Chapter 2

For more than twenty years living, Shaka was sure he had never kept his eyes constantly open for such a long time like this before. The light hurt his eyes, surprisingly, and his eyelids were as if screaming to him to let them shut. Though he never wanted to admit, he did feel fatigued.

It was the twenty third day since Mu came back from his mission, more precisely, was brought back by Aiolia. The Aries was no longer in coma but he was yet to fully regain consciousness. So far the best he could do was slightly squeezing back when Shaka held his hand or opening his eyes for a few seconds. And he had not realised his own condition, that was for sure, for the expression he had while sleeping was so peaceful, as of a child having a sweet dream.

All the other Saints were now familiar with the sight of Shaka sitting by Mu's bed whenever they came down to visit the Lemurian. No words were exchanged and no questions were posed but that simple action was all that needed for them to understand. If it was in their past days, some of them would absolutely not miss the chance to tease the in love guy, especially Aiolia and Milo, after all, it was the once in a million years opportunity to tease the man closest to God. But they knew, with the current state they were in, that was the humble happiness they might never experience.

Today like usual, Aldebaran and Aiolia dropped in to check on Mu after their training routine, asked Shaka some familiar questions to which he replied with non-progressed answers. But just a few minutes after they left, the Virgo heard loud footsteps echoed again, those coming from golden armor boots.

'Did you forget something?' Shaka asked in slight annoyance, did not even bother to turn around.

'Shaka, get your Cloth, the Grand Pope is summoning us.' Aiolia popped his head in, urging his friend.

'That is not an appropriate reason for this chaos, Aiolia. And I will read the report later, like I have been doing for the last three weeks.' The blond replied coldly. He had asked Shion for a leave to take care of Mu, and he remembered clearly that the Pope agreed to dispense him from meetings, average level missions and tasks on the training ground. Aiolia was supposed to learn it by now.

'This time is different.' The Leo confirmed, 'It's about Mu.'

-xx-

By some means, Shaka should feel relaxed as he could finally close his eyes for some moments. The amount of cosmo energy that he regained when closing his eyes did make him feel better, however it could not compensate the uncomfortable feelings of expecting what he might listen to in the next few hours. Sitting quietly waiting for Shion to finish their regular work summation, he was not sure if he wanted to know what came next.

'It's all for this week.' The Grand Pope stated as he re-arranged the paper and left them aside. 'Now I have something that I wish to discuss with all of you.'

Then, taking the Saints' silence as an agreement, he continued. 'I would like to hear your opinions about choosing a new Aries Saint.'

All the Saints probably had already expected that to come, nonetheless the words still startled them. It took them a while before Aiolia finally raised his voice.

'Is it too soon to discuss this matter, Your Holiness?'

'I have done everything within my ability to delay delivering to you that news.' Shion sighed. He leaned back to the armchair, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. 'You are all aware of how tense it is, the conflict between the Gods, another war can break out at any moment and we have to get ready for it. The Aries temple is the first and the most critical point in our defense, we cannot leave it off guard.'

'But Kiki is still too young for this task, Your Holiness.' Aldebaran said.

'Mu was of his age when he inherited the Aries Cloth.' Shion replied. 'But indeed, he may not be ready for this heavy duty. So I am planning to hold a contest, just like we traditionally do, to choose the one that deserve the Cloth. Kiki of course, as the disciple of the incumbent Aries Saint, will be one of the candidates.'

'But Your Holiness, that kind of contest is-'

'I know!' Shion roared, interrupted Aiolia's protest. The stiffness on his face and the harshness of his voice made the Leo Saint unable to speak. 'I know it is deadly and dangerous but that – is – what – it's – supposed – to – be.'

'Difficulty is what must be overcome if one wishes to achieve sainthood. All of you have faced it in the past.' The Grand Pope continued after some moments, with a now calmer voice. 'The contest will be held in two months from now, as I have discussed with Dohko. Any of you have different ideas?'

Aiolia was about to stand up and say something if not for Aiolos, who was sitting beside him, held his arm to keep him down.

'Don't be hasty.' The Sagittarius whispered to his younger brother. Aiolia did sit still, however did not forget to throw some deadly glares.

'Then, Your Holiness,' Milo raised his voice, 'what about Mu?'

'He is now the Aries Saint and still has the right to stay in the First Temple. But when the new Saint is chosen, he will have to leave, apparently.' Shion replied briefly. 'I will move him to Jamir, there he will be taken care of by the Lemurian doctors.'

'Your Holiness you cannot do that.' Aiolia stood up. 'It's an insult to Mu. He, in every way, still deserves the Aries Cloth, he has contributed so much to the Sanctuary, you cannot take away his Cloth when he's still unconscious.'

'He is and always will be one of the greatest Aries Saints.' Shion answered tiredly, his voice became low as he said the next words. 'He deserves the Cloth, but he can no longer use it.'

His words surely had silenced any arguments Aiolia was having in his head, and also of other Gold Saints, if they were having any. Cruel but true, Mu could never fight again. Despite everything he had done, how heroic and brave he always was, he now could not undertake the duty of a Saint anymore. The glorious days of one of the strongest Gold Saints had truly ended.

'Any other opinions?' The Pope asked, looked around at all the Saints in the room.

