Okay look, I really liked Seven Deadly Sins, and felt it was underappreciated. So I wrote this. And this story will be Ban-centric, because as the only person who doesn't yet have his Sacred Treasure, that means that when he does get it it's going to be really awesome. So, in spitballing ideas, realizing that his weapon was originally a sword, and that reincarnation is a thing in this universe, I wrote this. And yes, it is technically a crossover. But the crossover has no real bearing on the plot, so this is in the regular category.

I do not own the Seven Deadly Sins, or anything else that is recognized. I'll put a citation on my profile.

A Suspicion

Seven people who had each committed a great sin, a powerful group headed up by Sir Meliodas, The Dragon Sin of Wrath. This group consisted of a powerful mage, a man with strength enough to defeat anyone during the day, the fairy king, a giantess of great strength, and a person who could infiltrate the minds of others. The last member, though, was a thief with the powers of immortality. And sure, this man could not die, but he did not seem to be as remarkable as the others without his undying nature.

At first, that is.

When Meliodas brought in Ban the Undead, and he first began to fight with the rest as a knight of their order, most of them underestimated him. After all, he had neither lived as long as the rest of the Sins, nor did he possess the sheer strength that Escanor had to offset his lack of experience in comparison.

He could not die, though, and that gave him enough of an edge in most fights. But still, the rest of the sins could not help but feel as though Ban was weaker, and wondered why Meliodas had brought him in to the Seven Deadly Sins.

Meliodas, when questioned by Merlin or King or even sometimes Gowther, would always reply, "I think that he's pretty powerful, myself." And they would all back off for a bit until they had reason to distrust this again.

A thief, even if he is a great thief, was not necessarily a great warrior.

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It was several years before the rest of the sins realized that Ban was actually more powerful than he let on.

Sure, he was odd in some ways they couldn't quite put their fingers on. But he acted goofy quite a bit, and was always in the mood for a fight, so they didn't really look any closer. But when the group headed to the sea for a mission one day…

It was actually Gowther who commented on it first. He mentioned something about Ban's heart rate changing, and his body language shifting, and so they all turned to look.

Ban had stopped right on the ocean's edge, with his feet in the surf, and had an expression of great melancholy written all over his face. For a moment, time stood still as Ban turned his face towards the sea with an expression that could only be described as great longing on his face.

And then the expression closed itself away, and Ban became once more what they all knew him as, a bloodthirsty immortal goof that enjoyed getting drunk with his friends.

But they remembered that expression, that seemed somehow older than the Ban they all knew, so different and yet achingly the same.

It wasn't enough to get them to stop seeing him as weaker, but it would later stand out in their mind as the first time they suspected that Ban was more than just a jumped up immortal thief.

And Meliodas smiled quietly to himself, not knowing exactly what it was that Ban was hiding, but knowing that it was something that he recognized from the time when he was very young…

If anyone can guess who and where Ban was reincarnated from, they win bragging rights.

Also, again, the past life doesn't really have any bearing on anything but the eventual final battle, and Ban's unknown Sacred Treasure.