Part Seven

Persephone is having sex in hell.
unlike the rest of us, she doesn't know
what winter is, only that
she is what causes it.

She is lying in the bed of Hades.
What is in her mind?
Is she afraid? Has something
blotted out the idea
of mind?

She does know the earth
is run by mothers, this much
is certain. She also knows
she is not what is called
a girl any longer. Regarding
incarceration, she believes

she has been a prisoner since she has been a daughter.

Louise Gluck

For the first time, the king of the Underworld wakes to a feather touch and soft lips. He sighs and stretches a bit, reaching up to find silky hair that he drags his fingers through; when he opens his eyes, his goddess is laying over him, slowly and quietly kissing a path along his shoulder. "Elizabeth?" he whispers, and she hovers over him with a smile, her hair hanging down to frame her face.

"I like when you kiss me there," she says softly. "Do you like it too?" Her mouth dips down to his collarbone, her tongue slipping out to quickly press against his chest.

"Yes, of course," he laughs. He can feel her smile against his skin as she moves lower, her lips brushing over his chest. Meliodas sighs again, wonderfully content, and sweeps her hair back over one shoulder so he can watch the way she moves over him. Her bare body lays across him, and he can feel her breasts and her legs and her sex pressed on his skin. It is the first time they lay naked together, and his blood pulses with her movements.

Her mouth continues its journey, and Meliodas lets out a sharp hiss when she tugs on his nipple with her lips. He lays frozen as she licks the sensitive nub again and again, but when she grazes him with her teeth he grips her arms and gently pulls her back. "I liked that too," she says as she leans back over him. "Don't you?"

"It's a bit ticklish on me," the demon answers. He slides up to sit against the pillows as Elizabeth sits back on her legs, thinking for a moment.

"Meliodas," she finally says, "are you sure you do not have a heart?"

Her hand goes out and grazes over his chest, and he nods. "Perhaps the gods… made a mistake?" asks the goddess.

Meliodas shakes his head. "I gave it willingly, Elizabeth. I wanted to rule this kingdom. If I had known…"

He looks away, an embarrassed heat sliding up the back of his neck, and he feels the goddess slide closer. Her hand goes to his cheek, and she turns his face back to look at her. "What happened last night," she breathes. He looks in her eyes, her face close to his, and he covers her hand with his. "It had to be love," she insists. "I had imagined, but never knew… Meliodas, you loved me, didn't you?"

The king swallows thickly, unsure of what to say. "I don't know what is happening," he finally admits. "I gave away my heart. I do not have desires, I do not feel anything. Until you, Elizabeth." Her eyes widen a bit, and he traces his fingers down her arm. "I don't know why I feel with you. I don't know why I want you, but I do. Pleasure meant nothing before, but now… Elizabeth, you are changing me and I don't understand."

Her eyes search his face, the corners soft, and finally she leans in to brush her lips on his cheek. "I want you to feel, Meliodas," she says. Then the goddess moves onto his lap, and for the hundredth time he marvels at her. Her hands are on his shoulders, and she looks at him with such adoration, her emotions plain on her face, that he is momentarily overwhelmed by her. The king's gaze slides downward, drinking in her flesh and the curves of her body, the soft sway of her breasts, the soft pink of her nipples, the way her stomach smoothes inwards before her hips flare out to the shapely thighs, the place between them that he longs to touch and taste and bury himself inside.

Elizabeth presses her mouth on his, and he returns her kiss as her hands move down his body. "I want you to feel," she repeats, and something inside of him feels as though it is opening, a spark deep inside of him. Soon her hands are on his hips, then slipping downwards, and when her soft fingers find his sex, she begins to slowly stroke him just as he had done to her the night before. Meliodas gasps and leans back in surprise, his body kindling with a sudden fire. Her eyes go downwards, and there is a heavy silence punctuated only by his ragged breathing as he grows thick and long in her hands, his body shaking as the goddess sits back and unabashedly caresses him.

Meliodas moans her name, and with one movement he pulls her against him, the kiss they share searing with his building passion. Elizabeth continues the steady movements of her hands as his own go to her body, sliding over her breasts and stomach and hips and thighs before caressing in between, using the knowledge from their last encounter to tease her in a way that has her rocking and squirming in little time.

