A/N: Can you believe me and Lickitysplit wrote an entire chapter without drinking? In a day?! It started off and we just kept going and going and we were done in a... a timely manner. I shiver just at the thought. I was in completely shock just sitting there, unsure what to do for hours. It was like a whole new world. I had to drink to deal with the trauma, before making sure to celebrate with another drink for a chapter well done. Thank god Lickity puts up with my antics.

BettyBest2: I'm so happy you like the emotional stress our lovely King and Queen are going through, we are trying our best to apply as much dramatically dramatic drama as we can! Oh what, uh, no. You totally deserve it, what are you talking about? And I've been meaning to ask, what happened to BettyBest1? Or is it some sort of long, century old Taboo never to be spoken of- cause I love long century old taboos.

Cerulean Grace: Ha! And what a midlife crisis this would be. We're so happy you enjoy their pain, there's so much more to come! **cue maniacal laughter**

Whitangel: Our apologies. We too understand the real pain that is caused by having to wait for the next chapter to come. Sometimes we cry at night, just waiting for our next chapter to appear on our screens.

Mondemutt: Awesome, thank you love. She's... 41, 42? Somewhere between there hehehe.

Kamira: We have some thread and needle, if that helps. But we're probably just gonna hit it with a hammer again this time, so... whoops. Thank you love. It's a good thing we ended that chapter like that then, and not the alternative where Meliodas goes and finds the physician and throws him off an even higher point then he threatened in the first place.

CaptainTwiggy0918: He's got it rough, yep. Elizabeth will never catch a break. And I wanted the doctor to fall into a pile of horse manure, to cushion his fall, before the assistant landed on top.

Inky Finger Prints: That's awesome! Ok, ok ok ok! You're welcome you're welcome you're welcome! YAY!

Chapter Four: Wasted Time

With her legs hanging over the side, Elizabeth watched from the edge of the bed as Merlin begins laying out books and vials. A giant brown bag is on the ground, and Merlin pulls more and more things out of it; some of the objects far too big to fit in the sack themselves. Elizabeth would normally have been astonished by the magic had her mind not been far, far away on far more pressing issues.

King.

Meliodas is the king. The king of Lioness? Her head spins around and around as she keeps catching glimpses of him in the corner of her eye. He looks almost the same; the same slightly messy blond hair, the same way he would sit with a elbow on his knee, his chin resting on his palm, the same hard to read face… but there was still something so obviously different.

He is the king? But… why? This couldn't be, he would never- he- he wouldn't be, he had never made any signs of wanting a higher status in the past! This is Meliodas, the owner of a tavern who could outdrink Ban and Diane and drink the roughest of Knights under the table- but for him to be a king?

This couldn't be real, she decides this is it. The sign. The way she now knows the illusion has been pushed too far. Blood rushes to her ears as Elizabeth blinks rapidly, like the action would somehow clear away the fog of confusion.

Queen?

That is utter absolute nonsense. What farce is this? Another fact that doesn't make sense! She isn't the crown princess, she was never destined for the throne. She only ever saw herself standing in the Boar's Hat by Meliodas' side. That was much more likely than here. She imagines both of them holding golden scepters and doing everything that comes with running a kingdom, and she can feel her ears burn, her cheeks matching their color as she fidgets in place. Together. Them, both of them, together as- a- a couple? She almost starts squeaking again as Merlin clears her throat.

Elizabeth blinks. "Oh!"

The room is transformed. There are tables up, shelves full of ominous ingredients and leather bound books, two cauldrons somehow already smoking, and an overall feeling of creepiness in the once bright and normal bedroom. A rather quick transformation that Merlin is quite excited for, by her smile.

Ban sits in a chair on the side of the room, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees. Elizabeth looks at him curiously, having never seen him look so… put-together, she decides. He's wearing aristocratic clothing, his usual grin wasn't even there, and as he looks over the items laid out on the table with a nod of appreciation, it's completely opposite of Margaret. Her sister is also sitting in the room, but she regards the mage suspiciously, stealing worried glances at the strange things now cluttering the room. "Really got a dungeon feeling going on here, Merlin," Ban says as he looks around.

