Chapter 17 - Coming Back

Neither Zeldris and I can probably explain why it feels so natural to spend some time together but we end up spending the rest of the night together. We talk about random stuff most of the time and crack some jokes about each other or just sit there in silence. And I know that it's more than just stupid and risky and dangerous but no matter how weird it is, I'm really enjoying the time with him. After all, I have been in love with him and love makes you do stupid things. I haven't seen him for 3.000 years and even if he can't remember me, I enjoy every second with him. Throughout our conversations, there are short moments that show me he's still the same boy I knew 3.000 years ago. Maybe I am wrong and he's just blinding me but I begin to think everything else is just facade. But to be honest, in the end I never fully knew or understood him and I would never dare to say that I can see through him.

"Looks like the night is almost over" I say when I see the dark sky slowly getting lighter.

Zeldris nods and gets up on his feet and I follow him, ready to say goodbye, even though I doubt he's really one who says goodbye. "You're not leaving me again, right?" he asks and I look at him with shock and surprise. His expression has become softer and I can sense a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"W-what did you say?" I stutter. He can't remember anything, so where does his words come from? What does he mean by 'again'... All my hairs stand up as I fear that something went wrong and he still can remember me. But if he can remember me, then why did he ask me who I am just yesterday...

Suddenly, his expression changes again and he's back to what he looked like before, with no hint of sadness. He tilts his head to the side and looks at me puzzled. "Are you okay?" he asks when he sees my worried expression, like he hasn't just asked me to not leave him again.

I quickly catch myself again and trying not to ask further. "What, are you beginning to care about me?" I ask him and see Zeldris grit his teeth angrily. He doesn't answer me. "You know... Tonight wasn't bad" I say to not annoy him even more and his expression changes to amusement.

"I had worse nights" he says.

"Good night, Zeldris" I say and watch him fly away once again.

The sun is slowly rising and it's time for me to travel back to the forest of white dreams. It's been a few days since I've been there and I need to check up on my friends. I haven't been sleeping much because I was meeting up with Zeldris every night but it shall be no excuse to slow down. I unfold my wings and fly up into the air just shortly after Zeldris has left and fly in the opposite direction.

About two hours later, when I still have a 30-minutes traveling to reach the forest of white dreams, I already hear a familiar stamping. I see Mama Hawk walking towards me just right behind the next hill, the Boar Hat on her back. I get scared instantly because she shouldn't have left the forest, so I rush over to her. "Mama Hawk, what are you doing? You should still be at the forest of white dreams!"

But Mama Hawk just snorts at me and it isn't that kind of snort where she's answering us, what only Meliodas, King and I can understand anyway. It's just a snort.

"Alright, so we're not talking, huh?" I say and grit my teeth angrily, flying up to her back to finally land and rest.

When I fold my wings back in, I see a very familiar face standing just a few meters away from me, looking straight into my eyes. Surprised, I look into these wonderful green eyes of Meliodas, who I'm sure stood not outside just before. I would have definitely seen him.

Either I must be dreaming or he finally woke up. I want to rush over to him but stand there like paralyzed, unable to move. I blame myself for all the recent events. It's my fault that Elizabeth has regained her memories and King and Diane are still gone. I never wanted to lead the Seven Deadly Sins but I had to and I feel like I failed. What if he doesn't want to see me after everything went so wrong...

"Are you going to keep staring at me or will you finally give your best friend a hug?" Meliodas asks after a while where I just stared at him and his words break my state of shock. Instantly, I rush over to him and embrace him in a very tight and loving hug, which he returns. Tears roll down my face when I feel Meliodas' body pressed against mine. All my emotions overwhelm me and all I can do is cry in Meliodas' arms for the next minutes.

"How could you be so stupid?" I hear Meliodas whisper at some point.

"How could you be so stupid?" I whisper back. "I was so afraid for you."

"I can't believe you did that just to save me." Meliodas says and rubs my back comfortingly and when I look up at him, I see that he has tears in his eyes.

"I wouldn't let you go through Purgatory again."

Meliodas looks at me with soft eyes and a weak smile forms onto his lips. "You know, sooner or later I will have to."

