Gilthunder's Half Sister

Chapter Nineteen: Ban

"Keeva?" Gilthunder asked as he poked Keeva in the arm. "What's wrong with your face?"

Keeva tried to puff out her cheeks in frustration but her body was still not allowing her to move. 'I appreciate that he's worried, but I feel like that could have been asked nicer.' She tries to say the words out loud but nothing comes out. Her eyes widen, or at least she tries to widen them. Keeva starts to panic and tries to move her muscles but nothing happens. 'NO how did this happen?? I was so careful when I wiped the poison away. Some must have gotten on me.' Keeva continues to panic on the inside but has no reaction on the outside.

Everyone stares at Keeva, waiting for a response. "Hello?" Gilthunder says again and pokes her in the forehead. When she doesn't respond again he turns his head towards the group, hoping they understand what happening. Everyone looks at him and shrugs, also confused. Ban finally steps forward and bends down to get a closer look at Keeva.

Keeva looks Ban in the eyes, embarrassed that he's so close to her. She wishes her cheeks could turn red. Suddenly, she didn't feel so nervous. Ban gently smacks her on the cheek. "Are you deaf now?" He asks.

Keeva desperately tries to speak but her lips won't move. 'DAMNIT' she screams inside of her head. Keeva takes some deep breaths inside and starts to reason things out. 'Okay. Calm down Keeva. You made this poison, you can figure this out. So, first the victim becomes unable to move. Check. Next, the person falls asleep. Still not there yet.' Keeva remembers the last step and starts to panic again.

'Third, the victim wakes up to a pain that feels like their insides are on fire' she gulps symbolically in her mind. Keeva pulls herself together. 'I have to hurry and figure this out!' she screams in her head.

'Ok. Antidote. What did I do with it?' Keeva tried to remember desperately. 'I know I made one. WHAT DID I DO WITH IT?!' Keeva pleads with herself to remember.

As all of this is happening, the group realize something is wrong. "Keeva? Why aren't you answering me??" Ban shakes her, harder and harder. As he does so, he looks down at her hands. He freezes and stares at her hand.

"Keeva, what's on your hand? It's purple. What could that b-..." Ban snaps his head back up to her and then looks over and the weapons she wiped the poison off of. "Did you touch the poison??" Ban screams.

Everyone moves closer to her and sees the purple liquid on her hand. There's no other explanation.

"What do we do? Do you have an antidote?" Gilthunder was starting to panic and it was the only words he was able to muster out.

"Elizabeth, will you check her clothes for anything? Carefully. Don't touch her hands." Ban asked. Meliodas started to protest but Elizabeth stopped him.

"Of course!" She walks over to Keeva and carefully checks her pockets but doesn't find anything.

'Why would you carry that antidote around, Keeva? It only took you a whole month to make! Definitely not important AT ALL!' Keeva screams at herself in her head.

She starts to wobble. 'Oh no. I'm getting sleepy. I can't get! I have to remember where the antidote is!' Keeva uses all of her might and thinks about where she last had it. It's obvious she's never going to remember. She sighs.

'If I can't remember, I'll just have to tell them how to make it again!' she stops. 'but I can't talk'. She remembers and looks up at Ban's pleading face. She felt a pain in her heart. He looked so sad and lost. She hated seeing him like that.

She felt more determined than ever. 'Ok. Focus. Remember the ingredients and then scream them! Dandelion, fickelswarth, wolfsbane, caridaum, and pellsbroth.' Keeva took a deep breath and screamed them as loud as she could, summoning all of her might. But nothing came out.

'No, no, no' she thought. She felt her drowsiness crashing over her like a wave. She felt weaker and weaker by the second. Her legs started to give out and she felt herself falling to the ground. As it inched closer to her, she felt dread overcome her. 'I can't die. I just started over. Gilthunder. My friends. Ban..." Suddenly, she felt an arm grab hold of her, stopping her from falling. She moved her eyes to see who it was and gasped in her mind.

Ban was looking down to her, worry and concern written all over his face. He gently sat her down on the ground, holding her the entire time. He craddled her into his chest when she felt the ground around her. All she could do was stare into his eyes. And he stared back.

"Keeva, please, what do we do?" It was all Ban was able to muster out. His voice was shaking and water was coming out of his eyes.

Tears. 'Ban...' Keeva felt a pain in her chest she had never felt before. She soaked up the warmth from his embrace. She didn't want to leave his arms. They were strong and caring. But she knew if she ever wanted to return to them again, she needed to do something quickly. She felt more exhausted by the second. She didn't have long left. She continued to look into Ban's eyes for a second longer until an idea struck her.

She broke her eye contact with Ban and looked around the area. Everyone was surrounding her so she couldn't see. 'Ugh!' she thought. 'ok I only have one shot at this.' She turned her eyes back to Ban and put every life force she had into them.

Ban, who hadn't let her out of his sight, looked at her with surprise. "do you have a plan?" He asked.