of rum* you'll also need this.
hiyomi: Thank you love! Gowther you say? Well, why would he do that, Gowther is an outstanding citizen!
kayla. panek: Yea, we like to throw so much into our stories we actually have an entire wall step up with pie charts and pictures and different colored little strings tying everything together. This might be a tad unhealthy, but it is super fun. Mmmhmm, only time will tell, we suppose.
Chapter twenty six: Time for Revelation
Dirt and rocks are swirling around them, and Tristan ducks, coughing while he brings his arm down, blinking rapidly to try to slow the vertigo that has his head spinning. He doesn't have time to take in his surroundings as his whips his head to the side, spotting the shivering body by his feet. "Mom!" he calls and lunges forward, hefting her into his arms as she lays almost motionless in the blackened dirt. "Mom- Mother- are you alright?" he asks desperately-
Before he stops and hisses through clenched teeth. His forehead twinges with coursing power, and he tries to ignore it. His hearts are thundering in his chest, his focus sharp from it, and he pulls her up from where they landed. Tristan searches her face for any pain, and he- he suddenly needs to do something. Anything but stay crouched down on the ground; he has to go back to the fight. He has to.
Lifting her chin he sees how her face is squeezed up and red in pain, her hand clawing at the back of her neck, and his first thought is to find his father.
Where? Where the hell are they?
"Wha- what happened?" she croaks, her eyes opening before darting around without any clear focus, and that worries him greatly. He can see the slight glaze, can see how she is spacing out even though she's trying not to, her body trembling under his hands. He tries to rub her arms reassuringly as she pulls her hand from her neck, her fingers twitching, and her shoulders jerk under his soothing hands.
"I'm not sure," he mutters, climbing to his feet. Shit, he can't deal with this. He needs to find someone- anyone who could take his mother to a safe location while he deals with Lynette.
Fuck. Fuck, Lynette.
They are all but alone- the fifty or so knights that had been with them a few seconds ago are gone. Only a handful of them are left. Helping her up to her feet Elizabeth leans heavily against him, and he thinks about the time he had to carry her down from Vaizel... when he held her as they faced off against the thieves, as she lay unconscious or screaming or not moving as he tried to save her. He clenches his jaw, keeping his face calm and straight as he tries to stay a pillar of strength. He can't falter now.
He's had a really, really bad week.
He has no time to be afraid, but damn it... Damn it his forehead is burning. He needs to punch something. Yeah, that might do it. Maybe if he just got out there and had the chance to stab a damn idiot with his sword he'd be better. Or better yet, if he has the chance to slit Lynette's throat with the sharp edge of-
He shakes his head, trying to snap out of it. It, whatever this power was, was overflowing and buzzing under his skin; his breathing is shaking, his grip on his sword tight. Damn it damn it damn it.
Vaizel… He looks around, bringing the hand not supporting Elizabeth up to push his bangs over his forehead, trying to hide it, wanting to hide his mark as best as he can. This place is eerily familiar, but, no... it couldn't be Vaizel, the broken landscape and strange rock formations reminding him of that awful place. But there's something wrong. It's night, and his eyes adjust slowly to the darkness after fighting in the brightness of late morning. They are no longer at the castle, that is certain, but there is something about this place that tugs at his memory. That's impossible. For a moment he panics, wondering if this is the curse, if he just thinks he sees this…
But then, to his relief, King says what he has been wondering himself. "Hey, this looks… familiar…" and Tristan finally looks behind him. The Sins are all here, just as confused as he is.
"Where did that bitch go?" Ban snarls, as Diane shouts, "Where are we?"
His father is still in that prison, and the sound of him kicking it, with much more force than Tristan could probably ever imagine, is muted as the walls barely rattle against his foot. He sees the king's face twist in anger as he brings his fist down, again and again with enough force to swirl the air inside of his cage.
Nothing.
That is another thing: how the hell did Lynette even do that? None of them have ever bested their father in a fight- it wasn't even on the table- let alone ever make any of the other Sins break a sweat. And here they all were covered in blood and gashes, King looking worse for wear and all of Ban's clothes ripped to shreds. His formal suit was barely hanging on, lying in tatters by his hips.
The others are talking over each other, Ban cracking his neck as he stalks off in a random direction, before Diane all but yelps- grabbing hold of him by the hair and pulling him back.
"OW OW OW! Damn it, let go!" Ban snarls, his long hair yanked downwards as Diane screams, twisting her hands into a fist, and she plants her foot before tugging with all her might as Ban's eyes bug out in pain. "No!" she yells, both of them fumbling as they struggle, "You and King are staying right here! You got me?! There is no way I'm letting you-!"
