Really, I should've known better than start watching this anime... and read the manga original and spin-offs. Really, I should've known better. But I didn't know better, and this plot bunny was born. This is just a prologue, to be updated when I feel like it - or when my player gets stuck on Soldier Dream song :D I swear it's the best music for writing anything mythology-based...

Update 5/8/2018 - I've started expanding and correcting things. There's an added scene to the prologue, and I'll slowly do the same for the next two chapters.

The ground was cold.

Somehow, Aiolos always thought the ground would be warm when he died, whether from the endless hours Grecian sun spent beating it or from the freshly spilled blood on the battlefield of Athena's army. This… he never envisioned this.

Holding with madman's desperation on the last vestiges of his sanity and consciousness, pain from the Excalibur spreading past his shattered bones and tearing his heart apart, he walked to the Parthenon, hoping the Fates would send him someone who would care for his goddess.

Athena… my Lady…

The tiny infant, born under the sign of Virgo, was currently asleep, letting out content noises from time to time, adorably similar to his little brother Aiolia at that age. The reminder of how he left his baby brother to the mercy of Saga and Sanctuary only served to make his eyes water and send another bolt of pain into his overworked heart.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum…

Nothing.

With horror, the young Sagittarius Saint realized that it would not be the injuries from Shura's blade that would do him in: it would be his own soldier heart. His family had not had the history of heart problems as far as Aiolos knew, but he had heard stories about the Scorpio Saint that had heart issues – the Saints were still mortals, despite their seemingly god-like powers. They still got sick, and boy, could they die, often in the most spectacular way possible. The records and Aiolos' current state were the prime examples of that fact.

The terrible coldness and pain shot out of his heart down his left arm, the classic sign of the abrupt heart attack. Aiolos gritted his teeth and dragged himself forward a few more steps to the giant rock, his Pandora Box miraculously staying light on his back, as if trying to help his Saint and Athena reach safety. Reaching the rock, the boy collapsed face first on it, his brown hair falling everywhere as he cradled the infant goddess under his chest, the last barrier between her and the death he could offer.

"Hey, kid!"

Oh thank Goddess, Aiolos thought, mind already descending into murky fog he usually associated with the nights he fell on his bed in Ninth Zodiac House, completely wiped out from missions and training and meetings with Pope Shion. Athena will be safe!

"Kid! Kid! Hey… are you from the Sanctuary?"

He knows! Aiolos rejoiced – he will not need to explain this too much. He was losing his consciousness way too fast for any detailed explanation he knew he owed to the man. "A-athena…" he managed to rasp out, gathering all of his strength for one last act for his goddess. "P-prot-tec-ct her… San-sanctu-tuary… not-t s-safe… for A-athena…"

"Athena?" the man's voice asked in disbelief, and Aiolos could understand. No one expected one of the Twelve Olympians to willing rebirth themselves as tiny babies to help out Earth, let alone find them far away from the place they're supposed to be safe at. "O-okay, I will."

Thank you, whoever you are. Sagittarius Saint would've said it out loud, but the nightmarish cold was getting to him: he could no longer move, simply sinking into the darkness and coldness he had only felt once, when the Cancer candidate Deathmask opened the gates to the hell with his Sekishiki Mekai Ha(Dark Underworld Wave) to demonstrate his mastery of Cancer techniques to Pope.

Deathmask, Aiolia, Mu, Camus, Aphrodite, Milo, Shaka, Aldebaran… Saga…

Even after everything, Aiolos could not stop thinking about his friends and the Sanctuary. Casting his own Cosmo towards the heavens, where he knew his birth star shone and would soon fall to commemorate his death, he cried out loud for the entire universe to hear.

Please, if anyone's listening, please, I beg you, keep my friends safe! I'll give you anything you desire, just keep them safe until Athena grows up!

With that, Aiolos lost consciousness and fell into the cold embrace of Death.

Death is fair,

Death is kind,

Death is a dream

With no end in sight.

The old children's rhyme, lost to the sands of time, fell from Andromeda's lips as she repelled yet another attack from those pesky Hades' servants at her future Knight. She would've huffed, but if she did that, Mother and Father would scold her for improper behavior again.

No, she was not going to do that, even if those little pests kept annoying her to the point she honestly though about asking Perseus to go talk with his father and smite a few of them down. Shun was her Knight and Athena's future servant, not a placehold host body for a selfish bastard who didn't wasn't to risk anything in his fights with Athena!

Please…I beg you… I'll give anything… keep them safe…

Andromeda winced as her constellation glowed brightly in acceptance of the sacrifice moments later. This Cosmo was not of an ordinary man; it had to be a Saint, likely one of the higher-ranking ones judging by the power he managed to place into the projected voice. What was going on down on Earth?

"You heard it, too?"

