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amberskywrites · 8 months

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Eternal

Chapter 22 - Confrontations

Chapter 1 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 23 || Masterpost | AO3 Link | FF.net Link

Fandom / Genre: Nanatsu no Taizai (Seven Deadly Sins) / Canon-Divergent and Hurt/Comfort

Pairings: Meliodas/Elizabeth, Zeldris/Gelda, Meliodas & Zeldris & Elizabeth & Gelda

Overall Story Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, Canon-typical violence, Canonical character death, Canon temporary character death, Cursed characters, Lmk if I need to add anything else!

Chapter Warnings: None, lmk if there’s anything I need to add!

Story Summary:

Eternal…

life.

reincarnation.

silence.

and chains.

For 3,000 long and painful years, these four have been doing all they can to lift their curses. They have failed, again and again and again. With only a sliver of hope left, they try once more.

Or, what if Zeldris accepted Meliodas’ offer to go with him 3,000 years ago?

Ban ignored King following them, fixed solely on the collection of lights flying further and further away from the others. Eventually, the lights vanished as they entered a clearing.

No, vanished wasn’t quite right.

He couldn’t see them, see her, but he could feel her. Ban took a deep breath, the only sound with King frozen. At least- he assumed King was frozen in place. And then he started speaking, floating up next to Ban. He was glaring.

“What are you doing here, Ban?”

Ban leaned back, away from the fairy, and forced a bored expression across his face. He hummed low and waited a moment before answering, watching King’s expression sour further. Then he let a smirk form, no matter if he actually felt smug or not.

There was one thing Ban would always be good at, after all. And it was pissing off King.

“I think you know what I’m doing here.”

King scowls further. “How dare you even come here, after all you did? How dare you smile to my face, if you know well what you’ve done?”

“How dare I?” Ban’s expression grew disbelieving. King didn’t respond for a moment, cooling his expression and lifting off Chastiefol. Before Ban could finish blinking, the sacred treasure was behind him and suddenly his limbs were gripped and pulled apart. “What the-?!”

“After the Sins split up, I decided to return home. I hadn’t been home in centuries. I was horrified to come across the Fairy Forest burnt to the ground. The Fountain of Youth gone, the forest abandoned and trees charred as far as the eye can see. No sign of the Saint who was guarding the fountain and the forest…

“It took me a while to realize what had happened.” King tilted his head at Ban. “I never questioned why a human seemed so indestructible, unkillable. We have all committed grave sins, but I never… I didn’t even think that anyone had committed one so heinous. I didn’t think you had killed the Saint of the forest and drank from the Fountain of Youth.”

Ban barely held back a scoff. “So what, is this a ploy to avenge her? You just said it yourself- I’m unkillable!”

A small, self-satisfied smile graced King’s face. “Maybe not normally, no,” he said, holding out his hand. “Spirit spear Chastiefol, third configuration: Fossilization.” Ban’s eyes widened as behind him a whirring sound pierced the air, followed quickly by the squish of flesh and guts being torn out. “You never did pay attention to anything anyone else talked about. If it wasn’t something to fulfill your greedy desires, it went in one ear and right out the other.”

Ban stared at his chest where the spear impaled him - and King sure did have a thing for impaling him, huh? - and watched as a gray started to crawl over his body outward from the spear. It felt… odd. Not painful. A tingling sensation, as if his body was slowly falling asleep.

“Are you watching, Elaine?” King murmured, only audible to Ban because it was otherwise so silent.

Ban took a deep breath a moment before he could no longer properly feel if he was actually inhaling air still, looked back up at King as the petrification spread to his neck, and smiled as gently as he would ever smile in King’s presence.

“Do you have any last words, a deathbed confession perhaps? I won’t forgive you either way, but still.”

Silence, as the last of the petrification enveloped Ban. “Then suffer alone for all eternity here in the Necropolis without dying it ever finding peace,” King said quietly after Ban refused to say anything.

King was left staring at that infuriating smile. “Goodbye, Ban,” he said softly, smile disappearing. Chastiefol withdrew from Ban completely. King took one last look at Ban, committing his stone face to memory.

“Maybe we should turn back and look for Ban and King?” Hawk asked. “We haven’t seen anyone!”

“We’ll meet up with them soon enough, have patience,” Zeldris scolded lightly.

