My Brother

I is Free!!!!! (Not really!)

The next two weeks went along pretty smoothly, and Liz and Meliodas got better rapidly. Something bugged Estarossa about Meliodas and how he instantly looked healthy and not injured when Liz looked at him.

Estarossa dropped Liz off from the hospital on four days after they woke up, Wednesday.

Zeldris was at school, so it was just Estarossa going home with him. Meliodas was so excited to be leaving the hospital he had ran out into the parking lot yelling "I is not sick no more! I is Free!!!!!!!!!!"

Once Estarossa and Meliodas arrived home, they went into the living room. Meliodas collapsed happily on the couch. "I is free!" He said.

"You know you have to go for a check up on Friday, right?" Estarossa commented.

"Yet I still has chains around my ankles." Meliodas sighed dramatically.

"Hey, Meli? How do you do that?" Estarossa said, sitting down on the chair opposite him.

"Do what?"

"That thing where you look fine when Liz is there, but as soon as she leaves all the pain returns to your face and your wounds reappear?"

"That?" Meliodas questioned. "Can't all demons do that?"

"Not that I know of. How do you do it?"

"Oh, umm. Let me think, I... I can't really explain it well, but I could try to teach you." Meliodas stood up. "Lemme just deactivate it." He deactivated it and all the little cuts and wound that weren't completely healed showed up on his skin.

"Wow." Estarossa said.

"Well, I usually do it by visualising my aura wrapping round my body like a shield and hiding all my imperfect- cuts and things." Meliodas said quickly. "When it disappears it should look like you aren't hurt."

Meliodas's black aura wrapped around his body and when it disappeared it indeed looked like he wasn't injured at all.

"I see. How do you do the thing with your facial expressions and not being in pain?" Estarossa curiously asked.

"Oh that. That's just practice." Meliodas grinned. "And a lot of concentration. The illusion that makes me look fine is actually quite hard to control throughout the entire body for long amounts of time. I had to practice lots and it drains your magic a bit as well."

"Okay, I want to try it." Estarossa grinned. "But I don't have anything to cover up."

Meliodas took a bowl off the table and shattered it on Estarossa's hand, making it cut and bleed in a few places. "Now you do!"

"You'll pay for that later." Estarossa hissed.

"Okay, now try." Meliodas commanded. Estarossa's aura wavered on his hand, but disappeared. He tried it several times until it stayed hidden.

"Yay! I did it! Oh, it left."

"I did say that you needed to concentrate."

"Shut up."

"Now who's being childish?"

"I said shut up!"

"No."

"Fine. Go have some lunch." Estarossa gave up. "There's salad in the fridge."

"Salad?" Meliodas wrinkled his nose. "That's, like, rabbit food though."

"It's healthy and good for you. Now go eat it." Estarossa insisted.

"But there are grapes and passion fruits and other nice tasting fruits I can eat and even carrots taste good. They're just as healthy."

"I said the salad."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Ugh finneee," Meliodas gave up. He took the salad out of the fridge and sat down at the table. "Ugh." He said, nibbling the salad with obvious distaste.

In an hour, he had only ate about twenty leaves and half a carrot. Dr Roberts said he could leave hospital if either Zeldris or Estarossa was there to make sure he ate something. She was worried that being in the forest for a week and a half with no food might have brought on accidental anorexia.

After lunch Estarossa went off to work and Meliodas played video games all day until Zeldris got home. Zeldris came in and played games for a while, then left to go do some homework.

The next day, Liz came round. They were sitting at the table and everyone was having breakfast. Estarossa had his morning coffee, Zeldris had some cornflakes, Liz had an apple and Meliodas was nibbling on a piece of toast.

"Hey Liz, wanna go out onto the trampoline today?" Meliodas wondered.

"Why not?" She agreed. Estarossa was okay with it so they discarded breakfast and left.

Outside, Meliodas disappeared into the shed and came back to the trampoline with basketballs, tennis balls, and dodge balls. There were seven in total.

"What's this for?" Liz questioned.

"One of my favourite games." Meliodas grinned. He pushed all the balls onto the large trampoline. "I call it jumping dodge ball. If you get hit, you lose a life. Lose three lives and you're either out or have to do a headstand until another player aka me loses a life."

"Okay. One, two, three go!"

They had a great time on the trampoline playing this game. Eventually they pushed off all of the balls and started doing tricks. Backflips, front flips, forward and backwards rolls, cartwheels, Ariels, handsprings and other things.

Later on, they went upstairs to play dolls. Meliodas took out a doll, the one Liz loved, Daisy. "Liz, wasn't it your birthday when we were in a coma?"

"Yeah, I got so much chocolate it was unreal." Liz replied. "Why?"

"Happy birthday." She turned around to see Meliodas grinning and holding out Daisy, along with a change of clothes and a glass case.

"Meli!" Liz hugged him hard. "Thank you so much!"

"Any time. After all, you are my best friend." Meliodas grinned.

Just when you thought life had given them a break, the door burst open and a large, brooding figure walked in and grabbed Meliodas's arm roughly. Meliodas looked up and trembled.

He was dragged downstairs where Estarossa yelled "No, Father! Leave him alone! Let him stay here!"

The figure just said "No, shut up Estarossa. He's coming home with me and that's final." And brought his hand roughly to Estarossa's cheek, sending Estarossa reeling back. Meliodas had barely time to mutter a goodbye before he was pushed roughly out the door and into a car.

After he got to Father's house, he was pushed inside. "Thought you would be safe from me with them, boy?"

Meliodas was flung to the floor. His Father smirked and took off his belt. "This is the punishment for disobeying me, you worthless bastard."

And Meliodas's father brought the belt down on the boy's back over and over again, ignoring the sobs the little boy gave out.