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Chapter 9 – I Am By Your Side

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Celestial Realm

At first, Seraphina ran to the throne room, protesting to her grandmother because she saw how her father was in pain. After Mercy had calmed her down and Supreme Deity had explained all her plans with so many, many reassurances that her father would be alright, this was only one of the processes to break their curses, Seraphina scowled.

After several minutes to process the information, Seraphina asked skeptically "...why should it be so complicated to break the curses? You can't just lift the curses from my parents?".

"I could have if I were as strong as I was. The thing is, these curses are not only a simple curse on one person but two intertwined curses from two most powerful Gods. The curses are too strong for me to break it right away but it doesn't mean I can't break it. I can, but slowly, one by one. Perhaps, it sounded like I tried to postpone it. However, I don't give an empty hope, neither I will make the promises I can't keep. I hope you can be patient?", Supreme Deity squeezed her hands and smiled, cupping her cheeks and caressing her bangs "once I break the curses on your parents and it's safe enough for you to go to the Mortal Realm, I will let you meet them. Do you understand?".

Seraphina had been told about how the remaining Goddesses of Goddess Clan's members were not as strong as they were. In order to seal the Demon Clan, the Goddess Clan sacrificed their physical form, leaving the Supreme Deity as the only one who could survive with the still-intact physical form on the Celestial Realm. Slowly but surely, as time passed by, Supreme Deity rebuilt the Goddess Clan and revive its member Clan one by one by giving back their physical form. Unfortunately, the souls of the Four Archangels and mostly all Divine Lance Corporal's members were still on Mortal Realm, so Supreme Deity couldn't give back their physical form.

Hence, how could you expect her to give back their physical form when even Supreme Deity had the difficulties to preserve her form after she and her Clan's members sealed the Demon Clan members? Not to mention, they also still had to figure out how to open up the gate between the Celestial Realm and Mortal Realm again.

Seraphina knew she couldn't be selfish, so she nodded curtly before excusing herself back to the library.

Once they were sure that Seraphina disappeared from their sight and she was out of earshot, Mercy sighed loudly "...I don't think the princess would be pleased when she knows 'that part' of your plan, Your Majesty".

"I know, but it can't be helped. We need to do it for breaking the curses on Elizabeth, Meliodas, and Faust", Supreme Deity felt like she just got older one hundred years just with remembering how her firstborn son would react when Elizabeth told him about her pact with Elizabeth "I only hope everything goes well and Lucifer will accept it when we ask him to aide us. Although, I have a hunch feeling that he has the tendency to go berserk when Elizabeth tells him".

"yes, I can imagine it", Mercy turned pale, shivering "I only hope the young Master will not go berserk like the one he has after Lady Faust's death".

"which is why I need to help him to get back Faust as well and to think I even hope I can do it as my way to repent my Sin to him", Supreme Deity chuckled dryly and said remorsefully "...I know, perhaps, whatever atonement I've strived to do... it will not change what happened in the past, neither it will make up everything and make them forgive me. I don't hope them to forgive me, but at least, I hope I can fix the errors between us and they can be happy with their loved ones, after long-standing suffering they've been going through".

Listening to her sincere words and witnessing her, Mercy truly felt glad for the changes on his Queen (thanks to Seraphina). Mercy dropped one knee in front of her and crossed one arm before his chest "as one of the Divine Lance Corporal, even if I'm not that dependable, I will do my best to help you, my Queen".

"...thank you, Mercy", Supreme Deity smiled before reminded him "and don't think that low of yourself, you have been helping me a lot to raise Seraphina. I'm really glad that I have a dependable 'right hand' like you".

"then, I'm honored to serve you, Your Majesty".

Boar Hat

So, from Cenette's story about how she and the other prisoners witnessed two Angels (or Goddesses), Merlin concluded "from their description, it seems father, Iseult, and Tristan went with Ban. Wonder if they separated their way or would Ban join father's group? If it's the latter, undoubtedly Ban will be a good friend with my father".

