Family Feud

"Vidia…?" Gian-Luca looked to his left. What he saw was a limp body, hollow of blood. In the semi-second of a moment, Vidia's head had vanished before their sights. All that remained was a lifeless corpse and scattered brain matter.

"V-V-VIDIA!!!" Veronica ran over. She dug her hands deep into the pool of fresh, warm blood. The sensation comforted the terror she held at the sight in her grasp.

"Was that Zika…?" Suto looked around. "Probably at the highest vantage point you can find in a ruin like this, huh? You just saved Jarrett's life…"

Further up, Gian-Luca began to seethe with growing emotion. He was unknowingly relieved, but simultaneously angered at the death of one of his own. "Vidia's dead…?" He looked directly at Jarrett. "You… did this…"

Jarrett didn't know what to say, already knowing that it was the work of a weapon he'd created—the Eye of Minerva.

"You're going to pay for killing one of us Sins…"

"S-Sin…? Stop fooling around Gian-Luca, you're not a Sin." He tried to laugh it off. "Just quit playing around before anyone else gets hurt again and—"

"STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE MY BROTHER!" Gian-Luca yelled. His throat had become coarse. "You need to stop speaking of me in a familiar way, because I genuinely don't know who you are. I don't know who you knew in me, because I am not that person anymore. My previous life persona is GONE! I am a Sin now, the Sin of Gluttony, and nothing will get in the way of me and my comrades' missions." He raised his fire-ridden blade against his rejected brother. "You, Virtue of Charity, are currently in our way!"

The Lacerator was back on trail towards Jarrett's face, ready to slash him at any moment.

"Why…?" A heavy tear dropped from Jarrett's eyes. "What happened to you while you were gone…?"

The flame emitting from the blade traced Jarrett's skin.

"How did you end up this way…?"

The tip inched closer and closer to his face.

"How did you become… a Sin…?"

The blade began to make contact with Jarrett's cheek.

"I will find… whoever did this to you…"

Another one of Jarrett's tears dripped, falling directly into the flame of the Lacerator that began to cut his face open. The drop was extinguished immediately.

"Gian-Luca… I will AVENGE YOU!!!"

Jarrett drove his left cybernetic arm upwards, directly into Gian-Luca's weapon. "BLADE!" The cybernetic arm quicky took on its intended form.

"Gurgh—!" The counter-attack drove the Lacerator up, serrating right through Jarrett's left eye. With the heat of its flames, it simulataneously cauterized the wounded eye as it slashed through. Jarrett's eye was now permanently shut.

"Jarrett!" Suto began running over to his teammate's aid. In the left corner of his eye, he saw the other male raise his arm. With assumption that it was the Sin of Pride, Suto immediately pulled cover behind a disheveled car. To his surprise, there was no heavy impact that was shot his way, but rather the start to a simple yet condescending word that was spoken.

"Die—"

Boom!

Ian's speech was interrupted. He'd been blasted away by an energy shot from Jarrett's left cybernetic arm. "I won't let you finish any of your words!"

"J-Jarrett! You knew?!"

"Earlier, he yelled 'freeze,' and all of the white-bodies froze. I just made the connection; this guy's the Sin of Sloth!"

Suto nodded. "Zika's already taken care of the Sin of Envy, so we don't have to worry about being blinded."

"But still be cautious, it'll take Zika a while to charge before she can fire her next shot. In the mean time, we need to incapacitate the Sin of Sloth so that he can't take control us!"

"Got it!" Suto raised his lance. Gripping it tightly in hand, he was ready to press a series of buttons to initiate an attack, but something made him stop.

"Wait, what do I need to do again?"

Jarrett looked back, realizing what'd happened. "Memory wiping… Shit!" He saw that the other female began to approach his teammate. "Suto! 4 o'clock!"

Suto turned around, immediately parrying a sharp spade that came flying towards him.

"Hah!" Veronica giddily pushed against Suto. The two engaged in heavy close-combat, which put Suto at a disadvantage with his long lance. All he could do was use his handle to block the flexible array of strikes from the female he fought.

