Can I have Your Daughter?

Chapter 3

Meliodas had Mama Hawk relocate, and they were currently on the road. The tavern rocked slightly from left to right as the giant pig made slow steps across the land. It was dark out now, and quiet as everyone had long gone to bed, except for the captain of the Sins, who had found his mind far too occupied to rest.

Meliodas had been towel drying a couple of washed dishes when Elizabeth came down from her shared room with him. She looked really tired, or at least half asleep, and that's when Meliodas noted the time. He hadn't even noticed the time passing so quickly. It was nearly after midnight already.

After they had begun moving, the entire team had met to discuss a few towns who had sent word to the Sins of troubles they were having with supposed demons that had slipped through when the Ten Commandments had made their attack on the kingdoms. Meliodas had accepted both requests and convinced the others that the sins had a duty to help the kingdom get rid of any remaining demons.

They were on their way towards one of those towns... in the opposite direction of the Kingdom of Lyoness. Elizabeth didn't seem to mind that they were not heading back towards her home, which gave Meliodas hope that she felt this place was like a home to her.

"Whatcha doing up this late?" He asked her as she rubbed her eyes and came to sit at the bar, with a soft smile on her face.

"I noticed you hadn't come to bed. I was worried, so I came to check on you." She yawned and her cheeks flared a bright pink.

"You noticed I wasn't there? Were you waiting for me perhaps?" His brows wiggled suggestively, leaning over the bar towards her, and her bright pink cheeks went crimson.

"N-No! That's... that's not it!" She stuttered out and shifted under his gaze.

He wouldn't lie that he wasn't a little disappointed, but he smiled at her none the less. She looked down at her hands in her lap with that crimson blush growing deeper by the minute, "It's not that I was waiting... it's that... I can feel you when you're there. Your warmth. I feel safe when you're there..." She had nearly whispered the last bit, but Meliodas heard every word. And it was enough to render him completely speechless. The tavern went quiet as Meliodas stared at her, all the while becoming aware of the box in his pocket that held his hopes of her becoming his. His heart beat fast and he could feel his face burn.

"Well, I'm going back to bed!" Elizabeth suddenly stood and made her way back up the stairs before Meliodas could even gather himself enough to say anything back to her. So he was left to stare at her retreating form, wishing he was brave enough to tell her how much those words meant to him. And how much he wanted her to be his. 'Will you marry me?' that's all he had to say... so why was it so hard? Was it because the answer to that question was the difference between his happiness with her and never seeing her again?

"Oh Princess, I just want to suck face with you allllll night..." Meliodas turned quickly to see Ban leaning over the counter, looking a little more than wasted. He was making kissing noises at Meliodas, which earned him a swift kick to the face, and he was knocked off the counter into a table across the room. It was strange, Meliodas had been so caught up in his own thoughts he hadn't even noticed Ban. That was a mistake he wouldn't make again.

"No one asked you, Ban." Meliodas grinned at him, and Ban gave him a mischievous Cheshire-like grin of his own.

"Well someone has to say it; if you won't." Ban groaned at him and rolled off the table he had crashed into and onto the floor where he stared up at Meliodas like he knew every thought Meliodas ever had.

"Why are we going away from the kingdom, by the way?" Ban asked suddenly, changing the subject quickly, and Meliodas reminded himself just how smart Ban could be sometimes. He chuckled to himself softly as he made his place sitting on top of the bar counter looking over the little place he had been running for some time.

"We're going to help that town." He reminded Ban, but Ban only scoffed, "Yeah, okay captain. And then when we're done with that, why will we be running away from the kingdom?"

There was no getting past it. When Ban was suspicious he was very persistent, until you either confirmed his suspicions or managed to occupy him with something else. So far, Meliodas didn't have anything else to occupy him with. "Because the kingdom might be after us again."

Instead of a reaction of fear or disbelief, Ban only laughed. Meliodas knew he didn't have any problems with Ban being on his side. Something told him even if they were being chased because they were evil people, Ban would still remain by his side. That was the kind of guy Ban was. Besides the time he had tried to kill him to resurrect his girlfriend... but Meliodas couldn't really blame him for that, and in all honesty, he didn't. Not one bit.

"What did you do this time? Tell them you were keeping the princess?" Ban laughed at his own joke, but Meliodas rolled his eyes. Stupid Ban... if only you knew. Without a pause, he tossed a bottle of ale towards Ban, "Go forget you asked me that." Meliodas smiled, then waved as he hopped off the bar and began to climb the stairs to his bedroom.

"N-night capn!" Ban called after him, with a swig of the bottle.

Once upstairs, Meliodas quietly opened the bedroom door, peering in to see Elizabeth curled up under the blankets, and the slow and steady rising and falling of her form told him she had managed to fall back to sleep. And quickly too.

He wasn't quick to climb in beside her, instead he sat next to her and watched for a moment. Her face soft and relaxed. She was beautiful no matter what the situation. Sleeping, fighting, trying to be tough and strong. It didn't matter.

He slowly pulled the covers back, climbing in next to her and closing his eyes, letting her scent engulf him, and her warmth lulling him to sleep.

A horse rode quickly through the night carrying a single rider completely cloaked. They pulled harshly on the reigns to guide the horse through the forest and expertly navigated around fallen trees and through dense bush. It was imperative they get to the next town soon. If he didn't get ahead of the Holy Knights, the sins would be in for a rude awakening, with the entire kingdom after them once more.

Branches and leaves blurred by as the horse ran faster and faster at the rider's beckoning. He had already been riding for a full day, and it was after midnight when he came to a skidding stop on the outskirts of the forest and a town came into town at the crest of the next hill-top. He spurred the horse, and again he was off towards the town at full gallop.

Just outside of town a single lantern caught the rider's attention and he quickly rode towards it, and soon a man holding the lantern also became discernable. The older man began to wave as the rider came into his vision and called out to him, "Sir Gilthunder! Over here!"

Gilthunder slowed his horse to a trot and jumped from his saddle in front of the older man, grabbing his hand in greeting, "Doctor, good to see you." The older man was a very respectable man living in this town that had won quite a bit of favor with the people when the Holy Knights were out of control. He was also an old friend of Gilthunder. Gil had sent word to the doctor asking if he had heard any word of the Holy Knights moving on the Sins, or of the movement of the Sins themselves.

"Gil, I received your message, but I'm afraid I've heard nothing of the Holy Knights." He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, but then lit up a bit, "I heard word that the sins are helping towns one by one with particularly difficult pests. I heard there is a town northwest of here that had been nearly demolished in a single night!"

Gil's brow furrowed as he took in the information. He grabbed the saddle of his horse and hoisted himself up, "How far is the Town?"

The doctor thought for a moment before pointed to the northwest, "I would say a little over fifty in that direction."

Gil spurred the horse and took off without another word and before the doctor could say anything else. The Holy Knights after the sins had at least an hours lead on him, assuming they had been able to track the sins as quickly as he had. He was running out of time to warn them...