I'd love to hear some feedback, I'm also heavily editing these before I post any chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Seven Deadly Sins, not that I wouldn't love to have the rights to have Ban... but yeah... It's Ban.
I own Hecate, her ability and any other characters not part of the anime. I also own the scenes not part of the original story and any additions to original scenes that are not there... originally.
The majority of this chapter takes place in a memory and dream, so please bear with me on it. As you know, I am following the anime with how things play out. With the dream/memory scenes, I am capitalizing on them to show you guys what Hecate was like before the upcoming incident, and what happens afterwards with Dante. It's also going to show the start of Ban's and Hecate's relationship with each other and through the next few chapters, I'll give you guys insight to Ban's relationship with Dante.
Updates for this fic are going to come every few days as I balance writing this fic, editing Moon on Water, and rewriting Ordinary to a Fault as Chaos Within the Ordinary.
So please bear with me on the updates!
Rated M for suggestive themes, strong language and potential explicit scenes later on.
Once everyone finished breakfast and things were cleared away, Meliodas brought out a map of Britannia, spreading it out over the table they ate at. Curious, Hecate got up from her seat and stood over the map, looking at where they were heading. Their captain tapped the location they were currently at with a grin and drew a line with his finger towards their next destination, the Necropolis and tapped the spot twice.
"We're heading for the Necropolis." He reminded everyone as he looked at them. "We'll look for King there."
"Didn't you say that the fatty was dead?" Ban asked, his voice laced with boredom as he looked over at their Captain with a roll of his eyes. He was not impressed that they were going to look for the guy.
"It's our only lead, so let's go check it out." Meliodas stated simply, smiling at the others.
After all, it wasn't like the others had a choice in the matter, so long as they were travelling with him, they would go where he wanted them to, and right now, their only lead was sending them to the Necropolis. It would be harder to find the others after this though, and Meliodas wondered if they would find them at all. It was by luck that he found Diane in the Forest of White Dreams, and then have Hecate stumble upon them by chance.
"Until we find any other leads on the other Sins, we might as well see where this one takes us." Hecate mused with a shrug. She was perfectly fine with anywhere they went, she was where she wanted to be right now, so she would let the Captain drag her around the country if he wanted.
"What kind of place is the Necropolis?" Elizabeth asked hesitantly after a few moments of silence, her eyes staring at the spot where the town was located in.
She sounded worried about this next adventure they were undertaking and pressed a hand to her chest. Her eyes were expressive and echoes of the worry she felt internally were expressed in them clearly. The others weren't bothered by the potential danger however, it was a normal part of their lives. There was always danger around the corner, and while they didn't always search for it, it always found them in some form. The group was silent for a moment, trying to figure out if they had heard anything about the place before or not.
"Beats me." Meliodas stated, speaking up first as he crossed his arms over his chest. "All I've heard is that it exists." He admitted with a shrug and looked over at the others to see if they had heard anything more.
"If it's called the Necropolis, it's gotta be haunted right?" Hawk spoke up, looking nervous as his entire body started to quiver. "Gloomy even in the middle of the day, with graves all in a row?"
His voice rose in pitch as dark thoughts popped into his head about the type of place they were going to. This description seemed to bring fear into Elizabeth and Diane, who hesitantly asked if there going to be any bugs around. That didn't seem to make it any better for the three who shared worried and scared looks with the other three people, who were unfazed.
"I've heard that its quiet…" Hecate spoke up, drawing attention from other others. The woman was lightly tapping her chin in thought from her seated position, one leg crosse over the other. "Like a ghost town almost. Abandoned for some reason or another. I don't think it's filled with graves, but I think it has something to do with the other world or something like that…" The looked at the others lazily, only to blink when she noticed they were all paying close attention to what she was saying, which caused her to raise her hands and wave them a bit. "Look, I heard this years ago during my travels with Dante… we always meant to go visit to see if the rumours were true, but we never got a chance…" she added, trailing off a little as the memory she relived earlier started barrelling to the forefront of her mind. "It might be all hearsay for all I know, it was a long time ago when we heard about it…"
A snore from the bar caught her attention, as well as the others, as they turned to see Ban fast asleep. The man's head was tilted back while he leaned against the bar, and Hecate found herself shaking her head at the man. He could fall asleep anywhere.
