#Bemila

[julianobungus]

Actually, I meant ears. You know, things on the sides of the head that allow you to hear sounds. Humans have rounded ones, witches and demons have pointed ones.

Oh shit. Sorry pal. I guess that's what I get for being a horndog.

But yes, it's rather benign what Philip does, bringing a hand up to casually stroke the human ladies' ears. It's off-putting and creepy, and especially from the former emperor, but one could simply rationalise that he simply thinks it's normal. He's been defanged, more-or-less, and he could simply be showing affection, or just being the misfitting creep that he's always been.

Whenever Camila's washing the dishes, Philip will touch her ears in the middle of a conversation, or towards the end of one. The mother's simply too taken aback and charmed to point it out.

Conversations with Luz - friendly or spiteful - are usually capped off with a friendly, oddly sensual rub to the ear, and a folding back of a wayward strand of hair. Luz is usually red-faced at the prospect.

Vee's the least quiet about it, intentionally shying away from the man who put her through hell, even if indirectly. She hisses and snaps at Philip he he even attempts it. Still, he finds away. He even suggests Vee stay in her human form for longer~

The once-human especially derives satisfaction from it when he does it in front of the witches. Amity's face makes the odd slap to the face so worth it.

[valewright67]

Word of this eventually filters out to the other clans. The few remaining goddesses are HORRIFIED. There might be a tentative alliance between their people now, but can you IMAGINE? TWO Demonic Royals were difficult ENOUGH, how bad would the war have been with SIXTEEN OF THEM??

The battle with Cath comes around. And instead of showing him a possible future with Elizabeth, he shows him a possible past. With his siblings, all of them.

Meliodas was still the heir, as the most powerful, but he had three older brothers and one older sister, the eldest actually, who fussed over ALL of them, and was more than glad when another two girls were born after Meliodas, so she didn't have to deal with four boys on her own. 11 younger siblings, six boys and two girls.

From eldest to youngest, there was: Nerissa, Adrastus and Andraste (twin boys), Atakin, Meliodas, Viatrix, Dalinda, Mercurial, Rieka, Estarossa, Ashni, Iedan, Bemilas, Kilian, Zeldris and Asherah.

All of them being a family, and so damn close. The twins being nothing but mischief, Nerissa doing her damn best to mother all FIFTEEN of them, and enjoying her moments of quiet relaxation with the laid back NERD that was Atakin, never without a book nearby, Mercurial and Estarossa getting into FAR too much trouble, Ashni and Rieka gossiping, Dalinda harassing Iedan and Bemilas until they let her do their nails, Kilian and Zeldris being practically attached at the hip and FAR too serious for being among the youngest of them, and Asherah, the youngest of them all, still just a child, gleefully just BEING. Meliodas above it all, their silent guardian, watching over them with fond eyes and a soft smile.

They were a pack, a true demon pack, something he'd never gotten to experience the full extent of like this. For years, it had been just him and the Demon Gowther, when he took time away from his own pack to tend to the isolated young prince. Chandler was there too, and he was technically, but he was so overbearing and had ambitions for him, pushing him to the breaking day and night to achieve them. Then there was Zeldris, who he loved and protected fiercely, but... that was it. Elizabeth was his mate, so of course she was pack, but she wasn't a DEMON, however he ADORED her. She didn't feel the instincts, the draw, the LINK that tied between all pack members.

....he felt it now. Felt it in every loving pulse from them.

"This could be real." Cath hissed in his ear. "I could warp history so that THIS is the new reality. No Holy War, STIGMA was far too apprehensive of SIXTEEN demon royals to attempt that. And you don't have to watch sibling after sibling die. You get ALL of them. And that Elizabeth too, I can make it so you two still find each other, still fall in love! You're already twined together anyways, it'd be a hassle to break it up. And it would be so easy. All you have to do... is let me consume Arthur."

"..." He watched the scene, transfixed. He could have this? All of this? Seeing how they all grow up, seeing each of them, and Oh, he recognized them ALL, even the elders through Gowther's shared memories, look so strong and beautiful and SAFE...

"Come on, Meliodas. My offer has an expiration date."

"...Yes..." an expiration date, definitely. He acts on this, then the long term affects... chances are, he'd never meet his team, his FRIENDS, if they even ended up existing at all.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I could have all of this. And it would be easy. But y'know what? It wouldn't be real."

"Of course it would! That is the power of chaos!"

"No. No, it wouldn't be. Reality might be altered, I might have no knowledge of this one now. But it would still be a lie, and it would still have consequences I am in no way prepared to accept. It's not what happened, and I'm tired of living in denial and dreaming. Besides. I just KNOW that each and every one of my siblings, living and dead, would be PISSED at me if I even CONSIDERED this. So, thanks Cath, for the offer. It was nice seeing them like this. But I'm going to have to decline."

Cath went into a rage, but they still beat him in the end.

Arthur asked about it. He didn't know, yet, what that was, but they'd all seen that vision, as the creature of chaos tried to shatter their trust in him.

"Who... were those people? I recognized Sir Zeldris, and-and Sir Estarossa, but I thought he was a goddess really, and I... I'm confused."

"...my siblings."

"But there were so many of them! I thought you only had like. 2 ish. Kinda."

"Well, one biological is left. I kind of adopted Mael and Gowther as my brothers. But there used to be sixteen of us all together. That was another reason I hated my sire so much."

"You don't mean to tell me that he-?"

