[ Watashi ]

[ Tomodachi ]

[ Saint Seiya ]

[ Clamp ]

[ Fanfiction ]

Sounds slowly intruded in the comforting darkness, familiar and close. With them came the feeling of soft fabric laid down on naked skin and of reassuring warmth. It would have been good to remain here for an eternity, hovering between sleeping and waking, basking in those peaceful sensations, but quickly a light disturbed the darkness. A harsh, unforgiving Fire which refused to grant me that respite.

A Fire which would never let me rest again.

Shying away from the high flames, I reluctantly opened my eyes to see a ceiling of stones above me. The Sanctuary. I nodded to myself, acknowledging the reality of the room I was lying in. He kept his word to Athena, then. He released me. I blinked, surprised at the calm inside my heart. In my mind's eye, memories of what had transpired in the darkness of a hall named Agony flashed in rapid, terribly clear succession. The feelings and emotions attached to those moments came to life within me, Fire and ice which were a part of me now. Which had always been a part of me. But hidden away, I thought distantly.

Chained up.

All of a sudden, I realized that there was a painful lump in my throat, the awful sensation of being unable to get air inside my lungs. With a desperate effort of will, I closed my eyes and dismissed the memories to the back of my mind. I bade the inhuman Fire to let down its flames, if only for a little while. A self-deprecating smile curled up my lips as I thought that the calm inside my heart was a pathetic sham.

A lie.

I was a lie, my name a false song to deceive those around me. My cosmo, a shadow to lock away the Light which was the truth of myself. Clenching my jaws, I fought for control, forcing down the mad laughter I could feel bubbling up within me. Eyes tightly shut, I focused on the feeling of the room around me, on the world beyond it, and once again I heard the familiar, peaceful sound which had brought me out of sleep.

Breathing, slow and steady.

Deep.

Opening my eyes, I looked on the right towards the source of that sound, and felt something both warm and painful blossom in my heart when I saw the slumped body of my brother on the side of the bed I had been laid onto. Ikki-niisan. He was sitting on a chair and he had fallen asleep, his head resting against the edge of the bed and his hand a few inches from mine, our fingertips almost within touching distance. It was as if he hadn't dared reach out completely, as if he had been afraid to wake me if he did.

On impulse, I sat up on the bed and reached out to him. Carefully, I let my fingertips brush against his hair and felt tears burn my eyes. You don't know. No, my brother had no idea of what had happened in the heart of the netherworld that was Hell. If he had, he wouldn't have been here at my side, he wouldn't have exhausted himself to watch over me.

You weren't there for me. You didn't come. I froze as my fingers encountered a tangled knot in the short strands of his hair. Something cold inside me watched my brother's sleeping body, and abruptly I heard the echoes of a raw anger raging within. I heard a part of me which was a festering wound of pain and resentment, of fear, of fury and hatred, a part of me which saw everything around it as alien and threatening.

A monster.

I looked down at my right hand, entangled in my brother's hair, and wondered whether I was going insane. Perhaps it would have been better if I was, if I let go of sanity. Part of me wanted that way out, desperately wanted to escape, and the tempting pull towards madness was frighteningly strong. I stayed immobile during a long time, wavering between fight and surrender. Then, eventually I smoothed Ikki-niisan's tangled hair with a painful smile on my lips. You were wrong, I thought as I faced the burning flames in my heart. Oh yes, how wrong you were, Lucifer. Gently, carefully, I laid a hand on my brother's and denied the outstretched arms of madness.

I love you, Ikki-niisan.

All of a sudden, I grew aware of heat at the level of my right hand, and couldn't help smiling when I noticed a single ray of sunlight touching my skin. Focusing on my surroundings once more, I noted the presence of a window beyond my brother's sleeping form, and from the beam of light's angle I quickly computed that noon must be fast approaching. I had no idea how much time had passed since my awakening in this room, and I didn't care.

On my left, something moved in the shadows, ever so slightly. A tall, slim shape which allowed its presence to be noticed now, even though it had been present during the whole time. A silent watcher. Taking in a brief glint of fiery hair as the silhouette moved, I nodded, saying in a whisper, "Good morning, Lune-san."

"Morning, pfeh," the young man retorted with well-feigned annoyance, adding, "I've been waiting for a whole night for you to at last condescend to wake up. Talk about 'good morning'." Unbidden, a smile came to my lips when Lune stepped closer to the bed and when the sunlight revealed a sullen pout on his face. The redhead turned to face me, his eerily clear green eyes set on me as he said, "You won't turn against us."

There hadn't been any question in the quiet voice. Lune had merely stated something he knew to be true. Without moving my hand from my brother's, I gave the would-be Gold Saint a level stare and replied, "What else have you read from me, Lune-san?"

"Not much," the young man said with a weary sigh, his gaze still locked on me. "In fact, I can't get anything from you, except when you're thinking so loudly you might as well be shouting."

With a sudden, brusque movement, Lune turned away from me and added softly, "I knew what Lucifer would ask for. I knew that accepting to meet with him in his domain meant sacrificing you. I didn't do anything to prevent you from going. I didn't warn you so you could prepare and steel your heart."

Lune slowly shook his head while his words echoed in the small room. I stared at the young man's back in silence for a while, and eventually I saw the tension in his stance. What does it matter? Dark irony filled me, fueled by the hatred which was patiently waiting at the core of my being. With difficulty, I chased it away. Lune was young and obviously his decision was hurting him.

Gently, I asked him, "Why do you tell me all that?" Then, yielding to a sudden burst of bitterness, I added, "Do you want me to forgive you?"

"No!"

The redhead's furious hiss startled me. He whirled around to face me, his emerald eyes clouded. "Never that," he whispered in a strained voice, "I don't want anyone to forgive me. I just want you to know the truth so it can't be used against us later. I hate sudden, last minute revelations, that's all."

