Come With Me - Meliodas x Reader

Chapter 74 - War-torn Britannia

Fighting always sounded the same. In your path to find peace, you had encountered so many fights that it seemed counterproductive. Predictable. If you had actively sought out war, would you have found it so often? As you blankly watched the Holy Knights of Liones clash with the Demons, these were the thoughts that flooded your mind. Not Meliodas. Not Elizabeth. Not your friends. There was just a deep weariness, a desire to sleep for a very long time.

'All right. Let's go,' said Elizabeth beside you and everything snapped back into place. She took a step forward and you caught the sleeve of her jacket.

'You're staying here.'

'But, Mum—' you ignored the way that made your heart squeeze '—I want to help.'

You smiled slightly. 'You can help. Without going down there and giving me a heart attack. Kind of a perk of being one of the strongest people here.'

Elizabeth blushed. 'Really?'

'Of course.' You looked across the mess of fighters. 'There's something I want to do, so I'll be distracted and miss some people who get hurt. Not to mention you're the best at persuading the Demons not to fight.'

'I wouldn't say I'm the best,' Elizabeth stammered and fiddled with the cuffs of her jacket.

'I would.' Your smile softened before you gave Elizabeth a hard stare. 'You have to promise to stay up here, though. Or I'll—'

She rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, yeah. I promise.'

Hawk snorted. 'There's no need to worry. I can protect Elizabeth from a few puny Demons.'

Gowther saluted. 'I, too, will protect the princess.'

Your worry eased slightly. 'Okay. Thanks. See you in a bit.'

And with that, you flew off to fight.

—

Elizabeth couldn't see her mother anymore and she briefly considered joining the knights below. Her mother wouldn't know. Right?

Gowther cleared his throat. 'You're not thinking of going down there, are you?'

Hawk laughed. 'Elizabeth wouldn't do that. She promised [Y/n].'

'You're right, Hawk.' Elizabeth said quickly. She didn't look at Gowther, instead focussing back on the wounded knights and speaking to the Demons.

Down on the battlefield, Deathpierce could be heard praising Ludociel. As the other fallen knights began to rise again, they joined him. Elizabeth bristled. It wasn't Ludociel helping them. That jerk. As soon as the insult crossed her mind, Elizabeth instinctively looked over her shoulder. Ludociel wasn't there.

'Woah.' Hawk peered down at the newly risen knights. 'What kind of crazy, adrenaline-pumping fight juice did they guzzle down?'

'It's Cheat Hope,' said Gowther, his eyes hard like amber. 'Fraudulent light. Bogus powers, compliments of Ludociel.'

Elizabeth's frown deepened. She knew about Cheat Hope. And she knew Ludociel wasn't the nicest person to exist. (Okay, he scared her). But to do this to the people who looked up to him made her ... kind of ... angry.

A collective shudder ran through the closest Demons. Flames, darker purple than they usually were, flickered to life on her fingers. Elizabeth gasped and shook them away, looking to see if Gowther or Hawk had noticed. It didn't look like they had. Good.

The fight continued. The sounds continued. The fear and the pain continued. Elizabeth could remember a time when she had fought and argued to be on the frontlines. And it wasn't like she regretted it (after all, she would much rather be here helping her friends any way she could than coddled and hidden like some fragile baby) but there was something horrific about the continuousness of this battle. If she couldn't persuade the Demons, who would end the fighting? Who got to decide enough was enough for today?