Our First Fall
A Meliodas and Elizabeth story
Chapter Fourteen: Trust
Meliodas took to sneaking in my room each night after everyone's gone to sleep and sneaking out before anyone wakes. After his demon struggled to take control, sparked by Chandlers attacking, Meliodas had kept our time together very sweet. Innocent.
Mael kept me pretty busy once the meetings started. He liked extensive notes, I think it was to keep me from Meliodas as long as possible but I was just so happy to be close to Meliodas, it didn't matter. Sleeping beside him, with his tender embrace and soft serene kisses, it warmed long dormant places inside me.
We didn't explore anymore and to be honest, I missed it.
I reassured Meliodas, even joking that his demon liked me so he shouldn't worry so much, but he never relented. When he asked if I was upset, I told him "I just want to be with you." He had gone all gooey, lazy grinning. One that didn't fade even after he fell asleep. That night though, I wondered, being with Meliodas like this, how could it last? After the last bit of treaty is finalized we would return to our separate clans.
The fighting was over but Meliodas had a responsibility as demon prince. I could have a similar position among my own people if I lived through my fevers. I knew it was foolish to fall for Meliodas but I felt like he could do anything. He'd stopped the war, giving us what we have now. "You're my hope," I tell Meliodas' sleeping face, snuggling closer and his fingers at my back spread out slightly.
Although I wasn't permitted inside the Giants war room, it was only the representative of each clan in the meeting, I knew what was going on. My note duties wouldn't take so much of my free time if I'd been allowed inside but it gave me time to find Dabuzu, make friends and learn about the other clans.
The vampire's' second representative never came out, so I'd never seen him but I heard him speak once, he'd been gone by the time I looked. Gerheade and I got along best, with the human -Rou. He was funny and often complained to us about being stuck where all the feet were while we had wings.
Chandler liked to watch me. I could always count on finding his narrowed eyes following me when I looked over my shoulder. No matter what I was doing or who I was with, I always tried to acknowledge him. A wave, a smile but nothing was reciprocated.
Today, my giant friend Tins asked me to watch his fight. He had come of age, the biggest pre-teen I'd ever met. Among the giants, training and fighting were the most important things in their culture. Dying in battle, or childbirth was revered. I had always seen fighting as a means to kill, but the giants when pitted against one another, only fought until the other was defeated. A death in a battle, against one of their own kind, was pretty rare.
Watching the war, I'd seen blood and limbs flying but that's people going for the kill. Here, the training was sparring matches. The fights were met with laughs and slapped arms when they were over. I had told Meliodas long ago that I didn't want to learn to fight but watching these giants, I was changing my mind. A little platform was made for me, up at the Giants head level and I mirrored their feet positions, practicing sets with Tins and his friends.
They were the ones that told me Dabuzu lived as a Hermit, in the forest of ooze a few hours from here. I didn't know what he did but Tins had explained he was a master craftsman and specializes in magic statues, reliefs and making massive battle arenas using his earth manipulation.
I explained everything to Meliodas first. Even about the picture but he wasn't concerned. "Probably a self-congratulatory commemoration of some kind" and that did make sense. When I'd told Mael he had been so happy, he hugged me.
"That information alone has earned your permanent placement as my second." Mael had looked at me so proud I grew hot under his gaze. Was it really that important? He'd eaten up my assessment of the giant race, my new understanding of humans from Rou and since we've known fairies for some time, I didn't have much else there. Mael had grown cross with me when I didn't tell him about the demons. "So he follows you around like a lost puppy and you have nothing to show for it?" He'd chided. I bore it though, and the next day Mael had told me "that devils probably too smart to let anything slip." As if letting me off the hook for refusing to betray Meliodas.
Of course, Meliodas told me everything. I knew about his father, his brother and the Ten Commandments. Even how they got their power- how they were granted it from fragments of the Demon Kings power himself. When I asked to see his, Meliodas said he couldn't here, but when we got back to the theater he would draw it out. He did invoke it though, but for some reason, I didn't feel it the way others did. Just an aura change, thicker air maybe?
"It's because we are supposed to be together," I tell him, watching his eyes dance. "That's why your darkness feels so nice on my skin." Well, the tendrils did, that dark dome he'd put us in had made me uneasy.
