Elizabeth was knocked to the ground. Again.
Her muscles ached, and Meliodas' apologetic smile was becoming more and more annoying as he continued to literally sweep her off her feet. They'd been going at it for hours, for the third day in a row.
The only thing keeping Elizabeth from calling it quits for the day to give her aching muscles a much-needed break was the few times Elizabeth had managed to "stab" Meliodas with the wooden replica dagger and the even fewer times she had gotten him onto the ground.
Meliodas pulled Elizabeth up and grinned at her as though she had the techniques he was showing her down to perfection. "You lasted a lot longer that time!" he praised, briefly making sure she was steady before stretching. "Honestly, you're improving real fast. It took me almost a month to actually remember some of those positions and how to just cut instead of stab."
Elizabeth tilted her head and raised a brow. "Really?" She wasn't too sure if he was being honest or just trying to make her feel better. Some of the things he had shown her had just seemed so simple.
He nodded. "I started learning how to fight really young, and the d- and dear old dad decided that lethal was what I should learn first instead of defense and intimidation and all that. It was really difficult to change how I fought to be something less fatal."
"Why's that?" she asked as they made their way over to the Boar Hat's porch.
Really, Elizabeth couldn't imagine why anyone would be taught to kill first in a fight instead of being taught defenses like Meliodas had been showing her. Unless maybe it was some type of cult or assassins. She'd read some books and would hear the occasional rumor about those groups, but whether they actually existed she didn't know.
Meliodas hummed, settling onto the step beside her and leaning back on his hands. He shrugged. "Not too sure, honestly. He did the same with Zel. Or tried to. While our teachers taught him what I had learned previously, I'd usually give him extra lessons on defense techniques after realizing that they were just as important in a fight as offensive ones."
That only raised another question for Elizabeth, and she bit her lip, hesitating.
Taking a deep breath and praying to the goddesses that she wasn't overstepping, she asked, "Why didn't Zeldris become a knight?"
Meliodas stiffened slightly, just for a moment, before forcing himself to relax and wave his hand almost dismissively.
"He never committed any grave sin."
Elizabeth frowned. "I didn't mean a Sin specifically - why was he never a Holy Knight, an apprentice, or even just a normal knight?"
It had been in the back of her mind for a while now, but she hadn't had much time to think about it until they started their trip to the Capital of the Dead. She suddenly had a lot of free time on her hands in between fighting lessons with Meliodas and sign language lessons with Gelda and Zeldris.
She had seen Zeldris fight, back in Dalmary against Meliodas himself. And now Meliodas, one of the strongest - and admittedly best - Holy Knights to ever come from Liones was saying that he taught Zeldris alongside the same people who had taught him. It didn't quite make sense to her that he'd choose to be a cook instead of a knight with Meliodas, especially since they seemed to be attached at the hip.
Meliodas was silent for a minute, and Elizabeth was just about to apologize when he sighed deeply.
"He… used to be a knight. A long, long time ago. After some time, though, he decided that life wasn't for him."
Well, that's vague, Elizabeth thought.
She must have made a face because Meliodas laughed and shook his head. "Frankly, it's not my story to tell. You can always ask him during one of those secret lessons you three have been having lately."
It was her turn to chuckle. She had a hunch he would bring it up eventually, because she may or may not have asked Gelda and Zeldris to not tell him what they were teaching her quite yet, wanting to get a grasp on the language first before telling him she was learning it. And she may have asked them in advance how to sign particular sentences just to tell Meliodas.
"They're not secret," she signed.
Meliodas blinked, staring at her hands with a slightly dropped jaw before his eyes lit up and he grinned.
"They're teaching you sign language?" He looked almost giddy, and the smile was infectious as Elizabeth returned the grin and nodded.
"I know some basic things - the alphabet, numbers, and I have everyone's names pretty much ingrained in my muscle memory now. I asked them to teach me a few sentences that weren't just pleasantries and introductions, like that one just now."
