Come With Me - Meliodas x Reader

Chapter 69 - Our Choices

Elizabeth hardly noticed the sky sprinkled with stars, hardly noticed the ground rushing beneath them. She clung to her mother's shirt, fighting against the wind to look her parents in the eye. Neither of them looked at her.

'Please don't do this,' she said. 'It's not too late to turn back. The Seven Deadly Sins and Hawk are all so worried about you.'

Her mother's eyebrows twitched and for a second Elizabeth thought she was finally going to speak. But the moment passed.

'Listen to me,' her father said, only looking forward. 'No matter what, I'm going to protect you. When I become the Demon King, your curse will be broken.'

—

King watched blankly as Diane swept up the last of the broken glass. Even though there were five people in the tavern (and one pig) it felt empty. The only thing louder than the silence was King's own heartbeat. The image of the captain looming over them all kept replaying in King's mind. And of [Y/n] doing nothing. Nothing!

Unable to take it anymore, he slammed his fist into the table. 'Damn it! How could the captain do something like that?' Then, more present than the captain's choice, was the pain in his knuckles. King clutched his hand to his chest. He wished he hadn't punched the table.

'You okay?' said Diane's soft voice.

'Yeah. It's nothing,' he lied.

'Unfortunately, he isn't in his right mind,' said Merlin. King looked up at her, but she spoke to the countertop. 'His emotions have been stolen by the Demon King in Purgatory.'

King rubbed his knuckles. 'And [Y/n]? Did she forget us again?' Anger leaked back into his voice.

'I don't think so,' Ban said slowly. 'She didn't fight the captain and seemed to know who Elizabeth was.'

'Then why didn't she stop him?' King shouted. His knuckles didn't hurt anymore. Only his heart. 'Why didn't she say anything? She just ... she just let him go and—'

'I believe,' Escanor interrupted, his night-time voice soft but strong somehow, 'that [Y/n] wouldn't be doing nothing. She must have a plan.'

Ban sighed and rubbed his face. 'Yeah, you're right.'

'So what do we do?' asked Diane. 'How can we help? We can't just leave them like this.'

It was silent for a moment. The weight of the questions, the size of the task ahead, pressed in on King's brain. He clenched his fists.

'Hey, wait a minute.' Hawk stepped forward. 'I don't know why, but for some reason Meliodas called me the Demon King before he left. "Tell me, did you think that you were clever enough to fool me this whole time? So have you enjoyed spying on us, Demon King, as we kept suffering day in and day out?" is what he said.'

King blinked slowly. 'Maybe you just misheard him.' Even as he said the words, he didn't believe them.

'Yeah I doubt it. He probably meant I've got some hardcore Demon-level powers.'

Doubt it. But King didn't say that out loud.

'Hold on a minute.' Merlin was eyeing Hawk shrewdly. 'Come here.'

'Huh? What for?' Hawk walked over to her.

Merlin didn't say anything, just crouched and looked Hawk in the eye. King looked between them but had no idea what was going on. Hawk still just looked like a pig to him.

But Merlin gasped. 'How intriguing. You may not believe this, but you're actually connected to Purgatory.'

—