~13~
With a sluggish pace her eyelids flutter. Slowly they peel apart to show a bleary image. She blinks a few times more to clear it, body shifting about in her waking as she does so. Sunlight grazes her vision, though not enough to keep her gaze away from softened features and tear stained cheeks. Memories of the night previous surface one by one and Elizabeth brings a hand up to rest on his cheek. Her thumb strokes under his eyes as a paintbrush would, feathery light caresses back and forth. And then a twist of emotion near her heart draws her up where her lips touch his lighter than air. "It'll be okay this time... I promise." Her fingers trail down his neck along his shoulder and down the length of his arm as she pulls away from his hold and the cocoon of warmth that had nestled between them.
Once out of bed, she spots red on the floor and bends down to collect the remains of her panties before heading for the washroom. After tossing them in the bin there, her hands lie flat on the counter as she takes a moment to simply gaze at her reflection, feeling almost compelled to. Her fingers reach for her face, touching just beneath her eyes, then glide towards the lock of hair in front of her ear twisting it around a finger. Slowly her eyes trail down her figure opening her gown further to study her shape, curving her body a bit even to gaze further. Then she drops her gown completely and turns to study the feathers at her back along with the shape of her spine. From the width of her eyes, the length and frame of her hair, down to the shape of her body she looks the same. The exact same. That's why he didn't bat an eye last night. But on the inside she feels different, so different.
Her palms lift towards her face as her brows crease and lower. She feels like Elizabeth Liones with the weight of Elizabeth of the Goddess Clan and so many others on her shoulders. Before all she had to worry about was being ordinary Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth. Now... She bites her lip and curls her fingers into shaky fists. "I used powers of the Goddess race twice now... The first turned out okay, but what if I messed up yesterday? Channeling my powers through this body is slightly different somehow. What if my inexperience hurts him somehow?" She presses her fists into the counter. "I don't have time to waste trying to readjust. Meliodas could remember any day now and then," she hangs her head, hair curtaining her expression. "It'll be over."
"If I remember what?"
Her body turns sharply away from the door as her heart takes a keen plunge then spikes in speed. Meliodas stands in the doorway, eyes as green as ever filled with curiosity and a murky shroud as he tries to look away. Her fingers twitch as she swivels her gaze nervously, having not heard him in her distressed musings. Now she needs an answer. She then notices how crimson heats his neck, falling down into the collar of his shirt causing her eyes to lower to his waist where the tell-tale bulge is emerging.
A tiny grin forms on her lips as she decides to use this to her advantage. Elizabeth stoops down to grasp her gown, throwing it over her body but not closing it so her front is very much displayed.
His cheeks seem to flare against his blond hair and he narrows his eyes at her with a frown that makes her giggle. "Elizabeth." Him striding towards her tight-lipped yet stiff lightens her chest significantly. Feeling the grazed of his fingers as he buttons up her pink attire and smelling the moist forest he carries with him no matter what soothes her immensely. Fingers weave in his hair and she leans towards him, assured her worries have been dashed; only his voice brushes against her cheek gentle yet insistent. "So what don't you want me to remember that you'd try and distract me in order to hide it?"
She can't hide her gasp, not this close. And he must be able to see the panic swirl in her eyes and hear the thuds of her heart, because he stills her head from turning away by locking her jaw in his thumb and forefinger. She squirms, nibbling her lower lip as her fingers curl into his upper arm. She nearly closes her eyes knowing she won't be able to come up with anything truly believable. And then she sees the cracks.
"I broke your counter!"
He jolts, loosening his hold, then letting go altogether when he sees what she spotted as well-the fissures in the counter where her fists impacted. "What in the-? How did this happen?" Fingers go into his hair as he stares down with wide eyes at her handy work and she begins to slink away.
"I'm sorry..." She pours from a low place in her heart, truly feeling that way, but grateful for the escape. Only his hand curls around the entirety of her upper arm, pulling her back slowly.
"...I'll be down in a bit. I have an announcement to make, all right?"