“We have been walking for a while, are you sure they’ll be alright?” Elizabeth asked. “You said Sir Ban might see someone he cared about a lot here.”

“Zel,” Meliodas sighed, tone toeing the line between exasperated and disappointed.

“She was going to talk to him earlier, I don’t know what you expected me to do, telling her not to talk to him out of seemingly nowhere,” Zeldris huffed before looking up at Elizabeth. “I’m sure they’ll be fine, Ban included. I’m not saying it won’t hurt, that he might not spiral later whether he sees them or not. But he’ll be alright in the end, I promise.”

“Still, at this rate, I doubt there’s any of the other Sins here, I haven’t sensed any of them or any powers like them…” Diane chimed in, looking around over the crystal walls. She slowed to a stop and the others followed suit, Hawk sighing in relief as they finally stopped moving for a moment.

“Mmmm… that is true. We don’t have a lot longer here, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to-” Meliodas cut himself off abruptly.

Everyone stopped at the odd sight before them. A young woman, bent forward slightly with her eyes closed, long hair drawn over some of her face. A hand was resting across her chest - no, not across, Elizabeth realized with dread forming a pit in her own heart, the hand was in the woman’s chest.

The power radiating from the woman was strong enough for Elizabeth to feel it. It felt like she was being suffocated slowly, her breath hitching as the others tensed around her. Elizabeth chanced looking away from the woman for a brief moment, taking in even Meliodas’ stiff shoulders and Zeldris’ hand twitching over his sword. Gelda stood straighter, her eyes narrowed at the woman, only raising Elizabeth’s unease further. Diane had taken a step back upon seeing the woman, confusion and apprehension flitting across her face and switching frequently with annoyance. Hawk also took a step back, placing himself between Elizabeth and the woman but keeping the brothers between him and herself.

The power felt… less than Gilthunder’s, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous. Elizabeth couldn’t feel the Sins’ powers, and they were the most dangerous beings in the world as far as she was aware.

The woman finally moved, moving her hand from her chest to rest on her own sword but not drawing it. Her eyes seemed to remain closed, but Elizabeth could still feel her calculating gaze.

“How do you do, Dragon Sin Meliodas? Serpent Sin Diane?”

“And you are?” Zeldris asked, eyes glued to the woman’s sword and his hand tightening over the hilt of his own.

“I am Holy Knight Guila.”

“How did you get here?” Hawk asked, taking another half-step back.

“By dying,” Guila answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Hawk’s breath hitched and he looked at Meliodas. “Did she just say she came here by dying?”

Meliodas hummed in affirmation. “She sure did.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Guila unsheathed her sword - rapier, Elizabeth realized - and propelled herself forward quicker than they were prepared for, going between Meliodas and Zeldris and they had moved before remembering who was behind them, but Guila was already past them.

Elizabeth had only a moment to dodge Guila’s attack, a mangled shout of surprise bursting from her lips before she was toppling to the side and just barely managing to duck under Guila’s body.

Guila landed far more gracefully, spinning around and about to attack again. She was forced back as Gelda appeared in front of her, a ball of fire in her palm aimed to hit Guila at short range, and forced back even further as Diane knelt and brought some of the earth up from under Guila.

Elizabeth stumbled back onto her own feet, Meliodas already in front of her and backing up, putting even more space between her and Guila. His jaw was set tight and Elizabeth couldn’t see his expression, but she could imagine it wasn’t a pleasant one.

“Hawk! Take Elizabeth and run!”

Hawk was at their sides instantly, and Elizabeth only hesitated for half a second before clambering onto Hawk’s back. As soon as she was secure Hawk booked it, squealing the entire way about how strong Guila was and how he couldn’t believe she just attacked Elizabeth. Elizabeth spared a glance back just before they turned a corner, catching sight of Meliodas and Guila locked together in a small crater, and then they were gone.

Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut and hoped with all her might that the Sins would be fine.

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pampasdookie · 1 year

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How the seven deadly sins + Elizabeth and hawk would take care of a baby🧷🧸🍼 (part.4)

A baby babysits another baby

King

"S-sure,i will take care of him/her for you"

King seems the type that thinks babies are cute(as a King of the fairies,he probably had to bless fairies babies or something)but he is too nervous to hold one for too long. King also doesn't know what to do if a baby cry,probably hand it over to the parents or for one of the sins asking for help. He would be too careful,at everything,but also very docile.

