Revenge is the best Sin (ON HOLD)

by LikeAnEcho

It was hard to resist. Her sin was that tempting. Revenge was the one thing that outlasted a woman's all other emotions. Her sin is what made everyone else believe that she was behind the slaughters of the old Grand Master and dozens of Holy knights. Who's to say otherwise? The only ones who would know would be her fellow sins...and a stubborn princess who somehow saw good in them.

2. Chapter 2

"What the heck happened to all the water?"

Together, the occupants of the Boar Hat made it to Vanya village but when they had been crossing the bridge to get into the small town - they noticed the stream under the bridge was all dried up. "The gruit is dead too." Meliodas noticed. "What are we going to do, Meliodas?" Alfie straightened from her hunched over posture. "With the water dried up, I doubt they'll have any liqour here." she frowned.

"We were here to buy more alcohol?" Elizabeth asked confused. "Amongst other things." Alfie answered. "Can't we just buy it from another village?" she tried. "We could." Meliodas nodded, "But Vanya has the best stuff in all of the land. It's special, people come from all over to try it" he explained. "The only thing left to do is to go ask the townspeople what's happened here." the blonde shoved his hands into his pockets and led his small party over to the town.

The closer they got, the more people that came into sight and congregated around something in the town square. "Hey guys!" Meliodas greeted the closest man to them upon arrival, "What's going on? What are we looking at?" he asked. Even Alfie and Elizabeth's taller heights couldn't see past the taller men of the village. "A holy knight came to the village and jabbed his sword into the ground, now we're trying to get it out." the villager answered.

"Why'd he do that?" Meliodas asked. "Apparently he took offence when our ale did not live up to his expectations, so he sealed our water away." the stranger informed. "What a prick." Alfie's nose scrunched in distaste, "But you do know that sword won't come out unless another holy knights pulls it out, right?" she scratched her cheek with a finger."WHAT?!" the crowd roared together, having surprisingly heard what the woman said.

"Well yeah, you need mana to fight mana...and you guys don't have any from what I can tell." Alfie said hesitantly. "So then we're doomed then. Our village is done for." an elderly villager looked down in defeat. "Psh, don't listen to her, Chief. What would she know?" a small child appeared, strolling forward confidently. "Mead?" the elder said confused.

"If my friends of the eight deadly sins were here, that sword would be gone already." he boasted. "Do you guys really know that little boy?" Elizabeth whispered to the two sins. "No, I have no idea who he is." they chorused, equally disturbed by the kid claiming to know them. "That's enough out of you, Mead!" a woman snapped heatedly.

"It's bad enough we're in this situation as it is now, if you keep talking like that you'll only make it worse for all of us!"

"Are you trying to make the holy knight even angrier at us?!"

"Your lies and tricks are what got us in this mess in the first place!"

"You're such a jerk!"

A little girl stepped forward and chucked a rock at Mead but her aim was so off it nailed Meliodas straight in the face instead. "HA!" Alfie began to laugh despite the situation, her entire frame shaking from the humor. Her reaction was a complete one-eighty from Elizabeth's horrified one. "Wow... I hate you guys!" Mead yelled at the crowd whole heartedly and would of been pelted with rocks had Alfie not stepped in and blocked every single one as she continued to laugh at the blonde's misfortune.

Meliodas took the opportunity to take the boy by his shoulders and began running off to find somewhere to hide temporarily, Mead screaming how much he hated the crowd all the while. "Enough, all of you!" the village chief from before yelled, ceasing the rock throws. "Man, we sure picked a good time to come here huh?" Hawk commented sarcastically. "I don't know, I think this is a great time to be here." Alfie chuckled, dropping the last rock that had flown into her hand. "You know deep down he's a good kid." the elderly man mentioned.

"He likes to stir up trouble and pull pranks and though he doesn't mean any harm, Mead more often than not takes things too far." he frowned. "So he's the one who ticked off the holy knight?" Alfie guessed. "Yes." the chief nodded, " He placed a bug in the knight's drink after he expressed his displeasure." he told. "Man, maybe I should take some notes from this kid when people complain about the food." Alfie pondered.

"Don't even think of it!" Hawk yelled, "I'm not eating any scraps with bugs in it!" he protested. "But you're a pig…" the pinkette trailed off. "It doesn't mean I don't have standards!" Hawk exclaimed. "Hey, Listen up!" a commanding voice called attention to the villagers.

Peaking through the gaps of the crowd, Alfie and Elizabeth were able to spot two knights standing by the sword. "If this sword isn't out of the ground by sundown then your product taxes will go up ten times over!" the other exclaimed. "But that's not fair! With our water gone we can't even brew a bottle of ale, let alone ten times that!" a man cried.

"Not our problem! It serves you right for disrespecting a holy knight and claiming to be associates with the eight deadly sins!" the taller of the two said. "Man, word gets around fast. These knights just pop up out of no where when the sins are mentioned." Alfie scratched the back of her head. "That's what you're worried about?!" Hawk asked incredulously.

"Huh? Mead, what are you doing?" a woman cried, drawing their attention. "Well he sure bounced back fast." the pinkette noted, watching as the little boy put both of his hands on the hilt of the sword and attempted to pull it out uselessly as the two knights laughed at him pointedly. "This is kind of sad to watch actually." Alfie frowned, stepping forward and moving through the crowd with ease.

