Unexpected

by Plantress

Ptolemy, a Silver Saint has taken a recent interest in a young woman from Rodario, unaware that there is an enemy plotting against Sanctuary that it will be up to him and the rest of the Silver Saints to stop.

3. Chapter 3

"So," Asterion said conversationally as he slowly circled his opponent, "I heard you have a girlfriend now!"

"What!" Ptolemy sputtered, going bright red. Asterion had timed his words so that they came just as Ptolemy was throwing his punch. With him distracted the Hound Saint was easily able to block the punch and land a solid kick to his stomach in retaliation. The Sagitta Saint went flying backwards with a faint 'oof' but managed to get his legs under him and skid to a stop without fully losing his balance.

"Where did you hear that?" he demanded.

"Oh, just around," Asterion answered as he shifted his stance into a slightly more offensive one. "Everyone knows you been making nice with that cute little girl down in the village."

"She's not Ilittle/i!" Ptolemy charged him again. The two Saints exchanged a couple of punches. Asterion notices that something in Ptolemy was still off balance, and aimed a punch at him. As the other Saint when to block that, Asterion switched to a kick at the last second. Ptolemy's eyes widened and he moved to block but he wasn't able to absorb the full force of the blow. Still, he had enough thought to roll with it and come up mostly unharmed.

"She is still cute," Asterion said cheerfully, "and you can't deny that you been spending any awful lot of time with her…"

"Because she's a friend!" Ptolemy retorted, quickly aiming a kick at Asterion. The Hound Saint wasn't able to fully dodge it and grunted as he took the blow. He staggered a bit, more than what the kick should have caused him to do.

"A very pretty friend," Asterion said, still grinning. "One that you seem to be awfully interested. Come on, you can tell me! It's perfectly natural for a guy to be interested in a pretty girl!"

"..Okay fine, I like her. Now will you shut up about it!" Ptolemy rushed forward again; face red with embarrassment as he tried to press home the advantage he thought he had. Asterion waited until the last second then dodged, aiming a blow at Ptolemy's face. The younger Saint blocked it with a grunt, looking annoyed.

"Then why haven't you asked her to be your girl?" Asterion said, smirking a little. "What, scared to?"

"I'm a Saint; I'm not scared of anything!" Ptolemy shouted as he charged again. He was becoming more reckless. Asterion knocked away his clumsy attack and drove a knee into his stomach, knocking the air from the Sagitta Saint. Ptolemy grunted as he went down, try to catch his breath.

"Then why haven't you asked her yet?" Asterion said. "You could at least invite her out for a meal. If you don't make a move soon I'm sure someone else will. She is very cute after all."

"Be quiet," Ptolemy growled. "Why do you think you know so much about it anyway? I don't see you with a girlfriend!"

"Just because I don't have one right now it doesn't mean I couldn't get one if I wanted. There just hadn't been a girl that's that I've found interesting enough for me to be serious about."

"Well that would explain a lot," Ptolemy said then smirked, "like all the rumors I keep hearing about you and Moses!" Asterion feigned surprised as the other Saint rushed him.

"Really?" He said then smirked as Ptolemy. "Well rumors are rumors," he said as he dodged to the side, then grabbed Ptolemy's arm and flipped the other Saint. Ptolemy grunted as he slammed into the ground and Asterion placed a foot lightly on his chest. "But rumors are only words, and I've heard all that before."

Off to the side, Moses chuckled from his perch on a rock he had been observing the fight from.

"You'll have to get up a lot earlier to best Asterion in head games," he said. "You fall into his traps far too easily Ptolemy. You need to learn to keep your temper."

"But he's learning," Asterion said as removed his foot and offered the other Saint a hand up. "He's much better than he was before!"

"Would you two stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Ptolemy grumbled.

"Sorry," Asterion said and gave him a friendly slap on the back. "Ready for another round or you want to call it a day?" Ptolemy snorted.

"Like that would be enough to wipe me out! I could go all day!"

"Well then, let's hope that…"

"Lord Asterion!"

All three Saints turned at the shout.

"What is it?" Asterion said to the guard that had called him. He was wearing fancier armor than the regular guard that patrolled around Sanctuary, which meant he was one of the elites that stood guard up in the temple at the top of the hill. The Hound Saint was wondering what could have brought him all the way down here.

"Lord Asterion, the Pope wishes to speak with you," the man said, snapping to attention. "This message is of the utmost importance. You are to proceed to the temple immediately."

"The Pope?" Moses hopped down off his rock. "Asterion you had better get going…"

"I know," the Hound Saint said. "Sorry Ptolemy, looks like we'll have to finish it some other time."

"It's fine," Ptolemy waved him off. "I'll kick your butt some other day. Now get going, you don't want to keep the Pope of all people waiting!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Moses, take over for me would you? He could use the practice!" Asterion took off, leaving Ptolemy shouting something after him. He ignored it as he puzzled over what reason the Pope could have for calling him. It was far too early for him to be asking for a report about the new trainees and Asterion honestly couldn't think of anything else he had done that would have attracted the attention of the leader of Sanctuary. He hadn't been on any missions, no one had expressed any disappointment with his teaching methods, and even the guard seemed to have no idea what he had been sent. His surface thoughts were mostly annoyance that he had been forced to come this far to find him. Not wanting to have to push any further into someone's head over something so petty, Asterion returned to his own private thoughts as he continued his jog up to the mountain.

Getting up through the twelve temples was easy enough when he had the guide with him. Just a mention that he was responding to the summons of the Pope was enough to clear even the most stubborn of Gold Saints out of the way.

