Chapter Five: Silhouettes

Warning: This chapter contains a scene with attempted rape.

She had been pacing back and forth in her room for what felt like the longest now, mostly out of anxiety but also because she had nothing else to do but to simply wait.

The servants had finished dressing her a while ago in a sheer and much too short white nightdress that left nearly nothing to the imagination. Despite their secrecy and cautious words, the timid servants' actions prior to the moment left nothing for Elizabeth to guess and practically screamed the situation at her. It was much too obvious—their insisting on dressing her, the way they dressed her. Despite Elizabeth's lack of formal knowledge on the opposite sex and… intimacy, she knew the very basics at least. And the way she was dressed left her absolutely stunned and terrified for all that would come next.

When they were mostly done, finishing up combing her hair, Elizabeth had turned and begged the servants for anything else to wear—the furious blush on her cheeks and the worry in her eyes probably making her look pitiful and pathetic. And perhaps the servants had felt sorry for her. They were a little reluctant at first, but after all her pleading they finally gave in and found her a bath robe to wear over the nightgown. They dismissed themselves by bidding her a 'good night' and she wanted to scream as they left. She's left with her destructive thoughts. Was their idea of a 'good night' really so dark and twisted? Didn't they realize that their master was about to force himself on a woman? She couldn't believe it.

So now as she paces around the room, avoiding the shiny mirror taunting her at the center of it, she feels helpless and, ultimately, abandoned. Soon, Meliodas would come and she would find out just how true he'd stay to the words he promised a while back when they first met. He had mentioned…fooling around with his pets, albeitbeing said in a much more obscene way, but she feels it's all happening much too soon. His threat remained present in the back of her mind all this time, but Elizabeth had thought those words would end up falling through somehow and that she would be rescued long before then because a tiny part of her had hoped and wished she would have been.

Elizabeth wished her mother would have found some newly rediscovered compassion for her, something that reassured Elizabeth of the mother she knew long ago, her sweet mother she's now come to think she must have imagined in all her grief.

She should have known, no—she did knowbetter. She was just stupid for trying to fool herself into believing in her mother's twisted kindness, foolish for imagining that perhaps she would be kind enough to save her only daughter from this sort of fate that so many others before her have fallen victim to. Would her mother give her the same fate as the others? Would she even make it back to her home for her mother to be able to make that decision? Did she even want to go back to find out? There was no guarantee that she'd ever return to see the light of grace again when all was said and done, and she was beginning to wonder if that would be in her favor.

Elizabeth stops her pacing and feels her breath leave her when she hears noise outside her door. Her heart hammers against her ribs, the warm robe doing nothing to keep her body from trembling.

She doesn't hear anything beyond the noise, and she takes the moment of quiet as her permission to finally breathe again. She grips her head tightly with both hands, catching a few strands of hair in the process, and she tries to think of something, anything, to keep her mind off of the stinging tears forming in her eyes. The waiting was driving her nearly mad.

Was there anything she could do, though? Was this all still divine retribution for her actions so long ago? Would the divinity of the world cause her such grief until she met her end? Elizabeth felt cursed by her mother's resentment. Her mother would abandon her here after all and still somehow make her feel like she deserved all of this.

If there was one thing her mother and this destiny of hers had in common, it's that they were determined to see her fall apart. The world was against her, determined to make her all the more miserable before this life of hers was over. She didn't want this. She didn't want to wait to find out what would happen to her.

She looked towards the door and debated her current thoughts for a long minute—stay here…stay here and surrender herself to this despair and perhaps it would end easily after all this was over or—

Elizabeth shakes her head, not allowing herself to debate any further and sink into the murkiness of it all. She heads to the door and grabs the knob, twisting it as quietly as she could and opening the door slowly. She peeked out of the doorway, looking around to see if there would be anyone standing around to keep their eyes on her. When she doesn't notice anybody in the corridors, she takes a step out. She hesitates afterwards, wondering how exactly she'll get herself out of this mess.

The manor is huge, but not forever.

Shewalks out and closes the door behind her. She remembers where the staircase she found was and that's where she sets her temporary goal. If there was a way out, she'd find it down there. Even then, there was the matter of what she'd do if she found her way out of here. There was no telling what exactly waited for her outside of this place and she was unsure if she'd be able to handle whatever was out there, but she won't get out of this mess by being a coward.

