XII. Seven Deadly Sins: Pride
I started this arc a long while ago. I think I may have started this arc before Thaovy wrote her Drabble where she fought with Italy and Seborga. I know this Drabble is now being posted after that, but, chronologically speaking, just think of this Drabble as occurring before their argument took place.
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Some of them had actually landed on their feet. Some of them just laid on the floor, tired and ready to go home. But they had one last mission. And one last healing potion. They couldn't afford for anything to go wrong.
"This is it." Jenna whispered as she picked herself up off the ground. "Pride... The worst of the seven sins."
"It's so weird that Thaovy's the one we're rescuing..." Shelby muttered. "How is the youngest of us is the one that got possessed by the worst Dream Jumper?"
"Obviously, Pride found her the most prone to that specific sin." Taylor grumbled. "She can join my new club. It's called, "Stereotyped by a Demon Club"."
"I would like to join that club." Shelby stated.
"Honestly... I feel honored that Wrath chose me." Dreamz shrugged.
"Okay everyone. Let's focus on the task at hand." New Zealand said. "We're running out of time to save Thoavy before the Dream Jumper sucks all the life out of her and damns her to Hell. We have to pull together for this one."
"It'll be the toughest one yet." Jenna added.
America summoned his weapon, loading the barrel. "Let's do it then."
"Let's also remember that Thoavy's still in there. Let's not do anything irreversible." Seborga warned, eyeing America and his gun warily.
"Let's find her and get this nightmare over with already, aru." China stated, helping a still shaky Sammi off the floor.
"We don't have to look very far." Mexico pointed out, and nodded forward. The group turned to look behind them.
Not too far away from where they all stood was a huge, velvet purple throne, easily three stories high. Seated on the huge cushion, wearing a crown on her head, was Thaovy. But it wasn't quite Thaovy. Every bone was visible through her tight, leathery-looking skin, which was cracking and dry, but still shone with sweat. Her sunk-in eyes, which shone an unnatural purple, were covered by dirty, cracked glasses. Her hair thinning, greasy, and dull. Her purple gown, elegant and regal, fit her poorly, her frame being nothing but a skeleton. Despite how weak she looked, she was smiling down at them.
"So, you've made it this far." She purred. "I'm impressed. Of the thousands of centuries we've been condemning sinners, only a handful of people have had the knowledge to know how to try and retrieve them. No one has ever made it past Envy. You should be honored to be in my presence." She smiled wickedly.
Seborga stepped forward. "Give us Thaovy." He said, his voice unwavering and demanding.
Pride's eyes narrowed. "Thaovy? I am Thaovy." Seborga, not expecting that response, couldn't hide the surprise on his face. She laughed. "Haven't heard that one before, I see? The other Dream Jumpers, they enjoy giving themselves the credit of condemning the sinners. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for recognizing one's achievements!" She laughed. "But I'm not the villain here. I like to see myself as... A prophet. A messiah, bringing those who deserve it to their promised land... Just, the promised land opposite of upstairs, if you know what I mean."
"I think they call that the anti-Christ." Prussia stated. "This is nothing compared to the others. You're just sitting here in that stupid chair. Those other girls turned into huge demons. You just look like a sad little girl."
Pride's eyes locked on the albino, and narrowed. "It's unfortunate that a former country feels he can speak to me with such malice. You are below me, Gilbert Beilschmidt." With that, a circle of the ground cracked around Prussia, and gave way, causing him to disappear as he fell through, screaming. "I don't need to turn into a rampaging monster. I'm powerful enough without the show."
"Okay, enough talk." Romano yelled, summoning an axe.
Pride smiled. "Cute. Has no one informed you that Italy is no longer two separate countries? What use are you?" Again, the ground around Romano cracked, and he fell through as well. The rest of the group stared up at Pride with horror and disgust.
"You see?" Her voice was cruel and condescending. "Here, I am above you all. Here... I am God."
"We need to make her mad." Shelby whispered to the two individuals closest to her, Alfred and Juan. They both looked at her in alarm, being that was about the opposite of what they wanted to do. "She can't get rid of us if we keep moving... And she can't get the others if she's distracted by us." She explained quietly.
"What if the others don't catch on?" Juan inquired.
"Well... Let's hope that doesn't happen, because we'll all end up like Prussia and Romano if they don't." Shelby shivered, eyeing the two gaps in the floor with fear and worry.
