Chapter 29
Monday came around and I was grateful for the slower day.
My mind struggled to process the events that took place over the weekend. Meliodas' story especially. He was the first Sin. Everything that came after was set into motion because of what happened to him. Well… what happened to Liz might be the more accurate statement. To think that all of this started with something that should have been as simple as an overdose.
But nothing with the sins ever seemed to be so cut and dry. Maybe that's why they were all here. They were all wronged in some way. And they had no way to go about correcting it by legal means.
Thankfully, things seemed to be back to normal between Meliodas and I. And if he'd told the rest of the sins about our late-night conversation, no one was showing it. Which, I was thankful for. I'd thought that confronting Meliodas meant that things would change. And maybe they had in some unseen way. But for the time being, I was still here. I still had a chance.
It was nearing closing time, only a few patrons left in the bar when Meliodas announced suddenly, "ah, I almost forgot." He snapped his fingers. "I've got a shipment to pick up. King, Ban why don't you help me?"
Both men gave him perplexed looks.
"I'd rather not." Ban flat out told him.
"Uh… pretty sure out of everyone here I'm the least helpful in picking up shipment." King protested with a frown.
"Too bad." Meliodas chirped merrily. Or maybe commanded?
They grumbled under their breath, but followed Meliodas towards the door.
"Wait a minute!" Diane called after them angrily. "You just expect the two of us to close up for you? Just like that? What the hell, Boss!?"
"I'm sure you two can handle it just fine." Meliodas told her brightly. His eyes landed on me and he winked. "Princess is probably more helpful than Ban in shutting things down anyway."
"She definitely is." King quipped. He ducked under a lazy swipe from Ban. "Though it really doesn't take too much."
I pursed my lips at King, half tempted to send him a rude gesture for the backhanded compliment. The ginger caught my eye and chuckled lightly.
"I swear to god if you three come back drunk with nothing to show for it again-" Diane started only to be cut off by Ban.
"Ohh!~" He smirked crookedly. "It's that kinda shipment? Why didn't you just say so! I'm in!"
"Yeah, well, I'm still no-ugh" King let out a strangled cry as Ban locked him in a headlock and dragged him out the door.
"See the two of you soon!" Meliodas waved as he followed after King and Ban.
The door shut with a quiet click that echoed in the deafening silence.
I knew Meliodas set this up. To leave me and Diane alone together so I could ask to hear her story. It was kind of him. But I didn't know how to feel about it. Unease crept up my spine. I'd never had a problem talking with Diane before, but now I felt a weight in my chest. Worried that maybe everything would change between us once I heard her words.
That maybe we wouldn't be friends.
Which sounded more and more ridiculous the longer I thought about it. Despite acknowledging that I wanted her friendship - that didn't mean that I could have it. Or that I even should. She was still a criminal, still a sin. But… well I had already crossed that line with Meliodas. Having Diane as a friend didn't really seem so bad in comparison.
Diane didn't seem in the mood to deal with customers if her shouted, "you have ten minutes to finish your drinks before I kick you guys out!" was anything to go by.
In a matter of minutes, the bar emptied. I'm not sure what I was more impressed by; the fact that Diane could command a room of drinking patrons like that, or that they'd be so subservient to her demands at the drop of a hat.
The brunette strolled around the back of the bar to get herself a drink. She raised a glass up, silently asking if I wanted to join her. I dipped my chin and she filled two mugs up with ale.
"Well," Diane started off in a detached tone as she took a seat by me at the counter, "as far as stories go, mine's one of the shorter ones."
Apparently she wanted to get straight to the point, no beating around the bush. Not that I should have been surprised. I really should have expected it. That Diane would be the first to just hop right in without any prompting on my part. But that also meant Meliodas had done what he said he would - he'd put in a good word for me. They all knew he'd told me his story. I just hadn't expected it to be this soon.
I furrowed my brow, but before I could do more than that, she continued.
"I already told you that my mom passed, right? Well I didn't tell you that we had a fight before that." The brunette fiddled with the drink in front of her. "See I… I had found out what my mom did to support us a few months before she died and…"
She paused, slamming the drink in front of her, refilling it and then slamming it again. Diane inhaled deeply and shook her head.
