Characters: Kido Saori, Pegasus Seiya
Rating: green
Disclaimer: Saint Seiya does not belong to me, of course.
Of nights and farewells.
Part one: Seiya and Saori.
Sun was falling on Tokyo, in that day of late summer. Sunset spilled itself peacefully, suffusing everywhere over the city. Tokyo never stopped, not even in the most tranquil hours of the day; that comings and goings of cars and existences, like swarming little ants always hard-working, doing no matter what and never tired to, would make of the modern capital a never sleeping but always busy city.
Tokyo was deaf to its manifold noises.
Whereas Kido mansion, immersed in the deep wood surrounding it, emerged like a far world of its own. A world set apart, where the loud echoes of the near city would come almost as postponed by space and time. All around the impressive mansion an unnatural quietude wrapped everything up. It felt like there was a gentile touch of light infusing with harmony that atmosphere of calm solitude.
People ignored it, but it was the Cosmo of a divine maid to evoke that feeling of peace.
Saori sat at her piano, in the large room which opened on a balcony. From it the twilight slipped in gently, softening the austere look of the inside. A light breeze blowing from outside was slowly moving the white silk curtains.
The maiden, who had come back from Greece just few days before, began to play instinctively. She played few notes of a sad melody, soon resounding in the air. Her delicate skilful fingers just skimmed the black and white keys, composing a free sound of even pace.
As the melody carried on, she let her mind go back to what had been her life in the last past months. So many things happened to her: all of a sudden, she had to change from the normal girl she considered herself to be, into the Goddess she really was meant to. She had to pass through so much hurt and troubles, the battle to gain her Sanctuary, her true home; the loss of those faithful youths who had fought for her but also against her. And the very last battle against Poseidon, another dowel, unexpected and painful yet necessary step forwarding her awakening as a Goddess.
To restore peace in Sanctuary, her true home, to awaken her divine consciousness, was it a price worth for?
She kept on questioning herself if all the pain and the struggle she had been through, and put through so many lives, was really a sacrifice to be requested from those innocents.
Yet did she not doubt the importance and deep meaning of the proves which took her to be more aware of her true self. Because, she knew it, all those who had died for her to become the real Goddess she was, had done it in order to make her ready for the very next battle against another God, Hades.
Athena's very final enemy.
There was no time or space for such doubts, though. She frowned as she clearly felt it, the feeble effort of the her ancient seal crackling, unharmed against the strokes of that pure ebony powerful Cosmo. And she was ready, she had to. For all those who had died for her, and the ones who still fought by her side, she had to be prepared for the coming battle against Hades.
Her fingers on the piano hesitated a long instant, this made it overload the sound of a note that was meant to be very short, instead. The aching crackles of the seal, fading sacred letters on an ancient piece of paper were crumbling because of that dark, impetuous force.
She did not want to lose that battle, she could not. This would have meant the eternal defeat of humankind, whereof she represented the silent, invisible yet tangible decisive hope.
She breathed deeply, her fingers slid on the row and the keys vibrated rhythmically as she impressed on them a new shade of faster pace. She started again to play, and as the sound was coming on she let the music flow through her, entering her body from the black and white keys. She paused again, a frown cast a shade on her smooth forehead, Saori's hands trembled at the awful thought of losing one of them again. Was this a sign she had not wholly awaken as the Goddess? She was ready to sacrifice herself for the love and peace of earth, but to lose another of her warriors, of her friends…
This time was different.
She felt it from the bottom of her heart. If there was a possibility to prevent them risking their lives, she would find that way.
As she stopped in order to regain her nerve, leaning to reach the score, someone opened the grand door of the room, a pair of big brown and too much honest eyes peeked inside, a bit inquiringly. He glimpsed her important silhouette, and remained there to stare for some time silently, from the small chink he himself had opened, then Seiya entered without a noise as not to disturb the musical act the maiden was enjoying.
Their eyes met and they shared a fleeting glance, just few seconds, then Seiya moved forward and sat down on a comfortable armchair, in the center of the room. He literally sang among the morbid tissue pillows, there he stood in silence, listening to the beautiful music she was still playing.
Seiya was neither keen nor competent of that kind of music; such a boisterous exuberant character of his, he found himself more at easy with modern rock sonorities. He used to face solitude with the good company of his beloved guitar.
Seiya, always so joyful and affectionate; sometimes his genuine verve could be mistaken for arrogance. But he was the one the distant stars were watching over, casting upon him their benignant light which would guide his steps till the very end,
Despite of his young age, Seiya had grown much more mature those past months. So much overbearing and lively he used to be, so invincible and powerful had he felt when he first wore his Pegasus cloth, as much as brave and noble he became afterwards. The tragic proves he faced turned him into a much more mature and conscious youth.
All for her.
He was thrown into an arena upon which artificial lights spread their dim glow: those metallic eyes had observed him greedily, plenty of strangers had watched his fights without any scruples as it was just another fake show. There, she forced him to harness the legendary winged horse, stooped and following the mood of hers.
All for her, the Princess.
He accepted because of her sister: Seika was his only family left and he suffered the separation from her much more than anything else. The girl, he came to know, disappeared after he had been sent to Greece, and Seiya thought that given to Kido's influence and means, through Galaxian Wars' worldwide resonance he would have had more chances to find her. That was the only good reason for him to accept to take part in that disgraceful show.
At least, he had thought so initially.
But then, everything changed: a brand-new intimate awareness raised within himself; his spirit as a Saint awoke, his Cosmo recognized faithful companions in the battlefield, brotherly friends. His heart as a Saint revealed to him the boundless love due to his goddess.
