Really, Meliodas didn't know what to expect when he finally reached the top of the hill again, with Elizabeth and Hawk right behind him. Ban was nowhere to be seen, he'd lost sight of his fellow sin a while ago and got swept up in helping the townsfolk get back into town. He recalled hearing something a while ago, a choked screech that ended far too abruptly and had been lost to the wind. He'd just barely heard it, and no one else seemed to have.

He did half expect to be punched, or slapped, or something like that. Meliodas cringed at the mere thought of what he'd accidentally put Zeldris through. He'd never had the chance to see it, he never wanted to see it, but the visuals Gelda had painted for him once was enough to have his stomach twisting.

He wasn't expecting the silence left in the tavern, seemingly abandoned by everyone. Even with his more sensitive hearing, Meliodas didn't hear a thing.

Hawk broke the quiet with a loud suffering sigh, as though he had been hurled off a mountain by a crackling spear, and plopped down in exhaustion right in the middle of the bar. Meliodas raised a brow, before glancing to Elizabeth, who was observing him with a frown.

Meliodas tilted his head, and it took more effort than he'd ever admit to hold back the smile that tried forming on his face. "Something wrong, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth seemed to hesitate, biting her lip before taking a deep breath and approaching him. "Are you okay?" she asks.

The smile is far easier to restrain now, and if he had been smiling it would have vanished into the confusion his face easily melts into. "What?"

"Your arm- is- are you going to be alright?" She pointed to his tattered arm, and Meliodas glanced at it for the first time. It hurt, sure, but he'd honestly forgotten about it. His eyes widened slightly before he relaxed and smiled reassuringly up at her.

"I'll be fine! This'll heal real quick."

Her brow furrowed, and her frown seemed to deepen. "Are you sure?"

His smile softened and he nodded. "Positive. It doesn't even hurt!"

Elizabeth looked as if she were about to respond, but she never got the chance to. Someone at the top of the stairs interrupted her with a loud clearing of their throat, drawing both Meliodas and Elizabeth's attention.

Zeldris hopped down from the stairs right over the railing, and he was in front of the pair within seconds with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. Meliodas' smile turned sheepish, and he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Elizabeth would almost describe the look on his face as almost anxious, which didn't make any sense to her. They weren't in danger, not for now at least, and Meliodas didn't seem like the nervous type. She quickly discarded the idea he was nervous. The Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins wouldn't get nervous around his own younger brother, would he?

Actually, Elizabeth didn't want to dwell on that thought.

Why was the younger brother even angry at Meliodas?

They seemed to be having a standoff, with Zeldris still glaring wholeheartedly - at least to Elizabeth - and Meliodas seeming to be anticipating something.

And then just when the air started to feel too tense after minutes had passed in the silence, Zeldris let out a long exhausted sigh eerily similar to the one Hawk had released earlier. His shoulders slumped, deflated almost, and he too stuffed hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

"You're insufferable," Zeldris said finally, even his voice laced with a tiredness which Elizabeth didn't quite know the cause of.

Meliodas grinned. "That's part of my job!"

Zeldris rolled his eyes and flicked Meliodas' forehead. Meliodas actually flinched slightly, and Elizabeth winced at the red mark which appeared rather quick on the blonde's forehead. She could imagine the stinging as though Zeldris had flicked her.

"You're lucky Gelda and I were preoccupied."

"Where is Lady Gelda?"

Zeldris glances at Elizabeth and shrugs towards the stairs. "Getting cleaned up. She's not too happy right now, though, so I'd let her be for another hour or so. Unless you want more than to just be flicked," he added to Meliodas, almost as an afterthought.

Meliodas huffed and rolled his eyes slightly, while Elizabeth's confusion and curiosity only grew. She swallowed down her questions, though. She could always ask Gelda about it later. Gelda seemed safe and fine, at least, if all Zeldris was concerned about in regards to his wife was her mood.

There was still someone missing, though.

"Have you seen Sir Ban?" she asked Zeldris.

Zeldris tilted his head and his eyes went a little unfocused for a moment before he shook his head. "I figured he'd gone and helped you two."

"Three!" came an annoyed but sleepy huff. The black-haired brother rolled his eyes.

"Right, helped the three of you." He shared a briefly amused look with Meliodas before his expression returned to something more neutral. "Fact of the matter is, both Gelda and I assumed he was with you. Or somewhere down there."

Elizabeth shook her head. "We didn't see him once." She began to scratch at the inside of her fingers. "You don't think that Holy Knight got ahold of him again, do you?"

