A/N: hey everyone! I planned on posting this chapter by the end of the weekend but I reached 2K reads last night and to celebrate this, here's an early chapter! I want to thank everyone for reading, I would've never thought to reach that many reads in such a short time. Also I wanna thank you all for voting and commenting, I really enjoy reading what you have to say about my story.

---------

Chapter 16 - The Meeting

It's middle of the night when I sit on a cliff and look down at the wild water that is light up by the nights sky. The moon shines brightly on the water and the stars look like glitter on the restless waves. It might not be safe to sit here and rest but the sound of the waves has a calming effect and I'm still lacking of sleep as the night is already halfway over. It won't be too long until the next demons will arrive but tonights doubts torment me. I wonder if it was right to warn Derieri and Monspeet. Maybe I should have just fought them. If they attack my friends or any innocents, I will never forgive myself. What if I screwed up the only chance to get two of the Ten Commandments out of the way...

Suddenly, I feel a dark and powerful presence being really close. I lift my head to see that someone is landing just a few hundred meters away. My powers allow me to see better at night than any of my friends but even without these skills, I would always immediately recognize who these wings belong to. He folds them in and I get up carefully, without taking my eyes off him. It is no secret that demons can sense the presence of other demons so he surely feels mine just like I can feel his. Staying here, pretending he wouldn't be here, would be a fatal mistake.

With a final deep breath to calm down myself, I walk closer to him to not give him the feeling that I am scared of him. Yet, I wonder why he landed here and does nothing whilst he must've felt my presence. Only when I am a few feet away, he turns around to face me and his body tenses as he starts to walk towards me.

"Zeldris the piety" I greet him once we're close enough. I can hardly look into his eyes but he's not someone to show any weaknesses in front of. He'd definitely take advantage of it. But to my surprise, his eyes widen as he sees me.

"You?" he growls with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Last time we met was in Vayzel, wasn't it? What's the leader of the Ten Commandments doing here all alone?"

Zeldris looks at me blankly. "I don't think that's any of your business."

"Of course not. Yet, we're both here."

"You should be afraid. I'm impressed you're not."

"If I remember correctly, I beat you guys pretty easily last time."

Zeldris stretches out his arms and looks down at his body before giving me a tired smile. "I don't see any damage."

I know, I think. It was my protective shield that saved you from any big damage. Because I couldn't hurt you. "I suppose you want revenge now."

Zeldris glares at me through narrowed eyes, but then averts his gaze. "I'm not here for revenge."

Surprised, I look at the black-haired man who doesn't look at me anymore and see something like uncertainty. He's so alike to the Zedris I used to know so well, yet he can't even remember me or the man he used to be around me. "So, you didn't come here for revenge, neither you're a man of many words. I still wonder what you're doing here."

Zeldris doesn't answer me immediately and I take a closer look at his features. His lips are pressed together, his eyes are glaring at me angrily. There's something odd about the situation. He must have felt my presence but he seems to have no reason to be here. Why on earth would he land near me if... Then, it dawns me. "You thought you were here alone!" How could he have not felt my presence? Where was his mind that he was so off to not feel another demon being near him? What is bothering him so much to do something so idiotic. What if it wasn't me that found him but Meliodas? I highly doubt they would have a cute bromance-moment.

Zeldris presses his lips together even tighter that I'm afraid they're going to bleed any second but then his eyes shoot up to meet the mine. "Who are you?"

Again, surprise spreads across my face but I try not to let it show. I wonder why he does care and what's keeping him from fighting me. Zeldris notices my hesitation. "Well, you know my name. I think it's only fair if I know yours as well"

I could lie. Tell him a fake name that would make me risk my life less. But I don't want to lie to him. "My name is Yami."

"Yami from the demon race?"

I grin. "Maybe." Like I would tell Zeldris that I'm half human. He certainly wouldn't hesitate to kill me. Still, I feel very little hostility coming from him right now. "Well, Zeldris the piety, I suppose it's tough being a leader if it makes you sleepless."

