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"ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ʙʏ ᴍʏ ꜱɪᴅᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛᴇᴀʀꜱ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴇʏᴇꜱ."
ɴɪᴄᴏʟᴏꜱɪ
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"Damn, I should have asked Oriana why my mind wasn't affected by the truth of her death," I mutter under my breath while my eyes focus on the empty green lands below me.
My father hums, And also why she decided to change her true name backwards. Anairo. Oriana. She could have just chosen a brand new name.
What? Dad. I roll my eyes.
Sorry, sorry, my old man murmurs. I'll stop.
So it seems Estarossa killed Mael the Archangel for no reason, I point out, pursing my lips. And what a gruesome death he had.
This seems to be the case, my father confirms. And you know what, bright star?
What? I question.
I believe the original Gowther intended for you to find out about Oriana's fake death, he states and I furrow my eyebrows at this. If he hadn't, your mind right now would have been under a lot of pressure and would have probably gone insane.
But why would he want that? I ask. And what about you? You also know now, so did he want you to find out as well? It doesn't really make any sense.
My dad pauses and then says, True, at the moment all of this seems very confusing and illogical. But in the end, the answer lies within the current Gowther's mind.
"Tch," I say out loud in frustration and then sluggishly rub a hand over my tired face.
I've been flying for quite a while now but I need to get to the Kingdom of Liones as soon as possible, to my best friend and the Seven Deadly Sins.
There, my father speaks up.
I start to smile when I finally spot the Kingdom of Liones with heavy mist covering the whole of it and a large stone tower that has a certain group of people on top of it. Speeding towards them, my heart beats faster in excitement knowing that the fun is about to start.
Bright star, wait! my father suddenly shouts in my head.
Squeaking, I quickly pull back my wings and come to a halt, saying, What the hell, old man?
With all of the drama in the Kingdom of Camelot, it slipped my mind, he says. That small, talking pig that always follows Elizabeth and Meliodas, I believe his eyes are a gateway to Purgatory.
Say what now? I choke out in shock.
The Demon King must have specifically chosen him to keep an eye on his eldest son, my father notes thoughtfully. If you go to them now, the Demon King will see you through the pig's eyes.
OK, first of all, the pig has a name, I say irritably. His name is Hawk. Second of all, great timing. Honestly. What the hell are we meant to do now?
Kill the pig, my father says as if the answer was obvious.
Dad! I yell, outraged. We are not killing Hawk!
Then what? he says, huffing.
Here's what we're going to do, I say firmly. I'll knock Hawk out and explain the situation to the group so that they don't panic and get suspicious. And once we've done that, we'll just figure out the rest from there. Maybe Gowther can do something with his powers.
That has to be one of the most brilliant and elaborate plans you have ever come up with. It actually might beat Meliodas and your idea of starting the Holy War, my father says sarcastically.
Shut up, I snap irritably. Do you have a better one?
No, he sighs deeply. It appears that this may be our only option.
That's what I thought, I say as I beat my wings once again and head over to the group.
At the moment, my best friend is speaking to the Serpent Sin of Envy and the Grizzly Sin of Sloth who seem to have just arrived and joined the group so I carefully hover over Hawk, keeping my distance so that none of them see me.
Forgive me for what I'm about to do, Hawk, I say apologetically.
With all of the power and force I can muster, I brutally come crashing down on the poor pig, causing a great amount of dust to spread around us.
"Well, well, well," Meliodas says cheerfully as he points at me. "Look what we have here."
"It is just as I predicted," the King of Liones murmurs softly. "Lady (Y/n) of the Dark Shadows will once again join the Seven Deadly Sins."
Bright star, my father says slowly. Someone else got to it before we did.
Wait, what. I blink. Seriously?
Someone has already broken the connection, he goes on. Not fully but enough so that the Demon King can't see or hear us.
Who would have done that?
I swiftly raise my head and catch sight of the Boar Sin of Gluttony who has a slight sparkle in her yellow eyes as she places a single finger on top of her lips. Ah, so she was the one who did this.
I think we have met this Mage before, my old man comments.
Well, yeah. When she and the others came to my hut—
No, we have met her before that, my father cuts in.
Well, that's something we will have to further investigate later. Now is not the time, I say as my body slowly rises from Hawk's body, making sure I do nothing else to hurt him.
"(Y/n), (Y/n), (Y/n)," Meliodas repeats my name as he eagerly waves both of his hands above his tiny head.
