Third person POV-
The kiss was soft and light, and it only lasted for a second.
...Meliodas immediately regretted it.
Whatever that had come over him was gone, replaced by terror.
He should've done that.
Because now it would be ten times harder to hold himself back.
"I-I...wha-?" Elizabeth stuttered, shocked and flustered from the demon kings sudden act.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me..." he said turning his head away from her.
He couldn't look her in the eyes.
"N-No it's...okay" she says, casing Meliodas's head to turn to look at her again.
His face easily displayed just how shocked he was to hear that answer.
To be honest, Elizabeth was a bit shocked about it as well, but nonetheless it was the truth.
"No it's not...it's not okay" Meliodas pushed.
He had really crossed the line this time.
They both became quiet, but unlike before, it was a very awkward, and made both of them squirm in their seats on the bench.
While Meliodas felt like the biggest scum of the earth, Elizabeth couldn't figure out how to feel.
Just as she had said, it was okay...but wasn't that wrong?
For her to feel that way?
For her heart to have beaten so fast. She knew it was supposed to be wrong.
But it just felt so right...
"I should go" Meliodas then said, stood up, and in a matter of moments he had disappeared into the crowd of people attending the festival.
Elizabeth didn't get angry when he left, she could only imagine she embarrassed, and self loathing Meliodas felt for having kissed her so suddenly.
She didn't really make the situation better either...to him it might've seemed like she was lying through her teeth when she said that it was okay.
After a few moments Elizabeth stood up as well and started walking back towards the castle.
She needed to do some serious thinking.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Meliodas needed to vent, so he went to the stables, asked Alioni if he could borrow a horse for a few hours, which he agreed to.
In fact he said he could take Sombra, which Meliodas gladly game a thumbs up to.
So that's why he was a few kilometers out of Liones as of now.
He was laying on his back, cloud gazing while Sombra was munching on some grass a bit to his left.
"I'm an idiot aren't I?" Meliodas asked no one I particularly.
But Sombra neighed and shook his mane.
'I swear sometimes it feels as if animals can understand our language' Meliodas thought as he glanced at the black horse.
"...how could I do that?" He then whispered and closed closed eyes.
Of course he knew why he did what he did.
Because he loved her...He loved her more than was probably healthy, and after being separated for 300 years He let my emotions get the best of him.
Slowly he pressed a finger to his lips.
He couldn't deny just how right it had felt to kiss her like that again.
Nor could he deny the fact that he wanted more...
"Gah!" He shouted and began slapping a hand against his forehead, hoping it'd clear his head.
"Why couldn't I just let go!?
Let her find someone else to love!
Let her marry and have a family, and live out her life to the fullest!" He shouted desperately.
"Why?...
...why?...why did it have to be like this?..."
When He opened his eyes again he noticed that the sky had turned from blue to a soft and beautiful orange mixed with a bit of pink in the horizon.
"Sunset? Already?.." he mumbled.
He had apparently been out here longer than he thought.
Carefully he stood up and went over to the horse who was looking at him, as if it was expecting them to go back now.
Which they were of course.
"Let's go boy..." He said as he mounted the horse with little effort.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Where have you been?" Merlin asked Meliodas, with a raised eyebrow.
'Oh how the tables have turned, that's the look I always give her when she's been gone too long' he thought.
"Doesn't matter...I'm not leaving this room till we're going bank to hell...where I belong" He said and face planted onto his bed.
Hell was of course another word for the demon realm.
"Oh my...what's happened, did you make a move on the princess?" She said mischievously, obviously joking.
But as an answer Meliodas let out a scream into his pillow.
"...oh...you actually did"
"OUT!" He shouted, now sitting up and threw his pillow at her, but before it could hit she had already teleported away.
He meant what he said..
If he could at all he'll it he was only gonna leave his room for the various meetings he had to go to these coming days.
Merlin could always bring him food, and he had his own bathroom.
It would be fine...
He couldn't risk making anymore mistakes.
And he couldn't look Elizabeth in the eyes, not after what he did today.
Once more Meliodas's fingers trailed up till they rested on his lips.
'It's for the best' he tried to convince himself...but it was tough..
As if on cue someone knocked on the door.
"My lord! Dinner is served"
Meliodas got on stood in front of the door. But he didn't open it.
"Thank you buy I'm not feeling well, so I think I'll go without dinner today"
"Would you like me to send you a doctor?"
