Codette nodded. "yeah yeah yea... in other words, everyones getting excited for nothing." she laid down and yawned.

Stella's breathing calmed as everyone seemed to contemplate what was said and their own experiences. She noticed Alemi moving oddly. Stella gasped, how could the Virtue of kindness take such a cheap advantage. She tossed a ball of light, creating a shield around Akira. Stella knew Wrath would hate her for it, and Alemi probably would too, but she picked up a shield instead of a weapon, and she swore to defend those that couldn't defend themselves.

Akira saw the attack out of the corner of her eye. She would have to react fast or possibly die. Quickly, she swung her blade to block his attack, but Chasity had shielded her. "Stay out of this!" She growled. She was a sin. Why was she protecting someone like her? "This is not your fight."

Stella let out a frustrated growl. "Yes it is! It's all of our fights, because when one of you gets hurt, the rest of us are going to end up in a brawl and the gardens will be ruined! And I will not let that happen!"

“You would put it that way.” Gun continued to watch. He was very interested to see what Kindness was up to now that Wrath had him pissed.

Alemi’s sword struck the shield Chasity put around Wrath. “What you doing Stella? Stay out of this. This is between her and me.” He was a little annoyed, but there wasn’t much he could do at the moment. When Stella said her reason for interfering he had to hold back a laugh. “Isn’t it a little too late for that since Wrath and I have already wounded each other?”

"For once, I agree with him. We're already wounded. There's no point in stopping us. Bring down this shield this moment!" She had ordered the girl. This was outrageous! "Arianna, take her out." Lust needed to snap out of her thoughts and fight. Codette wasn't doing much of anything. Sloth usually didn't.

Stella stood firm and thickened her shields. "NO! I will not! I'm sick and tired of this! No more pain, no more death! NO MORE! I don't take orders from anyone! PURITY, thats what I stand for! Not War, not Peace, purity and right now, no one around here is acting very pure!" Stella had never stood up for her thoughts before. She was always the quiet one that stood by and did what needed to be done. Stella had shocked herself.

Codette sat up surprised by Chastity's outburst. The others arguing she could sleep, but that was interesting. She looked up at Zeal. "Well, this is entertaining...." She shifted to lean against the tree with Zeal.

Alemi took a few steps back from Wrath and stared at Stella. He had never seen her act like this before and it shocked him. Her words were true, he wasn’t acting pure nor was he acting very kind. After a moment of thought he spoke. “I agree. There shouldn’t be any more pain or death, but we are not all pure here. So I ask you how can we be pure and stand for what we represent when we are forced to fight and kill Stella?” His tone was a little demanding. If he knew who he could be kind not matter what even though he was forced to do unkind things he wouldn’t be as torn as he was right now. He did not lower his sword.

Gun had an amused look on his face as he watched Stella. She was finally standing up and being strong. “That it is Sloth.” He folded his arms across his chest. Being a spectator sometimes was fun. “Oh, let me know when you’re ready to fight.”

Tears welled up in Stella's eyes. "I don't know Alemi! I'm not omniscient! I don't have all the answers, I just know that this is wrong for Virtues, and even most Sins! Lust doens't equal fighting, Lust equals loose morals! The only one that should be fighting is Wrath! Who is obviously the only Sin or Virtue currently doing their job!"

Codette laughed, and clapped her hands. "way to go little chastity." she grinned. "Lets all take a lesson from me and chill out!" Codette poked Zeals leg. "Please Gun, you know me better than that. I could send you into a lethargic state right now."

"I'm Wrath. It's not in me to be pure," she spoke the word with distaste. Akira pushed against the shield only to be pushed back a little. She needed to fight Kindness. After what she did, he needed to die, or she did. Why the hell did I do that anyways? He's a Virtue, the enemy. Wrath didn't know what to do. She tried to get Arianna's attention, but that hadn't worked. Then Stella said something that was true. "Yes, it's my job to fight. Now, allow me to do just that."

Alemi sighed slightly. Great I’m going to make her cry. “Yes, Wrath is the only one doing their job, but fighting back is the only thing I can do to defend myself since I am her target.” Or I could just let her kill me. Then I could escape all of this, but becoming a martyr means nothing in this war. Besides that’s the cowards why out. He was clearly distracted by what Stella had said. His sword lowered as he became lost in thought.

“If we took a lesson from you then nothing would ever get done.” Gun was saying before Sloth poked his leg. “Well that wouldn’t be much fun. Plus I could probably get away from you before you managed to do it.” He considered walking away to prove his point.

