Memory Loss

"Don't give me a heart attack, Diane! It's me, King!"

She narrowed her eyes at him in confusion. "Wait, you're King?"

"That's right! You got it!" he said happily.

Diane laughed. "You must be kidding! King's not a little boy like you. He's more of a scrappy oafish blimp of a guy."

"What?" I asked. I was genuinely confused. Why the hell would she think he wasn't a kid?

"Well, yeah, of course, but-" King started.

"Hey, Diane, are you still half-asleep?" Meliodas asked her.

She gasped enthusiastically. "Meliodas!"

"That's weird. When did she stop calling you 'Captain'?" Hawk asked.

"Are you all right, Diane?" Elizabeth asked.

I looked at her and saw Meliodas using her support and his arm over her shoulder to squeeze her breast.

Honestly, this man had no priorities.

She made a confused noise. Then she suddenly got angry. "And who are you?!"

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Meliodas and Elizabeth quizzically.

He looked back at me, and shrugged his free elbow.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••"Memory loss?" Merlin questioned. "It might be short term amnesia caused by blunt force trauma to the head."

Despite Galand's Commandment turning her to stone, here she was, perfectly normal. Just who was this mage, and what kind of raw power did she possess?

"Merlin! How did you get your body back?" Hawk asked, echoing my thoughts.

"I didn't. It's just an illusion to make things easier," Merlin replied.

Oh.

"That makes sense," Hawk said.

"It's so strange," Elizabeth said. "Diane's forgotten about Hawk, Prelialduis and myself, but she remembers Sir Meliodas."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't remember me, but you guys," I said.

"Been a long time since she called me Meliodas," he added.

"Poor King, you should've seen how pale he was. And don't think I haven't suffered! I came this close to being eaten aliiive," Hawk cried hysterically.

Suddenly the door burst open. A fat man in King's clothes walked in.

"Um," I said simply.

Nobody paid attention.

"There's a problem! Diane's still forgetting things! Now she can't remember who the Captain is!" King - I think? - ranted.

"She's continuing to lose more memories?" Merlin touched her chin thoughtfully.

"Yes exactly! She doesn't even remember the Seven Deadly Sins!"

"Hold on a sec. I'm pretty sure that back when I first met Diane, she might've called me by my first name," Meliodas pointed out.

Merlin hummed. "For now, let's just observe her."

We turned and headed back to the room where Diane was. On the way I walked up to the big man.

"Are you actually King?" I asked him.

He looked down at me. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"So you change forms often?" I said, stating the obvious reason why I thought he wasn't King.

"Right," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Of course you haven't seen me like this. I used to look this way a long time ago, but it's become straining to stay in this form, so I only use it when I have to."

"Good to know," I chuckled.

"I'm so worried about Diane. She must be so frightened," he said, changing the topic to the pounding thought in his mind.

I looked up. We were in the large room, but the large woman who was supposed to be here was gone.

"Uh, King?"

He looked up. "Wh-What?!"

A soldier who had been there spoke up. "Well...she left in a rush without saying anything."

"Where could she have gone?" King asked frantically.

"That's easy," a voice said from behind us. We turned to see Gowther standing there. "She must be headed to where she used to live before joining the Sins."

King floated towards Gowther and landed in front of him. "What do you mean?"

"I erased her memories using my Lost World ability," Gowther said, like it was the most normal thing. "Wanting to learn about emotions, I manipulated Guila's memories. Diane strongly condemned me for this, and said that memories aren't just things you can take away or change. So as a test, I erased hers. As I anticipated they were easy to remove. Memories are nothing more than bits of information, after all."

"That's seriously wicked," I chuckled.

Tears hung at the edges of King's eyes. "You miserable little shit! How could you do that to someone's memories?!"

"Easy, King," Meliodas said.

He hesitated, his face contorted as if he was about to start raging, then he turned his head down in defeat and suddenly a cloud poofed around him, completely enveloping him, and when it evaporated he was the boy I'd met earlier.

How interesting.

"Gowther-" he began. "I'm upset, but I shouldn't have said those things." He floated closer to the doll. "Maybe you could at least tell me this. What feelings did you experience when you erased her memories?"

Gowther blinked. "What do you mean? I'm not sure I understand the question. To wipe away the recollections of somebody, feelings aren't necessary at all."

He was really good at pushing buttons, I'll give him that.

King turned away. "Not necessary, huh?"

Slader shook his head, groaning in disappointment.

Gowther tilted his head. "What's wrong? Why are you angry?"

"I'm not angry about this," King said suddenly, smiling sweetly. "But I'm genuinely disappointed in you. Because a person's heart..."

Suddenly, as fast as I blinked, his pillow turned into a bear, still woven with the fabric of the pillow, and it lunged at Gowther, knocking him across the corridor.

"...ISN'T YOUR PLAYTHING!" King finished.

He turned to Meliodas. "Captain, I'm going after Diane even if I have to--"

I turned and saw Meliodas and the others running in the direction Diane went. Jeez, send a girl a memo, would ya? I probably looked so stupid standing there by myself.