"Killed them. Yes. Fourteen gone by his hand. He was Kin Killer and he killed my mate, and he hurt Zel's and he- well, he was the WORST of my clan. I can't think of anyone worse than him. Even the Six Knights of Black wouldn't have gone so far as to hurt their own mates, own children, own pack."

"...I'm sorry. That that reality was taken from you."

"...It's alright. I've accepted it, by now. Even if I hate it."

He smiled and clapped him on his shoulder. "Welcome back, Arthur. Try not to die again, because it sucks. I need to go make a little trip."

He waved him goodbye, and Meliodas went to the underworld, to the graveyard, and curled up on the prayer pedestal. He was grateful he'd gotten to see them like that, truly! It was INCREDIBLE. But it still hurt to know that he took that possibility away from them. Still hurt to know they'd forever have only a handful of months in their short lives, dead before a year old. That was the Demon King's rule. If no promise was shown by one year, the child was put to death.

Zeldris found him there eventually, having sensed his brothers arrival, and felt the grief off of him from miles away. Call it a seventh sense, they always knew when the other was in trouble. "Hey..." he murmured, sitting down next to him. "Are you ok? What happened?"

"...I saw them."

"Hm?"

"ALL of them. If they'd lived and grown. I was offered that reality, if I helped some eldritch being or another help kill Arthur. Again. I refused, obviously, I knew he wouldn't keep his word even if I DID consider it. But... I still saw them all."

"Ugh, I've had enough of ancient beings, I..." he frowned a little. "What... what were they like?"

A tiny smile. "Energetic. Except for Nerissa, she was just a little overworked. But her and Atakin would read and relax together a lot. You and Kilian were the best of friends, but so damn stubborn and such sticks in the mud." He rambled on about the flashes of life he'd seen as Zeldris laid down next to him, and held his hand, listening with sparkling eyes as he learned about what could have been.

Mael was later filled in too, by Gowther, who showed both him and Zeldris the unfiltered memory.

Meliodas ended up painting a mural in the Demon Palace. The canvas was huge, so each painstakingly made sibling was life sized, and each brushstroke was careful and delicate. It took him months to complete, but he did, and... there it was. The family that could have been, had reality been different, there for any who wished to see it.

Zeldris as baby. Like, not turned into baby but actually a baby

OMG YES HES THE CUTEST BABY EVER CHANGE MY MIND!!

The only reason baby zel was allowed to live was because he wasn’t born weak like all the other siblings meliodas had prior to that, The DK needed a spare in case something happened to Meliodas but because all of them where born weak and useless the DK killed them infront of meliodas showing to him that any weakness whatsoever wasn’t allowed and if he even dared to show his life could be snuffed out instantly. Because of this Meliodas grew to have a habit of not getting attached to them knowing they would just die because of how weak they were. And it was too painful remembering all of them that died. At first when zeldris was born meliodas didn’t even go near him because he thought it would just be the same thing all over again. That was until he walked by Zeldris’s room one day and felt the magical energy flowing through him. It shocked him that something so smol could hold that much power. He knew he was born strong but he never expected anyone else to match him. So feeling that and seeing just how cute he was made Meliodas fall in love with him instantly. (He was too cute to resist not that meliodas would admit that out loud) so because of that any free time he got he would sneak away to spend time with Zeldris.

At first meliodas didn’t know what to do with him he had never had a sibling live this long he was scared that the minute he did touch zeldris he would die just like the others. It took a bit but eventually he did manage to walk over to where zeldris was laying and gently rub one of his cloved fingers against his cheek. Causing Zeldris to look up at him catching meliodas off guard as he wasn’t expecting him to do that.

Demon babies can sense the magic of others which is how they know who their mother is and who they ate safe with and not. And as soon as he felt meliodas’s warm protective energy he knew he was safe with him. And instantly began to play with Meliodas’s finger. Putting it in his mouth and nibbling on it with his little baby fangs. Of course demon baby fangs are super small because they aren’t developed yet so it didn’t hurt when he did that but it still felt weird. But meliodas didn’t have the heart to take his finger away and just let zeldris do it finding it weirdly relaxing spending time with him. They stayed that way for a bit longer until meliodas had to leave to go to training as much as he didn’t want to leave zeldris he had to. So he gently took his finger out of his mouth and ruffled his hair telling the little baby he would be back later. As soon as he walked out the door he put a protective spell around Zeldris’s room protecting him in case someone or something tried to harm him. He knew better then to just trust the castle guards.

It became such as routine for meliodas to visit Zeldris that nurse maids would just let Meliodas take care of him while he was there and let them have their space. In those time meliodas let himself relax and just be himself taking care of him and holding him. It was his favorite part of the day always looking forward to spending time with his baby brother. It was the one joy he had in life (before elizabeth) and he wouldn’t let anything happen to Zeldris at least while he was there. Many time he would take zeldris to meetings or patrols around the castle and if anyone said anything or looked at him in a Nasty Way they would instantly be silenced making sure everyone knew that he was talking zeldris with him and he didn’t care what anyone said. And no one dared to say anything about it again.

They were inseparable you could always find them together No matter what. As soon as meliodas would come back from a mission or even training zeldris would toddle over to him happy to see his big brother again and meliodas each time would drop everything to pick him up and talk to him. Only zeldris got to see the soft and loving side to his brother and it made him feel special. They would spend hours together talking and just hanging out before meliodas would have to leave on another mission but not before promising zeldris that he would be back and that he would bring him back something. Making the tiny demon happy as he would wait at the window watching for meliodas to return wrapped in a blanket. Most of the time he would fall asleep but when he sensed meliodas nearby he would instantly perk up and go meet him happy to see him again.