"So Ban is in prison and King is dead huh? What do you think about that Diane?" Meliodas asked the giant from his position on her shoulder, holding the two respective wanted posters. The little showdown in the White forest of Dreams had been a few days ago and Meliodas had set Momma Hawk on the right path towards Baste prison. Now it was just a matter of waiting until they got there - which wouldn't be long at all according to their surroundings.
"Well I'm not really sure," Diane admitted, looking at her own wanted poster. "I'm not really concerned with anyone besides you and Al' " she simply put. "HA!" Alfie laughed a bit drunkenly, the pinkette had been lying under the sun on top of Momma Hawk's soft green head. "That's why you're my favorite Diane." Alfie hiccupped. "How are you even feeling the beer's effects right now?" Meliodas blinked over at her.
" I thought your healing factor was supposed to get rid of the alcohol's effects." he noted. "Yeah, yeah." Alfie waved off, " I slowed my healing factor down so that exact thing wouldn't happen….and I'm not drunk - I'm tipsy. There's a difference" she blew air out through her lips. "You can do that?" Diane said surprised. "Sure." Alfie nodded, struggling to sit up. "Just as easy as breathing." the woman shrugged once she managed to do so.
"Um, excuse me…. lady Alfie."
Turning, the three sins were greeted with the sight of Elizabeth and Hawk standing in the doorway of the tavern. "What is it, doll face?" the woman asked as the duo came forward. Elizabeth let out a small eep of surprise when she was suddenly dragged down to sit next to the older woman. "I was just wondering," Elizabeth collected herself, "back a few days ago when you stopped Gilthunder from attacking Sir Meliodas..." she trailed off. "Yeah?" Alfie prompted.
"What was that exactly? You took him down in two hits." the fight was still fresh in the princess' head though it was the last thing the sins were thinking of. "The very reason why Meliodas won't ever fight me." Aelfryth yawned. "Got that right." the man himself admitted unashamed.
"If Al' had wanted to, she could of killed Gilthunder with a single tap to the chest. Me, Diane and the other sins are no exceptions" Meliodas noted. "So do you lead the sins with sir Meliodas?" Elizabeth wondered, "I remember lady Diane called you Chief from earlier before." she mentioned.
Sliding her eyes over to Meliodas, Alfie looked to him expectantly but said nothing. "You could say that," the wrath sin nodded, " but it depends on who you ask. If you ask Diane then she'll say that we co-lead but I still rank above Alfie." Meliodas explained, Diane nodding in the backround. "What do you think?" Elizabeth asked. "Well," he scratched his cheek.
"In all honesty I wouldn't really care if Al' took over. I'd actually prefer it." Meliodas mused. "Not gonna happen." Alfie shot down before either could say anything else further. The slight dodge of the question didn't go unnoticed by the princess, but Elizabeth remained quiet on it, her attention being brought over to the tiger sin when she suddenly started coughing rather violently.
Diane and Meliodas also looked over with concern at the degree of hacks coming from her frame. "Jeez." Alfie wheezed, a small cough coming forth again. "Where did that come from?" Alfie pulled her hand away from her mouth and used her other to wipe away the tears that had bubbled to the surface from how hard her eyes had been screwed shut.
"Do you need me to go get you some water?" Elizabeth asked concerned. "No, it's fine." Alfie assured with a raised hand, pounding on her chest with a fist. "So are we stopping in Dalmally or going straight to Baste?" the pink haired woman asked once she recovered.
"Some of us will go on to Baste." Meliodas nodded his head, "And when I say some I really mean you, Alfie." he clarified. The blue eyed woman blinked in surprise, "Me? Why just me?" she asked. "Because someone needs to stay behind and run the tavern in order to make some money. Plus Elizabeth could use some more practice waitressing." the princess blushed in embarrassment at this, "You can go to Baste, get Ban and come on back." he explained.
"Well why can't Diane come with?" Alfie threw a thumb in the giant's direction. "Because she'll be too busy being our lookout to make sure no holy knights are coming our way." Meliodas said simply. "Well okay, if you say so." Alfie gave up the argument with a shrug, leaning back when the serpent sin suddenly leaned in close to her fellow woman with a smirk.
"Just be sure to keep the reunion kid friendly, alright?" Diane teased. Aelfryth couldn't fight the blush considering the implication Diane had just left her with, "I have no idea what you mean." she turned her head away, yelping when Diane roughly nudged her with a finger in what she probably meant as a playful way "Sure you don't." Diane hummed knowingly. While her smaller companion feigned ignorance, Diane knew that their greedy fox liked to get a bit touchy feely with their revengeful tiger.
Pushing herself to her feet, Alfie yawned and cracked her back with a satisfying series of snaps and pops. "Dalmally is on the horizon." she pointed to the outline of the town in question. "Baste is eight miles further out. Think you can get me there?" Alfie looked up at her giant friend. "You're going now?" Elizabeth asked, watching in concern as the pink haired woman was scooped into Diane's hand.
"May as well get it out of the way, the sooner the better." Alfie answered as the serpent sin brought her high into the air and wound up her arm. "Be quick, Al' and try not to cause too much of a mess, okay?" Meliodas offered a wave of goodbye. "No promises but I'll try." Alfie nodded. "Alright, here we go." Diane announced, "You ready, Chief?" she looked back at the woman in her hand.