He would hold the baby very thighyl,because he's afraid to let him/her fall off his harms. King would not let the baby touch on things that he might think it's dangerous,like a bottle of beer,some furniture with sharp corner,he would probably build or improvise a playpen with some toys he would pick from the baby bag or himself sewed.

Meliodas:King,calm down,you're squeezing him/her like that!

Merlin:Captain is right,King,he/she will not fall off your arms!

King:I'm afraid,he/she is so tiny,and cute and fragile,I don't wanna to risk!

Feeding time,he would play little airplane(or little dragon,because it's the middle age),and hold a napkin close to the baby's mouth. King hopes that the baby don't make a big mess,as he also hold the plate far from the baby chair,so the little one don't reach it.

King would change a diaper using his chastiefol pillow like a change table(with a blanket to lay the baby down)He's is also very carefully so the baby don't touch the dirty diaper. He feel a little disgusted,but less than Meliodas and Ban. While cleaning the baby,he talks to him/her like they are listening,things like "am I doing this right?","i think we need more wipes",i think I dropped to much powder",things like that. He also make sure to clean the baby's feet and apply skin moisturizer if necessary.

He uses his chastiefol for many things,so for playtime isn't different,he turn it until a bear and carry him/her on it. He would try peek-a-boo with the baby(then he transforms on his human form on the peek-a-boo,and scares the baby unintentionally). Without needing the chastiefol,he would hug the baby the baby tight and fly above the grass,and pretend to be a dragon,while Diane run with them pretending to be a dragon too. King makes some toys and also clothes to him/her. If the baby was a boy,he would make a little sailor costume,if was a girl,he would make a adorable dress.

Sleepytime,King also will be tired,put he try to put the baby to sleep. He would feed her a bottle and talk with her some silly things,like his love for Diane or something about how is the Fairy Kingdom. So he lay down with the baby on his lap in the chastiefol and sing a lullaby or tell him/her some bedtime stories from his folklore. He probably fall sleep with the baby. Diane and Elizabeth think that it's so cute,and Meliodas is just proudly about how well done King made it into babysitting.

Bonus:

King was just trying to bond with the baby,who was just staring at him,and he has no idea what to talk about. Then Diane arrives after hiking with Merlin,and takes a look on king and the baby.

Diane:Hi King! Hi (baby name)! What are you guys doing?

King:H-hi Diane! I'm trying to communicate with him/her,but I don't know what to talk about.

Meliodas:Talking is not the only way to bonding with a baby,King.

Both the sins are thinking about what to do while the sin of wrath was checking some booze from the balcony. Then a little grasshopper jumped into the window,what made Diane scream.

King:Oh no,Diane!!!!!

Meliodas:Hum....hey little one,have you ever seen a grasshopper?

King:It's not time from that,Captain!

Diane:I think I'm better....don't worry,guys.

Meliodas:Here King,hold it close to her!

King:Are you sure?

Meliodas:This makes her have contact with the nature.

Meliodas handed over the grasshopper onto king who put it in the baby's hand,holding her tight but gentle

King:Look (baby name),a grasshopper. Isn't pretty?

Baby:Aaaaaa....

Diane:Aww,i think she likes it!

Meliodas was proudly from his idea,while the baby was staring the insect in her hand.But,then,he/she tried to put it on her mouth. The three sins screamed a big "NOO!",what called attention to the other sins + Elizabeth and Hawk,who are doing other things. Luckily,King was fast enough to take the grasshopper from the baby's hand.

Elizabeth:Oh dear,what happened!?

Meliodas:The baby tried to eat a grasshopper.

Elizabeth:Oh,i see.

Happily,the baby was just fine,but wondering where her little "snack" went.Everyone there was relieved,but they decided to not tell him/her parents about that.

Oh my goodness,I love King,he's so adorable,anyways,on a scale of 1 to 10,how much would King babysat well?

Write in the comments.

