King POV:
After Julie's little outburst, everyone agreed it was best we stopped training for the day. Apparently we were leaving here early tomorrow to help Escanor deliver some booze, so we all decided to take it easy the rest of the evening.
We were all sitting around chatting when Escanor came out with a pile of uniforms similar to what he was wearing.
"I've had to alter a few uniforms for the girls, but I figured you could all use some spare clothes," Escanor timidly said in his weakened form approaching the group.
Ban, who had been missing a shirt since I've arrived got a uniform. Elaine who was wearing a dark black dress that hardly represented her personality got one of the altered ones, along with Julie who was wearing tattered shorts and a shirt without shoes.
Her eyes instantly lit up as Escanor handed her the last set of clothes along with a pair of simple black shoes. It was a cute little green and white dress with a simple white apron.
She squealed, taking the clothes from him, a huge smile adorning her face. She cautiously approached Escanor and wrapped her arms tightly around him thanking him profusely.
I had never seen someone so excited about a set of new clothes. Based on what little information I had on her though, this must have been a big deal for her, who knows how long she had worn those drab, ripped clothes she currently wore. They all got changed and I couldn't help but smile at Julie who I understood to be around Ban's age, but still acted very childlike. She twirled around in the dress, giggling and ruffling the skirt.
Jericho and I still had intact wardrobes, so we weren't provided with the tavern uniforms, probably because Escanor had run out of spares.
I couldn't help but notice Ban's attention stuck on Julie who was clearly in her own world. He had Elaine in his lap, but his eyes were glued on Julie. I know he loved my sister at one point, but I wasn't sure what his relationship with Julie was like. He was clearly infatuated, at least a little. I really could not stand to see either of the girls get hurt by him, he was such a selfish ass.
Eventually everyone had settled down and gone to sleep, ready to wake early the next morning.
I had gotten several hours of sleep before nature called. After that had been handled, I walked back to camp and noticed Julie pacing around stifling yawns. Upon approaching her I noticed the dark bags under her bloodshot eyes.
"Are you ok?" I asked as I got closer.
She jumped, startled by my presence. She rubbed her eyes and nodded. I looked at her skeptically.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" I pushed.
"Umm, not tired." She mumbled, not making eye contact, which wasn't unusual for her based on the past interactions I've had with her.
"You're clearly tired, if you're nervous about some kind of danger, I can stay up and keep watch." I told her, laying on my floating chastiefol pillow.
"It- it's not that..." She sighed, "It's just I don't want to wake up screaming again... I know it's stupid, it's just embarrassing, and I don't want people to feel bad for me, I just-" she rambled until I cut her off.
"I don't know you very well, but you clearly have some kind of trauma, screaming when you wake up is not the nuisance you think it is. No one here minds, everyone likes you and wants to help you get better." I said bluntly.
She didn't respond, just stared at the floor.
I handed her my pillow, "Here. Get some sleep, please."
She looked up at me reluctantly, I nodded giving her permission to take it. She took it from my hands and squeezed it tight up against her body, a small smile fell onto her face. She retreated up against some rocks and cuddled into the pillow, sighing a small breath of content.
It really was not difficult to please her, she had been stripped of so many basic necessities that a pillow or pair of new clothes seemed like the world to her.
For some reason I just saw so much of my sister in her, I wanted to protect her like I couldn't Elaine. I gave her one last glance before going back to sleep.
Ban POV:
We all tiredly walked around camp packing up Escanor's things for the delivery. That is everyone except Julie, who was still asleep clutching King's pillow like her life depended on it off to the side.
When did he give her that, I wondered.
I walked over to wake her since we'd be leaving soon and King intercepted me. "Let her sleep, she was up really late." He told me, as the others bustled around us. Jericho overheard and stopped next to us.
"What was she doing up late?" She asks exactly what I was thinking.
"Mm, said something about not wanting to wake up screaming..." King said, vaguely.
Tch. I knew she was embarrassed about that, but she couldn't not sleep, it wasn't healthy. Once everything was packed, I picked up Julie and placed her on the floor of the wagon. True to a deep sleeper, she didn't notice.
Escanor sat in the front steering along with Jericho and I. Elaine and King sat in the back together.
"We're here," Escanor announced hours later. I looked up at the tall wall skeptically.
"This wall is where you're delivering alcohol to?" Jericho asked standing up and stretching out her limbs.
I carefully tapped Julie and she sat up quickly gasping. No screaming this time, progress.
"We're here." I told her.
She nodded and stood up, following the rest of us out of the wagon.
Everyone walked into the tall entrance as I cooly trailed behind, Julie standing just besides me, clearly not comfortable with all the new company. She was practically clinging to me, not that I minded much.
Suddenly a tall rock wall appeared in front of me and Julie separating us from the rest of the group.
She gasped and ran up to the wall, hitting it. "How..?" I heard her mutter under her breath.
I stood beside her also observing the situation we were in. A loud noise came from behind us, she spun around startled seeing another rock wall appearing, blocking off our entrance.
"What the..?" She groaned.
I pursed my lips, "looks like some sort of maze."
I could see a glint of panic in her eyes, so I patted her head trying to show some kind of support.
"Look it's like old times." I joked, "Just the two of us."
She walked ahead of me, but I could tell she was smiling at the comment. I followed behind her as we walked deeper into the maze. I wasn't entirely sure what we were getting ourselves into, but it didn't seem as if we had much of a say in the matter.
We walked for a while in silence until Julie asked a question I was unsure of how to answer.
"Who is Elaine?"
"I left Ravens to find The Fountain of Youth. Zhivago had told me about it, and I wanted to prove to him, or myself that I could steal the ultimate item. Elaine was the guardian of the fountain, and we... She and I enjoyed each other's presence. She was left alone there for years, and was lonely and we just sort of hit it off. But then she was killed."
What a masterful description. I'm sure that's just what she wanted to hear.