As this happened, Suto made a quick glance at Jarrett, seeing that an enemy made a flank.

"6 o'clock Jarrett!"

Gian-Luca swung his blade from behind, and Jarrett just barely ducked under in time. Recovering his footing in the moment, he called out to the other Virtue.

"Suto! Listen to me, we need to target the Sin of Sloth first!"

"We do?"

"Yes! You've only forgotten because the Sin of Gluttony is here. I'm not sure who it is though… It's either my brother or the other girl. Nonetheless, the Sloth is our priority!"

"Which one is Sloth?"

"The one laying over there in the distance!"

Suto was able to make out an unconscious body past a pile of gravel.

"The guy?"

"Yeah! One of us has to get to him!"

"I won't let you!" Gian-Luca grabbed Jarrett by the back of the head and brought his bulky knee to the face. This crushed Jarrett's cheekbone.

"Oug—!" Jarrett fell back. In the same instance of pain, he felt his mind be sweeped of relevant information. The Sin of Gluttony had made his mark.

"Jarrett! I'll get him!"

"Get who?"

Suto now realized it was Jarrett's turn to be memory-wiped. "The Sin of Sloth! It's okay, stay on your feet! I'll get him!"

Suto understood that he had to be quick before Gluttony made him forget what he was doing. He pressed his buttons. "Setting One: Spear Setting!" The blade was brought forward. "Setting Three: Javelin Setting!" The locks inside the lance disengaged, letting loose the blade to be thrown at its target. Suto aimed, calculating the angle and distance to reach the fallen target. But as he was about to throw his lance, a strong kick from Veronica to its handle caused Suto's hand to fumble.

"Woah!" He threw it. Soaring and breaking through the air's density, it looked as if it were about to hit its target.

Chunk!

The lance landed directly next to Ian's face.

"Shit! I missed! Ough!" Suto was interrupted by a heavy kick to the stomach, incapacitating him in a winded state.

"I like this long lance of yours…" Veronica grabbed him by the collar. She stared deeply into his eyes.

"Huh…" He was zoned into her pupils. Here he failed to notice the toll it took on his emotions. An uninvited sense of guilt lay heavily onto Suto's heart, which weakened his body and the state of his mind.

"I'm sorry, Wardell…"

"That's right. Dive deep into your emotions," Veronica edged him on.

The deeper Suto fell into the daze of Lust's gaze, the slower his heart began to beat. Any longer stuck in this state, Suto's heart would eventually fail to beat.

"Suto!"

"Huh—?!" Veronica was suddenly blasted backwards by a heavy shot of energy from Jarrett. He rushed over to knock sense back into Suto. "HEY! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Suto's eyes were dilated, yet his vision was completely zoned-out. He was still hazy in his thought.

"Stay with me Suto, don't let her ability get to you! That was the Sin of Lust! I knew we should have brought the lenses!" He shook Suto repeatedly, trying to reawaken his consciousness as quickly as possible before the enemies he'd disabled got back up.

"It won't be long before Gian-Luca frees himself from that pile of rubble I shot him into. Once that happens, I probably won't remember the Sins that associate to these guys. But I need to remember!" Jarrett saw that Suto was finally regathering himself, as his heart lost its guilt and began to beat normally. "Suto! My brother is the Sin of Gluttony! He's the one who's been wiping our memories, so continue to keep track of important information for as long as possible! And that girl from a moment ago is the Sin of Lust! Don't look into her eyes!"

"O-Okay…" The two pulled each other up.

"Blade! Shield!" Jarrett's left arm took on a sharp form, while the other formed its defenses.

"Setting One: Spear Setting!" Suto's lance sharpened its edge.

The two stood across Gian-Luca, Veronica, and Ian who all began to recover themselves from Jarrett's energy shots.

"We may have underestimated you guys, but it's three against two now. You all have the disadvantage, so give it up." Ian stepped forward, ready to intialize his death-bringing command.

"You're wrong," Suto spoke up. "It's three against three."

"What?"

Bang!

The world before Ian froze in place. A single bullet placed itself directly in front of Ian's face.

"Oh."