Johan shared a quick glance with Sloth and without a word they acted. Johan quickly grabbed one of Note's arms and used it to heavily sling him around and onto Johan’s back. He quickly fell into a sprint, grabbing his backpack as he went.

An army of people entered the street behind him, so he did the only thing he could do, and started scaling the steps up to the palace, taking the lead as Sloth used his powers to slow them down. Johan could see the bright blue glow in the corner of his eye and the sound of cracking pavement soon followed.

Johan’s thoughts raced. There were too many for them all to be deities. Those lazy idiots would never act like this! The ones coming for them had to be human soldiers!

Damn it, he knew Envy had seen him!

A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed Johan's suspicion, in the middle of the crowd stood the woman. There had to be at least a hundred crowding into the street around her. Luckily the mementos were slowing them down, but many soldiers had already taken to throwing themselves through them and were quickly approaching.

Johan needed to get out now!

Luckily Sloth acted quickly and as soon as the soldiers stepped on the ground they sank down to their ankles between cracked pavement and plants, effectively hindering the first wave. However, the second wasted no time jumping over the face-planting soldiers and started to wade through at a pace that was way too quick for Johan’s comfort.

Johan sprinted up the stairs two steps at a time and thankfully didn’t trip on a single root on the way. Finally he reached the top and ran into the courtyard, trying his best to keep Note secured on his back. It was a big palace, multiple floors that stretched high into the air. But most importantly, it was familiar ground and Johan had confidence that once inside he could out-hide anyone.

An arrow whizzed past his head and Johan let out a yelp and dove in through the doorway onto the white stone floor, ignoring the way the door was already torn off its hinges.

He pushed himself back to his feet, and without a look back, he kept running and running. Up stairs and through hallway after hallway until finally he felt safe enough to stop. He panted for air and leaned heavily against a wall. With wide eyes he looked back, holding his breath for a moment to listen, but he had managed to get away.

"Oh Jotun, that was terrible. Sloth, how-" He paused, looking around. Where was Sloth?

Oh no. His heart pounded. Shit, how did they lose each other? Sloth had been right behind him in the door. Johan clearly saw him following, when did he disappear?! Sloth had Signe! The reason he went here in the first place was to get Note and her out! And he lost one of them! The one that was still dead! Johan had lost a corpse!

To be fair...he hadn’t exactly been paying attention to Sloth.

He looked around, trying to calm himself. He was deep inside the palace, no wonder Sloth couldn’t keep up, he had barely been in here before.

Johan sighed and closed his eyes, trying his best to calm down.

Ok, what's the problem and how could he solve it?

The problem: Sloth disappeared with Signe-

Wait. Johan whipped around as realization hit him, Note’s head jolting around on his shoulder. Sloth disappeared with Signe! There was no way that could be a coincidence!

Johan cursed. He had trusted Frey! Why did he do that?! He was so stupid!

He groaned loudly.

Damn those sins!

Ok, that was the problem. He was stupid! Now what was the solution? Not being so naive would be a good start. Finding Signe was the next step. Johan had planned on ditching Sloth ever since he saw him on the mountain but somehow it got turned around on him.

Ok, simple. All he had to do was find Sloth, take Signe and run. Somehow. With two kind-of corpses- Ok nope, no time for realism. First thing first, find Sloth. The rest would have to wait.

Sloth should still be in the palace. There was no way the sins would give up the opportunity to catch him and Note as well. He didn’t know where Sloth would have gone, though, so to start he decided to go back to the entrance.

Suddenly something wet ran down his neck. Startled, he turned to see Note. He had been shivering since Johan first grabbed him, but now he looked even worse. His normally tan face was pale, sweat running down his face in long lines.

Johan frowned but kept walking. He had to be quick, who knew when Note would wake back up.

Finally he got back. He peeked around the corner from the top of the stairs, but couldn’t see anything. Slowly he crept closer.

It was weird. Why was it so quiet? Where did the soldiers go? Didn’t they follow them into the palace?

Then he saw the entrance.

He paused. The first thing he noticed was the color red. The floor was painted in it, a huge puddle forming right inside, spreading across the white tiles.

The second thing he noticed was the doorway, now completely covered by huge roots and thorny vines. More blood dripped lazily from the thorns.

What…what happened?

For a second he just stared, but still nothing. Slowly, he snuck down the stairs and towards one of the windows. He peeked outside- and jolted back with a gasp, his eyes wide in horror. A chill went down his spine.