(yap, you're right. Thank you very much, Merlin)

When Elizabeth knew they would go to the Forest of White Dreams and pick Diane, Elizabeth was so excited because she thought she finally could get a female companion even if just one (considering the other female member of the Sins, Merlin couldn't come with them yet). Meliodas clearly wasn't excited. He only kept his poker face with pointed looks to Escanor and Merlin. Escanor and Merlin knew Diane had a crush on the Captain and oh, look at how Merlin covered her mouth, trying to muffle her laughter. Kinda the opposite with Escanor who fidgeted nervously. Both of them were thinking about how Diane would react when she found out about Meliodas and Elizabeth's relationship, also how Elizabeth and Meliodas would react to each other when Elizabeth found out about Diane's crush on Meliodas. Just if not because of Meliodas' heated glare, they would spill it out to Elizabeth, to warn her, perhaps.

"um, Sis-Sis, I think you and Meliodas can rest", Merlin cleared her throat before she dragged Escanor and Hawk out of the room "oh, don't worry. We will not disturb you two. Have fun~ I will have fun with Escanor as well, after all. I'm sleeping with him in his room, in case you need me. Good night".

Escanor blushed furiously at the implication "EH!?".

Merlin winked her eyes and briefly closed the door, disappeared out of their sight along with Hawk and Escanor.

Meliodas grinned broadly and wrapped his arms around her waist, pushing her to the bed "like she said, let's have fun~".

Elizabeth blushed and laughed in mirth as he buried his face on her chest, patting his back "hey?! Are you sure you're fine already?".

When Meliodas didn't react, Elizabeth blinked and wondered if he was asleep "...Meliodas?".

Meliodas lifted his face up, enough for her to see the concern on his eyes as he leaning his chin on top of her cleavage "...I wonder how Tristan, Iseult, and Lucifer will react. Especially Lucifer. Remembering how your mother treated him... remember he went berserk after Faust's death?".

"there's no way I could forget it", Elizabeth put on the brave smile "but leave it to me, okay? I will try to talk and persuade him. At that time, you talk with Iseult and Tristan".

With those understanding on his eyes, Meliodas sighed "but still, I understand how he must have felt towards your mother. I can understand it because it's not too different from how Demon King treated me and my brothers, especially me, considering our position as the next line of the throne. After all, I and Lucifer are the firstborn son. No wonder your mother raised and trained him strictly, but considering how your mother treated Lucifer, I don't think Lucifer will show a good reaction at all after you talk with him".

Elizabeth closed her eyes "...well, it's not like I didn't expect it. I expected it, but I and Merlin have discussed the anticipation in case my brother throws tantrum, even. He can be more sensitive than me sometimes".

"which that's why I call him 'Lucy Dear' sounded befitting him perfectly, right?".

"Meliodas, you're so mean! You just want to tease him, right?", Elizabeth smacked him before laughing her head off, wiping her tears "try to call him like that, I bet he would chase after you and try to kill you if you called him like that when we meet him later!?".

Meliodas kissed her before telling her to sleep "you need it, after watching me over the night, wife~".

Elizabeth blushed heavily. Although they hadn't officially married in this 107th of her lifetime, she still had been his wife, having a son, Tristan who had married his cousin a.k.a their niece, Iseult. This time, Elizabeth obeyed him and fell asleep with their hands entangled each other's bodies.

When people asked her about her older brother, one thing would come to Elizabeth's head, the very first thing as if it had been the trademark of her older brother.

Scars.

Not only the battle scars but also the scars from his strict training. when she was a child, she always wondered why her older brother had so many scars compared to other Goddess Clan members. When she asked him about what kind of training he'd been going through which causing so many scars like these, why should he be training hard and would he want her to heal him if it felt hurt, Lucifer would wave it off as nothing, telling her that he was alright, he just had to train harder because he was the firstborn son and the next on the line to the throne.

She asked, "do you want to be the King?".

"well, not quite right, Ellie", despite the bandages wrapped around his head and torso plus the bruises littering his torso, Lucifer smiled and patted her head "I just want to be strong, so I can protect our Clan and the most important, my family. Especially you, Ellie, my dearest sister".

When Elizabeth came to the age and it was time for her to train, she just knew the reason why her older brother had sustained so many injuries, leaving the scars on his body. The first training from their mother was to kill with their Ark, her mother threw a little, helpless Demon in front of her and ordered her "kill it".