I looked into the young man's eyes and saw anger there, directed towards me in part, but most of all towards himself.

I saw sincerity.

Loyalty.

Acknowledging the all-too familiar storm of conflicting emotions brewing in Lune's soul, I nodded. "I understand. You know," I went on with the ghost of a smile on my lips, "I'd have forgiven you if you had decided to kill me in the instant I opened my eyes."

Shock registered in the dark green eyes as my words sunk in, and Lune bowed his head. "I'm sorry." With that, the redhead turned on his heels and exited the room, as if fleeing a place which had suddenly become frightening to him. Frightening and alien.

I leaned back against my pillow and closed my eyes, focusing on the presence of my brother right at my side, but still Lune's pained words kept hanging in the air like a curse.

Kido Saori fought the almost irrepressible urge to accelerate the rhythm of her walk, and willed her heartbeats to steady. She'd have given a lot to be able to lift the uneasiness hovering in the air, but even a Goddess' wishes were sometimes difficult or even impossible to turn into reality. On her left, she could feel Andromeda Shun's presence, silently climbing down the Great Stairs beside her as she had requested.

Stealing a furtive glance towards the young man, Saori was once again forced to admit that Lucifer had kept his word: Shun was unharmed, physically at least. As to his heart.... The Goddess Athena heaved out an imperceptible sigh. Since the moment when Shun had awakened, nobody had been able to get a word about what had happened out of him. The Bronze Saint had given repeated, quiet reassurances that he was all right, and that had been it. Seiya, Shiryu and Hyoga had chosen to let Shun be, while Ikki had curiously remained completely silent. True, the Phoenix Saint wasn't exactly a loquacious person, but in this case.... Even Lune had kept his own counsel. Lune, who had been the first to talk to Shun after he had opened his eyes.

Lune, who had been watching, ready to strike down the Andromeda Saint if it turned out that Lucifer had tricked them and released a snake in their midst.

I'm responsible, Saori thought grimly. It's my fault for betraying Shun the way I did, but there was nothing else to do. Turning her gaze inwards, the young woman confronted her troubled heart and mocked herself.

You're worthless, Athena. Can't you even take responsibility for your own decisions?

Try though she might, Saori couldn't bring herself to break the heavy silence between her and Shun. To send her Saints out on the battlefield, to see them suffer and die in wars to defend humanity was one thing, but to sacrifice one of her dearest friends by giving him over to Evil....

"It was my decision, Saori-san. Not yours."

Saori froze as the quiet whisper reached her ears. A cold fear slowly seeped inside her soul as she heard the absence of emotions in Shun's voice. Abruptly trapped in memories of a past which seemed to be the stuff of myth rather than that of reality, the young woman shuddered, remembering those same words uttered by another.

No, she sternly told herself, and she willed the fog of dread to lift from her mind. Eventually, she gave a rueful nod, replying, "I know, but now..." Saori's voice faltered all of a sudden, betraying her, but she got a firm grip over herself and went on, fighting to keep her voice from trembling, "now that you're back, won't you tell us what happened? Won't you at least let us try to help?"

A few steps in front of the incarnation of the Goddess Athena, Andromeda Shun stopped as well, his back turned to the young woman. There was a long moment of deep silence, then the Bronze Saint shivered, as if he was suffering from the cold of winter even though the sun was shining, and a short croaking sound escaped from his lips. "No," he eventually retorted. "No," he repeated in a very quiet whisper. Then Shun resumed his walk down the Great Stairs, Saori hugged herself in a futile attempt to keep herself from shaking when she at last identified the nature of the distorted, broken sound she had heard a minute ago.

Laughter.

Fool, pull yourself together. Did you think it'd be easy? Berating herself for her incredible stupidity, Saori forced herself to snap out of the paralysis which had taken hold of her and once more started following after Shun. She couldn't afford to let herself wallow in guilt and self-pity. She had knowingly decided to use and sacrifice one of her own, nothing could ever change that. Nothing could undo the past.

No matter how hard it was, Saori had to keep on the path she had chosen. She had decided to accompany Shun to the House of Aries, hoping she'd be able to talk to the young man alone, ready to hear anything he might have needed to say, things that he might have wanted to keep from his friends and from his brother. Saori had decided to walk beside Shun and she would do so, even if the young man refused to share what had been done to him with her. At the very least, she could watch him and feel for herself if only hints of what had transpired in the nightmarish universe named Hell.

She could watch, and decide whether Lune had been right.

Whether Shun had become a threat to the Sanctuary.

Harshly silencing the feelings of guilt and regrets which were again threatening to engulf her, Saori locked her heart to humanity and closed the shining mantle of the Goddess Athena around her soul. Before her, Shun was still walking, his back set to her. So tense, Saori thought. Something had changed the kind, gentle Andromeda Saint, something which had hurt him and would leave scars. Despite the tight control she was exercising on her emotions, Saori's heart wrenched in sympathy as she watched the young man enter the House of Aries. It was as if Shun had been metal.

A metal battered and broken, again and again until all that was left was a core as brilliant and hard as diamond.

"Ah, there you are, Kiki."

Following the echoes of Shun's voice, Saori quickly found her way through the shadows to the center of the House and stopped a few steps away from the two young men who were kneeling beside the Andromeda Cloth.

On its left, the Chain's broken rings had been gathered in tidy, orderly piles.

"I'm sorry," Kiki was shaking his head, "but it's way beyond me and I think even Mu-sama wouldn't have been able to do anything about this. Nothing can mend such damage. I don't even know what kind of power it takes to break a Kamui that way. I just--"

"Don't worry about it, Kiki." Shun gently interrupted the young Aries apprentice and laid a reassuring hand on the adolescent's shoulder. "I know," the Andromeda Saint added with a crooked smile on his lips, "I was certain there was nothing you or anyone could do about the Chain. It doesn't matter much, anyway. I can manage without it. Don't worry about me."

