Part Four

Elizabeth mourns silently.

Merlin had transported the five of them to the front of the ruined temple as soon as it came into view in the crevice of the earth they had been traveling through. Meliodas and her are deep in discussion together, climbing the cracked stairs, their heads together and leaving the rest of them behind. It's been like that, those two have stayed up and worked well into the nights over their week-long journey. They are so intent on saving Elizabeth their actions have inadvertently excluded both Elizabeth and Escanor from partaking or helping. The red-headed man who shifted from a beefcake in the day to a soft poetic man at night felt the sting of jealousy while Elizabeth simply understood she is of no real use.

Her eyes roam the rubble. Memories fill in what is missing of the building and her lip quivers as she sucks in a silent, harsh breath. Hawk passes her, grumbling about being back in this dump and though she knows he has no idea, her heart squeezes painfully. When her mother grew too powerful for this world she had to leave, and due to that, she left behind Elizabeth. This temple took her in and after a few years of lonely dedication to their gods, another orphan joined her, a powerful mage girl named Merlin who the goddesses had wanted to use.

This had been Elizabeth's home. Escanor, growing bigger as the sun crept higher is still a gentleman this early in the morning. "Are you alright, Lady Elizabeth?" his deep voice inquires, the mustache on his lip moves with his words. He is in loose clothes as he expects to be filling them out in a few hours and his hand raises to touch Elizabeth's upper arm in companionship.

"There used to be a garden over there." Her hand raises to point where jagged cliffs now sit, that part of the temple cracked off long before and is now sinking into the earth's crust. "Merlin and I had a swing there." She whispers, "we'd sneak out at night when we couldn't sleep." Her head slowly shakes, "the spires were over there, the prayer room was my favorite since it was always quiet." Her shoulders shake, her lungs tighten and she has a hard time inhaling fully.

Escanor listens as she hushes silly things about a favorite tree and how her people swarmed the place in constant droves. His hand moves up and down, palm along her arm in comfort. Her blue eyes swim as they meet his own and her shoulders stiffen. Her hand comes up and she swipes the wet away. "You are very strong to endure this long." Escanor gruffs to her and she smiles.

"I betrayed my people and they betrayed me," Elizabeth speaks with a calmness to her that is unsettling to her friend. "I should have perished with them but because of the curse they placed on me, I survived," It's an irony that is not lost on anyone in their party. "It is not a credit to my strength," she finishes appearing very strong in Escanor's eyes as she gathers herself.

"The others went in, let me escort you." Escanor offers his elbow and Elizabeth loops her arm though with an easy smile to her friend. With Meliodas and Merlin always busy it left Escanor and Elizabeth taking care of the bar and its patrons when they set up in the evenings. The two have become friends and Elizabeth enjoys both sides of Escanor, but his soft night side is her favorite. This past week he's read to her from his journal of poetry on the porch while they looked at the stars.

Elizabeth's determination wavers as they make their way closer and closer to the decrepit temple. A fear blooms in her and she has to fight herself to approach the temple. The memories are gone but the feelings are not and as she trembles she feels that this is where she was cursed. As Escanor helps her to the top landing facing the askew front stone doors to her old home, she remembers it. Fragments of memories returning as she's been lead like this to the doors before but another person had held her arm and shackles had been on her wrists.

"Jelamet brought me up..." Elizabeth starts but she can hear Merlin and Meliodas speaking inside about the statue having moved for him. In her memories, there aren't any statues, and her curiosity is piqued. Her mind whirls as the last moments of her life when she was not cursed plays in fast forward. She shivers and Escanor releases her to walk into the temple in the lead and ushers her inside protectively.

A soft groan escapes her as she gives the area a once over. The murals are all different, the greenery has taken over the fallen stonework and grows in the cracks of the walls. A hole is in the ceiling but what catches her eye is a man standing opposite Meliodas and Merlin. One with similar features to Merlin herself, thin and dressed in wide shorts and an open vest with nothing underneath.

The man points to Elizabeth with his finger. "Hello again," he chimes and mimes shooting an arrow. A thick green lighting bolt propels through the air from his hand and hits her in the head before anyone can react. Meliodas draws her broken blade and slams his elbow across the man's skull, who smacks to the stone ground with a heavy thud. Escanor grips Elizabeth's elbow as she wobbles, unsure of what is going on but he intends to protect her.