"Wait, Lady Alfie!" Elizabeth cried out in worry. "Hey Elizabeth." Meliodas' voice startled the princess. He had two mugs of Vanya ale in his hands he had gotten from his tavern and handed one to her, "What's going on? Alfie's gonna pull out the sword?" Meliodas guessed before he drank. "I-I'm not sure." Elizabeth admitted, sipping at the drink he had been kind enough to get her. "So, did you guys find out that it was Mead who made the holy knight angry?" Meliodas asked and Elizabeth nodded.

"Yeah, the village chief just told us." Hawk agreed. " He tell you about his background too? How the village raised him after his parents died from the epidemic that broke out here?" the blonde quirked a brow. " What? That's horrible!" Elizabeth gasped. "Yeah, after they passed the villagers took turns raising him." Meliodas nodded his head, "Mead was just getting revenge on the holy knight for treating these people so poorly." he explained.

"Hey, Mead!" Alfie called, breaking through the crowd and walking up to the boy. "Tap out, bud" the woman smirked down at his stunned form, wrapping her hand around the hilt of the sword after he relinquished his hold on it.

"You and I are going to have to talk revenge tactics sometime, I like your style." Alfie had been slowly lifting the sword from the ground as she said this. The people of Vanya looked on with slacked jaws and wide eyes, " It's sloppy but with some practice and tips - you'll get better." she smiled, giving a sharp jerk and raised the blade from the earth completely.

"This is a nice blade." Alfie inspected the sword closer, "I think I'll keep it as a parting gift from the good holy knight who left it here. What do you say? Sounds pretty fair doesn't it?" her eyes slid over to the two lesser knights still in awe of her actions.

" I mean in all things considering everyone will have gotten their revenge in the end. Mead placed a bug in his drink in the villagers' names...the holy knight shoved his blade into the ground and cut off their water supply….and now I get to keep his sword as my own for having to free up the water." Alfie smiled wickedly in their direction, the blade gleaming in the sunlight.

" We're all tied up." she then pointed the blade at the duo, "Unless you want to continue the fight? But if you do that, I'll have to get revenge again. Either way, it ends up good for me." she purred. Paling at the implication, the two knights tripped over each other as they scrambled to get away from the pink haired menace.

"That...that was amazing, lady." Mead gaped at their fleeing figures in the distance. "But what about the water?" he asked. "Hm?" Alfie looked down at the boy. "You guys got a well?" she asked. "Yeah, over there." Mead pointed in the direction of the well. Following his finger, the crowd parted with ease as the woman approached.

Tearing the wood planks off the opening, Alfie peaked down into the darkness - humming in thought before taking a step back and kicking the cobblestoned structure half heartedly. Many sweatdropped at her actions but that soon disappeared when the ground beneath her feet began to rumble. "That's better." Alfie took another step back just in time for the water to shoot upwards like a gyser causing the villagers to cry out in jubilation.

"Good job, Alfie." Meliodas said walking up beside her with Elizabeth and Hawk in tow. "Thanks." she smiled but then soon frowned, "Where did you get that?" she pointed to the mug. She knew the smell of Vanya ale anywhere. "Oh this? Back at the tavern." he said simply. Alfie moaned in disappointment, knowing Meliodas there was none left besides what was in his hands.

"So, you keeping the sword huh?" Meliodas looked at the blade. "Yeah, why not? The guy didn't want it that bad if he was willing to leave it behind to mess with their water. He can get another." Alfie shrugged. "But won't he come looking for it?" Elizabeth asked worridly. "Well if he does it'll give us a chance to question him to see if he knows where the other sins are." Meliodas pointed out. "Hey lady," Mead walked up to Alfie. "Yeah?" she looked down at him. "You pulled that sword out, does that mean you're a-" the little boy began but was cut off.

"Does that mean she's a waitress of my fine establishment on top of the hill outside the town? Sure does!" Meliodas popped up and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Huh? Wait, that's not what I meant!" Mead protested, though he was ignored as Meliodas swung Alfie around and led his people back towards his tavern. "Everyone's free to come on up to the Boar Hat for a round of free drinks and food if you'd like!" the blonde called aloud, grinning at the cheers that graced his ears and the amount of cash that would soon follow.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

"You know I'm having seconds thoughts about this...I've never done anything like this before. I don't know if I'll be any good." Elizabeth admitted bashfully. None of the villagers in Vanya had taken Meliodas' offer lightly. The tavern had been filled to the brim with patrons and everytime someone left, two more people arrived. "Nothing to it but to do it, doll face" Alfie advised as she smoothly picked up mugs of ale waiting on the bar and disappeared into the crowd once more.

Elizabeth gaped at how easy Alfie made it seem and yet she still couldn't find it in herself to move out from behind the bar. " So you're nervous because it's your first time right?" Meliodas wondered.

"Yes! I'm scared I won't be any good." Elizabeth fidgeted. "I understand...now could you repeat that again but slower?" the blonde's voice dropped scandolously, earing a thrown cup to the head curtesy of Hawk. "What are you doing with her you pervert?!" the pig glared. "If you're so nervous, then just work the bar for now." Alfie had popped back up and deposited dirty empty plates for Meliodas to take into the back to be washed.

"That could work too." the blonde nodded, taking the plates in hand and disappearing. "I can do that. Just get you the drinks people want right?" Elizabeth looked to Alfie. "Exactly, Hawk can help you if anything." the sin assured.

"Waitress!"

"Still doesn't hurt to watch me though, Meliodas will come for his spot as barkeep soon enough." Alfie warned before moving off to the man who had flagged her down. "What can I do for you,sir?" Alfie smiled politely at the man. "Sit down girlie, let's talk." he grabbed her arm lightly and pulled. "Talk about what?" she decided to humor his and sat down across from him.