"Come on!" Meliodas called. "Don't just stand there. We're going after Diane right now!"

King smiled determinedly, taking into the air and following them.

"Oy vey," I mumbled, raising my hands in frustration and running after them.

We ran towards the giant pig that held the Boar Hat - Hawk's mother, I'd learned - and we set off.

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Standing at the steps of the tavern, we discussed Diane's recovery plan.

"So where do you think we should start?" King asked.

"Before Diane joined the Sins, she was still living in her home town," Meliodas replied.

"Hold on, you don't mean--" King asked.

"The Giant race's homeland, Megadoza."

King gazed at the horizon fiercely. "I'm on my way, Diane. And I swear, I will get your memories back!"

I sat down on the steps as everyone headed inside to take some time before we arrived in Megadoza. It was a pretty long journey, so we had some time.

I felt someone sit down next to me then. I looked up and saw Meliodas there.

"Hey, Sis," he said, taking my arm. "I didn't ask you how you were feeling after all you've been through."

I smiled at him. "Took you long enough. I'm fine. My powers are depleted significantly, though. Much more than any of the Commandments."

"Maybe their commandments gave them more strength?" he thought.

"I don't know. The only issue is that there's only one way to get my strength back up," I sighed.

He nodded solemnly. Devouring souls was no strange thing to us. At least, not before we abandoned the Demon race. Now our powers could be regained, but at a much slower rate and not to their full potential. But we both knew we'd rather do that than eat a soul unless we absolutely had to.

Meliodas hummed. "I might have an idea about that...But anyways, how are you? It can't have been easy being trapped with those airheads for 3,000 years."

I chuckled. "Actually, time went by pretty quickly. We were all in a kind of daze, like a faraway dream, but effective in making sure we couldn't have rational thoughts about trying to escape. It was like emerging from a bubble when we were released. Then I look up and find them in front of me. It was fucking terrifying."

"I can imagine," Meliodas laughed. "Was Zeldris still the stuck-up prick he used to be?"

"Of course he was."

Meliodas shook his head, a little smile on his face, but I could see the solemnity in his eyes.

He still blamed himself for what happened to her, and the way Zeldris felt about us. Of course he did, I felt the same.

"I'm really glad you're okay, Prel," Meliodas said then, looking at me solemnly.

"Yeah, me too. So what's it been like just slacking off all these years?" I asked. Then, suddenly, the thought appeared. "How the hell is Elizabeth still here after all these years? And why doesn't she remember me? Where are her wings?"

Meliodas shot his hand to my mouth, covering it. His other finger went to his own lips, telling me to shut it.

I lowered my voice. "What's going on?"

Meliodas sighed, raising his eyes to look at the horizon. I watched his eyes intently, seeing the pain in them clear as day. He hadn't had a peaceful 3,000 years at all, had he?

"Our father's a dick, that's what's going on. Him and the Supreme Deity. 3,000 years ago, after you were sealed away, Elizabeth and I faced off against both of them. Obviously a mission doomed to fail, but what can I say? We're really stubborn.

I nodded in obvious agreement.

"Anyways, we fought with all we had, but in the end we were both killed. But then I woke up, perfectly healed, very much alive. But Elizabeth was still dead next to me. I didn't understand what had happened, and I was so...angry. I walked the earth after that for months, no purpose, and my love dead. Then one day I stumbled across a woman who was exactly like Elizabeth. She had the same face, voice, even name. After I'd gotten to spend some time with her, I realized that she was actually Elizabeth. My Elizabeth. I was so happy. I tried to explain to her as best I could about the Holy War and her life with me. Then one day her eye turned orange."

"Like, goddess orange?" I asked.

"Yeah. She'd awakened her goddess healing abilities. She helped people for a while. Then her other eye turned orange as well. With that her memories returned. Then she told me the truth about my confusing existence. We'd been cursed. Eternal life for me, eternal reincarnation for her."

"Shit," I said. "What did that entail?"

"It means that--" he began, but then the front door opened and everyone trailed out, talking casually amongst themselves.

Elizabeth approached us, smiling. "What are you two doing?"

"Just catching up," I shrugged. For whatever reason, Meliodas didn't want anyone else to know about their curse. I knew when to keep my mouth shut.

An ominous feeling suddenly slithered down my back. I jumped up. Meliodas did as well, probably sensing the same thing. We walked towards the edge of the pig.

An overwhelming power washed over all of us, so powerful we all gasped.

Then it hit me. Monspeet.

"Big Sister! Could this overpowering murderous intent be..." Slader said.

"Yes," Merlin replied. "It looks like they've detected our presence as well."

"No way! But they're hundreds of miles away, right? How keen is their sense of smell?" Hawk asked.

If the circumstances were different, I probably would've laughed.

"Um, I don't think they detected us by smell," Elizabeth said good-naturedly.

"I can't believe he's the one who noticed us," Meliodas growled, eyes narrowed.

"This is really freaking bad," I hissed.