"I do prefer later." I press my head back into his chest and inhale his scent. It feels so good to have him back. "But please don't think like that."

I feel Meliodas hide his face in my hair as he holds onto me tightly once again. "That was plain stupid from you but still... Thank you" he says and kisses the top of my head, causing me to smile and my tears finally begin to dry.

"I'm so happy you're finally back. I was so worried, Meliodas."

"You know I'll always come back to the both of you" he says and I freeze once again. My whole body tenses up as I expect Meliodas to get mad at me now as he must know what happened to Elizabeth.

"I'm sorry, Meliodas. It's all my fault that Elizabeth regained her memories."

Once again I feel him stroke my back softly to comfort me. "I don't think it's your fault. Hawk told me everything. Even when he's just a really talkative piggy, he doesn't fail to see everything."

"But-" I begin but Meliodas cuts me off as he lets go of me.

"I could use some ale right now, what do you think? It's been way too long."

Without waiting for my answer, he turns around to walk into the tavern and I hurry up to follow him.

Meliodas walks behind the bar and grabs two mugs, pouring in two Ales from Bernia, when I hear steps coming from the stairs. "Yami!!" I hear the young piggy shout and see him run towards me, straight into my arms. I hold Hawk tightly.

"Hello Sir Hawk. It's been a few days, hasn't it? Thank you for taking care of them" I say and nod my head towards Meliodas.

"They just woke up today" says Hawk.

"They? Does that mean that Elizabeth is awake, too?" I ask and look at Meliodas worriedly. I still don't trust his calmness. He should freak out, get mad, be nervous. Just... something different than being calm.

"She's back asleep already" says Hawk. "But she's been awake for a few minutes earlier."

"She still needs some rest" I hear my friend say as he places down one of the ales in front of me. "Bernia Ale is still the best."

"I believe he's a bit grumpy" I hear Hawk whisper to me before he jumps out of my arms. "I feel like I need to leave the two of you alone." Then, he walks back upstairs but to me it looks more like he couldn't wait to get away from the tension between Meliodas and me.

"Grumpy, huh? I knew there's something up" I say.

"Don't know what he's thinking" says Meliodas and takes a sip of his drink. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asks as he catches me still staring.

I quickly try to hide my emotions and give him a weak smile. "I'm just glad you're finally back."

"Keep on saying that won't make it less cheesy" he says and grins at me and then we go to sit down at one of the taverns tables. "Now, I've been sleeping for just a few days and once I wake up, everyone's gone."

"They're all out there, fighting. Well... besides King and Diane" I mumble and look down at my hands that hold the mug.

"She still hasn't gotten back her memory, hm?" he thinks out loud and looks at his own drink as he gets lost in his thoughts. "Guess that's the best she could do..."

"She?" I ask him. "What about King?"

"He wouldn't leave her side ever again. It's clear to me that he brought her somewhere safe" he says and looks up at me again. "What about Ban and Elaine?"

"Elaine is staying at the castle for now. Ban is fighting near the kingdom to be able to visit her every day."

Meliodas nods and then we sit there in silence.

"Yami, how are you doing?" he asks sometime later and I can hear the worry in his voice and see it in his eyes as he remembers how Estarossa stabbed me two times.

I grin at him. "I'm fine, Meliodas" I say and get up from my seat, revealing my bare body to show him where my wounds were supposed to be. They're almost fully healed. "As you know, hearts take some time to heal."

"I still can't believe you were so stupid to come there..." he mumbles.

"It wasn't any more stupid than trying to face the Ten Commandments on your own."

"To be fair, I thought to face just two of them" he says with slight amusement and I wonder if he's ever able to stay serious.

"It's still not funny, Meliodas..." I mumble. "I was scared to death. Don't you know how much everyone suffered, watching you get beaten up?"

"Well, things went wrong at some point. That wasn't what I planned it to turn out like."

"You don't say" I say and grit my teeth but loose them again real quick. "Meliodas... you're so calm about the thing with Elizabeth... Please talk to me because I'm scared you're gonna freak out very soon"

Meliodas takes a big sip of his ale and then looks at me. "What do you want me to say? It is what it is now."