Meliodas isn't having it though as he views this as a betrayal from Merlin and Escanor is just as much her lackey. Meliodas pulls Elizabeth from Escanor's grip and angles himself between the two separate points of enemies and her. "What did Gowther do?" Meliodas demands, his one arm out around Elizabeth's waist and his other extended out with the broken sword.

Elizabeth knows though. Memories, the ones in this very room come back- a sacrifice was made. Her mother came to this world herself to weave the curse but the magic drawn from the last breath of life had its own corruption. A sliver of hope shoots up Elizabeth's spine but as she hears her memory echo, she refuses.

"No." Elizabeth stubbornly steps forward, wrapping her arms around Meliodas' back from behind and pressing the side of her face to his head. "We're leaving. I won't do it." She's looking at Merlin but tries to pull Meliodas back with her toward the door.

"As I've told you the last fifty or so times we've had this conversation- no matter who your master is I will orchestrate his death as if he dies by your hand with your sword, the curse weakens," Merlin speaks serenely. Meliodas blinks, understanding his death is tantamount to her freedom. "We're close to it breaking, I can prove it."

She starts speaking in another language, the room's already musky scent growing thicker with magic. Meliodas braces, shielding Elizabeth but a moment later a curse manifests physically. It's a loop of grotesque heads devouring the one in front of it with wide open mouths as if they are screaming in pain and also enjoying the meal. It holds together but wavers, flaking before stabilizing and Meliodas' stance eases. But Elizabeth notices a flash of thick vein-like cords dripping from the thing that converges and centers on the blade in Meliodas' hand.

He knows Merlin isn't lying. She tricked him here, lured him into a trap but he knows if the roles were reversed and freeing Elizabeth meant tricking Merlin, the outcome would be the same. Gowther rises from the ground, grinning with blood dripping from his cut open lip as he points and notes something about the curse to Merlin. Escanor steps closer to them, knowing she wronged Meliodas and Elizabeth, but still wanting to protect her.

Elizabeth isn't focusing though as the complicated magic that had been inflicted on her does not seem fixable from what she remembers now. It had taken so much of her clan's combined magic, with her mother's, to create this seal and after three thousand years Elizabeth feels as if she's suffered enough. She doesn't remember it but her soul has repeated this scenario over and over. Meliodas spins, looking at her with wide pleading eyes and the weapon in his hand flips in his palm to offer it to her pommel side up.

"Elizabeth," He starts, his eyes pinching just like they did when he purposefully ordered her to go to bed. It gave his intentions away and she raises her hand as he opens his mouth. She evokes her power, arcing just as she rears back and slaps him across the face stopping his words as he goes flying from her and crashing into the side of the crumbling temple. What is left of the building shakes, a piece of the stone ceiling crashing to hit the goddess statue in the center.

Her curse flickers, fading as her resolve to resist rises.

"Don't you dare!" Elizabeth chokes out, her hand shaking as she points to Meliodas. He raises from the rubble stunned but recovers enough to shake out the pebbles from his locks and assess her for damage. He looks at the others for any sign of them attacking but in the motion he sees the curse wavering. Meliodas meets Merlin's eyes and the hope in them is so great his shoulders sag, understanding what he must do and why.

"Kill me Elizabeth." He orders. She clams up, her eyes dulling and her power erupts in her hands against her will. "With the sword." Meliodas finishes, he walks to her as she struggles to resist coming towards him. Elizabeth fights it, yet, in spite of her efforts, she still meets him in the middle under the very curse they are both here to destroy. He offers her the blade once more and her hand reaches, her fingers wrap around the hilt.

Elizabeth resists the pull of the curse trying to force her to obey his order, which strengthens her will to fight the magic and power emits from her. Blue energy waves off her as if she were a stone dropping into a pond sending ripple after ripple. Escanor steps to stand before Merlin, who had already stepped to stand before Gowther. She gives a snap and a perfect cube erupts around them, large enough for the five of them plus the curse and the statue. Hawk was left out, but as the building starts to shake he trots full speed out the door and down the steps yelling about 'warnings' but no one hears him.

Her silver hair sways through the air as her head moves from side to side in denial. "It's okay." Meliodas murmurs, lower for the others not to hear across the cube. The weapon in her grip flickers to life, sparking into a light blade from her powers evoking it where the sharp metal used to be. "Do it." His eyes stare into hers as they overflow, a constant cascade of tears run down her cheeks, but he can see the edge of her curse overhead and it's shaking violently.

