Once her company was gone and dusk began to fall, the Supreme Deity desired to spend more time, seated on her balcony space. She deeply despised just how indecisive and confused she felt as she was accustomed to clear-cut decision-making based solely on what she perceived to be sound reasoning. Not much emotion or intuition was put into those choices at all. Who needed those things if in they could result in an outcome of a range of things from utter chaos to harmony? To her, it just sounded disorderly, unpredictable, and not a way that a ruler could maintain order. The Supreme Deity found it also shameful that these were the same concepts that her own daughter seem to so passionately protest her with. Yet, she was too blinded by her false grasp of what it meant to be a "wonderful" leader, which lead her to practically a state of tyranny.
Various things were running through her mind yet she still decided to do what she tends to do best, suppress and forget. Still, she knew that this time around, it wouldn't be that easy. Such intense feelings of passion and earnest yearning for someone can't be easily quenched. Odd enough, the love she did not have the courage nor really the desire for so long to confess was her driving force of anger and bitterness during the war. Her thoughts began to drift as a soft breeze tenderly caressed her face. 'Besides Elizabeth, he's the only other person I've ever kissed or embraced,' the Supreme Deity thought as she sat in now moonlight within the darkness engulfing the sky.
Recalling the oddly sweet moment, caused a warmth to come over the queen's cheeks. The way he tenderly held her close...grasped her waist...her hips...how he kissed her lips...how his tongue gently stroked against her's..his touch lingered- At the sudden knocking on the threshold leading to her balcony, her thoughts were interrupted, causing a slight jump in reaction to the noise. "Oh-sorry if I scared you!" Elizabeth replied, calmly yet upbeat, in her usual soothing tone. "Not at all dear," replied the Supreme Deity, motioning for her daughter to join her while sitting. 'I guess I was too distracted to notice my daughter's magical presence,' thought the Supreme Deity, her eyebrows raised for a brief moment, slightly disappointed at herself.
"So, did the Demon King come?" asked Elizabeth while jokingly skipping towards her mother. The Supreme Deity smiled while watching her daughter as she hadn't seen such happiness from her since she was little. "Well, he did in fact, Elizabeth!-" the Supreme Deity replied as her voice rose in tone, and she quickly moved to prevent her daughter from harming herself since she just happened to trip in front of her. Over what- the mother was confounded attempting to figure out, but, nonetheless, somehow she managed to catch her, as Elizabeth ended up stretched out across her mother's lap.
Her mother slightly chuckled and asked "Are you okay, dear?" as Elizabeth sighed and began to recollect herself. "Mm, hm," Elizabeth replied as she sat up, leaning on her mother in her arms. "Anyway, how'd it go?" Elizabeth responded. "Sort of rough at first but things got better as time went on," her mother replied. "Really?" "Yes." "So why are you sitting out here," further inquired Elizabeth. "Oh, just thinking," the Supreme Deity answered. "About... what?" Elizabeth asked. "Honey, you sure do ask a lot of questions. Didn't I teach you to stay out of a grown person's business?" "Yeah, but that doesn't take away the fact that I'm curious. Plus, you're my mother so I have a pass. Oh, and aren't I technically an adult?" Elizabeth responded. "I suppose you are but I'll still see you as my baby girl. Time goes by too fast. Or rather I didn't use it well," replied the Supreme Deity as negative emotions arose in her.
"Hmm," Elizabeth replied while turning her face to the light illuminating the night. "Isn't the moon beautiful?" Elizabeth replied with awe. "It's gorgeous," the Supreme Deity replied now looking where her daughter was. "Didn't you make it?" Elizabeth innocently asked. The Supreme Deity hesitated for a second before replying "Well, um, that a discussion for another day, love. Did you eat yet?" "No. I'm not really hungry but I am sleepy," Elizabeth replied. "Go rest then, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" her mother responded while softly kissing her daughter's forehead. Elizabeth smiled at her mother's sweetness while replying "Goodnight!" as she got up to retreat to her bedroom.
The night became darker and time passed before the Supreme Deity figured to go inside as well. Although she was a god and did not really need sleep, she did still enjoy it from time to time. Not this night though. Her mind kept her up so the Supreme Deity didn't rest. Nevertheless, dawn arose before she knew it.
