Midterms had me wiped but I now have an award for my efforts!

Enjoy the chapter, I hope~
EDIT: Fixed some things.

Back with the Boar Hat, Hawk Mama's pace had slowed, the great pig only trotting now, having tired from spending the morning running full-throttle. Still a good few hours away from Liones, upstairs, in Meliodas' bedroom-turned-sickroom, all two and an arguable half Sins present were discussing what to do next, conferring in the way they usually did, as far as these specific two were concerned: over ale and bar snacks and with much snacking in between, the two remaining surprisingly serious despite that.

"Before she sent you through, did Merlin mention anything about the 'Purgatory Witch'?" the emotions were asking. "The spell that Witch used to send us here sounded a lot like old Belialuin to me."

Ban shakes his head. "She sent me through almost immediately after I volunteered to go," he explains. "And, before all that, she only mentioned her dad and how dangerous going to Purgatory was going to be. Nothing about any Purgatory Witch. But... if it helps, the spell the Witch used didn't sound anything like the one Merlin did."

"Really?" He looked almost hesitant to ask. "Are you sure?"

He nods. "Positive. What the Witch said and what Merlin said, they're completely different. Felt different, too," he adds, looking reminiscent. "Merlin's didn't have any explosions."

"Too bad," he sighs. "Finding a way back to our own time might be easier if Merlin already knew what the Witch used."

"It might be, yeah," he agrees. "Still, it's Merlin we're talking about here. Pretty sure she can find a way, spell or not."

He cracks a grin. "Of course," he says. "It could make things a lot easier, though!" Then, he seemed to think of something. "Hey, do you remember the words to Merlin's spell?"

Ban looks at him blankly. "I remember it sounded like gobbledygook and nothing else. Why, is it important?"

"I might be able to compare the two," he says, shrugging. "I remember the Witch's spell."

"Seriously?" That, of all things, made Ban look skeptical. "You do?"

"ị̧̡̝̼̘̰̠̋̄̽̽̈͜ w̡̨̧̳̘̥͍̠͋̇̊̅̀̂̑i̴̟͙̰̰̭͎̔͗́̍̈̾͝l̼͚̱͕̉͒͗̊͟͟͞l̢̥͇̘̺̮̰̹̝̦͑͊̌̕͝ o̡̡̬̭͔̠̳͑͊̆̀̒͢͠͡p̶͇̹͓͚̀̇̈̀͌̽͋͋͜͡ͅͅe̷͖̤̰̣̠̖̻̿̐̀́̀͋̎̚n̸͎͔̘̥̟͓͛̒͆͌͗́͐̚͠ a̤͇͔͍̺͇̲̿̍̿̎̂͟ d̳̫͉̻̠̓̀͊͊͛͟͝͡o̮͍̜̼̮̜̱͒̊̇̅́̑̿̏͜͢͞ͅò͉̲̠͇̤̗͖̲͓͌̅̉̇̌͝͞r̬͚͉̝̜̂̄̀͒̋ f̴͙̗͉̤͙̘͖̻̔̋̅͐̓̓̚͢͞o̸̢̨̠̼̫͚̘̹̝͗́̏͐̐͘͜r̸͕̠̭̪̘͈̻̍̋͌͊̓̄̑̚ y̴̻͉̪̰̯͐̅͊̒͝o̡̦̻̺̯͙͒̍̂́̏̄̌̅͠u̢̨̡̙͈̯̬̮̘͒͐̑̐͂̅͢" he recites. "It stuck out," he adds, seeing Ban's surprise. "It's been a long time since I heard anyone speaking that."

"Full of surprises as always, Captain," he comments, and though his tone is teasing, there's a note of admiration there, as well. "Well, what does it mean?"

"Something about opening a door," he says. "It's been a long time but I think that's the gist of it. Nothing about time or anything..."

"Well, we know the Witch has shit-aim," he points out. "She said so herself, after all. She probably meant to send us to our time but just..." he airily waves a hand. "Shot us at the wrong time."

"I suppose," he accepts. "Time between Purgatory and the mortal world's never been all that stable. It could be worse."

"We're a month or so early," he says, tone one of agreement. "S'not too bad. If we came late, we'd be fucked."

For better or worse, they were very ahead of schedule. He still worried about the Sins, about Elizabeth, of course, but the fact that they were in the past, weeks away from the terrible mess his idiot body had gotten into in the hours he'd been gone, did somewhat temper his sense of urgency on the matter. They were going to find a way back, no question about it, but, at the same time, they didn't exactly feel the need to rush. Besides, after centuries in the hellhole that was Purgatory, they damn well earned a few hours of reprieve before rushing to find Merlin or some other way to get back.

"Probably, yeah! Meliodas is pretty dumb without me. He's probably already done something dumb as it is!" he says, sounding surprisingly cheerful. At the very least, he was certain his heartless body wouldn't kill any of the Sins. Speaking of heartless bodies... "Better for this me, too," he comments. "Dying sucks."

