A/N: Sorry for being absent for so long! I'm literally coming close to final exams, so I've been studying a ton and doing extra revision. So yeah, I've basically been studying non-stop...

Nevertheless, I have a new chapter for you guys, my lovely, patient readers. Hopefully, it's great and you all enjoy it!

Guest - Thank you for the really kind review! Hopefully this story will gather more :)

Till next time,

D.L.D

~~~~~Failure~~~~~

Morning comes too soon for Elizabeth. After waking up in the middle of the night from her strange dream, she had gotten only a little bit of sleep. Broken sleep was always her enemy, the clock always resetting for her if she got up in the middle of the night. What would be a whole eight hours would be split into six and two. That meant she was running on the equivalent of two hours sleep when she woke up the next day, trying to make herself appear more energetic with her invigorating magic. It didn't help much.

For a long time, Elizabeth shuffled about her room, trying to calm her brain as she sorted out the things she'd need for the day. Clothing, weapons and small items of possible use all came out of her bag. However, after much deliberation, she eventually settled on wearing the skirt she'd fashioned to match Dinah - something to provide her comfort for the long day ahead. Once she'd put it on and smoothed out the fabric she felt a bit better. But only a bit.

Bleary and sluggish, she managed to prep all her things and scoop Minx into her arms, ready to finally set off on the biggest journey of her life.

Today was it. Today was the day. In just a few short hours, one small journey, she would leave this world behind and enter the demon realm. Elizabeth couldn't stop the racing of her heart. She couldn't stop the nerves either. This was her one shot, her one chance, and she couldn't afford to blow it. Too many lives were on the line.

Frowning, Elizabeth ran a hand through Minx's midnight fur. Back home, Mael had told her that he worried how well she would fare in the demon realm. Aware of her inability to lie, aware of how easily she could catch herself out, he had told her how much he worried about her. Many people did. Last night, when she had had her first encounter with a high-ranking demon, Elizabeth had proven those suspicions correct. Elizabeth had blown it. Like an amateur, like an idiot, she had ruined her first impression with the demon General. A rookie mistake. A silly mistake.

It must never happen again.

Subconsciously, her arms tightened around Minx. All air within her lungs grew dense, thick and choking. As the only hope of salvation for her people, for Britannia, Elizabeth did not have room for failure in her plans. No room at all. This duty of hers was the last thing standing between the wretched Demons and Britannia's somewhat peaceful realm; if she failed, then everything would go askew. Britannia would fall into chaos.

"Well you look bright and cheery this morning," Jezebel rolled her eyes, seeming to appear from the thin air itself. Shaking her head, she leaned against the now empty door frame. A mug was in her hands, hot steam curling from its rim. "What happened to you last night?" She smirks a little. "Don't tell me it was another nightmare?"

"Jezebel!" Elizabeth jumped, caught off guard by the sour demon. Soundlessly, almost invisibly, she had just formed out of thin air - popped out from the earth's shadows themselves. A terrifying gift. A tactic that made secrecy near-impossible. Darkness tickled Elizabeth's shoulders as she squeezed Minx even closer in her already tight arms. Pained, the feline cried out, snapping Elizabeth out of her thoughts.

Slowly, Elizabeth blinked, "You really scared me just now. I didn't hear you coming."

'Another mistake,' Her darkness notes, light and teasing. Leaving tingles up her arms, it swirls within her anxious veins, agitating her already jittery mind. 'You really should be alert than this. Being unaware is what will get us caught.'

"You're distracted," Jezebel observes bluntly, nodding toward the darkness snaking its way up Elizabeth's neck. Critically, she took a long sip from her mug, licking her lips afterward. A sharp brow raised in judgement. "You really shouldn't do that. Especially not today."

Elizabeth feels her heartbeat creep into her throat, "Why not?"

There was something about Jezebel - just something. Something ominous, something shifty, something that screamed that she was like a dual-edged sword. Perhaps it was because Elizabeth did not know her too well. Maybe it was because she had already seen the darker side of the demon. Or, perhaps, it was none of those. It could just be Elizabeth's mind, playing paranoid tricks on her, trying to cohesively piece everything together.

Jezebel seemed to notice this as she laughed a little, her cobalt blue eyes twinkling with amusement. Minute pity.

"Because," Jezebel tutted, shaking her head as she took another long sip from her mug. A more noticeable smile splayed on her painted lips, showcasing the hints of pearly teeth. "The General's coming with us."

'What!' Both her mind and darkness screeched, every nerve and hair on end, Minx dangerously squeezed in her arms. How! Why! Why now! So many questions she had, so many objections, but Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to word any of them.

So instead, Elizabeth took a seat on the bed, allowing her jellied legs to take a much needed rest. This news has only soured her already not-so-likeable day, the hybrid unconsciously squeezing Minx tighter in her nervous arms from all the stress and surprise. It seems today would prove to be a much bigger challenge than usual - a true opportunity to prove if she was really worthy of the duty to save Britannia.

