The Demon's Lover (Meliodas)

Chapter 44

"Ban!" Ayano runs over to the fox

"huh?" the fox looks up at her confused

"Ban snap out of it" Ayano flicks him on the forehead

"ow" Ban steps back and turn into his human body, his hair has grown too long with a beard and moustache. He coughs "What have I been doing?!"

"you've been wandering around purgatory" Ayano says

Ban places his hand against his face "...that was no joke!"

"A little bit longer and you would have become a full-fledged resident of this side" Ayano tells him

"Just how many decades, no, centuries have passed since I came to Purgatory!?" Ban grabs her by the shoulders

"w-well i'm not sure when you got here.. but it hasn't been too long since I left.. so a week maybe?" Ayano guesses

"I don't.." Ban trails off and looks at her "wait.. Ayano what are you doing here?"

"...I.." Ayano looks down "I was wrong.. I miss everyone.. I miss the old times" a tear goes down her face "I feel so alone and the real Meliodas isn't her to cheer me up" she begins to cry

Ban smiles and hugs her "It's ok.. Ayano"

"I'm sorry" Ayano cries and hugs him "Ban I'm so sorry"

"It's ok" Ban rubs her back "listen to me, nobody hates you, you've been through a lot. The important thing is, you're back on our side and we're going to find the captain's emotions. We're gonna return him to normal and we're going to stop this, together. Ok?"

"mhm" Ayano nods while wiping her tears "I'm so sorry for hurting you"

"Hey don't sweat it" Ban pats her head "I'm immortal remember, I offered to take your beating to help get it out of your system, I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think I couldn't take it"

"W-what about the other sins?" Ayano asks

"All they want is for you and the cap'n to return safely" Ban tells her "so let's fix things and return home"

"home.." Ayano says

"Yep, the cap'n, sins, Elaine, and I. We're all your family" Ban smiles "no matter where we are as long as we're all together, it's home"

Ayano begins to cry more

"what's wrong now?" Ban asks bending down some

"B-Ban" Ayano wipes her tears

"hm?" Ban smiles

"I-I wanna go home" Ayano says looking up at him

"Good" Ban pats her head again "so do I, they're all waiting for us to return, so let's go find cap'n"

"Yes!" Ayano smiles

-

 "CAP'N! Where are you?! ANSWER ME!!!" Ban shouts

"Meli!" Ayano shouts looking around "His emotion's gotta be around here somewhere"

They walk around and soon encounter a Purgatory creature. The creature attacks Ban, so he throws a rock trapping the creature until it breaks the rock. He punches the creature who in return chops Ban in half. As his body regenerates, the long hair he had was all cut off and back to normal.

"If you want a piece of me that badly, then let's dance! Bring it on, monster!" Ban shouts

"Ban wait stop!" Ayano runs over

"what?!" Ban shouts confused

"Stop" Ayano stands in front of him "It's Meliodas"

"It's what?!" Ban looks at her

"Look, it's a dragon" Ayano points to it

Ban looks at the creature closely and sees it was indeed a dragon. Exhausted, Ban sit on the ground as the dragon wraps his tail around Ayano.

"So.. this thing's the cap'n?" Ban asks

"I think so.." Ayano reaches her hand up and pets the dragon "It stopped attacking once I said your name.. and it seems to recognize me"

The dragon glows before turning into a human form of Meliodas, unconscious.

"So this has been where you were cap'n" Ban says

"we found his emotions.. that's great" Ayano smiles

Meliodas starts waking up.

"...Hey there, partner. How you feelin'?" Ban asks as Meliodas slowly sits up.

"Why... Why am I seeing an illusion like this...? There's no way they'd be here in Purgatory..." Meliodas says

Ayano sits next to Ban

Ban chuckles "I'm the real thing, baby... Or should I say, Cap'n"

Meliodas begins to cry and he tackles the two into a hug.

"Meli" Ayano begins to cry too "I'm so happy we found you"

"You two are such crybabies" Ban smiles

After he's finally calmed down they look out at Purgatory as Meliodas holds Ayano's hand.

"I had completely given up" Meliodas says "I figured I was never going to be able to get out of Purgatory or get back to the real world ever again" He grins "And I figured I'd never again get to see you two again" he turns his head to look at them "But what are you two doing in Purgatory? Has the immortal Ban finally kicked the bucket after all?"

Ayano giggles

"As if, dummy," Bam chuckles "I- we've come to get you"

"Don't tell me... You know of a way to get back over there... to the real world?!" Meliodas asks

"Yes... Well..." Ban rubs his neck

Ayano laughs nervously "you.. uh.. see honey"

"You two came here without a plan?!" Meliodas shouts "Aya I'd at least expect more from you!"

"I rushed here without thinking" Ayano laughs "and I didn't know Ban was here, I just found him walking around aimlessly"

"well, at least we got plenty of time" Meliodas grins

"yes well how about we start with getting you two some clothes" Ayano looks away "this entire time I have been ignore the face that I am the only one wearing clothes!"

"Oh yeah" Ban looks down

"Forgot about that" Meliodas adds

"You idiots!" Ayano shouts at them

-

"Alright let's get going!" Meliodas says excitingly

Now that the two boys were fully clothed after fighting some monsters for it, they were ready to find an exit.

"So Meliodas is just an emotion right?" Ban asks

"That's right" Ayano replies

 "So... Why does he act so real?" Ban questions

"Well Meliodas's emotions are apart of him" Ayano turns to Ban "all your emotions make up who you are and without one their wouldn't be a real you, this Meliodas is still our Meliodas, he's still real. He's just the part of him that was lost"

Ban smiles "right"