Hi everyone! ;D
I'm sorry I'm late, but this story needed some time to work out (I had this idea for some time now, but writing it down wasn't all that easy "^^).
Please, read all this note, if you don't and don't play the Seven Deadly Sins' mobile game, then it won't be easy for you to understand what I'm talking about!
IMPORTANT INFORMATIONS:
I'm sorry, this story needs a little explanation and information before you start reading it.
I'll be using a character, and I'll be mentioning others, that were originally created by Netmarble for the Seven Deadly Sins' mobile game, Grand Cross. These characters have their own roles and stories, and I have to explain at least a little bit, and I'll try to be as concise as possible! "^^
Seven Catastrophes: they are a group of 'villains', they're goal is to destroy the world, for various motives (there are some of them that we don't know much about yet!). Every Catastrophe is paired "against" one of the Sins.
Lillia: their leader, an apprentice of Merlin once, then she became too fixated on her powers and thought that Merlin didn't want her to reach her full potential, and decided to find a way to change the world by destroying it (I'm bad at explaining this because I don't really like her and I already forgot all about her reasons for doing things or just don't care "^^ XD). To help in her 'mission', she gradually teleported to Britannia people from different worlds and/or times, people who had something against the world like her. Paired Sin: Merlin, of course.
Valenti: she's a short girl, who's fixated with building things, like robotic weapons (she's something of a steampunk!). Paired Sin: I don't know "^^ but excluding the others, I'll say Diane.
Eastin: she's some royalty of the seas, and it's so obvious that she has the hots for Ban, even if she claims to hate him. Paired Sin: Ban XD.
Camila: she's a deity of another world, she can transform into a werebeast, and hates humans because of their violence and fear against werebeasts; in her world they killed most of her precious ones, and she felt guilty for not being able to save them. Paired Sin: Escanor.
Shin: he's a technological and sexy geek! XD his tablet is very important to him, maybe because it's the only thing from his world..? Paired Sin: Meliodas.
Roxy: she's just a crazy chick that likes violence. She doesn't like middle-aged men because it seems that she didn't have good experiences with them... Paired Sin: King (she's disgusted by his fat, middle-aged form).
I wanted to surprise you by not telling exactly which one of them would be used here, but I have to explain things for you to understand the story better and where I'm coming from "^^.
So yes, it's obvious that I'll be using Camila, and yes, in the game, at their first encounter, it's obvious that she's intrigued by Escanor! She said as much: "I've never seen a more interesting human as you", and she's clearly amazed by his powers.
In my opinion she shares a lot of characteristics with Merlin, they're similar in some aspects… (and yes, she's my favourite Catastrophe! XD).
WORTH FIGHTING FOR
Merlin awoke suddenly from her nap, because of some kind of commotion coming from below her lab. She lifted herself up from the couch, grumpily, she had wanted to catch up on some sleep, and that was a rare event, usually it took Escanor some pleading before he could convince her to take a break from her experiments. This time she had decided to not be too difficult for her fellow Sin, she had already been tired, and obviously the only time when she had wanted to sleep, something had to come up!
She decided to walk her way below, trying to cool down her irritation.
When she arrived at the bar she found all the Sins there that were watching with suspicion a tall feminine figure.
She raked her brain and quickly remembered who this person was, and could now understand the stiffness of the others.
She decided to take matters in her own hand and made her way to the side and front of the group.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you one of the comrades of my ex-student?"
The other woman turned her head slightly towards her, the Boar could tell that she wasn't letting anyone out of her sight.
"You are correct, but I'm here on a personal mission."
She then turned to look straight at the Lion Sin.
"I have business with him."
The deity pointed towards the shocked and stuttering man.
The Mage narrowed her eyes, she didn't trust any one of the Catastrophe.
"What do you want?"
Her tone was so cold that she could have frozen a desert.
Camila frowned, evidently displeased, but then sighed.
"Well, if you all have to know…"
She turned again to face Escanor.
"I want you to become my mate."
Everyone fell silent, they were too shocked.
The werebeast was deadly serious, and the Boar felt outraged by the other woman's claim. Who the hell does she think to be?! Right after, she remembered that she was supposed to be a goddess of another world.
That didn't change anything in Merlin's opinion.
The rest of the Sins came out of their stupor gradually, and began looking with apprehension between Merlin, Camila and Escanor, not really knowing what to expect at this point.
The Lion was the most shocked, probably, he didn't understand how this could have happened; surely the deity was delusional!
"Wh-...wh-at?"
He managed to say, not sure if he had heard that right.
"I want you to become my mate."
Camila repeated her statement, she seemed unfazed by their reactions.
"Why?"
Escanor was genuinely curious, he couldn't understand why someone would want him. Hearing his question the Mage's heart constricted a little, he shouldn't be surprised, he should know that he was a valuable person, most of all for his comrades!... Had they failed in demonstrating how important he was for them? Had she failed in demonstrating how much she cared?
She felt like cursing herself if that was the case.
"You're an interesting human."
Camila answered him, matter of factly.
Merlin frowned more at her words, while the other Sins felt even more uneasy.
The Lion didn't really know what to respond to her, he was used to being called 'interesting', but from another source.
He cleared his throat, trying to rein in his blush.
"I...I'm s-sorry, but I d-don't know you."
'And she doesn't know him at all!' thought the Mage after his answer.
"You're right."
The werebeast seemed to think about that for a moment.
"How about we begin courting to know each other better?"
This time one could hear a few gasps, Escanor couldn't control his embarrassment anymore and it showed on his face, while Merlin was almost livid.
"How can we be sure that it's not a trap to try and lure our stronger member away from us, to capture or harm him?"
