Meliodas and Cleo stand on the palace balcony looking out at the gardens and nearby village in the short distance. Meliodas is in his usual casual pose with his arms behind his head glazing at the view. He's never seen trees and plants like these. Even the butterflies and birds are extra pretty. There's also a nice, light mist in the air which feels great, and the temperature is perfect.
"Man, all this underneath a hot, gloomy land of dry sand, although the river was a sight to behold. This has got to be the most beautiful place on Earth, so to speak. If it wasn't for the miasma, I'd never believe this place to be a demon realm."
"Thank you, Meliodas;" replies Cleo; "but you really should see the places this realm is modeled after. My father really loved Indonesia, India, Thailand, and the Philippians. He brought back a lot of their plants and architectural designs, as well as their values. Even the church and the mosque kind of resemble Buddhist and Hindu temple designs."
Meliodas just nods slightly and tries not to shrug his shoulders, having absolutely no clue what she's talking about. "Man, your father must have been really influential to persuade the Demon Queen to do all this."
Cleo covers up a giggle.
"By the way;" Meliodas continues; "Where's Willie, and how can he survive down her? Humans would rot to dust in half a second as soon as they'd hit the miasma from where I'm from. So would any other race besides demons."
"Race?" Cleo's confused for a second; "Oh, you mean species. That would be true here too if not for our special miasma formula we coat any non-demons coming in here with. It's harmless to all the other mankind species, including humans, but strong enough to protect them. Those staying down here for a while have to be re-coated every week, although if they stay down here long enough, they'll adapt to the miasma eventually, even humans."
Meliodas is amazed. "Really? WOW! That's amazing. You don't have humans actually living down here, do you?"
"Yes actually;" answers the queen; "About 234 currently to be exact. Should be 237 by the end of the year since two ladies are pregnant, one with twins."
Meliodas actually hadn't expected the answer to be yes. "Seriously? That's amazing."
"Yea." Cloe glazes at the tropical gardens for a moment. "Meliodas, would you like to take a walk and see everything up close."
"Sure. I do wish Elizabeth was here, she'd love this place."
They both leap from the balcony and tour the gardens. Meliodas is amazed by all the foreign plants but doesn't bother asking any questions. He really doesn't need to know any details, just that these plants are beautiful, and that Elizabeth would love them (although he doesn't usually give her flowers. He'd much rather take her to the flowers for some "lovey dovey" action). However, he does mention that these certain trees(?) are the oddest he's ever seen.
"Those are bamboo plants, the fast-growing plants in the known world. Father brought some back from Indonesia and India. They are excellent building material and are good as food and medicine too."
Meliodas then notices strange huge birds in the pond, with pink feathers, long necks and becks, and long skinny legs. Some of them seem to be standing on just one leg.
"What are those?
"They're African flamingos. We feed them lots of brine shrimp, blue-green algae, mollusk, and even carrots and beets to maintain their color."
Another odd bird with big and beautiful tail feathers opened like a giant fan passes by.
"What's that?"
"That's a peacock, a male peafowl. They grow those feathers to attract a mate. A female is called a peahen. They have much smaller and less colorful tails."
Meliodas feels dumbfounded. Roasts peacocks are a popular delegacy in Britannia, especially at Christmas time. The tail feathers are put back on the cooked birds for looks, which Meliodas always found silly. He's rarely seen any alive, and certainly not with tail feathers this big.
"Are we going to eat roast peacock later? I'd like mine covered in rich sweet wine ginger sauce please."
Cleo gives him a puzzled look. "Eat them? Why would we do that?"
Meliodas doesn't understand one bit. "Why not, they're food aren't they?"
Cleo shakes her head, then decides to cut to the chase. "Meliodas, tell me about your family. You've got a brother named Zeldris who just became the new demon king in your home country, am I right?"
Meliodas looks at her wide-eyed. "Jeez, what else do you know? Yea, he's cool, if a bit too serious and stubborn. He always picks rock at rock-paper-scissors. He's a much better cook then I am, most definitely."
Cleo doesn't dare bring up Meliodas's father. "Any other close relatives; aunts, uncles, cousins, sister, your mother?"
Meliodas shakes his head. "Nah, just me and Zeldris. Our father was an evil sociopath obsessed with bloodshed, but we finally got rid of him. Elizabeth and I will officially become family soon. We're getting married in June. Fortunately, I don't have to become king for a several more years. We're going to concentrate on running the Boar Hat, my tavern and just chill. I'd love to uproot the tavern again and take an extended vacation with the sins, even Merlin if she accepts. She could teleport the tavern, but we would rather find a way to just causally travel the county side again with no planned destinations."
"Ok;" replies Cleo, not really grasping what a tavern is, although she herself runs a small catering business as a 'hobby'. "Are you sure you don't know of any other blood relatives?"
"Nope, why are you asking?"
