The Seven Deadly Sins: Missing Pieces to the Puzzle

Meliodas is getting bored and antsy sitting on the couch in the spa, not to mention hungry again. He had tried to busy himself looking around the spa, but there's really not much here to interest him, although most of the perfume and scented stuff do smell good and would be perfect for Elizabeth. He had gotten a telepathic message from Gowther telling him that they'll be a while longer. Hawk, who had fallen asleep again while in the hot tube, woke up about half an hour ago and is also getting antsy.

Willie returns to the spa. He's been searching all over this wing looking for Eyelash but has failed to locate the prankster llama.

"Yo, Willie. Have you found the amulet?"

Willie's words prove that he hasn't. He had wanted Meliodas to go with him because if they started understanding each other again, the amulet would be nearby. However, the dragon sin failed to understand the message and continued to relax in the hot tube. Meliodas can't help but wonder what the Supreme Deity and some of her still loyal goddesses are doing here (wherever here is). Maybe he should be trying to learn about that. At least Elizabeth's safe.

GRRROOOWWWLLL!

"That does it!" says Meliodas in a firm tone. "Let's go to that lab and find the others. Gowther beamed the directions to us, so there's no reason to just keep sitting here doing nothing. We all really shouldn't be separated like this. We should stick together. Maybe we'll find some food along the way, too."

Hawk rolls his eyes, knowing that Meliodas is partly motivated by his stomach, although he really is sincere about wanting to get the group back together. The dragon sin keeps talking to Willie like normal, hoping he'll get the message, even waving his hand to come along. Willie does realize what the demon's trying to tell him and fully intends to go along with them, hoping they'll avoid getting into trouble. With Meliodas, however, it'll be a miracle if they do.

"Ok, let's go;" agrees Hawk; "I need to check on Melidy anyway."

Hearing that, Meliodas rushes to the back and returns with the adorable pink and blue dress that the piglet had been wearing earlier. "Yo Hawk, here's her dress. I have to admit, she's a cutie pie. I really need to start bonding with the little porker."

Hawk feels a bit uneasy about that. "You better NOT try to eat her again, or I won't return to the Boar Hat or baby sit your kids. And don't use your stupid pork jokes on her either!"

"Chill Hawk. I won't eat her, I promise. You, on the other hand, no promises."

"I believe it;" replies Hawk.

Meliodas snaps his fingers. "I should have the tavern uniform made for her. She'd be a great mascot."

"Wait a minute! She's way too young to work or eat scrapes, or to wearing anything provocative."

"Who said anything about her working, and her uniform will be age appropriate. She'll just sit there and look cute and play with toys once she gets the hang of playing. Should help increase business, along with you coming back, and even Wild if he wants too."

"Don't you even think about exploiting her!"

Willie really wishes he knew what they were talking about. The monk then throws a red cloak to Meliodas, having already magically changed his own clothes.

"Oh cool, a disguise." Meliodas puts on the oversized cloak and asks how he looks. Hawk really doesn't think the color suits him but keeps his mouth shut.

"What about me?" asks Hawk, looking at Willie. He already has a cloak for the pig and puts it on. Meliodas laughs.

"That's a good look for you, Hawk. You look like a very rare-cooked bleeding demon pork coated in demon red ale, which is actually my favorite dish from the demon realm by the way."

"Don't even think about it."

Willie grabs a bag and stuffs Inuyasha's clothes into it, then they're on their way. Myoga stowaways in Hawk's pocket unnoticed.

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In the blink of an eye, Elizabeth suddenly finds herself falling from the sky and quickly activates her goddess wings. She hears Kagome's screaming and falling nearby. The goddess just barely catches her before she hits the ground. They realize that the rain has lit up a bit, but the landscape is suddenly a little greener with even more mountains and a rougher terrain, and just a little bit cooler. Appoline leavates towards them, but they don't see anybody else.

"What happened?" asks Elizabeth; "Have we been teleported and separated again?"

Appoline looks angry. "I don't believe this. It's that barrier from Pendergrass's lab. Mother ordered him to destroy it. Of course he didn't." She looks around the area; "Of course, it would take us here, the home of the barrier's creator, Hephaestus."

Elizabeth thinks she's heard that name before. She thinks for a minute, then it hits her.