"No thank you, it's not quite that serious"
"...understood, get well soon my lord..."
"Thank you"
With that Meliodas could here the man on the outside begin walking away.
Meliodas knew Elizabeth would be there, so he wasn't going.
His best choice right now was to simply ignore Elizabeth for the remaining time of his stay here.
It would hurt.
But it was necessary...
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Meliodas had stayed in his room for hours.
Either just staring out into the empty air, or gazing out if the garden...
It was the middle of the night when Meliodas was suddenly awakened by the same sinister presence he felt during the festival.
This time it lasted for a few seconds, and he was able to tell it wasn't far away.
It wasn't exact but he knew just about where to look.
Surely he wouldn't run into anyone this late...
In a hurry he was out of the door, not even bothering to get properly dressed.
He went down a hallway to the left, then left again, and then right.
And then he spotted it.
A white demon trying effortlessly to fit through a small window..it looked like it had felt him coming and had tried to get out as fast as possible.
"Got you!" He says and grabbed the little pest by it's neck.
"Ah! Ah!! Gahhh!" It whined as it tried to get Meliodas to loosen his grip.
"What do you think you're doing here!? This isn't your territory!"
"Food! Just a little bit! We...live in this land!"
'So this little pest must be one of the demons deciding to live within Britannia. A high ranking demons who can easily be mistaken for humans it's easy enough, but it's gotta be tough for a white demon such as this one' meliodas thought, but he still wouldn't his anger towards the demon before him die down.
"So you break into liones castle?! You're a demon, hunt a deer or something!"
"Mghh!" The white demon continued to struggle.
"What's your name?"
"G-Gaharch!"
"So answer me, Gaharch...you were our for souls weren't you...the souls of a holy knight perhaps?"
"Nhh!-no! Lord~" the demon begged.
"What to do with you...ah I know.." Meliodas said and so he started to walz back to Merlin's room.
He knocked on the door, loud enough for her to hear, but not loud enough to wake anyone else.
The doors opened with the use of Merlin's magic, and when he walked in he could see that Merlin in was in the middle of some kind of experiment on her wooden desk.
"Perfect timing" meliodas said and held Gaharch up
The moment Gaharch coughs eye of Merlin he started panicking.
There didn't exist a demon who wasn't afraid of ending up in Merlin's hands.
"Quiet down, I'm not gonna let her experiment on you!" Meliodas said harshly.
"Merlin I want you to keep him in safe keeping...in a bottle or something...then I can deal with him when we get back home"
"Oh certainly...you said I couldn't experiment on him?" Merlin asked mischievously, while finding a suitable bottle.
"That's what I says yes...not even I'm that cruel"
"Bummer...Takinota Deshigu mada " Merlin uttered a spell and opened the bottle.
Immediately Gaharch was sucked inside.
"What did he do?"
"Suspected of conspiracy of murder"
"I see" Merlin simply nodded and put the bottle containing Gaharch in a drawer.
"It's good to see you out of your room at least" Merlin smirked.
"About that..I'm going bank in. Goodnight" Meliodas said and turned on his heels, waving at Merlin over his shoulder.
Merlin sighed.
But Meliodas could here the amusement in her voice...she thought he was gonna break soon...
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"He hasn't left his room since the other day?" Elizabeth asked the guards stationed near Meliodas's and Merlin's room, the next day.
"I'm afraid so M'lady. Yesterday he says he wasn't feeling well, but denied to be visited by a doctor"
"...Because he isn't sick" Elizabeth muttered under her breath.
"What was that M'lady?"
"Nothing, great work, keep it up"
"Yes! Thank you!"
Elizabeth then turned around and started walking back to her room, but halfway there she stopped and decided to go to the garden...the pond garden.
'Somehow today seems somewhat gloomy, despite how the sun is shining' Elizabeth pondered.
She guessed it was her inner turmoil changing the way she saw the surrounding world.
And yes, her inner turmoil was bad.
Not only had she not figured out what to do with her obvious feelings towards Meliodas, but Meliodas was even avoiding her and locking himself inside of his room just to not run into her..
That though alone almost made tears gather in her eyes...but her anger over the entire situation were greater than her sadness.
'How dare he just ignore me..that-..that kiss should be something we should talk about. Work through it, not act like it never happened!!' She shouted inside of her mind.
It was rare for Elizabeth to get angry, but this entire situation was too much for her.
