The next morning, Elizabeth was cheerfully serving the customers in the Boar Hat, prancing around with the utmost happiness.
"I see you're happy today," Merlin said, walking past Elizabeth with a book in her hands. "Was it something to do with the Captain?"
Elizabeth's cheeks turned bright red, and she nodded. "That's what I thought," Merlin continued sauntering towards the door, and before she could get another dish served, Diane approached her.
"I heard you and the Captain got all lovey-dovey yesterday; is it true?" Diane shouted in her face, to which she instantly shook her head too.
Diane was about to say more, but just then the door opened, and she sighed in relief to see who it was.
"Sariel and Tarmiel!" Elizabeth squealed cheerily, and the rest of the Sins trampled the little building to see the Dynamic Duo of the Archangels.
While the customers in the Boar Hat gawked at the two suddenly showing up, Elizabeth exchanged hugs with her friends. "It's been so long!" Elizabeth exclaimed to the two.
"We decided it was time to visit our little Sis!" Sariel said, ruffling Elizabeth's hair. "And also, the Supreme Deity wants you to come to the Glory Gala," He added on quickly, pulling out an envelope from his pocket.
Elizabeth took the invitation, before ripping open the side and taking the letter out.
The Seven Deadly Sins and Elizabeth Liones are cordially invited to the Glory Gala.
If you wish to attend, arrive at the Angel's Palace when the sun sets. Please be dressed formally and bring the invitation as a ticket.
The Supreme Deity
"Eee!" Diane shrieked gleefully, jumping up and down. "We're going to the Glory Gala!"
The Glory Gala was an event that happened every five years to celebrate all the magnificent and excellent things that had happened during the past years, and a toast to the years to come. It was very hard to get invited, and only two hundred invitations are issued, and by the Supreme Deity herself.
Oh, how she despised her mother. One day, she's cursing her, the next, she's acting like everything's okay and nothing ever happened. Her mother had always acted all high and mighty, and Elizabeth wanted to show her that she wouldn't be another puppet on her rack, waiting to be used.
Elizabeth wanted to say no, but she couldn't turn down the excited smiles that the rest of her friends were giving her; the Glory Gala was a big deal, and none of them had ever been there before.
She nodded, putting on a grin. "We'll be there!" She looked back at her friends, sharing a smile with them.
"Well, then we'll be on our way. See you at the Gala!" Tarmiel waved at us, the two sprouting their wings and then flying off.
"I'm so excited for the Glory Gala!" Diane shrieked, prancing around joyously. Elizabeth just shrugged, before going back to serving customers.
"What, are you not excited?" Ban asked in his low voice, smirking like he always did.
"It's not like my Sissy to not be excited about something," Merlin said in a monotone voice. "What don't you like about the Glory Gala?"
"It's just that I hate my mom," Elizabeth complained, whisking out several trays of steaming hot food. "She's trying to woo you into becoming her puppets, and she'll use you against me," She almost yelled.
"Don't you worry, lady, we won't ever turn our backs on you," Ban said, before turning around and adding some sort of salt to the dishes he was cooking up. Merlin nodded in agreement before Escanor pulled her away for something.
Oh, her mother wasn't going to ruin her life again. She would kill her before something like that could happen.
Elizabeth composed herself one last time, before putting her usual smile back on.
"Next customer, please!"
Meliodas was watching Elizabeth with a smile on his face, content with their current life. Oh, how he missed this; their lives were as good as it got, and he wouldn't let this go for the world.
Suddenly, Meliodas felt a dark presence in the clouds, and he didn't hesitate to get out of the tavern to meet the force.
"Long time no see, brother," A figure with spiky, black hair flew forward.
"Zeldris?" Meliodas asked, hesitating to pull out Lostvayne. "What are you doing here?" Meliodas narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his younger brother.
Though he was now taller than Zeldris, his brother was still the same brother he had always known, and unsurprisingly, Zeldris was not even the least bit fearful of him.
"I'm here to remind you of what you said you would do in return for my help in the Second Holy War," Zeldris said impatiently. "To get Gelda!"
"Oh right!" Meliodas said, remembering the deal. "Who's Gelda again?"
Zeldris let out an irate yell, charging at him with his sword in hand. "You bastard!"
Meliodas chuckled, stopping and breaking his brother's sword with his hand, before kicking him back. "I'm kidding, okay?"
Meliodas recalled the moment; he had been in desperate need of help, so he approached Zeldris and asked him to help him overthrow his father, in exchange for freeing Gelda. Meliodas thought of Zeldris and Gelda, the two had met in a battle and had been together until Zeldris was forced to kill them, in which he instead sealed the vampires away.
He had only briefly met her, but Meliodas knew that Gelda was deeply in love with Zeldris. "Should I get the gang?" He wiggled his eyebrows at Zeldris, only to be replied with a sigh.
"Fine. I'll meet you at Edinburgh Castle in an hour," Zeldris then turned and flew north, leaving Meliodas alone.