~~~~~Failure~~~~~

Breakfast had been a rushed affair. Due to the high levels of stress and shock in her system, Elizabeth decided to rush the most important meal of the day, grabbing something minimal in favour of scrambling as far away as possible from the General's presence. Right now, she didn't want to face anything that reminded her of her failures the previous day. Not even a friendly face like Klaus - let alone the stony frown of General Meliodas.

Ever since the previous night, she had felt like he was judging everything about her. Every movement, every word, every action - everything. Nothing was left untouched by his observation, not even her thoughts - she supposed - and that was why Elizabeth had to stay as far away as possible from him. Until she could control herself, until she had her darkness under wraps, Elizabeth would have to shy away from General Meliodas. It was her only real hope of success.

So far, her plan had worked rather well. Straying toward the back of the group and allowing herself to lose herself in the musings of nature and its whims, had allowed her to escape from her current predicament. Watching patterns of starlings dance in the summer sky, counting and naming the fluffy clouds passing by, even just distracting herself with Minx had worked well in her attempts to ignore the elephant in the room that was the General.

Within their group, he was the outlier. At least, to Elizabeth, he was.

Unlike Jezebel and Klaus, he didn't much about her. Unlike Jezebel and Klaus, he had no idea that she was going to be an enemy that had sneaked behind enemy lines. The General didn't even know about her true purpose for being with the two demons, other than the fact that she was one of numerous bastard children from the rebellious general that had preceded him many, many years ago.

In terms on what was going on, on who she could trust, the General was outside of that circle. Elizabeth saw him as a dangerous entity, a liability. Careful steps would need to be taken when speaking around him - especially because of his high status and rank. Therefore, for Elizabeth, it would be easiest if she just avoided all further conversations with the cryptic General. Mael was right in some aspects: like glass, she was too transparent. Yesterday had proven that; today she would learn from it.

By midday the group were halfway to the point which most recently hosted the entrance to the demon realm. Similarly to the Goddess realm - as Elizabeth had learned from an early age - the entrance varied in location. Only the most trusted of subjects were given the location, just a select few individuals, in order to preserve the secrecy of the realm's gateway. A safety precaution - her mother had told her - a way to keep everyone else out.

At her young age, Elizabeth had never questioned the necessity of changing the gateways' locations. In her mind, it was just another silly rule to follow. Another limitation. However now, as a young woman, she could understand why that rule was so important; it kept people safe.

Currently, the group were eating lunch, seeking a recess under the shade of a great oak tree. More anti-social and agitated, Jezebel had raced off to go and see if she could spot anything amiss. Seeming to take a similar stance, the General had also disappeared from the shade of the tree, not really sharing any means of explanation aside from his agitated expression.

That flash of agitation, the look of impatience, was what made Elizabeth shrink as she sat against the rough bark of the tree. Again, it was as if the General could see right through her, cut through her thoughts. She didn't like that feeling. Nor did her twitchy darkness.

"You've been awfully quiet today," Klaus noted as he flicked his dark gaze to Elizabeth. Surprisingly, he had brought his gaze up from the small book in his hands, his attention drawn to the brooding hybrid. "Care to share?"

Thickly, Elizabeth swallowed, knowing that hiding the truth was futile. Klaus and Jezebel were there to help her. When she had first learned of the plan she was to follow, Elizabeth was told very clearly that Klaus and Jezebel were vital to her success. Of course, she did not know who they were yet - how could she so many months ago! - but she knew of their importance. Their support. They were to act as her allies, her teammates.

Her mother had made that clear.

Yet today, Elizabeth couldn't make much sense of anything. Last night, her dream, had jumbled everything up in her already frazzled mind. Her failure to persuade the General, the cryptic dreams that she cannot solve... so many things were so much harder than she had ever pictured them to be.

This entire journey was like an impossible test. All of her life, Elizabeth had worked tirelessly to hone her abilities and train herself to defeat the Prince of Darkness. Countless years of work, countless hours of study and praying and fighting, had been given to achieve this goal. To pass this final test. But now, as if to mock her, laugh at her, the questions were all on topics she had never encountered before. Impossible riddles. Unsolvable problems.

