This a SDS Love is a Battlefield OVA (bonus chappies), and yes, it is happening while the others were teleported out of Camelot. Same story! These couple of chapters will explain a few things that Ban will probably not bother to go into detail with later. Hehe.

LAWS TO LICK BY: WRITTEN BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE!

For those mortals who do not yet know, your Lick was dubbed FanFic Goddess some time ago, and then several others agreed with a touching religion change. SO! I shall share the commandments I have gathered thus far here, in the final installment of this tale.

1ST COMMANDMENT: Thou shall enjoy with minimal squirming every lickith thou receive. ((by RainStorm2122))
2ND COMMANDMENT: Thou shall submit reviews with gusto! Or the lickith will be thrice as moist and determined! ((also by RainStorm2122))
3RD COMMANDMENT: Thou shall not covet another's licketh, for the punishment shall be lickeths tenfold. ((by ashleyk2010))
4TH COMMANDMENT: Thou shalt appreciate if a lick or more was given to both thou body and soul ((by TailGatomonX3))
5TH COMMANDMENT: Thou shall never be wary of thou lickith. Thou must embrace it, and return it with gusto! ((by BettyBest2))
6TH COMMANDMENT: Thou shall not protest thy licks, or the number of thy licks shall be doubled. ((by yojimbo89))
7TH COMMANDMENT: Thou shall never fear the lickith, for the lickith is the lifeforce of thy Goddess. ((by PippElulu))
8TH COMMANDMENT: Thou shall not deny a Lick her desires, for the punishment is death by reanimation. Hell hath no fury like a Lickith's scorn! ((collaboration by Dom and Stormie))
9TH COMMANDMENT: If thou art to lick then thy lick shall be full of passion, for to do otherwise shall bring forth shame and the awkward. ((also by yojimbo89))

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING! *sob*

This is Not the End

"Heh..." Ban smiled to himself as he watched his love struggle all the way from one corner of her mind to the other. He knew exactly the dilemma she was wrestling with, but it couldn't have been helped—so why feel bad about it?

Naw, he'd have plenty of time to feel bad with what was coming next...

Watching her inner turmoil intrigued him. The woman stressed too much, talk about being the opposite of that lame brother of hers. A smile curled on his lips as his blood boiled to the sound of her voice reverberating from within him.

"You still seek to take what is not yours?"

Ban bent his back backward enough to hear a refreshing pop, then twisted his neck to and fro to the same bone crunching crack. "Ahhhhhh.

"Well, Lamb Chop... As I recall telling you before." He slowly bent forward with hands on his hips to look closely into her eyes. "I'm gonna take what's mine."

Lowering her head so that Ban could not see the flush his gaze so kindly granted her, bangs covered golden eyes in shadow. "So you seek to destroy that which I have been placed to protect."

The bandit straightened back out and scratched a cheek as he thought—though not caring much. "Well yea. Without anything here, you won't need to be here either." He then grinned again and leaned his head back in his hands. "You really oughta be comin up with all the different ways you can thank me, insteada registering a complaint, Lamb Chop."

"How can I when I am the one who must not let you?" She looked back up at him with determination tinting her glare, "you will not touch it!"

His lips closed into a fond smile as he watched his love's resolve solidify to unwavering. His brow raised and he sauntered up to her, slipping his hands behind his back as he bent to whisper in her ear. "Sorry Elaine, but as of right now... you don't have much of a say on the matter."

Her eyes widened as twin clicking noises echoed against the walls. Looking down at her wrists brought the realization that Ban had just locked them into curious shackles wrought of iron connected by a long chain. Elaine's eyes looked back up at the spiky head that watched her with a sympathetic curve to his lips, "It won't be much longer before I ask your forgiveness— since you've already made it pretty clear that I don't have permission..."

Blonde brows furrowed and Elaine grimaced at the shackles. "These will not hold me."

Ban just stood up straight with a content smile, placing his hands into his pockets. This is the part that he may feel bad about, should Lick bare down on that minuscule part of him that had a conscience. He stood there, watching as those beautiful golden eyes grew larger as she realized that yes, they were holding her... better than anything should contain something as ethereal as the Lady of the Lake.

"I know... seems pretty anti-climatic right? Can't help but feel as I should fill you and the reader in... (since Lick seems to have taken the high road and gone silent). Those cuffs were manifested from one raised by an iron dragon, and used to lock up a lover forgotten. Powers meant to contain, made stronger by coming from that dimension to this one. In other words..." A smile replaced the face of the rapidly growing bored frown, "you're as helpless as a lamb—trapped by a fox."