"Hephaestus, from Greek mythology?" Elizabeth has read a few works about Greek and Roman mythology, especially in recent years as part of her education as Princess of Liones as well as Bartra and Margaret's love for the stories. Most of the gods and goddesses from those mythologies actually existed, some even before Barbatos and Caelestis's time. They are all long since dead, or so Elizabeth thought.

"Not him;" says Appoline; "I'm referring to his namesake great-grandson. He has no morals or standards whatsoever, and most certainly no empathy for people or animals. He only cares about his gadgets and people having a use for his talents, regardless of if it's for good or evil purposes."

"Where is he?" Elizabeth asks. "We need to get back. I don't know why, but I keep having the feeling that Meliodas is there. I learned a long time ago to trust those instincts."

"Wouldn't be surprised if he was;" replies Apolline; "God works in mysterious ways. Hephaestus's caves are just on the other side of that mountain. Let's go."

Kagome, who's barely picking up on few of their English words, has no choice but to go with them and can only guess what they are doing. She says Inuyasha's name, but like before, nobody knows what to say. Elizabeth feels her sadness and puts her hand on the Japanese girl's shoulder. Kagome looks at her and senses that Elizabeth understands how she feels.

"Thank you;" Kagome says in English (Britannian).

Elizabeth smiles and nods. Then she suddenly feels an almighty power, an all too familiar one. "No, it can't be."

Kagome and Appoline also feel it. An intense look appears on the goddess's face, even a look of anger. Caelestis is here! And she's much more powerful than she was last time they fought. Elizabeth realizes that the Supreme Deity is moving away from the area. What to do now? First, they must find the others. They may actually have enough power on their side to defeat her for good this time, but raw power alone won't be enough.

Apolline and Kagome also feel the presence, but then they notice another really strong presence in the area as well. Then another sudden feeling comes over Kagome. She believes she feels something familiar, Inuyasha maybe. Without hesitation, she races for the mountain. Elizabeth calls for her to wait, but Kagome won't stop. At first, Appoline acts like she doesn't care and says just to let the Japanese girl do her own thing.

"And let her get lost or killed?" says Elizabeth; "She's just an innocent, average strength human girl."

Appoline is struck with a wave of consciousness. She's not going to have an innocent human girl's welfare on her conscious, even though this Kagome isn't just an ordinary human as she possesses spiritual and haki abilities that she can infuse into her sharp archery skills.

They fly after Kagome, Appoline more levitating then actually flying. Elizabeth first feels then sees something shocking. She quickly grabs the other two girls and hides, putting up her goddess shield just in the nick of time. A large, explosive lightning bolt, similar to the Supreme Deity's God Thunder strikes. It causes massive damage to the side of one mountain. The ladies nearly avoid a direct contact. Elizabeth's shield is strong enough to protect them from the lightning outskirt. While it only momentarily blinds and deafens Elizabeth and Appoline, Kagome's human eyes and ears are the most affected. She's completely blind in both eyes, and she even feels a hard pop in her right ear that proves to be painful and loses some of her equilibrium with blood coming out of her ears. Elizabeth's power stops the bleeding but can't heal her blindness and her equilibrium. Appoline's mixed blood power can take some of the sting out of Kagome's eyes and she slowly starts to regain some vision, but it'll take awhile for her sight and hearing to fulling recover. Suddenly appearing in the sky is Nemesis, who seems to be playing around with a fancy looking weapon as if it's a toy. Elizabeth's in shock and feels sick to her stomach. She can't believe her old nemesis Lucy is still alive, much less right here in front of her. She quickly activates her Saint Coat and projects it onto Kagome while Apolline puts on her own coat, attempting to dampen their energy so hopefully Nemesis won't pick up on their presence.

"Lucy? I can't believe it. What's she doing here?"

"Whose Lucy?" ask Apolline; "That's Nemesis, perhaps the most evil goddess on Earth, even more so than Caelestis."

"My mother banished her during the Holy War for betrayal and espionage, so did the Demon King," answers Elizabeth. "Why is she here, after all this time?"

Lucy is one of the very few beings to have ever existed that Elizabeth actually hates. Actually, hate would be understatement.