"Let it rip, Diane!" Alfie smirked down at her, " Hold on tight." the brunette returned the smirk and threw her passenger with a good amount of strength behind the throw in the direction she requested. Lifting his head to block the sunlight as he watched Alfie's frame quickly get smaller and smaller in the distance, Meliodas let out a low whistle. "Wow. Good throw, Alfie will get there in no time." he said with certainty.
" You know I was thinking about that, Captain." Diane mused, gaining his attention. "What if Ban's already broken himself out? Or what if he isn't there? Word is sure of gotten to the prison by now about us all traveling together. Don't you think it's possible they would move him?" she asked. "Woah, she's got a point." Hawk said in realization however Meliodas remained relaxed.
"Well if that's true and he has been moved then we'll just have to keep looking." the blonde said simply. " And if Ban's already broken himself out then that'll make it all the easier for Alfie to collect him and bring him to us. Don't worry Diane, it'll be alright either way." Meliodas grinned reassuringly to his friend.
"Now," the Dragon sin clapped his hands together, "Let's get you warmed up for the customers, Elizabeth." he looked to the princess. "Oh!" She started a bit, "Yes, of course." Elizabeth nodded and followed after Meliodas as he passed her to walk into the tavern.
0o.0o.0o.0o0o.0o.0o.0o
"The fox sin of greed, where is he being kept?" Aelfryth glared down at the grey armored knight she held in her hands. However the man didn't say anything, in fact he seemed to be a bit too limp in her hands. "Hey." she shook him, "Are you dead or just unconscious?" Alfie wondered, not getting a response. Placing her head to the cool metal plate of his armor, she listened for a heart beat.
After finding one, albeit faint, the pinkette pulled away with a sigh and let the guard fall to the ground unceremoniously. That had been the fifth one she had gotten a bit too rough with upon encountering him since entering Baste. "Come on Ban, where are you?" Alfie walked down the corridor, turning her head this way and the to check the cells with bar doors.
After a few more minutes of searching, Alfie's ears perked at the sound of voices coming from down the corridor and around the corner from where she was presently. "Hey did you hear?" the slightly muffled voice of what the woman deduced was a guard spoke. "Hear what?" his must be companion answered. "I heard that there was a sighting of the Eight Deadly Sins making their way to Dalmally. The four Weird Fangs set out to go fight them. Who do you think will win?" the first guard asked.
Alfie sped up her pace a bit towards the voices. The faster she got Ban, the faster they could go help the others if what they said she took for truth. "Depends on how many there are." his friend responded. "Reports say that only three are reunited...Meliodas, Aelfryth and Diane." the guard told his companion.
"Normally I would say that they'd be no match for four active duty holy knights but on the grounds of Aelfryth is the third sin on her way here….." the second trailed off, shivering at the thought, "Just her being alone is dangerous enough, and she'll be wanting revenge sure enough. Was it really a good idea to keep the prisoner here knowing that the tiger sin was on her way? Aelfryth is going to raise the deepest pits of fiery hell to get him back." the pinkette smirked at this, inwardly agreeing with the fact.
"Well that just warms my heart." a familiar voice sounded, causing the woman to gain a skip to her step. "You know good ol' Alfie always was a woman after my heart. I could say the same thing about the others too. This reunion sounds like it's going to be fun." the two guards gasped and leapt away from the large metal door they had been guarding when a large bang sounded from behind it. A foot indentation had appeared in the metal shortly before the whole thing fell off of its hinges and its' solitary occupator stepped out.
"It's the fox sin, Ban."
"How did he get out?"
The two lesser knights looked to Baste's only prisoner in disbelief. For five years he had been chained, imprisoned and impaled by metal spikes, how did he all of a sudden get the strength to get out now? "So," Ban worked on the metal spike in his leg and pulled it out with a relieved sigh. " I didn't mishear you did I?" crimson eyes narrowed dangerously at the thought as he pulled another spike out of his arm.
"The Captain and Chief are alive? " Ban asked as he looked up at the guards again. However before either of them could respond, another their conversation. "What the heck is going on here? Why is the prisoner out of his cell?" a purple haired and hazel eyed knight asked.
"J-Jericho!" the knights exclaimed in shock. The purple haired woman looked unamused at the unintelligent response and turned towards the fox sin himself. "Ban of the eight deadly sins, I don't know how you got out." she began.
"I kicked the door down." Ban answered simply but was ignored. " But get back in there at once. I'm not joking around." Jericho narrowed her eyes on the blue haired man who seriously needed a beard and haircut. "Well you're pretty lippy, aren't you kid?" Ban smacked his lips, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
"Kid? Did you really just call me a kid?" Jericho growled, "I'm an apprentice holy knight, not a kid." she glared, turning to her fellow knights stiffly. "Send word to Sir Golgious and the others. Tell them that Jericho had to kill the fox sin when he refused to compliantly return to his cell after escaping." Jericho instructed.
"Oh dear, what an ugly disposition you have." multiple eyes widened at the smooth voice that sounded, all turning to face the source of the voice that came from behind the two lesser knights. "Honestly with such arrogance like that, it's a wonder how you became an apprentice holy knight." Alfie drolled. The once stunned face of Ban melted into one of joy at the sight of his old friend, "Heeey, Alfie! Long time no see, huh?" he laughed, raising a hand and waving.
