Chapter Text
Elizabeth wobbled precariously as she hopped across to another thick branch of the tree she was perched in, using a tiny flare of magic to help her keep her balance. Biting her lip, the Princess hunkered down and peered through the foliage with a scowl, locking down her magic so she wasn’t noticed. Three red demons were lumbering their way through the countryside and already they’d wiped out four hamlets in their path. They were being followed by an entourage of smaller demons, all cackling and hooting like a pack of monkeys, and Elizabeth wrinkled her nose with disgust. “What’s the verdict?” Elizabeth narrowly avoided jumping out of her skin as Meliodas landed on the branch next to her, causing it to rock dangerously beneath them. His eyes were narrowed, black with his magic as his hellblaze crawled over his bare arms and under his shirt, and she spotted it latch onto their tree to help the blonde keep his balance. His magic was clear for her to sense, as it always was, but they’d done this enough times already for Elizabeth to know that he was keeping it carefully suppressed from any outside sensors. The last thing they wanted was for one of the demons to be a tracker like Monspiete, or even to alert Monspiete himself.
“They don’t hold a candle to us.” Elizabeth answered absently, carefully feeling out the demons’ pathetically weak magic with her own. Meliodas snorted at her cavalier attitude but didn’t deny it, sharp eyes locked onto their soon to be prey. “There’s roughly about twenty of them? The biggest threats would be the three red demons, but again, they shouldn’t be a problem for us.” Elizabeth recited as she carefully pulled her magic back to herself before she was noticed. It was doubtful that she would be, especially by such low-tier demons, but she wasn’t arrogant enough to bet on those odds. Meliodas hummed in thought as the pair of them mentally ran through the various ways they’d taken down a group of that size before. “Oh- damn, there’s a scout.” Elizabeth muttered beneath her breath as she spotted one final lower-tier demon lurking in the shadows of the trees. She pointed him out to Meliodas and he tracked her finger, eyes narrowing as he caught on as well. “Can we pick him off before he disappears to get backup?” Meliodas murmured but Elizabeth was already shaking her head as she noticed something resting against the scout’s chest.
“Probably not. He’s got one of those amulets.” Meliodas scowled at that and Elizabeth shared the sentiment; they were the most
annoying
magical artefacts the pair had had to deal with and after being burned by them too many times, all the Sins had just taken to just smashing them on sight.
“We probably want to take them out sneakily then.” Meliodas muttered with a pout and Elizabeth smirked at him; she just
knew
that he was itching to create some chaos, but to be honest, so was she. They’d been cooped up in the tavern for over a week already and the need to create mischief was reaching an all time high.
‘The others shouldn’t have paired us together for this.’
Elizabeth mentally giggled.
‘We’re both too chaotic today.’
“What about something natural-looking?” Elizabeth said out loud instead, a finger on her chin. Meliodas frowned in thought with a nod, humming lowly. “Yeah, but
what?”
He muttered and Elizabeth leant back against the tree trunk with furrowed brows.
‘I’m pretty sure I could make an earthquake if I wanted to? But that might not take them all out and then we’d be stuck picking off the stragglers. Hurricanes forming so quickly would be out of the question, especially for this area of Britannia, and that rules out floods for the same reason… hmm, so all that leaves is maybe some kind of wildfire?’
The Princess thought.
‘But demons are pretty impervious to regular fire, so it would need to be something with a bit more
oomph…’
And then it came to her.
Elizabeth tilted her head as she watched a particularly stupid lower demon stumble right beneath the red one’s foot and promptly get crushed. “Meli?” She asked and the blonde next to her glanced over. “What do you think would happen if we combined your Hellblaze with my Fiendfyre?” The Princess’ mused with a faux innocent voice. Meliodas just stared at her for a moment before a wicked grin erupted on his face. “Oh
good idea.”
He crowed and the pair of them shared a devilish smirk that just
promised
the chaos that was about to come. “Although, wouldn’t that be pretty eye-catching?” Meliodas asked but Elizabeth waved a hand back and forth in a
so-so
gesture.
“It could be, but as long as it remains the colour of my Fiendfyre then we should be fine. I severely doubt any demons would have experienced it before.” Elizabeth explained and Meliodas nodded rapidly.
“And if it doesn’t?” He pressed, but instead of Elizabeth pulling back to think, she just
grinned.
“Well, it’ll be
fun,
won’t it?” The smirk in her voice was plain to hear and Meliodas couldn’t help but return it with a sharp grin of his own.