Suddenly seven bolts of light flash across the sky, a high pitched whistling drowning out everything else as they shoot above them. Tristan has no idea what they are, but the energy that is coming from them is immense, nauseatingly so, and his stomach twists in dread.
"Oh no," Merlin breathes behind him, and he hears Gowther say, "Fascinating," just as everyone closes rank, leaping into position while raising their weapons. Elizabeth gasps, her fingers digging into the metal guard on his arm. "What is that?" he breathes, his hair standing up on end as the air becomes electrified by the magic being thrown haphazardly around.
"No! Get out of here!" Tristan jolts at the sound of his father's muffled scream, his head snapping back to quickly look around in confusion at the others, just as the lights land a short distance away.
The ground explodes, rocks flying out of the impact zone, a dark plume of smoke rising up. A burst of air kicks up and outwards, pushing him back as he flings an arm in front of his mother, shielding her as he tries to squints through the dark plume. His feet slide back as his mother cries out in surprise against his chest, and everyone looks absolutely grim, all calm pretenses gone. The cloud of dust and dirt kicks up around them, swirling, and the entire area is covered by a thick cloud that sets him off coughing again. "Someone get Elizabeth out of here, now!"
"Mom?" Tristan whispers, turning to look at her, and the fear on her face all but makes him freeze. Then he hears Merlin say, again, "Oh no," - and now he knows for sure that whatever is happening, it is very, very bad.
"No way…!" King looks terrified, his face white as his fists shake by his side. "How?!"
They all watch as the cloud begins to dissipate. Standing a few paces away, giving off waves of violent energy… Tristan had never felt anything like this in his entire life, the massive malicious intent coming off of them. Who are these monsters? His sword is still out from when he was battling in the castle courtyard, but now his blade feels more like a butter knife in front of these titans.
Tristan blinks rapidly in the swirling dirt, peering closely as he tries to make out the various figures that now stand before them. Grinding his teeth he takes in the strange sight: several look human even if they feel nothing like it, and there is a giant and a fairy among them, but one looks like a blob of masks… and one, he thinks is a woman? She's floating, even though she was absolutely burned to a crisp. They all have a dark swirl over their brows, black sludge covering different areas. They are staring back at them, seemingly just as confused by the sudden meeting.
They feel… They feel familiar, and he can almost recognize the type of magic they have… but Tristan just can't put his finger on it.
"That's…" one of them drawls lowly, a tall blond guy, his head tilting to the side, "strangely interesting."
His mother whimpers as his voice trails off, and Tristan swallows. "What's going on?" he says softly. She shakes against him and he says, "Take deep breaths mom, just breathe. I need you to talk to me." But she just squeezes herself into a smaller ball, a hand over her mouth, and Tristan is truly worried that she is holding her breath as she turns another shade of white.
"I thought you said they were gone," says another of the group, and Tristan's eyes widen as he examines the newcomer. He realizes that despite his jet black hair and the hard set of his eyes, looks a lot like- his father?
What? Tristan's eyes jump between the two of them as he stands up straighter. Looking between this man's entire posture, he had never seen anyone else so closely resembling his father- outside of himself. And he had always thought their height and build were just family related. So, so who was...
"They were," the giant answers loudly, cutting off Tristan's train of thought as the guy slowly climbs to his feet, and the prince notes the injuries that cover his blue skin, and his four arms, and Tristan tries not to gape at the energy that is coming at them from this group.
"Well I guess we can take care of it. Again." Another member of the group looks nonplussed as a couple of grins appear, and Tristan's eyes involuntarily make their way back to the man with black hair, and freezes when he sees him looking right back at him.
"Why is this happening again?" Elizabeth voice is so soft it's almost inaudible, shaking alongside her hands.
"Well," Merlin chuckles, a trail of sweat going down the side of her face, her grin slightly grim, "It looks like we have traveled through time. We've been pulled back into the past, back to Vaizel."
No, there was no way.
There aren't any answers after that, both sides waiting for the other to move first it seems, and Diane murmurs harshly, "What do we do?"
"We can't fight them all at once," King hisses, even as his Chastiefol flashes by his side.
"Defeating the Ten Commandments without the Captain will prove nearly impossible," Gowther comments.
"Oh come on Gowther," Ban snarks, "Where's your fighting spirit?"
