[ Watashi ]

[ Tomodachi ]

[ Saint Seiya ]

[ Clamp ]

[ Fanfiction ]

A hand touching mine.

Fingers intertwined.

Squeezing hard.

Desperately so.

Unwilling to let go, to....

Nothingness.

Silence.

Slowly, I let my right arm fall back against my flank and listened to the absolute absence of sound which had come over the great hall of basalt in the blink of an eye. They were gone, Saori-san, Ikki-niisan and my friends. Gone beyond my reach. Gone.... Alone. Reflexively, I raised my left hand and hugged my other arm which was still hanging limp against my side. My friends had left this horribly alien place to return to the Sanctuary and prepare for the war that was to come. They had left, and I had remained here, alone to face the consequences of my decision.

Behind me, an ethereal breeze rose, raising strange, muted echoes in the great hall and I imperceptibly shivered, unable to prevent the instinctive reaction as I saw again in my mind's eye the anguished light there had been in my brother's gaze in the moment when our hands had separated. Ikki-niisan.... For a few seconds, I wished I were still a small, defenseless child who could call out for help, who could call out and be answered. A child who could be lulled back into sleep, warded by a warm touch on the shoulder when his dreams were troubled by unremembered nightmares, by nameless shadows such as children saw. Stupid. Sending the foolish thoughts away, I denied the feeling of cold which had taken hold of me. Then, in a slow, reluctant movement, I turned to face the only other person who had remained in the dark, frightening hall.

The Prince of this forsaken place.

The Lord of Hell, Lucifer.

"So," I asked him in a carefully neutral voice, "how do you intend to correct the flaws impairing me?"

The Fallen Angel's cold, inhuman amethyst eyes locked on me and in a deceptively soft voice, he replied, "Easily enough, but I thought you'd want to know which flaws I was referring to." There was something like distant curiosity in Lucifer's steady gaze.

Almost, I laughed when I heard those words, but somehow I managed to keep a tight rein on my emotions; I fought down a wave of hysteria which was rising within in answer to a fear that I didn't dare face. With a small shrug, I told him in a quiet voice, "You're not the first to say I'm flawed. As far as I can remember, I've been told I wasn't cut out to be what I've become. Daidalos-sensei himself told me this, time and again, and..." I heaved out a weary sigh, then went on, "I know who and what I am. I'm weak, a coward who can't deal with the realities of life and war."

Silence followed my calm statement of the unflattering truth of myself, and I looked Lucifer right in the eye, refusing to listen to fear. Refusing to yield and give way to him. Eventually, a smile came to his lips and he gave a slow shake of his head, retorting in a thoughtful whisper, "No, you don't." There was something strange in his smile and in the tone of his voice. Gentleness, almost, with an odd mixture of nostalgia and dark amusement. Softly, he added, "You obviously don't know who and what you are, but that mistake will soon be set right." I stared back at him in mute incomprehension. What could he possibly mean by such a statement? Was he once more referring to Hades?

Crush.

I stiffened as the vaguely sickening sound rose in the air around me. It was as if someone had just crushed a plastic bottle before trashing it, but what...? A low, deafened moan suddenly resounded in the air, coming from somewhere on my right.

Somewhere very, very close.

Claws of ice closed around my spine, and I turned to face the source of the sound, in a slow motion. "The Hall we're standing in has a name, you know." Lucifer's soft whisper reached me, but I discarded it, trapped by the terrible sight set before my eyes.

Ten steps away form me, a young woman, almost still a girl, was trying to gather herself from the floor, using one of the pillars of basalt for support. She was wearing what looked like a Cloth, but it had been shattered to pieces and blood was ruining the normally bright metal's glint, an awful lot of it. Horrified, I watched as the young woman's body shook while she desperately fought to stand up. Just as she was about to steady herself, a shadow took form right beside her.

A winged shadow, tall and frightening.

In the blink of an eye, the dark ghost became matter, and its right arm went up.

"Agony."

My heart skipped a beat as Lucifer's gentle voice registered in my brain. In the same time, the apparition's arm came down in a blur and savagely struck the young woman who was thrown to the floor, sprawled against the black pillar.

A scream of pain and despair filled the great hall.

No.... I felt my eyes widening, and slowly I shook my head in denial. No, this isn't happening. It's a nightmare, an illusion of some kind, a trick, a-- Again, the dark wraith's arm went up, and the young woman lifted her head. The mask she had been wearing was broken in half, revealing the right side of her face. A single, storm-blue eye set on me; and for a brief moment something which might have been recognition flashed in it.

Gyste? The name echoed in my mind while memories came to life and flickered like candles in the wind. Gyste, Ophiuchus Shaina's sister-in-arms whom Seiya had defeated and killed in what felt like another life. But what was she doing here? She had died years ago, this whole thing was completely ludi--

The nameless demon's arm came down. I blinked, and with a desperate effort of will I tore myself free from the awful, nightmarish trance which had paralyzed me. Whether I understood or not didn't matter in the slightest. The only thing that held meaning was that a girl was being beaten to death in front of my eyes.

