The Goddess' Druid

(Chapter 15) Dungeons, Dragons, and...Arthur?

A/N: I had to make this the title, it was too good of a chance to miss. Anyways, on with the chapter!

Arcadia watched the faces of the knights change, as Slader tensed up slightly, the others' faces becoming fearful as well. "Listen, we don't need to fight you in a sense. Our mission was to bring back the armor knight's head, so if we just took the head, we could avoid a conflict." Slader tried, causing Meliodas to become confused. "Are you guys scared of Arcadia? 'Cause it sounds like you are." he challenged, causing all of them to nod. "See, I told you that I'm scary when I'm angry." Arcadia affirmed, smiling triumphantly as Gowther severed the head off of the armor. He then gave it to Slader. "In that case, let's not fight then if there is a peaceful way to avoid conflict." he said. The pink haired male turned to look at Arcadia. "Based on bone structure, vocal tone, and demeanor, you are Arcadia. The same goes for Ban, King, and the captain as well." he said calmly while the demon thing behind him roared. "Uh, Gowther, maybe help us a little?" King asked, panicked as the Demon-Holy Knight hybrid blew ice all over the male's glasses. "I must clean these first, carry on without me while I do so." he said, walking back to where Arcadia was. She watched the fight as she handed Gowther a small glass cleaning wipe to get rid of the frost. "Thank you." he said monotonously. He then used his magical power, 'Jack' to take over the demon's mind and trap it and the knight within in an illusion. Meliodas watched as Ban got ready to attack, but he stopped him. "There's still someone in there, Ban. Don't you dare kill him. Don't you dare kill Dale." he warned, his voice threatening. However, Ban ignored him and used 'Snatch' to grab the man's heart, tearing it out of the demon thing's chest. Meliodas glared at the white haired male before the demon roared again, getting ready to attack once more. Elizabeth then came running up with Meliodas' sword, which had been given to him long ago by Liz. "Sir Meliodas, Liz would have wanted you to protect yourself, so fight!" she yelled, throwing the sword to the blonde before he caught it. The princess' words caused the blonde to gain a bit of confidence again as he sliced the demon into pieces. He then saw a small larva thing inside of the remains and watched as Gowther picked it up. He examined its memory before handing it to Ban. "According to this thing, it was Hendrickson who caused this man's transformation." Gowther explained, causing Arcadia's eyes to widen. It pained her to see how much the man she loved was hurting the people around him, especially the Holy Knight apprentices that had been given the Demon blood. Arcadia was torn from her thoughts as King started speaking, or rather insulting her lover. "Yeah, Hendrickson's an evil, twisted man. He'll do anything to get his way, really." King said, as Arcadia cast a sad look at the ground, thinking of him once again. She then interrupted him as he tried to talk about the things he had done. "And he's also been-" "Anyways, we should really head back to the tavern. I'm sure Elizabeth is worried about us. Ok I'm gonna go ahead and tell everyone that Gowther's joined us now BYE!" she yelled, running back to the tavern. That's when Meliodas realized why she had left. "Oh, that's right, she and Hendrickson were..." he looked over at King as he spoke. "She's going to strangle you one of these days. You might want to apologize to her, King." he suggested. King didn't know about the platinum haired female's relationship with the current grandmaster, but he was still her friend, so when he heard about why she was upset, he took off after her, flying as fast as he could to get to her. He knocked frantically on the storage room door. Arcadia was looking at an old drawing of her, Hendrickson, Dreyfus, and Zaratras together, back when things were good, and Zaratras was still alive. All four of them had signed their signatures next to their faces on the picture, and she still traced over each one every now and then. She mumbled a soft 'come in' from the other side of the door, causing King to open it shortly after he heard her speak. "Hey, thought I would join you in he-" "Why did you have to say that about him?" she asked, causing him to look down at the floor below, before he sighed. "I didn't know that you were in a relationship with him. If I did, then I wouldn't have said that." he said, embarrassed and ashamed for hurting his friend without even knowing. "Hey." she looked up at him as he sighed deeply. "I make no promises, but when we take back Liones, we'll try to straighten him out, alright?" he asked, causing her to smile and move over on the mattress she was sitting on, patting it in invitation as she gently stroked the webbed fin on top of Molly's head. The dragon herself was asleep, having gotten tired from flying all day alongside the tavern while Hawk's mama moved it. Arcadia smiled as she looked over at the fairy, before pulling him into a tight hug, taking him by surprise. "Thank you..." she whispered, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. He nodded before hugging her back. "Yeah. however, I would like a favor in return." he said, causing her to nod as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Sure, *sniffle* what is it?" she asked. "I need your help setting me up with Diane." he said, his face turning red and causing the female to laugh. She put a hand on the male's shoulder before telling him she'd help. "Thanks. I'm going to head downstairs now, call me if you need me." he said, floating downstairs. Arcadia then went back to looking at her drawings. She got up to get in the shower down the hall when she heard Meliodas speaking about the sword. She went downstairs into the bar and heard him speak. "It's a piece of the coffin of eternal darkness, and if I don't get it back, then we'll all be in for a world of trouble soon," he said. "Yeah, but why did they go after me?" Elizabeth asked. Just then, a mage, Vivian, teleported behind her. "Because you're the final piece, my dear." she said, causing Arcadia to rush over and grab onto Elizabeth's arm just before she was teleported away, getting dragged along with them as well, all while Meliodas shouted for Elizabeth to get away from the mage. When the platinum haired female opened her eyes again, she saw that she was in the dungeons, in a cell to be exact, with Elizabeth and Hawk beside her. She saw that Hawk was about to have an accident and snickered as the swine busted down the door before running down the hall. Arcadia transformed into a Prairie Cat and took off for the exit, before turning into a normal domestic cat and walking up to Gilthunder, who was speaking to Howzer. "I'm telling you, I swear that I saw the Sins at the festival. Do you really not believe me?" he asked, causing the rosette to scowl. "No, I don't. Besides, you remember Arcadia?" he asked, causing him to nod. Gilthunder's scowl deepened. "She's joined the Sins as well." he said slowly, causing Howzer's eyes to widen as he spoke. "No she didn't." he protested. "Yes, she did." Gilthunder reaffirmed, crossing his arms and glaring at the ground.