He sees that Merlin is right. Her one true goal is to free her cursed sister. Her golden eyes watch hopefully that this is it. Merlin has spent so much of her life weakening this curse and hunting for Elizabeth she wants the end of this entire ordeal more than she wants the sun to continue its burn. "Fight it!" Merlin screams against the force of power, it buffeted, acting like hurricane winds. It's a response to her words, which had affected Elizabeth and it pushes back everything around the cursed goddess, everything except Meliodas. Escanor stiffens to hold his ground, blocking the worst of the heavy pressure.

Elizabeth's other hand joins the one around the hilt of her blade, her thumbs up near the guard, holding the sword down as she fights against his order. "Take it-" She starts, pushing the words past her teeth as she struggles, "back." Meliodas's wide green eyes are molten swirls of softness and her lips part in a wet gasp as her throat closes from the pressure of her emotions. The blade rises up as if she is going to thrust it into the ground between them- perfect cube or no.

"I love you," Meliodas states, easy, and his lips tip up. "I can't live without you." He reaches forward, his hand cupping her cheek and his thumb brushes aside her tears on the one side. "I'll happily die to free you." He means it, but as her arms shake, the curse winning, Elizabeth gets a sudden and somber idea. She knows there are other ways to kill people outside of death. The curse and her work in tandem, the silent screaming, devouring-heads above solidify and Meliodas' hearts stop in trepidation; as her's races. Her hands grow clammy, her tears stop and her lungs release a shuddering breath.

"I love you too." Elizabeth professes a moment before the blade arcs through the air. Meliodas stills for the blow, he is content being a forgotten stepping stone in her plight for freedom, as he thinks she lost her fight against the curse.

Yet, as she plunges the blade down he realizes that wasn't the case, too late. She altered his command to interpret it her way, just like she had before. Elizabeth stabs herself in the solar plexus with its sharpened manifested power. His dark magic activates and he moves in a blink, unable to do any more than add his grip to the blade's hilt over her hands, stopping it midway through. He's fighting her curse for her as her wide dull eyes stare into him without the recognition, a painful reminder of when they first met.

"ELIZABETH!" He screams, and it echoes in the perfect cube. Merlin's shoulders sag, her hand reaching forward to touch Escanor's back while looking back at Gowther in defeat. His own eyes match Merlin's in feeling and color as he has been around since the beginning of this rough trek as well. Escanor had grown larger, his shirt now tight on him as his biceps strained, yet it seems to them that the power from the cursed goddess is waning.

It isn't.

While those three are buckling in the face of an assumed failure, with the tip of the blue flickering blade skewering out of Elizabeth's back, Meliodas is the opposite. His true fight has just begun and he howls to her again, "Come back to me, Elizabeth!" Meliodas' voice has taken on a panicked edge none of them have ever heard before. He is firm in his stance, using his darkness to brace himself further and his might to resist her own. She is strong, or, her magic is.

All the screaming does not reach her, as in her head the curse is reminding her of her crimes. The sound of whispers, of the souls still trapped in this temple, are louder than all his howling. Elizabeth did betray her people, she tried to stop the war, she met with the other clans and the demons to find a way to prevent the overwhelming death encroaching in on them all. In the end, the other clans had bound together and swarmed her people... They are dead because of her and even forcing her to be their weapon had failed.

"Please." Meliodas begs so softly his lips barely move with the word. His eyes grow shiny, darkening to black with his magic working harder and stronger, and tears prick at their edges. Elizabeth's dull expression flickers, a spark of herself returning and from that, the temple under foot cracks. Her curse overhead slows in its turning before it halts at the same moment that she sees his eyes shine. His words register, her own will returns and she tries to speak but blood fills her throat, spraying across his face with her exhale.

He doesn't blink, his demon mark cracks down his face as she finally focuses on him, not a foot from her face. "Help me save you." He orders and her eyes start to dull, the curse starts to twirl once more as she abides. The blade exits her chest and her magic there fades. Meliodas curses himself, a long string of them as he realizes she needs to go against her orders to fight this. He isn't giving her the right tools to defend herself, yet an idea forms inspired by his love's own ability to skirt intentions. "Elizabeth." Meliodas starts. "Break your curse."

It's a guess. Either the curse will have a defense mechanism for Elizabeth to overcome or the twisted faces above would lend its power to its own destruction- as her master gave his order. Their hands shake together over the hilt of the sword and Meliodas increases his pressure to keep their palms locked around the weapon.

