The Hydra Sin

Gowther

As I woke up, I looked around and saw Holy knights surrounding me, there were also several normal village members, and all of them were pointing weapons at me. Sir Pig stepped forward and said, "Janis, the Hydra's sin of deception, you are under arrest for your many heinous crimes, will you submit?"

I looked at him with a sardonic grin, "As fun as that sounds, I really don't care to be imprisoned; you see, the sins have things to do, and I prefer not to spend precious time in a jail cell if all I'm going to do is escape. It seems counterproductive to me."

They looked at me distrustfully and Sir Pig replied, "Are you really so sure you're going to escape? We have you surrounded and we aren't planning on letting you go."

"You seem to forget that you are up against one of the Eight Deadly Sins, that in and of itself seems to support my cause, don't you think?"

"How? You have no weapon, and half of us are wearing earplugs in case you use your banshee magic on us."

At that, I laughed, "You seriously think that earplugs are going to stop my screech? My screech drains life, it doesn't affect your ears! Anyways, I can think of at least five ways I could escape right now, so I wouldn't feel so cocky if I were you. Oh, and I do have a weapon, you just don't see it." With that, I summoned Durendal and murmured, "Mist body" choosing the easiest way out of this situation.

Once I disappeared, they all cried out and slashed their weapons to where I was now in a nonmaterial form. I flew away and contacted Ban and King to see where they were.

"Hey, guys, what's up?"

"Janis? Where are you? What happened at the festival? You just disappeared!" King cried out in a panicked tone.

"Hey little one, you missed some crazy action yesterday!" Ban said in a happy tone.

"Sorry guys, Banshee stuff came up and I had to take care of it. I'll explain later. Do you think it would be okay if I came to join you?" I asked this hesitantly, not sure how everyone else would receive me.

"Sure thing little one, we would love to have you around!"

"Yeah, it might take a long talk with Captain, but I imagine that it would be fine eventually." His hesitant tone made me snort a little.

"Well that sounds encouraging... not. Tell me where you are, and I'll head your way."

"We are in a forest not too far away from Ordan, get here soon, because we'll be having dinner in a couple of hours, and I know you want time to talk!" Ban said cheerfully.

"Okay, see you guys soon!" I cut the connection and started heading their way when I stopped dead in my tracks, I smiled as I felt a very familiar presence. I swooped down and searched for the owner; it was coming from a boy with green hair, not at all what I was expecting. I reformed in front of him with a grin, this was exactly who I was hoping to see, "Hey Gowther!"

***

"So, you now have to increase your Banshee duties now in order to stabilize the Necropolis or else it will collapse?" He asked after I had told him everything that had happened to me recently that was relevant to him. "That's fascinating. I believe that is the word for what this is. I have never heard of imbalance within the world of the dead, I will have to study this more."

I smiled at him, this was the Gowther I knew, inquisitive and uncompromisingly aware of the truth, "By the way Janis, how did you know it was me? I was disguised so as to not be recognized."

"Oh, it was simple really. I recognize your magical presence and I had to check it out. I'll admit I'm surprised that this is what you look like underneath your armor. Where is it anyway?" I inquired, wondering because he had never taken off the magical armor from Merlin before.

"Oh, this is not what I look like, it is a disguise so I won't be recognized; I'm letting someone else who needs my armor more use it. By the way, do you happen to have any glue?"

I quirked my eyebrow, "No, why do you want some?"

"I'm trying to fix the armor, it is a temporary fix, I'll admit, but I would like to try anyway." I nodded, still not sure exactly what was going on.

"So, if this isn't what you really look like, then can you show me?" I asked curiously; he nodded and all of a sudden, I was looking at someone with nearly shoulder-length pink hair, and hazel eyes. "Okay, that's even more not what I expected." I quietly said to myself.

"Why did you not expect this, this is how I look, is my appearance really that surprising?" He asked innocently.

"Yes, it is Gowther, ever since I've known you, I saw you as the armored giant who had a rough past with the Liones family, I didn't expect that you would look so feminine."

