It's already evening. Zeldris and I still sit together. I look at him after another moment of silence. "Won't your brother suspect anything when you stay away for so long?" I ask Zeldris.

"Won't your friends, too?"

"Well played" I say and lean back against the wall. I know I should head back to the Boar Hat or Meliodas will get really worried otherwise. I don't want him to do anything stupid and it's going to take me some time to find where Mama Hawk went with my friends anyway. I only know an approximate direction of where they wanted to go and I still haven't slept very much. But it feels like Zeldris and I get closer with every meeting. Maybe it's the most stupid thought and Zeldris is just playing with me. But he's so honest with me, that I can't believe it's just some kind of game to him. And even when we used to know each other, it's like I get to know him all over again.

"You still don't like Estarossa" I hear Zeldris say like he's lost in thoughts and I look at him in surprise. Still? Zeldris looks up at me and his dark eyes look somehow different, as if a veil lays over them. "You never really liked him, right?" he asks me and just now I realize that his voice is different, too.

I wonder why he thinks about Estarossa just now and what's wrong with him but when I look at Zeldris, I can see that he's waiting for an answer, so I nod slowly.

"Why?" he asks me.

"There's something that always seemed off. There's something about him that scares me, he seems unpredictable which seems really threatening."

"But you're not scared of me?"

I look at Zeldris in surprise, like I can't understand him at all. Something is definitely off with him. He just seems so different from the boy that sat next to me just a minute ago. He reminds me of the Zeldris I used to know and it almost seems as if he can remember it, too. "Zel, I was never really scared of you. At least, not after I got to know you" I say softly, locking eyes with him.

Suddenly, I see his expression change and the veil in his eyes disappears. "What were you saying?" he asks in confusion and I can tell he doesn't remember anything he asked me about Estarossa. But how is that possible? Suddenly it hits me. What if what happens to Zeldris is the same that happened to Gowther? What if it's Zeldris' memories and emotions that are slowly coming back to him?

Please... No...

"I... I said that I have to go" I stutter and get up on my feet and feel my knees getting weak already. I have to leave as fast as possible. I can't risk Zeldris regaining his memories.

I hurry away from Zeldris but he follows me quickly.

"Yami, wait!" he says and grabs a hold of my hand. Startled, I turn to him as a tingling sensation runs through my body when I feel his touch. With a quick breath I look down at his hand, which is in a metal glove and grabs a hold onto my wrist. My heart is racing and only slowly I look up at Zeldris, who looks just as shocked at my arm that he's holding onto. Only very slowly he loosens his grip on my wrist until he lets go completely as if he's no longer afraid of me escaping. We look into each others eyes breathlessly.

"Are we going to meet again?"

"I don't think we should do this any longer, Zeldris. I'm sorry."

"Please don't say this" he begs and my heart gets heavy and I feel tears forming in the corner of my eyes as it breaks my heart to lose him once again and I know I have to leave immediately. I can't show him any weakness.

"Goodnight, Zeldris" I say and spread my wings, flying away as fast as I can.

Breathlessly, I reach the Boar Hat hours later as night has fallen in already. My heart still races just from the thought of Zeldris touching me. It's been 3.000 years since I last felt his hand on my skin and I know I missed him a lot but I didn't know I missed him that much. But the moment he held onto me, all I wanted to do was hug him tightly and hide my face in his neck, inhaling his scent whilst he holds onto me tightly.

The painful memories from the past times seemed so unbearable that I seemed to break down right in front of him. That is why I had to leave so quickly.

I keep standing on the small terrace of the Boar Hat until my breathing becomes more even before I sneak inside, trying not to wake up my friends.

"There's no need to sneak in here, I'm still awake" I hear Meliodas say and I wince whilst closing the door. Dammit!

"Hello to you, too, Meliodas" I say and finally turn around to face my friend. I see the look he gives me and try to ignore it while walking behind the bar, grabbing me an ale. "Please spare me any lecture."

"Well, you should have been back way earlier."

"Oh please, I don't need you to look after me. I'm a grown up" I say and pour in my ale.

"Mind telling me where you've been at for so long?"

"What do you think? I met up with my crochet class" I say sarcastically. "...I was fighting demons!"

"Yami, what is wrong with you?" Meliodas asks confused after my sarcastic comment. But I really don't feel like explaining myself to him. I feel to exhausted for one of Meliodas' lectures.

"Meliodas..." I begin and take a deep breath to calm myself down, then turn around to look into his green eyes, holding the cup of ale in my right hand. "I really love you but I'm getting tired of you treating me like a child. You're aware I knew you'd react like that all my way back to here?"

"I didn't mean to-" he begins and I nod because I understand him.

"I know you didn't. But you were unconscious for more than a week, Meliodas. I head to lead the Seven Deadly Sins because you weren't able to and no one really asked me. They just needed someone that is familiar with the whole Holy War story. I fought against a race we both belong to whilst still watching out for you and Elizabeth for every couple of days. And on top of all of this, the King of Liones shares his prediction with us and everyone begins to believe it's about me just because Merlin said so. So there might was a lot lifted on my shoulder but I did it all. And I'm getting tired of you looking at me like I'm still the weak young woman I was 5.000 years ago."