"So, that's what you did to get him on your side. Interesting,"
Meliodas turned around to see a raven-haired woman picking at her nails. "Merlin, how many times do I have to tell you, don't eavesdrop on people!"
"Well, I need it for research purposes," She defended herself, even though she was clearly lying.
"Really?" Meliodas said, flying past her. "I definitely believe you," Meliodas headed into the tavern, deaf to what Merlin babbled next. "And by the way, I told Escanor that you want to do it with him!"
Elizabeth smiled as they flew through the clouds the cool summer wind rushing against her bare skin, her hair dancing in the currents of air.
She stood on the balcony of the tavern, a place she would go whenever she was happy. She looked down at the various terrains decorating the landscape, animals and humans alike all living their lives to the fullest. Sometimes, Elizabeth wished she could be an ordinary girl with an ordinary life, but she knew she could never have that life.
"Whatcha thinkin' about, angel?" Arms wrapped around her as she was brought into a kiss. "Anything about me?"
Elizabeth blushed, then leaned into Meliodas' tall figure, eager to soak up every little drop of love that radiated from his body. "I love you," She murmured, playing with his curly locks of blonde hair.
"I love you too, dumpling," Meliodas pulled her closer to his chest, the two enjoying the peace that hadn't been since they first met.
They revelled in silence, enjoying each other while they could. Meliodas stroked her hair, while Elizabeth trailed flowers over his shirt. The breeze blew against them, and shouts could be heard from the ground.
It was just them, and that would always be enough for Elizabeth.
"Captain, we have arrived!" A feminine voice sounded from the door. "Zeldris is currently waiting in the front for you," Gowther then turned around and walked back to wherever he came from.
"Well, I guess we have to go now," Elizabeth said, almost unhappy. "We do have to save Gelda, after all,"
Meliodas took one glance at her and then embraced her in a crushing hug. "Don't worry, we can continue this later! Besides, don't you want to see the giant hole I left? It's probably crawling with bugs by now,"
Elizabeth giggled, before following Meliodas out the tavern and onto the luscious green grass that grew around the ruins of the castle. A purplish plant grew out of the remains, and she spotted a dark-haired figure standing at the edge of the ruin.
"It's about time you arrived," Zeldris said in an emotionless voice.
Zeldris had always been a scary person to Elizabeth, but as she got to know him more in their small chats whenever Meliodas was gone, she realized that all he really wanted was to love someone.
Just like Meliodas.
"Hello? Earth to Elizabeth?" Diane waved her hand in front of my face. "We're going inside to find the seal!"
"Oh, sorry about that!" Elizabeth blushed and rushed to catch up with the rest of the group.
As she trailed up the moved earth, she noticed that nothing was alive, not even a seed or a blade of grass, except for the odd purplish plant; in fact, it seemed like it was glowing!
"This is certainly odd, this plant seems to be thriving in the dead soil," Gowther said with his head tilted at Elizabeth.
"That's because it feeds on life energy; it's native to the Purgatory where the vampires used to live," Zeldris said, not bothering to spare a look.
"What are we looking for, exactly?" Escanor asked, picking up a rock and then hurling it.
"A bluish piece of metal," Meliodas kicked the dirt around, sweeping his gaze over the turmoiled soil. "It holds the entire vampire clan within in it but it's really small, so you might not notice it at first,"
As Elizabeth reached the bottom of the massive hole, she was walking around blind, as there was no sunlight down there. She felt around in the dirt, relying on her sense of touch to find the seal. She walked around, trying to find the seal.
Suddenly, Elizabeth tripped on a rock and fell face first into the wet soil, the rock on her back.
She slowly stood up, stumbling around. She began flying up, the feeling of being dirty causing her to itch. "Meliodas!"
"Yes?" Meliodas appeared beside her, eyeing her filthy clothes. "Oh, here, you have something in your hair," Meliodas pulled the rock out, before looking at her with disbelief in his eyes. "You found the seal!"
"I did?!" Elizabeth exclaimed, partially excited as everyone rushed out of the humongous hole to examine the small piece of metal.
"Move, I'll unravel this spell," Merlin said, pushing Meliodas aside.
Merlin mumbled a few runic spells before the piece disappeared. "They should be coming out of the hole in a few seconds.
"Gelda?!" Zeldris shouted in complete incredulity, and they all turned to Zeldris.
There, a purple haired woman stepped out, followed by many other vampires. "Zeldris!" Tears came to Elizabeth's eyes watching the reunion, and she held onto Meliodas like a teddy bear.
"Well, our work here is done," Meliodas said, turning around and strolling back to the Boar Hat. "I think we did a pretty good job, didn't we?"
As the Sins left in the sunset, Elizabeth couldn't help but smile. In one short day, they had released the vampires and reunited two lovers with the help of her friends, and though the day was about to end, she knew their next adventure wouldn't be far away.