•~Chapter 2~•
Atonement Isn't Easy

"Hey! Over there!" A rather short blond male called. He was dressed in a white long sleeved tunic with a collar and sleeves that stopped at his wrists underneath a simple black over shirt. He also wore a small red tie that was somewhat muted in coloration. There was a determined and somewhat resigned gleam residing within his emerald green eyes as he led the way over to a dying man.

His companion followed him through what was clearly the aftermath of a bloody battle over to the dying mans side. "Hey, try to hang on!" The blondie said as he kneeled down beside the solider. He was clearly just a foot soldier based on his outfit.

The soldier dragged in a raspy breath as his upper body was gently lifted into a more upright position, "The Roars of Dawn...Those Holy Knights are responding to the attack..." He explained breathily, and let out a groan of pain as he fought to drag in enough air to finish. His eyes were opened wide as if he had seen something truly traumatic. "The Armor Giant is coming! Y-You have to stay away! The armor clad monster-" His warning descended into gurgles as his dying moment came, and his soul passed on to the afterlife.

"Did he say Armor Giant?" A young boy that appeared to be no more than a teenager questioned. He was flying and had a set of auburn brown hair and honey brown eyes which widened in surprise. He held a moss green pillow that had dark teen spots scarred all over it to his side.

His companion, a male that appeared to be in his early twenties with rather spiky white-blue hair and magenta eyes scoffed. He wore a red leather jacket and paths with some metal studs placed on them. "What the hell is an armor clad monster?" He asked. His tone hinted at the fact that this was somewhat irritating. Or he just found this to be redundant.

Instead of answering their individual questions the Blondie merely lowered the now dead soldier back down to the ground and straightened, "Guys, it's him. It has to be." He stated, and it was quite clear by the way he dealt with his two companions that he was the leader of their little gang.

"Him?" The taller male echoed in a confused manner. He turned towards his Fairy companion with a somewhat quizzical gaze.

This clearly meant something to the Fairy, or perhaps the meaning just got across easier as he appeared to be even more surprised or even startled. "No way." He said.

The blond haired male looked over his shoulder at the others with a grim expression, "Yeah, there's no mistaking this. It's Gowther the Goat Sin." He confirmed.

The trio hastened into the forest and used the magical energies that they could sense as a guide.

Gowther....They're coming.

•~~•

The clearing shook with the loud roar that armor clad monster emitted and yet the sleeping soul within the cave did not stir. Violet had not yet woken, however she was about to receive quite a rude awakening. One of the members of the Roars of Dawn had taken shelter within the cave in which she slumbered, and it wasn't that difficult to notice her huddled form.

This member's armor was quite simple and created out of steel with some blue accents on areas such as the shoulder pads. His helmet oddly resembled that of a bear or some chibi version of one. "What's a little girl doing in here?" He quietly questioned as he made his way over. With his free hand. He grasped the girls neck and lifted her limp form from the ground, as she did appear to be unmoving.

That was when he saw it-the marking upon her collarbone. The swan symbol was just barely visible, but it was enough to be certain of who he held within his grasp. He watched in an almost petrified manner as her muted pale blue eyes slowly opened and she took in her situation with a surprising level of calm. "Release me." She ordered softly.

This child that appeared to be no older than that of a fourteen year old and was the size of perhaps a preteen was giving him orders. Even if she was a member of the Seven Deadly Sins-it was absurd with the situation he held her in. "Your fate will be up to Slader, however you should sleep now." He stated as he began to apply pressure on her throat.

Her slim fingers scrambled at his armored hand as the air was slowly stolen from her lungs and her airway restricted. Violet grit her teeth angrily as she struggled to get a good grasp-and it appeared as if she would be easily subdued.

However a fire burned in her eyes, and it was a fire that was not easily extinguished. A grunt was forced from the bear armored male as she finally found purchase on his gauntlet. She crushed it easily as she applied her strength which forced him to loosen his grasp on her throat.

Violet greedily drank in the air, "My fate," she spat, "is mine to control. I am the only one who can guide it!" She snarled angrily.

In an instant the tables were turned as the Swan Sin was hurled from the cave. It was quite a surprise to those fighting outside, and even brought a pause to their battle.

King the Grizzly Sin of Sloth was currently held prisoner by some strange bonds made of what appeared to be light. He was in the air above the battlefield. Meliodas the Dragon Sin of Wrath seemingly was about to face a man wielding a samurai sword, and Ban the Fox Sin of Greed paused while scaling a natural column of rock that an archer from the Roar's of Dawn was perched on. "Hmm? What is this?" A man with a set of wavy black locks and a metal mask covering his face hummed. He wielded a double bladed saw like weapon.

"It's a member of the Seven Deadly Sins! The mark is right there on her collarbone-it's the first escapee from Baste Prison! Violet the Swan Sin of Temperance!" The bear armored male announced as he lumbered out of the cave to survey his handwork.

Violet lay facedown in a small crater quite close to the Armor Giant and for the moment was unmoving. "You're telling me that she's a member of the Seven Deadly Sins? She's hardly more than a child-and you just-" The swordsman began to exclaim, but was hushed by his superior.

