My Brother

Lost.

On the way home from school for lunch, after Diane, King and Ban had left, Elizabeth quietly asked Zeldris "Hey, can I come round to yours for lunch? If it's not any trouble, I mean."

"Huh? Oh. Yeah." Zeldris nodded. "Is something up? You're a bit quiet."

"No. Just stressed, really." Elizabeth replied. "Exams are coming up and I'm studying lots, I haven't had much time to relax."

"Tell me about it." Zeldris agreed. "Math is stressing me out to no end. Even the study group isn't helping."

"I can tutor you, if you want?" Elizabeth offered as they walked. "It is my strongest subject. I will if you help me at history, I'm terrible."

"Sure." Zeldris replied, opening the door and walking into the house. "Hey Esse! I'm home! Ellie's here!"

"Oh, hi Elizabeth." Estarossa greeted, walking into the living room. "Zeldris."

"Hi. Um, can I talk to you too?" Elizabeth asked quietly.

"Uh huh. Whatcha need?" Estarossa sat down. Zeldris sat down on the couch next to him and Elizabeth sat down on the chair across from them.

"Well, I was on lunch duty today in the junior class. Gilthunder, Howser and Griamore came over to them and started teasing him for hanging out with girls." Elizabeth started.

"Seriously? I thought they would've left them alone after the beating Meliodas gave them last time." Zeldris sighed.

"Apparently not." Estarossa drawled.

"Yes, well, Meliodas hadn't tried anything, just told them to stop, and asked them why they were so mean, or something along those lines. " Elizabeth continued. "They snatched Liz's flower crown and teased them both a bit."

"He didn't seem to be getting violent at all... Until they told him Liz and the girls were brainwashing him and pushed Liz over so she scraped her knees and cut her cheek."

"Let me guess, Meliodas murdered them and he got expelled?" Estarossa said dryly.

"Uh no. H-He went ballistic, and started yelling at them, saying they were bullies and idiots and quite a few swearwords." Elizabeth stuttered nervously. "Meliodas told them they bullied everyone and that they didn't know how their words affected others and what it could lead to."

"Um, not meaning to be rude, but your brother has... Uh ... Issues." Elizabeth concluded.

"What do you mean?" Zeldris asked, confused. "He has anger issues, we all do, runs in the family, if that's what you mean-"

Elizabeth stuttered nervously again. "N-No. I mean, uh... You see, when he was yelling- I think he said, no offence to you but-"

"Elizabeth, just spit it out already." Estarossa rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"He yelled that he'd been bullied before and that he'd been through severely tough times that people couldn't imagine by people he was supposed to trust. Meliodas then asked them if they knew what it was like to want to die so badly they considered taking their own life. He said he'd been through it."

"Meliodas begged them to stop bullying people and him before it pushed them or him over the edge, and ran off."

"So what I'm trying to say is," Elizabeth asked. "Did you know that Meliodas is or was suicidal?"

"No." Zeldris said shortly.

Just at that moment, the phone rang. "I'll get it." Estarossa spoke, and left the room. He was outside for a minute, but it felt like an eternity of akwardly silence between Elizabeth and Zeldris before Estarossa walked in, a worried look on his face.