Normal POV
Meliodas ripped the police tape from the crime scene. It's been months since he last came here. Memory lane sure felt like it was just yesterday. He scanned the room as dried blood stained every corner. The chains and whips were still in the right position as he left.
Going down to the boiler room, he felt as though something was weighing him down. Like a ghost following his every movement. He brushed off the feeling like it was nothing. The North Mercy Hospital or as he described as 'No Mercy Hospital' was a habitat for ghost and ghouls. But the only thing haunting him was his past.
Meliodas kicked the fallen pots and vases. He remembered this body figure tomb held the bones of Dreyfus. Griamore did a fine job of preserving the bones with hot ceramic liquid. The cold shifted its figure to clay.
Meliodas gently brushed the back of his hand against the hanging chains which were used to chain Elizabeth like an animal. He remembered her naked body exposed to him and the audience. The blood still remained with the dust bunnies.
Meliodas looked around one last time for the thing he came here for but it never showed up. "Fuck this..." he cussed out loud. "Lies..." anger surfaced. He took deep calming breaths. Destroying everything wasn't gonna help him but it was tempting.
Meliodas kicked a nearby jug. It's contents spilled on the floor. He took a closer look at the liquid. It was ceramic liquid. What was surprising was that it didn't turn to clay at all. He missed something important.
Shining his flashlight, Meliodas made the light follow the ceramic spill. He moved the flashlight to the wall in front of him. A sinister smile appeared from his lips as he finally found what he was looking for.
"There you are..."
Present day...
Normal POV
In the supposed to be 'Wrath-Liones' household, everyone gathered around the closed bar to figure out what the hell was going on. On the right side was the Liones family along with Gilthunder. Five of the deadly sins sat silently as the news shocked them to the core. Meanwhile, Sir Zaratras and Hauser stood at the very middle of the room trying to register what they now.
Zaratras volunteered to be Hauser's assistant while he was tasked to handle this Murder Investigation. Hauser owes Meliodas a lot. With him handling this case, he might have a chance to repay Meliodas. Hauser was 100% motivated to prove Meliodas' innocence even with this folder flaunting the evidence.
The silence was eating them from their unanswered questions. Ban gritted his teeth and slammed both fists on the table. "Damn it! In hell would I ever believe that Captain killed Lady Caroline." Margaret and Veronica winced at the slam.
"Captain...he would never..." Diane sobbed.
"I am most certain that the Captain would never engage in such a cruel act especially if it will harm those who he cares the most." Gowther may not look nor sound like it but he too was angry and confused.
They wanted to believe of Meliodas' innocence but considering the given files stored away in Dreyfus' lair, and Meliodas' history with these so called 'enemies' of his, Baltra can't think straight.
"It's best not to jump to conclusions..." Zaratras tried to calm him.
"Not to jump into conclusions?! Meliodas has a bad record, he never once mentioned about his gangster like life, he's making a run for it the moment you came here with this secret, and left my daughter alone before the wedding! It's the perfect time to jump into conclusions!" Baltra spat.
The Sins automatically glared daggers at Baltra's way. How dare he talk about their Captain like that. "You don't even know what you're talking about." King spoke. The sins have this deep connection with Meliodas, one that they follow along with trusting their gut. No matter how messed up things were at the moment, they kept their faith in the Captain.
"Oh I know very well that my daughter is marrying a murderer!" Veronica could see that her Father was hurting from the truth of their Mother who died just last year and the pain of seeing your daughter in a disabled state, added with an emotional scar freshly made from a broken engagement. What Father would not get angry about this?
"Please...let's just...calm down..." Hauser didn't want to intervene in family matters but these guys looked ready to kill.
"Father, pointing fingers isn't helping." Veronica tried to calm him down. Baltra advances forward to Zaratras. He gripped his collar and brought his face closer to his.
"I know you're hurting Baltra, but hurting the people around you won't get this crime solved." Zartras wasn't afraid to tell him frankly. Baltra kept his grip on.
"Margaret..." Gil tried to stop her but she pushed away his touch. Margaret grabbed on to her father's arm.
"Father, that is enough!" Veronica has never seen Margaret this mad in forever. "Sir Zaratras is right. This debate is not helping. Stop being unreasonable without the proper evidence." Baltra turned to a crying Margaret.
"I know...it hurts...but...think of how Elizabeth would feel right now. Seeing us fight like this..." at the mention of Elizabeth's name, Baltra backed away.
The room became silent once more. Nobody dared to speak up until the tension dies down. Zaratras bit his lip. He thought this nightmare was over when Dreyfus and Griamore were wiped from existence. It seems their presence was the key to opening a new door to realization.
What everyone thought was that the killer will always be a suspect but no one saw it coming when the victim can also be a killer in disguise.
Elizabeth's POV
I can hear them all yelling from the first floor. My ears were hurting from their intense conversation. I didn't want to listen, I didn't want to believes, I didn't want to choose but... is it all true? Was I actually engaged to a killer?
My thought were mostly consumed by those ideas as I sat quietly on my wheel chair while facing the open window. Meliodas' file folder rested on my thighs. So many names listed in this folder. People that I have no knowledge of were brutally killed by his hands. Honestly, I couldn't care less for any of them. If Meliodas says that they were his 'enemies', then I would believe him in a heartbeat but...
