"Captain, is this good?" Diane asks looking over the new town they've come across
"Yeah! It's a little far from town but we should be fine if we advertise! Meliodas answers
"Thank you, Hawk's Mom! Why don't you rest for a bit too, Diane?" Elizabeth tells her
"Sure! I'll just grab a little shut-eye till the tavern opens then. Goodnight guys!"
"Alright, how bout we get ready to open up? We guys will procure the food. Elizabeth, I want you out there to promote the tavern, and could you also buy some herbs while you are at it?" Meliodas says
"Alright!"
"Hawk you're providing support"
"That's fine by me, but do you think Elizabeth will be alright?" Hawk asks
"Oh, I'm perfectly capable of going shopping!" Elizabeth retorts
"Yeah but the Holy Knights are after you, right? Wouldn't it be better to send Alex and let Elizabeth stay here?" Hawk says
"Staying cooped up will just get her down, plus Lexi had a hard battle yesterday. I'm letting her rest a bit. It'll be fine! If anything happens, I'll be right there!" Meliodas tells them
"Yeah but—" Hawk starts
"How bout a disguise then?" Meliodas asks and then goes to Alex's closet, careful not to wake her. He brings out 3 things for Elizabeth but all are too showy and Lexi would kill him if he let her go out like that, and he wouldn't trust any men near her. He shows Elizabeth the outfits anyway, in case she wants to wear them, but thankfully she didn't.
"I think I should be fine wearing just a shawl" Elizabeth tells him and he agrees. He made a mental note that he really needs to buy Elizabeth some new clothes.
"I'll be going, then!" Elizabeth says and Meliodas waves her off
"Ban, King, whoever catches the biggest game is the winner" Meliodas bets
"No way am I gonna lose!" Ban exclaims
"Huh? Captain, come to think of it, where's your weapon? You gonna hunt barehanded?" King asks
"Oh, hey, I'll figure it out somehow! Now we'll start after I get Lexi up, give me about 5 minutes. Ban start your stretches! You're gonna need 'em!" Meliodas walks away laughing as Ban scoffs but starts stretching anyway. Meliodas walks into his and Alex's room and sees her cuddled with his pillow.
'That took a lot out of you yesterday didn't it? I'm sorry, my love' She stirs out of her sleep and opens one eye
"It's okay Mel, I'm here and you are here. Elizabeth is here too, everything's fine for now" she beckons him over to the bed so she can comfort him
"I only have 5 minutes, me and the boys are going hunting" Meliodas tells her chuckling a bit
"Oh, I wanna come! Did you guys bet anything?!" She jumps out of bed to change and he just watches her excitement, glad to know she's okay.
"We did bet, but not on anything yet, it's more of who can get more and whatnot" he leans on the backboard of their bed with his hands behind his head, sitting comfortably while she changes then rushes to brush her teeth and whatever else that was needed.
"You know Lexi, I got a bet for you!" Meliodas smirks
"Oh yeah? What is it?"
"If I get more gain than you, you gotta wear whatever I want you to, it'll be like playing dress-up for tonight. If you win you can do whatever!" His mind wonders to the clothes he was showing Elizabeth earlier.
"Okay deal!" She comes out and they shake hands, going to head out the door.
"Alright, guys you ready!" Alex asks as she sees Ban finishing his stretches
"Huh! Victory is mine!" Ban says and jumps away
"You're in the same boat!" Meliodas jumps in the same direction
"Don't go too crazy, okay?" King says as he follows and Alex nods and follows King
"Hey, guys! What do you think of this bad boy? Sword wolves are mostly red meat, perfect for smoking! And you can get good money for their hides!" Meliodas comes out
"Drawn and quartered rabbits taste great whether you stew, fry, or boil 'em! And the broth you make from these guys is good for the skin!" Ban exclaims
"I got this thing! Whatever it is?" Alex comes out with a big fish-looking animal
"Yep, I think I won the contest!" He smirks at Alex
"You're a hopelessly inept kitchen catastrophe with no taste buds... who are you to talk?" Ban says
"Hey King, how'd your hunt go..." Alex starts
"King!" Ban and Meliodas scream in unison and Ban moves around him
"Quit goofing around!" He grabs the tip of his nose and squeezes it shut
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"
"Ban's right! We've got to offset our losses with a decent haul" Meliodas points
"Isn't that good enough? Didn't you three catch plenty already?"
"Nope, not cutting it! Me and Ban got pretty good hauls but Lexi doesn't even know what she caught" she rolls her eyes and looks at her haul. It looks edible enough...
"Yeah, no way. As punishment, you two go catch something even more awesome than ours!" Ban says
"Hey! Mines is good enough!" She jumps up and smacks the back of both Meliodas and Ban's heads
"Hey!"
"But King" Ban leans in "If you do, Diane might see you in a better light..."
King clears his throat "no choice, then" and they hear a roar-sounding thing "what was that? It wasn't just some random bear or boar growling, right?"
"The God of the Mountain, maybe?" Ban says
"It totally sounds like Hawks moaning and groaning whenever he has the runts" Alex giggles and lightly hits his shoulder
"No it does not" and Ban does the same thing but to King, and harder
"Hey! What was that for!"
