Pride III

Greed appeared, running beside me easily. Most people thought that Greed was slow and sluggish, but he’s surprising athletic when he wants to be. Lust and I are more athletic then he is but I was running against my will at the moment and therefore running slower then usual.

“Pride, we don’t want to break the rules like Lust is, you have to give us your permission to use our powers on you. We’re going to at least try to lessen the damage. Wrath is all for pounding Lust until she takes off her hold on you but Envy is protecting her. It looks like it’s going to be war again. Wrath, Sloth and I are taking your side. After all, Lust is in the wrong. Gluttony has always gone along with anything Lust says, but no one is really worried about Gluttony.”

“Please, do whatever you can,” I said. My mind was clouded with images of the woman I had seen from the window. But I could still think clearly enough that I understood the urgency of this situation. It was only after Greed had already gone away that I realized in my confused mind that I had just officially sparked a new conflict between the Seven Sins.

Our past conflicts were burned into my mind as times of horrible violence and vice. Of course I don’t mean about the humans, who were drawn into our wars. They are just our pawns and not to be worried about. To torment them is our purpose and duty in life. I mean the harm that in the past we have inflicted on one another, and ourselves. No one comes out harmless in these skirmishes and eventually they had gotten out of hand completely. To think about it I think that my fight with Lust dated back as long as that last war we had had. I fear her, I’ve already mentioned that, but she fears me as well, and in our fear we had the tendency to strike against one another. I had done her a lot of harm in the past. Between the rest animosity and friendships were fluid and changing, but not between Lust and I, we always hated one another. Since the rules had been instated I had lowered my guard. I cursed to remember that I had honestly invited her into my home.

I was now able to see the woman ahead of me and I slowed down as much as my willpower would allow me to. I had to buy some time so that the others would have time to act. Sloth was working for me so I might have to wait a long time. Suddenly, just in time really, I was only about four feet from the woman, I felt the unimaginable urge that over powered everything else, to look under a vending machine for spare change. I thanked Greed under my breath and went to do just that. By the time that I had finished with every vending machine in the area, the woman was again out of sight. I breathed a sigh of relief. I of course instantly felt the urge to follow her again but I had at least put some distance between us.

I could only imagine what was happening in my apartment at that moment. Most of us won’t use physical violence on one another; we instantly resort to our powers when threatened. Wrath is an exception to that rule; I suspected I would find my stuff all destroyed when I got back. Well at least he would keep Lust somewhat distracted and with her entire mind not on me her power would weaken. If Greed and Gluttony were fighting with one another then my apartment would probably be empty of food when I got back, and anything of value. That left Envy and Sloth. Envy could make everyone turn against one another if he wanted to, but that was a normal state of affairs anyway so we usually aren’t affected by him. Sloth was too lazy to get involved probably. Even as I thought that I suddenly became very, very tired. I even smiled lazily. This was a surprise, Sloth really was fighting, and on my side. Now I was even farther away from the woman, and not about to move fast.

To be continued...