At the top, both Asterion and the messenger slower their steps. Despite Sanctuary being a clan of warriors, its center was still a temple. Asterion had only visited it a few times and each time he felt a sort of strength from the building. He wasn't sure exactly what it was he was sensing from the building. The servants that worked inside the temple and even the other Saints that visited it didn't seem to feel the kind of awe for it that he did. They respected it, and even seem to be affected by its age but it didn't seem to press on them as much as did him. It wasn't just the Cosmo of the place either. When he thought about it, it really seemed to be his own abilities picking up on the countless memories and emotions that were attached to this place. It had been here so long that would explain the weight of what he was picking up.

"Lord Asterion?" the messenger said. Asterion realized belatedly that he had actually stopped moving.

"..Let's go," he said and started walking ahead. The messenger gave him a puzzled look but didn't say anything more. Asterion didn't want to pry either so kept his shields up.

Unsurprisingly the man led him towards the center of the temple and the Pope's audience chamber. What did surprise Asterion was that there was another man waiting by the closed, massive, double doors.

"Lord Asterion, Lord Albiore, I will inform the Pope that you have arrived." The messenger bowed, and then left. There was a moment of silence and the two men gave each other measuring looks.

"..Cepheus Albiore?" Asterion said finally, breaking the cautious silence.

"Yes?" The other Saint looked at him faintly suspiciously.

"Canis Asterion," Asterion said and offered his hand for the other Saint to shake. He hadn't meet Albiore before but he knew him by name and reputation. "I didn't think that you had come back to Sanctuary."

Albiore hesitated a moment then reached forward to shake his hand warmly. "I hadn't known that my reputation preceded me," he said with a half smile. "I just arrived in response to a summons from the Pope."

"Any Silver Saint who has managed to earn the respect of the Gold Saints is talked about," Asterion grinned. "I was surprised to hear that you had volunteered to leave Sanctuary to teach."

"I like teaching," Albiore said. Asterion could sense there was more to his words but he didn't want to pry, not when it was to simply satisfy his own curiosity. That was abusing his powers in ways his Master would have had his head over.

"I suppose we are alike," he said instead. "I've been put in charge of the new recruits just brought to Sanctuary and I'm finding that enjoyable."

"Really?" Albiore looked rather interested. "Are there any promising recruits?"

"A few. It's still too early to tell with most of them thought. I'll train them for another half a year, then the ones that are coming along will be sent to their own masters to be…"

"My Lord Saints?"

Both of them looked over at the messenger, who bowed to them. "The Pope is ready to see you now," he said.

Albiore and Asterion both straighter their postures slightly as the messenger threw open the double doors and gestured for them to go through. Asterion lagged behind and let Albiore take the lead as they walked into the Pope's audience chamber. This is was a smaller affair than the big throne chamber towards the center of the temple.

It was also set up to intimidating. The Pope sat on a throne atop a tall balcony nearly a full story above those who he was speaking too. Asterion sometimes wondered if that massive gap was truly necessary before reminding himself that the Pope was the one who spoke for Lady Athena. It was only natural that he stood above the mere Saints. That was how it had been for as long as he could remember.

As they entered the Pope was already in place. He and Albiore crossed to the edge of the audience balcony and went down on one knee.

"My Lord Pope," they both muttered respectfully, Albiore speaking a beat behind him.

"Raise," the Pope said after a moment, the chamber carrying his voice easily. "Thank you for responding promptly."

"Of course," Albiore said.

"You are most likely wondering why I called the two of you here," the Pope said. "I will try to make this as brief as I can so that you may start. I have a mission for the two of you."

"A mission?" Asterion couldn't help asking. This was surprising. Lately the Pope had been keeping him here to continue his work with the group. "What sort of mission, Lord Pope?"

"To outward eyes this will be a minor mission but it may contain a threat that affects all of Sanctuary itself."

"What?" Albiore and Asterion glanced at each other before looking back up at the Pope.

"I hope that this is nothing as dangerous as I fear, but I do not want to be caught off guard. As you maybe aware, Sanctuary has operatives and contacts in many countries across the globe," the Pope continued as if he hadn't heard their outburst. "A few days ago we received a worrying report from one of those contacts in Spain. There was an attack on a museum there, and according to his report there was security footage of two men breaking into the building. Two men who tore down the wall with their bare hands in order to get inside."

"Rogue Saints?" Albiore asked.

"We are not sure yet," the Pope answered. "That is why we are sending the two of you over to Spain to take care of this. The agent that brought in the contact's concerns will take you too him. You are to determine if this is truly caused by a Saint who has dared gone rouge and take care of him if that does prove to be the case. We cannot allow someone who would act so selfishly on their own desires to continue to bear the title of Saint!"

"Yes, Lord Pope," Asterion muttered along with Albiore. But something was making him uneasy. There was a faint tension in the air as the spoke those last words that made the hair on the back of his neck prickle. This wasn't the first time he had felt something like this from the Pope, and it always made him uncomfortable. Like there was something wrong with the Pope…

Stop it, he told himself firmly. It's not your place to worry or doubt the Pope. You are to obey an order; that is all. Then he paid close attention to the rest of what the Pope was saying.

"Albiore, I am sending you because you already speak the language. Do not reveal to the agent that you do unless it is absolutely necessary. I wish to know if the agent is truthful. He may reveal things around you that had he would not usually if he assumes you cannot understand him."

"Yes, Lord Pope," The Cepheus Saint muttered.

"Asterion," the Pope said and turned to the other Saint. "I want you to go with him in order to see if your particular abilities can pick up any traces of who attacked and what caused them to attack a museum of all places."