"Well..."
They suddenly hear somebody clearing his throat behind them.
"Marks, I told you I hate it when you do that."
"Pardon the interruption your majesty, but I've got some papers for you to sign really quick before the mail run."
Cleo rolls her eyes, forgetting momentary that "anybody" right around her can understand each other when her language spell is on. She fails to realize that Meliodas is understanding her secretary.
"Just sign here quickly ma'am, then I'll take my leave."
"Hold it Marks;" she says sternly; "You're not sneaking anything past me. Give me those." She looks at the papers as Meliodas's jaw drops in shock. "Why is there an order for almas caviar in here?"
"Is there?" Marks tries to play stupid; "I don't know your majesty."
"Yes, you do;" she rips the paper in half; "I'm not wasting funds on ridiculously expensive food just because the cat demons want it. I told them that. They'll have to wait for Christmas as usual. Speaking of funds, is the order for schoolbooks, supplies, new desks and playground equipment in here?"
"Yes, your majesty."
She finds that order and signs it, along with a couple of other papers.
"Oh, one more thing;" remembers Marks; "Have you answered that letter form the Pope yet, your majesty?"
"Already done. I put it in the mail this morning."
Marks thanks her then takes his leave. Meliodas is staring wide-eyed at Cleo.
"You're the...you're the DEMON QUEEN!"
"Oops." Now Cleo remembers the effect of the spell, sheepishly puts her hand behind her head. "I guess my cover's blown. Oh well, pardon the deception Cousin Meliodas, I play that trick on all my first-time guests."
Meliodas is more perplexed then ever; "Did you just say, Cousin Meliodas?"
"I did. I am Hatshepsut-Cleopatra I, queen of the eastern demon clan of Egypt. I'm also your first cousin, once removed."
Meliodas stands stiff with a frozen face. This must be some kind of joke.
"Um...wait. This is all part of your prank, right?"
A surprised look appears on Cleo's face. "Why would I joke about something like that? I'm serious."
Meliodas's jaw drops and he feels weak in the knees. All seven of his hearts are racing. He un-intently drops to his knees. Cleo also kneels and reaches out to him. "Meliodas are you ok? Sorry, I really didn't mean to spring this on you like that."
The dragon sin takes a few deep breaths. His insides are shaking and his head hurts. It's been an awfully long time since he's been this shocked about anything. "Your...highness...can I please stick with Cleo?"
"Of course."
Tears start falling down his face. "Are you really my cousin? How can that be? My father didn't have any siblings?"
Cleo smiles. "Actually, he did. He had a younger brother, my grandfather. My father was your first cousin."
Meliodas gasps. "Seriously? I have an uncle? I've never even heard of him."
"Not surprising. Grandpa was banished from Britanna while you were still very young. He tried to take you with him, but he didn't succeed. He can tell you about it himself."
"Really? He's still alive?"
"Absolutely." A thoughtful look appears on the queen's face; "Meliodas, if you want proof, our blood can be annualized and compared."
"Nay, that won't be necessary." Meliodas wipes the tears from his eyes. His mind can barely process this right now, but he can feel in his soul that it's all true. "Cousin Cloe, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Can I give you a hug?" Cleo smiles and opens her arms, and they give each other the biggest hug, not to mention the tightest. They both can feel each other's powerful strength.
"WHOA!" says Meliodas after exiting the hug; "You're extremely strong, nearly as strong as me! I think you actually cracked my ribs."
Cleo laughs and rubs her right shoulder. "Funny, I think you just fractured my shoulder."
They rub their injuries and laugh, feeling just a little bit of pain, in a good way.
"Hey Cleo;" asks Meliodas; "Do you like arm wrestling?"
"I sure do! But let's get our injuries healed first. There's a client on the way to the hot spring and mineral baths. It's almost time to meet Angel there. Maybe we'll run into Iris. She healed you all up last night. That hand and wrist of yours were in pretty bad shape."
"I noticed." Meliodas looks at his hand. It still has some burn scars that are still healing, but otherwise feels all better. He then realizes that he feels a bit nauseous. His insides are still shaking from the shock and wave of emotions, and he's getting a little hungry again.
"Queenie Cousin Cleo, can I please have a snack. I sure could use a few drinks too."
His cousin smiles. "Sure. Let's go to the vendors near the pools. We'll probably run into Willie and Iris down there too. It's about time you meet her officially. We've all got a lot of catching up to do."
Meliodas doesn't have a clue what she's talking about.
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Gowther, Margaret, Guila, and Jericho are face to face with the Archbishop in Cario. They arrived here this morning via a teleportation mage. Gowther and the ladies were shocked when they meet Archbishop Azarath. He appears like a short, extremely ancient human, but Gowther confirms that he's in fact a demon, an extremely old one at that. All the monks here know that their Archbishop is a mankind demon, one of their cousin species. Unlike many people, they know that mankind demons are no more inherently good or evil just like the rest of mankind, and don't assume or judge based on fairytale reputation. Mankind demons often get confused with true devil demons from hell just because they inherently possess powers of darkness, which is no better or evil then light-based powers of the goddess species. In fact, true darkness was created to be just as good as the light.
