Now with a vague idea about punctuation!
Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote something Saint Seiya related.
This thing is the prelude to a post-Hades story. I start with June and would go gathering the bronzies and other characters. The song at the end is Dissolve Girl by Massive Attack (highly recommended).
As you may notice, English is not my mother tongue, and I'm doing this to improve my writing (which is kind of a mess, btw until today I ignored the fact that dialogue in this language doesn't work the same as in Spanish!). Anyway, here's my poor effort using "".
SAINT SEIYA PRIMORDIAL. THE LOST DAYS
As every 243 years, Athena faced the Lord of the Underworld for the future of the Earth. However, in the middle of battles and sacrifices, it wasn't all about the great heroes. Just a few could imagine that the small stories of wandering warriors the ones were also shaping the future.
Vagabond
One day this pain will be useful to you
Ovid
Since the day she lost her home, the protégé of the Chameleon constellation saw the time slowly passing by. She had lost her faith when the revolt cost the life of her master, Cepheus Albiore. And even when the bronze saints had reestablished peace, it didn't seem enough; being a saint lacked of meaning for her.
When the full army was summoned in the war against Hades, those whose power was insufficient or their will depleted, like hers, were sent to counteract distant threats, while the great warriors entered the Underworld to save them all.
In the Sanctuary it was said that the battle had changed them. People whispered that Seiya and the others had seen a place full of horrors; besides, it was murmured that their returned selves were not at their prime and someone had been seriously injured. The whole Order waited for them in Greece, to finally take the golden cloths. Nevertheless, after a year they had not. For her part, Athena had remained in the East too.
However, with or without them, things didn't stop. Those saints who remained were dispersed in missions, reacting to the conflicts awakening every day since the end of that battle.
June herself wanted to go to the East when she heard of their return: her biggest wish was to see Shun again -the last person she had in the world-. Nonetheless, doing so also meant returning to a fractured allegiance. Therefore, she postponed that visit as well as the response to the calls from Greece, until the day that one came under a well-known name: Marin needed her.
- oOoOo-
Chameleon was perfectly aware that she couldn't evade her duty forever; hence she came back to the Sanctuary. It wasn't as she knew it. Even after the victory, there was a sense of defeat and abandonment in the air. Shaina and Marin took care of the apprentices, although without an elite or a leader it was as if the Order was dying.
In that place, June found Aquila Marin already waiting for her.
"You delayed less than I expected, bronze Chameleon," the silver saint kept her tone full of authority even in the worst times.
"I… I'm sorry, Marin. I couldn't offer the blind obedience needed in a saint..." she closed her eyes, ashamed in her apology.
Marin denied shaking her head slowly.
"You aren't the first and won't be the last with doubts. This is a hard life." The redhead said in a low voice. "Now you're here and can't act like a nomad; it's wasting your talent. And please remember that you were trained by an honorable saint like no other. Athena needs us again and it's acceptable to take time away from the Sanctuary but not to give up. Yes, your island was a war casualty; you aren't unique in that either, we all have suffered loss."
June looked her in dismay, yet full of regret. The Eagle advanced among the ruins.
"I have a mission for you. I see you left your mask while making a decision. It's ok; you'll the advantage of going to places where Shaina or I can't."
"Mmmm what is it about? Who will I look for in this occasion?" the blonde asked curiously.
"You'll find Hestia's disciples. After the Holy War they threatened to cut ties, which is an undesirable situation for the Sanctuary. It's an easy mission; they trust in women, so each of us will go to one of their main altars carrying a favor from Athena. You'll go to the one here in Greece."
"Alone? Wait, I've been out of this for too long. Where will you go?"
"I'll go to the one in Asia and Shaina to Africa, well, to Carthage."
"What? Do you still use the old names?" Chameleon was surprised.
"They do."
"Look, it's close to where I was born. I could go and– "June hesitated, still unsteady of what she was doing.
"No. These are the instructions we received," Marin stopped and softened her tone. "Listen, everything will be fine, you'll find your way. All of us will do it at some point. For now, we are only humans living the consequences of conflicts that surpass us."
The blonde was speechless.
"Mmm, I know that words don't change anything, but... I'm sorry that they didn't come back, that he didn't return..." Chameleon dithered at the end; it was still a fresh wound for everyone.