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sullina · 2 years

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There's an au concept @demonprincezeldris had that I wanna explore but without the tc x Mel shipping but... what if Meliodas lost his memories? Specifically what if Merlin hit him too hard and caused enough blunt force trauma for Meliodas to forget everything except someone apologizing and calling him Captain. An au where he wa legitimately a bartender who knew nothing of the Sins or being one himself until a oddly familiar girl came along looking for them and they both go looking for the Sins and discover Meliodas is a sin along the way. It ends to so many questions when Elizabeth recognizes the tattoo that Hawk was always insistent on Mel hiding because, well, what did happen 10 years ago!? Why doesn't Meliodas remember? Who was fbe mysterious figure who attacked him? Did he really kill the Grandmaster!? For Elizabeth it doesn't seem possible, this sweet, kindhearted bartender who likes to joke around with his piggy and makes terrible food doesn't seem like a murderer. Their journey together becomes this huge thing where Meliodas tries to regain his memories and reclaim his past while Elizabeth helps as best she can because this kid is probably her only hope of saving her family and the kingdom

I can totally see Meliodas being super confused when Alioni and the other knights suddenly knock on his door, demanding that the Rust Knight come out.

"Hand over the Rust Knight who is suspected of being one of the Seven Deadly Sins!"

Mel: Ah fuck, there's trouble. What do we do?

Hawk, looking at the armor parts that Elizabeth was wearing: I have an idea

This leads to Twigo coming and throwing Mel, Eli and Hawk off the cliff. They still fall, but fortunately no one gets hurt, and they make their way back up, with Meliodas being weirdly fast.

They survive the fight with Twigo thanks to Meliodas' reflexes. He's absolutely terrified and when he throws Twigos own attack back at him, he's the most surprised out of anyone because he didn't even know he could do that!

The first little 'hurdle' is Vanya, where the water was sealed off by a holy knight. In canon, Meliodas is the one who pulled that sword out, but they haven't found any other Sin yet, so Mel, Eli and Hawk don't know that Mel is capable of pulling it out yet, because, to everyones knowledge, he's just a simple bartender. Even if he has a sword, that's mostly for intimidation!

I do wonder how they would get out of that one.

#Mel has amnesia au #nnt #meliodas #nnt hawk #nnt meliodas #nnt amnesia au

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can-i-write-well-yet · 2 years

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The Truth About Your Heart P2

P1/P2

Part two here we go! I had most of this written out when I put part one out, but thought it needed just a little more before posting it, so it got saved to drafts where I thought I'd work on it later, and then i had to get ready for a trip to visit my parents and my SIL's chiropractor F'd up her back and I had a frightening couple of days where i thought i might've had a malicious cyst and well...

It's later now I guess...

Anyways~ To Part TWO!!

Chapter Two.

King was face to face with Ban, and he hadn’t seen the Fox Sin of Greed this pissed since fighting the literal king of demons, even then it was never aimed anywhere near King so having it happen now was unsettling to say the least.

“Why King? Why the fuck is Captain asking for the kids to join us? He’s never asked before.” He started to pace around the room, picking up bags and various items while talking, “This has something to do with that prophecy the old man spat out doesn’t it? It already involves one of my kids, is he trying to drag one of the other two into it?”

“Ban.” King grabbed his brother-in-law's arm to turn him to look at him, “Calm down, lest you forget that you’re not the only person with a child of prophecy.” King took a breath before continuing, “And you said yourself, this might not be anything more than the Captain being bored and wanting to see us. I know you’re worried but accusing the Captain of foul play when he has no control over it won’t help anyone.”

Ban looked back at his old friend, his brother now, and closed his eyes, slumping into a chair and placing his face into his hands.

“I know,” He spoke softly, “I know it won’t, but I can’t do this King. I can’t live with this fear of my kids being sucked into a fucking apocalypse, I don’t know whether I want to be dead before we figure them all out or just know and have it be over with.”

King nodded solemnly, when Bartra invited all the sins to meet, they never expected to be given a vision of those Four Knights, who would either stop the apocalypse, or be its cause.

When Gowther used his magic to share what exactly Bartra was seeing. That was his first mistake.

King saw Meliodas fall, just for a moment, as if the shock had taken away all his strength. King would’ve fallen too if he saw his own son in that vision.

Seeing Tristan, an adult Tristan, shocked all of them to say the least, King could only imagine what was going through his Captain's mind. And either Meliodas had purposely shut King out or his mind simply went blank from fear, but King couldn’t read his heart. All he could feel was bone deep fear emanating from his once fearless Captain.