Elizabeth gasped "I can't!?".

Supreme Deity coldly said, "you will obey my order or you will want to get the injuries like your brother has".

Elizabeth shuddered and turned pale. So, her older brother's injuries and scars from his training all along this time? If she remembered carefully, it was not only the injuries from the sword's attack, there was also the burns from the fire in the shape of chains or the shallow cuts like getting whipped or stabbed by daggers.

What should she do? She didn't want to kill a life meaningless, even just for training but she was also afraid of her mother's punishment. When her mother demanded her to kill the Demon and she refused, her mother reached out her hand, her body was lifted off of the ground and several chains appeared out of nowhere. It was not only the ordinary chains, but it was also the fully-heated chains that would burn her skin when it touched her. Elizabeth closed her eyes, prepared to get the punishment but she was shocked even more when she opened her eyes as she felt the warm hands wrapped itself around her securely. She felt like she was the one who got scalded when she saw how her brother got the skin of his back ripped, showing the raw flesh with the scorched smells. Looking at the burns on her older brother's body, she felt like she wanted to vomit and she also wanted to cry hysterically. She wanted to apologize, but instead of mad, Lucifer smiled weakly.

Cupping her cheeks, he asked with a reassuring smile, the smile to hide the pain "you're not injured at all, Ellie?".

"do not disturb her training, Lucifer".

"was it not enough with me only, mother?", Lucifer looked behind over his shoulder disdainfully "I can endure the training you've been giving up on me, but don't do it with Elizabeth. You can hit me or punish me as much as you like when you're not satisfied with Elizabeth's training but don't touch her".

"you mean to take all the brunt of your sister's punishment?".

"yes, if it means she's safe, from you", Lucifer hissed "I alone am enough to endure this pain".

Elizabeth pulled his sleeve "brother, don't—".

"very well, then. It's like you heard, Elizabeth. I think it's enough for today. I hope you will do your next training better, because if you let me down, then your brother will take over your punishment", Supreme Deity declared coldly and lifted her chin "before I leave and end your training session, you know what you should do, Lucifer. Show to your sister as an example of what she should do".

Lucifer sighed and took the dagger from the floor. He stood, looking down to the Demon apologetically "...close your eyes if you can't bear it, Ellie. You don't have to witness it".

Supreme Deity scoffed and ordered, "watch it closely so you can learn from your older brother".

Ever since that time, Lucifer always took over Elizabeth's punishment. Elizabeth trained harder because she didn't want her older brother to take over her punishment. Even if she cried and asked him to stop, Lucifer only smiled to her and ruffled her head, asking her to not cry "as long as I am by your side, I swear no harm will befall upon you".

Even if her older brother said it was okay. Despite the scars, he still could fight just fine and it was nothing but mere scratches...

...but it didn't mean it didn't hurt at all, right?

"Elizabeth", cupping her wet, tear-stained cheeks, Meliodas looked down to her with concern on his eyes "hey, what's wrong? Do you have a nightmare?".

"Meliodas", Elizabeth sighed in relief, wiping her tears as she leaned her head on his chest with her ear right above his heart, listening to his heartbeat "for your question, perhaps... sort-of nightmare, even if I just reminisced my childhood as Goddess".

"which it's so bad considering how you cried".

After Elizabeth told him what kind of nightmare she had, Meliodas pulled her closer to his chest "is it because I reminded you of the old-time, or is it because I talked about your brother before you slept?".

"no, I think I just... missed him. You know, there's only the two of us and we only have each other. He always protected me ever since I was a child. Remembering him and talking about him with you, it just makes sense that I just realized how I missed him so much".

"...he's really the best older brother for you, right?".

"of course, and I will not trade him with anyone else", Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave a light peck on his cheek and his neck "just like I will never trade you with anyone else in this world. I can't afford to live in the world without you".

Meliodas grinned brightly. He kissed her forehead, intertwining his fingers in between her knuckles "oh, Elizabeth, don't be afraid. I am by your side. You said you will never leave me and always by my side, so do I. I swear no harm will befall upon you as long as I am by your side".

