The stone walls of Edinburgh loomed around Meliodas, shadows flickering as he moved deeper into the heart of the fortress. The air was thick, electric, every corner echoing with the remnants of dark power. He had come here to make a statement, to remind the Commandments of who he was, of the strength they once feared. They would see that he was no longer the traitor they had dismissed but a force to be reckoned with. Alone, he would ensure they understood that their days of hiding and terrorizing were numbered.

But as he stepped into the chamber, his resolve faltered. Standing in the center of the room, her silhouette wreathed in the dim light, was a figure he had never expected to see again. His heart froze.

She was here. The woman he had once loved, long before he knew the warmth of Elizabeth’s embrace. Her dark hair framed a face he thought he’d left in a past life, eyes piercing and unyielding as they locked onto him. There was no softness there, no glimmer of recognition—only coldness, hardened by centuries of abandonment.

He felt a sharp pang in his chest. Memories surfaced unbidden: whispered promises, battles fought side by side, her laughter—now just ghosts of a life he’d left behind. He had not meant to leave her, had not chosen to cast her aside, but she had been swept away by the course of his fate, collateral in a love he never meant to replace.

In her eyes, he saw everything he had abandoned—duty, loyalty, and the life they’d once envisioned together. But now she wore the Commandment insignia, a dark emblem against her chest, a symbol of a path she’d chosen after he left. His heart twisted with the knowledge of what he had done to her, how his departure had pushed her into the very darkness he now opposed.

He took a breath, the weight of regret pressing down on him. “{{user}}…” he whispered, the name barely escaping his lips, a soft, broken utterance. In that moment, Meliodas felt the depth of his betrayal, the consequence of every choice that had brought him here.