"Hey, Ban. Good to see you, man." she returned with a warm smile. " N-No way" the knight closest to the pinkette stuttered in disbelief at the exchange, "We gotta get out of here!" he begged of his companions. "Stand your ground!" Jericho shot down the suggestion heatedly, drawing her blade. "Aelfryth, Tiger Sin of Revenge." she uttered, brow heavily furrowed.
"Yeah?" Alfie quirked a brow. " You speak to me about arrogance and yet here you stand as if you're so sure you're going to come out of this alive." Jericho's grip tightened on the hilt of her sword, "With the death of you two, they'll have to make me into a holy knight." she grinned at the idea. Pursing her lips, Alfie shared a look with Ban before turning her head towards the male knights and made a kissing noise to gain their attention.
"Run." she whispered loudly, smirking at the duo. Flinching, the former prison guards tripped over their own feet respectively as they both streaked past the purple haired woman with no hesitation. Neither was going to deny the opportunity to save their own lives if the sin was allowing them to by fleeing.
"H-Hey!" Jericho exclaimed as they ran past, "Get back here!" she yelled, letting out a frustrated groan at the uselessness of it all. "Fine, whatever." Jericho faced the two sins and readjusted her footing, preparing herself for an attack should one of them move first.
"Hey Ban." Alfie looked to Jericho's sword contemplatively. "Yeah?" the male responded, scratching his bearded cheek. "That's a pretty nice sword she has." Alfie mused, "Get it for me would you?" she asked. Ban's lips curled into a devious smile, revealing his canines. "Sure, not a problem." he agreed. " So it is true, you are the one who's stealing the swords of holy knights and claiming them for your own." Jericho accused.
"Ah!" Aelfryth raised a finger in the air, "I only took one, and it's not stealing. I'm taking over ownership of the blades seeing as their owners don't deserve them...and because I want them" Alfie finished with a shrug, much to Ban's amusement.
"I sure have missed you Al', I don't know how I've made it all this time without you." the blue haired man grinned. The only one who wasn't nearly as amused as the two friends, was the holy knight apprentice.
"The nerve of you two...I'll finish you both off here and now!" Jericho launched forward, headed towards Alfie before Ban jumped in and intercepted her attack. While the purple haired woman was confident she cut the man down from the sound of his yell, Jericho continued onwards to the notorious tiger sin who remained rooted in her spot. "One down, one to go." she smirked to herself.
"Hold it, kid."
Jericho's eyes widened when she was suddenly grabbed from behind and slammed to the ground violently, the air being knocked from her lungs. A clean shaven Ban grinned down at the purple haired wanna be holy knight coughing and gasping away as she tried to regain her breath. "You didn't even give me the chance to thank you yet." his foot slammed down on her stomach.
"I haven't felt this cleaned up in years." Ban rubbed his cheek pointedly. " You even did a good job cutting my hair." the sin felt his blue locks momentarily before grabbing the woman by her throat and raising her into the air. "You could be a barber!" he laughed. "A good one at that." Alfie came beside her companion.
"Now be a good barber and drop the sword," Ban tightened his grip lightly. Jericho narrowed her eyes on the infuriating male sin but did as he said. Alfie caught the sword before it could clatter to the ground and inspected it closely.
"This sword hasn't seen much battle, has it?" the woman said knowingly, "You were made into an apprentice but they assigned you here where nothing ever happens." Jericho glared hatefully at the pinkette as nothing but the truth came from her lips. "Such a blade doesn't deserve to age without seeing battle, I'll take it off your hands." Alfie smiled as if they were lifelong friends, " Consider yourself honored, Jericho." she started until Ban interjected.
"I thought it was Jonko?" he mused confused. "No you deaf bastard, it's Jericho" Alfie laughed lightly. "Oops, my bad." Ban chuckled. "Like I was saying," Alfie turned back to the woman in his grasp.
"Your blade will be the only apprentice blade I'll collect as I take down holy knight after holy knight that tries to take me on. So thank you for the surrender of your blade, it'll be put to good use in battles to come." Alfie promised, Ban set the purple haired woman back on her feet and moved his hand from her throat to her jaw. "Hey, Alfie" Ban's eyes scanned the apprentice up and down, "Jerizo-"
"It's Jericho, Ban"
"Jerlo"
Aelfryth huffed a laugh at the continuous botched naming of the woman. "She has a pretty nice set of armor, doesn't she? But to be honest with you I don't think it suits her." Ban admitted. "It doesn't?" Alfie was confused, she thought it looked fine. "No, it doesn't. Quite frankly I think it would look much better on you." Ban smirked mischievously while his companion deadpanned.
"Don't take her armor." Alfie hit his arm with the back of her hand when he went in to begin stripping Jericho down. "I'm taller than her, it's not going to fit." the pinkette reasoned. "Then we'll pawn the armor off for some cash or melt it for scrap metal." Ban came back undeterred. "Ban don't-" Alfie tried but in a blink of an eye, Jericho was successfully stripped clean of her metal plating and left in her bright pink undergarments on the ground.
"Okay, well just fuck me then." Alfie sighed exhaustedly. It wasn't like her opinion mattered anyways, apparently. "Be careful what you wish for Al'." Ban waggled his eyebrows, "Now let's go meet up with the captain. He's the one who sent you here isn't he?" the duo began walking away. "Yeah, and it sounds like a brawl is about to happen too if it hasn't already. That should be a good warm up exercise for you." Alfie noted.
