Thank the gods he woke up as she sighed with a bit of relief. She couldn’t kill Gluttony with the poker but damn had she done some damage. Gluttony’s face had blunt force trauma to it and boy was it ugly. Lewis was quick to shield the guide as she hid in his arms. She had the element of surprise the first time and she had been angry but now she was scared again.

“I…” She looked up at his eyes. He was encouraging her. “Alright.” There was a bit of hesitation but she took the dagger and holding it rather tightly she swallowed hard. She would only probably have one shot at this but she wasn’t angry anymore. Where had all her bravado gone?

“GIVE ME HER NOW,” Gluttony screamed as she beat on Lewis some more.

The guide took a moment and she wiggled against Lewis, her eyes were glued to him. The moment she decided to move was when Gluttony was coming down for another attack. She rolled out from under Lewis when she gave him the direction she was going to go. Quick on her feet she tripped Gluttony up who wasn’t expecting it.

It got even better when the little guide sliced the dagger across Gluttony’s neck when the sin went to dive for her. Not being able to move out of the way there was an oof as the dagger went flying. The bleeding dying sin was on top of the guide still ready to fight but also dying.

“Lewis!” The guide called out as she was stuck under the much heavier Simone.

It all happened quickly. The moment that the guide motioned with her eyes which way she was to move, Lewis knew what was coming next. Within seconds, the guide tripped up Gluttony, and with a single slice, the act was done. Lewis rolled over onto his back, arching it in pain. The blows from Gluttony had not been light, and it hurt to even breath at this point.

It was the guide’s call that roused him, and he was on his feet quickly, pushing Gluttony off of the tinier Simone. He held out his hand to her. “You okay?” Did he mean that? Wasn’t she just a key?

“You’re not hurt are you?” He checked her over as she took his hand, and he pulled her up. The guide stumbled for a moment, to which Lewis caught her in his arms. She was trembling. Was it fear? Or adrenaline? Perhaps both. “You’re…okay.” He wasn’t sure what to say, or what to do. Comforting was not his forte. It was the farthest thing from.

“We should…probably clean up,” he said finally as he looked her over again. He took the dagger back, and sheathed it. “Maybe this castle has some better clothes for you as well. It wouldn’t hurt to check.”

She nodded but even though she was scared to pieces there were no tears. It was almost unnatural but Simone had mentioned that she didn’t cry, she couldn’t. That was something even the younger Simone wasn’t capable of and it unnerved a lot of people. She took his hand to get up and she was shaking and she had tripped her own self up. Lewis caught her and she wasn’t expecting it. She put her face into his chest heaving heavy breaths.

This wasn’t like with Greed and Envy where she had been safe. There had been a direct attack on her. They still had three sins to go and now they were targeting her. How was she supposed to keep Lewis safe too if she was in danger too? They were both too important to lose which pushed her to choke down the fear.

When he finally let her go she hugged herself and nodded, “Hopefully… I found a washroom we can bathe in… I sorta make a wreck out of the castle looking for you.” She took his hand once she was able to move and pulled him in the direction to the exit. She pulled him through the mirror and avoided the glass.

“I guess I’m not completely okay… I got some bad cuts from the mirror.” There was blood all over the edges from her using herself to break it. “I just panicked… I had to get you out.” Her eyes were sad when she looked at him. “The bath is across the hall.”

The entire bedroom looked ransacked and the bathroom wasn’t much better but it was usable. The doors were busted off the hinges and the chair she had used was snapped in two from the force.

Lewis looked around the bathroom, making sure that it was clear of anyone but them. Gluttony was dead, but he was still on the lookout for guards just in case. The paranoid habits never would die out, and for that he was at least somewhat thankful. He looked to the guide Simone once more. He had missed the cuts. None of them were life threatening, but they probably needed some tending to.

“Strip and clean yourself up. I’ll be right back.” He walked out of the bathroom. It wasn’t long before he returned with a small box full of various things; some kind of strong ale, some cotton balls, and a variety of makeshift strips of cloth. He had already stipped off his shirt, which explained where the cloth strips came from.

Once you’ve rinsed, come over here and I’ll bandage you up.” It wouldn’t take too long.

Simone nodded and tied up her hair. She pulled some glass from her skin and let out a low hiss before stripping the rest of her shredded clothes off. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it before. She found a washcloth and poured some of the water into a bowl. She took it and gently cleaned the blood off of her. “I can’t tell whos is whos…” Like it mattered it was all the same blood in the end… Wasn’t it?

It took her a while to get the blood off as she still had some dried blood from the Greed kill on her. She looked back sheepishly at Lewis before she made her way over to him. Her face shouldn’t have been flushed but it was as she covered her chest a bit with her own arms. There were some small cuts there but she was a bit more self-conscious right now.

