[ Watashi ]

[ Tomodachi ]

[ Saint Seiya ]

[ Clamp ]

[ Fanfiction ]

Hyoga let out a weary sigh. "Oh stop that, won't you, Seiya?"

Noticing the faint exasperation showing on the Cygnus Saint's face, I allowed myself a little smile. Seiya had spent the last five minutes walking in a circle, like a caged lion, and the echoes of his steps on the steel floor were resounding loudly in the huge control room buried deep below the ground. The Pegasus Saint froze and turned towards us, an apologetic smile on his lips. "Sorry, it's just that...waiting gets on my nerves."

Shiryu nodded and replied with an expression of infinite wisdom written on his face, "The waiting is hard on all of us, Seiya. You're only making it more difficult." The young man flung his long jet black hair aside with a patient wave of his right hand, and had a resigned sigh. "I guess you'll never learn patience."

I chuckled silently when I caught sight of the glint of mischief in the Dragon Saint's eye. It always amazed me to see how Shiryu could keep such a straight face while joking...and of course Seiya always fell for it. I felt something warm spreading through me as I watched Seiya's expression turned into one of sheepishness and as a fake scolding frown appeared on Shiryu's brow. They were my friends, my family, the best anyone could find. A hand gently settled on my left shoulder and I looked at my brother, asking him, "What is it, nii-san ?"

There was a reassuring smile on his lips. "We'll soon know. And I'm sure we'll all laugh when we find out this was nothing more than powerplays between powerful companies or rival parties in the government. I'm certain Athena and the Gold Saints would be aware of any threat. So don't worry too much."

I gave him a thoughtful nod, unable to truly shed the insidious fear which was plaguing my heart. I had not told them of my dreams, not even to Ikki. It had all suddenly seemed stupid: the dreams were no evidence in themselves, and besides both Saori and Shaka had seen nothing special in my dream of a barren earth. As to the illusion of a man who was able to read dreams...well, the mind could make up fantastic things, and as to the nightmare that I couldn't remember, likely it was simply the expression of my fear and refusal to envision the possibility we might have to fight again some time in the future. Yes, that had to be it. It was logical. It had to be, it had to. Anyway they all were worried enough as it was.

Suddenly the speakers on each side of the computer's monitor sounded the first notes of "Pegasus Fantasy", and the technician's hand on the mouse started on a strange dance. On the monitor, screens began to change at an alarming speed. It lasted for less than a minute, then eventually the man sighed wearily. "Well, that was too close for comfort." He turned towards us, wonder in his eyes. "It's incredible, I had never encountered that before." Noticing by the puzzled expression on our faces that we didn't understand a word of what he was saying, he chuckled, waving in apology. "Excuse me."

With a little helpless shrug, Seiya smiled. "Oh it's okay. Did you find anything?"

The man scratched his head for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts. The vast control room was empty but for us. The hidden levels below the ruined coliseum had remained lifeless but for the maintenance teams during a long time. It had been a while since I had last come to this place, and it still managed to amaze me somehow. At last, The operator replied, "As you requested, I began my search with the name of Kigai Yuuto. He indeed works in the press service of a borough of the city. At first, I couldn't pick up anything unusual about him, but there are some weird things concerning a hidden banking account in his name. An awful lot of money is deposited on that on a regular basis, and there's no way that can come from his work at the press service. From account to account, tricks after tricks I've been able to track the whole thing down to somewhere inside the government building. But once I got in there, some kind of guardian program almost caught up with me."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Really I don't understand how any defense could have detected my intrusion. It was a really narrow escape. It tracked me along the net, but I lost it somewhere over Europe. It's unaware of us, fortunately." He shrugged, shaking his head. "I can't tell you anything more about this. The service which emitted the original pay checks means nothing, it won't help you to find who's behind it. But there's something else." He looked up at us with a satisfied smile on his lips. "You also told me to look for seers and the like. Well, if you had to look on the net for such stuff, you'd be stuck with tens of thousands of sites to investigate, and I'm underestimating the number. But I managed to find this: aside from the well-known Sumeragi family, there seems to be a hidden power to whom all the most powerful people of this country refer to. I've found evidence of politics and societies leaders visiting the same place at very regular intervals. What's strange is that nothing of this was truly hidden or anything...but then it's true that most people don't spend their time gathering clues on that kind of thing, and of course you have to know where to look. The place where all this is happening is the Diet Building." The man grinned. "Interesting, isn't it?"

Shiryu nodded slowly. "Indeed."

