Spectrum of Passion Chapter 2: Meliodas
Alright, I made a new design for the earring Elizabeth wears. You will be able to find it on my side blog on tumblr, thesevendeadlysinsseries. Just search 'au earring' when you get to my blog and you should come across it. Make sure to check 'au earring' is in the tags, that would be the one you're looking for.
The thing that keeps the earring in her ear is orange by the way. Eli's earring is pretty much the same as in canon except it has a different picture and different colours. Big thank you to emethyste34 for drawing this for me.
Review Response
EJR HorseLady: Well here's the second chapter, it's longer than the first chapter was, I hope I manage a little more than a good start with this story.
Faeling Creature: I'm glad you're interested in it. I hope I won't disappoint you.
I made a few edits to the first chapter, I suggest you go back and read it again. Or at least skim it to find all the edits made. You don't have to but I think it would really be for the best if you did.
I awoke to a slight squeezing at my chest. Surprised, I shot up and found myself face to face with the blonde haired boy I had seen just before I collapsed. Although, now I've got a better look at him, I can see that the person before me is a man not a boy.
I noticed I was sitting on something soft, a bed, maybe? But the hand on my breast was more than a little distracting, I don't know how I managed to notice so much while this man was squeezing my breast.
"...Um…" I felt my cheeks heat at the feeling and tried to question the man and as soon as I did the man was standing a little ways away from me with his back turned.
"Yep, your heart's beating just fine." He told me. My mind, too fogged to really notice the contradiction in that statement, simply registered that this man was helping me out and of course, that meant I had to thank him.
"Oh! Thank you" I told him before beginning to look around the room I was in. It was a rather spacious room, there wasn't much in here aside from some drawers and the bed I was sitting on.
I guess this is the blonde haired man's house. Looking back towards him, I noticed he had turned back to me and was watching me.
Thinking he was waiting for me to say something, I decided to confirm my whereabouts. "Where am I?"
"You're in the Boar Hat, my tavern." He told me with a grin on his face.
His tavern? He's the owner of the building I had walked into? The surprise must have shown on my face because the next thing I knew, the man was pulling a face.
"Is there something wrong with that?" He asked me. There wasn't. I just wasn't expecting it, that was all. I mean he had a sword so...
"No… it's just with that sheath on your back… I assumed…" I told him pointing to the oddly shaped hilt that I could see on his back from over his shoulder.
"Oh this?" He questioned and much to my surprise reached for it and began pulling it out. Recoiling, I squeezed my eyes shut, fearing he might try to hurt me. "Sorry, did I scare you?" He asked me prompting me to open my eyes and look over at him once more. Doing so allowed me to see that the sword I had seen was a hilt and a broken blade. "It's just the hilt. It makes customers think twice before not paying."
"You bastard! Don't scare her like that!" A high pitched voice reprimanded, I immediately looked around for the source and my eyes landed on a pig, that was talking.
I was barely able to contain my squeal. I leaped of the bed in my excitement and starting hugging the pig. I mean it was a pig! "I love pigs! I asked my brother for one once!" And it talks! That's amazing!
"Your brother?" The pig asked me. I froze as soon as I heard it. He was likely wondering why I asked my brother and not my parents. The thought of my parents instantly dampered my mood and brought tears to my eyes. Both my parents died when I was young, my older brother took care of me for a majority of my life. I had lost my parents and, with how strange my brother was acting, I feared I would lose him too… if I hadn't already...
"Hawk." The tavern owner cut in. As I felt the pig, Hawk, stiffen I looked up to the blonde standing above me. He wasn't looking at me however, in fact I couldn't see his expression at all as he had apparently been walking towards the door before he spoke up.
A silence fell over the room, Hawk stayed tense and the tavern owner didn't move from where he was. I just… wasn't sure what to do about it, I wasn't entirely sure what had caused the silence in the first place so I definitely didn't know how to deal with it.
It seems, however, that I was going to break the silence without even meaning too when my stomach growled and just like that the silence dissipated. "Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat."
Did he mean for free?
