Chapter 6: Eveline Liones


Several hours after the intense training with Mael, everyone regrouped in Merlin's study to hear what she and Zelda had managed to come up with as far as the plan was concerned. The jitters from the race still coursed through the girls as they went on and on about how cool it was and how they wanted to try something like that. Flora might have gone a bit overboard though, clinging to Midoriya and complimenting him on how strong he was.

"Flora, for the last time, you cannot throw yourself at people like this." Drystan barked as he peeled her off of a flustered Midoriya.

"That's not fair!" She cried as she frantically reached out for the teenager, much to her brother's annoyance and Midoriya's discomfort.

"You're making him uncomfortable, stop it."

As Flora continued to complain, Drystan threw her over his shoulder and moved them both as far away from Midoriya as they could be. It bothered Midoriya a bit, as he wasn't sure if Flora fawning over him was what Drystan hated or if he somehow believed Midoriya was to blame for Flora's behavior. He hoped that it wasn't the latter because he really didn't like Flora's attention being fixed on him, to begin with. She was a less violent version of Toga Himiko and that wasn't a compliment by his standards.

"Alright, let's settle down," Zelda ordered as she entered the room. Midoriya settled his gaze on the vampire and realized that she looked like death. With naturally pale skin, he would have thought that she couldn't get paler but she could, and the dark purple bags under her eyes told him that she hadn't slept after their talk last night. "we don't have a lot of time and I want this dealt with as soon as possible."

"What's the big rush?" Anna asked as she lazily draped herself across an unused table. The very sight of leisure seemed to upset the vampire princess as Zelda glared venomously at the blonde woman. Anna either ignored it or simply never saw it as she continued to be a carefree bimbo. "Last time you said we had time."

"And now we don't," Merlin added with a frown as she floated above the small crowd. Compared to Zelda, she seemed less distressed, but Midoriya caught a glimpse of a rapid twitching of the woman's left eye. "We have to get Eveline out of there by tomorrow morning or she'll be executed."

The room went silent for only a mere second as Merlin's statement was processed by the group. Once that moment of confusion and uncertainty passed, Flora tried to laugh it off as some kind of joke until the serious and avoidant expressions of Merlin and Zelda finally forced the denial to crumble. Everyone, minus Midoriya and Zelda, began asking a million questions all at once. Most of the questions were the same, only asked in a slightly different way, and Midoriya felt the fear creep in with each passing second.

"We got to calm them down…" Midoriya glanced at Zelda, noticing that she was a bit tenser than he thought she would have been. He wasn't sure if she looked like she wanted to kill everyone in the room or just breakdown and cry.

Eveline, I think I need your help.

What? Why?

Merlin's just told everyone about the execution and they're freaking out. Midoriya glanced around, Merlin's attempts to calm everyone down wasn't working and she was using magic on these people. C-Can you appear again? Show them you're okay because otherwise...

Eveline fell silent, but he began to feel her just as he had the other day. It was slightly different this time, as last time he felt her enter his body; this time she was leaving him. He didn't reject the feeling, remembering that his acceptance of it was crucial and when he felt a warm glowing embrace wrap around him, he felt relief wash over him as he knew that she succeeded in presenting a complete spiritual version of herself.

He looked over his shoulder, ready to thank her, but his voice wouldn't come out as he took in the full form of the woman he had been talking to. Last time, he saw only her upper body and everything below the waist was gone; this time, every part of her was visible and he didn't realize how beautiful she truly was. His cheek flushed as he took in the long, flowing blonde hair that was more yellow than he remembered it being, the sad green eyes that were brighter than his, the shy and avoidant glance that she gave as she used her left hand to gather some of her hair and used it to cover her mouth. He previously compared Eveline to Yaoyorozu in terms of looks but he felt like he did a disservice to Eveline because she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"You're looking at me funny…" Eveline said rather softly, though the sound of her voice startled everyone in the room. "A-Ah…"

The room fell silent; no one moved as they stared at her and the longer the silence went on, the more uncomfortable and shy the spirit became. She hid behind Midoriya, which was odd as she was taller than him.