To think that my own Mother was part of his black list, I couldn't be more vulnerable in my entire life. Meliodas isn't a killer. He is not! I don't want to believe it! I don't! But... this folder held a lot of information. Can I believe Meliodas if he says my mother was also his 'enemy'? No. I can't. My own mother is no ones enemy. She could never hurt a fly and yet, why is she listed on this list?
"It doesn't make any s...sense..." I let the tears pour down my eyes. All those times...where Meliodas would come home late. He wasn't searching for the right gift. I wondered if he was getting ready for his escape route. Was he planning to leave me all along? Did the guilt of killing my mother got to him? Instead of telling the truth, he had the nerve to smile at me everyday and act like nothing went wrong? I don't...believe... I won't believe. Who should I believe?
These negative thoughts were clouding my mind. No, I love Meliodas. He would never do that. He went all the way to save me from Griamore. He never stopped loving me. Even when I'm disabled, he never ever thought of leaving me.
Until now... what's going on? I want to know. It's killing me. This whole drama is killing everyone around me.
The next day...
Normal POV
Elizabeth woke up to the smell of food. She was hungry after not able to eat dinner last night. She tried her best to move her body on her own. "Almost there..." Elizabeth fell off the bed. Her legs couldn't carry her weight right now. Therapy was still in progress.
"Elizabeth, you should have called me." Gilthunder came rushing to the room and helping Elizabeth to her wheelchair.
"Uh..thank you, Gil." He nodded. She didn't like the way Gil was looking at her like she was weakling but given the circumstances, Elizabeth can only understand that everyone was concerned of her well being. Gil pushed the wheel chair till they arrived at the kitchen.
Margaret was cooking breakfast while Hawk was under the table happily eating his portion of breakfast. Baltra did not want Elizabeth to be living alone. She needed someone to take care of the housework and also another person to help her with other tasks like carrying her back to her wheelchair...etc.
There was a knock at the back door. "I'll get it." Gil walked off leaving the two sisters alone.
"Breakfast is ready..." Margaret set the plates. Elizabeth smiled at how her sister acts. She looked like a mother. Of course she does. Margaret was the splitting image of her mother, Caroline. Thinking of her made Elizabeth loose her appetite all of a sudden.
"Eat, Elizabeth." Margaret encouraged. It didn't sound like the regular eat your breakfast tone, it was more like eat to keep yourself healthy. She wanted Elizabeth to stay strong in this case. Elizabeth could see her concern and did what was told.
"How did you sleep?" Margaret asked.
"Not very good actually." Elizabeth couldn't sleep at all last night due to her endless crying. Margaret could see the blood shed eyes. Fresh tears were made there.
The girls heard shuffling at the living room. "Gil, are you okay?" more shuffling was heard.
"I'm okay! Nothing to worry about..." Margaret wasn't convinced.
"I'll be right back..."
She checked up on Gil, who was struggling to carry a big package. "What are you doing?"
"Shhh...help me hide this..."
"What? Why?" the packaged was wrapped in a 'wedding' gift wrapper.
"Margaret, it's obviously a wedding gift. The wedding is off. We can't let Elizabeth see this." Gil said. Margaret frowned at hoe right Gil was.
This wedding package will only serve as a reminder of Meliodas. She does not want her sister to cry after seeing this. "You're right." Margaret helped with the pick up.
"This package is heavy." says Gil.
"And too big. Where are we even gonna hide it. Elizabeth can not find out about this." Margaret wondered if there was a basement here.
"Too late..." the two stopped what they were doing. Elizabeth was at the other side of the room with her arms crossed. "I know what you're trying to do. Please don't." She wheeled her way towards the package. "Why?"
Margaret frowned. "I didn't want you to see this...a reminder of...of Meliodas..." Elizabeth was felt sad that the wedding never continued but she was heartbroken to know that Meliodas left her.
"The wedding was just an act Margaret, its just a show that a couple would put up to impress shallow people..." Margaret and Gil were shocked. Elizabeth never spoke like that.
"What I'm saying is, I'm strong. I can handle whatever wedding gift people are sending me or...were about to send me." Elizabeth bit her lip.
"Are you sure you want to open it?" Gil asked.
"We can always send it back to the owner." Margaret suggested. This wasn't right. Elizabeth isn't acting like herself right now.
"Strange...I can't find the owner's address on this package. Where is that card?" Gil tried tripping the box.
"Well it doesn't have an address. Might as well keep it." Elizabeth stared at Margaret with a frown.
"Oh...okay..." how can she help her changing sister?
"I've got the scissors" Gil handed it to Elizabeth.
"Let's see what we got here..." Elizabeth started cutting away of the wrapper. Meanwhile, Margaret pulled Gil on the sidelines.
"Gil, this isn't right. She's not herself right now." Margaret whispered.
"Well, can you blame her? With everything happening, Elizabeth has every right to shut out her emotions." he whispered back.
"What do we do?"
"I don't know, Margaret."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The sound of Elizabeth's scream followed by the dropping of the scissors alarmed the two.
"What's wrong?!" Margaret was frozen. Gil went over to see what it was. All three of them were drained out of their color. Within the package contained the body of a man.
A man whose figure was submerged in hot ceramic liquid.
Burns were present everywhere.
A slit on the neck was visible.
His face was all too familiar with Elizabeth. Her rough exterior a while ago had been washed away from the sight.
"Gil call Hauser and your Father, now!" Margaret demanded.
It was like a trip down memory lane. Only this was something she'd rather Elizabeth could do was watch in horror. First Liz and now...the rotting body...
CAIN BARZARD.