Chapter 31 - Who You Are

3rd persons POV

Meliodas was sorry for being so harsh to Yami right at the moment she ran inside the tavern. He hates fighting with his best friend and there wasn't a time where they had fought so often than they do lately. Of course, there were many events in a short time that they had to deal with. Nevertheless it doesn't leave Meliodas cold to see how much his best friend is hurting. And no arguement between the two of them felt so bad like this one. No arguement has hurt Yami so much and Meliodas knew it very well. It wasn't just in the moment where she ran off. He could see it in her eyes with every new word he had said to her but he just couldn't stop himself. Of course he understands that Yamis feelings for Zeldris are really strong. He never really understood why because Zeldris had never been really nice to her but they still seemed to have a special bond. But even when he should be here for his best friend, Meliodas couldn't be so this morning. His jaw dropped when he heard the voice of his brother coming from the inside of Yamis room and that she answered him. It took him all of his self-controll to not freak out and beat the shit out of him. Instead, he wanted to let Yami explain the situation the next morning. But when he saw her, he couldn't controll his anger anymore. He just cares too much about everyone in the tavern, that he couldn't stop his emotions. He was sure that Zeldris only uses her because she's a very strong opponent. But now it's way past lunchtime and he's not so sure about his actions anymore. He used the time to think about it from Yamis perspective because he knows that she needs some time to cool down and keep controll of her emotions. But he's slowly getting worried as no one has seen her all forenoon long. It's the second time within a few days she's hiding for hours and it's worrying Meliodas a lot. This is unusual and he's afraid that everything's becoming too much for her. After all, it's really a lot she had to bear with lately.

Meliodas walks up the stairs to the bedrooms to check up on Yami but the knock on her door stays unanswered. He knocks again but another time silence remains. "Yami?" he asks but as she doesn't answer him again, he slowly opens the door. "Yami, please let us talk about it" he says in a comforting voice and pushes the door open completly just to see her room is empty and the window next to her bed is wide open. "Yami?" he calls her name again as fear begins to rise inside him. "YAMI?!" he shouts louder. She couldn't have left the tavern without anyone recognizing because he was downstairs all forenoon long. "YAMI?!" he shouts once more, his voice now filled with fear. But his best friend doesn't answer him and he knows that she must have escaped through the window.

"Damn it!!" he shouts in anger and despair and drops on his knees as tears begin to roll down his face. He's mad at himself for his harsh words. He clearly pushed it too far and made her best friend run away.

"Meliodas?" Elizabeth stands at the doorframe and looks at her lover worriedly when she sees the state he's in. She was downstairs with everyone else when they heard Meliodas incensed voice. "Meliodas, what's wrong?" she asks and kneels down next to him, putting her arms around him comfortingly. She lets her eyes wander along the empty bedroom, where she expected Yami to be in.

"She's gone" sobs Meliodas and hides his face in her boobs as he lets the tears roll down his face. Loosing his best friend is something that he cannot take.

Elizabeth holds him close to sooth him until she feels him to calm down a bit. "What happened?" she asks then.

Slowly, Meliodas moves away from his girlfriend and whipes away the leftover tears. He looks into her beautiful orange eyes with the goddess sign in it and begins to feel a tiny bit better. But even the love of his lif can't take away the pain from loosing his best friend. "I was too hard on Yami and now she has left."

"What do you mean?" she asks confused and waits patiently for him to continue explaining.

Meliodas looks around the corner to make sure that they're the only two people upstairs and then explains quietly. "Zeldris was with her last night. And I found out about it. But instead of talking about it, I got all mad this morning and we ended up fighting. I... I think it was too much and that Yami has left me because I didn't let her explain."

"Zeldris was with her?" asks Elizabeth and tilts her head to the side in confusion. "That's interesting."

"Interesting?" Meliodas asks in confusion and doesn't understand the calm reaction.

"Yes, after all, she's in love with him for such a long time."

Meliodas looks at Elizabeth like she has lost it all. "Elizabeth... Zeldris tried to kill you."

