Our First Fall

A Meliodas and Elizabeth story

Chapter Eight: A Prince

Every commander and adviser thought this move was reckless. Zeldris and I, both heirs to the throne going into enemy territory. Cusack and Chandler refused the idea straight off until I informed them they would be accompanying us. Not allowed in the meeting but able to move around the compound while not being observed.

Having the four strongest demons together eased most of the Commandments concerns.

Along with the other clans, each having two representatives present with their own guards brought the chances of any backstabbing down to almost nil. Every clan had agreed, eager to keep this truce and end the holy war.

For added measure I had sent Zeldris to the vampire clan, to further involve them in our alliance and guarantee they were present in our treaty talks. It is an olive branch, but after that attack on Elizabeth, I knew there were traitors among our allies or the vampires themselves didn't know someone was informing to the archangels.

Of course, if given the chance I will decapitate the vampire that shot my lady out of the skies. The sound of her wing snapping followed by her scream wrenching through the night had chilled me. I've heard all manners of screams in my life, but that one, it still echoed in my head when it was silent. My demon and I were immediately in accord. We worked in tandem, even her sweet, innocent kisses, my demon had wanted them. It had been strange, not resisting the dark me's desires. Warring with myself had become second nature but with Elizabeth... There was peace inside me.

I didn't know what the vampire looked like outside of Elizabeth's description but I had felt his energy when I countered it. If I found a hint of that same magic paired with silent bell-adored shoes I would find a way to make him pay. Of course, the two of us had another problem if that vampire reported who it was that saved my goddess.

This secret relationship thing wouldn't do for much longer. She'd be safer if everyone knew just whose wrath they would incur if harm came to her. But she would be known. More enemies didn't phase me but if they went after Elizabeth... My demon rose up, just at the thought. I hadn't told my clan or my fellow Commandments but Zeldris knew. From his own deductions, and without my denial he simply gave me long, exasperated looks when ladies or fucking came up in conversation while I was around.

The quartet of us approached the floating city of the goddess clan. I'd never been, obviously. I was curious just how Elizabeth lived. Too bad we were on high alert or I would take in the scenes more as I flew up to the closed gates of the massive platform in the clouds. A wall surrounded the city, blocking off the view of the inside but my eye was drawn to the two huge statues with massive busts, their giant stone hands on the gate on either side, looking as if they were playing the gate like a harp. Both of the goddess statues had their faces to the skies.

We touched down outside the gates, four fairies were there waiting. Three females and a male. They stepped closer to the gate but I made no move toward them. The vampires would be at half power during the day and I wondered after them since they hadn't appeared yet. I heard flapping from below and with a bored look, turned to watch what was going on down there. About twelve goddesses had a platform with eight people standing on it, each Angel had a chain they were holding to bring the humans and vampires to the floating city.

The humans and vampires were opposite one another and the goddesses on the vampires side struggled harder from the weight. Elizabeth wouldn't be among them and I lost interest quick enough. At least each clan has held to their agreements.

"If the Goddesses make this into a ceremony to stroke their own dicks I'm leaving," Zeldris quips loudly and I hear the male fairy snort a laugh from behind me. I grin, thinking that perhaps this truce really could work. I had to give it my best effort. With all our demon power evoked, the four of us looked more ominous than any of the other clans. My darkness flickered around me as the gates opened.

The whole city was white with flowers framing the pathway for us to walk. The Goddesses that had heaved the human and vampire clan up, lead the way with a flying show overhead in a criss-cross pattern with loops. I refused to watch, looking at the gathered spectators. Goddess and angels of all ages looking on with hope and fear from a distance away from our path to the Compound.

"Have they heard of colors?" Zeldris asks, looking at the block and uniform buildings that looked like the same place had been built over and over in the same ticky-tack fashion. Creativity wasn't a goddess trait, apparently. Of course, they did have colors but thinking back, all the flashes of Elizabeth's panties had all been pastel. Perhaps they didn't have bright colors?