"Sir...Azarath?" Jericho speaks up after getting a little more comfortable.
"Yes, Miss Jericho."
"How...old are you?" Jericho puts her hand over her mouth. Why did she just ask him that?
"I'm nearly 4,000-years-old. Now, as I said, I can't confirm if your friends are in Amalfi without something personal belonging to them, like a hair sample or even a recently worn clothing item. I do believe I've located Wildelfredrico's presence in Luxor, meaning a couple of your friends may be with him as well. Now, one of my contacts there reported to me in person this morning that there was a major battle there just yesterday."
Azarath actually shows them parts of the two separate battles captured by a crystal. It doesn't take them long at all to recognize one of the fighters.
"That's the captain!" says Gowther.
"Meliodas!" says all three ladies in unison.
When the second battle flashes, Gowther notices that his captain's demon mass is a dark purple color instead of its usual black, and that he seems to be acting like he does when he loses control, if worse. "The same color as these jewels;" Gowther shows them to Azarath; "I wonder if any got any stuck in him. Do you know what these are, Sir Azarath."
Azarath looks at the shards but decides not to touch them. "I'm not sure exactly. Be extremely careful of those. I feel evil demonic power from them. I also feel Japanese aura, so they must be from Japan. Those phoenixgons you fought yesterday are from far eastern Asia, including Japan. I believe they came through a dimensional rift in both locations."
Azarath ask them if they know the other person from the second battle, but the Britannians confirm he's not one of their missing friends. Margaret asks if she could see the footage again. She realizes that Elizabeth never shows up. If her sister was with Meliodas, she'd surely be fighting by his side, unless she was seriously hurt, although she can heal herself of most injuries and curses in minutes.
"Archbishop, can you get us to Luxor so we may retrieve Meliodas?" ask Margaret.
"I can;" replies Azarath; "First, however, may I ask a favor of you, Gowther?"
"Yes sir, you may."
"We don't have time for favors!" yells Jericho.
"Calm down Jericho;" says Guila; "maybe it's related to our mission."
"It may be;" replies Azarath; "Gowther, you may read my mind."
Gowther proceeds and learns what the archbishop wants. "I see, interesting."
"What is it Gowther? asks Guila. Gowther zaps the requests into their minds. Azarath's asking Gowther to help him find a possible 'leak' in their communications system. According to reports, the magic tele-line and even letter communication has been off for the last few months. Azarath himself only just learned of the issues yesterday, having only returned 3 weeks ago from a long journey to Isarel, Turkey, and other parts of the middle East. Although he had noticed something was silently different in some of the messages. Plus, he hasn't been able to contact several areas directly, including Cleo the demon queen and the Amalfi coast, although the high volcano activity in Naples would inhibit tele-lines, they could still communicate through letters.
Azarath had questioned the guys in mail and communication departments the night before and had even given them truth serum and polygraph tests. Nobody seems to know anything or say anything suspicious, except a few mentioned a 'new guy' known only as "Bela" who occasionally shows up in the departments. However, Azarath wasn't aware of any new or transferred monks or employees since the start of the year. He had even stayed up the previous night searching the files. Nobody new had joined or started working for his church since before he left. There was no information on any "new person", certainly nobody with the name of Bela.
"So, you want me to try and fish out this person;" says Gowther.
"I'd appreciate it if you could;" replies Azarath; "I've come across a similar situation before. That situation involved a copycat. It's an extremely rare form of magic. People with this magic can take on most any person's exact physical appearance, voice, and even personality and character traits simply by just touching them. They can even to some extent copy the person's strengths, powers, and abilities, but just enough to through off suspicion. Copycats also take on the auras and key of the people they copy, making it difficult for even experienced and seasoned veterans to detect them. However, copycats can't read minds and can't copy memories or a person's deepest traits. There's also certain powers and abilities they can't copy. If there is a copycat around here, it'll take your abilities to find him or her, Gowther."
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In Amalfi, Zeldris, Elizabeth, Ban, Hawk, and Wild are on the stone wall overlooking the beach, each taking turns reading parts of Scout's journal. The story is so shocking and heartbreaking that they often have to take a break to compose themselves before continuing, especially Zeldris. The story of Meliodas and Zeldris's conceptions are beyond shocking, as is Zeldris learning the identity of his mother and also that he's not what he always believed he was. Ban is so disgusted with the former demon king he's been expressing a lot more anger then Zel.
"I'm so glad that baster's dead, or I'd be given him even more of my mind then I already have! How disgusting!"
