.
Chapter 77 – Special Chapter: Dark Side Of Glass Heart (I)
.
Perhaps, Melody was the only child in her family who was raised by two versions of her mothers.
The first one, Elizabeth 99th, Elise was an Elf. Half of her, actually. Elise's father was a mere human, but her mother was an Elf. She was ostracized by people around her in the village because of her mixed blood. Thus, she always covered her pointy elf-like ears with wearing a hood and lived deep in the woods, far away from the village. One day, she was bullied by several Holy Knights who flirted with her when she just wanted to buy her provisions.
One of the Knights pulled her by her wrist when she persistently refused their offer. When she cried out 'help', she fell to her butt because the man who had tried to drag her was kicked by a blonde-haired man.
"I think 'dragging around a woman' forcefully is not a gentleman should do".
Another Knight lifted his sword to attack the blonde-no one but Meliodas-but the poor Knight got hit in the face, instead. Not by Meliodas, but by Tristan who stood tall behind Meliodas.
Looking up, Meliodas clearly could sense his son's foul mood "do you need the let-out scumbags? If you do, go on. I will help this Lady to collect her provisions when you beat them black and blue, but please remember that you can't kill them, Triss".
Tristan cracked his fist and showed a feral grin "thank you very much for your consideration, Sir".
Meliodas apologized, helping Elizabeth to collect her provisions "are you alright? Forgive him if Triss scared you".
Looking over his shoulder, she could see Tristan still beating those Knights and she winced slightly. She was never the type of someone who fond of violence, after all. She was about to tell him 'thanks' before her hood fell and showed her ears. Elizabeth—Elise quickly covered her ears but Meliodas grabbed her wrists and smiled. Patting her head reassuringly, Meliodas convinced her not to hide anything from him because he would not think or judge anything bad of her. He even told her that she was beautiful (as always). Elise blushed brightly as red as tomatoes because of his compliment. He was the first man who treated her equally and not discriminated against her just because she was born as a half-breed of Elf and humans. After that, it was the usual pattern. Elise invited them to her house and Tristan chose to flee this time, leaving them two. Well, only half of it.
Tristan raised his hand apologetically "sorry, I have to visit Merlin for my monthly body examination. Otherwise, she would—".
Merlin appeared behind Tristan and caught him by the back of his collar "you're too late, so I pick you instead".
"—kidnap me, which exactly is happening now...", Tristan sighed heavily and gave up, already used to it "speaking of the Devil, and the Devil comes".
When Merlin kidnapped him using teleportation and disappeared from their sight, Elise prodded "um, are they lovers?".
Meliodas shook his head and answered innocently "nope, they are ex-husband and ex-wife".
Elise totally lost it "come again?".
It took some times for Elise to open her heart to Meliodas, but it worked as usual, eventually. They had Melody as their daughter not too long after their marriage, but her name was not Melody.
Her daughter asked her once "Mama, why did you give me name as 'Medeia'? Isn't she an evil woman?".
"you just don't understand, honey. Good or evil is defended from the perspective of who and how we see it. Sometimes, the Villain is just the innocent or hurting people who were misunderstood or wronged by everyone or certain someone. Not all villains are evil. It's similar to the concept about how not all the Darkness is evil and not all the Light is kind", Elise taught her daughter gently, ruffling her head "and from what Mama read, princess Medeia is not an evil person, even if she did something evil, but she just wanted to go back to Colchis, her homeland where her family had lived and where she was born".
Meliodas knew how Elise wanted to visit the homeland of her mother (the Elf one, of course. Not the notorious certain Goddess), a secluded village for Elf in Ireland. When they walked on the beach, she always stared at the sea. Perhaps, Elise was overlapping herself with princess Medeia who could not go back to her homeland. Meliodas told them that someday, the three of them would go travelling, to find the Elf village in Ireland. Elise had closed their daughter's eyes and kissed him because she was so happy. Sadly, that plan never came true.
One day, Elise's Goddess power to heal people awakened and she was recognized as the Saintess. She was asked to become the Saintess in their Kingdom, the Argonauts Kingdom in the Sarpedon Island. Elise refused because she didn't want to blend with the humans. Not to mention, she also couldn't leave her family. Meliodas felt relieved because his wife chose him and their daughter, but what was this bad feeling?
