"You never know what temporal days may bring
So laugh, love, live free and sing"

-Paperthin Hymn, Anberlin

Wise words.

Chapter 20

Imperfect

No POV

Envy froze. When he asked her to prove it, he wasn't really planning on this.

Granted, he wasn't sure what he meant in the first place, but still.

Kiara pulled away, staring at him, slightly dazed. "Well? Do you believe me now?"

Envy thought for a moment, then grinned. "No. Better try again."

Kiara's eyes widened, then she grinned. "Right then."

~Time Skip~

Chase's POV

I waved goodbye to the students, as it was the end of the day.

"Mr. C?" A nervous voice asked.

"Yeah Carmen?" I turned to the newest student.

"Um, if it's possible. . ." The student fidgeted. "Could I meet up with you. . .and train? Maybe sometime this week?"

I thought about it.Let's see, we're going to buy the house sometime next week. . .Probably Monday or Saturday. . . "Today's Tuesday, right? Tomorrow after class?" I offered.

Carmen nodded eagerly. "Okay! Thanks, Mr. Chase!"

He grabbed his bag and left.

I stared after the closed door, muttering to myself, "You know, I don't even know that kid's gender. . ."

Talia's POV

"Well, these are terrible." Pierre munched on my cookies.

"What?" I asked in surprise, nearly dropping the stone pan onto the floor.

"They're just terrible." Pierre shoved the entire cookie into his mouth.

Adelaide laughed. "You're just saying that 'cause finally someone else can bake as well as you."

My cheeks flushed. "W-well, not as good. . ." I stuttered.

"Nope. Better." Pierre ate another, then shoved one into his sister's mouth.

"Mmph-mmmm, wow." Adelaide looked like she died and went to heaven.

Oh wait. . .I would have to judge her, right?

No. . .wait. . .Truth would do that, right?

. . .

Crap, I don't even know anymore. . .

Humans, this is what you've done to me.

I'm so confused right now. . .

"Earth to Talia." Pierre waved his hand in front of my face.

I jumped. "Sorry."

"You okay there? Zoned out." Adelaide watched me curiously.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little tired." I lied.

"You should go home. You look exhausted." Adelaide said.

"But, I've still got-" I began.

"Seriously Talia." Pierre interrupted.

"I don't feel tired." Where did this stubborn streak come from?

"Yeah right. Really Tals, you should leave." Pierre rolled his eyes.

Adelaide handed me a package. "For your siblings." She winked.

Whatever it was, it smelled good.

"Thank you." I said gratefully.

"TEMPERANCE!"

I jumped, earning strange looks.

"You okay?" Pierre asked.

"Y-yeah." I stuttered, hurriedly sliding off the stool.

"YOU GOTTA PICK UP HUMILITY AND PRIDE! LUST TOTALLY FORGOT! SCHOOLS'S BEEN OVER FOR AN HOUR!"Chase screamed in my brain.

"Jeesh, stop yelling." I muttered.

"Nobody's yelling, Talia." Adelaide said, weirded out.

"Oh, yeah, I knew that. Sorry." Could this get any more awkward?

"Can you? Please? You're the closest to the school. Claire isn't responding and Lust is with me."Chase asked.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I replied, then turned to the siblings who were watching me like I was insane.

"Sorry about that. Voice in my head." I said apologetically.

Their eyes widened.

"Thanks for the snacks!" I hurried out of the building.

"I thought she was off before, but. . .damn."

Humility's POV

I sat on the curb and waited for someone to pick me up.

I had been sitting here for twenty-minutes.

My feet are asleep.

Pride was grumbling to himself. "Stupid Lust. . ."

I sighed. "Pride, please stop whining."

"No. I hate this." He stalked off, back into the school.

I pulled out some of my homework and a pencil, then looked it over.

Math.

Mom, I hate math.

Sighing, I started filling out the answers. Fourth Grade Math was easy.

But then, I could do calculus, so whatever. . .

"Hey Hailey, I'm sorry I'm late." Talia appeared in front of me.

"It's okay. Pride went into the building." I stood up, wobbling as feeling returned to my feet.

"I didn't know I had to pick you up until Chase suddenly remembered." Talia hurried up the steps into the elementary school.

"It's okay, though." I said, then hugged her from behind.

"You smell like something yummy~!" I giggled.

"I was baking all day." She laughed.

"I wanna come to your job some time."

"After school tomorrow?" She offered.

"Yes!" I cheered.

"Sounds find to me." She ruffled my shock-white hair, then paused.

"Did anyone question you about your hair?"

"Nope! I changed it!" I ran in front of her and demonstrating my hair changing from white to black, then back again.

"Interesting." She said, then looked around for Pride.

"What's he go by?" She whispered.

I whispered back, "Selim."

"Selim! Let's go!" Talia called.

Pride appeared from around a corner, holding his history book.

"You're finally here. It's about time." He grumbled, walking past us.

Talia raised an eyebrow at me.

I shrugged.

"It's Pride." I said simply, then walked after him.

Claire's POV

So this morning Chase told me that Kiara wouldn't be at work, so I had to tell her boss she was absent. That wasn't fun.

Topped with my anger at Greed, and the frustration of all that, I wasn't that pleasant.

Luckily, the students figure out to not say anything and basically, shut up.

So now I was trying to work up the nerve to go inside the bar.

Show my face and accept my humiliation?

Or leave and try to judge Greed from a distance?

I sighed, then sat down on the steps that led into the building. Can't go in there. I'm Charity, not Humility.

I'm not even flippin' perfect.

I've judged people before that assumed, since I was a Virtue, I was perfect in every aspect.

Wrong.

If I was perfect in every way, I would be an Angel.

Yeah, no, I'm not. Even. Close.

For one thing I have distraction problems. Yeah, and even though I'm charity, I constantly struggle with selfishness. I'm stubborn as a mule and I argue with my twin all the time.

I'm not even close to perfect.

The others aren't either;

Humility is nosy and shy;

Chastity is serious and impulsive;

Kindness has a temper and is reckless;

Temperance is obsessive and self-conscious;

Diligence is apathetic and cynical;

And Forgiveness is a worry-wart and bossy.

Something nudged me from behind, tearing me from my thoughts.

I jumped up, whirling around.

Greed stood there, watching me blankly. "I thought you left."

"I. . .I. . ." What to say?

"Glad you're staying." Greed grabbed my hand and dragged me into the bar.

Well, I guess everything's forgiven?

Well.

This one was random.

It skipped around a lot.

*shrugs*

Whatever.

Reviews:

MissiB: XD I literally LOLed when I read that. So I updated~! You should keep the guinea pigs back, right? ...right?!

vetty123: His arm can probably go numb, since he's a human now...and everytime he lost a limb, he felt it, so probably. Aw, thanks! ^-^ I didn't want to rush anything, so if it seems slow, you gotta remember that they just met...two days ago...so yeah...

Lorelei Tatsuye Marivaine: ^-^ Chibi Romano is adorable~ Seriously?! That's cool! Those are great and horrible, ja?

Ice Maiden Olivier: I don't think I'll look at trees the same, either XD Aw, I hope you feel better! Here's a little something for you that should work as good as the medicine ;) And don't forget, tomorrow's your birthday, so there will be another update~!

Review!