He was just glad that Elizabeth hadn’t been with them, he didn't think he would’ve been able to stand hearing her heart, which had always been a painfully open book.

Tristan was the Third of the children of the Seven Deadly Sins, with King's own son being born right after his and Diane’s wedding, and King's nephew (Lancelot, the poor lost boy, his first nephew, who he was afraid might’ve been his last) beating Tristan by just one month.

King was close with all of the children, he never expected to have such a natural talent for child rearing but he was glad he did, whenever the girls would need a day off and the boys would take the kids, Mel and Ban would always be rushing to King for advice, which was new.

‘How do I heat the milk up? How hot does it need to be? What if I burn him!?’

“Just warm it up a little, it doesn’t need to be hot, it just needs to not be cold.”

‘I’ve tried bouncing him and feeding him and changing him but he’s still crying! Does he hate me!? What do I do!?’

“He doesn’t hate you Ban, he just needs his chewie, he’s teething and his teeth probably hurt a little.”

‘King, what's a Binkie? Eli left me a note saying Tristan needed it for sleep but I don’t know what it is!’

“Probably a blanket, didn’t he used to drag around that old purple one Lady Veronica made for him everywhere? It’s most likely that one.”

‘King I will pay you whatever you want if you’ll give them pillow rides.. Please, that's all he wants to do and he says he won’t breathe until he can.’

King was proud to be the one who knew what he was doing while the others were standing around clueless for once in his life. So he never complained whenever he would be given the kids to watch, he loved being with them, Lance was the calmest child he had ever met and would spend most of his time following around King’s children to ask them to play, and Tristan was just in awe of most things King did, and would ask him to tell him stories while sitting on Chastiefol.

King adored Tristan for who he was and what he represented, Peace. Finally after 3000 years, a child of Meliodas and Elizabeth was born, they had waited so long for a child but never risked it before their curses were broken.

Seeing Tristan in that vision, with cold eyes and a war-torn look on his face, covered in heavy armor and riding upon a white horse shocked them all to their very core. They had never thought their kids would be dragged into war, not after all they had done to stop the last one, they had worked so hard for peace.

They knew something was wrong, after what happened to Lancelot they were all on guard, but they thought after they found him it would be done.

‘Five years isn’t that long’ they all had thought, ‘Surely after we find him and fix this we can all go back to living peacefully.’

Seeing Tristan had painfully reminded them all that while five years isn’t that long for them, five years was a third of their children’s lives. They’ve barely lived a decade and are already being thrown into war.

Yes, they were all distraught by seeing the young prince as the Knight in that vision but nothing could’ve prepared them for the knight that came next.

Ban hadn’t said anything when he saw the adult Lancelot standing there, he hadn’t said anything or moved at all, looking back, King realized that was probably due to the fact that he couldn’t breath.

To have not seen his first born for so long and then seeing him grown up in a prophetic vision warning them of the apocalypse? That must’ve hit hard, it apparently hit Gowther hard enough to have him make his second mistake, accidentally knocking them all unconscious.

It was dawn when they had gathered and midnight when they all awoke.

Gowther apologized profusely and tried to get the rest of the vision, but Batra’s mind was old, and his memory was shaky at best. He remembered that the other two knights would have Golden Magic, and Verdant, Wing-like hair.

The knight with the hair would be rather easy to spot, so they all quickly gathered that he must be out in the world somewhere, and wasn’t any of their children.

But the knight with Golden Magic could still be one of theirs.

King knew that Ban would be upset by the summoning, but he still wasn’t prepared for the rage and fear he felt from his brother-in-law's heart.

“I’m gonna go make sure everyone’s ready, calm your heart before coming out please? Everything will be fine, and I don’t want Deidrick or Ellie to pick up on anything.”

“Yeah yeah, I got it. Just go, I'll be out in a bit.”

As King left he spared one last look to the Fox Sin before leaving.

Ban was now left with nothing but his thoughts. And that was never fun. For anyone but especially not him.

This prophecy business was irking him, that fact that three knights were unaccounted for was problematic, the fact that they only knew who two of them even were wasn’t great either, and the fact that they only had one defining trait for each of the unknown two was fucking irritating.

