#Fairy Bard Maranwe

[overlyimmersed]

Reborn Fairy AU(SDS-RBF-215*) Character Overview: Maranwe

💖Maranwe✨ - Bard to Fairy King Harlequin. Partner of Fairy Knight Helbram. Mother to Tilly and Rowan. Maranwe is introspective, curious, stubborn and prone to laughter, even when things aren't really funny. As Fairy Bards always are, Maranwe is consistently anxious, she's also burdened with a lot of trauma, having to carry the memories of every tragic event that's occurred in the history of the Fairy Clan in flawless detail.

On many occasions she's proven to be extremely stubborn, even openly refusing to take orders she doesn't agree with even from the Fairy King. She's strong willed and persistent, but wears her heart on her sleeve. She cries easily and tends to take perceived slights to heart. Though she's slow to anger on her own account, tending to assume she deserves whatever is done to her, she'll immediately and viciously jump to the defense of those she cares about. She'll hold grudges against anyone who has harmed or disrespected her loved ones. That being said, her anger seems to cool a little quicker then other Fairies, as she loathes the feeling of being angry and is more interested in understanding others, than in blind obstinance.

She's empathetic and likely to give someone more chances than she probably should. She's also very faithful, often to her own annoyance, as despite her mistrust of humans and bleak outlook on humanity as a whole, she's constantly searching for ways for the two clans to coexist in peace. Her loyalty, once earned, is near absolute and once you've had it it's fairly easy to win back if broken.

The most negative parts of her personality are mostly directed at herself. She can be very self-deprecating and tends to feel like the love she gets from others is ingenuine, highly conditional or temporary and blames herself for these factors. Everyone's too kind to tell her how annoying she is, or she simple hasn't pushed their limit yet. She truly feels that everyone will get sick of her eventually, no matter what she does, and so can accidently self-sabotage.

After she and her friends were captured by humans and Maranwe was sold while her friends were killed, her quiet mistrust of humanity turned to full-blown misanthropy. Along with disdain for humans her disposition became a little more serious as the bravery she showed prompted her wings to sprout.

✨ Maranwe is a reincarnated soul from another universe. This gives her some degree of foreknowledge about humanity's future, or at least what she assume humanity will accomplish based on what she experienced in her previous life. This adds to her anxiety substantially as she works to try and change this outcome.

✨ Like all Fairy Bards she has a perfect memory.

✨ Though Fairy Bards are proficient at all art forms, Maranwe is primarily known for her lyre playing. Though her favorite is actually drawing.

✨ She's known as "Scardy Cat" by other fairies as everything seems to make her nervous.

✨ Her magical ability is "Starlight" which allows her to generate and manipulate glittering silver light. This can be used offensively, but it's primary function is to project images. She can project memories as a recording of events or create images of her own to tell stories. She also has the ability "Unique Perception" which lets her feel other people's emotions with the technique "Empathy", perceive souls and other life energies with "Soul Recognition" and see the threads that connect the fates of others, and the paths other people walk with the technique "Fate Sight".

✨ Maranwe smells like Vanilla

(Note: Flower/Plant symbolism Scent: Strawberry - Love, purity, healing, ephemerality, reciprocity, hope and renewal [*] . Visual: Moonflower - A flower of duality, meaning either love or mortality [1]. Affection [2]. Mystery, and Devotion [3]) Violets - Watchfulness, Loyalty, Faithfulness [1]. Faithfulness, Modesty, Watchfulness, "I'll always be true", "Let's take a chance" [2]. Innocence, Modesty, True everlasting love, Faith, Spirituality, Mysticism and Remembrance [3].

Authors Note: There is more than one flower called "Moonflower", the one referenced above is Ipomoea alba, which is actually a kind of Morning Glory. Therefore any symbolism attributed to Morning Glories applies to Moonflowers as well. Though Moonflowers do have some unique symbolism of their own thanks to their unusual behavior.

The citations for the strawberry symbolism is unusual because the sources are either wide-spread or too vague to really link to. It was an enormous headache trying to find what I was looking for while sifting through the repeated history of the plant's "discoveries" and cultivations, and vague anecdotal tones of the pages' authors whenever symbolism did manage to pop up. Why do I not, then, just choose a different scent? ... That is complicated...

[overlyimmersed]

"Unexpected"

Centuries before The Seven Deadly Sins fight for Britannia, the young Fairy Bard has a chance encounter.

"Harlequin doesn't like you doing this…" Maranwe reminds, an edge to her voice that is, perhaps, supposed to sound scolding, but really just betrays her uncertainty. She's hovering a little ways behind Helbram, who's peaking down through the branches of a tree at a small band of humans setting up a camp site on the ground.

"Ah, you worry too much. Harlequin doesn't know everything, y'know." Helbram argues back.

Maranwe just frowns and makes a disapproving noise.

"Oh come on. Don't you think it's interesting? The way humans do thing?" he continues to argue, no even bothering to look back at her.

"No." she answers flatly, "they're just hunters. Killing animals for food, or fur or fun… they're not doing anything special."

"It's not what they're doing, it's how they do it." a quiet huff from her makes him finally look back, wearing a displeased expression of his own. "What's the big deal anyway? Nothing's going to happen".

"It could!" Her voice squeaks a little as it rises, "Humans are dangerous! How many times do you have to be told that?!"

He glares at her, tired of this repetitive nagging, "If it bothers you so much, go do something else!"

She returns the glare and snaps back, "Whatever!" Before turning from him and flying off in a different direction.

He watches her go, and the burn of the argument settles into a more genuine hurt. It would be nice if at least one friend could understand him…

As she flies, a sting settles in Maranwe's heart, too, bringing her to a halt. It never seems to matter who or why; a raised voice always has a way of cutting deeper than it should. And being turned away is no fun either.

"If only Helbram could listen for once! One of these days, his little hobby is going to get him into real trouble. And why is he so fascinated anyway? Humans are hardly interesting! They just care about controlling each other! And hordin-"

Her fuming thoughts are interrupted by a sudden sound. She freezes and listens. Is it whimpering? Is there a hurt animal nearby? No, there's sniffling too, someone's crying!

She tilts and turns her head till she can pinpoint the sound, following it. First to the ground, then a little ways towards the tree line. She quietly peers around a tree and yelps in surprise, falling backward. The other person does the same, and for a long moment, the two stare at each other in their shock.