Arianna looked at Alemi. "Shut up Kindness. You don't know anything about Adam, but I know that I should stop making a fuss over him. He's dead. Adam's nothing but a memory." She stood up and picked up her scythe. Arianna listened to Stella's remark about how none of us are being pure. Arianna laughed to herself and said under her breath. "Purity right. Like any Sin like me and Wrath are pure." She immediately stopped laughing when Chasity put a shield around Wrath. Why would Stella do that?! Arianna also listened as Akira told her to 'take out' Stella. "Ha ha with pleasure." With hesitation, Lust grabbed her right shoulder and pushed it ino the ground. She put her scythe above her throat. "Now you better quit using your damn shield on Wrath before I slit your throat. And don't even tell me that this isn't pure; I already know it isn't. And after this, we can have our own fight alone where Alemi can't heal you after."

Stella narrowed her eyes, as her tears dried on her cheeks. She pushed a shield between herself and Arianna, although it did manage to nick her as the scythe was pushed away. Stella flinched as a small trail of blood slid down the length of her neck. "No. I refuse, both to remove my shields and fight you Lust. Whats the point? Your attacks can't break my shield, nor will I attack you back! There is no winner!" She threw a shield around every sin and virtue in the area, almost like a bubble. Weakened she kneeled on the ground, with a strong enough attack her shields would break at this point, she had been maintaining too many at different times. "I'm not fighting anyone anymore! Nor am I going to let someone kill me! I hate death! I hate pain and suffering!" Stella's body shook. "I'm not going to die, nor am I going to just let anyone here die."

Codette shrugged. "Too much work, unless your actually going to threaten me Gun." She continued to watch the soap opera before her. Even Sloth had to admit, Stella was at least passionate about life. Codette poked the bubble as it surrounded her. "Hey look ma, I'm in a bubble." she chuckled a bit, too lazy to actually help out her fellow Sins or focus on her opposing Virtue.

Akira pushed against the shield again and again. She was glad the Arianna snapped back to the real world and began fighting. Then Stella created shields around everyone. How many of these things can she make? That was when she noticed the girl kneel. If she was weakened that much, then the shields couldn't be that strong. Akira took her katana and stabbed at the shield. If she could get out, she'd be able to take on Alemi again and finish this.

Gun pushed away from the tree and took a few steps towards Stella. “It’s good to see you passionate and working hard for what you believe in Stella, but you need to be careful.” He watched as Wrath continued to try to break the shield. This wasn’t good Wrath would be able to break through soon and she’d be pissed. Kneeling beside Stella he smiled slightly. “You’ve done enough. It’s up to them to decide what they want. You can’t stop them if they have their minds set on fighting.” He hoped that between himself and Alemi they could get through to her. Then after Alemi finished speaking he noticed the nod and look that Alemi gave him and gave a nod back. Alemi you’re crazy for doing this, but if it’s what you want I won't stop you. Not wanting to be left open to attack he pulled his sword out. He’d protect Stella from harm.

Alemi watched Gun and was a little surprised to see him being kind to Stella. “Stella he’s right, you’ve done enough. Please lower the shields.” The tone in his voice was slightly pleading. He didn’t want to see her get hurt because of what he was doing. I should break it myself. I can lead Wrath away from this place that way no one else can get hurt. The look in his eyes was a mix of determination and desperation as he gave a knowing nod to Gun. This had to end. Raising his sword he swung it hard, hitting the shield around him. Once the shield was gone he'd make a run for the garden gates.

"But, but Gun..." Stella's lower lip quivered, until she let out a sigh, and all her shields turned to dust. "I just couldn't hold them up any longer." she whispered. Stella felt horrible, for the fact that she couldn't defend those she loved, and that she had to have Zeal defending her.

Codette watched as the bubble turned to dust around her. "interesting" she murmured. The Sins took her for granted, but really, with being so lazy, Codette noticed everything, and took interest in anything she could see with little effort.

Gun shook his head slightly. “Don’t worry about it Stella. You did your best.” He kept an eye on Lust since Alemi was capable of handling Wrath. “Are you alright?” It might have been a silly question to ask since he figured that the answer would be no.

Alemi stumbled forward slightly when his sword didn’t hit anything. This left him wide open for an attack if Wrath was quick enough to act. No, this isn’t good. This could be a fatal mistake for me if…his thoughts trailed off. He didn’t let the panic he felt show as he tried to quickly regain balance.