Andromeda yelped and whirled around, her chains clattering as they formed the spirals of the galaxy named after her in the circle around her, before she relaxed as she recognized the face of the man that walked up to her.

"Ganymede! My gods, you scared me half to death!" Princess chided Zeus' cup-bearer, better known as Aquarius to the astronomers. She took in a few deep breaths to calm down her furiously beating heart, before facing the young, androgynous boy again. "And I might ask you, how did you hear it?"

"Chiron's brat has quite a set of lungs on him, for a mortal," Ganymede shrugged, shifting the urn he carried on his shoulder a bit so it would sit snugly between the shoulder and neck. "And he died saving Athena's current incarnation. Not bad, if I have to say so." With his other arm, he gestured outward, showing the small ball of golden light resting in his palm.

"Is that?" Andromeda gasped out, pattering over to Ganymede to take closer look at the ball. For a moment, the ball pulsed, forming an impression of a young, fourteen-year-old boy with dark hair and noticeable Grecian features.

"Sagittarius Aiolos," Ganymede confirmed with a nod. "The man branded as a traitor by the murderer, and the man willing to give up everything for his goddess, including his life and his brother's respect for him."

"Oh…" Andromeda's heart went out to the child that reminded her so much of her. Giving up so much, and only asking for the stars to watch over his friends? What a selfless, brave soul. If he hadn't been Sagittarius, he would've done well as Andromeda Saint. "But, what is he doing here? And how did you manage to keep him out of the Underworld?"

"Our resident crabby Karkinos helped me a lot, even if he doesn't know it," Ganymede smiled charmingly, carefully closing his fist around Aiolos' soul and moving him closer to his body. "You do know that every soul that dies outside Karkinos' time of patronage over Earth is sent through Praeserpe Cluster to the Underworld?"

"Oh, that's clever," Andromeda breathed, more than little impressed by the Aquarius' quick wit. The former Trojan prince was, in Andromeda's humble opinion, the second most beautiful personification of the twelve sun-bound constellations, but he was far more that simple beauty. The boy had been slotted to become a king one day, and after Zeus kidnapped him, he only kept hoarding knowledge of the gods' private deals. It was no wonder most of those born under Ganymede's patronage were so smart and creative. "You really think fast, Ganymede."

"Thank you." The faint blush dusted the boy cheeks at the praise from the older girl. "But, what should we do with him?"

Andromeda hummed, finding herself in a bit of a bind. "I'd gladly take him in as mine, but those brats keep destabilizing my Shun's Cosmo connection. I've even had to put it under a seal so they'd stop siphoning it off him!"

"Yes, I've seen it," Ganymede nodded with a scowl. "Astraea was this close to coming down and showing them when what a true god's power is." Andromeda shuddered at the rare display of anger from the Aquarius and the content of his words.

Astraea was the goddess of peace and harmony, hence her patronage over Virgo-born people. If she was angry with the servants of Hades… well, Andromeda would like to say she pitied the poor fools, but this was her Knight they were harassing. They deserved everything the skies had in store for them in her opinion.

"But that doesn't solve our problems. I dare no ask any of the other Zodiac signs – Chiron is still hiding from us, Amalthea's been rampaging over the Sun Temple ever since Shura sent out his first Excalibur attack on Aiolos, and the rest are just too stunned to react."

"Why don't you?" Andromeda suggested after a few long, uncomfortable moments of silence. "You have more than enough power to hold it out, and you and Chiron always had good relationship."

"I don't know," Ganymede sighed, bringing the ball of light up to his eye level to watch the fourteen-year-old sleep in a state of suspended animation. "I do have a Saint and a potential successor, so there's really no problems with changed allegiances. I do worry about who to put him with."

"Aquarius Ganymede," Andromeda started, her hands resting on her hips as she stared him down, "are you telling me you don't hold patronage over twelfth of the Earth? Over seven hundred thousand people call themselves Aquarians – you can find a good person to place our brave soldier with!"

"It's not the problem of putting him with someone, Andromeda!" Ganymede snapped, the urn on his shoulder shaking and a few drops coming dangerously close to spilling over. "I don't want to burden the child even more!"

"… What, are you talking about?" Andromeda asked slowly, dread pooling into her gut. The word child mixed in with the upcoming Holy War never meant anything good.

"I have the perfect person to place the soldier with, but she's only five years old," Ganymede confessed, seating himself cross-legged, mindful not to spill any of the precious water from his urn. "Not to mention her Cosmo is simply enormous. I had to dampen it so she wouldn't burn herself out experimenting with it! If I place Aiolos with her… I'm afraid I'll have to place the seal like you did on Shun. Human body is not meant to contain that amount of power."