"Heh. You tell me, Captain, I wouldn't know anything about that," Ban drawls. Then, after a moment. "I wonder why he isn't waking up."

The emotions first blink at the seeming non-sequitur before following Ban's gaze to the bed and the body still asleep on it. Despite the fact that he did genuinely appreciate the concern, he can't quite help his dry reply: "I'm going to make a wild guess and say it's because he got beat to shit, had six of his hearts destroyed, and only just started healing back from all that."

As expected, his friend grins, no offense taken. "Kaa~ No need to be so defensive about it, Captain!"

Smiling, he goes back to check on himself once more. Physically speaking, he was healing nicely, he could tell with just a cursory glance, but looking closer... "It's a good thing he's not awake yet," he realizes. "While I was empathizing, I sensed something off. I've only just realized why. It's the Commandments," he explains, at Ban's inquisitive look. "He's cursed with Piety and Love."

Ban frowns. "I know what Love does," he says, eyes darkening at the memory. "Can't say the same about Piety. That's your little brother's, right?"

He nods. "It forces anyone who turns their back on Zeldris to follow my dad and his representatives," he tells him. "It means you can't run from him. Or... shouldn't," he has to add, remembering having done just that, as this him did, back in his own time. In his defense, as the Demon King's eldest, he could somewhat stave off its effects. Somewhat. "It didn't work on me, now, but that's just because I don't have a real body—"

A washcloth suddenly hit him square between the eyes, whereupon it slipped down to the tip of his nose. His expression remained decidedly blank as he blew it off. The culprit looked amused. "Y'seem solid to me," he drawls.

The washcloth bounces off of Ban's chin when he lobs it back, and he spares a grin when it does. "Solid, yeah, but I'm still just a soul. Look—" Before Ban could react, he drew his sword and lightly cut into his palm. It didn't bleed. Rather, the edges of the cut briefly glowed white before resealing, leaving no scar. "As far as the Commandments are concerned, I'm dead. I'm... corporeal now but I'm not... alive, so to speak."

He whistles. "Handy," Ban remarks. "What about me? I didn't get brainwashed and I spent the whole fight running the hell away."

"I can't be sure, but after fighting with my dad for so long, I think that you might be... well... " His voice trails off as he sat back down, looking at him as he did. Pride and regard shone clear in his eyes. It only takes Ban a second to get it, the immortal brightening at the thought. That would definitely be handy if he really were. "Anyway, even if he does heal up, he won't be able to do much with these two on. We have to find a way to get rid of them. Other than the... intended ways, anyway."

"Yeah, I didn't work my ass off to save his life just to end it," he agrees. "And going against both of your brothers again'd be suicide, even for you. Especially right now," he says, indicating the stump.

"Even without getting brainwashed, yeah." He crosses his arms, thinking. "This is going to be tough..."

Ban thinks for a moment. "Well, Merlin broke Truth on herself," he says, at last. "She could probably do something. What?" he has to ask, seeing his skeptic expression.

"It took her ages to break it! Besides, they're not hunting for her the way they are me." He didn't dismiss the possibility, however. "Anyway, Piety won't make it easy. We're going to have some real problems getting him anywhere if he wakes up under their control."

"Huh..." Ban looks thoughtful again for a moment before just shaking his head. "Weeeell, we'll think of something! Hey," he adds, seeing his skeptical expression. "If we can find a different way outta Purgatory without your dad knowing, we can handle bits of his old magic. We'll figure something out."

"... you sure sound optimistic given that we also landed at a pretty bad time with no way home."

"Details, details~" he says dismissively, and he says it with such a straight face that the emotions can't help but crack up.

"Suuure, that's definitely just a minor a detail. Just like my dad making the Commandments to be... unbreakable..." His voice trails off and he looks thoughtful. "I wonder..."

Ban smirks, almost knowing. "See?" he drawls. "You've thought of something already."

"Kind of," he says, shaking his head. "I've never done this before but... in theory, it might work..."

Ban leans back against his chair, arms crossed. "Spill it. Whatcha thinking?"

"I... might be able to use my Counter to get rid of them."

"... Explain."

"Have I ever told you how my magic works?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "Look, Full Counter can only affect something's magnitude and direction. That's why, no matter how strong a magic attack is, I can always reflect it; I'm not trying to overpower it, I'm just changing where it's going and how strong it is—or isn't, if I'm using Counter Vanish. So while I can't attack with it, I can affect any kind of magic attack, even without—" he waves airily down at himself. "Even without a body, my Full Counter's still as effective as ever."

Ban looks understanding. "I think I can see where you're getting at. Counter Vanish, right?"

He nods. "Pretty much. Normally, using Counter Vanish gets harder the older the spell is so I've never tried it on a curse before but... the Commandments are all just old pieces of dad's powers and after facing the real deal all those years, I do know what to look for. I'm sure I can do something about them..."

He walks over to place a palm on his counterpart's chest once more, eyes sliding shut as he reached out to the cold he had felt when he'd briefly occupied the body, that distinctly foreign darkness threading through him, not quite empathizing but certainly keeping an open mind. Ordinarily, with newly-fired attacks, he can see what keeps them together as clear as day but here—if he didn't know what to look for, he's not sure he would've found it. But he does, so he finds it almost immediately.