"Wanna go take a look?" Meliodas asks
"I'm down!" Alex exclaims
"Over there!" They all jump down and see a bunch of soldiers on the ground, bleeding.
"Hey! Hang in there!" Alex rushes over and puts her hands together, letting them light up and then herself. Then everyone is healing slowly. Meliodas approaches one to hear what he's saying.
"The Holy Knights... are responding to the attack... The Armor Giant... Stay away! The armor-clad monster..." the soldier dies and Alex stops with her healing
"They're all near death, I can't save them all" she looks down in disappointment
"It's okay, Lexi" Meliodas looks at her
"Armor Giant?" King asks while patting Alex's back in comfort
"Armor-clad monster, what the hell's that?" Ban also asks while a hand is on Alex's head, rubbing it slightly
"Guys it's him, it has to be" Meliodas says and Alex gasps quietly in realization
"Huh?"
"No way!"
"Yeah, there's no mistaking this. Gowther the Goat Sin!" They all rush to where Gowther would be at following his roars.
"I'm getting a quite clear read on his magical powers. He's close!" King says
"Yeah but he ain't moving!" Ban says
"I can feel it too but it doesn't feel like Gowther," Alex says, she and Meliodas share a glance
"Either way, don't let your guard down! The Roars of Dawn. I've heard a couple of unsavory rumors about them! And it's usually right to trust Alex's instinct" Meliodas says and Alex huffs
"It's always right!"
"I saw them a couple of times when I was on the Kingdom's side. Their only mission is to kill their targets. They're the most vile combat squad ever!" King says and Ban laughs
"Wouldn't have it any other way! That means I can run wild on them myself!" They get to a clearing where they see a big purple armored giant, Gowther's armor
'Mel, That's not him. I'm like 99.9% sure'
'Either way, we have to figure out what it is and what it did with Gowther if you're right. Just go along with it for now'
"Perhaps it's no surprise but to think he made short work of wiping out the vanguard we sent in..." A girl speaks up
"Those scrubs who let him wipe them out were just too spineless. Right Slader?" A man speaks and the sins + Alex jumps in front of 'Gowther'
"Gowther! You okay?" Meliodas screams out
"Slader look, are they?"
"No need for superfluous thoughts or inquiries. Our job is to eradicate our target in solemn silence. Concentrate" 'Slader' says
"Wow, that's not creepy" Alex scrunches up her nose
"Captain..." King starts
"Whoever moves first, loses." Meliodas says and Alex takes a quick peek at his face
'You're pretty' he just smirks as they have a silent stare-off with the other side
"There you are! I apologize for being so late. I searched all over town, but I was unable to find any glue" a man walks up and Alex's eyes widen
"Gow-" she slaps a hand over her mouth and he turns to look at her, he smiles for a second before letting his features go back to normal
"What is it?" He asks
"You mean, what's up with you?" Ban slightly screams
"'Me? I'm—" the armored giant starts moving
"Afraid... Gowther... Afraid..."
"Easy now"
"What's he talking about?" Ban asks and the giant goes to strike
"Scatter!" All the sins move simultaneously once Meliodas shouts
"Kill him" the other side moves but Meliodas catches the air attacks and lands
'He's strong!"
'I gotcha' Alex moves as quick as lightning and kicks the 'Slader' guy in the head. Knocking him off Meliodas
"Just run, Gowther!" Meliodas screams but the people attack relentlessly for a minute then as they prepare for their second wave Chasteifol interrupts
"This is..."
"Sorry, but I'm turning you to stone till the dust settles," King says
"Simon!" The man calls out and a woman cuts off the arm that was turning to stone. King looks at them mortified
"What the—" he starts before the light of some sorts wraps around him
"You can stay there till everything settles!" The woman speaks up
"It's my turn next," a man with a monotoned voice says
"No, it's not!" Meliodas goes to rush over but someone goes to stop him
"Here let—" he starts
"Sleep" Alex comes between them and puts two fingers in the middle of his forehead "Ah, that took a lot more than I thought it would. Go, Meli!" The guy gets on top of 'Gowther' and starts sawing at the armor with his sword and an arrow of light comes out of nowhere
"No, Gowther!" Meliodas screams
'Boy did you not hear me tell you that wasn't Gowther?!" Alex rolls her eyes
'Well yeah but I'm sorry I'm kind of rusty with the sensing stuff' The light and dust clears
"What had just transpired, none of those present could comprehend... except maybe one... and like a corpse, the man had waited for time to pass... for the arrow that would be hurled from his blind side at full strength... the price for breaking the seal will be steep... humans."
"Seal... did he say?"
"Ah! Gowther!" Alex squeals and Meliodas shakes his head smiling slightly
"The symbol on your chest... don't tell me!" King says
"Yes. My true identity is..." he starts to transform back into pink hair rather than green
"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Meliodas says
"I don't believe it!" Ban says wide-eyed and mouth open
"One of The Seven Deadly Sins, the Goat Sin of Lust... My name is Gowther. Hello Mother" he waves over to Alex who had called his name earlier
"Aha, I knew it! I told you, Mel! I know my kids anywhere!" And she does her little happy dance tiredly
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Okay anyways... I'm super sorry for being inactive. I had classes for school, plus other classes for this lifeguard job, and yeah. I'll try to be more active. Hope you enjoyed and please interact! I want feedbackkkkkk!