"As far as I know, you are now the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins."

Again I look at him in surprise but he just grins. "What? Did you think this information would not reach us?"

He probably doesn't get my confusion but I honestly only wonder when I saw Zeldris grin for the last time. It's been definitely more than 3.000 years. I really thought he lost his humorous side. "And yet you don't attack me."

"You're not attacking me either."

"Nope" is all I can answer. Why should I fight the love of my life when he's neither threatening, nor fighting, me.

Zeldris tilts his head and I know he's trying to figure me out. He's done this so many times before.

It is hard for me to hide my amusement, seeing Zeldris so confused while he is unable to maintain his facade for a brief moment. But he regaines his composure quickly and looks at me again with his dark, serious eyes, not saying a word. And even though it's the dumbest thing to do, I would really like to keep talking to him and just be in his near for some more minutes. But his memories are gone for a reason and I shouldn't let my feelings get in the way. "So... It was really nice to have this sort of... conversation... But let's call it a night."

"You know next time will be different" Zeldris simply states, a hint of a threat in his voice. Or maybe it's more of a warning.

"I'm not scared of you, Zeldris" I answer way before I actually realize that these words have just left my mouth. I really have to learn when to keep my mouth shut.

And I am right because this drives Zeldris mad. He grits his teeth furiously, his voice sounding smokey and dangerous. "I think you're lacking in manners."

"And I think you're having a wrong picture of yourself" I shot back, not letting him threat me.

"And I think you'll regret this."

But this time, I can't take him serious anymore, even though he is dead serious. The way he's behaving around me is similar to our first years together. A grin appears on my lips while asking him: "Is this going to go on all night now? Throwing comments at each other?" I ask and this time it is Zeldris who cannot hide a certain amusement and grins.

Silence falls over us once again and we just look at each other for what feels like minutes. But the longer I look at him, the stronger gets the feeling that seems to emanate from my heart and my stomach. It feels like Zeldris is attracting me like a magnet. As if there is a bond between us that is tightening more and more. Confused, I peer down at myself but I look the same as always. Slowly I lift my gaze again and see the expression on Zeldris' face as I expect from myself as well.

"You felt it too ..." I mumble in surprise.

Just for a very short moment, Zeldris looks at me shocked but then goes back to the same neutral look he had before. "I don't know what you're talking about" he says coldly. But his reaction gave him away and I know that the feeling was mutual. Neither of us know how to react until he mutters angrily: "I'm leaving" and spreads his wings, shooting up into the air, leaving me alone and startled.

Zeldris could only think about leaving her immediately.He was surprised about his own reaction but it was obvious that this stranger had an impact on him. He couldn't explain it either but he was so off-minded when he got to the cliffs, that he haven't had felt her presence until she was really close and when he looked into her blue eyes that were literally shining through the darkness of the night, he had no interest in fighting her. Even though she was so cheeky! How could she respect him so little and even allow herself to crack jokes.

But somehow ... he had ... liked that ... It had been almost amusing to talk to her. And it felt refreshing because she was treating him different than he was used to be treated.

Todays meeting had been his chance to get his thoughts in order. She hadn't gotten out of his head for days and now that he had met her by chance, all he had done was look at her. Now in retrospect, he was more than just mad at himself for having missed his chance. His head didn't feel any clearer.

And it was more than that: she was one of is enemies after all and fought against her own race. And she was incredibly strong. He already guessed so last time and could feel it himself today again. It wouldn't make the battles ahead any easier. On the contrary - she was a serious threat. So why hadn't he just attacked her today? All alone she would have been an easy victim.

Without realizing, Zeldris had reached the place where Estarossa and him were staying at and he landed down quietly. Estarossa was still asleep and he wasn't interested in a conversation with his brother right now. For the very first time, he felt really exhausted and needed some rest to face the upcoming day.

