Free As A Bird

Chapter 12

Now that Sloth was no longer a problem, John was full of energy and ready to take on whatever new Sin he, George and now Stu would come across. It took a few hours but soon they had reached South America, the Amazon rainforest to be more precise.

"Stu's been pretty quiet through the flight." John thought to himself as they landed in the forest canopy. "I wonder why.. His wings are darker than ours.. How did he get those powers anyways? He wasn't with us when we were granted ours."

"We can all sleep up here. No one will notice us hidden under all these leaves." George told his friends. "After a bit of rest we can go and find out who the next sin will be. Phew.. First I was freezing, now I'm roasting from the humidity."

"Well better to be too hot than too cold." Stu joked. "I'll head down for a bit.. Not too tired yet."

And with that, he flew down deep into the jungles and hid. "This isn't good.. If they found out I.. I would never be let back home.."

Feeling worried about his younger friend, John secretly followed him down while George laid in the trees. "Where did he go? It's so dark down here.."

Eventually John found Stu staring at his reflection in the river. "Don't bother trying to hide John. I could hear your footsteps." He grumbled.

"Hey Stu don't be like that. What's up with you?"

"I'm fine John.. I really am.."

Approaching his leather clad friend, John sat next to him and rubbed his back. "You don't have to lie Stu.. We've known each other for years, you don't have to hide anything from me. I won't judge you."

"You promise?.." Stu stuttered. "Because I was worrying that you and George would abandon me if I told you.."

"I promise I won't say a thing and listen to you all the way through. Now.. Tell me what's on our mind."

"Well.. My powers weren't granted by him up there.. I was given to them by... The devil.."

"You.. You saw the devil?"

"Yes.. I don't want to describe how he looks.. He horrifies me so much.. I was nabbed by Sloth when everyone escaped from Hell. He thought that I could be useful so he granted me powers of my own.. I've got evil John.. I can't be allowed back into Heaven now.."

Feeling sorry for poor Stu, John pulled him into a hug and rubbed his back. "He's is supposed to forgive people for their sins right? Well I'm sure he'll force that dark stuff out of you and you could then come home with us." John assured to him. "We're not letting you go to hell. We're best mates Stu and we'll never be without each other."

"Ye.. Yeah.. But I'm still worried.."

"Hm.. Maybe if he sees you helping us he'll let you back in?"

"I hope so.. I d-" But before Stu could finish his sentence, the two heard a truck driving their way. "Fly!" John yelled as he spread his wings and flew back to George. Stu followed suit, looking back and seeing a bulldozer ramming into many trees, knocking them down. "Hey! Watch where you're driving!" He snapped.

George had finally woke up when he heard the nearby trees fall. "Huh?. Did we just get transported to a tree logging facility?" He asked himself.

"No, just some ass driving through the trees and disrupting the peace." John replied in a deadpan tone.

"Oh god.. People are still wrecking the rainforests?" George groaned. "I wrote an entire song about how we all need to save our earth and no one bothers to listen or even discuss about it? This is the only planet we've got y'know?"

"People are chopping down entire forests?" Stu asked. "I never knew about this."

"Well it started some time after you passed on. I'm not sure why everyone likes to destroy our earth and terrorize the animals."

"Profit off of logging the trees for paper and to grow livestock." John grunted. "These people will do anything for a quick buck, even if it means destroying something beyond repair like the rainforests."

"Those greedy bastards. They think it's okay to tear down beautiful natural sights to make way for industrial wastelands." George growled. "They only think for themselves and whatever they will gain from what they do! Those kind of people make me sick. People are only motivated by their greed and not by kindness."

"Greed you say? Isn't Avarice supposed to represent one's extreme greed and desire for nothing but personal gain?"

"That's right Stu. Though it's hard to tell because this has been going on even before he or she arrived here. I've seen how music devolved into just bragging about what things you have and how much sex you do. Everyone's just in it for the money, there's no heart or thought put into anything anymore. Especially freaking rap."

"Well I know for sure that none of us would be under his or her influence, none of us are here just for personal gain, we rely on each other and we're doing this because we're fixing the mistake I made and making sure that people become better."

The moment couldn't last long however as another bulldozer began to knock down the tree they were on, causing the trio to fly off and hide in the river. "Wait, aren't there piranhas in here?" John realized.

"Just don't look delicious and I'm sure they won't eat us. Animals don't attack humans anyways.. Well except those little buggers called mosquitos."

"Well if you say so.. Don't like the way that alligator's staring at me though.."

Once night had fallen, the trio got out of the river and laid their clothes out to dry. "Once we're all dried off we can go find a nearby city and look for Avarice there. We should be able to tell when we see people all around trying to steal or do anything just for cash." John explained. "Hopefully we can find a tree that hasn't been cut down where we can hide in."

"Same here John. Also make sure you don't spit fire in your sleep. I don't want our cover to be blown." Stu joked. "Anyways, George you had a nap already, could you stay up and keep guard over us?"

"No problem Stu. I would love to be awake near all these plants anyways. It makes me feel like I'm back home in my garden. I just hope we can find some way to regrow everything that's been cut down."

Later that night, George was about to kick back and get some shut eye as well when he heard a roar. "Huh?.. I'd better go check it out." Spreading his wings, he flew off deep into the jungles and saw two demons in expensive clothing assaulting someone. "Hey! Why don't you pick one someone your own size?!" He yelled.

This instantly caught their attention and ran over to attack George, but they were no match for his super scream. "Now to check on whoever was attacked. I wish I had a light to see who this is.. Blonde hair.. Blue eyes... Wait. Linda? Is that you?"

"Yeah.. Well a hologram of me at least. I came here to check on you, I didn't trust you and John being down on earth alone so I asked the big guy if I could keep an eye on you from up in heaven. If you ever need me just pick up the camera on the ground and turn it on. I'll always be there to talk. You seen Paul lately?"

"Oh yes. I'm sure he still misses you dearly. You think once this is all over you can go and see him?"

"Oh I hope so. Anyways I have to get going now. But take my advice, you can weaken a sin's influence by acting like their counterparts."

"You mean the Seven Holy Virtues?"

"Yes. The polar opposite of selfishness is generosity. If you heaps people to behave well, you can weaken Avarice's hold on them."

And with that Linda's hologram disappeared into the camera. "I've got to tell the others about this when they wake up."

Meanwhile inside a large factory, a shadow was watching footage of the forest. "So they've arrived. I must make sure they don't stop the deforestation. Once the entire forest is destroyed beyond repair, the earth will rot like a piece of flesh. Then I might be able to take over Europe and America when my master sees how much damage I have caused!"