Chapter 3: Forces of Nature

In a second, his hearts stopped, his face paled, his hands grew cold. In the next, he flew to her and cradled her body against him ever so gently as if she would shatter at his touch. He surveyed her head first, looking for a bump or a cut if she slipped on the floor. There was none. Then he placed his ear to the center of her bare, wet chest, listening to her heartbeat. It was quick like a humming bird's, but loud like thunder. She was alive, but this didn't sound good. He then took notice of the temperature of her skin as he felt every inch of her in his arms. They were hot as hell fire, it stung to even touch her, but he still gripped her tightly to his chest as he carried her.

On the the next second, he finally took notice of the pig inside room who was wide eyed and anxious as he was. His eyes were watery and he had been calling her name all the while he attended to her.

"Get Merlin!" He ordered.

Hawk didn't waste a second as he stumbled and ran outside the door and he screamed names that didn't register in Meliodas' head.

Her body started trembling in his arms as he walked towards the bed. With quick movements, he had dried her up with a towel before setting her gently on the bed and quickly searched for clothes in the closet to cover her. There was nothing to work with! He grunted as he rummaged through the clothes. All his clothes were either too lose or were sleeveless vests. He decided to grab the loose long sleeve shirt and quickly began his work. As he dressed her, he noticed that her legs were also trembling, tightly closed together. He looked at her face, her lips were almost blue. She must be freezing like hell. But how? She must be having a fever, but why was she this hot? This isn't normal, damnit! Meliodas cursed mentally. But he had no time to ponder over it any longer as he focused on attending to her.

He quickly went to her box and was puzzled for a second on the sloshy noise that he made as he walked. He looked down and saw his clothes were clinging tightly to his body. Elizabeth had drenched his clothes and he hadn't noticed, and couldn't spare another second to care about it. He rummaged through her box and thanked the gods to have found some underwear. He quickly went back to the bed and grabbed her legs and so very gently pried them open as he slipped on her panties. His hands tingled at the touch, and not because of the circumstance of him touching her naked body, it was because she was so hot to the touch it stung him. This was not normal, and this made him panic all the more. When he finished, he cradled her body again to his chest so he can wrap her up in blankets, but she shivered even harder in his arms. His clothes. Fuck. He cursed.

He let go of her gently and surveyed her body. Fortunately, her clothes hadn't been wet at their contact, but her other arm had accidentally fallen down to his waist, where his pants were drenched.

He set her down on the pillow and quickly put a blanket over. Then he flew to the closet yet again, taking off his clothes so he could replace them with drier ones. He threw the wet ones to the bathroom without a second glance as he hastily put on a new set of pants. He didn't care what shirt his hands had grabbed, but as he was about to put it on, there was a knock on the door.

"S-Sir Meliodas?" Asked an unfamiliar female voice.

He quickly flew to open the door and found that it was the maid he had called earlier, carrying various clothes, woolen coats, and an extra blanket. Perfect.

Her eyes were wide and stared down at something he didn't care to look at. "Fina-fucking-ly" he muttered as he grabbed the things in the maid's arms. He realized he had been a tad too harsh in his response. "Thank you" He told the maid. "Elizabeth is sick, could you call for her father or her sisters?"

The maid was dazed and shook her head and blushed. "C-certainly. Right away!" The maid nearly tripped as she stumbled away towards the hall.

Meliodas closed the door and immediately went back to work, thankful for the garments that arrived. He put his hand on Elizabeth's forehead to check on her temperature and found that it hadn't changed. The room was getting humid from her temperature alone and at this rate, he feared it would be too much for her to handle. This was definitely not some normal fever. Any human would have already been dead. His anxiety grew all the more as he counted the seconds Hawk hadn't arrived yet with Merlin.

As he lifted the blankets gently so he could put her in better clothes, Elizabeth flinched like she had been stabbed in the chest, her body curled inwardly, protecting the core of her body as she took ragged breaths.

"C-c-c-c-c" She began muttering.

She was conscious, at least, and felt relief wash over him."Elizabeth!" He called.

Elizabeth's eyes didn't open, but her hands tried to grab him and Meliodas quickly held them in his own "I-I-I-I-m-m-m s-s-s-o-o c-c-co-o-ld" she stammered through chattering teeth.