"Come on, Juan. This is what heroes do." Alfred smiled, before he jogged towards the throne. "Hey, skeleton lady! I'm pretty sure the only god here is me! America is untouchable!"
Pride glared. "Such confidence coming from the only first world country on the verge of civil war." She sneered. The ground crack around where America had stood a second ago, but he was already a couple feet away, laughing. Pride's eyes followed him, the cracks trailings, but it wouldn't go fast enough to find Alfred.
"America's only having problems because of people like you! Talked to Trump lately? You guys must get on fabulously!" Mexico jeered, taking off in the opposite direction of his brother.
Pride's eyes bounced back and forth for a minute between the two, before hesitantly deciding on Juan. "Tell me, Mexico, does it still hurt to know America pitied your state so heavily, that after it wiped the floor with you in 1848, he still paid you money for the land he won?" The cracking trailed Mexico, but never caught him.
Seborga watched, his eyes narrowing for a moment, before he elbowed China. "Cover me, will you?" He whispered. China nodded, the two slowly inched towards the throne.
Shelby began jogging as well. "It must suck to constantly have to validate yourself through putting others down!"
Pride looked extremely frustrated, her eyes bouncing back and forth now between three people, all of them moving erratically. "And how does it feel to know that the loathing you feel for yourself is the only thing valid about you?" The cracking didn't even come close to Shelby's feet. Everything was slowing down, she couldn't concentrate on any one of the three.
Suddenly, there was a creaking noise next to her. In a split second, her hand turned into a clawed lion's paw, and she turned on a dime, forgetting about those below her as she slashed across her target. But her target landed it's hit as well. An axe landed straight into the middle of her chest, cracking the ribcage and sinking deep into the cavity. Pride stared in horror and anger at Seborga, who showed no pain from the fact fact that his chest was slashed open from her claws.
As Pride collapsed backwards into the cushion, New Zealand and Jenna rushed forward to scale the throne and help get the Dream Jumper out of Thaovy. The cracking of the ground stopped, and with it, America, Mexico, and Shelby stopped jogging.
Taylor knelt down at the edge of the crack where Romano fell. Wedged between the two rock walls was his axe, and Romano hung onto the handle, sweating with effort. "A little help, huh?" He huffed.
"Guys, Romano's still down here!" Taylor called with excited relief.
"Prussia's still alive too!" Dreamz yelled. The others moved quickly to help retrieve the countries.
Meanwhile, Seborga held Thaovy's head in his hands as Jenna and Cooper finally arrived. Her purple eyes were fiery with hatred. "Humility... I wasn't sure if it was you. But you would be the only one to take me down quietly... Without a word, without proclamation. It... Makes me sick in a way." She shook her head, chuckling slightly as blood trickled out of her mouth. "You could be so much more."
"I'm happy with everything I have. Including Thaovy as my friend. You need to give her back to me." Seborga stated simply.
Pride flashed a wide smile. "You fail to see why I'm here in the first place. Thaovy is just like me."
"Thaovy is young, she will learn as she grows. You will never grow." Seborga glared. "Which is why you're nothing alike, and why you'll be going to Hell without her."
Cooper held his hand above the embedded ax, staring down at Thaovy with determination. "Audi me. Tuus hospes relinquere. Redire ad inferos. Audi me. Superbia in humilitatem dominatur."
With the last incantation spoken, Thaovy's body went still as her eyes drained of purple, leaving them a dull, lifeless brown. A screeching sound echoed throughout the mindscape as the purple spark exploded from Thaovy's chest, sparkling like a firework as it dove into the ground, causing it to crack at the foundations. In fact, the entire room was beginning to tremble.
Thaovy remained still in Seborga's arms as Jenna poured the healing potion down her throat. Seborga's eyes were wide with concern. "Cooper, she's not breathing!"
Jenna glanced at New Zealand as the last drop dripped from the bottle, leaving them without any healing potion. "How potent is this stuff? Will it bring her back if-" She seemed to choke on the words as the world around them began to crumble in flames. The ceiling, which concealed the six levels that came before now, were starting to crumble and crash down around them just as the group below finished pulling Prussia from his cavern.
New Zealand had tears in his eyes as he gripped China's shoulder tightly. "Nothing... Can bring something back from death."
China looked back and forth between New Zealand, Jenna, and Seborga, all distressed over a seemingly dead Thaovy. "Um, I'm sorry, but that's some Western bullshit if I've ever heard it."