Tortured.

Flinging myself forward, I set the Chain free, invoking in a breath, Thunder Wave! Faster than any normal eye could see, it flew towards the target I had designated for it in a broken line, lightning that nothing in the world could ever hope to stop.

"No, I don't think so." Abruptly, the Chain froze, as if obeying Lucifer's quiet command. On instinct, I gathered my cosmo and willed the powerful weapon to resume its course, and in answer it rushed back at me. Before I could move or try to react, the Chain coiled up to me, imprisoning my body in a shroud of bronze. In the same time, another terrible blow struck the young woman before me, and again a scream of pain rang in the great hall.

Agony.

Cold savagely hit the pit of my stomach as I remembered Lucifer's word.

As understanding of that name's meaning unfolded before me.

No! Frantic, I fought the Chain's hold, using all the strength of my cosmo, and failed as I had known I would. Behind me, steps echoed in the air, and when he reached my side the Lord of Hell's purple eyes set on mine and held them.

"This isn't your world, Andromeda Shun. This is Hell, and what takes place here is none of your concern. However," he smiled at me, and cold fire lit his gaze as he went on, "if you want to meddle in the affairs of the damned, you'll have to do better than that pathetic show of human power." Then, his voice reduced to a soft, confiding whisper, and he added, "You'll have to unfetter yourself from the seals which were set upon your soul."

It's all meaningless. Helpless, I looked back at Lucifer and wished I could laugh. I couldn't break the Chain's hold on me, nothing human could now that it had awakened to the blood of Athena.

Now that my Cloth had become a Kamui.

It's ludicrous, you're mad. Five steps away from me, another cry of pain rose, tearing through the silence which had followed Lucifer's words. With difficulty, I twisted to again face the sprawled form of Gyste.

She was crying.

The light was gone from her storm-blue eye. She was....

In a last, desperate attempt, I gathered all the power at my command and savagely fought the Chain's hold, to no avail. In front of me, the executioner lifted his right arm.

"No...." The young woman's moan filled my mind, drowning the echoes of my heartbeats, and I closed my eyes when I heard the sickening sound of bone breaking. Slowly, I took air inside my lungs and then released it, trying in vain to focus on the rhythmic movements of my chest rising and falling, trying in vain to think of a way out of this absurd nightmare.

Finding none.

I couldn't let hysteria overwhelm me, I couldn't let go, I had no right to. I had to help her, somehow, I had to do something, anything.... Biting my lower lip until I tasted blood, I swallowed back tears, I swallowed back the scream I could feel coming up my throat. Eventually, I managed to force words through my lips, and said in a tightly controlled voice, "Damn you, stop this. Stop it." From very far away, I heard the slightest of tremors in my voice, and cursed my own weakness. Silence was my only reply, then I added, "If you want to be begged, I'll gladly do so, but please stop this!" In answer, the dark wraith lifted his arm once more, and struck.

It hurts. There was distant surprise in the inner voice as something unnamed blossomed deep inside me, rising from shadows I had never known existed in my heart, unfolding in harmony with Gyste's cry of pain. Helplessly, I watched as blood oozed from numerous wounds on the young woman's abdomen. She was dying, it would only take a few more blows to kill her. And there was nothing I could do.

Nothing.

Nothing at all!

It'll take more than this pathetic show of human power. Anger suddenly sparked inside me as I remembered Lucifer's contemptuous statement. Damn him, this couldn't be allowed to happen, it simply couldn't! If I let her die, I'll.... Focusing on anger, I summoned Andromeda's power, and around me the Storm violently exploded into being. In the same time, I gave a wild struggle against my bonds.

But the Chain held.

Around me, the Storm was already abating, draining me of strength. The muted sound of my labored breathing was interrupted by yet another scream of pain, and I distantly thought that she was sounding weaker now. It shouldn't last much longer. I wanted to close my eyes again, but I couldn't. I wanted to wake up, I wanted to call out to my brother, to Athena, but I couldn't. The only thing I was allowed to do was to watch while cracks appeared in the shadowed walls guarding my soul and grew. To watch, while the torture session went on.

And on.

And on.

And on.

Cold.

Reflexively, I shivered. In front of me, savage blows kept raining down on the defenseless young woman. I had thought she wouldn't last long under such horrible torture, but I had been mistaken. I had lost all sense of the passing of time, I had lost the ability to think in a coherent fashion. At some point, I knew I had again begged Lucifer to put an end to this nightmare, but it was as if he hadn't even heard me. I had lost count of the numbers of times I had pit all my strength against the Chain's hold. There was nothing to be done, nothing but to watch.

All of a sudden, I realized that Gyste's right eye, which had been set upon me the whole time, had glazed over. Her head slowly sagged to the side, and she fell to the ground in silence, a puppet whose strings would have finally given way.