She reaches the staircase with ease, thankfully, but stops in her tracks when she hears voices as she's making her way down. She breathes a sigh of relief when the voices fade away and she continues her trek downwards until she reaches the bottom. She peeks around the wall of the stairs to see if the corridor was clear, but it was dimly lit and there was only so much she could see from where she was. When Elizabeth hears nothing but silence, she begins to walk alongside the wall of the corridor feeling around the area to make up for her lack of vision. There were no windows on this level of the manor, and she comes across of a few doors but falters against opening them for the time being, afraid of finding demons on the other side of the door.

Just as Elizabeth begins to feel as if she's running out of options, she hears voices again but this time around the corner of another corridor. She stops and presses her back against the wall to keep herself hidden, pressing a hand over her heart because goodness she feels like it will give out anytime now from beating so fast. She inhales deeply, trying to mentally prepare herself and she turns her head to look around the corner of the wall to see what all was occurring between the voices she hears.

Before Elizabeth really had the chance to listen in on their conversation, however, she feels her body being pulled against another and her mouth covered just before she could let out a cry in surprise. She tries to turn her head and see who she was caught by, but the hand on her mouth restricts most of the movement of her head. She struggles against the body, squirming around to try and write her way out of their arms. The hand against her mouth drops and then she's suddenly tossed over a shoulder. She's unable to hold back a cry this time, the sudden motion making her dizzy.

They're walking—she doesn't notice exactly when it happens, or how quickly, but when her head's finally stopped spinning, she realizes that they were back in her room.

"I figured you would have tried to escape one of these days." A voice sounds out smooth and quiet. She freezes, a shiver going down her spine as she immediately recognizes the voice—one that she had hoped she wouldn't hear again.

In the next moment, she was thrown on her bed, another cry escaping her at the impact. She stares wide eyed at him and she swears her heart just about stopped from terror. Meliodas stands before her, his dark gaze and a wicked smirk seemingly taunting her. He steps back, turning around to walk back to the door and close it. She notices, when he shrugs his legs out of his boots, that he was wearing the same attire she first saw him in. "Decent attempt, though. You were close to making your way out."

With her eyes still wide from the dangerous setting she finds herself in, her mouth opens in an attempt to get words out, but she only manages to release a shaky sigh. She was still wired from everything and attempting to calm down as much as she could.

"The Demon Realm, however, has a perilous environment. Even as a goddess, I doubt you'd make it far before you perished." He continues.

Elizabeth sits up, ignoring the urge to shiver and stubbornly mutters, "I would have figured out something."

Meliodas smirks, walking towards her again and her heart starts to race again. "I figure I should also tell you that the Goddesses haven't retaliated yet." Meliodas says, his approach suddenly predatory as he begins to unfasten the buttons on his white coat, "It's bizarre that they would abandon their cherished princess."

The words hit her hard and she freezes. She knew. She knew this already. Why does hearing the words from him affect her in such a way? Elizabeth bites her lip to keep from releasing the sob that was beginning the build in her chest at her thinking of how she had been deserted. She wants to retort back but there is no victory for her in this fight. She chose not to say anything and remained quiet while he taunted her.

Once again, he's standing before her at the edge of the bed and she just stares, feeling defeated. And then he's over her in an instant, having quickly pushed her back down on the bed. She panics but finds her strength lost when he speaks again, "Have you been forsaken, princess?" He taunts and proceeds to raise her arms above her head while she has her guard down and ultimately restricts her movement.

She's unable to resist, her eyes wide as his words dug through her like a knife. He restrains her with one hand, the other moving to the knot of her robe and undoing it. "Your own mother doesn't even bat an eyelash at your absence." He opens the robe to her dismay, exposing her in the nightdress. He leans back to regard her with hazy, dark eyes, never releasing his grip on her as he takes her in.

Elizabeth closes her eyes tightly to avoid his lust filled gaze and bites her lip hard enough to where she starts feeling blood trickle down her chin, trying to use the pain as a means to focus on anything else but his harsh words. She feels his cold fingers on her lips and something wet trailing down the line of blood she drew. Her eyes fly open in shock and she's unable to stop the gasp that escapes her when she watches him lick his lips. "Now she's left you here for me to indulge in."