They could literally be anywhere and anyone. The green hair wasn’t that bad because they could be easily identified. But the Golden Magic? Any child that hadn’t yet developed magic became a candidate. And since a large amount of the children he knew were still young, it was concerning, to say the least.

Ban was particularly concerned as neither of his youngest children had developed any innate magical abilities yet.

His daughter could float slightly and was growing healthily, Elaine’s best guess was that would likely inherit her magic, so he was less concerned about her.

But his second son, Gustav. That child worried Ban.

Gustav hadn’t displayed any magical abilities at all, and when Ban had asked around, none of his friends or acquaintances had sensed any innate magical ability within the boy.

Ban should feel relieved, but he wasn’t.

Despite most people believing that Ban was “A brute who couldn’t appreciate a good book if he was beaten to death with it, in fact they weren’t sure he could read at all”, (These were Gowther’s words to Ban after The Fox Sin had spilled Ale on Gowther’s Brand new Book, ‘A Week Spent With Fredrick’. Ban had apologized but Gowther was still bitter for about a month afterwards) Ban read quite a bit.

He had read about heroes who were a part of prophecies, and “The child without magic suddenly gains powerful magic and becomes a tragic hero” was a frighteningly common troupe.

So every day his son walked around with no magic, Ban would pray the child stayed that way.

The fact that the hero in the stories would always be from a long line of heroes or had some sort of tragic backstory, that only made Ban worry that much more, because he had adopted Gustav when the boy was seven.

And seven years is a lot of time unaccounted for.

Lancelot had been missing for two years when Ban made that journey to the edge of Benwick. It was a cold rainy night, in the middle of December. Elaine was waiting at home, heavily pregnant with their second child, and he had been extra paranoid since she was so close to her due date, and the rainstorms had started.

They had been tracking the weather like madmen ever since Lance and Jericho had disappeared that night, at this point Ban could feel the storm's arrival in his bones.

Even so, Ban couldn’t take any chances, so he was determined to do one quick check before heading back to his wife.

He was just about done when he heard it, a small cry of a child, how he had managed to hear it, let alone realize what it was through the tumultuous rain he didn’t know. But he hoped upon hope that maybe that cry belonged to Lance, that after two years his son had finally returned.

He dashed across the field to the middle of the valley in front of Benwick, calling out for someone to hear, he could barely see through the rain, he was soaked from head to toe.

He searched and listened but could hear nothing, see nothing.

He was almost convinced he had some sort of auditory hallucination when he heard it again, louder this time.

He pinpointed the sound coming from the stone near to where he and Jericho had last talked about the disappearances.

As he made his way there his hopes soared, finally, maybe he had found him. His son, his Lancelot.

His hopes were dashed almost as quickly as they had built. As he was ten feet away, there was a child there, behind the stone, but this child was just that, a child.

Lance would’ve been thirteen by now, and much larger.

As his hopes faded away into a despairing thought that he may never see his child again, his thoughts quickly turned to panic when he got closer and saw the child there, soaked worse then even Ban was, and the worst of it was the child wasn’t shivering.

Now Ban’s not the smartest but he knows that being that wet and cold your body should be moving trying to warm you up, that’s what the shivering was, the fact that the child wasn’t moving was more than concerning.

Ban began to walk to the child, ‘He has to be alive,’ Thought Ban as he approached, ‘He had called out to me, and I came here so fast, he couldn’t have died that quick.’

He put his hand on the kid's shoulder, slowly so as to not frighten him. The shoulder was as cold as he expected, when he turned the child’s body towards him, he nearly had a heart attack at what he saw.

Sunken in cheeks, and his frame was slim, too slim for a child, he had pale skin that stood out, even in the dead of night, Ban couldn’t even tell if the poor child was breathing or not.

Throwing caution to wind, he picked up the kid into his arms and removed the ripped, faded, useless, blue shirt to put his ear to the boy’s chest.

He had seen something like this before, a child that was cold, slim, and pale, (His sister had looked like this before she died) and he knew that no child could’ve survived a night like this all by themselves.

He knew that most likely what he heard was either the poor child's last hurrah, or the wind playing tricks on his mind. but still he hugged the cold child closer to his ear, hoping against all he knew.

