Iris Tells Meliodas/Rescue Plan

Iris takes her wet, shoulder blade length auburn hair out of the ponytail and lets it hang loose, combing it out with her fingers into its natural loose curly state. She returns to the group to find a fiasco. Meliodas keeps trying to grab Hawk, asking if he could spare some of his meat. Hawk is hiding behind anybody shaking with fear. When he realizes that she's back, Hawk swims to her in tears. "Scout, please do something. Meliodas has lost his mind! He's even tried to eat Inyuasha's arm and even Gowther. Please set him straight." Once again confusing Inuyasha's dog-like features for an animal, Meliodas in a half daze state is trying to eat his fire-rat robe. Inuyasha has had enough and slashes his claws deep into the dragon sin's face. Meliodas feels the pain and somewhat comes back to his senses. Gowther catches his captain as Meliodas touches his face and feels the blood. He's crying as he opens his eyes and looks at everybody. Willie tells Iris that it had started as Meliodas cursing the Supreme Deity and his father. He had remembered his encounter with her and what she had said about his mother. He realized that he not only really did have a mother, but it hit him hard that his father might had raped her, twice if not more. He had almost lost control of his wrath when his hunger pangs kicked in again, making him want to eat and drink to cope with his emotions. He then confused not only Hawk, but started to see dog-like Inuysasha and for some reason Gowther as food and went completely haywire. He puts his face in his hands weeping, only half apologizing as he's still seeing the pigs, the dog-demon, and doll as emergency food rations. He's very confused, and starving. Gowther even mentions that his captain feels lighter, his face is pale and showing signs of becoming emancipated. Meliodas has never been this famished and emotionally confused before, he really doesn't know what to do. Everyone, including Hawk, Inuyasha and Nuri, turn from being angry and frustrated with the dragon sin to sympathetic and worried.

"I can't take this anymore!" Meliodas admits hitting the water with his fist. "I must eat something NOW!"

He's about to chew on Gowther's arm when Iris approaches him. She has no food, but touches her brother's face, heeling the wound. At first Meliodas thinks that Elizabeth has finally come to him, but the blurry silhouette doesn't belong to his beloved. Barely making out the black shades and mask, Meliodas realizes this is the masked stranger in front of him. For some mysterious reason, he feels the urge to embrace her, and melts into her arms. Somehow, he feels better just being in this stranger's embrace. It feels shockingly familiar, yet he's never felt anything like this before. It's warm, gentle, and peaceful, like Elizabeth but very different as well, as if Meliodas has been searching and longing for this his entire life. Vaguely remembering the others saying that this stranger was a relative, he looks at the masked face with wonder.

"Mo...Mother? Mother is that you?"

Everybody gets sympathetic looks on their faces. "Oh Meliodas;" says Hawk. Iris holds up her palm as to silence him, then picks up her brother cradle style and takes him down river. Hawk, Gowther, Willie, and even Inuyasha start to go after them, but somebody aggressively grabs Inuyasha's arm from behind. "Stop all of you;" Nuri, holding Melidy, says firmly. "Give them space. Let her do this privately."

Meliodas is feeling like he's in the twilight zone. He thinks he's dreaming about his mother holding him, something he's never felt before. He's probably been seeking his mother's touch his entire life, but never knew it. He wakes up when they go underneath a cool waterfall. He coughs as Iris goes up a set of steps and props him up on the edge, remaining almost chest deep in water. His face becomes contorted with pain as his stomach rumbles again. He places both palms on his belly and looks at the stranger. "Who...who are you? Are you, my mother? Have you come back for me?"

Iris lowers her head. She tries but remains unable to speak. She shakes her head no, then takes off her mother's locket and puts it in her brother's hand. Thinking that it's candy, Meliodas shoves it into his mouth.

"NO!"

Meliodas immediately spits it out with a bitter look. "What the hell is this? This isn't food." Iris stares bewildered for a few seconds, but then starts laughing softly. Meliodas is a little embarrassed at first, but then joins in with the laughter. "How embarrassing. Did I make you laugh? Do you have any real food on you?"