As she turned her attention away from the sleeping immortal, pain bloomed through her head and she rubbed her temples with a frown. It didn't help that Hawk's paranoia was starting to come back with the topic of conversation still focused on the Necropolis. Standing from the stool, the halfling headed towards the stairs with an internal sigh. Maybe she needed some more sleep.
"Cat…?" Elizabeth was the one to call her, causing the woman to pause at the stairs.
"I'm just going up to sleep more. My head's killing me right now… I'll probably be up again by the time we reach the Necropolis." She assured the princess with a tired smile and with a wave, headed up the stairs.
Since Ban was sleeping at the bar, the room was empty, and the bed was open for her to take for herself. After closing the door and kicking off her boots, the woman trudged to the bed and with a welcome slight, flopped face first onto the bed. She maneuvered herself until she was in the middle and clutched a pillow her chest as sleep, thankfully, reclaimed her easily and she was returned memory lane.
Hecate grinned at her brother, whose pout didn't really fit with his dancing, orange eyes. Dante stood a few inches taller than his twin; his shaggy dark purple hair was pushed back with a red and black bandana that he got from some town a few years back. He wore brown pants and a black sleeveless shirt with a brown leather jacket on top. His brown boots were scuffed with age, and he wore two silver rings on a black lather chain around his neck. Attached to his dark brown belt was his falchion sword, nestled in its black and silver sheath.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be back, Dante. You'll get your chance to watch our Eli work then." Hecate teased, laughing at the amused, feral grin that appeared on Dante's pale face as he set down a basket filled with berries and fruit for them to eat.
Looking back at the twins as they interacted with each other, Elaine couldn't help but shake her head with a fond smile. Despite the times where she envied the closeness of the two siblings, something she wished she shared with her own brother, she was happy that they two brought her into their small world. They brought joy and light into her lonely life, something that she had sorely needed when they first appeared, coming up the tree with excitement and mock debate on what the fountain looked like. Since their arrival and their visits, she had never felt such loneliness, it disappeared with their bright, smiling faces and their excited eyes to recount everything they had seen and experienced since they visited her last. She treasured the months they spent with her.
Elaine jumped a little when a gentle hand touched her cheek and the faerie looked up in surprise when she noticed Dante standing in front of her. Her cheeks tinted pink at the sight of his soft orange eyes, ones that always reminded her of the vibrant sunsets cast aglow across the horizon she saw each day. She shyly averted her eyes as Dante grinned at her, as if he knew exactly what she was feeling, even though she knew he didn't have that ability. He was simply good at picking up her emotions from all the time they spent together. She gave him a smile, taking his hand in her own as she turned her gaze out to the forest, waiting for the human to return. They always returned after all, and each time, she would push them back, no one was getting to the fountain. Not through her or through the twins who helped her protect it, whether she wanted them to or not.
Dante couldn't help but chuckle at the way Elaine acted and lightly caressed her cheek with his thumb before pulling away. In his mind, there was never a more beautiful sight than what he saw now. But he also knew that Elaine was tired of always looking after the fountain by herself. That was part of the reason the twins always visited and stayed for a few months. They didn't want her to feel alone, to know that she had people who cared for her and always had her on their mind. He stood next to the faerie, looking out over the Faerie Forest, smiling softly at the sight. For Dante, this place was his new home, and Elaine was someone who calmed his internal struggle. She brought him peace and always understood when he had to leave to feed and waited for his return.
Looking over his shoulder, he smiled at his twin, watching as she stood from her spot in the shade and dusted off her brown pants and tugged at the short black vest which she wore overtop her green tunic with a black and purple bandana wrapped around her neck. The black boots she wore were worn and went up to her knees, which held the knives she always had on her. He could tell that she was relaxed, pushing her braided hair over her shoulder as she approached them. The knife in her hand was being tossed carelessly in the air as she waited to see if the man was determined to get the fountain. While their time at the Great Tree was often relaxed with little to no activity coming from other outsiders, but there were the rare times when they were greeted by people in search for the fountain and witnessed Elaine work her magic until they give up.
