King managed to make the braided hair crown that Helbram had requested. He looked over his handy work.

This was a bit harder to do, but Helbram looks really cute with it. And, because his hair is so long now, I can make another if he wants.

"Well Harlequin, have you finished yet? Can I see?"

King nodded and blushed lightly. He got in front of Helbram and smiled, saying lovingly,

"Oh yeah, I'm done, but I don't have a mirror."

Helbram smiled back at King as he hummed. An idea popped into his head.

"There's bound to be a lake in the forest... Unless you want to see Elaine first."

King's smile fell as he sighed heavily. He didn't want to let Elaine down, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to see her. Helbram gazed at King. He could see the despair in his eyes.

Helbram sighed. Grabbing King's arm, he pulled him into a hug and laid his chin on top of King's head.

"We can see Elaine together. Besides, you know she loves you."

King pouted but stayed in Helbram's embrace.

He's tall enough that he can rest his chin on the top of my head… That jerk… but he's right, I want to see Elaine, and she does love me and I love her. But seeing her lifeless body… that's... I…

"Harlequin, I know you can do it… after all, you stayed with me when enslavement of the dead wore off."

King twitched nervously as he argued back,

"That was different because I was there with you. Elaine died with Ban and I haven't seen her for 700-years and-"

Helbram cut him off, stating matter of factly,

"You went to the land of the dead and saw her. So this should be easy, and I'll be by your side the whole time."

"But..."

Helbram let King go and set him down on the ground. He uncrossed his legs and stood there with him. Looking down at King, meeting his nervous eyes, Helbram cocked an eyebrow in annoyance. He placed his hands on his hips.

"No buts. Now come on."

Helbram started walking towards the inner chamber of the sacred tree. He grabbed King's hand and pulled him along. King didn't resist or argue. He just let Helbram lead the way.

King's palms were sweaty and his heart raced. A pit formed in his stomach. The short walk felt like a death march, and soon they were back in front of Elaine. King swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as he looked toward her. Every fiber of his being was telling him to run, but he couldn't. He was paralyzed.

Helbram could tell that King was nervous, so he let go of his hand and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"It's okay Harlequin. Ban will bring her back. I know he will."

King's nerves finally settled the pit in his stomach fading away as Helbram held him. He sighed as he leaned further onto Helbram.

"Yeah, I believe in Ban… Elaine, I know I wasn't here to protect you or the forest. I'm so sorry about what happened… But I'm going to do everything I can to make sure Ban brings you back… And I'll do everything I can to protect Ban for you."

King looked at Elaine and smiled.

Helbram spoke happily to Elaine.

"Don't worry Elaine, I know Ban can do it and I'll be looking into some ways to bring you back too. After all, I died three times and I'm alive, so I know we can bring you back. Also, since you watch Ban a lot you probably already know, but Harlequin and I are lovers now. Isn't that great~?"

King glanced up at Helbram, his face was red. Helbram could feel the heat radiating off his cheeks.

King spoke in a panic.

"Why did you say that? I wanted to tell Elaine when she came back to life. And it's still so, I mean you… Ugh!"

Helbram laughed at King, saying,

"Harlequin, you know Elaine watches Ban all the time from the land of the dead. She probably saw my drunken confession to you, since Ban was in the bar when that happened. That and she does check up on you from time to time, so she probably already knows."

Confusion overtook King's face as he gazed at Helbram. Helbram sighed happily as he explained.

"You know, even when you die, you can come to the land of the living. Or, if there's someone you want to see, you can watch them from the land of the dead. Elaine watches Ban from the land of the dead because she loves him so dearly. You know, I ran into her the third time I died before the blessing brought me back to life."

King cocked an eyebrow as Helbram continued.

"Time works differently when you die. What could have been a minute to you, was like a few hours to me when I was dead. So don't think about it, just know that Elaine already knows and she's happy for us. Well, mostly happy. She still thinks I'm a bad influence."

A smile crept onto King's lips as he listened to Helbram explain himself. He escaped Helbram's embrace and got up above him.

"Alright let's check to make sure the rest of the forest is safe. I want to make sure there are no more demons lurking around."

Helbram glanced at him and stated,

"Okay, I want to look at the remains of the Albion anyway. It was a golem-type demon, so I want to make sure it's completely hollow and try to figure out how it was made."

Helbram's eyes gleamed with desire as he spoke. King hadn't seen that look in his eyes in a long time. Although he wanted Helbram to come with him, he didn't want to deprive him of a learning experience. King nodded his head in agreement.

"Alright, let's go."

Helbram smiled warmly as he headed towards the Albion remains. He stopped and quickly flew back over to King.

"Give me your right hand."

King looked at him perplexed, but he just shrugged and gave him his hand. Helbram held his hand and placed a ring that was made from a vine with a small yellow flower on top onto King's ring finger. King's whole face turned red as he stared at the ring. Helbram smiled.

"I made it with magic so it won't die and it'll always tell me where you are. You know, in case you're in danger. I can't just let you go off without knowing where you are. Although you don't really need me protecting you, I feel better knowing you have this. You know, in case you need backup or you injure yourself."

King stammered but nothing came out of his mouth. He noticed that the flower turned red.

Helbram chuckled.