As the young man straightened, his dark green eyes met Saori's for a fraction of a second. For the time of a heartbeat, the young woman froze, trapped.

Held by the dull light in Shun's eyes.

Forgive me. Saori looked away with a brusque movement of her head, unable to voice her desperate plea. Oh forgive me. Shun's calm was nothing other than a masterfully wrought mask, but the young woman couldn't be fooled by it even though she longed to be. Beyond it, she had seen pain and sadness, guilt and grief too harsh for a mortal heart to bear.

Inhuman.

If she closed her eyes, Saori would see their like in her memories, she knew, in the half-remembered images of one who had been kin and, much closer to the present, in the strange, out of place light which had shone in the eyes of the cruel God who had tried to drown humanity in eternal darkness.

Hades.

Safely hidden in the privacy of Saori's heart, the Goddess Athena wept.

"Shush, stop that."

Leaning her right elbow against the big cyclopean rock on her side, Ophiuchus Shaina smirked behind her mask when Aquila Marin's chiding voice reached her. The red-haired Silver Saint was hovering around Merle like a mother hen around one of her hatchlings, and the business-like attitude she had adopted with the young man kept amusing Shaina to no end. The object of the Aquila Saint's attention was blushing like a kid, unable to hide his embarrassment at being the focus of the usually stern and silent Marin's worries.

Out of habit, Shaina quickly scanned the tall young man's body with an expert's eye and was forced to acknowledge that Marin's apparently ludicrous mothering of the adolescent might well be justified. Now that the bandages on his chest had been removed, the Ophiuchus Saint could see the long, nasty scar running along Merle's flank. Whatever it was that had struck him so had truly come near to ending the young man's life. And if his and insufferable Lune's tale was indeed true....

Not if. It's true, and you'd better not forget about that. With a curt nod to herself, Shaina sent back her old, familiar misgivings away, no matter how strange it felt to see the two Clothless apprentices being admitted to the highest level of the Sanctuary, participating in war councils and being treated as if they had been Saints in their own right. And Gold Saints at that. While Aquila Marin started redoing the bandages on Merle's chest with clean linen, Ophiuchus Shaina once more thought that they were all incredibly lucky that the two rogue apprentices had turned out to be trump cards in the Sanctuary's hand. Perhaps we've been luckier than we have a right to be, the female Saint thought, remembering the way she and others had treated the two adolescents in the past.

"Next time, you won't be a fool and you'll remember what I taught you instead of rushing headlong to make a noble sacrifice. Dead, you're useless to Athena." Shaina grinned, safely hidden behind her silver mask as Merle bowed his head under Aquila Marin's sharp rebuke.

Beyond the young man, the land was ending in a steep slope which was almost a cliff diving into the Aegean sea. It was the end of the afternoon and dark, heavy clouds were ruling over the sky, allowing the sun to shine only through a few scattered holes in what looked like an ocean of greyness. There had been quite a wild thunderstorm a couple of hours ago; it could still be seen raging out at sea, close to the horizon. Looking at the bright patches of light dancing on the waters, Shaina distantly thought that the spectacle they were being offered was beautiful.

Remembering Merle as well as the search she and Marin had performed through the whole Sacred Domain before eventually discovering the young man's hiding place, the Ophiuchus Saint snorted. Derision was plain in the tone of her voice when she said, "You sure chose an interesting watching spot, Merle. I didn't know that Marin trained her apprentices to have a poet's soul."

The adolescent's pale blue eyes calmly set on Shaina's blind mask, and he replied in a quiet whisper, "I just wanted to keep out of everyone's way while I was healing and also," Merle looked away towards the sea, adding softly, "I wanted to see as much of the world as I could from here."

In spite of herself, Ophiuchus Shaina found herself to be moved by the wistful longing she had heard in the young man's voice. For the first time in her life, a small part of her questioned the way of things in the Sanctuary. Merle had come to this place, at the very edge of the Sacred Domain because he needed to feel the world he was sworn to protect. It was a desire the Silver Saint had never experienced herself, but instead of viewing it as a futile whim or a sign of weakness, Shaina suddenly wondered if it wasn't she who was lacking something important.

With a half-weary, half-disgusted sigh, the young woman shrugged her philosophical reflections aside and nodded at both Merle and Aquila Marin. "All right. Since you're almost done, how about going back to the temple of Athena? We might be needed and besides I'm sure Lune'll want to discuss the contents of the last war council with you, Merle, no matter that the Goddess said to let you rest and heal in peace."

Merle chuckled at that, a rare glint of good humor flashing in his pale blue eyes. "Lune is Lune," he said with a small, careful shrug. An almost imperceptible grimace was the only thing which betrayed the pain the movement caused him, and Shaina once again decided she was glad she'd never been wounded so deeply in battle. Turning around, she made ready to go back towards the Sanctuary's heart.

Breeze.

Raising her hand up to her brow in a reflexive gesture to brush away a few, stray locks of hair which had invaded her face and disturbed her vision, the Ophiuchus Saint idly wondered whether the thunderstorm was changing directions to come back towards the mainland instead of continuing its course out at sea.

Wind.

In the blink of an eye, the sound of the waves assaulting the shore below grew to fill the air, deafening. On instinct, Shaina whirled around to see Merle and Marin stand up with precipitation. Behind them the sea had reached up to the sky in an impossibly high wave.

A pillar of water, shaped and constrained by the savage wind which had sparked to life in an instant.

As abruptly as it had come, the violent storm wind died down and the high column of water broke into a myriad of shining drops which showered the small plateau the two Silver Saints and the false apprentice were standing upon. Then some thing touched Shaina's cosmo.

