King knew the fireworks were beautiful. Of course he did. But he couldn't seem to pay attention to them, not when Diane was beside him and the words she had said earlier were echoing louder than the booms.

Let's go together. Let's go together.

But why? What did it mean?

'King. King are you listening?' Diane's face was right in front of him.

King staggered back. 'Um, what did you say?'

Diane turned back. 'Aw come on. Watch the fireworks. They're amazing. Best seats in the house.'

King nodded with a soft smile and stepped up beside her, watching a particularly big firework explode. Its red light washed over the kingdom. But before King could truly get into it or even pluck up the courage to sit beside Diane, Diane sprang to her feet.

'Oops, that's right.' She turned to him with an apologetic smile. 'I was supposed to help at the tavern.'

King's heart sank. 'Huh?'

Diane hopped off the battlements, her hair flying behind her. 'Sorry, the captain's waiting, so I need to go on ahead.'

'Diane, wait!' The words burst from his lips before King could stop them. Don't go, he wanted to say. Stay with me. Just for a little longer. But Diane was looking at him with those pretty eyes and the words seemed to get stuck in his throat, so instead King just said, 'I'll be along soon too.'

'Right. See ya.' Diane waved to him before racing off once again.

King raised a hand in farewell, laughing awkwardly. As soon as Diane was out of sight, King grabbed his hair and groaned. 'I am such a stupid little moron!'

—

You went to stack the dirty plates but Meliodas stopped you. He took the plates from your hands and replaced them with a bottle of ale. It wasn't your first – or even your second, for that matter – but you accepted it anyway, happy to procrastinate cleaning even though you knew you'd regret it in the morning.

A drunken laugh reached your ears and you looked up to see a flushed Ban holding two steins and pouring the contents of one onto Hawk. 'Here, drink up, Master.'

'Easy,' said Hawk, clearly irritated at being interrupted from his food. 'You're gonna make all my scraps taste like ale.'

'Ale marinated pork sounds good,' said Meliodas.

You snorted into your bottle, the sound drowned out by Hawk's affronted squeal.

'Looking good, Diane,' Howzer slurred from the next table over. 'Hey. More.' He held out his empty stein.

Diane brought him a replacement. Through the haze of alcohol, your mind slowly put together what you were seeing. Howzer was blushing. Or was it from drinking too much? Or maybe his face was always that red? You couldn't remember.

Meliodas laughed. You blinked at him, your eyelids falling and rising slower than you were used too. They had gotten heavier for some reason.

'Are you laughing at me?' you said, wondering if your tongue had grown or if it had always been that big.

Meliodas's eyes twinkled and you had the sudden urge to profess your love loudly and possibly in song form. Meliodas, Meliodas, your eyes are so ... green. Yes. A very good start as his eyes were, in fact, green. Now to continue ... Wait. What rhymes with green? Are there any words that rhyme with green? Oh, no, wait. As green and as pretty as the freshest of beans. Was that a good song?

Beside you, Meliodas spluttered mid-drink. You looked at him worriedly and went to ask if he was okay but there was no need because he wrapped his arms around you, burying his face in the crook of your neck. He was so warm. Maybe you should include that in your song. Or maybe something about his hair?

Before you could think of something that rhymed with "your hair is so yellow", Ban said loudly, 'Where's master? And that short bastard?'

'Do you mean King?' asked Meliodas, turning his head slightly.

'He said he'd be right behind me, so he can't be far away,' said Diane as she passed your table.

'Bet he's on the roof,' you said. You drank the last few drops from your bottle.

'Let's go get him!' Ban cheered. He got his feet, swaying slightly. Meliodas got up too, following his best friend into the cool night. You could hear them shouting to King outside and giggled. Whatever they said must have worked, because the three of them came traipsing into the tavern loudly, Ban pressing a stein into King's hands. You reached for another bottle.

It was late, the darkness pressing up against the windows. Diane and King were on one side of the tavern. Howzer was slumped on a table, passed out and snoring. Ban was sprawled on the floor, a dopey smile plastered on his face and also snoring.

Meliodas settled his head on his arms and yawned before not moving again. His breaths became deep and even, the sound weighing your eyelids down even more. But, before you could sleep, there was something you should do.

