It always rains on her birthday
It was a cloudy day in the Kingdom of Liones, an obvious indicator of a storm coming even if it was in the middle of summer. Despise the mournful weather, the atmosphere that surrounded the capital was very jovial and lighthearted, some citizens were hanging flaps, streamers and flowers around the avenues, giving the streets a colorful vibe that contrasted hugely with the storm clouds that covered the sky.
It has been a rather common sight in that time of the year for the past six years, the festivities that lasted an entire week in honor of the third princess were always accompanied by a drizzle that ended in a huge storm on the exact day of her birthday, but that didn't stop the citizens for decorating the streets in the most beautiful way possible for the little girl, something that normally filled her heart with joy and love for her people.
Today thought, all that filled her heart was utter sorrow. As she hugged her teddy bear close to her chest, her blue eyes, shining with unshed tears and set on her personal knight as he was kneeling in front of her, his own green eyes filling with guilt.
"Do you really…have to go again?" Elizabeth asked as the tears that she was keeping from falling finally run thought her cheeks, her lower lip trembling.
"Sorry Ellie, you know how this is, is this week that I must go onto a… special mission, I wish I could stay and celebrate your special day with you but is really important that I go, if I had other option I would gladly spend the day with you but…I can't, it doesn't had anything to with your birthday thought, is just that is in that date something else happened and I have to take care of it, do you understand, right?" Meliodas said in an apologetic tone, petting the little girl's head lightly.
But Elizabeth slapped his hand away and looked at him with fury on her tear-filled eyes, catching the knight completely out of guard for the uncharacteristic rude movement "Then why?!" She yelled, with more tears flowing thought her eyes "why you do you always leave?! I would understand if it was a "Deadly Sin's mission" but it isn't! Then why do you always…left me alone?"
Now Meliodas knew something was up, Elizabeth always got sad when he left on her past birthdays but this was the first time she exploded like this, something must have upset before him coming to say goodbye, the last part of her outburst catched his attention "Alone? What do you mean? You're no alone Ellie, your father and your sisters will spend the whole day with you, isn't that what you always look forward to?"
He saw how in the mention of her family her intense glare dropped as she looked at the floor, more tears leaving her eyes, now he was getting really worried "Elizabeth" He spoke firmly, making her look at him with her eyes wide in surprise, it was the first time he dropped his cheerful tone with her, it meant he wouldn't leave without a clear answer "What happened?"
"I….I…I overheard a couple of servants talking and found out that I am not…that I'm not…" More tears fell from the princess eyes as she began shaking, looking away from her knight and taking a deep breath to finish "That I'm not… related to father and my sisters…I wasn't even born in Liones…I asked him earlier and it was…it was true…I'm from a kingdom called…Danafor"
As soon as she finished Elizabeth found herself being put into a hug, making the tears fall more freely as she hugged Meliodas's neck tighter while he rubbed her back in a comforting motion, as they stayed like that for some minutes until she calmed down enough to stop crying, a few hiccupping sound leaving her mouth "I'm sorry for…being rude with you earlier, is just that…if I'm not the third princess of Liones, then…who…who I am?"
"Elizabeth listen to me" Meliodas murmured as he put his hands on her shoulders "No matter where you came from, your family and this kingdom love you genuinely, who are you? You are Elizabeth and you decide what path you take and what kind of person you will become. But I know one thing for certain and that is that blood doesn't equal love, I have known many blood-related parents that ruined their kids life, your case is the inverse, your family might not be related to you by blood but loves you more than anything, isn't that wonderful? And look outside! All the kingdom is decorated especially for you, because you're the third princess of Liones and nobody deny that, but if you still feel so lonely I could...I guess that I could stay this time"
Elizabeth eyes shone again, but this time they were tears of pure joy, joy of feeling so loved from everyone on the kingdom and that she have her knight to always remind her of that fact everytime she forgets, she wishes there was something she could do to reward him for all he had done to help her "Thank you, Meliodas, for everything, I would be lying if I said that I don't want you here but….I can let you go this time, with a condition! You stay in my next birthday party, pinky promise?"
Meliodas smiled at her as she extended her pinky out, interlacing his own with it "Pinky promise, nothing will stop me from being with you here next year" But he noticed she still wanted to say something to him "You have something else in your mind? I have a few more minutes before I have to go"
"Yes, father told me that you are from…Danafor too…can you one day…take me to it? I want to know how it is" Elizabeth asked carefully, and regret it immediately as she saw his smile vanish completely, his eyes taking that faraway look as if he wasn't looking at her anymore, the exact same look she only has seen once two years ago before Veronica took her to her room.