*Celestial Realm*
It was now the next day and things seem to overall be tranquil. For the civilians that was. On the contrary, the higher-ranking members of the race were still quite confounded and anxious to know what their leader's next move would be as they were given instructions to report to the Supreme Deity's palace. Tarmiel and Sariel were one of the first to make their way over to the palace since Ludociel was checking on his younger brother Mael and most likely would not drop in until necessary. Plus, Tarmiel and Sariel always hung out and had nothing better to do anyway.
"So, how's your day been so far?" Sariel asked sedately while floating (as he typically does) next to his comrade to further continue their current conversation. "Fine until I had to help train those younger goddess troops," he replied. "Oh really? Thankfully, my designated group isn't that bad," Sariel replied. "Well, it's not related to their training abilities because they all have great potential, but, those boy's with too much energy are a handful. Especially in the morning." "Tell me about it," Sariel answered.
"Anyway, when I tell you that you won't believe what Nerobasta and I saw yesterday-" Sariel started as his tone rose in accordance with the subject. Tarmiel sighed in response to his friend before replying "Oh dear, I didn't ask but I bet you're going to tell me either way." "You're damn right!" Sariel responded. "Go ahead," Tarmiel replied with a hint of sarcasm. "No, but seriously, please keep this in our inner circle 'cause I don't care to get in trouble, but, we saw the Demon King and Supreme Deity kissing each other."
Tarmiel raised one eyebrow in disbelief and came to a halt before replying to his friend. They stared at each other for a few moments before Tarmiel said "I don't believe you," and began to walk again, somewhat leaving Sariel behind. "I'm serious! I have a witness!" Sariel exclaimed while speeding up to make it beside Tarmiel once more. "There's no way!" Tarmiel blurted in response. "I- okay, why out of all times would you think I'm joking... right now?" "Does the Demon King even have facial features besides eyes?" Tarmiel inquired. "Surprisingly, yes. He has black hair, a long beard, all of it. That is under that hideous helmet and armor-" "His armor was off?! Are you sure they were just kissing?" Tarmiel interrupted with concern.
Sariel laughed as he responded "Calm down! All we saw was a kiss!" "I hate to ask this but I feel the need to at this point, what kind of kiss was it?" Tarmiel replied. "Well, I hate to say this too but it looked as if they were trying to swallow each other-" "Okay, that's too much, Sariel." "I'm being dead serious!" Sariel responded as the two of them approached the gates of the palace. Tarmiel then motioned for Sariel to hush as they saw the guards in sight and hence temporarily ended their conversation until they got far enough out of earshot.
30 minutes later
Some time passed and when they initially arrived, the Supreme Deity and her daughter were not ready. So, Sariel and Tarmiel decided to lounge, talk, and play a card game in the area the Supreme Deity permits those among the highest ranking of her creations to be. As they were talking, they heard a soft voice down the hallway leading to the area they were in. "Lady Elizabeth, Sir Tarmiel, and Sir Sariel are waiting down the hall," a royal maid replied to the soft voice they heard. "Thank you," Elizabeth replied.
Soft footsteps quickly approached the two archangels and surely enough, Elizabeth, in her short white dress was revealed, waving. "Hi!" Elizabeth said energetically in response to their presence. "Greetings, Princess Elizabeth. How are you?" Tarmiel caringly inquired while waving back. "Great actually," she replied smiling. "Are you off to somewhere or are you going to stick around?" Sariel asked. "I'm going to head out for the day. By the way, my mother should be up soon. She doesn't seem like herself so she may take more time today," Elizabeth replied while also waving and slightly shifting her attention, seeing the rest of the archangels along with a divine lance corporal approaching.
"Oh... really?" Sariel stated rather sardonically, as he side-eyed Tarmiel, who was silently threatening him to keep quiet. "What?" Elizabeth asked curiously, noticing their behavior. Before Sariel could reply, Tarmiel got up to go greet the others stating "It took you all long enough!" attempting to change the subject. Sariel and Elizabeth watched as Mael, Nerobasta, and Ludociel interacted with Tarmiel before Sariel exclaimed "Um, Nerobasta," while motioning with his pointer finger for her to come over. This caused the pink-haired goddess to turn her attention to him and Elizabeth, thus excusing herself from the conversation she was in, and began to stroll to Sariel and Elizabeth.
