One Month Ago...
I stood behind Princess Elizabeth as she knelt at her father's side while he sat in his throne. The Holy Knights were banging on the door to the throne room after imprisoning the rest of the royal family.
"Open this door!" They ordered.
"There's no place left for you to run!"
"Your Majesty!"
"Now, Your Highness!" The King put his hand on his daughter's head and she looked up at him.
"Elizabeth, you must flee."
"I can't escape alone." Elizabeth insisted. "You have to come with me, Father."
"I will be fine, my child." He told her before looking at me. "Sabrina, go with her and leave this place."
"But Father-"
"Go! Before the Holy Knights find you both." I bit the inside of my bottom lip before grabbing Princess Elizabeth's hand and pulling her behind me to the secret passage only the royal family and their close servants knew about. We went inside the passage and the Princess closed the door quietly behind us. I led her through the passage her quiet sobs filling the quiet air around us.
"Don't give up hope, Princess." I told her glaring at the darkness before us. "Do you remember the stories the King told us when we were younger?"
"The one with the Seven Deadly Sins?" She asked me and I nodded. "But I heard they're all dead."
"They can't be!" I stopped running and turned to her. "We will find them and they can help us defeat the Holy Knights, rescue your family, and protect your kingdom."
"How do you know they can help us?" She asked me.
"They used to live here." I reminded her. "They must have known the royal family. They'll be willing to help." They have to.
Present Day...
"Princess?" I walked up to her as she stared out the window. "Are you alright?"
"I'm worried about my father and sisters." She told me and I grabbed her hand and squeezed it in comfort.
"I'm sure they're fine." I told her confidently. "The Holy Knights may want war but they wont risk harming the royal family."
"I hope you're right."
"Hey, Sabrina. Elizabeth." We turned to look at Meliodas who was smiling at us.
"Yes?"
"Could you come downstairs for a minute?" he asked us.
"Of course." Princess Elizabeth answered while I nodded. He left us in the room he'd laid the Princess in when she'd collapsed at his feet. "This isn't just some dream. It's real! We actually did it! We found Sir Meliodas, one of the legendary Seven Deadly Sins! I think..."
"Don't doubt yourself now, Princess!" I told her with a smile on my face. "We found him and soon we'll find the others and rescue your family!"
"Yes!"
After having gone downstairs, Meliodas gave us new clothes to wear and we changed into them. The shoes were mismatched, one black and the other white, and we each had one black thigh high tight which nearly met bottom of the black shirt that barely covered our bottoms. A salmon belt laced around the waist with a silver buckle. The top was a frilly, pink, and sleevless that buttoned down the middle that showed off our middle with a black necktie held the collar closed. Princess Elizabeth kept her hair down letting it fall just below the skirt. My blonde hair was in a half bun while the rest of my hair fell to my waist.
"So, what's this new outfit for?" Princess Elizabeth asked nervously while I just tried pulling the skirt down more in the back.
"It's the tavern uniform." Meliodas gave us a thumbs up.
"Way to put your pervy thought on display their, dude." Hawk told him. Meliodas moved around us, checking the "uniform".
"So, while we're waiting tables you want us to keep track of rumors and collect information about the possible whereabouts of the Seven Deadly Sins, right?" Princess Elizabeth asked him.
"Some intel on the Holy Knights would be okay too." He jumped behind me and lifted my skirt checking out my panties.
"Hey!" I moved away from him quickly, my face turning into flames as I did.
"Oh, don't worry. I just need to conduct a size check." I grabbed the Princess' hand and pulled her to me.
"That wont be necessary!" Hawk bit Meliodas' hair and pulled on his vest away from us.
"You moron!" Hawk shouted at him. "You're scaring away the two people who can bring people in!" I grabbed the sheaths from the two daggers I always carried and tied them around my waits.
"Excuse me, Sir Meliodas." We all turned to Elizabeth. "Their's something I've been wanting to ask you. The Seven Deadly Sins, are you really that wicked? Are you all terrible criminals like the rest of the world says? And if you are, what awful crime did you commit?"
"Princess Elizabeth, that's not-"
"My crime, huh?" Meliodas thought about it for a moment. "Well..."
"Seems to me, they just don't understand what kind of person you are." Elizabeth said. "After all, you made the effort to save us even though you had no idea who we were."
