The Wrong Time

A looming figure cloaked head to toe in rags

"... if it's a way out of Purgatory you want, I should be able to assist you..."

A feminine voice.

"U-um... b-but just so we're clear... my aim is really..."

A long staff carved from ancient, bleached bone

"Well, if you're sure you're willing to take the risk then..."

A hand reaches out. The staff burns with white fire

.

ị̧̡̝̼̘̰̠̋̄̽̽̈͜ w̡̨̧̳̘̥͍̠͋̇̊̅̀̂̑i̴̟͙̰̰̭͎̔͗́̍̈̾͝l̼͚̱͕̉͒͗̊͟͟͞l̢̥͇̘̺̮̰̹̝̦͑͊̌̕͝ o̡̡̬̭͔̠̳͑͊̆̀̒͢͠͡p̶͇̹͓͚̀̇̈̀͌̽͋͋͜͡ͅͅe̷͖̤̰̣̠̖̻̿̐̀́̀͋̎̚n̸͎͔̘̥̟͓͛̒͆͌͗́͐̚͠ a̤͇͔͍̺͇̲̿̍̿̎̂͟ d̳̫͉̻̠̓̀͊͊͛͟͝͡o̮͍̜̼̮̜̱͒̊̇̅́̑̿̏͜͢͞ͅò͉̲̠͇̤̗͖̲͓͌̅̉̇̌͝͞r̬͚͉̝̜̂̄̀͒̋ f̴͙̗͉̤͙̘͖̻̔̋̅͐̓̓̚͢͞o̸̢̨̠̼̫͚̘̹̝͗́̏͐̐͘͜r̸͕̠̭̪̘͈̻̍̋͌͊̓̄̑̚ y̴̻͉̪̰̯͐̅͊̒͝o̡̦̻̺̯͙͒̍̂́̏̄̌̅͠u̢̨̡̙͈̯̬̮̘͒͐̑̐͂̅͢

.

.

As it turned out, the door out of Purgatory wasn't a door. It was a swirling gateway of rainbow colors that pulled them in the minute it was called into existence, a portal decidedly different from the blank voids of what he remembers from the times he's died before. But then, he wasn't going out the same way as he used to before. This time, he wasn't being thrown out alone by an uncaring Father who'd finally tired of toying with him (not that he was fully him, technically speaking). This time, he and Ban were escaping through a way entirely separate from his father, his father none the wiser, and it felt good.

Okay, the defiance felt good. Actually going through the portal was disconcerting. A blinding, dizzying array of colors was searing itself into his eyes, and the pressure surrounding them as they passed through the portal was so intense, it felt like it was trying to compress him into his skin. It was painful and it was all-consuming, but it wasn't Purgatory, and it was better than anything Purgatory itself had to offer.

When they are ejected out into the open air, the very fall felt like freedom.

The first thing he notices before the explosion that welcomed their landing was the air. Specifically, how it was not simultaneously freezing cold and burning hot, and how its smell, while heavy with smoke and fire and blood, did not also reek like rotting carcasses on beds of excrement borne of his own attempts at cooking.

The magic that had coated them since they'd entered the portal roiled and twisted against their skin.

Then they land

And it's with an explosion.

The patina of magic surrounding them popped like a soap bubble the moment their feet touch the ground, and the force of it explodes outward in a ringing blast, sending the earth flying around them in a rippling wave of dirt and debris. He lands on his hands and knees. The first thing that fully registers to his mind is the feel of cool, natural soil under his palms.

The place they were in, it was a wasteland of rocks and dirt, of ashes and smoke, and he swore, by Fate or whoever it was pulling the strings, that it might have just been the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. It wasn't the endless, paradoxical hellscape that had been his prison for all those hundreds of years. They were in Britannia.

They were home.

"Ban, we made it! We're out!" And he could've wept from that knowledge alone. After all those years, all those centuries... he was free. They were free.

Someday, some distant day, he was going find a way to really, truly, genuinely thank Ban enough for pulling him out of Purgatory. As it was, for now, he was just going to settle for getting his friend and hugging him 'til his ribs shattered. Like all best friends did.

Then the smoke clears and he sees he exactly where he was, and exactly what was surrounding them. Which included...

His own body lying by his feet, knocked to one side, beat to absolute crap, and already down by six hearts, one arm, and (mercifully enough) consciousness.

Eight of the Ten Commandments standing whole and relatively healthy, of whom most looked equal parts furious and bewildered, staring at the two of them with weapons and magic held at the ready, with Estarossa, in particular, looking especially dumbfounded as he stood nearby, a blade of darkness readied over his hand.

Ban, as in, not the Ban who came to rescue him from Purgatory but Ban from when he tried to save him from Estarossa, staring at him, wide-eyed, visible tear tracks still on his face, body still under the influence of Hunter Fest, and soundlessly mouthing "what the actual fuck" over and over again.

After a few moments of stunned silence, he slowly got onto his feet, drew his sword, and... scratched the back of his head with it.

"Well, well, weeeell. Now, this is awkward."

Ban, his Ban this time, pops up from behind him, and casually loops an arm around his shoulders.