Hecate walked up to the duo, lightly bumping her shoulder with her twin. He gave her a lopsided smile and dug through one of his pockets, pulling out a bottle filled with dark red liquid. "Figured you ran out too, sis." He teased, dangling the bottle out for her.
"Thanks bro, and you were right, I did run out. I'll grab the next couple next time." She chuckled, accepting the bottle, and uncorked it. She mockingly raised it like a glass before knocking the entire bottle back, downing the thick, cooling liquid. Once finished, she licked her lips and corked the bottle back up, slipping it into one of the large pockets in her pants to put away later.
The twins always brought blood to drink in the Faerie Forest, and if they needed to resupply, they always hunted outside it. They never killed a creature in the forest, they respected the place too much to defile it with their natural need to kill. They weren't proud of it, the twins respected life and wished they weren't creatures who had to kill. It was part of the reason they created a ritual to honour the lives they took, and since they only took the lives of animals, they could always find people willing to buy and use the rest of the animal.
"Did you find a place to sell everything?" Hecate asked, looking at her twin with a raised eyebrow. Not that she didn't trust him to not have found a place, but she knew he tended to get distracted when it came to returning to Elaine.
"Of course, I did. There was a small town far from where I found it. It was easy to sell it to a family. They were quite pleased and tried to give me part of it." Dante rolled his eyes playfully but grinned at her as he gave Elaine's hand a squeeze when he felt her tense. His sister smiled and with a nod, she moved towards the edge of the summit and sat down, gazing down the trunk where she could see the outline of the man.
Despite being used to the twins talk so calmly about their hunts, it was still something Elaine grimaced at, but she knew they couldn't help themselves. The twins never did it front of her, nor did they ever kill in the forest, something she and the other faeries were both surprised and pleased about. It showed everyone that the twins were serious about respecting the forest and the faeries themselves. Threading her fingers with Dante's, Elaine moved closer to him and lightly leaned against his shoulder.
"You sure you took care of the guy, Eli?" Dante asked as he gently turned the two to gaze at the fountain, the life source of the forest.
"It's my job, Dante. I made sure to take of him," she pouted up at the man and tugged at his hand, causing him to laugh.
"I know, you're good at this." He teased lightly, and he did know how capable she was. She might not look like it, but the faerie was strong, both in her will and in her magical ability.
Hecate tuned the duo out, giving them some privacy as she focused on the man who was talking to himself. From what she gathered, when he fell, his clothing got snagged on a protruding root. That root saved him from a painful and potentially fatal landing on the ground floor. He was climbing up the trunk again. He was still talking to himself as he scaled the tree, gaining distance quickly, but Hecate could hear amusement in his voice. Either because he had gotten flung off the tree by, what he assumed, was a small girl, or because he was in for a challenge. It was clear he had not seen her in the background. If he thought it would be easy to get through Elaine to get the fountain, he was in for a surprise.
"A drop on the tongue add ten years to your life, one gulp adds a hundred!" The bandit's voice carried up to the group in a sing-song tone, and it sounded like he was giddy about it.
He was a lot closer to the top than when Hecate last spotted to him. This also caused the halfling to stand and back away from the edge, her eyes wide at what she was witnessing. Dante and Elaine turned with frowns on their faces and moved to stand next to the blue-haired woman. They watched as the man effortlessly jump from one branch to another. He was limber like a cat, finding each groove for his hands and feet to hold him as he climbed.
"Drink it all and you live forever!" The man continued to speak, the sing-song tone never ending as he repeated the words.
Much like Hecate, Dante and Elaine were surprised at the sight of the male. It was like the man wasn't fazed by being tossed off the summit. Was he so focused on getting the fountain that he wasn't about to let anyone stop him? It was hard to say for sure, but the three knew they couldn't let this person get a single drop. Not only because it was Elaine's job, but they understood the importance of the fountain for the entire Faerie race. But the lure of living forever brought the worst of people to the tree, but most gave up after a while when they realized they could never get close enough to even touch the liquid.