The Ten Commandments? Tristan thinks, all but wanting to laugh hysterically. The real Ten Commandments? This is an absurd situation. People don't just suddenly start fighting the Ten Commandments. But his stomach drops, his throat going dry as he tries to swallow, and he can feel his courage beginning to fail. He knows of them; hell, everyone in his generation has heard of their terrible campaign, sometimes it was all people could talk about while they were having a tankard of ale in their hand. Retelling the horror stories of the war, how they had murdered hundreds of thousands, maybe a million people across the world. But, from everything he had heard- which really wasn't anything too reliable- he knows they were one of the greatest threats to ever come to Britannia. They were the soldiers of the Demon King himself, unsealed and twisted into monsters uncomparable. They were the ones who killed his father, in Vaizel, all those years ago, a story he had always wanted to hear but never had the nerve to ask about.
Vaizel? Is this… is this really Vaizel? Twenty five years ago, where this version of his mother came from?
"We don't need to," Ban grinds out, snapping Tristan back into focus as he flexes his hands, and suddenly the man is different: crueler-looking than Tristan has ever seen. And he knows that The Seven Deadly Sin, The Fox Sin of Greed, is now standing there. "We just need to keep them back long enough to find that murdering bitch." His mouth twists into a nasty grin, "Yeah. Then I'll make her put us back where we belong before I snap her neck."
"Ban," Meliodas hisses, his fingers clawing into the wall, his teeth grinding. The hairs on Tristan's arms stand up at the threat, his mind whirling that they are talking about the Ten Commandments, and that Ban just said he was actually going to kill his sister. Ban, their uncle, their-
Tristan's eyes squeeze shut for a moment, a vision of Lancelot painfully passing over his mind; of something he once thought was so annoying- how he would alway joke about everything. But before he can say anything, Elizabeth pleads, "Sir Ban, please, you can't-"
"Stay out of this," he snaps coldly, and then turns back to the others. "Are you ready?" Ban cracks his neck loudly, and abruptly starts to walk towards those monsters.
Tristan grips his sword tightly, his fingers going white, ready to move with the rest. The one who looks like his father is still staring back at him. Just staring at him, and he is filled with the most horrible doubt he has ever experienced. Should he try to retreat, to regroup once they had a plan? But every instinct in him screams to fight.
But, before any of them can go, Merlin steps in front of the group, holding out a hand to halt them. "Stop! Don't get ahead of yourselves! If we change anything too drastically, we won't be able to get back to where we belong."
"What-" Tristan is cut off by the others, as Merlin keeps her back to them, one arm outstretched.
"Does that mean we can't kill them?" Ban growls. "I wouldn't mind getting my hands on that bitch Merascylla one more time."
"That you can actually do," she muses. "And you can leave Greylord to me. But no, we can't kill the rest. In fact, it's best if we don't engage them at all, since it was Captain who fought them originally."
"How exactly do you propose that?" King bites out. "He isn't exactly able to fight right now."
One of them- the tall blond- seems done with them speaking to each other, starting to steadily stroll towards them with a lazy gait.
"I'll do it," says Tristan, eyeing him. The rest look at him in surprise, and Diane immediately shakes her head to say no while Meliodas bangs on the side of his prison, shouting, "You are not fighting them! You guys are not letting him fight them!"
But there isn't time for this! he thinks angrily. "Someone has to," he snarls, glancing over at his father, who looks absolutely furious as he pushes his mother behind him. He turns back towards the Commandments as she hurries backward, stumbling only slightly as she goes towards his father, and sees they have all begun to advance. "You'll back me up, right?" Tristan says nervously.
"If you're all done talking now!" one of the Commandments, the burned to a crisp lady, calls out, purring the words.
"Tristan! You can't-"
"There's no time!" he answers harshly, clenching his sword tightly to keep his hand from shaking. "I'll fight them alone if I have to!"
"Tristan!"
He lunges, sparing Ban a sideways glance as he appears alongside him. "Find Lynette!" The prince snaps, and he swings around, "lI'll stall them. Then we can all get out of here!"
"Hell yeah!" Ban howls, his teeth showing in a vicious snarl, "now this I can get behind!"
Across the rocky field, the black-haired leader tilts his head forward, his eyes sweeping over them. "Enough talking. Get them."
Tristan draws in a deep breath and picks up his pace, holding his sword out to the side. Behind him, he hears Meliodas scream, "All of you, go! Now!"