It's a boy, a young human. He's incredibly pale, save for his cheeks, which are starkly rosy, and he's dressed in a way Maranwe has never seen before. A strange kind of robe of green and yellow with red accents. His wide eyes are still tear filled as he stares at her.

"Wh-who are you?" He stammers, holding one arm up to shield himself, as if he expects an attack.

Maranwe just stares back for a second, confused and unsure how to react. She hadn't been expecting a human, and she's never seen one this small before. As she watches his face and perceives his emotions, curiosity starts to dominate her own feelings. Humans are supposed to be dangerous, but how could something this small hurt her? And why would he be frightened of her? Different things Helbram has said, arguments he's made over the years in humanity's defense, start to echo in her mind. Reminders of his philosophies that humans are diverse and how much could be learned from them. And the idea that they might think fairies are the dangerous ones.

"Uh…" she begins, knowing an answer is expected. But should she give him her name? "No one…" she decides, "no one important. Are-… are you lost?" She tries, timidly, repositioning herself so she's kneeling.

The boy sits up, too, lowering his arm once he sees she won't attack him. "Um… kind of…" it's not exactly untrue. "I'm-" as if completing the sentence for him, a name is shouted from somewhere nearby. The boy starts and jumps to his feet, scrambling to the other side of the tree to hide again.

Maranwe reacts in kind and tucks herself into a thicket. The voice continues to shout the name over and over, sounding increasingly concerned, and careless footsteps crunch through the undergrowth, drawing nearer till they come to a halt near Maranwe's hiding place. The name is shouted again at ear splitting volume, and the Fairy looks up to see just who is searching for this boy. It's another human, clearly older than the other, but still young himself. His head is shaved completely, and he's dressed almost identically to the one he's calling for. He waits for a few heartbeats, listening, but when no answer comes, he resumes searching, noisily moving away, still shouting for the younger boy.

Once his shouts have faded to echoes, Maranwe crawls out of her hiding places and over to the boy, who is sitting at the base of the tree with his knees pulled up to his chest. He's not crying anymore, but he's clearly unhappy.

"Who was that?" Maranwe asks in a hushed tone.

He hesitates, making an uncertain face before answering, "he's my brother."

"Oh… why are you hiding from him?" He'd said he was lost before, but clearly, it's not that simple. "Did you run away?"

The boy nods. "We got into a fight, and I ran away. But we're not from here, so I got lost."

"Then why are you hiding?"

"What if he's still mad at me?"

Maranwe glances in the direction the older boy had gone, his thunderous shouts still echoing through the woods. "He doesn't sound mad. He sounds worried."

The boy looks at her for a moment, contemplation behind his eyes. "What should I do?"

Maranwe smiles a little, "You should probably go back to him, this forest can be dangerous." She stands up and offers a hand to him, "here, I'll help you so you don't get any further lost."

The boy hesitates before taking her hand. She tenses at the human's touch, though tries hard not to show is as she pulls him to his feet. There's a moment of them simply standing there, hand in hand, where Maranwe is trying to process what's happening. They're not supposed to go near humans and here she is touching one. But there's nothing for it at this point, and the kid is just looking up at her with this mild confusion as he waits for the next thing to happen.

Realizing that, she snaps out of her mild paralysis, "Uh! He went this way!" she quickly starts walking, pulling the boy along by his hand. He does his best to keep up, but he's quite a bit shorter than she is, so winds up stumbling and falling. She's jolted by the sudden pull on her hand and stops, looking down at him.

"You're going too fast…" he complains, pushing himself back to his feet with his free hand.

"Oh, sorry…" she wait for him to fully regain his footing before pressing on again, this time slower and more mindful of him. "You said you're not from here, didn't you? Where are you from then?"

"East." he answers simply, staring ahead as they walk, "Far away from here."

"Why did you come all this way?"

"It's supposed to be some kind of training."

"Training for what?"

"For fighting." it says it like her question had been stupid, as if was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Fighting?" It certainly doesn't seem obvious to her.

He nods, "The way people fight here is different, our teacher is trying to develop the strongest fighting style he can so we're traveling to learn more."

"I…see…" she really doesn't though. Well not exactly. Traveling to learn new things makes enough sense, but to fight? She barely understands what he even means by that. She's never seen people fight physically before, not really… How can there be that many ways to do it?

Though, Elaine does say that humans are violent… Maybe this is what she means?

"Why are you out here?" his voice breaks her from her contemplation and she glances down to see him actually looking at her now.

"Oh, me? I live nearby."

"Out here in the forest?"

Now it's her turn to nod, "M'hm. Where else would a Fairy live?"

"You're a Fairy?!" his shock halts him in his tracks.

"Of course…" she blinks at him, confused by the reaction. "You didn't know that?"

"You look humans to me." he leans a little, as if trying to look behind her, "I thought Fairies had wings."

"I'll get them when I'm older!" she shouts indignantly, face red with embarrassment.

"You mean you're not born with them?" now he's confused.

"No!?"

There's a short moment of silence between them, where he's processing the new information and she's just stewing in embarrassment, before the boy breaks it.

"That's weird."

"You're weird!" she retorts on impulse.

There's another pause, before the boy smiles and starts to laugh. Maranwe is disarmed for a second, but then laughs with him.

"Chiaotzu!" The shout breaks their moment and both of them look to see the older boy rushing towards them.

"Tien!" The younger boy, Chiaotzu, releases Maranwe's hand and runs to him. Where they meet Tien drops to his knees so they can hugg.

"Sorry, Tien. I thought you were mad at me."

"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have yelled like that." it's at this moment that the older boy seems to finally notice they're not alone. In one motion he gets to his feet and pulls Chiaotzu into his arms protectively. "Who's your new friend?" despite the wording, his tone isn't entirely friendly.

Chiaotzu seems to miss this, or ignore it, as he excitedly explains, "She's a Fairy, Tien! She helped me find you!"

"A Fairy? She doesn't look like one." he turns a mistrustful gaze on her and Maranwe's indignation returns full force.

"How would you know!? How many Fairies have you met?!

"None." Tien retorts flatly.

Maranwe huffs, "Well look here, then!" she lifts into the air, hovering about 5 feet from the ground. Then she flies forward, loops around the pair and returns to her starting place, remaining about 6 inches from the ground when she stops.