Perhaps she should have listened to Mael. Perhaps she should have-

"You shouldn't let your mind spiral like that," A calm hand on her shoulder startles the young woman, her eyes wide as she turns to face the owner. Kind, supportive, it is Klaus, his book left abandoned in the grass under the tree. "Your darkness responds to your emotions. The more you feed it, the more it will consume."

Taking in a deep breath, Elizabeth nodded and tried to regain a sense of calm. Slowly, surely, she felt herself come back to reality - however that was meant to feel - and released a gentle sigh as she leaned back against the tree, her knees trapped between her pale arms.

"You still haven't said if you wanted to share," Klaus speaks, his voice soft in the summer breeze as he also leans against the tree. His shaggy hair shifts in the slight gale as he grins. "Although, your family does tend to be secretive of their thoughts and feelings."

"They are?" Elizabeth asks, her voice no more than a soft whisper. She feels that she is treading into taboo territory. A great unknown that will unleash a great calamity. "But I thought that demons were much more... expressive."

"Most are," Klaus shrugs a little, picking up his book. With great care, he closes it and tucks it into his breast pocket. It is then Elizabeth notices the graphite tucked behind his ear, leaving a dark smudge on his skin. "But your family - well, they were always an odd bunch to begin with. 'A mix of mongrels and half-breeds' as many of the higher ups liked to say. Your father's intense love of the other races was never fully appreciated in his time."

As Klaus speaks, Elizabeth notes the sadness in his voice. Traces of melancholy, grief, that only someone as emotionally adept as herself could pick up. Soft notes of sorrow, low shifts of lament. Like delicate music, like whispers in the wind, they are barely traceable. But Elizabeth notes them, absorbs them, her heart always being one that was keenly attached to others' deepest thoughts and feelings.

"What more do you know?" Elizabeth cannot help her curiosity - even though it is dangerous to want to know more. If she was more detached, it would be easier to wage a war against the demon race. Not as much guilt would be tied to her deeds, her deception, if she were to distance herself from seeing this society, no these demons, as people.

But Elizabeth was never able to fully distance her kind heart from her dutiful mind. Emotion would always overtake logic in her heart. There would never be an occasion where she would ignore what she felt, what she believed, in the name of blinded duty.

'Foolish girl,' Her darkness hisses, tsking at her affection and naivety. 'That is why we always land ourselves in trouble.'

"There is so much that I want to tell you," Klaus begins, his face lighting up with the life of all the memories brimming in his brain. However, it quickly flickers, withers, fading into a shadowed husk. "But, we live in a time - in a reality - where I can't share it all. Most of it, I'm afraid, you will have to learn yourself."

At Klaus' response, Elizabeth goes to open her mouth. She tries to refuse, to counter his point, but it falls short when she spots the approaching figures: Jezebel and the General. Together they storm toward the tree, one looking annoyed and the other rather uncharacteristically confused. Both expressions curdle Elizabeth's gut, makes her reach out for Minx, who hisses at the arrival of the pair. That expression can only mean one thing. One thing.

"We're being followed," The voice of the General, strained into a quiet bark. Elizabeth does not miss his skeptical glare in her direction, the way he blames her for this with his eyes. Such a look makes her shrink, quiver, beneath his gaze.

"Do you know by who?" Klaus asks, helping Elizabeth to her shaky feet. Concerned, he aids her for a second longer than necessary, noticing the way her knees tremble and skin pales.

"An Archangel apparently," Jezebel sniffs, rolling her eyes. She raises a brow, gazing at Elizabeth. "I thought something was amiss a while back. But apparently, the General spotted one of them in the flesh."

'An Archangel?' Elizabeth shivers, fearing what may have happened. If the General had encountered one of them, then they could have been seriously injured. Perhaps even worse! Not only that, but they would have seen how much she was struggling, would have seen how she shrunk and shivered in the presence of the general, intimidated by his hard gaze.

'I warned you ages ago,' Her darkness sings, itching in her veins as she tried to soothe her nerves. Her hand finds itself stroking Minx's glossy fur. 'They will never let us go.'

No refute leaves Elizabeth. Nothing. Not even when they leave the great oak tree behind, ditching the clear cut path and chancing it in the wilderness of Britannia's forests. Treading through dense undergrowth, crossing rivers, scaling mini rock faces: everything is just followed. Even when her legs ache, even when her throat is dry and her lungs are tired, Elizabeth says nothing. She is too scared. Too bewildered.

No matter what she did, someone was always watching her. Whether it was her mother, Klaus or Jezebel, or even the General, someone was always keeping her under wraps. Someone was always nothing down her every move.

Beating rapidly, her heart raced in her chest. Now there was no true room for error. There was no thing called failure. Elizabeth had to succeed in her plan - otherwise she would end up failing everyone around her.