A/N: One week later and here's the second! Huge thanks to the 3 people that added this to favs/alerts! This one is hurt/comfort. For spelling, I actually watch the official subtitles on Netflix - not the fan-done translations for the manga or anime. (This is also why I capitalize what I do - it's the official way!) Beta'd by Renegade Bladesman.

If you liked it please leave a review saying what you liked most and what you thought I could improve on. I like improving and I don't bite!

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to The Seven Deadly Sins/Nanatsu no Taizai. I just like stealing the characters to play with.

WARNING: Mentions of blood and alcohol. But this is 7DS so that's par for the course LOL

Friends among the higher ranking demons were rare, especially when it came to those serving in the Demon King's army. The relationships among them were almost solely based on rank or power levels and were about following orders and serving the Demon race together.

There were always exceptions to this, such as the bond between Monspiet and Derieri, which was one of comradeship and protectiveness. Melascula likened her bond with Galand to that of a babysitter taking care of a senior citizen. Even the bonds of brotherhood between the Demon King's children was smothered underneath orders and duty.

It wasn't until Meliodas met the Goddess, Elizabeth, that his views on things were expanded beyond his demonic teachings. Life was no longer about serving the Demon King and being a tool to carry out his will.

With this new outlook came new opportunities to explore things, including friendship. He was grateful to Elizabeth for staying by his side and introducing him to others as he was sure he wouldn't manage it on his own, especially if they noticed his demonic energy.

When he left the Ten Commandments and followed Elizabeth back to the fringes of Stigma's base for the first time, he stopped at the edge of the Fairy King's Forest. Elizabeth felt the slight tug as his hand threatened to slip from hers as she moved on without him. She stopped before their fingers unwound and stepped before him, tilting her head down to try and see past the fringe of blond hair hanging in his eyes.

"Meliodas?"

He bowed his head further, fingers twitching in her grip.

"Oh, Meliodas, what's wrong?" she asked gently, her grip becoming firm and reassuring.

"I don't...think your friends will accept me being around," he muttered. "Everyone's been fighting against the Demons. We're the nightmares every other race warns their children about, you know."

Elizabeth tucked some stray hair behind an ear with her free hand and smiled. "You've changed for the better and I think the other races should know many Demons are just trying to live a normal life like the rest of us. You shouldn't remain as faceless monsters to us, it isn't fair. If the leaders of the Giants and Fairies can see you for the intelligent being you are then it'll be a huge step forward to making peace between us all!"

Meliodas took a deep breath, firmed his grip of her hand, lifted his head and squared his shoulders. He flashed her a grin and stepped forward, face to face with her. "You're an ambitious Goddess, no doubt about that," he softly jabbed, "but I'll help you."

"Thank you! Now come on, I know you can do this!" she said brightly, turning around and tugging him forward.

She'd been right, he could indeed do it. And he did. He met Drole, King of the Giants, and Gloxinia, King of the Fairies, and though they had been wary it didn't take them long to accept his presence alongside Elizabeth. They soon became friends and Meliodas was overwhelmed by what he had been missing out on his entire life. He joined Stigma, becoming a powerful ally that many valued.

The more the others in the forest got used to having him around, with nothing bad happening, the less tense things became and the more people reached out to him. This, in turn, encouraged him to become far more open and social. Soon he was making friends with barely any effort and he wished his Demon brethren could experience this too.

After he lost Elizabeth from facing their parents, he wandered alone for years as Stigma was no more and Drole and Gloxinia had switched sides, filling the two empty spaces in the Ten Commandments he'd created when he killed two of them to side with Elizabeth. He had no friends left and he was too lost in grief to do much more than put one foot in front of the other each day. He scrounged whatever bits of food crossed his path and he hunkered down to sleep in whatever spot seemed most likely when he got tired. This continued until he found her again – a Human girl from a tribe of savages that looked, and sounded, just like his dear Goddess.

It turned out it was his dear Elizabeth, blessedly reincarnated. After a while she regained her memories and the whole sordid story emerged. They'd been cursed by their parents for daring to come together and be more than the natural enemies Demons and Goddesses were intended to be. She revealed the nature of both of their curses and he lost her again a mere three days later.

But now he knew; he was cursed with Eternal Immortality and she with Perpetual Reincarnation. He would find her and lose her, over and over. He would meet the people she was with in each new life and he would end up making friends.

Friends that he would lose, no matter what. Even if he could protect them from physical threats, he could not treat their illnesses or stave off the onset of old age. He would always stay as he was and they would always, always leave him in some way.

It was a feeling he never got used to, but one he would never wish to give up. The fact that he could feel it proved to him that he could rise above the darkness he was born to, be more than the cold-hearted weapon his father forged him into. So, he made new friends wherever he went, knowing that they would leave him shortly, but determined to make the most of the time he had with them. He'd been close to so many people over the years, but he never truly found anyone he could call his best friend.

Not until he formed the Seven Deadly Sins with Merlin's help.

It was on one of his recruitment forays that he met him – a strange man by the name of Bandit Ban, or Ban the Undead, locked away in a dark stone cell. He'd been executed thirty-three times already and, no matter what they tried, he always recovered in perfect physical condition. The story went that he'd been arrested for killing the Guardian Saint of the Fairy King's Forest and drinking the Fountain of Youth before destroying the place. It seemed as if the Fountain of Youth worked as rumoured as the man was clearly immortal.

