Bartra's Meeting.

...3 days after the last incident...

The people of the kingdom are now finally back to their normal lives as the uproar caused by both the war and the victory celebrations is now cooling down.

Making rounds around the market and other public areas, we can see the citizens back to their original works with even more enthusiasm than before. The elders are back to doing their shop businesses, running erands, mechanic works, performing shows ,and teaching jobs etc.

However,the children are still allowed to take it easy for a few days before returning to their usual routine.

"Haha.. This time you're gonna be 'it' Ted!" A certain young lad exclaimed from afar as everyone in his friend group surrounded Ted in order for him to began the count.

Yes! This was the game of 'tag' which the children were playing after a certain long time.

"Okay!! Be ready!! 1..2...4. " Ted started his count clevely missing out some of the numbers to end it fast.

"7...9...10! Here I come!!" The group surrounding Ted immediately dispersed as he completed his count in all the differennt directions they could.

"Okay! So the first one is going to be Aron! Be ready!!" The brown messy haired boy declaired before targeting Aron.

"What??! Not Me again!! You know we can't beat you when it comes to TAG!!"  Aron yelled from afar as he already knew whome Ted would target first.

Usually they would never let Ted to be 'it' but rules are rules and everybody has to get a chance to become the chaser.

"Hahaaha..!!" The sounds of Children's sweet laugh could be heard in almost every street. Most of which consists of the children from Aron and Ted's group.

"Guys! Relax! Its Aron again,we can slack off unless he doesn't get caught!"

"Him again? Well that's surely to be expected fron Ted!"

"Whatever,we should take it as plus for us.Right??"

"That's right! Let split up and practice our last strategy. This is the best time!"

And the children began their play running wildly everywhere dropping almost everything!

While the others were on their plans,Ted and Aron were busy in themselves with Ted chasing Aron like his life depends on it.

"Haha! You won't catch me this time!!" Aron yelled looking at Ted while running continuosly and it was just then,when he collapsed with someone.

"Ow! Ow!" Aron tried to maintain his position but his balance was already ruined. His leg slipped and he fell down almost hitting a sharp stone on the ground.

"Aron!!" Ted yelled but stopped just when he saw Aron didn't actually fell because a certain 'blonde' boy catched him before it happened.

"Huh!!!" Ted couldn't control his amaze as he glared at the person in front of him.

"Uh.." No voice came from Aron as well before both of them exclaimed.

"Our Hero!!! MELIODAS!!"

"Now..Now.. What do we have here?" Meliodas smiled at them while he tossed Aron in the air like a bag of potatoes.

"Woah!!" Instead of yelling Aron exclaimed in amazement because he knew Meliodas would never let him fall.

"M-Me too!" Ted requested as he tugged Meliodas's shirt making puppy eyes to persuade him.

"Sure!" Meliodas tossed both of them.simultaneously in the air.

"Woah!!!" Their voice was so loud that it attracted all the other children.

"Hey Ted! What about the game?!"

"Huh! Is that sir Meliodas?!"

"Sir Meliodas!!"

"I wanna play too!!".

"Mee tooo!!"

And several or more precisely tons of children gathered around Meliodas crushing him in between.

"Woah..Woah..Okay! Then lets head to the open GROUNDS!!" Meliodas gave a bright smile as the other children followed him without any word.

....Time lapse brought to you by Ted's freckles.....

"Now..Now.. We are here! So whose first?!" It was then,Meliodas realised he shouldn't have asked that.

"Me!!" "Me!!" "Me!!""Me!!""Me!!""Me!!" "Me!!" "Me!!" "Me!!" "Me!!" And soon enough tons of children were over Meliodas burrying him.down.

"Uh-Oh!" Were Meliodas's words before he suddenly went silent and activated his demon mode.

"So everyone's wanna be the first?!!"

"YES!!!" The children replied in unison.

"Well then..." His black demonic eyes reflected in the bright day "I'M GONNA TAKE YOU ALL AT ONCE!!"

"YAY!!!" The children exclaimed again in unison as Meliodas tossed them all in the air at once catching them one by one in a flash second.

He did it several times and the children enjoyed it to their full.

"Hahahaha!!" The children along with Meliodas laughed as he made his last toss.