Suddenly, I felt a massive source of power beelining directly towards us. It seemed like...Hellfire Bird.

Meliodas ran forward. "Hawk's Mom! Change direction and run as fast as you can!"

The large green pig roared in agreement and turned right in a flash. It was a surprise to keep my footing.

But it was no use. The heat signal just turned direction as well and continued to follow us.

"Over there! It's coming!" Hawk yelled.

I turned to where he was faced and saw the intense fire zooming towards us.

"This attack is to see if it's really us here," Meliodas said, looking at me.

I understood. "If either of us use Full Counter they'll know for sure we're both here, and that you're still alive."

"And our exact location," Meliodas finished.

I sighed. "We have no choice."

Meliodas pulled out Lostvayne, and my dual swords were in my hands, just in case.

Suddenly we were rocked as Hawk's mom changed course.

Straight for the fire.

"Mom?!" Hawk called out, confusion and terror evident in his tone. "He said not to go that way! MOOOM!!!"

"What is she doing?" I called out.

Meliodas looked at me and shrugged, eyes wide.

As the Hellfire Bird got closer, Meliodas and I braced ourselves to counter the attack.

Suddenly Hawk mowed us down, squirming around us in panic.

"Hawk! Get off, we have to stop this thing!" I screamed.

"I'm so scared!" Hawk screeched.

Meliodas pushed at him frantically. "Hey! I can't stop this thing unless you get off me!"

I managed to squeeze away from his grip and stumbled, trying to stand up. I had to gain my footing and stop the fire from devouring us all.

STUPID FEET. I couldn't get a solid foothold, not with Hawk's mom bounding about so much. I strained, and looked up in panic, as the fire was inches away from us.

And then Hawk's mom's mouth opened wide, swallowing the fire whole. Steam poured from her nostrils and the corners of her mouth.

My jaw dropped.

After we all stood there in shock for a while, Hawk broke the silence.

"Oh man, it was almost whole-roasted pig time for me."

"Pretty impressive, Hawk's Mom!" Meliodas said.

"I can't believe you swallowed that intense magical power in one single gulp," I said, mouth still agape.

"It's not just impressive, it's unbelievable," King added.

"Your stomach's not upset, right?" Elizabeth asked, concerned.

Hawk's mom grunted her comfort in reply.

"Captain, listen," Merlin said.

We all turned to her.

"I advise that we change direction."

"What?" King shouted. "Hold on, that wasn't the plan! If you don't want to look for Diane, then I'll go by myself."

"I understand how you feel, King, but please calm down," Merlin said. "Diane's presence has faded, along with the one who was confronting the Ten Commandments. It happened right before we were attacked. Most likely, they're both safe. But if we were to recklessly approach them now, we'd be putting Diane and her rescuer in danger."

King looked down dejectedly, but Meliodas put his hand on his shoulder.

"We're definitely going to rescue Diane! All of us together, okay?"

My hand went on his other shoulder. "You got a tough girl, King. She'll be fine, don't worry."

King turned beet red. "She-She's not--"

"So, I guess a change in direction means that you have somewhere else in mind, Merlin?" Meliodas asked.

"Right now, our top priority is to power up so we can fight the Ten Commandments," she said. "And to make that happen..."

"We'll have a meal, right?" Hawk asked enthusiastically.

"Honestly," I sighed.

"I'm going to give you back the power I stole from you, Captain," Merlin said.

My eyebrows raised. Was that why his power levels were so low?

"Big Sister stole his powers?" Slader repeated.

"I don't understand. What power?" Elizabeth asked.

So they really didn't know what his power levels should be like? They were in for a shock.

Meliodas stood quietly.

"I took a percentage of the Captain's power because it was too overwhelming and dangerous. That's why the Captain had to constantly keep his emotions in check, so his powers wouldn't run rampant," Merlin continued.

Yup, that sounded like Meliodas. But what had he done to warrant Merlin stealing his power?

"You mean like..." King began, before transforming into the large man again. "...the same way I'm exerting myself when I transform like this?"

"But on a whole different level!" Hawk added. "But still...it's not like he hasn't gone berserk more than once before, right? What's up with that?"

"Those times?" Merlin smirked. "In terms of his true power, what you saw were merely the dregs."

Hawk scoffed. "'Merely the dregs', she says."

Meliodas looked at Hawk, unamused. "Laugh it up, Porkball."

"Ten years ago, in the midst of the drama surrounding our exile, when a certain young girl was seriously injured trying to help us, the Captain started to lose control. So for everyone's safety, the moment he let his guard down I separated his strength from him."

"I can't believe that happened," King muttered.

"Oh, I completely forgot about that," Meliodas said nonchalantly.

I shook my head. He really was a special case, my brother.

"We're going to need that power to battle the Ten Commandments," Merlin said.

"Makes sense. So where is it now?" he asked.

Suddenly, a map materialized in front of him.

"The location isn't that far from here," Merlin said. "It's the Holy Land of the Druids, the sages of the forest. Istar."