"He didn't try to kill me, Meliodas. I begged him to tell me where we know each other from because I just couldn't understand but wanted to find out about it so badly. It seems like almost everyone knew me somewhere from and that we have known each other for such a long time and I just couldn't remember it. When Zeldris recognized me, I practically asked him to help me remember."

Meliodas looks at Elizabeth in surprise. Her reaction is far from what he has expected. But her expression is full of understanding and love for him and her friends. "Elizabeth..." says Meliodas touched by her kindness. He knows how kind she can be but she still caught him off guard this time.

Elizabeth smiles at Meliodas encouraging and they both get up on their feet. But when Meliodas checks the empty room, new tears form in his eyes. "I think I really screwed up. But why did she let him in here?"

"Meliodas, my dear, are you really surprised?"

"Of course, I am! Aren't you?"

"I think, I can understand her."

"But he's-"

"He's what? Not on our side? A demon? A bad guy? I think I know someone that was just like him. Maybe this runs in the family, don't you think?" Elizabeth giggles.

Meliodas sighs as he thinks about Elizabeths words. "I have to find her" he says with a sigh. His heart feels so heavy and empty already and he's desperate.

"How? Do you know where she went?"

Meliodas thinks about where Yami could have left to. Maybe she went to join Zeldris but joining him would also mean that she would have switched sides and he doesn't think she'd ever do that. But if she didn't go to see Zeldris, where has she gone to?

Yamis POV

After what feels like hours, I know it's time to head back to the Boar Hat. To think that I would find Zeldris was just plain stupid. And what should I do when I find him anyway? He'd be surrounded by the other Commandments and I would die within a few minutes.

I make my way over to a nearby stream to drink some water before turning back when I suddenly feel another demonic power, really far away. I stop my actions and think about staying to wait until I feel the presence coming closer. What if it's Zeldris? But then again, it could basically be any demon that I sense. Even though I came here for Zeldris, I realize that there's no sense in staying here and hope for him to stumble upon me.

I turn back to the stream and drink some when I feel something coming closer. I'm going into defense mode immediately. "Show yourself!" I shout, not seeing anyone. But I can feel that I'm no longer alone. "I'm not repeating myself - show yourself!" I say more angrily, when no one reacts. Finally, I hear the rustling of leaves before I see a person walking towards me.

"Yami?"

"Zel!" I say in surprise, not believing what I see. I can't believe he's actually right here.

"What are you doing here?"

I look at him and for a moment, I don't know what to say. His dark eyes practically hypnotize me and warm up all my hearts. I take a deep breath to focus on the reason I went to see him and then finally speak up.

"Okay, let's be honest. There's no logical reason for the both of us to be in love. We're far from the people we used to be thousands of years ago. I have no real idea of who you really are because you never really opened up to me and I'm nothing to the girl I was 3.000 years ago because this whole life, back in the world I belong to, changed me completly. There's no guarantee that we wouldn't fight nonstop within the next weeks because things are going to be far beyond from how beautiful they are right now. I have never seen this side of you before, Zeldris. You're so open to me and I'm not used to this and I didn't know what to think about it. But I finally understand it! I know this sounds crazy, but I finally understand it, Zel! This war... It's like everything to you. And I understand it because of everything you had to go through. You had to watch so many of our race getting killed and you want revenge for that. And your brother... You still think he betrayed you for Elizabeth but please let me tell you that you're wrong. I promise you that Elizabeth is not to blame and Meliodas never planned on betraying you. Everything he did, he did it for me. But I didn't know that either until a few days ago. I know this won't take your anger away. But it made me understand why you brought back Elizabeths memories. And I'm sorry for speaking out the truth you'd never admit but you still care about Meliodas. He's your brother after all. And you know about the curse because Fraudrin must have told you. And I think that you had to watch him suffer for so many times and I know how hard this is because I had to, too. You simply took your anger out on Elizabeth because you were driven by anger. After all the hate your father raised you up with and all the things you went through... But I get it now" I say and walk closer to Zeldris.

