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THIRD PERSON POV
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Elizabeth spent the next couple of days really trying to break through Meliodas's shell but no matter how hard she tried he confined to be emotionless and even trying to get away from her when he approached him.
It infuriated her to no end.
"What is your problem?!" Elizabeth shouted at him as soon as she spotted him at the end of the hallway.
He flinched before coming to a stop having his spectrum to her still, he looked at her over his shoulder as she approached him I want to start before him he turned around fully with an arched eyebrow.
"What?" He actually seemed confused as he turned to look at her.
She was at least happy that he didn't seem angry at her this time.
"You're the one who wants me here aren't you? You're the lonely depressed demon!"
"Now hold on-"
"But you don't exacly act like im welcome!" She calmed down. "I can leave, go back home and lie to my mother. Telling her i killed you"
There was a hint of surprise edged into Meliodas's facial expression.
"Im not saying you don't deserve to be killed! I'm just saying...okay I don't know what I'm saying!"
"Don't...don't do that" he sighed.
"Why not?" She asked him, but he was quiet. But instead of looking like he wasn't gonna answer he seemed to truly think hard of way to say next.
"Because...I suppose you were right" Meliodas said, but the look on his face revealed that it was probably something he didn't want to say at all.
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth tilted her head to the side not expecting such a response from him.
She had expected to be shut down like she was the day he brought her her food.
"I might have been a little lonely here...and you're not...boring"
"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow but tried to ignore the fact that she was deep dish grateful for his compliment.
"Please don't read too much into it" he sighed.
"I havnt spoken to anyone in 300 years...and then suddenly you come and I find just talking freely about things i shouldn't"
"Do you mean your curse?"
Meliodas was quiet for just a moment before he nodded, but said nothing else.
But Elizabeth was also quiet, feeling the guilt well up inside of her, having made him talk about it.
But eventually she let out a frustrated sound and sat down in the ground against the wall where she hung her head.
"Why couldn't you just have been like my mother said?" She shook her head. "It would have made this so much easier"
Meliodas looked at her, his eyes speaking of a silent sorrow ever growing inside of him.
Much to Elizabeth's Disney he just stood there, unmoving for what felt like an eternity.
She wanted to him say something, to do something, but even she didn't know what. But when he finally sighed and sat down next her she figured that that was fine.
They sat there on the floor in complete silence, each contemplating their fears and regrets and future.
"I still don't like you you know..." Elizabeth mumbled, breaking the silence.
She looked dead ahead, not wanting to face him, but because if that she smiled the small smile forming his face. The first time he had smiled in years.
"Of course"
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
After that confession Elizabeth had Meliodas genuinely tried to find common ground and learn about each other, but Elizabeth tried to stay clear of the most sensitive topics, but it seemed that no matter what, Meliodas's life had always been a living hell.
Elizabeth had asked a lot of questions, so meliodas felt as though he should also ask her some, after all matter how little Elizabeth thought she knew about him he knew even fewer things about her.
"Elizabeth" Meliodas said and immediately made a weird face.
He still wasn't used to saying her name.
"How old are you?"
"Don't you know it's rude to ask a woman their age?" Elizabeth asked an eyebrow.
"It is?"
Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at his lost facial expression, but she managed to stop herself, finding it strange to be so comfortable around him.
"I'm 18" she told him, but her facial expression suddenly changed.
"My mother promised me that I'd for her when i tithed 18..."
"You did say you trained for this your entire life"
Elizabeth nodded slowly.
"But...what about your father?"
"My father?" Elizabeth raised her head, surprised by the question.
"He was human. I never knew him, mother said he wasn't interested in raising a child, so he left...at least that's what my mother always told me"
Meliodas nodded along to her explanation. "Sorry"
"No, don't be. He didn't care for me so I don't care for him? That's all that's if to it " Elizabeth said and meliodas scanned her face for a hint of lies, but there was none.
"I've lived a good life with my mother...I swear she's...really not that bad..." her words seemed to loose their confidence.
"She loved me"
Meliodas nodded, not knowing ear to say. Obviously he couldn't operate tell her that he didn't agree with her, hopefully it's on assumptions was wrong, her mother did put her under breath of bless, and the confidence boost it gave her could've been the death of her if Meliodas hadn't been so kind as to spare her life.
"Meliodas?..."
"Yes?"
"Could this...breath of bless have been put upon me when I drank a small potion? Mother said it was for my stamina but-"
"No" meliodas cut her off, sparing her from spiraling. "breathe of bless doesn't work like that, it's activated by touch or something like a blown kiss..."
Elizabeth tried to think back. Then her eyes widened and filled with tears.
The day before she left.. when her mother stroked her hair and kissed her forehead and she felt all her fears fade a away.
"I can see by your face yet you must've figured it out"
"It's not fair..." Elizabeths voice shook.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this" her breathing became heavy, and soon she was close to hyperventilating.
She had already known what her mother had done to her, but knowing in which circumstances she had done it, knowing that in the moment where Elizabeth thought that her mother was being loving she was truly putting her in grave danger, broke her.
Elizabeth was sent over the edge, tumbling into a pit of despair but wishing for someone to catch her.
As if reading her mind Meliodas took her by the shoulders and forced her into his arms.
Her mind came to an abrupt stop due to the surprise if the act, but she couldn't find herself pushing away from him.
In spite of his dark nature, the exact opposite from her, she felt safe in his arms.
"Don't ever think it's wrong to realize that you've been wronged" he told her, thinking back to the carvings on his desk. It took him a long time before he came to accept the truth as well.
Perhaps he didn't notice it but there was an H in his voice is Elizabeth understood perfectly, so she just nodded against him, choosing not to say anything else.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Meliodas laid in his bed and looked at his hand that he had used to bring Elizabeth into the embrace.
It was a rash decision, not one he would normally do, but seeing her break down like that awoke something inside of him.
Something he remembered from when his younger brother was still just a little child, but back then he had pushed that feeling to the back of his mind and neglected him.
It was a sense of needing to protect, to shield from whatever was hurting. It was yet another piece of evidence that his solitude in the castle had changed him.
He sighed. His past self would certainly have been disgusted with himself.
But he wasn't his past anymore, and he was happy for that.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Elizabeth laid curled up in the bed that she could now confidently call hers.
Her heart was still beating abnormally fast after the embrace that she shared with Meliodas, just by the thought of it her face flushed and she grew embarrassed and enraged at herself.
She had to admit that while she didn't particularly like him she was no longer able to see him as her enemy, which only made the interaction that more embarrassing.
She had been perfectly content in him muscular warm arms, leaning her head against his chest and hearing his hearts beat as a proof that he was alive.
Elizabeth let out a deep frustration sigh and put her pillow over her head, she didn't want to think about it anymore, so she tried desperately to go to sleep.
Or perhaps to wake up and realize it had all been a dream?
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Word count: 1531
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The hatred she holds towards him is disappearing, but what will she deem when is completely gone?