It didn't take long for the man to reach the top again and paused once he looked up. His scarlet eyes widening as he stared at the twins. He raised a hand, pointing at them and opened his mouth to speak, but he never got the chance as Elaine stepped forward and flung him off with her wind, using a little more force than earlier. Hecate didn't react this time and merely shook her head as she took her spot near the edge again. Dante, while wanting to laugh, could only give a slight smirk as he looked over at Elaine. The faerie was not amused and sighed as she turned towards the other two.
"Do you really think he'll come back, Cat?" the faerie asked, noticing how the woman was looking down the trunk.
"I honestly don't know… but he seems tenacious enough though." The woman shrugged; her eyes focused for any sign of the man.
"If he does, I'll cut him up…" Dante huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Dante…" Elaine spoke quietly, placing her hands on her hips, frowning at the man's words, which caused him to falter and he rubbed the back of his head.
"You know what I mean, Eli…" He looked at her sheepishly, before shooting a glare at his sister when she snorted at his words.
"It's my job to protect the fountain," she reminded him, again. "I'll fling him off as many times as I need to before he finally gives up."
"And if he still doesn't, then we can act on her behalf." Hecate chirped in, laughing softly when she turned to them with a coy smile. "We know you're strong enough to do it, but we're also here to help make your life easier too." She reminded her, causing the faerie to puff her cheeks out and cross her arms over her chest.
"…I know…" Elaine sighed, knowing she was right, causing Dante to chuckle and give her hand a squeeze.
"Oh! He's back at it!" Hecate chirped to them, almost amused by the revelation.
Over the next few hours, Hecate found herself admiring the man's tenacious spirit. Each time he reached the summit, Elaine flung him off, sometimes not even giving him time to put his foot up. And every time this happened, Elaine and the man were growing even more irritated with the other. Dante's own irritation was growing at a faster rate than Elaine's due to the stubborn nature of the man who he saw was ruining with their afternoon. Time after time, Elaine kept flinging the man off, but he kept returning, his climbing growing more erratic with each attempt.
Hecate had lost count how many times the man had been flung off, but she was highly amused. It had been a long time since she had been amused like this, and she had to give the guy credit for not giving up by now. He brother, however, was not amused and had drawn his sword in preparation to attack the man himself. She knew the two didn't understand how or why she was amused by this entire thing, and frankly, Hecate didn't know herself. But here she was, watching the man climb up the Great Tree once more. There was determination in his eyes, sheer, undiluted determination to get to the summit and get what he wanted.
This time, when the bandit finally arrived up top, he was panting and glaring at Elaine, who openly glared back at the man. "Knock it off!" he shouted, having had enough of being flung off the tree each time he got up there.
It didn't help that he had heard the woman nearby snickering a few times while he soared through the air. He sent an annoyed glare to the woman who had stood now, who did nothing but smirk at him. Everything about this place was stating to annoy him, and that was even more annoying.
"You took the words right out of our mouths!" Both Dante and Elaine yelled back, showing just how irritated they were at his tenacity.
"How did you survive all those falls without breaking a leg or something?" The woman asked before the bandit could say anything else, breaking the tension around them.
Everyone turned to her and stared, shock and surprise present on their faces. Hecate stood straight, hands placed on her hips and her eyes solely focused on the bandit, waiting for his answer. She had watched him get tossed and flung off the summit so many times, and each time he returned with little to no injury. Even with the distance he flew, he was left unharmed. It was a strange, and no matter how much she tried to figure it out, she couldn't understand how it was happening.
"Well?" Hecate asked, frowning slightly when he didn't answer. With a roll of her eyes, Hecate huffed. "Look, fact is, you have fallen from this place countless times, and each time you've come back, you've hardly had a scratch on you. I know for a fact that no human can survive a fall from a tree this height, much less falling from here multiple times… so… how did you survive?"
After blinking a couple times, the bandit gave her a lopsided grin. He never expected her to be so observant. "Oh? Well, lets see… I got caught on a branch one time." The man spoke thoughtfully. "I fell into a clump of trees another." He explained, tapping his chin thought, surprising the trio. "Guess I'm just lucky!" he laughed.
