This is in absolutely NO WAY a romance(because eww).

I'll try to adhere to canon where it overlaps with this story but as I'm drawing from a series of scattered references just bear with me if I get some details wrong.

Should still be cute and a fun read.

Enjoy :)


Chapter 1: The Boy with the Sword

Elizabeth's eyes fluttered open, her vision hazy and unfocused.

"Hm, she's alive." The silhouette of a person with dark hair appeared in her line of vision, as a soft hand touched her forehead. "It would be better, for her, if she didn't remember meeting any of us."

"Lady Merlin?" She croaked out, recognizing the Sin's voice even if her eyes refused to work.

A blur with pink hair joined Lady Merlin. Gil?

"Hello, Princess." Not Gil, but that voice was familiar, "Don't worry, I've never known anyone to experience discomfort with this technique." Her vision faded. "I sincerely hope we have the opportunity to meet again. Goodbye." She was sure she knew that voice, but what was his name again...she couldn't remember...


Two Years Earlier

The sounds of a celebration pulled four-year-old Elizabeth from her bed and through the maze of halls and rooms that made up her home. Guided by the laughing voices echoing off the stone she soon found herself approaching the closed doors of the Great Hall.

Sneaking up Elizabeth ducked behind watched as some Holy Knights left, one carried a sleeping boy. Peeking through the now open door Elizabeth found a very strange scene. There was a giant giggling at a fat man and a huge suit of armor in the corner with a tall white haired man yelling and laughing at it. Finally, Elizabeth's gaze had landed on a boy standing alone outside.

She recognized him, he was the boy with the sword that she'd met the night before. She thought it was funny that he was alone outside, while his friends were inside laughing and being noisy.

She snuck past his noisy friends, her bare feet barely making a noise under her nightgown. She paused at the doorway to the balcony remembering Veronica's warning. But last night, he'd said he was a friend of Daddy's. Daddy was nice so Daddy would only have nice friends right? Right! Steeling her resolve she approached him where he stood, leaning on the railing. He didn't seem to notice her.

Silently, she peered up at him, taking the opportunity to study him. He seemed sort of sad. He also still had his sword. Why did this boy get to have a sword? Not even Gil got to have a sword yet. The boy was older, a big kid for sure, but everyone else that had a sword was REALLY old.

Veronica said he was a criminal, that he would eat her. He didn't look like he would eat her. He didn't look big enough. Some of his friends might. She glanced back through the open door to where the boy's friends were. The tall one with the white hair reminded her of a wolf from one of her story books, and wolves ate little girls. The same book said that giants made bread out of people's bones. That just left the fat man, she eyed his round stomach suspiciously.

"You're up late again." Elizabeth jumped, she'd been so focussed on the ones inside she hadn't realized that the boy had finally noticed her.

He smiled at her and she stared back.

"Aren't you afraid of the ghosts?" he asked her.

"Ghosts aren't real" she responded right away, repeating what Daddy had told her that morning.

"Oh no, ghosts are very real." He looked at her seriously.

Fear crept through her and she wished she'd brought her dolly.

"Kidding!" he took back playfully.

Elizabeth frowned at him, not sure if she liked his joke.

She was still debating his sense of humor when he crouched down so he was face to face with her. "I'm Meliodas" he introduced himself, offering her his hand like she was a grown up.

She smiled, she liked to be treated like a grown up. Shaking his hand she responded just like she'd been taught to in her etiquette lessons. "My name's Elizabeth, I'm the third princess of Liones." she punctuated her words by holding up three fingers to show him.

He smiled, (he did that a lot) "It's nice to meet you, Princess."

"Nice to meet you too, Sir Mayeo...Meyo...MayEotAs." She tried to respond as she had been taught but his name was so hard to say. Scrunching up her face she looked away from him, waiting to be scolded, she got in trouble when she couldn't say words, especially names, correctly.

He chuckled "I guess it's a bit of a mouth full. How about you call me ...Mel."

"Alright!" she smiled at him. Sir HenDICKson hadn't been this nice when she couldn't say his name. She liked Mel, he was nice.

"Where's your sister tonight? Doesn't she usually keep an eye on you?" He asked, looking around as if Veronica was hiding somewhere nearby.

"She's having a sleepover with her friend. I'm not allowed to sleep in her room tonight. 'No babies allowed'" she repeated the words Veronica said to her when she'd tried to join them in her room. Actually, Veronica had said that a lot since her friend arrived that morning."I don't think Veronica likes me anymore." Elizabeth looked down and shuffled her bare feet against the stone.

