Double chapters this week to celebrate my Birthday! Yay!

This uses up all of my already written chapters, though, so I hope I can get the next one written in time for next week. I've been kinda stuck, not knowing what to do for the next part. I'm sure I'll figure it out though.

Enjoy the chapters!

The door was barely closed behind us when I heard a welcome voice.

Zinnia, you're safe! Zephyr struggled to stand from where he was laying on the other side of the room. Strangely enough, the fox had been surrounded by a small herd of children, and had even been conversing with them.

"Whoa, not so fast, Zephyr-kun." Meliodas, who had been sitting at the table nearest to Zephyr, stood up and knocked the fox shade back onto the ground, where the latter let out a pained cry from the action. "You shouldn't try to move around too much with those wounds. What took you two so long, King, Zinnia-chan?" He had turned to face Harlequin and I when he asked this. Then he noticed my wings, which were now only slightly folded so as to not take up too much room in the smaller space. "Woah, nice wings, Zinnia-chan! I had been wondering what they looked like."

Before either Harlequin or I could respond to the captain's query, the smallest of the children spoke up. "Wow, a fairy! Look, Sammy-nii-chan, look! It's a fairy!" She was tugging on the edge of a slightly older boy's shirt.

All of the young children were now staring at me, eyes wide.

Oh, I should probably introduce you guys, Zephyr projected from his spot on the floor before gesturing towards the children. Zinnia, these kids saved me from their parents and some other adults, who were trying to kill me, thinking I was a demon or something. From oldest to youngest we have Zack-kun, Sophie-chan, Alexander-kun, Sammy-kun, and Zoey-chan. He pointed to each one with his snout as he said their names, starting with the tallest one, who had jet-black hair. Children, this fairy is Zinnia - the friend that I was looking for. He paused for a moment before adding, Can someone please tell Zack-kun that last part? He can't hear me.

Zoey, in her excitement, turned to the eldest boy and repeated the fox shade's words. All he did in response was nod his head and thank the small brunette girl. The little girl then turned back to me. "Zinnia-onee-san, can I touch your wings? Please?! I've never seen a real live fairy before!"

Before I could say that no, I did not want anyone touching my wings, Harlequin interjected. "Hey! I'm a fairy too!"

The second smallest child, Sammy, quietly spoke. "Where are your wings, then?"

"Ooo, I wouldn't ask that if I were you," Meliodas told the young boy. "That's a sore spot for him."

For Harlequin's part, he just turned bright red, looked like he was about to say something, and instead turned around and rushed back outside. I heard Diane ask the other fairy what was wrong, but I didn't hear the response.

There was silence in the room for a moment. Elizabeth, who had been silently sitting at the table that Meliodas had gotten up from, glanced out the nearest window, an uncomprehending look plastered on her face. Ban's snores emanated from his room upstairs. Hawk, who had been standing near the bottom of the stairs, shot a sulky glare from Zephyr, to me, and back.

"Please, Onee-san?" Zoey was unfazed by the silence that she had just broken. "Can I please feel your wings?"

I sighed.

Luckily, the children weren't there for much longer. After a few moments of the youngest's pleading, Sophie and Alexander had joined in. Sammy had looked a little awkward, as though he knew that I didn't want the kids to ask me this, but didn't have the authority to stop them. Zack had just been pretending like the whole thing wasn't happening. Eventually, Meliodas had told the group that their parents must be worried, and that they should be getting home. In the end, Meliodas entrusted Zack, who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen, with the younger kids' safety and sent them on their way.

"Shouldn't one of us have gone with them?" Elizabeth had asked Meliodas soon after they had left. "Perhaps you or King-sama?"

"They'll be fine," the blonde had told her. "If King or I had gone, that holy knight from earlier might have seen us and attacked. They're safer on their own."

The princess had agreed, bringing silence back to the room.

Which brought us to where we were now.

"Are those children gone?" Harlequin's voice echoed through the room as the front door cracked open.

"Yeah. It's safe to come in now." I was just as relieved at their departure as he was. While fairy wings weren't as fragile as the insect wings that they looked like, I still didn't want a bunch of kids trying to grab them.

The other fairy floated into the room, closing the door behind him, before sighing in relief. He slumped forward onto his sacred treasure before making his way over to the table where Elizabeth and Meliodas sat. I, meanwhile, was sitting on the floor next to Zephyr, examining his wounds.

