Wreathed in Sin, Wrought by Destiny

Chapter Nine

--M--

Power.

That was the only thing he could think of to describe Elizabeth at the moment, watching apprehensively as the pressure in the air increased, forcing an unnerved Golgius into disappearing. Here was a being of such raw, untamed power that the world trembled at her touch, one brimming with feral energy. She was more than human, more than anything he'd ever seen–and for the first time, he'd caught a glimpse of her true strength.

It was terrifying, to say the least, but also...mesmerizing. He felt even more drawn to her than before, as if she had some sort of gravitational field that only affected him. And her eyes...

Black and silver and glowing like starshine, a glimmer of her true nature shining through.

What...what was she? Is she still the same person? He reached for her shoulder hesitantly, biting his lip. "Lady Elizabeth? Is that you?"

She glanced over her shoulder at him, long bangs hiding her eyes, before spinning at an--an unfortunate time, the hand that had been reaching for her shoulder landing in a place where it definitely should not be-- "Hey, Meliodas--oh." She glanced down at his hand (he screamed at himself silently to move, move, goddamnit, before she got the wrong idea), and raised her head slowly, a cat-like smirk stealing over her face. "Well, you're surprisingly happy to see me--"

Her words snapped him out of the strange trance he was in and he snatched his hand back as though it was burned, knowing very well that his face was as red as a tomato. "I--that--didn't mean--um--" Meliodas felt even more heat rush to his face and he let out a strangled groan, burying his face in his hands. "I'm so sorry, Lady Elizabeth."

"You should be sorry!" Hawk squealed next to him, a hoof coming down on his foot; he yelped and jumped back--but no, he couldn't even shoot a reproachful look at the pig. I deserved that, he thought, absolutely mortified. She wasn't even wearing a shirt, just bandages, covering her while her wounds had been tended to by the doctor, and he'd--oh gods. "I expected better from you! You're a prince!"

"Cut him some slack, Hawk," Elizabeth snorted, unwinding the bandages on her shoulders. A thick scar remained, but no wound and...wait, that was weird. That was very weird, actually; he didn't have much knowledge of how healing worked, but it had barely been twelve hours. Surely deep gashes like that didn't heal so fast or so well...but then again, whatever Elizabeth was, she wasn't human. That much is clear, he thought, gazing at the four thick-feathered, soft-looking black wings as she shifted them slightly, the feathers ruffling as she grabbed her shirt off a chair and yanked it over her head. "I'll consider that your 'I told you so.'" She flashed him a wry smile, eyes a glittering cobalt once more (blue, they were blue, not black and silver--then what had she unleashed before?), and he managed to return it. 

"A-as long as you promise to never do anything like that again," he added quickly. "Otherwise I'll say it a lot more." Heat rushed to his face as he realized what he'd just implied and he hastily added, "I-I mean verbally! W-with--oh, gods, that sounds worse... I j-just meant, um, that you'd better not try anything like that again because I'll--I'll tell you off!" And wow, that was just about the most pathetic thing he'd ever said.

"I expect you will." Amusement flashed in her eyes as she spun the dragon hilt in her hand. "By the way, where did Diane go? I thought I'd have heard her smashing Golgius to bits by now."

Meliodas blinked in surprise; he'd forgotten all about the Sin of Envy in the commotion. He pushed away the guilt that came with the realization. "She headed up to Baste after a Holy Knight attacked the village," he recalled, shifting guiltily; he still felt like he should've gone with her. Useless here, useless there...what good even am I if I can't help anyone?