Both boys are astonished, Chiaotzu had believed her anyway but it was still amazing to see her prove it. Tien is the first to find words, "You're flying! Without wings or anything!"

"See! She really is a Fairy!"

"Yes!" Maranwe gives an exasperated sigh, "It's magic. I'll get my wings soon enough. Now," she clears her throat, trying to regain some composure, "You two should go. Humans aren't really supposed to be here, There are rules. Not every Fairy is friendly as I am, and that's not even the most your have to worry over."

"Alright. Thanks for finding Chiaotzu."

"Happy to be helpful. Out is that way." she points them in the right directions, then flits off. Chiaotzu calls a farewell after her, and though she's out of sight already, her replies echoes through the forest back to him.

Author's Note: I don't know why I feel the need to defend adding Dragon Ball characters to my Seven Deadly Sins AU, but I do. It's my AU and I'll toss in whatever I want. But to be clear it's not a crossover. They're not literally the same characters, they're this universe's version of them. Their backstories and even aspects of their appearances are altered to fit better into the context. Oh also at this point Tien doesn't have his third eye, cuz he's about 11 in this story and Chiaotzu is 6. These aren't even actually the first outside characters I've added in, I just haven't written anything about the Owl House characters that are now Fairies, or discussed how Keyblades may eventually become a part of the story. I like having all my favorite characters in one place

[overlyimmersed]

Reborn Fairy AU(SDS-RBF-215*) Timeline Part 4: Season 3.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

💖During Series: Season 3💖 ✨Revival of The Ten Commandments✨

✨ Since Maranwe's been keeping any eye on Harlequin she knows when he leaves with Ban. When Hendrickson is saved by Fraudrin!Dreyfus, Helbram regains his strength too. Maranwe is elated that he's better, but now they have a lot to talk about.(Links to the fic "A Lot to Talk About")

✨ Once they've cleared everything up, Maranwe and Helbram decide to follow after Ban and Harlequin. They start out about a day behind but catch up pretty quick, arriving in the Fairy King's Forest not long after the others.

✨ Helbram interrupts Harlequin talking with Oslo, the same way he does in canon, only this time he's alive rather than being a spirit. While that's happening Maranwe is confronting the Fairies that had been throwing rocks at Harlequin. She meets back up with them as they're talking with Ban and Jericho. Maranwe and Ban immediately don't get along well.

✨ Maranwe is with Gerheade and Ban when the Albion attacks, though Helbram was with Harlequin and Jericho. Maranwe is quick to leave her company to investigate the attack, Helbram shows up soon after to check on her. Both rush to help Harlequin when he confronts the Albion, but he tells them to keep back.

Maranwe does so at first, intimated by the Albion and unsure of what to do anyway. When the other Fairies join the fight, Maranwe musters her courage and tries to as well, only to be stopped by Helbram. Frustrated, Maranwe demands to know why no one will let her help, Helbram tells her . "That isn't your job! You're the Bard to the Fairy King, your job is to stay by the Fairy King's side. And to remember what happened here today, so it means something. You're our history. So stay put.

After the lecture, Helbram gives his speech to Harlequin like in canon.

After the Albion is defeated, before Harlequin is healed by Ban, Maranwe's "Unique Perception" picks up Galand and she starts to panic. Helbram tries to calm her and the two have a brief conversation about the Demon race. Her panic is interrupted by Ban's rough handling of Gerheade. When he throws her to the ground, Maranwe moves to retaliate, but Helbram stops her.

When Harlequin is set to rejoin the Sins he suggest Maranwe stay in the forest, which brings her already simmering emotions to a boiling point. She refuses. Helbram agrees that she should stay, insisting it'd be safer. At her limit, she rounds on him in particular,

"You're the one who said I'm supposed to stay by Harlequin's side! And how helpless do you think I am!? I will not be a spectator while the world burns around me! I will not watch idly while everything I care about is threatened! And if You think for a second that I'm the kind of person who could do that, then you don't know me very well!" the fury in her eyes hardens to steel, and the lashing of her tone becomes more measures, "And you haven't been pay attention," she says it around her teeth, like a gnashing wolf. All the while, as she's pouring her wrath over him, he's just staring at her. Is this really the same girl? The scardy cat from so long ago? When had she become so… adamant…? "If I were content to sit and watch, you wouldn't be here," Maranwe continues to seethe at him, no long yelling but every word has a snarl behind it and the impression of rending metal. "And if you really think I can't do anything else, then you can stay put and watch me." Hearing his own words thrown back at him brings a small smirk to his face. "Well, I would love to see what you think you can do," his tone has an antagonistic note to it, though it falls off right away, "not from here though. If you're both going, I may as well tag along too." "Are you sure that's a good idea…?" Harlequin worries. "Sure. I'm all better now, thanks to you keeping your promise. Besides-" Maranwe can't hear the rest of what Helbram is saying. The reminder of the awful things that have happened between the two boys fills her mind with a loud sort of whining sound, and knocks the ferocity out of her, leaving her feeling raw inside and out.

✨ Her hypersensitivity from the confrontation makes Maranwe aware of something she may have missed otherwise. She witnesses two fate strings break. Since she's never seen this happen before, she's not sure how to react.

✨ Upon arriving in Camelot, Maranwe and Helbram watch Harlequin and Diane's reunion from the doorway. Maranwe expresses displeasure in how Diane seems to "skew his priorities" and in Harlequin being called "King" by the others. Though she's quickly distracted from her own grievances by the severity of Diane's condition. She flits into the room and introduces herself to the giantess before using her abilities to look into Diane's mind. She remarks that "it kinda looks like [Diane's] mind is on fire" so the memory loss will likely be progressive. Though Maranwe is unable to do anything about it.

✨ When Diane is discovered missing and Gowther explains what he did, Maranwe disagrees with his conclusions that memories are only data and are easily erased. She claims he wholly misunderstands the nature of memory and that his power doesn't actually erase anything, but only interrupts a person's ability to recall memories. But they're still technically there.

✨ As the Sins search for Diane Maranwe remains rather quite. Quiet, not silent. When she speaks it almost exclusively to Helbram, and in a quieter than normal tone. At one point she asks, more or less rhetorically, who Diane is anyway to be so special. Helbram suggests she actually asks if she wants to know. Maranwe just huffs the suggestion off, she doesn't need to ask, she actually knows those answers already.

