Chapter Text
`There were many things Elizabeth wanted to accomplish in her life. She wanted to end the Holy War, obviously, but she also wanted to get married, jump off a waterfall, go swimming in the middle of the night and watch the stars from the middle of a lake. She wanted a lot of things. But there were other, more important things that had to happen first. So it didn’t matter if Elizabeth wanted to be asleep four hours ago, she had to finish this rough ambush plan that Ludociel dumped on her before promptly vanishing without explanation.
Thanks, Ludociel. If you weren’t an important ally and critical piece to the Holy War, I would have dropped you like a pile of Indura shit years ago.
That wasn’t to say there weren’t benefits to staying up so late. For one, she could always step outside and look at the stars. There was a new moon tonight, so she could see more than usual. No one else in the camp was awake except for the coming and going of patrols, so she almost had the whole place to herself. But there was a reason much better than any of the others. See, she had this… friend. Not just a friend, her boyfriend (!!!), that happened to be nocturnal. He did his best, but didn’t function well when he tried to deprive himself of sleep to spend time with her. The idea was sweet, but the bags under his eyes could hold the rest of her paperwork, and that was a formidable pile.
He insisted that he only needed an hour or two of sleep per night- I’ve gone longer, Elizabeth, I’m *yawn* fine- but forgive her for not believing him. Completely reversing a sleep schedule was hard enough as it was without the added stress of being a fugitive from both sides of the Holy War. Speaking of said boyfriend, she had been waiting for him for half an hour now, and he was nowhere to be found. Considering this was possibly the clingiest person she's ever met, that was a massive red flag. Elizabeth's anxiety finally got the better of her, and she resolved to leave the battle plans alone for now. She wasn't really getting anywhere, anyway.
Under any other circumstance, she'd be concerned about how easy it was to slip past the patrol's notice, but tonight she was only grateful. The forest beyond hummed with life even in the dead of night, and Elizabeth was grateful for the company of whatever was awake at this hour. The darkness of a moonless night didn't help her vision, but she made do. It was probably better that she didn't know what exactly was out there.
Once she came to the clearing Meliodas could usually be found in- it was far enough away from camp that no one would find it by accident, but close enough that they could get to each other in an emergency- Elizabeth came to the realization that it was… empty. Not just empty of him, either- empty of everything. The bedding he’d collected even though Elizabeth would have been glad to give him her own, the gifts she’d given him, the little things around the forest he’d collected for himself.
When Elizabeth knelt to touch the ground, there was ash.
Dread started to coil in the pit of her stomach.
Even if he’d had a panic attack and destroyed it himself- hellblaze didn’t leave ash. That was the most dangerous part about it, that whatever it touched would vanish like it was never there at all. What did leave ash, especially when used by a weaker Goddess, was an Ark.
Tracing the outline of the blast marks, they were all perfectly circular. As her eyes adjusted to the pitch blackness, she could see the burned and snapped branches leading up into the canopy.
A terrifying picture started to paint itself in her mind.
Meliodas did come to see her, but was spotted. He was chased back into the forest all the way back to his clearing. Not knowing where else to go, he took off, confirming their suspicions that he was a demon if they couldn’t already tell.
And Elizabeth had been too caught up in her stupid plans to notice.
We don’t have time for self depreciation right now, she chastised herself. If I was Meliodas right now, where would I go? There were a few options, none of which were close by. There was the mountain where they met- really met- for the first time, but that was hours away. Not likely. There was Heaven’s Theatre, but he’d have to fly directly over camp to get to it, and the remaining guards would be on high alert. He’d be shot down before he got there.
Elizabeth cursed to herself- they shouldn’t have been so overconfident that this was a safe place. They should have had backup places, plan Bs, anything. She was stupid for not insisting on it.