After eating so much pork, the Fairies weren't feeling well and I was already feeling pretty wary of another pig meal so had asked Hya for a few handfuls of dirt. She'd asked what it was for and brought in a giants sized serving bowl full of dirt. It rested in the corner, beside our rooms and became my personal garden. I'd grown some berry bushes, a few apple trees and Gerheade gave me a dragon fruit seed that I'd coaxed life into. Everyone was welcome and I'd seen everyone here for the treaty in there picking their fill, except the vampires. I didn't cull it back, so it grew a little wilder when I coaxed more fruit every other day or so.
When I arrived at the training room, other giants had already gathered. I found the ledge I used to 'train', sitting down for my feet to dangle off the lip. Tins is facing off against his brother, Yumars. Tins would have to fight his elders until he prevailed. He would be allowed to heal between bouts but he couldn't join in any battles until he was a good enough fighter. I didn't like the thought of Tins getting hurt but I would be here for him.
"I faced Yumars four times before I could beat him." Tins and I's friend, Alloya confessed as if proud. Her head rested close to my ledge and I smiled at her.
"He'll hold his own," I tell her. She liked that, nodding and watching as the two met in the center of the circle of Giants. They shook hands, the older brother telling the younger that he wouldn't hold back, and good luck. No weapons were used in the fights, but the training grounds had them leaning against the walls scattered and disregarded.
"After this, do you want to go to the falls? A few of us girls are going. You can bring Gerheade and we'll be back before Drole's finished." I must have looked confused because Alloya laughed. "The cliffs, just past the quarries."
"Yeah," I say, glad to have something to do and to go see a sight.
"Keep it low key. We don't want visitors." Alloya knew Mael drilled me for any information and I nodded, determined. She smiled just as the first smash of fists started. Tins got in a hook to Yumars, his head winding back but his legs shifting forward and took out Tins stance. I gasped, climbing in the air as the giants crowded and cheered, blocking me from telling what was going on. A fleshy punch resounded followed by a string of 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs' as the lot of them winced. The fight was over and Yumars stood, in a power stance, shot his beefy fists in the air and howled.
"Great fight!" He helped his brother up, who winced and I flew around the slapping and congratulating hands to hover at Tins face.
"Want me to heal you?" I asked and Tins mushed up and bloody face smiled.
"I earned these." He said, being lead away by Yumars. All the giants were praising Tins, that it was an epic beginning in his journey and I smiled. Maybe fighting could be fun? Or I could see how some people would think it was fun.
Alloys asked me to meet her by the entrance after I found Gerheade. I agreed, knowing how to get to Black Beauty easily now. I'd never been past the trampled ground of Megadozer, not since we've arrived. I knew there was a quarry. A lot of the giants worked it, getting fine minerals and resources. It was their main trade good.
Gerheade was in my mini garden, picking a strawberry when I found her. She agreed eagerly. "Is it swimming too, or just the view? Either way, yes, I'm dying of boredom." We made our way to the exit when she asked if Rou could go. I told her it was Alloy's party, and she had expressed specifically girls. Alloys and two other giants were there when we arrived at the horse's stables by the entrance. A blonde and a brunette. We'd seen each other around but hadn't spoken much before so Alloys did the introductions. Teala and Bridgette, they were nice and laughed with Alloys over her crush on Tins.
"Try it before you buy it", Teala said and I looked to Gerheade with wide eyes, but she was just grinning at me.
"I'm never 'buying' for keeps," Alloys said, "I'll trade my men out just as quickly as my blades." She boasts and I smile, admiring that kind of freedom.
What would that be like? The Goddesses could leave their couplings and go to another but I felt like I wasn't made that way. I couldn't imagine myself with anyone other than Meliodas at the moment. A thing Lady Graelle told me once, that she had a great love in youth. Perhaps that's why she stayed the Head Mistress of the temple? Then Jelamet's sorrow flashed, had she thought she bought for keeps just to be tossed asside? Of course, and I wished her my love from so far away.
We went down into the quarry, not going into the mines but crossing the rope bridge. Gerheade told me she wouldn't step on that bridge if she didn't have her wings but the three giants rocked across it together, no fear in their voices. Talk turned to the treaty, about how boring the giant's lives will be going back to mercenary battles rather than the epic ones in the holy wars. I couldn't find common ground with that, not agreeing with how war hungry many of the giants seemed to be.