"Last time you lost her, you erased an entire kingdom." I watch his body tense up and his grip on the mug in his hand tightens as the memories come back to him. "I'm sorry" I whisper.

"Whatever caused her memories to came back, we can't undo it. I was scared it's going to happen but I could watch Elizabeth beginning to question a lot of things. After all, that's our curse. She's going to remember who she really is and dies whilst I'm always coming back to life. We don't have the time for any breakdowns right now."

"I hate when you're trying to stay strong so hardly. You're going to break yourself, Meliodas."

"You look tired, Yami. I think you should rest for a while. Mama Hawk is going to bring us closer to the others." Meliodas tries to change the topic and his expression tells me that he's done talking about it.

I place down the empty mug of Ale loudly and glare at my friend madly. "You're the most stubborn boy I know. Stop acting strong in front of me. I'm your best friend, after all."

But Meliodas looks at me unimpressed, which causes my anger to rise and so I continue. "You're right, I am tired. I am tired of you underestimating myself. I'm tired of you keeping things secret from me and I am tired of you acting like everything is fine. I'm mad at you, Meliodas. I'm mad at you for doing what you did to me and your friends. I thought we were a team but you begin to push me away and I really don't want to fight on your side like that" I say angrily and walk upstairs, leaving him alone. Maybe the ale got into my head too much because of my lack of sleep. I have never talked to Meliodas like that before.

"Are you okay?" I hear Hawks voice ask me quietly and turn around to see I passed him without realizing. He's standing in front of the door of Elizabeths bedroom, a worried look in his eyes.

"I think I just need to sleep for a while" I sigh and walk over to my room.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of them" is the last thing I hear Hawk say carefully before I close the door and drop onto my bed, falling asleep instantly.

When I wake up again, I hear babel of voices coming from downstairs and sigh. Please don't tell me Meliodas re-opened the tavern in a time like this. I don't know for how long I had been asleep and still feel very exhausted, yet I can tell I really needed that rest.

On my way downstairs, I see that the door to Elizabeths room is still closed so she seems to still be resting.

"There she is" I hear a familiar voice say when I finally reach the tavern, only to find the Seven Deadly Sins there.

"What are you all doing here?" I ask surprised and rub my sleepy eyes, wondering if I'm just dreaming.

"Merlin went to look for everyone to inform us that the Captain is back" says Ban with Elaine sitting on his lap, cuddled up in his chest.

"Diane... You're here, too" I breath out, still not believing what I see.

Diane waves me a warm smile. "You'll never believe what happened!" she says excitedly. I look at King and Diane in confusion when I finally sense their change of power.

"What happened to the two of you?" I ask in awe and wonder how deep I have been sleeping to not recognize their arrival.

"That's a long story" King breathes out exhausted but Diane smiles at him softly.

"So you're having back your memories?" I ask Diane and she nods happily. "Gowther gave them back to me" she says and I look at her surprised, just like Gowther.

"I don't remember doing this" he says. "To be fair, we have just met again today."

"Well Gowther, it wasn't really you who gave back them back but the real Gowther."

"The real Gowther?" asks Ban and my eyes widen in shock as I begin to realize what Diane is about to tell us. I feel fear and nervousness arise inside me.

So King and Diane tell us what happened. That they were in the Fairy Forest and woke up at an unknown place with Drole and Gloxinia, which subjected them to an examination. That they found themselves in the bodies of the Ten Commandments back to the times of the Holy War.

King is the first one that stops talking and we soon find out that their ways separated at some point and his examination was a different one than Dianes. She continues telling us what happened when King left the real Gowther and once again, the nervousness inside me is hardly to bare. Carefully, I listen to every single word coming from her but she doesn't mention my name once. All she tells us is how Gowther said he's going to end the Holy War and found a friend in Diane and to thank her, he gave her back her memories.

"But how is that possible?" I ask Diane once she's finished. "I thought erased memories can't be brought back."

"Gowther said the precious memories, carved deeply into our hearts... even if you forget them for a while or they get all foggy, never actually disappear." King smiles at her softly, his eyes full of love whilst mine widen in shock.