"What you're after." he said vaguely. "You pulled that sword out of the ground today and saved this village. No ordinary person could do that. Only a holy knight could, as you said earlier." Alfie fought to not narrow her eyes on him.

"You're point?" she asked. "My point is, that you aren't a holy knight. Not any more at least." the man shook his head. "How do you know for sure?" Alfie questioned. "Because no holy knight would keep a companion's sword instead of returning it. Nor would they have a tattoo of a beast on their neck." the man lightly fingered the collar of Alfie's top to reveal the dark red mark of the tiger.

"Again, I ask what you're point is." Alfie pulled out of his grasp and fixed the collar of her shirt. "My point is, that despite who you are - we owe you." the man said slowly. "So I'm going to tell you what I heard of the sins, though I'm warning you now- they may not be up to date." he warned.

"I'll still take it." Alfie assured. " I don't know if it's true but they say that the Grizzly sin of Sloth is dead." the man stated lowly so they wouldn't be over heard. Alfie immediately frowned at this new whether it be true or not. She liked King, sure she and him butted heads over things but they still held respect for one another. "The Goat sin of Lust can be spotted roaming around in remote forests, that's where he was always spotted at least." the man added as an after thought.

Alfie didn't mind Gowther either. He was emotionally stunted and didn't understand what was socially acceptable, which was pretty funny at times. He didn't let emotions - whatever little bit of them he had- get in the way of what he was doing. Logic and facts triumphed in his mind.

King and Gowther were powerful to say the least too, and with one down and one wandering the wilderness..."Thank you for the information." Alfie pushed away from the table and returned to the bar, only to see Elizabeth was gone. "Hey Hawk, where'd doll face go?" she looked to the pig. "She ran out a few minutes ago, I think I seen the boss following after her." Hawk recalled.

Alfie pinched the bridge of her nose with a small groan, though tensing a moment later at the large amount of magic heading towards them. Moving quite fast at that. The pinkette considered going out to check to see what it was, but if Meliodas was out there then there was no need. Hawk couldn't very well tend the tavern by himself either.

"Hey Alfie, I think you should know something…" Hawk mentioned, "Before Elizabeth ran out, I overheard Mead and one of the village women talking. She said something about sending him to the Forest of White dreams and Mead seemed pretty determined to not go there. Even said something about Holy Knights not daring to go there. Do you think it could be where a sin is be hiding?" the pig wondered.

"It's pretty likely so, yeah." Alfie nodded. "I just got a tip myself. The Sloth sin has apparently kicked the bucket but the Goat sin likes to roam remote forests." the pinkette passed along. "Well that's a pretty broad tip." Hawk tutted. "Yeah, but it gives us something to work with at least." Alfie shrugged.

"We need four more ales over here!"

"Two ales and a meat pie!"
" We want a stack of ribs!"

Alfie deadpanned at the shout of consectutive orders, "I'm going to kill Elizabeth and Meliodas for leaving me alone to serve everyone." the pinkette groaned, producing six mugs and slamming them onto the counter to be filled. "What am I chopped liver?!" Hawk stomped a hoof. "No, but I'm sure that last guy and his friends would like you made into ribs." Alfie pointed to the customer in question. "WHAT?!" Alfie smirked in amusement as she filled the mugs in succession, placing a serving pallet on Hawk's back and depositing the drinks.

"Better not let them catch you." she teased with a wink, slapping his rear lightly to get him going. Hawk squeaked, ears jolting far above his head for a moment before he whipped his head around and lightly glared at her. "Watch the goods, would ya!" he protested before snorting and walking off hautily to deliver the drinks. "Kinky. How come you never told me you were into that kind of stuff?" Alfie felt Meliodas' hands on her bum before she processed his words.

The delay allowed the blonde a few good extra seconds before his hands were forcefully removed. "Because it's none of your business." Alfie quipped looking down at the handsy sin of wrath, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. Meliodas' eyes widened slightly, "Oh wow I was just kidding, but I'll be sure to remember that for future reference." he finished with a grin.

Alfie opened her mouth to respond but soon frowned, "Hey what happened to your shirt...and hand?" the sleeve of his shirt was completely torn to shreds and there was blood on his hand. Taking his hand into her own for closer inspection, Alfie frowned at the damage. His body may have been healing the wound slowly but there was still a nasty gash left behind.

"Yeah about that, we should probably get going." Meliodas stated, "A holy knight knows we're here and he isn't looking to make friends." Alfie looked up and seen Elizabeth standing off to the side with a worried expression. "We'll let people get their last orders in before we kick them out. Then we head for the White forest of dreams." Meliodas explained.

"You heard that a sin could be hiding there too?" Alfie looked to him a bit surprised. "Yeah, when did you find out?" he asked. "Hawk told me." the pinkette then leaned down to whisper in Meliodas' ear. "I also heard that King may be dead and that Gowther is traveling through remote forests." Alfie conveyed the information. When she didn't get an immediate responce, Alfie was going to question on her friend's well being before she suddenly felt two hands on her boobs.

"Have you heard a word I said?!" Alfie pushed the groping blonde away, her cheeks a healthy red. "Sure I have." Meliodas nodded with ease, "King may be dead and Gowther is living out in the bowels of a forest somewhere." he recited.