Dead.

The word echoed in my mind, and inwardly I recoiled, as if I could somehow flee its reality. As if denial or escape were still possible. Poor cowardly fool that you are, I thought.

A small, trembling voice inside me asked why, and wished it could cry. A young child's voice, my voice. My.... Dead. There was nowhere left to run. Nowhere left to hide. The word reached me. It touched me and embraced me like a lover, whispering tender, meaningless sounds to reassure and soothe the child inside me. I tried to push it away, desperately, but it wrapped around me and melted against my skin. One with me. Then, something rose within.

Guilt.

Anger.

Self-loathing.

Terror.

Grief.

Pain.

Fury.

I took a slow, shuddering breath, and released it with a scream, closing my eyes. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Power, raw and more violent than anything I had ever known flowed through my body, tearing at my soul, and I welcomed it as it filled a void hidden deep inside the shadows of my soul.

I welcomed it as it drowned the young child's pleading voice and silenced it forever.

I welcomed it as it ripped to shreds the fabric of my fragile self.

As it filled me with thunder and chaos.

As it hurt.

Hurt....

All of a sudden, I noticed the small rings of light paralyzing my body. I looked down at the Chain which had betrayed me and held me back, and I snarled. With a thought, I touched the wild, burning cosmo which had invaded the core of my being and used it. The gentle, kind-hearted young man that I had been would have shied away from those terrible flames, he'd have smothered them within himself if he had been able to, knowing all too well where their use would lead him, refusing to go against the principles which had guided his steps and shaped the human being that he was, refusing to betray all he believed in...but I was beyond thinking. I was beyond remembering, beyond knowing even my name. I had died in the instant that Gyste had. Her death had opened cracks in shadowed, hidden wards which had sealed my heart, and when Fire had leaked through, I had grasped it. With a sound that reminded me of thousands of small bells for a fraction of a second, the Chain shattered into a myriad of shining fragments. Then I flung myself forward.

Free.

Like in a dream, I saw the dark wraith turn to face me in a slow, almost sluggish movement. Discarding the bloody corpse on my right, I called forth the famished flames devouring my heart. And I struck.

And struck again.

And again.

The strangely distant sound of a ragged breathing abruptly broke the spell, and all of a sudden I realized that there was a body lying at my feet. Air was burning my lungs and the frantic beatings of my heart were filling my mind, mad drums which had eclipsed everything else around me. On instinct, I set a knee down on the cold floor and reached out. My fingers encountered blood, warm and viscous, as dark as night, and I brought my hand before my eyes, disbelieving. Blood.... I spread my fingers and watched, fascinated, as the liquid ran down the palm of my hand.

"My thanks, Nelchael. Your gift to me will be remembered." On my left, Lucifer knelt down and briefly rested his right hand over the dead Fallen Angel's empty eyes. Then, before the echo of his almost inaudible whisper had time to die down, he straightened while I slowly flexed my fingers, staring fixedly at this hand of mine which had gleefully torn the life out of the dark wraith's body.

Missing.

I blinked when the thought formed in my mind and turned on my right to see what had disturbed my somber reverie. There was nothing to see besides the black pillar of basalt reaching up to hall's ceiling far above. For a moment I didn't react, and then understanding struck, merciless.

There was no human corpse sprawled against the pillar, bathing in its own blood. Gyste wasn't there. She's never been there, there's never been.... With a slow shake of my head, I tried to chase the thought away, to deny the horrible truth that my mind was starting to discern, and failed. I had never felt her cosmo. At no moment had I felt the presence of another human being in this place. Just as I had thought, it had all been an illusion woven for my sole benefit. But one of the actors in the absurd play had been real. Coldly, I made myself retrace the path of recent events, and felt something like a mad, painful laughter rising up my throat. He fooled me, like one fools a little kid, and I....

I had killed.

I had crushed the flame of the Fallen Angel's life under my fingers. More than that, I had....

I had thirsted for his life.

I had thirsted for vengeance.

I had thirsted for the cry of agony which had escaped his lips in the instant of his death.

I had....

I stood up, absent-mindedly feeling for the pillar on my right like a drunkard in need for support. From very far away, I felt my shoulders shaking as tears filled my eyes. Tears I could never shed, tears I had no right to shed. In the blink of an eye, the cracks in the shadowed walls around my soul zigzagged and rejoined each other.

Then I broke.

"You," I didn't recognize my own voice as I confronted Lucifer. There was nothing left inside me, nothing but scorching Fire which had devoured everything I had been and hurt, hurt so terribly that nothing would ever have been adequate to express the sensation. Yielding to instinct and pain, I focused inwards and gathered the high flames. Then I told Lucifer:

"I'm going to kill you."

Before he could reply, I moved to his side, as fast as lightning, and struck.