How could she not be angry with the way he was acting?!
As she sat on a bench in the pavilion over the water, she couldn't help but glance up at where she knew Meliodas's window to his room was.
What she saw only lit a spark inside of her.
There he was, looking out, but when he noticed that she was looking he quickly drew the curtains for.
"Okay...that's enough!" She said to herself and stood up.
She was walking to Meliodas's room, if he wasn't gonna come out to talk, she was just gonna have to come in.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Elizabeth now stood in front of the doors that led to Meliodas's room.
She was shaking, no longer due to anger.
No.
Most of her anger had faded on the walk there, but she still wanted to talk to him.
To clear this all up.
But she was nervous.
She swallowed and then knocked, 1, 2, 3 times.
Then she pushed the handle down.
Locked...of course.
"Meliodas...open the door"
"..."
"We have to talk! You know we do! You can't jus-t ignore me!" She said. Her voice broke halfway through the last sentence.
'No! Don't cry' Elizabeth told herself.
"..."
Elizabeth was still met with silence.
Elizabeth places her hand on the door.
"Please...don't hide.." she said, and this time a sound met her.
Not a voice though.
She felt it through her hand.
And then a dragging sound followed.
He had leaned his back against the door, and now he slid down, to sit on the floor.
His heart was hurting.
'Should I open?' he though, and pondered on that for a while.
Slowly, almost so slowly that he almost fell back down, he stood up.
He grabbed the end of the key that was keeping the door locked.
One flick with his wrist and she would be able to come in.
"Please...Meliodas.." Elizabeth said.
The click of the door being unlocked shocked her, but she didn't hesitate.
She pressed down on the handle and opened the door wide open.
Meliodas took two steps back to allow her to open the door.
She steeped in quietly and closed the door behind her.
The room was dark with the curtains drawn, and only a candle on his night stand to illuminate the room.
"So...let's talk" Elizabeth started.
Her heart was beating fast again.
She didn't know if it was because she was nervous, or because she was standing in front of Meliodas who was only wearing a red tank top, showing off all of his muscles and a tattoo of a dragon wrapping itself around a yin-yang symbol...
"What's there to talk about Elizabeth?"
"The kiss" Elizabeth says bluntly, causing herself to blush, but her resolve didn't waver. Not even fit a second.
"Again- what's tree to talk about...I said sorry.." he says and averted his face to the floor.
"I don't want a Sorry"
"What? You want another kiss?" He said, obviously joking...
Like most guys, Meliodas's defend mechanism was using humor to defuse a situation such as this.
"Meliodas...I want to know why you kissed me"
"Why do people kiss Elizabeth?" Meliodas asked sarcastically, but Elizabeth answered anyways.
"Mostly because they have feelings for each other"
"...Bingo.." Meliodas muttured, barely loud enough for Elizabeth to hear, but she was just able to make it out.
"...do you have feelings for me?" Elizabeth asked hesitantly.
She couldn't decide what she wanted him to say.
Because if he says no then hat would be it...but on the other hand..if he says yes, she wouldn't be able to let him go...
After all, she had somehow developed feelings for him, so if he returned those feelings...yeah..then what?
What would that lead to?
"Yes" he answered after a short while.
He had wanted to say no. To let whatever they had end right then and there.
But he couldn't...
"It's so weird...I've known you for such a short time and yet-...and yet I've developed feelings for you as well..."
The happiness Meliodas felt when he heard her say that can't be compared to anything in the entire world.
'I have to listen to my heart' Meliodas decided.
The battle within him had been decided.
He stepped forward and grabbed a hold of her arms, when he was this close he was really able to make out just how red her face was.
'Adorable..'
"Elizabeth..I won't make the same mistake twice. So I'll ask you:..can I kiss you?" He asked softly.
"...yes" she said.
Meliodas searched her eyes for any doubt or any fear, but when he didn't find any he leaned up and finally connected their lips.
It wasn't like the kiss the other day.
This one was mutual.
Meliodas trailed his hands from her arms to rest softly on her collar.
And Elizabeth's hands found found themselves tangled in is hair.
'She's just as I remember' Meliodas thought and separated from her.
The separation didn't last long though as meliodas leaved up a couple more times to lightly peck her lips, cheek, nose and her lips again.
'Gosh I've missed you'
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
A/N
Make sure you remember Gaharch, he will be important later on.