He is holding back, not wanting to scare her, not wanting to hurt her, the promise he made to himself to keep her innocence echoing in his mind. But the way the goddess moves against him and sighs as he fondles her is driving him steadily back to the madness he had dismissed before. Meliodas chokes out her name, and unthinkingly she pushes her body against his, the wet heat between her legs gliding along the rigid length of his own.

"There's more… I know there is more…" she moans, and he pulls back from where he is kissing her throat so he can grab her hips to stop her movements. Elizabeth looks down at him with eyes dark with desire.

"Elizabeth, I can't… We can't…"

"Just feel me," she whispers in his ear, and Meliodas' resolve is ruined. His arms go around the goddess and he rolls her over, climbing between her legs as her arms tug him down. One hand goes into her hair to caress the back of her head, and he licks her lips as her hands dance along his stomach. His other hand goes to her leg and pulls it around him, and he huffs as her calf presses against the back of his thigh, urging him closer.

Meliodas tilts up, and the head of him pulses against the wet entrance to her body. Suddenly through the haze of passion and need and her quiet cries is a new emotion: fear.

His body is doused with a sudden coldness as the weight of this moment begins to smother him, and for a second he drowns in the apprehension that comes with receiving what he wants. He can't stop, but he can't go on, and he feels frozen even as he eases forward and slips inside the heat of her.

The days and weeks of wanting and needing the goddess crash through him as he experiences the bliss of her body around him. Slowly he pushes inside, inch by inch swallowed by his Elizabeth, and even as she tenses around him he cannot think of anything but how good it feels. Elizabeth is wet and hot and it is nearly painful it feels so good, so right.

This must be what it is to feel.

There is no pleasure without pain, he remembers suddenly, and as he pulls back and pushes in again, he allows himself to topple into the ecstasy of feeling. He has been giving and giving to Elizabeth, and now as he takes his pleasure his powers flare out. The darkness inside of him where his heart once resided seeps through his veins as he thrusts. Meliodas wants, he needs, and he takes his goddess, just as he claimed her in Britannia.

Again and again he rocks, slowly and steadily, and Meliodas kisses her neck and her chest and her nipple. But she does not respond except with a soft sound, and as he moves he looks up.

Elizabeth's face is twisted in pain, tears sliding down the sides of her face. He immediately stops his movements, staring at her with a growing horror. Then, when he shifts his hips and buries himself inside of her body, she gives a painful sound that slices through him.

"Elizabeth? What's wrong?" Meliodas lets go of her body and pushes himself up, sliding his throbbing length from her. She gasps, pushing on his shoulders, and the king pants as he begins to shake, wondering what to do. His body is hot and slick with sweat and their fluids, and all he wants is to return to that bliss of being inside of her, but something is wrong. He has hurt her.

The power inside of him is coiling around them both, and at once he snaps it back, the little tendrils of darkness that had been dancing along her skin leaving fading marks. Elizabeth shifts away, trying to close her legs, and her arms drop from their place around his shoulders and curl around herself.

"Elizabeth." He leans in closer, the dread of this moment making his muscles shake. No pleasure without pain, he thinks, and he feels something hot and wet hovering in the corner of his eye. "Elizabeth, look at me."

But she will not, even as one hand reaches up to flatten against his chest. At first he thinks she is feeling once again for his heartbeat, the heartbeat he doesn't have, but then she is pushing him away, and Meliodas is standing next to the bed as she rolls onto her side.

A sharp rap at the door startles them both, and the king's heaving emotions flare into a fiery anger at whoever dares to stand on the other side of the door. "Get out!" he shouts, the fury filling the room, and he hears Elizabeth whimper.

"Your Grace!" It's Zeldris on the other side, and Meliodas thinks of how he will rip his brother limb from limb. But as he takes a step towards the door, the younger demon calls through the wood, "The goddesses are here and demanding you release Elizabeth to them! Baltra himself wants to speak to you!"

The king stops, the room tipping for a moment. He looks over his shoulder at his goddess, his queen, who is shaking on the blankets. Quickly Meliodas climbs onto the bed, swallowing as she turns her face away to press her forehead into the softness. "Elizabeth, please stay here," he whispers. With one hand he wipes her damp hair back, and presses a trembling kiss on her temple. "You will be safe here. I will return." Then he dresses, grabbing his weapon, and is gone to face his fate.


