(A/N)

Hey, just thought I'd stick a note in here.

Both this chapter and the next chapter are from Zephyr's point of view. I just thought that, in case anyone was getting confused, I'd just point out that when he's speaking it's Bolded and Italicized, and when he's thinking (or when Zinnia's thinking, for that matter, during other chapters), it's just Italicized. Hope that clears up any confusion.

I hope everyone's liking the story so far!

Slow down! Zephyr tried desperately to pronounce the sounds. He then sighed and coughed as he slowed to a halt in the middle of the streets of Byron. He had been trying to catch up to Hawk in an attempt to calm the pig down and make him see the sense of searching for Meliodas together, but as soon as he started to chase him, Hawk had only seemed to get more frantic. Zephyranthes was now panting heavily and his head hung. By now, Hawk was long gone.

The people of the town were terrified of the sight of the fox shade. They had never seen anything like him - a fox as black as night, with eyes like alabaster. He cast no shadow, as he himself was shadow. Darkness curled off of the edges of his fur in thin wisps, only to disappear like morning dew from the intensity of the afternoon sun. Children peeked out from behind their guardians, curious, only to be hidden again by worried adults.

Whispers filled the edges of Zephyr's perception.

"What is that thing?"

"Never seen anything like it…"

"Momma, can I pet it?"

"Shush, child."

"Do you think it has anything to do with the sighting of the wanted criminal?"

"It's not doing anything…"

"Should we report this?"

Zephyr pricked his ears, trying to hear past the whispers, or at least to hear something of value. Nothing helpful could be heard though, and his head drooped again. Of course Hawk ran away. He can't hear me. Perhaps he thought that I wanted to kill him, since he thinks that Zinnia and I can't be trusted?

"Momma, momma, the fox talked!"

"No it didn't sweety. Now get back behind me."

Zephyr twitched his head in the direction of the voice. A small boy now stood in front of a young woman, holding her hand loosely. A few other children had opened their eyes wide, and their mouths were slightly open.

Of course! Children can often hear me since they're more in-tune with the world than adults. Zephyr took a step towards the child. I'm sorry to bother you, he tried to be polite, even if it was wasted on such a young child, but have you seen a floating boy with red-brown hair and holding a green pillow? He has a blonde boy with him, who's wearing a white undershirt and pants, and a black vest, with a sword strapped to his back. Knowing that the child wouldn't understand that the two he was describing weren't actually young enough to be considered 'boys', he settled on making it as simple as possible. They're my friends, and it seems that I've lost them.

"Eh? A floating boy? We saw one earlier, didn't we, Momma?" He tugged on the woman's sleeve before pointing down a side street. "Didn't he go that way?"

The kid was now very close to Zephyranthes' face, and his mother wasn't having any of it. "Alexander, get back! We have no idea what that thing is. It might bite you!"

"But it's just asking where its friends-"

His mother grabbed his arm and pulled the boy back behind her. She started murmuring in a hushed voice to her son, but Zephyr chose to ignore her.

With only one lead, the fox shade turned in the direction that the young boy had pointed.

"Wait, stop!"

Zephyr was going to see what the boy had shouted about, but before he could even look, a heavy force knocked him down, causing pain to flare up in his side. Yelping in pain, the fox found that an older boy had jabbed at him with a sharp stick. A man beside him appeared to be getting ready to kick Zephyr while he was down. Why?

"Get out of our town, demon!" a woman shouted from somewhere among the crowd.

"Stay away from our children!"

"Don't let it touch you! Who knows what it'll do."

He screwed his eyes shut as his body was wracked with pain. Normally, Zephyr would've just fled into a shadow, but his wounds were preventing that. It would only intensify the pain a hundred fold. All that the fox could do was hold his breath and wait for the beating to end.

Suddenly the shouting and commotion increased, but the kicks stopped coming. Zephyranthes didn't dare open his eyes, though. That is, until he felt many smaller hands pushing and pulling on him.

"Come on!" It was the voice of the boy from before. "Hurry up!" The voices of other children grunted in agreement.