She was startled when Zeldris barked a laugh, and even Meliodas chuckled and shook his head.

"You mean Sir Twigo?" Hesitantly, Elizabeth nodded, her heart still beating a little too fast from the unusual outburst. It was Zeldris' turn to grin, and he sighed in amusement. "That bastard was no Holy Knight. Strong, sure. But at most, couldn't be anything more than an apprentice." Elizabeth felt a pit form in her stomach. No wonder she hadn't recalled who he was either, but it was for a different reason than with the Weird Fangs. Zeldris looked all too delighted as he continued, and Elizabeth hadn't seen many smiles like that one in her life, but she could only describe it as some kind of mix of sinister satisfaction. "Besides, he's probably dead by now."

Her eyes widened, and her voice came out as a squeak. "What?"

Meliodas frowned. "You guys didn't give him a head start?"

"The idiot didn't take the head start we gave him." Zeldris shrugged. "He's lucky he even got a head start anyway, I mean, with how many people he had almost wiped out."

Elizabeth swallowed thickly, her mind reeling. "He wasn't a Holy Knight?"

Zeldris shook his head. "Not a chance."

Goddesses above, she was in over her head, wasn't she? Sir Twigo hadn't felt much different to her than the Weird Fangs had. But apparently, he wasn't even close to being on their level. A man who could have quite easily leveled the entire hill wasn't on the same level of strength as a regular Holy Knight.

The brothers had moved on with their conversation when Elizabeth tuned back in.

"-may be… right there, apparently."

Elizabeth jumped at the sharp laugh from behind her, spinning around much faster than Meliodas. "What, were you going to send out a search party for me?" Ban asked almost mockingly, though Zeldris chuckled slightly at his remark. Elizabeth leaned against a chair and finally began to actually relax.

Meliodas though looked unimpressed as he looked at the bags hanging in Ban's hands. "While we were dealing with getting everyone back into town safely, you robbed people?" he huffed.

Ban set his bags down with an eye roll. "Don't worry, Capt'n. I actually bought all this." Ban regarded the goods with a head tilt and a thoughtful look before he smiled nonchalantly. "Well, most of it I think."

Meliodas looked conflicted for only a moment before he just sighed, apparently uninterested in chastizing Ban at the moment. Really, he wasn't one to talk about being unhelpful in those situations anyway. But still.

Shaking his head, the blonde turned back to his brother. "So… no hard feelings about earlier, right? I'm not gonna have to sleep with my eyes open, am I?" Meliodas sounded like he was joking with his last statement, his chuckle suggesting that, though Elizabeth and Ban caught the edge to his voice.

Zeldris raised a brow and hummed noncommittally. "Given the circumstances, I think you'll get a pass." Both Elizabeth and Ban exchanged a confused glance, and Elizabeth shrugged slightly. Maybe what they were talking about now was a comment that had been made when she had tuned them out? "Though I make no promises that you'll wake up in your bed tomorrow."

Meliodas sighed dejectedly but nodded. "Yeah, okay, I can deal with that." Suddenly his expression turned from one of reluctant acceptance - what fate he was accepting Elizabeth didn't know, wasn't sure if she wanted to know - to cheerfulness. "O-kay! So, it's probably not a good idea for us to stay here much longer. I say we clean up, you convince Gelda to come down here in a somewhat alright mood-" he pointed to Zeldris at this, "-and we decide where to head next."

"Excuse you, did you say we?"

"Yes, Ban. Yes I did."

So, not much cleaning actually got done.

They swept some shattered glass from the floor and had mopped up any spilled drinks or shattered bottles of alcohol, but from there the task of making the tavern look presentable vanished. Instead, Ban was busy having a drinking contest with Meliodas he was surely going to lose, Hawk was sleeping rather soundly behind the bar, and Zeldris and Elizabeth were watching the two Sins in amusement off to the side. Elizabeth didn't miss how Zeldris was keeping a close eye on just how much his brother was really drinking, though, and as their previous conversation fizzled out - he had asked about her sisters, how they were, and Elizabeth flushed when she had realized she had been rambling for almost ren minutes - she decided to ask him something she wasn't too sure she should.

Well, there were multiple questions which fell into that category. But Zeldris paying that close attention to Meliodas, paired with what she had been told that morning…

Elizabeth took a deep breath, a swig of her water like she was downing the rest of a beer of her own, and turned away from the competing Sins. Zeldris' gaze flickered to her at her sudden movement before training back on the blonde.