"You know, your father used to do that whenever he got angry, and now that you're doing it too, it's making me have some serious deja vu."

The two turned to where Arcadia now stood, before she grabbed the two by the ears after she threw her hood up. "Ar-" she cupped her hand over his mouth, smiling. "I need the two of you not to tell Hendrickson about this, please." She spoke lowly so as not to attract any unwanted attention from a certain bird not too far away. "I need to get into that castle, and I need you two to help me do it. I can transform, and Howzer, you can say you found a stray cat in the woods." she proposed, causing the two to look at each other and then sigh. "Fine." they agreed in unison.

Howzer set Arcadia down where she told him to, in the royal library. She then turned into a white snake and slithered into the secret passages of the castle, before carefully and quietly making her way to her old room. She then got out and went up to the bookshelf in the room, getting the journal she had left behind. She then transformed back into a small cat, but had wings on her back, and flew down before transforming back into herself as she sensed a familiar presence a little ways away from Liones.

~Meanwhile~

Guinevere looked over Arthur's shoulder as he spoke about his adventures around Britannia, and smiled before burying her face in his back. She wrapped her arms around him as she started to doze lightly while she rested against him. The ginger haired male looked back at her with a smile of his own as he continued to make sure the way they were going was the right one. After a few minutes, the teal eyed lady opened her eyes again and then spoke. "I can sense Arcadia, so that means that she's likely here." She said, as Arthur nodded before he stopped the horse and turned back to look at the girl. She looked tired, and on the verge of collapsing to sleep. Arthur gently lifted her up, confusing her slightly, before she was placed in his lap as he buried his face in her neck and started steering the horse again. His messy hair hid the blush that dusted his cheeks while he peppered her neck with kisses, before leaning her back against his chest to let her relax. If Guinevere wasn't awake before, she certainly was now. Her own cheeks turned red in a matter of seconds, as she finally laid back against her boyfriend of almost two years and sighed. "So, what do you think about meeting my friends?" She asked, causing the orchid eyed male to nod excitedly. "I'm the youngest of the group, but they're all very nice." She explained, causing the male to nod in understanding. Arthur saw Liones in the distance and then spoke, his face turning serious. "You might want to get your helmet on, we're almost there." He said.