That got her riled up. He could see the fire in her eyes boring a whole straight through his soul. "Ban! Release me at once!" She'd even tried to change to water to free herself, but she was denied the ability while locked in shackles such as these.

Ban began walking deeper into the temple, "No can do. Can't have ya goin all noble on me while my back is turned."

Stopping at the bottom of the three steps that raised the pedestals and over-sized statues, Ban stroked his chin thoughtfully. Surely all three of them weren't unfathomable treasures. He twisted his waist and bent backwards slightly in a way that looked terribly uncomfortable to look back at his fuming pretty lady, "So what's the story here, Lamb Chop?"

Elaine merely folded her arms and looked to the side with her nose pointed up in the air.
Typical pretty princess silent treatment, eh?

No. She was right to be upset, Ban had just locked her up in her own domain! With shackles from another dimension, no less! Those were Gajeel's, damnit! I didn't even know I still had those things! Can fourth wall breakers really steal something from a totally different fic? Something about this STINKS! I knew he was going to use those things for evil! That bastard! Rapscallion!

BLOODY PIRATE!

"Geez... enough with the ranting..." Ban's lips curled into a smile that surely rivaled that of the devil's as he pulled Courechouse out. He covered his eyes while chuckling to himself and thrust his weapon out to Snatch.

Elaine watched him from the corner of her eye and nearly fell over from surprise when she saw him snatching the one out of three he was forbidden to touch. "BAN!" She screamed, "You put that BACK!"

He grinned to himself, tossing up and down the cheapest looking cup out of the three. "Well who would have guessed that this piece of junk was the one you were protecting." He glanced back at his love with a crooked smile, "personally, I would have preferred the one with all those sparkly stones. That one looks like it could go for a pretty penny."

Elaine growled at him, angry beyond words. He was making her fail in her duty! What would the powers that be do to her? Would there be forgiveness? Surely there were consequences for such a failure!

The anger she showed only added a tally mark in Ban's head of the things he may or may not have to do to win back her favor. This wouldn't be the only thing he'd piss her off about during their long life together. Bringing his attention back to the clay cup, he looked at it carefully. "What is it with you guys and cups...? This thing doesn't look special to me." He shrugged. "Ah well, here's to your freedom, Lamb Chop!"

A lanky arm tossed it up into the air and readied the sectioned staff to strike it. Destroying the treasure would give her no more reason to stay here in boring old Avalon, so that's what he'd do. As the grail began its downward fall, Elaine was not the only voice to scream out:

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ban faltered in his attack at the sound of a loud, masculine voice crying out along with Elaine's. He lowered his weapon and caught the cup as the blonde dived to the ground at his feet in an effort to catch it as well.

With the Holy Grail deep in his clutches, Ban turned a bored expression to the statues now stepping off their stands. Those things were coming to life? What the hell? His eyebrow quirked as he noticed that their shadows did not fit the bulk of their build in the slightest. No, the shadows moved with the shape and grace of a stag. He began to laugh. "Are you kidding me? What, with the Lady of the Lake outta commission I get to have a private party with the Ascended themselves?" He bent over and slapped his knee in his laughing riot, "oh man this is just fuckin great!"

"Ban!" Elaine hissed at him while visibly shrinking at the statues' advance, "show some respect!"

All three of the colossal statues spoke as one. "Fox Sin of Greed, Ban the Undead. Just what is it you seek here in the sacred land of Avalon?"

Ban did not look impressed, no, once he finished laughing, he placed his hands back on his hips with the grail still in his grasp. "Ain't it obvious? I came here to bust up this thing so I could finally keep my promise to steal Elaine away."

The statue that had stood behind the now empty pedestal cried out, "You must not!"

The Fox Sin shrugged, "Yea, I really must. Elaine is coming with me."

The biggest statue that stood behind the middle pedestal frowned, "You would destroy the most sacred of the world's artifacts for... a guardian?"

Shackles rattled as Elaine fell to her knees before the most personal servants of the goddesses themselves, "I am so sorry! I tried to stop him... but I couldn't hurt him—I just couldn't!"

Ban frowned at the sight of Elaine on her knees. She would never feel that she must bow to anyone soon, he would personally see to that. His voice was low and menacing as he continued to speak, "She's more than just a guardian. Why can't you holy types get that? Elaine has been nothing but your faithful slave all this time, nearly a millenia for cryin out loud. It's time for you chumps to find someone else."

The third statue hissed, "You dare order us, mortal? You who have dared drink from the Fountain come here to commit further crimes against your maker? I would see you condemned to spend the rest of your eternity swimming in a volcano!"