"W-what?" Elaine spoke in surprise. "Why would the forest be trying to save a human?" she asked, the mere thought of the forest saving a human without reason baffled her mind.
The bandit looked at the three as he steadied himself on top of the Great Tree and looked around, not focusing on others. His eyes looked past the man and child, focusing on the area behind them. A grin formed on his face, his gaze zeroing in on the fountain. He could practically taste it now. It was just within his reach. If only he could bypass these pests, he'd be home free.
Hecate watched the man, noticing how his eyes focused on the fountain. She didn't like the look he had on his face and slowly moved forward, adjusting the grip on her knife to strike if the man made a single move. Looking over at Dante, she saw him give her a small nod, the two were on the same wavelength. Neither of them would let this man get to the fountain, and they would never let him harm Elaine. They had a tall order on their hands. No one had been this tenacious in a while.
"You're not getting to that fountain." Dante stated, all previous light-hearted emotions pushed back as he shifted himself into a battle stance.
"Like I care!" the bandit laughed as he started towards them, slowly as Elaine placed herself between the bandit and the fountain. "I can't believe a little thing like you is the guardian of the secret treasure." He smirked at that as he took the faerie in for a moment, then turned his attention to the man and woman. "These your bodyguards or something?" he snickered, the only one finding amusement in his words.
"As good as, but we're just here to get rid of pesky shitheads like you." Dante seethed, his eyes narrowing into slits as he stood tall, taking a defensive step towards the bandit.
Nothing seemed to deter the bandit as a smirk graced his face. He took the words as a challenge, and it would be a challenge that he happily accepted. He could tell the man and woman were ready to move when he did. If he were honest though, he felt more threatened by the woman than the man, though there was something off about them, not that he cared or anything, but he would have to keep his guard up until he got the fountain.
"Now it's my turn to get serious." The bandit chuckled as he pulled out a three-section staff from his pocket and moved into his own stance.
Hecate didn't like this. This man was far too relaxed and carefree, despite knowing that he would have to fight three people. She watched him carefully, trying to understand what he had going on in his head. The man was solely focused on the fountain, it was in his sights and nothing else seemed to matter, even though she could see his eyes flickering towards her and her brother for a moment before returning to the fountain. He knew something they obviously didn't.
"You kill and you steal… You humans all think the same." Elaine spoke quietly, her hands curled into fists as she stared at the man.
However, her words seemed to bother him as a frown crossed his face and his brows pinched together. Without warning, the bandit's weapon began to glow, and Elaine gasped, her eyes widening in surprise.
"A magical ability!" She warned the two halflings and Dante acted.
Shooting forward, Dante activated his own magical ability, Little Garden, which encased his sword in flowering vines, using them to strike at the bandit. The bandit, seeing this was able to dodge, grinning at the halfling as he twirled his weapon around in his hands. Each time Dante struck out, the man dodged, causing him to grow irritated. Just as the bandit struck out with his weapon, Hecate threw her dagger, scratching the man just enough to draw a small amount of blood before his weapon tossed it back to her, narrowly missing her cheek as he shot her a mischievous grin and daringly winked at her. She moved forward, grabbing another dagger from her boot, but could only watch as the man's staff bypassed both Elaine and Dante, heading straight for the fountain.
When the bandit pulled back, to retrieve his weapon, Dante recovered from his shock at the man's agility. They could all see the chalice from the fountain in his hand, and the twins knew they had to act. Dante closed his eyes and concentrated, creating a whirlwind of petals from the flowers encased around his blade. The whirlwind gave Hecate enough cove to switch the chalice with her dagger, as the scent of the man's blood ticked her nose from being pierced by Dante's petals, which slowly dissolved into the man's bloodstream as the bandit tried waving the petals away, completely distracted. Once she was out of the storm of petals, she stood back with the chalice, sharing a grin with her twin as they watched the man.
The bandit didn't seem to realize what had happened as his victorious grin stayed in place. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the chalice, only to see a dagger instead. Confusion filled him as he looked around for the chalice, gripping the blade in irritation. He first looked where the chalice had been originally, noticing that it was no longer there. He looked at the two people in front of it, the ones they bypassed, but noticed that neither were holding it either. That only left one person, and he was wondering on earth he missed it.