Surprisingly enough—

"... he's resisting really hard," he comments, smiling. "Nishishi! I should've known. Well, well, well, this ought to make things easier! Now..."

He grasps at that cold power. It was a power that was unmistakable, inevitable, unbreakable, and, above all, it was a power he already knew he could Counter from decades in Purgatory fighting against his father wielding it in its entirety. Compared to that, this was nothing but a pale shadow of a fragment, less than even a scrap. Compared to what he's done in the thousands of futile battles before, this—

This was nothing more than untying a knot.

"Disobedience," he says, almost without meaning to, eyes flashing open as he finally felt the magic give, clenching it within his fist and pulling slowly upward, ignoring how the freezing magic lashed and crackled malevolently against his skin, invisible to the eye but painful all the same, struggling harder and harder the farther he pulled it away from himself, preparing his own magic in response. "Counter Vanish!"

His power left him with a resounding chime, then a sound like a SNAP! as a dark miasma seeped out of his counterpart's pores, spreading briefly through the air before dissipating into nothing, minimized, anchorless, and harmless in the aftermath of the impromptu spell. His counterpart hadn't moved once since he'd began but, somehow, his breathing sounded easier, now.

Though his Counters normally used very little energy, he felt exhausted and the hand he'd used stings. He doesn't care, starting to sense for them once more. However... "I can't sense any Commandments anymore..." he murmurs, before finally grinning. "I did it! Heh, guess it all paid off!"

Ban was staring, wide-eyed, before breaking out laughing, himself. "Frickin' hell, Captain, that's an understatement if I ever heard one!"

"Indeed," an unexpected voice rang out, feminine, curious, and very familiar, making the emotions freeze. "That is a very useful trick you've learned there, Captain."

Very slowly, very cautiously, he turns to follow the sound, Ban following his lead, his own expression amused and unsurprised.

"I was wondering how long you were planning on eavesdropping," he drawls. "It's pretty rude of you, ya know~"

Around a familiar, teal orb was the semi-translucent form of a seemingly-young girl in a breezy dress, a familiar dark-haired figure who watched them both with intent, interested eyes. A surprised smirk appeared on her face at Ban's words.

The emotions, in turn, were honestly just surprised to see her.

"Merlin...?"

Before coming down here, Merlin had no idea how the two would react to her presence and, as such, she'd made quite a few preparations before deciding to reveal herself. Aside from verifying the safety of their still-absent travelling companions and sending them messages, she'd prepared a good number of magic items in case the two showed hostility, including a few that would ensure the injured Captain's safety in the event of a fight. While her instincts did tell her they were more-or-less trustworthy, she wasn't willing to take any chances. Given the amount of effort it took simply maintaining the spell keeping her soul bound to Aldan, her combat magic was frustratingly limited at the moment. If her appearance triggered any sort of violent confrontation, it would be... undesirable, to say the least. So, for a while, she'd been perfectly content with just listening in to their conversation. Their incredibly fascinating conversation.

However, their conversation, informative as it was, was nowhere near as tempting as the chance to have Truth broken. She hadn't quite been willing to take the chance before, but she certainly was now.

Of course, she still wasn't quite sure how these apparent visitors (from the future!) would react. While they seemed to speak of her as they always did, it wasn't certain that they wouldn't be at least a little wary of her. She expected suspicions, perhaps exasperation for her eavesdropping. She expected questions, demands, and even just a little hostility, and she'd prepared accordingly for all of that.

What she certainly didn't expect was for the second Captain to actually cry.

But he was. There were tears welling up in his big green eyes and rolling down his cheeks even as he forcibly scrubbed them off of his face, his features set in a huge, brilliant smile as he began to laugh. He was laughing as he cried and trying to hide it as he did.

"M-Merlin! It's you! It's really you! Y-you're here!"

There was a genuine joy in his expression as he looked at her and there was a hitch in his voice, even as he laughed, sounding he was trying not to outright bawl from the sheer happiness of it all. While the Captain as she knew him was always ready with a smile and insouciant, seemingly unflappable cheer, he was also guarded, unreadable. In clear, marked contrast, this one's every feeling was all but written on his face. He practically radiated affection and his smile was warm, summery, and without guile.

Merlin had prepared for a lot of eventualities before she'd entered the room

But she had no idea how to react to this.

He seemed to notice her reticence—despite her only being a soul in an orb, he noticed her reticence. "I'm s-sorry, M-Merlin. I'm just—"

"Just a huge crybaby, right~?" Ban pulled him over in a rough sort of sideways hug, grinning widely. He didn't seem surprised at the Captain's quite frankly odd behavior, only fond, seeming just as relaxed as he had been when she'd made her presence known. "'Eeeeey, Merlin," Ban greets her, his usual smirk on his face. "Long time, no see~"

She manages to recover some of her trademark poise. "Indeed," she allows. With a mild effort of will, she manifests an illusion in the shape of herself as she usually appeared, something to mirror her thoughts in actions. Neither seem surprised she does so. "... or at least that was the case with the Ban of this time," she says, her illusion looking him in the eye. He didn't seem at all surprised that she knew, she notes. "Though he— " she tilts her head, indicating the unconscious body lying in the bed. "I know is the Captain as I last saw him. You are...?"

