Free As A Bird

Chapter 8

The next day John awoke to find George not eating for once... But it still didn't change the fact that he was now as big as a hippo. Peaking behind the door, John heard George playing his sitar to a tune he never heard before, it sounded almost enchanting. Then suddenly the fire alarm went off. "Ack! What did he do this time?!" John mentally screamed as he ran to get a fire extinguisher from the hall. But when he went back into the room, he saw a now slim George with smoke coming out of his mouth.

"What do you think John? Cool new way to lose weight?" He said, oblivious to the fact that he set himself on fire.

"What the hell was that George?! How did you manage to set yourself on fire just by playing a sitar?!"

"It's the Raja Deepak, one of Tansen's pieces I told you about back in Chapter 4, remember? I remembered that it can set anything on fire, so I used it on myself to burn off all this excessive fat!"

"...... And you say I'm the crazy one!"

"Eh, whatever works, anyways, now I can go back and eat without all that fat dragging me down!" George exclaimed as he went towards the door.

But John grabbed him by the shoulders and tied him to a chair. "You aren't going anywhere Harrison! Gluttony's obviously gotten to ya. I mean, you're even eating meat! You know that you were such a strict vegan before now."

".... I didn't even realize that I was eating meat... Alright I'll stop fro-"

But before George could finish his sentence, a TV advert started playing. "BURGER KING NOW HAS VEGAN OPTIONS!! BUT FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!!" It said. And with that, George immediately dashed out the door, but thankfully John pulled him into an alleyway before anyone could have spotted them. "George!! You have to control yourself!"

"I.. I'm trying.. But the FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD is calling for me!!"

Changing into his ten year old self, George escaped John's grasp and ran into the fast food joint. Little did he know that someone very familiar to him was nearby.

"Huh?." Said a man in his early thirties.

"What is it Dhani?"

"Oh.. Sorry about that Sean I just thought I heard my dad in that alley.."

"Funny.. I was about to say that same thing. Well I guess since a lot of weird things have been going on today with the obesity rate going through the roof in such a short time.. I suppose hearing our dads here wouldn't be too big of a surprise. I mean, Astrid even claimed to have seen Stu walk past her. Also Julian told me that he thought he saw dad as a kid walking around the place, though I just brushed it off as just a kid who happened to look like him."

"Yeah, anyways c'mon, we got an album to do."

Reaching the fast food restaurant, George hid inside a booth, making sure that John won't find him. "Okay, now for the food!.. Aw crap I spoke too soon."

Glaring at his younger bandmate, John grabbed George by the shoulders and started to pull him away. "That's it Georgie! You will not be leaving the hotel until we-" But before John could finish his sentence, he was cut off by one of the employees.

"Hey there you kids, are you lost? We can let you stay here for the night." He said.

"Really?! Thank you thank you thank you!!" George exclaimed. "My brother and I are so very hungry! Can we get free food?"

Smirking, two workers picked them up and carried them into the back of the room. "Of course little guy, you can have all the food you want."

Drooling at the thought of free food, George nearly forgot all about why he and John had come. "I think it had something to do with.. Um.. I think a sin of some kind?" He thought. "Oh well, I'll think about it later."

Eventually he and John have been dropped off into a room that was filled to the brim with all kinds of fatty foods. Once it was in his sight, George lunged at the pile and devoured everything in reach.

"George stop!!" John shouted, trying to pry George away. "Remember what we came here for!"

"Huh?.. Wha... No! George want food!!" Then George did something unexpected, he stuffed a whole pack of fries into John"s mouth, forcing him to swallow it. Now also under the influence of Gluttony, John began to stuff himself as well. Not knowing that both Beatles had somehow changed back into their adult forms and we're growing at an alarming rate.

"Very good." A voice from the back of the room said. "My underlings have found you and fattened you up so nicely."

"Huh?.." John groaned, then he snapped his head up and said: "Oh god that's right! We need to fight Gluttony! Now where is he?!!"

"SHE is right here human." An enormous figure than stepped out of the shadows, with the head of a hippo, an immensely obese body and with stocky goat legs, John and George were now face to face with the second sin.

"You may have gotten rid of Lust, but now I have you imprisoned here! I still can't believe he had that much trouble dealing with two lazy humans such as yourselves, although I am surprised that you ate all that without your stomachs bursting open from too much food. But that doesn't matter now, you both are helpless against me!" Gluttony gloated, stroking their bellies. "I would keep boasting longer, but I have an entire continent to feed until they burst!" She cackled, waddling out of the room.

"Good thing we didn't explode.. But how will we be able to beat her like this?!" John yelled.

"Fo-huh?.. What happened?.. Why is here an animal product in my mouth??!!!" George groaned as he spat out a burger.

"George?.. George!! You're back!! Give me a hug man!!"

"Oooooh... I don't feel so good.." George moaned as he rubbed his massive belly. "Did.. Did I succumb to Gluttony?"

"You sure did.. She kept saying about how we've lost and that she'll take over America and stuff like that.."

Then two minor demons that posed as Burger King staff had walked in to laugh at the poor Beatles. "Ha! Looks like we've won, fat boys!"

"Yeah! Hey Tubby! Tell your friend Lard-Butt over there to stop moaning!!"

George was nearly in tears, thinking that since he had fallen under an influence, earth is doomed and he and John wouldn't be able to return home after failing their mission. "Please.. Stop.." He whimpered.

John on the other hand was furious, he hated seeing George so sad, so he lashed out at the demons with his fire breath. To his surprise, he managed to spit out a hotter blue flame, roasting their tormentors.

"Whoa!.. How was I able to do that?.." Looking down at himself, John also noticed that he had shrunk a little when he was attacking. "Is it.. All this fat?." John then had a thought. "Hey George! How about you use your screech attack?"

"Umm.. Okay.." George said as he took a deep breath and let out a huge screech which was powerful enough to reduce the entire (and thankfully empty) building to rubble. "Wow... What was in all that food we ate?"

"Must have been some kind of otherworldly energy source.. Like those pools we sometimes went into whenever we needed a quick boost back in heaven." John hypothesized. "When those demons escaped they must have taken a stash of the energy with them and used it to make everyone obese."

"Makes sense, but now all we have to do is find Gluttony and lose weight by using all our powers at full force on her!" George exclaimed, but then as he barely had any legs, he ended up tripping over and fell right on top of a car. "Oops.. Wait a sec, isn't that guy in there the new president?"

Grabbing Pence out of the car, John placed him into his jacket pocket. "He might be some help, seemingly knowing about the Seven Deadly Sins. Now c'mon! We can still do our job!"