This caused Zephyr to finally open his eyes. Smoke and dust filled the air to the point that he could barely make out the figures of the people around him. Through the haze, though, Zephyr could see about four children of varying ages were trying to tug his limp body down a nearby alley. Stumbling to his paws, the black fox limped in the direction that they were fleeing, speeding up their escape.

"Alexander! Alexander, where are you?"

"That damn demon! We should have killed it while we had the chance."

"Where did it take the children?!"

Great, now they think that I've kidnapped their children, too… Zephyr growled. He was lying on his side, breathing shallowly, as one of the four children that had rescued him peeked out from behind the pile of bricks that made up a wall of their hideout in order to see what the adults were doing. By the time the small group had gotten to their safe zone, the dust had settled, and the men and women in the street were frantically searching for the missing children.

"Shhhh, they'll hear you." The oldest of the group, a girl that appeared to be about twelve years old and had red pigtails, whispered. She appeared to be the leader of the little gang, with the boy Alexander as her second-in-command. She was wearing a fluffy red dress and brown boots, had blue-gray eyes, and had freckles spattered across her face. She also appeared to be the only of the children wearing nicer clothing with minimal dirt and grime. The daughter of a noble perhaps? Maybe that was how she'd gotten her position in this group.

"Momma didn't seem to be able to hear it, though…" That was Alexander, of course, who only seemed to be a couple of years younger than the ginger girl. He had hair almost as blond as Meliodas's, though it was about half the length. His eyes were dark brown, almost to the point of being black. While the earth tone clothes he wore were nicer, they were definitely on the tattered side. A concerned look etched his features as he addressed the older girl. "Sophie, why were the grown ups being so mean?"

"Yeah, Sophie-nee, why were they so mean?" The tear-filled question came from the smallest member of the group - a brunette girl that looked to be less than half Sophie's age. Her pudgy cheeks made her look even younger than she was, and her deep blue eyes perfectly matched the final boy (who only appeared to be a year or two older than her) of the group, making Zephyr suspect them to be siblings, even if the boy's hair was more on the red side. Her clothes were baggy and torn, as though passed on from older family members, and she wore worn shoes that were far too large for her feet. Zephyr did notice, though, that the other boy was barefoot. Perhaps he had given his shoes to his sister?

It's because humans tend to fear what they do not know. Especially when their hearts and minds are closed to the world around them. Zephyr pushed himself away from the rubbish heap that he had laid against. Thank you for saving me, but I must go now. My friend may be in trouble.

"The floating boy?" Alexander tilted his head slightly.

No. There is another. The floating boy and his companion will be able to help me save my friend.

"We can help you save your friend!" the unnamed boy exclaimed vehemently before turning to his little sister. "Right, Zoey?"

"Uh huh! I wanna help Sammy-nii-chan help Fox-chan." She smiled up at her older sibling, admiration clear in her eyes.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound nearby, causing all of the kids to cringe and duck behind rubble. Not wanting to get the children involved, Zephyr took this moment to slip away, deeper into the alley. In doing so, he passed by another younger boy, but this one seemed a bit older and was covered in dust and ash. His eyes widened in surprise at seeing the fox shade, but Zephyr passed the boy too quickly for him to react.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Sophie's voice drifted on the air as Zephyr swerved down a side passageway. Pain was radiating throughout his body from wounds both old and new, and each step made it worse. He wouldn't be surprised if he was leaving a trail of bloody paw prints, but Zephyr didn't look back to check. Light was shining ahead of Zephyr, signalling that the narrow pathway opened up to a wider street ahead.

Meliodas-sama! Harlequin-sama! He didn't care anymore if anyone heard him, and tried to project his call as far as he could. Screwing his eyes shut to shield himself from the blinding light, Zephyr burst into the open street.

And ran right into someone.

Wha-? He stumbled sideways, but quickly righted himself. Before him stood Meliodas himself, Harlequin floating a little off the ground to his side. Surprise flashed across the dragon sin's face, and Harlequin seemed just as startled.

And Hawk stood behind them with a look of smug triumph.