"What the fuck..." I stood rooted to the ground in shock.
Zaru climbs up onto my shoulder, he looks at the paper intrigued. He reads it through quickly and looks at me straight after.
"You never told you me you were a sin!" Zaru shouted.
"Shh! You cant be shouting that like theres no one here!" I exclaimed quietly.
If people knew i was a sin i'd land in the hands of holy knights in a matter of minutes.
"Okay sorry but you're a sin??? And you never told me??!!" Zaru whisper-shouted, surprised but also angry.
"You never asked, so you didn't have to know." I snarkily made the remark.
"Wha- How does that make any sense?" He says confused.
He drops to the floor at thinks, head up and staring, like a lost puppy, while I already had started walking, looking at the map. Even after a minute of me walking. he was still there, sitting and thinking. What's he got to think so hard for? That im a sin? So what? Im still a human you know.
"You're gonna keep thinking or what?" I asked, stopping to turn back to him.
He finally comes to his senses and runs up to me. I cant help but smile when he does this. I crouch down, and open my arms. He leaps into ny arms happily. He nuzzles my his head into my neck.
"Wasnt expecting this," I giggled.
"You're not going to get anything like this for awhile so savour it." He clings on to my neck while I start walking again.
"Yeah yeah. Look, we're in Dalmary right now, and northeast is the Baste prison...and we'll probably find another town after that." I said, with a slight frown, pointing to the aged map in my hands.
"Baste prison is 8 miles away!! My legs can't handle that!" He pouted.
"Ahem...aren't you forgetting something?? I can fly now??" I said.
"Oh yeah, then we'll use that as an advantage. We'll go towards Baste prison, then we'll go and see the next town. Sounds good?" Zaru asks, turning his head at me.
"Can we not go towards baste prison? Can we have a lil detour, like up the hill or something," I request, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of going towards Baste.
"Oh theres holy knights there right? And you're afraid...hold on. You're a sin! How can you be afraid? You're one of the most deadliest-"
"Zaru please shut up for a moment. Let me explain why-" I stopped my sentence.
That power, so familiar...it can't be her..what is she doing here? Isn't she in the forest? The ground starts to shake every 5 seconds. The townsfolk running out to see what the ruckus is. They problem think it's an earthquake.
"Hey, whats going on in that head?" His face directly in front of me.
"She's here! With him.." I say blatantly, processing how I will meet them.
"Who's here??? With who??? I have so many questions," Zaru sighed as he lowered his head in confusion.
The vibrations on the floor got more intense, stomps could be heard coming towards us. Its most definitely her! God how I missed her.
"Hey townspeople!" A giant girl in orange costume said, looking down, she was holding something in her hands.
The townsfolk started to run away, screaming that a giant had come visit thinking she's a threat.
"Uhm...shouldn't we be running too?" Zaru asks, pretty concerned.
I shaked my head and grinned. I looked up to see those signature pigtails and purple eyes that I miss so much.
"Wait!! I just want to know where the doctor is!" She sighed at the sight of people running away from her. My heartached at her hopelessness.
She looked at the thing in her hands with sad eyes, as though she failed a mission of sorts. I should finally show that im here.
"Nia!!" I shout.
Diane looked around, figuring out who called her by that special nickname. Her pigtails swinging about. She finally looked down and saw me. Her eyes lit up, and nearly threw away the thing in her hands.
"Lia? Lia!" She squealed.
"You have alot of nicknames..." Zaru whispered to me.
She grabbed me and hugged me to the best she could without hurting me.
"You've grown into a fine woman after these 10 years." I commented, smiling from ear to ear. I got to see my bestfriend in so long.
"Did you get sexier? You look as beautiful as always. Wait, did you dye your hair purple?" She praised.
"Yeah. So, you needed to go to the doctors is it? Well follow me!" I said. She released me from her grip and placed me on the ground gently. Iwalked to the Doctor Dana's clinic as Zaru and Diane followed along.
I glanced at Zaru who was on my shoulder, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Im guessing he still hasnt taken this all in.
"So what are you doing here Lia?" Diane asked.
"After you guys had to go into hiding, i felt that i had to as well. It was no secret that they'll find me tied to you guys too, and i had to hide before I'd have wanted posters of me." I reasoned, with a hint of fear in my voice. I know Diane will never get mad at me if i had a good reason.
"And i started town hopping, going here and there from Vanya to Bernia and now in Dalmary. And along the way i got a new friend." I smiled and looked at Zaru, signalling to him to introduce himself.
"Oh, Hi! I'm Zaru, Elvira's friend, but also part time therapist." The fox said ever so proudly. I swear he'll get it from me one day.
"Hello! I'm Diane, the serpent's sin of envy. One of the eight deadly sins. Don't get confused when Lia calls me 'Nia'. It's just a special nickname she gave me." Diane introduced herself with a genuine smile.
Diane offered her pinky finger for Zaru to shake her hands, thought Zaru could most likely be thrown just by a small push of her pinkie. Zaru accepts the handshake with a smile.
"Hmm now that we're talking about sins, you never told me yours! And you better give me an answer this time." Zaru sternly said.
Even with his eyebrows furrowed and him staring at me, i still couldn't take him seriously, but i had to stop fucking around with him. I let out a big sigh. I haven't say this in a long time. Come to think of it, it got kind of cringey. I gathered my composure and got ready to say the 2 sentences in the coolest manner.
"I am Elvira, Swan's sin of vanity. One of the eight deadly sins."