Elizabeth stood up carefully on the branch and shifted closer to the trunk so that Meliodas could shuffle over to crouch beneath her. Breathing out carefully, Elizabeth raised an arm so it was peeking through the foliage of the tree while Meliodas latched onto her arm with a hand of his own. Hellblaze surged up his arm and covered Elizabeth’s hand and she shivered at the cool sensation. “Ready?” The blonde asked, all but vibrating with anticipation. Elizabeth couldn’t help but tremble as well, but instead of being with nerves or fear, it was with overwhelming excitement. “Pestis Incendium!” Was Meliodas’ answer and he quickly threw his hellblaze forward at the same time as her chant. Fire exploded from Elizabeth’s hand, curling orange and red tongues of deadly heat soaring into the sky and dancing with lances of Meliodas’ dark energy. The pair watched it grow and grow, morphing into the shape of a huge dragon-like beast with four legs, two huge wings and a whip-like tail. It roared so loudly that the ground seemed to shake and as they watched, dark hellblaze crept up its form and mingled with Elizabeth’s flames, colouring some parts of the inferno black. The dragon’s eyes, horns and the tip of its tail all inked into a colour as dark as pitch and when it screamed once more, there was a distinct demonic, growling undertone that was hard to miss. “Oops.” Elizabeth muttered and Meliodas cursed at the same time just as the demons below began to panic over the flaming titan hovering in the sky above them like an executioner’s axe. And then it dove.
“Time to go!” Meliodas yelled, throwing himself from the tree and back into the forest. Elizabeth followed him, swinging down the branches and hitting the floor at a run. The pair sprinted from the blaze as quickly as they could in an effort to avoid the inevitable explosion-
BOOM.
Elizabeth yelped as she was blown right off her feet and only Meliodas lunging to catch her saved her from colliding painfully with a tree. Instead, the blonde was the one that smacked back first into hard bark, hissing as he dug one hand in and spun them around to use the tree as a shield. Elizabeth clutched at Meliodas’ chest, uncaring about the dark, demonic flames that licked over her skin harmlessly, and Meliodas held her closer as the searing winds ripped past them. Their unholy creation shrieked again, this time sounding more like a bird than a dragon, before finally there was one last
whoosh
and Elizabeth felt the magic die out like a fire starved of oxygen. The winds similarly collapsed into nothing, leaving particles of ash drifting through the air like mites, and only then did the pair let themselves relax. “So much for trying to keep a low profile.” Elizabeth snarked and Meliodas smirked as they both straightened up.
“Well, at least we got the scout. Probably.” The blonde tacked on and Elizabeth snorted into a giggle.
“Guys!”
Meliodas and Elizabeth jumped as Diane’s shout echoed through the forest. A moment later the rest of the Sins became visible, rushing between the trees towards them, and both Meliodas and Elizabeth winced as they spotted the frantic expressions on their faces. “What
happened?!”
King demanded, eyes wide.
“Uh…” Elizabeth stammered, not entirely sure how to explain the
beautiful chaos
that had just occurred.
“We decided to see what would happen if we combined my Hellblaze with Elizabeth’s Fiendfyre!” Meliodas chirped, sounding completely unrepentant. “That was the result.” Meliodas pointed with a thumb over his shoulder and everyone turned around to look. Instead of the grassland that had been there previously, a huge expanse of what looked like a desert of ash stretched out in front of them. The air was heavy with smoke and smog and there was absolutely no noise but the gentle brush of flash-dried dust against the ground. Towards the back of the chaos there were even a few tree stumps that were still crumbling to nothing in the breeze and Elizabeth winced slightly at the incredible destruction they’d wrought.
‘That was a…
bit
more than I’d expected…’
Merlin sighed and uncharacteristically palmed her eyes while the others gaped at their Captain and Elizabeth. “Why didn’t you invite me!?” Ban suddenly burst out, a wide grin on his face that Meliodas matched easily. However, Merlin shot out an arm to prevent Ban from bounding forward like an eager puppy, an expression of long-suffering irritation on her face that none of the Sins (nor Elizabeth) had ever seen from her before. “Right, new rule.” She started with a dry voice. “You two-” She pointed at Meliodas and then Elizabeth respectively. “-are never allowed to do that again unless it’s life or death.” She finished and Meliodas immediately pouted.
“Oh come on Merlin-!”
“No. Life. Or. Death. Got it?” Merlin ground out and Elizabeth laughed sheepishly, twirling a lock of escaped curls around her finger.
“Got it, Merlin.” She mumbled and while Meliodas pouted harder, he did eventually sigh in disappointed acceptance.
“Good. Now let’s go, I’m pretty sure the entirety of Britannia saw that.” Merlin drawled sassily before she disappeared back to the tavern, the rest of them setting off to follow her.
(Hermione groaned and slammed her palm to her face, rubbing her forehead vigorously. “She never thinks, does she?” She muttered angrily, trying to ignore her husband who was cackling madly on the ground a little ways away.
“Oh Merlin- that was amazing!” Ron wheezed, ignorant to the way his wife was glaring daggers at him.
“It was not! That demon was supposed to keep her safe, but no, he just has to enable her instead!” Hermione threw her hands up in frustration as Ron snorted into a hiccup.
“Imagine introducing him to the twins!” Ron choked out and abruptly Hermione paled.
“No. No, Ron. I’m making the decision now, they’re never meeting. Ever.” Hermione growled before she trailed off. “...Oh Merlin, I might not be able to stop them.” Hermione breathed in terror while Ron just laughed harder.)