"The truth is... 10 years ago I travelled through Liones stealing every pair of panties I could get my hands on." Why does that seem like it could be true?
"You've gotta be kidding!" Elizabeth shouted at him, horrified.
"That's right." Elizabeth nearly fell over from his words. "Okay, what I actually did was stalk 1000 pretty girls with perfect boobs and groped them all."
"Groping?! That's just a joke, right?"
"It is." The Princess nearly fell over again.
"Please stop messing around!" she yelled at him. "Or is the truth, you commited a crime so terrible you can't put it into words." He just stared at the two of us before cocking his head to the right.
"Maybe." The entire tavern moved to the right and Elizabeth fell into me while Meliodas ran and grabbed me around my waist, his face planted between my boobs.
"Careful!"
"Knock it off!" Hawk yelled at him. From outside, I heard Hawk's mom snort as we all straightened up.
"Hey, we're here." Meliodas said and I looked out the window at the villiage we stopped at. "This is our next wellspring of information: Vanya Villiage." We left the tavern and climbed down the ladder before Hawk's Mom dug into the ground until only the tavern was visable.
"I usually buy all my liqour wherever I can find it, but Vanya's stuff if special." Meliodas explained as we walked into the villiage. "Best water you can find's here in this village, and with the groot growing down by the river it's used to brew Vanya Ale. Its got fans far and wide." I glanced into the river from the bridge we were walking over and frowned.
"Well it used to. Now those famous waters of theirs are bone dry." Hawk said.
"Look, those herbs along the bank are dead." Elizabeth pointed out.
"This can't be a natural occurance, can it?" I asked looking down at Meliodas.
"What's going on?" We walked into the village to see a large crowed in the town square. Elizabeth laughed excitedly.
"Just look at all the people out here in the square! Think it's some kind of festival?" She asked Hawk.
"With the water like it is?" I asked confused as we walked up to the villagers.
"Hey, what's up you guys!" Two villagers turned to us at Meliodas' greeting.
"Huh? Oh, it's the barkeep."
"What's this festival for today?" Meliodas asked them and they looked down at us shocked.
"This look like a damn festival to you?!" They showed us what was really happening and we saw the men of the village trying to pull a sword out of the ground. One man had hold of the hilt while another was holding the guard. Another man was holding onto him while a rope was also tied around the hilt and someone had wrapped it around his shoulders trying to pull it out. "We're trying to pull out a sword some Holy Knight jabbed in the ground!"
"He stuck it in the ground?" Meliodas asked.
"That could explain why the river was dry." I told them.
"But why'd he do that?" Meliodas asked.
"Days ago, a Holy Knight brought his wrath down upon us." The village chief told us. "He infused his sword with mana, pierced the ground and locked the water under our village."
"If we don't do something about this soon we'll lose our water and our groot too!"
"And we won't have anymore Vanya Ale!"
"A Holy Knight? You think it might be that man you defeated the other day?" Elizabeth asked Meliodas.
"Who? That Twiggo guy with the mustache? No, not a chance. He wasn't a Holy Knight." Meliodas told us. "Trust me, the real ones are a whole lot worse."
"Besides, he seemed more like the kind of guy to just kill everyone instead of just locking the water like this one did." I told her based on our short interaction with him.
"Only a Holy Knight has the power necessary belonging to another." The village chief told us. "Breaking the news isn't going to be easy, but I'm afraid this village is done for."
"Oh no!"
"Isn't their something we can do?" I asked looking at Meliodas who was staring at the sword and the men trying to pull it out.
"Aw give me a break!" A kid said walking towards the villagers. "What's the deal with all this moaning and groaning?"
"It's Mead!"
"A Holy Knight's sword stuck in the ground is nothing. If my buddies, the Seven Deadly Sins were here that sword would be gone by now!" Mead said acting all cocky.
"Quiet, Mead!" A woman shouted and he screamed in surprise. "And whose fault is it that we're all in this perdiciment in the first place? Of all the things to say, do you have to mention those criminals too?"
"Yeah, she's right! We don't need to make the Holy Knight angrier!"
"Do you have a grudge against us or what kid?!"
"No..." Anyone could see the kid was getting more and more frustrated. "C'mon! That's not the reason I did it."