Elizabeth is in tears and hands the book to Wild to take his turn. She always felt some true humanity in Meliodas, but she had no reason at all to believe he was anything more than a full-blooded demon. However, this story reveals that isn't the case. She wonders if that's the reason why he always struggled to control his demon powers, or demon side. Zeldris too struggled with that as a youth, but to a lesser extent, probably because he's always been much less emotional and steadier than his brother.
"I don't understand it;" says Hawk; "Why would Barbatos do that?"
Wild looks up from the book. "I don't know for sure, but rumors from the mortal world always leaked into purgatory back then, as well as after Barbatos arrived there. There were several rumors that Barbatos actually had other sons before Meliodas, but they all died during the Holy War, or young or something. I remember one rumor of other races breading with humans actually created better and purer offspring, something about the blood, despite them being so much weaker with sorter life spans then the other races. Michael, the goddess race's original archangel, was said to have been such a hybrid."
Elizabeth becomes wide-eyed. Michael was her biological father! If that's the case, then Elizabeth was already 1/4 human in her original incarnation! She's currently physically half-human, half-goddess, meaning that she may still live as long in her final incarnation as Meliodas naturally will, hopefully.
Zeldris suddenly lets out a furious scream. With tears in his eyes, his demon marks appear, and his eyes go black. He smashes the stone wall to rubble, the other four falling to the sand below. Zeldris jumps onto the sand and shouts out to the horizon. "Father, you better be burning in hell for all eternity. I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! NEVER!"
Zeldris does another scream and shots his demon mass into the air. He then calms down and his eyes return to normal. He flops down into the sand, the evening tide reaching him. Elizabeth arrives next to him and tries to hug him, which he allows. Zel turns back around to face the others. "Sorry. I guess I too can still get overwhelmed at times."
"That's ok man;" says Ban; "You have every right to be the angriest guy in the world. You know, I too wish things could've been different for you both, but I'm sure glad Meliodas was born, you too. I know Gelda's grateful you were born."
"I don't wish I wasn't born;" explains Zel; "I just wish, it had been different, as you said. Why did she have to suffer like that, not once, but twice, just because Father wanted the perfect vessel, and a spare. Plus keeping her prisoner like that, not even allowing her to see or touch her own sons. That's beyond evil."
Zeldris then realizes what he did to the wall. Jasmine arrives in front of them. "Sorry Pastor, I'll build a new one."
"That won't be necessary." Jasmine unleashes her lava power and hardens it, building a perfect new wall in seconds. "Don't touch it. It'll take a while for it to cool, then I'll do more to it to make it good and sturdy."
"I'm sorry about that;" Zeldris approaches her. "Tell me, what became of Isabella? And Scout, how did she know about all this?"
Jasmine gives a somber expression; "You haven't gotten to the end yet."
"I couldn't finish it. I don't even want to read any further. Tell me, how do you and Scout know all this, and why didn't she tell me all this herself? Is that why she left, to flee?"
Jasmine thoughtfully shakes her head. "Not at all. She really has to touch base in Cario since we haven't been able to reach it. She couldn't have told you about this directly even though she wanted too. She suffers from severe shyness and selective muteness. She hadn't even breathed a word since before we were trapped in purgatory two years. That is until the other night when she finally said my name again after so long. Besides, would you have believed her if she told you."
That hits Zel at the core. He lowers his eyes; "No, I wouldn't have." Zeldris gasps loudly thinking of something. "Wait, Scout, is she Isabella?! IS SHE, MY MOTHER?!"
Jasmine's look softens. She looks down at the sand with sadness in her eyes, then looks at Zel again with a compassionate look. "No, I'm afraid she's not. Isabella is long since dead and is now with God. I'm sorry Zeldris. I really am."
At this point, nobody is holding back tears, not even Ban. Something else then hits Zel like a ton of bricks; "NO! HE DIDN'T! HE DIDN'T!"
Hawk's jaw drops and he looks at Ban; "HOW?! NO! IMPOSSIBLE!"
Elizabeth gasps, as does Wild. Ban is stunned shocked and can't even speak. All seven of Zeldris's hearts stop. He gasps for breath; then all his hearts start racing. More tears form in his eyes. Jasmine catches him as he loses his balance. "Jasmine, tell me the truth. Is she..."
Jasmine smiles and answers.
"SISTER JAZ!" It's Chole calling from the top of the hill; "I need your help. It's urgent."
Jasmine rolls her eyes; "Yea, urgent for a teenager."
"SISTER JAZ, Chole took my clothes without asking again!" goes Amara.
"What's difference does it make. You've outgrown these dresses anyway."
As the pastor hops up to assist the girls, everybody else is still trying to process what they just learned and look at Zeldris.
"Zel, are you ok?" ask Hawk.
The demon king actually gives a tiny little smile and nods. "I will be, when I'm reunited with her and Meliodas."