Akira fell forward when her bubble turned to dust. She regained her balance quickly before it was too late. Luckily, it seemed that Alemi was doing that same thing. She looked down at the long gash in her arm. It would take a few hours to heal completely. That was one of the perks of being a demon. She turned her attention to Alemi. "So what do you want to do? End this little battle or fight to the death?" She prefered the latter, but the question would stall long enough to allow him to get ready again.

Alemi regained his balance. He stood ready as he faced Wrath. “Ending this battle now would be best.” Not trusting her he didn’t lower his sword or take his eyes off of her. Something was still bothering him about this fight. Why had she kissed him? That was something he would expect Lust to do not her. “We shall save our fight to the death for another day.” Hopefully a day when it would just be the two of them and there would be no interruptions.

Akira thought about it. It would be better to fight when the others weren't around to interrupt them, and they wouldn't get the others involved in their quarrel. Wrath lowered her blade and said, "That sounds best for now." She sheathed her katana and walked past the Virtue. The interferences were annoying, and fighting another day would give her some time to think over what she did and why. "Tell me the day and location, and I'll be there."

Alemi sheathed his katana after Wrath passed him. “I shall let you know.” He then turned towards Gun and Stella and walked towards them. With the end of this battle would that mean the sins were going to leave peacefully he wondered. “Are you ok Stella? I’m sorry about what happened.”

Akira made it back home and curled up on her bed. This was odd. She was feeling things that wasn't anger or boredom. She felt confused and sad. Ah, hell. I'm starting to turn into envy. The Sin had a lot to think of, but she didn't know where to begin. Only if I had someone to talk to. Maybe, they could help me. But who would she talk with? She was never the talking gossiping type. She never participated in girl talk or anything of the like.

Stella nodded. "I'm alright. Just tired.. weak..." she gave a small smile, not wanting to worry her friends. She pulled her hair over her shoulder, and tried to stand up. She stumbled a bit but managed to get herself upright. "I'll be okay boys. But is everything going to be alright, with the Sins. What about your battle with Akira?"

Gun kept his eyes on the other sins. He hoped that they would take Wrath’s lead and just leave without anymore fighting. He stood up slowly, his sword still at the ready if needed. “It’s good that you’re ok. You did a good job Stella.”


Alemi gave Stella a slight smiled before shaking his head. “Don’t worry about my fight with Wrath. We will settle things our own way when we choose to. Even if you are just weak and not hurt this still happened because of my actions and for that I am sorry. Unfortunately my power doesn’t help when someone is just weakened.”

He looked down his thoughts slipping to Wrath. He had planned to heal her after their battle, but wasn’t sure that was possible since she was already gone. As he thought about her a cut started to appear on his right arm where he had wounded her. A trail of blood ran down his arm as the gash appeared. It was only half as deep and long as the one he had inflicted on Wrath during their battle. He covered the gash with his hand, hoping the others wouldn’t see. So he did have a strong enough connection with the sin to heal her from long distances.

Codette watched Wrath leave, but sat against the tree for a bit longer. She held up her hand, as if to ask a teacher if she could speak. "Since I'm to lazy to do any harm, other than make Zeal lethargic, do you mind if I enjoy your garden for a bit? I wanna take a nap..." She called to the virtues.

Stella felt a bit better, being told that she did a good job. "Thank you Gun. Alemi it is not your fault. Even if Zeal and Sloth had gotten into a fight, I would've done the same thing. I'm just so tired of seeing the ones I care for hurt...." She looked down, and saw the blood dripping from Alemi's hand. "Kindness! Where you injured?" She was slightly worried.

“I’ll leave that decision up to Gun.” Alemi laughed slightly. “Oh that? It’s nothing. Please don’t worry about it.” He said this quickly as he turned away from the other virtues. He didn’t want Stella to see that he had an injury on both arms because she would worry too much about him. Also how could he tell him that he fresh wound had come from him healing Akira? He wasn't sure that they would understand. “I will see you guys later, I’m going back.” He waved to them before disappearing towards the kindness section of the garden.

“Thanks a lot Alemi. Leave everything to Zeal, right,” Gun said jokingly. He gave what Sloth said a thought. “I’ll make you a deal Sloth. If you don’t make me lethargic then you can stay for a while, as long as you don’t cause trouble.” He looked to Stella. “Does that sound good to you?”