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It was Gowther’s inattention that finally caused Merlin to realize her mistake. Although, mistake was a little harsh. It was an oversight. One she should have caught giver her long history with Meliodas – and his absolute dismissive attitude towards his own health – but not necessarily an error on her behalf. They’d all been preoccupied.
Coming to Oveder had been a known risk. Doing that always meant taking a chance, given that the pocket dimension was constantly plagued by one weather phenomenon after another. In that regard they’d been lucky – at first. They had managed to find the lost relic, which would provide a key element in the upcoming fight against the demons, and almost made it back to the gateway. Almost. The blizzard had hit, and they’d been forced to take cover from the harsh cold.
Merlin had noticed Meliodas stumbling more than usual as they had made it to the cave, but they had all been stumbling. You didn’t just simply walk through an Oveder blizzard unfazed. She hadn’t thought anything of it. Until now.
They had discarded their cold armors in favor of huddling together around the small fire. King and Diane were clinging onto each other, limps practically tangled into knots. Diane was in her human size as the cave wasn’t big enough for a giant. Ban had an arm wrapped around Escanor who - well, shaking like a leaf seemed a bit like an understatement to how the man was handling the cold night. Merlin was looking over the relic, making sure it hadn’t sustained any damage in the blizzard, when she noticed that Gowther wasn’t studying the group’s responses to the weather anymore. His gaze was instead trained on the other side of the cave. A troubled frown pulling his eyebrows together. Merlin followed his line of sight. Meliodas had chosen a spot as far away from the fire as possible. He was sitting slumped against the cave wall, his chest rising rapidly with his breathing.
Fuck!
Merlin stood up so suddenly the flames almost went out at the gush of wind the action kicked up. The others let out surprised - and unnoticed – shouts as Merlin quickly made her way over to Meliodas. The closer she got, the worse it looked. His face just seemed more and more flushed the closer she got. A pinched expression colored his face as he had his arms wrapped around his midsection. Shit. At least, if nothing else, he was aware enough of the situation to avoid the heat of the fire.
“Don’t.” Meliodas slapped away her hand when she pressed it against his forehead. His gaze just barely missed its mark as he glared at her. Any other time he might have looked intimidating, now though, he just looked miserable. It seemed like a miracle he was even staying more or less upright at the moment.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Merlin growled at him. She put her hand back and had to suppress the instinct to instantly pull it away again. His skin wasn’t just warm, it was burning to the touch.
“’m fine,” Meliodas insisted with slurry words and failed to swat her away again. Merlin humored him only for the sake of turning to Gowther as he appeared at her side. The frown was still on his face as he watched the captain for a moment, before giving her a rundown of his own observations. With a fever that high, a human would have been brain damaged by now. It was fine, Merlin tried telling herself. Meliodas was a demon. They weren’t there yet.
“In this state he won’t make it through the storm,” Gowther noted. Merlin sighed, scooping up a handful of snow from the ground. Behind them, the others seemed to have caught on to just how serious the situation was. Even if they didn’t understand it.
“Merlin, what’s going on?” King asked. Merlin ignored him in favor of squeezing the snow between her hands.
“I know,” she told Gowther. The snow melted under her warmth. “But I’m not sure how much we can do.”
Gowther nodded his head, his focus still on the captain. Meliodas’ eyes had slipped close somewhere along the way, his body tipping forward slightly. Merlin opened her hands to look at the snow. It had mostly melted into water at this point. Bracing herself, Merlin shoved it against Meliodas’ skin.
As expected, Meliodas’ reaction was instantaneous – and violent. He let out a loud yelp, his limbs kicking out in an attempt at escaping the sudden attack of coldness. One of his feet caught home, hitting Merlin right in the side. She toppled over with a pained grunt. Never underestimate the strength of a demon. Even one on the brink of unconsciousness.
“What are you doing?!” Diane cried out horrified at the same time as Escanor’s aghast, “Miss Merlin!”
