Third person POV-
"I can't believe you-" Arthur started but was immediately cut off by his uncle, Zeldris.
"Alright alright alright you've had your laugh! It's not that of a big deal!" The embarrassed Zeldris continued to try and defuse the situation, which he practically already knew would be a futile attempt.
"Not that big of a deal you say? The renovation will cost quite a lot" Merlin teased, hanging onto the thought of burning down the entire room.
"STOP" Zeldris screeched, Making Arthur fall into another fit of laughter.
It was at that moment that Arthur's eye caught eye of an old wooden picture frame, standing on the sofa table.
suddenly the subject of his uncle's sex life was forgotten.
The picture in the frame wasn't the family pictures Arthur was used to seeing, but it was a sketch...a quite beautiful sketch if he might say so himself.
It was of who he recognized to be the queen of Liones, Elizabeth, but as he stepped closer he saw quite a few things that didn't add up.
'Her hair...and is that...wings?'
"Uncle Zel...what's this?" Arthur asked and lifted the picture for his uncle to see better.
Obviously Arthur wanted his uncle to tell him about the woman in the picture, but that isn't what he did, maybe because he was still a bit shaken up by their previous conversation.
"Oh, I moved it over there since it felt a bit wrong to have a picture of my brothers deceased lover on the desk I'm working at" Zeldris explained nonchalantly.
Merlin however massaged her temples.
She knew people were to find out one day, but this was just painful.
Arthur froze at his uncle's answer.
He then began remembering a time when he was little, how he had walked in to see his uncle Meliodas cry one night.
He had been so small and innocent he just began asking questions, confused as to why his strong uncle would ever cry...that was the first time he heard of her...
Meliodas never mentioned a name...he just mentioned an aunt that Arthur unfortunately never got to meet..
the memory of that conversation dwindled over time, but now it reappeared.
"But it's...Elizabeth" Arthur said still confused as to why the woman in the picture, his presumed "aunt" looked like the queen of Liones.
"Yes, that was her name" Zeldris continued to answer Arthur's questions, never really catching on.
"Elizabeth of the goddesses...have we never told you about her?" Zeldris asked suddenly confused.
"No I mean! It's Elizabeth Liones! The queen of Liones!!"
"Huh? Queen of liones? No it's-"
"This is just painful to watch and hear, so let me explain it to you" Merlin butted in, not willing to deal with the headache that would most definitely come if she didn't stop their back and forth talk.
"That woman in the picture frame is Elizabeth of the goddesses who died 300 years ago...and Elizabeth Liones, the current ruler of the kingdom Liones is her reincarnation" Merlin explained nonchalantly.
Both Arthur and Zeldris was shell shocked, having their jaws hang open wide, but Arthur was the first one to speak up.
"Reincarnation?! Like...like- really?!" He just stuttered, not able to figure out what it was he wanted to ask.
"Yes, her personality, body, voice...right down to her love for Meliodas...it's all there.." Merlin explained, her nonchalant attitude towards the subject had suddenly changed to a more sad one.
Now Arthur began understanding why his uncle had been so down since leaving Liones.
And Zeldris began to quickly put the pieces together, and he didn't like the image he saw when he did.
"That's bad" Zeldris said seriously and he stroked his chin, looking like a wise man stroking his beard.
"Bad? Why?! It's a perfect chance for him to be happy again! To be with her!" Arthur said and jumped a bit out of excitement.
"She got injured when the rebels attacked...didn't she?" Zeldris guessed, and Merlin answered simply by nodding once.
"That means he won't...Brother is an idiot...a loving idiot, who will do whatever he seems fit to protect those he loves...there's a reason you're home this early after all"
"I don't get it" Arthur said confused, and scratched the back of his head.
"Meliodas will think being with her will only put her in harms way, and he thinks not being with her AT ALL will be the better option" Zeldris says and shook his head a bit sadly at his brothers way of thinking.
As brothers their love life was something they had often discussed, especially after a few drinks, and Meliodas had voiced these kind of thoughts to Zeldris before.