Something cold and alien, that she had felt before. "Marin!" The young woman cried out in alarm, reaching out to Merle and harshly pulling him behind her to safety in the same time. In front of her, the mist of strangely shining water drops suddenly gathered into a humanlike shape. There was a sharp hiss coming from the Ophiuchus saint's left, and she fought the urge to snarl herself at the sight, unable to blame Marin for the gut reaction the apparition had triggered into their weak human hearts.

Like cold fingers crushing your spine, Shaina silently thought. The great wings in the angel's back should have sparked admiration and reverence, joy, but all that the young woman could experience was the dull feeling that they were doomed.

Fire.

Startled, Shaina froze. From behind her she could feel power filling the air, a cosmo as bright and warm as the sun. Gold, she thought with a sad smile, so it *is* true. But with his wounds, Clothless as he is....

"Out of the question." Before the Ophiuchus Saint could react, Aquila Marin moved in a blur and struck at Merle. Surprise and pain flickered in the young man's eyes, and then he collapsed to the ground. "There's no way I'll let you make a stupid mistake again, Merle." The Aquila Saint's voice was grim as she looked down on the adolescent she had traitorously attacked.

"Okay," Shaina said with forced enthusiasm, "now that your pupil's taken care of, why don't we give our unexpected guest a warm welcome?"

For a fraction of a second, the redhead hesitated, and then she nodded in consent. It was futile to apply standard battle tactics, it was useless to send one to get help while the other was buying time with her life if need be; both young women had understood that when they had witnessed the glory of the archangel Gabriel's power. It wasn't human beings they were facing.

It was monsters.

Purposefully, Ophiuchus Shaina and Aquila Marin set fire to the cosmo inside their hearts, and called their Cloths to them.

"I don't understand!" Pegasus Seiya shook his head in a deliberately slow movement that was very unlike him, forcing himself to remain calm as he asked again, "What are we supposed to do now? Wait for that cursed Fallen Angel's orders? Are we to hang on strings like puppets waiting to be used on a whim?"

Uneasy silence followed the unsettling questions. Shiryu was keeping his thoughts to himself, the light in the night-colored eyes a distant one, sure sign that the Dragon Saint wasn't done reflecting on the situation. There was no help to expect from Lune, who had sat through the whole meeting with a mask of complete indifference on his face and who had seemed uninterested in the discussions. As if he knew all we'd say in advance, Seiya thought with no small amount of irritation. Hyoga had asked questions as well, but he hadn't encountered any more success at getting answers than the Pegasus Saint had.

With a sigh of sheer frustration, Seiya glanced over at Ikki, who merely shrugged back at him, an unreadable expression o his face. The Phoenix Saint was angry, everyone in the room was painfully aware of that, as well as of the reason why. Hell, I'm angry too! Damnit, I'm mad, but.... But they had been reminded by Julian Solo of all people that Shun was his own person and that the decision he had made belonged to him and him alone. Shun, who had sat with them during this session, but who might as well have been absent. The Andromeda Saint seemed unconcerned with what the future would hold, his only intervention having been to once again quietly reassure everyone that he was feeling all right now, that he was still Shun and that Lucifer hadn't somehow resurrected Hades to manipulate them and have a tool within the Sanctuary.

Seiya briefly closed his eyes, trying not to remember the bitter smile which had touched his friend's lips in that moment. He was feeling tired, and deep inside his heart the Pegasus Saint surprised himself in wishing that things were different.

In wishing that the five of them would be uninteresting, average human beings.

In wishing that he could stop and stand by a friend, waiting until he could finally share the terrible things that Seiya knew must have happened to him, instead of rushing headlong towards war, bloodshed and death.

Instead of feigning to believe that Shun was truly all right.

I'm fast getting sick of wars, Seiya realized with a pang of surprise and distant guilt. He knew what he was and what he represented, a hero of mythological tales like his friends, but right now it sounded dull and vaguely unpleasant to the Pegasus Saint's ears. Not only that, but also.... The young man didn't turn on his right to look at Kido Saori who was sitting at the other end of the table. It was useless to do so, he knew he wouldn't be able to catch Saori-ojosan's purple eyes. She'd acknowledge him, of course, but she wouldn't lift the Goddess' mask for him.

Not for anyone.

Not anymore.

Something like anger rose in Seiya's heart as those thoughts echoed inside his mind. As a single memory eclipsed everything.

Sorrow and guilt, painful flames warring in Kido Saori's gaze while she had watched Ikki bear the unconscious body of Shun away. There had been something final in the feeling of the young woman, as if she was sharing Shun's invisible wounds and would never be whole again.

And there's nothing I can do, I can't even walk up to her and take her in my arms. I can't even hug her! With difficulty, Seiya silenced the inner voice and took a deep, steadying breath.

"Lucifer is the only one who has the keys that can take us through Heaven's realms, so, yes," Lune's infuriatingly calm voice cut off Seiya's somber train of thoughts, and the Bronze Saint forced himself to listen while the redhead went on, "we must wait for him. But in the meantime we'd do well to rebuild our strength."

A humorless smile touched Shiryu's lips, and the Dragon Saint nodded. "True enough." Spreading his hands palms down on the table, he added softly, "A half of Shun's Chain has been destroyed, bereaving us of a formidable weapon. Merle has been grievously wounded after being confronted to only one of our enemies. You and he desperately need Gold Cloths, but they're lost to us. And so," Shiryu concluded with bitter irony, "we're back where we started from: what can we do?"

"Perhaps the Gods sitting at our table might have some advice, or maybe even a miracle for us...." Awkward silence followed Ikki's sudden, coldly mocking words. No one spoke up to gainsay him, nobody said anything even though there had been no mistaking the dripping sarcasm in Ikki's voice; neither Saori-ojosan nor Julian Solo took up the angry challenge delivered by the Phoenix Saint.

There was a time when either Hyoga or I would have risen from our chairs and demanded he apologize. We might even have started a fight over this, Seiya thought with a mixture of sadness and nostalgia. What has happened to us? Why have we changed so?