Once she got there, she greeted Elizabeth but gave Sariel a suspicious look. "Um, so, you know what you and I witnessed yesterday, miss?" Sariel remarked to Nerobasta with amusement. "Oh, Sir...," she paused before lowering her tone, knowing Elizabeth was in her presence, "please tell me you did not call me over about that!" she frantically whispered. "Of course!" Sariel answered in an upbeat way while Nerobasta assumed a 'you know better' stance and facial expression. "Hear me out. Lady Elizabeth here just said that the Supreme Deity isn't feeling like herself today, and..." Sariel paused hinting at the obvious reason why.
"What are you guys talking about?" Elizabeth exclaimed, with a relative hint of frustration. Loud enough that it caught Tarmiel's attention and caused him to be more concerned about what his friend may be spewing. He then began to quickly move in his direction, trying to prevent further 'damage' from being done. "Excuse me," Tarmiel stated to Ludociel and Mael in the middle of their conversation. "Sariel!" Tarmiel exclaimed while motioning him to shut up. "What?!" Sariel stated back.
"Why?" Nerobasta said to Sariel, pleadingly, as Tarmiel was coming their way. "Oh hush, she might as well know!" Sariel replied in response to both of them. "Know what!" Elizabeth clamored now frustrated. Nerobasta and Sariel sighed, before turning to face Elizabeth. "Well, Lady Elizabeth, yesterday, Sir Sariel and I witnessed the Supreme Deity with..." Nerobasta started with a soothing tone before being interrupted by Sariel; "With the Demon King in an... intimate moment," Sariel replied with attempted calmness. "Huh!?" Elizabeth practically shouted, grabbing the attention of Ludociel and Mael.
Elizabeth looked around the room in contemplation before leaning in and asking "What were they doing?!" "What's wrong?" Ludociel asked as he and his brother joined the rest of them. "The Supreme Deity and Demon King were 'enjoying' each other's company yesterday, sir," Nerobasta quickly replied to her superior before looking back at Sariel. "Uh oh, did your plan backfire?" Mael inquired of Sariel. "You knew about this?!" Ludociel asked his younger brother, perplexed. "Hush!" Sariel exclaimed, now turning his attention away from his other clansmen. Sariel began speaking, turning towards Elizabeth "Well, the Supreme Deity slipped the Demon King the tongue-," "More so a tonsil or two-," Nerobasta inserted, "Last evening," Sariel finished, as he and Nerobasta side-eyed each other.
Elizabeth's jaw dropped and there was a moment of utter silence as everyone exchanged blank stares with one another. Mael then made a gagging noise as he stepped away from the group, his hands on his knees, trying to regain control of his gagging reflex. Elizabeth just remained frozen, in shock. No one could entirely tell what was being felt on her end. Frankly, in a situation such as this one, who would really know what to feel?
Ludociel semi-turned to check on his brother to make sure he was okay but his attention could not entirely be towards his brother due to his own state surprise. Elizabeth remained silent as she looked around with frowning eyebrows, still not knowing what to say and further maintaining the complete silence in the room at the time. Nerobasta looked down and away from anyone's eyes due to how awkward she felt and Sariel somewhat did the same while for some reason trying not to chuckle. The silence didn't break until Mael recollected himself, fully stood up, and began to move closer to the group while quietly stating "That's just nasty." "I know right? How could she!" Elizabeth stated in a puzzled tone as she somewhat paced back and forth with her hand over her mouth. "Why would she is the question," Ludociel commented. "Hey, who's to say she doesn't get horn-" Sariel began to say before Tarmiel somewhat aggressively tapped him.
"Lady Elizabeth, dear, try to calm down..." The Supreme Deity could hear Nerobasta calmly advise someone as she approached where she knew her high-ranking troops were coming to meet her. 'Who needs to calm down?' the Supreme Deity thought as she walked faster in her human-like form to try and see what was happening. Once she walked through the threshold leading toward the area she suspected her guests to be. To her surprise, she was met with a confounded gaze from more than half of those present.
"Is something wrong?" her pleasant, resonant voice echoed through the space. "What do you mean what's wrong!?" Elizabeth practically spat at her mother. "Well excuse me? Did I miss something?" the Supreme Deity asked in an oddly genuine tone, with her head slightly tilted. She could hear whispers and see gestures between her daughter and some of the archangels to not do something which she couldn't make out, but, sure enough, her daughter ignored them and flat out asked "I've heard from various sources that Meliodas's father and you had a rather intimate 'rendezvous' just yesterday. Is it true?"