Waiting ahead, at the Archangel compound we'd heard about, were the four of them, standing at the top of the stairs. No doubt to physically look down on the rest of us. Zeldris gave me a side glance, already done with this bullshit as we started our climb up the steps. That's when all the colors in this city sprung free with one voice.

"Meliodas?!" She was surprised, I could hear it in her tone. I turned watching her rush around the other goddesses to reach me. I stopped, the other of my clan continuing a few stairs up in front of me but then pausing to wait. When she reached the flower barrier of our path, I expected her to stop but she paid it no mind. Coming for me just like she did at the theater.

My heart swelled as, with no fear, she touched down before me and wrapped her lithe arms around my neck. She smelled like sweet sage and peace as I wrapped my arms around her waist. I tucked my nose into her hair. Too soon, she pulled away, her hands clasped at her chest and I heard the others of her people gasping and whispering. "Are you escorting the demon representatives?" She asks sweetly.

"No," I tell her, and her eye wanders down the opening of my black vest, flushing at the sight of my bare chest. I wore it to shock the prude eyes that followed us but I appreciated my choice all the more with Elizabeth's reaction. "Don't be shy, touch me." I take her hand and place it on my bare chest, enjoying her soft palms on my hard flesh.

Oh... how she would look with her hands wrapped around my other hard flesh.

With my hearts racing one another I vibrated on the inside and with her palm right there, I think she noticed. Her eyes were vibrant blue today, wide and innocent as she smiles softly, pulling away with a light trace of her fingertips seeming to prolong the touch?

"I thought you would hide our relationship," I tell her, looking around at all the gaping faces.

"Why would I?" She asked, genuinely confused as between her brow the tiny confusion wrinkle appears. My chest grew warm. "Even the archangels know we are friends." My smile spreads just as the darker bits of my demon fade. Huh. I'd hidden our relationship... from shame or protecting us? Not Elizabeth though, she'd been... proud? Strong in the face of opposition.

"Meliodas." My brother hisses and I waved them on, looking over at the demons shocked faces.

"Make them wait," I retort. I thought it would piss Zeldris off but he grinned smoothly. Cusack didn't seem to care, following Zeldris but Chandler held firm.

"Master, if I may advise-" The old man started and I feel my demon fire up, my darkness going from a low simmer to a flame. Chandler bows and turns his back to us.

"Master?" Elizabeth asks, looking between the two of us. I see the gears click in her brain as her eyes alight with understanding. "Meliodas are you... The demon king's son?" She's surprised and I give a small nod. Would she treat me differently? Most were terrified of me. Her shoulders sag in some kind of relief?

"Oh." She sighs, wings fluttering prettily behind her. "That makes it much easier to tell you-"

"Lady Elizabeth!" A commandeering harsh voice reprimanded. "You are interfering with the progression of our welcome ceremony. For the treaty. One you have persistently swayed our people to agree too. Attend to your duties." Ludociel looked so fiercely at her I found myself stepping between them while Elizabeth slowly went from relaxed to horrified. No doubt at herself. What a load of shit.

"No sweat, Ludo." I quipped to the big Archangel, reaching around Elizabeth to place my hand on the swell of her plump behind. She yelped, her face growing red. I refused to look away from her as I addressed Loduciel. My chest expanding from feeling her so supple in my grasp "This is our welcome ceremony. Established long ago. Right, Elizabeth?" With a solid handful of round, perfect flesh I used my other hand to motion Loduciel to lead the way.

As I detached myself from Elizabeth, I winked at her, stepping up the stairs after the Archangel but not looking away.

"I'll bring you lunch!" She calls up to me, waving as I reach the platform and she disappears from my view. My darkness rises in ire as I'm lead into the Archangels compound. It's overdone, white marble floors and a massive painting of themselves on the walls in heroic poses. The round dome overhead was glass, showing the sky above. A fountain with Goddess women dripping wet from the spray made me think of swimming with Elizabeth. To see her clothes so tight against her curvy body.

The others of the clans were waiting before double doors. The elaborate winding gold leaves made up the frame with two long poles bolted to the inside to act as handles.

