A/N: This one was kinda spontaneous and definitely unplanned. In fact, I think the whole concept for this one is a bit of a weird/not-really-coherent one. For the extra context/info it's inspired by Die for You by the Weeknd. The lyrics kinda tied to the eternal suffering of these two cursed beans - however I veered way off course while typing this up. This probably don't make much sense :P
Nevertheless enjoy! (I promise to get SOMETHING long and decent out sometime soon)
Till next time,
D.L.D
Die for You
Emotions were always a tricky thing for Meliodas to convey. With their vulnerability, their ability to reveal his deepest thoughts and weaknesses and feelings, the blonde has always been reserved toward the idea of opening up his heart. Articulating what he felt wasn't something that came easy. Hiding what he felt - the suffering that chained him to this curse - that was the only thing that felt natural to him.
Nonetheless, the pain of always carrying his own feeling wasn't something Meliodas could always shield.
As the years waned on, as each iteration of her lived and died and loved and laughed, the weight of it all grew heavier and heavier and heavier until all that pressed into him, dragged him down into the deepest pits of desperation, was the pain.
When she found out the truth, every time she hated looking at him, staring him in the eyes. But hate was never directed at him. Hate was always directed at herself, at her own actions, Elizabeth hating that she had caused all this. Hating that she wanted him more than anything and yet also caused him to go through such immeasurable pain.
Meliodas knows that she hates that she loves him. Elizabeth knows that he hates it when she cries. But both of them like to deny it. They both like to deny the truth to save the other.
In each lifetime, she never wanted to be lonely. Even if she was surrounded by masses of people, even if she was a woman locked away in isolation, Elizabeth never truly wanted to be alone. But, before Meliodas, she would always have a feeling of loneliness - a feeling of always being alienated despite being around others.
Nighttime was the worst, her own dreams linked to terrifying visions that would never last in her memory. Instead, they lingered in horrid sensations, phantom shivers and tingles, that made Elizabeth think of the past. Of realities that couldn't have truly happened.
Only they had.
When she found out the truth, when she realised everything, it would just pull them further apart. It would make her pull away from him, curl up and shrivel within her own shell, shutting Meliodas out in a desperate attempt to save him, to spare his heart from feeling all that pain and suffering once more.
Over the dozens of lifetimes, it never worked. Not once.
Conveying how he felt about this wasn't easy. Conveying anything he felt was a challenge to Meliodas. He knows that he doesn't want this feeling; he can't afford love. The price of it is too much, taking parts of his soul, parts of his sanity, until he's stripped bare and there is nothing left. Nothing left but pain and love for her.
But how can he say that? How can he say that all without scaring her away? Without damaging her heart and hacking it into a million pieces?
Meliodas can't. And he doesn't want to cause her that pain. He doesn't want to be the one to take and break her heart.
So he lies.
Every day, he's looking for a reason to pull them apart. He can't take this pain forever. He can't take wandering around like a lost, meaningless soul anymore. He wants her happy and he wants this terrible suffering to end. He wants to make sure that he is still sane.
But then, Meliodas can't leave her either. He can't just get up, leave and never look back. Years of serving a contract he was never truly signed to and he still chooses to volunteer himself to fulfill its tasks. He still obligates himself to be a slave to her demand.
Three thousand years and he would still kill for her. Three thousand years later and he would still die for her. Willingly, he would lay down his life - all for the sake of making her happy, still possessing her heart within his hand.
"You are a very loyal knight, Sir Meliodas," The princess laughs, her blue eyes sparkling with bashfulness.
"Well, I'm not the best for nothing, Elizabeth," He grins back.
She's one hundred and seven. She's the one that came after the tragedy at Danafor, his biggest explosion of anger ever since the first. But even with every death that came before her, even with the increasing distance between them, he would never change his mind about it.
Meliodas would always die for her.