Iris is still laughing a little but pulls herself together. She opens up the locket and points to a picture. Miraculously, Meliodas's vision suddenly clears up and he perfectly sees the picture of...HER! It can't be. The dream lady! Practically his own face looking at him, but female. Same eyes, same nose, same checks, same chin, same mischievous smile. Meliodas stares at the picture, rubbing his fingers over it. Is this even real? Iris points her own finger at it, and finally manages to mumble the word; "Mama."

"Mama?" Meliodas looks at her; "Are you for real? Gowther, this isn't a joke, is it? Zeldris, is that you? When did you learn about...? I'm still dreaming, I must be. Gowther, you better not be involved this. This isn't funny." Meliodas's clouded mind is literally coming up with every possible excuse. He looks at the picture again, tears falling down his checks. "Mother?" He then notices the picture next to it. IT'S HIM. At least it looks like him. He looks no older then a 2-year-old human toddler. The face is exactly the same, even his hair is exactly the same. The only difference is that his mischievous smile contains buck spaced baby teeth. He can't recall ever seeing a picture of himself this young. "Is that really me? Where did you get this? Are you really my mother? Her reincarnation?" He grabs her hand; "Please tell me, Mama?"

Iris barely squeaks out the word no, the flips the mid-piece of the locket to show two more pictures. Meliodas gasps. That serious, stoic black-haired baby has to be Zeldris, no doubt about it. But there's another picture. A sweet, sleeping baby no more than a newborn. It looks as if it could be Meliodas, but the short hair is sun-kissed auburn, just like...He looks at the stranger. Her hair's a slightly darker color, but it's wet. He does a triple take. "Is this...you? Why would a fourth picture be in here. Are you a cousin or some..." Meliodas suddenly recalls Gowther saying a strange word, a word he laughed off. "No...NO! It can't be...it's just me and Zel...we don't have..." The stranger removes the mask, then the shades. She slowly opens her eyelids, revealing her emerald, green eyes. Meliodas feels like he's about to have a panic attack and puts his palm over a couple of his raising hearts. It's HER, or is it? It's like looking in a sex swapped mirror (except for their hair). It's uncanny. It's...not possible, is it? "Who are you? Are you my..."

"Sister;" comes a gentle, very scratchy voice. Meliodas touches her face to make sure she's real, then his brain suddenly fries, goes blank, and he faints. His stomach speaks with a furious vengeance, practically shaking the tunnel.

"Meliodas, are you...?" Hawk has arrived. He sees Iris' face and he's...well shocks not exactly the word. He shouldn't be surprised that they look twins, but still, it's a surprise. Plus, Iris is unbearably beautiful. Why hid such a pretty face? He would think she was doing it to hide her face from him and Wild, then from Zeldris, but everybody said she's been doing this for years, rarely showing any part of her face to anybody except to those she's closest too, although she will show it to children at times and allow the dogs to lick her. Does she not realize her own beauty or is it something else? Maybe she doesn't like the attention. Hawk hears gasps behind him. This is the first time Willie's ever seeing her face, despite having known her for years. This is the face Inuyasha got a glimpse of the other day. Gowther of course has already seen her, but her beauty is still very striking. Nuri has seen her face and is secretly proud of her.

GRRRROOOWWWLLLL!

That deafening growl shakes the tunnel again, bringing everybody back to reality. Iris realizes that everybody has arrived and is looking at her face! She shyly turns her head the opposite direction, cradling her passed out brother.

"HEY! There you all are!" comes a high, squeaky voice and what sounds like hooves coming their direction. It's Bluey, partly wet and wearing a pink bathrobe. "What took you guys so long? Maa. I've been waiting for you. That sounds catastrophic. Let's get your friend fed right away."

"BLUEY!" says Hawk; "You're ok! Where's the exit?"

"Down here Pinky Hawk. Maa. Follow me. I forgot to tell you that this whole area is made of titanium sea prism stone. Nobody with magical or physic powers will detect your presence here. They just searched this whole area, so I doubt they'll be back anytime soon. And there's a secret room you can all retreat too if the searchers return. I've got the protective barrier that Apolline gave me up for extra protection, just in case. I've got a couple of friends helping. Don't worry, they can be trusted. Let's go." Bluey starts to lead them down the tunnel, then seems to remember something. "Oh, Mister Dog Half-Demon, your friend's down there taking a hot spring mineral bath. You need to speak with him, he's a pervert."