That detestable, spoiled, touchy little girl! Who would have ever known that she would turn into that divine creature, the delicate maid who was hiding in her soul the entire universe. So warm and bright, so huge and including: Athena's Cosmo, the goddess he would immolate his life to.
The notes from the piano flew gently through the air, now restored by the evening coolness. They reached the youth straight and implacable. Seiya received them as they were words from an arcane prayer: a whispered chant from his goddess.
Yet, was it not a prayer dimmed with sorrow, nor was in there any despair. Quite the opposite: it was a silent invocation, filled with hope, the trusting call of her: Athena.
He had already realized that the bond he felt towards his Goddess went too far the common duty and loyalty expected from a Saint.
An ephemeral limit separates friendship from love. It is vague and invisible like the ocean's line, which divides - sometimes confusing them- the sky from the sea. That limit is so fleeting and easy to cross that often it confuses feelings and emotions, it melts them up, giving no chance to decode them, or time for discovering them step by step. It is so common for youths to be puzzled by it, so they try everything they can to find more about, minding not the consequences of their acts. After all, isn't this one of the most charming privilege of their age?
Yet, neither were Seiya nor Saori simple youths to be struggling with the bewildering discovery of those kind of things.
Nay, they were so but something else, as well.
Both Seiya and Saori could not but stare at that limit from a safe distance, even though it was so ephemeral, so terribly captivating; anxious yet completely still, each of them standing on the opposite bank of the river which flew between.
They weren't simple youths at all.
Athena, Virgin Goddess and warrior, equally loved her Saints, like a caring mother did with all her children. Athena's love was the balance that kept the existences of those devoted youths in equilibrium above life and death.
And Seiya, loyal Saint ready to sacrifice himself for his Goddess, like all the holy warriors nourished his Cosmo of that love. For the rest, for everything that could not be told, everything that could not be expressed in a different way, he contented himself with experiencing brief moments of innocent complicity, like the one he was living right now. He pacified himself with that silent bond established by the latest painful events they had been through; he treasured the true friendship they shared, for it was deeply sealed in the intimate euphony of their Cosmos.
He did not expect anything else.
The sound ceased, the very last note disappeared slowly among the sturdy strings, hidden within the polished wooden tail of the piano. Saori got up and calmly walked to the large balcony. Seiya followed her, silently. Then, there they stood together, observing the sky getting colored by soft twilight shades.
Seiya rested his hands on the white painted parapet, a light pleasant breeze was ruffling his hair.
"So… you're leaving for Sanctuary, tomorrow."
The youth suddenly pointed out, breaking the silence of that late summer's evening.
The maiden nodded.
"Yes, I am. It's time for Athena to go back home."
She said faintly, keeping her eyes firmly up to the sky.
"It'll feel so strange, not having you here 'round Kido's."
Saori lowered her gaze a bit, she contracted her rosy lips forming on her face a sketchy grimace, which could reveal a sort of undisguised sadness.
Home.
Home, she repeated that word more than once to herself.
The place her grandfather took her, when she was just an infant, that was her home. There she grew up. There she collected her memories, as a child and then a girl. There she said goodbye to the man she had loved as a grandfather, in that grand home. She could not but feel a very sharp regret in leaving the house full of bittersweet memories she had lived in as Saori.
And, even though Athena wished and hurried to go back to Greece, she could feel a sort of melancholy coming from her divine will.
Nevertheless, she was about to say goodbye to her up to present life.
Farewell, Kido Saori.
"And you, Seiya? What are you going to do from now on?"
She asked, striving for not to reveal to the youth beside her the too human torment she was struggling with. She felt it was something unavoidable, something presaging a crucial changing for her. She turned towards him. Seiya's profile was still the one of an adolescent, his traits were almost childish. But the look in his eyes, still gazing at the first crepuscular stars of the day, that look was one of a mature holy warrior of Athena. It showed all the suffering he had been through but at the same time it was shining bright of its immortal hope.
"I'll start again with Seika's research. I want to go and trace her steps, from the day she left the orphanage to the moment she was lost nowhere."
He firmly admitted his future intention, and Saori noticed the way he clenched his grasp on the white wood, as the painful memory of her lost sister had come to his mind.
"I am sure you will find her."
Saori said to encourage him, and because she really believed that.
"And when you find her, do not leave her anymore. For no reason in the world."
Those words, the maiden had pronounced so warmly to him, caught his attention and Seiya turned his head towards Saori. The maiden's eyes shone much more brighter than any other far away star. The same eyes which once had looked at him with scorn, challenged him with cruelty, those beautiful eyes she now sweetly laid into his own were not Kido Saori's dark eyes: the colour of the clear blue sky of Greece had painted of its own intense tint the irises of hers: Glaukopis Athena.
Seiya smiled, a wide cheerful smile of his.
"I can't."
He simply said, still looking into her deep blue eyes.
"When I find my sister, that will be the happiest day of my life."
He calmly added, noticing the imperceptible reaction of curiosity appeared upon the maiden's face.
"But.." he began to explain, turning towards her with his body, as well, "… I won't remain with her. Because my life belongs to you, to Athena."
Saori did not reply to that veiled confession, coming both from the Saint and the youth's heart. But Seiya knew what she felt, as he could admire it from those stunning blue painted eyes of hers, which brimmed with emotions, amazement, gratitude, and…
The next day, Saori would leave for Greece.
There she would feel home.