Bonding/Demon Prince Childhood

Willie wakes up in a comfortable bed with a nice, warm cover inside a beautifully decorated but cozy room. At first, he's sure he's still dreaming and even pinches himself. Once he's sure he's awake, he realizes that he's coated in miasma. No doubt about it, he's in the demon realm. They must have been close enough if they found them. Praising God, he gets out of the bed, puts on the slippers provided for him, and changes back into his robe. His cloak is hanging up on a coat hanger, and he decides to save the complimentary chocolate bars till later. Meliodas and Inuyasha are also in the room, both still sound asleep.

"(In Arabic) Good morning, Brother Wildelfredico," comes a perky voice. Willie nearly jumps out of his skin and gets down on his knees. A cute, young adolescent looking girl in a simple dress is standing at the doorway, her black hair in a messy ponytail.

"(In Arabic) It's you, I mean, sorry your..."

"Stop that nonsense Wildelfredico, you're practically a member of the family. Now get up and give me a hug." She grabs him into a big hug. "It's so fantastic to see you again, without your idiot cousin. My apologies Wildelfredico."

"That's fine. He's only related to me by marriage. I love my step-father, but Herman just had to be his nephew and I got assigned to him as his babysitter while he serves his sentence."

"Sorry you have to deal with that;" says the girl; "So, I see you've made some new friends."

"Not really;" Willie yawns; "Well, maybe one, sort of. What time is it?"

"It's almost 9:30."

Willie's eyes bug out. "9:30 AM!"

"Yep."

"Why did you let me sleep so late?! You know I usually get up at 6:00."

"I'm sure you needed it." She tells Willie how Scout had found them and informed the night patrol. It was after midnight when she found them, and it was nearly 3:00 AM when they got them here. They had been way off course of the demon realm's patrol area in the complete opposite direction.

Willie shakes his head; "That cat never gets anything right. Wait, who did you say found us?"

The girl tells him again and Willie is suddenly frozen stiff. He can't believe it.

"Are you sure it's her?"

"Of course, it's her. You didn't know they survived?" She pauses for a second realizing something. "Hang on for a minute. Communications from your monastery has been, off lately. Did you ever get any messages or letters from them?"

Willie, still shocked, shakes his head. "No ma'am, we didn't. Not that I know of. What do you mean communications have been off?"

"Something weirds going on that's for sure;" she says, "in the last two messages I got from Grandpa, he called me by my full name. He never calls me by my full name. Also, nobody there addresses me by my titles because I asked them not too." Willie's surprised to hear this. "Wildelfredico, who works in the communications department?"

The monk shrugs his shoulders. "I'm not sure. It's a rotating staff. I haven't been in that area myself in over a year."

"Hum?" the girl looks to be in deep thought, then snaps out of it; "We'll talk about it after you've eaten. I'm sure you're hungry. We've got a nice spread laid out for you, including your favorite, shakshuka (poached eggs w/ mixed vegetables, herbs, and olive oil) over flatbread, if I'm remembering correctly."

Willie thinks it's probably a good thing that he's up first. Otherwise, he'd probably not get a bite once Meliodas awakens. This poor young chef and demon people have no idea what they're in for.

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Meliodas has been having a strange dream all night. He's seeing the faces of his many nannies and teachers he had while growing up. Most didn't stay for very long since he was an extremely rambunctious and troublesome child. Nearly all his caregivers gave up easily trying to tame him and too easily gave in to his constant demands, constantly giving him candy, meats, and gifts to keep him happy. He even started drinking alcohol at a very young age (as well as developed what he calls his 'innocent' fun, "so-called" perverted fondling habit as a toddler and never stopped, which nearly all caregivers gave into assuming he'd outgrow it) Chandler didn't personally take over his care until he was about a preteen. Even then, Chandler was a very laid-back authoritative figure and rarely forced Meliodas to behave or train if he didn't feel like it. He even encouraged his young charge's excessive drinking and perverted ways and believed that the demon prince should have as much fun as possible while he could, an attitude and outlook that Meliodas continues to embrace to this day (even more so since breaking the curses). It was only after he met his father directly for the first time and his extreme torture of his son did Meliodas start to buckle down and act blunt and cold-hearted. Meliodas hated his father and was constantly angry during this time, which caused him to frequently lose himself to his dark power (something that never happen to the other demons, except Zeldris). Non the less, Meliodas still tried to have fun, be jovial, and avoid responsibilities at any given opportunity (or when he could get away with it).