After having their moment, both cleaned up before Elizabeth went down to the kitchen for cooking breakfast while Meliodas went to Escanor's room to wake him and Merlin up.

Merlin stirred and pulled the blanket, shivering to the coldness of the morning air. As the morning sun ran through the window and landed on her face, she opened her eyes slowly because she could no longer feel the cool air, instead, she felt the warmth of the large bulging muscular hand that wrapped itself around her waist. She looked behind over her shoulder and a thin smile grazed her eyes. When Escanor opened his eyes, she gave a light peck on his cheek with a 'morning' greeting.

"Okay, you two shared a bed with your clothes on and cuddled against each other, that's all", Meliodas stood in front of the door before walking outside nonchalantly "pity. I expected to see you two naked in bed in the morning. The morning kiss is quite sweet, though~".

Meliodas rushed to outside before the pillow that Merlin threw to him landing on his head while Escanor stuttered about how it was unlike what the Captain imagined or sort-of those things.

Before Merlin left after breakfast, she had a private conversation with Escanor. Meliodas, Hawk, and Elizabeth gladly waited outside the tavern before Escanor joined them.

Merlin asked him to call her immediately in case they needed help regards her father or told her when they found him "just... tell me right away when you find him. I've gotta see him, badly".

Escanor dutifully tucked the orb to call her on his pocket before asking "do you miss him?".

"...of course, I do", Merlin smiled sheepishly, brushing her bangs behind her ears "but don't tell him about it out loud, okay? Because it only triggers him to spoil me like usual and it's embarrassing for me. He always treats me like a child, though I understand why... it doesn't mean I don't feel shy".

"I think it's fine to be spoiled by your father as long as he's still with you, no need to feel embarrassed about it", Escanor smiled and kissed her forehead "see you again".

"Are you sure, one of the Sins called Diane is here?", Hawk trotted in front of Escanor, looking behind "and you think you can make these fogs disappear with your sun?".

Elizabeth believed in Merlin's ability as the greatest Sorceress of all Britannia "and contemplating how perfect this place to hide from the Holy Knights, I think what Merlin said is the truth".

"I don't doubt her. Also, I don't think these fogs disturbing me that much, so I prefer to keep my power in case we meet the Holy Knights here and need to fight him", Escanor glanced sideways to the lovey-dovey couple behind him with flushed cheeks "considering the princess doesn't look like the type of fighter and we still don't know if it's alright to let the Captain fight...".

Meliodas told him to relax "don't worry about it, I can—".

Elizabeth briefly cut him off "hey, Merlin told you to not push yourself, remember?".

"you can stop being such a worrywart, Elizabeth. I'm fine", Meliodas trailed off after he turned to his companion "speaking of which, Escanor, since when did you have twin siblings?".

Escanor, Elizabeth, and Hawk blinked their eyes in confusion "huh?".

When they looked around, they just understood what Meliodas meant after they saw so many Escanors emerged from the grounds. For the sake of their safety, Meliodas had jumped to the tree branch carrying Elizabeth bridal-style on his arms, ignoring Hawk's protests.

"Okay, one Escanor is enough. We don't need other men with self-esteem issues. Now, what should I do with you?", Meliodas sat on the tree branch beside Elizabeth after taking Hawk with them. A broad grin spread on his face when he had an idea and Meliodas said suggestively "Escanor! If you can't get rid of the imposters who dared to disguise themselves as yourself here and now, they could have seduced your Merlin, you know?".

Elizabeth facepalmed and laughed it off when Meliodas' words were enough to trigger the real Escanor who cracked his knuckles with the fire of the sun surroundings his body.

On the other side, Hawk was baffled in amazement when Escanor started to beat those poor things who seemingly made the great mistake with disguising themselves as the man you shouldn't be messed with "Meliodas, you're really an expert to get under his skin, huh? It rather scared me, looking at how effective it is".

It turned out the imposters who dared to disguise themselves as Escanor (they picked the wrong man to disguise with) were the hide-and-seek imps. After they changed their form into their real form, they all ran away in fright to the certain location which Escanor, Meliodas, Elizabeth, and Hawk followed them in tow.