"Now that everyone has arrived, let's begin." Ludociel gave me a quick frown and took the lead. Inside, a roundtable with an open center greeted us. The angels on either side of the door started playing harps and I heard Zeldris scoff as we pass.

Our seats were assigned, Chandler and Cusack had to stand. Each two representatives took their chairs and had another two at their backs. Much to Zeldris' disdain, the meeting started with a ceremony with the four Archangels. I nudged Zeldris as the Fairy, the nameplate 'Fairy King Gloxinia' indicated who he was, grinned in our direction. Perhaps we would make allies here after all.

The Giants were unable to fit but had waived their participation from the start. Fighting is their life but they didn't oppose an end to the holy war.

Over time, the days ran together. Every other day the clans met. Elizabeth would greet me when I first arrived (to be groped publicly and thoroughly). She brought me food at our midday break, usually stuff she didn't make but I could always tell when she'd made it herself. Not from the strange taste but from her soft eyes growing self-conscious when she gave me the parcel. Those meals were my favorite, no matter the taste of them. We sat on the steps, out in the open as we spoke of anything that came to mind but never of anything important as there seemed to always be Goddesses listening in.

The longer I spent among the Goddess clan the more and more I learned about Elizabeth. The two guard Archangels, Tarmiel and Sariel were staunch supporters of her. Their council, being the Goddesses rulers, had taken to call this treaty 'Elizabeth's seeded flower'. Goddesses and their flowers, it sounded stupid, but it is truer than they knew.

Our theater meetings are down to once a week with her clan watching us both so intensely now that our relationship is out in the open but I lived for those stolen kisses. She allowed me to explore her body with her clothes between us, as long as I eased her into the new territories. Elizabeth's rare and gentle touches of my own body were shaky. Her natural shyness endeared me and I cherished her bravery whenever her little soft hands felt my skin.

Two weeks into our clan meetings, the routine changed. Elizabeth didn't come to walk me from the gates to the compound. It made me uneasy, my stomach twisting. The entire meeting I knew everyone was leery of me as I couldn't stop the dark tendrils raising whenever I imagined something happening to her. The goddesses wouldn't think it necessary to inform me of anything about Elizabeth.

"Chill," Zeldris commanded, taking the lead in my stead as I was clearly elsewhere. Things that usually didn't irritate me did, and I found myself watching the sky for the sun to reach midpoint. I barely paid attention, leaning back in my chair and more than once Ludociel had to repeat my name and the question before I responded.

Finally, we were allowed our break and I rushed to the front of the compound. I expected her flushed, apologetic smile and a package full of fruit and bread, things the Demons couldn't grow anymore since our fields had been burned. Dread settled. Something was going on. If there was ever a way to get me to rush into a trap it would be through Elizabeth.

Chandler caught up to me first, his beard twitching as he looks around for her too. "It's better this way." I don't know why he thought now would be a good time to push this subject but Zeldris shoved him forward down the steps.

"You're an idiot." Zeldris didn't bother indicating who he was addressing, which meant he thought we both were. I watched them leave down the main street to the gate.

Gloxinia coughed, I looked over and he had a small smile on his face. "The Priestess Temple is that way." He patted my shoulder, nudging his chin to show me which path he meant. Although it had been implied with the path and the angel escorts to stay within this flower-lined boundary, I had never been expressly prohibited from going elsewhere.

Elizabeth had told me about Lady Graelle. If I knocked perhaps she would tell me what had happened or have an explanation. I needed to get my demon energy under control and I released it as I made my way where Gloxinia indicated. Maybe Elizabeth finally had enough of all the whispers behind her back? She was taking the brunt of our relationship. The demon clan didn't know about her, outside of the three that accompanied me. She flaunted me and I hid her. With that thought, the last of my dark energy sizzled out.

I didn't know, not yet. There was no need to worry.

The white building and tiled ground were clean. The sky shone brightly above and I passed a garden, watching the flying Goddesses overhead. If Elizabeth was on her way to the Compound, she would take this path, so I watched for her, looking to the sky. Vaguely I heard a grunt, a harsh rustling of paper and then an apple hit the tip of my foot.