Seiya chuckled, clapping his hands together. "All right, shall we pay a visit there?"

Watching the light in the Pegasus Saint's eyes, my brother let out an exasperated sigh. "And then what? Seiya, do us all a favor and switch your brain online for once, will you?"

The Pegasus Saint turned his back on my brother, sulking, and I fought not to burst out laughing. Hyoga rolled his eyes heavenward, used to the never-ending confrontations between the two. "Stop behaving like children, you two. We can go, and then we'll see what happens once we get there. It can't hurt us to see the place for ourselves, ne?"

Shiryu and I nodded. As we were preparing to leave, the operator asked us, "Excuse me, but should Kido-sama be notified of all this?"

Before anyone could react, I shook my head and replied with a smile, "No, it's okay. Likely it's nothing to be concerned about. We'll settle it ourselves."

Shiryu stared at me with surprise shining in his eyes, but said nothing. It wasn't my way to take the lead like I had just done, but I saw no reason to worry the Sanctuary with this matter. Saori and Shaka had been the ones who had convinced me to come back, and that meant they believed there wouldn't be anymore threat. Besides, alerting them would have been like breaking the peace ourselves.

Damned if I'd do that.

I stifled a yawn, and looked up at the startlingly blue sky. The weather was really good today, and that contrasted with all the rain there had been until now. Before us the pedestrian light turned to green, and we crossed the street, walking towards the now close Diet Building. There were lots of people outside, likely happy to enjoy this first true return of the sunshine. We quickly reached our goal, and stopped in front of the parvis, watching our surroundings, our senses alert. After a few seconds, my brother looked questioningly at Hyoga and asked, "Now, what?"

The Cygnus Saint gave him a guileless smile in answer. "Now let's go in and ask someone."

Seiya yelled. "What?! Hey, have you gone mad?!"

I raised a hand to my brow, bowing my head and saying with laughter in my voice, "Seiya, we're not alone, there're people watching us." It was enough that we were a funny sight, wearing the Sacred Cases in our backs, we really had no need for anything else to make people notice our presence.

He had the good grace to blush, and I burst out laughing, unable to help myself this time.

Earth shaking under my feet.

Rupture.

Blow, violent.

Savage.

Seal fragment. Shredded.

"Shun!"

I suddenly realized that I was down on my knees. I had felt...something...something so incredibly strong.... Shaking my head in an attempt to clear it from the riot of sensations which was spawning chaos in my mind, I looked up at my brother and smiled reassuringly. "Daijoubu."

Abruptly the fact that they were all still on their feet registered in my brain, and my heart skipped a beat. The four of them were looking down at me with worry shining in their eyes. Damn it, what did that mean? How could they have been unaffected? It had almost felt like the tearing of something within.... I shook my head, uncomprehending, and asked, "Didn't you feel the earthquake just now?"

Power.

I blinked as the sensation hit me.

Power, awfully strong.

I tensed, clenching my teeth and closing my hands into fists.

Power, dark.

Like a wild mountain stream.

My heartbeats sped up as the feeling intensified. Focusing on it, I looked up, and my eyes narrowed. It came from inside the Diet building. Suddenly another power joined the first.

Lightning.

Fire storm.

Devouring.

Damn it, it was so terribly strong! Standing up, I felt a drop of cold sweat run down my spine. I turned towards my friends and my brother, and we all nodded without a word. Our decision made in the blink of an eye, we ran towards the building's entrance.

As soon as we were hidden from public view, we dropped the Cases and opened them, putting our Cloths on. The familiar feeling of Andromeda engulfed me, and I closed my eyes, focusing on what was happening in this place.

Fight.

Fire, burning.

Fire, cold.

Feelings, devouring.

Indifference, amused.

Fire fighting fire.

Surprise.

Nothingness.

Void.

I shook my head. It was gone. As suddenly as it had come, it had completely vanished in the blink of an eye. But what was going on here?

Tinkling of bronze rings.

Warning.

Danger.

We all froze as the echoes of the Chain's rings tinkling resounded in the hall, then the arrow end of the Chain suddenly pointed into a precise direction. I followed it, but there was nothing to be seen. I smiled to myself, having expected nothing else. I nodded to my friends and released the Chain, invoking in a clear voice, Thunder Wave.

It flew in a broken line, as if it had truly been lightning, and coiled up against something, its target found. There was a short moment of silence, and then a small chuckle resounded in the air.

"So, it would seem this is a day for surprises..."

