A/N: Hello readers! It appears that this story has gained traction during my absence. I apologise for neglecting it.
This chapter took ages because I had this meeting planned from very early on. I had to think long and hard about the dynamics of it all, especially upon Meliodas' end. As a result, I've been working on this from around the same time as the first chapter. I'm so sorry that it's taken so long - especially when I've been working on it for so long. I just lost track of time.
Also, a merry Christmas and a happy New Year everyone! I'll probably not post anything else for the holiday season, so I wanted to make sure to say it to every reader possible in time.
The next chapter, FINALLY, will take place in the demon realm and will finally kick start the more action-filled and entertaining parts of this story.
So enjoy my lovelies!
D.L.D
~~~~~A-Stormy-Interruption~~~~~
After walking for a good ten minutes in the rain, winding their way through London's twisted alleys and backstreets, Elizabeth and Jelamet finally ended up in front of their destination: a local public house. Hidden right in the middle of a network of twisting turns and meandering roads, the building was made to be known only by a select few patrons and guests. Exclusivity was the main aim of this tavern, attracting the more wealthy or secretive people of London. And it worked.
Standing before the building, Elizabeth wouldn't call it something special or different from what she knew about taverns. Back home, the one she used to go to the neighbouring village for was a pretty cosy yet also noisy place. Warm amber light would always pour from the windows in the darker hours of the day, cheering and drunken singing often following late into the night. There would always be the pleasant aroma of the barmaids baking and cooking away, their apple pies always being best during midsummer.
This place, the Crooked Path, was very similar to what Elizabeth had expected. Warm light spilled from the black iron-framed windows, illuminating the gloomy streets and catching the shimmering raindrops that still fell from the heavens. Noise emanated from inside, muted by the thicker brickwork of the tavern's walls and the slated roof. Nevertheless, Elizabeth could make out that some sort of merrymaking was going on inside, celebration being obvious from the loud voices and music. Then, of course, there was the lovely aroma of something good cooking.
"Well, here we are," Jelamet sighed, pulling down her hood and pushing on the bright red door of the building. Her gloved hand held firm against the material. "The Crooked Path."
As soon as they stepped inside, Elizabeth noticed the differences from her own experiences with taverns. Back home, everything was more familiar and homely and quaint. In this place, everything was more sophisticated, more orderly, still having the cosy feel of a tavern but definitely having an air to it that Elizabeth's own one did not.
Barmaids were not dressed as scandalously, their faces not piled with layers upon layers of sticky makeup and instead sticking to a more sophisticated and 'proper' look. Patrons were not the rough soldiers and tired merchants that Elizabeth had envisioned, instead being knights, nobles, perhaps even royals, as she studied some of their clothing and mannerisms. Even the owner, who took their position behind the counter, did not look worn-down and perpetually worried like Elizabeth had expected; he was relaxed, grinning and showing much more youth than the one she knew.
Minx rubbed herself against Elizabeth's legs, reminding her of the cat's presence. All day, all afternoon, she had been as silent as a stealthy predator, following the group on their travels and sometimes deviating from their path to snatch a quick bird or scout the layout ahead. However, now, the feline felt very much obliged to huddle next to Elizabeth, her fine fur drenched and her golden eyes narrowed with worry.
Silently, Elizabeth caught onto the message, scooping up the feline and holding her tightly within her arms. Instantly, Minx calmed, snuggling against Elizabeth's warm body as she allowed herself to relax a little. But only a little.
"This place is a little different from most," Jelamet spoke lowly, removing her cloak and gesturing for Elizabeth to do the same. Her face pulls at the sight of Minx, her nose scrunching as she glares at the cat. "You're lucky that such creatures are not considered strange in here. Due to the owners exclusively catering to those affiliated with the demon race, they allow animal companions. The owner, Caius, is a very nice man. He doesn't discriminate and welcomes all to his tavern."
"That's a relief. He does look quite nice," Elizabeth responded just a lowly, watching the man behind the counter as he laughed and smiled with a patron. Enthusiastically, they responded, wearing a similar grin as they sipped away at their mugful of ale.
"Oh, he is," Jelamet nodded, humming a little. Then, she pointed toward a man, or rather someone who looked to be on the cusp of young adulthood, sitting alone. Wild blonde hair crowned his head and he appeared restless, as if he were waiting for something to happen, his hand tense as it fixed around his mug. "But, unfortunately, the General is quite the opposite from Caius. He is a rather bitter man, definitely someone who's never smiled in a hundred or so years."