"It also changes color depending on your mood. Red means you're in a very loving mood, yellow is neutral. No real strong feeling, just a feeling. Oh, and that isn't an engagement ring if that's what you're thinking. Those go on your left ring finger, not your right. Besides, I would get you a real one, not a pretty flower one."

King could feel his whole face heating up even more than it already was. Helbram just laughed and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before leaving to investigate the Albion's remains. King watched Helbram head off, his whole face still red as he looked down at the ring Helbram gave him. Then he heard a voice from behind.

"King Harlequin, are you alright? You look… flustered? You're not sick are you?"

King turned towards the voice and saw Gerharde. He stammered,

"I-I-I'm fine. Just I am, um… I'm going to make sure the forest is safe!"

King checked out the entire forest, but he couldn't find anything. There were no other demons. It appeared that the Albion that attacked was just finishing a job it had from long ago. The fairy was delighted to know that the forest would be safe when he left to tell the captain about the demon clan.

The sun began to set by the time King decided to head over to the remains of the Albion. He made it over to the remains in no time, but he didn't see Helbram anywhere. King looked around. The remains had been covered over by moss, something that must have happened when Ban let his blood soak into the ground. King saw a few fairies looking over the remains, so he approached one, asking,

"Hey, can you tell me where Helbram is?"

The fairy looked at King and smiled, saying jovially,

"Oh, King Harlequin, you're looking for the fairy knight? The fairy knight asked where the lake was, and after I told him he left."

King sighed, in annoyance.

"So, where is the lake then?"

The fairy pointed towards the west side of the forest.

"The lake is that way, Lord Harlequin."

King smiled brightly at the fairy, thanking him. Then he left, heading towards the lake. He made his way over quickly and looked around. There was Helbram gazing at the lake surface and smiling. King smiled as he snuck up behind him. Helbram stared at his reflection, looking at his hair. He lightly patted the braid that King made. He then pulled on his long hair and pouted, saying aloud,

"I love the braid but not the long hair. What do you think, should I cut it Harlequin?"

King stopped and looked down at him.

"How did you know I was behind you?"

"The ring I gave you told me."

Helbram looked at him and smiled. King glared at the ring in annoyance. The flower turned green.

"Well Harlequin, should I cut it?"

King's attention was brought back to Helbram, who was playing with his hair again. King asked,

"Cut what?"

Helbram pouted at him.

"My hair, I liked it better short, but it looks nice long. So, my sunflower, should I cut it?"

King smiled at him.

"I like it long. You look even prettier with long hair."

Helbram blushed as he let go of his hair.

Kings smile fell as he asked,

"Oh, what did you find out about the Albion's remains? You weren't there when I went over to check on you."

Helbram's blush fell as excitement overtook him. His wings fluttered up.

"I found out that the remains had a skeletal system in it. So it wasn't completely hollow. Unfortunately the core was mostly destroyed, and there were very few pieces of it left. What I could tell from them is that the core was similar to the one I used to have those knights give me their magic. Except this core seemed to give off a dark presence. Like, like.. oh, like when you said you could feel my bloodlust when that human grabbed my arm. The pieces of the core had a similar dark feeling. Besides that, the outside was made from a hard salt-like material, and the eyes seemed to be painted onto its face. The only thing that was real was its mouth. Oh, and the skeleton was made from a hard bone-like substance, although there was no trace of how it was made. I'm guessing someone had craved it out of stone and the core was made from dark magic. Well, evil magic… demon magic? Some type of negative magic that left a dark mark on its entire existence. Perhaps a giant demon made it. It is several feet tall. Or maybe a team of toolmakers? It's a very simple tool, but with the height and amount of time I'm guessing it takes to make one, it's probably obsolete by now."

King couldn't even keep up with Helbram's explanation. He nodded his head every once in a while to show that he was at least paying attention, but King just watched Helbram with interest.

I haven't seen him this happy in a while… Well, at least he still has that undying passion to learn.

Helbram stopped explaining as he looked at King. He realized that he didn't understand a word of his explanation. Helbram pouted at him, asking,

"You didn't understand anything I just said, did you?"

King blinked twice at him, smiling.

"Not really, but you just looked so happy. I didn't want to interrupt you."

Helbram smiled, blushing slightly.

Listening even though he didn't understand a word I had said. What an absolute sweetheart~.

Helbram sighed happily.

"Okay Harlequin you checked the forest, saw Elaine, and now the only thing left to do is tell Meliodas about the demon clan."

King hummed at him and smiled.

"Well Gerharde is still making preparations to make the forest safe, so we'll stay the night. I want to make sure with absolute certainty that the forest will be safe."

Helbram raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Look at that, what a lovely King we have… well in my case lover and King.

"Well if that's the case we can just stay here by the lake. And.."

Helbram held out his right hand to show off the vine wrapped around his ring finger. He spoke in a confident tone.

"I used my magic to set up some roots around the forest. If something that doesn't belong in the forest enters, the vine will tighten around my finger and tell me where the intruder is. Plus it almost matches yours."

King gazed at Helbram lovingly.

"You're a genius, you know that? But when did you get so responsible?"

Helbram smiled victoriously.

"I know. But when it matters, I'm always responsible. Besides, protecting the forest is also a part of my job, you know."

King just blushed at him and smiled back.

King headed off, leaving Gerharde gazing in confusion.