My blow never connected. Instead, pain, excruciating, exploded in my chest while I heard the Fallen Angel's mocking voice saying, "Fury is interesting, but not enough. Fury is heat and flames, it's enough for smaller ones like Nelchael, but you'll need more than that if you truly want to touch me." Bending over me, he added in a confiding whisper, "Hatred, Shun."

My whole body shook under the assault of those two words, shook as the dark wind they raised in their wake battered at the empty shell that I was. I didn't see Lucifer's smile, I didn't feel his warm breath caressing the side of my neck, I didn't hear the mad drums of my heartbeats. The only thing that still had meaning in the world was the sound of his voice as he added, "Hatred is ice and strength beyond anything you can imagine."

Hatred.... That Word danced inside my mind, swirling like a lone storm cloud, mocking me. Taunting me. Allowing a moan of pain to escape from my lips, I bowed my head and fell to my knees before the Lord of Hell. I fell, reaching out to his Word. I fell, straining myself to capture it.

I fell, during an eternity.

Then at last I touched it, and gathered hatred close, embraced it in my heart and allowed its beautiful, pure ebony ice to shape me as it would. Above me, I could feel Lucifer's presence like a dark Fire whose flames had engulfed all reality and had given birth to night. I didn't need to look up to know he was smiling, certain of victory. With a smile of my own, I willed Andromeda to leave me, deliberately making myself defenseless before my enemy, and the God Cloth obeyed in a surprisingly easy fashion. I allowed the tiniest fraction of the mad laughter filling my being to pass through my lips, while my body shook with what might have been sobs.

And like a coiled snake, I rose in a blur, calling the ice to my hand and striking in the same movement.

"Good." I blinked, unable to understand why I was being held against one of the great hall's walls, paralyzed. There was pain in my back, but it was a faraway thing, unimportant. Something had happened when I had touched the Fallen Angel, something that I couldn't remember. "Good," Lucifer repeated as he came towards me, a lazy, contented smile on his lips, "just as I had known you would be." Grinning, he added, "The blow you dealt me would have killed anyone unaware of you, yes, I believe it'd even have killed any of the archangels, with perhaps the exception of Michael. Unfortunately," he reached out to me and went on, in a soft whisper, "I'm very much aware of you, Shun."

Wildly, I tried to move away, but he had me and he had no intention of letting me escape. In a light caress, his fingertips traced the line of my jaw and then carefully wiped something away from my eyes. "Tears," he mused, then abruptly the purple eyes locked on mine, forbidding me to look away. "But you can no longer release them, can you? You can't cry anymore. I understand...." He let his words trail off into silence, then eventually he took a step back. His amethyst gaze still set on me, he asked, as if in an afterthought, "Why didn't you tell them?" I stared back at him, numb, and he added, "Why didn't you betray the gift I gave you?"

The eerie calm in his voice and the absolute absence of emotion in it were frightening. The question reached through all the layers of ice and Fire enshrouding my heart. And words came to me in answer, that I couldn't voice, memories which didn't, couldn't exist. Yet they blossomed in my soul, mercilessly clear. What you shared with me, I thought, unable to help myself, compelled by the inhuman fire shining in Lucifer's eyes, it belonged to you and me alone. I don't understand it, I don't know what it was, but I just.... With a desperate effort of will I looked away, freeing myself from the amethyst gaze, and I felt my body trembling as if I was fevered. It hurts. The thoughts were far, far away. They seemed to belong to someone else. It hurts so much.

Again, fingers touched me and gently made me face the Lord of Hell once more. During a long time, we faced each other in silence, then eventually I managed to force words through my lips and told him in a toneless voice, "I hate you."

The three words resounded in the great hall, absurd sounds which had no meaning.

Senseless truth that I didn't understand.

Slowly, Lucifer nodded at me and the ghost of a smile touched his lips as he replied, "I know." Something briefly flickered in his eyes, a strange, alien shadow which might have meant pain or sorrow. He heaved out an almost imperceptible sigh, then added, "I understand, and I think it's time you did as well." Unheeding of his words, I once again fought against the invisible bonds holding me against the high wall of the hall named Agony.

"Be still." Annoyance seeped into the Fallen Angel's voice as he said this, and he reached out to me, resting his left hand against my chest at the heart's level for a few seconds. All of a sudden, my body froze of its own volition, as if in answer to his command. Instead of struggling in vain, I went along with the flow, focusing inwards and intent on gathering the shards of ice at the core of my being.

"It won't do you any good," Lucifer said, as if he could feel what I was doing, "The seed within you hasn't grown enough yet. You might as well listen willingly, because I won't allow you to make me waste any more time than we already have. Athena was right in this: nothing can stop the great Clock from ticking in your world of Assiah."

Athena.

Inwardly, I recoiled, but the name hit me anyway. On instinct, I looked away as a mixture of pain and shame invaded my heart. I didn't want to remember that name. I didn't want to remember the world or those who lived in it.

Those whom I had betrayed in offering myself to hatred.