The answer to that question, he got it that night.
After Elise refused the call from the Kingdom, there was an order from the Church to arrest her under the suspect of being a Witch who misused her Magic power. Meliodas was conflicted. This Kingdom was known as the Holy Land. Meliodas could not use his Demonic power in this Kingdom.
Or he should. This time, to save his beloved ones.
Meliodas threw the robe around Elise who carried Medeia "run, bring our daughter to the safety".
Elise grabbed his wrist "but what about you?".
"I will distract them and after that, I'll try to run away. Don't worry. You know what I'm capable of, right?", Meliodas kissed Elise's cheek and Medeia's forehead, ruffling his daughter's head "be a good girl and stay with your mom, okay?".
Medeia grabbed his sleeve "Daddy… you will come back to us, right?".
"Yeah, of course, I will, Dear", Meliodas smiled thinly, patting her head "just go, find Tristan and Merlin to bring you to the safety. We will run to the foreign country oversea for a while later, once we reunite".
After Elise and Medeia got out from the back door, running to the wood, Meliodas' expression turned darker as he walked to the front door. As he expected, the Templar Knights, the Holy Knights, and the villagers who brought the torches had waited outside. They demanded him to bring Elise because she was under arrest for the crime of misusing her power.
"you tried to catch the wrong person, then", Meliodas smirked and released his Demon power, the symbol of a Demon Clan member appeared on his forehead "because I am the Demon".
The Templar Knights, the Holy Knights, and the villagers raised their weapons to fight against him. He was alone, but he knew he could do this. His opponent was a mere human, after all. However, Meliodas didn't see it coming at all.
The Holy Water.
After the Templar Knights threw the Holy Water to his body, Meliodas fell to the ground and curled into a ball, screaming in pain. His screams sounded more desperate and blood-curling when more Holy Water splashed into him, burning his skin. If he completely went berserk, perhaps he would survive it, but Elise and Medeia would be in a danger as well.
Far in the wood, Medeia tugged her mother's sleeves "Mommy, the butterfly said that Daddy is in pain! Let's go back! We have to help him!".
Elise bit her lower lips. The butterfly that her daughter mentioned was Elise's familiars which she had given for Medeia. What should she do now? Thinking she had no time to lose, Elise hid Medeia in the bushes and lifted her forefinger to her mouth, covering her daughter with the robe "stay here, okay? Mommy will go to pick your Dad and just as Daddy promised, we will go to Ireland and find your grandmother's homeland. When you wake up, this nightmare will end".
Medeia nodded her head and waved her hand "be careful, Mom. Let's go home together with Dad".
Elise smiled bitterly, even if she knew it was impossible "yes, Dear. Together".
When she arrived on the outskirt of the village, Elise heard the sound from the Church "burn it! Kill that Demon!".
Elise gasped when she found him being dragged by the Knights "Meliodas!".
The villagers stopped Elise, surrounding her and talking to her like they were trying to reassure her that the Demon who had defiled and manipulated her, the Saintess.
"what are they talking about?", Elise thought, she was so confused and terrified when the Templar Knights dragged Meliodas' limp body and the damned villagers were not allowing her to pass past the annoying crowd "what are they trying to do?".
One of the Templar Knights stomped on Meliodas' head and laughed sinisterly "it's a good thing that we brought this from the capital. We can get rid of you easily with this amount of Holy Water".
It was a cylinder Aquarium, fulfilled by the Holy Water. It was large enough for the adults to fit in it. They dragged Meliodas' unmoving body, beaten black and blue, to the aquarium which was fulfilled by the Holy Water. When he was drowning in it, vaguely he could feel his body melting in it. Vaguely, he could hear her cry. Outside the aquarium, Elise punched the aquarium's wall hardly, until her hands were bleeding, calling for him desperately. Meliodas touched his melted bony-hand to the wall and smiled apologetically to her.
Kneeling on the ground, Elise cried harder and let out the blood-curling scream "no… Don't leave me!".