If looks could kill…
The Lion blushed more, this time happy and surprised from the unexpected compliment from the Mage.
The deity fixed her gaze on the obviously hostile woman.
"It's simple, if he'll become my mate then I will leave Lillia's group, and return with him to my world."
Merlin's nails were hurting her own arms from how much she was clutching herself, to try and maintain her cool, but her eyes told it all, at least to her fellow Sins.
"That won't be acceptable. You would just weaken our numbers as well."
She was trying to be logical, to counter her out of mind arguments with flawless objection. She didn't want to think about how her heart had constricted more and more with the passing time, she didn't want to acknowledge that she felt a bit of desperation while trying to find reasons for her to not take Escanor from them.
She didn't know how to express herself, if not like that, she was at a loss, and was being more and more emotional, her feelings clashing against her logical side.
"Then I will stay here with him until you'll take care of things with Lillia, but I won't be participating in any dispute."
She was offering them a good deal, one less enemy to face in battle.
The Mage thought that nothing would be enough as an exchange for Escanor, he was invaluable to her.
That sudden thought distracted her enough to let Meliodas come forth and calm things down.
"You're being very generous, but we'll have to discuss this between all of us."
He said, diplomatically, always looking at the Boar in the corner of his eye, ready to stop an eventual fight.
"Alright, I'll be back tomorrow then."
Camila nodded, winked at Escanor and then left the Boar Hat.
Luckily for her she did it quickly.
The Lion was red and stuttering, and Merlin was totally livid. She turned immediately around and climbed the stairs, to shut herself in her lab.
The Sins jumped a little when they heard the slam of her door.
She didn't know what to do, she didn't even know what she was feeling or why she was feeling like that!
She was totally frustrated!
The Boar was walking up and down in her lab, she wasn't ready to admit that the conversation with the werebeast deity had rattled her, very much.
She knew that it was time to calm down and reflect on the events and her own sentiments regarding the matter at hand, but she was taking more time than usual to cool down.
The Mage decided that a calming beverage could help, she didn't drink them often, only when she really needed to achieve the calm of mind that was eluding her at the moment.
The mechanical gestures to brew some tea was also helping her to find her cool again, it was the routine, the already known movements that helped.
It was something that she had control over.
She couldn't say the same thing for the situation they found themselves in now; she knew that she shouldn't have stormed off like she did, but she really needed some alone time to think rationally again.
Sitting on her couch, a warm mug of some herbal tea in her hands, the Mage began to think over and dissect all that happened just a few moments ago.
Starting from recalling, objectively, the purpose of the visit: Camila, one of the Catastrophes, seemed rather interested in Escanor, and had told them that she wanted him as her mate...
Why was this already annoying her?!
No, wait, slow down, think about one thing at a time.
The members of the Catastrophes couldn't be trusted, they were in league with Lillia and wanted to destroy the world, and the Seven Deadly Sins were meant to stop them.
Although it would have been preferable to stop them without violence, if it was at all possible, and all of them had arrived from other worlds, they could be convinced to go back, or something. The deal that Camila had proposed wasn't to be taken lightly…
That was one of the reasons why she was warring with herself about this.
Having one less foe to battle against, one less to be weary about and to keep track of, would have been very beneficial; even more if at the same time their numbers wouldn't lessen, and Escanor could still help them out for as long as it took to take the Catastrophes down.
After that…
Camila had said that she wanted to go back to her world, and that was okay, but she wanted to go back with him!
And that… wasn't sitting well with Merlin, at all!
The Seven Deadly Sins were just like that, seven! And Escanor was an invaluable asset to their group, losing him would be… unthinkable!
This was where she was struggling the most, she felt her heart ache and her frustration and annoyance grow exponentially.
She took another, hopefully, calming sip of her tea.
She wasn't stupid, but even she had things that didn't like to admit just like that, and she had to admit that she didn't want Escanor to leave them. She had known him for a long time, had become attached to him, like to all the other Sins of course, but she had also to admit that she had more interactions with him than with anyone else.
She… she would miss him.
The pang in her chest made her uncomfortable, and she had to forcefully swallow the sudden lump in her throat.
The thought of not seeing him anymore was doing funny things inside her.
Maybe they could find a solution to that? Maybe they could convince Camila to stay in their world so that she wouldn't take him away from them…
...why didn't that solution make her feel any better?
That way he would still stay with them, they would see him again and could ask him for help… but surely that would also change if he began a romantic relationship with the werebeast, she would surely come first to them, and even if she would, for whatever reason, join their ranks, she would come first anyway, or even more so.
He wouldn't have any more time for herself, he wouldn't recite his poem to her anymore, wouldn't help her with her experiments anymore.
She would hardly see him.
Or she would see him...with her.
That was even worse.
She was feeling awful.
The problem wasn't for him to leave them, or not the only problem, was it?
The problem was him leaving her! Not only that, but leaving her to be with another woman, and she would have to see that.
When did he become so important to her?
It was all so confusing and frustrating!
She surely liked his company, and liked him as a person, not only as her comrade and friend, but could there be more? Could she give more to him? Did she want more?
She sighed loudly.
She cared about the Lion, and because of that she couldn't, and wouldn't, stop him; if he was also interested in the deity, it wouldn't be right…
But then what about her? What about her own wants and needs? She didn't want him to leave her, but if he wanted to, what could she do about that? How could she balance everything?
Then another sudden thought came to mind: what did Escanor want?
I'm sorry! I had very little time this week . and I didn't want to make it too short, I had a very specific idea in mind, so I decided to make it a 2 chapter story! In this way I was able to post it for the Escalin week and I can also post the last day as well now! :D
I'll finish this, don't worry! ;)
Let me know what you think with a comment/review please! ^^