"Yes, Lord Pope," Asterion answered, bowing his head. He tried to ignore the prickling against his mind that indicated there was more than that to the Pope's words. That wasn't his place to think about that. Of course the Pope of all Sanctuary would be worrying about many things at once. It was nothing to be alarmed over.

The Pope then nodded in dismissal and they stood, bowed once more, and then left the audience chamber. They walked in silence until they finally reached the sunlight of the outside world.

"So, I suppose we're heading to Spain then," Asterion said out loud.

"Yes," Albiore said. "I assume he wants us to leave as soon as possible."

"I do have a couple things to take care of before we head off," Asterion admitted. "I don't know how long this mission will take and I have duties that I can't just abandon."

"That is understandable," Albiore said and gave a slight smile. "I have something I wanted to take care of myself. Shall we meet by the entrance to Sanctuary then?"

"That works for me," Asterion said, smiling a little. "But is that all right? We don't want to leave the guide waiting."

"Waiting will do him no harm." Albiore turned and started to walk away. "Please don't be late," the Cepheus Saint called back at him as a warning. Asterion just saluted him then hurried off to get his own chores out of the way.

The first person he went to see was Moses. Unfortunately his friend wasn't in the training ground where he had left him.

"Moses! Ptolemy!" He called urgently but there was no answer. Muttering several curses under his breath he searched the area until he spotted one of the guardsmen that patrolled Sanctuary.

"You there," Asterion hailed him, "have you seen the Saints that were practicing in this area?"

"Lord Asterion," the guard said respectfully snapping to attention. "I think that Lord Ptolemy has headed into town and Lord Moses has gone on his own patrol of the grounds. Would you like me to fetch them for you?"

"No," Asterion sighed. "I'll fetch them myself. Do you know which way Moses went?"

"Towards the eastern side of the Sanctuary border. If you like I can go…"

"I said it's fine," Asterion snapped and took off at a light run towards that area. He could move faster than the guard even on a bad day. He wasn't going to wait around for him to find him.

Even knowing the area and having a vague sort of memory of where Moses' patrol usual ran it took him close to fifteen minutes to spot his friend.

"Moses," he called and waved. The Whale Saint paused and nodded at him, the faintly amused smile he had been wearing falling when he got close enough for his friend to catch his expression.

"Bad news?" he asked once they got within earshot of each other. Asterion shook his head.

"No, but the pope assigned me a mission."

"A mission?" Moses looked surprised, and then grinned. "You must have done something right if the Pope called for you specifically. What's the mission about?"

"It's probably better I didn't say anything," Asterion said. "I don't think the Pope would want me spreading that sort of information around before I get it done."

"..Fair enough," Moses said, "but if you have a mission shouldn't be getting going instead of running around Sanctuary."

"Yes, but I had to track you down first. I need you to take over with the trainees while I'm gone. They're doing to need someone to at least keep any eye on them until I get back."

"You're trust me around kids?" Moses said, amused. "I'll do what I can, as long as they don't run screaming at the sight of me."

"Your face isn't that scary," Asterion chuckled. "You'll probably only give them mild nightmares."

"That's very comforting Asterion. I can just feel my confidence returning."

"Glad to be of service," the Hound Saint grinned. "If you really think you're going to have trouble with it, you can always ask Ptolemy to help….where is he anyway?"

"I talked him into heading into town to check on his girl," Moses smirked. "He's gotten this far, I don't want to see him fail just because he's to scared to mess up with her."

"What, you're playing match maker now? I never knew you had a romantic side!"

"There are many things that you don't know about me," Moses said, trying hard to sound mysterious. Asterion just laughed and Moses grinned a little. "But enough about me. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"..Right," Asterion said and squinted at the sun as he tried to judge how much time he had left. "I have to run. Just remember the trainees…."

"I'll keep an eye on them," Moses promised. "Just be careful Asterion…and good luck."

"Thanks," Asterion said, then took off, throwing a wave over his shoulder as he headed toward his hut to grab the few things he would need for this journey and his Cloth.

Albiore was already waiting there when he arrived at the meeting point, talking quietly with a short, impatient looking man.

"Ah, there you are," Albiore said by way of greeting once he caught sight of him. "I was beginning to think you had forgotten the meeting place!"

"My mind isn't that bad!" Asterion said, grinning. Albiore grinned back, but the man, Asterion supposed it was their guide, just made an annoyed sound.

"Since both my Lord Saints are here now, may we leave?" he said almost huffily. "Travel plans were not easy to arrange and I cannot exactly tell them to just wait!"

Asterion felt a twinge of annoyance at the way the man was speaking to him but Albiore replied with "Then let us depart," before he could say anything else. He shot the other Saint a look but Albiore just shook his head as if to say 'it's not worth it'. Asterion wanted to argue the point, but the other Saint was already following their guide down the trails and Asterion was forced to play catch up.

"So what part of Spain are we heading too?" He asked as he reached them.

"A small town on the coast," the short man answered. "It's because of the size that most other countries haven't taken notice of it. We were lucky in that. It would take much more to get you into the country unnoticed."

"Really?" Albiore said mildly. "Why would it be so difficult then?"

"There would be more attention on the airports then," the man explained impatiently. "There would be no way to get someone with a Pandora's Box or a Cloth into an airport without notice then, at least without attracting all sorts of attention."

"I…see," Asterion said at last. "Then how are we getting here?"

"I know someone with a private plane that is willing to ferry Saints," the man said. "I can see you on that plane, then it's up to your contact there to get you back home."

"You aren't coming with us?" Asterion said in surprise. The man just snorted.