"I really do suck at storytelling." She chuckled dryly. An unusual sound from her that set me on the edge of my seat. "Uh, let me start over. Okay, from the beginning… I suppose you could say that everything was pretty good until I turned 18. It was just me and mom and we weren't rich or anything but we lived well enough. We were happy.
"It was Christmas Eve, which is also my birthday-" she gave me a wink, attempting to display her normally playful attitude. It only fell a little short. "- I had asked my mom years ago what she did for a living and she had told me she was a dancer. But when I turned 18, she decided that I needed to know the truth about her career…"
I nibbled my lip, anxiously awaiting an answer. When she didn't seem apt to give me one, I asked the question in the gentlest way I could. "Which was?"
"A prostitute."
My eyes went wide and my jaw must have slacked as well. Diane snorted as she stared at me out of the corner of her eye.
"Yeah, that was pretty much my response too… mixed with some denial and then… anger." Diane tapped her nails against the countertop. "There was a lot of yelling on my part. I was so angry that she would do something so shady and demeaning. Plus she lied to me for years! I left and stayed with a friend until graduation. I was a legal adult, but still a stubborn ass teenager. Obviously I thought I was in the right," she started with a sarcastic bite to her words, "and didn't even stick around to hear anymore from her."
A wave of sympathy washed over me as Diane's eyes began to shine.
"I ignored Mom's calls and texts for months. But when graduation rolled around I… I still expected her to be there, ya know?" She gave me a heartbreaking smile.
She didn't have to tell me what happened next. I already knew.
"She wasn't at graduation. I was pissed. Again." She rolled her eyes at her younger self. "I stormed to the apartment, ready to tell her off and she… wasn't there." Diane took a shaky breath, blinking back tears. "I waited and waited and… she never came home. Later that week, an officer showed up and gave me the news."
"She died." I couldn't stop myself from saying it.
"No." Diane responded harshly, any trace of her sadness gone. "She was murdered and the bastards tried to write it off as an overdose."
No. It couldn't possibly be -
"XGEN…?" My voice came out softer than I meant it to be.
Diane nodded. "Yeah. The real early stages of the stuff. Anyways," she continued with a scowl, "I knew my mom would never do that. In the back of my mind, I'd always known she wasn't a dancer, but I didn't want to delve any deeper into it. But drugs? I knew she'd never do that."
That's what they all say. I kept the comment to myself. Her story started to sound eerily familiar.
"I bugged the precinct that was in charge of her case for a month. They always sent me to this same angry bitch who gave me the same damn answer." Diane snarled. "Only when I was 'kindly'-" she used air quotes - "asked to leave did I finally realize I had been talking to the wrong person. The man who walked me out, I forget his name, was more than eager to take me out for a drink."
That familiar smug smile formed on her lips.
"Took me two dates to get the information from him that I wanted." Her proud smile fell. "My mom was murdered. Knew too much about the drug I guess. They had to off her."
"Oh my god…" I whispered, horrified.
Diane laughed, waving off my mortification with a small smile. "Oh, that ain't nothing. Finding out my mom was murdered? That was the easy part. The next stuff? Before I met the boys? That was… my own personally created hell."
Silence hung between us.
I tried to process her words, willing my brain to catch up with what she could be insinuating with such a sentence.
"I took up Mom's profession."
My eyes snapped to hers.
Diane wasn't looking at me. Once again she fiddled with her mug before taking a long drink and refilling it. When she turned to me, a sad smile tugged at her lips as she caught my expression. Amethyst eyes were far more broken than I could have ever imagined from the bubbly girl.
"Don't feel bad for me," the burnette insisted quietly before I could even gather the words. "Like I said, it was my own decision. No one forced me to dig deeper into my mother's case. To use my good looks to get the information I needed from the scumbags of the Underworld."
She paused in her tale, walking around the back of the bar.
"I'm going to need something a little stronger than ale to get through the rest of this." She explained as she fiddled around with the various bottles of hard liquor.
"Daine…" I nibbled my lip. As much as I wanted and felt like I needed to hear her story, I didn't want to force her. "You don't have too…"
"Want anything?" She quirked a brow, letting me know she was straight up ignoring the idea of quitting.