"Aww, just look at you," I coo playfully as I place one of my hands on my hip and the other on my chest. "Getting all excited just for me."
"Why the hell did you do that to Master?" the Fox Sin of Greed questions and though he tries to hide it, I can see the worry in his blood-red eyes.
"Sorry about that," I apologise, grinning sheepishly as I lean down to pat Hawk's unconscious head. "Truly, I didn't mean to knock him out. I guess I got a little too excited."
Meliodas giggles as he crosses his arms and places them behind his head, saying, "Your strength always astounds me, (Y/n)."
"Right back at you," I respond and then wink at him.
The smile on his pale face falters before he says quietly, "(Y/n), you've hurt yourself."
Frowning at this simple declaration, I question, "I have?"
Glancing down, I quickly examine my body for any injuries but see none.
"Not right now," Meliodas states as he walks over to me and then circles me like a vulture. "You hurt yourself a couple of hours ago."
"Oh yeah, that." I cross my arms over my chest and tilt my head to the side. "No need to worry about that. But I do need to talk to you later, Mel."
Fear flashes across his jade-green eyes for a second. "Sure thing."
"You have fallen in love," someone says beside me and I turn to see a pink arrow sticking out my neck and the Sin of Lust blankly staring at me. "This is a recent development."
My lips twitch at this. "Yeah, I guess it is. Hello, Gowther."
"Hello, (Y/n) of the Dark Shadows," he greets back as he drops his hand along with the arrow.
"Oh ho ho, who's the lucky guy?" Ban asks curiously and King and Diane immediately glare at him.
"That can be discussed another time," I say as I wave my hand in dismissal.
Grinning, I turn back to the group to see Merlin, Escanor, and Ban watching me with tiny smirks on their faces. Beside them are King and Diane who look slightly shaken now that they've seen me. Are they afraid of me because I've been with the enemy for the past couple of weeks?
"Hello, (Y/n)," Diane says with her voice trembling terribly.
"Hey," I say simply and then pout when I see tears pooling in her gorgeous purple eyes. "What's wrong, darling?"
Out of nowhere, the Giant grabs me and brings me to her neck as she attempts to hug me. "I'm so sorry, (Y/n)," she whispers loud enough just for me to hear.
"It looks like you got your memories back. That's great. But what exactly are you apologising for?" I whisper back.
"For everything you went through during and after the Holy War," she elaborates. "After you sacrificed everything over and over again just to make sure that everyone you loved would stay safe."
"And how do you know about that?" I question with a raised eyebrow.
"Someone told us," King says as he floats beside Diane's head.
Only now do I realise that there are tiny blue wings on the Fairy King's bare back, but I have to push this fact to the side. Because I need to find out how these two know about my past.
"Who?" I demand.
The two of them open their mouths to answer me at the same time someone else calls out, "Diane, do you think you could put (Y/n) down? I want to greet her properly as well."
My head whips around at that familiar voice. "Elizabeth," I breathe.
When the Serpent Sin of Envy puts me back down on the ground, Elizabeth crashes into me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck so I hold her around the waist to keep her steady.
"Oh, (Y/n)," she chokes near my ear. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."
"Hey now," I say quietly and gently stroke her silver hair. "That was entirely my fault. I failed to keep my guard up and got myself caught. You were only making sure that Diane was safe and well. Don't go blaming yourself. You hear me, Princess?"
The only child of the Supreme Deity nods her head in response when she pulls away and smiles brightly at me. My heart nearly forgets to beat at this beautiful sight.
"Before you came, Lady (Y/n)," King Bartra begins to speak which catches my attention, "we were just discussing about Gowther's heart."
My tongue sticks out at the corner of my lips. "Gowther has a heart? Huh, I had no clue."
Elizabeth's adoptive father nods as he brings out a peculiar item in the shape of a heart. It seems to be made out of steel with pink vein-like shapes spread across the heart in different areas.
"I found it at last," King Bartra says. "Do you remember? Look."
Gowther's bright yellow eyes immediately widen when the heart is brought closer to him.
"What is that thing?" Meliodas questions curiously. "Some kind of box?"
As soon as my best friend asks this, Gowther zooms past all of us so fast I nearly don't see him.
"Gowther, come back here!" King Bartra cries out.
Ignoring the order of the King of Liones, the Goat Sin of Lust hastily jumps off the huge tower and runs straight ahead through the mist, away from all of us.
"Your Majesty," Diane gasps as she looks over at him. "What did you show him?"
