A-Z of Melizabeth by Fullmetal Pyromaniac
T is for...
Time travel
This is an au!
When Elizabeth was little she dreamt of a man. A scruffy man, not one that she was used to seeing being of upper class status. It was a clear night. The stars shone brightly, and the man appeared in her garden in a box. Elizabeth leaned against her bedroom, the windows steamed up with her breath and her hands. A violent erruption of smoke rose from the box as whoever happened to be inside opened the doors.
The man tumbled out.
He lay on the grass for a minute, and for that minute Elizabeth thought he might be dead. He wasn't. A few seconds later he'd jumped back on his feet and brushed himself down. Elizabeth thought he looked small, almost like a child. A mop of fuzzy yellow hair sat on top his head, and his clothes were strange. They were too big, drowning his small form. Without a second thought, Elizabeth ran downstairs, her tiny feet tapping on the floor. She swung open the door and the man's head swivelled to look at her. It was freezing, goosebumps rising on her arms.
"Mister?" She asked tentatively, "Are you okay, mister?"
The man smiled, teeth white and perfectly shaped. He walked towards Elizabeth. Her father had warned about strangers, about how they could hurt her and some people wanted to do bad things to children. But the man made her feel safe. He bent down so he was eye to eye with her. His eyes were emerald green.
"I'm alright, thank you. Tell me, what are you doing up so late?"
Elizabeth shrugged, "I couldn't sleep."
"I think you should go back in and try-"
"Is your box okay?" Elizabeth ran forward, pressing a hand to the singed blue wood. The man behind her sighed, but didn't say anything.
"Oh don't you worry yourself, she's perfectly fine! I made a bit of a mess and we crash landed, she'll be fine in a few minutes."
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "She can fly?"
The man nodded. "Oh yeah, well, kind of." Elizabeth stared. "It's a little complicated to explain to humans, let alone a little girl."
He was strange, certainly. Elizabeth didn't even consider that he might not have been human. Instead her pride was injured. "Hey!" She pouted, "I can understand it, I'm not a little kid, I know my nine times tables."
The man laughed which made Elizabeth pout more. She crossed her small arms across her chest and humphed.
"That's very impressive." He said, eyes filled with laughter. "But this is super duper complicated. To put it simply..." He bent down again, whispering into her ear, "This box- she's magical."
Had she been any older, perhaps Veronica's age, she would have scoffed. Her jaw dropped and she forgot to be mad at him for (kind of, not really) insulting her. "No way!"
"Yes way! Not only can she fly, and she's magical, but she looks small, right?" Elizabeth looked properly at the box, it was rather small. It was only as wide as she was tall. It would be fine to stand in, but not much room for the both of them to fit in. She nodded. "Well, she's bigger on the inside. D'you want to see?"
She nodded again, then watched as he pushed the box upright, refusing her offers to help. Soon it was standing in all its glory. In fact, it didn't look like it'd been burned or fallen out of the sky at all. The blue paint was immaculate, the frosted glass in the windows was fine, and the light on top of the box glowed faintly. The man stood in front of it- her? - and with a smug look at Elizabeth, snapped his fingers and the doors opened.
As she walked inside, wonder filled her little heart. It was bigger on the inside. A whole control panel sat in the centre, with flashing lights and buttons, stairs led to various doors that were odd in shape and style, and Elizabeth wanted to go see what was behind them.
"She's cool huh?" The man said, "What do you think of the walls?"
They were odd, geometric shapes of all colours. Elizabeth squinted, her mother would hate this. "I don't like it."
"Good. You have taste, me neither."
The central control panel changed from a nice ambient gold to red. The man rolled his eyes. "She doesn't like when I make fun of her decorating skills." The man touched the panel, it crackled and sparked. He yelped, leaping backwards. "Hey!"
A burst of giggles left Elizabeth, and the man smiled kindly at her. He walked over and bent down to her again. She liked this, it made her feel like she was talking to someone, not up to them like mummy or daddy. Or Veronica and Margaret.