Think from his point of view. That’s right, Meliodas was a master strategist. He’d been in tougher spots before, both of them have. An example jumped to mind unbidden- Elizabeth and her forces had pinned Meliodas and two other commandments across a river, and she’d landed a nasty hit on him. She’d lost sight of them, but figured they couldn’t have gone far. They scoured the area for hours, overturning every leaf and stone, and came up with nothing. They’d cut their losses and headed back to camp only to find an ambush waiting for them.
She asked him how he got the idea a few months after they met. He just shrugged and said, The best place to hide is where you’re least expected, right?
The best place to hide is where you’re least expected.
Who would expect a demon to hide in the room of the Supreme Deity’s heir?
Elizabeth’s face split into a grin as she took off from the ground, following the path of beautiful destruction back to her base.
+++
She could see the lights of the camp long before she touched down- she’d have to talk to whoever was in charge of that about keeping a low profile, the Archangels were reporting more and more captured spies every day. But that wasn’t the point right now- the point is that Elizabeth had a fairly good idea of where Meliodas might be, and she was eager to find out if she was right.
It was almost funny how the guards on patrol had to do a double-take when she walked through the open center of camp before one of them approached her.
“Lady Elizabeth, I apologize for the distressing news but there was a demon spotted well within the borders of the forest. We have reason to believe it’s of a relatively high level, so we’re closing the gates and issuing a ground order for the time being.”
Ground order. Those words made her blood pressure spike. It meant that any individual affected by the order- her - wouldn’t be allowed to fly or leave the area for the duration of the order. Months spent with her mother watching and criticizing every step she took flashed through her mind, the swift moving current of them nearly pulling her under-
But they referred to Meliodas as an it. The injustice single-handedly brought her back to her body, and Elizabeth stood up straighter and stared the guard in the eyes. “I understand you think you’ve issued a ground order, but you don’t have the authority to apply it to a higher rank, much less me. Therefore, I’ll be coming and going as I please.” It’s not that Elizabeth enjoyed pulling rank, but it was cathartic every once in a while to see the blood drain from an overconfident face.
“I’m so sorry, Your Grace, I meant no disrespect-”
Elizabeth flashed a warm, practiced smile. “Oh, I’m sure. It was an honest mistake. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.” The patrol guard bowed once and rushed away, wings drooping. Elizabeth took the opportunity to slip away back into her personal tent.
To the untrained eye, there was no immediately obvious difference. Not much had changed since she left- the meticulously organized pile of clothes on the dirt floor, the papers strewn about on the desk, a collection of half-finished projects pinned to the fabric walls.
Her blankets were usually messy. She just didn’t have the time nor the patience to make them every morning, regardless of the neat habits literally beaten into her. But just because they were messy didn’t mean she couldn’t see the tuft of blond hair peeking out from under them.
Elizabeth crouched in front of her bed and lifted the covers, and was promptly greeted by the most gorgeous green eyes she’d ever seen in her life. Every time she saw those eyes she fell a little further in love. Meliodas grinned, reaching out for her wrist. “Hey, beautiful,” he whispered into her palm. “You come here often?”
Elizabeth pressed her forehead to his, suppressing a laugh. “Considering I live here, I’d say yes. How about you, handsome?” Meliodas hummed, pressing a surprise flurry of kisses to her face. “As often as you want me,” he promised, and Elizabeth could have melted. She laughed instead.
She settled herself into Meliodas’ makeshift hiding place and relished the warmth for a moment. “I went looking for you,” she murmured. “I saw what happened. Are you hurt?” He hesitated before shaking his head. “Physically? No, they couldn’t scratch me. Elsewhere? Had a small panic attack. Got over it.” Elizabeth frowned at his choice of words, but decided to pursue it another time. “Well, that’s something,” she kissed his head and whispered. “We can replace everything else. You’re the priority right now. It might take some time, but we’ll figure it out.”
If Meliodas said he was fine, then Elizabeth would believe him. He wouldn’t lie, never to her. But she knew it took a lot for him to admit it.
If he held her a little tighter as they fell asleep, she would never say a word about it.