For a while afterwards, Elizabeth lay curled on the bed, her mind a mess of confusion. The pain of Meliodas making love to her had faded, now just a dull ache deep inside of her. But the way his power had flared, and the way he had looked at her as if she were something to be used and consumed… it was the first time she had ever felt afraid of him.

She knows now that he has been right all along. He has no heart. Why else would there have been so much pain, so much wrong with what they shared? It had all been so thrilling, the goddess acting on some instinct she felt was as much a part of her as her healing magic. It had all felt so right, until the moment his body pushed inside of hers.

Slowly Elizabeth sits up, looking around. Zeldris had said the goddesses were there, her father was there, and at once she feels that she must go. She slides off the bed and heads into the closet, hunting through the racks for something she can present herself in front of the others. Her hands tremble a bit at the thought of facing them, especially now after she has completely given herself over to the demon.

The goddess pauses. She may have given her body to him, but she has yet to give her heart.

Quickly she pulls out a simple dress and slips it on, running her fingers through her hair to comb it as she heads towards the door. She spots the elegant dress that she had worn to dinner in a heap on the floor, and Elizabeth hurries by remembering how it felt for it to slide from her form, how it felt for Meliodas' gaze to be on her body. The goddess exits the room and pulls the door closed in the familiar silence, pausing to listen for voices.

Making her way through the hallways, she decides to cut through the dining hall in order to remain hidden. Meliodas had asked her to stay in the room, but how could she, when others were debating her fate at that moment? She does not know for sure what she wants herself, but she is determined to make the decision on her own.

When she enters, she pulls up short to see Estarossa sitting in the king's chair. He is eating, his plate piled high with cheese and fruit, and he slathers a piece of bread with butter before taking a bite. Her mouth drops open in surprise, and the demon looks up at her, a smile spreading slowly over her face. Estarossa wipes his mouth with his napkin and then takes a long drink from the gilded cup in front of his setting. "Your Grace," he murmurs, standing and giving her a polite bow. "How lovely to see you."

Unsure how to answer, the goddess nods and edges towards the other end of the room. His eyes are on her as she walks, and when she approaches he spreads his hands towards the table. "Can I offer you something?" he says, indicating the food and drink on the table.

"No thank you," she answers politely.

"It's just as well," he replies with a sigh. "None of this is satisfying anyway."

Elizabeth watches as he takes another bite of the bread before tossing it onto his half-eaten meal. Then his eyes slowly move up to hers, and her breath catches in her throat. "Tell me, my queen, are you enjoying your stay?"

She looks around a bit, pinned under the question. "I... I am..."

"I only ask," he says with a bit of a smirk, "because all of the Underworld could hear how very much you are enjoying yourself last night."

Immediately a burning heat floods her cheeks, and Elizabeth gasps. She trembles a bit as Estarossa chuckles. "It would be a shame if someone alerted the goddesses you were here. I'm sure you have many more pleasures to experience."

Her eyes go to the door that will lead her to the hall, remembering through the humiliation of why she is there, and she moves with haste towards it; but Estarossa steps up and stops her with a hand on her arm.

"I would caution you before entering," he says. "The king is occupied with guests."

"It is my father," she replies coldly. "He is here for me."

"Is that so? What a pity. But even more reason to keep you safe." Her brows arch, and Estarossa smiles. "I must apologize for our first meeting. I did not know if you could be trusted, and I tempted you with the wrong door. But the king has made it clear that you are here to stay, and I must do my duty to my king. And my queen," he adds, nodding his head.

Elizabeth blinks at him in surprise, but then nods. "I understand. Do you love your brother?"

Estarossa nods. "Very much, my queen. As do you, I presume."

She looks away, heat rising on her cheeks. "I do…"

"Have you given the king your heart yet?"

Her eyes snap up to him, and Elizabeth takes a deep breath. "I have not," she admits.

Estarossa clicks his tongue. "How very disappointing. Aren't you afraid the others will take you away without a promise to him?" When Elizabeth doesn't answer, he looks her over discerningly. "Is it because he has no heart you will not give him yours?"

Elizabeth steps back, pulling away from his hand still on her arm. "No," she breathes.

"Do think so very badly of him?" he continues, as if he had not heard her. "Perhaps as a goddess, you cannot understand sacrifice."

"That's not true," she insists, shaking her head. "I do understand it. I understand it now."

The demon folds his arms, looking down at her with a cool expression. "And what do you understand, my queen?"