Zelda was the first person to have noticed Eveline's spirit, and thus, was the first to hesitantly reach out for the blonde. "E-Eveline…?" The moment her fingertips touched the light, she recoiled as her fingers were burned.

"Sorry, but I'm using a lot of pure energy to do this, I didn't think it would hurt you Zel."

Zelda looked up from her hand and a ghost of a smile was seen. "It really is you?"

Eveline cowered still but smiled back with more of the kindness that Midoriya had once seen. "Yes, this is a piece of me anyway."

"A piece…?" Mael approached the figure and gently touched it; unlike the vampire, he was unaffected by the light and only recoiled so that he could move away to take in the young woman. "Eveline...your mother couldn't even do this…"

"Ah..well…" Eveline shied away and Mael finally took in the fact that Eveline was hiding behind Midoriya, "I-I should explain…"

Mael shook his head, smiling sadly as glanced between them. "No, you don't have to, I understand what happened."

Both Eveline and Midoriya were shocked by that admission and tried to pry for further information, but everyone else in the room had finally snapped out of their surprise and begun bombarding Midoriya and Eveline with questions. Merlin, thankfully, was prepared for handling any rowdiness and snapped her fingers, forcing a spell that muted their voices long enough for her to get their attention.

"I understand that this is quite exciting, but I'm insisting that we all calm down and continue ahead with our briefing. Eveline, why don't you stay for a bit?"

Eveline only nodded before asking for a moment to speak to everyone. As she was a spirit at the moment, Merlin's spell couldn't affect her, but she felt like asking anyway. Merlin wasn't opposed and conveniently chose to remove the spell she inflicted on everyone else simply because there was no need for it anymore.

"I'm sorry everyone, I am. But I'm happy to know that you are trying to help me and Izuku told me you were panicking so I…" Her voice failed her mid-sentence and it took her a moment to collect herself. With a soft but determined intake of breath, she continued. "I am safe, that much I can say is certain at the moment. It is true, Guinevere intends to execute me though it is, last I was told, scheduled to happen by this week's end if not sooner."

"What's holding up the execution?" Merlin asked, "Do you know?"

Eveline shook her head, "I do not, but I believe it has to do with Zagan."

Midoriya, having never heard that name before, expressed a curiosity toward it. "Who's Zagan?"

"That," Merlin emphasized with a frown, "would be the human warlord I told you about the other day. He's always had an unhealthy infatuation toward Eveline so it makes sense why he might try to spare Eveline's life. I wholly doubt that he'll succeed if that is what's happening."

"If not him, who else might try to postpone this?" Mael mused aloud as he moved to the detailed layout of the escape plan that they had yet to go over. "Either way, we need to hurry. Guinevere's always been the type to rush things."

There seemed to be a tension that filled the room as Mael spoke, almost as if the confidence that Midoriya had seen earlier had faded and was replaced with uncertainty. Suddenly, everything that Eveline had previously told him made sense; these people before him (except for Mael, Merlin, and Gowther) were not warriors, they were kids. He didn't know how old they were, but as far as this goes, they were not trained for battle and therefore never fought for another or themselves. They weren't like him and his friends; they were in way over their heads. Midoriya lowered his head as he came to realize that he didn't even consider the truth behind Eveline's plea. He took it at face value.

"So, what's the plan?"

Midoriya's head shot up, seeing Bryan stand before the others with a hardened look on his face. His sister stood directly behind him; her head was down, but Midoriya could see tears falling down her chin.

"Bryan?"

"I let them take you," he muttered angrily, his expression twisting as he spoke, "I should have stopped them, but I didn't because I was scared."

Anna, who had nodded along with everything her brother had said, looked up and added, "We've left you there for so long….We should take responsibility for our cowardice!"

"Anna…"

"Zelda's been the only one to try and help you over the years!" Anna snapped, "We didn't do anything! We hid until we couldn't hide. Even then, what did we do but be dead weight for our parents and now they're gone too!"

Years? Midoriya glanced around the room and found that everyone was avoiding looking at Eveline. Shame, regret, even anger was what he could see as they all focused elsewhere in the room. They left her imprisoned for years?