"…I'm sorry, I can't, Danafor was destroyed 6 years ago by a…a monster" Meliodas whispered sadly while trying to evade eye contact.
"I wonder if it feels bad for what it did…" Elizabeth answered innocently, as Meliodas resisted the urge to laugh bitterly on that, until he realized that she wasn't referring to Fraudin, seeing how neither he was in the first place.
"Yeah…I guess it does…it regrets a lot of things…" The knight whispered more to himself that to her as he looked out of the window, in the direction where Danafor once stood "Anyway, let's change the topic a bit, can we? Something interesting happened while I was on my last mission?"
Elizabeth was relieved to see his green eyes shine again like they normally would and agreed on changing the topic, she hated to see her personal knight sad "Well, nothing much, it was a very normal week…but I had this dream that I can't let go of it, it was so wonderful!...yet weird, really weird, do I tell you about it?"
"You were in the candy paradise again?" Meliodas asked, amused with her enthusiasm.
"No but that would be awesome, it was weirder and even better, I dreamed that I have wings, like a white dove but with four wings and in front of me was a weird, black mass, I couldn't make out what it was since it was all so blurred…but I could feel that it was calling me, like it needed my help and it wasn't…scary, I felt really good with that thing, the more we talked the more it changed form...it looked kind of….familiar…but I woke up before I knew who it was" Elizabeth finished and looked up at her knight, only to take a few steps back as he got inches away from her and began examining her eyes, his green ones searching for something with a great intensity "Um….Meliodas? You ok? You look kind of….pale"
"Hum? Oh…is nothing, I was just…nothing never mind, after that dream did you feel...something strange in your eyes? Especially the right one?" The knight asked her, his words were mean to sound nonchalant but came out way too desperate for his liking.
"Ehh no….why?" She asked, completely confused by his normally collected knight's outburst, and became more confused when he left out a sigh of relief.
"Oh nothing, nothing, grown up thing, you will understand when you have my age" Even if that is impossible, neither would I wish it for you. "So! I gotta go now and Veronica is searching for you, have anything to say to your knight in shining….regular clothes?"
Elizabeth doubted by a moment, but finally decided to say what she has thought for the last two years "Yes, I'm sure that whatever you did, you can still make up with him and stop calling yourselves a failure for it, is not good and is not true…and stop talking to yourself, is creepy"
And with that, the little girl ran to her older sister, leaving the knight alone on the room while looking on the door on shock until he felt a hand on his shoulder and a familiar, feminine voice spoke "As expected from sis-sis, even like a child she is the only one that can leave you speechless"
"Well….I didn't expected that" He turned around and found the magician of his group with her usual smirk "Didn't Elizabeth told you that eavesdrop other people's conversations is bad?"
"She did, didn't she told you that lie to a little girl so you can try to drink your problems away in the nearest tavern is bad?" Merlin answered back with her arms crossed over her chest "But seriously thought, "Especial mission"? She is a smart, understanding girl, tell her the truth…. no every little thing that you do is going to trigger her memories"
"I know but…I don't want her to know that her hero is a complete mess during her birthday…during the anniversary" Meliodas answered sincerely while hiding his eyes behind his bangs, there was no use on hiding anything from Merlin, but he didn't want to see the gleam of pity that he knows crossed her eyes "Now if you excuse me...I have a journey to make, that wasn't a lie, then you can join me in my quest for finding the ale strong enough to make me forget my problems"
"That would the discovering of the century, count me in…but Meliodas, what use does it serve to go…there? Other that give you more reasons to drink that is" Merlin stated in a serious tone, rolling her eyes when he gave her the "call me Captain" look.
"….Let's just say…that there I want text if Elizabeth's theory is true and see how sorry the monster feel for he had done…for what he could have prevented, when I'm done call the guys, we are going to get really wasted, after all, this will be the last time I do this, I have to make up for missing a certain little girl's birthdays"
But that day won't come, as he and his comrades were framed for something they didn't do he was forced to leave Elizabeth behind, and now, as he looks at the cloudy sky and thinks of all her birthdays he missed and will missed, in the promise he broke, just a thought crosses his mind:
On the same day….I failed two Elizabeth's on the same day…