"I'm his emotions," the second Captain answers... while sniffling, wiping at his face with his hands as he disentangled himself from Ban's headlock-hug. "His soul, kind of. Th-the part that lets him feel emotions, a-at least. His heart. Ban saved me from Purgatory. I-I'm sorry," he breaks off, words coming out half a laugh, looking at her with a smile that was equal parts overjoyed and disbelieving. "I just—I didn't expect to see you and I-I've really missed you! I thought I'd never—I completely gave up while I was in Purgatory, I thought I'd never see you or Elizabeth or Ban or any of the rest of the Sins ever again. I'm just... so happy to see you!"

... oh.

She softens.

"I'm... happy to see you like this, too, Captain," she admits, and, truly, it's been millennia, almost dating back to when they'd met, before he'd been cursed. They'd never been a likely pair and there'd definitely been centuries when they'd been less than trusting of each other but, damn it all, they were friends. Even knowing all that they did about each other, they were still friends. In some ways, she trusted him more than anyone else. And now, despite knowing full well how old he truly was, despite having known of him since she'd been a genuinely young girl herself, she couldn't help but find the sight of him teary-eyed and emotional oddly endearing. She'd never thought herself a motherly sort (at least, not until she'd met Arthur and, even then, only for Arthur) but, somehow, she almost wanted to take this now seeming-child and give him a hug—which, she had to admit, was a reaction she wanted to study later but that wasn't the point.

"It's been a long time for you, hasn't it?" she has to ask, and his shoulders shake with mirth even as he very quickly covered his face as he scrubbed at it, first with his hands, then with a clean washcloth Ban wordlessly passed him. "It must've been difficult."

"Y-yeah," he says quietly when he's done, looking at her with a soft, sad little smile. Then his eyes brighten and he beams. "But it's going to be easier, now that you're here!"

She smiles back. It's impossible not to. "Indeed," she says. "Whatever it is you need, I will do everything in my power to assist you."

This time, it's Ban who grins. "That's good," he drawls. "We're gonna need a looot of help, if you didn't hear."

She smirks. "You're a pair of time travelers from the future, sent here through the terrible aim of an entity you call the 'Purgatory Witch' during your escape from Purgatory, trying to get back to your own time," she recounts. "I suppose you will." Then she looks at Ban consideringly. "Hmmm... let me have a look at you, first."

He blinks. "Ehh? Merlin, what are you—"

She murmurs a brief incantation and Aldan zooms to float overtop his head. The illusion in her form remained in its position standing by the doorway, smiling her trademark suspicious smile, as her sacred treasure shot a beam that engulfed the Fox's Sin in azure light, making him flinch and shoot her a glare.

"Would it kill you to give a guy more of a warning, Merlin?" he complains. "Ugh, it itches."

The Captain, or his emotions, rather, only watches impassively from his seat. "Been a while since I saw magic like that," he comments. "So?"

Merlin couldn't stop herself from staring. "Fascinating... " she murmurs. "By the looks of things, time... time itself doesn't want you to be here."

Having gotten the results she wanted, she breaks the scanning spell, Aldan returning to its former place by her illusion's side. Ban lets out a long sigh as she does this, shooting her a baleful glare at her as he rubbed at his neck. "Well, we don't want to be here either," he mutters.

"Do you think you can do something about it?" the second Captain prompts.

She considers it, going over the sense of chronal misplacement her spell had picked up lingering around the immortal, her arsenal of spells and rituals, and even some old texts she only half-remembered from before Belialuin had been laid to waste, before beginning to smirk. Perhaps a variant of teleportation or apportation, using the misplaced time lingering around him as an anchor to create the link, perhaps using her father's own old Purgatory sending spell as a base... "I have some ideas," she says slowly. "It will take some time to gather all the things I need, however, and I will need to run a few tests before I can make the attempt. You may be stuck here for the next few days. Weeks even."

"That long?" Ban can't help asking.

"Not to worry, Ban," she reassures him. "This magic relates to time. So long as my theory is correct, I should be able to send you to the exact point in time in which you should've been sent. If my spell works as intended, it will be as if you spent no time here at all."

"And we're going to be your guinea pigs for when you're testing to see if it works." However, in contrast, the second Captain looked more or less accepting. "Well... I suppose it won't be too bad," he accepts. "As long as you bring us to the right time, I guess it won't matter how long we end up staying here."

"That's the spirit," she says, with a slight chuckle. "Not to worry, Ban," she says, noting his skeptical look. "As you're well aware, my aim is excellent."

"Aren't you humble?" he snarks. His expression does clear, however. "Alright. I'll trust you."