His eyes look weighed with severity not necessarily aimed towards her. Though whatever this announcement is definitely includes her which is what makes her swallow as a chill dusts across her skin. "Okay." He lets go and she feels as if her heartbeats have become a timer counting down.
'It is only a matter of time, right?' She smiles bitterly towards the ground on her way out.
~.~.~
She clutches a bowl to her stomach, wooden spoon stirring batter diligently the way Ban had instructed of her. He'd let her pick out the ingredients that would flavor them while he added the ones that would make them rise. She thought that perhaps baking cookies for Meliodas would calm her thoughts. And truly it did, picking from an array of ingredients she hoped he would like. She knew in all her lives that she hadn't quite been the best with cooking, and Meliodas let her down easy, but he really seemed to like what she'd made last night. She's determined to pull such a reaction from him again to warm her heart once more.
"You ready, Princess?" Ban questions turning off the burners under the finished breakfast.
Elizabeth spoons the batter onto a pan in sections then hands it over to Ban with a grinning nod. "Yep!"
He takes it with the grin of a cunning fox. "All right~! This should be done in less than half an hour," he informs her lowering it into the heated oven.
"Thanks!" The word sweeps through the air before she strolls from the kitchen, fingers playing with the button that doesn't shut across her bust. The warm smells and bright colors become muted, cooler, once her gait slows. King and Gowther sit at a table near the back, with Diane visible through a window nearby. Meliodas stands casual, hand on olive green covered hip, though his expression is etched pensively. Ban walks into the room to take a seat near the others. She, however, remains standing, forgetting how to move her feet. "All right guys," his voice carries loud and clear, "I felt it would be good to make sure we were all clear on our goals. Ultimately we are to free the Kingdom of Liones from the tyranny of the Holy Knights, ideally with all of us together. But Merlin and Escanor are still missing, so we'll do what we can if we don't find them in time."
She watches Meliodas move to a table and arch his fingers atop the white cloth. "There's also the goal of our enemy which is the resurrection of the demons."
Ban's fist clenches visibly and she recalls being tied up by Hendrickson and what was down in that cavern with a flash of fright.
"I told you all it was dire that they take my blood... because it's one of two keys to unlocking the Coffin of Eternal Darkness," he continues with a noticeable crease to his brows.
"What's that, Captain?" Diane scrunches her expression fretfully.
"And what does your blood have to do with it?" King's gaze becomes calculating as he draws a hand to his chin.
Elizabeth bores her gaze into Meliodas' back trying to see what he knows. He remembers the Coffin, but how much of it? Her pulse ticks like drops of water in desolate silence waiting for his response.
"The Coffin of Eternal Darkness is a ritual device created in the Great War to seal the demons away. The four races joined to create it in order to seal them and the goddesses would've done it, but something happened." He pauses and she curls her hands towards her chest trying to contain the pressure there. She can hear the confusion in his voice. The memories aren't completely there, but if he keeps poking...
"You were there then?" Ban suddenly voices crimson eyes thin on Meliodas.
The air thickens with the force of gales, crowding around as the two stare off. And she's not sure what can possibly shatter the Sins' growing suspicion, until Meliodas starts an airy chortle. "It's folklore, Ban. I'm just making sure you all know it."
Her hands fall to her sides shaky but a bit relieved.
"We don't want them to get the second key, though. That would be pretty detrimental," he crosses his arms and leans a hip into the table. "But for now a member of our team needs training."
Ban chokes down ale bug eyed to the snickers of Diane and King. "What? Who?"
Meliodas turns finally facing her and she blinks, astonished. "Well, Elizabeth of course."
"I agree with this course of action. The Princess would be an excellent addition in battle," Gowther inserts evenly hands folded in his lap.
She feels her skin pink a smidge as Meliodas smiles at her sheepishly. He'd given thought to training her abilities...? Her eyes fall down to her feet to hide the way her lips respond to the fluttering and warmth in her gut.
King begins to engage Diane in conversation and Ban hops over the bar for more ale. She's certain her worries were for nothing. She's about to turn into the kitchen to begin collecting breakfast when she catches Meliodas' next words.
