Happy New Year everyone! :)

This is Yuni and I'm very excited to share my first SS fic with all of you! This is a story that I was planning to have ready for the New Year's Eve but I couldn't come up with anything good at the time, so I decided to upload this one now! The story is set thirteen years before the classic series and features the Gold Saints as kids. I hope you will enjoy it as much I did. Feel free to review! ^^

Last but certainly not least, special thanks to my wonderful beta reader Thrudgelmir2333, for helping me out! ^^

Disclaimer: Saint Seiya and its characters belong to Masami Kurumada.

Chapter 1

Sanctuary, 30 December 1973

A lone boy was walking towards one of the Zodiac Temples. A few minutes before the teen had been told by a servant that one of his fellow Gold Saints had asked to meet him in his Temple, saying that he had something important to discuss about. For this reason, Gemini Saga saw best not to wait and instead headed straight towards their meeting place in order to settle things as soon as possible. It didn't take long and soon he was standing outside the entrance of the ninth house. Without hesitating, Saga stepped inside where he was greeted by a smiling Sagittarius.

Ever since it was announced by Pope Shion that a new Pope was to succeed him soon, a fifteen year old Saga and the one year younger Aiolos both knew that it would be one of them to succeed Shion, since the only other person who could have succeeded him—Libra Dohko—was never present at the Sanctuary.

Consequently, Saga had started to develop bitter feelings for Aiolos, since he wanted to be the one to succeed Shion no matter what. Aiolos on the other hand, didn't seem to care much about which one of them would manage to succeed the Pope; he had tried to tell Saga many times he had no real stake, but the latter wasn't willing to listen to the Sagittarius, believing that Aiolos wasn't taking him seriously. This time however, the bandana-totting Gold Saint had decided to take matters in his hands and had invited the Gemini Saint to his Temple.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Saga asked with a serious tone in his voice. The teenager was clad in the Gemini's golden armor and his posture looked rather menacing.

It was usually considered courteous to wear the Cloth as an official garment in meetings between Gold Saints, but the two had known each other well enough to forego the habit in the usual encounters, or so Aiolos thought; his instinct must have been correct, then, and the Sagittarius' old friend probably now considered him an adversary.

A slight frown of unhappiness passed through his lips as a result. "First, let me thank you for accepting my invitation and coming to the Sagittarius Temple, Saga." Aiolos said in his usual friendly manner, "and secondly, if you don't mind me asking,...why the Gemini Cloth? It's just a meeting between friends." he questioned as he turned around to face him. Saga now noticed that Aiolos was wearing his regular clothes with a white apron on top.

The Gemini was confused, "I thought you told me you had something important to tell me and I assumed that—" he was cut off by the waving hand of a chuckling Aiolos.

"What, you probably thought that I had accepted your challenge to a duel?" the Sagittarius guessed. "I'm sorry but, I have no interest in competing against a friend-"

"You mean a friend with whom you've competed with all your life?"

"-for the role of the Pope!" Aiolos stressed, slightly sick of the constant climate of tension that had been built up between the two. "...Being the next Pope suits me about as much as a glove on a foot, so I don't want to fight with a friend over it." Such a reply was very typical of Aiolos.

"Then, why did you call me here?" Saga asked, unsure of what to make of his fellow Gold Saint's reply.

Aiolos wiped his hands in his apron, "I wanted to talk to you regarding the New Year's Eve." The Sagittarius who had been standing in front of a table, now moved aside, revealing that he had been preparing a cake much to Saga's surprise.

"A King's Cake…?" Saga remarked, looking at the Greek, sugar-topped cake on which Aiolos had put on powdered colors and the number of the New Year, 1974, written on it in deliciously dark chocolate. The cake and the image of the Sagittarius wearing an apron, brought a small smile on Saga's face, "you are certainly fond of keeping up traditions aren't you, Aiolos?"

"Yeah, he he…I cannot deny that," the teenager let a small laugh escape his lips.

"You did put a coin inside the cake, right?" the Gemini asked, referencing another tradition, and it seemed to Aiolos that Saga had put aside his rivalry with him for the time being. Apparently it was a good idea to remind his friend of something unrelated to the Sanctuary, something that brought the two together as friends.

And nothing was better than the celebration of the New Year.

"Yes, I did!" the Sagittarius replied enthusiastically, "I am sure our young comrades will have tons of fun searching for the gold coin." Aiolos pointed out, before explaining the reason why he had called Saga in his Temple. "You see, with my kid brother Aiolia and young Shaka joining our ranks, the Gold Saints are finally complete, and since the majority of them are still children I decided to celebrate this event by delivering gifts to all of them during the New Year's Eve. However, I promised Aiolia that tomorrow I would spend the entire day with him thus I can't really pose as Santa Claus, so, Saga, I was thinking…that maybe you could be the one to appear as Santa Claus to them."

The Gemini sighed, "Aiolos you know…as much as I would like to help you this is just not my kind of thing." While he understood Aiolos's reasoning and while it was true that their comrades were still youngsters who wanted to enjoy things that normal kids do, at the same time, Saga couldn't help but cringe at Aiolos' suggestion. A Gold Saint dressed as Santa Claus? That would be the most embarrassing moment in his life, who would take Saga seriously after that? His pride as Athena's Saint would be at stake. The Sagittarius knew that this would be his reaction, but believed that he could convince the Gemini to change his mind; it turned out that this was harder than what he had expected. "I'm sorry Aiolos, but I cannot help you."

Saga told the Sagittarius that he had to return to the Gemini Temple and asked if his friend needed anything else, "Nah Saga, you can go, thanks for listening to me anyways, I'll see what I can do." Aiolos replied, "If you change your mind you could try one of the costumes I bought..." Though Saga didn't reply; he just kept moving forward. When he was out of sight, Aiolos let out a sigh of disappointment.