Meliodas was a very well-known womanizer during this time and was popular among the ladies despite his bad habits that his father literally tried to burn out of him. However, when Meliodas first saw Elizabeth, something in him changed forever. Not only did she have the perfect body, but her heart was also good and pure. She saw the good in Meliodas, and he could be himself around her. His anger, depression, and hatred melted away, and he was again allowed to be his naturally laid-back and child-like self.

Zeldris, on the other hand, had a completely different upbringing. Cusack became his caregiver from the beginning and Zel's upbringing was very strict and regimental from infanthood. The two brothers didn't even meet until Zeldris was of elementary age and Meliodas was nearly a preteen. Meliodas had found his brother completely serious, obedient, disciplined, stiff, no fun and completely boring. Zel couldn't even laugh or smile and was a young workaholic and studious student. Meliodas had little to no interest in his younger brother, except to play mean tricks on him and acting nothing at all like a big brother. Meliodas doesn't regret most of the fun and pranks he pulled, but he does regret the lack of respect and affection he had for Zeldris, which they only reconciled 3 months earlier, finally becoming true brothers.

Amongst the many faces of his caregivers, there's one face that keeps appearing multiple times throughout. A beautiful face with green eyes, blonde hair, and a goofy grin just like Meliodas. A face that has occasionally appeared in his dreams over the years, yet one he has not one real memory of at all. Who is she? And who's this new person standing beside her in baggy clothes and a blurred face. Meliodas has never seen this person before. Where did he/she (?) come from?

Meliodas opens his eyes. What was that he was just dreaming about? He rubs the sleep from his eyes and yawns. Never mind the dream, there's only one thing on his mind right now, FOOD! The sweet scent of chocolate fills his nostrils. He turns his head and sees two large chocolate bars on a nightstand. He devours them at lighting speed. He then scoots out of bed and realizes there's more chocolate bars next to the other two beds in the room. He gets his adrenaline going and quickly devours the four remaining bars.

Inuyasha returns from the connecting restroom, catches Meliodas stuffing the second of "his" bars into his mouth and gets angry.

"HEY! THOSE ARE MINE!"

The dragon sin swallows and licks his fingers; "Well, you should have eaten them while you had the chance."

Inuyasha grabs him by the shirt and is going to sink his claws in the demon.

"Good morning gentleman. Finally returned from dreamland I see."

Both turn their heads to see the same chipper girl who greeted Willie. She has her own language amulet, or rather turquoises jewel around her neck with multiple functions.

"Who the hell are you?!" snaps Inuyasha rudely.

"I'm here to serve you my fellow demons, or half-demons."

"Thank goodness, I'M STARVING!" Meliodas exclaims as his stomach growls.

"HOW?!" asks Inuyasha; "You just ate four big chocolate bars!"

"Six actually;" smirks Meliodas.

"WHAT? YOU PIG!"

"Of course, you're hungry," says the girl cheerfully; "Come, brunch awaits you both."

Inuyasha takes off. Meliodas starts to follow him, then realizes he needs to answer the call of nature first. Inuyasha has just enough time to load his plate high with food (much of which he doesn't recognize). He doesn't even bother to say thank you for the food and starts eating the stuff on sticks first. Meliodas arrives and waste no time digging in. Willie, who had just finished his meal, hurries to get out of their way. Inuyasha then realizes that there's no chop sticks, just strange, shiny tools with strange heads, one looking like a hand size pick fork.

"Where's the sticks?"

"Sticks?" says the girl. She then looks at the half-demon's clothes. "Oh, you want chop sticks? I think we have some around here somewhere."

"What do you mean somewhere?" While Inuyasha speaks, Meliodas gobbles up the remaining food off the half-demon's plate. This makes Inuyasha furious.