The feeling of a hand gently patting her on the head had her looking up into his very green eyes. "She loves you." he said with conviction "You're sisters."

She wanted to argue, to point out that they weren't REAL sisters, but the look on his face was so serious.

"Hey Cap'n, come join the fun." Elizabeth jumped, the tall man with the white hair was standing over them. She barely had the opportunity to tilt her head all the way up to look at him before he'd leaned right over and was inches from her face. "Oh, what do you have here?"

Her eyes went wide, all the hair stood up on her neck, and she gasped. He looked even more like a wolf close up, he had pointy teeth and he smelled bad. Veronica was right! He was going to eat her! She wanted to run, she really did, but her feet wouldn't move. Then in a blink, the tall man was gone, tumbling back across the balcony away from her. The boy, Mel, was still crouched next to her with his arm outstretched in the direction the wolf had gone. Did he push him?

"Don't scare her Ban." He chastised, before smiling at her again, "It's ok. I know Ban's ugly" (There was a muffled cry of protest from across the balcony), "but he won't hurt you. None of us will." He said looking towards the doorway where the others had gathered and were looking at her now.

She ducked behind Mel, gripping his shirt and hiding her face against his back.

"Hey what's wrong?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Veronica says they're criminals, she says they're going to eat me!" Elizabeth answered without raising her head.

He was quiet for a few second before he asked, "Do you think I'm going to eat you?"

"No!" Looking up at him she shook her head vigorously, "You're nice. You're Daddy's friend."

"Well," he stood up abruptly, "they're friends of your Daddy too, so they must be nice, right?

"Yeah" she answered hesitantly. That made sense.

"Come on Princess, I'll introduce you." Mel started walking towards his friends.

She scrambled to catch up, gripping his hand when she did. At first, he didn't respond, then his hand squeezed hers back.


She liked his friends. Veronica was wrong, they weren't scary. The giant would toss her in the air sooo high and the fat guy(who was apparently a fairy) would use his magical flying pillow to catch her. She'd laughed until she cried. Then, Mel got the wolf to start using his long stick to grab things. He could reach things all the way across the room. She would point to something, or Mel would throw something, and he would use his stick and snatch it back. The only one that didn't play with her was the big man in the armor because he said he didn't know any games.

She was having so much fun. She didn't feel sleepy at all as she sat down on a padded bench next to Mel.

" I wonder why no one's come to get you yet…" He commented from next to her.

"Nanny is sleeping. She snores really loud." Elizabeth answered. It was really easy to sneak out of her room when Nanny was sleeping.

"Hm." he acknowledged, a slight frown on his face.

She leaned into him and wrapped both her arms around one of his. "I like you." she yawned. No, definitely not sleepy. "Want to be my friend?" she asked, eyes drooping.

"Okay, I can be your friend," he replied.

"Good." She yawned. "I'll be your friend too," Elizabeth mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.


He smiled down at the sleeping little girl who still had his arm trapped in her vise-like grip. It had been nice to officially "meet" her tonight, but he would have to have a word with Baltra in the morning. It wasn't safe for her to be wandering around the castle at night on her own. While the Vampire hadn't gotten very far, the castle HAD been attacked last night. If Zaratras hadn't taken him out nearly immediately the whole place could have been overrun in no time. If she wasn't where she was supposed to be it would take him longer to find her and he knew from experience that any delay during an attack...was unacceptable.

Even on an average night the building was huge and was full of all sorts of people ranging from the usual servants and knights all the way to foreign dignitaries and random contractors. He was glad that she'd found him and the Sins tonight and not some other group of rowdy partiers. The Sins were harmless,(to her at least) despite the drunken Diane and King deciding it would be fun to play catch with her. He'd only let it go on as long as it had because she was giggling like mad the entire time. Ban had been a surprisingly good sport too, the extreme amount of ale probably helped. He looked over at the suspiciously quiet Sins and found them all passed out. He eyed Gowther in the corner waving his hand at him to see if he was awake. Nothing. Guess not.

Feeling her arms finally relax, Meliodas carefully peeled Elizabeth off his arm and shifted her so that she was lying curled up on the bench. He stood and effortlessly shifted the piece of furniture across the floor setting it next to the hearth so she'd be warm. Retrieving a glass of ale from the table, he sat back down by her feet, resting his hand on her bare toes to warm them up. He'd watch over her tonight. Hopefully, in the morning, her Nanny(who was also supposed to double as her bodyguard), would receive a good enough scare that she wouldn't dare sleep while on duty again.


So, what do you think?

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