"Of course not! I'm only a messenger. The man you'll meet when you land is the one that sent the alert. Ask him for details."

"Umm...okay," the Hound Saint said in confusion. "So do you know anything about this mission..?"

"No, not really," the man said briskly. "Save all questions until you get there. I don't wish to be bothered with them."

Albiore grabbed Asterion's arm to stop him from grabbing the man. The Saints traded heated glares, until at last the Hound Saint shook himself free from the other's grasp and didn't say anything else to the man the rest of the time he was in his presence. He didn't trust his tempter to hold if he did speak.

"You know," Asterion muttered, hours later, as they disembarked from the plane that had brought them to Spain, "I wish we could teleport. That would make things a lot easier."

"True," Albiore agreed, "I suppose it would, but at the same time it wouldn't deny us the opportunities for more…interesting forms of travel, wouldn't it?"

"Personally, I think I would survive without the 'interesting forms of' travel." After spending the last few hours on a very bumpy plane ride, Asterion was set to prefer any form of travel to taking to the skies again. As he spoke he took a quick glance around the area. Their plane had landed away from the airport, at a more private landing strip. There was a middle-aged man walking towards them. He seemed to hesitate for a moment as he got close.

"You're the guys from Sanctuary?" he said as he got close, eyes linger on the Pandora's boxes they had on their backs. There was a slight accent to his Greek.

"Yes," Albiore answered. "You're our contact here?"

"Yes," he said, "I'm Gil, a member of a specialist security team that was called in after a break in at a museum. You two are Saints?"

"We are," Asterion said. "I'm Hound Asterion and this is Cepheus Albiore. We're Silver Saint sent by the Holy Father. Why did you send word to Sanctuary about a simple break in?"

The man studied them for a few moments then sighed. "It's complicated," he said, "I'll give you the details once we get underway. It'll be more private once we're in the car."

The two Saints traded brief glances. "Very well," Albiore said at last. "Lead the way." The man nodded.

"This way," he said and started off, Asterion and Albiore not far behind him.

Their guide trooped ahead of them as he led them toward a small car that was waiting for them near the landing strip. As they crammed their Pandora' boxes in the tiny truck, the guide glanced back at them, then shook his head and muttered something as he frowned.

"What did he say?" he said softly to Albiore.

"I think he said we were just children," his fellow Saint said, frowning uncertainly. "His accent is a bit different than what I grew up with but I think I caught all of it. "

"Children?" Asterion half growled. "What does he think we are? We're Saints! We've probably faced more than even he has…!"

"Maybe, but compared to the rest of the world we are young," Albiore said gently. "I keep getting words like that when I got to buy supplies in the town on the neighboring island to Andromeda. We are young Asterion, you must admit to that. To them we are children who they think need looking after. Don't let it get to you, just ignore their jibes and let your own abilities to prove them wrong."

"I shouldn't have to prove anything to him!" Asterion hissed back. "We were sent by the Pope himself! He knows we're Saints, he should…"

"Not now," Albiore hissed as their guide turned toward them.

"Are you two ready yet?" he asked. His tone was polite, but he was drumming his fingers on the top of his car as he checked the watch he was wearing on his wrist.

"Yes," Albiore said firmly and gave Asterion a last look. The hound Saint glared at him, half wanting to argue but after a moment of hesitation he climbed in the backseat of the car with the other Saint.

As they pulled out into the street, Asterion struggled to strength the shields on his mind. He had forgotten how much he disliked having to go into big cities. Maybe it was because there really weren't that many people living in Sanctuary, but he had never had any problems shutting out the thoughts and emotions of other people there. Out here however…there were so many more minds, so many swirls of emotions that it was almost impossible to shut them out entirely. There was an indistinct buzz in the back to his mind, as if he was hearing a conversation in a far off room. It took a lot of concentration to block it out entirely and it wasn't worth it most of the time. The noise was starting to give him a headache too. His only hope was that this would turn out to be a simple mission. One they could complete quickly and he would be out of here. Even if that wasn't possible, maybe the mission would take them out of the city and into the countryside. He thought he could deal with that.

"…..so we aren't sure what they really wanted," Asterion finally became aware that their guide had started talking. Albiore was leaning forward, nodding intently at what the man was saying. Asterion quickly turned his attention to the conversation, hoping that he hadn't missed anything important.

"Have you told anyone else about these details?" Albiore said frowning.

"I did try to report it to the police, but they're just convinced the surveillance tapes have been messed with. Like most people in this era they don't want to believe that a human being is capable of such destruction on their own," their guide sighed. "I've managed to convince the head of the museum that I was having specialists flown in to see if they could make anything of the damage but I didn't think that you would be so... Young looking. I trust Sanctuary but I don't think my boss even knows that it exists. You have to get this taken care of fast."

"Don't worry," Asterion spooked up, causing both of the others in the car to give him surprise looks. "We'll get his taken care of quickly; you have my word on that." Ever word he meant fully. He didn't want to have to stay here longer than they had too.

The rest of the ride to the museum was rather quiet although Asterion could feel his head ache growing as they seemed to creep along at a snails pace through the city streets.

"We can walk faster than this," he grumbled more than once but Albiore just glared at him.

"I am sorry it is taking so long," their guide snapped. "You are free to walk there of course, but I was not aware that you were familiar with this city."

"…..I'm not," Asterion admitted grudgingly. He spared a glance at Albiore who just gave him a small smile.

"I've never been here before either," Albiore said gently. "Getting lost would only serve to make it take us even longer to get to the museum. Be patient."