'I would like to help Kiki prepare for the contest, if possible.' Saga proposed calmly.

'I want to help Saga on this also.' Said Aiolos.

'That would be helpful, you two are our most experienced warriors.' Shion nodded. 'Then if there are no more suggestions or objections, you may all leave.'

Hearing his dismissal, all the Gold Saints stood up and took their leavings. Shaka too, calmly took his helmet and bowed before the Pope then headed out. Too abnormal to not get noticed by Shion, ever since the start of the discussion, Shaka had not uttered any words, and to Shion's observation, he did not even let out any small changes in facial expression either.

'Virgo Shaka.' Shion called after, making the mentioned Saint turn around. 'You do not wish to say anything about this matter?'

'No, Your Holiness, I do not.' Shaka replied calmly then bowed again, he left.

Shion's eyes followed him until his silhouette completely disappeared behind the doors.

.

'I cannot believe it, how could he be so heartless?' Aiolia shouted out angrily as he was walking down the stairs with Aldebaran, Shaka and Saga.

'I believe it hurt him tremendously too, to say those words.' Aldebaran said sympathetically. 'Mu and Kiki are like his family, he surely doesn't want to do it.'

'Yes he does not want to do it but he still does it anyways.' The Leo grunted.

'Save it, Aiolia.' Saga interrupted. 'He has to do it, for he is the Pope and he has to do the very best for the Sanctuary.'

Aiolia hissed, apparently still angry but he did not object. He knew Shion was doing the right things, it was just too heartbreaking for him. Looking to his side, he saw the Virgo Saint still walking quietly since they left the Pope temple. His senses hit him, Shaka was supposed to be the most indignant person upon hearing that news, yet he still managed to walk around as if nothing had happened.

'Hey Shaka,' The Leo called. 'What do you think about it?' His question also caught the attention of Saga and Aldebaran, who probably were also having the same query.

'About what?'

'About Mu's issue, of course.'

'I do not think there are any issues with Mu.' Shaka replied nonchalantly.

'What? Shaka, you know that he will be leaving, right?' Aldebaran said, unable to hide the surprise in his voice.

'He won't be leaving.' Shaka stated coldly and all three other Saints looked at him with either astonishment or suspicion.

'You weren't hearing what the Pope said? Mu will have to leave after they successfully choose the new Aries Saint.' Aiolia asked in disbelief.

'I said, he will not be going anywhere.' Shaka repeated with a strangely low voice. His expression remained unchanged, his eyes still closed but his voice made Aiolia and the others wondered.

At that moment, was Shaka really talking to them?

-xx-

Just minutes after Shaka left the Aries temple for the Pope's request, all the nurses also left as they were out of working hours. Not long after that, Kiki was summoned by Shion and had to leave unwillingly. Thus, only Mu was left there in the immense temple.

The Aries was supposed to continue sleeping peacefully until his Virgo friend got back. But instead of that, he woke up. For the last three weeks, when Shaka never let him out of his eyesight for more than ten minutes, the best he could do was just opening his eyes for a few seconds, but now as he was all alone, his consciousness came back to him for the very first time.

Pain, brutal and severe pain was the first thing he felt. All over his body, on his skin and underneath, every part was as if being stabbed by hundreds blades altogether. He tried to turn to his side but as he slightly moved his neck, his nerves were almost exploded with all the signals of pain they received. It took him several minutes to wait for the ache to calm down before trying any other movements.

So his neck was broken, it was the first thing he learnt.

Next, Mu tried to move his hands and arms. He felt his fingers moving but his arms are so heavy he could not lift them up even an inch. 'Broken arms, too.' He bitterly thought. Then he slowly opened his eyelids. Darkness was everything he saw.

At first, the thought of losing his eyesight crossed Mu's mind but he quickly relieved himself that it was perhaps because it was dark outside. He had lost the sense of time and he could only guess that it was at night so everybody probably had turned off all the lights and was currently sleeping. He considered resting in his bed and waiting a few more hours until the morning but the sudden thirst in his throat did not let him pass. So again he tried to move.

This time it did not hurt him terribly like the first attempts. Mu could move his shoulders and his arms a little bit now. There must be water somewhere near his bed, possibly on the small table on the left side. So holding firmly on the sheet to get support, Mu gained all his strength to turn his body to the left side. But he only half-succeeded, he was now lying on his side but it was only his torso, he did not feel his legs moving.

Mu tried again and again but his condition did not process. Irritated with the thought of having even broken legs too, Mu desperately tried to sit up and reached out for the table but as soon as he lifted up his torso and leaned forward, he immediately lost his balance and fell down. His feeble body did not allow him to do anything to prevent the fall from happening, his head hit the ground, followed by the pain in his arms and shoulders. And again, it took from him a long time to deal with the soreness before he could manage to move.

His hands groped around, struggled to find a way to sit up. Then on the way, he hit something soft and clothed. According to the position of his hands, it was his legs. So he did completely fall out from the bed.

'How pitiful.' Mu thought. Then suddenly, something struck his mind.

He did not feel any pain on his legs.

.

[tbc]

Thank you for reading, in case you still follow this story. You have my deepest apology for the late update, I will try to update more regularly in the future.