✨ When the group is observing Diane's encounter with the Commandments from afar Maranwe makes commentary on what her "Unique Perception" shows her. Like the others, she's not sure who the new person is, but extrapolates that it's another Giant and comments that the person "feels like the ground". Maranwe also comments that Monspeet feels like fire and Galand feels like steel. When Meliodas is surprised Monspeet is the one who noticed them, Maranwe says it makes sense to her since his emotions are so still. When Hawk's Mom swallows the "Hellfire Bird" Maranwe burst out laughing at the absurdity.

✨ When they enter Istar Maranwe is excited about the sky. But once they meet the druid chiefs Maranwe comments quietly to Helbram that the girls seem strange and her excitement withdraws back to the defensiveness she's displayed thus far. She says the girls make her think of feathers. "Like doves I think." But that's as much as she can understand.

Maranwe quickly notices that there are other people somewhere in the area and starts trying to discern more. She closes her eyes to concentrate and so she can focus on her mind's eye's vision rather her physical vision. Helbram asks what she's seeing and she tells him there are other people, probably boys, probably humans. She also comments on some tension in fate strings connected to both of them, so something strange is probably going to happen soon.

✨ As they approach the training cave Maranwe is off-put by Jenna's speech, but she keeps quiet since she's not really sure why. At Hendrickson's arrival Maranwe stuffs down her initial aggressive reaction, instead rushing to grab Harlequin's arm and stop him from attacking. Though that's quickly made redundant as Hendrickson passes out. As Jenna urges the group to set their anger aside, Maranwe agrees with her, explaining how Helbram's life is currently bound to Hendrickson's so hurting him would be detrimental to their friend.

✨ When Harlequin confronts Hendrickson after Jenna heals him, as well as Gilthunder, Griamore, and Howser, Maranwe is at his side. She's glaring daggers into the human, but remains quiet. They've both placed themselves between Hendrickson and Helbram who's hovering just behind them. He wants to speak for himself on the matter, but before he gets the chance Jenna interrupts the confrontation.

✨ Though Harlequin "isn't in the mood for training" Maranwe is strangely eager to give it a try. Helbram agrees to partner up with her. After getting changed Helbram notices Maranwe looks a little unhappy. She says she wishes she could wear shoes. When asked why, she says she isn't really sure, she just feels uncomfortable without them. Jenna comments that that's just one more thing she'll have to train.

✨ Inside the cave Maranwe and Helbram fight a Rage Screamer and are defeated. They squabble a bit about who's to blame for their failure, but are quickly distracted watching Harlequin and Meliodas through the glowing orb. As they watch, Maranwe monitors the pair's emotions with her "Unique Perception", though there are lapses in her attention as she's impressed by the displays of Harlequin's power. Despite her awareness, Maranwe says very little, as she doesn't necessarily trust the company they're in.(Link to the fic "Training")

When Meliodas and Harlequin come out of the cave, Maranwe objects to Jenna's scolding, saying it shouldn't matter if they were fighting each other or a monster since the ends were met either way. Though she's quickly distracted from that as Harlequin suddenly flinches. She asks if he's ok and he insists he is.

✨ When Meliodas is teleported to the Commandments by Merlin, Maranwe takes the opportunity to talk to Harlequin about what happened inside the training cave, taking him further aside so the conversation can be private.

"So what exactly did happen with you two?" Maranwe asks, keeping her voice hushed. "I have reason to doubt his intentions," Harlequin curtly replies. Maranwe only raises an eyebrow in response. "You disagree?" he asks, a note of defensiveness creeping into his voice. "Do you want my insight? It seems like you already made up your mind." He takes a second to consider, his answer coming in a calmer tone, "…If you can see something I can't, I'd like to know." Maranwe sighs, just to calm herself, before activating her power. A silver shimmer rings her irises and she seems to stare into space for a time. After a couple moments she blinks hard and the shimmer is gone, she turns her full attention back to Harlequin. "I don't see anything concerning. It's true, he's not being honest. He has some secret he's closely guarding, but I don't get the impression there's any malice behind it. I can see deep wounds, and a kind of fear I'm sure I know the name of, but whatever this secret is, I don't think he means to hurt anyone with it. He's hiding information, but I think he's been honest about who he is as a person."

While Maranwe and Harlequin are talking, Helbram decides to have his own conversation and approaches Hendrickson.

"Hey," Helbram greets awkwardly, unsure how exactly to start. "Hey," Hendrickson returns, equally as awkward. In the silence that follows Helbram glances over his shoulder at the other two fairies, just to make sure they're still occupied with each other, then turns back to Hendrickson, "So…" "I'm sorry," the human cuts him off, "I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you, everything I made you do…" regret drowns his tone and he's staring into the ground. The awkwardness Helbram was feeling before melts into a kind of pity, or sympathy? "Don't worry about it," he replies before he's really thought about it, "it's not like you were in control either. Besides, it's not all bad." he smiles softly. Hendrickson lifts his head to look at the fairy, then glances around him to the other two. "That's her, right? The girl you've mentioned?" "Yep. And thanks to you I get to see her again." Hendrickson scoffs and looks at the ground again, "At least some good came out it, then," there's a pause before he lifts his head again, "You make a nice couple, she really seems to like you," Helbram is immediately taken aback and his face goes red, "What?! No-no! not me, it's Harlequin she likes!" "Really? You're the one she's been glued to this whole time, this is the furthest you two have been apart since you got here." "Yeah, well… She's just worried. We've been friends for a long time," his demeanor turns more somber, "and she's been through a lot herself. She just wants something familiar right now." Hendrickson gives a soft laugh, "Look, I know I'm not the best when it comes to girls, but it's obvious. You're special to her." Helbram draws a breath to reply, but before he can make a sound, a shout resounds from behind him. "Hey! What the hell!?" It's Maranwe's voice, and the next thing he knows she's flown up to him and pulled him into her, holding his head to her chest protectively. Then another voice cuts in and Helbram shifts his eyes to see that Harlequin his hovering between them and Hendrickson. "What do you think you're doing?!" he growls at the human. Hendrickson is visibly shocked by the sudden hostility, "I- Just talking. I don't mean any harm." he stammers. Helbram glances back at where he is and his face goes red again, but he shakes it off and pushes away from her. "Guys, it's fine! I just wanted to talk to him." Before things can escalate further Meliodas returns and the attention is back on him.