Slowly, I lowered my gaze to find a silver-haired beauty struggling to get up. She was walking? Her face was flushed and she was using her arms to push off the ground rather than her wings? Ignoring the bag of fruit that had scattered, stepping around the goodies I went to her. Elizabeth's eyes were glassed over, she looked at me and my offered hand for two slow blinks of her blue orbs before any sign of recognition shown.

"Meliodas." She hushes, breathy and soft, as she puts her hand in mine. I help her up, gripping her hip to steady her as she wobbles on her feet. "Did I worry you? I've been... Oh no!" Elizabeth spots the berries she'd smashed from her fall. "You'll be hungry." She pouts, then that plump bottom lip pinched between her white teeth.

"You're sick," I state, amazed. The thought hadn't crossed my mind. She was a healer. Hell, most of the goddess clan had that ability. Elizabeth swayed and I tucked her to my side to walk her the way she'd just come. "I didn't think you could get sick."

"It's not..." She insisted. A flash of her white light shines as she uses her own magic on herself and she's cleared up a bit, standing on her own. "It's not an illness... its... the fever." I frown.

"The fever?" I ask, thinking she must still be affected by her illness. She blushes, the tips of her ears tinge and I watch it change shades.

"I'm coming into my power," Elizabeth whispers. "It happens during... the change. Coming of age." I grin, understanding while watching her grow uncomfortable.

"Like puberty?" I offer the word to help her. She nods, looking around as if someone heard the embarrassing news. I laugh, taking her hand to walk with her and feeling her warm skin against mine. Elizabeth did feel hotter than normal. She tugs her hand free, tucking her hair back as she walks beside me, slow.

She didn't want to hold my hand? That wasn't normal. Then I remembered what she'd told me weeks ago at the theater. Holding hands to the goddess clan meant declaring your intentions to be sexual. Here that meant something like marriage. The goddesses entered it like a contract as it could end after some years together while the demons took marriage to mean long-term. I hold my hand out for her to take and I wait for her wide eyes to meet mine with alarm rooted in her clear blue jewels.

"Aren't you interested in coupling with me, Elizabeth?" I make fun of the word she'd used, I expected her usual embarrassed refusal but she softened, her glassy eyes growing warm.

"You remembered?" She said, taking my hand. "I thought maybe..." She flushed, squeezing her fingers around mine and I frowned. Did she mean to be that soft or was she weakened? I didn't understand what a goddess went through to come into their power but she shouldn't be walking about. Not for my sake.

"I'm very interested in coupling with you, Elizabeth." I tell her, "Take my hand anytime you feel like it... In fact, touch me anywhere you want, if the thought occurs to you, act on it." Her normal surprise at my candidness was dulled. My worry deepened. "In fact, I have a few ideas I want to act on myself."

A tall Goddess-shaped superstructure loomed before us. The massive statue was on par with the two holding the over-large gates at the entrance. Her hands were palm up to the sky and her bust protruding out over the tiled street. I knew before she told me, but I listened to her softly say "this is where I live."

"It's like a nunnery," I mutter, looking over at the beautiful girl at my side. I can't help it, "For your first time, I'll make it so pleasurable you'll barely be able to handle it." I went farther than I'd gone before to get a reaction, hoping for a gasp or shocked mouth flop. She smiles, her flush staying the same as if she didn't hear me.

"My body... can barely handle all the sensations you stir up when you touch me." She tells me and my hearts hum in tandem, pulling my hand she had in hers to rest against her collarbone. "Is there much more to feel than what you've already shown me?"

Two things occurred to me. Elizabeth was very ill, she'd never spoken like this before and that indicated how deeply she was affected by her fever. The second thing? I could absolutely not ignore her confession.