It happens so fast, Tristan does not even have time to blink as he calls out Massive Strike, feeling his magic burn the area the Ten Commandments once stood. The Seven Deadly Sins move at the same time as they do; instantly they are locked in combat, both magical and physical attacks causing the very ground to shake, the air to rattle- boulders and rocks and steel going in every direction. He watches in shock as one of the Commandments, a woman, seems to take Ban out with a series of punches as Tristan ducks and dives to the side- barely missing sharp vines aimed towards his head. The burned woman is stopped only when King sends Chastiefol, slicing through her arm and earning a scream of rage as she pulls a large ball of darkness around her- Gowther narrowly dodging an attack that looks like a giant, screeching bird made out of dark flame. Meanwhile, Diane is swinging a miniature Gideon- where the hell did she get it?- at another Commandment, who stops her easily with one hand and sends her flying backwards with just a swipe of his sword.
There's a loud boom, Tristan ducking again as thousands of knives hail down from the sky, and Ban is fighting two at once, blood spraying from his body as he cackles, taking their attacks without being able to land even half of his own. "Escanor!" he shouts. "Time to get big!" He snarls, landing a hard and crunching punch to a dark haired man wearing armor, a few teeth going flying. Only to then be punched straight through his abdomen, his pelvis shattering as a women wearing nothing grins ferally.
To Tristan's surprise, Escanor is back to his shrunken form, looking like a tired, skinny old man in the middle of the fray. "Well- well perhaps if I-" he stammers, "Well, this is quite embarrassing-" before yelping, jumping out of the way as the giant's foot nearly stomps on top of him. "Fuuuuck-" Ban gurgles as he is flung back, and Tristan quickly sends another Targeted Strike, catching the woman off-guard as she yelps, hitting the ground hard to give Ban time to recover.
There is shouting from all around him now, magic attacks being called one after another mingled with screams and grunts of effort, his father shouting at them behind him.
He whirls around, and finds himself standing directly across from the black-haired leader- and he stops, the hairs on the back of his neck raising. The one who looks suspiciously like his father. The one with a symbol on his forehead not unlike his own.
"Who are you?" he asks Tristan, a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips. He hasn't drawn his weapon yet, the man looking completely unbothered by the earth-shattering war going on inches away from the two of them.
"Does it matter?" replies the prince, a now-familiar heat flaring across his forehead as he readies his weapon. The demon's eyes flicker upwards, widening momentarily in surprise. Then they drag down his face, taking him in and sizing him up and down, before he finally gives one harsh chuckle. "I think I know exactly who you are," he says. He walks towards Tristan again, his shoulders hunched, and Tristan swallows in alarm when he sees the demon has yet to draw his sword. The power coming from him washes over him in waves. He quickly tries to calculate what his power level must be, but it's impossible. His father, the king, is the strongest man he knows. His parents, his family are the only ones who had ever made it past Grand Master Gilthunder's level- he had never faced anyone like this. And yet, the amount he could sense now, not only from the Commandments, but from the Sins fighting around him, his father who is still shouting behind him, it is completely overwhelming.
It was like this was the first time seeing any of them. He had known they were holding back his entire life, but to know it was by this extent? He was like a speck of dirt.
The demon now stands only a few steps away, eerily calm, and Tristan squeezes the hilt of his sword. Once more he looks him up and down as Tristan narrows his eyes, debating on whether or not to advance first- ignoring the shaking in his hands, the sweat gathering in his palms as his hearts race and scream at him to fight. Tristan sees that they really are the same height, the same build, as the man finally stops a few feet back.
"Aren't you going to try to run?" he sneers, tilting his head to the side. "Try."
Yeah, he was not going to try that.
Then his father shouts, startling him enough to flinch. "Zeldris!" Meliodas screams. "Your fight is with me. Get away from him!" The hairs on the back of his neck raise at the sound of the king's voice; malice mixed with a pang of anxiety.
The demon named Zeldris does not respond, however, his eyes still fixed on his forehead. "You have a demon mark, I see." His brows draw down a bit before he continues, "Perhaps if you somehow manage to survive this, you will have a chance to comprehend what it really means."
"Zeldris!" Meliodas growls in absolute fury.
The demon's eyes flicker over his shoulder, and Tristan takes it as his chance. Planting one foot in the ground, he spins, putting every ounce of his power into a kick at the demon's chest. Zeldris goes flying backwards, seemingly unprepared for the sudden assault; but before Tristan even completes his move, the demon twists his body and lands unharmed, glaring at him before he slams head-first into Tristan and lands easily on both feet; the prince, however, crashes backwards with a spray of blood from his now broken nose, skittering across the rock like a ragdoll as his sight blackens and pain screams through his head.