There was no undoing what had happened. There was no escape from the truth. There was only one thing I could do, one path open to me: to reach out, to let the pure black ice engulf me and drown my soul. To become what Lucifer wanted me to be, and to use hatred's horrible strength against him. For a fleeting moment, something buried deep within cried out in terror and refusal, desperate, the ghost of a child who was no more, but I smiled, denying his voice. No, not this time, coward. Never again. Then I closed my eyes.

"She told you the tale of the gods' beginning, didn't she?"

I froze, a heartbeat away from falling, unable to help myself. Something in Lucifer's voice unexplainably held me back. Reluctantly, I listened while he went on, "But Athena couldn't tell you about Hades, even if she had wanted to." Laughter, harsh and mocking followed that sentence, and I realized that I had tensed, as if in anticipation of a blow. As abruptly as it had come, the Fallen Angel's laughter died down.

"When Zeus asked for my help in his insane bid for power, I granted it provided that he pay the price I demanded. To me, his endeavor was an incredibly stupid one at best, but one which would disturb Heaven's nice little peace in any case, so of course I agreed to show them the path to the En Sof, why would I have refused?" Lucifer shook his head, the light in his eyes a distant one as he plunged into the memories of events long past. "But they were cunning, those would-be gods, much more so than I had first thought."

What was there in the Fallen Angel's voice? Fondness? Mockery? Despite myself, I looked at him and shivered when I saw his smile. "When the time came, I asked them for my price. As I had known they would, they had chosen among themselves beforehand, and chosen wisely, for I'd have done away with any other and turned on them in an instant." Lucifer's smile revealed his teeth as he added, his eyes set on me like a hawk's, "The one they chose gave himself willingly, he came to me with his heart unveiled, his soul offered for me to crush with a mere thought...but that had never been my intention."

The Lord of Hell chuckled softly, shaking his head in wonder, "Oh no, I had never planned to get rid of such a rare toy that quickly. For the one who sacrificed himself had a truly pure heart. There was fear in him when he reached my side, and acceptance as well, absolute sincerity which was shining in his eyes like diamonds. His name was Hades, and when I touched him I took his soul as mine."

Lucifer's words slowly faded into silence, and he reached out to me, resting the fingertips of his left hand against my cheek in a featherlike touch. In a soft whisper, he told me, "I've taken many since the dawn of Time, but none like him. I didn't have to bend him to my will; he truly, completely gave himself. He was mine, in a way no other human being has ever been, which is why, of course," the Fallen Angel's face split into a feral grin as he said, "I let him go away with his kin, certain that he'd come back to me when all would be done."

All of a sudden, Lucifer released me and walked away, continuing in a distant voice, "The irony of it all is that I was right. Hades did come to my realm, he came to the heart of Hell of his own free will as he had promised me he would. He--" The Fallen Angel abruptly interrupted himself, either unable or unwilling to go on, then eventually he resumed, "He wasn't the shadow that you fought. Not then. He was purity and innocence, kindness and generosity. He was...strong. Much stronger than I thought a mere mortal could be."

Lifting a hand in a slow motion, as if he was so lost in memories that he had difficulty concentrating on the simple movement, Lucifer rested the palm of his right hand against one of the black pillars. "When Hades came back to me, clad in his new mantle of Light, I gave him a place at my side, laughing at the good joke I had played on the accursed worlds of Heaven. How he managed to do what he did," the Fallen Angel continued in a very quiet whisper, "to this day I don't know. But he tricked me. While I was watching him and waiting for the moment when I'd tire of him, when he'd cease to entertain me, he watched me as well, outwardly giving away a bit more of his very essence with each moment that passed, but in truth weaving his spirit to mine and waiting for his own time.

Turning on his heels in an abrupt, violent movement, Lucifer whirled around, resting his back against the pillar of basalt, and stared at me steadily, a bitter smile on his lips and a glint that was a mixture of somber amusement and of something else, something I couldn't name shining in his purple eyes. "Then one day the one who had sworn himself to me, given me his soul, turned the tables on me. The one who had truly, sincerely offered himself betrayed me. It all happened within the time of a heartbeat, too quickly for me or mine to prevent it. Hades used the intimate knowledge of Hell and of the Fallen Ones he had gained, and cast us out of the universe in an instant. During that fraction of a second, I saw his heart, I felt his grief, and I knew the impossible truth: even though he was betraying me, he was still mine, he hadn't somehow changed or freed himself from me. How he managed to crush his own mortal soul this way, I'll never understand. Still," Lucifer's smile became grim as he added, "I hadn't been a complete idiot. Hades would pay dearly for his actions, which he knew. In the fraction of eternity I was given before darkness closed its gaping maw upon me, I cursed the human being who had deceived me. I set into motion the spell which would slowly poison his spirit and forever taint it with evil."