*Meliodas!!...* But before Meliodas could catch any of then the 'same' sudden voice startled him badly and he lost his balance before falling down on the ground.

[Ughh!! Not this again!!] He tried to catch the children but it was too late.

"Woah!!!" The children were falling down but it was now too late for Meliodas to catch all of them. Yet,he jumped in a flash catching as many as he could but not all.

"No!" He yelled as he landed with his eyes closed in surprise. The children were tossed too far above that if any of them crashed to the ground it would surely result into sudden death or a serious injury.

"This... This is all my fault!! Damn it!!" Meliodas yelled.

"Uh..What's all your fault again..?" A voice came flushing Meliodas with a sudden relief.

"Ban!" He exclaimed before turning back as he saw Ban but he was not alone.

"Dianne!...King!.. And.. Elizabeth?" He quickly made his way to them.All of them successfully catched the children as Meliodas sweat dropped on his fatal mistake.

"That was AMAZING!!" "Thank you!!" 

"I'll always remember this!!"  "Play with us again sometime!!"  The children greeted them in a different way.

"Of course!" Meliodas faked a smile to them earning a punch from Ban.

"You better stop acting all cool captain! Or do you want me to tell them the truth?" King whispered the last line to Meliodas as he just smile waving his hand giving a 'Not at all' sign.

"Meliodas...." Elizabeth gave a worried sigh gazing at the smiling and cheerful blonde in front of her.

.....Time lapse (At the tavern)....

"They seem to now realise the importance of a normal life." Ban gave a small hiccup as he poured another cup of Vanya Elle to himself, Meliodas and Dianne.

"Umhmm..Can't argue with that." Meliodas snickered as he gulped the Alle in one go giving a slight glance to Elizabeth and the other two people which they pretended to not notice.

[Looks like the captain obviously don't want him to be asked about what happened earlier.] Dianne thought glaring at her cup of Alle.

"Quite the 'troublesome' things are happening now a days.. Ne?" She sighed in annoyment.

"But still... We couldn't find the kiddo anywhere. All we found were traces of fire wood and a leaf bed near it." Ban said in his usual monotone.

"I wonder where she went after all. I mean if there wasn't any reason for her to stay here then why didn't she flee away the same morning?" Dianne replied twisting and rolling her hair in frustration and monotony.

"Even I doesn't remember much of that time.. I was really startled when Dianne told me about the whole thing." Elizabeth gave a wry smile as it dissapeared long before it even made its way.

"Yeah... We still don't know what happened to you.. But there's definitely a connection between the brat and that incident." King replied earning a nod from everyone except... Meliodas.

...Dianne's POV :-

As usual, the captain didn't involved himself in the conversation. Its always the same.. Whenever we talk about that 'girl' ,the captain rarely gives his views.

We don't yet know what she is to the captain. Especially after knowing her 'other' side,I wonder if the captain thinks of her as a 'bad' person.

There is always this 'thing' about the captain that beat us all and that is his unpredictable nature. One could never know what the Dragon Sin's upto unless he doesn't reveal it himself.

*cough**cough* I heard Ban coughing as he was now totally drunk.

"You should take it easy Ban.." I sighed as I patted on his back earning a *hiss* from king... Damn,he looks so cute when he's jealous!

"I wonder what she's upto..." I heard Ban whisper about the girl even when he was so drunk. She surely has picked his interest epecially after their fight ,the other day.

I snickered as I made him lay down and went back to my previous place.

"Its getting late... I guess we should call it a day.." I yawned making my way to my room as king followed me to give me company to make sure I don't black out drunk.

"Don't worry king.. I'll take it from here." I said as soon as I reached for my room's door.

"Are you sure?" He asked worriedly and I nodded.. He's just too cute..!!

"Well... Good night then." He wished me as he looked outside the window.

"Looks like its gonna be a stormy day tomorrow." I gazed at the moon which was slowly being engulfed by the dark sky.

"Lets hope its not a bad omen.." King said before he left without waiting for me to even respond.Is something up with him...? I don't know.. Or maybe he's just too tired that he wanted to rush to his room.

I shrugged it off as I closed my room's door and jumped on my bed.I'm never actually 'drunk' because I know how much my body could take unlike Ban and the captain,who just won't stop unless they won't vomit it all out.