There's a high-pitched ringing, everything going white and then black with spots, and his only truly clear thought afterwards is, he hits harder than Lynette.
He shakes his head to try clear it, putting his arms out to try to push up, but only collapses on his stomach. He can't seem to even get up on his hands and knees, and looks over with shaky vision to see the demon now scowling down at him as he fails to get up a second time. "Oh. You won't be surviving this after all," he says.
Tristan pushes again, trying his best to move, as the demon begins to approach. Meliodas is shouting again, and somewhere he can hear the princess- no, he can hear his mother screaming, although through the pain he cannot make out what they are saying. He blinks again and again, trying to see, trying to move, as the black boots come closer and closer.
He swings his arm up, swiping desperately with his sword, the strangled words of his magic ability gurgled by the blood in his mouth; but then, before he knows what has happened, before he even sees Zeldris draw his own sword, a flare of hot, intense, searing heat shoots across his arm. He screams, the sound echoing over the valley and cutting through the fighting, and Tristan turns to see what it is…
Unbelievably, he realizes that everything below his shoulder is gone.
Gaping, he looks back up at Zeldris. The demon is scowling at him, a look of pure disgust glaring down at him for his weakness, for his very existence. One hand is on the hilt of his sword, the other holding Tristan's arm by the wrist, the dismembered hand still clutching Tristan's weapon.
Very far away, under the sound of rushing blood in Tristan's ears he hears Meliodas scream his name. But everything has gone numb to him: his body and the sounds around him and the terror that has seized his chest. Tristan collapses onto his back as Zeldris drops his arm into the dirt without ceremony, slowly drawing his sword from its sheath. And Tristan tries- he tries to get up, pushing off the ground with his other arm as blood begins to pool, his shirt and the ground slowly being soaked- but he can feel his hearts sputter, trying to pump what he was quickly losing.
"Meliodas," he says, Zeldris' eyes raising slightly to look above the place where Tristan is still on the ground. "My elder brother."
His words hit Tristan like a physical blow, his mind unable to comprehend as gasps for air. "If it wasn't for you, we never would have had to taste defeat." The sound of the metal blade scraping out of its sheath shakes Tristan to the very bone. And he looks up, the worst of the demons standing right above him now, his blade inches away. "Your betrayal, by itself, led to the loss of the demon race. Tell me, does your son take after you?"
"What? What?" Panic is rising in his throat, his face pale white as Tristan tries to understand. He's shaking- why is he shaking? His eyes move back and forth between the sight of his arm on the ground, and the sword Zeldris is now holding. Is he going to die? Here? Only minutes after Lancelot? "With your death, one of our vengeances would have been completed." Then Zeldris looks down at Tristan, his mouth pressed together with a vicious frown. "I suppose your son will suffice instead for now."
Son. Brother? This Commandment was...
He was going to die.
"Tristan!" Meliodas' scream comes again, the heart-wrenching yell like nothing he had ever heard his father make before, but they are still so very far away, and Zeldris was raising his sword- he was going to- Tristan's eyes go wide, his body tensing as he waits for the blow-
When suddenly the demon's hand explodes in a flash of white fire.
Zeldris cries out in anger more than agony, his sword falling to the ground with a clatter, and he gives a terrible snarl as he raises his now ruined arm. There is nothing left of his hand but a smoldering, smoking skeleton, and his face flashes up, his eyes showing nothing but pure malice. "You," he says, his eyes focusing to Tristan's left.
And there is another bright, intense light.
"Perfect Cube."
Zeldris isn't standing over him anymore. The commandment raises his head once the light clears, scowling as he goes to move forward, but cannot go more than a step before he slams into a field of energy, stopping him in his tracks. Tristan watches in bewilderment, disbelief, his mind still not able to grasp what is happening he sees the outline of more cubes in the background, the Sins splitting off from the battle ground. Then- then suddenly Princess Elizabeth is there, kneeling next to him and pulling him against her, and Tristan's head falls heavily on her shoulder.
Elizabeth- no, no. His mother wraps her arms around him, pressing her face on the side of his head, and Tristan can feel the dampness of her tears as they spill on him and the shuddering of her chest as she hiccups a loud trembling sob. The loss of blood and the throbbing in his shoulder make his head spin, everything feeling too far away, but as soon as her hands touch him there is a soothing calm that starts to slowly slide over him, moving through his veins and his muscles and down his ruined arm. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out except a croak.
