Past and Future
Summary: Every 250 years, Athena and her Saints reincarnate to protect the Earth from great peril. This time, though, the Great Cycle has been cracked in many points. Shounen-ai, some original characters, a distorted Destiny.
Disclaimer: Saint Seiya © Masami Kurumada. This plot and some of its characters are my creations. Please do not use them without permission.
I - Inheritance
I remember my father telling me stories about him. He was very proud of his 'nii-san'; always remembering how strong he was, how he'd saved him so many times. I guess I never really believed on that, for I considered dad the strongest man on Earth. (Time would show me I was wrong, much later, but that's another story.) But if there was one thing I couldn't understand was when my father said Uncle Ikki was very caring, and had a big heart... I couldn't see how that distant man could care for someone. As a child of six, I never got too attached to him, perhaps because I didn't have time to do so.
Ironically or not, the turning point of my life came with his death.
I remember that my father didn't believe it when they told him the bad news. He said something about Uncle Ikki being the Phoenix, and that he would come back from the ashes as he had always done, they'd see.
We waited for an entire month. But he didn't come back.
My father started acting strange. Later, mother would tell me he nearly killed himself when he realized Uncle Ikki had left us for good. It took her much effort to pull him back to sanity, and today I wonder if she succeeded, after all.
His body was never found; even so, the Foundation decided to pay a last homage for him on a small ceremony (my mother didn't want much commotion - she knew Uncle Ikki wouldn't, nor my father). It was just us, some friends of my parents, a few guys from the Foundation and the orphanage. Quite a boring thing for a little girl. That is, until I saw the angel.
It was a tall man, not as tall as Uncle Ikki but surely taller than dad, and he had very fair hair and a white, long coat with grey fur on the neck. He stood there, at the door, and the sunset light behind him added to the angel effect. When he came closer, I noticed he hadn't shaved for a couple of days... but what got my attention then were his eyes: the palest blue I'd ever seen, and so sad, so sad.
My father, who had his eyes turned to the floor all that time, suddenly lifted his head when the stranger/angel came in our direction, and I noticed his eyebrows going up, and his eyes opening wide and getting moist. I looked at mother; she was looking at the stranger as well, following him with her eyes till he stopped right in front of father.
The two men didn't exchange a single word.
They just hugged each other very tight, and cried.
Later on, my mother would tell me the "angel" was actually the Cygnus Saint. He and my father had fought together many times, and were close friends; but one day Cygnus went back to his homeland Russia, and they lost contact for years. I remember asking why she didn't like him; that was the impression I had when she spoke of him. She never answered, but I came to understand long after her death.
She was jealous, and had all reasons to be.
That would be the last day I saw my father. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, and finding my mother sitting on the floor beside the phone desk, crying. He'd left us.
The next day, we packed and left Japan. Nothing linked her to that place anymore, she said. And that was how we came to what would become my second and last home. Andromeda Island."
"Uncle Ikki was never very close to us. Most of my memories of him are that of a serious, quiet man, very tall and quite gloomy. I never saw him truly smile, though sometimes I saw him grin to my father. He used to visit us once in a lifetime, back in Tokyo, disappearing then to God-knows-where he lived.
"Reading the old thing again, June?"
The girl closed the book quickly, turning to the door. Her brother stood there, sulky as usual, his greenish hair held back by a strip of cloth, arms crossed in front of his lean body. She wondered if he resembled Phoenix Ikki, but then, their ancestor hadn't left any pictures with the diary. Of course, after nearly ten generations they wouldn't be on a very good condition, especially considering the hellish climate of the island. "I like Esmeralda's story. What's wrong with that?"
The boy snorted. "Well, you've read it so many times that I thought you already knew everything by heart."
"I expected you to be more interested... she's written much about the previous Chamaleon Saint. Besides, mother named us after Esmeralda's parents, so I though--"
She wasn't able to finish her phrase. The dogs started barking loud and excitedly, which they usually didn't.
The twins ran out of the small hut in which they lived, rushing to the front. "Spica! Leda! Quiet! What's wrong with you?!" while the girl went to calm down the animals, her brother directed his eyes to the small figure approaching them.
"We have a visitor" he hissed to his sister, not at all satisfied with the situation.
She watched as the aforementioned visitor came to the light of her brother's small lantern: it was an extremely wrinkled, ancient sir, whose clothes made her think of an old chinese. "Old Master" she breathed, surprised.
"Good night, June, Shun" he said on a calm, paused tone. "Excuse me for appearing this late in the night and without warning."
"It's okay, Master" Shun answered while inviting him inside, still not showing much happiness. "But if you came all the way from Rozan, it means trouble. Am I right?"
"Shun, where are your manners, please!" June scolded him. The old man laughed.
"He is right, young one, he is right" and then becoming serious again "Yes, I guess there is trouble, yes. I... have a feeling that the events from the last war are starting to repeat themselves."
The brothers exchanged a worried look. "Our Goddess...?"
"No, she is still securely guarded in Japan. The Pegasus Saint is there, but..."
"... but..." Shun hated mysteries.
"The Sanctuary."
Oh well, thought the twins together. So, that meant the cycle would repeat itself exactly the same way it had 250 years before? Were they supposed to fight the Gold ones? Then the Marinas? Then the Spectres? Just like every other generation of saints?
"No, young ones, no" the Old Master read the doubts on their faces, and forced a smile. "It shall be different. It already is."
His small eyes moved to the two metallic boxes hidden under a desk on one corner of the room. They started to glow, seeming to recognize the old man's gaze. The twins immediately picked up the boxes, which opened. From inside, blinding lights revealed the metallic forms of a chamaleon and the chained body of a woman. The first one shined beautifully, but wasn't comparable to the nearly divine splendour of the latter.
The Old Master's eyes twinkled with nostalgia when he saw the two youngsters fully Clothed. "You remind me very much of my dear friend Shun."
June smiled, feeling the chains rest confortably inside her hands. "The previous Andromeda Saint..."
"... And our great-great-great-great-great-grandfather." The current Shun added, playing with his whip.
"You missed two 'greats'!" his sister noticed, and the three of them laughed.
Old Master was the first to stop. "That reminds me of my age... and that I should go back to Rozan. There is a certain Libra Saint who might visit Meiling while I am not watching, and I am afraid there will appear little chinese in my house if that happens."
"Wait, Master! What about us, what should we--"
"Go to Japan as soon as possible" the old man interrupted them. "Once the five Kamei are reunited, you shall know what to do." Even though I fear our nightmares will start as soon as it happens, he thought, and left the hut with June soon behind him.
"Old Master?" the girl's gentle voice reached him again. "Does that mean you are going there as well, to bring the Dragon Kamei?"
He turned his little body to her again, seeming to ponder for a while. Then, wrinkling his eyes even more with a smile, he shook his head, and teleported.