The Fallen Angel tilted his head backwards and leaned it back against the cold stone, looking up at the ceiling without really seeing it as he went on, "But Hades wasn't a fool either. Somehow, he managed to preserve a part of himself, the one part of him which had drawn me in the first place: his heart. He severed it from him and set it free, the one portion of him which would grow into another and live as a human being, to die and be reborn, again and again, unaware of the past and shielded from the darkness which was taking over Hades' mind."

Once more, heavy silence settled over the room, but I kept hearing Lucifer's words echoing in my mind. Pain had risen in their wake, emotions which were tearing at my soul and were threatening the fragile balance between ice and Fire. "You can't understand the horror of what Hades did, none but those who were cast outside the fabric of time and space can."

I shivered again, unwilling to hear more, but unable to prevent the sound of Lucifer's terribly quiet voice from reaching me. "With darkness came sleep. A deep, dreamless slumber which engulfed us all. I suppose that it was his mercy. We'd have gone mad and destroyed ourselves otherwise. Millennia went by, and then you killed him. You killed Hades' true body." The Fallen Angel again looked at me, adding, "In that moment, I regained what had been stolen from me, and I followed after Hades' soul, but what I found was the shadow he had become, its Light incomplete." The amethyst eyes suddenly came alight with what might have been hunger. "And of course, the Light, once freed, went back to itself. It went back to the heart of Hades, to the heart he had given me and then hidden away so long ago. The Light came back to you, Shun."

"You lie." The muffled echoes of my blanched voice rose in the air, interrupting the Lord of Hell. Desperately, I focused on some imaginary point behind him. From very far away, I could feel my body trembling under the strain as the storm Lucifer's tale had given birth to within me threatened the last remaining shreds of my sanity. It couldn't be true. There was no way it cold be true, because if ever it was, then it meant that I was--

No.

No, I pleaded inwardly, begging for a help that I knew would never come. I couldn't get air inside my lungs, my spirit was choking, drowned by chaos as shards of ice, as pure as a starless night, rose deep within me and tore through my heart, severing the fragile strands of my battered self. Trapped, hopelessly lost, I surrendered to the storm, and fell.

Touch.

Gentle.

Anchor.

Safe.

On instinct, the pitiful, shredded sail that I had become reached out to those sensations. There was no thought, no self left, just an instinctive, animal drive to survive. Warmth gently spread within, coating the blinding ebony threads of ice and slowly melting them into nothingness. Beyond them, grey walls were standing, higher than the sky. Guardians of a thing which had neither name, nor existence. The gentle warmth reached them and embraced them. Then the feeling of heat grew. It grew until it became the only thing that had meaning in the universe. It grew until small, almost imperceptible cracks appeared in the great walls.

Until the protective shell shattered to pieces with a sound of broken crystal to let a pure, beautiful Light shine through.

It burns, a small voice cried out in pain. It burns!

"Yes, it does." The soft whisper held impossibly distant traces of an alien thing that sounded like sorrow. It touched a fragment of soul, deep inside of me, and all of a sudden awareness returned in a great tidal wave which savagely destroyed all the shields which had risen to protect my heart.

Lucifer nodded at me, an unfathomable light shining in his amethyst eyes as he added, "The Light burns and scorches everything around it, even the one who's woven to its own essence." With a small sigh, the Fallen Angel pushed himself away from the support of the pillar and stepped towards me. "I didn't lie to you," he told me with eerie gentleness in his voice, "but then you know that, don't you?"

I looked away, refusing to acknowledge his presence. Almost, I had managed to escape, to lose myself forever, to become an empty husk of flesh useless to him. But somehow, I had been denied madness.

*He* had denied me.

"It was necessary that you know and fully understand the truth of yourself. The Fire which is eating at your soul is the one thing which may save those you love. Of course," I focused on the black wall of basalt on my right, but still I heard the smile in Lucifer's voice when he said, "I could have chosen another way to enlighten you on this matter, but...after all it seemed only fair that I grasp the heart that is mine and paint it with the eternal taint of the darkness its owner condemned me and mine to, don't you think?" Unable to help myself, I shivered feverishly. I couldn't make myself deaf to him. I couldn't close my eyes. I couldn't forget the twisted irony, the impossible cruelty of events past, I--

"There was no choice, not for me, not for him...not for you." Something in the Fallen Angel's tone made me face him again, and I froze, my eyes lost in his. It was pain I could see there. Naked, unbearable pain which was older than castles of stones or temples of marble. Quietly, he told me:

"There is no love. There never has been."

Silence followed those fateful words, deep and thick as night. There had been something final in that sentence, the irrevocable statement of a terrible truth born of past choices.

Choices made by a being I had been a part of.

Hades' true heart.

His....

Memories danced within me, of the impossibly cold, alien spirit which had borne that name. A vengeful thing of darkness which had invaded my soul and relished crushing it in the process. Twirling in my mind, memories of battles and blood in a realm from which the light of day had been banished waltzed and mocked me.

Memories of luminous wings of darkness carefully enfolding me.

Memories of emotions so powerful they had shaken me to the roots of my being.