In a slow, deliberate movement, Julian Solo stood up and looked at each of the people present in turn. "There may be a way," he began in a thoughtful voice, his hawk-like eyes distant, "the realm of Hades still exists, it can't disappear completely lest the balance of the universe we established be destroyed in an instant. It's simply sealed away. If Athena and I combined our forces, we might perhaps open a way and reach out to your lost Gold Cloths."

"In the same fashion that you sent them to us during the war against Hades," Shiryu nodded his understanding.

"Yes. However," the host of Poseidon had a self-deprecating smile, "what I did then was simply help the Cloths reach Elysion. They already were almost at the heart of Hades' realm. To bring them back will require much more--what the...?"

Everyone in the room tensed while blinding cosmo abruptly emanated from Julian Solo. "Who dared?"

The rest of the question was lost to Seiya. The Pegasus Saint didn't hear the alien fury in the voice of the God of the Oceans. Within the time of heartbeat, the room's surroundings had vanished. All that Seiya could feel was a familiar cosmo flaring up, close and yet distant, a cosmo which felt like kin and which he knew like he knew his own. "Marin," he whispered, horrified.

In front of him, a haunted look flashed in Shun's eyes and for a fraction of a second Seiya thought he saw high, impossibly white flames engulf the Andromeda Saint.

"No. Never again." Seiya shuddered despite himself when he heard the raw, unbearable pain in Shun's faint voice. Before anyone else could react, Shun whirled around and flung himself towards the door. Rousing himself and winning free of the feeling of inhuman despair which had almost drowned the room mere moments ago, briefly escaping the confines of Shun's heart, Seiya called out to the Pegasus Cloth and followed after his friend.

Shiryu, Hyoga and Ikki on his heels.

"What you're trying to accomplish is ludicrous."

The voice seemed to have come from millions of miles away. In truth, it shouldn't have been able to reach all the way to Merle, but something in it, alien perfection, frightening, tore through the shielding embrace of darkness. "You won't manage to make me kill you both, and even if by some wild stroke of luck you did, there's still the boy beside you. I only need one to be my messenger. The rest is unimportant."

I only need one? While he was desperately fighting to win through to the surface, swimming through and ocean of night, Merle abruptly felt the flames of two cosmo, close but terribly weak.

Candle lights about to go out, blown away by a savage storm wind.

Willing his eyelids to lift, Merle cursed his own weakness as well as the dull, deep pain in his left side. Harshly, he denied the sudden dizziness which was threatening his fragile balance as he struggled to stand up. Then he lifted his head to confront the enemy.

The angel seemed to be glistening, reflecting the daylight as if he had worn a mantle of morning dew. It didn't look like he was entirely solid, but rather like his nature was the stuff of both water and wind.

Be that as it may, Merle thought grimly, the feeling of power emanating form him is just as awful as the others!

"Can you stand, boy?" A satisfied smile touched the angel's lips. "Good. Then go and tell your Goddess that until she, Julian Solo and Andromeda Shun stop hiding like cowards and sacrificing children to save themselves, until they surrender themselves to us, we'll start reaping human lives."

"What?" Merle asked in a blanched voice, unable to help himself.

"There's a human city, conveniently close by," the angle continued, apparently unaware of the interruption, "a revolting thing of iron and concrete whose fumes poison the land and choke the poor fools who live in it." A cold light shone on the inhuman eyes, and he concluded, "Tell Athena that she has until sundown. After that, I'll lay that megalopolis waste. There won't be a single life spared in it. Go, and tell her that."

"It's insane!" Merle shook his head in a sluggish motion, feeling trapped in a hideous nightmare. "You're mad!" There was only one possible answer to such a threat, the same that Aquila Marin and Ophiuchus Shaina had already given the nameless angel: to fight. Getting a firm grip over himself and discarding the cold feeling in the pit of his stomach at the sight of the two young women lying sprawled on the rocky ground, helpless and unconscious, Merle reached out to the bright stars of the Sagittarius constellation.

"Stupid animal!" Icy anger filled the angel's beautiful voice when he saw the shining golden aura coming to life around Merle.

Not as much as you think, the young man thought with grim satisfaction. If you kill us all, there won't be anyone left to bear your message, and the city will be spared. Of course, it was also possible that Merle would somehow defeat the unearthly being. Not bloody likely. Dismissing fear to the shadows of his soul, the would-be Gold Saint extended his left arm right in front of him and willed the bow of Sagittarius to come to his hand.

"Stop!" Blinking, Merle obeyed the sharp command. He knew that voice, but the odd mixture of anguish and fury filling it didn't belong. There was a slight noise as stones slid down the plateau's gentle slope. A shadow suddenly touched Merle's, and a hand rested lightly on the young man's right shoulder. "Are you all right?" Andromeda Shun asked him in an urgent whisper.

Four additional shadows suddenly appeared and Merle recognized the other Bronze Saints, clad in their God Cloths. All of them. All but Shun. The thought stirred a strange uneasiness in Merle's heart.

"Marin-san!" Pegasus Seiya knelt down beside the listless form of the Aquila Saint and gingerly lifted the young woman's head from the hard ground to cradle it in his lap.

"They'll be okay," Merle said weakly, fighting against the darkness which wanted to swallow him now that he had released his hold on cosmo. The bright light had abandoned him like a great, powerful wave and had left him empty, bereft of strength. "They're just unconscious; the Cloths protected them from most of it." Because the angel hadn't wanted to kill them, because he had needed a messenger, and only for that reason.

For a few seconds, silence, heavy and threatening hung over the scene, only interrupted by the sound of Merle's labored breathing. Then the angel whose sole anchor to the material plane seemed to be air and water moved. "You," he said, stepping towards Andromeda Shun, who hadn't left Merle's side, "are coming with me to Heaven."