"Oh yeah, your height," I say as I pull away from Elizabeth but keep a hand on her shoulder. "You probably can't see it from up there."
"In the past, this item was embedded in Gowther's chest," King Bartra explains to us. "According to what he told me, it's infused with some sort of powerful heart magic."
"Powerful heart magic," Merlin repeats with interest laced in her tone.
"Merlin, quick," Diane calls out to her fellow comrade. "I need you to make me smaller. I gotta hurry after Gowther!"
"The Seven Deadly Sins have seven laws," my best friend states as he turns back to us with a massive grin. "The fourth one is: one of us is in danger, we step up; we try to help out as one."
"Right!" the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins shout as they leap off the tower to go find the last remaining Sin.
"Oh no," Elizabeth says quietly as she watches all of them run off. "I'm afraid I won't be able to come with you guys."
"Oh really?" I challenge as I quickly sweep her off her feet and carry her in a bridal style, causing the cursed Goddess to let out a shocked cry. "You're joining us, Elizabeth. Whether your father likes it or not. Your Majesty, d'you think you can keep an eye on poor Hawk for me?"
King Bartra lets out a soft chuckle at this and then says, "Of course, I'll stay with him. And I trust you, Lady (Y/n) of the Dark Shadows. I know that you will take care of my daughter."
I involuntarily flinch before smiling tightly. "You got it, Your Majesty."
Taking a couple of steps back, I then propel myself forward and jump off the stone tower with Elizabeth burying her pale face into my neck.
Why must there always be drama with the Seven Deadly Sins? my father groans.
Hush, old man. Rest while we deal with this.
Alright, he immediately complies and goes silent in my head.
"I'm so glad that you're back, (Y/n)," Elizabeth says as my feet touch the ground.
"Me too," I say even though I'm not entirely happy about it. "Elizabeth, I'm going to need your help to regain the trust of the Seven Deadly Sins."
"What?" she says and scrunches her silver eyebrows as I dash through the empty streets.
"Being with the enemy for such a long time will cause unease amongst them," I go on. "Including those whom I must fight alongside with."
"That's not true, (Y/n)!" Elizabeth protests as she tightens her grip around my shoulders. "We all trust you, and we know that you would never do something purposely to hurt us!"
"So much faith in me as always, Beth," I hum with fondness.
"Beth?" she breathes the name in confusion.
I mentally slap my face as I cough, "Sorry, Elizabeth."
"Was that what you called Liz?" Elizabeth asks gently.
No, it's what I called you when I first began to trust you, Elizabeth the Goddess, the love of Meliodas's life.
"Yeah," I grunt out my answer as I finally catch sight of the Sins up ahead.
One day, you will find someone who will change everything in your life, Elizabeth had once told me right after Meliodas and I had started the Holy War. And when he does that, without you even knowing it, he will also change you into a better person.
Trust me Beth, that's not my kind of thing, I had half-jokingly told her.
You're just like Meliodas, Elizabeth had said, laughing. The two of you don't believe you deserve love. Do me a favour when you finally meet the one, sweet (Y/n). Don't let go of him.
"I found him, Beth," I speak out loud. "I found the one, but to protect him, I had to let him go. Did I make the right choice?"
"Oh, (Y/n)," Elizabeth breathes as she places a hand on my chest, right on top of my one beating heart. "Whoever he is, you put him before yourself and prioritised his safety above your own. If that isn't the right decision, then what is love?"
"So damn smart all the time," I say with a shaky voice. "You always know what to say, Beth."
"I try my best," she says with a hesitant smile. "Why don't you tell me more about this man?"
I click my tongue at this suggestion. "There's so much to him. Where do I even start?"
Elizabeth helps by asking, "When did you meet him?"
"When we were only just younglings," I immediately respond.
"Truly?" When I nod my head in confirmation, she goes on to ask, "And what were his first words to you?"
Smiling fondly at the memory, I reply, "He asked me: Are you a Fallen Angel?"
Oh my, and what makes you think that, my Prince?
Because you don't look anything like a Demon.
Careful now. If you had said that to anyone else, they might have taken that as an insult.
But you don't look anything like my father or Cusack or Chandler or my older brothers. Or any Demon I've met before. So will you be staying here in the palace?
Yes, I believe so. Your father has officially ordered us to stay here, my Prince.
That's good.
Oh? And why's that?
Because I'll get to see your face every day.
I'm sure you'll be sick of my face by the end of the week, my Prince.
But why would I get tired of seeing the most beautiful face I have ever seen in my life?
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