"We've had it with all your mischief and your lying!"
"You're such a jerk!" A little girl grabbed a rock and threw it at Mead only for it to hit Meliodas in the face instead.
"Wow... I hate you guys!" Mead shouted at them.
"Yeah? Well, guess what? We hate you eve more Mead!" All the kids started throwing rocks at him, but Meliodas pushed the boy away from the village while getting hit with rocks in the back of his head and Mead shouting.
"Stop it all of you!" The village chief shouted at his people.
"Sure looks like we picked a lousy time to come down here and hang out." Hawk commented as we all looked to where the tavern was.
"Deep down inside he's really an honest well meaning boy." The chief told us before telling us the story of Mead and what happened when the Holy Knight had been here.
"Oh, you three made it back." Meliodas said as I opened the door for Princess Elizabeth and Hawk and we walked into the tavern.
"Good to be home." Hawk commented as Princess Elizabeth walked straight to Mead and bent to his level.
"So Mead," The boy blushed and got a little nervous by her tone. "I hear you're quite the prankster with a bad sense of humor. The chief in your village told me so."
"What's it to you?" The boy asked raising an eyebrow at her. "Who do you think you are? My mother?"
"When I was young, I used to get scolded by my father for pulling pranks." Princess Elizabeth told him kneeling on the ground.
"Yeah? And that means what to me?" Princess Elizabeth just smiled at the boy in front of her.
"I really wanted his attention." she told him and the look of irritation on his face fell as he listened to her story. "He wasn't the father I was born to, and one day, when I was a little girl, I climbed a really tall tree in the garden hoping to give him a good scare. He turned pale as a ghost and started climbing up the tree to try and save me. This man, who had never climbed one in his entire life, and then he fell out of the tree and hurt himself. Luckily, it wasn't serious. But still, I remember every minute of it like it was yesterday. If he'd died I know I never could have forgiven myself."
"I wasn't quite so lucky," I said sitting between Mead and Meliodas keeping my back to the table. "I wasn't adopted by a family, so I was alone my entire life. I was taken care of and raised by a family I'm very close to know, but it's not quite the same as having a family of your own, is it?" Mead stared at me as I gave him a small sad smile. "I'd wanted to draw attention to myself when I was a child, but I had a bigger job to do. Even if she didn't make it easy." Princess Elizabeth just laughed shyly as I glanced at her. "I don't remember a lot of my childhood, but I always felt safe and protected." Until 10 years ago, but no need to tell Mead that.
"I don't do this kind of stuff cause I don't feel for them." Mead said standing from his seat in front of Meliodas and Princess Elizabeth. "They're all real good to me."
"So, why do you do it?" I asked him gently.
"My mom and dad were always going from place to place. I was even born on the road, but when we stopped here in Vanya a few years ago their was an epidemic. Then they sick and died. That's when the people of the village took me in and raised me as one of their very own. And I was so thankful they did, but I wasn't a part of anyone's real family. I got jealous cause I knew I'd never get what they had. I started lying and pulling pranks." Mead tried using his arm to wipe the tears from his eyes.
"Is that why you put the bug in the Holy Knights drink too?" Princess Elizabeth asked him. "Cause you were upset?"
"No!" Mead slammed his fists on the table in front of him. "I did that cause the Knight treated everyone in the village like they were crap!" Mead told us how the Holy Knight insulted the villagers and, in his anger, he dropped a bug in the glass the Holy Knight had drank out of when he was tasting the ale the villagers had made. He told us how the villagers begged the Knight to spare him when he drew his sword before slamming it into the ground where it still sat today. "We just care so much about it. Everyone in the village put their heart and soul into making that ale, but he insulted them. Holy Knights are no good bastards!"
"Okay, and what about saying you're good friends with the Seven Deadly Sins?" Meliodas asked him and Mead looked away.
"Well, I lied."
"Too bad." Meliodas leaned back with his tankard in hand. "Gotta admit, I kinda had my hopes up."
"I'm sure finding them wont be that easy considering they've been in hiding for the last 10 years." I told him and he just nodded before taking a drink of his ale.
"What made you tell a lie like that?" Princess Elizabeth asked Mead.
