Author's note: A bit less dramatic than the first one-shot. This one is for all fluff-fans out there with a just a tad of angst becuase I can't help myself. Enjoy!

Day 2: Past/Future

One Summer Day

Elizabeth strolled down the busy avenue of Liones capital, exchanged smiles and polite greetings with passersby, and enjoyed the fantastic weather. The sky presented itself in a marvelous blue dress, dotted with a handful of fluffy white clouds that stood almost still without a breeze to carry them far.

She couldn't have wished for better conditions on her birthday.

In a way, she found it odd to celebrate her human birthdays with the full knowledge that she had passed the same number Margaret had plastered onto the obligatory apple-pie with pink lines of cream and sugar a handful of times already. Elizabeth possessed memories of over three thousand years and had witnessed the rise and fall of kingdoms and even the great war from millennia ago. The tiny number 'seventeen', regardless of how large the digits had seemed on her birthday cake, did not fit her in the slightest. And of her past seventeen years in this human body, only the last one held particular meaning in her vast pool of collected memories.

A merchant tipped his head and bowed with a gleam as he recognized her as the third princess of Liones, and Elizabeth answered with a twirl on her heels and a smile just as wide. Even though she had the powers of a Goddess and had fought on the front lines in the New Holy War alongside the Seven Deadly Sins, people remembered her as a princess first in foremost. Maybe her silver hair, a rarity this far away from Ishtar and the land of the Druids, or the fine, expensive silk of her white dress gave her identity away. Her identity in this life.

The one that counted.

A flash of nostalgia overcame her as she entered one of the capital's largest plazas, an open field of cobblestone fenced by tailor shops and dusty taverns designed as a perfect square that had to make room for another building to house a small part of the city's rising population. The first vendors had set up shop for the market this afternoon to sell fish and bakery produce to early customers, and the smell of their goods tickled her nose. Back when Elizabeth had been a child, she had played catch with Veronica between the crowds of people many times. Gilthunder had joined them every so often when he hadn't stayed behind to train or play guard for Margaret.

That must have been after the Seven Deadly Sins had been framed for murder, when Gilthunder had begun to drown himself with his duties. After Meliodas had left.

No matter what life Elizabeth had lived, no matter where she had been born, Meliodas had always found her and had accompanied her every step of the way. She didn't remember all 107 times she had met him, sometimes she had been too young when fate and their curse had arranged for their paths to cross, but she could recall enough. And once they had made out each other's faces in the crowd, he had never left her side until she eventually faded from this world to be reborn and meet him anew. And because of his undying loyalty, the ten years of her life as adopted princess of Liones where he had been away felt all the longer.

Back when she had been a clueless little child, she had failed to realize what had been missing, but now she was certain it had been Meliodas all along instead of the call of adventure as she had told herself when she sat on her carpet in the middle of the night with a book in her hands because she couldn't sleep. These years without him had given her precious memories as well, moments of happiness with her sisters, a caring father, and all the luxuries bound to the life as royalty. But Elizabeth had never felt complete until she had stumbled into Meliodas' tavern to begin their journey.

Now this journey was over, and Elizabeth and Meliodas were freed from their curse to live out a life of peace far away from the hardships that had plagued their past. The question remained how long this life would last.

Elizabeth stopped in front of the graveyard running alongside the road, and closed her fingers around the spikes of the cool metal fence. Within the vast lawn square, rows upon rows of gravestones gathered in the shadows of a willow, plates of slate to remember the fallen of the Holy War and those who had passed since. One of these days, soon compared to the longevity of the Goddesses, Elizabeth would grow old and die to be buried in a graveyard like this. While Meliodas would live for centuries to come. To be spared the worry about losing him due to old age should comfort her, but a selfish part of her hated the thought of saying goodbye.

The smell of tulips from the vendor across the street pulled Elizabeth out of her dark thoughts, and she shook her head to free herself of the shackles of her troubled mind. She had no reason to worry. She had all she could have ever dreamed of, she was with the man she loved. And nothing, no threat, no war, no irony of fate could take this happiness away from her.

With newfound energy, Elizabeth turned and scurried down the street, almost running. She shot the crowds of people she hurried through apologetic glances, but never eased her pace. She had wasted too much precious time already.

Meliodas awaited her in front of the tall metal gates marking the border of the city, and a wide grin enlightened his face when he spotted her amidst the sea of faces. Elizabeth gave him no time to meet her halfway as she crossed the distance with so much energy one could think they had been apart for years and flung her arms around his neck to make them both stumble.

"Happy birthday," Meliodas whispered into her ear, and Elizabeth pulled away to meet the joy in his expression with a frown.

"You promised me we wouldn't count the years."

"Yeah, but that shouldn't stop me from wishing you a happy birthday. Besides, Bartra was eager to make sure the whole country knew what day it is today. He sure loves his celebrations. Don't worry, I didn't get you any presents this time around."

At least he had kept this part of their agreement in mind. "I don't need presents anyway. You already gave me the most important gift when you stayed with me throughout all these years and broke my curse. And you have overdone it with presents too often in the past. Do you remember when you bought me a white horse for my twentieth birthday back in Caerlon? Or the pure sapphire as large as my thumb?"

Meliodas grinned. "Course I do."

They made their way through the gates and ambled through the fields of wheat and summer grass, their fingers interlaced. Elizabeth had walked these narrow, trodden-out paths a hundred times before, she knew each bend, pond, and crooked apple tree from her childhood memories. But the landscape had never seemed this lively and filled with hope. It had to be Meliodas' presence that filled the air with energy, their shared laughter as well as their shared silence whenever they didn't dare to taint the value of each other's presence with words. The New Holy War had been won to allow peace to return to the land a couple months ago, but they hadn't found the time for a walk like this. There had always been one or another issue on their mind that had demanded their attention, meetings and goodbyes, funerals and celebrations.

If this walk went on forever, if this sandy path between the fields never ended, Elizabeth could not have been happier.

When the sun had passed its peak and midday lay behind them, Meliodas and Elizbeth rested in the sun on a grass-covered hill, their faces turned towards the endless blue sky. Elizabeth snuggled her head against his shoulder and brushed over the fine lines of his palm. She remembered each contour better than those of her own hands.

"Meliodas?"

He hummed as an answer, his gaze locked onto the heavens, lost in thoughts and memories.

"You know how grateful I am for everything you gave me and for everything you did to keep your promise to me. I remember the pain of death and all the times I went through it. But I never suffered as much as you did. If I had been forced to lose you this often… I don't know if I had possessed the strength to continue."

"Sure you would have. I only made it through because I remembered your strength. Your determination during the Holy War moved mountains. It convinced the terrible Demon prince who knew nothing but violence to betray his clan and fight for peace. A measly curse wouldn't have stopped you for a second."

Elizabeth sat herself straighter to meet Meliodas' eyes. "Still, I want you to know that even if you hadn't done all of this, if you had moved on to avoid all this pain, I would have continued to love you. Nothing will change this. No matter the hurdles that come between us."

"I will always love you, Elizabeth," Meliodas said, and the truth in his emerald eyes could not have shone more brightly.

"Even when I'm so old that I can't leave bed, and you have to spoon-feed me with oatmeal?"

"And long after that."

He grinned that infectious grin Elizabeth loved so dearly, and she let herself be pulled down to rest her head on his chest. His heartbeat, echoed seven times through his chest, calmed her more than any music ever could. Together, they admired the cloudless sky up above.

The future was indeed bright.