You got to your feet carefully, mindful of the swaying floor, and grabbed a blanket. With a smile, you draped it over Meliodas, pressing a clumsy kiss to his head. He smiled and mumbled in his sleep. You turned to the stairs, ready to go to bed, but they looked really far away and they were moving up and down. So instead you stumbled your way to the bar. It took you three tries to hop onto the counter, but you finally made it and leant against the wall. You wouldn't sleep here. You were just resting your eyes until the booze wore off and you could climb the stairs. That's all.

—

It was weird not tying her hair up, but Diane knew she couldn't. Not today. So she left it free, feeling the unfamiliar tickle on her neck and back as she walked through the bar full of sleeping bodies. She stopped for a second beside King, tucking the blanket back around his shoulders where it had come loose in the night. And, with one last look at his sleeping face, Diane left the tavern.

'Good morning, Howzer,' she said upon spotting the Holy Knight sitting on the verandah.

'Hey. You're up early,' he said. 'You headed somewhere?' Howzer yawned widely.

Diane hopped down the front steps. 'Yep. Oh, I have to take my medicine.'

She pulled the small corked bottle from her pocket. The purple star-shaped pills rattled. Diane was thankful for them. Of course she was. But part of her also wished she didn't need them.

'Your what?' Howzer looked puzzled.

'It keeps me smaller. Because if I'm huge, I end up scaring everyone.'

Howzer didn't say anything so Diane waved goodbye and set off into town, the freshly risen sun blushing in the sky.

—

King's head hurt. Like something huge and heavy had fallen on it. He wailed, clutching his face, gingerly feeling the sore spot on his forehead. Eventually the pain passed and King looked around. Had he fallen asleep on the floor?

Ban was close by, spread out on the floor, a bottle of ale still clutched in one hand. The captain was at one of the tables, also asleep. [Y/n] was on the bar, propped up against the wall, mouth slightly open as she slept.

King frowned at them. 'Geez.'

'Good morning, Sir King,' said Princess Elizabeth. 'Sleep well? Would you like me to get you some water or anything?'

'No thanks. I'm just fine.' King noticed the princess was carrying empty bottles. 'Those bottles ... are you cleaning up by any chance?'

'Yes.'

'Oh, come on. The captain shouldn't make a princess do that.'

'No, it's all right.' Elizabeth smiled softly. 'After all, there isn't much else I can do. If I can help out [Y/n] and Sir Meliodas in any small way, I'm happy.'

King put his hands on his hips. 'Captain, did you hear what Elizabeth just said? Don't you think you should let her know how much you appreciate her once in a while?'

He turned to where Meliodas was just sitting up and stretching. 'Thanks a bunch,' said Meliodas, throwing a cheeky smile Elizabeth's way.

King shook his head. That was not a suitable thank you, and he was just about to press the matter when he noticed that his irresponsible captain seemed distracted. King watched as Meliodas's eyes scanned the bar before stopping on [Y/n], who was still asleep.

Meliodas got up and brought his blanket over to her, tucking it around her shoulders. [Y/n] mumbled something that sounded like 'Pretty green beans' and shifted slightly. Meliodas smiled fondly and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

Jealousy wrapped its sticky hand around King's heart and he frowned.

'Are you feeling okay, Sir King?' Elizabeth's soft voice made King jump. He waved his hands frantically.

'No, no, no, no, I'm fine.'

'There's someone you need to thank too, King,' Meliodas said with his hands on his hips.

'Huh?'

'After you passed out drunk, Diane never left your side, you know. Stayed up with you all night long.'

King stared blankly. Did he mean to say those images of Diane in his head weren't a drunken fantasy but, in fact, the truth? The room suddenly felt a lot hotter.

'Really? Is that true?'

'Totally true.'

'Where's Diane?' King tore through the tavern. 'Hey, Diane!'

'Keep your voice down,' said someone from the door. King whirled and saw ... oh. Just Howzer. 'If you're looking for her, she left early this morning.'

'Where'd she go?'

'I'm not sure,' said Elizabeth, who was now getting a proper thank-you-hug from Meliodas. 'She said she'd be back by noon.'

'Gotcha.' King flew out the door, Chastiefol by his side, completely ignoring Howzer. 'I'm gonna go look for her, okay?'

'Don't do it,' said Howzer, ruining King's purposeful (and blissful) ignorance. 'Maybe she wants to be alone.'