"Thaaat's an understatement if I ever heard one," he drawled, tone seemingly laidback. One hand was kept hidden behind his back. If someone were looking, one might have noticed that the unconscious, impaled Meliodas was now moving slowly in the direction of the hand behind his back. "We've sure come at a wrong time, now, haven't we~?"

Then, of course, pandemonium.

Meliodas — as in, himself, the body's complete soul —suddenly finds himself lifted bodily onto Ban's shoulder as the immortal leapt, mere moments before Estarossa's foot slams into where he'd just been standing. Even from the air, he can still see the expression on his brother's (?) face, confusion and... of all things, glee.

"Now, isn't this interesting," Estarossa declares, smiling like the devil made flesh. Which, to be fair, he sort of was. "Another one of your schemes, dear brother of mine?"

Ban was having none of it.

"Fox Hunt!"

... but it's not at his brother that the attack was aimed. Instead, it was himself, the impaled body still unconscious from his earlier struggles and the explosion of their arrival. It went flying straight into Ban's grasp, who does his best to catch him in a way that doesn't overly jostle the blades already piercing his hearts, bracing him one-handed against his chest as he landed. "I've gotcha," he whispers, only just barely loud enough for the emotions to hear despite the fact that he was literally on his back. Then, in a yell that hurt his eardrums and cut clear through the demands of the Commandments surrounding them: "Crazy Hunt!"

The attack slams into all of the Commandments present with enough force to pulverize the very ground beneath them. More than one heart gets ripped out into the open air in its wake but Ban wasn't paying them any heed. He was holding both the unconscious body and the conscious emotions-given-form in his arms, and was focused on nothing but staying alive and finding a way out.

Closing his eyes, trusting in the rest of senses he'd honed in Purgatory, he weaves past twelve of Derieri's wild punches, slides under Fraudrin's Milky Way Breaker Blade, and leaps off of Gigant Pick just as Drole summoned it, using its force to launch himself high into the air. If more than one attack comes close to grazing his skin, he pays it no heed, but not once does he let a single attack graze either of his friend, either the body or the soul. At the peak of his jump, his eyes snap open and he snarls:

"Sensory Hunt! Zero Sign!"

Power exploded outward from Ban's body in a pulse of cold. Neither of the Meliodas were targeted and so, the emotions didn't feel its effects but he can tell it's effective just from the shouts of those surrounding them. They land not long after but none of the Commandments are able to notice in their sense-deprived states.

"Hold on, tight, Captain," Ban called out as he adjusted his grip, cradling the injured body more gingerly against him while also tightening his hold around the emotions' waist. His eyes were sharp and gleaming red. "We're gonna run."

"Hunter Fest!"

Many of the Commandments were shouting again at the sudden loss of strength but while Ban found that incredibly satisfying, it wasn't the main point. His body now burning hot with stolen power, he takes a step back, adjusts his hold on both the emotions and the body, then launches off with all the strength in his newly-empowered muscles, crossing hundreds of feet in the initial leap alone, taking off running in a mile-eating lope that literally left the Commandments in the dust.

But even deprived of their five senses, the Commandments weren't exactly taking things lying down. Even as Ban really started to pick up the pace, Meliodas can see the Commandments as they started firing off attacks at close to random, seemingly without care for their own safety, from Estarossa wildly shooting Killing Saucers in every direction, Gloxinia unleashing Death Thorn in literally their exact opposite direction, to even Grayroad unwittingly casting Binding Resentment Chains at Derieri— a sight which suddenly made him very relieved that they're now far out of Grayroad's range.

Then, from his position over Ban's shoulder, he could just see Monspiet, no more than a speck of white in his vision, as he fired what at first looked like flickers of dark flames but then rapidly transformed into a blistering wave of demonic power in the form of Hellfire Phoenix. He swore he could almost feel its heat against his face as it homed in on them with unerring accuracy and increasing speed, the bird-shaped blaze burning through everything in its path with hellfire stronger than even the flame he'd once used to leave Ban his scar.

... but this, at least, he could still manage against, even now, from his awkward position on Ban's shoulder. "Full Counter!"

The reflected attack surges back and burns through the ranks of the Commandments almost in the blink of an eye, exploding in what was practically a tidal wave of black fire. Those not blasted back scream as they are engulfed in the flames. If he squinted, he could even see the hearts Ban had ripped out in his earlier attack as they were obliterated in the blast. All of the Commandments had been set ablaze.

"Nice one, Captain!" Ban yells. They had reached the labyrinth now, Ban running atop its walls without ever once looking down, never once missing a step all the same.

He manages a grin, even knowing he wouldn't be able to see it. "You're not doing so bad yourself," he says. "Where are we going to go?"

"Who cares?!" Ban grunts as he leaped high over a gigantic gap, what had been an arena within the labyrinth. "Anywhere but here!"

"Not a bad plan..." he says in half a laugh, adrenaline still ringing in his ears. The Commandments were now only barely visible in the distance, no more than flecks in his vision. They'd travelled miles in minutes and the Commandments were still scattered, burning, confused, and stripped of their five senses.