"Sure. Whatever you're having." Making a choice was not something I felt up to right now. Neither was the alcohol but maybe it would me get through this as well.
She nodded. "So anyways, as to be expected, that first time was hard." She began pouring us drinks, focused on her task and not looking at me. "I mean I was by no means a virgin but that didn't mean it wasn't… weird. Like, I don't know." Diane pursed her lips in thought. "It was my choice to do it, but it.. Wasn't?"
She groaned and slapped her hand on the counter in frustration.
"Where's King?" Her amethyst eyes searched for him, as if saying his name would make him suddenly appear. "He's so much better at words and stuff than me."
"You're doing fine Diane." I assured her. I patted her hand in what I hoped was a complacing manner. "Keep going. You know they're out."
Diane sighed heavily. She pushed a drink towards me and then walked around the bar to return to her seat. "Okay so, it wasn't like the guy was horrible looking or anything but it wasn't a desire that drove me ya know? It was more like a determination to just get it done with so I could get the information I needed and that made me feel so… so dirty."
We each took a drink.
"I got what I needed from him and kept my composure up until I got back home. To the apartment I shared with my mom." Her eyes glassed over, a far away look in them. "Let's just say the water ran cold long before I was done scrubbing at my skin."
She told me that a few men weren't all bad. That she maybe could have tolerated them if they'd met under any other kind of circumstances. But that barely helped. Eventually Diane managed to numb herself to the wrongness of it all. She got better and better after each experience, learning to recognize the signs between the high rollers who had information and the posers who were just looking for an easy lay.
Two years.
Diane had done that to herself for two years.
While I enrolled in the police academy, she sold her body. All so she could get information on her mother's murder. To find the people who were the source of the drug that killed her. Some were gang members and some were very wealthy people. Each person handed her pieces to an increasingly larger puzzle. The more she learned, the more complicated it became.
A few were even cops.
Isn't that what good people are supposed to do? Be nice to the cops? Her voice from my first night here rang through my head.
No wonder she had such distrust in the law. When she needed it most, it failed her. The police, sworn to serve and protect, had failed her. A few even took advantage of her.
Made me feel like I had failed her too.
"Everything was sooo much easier once I got a fake ID." Diane smiled truly for the first time in her tale. "I could get the guy to pay for whatever I needed while simultaneously getting him drunk!" She laughed. "Seriously. They'd be throwing money at the table just for the chance to take me home. To impress me. Jackass would get so drunk I wouldn't even need to sleep with them most of the time to get what I needed!" She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Not that it really mattered by that point."
"What… what do you mean?" I cautiously broached.
She tilted her head as she studied my face. "Well, sex wasn't really that big of a deal. It was a means to an end. A job I had to do to get the results I wanted."
I frowned.
"It wasn't romantic anymore, Elizabeth." She told me with an understanding smile. Knowing just what I'd been trying to relay. "Sex long since lost it's intimacy by that point."
My lips pressed together as I attempted to find words. How could I even begin to explain all the thoughts going through my head? That the urge to apologize for everything she went through - stuck in my throat wanting to escape. That I wanted to apologize for something I had absolutely nothing to do with seemed silly. And yet…
"I was so close by the end of that two years!" Diane continued, either not noticing or not caring about my struggle with her confession. "I had it narrowed down to a specific gang thanks to this sleazy rich guy I'd managed to snag. Wasn't a bad gig. Guy bought me whatever I wanted for about a month or so. Fed me too." She hummed as she thought it over. "Probably the best gig I had, even if he was kind of a creep."
"Diane…"
She laughed. Each one sounding more and more like the girl I knew as we got farther into her story. "Right, right, getting off track. Anyways, got it narrowed to this gang and I was at a club the members liked to frequent for a few weeks - just making my face one of the regulars, ya know? And then one night..." A large grin spread across her lips. "I finally pinned a few members down! At least, that's what I thought."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, that's when I met them!"
"Who?" I grew tired of her trying to be cryptic.
"The boys of course!" Diane beamed so bright despite the tragic topic.
And I finally understood why her mood had been steadily increasing even as she talked about a darker time in her life. We were getting to the happier part of her story. When things took a brighter turn for her. When she met Meliodas, Ban and King.