She had begun to move. She slowly raised herself up so that she was sitting on her knees while she surveyed the scene, before clambering to her feet. Violet wasn't one hundred percent steady on her feet. In fact she stumbled when she tried to take a step forward, however she caught herself on the Armor Giants leg.

To the surprise of both the Roars of Dawn and Meliodas and the others the Giant did not strike out at her, "Protect." He rumbled.

"That won't be necessary, but thank you." Violet whispered warmly. She reached up to loosely grasp the crystal on her necklace only to find that it wasn't around her neck. It was within the grasps of the man that had hurled her from the cave.

There was a clear shift in the power that radiated from Violet as she left the Armor Giants side to approach the man that she had dubbed, 'the bear'. "Return my necklace to me if you wish to escape my wrath." Violet demanded. She paused a few steps away from the male.

'Why does a necklace matter so much to her?' Meliodas couldn't help but wonder as he merely observed. It was as if there was an unspoken agreement between them all that this was not to be interrupted. "This meaningless bit of vanity means something to you? Surrender yourself and perhaps I'll return it. Otherwise I'll grind it to dust." The bear stated.

Her hair trailed on the ground as she dared to take yet another step closer (and it had been this whole time as she still needed to cut it). "That was the incorrect response." She murmured, before her right eye flared to life with power. A large blue trail flared from her right eyes and indicated that she had just awakened a large portion of her magical power.

It only took her an instant to surround herself with twelve balls of burning flames born from spiritual energy. Violet lifted into the air and made quite the perfect picture perfect scene.

Her long hair whipped around due to the pure power that she held at her beck and call, and the same occurred to her dress although nothing bad was exposed. "Spectral Aura Ray." Violet announced in a rather monotone fashion, before she snapped her fingers.

The individual balls of energy merged in an instant, at which she snapped again. The ball of flickering energy seemed to grow smaller and more concentrated in intensity until it fired a concentrated beam at the bear man to which his comrades called out a fearful warning.

In the next instant it was all over with only three simple actions. Her superior speed had her beside the Holy Knight in mere seconds, and she gently rested her left hand on his armored left shoulder. She harnessed surprising physical strength for someone of her size and lowered his arm low enough for her to rip her necklace from his grasp, and she then proceeded to leap backwards.

Her blow landed moments after she threw herself away, and so she crossed her arms in front of her body to shield herself from some of the aftermath. The bear man wouldn't be waking up for a good while she guessed, and he'd have some pretty nasty burns and injuries to. Violet's landing certainly left an unspoken need for improvement, however she had already pushed her weakened body farther than she should have with that attack. She had allowed her anger and desperation to guide her actions and that had been reckless. However she just couldn't bring herself to feel angry at herself.

Slowly Violet straightened until she stood at her full height, "This is the one thing in life that I will never allow harm to come to. This is the only way that I can atone for my Sin you understand!? I can't let myself get kill before I have a chance to bring them back." She snapped angrily. Her limbs began to tremble from the strain of supporting her weight and she cursed silently, 'I pushed myself to far dammit!' She thought.

The words, "Charging Complete." Seemed to snap everyone back to reality, and Ban was quick to scramble up the last little ways to the top of the column. He lashed out at the pesky archer, "Don't think so." He growled, only to find that his hand had merely hit air. The illusion of the archer wavered before disappearing completely. "How'd he do that?" He questioned.

"To bad. Charging complete, and now it's mission accomplished." The archer mused while silently checking he had the shot lined up correctly. As usual it was perfectly lined up and so he released his hold on the string which propelled the arrow forward at a blinding speed.

The clearing was engulfed in a blinding light as the arrow shot forward, and Violet could only let out a startled cry as it sped towards her. She could tell it's trajectory-and it seemed like it was aimed to pierce through her and then continue on to hit the Armor Giant-

"NO GOWTHER!" Violet heard Meliodas cry out desperately.

However that never occurred. The cool stone that made up the ground outside of the cave entrance pressed against her skin as she was pushed out of the way by none other than Allen, who had stopped the fully charged arrow with a single hand. In fact he had caught it with his bare hand.

A stunned silence briefly fell over those who took in the scene laid before them. "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 blindside." Allen solemnly narrated, before he tilted his head upward. "The price for breaking the seal will be a steep one, humans." He announced.

"Did he say seal?" The metal masked leader known as Slader questioned.

Something seemed to click in Meliodas' head as it almost seemed like his green eyes shone brighter, "Hold on, the way you talk sounds like..." He trailed off as his eyes were drawn to the crimson symbol that Allen's semi-torn clothing now revealed.

King's eyes widened as he to took notice of this, "That symbol on your chest-no way!" He exclaimed.

"Yes...My true form is.." Allen began to say as his appearance began to shift. Namely his somewhat curly green locks began to transform into straight pink locks.

She knew who this was, and while the others where dealing with the shock of this reveal she merely smiled.

"A member of the Seven Deadly Sins. The Goat Sin of Lust. My name is, Gowther."