"Don't worry your pretty pink head about it. We'll see if these rumors are any true or not." the blonde assured the pinkette, wrapping his hand with some gauze he got from a cabinet behind the bar. "Hawk, why don't you go ahead and sound the call?" Meliodas looked to the pig. " Sure thing." Hawk nodded.

"LISTEN UP!" Elizabeth was surprised at the vocal range of the pig, " PUT YOUR LAST ORDERS IN, PAY AND THEN BE READY TO SCOOT OUT THE DOOR! WE'RE CLOSING UP SHOP!"

"But what about my ribs?" a customer asked. "You can get them to go and those had better be beef ribs, mister!" Hawk yelled. Alfie huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes lightly, "Doll face!" she looked to Elizabeth, "take this notepad and start writing down orders at least." the pinkette tossed the item in question to her, followed by something to write with. "Y-Yes! I can do that" the green haired woman nodded assuredly, taking the two items and began going from table to table.

"Got any idea on who the holy knight is?" Alfie murmured to Meliodas under her breath. "No, but in all honesty I'm not trying to find out." the sin looked to the innocents around them, "Not with all these people here at least." he noted. "Whoever it is, we'll take care of it - that's for sure." Alfie patted her friend on the back before moving off to help Elizabeth.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

"Man if I had known we'd be stuck walking through this forest for three hours, I would of just stayed in bed." Alfie sighed heavily. Three hours of walking through a dense white fog and dead trees. No other living creatures there besides themselves. "Aw come on Al', admit it." Meliodas smiled beside her, "You're enjoying this." he said knowingly.

"Living the dream." Alfie rolled her eyes. "Well even if you're not happy to be here, then you should know that I am. Wouldn't have any other person with me to watch my back." Meliodas held his hands behind his head.

"You two must have been friends for a long time now to be so close, right?" Elizabeth observed from slightly behind them. "That's right!" the man confirmed. "If this friendship has been enjoyable is the real thing to wonder." Alfie mused dryly, though there was a hint of humor in her tone. "Well I've enjoyed every second of our friendship." Meliodas sighed happily, appearing behind the woman and groping her lovingly. "I'm sure you have." Alfie knocked his hands away.

"Hey Meliodas," Hawk called from a bit further up. "Are you sure we're gonna find anyone here - let alone a sin?" the pig wondered. "No." the sin captain said simply, much to the animal's ire.

"What?! Then what the heck are we doing out here?!" Hawk snorted, a puff of smoke coming out of his nose. "Following up on a rumor." Meliodas explained, "We need to lay low anyways, just until the holy knight moves on past Vanya village." he said dismissively. "You know I heard a rumor about this place," Hawk started looking around nervously, "They say that there's a monster in this forest, lurking in the shadows...waiting for the perfect moment to strike its' unsuspecting prey." he trailed off fretfully.

"Ahhh!" Elizabeth screamed suddenly, "What is it?!" Hawk screamed a split second later, terrified himself. "Something's touching me from behind." the green haired girl whimpered. Looking over, Alfie narrowed her eyes on Meliodas' wandering hand on her rear end. "Cut it out." she snatched Elizabeth away, "You're scaring her." the older woman pushed the princess in front of her and nudged her to get walking again.

"It's clear to me that what we discussed went in one ear and out the other." she glared at Meliodas. "What you two discussed?" Elizabeth frowned confused. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing." Alfie quickly dismissed, "Anyways, the terrain around here is too rough for a horse to go through and its so hard to figure out where you truley are that merchants and explorers just go around. Ergo, it's the perfect place to hide. If one of us were to be anywhere then this would be the place." she explained.

"Oh, well that makes sense." their animal friend agreed. However Alfie's brow furrowed in confusion when Hawk's answer came across as numerative and distorted. "Oh wow." Meliodas was surprised at the sight before him, one Hawk had turned into at least seven. "Huh? What the?" the pigs chorused together, looking amongst one another. "Is this the doing of the monster of the forest?" Elizabeth wondered. "Quite frankly, I'm terrified." the blonde blinked. "Meliodas!" a Hawk exclaimed, running towards the man, "You gotta help me, I'm the real Hawk!"

"No you're not, I am."

"Yeah right you liar!"

Uncertain what to do, the trio of people watched uselessly as the pigs all fought amongst one another as they threw accusations left and right on which pig was the real Hawk. "Sooo, what are we going to do about this?" Alfie asked, scratching the back of her head. "Umm, start hitting them until the clones disappear?" the blonde guessed, rushing forward and doing just that. "This guy is cruel." the pigs groaned on the ground in pain, each with their own number of lumps on their heads.

"Hawk, are you okay?" Elizabeth asked worridly. "Waaahhh! Elizabeth!" the pigs suddenly jumped up rejuvenized and hid behind the soft spoken woman, " Please help! Even my mom would never hit me like that." they cried.

"And clearly in shows." Alfie mumbled, the density of the fog suddenly thickening to limit their view even further. "More fog?" she said confused, tensing at the sensation of movement behind her, "What was that ?" Alfie turned and seen that the Hawk copies had disappeared and were replaced with copies of Elizabeth.

"Hi, sir Meliodas - lady Alfie!" the Elizabeth clones chimed merrily. "Fantastic," the pinkette frowned, eyes darting from one green haired princess to the next as the clammered over each other.

"You recognize me don't you?"

"I'm the real Elizabeth."

"No, I am!"

