Madeline's POV

"What?" Questioned King in mild shock. Meliodas stared at me, bewildered.

"I'm not going with you guys." Ban sighed heavily in irritation, leaning down to stare at me directly in the eye, "You can't be serious. Stop pulling our legs and come on." He went to grab a hold of my arm. I backed away from him before his fingers gripped ahold of my sleeve.

"No, Ban. I'm not coming with you guys."

"Ah, I forgot to disclose that Miss Madeline is perfectly content with her current living situation." Stated Gowther, earning a growl of annoyance from the tall man standing in front of me. He looked over his shoulder with a sneer and a yell. "You are JUST NOW TELLING US?!"

"Yes." Gowther boldly replied, not fazed by Ban's anger and frustration. Meliodas walked towards me, pushing past Ban, then placed his hands on my shoulders, tilting his head to the side. "You don't want to be with your big brother?" He questioned me, using his puppy eyes against me, lip dramatically quivering. 'Don't break, don't break, don't break-' I thought over and over again.

"I do want to be with you guys, but I- I can't go back to that life." I put my hands over his, smiling softly in reassurance. "Here I am happy, like Gowther said, my current living conditions is better than being on the run everyday, watching everyone around me get hurt all the time..." I trailed off, not speaking of the other alternative. Meliodas dramatic puppy eyes and quivering of lips faded, pressing his lips into a thin line before he pulled me forward into a bone crushing hug, seeming to understand my sentiment and worries about their safety.

King floated over to us before he planted his feet onto the ground, resting his hand on my limp arm, "Do you have that much faith in us, Madeline?" He questioned me, a hint of sadness in his tone. He seemed to take offense to my worries.

"I didn't mean it like that, King... I just don't want to watch any of you become dust when I could have prevented it."

"Miss Madeline views us all as family figures, and so the mere thought of having to watch any of us perish sets her off uneasily."

"Like we would ever let that happen! I tell you what Mads- If any of us, 'perishes' as Gowther so kindly puts it, you have permission to throw me into a bottomless pit."

"You are included in the equation, Ban." Gowther countered the Fox Sin quickly, "How am I?! I am literally immortal dude! The definition of, 'Can't fucking die'!" I smiled in amusement, watching the two began to bicker from over Meliodas' shoulder, the woman- Elizabeth, watching the two with her head going back and forth. She looked extremely awkward just standing there, most likely not comfortable with meeting me.

"Have more faith in us, alright? I'm glad to hear that you still care about us after all this time!" Stated Meliodas to me, a wide grin on his face.

"Of course I would still care about you guys..." I muttered, my turn to be slightly offended. What was my brother thinking? That I just didn't care about them all anymore after ten years of being apart?

"We will respect your wishes, Madeline. However please meet with Diane, she has been very adamant about seeing you again." I nodded, knowing the giant girl had taken a liking to me as we mostly had the same emotions when it came to our dysfunctional family. Excluding how she feels when it comes to my brother that is.

"I will tomorrow, I have to finish with my work for today, I won't have much time to come and- Where even are you guys staying?" I asked them curiously, realizing that our town didn't exactly have an inn. None of the buildings here except for the clinic were new additions. Maybe they were camping out in the woods? I don't think they would do that with Elizabeth around.

"At the Boar Hat! My inn!"

"But there wasn't any construction...?" I couldn't picture any place where there would be an inn, and I surely wouldn't have missed it when I made my rounds this morning to patients who had trouble getting around. As much as I would like to have my question be answered, a quick glance to the time made me realize that soon enough my next patient would be walking through the door just to see the Eight Deadly Sins waiting from them inside of the clinic that belonged Ares- That would be a lengthy and fearful explanation.

"Nevermind! Sorry but you guys have to leave, I have my next appointment coming in soon enough, and I don't want him to see you guys in here with me!" Gowther tilted his head as I began pushing Meliodas back towards the entrance, him not even making an effort to walk backwards, just letting me push him.

"What is there to fear? There is a 0.8 percent chance of your patient recognizing any of us."

"Still a chance!" I shouted at him, managing to butt Meliodas out of the clinic, grabbed King and threw him out as well. Elizabeth and the pig walked out, not needing me to throw them out. However, the tall man with a red leather get up was occupying himself by looking through my journal, ignoring me.

"Ban!"