It was quite the dilemma, because while everyone around Meliodas wanted him to be happy, which he could only truly be with Elizabeth, they understood the fear of loosing the person whom you love, which Meliodas has already had to go through once.
For that reason Arthur didn't know what to say, so he just continued to look at the picture in the frame.
'If uncle Meliodas has never truly been happy...gosh then I'd love to see when he is' Arthur thought, remembering how cheery, fun and kind his uncle Meliodas had always been, but if that was all an act, how would he act when he was truly...TRULY happy?!
-In Liones-
"Heh...I remember reading a book about a girl in coma who could hear everything going on around her" Elizabeth said and she held onto her older sister, Veronica's cold hand.
"But real life isn't like the books is it? If it was then he...he.." Elizabeth words stopped flowing as she thought of Meliodas.
'How could I have been so stupid?!' She thought to herself in distress.
Maybe a part of her had hoped that it would be like a fairy tale, that it was true genuine love that neither of them could possibly let go of...but apparently he could...and he did, that's why she was here now...alone.
"Maybe I should've done as you said and kept my distance...yeah...if I'd done that then...then I wouldn't be hurting right now" Elizabeth says and clenched her fist over her heart.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you.." Elizabeth apologized to Veronica, hoping that she's sit up in her bed in victory...but she didn't. She didn't move an inch, in fact she hadn't ever seen she was put in a coma.
Of you didn't know you'd truly believe that she was dead, and that thought alone nearly broke Elizabeth.
Elizabeth continued to sit by her sisters side till nightfall, all that time Elizabeth had just spoken to her, mostly about Meliodas, but now she was growing tired, so she swiped away Veronica's bangs and kissed her on the forehead before leaving the room.
Elizabeth was now walking quietly back to her own cozy room, and not that medical room she had had to stay in the day before.
Then out of the corner of her eye she saw something. A shadow.
After everything that had just transpired Elizabeth had every right to be a bit paranoid and she knew, so she quickened her face to not completely loose whoever is was she was trailing. She couldn't see them after all, she could only see the slightly transparent shadow, and hear their footsteps.
She herself tried her best to walk on the tip of her shoes to not make too much noise.
"Is someone there?!" An accusing voice sounded from whoever she was following.
Elizabeth stiffened one fear and looked to see if there was a place to hide. There wasn't.
Then they turned the corner and she saw who it was she had been trailing.
"Oh sir Hendrickson!" She sayd, surprised to see that she had in fact been trailing the grand master.
"Lady Elizabeth!? Excuse my rudeness, I didn't think it was you" he apologized since he has sounded quite rough as he had called out only moments earlier.
"Oh there's no need to apologize, I guess everyone is a bit on edge lately" Elizabeth said and smiled sadly, but still kindly at him.
"Yes certainly...was that why..you were following me?" Hendrickson asked a bit hesitantly, as he still didn't understand what that was about, but he didn't want to insult the queen either.
"Yes, I'm sorry...I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye and instantly grew wary"
"As you said earlier, there no need to apologize. In fact I'm glad you took up the initiative and followed me, I what if I hadn't been me...wait no, that sounded weird" Hendrickson started explaining but grew a bit timid as he realized what he says maybe didn't make sense.
Elizabeth giggled lightly at his struggle, most of all because she did in fact understand.
"No no I understand, I'm very happy that you look at it that way"
"Oh I see, that's a relief. Well I better get going, I was on my way to an important meeting with an...old friend of mine" Hendrickson explained. He had to use a moment to find the right words, but his happy demeanor never wavered.
"Oh I'm which case I'm sorry to have kept you" Elizabeth says, now a bit embarrassed.
She folded her hands nodded kindly as a way of saying he was free to go.
"No No it's alright. Sleep well lady Elizabeth" Hendrickson says as he began walking away.
Elizabeth hadn't moved from that spot in the middle of the hallway for a few moments, in her gut she could feel that something was wrong, but due all that was holy she couldn't figure out what.
In the end she had to convince herself that it was just the paranoia and lingering trauma of these recent events.
