Elizabeth's (normal) P.O.V
I'm running. I don't know what from, but I'm running. All I know is that I'm running.
My legs are pumping, faster and faster. Each breath follows in a steady rhythm as I find myself further and further away from where I had stopped. From where I'd realised that everyone was speaking the truth when they said that Meliodas was getting involved with the Demon schools once again. They weren't lying. They truly did care about me and my well-being.
Meliodas wasn't who I thought he was. Clearly not because just now I'd heard what I needed to confirm it. To make my logic take over from my heart and now I was running. Running away. Running away like I always do instead of confronting things head on.
When will I ever learn?
"Elizabeth!" I hear his voice from not too far behind, but don't decide to let up. Instead I'm scrambling for ways to lose him in the crowd, or to even alert people. But no words or plans form as I continue running, my legs working before my foggy mind could even come up with a logical escape route.
I'm running before I could even think about where I'm going. For all I know I could be heading in one large circle right back to the beginning.
But I don't care. I never care as long as I'm running.
"Let me explain!"
I'm nearing the stairs now, the perfect escape route as I could take three at a time and probably be out of the building in a minute tops. I'd be able to lose Meliodas in a crowd and find a way to tackle this new issue.
I don't know how yet, but I'm sure I'll find a way to do it. Even if it means agreeing with the Deity Society on eradicating the Demons schools. I'd rather that than have to face the reality of opposing Meliodas. I'm sure with enough convincing I can make myself find positives in the situation. I always look for the positives, after all. I was always labelled an optimist and maybe those skills will become useful now.
But doing that would be betraying, wouldn't it? I'd be betraying myself along with a lot of other people, and I couldn't do that. I could never do that. Betrayal is one of the worst pains you can bring.
My brain seems to stop with this realisation, taking a second to recollect itself before I plunge back into running. The motion keeps me in the moment, time seeming to be lost as my brain continues.
Siding with the goddesses would be the same as doing what Meliodas is doing right now. I'd be hurting him (and a lot of others) the same way this is hurting me. I'm not aiming to do that. I had never aimed to do that. I had been close to, but I'm not aiming for it now. Seeing what the goddesses were really up to has caused me to see that it was wrong. Entirely wrong.
So instead I'm looking for peace and a way to end this stupid feud without loss on either side. And to do that I'd have to refuse Ludociel's offer. I just have to refuse. Yes. I'll refuse to be on either side and stop this myself. Somehow I'll do that.
I know I can.
I was close to doing it before and this time I'll finish it all the way, even if some of my previous allies are gone. I can make new ones and I'm sure that I can trust someone I already know to help me. I'm pretty sure Jenna and Zaneri may be of assistance and maybe even Arthur and Elaine.
Yes, it's all coming together now and all I have to do is initiate it. However, to do that I have to cut all ties with anyone involved with the goddesses or demons. That includes Meliodas and perhaps even the Sins. They could be involved in this too and that would be a liability. I can't have either side knowing about my plans.
"Just go away!" My voice finds itself, my mind muddled with my jumble of thoughts.
I'm at the stairs now, ready to escape. I step forward - then my clumsiness kicks in. My stupid clumsiness.
In a flash I trip over the first step, expecting to go tumbling down the flight of stairs. However, I'm stopped, a pair of hands rescuing me just in time: thankfully for my already injured wings, but regretfully for my mind which didn't want to face this confrontation. Not at all. I had been running for so long to avoid it; to just avoid confronting what was in front of me.
"You need to stop running away," Meliodas' voice was firm as he lifts me over his shoulder.
I frown at this, knowing that I was well and truly caught. Something I had tried my best to avoid, but ultimately failed at.
"Meliodas, let me go now!" I kick and flail, trying to escape him but he simply shakes his head, chuckling.
A huff escapes me, my mind knowing that this wasn't the least bit funny or enjoyable. In fact it was terrible. But not because I was captured against my will, but rather because I felt helpless. Useless.
How could I even make a change if I couldn't escape one person? Let alone tell them how disappointed - no betrayed - I felt that they were doing something we'd both promised not to do. Granted I had done the same, but now I was regretting it and was trying desperately to amend it, whereas Meliodas seemed to brush it aside and act as if he wasn't doing anything wrong. Like what he was doing was just a piece of idle gossip that no-one wanted to hear about.
