Our First Fall (Melizabeth)

16. Bandages

He wore the vest. When he snuck from my room this morning he'd been reluctant.to go, lingering kisses and long glances. Meliodas hadn't been to his room the entire evening and after everything that happened, I had forgotten about the gift. He'd changed and must have come right back as I'd been dressing and exposed when he popped back in.

It looked good on him, the pointed front panels reached his mid thigh and he had white pants to match the buttons. "You must know my body pretty well, eh Elizabeth?" Meliodas jokes, eyes sparkling. He admired my carvings, a half smile on as he asked why I chose his demon mark.

"It's a part of you, so of course I like it." I beam at him, wondering why he was wary about it. Did he not like that I knew the demon mark so well I could carve it? My answer seemed to put him in a better mood. That morning we sat against the wall, opposite the cave rooms eating berries from the 'bowl' garden. We talked about traveling back to our clans together. That Mael and Chandler wouldn't be happy about it but they could stuff it.

I laughed at his phrasing.

"I'll miss you when it's back to seeing you every couple days," I confess softly. It seemed like ages ago that we were meeting at the theatre. Even Meliodas visiting the Goddess Clan seemed long ago. With the treaty being finalized today, along with Drole and Meliodas' fight scheduled for today, our time was coming to a close. I worried how this would work long term.

"We'll find a way, Elizabeth." Meliodas vows, while I thought for a moment he could read my mind but flushed as I realized I had just told him I'd missed seeing him so often. He must not want to go so long between being together too. I held his hand.

"I hope Mael is agreeable to traveling together." I shiver, thinking of the Necropolis. I had already told Meliodas about the entrance into the city of the dead, he promised to fight any ghost that dared look at me. I smiled, thinking of it.

"I'll talk to him," Meliodas said as the others started to rise. Mael was in a better mood this morning, asking me to wash all our clothes and I offer to take Meliodas' too since I doubted Chandler was doing it. He beamed at me, hands behind his back as he admitted he didn't have anything clean left. I laughed, but Mael scowled.

The representatives went off and Gerheade was on washing duty too, so we went ourselves. "We're leaving in the morning." She told me, and I wondered if we were too. The fairy clan is on the other edge of the goddess territory and I thought, Mael would be more likely to agree if the Fairies set out with us. We washed together, bringing our wet clothes outside, hanging them on the ropes we'd strung up between the boulders.

I spent some time with Black Beauty, laughing with Gerheade as she mocked her brother following Drole around. "If a giant and fairy could fit together..." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Speaking of fitting together, you must have nerves of steel getting so close to Meliodas as you do."

"He isn't scary," I tell her. Then I thought of him on the battlefield. Maybe he could be.

"Are you going to watch the fight?" She inquired, "because then you will see him in all his terrifying glory. I know it's just a fun thing between Dole and him but I bet he goes demon." She physically shook from the idea. I laugh at her reaction. Maybe it had been weird that I'd seen Meliodas' demon and asked him to taste me rather than scream or run?

When the final meeting adjourned and the giants were an official part of the treaty, Drole and Meliodas agreed to meet in an hour to fight. They were meeting out in the open, outside of Megadozer, by the tallest boulder between here and the forests. At least now it made sense why nothing grew around Megadozer. Giants ran a muck out there, killing anything they stomped on and fighting in the dirt.