Faster than even Merle's eyes could see, the celestial being moved to stand right before the unmoving Bronze Saint. Too fast, Merle dimly thought. It was all happening too quickly, they wouldn't be given enough time to react or defend themselves, they--

Fire.

It hurts! Merle instinctively recoiled as impossibly high flames surrounded him, blinding white, reaching out to engulf his soul and reduce his spirit to ashes in an instant.

Coming from Andromeda Shun.

Impossible, such power can't be human. Merle shied away from the thought, unwilling to dwell on what it might mean and waited for death, numb.

"No. Not yet." As the gentle whisper echoed in the air, an ethereal hand appeared out of nowhere and closed around Andromeda Shun's tightly clenched right fist. As if in answer to the quiet command, the scorching Fire emanating from the young man winked out, as easily as a small candlelight blown away by a child. Andromeda Shun suddenly flinched, as if he had been struck, and Merle distinctly saw the Bronze Saint's shoulders shake violently.

Then chaos erupted around the small plateau at the border between the Sanctuary and the world of human beings.

A great Shadow materialized itself fully beside Andromeda Shun, its hand still covering the Bronze Saint's in a gesture both restraining and protective. Merle's eyes widened when he recognized the Shadow's majestic black wings and he shivered, unable to master the instinctive reaction of fear. Before them, the angel took a step back and hissed, "Fallen Ones!"

A smile curled up the lips of the one who had come at Andromeda Shun's side, as if he found amusing the revulsion mingled with hatred there had been in the angel's furious whisper. Merle looked away, then, shaking when he saw the icy cold light in the inhuman amethyst eyes.

Unable to confront the impossible alienness of the Lord of Hell.

All of a sudden, a savage wind rose and the heavy clouds in the sky rushed in above the spot they were standing upon, as if sucked in by the great storm wind. Just as darkness closed upon the place, Merle saw that the sun had set behind the horizon. For the time of a heartbeat there was nothing but blackness, a terrible void which engulfed Merle's heart and drowned his soul. Then a scream filled the boundless night.

A scream of inhuman pain and despair which reshaped Merle's self, which gave substance to flesh and bones. A scream which for a horrible moment defined all that the young man was and would ever be.

As abruptly as it had eclipsed everything, the veil of absolute darkness lifted and Merle saw again the naked rock of the plateau before him. Where the angel had stood there remained only scattered drops of what looked like water, sparkling even though the daylight was fading, shining with a weak inner light which was quickly growing dim.

"Yes, Fallen Ones, dear Ariel."

Laughter interrupted the shocked silence which had followed the dark intervention. Beside the place where the angel had stood, another Shadow came to life. "But I'm afraid you'll be late for your report to Michael."

On Merle's right, Andromeda Shun stepped away from Lucifer in a slow, deliberate movement. As if he refused to yield to something that's devouring him, the young man thought. The Lord of Hell chuckled softly, apparently undisturbed, and nodded at the one who had come. "My thanks, Belial. It was a clean kill. A bit too quick to be fully satisfying, but sometimes one must bow to necessity."

The other Fallen Angel shrugged, a lazy smile on his lips. "It was good to step into the mortals' realm after so long." With that, he gave Lucifer a slight bow and Merle shivered when his eyes met the demon's.

Belial was fair, a creature of beauty which drew the eye and attracted the unwary. Simply by looking at him, Merle could feel the urge to drown into the alien gaze of molten fire. The pull was a distant one, but to feel it even though he knew what the Fallen Angel was and represented was enough to spark dread in Merle's heart.

Hands helped him to stand up and Merle nodded in thanks at Andromeda Shun, but the Bronze Saint's gaze remained distant; he seemed to be only half-aware of Merle. Yes, as if he was struggling with something within, something awfully strong.

"You seem to have an incredibly good sense of timing, Lord of Hell." Dragon Shiryu's dark eyes were set on the Fallen Angel's, and Merle wished he could be as calm as the Dragon Saint.

"I suppose you could say that, yes," Lucifer grinned at them, "but then it's also true that one can grow bored after watching for a while, and feel like stepping in. Not to mention," he added quietly, "that it would have been a shame to reveal one of our trump cards to the enemy so early."

The hand which had helped steady Merle's position stiffened all of a sudden, then forcefully relaxed. Andromeda Shun slowly turned to face Lucifer, his eyes no longer distant. "I'm not the fool you think I am," the Bronze Saint said, "not anymore."

"Watch?!" The angry question had come from Cygnus Hyoga, who went on with a dangerous light inflaming his eyes, "Does this mean that you spy on us all the time, that you saw the angel Hamaliel appearing in the House of Virgo, that you watched while he slaughtered June-san and chose not to interfere?!"

In the silence which followed the angry accusation, five people took a step back in horror, unable to help themselves as Lucifer laughed.

Faced with the terrible reality of what Evil was.

All the human beings stepped back, all but one, who simply bowed his head. But then, he already knows who they are, Merle thought. Yes, Andromeda Shun most likely knew far better than they what it was they had allied themselves with.

They'll destroy us if Heaven doesn't, and they'll relish doing it. Merle shivered, barely repressing the desperate need to hug himself in the waning light of dusk.

"Are you all ready?"

A shadow suddenly troubled Saori-san's focused gaze, as if the question had given rise to ghostly echoes inside her. In front of her, Julian Solo, or rather Poseidon, didn't seem to notice it and looked at each of us instead. I nodded in the same time the others did, concentrating on the task ahead to forget about the presence of Lucifer on the left of the great table of stone.

Beside me I could feel Hyoga still seething with an anger so strong it was almost rage. Wordlessly, I reached out to him and squeezed my friend's left forearm, understanding all too well the storm of emotions roving in his heart. It hurt to be faced with the naked darkness of the Fallen Angels, it sparked fire and fury. And even so, neither my friends nor my brother had seen the whole truth of Hell's children. Still, it had been a near thing: outraged by the casual admission of the demons' cruelty, Hyoga had almost broken into a fight. Almost, for Shiryu and Ikki-niisan had held him back.