"Is that a bad thing, the way I look? I would not want to look bad, what would you like me to look like?" He asked and I shook my head.

"No Gowther, you don't need to change, surprise is not disappointment. I am perfectly fine with how you look, don't worry." I smiled at him and he nodded then started walking away, "Wait, where are you going?"

"I need to check on the person wearing my armor, would you like to come?" I grinned and ran after him.

"So why are you lending him your armor? I've never seen you take it off before." I asked curiously.

"He needed it more than I did. His magic was unstable, and that caused him to act violently, I gave him my armor in the hopes that he would be able to live a more controlled life, even though this is just temporary, he is already beginning to destroy the armor."

"He sounds dangerous, what is he?"

"I'm not sure, though I do know that he is part human and part demon."

"Like Meliodas?"

"Not quite, it is much different, though I am not sure how." With that we walked along in silence, both of us wondering what in the world was happening with this creature that Gowther had found.

We walked into a clearing and I felt a strong wave of slightly familiar demon magic, though I wasn't able to pinpoint where I had felt it before. I looked around and saw two groups of people surrounding the creature in Gowther's armor, who did not seem to be happy.

One group was composed of Meliodas, Ban, and King, while the other group had a bunch of unfamiliar people; who gave off the distinct impression of being well trained. I studied them until a memory clicked from long ago, it was the Roars of Dawn, a group of Holy Knights who I had worked with on several of my jobs. They were known for completing any assignment they were given; which, let's be honest, were usually jobs to terminate a target. I was actually on pretty good terms with them ten years ago, though I had no idea where we stood now.

I saw Gowther striding out into the middle of the tense group and walk straight over to the creature, "This is where you were, sorry for keeping you; I searched all over town, but I wasn't able to find any glue." He looked around, just barely noticing the awkward silence he had walked into, "What is it?"

Ban was furious, "What is it with you, dude?"

He barely showed any emotion, but asked curiously, "Me? I'm just-"

He was cut off by the creature grunting, "Afraid, Gowther afraid."

Gowther patted his leg and said, "Easy." I sighed and contemplated strolling out, I wanted to help, but I knew that this situation could get really ugly, really quickly.

I decided to wait for a little bit as Ban asked no one in particular, "What's he talking about?" The creature then yelled out and punched where Gowther had been standing, which seemed to be the sign to everyone to start fighting.

The Roars of Dawn jumped into the air, but were knocked down by Meliodas, the fighting went back and forth, while I just stood there until the archer Weinheidt took a shot at the creature with his supercharged arrow which created a blinding flash of light.

Meliodas cried out, "No Gowther!" And as soon as the light faded, the real Gowther was left standing, holding the arrow which he had caught before it could make contact with the creature.

"What had just transpired, no one present could comprehend, and like a corpse, the man just quietly waited for time to pass for the arrow that would be hurled from his blind side." I wanted to crack up laughing as I could almost hear the dramatic music that would have started playing as Gowther spoke, "The price for breaking the seal will be a steep one, humans."

Slader sounded confused, which made this all so much funnier, "Did he say seal?"

Meliodas then perked up, "Hold on, the way you talk sounds like..."

King also chimed in, "That symbol on your chest, no way!"

Gowther then let his real appearance show through, "Yes, my true form is..." I put my hand over my mouth as I shook with suppressed laughter, and the other sins started to freak out a bit, "A member of the Eight Deadly SIns, the Goat's sin of lust, my name is, Gowther."

"This kid's one of the Eight Deadly Sins?" Slader said incredulously the others began murmuring their disbelief.

"I know, but he stopped my fully charged arrow with his bare hands; I just can't imagine that some ordinary kid would be able to pull off a stunt like that."

"That is correct, there can be no doubt; I am Gowther the Goat's sin."

I stepped in front of him, "He is, don't worry, how have things been Roars of Dawn, I haven't seen you in ages!"

Simon cried out when he saw me, "Janis, is that you?"