“Fuck,” Merlin cursed as she pushed herself upright again. Gowther had managed to grab hold of Meliodas, restraining him to keep him from doing any more harm. A thin trickle of blood ran down the side of his head from where he’d hit it against the wall in his struggle. Merlin hadn’t counted on a reaction quite that strong. He’d seemed worse off than that. He was worse off. That was the problem; his defensiveness rising with the vulnerability of his state. This would make this a lot harder. At the very least, subduing him had been easier than it would have been if Meliodas had chosen to fight them off fully conscious. It would be a matter of keeping the defensive instincts to a minimum it seemed.
“What the hell is going on?!” Ban yelled angrily. He sounded like he was one second away from rushing over to them. Probably would have if Escanor hadn’t practically been hanging off his arm.
“What’s wrong with the captain?” Diane asked as King opted for just shouting Merlin’s name, the authority of a king in his voice. Any one of them would have been enough to make a civilian or even a normal holy knight spill their guts. Merlin sighed. She supposed she would have to deal with them as well. Before they made the situation worse. Meliodas, in his delirious state, would not react to kindly to the continued shouting. Especially with the frustration they were all emitting.
“Try to get his temperature down,” Merlin said and left her water pouch by Gowther’s side. “I’ll be right back.”
When she returned to the group by the fire, Merlin spoke up before any of them could.
“Keep your voices down,” she hissed and kneeled by their bags. They’d lost most of their supplies when the storm had initially hit, but maybe she could savor enough to make a potion.
The other four shared a look before Escanor spoke up tentatively, “Miss Merlin, what’s going on?”
“We need to cool down the captain,” Merlin told them as she emptied the last bag.
“Cool down?” King asked incredulous. “It’s a blizzard. It’s already freezing.”
“To a human,” Merlin pointed out. She frowned at the content strewn before her. This wasn’t enough. Making anything usable out of this would be tricky. “Or a fairy or a giant.”
“What?” The others shared another look, clearly lost at what Merlin was trying to tell them. Escanor glanced between Merlin and the captain. Merlin followed his gaze. Meliodas was taking small sips from the water, even letting Gowther put a little of it on his heated skin. It wouldn’t be enough. Meliodas still seemed semi-conscious at best, and not fully aware of the situation.
“But not a demon, it that seriously what you’re saying?” Ban asked, pulling Merlin’s attention back. She wished they would just let her figure this out. They needed something to reset his temperature with. “Because I’m pretty sure Captain gets cold too, Merlin.”
Merlin sighed, meeting their gazes one at a time. The complete lack of knowledge about demons – even within their own group – was astounding. Perhaps expected, but still astounding.
“A demon’s body temperature is reactive against their environment,” Merlin began explaining. “In hot environments, like say Hell, their own body temperature is a lot cooler. To optimize their body functions and keep them from overheating. In cooler environments, like Liones and Britannia, their body temperature is slightly warmer than a human’s. The colder the environment, the warmer the body. In a blizzard like this one, a demon’s body might overcompensate to keep them from freezing, even to the point of a dangerously high temperature.”
“So, basically, the captain will cook to death if we don’t cool him down.”
“Ban!” Diane cried out appalled. A tense silence fell over the group. Despite his harsh wording, Ban was right. That was what was happening.
“What can we do?” King asked. They were all looking at Merlin, begging her for a light at the end of the tunnel.
“For now, we need to keep his temperature down. Until I can figure out something else.”
Escanor looked over at the rest of their group again, watching Gowther use the water or melted snow in his attempts to help the captain; “I’m assuming we can’t actually use the snow itself?”
“No,” Merlin shook her head. “It might have worked for a human, but-”
“But not a demon,” Ban repeated. His voice was clearly frustrated, his hands clenched into fists. Merlin couldn’t blame him. It was an awfully hopeless position. Especially for those without any knowledge to find a better solution. The Seven Deadly Sins weren’t used to not doing something – to not being able to help.
“We can’t risk making it worse and causing his temperature to rise even more.”
“So, what can we do?” King asked again.
“Please, Merlin, there has to be something,” Diane pleaded.