"…Daddy? Mommy?", panting, Medeia was clearly running to here. When she found out what kind of a situation her parents were in, she gasped and screamed in fright, horror evident in her eyes when she was cupping her cheeks "DAD!".
Whoever children witnessed their father's body melting in front of their eyes would react the same. Medeia dropped to her knees and coughed, puking blood "eh? Why blood…".
It was not the ordinary liquid or the blood, actually. It was her Darkness.
Due to the shock at such a young age, the Darkness magic power within Medeia's body went berserk uncontrollably, crawling from her shadow as she fell backwards. Medeia closed her eyes slowly, her trembling body violently thrashed around with the blood pooling from her mouth and eyes. There were the purple reddish butterflies made by the Darkness, of the Miasma leaking out from her body, flying everywhere. It was not an ordinary butterfly, though. It was the carnivorous butterfly who ate and attacked the people around them. Those butterflies came from Medeia's body. Elise ran to hug her daughter, cradling her body before the darkness burst out like an explosion to eat away everything in her surroundings. Thanks to her Goddess Divine Power, the Miasma that her daughter spilt out would not kill her. Using her Goddess healing power, Elise who was too afraid to lose her daughter and husband, regaining all of her past-life memories instantly. The triskelion symbols appeared on both her eyes and she collapsed backwards when the blood burst out of her head as if her brain had exploded.
That night, Medeia felt like she could hear someone sinisterly laugh in her head before the darkness sweetly lulled her to sleep in her mother's embrace.
The first voice sounded like a gruff old man "very nice! Good job, Granddaughter!".
The second voice came and retorted, sounded like a young female "not on my watch, Old man!".
Medeia asked "who?".
The former voice chuckled darkly "not yet, not strong enough yet... One day, it will come the time when you will desperately seek for me to kill those weakling humans and embraced the darkness".
The latter "I said, not on my watch, Old Bastard. Don't you dare to defile my little sister's innocence!".
"what? Did I do something wrong? I only helped her who lost her path because those humans crossed the borderline and my son was too weak to protect his children".
"oh, funny to hear it from you, after what you've done to my family. Now, go!".
Looking up, Medeia saw someone floating in front of her "...older sister?".
A warm hand of the goddess smiled gently to her, looking behind over her shoulder "yes, Dear. For now, you can just go back to sleep".
The other white-haired goddess with black-feathered wings patted her head "now, little sister, you can just forget everything happened tonight. Sleep".
And then, she fell asleep peacefully.
When Tristan and Merlin arrived here with some Holy Knights from the Argonauts Kingdom three days later, they doubt they could find any survivor in this village. The Capital thought it was weird because they lost contact with the team that they had sent. It turned out that this village had been corrupted by the Miasma, to the point no living beings could survive in this place. They only found the carnivorous butterflies which Merlin and Tristan killed after one of the Knights screeched, freaking out about how the carnivorous butterfly tried to eat him. Of course, Merlin caught one of the carnivorous butterflies as her specimen.
It went without saying, Merlin and Tristan knew that it was clearly not Meliodas' doing, but Medeia. If it were Meliodas, there would be no trace of this place, only leaving the crater. Merlin and Tristan had a suspicion (which was confirmed by Tristina who had witnessed what happened that night) that this was Medeia's doing.
It was the different aftermath of the Darkness. Medeia's Darkness had stolen the life-force within the living being around her. It explained why these corpses had rotten away and the miasma spread around this village. Merlin and Tristan told all Knights of Argonauts Kingdom to stay while she and Tristan would infiltrate the village to find a survivor. There, inside the village near the church, they indeed found a sole survivor.
Medeia whose body was wrapped by the Wind Of Heaven which purifying the Miasma. It was why she could survive. Meliodas and Elise were nowhere to be found, not even their body.
When she woke up, Medeia only cried silently with those void, emotionless eyes. Thinking she had lost her home and her only family. Looking at his crying little sister, his heart ached and he wanted to tell her that her family was still alive. She hadn't known yet about the fact that Tristan was her older brother and Merlin was her Aunt. Unfortunately, too many eyes of strangers who watched over them right now. Thus, Merlin and Tristan introduced themselves to her using their identity which they used in the Argonauts Kingdom.