"Wait." I stopped her before she could continue. "They were apart of a gang? Before the Sins?"
"Not at all!" She giggled, twirling her hair around her finger. "See, thing is that they were looking for the same gang I was. Except they were trying to lure them out by flaunting the gang's pin. Roars of Dawn was pretty exclusive to the point where everyone would know each member," Diane explained for me. "So three unknowns with their insignia would draw some attention. At least that's what they were going for." She turned sheepish. "I maaaay have put a wrench in that plan."
"Oh?" I quirked a curious brow.
"So I thought that they were members of that gang and totally tried to put the moves on them."
"All three?"
An embarrassed flush rose to her cheeks as she shook her head. "No. I had figured out long ago that the drunkest guy was usually the easiest to manipulate soo… I was going to go for… well…"
My mouth dropped. "No."
Diane nodded meekly.
"You were going for Ban." A slow smirk crossed my lips at the new information. It was just too good. Out of the three he would have been my last guess.
"That was the plan! But those bozos had other ideas!" She tossed her hands up as she got into her story telling. The alcohol she had slammed and continued to drink was probably getting to her too. A red flush remained on her cheeks. "Ban and the boss exchanged one look and practically shoved King into my arms."
"Oh my god…" I whispered in disbelief, struggling to suppress a laugh at the thought.
"King did the strangest thing and… well I guess that's when I really should have known there was something off with them." Diane scrunched up her face.
"What did he do?"
"He swore at the two and then fucking apologized to me! Said I didn't have to hang with him just because his friends were assholes!" She angrily retold the situation. "I was so thrown off by the whole thing and just pissed! Why wasn't he falling over himself at the mere chance to be with me? I did the only logical thing I could think of at the time and drug his ungrateful ass out on the dancefloor!"
I laughed, unable to stop the mental image of Diane physically towing King along behind her. Guy was probably terrified. Or amused. Maybe both? It was hard to tell with him sometimes.
"He acted so different from everyone else I tried to pursue." Diane's voice was surprisingly gentle. "Didn't try to take advantage of me once. Even when I was trying to shove my tongue down his throat. I ended up breaking my usual rules and took him back to the motel I had."
My eyes widened.
Her features scrunched up in disappointment. "I didn't even get anything good outta him before the bastard was telling me he 'knew what I was'," she mocked in King's voice.
"No. Tell me he didn't."
How could he possibly know that?
She scowled. "Bastard called me out! I was about ready to murder him when he told me that they, the three of them, were looking into the gang too and that we should team up. One thing lead to another and well," she gestured around the bar, "here I am."
"Why do I feel like there's a lot more to that story?" I quirked a brow at her, not thrilled with the idea of her trying to leave it there. "Especially between you and King! I mean something was there from the start but you told me when I got here that you two had only been dating for a few weeks. There has to be more."
"There is." Daine snickered playfully and winked. "But it's not really anything you need to know. Like, not important to your case at all. I was pissed at King for months after that night and we had a lot of… tension between us for even longer than that." She shrugged. "Obviously we got over it. And that's pretty much the extent of my solo career."
I pursed my lips, craving more. "Nothing else?"
"Well of course there's more!" The burnette laughed lightly. "We've been the Sins for four years. I've been with the boys for five. But we don't have that much time. Especially if you need to hear from everyone else yet. There's only so much of my story before it begins to mingle with everyone else's. And I won't be the one to spill the beans on anyone else's past." She told me firmly.
I supposed she was right. As much as I wanted to hear more. It wasn't necessary. I heard her reason for why she was here. Her mother.
"Did you… did you ever find the one who…" I trailed off, unsure how to broach the topic delicately.
"Offed my mom?" She tilted her head.
I nodded. I should have known gentleness wasn't necessary with Diane. Even more now than I did before.
"We did." Diane smiled softly. "It took awhile but that gang was the ones responsible. Dealing with the asshole was a bright spot for me back then."
The wicked smirk on her lips… I moved on, scared of what exactly she - or the others- had done. Instead I asked, "why did you stay then?"
"Whaddya mean?" She quirked a brow.