Elizabeth couldn't help the grin that formed at Jelamet's jab, the very same thing applying to her. Jelamet definitely wasn't a ray of sunshine - she was far from that. If Jelamet was anything, she would be a solar flare, a thunderstorm, her mood being rapid and ever unpredictable. Yet, the fact that Jelamet feared the sour mood of the General did unsettle Elizabeth a lot. If a thunderstorm feared something, then that was serious.
Yet, on the other hand, there was something about the General that just made Elizabeth think that she could talk to him, level with him. Maybe it was the fact that he looked quite young and friendly despite his deep-set severity. Perhaps it was the fact that he looked so familiar to the stranger who had gifted her the box with her head and the boy who had wished her a happy birthday. Maybe it was because Elizabeth had always been a bit too curious for her own good. Whatever it was, that something, that force, made Elizabeth leave Jelamet's side and approach the General directly, taking a seat right across from him and flashing him her best and greatest smile.
Upset with the change, Minx groused in her arms, promptly ditching Elizabeth's hold to instead perch on the seat beside her. The creature would have no hand in whatever plan was racing through the half-goddess' mind. Not at all.
"I suggest you find another seat," The General spoke, or more seemed to command, not at all willing to humour her. Already, Elizabeth could tell that he was the type who liked to be left to their own devices, their own thoughts. No doubt he was also used to always being the leader, the commander, his rank and authority most likely making him unused to disobedience and insolence.
"I don't know, I think this one's pretty fine," Elizabeth grins a little more, oddly comfortable next to this oddly familiar face. Happily, she gestures for aid, ignoring the stiffness of the blonde across from her. Sweetly, she asks him, "Wouldn't you agree?"
Ignoring her was the next response, the demon saying nothing as Elizabeth simply looked at him, still wearing the same kind smile. For someone so formidable and revered, it was actually rather ironic how she found that he wasn't actually that scary. Sure, the General was someone who could kill millions without batting an eye, but that thought didn't really scare Elizabeth. Death had never really scared her. Once that element was taken away, Elizabeth could see that the General was really someone like her: someone raised to kill and win a war that was made long before they were even thought of.
When that was thought of, when Elizabeth thought about their similarities instead of their differences, she could find herself being comfortable around someone. She could find herself wondering more and more about who they were as a person, about what they were really like. Not to mention the added fuel of his mysteriously familiar look...
"What is it?" The General groused, exasperated with her endless staring. It was as if she could not just leave him alone. It was as if she had to just let her presence be known, even if he tuned her out and tried to act as if he could not feel her poking gaze. Plus that damned cat of hers had this stare, this peculiar bewitching stare, that felt as if it could read his thoughts.
"I feel as if I recognise you," Elizabeth states bluntly despite the pink blush that fills her face. Just like her companion she is serious and stern, but shows it differently with a slight smile and look of utter innocence and naivety.
"I have a pretty common face," The blonde answers just as bluntly, taking a sip from his tankard of ale. Calculated, collected, he is someone who does not slip up easily. He is someone who will not just hand answers to Elizabeth, not when she is a complete stranger and someone of near-zero relevance. If she wanted to gain an answer, some sort of clue, then she needed to play his game, she needed to make him think that he was not handing her what she needed.
"I'm not too sure about that," Elizabeth hums, her fingers drumming against the table as she thought. Suddenly, she turns back to him and blinks, her face an utter expression of pure innocence. "I've seen you around too much for you to just be a common face. Are you perhaps... a high-ranking demon?"
Silence. Stormy, stubborn silence. Even if he doesn't make it obvious, Elizabeth knows that the General is agitated, frustrated, by how much she knows just from looking at him. It grinds his gears how she can appear so innocent, so naive, while knowing just what he was and most likely who he was. Yet, despite that, she came right up to him, ignored the very obvious signs to go away, and instead stayed, standing her ground, and pushing further and further for answers.
"I'll take your silence as a yes," Elizabeth smiles once more, not at all with a sign of malice nor hatred. Minx allows the hybrid to stroke her, her head being nudged against Elizabeth's palm.
Still nothing. No response. He was ignoring her - or rather trying to ignore her again. Only, it wouldn't work for long. Elizabeth was too gifted in prodding around difficult barriers to gain a decent answer. Too many years of having been barred from the truth, too many years of her mother keeping secrets, had led to Elizabeth becoming a master at getting answers when she wanted them. Even if people ignored her.
"You're a pretty odd demon, you know," Elizabeth mused, her voice taking a similar musical tone to her mother's. Carefully, she stares right at the General once more, sharing eye contact as her darkness traces the veins in her arm. That's when she strikes something, catches the fuse.
