Now and Forever

Chapter 10

That was a little too close! Meliodas thought as he quickly walked away from the castle.

His four step plan had seemed so simple: Break into Elizabeth's room at the castle; go through her jewelry box to see what kinds of things she likes; figure out her ring size; get a ring. Simple and straightforward.

However, as soon as he got to her room and located the jewelry box, he discovered that she didn't actually have any rings. "What kind of Princess doesn't have any rings!" he muttered incredulously. He took a look at the few pieces of jewelry shedid have and discovered that she wore mostly white gold and had very simple tastes; nothing too fancy or ornate.

Ok he thought, I can work with this!His ears perked as he heard footsteps he recognized in the hallway and quietly ran to the bed. He didn't want the Princess to walk in and find him going through her things…it was going to be weird enough finding him in here as it was.

She didn't see him at first. Though it's not like I'm jumping on the bed yelling 'look at me! look at me!' he thought with a snort as the image popped into his head. At the noise, she turned to see him. This must be one hell of a dress for her to be so secretive he thought curiously. Though, he wasn't really kidding when he said that she would look good in a sack, but he was becoming more and more curious about this mystery dress.

After that, he got out of there as quickly as he reasonably could. Now for steps three and four; he needed to figure out her ring size and get a ring.Agh! he thought in frustration, her bra size I could tell you but her ring size? No...no, I can do this!

He quickly made his way to the jewelers shop. The heavy door opened with a creak, slamming behind him as he walked in. "What can I do for you sonny? This is the jewelers, the toy shop is next door" said the jeweler sarcastically, with a bored look on his face. Over three thousand years old and I still get called 'sonny'. Thanks Dad...stupidyouthful appearance. Sometimes it was helpful, such as when it caused his enemies to underestimate him, but most of the time it was just kind of annoying.

Meliodas took a nice soothing breath and grinned as he thought about how Ban would have crumpled to the floor in hysterics, had he been there. "I need a ring for my girlfriend."

"I probably don't have anything you could afford" he said dismissively.

The Captain brought a bag of coins out of his pocket and rattled it as he leaned against the counter. "Try me."

At that, the jeweler's eyes lit up and he suddenly became much more helpful and Meliodas left, not long after, with a slightly lighter coin purse and a freshly made ring tucked safely in his pocket.

...

The residents of the Boar Hat woke the morning of the ball to the rhythmic sound of rain softly falling on the roof but, thankfully, the skies cleared not long after breakfast. "Just enough to make everything clean and fresh!" Diane exclaimed as she and the Princess made their way to the castle. "I'm so excited! I've never really had too many friends that were girls before and now I'm going to a ball with a date and I'm getting ready for it at a castle!" she squealed in delight. Elizabeth couldn't help giggling as the Serpent Sin's enthusiasm was nothing if not contagious.

"I just hope everyone found the clothes we left for them. Though, we did put them right outside their doors…and clearly printed their names on the packages" worried Elizabeth.

"So, are we all going tonight?"

"Sir Meliodas and Sir King are, of course, and I believe Sir Ban and Hawk are coming. Lady Merlin said she had things to do in her lab and Sir Gowther said that he wanted to start reading the new books he picked up in town just the other day."

The rest of the day was pleasantly spent giggling and talking while doing each other's hair and getting dressed. As they were just finishing up, there was a knock at the door. Veronica, who was the closest, opened it to find their father standing on the other side. "I just wanted to drop these off for you" he said as he handed each of his daughters a very ornately carved box "and to let you know that you all look beautiful. By the way, your escorts are here. I wouldn't keep them waiting too much longer" he smiled, "they look nervous enough already!"

Elizabeth gasped as she opened her box to find a tiara inside. They were each different and hers looked as though it was made of white gold and had sapphires and diamonds in it. Margaret quickly put Elizabeth's long silver hair up into a loose bun and placed the tiara on her head. The look was simple, delicate, and it suited her perfectly.

"Are we ready?" said Elizabeth as she flushed with excitement. "Let's not keep our dates waiting any longer" giggled Diane as the princesses all nodded in agreement.

They left Margaret's room and made their way down to the lavish entrance hall, where they could hear Ban laughing and giving Griamore, Gilthunder, and King a hard time. He wasn't bothering too much with Meliodas…mostly because he had tried teasing him the entire way to the castle and hadn't gotten a reaction. Everyone but Ban sighed in relief as the ladies, except for Elizabeth, walked through the final doorway and came down the stairs. Elizabeth had hung back in the upper hallway; she placed her back against the cool wall and took a few deep breaths to try and calm her nerves. She could hear Meliodas calling her name and slowly moved towards the top of the stairs. The Princess looked down to see him dressed in a tailored black suit, staring at her in stunned silence as everyone else had already moved on towards the ballroom.

"So" she smiled as she flushed in embarrassment "is it better than a sack?"

The Captain merely nodded in response, having temporarily lost the ability to speak.

...

He looked up to see her standing at the top of the stairs, surrounded by the softly flickering candlelight. The first thing he noticed was the mystery dress. It was made of a very dark blue silk and was simple but stunning. He liked the fact that it wasn't poufy like all of the other dresses he was probably going to see tonight. In fact, it had no pouf at all. However, it did gently hug every stunning curve and left just enough to the imagination to be provocatively elegant. As she made her way down the stairs, he slowly moved his eyes from the snug strapless top to the slit over her right leg that ran from the floor to her upper thigh, allowing her to move comfortably and giving him an excellent view of her leg. It looked as though there was some kind of overlay to the dress causing it to sparkle subtly in the low light. In combination with the tiara and the very simple diamond jewelry, it created an overall effect that made it look as though she had taken part of a bright starry sky just after twilight and transformed it into a dress.

"E-elizabeth" he finally stammered "you look…I mean…wow! I might have to keep you all to myself tonight. Partly to protect you from creepy old men but mostly because I don't want to share!" he finished with a wink and his classic mischievous grin. She flushed a dark red and took the hand he offered as they walked down the corridor together.

"Are you ready?" he said as the tall ballroom doors slowly swung open