"Here," she says harshly, her voice quiet but full of authority. "Please, please Tristan! Here!" He wonders what she wants him to do when a jolt of electricity shoots through his shoulder, and he cries out in shock, the surprise more than the pain making him look down. The pangs that shoot through where his arm had been sliced off pull his mind sharply back to clarity, and he jerks back against the sensation of fire that suddenly explodes against his wound. He watches with dread at the missing limb, as his mother brings it closer-
He cries out, a strangled horrified yell as he tries to jerk away from his own body, but even his own mother has more strength to keep him still now- his mouth falling open as he sputters useless garble. He sees his mother holding his arm tightly against his shoulder and- and- and then black flames dance over his skin, weaving in and out, pulling and tightening, sewing itself back together-
His breathing goes faster, hyperventilating when he realizes he's the one who's controlling it.
Within moments it's over, and Tristan looks dazedly at his arm, horrified but in wonder, and it looks perfectly fine. Tentatively he moves it, amazed as his fingers bend, and then he slowly looks up at his mother, his eyes huge, to find she is smiling through her tears. "You'll be alright," she says, brushing a hand through his hair as he quivers against her.
"Mo- Mom? How?" he whispers, his chest heaving, and Elizabeth swallows. But they are interrupted when Tristan is hauled to his feet by King, the Fairy King suddenly above them in a flash as he yanks him up by the collar, his clothing and chin covered in dirt and drying blood.
"Tristan!" The prince looks up and blinks at the sight of Diane, now back to her giant size as she runs over to them. "Tristan, are you alright?"
"I- I-" he stutters, his eyes darting around, "What is happening?"
"There's no time," King says. "Merlin won't be able to hold them for long." He nods to the right, and Tristan follows his gaze to where the mage is standing, perfectly still, concentrating with a deep frown. Aldan is floating above one palm, and the other is outstretched. Tristan continues his eyes to where the Ten Commandments are trapped inside a large purple-tinted cube, and his eyes bug out. Each one is trying to escape, their magic attacks battering against the sides; all but Zeldris, the one who had cut off his arm. Zeldris stares back at him, animosity clear on his face.
The tall blond one in the back is laughing, his head thrown back cheerfully.
"How," one of the masks in the black blob says, "does one person," another masks growls, "have this much magic?"
Tristan looks at Merlin again, and can see the palm extended tremble slightly. "We need to go and find Lynette. We need to get out of here." The prince doesn't answer, so King gives him a shake. "Tristan! Are you listening?"
"Y-yes," he breathes, turning back to look at him. But there must have been something about his gaze, something off about his eyes, because King leans in.
"We are going to find Lynette," the Sin responds, slower this time as he holds Tristan by the shoulders. "You stay here and protect the queen."
Tristan nods and watches them take off at a run, following Ban, Gowther, and Escanor over the side of the hill. He hears Elizabeth say his name, feels her hand tentatively touch his shoulder, and that jolts him back to the present. For a moment he looks back at her, her blue eyes searching his black, a million different questions bubbling to the surface; but then he shrugs her off, stalking over to where his father is still imprisoned, picking up his sword on the way.
Meliodas catches sight of him as he approaches, but his face remains as hard as stone, and completely unreadable. When Tristan is only steps away from the barrier, he stops, and the two stare at one another for a long moment. Then with a slight tremor in his voice, Tristan asks, "Why did he call you brother?"
Meliodas shakes his head. "Tristan," he says, "there is a lot that I need to tell you." His voice is steady, and firm, and his son can hear the hint of a warning. "But this isn't the time-"
"Who is that?!" Tristan shouts, a snarl twisting up his lips as a shadow covers the upper part of his face, and he points his sword out to where that Ten Commandments is held captive. Zeldris isn't paying any attention to them, instead looking annoyed as he tries to cut through the cube, swinging his sword down in a wide arc. "What is going on? What have you done? What does he mean by traitor? What did he mean by brother? He's a member of the Ten Commandments and he's calling us family?!"
"Tristan," Meliodas says, his hands balling into fists, and the warning is now clear in his voice. But the prince ignores it and continues, "This- this thing that is happening to me- you did this, somehow, you knew-!"
"I didn't." Meliodas cut him off, his voice calm and steady as he places his hands up on the side of the prison, and Tristan stares incredulously at the pleading look in his eyes. "You never showed any signs of taking after me. Not until that night in Vaizel."
"So why then?" yells Tristan, his voice cracking. "Why me? Why now?"