We're going to make it, he thinks, and the thought brings more than a little relief. There was still their returning to their actual time to think about (as well as his whole body —Meliodas— going around, being stupid without a heart in their future) but one thing at a time. One thing at a time...

All things considered, it couldn't last. The moment Zeldris realized he could use the powers he was bestowed with to cancel the effects of Ban's powers, it would only be a matter of time until they caught up— as fast as Ban was, and he was even faster than Meliodas at full power if they were talking purely of foot-speed, all of the Commandments could fly. So until then, it was best to get the biggest headstart they could. To where? To...

The Boar Hat. He could now vaguely remember this day, all those years ago. They'd parked the Boar Hat not far from the outside of the labyrinth before the 'festival' began. Given all the spells Merlin had cast into its walls, it would be protected from enemy detection and was quite possibly the best place they could go, at least for the time being.

He's just about to tell him to find the Boat Hat when he remembers—

"Ban," he says urgently into his ear. "You're here, too!"

He doesn't need any further explanation. "I'm immortal," he retorts. He wasn't even looking back, he was looking only forward. They were almost out of the bounds of the labyrinth. "I'll be fine!"

"You didn't leave me in there," he snaps, and the actual anger in his voice startles Ban, though not enough to actually slow him down. "I'm not leaving you!"

"Tch!"

He skids to a forcible stop, feet breaking through stone as he came to a halt, eyes wild as he surveyed the Commandments far off into the distance on the battleground they'd left behind. In the end, it is only because of Sensory Hunt magnifying his senses that he manages to spot him. "Move," he says curtly, and the emotions oblige, shifting positions so that he was seated on Ban's shoulders, leaving the immortal with one free arm. Ban raised it, all of his muscles held tensed. "Fox Hunt!"

Ban, the other Ban, goes flying over to them as if jerked over by a crook, pulled over that extreme distance in the span of a few seconds and landing before them on hands and knees. He'd only barely been within range and, even then, only because of the boost from Hunter Fest. His eyes are wide and he looked more than a little worse from wear, both from having been forcibly pulled over from that great distance and from literally everything that had just happened in the past couple of hours or so, even from before taking their arrival into account.

"Captai— what the fuck is going on?!" he demands as he stood, looking from him, to himself, then to the brutalized body in his counterpart's arms, then back again. "Who the hell are— "

"There's no time to explain," Ban cuts in impatiently. "We've got to go."

"Ban, it's me." The younger Ban's gaze whipped over to him, Meliodas' emotions' given form, an odd mix of disbelief, mistrust, and recognition in his eyes. It wasn't exactly comfortable, trying to meet his gaze when he was so high over him (for once), but he does it anyway. "Trust me," he tells him, trying to inject some level of authoritativeness into his voice but only injecting desperation instead. To his own ears, he sounds like he's pleading. "We need to go."

"It's you," he echoes, still staring at him, suspicion wavering from his eyes. "You're the ..?"

"Of course, it's me," he says impatiently. "You saved me."

An explosion rang out from far behind them—it was the Ten Commandments, all of them spreading out on dark wings. Even from this distance, he thinks he can sense the tell-tale aura of God, Zeldris' power as the Demon King's representative, flickering around him as he alone stood at the center. He must have cancelled the effects of Sensory Hunt.

Both Bans' bodies returned to their regular sizes. Both of their Hunter Fests had also just been cancelled. They had to go, now. The suspicion finally fully faded from the past Ban's eyes and he finally nods.

... but instead of coming with them, he turns to face the Commandments now flying in their direction.

"Go!" he roars, hands clenched into fists. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can! And, you—" This time, he looked to the Ban carrying them, eyes still suspicious but begrudgingly trusting. "Whoever the fuck you are, keep those two safe!"

"You don't need to tell me twice," he snaps back. Despite this, he was grinning, and there was something like approval clear in his eyes. "Fight your damnedest, ya hear me?!"

"Ban..." But even he knew how much better their chances would be if someone stayed and held them off. And Ban was, after all, immortal. He reached over to his still-unconscious counterpart and pried Lostvayne out of his grip. "Take this," he says, holding out his sacred treasure hilt-first. "You better return it!"

It wasn't Courechouse and wasn't exactly ideal for him, but it was still a sacred treasure and was far better than nothing. Ban grins fiercely. "I gotcha," he drawls.

Two of the Commandments were now flying in their direction. Even with Zero Sign still active on Ban and both Meliodas, it was not the case for the Ban of this time. They could see him. And only him.

He tenses himself for battle as he started the motions for another, more properly-executed Hunter Fest, Lostvayne held at the ready in his hand.

"Now. Run for it!"

They escape.

Meanwhile, in Liones, an eclectic group was sitting around an active spell orb, its contents showing a scene from far, far away. The rooftop was still and silent.

Then, eventually:

"What the heck just happened?"

This. This just happened.

This plot bunny's been bothering me for a while so I wrote it as stress relief. This was a lot of fun to write! Funky future stuff to come - and some explanations on things. Just so we're clear, I do remember what the effects of the Commandments are and I'll be explaining that. Eventually. I have school.

Anyway, reviews are always appreciated and have a nice day.

(EDIT: Fixed some grammatical issues)