"How long were you locked up anyways?" the woman then asked. "Five years." Ban shrugged indifferently. "Five years?!" Alfie was nowhere near nonchalant as her friend. "Why would you let them keep you for so long?" she wondered. "What else was I supposed to do Al'?" Ban frowned. "You guys were nowhere to be found and everywhere I went, people got hurt. I didn't have many options. It's not like they could kill me anyways." he said simply.
The pinkette's temper flared momentarily before she got control of it by taking a deep breath in and out. "Just because you can't be broken physically, doesn't mean you can't be broken mentally. " Alfie said simply. Ban looked to his friend for a long moment before returning his eyes onto the path they were traveling. "How are they doing anyways? The captain and Diane." Ban clarified.
"They're the same as always. We have a new tag along, princess Elizabeth of Liones. She's trying to get all eight of us together" the woman informed. "Huh? A princess?" Ban looked to her confused, "Why the hell is a princess traveling with us?" he questioned. "To save the kingdom from holy knights who have lost their minds by trying to send the country into war." Alfie explained flippantly.
"And Captain is okay with helping?" Ban said dubiously. "He has business with us anyways, he's killing two birds with one stone by helping." Alfie proclaimed, pausing when they passed a window. "What's wrong, Alfie?" Ban asked in confusion, following her over to the window. Looking out, an amused smirk graced the sin's lips at the sight before them.
Countless knights stood out in the field before the prison, no doubt waiting for the two sins to come outside. Jericho and a knight with horns on his helmet stood in front of them all. Apparently the woman had found some new armor and a new weapon rather quickly. All in all, it brought back memories from a certain day ten years ago. "Wooow" Ban whistled, " It's like they're up in arms over an escaped prisoner and the friend who helped him." He chuckled lowly.
"Hey Ban….let's arm wrestle." Alfie suggested, turning towards her taller companion. "Arm wrestle?" he echoed confused. " Yeah, why not? You do it with the captain any other time." She backed away from the window. Ban scrutinized the blue eyed woman for a moment in suspicion. "You're not gonna knuckle tap me and make me lose feeling in my arm are you?" Ban asked, causing the woman bark out a laugh. "No Ban, I'll play fair." Aelfryth promised, lowering herself to the ground on her stomach like she had seen him and Meliodas do many times before.
A wide toothy grin appeared on the fox after the vow, "Well alright then," he tossed Jericho's old armor aside,"Let's see what you got. " Ban dropped to the ground as well and clasped his much bigger hand around the woman's smaller one. Neither noticed the dark purple shield pop up and surround the prison. "Readdddyyy?" Ban's crimson eyes gleamed with excitement as he said this, his emotions feeding off of the energy from the woman in front of him.
"GO!" Alfie chirped, her hand automatically feeling resistance from her partner. "Well would you look at that, you're actually holding your own." Ban hummed amused. "I was just about to say the same to you." Alfie mused, their arms straining against one another. The duo paid no attention to the exertion of force they were emitting that was causing the walls to crumble and the floor beneath them start to get closer and closer to caving in on them.
"How many times have you guys arm wrestled anyways?" Aelfryth asked. "Seven hundred and twenty two times." Ban recited perfectly. "And who won the majority?" the woman wondered. "I did, three hundred and sixty one times to be exact." Ban boasted. Alfie scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Yeah right, I think you got yourself confused with the captain." She said.
"What?!" the duo had finally broken through the floor and were falling now. "You must be crazy." Ban said dead serious. "You're biased cause you spend so much time with him." he argued. "Sounds like someone's awful defensive." Alfie sang knowingly.
From outside the prison the knights stood gaping in disbelief at the sight of the prison's integrity shaking and steadily coming apart bit by bit. "I-I don't believe it." Jericho stuttered with a slacked jaw. "Is this really the power of the sins?" she wondered aloud. "My imbreakable shield…" Holy Knight Golgius said just as dumbfounded, tensing when he realized that they were entirely too close to the prison that was collapsing on its self.
Not only were they too close, but the male also realized that if two sins were able to bring down the shield and prison so easily then what they could do to them would be a walk in the park. "Time for a tactical withdrawal!" Golgius cried before teleporting away, sending the battalion of knights with him following suit on two legs. "Hey!" Jericho protested at being left so quickly, "Wait for me!" she dodged falling debris as she ran after her companions.
Coming upon the scene themselves; Diane, Meliodas, Hawk and Elizabeth stood staring at the now destroyed prison in surprise, Elizabeth and Hawk more so than the other two sins. "W-wasn't Alfie and Ban supposed to be in the prison?" Hawk asked tentatively. "Yeah." Meliodas said simply, much to the animal's ire. " You could at least try to show some concern!" Hawk yelled.
"Why should I? They're fine." Meliodas looked at him confused. "You don't know that for sure!" the pig stomped a hoof. "But I do...they're over there." Meliodas pointed to what remained of the prison. Popping his head out of the rubble, Ban first appeared shortly followed by Alfie - the man having used his body as a shield mainly. "Hey thanks for covering me." Alfie stood, shaking her head like a wet dog to rid her hair of the rubble.
"Too bad you lost the match though." she smirked, picking her way out of the rubble and made her way towards her companions now running towards her. Ban blinked incredulously, "I lost the match?...I lost the match?! You're fooling yourself!" he exclaimed following after.