"It's ok, love. I'm here" Meliodas cooed gently as he clasped both of her hands between his own to warm them, feeling the burning pain of how hot she really felt. The room grew more humid and Meliodas felt a bead of sweat trickle down at the back of his nape. The room felt like a giant furnace, but Elizabeth looked like she had just gotten out from a frozen lake with the way she shivered.

He hesitantly let go of her hands that were gripping his own furiously and shivered again as they lost the warmth of them. He selected one of the woolen coats from the variety of clothes he had set on the bed and put an arm around Elizabeth's waist to hoist her up to gently cradle against his chest. Her hands lay on his bare chest and he remembered he had forgotten to put on a shirt, he looked down and saw that his pants were unbuttoned as well. He felt a burning pain as her entire body leaned against him. "Ah!" He exclaimed under his breathe. It felt like his skin was sizzling from the touch and was going to peel off. This shouldn't have hurt him, he could bathe in hell fire and it wouldn't have hurt this bad. It was almost like being engulfed in an ark, which was the only thing that could hurt him this much.

He paused. Wait is she…. "What the hell is happening?" He muttered under his breathe. He felt Elizabeth shiver in his arms again and put his thoughts to the side to focus on her . He didn't have time to replace the shirt already on her back and he feared removing any clothing from her would make her feel worse. He draped the coat over her and gently slipped her arms inside the sleeves, ignoring the pain from the contact of her skin. When he was successful, he laid her back on the pillows and covered her in blankets and draped the extra ones the maid brought.

Her shivering had lessened but it still hadn't put him at ease. Merlin and the others he had called for hadn't arrived yet and he needed to know what the hell was going on.

Then as if on cue, the door slammed open and Hawk and Merlin appeared.

Hawk cried in concern "Elizabeth!"

"Keep it down" Meliodas scolded as he looked over Elizabeth who just got settled and stopped shivering. "What took you so long?" He hissed. His tone was harsher and deeper than he had intended, but he couldn't contain the anxiousness he was feeling.

"Relax, Meliodas" Merlin gave him a cautious look before floating towards the bed, a quizzical look on her face. "What happened to Si-" -Merlin looked over at Hawk from the corner of her eye and then cleared her throat "What exactly happened to the princess?"

Meliodas began explaining as briefly as he could from when he picked Elizabeth up from the study to when she collapsed in the bathroom. He told her about how Elizabeth had already healed herself twice today, but didn't feel any better. He added about the manner how she casted her healing.

Merlin put one hand under her chin and her brows pressed together. "She's the strongest healer around, her healing should have worked effectively" The mage's hand reached for Elizabeth's forehead, but the moment her palms had made contact, she winced and quickly retracted her hand. Merlin looked and surveyed her hand then back at Elizabeth.

"Is she as hot to you?" Meliodas inquired, brows furrowed in concern.

Merlin's lips pressed together before trying again. Her hand was cautious this time, and when her skin made contact again, they seared at the touch. She winced once again in pain and quickly drew back her hand. "It's as if she's on fire." She pondered quietly. Then she saw the extra blankets and the coat that was on the princess. "Why is she covered so much?"

"Because she said she was cold"

"Cold?"

"Yeah. Before she even went to take a bath she already told me she felt cold all day. And when she woke up just moments ago, shivering like hell. She said she was cold." Meliodas explained. Merlin examined the princess and noticed how there wasn't a bead of sweat on her despite the layers of cloths over her.

Before Merlin could think more of it, Meliodas perked up and heard footsteps nearing their room. "That would be her family"

"Why would you call them?" Merlin arched an eyebrow.

"Because she's her family. Or have you forgotten?" Meliodas retorted.

"You better be decent then" Merlin said impatiently, looking at him from head to toe.

Meliodas looked down and saw that he still hadn't put on a shirt or buttoned his pants. He quickly went to the closet and blindly grabbed a loose white shirt and buttoned his pants while his back was turned to Merlin.

There was a quick knock on the door before the king and the princesses barged in their room. They were already in their nightgowns, ready to end the day when the maid had called for them.

"W-what happened?" The king demanded as he quickly ran from the door to his lying daughter. As soon as he reached for her, his hands were a quarter away from Elizabeth before he winced and cried in pain. Meliodas and Merlin glanced at each other. As he had anticipated, it would be much harder for humans to touch her.

"Father?!" The two princesses went over to the king before they all looked at them, waiting for answers.