What she didn't know what that something was indeed wrong, and it would only continue to get worse once Hendrickson met up with his supposed "old friend"
"You're late, Hendrickson" said a dark voice emerging from the shadows of a conference room that currently wasn't being lit up by torches, but Hendrickson knew who it was...he really didn't have many options to guess from.
"I was held up...after all you told me not to let anyone follow me... so I made sure..." Hendrickson explained as he lit a match and began lighting a torch, only one however.
He couldn't let anyone know he had had a secret meeting, but they did need lighting, and nobody would notice that only one tour he was slightly more burned down that the others.
"Someone followed you!!?" The voice, now angry, said through clenched teeth.
"Of course not...I- I made sure their attention was directed away from me. Told them I'd be meeting an old friend" Hendrickson explained as he began to shake, the other presence in the room was almost too much for him, it makes it especially harder since he'd a Druid, and his blood is yelling at him to get away from this dark creature. This...demon.
"You better not screw this up Hendrickson, after everything I've done for you, after all the time and energy I have put into this plan! After my comrades sacrificed themselves during that attack the other day!" The voice ranted, getting louder and louder until the voice echoed off the walls in the room.
"Of course not, I would never let anything, nor anyone get in the way of our goal...l-lord Bellion" Hendrickson stammered our, incredibly intimated by the powerful demons anger towards him.
Hendrickson might be the grand master of Liones but he knew that he didn't stand a chance if Bellion was to try and kill him here and now.
But he wouldn't, after all the time and energy Bellion used on converting a human, a Druid, a grandmaster, all in one, to their side was simply too much to go through all over again.
"Good... one week Hendrickson, that's all you've got. They better be ready" Bellion growled.
"Don't worry. With the blood you and your soldiers have provided us with, I assure you, I and the next generation of holy knights will not fail you" Hendrickson promised and bowed in respect for the demon standing before him.
Bellion simply scoffed at Hendrickson and jumped out the window to take his leave.
Hendrickson never saw Bellion activate his dark wings so he imagined that Bellion had landed safely on the ground.
It's took a couple of minutes for Hendrickson to get out of the room, still partially paralyzed from being in Bellion's presence.
This is what Hendrickson wanted, it was what he had asked for.
Power...
He would be able to get power this way, even if the road there might be a little scary, and even thought people might die it will be worth it...for him...he was all that mattered in his own little world.
Acting like he's a good, nice and righteous knight while in fact he had helped to plan that attack the other day, and he had told the scouts to lie if they were to be captured.
Which one had. The white demon, Gaharch.
Gaharch had explained to Meliodas and Merlin that the demons attacked in order to kill Meliodas so another war would break out.
That was a lie. At least partially...
The demons did in truth attack in order for the political meeting to be canceled, so that everyone would go home to their respected territory, including Meliodas. And maybe people would even loose their trust in the kingdom of liones after such a scandal.
Liones would be left to their demise during the next attack...but the plan wasn't for a Liones to become a ruin, no the true plan was quite unique.
Bellion wanted a kingdom to rule...he could never be the demon king so he'd just take another kingdom, already strong, but not strong enough for him to not be able to take over, and then slowly he'd build it up so it could compete with Meliodas's forces.
And THEN war would break out again.
Honestly Hendrickson didn't care about that plan in itself. He was just you faking with it because that was his way of getting power, and after being such a great help him and the demons had struck a deal that he could leave Liones to start another life once the demons would take over.
Where that would that be?
Hendrickson was still deciding..
A/N
Okay so hear me out!
By making the new gen by using blood from the six knights of black the next gen would be SOOOO MUCH stronger than they were in the actual series.
Like: remember how powerful Hendywas in canon after taking in the gray demon's blood, who's power level is as 2,700-3,200.
So imagine taking in the blood of someone who's power level varies from 26,000-58.000. Yeah that's song STROOONG next gen. But it also means that there might be fewer of them since a higher number of them died from taking on such power in one split second (Like in canon).
Ps. I really love Hendrickson being a good guy again in canon, but his plan with the demon blood and plainly just the way he acted as a villain was too good to pass up for this story.
