Zeldris has never really cared for humans. He's a rare case of indifference, since most demons he's known have at least some opinion about the species. To some, humans are creatures that are fun to toy with, and for others, they're vermin that need to be exterminated. And to a few demons, they're both. But to Zeldris, they're simply another race in Britannia, albeit a very weak and short-lived one.

That is until Zeldris ends up spending the last few days actually living alongside them.

After the Demon King was finally defeated and driven out of his body, Zeldris and the newly-awoken Gelda decided to take residence in Meliodas's bar for the time being. It was not only because it gave Zeldris a place to recover from the gruesome battle, but also because Meliodas very strongly insisted they stay at the bar for some reason. Zeldris thinks that Meliodas also muttered something about needing more staff that could attract customers while staring at Gelda, but honestly, Zeldris doesn't ever know what his brother is thinking anymore.

Despite his initial hesitation at the thought of living so close to humans, Zeldris has actually found them to be more intriguing than he ever thought such a feeble species could be. He's never noticed it before, but humans all around him seem to live so... happily. Warmly. They're constantly smiling or laughing and often in the company of friends or family.

It's such a strange thing to witness, especially when he thinks of his life growing up in the Demon Realm—a life of constant training and war with almost no affection or warmth. It's true that he really did respect and admire Meliodas, but Zeldris can't remember a time where interactions between himself and fellow demons were as loving or caring as the interactions he constantly sees between humans.

It's a wonder. Humans are the weakest, most helpless race of all, but somehow they have the strength and will to enjoy their lives and be so loving to one another. He has to admit it—his opinion of humans has grown into something almost like a strange type of respect. Respect at their ability to live so happily despite their fragility.

...But it's just... Why do they have to be so goddamn terrified all the time?

It's understandable that they have instincts to flee in the face of peril, considering how powerless they are as a species. It's no surprise they get scared rather easily. After all, there's only so much danger such weak creatures can stand being in before their terror takes over.

But when just the presence of Zeldris sends some random human passerby bolting away while screaming something along the lines of "The Demon King is back!" for the fifth time in the past three days, it can get just a little bit exasperating.

"Maybe we should stop trying to leave Meliodas's sketchy bar to go for walks," Zeldris mutters, unable to hold back an irritated sigh. "I don't think I'll ever be able to be outside for two minutes without terrorizing some random human citizen." Even though he and Gelda are doing their best to avoid the main roads and instead choose quiet forest paths for their strolls, it still seems like literally every human they encounter has more or less the same terrified reaction.

Gelda's smile remains calm as always. "Maybe it'll take time." Her lips twitch upwards in amusement. "The day when you become the kingdom's favourite demon might not be too far off if you're patient enough."

"Meliodas already has that title." Zeldris lets out a snort. "And he can keep it. All I want is to not have to listen to terrified wailing every time I step outside the bar."

Gelda shrugs with a small laugh. "What if you tried speaking to the humans?"

"Speaking to them?" Zeldris frowns. "What do you mean?"

"Right now, the name and face of the demon Zeldris is only associated with the leader of the Ten Commandments who conquered and oppressed countless human kingdoms," Gelda says. "And after the Demon King possessed you and wreaked havoc across Britannia, you've only become more feared."

Zeldris slightly winces. That isn't a very good memory.

Gelda pats his arm comfortingly. "Maybe it'll be good for you to actually explain things to the humans. How you no longer mean any harm to anybody, and how you're no longer the vessel of the Demon King."

"Hm." Zeldris gazes down the path in front of him. He can make out the retreating back of the human in the distance. Talking with a human...?

Well, it probably doesn't hurt to try.

Zeldris leaps into the air, letting darkness rush out of his back and form a pair of pulsing black wings. With a powerful flap, he climbs into the sky and shoots forward in a blast of wind. He scans the ground and pinpoints the human below him.

"Human." Zeldris drops onto the ground in front of the human with a sharp thud as his darkness swirls back into his body. "Listen."

The human freezes on the spot, his eyes wide and mouth agape.

"I know you think that I'm the Demon King, but I'm not." Zeldris's tone is sharp and hard. After all, if he's going to explain things then he needs to be firm about it. "I'm the son of the Demon King and my father forcibly used me to become a vessel for himself."

"Um." The human's alarmed expression doesn't change, but he stumbles a few steps backwards. "I-I—"

Zeldris takes several steps forwards, keeping his gaze locked with the human's. "The Demon King was defeated and I'm no longer his vessel, so you don't have to worry about him coming back."

For some reason, the human's pace is getting faster and faster as he takes more and more steps backwards. Zeldris walks forwards to match his pace, but his voice gains a sharper edge as some irritation spills into it. "The Ten Commandments are currently disbanded, and I no longer have any intent of conquering your kingdom."

After a few more panicked steps, the human then whirls around and full-on starts sprinting away. Zeldris instantly shoots after him, summoning his wings of darkness to propel himself.

"I said I'm not the Demon King!" Zeldris is almost yelling by now, but the human still isn't turning around and listening. In fact, he releases a scream and runs even faster. "I was just his vessel! He was controlling me!"

This human is literally running faster than Zeldris has seen any human run before in his life. In fact, he didn't even know that humans could even run this fast. It only takes a few more seconds of this absurd chasing-yelling nonsense before he sees Gelda at the end of the path again. This is when Zeldris decides to land back on the ground and give up the pursuit.

Gelda's bemused gaze follows the human as he rushes by and disappears down the path. "Zeldris, what are you doing?"

It takes a very long moment of reconsidering his life decisions before Zeldris can give an answer. "I don't even know anymore."

~.~.~.~.~.~

"Yo, Zel, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?" Meliodas snickers, an annoyingly amused grin plastered on his face. "You look like somebody just threw one of my special demon frog liver cakes at you."