Meliodas retold what he explained to Merlin, keeping it brief and only stating out important things they needed to know, leaving out important details that they might not understand. They had no explanations yet as to why Elizabeth was as hot as burning embers, but he was sure Merlin and him had a few, if not the same, guesses. But they couldn't explain nor share it with these people without giving too much away.

"Will she be ok?" The first princess, Margarette, asked as her eyes began to water.

"She will be fine for now. The captain already took care of her immediately and she seems to have settled" Merlin assured. "But I'll still need to observe her for the time being."

"Shouldn't we get a druid or something?!" The second princess, Veronica, demanded.

"I'm afraid they won't be of use. Princess Elizabeth is the strongest healer as of now in Liones. If she healed herself already, I'm afraid this is no normal ailment." The mage explained.

"Where will she stay? Here?" The King asked rather harshly. But Meliodas tried to keep himself calm, telling himself that Elizabeth was after all, just a young girl and these people were her family.

"If you don't mind" Meliodas answered, calm and respectful. "It seems normal humans will have a harder time tending to her. It'll be safer if I looked after her, I can more than bear it" He assured them. "Plus she doesn't really have a room anymore"

"Huh? As if. We can take care of her ourselves, she can stay in my room" Veronica protested.

"But Veronica, how will we and where will you stay? Plus Lady Merlin has made it clear that this isn't some normal cold" Margarette argued as she tried to reach for Elizabeth but failed before she could even touch her.

The sisters started bickering and whispering to each other, but their voices just bounced of the stone walls and everyone could hear every word they were saying. Merlin looked at Meliodas and gave an impatient look to which he just lightly shook his head to. He knew Merlin thought that this was a waste of time, but he couldn't just do things his way all the time. He had to always consider the people that surrounded Elizabeth, especially the families that cared for her. Plus, it would avoid problems that would worsen the situation.

The two sisters were still arguing and Meliodas noticed the temperature in the room rise and he quickly went to Elizabeth' side. He reached for her forehead without hesitation, and even though it burned, he didn't flinch once. It was hard to tell with the pain, but nothing in her temperature had changed, and with small relief, her shivering had stopped.

From the corner of his eye, he saw that Bartra was looking at him and an understanding formed between them. The King coughed loudly to interrupt his arguing daughters "That's enough! Meliodas is right. We should leave this to them"

"Indeed." Margarette agreed "But, we'll help as often as we can. Please, don't hesitate to call for us when you need something"

Veronica looked vexed but stayed silent and just crossed her arms and huffed in frustration. Despite her distrust in him, Meliodas couldn't find himself to even have an ounce of ire towards Elizabeth's adopted sister. He knew Veronica cared for her the most. She was after all, the one who had looked for Elizabeth when she ran away from the kingdom to look for the Sins.

"I'll take care of her" Meliodas promised. Silence filled the room and no one argued any further.

"Now, we are grateful that you have entrusted the princess to us" Merlin stated, sounding a bit annoyed. "But we really need to asses the princess' condition"

Hesitantly, the three of them took one last look at Elizabeth before they said their good nights and retreated back to their chambers. The room felt a little less suffocating now that there were less people in it. Meliodas sighed loudly before he looked at Merlin, finally going to business.

Merlin was silent. She nudged her head to the corner of the room, signaling the pig who had sat quietly there. Oh right. Hawk.

"Uh Hawk. Sorry buddy, but your gonna have to sleep out tonight. We need to run some tests on Elizabeth" Meliodas told told the pig apologetically.

Hawk looked puzzled at first but beads of sweat had already formed on his body and was already heaving between breaths. "Fine. I'll sleep with mom" then he glared at Meliodas before leaving. "You better take care of her, you hear?"

"I won't even sleep" Meliodas promised, knowing that he won't get even a wink of rest as long as Elizabeth is like this.

Hawk huffed before exiting the room. Meliodas sat on the bed and reached for Elizabeth's hand, ignoring the pain, just to reassure himself that she was still here and he needed to keep it that way. "What do you make of it, Merlin?" He asked without looking at the mage.

Merlin raised her hand to the princess, palms open as if seeking warmth from a furnace. "It feels as if she's an ark herself…." She mused. "But she's not casting one….and I've never seen her cast one before." Merlin began to mutter silently under her breath, eyes looking at nothing while she calculated and analyzed.

"She used Ark when she was in danger" Meliodas said thickly.