"With the Sins." I clarified, words flowing out. "I mean you found your mom's killer and… dealt with him. Why stay after that? Why not move onto something better?"
Why didn't you try to leave after accomplishing your goal? Why stay and make yourself a criminal?
"Ah. Well… I supposed the biggest reason would be the boys."
"I don't follow."
"They became my new family, Elizabeth." She told me quietly. "After finding that guy I felt… weirdly empty and…" she shook her head. "Meliodas said that I could stay on with them if I wanted. And if you would have asked me at the start, I never would have thought about how much I did want it. A place to belong."
We exchanged soft smiles.
"Besides. Not like I was going to go back to being an escort! Not when everything was better at the Boar Hat. I had food, a bed, and people who cared about me."
"Of course."
When she laid it out like that, her staying made perfect sense. Diane had been alone for two and a half years. No one but herself to rely on. To have people who not only helped her achieve her mission, but understood her and offered her a home… I could hardly blame her for staying.
"Well," Diane stood up and cracked her back, "whaddya say we go ahead and get started with closing the bar up, hmm?"
"Sure." I nodded, only half paying attention.
Diane began to buzz around, cleaning up tables and humming to herself.
My eyes followed her around the room. Parts of Diane's story had surprised me while others… they weren't as far-fetched as I would have believed a few weeks ago. Knowing her better, it was slightly terrifying. Because despite the things she had done to get what she wanted, she was still so-so…. Diane.
I shook my head and stood up, determined to help and distract myself.
Five more stories still awaited me. Would they all be so horrible?
Luv:... hey Dom? If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Dom: *Thinks about it far longer than she probably should* Hmmmmmm… If I had a superpower, huh?
Luv: *leans in closer.* Yeah! I'm super curious what you would pick! I've kinda been really into superhero stories lately annd…. *clears throat* ANYWAYS… your power?
Dom: *Think a little longer before giving a decisive nod* I want the power of ultimate destruction!
Luv: … destruction huh? *rubs chin in thought* I'm not really sure how well that would translate to a superhero...
Dom: *grin starts to form* Superheroes aren't really my thing, Luv. Bold of you to assume I'd be one of the good guys. I'm pretty sure my name says it all. But now I'm curious, what powers would you have?
Luv: I mean… anything could be good if you wanted it to be right? Like it's all about the context? But um… now you have me thinking about mine… *sits down on the floor and does some serious thinking*
Dom: Don't hurt yourself down there...
Luv: *ignores her as she bolts up with an excited smile* I GOT IT!
Dom: Care to share or are you going to leave me hanging?
Luv: I think you should give the preview while I'm thinking *gives a wink while giggling shamelessly.*
Dom: You cheeky… *Glares before relenting* Next Time on Don't Trust Me: Two stories under her belt, Elizabeth is sent on an important errand with Gowther with the hopes of getting two stories for the price of one.
Luv: Okay okay SO you know how you chose destruction? Well, I thought about it and you know how we always seem to kind of balance each other? *bounces back and forth in excitement* My superpower will be creation!
Dom: *starts to bounce along with Luv's completely contagious excitement* BUT OF COURSE! THE DYNAMIC DUO! Besides, you already fix all the things I break, so it's perfect!
Luv: Right?! We'll be just like *pauses* huh… can we mention other fandoms? Cause we've totally made two vague references here to two different ones…
Dom: *checks the giant rule book of fanfiction* Hmmm… I don't think so. It says here that falls under the category of shameless self promotion since we have stories related to those fandoms. But you know *throws giant book over her shoulder and doesn't even flinch as it crashes out the window* I'm a bad guy, so fuck da rules.
Luv: *already pulling out a piece of cardboard and putting it over the broken window* I mean technically the readers could just guess or check out our profiles if they're curious *starts duct taping the cardboard over the window* I don't wanna break the rules on purpose...
Dom *turns to the readers the Office style* Yes, yes they could do that thing *WINK*
Luv: *pulls back from her task and nods at the mended window* Okay think that's all we have time for. I gotta make a call… *starts walking out of the room to call her window guy… they go through a lot of windows*
Dom: *finger guns at the audience* Peace out readers! See ya next time! *Shoots a grappling hook off screen and disappears*