Statue number one raised a hand to calm the third, "Take care of what you say, Tay'lanni, he still holds the Grail!"

The biggest of the three silenced both with a raised hand. "Fox Sin of Greed. You do not understand. Should you destroy the Grail, the powers that be will send the guardian back to Necropolis—for her usefulness will be spent."

At the sound of Elaine's muffled sob, Ban gritted his teeth, "You bastards. Is that all her life means to you? To send her packing when she has so many dreams of a better life? I'm about ready to shatter your pretty little figurines and get you outta my face!"

"Return the Grail, Fox Sin," The three ordered as one.

"That ain't happening. If I can't break it—then I'll just take it with me." Ban's lips turned up to another smile as his jaded sense of logic kicked back in. "If I can't break the damn thing, I guess I'll just take it with me... if Elaine has to protect it, then she's gotta come with me."

Elaine looked at her love feeling flattered. He would do that? Forever carry the Grail just so that she would stay by his side? Her heart lodged into her throat as he continued, his voice lowering as though he spoke to himself. His eyes... his eyes turned so sincere that she was rendered even more speechless.

"I guess... in a way, this treasure means more to me than it could possibly mean to anyone else."

The third Ascended, Tay'lanni, scoffed at his inner thoughts. "Preposterous! The Holy Grail is not meant to be carried by the likes of you! This is heresy! Tay'andral DO something!"

"We would forever trap you here before we ever allow you to take the Grail from this place." Replied the middle statue, Tay'andral, folding his arms.

"Hmm... that doesn't sound so bad..." Ban locked eyes with the saint he sought to free.

The first statue spoke lowly to Tay'andral, "The Seven Deadly Sins travel and protect Tay'daishar, he must not stay here."

Ban raised a brow. "Sounds to me like we're at a stalemate."

The statue going by Tay'lanni clearly had the shortest temper and growled at the Sin. Pitiful human had the audacity to think he would come out of this on top? It moved to engage him, but the middle Ascended raised an arm to halt its advance.

With the angered Ascended halted, Tay'andral turned back to him, "It would seem so. The Grail stays here, there is but no other choice. However, in light of the love you have shown for the Guardian Saint, I shall bestow upon you a quest."

Ban rolled his eyes, "I'm not much of a guy for quests, your stoniness..."

"Obviously. Though you have made it clear that the prize we offer is the very thing that will allow you to keep the promise you mentioned."

That reclaimed his attention and Ban looked back to him with a raised brow.

"It is quite simple. Bring us back a new Lady of the Lake, and you shall have the fairy Elaine... should she choose to go with you."

Elaine's eyes widened, "Really!? Oh... thank you! Though... how could I ever wish such a lonely life on some other soul—"

"Now wait a minute." Ban interrupted with a frown, only glancing at the Ascended through the very corner of his eye. "I was planning on having her come with me today. Not tomorrow or a year from now."

The first Ascended spoke, since the patience of even the wise Tay'andral was beginning to wane. "If you were to take her as she is now, even with the Grail... The Lady of the Lake cannot sustain herself away from its holy waters. You would be condemning her to a slow demise."

Damn you, Lick... Ban ground his teeth. Elaine is mine, and you will not keep her from me. Oh I'll find your replacement... and you won't like it either.

"Alright. If you wanna be dicks about it, then I'll go find you some other chump to be your pawn. But when I come back, Elaine goes with me—and none of that bull about her being dead. My lady has another chance at life, and I'm gonna see that she lives it."

Elaine's eyes filled with tears. How could she stay angry with a man who loved her so much that not even the Ascended could contest it? "...Ban.."

"Replace the Grail, Sin." The third giant statue demanded gruffly.

Ban made a face at it, "I don't think I like your tone."

"Ban!" Elaine shrieked nervously.

He turned back to her with a charming smile, "Oh alright, Lamb Chop... for you." Ban wouldn't soon forget how he'd had to disgrace her to find a way to set her free.

The fairy took the proffered cup from him, and walked back up to the first pedestal, watching the gargantuan statues warily. "I am so sorry for all this, your graces..."

The first statue looked down on the saint with favor, "All is well, young one. We are no strangers to weaknesses of the heart."

Tay'lanni scoffed at the other Ascended's words. "This is lunacy. Now that the Grail is returned, allow me to cast him into the great volcano far on the next continent!"

Tay'andral roared out at the one to his left, "You would soil the goddesses servants' words in such a way? To break our promises?"

"It is not a broken promise for we never agreed to let his quest start here. Let him crawl out of something not unlike the depths of hell for his intrusion to Avalon's sacred soil," Tay'lanni countered.

