AioMu

„Come on, Aioria! One more time! You can do it!"

Upon hearing his brother's cheering, the little boy closed his eyes and concentrated. A few seconds passed, then a soft, golden glow emitted from him.

„Well done, Ria." Aioria, the Leo trainee, smiled and looked up to his big brother, who stroke his hair.

„Thank you, nii-san! But you helped me. Without you, I still wouldn't be able to produce any Cosmo."

„That may be", Aioros, Gold Saint of Sagittarius, answered. „But all I did was showing you the way, how to do it. The result is your doing. You'll train this for a few days now, until you gained a good control over your Cosmo. Then I may already teach you your first technique."

The little lion clearly was proud of hearing those words. In his eyes one could see the impatience to finally learn his own, very first technique. Suddenly, there were shouts, and the two brothers turned. A blue haired boy, the same age and size as Aioria, came running towards them.

„Aioria! Aioros-niisan!", he yelled, as he came nearer. „Guess what! I finally learned how to produce Cosmo!"

„That's great, Milo", Aioros said, as the boy had reached them. „Your master must be proud."

„He is", grinned Milo, trainee for the Scorpio Gold Cloth.

„Bah", Aioria said. „That's not special. I just learned it as well. And your master is never as proud as my big brother and me."

„WHA?!"

Lightning connected the two boy's eyes, as they glared at each other. Aioros intervened, saying: „Hey, you two, keep the peace. You know, neither of you has accomplished anything special today."

„Hey!", the two younger boys cried in unison. „That's mean, big brother!"

„No", the Sagittarius said, half smiling, half grinning, and shaking his head. Then he explained: „You know, Shaka has mastered his Cosmo months ago. And it is getting stronger every day."

„Oh…"

Milo and Aioria seemed utterly disappointed. But Aioros knew, as always, how to cheer them up again.

„But you know what?", he said. „Compared to the other trainees, you have made huge progress."

This seemed to lift the spirits of the two boys. „We won't disappoint you, brother!", Aioria proclaimed. „We will become great Saints!" Milo nodded vividly, approving of the Leo's words. Until Aioria added: „But my Cosmo is still stronger than Milos'."

„HEY!"

„Yeah, that's true, stingy!" Aioria once more called forth his Cosmo.

„Look again, pussycat!" Milo did the same.

And the two boys walked off, both emanating soft golden glows and with lightnings sparkling between them. They left behind a still smiling Aioros, who, despite them not hearing him anymore, said: „You know… both of your Cosmos are still weak." Then he sighed. „Those two… they sure are a handful together."

He shrugged and eyed his surroundings. Why not do some training for himself to end the day? A golden light burst from him, and he charged at the rocks.

One hour later, when the shadows were already long, he decided to call it a day for himself as well. Aioros already had turned to walk away, when a sound startled him. He looked around. It seemed to come from behind one of the boulders around him, and sounded like… sobbing? Slowly, he walked toward the rock. When he glanced around it, he found little Mu, the Pope's own pupil fort he Aries Cloth, sitting on the ground, head between the knees. When the boy looked up, Aioros was that Mu was indeed crying.

„Mu?", he asked. „What are you doing here?"

„Big… b-brother…"

Mu buried his head again between his legs. Aioros knelt down and put a hand on the young ram's shoulder. „Hey, what's the matter? Tell me." When there was still no response, he continued. „You don't need to, but if you wanna talk, I am here for you."

Slowly, Mu raised his head again. Tears were in his eyes. Then he looked around before finally pointing his index finger at a rather big rock fragment, a leftover from some training. As if it was moved by ghosts, the stone floated upwards, hovered one meter over the ground, then fell down.

„That's… what master taught me a few days ago", the young Aries said. „He had shown me… the powers of the Aries Saint. They're…" Mu broke off, unable to continue.

Yet, those few words had been enough for Aioros to undestand what was moving the little boy.

„You're afraid, aren't you?", he said calmly. A simple statement, but Mu nodded. The archer sighed, then seated himself next to him. Aioros said nothing. He knew, if the younger boy wanted to talk, he would do so, without him pressing anything. True enough, Mu continued.

„I've seen what you and Saga-niisan can do", he said. „He can destroy galaxies. You have the power to destroy entire armies… And I have the power to move things only with the power of my will. It's so scary. What's more, my master told me the Aries even had the power of teleportation. Not just the movement at the speed of light, like every Gold Saint can perform. No. Teleportation."

„But why are you so frightened, Mu?", Aioros asked. „Those powers…"

„They're scary!", Mu exclaimed. „They go against everything an ordinary human can do! They defy the laws of nature! Those powers are… destructive."

The Sagittarius was silent for a moment, observing the Aries boy. Then he smiled his warm, encouraging smile, and said: „Those powers are terrible. You are absolutely right. To destroy entire galaxies, or to kill entire armies with one blow… But, listen carefully now, Mu, those powers can be used other than only for destruction."

Mu looked up, a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes. „Really?"

„Really. We may not be able to change the fact that we have those powers. But, it is always in the hands of those who possess such powers, wether he uses them to destroy the weaker ones or to… protect them."

„Protect them?", the Aries echoed.

„Yes." Aioros looked up to red evening sky. „It is the duty of the strong one to protect the weak ones, who cannot defend themselves. Alas, not all oft hem choose to do so, that's why there will always be Holy Wars and battles." He smiled at Mu again. „But that's why Athena called to life the Saints, back in the mythological era. She wanted warriors, who firstly aided her in battle against Hades' and Poseidon's warriors, and secondly who protected the humans oft he Earth from those same warriors."

Mu looked up at him with big eyes. Apparently, Shion hadn't educated the boy this far already. Or, he hadn't done so because he wanted Mu to form close bonds to the other future Gold Saints…

‚Whatever', Aioros smiled to himself. ,Shion knows what he does.'

Then, Mu suprised him by jumping up, a look of determination on his face that Aioros hadn't seen on him before.

„Big brother!", he proclaimed. „If it is true that those with power can use it to protect those without power, then I shall dedicate my life to fight for Athena and protect the Earth!"

The words took one second to sink in, then the smile returned to Aioros' face. „A wise choice, little one", he said. „May you become a strong warrior every evil-doer fears."

They stared at each other for a second, then Mu smiled broadly. „Thank you, big brother Aioros!", he said. „You helped me a lot. I'm gonna tell master about my desicion!"

And off Mu ran.

The archer watched the boy disappear, chuckling.

,Well, Shion? Did I do what you wished for?'

The next morning, Aioria was not alone waiting for the training to begin.

Next to him stood a pink haired boy, marked with the dots of Jamir. And a few weeks later, an excited Mu ran up to Aioros.

„Big brother! Big brother!"

„What is it, Mu?"

Mu ignored the angry glances Aioria shot at him for calling Aioros big brother. „Master taught me a new technique yesterday!"

„He did?"

„Yes!"

„What's it called?", the older boy asked. The young Aries answered by outstretching his arms. The air in front of him started to shimmer in the colors of the rainbow.

„Crystal shield!"