Meliodas sighs. "It's… I don't use it all the time either. Only when I have to. But you've never faced anything like this. You… we tried to give you a good home. A safe home." The king takes a deep breath. "You never had it before, because you never needed it. We had no idea."
"We?" Whirling around, he points his sword at where Elizabeth is watching them, her hands over her mouth. And she jerks, a small sound of shock leaving her as the sharp edge faces her way. "You knew about this?" He points up with has free hand, a snarl on his lip as he motions towards his mark, the moving black shape now twice as large above his brow as before, the edges sliding over his eye and down his cheek. "You knew that- that I would get this thing? What it is?! And you never told me?"
"You knew I was a demon." Meliodas voice is flat as Tristan glances behind him, "and there's more to that than having seven hearts." He looks so collected, and Tristan has had enough!
"You knew this would happen!" He is shaking now, everything crashing down on him as the horror and fear and confusion are focused solely on how enraged he is with his father. "Why did they kill him?" he shouts at Elizabeth. "How did he come back?"
She shakes her head, her hands on her cheeks, her eyes brimming with tears. And she looks frightened, of him. "I don't know," she chokes, and Tristan realizes she's right. She came from Vaizel right after this, didn't she? Elizabeth arrived in his mother's place just moments after this, and she was just as clueless as he.
Tristan grits his teeth and swings his weapon back towards father, taking a step forward, his sword raised higher. "Were you one of them? Is that how you came back?" He watches his father scowl, his hands squeezing against the wall of his prison, and it makes him even angrier. "Tell me the truth!"
"Lower your sword! THINK!" Meliodas suddenly shouts, but Tristan continues, the words falling from him in a jumble, "Is this what's wrong with Lynette? Is that why she did this?! I can feel it- I can feel this- this power!" He can't stop it. The anger and his coursing blood that makes his hearts beat so damn fast and the damn good idea that makes him want to wrap his hands around his father's throat!
"IS THIS WHY LANCELOT IS DEAD?!"
He glares at his father, and Meliodas actually flinches backwards at the look of fury and disbelief on his face. "No," he says, holding up a palm, his voice low and steady. "I don't know why Lynette did this. Think, Tristan. Did she have a mark on her forehead?"
Tristan blinks, shaking his head as he breathes heavily, air puffing out his mouth like a raging bull. But his fear fuels the anger and that fuels the confusion inside of him, and he turns away, looking out to where the rest of the Sins had gone after his sister. Is it possible it wasn't really her that brought them to this place, that had cursed their mother, that had killed all those people… had killed Lancelot?
Damn it. Damn it damn it! How was he supposed to think through this?! He needed to hurt something, he had to.
Just the thought of Ban finding her, killing her- it shouldn't fill him will this much glee. He shouldn't be this damn excited about his own sister dying.
He has to know for sure. He needs to know.
Tristan sheathes his sword and starts for the edge, still breathing heavily and not looking at his mother, but it's Merlin's voice that stops him. "Tristan," she calls, and he pauses mid-step and looks over his shoulder. The Boar Sin is looking back at him, her arm still extended as she continues to hold the cube intact. "Think about what you've learned. Demons have choices, just like every other race. You have a choice. So does Lynette. Whatever she is now, it's not a demon. I'm sure of it."
But Tristan only shakes his head, bringing a hand up to cover his pulsing mark. "I have to know," he says thickly, and then he is off, Meliodas' voice following him as he hops over the edge. He slides down the rocky side of the hill, jumping the last few feet to the bottom, and then he heads into the maze in a full out sprint. It's grotesque, and huge, made up of rock and wood, and Tristan is reminded vividly of coming to Vaizel with Elizabeth, with Lancelot, and how excited they had been to be out on their own adventure, despite the heavy circumstances of being there. Now it really is a different place, the crumbling walls still far taller than in his time, and he can remember the very real danger they had faced both times he has been here.
He remembers the trip through the wreckage, and as he races through the maze, he can make out the pieces of buildings and homes and even the parts of bodies that are melded into the walls. Just like before.
"You know what I heard?" Lancelot says as they walk. "This place is completely haunted." he starts to make ominous wails under his breath, flouting his orb closer to create scary shadows across his face, and Tristan laughs-
No! Not now! No, no he has to focus. He's bolting around corners, running as fast as he can, but those walls feel oppressive, as if they could cave in on him any moment. Tristan hurries up and down one path after another, searching for any large signs of life. But…
But he seems unable to escape the memories of Lancelot yelling at Arondight and hauling him up the side of the hill, of both of them laughing together when they escaped the sand crawlers. No matter how fast he runs.
