A/N 1: Hey guys, Nemo here! I'm finally back with another chapter; which could NOT have been done without the help of…(Can you guess?)...That's right….. COCOBEL! As I said last chapter, I had really bad writer's block; but I think now, after receiving help with this chapter, I've overcome it! Anyway UPDATES WILL BE SLOWER because my mom says I spend waaaaay too much time on the computer, so I'll be taking a 'break'.

A/N 2: Thank you, thank you! *dramatic bow* XD So much fun to get to play around with this story and I'm so excited to share what we came up with for this chapter! As Nemo said, updates will be a little slower for a while (we do have to live our lives, after all, and so should all of you!) but THERE WILL BE MORE. Promise. In the meantime, please be patient, please read and review, we always love to hear from our friends! *hearts* -Cocobel

'Oh well, guess it was fate!'

.o0o.

The funny thing about fate is that it's not always predetermined, and Meliodas' own fate probably could have been avoided if he had just thought twice before drinking the strange liquid in the vial— Any one of the Sins would have known better than to drink anything of Merlin's without the mage's express knowledge or permission, because her potions are capable of anything. Anything.

But—as 'fate' would have it—Meliodas himself failed to grasp the consequences when he had decided to take the drink in the tube, and when he reopened his eyes, he still couldn't grasp them He lay on the bedding spread out over the floor of the Boar Hat's cellar, feeling very small next to the crates and boxes stacked near his head. The room and his clothes didn't seem quite so… large when he fell asleep the…the night before? Was it morning now? No matter—morning or not, the first thing he realized was just how hungry he was. He wrinkled his nose, annoyed, opened his mouth to complain…

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" …through a long, screeching… wail?

For a moment, nothing else happened. Then, two floors up, distant thudding and stomping that grew increasingly louder, until the staircase above Meliodas' head began to tremble, and the door to the cellar was thrown open with a loud 'bang!' Hawk was the first to hurtle down the staircase, quickly losing his footing and tumbling head over hooves to land on his belly. Next was Ban; the entire tavern shaking as he jumped from the stairway to land on the cellar floor; Elizabeth descending the stairs as quickly as she could behind him, one hand lightly skimming the banister. Gowther came down the steps, one at a time, nonchalantly pushing his glasses up on his nose and taking out his notebook. Diane and King, out in the forest, probably didn't hear Meliodas' scream, so the last to join was Merlin via teleportation, and in the middle of the room she folded her arms over her coat and surveyed Meliodas with a reproving smirk. Elizabeth, Ban, and Hawk just stared.

At this fairly interesting new development, Meliodas closed his mouth, and curious green eyes stared back, first at Merlin, then at Hawk, Gowther, and Ban. When his gaze reached Elizabeth, he reached out for her with a smile and a happy…...gurgle?

Ban was the first to break the awkward silence in the room. "…The fuck happened to you, Cap'n?"

Gowther adjusted his glasses again. "It would appear that the Captain's full-grown form has been reduced to that of an infant."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Goat Man!" Ban rolled his crimson eyes; although his mouth was slowly curving into an amused smile as he heard a confirmation of his sanity voiced aloud.

Ignoring the exchange, Meliodas reached more insistently for Elizabeth. She stared back, wavering between wanting to pick up and cuddle the (Now-baby) Sin on the floor and wanting to hide behind Ban; or to run from the entire scene and the tavern all together screaming for the real Meliodas, her Meliodas, to come back. The baby—still in a bundle of clothes that were far too many sizes large—now 'somehow' clinging to her leg, sensed her hesitation and squeezed his eyes shut, opening his mouth as if about to let out a cry of impatience—at which point she bent down, unable to hold herself back, and quickly scooped him and the clothes into her arms, cradling him close to her heart. Meliodas nestled his head comfortably against her breast, cooing softly. Elizabeth looked at the mage. "Lady Merlin…?"

Merlin's golden eyes were narrowed in thought. "Knowing the Captain…I should have foreseen this coming. But I'll admit, I did not," she said, her smirk widening, "expect him to go so far as to break into my room. Let alone drink my potions without my consent."

"Dammit Capt'n!" Ban was laughing now.

"Lady Merlin, you can change him back, can't you?" Elizabeth's blue eyes searched Merlin's face anxiously while Meliodas pulled at the purple scarf tied around her neck in a fruitless attempt to undo it.

The mage held her gaze. "I…am…not sure."