...I suppose I shouldn't think that, this man probably just lost a lot of money when all his customers ran out and he hadn't said anything about giving me food for free, that was more of an implication. I wouldn't blame him at all if he wanted me to pay for my food after I had driven away so many paying customers.
"Oh but… I don't have any money…" I told him, pushing myself up into a standing position, and stumbling slightly. The blonde man placed his hands on my arms to steady me, he probably thought I'd fall if he didn't.
"That's alright. You're in pretty bad shape, so I'll make you something for free." He looked me over and I wondered how worse for wear I looked. Apparently I looked pretty bad if this man was willing to make me food on the house because of it.
Still though I didn't feel right about accepting food for free especially after all those customers left without paying for anything they had gotten from here. I guess my thoughts must have been visible again because the man gave me a reassuring smile "If you really feel like you should pay me then why don't you work here for the night?" he suggested.
"Work here? Will that really affect anything?" I asked him. What if I was no good at… doing whatever it is he was going to have me do? Or what if I frighten the customers again?
"Course it will, the customers will love you, I'm sure of it." Sir Tavern Owner assured me, letting me go and once again walking to the door. "Come on, I'll get you some food and after you finish, you can change into the tavern uniform."
"Eat up." Sir Tavern Owner told me, putting a plate full of food in front of me. The food both looked and smelled delicious, and I wasted no time in picking up the knife and fork in order to eat it.
"It looks delicious. Thank you." I told the tavern owner before beginning to cut into the food he had given me. It would have been rude of me not to thank this kind man for feeding me before I ate the food he had given me.
"Yeah, just wait 'till you try it." I heard Hawk mutter from beside me. What did he mean by that? I wondered as I lifted a piece of the food to my mouth.
I took a bite…. And I immediately knew what he meant. My stomach churned at the terrible taste. What even is this? I don't think I've ever tasted anything like it before.
"Disgusting, isn't it?" the man standing before me asked rhetorically with a large grin on his face. He clearly already knew the answer to that question, he knew his food tasted horrible.
Despite this, I nodded in agreement as tears started running down my cheeks but… "...It's delicious." I told him giving him a smile, his eyes widened in surprise before his lips morphed into a smile.
A silence fell over us as I continued to eat the food, at one point the blonde haired man left to get a drink for both me and himself. He gave me a glass of water after he sat down beside me while I believe he drank some kind of ale. Hawk had complained that he hadn't gotten him anything earning himself a hit on the head.
I ate a little under half the food before I decided I just couldn't take anymore and slid the plate forwards slightly. Sir Tavern Owner slid the plate over to Hawk after asking me if I was done and getting my nod of confirmation. "There. You can eat the rest of that."
"But your food's awful!" Hawk complained once more.
"Hmmm. Maybe I should have cooked you up for her instead." Sir Tavern Owner mentioned casually, his finger tapping his lip in thought.
Hawk froze at the remark before pulling the plate closer with his hoof and taking a big bite out of the food there. I giggled slightly at the scene as Sir Tavern Owner smirked victoriously.
"So, what were you doing in that armour?" Sir Tavern Owner asked me. Surprised, I turned towards him. I figured he would ask me about the armour eventually but the topic had kind of come out of nowhere.
"Oh… I… needed to get out." I told him hesitantly, what I had done and what I was doing was illegal, after all. I had pretended to be a Holy Knight in order to get out of the city and now I was going to find the Seven Deadly Sins with the intention of asking them to stop the Holy Knights.
"Get out of where?" Hawk asked me, curiously, pausing in his meal to do so.
"Did you escape from Liones?" Sir Tavern Owner asked me, placing his hand on my arm and rubbing it slightly. Was he trying to comfort me? Wait! How did he know that?!
"How… Did you…?" I asked completely taken aback by the question. Was there anything that could have given him an idea of where I came from? I didn't think so but it's possible I was mistaken.
"I used to work in Liones. I've seen that earring you're wearing before, it's one of a kind, right?" Sir Tavern Owner explained to me. Why do I get the feeling that isn't entirely true? ...I'm sure it's just my imagination, there's absolutely nothing that suggests that it isn't true, in fact there's more to suggest it is true.
