King wandered around the town for a bit until he finally came across Diane. He smiled as he floated over to her, yelling jovially,

"Diane!"

She turned her attention to the person calling her. Confusion washed over her.

"King, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the tavern with your friend 'till our date later tonight?"

King rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well funny thing is, Helbram kicked me out to come spend the day with you."

King gazed at the ground as his cheeks heated up. Diane stared at him. She started to laugh.

King looked at Diane in surprise, asking in a panic,

"What's so funny, Diane?"

She was holding her stomach as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"It's just, your friend kicked you out of the tavern...so you could spend the day with me. You must really trust him if he was able to get you to leave after he just woke up."

King gazed at her in wonder, smiling.

"Yeah, I trust him a lot. He probably wouldn't talk to me if I didn't do as he asked anyway. He's kind of a jerk in that regard."

Diane smiled too.

"Like Ban. I bet they'll get along great."

King frowned.

They would probably just gang up on me to tease me.

"I don't want to think about that. You're probably right though, Diane."

They laughed at each other as they went off together to enjoy the day.

Elizabeth arrived at the tavern at eleven-o-clock. There was a smile on her face as she called out,

"Good morning~."

Her smile quickly fell as she looked at the scene before her. Ban was behind the bar cooking something, Meliodas was talking to someone as Hawk yelled at the person, and Gowther wasn't even there.

Elizabeth approached Meliodas, she saw that the person he was talking to was Helbram. The smile returned to her face as she ran up to him. She grabbed his hands, giving him a gleeful grin. There was excitement in her voice as she spoke,

"Sir Helbram you're awake and down in the tavern! I'm so happy to see you. I was worried about you."

As she met his gaze, though, worry overtook her. She could see that he had tears streaming down his face and his breathing was ragged.

Elizabeth turned to Meliodas asking,

"Sir Meliodas, did the curse come back? Is he in pain?"

Meliodas gave a reassuring smile to her.

"No, nothing like that Lizbeth. He just had a panic attack is all. Ban is making him something to calm him down."

Elizabeth turned back to Helbram, concerned.

"Sir Helbram..."

Elizabeth felt helpless. She had been healing Helbram the whole time and she was going to remove the curse today, but seeing him having a breakdown hurt her. Someone was suffering in front of her and she couldn't do anything to help. She pulled him close to her doing the only thing she could, a hug.

Helbram gasped at the sudden warm embrace. His breathing returned to normal, and his tears stopped falling as he began to relax.

Just then, Ban came out with a bowl of soup. He was awestruck at the scene before him.

Is Elizabeth hugging Helbram? She is! I wonder why he hasn't pushed her away since he doesn't like people? Maybe she's special because she has been healing him.

Ban set the bowl of soup down on the table, sitting down in his stool.

Elizabeth let go of Helbram, looking into his eyes. He looked like he was in a trance.

Helbram blinked twice at Elizabeth, wiping the tears from his eyes, asking,

"What was that for?"

Elizabeth smiled.

"It was the only thing I could do to ease your pain. I know I can't do much, but I thought if I hugged you it might help."

Meliodas praised Elizabeth for her quick thinking.

"Wow good job, Lizbeth. You manage to calm him down faster than me."

Hawk chimed in.

"You weren't doing a very good job, to begin with. You were just saying a bunch of random stuff like 'don't worry it gets better.' How would that make anyone feel better!?"

Helbram turned away from Elizabeth, looking at the soup Ban had made for him. He proceeded to drink the soup, putting the bowl down after finishing the whole thing in one big gulp. Sighing in relief, he addressed Ban.

"Thank you. I don't really know why I lost it. It's probably a side effect from the spell Hendrickson cast or... maybe something else."

Ban grinned.

"It's fine. He kind of deserved it. You know what they say, no harm, no foul~."

Helbram gazed at the man and then turned his attention back to Elizabeth.

"You're Princess Elizabeth. Are you the person who's been healing the demon curse on my back?"

She smiled, closing her eye saying proudly,

"Yes, I am. I'm really happy you're awake and moving. I know there's a little bit of the curse left on your back, and I'm going to remove it today."

He gave her a puzzled expression.

"How are you able to heal it, it's a demon curse? Is it because you have the power of the goddess race in you?"

Elizabeth kept smiling. Then, blinking twice, she gave Helbram a puzzled expression.

"How do you know about that, if I may ask, Sir Helbram?"

He looked at her slightly annoyed.

"I was Hendrickson's slave, well, right-hand man as he put it. I knew everything about his plan and why he wanted you."

"Oh, right."

Elizabeth said as she gazed at him. She then asked.

"Sir. Helbram can I heal your back now so the curse can be fully removed?"

"Huh... I suppose so. Can you just heal it while I have my shirt on, or do I have to remove that?"

He pouted at her.

Elizabeth looked away as she replied.

"It would be easier if I can see the curse."

Helbram sighed heavily.

"Alright, if that's the case then I'll remove my shirt. But for the record, I don't condone this."

He unbuttoned his vest, pulling his wings out of it, and set it down on the table. He loosed his sunflower charm to take it off, setting it on top of the vest. Helbram then pulled his shirt over his head, pulling his wings out first. He decided to leave it around his arm so he could put it back on easily.

He addressed Elizabeth,

"There, now please hurry up, this is degrading."

Elizabeth nodded her head. But as she walked around to Helbram's back, she gasped in horror.

"Oh no, how did this happen? It spread out."