"It would be my honor to introduce to you the carnal arts," I tell her, barely able to look away from her curious face to see where we were going. The door to the temple was to the left of the Goddess's knees. Inside the room was cylindrical, going all the way to the top of the goddess statues head. No stairs outside of the one leading to double door one floor up, the other archways are designed to fly through with ornate decorations and antique looking relics of the goddesses. A horn, a vase, a flower in a glass cube and a variety of other old looking items. I had no idea where to go. "Well, I have participated in your Cultures 'interested in coupling' custom, it's only fair you participate in mine."

She looks intrigued, always up for learning about the demon clan. "Which way to your room?" I ask and slowly her hand points to the archway two stories up to the left. I could hear steps approaching from behind and I acted instinctively, scooping up Elizabeth, one arm under her legs and another around her shoulders. With minimal effort, I kicked off the floor toward the archway she'd pointed out and landed softly on the pads of my feet to the opening of the hallway. Her breast is right there and I cup it, adjusting my hold with a few squeezes.

There were doorways, some decorated and others with names on the front. Out of view from the main area, I put Elizabeth down. She swayed on her feet but led the way farther in. Her door was plain with a golden frame and doorknob. Elizabeth opened it and inside is her bedroom. I made sure to memorize this location and went in.

What a small bed. She didn't have much, I suppose she didn't need anything with the goddesses giving ways. Elizabeth left the door open and I couldn't have that. With a quick flick, I shut it silently behind her as she seemed to finally grow embarrassed looking around her things. "What, uh, Custom?" She asked and I grinned, watching her like a cub in my trap.

I stepped in front of her, grim and serious. Her brows furrow as I move fast, flipping her skirt up high and dropping to my knees, placing my face right at her core. She let out a started yelp as I breathed her in, touching the tip of my nose to the soft fabric of her underwear. My hands found her calves and I slide up her silky smooth legs towards her hips as slowly as I could manage without shaking.

My desire sparked into a burning fire as she pushed her skirt down, over my head and inadvertently pushed my face deeper into her core. I finally knew what desire smelled like from her and it drove me wild. A groan escaped me, fingers gripped at her thighs as my hips thrust forward to find purchase and only meeting air.

"I could worship at your core hourly if you allowed it." I breathed heavy against her and deliciously, she shivered. Her fingers found my hair and she fisted my locks with heavy pants filling the room.

Mission accomplished. I wanted her to imagine everything I could do to her.

"M-Meliodas!" She exclaimed soft, knees buckling and I had just enough time to stand back to catch her.

I held her, sagged against me until she caught her breath and I took pity on her. Her bed was behind me and I gently pushed the blankets back picking her up to position her on the mattress. Her eyes sparkled but the glassy sick sheen is still apparent.

"Did I make you feel better?" I asked, tucking her into her blankets. A rag and a bowl of water were already on her little bedside table so I rung out the cloth, placing it over her forehead. They put flowers in the water too, I shake my head, but Elizabeth deserved sweet scents.

"Yeah." She whispers, smiling in a lazy way as her eyes fall to half mast.

"Ahh, look at that," I mutter, wishing to see that satisfied face every time I touched her. But this wasn't in response to anything sexual... she had needed to be in bed that badly. She'd pushed herself to see me. "If you aren't feeling better next time, don't worry about me." It hurts to tell her not to see me, I already missed her running to wrap me up in her arms.

Elizabeth's little chin tucks under her covers as she nods, her hair splayed out across her pillow. She was awash in pastel and briefly I wonder if her world was so washed out because she burned so brightly. Her little hand comes out and takes mine, holding it sweetly. A fist in my stomach rose and clutched at my center heart to squeeze it, so tight it is almost painful.

On her desk, she had flyers on women's rights, some pens and little sketches of crude animals and flowers. Her dresser was closed and tidy. I look out her window to guess if I'm needed back at the compound when I see a gold coin on the sill.

A demon coin.

She'd kept it. The only personal thing that stood out in her bare room was what I had given her, so flippantly. When I looked down again at my girl, her eyes were closed. She turned toward me, tucking my hand against her face as she slept on. My hearts hummed and I smiled freely. I was so gone for this little goddess.