"Say, Gowther, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you-"
A buzz of sparks in the air draws her eyes to Gowther using magic, white and glossy, to connect to Meliodas through the tip of his finger for an instant. "I can see what you want to ask me. Your memories are gapped in many places or lost altogether in others. You are confused about your dreams and even what happened in Danafor, am I correct?" Gowther tilts his head pink hair falling slightly across his face. He speaks about these things as flat as ever though to Elizabeth he may as well have just blown a hole in through gut nonplussed.
Her eyes widen as they quiver, breathes slipping from her grasp refusing to settle in her constricting lungs. 'No, he can't. He can't be...'
Meliodas swallows, then tersely nods and Elizabeth sinks into a seat no longer having control of her mobility.
Gowther adjusts his glasses. "You remember everything about what happened in Danafor, but not why. Even your dreams, or memories seem purposely fogged."
"Do you know why?" Meliodas places his hands flat on Gowther's table and Elizabeth brings her own up to cover her mouth, to hide the trembles beginning to rack her frame. The others start to notice the conversation and gradually quiet.
Again the magic snaps out and Gowther's eyes seem to look somewhere only he can. "I cannot. There is a power lurking within you not of your own. Similar, but on an entirely different scale. I cannot approach it for it would probably erase me as well, as that seems to be its nature ultimately. It holds a malicious purpose that I cannot discern, but what I can see is that it's similar to perpetual shackles upon your soul."
The room grows unbearably still. Not a sound, not a breath as Meliodas pales.
Emotion scrapes at the back of her throat and she blinks rapidly against welling tears. How did she not foresee Meliodas turning to Gowther for answers? There's no way she can possibly hide him away from a reader of minds.
"Gowther... Do you know why it's there?" Meliodas asks with a woozy feel to his tone.
"I do not," Gowther responds succinctly and then his eyes lean around Meliodas to fix right on her.
She positively loses her composure, tears waterfall down her cheeks as she presses her palms to her mouth to hold in her shuddering sobs. She can feel the eyes turn on her set after set like stones stacking on her shoulders and she shuts her eyes, unable to bear it.
"Elizabeth, what's wrong!?" Meliodas shouts alarmed before hurried footfalls and her head being tucked to his chest. She wants to just hide away from the inevitable as she weeps into her hands but the pinch of magic travels throughout her like a barely noticeable wave and she knows she's lost.
"Oh. I see."
Meliodas' fingers stroke through her hair and rub up and down her back as he snaps, "What do you mean, Gowther? Elizabeth, what's upset you?" His lips touch the crown of her head and she abandons covering her cries opting for clutching his sides as her eyes soak his vest.
"I should not say. It would prove to be dire," is all Gowther voices.
Her breath hitches while her heart lodges in her throat. Her fingers grip so tight in Meliodas' sides she's certain he notices. He won't say...? Her head feels dizzy as blood rushes towards it feeling the relief she tentatively grasps. The flood of conflicting emotions fog in her ears numbing her skin like a frigid pelting. Fingers curl under her chin and lift her face before she can even find her bearings.
Meliodas' eyes gaze down at her studying every crevice as tears slide at a slower drizzle down her cheeks. She tries to school her features with shaky fingers in his sides, to hide away from his searching gaze, but it's too much too soon. A familiar rigidness cuts around his eyes for a moment before fading away as finds what she couldn't conceal. She closes her eyes feeling her lips tremble in defeat when he places a kiss to her temple that makes her heart pang. "We'll talk later..." He quietly promises and her arms encircle his waist holding him close while she still can.
"Is she all right?" King hesitantly drifts closer only to be knocked out of the way by a cursing Ban dashing towards the kitchen.
Of course when the acrid smell begins to pollute the air alerting them to her burning cookies, she sinks even lower in misery.
~.~.~
Elizabeth hadn't spoken a word to him since her show of tears before breakfast.
Meliodas knows she's cried for him, she's cried for her family, but otherwise she's rarely does. She's strong, as tough as nails even, but when she'd heard his talk with Gowther she'd practically shattered. A true aura of heartbreak, a depth beyond devastation had covered her, driving a blade through his gut at the sight.