The tiger sin let out a small gasp when Meliodas suddenly snagged her around her waist and jumped away from the mob of copies closing in on them. "Hey! What about me?!" Hawk yelled angrily, having been left behind in the mob of Elizabeths. "Leave this place." a raspy voice sounded, echoing through the air. Landing on a boulder, Alfie and Meliodas both looked around for the source of the voice.

"Get out of this forest, humans." another voice came. "Did you catch that?" Alfie scanned their surroundings. "Yeah, I did." Meliodas did the same but neither could pin down where the voices had come from exactly.

"It would help if they would shut up." Alfie glared down at the copies of the princess. "Can you tell the difference?" Meliodas asked but his friend shook her head. "What a shame." he sighed lightly. "Well there's only one thing left to do." he trailed off, "Alright ladies - if you want to prove to me that you're the real Elizabeth then you need to do exactly as I say. Got it?" Meliodas held a mischevious gleam in his eye. "Got it!" they chorised together, looking up at him expectantly.

"Right hand up in the air." he ordered firstly. "Yes sir!" the Elizabeths obeyed with ease. "Put your left one on your cheek." his grin never waivered as he stared at the scene playing out in front of him. Not a single one of them had fought his requests.

"And now call out my name and be naughty about it." Alfie deadpanned at this, knowing that he was getting way more enjoyment out of this than he should of. "Sir meliodas hi!" they trilled. "Now squeeze your boobs" Alfie actually did slap him upside the head for the last order. "Cut it out." she glared down at the now pouting blonde.

"If you want to prove yourself to him," Alfie turned to the crowd of imposters, " then jump as high as you can right now." the pinkette drolled knowingly, watching as all but one Elizabeth jump into the air. "I can't!" the deviant cried with a blush, stunning her clones. "Found you, Doll face." Alfie smirked, rushing forwards and snatching the princess up before returning to the top of the rock - Meliodas flying into action and disposing of the others.

"You alright?" the tiger sin quirked a brow after setting her down on her own feet. "Y-yes I'm alright, thank you, lady Alfie." Elizabeth assured, her blush turned into a healthy red. "Um, how did you exactly know that I wouldn't be able to jump?" she asked. "Cause Meliodas did the same thing to me the first night you arrived." Alfie snorted. Elizabeth gaped, "Wait you mean sir Meliodas-!" she squeaked in disbelief. "I know your pain." Alfie patted her back comfortingly.

"Hey look!" Hawk caught their attention. "Those are hide and seeks, prankster imps!" after the clones had been popped, three small cloaked figures jumped from the smoke clouds and fled deeper into the forest. "Let's go! They're probably headed for something in the direction they're running to." Meliodas cried, running after them. "Hey, you forgetting something?" Alfie called out to him as she and the princess followed after.

"Hm?...Oh yeah!" the blonde slammed on the breaks and turned to Elizabeth with his hand wrapped around something. "Here you go, you'll be needing these." Meliodas dumped her bright pink underwear into Elizabeth's hand before turning around and kicking up dust as he ran away.

"At least he returned them" Alfie chuckled at Elizabeth's bewildered facial expression. Snapping out of her stupor, the young princess awkwardly slipped on her underwear and proceeded to run after Meliodas with Alfie at her side. " Whatever you do, don't let them out of your sight guys!" Meliodas noticed that the two women had caught up to him fairly quickly. "Those imps have to heading towards somewhere." he said resolutely.

" A hide out?" Elizabeth tried. "Or they could be going to someone one for back up" Alfie offered up. "Hey look!" Hawk cried, "I think that's a girl up ahead" the pig's eyes focused on figure up ahead. "They're not going to attack her are they? A defenseless little girl like that?" Elizabeth fretted.

Training her eyes on the prone figure curled up into a ball, Alfie was unsure of who it was at first. However the closer, they got, Alfie became more sure of who the girl was. She wasn't little either like Elizabeth had thought earlier….

"Lady Diane!" the imps called pitifully. " Lady Diane!" the trio stopped before the giant, "Wake up Lady Diane, we accidentally let holy knights into the forest." they clustered around her head. A closed eye lid suddenly snapped open to show a beautiful hidden purple colored iris within. "Woah," Hawk shivered, her giant hand slammed on the ground as the mysterious woman pushed herself to her feet.

"She's huge!" the pig cried, her shadow falling over the small group of four strangers of the forest as she stood to her original height. "You said some holy knights got in, did you?" the giant glared down at Alfie and Meliodas hatefully. Alfie raised a finger to correct Diane when suddenly the wind was knocked out of her frame by being snatched into the air with a brutal grip around her frame.

"Hey, No!" Elizabeth cried, "Don't you dare hurt sir Meliodas or lady Alfie!" the princess protested helplessly. "Sir Meliodas...lady Alfie?" Diane repeated the names in confusion though her harsh expression didn't falter. "H-hey Diane." Alfie flashed a two finger wave, coughing a bit. "Yo, what's it been like ten years since we all saw each other?" Meliodas tacked on with a smile. "What?" the giant brought the duo in for a closer look to scrutinize her hostages better.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"CAPTAIN, CHIEF!" Diane yelled merrily upon recognition, cuddling the duo as best as she could. "Captain?" Elizabeth said confused over Diane's ecstatic cries. "Chief?" Hawk joined the princess in confusion. "Oh it's so good to see you both again, these past ten years has been so long!" Diane's smile was brighter than the sun, the joy radiating off of her couldn't help but spread to Alfie too. "It sure has. I'm glad to see that you're okay." The pinkette smiled in return. "Hold on, this is Diane? The Serpent's Sin of Envy?" Hawk wondered.

