Vanishing Sight

"YOU'RE ALIVE?!"

A man the group didn't recognize was running towards them frantically.

"I thought you'd died… I thought you were gone Gian-Luca! Where have you been all this time?! Who are these people?!" Jarrett came to a stop before the group.

Gian-Luca looked at the man with confusion. "Do I know you…?"

The words stabbed Jarrett's heart.

"What…? What do you mean Gian-Luca? Has it been that long?" Jarrett took off his face mask. "You can't even recognize your own brother?"

"Brother?" Gian-Luca stopped for a moment. "I don't have a brother…"

"What? How could you not remember? I've been looking for you ever since you'd disappeared years ago, and now here you are… Where have you been—?"

"Gula," Vidia interrupted. "He's the guy from the broadcast."

"Which one?"

"The Squad Zero one."

They all immediately took a defensive stance. "So you're one of those Virtues then!" Veronica called out.

Jarrett hesitated. "I mean… yeah… but… Gian-Luca, while you were gone I pursued my dream as an engineer, just like you'd encouraged me to! Who knew how far my younger brother's words would drive me, I'm an engineer for the Cardinal Nexus now!"

The heartfelt words from Jarrett fell flat in Gian-Luca's eyes. There was no emotional response, but rather a cold gaze at the probable threat he posed.

"Gian-Luca…? What's wrong…?"

"Tsk!" Vidia stomped forwards. "How dare you claim him as your brother to try reeling him in! He's MY brother!!!"

"What? He is my brother! I'm not trying to reel him in, he's my real family! Who even are you?"

Vidia took great offense. "I'M GULA'S ONE AND ONLY SIBLING!"

Jarrett was stupefied. He sensed dark pressure coming from her gaze upon his own.

"You'll pay for your rudeness…" Vidia locked her eyes onto his.

Jarrett began to see dark circles forming around his sight. "Huh…?"

"Jarrett!" Suto swooped in and covered his eyes. "Don't look into her eyes! She's a Sin!"

"A Sin—?!" His words were interrupted by a loud clang above him. Looking up, a flaming blade pushed against the handle of Suto's lance. There, Jarrett could see that his brother had attempted to bring his weapon down onto him.

"Urgh! I've got his parry! Strike him while he's open!"

Suto's words put Jarrett into a momentary dilemma.

"Strike him…?" Jarrett thought to himself. "Why would I strike my own brother—?"

Clang!

The parry had broken loose.

"Jarrett, watch out!"

He looked up and saw that a flaming blade was making its way towards his face. Although lacking the quick reflexes, the sheer fear of oncoming death was enough to drive Jarrett's right arm upwards.

"Shield!" He blocked the attack with his cybernetic arm. At the perfect moment, the arm's mechanics unraveled a latent yet tough-steeled plate that rebounded the Lacerator's attack backwards. Gian-Luca fell back on defense.

"Jarrett, are you okay?" Suto pulled him up. "Get your head in the game! We're facing Sins here!"

"Sins? What do you mean…?" Jarrett ignored the blinding encounter he'd just previously experienced. "They can't be Sins, my brother's with them! That's my brother right there! Gian-Luca Smith! He's my brother—!"

"Would your own brother try and kill you the way he just did?!!"

Jarrett froze in his tracks. He looked back up at his brother, who stood on the other side of scattered debris that divided the two groups. Gian-Luca held his guard and watched the two of them with fire in his eyes—something Jarrett had never seen in his brother before.

"Gian-Luca… What happened to you…?"

"Stop talking to him as if you know who he is!" Vidia yelled.

"But I do know who he is! I'll say it again and again; Gian-Luca is my brother!"

Suto slapped his hand over Jarrett's eyes. "Stop making eye contact with that girl! She's the Sin of Envy!"

"W-What?!"

"Can't you tell?! Her gaze has a horrifying sensation unlike any other! She almost blinded you! You need to snap out of it! These people are Sins, and that may very well include your own brother!" He removed his palm from Jarrett's eyes. This revealed a river of tears that poured down the man's face.

"No… It can't be… Gian-Luca would never do something like that… Gian-Luca would never become something like that… He can't! I refuse to believe that my brother is a Sin!" Jarrett began to march forwards.

"Jarrett! Stop!"

He faced the four of them, and without an ounce of fear on his face, he crossed over the boundary of debris that divided the two. "Gian-Luca, come back to me now. I know you're still in there. I know, without a doubt, that you aren't a Sin. I know that you don't belong with these people. This isn't you!"

As he expressed his concern, Jarrett failed to notice the envious, raging female that swiftly approached him with a sleek knife in hand.

"JARRETT! 2 O'CLOCK!!!"

Vidia pounced from her position—a blindspot in Jarrett's perspective—and stuck her knife forwards ready to pierce her target's eye.

"IF YOU WON'T GO BLIND FROM MY ABILITY THEN I'LL JUST BLIND YOU MYSELF!"

From a mile away, a heart beat heavily in synchronization with a trigger.

Bang!

A dense bullet of infinite capability approached its target at an astounding velocity.

"I'LL SAVE YOU, GULA—!"

—PHTOOM!

Blood splattered like rain westwards—towards the other three Sins that accompanied Vidia. What lacked in this moment though, was Vidia herself.

"Vidia…?"