And it's just been twisting since.
His eyes fix at her back trekking ahead of his, figure clad in a white button up-his to be exact-rolled up at the sleeves with a mustard yellow low cut shirt beneath it, her bright orange shorts from her uniform remain. All together affording her the look of sweet and desirable as always. Though the rigid air around her continues to ward him away. She hadn't wanted to travel up a bit in the forest with him as they do now. In fact she'd downright refused at first, an act that had seized his lungs and crushed his hearts to the point where he couldn't even move when she'd turned away.
There was too much that morning that simply didn't make sense to him and all of it was surrounding oddities in Elizabeth. Gowther informing him of the power purposely keeping his memories at bay and only seeming to understand why when reading Elizabeth. Her words in the bathroom and how she'd cleverly kept him from getting answers out of her. She's usually honest with him and she had told the truth... just not the one he was looking for. She knows something that would, in her and Gowther's words, prove dire if he discovered. But what he can't seem to add up no matter how long his mind picks away at it is how she could possibly know what's afflicting him. They only just met by chance. But still, the look in her eyes and those sobbing tears...
He has to get answers from her by tonight.
And from the looks of her sulking, shoulders slumped, head hung, walk slow yet purposeful enough to keep a distance between them, it won't be easy. She'd only had a change of heart in coming with him after talking with Diane, a development he's more than okay with admitting stung quite a bit. Or more like gutted him from the inside out as he'd smiled up at her as if to say everything was peachy.
An hour more of stretched silence between them. The air is wet with an early spring chill though the sun feels nice enough through the canopies. The earth is rich, perfect to calm the mind, though when they reach a clear enough space within the trees he's not sure if Elizabeth will take him up on that offer just yet. "Are you angry with me? Upset with me?" He halts placing his hands in the pockets of his pants-the only thing of his attire that's the same. He's certain he'll lose the deep green button down, left open over a black sleeveless, during training.
Elizabeth stops as well but doesn't verbally answer. Her back to him is to be interpreted how he desires.
Meliodas tilts his head and puts a smile on that pains him. "All right then, take your aggression out on me. I don't intend for you to fight, but you should be able to defend yourself."
The birds twitter softly above as he spies her fingers curl a bit.
"Show me what you're made of," he prompts in a lower tone.
She whirls hair billowing out around her before she lunges. His arms cross in front of his face to block the strike feeling her power disperse through him in a wave. He actually winces in surprise not having supsected her ability to know how to use the power thrumming through her to a fighting advantage. He prepares for another strike he feels aiming at his ribs. His body curves away slightly on instinct as his hands fall away. If her power hadn't wavered he might've been bruised there. As it is he takes a breath, feeling his blood gradually pulse in his veins. She's actually responding towards him-in an aggressive way-but he'll take what he can at this point.
Solely on the defense, he finds himself actually having to back away as her fists land blow after blow to his person. He blocks most with his hands or forearms, but allows a few to break through simply feeling her out. His mind focuses on her motions, the flex of her muscles and what her next action might possibly be as they dance across the clearing, but his eyes observes her face and the expressions it holds. Rigid at first. Her eyes are hard and guarded with each strike, her mouth pursed as her nose flares. But as they move about, his hands subtly fisting hers and guiding them towards more vital places to aim for, her eyes start to open up, blooming before him. Her skin gains a nice flush of exertion and she breathes a bit more openly.
His hearts stumble in their nervous pace.
Elizabeth pushes harder, feigning strikes so her fists dig nicely into his sides, surprising him enough so she can attack the pivotal place in his torso that would have him double over-if her power was consistent that is.
"You're so good... at this, Meliodas,"she pants voice tight as she struggles to break her hands free of their grapple hold, her power fluttering in bursts against his palms that makes his skin pop with electricity.
He narrows his eyes grinning at this. "I do have more experience here."
Her knee nails his side and he coughs letting her hands go. She smiles with the raw flare of a wildfire, patting his shoulder with a breathy giggle. "Good thing you're showing me all your moves. I'll be better prepared next time we do this."