"Now, Your Grace," says Merlin as she takes a step closer. "Let me take a gander at you."

She places her hands on Elizabeth's shoulders, moving them slowly down her arms, then lifting her hands to examine her palms for a minute before turning them over. Seemingly finding nothing of interest, she next places her hands on top of Elizabeth's head. Her fingers move along her scalp, tracing in patterns that Elizabeth doesn't understand.

Next, Merlin bends down and looks into one eye, lifting her bangs to peer into the other. Her expression never changes from her typical small smile, but Elizabeth feels like there is something off in the way she looks at her. There is something that she does not recognize behind her eyes… is it fear? Apprehension? She was trying to keep it hidden under her smile but...

"Excuse me, Lady Merlin," Margaret speaks up, "She's already been seen by the doctor. Do you really feel this is helpful?"

"Not really," Merlin answers slyly. "I thought it would look good. For dramatic effect." Her grin flashes brilliantly and she sweeps back to her table, picking up a journal and jotting down a note. Margaret huffs and Elizabeth chuckles, unable to stop herself. But she cannot shake the feeling that Merlin's good nature is all an act, somehow.

"Hmmmm." Merlin turns back to Elizabeth with a soft smile, taking a small pair of glasses out of her pocket and placing them on the tip of her nose. "Your Grace," she begins, causing Elizabeth to squirm at hearing herself called the title. She won't be used to that any time soon. "Why don't you start with the last thing you remember?"

Elizabeth nods slowly and she wrings her hand in her dress.

She clears her throat, taking a deep breath to steady herself. The memories of that time were still far too vivid, and the last thing she wanted to do now was cry. "Gilfrost sent me back to Vaizel. It was empty and I searched for Sir Meliodas… When I found him…" Her eyes go to him as she trails off, and he stands up straighter, gazing back at her with an expression that threatened to bring the tears she wanted to hold back springing forth. "He was dead."

Her shoulders are trembling terribly now, her lower lip shaking, and when she tries to go on only a croak comes out. All she had wanted was the chance to heal him, to have him wake up and thank her like he did after the fight against Hendrickson. But… But she couldn't heal the dead. She places a hand over her mouth as she squeezes her eyes shut. She finds she cannot bring herself to describe to them what she had seen.

The room is silent as she collects herself, and when her eyes finally open, Meliodas' head is bowed. She notices how tight the muscles in his arms are, despite the casual way he has them crossed, his hair concealing his gaze. He lifts his head and meets her gaze, flashing her a small lopsided smile that does not comfort her. As they lock eyes she suddenly finds she cannot stop her own question. "How? Sir Meliodas, how did you come back?"

She needs to know. She has to know. Maybe if she knows, now, then she could-

"Don't worry about that just yet," says Merlin, looking at her over her notebook. "Is that all you remember? Just arriving in Vaizel."

Elizabeth shakes her head, biting her lip as she looks away from Meliodas again. "There was wind when I first arrived, then the air there went so still. I think I must have lost track of time. Did… I mean, was it Sir Gilfrost?" She glances around at everyone as Merlin scribbles something down. "I just met him in the maze, he was able to freeze that giant creature, he seemed like a formable knight. Maybe- maybe he… sent me here?" She trails off as Merlin comes up again, poking her squarely in the middle of her forehead, leaving the finger resting there against her skin as Elizabeth stares at the appendage in surprise.

The questioning continues, and Elizabeth finds it increasingly difficult to keep up with her own answers. Merlin asks if she has had any illnesses, any headaches, had seen or heard anyone, even asking if her toes tingled? She describes for her again everything she remembered from the maze- Diane losing her memories, to the slugs in the lake- and from watching Meliodas battle through the orb, to here. Both Meliodas and Ban watch her with fascination as they listen, but Merlin remains unreadable. She has her walk through the moments before and after she teleported, wanting to know every detail until Elizabeth felt as though her head was spinning.

"Do you think I should have felt something?" Elizabeth finally asks in desperation. "Is any of this even making sense?"

"It's fine, Your Grace," Merlin assures her. "Tell me, did you happen to feel a little pinch?"