"It's a corrupted curse!" Merlin yells through the winds, it sounds a hundred miles away. If either of them would have looked, they would see Gowther and Merlin pinned against the wall with Escanor's body shielding theirs from the onslaught of light and darkness leaking from them both. The sword in the middle making the cube itself shake. The statue crumbles, stones and rubble tumbling and pinging from the force Elizabeth and Meliodas are causing. "Destroy the apex!" Merlin's scream registers to Meliodas and he understands now, enduring this with her but it's not him that Merlin's talking to. Elizabeth can see the threads of her soul connecting to the sword that in turn, connects her to the disturbed curse twirling above them, flickering.

Dark magic doesn't mix well with goddess magic and with the two combined Elizabeth understands it is the sword that links her to the rebirth. She tries to tug away from the sword but Meliodas holds firm for a fraction of a blink before he eases enough for her hand to slip out. The force doubles over and Meliodas firms up, straining with all his might and darkness to lock the thing in place to help her. Elizabeth isn't sure if she's aiding him to hold the blade in place but she tries. She notices a flicker of a veiny, sinewy looking cord attached to the pommel of the sword seeming to grip and pull as if resisting the forces.

She evokes her light, her fist squishing around the sticky vine and it reminds her for a moment of an umbilical cord. The actual thing that has kept her alive while trapped. The same light that evoked when she came out of the sword explodes out again, it's too bright to look at and all outside eyes turn away from the blast except for Meliodas. He refuses to turn away as he must be ready to intercept any attack to her as she fights her curse. She can save herself but he'll guarantee her survival.

The fleshy, slimy cord resists, growing rubbery and giving as she tries to pry the cord from the sword. This is the unnatural part, the last dark piece and she knows the shriveled dangly bits must be old cords that have already been broken. The curse's link to the sword can be dealt with later as they appear stable and her eyes mist over, shining as she exerts herself. "Meliodas." She thickly whispers and because he is already so acutely focused on her, he can hear it. "I don't know if I'll survive the separation. I'm already hurting."

Meliodas immediately shakes his head, his pupils blowing wide and darkness trickles, overcoming his flesh but her smile softens as he speaks. "You will," He roars over the rushing wind. "You can't leave me." He isn't sure what to do, if he should stop this whole thing or if this was the only way. He'd sacrifice himself to free her but if the cost is her life, the price is unacceptable to him and he will not pay it. Meliodas doesn't have time to decide as Elizabeth snaps the gummy cord from her soul to the sword.

The screaming, devouring heads above howl as they shrink. Meliodas' eyes are drawn from Elizabeth's to watch as the curse dissolves before it flickers and is sucked into the pummel of the sword as it fades. The force in the cube fades, silence sucking up the noise around them and Elizabeth's laboring breath becomes apparent. Her grip on the sword slackens and Meliodas releases it to catch her as she wobbles on her unsteady legs, the hilt clanging on the floor.

Merlin ducks under Escanor's arm to run to her sister, Gowther following, and she's at Elizabeth's side before Meliodas has propped her up with a knee. She's dying, fading like her curse as she flickers, becoming transparent. Her lips move and Meliodas has to bend to put his ear to her lips to hear the soft lilt of her words. "I'm so glad my last life was spent with you." He's already denying the words as he pulls away to watch her eyes grow dimmer.

Her hand flops weakly and lands on Merlin's lap as she kneels at Elizabeth's other side, tears streaming down her face but Meliodas snarls, ripping his face from hers. He reaches over Elizabeth and with a harsh grasp he fists the front of Merlin's dress to pull her nearer. "Save her!" He demands and Merlin sees in his eyes that something has broken in Meliodas. "Seal her in again!"

"She... doesn't want to be reborn, she's told me in each of her previous lives." Merlin is not shy as her fingers wrap around his wrist holding her and she sneers as she tries to tug it away. "I won't allow her to go through this again! She's finally free, she can move on." Escanor is at Merlin's side just as Elizabeth's other hand reaches for Meliodas and he releases her to cup her limp fingers in his palm. Darkness lashes out and the temple falls, the ceiling caving in as the walls teeter, crumble and the depictions of her life are destroyed. The cube stays in place, saving them from being crushed but they are entombed.

Hawk's screaming from the outside finally reaches them as the rocks stop pounding against one another, his concern bordering into a panic in the distance. Meliodas pulls Elizabeth closer, bleakly looking to Merlin, then Gowther, and finally Escanor to hiss, "Just go." He tells them as he holds Elizabeth's face to touch his own, their cheeks sliding against one another while she's still solid. Her soft voice is humming to him and he closes his eyes as if that will help him hear her better.