A tall man appeared out of nowhere, holding sunglasses in one hand and wearing a black trench coat I remembered only too well. My fingers clutched the Chain's rings, and I whispered, "Sakurazukamori."

He bowed, and said with a charming smile, "I'm honored you recognize me."

Seiya shook his head, anger burning in his eyes in answer to the obvious sarcasm there had been in the assassin's voice, and asked in a hiss, "What are you doing here?"

The man grinned. "I was simply paying my respects to someone," he shrugged and waved in a fatalistic gesture, "but I'm afraid I'm expected elsewhere, so I can't take the time to chat with you right now."

My brother gave him a steady stare, and said quietly, "I'm sorry, but I get the feeling you'll have to cancel your appointment. We'd like to have a word with you."

Sakurazuka Seishirou returned my brother's gaze and laughed.

Then Ikki flung himself forward, rushing towards the assassin.

A wild gust of wind rose all around us and enveloped us in a whirling cloud of sakura petals. At the same time, Chain came back to me, its prey somehow freed. The wind died.

He was gone.

My brother cursed softly. "Damn him, how did he manage that?"

I closed my eyes and focused my mind, trying to feel the presence of Sakurazuka Seishirou, but it was useless. The power at my command should have allowed me to find my enemy even if he had hidden himself lightyears away from me, but I couldn't feel anything at all. It was as if he had never existed. I sighed, admitting defeat and bade my Cloth leave me. No need to wear it unnecessarily. Once my friends had imitated me, I looked at them and shook my head. "I'm sorry. I couldn't hold him back. The Chain..."I shrugged helplessly, adding, "I just stopped feeling him."

Seiya stepped to my side and patted my left shoulder comfortingly, smiling. "Hey, it's okay. We couldn't do anything either."

Shiryu nodded, his gaze turned inward. "It's not easy for us to use our powers where we can be seen...whereas he didn't seem to have the same problem."

My brother sighed, shaking his head. "I should have been able to stop him." When we looked at him with incomprehension written all over pour faces, he added, "That guy uses illusions, that much I could tell, and I had never seen so powerful ones." In a whisper, he repeated, "Never."

I felt suddenly cold inside. For Ikki to say such a thing, it meant that Sakurazuka Seishirou had at his command a power that matched that of a Gold Saint, at least where the casting of illusions was concerned. My hands closed into fists, and I said in a tight voice, "All right. Let's stop playing, and find whoever is here, whoever the Sakurazukamori was...paying his respects to."

They all nodded, and we walked towards the lifts, ignoring the looks of curiosity several employees shot in our direction, stopping to watch a strange group of five teenagers who bore big, likely heavy metallic cases in their backs striding through the corridors of the Diet Building. Other than stares, our presence didn't give rise to anything else, as if our encounter with Sakurazuka Seishirou had remained unnoticed. Illusion...it wa likely he had cast one over this place and us without our even being aware of it. Hell, how could he be so powerful? Where could such a strength come from, magic? But what was magic?

All of a sudden I noticed that Hyoga closely examining one of the lifts. I went to his side, wondering what might be wrong with that one and he smiled, looking up at me. "This lift is the only one that goes to levels below the surface. Interesting, don't you think?"

I nodded silently. As we were about to call it, someone came towards us, saying, "Forgive me, but the use of this lift is strictly restricted to authorized personnel only. You can't--"

The cellular phone attached to his bell rang, cutting him off. Sighing, he took it to his ear and answered, "Yes, Tanaka here." He listened in silence for a few seconds, then his face suddenly drained of color suddenly and he replied, bowing even though there was nobody present for him to bow to, "Oh...oh yes, of course...at once...forgive me for--"

His interlocutor apparently hang up on him in an abrupt fashion, and he stammered, facing us, "Ah...I'm deeply sorry...I didn't know...I assure you." He took a key from one of his jacket's inner pockets and used it to activate the lift. The door opened, and he bowed again, to us this time. "Please, go in. You're expected."

We looked at each other with the same question mirrored on our faces. Expected? What did this all mean? Eventually Shiryu shrugged and went in. Following his lead, we stepped in as well. This might be a trap, but we had little choice if we wanted to have a chance to understand what was going on here. The lift door closed, and it began to go down.

Below the ground.

Two twin sisters clad in traditional and ceremonial clothes opened a great door and let us through, silent and watching our every move, ready to jump on us in a moment's notice. They were so tense it could be felt in the smallest of their movements. What we had found once the lift had stopped was what looked like a beautiful old mansion. A small world below the ground, hidden and protected from it. Suddenly, I felt my brother's fingers brushing against my right arm and nodded, going in after him.