Meliodas cocked his head slightly. "What other ones have they taught you?"
Elizabeth's smile softened as she began signing the different phrases, and Meliodas watched, occasionally correcting something after double-checking what she was trying to sign.
The lesson was certainly impromptu, and Elizabeth's legs were beginning to cramp from sitting down for so long just after moving nonstop for a couple of hours, but.. it was nice, actually.
"So you're teaching her sign language."
"Hello to you too," Zeldris muttered as Meliodas barged into his room. Meliodas rolled his eyes and flopped onto the bed, a frown on his face.
"Are you sure that it's safe?"
Meliodas was delighted that Elizabeth was learning, how could he not? It was a way for her to easily communicate with the rest of their - well, his, as of this life so far - family. But there was and would always be that little seed of doubt that it might cause more harm than good.
"It's better to let her learn, and easier for us too," Zeldris said, not answering the question. Because they both knew the answer, and it wasn't a good one. Meliodas' frown deepened slightly, and while he couldn't see Zeldris from where he was lying he could hear the exasperated huff and could imagine the tired look his baby brother was giving him.
"But-"
"Nope, we're not going there today and you're not spiraling tonight. We'll be arriving at Tala Village tomorrow and it's better for us all if you're not emotionally drained come morning."
Meliodas' frown turned into more of a pout. "I wasn't going to spiral."
"Uh-huh, sure. New topic. Have you finished that dagger for her yet or are you holding off on that until after we find King?"
Meliodas' cheeks tinted pink. "What makes you think I'm making her a dagger?"
Zeldris appeared in his line of sight, an unimpressed expression on his face that made Meliodas flush just a little bit more. He huffed and crossed his arms, pointedly not looking at his brother.
"Fine, yes, I'm finished with it."
Zeldris hummed slightly, satisfied with that answer. "So, when are you going to give it to her?"
"Probably after finding King, I don't see why she'd need a dagger in the Capital of the Dead. The spirits can't actually hurt her, and we'd all be going in there together."
"True," Zeldris mumbled, and he settled on the bed beside Meliodas. He was quiet for a moment and in the silence Meliodas heard the door creaking softly, shutting with a barely audible click, and the bed dipped on his other side.
Meliodas briefly glanced and caught sight of his sister-in-law, looking down at him questioningly.
"You alright?" she signed.
Meliodas gave her a thumbs up and a reassuring smile.
"Zel stopped me from spiraling."
"So you admit you were going to spiral if we continued talking about it." It wasn't a question and Meliodas chose to ignore him altogether. Gelda looked mildly concerned but shook her head. She knew what could get Meliodas to spiral anyway, and if that was prevented altogether then she was grateful.
Then she signed, "At least one of you isn't."
Meliodas sat up quickly at that, extremely confused and immediately worried. "Wait, what? Someone else is spiraling?"
Gelda grimaced slightly and made a "kind of" gesture.
"Ban drank all the alcohol we had stocked just today, and Diane's got worked up about ghosts."
"Why would Ban drink all the… oh."
Meliodas and Zeldris exchanged a look, both realizing at the same time just why Ban may have attempted alcohol poisoning despite the fact that it would never work.
The Sins may not have spoken much about what they did in the past, nor who they may or may not have lost. But that didn't mean it didn't ever happen.
Usually, it was when they were too drunk to realize what they were saying.
"Is Diane all good now?" Meliodas asked, and Gelda nodded. "Alright!" Meliodas stood and clapped his hands together. "Then I'll go check on Ban."
Meliodas gave them both quick hugs and bid them goodnight before seeking out the Fox Sin.
Meliodas was surprised to find Ban in his room, lying in the dark and looking as though he was asleep. The shuddering breaths were the only thing that let Meliodas know that it was just a facade, probably just in case anyone came to check on him.
It certainly wouldn't have been the first time in the years Meliodas had known him. But, it was the first since they had reunited.