"I think you should be going now."
"But I just got here, I want to see all the rooms!"
"You will, one day. But for now I have to go."
Fat tears welled up and spilled down her pale cheeks. "Will you be back?"
The man nodded, ruffling her silvery hair. "I promise. You can see all the rooms, I'll let you have your own one. I'll take you to places you've never even thought of. The Victorian era, a planet that is basically a giant library. Anywhere you want to go, I'll take you. But I need to go now."
Elizabeth nodded, still frowning. "You'd better come back."
"I never, ever break my promises."
She was pleased with this answer, "Good." And she walked towards the entrance, giving one last look behind her before leaving and quickly running back inside.
She watched the box stand for a second, then it made a weird whirring noise, and began to fade and reappear again and again until the whirring stopped and it wasn't there anymore. It was as if nothing had happened
*~*~ T is for... ~*~*
By the time she was 20, Elizabeth was done.
She was done with shitty upper class people, she loved her family but they were so annoying sometimes. Her friends were shitty, she was done with her shitty psychiatrist trying to convince her that the man she met was made up, a figure of grief after her mother's death. An imaginary friend. She was done with her father insisting that she see shrink after shrink. She hated the looks she got from her father's friends, the snobs.
A curse was spat from her mouth as the needle she was using was stabbed into her finger. The teddy she was sewing stared back at her lifelessly, she glared at it. Downstairs, her family mingled with their guests, which Elizabeth avoided like the plague. Her room had become her prison, by choice, sure, but it's not like she could go downstairs.
The glares, the sniggers, the laughter, the comments under their breath.
Father's pity, Margaret's worry, Veronica's awkwardness.
She stabbed the teddy bear, but then felt kind of guilty about it, she gently removed the needle. The bear didn't flinch, it wasn't real after all. Elizabeth sighed. She had a lot of pent up anger, but her psychiatrist was more obsessed with her 'imaginary friend' than she was. Not that he was imaginary, he was definitely real, she thought. But with every day that went past she found herself feeling less and less convinced he was real. At this point it just might be spite.
Yet, the pictures she'd drawn of him. Shaggy hair, raggedy clothes, that blue box with the rooms she hadn't explored. The mess it had made in the garden that vanished. He seemed so real, that night did too. But nothing explained it. Nothing logical anyways. She didn't even get his name.
Not that it mattered. Elizabeth began sewing the arm of the bear back up. She wondered what he looked like now, would he have aged? A small part of her said that he probably wouldn't have. It was possible he hadn't; he had a magical box for Christ's sakes! Not ageing was probably normal for him, either that or he aged very slowly.
What would she even say to him? It'd been over ten years since they'd last met. The anger she'd felt for him had faded slightly, but she was still slightly bitter. He'd promised that he'd be back soon. And here she was. He never broke his promises huh? Elizabeth narrowly avoided stabbing her finger again.
Finally the teddy bear was sewed back up, complete with a knitted scarf and hat. It's brassy eyes stared into Elizabeth's soul. Maybe the bear knew that she missed the raggedy man? Maybe Elizabeth knew she missed him too. Maybe she just didn't want to say. Elizabeth put down the bear, talking to stuffed animals at twenty. She really had to get out more. Somehow.
*~*~ T is for... ~*~*
The party ran on into the night, and Elizabeth had wandered downstairs to be somewhat pleasant, and instantly regretted it. She returned to her room fairly quickly. Not in the mood for rudeness and stupid people tonight, although it gave her the chance to meet Margaret and Veronica's fiancés. Very nice men, different to the ones father tried to introduce them too. They weren't the wealthiest, not by any means. Not like the men father made them talk to. They had kind hearts, Gilthunder (Margaret's fiancé) was a Lord, while Veronica's was a well known welder in the city. Elizabeth yearned for something more than them. More than wealth and security.
That night she dreamt of her man, her raggedy man. He looked tatty and worn, but his kind heart won her over. He took her to places never before seen. Never explored, different eras, the past, the future. Everywhere. She would follow him to the ends of the Earth.