"She's been around for awhile;" says Appoline. "My sisters and I have fought her a few times. She's been a dark spot in our mother's side for sometime. There are rumors that she's been corresponding with other big shots over seas. We sure don't need any of them coming over here and darkening our doorways."

Nemesis continues to play with that weapon like an enthusiastic child. Hephatipus arrives and firmly orders her to give that staff back to him. She refuses and strikes him with a lighting blot, hurting him badly. It then stops working momentarily, them blows up in her face after she hits it. She curses and discards it like trash. Hephaestus runs to the pieces of his beloved creation, openly weeping and clearly upset. Nemesis calls him pathetic and when he tries to scold her, she reveals that she has the things that Caelestis had brought him, including the Tassaiga inside its stealth, and threatens to crush them if dares to challenge her. He cowardly backs down and picks up the pieces.

Kagome can sense the familiar energy of the Tassaiga, and despite her currently very blurry vision, she can see the outline of the stealth even at such a distance. "Inuyasha!"

The other two ladies look at Kagome and hold their fingers to their months. She tries to pantomime along with saying; "Tassaiga, Inuyasha's." She takes sword movements, although they are samurai sword movements which baffle Elizabeth. Appoline, however, guesses samurai.

"Are you saying that they have something that belongs to Inuyasha?;" asks Elizabeth.

"YES!" Kagome exclaims.

"Ok, we'll help you."

"Absolutely not!" Apolline protest: "It's a waste of time. What interest would Hephaestus have in him? He only cares about objects, not anything living." Suddenly, the notice another bright light and a cry of pain. Nemesis has severely wounded Hephaestus and flees with a few items, leaving him for dead. With her presence going the opposite direction,

Elizabeth hears Hephaestus agony decides to help him dispite Appoline's protest. Elizabeth goes to the dying craftsmen to heal him, while Apolline and Kagome also little hear some very odd hic-ups. Ramesses, still under the effects of the jumping beans, bounces towards them. He bumps into Apolline's leg and is terrified when he sees her.

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Meliodas, Hawk, and Willie go down several hallways according to Gowther's instructions, or are they. Willie's not so sure they're still on track. Meliodas and Hawk keep talking, and the pig noticeably keeps sniffing the air. Willie hopes they haven't gotten off track because they're searching for food, but he has the feeling that they are. Meliodas keeps talking to Willie as normal, forgetting that they can't understand each other without the amulet. The monk is realizing just how much he already misses chatting with the dragon sin.

Hawk suddenly smells something awful and says something to Meliodas, who feels the intense magic. He immediately grabs his two companions and rushes to the nearest door. The smell and the magic feel suggest it's a purgatory indura, a demon beast that's even worse and stronger than the induras from Britannia's demon realm. The Seven Deadly Sins together can barely defeat one of these creatures, and Meliodas knows better than to engage one by himself. They partly crack open the door to peak. There's not one, but two induras, being led by two people. Meliodas and Hawk wonder how these two possible humans are seemingly controlling monsters that can rip them apart like soft cotton and are pulling them on leases. Willie notices that the beasts are wearing shock collars and electric spark helmets, and the people are holding devices in their hands, which may explain how.

GRRROOOWWWLLL!

Both the humans and induras hear that and look at the door as they pass. Meliodas rubs his stomach and tries to stay quiet. His gut growls again, but the humans seemly shrug it off and go about their way, although one of the induras growls at the door. Willie tries to exhale when he notices an unwelcome smell. It smells like marinated pork. Meliodas immediately takes off to another door on the other side of the room, much to both Willie and Hawk's dismay. Willie tries to get the dragon sin's attention by whistling, clapping, then trying to get in front of him. Hawk guesses what Willie's thinking and suggest to his friend that maybe they should get back on track.

"Yea yea sure;" Meliodas replies; "Just give me a minute, or two."

Meliodas goes through two other rooms until he finds what's obviously a boar larger then Hawk on a roasting rack. It's so marinated that the juicy sauce is dripping off it. He takes off huge chunks of meat and starts feasting. Somebody is next to him, speaking in a foreign language. Meliodas's face is mostly covered by the hood, but a little of his blonde hair is visible. He plays it cool and keeps eating large chunks of meat quite vigorously. The teenage looking girl is actually yelling at Meliodas in Hungarian that the roast wasn't quite ready, but the dragon sin doesn't understand and keeps eating.