"Mads~" He mocked me dryly and I huffed, assaulting over to him with as big of strides I could manage, seeing at the corner of my eye Gowther taking the initiative to walk out with no complaint. I went to grab my journal, but of course being the ass that he is, he held it above his head and continued to read it. I glared at him, eyes narrowing, "I gave you a chance." I mumbled, knowing with his keen hearing he heard me. I grabbed a hold of his arm, magic beginning to radiate off of me, concentrating my right arm before I harshly pulled him down to my level and grabbed my journal out of his hand, the other key point of mana transferring to my leg as I swung it around and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back and out of the clinic. "Hey, no fair!" I heard him say as he barreled into Gowther, the poor pink haired man not even realising that he has just had an immortal 170 pound man be practically thrown at him.

"Life isn't fair." I mocked, reciting words I have heard from him many times before in the past. Before he could come at me for vengeance, I swung my hand towards the door, sending wind at it, effectively closing the block of wood.

---

3rd Person's POV

"You got slammed by Madeline? Yes-! That's my girl." Diane yelled in triumph while Ban sulked as he cooked for his captain.

"It's sad to know that Lady Madeline won't be joining with us." Elizabeth told Meliodas as she and him wiped down tables. Meliodas shrugged, a ghost of a smile on his face, "Maddy is a very tender person, she was like this way when we travelled with her before. But I guess this time around, she actually has a choice." Elizabeth furrowed her brows in confusion. "A choice?"

"Didn't you notice? How the Captain stayed relatively quiet when it came to Miss Madeline telling us why she wouldn't go."

"Only when he teased her is when he actually complained." King pointed out after Gowther finished speaking. Elizabeth paused, thinking for herself. Now that she really thought about it... Meliodas didn't fight with her like how Gowther and Ban did.

"I respect my sister's wishes, and if she doesn't want to help, she isn't obligated to. And as much as I would like to have her by our side again, we can't force her." 'Lady Madeline seeing them all as family is proving to be true... Because they all treat her like a loving family would.' Elizabeth thought to herself, resuming in her task.

"Captain can we stick around for a few days? I want to catch up with Madeline!" Diane asked Meliodas with a pout and small lip quiver, eyes big to coax the blond into saying yes. Meliodas shrugged, glancing out the window to see look out at the town in the small distance.

"We won't get much patrons here, but if we rank up the prices we can manage."

"That's cold, Captain." King told him. Diane's eyes glistened in hope.

"That means we can?!"

"Yeah, I don't see why not-" Diane reached her hand in through the window (luckily it was open to let the air out from Ban's cooking) and grabbed the short man, smashing him against her cheek in thanks.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She thanked him over and over again.

---

Madeline's POV

The next morning after a pretty much restless sleep after the unexpected visit I gained yesterday- I awoke to shouting in the village. I couldn't make out what the shouts were about, until I felt a strong sense of urgency wash over me. 'Wait...' I walked over to the small window, opening the curtain to look out and see what was going on. My breath hitched at the sight of villagers being rounded up by Holy Knights.

"They..." I took a few staggering steps back in shock, a few moments passing of just standing there, hoping that this was just a dream, a bad dream.

Reality didn't work like that as I pinched my skin, grounding myself into action.

I ran around my room, using a quick muttering of a spell to change my clothing quickly before I ran down the steps of my home, knowing that after all of the work I put into this place, it was going to go all down the drain. The life I had built up for myself- It has been shattered.

I grabbed any essentials, using a space charm onto my bag before roughly throwing them in. I also grabbed money I had been saving up, I wasn't Ares anymore, there couldn't be any other explanation as to why they were here.

I exited my- The house, as smoothly as possible to not draw attention to myself. I needed to get to my clinic. That was my objective, and then getting out of here without incident to keep the people I have known for the past ten years safe. I failed people, again.

I slowly made my way over to the clinic, heart pounding in fear for them. "Miss Ares?" I jumped at the name, whipping around, coming eye to eye with a frequent patient of mine. Mrs. Cloverfield. A relieved sigh escaped me, seeing on her face that she held no malicious intent.

"Mrs. Cloverfield? What are you doing out here, you know you aren't supposed to be out here running around-" I asked her worriedly before she stopped me, placing a hand on the side of my face in a loving granny fashion.

"I'm fine dear, and don't worry. The others and I will be fine, you need to leave dear." She told me, my eyes watering with tears. She didn't look afraid, or confused. Just worried about me.

"Does that mean...?" I began, unable to finish as she nodded to confirm a fear I have held since I came here.

"We knew a year after you came to us. Winna used to be in the army and recognized you when she came. We didn't want to kick you out of here, that would be very rude of us after all you had done for us already. We decided if a day came of when you tried to hurt us, we wouldn't hesitate. But that day never came."

