Chapter 1

It was a normal day at the Boar's Hat Tavern. Ban and King were outside bickering, Diane was off gathering wood and mushrooms, Gowther had gone to town looking for some more books, and Merlin was in her room doing who-knows-what. Meliodas and Elizabeth were both in the bar, cleaning and getting ready to open the tavern for the night. Meliodas glanced over at the young princess, watching her as she dutifully cleaned a table, her rear sticking up in the air and giving him a marvelous sight. She laughed at something a tiny Hawk said from his perch on her shoulder, and Meliodas couldn't help but smile. Her smile, her laugh, her eyes... everything about her made him smile... at least, on the outside.

On the inside, he was fighting a war.

It took all of his willpower to push back his deeper, darker thoughts but, even then, he would be smacked in the face with the sheer force of his dark self trying to break free. His words were so tempting. Take her, claim her, mark her, make her yours. Fuck the life out of her, make her scream your name as she falls into nirvanna all over your... Meliodas shakes his head to clear the dark thoughts fogging his brain. Oh, so tempting... but he would never do something like that to Elizabeth. She was his light, the person he cared most about. She deserved to be treated, er, properly. Go on, just have a taste of that sweet virgin. A taste won't hurt. Meliodas frowned as he realized he was about to give in. He steeled his will and locked the beast away in the depths of his mind. No, not even a taste. For surely, if he so much as kissed her while he was in this unstable state, he would lose control.

And hurt her.

No, anything but that. He would never want to see Elizabeth hurt, physically or otherwise. He looked back at the girl, who was completely oblivious to his inner struggle. She glanced up and smiled sweetly at him, a cute blush coming to her face. He smirked at this, his eyes full of mirth. She was so cute and naive and innocent. The poor girl probably didn't even realize the extent of her own feelings for him, even though it was obvious to everyone around her that she was in love with him. Even Meliodas knew that much. Hell, he was over three thousand years old; he could tell when a woman was in love. He played the part of an innocent good-doer well, he mused lightly to himself. If only she and everyone else knew that their kind-hearted captain had a side so evil it would make them piss their pants. Even Ban. Oh, what a sight that would be.

Meliodas gave a small sigh now as he turned back to cleaning a mug. No matter what he did, he just couldn't seem to be free of this darkness. It made sense, when he thought about it. He'd spent most of his life as a general of the demon clan. He was known as the most vicious, ruthless, and coldhearted demon in the clan, next to his father, of course. He was in line to take the throne, and he knew that even now his father still wanted him to take his place. He vaguely wondered what he would do if his father offered him that position right now. Would he revert to his old ways? Would he lose himself to his inner demon again? No, he wouldn't let that happen! Not when he had so many people he cared for relying on him. Not when Elizabeth was relying on him.

But damn it all if it wasn't tempting.

"Um... Sir Meliodas?" a soft voice reached his ears and he looked up at the princess, who was looking at him with a worried expression. He gave her a smile, which widened as she blushed again. "Um, are you... are you okay? Y-you're awfully quiet today."

"I'm just thinking about how beautiful you are, my dear Elizabeth." he grinned as his hand found rest on her cute round bottom. He gave a squeeze and watched with a grin as her blush deepened considerably.

"U-um..."

"Hey! Get your hands off her, ya perv!" Hawk squealed from his perch on Elizabeth's shoulder.

"Nah, don't feel like it." Meliodas chuckled, finding it very amusing that Hawk was no longer large enough to force him away from his dear princess. He gave her ass another squeeze, loving the feel of her firm round rear in his hand. He couldn't wait to finally have her all to himself, couldn't wait to make her his, claim her, mark her, fuck her... Shit, his thoughts went dark again and he had to force his demon markings away before anyone saw. He released his hold on the princess and gave her his usual smile with practiced ease. "Why don't you and Hawk head into town for some supplies? Get something for yourself while you're there. My treat." he said, handing Elizabeth a coin purse as he waggled his eyebrows at her. "Maybe get yourself some cute underwear. I can't wait to see it on you."

"S-Sir Melidoas..." Elizabeth flustered at his suggestion while Hawk screeched about his lewdness. He only chuckled and practically pushed the princess out of the tavern.

"Go on, now, you two have fun. We can handle the bar for a little bit." he said in that overly cheerful tone of his. Elizabeth blushed but nodded as she was urged out the door. She didn't even have time to get in a proper thank you before the door was closed. Meliodas sighed heavily once the door closed, leaning back against it. His demon markings were in full view now, his normally green eyes a shade of black so dark and evil he just knew Elizabeth would have been frightened to see them.

"My, my, what an interesting sight." A sultry female voice came from the stairs. He threw a glare at Merlin which would have turned any sane woman to stone, but she just chuckled haughtily. "It's not like you to lose control so easily, captain. That princess must really be something."

"I don't want to have this discussion with you, Merlin." his voice was colder than she'd heard it before, and it sounded like there were two voices speaking at the same time when he spoke. It was an eerie feeling, and she knew she needed to watch her step around him, when he was so close to losing control.

"Now, now. I only wish to help, my dear captain. Can't have you losing it like this every time your mind goes to the gutter." She hummed, staying right where she was. She was no fool; she knew approaching him in this state would be suicidal. She already had a plan of escape in mind if he were to attack her, and those odds were pretty high right now.

"You can't help me. Not this time, and not in this case." Meliodas' cold eyes narrowed at her. "You, in all your infinite knowledge, don't even know what's going on with me. I can see it. In your eyes. You're confused and curious. You're only like this if you find something you have no knowledge about."

"I must admit, you've found me out." She tried to sound amused but there was a tick of annoyance in her voice. Her captain knew her far too well. "But allow me to make my best guess? Your lust for the girl is awakening the darkness within you?" Meliodas grinned, tilting his head to one side. She had to fight off a shiver of fear. He looked so... evil like this.

"Something like that." he chuckled darkly. He wasn't about to give her the full details. No, he didn't trust Merlin nearly enough for that. She was the boar sin of gluttony, always starving for more information, more power to hold over everyone. He wasn't about to give her that satisfaction.

"Captain, I'm back!" a singsong voice distracted both of them. Meliodas glanced out the window and saw Diane approaching, having returned from gathering wood and mushrooms. Meliodas was quick to regain control of his darkness, and Merlin watched with fascination as his demon markings just faded away and his eyes turned green again. He gave her a passive glance before heading outside, leaving the mage alone with her thoughts. It was times like this when Merlin really got under his skin, trying to be in his business, where she didn't belong.

"Hey, Diane! Welcome back." Meliodas cheered happily as he walked outside to greet the human-sized giantess. She smiled brightly at him as she dropped her wood down by the door, dusting off her hands afterwords. She looked around curiously.

"Hey, where's Elizabeth?"

"I sent her in to town for some supplies. She should be back soon enough. Now, come on, the bar's about to open and we need a waitress til she gets back."

"Right away, captain!"

Hellloooo everyone! My name's Everythingnerd12! Thanks for reading my first attempt at a Seven Deadly Sin's fanfiction. I recently got into the anime, and the manga, and the fanfiction... and I'm in love. Ever fall in love with an anime? It's awesome.

Anyways, please let me know what you think. This is gonna get a little dark and pretty smutty. Probably will be a lemon soon if I get too eager, but I wanna try to get in a few chapters first. Anyways, I love cmments, so give me all you got!

Thanks and until next time!