"It was always a possibility. That was his duty, just as mine is to remain. And yours is to follow me." Marin was silent for a moment as if she feared that her voice would break. "Have you heard of Hestia's shelters?"
-OoO-
June had never been in what other armies called a haven. In Marin's words it was neutral territory outside any conflict, where saints, regardless of the god who protected them, could recover from their wounds under the veil of Hestia, the Goddess of Home. The place was as if it came from the stories that Albiore told them about the mythological beginning of the orders; an old hostel by the sea, full of wounded saints gathering in small groups without talking to each other, all of them covering their cloth' boxes.
So it was true, there were more orders and they were different from what she knew; from their aspect to the way they speak, even their gestures allowed to distinguish them. Some of them looked like ordinary Greeks, while others still wore clothes from centuries back.
The amazon advanced through the main entrance carrying her Pandora box, perfectly covered to avoid revealing her origin. For the same reason, she left her mask and, in order to evade attention, she was wearing only dark trousers, white shirt, boots and her hair wrapped in a red Ethiopian canvas.
Yet she could barely conceal her surprise at such an enclosure. It was wonderful on its own way: to witness the great family of warriors destined to kill each other.
A dark-haired girl as out of classical Greece ran towards her, no doubt she was one of Hestia's sisters. She shamelessly approached and sweetly grabbed Chameleon's face.
"I had always wanted to see the face of one of Athena's saints." She looked at June's face from various angles. "I am Olympia. I was sent to welcome you."
"I brought what my Goddess promised you," the blonde knelt and offered the casket that had been entrusted to her.
"Are you from her Sanctuary? Where were you born? Your accent is particular and you are tall." That woman spoke too fast and seemed excited for having company.
"I… I was born on the Andromeda Island, in Ethiopia" Chameleon still didn't like talking about herself.
"Oh, I see, the blood of Perseus and the Princess," Olympia smiled tenderly. "Is it true that there are not many of you left?"
"Yes, it is." The amazon turned her face away.
"It is a shame," this time the nymph held the blond hair of her awkward visitor with eagerness. "I apologize for my excitement, but you should know that nowadays the women saints visit us less. They stay in the Old World, and we are here... always alone in this ancient tradition..." then she leaned toward the warrior and, staring at her eyes, took her hands. "Promise me that you are going to stay for a while. After all, long time ago, it was said that the only true home is where you can find my goddess."
June understood that was the reason why Athena sent messages and company to those women. And her words removed a deep desire.
"If that's true, I swear I will," for the first time since those dark times started, she answered without hesitation.
"Well, the kindness of the Maiden extends to all the saints" -Olympia was precise-. "The rules are simple: you cannot reveal the order you belong to, cannot wear your armor, and above all, you cannot shed blood on this holy land."
-OoO-
The days passed on that oasis. Soon, June didn't carry the box of her armor anymore, and gave up to a tranquility feeling, while watched the Sisterhood performing the tasks of the place and the apprentices running around them. Everyone there was innocent as those who haven't seen battles. Chameleon believed they had the same pure glance as Shun: those green eyes she still dreamt with.
As every morning, she couldn't help but waking up with a twinge of pain due to the memory of her island. Despite that, she allowed herself to play, laugh and joke with them.
Although, June knew she wasn't the only one for whom those days had a meaning. She noticed someone staring at them: a young saint with a scar across his forehead and a gaze as aggressive as blue. He healed his wounds in silence, watching them from the distance as if he wanted to appropriate that kind of joy.
In the afternoon, while the apprentices were playing and the maiden were making dinner, Chameleon and the young saint exchanged glances of mutual distrust for a second. However, she was no longer one of those who wait quietly for things to happen.
"In case you don't know, doing any harm to them is a sacrilege," the amazon was eating an apple while surrounding that saint, which rested under a tree. "Their happiness is contagious; still there are hearts so dark that would want to take it away from them. But you should now that my weapon is always ready for those who dare."
He grinned in a vicious smile-like gesture and saw her in a way that years ago would have frozen her blood.
"I will not be the one who breaks the taboo and you, blonde, would not be enough to stop me if I wanted to."
June struggled to keep her composure and rummaged to the bottom of his angry eyes. Nonetheless she found no evil, just another damaged soul. So she preferred to ignore him; each one would face his demons in their own style.