"And you're in denial." Alfie said over her shoulder. "Lady Alfie!" Elizabeth exclaimed and ran up to the taller woman, face filled with worry. "Are you hurt?" the princess questioned, concerned. "Not at all." Alfie grinned down at her and partially turned to reference their newest addition to the team. "Ban's pride may be hurt though." Aelfryth joked. "Ban?" Elizabeth echoed in wonder, looking over to the new man.
"He's the fox sin?" she assumed. The man's disgruntled facial expression turned into one of a lax and easy going one when he regarded the green haired princess. "Sure is." Alfie assured, throwing her arm over Elizabeth's shoulder. "Doll face, meet Ban. The fox sin of greed." the woman introduced the duo. "Nice to meet you, your highness." the light blue haired man placed a hand over his heart and bowed slightly.
"Oh! It's very nice to meet you as well!" Elizabeth returned the bow, Alfie recovering her arm from Elizabeth's person as she did so. "I'm glad to have you join us, sir Ban." Elizabeth then chirped as they straightened back into their original positions. The sin in question huffed lightly, "Pleasure's all mine." Ban purred, eyes trailing over to the pink haired woman at her side for a brief moment before speaking again.
"Good to see you again, Diane." Ban then addressed the giant. "Hmph." The brunette turned her head away disinterestedly, "I could of gone a hundred years without seeing you." she snorted. This caused a grin to break out on the recently freed man's face despite the rude dismissal. "Awe come on Diane, you don't mean that. I know you missed me at least a little bit." Ban chuckled.
"No, I didn't." Diane turned her head even further away, nose stuck up in the air. "Well that's alright," the greed sin simpered, coming up to Aelfryth's side and suddenly pulled her face first into his taller frame. "I still got Alfie after all. She's the only woman I need to care for me " Ban smirked coyly over the woman's surprised squeak.
Ban's shirtless torso was like a furnace and his strong arms were like metal traps, locking her against his chiseled body. Alfie blinked in surprise at this sudden development and could practically feel herself flush in embarassment at the physical contact happening at the moment, her heart beating faster than usual. "Isn't that right, Al'?" Ban leaned down slightly to press his lips against her hair covering his ear.
The gesture caused her flush to worsen but Alfie forced her voice to remain aloof. "I better be." she even threw out a chuckle and tried to free herself but found that she couldn't. Ban wouldn't let go. Something that Diane smirked knowingly at when she had returned her gaze to the duo and observed her friend's dilemma.
"Let go, Ban. You made your point" Alfie tried to seperate herself again but was unsuccessful. "I don't know." Ban sighed deeply, "Diane has me felling a bit neglected, I need reparations. A lot of them. I am pretty greedy after all, make sure you remember that princess." he directed the last part towards Elizabeth with a wink. "Well get them from Elizabeth, then!" Alfie whined, still tugging uselessly against his hold.
The woman gave another tug, perfectly in sync when Ban released his hold on her. A small gasp escaped past Aelfryth's lips as she stumbled to the ground. "Are you alright?" Elizabeth knelt down next to the pinkette, offering her hand to help the other woman up. "Yeah." Alfie accepted her help, and gave the fox sin an annoyed look.
Ban wore a mischevious grin in responce, flashing his canines to the world. However his grin didn't last long seeing as he was abruptly sent flying backwards and crashed into the rubble of the prison that used to stand tall and proud. "Sir Ban!" Elizabeth gasped. "The hell?" Alfie blinked incredulously, looking for the party responsible but then relaxed when she realized what had happened.
Working his way out of the rubble, Ban stood up and cracked his neck to relieve the crick in his neck. "Jeez," he groaned, rolling his neck in a circle. "...that was uncalled for." Ban's red eyes slid over to the shorter male of the group responsible for the attack.
The air was tense between the fox and dragon as they stared each other down for a long series of moments. "W-what's wrong? Sir Meliodas? Sir Ban?" Elizabeth asked tentatively, not liking the level of intensity in the air at the moment. "It's like they're ready to kill each other." Hawk pipped up nervously. "Yeah…" Alfie trailed off. "You two had better stick close to us. It could get ugly." Diane added, not helping their nerves in the least bit.
The silence between Ban and Meliodas lasted for another few moments before the shorter of the two was the first to break it - his tense and angry expression turning into a joyful happy one.
"Ban!" Meliodas cheered, throwing his hands into the air and running towards the blue haired sin. "Captain!" Ban returned just as excitedly and ran to meet the blonde half way. Hawk and Elizabeth sweat dropped at the complete turn around of emotions the duo displayed. "So they were really happy to see each other?" Elizabeth chuckled nervously.
"Sure they are." Alfie smiled fondly at the sight of the duo now engaging in their signature handshake with rapt feveor. "Ban and Meliodas are best friends." the pinkette added on, unblinking when Meliodas was suddenly sent flying backwards in a similar way Ban had moments before. "So that's normal?" Hawk asked dubiously as the fox sin then flashed passed them to return to the blonde's side.
"Depends on your definition of normal." Diane hummed. "But it's normal for them." Alfie nodded. "By the way, Diane." Aelfryth looked to the giant. "Did you run into any holy knights on your way here?" she wondered. "Well we seen one of them run away when you and Ban brought the prison down but outside of that, no. None at all. Why?" Diane questioned in return.
