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Ever since the druids’ cave, things had been different. Of course they had; Meliodas was a demon. King knew that now, and Meliodas knew that he knew. Though at the same time, things hadn’t changed. They’d been forced to leave the cave, Meliodas had gotten the rest of his power back, and neither had brought up the subject again. King had left the confrontation with more questions than answers. It seemed like the only thing that had actually changed was King’s trust in his captain. From there on, he kept a closer eye on Meliodas, which Meliodas clearly was aware of – but life went on, somehow. They went on. That is, until the fight with the demons.
All in all, the fight was rather mild. More confrontation than battle. They’d been split up and hadn’t managed to defeat any of the few Commandments that were actually there – but the Commandments hadn’t been able to defeat any of them either. A tie would have been, in King’s book at least, a win. Except, he hadn’t expected a tie. With the Ten Commandments’ magic still depleted and Meliodas’ restored, he should have been able to win a one-on-one fight. Right?
“Sorry. Guess he slipped away.”
The problem was, King had seen the end of Meliodas’ fight. If one could even call it that. Sure, there was blood enough to hint of a fight, but what he had seen… That wasn’t even a confrontation. It was more like a stand-off. No matter what Meliodas did say, no matter what excuse he made up – King knew. Meliodas had let the demon go. On purpose. There was no slip-away. It was a decision.
Later that night, King found Meliodas alone on the porch to the Boar Hat. He had his arms crossed in front of him, leaning against the railing. His gaze was stuck on the stars high above them. It was a peaceful night, but King felt anything but. Accusing the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins of aiding their enemies? It was a thought that had crossed King’s mind before, but not one he wanted to voice again. Especially if it meant having it proven right this time.
“Can I help you with something, King?” Meliodas suddenly asked without turning around. Now or never then. King braced himself, taking a deep breath.
“What happened back there?”
“What do you mean?” There was no defensiveness to his voice. No anger or sign he had even been offended at the apparent accusation. Meliodas sounded the way he always did. It made King want to take it back, but then again, Meliodas hadn’t just turned demon overnight. He had been deceiving them for years. King’s grip tightened around Chastiefol.
“You know what I mean. What happened with the Commandment?”
“I already told you.” Meliodas glanced back at King. His gaze lingered briefly at Chastiefol’s spear form. Though his expression remained as unreadable as ever. “He slipped away.”
No, he didn’t, King wanted to say. Actually there were a lot of things he wanted to say. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to. Despite confronting Meliodas in the druids’ cave. Despite everything King had done or said since. Despite whatever he was feeling – he couldn’t do it. Confronting Meliodas about this meant proving he couldn’t trust him. If Meliodas let their enemies go just like that, how could they even continue like this. How could they fight beside him? Trust that he would fight for them and not the demons?
It was answers King needed, but not ones he wanted. Because he wanted to trust Meliodas. Even if he couldn’t right now. He wanted him to prove that King was wrong, that he was exactly the same as he had appeared to be when King had first met him. He needed Meliodas to prove that all those years together, all that trust, wasn’t for nothing. King would rather be wrong than realize that his captain was like the rest of the demons.
“Right…” King mumbled, turning Chastiefol back to its pillow form. He hugged it to his chest as he turned towards the door again. He couldn’t do this. Not tonight.
“I know you don’t trust me.” Meliodas’ voice stopped him in his tracks. King turned back around, but Meliodas’ gaze was back in the stars. “And I know there is nothing that I can say to change that. You can’t make someone change the way they feel about demons just because you want to.”
His tone and words sounded old and tired, showing more of himself than he normally would. They reminded King yet again that he didn’t know Meliodas. Not really. Certainly not where he came from. They also made a heavy – and guilty – weight settle in King’s stomach. He didn’t like the way those words made him feel. He had legitimate reasons not to trust Meliodas. It wasn’t just because he was a demon. He was actively keeping things from them. Even letting their enemies get away.
“Speaking from personal experience?” King couldn’t help but ask. Meliodas sighed out into the night.
“More like the experience of a very dear friend. If she saw you wrong someone, it didn’t matter who you were or even what they were. She was really stubborn like that.”
Meliodas’ voice was fond as he spoke, and once again, King was left with questions rather than answers.
“I can’t decide how you feel,” Meliodas repeated and finally turned around to face King. There was a deep sadness replacing the usual mirth in his eyes. “But can I ask you something, as a big brother?”
The question seemed so odd and completely out of the blue that it caught King off guard, but at the same time piqued his interest. What had his relationship with Elaine to do with this? King landed on the floor beside Meliodas, giving him one short nod. He’d hear him out. If anything, maybe he would actually get some answers out of Meliodas this time.
Meliodas didn’t start speaking right away. King watched closely as he turned to the side for a moment, watching the night sky yet again. Briefly, there was almost something wistful about his gaze. Then his face fell. His expression wasn’t blank, but King still couldn’t understand it. Meliodas sighed as he turned back towards King.
“Tell me something, King,” Meliodas asked, and King knew that however the next moments played out, they would decide the future of his and Meliodas’ relationship. “What would you do if you and Elaine found yourself on opposite sides of this war?”