Ban merely grinned.

"Tay'lanni... that is not how the goddesses would want our agreement to end. He may be a heretic, but he still has a part to play defending Tay'daishar," Spoke the first Ascended with the Holy Grail resting on the pedestal before its stone vessel.

Digging a finger in his ear, Ban asked without much interest, "Tay'daishar huh? Ain't that translated into something like half-born or sumthin? Doesn't sound like a lotta fun."

Elaine tilted her head at the man who had stolen her heart, how would he know even a scrap of the Old Tongue? Bandit Ban would never cease to amaze her.

Tay'andral narrowed the statue's eyes at him, "Not quite, mortal..."

As the first statue began manifesting something within the stone hand, Tay'lanni hissed, "Are you sure that is wise, Tay'moora? This miscreant is hardly trustworthy."

The statue that Tay'moora used as a vessel smiled as though to itself, "He walks alongside one of darkness seeking redemption. I trust his intentions."

Ban smelled treasure. "Whatever. It's your funeral."

"Ban!" Elaine whisper yelled, causing the lifewater coursing through his veins to dance in new ways. He smiled at her cunningly.

At the largest statue's nod, Tay'moora conjured the skull of a great stag to hover over the large stone hand. "This is the remains of one of the First. Take it to the Daughter, for it will protect her when all seems lost."

"The Daughter...?" Elaine repeated curiously.

It was then that both the fairy guardian and the bandit's vision faded... and all turned black—forced into a dreamless slumber.

^.~

Waking up with clothes on always gave Ban the feeling of being restricted. He tended to sleep in only pants, and that was bad enough. So when he woke on the deck of his boat floating adrift in the lake of Avalon in full pirate gear, he felt hot and cranky. And let's not mention how uncomfortable it was that his spine had Arthur's stupid legendary sword digging into his back. What the hell happened anyway?

No way was all that shit a dream...

Nope. Those assholes must have booted him out before he had a chance to pull more info out of them. While he laid there sorting out fact from fiction with what felt like a massive hangover, the sound of water lapped against the creaking boat. Ban's red eyes drifted from the blue sky to find the more accommodating vision of his lady. When he could not find her, he groaned into a seated position and frowned as he scanned the entire deck with no sign of her.

The bandit hadn't realized how close he was to the wheel until his inspection of it brought him face to face with the skull of a large stag. His eyes widened at the thing invading his space and jumped back.

It hadn't scared him... just surprised him is all...

Ban grimaced at the ugly thing hanging on his steering wheel and he drawled, "Oh ha ha... those stupid Ascended must think they're reeeeeeeal funny."

With a rattling of chains, Ban heard the sound he'd been longing for coming from the cabin, "Did you say something, Ban?"

He smiled at the skull like he'd won some sort of bet against it and fell back on his back, his head bending backward off the ship's upraised bow. This brought him an upside-down view of the blonde fairy he adored walking out of the cabin looking at him curiously. Ban grinned broadly at the sight of her and said, "Nothing much, Lamb Chop."

Elaine smiled at the odd man laying there on the bow and moved to sit on the steps next to his head. Despite the cuffs she still wore, she moved slim fingers to stroke through his hair affectionately. Ban closed his eyes and hummed his contentment for a moment before he peeked an eye open again to look at her with an impure smirk. "You're still my captive, eh?"

The fairy princess shook her head as she continued to run her hands through his unruly spikes, "I have faith that you'll get them off."

Ban raised a brow, contemplating the pros and cons of such an act and sat up to sit on the steps next to her, bringing the chain between her cuffs over his head to rest around him. Elaine blushed as he scooted closer to her and stared deeply into her eyes, but she did him the favor of matching his gaze instead of demurely turning away. He pulled her into his arms and buried his nose into her hair, enjoying the embrace for a moment before saying, "You know I'm gonna have to go, Lamb Chop."

Elaine sighed into the bridge of his neck, clutching the sides of his jacket in her petite fists and uttering weakly, "...I know."

The sadness escaping her voice did not go unnoticed, and Ban pulled back just enough to hold her chin with his index finger and thumb to make her look back into his face. It was not often that even Elaine received a sincere look from the Fox Sin, but if there was anyone who would, it would be his lady love. His brows lowered and he glared intensely into her eyes, "I'm comin back to take what's mine."

Though her expression remained tainted with melancholy, Elaine managed a soft smile. "I know, Ban... I'll... um, I'll miss you."