Hot tears spring up into his eyes, which he swipes away furiously, remembering suddenly it was Lancelot who had kept his cool that trip, who had gotten them out of there alive. Lancelot, the joker and the screw-up and the one with the million stories, who none of them ever believed in, had saved them from the sand crawlers, and knew what to do when his mother- when Princess Elizabeth- collapsed, and faced the thieves on his own; it was Lancelot who begged him not to hurt them the first time the mark had flashed on his forehead and the flames had ripped from his body and down his sword. And it was Lancelot who realized first that there was something wrong with Lynette, pleading with him to trust him, to believe him. Who saved Jason.
Lancelot who was there the day he got back from training. Lancelot who laughed with him after the whole Tamise-thing. Lancelot who stood up and took the blame right next to him while in trouble with the king. Lancelot who-
"What about you?" snaps Lancelot, glaring over at him. "Turns out that Prince Perfect has a bit of a dark side, and what do you do? You just roll over. You don't even try to get the hell over it. Or, I don't know, ask for help?"
"Lynette!" he screams, turning one corner after another, not caring how far or how deep he is heading into the maze. Lancelot had been there to stop him that time, and maybe… maybe if he finds her, he can stop it before it happens again… he can save her the way Lancelot had tried to save him in Vaizel… or he can kill her. Kill her like he wants to.
Think, Tristan. Did she have a mark on her forehead? Was it there?
He pushes his father's words out of his mind and continues on, calling her name over and over, until he hears a shout. There's a crash to his left, the sound of rocks falling and something smashing into another, and Tristan pauses for a moment to listen, taking off once again in the direction of the voices. He skids to a stop when he sees Lynette- his sister is right there- just a few yards away, and gives his own shout as he runs towards her.
But he hesitates as she screams and stumbles backwards, falling onto the ground as she tries to kick away and drags herself across the ground. Any pretenses she had before of being a skilled fighter is gone as she scrambles on the floor, trying to crawl away pathetically. The hammer is gone, just her with her cracked armor and the blood and the dirt staining her clothing and hair. Her face twisted up in terror.
"No. No no no no," she's mumbling over and over as she crawls.
Gowther steps over her, his head tilted to the side, a streak of white light streaming from his outstretched hand before they connect to either side of her head- and her entire body convulses once before going still under his looming form.
"Gowther?" he pants, drawing up beside them. "What- what are you doing? What is happening?" He looks down at Lynette, who is on her hands and knees, a strangled sound coming out of her mouth as the veins in her neck puff out, her face going redder and redder with strain the longer Gowther has a hold of her head. "What are you doing to Lynette?" A snarl passes through his lips before he can stop it, and he shoots out a hand, trying to yank Gowther's arm away without success. "Let her go!"
"Hmmm," he says in answer, his blank look going down in a frown, before he tilts his head. "My theory was correct. This is Lynette, but something else resides within her as well. I can see… a woman. And a child."
"Is it Jason?" he asks quickly, his focus snapping back as he mentions a child, trying to understand as he leans over his sister. He reaches out a hand, but is hesitant to touch her. She's drenched in sweat now, her eyes staring at nothing with an intensity that it truly frightening.
"No," answers Gowther curiously. "It's not Lynette's memories I'm seeing."
"Not Lynette's?" he breathes. Could that be- could it be? He crouches down in front of her, trying to see her face. His throat is dry, making it difficult to swallow, and his voice comes out as a broken whisper. "Lynette?" Could it be, could she be… ? "Lynette… is that, is that you?"
There's a moment of silence, everything still.
Lynette then gives a sudden scream, and both Tristan and Gowther are knocked backwards, going flying with a powerful force. Once again Tristan finds himself crashing to the ground, a loud grunt leaving his lips as he skids, and he slams his fist in anger. "Lynette!" he shouts, scrambling to get up as he looks over.
His sister is standing, her hair wild, her clothes torn and filthy, blood stuck to her skin.
"That was an unexpected reaction." Tristan swings his head around, seeing Gowther laying awkwardly over some rubble, a couple of pebbles bouncing off his head as he squints outwards. His glasses are missing, and he seems more concerned about them- then his sister who is now hissing in a foreign language.
She raises her arms, the hammer once more in her hands, and with another cry she brings it down, slamming it with a piercing ring into the ground. Then the wind is rushing again, Tristan's senses overwhelmed, and he raises his own arms to cover his face as everything disappears.