✨ When the souls of the dead are revived by Malascula, Maranwe is the one who warns Harlequin, rather than Helbram. She can perceive Fate Strings pulling and see the corruption in the revived souls. When Harlequin is telling the others he's leaving, Maranwe has to work hard to restrain herself from calling him out on many of the things he says. She feels he's being unfair and a hypocrite, but she doesn't want to undermine him in front of people he's chosen to be hostile towards. Helbram has fewer reservations and comments that it's "cute" for Harlequin to say Meliodas isn't trustworthy because no one knows his real identity, when Harlequin himself is still going by an alias. Harlequin doesn't address that, just saying they don't have time for this and flying off, the other two fairies close behind him.

While they're flying Maranwe remarks that it might have been good to have the others' help, since they don't exactly know what they're dealing with. Harlequin doesn't respond to that either, instead changing the subject by asking Maranwe what she can see. Maranwe replies that she can see a number of things, but few of them make much sense to her. Harlequin asks if she can see Elaine, there's a short pause before Maranwe answers yes, but remarks that something doesn't seem right.

✨ Maranwe is overjoyed to be reunited with Elaine, quick to hugg and fuss over her long lost friend. Helbram quips about "the joys of magic" in reference to how they've both been revived in similar ways. There's banter and laughter among the reunited fairies as they help Escanor load up the ale he has to deliver, then accompany him to his task. Along the way they get to talking and while it begins lighthearted; poking fun at the tavern uniforms Elaine and Helbram have dawned and having Maranwe sing for them like old times, the topic eventually turns heavy and they all share what's happened in the last 7 centuries from their separate points of view.

✨ Maranwe and Helbram wind up participating in the death tournament, though they're split up for it. Maranwe is paired with Holy Knight, Silver(replacing one of the random blue demons Glox used to fill out the roster) against Gilthunder and Gilfrost(Vivian in disguise), while Helbram is partnered with Slader(replacing Haifan).

Thanks to her various perceptions, Maranwe is immediately aware of Gilfrost's true identity, and acutely aware that she, herself, doesn't actually have any combat abilities at all, so she strikes a secret deal. She'll keep the mage's secret, in exchange for an easy match. Not to win, but just to put on enough of a show to keep the Commandments at bay without actually getting hurt.

When Gloxinia starts talking about human greed, after Escanor asks to forfeit, Maranwe and Helbram both stop, going rather cold in voice and expression. They talk to each other across the arena about Gloxinia making sense, and musing over which Fairy King they should side with. Both are guilty of abandoning their post, but Gloxinia seems to care about what humans have done to Fairy kind, whereas Harlequin only seem to care about Diane. Since this conversation is not at all private, Harlequin does overhear and calls out to his friends insisting that he does care about their people, but it's not that simple and it's not fair to blame all of humanity for what individual humans have done to them. Elaine calls out too, agreeing with her brother.

"It is a concept," Maranwe says, finally after a long pause, in the same distant, droning tone she and Helbram have been using the whole discussion, as if they're hardly aware of what's going on around them, stuck inside their own shared trauma. "It is." Helbram agrees, in the same tone. But then, a slight smile breaks through Maranwe's expression and she actually turns her head to look at Helbram. "But, could we actually do that?" With a slight delay, Helbram responds with a soft smirk "What? Turn on Harlequin? No way."

When Meliodas confronts Drole after Escanor's attack, Maranwe quietly moves to assemble the fairies(Herself, Helbram, Elaine and Oslo) all together on Elaine and Elizabeth's platform, though Harlequin insists on staying where he is and tells her to look after the others. Not that is makes much of a difference. When Drole uses "Gigant Embrace" to trap everyone, Maranwe contains her group, which includes Elizabeth, in "Starshine Shield" to keep them together and prevent injuries from fall damage or collisions with other falling people.

Once everyone's been safely teleported to Liones Castle and are watching and discussing Meliodas' fight with Drole and Gloxinia, Maranwe remarks how she doesn't understand why everyone is surprised that Meliodas is winning. She expects them to be weaker among the Commandments because they're not "true Commandments", that is, they aren't demons.

When the rest of the Commandments arrive and everyone is getting nervous for Meliodas, Harlequin asks if Maranwe can see anything with her "Fate Sight". She struggles, saying she feels like she's getting conflicting information.

As the fight wears on and becomes more and more hopeless, Maranwe begins to find it deeply distressing to the point where she's unable to watch through the crystal ball. Helbram tries to shield her by tucking her against his chest, but even without her literal sight, her "Unique Perception" picks up enough to keep bothering her.

Estarossa gains Maranwe's attention, at first it's just about how he feels and looks to her "Not like a demon" and "mostly just empty", but when he starts explaining Meliodas' betrayal and the Holy War she becomes confused getting a vague feeling that something about that isn't quite right.

As Meliodas is killed, Maranwe is baffled further, still finding her "Fate Sight" to be conflicting with the events before them all.

✨ When everyone goes their separate ways Maranwe and Helbram, of course, stay with Harlequin returning to the Fairy King's Forest with him, Diane, Matrona and her family.

Since Oslo has a hard time swallowing Giants the group travels by more typical means. Along the way they encounter some low level demons attacking a family of fleeing humans. In the fight Maranwe sustains a head injury, it's not serious but after that she begins to experience confusing thoughts and visions.

[overlyimmersed]

Reborn Fairy AU(SDS-RBF-215*) Timeline Part 1: Pre-series.

What is this?

💖Previous Life💖

✨ Maranwe was a human from another world who was in an automobile accident and left comatose. In the ethereal planes between, her restless soul encounter the Supreme Deity, who offered her a deal- “I will give you the new life you’ve always dreamed of, in return all you need to do is give your love to the King of the Fairies and prevent Chaos from awakening into our world”. Not knowing exactly what that meant, the lost soul accepted. 

The Supreme Deity pulled this soul into her world and bound her to the Fairy King, Harlequin, with the intention of her capturing his heart so he would never become The Grizzly Sin. She left the creation of Maranwe’s new form up to her Archangels.

✨ Ludociel was in charge of her new physical form, deciding she would be a Fairy, as this would place her directly in front of the Fairy King and allow her to bond with him from the start. He decided her previous form was reasonably attractive and didn’t need to change much about her appearance.