An angry look appears on the half-demon's face; "Myoga!"

Everyone starts to follow Bluey. Nuri's in no rush to trust this goat, although it is true about the titanium sea prison stone, which is most likely why nobody has checked out this tunnel yet. They probably will soon though." Iris picks up Meliodas and gets back into the river, following closely behind.

"What's your name?"

She stops. That was Meliodas's voice. He partly opens his eyes and smiles at her. "What's your name, please?"

She returns a kind smile. "Iris."

Meliodas closes his eyes again and rest his head on her shoulder. "Iris, that's beautiful." She has tears of joy flowing down her face as she silently thanks God. She's been waiting for this moment her entire life. Now if only Zeldris, and Jasmine, were here, the picture would finally be complete.

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Inside Amalfi Cathedral, Apolline is refusing any and all attempts to get any nutrients into her system. She keeps ripping out all the IV's and even the feeding tube. She won't even accept herbal black tea, which she usually drinks two bottles a day of. Now she's been chained up with devil cuffs, making her immobile. Stormy is trying to force a cup of now cold broth down her throat throw a straw. Apolline refuses to open her mouth.

"I don't get it;" says Ban, "She's obviously on the verge of starvation."

"Never had this problem with Meliodas that's for sure;" replies Zeldris.

"Yea I know;" Ban chuckles, then a sobering look appears on his face. "I wonder how he's doing. Elizabeth seemed worried about him."

"Oh, Meliodas has a way of getting people to cater to him. I'm sure he's fine." There's a hint of worry in Zel's voice. "I wonder if, she's ok. Has she met up him and told him everything?"

"This sucks." Ban slaps his fist in his palm. "Deadly fire ash all over the place. Master and Little Madame are missing. Elaine's still stuck in this Japan place, yet Diane managed to escape. My brother-in-law and friends are trapped by a who knows what. Wild's flooding the Sancturary with his tears. I just want to go knock those monsters straight to hell."

"You think I don't want too;" replies Zeldris. "I hope this plan of Jaz's will work. But do we really need to bring them?" He watches as Stormy forces the straw through her sister's mouth and pours the liquid down it. Apolline fights hard not to swallow. Arwen walks out of the restroom, hugging her stomach and looking all green. She nearly collapses when Ban catches her and sits her down. "Hey, are you ok?"

Arwen rubs her stomach. "I will be. Stormy forgot that my stomach shrunk quite a bit after 4 days. She loves feeding people so much but forgets we have limits. Funny how she knows when to stop eating herself. She's a big eater but still has her limits."

"Try my brother;" says Zeldris; "He'll be a challenge above a challenge and more."

"Oh, Stormy will be thrilled to accept that challenge."

Ban bends towards her; "You better take us to that home of yours as soon as possible so we can retrieve Master and Little Madame. I've got a score to settle with that goat."

"Don't be angry;" replies Arwen; "Bluey's harmless unless she takes her monster point ball. She's studying to became doctor after all. Probably on cloud nine having another intelligent animal to talk too. And she adores babies, especially girls. She's probably got your Little Madame in a cutesy dress already."

Jasmine soon walks in with Elizabeth. "Are you sure you're up for this Elizabeth?

The goddess nods her head; "Yes, I'll do anything to help my friends."

"Just remember you're not going there to fight. Leave that to the rest of us. You need to stay safe. We just have to get Apolline on board."

Arwen nearly has a panic attack seeing Jasmine and looks like she wants to hide. "What are freaking out for Arwen?" asks Stormy; "She saved your life, show her some gratitude." Apolline spits the broth out on Stormy's face.

"But she's scary! Why did I even bother to attack her."

"I'm wondering the same thing;" says Jasmine. She then looks at Apolline, who's cursing Stormy and food. She kneels down toward the goddess/demon hybrid and removes the devil cuffs.