‘Let me be wrong,’ He prayed, ‘Just this once, please let me be wrong.’

And for the first time in his life, it seemed God was on his side, for he heard it, the soft ‘bump-bump-bump’.

It came from the boy’s chest, and Ban swore he had never heard a sweeter sound in his life. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around the boy before taking off into the night, making a beeline for his home.

That night had been one of the most frightening, heartstopping, painstakingly slow nights of his life. He had brought the child home in a panic, holding him as close as physically possible, trying to warm him up.

Bursting into his home he had called out for Elaine, when she saw what he was carrying she immediately got to work, drawing a warm bath and breaking the emergency spell bead that had originally gotten as a way to summon Elizabeth to help with the birth.

To say Elizabeth was confused was an understatement, seeing as Elaine was still two months away from her due date. But she had quickly gathered what was going on and had chased Elaine and Ban from the washroom to focus on the poor boy.

Elaine and Ban had waited the whole night in the living room, waiting.

Elaine had fallen asleep two hours in, but Ban didn’t sleep that night, couldn’t sleep, not until he knew the boy would make it.

At midnight Elizabeth had come back down to them, looking as exhausted as Ban felt, and had told him that she had done all she could, and that the rest would be up to the boy.

She had offered to take Elaine to lay down while he watched over the boy, he had thanked her profusely for that.

He walked into the room with deep fear in his heart, as he saw the child lying there he had two conflicting emotions trying to settle within him.

One was a bleeding worry.

The child looked two steps from death’s door. Their breathing was erratic and heavy, interrupted with horrid coughs, their face was flushed a bright red, and he swore he could see tears leaking from the squeezed shut eyes. He was adrift with concern that the child might not make it through the night. He couldn’t take it, this child had barely lived. How old were they? They looked to be about five, but they were so thin, were they that small or starving? He didn’t know their age, he didn’t even know their name, he didn’t want to carve out a blank gravestone Goddamnit.

The second emotion was a deep, warm, fondness.

He looked at this child, so small, and saw his tiny eyebrows furrowed in anger, as if they were fighting against their sickness with all their tiny might. He looked at their small hands, clutching the blankets so tight they turned red, so small and so strong. He pushed back their bangs that were sticking to their head with sweat, he briefly wondered what color his hair would be when they got it cleaned? He had known this child for less then a day but he knew that he would protect him with his dying breath.

He had picked up a storybook Gowther had gifted him for Lance, deciding to read to the boy. As he read the book he could hear the boys breathing starting to settle into even breaths, no longer wracked with coughing.

When he finished the seventh story, a tale of two parents and their baby being saved by a ghostly warrior, the sun had begun to rise out the window, shining onto the small boy. That was when he heard it.

“P-please…” The child had spoken, Ban had barely heard it.

He got closer to the child, brushing his hair back and asking what he needed, water? Food? Was he cold?

The boy had furrowed his brows as he struggled to respond, but had managed to utter softly,

“Please… turn the stupid sun off… it’s hurting my eyes.”

Ban had never cried so happily in years.

The boy had taken months to fully recover, (He still had breathing problems to this day) but had been quickly inducted into Ban’s family. He couldn’t remember who he was, or where he came from. The last thing he remembered was walking through the rain looking for shelter, and calling out for help before collapsing, he didn’t know how far he had walked. He couldn’t remember what his name was either, so Ban and Elaine had decided to just call him their Boyo, just in case he remembered.

When Beru was born the boy had been quick to help wherever he could, making sure Elaine could rest comfortably and cleaning up around the house so it was easier. Elaine still recounts how helpful he had been to this day.

There was this moment, about four months after Beru had been born, when she was trying to roll onto her stomach while lying down on the bed, and she had somehow managed to wiggle her way out of her blanket pile and scoot near the edge of the bed without attracting Ban or Elaine’s notice, but she hadn’t escaped the boy’s.

She had nearly rolled herself off the bed but the boy had flung himself towards her and had caught her at the last moment, Elaine and Ban had rushed to the both of them to find their Boyo red faced, chastising the small baby about how she should’ve stayed in her blanket pile and had no reason to throw herself off the bed.

Beru just giggled, having no idea what the boy was saying but seemingly amused by him all the same. The boy wasn’t as amused but still carried her to Elaine, Beru still overcome with giggles.