"And you're a pretty idiotic girl," The General snaps back, his dark eyes sparking with an intense anger as he huffs with annoyance. He is meeting her eye contact, daring her to say something else, anything else, and Elizabeth can't lie that it unsettles her a little. But only unsettles her. A look like that could never scare her, not when she is prepared for death and not when she is so used to seeing angered people.
For much longer than was necessary, they sit there, glaring at each other and trying to suss each other out. While Elizabeth maintains the collected and elegant front she had always been taught to preserve, the General wears a growing scowl, his features pulling with increasing annoyance at her persistence. To Elizabeth, it was easy to pull this sort of reaction; she had a way of pulling emotions right from people's hearts. However, this was a very odd interaction, the hybrid having never been trapped in a sudden stare-battle. It was as if he were fighting her back, pushing against the warm current of her goddess-linked power.
Biting her lip, Elizabeth further studies her newest goal - the General. Like her, he is most likely young and trained only to fight and win in this war. No doubt, he is someone aware of all her little tricks and methods for pulling out the truth. With his serious features and no-nonsense mood, he most definitely appeared like the type. Elizabeth could easily picture him on the battlefield, battle-worn and bloody as he mowed down the enemy.
However, as Elizabeth gathered more and more pieces from simple observation, she also gathered that the General appeared to also have a mischievous side. It showed in how he seemed to be fighting a grin, something working away within that brain of his.
"General Meliodas!" Jezebel butts into the interaction, her voice oddly a lot more kinder and sweeter than it usually was. Coyly, she bats her lashes and loops an arm around Elizabeth's, dragging her upward and away from the table. As she does, she sharply elbows her companion. "I apologise profusely for my sister's behaviour. She's rather new to all this and still needs some training to get rid of those... human instincts she has."
Elizabeth blinks once more, gulping at the way in which Jezebel had uttered the word 'sister'. Clearly, the threat behind that was more of a promise of punishment. Elizabeth had messed things up by just casually going over to this demon - the General - and trying to strike conversation with him. Elizabeth was much too friendly with him; demons weren't as friendly as humans and goddesses. If she wanted to succeed, she needed to remember that. She needed to know that she couldn't just waltz in and start a conversation with important members of demon society.
"I'd say it's rather amusing," The General, Meliodas, quirks a slight smirk at seeing Elizabeth squirm under Jezebel's hold. Amusement seems to be the prime feeling, especially as Elizabeth begins to let herself feel shame for her actions. "I haven't met someone like her in a while."
"Well, I'm not your ordinary person..." Elizabeth whispers, the tips of her ears splashing with pink. She is so nervous and unsure that she has forgotten what to do. That liquid courage that had run through her veins was now all gone, poofed like smoke in the wind. Her face burns with heat. Awkwardly, she gives a curtsy, well-used to doing so in the presence of formidable warriors. "General."
That appears to pacify him as he no longer holds the agitated ire that once filled his gaze. Instead, he is back to the blank slate he first wore, looking somber but not really betraying any real emotion. Instead it was all open to interpretation. It was all something that hid the swirling thoughts that lived within the confines of his mysterious mind.
"I'd watch your tongue if I was you," Is all Meliodas says. It sounds as if he is warning her. "It could get you into trouble."
"Yes, of course, General!" Jezebel nods, fully agreeing with him. Large and stretched, her smile sits unnaturally on her lips as she keeps her arm tightly hooked with Elizabeth's, unwilling to let the hybrid out of her sight. "As a daughter of a former Commander Lady Elizabeth should know how to conduct herself. On her behalf, I apologise as it was my responsibility to keep her in line and out of your way."
All interest and concern appears to evaporate from General Meliodas, the blonde simply staring at the pair with a clearly critical eye. No doubt, he was trying to pinpoint exactly where he had heard of this 'Lady Elizabeth' - especially since it was his job to know about these things. If there was a member of nobility he didn't know about, then he was not doing his job. If anything, he was actually failing at it. Most threats to the throne - and the war - often came from rebellious nobles who grew tired with the King's silly tirades and decrees.
Around eighteen human years ago, that very scenario had occurred. Tired of the famine and misery that had been brought by the war, a lone Commander had allowed the goddess race to pollute his mind and produce a child that held both demon and goddess linked powers. That one act had spelled doom for the demon race; it had sealed their very fate. Well, it had until the Demon King had devised a solution: having his eldest son slay the cursed half-breed.
Every member of the demon race knew of this tale. Every member of the demon race made sure to caution its lesson. Now, they were all anticipating the eventual arrival of this child and the final battle that would ensue. Both the demon and goddess races knew that the beginning of the end of the war would be this very year.
As if sensing this logic, Jezebel acted quickly, already pulling Elizabeth away from the scene. "Excuse us, General."
