Come With Me - Meliodas x Reader

Chapter 62 - The Life We Live

The air wasn't flowing. It was thick and stagnant and got stuck in your lungs like tar. You clung to the edge of the bed with your back hunched, not even trying to fight against the weight. It crushed you.

'Wait,' said Diane, her voice trembling slightly. 'What do you mean she's gonna die? You're joking, right?' There was no answer. 'Say something.'

'It's no joke.' Meliodas's voice was as heavy as the air. 'This has always been our destiny. Now, there's no need to hide it from you anymore. We're— I'm just gonna tell you everything. The goal of this three-thousand-year journey of ours.'

You took a deep breath. It didn't help much.

'Three thousand years ago, during the Holy War, [Y/n] and I were punished for the crimes we committed. Me for being a Demon who fell in love with a Goddess and then went on to betray and kill his own kind. [Y/n] for being a Goddess who fell for a Demon and chose to save her enemies. Both of us for daring to have a child.'

'But,' said Diane, 'what about Elizabeth?'

'Elizabeth committed no crime.' You shot a glare over your shoulder without seeing anyone. 'We're the ones who failed her.'

Meliodas sighed. 'We can only guess, but our leading theory is that she was punished for refusing to choose a side in the War. There are some who would say—' His voice turned darker '—that her very existence is a crime. Another thought is they're using her to make our suffering greater. Whatever their reasoning, it is as [Y/n] said.' His breath shook. 'As her parents, we are the only ones to blame for Elizabeth's curse.'

'Wait, what?' said King. 'You keep saying "they" ... Punished by who?'

You closed your eyes. No matter how many memories were taken, you didn't think she'd ever let you forget that day. The day with the storm and the blood. The day they stood before you, towering larger than Giants, one surrounded by a blinding light and the other wreathed in suffocating darkness.

'By two gods,' said Meliodas. 'The ruler of the Demon race, the Demon King. And the leader of the Goddess race, the Supreme Deity.'

The thunder echoed in your mind. You remembered Elizabeth refusing to run. You remembered laughing about her stubbornness. You remembered two talon-tipped hands reaching down. You remembered none of you giving up.

And you remembered failing.

'We were completely outmatched.' Meliodas's voice broke through the memory. 'They were just too powerful. And in the end, all three of us were killed. Or so we thought.'

The sky was blue. No dark clouds. No lightning. There was something warm on your right hand. You blinked and sat up with a groan. There was no pain, only stiffness. Your wounds had vanished.

Frowning, you looked down at your right hand and felt yourself relax. The warm thing was Meliodas, also uninjured, his chest rising and falling slightly. But something wasn't right. Your heart started to beat faster again. This was Meliodas when you first met him. Still gorgeous, just shorter. Did that mean ... everything was a dream? Elizabeth? The Holy War?

As you panicked, Meliodas's eyes flew open. He sat up slowly, looking at one of his hands. 'What ...?' He saw you. '[Y/n]? But what—?'

'I don't know.' You shook your head and clenched your trembling hands into fists. 'But it was real, right? Elizabeth had to have been real.'

Meliodas frowned before picking something off the ground and smiling. 'She's real. Look.'

In his hand was a feather. Its base was like a feather from your wings, pure white and fluffy, but its tip was a deep purply-black with jagged edges. Your breathing became easier. That was a feather from Elizabeth's wings.