Arriving In Luxor

Gowther looks at the copycat in the holding cell. She refuses to look at anyone, rejected the meal offered to her, and hasn't said a word. Margaret, Jericho, and Guila arrived.

Gowther attempts to read the copycat's mind again. He can sense her emotions, which are calm, but not her actual thoughts. Thanks to Azarath enhancing his magic, Gowther can now translate the language of the person's thoughts into his own, but her mind seems to be blocked by a barrier. After several failed attempts, Azarath decides to resort to a more "old school" approach. He goes inside the barrier, takes out a feather, and starts trickling her. The copycat turns out to extremely ticklish. She's speaking in Transylvanian Saxon, a German delict used in Transylvania in the far eastern Hungarian Empire and admits that she's from the Transylvania Alps and if she knows the goddess Artemis. Azarath asks Bela if she knows Artemis, but Bela says that Artemis isn't even involved and doesn't know she's there. When asked who sent her, Bela's seems completely incapable of answering that, then her brain suddenly seems to sort circuit, and she passes out. 

"She's definitely under some sort of curse;" informs Azarath, and there are several types of curses that could've caused this." 

"Pardon my asking Azarath, who's Artemis?"

"Who cares Gowther?" blunts Jericho.

"I'll explain later;" says Azarath; "Let's get you four to Luxor. My granddaughter should be up there soon for market day. My transport powers are still being affected by this radiation still lingering in the air, but it should work once we get outside of the city.

"Finally!" replies Jericho.

As they prepare to leave, Azarath wonders who sent this spy. He and Artemis, who have always been allies and had a brother/sister type relationship, aren't currently on speaking terms after a major disagreement several years ago. Non the less, they remain very respectful towards each other, even though they don't see eye to eye on some things.

Suddenly, they hear an explosion. It came from the kitchen. Word reaches seconds later that the kitchen's on fire, again. Azarath wonders who could possibly be fooling around in there since brunch was being catered today. The Britainnian ladies had tried to grab a bit from the cafeteria this morning and were warned to only have the catered food, not the food from the kitchen. The Britainnians follow the old demon to the cafeteria and discover that two of the apprentices actually took some of the already cooked catered food thinking, they could "improve" it because they were trying to impress a couple of the single ladies. Gulia and Margaret are in disbelief, while Gowther thinks not even his captain would mess around with good food, or would he? At least they only ruined a small portion of the catered meal and there's still plenty left. Azarath gives the apprentices a stern talking to and makes them suit up to clean the kitchen from top to bottom. Then he gives a brief lecture to everybody else for not stopping them.

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Cleo is busy in her personal kitchen making baked goods for the bizarre in Luxor. She's been up since early morning and Scout has been helping. Scout has very small appetite, only needing around half what normal humans need, with little passion for the kitchen outside of obligated duty. However, she does have cooking basics down and her food is edible, if bland. Cleo believes Scout could be much better at cooking, if she'd just put more effort and heart into it rather than just getting by because she has too.

Scout has on her full-face hijab, exposing no part of her face whatsoever.

"You know you don't have to cover your face around me;" says Cleo; "Please take that thing off in here. I haven't seen your face in over two years now."

Scout considers it but is concerned about strangers coming in. Then Cleo realizes she needs more ingredients, so Scout agrees to go and get some from the village. Cleo's icing fresh cinnamon rolls when Marks comes in with his notepad and clears his throat.

"Marks, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be off duty."

"Sorry for the interruption your Majesty but I'm afraid the Turkish ambassador is here to see you."

Cleo's surprised. "What?! He's not supposed to be here until Monday morning."

"There's been a scheduling conflict and he's returning to Turkey at noon. He demands to meet with you before his departure."

"Seriously?! RIGHT NOW?!"

"I'm afraid so your highness."

"Oh, good grief!" Cleo is covered in flour and her hair's a mess. She quickly washes her hands and face then takes off her apron.

"You're Majesty, you're going to meet him looking like that?"

"I don't have time to change Marks. I'm coming right back here anyway. He'll just need to accept that he caught me at an unplanned bad time. Oh, do me a favor, for goodness's sake take the rest of day off, that's an order."

