Indigo wavered in view, dappled with black and murky grey. There was no direction here but I felt like I was sinking. Down, down, down. Was there no bottom?

Did I really care?

My throat was constricted. My lungs didn't ache for air. Did it really matter? I was content. No breathing meant no pain. No pain meant relief.

A nagging thought, a persistent one, wormed its way to through the deluge of disjointed ruminations.

Hadn't your chest been caved in? Your arm and sword destroyed?

Then I was rushing up, head thrown back from the force. Indigo gave way to pale blue then blinding light.

I came up gasping for air but unable to take a breath. I pawed at my chest, felt the undulation of skin, bone and muscle returning me to normal. Not fast enough. I was fading again, indigo crashing in.

CRACK!

My left hand was pulled straight, fingers splayed. Through the fire that scorched my senses, I saw Ban holding my wrist, other arm pressed against my shoulder. Angry red striations and blotched bruises formed under his ministrations. The arm fell limp and my head dropped back. Pain buzzed in my ears and rolled my stomach. I was drenched in sweat, panting. My concave chest had reformed.

Cold metal was sweet relief against the heated skin of my left arm. I was faintly aware of Ban's quick fingers strapping the metal to the inside of my forearm. Not wanting to fall back into the waves of darkness, I clawed my way back up and woke with my fingers twisted in Ban's collar.

I was supported by one of his bent legs. He peered intently at my face. My eyelids fluttered. I tasted bile and blood on my lips and wiped it away shamefully. My head weighed a thousand pounds and flopped forward.

My sword...

The hilt had been fastened to my left arm with strips of red fabric, the skin black and blue from wrist to elbow. What remained of my blade was the hilt and a jagged edge of steel. It was covered in blood. I couldn't see my fingers – Ban had wrapped my hand and fingers together. 

"They were pretty messed up." His voice rumbled through his chest and hurt my ears. I winced then flinched and stiffened as every other ache and pain in my body called for attention. "But if you're worried about your fingers, you should have seen your arm."

"What happened? You're whole again," I asked in a hoarse whisper. I knew what had happened but I couldn't quite believe it. Couldn't quite believe how outmatched I'd been.

"You decided to take flying lessons and landed beside me. Your chest was caved in and your arm twisted like a wet rag. Seriously bad, fox. I had to twist it back the other way so the muscles went back to normal then tug your arm out straight to try and align the bones. Don't know how you survived."

"Kitsune," I mouthed. I hadn't cancelled it when I'd stood up against Guila. Must have slipped my mind. Lucky it did because it very well just saved my life. That, my newfound healing abilities and the Fox's Sin of Greed. I had wanted to say thank you but what came out was, "Why did you help me?"

"Huh? Why wouldn't I help you?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm your enemy."

"That's not how the Princess tells it."

"Look, for the last time, I'm not the person you guys think I am."

"Look pretty much how they described you in the tavern the other day. Can't say I was pleased being upstaged by a thousand year old girl who'd once been a fox."

I shook my head which worsened my vision, made my stomach do a flip-flop. I waited for the nausea to die before saying, "Then I guess I have a doppelganger because I'm only twenty five years old from a small farming populace that your captain sent 6 feet under." I tried to stand but my leaden limbs didn't obey.

Ban sighed and ran a hand through his hair before he scooped me up in his arms, careful not to jostle my arm. I cried out in protest but he shushed me with a steely look.

"The Princess and Captain would have my hide if I decided to ditch you on the side of the road without giving you a chance, even if all you're doing is spouting nonsense and raising your sword against us. So I'll take you with me for now. If one of your Holy Knight friends demand you back, then I'll hand you over for a price. Right now though, we have bigger fish to fry. The Captain's not... normal." He looked off into the distance.

"Normal's about right," I muttered as he began to plod along. "And what I've said isn't nonsense, it's the truth. You can't convince me otherwise."

"Elizabeth says that you decided to get a fox tattoo. She designed it for you cause you really suck at drawing."

I blinked at him, mulling over his words. It was true that I couldn't draw to save my life. The fox tattoo had been a drunken incident I was ashamed to explain to anyone I met. Which meant virtually no one – except Leraj cause it had been his fault – knew of it. And that had been over ten years ago (yes, young, drunk and stupid didn't mix well).

Ban wouldn't catch my eye so I stayed silent, gears whirring in mind. This was more than hallucinogenic powers. I cast my mind to the day I got my tattoo but I couldn't remember the details, couldn't remember the parlour I'd gotten it in. Digging deeper, I realised that there were gaps. White, fuzzy gaps. It wasn't a case of forgetfulness. The gaps were empty-feeling and the harder I focused on the memories that lingered, the less real they felt.

And Ban had said the Princess knew about my tattoo. The only time I'd met the royal blood of Liones had been as oil paintings in the halls.

