The Eighth Sin

Episode 21.5 - I Won't Stay

The room was filled with harsh glares. Cruel words left mouths and hurtful jabs cut through steeled hearts. Eyes were filled with equal hurt and anger. Meliodas and Y/N had been arguing for half an hour.

"No!" Y/N said, crossing her arms. "For the last time, I'm not staying back just because I hurt your ego last time by getting hurt. You know that it healed in just a few hours because it was just a twisted ankle!"

"You're not listening to me!" Meliodas insisted, taking a step closer to his friend. "The problem is that you got hurt at all."

"Yeah, unfortunately that's kind of in job description, so get over it!" Y/N shouted, waving her hands around.

"Why won't you just listen to me?" Meliodas asked.

"It's not like you're listening to me!"

Y/N and Meliodas glared at each other, each breathing heavily from shouting.

Meliodas broke the silence first, saying, "I have bad experiences with people who I love being warriors and dying."

Y/N shook her head. "Unless they literally had the ability to alter memories, I don't think that's a fair comparison." She pointed out.

"You're not invincible!"

"I never said I was!"

Meliodas sighed. "We're not getting any closer to finding a compromise."

"How can we compromise when we want completely opposite things?" Y/N asked, walking all the way to Meliodas. She turned his head to force him to look at her. She smiled softly, the first kind look she'd given him since that morning. "I understand wanting to keep me safe, but you can't do that." Meliodas opened his mouth to say something, but Y/N kept talking. "You just can't. I chose this life just much as you did."

"I'm sorry, Y/N." Meliodas said, pushing her away. Y/N looked confused, but quickly understood as Meliodas stepped out of the room and locked her in. She pounded on the door, frustrated groans coming through to poke at Meliodas' heart.

Fortunately Meliodas was good at ignoring her, so he just walked downstairs. "Where's Y/N?" Gowther asked as he w=stepped into the foyer that the rest of the (human-sized) Sins were waiting.

"Oh, I locked her in the room." Meliodas said, shrugging.

"What?" Ban asked in surprise. "Why? We don't have time for your weird lovers quarrels turned-"

"You always take everything the wrong way." Meliodas said, cutting him off. "She's just too reckless and unreasonable to be taken on a mission like this."

"Are we talking about the same Y/N?" King asked.

"Yes, Y/N thinks her every action through." Gowther said. "She's a great asset to this team. There's no reason to leave her behind."

"If you think she's so great, then why don't you stay with her?" Meliodas snapped. He was tired of how close Gowther was with Y/N. He had known her the longest, but it seemed like the pink haired emotionless doll had wormed his way closest to her heart. (Of course, if he had taken even a second to consider it, he would've found this claim irrational. It was clear that Diane was the one who had grown closest to Y/N.)

King looked at his captain in confusion, and Ban laughed, probably about to make some stupid remark when he clamped his mouth shut. Meliodas slowly turned around to see Y/N standing on the stairs, eyes cold.

"Did you seriously think that locking the door would keep me in?" She asked, before flashing the rest of the company an empty grin. "Now, come on. We've got a criminal to catch."