"But your Majesty there's too much work to do?"

"Marks, hot springs, then spa, now!"

Marks huffs. The hot springs and deep, hot stone massages are the only two things that will completely relax the workaholic and make him forget about work. "You play hardball, don't you your Majesty."

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Meliodas wakes up to the mouthwatering smell of something delicious. He leaps out of bed, throws on his clothes, and follows the sweet smells. It doesn't seem to be in the direction of the main kitchen, but from Cleo's chambers. He pushes open a door to find a small kitchen filled with all kinds of homemade goods. Giving no thought to the matter and completely forgetting that Cleo told him last night never to enter her private kitchen without permission, Meliodas immediately digs in, completely ignoring a note saying in both Arabic and Britannian (just in case) "Do Not Touch." He eats all kinds of delicious cookies, bread, donuts, several sweets that he can't identify, the whole batch of fresh cinnamon rolls covered in icy, and even a huge Egyptian hazelnut cake with caramel icy in the cold pantry.

Scout soon returns and is so shocked by what she sees that she gasps and drops the ingredients she had gotten.

She tries to say; "Meliodas no;" but barely any sound comes out of her mouth. She flashes over to him and taps him on the shoulder. Meliodas notices this oddly dressed person, standing approximately 5'6 (Elizabeth's height), next to him and waves.

"Oh, yo. Didn't see you there." He picks up about three sweet cookies and brings them towards his mouth. Scout slaps her hand down over his wrist.

"No," comes a very low, very scratchy voice. Meliodas doesn't understand and assumes she's speaking another language, then discovers that he can barely lift his arm from underneath hers.

"Man, you're a strong a one, aren't you? Just like Cousin Cleo. You a friend of hers?" He actually lowers his face towards the table and scoops up the cookies into his mouth, which freaks Scout out. "You should try these, they're so delicious." Scout shakes her head then points to the note, which is now covered in gunk. Meliodas sees the words; "Do Not Touch."

"Oops;" Meliodas's says stuffing another cookie into his mouth. "Sorry, but you can make more. They're for guests anyway and I'm a guest. By the way, my name's Meliodas and I'm Cleo's cousin, as it turns out. What's your name?"

As he talks, he reaches for a still untouched batch of sweet cakes called basebousa, but Scout manages to move it.

"HEY! I'm still hungry!" Meliodas then takes does a double take and takes good look at the stranger. At first glance, he thought this person was a male. Her blue buttoned up shirt is about as long as his black vest is on him and very baggy, perfectly camouflaging any boobs she may have. Her jeans are relaxed fit and not figure hugging, and her long shirt helps hide her butt and hips. However, her neck and collar bone are exposed and look feminine, as do her hands, feet and even her movements. She then makes just the right movement that Meliodas sees at least a modest sized, but still obvious, breast outline. There's one way to make sure of it.

Cleo heads back to her kitchen exasperated. She can't believe the Turkish ambassador's securities double booked him. Well, his business with her is done and it's time to get those baked goods packed up and loaded for the transport to the surface. Suddenly, she hears a very loud CRASH, as if something smashed through the wall. She runs into the kitchen and sees a hole through the doorway to the outside. Scout has her arms wrapped around her chest.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Embarrassed, Scout briefly tells her in sign language.

"He tried to do WHAT?!" She then points to the baked goods, or what's left of them. Cleo is clearly upset and runs out to Meliodas, kicking him hard in the gut.

"MELIODAS!"

The dragon sin looks up an angry demon queen. "Yo, Cousin Cleo, is everything ok?"

"NO! You ate nearly half of the baked goods for the bizarre market today! It's for the children's home. You also ate the whole hazelnut cake I made for a 6-year-old girl's birthday party this afternoon. On top of all that, YOU TRIED TO GROPE YOUR OWN..."

Scout puts her hand over Cleo's mouth, shaking her head, then urges the demon queen to take a few breaths to calm down, putting her hand on her shoulder. Onlookers have gathered around, including Willie.

Meliodas sits up, taking in what was just said to him. "You mean I really wasn't supposed to eat those goodies?"

