Alone Meliodas sat at the bar's edge, spinning the contents of his drink just enough to kiss the rim of the tankard which his hand had moulded to, the taste his mouth seemed to crave, the liberation his mind seemed to yearn. 

Alone Meliodas sat in his uniform, Detective Inspector, careless about the irony about drinking his days away. This is how his evenings usually ended; in the corner of a tavern, one of which he had become a known member. He had his phone in his free hand, headphones on, as he took another drink of the sweet, sweet liquor.

"One more." the blonde spoke gruffly.

"C'mon man, stop wasting your nights in here, you need to get home, who do I call?" The bartender called back.

"I said one more!" he shouted in retaliation. 

"Ok, one, but after I'm calling your buddies to pick you up," the man paused for a moment then a hearty laugh escaped his lips, "Imagine, a policeman in the back of a police car!" He laughed once more, slapped his thigh then proceeded to get Meliodas his last drink. He scoffed but took the drink anyway. He wasn't drunk, though his mind begged to be, it had been years, none the less he sighed and hit the replay button on his phone, he knew every word, background noise and the unmistakable scream to the second. 

"Meli, whatever you do, don't come here! You understand me! They'll kill you. I heard them."

The soft female voice paused and let out a heart-wrenching sob, Meliodas could hear the quiet connection between her hand and mouth as she attempted to silence each cry. Gentle paces were heard as she moved about the room in an attempt to soothe herself.

"Listen to me Meli please! just stay away, don't find me, I'll be ok. Besides, if you were to die, there'd be nothing left for me to live for, so live; for me. I'll find you when I've made my way out. I promise. I love you Mel, I-"

She cried once more as a door slammed open. 

"What are you- Give me the phone!" A male voice screamed- her captors- and a voice all too familiar to him, his father.

"She's blown the operation! Get all the girls ready to move!" he called to someone undistinguishable. 

"I love you, Mel! Wait for me!" And an ending scream as the voicemail finished. 

Meliodas cried in the corner of the tavern, silent, and alone. He pulled out the recently opened envelope marked number 8, Her 8th photo. He despised this day because he'd be reminded of his incapability of finding her, but he loved it all the same, as it showed him that she was still alive, at least for now.

The first image she didn't cry, she stayed strong and arrogant, just as he taught her but as time drew on her tears became more and more obvious- by the fifth year, her face stained pale, red puffy eyes. She had been crying for days. But from year six onwards she never shed a year. The latest, year eight was the same, she was strong, but he knew that wouldn't be the case for much longer, she needed to be found, she needed to be saved, but he had no leads, no evidence, and he couldn't show them the voice message, the force would take him off the case he had worked so hard to be a part of, and he couldn't, not until she was home, not until she was safe. 

Meliodas downed the drink, and looked at the door, unplugging his headphones and putting them in his pocket, looking at the bartender, "Next time, you know who I'm calling." Meliodas shrugged but got up. 

"Captian!" A voice echoed around the room as a band of six people stormed the bar, "Get out of here now!" The only six people that knew his secret, that knew his pain, he strolled towards them, wiping the tears off of his face swiftly. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."

"Cap'n we'll find-" a white-haired man begun but he was cut off by the sound of Meliodas' phone. The 'captain' ignored it.

"Yoouu.. gonna get that captain, I wanna go home already." another male spoke

Meliodas looked at his phone and saw a voice message from an unknown number, he didn't have his headphones in, but he didn't care, he hit play and put it on speaker for his companions, they were gonna find out at the end of the day, why not hear it at the same time?

"Mel? If this is Mel, I'm out. I'm free. I don't know where I am, but I free."

The blonde's heart stopped, as he looked doe-eyed at his phone

The voice spoke once more. 

"I'm out. I'm coming home!"

"E-Elizabeth...?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just want to thank all of you for sticking by me and reading my stories. I know I stuck at updating and I know this was only short, I'm soo sorry, but I've been working, hospital (nothing to worry about) and we have a new baby at home with a new one on the way. Honestly, my mum [insert facepalm here XD] but I promise you I am working on other stories, but since I want them to be perfect it's... taking longer than I thought.

Also, When I was writing this, I was wondering, the updates might suck for it, but I could always write a new book dedicated to this chapter, it was a cool concept, so you know... let me know.

Finally, you may have noticed, I have taken down a few of the chapters as I am either embarrassed at what I wrote  or I think I can re-do it and make it better (I'm going to try to salvage each of them, but you know, some just can't be saved)

Thank you guys so so so much for the support, it means so much to me, honestly.

Oh and my mum and I are planning of launching a company in the near future, we have everything sorted- company name, logo. If you want to know what it is, message me and I will tell you. There is literally nothing right now as we are in the middle of making some products, but if it hits of we are going to keep it running. I'll give you guys more details in the future but for right now, that's all.