Being done with my lecture, I take a big sip of my ale. But then I look at him again and realize, there's more on my chest. "And I'm still mad at you. I'm mad that you tried to fight the Commandments on your own, no matter if it's just been two of them or all ten together. When I came here, I promised to stick with you and we promised to go through this together but I feel so left out! I never have any idea of what you're going to do next or what is on your mind. Do you even know how hard it was for me to see you almost getting killed whilst your friends were close to a breakdown? Do you even know how bad I felt to watch you suffer? And on top, I am the reason Elizabeth has regained her memories and you haven't gotten mad at me for just a second. You're not talking to me anymore... I thought we were a team but maybe we stopped being one a long time ago."

Silence fills the room as Meliodas looks down in shame. Now that the weight is lifted off my chest, I already feel bad at talking to him like that. But I had to tell him how I really feel lately because it's killing me alive. And the more I hide my negative feeling, the more I lose controll over my powers. Now that I finally told him how I feel, I feel a little bit more like myself again and the inner storm is calming down a bit.

"I'm sorry" he says silently. "I guess I never stopped believing that I still have to protect you."

"Well, you don't have to" I say and sit down opposite him. I reach out my hand to him and squeeze his hand softly. Meliodas looks at me and his green eyes meet my blue ones. I smile at him. "You have to trust in the person you helped me become."

"Do you really think I leave you out?"

"Sometimes..."

"I never planned to" he admits, his eyes filled with sadness and regret and I smile at him reassuring. It's good to finally talk about it. "To be honest, most things I do are still really spontaneous. And I wanted to protect you and Elizabeth. I never thought you might feel left out."

"Just promise me that from now on, we'll be a team again, okay? No more spontaneous solo-trips."

"Promised!" he says and we chink our mugs.

"We should head upstairs after our drink, don't you think?"

"Let's finish this drink somewhere else then" he says with a smile and gets up to drag me outside with him. He stops in front of the Boar Hat and still holds onto my hand as he jumps up onto the roof easily, dragging me with him. I sit down next to him and look at the mug that's still filled with the same amount of ale. "Didn't drop anything" I say proudly and Meliodas smirks at me.

We sit together and look up at the night sky, enjoying each others company. I finally feel a lot better and I trust Meliodas' words and I know he would never let me down on purpose. "Hey Yami?" Meliodas breaks the silence and I look over to him.

"Yes?"

"You still remember the promise I gave you?"

"Of course. You always said you'll never leave me. How would I ever forget?" I ask softly.

"I always tried to keep that promise, you know?"

"Meliodas... of course I know" I say in surprise. I never had any doubt about that so why does he feel like he needs to mention it?

But Meliodas just shakes his head slightly and smirks. "You don't really know. I never told you and I don't know why I didn't... But when I betrayed the the demons and the Ten Commandments, it wasn't because of Elizabeth. When I left in first place, I left because of you."

"Me?" I ask shocked and Meliodas nods. "But why?"

"Don't you remember how much you hated the demons world? When I left, I tried to find a better place for us to live at. But the Holy War was already ongoing and then I met Elizabeth."

"Why would you do this just for me?"

"You're my best friend. I love you" Meliodas says and smiles warmly at me and I return this smile. I can't believe he has done all of this for me. I can't believe he had risked so much just because he wanted to find a better place for us to live at.

"Hey Melio... Remember when you thought you were in love with me?" I say after a short moment of calming silence.

He chuckles. "I didn't just think so, I never stopped loving you until I met Elizabeth. Why do you ask?"

"We'd have been an awful couple" I chuckle, causing Meliodas to laugh.

"We really would have been" he laughs and then takes a sip of his ale.

We sit together and giggle about the thought of us becoming a couple. We're the bestest friends ever but we disagree in a lot of things and are so different, we would have never worked out.

"You know..." he begins between giggles and finally manages to calm down. "I never told you but you were my reason to change."

"What?" I breath out.

"Wasn't it obvious?" he giggles again and I shake my head, trying to understand what he's talking about. I was his reason to change?

"I got raised up to become a killer without any conscience. I'm not saying I loved what I was doing but I never questioned it. But when I first met you and saw your suffering and the fear that surrounded you, I just knew I had to help. There was something special about you. Your kindness, your point of view on things, your unwillingness to fight... It was all about you that made me want to change. For the very first time I began to question what I was doing. Yami, it was you who made me want to be a better person" says Meliodas and I look away as my cheeks turn red. I had no idea.

I feel Meliodas grab my hand and squeeze it softly and when I turn to face him, he smiles at me warmly, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. "Meliodas, why are you crying?" I ask worriedly.

Meliodas chuckles as now the tears roll down his face. "You're my best friend, Yami. I wouldn't be here without you. And I don't just mean how you protected me from Purtagory. You changed me to the better and I'm really thankful for that."

Meliodas kind words cause me to tear up as well. I never knew he feels that way or that I had this kind of effect on him. Meliodas was already the kindest person I could imagine when I met him and I always thought that Elizabeth was the reason he began to fight against his own race. I never imagined that I had anything to do with that. I don't know what to say so I intertwine our fingers and rest my forehead against his as tears roll down my face.

"I love you, Meliodas" I whisper.