Emotions unknown and unnamed, irrepressible.

There was no denying what Lucifer had told me. Try though I might, I had no strength left to hide from the truth. Something deep within the shadows of my soul had recognized the Fallen Angel when he had first come into being at the foot of the Sanctuary's Great Stairs. Something that was feelings and emotions which had endured despite the passing of time, flames as eternal as the light of cosmo.

But then, how could such a deed ever be forgotten? What Hades had done was evil, no matter how powerful his reasons had been. From the beginning, the gods' actions had been tainted and slowly the core of the one who had been sacrificed had started to rot away. And now...even though Hades had tried to preserve a part of his essence, Fate had caught up with him.

Fate had caught up with me.

I had killed with hatred in my heart.

I had lusted after blood.

I had crushed a life under my fingers, I had gathered the scorching Fire in my soul, I had offered myself to it. Then I had used it, and it had followed my will.

No, there was no denying what I knew to be true.

There was no turning back.

No healing.

All of a sudden, something touched me and I realized that the Fallen Angel had again reached out to me and was gently wiping something from my cheek with his right thumb. "So, you can still cry...." Was it wonder I heard in his voice? A bitter smile came to his lips, then he said, "After all, perhaps it'll be for the best."

Wrong. Anger sparked inside me and I focused on it, desperately. Lucifer was wrong. I wasn't crying, there were no tears in my eyes; the blinding Light had devoured everything in its path, leaving only hatred and fury.

Leaving only knowledge and understanding of what I was.

Mercilessly clear memories of what I had done.

Images of agony as I had torn the life out of a shadow.

With an effort of will, I shaped emotions into words, and told Lucifer in a toneless voice, "I'll never forgive you. When all is done, I swear I'll find you. And then I'll kill you."

I had expected him to laugh at me, to mock human insanity, but instead he gave me a single, solemn nod. "So be it," he quietly told me. Again, he reached out to me, and he rested his right hand over my eyes, blinding me as he had the dead demon's empty gaze. "But enough now. Sleep. Rest." When the soft whisper registered in my brain, the invisible bonds which had held me against the wall of basalt evaporated. Abruptly released, bereft of their support I fell forward, unable to gather the will to stand on my own.

I fell into the dark, never to touch the floor. As they had once before, beautiful wings of night carefully closed over the tattered remains of my shattered self.

I wept, then, shielded from reality.

And I ceased to be.

It was a gloomy evening.

Even though the many candelabras were lighting the main room in the temple of Athena brightly, one couldn't help but focus on the shadows dancing upon the cold walls of marble. Lune restlessly shifted in his seat, acutely aware of the dark emotions swirling around all the people present in the great chamber. It had been less than three days since he and Merle had come back to the Sanctuary, bringing with them one who seemed to have reverted back to being the somber God of the Oceans and another who was his last servant alive.

It had been three days since they had come back, and less than twenty four hours for the Goddess and her Saints. One of them hadn't returned, as Lune had feared it would be.

The Sacrifice, true to his name.

A humorless smile briefly came to the redhead's lips, and he denied the cold feeling of fear which wanted to get hold of him with an angry snort. There was nothing any of them would do, nothing but wait. Andromeda Shun had reached a decision alone. A decision which wasn't for any of them to discuss.

No matter how some ached to do so.

Leaning back against his chair, Lune threw a quick glance on his left to see that Phoenix Ikki's dark grey eyes were still clouded. Fool, the redhead thought, not unkindly, he doesn't belong to you, he chose of his own right. You yourself decided to trust, it's too late for doubts now...no matter how justified they are.

The silence which had fallen over all those gathered in the room was a bad one, Lune knew. Clearing his throat, the redhead nodded, saying to nobody in particular, "Okay, I think we've all said what we had to say. I suggest we tend to our own business while we're stuck here waiting. There's nothing else to do, and we're wasting precious time sitting like old ladies around a table for their afternoon tea."

A hand pressed Lune's right arm in warning. "Too far, too quickly." Shaking his head to indicate he had heard Merle's quiet warning but disagreed, the redhead waited for the outburst he knew must follow his irreverent words.

"Easy for you to say!" Pegasus Seiya spat in a flat voice, "Shun stayed behind, at the mercy of that...demon, and we let him. We...." The young man's chocolate eyes were alight with anguish. "I know we swore that we'd trust in each other, that we'd believe in our power and in our ability to overcome any obstacle set in our way, but this time--"

"The path the Andromeda Saint chose is harsh, terribly so, but his decision was the right one." The soft voice of Julian Solo rose in the room, silencing Seiya and Lune's emerald eyes narrowed as he focused on the host of Poseidon. "He's brave, that one, but then," a faint smile touched Julian Solo's lips, "my brother never lacked for courage."

"Your brother?!"