"NO!" replies Cleo trying to calm down. "I don't have time to make any more either. We'll have to make do with what's left. And I'll just need to buy a cake while I'm up there, but they'll be able to tell the difference." Cleo's about to return to the kitchen when she looks back at her cousin. "Meliodas, don't ever enter my private kitchen, ever again. And next time, read the note."

Scout signs an apology to Cleo, especially about the door.

"No don't. You didn't do anything wrong. We'll repair it. Please help me load the rest of the food onto the wagon."

Scout nods but looks back at Meliodas before disappearing into the kitchen.

Meliodas looks down in shame, cringing his fists. He can't believe he just ruined a little girl's birthday party and a fundraiser. On top of that, he didn't even manage to touch that girl's breasts.

"Meliodas, what did you do?" asks Willie.

"Nothing;" the demon forces a chuckle, then confesses anyway.

"WHAT?!" Willie slaps his own head; "Meliodas, what are we going to do with you?"

Meliodas slaps his fist into his hand. "I know exactly what to do. Willie, I'm going to need your help."

"Help with what?"

"With baking another cake of course."

The monk's sure he sees a red flag appear in front of him. "Are you out of your mind?! You've already told me what a terrible cook you are. Cleo's going to buy one anyway."

"Ah come on Willie. I really want to make it up to her. This is for a good cause."

"Forget it! And believe me you don't want my help. I don't know a teaspoon from a tea pot."

Meliodas laughs. "That bad? Even I can tell a spoon from a pot."

"That was a figure of speech!"

Meliodas grabs the monk by the wrist and drags him; "NO!"

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Jasmine has taken Elizabeth to the clinic for a checkup. They have a very unique spell coupled with a magical device that allows them to hear the babies' heartbeats as well as to see them inside the womb. Ban and Zeldris are allowed in to look at this part of the exam. The heartbeats sound very strong and healthy, and the double rhythm most definitely indicates twins. Next the doctor does the "ultrasound". The picture's not perfect, but it does reveal the two embryos inside. Elizabeth is almost 9 weeks along, further than expected. They can see their "big" hearts beating, as well as make out their "big" heads and stubby developing limbs, with "big" hands. While it's too early to physically tell the sexes of the babies, another spell shows their auras, confirming one to be male and the other female. In fact, the female one is actually very active, swimming around, playing with her umbilical cord, and already seems to be using her much calmer brother's space as a "punching bag", kicking his amnionic sag through her own with her lower body and developing leg stubs.

"Guess we know which one takes after the captain, and which one takes after Elizabeth;" Ban chuckles.

Zeldris gasps, so glad that he and Meliodas aren't twins, or otherwise Zel would've been his brother's punching bag inside the womb. He then returns to being mesmerized by how the babies look at this stage. None of the three Britiannians had any idea what went on inside the womb, and now they're getting a real glimpse of it.

"Do we all look like that inside the womb?" asks Ban, curiously.

"At 9 weeks, yes;" giggles the doctor. "Well, almost all of us. My sister never grew a right arm, so she was born without one. She does exceptionally well though."

After the appointment, the boys chat about what they saw and ask Jasmine lots of questions. Elizabeth is almost in the twilight zone as she thinks back to 9 weeks ago. Her and Meliodas were in a village called Calendula, which is famous for its unique marigold flowers as well as it's sweet wines, ale (a legitimate rival to Bernia Ale), and sweets. During her 103rd incarnation, Elizabeth was the adopted daughter of a flower shop owner there and took it over as an adult. The shop was still there, but under new ownership and almost completely renovated, Meliodas mentioning that her shop had been much nicer.

They were staying at the tavern inn called Tristian's right across the street from the shop. It rained for days without hardly letting up, so they hardly left Tristian's (to the poor owner's dismay as Meliodas kept cleaning out his food and drink stocks. Barta was definitely not happy with the tab) Tristian wasn't the name of the owner, but rather a character from his wife's favorite poem. They never had children, so they called the place what they'd always wanted to name a son, Tristian. It was also one of those occasional times that Meliodas actually bought and gave Elizabeth flowers to brighten up their room, since they were practically stuck there for 5 days. The twins were definitely conceived that week!

