Oneshots!

#102 He's A What!? [P2]

It had taken three days to get the flower.  And no, it wasn't just because they started the journey by going up the wrong mountain, and it also wasn't because a snowstorm had started the evening of the first day, no... that wasn't it either. It was because they had to fight a FLIPPING PLANT MONSTER after finding and securing the plant. And any of the sins could tell you, that was not a fight they wanted to ever relive again. 

Although, the two good things that had come out of the trip were the fact that they actually managed to get the flower to begin with- a very good thing for all of the effort it had taken- and also that in all of the walking and traveling and fighting, none of them had really had a chance to talk or fight about their situation with their captain. Although now as the trekked back down the mountainside with sunny skies, no monsters in sight, and a clear path to home, the group found that they didn't have the same luxury. And after the first hour of walking in silence, Diane had finally had enough of all of the things unsaid hanging in the thin, cold, air. 

"So... what do you think will happen after we give the captain the medicine."

"He won't be sick anymore."

Leave it to Ban to answer a complicated question as simply as possible while avoiding the real seriousness of a situation. Diane had a brief flair of anger that tempted her greatly to punt him down the rest of the mountain, but she resisted when King answered in a correct way in place of the immortal idiot. 

"I suppose we'll have to wait and see after we give Merlin the flower to prepare for the cure. Our top priority right now is keeping Meliodas from running rampant and hurting innocents, so that is what we'll do."

His voice was uncharacteristically serious and firm, more alert than the soft and flustered tone he normally spoke in. And the fact that he also called the demon by name instead of captain didn't go unnoticed by the shrunken giant. But... could she blame him for losing the honorifics? She wasn't even sure herself if she was going to still use them after all of this was over, but part of her heart couldn't help but ask the next question to go along with the first, unsure if she wanted to hear a response for fear of the harshness that might be given with one. 

"Is that... the only reason, though? Is the only reason we're trying to save the captain... because it's our duty?"

She wasn't given an answer as the group continued on their journey in silence. Which the girl ultimately decided was worse than any hateful, spiteful, comeback she could've gotten. Because it left her unsure of if she was the only one who's heart broke in two at the thought of no longer calling the man she loved her friend, and captain. Or if the others all felt the same emptiness that she did. An emptiness that Meliodas's absence would leave in her life, and her heart. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They managed to make the trip back by that night as halfway back Gowther sent a message to them saying they were close enough for Merlin to teleport them home now. Although, as they now stood in the Boar Hat in the same place they were when they decided to start this journey, none of them felt a fuzzy feeling at being home. Instead, the felt like they were standing in a room built on lies, along with the friendships they had each forged independently with the man they used to call their leader and friend- no- their family.