"However..." she then says, a low smirk. "What you're asking is going to be a very difficult act of spellcraft. I'm happy to assist you, of course, but there is something I want in exchange..."

While Ban looked a little incredulous, the second Captain only looked amused. "Now, there's the Merlin I remember," he remarks fondly. "What do you want?"

She bends to look him full in the eye. "I want you to break the Commandment on me," she says. "I've seen you break Love and Piety on yourself. It should be simple, no? Isn't this a fair deal?"

He blinks once before bobbing a nod, a smile gracing his face.

"Yeesh, way to make it sound all ominous, Merlin," Ban drawls from the sidelines. "The Captain'll be happy to help ya out with that."

"I don't recall asking you," she says, though her words were belied by the playful smile on her face. "Well, Captain?"

He flashes her his sunny grin. It's honestly impossible not to smile back with this one, she reflects, this soul her Captain had lost. "I'd be happy to! Just... give me some time. It, uh, stung." Seemingly without meaning to, he rubbed at the palm of the hand he'd used earlier. "Let me just catch my breath for a while."

"Very well," she acquiesces, moving back, illusion moving to sit on the foot of the bed. "Until then, we have much to talk about. You're both from the future, from what I heard—"

"Eavesdropped," Ban interjects.

"—I'm sure you have plenty of interesting information to share," she finishes. "Well?"

The second Captain looks thoughtful for a moment before nodding. "Plenty. We're not—it's not the same anymore, what happened in our time and what's happening here. We... changed a lot of things when we got here. We didn't mean to," he adds, probably seeing the look on her face—or her illusion's, rather. "But we did. The biggest difference is... well..." his gaze drops down to his unconscious counterpart, and the realization makes Merlin feel cold despite herself.

"You died," she says softly. "In your time."

It should've been obvious but it takes her by surprise, regardless. Even knowing he would come back, even knowing he always came back eventually, it never made it any easier when he did. Even though she knew, logically, it was only ever going to be temporary, part of her couldn't help but mourn the loss whenever it happened.

He nods. "Estarossa," he says, by way of explanation. "This time—here, Ban got me out but back in our time..."

"I failed."

Both of them turn to see Ban glaring down at his hands, eyes sharp and bright with a remembered grief that made something pang in her chest. "I couldn't do anything. All I could do was watch until..." His hands clench into fists. "I was useless."

Merlin closes her eyes and looks down. "... I see." She had, too, once. It hadn't been easy. Even knowing he'd return eventually, she'd still grieved. It had to have been worse for him, given he didn't know yet at this time.

The emotions look at him once, his expression searching, before leaning over and knocking him lightly on the head. "What are you talking about?" he says, sounding honestly quite confused. "You saved me now, didn't you?"

Ban looks at him from the corner of his eye before slowly starting to smile. "Guess I did, yeah," he says quietly. "Anyway, you wanted to know what happened, right? Well... Britannia went straight to hell. The demons went all out after the Captain... yeah. It was a fuckin' mess."

"I can certainly imagine they would be emboldened after the Captain's demise," she says. "It would've increased morale, at the very least, to feel that they'd achieved the first of their vengeance."

Ban snorts. "That's one way to put it," he says quietly. "About a month after around now, the Commandments launched a full-scale attack on Liones. We drove 'em off," he adds, slightly more spirited now. "After Escanor smashed that bastard, Estarossa, out of the kingdom, after you come flying in from out of nowhere to down Grayroad before she could turn us all into eggs, and after this guy—" he leans over to flick the second Captain's cowlicks, making him huff a short, surprised laugh. "—Appears out of nowhere to pulverize that demon possessing Dreyfus."

"Fraudrin," the second Captain interjects, to which Ban waves an airy hand.

"Yeah, him. No idea how Dreyfus got himself unpossessed, come to think of it, but—"

"That was because of Zaratras," the emotions interrupt. "He came back from the dead for a while. It's a... long story."

Merlin, who'd been silent ever since Ban had begun to narrate the events, has to laugh. "I'd gathered," she says wryly. "You've barely started, I take it?"

"Barely the tip of the iceberg," Ban confirms. "And it's a biiig iceberg."

"Is there anything specific you want to know about?" the emotions prompt.

"Well, while I want to know everything... I am rather curious about why it is that Ban was in Purgatory in the first place. I know why you would," she says, looking to him somewhat apologetically. "However..."

"I came to get him out," Ban answers. "The Princess had less than three days left and the Cap'n, he—"

"Wait," Merlin has to interrupt, looking interested. "You know about—?"

"They all know," the emotions confirm. "About Elizabeth, about the curses... everything."

She stares at him. "You told them?" she asks, disbelieving. At no point in all the time she's known him has he ever been the one to volunteer that information. To anyone.

He looks down. "... No. She remembered. It's why I—Meliodas went berserk, used Assault Mode... cast me out. That's not even the half of it," he says, almost smiling, though there was a clear discomfort in his eyes. "We'll tell you all about it."

"By the way..." came the interruption, making them both turn to look at Ban, who was now looking at her with naked curiosity. "Didja really used to call the Princess 'Big Sis Sis'?"