"Looking for this?" the blue-haired woman mocked in a sing-song voice, a coy smirk played on her face as she held the chalice in hand.
He glared at her, but as much as he wanted to yell at her for ruining his plan, he had to admit, he was impressed. He hadn't seen her move or realized she did until it was too late. He looked towards the man, who had an identical smirk on his face and frowned. Did she move while that storm was around him? If that had been the case, she would have made one hell of a bandit. But his irritation outweighed anything else and he threw the dagger back at the woman, only to watch as she caught it by its hilt.
"Thanks for returning this to me." She chirped and out of sheer boldness, ran her tongue over the blade, where some of his blood had coated the metal, smacking her lips right afterwards.
"You're rather annoying, aren't you?" the bandit stated deadpanned, unamused by what he was seeing.
Elaine could only watch as the people she cared about most fought to protect the spring and fountain. She felt powerless, just watching the two moving cohesively together, their minds working as one, without a single word passing between them. She knew that the true ability of Dante's Little Garden hadn't fully taken hold of the human yet. She let out a gasp as she watched the man raise his weapon towards the woman, and with a flick of his wrist, Hecate had moved from her spot, right into the man's arms.
"You're the annoying one, aren't you?" the bandit spoke with slight annoyance as he stared down at the pink-eyed woman that he captured with his staff, taking the chalice from her while she was distracted.
It didn't surprise him though, she probably never expected him to use his ability on her, rather than the chalice. He got distracted for a moment when the scent of wildflowers wafting off the woman, and he took a moment to look at her, ignoring the shouts from the other two. Now that he took a closer look at the woman, who was now glaring at him, he had to admit, she wasn't bad looking. Filled out in all the right places, even her personality, from what he'd seen, told him she could keep him amused for hours with the fire inside her.
"I could say the same about you." The woman replied blandly, which only caused the man to laugh at her.
He pushed her from him, watching in amusement as she stumbled and fell to her ass, her glare causing him to grin. Now that he finally had what he wanted, no one was going to stop him from enjoying it. His gaze returned to the chalice in hand and he looked at the water before inhaling deeply.
"This doesn't smell like booze…" he said, almost disappointed before shrugging. "Oh well, bottom's up!" he cheered. "Here's to my good health!" he laughed and went to down the sacred water.
"Stop!" Everyone cried out, their voices mixing simultaneously, each one portraying horror, but the bandit ignored all of them.
At that very moment, just before the first drop could fall into the bandit's mouth, he was immobilized. Something was very wrong with his body. Mustering up some strength, the man managed to look down and see his entire body was wrapped in roots, but there was something else too, something inside him. He first looked to the man, whose orange eyes looked to be swirling with neon yellow, causing the two colours to swirl. He frowned at that, not understanding what it meant, but he had an inkling it related to that storm of petals from earlier. Looking over at the woman, he noticed she now stood straight, her hand outstretched, fingers spread as she stared at him, her irises were tinted red and seemed to glow neon pink.
"What the hell!? Hey! Let go of me!" the bandit demanded and tried to struggle against the roots and whatever Dante and Hecate were doing to him.
The twins could only watch as the bandit's eyes widen as he realized he was immobilized. What the bandit didn't know was that the petals that dissolved into his wounds contained a powerful paralytic toxin that would keep him from moving for a few hours. He also didn't realize that Hecate was using the blood within his body to hold him down, it wasn't as potent as it could have been though. Because she only had a small taste of his blood from her knife, her control over him wasn't strong. If she had only been able to drink from him directly… but she and Dante promised Elaine to never drink from any living being in the faerie realm, which included intruders.
A vine came down from the canopy above and gently took the chalice from the bandit, pulling it away from and returned it Elaine's gentle hands. At that moment, Dante let out a sigh, relieved at their quick thinking. He didn't need to worry about his paralytic toxin anymore, since it currently flowed through the bandit's body, and would disperse in a while. Looking over at his twin though, he noticed that she was still holding onto the man, as if she knew something he didn't, but that wasn't new, due to her magical ability, she relied on knowing a person's blood. There were times when Dante thought his sister was more cursed than the two put together.