His cheeks tingle from the depth of his blush before he rights himself in a defensive stance once more. Getting her to fight was definitely the right move, even at the cost of becoming overly excited by her enthusiasm to say the least.
She rushes him then, a blaze of fiery determination twirling her body in a show of flexibility he hadn't realized the princess possessed. He stills watching her leg arc towards him long enough that his arm flying up to deflect it nearly fails. But then she follows through with a fluid form that takes him back millennia. Her leg retracts, body immediately swiveling around him on the ball of that foot so the heel of her other rams right into his spine taking him to the ground with a hiss.
He lies there motionless, grass and dirt sticking to his chin not daring to breathe as wisps of images cross his eyes from his dream.
"Meliodas, I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?" Her hands fall one in his shoulder another on his back where she'd kicked and he chokes up at feeling trickles of energy soak into him.
"How did you learn that?" He sucks in breaths trying with futile to recall the goddess he once loved with a force that carried his soul reminiscent to his feelings for Elizabeth.
Her knees come into his vision and then her hand as she offers it to him. He takes it, curling his fingers around hers as he pulls himself up. Her eyes look down as a smile barely reaches her lips. "I don't know. I... just went with what came naturally."
He continues to gaze at her body sore in more than one way holding onto her hand as he wills himself to forget the goddess for now. His thumb begins to run circles into her palm as his power crawls beneath his skin seeking. Dusting just under her flesh hesitant but persistent he swallows when a slight shiver courses through her, once again put off by the sense that she's deterred by his nature. That is until bubbly warmth almost lighter than air brushes against his magic, much cooler and sharper. Now he shivers feeling a small coiling inside him and meets her gaze. Her eyes are a bit dazed and he knows why even her energy slides along his further making that coil melt into a pleasant burn. As much as he wants to experiment with the intimacies of such a connection, he'd had something else in mind when trying to bring out her power.
"Elizabeth..."
She closes her eyes at his voice chest swelling with a breath she lets out in a slow moan.
Now he shakes from both arousal and nerves heat steaming up his skin as sweat gathers in his palms. He drags his wide eyes away from hers while he pulls his power within tendril by tendril feeling her reluctance mix with his. "I'm going to teach you how to control your power so it won't fluctuate so wildly."
He peeks out of the corner of his eye to see her reopen hers with more vibrancy to them which makes him smile. "Better control?"
"Yeah, it'll be simple. All it takes is proper study and potential to get it down." He slips his hand from hers in order to sit with crossed legs directly in front of her. She shifts to mirror his position and their knees rest against the other's. Meliodas' eyes glimmer with dedication at seeing the round interest painted in her blue eyes. "I'll show you the way."
~.~.~
He was somehow wrangled into a game of hide and seek.
Meliodas had taught Elizabeth how to control the airy swirl of energy compressed in her chest perhaps too well. He'd made sure she knew how to spread it from head to toe and even further beyond to be used as she saw fit. Elizabeth had used that control to grow flowers vigorously around their perched figures then make the trees around them heavy with fruits. The outpour had been like a rolling wave of warmth almost tangible to the touch as an electric yellow faintly pulsed over her.
By the time their lessen grew to its conclusion the sky was filled with more quiet tones, the world around them gradually heading towards slumber. Meliodas had suggested they head back, but Elizabeth had shocked him by insisting they stay a little longer. She'd been calm then, a stark contrast to how things started with them in their trip, and, stumbling over himself, he'd offered to catch them a dinner. A large boar wasn't too hard to acquire and get roasting over a fire, especially with all the herbs grown in the area from Elizabeth's show of power. However it would take a bit for all the meat to cook. That's when Elizabeth eagerly suggested the game.
And now he silently curses himself for how well she's able to conceal herself now.
The sky is still filled with trickles of life, not quite fallen into twilight. But the forest is shifting, the shadows of the trees growing longer and darkness spreading more to become a shroud. He knows Elizabeth is more able to fight for herself if necessary, but the worry for her will always be there-even during a harmless child's game.