Let them be, my brother had said in a deadly quiet voice, we'll have our chance soon enough. Somehow, the cold fury in my brother's tone had been enough to convince Hyoga for the time being.

After taking care of Ophiuchus Shaina and Aquila Marin, we had gone back to the temple of Athena with our two uninvited guests. Back to Saori-san and Julian Solo, who hadn't seemed to be surprised at the Fallen Angels' appearance. Merle had followed us, anxious to talk to his friend Lune. What those two had spoken about, I cold easily guess at. When the angel named Ariel had come before me, Fire had risen inside my heart, high flames which had demanded I release them. It had been hard to remember Merle beside me, Merle who would have been scorched by the inhuman Light hidden in my soul. It had been terribly hard to keep in control, but...in the instant that I had thought I would fail, Lucifer's hand had closed upon mine.

To feel him right beside me had hurt.

To feel his touch had sent savage jolts of pain through my body, and that had saved me. By focusing on him, on the ebony ice of hatred his presence had stirred to life anew, I had managed to extinguish the alien Fire inside me. A part of me had wanted to flee, then, to run far away to a place where he wouldn't be able to reach me. Somewhere where I'd be allowed to forget about him.

To forget about the nameless emotions the feeling of him kept triggering within me, emotions so strong even hatred couldn't choke the life out of them.

To forget about the absurd truth of myself.

But I knew I couldn't escape, I knew I couldn't allow myself that. So I had snatched my hand away from him, I hadn't snarled at him or lashed out with Hades' Fire. I had learnt hatred's lesson. I had silenced the cry of pain in my heart, settling for patience and remembering the promise I had made Lucifer.

"Then let's begin."

The sound of Julian Solo's voice as well as the feeling of both Athena's and Poseidon's cosmo rising in harmony brought me back to reality. Focusing inwards, I called out to Andromeda and offered my power to Saori-san in the same time that my friends and my brother did. In the same time that Sorento did the same for Poseidon. What we were about to attempt seemed to be pure folly: to open a gate between realms, so that for a brief moment we could reach out and retrieve Poseidon's and Sorento's Scales from the Marine Sanctuary before reaching out even further and allow Lune and Merle to call out to the Gold Cloths which were theirs by right. Perhaps our joined powers could force a miracle and perhaps, as Saori-san and Julian Solo had reluctantly admitted, Lucifer's and Belial's presences could preserve us from an attack from Heaven while we were defenseless.

Slowly, Athena and Poseidon joined hands from each side of the altar atop Star Hill.

"Now," Saori-san whispered in a voice strained with effort. Abruptly, my cosmo was pulled away, drained by a great abyss as the air above the altar's surface rippled and as the ancient stones became the receptacle of a forbidden connection between Realms.

In the night before us, everything became suddenly very still, as if the mountains around us were holding their breath in expectation. Then a weak golden light, like a tiny little sphere which wasn't much more than a dot in space started shining. Again, cosmo was drawn out of me and I braced myself, rising walls around the flames dissimulated within me. They mustn't be touched, was the eerie certainty inside me. If they were, nothing could hold them back and they'd scorch everything, they'd lay the world to ruins. No, I repeated myself, No, it won't happen. I'll never let that happen.

In front of me, the small light grew and suddenly exploded, blinding us for a few seconds.

Water! Was the startled thought which popped up in my brain as the familiar scent of the sea filled my nostrils and as meerschaum wetted my face, borne by a sudden breeze. It didn't last longer than a heartbeat, but when the eerie sensations faded, I saw two glittering Scales of Gold hovering in the air between Saori-san and Julian Solo.

As the young woman let out a deep, shuddering breath, the two Scales abruptly came to life and exploded into fragments of light which rushed towards their masters before assembling themselves on their bodies. For a moment, Time froze, while Athena and Poseidon silently stared at each other. Eventually, the young man who was perhaps still human in part smiled, the fingers of his right hand loosely closed over the Trident.

"It looks like our alliance will be a true one this time. It feels strange, don't you think, Athena?"

Saori-san sustained Julian Solo's steady gaze for a while, and finally she sighed. "I've never wished for those wars." With a weary wave of her left hand, the young woman sent the past away. "Yes, it's strange, but neither you nor I have a choice. We aren't done here yet, so let's finish what we started before our luck runs out and the Heavenly Host feels what we're doing and decides to attack us."

"Don't worry, Lady of the Earth," Lucifer's soft voice interrupted Saori-san. "The Veil is still holding the Host at bay for now; it only lets single fishes come through. Besides, it'll take them some time to integrate the reality of Ariel's death. They certainly didn't expect this, they never expect change. They won't move before they've had time to ponder on the whys and wherefores of human beings' unbelievable strength." The last sentence was said with no small amount of irony in it.

Beside Lucifer, the great Shadow that was Belial smirked. "Heaven needs time to adapt, Metatron needs centuries to make choices. They never were friends of chaos for some reason."

Ignoring the two Fallen Angels, Saori-san nodded at Julian Solo, and once more the Gods joined their hands to reach beyond infinity.

"Lune, Merle, now. Hurry." I blinked when the words registered in my brain, focusing desperately on my grip over reality. Everything seemed distant, even Time seemed to have retreated, as if its hold on this Place had weakened. Behind me, two immensely powerful cosmo, pure as dawn, sparked to life in the night and I closed my eyes, concentrating on the shields around my heart.

"Curse it! Can't we bring them all back?" Snapping out of my self-imposed trance, I saw that only two Gold Cloths had materialized on the altar before us. There had been anger in Lune's question, a surprising lapse given the redhead's usual self-control.