As we walked, I heard the rushing of water. The quarries ended, the rock slate top growing grass, moss and then little weeds. It was a slow growth that leads to bushes and the trees. We went into the thick of it, the slapping of the waterfall growing to thunderous levels. Then the ground just dropped off, the trees ending in a sudden cut. I looked down, flying past the edge the giants stopped at with Gerheade's beaming face at my side.
A huge pool of water was below. Milky blue with steam rising from it, giving it a white fog film over the lake. The cliffs we were on top of dropped about sixty feet, smooth from the mists eroding the edges away over time. The waterfall was to our right, shining in the sun as rainbows shimmered against the mists it kicked up. The water was falling out of the cliff side. The source of this cascade was from under the rocks and it reminded me of the bathing room at Megadozer.
The Giants had stripped, while we'd been admiring the view and they jumped in with huge splashes, laughing. Gerheade and I jumped together after taking our clothes off and leaving them at the cliffs top.
It was wonderful talking, splashing and relaxing in the water. Bridgette even used her earth creation power to make a little incline for me and Gerheade to relax on. It was hard to tread water for so long and there was already an edge for the giant-sized people. When the sun hit mid-descent, the Giants climbed back up. We dressed, still wet but trying to hurry.
My hair dripped, the fabric of my clothes clinging and soaking up the drops.
When I returned, laughing with Gerheade, Mael intercepted me grabbing me by the elbow to drag me to a corner. He was pissed I wasn't waiting for him outside Drole's council room like I was supposed to, to take his notes. Meliodas walked in then, strolling over to grin at me behind Mael's back.
"You're all wet, Elizabeth." He said, looking me over with a long lingering stare at my chest. "I bet you had some fun."
Mael fumed, turning on his heels to walk away from me and past Meliodas' grinning face with his hands up resting at the back of his neck. "Come, Elizabeth. I have need of you." Meel commanded and I flushed, having to follow. I smiled at Meliodas, telling him 'thank you' as I passed, in a little whisper.
That night, when Meliodas came to my cave-room, he had his bedroll under his arm. He had a white pullover shirt and black pants, but bare feet. I flushed, seeing them. Being so familiar with a man, coming to my bed, even just to cuddle, it seemed so intimate. "I want to show you something. Bring your blanket."
I fold it up, tucking it under my arm and go to Meliodas. I take his hand and we jump down, quiet as we walk out past Hya with a wave. She knew most of our sneaking and never said a word. He leads me through the massive rooms, ascending up until we reach the opening to the top of Megadozer. It was dark, the view under the moonlight made the land like ink against gray with sparkling silver points of light over it all.
Meliodas laid his bedroll out, his blanket tossed on top of it as he holds my hand, looking with me for a while. It was warmer out here than inside the cave city. The fires only did so much inside the stone. Without Meliodas's body heat I wouldn't be warm enough to sleep. Slowly, he guided me to the cush pad, sitting with me.
"Look up." He suggests with a hushed voice, as if not to disturb the peace, "It's the first clear night since you arrived." I stretch out, long ways across the bedroll and put my head in his lap as he leans back his palms keeping him upright as he faces the stars.
This high, it was just the sky and Meliodas. No outlines at the edges of my vision with the darkness swallowing everything up. He spoke again, soothing and quiet. "It was like this the first night I was here. I kept thinking about you and the obstacles we face together."
With the vastness above us, I understood.
"When I'm with you, it seems like all that doesn't matter. No division of races, no hundreds of years war to end and no parentage issues..." I smile, awash in his soft words. "You're bravery with facing your peoples' prejudice. By holding my hand, you forced them to evolve. How could they not after seeing you show no fear of four war-hardened warrior demons." He chuckled, the best sound amongst the silence. "Sariel and Tarmiel both admire you, they made an effort to understand us. Even Mael isn't horrible if he would get out of his own head a bit." He shifted under me, laying back and putting his blanket under his head as only his thighs and his back rest on the bedroll. "You lost your closest friend and still decided we were worth it. Even finding a way to come to Megadozer to be with me. You are so strong, Elizabeth."
I grow hot, his hand reaching out just as mine moves up to meet his. We interlace our fingers.
"You have fought for us too," I whisper and I feel him give a shaky breath more than hear it, in disbelief? "You proposed this treaty. The war ended all thanks to you."