A check-in was well overdue.
Meliodas stepped over some broken and abandoned bottles of glass with ease despite the darkness, all completely drained. Meliodas noted that some were stained with blood.
Frowning, Meliodas sat beside Ban, the bed dipping slightly under his weight but he didn't say anything, not yet, just looking over the Fox Sin and waiting until he got too impatient.
Which ended up being rather quick.
Meliodas had only sat there for a few minutes before Ban groaned quietly and shifted to look at Meliodas properly, squinting in the dark. Meliodas took pity and moved the curtain shielding the window above the bed just enough to let them both be able to see easily.
"Cap'n, not now."
Meliodas hummed. "Actually, now seems perfect. C'mon, move over." He moved to lean against the headboard, not so gently nudging Ban out of the way to get more comfortable himself. Ban turned his head into the mattress with a huff, having no energy left to kick Meliodas out and no energy to argue. He didn't protest Meliodas' hand in his hair, though, tilting his head just slightly to breathe properly and silently encouraging Meliodas to brush his hand through Ban's hair.
He did just that, letting the silence blanket them for a while as Ban relaxed into the sheets that Meliodas was only half-certain he hadn't stolen.
But he wasn't here just for silent comfort, not yet.
"You're spiraling."
Ban's annoyed groan was muffled by the bed, and Meliodas ignored it. "At least tell me what happened?"
Ban turned his head to glare up at the blonde, but there wasn't much heat in it. If anything, it made Meliodas want to reach out more and just pull the Fox Sin into an embrace already.
He already knew what had him spiraling, though - they both knew. So Meliodas changed his request. "Tell me what you're thinking."
Ban huffed again, but the glare melted into just a sad expression as he shifted to lay on his side, slinging an arm over Meliodas and tugging on him ever so slightly.
Meliodas complied easily, shuffling down to lay beside Ban and let the man tuck himself into Meliodas' side. Meliodas brought his hand up to continue brushing through his hair as he waited for Ban to answer. He knew Ban would - he always had.
"Just…" he swallowed thickly, "I don't know. What if… what if I can't? What if I can't talk to her?" He inhaled shakily. "It just- it doesn't feel right, either. Talking to her when I'm alive and she's not and there's nothing I can do to bring her back either." Ban buried his face in Meliodas' shoulder. "This is a bad idea," he muttered. "I should just, I don't know, stay here tomorrow? I never got along with King anyway. If he's dead I'm the last person he'd want to see. And he would see me because despite it all he did love her too. I bet they'd be attached at the hip."
Meliodas shook his head, squeezing Ban. "Don't miss this chance, Ban. Find her tomorrow and talk to her."
"But-"
"You're a greedy bastard, aren't you? Why are you considering if King would want to see you?" Meliodas asked, though his voice never raised over a whisper. "And won't help anyone my ass. You both need closure."
Ban snorted. "I wouldn't get any closure talking to her now."
"Don't take this chance for granted, Ban. Trust me when I say this will be the closest thing to closure you'll ever get. You'd regret not taking it."
"And you would know something about that?"
Meliodas tensed only for a moment before sighing heavily, and he shifted Ban so they could look at each other, eye to eye. "Unfortunately… I do. I know very well the feeling of regret that comes with abandoning that kind of closure." Meliodas closed his eyes momentarily, and when he opened them confusion was written all over Ban's face. Meliodas exhaled slowly and offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile (though if it was successful he didn't know). "But that's a story for another time because I already almost spiraled five minutes ago and I really don't want to go down that road tonight."
Ban's lips were pressed into a thin line, brows pinched together as he mulled over what to say. Meliodas waited patiently, chuckling when Ban eventually just huffed and pulled him into a tight embrace.
"Just… talk to her tomorrow, alright?" Meliodas eventually said.
Ban nodded slightly, face buried in Meliodas' hair.
Neither one of them said anything for the rest of the night.