"Did you know my mother?" I asked him, he probably would have had to in order to know about the earring, or at least he would have had to have known my father or Gil. This earring was made by mother after all. My brother gave it to me when I was 13, apparently father had told him to do so should anything happen to him before he could give it to me.
"Not all that well. I knew your father much better, I heard about the earring from him, he told me he was going to give it to his daughter when she turned 13." I winced slightly when he told me that, sure I had heard my father was going to give it to me when I was 13 but… that never came to be. "Did you have a particular reason to escape?" he asked me, it was a pretty obvious subject change, but I was glad he had done it, he must have noticed me wince when he mentioned my father.
"Yes… I'm trying to stop the Holy Knights." Judging from his wording earlier, Sir Tavern Owner already had an idea of what was going on in Liones, otherwise he wouldn't have used the word 'escape'. It made sense. I had heard that a bar was one of the best places to get information, if anyone had an idea of what it was going on, it would be someone that works in a bar.
"Stop them? Why? The Holy Knights are heroes, aren't they?" Hawk asked, curiously. Was I wrong? Did they not have any idea what was going on with the Holy Knights? Well, too late now.
"The Holy Knights… they are waging war against Britannia." I told them, they both looked shocked to hear this, Hawk more so than Sir Tavern Owner. However they did seem to believe me, so that was good. "A few days ago, the Holy Knights captured King Baltra and, as a result, the Kingdom of Liones as essentially fallen into their hands. In order to start a war they are forcibly recruiting people from the Kingdom. The men are to be trained as soldiers and the woman and children are to bring food for storage while the elderly are put into construction work."
"That's awful." Hawk commented, a frown on his face, I made a humming sound in agreement and took a breath in order to prepare to tell them the rest.
"And, without mercy, those who oppose them are…" Tears gathered in my eyes and a breath got caught in my throat as I thought of what happened to anyone that tried to argue against the Holy Knights. They were cut down without warning, right then and there.
"That does sound pretty bad. But, how are you going to stop them?" Sir Tavern Owner asked me. It was a fair question, I was up against Holy Knights and I was a girl that pretty clearly did not have the strength to go up against an Apprentice Holy Knight nevermind an entire army of full fledged ones.
"I… I am… going to... find the Seven Deadly Sins." I told them, now this was especially risky to tell them but… since they already knew I had good intentions and that the Holy Knights were doing awful things, I felt like they wouldn't expose me to the Holy Knights.
Hawk choked on his food and Sir Tavern Owner tensed up, they both seemed surprised by my revelation but that was to be expected. "The Seven Deadly Sins, huh? They're criminals, are you really sure you want to ask them for help?" Sir Tavern Owner asked me, his head was bowed and his hair was covering his eyes, I couldn't see his expression at all. I wonder what he's thinking about.
"I heard many wonderful stories about them from King Baltra, stories from when they still worked in the Kingdom, they were among the King's most powerful and trusted knights and… whenever I brought up the Seven Deadly Sins to my brother, his eyes would always light up." Despite that my brother never actually talked about them, I don't really understand why. I could tell that he loved the Seven Deadly Sins, so why didn't he want to talk about them? "I don't believe that the Seven Deadly Sins are bad people!"
"..." A silence fell over the three of us once more, I still couldn't see Sir Tavern Owner's expression and Hawk was looking over at him, seemingly waiting for something. "I see. In that case, I'll help you out."
"Huh?" I didn't understand why he said that, how could he help me out? Did he mean he was going to help me find the Seven Deadly Sins?
"I'll help you out. I'll do anything you need me to do." He told me, he was offering his help for me and the Kingdom. Although the wording kind of implies that he's doing it more for me than the Kingdom, that probably wasn't intentional though.
"Thank you Sir!" I gave him a huge smile and I clapped my hands together. But if he was going to help, would it not be better to know his name? I felt like it would really help us both out in the long run. "Um, Sir… What's your name?"
"It's Meliodas."
"What?!" I pushed myself backwards in my surprise and would have fallen off the chair if Meliodas hadn't caught me. I looked in between him and his wanted poster on the wall of the Tavern several times, comparing the two. He looked nothing like it! I didn't think that the Seven Deadly Sins would look exactly like their posters but the difference between the Meliodas holding me up and his wanted poster was immense there was almost nothing in common between the two.