Cooper looked at China in shock. "I- I beg your pardon?"
"Beg for nothing, I'll give you the cure for free because you're my friends, and Sammi will be very sad if Thaovy dies." China waved New Zealand's inquiry away, leaving all three of them in shock as he knelt next to Thaovy, holding out both his hands. In one appeared some sort of powder, which he quickly forced into Thaovy's mouth, and made Jenna help her get it down. In the other hand was an already burning herb, which he held just underneath Thaovy's nose.
After a few impossibly slow seconds, Thaovy gasped for air, and the wound around the axe in her chest began to heal, allowing New Zealand and Jenna to slowly pull it out. Her face began to fill out as well, her hair becoming more shiny and healthy, her skin less dry, her figure less skeletal and more back to normal. She blinked, her dulled eyes regained life as she sat up, trying to catch her breath as color returned to her face.
Cooper looked at Yào in disbelief. "How..?"
"Ginseng and moxibustion. White people need to invest more in the curative powers of ancient Chinese medicine, aru." China stated defiantly.
Thaovy, now beginning to recover her train-of-thought, was looking around in panic as the world began to crumble to pieces. "What's happening?"
From on the ground, the others were beginning to panic. "Hey, I'm thinking we should get our asses out of here!" Romano yelled up at the five individuals on the throne as he gripped Taylor tightly, and she did the same as they nervously watched for falling debris that might hit them.
"Scare yourselves awake!" Shelby shouted above the noise.
"I'm trying!" Juan urged, before he, Gilbert, and Dreamz looked up to a large chunk of rock falling, seconds away from crushing them. With a scream and a pop, they were gone a split second before the rock crashed into the ground. The the ground broke upon impact, allowing the rock to continue through.
The crack from the rock spread out like a spider web on the ground, and the entire floor began to fall through. Sammi, Shelby, and Alfred managed to scramble away, but Taylor and Lovino, wrapped in each other's arms, couldn't separate fast enough. As the floor gave out beneath their feet, they screamed, and then disappeared from the mindscape. The last remaining three on the ground didn't seem to have to scare themselves awake; they simply just disappeared a few moments after.
"The others. They're waking us up from the other side!" China cheered, before he too faded away. Jenna disappeared as well, then Thaovy, Seborga, and finally Cooper, leaving the crumbling mindscape empty and conquered.
The last five gasped awake, sitting up in Shelby's basement. Surrounding them were the countries they had left behind on the journey: Spain, Poland, Russia, France, Australia, Hong Kong, and Italy. Juan scooped Jenna up, practically dancing with her as he spun them around in a circle while he shouted out in victorious glee. Hong Kong, holding Sammi close to him with one arm, extended a hand to help China up. Italy cheered and tackled Sebastian and Thaovy back onto the ground, crying that he was scared they wouldn't make it, but that he was so proud of them.
Jett laughed and clapped his brother on the back as he helped him up. "You did it, Coops. You saved them!" Cooper could only blush in embarrassment.
The countries and humans that had been sent back early were there to greet them as well. Annalise, Japan, and Hope all looked fine and healthy- Hope's eyes gave away the fact that she was slightly dazed, but it hardly effected her she leaned into Canada's shoulder, watching the others with a bright smile.
"Well, it looks like everyone had quite the adventure." Russia smiled as the noise died down after a few minutes of celebration. "Sorry I missed it."
"No, you're not." China shook his head. "I never want to do that again in my next 3000 years."
"Me neither." Thaovy still looked sicker than the other girls, but as time spent outside the mindscape and free of a Dream Jumper passed, the better she looked. "What even happened?"
"I am so tired of explaining it if I'm being honest." Jenna sighed, flopping onto a free spot on the couch.
"I'll explain it all later." Sebastian promised, before yawning. "But I need a nap first."
Australia narrowed his eyes. "Sooo... Does this mean the Cedar Point trip is off?"
The eighteen individuals who had endured the mindscape all glared at Jett in unison. "Obviously, dumbass." Dreamz muttered, and just minutes later, almost all of them had fallen asleep.
This time, their dreams were demon-free.
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I started the Dream Jumper arc August 2017. Almost two years later... It's finally finished. Hope nobody got too insulted by the sins I chose for them... Obviously I don't believe any of us are going to hell, it was more who's personality was the closest match, rather than who was a definite offender of said sin.
Anyways, thanks for sticking with my through two years of inconsistent writing and hiatuses. I hope you enjoyed :)
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