Merlin's eyes widened. "When?"

Finally being alone, Meliodas informed the mage of his conversation with Elizabeth at the study. Merlin's eyes and pursed lips indicated that she was as bothered as he was when he said that Derieri had recognized her.

Despite her reaction, Merlin's answer indicated that she wasn't going to dive into the long conversation on yet another problem that posed. "It's amazing how Sis-sis could use her powers so easily without anyone teaching her, nor seeing any creature use similar magic." She mused again silently to herself. "This is truly interesting…..and problematic."

Merlin became silent again as she began to delve deeper once again in her thoughts. But no matter how long she took or how long she kept muttering, Meliodas knew she had already figured it out. Merlin was just simply gathering more information to further confirm her suspicions. But Meliodas, despite knowing her for so long, wished that the mage would stop doing this from time to time, especially in this unsettling situation.

Finally, as if hearing his thoughts or rather noticing his impatient face, Merlin spoke "My guess here is that Sis-sis' powers might be awakening," she explained "but since she is not aware of it or doesn't know how to use it, it's manifesting strangely. Although, I am curious. This has never happened before, no?" She inquired.

Just as he feared. He took a deep breath. The question itself was rhetorical, because Merlin was fully aware that this has definitely not happened before. Her question was rather like 'why is it happening?'

"Why is it happening, Merlin?" Meliodas asked impatiently, cutting it to the chase. "She hasn't been this powerful before. It's almost like, like the real….." he didn't dare finish, afraid of the consequences of saying such things out loud.

"I think the answer is quite simple, Captain" Merlin answered. "With recent events, I think it's to be expected. This has been the first time Brittania has ever seen demons, not since 3,000 years ago. And your races, Goddess Clan and Demon Clan have always been like a force of nature, magnets attracting one another."

"So it's because of this war…" Meliodas muttered under his breath, his shoulders tightening.

"Precisely." Merlin confirmed. "It cannot be helped. You saw what she did when you fought Hendrickson and this is a whole different, graver matter." Then the mage looked at him with a grave expression. "And this only means that she's not the only one who can possibly awaken."

Meliodas clenched his fists. Frankly, he didn't know what to make of the situation if they too started showing up. Indeed, the Archangel's powers were formidable and it certainly could tip the battle hugely to their favor. But having them here would mean this would be an all out war between their clans again, and Meliodas didn't even want to begin to think of what could happen if Ludociel were to show up. Not to mention of what it could do to Elizabeth's memories. Having the five of them cross paths was the worse thing that could possibly happen.

Meliodas sighed in frustration, pressing his index finger and and his thumb on the bridge of his nose. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there. I don't even know where to start if I think about that."

"I'm just preparing you of the possibilities" Merlin cautioned.

"Yeah, I know" Meliodas replied through gritted teeth.

The room grew hotter and it took Meliodas' whole strength not to let go of the hand that was still intertwined with Elizabeth's. "So what do we do now?"

"I think some magic suppression pills would do for the time being." The Boar Sin of Gluttony suggested.

"What does that do?" Meliodas asked skeptically.

"It's originally designed for Gowther to contain his powers when he doesn't have his armor" Merlin explained, then tsked when she added. "Although I don't know what the side effects would do to her…"

"Side effects?!"

"Like I said. It was originally designed for Gowther and it's made to stabilize his erratic emotions, which I still haven't deduced the cause to. So the magic I put in the pills finds the cause and blocks them per se" Merlin clarified.

"Can't you make a new one that doesn't have that side effect?" Meliodas demanded.

"I can. But that would take me a day at best" Merlin answered, then the mage reached out her hand towards the silver haired princess again, palms open to inspect with her magic. "But we can't wait that long. Sis-sis needs attention now."

Meliodas tensed. "Will the side effects harm her?"

"No. It will most likely make her feel foggy or numb for a couple of hours. Besides, the pill works in an accumulative manner. She'll just be taking a small dose." The mage assured.

The blonde Sin sighed and finally relaxed his shoulders. The temperature inside the room wasn't improving and he feared it might get worse. And they still don't know what it was doing to Elizabeth internally, so they had no other choice. "Fine. Give it to her."

Merlin snapped her fingers and a bottle with small black pills appeared in her palms. She opened the corked lid and tilted the bottle.

"Here" Merlin handed a singular pill to Meliodas. "Make sure she drinks water with it."