He desired more than anything to devour the lips who spoke of missing him. He felt like a heartless bastard, leaving her yet again. If he were to kiss her now... with her in those shackles—well—he'd never leave that sweet taste of honeysuckles. Ban had to go, so that she could be free. So without looking away from those golden eyes that matched his soul, he opened the irons that bound her with such ease it would make a master thief envious. "This is not good bye, Lamb Chop."

Elaine yelped as the boat rocked fiercely. It was scraping against the bottom of the shallows, having made its way back to shore. Ban held her tightly as he looked over his shoulder, frowning as reality reminded him that he was already where he needed to be to disembark.

He turned back to her and gave her a confident smile, "This is just a 'see ya later'."

"Yes, of course, Ban." Elaine pulled away before she gave him a hint of the tears she was beginning to shed.

Ban stood as she did, and tucked the shackles back into his satchel filled with bones. Then, in afterthought, also grabbed the stag skull hanging on the wheel and latched it onto his back. He then looked back over at Elaine, alarmed that she looked so unhappy. "Elaine... I am coming back. You know that, right?"

Trying very hard to put on a strong front, Elaine smiled up at him with moist cheeks, "Yes. You will come back to steal me away."

Ban cracked a smile and smoothed the back of his fingers over her cheek and replied gently, "Yep. That's exactly what's gonna happen."

With that said, the Fox Sin turned and leapt onto the railing in a squat before his greed took hold of him and jumped the short distance to shore. He landed deftly onto the soft grass and looked over his shoulder at the fairy that would wait for him. Flashing her one more grin, he began walking away, already sniffing the air to hunt down the person he intended to force into being the next guardian.

"Ban!"

He turned around to the sound of his love just in the nick of time to be tackled by her diving into his arms. There was no point in hiding his surprise, he didn't think she could drift over anything but the lake. Smiling to himself, he wrapped his arms around her slim waist and hugged her again. It was with her arms tightly wound around his neck with her head buried deep in his neck that she spoke the words he thought he'd never hear but in his most stingy of dreams.

"I love you."

He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't felt her lips move to the words that echoed throughout his body. His heart ached with all the ways he couldn't think of to reciprocate such profound words, so what he did do was tilt her head to his and smile mischievously and say, "Damn you're a bad liar, Lamb Chop."

Elaine just smiled up at him and let his fingers guide her into a kiss, her tongue's gentle caresses were swept away by his fierce, insatiable hunger. Their embrace was long, yet far too short for the two of them. With such a kiss came a promise the both of them made to each other there in that moment. A promise of what will be.

When they finally parted, it was astonishing to see the same greedy hunger Ban carried reflected in the Guardian Saint's eyes. It was only through the need to have her completely his that Ban was able to walk away after such a passionate kiss. He licked his lips, savoring every bit of her taste as he held a hand up in farewell as his feet forced him to continue walking away from the lake. Off to find the one person he thought deserved a couple hundred centuries as the sole lonely guardian. Ban smiled to himself as he spoke, allowing himself to enjoy the fantasy that consumed his imagination as he spoke his final parting words to his beloved.

"Don't think for a second that I won't use these cuffs to keep you from runnin off from something I know we both want when I get back."

As you can tell, this is not the end. This is just where Ban's journey joins back up with the others in the upcoming chapter 22 of Love is a Battlefield. Take care all, and see you soon in the next installment of the main tale. :)

Thank you for your support!
And now for your lickins!

Stormie: Hmm... I do believe this chappie just may have answered all your questions! WOW! How often does that happen? XD!
MyLuv: I DID NOT INSINUTATE THAT! ...Ban did. XD Oh! And no way was Ban going to lay a hand on Elaine—he made sure of that when he stole Gaajie's shackles he'd used on Levy. XD!
Yojimbo: The crushing of bones is coming. :D I have not forgotten!
Deamonik: We saw the cuffs in action Dea! Huzah! MOAR LUV AND LICS! YAAAAS! I luv you! BY THE WAY! I realized after I put out the last chappie that I completely forgot to reference the readers to your super awesome fanart. I will take steps to make sure I remember to mention your deviations next chappie... and I sowwie I suck. o.o
Dom: *grins and bats eyelashes*
Ruon: Yay! You got the grappling reference! There is yet another reference I have in store next chappie. XD *snicker* And Ban had every intention to destroy the treasure, as he had mentioned in the first chapter indirectly—so yea, Elaine was ready to do her duty.
ScarletLoveliness: Mmmmm... you and me both. I luuuuv me some Ban! OH! And if you're reading this when I THINK you're reading this... good night dear Scarlet! *kissies*

All for you my lovelies

Seriphia
aka
Lick

:p