In front of Lune, Kido Saori closed her eyes for the time of a heartbeat, as if she had wanted to deny the sharp hiss that had come from the Phoenix Saint. Distinctly, Lune saw the young woman's fingers grasp her chair's arms for support. Then she began in a voice carefully devoid of emotions, "There are things you don't know, my friends. Things I myself can't be sure of--"

"There was more than whim or chance in Hades' choice for a host." Dragon Shiryu's calm affirmation was met by a sudden hush in the great room.

Damnit, this must be stopped now. Lune bit his lower lip, half in frustration and half in worry, aware that the atmosphere could turn ugly in a matter of seconds. It's not even a mere possibility, we're going to tear ourselves apart if this goes on. Either that, or.... The redhead's dark train of thoughts was abruptly cut off as a familiar sensation gripped his heart.

"Gate!" Lune hissed, pushing back his chair and calling out to his power.

Before the young man could finish his movement, the candelabras' bright light suddenly dimmed, and a great shadow took shape in front of the double doors of the hall.

Human-sized wings, glistening with their own dark light, so beautiful their sight took the breath away. Slowly, they opened to reveal two persons in their midst. One was resting against the other, or to be correct, one was being held by the other.

Despite himself, Lune took a step back, unable to master the sudden lurch in his heartbeats. What was set before the redhead's eyes was a sight that wrenched his heart. The one who was being held was Andromeda Shun, and Lucifer's arms were wrapped around the Bronze Saint's chest, the only obstacle between him and the cold marble floor. The young man was unconscious, but that alone wouldn't have troubled Lune so. No, what sent a sick feeling to the pit of the redhead's stomach was that Andromeda Shun was Clothless.

That, and the way the Fallen Angel's purple gaze was set on the listless body of the Bronze Saint.

A predator watching over his prey, Lune thought, shivering. What was shining in those eyes was more than longing, it was hunger, alien and terrible to behold. For a moment, everything froze, as if suspended in time, then Lucifer slowly looked up at the occupants of the room. And smiled.

"Here," the lord of Hell said, "I give you back what you claim is yours." As those words faded in stunned silence, the Fallen Angels' arms unfolded, releasing Andromeda Shun. Before the young man could fall to the floor, Phoenix Ikki moved and gently caught his brother.

"Shun," The Phoenix Saint whispered urgently, "can you hear me?"

"I'd advise you not to wake him." Ikki froze while Lucifer quietly went on, as calm as if he was talking about the weather, "Let him rest as much as he needs to. He'll come to in his own time." That said, the Fallen Angel turned away.

"What have you done, Lucifer?"

Lune's heart skipped a beat when he heard Kido Saori's voice. The young woman's stance was rigid, every line of her revealing an awful tension. Her face had drained of color, and the redhead could feel her shaking with a barely restrained mixture of fury and terror. Just as he was wondering at the sudden betrayal of weakness on the Goddess Athena's part, Lune saw she was staring fixedly at something on Lucifer's left.

Something glinting on the marble floor.

Following Kido Saori's gaze, Lune froze as well. It was all he could do not to snarl at the sight. The Andromeda Cloth was there, and beside it....

The Chain was scattered on the stone in thousands of tiny fragments which were brightly reflecting the candelabras' ghostly light.

Shattered.

Beyond any hope of mending.

Dead.

A step away from the chamber's great double doors, the Fallen Angel had turned to look the Goddess Athena right in the eye, the light inflaming his gaze unfathomable.

Inhuman.

Eventually, he replied in a soft voice, "I gave him sleep, as was once done for me."

Lune shuddered when the words reached him. He felt himself shaking as emotions too harsh and alien for his human soul to bear brushed past him, a burning wind which invaded the room and then melted in the walls, mercifully allowing the redhead to shy away from it. Lucifer gave them all a slight bow and concluded, "I'll return in a day or two. He should have recovered by then."

With that, the black-winged Lord of Hell was gone.

For a moment, shocked silence hung over the room, then Phoenix Ikki hugged his unconscious younger brother, bowing over the limp form, and asked in a furious hiss, "And now, what?"

There was a creaking sound as Kido Saori fell more than sat back on her chair. Then she replied in a low, harsh whisper, "Now we wait. We follow Lucifer's advice and let Shun sleep and rest. We let him heal...and we watch over him. Take care of him, Ikki, it's the only thing we can do."

As if those words had been a dismissal, everyone rose and made ready to leave the room. Everyone but Lune. The redhead stalled for a few seconds, his sharp mind going over what had just happened. There had been pain in the Goddess' voice, almost perfectly hidden behind the thick curtain of hardness. There had been sorrow and regrets.

There had been guilt.

Remembering terror and alienness, Lune eventually left his seat as well and followed the others out of Athena's chambers. Now Phoenix Ikki would lay his brother down in one of the rooms on the lower floors and stay by his side to watch over him. With a grim nod of his head, Lune followed the tall Phoenix Saint form a distance. The redhead would watch as well. Yes, Lune would wait for Andromeda Shun's awakening.

Lune would wait, his incandescent blade ready.

End of Chapter 6.

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