"Because the guards inside were talking about it." Alfie frowned slightly. "That's actually mildly concerning to hear….there were originally four of them here and I doubt that all four fled." she told the giant. Diane's eyes widened at this being brought to light and began scanning their surroundings with a careful eye. "So there's three left hanging around?" Elizabeth asked, moving closer to Aelfryth who was busy scanning their surroundings as well.
"It would seem so, yeah." Alfie answered. "Hey!" she then exclaimed towards where Meliodas and Ban were and threw Elizabeth over her shoulder. "Hey! We got a problem!" Alfie called out, running towards her male companions with Diane and Hawk on her tail. Hearing this, Ban and Meliodas cut their reunion short and looked towards the rest of the group running towards them.
"We need to be on guard!" Diane called out, " Holy knights had been coming for us when we were back in the town, Captain! One left but that still leaves three to be hanging around somewhere." she explained. "Holy knights?" Meliodas echoed with a frown, "But I haven't sensed anything. Not even now" the blonde commented.
"The Weird Fangs." Ban murmured, " Those were the holy knights stationed here." he recalled. "Jude, Ruin, Golgius and Friesia. I killed Jude when he pissed me off during one of our interrogation sessions. And if one of them ran then I bet it was Golgius. I'm pretty sure that's who me and Al' seen outside the window anyways." Ban informed his fellow sin.
"That leaves Friesia and Ruin, then." Meliodas summarized thoughtfully. However before Alfie completely reached Ban and Meliodas, she slammed on her heels - a bell ringing echoed through her head as she slid to a stop. "Lady Alfie?" Elizabeth asked as she was set down. "Get out of here, Elizabeth." Aelfryth glared heatedly on the holy knight that now stood where Ban and Meliodas used to be.
" Go find somewhere safe to hide, go back to Dalmally if you have to. If you come across Ban, Meliodas or Diane then tell them I'm dealing with one of the Weird Fangs" the tiger sin instructed. Multiple sets of eyes widened at hearing this. "What the heck are you talking about, Alfie? Ban and Meliodas are right in front of you!" Hawk cried. "My name is Holy knight Ruin. Member of the Weird Fangs and destroyer of the eight deadly sins." the illusionist chuckled.
"You're pretty confident in yourself, holy knight." Alfie smirked. "Holy knight?!" Hawk and Elizabeth exclaimed in unison. "I can appreciate that and in return I suppose it would only be courteous to offer my name since you gave me yours." an unsettling grin that filled the others with a sense of dread graced the pink haired woman's lips.
" I am Aelfryth, the tiger sin of revenge." she gave a bow without taking her eyes off of her so called opponent in front of her. "I would say that it was nice to meet you…" Alfie straightened and then slowly began to slide into her fighting stance. "But then I would be lying." she finished. "Well this isn't good." Ban frowned in worry. "It's really not good," Meliodas agreed, just as concerned with the situation at hand.
"What are we going to do, captain?" Diane asked warily. None of the present sins had any desire to fight the pink haired threat. Especially when they all knew that Aelfryth was completely capable of killing with one well placed hit. " You guys take the princess and get out of here." Ban spoke up, stepping in front of Meliodas who stood directly across from Alfie.
"What?!" Elizabeth gaped. "After you get her out of here." Ban continued, "Find Ruin. That's whose messing with Aelfryth's mind right now. Take him out and Alfie comes back to us." the fox sin explained, eyes narrowed in anger at the thought of the knight tampering with his friend's mind. "That's a good plan." Meliodas agreed, coming up beside Ban.
"Except for just one thing…." the blonde delivered a pat to the taller man's shirtless back. "I'm going to need you to go find Ruin while I hold off Alfie.." Meliodas said. Ban's eyes widened momentarily before he calmed once more, " She'll kill you." Ban said bluntly. " I'm the only one who can fight her at the moment...there's a reason they call me Undead Ban, captain." the fox said simply.
"I don't know what Ruin looks like," Meliodas then shot down his companion's argument. " Only you do and if you're that worried about me then make sure you don't take forever finding Ruin….or will I have to do that too?" he then grinned. Ban couldn't fight the smirk on his face despite the situation. "Fine." he finally conceeded, the blue haired man and blonde jumping away from each other just in time to dodge a drop kick from the woman of the hour herself.
"Make it fast, Ban." Meliodas called out. "On it! Ruin can't be far." his friend assured before disaappearing in a blurr of movement. "Let's go, Elizabeth." Diane followed the fox's example and scooped up the human and pig into her hands before taking off in the opposite direction of the fight in order to stay clear of any stray blows.
"Be careful, sir Meliodas!" Elizabeth cried from within the giant's grasp. While he wasn't able to verbally respond since he was too busy dodging a barrage of punches, Meliodas acknowledged the call inwardly though he was more worried than he let on. "Come on Alfie, we're friends!" he winced when a punch came too close for comfort.
"I'm going to enjoy tearing you out of that armor." Aelfryth grinned at the armor clad knight in response. "I'd rather you didn't." Meliodas grumbled, tensing slightly when the sound of a bell suddenly echoed. Blinking, the blonde glared at the armored man that had appeared before him. "Where did you come from? What'd you do with my friend?" Meliodas questioned.