✨ Sariel and Tarmiel worked together to decide what Maranwe would and wouldn’t remember from her previous life. 

Sariel worried she wouldn’t be able to accomplish her task if she starts out blank, he argued to keep her memories intact

Tarmiel was afraid that if she remembered everything perfectly she might go rouge. 

They eventually came to a compromise, deciding to leave most of the information intact, but the context locked away, so she would have subconscious access to her full personality and the lessons she’d acquired in her existence, to help her win the Fairy King’s heart and prevent the awakening of Chaos.

✨ This plan would ultimately fail, as although Maranwe does have the unique quality of charming others and gaining love, other factors were not taken into account. Her own personality, the qualities of her heart and soul, and the will of Sacred Tree. Not to mention Maranwe’s own Destiny. 

💖900 years Pre-Series💖

✨ Maranwe was born from a moonflower that appeared at the edge of the Fairy King’s Forest, in the middle of the night. Being born in the Fairy King’s Forest rather than inside the Fairy Realm proper is indicative of a special position, this only happens to the “Bard to the Fairy King”, an assistant to the Fairy King and the history keeper of each Fairy King’s reign.

Like how each Fairy King has the magical ability “Disaster”, Fairy Bards always have “Starlight” giving them a flawless memory and the ability to manipulate silvery light. It’s primarily used to project records of memories, though it can be used offensively if needed. The Sacred Tree also chose to enhance the unique perceptive ability native to Maranwe’s soul, turning it into the magical ability "Unique Perception" which lets her feel other people's emotions with the technique "Empathy", perceive souls and other life energies with "Soul Recognition" and see the threads that connect the fates of others, and the paths other people walk with the technique "Fate Sight". This technique isn't exactly predicting the future, but hopefully it would help her counteract the Supreme Deity’s design and give the new fairy back her free will.

Because of the deal struck with the Supreme Deity, Maranwe was automatically drawn to Harlequin. But her “Fate Sight” showed her that Harlequin’s destiny laid elsewhere, so she kept her feelings to herself and never attempted to steal his heart, conceding to simply be his friend. 

Though one fairy’s heart would belong to Maranwe regardless. For Helbram it was love at first sight. This strange new fairy, bathed in starlight, was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and he’d spend 200 years trying to get her to look his way, while she only had eyes for his best friend.

✨ During her first summer Maranwe is caught in a thunderstorm and from then on has a fear of loud noises.(Links to the fic “Thunder”)

✨ Maranwe and Helbram watch some fireflies. (Link to the mini fic "Fireflies")

💖700 years Pre-Series💖

✨ At his request (read “pestering”) Maranwe accompanied Helbram and his group to meet with humans. Since she didn’t have wings, Maranwe was sold to someone else instead of being murdered for them.

Seeing Helbram in danger as she was pulled away, Maranwe’s resolve sharpened past her fear and her wings sprouted. In the ensuing chaos, rather than fleeing, she tried to free her friends, making her easy to recapture. The men who had bought her maintained that they’d already paid the price agreed on, and anything that happened afterwards was the sellers problem. As she was now technically worth more with wings.

The men who bought her, a pair of brothers she’d learn later, had different ideas of what a Fairy was good for. 

They locked her in a cage beneath their house and would harvest blood from her every full moon. She was nailed to a wall by her wings after an escape attempt early in her captivity. Having little else to do, she practiced her magic eventually learning to use her abilities without the help of her special lyre, which she lost in the chaos of the initial attack. She also developed several new techniques.(Link to the fic “Futility”)

💖9 years Pre-Series💖

✨ Seven hundred years after her capture Maranwe is able to escape her prison. The passing centuries had worn at the stone wall and rusted the spikes keeping her in place, till eventually she could pry them loose and, now able to defend herself with her magic, escape.

✨ The first thing she does is head home. She’s devastated to find it burned beyond recognition. She stays there for a time trying to get something to regrow, but it proves to be a task beyond her. 

During her stay she’s kept company by illusions of her old friends made by her own memories and her magical technique, “Stardust Mirage”. Something she did near constantly during her imprisonment. The Mirage of Helbram is particularly insistant, seeming to almost have it’s own will.

Her Mirages encourage her to leave the burnt forest and search for the Fairy King. She resists out of personal stubbornness are first, but of course she can’t really argue with her own mind, so she does set off.

✨ She has a hard time of it, despite her various special perceptions. Along the way she hears rumors of a rouge knighthood, but thinks little of it. Wary of humans she keeps away from larger towns and kingdoms, which makes her task somewhat more difficult.

✨ At one point, she takes shelter in a cave during a rainstorm and finds a tavern tucked away in the back. Despite her reservations about humans, especially male humans, she finds the tavern master to be rather amiable and stays till the weather clears up.

✨ She does go to the Forest of White Dreams, hearing the rumors about it, but doesn’t encounter Diane. Instead she leaves after talking with the Hide and Seeks.

Part 2

[overlyimmersed]

Reborn Fairy AU(SDS-RBF-215*) Character Overview: Madron

🌷Madron A.K.A Maddie🪶- Previously a resident of the Fairy King's Forest. Maddie was one of several fairies who continued to follow Ban after the Holy War, settling in Benwick. When Ban became King of Benwick, Mardon quickly volunteered to be his Bard.

Centuries ago, Maddie had been a member of Helbram's close friend group, but after Maranwe was born and took more of Helbram's attention, the two drifted apart.

🪶 Since Maddie is not a born Fairy Bard, he does not have a perfect memory.

🌷 Madron has a sort of rivalry with Maranwe. The two have never gotten along as Maddie was fairly close to Helbram before Maranwe came along.

🪶 His primary hobby is illustration.

🌷 He hasn't exhibited any terribly unique magical abilities, but shows special talent for transformation.

🪶 Mardron smelled like Bouvardia

(Note: Flower symbolism Scent: Bouvardia - Enthusiasm [1] [2] . Visual: N/A )

[overlyimmersed]

The Fairy Bard's Harp

‼️THIS FIC IS NO LONGER COMPLIANT WITH THE CANON OF THIS AU‼️

"After the whole ordeal with Gowther’s memories, as everyone is calming down at sunset, Maranwe comments that she wishes she knew where her harp was. Helbram pipes up saying he knows where it is. It’s among Helbram’s things from when he was posing as a holy knight. The group goes to get it. This allows Maranwe’s first encounter with Hendrickson..." "...Maranwe makes no attempts to hide her disdain for the human, having been told about what he’d done to Helbram..." "Finally she gives her attention to her harp. An intricate, handheld lyre with a nighttime color scheme and adorned with moonflowers. She trailed her fingers over the strings and they produced a lovely sound, which momentarily distracted everyone from the fact that Maranwe was now using it as a bow, pointing a magic arrow at Hendrickson. And, for the first time, she speaks directly to him..."

