The 7 Deadly Sins

Chapter VIII

SHANNA

Music: Dire, Dire Docks from Super Mario 64

We all turned to our right to find a girl, laying on the ground, weeping. When she saw us, she immediately began backing away in fear. "Get away from me!" she shouted, tears covering her face.

"She must've been captured by the Sins," I whispered to the group.

Sam walked slowly towards her, saying softly, "Shh... calm down. We're not going to hurt you."

"You say that now," the girl said, "but you're just going to go back on your promise and- and beat on me again!" Then she began crying again.

"We're not the Sins!" I shouted, and the girl looked up at me, not buying it.

"How am I supposed to know? You look exactly like them," she said, now looking more infuriated than upset.

"Look at us. If we were the Sins, would we be looking like this right now? Would we be looking like we were mistreated as well? And besides, we're not all wearing all black," Luke sighed.

The girl stood up slowly, then examined us. She then said, "Hmm... I guess I'll take your word for it... what are your real names, anyways?"

We all introduced ourselves, and then Sam asked, "How about you? What's your name?"

The girl smiled. It was a small one, but it was a smile. She said, "Elle."

"Nice to meet you, Elle," Anastasia said with a smile.

Elle seemed to be more comfortable now, which made me feel good inside. She then asked, "Um... this is probably a stupid question, but do you guys have powers, like your evil twins do?"

"Actually," Sam chuckled, "we have the exact same powers as them."

"That's cool..." Elle said, grinning. "Because I have a power of my own."

"What is it?" Chomata asked.

"Feelings."

Heath, Luke, and Chomata began cracking up incredibly hard. "Really? FEELINGS!? That's a power?!" Luke shrieked, falling to the ground in hysterics. I stared at them angrily.

"Watch and learn," she smirked. Then she looked straight at Sean and I.

ELLE

I used my feelings power to look straight into the minds of Sean and Shanna, the twins. Judging by how their brains looked, I was able to determine what emotion they were feeling at the time. "Sean is feeling confused and Shanna is feeling annoyed right now," I said boldly. Sam and Anastasia looked at me, impressed.

"Impressive," Anastasia nodded.

I then grinned sneakily. "Wanna see something even cooler?"

This got the attention of Luke, Heath, and Chomata. They all paid close attention as to what I was about to do. I then sent my own signals to the minds of the two twins- signals that could CHANGE their current emotion. In this instance, I chose to make both of them angry at each other.

Suddenly, Shanna and Sean turned to each other and started to fight. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?!?" Shanna screamed at Sean. And then, as Sean was just about to slug Shanna, they started hugging. That's because I sent a SECOND signal that made them love each other.

"Holy crap!" Chomata exclaimed, a look of surprise on his face. I smiled in triumph at that. "How did you do that!?"

"It's easy!" I replied, laughing. "I can send my own signals to their minds, and change their current emotions!" After saying that, I removed my signals from Sean and Shanna, and they sat there, dazed. "What just happened..." Shanna groaned groggily.

"Elle changed your feelings," Heath answered. The two of them just stared at each other, more confused than ever.

It was then that I noticed Sam, the guy who was so kind and calming when the group first saw me, was looking at me kind of... oddly. I looked into his mind and the first thing I noticed was that his brain symbol had a yellow bar on it, which meant that while I could sense his feelings, I couldn't change them. Anyways, his feelings were nervous, which probably had something to do with being around me.

Before I could come to any conclusions, Sam noticed that I was staring at him oddly, and snapped out of his trance. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, blushing profusely. "We should probably get going. Care to join us, Elle?"

I was both surprised but really overjoyed at the offer. "I'd be more than happy to accept that offer," I smiled. I joined the group and we began walking away from Fish Mart.

When we began walking, Sam looked at me again, and this time, I looked back at him, making eye contact with him. He began blushing, and I could feel my cheeks burning as well.

Sam then looked away, and Shanna whispered to me, "Elle, Sam likes you, doesn't he?"

I nodded. Then Shanna asked, "Do you like him back?"

I couldn't answer. I certainly felt like I did, however. But did I, really?

While I can easily sense the feelings of everybody else, it is impossible for me to sense my own true feelings and emotions.

SAM

Music: Ending from Gradius Deluxe Pack

I couldn't help it. It's always been a problem of mine to be easily infatuated by girls... but Elle seemed different. Maybe it was her unique power. Maybe it was the way she smiled. Maybe it was the way she spoke. I dunno.

At this point, our only goal was to either find Lockwood Inn or even a way back to our hometown. It was really late at night, so Luke thought it would be best to get a few hours of rest before we moved on. I produced some sleeping bags, and then Shanna suggested, "Hey... I think we should have two of us keeping watch, in case the Sins come or something."

Luke nodded. "Okay. Chomata and I will-"

"Actually, I was personally thinking Sam and Elle should do it together," Shanna said. She looked my way and flashed me a wink. My face began to feel really, really hot.

Luke gave Shanna a really funny look, then shrugged it off and said, "Okay." Then he rolled over in his bag to sleep. I tried my hardest to not just walk straight over to Elle, to avoid seeming awkward. Instead, I scouted the area behind us, making sure we weren't being followed.

Then Elle joined me. "Do you see anything?" she asked me, and I shook my head no.

She sat down by my side, and we were both silent for about a minute. After that, I couldn't help myself. Before my brain could stop itself, I asked her, "So, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?" Elle looked at me funnily and my face turned red almost instantly.

But Elle just smiled at me. She said, "I just moved here from California, right at the start of summer. My dad found a new job opportunity here, so that's why we moved. We had travelled to Worlds of Fun about two weeks ago, and I was kidnapped while on the log ride. I believe I was taken by Luke's twin."

"Envy," I added in, and Elle nodded.

"Yeah, him. They took me to their lair and kept me there for about a week and a half. It was awful. I managed to escape, but got lost. That's why you saw me crying," Elle explained.

"Well, we're going to get home just fine. You have my word on that," I smiled. Elle then rolled over into her sleeping bag, obviously trying to get into a comfortable position for some sleep.

"Oh, and one final question," I asked, feeling silly for wanting to ask this. "How old are you?"

Elle looked back over at me and answered, "12."

That's my age, I thought. I was about to ask Elle what school she was planning on attending, but she had already fallen into a deep sleep. I crawled into my sleeping bag and figured it was time for me to get some rest myself.

I have so much to learn about Elle... I mean, a friendship with her has already started.

But I have a feeling that this could get taken further.

And deep down inside, something told me I was going to be right.