Meliodas gently released his hold on Elizabeth's hand to stand up and reach for the pill. He then walked towards the table beside the window where he took a glass of water that he conveniently left this morning.

When he reached Elizabeth, he felt the searing pain of her heat again, but bore it as he reached for her shoulders to gently nudge them to wake her. "Elizabeth" He whispered.

She didn't answer right away, but shivered lightly at his touch.

"Elizabeth" Meliodas called a little loudly this time. It took several moments before Elizabeth's eyes opened. Her sapphire eyes were glassy with tears that didn't flow, looking at nothing as if she was blind. Meliodas caressed her cheeks with the back of his knuckles. Her irises moved at the touch.

"You need to drink this" He pleaded.

She obeyed instantly and started to sit up, but Meliodas quickly holded her gently down.

"It's ok, you don't have to move." Meliodas gently cradled the back of her neck. Elizabeth's plush pink limps parted with slight trembling, Meliodas making sure the black pill would land on the bed of her tongue so she wouldn't choke. If it weren't for the dire situation and his ever maddening anxiety for her health, he would have relished the feeling of her lips and tongue on his finger as they closed once again, feeling like dewy petals of a flower.

With scrupulous movements, Meliodas had made her drink the water and had settled her back on the bed.

"I'll prepare the pill that would suit her" Merlin informed in a low voice "and find out other solutions for this….predicament."

Meliodas nodded without saying a word. The mage exited the room without making a sound, leaving Meliodas and Elizabeth finally alone in the very disturbingly hot room.

In the first few hours, the temperature hadn't changed. Elizabeth shivered from time to time, but relaxes to bed as soon as Meliodas rubs her arms and holds her in place.

Meliodas took residence atop all the layers of blankets. The fabric of his loose white shirt had clung to his back at the first hour, so he decided to just get rid of the thing. Despite the heat and the powerful magic that Elizabeth unknowingly omitted from the very pores of her skin, he held her tightly through the night. The moment she stirred and curled herself into a ball, he put his arms protectively around her and place her head on the crook of his neck. He wanted to envelope her in his cocoon of darkness to warm her further, but he was afraid that their magic might clash, especially since Elizabeth wasn't controlling hers.

After a couple of hours, he felt the temperature finally drop. Elizabeth had stopped shivering, her body had relaxed and she had fallen in a deeper slumber. He was gazing at the night sky from the window across their bed as his hands drew circles hypnotically on her back. As the night went on, he just felt her breathe, smelled her scent, and felt her warmth. Even if it meant melting the bones from his skin, he would always choose to feel her warmth.

When her breathing sounded peaceful enough, Meliodas released her, tucked her back gently and headed for the bathroom. He didn't feel comfortable holding Elizabeth while he smelt like burnt leather and practically dripping wet from sweating all night. He took a quick rinse, put on a new set of clothes and headed for the window to dry his hair before going back to bed. He wanted to open them to let in some fresh air, but decided against it as the cool night air might trigger Elizabeth's chilling fit. He leaned against the window sill, hands resting inside his pockets.

A normal person would have their eyes heavy by now, or probably would have fallen asleep. But all nighters were second nature to Meliodas, this was just like every other night. He's experienced being awake for several nights without sleep, consecutively. He's done everything from stakeouts, to child care, to brooding fits, to look outs, and practically everything. That's why no one was good enough to take care of her.

His eyes surveyed the skies from the clear glass window and found them oddly moving towards the far North, towards the direction of Camelot. His demon sense of sight saw that the clouds had swirled and formed a vortex where the epicenter crackled lightning precisely every five minutes.

"You're working way too hard, Zel" Meliodas chuckled darkly, gazing at the far distance.

Yeah, it was just like every other night of his life. Fucking chaotic.

A/N:

Merlin might appear to be a little out of character here, but she just forgot herself because she's concerned for her sis-sis. And I head canon she and Meliodas talk more candidly and openly when its just them.

I'm actually not sure on the specifics of the magic suppression pills, but Wikia says they're used to regrow Gowther's armor. And Gowther's armor suppresses and prevent magical powers from becoming uncontrollable, thus serving their purpose for my fic. I just added a little twist to them.

Anyways, thank you to those who read and liked this Fic on . This was originally uploaded on AO3, and I really hard time uploading my documents here. New chapters will be uploaded on a weekly basis, which will hopefully be on time. Lol.