Perking at this, Diane looked down and spotted Hawk. "Oh you guys thought of everything! You remembered how much I love whole roasted pig." she grinned, reaching down towards Hawk with a free hand. "Hey wait! Don't eat me lady!" Hawk squealed, trying to run away but was quickly captured and thrown over a fire that Diane had thrown together rather rapidly.

" Can't eat you raw now can I?" Diane giggled, mouth watering at the smell of the roasting pig. "Oh wow, it does smell good now, doesn't it?" Alfie sniffed the air. " Sure does." Meliodas agreed. "Don't act like it's not me she's cooking!" Hawk protested around the apple shoved in his mouth. "Get me down! I can feel my rump roasting!" he wailed, thrashing around as best as he could from his hogtied position on the rotisserie stick.

"Alright, alright. Calm down Hawk, you're okay." Alfie wiggled out of Diane's hold and jumped on down to Hawk's side, removing the pig from over the fire. "Awe" the brunette giant sighed in disappointment. "Well that stinks." she pouted, "By the way, who's the girl?" Diane pointed to Elizabeth. "Oh!" the princess blushed lightly, "I'm Elizabeth, and I'm traveling with sir Meliodas and Alfie as they help me on my quest." she informed.

"Quest?" Diane's brow furrowed in suspicion. " The holy knights have gone crazy are going to put this country in a war. Elizabeth wants all eight of us to put a stop to it." Alfie explained simply. "Once we're all gathered of course." Meliodas pipped up. Diane tensed and glared down at the green haired princess in suspicion. "Is that so?" the giant murmured unconvinced. However while Diane was scrutinizing Elizabeth, something danced on the edges of Alfie's senses. "Hm?" the pinkette turned around and peered deeper into the forest, wondering what the sensation was.

"Hey." Alfie uttered. " Did you feel that?" she directed towards Meliodas and Diane. "Feel what?" the male wondered. Alfie's ear twitched minisculy a split second before she was suddenly before Meliodas' face and kicking away what was soon to be discovered a thrown battle axe. The weapon twirled in the air uselessly before the blade dug into the earth below.

"That." the pinkette glared at the weapon before turning her gaze to where it came from in the first place. While the tiger sin was glaring into the fog of the forest, Hawk's nose started to twitch its' self. "Hey, does anyone else rain?" he asked curiously.

"Rain?" Elizabeth copied in confusion, though tensed when the rumble of thunder suddenly greeted her. "Look up there!" Hawk spotted the mysterious thundercloud first before any of them. Lightning jumped around within the cloud for a few moments for show before coming down and striking all of them, leaving restrictive rings of lightning wrapped around their frames. "What's up this?" Meliodas quirked a brow. " Well this is unfortunate." Alfie grumbled, testing the strength of their electric bonds.

"Well, well, well. It would seem that we meet at last." the clink of armor graced their ears before the smooth masculine voice did. Approaching them was a man with pink hair and blue eyes to match Alfie's features clad in armor, at his side was a sheathe missing the sword. At his side was an orange haired individual in similar armor and purple eyes.

"Do we know you?" Alfie wondered. "Sure don't look familiar." Meliodas tacked on. "Gilthunder…" Elizabeth whispered in realization. "Gilthunder! Is that you?" she asked in disbelief. The pink haired man remained silent, emotionless even. "You seem to have a fan, Gilthunder." his companion wasn't so quiet. "Do you know her? Or does she simply know you from seeing you around the palace?" the unnamed man grinned.

"She is Princess Elizabeth of Liones." Gilthunder said blankly, " I was the King's attendant as a child and because of my father's position - Elizabeth and I seen much of each other." he answered. "Wait! I know you!" Alfie realized after a few moments of thinking over what the purple eyed man had said and began to laugh. "You're Gilweed!" she laughed some more, "Hey Meliodas, its baby Gilweed!" Alfie crowed, looking over to the blonde.

"Gilweed?...Ohhh! Little Gill!" Meliodas also recognized the grown man in front of them. " Hey man, long time no see - how's it been going?" he chuckled good naturedly. "Gilweed?" Gilthunder's only outward reaction to his companion chuckling at his side was a twitch of his hand closest to where his sword should of been. A move that didn't go unnoticed by Alfie.

"So it's your sword I have then. Gotta say it's pretty careless for a holy knight like yourself to just leave your weapon laying around." she tutted. "You lost your sword?" the orange haired man looked to his companion unamused. "I didn't lose it, Quinn," Gilthunder corrected monotonously. "Yeah he just used it to block off Vanya's water supply." Alfie pursed her lips. "And used his lightning to partially destroy the very same village when he threw a spear at us." Meliodas tacked on.

Flashing behind Alfie, Gillthunder grabbed the sword strapped to her waist and reclaimed possession of it. "Aww." she whined with a pout. "Do you have any idea why the eight deadly sins are being hunted down?" the pink haired male asked, taking the blade and holding it to Meliodas' throat. "Not really." he admitted. "Half of us want retribution by total eradication of the rebelious order who once plotted to overthrow the kingdom." Gilthunder explained.

"The other half," Quinn appeared behind Alfie, holding his axe to her throat in a similar position. "Just want to battle with them to see if they'll be the ones to go down in history for ridding the world of a member of the sins." he finished. "And you guys are in the third category that ends up with us sitting down having lunch together, right?" the pinkette woman tried. " Well if you were any other person then sure." Quinn smirked.