Tristian. Meliodas did mention that it was a good and sturdy name, despite thinking that its poetry origin was cheesy. He will surely want to name their son after the place of conception, Elizabeth's sure it. What about the daughter? What would Meliodas want to name her? Elizabeth after her mother? Marigold after the town and signature flower she was conceived at. What about Isabella or a variation of it, after her grandmother? However, Zeldris mentioned that he'd like to name his daughter after their mother if he and Gelda have one.

Then Elizabeth remembers that she had thought of naming her daughter Micheala, after her biological father Michael, although she thinks she prefers to spell it Mikayla.

Elizabeth looks down at her belly, she's not showing yet despite carrying twins, but she should be soon. Their wedding's supposed to be in seven weeks! She'll be sixteen weeks then! Will they need to move up the date, so she'll still fit into her dress, let it out, or just wear a corset and be snug? It'll only be for a few hours anyway.

"Wait," says Jasmine; "Let's go this way, there's something I need to show you."

She takes them to a spot just outside of town. It's covered in dry molten rock. Doesn't seem very impressive.

"This is where it happened;" says the pastor; "Where I became a vulacish." Jasmine explains that she was born an ordinary human child. When she was 7, a gang of three local older bullies targeted her due to her skin color as well as being a poor orphan (although her father and the church weren't and still aren't "that poor", they certainly aren't well off). The bullies were so heartless that they actually pushed her into a flowing lava river, actually believing they had done their "race" and town a godly service. Jasmine's pastor father, Enzo, and many others looked all over for her. However, Jasmine didn't die. Instead, Mt Vesuvius accepted her, and she rose from the lava hours later. When she told her father what had happened, he advised her not to seek revenge on the bullies/attempted murderers, but that she could teach them a lesson, with his help. She did, not hurting them, but giving them a good enough fright that they not only quit bullying all together, but they also completely changed their viewpoints and are now some of Jasmine's biggest supporters, not to mention extremely kind and non-hostile towards visitors and people who are "different".

"Do vulacish live normal human lifespans, or longer?" asks Ban.

"We can naturally live three times longer than we would as normal humans. However, many vulacish die young either from fights or loneliness." She takes a deep breath. "I'm actually unique because I live amongst society. Everybody around here knows my story and accept me, most everyone that is. Most others, unfortunately, are oust by civilization and spend nearly their whole lives isolated and alone. They generally don't even trust their own kind and become extremely territorial and bitterly hostile. I was fortunate."

Zeldris then asks about when they're going to reunite with their loved ones.

"Actually, I was going to talk to you about that. As soon as they are recovered from their sickness, Gelda, Merlin, and Harlequinn are going to be transported here, along with Goro's sister Norberta."

"SERIOUSLY!" exclaims Zeldris.

Jasmine nods.

"What about the others?" asks Elizabeth.

Jasmine says that Scout will surely bring Meliodas back with her, along with the third phoenixgon sibling Kaida.

"What about Elaine and Diane?" asks Ban.

Jasmine suddenly feels that something's off. She goes off to a hardened lava chamber and locates a black pearl. She has a feeling what this pearl is and that a certain trio is hiding out in there. These spells only last up to 72 hours. Assuming they activated it late Wednesday after the battles, it won't be long until they come out.

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A portal opens in the middle of Luxor. Gowther, Margaret, Jericho, Gulia, and Azarath come out of it. They are amazed that Luxor is so much cleaner and more pleasant looking then Cario, even the people are smiling at each other and seem to be relaxed. Azarath explains that Luxor and Alexandera are self-governing territories hardly effected by the chaos in Cario. It isn't long before someone recognizes Azarath and informs where his granddaughter has set up shop. On the way, Guila spots the Luxor Temple and thinks its pillars look magnificent. The others stop to look when Gowther looks at Guila and almost takes her hand but backs out when she looks at him. Even Jericho is mesmerized by the place. Turns out the market extends here, and this is where Cleo is. Azarath spots her and calls out to her.

"Cleo!"

The demon queen's face light up; "Grandpa!" They run to each other and embrace tightly. Azarath gives her a kiss.

"How are you my little sun and stars?"

"Grandpa, when did you get back? I received messages from you as far back as two months ago, or at least somebody pretending, but never could contact you directly on your private line."