Not once does she look back as she pulls Elizabeth toward the back-most corner of the room. Obscured by the forms of other patrons, along with the thick curtains that hung by the nearby window, the pair were safely tucked away from the General. Well, for the time being. Rather obviously, the true nature of Elizabeth's identity had now intrigued the General - the last person who needed to find out about her identity.
Pulling Elizabeth securely out of sight, Jezebel gave a single glance back at the General. She found that he was obscured from their view, the body of a rather tall man blocking their curtained location from his ever-watching eyes. Perfect.
"You shouldn't be so bold!" Jezebel hisses, tapping the side of Elizabeth's head rather harshly. Bent, her brows betray her annoyance and worry, matching with the deep-set frown on her crimson-painted lips. "If you make just one wrong move, you'll end up dead. You don't know how close that man was to killing you right now."
"Like he would actually kill me," Elizabeth laughs a little, shaking her head. It falls short when Jezebel does not join in, her expression still stern and serious. Suddenly, the humour within the hybrid dies into wavering uncertainty. "Right, Jezebel?"
Anxious, Elizabeth joins the demon's watching of the General. The tall man had moved now, shifting a little to the right, so they could spot General Meliodas perfectly from their hiding spot around the curtains. There he sat, ominous as ever, a thousand thoughts seeming to pass behind that impenetrable poker face of his. Elizabeth couldn't decipher anything about him. Nothing came to her when she looked at him, his face offering no clear clues. All she could feel was ominous dread, a sinking feeling of doom.
This General, General Meliodas, appeared to be much more threatening than Ludociel. Ludociel was someone who Elizabeth often avoided, his sharp words and blunt behavior always making her shrink and panic to protect herself. Ludociel was a scary man. Ludociel was someone who would kill without hesitation. General Meliodas radiated that same energy. That same ominous energy hung about him like a thick cloud of fog.
But his was much more sinister and unpredictable than Ludociel's. While Elizabeth had learned to survive the dangerous and stormy sea of Ludociel's sour moods, she had no clue on how to navigate the General's. All she had for protection, for the slightest hope of remaining alive, was the advice and instructions of her guides. That was all.
Yet, despite the gloomy and ominous air that surrounded the General, Elizabeth could still see glimmers of that minute mischief she had spotted. Small, tiny flickers of a cheeky and adventurous side that would definitely toy with her just to watch her reaction. Elizabeth could definitely link that to the General and - maybe she could use that to her own advantage.
Suddenly, he turns toward them and catches Elizabeth's gaze. At first, she wants to look away and shudder, but instead she finds herself staring back, trying to decipher just what was going on in that mind of his. Minx once again brushes against Elizabeth's legs, the feline's keen gaze also fixed upon the General. No doubt she probably sensed the sinister and ominous aura that radiated from his form as well.
Again Elizabeth asks, "He wouldn't kill me. Right, Jezebel?"
Oddly, the demon is extremely quiet, not offering much in terms of a decent answer. Instead, she purses her lips and continues to study the room, her fingers anxiously twisting together as she thinks of what to say.
"I cannot guarantee what he will do," Jezebel finally admits, her own dark eyes fixed onto the General. Stuck between her teeth, her bottom lip is chewed upon profusely, suffering from her mind's endless thinking. Eventually, she turns back to Elizabeth, "The General is a man who cannot be predicted. I do not know much about him - not many people do. All we know is that he will do anything to preserve the King's power as well as his own."
"Well then, I'll just have to learn more about him," Elizabeth says, sharing eye contact with the demon once more. Comfortingly, her hands rest of Jezebel's shoulders. "I was raised to win this wretched war. Somehow, I will find a way to deal with this and win the General's trust."
"Good luck with that," Jezebel scoffs, shaking her head. She is back to her usual self, full of sarcastic humour and a bitter approach to conversation. A dry smile cracks on her painted lips. "There's a reason why he's known as the Prince of Darkness."
Elizabeth laughs at that, also shaking her head. Darkness was nothing new to her. In Britannia, the dark was always present during the night and always followed her in the form of shadows. Her own demon-given darkness was perpetually making snarky remarks, twisting and toying with her mind every time she tried to be the best she could be. Darkness was not something Elizabeth could not handle. Elizabeth knew how to tame darkness.
Her only problem was tackling a prince.
"Well, there's a reason why I'm a Maiden of Battle," Elizabeth smiles, warm pink scattering across her cheeks. She feels like a child again, silly and filled with idealistic hope about the future. "I was born for this. I know what I'm doing."
"I hope you do," Jezebel mutters, her voice low. "Otherwise we'll all die with you."