"The Seven Deadly Sins are wanted by the Holy Knights, aren't they?" Mead asked as if he didn't already know the answer. "If the Holy Knights are going after them, doesn't that mean the Seven Deadly Sins are the good guys?" We stared at him for a moment before looking at Meliodas.
"What?" he asked and I laughed lightly. I doubt he wasn't listening to everything we'd said, even if he pretended he wasn't. Suddenly, we heard voices and stared at the door.
"That's coming from the village!" Mead jumped up and ran out the door.
"Mead! Wait!" Princess Elizabeth called to him, but he ignored her and continued to run.
When we made our way down the to village again, The ropes around the hilt of the sword had changed from one to three and all the men were doing their best to pull the sword from the ground while two knights were sitting on a closed up well drinking from tankards and laughing. As he passed them, Meliodas grabbed the tankards from the two knights and continued walking.
"Anyone who doesn't appreaciate good quiality booze doesn't deserve to drink it." Meliodas told them before drinking both tankards. The ropes on the hilt snapped and the men and Mead all fell to the ground making dust fly into the air. "That hit the spot." Meliodas placed the two tankards next to Mead's head as he moved to the sword. "Sorry you guys. I don't have any money for that drink." Meliodas grabbed the hilt of the sword and glanced at the villagers from over his shoulder with a smile on his face. "How about this." He pulled the sword from the ground and held it up in the air and everyone stared in amazement.
"Impossible! Only a Holy Knight could pull that sword out! So, how did he do that?" One of the knights asked before we felt a rumbling underneath us.
"What's that sound?" The other knight asked before they were both pushed up from their seats by a gyser of water sprouting from the well. The villagers all laughed and jumped around in joy at the sight. Meliodas just moved to the pair of knights, sword over his shoulder casually, and looked down at them.
"I think this is yours." He dropped the sword in front of them and they jumped back in fear. One of the grabbed the sword before they both ran screaming from the village.
"He's amazing." I whispered to no one in particular as I stared at the man in front of us. "So this is the power of the Seven Deadly Sins?"
"Hey mister." Meliodas looked down at Mead as he walked up to him. "That was so amazing! Are you really-"
"Yep!" Meliodas confirmed turning to the boy. "I am the proprietor of a fine drinking establishment! It's true."
"That not what I meant!"
"Yeah, well, isn't their something you need to be doing?" Meliodas looked over the boy's head and I looked to see the villagers had gathered again looking at the boy between our small group and them. They looked ashamed and guilty of the way they'd treated him.
"Look Mead, we were wrong. Can you ever forgive us for treating you that way?" The village chief asked him.
"But what right do I have to forgive you?" Mead asked him. "Its not like I'm part of the village." Meliodas just pushed the boy forward.
"Go on."
"Hey! What do you mean "go on"? After all, I really don't belong here." Mead looked away from the villagers in saddness and they started lowly chanting his name, pulling him to them. He started crying before running to the village chief and jumping into the elder's arms.
"You can lie to yourself all you want, but their's no way you'll fool your own heart." Meliodas said with a soft smile, but when I glanced at him the smile was gone and his face was full of a deep saddness I don't think anyone would ever be able to compare to theirs. I placed my hand on his shoulder and offered him a smile of my own. I may not have known him for longer than a week, but something ached in me to see that saddness on his face. I just wanted him to have that goofy smile on his face again.
That night, everyone in the village celebrated at the Boar Hat in thanks to Meliodas.
"I'm, uh, I'm not really sure if I'm ready." Princess Elizabeth blushed while holding a serving tray with her other hand on her cheek. "I've never done anything like this before. My heart's... pounding."
"Why don't you just sit and relax with everyone else, Princess?" I asked her with my own serving tray in hand. "I'm sure I can do this alone."
"Tell you what, just focus on your waitressing today." Meliodas told her. "Don't worry about gathering any intel. Stay relaxed out there. That's the most important thing."
"I can do that." She told us sternly. "I will be relaxed!" I just sighed before delivering booze and food to the villagers. Everytime the Princess fell or tripped I cringed and helped her up with an encouraging smile.
"Don't worry, you'll get better at this."
"Ha! You haven't done any hard work a day in your life, have you?" Mead asked her and she jumped at being found out.
"I..."
"Oh, it's totally obvious. You completely suck at this job, unlike your friend."