King couldn’t help it; he recoiled as if struck.
“What?” he squeaked out. Meliodas immediately grimaced.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean, I just- Ah!” Meliodas ran his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry, King. I don’t know how else to ask this.”
King crossed his arms over his chest, “What exactly are you asking?”
Meliodas sighed, frowning at the floor. He seemed to be mulling over his words for a long moment before he spoke up again, “If you and Elaine had found yourself on different sides of a war, just like this one. Worse than this one. On different sides of a so-called holy war…”
King didn’t move a muscle, hanging onto Meliodas’ every word. He knew, of course, that Meliodas really was over 3,000 years old. He had to be. It was the only explanation for how he knew the Ten Commandments personally. He had just never expected Meliodas to actually talk about it.
“What would you have done?” Meliodas asked once more. King was grateful when he didn’t stop for an answer because he honestly didn’t know what to say. The Ancient War… He couldn’t even imagine what that had been like, let alone imagine him and Elaine on different sides of it.
“If you knew she would never come with you, and you could never stay with her, not without becoming something you didn’t want to be.” The words seemed to pour out of Meliodas now. He stared intently on a crack in the floorboards, his hair hanging down over his eyes. King felt his own uneasiness grew with Meliodas’ distress. Whatever he had expected, it wasn’t this.
“If he- If she stopped seeing you as her brother. Even if she hated you and wanted you dead. If she tried to kill you-” Meliodas drew a shuddering breath, his voice barely above a whisper as he continued. “Could you do it? Could you actually kill hi-her, for the sake of a war?”
“I-” King shook his head, giving Meliodas the only honest answer he could, “I don’t know.”
“Yeah,” Meliodas let out a wet laugh as he looked up at King again. King was startled to see the tears rolling down his cheeks. “It was kind of a big ask, wasn’t it?”
King swallowed thickly. He had gone out here to confront Meliodas about his allegiances, now he was watching Meliodas cry and didn’t know what to do. It seemed that, even when he did get answers, none of these things went as he expected them to.
“But no,” King spoke up again, wanting to give Meliodas something at least. “I can’t imagine I could ever kill Elaine. No matter what happened.”
“Yeah,” Meliodas mumbled. He brushed away the tears, but it did little to ease the sorrow from his expression. King ran the conversation back through his mind. He took a deep breath. There was still one thing he needed to know for sure.
“So, that demon-”
“Zeldris.”
“Zeldris,” King repeated. “He’s…?”
“My little brother, yeah.” Meliodas sighed, his eyes still shiny with tears as he turned to lean against the railing again. King wondered what it was he saw as he watched the night sky. His gaze seemed to be thousands of miles away – or maybe it was thousands of years?
“For what’s it worth,” King said, standing beside Meliodas. “From where I stood, it looked like he didn’t want to kill you either.”
“I don’t know about that,” Meliodas mumbled. He shrugged once, more casually than anyone should in this situation. “I wouldn’t even blame him if he did.”
King didn’t say anything, but Meliodas seemed to catch his shock, because he gave him a crooked, cheerless smile.
“It’s not a pretty story,” Meliodas explained, glancing at King. “Whatever guilt you may carry, you’re not the worst big brother here. Zel has his reasons to hate me. They all do, I guess.”
All the demons had a reason to hate Meliodas. King let the thought sink in for a moment. It certainly spoke for Meliodas not being in league with the Ten Commandments.
“All of them?” King questioned. It was a bold claim to make. Meliodas regarded him for a moment, tilting his head slightly.
“Well, I can’t speak for every single demon,” he started. “And I know one who probably doesn’t, but he’s a bit of a special case. But, yeah, the demon race holds no love for me.”
He give him that twisted smile again and King shifted slightly where he stood.
“You sound like you regret it?” King pointed out. Meliodas gaze turned sharp for a moment; his voice strained as he spoke.
“My little brother wants me dead.” He then sighed once more, any fight draining from his eyes, and turned back to the sky. “I have a lot of regrets where he’s concerned. But just because I don’t find all demons evil monsters, doesn’t mean I agree with what they’re doing. I’m not with them, if that’s what you still believe.”
King didn’t know what he believed anymore. So, he focused on what he did know. Because Meliodas still looked like a kicked puppy and even though King’s trust had been broken, he hated seeing him like that.
“Well, I don’t know what happened.” Because you still won’t tell me. “And I don’t know your brother, but he didn’t kill you today, at least.”
Meliodas hummed, a small smile ghosting over his lips, “No, he didn’t.”
In the end, King ended up actually getting some answers. He wasn’t sure what to do with them, though. On one hand, Meliodas basically admitted to letting the demon go. But on the other, he hadn’t done it because of some loyalty to the Ten Commandments. He had done it because of family. How could King blame him for that?
Meliodas was, apparently, a 3,000-year-old demon who had done something to give the entire demon race reasons to hate him. King wasn’t sure if he was ready to start trusting him again. Not when there was still so much he didn’t know – but there was still time. Meliodas could still prove King wrong. Could still prove that King could trust him. After all, this whole thing with the demons was far from over.