"You can pretend we were a different person and no one would be the wiser." the woman suggested. "If only the world was that simple." her captor hummed. "So if you guys aren't here to eat lunch with us, then which category do you fall in?" Meliodas asked. "Both...unfortunately. It really is a shame to cut up something like yourself." Quinn looked to Alfie.

"My companion is right." Gilthunder spoke, "We are here for both reasons….but I want more." he declared. "Is that right?" Meliodas looked back at the male behind him. "Yes. I want to avenge the death of my father, Zaratras- the most powerful grand master and prove that I am even greater than he was by killing you." Gilthunder glowered. "So you think that I'm the one who killed your father?" Meliodas asked slowly.

"No." this answer surprised the blonde, "I know it wasn't you." Gilthunder admitted. " The person who killed my father...orphaned me and dozens of other children of holy knights….IS STANDING RIGHT HERE!" the holy knight roared, launching towards Alfie with a murderous glare on his face and sword raised to strike.

Jumping backwards, the woman avoided the attack successfully but in doing so - she took a small cut to the throat from Quinn's axe in the process. " TELL ME WHY!" he continued to charge and attack, forcing the woman to jump and dodge his assaults. "TELL ME WHAT MY FATHER COULD HAVE POSSIBLY DONE FOR YOU TO GET YOUR VENGENCE AGAINST HIM!" the boulder Alfie landed on was soon obliterated after jumping away to avoid Gilthunder.

" I REMEMBER YOU AS CLEAR AS DAY! HE NEVER STOPPED SPEAKING ABOUT YOU, AELFRYTH! He LOOKED TO YOU AS A DAUGHTER! AND I CONSIDERED YOU A SISTER! WE CONFIDED IN YOU WITH OUR MOST PERSONAL THOUGHTS! " Elizabeth gasped in horror at the sight of the defenseless woman being forced to do nothing but stay on the defence.

" YOU WOULD COME TO OUR HOME FOR DINNER!" Alfie ducked under a swing that would of cleaved her head clean off had she been any slower. "YOU AND HIM WOULD SPAR TOGETHER!" she jumped over a low sweep of the leg. "YOU WERE ONE OF HIS MOST VALUED PEOPLE HE HELD CLOSE TO HIS HEART AND YOU BETRAYED HIM! YOU BETRAYED ME!" Alfie's back contorted into a graceful arch to dodge the devastating jab meant to go into her chest.

The tiger sin's eyes widened when she watched Gilthunder's sword coming towards her in a side swipe that she was too slow to dodge. Biting back a cry, Alfie was thrown backwards from the attack - skidding to the ground painfully. "Lady Alfie!" Elizabeth cried with tears in her eyes. "Gilthunder stop! This isn't what your father would want!" however the male was relentless, he continued to run at the woman even though she had only worked her way to her knees.

"NO, DON'T!" Elizabeth screamed at the top of her lungs, eyes screwed shut just as Gilthunder brought his sword down atop Alfie's head.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What the heck are you screaming so loud for, doll face?" Elizabeth gasped, eyes shooting open at the familiar nickname. Shakily looking over, the princess gaped at the sight of Aelfryth smirking up at Gilthunder as she stopped his sword with a single hand wrapped around the blade. The binds he had put her in were gone without a trace. Easing herself onto her feet, Alfie remained nonchalant to Gilthunder's increasing efforts to cut through her skin.

"L-lady Alfie." she breathed in relief. "She's okay!" Hawk cheered. Hearing this, the pinkette woman barked out a laugh. "What? You didn't think I would really let him take me out did you? The cut from earlier is already healed too nonetheless." the princess looked and blinked in surprise when she seen that while her shirt had bloodstains on it, the skin under the clothing was unmarred.

"Oh, and just so you know." Alfie jerked the sword forwards, forcing Gilthunder into arms reach and latched onto the plate of his armor. " I didn't kill your father." she narrowed her eyes on the young man in her grasp. "He was one of my very best friends, and for you to sit there and accuse me of his murder like the rest of the world is doing….it honestly pisses me the hell off, little brother." Gilthunder grunted in pain when her foot was suddenly planted into the metal of his armor as she kicked him away. Flashing into his path of travel, Quinn caught Gilthunder and set him back onto his feet.

"I know you most likely got the idea that she killed him from the rumors and I may not remember much from back then." Meliodas spoke, breaking apart his binds with ease along with Diane. "But I know without a doubt in my being that Alfie is telling the truth. She couldn't have killed him, we were glued to the hip the entire week leading up to the day he died. When we had found Zaratras, he was already dead and we were forced to scatter when the holy knights attacked the castle he was in." Meliodas explained. "Hey." Quinn murmured to his friend. "They seem pretty set on this." he noticed that there was no uncertainty in either of the sins when they explained theirselves.

"Of course they are." Gilthunder pushed out of his hold, "Liars and traitors until the very end. They'll always have each other's backs." he accused. "Well name calling isn't nice." Alfie frowned. "It's time they both meet their end, and then my father who died in her senseless slaughter can finally rest in peace." Gilthunder glared at the female version of himself.

"Let's go Quinn!" the lightning based knight charged forward with feavor. "If you say so." his companion joined his side but with less enthusiasm. "Meliodas, switch with me." Alfie sighed at the impending altercation. "Sure, okay." he shrugged, the duo slapping their hands together flippantly as they briefly crossed paths to exchange targets. "Aww! You guys always gets to have all the fun." Diane whined when she realized that she had been neglected to be brought into the fight. "Man I wish you wouldn't have done that." Quinn frowned in Alfie's face when they clashed. His axe struggled against the deceptively strong cloth bracers on her arms.