Those words caused Asterion to start a little. How often had he said them to Ptolemy when the other Saint was complaining about something? He was usually the one being calm and reasonable! It was embarrassing and rankling to have someone else be forced to take care of him. The hound Saint took a deep breath, trying to drive out his headache. Maybe it was making him irritable but he should have known better than to let it affect him so much. He was a Saint after all, not a green trainee who didn't know how to handle his emotions. Letting them get the better of him like this was shameful.

"..Very well," was all he would say though. He was not going to admit his own stupidly in front of a civilian. Albiore must have been thinking the same because he didn't say another word about it either, simply giving him an encouraging nod. Asterion bristled a little at being looked down on but didn't try to argue. It would only make himself look worse. Instead he tried to slip into a light form of meditation, working to keep his mind clear until their guide said.

"Here we are."

Asterion opened his eyes to be greeted by the sight of a very large regal looking building with columns lining it's from. Several large white vans where parked in front of it, people crowded around them. Asterion stared at them curiously as their guide cursed and took an abrupt turn that took the building out of sight.

"Damn news anchors," he muttered. "They've been crawling all over the area since they heard about the break-in."

"But it's been a few days, hasn't it?" Asterion asked. "Shouldn't they have gotten bored with it already?"

Their guide shook his head. "Not with something like this. The museum officials are keeping quiet, trying to make sure nothing strange gets out. But there's too many people involved in this to keep it under wraps. People talk, someone hears about the museum doing a cover-up, and the next thing you know the news has latched onto it. Nothing much happens here so this is very big news. They're going to milk it for all it's worth."

In a way Asterion understood that. It was a lot like Sanctuary in a way. You would think that with so much danger involved with just training to be a Saint that people wouldn't be able to find the time to spread useless rumors, but for some reason even the tiniest details of personal lives seemed to spread in a matter of hours.

"Another human fault," he muttered under his breath.

"Only one of many," Albiore said softly, causing Asterion to start. The Hound Saint hadn't even been aware he had spoken out loud. As he glanced at the other Saint curiously, the car gave a sharp lurch, turning down an alley. Asterion grabbed onto the seat to keep from being thrown against the door.

"Hey!" he said indignantly.

"What's going on?" Albiore said at the same time, leaning forward to talk to their guide.

"Sorry about that that," the man said, "but we have to take the back way in. Bringing you in through the main entrance is going to cause a lot more trouble than it's worth with all those idiots crawling around."

"I see," Albiore said. Asterion nodded, although he didn't fully agree with what their guide was saying to them. They could have talked around whoever was in front of the museum if they wanted. At least he might have been able to make them not care that they were there, but it was too late now. They were turning into a small parking lot at the back of the museum, one that was at the end of small alley and hidden by the buildings of the museum itself.

"This is one of the employee entrances," their guide said as he turned off the car and opened the door. The two Saints followed him as he got out. "I don't think anyone will see us if we come in this way."

"Fine, just let us get our Cloths," Asterion jerked his thumb towards the trunk.

"Do you really need those things?" their guide demanded, annoyed. "You're going to be suspicious enough as it is! I am not going to be able to explain great hulking boxes!"

"We are Saints," Asterion protested out of habit. He didn't like going into uncertain situations without his Cloth. "If it makes you feel any better, I can make certain no one even notices we're carrying anything!" Granted that would be a strain on his powers, but he was nearly certain he could do it.

"Just how do you plan on doing that?" the man said tartly. "Do one of your little magic tricks? I'll admit that you Saints can do odd things, but I don't think that even you can fool a room full of people into not noticing box that big!"

"You're doubting a Saint!" Asterion glared at him. "You have no idea what we're capable of…!"

"Asterion," Albiore said sharply a hand falling on his shoulder. "Please stop this," the Cepheus Saint added in softer tones. "I don't sense any enemies nearby at the moment, and we do need to conserve our strength in case we need it later. Why waste it dealing with something we can easily avoid." Asterion sighed; acknowledge the logic in the other Saint's words but not liking it.

"Fine," he said. Their guide shook his head at them, but led them up a few steps into a small side door that opened when he waved a security pass in front of it.

"These are the only way into or out of most of the side doors," Gil said as he flashed the security pass back at them. "I managed to beg one off the museum staff for this investigation but they aren't happy about it. If I'm not around to let you out, you'll probably end up having to exit through the front door. Since I doubt you want to brave that media circus, stay close." Asterion would have snapped something at the man's tone, but Albiore caught his eye. The hound saint stayed silent although he still wasn't happy about being talked too.

The door opened into a short hallway that lead pass a small locker room and break area, before coming to a door that opened into the museum proper. Inside, even Asterion couldn't help but be impressed. They were in a massive circular space, with evenly spaced columns holding up the ceiling. A glance up showed a massive glass dome set in the center of the ceiling as a skylight. The overall effect reminded him of some of the temples back in Sanctuary, although he supposed that was the intent. There weren't many people around, something that surprised him.

"Where is everyone?" he asked their guide as the crossed the foyer. There were several openings off this area, leading, he supposed, to different exhibit halls. The one they were heading too was the only one with police tape crossing it.

"The museum is still closed," Gil answered. "The police want a more solid explanation before they allow the public back in. Naturally, the museum is putting pressure on them for it. Everyday they're closed they lose money."

As they neared the blocked archway, they saw a policeman standing in front of the police tape, arguing fiercely with an older man in civilian clothes. Asterion gave up trying to figure out just what they were saying after a few seconds. He couldn't understand Spanish at all and these two were speaking very fast.