Willie and Hawk are watching from behind a spice shelf. Hawk's stuck in between trying to hide and wait and wanting to knock the girl out to help his friend. Willie tugs on Hawk's ear, urging him to wait. Meliodas keeps eating the meat, and the teenager slaps him on the head, resulting in a bone crack and her hollering in pain. It feels like she just hit a brick wall. Her quick ability to heal herself and the sense of her magic reveal her as a druid.

Another person enters the room, this one is a goddess, and as it turns out, a Britannian one. "What are you doing? Her Highness is calling EVERYBODY to battle!"

The druid speaks in Britannian with an strong accent. "A battle? Right now? But the roast isn't done..."

"Leave it! When her Highness says now, she means NOW!" She notices Meliodas, who's still eating the undercooked roast. "Carlos! What are you doing here?! Quit stuffing your face and get back to the hospital immediately. All personal on duty NOW!"

Carl? Meliodas thinks to himself.

"He can't understand you;" says the druid; "Give him a break, will ya? He's been in the OR without a break for 47 hours, I'm sure he's starving."

"I don't care!" The goddess grabs Meliodas by the arm and tries to yank him. He replies by punching her with his left fist, knocking her out cold.

"Goodness Carlos! Have you been working out? Oh....." She repeats in Hungarian.

"Speak Britannian please;" Meliodas says without thinking.

The druid looks shocked and confused. "Carlos, since when do you speak Britannian?"

From their hiding place, Hawk and Willie both slap their heads, holding the breath and thinking "what a moron."

"Uh..." Meliodas swallows his food and looks down, trying to keep the hood over his eyes. "Yea, I've been...I've got a magic amulet so I can understand your language. Neat, huh?"

The druid seems satisfied. "Oh, I see. Felix must have given it to you and showed you how use it. I had to learn their language on my own. It was hard, believe me."

Meliodas stuffs another chunk of meat into his mouth. "I'm sure it was."

"What happened to your voice? You sound so much more cheaper and youthful than usual. And you seem taller. Guess those spin and neck stretching exercises are working."

That surprises Meliodas, that this 'Carl(?)' guy is supposedly shorter than himself.

The druid then notices that a third of the undercooked roast boar has already been consumed and doesn't really care anymore. "Dang, you are eating two days' worth of food. Don't blame me if you get a major stomachache from all that undercooked pork. But it may not harm you since anyway you're a demon."

This is certainly one of the oddest consequences Meliodas have ever heard and fights not to laugh. Even Hawk barely control his giggles and needs Willie to hold his mouth, and snout, shut.

The druid seems reluctant to check the goddess over and huffs picking her up. "Guess I need to take her to med bay, then get out again before they recruit me to heal the wounded. Get some rest Carlos and sleep off those drugs, they can't keep track of everybody around here. Caelestis is such a slave driver. I've never seen the like."

Meliodas nearly chocks hearing that. Where has he heard that name? "The Supreme Deity?! Is that who you mean?"

The druid gives him a funny look. "The Supreme what?" Meliodas is looking up and she sees his face and eyes. "Hey, you're not Carlos? Who are you? You're not a spy, are you?"

The dragon sin pulls his hood down a little. "No, of course not. I'm Melio..."

His mouth gets muffled by threads and Hawk knocks the druid out.

"Really Meliodas!" says Hawk; "would it kill you not to give yourself away."

Meliodas rips off the threads. "Thanks guys, but I had everything under control."

Willie has to fight to restrain himself from hitting Meliodas, knowing that he'll hurt himself, when they realize that the goddess is waking up. Willie grabs the half-demon's arm and tugs on him, urging him with body language to hide. Hawk runs behind the shelf again and tells Meliodas to please comply. Meliodas really doesn't believe it'll work but joins them.

The goddess wakes up and rudely shakes the druid awake, telling her to get her medic bag and join the ranks.

"But what about the demon? It's not Carlos. I think he's a spy."

The goddess sneers at her. "There's hundreds of spies here. You shouldn't trust anybody, including me. Come on now! The sooner we get this mess over with, the sooner we can finally stop sucking up to the old psycho bitch and Lucy can finally take the throne."