"What are you doing?" protest Stormy; "She'll be useless if she doesn't eat."

"I know you mean well Stormy;" replies the pastor; "But believe me forcing it only makes it worse."

"See;" says Apolline; "Her own sister understands that food is pointless."

"Apolline;" Jasmine responds; "True, Iris doesn't need a lot and hates eating, but even she knows she has to eat a little once in awhile." She looks at Apolline, who avoids eye contact; "Apolline, I know you believe you deserve to punish yourself because you couldn't save your father, but he wants you to be strong and save your mother. You may need to consider meditating on that."

"I'm strong enough;" protest Apolline, who's obviously dangerously emancipated; "I get my strength from within. Just give me a little water and I'll be perfectly fine." Apolline feels sharp pain in her abdomen and is forced to lay down. "Why do you need our help anyway? You're supposed to be helping us remember? You can easily insinuate Nico Reika."

"Apolline we don't need to kill her;" says Stormy, "She's just guarding something special and everybody's a suscept.

"It's not that simple anyway Apolline;" Jasmine explains; "I can't get into a full fledge fight with her or it'll be catastrophic. This is the best way. Elizabeth is strong but she needs your help."

"We may not even be compatible."

"Oh, you'll be compatible alright;" says Stormy; "Besides, if they're going to help us, we should help them too. It works both ways Sis."

"We're going with or without you Apolline;" announces Arwen; "I've got a little trick up my sleeve for Nico Reika."

Apolline rolls her eyes; "You two better not go into battle without me. We're a team remember?"

"Guess that settles it;" smiles Stormy; "Now, drink this broth and I promise I'll never force you to eat anything ever again."

"You better keep that promise or you'll regret it;" Apolline takes the cup and slowly, with great reluctance, drinks the broth."

"Ok then;" nods Jasmine; "We go."

Zeldris steps forward; "I still don't think it's a smart idea to trust that manic with that volcano, especially after what he and his sister did."

"Oh, he'll do anything for a free panty peak, believe me;" Jasmine replies; "I didn't promise him it would be mine."

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Inside Artemis' chambers, Caelestis calls in some of her loyal goddesses. "What's going on, why is the whole fortress chasing after those damn boars?"

"Some sick jokesters let them out again;" explains one; "Don't worry your highness. We've almost finished rounding them up and found the culprits responsible. They'll be punished to the fullest."

"That's not our problem. Find Meliodas and the other prisoners. And kill that blasted goat."

"Your highness, there are parts of this fortress that we can't detect their presence, and parts we don't even know about. We just finished a very thorough search of the spa and the underground river."

"Your highness;" speaks another; "May I remind you that we must keep up the illusion that Artemis is still in charge. People are getting suspicious, and we can't put everybody under cheat hope. Even thoughs who are under it are starting to get suspicious, but they still can't disobey you ma'am."

"You were supposed to confiscate all the anti-magic items here. You obviously missed some. Move up the timetable, we're going to force open those seals now."

The goddesses all gasp. "Your highness, I must advise against that. Conditions still are very unfavorable. It'll be beyond our control and you're risking the wrath of..."

"I'm not afraid of some idiot emperors and warlords. I don't care what they think. Start the preparations NOW!

"Ma'am, that'll still take a couple of days at the least, even if we had a ten thousand working day and night..."

"NOW! Or I'll kill the whole lot of you and send you to hell. You understand!"

The goddesses are reluctant but are too afraid to disobey their master. "As you wish ma'am." As soon as some of them leave the chambers, they talk amongst themselves. "What if we can't reverse the damage? We should wait at least another week. That's extreme even for her highness."

"Big Mama and Black Maria aren't going to like this. Not to mention Shredder and Crocodile among others.

"Her highness better know what she's doing. I hope she's not biting off more than she can chew."

