Warped Reflection
Chapter 3
On Dimension-Hopping, Darkness, and Masks

The next morning, Shun managed to not send himself into a panic trying to figure out where he was, a first since arriving in t

The next morning, Shun managed to not send himself into a panic trying to figure out where he was, a first since arriving in this strange dimension. After getting dressed, he made his way to Shaka's kitchen with the intention of finding something to eat before they all went to speak with Saori.

Shaka was in the kitchen, wearing his Gold Cloth once again, and next to him was Elektra, clad similarly to the other women of Sanctuary, in shades of pale blue and white, a stark contrast to her black cloth. From the amazing smells drifting from the room, Shun could only guess that she was cooking eggs and bacon.

"Good morning, Shun," Shaka greeted, handing him a cup of tea as he entered the room.

"Morning, Shun," Elektra turned to look at him and Shun was stunned to see her actually wearing a white mask whose sole decorations were its painted blue lips and a scarlet chakra set just above its eyes. It was such a stark difference to Elektra's tanned and tattooed face that Shun almost thought she was a different person. Even her voice, muffled through the mask, was different.

"Morning," Shun said uncertainly. He sat down across from Shaka at the small table occupying the kitchen, "Why...?" he began.

Elektra absently waved the wooden spoon in her hand, "Saori wants us to be ready for anything, hence we're going to be spending a lot of time in our Cloths."

"She has also made it known that she will not tolerate having Elektra in Sanctuary without wearing a mask," Shaka added.

"'I'll tolerate it when you're with the other Bronze Saints only because I would never hear the end of it from Seiya and the others'," Elektra mocked, putting her hands on her hips an an imitation of Saori, "'But as long as we're in Greece you have to behave like every other female Saint.'" She brandished her egg-covered spoon as she said the last four words, effectively splattering Shun and Shaka with bits of half-cooked egg.

"Aruna," Shaka said patiently as he picked bits off egg out of his hair, "We would greatly appreciate it if we could eat our food instead of wearing it."

Shun gazed sadly at Elektra, "She is our goddess, Elektra-san. We have to obey her laws."

"I'm wearing the damn thing, aren't I?" Elektra asked darkly.

The rest of the morning was spent in silence. Despite bearing the appearance of something that had been burned and mutilated, Elektra's cooking proved to be, while not gourmet, more than enough for a pair of hungry saints.

Shun returned to his room to collect the Andromeda Cloth and came back to find Hyoga, Shiryu, and Seiya waiting for him alongside Elektra. Shiryu and Hyoga seemed to have carefully placed themselves between Elektra and Seiya, keeping them as far apart as possible. The two were making a valiant effort at trying to kill each other with glares alone.

"Shall we go?" Shun asked, smiling as he saw Seiya stick his tongue out at Elektra while she was distracted with petting the small reptile that was wrapped around Shiryu's neck. He did a double take. Yes, there really was a small dragon wrapped around Shiryu's neck.

They were halfway up the steps to the Libra temple when the fighting started.

"Man, you look ridiculous with that thing on your face."

"Don't make me kill you."

Shiryu rolled his sightless eyes and subtly stepped on Seiya's foot to keep him from responding to Elektra's threat. Hyoga put a restraining hand on Elektra's arm. The siblings settled for glaring at each other.

Shun watched with a bemused smile as they tried to attack each other behind Hyoga and Shiryu's backs.

"Could you two please act your age?" Hyoga asked as he grabbed Elektra's hand before she could fire off what looked disturbingly like a miniature Galaxian Explosion at Seiya.

Seiya stuck his tongue out at her again.

"Forget it, Hyoga," Shiryu sighed, "They're both beyond help."

Seiya glared and Shun had no doubt that Elektra's mask was concealing her own murderous glare. They both remained stubbornly silent for the rest of the journey to Athena's temple.

And, truthfully, Shun found himself missing their bickering. Even though it was early morning, Sanctuary suddenly seemed far too quiet. The hidden paths Elektra had pointed out to him earlier were gone.

When they reached Athena's temple, they found Kanon bound and chained to the ground with Milo and Aioria standing guard over him. Kanon gazed dispassionately at the five of them.

"I could have sworn he was dead," Shun murmured.

"Saori saved him," Hyoga replied, glaring at the man.

Aioria met them at the foot of the stairs and hugged Elektra tightly. "Don't take too long," he instructed, looking just to the left of Elektra's masked face, "Are you sure you don't want-"

"I'll be fine, nii-chan," she replied patiently, "All of you need to talk to Saori. I need to ask Kanon some things."

"Alright," Aioria sighed and kissed the top of her head. He and Milo led the rest of the Bronze boys inside where Ikki, the Steel Saints, and the Gold Saints were waiting.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave her alone with him?" Milo asked, "I mean..."

"If she can get something useful out of him, it's worth the risk," Aioria replied impassively.

"Just keep telling yourself that," Hyoga muttered under his breath.

Aioria shot him a withering look which Hyoga returned with a glare.

"Where's Elektra?" Saori asked, gazing at each of her saints in turn.

"Negotiaing with Kanon," Seiya replied tonelessly. More than a few people cringed.

Saori gave a tired sigh and turned to Shaka, "I know I've already asked you this, Shaka, but, please, isn't there something we can do?"

