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"So you've felt it too" Meliodas says whilst the two of us sit on the roof of the boar hat shortly after my arrival and look into the distance.

I nod a little. "I felt the power last night. Woke me up from my sleep."

"Last night, huh" he mutters. "Yeah, that's when I felt it, too." Meliodas takes a short break and probably gets lost in his own thoughts. "So it must be true, I guess" he continues then, his voice full of worry.

"How's it possible that no one else noticed something? I mean... The power wave must've been immense when they broke the seal."

"The party was going on for a long time, they sure thought it belongs to the firework. If it even happened nearby. I can tell that something's different but I can't feel their presence."

"Me neither" I mumble and sigh while looking down the roof of the Boar Hat. "So the Holy War is not over yet" I continue to mumble and Meliodas' head shoots up when he hears those unfamiliar words. "Been a long time since I talked to someone else than Merlin about it" he mumbles.

I place my hand on his shoulder and his green eyes look up to meet my blue ones. "I'll always be there for you, Meliodas. No matter how far apart we are" I say and give him a reassuring and supportive smile.

His look softens and I see gratitude in his eyes whilst a small smile forms on his lips. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you, too" I respond and then drop my hand from his shoulder, now resting my head there. "I'm sorry I wasn't with you earlier" I say more quietly and refer to the battle with Hendrickson.

"Don't be sorry for it. I'm actually glad you weren't."

"Wow, thanks" I joke in a sarcastic voice before I become more serious again. "I should have been with you, Meliodas."

"You should not have. You could've got really harmed" he says with a mixture of worry and sternness in his voice and I feel his body tense up just by the thought of it. "I could never forgive myself is something happens to you, too."

"But you did get harmed, Meliodas. Just like your friends. I should have... I mean I could have..." I mumble but can't finish my sentence. There's no excuse for what I've done or more exactly have not done. As my head still rests on his shoulder, Meliodas puts his right arm around me and pulls me closer to his body. I feel his warmth immadiately going over to me and I lean in closer. His near feels comforting and I close my eyes for just a second, enjoying the moment. "Do they know?" I ask and open my eyes again.

"Ban does know and I think King is suspecting it."

"But you haven't told him?"

"His sister Elaine got killed by a demon. And he tried killing Ban when he thought that he was helping it. I don't think he's ready to know that I am one, too."

"I can tell. But you're not ready to tell, either. What about Ban? Does he know everything?"

Meliodas doesn't answer me and I can already guess what he would tell me. It's probably too early for Ban to understand. After all, stories about demons and the Holy War are told humans for hundred and thousand of years to scare them off and keep their faith in the goddesses. It still seems as there's no place for demons in this world and after what Hendrickson has done, things just became worse again.

"Elizabeth is just as beautiful as I remember her" I say while I free myself from his grip and try to change the topic to cheer up my friend. If we're right and the Ten Commandments are back for good, there'd still be enough to worry about real soon.

Meliodas smiles and relaxes a bit. "She sure is. And she's so innocent and pure, just like I know her" he says before his body tenses up again and he clenches his hands into fists. "I'll protect her with everything I have. I can't lose her again."His voice breaks at the final words.

I get up and reach out my hand to him because it's time to go back to the others. "And I'll help you with everything I have" I say convinced. "Promised."

I don't know what would happen to Meliodas if he looses Elizabeth again but I'll try my very best to not let that happen again. Meliodas grabs my hand and jumps onto his feet with his typical giggling.

"I think it's time for you to meet my friends" he says and his green eyes lighten up again. He's back to being that youngish boy I've known for so long.

◊ ◊ ◊

"So let me get this straight" Ban says sometime later and takes a sip of his drink before continuing. "So this lady" he points his head towards me, sitting just nearby, "is a friend of you and none of us have ever seen her?!"

Meliodas sits across Ban and looks at him uncomprehending. "That's pretty much just what I told you."

"I've known Meliodas for a very long time" I try to explain. "Way before the Seven Deadly Sins found together."

"But how is that possible?" Diane asks. Thanks to Merlin, she's currently human-sized and fits into the tavern with everybody else. "We found together such a long time ago and you're not any older than the captain."

"Yeah and it's already weird enough that he hasn't changed at all" Ban says as he's not getting the obvious.

"So haven't you" Meliodas says as he gets tired of all the explaination. "Are we done asking questions?"

"Not just yet" Ban says as he takes a closer look at me.

"Please everyone, stop it now" Elizabeth says as she finally steps in. "Lady Yami has just arrived. Give her some space, she's surely tired of her travel."

I look up at Elizabeth thankfully and finish my drink. She really is a sweetheart.

I can feel that Bans eyes are still on me and sense King staring at me from up the ceiling. He's been hovering up there ever since I came here, looking at me through narrowed eyes and I can tell what Meliodas meant earlier. He's surely suspecting something and ain't happy with what he's apprehensive of. "Welcome to the kingdom Liones" Elizabeth continues as she gives me a smile. "Did you enjoy the firework?"

Oh right, the firework. It was only yesterday but it feels like a lot longer already. I had already forgotten about it. "I haven't been to the kingdom before, princess. But I was able to watch them from the nearby woods" I lie to her as I haven't watched it at all as I just got lost in my own thoughts as usual. The warm smile the princess gives me shows me that I had chosen the right words.

Way to go, Yami. Starting with a lie.