"How did all of this happen, Zephyr?" I murmured to the fox shade. There were numerous scratches and cuts all along his body, along with countless bruises and a few puncture wounds. Even his paws were scraped and blood was scabbing over the paw pads.

A good bit of it's from before, but was just reopened today, he explained. But many of the bruises are new. Oh, and the spots that look like I was stabbed are new too. He huffed a sigh. I don't know what's with people these days; they'll attack anything that's new or that they just don't know. When I went to look for you after we got separated, the humans that saw me attacked me and started beating me. One of them even started jabbing me with a sharpened stick or something. I didn't quite catch a clear view of it. That's actually when those kids saved me. They're not so bad if you look past them being annoying children, I guess. And my paws are just badly scraped from running along the rough cobblestone streets after getting used to the softer ground of the wilderness.

"Speaking of being separated: what happened back there? That's never happened before. It was really terrifying being stuck in darkness like that." I heard a slight shifting, and looked over to see Elizabeth tighten her arms over her chest and nod slightly.

"Yeah," Meliodas added. "You did say that you'd tell us why you weren't able to bring them here."

Harlequin nodded in agreement.

Zephyranthes let out a reluctant breath. Well, it's so uncommon that I get injured, I kinda forgot something. Though it would probably be hard for someone else to tell, to me it was obvious that the fox shade was embarrassed. It was easy, however, for everyone to see that he was shameful as he hung his head. Being inside of shadows tends to eat at wounds. Since my wounds were okay in the beginning, I didn't feel the effects. That changed, however, when I opened up that portal. As soon as someone walked through it, a ripple ran through the darkness, reopening my injuries. The pain that the shadows caused was excruciating, and I wasn't able to keep the portal open long enough for Elizabeth-san and Zinnia to get through it. I guess that the entrance was still slightly open because whoever went through last wasn't fully through it when the portal closed. He looked up from staring shamefully at his paws and glanced between Elizabeth and I. I am so, so sorry for putting you both through that. Could someone please convey that to Elizabeth-san?

I glanced behind me to the other girl. "Zephyr says that he's really sorry that we got stuck in the darkness. Hawk-chan going through the portal caused his wounds to reopen and he wasn't able to get us here through the pain."

"Oh…" She looked to the fox. "It's okay, Zephyr-chan. I hadn't realized that you were so hurt. I don't think that I'm going to be going through any portals anytime soon, though." She shuddered.

Well, I won't be going into shadows or opening portals soon anyways.

"You forgive him that easily?" Hawk finally stepped out from his place in the corner of the room. He glared accusingly at Zephyr. "He caused all of this trouble! If he hadn't agreed to take us here, Elizabeth-chan and Zinnia-chan would never have been caught. And shouldn't he have known that he wasn't able to go through with that portal?"

"What do you have against Zephyr, Hawk-chan?" I really didn't understand. I knew that he didn't trust me, as well, but he had seemed to like me fine when we just met. Was the pig just that against secrets?

Hawk turned on me. "And you. You're just as bad! All you do is get into trouble. You couldn't protect Elizabeth-chan when you were alone with her, and you were the one that suggested that we come back here in the first place!" He huffed out a breath of air. "You don't belong here!" I flinched. "Neither of you do."

"You don't belong here!" The voice of my best friend echoed in my ears. "I don't see how someone like you could have ever believed you could."

Tears streamed from my eyes. I gasped in a breath, opening my mouth to explain. If I could just explain, then perhaps-

Terrible, excruciating pain pierced my chest. A shriek escaped my lips, and I looked down to see a blade extruding from my body. Hadn't it pierced my heart? It looked like it was. My hands were wet with a warm liquid. Blood? Blood was all over the front of me, soaking into my clothes, warming my skin. My vision was darkening around the edges and sounds were starting to blur.

"What's going on?!" My Onii-chan's voice sounded so far away. I think I heard my friend say something, but everything was so distant. The last thing I heard was Onii-chan's voice right next to my ear. "Don't worry; I'll take care of her."

Then everything was black.

I bolted up, off the ground and into the air. I could feel pressure behind my eyes from recalling the memory. My throat was tight. I looked around the room, into everyone's faces. Was no one going to defend me from Hawk?

When my gaze finally landed on Harlequin, his eyes widened. Realization dawned on his features. "Wait-"

But it was too late. I was out the door, flying as fast as I could away from the tavern and the town, towards the forest. I could hear them calling after me. Diane, who had been sitting outside, watching the conversation through the windows, stood as though to stop me, but I was faster. Soon, I was alone in the forest, cheeks stained with tears.