Dragging myself out of the dirty lukewarm water in the tub, I dried myself with a large piece of cloth before applying the dressings for my wounds. Cuts and scratches lined my arms, legs, stomach and the palms of my hands. I also had a multitude of bruises, especially a large diagonal stretch of black and blue along my ribs, which must have been from the tree if I had to guess.

Wincing as I hobbled closer to the clothing placed on the ground at the door, I dressed as quick as I could, pulling on the underwear, hissing in pain as I pulled on the short black pants. They rested at about mid- thigh, something I was grateful of, considering the bandages and gauze on my lower legs.

I reached for the grey half-shirt, as I called it, lying over the back of a chair, poked the padding inside of it, confused. Elizabeth said that a top like this was worn by the women knights for protection. She had also called it a bra, but it was a foreign word to me so I disregarded it. Next, I dragged a dark blue shirt over my head, my head getting stuck in a big flap of fabric. A hoodie, Meliodas had called it, an altered design with short sleeves.

Flicking back the hood, I stood in front of the mirror to tie my air up high, watching the ends curl slightly down near the middle of my back. It's getting long. Might have to get rid of some of it. Unlike a fox's fur, hair did not shed in copious amounts. One had to cut human hair to keep it short.

Sighing, shoulders drooping, I hobbled to the bed in the room and sat on the edge, head in hands. After getting back into the tavern, the bar owner had sent me to this bedroom, before Hawk and Elizabeth came in to fill the tub with boiling hot water. Meliodas had brought a spare pair of clothes and black lace up boots for me to change into.

So for about an hour, I soaked in the tub, wounds tingling and my aching body relishing in the hot water. That was until I fell asleep and awoke in lukewarm water, sluggish and dazed. Groaning, I reached across to the chair and snagged another set of bandages, wrapping my red, aching feet. Bound, I tested them against the floor again before standing and heading for the door.

I faintly remembered Meliodas telling me to come down when I was ready so I limped down the stairs and back into the main area of the tavern. Elizabeth, Hawk and Meliodas all sat around a table, tankards and empty plates set before them. Their conversation dwindled to nothing as I came forward, stomach growling.

"Oh, let me get you something," Elizabeth exclaimed, rushing towards the bar area.

"Looking good, Estra," Meliodas said, winking before following after Elizabeth.

I was too tired, famished and thirsty to make a comeback. I plopped in a seat beside Hawk, head falling onto the table.

"Wow, Estra. You look like crap."

"Thanks, Hawk," I replied sarcastically, eyes closed. "I already knew that."

"Here you go." I woke to a tankard and full plate being set on the table.

"Please tell me Elizabeth cooked this," I said as I stabbed a fork into the slivers of meat and eggs on the plate, raising it to my mouth.

"Yes, I did. I know it's not much but I hope you like it," she said, hands clasped together.

"And the ale is on me," Meliodas added.

One bite of the meal and I was hooked. Soon, the plate was empty and I was praising Elizabeth, all the while taking sips of the ale. It wasn't so bad, once you got past the bitter taste and the burning path it left as it travelled down one's throat.

"Hey Estra," Hawk snorted and I turned to him. "Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I mean, how are you a sin?"

I was hoping that was all a bad dream. "It's complicated," I started, eyeing the three around me.

"We have heaps of time," Meliodas said, waving his hand. "It will be a while before we reach the next town."

"Fine," I grumbled, rubbing my finger around the rim of the tankard. I didn't really know where to start, so like any story I have heard told, I began at the beginning.

"Thousands of years ago, the seven deadly sins weren't humans but creatures which roamed the Earth. The creatures depicted in your time, now, are the same as they were back then. Each associated with a sin and each stronger than others of their species, with longer life spans and such. But whatever the magic was that gave the sins their 'powers' was random. In my family, my whole family line, I was the only fox to receive the powers."

I looked up to see them all staring at me intently, awe on their faces. "Go on," Elizabeth said.

"I lived life as a fox, for eighteen years, before the humans came for me. As foxes, my family normally stayed away from humans, but I had been curious in my youth, venturing to watch them and understand them, in a way. That's probably how they found me, slinking back home after hearing my mother calling. Before I could even react, four of them had surrounded me, all in long, brown cloaks and with tattooed marks on their foreheads. I might have been bigger than other red foxes in my time, but even my raised hackles couldn't deter them."

It was all coming back to me, as I stared into the rippling surface of the ale. Could still hear their words in my ears, smell the fire and smoke as I lay on the altar listening to their chants. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"All they said was, 'You are the one; you will be the new human Fox God,' before one of them gathered me up in their arms. Being a fox unknown to human contact, I scratched and lashed out, wailed and called for my parents. But it would have been too late for them to arrive, because one of the cloaked figures pulled out a gnarled stick and flicked it in the air three times.

"We teleported instantly to the entrance of a cave, filled with the sweet scent of burning incense and low, muttered chanting. Stunned by the magic, for animals were sensitive to it, I didn't have the energy to try to escape until they had strapped me to the alter. I was splayed out like a deer that had been killed by a well- placed pebble, eyes darting uselessly at the walls, at the figures and the fire."

My fingers tightened on the tankard and I raised my head to meet the other's eyes. "Before long, the chanting and incense had filled my ears and eyes and I had lost consciousness. The next time I opened them, I had human legs and arms and was lying on the grass outside the cave. When I went inside, it was a mess of tattered fabric and centuries old bone and blood. I had run for it and stumbled upon a small cottage where I acquired clothing. Then I headed for the closest town, hopefully to find someone who can transform me back into a fox. The rest you know."