"Enough with the smalltalk" Meliodas says eventually. "Who's up for some drinks as we're celebrating this reuniting with my best friend?" He earns an angry look from Ban and Meliodas puts his hands up in defense. "Female best friend" he corrects himself and Bans features soften.

"Never saying no to a good beer!" Ban exclaims then and I giggle as he had chosen just the same words as I have just a few days ago.

◊ ◊ ◊

"King's not really up to a party, huh?" I ask sometime later as the partying and drinking has been going on for a while now.

"He's been acting very strange lately" I hear Diane respond, while she's playing with a strand of her hair out of frustration. "I wish I'd know what's going on" she thinks out loud.

The way Diane sits next to me makes me feel sorry for her because she looks so sad. I wish I could be there for her but we don't even know each other, expect everything that Meliodas has told me about her. Nonetheless I place my hand on her arm, which she answers with a surprised look. I feel King staring at me from up the ceiling in anger instantly. He's watching my every moment.

"We surely don't know each other, Diane. But when I take a look around it's either Gowther you can talk to or me. Do you want to tell me what's up?"

Diane takes a look around and sees that I am right. The princess has left already and the others are pretty drunk already. Gowther, on the other hand, seems to be sober but not paying any attention to the party at all.

"He's acting that weird ever since we went to see the fireworks yesterday. We were really enjoying the day but I can't help but wonder if I did something wrong."

Pity floods me as I see how much sadness this situation brings Diane. If King would know that she's hurting, he surely wouldn't still be hovering up there. And I wish I could tell Diane how much King loves her because everyone but herself can see it. But I can't tell her or anyone else just yet how much I really know about them because Meliodas has told me everything. They don't know anything about me.

"If you think that the day went well, you should tell him how you feel" I say and hope that a conversation between the two of them would finally stop these glares for a while. "You never know what's really up until you talk to that somebody. And to be honest... he's been watching us for quite a while now and I'm sure it's not because of me."

"Maybe I should" she mutters and I softly push her up from her seat.

And when I look at them a few seconds later, King's already blushing and his angry glares at me have finally stopped.

Finally... I breath out in relief and turn around to face the others. "Hey Meliodas" I say and turn to the Captain, like his friends call him. "I've only seen five of the Seven Deadly Sins. Where's the rest?"

"We still haven't found Escanor and Merlin went back to Camelot."

"She's back in Camelot?!" I exclaim a little louder than planned. I didn't think she'd turn back that quickly. Meliodas just shrugs and looks at me like I would be overreacting.

"No need to freak out" he says.

"You've just fought Hendrickson and you let her go back to Camelot straight after?" I still can't believe it. I lean over the table some more as I say more quiet: "But she's the only one else knowing about it!"

◊ ◊ ◊

"You haven't been drinking that much in quite a while, have you?" Meliodas giggles while he helps my drunk ass walking upstairs.

"The only Holy Knights I've been meeting can't keep up with you guys" I mumble embarrassed. "It's been easy to outdrink them."

"Would be a shame for us if they were" he says, giggling again.

He stops in front of a door and pushes it open with his foot. "You can sleep in my room. Elizabeth is staying in the castle anyway."

"Thank you, Meliodas. Taking care of me as always" I say. "But what about you?"

Without answering, Meliodas helps me to sit down on the bed and gives me a loving smile before his look at me changes. I see a hint of fear in it and quickly grab his hand to squeeze it. "Don't be scared, Meliodas. I can watch myself by now, you know? I've really grown up." Meliodas body tenses up but still I haven't failed to put a small grin on his face with my words. Shortly after, he relaxes again and smiles his bright smile.

4.000 years ago

"Hey, Hey. Look at this" I called loudly when Zeldris entered the room. "You look so grown up, Zeldris!"

"Will you just shut up?!" he mumbled, causing me to giggle because I was able to tease him.

"Nah, not just yet. Now lets have a look at you."

Within the past 1.000 years Zeldris, Meliodas and I grew up together. Actually I grew up more with Meliodas, as Zeldris still kept his distance from me. The young boy had grown up and became really good looking as his appearance had just became darker. His voice had became even deeper, his hair had grown some longer and his demon mark on his face had become darker as well. Zeldris really grew up to someone scaring. But after 1.000 years living together, I knew how to handle him. And even though he seemed cold-hearted, I knew that he really loved his brothers and looked up to Meliodas. When it came to me tho, I still didn't know if he really did not like me or just acted that way. We had our moments here and there.

Zeldris groaned but did as I said and turned around so I could have a full look at his new outfit. He now wore a red suit that was, similar to his last oufit, also cut out at the breast, combined with black boots. "You know, you really look handsome" I said as I bit my bottom lip, dropping my tough facade for a moment.

Actually, Zeldris looked really hot but there was no way I'd tell him so.

"Well, thank you. ... I guess" he said and looked into my eyes. Something we didn't do very often. I felt goosebumps on my skin but Zeldris looked away just moments later."Now, where's my brother?"

"Meliodas or Estarossa?"

"You sure do know whom of them I mean" he answered annoyed and the moment of getting along was ruined already.

"Destroying another city, I believe." I said and felt terrible for admitting Meliodas' crimes. He was such a sweetheart to me but when it came to the Demon Kings orders, he was a brutal killer and destroyer. If there are any demons you should be really scared of, Meliodas really was one of them, followed closely by Zeldris.

But then again, they were that scary for a reason.

Little did I know what would happen within the next 1.000 years.