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a-small-tired-lonely-potato · 2 years

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"And who is she?" "My Sister."

To be perfectly honest, Ban wasn’t sure what to expect from Jericho when she started to follow him.

At first he thought she was just trying to seek out a hopeless crush, but her need to get away from Lionas spoke of a deeper meaning than just following her heart.

Then he reasoned that the only purpose she would have to follow him all this way is she must be doing this to try to kill him again, So he let her tag along.

After all, he had stolen her armor and left her naked body there defenseless, he’d try to kill him too. To be fair, he had only realized she was a girl when he had taken off her chest-plate, and by that point it was too late to turn back. In for a penny, Ya' know?

So he let her tag along, he figured that once she got all the rage out of her system she would toddle on back home. He did the same thing with King and that worked out great.

But after a couple weeks, his theory had some holes being poked in it.

He had given her plenty of chances to hurt him, he got needlessly drunk, he slept whenever he had the chance, he would tug her left and right and always walk ahead of her so his back was exposed.

But instead of hurting him, she would scold him for getting drunk while she took care of his hangovers, she would make sure he was warm enough and stand guard while he slept, and whenever he would tug her along, she would complain, but allow herself to be pulled to and fro.

And he would always walk in front, so she always asked him to slow down so she could keep up.

The more time he spent with her, the more he felt like he had met her before, or at least someone very much like her. He couldn’t put his finger on it until he had come to the outskirts of an old, shabby little town with her.

“BAAAN! Would it kill you to slow down a little!?!”

Ban chuckled as he increased his walking speed ever so slightly, “Not my fault you got short legs Jerry-Curl.♫” His grin got bigger as he knew what was coming next.

“IT IS JERICHO!!! I KNOW YOU KNOW THIS YOU ASSHOLE!!” She exclaimed as she threw a rock near his head.

He caught it, as he knew she had intended. She had jumped off of a flying sea ray at his very location in a town that was on fire, and in one short step had impaled him against a house, if she had wanted to hit him with the rock, she would have.

“You could hurt someone like that ya’ know, what if I got a scar on my pretty face? Then there goes our money maker.♫”

Jericho shot him a deadpan look, “Money maker? I’m the one paying for everything, Besides,” She said, speeding up to a swift jog to overtake his lead, “The only way your face would make us when people pay for you to cover it up.”

Ban’s eyes zeroed in on the girl before quickly jumping forward and grabbing her around her neck in a chokehold, “Hey now! That’s not a very nice thing to say there, is it Jerry?♫”

Jericho started to struggle against his hold, trying to bat him away with her tiny arms. When he thinks about it, they might not be that short, but to him, most everyone has very tiny limbs, and hers was tinier than most.

“Let me GO!!! YOU BIG MORON!!!”

Ban smiled at his flailing companion, “Once you take back those mean words.♫”

“NEVER!!!”

As Jericho managed to slip out of his grasp with a well placed elbow to the rib, Ban was distracted from his game by a noise coming from the young girl.

“GROOOWLLLLL.”

Jericho flushed beet red, and tried to compose herself, “U-Um, uh, Ye-ah, I’m not taking it back and anyway we really need to pick up the speed, haha! I mean I know I told us to slow down but-” She had started to walk away when Ban scooped her off the ground and took off towards the center of the town.

“ASHkdlJDSdAHSIF BAN??? WHAT ARE YOU- Oof!” He had dropped her in front of what looked to be a small bakery, only about three people were even inside and this early in the morning, chances are two of them probably worked there.

Ban gave Jericho back her money pouch he had ‘Borrowed’ earlier, “Get something to eat, I’m gonna be out back behind the shop taking a nap.”

Jericho, still reeling from the ride and by the pouch that she had thought was still on her person, went to tell him she really wasn’t that hungry, when she saw the look on his face.

Jericho couldn’t really say she knew that much about Ban, all she knew, she knew from reports that she had heard by other knights or from what little Master Helbram had told her.