Suddenly the memory is clear. "Yes! I felt something. On the back of my neck." She brings a hand to the skin there, rubbing at the phantom sting.

"That doesn't sound like Teleportation to me," Ban says.

"Hmmm," Merlin responds. She tilts her head and regards Elizabeth for a minute, her eyes searching her face. "And now, how are you feeling?"

Elizabeth shakes her head. "I-I feel fine now. Just confused. Overwhelmed mostly, Lady Merlin." She frowns. "Do you suppose something hit me? Or- or pulled me? That I-oh, I don't know, that something-" She struggles to find the right words, looking at Meliodas for help. He isn't looking at her, however, but is instead watching Merlin with a frown. She has so many questions and very little ideas. But the ones she did have, well, Elizabeth couldn't speak them, afraid they'd think her even more insane than now. "What do you suppose it could have been?"

Merlin turns around instead of answering, picking up another book and leafing through it before placing it down. She checks another book, then another, the room growing uncomfortable as the time stretches on. "What day is it?" Merlin asks her, casually turning a page.

The question catches Elizabeth completely off guard. "Tuesday?" she says with uncertainty. "Is that right?" She feels incredibly foolish even asking, and her face reddens in mortification as Margaret barely hides her cringe. Wrong answer, it seemed.

"Do you know what season it is?" Merlin glances up at her briefly.

"S-summer?" Elizabeth starts to feel panic. How can she not know these answers?

"Merlin," says Meliodas, his voice strained only slightly with a warning tone. He leans back, a fist resting on his hip as he raises a brow. "These questions aren't getting us anywhere. Do you know what is wrong or not?"

"Believe me," she says, crossing her arms, "they are all very necessary."

Meliodas' frown deepens. "Well, then get on with it." Elizabeth looks at him in surprise. She could tell he was more than frustrated… he was getting angry. He was hiding it well of course, like always, but he was staring Merlin down without blinking, making their eye contact quite tense.

"You should listen to the Cap'n." Ban says evenly. He shifts in his chair and looks pointedly at Merlin.

"Certainly," Merlin responds with another smile, turning back to Elizabeth. "So how are you feeling now, Your Grace?"

Elizabeth blinks, not entirely sure about the exchange that just happened among the others. "I feel…" She pauses, trying to find the right words. "I don't feel sick. I know there must be something wrong, but it doesn't feel like I've forgotten anything. As if yesterday was the tournament, and now…"

The mage tilts her head. "That doesn't exactly answer my question."

"There's no blank space," Elizabeth rushes on, trying to make them understand. "Wouldn't I feel as though something is missing, if I had lost my memories? As though something was gone?"

She looks expectantly at Merlin, but to her disappointment she simply glances down at her notebook for a long moment. "Do you feel like you are here, in this room?"

"What?" Elizabeth frown, before shaking her head. "I'm not sure what you mean-"

"Oh, you know." She waves her hand in a circle. "Is there anything about this place that seems out of place? That doesn't feel like it should be here."

Elizabeth stalls, before nodding. Her heart starts to race as she thinks about all of the strange things she has seen since this morning. "As a matter of fact… yes." Meliodas snaps back to look at her sharply and she squirms. "There is a picture of the Boar's Hat in my- our- our bedroom. The castle seems put together wrong somehow. And my sister looks-looks o-older," she stutters as she glances at Margaret with an apologetic look. Merlin leans forward and gestures for her to continue. "Sir Ban is… he seems different. Older, too somehow. And Sir Meliodas seems different as well, but…" She looks at him to try to figure out what exactly it could be, but Merlin interrupts her thoughts.

"Probably because the last time you saw him he was dead. He was dead, wasn't that what you said?" Merlin flips through her journal, humming as she looks for a certain page, before she looked up as though she was reminiscing on a old memory. "His seven hearts were all stabbed if I remember right." The mage peers at the king, who stares back at her with a dark look.

Observing this, Elizabeth rushes on, "Yes, he was-"

Suddenly Merlin breaks eye contact with Meliodas. "Anything else unusual?" she asks, turning her attention back to Elizabeth.