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't shoot you." The fairy growls, soft and cold like footsteps through deep snow.

Hendrickson hesitates, stunned by the sudden threat, but the shock quick ebbs out of him and a resigned guilt overtakes his features.

"I can't." he says. Regret pours from his words, spoken no louder then hers had been, "I have no excuse for what I did, and I deserve whatever punishment you deem fitting. If shooting me will ease even a fraction of the pain I've cause, then do it."

She grits her teeth, grinding them in irritation, but her arms tremble slightly as she hesitates. Does he really think that's what this is about? Her feelings?! As if she could ever feel any better about all of this, no matter how many humans she might shoot! As if revenge would mend anything! It's not about payback! She's not threatening him because she wants to feel better! It's just because he deserves it! Because he caused suffering and harm! It's justice! Not some petty solace.

Her hesitancy gives Helbram the opportunity to intervene. He places his hand over hers, the one holding the bow rather then the string, hoping to encourage her to lower the weapon.

"It wasn't all his fault, y'know." he says gently, looking at her eyes, though hers are still fixated on her target. "He was being controlled by a demon. Besides, there are better ways to use that pretty harp. It's been a while since I've hear your music, why don't you play a little?"

She fails to respond at first, letting his request hang in the tense air for a moment. When she shift her gaze to him, her eyes fill with a pain that nearly makes Helbram flinch. After a few second of holding his gaze, she resigns and lowers her weapon, letting the string relax back into place and the arrow dissipate.

Helbram musters a smile for her, and leads Maranwe to the nearest chair. She sits and her muscles easily fall into old habits, pulling the lyre up into the correct position. She begins to play, her fingers gliding across the string with practiced deftness creating an unexpectedly complex melody. The sound fills the room, beautiful and lulling, if not a bit somber, and everyone present is entranced.

Once the final note fades, there's only a second's silence before Helbram starts clapping delightedly, the sound having the same illusory, echoing quality that his voice does, "That was great!"

Maranwe scoffs at the praise and rolls her eyes.

"It was." Harlequin agrees, wearing a bitter-sweet smile, "I've really missed hearing you play."

Several of the others join in, adding their own compliments. Maranwe accept them quietly, only blushing and smiling softly.

[overlyimmersed]

Repetitive Conversations

I just kinda got a little writing bug. Tried to summarize several hours worth of daydreaming dialog and kinda didn't do great, but here's this anyway.

"Well, you're not a coward." Maranwe states, the newest vain of the unpleasant conversation they've been having for the past two hours. It started the way this conversation usually does, with her crying and admitting to the part she played in the human incident seven hundred years ago. Trying to take the blame for it. She always does. Taking all the blame and wholly absolving him, Helbram, siting her rank as Bard to the Fairy King as the reason she has responsibility and He doesn't. Repeating how she should have listened to her own instincts, insisting she just couldn't stand to burst his bubble, and begging for forgiveness he's given a thousand times. Even though he doesn't even blame her to begin with.

From there it'd gone a little tangential, as conversations with Maranwe always do. With Helbram trying to shoulder at least some of the burden by siting his violent response to the incident as a reason mistakes should be forgivable, since she insists on hand-waving that as well.

"You have no problem owning up to the mistakes you've made." She offers sympathetically

"And you have no problem taking credit for thing you didn't do." Helbram shoots back, and immediately sees the reflexive hurt flash in her eyes. As she tries to break her eyes away from his, he grabs her shoulder to hold her attention.

His grip is as gentle as any of his other touches, but the adamance of his emotions makes it feel bruising. She tries to focus on his words.

"But only when it's something bad." a quick correction, and steadfast.

She believes him and meets his eyes again.

He stares into them for a moment, trying to read the raw emotions. He so wishes he was as good at this as she is. His own gaze softens and he moves his hand from her shoulder to her cheek.

His touch is still abrasive to her, but she's not blind to the love in it so she leans into his hand all the same willing it to be comforting.

"I wish you could forgive yourself as easily as I do…" he speaks quietly, caressing her cheek bone with his thumb. She doesn't respond. There's nothing she can say that she hasn't already.

[overlyimmersed]

Records

Read below or on ao3

Jade watches Maranwe pull her book from the satchel hanging at her hip- No wait, this is a different book... Yet another separate set of notes. This book is light blue and much thinner then the other histories he's watched the fairy bard update since she joined them. As she jots something down with her odd writing implement, he tries to think of how many he's seen so far.  "...How many books do you have in there?" He asks her.

Jade watches Maranwe pull her book from the satchel hanging at her hip- No wait, this is a different book… Yet another separate set of notes. This book is light blue and much thinner then the other histories he's watched the fairy bard update since she joined them. As she jots something down with her odd writing implement, he tries to think of how many he's seen so far.

"…How many books do you have in there?" He asks her.

It takes her a moment to respond, as she finishes her note, "Huh? Oh, how many? Hm…" She snaps the book closed and lets it hang in mid-air next to her, then pulls all the other books from her bag with that strange fairy magic. Now, what seems like, a whole shelf's worth of books are floating around her. Some he's seen already, the green one with the silver Fairy symbol on the cover, the purple one with the black Demon symbol, and the tan one with Humanity's symbol simply engraved into the leather.

The new ones are the light blue one from before- it doesn't have any distinguishing symbol, a white one with a golden Goddess symbol, a brown one with some green detailing and a bronze Giant symbol, a tan book with Percival's ouroboros on the cover in steel grey, and a smaller red book that had floated out of the cover of the Demon book. There are also three grey books- only distinguishable by dates on the spines, another tan one- this with no discernable markings, and two books that look much older than the others, one a sort of periwinkle and the other yellow. Both unmarked, except by time.

"Uh…14." She answers.

"Ah…wow…" is all he can really manage. He expected maybe half that, and some of those books are rather thick…How does she keep track of it all?

