Stand By Me by Fullmetal Pyromaniac

Chapter twenty-six


Meliodas couldn't sleep. Elizabeth had been in the operating room for almost eight hours now. Baltra had gone home not long ago, not wanting to leave Meliodas alone for too long. He was a kind man, the kind of man he wished his father would have been. He'd played on his phone for a good few hours, written and edited most of the story book, and even texted Ban until the older boy stopped replying- Meliodas assumed he fell asleep.

It was another hour later when Merlin knocked gently on his door and came in, perspiration matting her raven hair to her head, her golden eyes hooded and tired. Meliodas was suddenly even more awake, sitting up eagerly in his hospital bed. He opened and closed his mouth, a million questions sat behind his lips yet none would express themselves properly.

"She's alive, her heart stopped once but we revived her quickly. Other than that it went well, she's in the ICU until tomorrow, you can see her then"

Relief and joy and everything flooded Meliodas all at once, overwhelming him like a tidal wave. With a sigh he sank back into the pillows of his bed, and let a small tear drip down over his nose and onto the pillow.

"Thank you" was all he said, the emotions all catching up with him and wearing him out. Merlin sighed quietly.

"Well, she's not out of the waters completely yet, but-" she smiled softly, "you're welcome" and she left, closing his bedroom door behind her.

Meliodas closed his eyes and slept easily.

...

Two days had passed, and Elizabeth still lay like Sleeping Beauty in her bed, though there were heart monitor beeps instead of birdsong. Her silvery hair was splayed out like a white halo, she was angelic even in her comatose state. Meliodas barely left her room, taking up residence in a small white plastic chair; that hurt his back and his ass, and sitting next to Elizabeth. He was either talking to her, reading to her, or simply holding her hand. That day he had rested his arm on the mattress, and leant his chin on it, playing with a strand of her hair.

She could fit any princesses personality and still be the brightest in the room, she could out-princess them any day. Though, Meliodas thought, maybe he was a bit biased.

The strand of hair fell through his fingers like silk, so he did it again and again, hoping deep in his soul that perhaps the gentle feeling would rouse her from her sleep. But it never worked, despite him wishing on the stars that were visible from her bedroom window.

When noon came; his nurse knew to bring his food and medication to Elizabeth's room instead of his own (after he hadn't eaten on the first day of seeing Elizabeth- it was left in his room and he didn't think to go get it) Merlin had made quite sure he was staying in good health.

"See Ellie" he whispered after the nurse had gone, taking a gulp of tea and downing his tablets, "I'm still taking my meds, like you wanted me to. Aren't you proud?"

No reply, as usual.

"Okay then, just remember that I'll wait for you to wake up, always and forever" he kissed her cheek, ignoring that it was cold and clammy and nothing like Elizabeth, "get better soon Elizabeth" and laying his head down on her bed, fell into a light doze, her hand clutched in his.

...

On the third day, Veronica and Margaret visited. Meliodas was shocked to hear that Baltra had fallen and had hurt his hip badly.

"He was in a bad mood and tried to stand on his own" Margaret had told him, wiping at tears that had surfaced at the corners of her eyes, "We thought Ellie should know, even if she's in...this state"

And so they told her, and told her all about Margaret's pregnancy and Veronica's promotion. Margaret was planning on calling the baby Ellie-June, after Elizabeth and her mother.

"If it's a boy Gil wants to call it Douglas" She said, "But I'm certain it's a girl, I can feel it"

They stayed there for hours, eventually leaving with a teary goodbye and a promise to be back soon. Leaving cards, balloons, and a teddy bear behind.

Meliodas took the bear and put it under Elizabeth's limp arm.

"See Ellie? Did you hear Veronica and Margaret? I know you did, I'm certain of it" she didn't reply, only the steady beating of her monitors did.

"I'm a patient man Ellie, so I'll wait for as long as possible. But I doubt the everyone else is. So wake up soon, 'Kay?"

He rested his head on the mattress and gazed up at her, only moving to eat and drink.

...