She went to help the maidens to set up the big table where the visitors would eat, and let one more afternoon pass in the sunny Greece.
-OoO-
At dawn, a cosmos calling for help awoke June, who hastily took her whip and ran to the beach without even wearing her armor; just to find Olympia sobbing and under attack.
The amazon arrived just in time to protect the apprentices by stopping the attack with her whip. At the same moment, the young saint came to shield them from the enemy.
"You do not know what you are doing, any attempt against this shrine and its hospitality is a desecration," the nymph held under her mantle one of the crying apprentices.
"It's time for you, order of the sacred fire, to stop cowering and give the warriors what belongs to us," he was an abnormally tall man who spoke with a heavy accent and wore a reddish cloth that shone like blood under the sun.
"You do not understand, there are things that are not about power but about home. This does not worth your life, give up, go back to the haven and you will have forgiveness. Otherwise, they will come for you and those who protect my Goddess do not know clemency."
"Then they're gonna find only a field of corpses. Because I'll not leave without Hestia's flame," said the warrior with a loud voice as he launched a blinding attack.
Without saying a word, the young saint became a phoenix of fire. The cosmos clashed powerfully and the blaze grew towards his enemy, yet soon it smothered. There was something wrong: it was as if he were tied to a distant site that claimed him for itself.
June saw him dwindle in front of her and with her whip stopped the opponent projecting him against the sand.
"Do not intervene, blonde! He is not a worthy enemy!"
"Don't be such an idiot; you can hardly use your cosmos. In that state you'll end up dead even with a beginner who came after women and children."
"It wouldn't be the first time," he snorted while launching himself against his adversary. "I don't need you."
The amazon keep the man in red armor tied and watched fascinated the magnificent collision between powers. She had to admit that, unlike Shun, she was able to find some pleasure in battle, as if everything were insignificant upon the brightness of a cosmos emulating the sun.
June saw the young saint attacking and turning his opponent into ashes with a blow of his fist. Nevertheless, the resulting wave from the impact violently threw him to the sea.
Then she stopped for a second. If it was true that for centuries saints had never attacked those women, breaking the taboo meant an ongoing battle, one she must give notice to the Sanctuary of.
-OoO-
However, she couldn't abandon that young saint whose presence was fading away. June knew that, even with his severe appearance, he would not be able to go out alone. The amazon wavered for a moment. Going after him was exactly the idea of sacrifice she sought to get away from: preserving others' violence in a world that would have no mercy for those who she loved.
She could just leave him to his fate without getting involved. Unfortunately for her, blood was heavier than any desire for freedom and made her jump into the water to rescue him. After all, Albiore had sacrificed himself so they could escape, and in turn he had transmitted that same spirit to her, to Shun... His legacy wasn't only being a saint, but to be of a kind that, despite of their inner strength, would reserve their lives for others.
And then it happened what she was asked each night in her prayers: the girl received a path. In the water, her body was invaded by an unknown cosmos. She could barely control her movements to go for the young saint and hold him. Her eyes only saw what someone else showed her, quick images of people and unknown moments; a woman warrior creating fire with her hands to open a battlefield for her and other bronze saints, a great war, Athena deeply wounded, an immense army trying to shoot them down. She found just one familiar face: Shun, devastated and sinking into darkness. June tried to follow him without success, because then she contemplated her own death at the hands of a malignant entity. In a blink, the mirages stopped.
Was that the future?
June was still underwater holding the unconscious stranger and moving to the surface. So it was time to face the past and move forward, towards reconstruction; if these visions were her destiny, she was willing to face it in the manner of her people. The only way to honor her master was by not letting Andromeda's heritage die with him; the lineage wasn't over, it was up to her to keep it, always with her head high, always against the stream.
They could make her body into dust or consummate her existence. So be it. But not without a fight: her sacrifice must have a purpose. She would return with her order and would go to Japan, with the only person capable of interpreting what she had just seen.
Shame, such a shame
I think I kind of lost myself again
Day, yesterday
Really should be leaving but I stay
Say, say my name
I need a little love to ease the pain
I need a little love to ease the pain
It's easy to remember when it came
Naturally, it won't be that easy. On the surface the enemies were already waiting for her.