"No, we have to close the gate now." Julian Solo's voice was shaking with exhaustion. Looking at my friends, I saw in them the same overwhelming feeling of weariness which was pulling me down. "I'm sorry," Julian Solo shook his head, "but--"

Touch.

"What's going on?" There was a muted note of apprehension in Saori-san's tone.

"We can't close the gate. There's..." the mighty God of the Oceans let out a sharp hiss, adding, "there's something which wants through."

I didn't hear the sudden accents of fear in his voice. I didn't feel the hush which came over the altar of Star Hill.

Presence, infinitely distant and yet so close I could touch it if only I reached out.

Mine. I took a slow step back as the absurd thought resonated inside my brain. As something touched the raw Fire which was the true essence of my being, a shaft of Light which traversed all the wards I had erected around my heart as if they had never been there. No, I pleaded silently when an image formed in my mind.

When I understood.

No, I repeated, unable to help myself. There was a lump in my throat, a pain that hurt and prevented me from getting air inside my lungs.

"Yes, there's something which wants to be free, but have no fear," Lucifer said, mocking, "it can't win through the gate unless its pathetic, fragile human lord can see beyond fear and acknowledge the truth of it, and of himself."

I know, curse you! I bit my lower lip and denied terror with a desperate effort of will, fighting the burning anger which hiding behind it, poised. An anger that Lucifer has sparked inside me and nurtured until it had blossomed into a pure, sharp blade of hatred which stalked me night and day. I know. I was aware of nothing but Lucifer's amethyst gaze set on me and of the presence waiting at the other end of the universe.

Waiting for me.

It didn't matter that the Fallen Angel had deliberately used contempt to goad me into doing what he wanted. I had no choice, not anymore. I had understood that when I had shattered the Chain, when I had shattered my own self. It was far too late to try and deny reality...even if in following the path I had chosen I'd reveal the loathsome truth to my friends and my brother. Are you all going to hate me? Inwardly, I laughed at myself, I laughed at the anguished inner voice which asked meaningless question with obvious answers.

Of course they would. How could they not, when I myself was revolted by what I was?

With slow deliberation, I stepped forward, ignoring the startled look on Saori-san's purple eyes when I passed her by. Then I held out my left hand.

Something like compassion or understanding flashed into Julian Solo's dark blue eyes. Julian Solo, who had done a similar thing years ago, and unwittingly allowed Fate to ensnare him. A painful, crooked smile crept up my lips when I saw this, and I suddenly felt a strange kinship with the man who hadn't been given a choice in becoming the God of the Oceans. With a single nod, I focused on the night before me.

Come.

In answer to my call, power surged towards me and a vertical shaft of blinding light tore through the darkness as what had been waiting in the ruins of a realm where the sunlight could never shine came into being in this world.

A beautiful, double-edged sword.

Like in a dream, I closed my fingers around the razor-sharp blade and watched, unmoving, as dark blood ran along the metal, following the arcane symbols which had been carefully carved upon it. The pain was a distant, silly thing which couldn't drown the torrent of flames within as the Fire that I was was at last reunited with the last part of itself.

Whole, something inside me said, triumphant.

Yes, whole, I told it, but mine. Acceptance was the only possible way. I did so, and slowly I brought the shining sword close. Releasing the blade, I closed my right hand over the hilt and turned away from the altar, holding Hades' great sword at my side, its tip directed towards the ground.

Unheeding of the feeling of the gate closing behind me, I looked at my friends and my brother, expecting to see horror and revulsion in their eyes, but all I saw were restrained tears.

Fear.

And love.

Saori-san's head was bowed. She knew, I thought, or at the very least she suspected. Perhaps I should have been angry. Perhaps I should have hated her like I hated Lucifer, but it would have been absurd and meaningless.

It wouldn't have changed the truth.

Nothing could.

It could be she had used me, but I had chosen my path alone. That it'd lead me on a road which would never allow me to lead a normal life, the life of a human being who could know rest and peace, happiness if only for very brief moments, hurt. It hurt so bad that I couldn't cry out. There was no hope for me, no healing possible. Time to stop being selfish. I felt painful laughter bubbling up in my throat as the stray thought came to my mind, and stifled it. It wasn't that easy, of course, but at least I could try.

In front of me, Saori-san slowly lifted up her head and looked at me. In her eyes, guilt and sorrow were warring with determination. I tried to give her a smile, to reassure her that I was still myself, to tell her that I understood even if I could never forgive, even if I could never go back to what I was before, and failed. As if she could feel the pain inside of me, the young woman who was the incarnation of the Goddess Athena reached out to me and took my wounded hand in hers.

Even though she was exhausted, she summoned her cosmo, and the infinitely gentle light touched me. The deep cuts faded within the time of a heartbeat, and she whispered softly to me, "I know, Shun, and I trust you. I've always trusted you." For a moment, she looked as if she would hug me, but eventually she released me and straightened.

All sign of weakness gone from her stance, all trace of sorrow and pain gone from her clear gaze, the Goddess of Earth, Wisdom and War announced in a solemn voice, "Since everything is done and our forces are gathered, there's no need to stall any longer. Every day that we wait here, our enemy will use to win through the Veil, and if they do all will be lost. Tonight we rest, and tomorrow at sundown we bring the war to those who force us to fight it." A harsh light flashed into the young woman's eyes as she concluded grimly, "Tomorrow, we storm the Gates of Heaven."

On my left, Lucifer was smiling.

End of Chapter 7.

Notes

Ariel: Lion of God. Ariel ranks as one of the seven princes who rules the waters (which is why Poseidon feels Ariel's coming, it disturbs his own domain, hence his anger). In gnostic lore he's also a ruler of winds. Texts describe him as lion-headed. I preferred imagining his appearance as something of air and water since those are his attributes.
Belial: one of the great Fallen Angels, often equated with Satan. Milton describes him as being fair of appearance and full of dignity, even if everything about him is false.

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