"I have a question, Sir Zeldris." Zeldris hummed lightly, and this time his attention focused on her for a little longer. Elizabeth took this as her go-ahead, but hesitated still. "It's… more of a personal question."

"You're free to ask anything you want, Elizabeth." Zeldris gave her a small smile.

"Are you okay?"

His small smile faded, and Zeldris' brow furrowed as he turned to her fully. "What?"

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth repeated.

A moment passed where Zeldris didn't seem to have any reaction, but it went by so quickly Elizabeth wasn't sure what to make of it. Soon another reassuring smile appeared on his face and he laughed lightly.

"I'm fine," he said finally.

"You're sure?" Zeldris nodded firmly, and Elizabeth bit her lip. "Is- what you said earlier, this morning? Is that bothering you?"

If she hadn't been watching him so closely, Elizabeth would have missed how Zeldris tensed slightly. But she caught the motion, just before it was forced away and Zeldris hid his expression behind his own tankerd for a moment, taking a long drink and seemingly thinking of an answer.

"No, not really," he eventually said.

"You're watching Sir Meliodas very carefully, Sir Zeldris."

Zeldris smiled at her observation, huffed a laugh, and shrugged a little. He didn't respond right away, though, pondering how to continue. "Yes, but really, it doesn't bother me much anymore. Well, it does, a bit," he admitted, "but I trust Meliodas to be more careful now. I know he won't drink himself to death again."

Her brow furrowed slightly. "What-"

"Near death!" Meliodas corrected from across the bar, and Zeldris stiffened for a moment and Elizabeth could see him mouth a swear. Meliodas walked over, leaving Ban nearly blackout drunk and lying against the counter while Meliodas didn't even look flushed, and Meliodas and Zeldris seemed to have a silent conversation in seconds. Meliodas smiled reassuringly at Elizabeth. "He meant near death. Although, as I recall, everyone did think I died." He chuckled sheepishly. "Nearly gave the doctor a heart attack, right Gelda?"

Elizabeth turned just in time to see Gelda walk into the main area of the bar, mouth dropping open slightly in bewilderment. When had Gelda come down the stairs?

Gelda chuckled silently and signed, "Almost gave me a heart attack, and I don't have a working heart."

Elizabeth tilted her head in further confusion, looking to the brothers for a translation. Zeldris came to her rescue, looking far less amused and more exasperated than anything else. "Nearly gave her a heart attack, too," he explained. "Though Gelda remembers the situation far more fondly than I do."

Gelda shrugged, sliding into the seat next to Zeldris and looping her arm around him. Elizabeth guessed whatever bad mood Zeldris had warned them of before was gone completely, as Gelda just looked tired now. She rested her head on his and handed him her notepad, something already written on it apparently though Elizabeth hadn't had a chance to look at it before it was shielded away from her. Her only hint was Zeldris nodded after reading it, and he signed something that no one seemed to intend to translate, so Elizabeth assumed it was a question.

The page was gone, tossed into the trash a moment later, before Gelda signed something else.

"Now what?"

"Well with Ban out cold, we probably shouldn't decide on a place to go just yet, but any ideas we can bring up in the morning is probably a good idea."

There was a groan from behind the bar and Meliodas rolled his eyes while Elizabeth giggled as Hawk appeared around the counter, clearly unhappy with how loud Meliodas was speaking. Truly, Elizabeth hadn't even realized he was speaking too loudly.

"Don't any of you know when to sleep?" he grumbled, making his way over to the table and propping himself up on one of the chairs. Hawk looked just about ready to fall back asleep right then and there.

"No," Zeldris and Meliodas deadpanned at the same time, just as Gelda shook her head as well. Elizabeth giggled again as the three exchanged amused looks before turning their attention back to the matter at hand.

"We don't exactly have any leads on the other Sins," Zeldris pointed out. "So there's no place we can really consider based on that."

And most towns have some guards serving under the Holy Knights

If there aren't any there already

Gelda wrote quickly and spun the notepad for Elizabeth to read more easily. Elizabeth nodded. That was certainly true. She recalls a few years ago, hearing Holy Knights were discharged to most towns even along the outskirts of the kingdom to make certain the Sins weren't hiding out there. None had been found, if she remembered right, but it would make sense for the knights or their apprentices to still be looking after the towns, as a precaution.

So they needed to go somewhere Holy Knights likely wouldn't be. They couldn't have another town being attacked like Bernia - and Dalmary, she reminded herself - just because they were there.

