Both Ban and Elizabeth wanted to comment on Elaine's words. Make her feel better and get rid of the obvious grief running through her. But unfortunately, there was no time.
As quickly as the last memory had stopped, the next began. And although the fairy herself knew this part, she hadn't told either of the other two; which meant they had to pay close attention.
Meliodas's head felt fuzzy as consciousness slowly came back to him. He couldn't remember what had happened last but had the nagging feeling it was important. Like he needed to react or resist the fog covering him. However as he slowly opened his eyes and went to sit up, it started to become apparent that he wasn't in a place he recognized either.
His eyes scanned the bright red walls accented with black and purple sludge dripping down them before his eyes landed on Elaine unconscious nearby, causing everything to flood back as he stumbled to his feet to go see her.
"E-Elaine!"
He gently touched her shoulder as he observed her dress was now a clean, black, color rather than the pure white covered in messy blood stains it was before.
She stirred at the touch before slowly blinking awake and freaking out as soon as she did.
"D-Demon!!!"
He was blasted back hard as he got slammed against a wall.
"S-Stay back!"
"Ugh.. El-Elaine? It's me. Meliodas."
"N-No! Don't try any tricks! There's no way he would..."
Her eyes widened as the mark covering his faded subconsciously from getting knocked back, not even aware it existed to begin with.
"N-No... They got you.... T-They got me! Oh no! What about my brother! Is he-"
"He's fine E, him and Elizabeth both made it out safely, I made sure of it."
She relaxed slightly at that, still dazed from everything that happened.
"T-Thank you... that's a huge relief. But... what now? I... I don't feel any different, do you?"
He smiled reassuringly and shook his head.
"No, I just feel like I'm still plain old me. Except maybe the headache, but that's okay! It's just something to keep me focused I suppose."
His smile widened warmly before Elaine's own mouth yelled his name worredly.
"Y-Your arm! It's bleeding!"
Blinking in surprise, he looked down at it to see all of his previous marks gone with a fresh one in their place.
His eyes looked completely stunned for a moment before the expression changed to a bittersweet kind of sadness.
"I-It's okay. Must've nicked it, that's all! Alright, so we both feel the same, however I lost my wings and you seem to have more.. aggressive, power than before. Which means it is true we've been turned."
His eyes darting around deep in thought with furrowed brows, he looked desperately in his mind for some sort of brightside to this, only for an overwhelming amount of panic to fill him that was visible to those watching.
He eventually took a deep breath, counted to ten in his head, before his bright demeanor was back and he spoke a plan.
"So here's what I propose we do! Sure this circumstance isn't... ideal, however since we've been turned we will blend right in! We should gather info about what this place is and other demons. If we can maybe find out their plans or any sort of weakness they might possess, the goddess's might just win this war! This can still work well in our favor!"
"Meli, how in the realms are we supposed to do that? We have no idea where we are, my magic is out of control and I'm much weaker than you! What if yours is the same as mine but even stronger!? What if we end up blowing our cover and they corrupt us further into those big red demons? What if we aren't the same and just feel it? W-What if we hurt someone!?"
He looked as overwhelmed as her for just a second before he gently put his hands on her shoulders to ground her.
"It umm... it won't turn out like that! W-We can train! Just like we did as what we were before. If we train, keep calm, and figure out how our ability works, everything will run smoothly. Maybe we can even help the goddesses once we get back with our different abilities once we figure out their extent!"
She still looked hesitant but sighed once seeing the confidence he held.
"I...I trust you. We can.. We can at least try."
"That's the spirit! Okay, so this room seems pretty safe, should we practice here?"
"Aren't you worried we might hurt each other?"
"Nope! Cause I'm gonna make a few targets like back at the capital. It'll give us a better idea of what we can do."
"O-Okay.."
"Just don't let your nerves get to you, kay? You're gonna do just fine! If you'd like, I can go first?"
"N-No, it's okay. I can do this!"
"Yes you can! Now, I'm almost almost putting this target together... there! All done. I'm going to put this on the wall over here, and then you try to fire one of your attacks from before, if you imagine something from before we got turned, maybe your equivalent now will show?"
"O-Okay... s-stand back please.."
"Will do!"
"He wasn't at all... peppy."
Ban said, the words sarcastic but the tone surprised.
"Yes, he was... Turning had no effect on how optimistic he acted, which is why we need to find what did."
Elaine still sounded calm, however she looked sad, although whether from what she had just learned or at seeing this again they weren't sure.
"Okay, you ready?"
"Y-Yeah.."
"Alright, aaand fire!"
Hope you all like the chapter! Also please go check out Unknowingly's story! She's very talented!