Watching the scene, Ban had been reminded of something, a long memory buried deep back in his mind, of the only time he had ever seen Jericho’s older brother talk to her.

He had gone to check on her, mostly because he was told by Merlin to double check that he had actually fully removed the demon seed from her, but partly because he had felt slightly guilty for unintentionally driving her to become a demon host by purposely humiliating her at the prison, but you’d never hear him admit that outloud.

When he had finally found her, she was already in a heated discussion with someone else, her older brother.

He was apparently chastising her for ‘running herself ragged’ to which she countered with ‘walking down the street to get something to eat wasn’t running herself ragged, she was just bored for God’s sake!’ to which he then responded with ‘It’s running yourself ragged when we literally have people we pay to do that so you can rest you incorrigible dumbass! You had a DEMON residing in your body feasting on your emotions for months! AND YOU CAN’T REST FOR A WEEK!?’

His entire face had gone bright red with anger at his sister’s nonchalance for her own health, which she had apparently found hilarious because she had started laughing hysterically.

Her brother wasn’t as amused but he helped her back to her feet and they started the other way, Jericho laughing the whole way.

Ban stared at the children in front of him as he was reminded of that day, the only clear memory he had of his foster sister and her real brother, and remembered his name.

“Gustav.”

“Yeah Dad?” The boy had responded.

That one response had shocked both of the boys in the room into silence, the only thing anyone could hear was Beru, still giggling.

After trying to coax the boy out from under the bed, where he had hid in embarrassment, Ban had decided to talk with him about how he would adore if the boy wanted to call him Dad, and had asked why he had responded to the name.

“It felt right? I don’t know, you said it and it sounded like you were talking to me, sorry.”

“Kid, you don’t have to apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Ban was lying down next to the bed on the floor on his back, talking to the child as he rested his small chin on his crossed arms.

“Does someone else already have it?” The child questioned.

“Have what?”

“The name, you said it. Does someone else have it or did you make it up? Like you did with Master Hawk?”

Ban fixed the boy with a slightly annoyed look, “Number one, Master Hawk is very real-” The boy fixed him with an equally annoyed look and scoffed slightly, “AND, no. I didn’t make it up, he was my-” He cut himself off there, were he and Gustav anything?

Jericho was Ban’s sister, and he was her Brother, you could pry that title from his cold dead hands, but he and Gustav were never close, had they ever even spoken to each other? Or was Ban just a stranger that had known Gustav’s sister and attened his funeral?

“He was your what?” The boy had scooted slightly out from under the bed, enough to lay his upper body on Ban’s chest to look him in the eye. And as Ban looked at the boy, he decided that he had already claimed Jericho, he was sure Gustav wouldn't mind if Ban decided to claim him too.

“He was my little brother, his name was Gustav, and he was an annoying older brother, seeing you nag Beru reminded me of him.”

The boy puffed his cheeks out in anger, “I wasn’t nagging!”He said fervently, ”She needed to know she can’t just roll herself off of places like that! She could get hurt!”

“She’s like three months old.”

“If you treat her like a baby she’ll never grow up! You gotta talk grown up like and then she’ll copy you! And besides, I know she knows better, you can tell from her eyes.”

“See? Naggy~♪”

The boy had then smacked Ban on the head before fully laying down on top of him.

“If he’s your younger brother, how could he nag like an older brother?”

“... He didn’t nag me, just our younge-” He choked up a bit at this point, he hadn’t really talked about Jericho since she and Lance had disappeared, he cleared his throat before continuing, “Our younger sister, Jericho…”

“Oh… D-do… Do you think he’d be… Okay with it?”

“Okay with what?”

The boy had curled up into the crook of Ban’s arm, he did that often, whenever he was unsure of things and needed comfort.

“With me using his name? Will it get confusing? Would he be mad?”

“No buddy, I think he’d like it. I think he’d like it a lot.”

“Okay… Then I’ll use it good, so he’s happy, I’ll grow up big and strong, so his name gets a good story.”

Ban broke into a wide grin at that, “Sounds like a great idea~♪, Super smart like.”

“Thanks… Dad.”

Ban was glad the boy had curled himself into his arm, he didn’t like letting kids see him cry.

“No problem… Gustav.”