an: well! i'm sure i've frustrated most of my readers for doing absolutely jack shit for months with this story, but just minutes before i started typing this out, i definitely felt my drive return. so again, apologies for the extreme lack of updates, and hopefully, i'll be able to update more often. but please understand that i'm also trying to focus on school! but i'm trying my best to fight my writing blocks! anyway, i hope this chapter is good, excuse the slight OOC, but this is a key in the plot, but i didn't enjoy writing it. it depressed me a little, to be honest.
How gruesome, and heartless of the performer of the act. It couldn't be called, or even be compared to human. One responsible of an act of this sort was soulless.
"I think it's time we stopped sitting around, and actually did something," Hyoga paced up and down the room. "This...'thing' could strike again at any second,"
Shun stood up in protest. "Hyoga, we don't even know what this thing is. For all we know, it could be something far more powerful than we could even challenge,"
Seiya's ears perked up. "But since when do we fail to take a swing at stuff? And besides, we need to find out what it is anyway, and we can't do that by crawling under the bed and being scared,"
Everyone was silenced for a moment and took that time to think. "But there's still a risk, Seiya. I've never seen a massacre this brutal," Shiryu replied.
Seiya's face twitched with frustration. "Risk? We're constantly living on the edge, since when have we cared about risk?"
Shiryu gave his shoulder a nudge. "Seiya, use some common sense. Even a warrior needs to think about the repercussions of his acts,"
Seiya stood up angrily. "If you're suggesting that we shouldn't take act soon, then you've lost your fucking mind!" His fists clenched with a snarl.
The other saints eyed each other. "Seiya, control yourself!" Shiryu shouted.
Seiya bared his teeth and took a step back. "Control myself? Control myself?!" he roared. "If you wanna sit here and fuck around, I'll go get that thing by myself!" In an instant, Ikki's fist collided with Seiya's jaw.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ikki snapped. "Since yesterday, you've been acting like a total spaz!" Seiya rubbed his jaw angrily, and eyed Ikki furiously.
Shun's eyes widened. "Hang on a second...something's wrong with him..."
Ikki rolled his eyes. "Damn right, there's something wrong with him,"
"No, there's seriously something wrong..." Shun took a few steps towards the infuriated boy, and stared him in the eyes. "Look at his eyes. That isn't Seiya."
To the other saint's surprise, Shun was right. Where dark eyes would normally be were slit-like obsidian pupils, lying over intense gold irises, that shone with Seiya's anger. "Seiya...hold yourself together for a moment..." Seiya shut his eyes and held his breath. An unnerving 10 seconds passed before he slowly lifted his eyes open again. His eyes had returned to their original state.
Shun blinked rapidly, nervous. "Do you feel okay?"
Seiya let his breath out, and scratched at his head. "My chest hurts."
"Yeah. Something's wrong." Shun sighed.
Anyone that met Seiya wasn't too fond of his impulsive behavior, or bluntness and such. But he was a perfectly normal boy- not a disorder to be seen. Some have said it isn't unnatural for someone to develop disorders over time, but for a healthy minded individual such as Seiya to develop something was somewhat unexpected. But considering the nerve-wrecking and terrifying situations he had been tossed into consecutively, it was understandable. But why Seiya? Was it because he was considered the unofficial 'leader'?
"For the last time, I don't have Dissociative Identity Disorder," Seiya grumbled, arms folded against his chest.
"That's the only thing we can think of," Hyoga muttered. "Maybe you and Saga can hang out now," he chuckled. "DID buddies."
Seiya rested his forehead in the palm of his hand, and groaned. Hyoga shrugged.
"Either that, or you're just stupid," Ikki smirked.
Seiya clenched his fist and looked away. "I already know that..." he said under his breath. Nobody heard him, though.
"Ikki, knock it off," Shun snapped. "I think we can all see that he isn't in a good place,"
"He tried to kill me. Now he gets his, too..."
"Ikki!"
Ikki looked away, scowling.
Seiya hunched over. "I'm obviously not making for a good leader anymore. I'm mentally unstable, useless, stupid..." he hung his head and shut his eyes. "I'm a wreck."