So Meliodas entered his cell and asked Ban to join him. The man refused, so Meliodas made a betting game out of it, which Ban lost. To the short Demon's amusement though, the much taller Human was absolutely ecstatic about the loss and readily agreed to join for the chance of other scuffles down the line. Meliodas liked Ban, he was unusual for a Human and, to be honest, a breath of fresh air from the many mundane personalities he'd been surrounded by for a while.

When the Sins had all seven members it didn't take long for Meliodas to work out who the most compatible personalities were. He got along with Ban the best, despite Merlin having known him for three thousand years, and Ban seemed to feel the same way. They were always up for sharing a drink of booze, engaging in contests like arm-wrestling, and generally just the good natured, snarky back and forth bickering close siblings and friends did all the time.

Before he knew it Ban had become his first ever best friend.

The best part, he thought, was after several hard missions where Ban had been fatally injured or killed outright but bounced back after a few seconds.

Here was someone that would never leave him. A true friend he'd never have to worry about losing to injury, illness or old age. Even Merlin, for all that she'd stopped her own time, could not come back from fatal wounds or serious illness. He'd always secretly been afraid of losing Merlin as well, but he didn't have to worry about Ban. He felt selfish for hoping Ban would stick by him until he broke the curses and finally got to rest, but he just knew that he'd never find someone like Ban again. After so many centuries he figured it was okay to feel selfish about a few things; he'd given so much and had even more taken.

Those ten years separated from the other Sins were tough. He'd missed them all, but especially Ban. Then Elizabeth had returned to him. They'd found Diane not long after and had learned that King was dead and Ban was imprisoned in Baste.

They'd followed the lead for Ban first as Baste was closer and, after some trouble along the way, had reached it. They'd rescued the doctor's daughter and were about to start searching for Ban when the man in question had waltzed up the hallway in nothing more than a patched and dirty pair of pants that sported several holes.

Meliodas just knew there had been injuries from those holes and he hated that it had happened. The two greeted each other like the last ten years had never happened and Meliodas felt most of his anger be replaced by happiness – he had his best friend back just like old times. Ban's reaction to Hawk had been hilarious, especially considering all the strange things he knows Ban had seen during missions as knights.

It was nice to have Diane back, but she only wanted things from him that he could never, would never give her. Ban wanted a drinking buddy, a good sparring partner and his best friend. That was something he could definitely do as he wanted the same things. Diane was a girl, Giant or not, and just wouldn't understand some things. Guys just needed other guys to do dumb guy stuff with, just like girls needed other girls to do silly girl stuff with.

Then came the kidnapping of Elizabeth, the rush to Liones, the battles therein. And Ban, poor desperate Ban, had somehow found the Horn of Cernunnos and spoken with it. Whichever Goddess it was, she had promised Ban to bring his Fairy girl back to life if he killed Meliodas for her. Even when he defected from his race to follow Elizabeth and join Stigma, he could never really stand any of the other Goddesses. They were a haughty, arrogant, self-righteous bunch; viewing themselves above all the other races simply because they wielded the pure light of the world.

Ban had struck at him, lashing out at his best friend for the sake of his dead lover. Meliodas understood; he really, really did. But he had to save Elizabeth first, so he told Ban they'd settle up after saving Elizabeth.

They did save her and defeat Hendrickson and all was well for a moment. A couple of days later, in the tavern, Meliodas told Ban that he hadn't forgotten and to meet him on the mountain behind them first thing in the morning.

Ban had given up on killing Meliodas and invoked the Seven Deadly Sins' Seven Codes Article Five: Any bad blood existing between fellow Sins must be settled through a fight.

So they had fought – from sunrise to sunset the two had gone hammer and tongs inside a large Perfect Cube to avoid destroying the landscape and onlookers. Just before the Cube vanished the inside had been far too hazy to see anything...which was probably a good thing for the more delicate watchers among the crowd, as blood had been splattered across almost every inch of the Cube's interior. But the blood had disappeared with the Cube and only two exhausted bodies were left lying on the ground; clothes scuffed and blood-smeared.

Ban had carried him, via piggyback, back to the Boar Hat where they planned to have a drink and it seemed as though the issue was, for the most part, resolved. The fight had made Elizabeth mad at him though and he sent her a wistful glance when no one was looking.

When they entered the tavern it was quite full already, but people instantly made room for them. Ban turned with his back to the counter and crouched down, letting Meliodas slide from his back onto one of the bar stools there. He had a full view of his tavern from here without being out of the way or right in the thick of it and his gratitude for Ban surged because he'd obviously known this is where Meliodas needed to be at the moment.

He winced slightly as he leaned back a little and put his elbow on the counter, putting his chin in his hand. Ban turned to him and grinned, resting a hand on his golden hair for a moment before sauntering off to go behind the counter. Meliodas had the distinct feeling that he'd been told "Stay there" but he only huffed lightly and grinned back, moving his head as the hand he was leaning on flashed out to catch a bottle Ban threw his way.

Vanya Ale.

Ban grabbed a bottle for himself as Meliodas popped the cork and the two clinked the bottles together before throwing their heads back and guzzling half the bottles each in one go.