"HOW DARE YOU! SPIT IT OUT NOW!"

Meliodas just swallows and smiles. "Too late. It's your fault for getting distracted."

Inuyasha's about to punch him when their servers put two giant saucers in front of them, one with several large chunks of marinated meat (demon cattle beef), the other with zalabya (fried donut balls with powdered sugar). The two grab large chunks and gobble away. Before long, they simultaneously challenge each other.

"Ooo, an eating contest;" says the girl excitedly; "Quickly, bring out more food."

Willie gets grossed out watching this and leaves. He walks out of the small castle. This demon realm is very different from the one Meliodas comes from. It literally looks like a tropical paradise. Both water magic and water pumped from the Nile and underground sources provide the realm with lots and lots of water, as well as gathered sunlight and light magic providing light. There are many trees and tropical plants down here, as well as familiar and unique creatures running around. If not for the thick miasma in the atmosphere, it would be hard for many to believe this was a demon species realm (although their realms vary greatly). Even a couple hundred humans lived down here peacefully alongside the demons, although they have to be coated with a special miasma weekly to survive down here until they get used to it, but they're welcomed and treated like equals. Jasmine and Scout both spent a couple of years actually living here when Amalfi was caught up in the middle of a savage pirate war and are frequent visitors. There are even a few hybrids and a few residents from other mankind species. They travel to and from the surface by gates.

Willie decides to look for Scout at the grotto pool, where the hostess said she was. Willie has met Scout and Jasmine a few times before being that they were good friends of his Archbishop and Nuri. Scout, while kind, gentle, and obviously very intelligent, was extremely reserved and reclusive. Willie had originally mistaken her for being cold and aloof, but she wasn't, just extremely shy. She was actually very observant and cared very deeply for others. She rarely talked, except to her sister and sometimes to children and even Nuri. The monk himself has never heard her voice or ever seen her face.

Jasmine, while just as kind-hearted and quite intelligent in her own right, was much more social, assertive, and straight forward. She wasn't a big chatter box or anything but conversed normal enough despite having a bad stutter as a youngster. Jasmine was also very guarded and protective of her sister, and usually the only one who could get Scout to eat or rest (neither which she needs quite as much of as normal humans). Neither young lady was very social and always excused themselves from gatherings and preferred the company of small children, and animals to people, especially Scout. Non the less, they were both sweet-hearts and each seemed to have a gift of connecting with people in their own way.

Willie finds the grotto pool. It's very large and clear. He can see somebody swimming amongst the fish towards the bottom (twenty feet at deepest). It's 3 minutes later when the person finally surfaces for a breath. While the sun-kissed, auburn hair matches Scout's, it's much longer than it was a couple years ago at shoulder blade length. "Scout!" She doesn't hear him and goes back under after a quick breath. Four minutes pass until she surfaces again. "SCOUT!" Again, she doesn't respond and dives back under. Nervous, he steps in the shallow end of the pool and splashes the water around with his hands and feet. When she surfaces again a few minutes later, he calls out her real name. She immediately turns and faces him, covering her eyes with her hand and keeping the rest of her face under water. She ducks underneath, pulls something of her pocket, and surfaces with her thick, dark shades on. 

"(In Arabic) Scout! It's me, Wildelfredico!" As expected, she covers the rest of her face with a mask and swims towards him. She stands up and faces him, her wet hair already starting to curl. "It is you!"

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Back in the dining room, Meliodas continues to eat away (and drink after asking for alcohol, much to the shock of the girl and the servers). Inuyasha was taken out on a stretcher after throwing up and passing out 10 minutes after they started, Meliodas eating so much more then he managed too. The young hostess is completely taken aback, but at the same time intrigued by Meliodas's massive appetite and can't help but admire it. One of the other server's notices that she's looking starry-eyed at him and snaps his fingers in her face. "Excuse me, your majesty, please don't develop a crush on him. He's your relative, and I believe he's taken." The girl looks at him annoyed; "I know, but I can still admire him." The demon queen takes a seat across from Meliodas as he finishes yet another beer bottle and belches, then asks for more food. Exasperated and gasping, the servers return to the kitchen.