King stopped. This dumb loser. 'What do you mean by that?'

Howzer rubbed his neck. 'Well during that last battle, the townsfolk did and said some pretty awful things to her, you know. Sure, it was Grand Master Dreyfus who incited them, but maybe living in the human world is itself a source of pain for Diane.'

The words made King remember something he didn't want to remember. Diane, torn and bruised, her eyes scared and sad and defeated. King swore he'd never see her like that again. Anger started to fizz in his stomach. Howzer. He had no right to look like that. Diane's happiness wasn't his responsibility. It was King's.

'To be honest, I don't really know how to comfort her.' As Howzer finished his drivel, King floated closer to his dumb face.

'Howzer, there's absolutely no need for you to comfort her.' King's voice was soft but deadly, in the manner of a cushion that was being used to suffocate someone. 'You can just leave all that to me, okay?'

And with that, King clutched Chastiefol to his chest and flew off into the kingdom to find Diane.

Whether he found her – and what they might or might not have done – I'll leave to your imagination.

—

A long way away it was raining and Hendrickson was cold. Or maybe he was hot. It was hard to tell when he couldn't feel his legs but could somehow feel every tiny raindrop that fell onto his ravaged body. He looked up into the sky, into the roiling grey clouds, and saw something.

It was coming closer, flying unsteadily and without grace. Hendrickson knew what it was and what it was holding. The key for the door he longed to open, now falling out of the sky. The arm landed and turned towards him.

'You did well to return,' Hendrickson said. Each word ached as it scraped past his throat like it was covered in thorns.

The thing's mouth opened like a putrid flower. It spat out the relief and collapsed. Hendrickson reached, fighting the pain and the darkness that dragged into the corners of his eyes with claws. But he couldn't move. He couldn't reach. He was so close. Defeat and failure tasted bitter on his tongue.

'Damn you, Meliodas. Damn you, [Y/n]. I live. I'm down, but I live.'

That's right. He was alive. He couldn't stop yet. Just reach a bit further. Pull a bit harder. 'Come back.'

Hendrickson strained until what was left of his heart felt like it would burst from his chest. Completely spent, he let his head fall back.

'The damage is far too great.'

The darkness didn't have claws anymore. It had a blanket, a soft bed, a calm voice. Hendrickson let it soothe him. It was nice to rest.

'Isn't it too soon to go to sleep?' said a deep voice from somewhere.

Hendrickson opened his eyes. He knew that voice. He didn't know where he was – a wide field filled with flowers – but he knew that voice.

There was a breeze. Hendrickson saw it ruffle his clothes, saw it blow the flower petals, but he couldn't feel it on his skin. Perhaps he didn't have skin anymore. With what dregs of energy he had, Hendrickson looked to his left.

'Dreyfus ... Is ... is that you?'

Dreyfus was there. He was standing, tall, unmoving, the one constant rock that had always been in Hendrickson's life.

'Hendrickson.' Dreyfus smiled.

Hendrickson's vision blurred and he wondered if he was closer to dying now than ever. And then he discovered he did have skin because he felt something. Something wet and warm was rolling down his cheeks.

'Why are you crying?' asked Dreyfus.

'I don't know. Just seeing your face, I suddenly ... I've committed scores of mistakes that can't be undone, most likely against you as well. I'm so ashamed. Won't you please let me sleep now? I'm so exhausted. So weak. And my body won't move anymore.'

Hendrickson's vision blurred in and out. Dreyfus was there and then he was closer. He was kneeling. He was biting his wrist and blood was flowing and Hendrickson watched from somewhere far away, wanting to sleep and rest and run and scream and stop his best friend from hurting himself. There was something warm and salty in Hendrickson's mouth, trickling down his throat. He wanted to gag, to spit it out, but it was like his body belonged to someone else now.

Hendrickson lay in the flowers and cried and swallowed Dreyfus's blood.

'Dreyfus ...'

Dreyfus smiled at him. 'My friend, get up on your feet one more time.'

Hendrickson opened his eyes. Dreyfus was gone. He was back under the clouds, the taste of blood on his lips. A pain was blazing on his arm and he saw the black flames and gritted his teeth.

Something was falling from the sky. It fell more gracefully than the arm. It was a cloth soaked in blood.

It was what Hendrickson needed.