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Coming back from a long travel in Purgatory was like coming to an oasis after crossing the desert. A land of death and loneliness and despair, an emotionless landscape. All but wind and dust whipping at your face.

Elizabeth knew this right from the moment she saw Ban capture Elaine's lips like a man starved for water after his return. And how she had longed to taste her man's lips as well but could not, not until the fight with the Demon King was over.

She could tell that a few days of recovery did both Ban and Meliodas great good; they were appeased, finally resting from lifetimes of fighting for their lives. She couldn't help but feel enamored at the way Meliodas looked at her, just the way he had always had eyes for her for millenia, with something akin to an eternal longing for her in his gaze: like she was a dream come true, one that he could not believe. They were falling in love all over again, against all odds and torments. They were falling in love with every minute that they spent staring into each other's eyes, nose to nose, lips to lips. And so Meliodas was always staying close to her, holding onto her as if he was afraid that the dream would slip away like smoke from between his fingers.

They were happy and safe. All was good.

But there was something that had changed between them, something that she couldn't quite place her fingertip upon. Their relationship hadn't changed over millennia, no, but rather shifted to something different and new in those few days that separated Meliodas' transformation from today.

It felt like Meliodas' attention was somewhere else at times, like some part of him hadn't left the Purgatory at all and was still stuck in it, stuck in the things that happened there. It hadn't lessened his love for her, certainly not with how he made a point in making her laugh or smile on every possible occasion, or making her moan his name every other night. He was full of passion and happiness, like a youth renewed, excited to do all the things he did with her reincarnations all over again with her, his Elizabeth.

But sometimes, sometimes, Meliodas needed some time alone, and some of that time, Elizabeth soon learned, was spent with Ban.

She knew that for the few hours that followed the dissipation of Meliodas' emotions in their world, centuries were spent in Purgatory to retrieve them. That was time that belonged to him and Ban only, privileged moments that she had not been part of – and would never be part of.

Elizabeth respected that. Meliodas' happiness was everything she had ever wanted for him after all the suffering he had endured for her – because of her. And so it made her smile, watching them from afar, a warm feeling of soft joy at seeing him smile again, chuckle at a joke she could not quite hear. They were talking about God knew what, and sometimes not even talking, just stargazing, in all simplicity and silence, sharing companionship under the night sky and sometimes, they would even be holding hands.

The one time she coincidentally saw them kiss from afar, Meliodas had been pulling away a moment later, shaking his head negatively as he declared wanting to remain loyal to Elizabeth.

Something had definitely happened between them in Purgatory. And although Elizabeth knew that Meliodas would never do anything to disgrace her, she also guessed that centuries spent travelling and fighting together, not knowing if they would ever escape, or if they would ever see their loved ones again, would have inevitably sparked things between both men.

What had really struck her in that moment though, over her surprise, was Ban's words said to Meliodas with hard eyes.

"Hey, Cap'n," Ban's hand had tightened around his. "Why didn't you tell Elizabeth? Don't mean to intrude but... I told my girl everything."