"What even are all of these?" Gawain asks, floating near to grab one of the grey books. Maranwe immediately takes it back.

"They're historical records. That's what the Bard to the Fairy King does; history keeping." the fairy answers, gathering the books and putting them back into her bag in a specific order by hand. "There's one for each race, some that keep record of specific events, some for notes that need to be categorized later or that are decidedly personal…" as she trails off, Percival chimes in cheerfully.

"That one has our symbol on it!"

"Yes. That's my newest addition, a record of the Four Knights of Prophecy- or whatever you lot would like to be called." she laughs a little, holding the book in question.

"That sure is a lot to keep track of." Anne comments.

"I thought she'd have more." Lancelot says coolly, casting a knowing glance over his shoulder.

"Well it's not as if I carry my whole library with me!"

"What other records do you have?" asks Tristan.

"Well back at home I have several more volumes of Fairy history, this is just the more recent volume. Though the others were written by my predecessors. I have a record of the Seven Deadly Sins, several reference guides for all manor of things. More volumes of human history that I'm trying to copy or transcribe, several encyclopedias from various races. Cultural texts for the Fairy race, such as musical compilations and cook books. Anatomical and medical texts… I've also been trying to acquire more obscure information, like histories for the Beastmen and the…"barbarian" tribes. Humanity has a lot to put together…"

"Geeze." Donny says, mostly to himself.

"And what about the magenta book?" Lancelot asks, and he and Maranwe share a strange look for a moment. "…That's not mine." she says simply, a very slight looks of amusement on her face. The sudden air of curiosity among the teens makes that expression less slight and she elaborates, "The book Lance is referring to is a record of my history. And I don't keep that myself. It's like these-" she levitates the two old books nearer to herself to display them, "These are records of my predecessors, the previous two Fairy Bards, Morvyd and Camellia. They were written by the bard's respective Fairy King. See, while it's our job to keep track of our people's history we tend to overlook ourselves. When Gloxinia, the first Fairy King, noticed that none of Morvyd's records included anything she'd done, he started to keep track himself. And Fairy King Dahlia did the same after that. The "magenta book" is the record Fairy King Harlequin is keeping of the things I do. I have no say at all what goes into that book, I don't even know what's written in it right now." She finishes, and tucks the two old books carefully into her bag.

"Why do you keep those old books with you, then?" Isolde asks "Wouldn't they be safer back in the Fairy King's Forest?"

"Probably." Maranwe admits, "But…well, I like having them with me. I read them often, hoping I can gain some kind of wisdom from the bards who came before me."

A quiet falls over the group at that, each contemplating the concept and the weight they'd heard in the fairy's words.

After Maranwe has all her books put back in just the right order, Anna speaks up again.

"If Fairy Bards are supposed to keep the history of the Fairy Race, why are you so interested in human history?" Maranwe hesitates, taking a breath to answer then simply letting it out.

"…That's-…Well…hm… Because you're not very good at it yourselves." It seems like a non-committal answer, spit out just a little quicker then it should be, as if she simply needed to say something. Though no one would have time to call her on it, as Chion interjects with an edge to his tone.

"Do you have a record of Camelot?"

A heaviness follows his words, they all remember what the fairy twins had told them about their mother's dealings with King Arthur and how they ended.

"I do." she answers flatly, "Though there isn't much to it. And I do not carry it around with me."

[overlyimmersed]

Thunder

"What are you doing up here?" Helbram demands. The Fairy King's Forest is expecting it's first storm of the summer, and here she is- the new-born Fairy Bard- way too high up for this kind of weather. Hadn't anyone explained to her yet? Maybe not. She'd been born in the Winter, and while that doesn't change a whole lot in the fairy forest, it does effect the weather.

"It's raining." Maranwe answers, holding her hands out to let the raindrops hit them. She'd been playing in the rain all Spring. She loves it. And he's usually with her when it rains. He loves dancing with her, and watching her free-spirited excitement. But this is no time for that.

"It's not just rain, it's a thunderstorm." He warns.

"Thunderstorm?" she questions. He tries not to be distracted by the way her mouth wraps around the unfamiliar word, or how cute she looks with her head cocked slightly like a curious puppy.

"Yeah it's-" He's cut off by a bright flash.

Maranwe gasps and throws herself against him to look over his shoulder where a streak of bright light had suddenly split the sky, "What was that??"

"That was-"

BOOM

He barely has time to register her stunned expression as a crack of thunder drowns out his words. At this height it's ear splitting and even though Helbram was expecting it, he can't help flinching, covering his ears with is hands and squeezing his eyes tight against the pain.

When he opens them again, she's gone. "Maranwe!" He calls out to her, turning in the air and scanning for where she might have flown off to.

The area directly below is a clearing, a meadow that's mostly clover and ground ivy, with only a few patches of taller grasses and flowers. Flying a little closer to the ground, he catches a scuffed spot in the rain-soaked ground. The ground cover is torn up, leaving a shallow muddy rut where her foot must have slid as she pushed off. He looks towards the undergrowth at the clearing's edge opposite of the scuff and, squinting through the downpour, he can see some broken branches in the thicket. There she is.

He flies over and pushes aside some of the foliage. She's sitting there in the dirt, with her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands over her ears, trembling.

"I tried to warn you." He says, with his usual humor. It is funny after all. Seeing her reactions to things that are new to her is always funny.

Although, she clearly doesn't think so. Her response to his poking-fun is just a pitiful look.

"Aw, come on. It's not that bad." he says, feeling a little sorry from that kicked-puppy expression. "It can't hurt you, it's just a loud noise. The lightning though, that's pretty dangerous."

That doesn't seem to help much, and she draws a breath to reply- or maybe ask a question? Whatever it would have been, she doesn't get the chance as another loud crack of thunder splits the air. And again she moves faster then he can react. Though this time instead of flying away from him, Maranwe had launched herself straight into him. when his senses catch up, he's been knocked backwards into a sitting position and she's clinging to his mid-section with her face buried in his chest.

He stares down at her for a moment. Her hair's darkened from the rain and her shoes and parts of her dress are muddy. She's so close. Her body's between his legs and she's pressed into him, clinging like he's a life-line. He can feel his face heating up against the cool rain soaking them both. But she's still shaking, and her shoulders are giving little jolts. She must be crying.

He sighs and wraps his arms securely around her. "Hey, it's ok. You're safe."