"What are they saying?" He hissed under his breath. Albiore held up a hand.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" Asterion waited in silence for a moment as Albiore tried to listen tot the other two, head cocked as he occasionally mouthed words to himself.

"Well?" Albiore frowned at him.

"This isn't that easy you know!" the Saint snapped at him, surprising him. He hadn't though Albiore could lose his temped. "I think that the guard isn't happy about using heading into the hall. He doesn't trust us and our guide isn't willing to explain much. The other man, I think they said he's a Professor, isn't happy about it either."

"Why?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out! Keep quiet for a moment!" Albiore proceeded to ignore him after that despite Asterion making curious noises. Eventually after a few minutes he sighed. "I don't think I'll be able to get anything useful out of this."

"I though you said you spoke Spanish," Asterion gave the other Saint a measuring look.

"I do," Albiore said, "but I am slightly rusty at it and the Spanish they are speaking here is….different."

"Different?" Asterion asked him curiously. "How?"

"It's just….different than how I remember it," Albiore said. "It's hard to describe."

Asterion fell silent, digesting then as the voices of the three men who were arguing rose. "How long do you think this will go on?"

"I'm not sure," Albiore said. "They don't trust us and I don't think they want to trust us either."

"Well, we are foreigners after all," Asterion mused a loud. "I suppose they really wouldn't want us near anything valuable."

"Hmm," Albiore replied, still frowning. Before Asterion could ask him what he was thinking, their guide broke off from his conversation and headed over.

"I think I've finally convinced them to let us in," he grumbled. "It wasn't easy. They don't like kids touching the exhibits normally and I couldn't exactly explain about Sanctuary without sounding like a nutcase…"

"Kids?" Asterion grumbled. He was getting tired of the word.

"Yes, ikids/i," their guide said glaring at them. "One's that they're allowing into the hall but only with the stipulation that you don't mess up anything."

"We won't," Albiore said quickly as Asterion glowered. Just how were they supposed to get the mission done if people would insist on blocking them?

"Good, see that you don't," Gil said. "Now let's get this over with. The sooner it's done the better."

"I couldn't agree more," Asterion muttered under his breath as they started to walk towards the roped off hall. When they reached it their guide exchanged a few tense words with the guard and the professor, and then quickly ducked under the tape.

"You coming?" he called back to the Saints. As they neared the door however, the guard moved, suddenly blocking their path as he gave them searching looks. Asterion glared back, daring him to try stopping them. He hadn't come all the way here just to be stopped now.

Their guide snapped something in rapid fire Spanish but the guard just said something calmly as the Professor stalked up to them. He started on some long-winded lecture that Asterion decided to only pay the barest bit of attention to. What was the use of listening to something you couldn't even understand anyway? But apparently the man found his inattention irritating since his voice started to rise more and more until he was practically shouting.

That was when their guide snapped something in a very calm, but annoyed tone. The professor stopped in mid-sentence, looking confused before engaging in another brief back and forth. At last the man turned and snapped something at them in Spanish before stalking off.

"Sorry about that," their guide said. "He apparently wasn't listening when I said you two didn't speak Spanish." He said something to the guard, who looked amused, and the man moved out of the way with a brief chuckle. "Come on, let's get moving!"

"Very well," Albiore ducked under the tape. After a brief nod at the police guard, Asterion ducked under the yellow caution tape and followed the others. Their footsteps echoed down the empty hall for a moment, and then they turned a corner and entered the hall. Here, Asterion finally realized why their guide had called in the Saints.

The hall was a mess. Originally someone had clearly tried to make it look like some long forgotten ancient Egyptian temple, but now that illusion was all but destroyed. The fake pillars had been knocked over and shattered against the floor. A few of the real pillars had been damaged as well, and now bore signs of having been hastily repaired and plastered with signs warning even someone like him who couldn't understand Spanish that they were fragile. Displays had been smashed and shattered, their contents scattered across the floor. There was little left of the more fragile of the pieces. At the back it looked like someone had built a fake altar atop a platform, but now the altar had been torn out of the platform, then thrown to the ground and smashed to bit. A few stray display cases along the walls remained intact, but even most of those had been smashed. Scattered papers and bits of insulation were scattered through out the wreckage like snowflakes.

Amidst all this destruction there were a few things that seemed out of place, like the twisted vending machine that was laying a ways down the hall. It didn't fit in with any of the other things in the hall and he frowned at it. The guide must have noticed the puzzled glance because he spoke up.

"There was a break room for the employees," he said and pointed toward the back of the hall. Asterion noticed another, smaller whole in the far wall; the twisted wreckage of what had once been a door lying not far from it. "They actually came in through a backdoor that is used for deliveries, and then preceded into the hall," he said as he looked over at them. "Fortunately there were only security personnel in the museum since it had closed for the day. Unfortunately, they did their jobs and tried to stop them."

The Saints traded glances at that. A security officer, even an armed one, would have been no match for anyone who was able to cause this amount of destruction.

"How many casualties?" Albiore asked softly. Gil looked away. He closed his eyes briefly, a pained look crossing his face.

"Two were killed outright," he said at last, "and there's a third in the hospital that still hasn't woken up yet. They aren't sure if he ever will or even if he will be the same if he does."

"I see…I am sorry it had to come to that," Albiore said.

"We will catch whoever did this," Asterion spoke up, headache momentarily forgotten. He might not be very happy about being here, but he felt some sympathy for the hurt guards. A Saint was supposed to protect the world. If this was rogue intent on using his powers for his own gain then he fully intended to take them down. "Do we know why they came here of all places?" He supposed there could be something that would interest a Saint in a museum, but why not go for the Greek exhibits if that was the case? Had they been interrupted before they could get that far?