Bodies laid strewn outside.

What was going on?! Why were they dead?!

He snuck another peek outside and for a second he just stared, horrified, then movement caught his eyes. Far down at the bottom of the stairs, soldiers were walking around restlessly, seemingly not willing to come closer.

He didn’t know how to feel about this. Nausea curled in his stomach.

He looked back down at the floor, blood was seeping in from under the blockade. No, he didn’t like this at all. Johan looked back at Note. He was still unconscious.

What…?

He shook his head. He needed to focus. He drew a slow breath. In, and out. He opened his eyes.

Now where could Sloth have gone?

He looked around with new eyes. Sloth had barely been in the palace before. Usually only going to the throne room when he did. But that was a big empty room, there was no point in going there...so where?

His eyes caught on something. On the floor across the room was a mess of cut plants. Nothing else. It was in a weird spot, nothing leading up to or away from it. If Sloth went that way…

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The library!

Johan snuck back to the top of the stairs and into another hallway. He was right. It didn’t take long before he heard the faint sound of voices.

The entrance didn’t have a door, none of the doorways going into the library did, except the main one. The library was easily the tallest room in the palace, reaching all the way from the ground floor and up to the roof where the only window was. It was big and round, and during the day it would let in natural light.

Bookcases stretched across the walls with only ladders to go up or down, and landings went around the room at each floor.

Johan crouched low, careful about Note on his back. Silently he crept out onto the landing. He could barely see anything in the dim lights coming from the ground floor, hiding Johan in the darkness.

"Well, where is he now?" Envy's powerful voice rang through the room.

"How would I know? He ran the other way." Sloth’s voice responded, dull and annoyed.

They were talking about him.

Johan carefully sat Note down by the wall and scooted over to the railing, slowly peeking through the gaps between the wood railing.

"What do you think you are doing? Does Greed know you are working alone?" Envy demanded.

"I’m not working alone. Frey found him tonight." Sloth made his voice higher like Frey’s. "’Oskar, go fight Alexandra so Johan will trust you and then you can run away together.’"

“So it really is Johan then?” She asked thoughtfully.

Sloth gave a snort. “He is very different.”

Envy hmm’d, quickly followed by an amused sound. "I see. So we are doing 'The Damsel in Distress' then." She let out a short laugh. "I suppose that will work, what with Johan's hero complex."

Johan gaped.

Hero complex?! He didn’t have that! If Sloth started fighting Envy, Johan was leaving them both behind, he wouldn't try to save Sloth! There was a reason The Seven Sins were called Heaven’s protectors, he was not interfering in a fight between them!

Johan appreciated his own powers but it wasn’t like commanding a strip of red fabric was anything close to someone wielding water, or making copies of himself, or turning things to dust! He didn’t have a death wish!

Not to mention, he didn’t like either of them so if they tok eachother out, that would be completely fine by him.

But... if Sloth hadn’t slipped up... wouldn’t Johan have helped? Would their plan have worked? It’s not like he had a lot of allies so if he thought he could trust someone he might have…

He shook his head angrily and glared down at the two. An ugly feeling was starting to surface in him. They really weren’t on his side, huh. Even Frey. Even his friend.

It didn’t make sense for them to gain his trust and then kill him like nothing. Johan sighed quietly. They probably wanted a public execution like with Note and Signe. Something to make a statement. Johan shuddered at the thought.

"What about her?" Johan was ripped out of his thoughts and looked back through the railing to see Envy throw a pointed look past Sloth. Johan squinted in the dim lights for a long second before he realized what he was looking at.

Signe! She was laying on a couch, a pillow holding her head up just right against her neck and. Johan almost shouted in victory. One step closer to getting out!

"What about her?" Sloth echoed, suddenly on guard. Johan saw him move to cover her from Envy’s sight.

"If she heard this conversation she would need to be removed." Envy said and smirked appallingly at Sloth.

“Don’t threaten her.” Sloth hissed, anger in every word.

Envy grinned. "A seamless transition into our fight. Well dear friend, I will not hold back." She revealed her hands, multiple needles glinting from between her fingers, and without a single moment of hesitation she attacked with a flick of her wrist. The needles were easily blocked by a wall of water.

Johan felt his heart drop as one of Envy's needles was thrown directly at Signe and for a second he thought he had lost, that he would need to take Note and get out without her. But only millimeters away from her face, Sloth stopped it.