Before he could ask anything, the young goddess let out a soft sigh. He turned back to her and she smiled rather sadly at the floor.

"If you want to blame anyone, blame Guinevere," she whispered, "None of this would have happened if it wasn't for her. But...even knowing that I cannot bring myself to hate anyone. Not even my friends who say they abandoned me."

Eveline took a step toward Bryan and Anna, reaching out and gently caressing their cheeks. She made them look at her, made them see that there was a pure, honest truth behind her words. To Midoriya, it was incredible to witness.

"All of you matter to me, and I know that I matter to you. I never once blamed you, nor believed that my time in prison was your fault. Besides," she smiled as sweetly as she could, her green eyes twinkling with tears of her own. "we're all cowards deep down. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

She pulled away from her friends and retreated to Midoriya. She then smiled at him and pulled him into a hug. "Izuku, I asked you to help them be ready for battle, and now I'm asking for another favor if you're willing to humor me."

Midoriya nodded, "Anything."

"Teach them to be heroes, just like you and your friends."


Midoriya sat alone in one of Camelot's many courtyards; after their conversation with Eveline's spirit, the group finally discussed their rescue plan and their plan would be put into action by tomorrow morning. It was short notice, but with the execution lingering over their heads, it was agreed that the sooner they saved her, the better. However, there were still some things that Midoriya wanted to privately muse about.

Namely, Eveline's wish for him to teach her friends to be heroes; it was a partially weird request, but he forced himself to try to dissect the meaning of it after his last mistake. He thought about what being a hero might have meant to Eveline and how he could teach that ideal to her friends. Of course, he didn't think that he could do such a thing, but effort counted and, given that she and her friends would be going back with him to his world, he could have his classmates help him with it.

But I wonder what exactly she meant by it because I doubt her understanding of heroism is the same as mine. He let out a sigh, hardly noticing that the air had gotten chillier. Maybe I shouldn't focus on that too much.

A sudden and unusual breeze hit him and Midoriya glanced around, fearing that someone might have been watching him. He stood up and was about to leave so that he may return to his room, but was stopped by Zelda and Mael.

"Good evening, Deku," Mael smiled down at the teenager and Midoriya if he should feel worried or on edge. "Mind if we talk?"

The tone Mael used suggested that Midoriya might be in trouble or that trouble was looking for him and he didn't want to deal with anything new. However, he wasn't in the position to refuse Mael, especially when the goddess knew something that Midoriya would like to have shared.

"Sure…"

Zelda didn't participate in the discussion, seemingly only there to fulfill an obligatory purpose (though he didn't know what that might be). Mael, on the other hand, asked him a thousand questions about his connection with Eveline; how long had it been active, what sparked it, what he and Eveline used it for, and so on. Midoriya answered every question as best he could, though he was growing more and more confused by each one. Mael didn't give him a chance to ask anything until the silver-haired goddess was satisfied.

"I know that it must have been confusing," Mael seated himself on one of the many marble benches and slouched ever so slightly. "What I said earlier about me already knowing what happened."

"Yeah...it was…" Midoriya felt a bit uncomfortable just standing beside Mael and decided to take a seat beside him. "Um...would you be willing to tell me about this link?"

Mael sat up a bit, confused by the request. "Eveline never told you?"

Midoriya shook his head, "No, in fact, she told me that she hadn't clue herself."

"Oh?" Zelda moved slightly, "That's not unusual, but I thought that she did, given that she offered to explain."

"I mean, she could have meant explaining that she is tied to me, despite not knowing how." Admittedly, he wasn't sure either, but he wanted to believe everything Eveline had told him thus far.

Mael nodded and looked up at the stars, "You're probably right. These were things we never bothered to teach her during her childhood. But I owe you an explanation."

"Me?"

Mael nodded again and smiled sadly, "You see, I know why the link exists and I tried to sever it when it first was made."

Midoriya was taken back by that but before he could question Mael further, another strong gust of wind went by and this time Midoriya knew something was wrong. He stood up and glanced around the area; though he saw nothing out of the ordinary, he felt something was wrong.