"No no, I don't believe-" Elizabeth stops. As she thinks back, she realizes yes, yes… actually, there was something that was rather strange. "Except I… even though I've never been here before, so much is so strange and new, but it still feels familiar?"

Merlin snaps her book shut, swirling around to face her again with the same guarded look Elizabeth had noticed earlier. "I see." And it really looks like it too, her face turning to something similar to a cat who just ate the canary. Guarded, but satisfied.

"One last question Elizabeth." She holds her hand out in front of her, her palm facing Elizabeth. "How old are you?"

"Old?" She was asking her such an easy question, after all this? Elizabeth's eyes go wide as she thinks further. Her age? Well, of course, that was simple she was… she was….

Her breath catches, and she struggles. She knew that answer-of course she did. Why- why wouldn't she? She opened her mouth before closing it. And then opens it. She should know this answer!

It isn't until Meliodas finally interrupts that she notices her hands are shaking terribly, and she claps them together tightly. "Enough." The bite in his voice is enough to capture all of their attention.

With a huff, Merlin argues, "This is rather important, Your Grace-"

"I don't care." His voice becomes low and menacing, and Elizabeth jumps slightly in place at the sound, looking up at him in surprise. Ban leans forward, his eyes going back and forth between Meliodas and Merlin, who stare at each other, and Elizabeth quietly takes in a small breath. Meliodas he was- he was glaring at Merlin? "This is doing nothing but upsetting Elizabeth." Meliodas starts again, his voice deadly calm. "You knew what was going on after the first few questions, didn't you? Now, do you have an answer or not? I won't grovel for it."

"Damn." Ban says dryly as Merlin returns his gaze. "~Come on you two.~" he hums. Merlin's smile never slips from her mouth, but her eyes are just as hard-set as Meliodas'.

"Actually," she says evenly, "I'd like to hear the answer to my question." Everyone in the room turns to look at Elizabeth.

"Well," Elizabeth nibbles on her lip and looks at Merlin. "I-I'm seventeen?" Margaret gasps, and Elizabeth can see an almost imperceptible flash of surprise in Merlin's expression. She suddenly feels like one of her experiments she works on in her dungeon, and Elizabeth gulps. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Ban start to stand, and Elizabeth whirls towards Meliodas, searching his face. "Aren't I?" she says.

"Double damn," Ban says as Meliodas walks over to the bed to stand next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. He purses his lips together. "Margaret, can you take Elizabeth to get some tea or something? I think Merlin is done here."

"I don't want to go and get tea," she insists softly, placing her hand over Meliodas, whose grip was slightly tight. "I want to know what's going on. How is it that.. That suddenly twenty five years has gone by? That I don't know so many things? But I know something about this is wrong. I can feel it!" Her head moves back and forth between the two. "Please, Lady Merlin, what is happening?"

"That's not the part that concern me," Meliodas mumbles as he takes Elizabeth by the arm, to her surprise, and pulls her to a standing position. He starts to lead her to the door, ignoring her protests. "I'm not leaving!" Elizabeth cries. "How old am I? What day is it! I- I should know these things Sir Meliodas, please!"

"Elizabeth," Meliodas says. The irritation is clear in his voice as he puts a hand around her waist and points her towards the door. "Just let us talk to Merlin for a moment. Margaret, will you please come and take her?"

Margaret moves quickly towards them, but Elizabeth yanks her arm away. "Don't bother." she says softly, but to her complete mortification it comes out like a shaky sob. "The- the Sir Meliodas that I know, he would not just send me away. And most certainly not like this," she says softly before turning and fleeing out of the room, her sister close on her heels as she quickly hurries down the hallway. Her head was held high, her chin up even as her jaw trembled terribly. That- that- he always tries to protect her! Without taking into account how much she wanted- no needed to be a part of this. Any of this! She had only promised the day prior that she would get stronger, so she could stay and fight by his side, and now… now…

Her foot step finally slow and she looks around. She's is in a completely new part of the castle, and she huffs, trying to decide what to do, turning her head to gaze out of the window.