"Oh well it can't be helped…I guess I'll just go with plan B." he pondered, scratching his head.

Sanctuary, 31 December 1973, thirty minutes before midnight

"What did you call us here for, old man?" a little boy with dark purple hair questioned; he was sitting sloppily on the right side of a couch. On the left side of the couch, was seated another little boy who was holding a rose with one hand and was rubbing his eyes with the other.

"You should be more respectful towards his Holiness, Cancer Saint." This time, a blonde boy sitting on the floor—in a meditative posture—addressed Deathmask.

"Says Mr. Closer-to-God! What good deed of humility made you so preachy?!"

A kid Aiolia who was also sitting next to the Virgo nodded his head; "I agree with Shaka, you can't just call the Pope an old man! My brother always says the Pope is the wisest man in all of Gree-"

"You two shut it. I don't wanna hear another peace-loving freak and a newbie lecturing me. It makes me sick in the stomach! Hey, say something Aphrodite!" Deathmask groaned.

But his friend didn't seem to care much about the Cancer Saint's little dispute as he had been struggling to keep his cyan eyes open the entire time. "I wanna go to sleep already…I'm tired…" the Pisces complained.

"Try to stay awake for a little more Aphrodite," The man sitting on a throne spoke, "otherwise you'll miss Santa and his gifts." The Pope's words caught the little boy's attention.

"Santa…? You mean Santa Claus…?" Aphrodite looked at the Pope—his beautiful eyes sparkling with curiosity. The man nodded, smiling. "He will be here soon, that's why I invited the Gold Saints to my chambers." Shion explained. Sitting on the opposite side of the Pope, a young boy with dark blue hair literally jumped off the couch, when he heard the Pope's words.

"Yay! I am gonna see Santa Claus!" he exclaimed happily.

"Sit down Milo, there's no need to get overenthusiastic about it." The teal-haired boy sitting next to him addressed his friend in a composed manner. The child was wearing glasses and had been reading a book quietly.

"Exactly, after all Santa Claus doesn't exist." Deathmask pointed out, "right Aphrodite?" he asked turning to his best friend.

"I think he's sleeping." The green-haired boy sitting on the couch between Deathmask and Aphrodite noted; indeed the Pisces Saint had rested his head on Shura's shoulder, snoring slightly. Seeing this, Deathmask cupped his hands around his mouth and leaned towards a sleeping Aphrodite shouting: "I said… Santa Claus doesn't exist, right Aphrodite?!"

His voice startled the sleeping Pisces awake. "Uhh, what? I don't know…" he said and leaned his head on the Capricorn's shoulder once again.

"Santa Claus does exist!" the Scorpio yelled angrily at his fellow Gold Saint. "He's gonna come and give us all presents and just coal for your socket cause you're a douche!"

"No he doesn't. Santa Claus is a myth that the grown-ups made up to trick stupid little kids like yourself!" Deathmask exclaimed with a smug smirk on his face.

"Take that back, snot-face!" Milo shouted pointing a red fingernail towards a relaxed Cancer Saint who didn't seem to flinch in the slightest. Instead, Deathmask crossed his arms behind his head and placed his legs on the table in front of him.

"Or else what? Ya gonna 'pinch' me to death? Sure, bring it on, just be careful not to break your only long nail." He commented, mocking Milo.

"Grrr, I'll show you! Scarlet…" Milo exclaimed as he was about to launch an attack towards Deathmask, but he stopped immediately when he heard the cries of a baby. A crib had been placed right next to the Pope's throne and this was where the cries were coming from. At the same time, Milo felt someone grabbing his arm; it was his best friend Camus. The Aquarius shook his head. Milo clicked his tongue.

The Scorpio now threw himself on the couch, crossing his arms, while glaring at a smirking Deathmask. Meanwhile, the cries of the baby could be heard from all corners of the room. Next to the crib was standing the taller and most muscular among the kids. "Shame on you guys, you woke Athena up." The Taurus Saint spoke.

Aphrodite put his hands over his ears, "Please make it stop…" he said as he was unable to sleep.

"This is all Deathmask's fault," Milo reminded with a frown.

The purple-haired boy shrugged his shoulders, "It's not my fault that you get upset so easily."

"Cut it out Deathmask, Milo." The Pope said calmly. "You are both Gold Saints, you shouldn't be fighting with each other. Besides it makes Athena sad," he stood himself up and lifted the baby girl from the crib. Shion held the little Goddess in his arms, "don't worry Athena everything's fine now."

When baby Athena had calmed down, Shion carefully handed her over to his disciple, Aries Mu, who was seated on a chair next to him, "Take good care of her," the Pope said with a smile before turning towards the rest of the Gold Saints. "No, Mu, don't rock her with telekinesis, use your hands." The Pope marked glancing at an old clock on the wall, "It's almost time. We should be cutting the King's Cake soon."

"Yeah, I'm sorry for worrying you, Athena." Milo apologized, feeling rather embarrassed for his earlier behavior, though the worst was feeling he was proving a certain Cancer's point. Deathmask also said he was sorry, but his words didn't convince the Scorpio. He would always apologize just to appeal to the Pope but afterwards he would cause trouble again. It was only a matter of time.

Author's Notes

A few things that you might find useful:

1) In Greece, Santa is supposed to bring the gifts on New Year's Eve, rather than on Xmas day (which is mostly the case in Western Europe.)

2) 'King's Cake' is actually called 'King's Pie' in Greece but it can be either a cake or a pie and it's known as Βασιλόπιτα (Vasilopita). It is a New Year's Day cake which contains a hidden coin which gives good luck to the receiver for the rest of the year.