"Surprised?" He grinned at me, picking me up and placing me on my feet beside him. I couldn't really think of anything to say so I simply nodded in response.
"As captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, you have my word that the Seven Deadly Sins will save the Kingdom of Liones from the Holy Knights." Sir Tavern Owner, who I now knew was the legendary Dragon's Sin of Wrath, proclaimed. I was so overcome by joy, hearing that from THE captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, that I tackled him in a hug. I think I almost knocked him over but he managed to catch himself pretty quickly.
I placed my hands on his shoulders to push myself away from him but his hands on my waist prevented me from getting very far. "Thank you."
Shortly after that Meliodas led me upstairs with Hawk following behind us. He had just told me to follow him so I could only assume he was going to take me to get changed into the uniform he had mentioned earlier.
"Hey miss, you haven't told us your name yet." Hawk mentioned. I paused, thinking back on the short time I had spent with them so far and he was right. I never did tell them my name.
"My name's Elizabeth." I told the big pig behind me turning my head to look at him.
"Well then Elizabeth, how come you had to wear that armour in order to escape?" Hawk asked me, I suppose I hadn't elaborated on that, all's I had said was I used it to escape.
"I had to use it in order to get out of the capital, they weren't letting non-knights out so I put on the armour to make them believe I was a knight and I also needed to hide my identity, regardless."
"'Hide your identity', how come?" Meliodas asked, jumping into the conversation, making me jump slightly in surprise. I didn't think he'd join in, I thought he was just going to listen to us talk.
"I don't know why but the Holy Knights seemed pretty adamant on keeping me in the city, they'd even gone so far as to have a Holy Knight watch me. So, even if they were letting non-knights out, they wouldn't let me out."
"You're amazing, Elizabeth! You managed to get out of the kingdom despite that setback." Hawk praised me, I gave a small smile but I didn't think the same way.
"Thanks but I disagree. I just got lucky, that's all. My entire escape was just… luck." I told him, my smile dropping. The more I thought about my escape the worse I felt, I wouldn't have gotten out if I wasn't lucky and, when I thought about it, I wouldn't have found Meliodas if I wasn't lucky either.
"I'm sure that's not true at all." Meliodas said to me giving me a grin "Some of your escape may have had to do with luck but I'm sure you wouldn't have gotten away if it was all luck."
I wasn't really sure how much I believed that sure he was almost definitely being sincere but he didn't know anything of my escape, there's no way he would know whether or not the entire escape was luck or not for sure. I appreciated his words all the same so I gave him a smile that I hoped conveyed my thanks.
"Um… Lord Meliodas… this is a little… revealing" I noted pulling on the very short skirt of the uniform he had given me, a blush on my cheeks and one of my hands resting on my chest.
"Are you not comfortable, Elizabeth?" Hawk asked me as Meliodas looked me up and down, I did notice he paused and frowned slightly once Hawk asked me if I wasn't comfortable though.
"No, it's not that, I don't mind it really. It's just a little more revealing than I'm used to, that's all." It was true, I wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest, it was just strange to be wearing something that showed of so much of my body.
"Hmmm, it suits you. But I better make sure it fits you properly." I barely had time to react before he was behind me and lifting up my skirt. I wasn't quite sure how that was letting him know if it fit me or not and I was pretty sure it didn't but these are completely foreign clothes to me so maybe what he was doing really was giving him the information he needed. But then again, I'm pretty sure he's just being a pervert.
"Hands off her, you pervert!" Hawk shouted at him, Meliodas obliged and moved back in front of me. I guess that's my answer, he really was just being a pervert even so I didn't really see the point in saying anything, Hawk already had and it isn't like he was making me uncomfortable. I know it's strange to think like that but…
"So, Elizabeth, you ready?" Meliodas asked me, walking over towards the bar. I thought over the question as I followed him. Was I ready? I wasn't sure.
"I don't know. This is my first time." I told him, I had never worked as a waitress before, least of all in a bar. I imagined working as a waitress at a bar and working as a waitress at a Cafe or Restaurant would be quite different.