"Not unless you listen to me," I glance over my shoulder to see that he was serious, his green eyes slightly darkened.
Clearly, Meliodas wanted to talk this out. Fitting since I usually was the sort to talk things out rationally, but right now I don't know what to do. I'm hurt, betrayed and not in the least bit thinking rationally. Not at all. I haven't been for a while. Right now I was just focused on getting as far away from here as possible and perhaps crying for a while.
Yes, crying would definitely help. It is said to be the cleansing of the soul. A way to lift the pressures from your mind and let it all out. But I wouldn't do it here. Not in front of him or anyone. I'll hold it in until I burst and then I'd confront that issue with the others.
But that didn't mean my mood wouldn't reflect that. And so it betrayed me, the hurt and anger evident in my tone.
"No," My answer comes out stroppily, with me folding my arms and turning away from him. I even throw in a pout to show how peeved I was, but I doubt he saw it anyway. It's better that way, though, as I probably looked like a child. Then he'd most likely say something about it in a joke-like format. An attempt to cheer me up that would ultimately fail and probably piss me off further.
"Then I'll keep you up there," Meliodas answered simply, a shrug following.
He then begins to walk away from the stairway, still carrying me with him. Of course he does. I watch as the stairway slowly gets smaller and smaller. Each step further away from escape was torture really. A slow torture of the mind and moral as I fight with talking it out with Meliodas or reflecting my own thoughts of anger and betrayal. Two very tempting thoughts. And due to Meliodas not letting me go, I opt for being difficult and continue to kick and struggle within his grasp. This lasted for around five minutes before I decide to give up, my legs tired from kicking and my resolve to be angry burned out.
"Fine, I'll listen," It comes out in a monotone. A mere whisper. However I can tell he's slightly brightened up with it. Slightly but not completely.
"How do I know you won't run off again?" Meliodas mused, and I can see the grin although he most likely isn't back to his normal mood.
How could he be when he knew very well that I was low on sympathy? It was actually due to his luck that he managed to get me to give in. Or perhaps his stubborn nature.
"I won't, I promise," I mumble, deciding that protesting was useless.
This seems to be a good answer, as he sets me down. A smile betrays me at this, before I quickly replace it with a grimace. Reluctant, I face him and he returns the gesture, his expression deeming that he wasn't in the mood for any nonsense.
"What's going on Elizabeth?" Meliodas frowned as he studied me, "And don't give me a crap excuse either."
I bit my lip at this, glancing down as I know I haven't been the most honest recently. However there was still a spark of anger within me. One that had been created by the fact that I was wrong and had trusted someone completely, even though I'd been warned several times. I felt like such an idiot and now I didn't know what to trust. What to think. What to feel.
"Well, how about you explain what was just going on there?" I raise a brow, my arms folded across my chest. I can feel my powers reacting with my emotions, the light pulsing of my healing magic travelling through me. "It's pretty odd to see you talking to your brothers about the same thing twice now. You wanna explain that to me?"
"Dammit Elizabeth, it's not what you think it is," He groaned a tired hand sweeping over his face.
"Then what is it?" I press, tilting my head as I watch his reactions intently. "You could tell me if it's not what I think it is."
"But I can't tell you," He answered simply and quickly.
"You can't or won't?" I narrow my gaze on him.
"Can't," Once again a quick reply.
Something that I didn't see as helping his particular situation. Not at all. In fact it made it all the more shady as I had no more blind trust to give. All of it had dried up with the discovery of reality.
"Then I won't tell you anything either," I respond blandly, turning away from him.
"Elizabeth..." He sighs, a look on conflict on him, but I've heard enough.
"How can I trust you, if you can't trust me?" I throw my hands in the air, exasperated and more or less tired of this. This constant back and forth and having to choose. "It works two ways Meliodas and right now I don't many reasons to trust you."
Conflict is the first thing I spot on his face. Meliodas reaches out, seeming to want to stop me, but then just as quickly goes back to how he was. Still, quiet, plaintive. Something I didn't recognise anymore.