"No. You have taken the short stick in our relationship and have wielded it like a seasons swordsmith. Outside of Chandler, Cusack, and Zeldris, no one knows about you." I flinch but grip his fingers harder as if he were slipping away. On some level, I knew that it made the most sense, and I understood. "You ended the war, pleading with me as you did before that battle. I proposed the treaty sure, but more to see if Ludociel would be agreeable, to use it, not to truly end it."
The stars blurred, the sky swirled and I squeezed my eyes shut but the tears pinched from between my lids in a slow fall. He gave me too much credit and himself not enough. He saved me from that Vampire attacker, he faced the goddess clan with me. The days and hours of treaty negotiations! Of course, his clan didn't know yet, I've not been there in some time!
"Don't cry." He pleads and I turn my head toward him. Meliodas curls into me, shifting under my head to face me on his side where his head ended up near my hip. "I tell you this, so you fully understand. No matter what happens, or what enemies we face, I'll always be on your side. You've taught me a new kind of bravery, Elizabeth." I can't help crying. I turn my body to mirror his on my side too, head on his leg.
"You've been a wonderful friend to me, I don't feel like I've lost anything, not because of you," I tell him. I gained so much more than I've lost. Jelamet was because of her own situation. The people that hated me for being with Meliodas hadn't been important to begin with or didn't know enough about the world outside of their bubble!
"Friend huh?" He smirks, still holding my hand as he sits up, reaching over me with his free hand and situates my blanket over me. I smile, feeling cared for.
"The best one I've ever had," I tell Meliodas, my tears falling with a big grin on my face. "I'm so happy," I admit, reaching forward with my other hand to enclose his in both of mine. He just vowed to always be on my side. I never had someone like that before, except maybe Lady Grealle.
"You cry when you're happy?" He puzzled, sounding amused. His voice changes, growing thick with emotion. "You're beautiful."
We stare, not at the stars but at each other, hands clasps. We talk a little more, but eventually, my eyes closed and don't open again for hours. Meliodas and I sleep under the stars, ying and yang, still holding hands.
A soft flutter touches my lips. It reminds me of something, but different. It happens again, firmer, a warm pressure and a jolt of excitement spreads down my spine. My eyes open and Meliodas is over me, the sky still dark above us. "Oh. Good morning." I mumble, my voice scratchy from sleep.
"Hm, it is isn't it." He purred, nuzzling against my cheek. "I thought we could watch the sunrise, before having to attend to our duties." With a few soft kisses more, I rose, sitting up with the blankets wrapped around us, we watched the sunrise. Just as the orange glow starts to spill over towards us my brain clicks on. I knew where I felt that soft flutter before... both days I woke with Mael on our way over.
He had kissed me awake.
While I was asleep he had stolen kisses! I gasp, my hand covering my open mouth as if to protect it, devastated. He wouldn't! But, he did! Mael may be a lot of things but to take advantage of a vulnerable girl like that? I shook my head, physically trying to deny it. A strangled groan escaped me. One I'd only heard from me once before, when a child I knew at charity's home hadn't survived her fever.
"Elizabeth?" Meliodas rose to his knees, his hands gripping around my head, over my ears, he pulls me to his chest. "We'll make it work, we have a chance. I swear, being with you is easy, it's just the rest of the world that complicates it."
He assumed it was our relationship that upset me and I shook my head. I couldn't tell him, could I? "If I... I have something to tell you, but I'm afraid you'll be angry..." I stammered, "it can't get in the way of this treaty- You have to promise."
Meliodas pulls away, eyes speculating but deep green, brows low and concerned. "I promise." He whispers, and I explain, the whole journey here with Mael and how when Meliodas woke me just now, kissing me awake I realized what Mael had done. Meliodas thumbed over my tears, palms cupping my face. "You've done nothing wrong, don't worry."
"But on our next journey home..." I say, wide-eyed and scared. "Ghosts were bad enough!" His eyes soften, his lips tilting up.
"If I can, we may be able to travel home together, our clans are neighbors and in the same direction." I relaxed, my tears drying up in an instant.
"You would do that?' I shivered, holding my hands over his on my cheeks.
"Absolutely." He promises, "I'll be the one to steal those sweet kisses, and those ghosts won't stand a chance." Then he winks, actually making fun of me at a time like this. "Meliodas!" I scoff and then we kissed, soft and easy before gathering our sleep stuff, holding hands while we walked back to our rooms. On the way, he tells me with dark green eyes "Thank you, for trusting me with this."