Zeldris scowls. "I just don't understand why humans are so easily frightened."

"What do you mean?" Meliodas slides a mug of beer across the counter to him. "Here, lighten up!"

"Everyone still thinks I'm the Demon King." Zeldris idly swishes the mug around, glaring at the white foam bubbling across the top of the mug. "And all they do when they see me is scream and flee."

"Did you try telling them that you aren't the Demon King anymore?"

Zeldris slams his mug onto the table. "I did! This morning! And all that accomplished was make him even more scared for some reason that's beyond me."

Meliodas blinks, then tilts his head a bit. "How did you tell the guy?"

"By speaking to him like a normal person?" Zeldris throws up his hands in frustration. "I literally just went up to him and told him that I wasn't dangerous. What else should I have done?"

Meliodas puts a hand on his chin with furrowed eyebrows.

Zeldris stares at his brother. "What are you so deep in thought about?"

He doesn't respond and only nods to himself. "Okay." Then he looks up to grin at Zeldris. "Don't worry, I'll come with you the next time you go out."

"Well, okay." Zeldris shrugs. "What are you planning to do?"

Meliodas reaches over and gives him two big pats on the shoulder. "Just leave it up to me."

~.~.~.~.~.~

It only takes another day of staying cramped in Meliodas's rowdy bar before Zeldris decides he needs some more fresh air. This time, Meliodas comes along like he said he would.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping run the bar?" Zeldris mutters as his brother jovially strolls alongside him. "Even Gelda decided to stay behind to deal with the amount of customers today."

Meliodas grins back. "I can afford to skip my duties once in a while if it means helping out my little brother."

Zeldris shrugs with a slight frown. Being called a "little brother" is probably something he'll never grow used to. "Then at least give Gelda a raise for dealing with your irresponsibility."

"I'll think about it." Meliodas smirks annoyingly wide. "I can't ignore such a caring, considerate request from my little brother."

Zeldris stalks forward, ignoring Meliodas's teasing tone. Sometimes, he wishes his brother could revert back to his aloof, icy self. At least back then, Zeldris didn't have to deal with all the antics of this Meliodas.

It doesn't take long before a human makes an appearance at the bend of the road. A middle-aged male pulling a cart. Probably a merchant of some sort.

"All right, Zel." Meliodas gives Zeldris a pat on the back. "Show me what you got."

Zeldris sighs. He supposes it's time to unnecessarily relive that absurd fiasco from yesterday. He leaps forward, shooting himself down the path with a burst of darkness before landing right in front of the human. "Human, let me—"

The human's terrified response is instantaneous. He's already abandoned his cart and is hurtling down the path with a shrill shriek of "Demon King!"

"See?" Zeldris turns back to glare at his brother. "They run away as soon as I approach them."

"Okay, okay!" Meliodas, for some ludicrous reason, looks like he's about to burst out laughing. "What about this—follow me and I'll help you." He begins dashing down the path to catch up to the human, and Zeldris reluctantly follows with a flap of his wings.

"The first thing you should do is stop using that." Meliodas points to the darkness spilling out of Zeldris. "And also stop having your demon mark activated all the time."

"What...?" Zeldris frowns. "Why?"

"It terrifies humans to see anything demon-related," Meliodas says. "The moment they see your face and the darkness around you, they've probably already assumed that you've come to kill them."

"Well... Okay." Zeldris retracts his darkness and joins Meliodas as they travel down the path on foot. He also quells the energy that usually pulses over his left eye.

Meliodas nods with a smile. "Now try."

Zeldris picks up his pace until he's right behind the human. "Human, stop fleeing from me."

The human does not stop fleeing from him. Zeldris has no choice but to leap over the human and land in front of him. The human skids to a stop, his eyes wide.

"I'm aware you believe that I'm still the Demon King." Zeldris keeps his gaze locked with the human's. "But I'm actually not the Demon King anymore."

The human doesn't move.

"Do you understand?" Zeldris grits his teeth, forcing his tone to be even. "I pose no threat to you or your life."

The human takes a slow step backwards. No. Not again. Zeldris can already see the image of the human turning tail and fleeing once again. But then a hand taps the human's shoulder from behind him, and he whirls around.

"Yo, mister!" Meliodas grins at him. "I know that my friend here scared you quite a bit, but he's telling the truth!"

The human remains frozen in his place. Zeldris doesn't know if it's from fear or if it's because he's actually listening to Meliodas's words.

"Even though he looks dangerous, he really doesn't mean any harm to you or the kingdom." Meliodas's warm, friendly tone doesn't waver. "In fact, he's actually not even the Demon King!"

The human seems to have relaxed and looks like he's actually listening to Meliodas now. Zeldris holds his breath. Maybe this will work.

Then Meliodas smirks wide and his voice goes low. "Because I am!"

The next thing Zeldris sees is the human making a full nosedive into the bushes with an even louder scream as a demon-marked Meliodas lets out a loud dramatic laugh, chasing after him with ridiculously exaggerated motions.

It only takes a few more seconds of listening to violent crashing noises and wails of horror from the forest before Zeldris has to bury his face into his hands in absolute frustration and embarrassment.

He really should have just let himself die.

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Author's note

Zeldris is my favourite character in NNT and I had recently come to the unfortunate realization that the manga is severely lacking in lighthearted, wholesome interactions involving Zeldris, so I decided to make one to fill in the VOID. I actually have a few couple other similar funny Zeldris-related ideas in mind, so I'd love to know what you thought of this! And depending on what happens, I might actually turn this story into a series of just some fun Zeldris oneshots! We'll see ^^

But anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!