NNT ONE SHOTS

Merciless

Summary: after savage Elizabeth's death Meliodas is approached at her grave by a woman holding a baby.

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THIRD PERSON POV
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Meliodas was beyond tired. He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, crying by his lovers grave.
For the second time he'd have to bury her.
She was brought back to him as Elizabeth of the savage clan only so she could be ripped from him again, and she told him, in her final days that this would continue to happen, and while he did not doubt that she was telling the truth, part of him hoped that she'd gotten it wrong.

But then, when he stood up, and said his final goodbye to his love, a carriage stopped on a road next to him.
A woman stepped off and started slowly walking towards him.
His vision was blurry but she had a look of concern in her eyes, but then his eyes moved downwards to the bundle she was cradling in her arms.

He hadn't even had the chance to while away his tears when new ones started to fall as his eyes widened abs he felt his hearts stop for only a moment.
A deep engraved instinct within him told him the name if that baby.

Elizabeth.
"Hello young man" the woman spoke with an even silly voice as she stood right before Meliodas who sun couldn't take his eyes off of Elizabeth.
"Are you lost?" She questioned after a few moments of tense silence. Luckily this question seemed to grab Meliodas's attention.

"I-...no...not really" he was uncertain, because while he knew where he was, he did not know where to go from here on out.
Was he gonna try to stay by this Elizabeth's side? The clench in his heart when he thought of not doing that pointed to a "yes"
"I know where I am..." he told her. "But I dummy know where I should go..."

The lady gave him a soft but sad smile,
Seemingly sensing his distress. She reached out her hand.
"You can come with us"

Meliodas looked back at Elizabeth who had a smile of her own. He client help but force a smile.
"I'd like that, ma'am"

They walked back to the carriage and Meliodas started watching the landscape pass him by. He was in his own little world until they went over a bump And the jolt shocked Elizabeth.

She began to sniffle a big before completely bursting out crying.

"Awe Elizabeth, it's alright honey" her mother began to rock her back and forth in her arms, but it didn't seem to condole the child. Without even knowing what he was doing, being led by his instincts meliodas reached out his hand for Elizabeth and she grabbed onto his index finger and immediately stopped crying, looking at him with her big shining blue eyes.
"Wow, she likes you" her mother laughed and Meliodas smiled, this time genuinely.

"I like her too...her name's Elizabeth?" Meliodas smiled and stroked Elizabeth's tiny hand.

"Yes, named after my husbands late mother, it's quite a beautiful name Don't you think?"

"Very" Meliodas confined to smile down at Elizabeth, completely mesmerized.
Elizabeth's mother apparently found it very adorable because she asked if he would like to hold her.

He was hesitant for just a moment, still out knowing exactly how to feel knowing that that baby was in fact the incarnation of the love of his life, but he simply couldn't resist so in the end he agreed to hold her.
As soon as she was in his arbs she started giggling and cooing up at him. It nearly brought new tears to Meliodas's eyes.
Looking down at her he swore that he would not allow the curse to take her as it had the previous Elizabeth.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Meliodas had stayed in the village Elizabeth's family Lived in ever since he met her mother, and from that single carriage ride he had seemingly become a trusted and valued member if their family. Well kind of.

Most times he acted as Elizabeth's babysitter and playmate, and she loved him nearly as much as he seemed to love Her.
But even after 8 years he had no idea where to even begin to break the curse. He was gonna keep trying of course, but he was soothed knowing that he probably had a great deal many years ahead of him to find a solution, after all Elizabeth was only 8 and the savage Elizabeth had died at the age of 22.

Meliodas was a fool.
The curse didn't care about age. It didn't care about the innocence of a child. It struck mercilessly.

"Meliodas!" She called for him as he laid on the hill seeming to enjoy the breeze.
He sat up and turned to her as she gave him a messy bouquet of flowers picket from the forks just behind them.

She giggled as he took them and then ran back to pick some more.
Meliodas watched as she suddenly halted.

"Elizabeth? What's wrong?"

"I see the curse hasn't been broken" she spoke in a clearer and more adult voice than she normally did, but it was her words that terrified him. And then she turned to him.
"It's like we can't escape it"
Her goddess eyes shine brightly in what should have been blue eyes. It reminded Mel of the cruel fact.
The curse was merciless.
She was just a child.

Meliodas stood with wide eyes, simply staring at her for what felt like an eternity to them both.
In the end it was Elizabeth that spoke again, turning fully to him.
"Please say something..."

In an instant Elizabeth found heesuf enveloped in a tight hug, being pushed into Meliodas's chest.
She heard as his hearts best quickly and quicker and how his breathing becahe labored until he finally broke down into crying.
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry Elizabeth!" He hugged her tighter.

Hearing him cry Elizabeth couldn't hold herself back either.
"Don't apologize..."

It was as if he didn't hear her because he just continued.
"I don't even know where to begin! I don't know how to end it! I don't know how to save you!" He sobbed and fell to his knees before her.
"Don't leave me again Elizabeth! Please don't die!"

Elizabeth wished to spare him from the pain. She wished that she could tell him that she wasn't gonna leave, that she wasn't gonna die, but she knew that it wasn't her choice to make, so all she could say was simply "sorry"

And sorry she truly was, because three days she was trapped in her hiding house, but she did just capture a final look at Meliodas, as he desperate wished for her to survive.

But the curse was merciless, and so, it killed her for the third time.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Yes I am still angry that the smoke didn't add the baby.

For anime only watchers here's an explanation, in the nnt manga, when Meliodas leaves savage Elizabeth's (second Elizabeth's) grave, he immediately stumbles upon a woman with a baby that he recognizes as Elizabeth, and that one panel was a tearjerker for me.
(It is also believed that this baby Elizabeth is the same little Elizabeth we see die in a house fire in the anime)