When they arrived at the location where they saw a girl lying on the ground, sleeping peacefully, Hawk and Elizabeth exclaimed about how could the Imps attempt to attack the 'little girl' which turned out to be 'not the little girl' at all. On the background, Escanor and Meliodas who recognized Diane from a far distance had covered their mouth to smother their laughter down. When they laughed, a vein popped on irritated Elizabeth's head.

One of the Imps exclaimed "Lady Diane! We're so sorry! We failed and let the Holy Knights entered this Forest!?".

Diane opened her eyes and sat immediately "...Holy Knights?".

"no, Di—", Meliodas didn't have the chance to finish his words because Diane snatched him off of the ground. Oh, boy. He thought before patting Diane's nose "Di, put me down, please".

Diane beamed in delight when she recognized it was Meliodas, her dearest Captain and Diane squealed happily. When Diane rubbed her cheek against his head like a little girl playing with their favorite doll (Hell yeah, thanks to their different sizes), Hawk gawked and lifted its trembling leg to the giantess and Escanor explained that yes, Diane had a crush on Meliodas. Hawk and Escanor flinched before they hugged each other, cowering in fear when they saw how the fire of jealousy blazing around Elizabeth's body as the Goddess princess smiled sweetly with threatening aura.

"hey!", Elizabeth demanded as the protectiveness rose in her chest. When Meliodas and Diane turned their head to her, Elizabeth lifted her forefinger pointing the ground beneath her "put him down here right away!".

"How dare you, a human, give an order to me? I only accept the Captain's orders!", Diane bit back and narrowed her eyes skeptically "and if I refuse, what you can possibly do little thing?".

"oh, then I will make you obey my words, or I simply can snatch him away from you", Elizabeth smiled before she spread her wings. She disappeared from their eyes after Diane's eyes dilated. When Diane looked around in bewilderment, Elizabeth went down flying and snatched Meliodas from Diane's grip as she said. Wrapping her arms around her lover's torso, Elizabeth carried him before landing on the tree branch. She kissed his cheek before burying his face on her chest "got you back~".

Diane would have asked who was she and demanded the explanation about the wings from her back if not because of what she just witnessed. Diane blushed furiously like a tomato and fumed "HEY!? Who the hell are you and how could you so casually do it to the Captain?!".

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out and boldly declared "what? Just taking back what's mine".

It looked like the steams came out of his head as Meliodas blushed furiously and stopped breathing.

Along with Escanor, Hawk watched from the treelines "...I can't believe I just witnessed two women, a goddess and a giantess, having a heated argument for a man, Meliodas of all people even".

"you may not know it, Hawk, but in fact, the Captain is quite popular among the women. Women who have a crush and tried to advance on him is not only Diane. At least for as long as I've known him, ever since the creation of the Sins to ten years before now, the Captain didn't seem to care about any kind of woman at all and he wasn't someone who would do something... well, like how he has with the princess... now I really think about it, the only person the Captain plays his pranks on is only princess Elizabeth", Escanor mused, whispering to Hawk "now, I knew the reason why, though".

A/N :

To Guests who kept asking updates : seriously? -_-

To believergirl62 : heh-heh, glad you like it. Sounds like you like Lucifer a lot. More about him in the next chapters especially when he and his group reunite with Meliodas and Elizabeth's group. For your first question, I sometimes prefer the manga but sometimes I also prefer the anime, thus I mix the scenes from both manga and anime before I write it with my own style.

For your random question, if the world of the SDS were real, I would like to be Fairy Races because I always like the power to control nature and it's been my favorite to be close with Nature.

To merendinoemiliano : thank you

To Ansy : yep, he got himself one pretty crazy family hahaha. Oh, I hope you will like it when the times come for them to reunite, etc.

Now, I open up the Q&A Session for the next chapter. Probably, I will open up the Q&A Session every 10 chapters or when I'm in the mood. Feel free to ask (as long as it's not a spoiler, I will answer it) and not only to me, you also can ask the characters. Just submit the question and to who you specifically wanted to ask the question. For example :

Reader : (to Lucifer) does Meliodas really call you 'Lucy Dear' which also known as Lucy-chan in the Japanese?

Lucifer : he did, and I dislike it because it sounded like a girl's name.

That's all for now, fellas. See you next chapter~