"We aren't sure of anything yet because of how many pieces everything is in," their guide said. "The scientists have been throwing fits all day about the damage to irreplaceable artifacts. The police haven't even allowed them in to start cataloging everything. I know they plan to start putting pressure on the museum to get the police out of here. We probably only have a day or two at most. I hope the two of you are up to this task."

"We are," Albiore assured him putting a hand out to silence Asterion before he could say anything. The Hound Saint glared at him but kept his silence. "Asterion," Albiore said. "Do you think you'll be able to pick up anything out of this mess?"

"Probably," Asterion replied, trying to sound more certain than he felt. "There's enough destruction here that major traces must have been left behind."

"Traces?" their guide asked. Asterion ignored him and walked toward the center of the room. Behind him he heard Albiore start speaking again.

"Asterion is something of a psychic," the Cepheus Saint started to explain. "He can pick up thoughts and emotions from those around him. When those thoughts and emotions are strong enough, they can leave an imprint on the area around him."

"That's possible?" Their guide said skeptically. Asterion felt a tiny spark of anger, but reminded himself to ignore it. He was going to need all his concentration for the task at hand. This was something he was not going to fail at. His pride as a Saint would let him, not when there was another Saint watching. He tried to hide his own nervousness.

Truthfully, he wasn't sure he could actually pick up anything from the intruders. Not when they had been gone for so long, and now when Albiore was giving his abilities a little more credit than they deserved. It was true that he could pick up faint echoes of very strong emotions from an area or object, but not thoughts. That was a slight exaggeration of his abilities, and one that he had to admit was his own fault. When he had first arrived at Sanctuary, fresh from his training in Austria and absurdly proud of his abilities, it had come as a shock to realize that he wasn't the only one with special ability and he was nowhere near close to being the only psychic. There were already others, and some of them had claimed the title long before he had. After having been so long that his gift was 'unique' it had been a rude wakeup call. In desperation to make some sort of name for himself, he bragged about how powerful these abilities were.

The rumors had been more effective than he had meant them to be. They had attracted the attention of the higher-ranking people in Sanctuary. This wasn't the first mission he had been given where he was expected to use his powers the way he said he could. The only reason he had been able to pull it off so far was a combination of his own intuition, skill, and a lot of luck. Deep down he knew that someday that luck would have to run out, but he did not intend for today to be that day.

He strode as confidently as he could into the center of the destruction then closed his eyes and let his mind fall into the meditation exercises his Master had taught him long ago. They centered him somewhat, but he didn't allow himself to fall into the full trance that would increase his sensitivity. Having to explain why he needed to slip into such a deep trance would be a pain, and besides, he needed to be able to move around for this.

Slowly, painstakingly, he took down the shields that blocked out others thoughts. First to be heard where the thoughts and emotions of the people in the room with him. Their guide was anxious, and disbelieving about this. Albiore was calmer, but worried over something and slightly impatient under his calm exterior. He wanted to be back on his island with his students, not here.

It made Asterion feel a little bit better to know his fellow Saint wasn't as calm as he pretended to be. Next he slowly lowered the barrier a little more. Now he could hear the other people in the building, a soft murmur in the back of his mind that seemed to grow louder, like a radio that someone was turning up. Asterion shut out the thought as best he could and tried to focus on the emotions he could feel in the room.

Now that he was unshielded and focusing on them the emotions swirling about the room were obvious. They covered the area like a fog, but unfortunately he could catch nothing distinct from them. Each was just a vague whisper of the thousands of people who had crossed through here and held no real useful information. It was like trying to catch shapes in the overall fog. He would catch a shape, a whisper of something he thought was important. The presence of both Albiore and Gil made it even harder for him to find anything. Their emotions were overriding the fainter, past echoes and making them even harder to read. Asking them to leave; however, was out of the question.

Instead what he did was to peer around the hall through silted eyes, to try and find a good location from that might be far enough away from them that he could get a better reading. Best not to let them know what he was doing though. After a moment he held out a hand and started to walk, trying to appear confident. He took a wandering course, crisscrossing the hall in an attempt to try and find isomething/i that would be of use. Their guide was getting restless and annoyed; he could feel it at the back of his mind from even over here. Albiore kept muttering reassurances to the guide, but as the minutes passed Asterion could feel even him starting to doubt if he was able to do this.

As he neared the end of the hall, Asterion was beginning to feel the faintest stirrings of panic. So far so far he hadn't sensed anything that could be of use, and the others were getting impatient again. He couldn't afford to drag things out much more. Although his pride would take a blow, maybe he could say that too many people had been in here for him to be able to pinpoint. Asterion took a step forward, still half-distracted by these thoughts.

A sudden surge of emotions hit him like a hammer and he stopped dead, biting his lip so hard to keep from crying out that he tasted blood. Hurriedly he raised his mental shield to regain some sort of balance again.

"Asterion?" Albiore said, faintly worried. Asterion swallowed a little.

"What is it?" he called back, mouth dry.

"..Is something wrong?" Until that question, Asterion hadn't even been aware that his emotions were so obvious.

"Yes," he called back after a moment, "I just picked up on the remnants of the guard's death. A major trauma like that always leaves traces. I wasn't expecting how strong it would be after so much time has passed." Now that he had cleared his mind for a moment he could recognize what it was. Normally he could shut the shock of such a violent death out enough to keep it from shocking him so much. He had been forced to learn that just in his career as a Saint. This time he had been so focused on his sweep he had forgotten that there had been a death here.

"It hasn't been that long," their guide said, annoyance creeping into his voice.

