DEAD MAN'S APPRENTICE
AUTHOR: Zpan Sven
E-MAIL: Zpan(underscore)Sven(at)hotmail(dot)com or zpan(dot)sven(at)gmail(dot)com
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Saint Seiya, only the characters of my creation, this story, and the alterations I have made to the characters, histories, ect. No profit is being made from this; this is being written solely for the enjoyment of myself and others whom like to indulge in the scenario of 'what if?'.
AUTHOR' NOTES: One of my infamous 'What If?' fanfics, where I take some of my ideas, an inserted character or two, the plot of an anime and throw them in the blender set on puree just to see what happens. Currently a one-shot but if I get enough feedback, I'll expand on it.
"Some believe it is the ability to speak that separates us from the animals…"
'I think, there for I am…'
:Our minds are as one…:
SUMMARY: Aioros is dead, a literal ghost, but he's not given up. He will protect his Goddess...he just had to find some help to do it in the form of a child who could actually see him. What's this? A dead man taking an apprentice?
RATING: T
WARNINGS: Mentions of violence, the occasional swear word.
GENRE: Action & Adventure/Drama/Supernatural/Humor
ARCHIVE: FanFiction(dot)Net, FicWad(dot)Com, Zpan Sven's Works, others please ask
Aioros smiled at the sight of his apprentice. His apprentice. Honestly, he had thought he'd have been well into his twenties before taking an official apprentice for his Cloth, just like his Master Alistair. But even dead, the Sagittarius Saint remained as faithful to his duties to Athena as he had when he have been alive.
And that included training his replacement.
Yumi was a worthy candidate for that, even though some of his fellow native Greeks and even a good deal of the European Saints would look down on the fact that not only was she of mixed heritage but because she was also female.
It had taken a while before Athena had allowed women to rejoin the ranks of her Saints. There had been one of Ares's Amazons hidden in the first group allowed to join, and the battle that resulted when Ares had sprang his sneak attack on the Goddess resulted in the deaths of many Saints and the Ophiuchus Gold Cloth had taken so much damage it had to be reforged as a Silver Cloth while many others became dormant for centuries, like the Andromeda Cloth.
His eyes flickered from Yumi, her face scrunched into a sullen scowl, was pulling weeds over to a handful of the boys Kido had gathered together. Kido was trying to train Saints and that unnerved Aioros; the old man meant well, Aioros was certain, but he wasn't doing these orphans much of a favor.
The training methods might be suitable for non-Saints, but without someone there to explain and teach them about harnessing their Cosmos, then the boys would be seriously behind others their age when they were sent off to train for Cloths. Unfortunately, the only one who could explain that to the old man was Aioros. And Aioros was dead and the only person who could see, hear, or interact with him was Yumi.
And as open-minded about Saints as he was, it seemed doubtful the old man would believe a little girl who told him she could see the ghost of a dead Saint, especially given the ghost would be criticizing his methods. Even if she was believed, the old man might then try to press Yumi into his training program and under that man – what was his name, Tatsumi? - who seemed far more inclined to harm the children rather then train them.
No, it was better that they didn't know about Yumi just yet. There was always the possibility of Saga finding out about what Kido was doing and if Aioros wanted to remain a secret, then Yumi had to be one too.
He knew Yumi didn't like it. She was proud to be his apprentice and didn't like that her Master's Cloth was in Kido's hands. She didn't like not being able to 'teach' Athena – or Saori, as Kido now called her – how to be a 'person' and not a 'spoiled brat'.
Aioros allowed himself a cringe. Athena was spoiled rotten and had no idea of who she really was. The boys training to become Her Saints were treated like objects, like toys, by their young Goddess. This was not how is was supposed to be, not how she was supposed to be raised.
But then again, Saga wasn't supposed to have been a traitor either. Sighing, Aioros looked back to his apprentice, who was furiously pulling weeds. And she was pulling them because of him – or more accurately, because he had broken the window of Kido's car with her soccer ball. It had surprised him when he had first learned that Yumi's grandfather knew Kido when the ghost had first started training her, but it was something he took advantage of. As it was, for the 'accidental' destruction of his property, Kido allowed her to make up for it by doing menial chores around his home.
Aioros found his attention captured by the appearance of Athena – Saori – in what Yumi had once told him was riding garb, carrying a riding crop. Unease settled in him and anger bloomed when the young Goddess used one of the boys as her horse. This was Kido's fault, Aioros thought angrily, for keeping her identity and true heritage away from her!
Yumi took them all by surprise though. She had thrown down the weed she been pulling and stood, basically announcing her presence before stalking over to the startled younger children. Without hesitation she shoved the young Goddess off the back of the boy – Jabu, was that his name? - and towered over her. With her short hair, boyish clothes and the fact she was grimy from her 'chore', Yumi almost looked like one of the trainees that Kido had 'collected'. Aioros watched, speechless in shock, at the blistering lecture his apprentice was giving their Goddess about how to treat another human being.
All eyes were on Yumi, some wide in shock, others in awe. And then Tatsumi shook himself and roared something loud and in Japanese too fast for Aioros's limited vocabulary to follow. Yumi whirled, automatically pulling Jabu and Saori behind her protectively even as the walking mountain of a man stormed over to them at full speed.
The ghost bristled as one ham-like fist rose; Jabu flinched back automatically behind the older child who stood with a straight back, squared shoulders, and defiant glare. Aioros looked around wildly for something he could throw or knock over into the man's path – dead or not, he still trained – when Kido intervened.
Sagging in relief, Aioros watched the exchange between little girl and old man as Yumi and Athena's – Saori's – 'Grandfather' exchanged words. Again the Japanese was too fast for him to fully understand, but what he was able to catch insinuated the girl would be speaking to her own grandfather – who held a great deal of those stock-things and was one of the few who knew of the trainees Kido collected – about the incident.
She had Aiolia's temper, something Aioros prayed she would out-grow swiftly, like he had always prayed – and still hoped Aiolia – would mature out of. He was grateful that her displays of impulsive actions were few and far between as she grew. Looking away, the ghostly Saint regarded the forms of his young Goddess and her future Saints. Of them, only the Seiya boy was a Sagittarius and given the animosity he displayed, Aioros wondered if the boy would even survive the 'official' training.
Would any of these boys? He was loathe to use their foreign blood and upbringing as strikes against them, but against 'officially' trained boys in Sanctuary? He didn't know. Maybe if they managed to land excellent or easy teachers.
And the odds of that, now that Saga was parading himself around as both old man Shion and Arles? They weren't in the favor of any future or active trainee; prior to Saga, any who weren't able to make it the level of Saint became one of the protectors of the Sanctuary, a guardsman and the lowest level of the army of Athena's warriors. But now...they would be lucky to survive to become Guardsmen, much less Saints. Of the hundred boys that Kido had collected and planned to send out, it would be almost a miracle for ten of them to become Saints.
And if Kido suspected that, the old man didn't let on.