A/N: Hello! This is my first foray into this fandom and I got stuck on a multi-chaptered story, so I decided to try ye olde A-Z oneshots. I have read all of the manga so there may be spoilers for anime-only fans. I went with two words for each that I could tie-in together for extra wiggle room. Cross-posted to AO3.

I'm hoping to update this once a week, but no promises. If you liked anything about it then please leave a review! I'm Australian, so please excuse my non-American spelling.

During the first couple of years since the Seven Deadly Sins were framed for murder and treason, the wanted posters were, naturally, quite accurate. Not counting a small bit of creative license taken by the poster artist that only had descriptions to work off. For this reason Meliodas had to keep his bar very low-key, sticking to the fringes of the Liones Kingdom as the closest he would get to returning. The wanted posters were circulated to the kingdoms neighbouring Liones as well, so he tended to visit the smallest rural villages where there weren't as many places that displayed them.

As the years went on the posters were updated at least once a year and spread around again. Of all the updates made to the posters, Meliodas was amused to see that he was aged up the quickest, followed by Escanor, while Ban was the slowest, with Gowther, Merlin, Diane and King remaining virtually unchanged. The upside of this was that he no longer resembled his poster much at all and began expanding the areas he'd visit.

Not only did this increase his client base, and therefore his profit margin, but it gave him a much larger pool of gossip to listen to. It was his only real way to keep up with news of Liones Kingdom among all the titbits of local news. There were many times over the years where Meliodas had to hold back laughter while running his tavern. He always heard the same old complaints no matter where he went:

"My wife won't stop nagging me!"

"The livestock broke the fence again!"

"That group of kids have been up to no good again!"

Now and then, among the things he'd heard a hundred times before, there would be a real gem. A story from someone that he'd never heard before that was truly amusing. Humans were creative and surprising and, just when he thought he had them figured out, they'd do something else to throw him. He loved those stories.

His customers loved him, aside from his deplorable cooking, but he got quite a few questions and side glances about his age. People came to the tavern to get drunk so they didn't really care if he was underage as long as he served them all the alcohol they could afford. Even the knights that would stop by didn't suspect anything amiss, or care for his baby face after he served them drinks, and were some of his best sources of information.

There was the occasional gossip about the royal family from villagers and knights both and Meliodas always made sure to listen without looking like he was interested. He'd entrusted King Bartra with the baby he'd carried away from Danafall and she'd become the third princess of the kingdom, so Meliodas was always eager to hear about her now that he couldn't see her in person. The things he heard were nothing about the royal's personal lives, unless it was a rumour, and the lack of knowing how Elizabeth was faring frustrated him.

He learned that Margaret was growing up to be the epitome of grace and serenity while her younger sister Veronica was still a tomboy; foregoing dresses for pants and playing with weapons. Elizabeth was just as kind, sweet and gentle as ever. The people loved the royal family and the only complaint he heard about them was that sometimes bandits would dress up as knights and demand payment from villagers. Some actual knights did this now and then too, but they never stayed in one place too long for fear of the Holy Knights getting word. Meliodas knew that wasn't the royal family's fault though – it was the fault of the captain of the Order those lowlife knights belonged to.

He wondered how happy Elizabeth was, if she was healthy, if she had friends, if she had any lessons she enjoyed at the castle.

He grit his teeth as he cleaned some cutlery, getting things ready to open later.

Every time he found Elizabeth again he always stayed by her side. He remembered one Elizabeth that he had met when she was young and he was still beside her as she passed away peacefully in her bed of old age. This Elizabeth he had met hours after her birth and he had been around as best he could, not counting any missions he was sent on, until the Sins had been framed and run out of the kingdom.

These years without her were tough. He'd had her, looked after her, then been forced to leave her behind. He was glad to know where she was and that she was being looked after, but only hearing about snippets and rumours did nothing to fill the void her absence left. He always missed her when she died and he began his search all over again, but this time he knew where she was and could not get to her. He wondered if she missed him at all. Did she even remember him? Or did she only know of him as the infamous leader of the traitorous Seven Deadly Sins and think him a horrible, murderous criminal?

It was seven years ago and Elizabeth had been so young when he'd left; only six years old. For her, seven years was a really long time. If they met back up and she didn't remember him then that was fine, he'd give her the chance to get to know him all over again.

He'd be equal parts annoyed and amused if she had forgotten and expected him to resemble his wanted poster!

He put the cutlery away and surveyed his tavern. It started out as a means to an end (and a place for all the alcohol he collected in his travels), but he truly did enjoy being a tavern owner. It'd be nice to have some help, like a waitress and a chef, but he was happy. He hoped it wasn't too much longer that he had to spend as a fugitive though. His reincarnated Goddess called to him.

Time continued to pass by and, before he knew it, it had been ten whole years. He had all the ins and outs of running a tavern down to an art, minus the edible quality of his cooking, and he still loved it. But the frustration had been mounting higher and higher and he didn't know how much longer he could carry on like this.

Then one day he heard it – a rumour about a knight wandering around in rusty armour, believed to be one of the Seven Deadly Sins. He wasn't sure it was one of his comrades, but it couldn't hurt to take a look around after he closed up for the day.

He never got the chance.

Loud, clanging footsteps, followed by creaky metal shifting about, came closer and closer to the door. It swung open to reveal a full suit of armour, old and rusted from lack of care. Its arms were outstretched and it slowly and shakily stepped inside. A low, heavily distorted voice echoed from the helmet.

"The...Seven...Deadly...Sins…"

Every customer in the tavern screamed and fled the building as fast as they could. Meliodas was left alone with the rusty knight, his friend Hawk and a tavern full of overturned furniture. He nimbly hopped over the bar counter and stood before the intruder, hands on his hips while Hawk shivered in fear, cowering behind some furniture.

"Who are you?" he asked fearlessly.

The knight gave no answer. It leaned forward slightly before pitching backwards, crashing to the ground with a loud rattle, a secondary clanging ringing out as the helmet was dislodged and tumbled a few feet away.

Meliodas shared a glance with Hawk before stepping forward to see the identity of the intruder. It took everything Meliodas had at that moment not to cry out.

Elizabeth!

After stripping the armour from her and letting her rest on his bed, they waited for her to wake up. Meliodas couldn't help himself though. He had to pretend he didn't know her for safety, but he'd missed her so much and now she was here and he could hardly believe his eyes. He had to make sure this wasn't a dream. He let his eyes rake over her form, got a whiff of her – his keen sense of smell picking up her unique human scent and the underlying effervescence that was inherent to every Elizabeth, passed on from her original Goddess form, and he got to touch her. He didn't pick an innocent place to touch of course, but it was his habit to get each Elizabeth used to his antics. It broke down barriers and he loved seeing her all flustered when he caught her off guard.

She woke up with his hand still in place on her chest. He played it off and she seemed to accept his flimsy excuse, blushing brightly. Poor naive girl, raised as a sheltered princess, he thought ruefully. He could fix that, now that he had her back.

It wasn't long after that when he realised that no, she didn't remember him at all. It hurt, but he'd known it was a possibility. She'd been looking for him, and the other Sins, and had found him completely by accident because she'd been looking for someone that matched the wanted posters. Yep, he was definitely annoyed and amused by that.

But she was back in his life and she knew who he was again and what he really looked like. All that built up frustration over the years simply melted away as he gave her a bright grin and invited her to join him.