Reflection of Sloth

The morning light shined gently through the cracks of some worn blinds, barely holding onto a small window. The soft melody hummed by a sweet voice echoed in Alan's mind, lifting him from his slumber. As he rose from the floor, he groaned and popped his back. All was going well for him before he realized where he had just slept. He looked around the room and spotted several cans of beer scattered everywhere.

"Right…" Alan yawned. "I forgot she brought me to her place." Alan winced in pain as he tried to move. "Oww… Sleeping on the floor hurts."

"I offered you the chance to sleep with me." A pink-haired girl, fully dressed, walked out of the bathroom with a towel resting on her shoulders. "The bathroom is yours now."

Alan ignored her initial response and made his way toward the bathroom. After a few moments in the bathroom, he came out thoroughly cleaned and ready to start his new cycle.

"You know," Isabelle said while staring at the strangely chippy Alan, "for someone making a risky gamble, you are oddly happy."

"I am?"

"Yes…"

"Yes, you are." Alice chimed in. "To be honest, it's quite creepy. But I suppose the souls in this area are making you this happy."

"What do you mean?" He asked Alice.

"Simple really. Since your corruption is getting slightly out of hand, nearby souls are fighting to take control of your body. But thanks to yours truly, the only thing you have to worry about is the remnants of their emotions."

"So, how does that relate to me being happy?" Alan tilted his head. "Wouldn't they be mad?"

"Not these ones…." Alice's voice trailed off.

"Stop being cryptic."

"Look, I'm trying to say that the spirits here had died when…they...were...doing...it…." Alice's voice grew ever quieter as she could not finish her statement because of embarrassment.

"Hey Isabelle, random question, but do you know what this place was before being rebuilt?" Alan asked loudly, annoyed at Alice's awkward way of beating around the bush.

Isabelle was sitting on her bed while fixing her hair as Alan asked her the question. She then paused what she was doing to think. "I think the landlord said something about this place being a popular brothel in Old Providence."

"Was sex really hard to say, Alice?" Alan called out to Alice in a joking way.

"Shut up," she retorted before going silent. "It just brings up terrible memories."

"Heh, so you are fine with others seeing you naked, but you are embarrassed about sex. Just how old are you?" Alan said, unknowingly giving a smug expression for Isabelle to see.

"Ass."

"Oh, that's why you asked," Isabelle said in a flirtatious tone, bringing his attention back to reality. "You were trying to hint at something naughty, I see." She winked at Alan while slowly undoing the top button on her white blouse.

Alan saw what she was doing and gave her an unassumed look. "I am still a minor."

"Age shouldn't stop love~" She tried to move towards Alan.

"No thank you, I'll wait outside till you are ready." With that, Alan walked out the front door and waited outside.

After having Alan wait twenty minutes, Isabelle came rushing out of the apartment. "Sorry I took so long." She gave Alan an apologetic look as they took off to the train station.

"You know," Alan said on the way to the station, "I never actually expected you to dress like that." Alan took a good look at Isabelle while they were walking. She wore a clean white blouse with a black skirt. It was nothing too special to Alan as he's seen it from time to time, but seeing it on the strange woman before him was surprising.

"I'm only dressing like this because I have business to take care of later. I'd much rather prefer to dress in my usual plaid shirt and jeans." She sighed deeply and then whispered quietly, "All of these interviews, and no one wants to hire me."

Thinking that Alan didn't hear her, she continued walking as if nothing had happened. "Maybe if you weren't an alcoholic, you could be more reliable." Alan sighed after recalling the sight of her room. Alan looked at the implanted on his arm as they continued their walk. Surprised initially, he remembered that his body kept its current state when resetting time. "So this is a way to ensure I don't abuse the freezing and resetting time laws."

"Hey, Alan…?" Alice called out to him. "There is something I need to tell you about these 'keys' as the Professor had labeled you all."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, each key has a corresponding sin relating to them. And as you saw, your sin is Sloth."

"What do you mean, my sin is Sloth? When have I ever done anything slothful to where I'm a sinner?"

"..." Alice did not answer.

"Why'd you go quiet?" Alan was concerned.

"You don't remember that fateful day for you?"

"..." Alan's expression darkened, "Are you somehow suggesting that incident was my fault?" Alan said in an irritated tone, causing the black markings on his body to thicken. "Are you suggesting that I was the cause of that damn quake?"

"Calm down, and let me finish. I wasn't blaming the incident on you. I was blaming the death count on you." Alice spoke bluntly without sugarcoating anything. Alan bit his lip in response since he knew he didn't want to worry Isabelle. "You saw the issues before the quake and the issues after the quake. You were the only one who could have prevented those kids and adults from dying, yet you did nothing to save them." The more Alice spoke, the thicker the black marking grew around his body.