Stars shone in the sky, and a faint tapping sounded on Elizabeth's window. It was faint, but just loud enough that it woke her up. Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Cold panic clutched her chest, she reached into her bedside table and grabbed an unbrella. It wasn't a weapon, but it was good enough to knock out a potential attacker. She crept up to the window and yanked open the blinds. Outside, balanced precariously on her balcony was her raggedy man. Elizabeth was right, he hadn't aged a day. Elizabeth pushed the window open gently, allowing him to lean in slightly.
"Heya Elizabeth, how're you doing?"
His voice was still childlike, and so was his face. Soft and round, chubby cheeks and eyes that glimmered with that boyish charm.
"You came back..." The whisper left her lips before she realised. The man chuckled.
"I told you," He said, "I always keep my promises."
Then, Elizabeth remembered to be angry. She glared at his stupidly adorable face and huffed, storming back round into her room. "Is something wrong?" The man asked. Elizabeth groaned again.
"You're ten years late!"
The man at least had the decency to look ashamed. "I didn't mean to be, I promise, but there was some trouble on Alderon and Venus, then I was caught up in a scandal on Raxicoricofallipatorius and it all went downhill from there." He paused, looking sullen. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth, who'd been listening intently, brandished the unbrella at him. "How do you know my name?"
"I know everything, or, most things."
This, to Elizabeth, seemed reasonable considering he hadn't aged a day.
"You- you've caused me so much trouble..." The fight left her voice, and she lowered her umbrella. "So many psychiatrists...so many nights I waited up for you..." The man's eyes watered slightly, "So many people think I'm- I'm crazy!"
The man rushed up to her, taking her hands into his. "Let me make it up to you. Anywhere in the universe, you tell me, and we'll go there." He gushed, grinning again. Elizabeth gazed into his emerald eyes, sparkling and ready for adventure. He had come back, at long last, and now she was no longer a young girl. She was in her prime, ready to explore and live.
She nodded. "Okay."
The man grinned, "Really?"
"I'm an idiot," She choked out a laugh, "But please, take me away from here. Take me on adventures, my raggedy man."
"You can call me Meliodas, if you like?" He said, a lilt to his voice. Elizabeth returned his grin. He was still quite a bit shorter than her. "Go pack some stuff, and meet me in the garden, where I crash landed the first time I came here." Elizabeth nodded again, and the man pressed a sweet kiss to her hands and hopped out the window. When Elizabeth looked out, he was standing perfectly fine against the blue box. That hadn't changed either.
She flung open the doors to her wardrobe and grabbed all the clothes she could. Dresses, shirts, and the few pairs of jeans. Underwear, shoes, pyjamas, and a swimsuit just in case. A hairbrush, some makeup, and some clips and bobbles, and finally her teddy, all thrown in a suitcase, and she was ready to go.
Her family and their guests were still up, though things were winding down. With a final look at her family, Elizabeth ran, barefoot out into the garden. Dew soaked her feet, and made them dirty, but she didn't care. Her raggedy man- Meliodas, had returned. He grinned at her when he saw her arrive.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Mhm! I'm excited!"
Meliodas held out his hand, "Where to, my princess?"
Elizabeth took his hand and allowed herself to be lead into the box, filled with it's many rooms and the multicoloured panel. The familiar sight left her gobsmacked, and she sucked in a breath of air. It was like coming home.
"Surprise me..."
The End.
A.N. Hello! Not much to say here, just thank you for everything! I told you all I'm going to finish this xP
Please leave me a review, it motivates me, and thank you to everyone who has so far! Also check out my other works! Something I want to point out:
1. this is a one ahot series, all are different stories, some can be connected, others aren't.
2. to that guest that commented on Chapter 4, all of those things were intentional, I'm Scottish. I wanted to stick to the style of the manga in which things are altered slightly. This has been bothering me for a while xP
Okay, thank you everyone! Lots of love,
- Rachael xxx