"You mean Nemesis, don't you? Personally, I prefer Madame Artemis."

"Oh PLEASE! She's not fit to lead a pack of headless chickens."

They exit through the back, not bothering to close the door. The goddess's loud voice can still be heard. Their words catch the dragon sin's interest, and he tells Hawk and Willie that he wants to follow them, again forgetting that Willie dosen't currently understand. The monk makes the speak gesture and shakes his head no.

"Oh yea;" says Meliodas, scratching his head.

Hawk intervenes, first asking Willie if he knows Greek, which he does. Then Hawk says one of the few Greek phrases he's learn, this one from playing with the girls. "Follow the leader, Meliodas." Willie looks at Meliodas, points to himself, then to Meliodas, and gestures.

"Yea Willie, you go with me, Buddy." Hawk then ask what about Gowther and the others. Meliodas knows that the goat sin will be able to track them down once he knows the general direction and agrees to allow to go to the lab and inform them. Meliodas looks at Willie, says Gowther's name and points to his head, then says Iris and Inuyasha's names and points to Hawk as the pig takes off. A slightly intense look is in the dragon sin's eyes, which Willie's seen briefly just a couple of times. Meliodas must be getting serious and is taking command. Perhaps Willie's finally going to see the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins in full action.

Meliodas then picks up the remaining two-thirds of the boar, takes a huge bit, and heads for the door. Willie's mouth drops open in dismay.

"What? Can't go into battle on an empty stomach. Want some?"

He offers a piece of pork to Willie, who's very disgusted by just the thought of pig's meat. The poor monk's face turns green, grabs his stomach, runs to a waste bucket, and throws up. Meliodas just shrugs his shoulders and keeps eating.

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In Japan Elaine is uncomfortable in the smoke face mask she's being made to wear; however, Uba insists that she wear it so that he doesn't breathe in the volcanic pollutants in the air as they will harm her baby. For the most part, she's been kept out of that action along with young Shippo, although they did leave the safety of the barrier to offer shelter to some refugees fleeing their homes. Elaine exhausted as she couldn't sleep the night before with all the danger and chaos going. What made matters worse was having to deal Herman's nonstop annoying behaviors and his pathetic attempts to communicate with her with his very broken and inaccurate Britannian. Herman also won't quit antagonizing the yeti that came through the portal and has suffered a few injuries from the creature. Although the yeti hasn't bother Elaine and Shippo backed out of messing with creature after it almost killed him, the yeti isn't very pleasant company nor a sight Elaine wishes to see, not to mention he smells horrible. At for that reason Elaine is grateful for mask.

After nearly a day of nonstop volcanic activity and earthquakes all around Japan and the surrounding seas and islands, it all suddenly stops as quickly as it began. While Uba's family along with Shippo's friends are taking advantage of the break to rest and heal their injuries, the tension is still very high. The silence and inactive is suspicious and extremely uncomfortable. Uba definitely believes this is silence before an even bigger storm. Elaine watches as some try to get some sleep after staying up all night, but despite being surrounded by people, she feels very lonely, especially without Diane. Elaine's been trying to stay calm and not get worried sick about her sister-in-law, but it hasn't been easy.

Elaine then notices Kikyo sitting near her cradling her daughter's doll. Kikyo had keep a strong face around her sons and even around her husband, but now that there's at least a break from the danger and her sons asleep, Kikyo's allowing her sorrow and tears flow freely. Elaine sits next to her wishing that she could comfort the worried mother but doesn't know how. Kikyo looks at Elaine and shows a slight smile, telling her telepathically that she appreciates knowing that the fairy cares. While Elaine's dosen't really understand how her presence makes the human mother feel any better, she's glad that it does. Kikyo's husband soon arrives and embrace his wife in their shared sorrow. Elaine can't help but really miss Ban more than ever and can't keep herself from crying.

With everybody either to exhausted or preoccupied, Herman takes advantage and sneaks away, caring little about the danger nor about the suffering the people around the nation are enduring. He's only eager to find some action and experiment with his dangerous powers, he also hopes he can cook over the still hot lava and what that taste like. When Uba realizes that Herman's gone, she blames herself and immediately tells her exhausted sons, as well as Miroku, Sango, and Kirara to go with her and find him, or things will be worse than they already are.