"Something's here…" he muttered softly, quiet enough that the wind drowned him out but the two with him heard him and they immediately readied themselves for a confrontation.

They waited for a minute, the tension in the air grew with each passing second until they relaxed. Midoriya wondered what it was that had caused the hairs on the back of his neck to rise, only to spot something in the darkness.

"Who's there!?" Midoriya called the shadow, "Show yourself!"

Though the shadow did not speak, it did move and Midoriya knew that whoever was there wasn't anyone who was attached to their group. Mael and Zelda must have thought the same thing as they turned to where the shadow was and Mael instantly recognized the shadow.

"Both of you! Get back!" Mael pushed both Midoriya and Zelda behind him, just in time to take the brunt of the attack. "Gah!"

"Mael!"

"Lord Mael!" Zelda cried as she caught him, both of them falling to the ground as Midoriya moved in front of them. "Lord Mael, are you okay?"

Mael shook his head, "Sound the alarms, it's one of the Black Knights!"

"Black Knights?" Midoriya kneeled beside the injured goddess, making sure he wasn't gravely injured.

"Guinevere's knights, just like the Seven Deadly Sins are Eveline's." Zelda quickly explained as she moved away from Mael. "They serve Guinevere and sometimes Zagan."

"So if they're here…" They must know what's going on!

"Fufu~!" the shadow giggled as it moved away from the trio. "Don't bother with the alarm, or I'll shred you to pieces!"

Midoriya positioned himself in front of Mael and Zelda, willing to enter the fight to give them time to alert the others if they chose to. Admittedly, given that he wasn't familiar with the Black Knights, he didn't know if he should encourage defiance or not. What if they got hurt because of him? But then again, they seemed familiar with them, he should leave that choice to them for now.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Midoriya called out to the shadow.

"Heh, you don't know me? What a shame," the shadow didn't make any attempt to move toward the light until the alarm sounded somehow. "Oh? Looks like I've been spotted. Oh well."

As the shadow moved to escape, Merlin appeared and caught the demon in a spell she called Perfect Cube. It was here that Midoriya got a good look at the woman; she was tall and thin with ungodly pale skin and a dark blue, skin-tight outfit. He likened the outfit to that of a leotard with most of the parts removed so that it was more of a crop top and high-waisted boy shorts with a thin strip of cloth that connected the top to the bottom. He saw more skin than clothes and her hair was a vibrant blue or purple; he couldn't tell honestly.

"Damn, you're still a hard one to outsmart." The demon woman groaned with a sinister grin.

"Can't say the same about you, Kasdeya," Merlin smirked lazily, "however, I'm afraid I can't let you go this time."

The grin faltered, "Interesting...And why not?"

Merlin smiled a little more and tried to reason that Kasdeya had broken the promise the Guinevere made with Arthur. However, the demon wasn't buying it and she merely gifted them a knowing smile before somehow breaking the Perfect Cube with only the sway of her hips. The act surprised everyone, especially Merlin, who was taken back, maybe even horrified by it.

"Well, I think I have justified my violation well with this," the succubus stated in a singsong tone, "I believe that Guinevere shall hear of this and I would expect a personal visit from her soon if I were you."

Merlin attempted to demand an answer, but the demon didn't humor them with so much as a wink before she disappeared and fear quickly settled throughout everyone. They knew that they needed to act now or never.


A/N: Hello everyone, sorry for not being active. The lockdown stuff is just killing my desire to do anything; I legit just want to sleep and eat and it is upsetting me! I don't even want to play games, I'm sad.

But despite the mental struggle this lockdown has on me, I want everyone reading this to know that I do not intend to leave this story unfinished. I will be writing it to the end, it just will take some time and considering I'm planning for this to go on for, at least, 30 chapters I need to be careful to not rush anything.

Also, I have a DeviantArt page where I show what my OCs look like so if you hate how I describe them, you can go there and see them for yourself. My username there is Phantom-Tigress, from there you should be able to find me by looking for Eveline or any of my OCs.

Until next time! Bye!