"I- I..." I didn't know what to say to that. How could you reply to her? She just dropped a bomb on me, for nine years, she knew, for nine years everyone knew.

"All of us have pasts dear, you are no different. You hold no evil bone in your body, you are compassionate about saving others and cry over ones you couldn't save in time. Never once did I think of you as a Sin, but many times I have thought of you as a blessing on earth." Tears began to spill before I could stop them and she chuckled, moving her hands to push my bangs out of my eyes. "As sad as we will be to see you go, you have to. Put yourself first this time around."

"B-But, what happens if one of you is badly hurt and I'm not here to help you?" I asked her, choking myself up as I wiped away my own tears.

"We will manage, besides, I think we are going to be fine, now, you go into the clinic while I distract the Holy Knights, alright?" She asked me and I slowly nodded, gulping nervously for her safety. Everyone's safety was in danger because of me.

"Don't worry about me dear, I will be fine, now on three you go around the back. One, two, three!" She whispered yelled before walking over to them while I ran behind the houses and around the clinic, waiting for the Holy Knights to be away from the door.

"Excuse me gentlemen, but may I ask if Miss Ares is in? I need some more medicine for my granddaughter and I. I was supposed to get them today." Mrs. Cloverfield asked them, feigning innocence with a pleasant smile that if you didn't know the granny personally- Would have easily fallen for.

"What condition do you have?" One of them asked her suspiciously, eyes narrowing.

"Asthma, while my granddaughter is paralyzed from the waist down, is Miss Ares in today?" Mrs. Cloverfield asked them again, her words coming out stricter this time.

"Listen here you old hag! You are interfering with our orders from our Guild Master, so I order you to step aside." I clenched my fists in anger of how they were talking to her, those bastards!

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked them, cocking her brow as she tilted her head.

"You see here you old hag, 'Miss Ares' is a criminal in disguise and we were ordered to apprehend her!"

"What crimes has she committed?" She asked them, and I saw the two Holy Knights walk closer to her, most likely to round her up like they did with the rest of the people in town. It gave me a window to enter the clinic without being seen. While they were telling her of who I was, which she already knew, I sneaked behind them and entered the clinic quietly before dashing up the stairs and into second room in the clinic where I kept everything. A room I have previously used for as a place to sleep if I was working later and didn't want to walk back home that night.

I started to stuff the ingredients into my satchel hurriedly, only grabbing the ones that would be most important and rare, knowing the other ingredients would come up in my travels. Once everything was packed, I heard an explosion, causing my head to snap towards the window only to see smoke lifting up into the air. I gasped, my eyes wide in fear if the villagers were alright. I ran towards the window and opened it, looking down at the two guards and Mrs. Cloverfield who were now heading into the direction of the explosion. I jumped out of the window and onto a roof of a house. I began running across the roofs, jumping off and onto them until I reached where the explosion came from. I saw Diane being attacked by the Holy Knights, the Holy Knights were also hurting the villagers, which made my eyes turn red in anger. They trusted me, and I let them down, but this is the least I can do for my sin. I took a deep breath and raised my hand upwards, towards the villagers who were injured, I have never done this before, but I hope all goes well. I took a deep breath before a stream of green light cascaded down onto the injured villagers, having their eyes widened, their wounds started to disappear into nothing, like they were never injured. Diane noticed me healing the villagers and quickly ran over to me before I collapsed on the rooftop, she grabbed me into her hand and ran off, the villagers cheering that I got away and yelling thank you to me before I went unconscious.

Elizabeth's POV

We were waiting for Diane to come back with Madeline, only to be shocked to see Diane bruised and cuts all over her, carrying an unconscious Madeline in her hand.

"What happened Diane?" King asked Diane, afraid for the young woman in her hand.

"The Holy Knights were already there and were harming the villagers, that's when Madeline healed the villagers who were injured all at once then she collapsed, we need to leave Captain!" Diane stated and Meliodas nodded, knowing they couldn't waste anytime. If the Holy Knights were here, it wouldn't take long for them to see the Boar Hat.

"Will she be okay?" I asked them.

"She will be, judging by how quickly she fell into unconsciousness from Diane's story, she will be up and about in approximately 2 hours, which is good considering she has been honing her craft of healing since we split up 10 years ago." Gowther told me and I nodded. Ban picked Madeline up while Meliodas took her bag and we entered the tavern, going upstairs to one of the spare bedroom we have. Ban placed her on the bed while Meliodas put her bag next to the bed, but once he did, her diary fell out, flipping to the first page.

To Be continued

<EDITED, 10/20/16>

*EDITED, 03/19/2020*