Five persons were waiting inside: a cheerful young man, wounded on the left wrist, whose displayed silliness only served to mask resolve as strong as any I had seen, a grave and silent girl in high-school uniform, somber and dark, a young man with a broken arm in a sling, whose eyes were clouded with conflicting emotions, a young girl who seemed to be both fragile and strong at the same time, with a strange energy hovering at her side which almost looked like an ethereal wolf.

As my eyes swept over the group, I noticed they looked shaken and disheveled. Adding up two and two, I guessed that these were the people Sakurazuka Seishirou had been "paying his respects to". Then my eyes turned at last towards the last person present.

She was woman who wore the body of a girl, young and yet ancient. She was kneeling on the wooden floor, her hands neatly folded in her lap. She bowed deeply, then looked up at us and I realized that her eyes were empty.

Blind.

Her long, pure white hair was spread on the floor around her like a pool of water. There was strange aura radiating from her. On her brow, a third eye was painted.

Cold.

Ice.

Me. Caressing a woman's cheek through the perfection of her crystal coffin.

Me. Laughing.

The Earth.

Dead.

Darkness.

Time.

I was falling. Endlessly.

Feeling...cold...cold so awful...so....

"Shun!"

Someone was shaking me, repeating in an urgent, frightened whisper, "Shun! Can you hear me? Shun!"

Ikki.... As the thought hit my mind, my fingers gripped my brother's arms hard and I leaned against him for support. Oh Goddess...no. My whole body shook feverishly. Something...like a memory. I hugged my brother desperately, as if somehow he could have made it disappear, and closed my eyes. I couldn't remember. It had tried to come back, but...it was too strong, too terrible, and my mind couldn't deal with it, couldn't bear with it. As when I had first woken from it, the only thing it had left me with was terror and despair, but no clues as to what it had been, none but what the man in the dream had said: "Your Fate". I shivered, chasing his words away.

Since this is your wish, I shall not tell anyone of this.

I tensed and looked past my brother at the blind girl. Her voice had only been in my head. A telepath? Her unseeing eyes locked on me, as if she'd perceived my thought. Let us just say that I Dream of the Future, and thus that I know.

I let out a soft, inaudible sigh, forced to face what I had so much wanted to believe was only a nightmare. So the man named Kakyou had been no construction of my mind...and likely he had told me the truth. Gently I freed myself from my brother's protective embrace, and smiled at him. "Daijoubu da yo."

Hell, no matter what I had seen in that nightmare, it wouldn't come true, I'd never let it come true. Nothing could dictate a Saint's Fate. Damn it, I had faced mine and won on the day of the Sacrifice, so better to bury that nightmare as deep as I could and never let it trouble me again. The strange girl nodded, as if she'd been privy to my thoughts once again.

It is your right. A smile of infinite sadness came to her face her face. I savagely fought against the icy hand of fear gripping my heart and looked away.

The young blonde man with his arm in a sling abruptly broke the deep silence. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Shiryu stared at him steadily, not in the least impressed by the threat there had been in the young man's voice, and replied quietly, "As a matter of fact, you should know why we're here, since we were invited to come."

All of a sudden the strange energy hovering around the youngest of the girls detached itself from her and slowly glided towards us. Stopping beside me, it tentatively nuzzled the fingers of my left hand, perhaps trying to judge what we were. On impulse I found myself gently stroking the ethereal wolf's head, and the ghostly animal went back to his mistress, who beamed a smile at us, saying, "Inuki likes them Saiki-san."

The blind girl kneeling at the center of the room bowed. Everyone in the hall turned towards her, apparently as surprised by this as we were. My name is Hinoto. Her blind eyes set on Shiryu, and she asked, Why did you seek me out ?

My brother snorted impatiently and replied, "We came to this place looking for answers, for explanations to events that have disturbed this city and more importantly have touched us."

The young woman in high school uniform exclaimed, "But how can this be? You're no part of this!"

Ikki smiled at her, a smile which didn't reach the dark grey eyes. "And what exactly aren't we part of, miss?"

The silent voice of our host answered in the girl's place. The Graude Foundation is hidden from me. Power exists behind the veil masking it. Immense power. She had a self-deprecating smile. I See now that the same veil may have hidden a very important part of this puzzle from my Dream. Even now, I cannot tell which side you will take, or what you are.

Seiya scratched his head in incomprehension. "What sides, what puzzle? What's going on here? What is all this gibberish about?"