When I opened my eyes, I was shaking all over. "Put me down," I whispered. "Put me down on my feet!" Ban obeyed, holding me steady. Legs shaking like a new born foal's, I took a few steps away from him and relinquished his helping contact. When I looked at him, it was with a mix of hatred and admiration. Admiration I couldn't place. I took a deep breath, pushing my panic down. I couldn't deal with this now; not in the middle of war. "I can walk now. Let's go."

Ban whistled and fell into step beside me. "Strange. I didn't realise we shared much of the same traits and abilities. I thought it was just our sin but you've managed to heal almost as well as me."

I shot him a glare but stayed silent. The ground rumbled and two overwhelming magic sources surged. Meliodas and one I didn't know. It reminded me of that woman's one, Matrona. But this felt twice as strong now.

"Oh man, now I have to carry another one of you," Ban grumbled. In the centre of our path, King laid face-down, bleeding out slowly.

I hurried to his side, checking for a pulse then rolled him over. His wounds were severe but shallow. Ban gave me a quizzically look. "What? He could have killed me earlier but didn't. Now hurry up and pick him up."

With a groan, Ban hauled King up over his shoulder. 'Since when did I become a slave?"

"Since your captain sent my arm through the wringer." I rubbed my arm. Dead, no feeling. No idea if it was healing and I guessed I wouldn't know until later. "Where to?"

A missile sailed through the air and crashed into the rockface to our left. I shielded my face and when the dust settled, Meliodas was spread eagle in a crater, so far embedded in the rock he didn't fall. Helbram hovered in front of him, helmet tucked under arm.

He didn't realise we were here. A part of me wanted to keep it that way. Ban touched my shoulder lightly and directed my gaze over to where Hawk and Elizabeth were, staring helplessly up at Meliodas. Jericho and Guila were nowhere to be seen. We scurried over, bent like a watchful gaze was on our tail. Those two didn't even see us.

"He even defeated Meliodas after he turned into a monster?" Hawk's voice was filled with disbelief.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to scream but Ban quickly covered her mouth. She whipped round. "Sir Ban! And Sir King!" Her eyes alighted on me and she threw herself at me. I yowled in pain but she hugged me tighter. "Estra, you're back!"

"Quiet!" Ban hissed. "You can still run, right?" he asked Elizabeth and Hawk. "We're getting outta here right now!" Ban's pensive face was glued to Helbram and Meliodas. "It's too dangerous."

"What?!"

"Sir Ban, are you just going to leave Sir Meliodas here? I'm... I'm not leaving!" Elizabeth stated.

Ban made a noise and swept Elizabeth over his other shoulder. He took off in a full sprint. Hawk and I looked at each other in confusion before following in haste.

"LET ME GO!" Elizabeth screamed, pounding on Ban's back. "We have to save Sir Meliodas!"

"I'll let you go after we get out of here alive!" Ban answered. "You still with me, Estra?"

"Yes!"

"I've never seen Ban this nervous before!" said Hawk. So that was what it was. He was afraid. Of what? His captain or Helbram? Or something else?

We didn't slow, even though I thought we'd run far enough. My lungs thought so. The earth shook and I stumbled, falling to my knees. I looked back once to see a giant with the war hammer in hand. Diane. The Serpent's Sin of Envy.

"Keep moving, Estra, and don't look back! Or you'll die!" Ban's outcry propelled me to move my arse.

Just in time too. The earth bucked and cracked. I heard a faint cry.

"Mother Catastrophe!"

"Oh crap!" My eyes bulged as I saw Ban look back and redouble his efforts. Debris flew past, bouncing along the ground like balls hit from a tee.

But it wasn't small things. It was clumps of earth and rock, grass and tree roots. It was everything Vaizel had been made from and it was bearing down on us like an ocean wave, ready to swallow us hole if we didn't fight hard enough against the current.

I didn't know how much longer my legs could continue on for. A small boulder clipped my shoulder and I twirled, adrenaline fuelling the end so that I continued to move instead of falling flat on my face.

Suddenly the wave of debris stopped.

"Is it over?" Hawk asked and slowed to a stop. He fell behind. I didn't stop.

They always said the calm in the centre of the storm never lasted long.

"Keep moving, pig!"

Hawk squealed, an elongated whine that trailed off. I would make that noise too.

Vaizel floated overhead.

"What the actually hell?" I screamed.

It crashed down to the ground. A dust cloud swallowed us whole. I tripped over Ban and fell to hands and knees, coughing and spluttering. When it faded away, Vaizel had been upturned. Diane stood beside it, not that far away from us in fact.

"See? Didn't I say it was too dangerous?" 

A/N: I feel like I can't do screams of pain justice so I added in a manga scream to show it for this part instead.