"Why?" the woman asked. "I don't like fighting women, rubs me the wrong way." Quinn explained. Alfie pulled a face, "So there's a right way to rub you in a fight?" she knocked the axe away and landed a kick to his stomach. Flipping in the air, Quinn landed on his feet and skidded to a stop, a slight blush was on his face at this point. "I didn't mean it like that and you know it." the knight glared slightly. "How was I supposed to know what you meant?" they ran at each other and clashed again, parrying blow after blow to one another. " You men are on a whole different planet." Alfie danced out of the way of an attack, moving back in to close the distance between them.

"I can say the same about you women." Quinn narrowly avoided getting his eye gouged out. The duo were faintly aware of their respective friends having a much more destructive battle than what they were currently engaging in. "Hey." Alfie decided to speak on it. "Gilweed is putting a lot of effort into fighting Meliodas…..how come you aren't trying that hard with me?" she wondered, deflecting a blow that would of caught her in her ribs.

"I told you before." the orange haired man began, "I don't like fighting women, not to mention that I don't see in black and white like Gilthunder does." Quinn commented, his eyes trailed over to something behind her. "Jump four feet to your right." he said before kicking away. Without putting any thought to it, Alfie followed his example, narrowly missing a burst of electricity at the last second.

"Meliodas, what are you doing? Are you even fighting him?" she asked through gritted teeth. "My bad!" the blonde called with a raised hand. With his back turned on his opponent, Meliodas was unaware of Gilthunder who had appeared directly behind him with his electrified sword drawn back for a devastating blow. "SIR MELIODAS!" Elizabeth screamed warningly.

"CAPTAIN!" Diane called out along with her. "I can't watch!" Hawk squealed, using his floppy ears to block his eyes. Turning to look behind him, Meliodas' eyes widened when he seen the impending attack coming closer and closer to his frame. Flashing into sight behind the male pinkette, Alfie delivered one sharp blow with her knuckles to the arm that was swinging the sword.

Gilthunder let out a loud gasp at the sudden loss of his magic along with the lack of feeling in his arm in general. Delivering another blow to the center of his armored back, a spray of blood squirted out of the holy knight's mouth as his body fell to the ground as if he didn't have a single bone in his body. Alfie let loose a sigh of relief at the collapse of Gilthunder, "Man that was pretty close, huh?" she looked to Meliodas. "Sure was, you saved my butt back there." he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "H-he's down? Just like that?" Elizabeth stuttered in awe. "What happened, I missed it!" Hawk exclaimed.

"What…." Gilthunder's voice drew their attention, "What did you do to me? I can't move….I can't feel anything" he glared up at the blue eyed woman who had put him in such a state. "I put you on a little time out. Attacking someone when their back is turned? Pretty cheap if you ask me." Alfie tutted, a small sly smirk working its way across her lips when she spotted that his sword had flattered to the ground uselessly.

"I'll be taking this back." the woman bent down and picked the weapon up. "Get your hands off of it...Quinn….Quinn!" Gilthunder struggled uselessly to move his head to look back at his companion. Appearing next to his companion, Quinn dropped down onto one knee and began to help. "Get my weapon back. Get it back!" he demanded.

"I dunno….you did attack when his back was turned" the axe wielder mused offhandedly. Gilthunder sputtered incredulously for a moment, "She did the same!" he exclaimed. "Yeah but she gave you a few love taps. She didn't try to cleave you in half." Quinn pointed out. "Thank you." Alfie sang resting the blade over her shoulder. "Love taps? I can't even move!" Gilthunder glared. "We'll consider that a blessing. You're too much of a busy body anyways." Quinn said simply, turning and walking away.

"Hey." Alfie called out lazily, drawing the purple eyed man to a stop. "You got any word on any of the other sins?" she asked. "Don't be greedy now, tiger sin." Quinn chastised. " You can't have the sword and information. It's one or the other." he said bluntly. Alfie made a noise at the back of her throat but otherwise said nothing. "Go on Alfie, give it back." Meliodas beckoned her to do so.

"You've lost your mind." the woman said bluntly. "I'm not giving it back, it's mine now. Why should he get to keep it when all he's been doing is causing problems with it?" she questioned. "Now do you actually have that concern or do you just want to keep it cause it's a good blade?" Meliodas pondered. "Because it's a good blade of course." the onlookers deadpanned at her response.

"Quite frankly I don't know why you're trying to give into them. I'm the one who answered his questions about Zaratras. It's not my fault that Gilthunder didn't believe me." Alfie turned her nose upwards.

"She's got a point." Diane spoke. "Well then, when it's put like that then I guess we are done here." Meliodas looked up at the sky, scratching the back of his head. "Alright, come on guys. Let's get going." Meliodas started walking back towards the Boat Hat. "Works for me." Alfie shrugged, using a hand to cover her mouth as she yawned. Diane, Hawk and Elizabeth followed after dutifully.

"Baste Prison." Quinn's voice stopped the group. "What?" They all turned to look at Quinn. "Quinn, what are you doing?!" Gilthunder glared. "The fox sin is in Baste prison. The grizzly sin will have moved onto the Necropolis by now." the axe wielder said evenly before leaping into a dead tree and taking off back to where ever he came from. "Cool, that worked out pretty well." Meliodas simpered. "And you wanted me to give up the sword for information." Alfie tsked.

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