The Supreme Deity's gaze became indignant as it shifted to the ones standing around her daughter. She rolled her eyes before replying "I wouldn't call it exactly what you described as whatever source you heard from only witnessed that one moment but nothing more happened than what they saw. So in other words, yes, it is true to an extent." "But that doesn't answer all my questions, Mother. Why did you two... embrace each other the way I've been told and you admit?" Elizabeth further inquired with a hint of disgust. "Elizabeth, dear there was a lot of unaddressed... emotion between us and that came to the forefront in that moment. It's complicated. I apologize Elizabeth I would explain to you had there been no company with us," the Supreme Deity replied with a tinge of embarrassment as could be seen from her facial expression.
Elizabeth's response was silence with a serious look on her face, but, it was obvious her brain was ticking, trying to figure out what else to say. "Actually speaking of the 'company' we have, although I didn't say anything about it, I did notice the other day some type of aura similar to either you Sariel or Tarmiel along with someone else that at that moment my focus was not strong enough to put my finger on somewhere nearby. They remained and managed to reside close enough to where they would have seen the Demon King and I together. I won't invoke any type of punishment this time around but whoever it was among you will see to it that it never happens again. That's very disrespectful and nosy and I do not appreciate it," the Supreme Deity sternly stated while glaring at her elite troops.
When the Supreme Deity ended, the Four Archangels and Nerobasta all nodded without saying a word and some even looked down out of shame of a sort. Especially Nerobasta. She could have sworn her stop nearly stopped when her leader was giving a description of what she and Sariel did but was thankful she was still breathing. "Well this has been incredibly awkward and I'm gonna go now," Elizabeth said as she slowly walked to leave her mother and fellow clansmen alone.
As soon as the Supreme Deity felt the presence of her daughter dissipate, she still continued on with speaking despite the highly discomfiting moment just experienced. "I will have every single one of you know that should this spread past these four walls I will not let you live it down. Plus, my romantic affairs are none of your concern," she continued. "Your Highness, respectfully, I wouldn't worry about us leaking anything on this matter but rather Lady Elizabeth," Ludociel commented. The Supreme Deity then quickly replied, nearly interrupting her subject "I said what I said and that's the very end of this discussion. Now-" "Wait, Your Highness," Mael interjected as the Supreme Deity's face grew increasingly aggrieved. "Mael, hush," Ludociel warned his brother. "No," Mael replied. "How is it okay that the same race we were so adamantly urged by You to purge from existence, you've confessed your love for their leader and now everything's fine? What about the immense bloodshed, loved ones lost, tears, trauma, pain, sorrow, and agony that was caused by this war, and now all of a sudden it's dismissed as if it never happened? I'm sorry but that really is not okay, Your Highness," Mael boldly noted with a tinge of hostility.
"He does have a point, Your Highness," Tarmiel added. "I mean, this kind of information could very well be used to extort your rulership potentially in its entirety. It's quite a serious matter, Supreme Deity," Sariel noted while dropping the playful tone he usually speaks with. All the Supreme Deity managed to do was sigh at the truth that was being presented to her. She'd rather not explain her innermost emotions or rather dark and discordant underlying motives behind certain things she does to beings she, herself made and gave power. In the face of her hate for being in a vulnerable position, she plainly stated, softening her typical demanding tone "Listen, I know all your points are valid but even as a god I myself do not have the answer to everything. I don't know everything and I'm not all-powerful. I have my reasons for doing the things that I have and right now I'm still trying to reason through individual affairs. Therefore am not in a place to provide a decent answer to your questions. Candidly, there is not a 'decent' explanation for any of this and I cannot begin to reason with you all at the moment."
Mael found himself feeling something towards the Supreme Deity he hadn't ever felt before, disappointment. He wouldn't have thought in his wildest dreams that such an authoritative and upstanding figure would have such faults. None of the archangels or the divine lance corporal present would have expected that. Ashamed and not knowing what to do, the Supreme Deity turned her back. While looking down to the side, she inconspicuously said "I apologize for my nefarious faults but you all are dismissed," as a tear ran down her face.
Just as their leader turned her back, so did the rest of the goddesses present. Some with diffidence and others on the contrary such as Sariel left without a care. Upon leaving, the short goddess said under his breath "Gladly," with a hint of attitude and scorn.
'I suppose I truly did desire such a broken fantasy of existence,' the conflicted leader of the Goddess Race thought as she walked away, sulking in the same helplessness and chaos that seem to engulf her inward being.