"We are not talking about me," was her very hasty reply, just as the emotions nod.

"She did," his friend confirms, grinning genuinely once more. Merlin gives him a look but neither pay it any heed. "In fact, one time, she called me—"

"We are not talking about my past, we are talking about your future," she very loudly cuts in, looking actually quite embarrassed. "The future we are going to avert."

He grins, cheeky. "If you say so, Merlin," he says, sounding cheerful again.

Ban stands, stretches. "Weeeell, I dunno about you guys but if we're really gonna have to go over all of this, I don't wanna do it hungry. I'm gonna go fix us some grub. Got any requests?"

"If you're cooking, anything's fine," he replies.

"Until my body is restored, I won't be able to eat," she points out. "I've no preference. However, with this time's Captain in his current condition, I'd suggest something easy on the stomach for when he wakes."

He nods. "Right, riiight..." He slouches out of the room. "Don't start story-telling without me, y'hear? I won't take too long."

"Sure."

"Of course," she says. Then she realizes something and has to smile as she watches him go down the stairs, whistling as he did. "Sly fox..."

Somehow, she knew the emotions knew what she was talking about. "He's a great friend," he remarks, smiling. Then, after a moment: "Hey, ̶̙͈̳̱̱͇̰̀̒̍̀͝͝ ̵̡̟̲͇̤͓͍̟̭͕̑͌̀̉̅̚ ̛̹͎̖̩͙̟̼̇̍̐̚͢ ̵̝̜̲̗̖͌͋͐̋͜͠͠ ̴̥̜̺̻̹̟̖̲̪͓̄̔̋̈͂̚...?"

It's been such a long time, the sound of her own name actually startles her. She certainly hasn't been called that in a while... "Yes?"

"I'm happy to break Truth on you, course, but before that..." The second Captain was studying her expression intently. "... remember who you are," he finishes, grinning cheekily. "Alright?"

What in the world did he—

Oh.

She could've slapped herself. All that time researching how to break a Commandment curse and the answer was staring her right in the face every time she looked in the mirror!

"... I'm going, as well," she grits out, giving him a look. "I'll be back as soon as I'm done."

The second Captain had an absolutely shit-eating grin on his face. "See ya, ̶̙͈̳̱̱͇̰̀̒̍̀͝͝ ̵̡̟̲͇̤͓͍̟̭͕̑͌̀̉̅̚ ̛̹͎̖̩͙̟̼̇̍̐̚͢ ̵̝̜̲̗̖͌͋͐̋͜͠͠ ̴̥̜̺̻̹̟̖̲̪͓̄̔̋̈͂̚.," he says overly casually, his youthful face set in an expression of gleeful, absolutely punchable innocence. "Goood luck!"

That bastard...

Dusk had fallen over the grounds of Camelot once more by the time they'd all arrived and settled themselves down to rest. Zeldris, for his part, couldn't help but feel some measure of relief as he saw the sun finally set. Regardless of who or what may arrive, whatever intruders may come again, with the coming of the night, all demons would be at their strongest. And while, before, that would've also meant they'd have his brother to be wary about, given how badly he'd been defeated, Zeldris was confident they wouldn't have to worry about him for a long time. It wasn't quite the vengeance they desired but, for now, that would have to be enough.

It had to be, he tells himself again as he enters Peronia's designated medical facility. This was not the time to lose himself in rage and bloodthirst—regardless of how much his wretched, traitorous brother deserved it, they had to remain cautious...

Their medical facility was an enormous, circular chamber that must've once been intended as a ballroom, with a balcony that once led out to a gorgeous view of the gardens below. Now, its dance floor was dotted with healing pods of every shape and size as Peronia herself flitted about, and the balcony now only provided a view of Drole's gigantic cocoon of a healing pod nestled in the grounds below. Zeldris makes his way over to one healing pod in particular, a medium-sized one not much bigger than his own had been, settling down to wait as he notes its inhabitant beginning to stir within.

His wait ends a scant few minutes later. "How long will it be until you regain use of the Moon Rose?" he asks of Gloxinia once the rejuvenated Fairy King finally emerged from the pod. "Its healing power could be indispensable in the battles to come."

"Hmm? Oh, Zeldris..." He yawns and stretches first, shaking off some of the healing fluid that had clung to his skin, before drawing his spirit spear, manifesting its Moon Rose form at his feet so that its bloom was at his face. "Not for a long while," Gloxinia sighs, examining Basquias' stigma with critical eyes before returning it to its usual Emerald Octo form and wrapping it protectively around him. "I've used up all the drops I'd stored. In a month, I might have one or two back but until then, I won't have any healing powers."

"It was necessary," came the unexpected rumble of an interruption. It was Drole, emerging fresh from his healing pod himself, the Giant King finally looking fully recovered as he loomed over them from his place outside the castle, face only barely fitting through the entryway of the balcony. "If he hadn't used it as he did, we would've both been defeated long before your arrival."