"For a reading like this, when everyone has been wandering through the area? A few days are an eternity," Asterion called back as he started to rethink things. Why was he searching the whole area? There were certain areas that would retain more emotional traces than others, particularly the areas that held the most evidence of violence. For some reason negative emotions seemed to stick around longer than more positive ones. So which areas would be the ones to hold the most negative feelings around here…?

His eyes lit on the smashed fake altar. There was a lot of destruction around that area, much more than what existed in the rest of the hall. It looked as if whoever had destroyed that had been angry…very angry. He started to head in that direction, only making the vaguest effort to make it seem like he didn't have a destination in mind. It really didn't matter now anyway…if that area was as active as he thought it was then he wouldn't really have to make excuses. It took him much less time to reach the fake altar now that he wasn't stuck wandering around. Even with his eyes half closed he still knew when he got close. There was a massive amount of anger and frustration around the area. Even if he hadn't been trying he would have sensed it once he got close enough. Heck, if he had gone into a full trance he would have sensed it from across the hall.

There was a short flight of stairs that lead up to the platform they had built the altar on, and even those were cracked and half broken off. Caution tape was roped around the stairs and the platform itself, but Asterion ignored it.

"Hey!" The yell came from behind him. "Watch it, that's unstable!"

"He knows," he heard Albiore say soothingly as he gave a light leap over the unstable stairs to land safely on the platform. Well, semi-safely at least. He hadn't had a good view of the massive hole that now stood in the middle of the platform where the altar had been forcibly torn out. The thing must have been bolted to the floor. The whole structure wobbled when he touched down, and he froze for a second sure that the entire thing was about to collapse. Then it settled and he heaved a sight of relief.

"See?" their guide demanded from behind him.

"He knows what he's doing," was Albiore's reply. Asterion tried to ignore the uncertainty coming from Albiore. For once that wasn't hard, not when there was the massed emotion in this area to distract him. The most prominent were anger of course, but also sheer outrage, and annoyance. Whoever had done this really had been seriously offended by the altar. Slowly sinking to his knees, being very careful that the structure wasn't going to collapse on him, Asterion final let himself sink into a true trance. If he were going to find any sort of clue, this would be the place.

Even braced as he was for it, when he finally let down his barriers fully, he was nearly lost in the emotions around him. They swirled around him, a maelstrom of feelings that threatened to suck him into it and make him forget who he was. If that happened, there was no one here would be able to pull him out of his own madness. Not that he was going to give that a chance to happen. Slowly, bit-by-bit, he separated himself from it, guarding himself until he could finally read things again. He could feel his companions back behind him, taste worry and fear from both of them, something that surprised him. What was Albiore so afraid off…?

You don't have time for that! He told himself and turned back to the structure. Here was the anger the outrage, but he already knew those. What he wanted were the emotions that hadn't been caught by the surface. Slowly he peeled away that first layer, which proved to be tougher than he expected. He had forgotten how much hold anger could have over an area but slowly, bit by bit, he dug under it.

Here was more annoyance, but it tasted different. This was more of a puzzled annoyance, one mixed with uncertainty. There was also a bit of worry here, and the bitter tang of fear. It was as whoever had torn the altar apart hadn't known what to do next…no that didn't feel quiet right. There was confusion here too, as if things hadn't gone quiet the way he had been hoping for. As if something unexpected had happened….maybe the guard showing up had thrown them off? No…that couldn't be right; anyone with half a brain would realize that something valuable enough to be stored in a museum would have guards around it! Wait….

"Hey!" He yelled, half turning to look at his companions. "Did they have all the pieces for the show out yet?"

"Umm…" Their guide finished in a pocket and pulled out a small notebook to flip through it. "Ah, no. They still didn't have everything fully set up. A few of the more valuable pieces are still in storage."

"That's it!" Asterion jumped to his feet. The entire platform shudder at the sudden moment, and he quickly back flipped off it, pulling a wary face as it finally settled…this time a little lower than when he had jumped on it.

"What's it?" Albiore asked them as their guide made several incomprehensible noises. Asterion gave him an odd look as he jogged over to the other two.

"They didn't get what they came here for," Asterion said bluntly. "Whatever it was is still in storage. They panicked when they couldn't find it and that's why this place is so messed up." He waved a hand at the ruins of the hall.

"What?" Their guide looked panicked. "All this and they still don't have what their looking for! Are you sure about that?"

"Positive," Asterion said with much more confidence than he felt. There was no way it could be wrong. He wouldn't let it be.

"So… what now? Are you saying they're still looking for whatever it was they were after? Are they going to come back?" Gil was fiddling with his notebook nervously.

"They might…and it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing," Albiore said thoughtfully.

"What?"

"This gives us an opportunity," the Cepheus Saint explained. "If we can figure out what they are after, we can set it as bait…"

"And catch them in a trap of our own," Asterion said, realizing what the other Saint was up too.

"Exactly," Albiore said, meeting the other Saint's eyes. Asterion couldn't help grinning a little. This was turning out be kind of exciting.

A/n: Unexpected returns...with a very long chapter. XD Believe or not, this was actually only part of the original chapter in my outline. However I showed my usual impressive ability to underestimate the length of things, so when I realized that the chapter was getting long I found a good place to end it. I had a lot of fun working on this chapter. I really wish I had picked Unexpected up again earlier.

This chapter switches focus to Asterion and it brings in Albiore, one of my personal favorite Silver Saints. This is more of a set up to the plot itself and it sets the groundwork for how I plan to fill in a couple of plotholes concerning the Silver Saints.