He looks at me surprised and I grab his hands in mine and squeeze them. "I finally understand that this is really you. The guy that sneaks into the tavern just to see me and the guy that is mad and hurt that his brother is suffering so much... Zeldris, you care about people. You're more than most people see in you. I've always seen it and I see it even more clearly now." I take a deep breath to slow down and look even deeper into his eyes. "I love all of you, Zel." But then I let go of his hands because I know he won't like what I'm going to say next. "But I'm not going to fight on your side. I can only ask you to consider the other options because you do have other options. I know how hard it is. That's why I appreciate even more what you're doing for me. Maybe this is just a game for you but I don't think so. I love you Zeldris." Once again I take a deep breath and can't help the sadness that comes with my words. "I really love and understand you but I'm not going to fight side by side with you. And if we need to fight against each other, I want you to know that I really don't wanna do it but I will do it to protect my friends."

I'm finally done with my long speech and I don't know what will happen. Zeldris just looks into my eyes for a few seconds but then he closes them and exhales through his nose. He then opens his eyes again. "I'm not going to fight against you, Yami."

I look at him surprised because that's the last reaction I expected. "What?!" is all I'm able to breath out.

Zeldris sighs and looks deep into my eyes. "I'm not going to fight against you, Yami. Because it would be against everything I have done in all those years we spent together."

"Zel, what are you talking about?" I ask confused and can see how uncomfortable he gets.

"Of course you don't know what I'm talking about because I never told anyone. But I'm done hiding it. This whole situation is so fucked up anyway so what am I going to loose?" he says and gesticulates widely with his arms before he takes a deep breath to calm down again. His dark eyes look back right into my blue ones. "I really couldn't stand you in the beginning" he says and I chuckle.

"Wow, thanks. You weren't easy to get along, too" I say.

For a brief moment, Zeldris loosens up and chuckles. "Stop it." He takes another deep breath. "Very soon, our father found out about the impact you had on Meliodas. I know this never happened on purpose and that the both of you weren't to blame. But father told me to keep an eye on you and if things wouldn't change back to how they were, I should have killed you."

"That bastard" I mutter angrily through clinched teeth.

"I promised to not let anything happen to you. I always had an eye on you and tried my best to protect you. Which became even harder when Meliodas had left. Through all these years, I tried to keep my distance to protect you. And you have no idea how hard this was because there's just something about you. And even when I couldn't remember you, I felt drawn to you. You're a special someone" says Zeldris in a very soft voice and I blush at his words and he smiles softly before venting a sigh. "That's why I'm not going to fight against you. I don't know what will happen or what to do but there's no way on heaven or earth or hell that I'd ever go and harm you."

Touched by his words and full of love, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him really close whilst tears fill my eyes. I had no idea. I had no idea what he went through and how much he had really cared about me. "I love you" I breath out. "I love you, Zel. I really love you."

"I love you too, Yami. More than anything" he mumbles in my neck and places a kiss on bit before I pull away slowly to look into his dark eyes but am shocked by what I see.

"Zel, your eyes..."

"What about them?" he asks confused but I just stand there and watch them in awe. Very slowly, the dark red spot in his eyes changes and forms to an actual pupil while the black color around it slowly becomes brighter and change into the same beautiful green I know from Meliodas. New tears form in my eyes as I can't help but I cry over what is happening whilst I don't understand the reason behind it.

"Yami, what's going on?" he asks and clearly has no idea what's going on.

"Your eyes..." I repeat my words and stare into his new green eyes in awe. They're so beautiful. He's so beautiful.

"Your eyes became green" I breath out.

"What do you mean, they're green?"

"Your eyes are green, Zeldris! Just like Meliodas'... Yours are just some darker" I say happily and amazed and wrap my arms around his neck once more to burry my head in it whilst crying happy tears.

Confused by what's going on, Zeldris simply wraps his arms around me too and holds me close. He begins to move one of his hands through my black hair and places a kiss on the top of my head. "I'm so happy I finally get to share the truth with you. I love you."

A/N: Hey everyone. Like you've noticed, it's already late November and the story is not done yet. I really thought I can finish it soon but then life happened. So you'll have to stick with the story (and me :D) until December. Since I'll be moving out in a week, I won't be able to publish twice a week but I promise you to upload a new chapter whenever it is finished.

Thanks for all the support! xx