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Bluey leads the dripping wet group into what looks like a calming, cozy waiting area. She explains that this place is a muti-cultural full-service spa and bath house, with treatments and techniques from all over the world. She even has sage incenses candles and soothing music going. She informs everybody that they can take off their wet clothes and put on bathrobes, even take warm baths. Even though Bluey can communicate with most of them, her and Inuyasha still can't, so Willie uses the amulet to make it easier on everybody. Iris and Nuri are both actually immune to the amulet's magic and have no assistance whatsoever with their language skills. Nuri is fluent in more than twenty languages due to her 3,000-year global hoping, and bits and pieces of at least a dozen others. Iris herself is very intellectually gifted in many areas and picks up both spoken/hearing and word language easily, understanding 7 languages fluently and bites and pieces of several others. She can understand almost everybody here but can only partly understand Inuyasha. When it comes to speaking languages however, that's a whole different story, since she's never been much of a talker even when she does talk, Greek and Britannian being her co-native tongues (her and Jasmine usually speak Britannian together).

All of Bluey's info just goes over Meliodas' head. He only cares about finding food, which he neither smells nor sees none off. He hadn't noticed Bluey at first, but then notices the animal. He rocks himself out of Iris's arms and aggressively tries to go after Bluey, as well as a giant green cat sleeping in the background (who somehow sleeps right through everything, even the dragon sin's deafening hunger pangs). Iris, Inuyasha, Hawk, and even Willie all fight to restraint him, amazed at the amount of strength he still possesses despite being in a weaken state. Iris gently massages his back to calm him down, and Gowther uses his powers to keep his captain's food deprived mind in check, with minimal success. He retains enough sense to not lay pathetically on the floor, gets up, and leans on his sister again. It really hasn't sunk in yet that this stranger is really a full-fledged blood sister, but Meliodas does subconsciously feel the connected and doesn't question it. He breathes heavily as his increasing hunger makes itself known again.

"Food. Where's the food?" Meliodas asks weakly.

"Yea, where is it?" adds Inuyasha. There's several tables set up, but completely bare aside from a couple coffee pots and water. Bluey finally notices.

"What? They're not back yet." She goes over the somewhat overweight sleeping tiger with green fur and yellow stripes. She grabs a picture of ice water and dumps it on him, which immediately wakes him up.

"Hey! Cringer! Wake up lazy bones."

The tiger shakes off the water and speaks in Transylvanian Romanian. "Bluey I'm tired."

"You're always tired. You sleep an average of 20 hours a day. You can go back to sleep later. Go see what's taking Eyelash with those pizzas and make sure he hasn't been, 'distracted.'"

"Won't those pizzas be cold?"

"I'll warm them up."

Meliodas is drooling and smacking his lips in anticipation. He doesn't care one bit if the pizzas are cold.

"In a minute;" Cringer yawns and tries to go lay down again.

"Cringer, if you don't help them, I'll have Bradly and Steven cook your meals for the next month."

Cringer immediately opens his eyes and gets up. "No no, anything but that. I'm going I'm going."

GRRRROOOWWWLLLL!

Bluey looks at Iris and Meliodas again. "Sit him over there on the couch and get him a towel. Food's coming, I promise."

"It'd better be;" responds Meliodas; "Or I'm going to eat both of you."

"Now where is...Karoo!" A five-foot tall yellow brown duck wearing a helmet comes into the room. "Karoo, where are the salami sausages, pastries, fruit, and milk we got?" The giant duck doesn't talk to Bluey in seemly words, but quacks. "Why did you take them all the way back there? I said to set them up in here. Go get them you nip-wit." The duck actually gives her a salute and exits.

"These are the friends she was talking about?" says Willie wide-eyed.

"Don't tell me we have to rely on them?" agrees Inuysasha. He looks at the table full of different size bathrobes. "Why are all these robes pink?! I'm not wearing that?" Willie also hopes they have more than one color but isn't above wearing pink if that's all they have. Gowther, of course, loves the color and can't wait to put it on.