But after traveling with him and with King, she had come to know at least a little. Like how he was very prone to teasing, and the more he knew it bothered you, the more he would do it.

And how he had an alcohol journal, full of labels of different alcohols, with a wide collection and lots of technical facts and interesting descriptions.

And how much he missed his best friend, and his lover.

In silent nights talking to the Fairy King, she had even discovered the incident where Ban had tried to sacrifice his Captain to bring back King’s sister, who had died trying to save him, How much he couldn’t bear to look his Captain in the face after that, how King wasn’t sure whether Ban had left to find another way to bring back Elaine, or to avoid the guilt.

But the most important thing Jericho had learned, was what she learned by watching Ban’s face.

And right now, he looked like someone who expected to be obeyed, no questions asked.

So Jericho nodded, and silently walked into the bakery, she would buy him something to eat as well, but for now it was best to let whatever was bothering him be washed away by a good rest.

Ban meanwhile was resting his head against the brick wall of the alley, trying to forget what his brain had concocted the moment he had heard that wretched noise coming from Jericho’s stomach.

An image came to life of her, laying down in his arms, paper thin, a pale color on her cheeks where she used to blush so red she would look like a tomato.

‘Does’ He said to himself, ‘Not where she Used too, where she Does look like a tomato, She’s not-’

Even in his mind he refused to speak that word. He hated that word, he hated what it meant.

‘Starved’, What a horrible way to die. And what a pitiful way as well. He had been stabbed, hanged, blown up, drowned, burned at the stake, cut to pieces, buried alive even!

And he never found a worse way to die.

To starve to death…

Because he had traveled, you know? He had done odd jobs and missions here and there, he knew how to get food from even tree bark. How desolate or alone or young must one be to be able to starve to death?

About five if he remembered correctly. About five years old with a drunkard of a father, a whore of a mother, and an ignorant fool of older brother. An older brother who had believed when a five year old girl had told him she had already eaten when he would offer her food, an older brother who didn’t bother to look at her skin, getting pale, as he devoured what little they had, too consumed by his own hunger that he couldn’t be bothered to listen the sound of her stomach over his chewing.

And as he fell asleep he dreamed of that same little girl, following him around when he would wander off.

He dreamed of her asking him to slow down his pace, her legs being too tiny to keep up.

He dreamed of her getting mad when he would call her Kill-Ya, instead of her real name, Killa.

He dreamed of when she would sit by him as he slept so she could wake him if their parents ever came into their room, ever his little protector.

He would dream of her and him, walking down the road together, for the very last time.

He would dream of her collapsing into his arms, skin paper thin, face pale as the snow around them, as she asked him for warm bread.

He would dream of his first little sister, and when he opened his eyes, he would see his second.

“BAN!!” She screams as she stands over him, “IT’S ALREADY NOON!” Her face, red as a tomato as she yells at him to wake up.

“Hmm, It’s been a while since I’ve seen that.” He says to himself as he looks her up and down. He sees a small package of warm bread next to where he slept, Jericho must have grabbed it for him while she was in the bakery, even though he hadn’t even asked.

“Seen what? A dream?” She asks, confused.

He still doesn’t really get why Jericho decided to tag along, but he realizes why he decided to let her stay, of who she was to him.

He understands that this might be a bit jarring, to go from ‘I-don’t-care-for-whoever-you-are’ to ‘I-will-protect-you-because-you-are-mine’ but what can he say, what he wants, he takes, he’s Ban, the Fox Sin of Greed after all.

He smiles at the young girl, “That’s your fault Jaleco, Today’s Ale is on you.♫” His grin got bigger as he knew what was coming next.

“Y-yeah… WAIT WHAT!?” She exclaimed as she started to smack him with her tiny hand, “ALSO, EVERYTHING HAS BEEN ON ME THE WHOLE TIME ANYWAY!!!”

Ban smiled as he heard her ranting and raving, he preferred that over the growl of an empty stomach.