“You didn’t need to rip your shirt for me I feel bad,” it probably sounded a bit weird. “Are you okay though? Gluttony was beating on you really bad… I can look at your back when you’re done… If you want,” her voice was really meek again compared to the yelling she had been doing at Gluttony over him.

She didn’t seem too bad off for what she had gone through. It wasn’t the preferred method of cleaning, but the ale was better than nothing. He poured it onto the cotton, and started to dab at the wounds across her arms. He didn’t say anything about her covering her chest. He assumed this was one of those…strange human traits that he barely understood. He had already seen her naked, both in the real realm once due to her own mistake, as well as here where they…

Lewis cleared his throat. “I need you to move your arms.” It didn’t take much longer for him to dress her wounds before he turned around and knelt down, letting Simone examine his back. Not that there was much that could be done about any damage that had been done.

Only three more to go… He shivered. “It’s cold. We should definitely try to find some clothes before we head out. Hopefully there’s something to wear.”

It stung a bit and she winced but didn’t say much about it. When he asked her to move her arms she did so without complaint as he finished looking her over. When it was her turn to see what she could do to him she hesitated. “I want… I want to try something. I just want to see if I’m even a little bit useful.”

She could do things at least minor things and she knew that the fey magic had left her with a little power. What if it didn’t have to be used for destruction. She took her hands and ran them down her back. No, that wouldn’t do it.

She bent down and pressed her lips to his back where he was hurt. There was a strange tingling from her. “Don’t panic alright…” It would feel good like a warm ocean wave. She was discovering new things about herself as a healing spell left her lips. “This won’t work on me though… Only for you.” It was a whisper.

Simone kissed his back a few more times and felt her face flush as she pulled herself pull and turned him around. “Are… You hurt anywhere else?” She rubbed her neck a bit more self-conscious than before if you could even believe that.

“Let’s check her room again… I saw some closets she might have some stuff. Especially… If she was planning on keeping you here with her.”

Lewis was genuinely surprised as the warm feelings of the ocean washed over his back. It reminded him somewhat of being in Lady Angela’s ocean, but less…deadly. Still, he was feeling a lot better, and when the guide mentioned possibly having attire that would fit him due to Gluttony’s intentions, he nodded in agreement. The two searched the main floors of the castle, and came up with a few different choices on what to wear.

Lewis had found a decent set of clothes, a black, sleeveless jacket with a bit of built in padding and a pear of heavier pants. They wouldn’t protect him from a sword, but at least they were a bit better than what he had previously. To no one’s surprise, he couldn’t find a shred of armor. The best he could do was reinforce his arms with wrappings.

“Once you’re ready, we’ll head out. West should be Pride, like you said. The sooner we head out the better.” He was worried, though. They were getting stronger as they moved closer to Lust and Wrath. Would the bone dagger hold out? Would he and the guide be able to survive? It was a legitimate concern, with the way things were going.

“What can you tell me of Pride?”

The littlest Simone found herself a loose dress but managed to take a long hair ribbon and tie it around her waist. This made the dress not look that long on her. She borrowed Lewis’s dagger to cut some length off of it because she was too short. It was awfully embarrassing.

“I’m ready!” She was enthusiastic at the very least. The guide kept up with Lewis as they made their way west. “It isn’t that far from here. Pride and Gluttony got along well enough. Pride lives in a temple devoted to herself at the top of the mountain.” She pointed up to a mountain where there was a speck of where the temple was.

“She isn’t as deadly as some of them but she has a small undead army of Simones at her disposal. If we want to kill her we will first have to kill her bodyguards. Pride is good at utilizing the magic in us but she is no fighter, however, she thinks she is the best.”

The little one looked concerned, “I bet she will know we’re coming for her and have them on high alert. We’ll need to be careful.”

Lewis stopped when the guide said a small army. “That’s going to be…problematic.” The assassin crossed his arms. The whole point of being an assassin was being able to circumvent the armies and deal a critical blow. The fact that he might have to face one head on was a problem within itself.

“We might as well make a camp here,” Lewis said finally. “There’s no point in going forward without coming up with a plan.”

It didn’t take long for the two of them to gather some firewood and create a small campfire. Lewis knew better under normal situations, but it seemed that in the mental landscape, the normal rules didn’t apply. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He needed to come up with a way to deal with the army that wouldn’t exhaust the reserves of energy that he had.

Even if I did have the energy, I don’t think I can take on a whole army. There has to be way to approach this. What do I have at my disposal. He thought back to what Simone was capable of. Magic. Healing magic. But why was she capable of healing? Where did that come from?

The sins. He opened his eyes. Healing. The act of giving. Selflessness. The opposite of Greed. Lewis looked at Simone in a new light. That strength. It didn’t just come from nowhere. She tore up the castle looking for me. The opposite of Sloth. A wicked grin spread across his face.

“Simone…I have a favor to ask.” He stood up. “I want you to lift me up.” It was a strange request, but he had a theory that he wanted to test.