"Everything here is SO GOOD;" Meliodas says with a huge smile, licking the sauce and gravy off his face; "Did you really cook all this yourself?"

The queen gasps. Somebody must have mentioned that. "Alot of it, yes. That was incredible, I've never seen anything like it."

Meliodas grins patting his belly; "Yea well to be honest, I never thought I would again, until several months ago after breaking a curse that plagued me for so long. Even while under it, I actually had a pretty hearty appetite as everybody said, but that was nothing compared to now. Hawk's sure in for a surprise if he ever returns. I don't like to admit, but I really do miss him."

"Who's Hawk?" Just then, they hear a pig snorting. A young pink pig, much slimmer than Hawk, walks in and towards the queen. It is wearing purple sunglasses, holding a lunch basket in its mouth, and has schoolbooks strapped to its back. Meliodas is surprised since Willie had claimed nobody had swine around here. The dragon sin briefly gets his hopes up on a pork dinner when his host starts talking to the pig in a very chipper tone.

"Welcome back Angel. How was school today?"

"Huh?" Meliodas is perplexed. The queen continues talking with the pig like it was a person. The pig seems to be talking back, in squeals and grunts, maybe a few foreign words in there. She scratches Angel behind the ears, which the pig is obviously enjoying.

"Did you see Iris?" asks the queen. The pig answers.

"She gave you a belly rub, did she? So, she remembered your sweet spot, that's great."

They continue the conversation for a few more minutes, Meliodas just stares wide-eyed at them, disappointed. "I guess this means I'm not getting any pork again today."

"Meliodas." The dragon sin snaps to attention. He just realizes that he doesn't remember giving the hostess his name. Maybe Willie told her. "This is Angel, the REAL boss around here. Angel, meet Meliodas, my cuz...uh...guest."

Angel walks up to Meliodas and greets him. The queen hits them with her amulet.

"Hi, Meliodas. I'm Angel." Angel says wagging her curled up tail.

"Huh? Oh, uh, hi pork. Do you come tender, juicy and fatty or tough and dry?"

"What?" Angel has no idea what Meliodas means and looks at the queen.

"Oh, it's...just his special way greeting you...I guess. Alright girl. Go get your milk and cookies, do your homework, and I'll meet you at the springs at 3:00."

"Ok Cleo." Angel gets a pat on the head and the young sow takes her leave.

The queen gives Meliodas a funny look; "What kind of greeting was that?"

Meliodas puts his arms behind his head and leans back in the chair; "Just a joke, sort of. I thought you people didn't keep pigs."

"Oh, she's not an ordinary pig. She's from the purgatory dimension located in Central Africa. Number 1 in her class.

Meliodas is amazed; "Really? Hawk's also from purgatory. I didn't know there were more like him, besides Wild that is. Anyway, when's the rest of that food coming out?"

The servers return a few minutes later and reload the table, mostly sweets and desserts. Meliodas digs in.

He then asks with his mouth full if he's in the demon realm or someplace else.

"You're in the demon realm, of course." Meliodas looks around this lovely place, as well as a glimpse outside, if that's even a window.

"This is the demon realm? But it's so, bright and beautiful. "

"What were you expecting; fire, brimstone and darkness resembling hell?"

Meliodas stuffs a sweet pastry into his mouth; "Yes actually."

The queen laughs. "Why would we have it look like that? That's so ugly and depressing. Demon realms don't have to be like that."

Meliodas shrugs his shoulders; "I guess not. By the way, I didn't catch your name."

"You may call me Cleo. It's such a pleasure to finally meet you, Meliodas. I never thought I'd ever get to meet you face to face."

Meliodas nearly chocks on his food and downs it with milk. "You've heard of me? How is that possible? I didn't even know there were other demon clans other than my own?"

"You'd be surprised."

"By the way, am I going to meet this queen of yours? Is she nice and friendly, I hope? I've never heard of a demon queen before. Willie seems to trust her, so she must be good, unlike my father."

Cleo holds back a giggle; "She's closer than you think. If you be nice to her, she'll be nice to you."