The blonde young man stepped towards Seiya, saying dangerously, "You'll address yourself with respect to Hinoto-sama!"

The blind girl made a small gesture. The young man immediately froze in his tracks, and then she faced us, her blind eyes taking us all in.

This is about the End of the World.

I heard my friends' sharp intake of breath coming from very far away, once again trapped by the vision of a barren earth.

Darkness.

No, I refused that, I--

Light.

A blue sphere, so beautiful.

Small, almost as small as a child's toy.

Swirling white clouds dancing among the deep blue of the oceans.

A world so full of life.

Lightning.

Huge shapes.

Powerful.

Dragons.

Dragons rising.

Dragons fighting.

Dragons destroying.

Dragons killing countless innocent lives.

Blood.

Pool of blood, from which rose a Sword.

The Sword.

I hugged myself desperately, shaking.

Shadows.

Hand reaching out and taking the Sword.

A face.

Beautiful purple eyes.

So deep.

Burning with emotions too fierce to be mastered.

Hatred.

Despair.

Grief.

Pain.

Devouring.

The Sword went down.

Its blade shattering the earth.

A myriad of blue crystal shards flew in all the directions at once.

Shining.

Like a fireworks display.

Slowly vanishing in the endless darkness of space.

A celebration.

Of Death.

The vision abruptly came to an end, and I realized that arms were wrapped around me, supporting my weight and hugging me tight. I focused on the feeling of my brother's body, holding on to him for control, holding on to the last anchor allowing me not to be taken by the storm of darkness which was devouring my soul.

Distantly I heard Seiya whispering in a toneless voice, "Kamui."

Yes.

I gently freed myself from my brother's embrace and faced the blind Seeress. She gestured towards three of the people present. These persons are Arisugawa Sorata, Kishu Arashi, and Nekoi Yuzuriha. They are three of the Dragons of Heaven whom I am gathering in the defense of the human race.

I looked at those three people and felt power and determination. Seiya shook his head, breaking the silence that had followed the Seeress's "voice", "All this is impossible, it won't happen, it can't happen." I closed my eyes, hearing the almost imperceptible trace of refusal and despair there had been in my friend's voice.

A hand pressed my left shoulder, and I opened my eyes to see my brother nodding at Seiya's words and adding, "We serve She who is the protector of this world. She'll never let harm come to humanity. As you were unaware of this, unaware of us, your Vision can't be correct, it's flawed."

She slowly shook her head with a regretful smile. Be that as it may. It changes nothing to this: our Destinies are foreordained, and nothing can prevent the Promised Day from coming.

At those words, I felt something cold spreading inside me and said in a whisper, unable to help myself, "No. You're wrong. We..." I looked at her blind eyes, and clenched my teeth, continuing, "we're the masters of our Fate."

Sadness came into her smile. Still, the Promised Day will come. There is no way you can stop Time. There is only one power who can master Time. One power who can freeze it. She bowed her head.

Death.

"Why did we leave that place so quickly? There might have been more things to learn."

My brother shrugged, looking at Hyoga and replying, "Maybe, but it'd have been a waste of time. We know what matters, and it's enough. Hell, no wonder these people believe they can't control what'll happen if all they do is stay underground passively."

Seiya nodded. "Yeah. Our path is clear: we've got to find Kamui Shirou and have a little talk with him."

Shiryu turned towards the Pegasus Saint and shook his head, his eyes distant. "Still, it's strange we never knew people with that kind of power existed. That girl dreams of the Future, and the others with her...what's this power they wield? What if they had been hidden from us just as we were hidden from them? What if there was a power at work behind this, whose goal was Athena?"

Shiryu's words reached my mind, but I didn't hear them. What the blind Seeress had said was false. She couldn't be right, there was no way she could be. No way the fragments of nightmare haunting me might hold the smallest piece of truth. None.

"Shun, is it still far?"

Belatedly I realized that my brother had been talking to me, and quickly answered, "No, no the shrine should be in the next street to our right."

As soon as we had left the Diet Building, we had decided to pay a visit to the Togakushi Shrine. Shirou Kamui had been among the persons attending the funeral of Monou Fuuma's and Monou Kotori's parent. They likely could help us find him. I just hoped it would be possible to talk to the young man with the deep purple eyes. I knew that my behavior had touched him in some way, but I was by no means certain that it'd be enough for him to be willing to listen to us and answer our questions.

"Ah, that must be it."