It was still in the same spot, but the curse had extended out to the sides of his back again. Elizabeth didn't understand why that would have happened. It hadn't moved the first time she healed it, and it hadn't moved the second time. She thought that it may have moved because he was up and about, but he wasn't in any pain.

Ban looked over the table to view the spot, anger burned his stomach.

"The damn thing fanned out. Why?"

Meliodas chimed in,

"It might have moved because of what happened with Howser."

Meliodas met Helbram's gaze asking,

"When you snapped and your sword appeared, did you use magic to summon it?"

Helbram bit the inside of his cheek, guilt washed over him, as he spoke.

"Well I did use my magic to summon my sword, but I didn't know it would cause the curse to fan out. I should have known that since that demon doll was stealing my magic to function. But I didn't feel any pain."

Ban got up and address Elizabeth,

"Elizabeth, heal that thing and get rid of it. I got his arms, so just heal it."

Helbram looked at Ban in disbelief.

"It won't hurt that bad, you don't really have to hold down my arms."

Ban grabbed onto Helbram's forearms and pressed them into his legs. Holding down both his arms and legs so that Helbram couldn't flee or hurt anyone.

Ban spoke in a stern voice,

"No way. The last time we did this, you threw me off and pushed Elizabeth away. I'll hold your arms down and, since you're up, keep your wings under control. No twitchy wings~, got it?"

Helbram pouted at Ban. He was treating him like a child.

"Fine, just get it over with."

Elizabeth nodded as she pulled her magic forward, placing her hands on the cursed spot. Helbram gritted his teeth, as pain rang out. It paled in comparison to yesterday, but it still hurt.

Ban gave him a smug grin, and Helbram squinted his eyes, kicking Ban's leg. Ban gritted his teeth as he gazed at Helbram in annoyance.

The brat kicked me on purpose!

Helbram let out a quick grin between grimacing from the pain.

That'll teach him.

Meliodas laughed at the two.

Elizabeth watched as the curse blackened again and started to fight her. Helbram closed his eyes, tears forming in the corners, and he bit the inside of his cheek again, trying to distract himself from the growing pain.

Elizabeth poured more magic into healing the spot, and soon she smiled. It had started to shrink.

Helbram sighed in relief. The pain was vanishing.

Elizabeth pulled her hands away and yelled happily,

"It's gone! I did it! You're all better now. Isn't that great?"

Ban let go of Helbram. The fairy pulled his shirt back over his head, sighing in disappointment.

Meliodas, Elizabeth, and Ban all gave him a puzzled expression.

Helbram noticed their confusion. He began to explain himself as he put his vest on.

"You see, I had a theory that the curse was keeping me alive since I'm guessing it's meant to kill the person who has it. Elizabeth healed it and I'm still alive so… I have no idea what's keeping me alive. It doesn't make any sense."

Ban was irritated to hear him questioning why he was alive. Elizabeth and Meliodas just looked at him with concerned faces.

Ban spoke up,

"You really need to stop questioning this."

"But-"

"No buts, you're alive and King's happy. So unless you suddenly drop dead, don't question your life anymore. Got it?"

Ban had a serious look on his face. Helbram raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Does he care about me? Why? Ugh, humans are wired? This is why I hate them. They care one moment and then back-stab you the next… Harlequin trusts him though, so I guess he's okay to trust.

Helbram sighed in defeat, pointing a finger at Ban.

"Fine, fine I won't question it anymore. But if I drop dead for no reason, you have to tell Harlequin why. Deal?"

Ban grinned, grabbing Helbram's hand and shaking it.

"Deal~."

Elizabeth and Meliodas stared at the pair in confusion. Then Meliodas grabbed Elizabeth's hand and started heading for the bar saying,

"Let's leave them alone. Besides, we should take inventory together. I need to see what I have to restock before tonight's festival."

Elizabeth smiled warmly at him, a slight blush on her face.

"I would be happy to help, Sir Meliodas."

As the two went behind the bar, someone came in. Ban and Helbram looked toward the entrance. There was a woman in the doorway.

Helbram spoke, surprise in his tone,

"Oh~ it's Guila-cutie. What are you doing here?"

She smiled at Helbram and walked over, a vase full of sunflowers in her arms.

"Sir King told me you were here, so I came to visit. I brought you sunflowers since you seem to favor them."

Ban looked at them smirking.

Guila handed the vase over to Helbram. He took it and set it down on the table. He spoke,

"Thanks but you reeeally didn't have to bring me anything. I don't deserve it… Do you still want to know what happened to your father?"

She looked surprised that he remembered the last conversation they had before the battle. She already knew what had happened and didn't want to dwell on it any longer. She smiled at Helbram.

"I appreciate the thought, but it's alright, you don't have to explain anything. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

He gave her a puzzled look.

"Why? I didn't really do much to help you, and I didn't care much for you."

She giggled at him, but Helbram just glared back in confusion.

Gulia said in a cheery tone,

"True, you may not have cared much for me, but I sadly can't say the same. I know you tried to kill me and my brother, which is unforgivable, but it was an order. I heard from Sir King about the situation at that time on my way over here. Besides, you were always the most interesting holy knight to be around, Sir Helbram."

Helbram gave her an amused smile.

"Well, I am one of a kind, so to say. I'm glad to hear that someone liked my antics. You weren't half bad either… for a human."

Ban's jaw fell slack as he watched the two. He couldn't believe Helbram's insults or how Gulia accepted them as compliments.

Gulia sat down at the table. They proceeded to chat for a while longer.