"I understand. I would've done as you had," he assures him, waving him down until he seemed mollified. "Holding back against my brother would've been a death sentence against anyone, even myself. Your tenacity truly is admirable. It's just a shame."

Then his eyes harden.

"But it's no matter," he continues. "We have already proven ourselves able to defeat him. Once we're all recovered, we'll resume our pursuit of vengeance. It won't be long then."

"Yeah..." Gloxinia says, sounding somewhat subdued. "It won't be long, once we all move out. He's at death's door as it is..."

Drole only closes his eye and nods.

"In the meantime," Zeldris begins. "We might as well send out more troops to gather more souls for us, while we're recovering. I'll have Estarossa start mutating more troops for us on the morrow. Grayroad, as well, once she recovers."

Although her condition wasn't anywhere near as bad as Melascula's, Peronia had recommended that she stay in a more intensive healing pod and Zeldris saw no reason to disagree. Given her Commandment, she was unused to actual combat, to actually risking death, and so the loss of two hearts coupled with the pain of having been nearly torn apart had taken a toll on her. It was regrettable but understandable.

The two trade glances. "And what about us two, Zeldris?" Gloxinia asks. "We're fine now. Shall we gather souls for the rest of you..?"

His eyes flash. "No," he barks. "That's exactly what he and his allies want! We've already seen through his game. Meliodas wants to pick us off one or two at a time before we've fully recovered our strength, while he and his allies are already at full power. Your experience at Vaizel stands as a testament to that." The two look on at him warily and he heaves a sigh, almost apologetic, before continuing:

"We will stay together," he says decisively. "We will continue our takeover of Britannia, our harvest of the races, but we will do so as one. We will need all of our strength to defeat him and whatever allies he has once and for all before we can take this world. Who knows how many more allies he has..."

He thinks to the arrival of the unexpected visitors—the other Meliodas, unmistakably his brother and not just some clone or impostor but the real thing, even while... somehow, missing something, complete, and the other version of the man Estarossa had slain in the aftermath of their escape. The Fox's Sin of Greed, Ban, Fraudrin had called him. While the one Estarossa had put down had been moderately strong by standards of the other races, the one that had escaped was on a different level entirely. And, for some reason, even though he'd run from him, he'd remained unaffected by Piety. He'd stood and breathed the same air and yet the magic of the Commandment simply... couldn't stick. Yet, he didn't seem to carry any trace of the Supreme Deity's protection. If anything, he somehow reeked of the air of Purgatory, of all places, and his aura was touched with darkness. Not a demon's natural darkness but... a miasma, of sorts, one that, oddly enough, reminded Zeldris of his father, the Demon King.

If he didn't know any better, if he didn't know it was impossible, he would've thought he'd somehow acquired some kind of resistance against his father's powers...

How very interesting.

They would have to be careful, but he knew they would prevail, against him and any other allies his damnable brother may have. If he had to, he would hunt him down himself. Him and anyone else who dared interfere.

His eyes burn black.

"We will not be reckless in this endeavor. We have to be careful but once we're all recovered, we will get our revenge. That much is certain."

"Of course," Gloxinia murmurs. His hands were fists at his sides. "He'll get what he deserves for siding with the enemy."

"We will have our justice," Drole agrees. "I can see it now."

He smirks. "Hmph. Of course," he says. Then: "For the time being, you two might as well get some more rest," he tells them. Despite the informal words, his tone still carried a note of clear, commanding dismissal. "I might have you create golems to help with the collection of souls, once I have Estarossa finish his mutations. Until then, you may as well recover more of your strength."

Gloxinia bobs a nod, looking almost distracted. "Certainly."

Drole shoots him a look but follows suit after looking to Gloxinia, as he usually did when his friend was concerned. "... Understood."

They both leave his sight, Gloxinia leaving out through the balcony to follow Drole, likely to the Giant King's own quarters underground. For a few moments, that left Zeldris standing alone, the only Commandment awake in the medical facility. "Once we're all recovered..." he repeats to himself. "Hah."

Without quite meaning to, he looks to where his own healing pod had been, rubbing at the new starburst of scar-flesh on his chest where it was stark against his otherwise unmarred skin, a wound even Peronia's best efforts couldn't fully heal. Even sealed back with his darkness, he can feel the lack where one of his hearts had once been. No longer. In the immediate scuffle that followed those... strangers' arrival, he'd been taken off-guard. Even now, he can remember that shock and pain as that attack had torn through him, ripping a heart from his chest, though even that had paled in comparison to the absolute agony he'd felt at its destruction in the inferno.

Yet even that paled in comparison to the knowledge of how useless he'd been at Vaizel because of it. He could've used God from the start, nullified the intruder's repulsive ability to begin with, but he did not. In the immediate aftermath of getting one of his hearts ripped out of his chest, in the pain of its absence, he'd panicked, frozen, moreso after his heart's destruction. He'd been less than useless in that fight.