Merlin introduced themselves "I am a Sorceress, Merlin. This is Tristan, he is a freelancer Warlock who earned the title as the Sword Master in the Argonauts Kingdom".
Tristan reached out his hand "come with us".
Medeia accepted his hand and cried her heart out, hugging him tightly.
It took some time for her to open her heart, but eventually, she could blend with the people in the Capital. In the Capital, Medeia lived with Merlin and Tristan who stayed in the Tica Castle, a Castle that belonged to the Crown Prince, Jason.
That day, only 6 years after she was 'adopted' by Merlin and Tristan, when Medeia heard the news about Merlin and Tristan who would leave the Argonauts Kingdom, she ran to see them.
"Mom! Dad!", Medeia barged into Merlin's laboratory before she gasped and covered her mouth "ah! I mean…".
Merlin and Tristan laughed, looking at her funny expression.
Tristan put the glass on the nightstand "I think our age-gap is too close, to be called as your Mommy and Daddy. Merlin would likely not mind, though. She always liked to the babysitting task".
Merlin smirked "oh? I thought you agreed when we decided to take Medeia in because you're quite fond of children. Anyway, I think 'Godmother and Godfather' will do, if you think that brother and sister also do not fit us".
With a slightly flushed cheek, Medeia whined "okay, Godmother, Godfather... wait, it's not important now! What's more important... Are you really leaving?".
Merlin nodded briefly "yes".
Tristan said casually "why not?".
"leaving me alone?", Medeia burst out into tears "don't leave me... Even if you have to leave, take me with you too...".
Tristan should have expected this. After all, his little sister was still 9 years old and she was a crybaby one "welp, I'm really bad at soothing the crying child. Mer, if you may".
Merlin took the handkerchief and crouched in front of her, wiping her tears "oh, my... please don't cry, Dear. We're not leaving together, just Tristan. As for me, I retire from my occupation as a Sorceress for the Kingdom because I want to focus on my research, but I will not leave you alone here".
Medeia stopped crying abruptly "really? Then what did they mean that you're leaving too?".
"I only left the Castle to work in my private laboratory, moving to my own house in the outskirt", Merlin pointed her thumb to Tristan "I do not mind with the spreading rumours, but it's an entirely different case with this sensitive man".
Medeia blinked innocently when Tristan averted his eyes "what rumour?".
"Mede, do you ask them because you really don't know? Seriously? You're surely an air-headed sometimes, aren't you?".
"now, now, Daisy, don't be so mean to her".
"you spoiled her too much, Gracia".
"tell it to Demetrius, too. He's the reason why Mede didn't know about the rumour because he tried to prevent her to know about it".
Ever since she lived in the Tica Castle, Medeia had three close friends from different races.
Daisy Erigeron, an Elf (including Fairy Clan) who took a role as an older sister for Medeia, a meany one.
Gracia Amanda, a daughter of a noble family in the human race.
Demetrius, a fighter from the Giant clan who had a crush on Medeia, even if the latter did not realize it at all.
Tristan thought wryly, that had Meliodas seen her in this condition, Meliodas would have gladly told her the tale about the Ancient War, about his friendship with Dolor, Gloxinia, and Rou. Even if the end of their friendship was bitter, Meliodas still considered them as his very first friends.
Medeia asked cluelessly "why would Dimmy do it?".
(Note: Dimmy is their nickname for Demetrius)
Gracia and Daisy stared at her before Gracia facepalmed "poor Dimmy. Mede, you really have no clue, huh?".
Medeia tilted her head innocently "about what?".
Daisy lifted her hands in a praying position "The Mother Of Earth, please forgive the sinful child for her innocence... and hopefully, my Giant friend's soul is blessed...".
Medeia scowled when both Merlin and Tristan laughed brightly "at least, I know that both of you teased me! You're so mean!".
Daisy remembered the main reason for their visit here "oh, by the way, Sir Tristan. Are you really leaving?".
Gracia, who had a crush on Tristan, asked forlornly "that's right! Why would you do it? I've heard from the Crown Prince that the Royalty family have offered the position as the Great Holy Knight Of Argonauts Kingdom, even. With your capability as the Sword Master, if you wanted to, you would get that position without difficulty from the beginning".