She feels his hands start sliding down to her chin and over her chest. When his hand reaches her breast and starts to squeeze, she cries out in surprise, the sensation making her feel revolted with herself. When his hand trails further down her body and reaches the hem of the dress, he slides his hand under the fabric and rests it against her thigh before speaking again. "Don't fret," He whispers against her ear right before pressing his lips against her neck and licking at her racing pulse, "I'll deliver you in one piece right on her doorstep when I'm done."

Elizabeth's entire body stiffens, unsure of whether it was because his repulsive mouth was on her or because his statement felt like a final punch to her gut. She couldn't hold back the sob that she releases, everything all at once shattering her already vulnerable state of mind, the situation at hand leaving her defenseless for him to see. She trembles against him as waves of emotions crash against her—fury, sorrow, agony, hate, and disgust.

"No," she manages to cry, her voice hoarse.

He stops moving against her and lifts his head up to look down at her, "No?"

"Please." She whispers, and Meliodas releases his grip on her hands out of curiosity. She immediately moves her arms over her face to hide her shame as best as she could.

Elizabeth hated this. She hated his touch, his cruel words, how disgusted she felt with herself for being so powerless and allowing him to do this to her, but most of all she hated herself. She hated everything about herself. She hated how out of control she felt, unable to fight against some greater power that was determined to see her fall. She hated how she felt like the entire world was against her, how she felt like her life would be shrouded forever in darkness.

"I don't want to go back." She cries out to him, to anything in particular that could hear her and change this sick joke the world has played on her.

Meliodas stopped his actions as she sobs uncontrollably underneath him, an unknown amount of time having passed.

She eventually feels him lean back and she removes her arms from her face to see what he was going to do next. He doesn't move. Instead, she catches him staring down at her as she looks up with him with tear filled eyes. She notices a faint dusting of red on his cheeks and his mouth turned down in a frown, but she doesn't try to think too much of it, and she looks away, trying to avoid his obscure eyes.

Although most of her integrity had already been exposed, she feels the need to still hide herself from him, still feeling much too vulnerable and humiliated.

When she feels his weight shift off of her, she's a bit confused but relieved but the first thing she tries to do is close her robe again. She sits up from her position in the middle of the bed and attempts to put as much space between them by standing and walking away from the bed until she reaches a wall in the room. She's still trembling from the chaos of her emotions, using a hand to wipe her tears as they come but unable to keep herself from sniffling.

"What causes you to cry?" Elizabeth hears him ask from the bed as she turns her head to look at him. He hadn't moved much from before, but he was sitting on the side of the bed with his back turned to her. She doesn't understand why exactly he was asking but takes in a shaky breath before replying, "Do your victims usually not cry when you force yourself on them?"

When he doesn't say anything, she continues, "I don't exactly have fond memories of the Celestial Realm." She answers honestly, unsure of why she chooses to disclose this information to him, "I don't want exist anywhere near there."

She hears him move and sees him stand from the bed. He walks over to put his boots back on and turns to face her, she notices the buttons on his coat were fastened once again. "You were ready to die back then, weren't you?"

Elizabeth doesn't answer immediately, casting her gaze to the ground.

"I was scared at first. When I finally realized what all was happening, I thought that it was a chance to finally be free." Elizabeth finally admits, but somehow the words seemed more for her sake than as an answer for him.

When he doesn't respond, she musters up the courage to move her gaze from the ground to him. She's startled by the way he looks at her, his dark eyes regarding her sadly—the first time she notices being able to read his gaze.

"Get some rest." He whispers, quickly turning away from her eyes.

She stares after him even moments after he's left her room, unsure of herself and how to feel after he gives her a look like that. But she's exhausted, emotionally and physically. Her eyes were heavy from her crying, her muscles aching—her whole body felt just awful. She decides to listen to his advice and make her way back to the bed.

Rest sounded like a sweet dream right now.

Silhouettes, Of Monsters and Men

This chapter was super, duper late and I apologize. I took a little mental health break last week, and since then I was just kind of putting off writing this chapter. I knew what I wanted to write, but it's hard for me to write scenes like this and it probably shows, maybe feeling a little rushed even. The updated rating obviously reflects on the writing in this chapter. I hope you all are enjoying the story, though! There is finally a small development between the two and it will be growing with each new chapter. :)