"Even though I don't remember, I know this was my best life, my favorite." Her soothing voice, which has helped tame his inner beast does the opposite this time. Meliodas is unraveling as he reopens his eyes not truly seeing Gowther but the hilt in the lad's grip catches his attention and Meliodas cannot allow it to be in anyone else's hands. Meliodas lashes out, snagging the weapon from his old friend. "GET OUT!" He roars to them and Escanor tries to force Merlin to stand but she shrugs him off.

"I love you sis-sis." Merlin reaches, her hand petting down the back of her head as her tears flow like a rushing stream. "You're free." Merlin's other arm is in Elizabeth's hand and she squeezes, turning enough to smile softly at her sister. "It's okay," she says and Merlin finally listens, letting Escanor pull her away after her sister gives the go ahead. Merlin drops the cube, disturbing the fallen rubble to tumble and resettle. But Meliodas has his woman and his broken blade out of there as soon as the magic barrier falls.

He takes to the skies rushing in the opposite direction of his friends. To skid to a landing between the cliffs of the open earth, dirt, and dust drifting between them.

"You'll never be linked to the temple again." Meliodas hushes to her cheek, knowing he's passing into her when she should be solid. He swallows, thick and heavy, his lungs refuse to open fully and his breathing is shallow, almost non-existent. "Please... will you forgive me?" He begs, seeing the sin he is about to commit take form in his mind and he turns from her, looking to the sky as if something there has the power to absolve him. "I can't let you go!" He confesses and he vaguely hopes the others get away in time as he releases his darkness.

A funnel of black, raw demon power detonates up around him, his mark splintering down his face. Meliodas focuses on the sword in his grip as she becomes ethereal, her clothes abandoned in his grip and he bellows as she rises up like a naked angel ascending. "Heal! Stay with me! I command it!" He panics his orders as he twists his dark magic. It expands, destroying everything it touches as the hole below gets deeper from his volatile energy. They are suspended in the center of the dark forces he controls, a true black hole swirling. He harnesses his demon magic, turning it against her. Her crying, horrified face is the last thing he sees before Meliodas reseals her in the pommel of their broken sword.

His eyes dull, his face utterly distraught as he notices the starbursts of splintered glass over the swirling of starlight in pearly, sparkling water. The sword is heavier once more. "I'll bring you back Elizabeth." He vows through his thick throat, his eyes narrowing in desperate determination. "Even if you don't remember me, I'll love you and protect you. I'll be better next time." He promises the sword, wrapping her empty shirt around the hilt as if it is a precious baby.

The emotions are turbulent, he's a ship on the raging ocean inside. The crack on the pommel alarms him, and rightfully so, as the curse has been broken and sealing a soul is never an exact science. She's here though, he can feel her and for him it's just enough to stay above the tides thrashing within. His power fizzles as he reigns it in, trying to sooth the swirl of the stars, and it does, slowing with his touch. His chest aches and as he looks around he's unsure how any part of the world can move forward without her.

Meliodas' display of destruction ceases mere inches from the rear of his friends' retreating backs. It shrinks back and distractedly he heads in that direction, intent to return to Hawk and to begin traveling once more, this time in search of a way to return Elizabeth to her body. He is dazed and pained as he passes his friends, Merlin and the other not realizing Elizabeth's clothes bundled to his chest still held any part of her.

"I'm sorry..." Merlin speaks to the side of his sweaty, dirty face as he passes but he only vaguely looks to her, his dull eyes giving her no recognition but he nods to her.

"Where's Elizabeth!?" Hawk demands as he follows Meliodas, who does not respond. "Did you leave her there? You wouldn't! For some reason she loves you..." The berating continues until Hawk's fear amps up with slow understanding. The two, with Elizabeth's soul, reach the giant pig and on the porch, Meliodas shows the pig his broken sword. "We'll... bring her back, right?" Hawk chokes and his black beady eyes fill, his tears falling.

"On all our lives, yes." Meliodas ominously promises but Hawk finds this acceptable. He orders Hawk's Mama to go, abandoning his three friends left at the gaping hole where there used to be ruins to find their own way home. Before the massive pig takes her first step Meliodas starts drinking, never letting go of the bundle cradled in his arms. To him, the sword is more beautiful than ever, the sapphire hilt the same shade as her eyes and the swirling starlight is the embodiment of all the light and goodness he's ever had in his life.