"Sweetheart, I returned three weeks ago, just like I said I would. Turns out we had a copycat spy whose been messing with our mail and transmissions and sending out fake messages."

"A copycat?"

"Yes, but anyway..."

"Grandpa, MELIODAS IS HERE!"

Those are the words the Britannians wanted to hear. "Where is he?" asks Gowther; "Meliodas is my captain."

"You guys are from Britannia?" asks Cleo.

"Of course;" answers Jericho bluntly. "Where is he so we can get the hell out of here?"

"Calm down Jericho;" says Margaret; "We're not in 'that' big of a rush."

"He's not right here here;" replies Cleo. "He's in the demon realm. He sure did a number on the baked goods I made this morning, but I still like him. Wildelfredico's there too."

Azarath takes that in. Finally, after so long, he can see and embrace his nephew again. He's always felt guilty about not trying harder to retrieve him from his older brother, who only saw his own sons as pawns. By the time Zeldris was born Azarath and any and all outside demons and goddesses were unable to enter Britanna due to Barbatos and Caelestis joint barrier. It was through stories of non-magical Britannian immigrants and spies/explorers, who could get in and out manually, that he learned of the events of the holy war as well as what had happened to Meliodas, Zeldris, even Barbatos and Caelestis. He had learned of the curses from Nuri. He couldn't believe even his brother was capable of being that cruel. At least he was able to help the boys' mother, Isabella, in the very end.

Cleo then informs her grandfather that Scout is also here, alive and well. Azarath fights back tears.

Scout is taking a dip in the Nile, wearing all her clothes except shoes. She helped Cleo set up the booth, but the demon queen noticed that she was trying to fight off an anxiety attack by being around so many people. She suddenly feels another exceptionally strong presence arrive in Luxor. She recognizes it as Azarath, and rushes out of the water to see him. Another feeling then hits her, a very one unpleasant, as if something bad's about to happen.

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Merlin's group is in a small village in the lower altitude region in Southern Tibet. Her and King are in medical beds having warm medicine fluids slowly being pumped into them. Gelda mostly just needed good, fresh Tibetan blood. Surprisingly, several good Samaritans donated, and she's now almost fully recovered. They've had plenty of time to process everything that has happened. Soon, possibly tomorrow, they'll be transported to a place called Amalfi to reunite with Elizabeth, Ban, and Zeldris, and Norberta (who also needs treatment for a cold) with her brother Goro. Gelda's ecstatic to reunite with Zeldris, King, however, while happy to be seeing the others, is still upset to not yet be reuniting with his wife and sister. 

Merlin's in deep thought. She wants to keep an eye on her sister. She really doesn't know exactly what's going on, nor what Nuri intends to do. She wants to save her sister from this curse once and for all. Carmine told her that there is somebody who does have the power to break the curse, but Nuri has to want to break it out of her own free will. Even this person's rare divine gift, known as the Gift of the Dove (Holy Spirit) can't destroy the curse as long Nuri continues to refuse.

Nuri wonders around outside. Even though both Merlin and Norberta told her they'd take her to a volcano once their treatment was complete, she's trying to conjure up what's left of her volcanic powers to launch her to the nearest volcano region. All of the known volcanos in the region are currently dormant (although a vulacish at half power can bring them back to life depending on how deep their magma source is), but she can't even currently liquefy centuries old harden lava to regain some power.

She wonders a little way from the camp. Soon, she feels a presence, but then she hears what sounds like a baby crying. She runs there and does in fact find a baby, seemly alone. However, something doesn't feel right. Suddenly, she gets ambushed from the back by electrical lighting, then several other explosions. Six people jump her, including Ching Liang the Chinese demon slayer, who's leading the ambush. Six others soon join them, one grabbing the real-life human baby while 3 others place special restraint chains on the vulacish. With her powers to depleted, Nuri can't overpower these people like she usually can. Even her physical strength can't out muscle this many.

Gelda, who was outside, hears the screams and rushes to Nuri's aid. She gets there just in time to see Nuri kicked through a portal. She attacks, but her attack is blocked by a barrier as the last of the red-hooded abductors disappear through the portal and close it.