She decides to hold off on revealing her true identity just a little while longer, as well as the fact that her and Meliodas are related.

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The demon slayer's own tricks have been turned back on her. She's been disarmed of everything, and she's now being held prisoner inside a perfect cube. She refuses to give her name, although Carmine and Nuri already know it. She's Ching Liang, Chinese warrior and the empire's top demon slayer, although she offers her services are used all over Asia, Northern Africa, even Eastern Europe. Carmine and Nuri keep telling her that they don't know where the remains of her grandfather and parents are located. They tell her that her family stopped by 25 years ago and demanded directions to Gangkhar Puensum. They refused to give them directions and had a brawl with Nuri, who ended up giving permanent burn injuries her uncle, the only survivor. Her mother and father (their infant left in the care of friends) gave their solum word not to go to the mountain as planned and they left. Neither Carmine nor Nuri trusted them. It took some convincing from Carmine, but Nuri had finally agreed to go after them. By the time she got there, the mountain had already claimed her grandfather and parents. The blue dragon emerged and fatally wounded the uncle. He just barely survived thanks to Nuri and Carmine. The ladies searched for weeks, for however long they could survive the mountain's wrath, but never found their bodies.

The slayer refuses to believe them and retains her faith in her uncle's story. He always told her and everybody else that Nuri, whom the locals called Shila due to her "flame" nature, had out right murdered them and that he only survived by divine luck. He lost both eyeballs, leaving him blind. Most of his body was brutally scared and disabled. He's been unable to walk and left only with partial use in one arm, unable to work or care for himself. He claimed to have defeated the dragon and maintained that their mission was for a noble cause, although he was never specific about what it was, nor that it was for money because they desired a better life. His niece always looked up to him and believed him to be a hero. She swore that she'd one day avenge her family's deaths and bring their bodies home to rest in peace.

"LIES! ALL LIES! You will pay for you've done to my family and others."

Nuri looks at her fiercely; "We don't care what you think of us or what you believe. But you are NOT going to set foot on that mountain and have everything and everyone for a thousand miles around destroyed!"

"You think I care."

Merlin translates what Ching Liang is saying. King's shocked and beside himself. "And I though Nuri was a psychopath."

"I heard that;" replies Nuri.

"What are you going to do with her?" ask Merlin; "I have a number of ways I could punish her."

"Send her to the Chinese border out in the tundra;" says Nuri; "Maybe some time in the wilderness will knock some sense into her."

"Nuria;" says Carmine; "That's rather harsh, don't you think?"

Nuri really doesn't think so, but gives in. "Alright. Send her to her hometown. Let herself be humiliated by her defeat."

"Done." Carmine asks Merlin and King to help her as the transport spell takes a lot of magic. A few minutes later, she's gone.

"I'm sorry you had to get caught up in that;" Carmine tells Merlin.

"That's ok. It's a nice learning curve."

Carmine realizes that everybody's exhausted. They were up all night and its already afternoon. "All of you, please get some rest. I'm making arrangements to get you three to lower altitude village as soon as possible so you can properly recover. Gelda should be fine soon, but Harlequinn and Merlin may never recover if they stay here much longer. Humans must break into this environment gradually, and this part of the world is no place for a fairy. Nuri my dear, you must get to a lava source as soon as..."

"I can take care of myself." The vulacish realizes that she just raised her voice to the priestess and apologizes.

They lay down and try to get some rest while Carmine tries to make magical teleline contact again. Nuri and Merlin, however, just sit on their cots. Unexpectedly, Nuri gets up and sits next to Merlin. They sit there for a while, barely able to stay awake.

"I...I used to get into the bed with you once in a while."

Merlin gasp. "You did? I don't remember that."

"I did. That song from Mother, I used to hide and listen to you sing it."

Merlin is moved to tears. She's sure she doesn't remember because she neglected her sister. "So that's how you learned it!"

The vulachish chocks holding back sobs. "Will you...(sniffs)...sing it with me? That was my biggest dream as a child, to sing that song with...my sister."

Merlin smiles through her tears; "Yes, I will."

The two sisters sing their mother's lullaby softly. Gelda, who's still awake, smiles as she listens.