Whiskey is his only true comfort.

The days of following hints and plundering ruins for magical artifacts turn to weeks of scavenging the continent. He runs out of gold and resorts to doing odd jobs just to pay for his immediate exploit. Hawk resorts to garbage scrapes and Hawk's Mama goes where her baby goes. Meliodas is either drunk or digging for any information on goddesses trapped in magical items as time creeps by.

He finds another trapped goddess, a lute with a soul harbored inside but he simply stores it in his attic as one more person he needs to set free, and a possible test subject to make sure whatever he does find is safe for Elizabeth to go through. The man is never without his broken sword, having strapped it to his chest, and when the twinkling whirls he rubs his thumb over the pommel adding his magic to ease her. It works every time but those days are especially hard on Meliodas. He drinks, afraid to unseal her.

Meliodas returns to Merlin for help after months and sloppily drinks his way across his explanation of what has happened to Elizabeth. He's thrown out the next morning and when he returns to the Boar Hat he fears he will have to let her go. "If I break the seal, will you go on without me as Merlin theorizes?" The man knows he'll want to follow her but fears his soul will not be welcomed where hers ends up.

Hawk is serving the few patrons that have trickled in from the stores of alcohol, single hoofedly keeping them barely functioning. "Escanor resupplied us from his stock." The pig tells Meliodas but he doesn't acknowledge him and walks past, stepping behind the bar, reaching for his liquid comfort. The man joins the patrons and continues long after the others have gone home, back to their loved ones.

He's most of the way to stupid-drunk when his influenced brain comes up with an idea and he untucks his blade as if unwrapping a porcelain egg from under his overcoat. "Hawk!" He hollers and the moping pig trots to him expecting him to order a drink as if Meliodas were paying- and he isn't.

He holds the hilt in his grip, intent to use it, and he raises it with a little sloppy slash at Hawk. The pig flinches out of the way, appalled as a snapping of light whips out. In a dazed repeat, the bright white flicks out, growing until Hawk is forced to look away. Meliodas though, stares at it, accepting it if his eyes burn out of their sockets, and he watches her form rise up just like the first time in the antithesis of a black hole.

"You've never needed me." Meliodas warbles as she touches down, bare to him but solid once more and she sways just as before but he's quick, holding her to him before she hits the ground. She's in one arm, cradled to his chest and the blade is in the other. With a firm fist, Meliodas crushes the stone in his mitt to dust, letting the glass and metal melt with his hellfire, destroying the sword hilt. "You are never going back in that prison again- do you hear me?" Meliodas ascertains, looking to her peaceful sleeping face.

"She's back! You brought her back!" Hawk proclaims, trotting a dance, giving her a pig nuzzle on her side before he runs out the door, screaming down to his big Mama to tell her the good news. Meliodas stares for a long moment before he carries her up the steps to the master bedroom, unable to look away. "Even if you don't remember..." Meliodas mutters, caressing her skin to his. He'd been without it for seemingly thousands of years as the bleakness of his life had gone on endlessly, "I'll carry your memories for us."

He smiles, tears finally forcing their way out and they fall to drip into her long silver tresses. The man cries for the first time in his adult life, in elation.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

For the first time in months, Meliodas faces the early morning hours sober. He's spent most of the night staring at her, only brave enough to trail his fingers along her cheek and arm so softly it could barely count as touch so as not to awaken her. Sleeping, she is relaxed and peaceful. He covered her nakedness hours ago so she wouldn't catch a chill. When her eyes start to flutter and she wiggles down firmer into the blankets he knows she will awaken soon.

He doesn't want to scare her so sets out an outfit and creeps from the room, all but skipping down the stairs. Meliodas is humming a tune in the kitchen while he cooks. He tries extra hard to make what they have left to eat good and when Hawk clomps over with a pep in his step he isn't surprised that Meliodas is happy for the first time since they visited the ruined temple. "She might not remember." He warns his pig friend, "We don't want to scare her or make her feel any more confusion than she probably already does. I'll see what she knows and explain about the reborn thing." Hawk nods but he's already sniffing thickly as he cries.