While Alice was confronting Alan about his past, Isabelle stopped at the gates of the train station. Despite the district-wide lockdown, the trains were fully operational. Though because of the low amount of passengers, the trains were operating on "On Demand Travel" or "ODT," which meant that the trains would run based on customers' demand to reduce customer inconvenience. Isabelle scanned her ID, and the gates opened. As she walked forward, she turned around and noticed that Alan was staring off with an empty stare. His black markings covered his arms and neck. Worried, Isabelle tried to crack a joke, but Alan failed to notice her. She sighed in defeat and input their destination on a large console just past the gates to ready the train. After the doors opened, Isabelle made her way inside the train and waited for Alan to sit down. Once he did, she started the train's navigation system.

"During that incident," Alice continued, "You saw many things go wrong. You knew that the 'Civil Heros' were unaware of their surroundings due to the mass panic. And don't play stupid; I've taken a peek through your memories."

Upon here this, Alan gave a soft grunt. "What did you expect? I was a small child, not a hero," Alan responded.

"While yes, you were a child, that does not excuse you of your sin." Alice's tone became harsher. While she intended to gain information on why he acted the way he did, she had another goal. At first, Alice was strictly motivated by the intent of getting him to move on from the girl in his heart, but after seeing what she saw in his past, she knew she needed him to confront his sin. "Before the quake started, you saw a group of men dressed in white lab coats outside your classroom window. They talked about how an experiment was about to fail and how they were positioned throughout the city as part of their Plan B."

"Their conversation was none of my business. Even if I told a teacher, it would have been dismissed as a child rambling."

"False. That was the first thing. The school's rules explicitly state that outsiders were forbidden to enter school grounds during the day. All you needed to do was to alert the staff. Your failure to take action caused the staff to be unprepared and caused mass panic." Alice paused, waiting for a response. Alan sank deeper into his chair. With a prideful tone, Alice continued. "The next case that killed a third of the survivors during the quake could have been prevented by warning the others…." During the entire duration of the ride, Alice recalled the events that happened one by one. With each event she mentioned, Alan gave his reasoning. However, deep down, he realized that he could have been the saving light for many people.

Alan was at his breaking point. Rage, sorrow, and guilt swirled around in his mind. He wanted to shout at Alice and say that she was wrong. He wanted to believe that nobody would have considered a word he said as a kid. But then he realized the reason his sin was Sloth. It was not because he did nothing to save the surrounding people; it was because he was afraid. He was fearful of the outcome. Even now, he held his tongue. Alice stopped speaking and gave an audible sigh. The guilt Alan felt caused his heart to pound against his chest. After all, he knew what he did. He sacrificed the lives of 100+ people because he was afraid, or so he thought.

"I see you are coming to realize your sin," Alice said harshly. "But it was not just fear that kept you from speaking up. It was that girl, wasn't it?" Alan's heart skipped a beat. "At the last minute, from what you can remember, you threw yourself on top of the girl to protect her from the blast."

"Was I wrong for that?" Alan said in a weak voice. "Was I wrong for protecting her?"

"No, but that was a situation that you caused. The others discovered that you saw all those tragic moments before they happened. They wanted to get rid of you. So get to you, they used her as bait. With a knife at her throat, you stood motionless. But as luck may have it, another earthquake ravaged the area. When the man dropped the girl, you noticed a large tanker was on fire. Before it exploded, you ran up and shielded the girl."

Alan's heart slowed down. "I thought you were listing why I sinned." Alan was at a loss. For the past few minutes, Alice had done nothing but belittled his actions. "So why are you telling me something I did right?"

"So that you can face yourself," Alice chirped. "Honestly, this whole sinner shit is a load of bs. Just ask Chronos. He is the original sinner of Sloth. And I'm just the Angel of Sloth." Alice then cleared her throat. "'The guardian who bares the weight of the world as their weapon, but refrains from using it.' That said, you can only become stronger by heeding your sin. There is no shame and turning back time. You have the ability to earn the perfect ending, so why not abuse it? I am here to help you, so please abuse my power as well. Together we can achieve this perfect ending and end this war."

As their long conversation ended, their train reached its destination, and Isabelle and Alan walked silently to NaviCafe. Upon reaching the front entrance, he opened the door and saw two familiar-looking officers eating at the counter. Linda had just finished serving them their food as she turned to meet the customers, only to stop as she noticed Alan had thick black markings and his clothes were partially charred on his right side. She looked at Isabelle, who was beside him, looking for an answer; however, Isabelle knew what she was going to ask and gave her a concerned "I don't know" look. Linda said nothing as she walked them to a nearby table.

"HOLD IT!" The older officer stopped Alan and the others. "Boy, I've got a question."

Alan looked at Tony blankly and said, "Project Alpha." Everyone in the room became quiet. The two officers looked at each other in surprise while Isabelle looked at him with a confused look. As Alan looked to turn in Linda's direction, he noticed she had a sad, emotionless expression on her face. Linda noticed Alan's stare and ran off into the breakroom.

"That's suspicious," Alice whispered as Alan and the others sat together at the counter to discuss the events going on and their plan for stopping it.