Taking a calming breath, Elaine took a moment from watching the halflings and faced the tied-up bandit. She handed the chalice to Dante to hold onto before getting into the bandit's face, her hands set firmly on her hips. "I won't try to make you humans understand." She told him calmly, still irritated at the man. "But if the Fountain of Youth disappears, this entire forest will wither and die!" She outstretched her arms, motioning to the realm around them. "Just give up and leave this place!" she sighed heavily, the same old words that she always spoke to people like him were tiresome and she was feeling tired after all of this.
"All right, fine." The bandit sighed, his eyes bored as he looked at the surprised faerie, then looked at the equally surprised man and woman.
The orange-eyed male stared at him skeptically, a scowl forming on his face, distrust was clear on his face. On the other hand, the woman merely raised a dark blue brow expectantly, almost as if she were daring him to lie to them. He stared back her, his expression open for the woman to see that he meant what he said. He was tired, and he could tell that the others felt the same.
"What do you mean, 'fine'?" Elaine demanded, not used to hearing those words, and caused the bandit to look back at her. "How dare you lie to me?!"
"Honest!" the bandit responded; a lazy grin crossed his face, amused at the anger from the child.
However, a threatening growl erupted from the Dante, a warning that he was readying to finish the bandit without another thought. Elaine was also glaring at the bandit, not believing him for a second. Hecate, though, wasn't quick to assume that. She stepped towards the man and inhaled deeply, trying to see if lying. To her surprised, he wasn't, he was telling the truth, he wasn't trying to deceive him. And as much as she wanted to release control over his body, she waited until Dante and Elaine believed him too. Hecate wanted to release the man from her control, it was starting to take a toll on her. It didn't help that this bandit was still fighting against her and the toxins in his body. He was resilient, that much was certain, he was stronger than they gave him credit.
Looking over at Elaine, Hecate watched as the faerie's eyes began to glow. It was a familiar sight that told the woman the faerie was reading the bandit's soul to see if he really was lying to them. It took only a moment before Elaine stopped reading the man's soul and moved back away from him. Her eyes wide in confusion and surprise that she couldn't seem to express as she looked over at Dante, then to Hecate. Both twins watched as the vines around the bandit disappeared.
"You can release him now…" Elaine's soft voice broke the tense silence. "Dante's toxins should be enough to hold him until they wear off… but he's telling the truth…" She sighed, not sure how to take that.
"I know…" Hecate murmured softly, giving the faerie a smile and lightly tapped her nose.
Lowering her arm, Hecate's eyes stopped glowing as she walked towards her discarded dagger near the bandit. Before she could retrieve it, the woman faltered, her legs giving out underneath her. She knew she needed to rest after immobilizing someone for so long, and still allow their blood to flow to keep them alive. There was a lot of control that Hecate had to keep herself from losing control of her abilities, one wrong move and she could easily kill someone without a second thought. Her ability was dangerous, sometimes it was even fickle, and even if she was familiar with a person's blood, which made it easier to manipulate them, she had to be mindful with what she was doing to them. There was a delicate balance that she had to always maintain, and it kept her on the line between becoming a monster or staying humanish.
Hecate heard Elaine and Dante call out to her in worry, but before she could hit the ground, warm arms caught her, pressing her firmly against a sturdy and equally warm chest. Sighs of relief escaped the couple and Hecate found herself relaxing before looking up at the bandit who had caught her.
"Easy there, you okay?" the bandit asked, his brows pinched slightly in concern as he looked down at the woman, who was looking up at him in surprise.
"Yeah, peachy. You were just harder to keep still than I thought originally. All that adrenalin rushing through your blood makes it harder to stop you from moving." She smirked back and lightly tapped his chest with her knuckles. "Thanks for catching me, but you shouldn't move around too much just yet. The paralysis venom is potent, even for humans as strong as you."