Meliodas is plating her breakfast when he hears her soft feet move a floor above, acutely listening for her. Hawk is still emotional and Meliodas asks him to get himself together. "Please don't scare her, sit outside," which he agrees to and stops on the porch. The pig had joined Meliodas in the night just to see Elizabeth home in her bed before sleeping himself. Hawk is so full of joy it's leaking from his eyes and he sits on the porch beside the step Elizabeth always sat in when she had been her previous self.

Elizabeth dresses, taking a rather long time in Meliodas' opinion and his hearts sink, both hoping she remembers and hoping she doesn't. He fears she will be angry enough to hate him, he selfishly sealed her after all. Meliodas sets her plate down at the bar, arranging it just so and goes back to squeeze fresh juice as waiting is becoming unbearable. She's moving down the hall and he hurriedly grabs a clean mug and a rag to appear busy. Elizabeth makes her way down to the bar with her hand daintily feeling down the railing.

Her eyes are wide, but her shoulders are relaxed and Meliodas roams her body in her old dress fearing he is too obvious as he can't bring himself to look away. She looks around the place, her blue eyes are wary but sparkling as she spots him. He smiles but she doesn't, stepping around the tables and Meliodas exhales before using the cup in his hands to point at the plate. "I made you breakfast. I thought you'd be hungry after... well, everything." His face burns, his ears pinkening.

Elizabeth sits, looking at the eggs, hash, and toast but takes the glass of juice first to sip. The fork is in her hand before she speaks, gathering a bite on the end. "Have I been here before?" She puzzles at a whisper, the first taste of his cooking hitting her tongue and inexplicably sorrow fills her. Her throat tightens, her heart races and something heavy pounds in her head, aching. She feels hope and elation but deep anguish and it all combines together. A soft groan whispers from her throat. It hits her so fast she can't process it quick enough and tears fall down her cheeks, dripping from her chin.

His food tastes like a salt paste but she's happy about it somehow, her fork lowering to the table and it taps on the bartop. Their eyes meet and when he looks into her endless depths his lips part in surprise, but he hides his hope and adoration with a quick shake of his head. "Yeah." He hushes, unable to look away. "I have a story to tell you, but I think we should take this slow for now." Meliodas sets his very clean mug down, his rag following and he offers his hand, palm up and fingers out.

Slowly, she reaches for it, her smooth skin solid and silky in his grasp when she takes his hand to hold. Elizabeth's brow uncrinkles at the touch, her teeth poking out to nibble at her bottom lip and her cheeks pinken in the same breath. He squeezes her hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, we'll figure it all out." He promises her. She nods, knowing she can trust him and feeling as if she is home. But this rebirth is different as it wasn't just the remains of the curse that manifested her, but her own regeneration paired with Meliodas' magic.

"Meliodas?" She whispers uncertainly and his other hand snaps forward to touch her face, his own emotions swirling in a chaotic mash of tender fragility. He cups her cheek and she leans into the touch on instinct. Eight hearts race. His ache as he feels like he fills with helium, about to lift off and float away any moment. Elizabeth remembered his name and after everything, he did to her he waits for her to flinch away, for her soft eyes to harden or her expression to shine in contempt.

He tenses for it but nothing like that happens and softly, Meliodas unweaves the web of her confusion while smoothing out the harsher edges of their journey and downplaying their relationship. Elizabeth is quick though, always has been. "You and I were important to one another?" She asks, a glassy sheen making her eyes shine. Meliodas licks his lips, his elbows dropping to the bartop as he holds her hand between his and nods, agreeing. "I'm sorry I don't remember." She sniffs, her lip quivering.

"But you have... You knew my name." Meliodas rushes but her cheeks pinken and her face drops to look at her plate of food as she points over her shoulder with her free hand to the wanted board. He vaguely follows her indication and Meliodas lungs cease as he spots his poster, a joke at this point, but it had his face and name on the paper. "It's... Okay," he releases her hand, straightening up, "A fresh start sounds wonderful."

Silently he vows to reshow her everything she loved in her last life, and, if she so desires to be with him again, he will take her so gently it will more closely resemble worshiping at her sacred shrine than sex. She peeks at him through her bangs, her feelings for him remain, and he simpers, head falling to the side as he reassures her with his expression alone. Her own is shy but he is so grateful to see it again, that she is once more solid and safe. "Okay." Elizabeth hushes and a new start is had.

Reviews are welcome and very encouraged. They honestly make my day.

I'm on tumblr, if ya wanna chat or see the little extra things I write. The name is JacklynnFrost there too and I mostly just post about SDS. Twitter and Deviantart are under xSamanthrax.