Shaka slowly shook his head, "Chryses has been in this dimension for months, Athena. I assume I did not sense him before because he was masking his cosmos."

"It'd be too much to ask for you to have been right, huh?" Milo asked.

"I...None of us sensed him because his power," Shaka paused, brow furrowed in irritation, "Because his power is so immense that it literally blinded us. We were like ants trying to look at and comprehend the gods."

"There has to be something," Ushio mused, "We've beaten the gods before, haven't we?"

"Chryses is more than just a god, Ushio. Even for a Godchild destined to surpass the gods, his power is insane."

"Couldn't we just send him back to his own dimension?" Seiya suggested.

"That's probably what Elektra is thinking," Shiryu mused.

Shun shook his head, eyes glazed over just slightly, "He'd only come back." All eyes in the room turned to look at the young Saint. Shun shrank back, "I...He can jump from dimension to dimension at will. Either we kill him or...Or we'll be killed."

Suddenly, the early morning light drifting into the temple wavered, then died entirely and Sanctuary was plunged into darkness. There was a brief moment of panic as everyone tried to understand what happened. An exasperated sigh came from somewhere near the wall and a bright gold light erupted from that general area. The prayer beads wrapped around Shaka's arm were glowing.

"Did Elektra do that?" Aioria asked, glancing around warily.

"Even if Elektra was powerful enough to douse every source of light in Sanctuary," Ikki rolled his eyes, "There's no way she'd do it. Even accidentally."

"And what reason would I possibly have to help you?"

"Because I'll cut your testicles off and feed them to you if you don't?" Elektra suggested mildly, her face, no longer hidden behind its mask, completely impassive. Had this not been Virgo Shaka's student and were she not very patiently tapping a fairly wicked looking knife against her arm, Kanon might have laughed. But, since this was the student of Virgo Shaka and she was tapping that particular blade against her arm, Kanon settled for trying to make sure that anything valuable was not within cutting distance.

He could very easily remember a ten year old Shaka threatening to cut his hair off while he slept if he insisted on interrupting his meditation again. Kanon had not believed him until he sat up one morning and his hair stayed behind on the pillow. And if this little red haired girl was anything like her mentor (or her siblings, for that matter), then he could be in trouble.

This fact did not, however, stop him from being an insufferable bastard. He laughed. "You look just like Aiolos," he sniggered, "That creepy 'not a glare' he used to give me back when we were kids."

And just like that, Kanon was on his back, the side of his face stinging and one eye watering painfully.

"Don't poison my brother's name," Elektra warned, still unerringly calm, "With your vile tongue, snake."

Kanon stared up at her with a mixture of surprise and bemusement; her blazing green eyes the only sign at all that she was anything but serene. Yes, she was definitely Virgo Shaka's student, and chained and bound as he was, even a Bronze Saint like her could be dangerous.

But there was something in that look, in the way she spoke to him. He only laughed harder, "And you talk just like my brother!"

He waited for the blow, but it never came. Elektra knelt down so she was on eye level with him. At this close range, he could just barely see the beginnings of the same crimson ring around her irises that he had seen in Aiolos years ago.

"Just tell me how to get my Shun back and get this thing out of our dimension," she said casually, eyes blazing and her knife rested ever so slightly against the inside of his thigh.

"Aren't you supposed to be the good twin?" Kanon prodded, grinning wickedly, "You remind me more of me, really." Elektra stumbled backward in surprise. She had not realized that Kanon knew about that, even if it was only logical. "Granted, I never really met you other half. What did you do to him, anyway?"

Elektra dove at him, blade forgotten in favor of her fists, and Sanctuary plunged into darkness.

Kanon reached blindly to block her attack on instinct, only to have Elektra readily collapse into his arms when he caught her. He held her still, trying to take stock of what had just happened. Even though she did nothing else, not struggle or try to hide against his chest, he could not help but stare in surprise at the young girl in his arms. "You're scared of the dark," he murmured.

'Or afraid of what's in the dark,' a small voice in the back of his mind (one that sounded irritatingly simling to Saga) reminded him.

"Elektra," he said, tilting her face up to look at him ,"Listen to me. We're in deep shit, understand? There isn't a god in existence that can hop dimensions like this bastard can." He paused. His head was pounding and something was pulling relentlessly at his mind. "He's trying to pull…"

He trailed off. That pounding was not coming from inside his head. It was outside. Drums. All around them the sound of drums filled the silence that had encompassed Sanctuary. Toneless, angry, without rhythm or remorse, they beat out an endless, mindless sound to make ears bleed and hearts break.

"He's trying to separate us," Kanon rushed on, urgency lacing his voice, "Get back to your brothers. Tell Mu to set his Crystal Wall around the temple." He felt his body flicker in and out of existence. "The more he destroys the stronger he'll get!"

He vanished entirely, leaving Elektra alone in the dark, the sound of the drums pressing down on her. The darkness wrapped around Elektra, tightening around her neck, pulling at her skin and hair…

She bolted, instinct alone carrying her back to Athena's chamber and to the safest thing her terrified mind could think of. Shaka's arm around her and her fingers wrapped around his rosary, she shouted to Mu to set up a Crystal Wall around them.

Kiki gave a small yelp as he was pushed into Elektra's arms and, holding him tight, she whispered a prayer as everything went black.