"I am Holy knight Ruin. Member of the Weird Fangs and destroyer of the eight deadly sins." The armored knight answered. "Alfie was right, you really are confident in yourself." Meliodas said placing a hand on the hilt of his sword and then charged forwards, drawing the broken blade. "Now turn her back to normal!" he yelled, swinging the blade around in a graceful arc in order to cut the knight down. However instead of hitting flesh, the sword hit plan rock and dirt.
"I don't understand." Elizabeth's brow furrowed in concern, "What is he talking about?" she had managed to hear what the blonde had said. "Maybe he's under the same spell Alfie is." Hawk suggested. " It would make sense." Diane agreed through narrowed eyes, watching the fight with rapt attention. Each were trading blow after blow and succeeding in dodging each other's attacks for the next handful of minutes that followed.
Eventually, a blank eyed Aelfryth inwardly cursed her opponent out of annoyance of his perseverance, eminating a pulse of magic unseen to any but her. "That sword you carry, holy knight….that sword will be mine to add to my collection, of that I can promise you." Aelfryth vowed. Bracing himself, Meliodas glared at the pink haired woman. "Come and take it then." he welcomed the challenge.
Streaking forwards, Alfie momentarily disappeared before reappearing in front of Meliodas. Raising her sword above her head, the woman slashed the blonde diagonally across the chest, spraying his blood all over her front.
"Meliodas just stood there and took it!" Hawk yelled in horror, watching Meliodas be thrown from the attack. "Why didn't he dodge it?!" the pig asked. Wincing, Meliodas himself was confused on what happened as he stood to his feet. "She moved so fast, I didn't even get a chance to dodge." he murmured to himself, looking up just in time to catch a breif glimpse of blue eyes before he was attacked over and over again.
"Why isn't he fighting back?!" Elizabeth cried, "He has time to dodge the attacks!" tears began to roll down Elizabeth's cheeks as she watched Aelfryth proceed to ram Gilthunder's sword into Meliodas' stomach and then drew Jericho's sword next in order to hack away at Meliodas. Diane gritted her teeth to the breaking point, her free hand formed into a fist that shook with rage.
"Because he can't." Diane answered with a mutter. "What do you mean he can't?" Hawk asked incredulously. "It's apart of Alfie's magical ability." the giant watched pained as Aelfryth continued to tear into Meliodas who could do nothing but take the attacks.
"Her magical ability is called Absolute Will. Anything that can be created or anything that exists, can be manipulated in anyway she wants. So long as Alfie's will power stays strong, her power is virtually unlimited." Diane explained to the wide eyed passenger's in her hand. "And right now, Aelfryth is distorting time in Meliodas' reality." Diane informed.
"So she's slowing down time from his point of view so that he can't dodge or attack." Elizabeth said to herself and then gaped in horror, turning her head back towards the fight just in time to see the pink haired woman shove a hand into Meliodas' shoulder and proceed to tear the blonde's arm clean off. "Sir Meliodas!" the princess yelled in horror. "She's going to kill him at this rate!" Hawk wailed as the woman then violently ripped Gilthunder's old sword from the blonde's body.
"I know." Diane said simply, "Which is why I can't just stand by and watch anymore." she knelt down onto one knee and deposited the pig and princess onto the ground. "I have to do something, even if it gets me killed." determination burned brightly in the giant's eyes. "Our only hope at getting Alfie and Meliodas back to normal is to get rid of that holy knight Ban went after. You two have to find Ban and help him." Diane told the duo.
"Well that won't be necessary."
Diane, Hawk and Elizabeth all started at the voice and turned around and seen the blue haired fox sin himself standing there - not a hair out of place. In his hand he held a small golden bell.
"Ban?" Diane asked, "Where's Ruin?" she wondered. "Taken care of." the sin replied with ease, jingling the bell in his hand once. Aelfryth had been moving to tear off Meliodas' other arm off when she suddenly stopped, the echoing bell in her ears causing her to do so. Blinking harshly, Alfie shook her head in order to clear away the fog in her mind.
" Man, what the hell happened?" she groaned, rubbing her temples. "Beats me." Meliodas's voice chimed from next to her. "Hm?" Alfie looked over to her friend and seen the blonde's beaten bloody form. "Hey...what happened to you? Where's your arm?"Alfie asked in concern.
Meliodas paused to look down at where his tattooed arm should be and seen nothing but a nub of what remained, "Oh yeah, look at that…" he wiggled the stub. Looking up, Meliodas returned his gaze to his friend and then pointed with the remaining upper limb he had. "You have it." he said simply. Raising a hand, Aelfryth blanched at the sight of Meliodas' arm being held in her grasp.
"But, I don't remember taking it from you…" the pink haired woman trailed off weakly. Her mind was foggy, the last thing she remembered was warning the others that there were holy knights lurking by. "Sir Meliodas!" Elizabeth's call caught the blonde's attention. However the pink haired woman paid no attention to the others, her brow was furrowed heavily as she tried to piece together what had happened.
"Hey Al'? Can I get my arm back?" Meliodas requested, sheathing his sword once more. Wordlessly, Aelfryth handed the blonde his arm back with ease and moved off as the others reached them, sheathing her swords away for the time being. Something was dancing on the edge of her senses now, they were being watched from a distance.