I wake up the next morning when I hear strange noises. The tiredness slowly disappears and I perceive my surroundings more closely and recognize the sound of knight armors. Immediately, I am wide awake and run up the hill in front of me to have a better look at who's coming. I see a couple of knights on horses, probably looking for the nearest demons. But I don't feel any threat within the next few kilometers. So I decide to let the knights know but as I slowly get closer to them, I see the shining coat of arms of a kingdom on the chest of one of the knights. It is the sign of the Kingdom of Camelot.

Arthur...

I begin to check my surroundings to find out if I've been flying to Camelot last night without realizing. But from what I can see, I'm still in Britania, which makes it even more weird to see them here.

Angrily, I unfold my wings and rush to the knight, picking him up from the horse and flying high above the clouds. I tear off his helmet just to see the most beautiful red hair and violet pair of eyes. "What are you doing here?" I scold angrily.

But his eyes just widen at the sight of me and my wings. "Lady Yami, your wings are beautiful!" he says in awe.

"I think you meant 'scary'."

"They don't look scary on you" he says and I feel myself blush and some of my anger vanishes.

"King Arthur, you're still a genius when it comes to giving compliments."

Arthur chuckles but then looks down to the ground and I feel him getting uncomfortable so high above the clouds. "I'm afraid my entourage is currently assuming a kidnapping."

"Then I should bring your Highness back down quickly" I say and fly down in the same speed as I brought us up here. Arthur grabs onto me tightly in shock and squints his eyes in fear. Grinning, I slow down just before the critical zone and then slowly let us sink to the floor. Immediately, all of Arthurs men swords are pointed at me, but Arthur gives them an order to point their weapons down.

"She's an old friend" says Arthur soothingly.

"Old?" I ask shocked and play the offended.

Arthur just giggles and his beautiful eyes light up at me. "It's good to see you."

"You too. But I'm still mad at you!" I say sternly and glare at him again. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? Fight the demons!"

"Merlin already told you and I'll tell you once again: this is not your war."

"But-" he begins, but I interrupt him immediately.

"No 'buts'! You have a responsibility to your kingdom!" I scold the young king. How can he get the stupid idea of ​​participating in this fight? If something happened to him, I would never forgive myself for it. And Merlin would never forgive herself for leaving him either.

Arthur looks down in shame. "I heard that Sir Meliodas... that .. that he is dead..."

"Rumor really has it, huh?" I say and lift up his head by putting my thumb under his chin so that he locks eyes with me. "Meliodas is fine. He's still recovering but he'll be back very soon. It can't take much longer."

I see his eyes light up with hope. "Really?" he asks.

"Arthur, Meliodas is my best friend after all. Do you really think I would lie about his death?"

Arthur swings his arms around me happily and hugs me tightly and I can feel how his tears soak my clothes. "Now, we're not gonna cry in front of others, will we?" I say and rub his back. "Just go and do what you need to do - go back to your kingdom and protect it. The Seven Deadly Sins, the Holy Knights and I will take care of the kingdom Liones, okay?"

My next flight takes over an hour to get to the place where I met Zeldris last night. I still don't know why I travel here but for some reason, I feel myself hoping to see Zeldris again. The night has fallen in already and the sky is a pitch black tonight, not a single star to be seen. There is no tree nearby where I could hide, so I just sit down by a nearby cliff and listen to the sound of the waves while time passes.

"What a surprise" I hear a deep voice from behind me and quickly hide the smile that spreads across my face, looking as neutral as possible.

"I knew you'd come" I say simply and turn around to face Zeldris.

"Does that mean you've been waiting for me?"

"Does that mean you hoped to see me?" I ask back.

"Is this going to go on all night now? Throwing comments at each other?" Zeldris asks and I see him smirking down at me.

I let out a slight giggle. "Seems to be our thing."

"So we're already having a thing going on?" he asks but I can hear that he's still amused and I let out another giggle.

"So..." I say. "We both came back. Are you finally going to admit we both felt the same on the battlefield?"

"I'm not here to admit anything."

"There goes the fun already. What a shame."