Andromeda pursed her lips, trying to think of another solution that would not involve any more deified mortals or immortals. Sadly, she could think of none. Every other intervention would have to be run past either Hades or Zeus, and neither god liked Athena's soldiers. Hades had a long-standing grudge against them due to the fact they fought against them, and Zeus thought them impudent brats with too much power for flimsy mortals. Even with Aiolos' pure intentions and heroic death, the two conspirators ran a risk of being refused and Aiolos' soul being stuck in the Underworld for the eternity.

No, they'll have to take care of this themselves.

"I'll help you with the seal, and keep an ear out for the girl," Andromeda offered, playing with one of her chains – the one she had transformed into a defensive weapon. "I'm not letting a sacrifice like that go to waste."

"I… thank you, Andromeda," Ganymede whispered, bowing to the princess despite the fact he was far higher in the pecking order. "I owe you."

"You owe me nada, Ganymede," Andromeda shook her head, flipping her hair back and turning on her heel. "You owe Aiolos and that girl. By the way, what's her name?"

"Yelena," Ganymede smiled goofily as he processed Andromeda's acceptance of the mad scheme he cooked upon the spot when he spotted Aiolos' death. "Born as the Aquarius dies, closest friend of Hyoga, Aquarius successor."

Andromeda answered with silence and a raised thumb, before returning to her constellation to watch over Shun.

Natasha was rudely woken from her sleep by the incessant banging on her front door and her little Alexei's cries.

"Who?" she murmured, pattering blearily to the door, snagging a pocket torchlight from the desk and taking Alexei into her arms, who quietened the moment she hoisted him up. "Shh, zvyezdochka, mama is here."

"Ma-ma," Alexei babbled, waving his hands to her face, and Natasha smiled indulgently at him. "Ma-ma!"

The banging came again, and Alexei fell silent, piecing blue eyes Natasha hoped he would never grew out of focused unnervingly on the front door.

"Da?" Natasha called, approaching the door and opening it a smidge. "Who's there?"

"E!E!" Alexei cried, pointing at the threshold, and Natasha had to bite her tongue lest she swore in front of the children.

Kneeling in the ankle-deep snow was a tiny, blonde girl wrapped in a thick blanket. The amount of snow in her hair and wetness of the blanket spoke of the long time she spent outside, and Natasha's heart nearly broke as the girl shivered terribly, clutching the blanket.

"Hello, little one" she said, squatting down to the girl's eye level. "What are you doing here?"

"Mama i papa mertvy," the girl whispered. "Scary men came."

"Oh dear Lord," Natasha covered her mouth in horror. Her parents were dead, killed by 'scary men' – likely criminals, or maybe bratva. "Come in, sweetie."

The girl managed to stand up and stumble inside, but Natasha could see her legs threatening to give under her.

"Go to the couch," Natasha instructed her, turning to the bassinet she kept in the living to lay Alexei in. She'll need both of her hands to deal with the newcomer. "Tell me, have you drunk vodka before?"

"M-hm," girl nodded, shivering slowly subsiding. "Mama mixes it with my tea when I spend too much time outside."

"Ah, I see!" Natasha laughed, familiar with the ages-old remedy for the kids who liked snow too much. "Then I'll fix you up a cup, okay? And take one of the blankets from the couch," she added sternly. "That wet rag will only get you sick."

The girl obediently shrugged off her blanket, folded it with shaky hands, and turned herself into a living burrito with Natasha's blanket. Smiling softly, the woman removed the kettle from the stove, pouring the hot water over the chamomile teabag and adding a few drops of vodka to it. Alexei had stayed quiet – a bit unusual for him, considering he tended to be when woken from his naps – but Natasha was not about to complain.

"Here you go," she gave the mug to the girl. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Yelena," the girl murmured, freeing her arms to grab the mug, but did not drink from it immediately. "Yelena Plisetskaya."

That explained some things, Natasha thought wryly as she sat close to Alexei. The Plisetsky offshoot she knew of had nothing to do with shady business, but rumors surrounding Yuriy, Yelena's father, spoke of his father's cousins who were neck-deep in bratva's debt.

That did leave a question, though: why was Yelena alive? Bratva did not care much for the children of those they murdered – in fact, they often killed them to get rid of evidence and possible retribution.

"Okay, Yelena," Natasha said calmly. "How did you get out?"

The blonde girl blinked for a second.

"Out?"

"Away from the scary men."

"Oh." The girl took a gulp of the tea, not caring about the hotness as she closed her eyes. "My Master told me not to come back home early."

"Master?"

Natasha did not know what to think of the word. She knew Yelena was very young, and as such had no concept of slavery or any other nasty thing connected to that word, but she would find out why she used that word.

"He teaches me a lot," Yelena said quietly. "He told me not to come home, but I didn't listen," a little sob made past her lips, and Natasha was by her side in an instant.

The girl had just witnessed a terrible thing, and Natasha would be damned if she let her go through it alone. No one deserved that.

She would take care of Yelena. Alexei would love to have big sister.