They were all right: Jenna and Zaneri, the Deity Society, even the Holy Knights. They had all tried to warn me that my own naivety was blinding and somehow I hadn't seemed to realise it until it was too late.
He wasn't the same.
"Well if you're not going to tell me, that's fine," I huff as I turn on my heel, tired of the silence and just about ready to run away again. But rather this time I'll storm off. Yeah, this time I'll be angry and actually do something right for once. "Don't expect me to tell you anything from now on either. Like I said it's two ways."
I then march away, anger radiating off me as my wings burst from their bandages, fully healed. Something that should be a miracle, maybe even amazing, but all I can think about is the anger. The anger and the fact that is was really hiding sorrow.
O.o.O.o.O
Meliodas' P.O.V
"Elizabeth!" I call after her, but I know that she isn't listening. Not after what just happened. So I let her go, watching her form disappear from view before slamming my fist into the wall cursing as everything sinks in.
How could I let this happen? I should've known that it was a setup. A way to get me in the wrong place at the wrong time and in the perfect situation for something like this to happen. Something that would give me a reason to go back.
A reason to go back...
That's why my brothers set this up! It's a way to get me back without causing a lot of hassle. Well, I'll make sure to give them exactly what they want....
But I think I have something else planned. Something that would cement once and for all that I was over being the next head of the Demon schools. However, to do that, I'll have to go without telling anyone the truth. That's includes Elizabeth and the Sins.
I make my way back to my brothers' location, pondering about whether doing this would be a good idea. It would mean reverting back to what I was as well as dropping all of the things I've come to enjoy after leaving. It would also mean showing Ludociel the idea that he had about me was right. That everything he had warned Elizabeth about was right, although it really wasn't. It would just look that way due to what I was planning to do. A risky yet also rewarding plan.
Time seems to freeze as I'm trapped within my own bubble of thoughts. Thoughts about what I'd be giving up as well as what I'd be doing. I'd most likely lose a lot of trust on both sides, meaning I'd have to tread carefully. Not to mention that I'd make a lot of enemies. Enemies that won't be happy to have given me so much information in the past. Information that they reserved as strictly classified and unavailable to just anyone. The only reason I'd gotten it was because I was trusted.
But trust wouldn't be available if I take this path. Once I did, I'd have to ditch everything and go back to how I was. How everything else was. I'd have to prove to everyone that I'd just went along with Elizabeth's thing to get information. But after finding out that none of it was useful, I decided to come back to demon territory.
Yep, seems like a solid plan.
I find my way towards the corridor my brothers were waiting in, both seeming to have expectant looks. Fitting since they knew exactly what I'd answer with. However neither know what it'll lead to. What it'll destroy.
"I'll come back," I say it breezily, acting as if I mean the words. As if I want to come back. But really I don't. I never did.
O.o.O.o.O
Elizabeth's (normal) P.O.V
It's been a few weeks since I had that outburst. I'll admit that I do regret what happened, I really do, but so much has happened that I haven't been able to focus on how I feel.
It seems like my outburst was just a catalyst to the already unstable balance in this school. Not more than an hour later, the whole school appeared to be split into a battle ground. Demons Vs goddess - students Vs students. No-one's been safe from anything since a few weeks ago and now I was fearing that the past was repeating.
I didn't seem to be the only person fearing this too as many remained within the neutral zone. Well, many being a small group that were virtually powerless against this war. My optimism was really the thing that called us many. Hope was scarce these days, and now I was mainly thinking of ways to end this feud while also getting through classes when I could.
However, school was pushed aside for many. They all opted for getting at the opposing side instead: performing large-scale vandalism, going onto different campuses and even kidnapping other students. Everything just kept on escalating back into the old days. The times when no student was safe and was only really protected if they went to the best schools in the area. Schools owned by the Celestial and Demon heads.
But even there you weren't safe.
A sigh escapes me as I sit in an empty cafeteria. Everyone had left the campus during lunch hour to deal with plans and plots, while most Holy Knights had been called to a meeting with Vice Principals Hendrickson and Dreyfus.