Elizabeth squares her shoulders a bit, raising her chin. "I may have a heart, but I have never truly used it to love. I never knew desire, or true joy, before I met Meliodas. Because I had never experienced true sorrow, either. Or pain." She swallows, her voice going softer, as if speaking to herself, for herself. "I only knew peace, and it was as empty as Purgatory. As empty as the king." Her eyes dart to the door. "I won't go back," she says.

"Then you should do something," he bites out sharply, leaning down to look in her eyes. "Because the king is sending you away."

"No!" she cries, stepping around the demon, but again he stops her.

Estarossa tilts his head towards the table. "You may want to do something to make sure you cannot leave," he says. They stare at one another for a moment, and then he finally steps aside, walking towards the further exit.

Elizabeth watches him over her shoulder. Before he leaves she calls out, "Estarossa!"

The demon pauses but does not turn around. "What did you sacrifice for your power?" she asks.

He stands perfectly still as a moment ticks by, then another. Finally he simply turns and smiles at her before sweeping from the room.

The dining hall is silent now except for her heavy breathing. Elizabeth looks over at the table, still laden with an elaborate meal, and slowly she approaches. Her blood pulses as she looks at the food, her stomach suddenly roaring to life, twisting as her eyes glaze over the meats and fruits, the steaming vegetables and the fragrant wine. She sits in the king's chair, looking down at the plate of half-eaten food left by Estarossa. There is a slice of lean pork, a piece of broken bread, roasted carrots, and half of a pomegranate.

She shudders, hugging herself and leaning back in the chair. Tears slip down her cheeks as she thinks of devouring the food, but still she holds back. A trembling takes her over as the goddess feels suddenly angry with herself. She wants Meliodas' heart, but she won't give him her own. She fears losing him, but won't take the step to keep him either. Elizabeth covers her face with her hands, cursing her cowardice.


The throne room echoes with Baltra's anger. "You took my most precious daughter," he shouts, pointing an accusing finger at the king. "We have been searching for days and days. How dare you—"

"Your daughter pledged herself to me," Meliodas answers evenly. He tilts his chin towards the woman standing next to him. "Ask your other daughter there. Elizabeth swore an oath to a god."

"And that oath was made invalid by your treachery," she hissed back at him.

The king regards her with a dark look. "I may have brought Elizabeth here," he continues, "but the goddess remained here of her own free will."

"As of she had a choice!" Margaret shouts, and Baltra holds up a hand. "If what you say is true," he replies to the demon, "then you have doomed Britannia. The goddesses of life work in tandem. If just one falls, the others cannot sustain the magic."

The king clears his throat. "Elizabeth stayed because she wanted to stay. She found purpose here. Purpose with me." His eyes go darker as his chin lowers slightly. "But she can no longer stay here. I wish for her to return to Britannia with you. She is not… fit to be my queen."

He watches as the god turns and speaks with the others, the goddesses murmuring and smiling to one another in relief. Meliodas turns to Zeldris who is standing nearby and says, "My brother will fetch her for you."

"You must still answer for this crime," growls Baltra.

The king stands. "Do not test me in my own realm. You have no authority here. I am granting your request because I choose to do so. Do not forget that."

"Do not forget that you are subject to the laws of the gods like any other!" the father cries. "If you dare touch another goddess again, any other goddess, then—"

"Then what?" Meliodas snaps. His power surges outward, and the goddesses tremble at the darkness now licking at them, mere centimeters away from slithering over their skin. He raises his arm to show exactly what happens when he is threatened, but then he spots Elizabeth watching in horror by the side of the hall.

Quickly he snaps his powers back, and Baltra turns to follow his gaze. "Elizabeth!" he cries, stepping towards her; but the goddess breezes past, moving to stand at the bottom of the dais and gaze up at the king.

"You are sending me away," she says softly, more a statement than a question.

The room is silent, the air choking as they look at one another, then Meliodas nods. "Your place is in Britannia," he says simply.

She does not answer, but his stomach tightens to see the glimpse of a tear in her eyes. She blinks it away and answers, "I am sorry to have failed you, my king."

"Elizabeth," he whispers harshly, but she is turning away.

"Thank you for your hospitality," she says, then walks to her father. He embraces her closely as the other goddesses gather around, and a moment later Meliodas sends them out. He collapses back on his throne, the ache in his chest only growing now that she is gone.