"Hey Simon, Slader, Jillian, Hugo, and Weinheidt; I've missed working with you guys." I could tell Jillian was really happy to see me, she was never a big fan of being the only girl in the group.

Ban cut any more reactions off by walking over to Gowther and saying, "So you were the one wearing that armor all those years ago, huh? Guess I just thought that it was just some giant old man that was stuffed in there."

Gowther swiftly identified Ban and Meliodas as who they were, which was a major shock to the Roars of Dawn. "What do you think of that guy? Ready for this one? That's King!"

"No that's someone else, Bone structure, voice, and body odor all indicate another person, not King."

"Odor?" Ban asked, and I knew he would be asking about that later, King changed back into his old form, and I couldn't help myself, a snort escaped me.

"Well, that's some party trick." I said quietly. Eventually, after all had been introduced, the Roars of Dawn announced that they were still planning on taking the head of the armored giant, even though it was obviously not Gowther.

I summoned Durendal, just in case, but Gowther chopped off the head of the creature and handed it to Slader, "I like you Gowther, Goat's sin, so out of respect for your legend we will leave you alone for now, but if we by chance ever are ordered to come after your head one day... Well, ta-ta." He and his team jumped away and I spun around to face the other sins.

"I have to go after them, I need to know who ordered them to go after this creature and see what they know." Gowther nodded, but the others cried out, "Oh, come on guys, you know that this information could be helpful, especially since he was once a Holy Knight. We need to get to the bottom of this." I then turned into mist and followed the Roars of Dawn at a distance until they stopped by a stream.

"I still don't understand, what reason could Gowther possibly have had for putting his own armor on that monster?" Simon asked.

"I couldn't care less, honestly; I was just hoping we could fight them some more." I smiled gently, that's the Jillian I knew.

Slader tilted his head, "It doesn't make sense, why was old man Helbram so insistent about killing off that thing? Why didn't he use his pets, the new generation?" I would have nodded if I had had a body, but I had been wondering the same thing.

"Because it was clear that this was a mission they wouldn't be able to handle." Weinheidt said from the tree he was sitting in, that didn't seem like that was all, though it could be a small part.

Then Slader continued, "To me, it seems like he's desperately trying to cover up the fact that this monster ever existed." I was about to reform until I felt a bit of demonic power, and I noticed that the girl from the castle who was with Hendrickson and who was at Vaizel was standing behind a rock listening in, I think her name was Jericho?

As soon as she slipped away, I reformed in the middle of everyone and they yelled out, "Calm down guys, it's just me."

"Ah, Janis, I thought I felt your presence. What do you need?" Slader asked calmly.

"Well, I was going to ask you guys who ordered you to kill that monster and any other info you had, but you answered my questions for me, thank you!" I said cheerfully, "Oh and just so you know, you had a peeping tom, besides me, you should be more careful of those!"

They looked at me weird, "What? Can't I come and say hi to old colleagues after spying on them momentarily?"

Simon and Jillian approached me slowly, "Did you kill Zaratras?" Simon asked hesitantly like he was afraid to hear the answer, "I mean, you are hated by the whole kingdom for that."

"i***t, you know what my relationship was with him. I may be an assassin, but there is no way I would ever do that. Besides, I'm sure you guys saw how the body was left, do you really think that is my style?" I said matter-of-factly and they all sighed in relief.

Jillian was the first to jump forward and pull me into a hug, "I've missed you! I know we never connected a ton because we were always on missions, but you left me to be the only girl of the team, that just wasn't cool!" She cried out and I chuckled, hugging her back.

"I would love to stay and talk, but I have to get back to the other sins, and you have a head to return," I said, stepping out of Jillian's embrace. They looked at me uncertainly, "I would love to help you on some of your assignment soon, but I know that that might not be the best idea, seeing as how I'm a wanted criminal... I guess I'll see you soon though!"

I then turned into mist and flew away, hearing Weidheidt say as I left, "She always does that, just appears and disappears like it's no problem; it's good to know she's on our side though. To be honest, I'd be more afraid to fight her than any of the other sins."