The bandit grinned lazily at her, he was right, she was going to be amusing. He chuckled at her words as he plopped onto the ground. He didn't release the woman from his arms and held her comfortably before shifting her, so she was sitting up a bit and turned her, so she was leaning against him, facing the others. He wouldn't admit it, but it had taken all his will power to move to catch her. Whatever was in him was strong, and he knew he wouldn't be moving for a while, so he'd stay there with the woman. Besides, it wasn't like the woman was complaining, she seemed quite comfortable where she was, and if he was honest, the woman was rather comfortable to hold.
Dante, however, was not happy with what he was seeing. He couldn't understand how she could be comfortable like that. She had practically been manhandled earlier by the same person she now leaned against. He hands curled into fists and he was tempted to poison the bandit for even laying a hand on his sister in such a familiar way. But it was the gentle touch Elaine's that stopped him from acting out rashly and he sheathed his sword.
"Alright, just who the hell are you?" Dante demanded; the gruffness of his voice did not hide his aggravation at the bandit.
Usually, humans stayed away from the twins, as if they knew the two were different from them. This was the first time a human was relaxed around them, even seemingly worried about his sister when she fell. It didn't help that he had never seen his sister relax or focus so much on a single human. She had never been comfortable around anyone other than himself and Elaine.
"Can't you tell? I'm a bandit." The man stated simply with a smirk as he looked at the man with a stiff shrug. "I go by Bandit Ban." He introduced himself before looking down at the woman in his arms a bit, seeing her smirk at the name.
"What about you three?" he asked opening, before narrowing his gaze to the male. "You and this one," he nodded to the woman in his arms, "aren't the same as the blonde girl, are you?"
The reaction was instant as the two tensed, something he felt instantly from the woman against him. Ban looked between the two, his brows pinched together as they looked at each other, silently speaking. He could tell due to the fleeting emotions that passed through their eyes and felt his brows pinch together. Now that he could look closer at the two, he noticed a telltale sign that he had missed before. Despite their young appearances, they looked around his age, their eyes reflected aged knowledge. Their eyes were far too old for their young faces, as if they had experienced a long, hard life, without ever aging a single day.
Dante shifted then, causing Elaine to look over at him with understanding as she took his hand, giving it a squeeze of encouragement. He shared a nod with his sister and ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't believe he was doing this, he hated telling others what they were, especially a human. It never ended well for the twins, and he doubted that the man would react well, just like the others. However, Hecate seemed to think differently and was trying to encourage him to speak about it.
And of course, he gave in.
"We're not the same as her." Dante stated, almost tersely and crossed his arms over his chest, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm Dante, and the one you're holding is my twin sister, Hecate. We're halflings." Dante revealed, trying to keep his voice cold, but failed miserably when mentioning what they were.
Dante watched the bandit, waiting for the familiar reservation to cross his face, but none of that happened. Instead, the man merely looked between the two for a moment and simply seemed to accept what he was told. Dante didn't know what to think about that as he gently gave Elaine's hand a squeeze. Humans never reacted so calmly, most ran in fear or shunned them. This man just… sat there, simply accepting it. It was not normal… maybe that was why his sister was so relaxed about telling him.
"You do know what that means, right?" Hecate spoke up softly, looking up at Ban as the man looked down at her. "We're anomalies… we're half vampire, however that worked in the end." She clarified gently; her voice soft, thoughtful.
Hecate watched as Ban's eyes widen in realization and looked between the two with a slight frown, as if trying to find the telltale signs of their vampiric nature, but after a moment he merely gave her a lopsided grin and a slight shrug. There were no words to express what the halfling was feeling at that simple gesture.
"Your point?" he asked, raising a brow as if what they were really mattered to him, and he watched as she smiled. His attention moved towards the other girl, who stood close to other halfling. "And the kid?" he asked, nodding towards Elaine, which brought laughter from Hecate.
He gave her a crooked grin at that and looked expectantly at the other two. Neither were amused by his words, that much was clear as the girl's cheeks puffed out in irritation. The man was no better as he glared at him but Ban just grinned. He couldn't help it, sometimes it was just too easy to wind people up.
"I'm not a kid!" Elaine shouted defensively. It wasn't her fault she aged slowly like this! "My name is Elaine!"