What was the place Auntie had mentioned?

Elizabeth didn't even realize all eyes were on her until she had glanced up from the notepad and was startled to see expectant looks on three faces - she didn't count Hawk, who looked more dazed than anything.

"Um...?"

Zeldris raised a brow at her. "Well?"

"Well what?" she asked slowly.

"You look like you have an idea," Meliodas explained helpfully. "You think you know a good place to go?"

Elizabeth glanced between them all, and Gelda gave an encouraging smile, and Elizabeth slowly nodded. "Maybe? A lady earlier - Mead called her Auntie - she mentioned a place called…" Elizabeth trailed off, her forehead creasing as she recalled the name. Her face lit up when it flashed in her mind. "The Forest of White Dreams!"

Hawk flinched at her voice, and ELizabeth shrunk back slightly and offered the sleepy pig a quiet apology.

Meliodas hummed, looking at the rest of his family. Zeldris shrugged, and Gelda shrugged as well as signed to her fellow blonde.

"Never heard of it."

Meliodas turned back to Elizabeth. "Why'd you think that'd be a good place to go?"

"She said even Holy Knights don't go in there. At least, no one's seen them enter. But no one's even really sure what's in there, so… it might not be the best choice."

"I say we should go, a place where Holy Knights avoid sounds like it'd be perfect for us to hide out, at least for a day or so to figure out some more things."

"If anything bad happens," Gelda signed, "we could just toss Ban at whatever's in there and leave."

Zeldris snickered and Meliodas rolled his eyes fondly, while Elizabeth tilted her head. She couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped after Zeldris told her what Gelda had said.

So it was a plan. Not a good one, at least, Elizabeth didn't quite think so. But a plan was a plan.

Besides, they had by morning to think of something else.

To say Gilthunder was baffled was an understatement.

Of course, he made sure to not look confused, and actually for the most part he was quite happy after his head had nearly been taken off by the very spear he had launched at Bernia Village. But this was not a part of the plan.

A man Gilthunder hadn't ever seen before was barely clinging to life at his feet in the ruined stronghold, King hovering above on his pillow with a bored and unimpressed look. There was also a hint of annoyance, and Gilthunder was sure it was from the blood which now stained the green patterned fabric.

All Gilthunder could tell about this man was that he was an Apprentice Holy Knight, and that was just from the faint power Gilthunder could feel radiating off his barely alive form. Gilthunder looked to King for an explanation.

The Sloth Sin merely shrugged. "He was like this when I found him, a commotion just outside Bernia and he was maybe half a mile from it."

"Alright, what do you think happened?"

King rocked in the air slowly, considering and staring down at the man. "Dunno. Neither the captain nor Ban fight like this."

"Maybe the other two with them, then? I doubt Princess Elizabeth could have done had a hand in this." King glanced away and shrugged. "Who are the other two, King?"

King gripped the pillow he was floating on just a little tighter, leaned more into it while still avoiding the fresh blood stain. "Probably Zeldris and Gelda," King said after almost a minute of silence. Again, Gilthunder felt as though he knew who they were but he couldn't quite place just why he could know them. King rolled his eyes with a little huff, catching onto Gilthunder's frustration easily. He more willingly supplied details.

"The captain's brother and brother's wife."

Ah. So that's why the names - and the descriptions Golgius had given - sounded familiar.

King held back a laugh at the realization which seemed to dawn on the Holy Knight, though both reigned in their emotions swiftly.

"Could either of them have done this, then?"

King shrugged once again. "Maybe. They weren't knights, so I've never seen either of them fight. They just kind of… hovered around us." He wasn't lying, really. He hadn't ever seen Zeldris or Gelda fight seriously, and they weren't knights. But King knew they were powerful, at the very least. Very powerful.

He suppressed a shiver as he recalled the uneasy feeling he'd gotten when he had first met Meliodas and the rest of his family.

Gilthunder didn't seem to notice King grow a bit tenser, humming to himself as he pondered what to do next.

Well, first he should get rid of this dying man. At least, get him out of these ruins and to someplace that can actually help him heal. Gilthunder suspected he was in Hendrickson's faction, since he'd never seen the man, and frankly Gilthunder didn't trust anyone in Hendrickson's group.

He looked up to King. "Can you fly him back to Liones without him dying?"

King's face scrunched up at the mere idea of that bloodied mess further being supported by his precious weapon, but eventually huffed and nodded, because he could do that.

"Good. We can discuss further plans regarding the other Sins once you return."