Nuri, still holding Melidy, doesn't want any part of this, but elects to stay only for Willie and Iris, who would come after her if she disappeared and convince her not to work alone. Nuri's plan of self-sacrifice and permeant death is now much more complicated. Iris and Jasmine will never let her pull it off, despite fully willing to risk their own lives or even trade places with her if opportunity presented itself, especially Iris. Should she go back to the original plan or try not to involve them again. Both of them are young and deserve to live the possible hundreds of years they might naturally have in front of them, especially Iris since she just met her long, long-lost brothers. Should she allow Iris to remove her curse? No, not yet, if ever. It's her burden, not the half-human's or anybody else. Until a few days ago, Nuri couldn't have cared less about ever seeing Merlin again, or so she thought. Now she most likely will never have a proper good-bye with her, and being forced to break her promise to Carmine to be by her side when she passes. At least she did see Merlin and had somewhat of a bonding moment with her. That's will have to be enough.

"Waaaahhh."

Melidy, in Nuri's arms, wakes up again. Hawk runs over immediately. His sister's hungry and wants her bottle, as well as wanting to get dry and have a good, long nap. Bluey says she can get some baby formula while removing the wet dress, dries her off, and puts her in a pink, infant bathrobe. Hawk informs her, however, that Melidy's on a special formula with no animal proteins at present since she has a very finicky digestive system. Iris hears the baby and gets up. Meliodas, now wrapped in a towel, notices and wonders where she's going. The half-human kneels next to Hawk and rubs his back. Hawk finds it so odd to be looking at her face, Meliodas' opposite sex twin (only a bit taller with auburn hair, and a much more modest yet kind smile).

"You want to make it?" His friend nods. It'll best for her to give Melidy her bottle since she still won't take it from Hawk or Wild yet. She swoops the baby into her arms and cuddles her. Hawk tells Bluey to get some protein nut butter, like soy or peanut butter, almond or soy milk, and two or three different types of fruit. The goat can fetch those, and then Hawk brags that Bluey is smart and is training to be a doctor. Bluey's cheeks suddenly start blushing, and she does a strange, happy dance. "No no. You can't flatter me. Your comments mean nothing to me." Everyone looks at each other, thinking that's the nuttiest thing they ever seen. Even Meliodas wonders what's up with this freaky goat, no longer caring that he's seeing yet another talking animal.

Realizing that Bluey might be of much additional help, Iris takes a tube out of her pocket and shows it to the goat. She immediately recognizes the virus. "EWW. Don't tell me somebody really released the Covik Demon Soul Eater Virus. I thought all those samples were destroyed. Humans and other species should recover but may have permanent disabilities. The demons will die for sure from a slow, agonizing death, even half-demons and part-demon. When was it released and how many people were infected? Any demons?"

Nuri gasp when she hears that. She's seen that virus take many demon lives and ruin many others. It was once used as a primary weapon to kill off the demon species or anybody who had enough demon blood in them, including half-breeds and others with 1/4 or even 1/8 demon. Most nations of the world, even thoughs still trying to wipe out demon kind, have banned that virus and destroy any samples they find. Unfortunately, it goes for big bucks on the black market. Fortunately, there's a cure, if they get it in time.

"Yesterday;" answers Gowther. "Around noon time, I think. Lady Iris neutralized the virus, but a few people were still infected, including the demon queen.

"CLEO!" shouts Nuri and Willie. Inuyasha's eyes widen with concern.

Meliodas wasn't paying attention to anything about the virus, but he heard his cousin's name. "Cousin Cleo?! Has something happened to her?"

"You said around noon, right?" asks Bluey; "We've got time! The disease is slow and agonizing, it takes 4 to 7 days to kill the patient. I can make the cure in a day or two. Hopefully we've got all the ingredients! I'll get started right away. And we should check all you guys who came from Luxor as well, just in case."

"May I be of some help?" ask Gowther; "I've helped Merlin prepare some of her medicines."

"Wouldn't hurt. What's taking those guys so long. Karoo!"

Karoo finally comes into the room, struggle to balance several foot-long salamis and plates full of sweet breakfast pastries. Meliodas immediately springs from the couch and starts devouring the food with the worst since of urgency. Karoo's frighten and quickly gets away before the dragon sin starts eating him too. Everybody, including Hawk, is shocked by what they see. Meliodas finishes all the food in under three minutes and demands more; much, much more.

"This...is much worst then I expected;" says Bluey as she checks the hallway for her comrades and the promised pizzas.