By the time the fourth day came around, everyone was getting antsy, the deadline (excuse the poor choice of wording) was in three days. Elizabeth had thirty-six hours to wake. up or else she never would, and everyone was feeling it. Diane had barely made it five minutes in her room before tears began cascading down her face and onto the floor.

King had given up trying to talk to Meliodas, though he wasn't bitter, just solemn. Ban had tried to persuade him to come to one of the club meetings, he had refused, almost biting his head off in the process. Ban wasn't going to give up though.

Gowther visited, but never said anything, his eyes coldly calculating Elizabeth's sleeping figure. After three hours, he got up and left without as much as a goodbye. Though his nurse Guila had to calm him down from several panic attacks later that night. It was affecting everyone.

"Captain, you need to get out of here. C'mon, lets go outside, we can go exploring, make an outside den. Lets go" Ban tried negotiating for the fifth time that day.

"No thanks" Meliodas replied nonchalantly, "I'll pass for today"

"C'mon, you've been in here for three days. Hell you even sleep in here! Dontcha think it's about excessive?"

"No I don't" Meliodas replied, voice tense, "Elizabeth'll panic if I'm not her when she wakes up"

An uneasy feeling rose in Ban's stomach. She had thirty-six hours with her chances of waking up decreasing almost every minute.

"Meliodas" he said softly, "you need to remember it might not be a matter of 'whens'' but a matter of 'ifs'" he waited, watching as Meliodas tensed and lifted his head from the mattress, a dangerously mad look in his eyes.

"If she wakes up? I know she will Ban, she promised me"

"It's not a matter of promises!" Ban provoked, "it's a matter of if she can heal herself fast enough before we lose her"

Meliodas stood this time, coming over and standing nose-to-chest with Ban.

"Elizabeth will wake up"

"We don't know that, so it's better you prepare yourself for the worst now instead of fucking moping in here all the time!" Ban shouted, his patience with the blond man worn too thin.

"Fuck off! Just because your fucking bitter over Elaine so you don't want anyone to be happy!" Meliodas fired back, spitting venom all over his friend who had turned a ghostly pale. "I promised that when she woke up I would kiss her, and now I might not be able to!"

In one fell swoop, he picked up his white plastic chair and slammed it on the floor, Ban dunless as the shrapnel flew around the room. When Meliodas had realised what he'd done, silvery tears slipped down his face and he sank to his knees, the white shards scattered around him like a broken mirror.

Ban stared at Meliodas benignly, watching as his friend sobbed and wailed. He stood, brushing himself down and picking up the plastic on the floor and stashing it under the bed to be removed later.

He then flicked the small pieces off of Elizabeth -miraculously she was pretty much clean- and sat next to Meliodas, wrapping an arm around his trembling shoulder.

"You really love her, huh?" Ban murmured while Meliodas' cries softened.

"I do, and I never told her, I chickened out of kissing her because I don't want to let her go" another wave of tears poured down his face and his quickly swiped them away "Sorry" he apologised once his breathing had calmed down, "for what I said earlier. You know I didn't mean it"

"I know" Ban acknowledged, "and I forgive you"

And he did. Because he knew what it was like to lose someone who knew you more than you did yourself, and what it was like for this was unsaid words to linger until they became stale and poisonous.

Love was a waiting game, Ban could only hope that Meliodas and Elizabeth would make it through this together and in one piece.

Meliodas might just not make it otherwise.


End of chapter twenty-six.

A.N. Wow, this chapter was so fun to write, you guys have no idea. We're almost done guys, the last chapters will be posted over today and tomorrow, as tomorrow is the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! IT'S ALMOST BEEN A YEAR!

Okay, I won't be too long on here, so check out my twitter (Fullmetal_RUBY), Tumblr (Oddwriting), and AO3 (Infinitely_Odd) for for writing shit, I'm posting a voltron story on my AO3...so stay up to date!

Okay, review, follow, favourite, and thank you all for doing so already! Honestly, I would never have gotten this far without you!

Bye bye!

- Ruby xxx