Jericho and Guila had expressed their concern about the meeting, stating that they had a terrible feeling about what all of this was leading to. They expressed to me that if anything were to happen, that I should run. Run as far away from here as possible before anything could happen to me.
But I was sick of running. So sick of running away and pretending that nothing bad ever happens. So this time I'll stay. I'll try to end this the same way I had planned to from the beginning. I know I'm not alone in that prospect either, as my sister and Arthur agreed to help me in this.
Both being royals, they'd gathered quite a lot of information that would be unavailable to normal students and had both admitted to having invitations from both the Supreme Deity and Demon King. Rather ironic since I haven't formally received one. But I understand as I am a threat to their system.
"Cheer up, Ellie," Veronica teased as she sat across from me. Her tray made a small thud as she plopped down. "We'll find a way to fix this."
"Yes, I'm sure we can all find a solution," Arthur agreed, joining us.
It was just the three of us, the hall devoid of any other life. Even the staff had chosen to take their breaks when they were available. They were most likely done with this whole school feud thing too, though some did join in too.
There have been cases of school staff assisting students in obtaining equipment, planning schemes and even telling students to target certain areas. Everything was just reverting back to how it was. As if no-one had learned from the destruction and chaos it had brought.
It really is shocking to see where we've gotten in a few short weeks.
The calm of the cafeteria is broken when a new group enters. One that I've been avoiding since my discovery a few weeks ago, and had caused quite an issue during lessons.
They all walk in, silence seeming to mask them as they grab trays and steal glances towards us. None of them make the move to approach me and neither do I. I know that I should talk to them, explain that I don't want to betray anyone or choose a side. But I don't know who to trust or talk to these days. Everyone is on one side or another and it seems that I'm always caught in the middle.
"Hey, it's the Sins," Arthur seemed to brighten at the sight of them. He then went on to explain how they've been helping people out recently.
Apparently, the Sins hadn't chosen a side on this whole war thing and were simply helping out anyone who needed it, something they'd all decided to do since losing their captain. But Arthur also relayed that they'd be perfect recruits for the neutral alliance zone we were creating. After all, the Sins were feared and respected among many and perhaps we could use that to help people see that we're fighting for a noble cause.
"That sounds great, Arthur," Veronica sighed as her eyes narrowed on the group. "But I haven't exactly forgotten about their leader ditching them for the demons. Neither has Ellie. I'm sorry I have to say this, but we can't trust them. It's too risky."
To that Arthur scoffed, shaking his head. "You don't know them well enough, Veronica," He insisted on them being just what we needed. The members of a team that could bring down this chaotic mess.
He then turned to me, a hopeful look in his eye, "You know exactly what I mean Elizabeth, they are good people and so we should ask them to help us. I just know that the Seven Deadly Sins will!"
I sigh at this, knowing that Arthur was correct to a degree. The Sins would be of use to us. Of great use. They were known to be handy in situations such as these and not only that, but they were loyal. Extremely loyal. However due to that loyalty I was uncertain of whether I could trust them. They all held Meliodas dear and I know there would be a possibility of them letting him know of our plans. If that were to happen, our small alliance of neutrals would be finished.
But still, the Sins were decent people. It was displayed through what they'd shared with me; how they'd all made sure to take care of me; and even sticking with me despite the adamant refusal of the Holy Knights. The Sins were true friends and so I should take a chance with them. I should let them in on my plan and let them know that they're welcome to join. That I do value them as people and had to lock them off because of everything that happened. Because of my own confused thoughts.
"Yes, we have to ask them to join," I agree with Arthur, nodding. "They might just be what we need."
Veronica's eyes widen at this, while Arthur's grin grows. Both had completely different reactions, yet seemed to share the same thought: that I was right and that we had to get the Sins to join. They were one of the few hopes left and even if we could rely on the Holy Knights, someone was clearly playing them from the inside. Something that made them an uncertain ally in this feud.
"Fine," Veronica grumbled as she looked at me. "Do it. But do it now before I change my mind!"
Not hesitating, I leave the two bantering royals to encounter the Sins and something about their expressions tell me that they're not completely happy with me.