"Ummm, your first time, huh? Can you repeat that but slower?" Meliodas asked me, I didn't have time to think about what he meant by that before Hawk cut into the conversation.
"Have you worked before, Elizabeth?"
I nodded my head in response "Yes. I worked in the Castle, I felt like I should help my brother with earning the money we needed." Gil and I were close with the royal family so they supported us for awhile but neither me nor Gilthunder wanted to keep it that way so while Gil earned money working as a Holy Knight I earned money working in the castle as a maid. "I was a maid. My brother and I wanted to make money on our own so Gilthunder started earning money when he became a Holy Knight and I took a job as a maid, although I did take care of the animals and plants sometimes."
Meliodas looked like he was about to say something when the door opened and several men came pouring in. "Well, looks like it's time for us to get to work." He told me gesturing to the men that had begun taking seats.
"I just have to take food and drink to them, right? I can do this!" I said more to myself than to Meliodas and Hawk. How hard could waitressing really be?
"You forgot taking orders." Hawk cut in. Okay, so maybe I forgot about that part but still… my work as a maid (plus taking care of the animals and plants) was a lot harder than most would think I was sure I could at least be a decent waitress.
…I was wrong…
Being a waitress was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I kept tripping and mixing up orders, I don't think I've gotten even one order right since I started working.
I should have figured from my experience starting out as a maid that this wasn't going to be anywhere near as easy as I thought it would be.
I had even dumped food and ale all over Meliodas, whom had gone upstairs to wash himself and change his clothes at mine and Hawk's insistence. He had walked upstairs saying he'd be five minutes tops.
"You okay, Elizabeth?" Hawk asked as he began to clean up the mess on the floor. I didn't answer as I picked myself up, briefly wondering how I hadn't got any food on me despite the fact I was covered in ale and the food constantly made a huge mess on the floor and the customers.
"I'm fine. I wasn't injured." I told him, he nodded at me as I turned to apologise to the customer that had likely just gotten food dumped on him.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" The man shouted at me, standing up from his seat, banging on the table as he did so. Jumping and flinching at the shout, I took a step backwards.
"I-I'm sorry, sir! I didn't mean to-"
"I don't care! You got me covered in this disgusting slop so confirmed! You will pay for it!" He yelled at me stepping forwards once I saw this I quickly took a step back.
The entire bar had gone silent as I shook in front of the large, angry man. I could tell just by looking that he was much bigger and stronger than I was. I didn't stand a chance against him if he tried to attack me, which looked pretty likely right now.
"Sir Twigo, please stop. She didn't do it on purpose." One of the people that had been sitting at the table with the man I had angered told him, also standing up from his seat as everyone else at the table followed suit.
"Unless you would like to pay for it to I suggest you shut up Alioni." Twigo told the man that had spoken, I saw the man give me an apologetic look before sitting back down and looking away. The others did the same and Twigo took another step towards me.
"Hey! Elizabeth didn't do anything wrong! Back off her!" Hawk exclaimed jumping in between me and Twigo. I guess he wasn't really sure what to do about the situation up until now, he certainly took awhile to step in.
Twigo simply looked down at him annoyed and kicked him away. "Ahh, Hawk!" He had landed on a table breaking it on collision and I could see blood on both him and the table.
"Your name's Elizabeth, huh? You know, someone named Elizabeth escaped from the capital not so long ago." Twigo told me continuing to step even closer to me as I continued to back up. With how crowded the tavern was I was lucky I hadn't backed into something yet but I was certainly glad I hadn't.
But… that sentence concerns me, did this man know that the Elizabeth that escaped from the capital and the Elizabeth standing in front of him are the same person? I hoped not, if Holy Knights came here now then the customers here would be in danger. If the Holy Knights wanted something then they wouldn't care who got hurt or even killed in the process. If he had an idea of who I was I had to throw him off, so I feigned ignorance to the whole thing "R-really?"
"Confirmed! You're Zaratras' brat!" Twigo yelled, making me jump once more. He already knew that I was the one that had escaped from the capital, thanks to that, feigning ignorance hadn't helped at all. What do I do now?