“I was hoping to make a potion, but I’m not sure even I could turn this into something.”
“A potion, to do what?” Escanor asked curiously.
“To reset his core temperature,” Merlin explained. She’d gone back to staring at their supplies. Even if it seemed pointless. The knowledge, the right answer, was always there if one just knew how to look.
“Reset it?” King echoed. “Would that even work? I mean, we’re still trapped in this blizzard.”
“Yes,” Merlin hummed. “But it would give us time if nothing else, and it might even trick his body. Make it think-”
Merlin trailed off. The answer appeared before her like a flash of lightning. Of course. It seemed so obvious now.
“Make it think what?”
“We need to make it think it’s warmer than it is,” Merlin said, studying the supplies with newfound vigor. A new potion forming in her mind. “We need to heat him up.”
“What?”
“Yes.” Merlin didn’t waste any time explaining her now fully formed idea. It was risky – incredibly risky – but it could work. I had to. It was the only shot they had.
Despite any hesitation they might have had about the plan, they all set into action. For their captain. King helped Merlin prepare her potion, while Escanor went over to Gowther to get him up to speed and help him get more fluids into Meliodas. Ban made a new, smaller fire that Diane then created a dome-like barrier around with the earth. The only openings were the “door” and a crack in the top to let the smoke out and the air in. Still, it would be hot enough to sweat in there.
“Merlin,” King asked, glancing to make sure nobody was listening in. “If this doesn’t work, what will happen?”
“We’ll kill him.” King closed his eyes at that, but there was no shock. “His temperature will rise to unhealthy levels, and if his body continues to perceive the environment as cold, it won’t fall again. The heat will cause permanent damage to his body and mind. Best case scenario, it will kill him.”
King nodded his head solemnly, looking down at the potion they were making.
“And this will help?” he asked.
“Hopefully,” Merlin started. She didn’t like the uncertainty of that, but this was a risk chance at best. “It will protect him from his high temperature without interfering with his body’s reactiveness to the environment.”
“Hopefully,” King repeated. A shared prayer between six.
Soon the preparations were all done. Meliodas had more or less fallen unconscious by that point, but they still managed to get him to drink the potion. Ban placed him inside the dome and Diane shut the door behind. All that was left to do, was wait. Wait and pray and trust their captain.
Merlin knew of course that no matter what happened today, Meliodas would come back to them. Eventually. One of the few instances that she was grateful of his cruel curse. Although, an emotionless Meliodas was not what they needed right now. They needed their captain, just as he was. Explaining his return from death to the other Sins as well as Liones would also be a handful. For now, Merlin opted for some of Meliodas’ let’s-worry-about-that-when-it-happens attitude. If they were lucky, it wouldn’t come to that.
They were lucky. By some miracle, they were lucky.
When morning came, the blizzard had lessened into a bearable storm and Meliodas was still alive. He was by no means fine, but his temperature had fallen to a non-fatal level. They made it back to Liones with a crucial piece of relic and without any casualties. Elizabeth had met them at the gate and made an entire night of worries and anguish disappear in one teary hug. She always had been astounding.
And so, the Seven Deadly Sins shook of another near disaster and continued on, but there was one thing that kept nagging at Merlin. She knew exactly what it was. It wasn’t something she’d been confronted with before they were framed. After all, back then, the other sins hadn’t known about Meliodas being a demon. Now though, she saw the way they had all worked together, to find a solution for something seemingly unsolvable. Something that had to do with the captain’s past and true nature. Seeing all that, it was hard to not think about Meliodas’ other secret.
Merlin had argued before that he should entrust the others with his and Elizabeth’s curses. He’d always refused – claiming that they’d never believe it or trust him or it wasn’t worth the risk to Elizabeth. Now two of those claims were invalid. They already knew he was a demon and still trusted him, and them not believing it wasn’t really a reasonable issue. That only left Elizabeth, who would be a lot safer with the curse broken. Perhaps it was time to raise the subject again. Seven heads were a lot better than two. Liones’ wasn’t the only fate they could save.