Seeing her withdrawal and concerned look, Ban joined his female friend. "What's wrong?" he asked upon arrival. "Everything." Alfie answered truthfully. Meliodas' blood soaked her clothes and swords, she had no doubt inflicted the wounds on the man, tore his arm off and didn't even remember any of it. On top lof that there was still a holy knight missing.
"Sir Meliodas, you're really hurt!" Elizabeth exclaimed in the background, her bright blue eyes trailing over his injuries, "We need to get you to a doctor right away and maybe we can save your arm." She insisted. Meliodas looked to the detached limb thoughtfully, " Yeah it would really stink to have to get my sign rebranded on my other arm if I lost this one…" he trailed off. "I can give you a ride into town if you want captain," Diane offered. "No, I'm good. Thanks though." Meliodas offered the giant a small smile.
"Ruin is gone?" Alfie asked of Ban, her eyes wouldn't meet his. " Yeah," her companion assured. " Then who's the missing knight?" the pinkette asked. "Friesia. Wears pink armor, looks like a giant bug." Ban explained plainly. Aelfryth hummed in acknowledgment, taking Jericho's sword out of its sheath, "Does she use bugs to attack too?" she questioned. "Yeah, why?" Ban asked but then got an answer.
"Oh. Yeah that would be from her." he confirmed upon seeing what was coming for them. Over in the distance, a swarm of insects was heading straight for the group of six with the image of their summoner being hidden behind the thick mass of bugs. " How thick is her armor?" Alfie's hand erupted with magic and covered Jericho's sword. " No thicker than usual." Ban considered. "Good." Alfie adjusted her grip on the sword as if she were to throw a spear.
"You owe me a beer if I hit her." the pinkette smirked lightly before winding her arm back and threw the sword forward with a small grunt. The magic coated blade cut through the air like a knife through butter, the swarm of bugs it cut through parted clear in half in a similar fashion. Together, Ban and Alfie waited in anticipation to see if the sword had its intended target.
"Those damn sins," Friesia cursed, waving her whip around her head as she summoned more bugs from her spot on top of a cliff in the distance. "They're ruining everything!" she growled in frustration, not sensing her impending doom headed right for her through her distracted ramblings.
"That bastard of a fox killed Jude, got free with the help of that pink haired bitch, they destroyed the prison, sent Golgius packing and killed Ruin too! I'm going to-!" Friesia cut herself off with a loud gasp. The holy knight had caught sight of a streak of blue energy cut through her precious swarm.
"O-oh no!" she stuttered and turned to run away but didn't get far before she was taken by the explosion of energy that errupted from the sword upon contact with the ground where the knight used to stand.
Upon the death of their summoner, the swarm of bugs dropped dead mid flight. Something that Alfie took great pleasure in considering she was merely estimating where she assumed Friesia had been. "AHA!" Aelfryth jumped once in joy and quickly burst into a fit of laughter, "Damn I'm good!" she continued to laugh, her pleasant mood rubbing off on the fox sin. "Nice shot. Guess I owe you a beer." the man chuckled, the duo high fiving and clasping their hands together momentarily before seperating.
"That was amazing and all." Meliodas' voice gained their attention, Elizabeth and Hawk's eyes had comically whited out in a large contrast to Meliodas and Diane who looked on in complete indifference at the pink haired woman's actions. "But do you think we can go back to Dalmally or at least go to the tavern to get my arm sewn back on?" Meliodas tilted his head to the side slightly.
"You've had worse than a torn off arm before, Captain. Don't be a wuss." Ban waved a hand, though a smirk played at his lips. Lightly coating her hand in magic, Alfie held it out behind her expectantly - summoning the apprentice sword back to her person. "What can be worse than a torn off arm?" Hawk wondered.
"Hm?" Ban blinked in confusion. " Who said that?" he wondered. "Hawk did." Alfie supplied, throwing a glance over her shoulder and seen that her sword was on its way. "Who's Hawk?" Ban asked. "I am!" the pig in question yelled. Looking down, the blue haired man stared blankly down at Hawk for a few seconds before promptly freaking out.
"What the hell?! When did a talking pig get here?!" Ban asked incredulously. "You mean you haven't noticed?" Diane frowned. " How haven't you noticed, I've been here the entire time!" Hawk exclaimed.
"Wait, wait, wait. I got it." Ban somewhat calmed down as his rational side kicked in. "You're King aren't you? You were cursed and turned into a pig." he simpered, Alfie's sword finally returned to her grasp and returned it to its' sheath. "King's dead apparently, that can't be him." Diane informed the fox. "So that really is a talking pig?" Ban pointed a finger to the farm animal. "Pretty much." Meliodas nodded.
"But be warned." Hawk spoke up and abruptly tackled Ban to the ground, "I am no ordinary pig," Hawk snorted into Ban's face, tapping a hoof into his chest. "I am sir Hawk, Captain of the Order of Scraps Disposal!" the pig said proudly. "Wooaah." Ban gaped, "I've never heard of that order before." he admitted. Alfie huffed a laugh and shook her head in exasperation, leave it to Ban to take a talking pig so seriously.
Although, if asked, she would be lying if she said she felt fine after the battle with Meliodas that escaped her memory. The captain had gotten his licks in on the chief but none stuck around thanks to Alfie's superior healing factor. If the woman was to be honest with herself, that battle had stirred up a restless feeling within. A craving to spill more blood.
His blood specifically. A feeling that she hadn't felt in regards to the dragon sin in many years.