I was sleepy till now but after hearing to what king said,my mind just won't stop pondering. And,now that I remember... King Bartra's Vision hasn't been cleared to us yet and neither have we found the 'invader' girl.

"I just hope.... We can always be together. I can't stand watching my friends fight against each other." I mumbled as I drifted to sleep.

...At the Palace....

Gilthunder,Howzer andGriomoire can be seen cleaning and wiping the palace floors while Jericho's been personally ordered by the king to watch over them,who was smiling evilishly planning something.

Since,it was a direct punishment given to them by King Bartra after the things they revealed in the little argumemt earlier.(From Chapter 6 "Little Sister"...In case you forgot😉)

"Since when...was the palace this huge?" Howzer asked panting,sweat covered his forehead as he poured the cloth in the bucket to clean it.

"That... I just realised.." The same was the condition of Griomoire and Gillthunder as they replied together.

"And guess who's been assigned to watch over us..!?" Gillthunder griited his teeth in remorse almost breaking the broom stick.in anger as all three of them shared a glance at Jericho.

"W-What's with her anyways?!!.. I bet she won't let us off easily." Gillthunder whispered to them when Jericho suddenly struck the floor shouting a "HURRY UP!" command which drove them back to their point.

"ARGH!! I can't stand it anymore!! Its all your fault to began with!!" All three of them pointed at each other speaking in unison.

"Nani?! MY FAULT!!  IT WAS YOUR FAULT!!" they yelled in unison again.

"YOU!! ....SAY THAT AGAIN!!?"

"NOW, YOU BETTER STOP OR IT WILL BE 'MY' FAULT TO 'SLAUGHTER' YOU ALL TO DEATH,THIS TIME!!"

Jericho's voice startled them all so suddenly as they gave a small,scared response "h-hai..." and went back to cleaning the floors with tears running down their chibbi face.

"You better hurry up!" Jericho slammed her foot on floor again.

"As you already know..The king has called for a meeting this everning, at the Grand Hall. The Seven Deadly Sins will be joining as well. And I don't want to be late because of some 'certain' slowporks!" she added sarcastically.

"Hai-Hai... We know that!" Gilthunder replied pondering on why the king must've called them up again so suddenly.

*I wonder what's awaiting us now..* He thought to himself,a worried gesture olastered on its face which didn't get unoticed by his other comrades including Jericho.

"Don't worry Gil.." Griomoire answered which pulled Gilthunder out  of his daze.

"Everything's gonna turn up just fine." Howzer grinned ,the same way as Meliodas  easing the atmosphere.

"Yosh!!" Gilthunder commanded getting back to his full speed.

Whereas,Jericho said nothing but smirked at them *IDIOTS* she thought..

....

Hello guys... So here's the next chapter of the book. 😉

Sorry..I'm not updating lately but I'm no way near 'discontinuing' this book. So rest assured.

I have a lot of free time now because of the sudden 'Lockdown' in the country so I would be updating more 'frequently'..

.....Sneak peak for an upcoming chapter.....

"I know.. But before that.." Bartra turned to Meliodas who had now gained the sudden spotlight from the people around him.

"Meliodas....Uh..I do I put this but.." Bartra shuttered thinking of the most suitable excuse to make Meliodas leave without arising any suspicions from him.

"I know... You want me to leave.. Don't ya?" Meliodas's sudden reply startled everyone with a sudden question popping their minds all together,that Bartra finally blurted our.

"H-How did you—" But before poor Bartra could complete Meliodas cut him off already jumping down his chair.

"I ain't the Captain of THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS for nothing..Bartra." He gave his world famous grin as he adjusted his clothing.

"Besides,the things I wanted to discuss are done..So I don't have any reason to be here." He replied with the same blank look that he always carries whenever something's totally going up in his mind.

"Although I hope your little 'secret' will involve me 'soon' enough. Cause' I don't feel like being left out by my own teammates you know.."

He added and left the great hall within a flash,stunning everyone who didn't even got the chance to response.

They all felt guilty,it was written all over them but they didn't had a choice.or maybe they had..but they didn't like it?

[Just what are they hiding..? Anyways.... its not like I have a choice but to wait.] Meliodas thought walking down the corridors of the palace when he suddenly sensed a familiar figure far above the mountains. His eyes widened as he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"I-It can't be...." he whispered still looking at his feet.