Both Tristan and Merlin turned a blind eye to Gracia's crush on Tristan. Tristan had been working as a mercenary even if he had gained the title of the 'Sword Master'. Merlin had been working as the Sorceress and the Scientist in the Castle. She could live in the Castle with Tristan and Medeia thanks to her position. Ever since they brought Medeia, the people around them started gossiping that Medeia was the illegitimate daughter of Merlin and Tristan. The people thought it was weird, why would Merlin and Tristan adopt Medeia and they lived under the same roof despite not being together as husband and wife. It worsened because people knew of the fact that Tristan and Merlin had married once but divorced.
Merlin did not care about the rumours, neither did Tristan. However, Tristan cared about Medeia and he did not like it when his (secret) little sister was upset due to the spreading rumours. Thus, Tristan decided to leave Sarpedon Island and go back to the Britannia. However, Merlin knew what was the main reason for his sudden departure.
"the position as a Great Holy Knight does not suit me at all, Lady Gracia. Not to mention... If I accepted the position as the Great Holy Knight, it only meant that I would serve the Royalty family of Argonauts Kingdom. Too bad for them", Tristan gobbled down his wine before slamming the bottle on the table with a cold glare, venomously said, "I hate the Royalty and Aristocrats".
Medeia had gotten used to his attitude. She did not know why, because Tristan and Merlin never told her why, but he always reacted like this when it came to the Royalty and Aristocrats. Medeia glanced sideways to where her friends were. Gracia stiffened and Daisy gulped nervously.
Wrapping her arms around Tristan's torso, Merlin smiled up to him "you scared these kids, Triss. I guess you're too drunk. Why don't you go upstairs to rest when I prepared the dinner for us?".
Looking behind over his shoulder, Tristan sighed and complied "sure. Thank you".
After Merlin and Tristan left, Daisy mumbled "they have divorced, but sometimes, they acted as if they are still lovers and it makes me confused sometimes. Are they in love with each other, or they are not?".
Medeia shrugged "who knows?".
Before he left, Tristan wrapped a necklace around Medeia's neck "never let this go from your body. It has an effect of a magic protection for its wielder".
Actually, that necklace was a medium for Tristina, so Tristina could protect her sister while Tristan and Merlin were away.
Tristan threw his bag over his shoulder "now, it's time to find my parents. Wonder to where they have gone now?".
It was only about time for Melody and her siblings to meet with the next version of their mother.
It didn't take a too long time for Tristan to find his father and his reincarnated mother. He found them in the Cameliard Kingdom. The first thing Tristan did when he met his father again after a long time…
Tristan raised his fist with too much innocent smile etched on his face "clench your teeth".
…was to hit his father in the gut.
Standing on the grass field near the garden where the past vision of Meliodas and Tristan had a heart-warming reunion, Ban sighed heavily as he looking down. Usually, he would have laughed in mirth when witnessing the dynamic duo father-son, but after witnessing how harsh Melody's childhood, he was not in the mood "…actually, what did for you bring me here, Gwen? Is this a past vision like the one we have with Tristan?".
"no, it's different but similar. I simply sent our souls to the past, where we could witness what happened in the past here, in real-time. You can think of it as one take-a-flight to the past", Guinevere covered her eyes. She hadn't gotten used to this to bring someone else with her previously, so this was the first time for her. She could call this experiment a successful one "considering we're just sort-of the Spirits here, nothing we could do here but to witness what happened to them, though".
Ban sounded exasperated "and? Don't tell me this is not finished yet?".
"We haven't entered the climax, even", Guinevere said flatly before she shrugged "don't worry. I can bring us back, right to the time when we just leave".
"so, we are sort-of… time-travelling, only with our soul?", Ban narrowed his eyes in disbelief "Gwen… who are you, actually?".
Guinevere smiled mysteriously and lifted her forefinger to her lips with a glint of mischievous spark on her eyes like she used to have as a child "that… is something I still need to figure out as well, uncle Ban".
A/N:
Prepare your heart for the next chapter, guys *prepare_the_tissue_box.