"What are you doing to my waitress?" I whirled around at the voice to see Meliodas, who was frowning at Twigo behind me. Meliodas was wet, his shirt was open and he had nothing on his feet. I didn't think of it before but maybe Meliodas would know what to do, he wouldn't let the people here get hurt.
"We were just talking, there's no need for concern." Twigo told him, much to my surprise, I wasn't expecting him to try to get Meliodas to step down. There was no way he'd know his identity and I didn't think he'd do that if he didn't think the person he was talking to was much stronger than him.
"Really? She seems awfully intimidated for someone who was 'just talking'." Meliodas pointed out moving so he was in between me and Twigo, having not believed Twigo's words.
Meliodas' shoulders were tense and he was bent slightly. Was he planning to attack? He couldn't fight Twigo here, someone will get hurt. I have to stop him. Maybe he wasn't going to fight Twigo here but just in case… "Please don't fight him here, I don't want anyone to get hurt."
"It's alright. I'll get him out and send him flying." he reassured me, he moved so fast after that I could barely see what happened. I think Meliodas threw him but whatever he did Twigo was no longer standing in the tavern. "I'll be right back, okay. This won't take long." Meliodas told me walking over the tables in the way and out the door of the tavern, that was now broken because of Twigo flying through it like he had.
The silence in the tavern continued up until a loud squeal reverberated through the tavern "Maaamaaaa!" Hawk ran out of the tavern with blood trickling down his body. Poor Hawk, that must be painful.
"I'm sorry." a man sat on the table that Twigo had been at said to me as I was about to follow Hawk outside, I think his name was... Alioni.
"Sorry for what?" I asked him stopping in my tracks, I threw a concerned look towards the door but I decided that Hawk's mum, who was apparently nearby, would be able to take care of it.
"What happened with Sir Twigo, you didn't deserve to be treated like that and I'm also sorry I didn't do anything to help you." he told me bowing down to me in his apology, the other men followed suit giving their own apologies.
"Oh, it's alright. You weren't the ones yelling at me and you did try to step in. I couldn't ask for anything more." I told them waving my hands, it really seemed like that man was scaring them, I could definitely see why they wouldn't step in too far, especially if it was for a stranger.
"My name's Alioni, I work as a knight in this area and so do these guys behind me." Alioni told me, well that certainly explained the armour. "And Sir Twigo is the Holy Knight that acts as our boss." I wasn't expecting that, after Alioni mentioned that the man remaining at the table were knights I figured that Twigo was too but I wasn't expecting him to be a Holy Knight.
My concern for Meliodas grew at this revelation. I wasn't really concerned at all for him at first, he was a member of the Seven Deadly Sins and the leader at that, he could easily handle a civilian or a knight. But Twigo is a Holy Knight, would Meliodas be okay?
Running outside, with Alioni and the other knights following me, I searched the area for Meliodas. It didn't take me long to find him, or rather it didn't take me long to find Twigo. I assumed Meliodas was in front of him as he was clearly talking to someone. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying but he didn't seem all that pleased.
The next moment he lifted his sword and the moment after that he went flying. I guess when Meliodas said he was going to 'send him flying' he really meant he was going to send him flying.
"Sir Twigo!" The Knights that had followed me exclaimed, running in the direction he had gone. Alioni handed me some money, said goodbye and then went to catch up to them. I simply stared at Meliodas as he walked over to me. His shirt was falling down and I could see something on his arm, his mark maybe?
"Lord Meliodas, are you alright?" I asked running over to him to check, I couldn't see any injuries and he looked like he had no problem with Twigo but still… Once I was close enough I noticed that the thing on his arm really was his mark, a dragon to represent the Dragon's Sin of Wrath.
"Nishishi, of course." He told me puffing out his chest slightly. I chuckled at him and handed him the money I had been given. He took it and placed his hand on the small of my back and led me back into the tavern. "Come on, we're done for tonight so let's get everyone out, okay?
That's the end of chapter 2. I think this is still going rather well.
Oh and if anyone's curious Twigo and Elizabeth have met before but Eli doesn't remember having met him. I might make an extra chapter for that if anyone's interested.