He wasn't going to make that mistake again, he'd make sure of it. He knew his tricks now, that human his brother had managed to fool into thinking him a friend. He knew better now. They'd lost much in the following fight (because of his mistake), from losing their vengeance when it was right within sight, to Melascula's worsened condition, but they at least learned from the scuffle. They would be taken by surprise no longer, not by his brother, not by anyone.

His hand clenches into a fist over where the heart had been and feels as his other hearts beat strong and steady in his chest.

At the end of the day, he still had six hearts left. Meliodas only had one remaining.

His death was at hand. They would make sure of it.

When Ban comes back, it's just in time to see the emotions declare "Yep, all six hearts are back in perfect condition!" just before he broke off the empathetic connection, examining the still-healing body before him with critical eyes. He really was looking a lot better, Ban noticed with some relief, with even the stump of his arm starting to finally grow back. "Your regeneration sure is handy," the emotions tell him, without bothering to actually look in his direction. "Is food ready yet?"

"Give it time," he drawls. He hadn't gone for anything fancy, just a light bone broth, a quick batch of biscuits, and some meat pasties, but it still needed about half an hour to fully cook; their first real dinner back was going to be a feast if he had anything to say about it. "Good food takes time, Captain. Your cooking always tastes like crap 'cause you never wait." He takes his seat again before looking around. "Hey, where'd Merlin go?"

"Oh, she just went up to sort some things out," he answers, with a conspiratorial little grin. "She'll be back in a few."

He shoots him a look before just sighing. "...Right." Then, after a brief glance-over: "Captain, d'you need any healing?"

He blinks. "... Why would I?"

"I saw you earlier. Didn't look like breaking that Commandment curse was easy on you."

He rubs at his palm consideringly before shaking his head. "I'm fine," he says, and by the fuckin' stars does he ever want to throttle him whenever he says that. "Really," he adds, probably seeing his expression. "Just a bit tired, maybe."

"Take it easy," he urges him. "We've already got one Cap'n out of commission, we don't need two."

"Yeah, yeah," he says, with a roll his eyes. He obliges, however, walking back to his seat and settling down with a long sigh. "Won't be long, now."

"Maybe two or three hours," he agrees. "Heh, maybe we ought to prepare drinks for 'em. Could be nice to have a little reunion party."

He looks skeptical. "Not that it's a reunion for them, exactly..."

That wasn't a no, though. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind toasting your good health, now that you're on the mend," he says airily. "'Cause I gotta tell you, it was fuckin' awful having to watch you die, back in our time. I'm sure I'd celebrate, seeing you all better."

"I think the stump says otherwise on him being 'all better'..." He glances toward his body. "On the mend, yeah, but..."

They freeze.

Faintly, very faintly, the body on the bed was starting to stir.

It's through a head filled with cotton balls and a throat filled with broken glass that Meliodas realizes he isn't dead.

He knows he should be, but he's not.

Instead, he's in his own bed, tucked into his own sheets, the familiar, comforting smells of the Boar Hat sharply undercut by the sterile smell of antiseptic. His whole body aches something awful but it's a pain that tells him that he's recovering, that he hasn't died. Whenever he's reawakened after being resurrected, it's always been in physically perfect condition. Right now, he hurts, and he not even doing anything, just lying in bed, and he feels so tired, he just wants to go back to sleep and sink into oblivion all over again. Even just breathing hurt. But, somehow, he isn't dead. He remembers lying powerless as Estarossa snapped each of his ribs underfoot. He remembers his idiot best friend trying to save him. He remembers getting executed, the compounding agony as his brother destroyed one heart after another, all without a trace of hate.

But, somehow, he stayed alive. Somehow, he can feel all seven of his hearts beating in his chest. Somehow... he's here.

"I'm..." he tries, almost as an experiment. His mouth was parched and the mere exhalation made his ribs throb in protest. "Alive...?"

"Yep."

Only then does he notice that he isn't alone. There are two people staring at him from across the room, seated at his tea table, expectant eyes relieved:

Ban, nursing a full beer stein, looking on at him with a familiar grin

And—

... himself.

He blinks

Rubs at his eyes

Then sharply pinches his thigh.

Despite all of that

Despite how his arm protests every single movement

He doesn't wake up

Because he's not dreaming.

How was this not a dream?

"So!"

Ban jabs his thumbs at his chest, grinning. "I'm Ban, from the future."

"And I'm your emotions!" The him next to him declares. "... also from the future."

"And from Purgatory, can't forget that," Ban adds. "Picked ya up myself."

"We weren't planning on going here but."

"The Purgatory Witch had terrible aim," they finish as one.

Confused, aching, and very, very certain he should be dead right now, Meliodas only had one thing to say:

"... what?"

Fun fact, it was another fifteen minutes before he woke up. If asked, those two'll say that they didn't rehearse that during the wait. They're liars. And trolls. One resistant, the other, disobedient.

(Non-canon abilities, I know, but... sensical ones, I think)

Ideally, I'll finish the next chapter by March 22. Look forward, if you will. T'should have more Liones. Maybe even an explosion or two.

So, was this good? Bad? Fun, at least? All feedback's appreciated. Have a great day!