"But you'll try, right!?" Elizabeth's voice rose in panicked pitch, and Meliodas' eyes moved up to her face in puzzlement. He reached one chubby hand to lay against her cheek, and her blue eyes flicked down to him. She managed a shaky smile, because let's be honest: How could she resist that face? Adult Meliodas was cute, but baby Meliodas? Absolutely, irresistibly, ADORABLE.

Without offering an answer, Merlin simply smirked again and teleported out of the room. Left with nothing more to do, the rest of the Sins trekked back up the stairs to the bar room.

.o0o.

Diane's violet eyes peeked through the window, while the front door opened and King floated inside, clutching his Chastiefol pillow. Both looked like they'd just woken up; and as Ban mumbled something about King's 'late-night romp' in the woods from his seat behind the bar, turning the tips of King's ears turned bright red. He sputtered something unintelligible, until he saw Elizabeth and the bundle of sheets in her arms. "Why don't you make Ban do the laundry, Princess, so he doesn't just sit around drinking us out of business?" He shot the Fox Sin a contemptuous glare.

"Um, no, Sir King, I'm not…" Elizabeth looked down, and Meliodas chose that moment to wave an arm up out of the bundle of sheets and squeal loudly. King floated closer towards Elizabeth to see exactly what it was that she was carrying, but stopped short when he saw a small head of blonde peeking over a red tie as excited green eyes searched his face.

It took a moment for King to regain his grip on reality; Surely it wasn't… It couldn't be…

"What is it King?" Diane's voice shook him out of his thoughts, which he hadn't even realized had caused the silence currently hanging heavy in the room.

He cleared his throat nervously, "Um, Princess?" He looked into her eyes hoping, praying that the answer was something other than what he thought, "That isn't… who I think it is… Right?" There was nothing he could do to stop the shaking in his voice at that moment. He searched her eyes, looking for the comfort of hope, but he was met nothing but uncertainty.

"Sure as hell is!" yelled Ban, taking another swig from the ale that just 'happened' to be in his hand. "You should see the look on your face! Priceless!" He continued to laugh at the fairy's expense. The Fairy King just ignored him in favor of attempting to fully comprehend the situation in front of him…

He and Diane had just come back from a rather pleasant night of stargazing. They hadn't planned on staying there for more than a couple of hours; let alone the entire night. King himself had planned on coming back to the tavern and crashing until around noon, before getting up to see what little he could do to help out around the tavern without applying too much effort (if there wasn't anything he could do, just observing Diane's loveliness would suffice). Now, he stood staring dumbfounded at what appeared to be the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins; a BABY, now cradled in the arms of the third princess of the realm, with a talking pig trotting frantically around the room; not to mention the two other Sins in the room, one drinking himself silly (as usual) and the other calmly reading a book, unaffected by the chaos plaguing his companions' minds.

"King?" Diane called through the window again, and he looked over his shoulder at her, unsure of how to respond.

"Um…I, uh—I'll be right out, Diane!" King turned to float back outside, the paw of Chastiefol's bear form in his hand, when Meliodas let out a loud scream, and the Fairy King turned back with a shudder at the sound: Meliodas was reaching out from Elizabeth, now, gesturing wildly to the oversized, overstuffed green teddy bear King clung to for dear life. King took another few steps toward the door. Meliodas squeezed his eyes shut; and this time, when he opened them, they were no longer the bright green that everyone was used to. No, now they were pools of black staring back with hard anger. He was no longer cute and innocent; now he was death incarnate. A small demon marking appeared above his eyebrow, letting the fairy know he meant business.

King was frozen in place, Chastiefol still in his grasp. He watched as the small demon turned his head and smiled at the trembling princess that was now Elizabeth. Then he faced King once more, his glare more cold, upset, and firm. He extended a small arm in his direction, pointing to the bear. King wavered for another instant, and quickly handed over Chastiefol with a sigh of resignation. Meliodas' eyes quickly lightened and he smiled, clapping his hands, and clutching Chastiefol close; the bear was comically too big, twice the size of Meliodas and Elizabeth together. Elizabeth looked pleadingly at King, and the fairy sighed and with a gesture of his hand shrunk Chastiefol to Meliodas' size, before letting the tavern door slam shut behind him on his way out.

Yeah, bet you didn't expect him to go 'demon-mode' now did you? But as I wrote in the summary "He WILL BE STRUGGLING WITH HIS DEMONIC POWERS AS WELL AS BEING A BABY"; So that was just my way of a friendly reminder... heh.

Again HUGE thanks to Cocobel for helping me out; go check her out (If you haven't already; then you're missing out).

Don't forget to review! Please, they make me happy...

.(^w^)/ -Bye for now!