#jeez it's been a while since I wrote for nnt

[essays-for-breakfast]

One Look Forward

Melizabethweek Day 1: Flight/Freedom

“For someone who only found out they could fly three days ago, you’re a natural.”

Elizabeth pivoted higher, and the warm Goddess magic trickled through her nervous system, a power that turned the endless sky into her dominion. Her white-feathered wings beat against the force of gravity with ease. She was one with the light and the breeze. When she reached Meliodas’ side, who had been drifting a few dozen yards overhead, she beamed at him.

“In my defense, I do have memories of my first life,” she said. “So it wouldn’t be fair to say that I have no experience.”

Meliodas grinned. “I know. You used to beat me in a race more times than I can remember. But in my defense, I only have two wings instead of four.”

“And still, this never stopped you from inviting me to another challenge.”

“You know me, I’ll never get tired of chasing after you.”

They both laughed. A midair twirl and a somersault later, they interlaced their fingers, and Elizabeth’s heart raced with unparalleled joy, as though it wanted to outrun the winds themselves. Just as she and Meliodas had cast off the shackles of gravity, so too had she left her worries behind. Here, above the clouds, at an altitude where not even the flocks of barnacle geese or the daring goshawk dared to venture, the New Holy War had shrunken to a small scar on the world below them.

Unless she dared a glimpse at the ground. Several miles below, the hills of northern Britannia tasted their first afternoon of freedom.

The battles with the Demon King and Cath Palug had taken place only a day ago. For some people of Britannia, the wounds the forces of darkness and chaos had inflicted would never heal. Grey Demons had consumed hundreds of souls, each one a victim of a war they didn’t understand, and their red brethren had burnt uncounted villages down to the foundation stones. From the terracotta roofs of Sistana to the once lush lilac gardens of Belforet, everywhere across Britannia the New Holy War had claimed its toll.

Little more than a crater remained of Camelot. Thanks in no small part to the attack force of the Seven Deadly Sins.

“What’s with that gloomy face, Elizabeth?” Meliodas asked.

Elizabeth tore herself out of the cluster of her worries. “Don’t worry about me. I was just lost in thought, that’s all.”

“I know you better than that. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

Elizabeth took time to answer. Her eyes darted across the landscape below them. Between the patches of differing greens and the sparkling rivers woven through the hills nestled Liones capital. Her home.

Their home.

The tall fortifications and the bravery of the kingdom’s Holy Knights hadn’t sufficed in protecting the city. The Demon King’s subjects had broken through the human defenses, and with terrifying ease. Construction sites would disfigure the market alley and the northern quarters for many months to come. The graveyard would see countless more tombstones. Escanor was only one of them.

“It’s just that…” Elizabeth began, struggling to find the right words. “A lot as changed during the New Holy War. And I don’t know if everything changed for the better.”

Meliodas tensed, and the purple Demon magic pulsated across his obsidian wings. “Yeah. It’s a lot to take in.” He placed a hand on her cheek; this touch she cherished more than anything else in this world. “But you know I wouldn’t change one thing. Thanks to this mess of a war, I can be with the woman I love. And I finally fulfilled my promise to you and got rid of your curse. Is it selfish of me if I wanna celebrate that?”

“Not at all! I feel the same. Nevertheless, I can’t help feeling responsible for all the people who are less fortunate.”

Meliodas’ smile showered Elizabeth with so much affection that she almost forgot to keep herself suspended midair with a flap of her wings.

“You’ll never change,” he said. “Always putting others before yourself. Always the hero others can only wish to be. You really are amazing.”

Heat rushed to Elizabeth’s cheeks. “You’re making fun of me…”

“Never. Don’t you know I only escaped Purgatory and drove out my father because of you? Without your kindness and your encouragement, the Demon King would have razed Britannia by now. Guess I need to step up my game to keep up with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I gave old Bartra’s offer some thought. And I think I wanna accept.”

Elizabeth blinked, and for a moment she thought the squalls might have messed with her ears. “But you said you never wanted a crown! Even three thousand years ago, on the steps of the Heaven’s Theater, you swore that nothing could convince you otherwise.”

Meliodas gave her a half smile. “You remember that?”

“I will never forget! The time we spent there is among the most treasured hours of all my 107 lives.”

Elizabeth averted her eyes. It wasn’t like her to talk with such harsh fervor. Or at least, as the third princess of Liones, she would have never dared to say these things. Her past lives lent her a strength she had been missing before she had embarked on her journey to find the Seven Deadly Sins. How long ago the day seemed since she had stumbled into Meliodas’ tavern. And yet, the past year only amounted to the blink of an eye in the three thousand years they had lost and searched and found one another.

“So why,” Elizabeth continued more quietly, “why have you changed your mind all of a sudden? I wouldn’t want you to abandon your own plans for the future… just for me.”

Meliodas snickered. “You’re too worked up about this. It’s simple: I wanna spent the rest of our days with you, and since you’d never abandon those people down there, I’m not gonna do either. Besides, if anyone can mold me into a good king, it’ll be you, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth looked at Meliodas, the face of the man she had loved in life and death, through heaven and hell, in times of peace and war. And what she found in his emerald eyes was genuine; a genuine belief in her.

She reciprocated his smile, and without minding the tears veiling her eyes, she threw her arms around his neck. He stroked her hair. They bathed in the familiar warmth of the other, a feeling of security and belonging that only needed one word to describe: home.

Locked in a tight embrace, they pirouetted downward, interwoven like two parts of a porcelain music box who had finally found each other.

“We’re gonna rebuild Liones,” Meliodas whispered into Elizabeth’s hair. “And when we’re done, the kingdom will be in such amazing shape that King and Arthur and all the other uptight royals will pale with jealousy. Can’t wait to see their faces.”

Elizabeth smiled. “Then it’s a promise?”

“It’s a promise.” Meliodas pulled back a little and grinned. “I sure love picking the hardest challenges to turn into a vow, huh?”

“As long as we are together, I believe there is no obstacle we couldn’t overcome. After such long a time, Britannia is free of the fires of war. We have to make sure this freedom lasts. And nothing would make me happier than to stand beside you and protect this peace. On one condition.”

“That being?”

Elizabeth tightened her grip around his shoulders. She felt the Demon magic course through the veins in his back, a power equal parts deadly and comforting.

Familiar. Like home.

“Let’s travel across Britannia before you accept the duty as king of Liones,” Elizabeth said. “It’s been so long since we could fly together like this. I want to maintain this feeling for a little while longer.”

Meliodas grinned. “I don’t think we’re gonna do much flying. You’re just going to stop and offer a helping hand to every poor soul we come across, aren’t you? Kay, then I’m in. In fact, I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do, Elizabeth.”

The tears welled up again. “I’m so glad to be with you.”

“Me too. Although Bartra probably won’t be too thrilled with the plan. I better write my testament before admitting to him that I plan to take his daughter and drag her all across Britannia for the next couple months.”

Elizabeth chuckled and swiped an escaped tear from her cheek. “After all the battles we fought, I believe we can even take on the wrath of my father.”

“Together?”

“Together.”

Hand in hand, Meliodas and Elizabeth drifted across the sky above Liones. They would return to the ground and face responsibility soon enough. But this first afternoon of freedom deserved to be savored for a little while longer.

A small, selfish while amidst the clouds.