Wait. Did she move?

Johan squinted. Did she tense up? He watched for a second. No...must have been the light.

He didn’t wait to see more of the fight, instead he scooted back, thinking. He needed to act quickly.

He should be able to get to the landing above Signe without too much trouble, the problem was how he would get her without the two sins noticing. They already knew he would be coming so they would be paying attention. But maybe he could cause a distraction?

Suddenly something moved behind him.

Johan jerked around, hand going for his ear cuff, but before he could do anything a hand shot out at his face.

Another hand grabbed the back of his head just in time just before he would have hit the ground. The first hand slid down his face to cover his mouth and Johan opened his eyes to see a big shadow leaning over him.

Did a soldier sneak up on him?! He struggled against the weight holding him down, his heart pounding and his mind screaming at him to get away- and then two orbs or purple glowed in the darkness.

Johan stopped, eyes wide.

“Shh,” Note shushed and pointed down. Johan froze. For a long moment they listened but luckily it didn’t seem like the sins had noticed them, the fight still going strong.

Note slowly released him and sat back on his knees, frowning intently at Johan.

"I know you have questions," Johan whispered hurriedly and got to his knees, careful not to startle Note. His heart was still pounding, he couldn’t let Note give them away. "Shut up and stay quiet. I’ll answer you later, but first we need to get Signe and get out of here. I don’t know how long you've been awake-"

"Only a few minutes. The first thing I heard was 'hero complex'." Note said lowly, not taking his eyes off him.

"I don’t have a hero complex." Johan hissed, forgetting the situation for a second. Note looked at him, unimpressed.

"I don’t." He felt the need to repeat. His head ached. "Do you trust me?”

He watched as Note’s eyes flickered around, a mirror of Johan’s own unease, before finally landing on his eyes where they were hidden behind his bangs.

“…Of course.” Note whispered confidently, his eyes confused. Johan nodded tensely.

“Ok.” He breathed out. That was good. That made things easier. “Listen to me. We’ll talk after this, but for now just do as I say.”

He waited for Note to nod before he continued.

“Since you’re awake you can help me out. Create a distraction while I go and get Signe." Note made a face at that, and while Johan expected it, he still felt anger course through him and hissed. "Look, I know you don’t like her but we are not leaving her for your murderers."

"I wasn't-"

Johan cut him off. "I don’t want to hear it. You can hate her all you want after we get out but right here, right now, is not the fucking time."

Note looked at him with a conflicted expression. For a split second he thought he saw shame, but it was gone before he could tell for sure.

Johan sighed, closing his eyes. If Note was going to act like a child...Johan would honestly rather he still be unconscious. He remembered how antagonizing Note used to be to Signe, but he had honestly thought that after the execution Note would have had a change of heart. Apparently not.

He opened his eyes and moved back to the railing. The sins were still fighting downstairs, oblivious to being watched.

Note cleared his throat and nodded his head slightly. "I'll create a diversion, just…get her."

Finally Johan looked at him. Really looked at him. It was easy to see he wasn’t doing good. The wound had healed down to a small scar but he was still pale as a corpse, and when he moved around Johan could clearly see how unsteady he was.

"Can you use your powers?" He asked doubtfully.

“Yes.”

Johan didn’t believe that for a second and threw him a challenging look.

Note looked away and swallowed. "Enough." He continued. A determined expression settled on his face as he met Johan’s eyes again.

Johan nodded slowly. He didn’t like it but it seemed to be their best option.

"Ok. Their plan is to lure me here, so they’ll be keeping an eye out. But they won’t be expecting you to be awake. Grab them and hold them down, just until I get Signe and we get out of the palace."

Note nodded. "I can do that." He assured.

Johan looked at him for a second, looking for weakness, but Note seemed confident in his ability, so Johan started moving. Slowly he made his way along the wall to the other end of the library, careful not to be seen. His dark brown clothes easily blended into the shadows and soon he was directly above where Signe laid.

The two sins were fighting louder and louder, becoming more aggressive and dangerous as they danced around each other, breaking everything in their way.

Johan would need to act quickly before it went even any further. He met Note’s eyes for a second, then turned his attention down, watched the fight for the perfect moment to act, and slowly let his ribbon unwind from one hand as he did.

He held his breath as he watched unblinkingly.

Then Envy ducked as Sloth sent a needle right back at her.

Johan dropped down.