"Now that's enough!" one of the village women told Mead making him jump back slightly. "Don't start mouthing off again. Didn't you learn your lesson today. Children who get to big for their britches get taken out to the Forest of White Dreams."
"Oh no! Not there!" Mead begged her and I shared a confused look with Princess Elizabeth.
"Forest of White Dreams?" We asked together.
"It's a place so spooky even Holy Knight wont travel through it!" Mead told us before turning back to the woman. "Oh auntie! I promise I'll be good! Please anything but that!"
"And just why should I believe you?" She asked him.
"I promise! I swear!"
"Don't try pulling one over on me. I've got my eye on you." I glanced at Princess Elizabeth and saw her staring sadly out the window at the night sky.
"Princess?" I placed my hand on her arm gently, but she just walked outside and I followed her. She sat on the ground and started crying and I held her to me. She jumped up and we turned to see Meliodas walking to us looking up at the sky.
"Sir Meliodas?"
"Hey."
"I'm sorry. I know I'm supposed to be working right now, but when I saw Mead and the villagers it brought up a lot of memories I had of my father." Princess Elizabeth told him.
"Is that right?" I glanced at him to see him staring in the distance towards the Boar Hat into the sky. What was he doing?
"I just hope he's okay."
"Around here maybe."
"I'm sure you're worried for nothing, Princess." I told her hugging her tightly again.
"I shouldn't do this. It's not time to mope around feeling homesick."
"More to the left?"
"You're allowed to feel homesick, Princess. You've never left Liones and you've never gone this long without your family by your side." I reminded her.
"We've seen so many good people oppresed by the Holy Knights. I know that they're suffering, and with a princess like me their chances don't seem too good."
"You're one of the kindest people I know, Princess Elizabeth." I told her and she just looked up at me sadly. "You've never given up on anyone in your life, so why start know with yourself?"
"Well, you found me didn't you?" Meliodas asked drawing our attention to him. "C'mon, if you hadn't been trying everything you could to help your people and then stumbled into my place you'd have no chance at all."
"So you're saying, their's something I'm meant to do?" Princess Elizabeth asked him.
"Exactly." His face went from a comforting smile to determind as he looked back at the sky. "And right now, their's something I'm meant to do too." A spear flew from the air with lightning coating it and, even with Meliodas catching it, was flying straight towards the village.
"Meliodas!" I jumped up and called after him, watching as he tried stopping the spear from destroying the village. I ran after him, leaving Princess Elizabeth to the villagers now coming out of the tavern.
When I got to the village, I dropped to my knees next to Meliodas and looked him over.
"Are you okay?" Other than a torn sleeve showing his dragon symbol, he seemed to be just fine.
"Yeah, I'm good." I grabbed the hand that caught the spear and saw it burnt and bleeding from the lightning and frowned at it.
"You're hurt..."
"I'm fine." He took his hand from my grasp and placed the other on my head to pat it gently. "Don't worry about it."
"I'm so glad we foud you!" Princess Elizabeth called out as she and Hawk ran to us. "Sir Meliodas, was that spear from the Holy Knight who left his sword in the ground?"
"Probably so." He stood up and helped me stand before placing his uninjured had on his wrist and bending it. "I think that's our que to leave here as soon as we can." I looked at the destroyed village and my heart wept for the people looking everything over.
"But, what if Vanya village is attacked again?" Princess Elizabeth asked him.
"I think they'd be in a lot more danger if we were to stay." Meliodas told her.
"It'd be nice if we could find some place to hide out." Hawk said and that triggered what Mead and the woman had been talking about to appear in my mind.
"What about the Forest of White Dreams?" I asked.
"The Forest of White Dreams?"
"Earlier tonight, Mead said he'd do anything not to be taken to the Forest of White Dreams. In fact, he said even Holy Knights stear clear of the place." Princess Elizabeth told them.
"Really? Sounds good to me." Hawk told us.
"That settles it then." Meliodas told us placing his fist in his injured hand. "Except that we're not going to be hiding out. Cause we're going to be doing exactly what we should."
"What do you mean by that?" Hawk asked him.
"You think of the Sins is in the forest?" I asked him and he nodded.
"Yep." He smiled at us and I couldn't help but return the smile. "Okay! Lets find another Sin!"
"Right!"