Over the tops of the buildings and rooftop and tall skylines standing out, to see a very familiar pointed roof in the far off distance. She gasps and starts to hurry down the hallway, taking the steps as quickly as she dares. As she passes by people going about their business, knights walking in formation and maids doing their rounds through the rooms and hallways, she gives a brief nod to those who stop to bow. It's a stark contrast to when she had ran through the same places last night, the entire kingdom bustling with energy.

When she reaches the courtyard, a groomsman hurries over. He takes in her brightly colored cheeks and slightly wild hair. "Your Grace?" he asks in astonishment, and he glances down. His eyebrows shoot up as he notices her absence of shoes. "Is there.. A matter I can assist you with?"

"Yes," says Elizabeth, a bit out of breath. "I need to get to the Boar's Hat. Would you be so kind as to get a carriage, and quickly?"

"Certainly," he says with a quick bow. Moments later Elizabeth is being helped into the back of a carriage by two guards, and is moving through the vaguely familiar city streets as she sighs in relief. Slouching back into the cushioned seat, she smiles to herself for managing to do at least this much. Being queen- she still cringes at the thought- but it does have a few perks.

When they arrive, she is helped down and the footman tells her that they will wait, two knights standing at attention at the back of the carriage. She wants to tell them to go on with their business, but Elizabeth insteads nods and looks at the familiar tavern. Has it been only a day since she has been inside? Or has it been… longer than that?

She takes the stairs quickly and pushes open the door. The bell over top chimes just as she knew it would, as it always has and her heart skips a beat. At least that much hasn't changed.

"Hello?" she calls into the dim room. The tables and stools are arranged in a new way, but everything just looks so familiar. She sighs in happiness at finally finding something-anything- that makes sense and she makes her way to the bar, resting her hand against the wood as she just soaks in the room.

"Elizabeth?!" a voice squeals, the exact same as always and she turns to the sound in excitement, her face brightening. "Oh, Hawk-!" Her greeting dies in her throat, however, when she takes in the sight of her sweet little Hawk.

He lumbers into the room, practically bouncing in excitement as his hoofs click on the floor. "What are you doing here?" he squeals.

"H-hawk? Is that you?" Elizabeth approaches him carefully. Her heart sinks with the knowledge that this is just one more thing she doesn't understand.

He's… huge. Instead of looking down she puts a hand over her mouth, as she looks up and up and up. His cute little black eyes aren't little anymore as he looks directly at her, and Hawk was no longer the small piggy he used to be. Instead standing at chin height with her, so large he barely fit between the tables.

"Elizabeth!" he squeals, bringing his snout close to poke her on the shoulder, and she squeaks. "Did the building plans go through! I know how excited you were for it!"

"Er- big- you," She stuttered as she pat him on the top of the head, mistified by how she had to raise her hand to do it. "How much did you eat?"

"Huh, What are you talking about-?"

The door opens with another tinkle of the bell and Elizabeth and Hawk both turn. A young boy steps inside, looking around eight or nine, and completely caked head to toe in mud. "Hawk, you won't believe it, so just don't even ask," he says, not even looking at them. He jogs behind the bar with a familiarity that surprises Elizabeth and he grabs a towel, wiping the grime from his face before blowing his nose on it. "Maaan, today has been a trip. Let me tell you."

"You midget sized asshole! What did you do now?!" Hawk roared, stampeding towards the kid who just put a foot out, somehow holding back the enrage hog who was three times his mass as he threw the soiled towel in a random direction. "Eh, is this a customer?" He turns to her with a smile, and with the dirt gone Elizabeth finally gets a good look at him. Her eyes widen as he examines her, dragging his eyes up from the bottom of her knee length skirt, along the curves of her form, lingering for a moment on her chest. He leans against the bar and gives her a wolfish grin as his eyes finally reach her face. "~Hello there.~ I'm-" he blinks, "wait a minute." He frowns.

"You look just like-are you-Queen Elizabeth?"

He gasps in surprise, but his expression does not come close to the shock on her own face. Here is one more strangely familiar face.

"Sir… Ban?" She whispers, looking down at the boy who slightly reached past her hip and he pales, dramatically.