15 minutes passed. For that time, nobody said a thing. Everyone seemed like they had just given up. They didn't even know if Seiya was safe to trust anymore.
Silence was broken like a china plate, as the door creaked open. Saori, greeted by a wave of depression, already knew that something had happened. "Is everything all right?"
"Kill me."
Everyone stared at him. Two words never expected from Seiya had just been spoken. And because of this, nobody could even think of a response...leading to another break of silence.
Saori held her hand over her mouth, shock in her eyes like needles.
The night was hot. Painful. Everyone was disturbed, and the whole house was unnaturally quiet, like someone had just died. Lifelessness swept across the floor and into the air, and even the wind had silenced itself for the death of someone who didn't exist.
"I'm stupid...insane...crazy...put me out of my misery..."
"Seiya, stop it...please..." Saori held Seiya tighter, feeling him quiver softly under her arms. She tried with all her strength to keep her emotions at bay. To show any weakness would send him into mental death. "You're not stupid. Shut up."
"What's wrong with me?"
'There's nothing wrong with you,' Saori wanted to say. But to lie to him, and have him face the result of her lying would cause him even more damage. But she had to say something. "Have you...been having nightmares, recently?" she said softly.
His eyes opened slightly. "Yeah..."
"Can you...describe them?"
Seiya hesitated. "It's dark. And I talk to myself. An evil self. Colorless, cold..." he shuddered. "Sometimes I see fire. Everywhere. I can't see myself."
Saori's breath caught in her throat. She didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. But she didn't have the heart to lie to him either. But maybe telling him the truth could save him. Somehow.
"If only I knew how to solve this...but I promise...soon, we...we will find the answers...trust me," she whispered, choking back her sadness. "Be strong, Seiya." He smiled softly in response.
Beneath the shattered ice trenches of his depression, there was a glimmer of hope -always. But might you have to reach down into the glass pits and have your arm mutilated and drained of life to grab onto it, it didn't matter, because that little piece of hope would heal your wounds and grow, and continue to do so until the icy barriers drifted away from your mind.
The night had reached its peak, and while not a person stirred, neither Saori nor Seiya could even suggest sleep. While Seiya was in a state of spiralling chaos, Saori was far too worried about him to even have the consideration of brushing it off for tomorrow. If she had the chance to stand beside someone in their gloom, she would, even if it costed her life. This was something the two had in common- loyalty was one of the most important things to them. And while Saori was frequently in a position where she couldn't defend her saints, she would give up everything she owned to defend a saint in danger.
He was sitting beside her silently, with his knees up to his forehead, rocking gently, lightly hitting his back on the wall with each rock. She could tell the night was coming to an end, but what excuse was that to leave a sufferer? If saving him from this state meant abandoning a night or two night's sleep, then sleep could wait. She studied him through tired eyes.
"Everyone has a dark side, Seiya. But we are always able to fight it, even if it seems stronger than you are," She comforted him with a gentle voice.
This resonated with Seiya's thoughts. A sigh left him with his response. "I'm the killer, aren't I?"
Saori held Seiya's hand. "There are reasons for everything dark in the world," she began. "But this, on the other hand...this isn't your fault..."
"How is not my fault?" He choked, lifting his head up, pressing his back against the wall. "Lives...I took lives...ones that weren't supposed to be taken..."
"Hades had this planned. You mustn't give in to this ever,"
"Hades?"
"That coma that his sword put you in was all a part of his scheme. I'm not exactly sure of the fine details of it all, but..." she explained, slowly lifting herself up. "It's something he constructed himself as a method of overthrowing his foes."
"...understandable..." Seiya muttered, restraining outbursts of anger or fear. "But I'm literally losing my mind. I'm hallucinating, doing god-awful things I don't even remember doing, I..."
"I know, Seiya. But every disease has a cure. But please, remember," She took his hand and gently lifted him off the ground. "None of this is your fault. You're not crazy, you're not stupid, you're...hurt. But that can be fixed," She smiled. He returned her smile.