I left out the part about the demon in the cave, not wanting to be subjected to any more questions; I had enough reminiscing of the past and the goodbyes I never said. I was too tired to keep a hold on my emotions, so I pushed the memory as far away as possible and smiled at the trio.

"So, any ideas to help me?" I asked as jovially as possible.

They seemed stunned into silence, before Meliodas went and retrieved his own tankard and drank it. "I think I can help. Merlin is a great wizard who might have the powers to transform you back."

I looked at the wanted poster, to the lady staring out of the poster with the name 'Merlin' underneath. "Really?" I breathed out, turning back to Meliodas. "Where is she?"

"That... I don't know. Haven't heard of nor seen Merlin since we disbanded."

My shoulders drooped and I glared at Meliodas. "What a great help you are."

"Maybe we should find Merlin first then," Elizabeth said to Meliodas, obviously beginning a discussion that I had been asleep for earlier.

"No. I think we should stick with the original plan. At any rate, Merlin might hear of our plight and come searching for us."

"Wow. What a brilliant plan," I said sarcastically. "So, what was planned while I was passed out in the bath tub?"

"Apparently there are rumours of a sleeping giant in a forest a couple of towns over," Meliodas explained. "We're stopping in the next town to give Hawk's mother a break, before heading that way."

"Oh, okay." I felt slightly let down that these guys weren't actually going to help me with my own quest.

"Maybe we can search for wizards and magicians while in the next town," Hawk stated.

"Great idea!" Elizabeth held a hand up, counting off on her fingers. "Find supplies and rest; search for a magician or wizard for Estra; and discover out any more information about the sins."

"So, you're really going to help me?" I asked, hands splayed on the table. I just had to make sure.

"Why wouldn't we? You're a part of the team now," Meliodas answered, staring at me like I had grown two heads. "What did you expect?"

~

Humming happily to myself, I bustled around the swaying tavern, doing menial chores Meliodas had thrown my way as 'payment' for allowing me to stay. Meliodas stood cleaning the counter, still wearing the damaged and tattered shirt from the fight.

My eyes alighted on his tattoo of what must be a dragon eating it's tail. To me, it was quite disturbing because: one, dragons I knew had wings and two, they don't go eating their tails; but that was just my opinion.

That's when another thought popped into my head. What was the actual point of the tattoo? I mean, if he was a knight before all of this, people would never have seen the tattoo before.

"Hey Meliodas," I piped up, eyes still on the strange tattoo on his upper arm. "I get that your tattoo is supposed to be a brand for the Dragon Sin of Wrath, but how did others know about it?"

"What do you mean?" Meliodas asked, eyes darting to the burgundy tattoo.

"Well, how did other people, common folk and such see it. Weren't you wearing armour all the time?"

"You don't really know much about knights, do you?" he questioned. I shook my head. "Well, just because we were seven of the strongest knights didn't mean we kept to ourselves or kept our armour on all day and all night."

My face went hot and if I had been looking in a mirror, my face would probably have been red from my neck up to the roots of my hair. Oh, wow, Estra. You're so brilliant! My brain sarcastically said to me.

"You alright?" Meliodas asked, laughing a bit, as I realised I had puffed my cheeks up in embarrassment.

"Ignore my first question," I grumbled, raising my chin in the air, before turning back to the mark. "Does everyone have a mark?"

"All the sins do."

"So the other Fox," I glanced at the board, "Ban, has a red fox?"

"Yes," Meliodas asked somewhat warily, not knowing where I was going with this.

"Does that mean I can get one? I am one of the original sins after all."

"I can't see why not," Meliodas shrugged his shoulders, smiling at me.

"Yes," I hissed quietly.

"Although I don't know if Ban will like it if you steal his brand."

"Don't worry," I said, waving a hand at him, "I'll create my own and then you can tell me if it's anywhere near Ban's."

Three quarters of an hour later, with a stub of a pencil in hand and a mountain of scrunched up paper piling around me, I growled in frustration as I ruined yet another picture. Crunching it into a ball, I added it to the pile and reached for another piece of paper.

My hand landed on empty space. "I'm out of paper again!" I shouted, before I heard Hawk squealing.

"Really? Again? I can't believe this! You're going to go through our whole stockpile!" he said, pushing opened the door to the room I was in and delivered another stack. "Are you sure there isn't a good one in here at all?" he asked, sticking his nose in the pile.

I pounced on him, snarling and hissing. "Get out of there! It's none of your business!" Once he had fled from the roof, I sagged to the ground and unwrapped one of the balls.

A demented looking fox stared back up at me, all weird little lines and spiky triangles that were supposed to represent fur. Frustrated, I threw that one away and opened another, with a fox sitting on its haunches, giant eyes peering at me from a too small, too pointy face.

Sighing, I realised that I would need some help.  

A/N: 

Sorry this has taken so long to update and I am grateful for all my readers who are still bearing with me and waiting (I know impatiently) for updates. I have been very busy and this chapter took me a lot longer than usual to write. Also, it is quite long so I apologize for that as I know most people like to read shorter chapters. 

SO here it is - please (PLEASE!) comment on what you think of it! Tell me if you liked it, if the canon characters (characters from the anime) are still feeling/ being portrayed as their usual selves, what would you like changed? Is Estra's backstory alright? Are the chunks of dialogue explaining her story too big? (biggest worry at the moment) 

So please provide me with feedback, no matter how horrible or wonderful it is :)