Hyoga's voice interrupted my musing, and I suddenly saw a Torii standing just a few steps distant from us. I looked at the house on the side and nodded. Shiryu smiled. "Well, let's go in, ne?" I followed my friends slowly, tearing myself with difficulty from the confused emotions and thoughts clouding my mind.

I let my fingertips brush against a sakura tree's young leaf, and stared at it absentmindedly. Strange, this feeling of wetness adhering to the leaf even though the sun was shining high in the sky.

Crimson red drop.

Blood.

I froze as I realized the nature of the liquid sticking to the leaf. Goddess.... Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I looked around me while emptiness invaded my heart. A trail of blood was leading to the side of the house. I blinked, staring at it numbly for a few seconds, my mind devoid of thoughts, then I called back my friends in silence, and we slowly followed the tracks which led us around and then behind the house.

The panel which served as a door to the terrace and the garden beyond it was open. We stopped, crouching behind a brush as we caught a glimpse of the tableau set in front of our eyes.

Shirou Kamui was holding a woman in his arms, with Monou Fuuma at his side. Horror was shining brightly in the dark eyes of the soccer club's captain.

The woman was dying, her blood slowly spreading on the wooden floor.

Distantly I remembered seeing her in the cemetery. She had been the one who had intervened between Shirou Kamui and the other young man, Arisugawa Sorata. I blinked, as my brain added two to two and came to an obvious conclusion: those people who called themselves the Dragons of Heaven, the blind Seeress...they knew who Shirou was.

Light.

Power, wild, reaching out.

The woman had pushed back Shirou Kamui and was standing on her own. Both young men were staring at her, horrified. From within her own body, she took out a Sword.

A beautiful Sword.

A Sword the like of which this world had never seen.

A Pool of blood, a pool of blood from which a Sword is rising.

This very Sword.

I watched, paralyzed, as the Sword's perfect blade tore the woman's body apart, as the Sword shredded her body.

Cut it into ribbons.

Killing the one who had given it birth.

Taking her life for its own.

Shirou Kamui's scream of horror and denial resounded in my mind, endlessly. I was empty, but for that cry, empty and cold, unable even to feel revulsion, pity or sadness. Unable to feel fear. Slowly Kamui Shirou stepped towards the head of the woman and knelt down, cradling it in his arms. He bowed his head and wept, letting out a keening howl of mourning which rose up to the heavens. On his right side, alone and forgotten, the Sword was planted in the wooden floor.

The sunlight reflecting on its blade.

Waiting.

Seiya made to go forward, but my brother laid a restraining hand on his left arm, whispering with a shake of his head, "No... Now is not the time. Let's leave them a bit of privacy. There's no way they'd be willing to help us if we went to them now."

Seiya bowed his head, and replied in a voice carefully devoid of emotions, "You're right. Let's get away from this place."

We left the shrine's ground in silence.

I leaned heavily against the fence of a garden and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Shun?"

A weak smile came to my lips when I heard my brother's anxious voice and I sighed inaudibly, locking my emotions away. "Don't worry. I just need to stop for a while." We hadn't walked for more than a hundred meters after leaving the Togakushi Shrine, but I couldn't go any farther. The void inside me was so heavy, so hard to bear that--

"I sure can understand that. Sweet Goddess, we've seen fights, we've seen blood and death, but something like that...never. It shook me to my bones." Something that might have been warmth flickered briefly in my heart when I heard Seiya's shaken voice. Warmth towards those people who were my friends, who understood and didn't judge, but accepted me as I was.

Loved me as I was.

Dragon.

Diving.

Plunging down.

Power erupting, so intense it tore the Earth open.

Somewhere in the heart of Greece, a young woman looked away from the vision of high mountains peaks illuminated by faint starlight and bowed her head, tears sparkling in her eyes. Her shoulders slumped, as if she was being crushed under a weight far too heavy to bear for her frail figure.

Dragon.

Destroying.

I fell, feeling something tearing deep inside of me.

In China, an old man opened his eyes and in the distance saw a dark tower trembling. He bowed his head, his whisper barely audible above the thunder of the great waterfall beside him. "Athena...is there nothing that can be done to prevent this?"

The sensation vanished as abruptly as it had come. I got up slowly, and ignored the anxiety written all over my friends' and my brother's faces. It had begun. I didn't understand how I could feel it since the others couldn't, but I knew with a certainty that would bear no doubts and no denial.

Another fragment of Seal was broken.

Whatever that might mean.

Whatever that Seal might be.

End of part 5.

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