Weeks passed and things slowly started to change between the people in the two groups. While still regarding each other with a healthy dose of suspicion the ice had started to thaw between the XVIII century Gold Saints and their modern incarnations.
One point still stood between them and it was Phi. The girl, while having taken a shining to the modern Gold Saints, seemed to hate with a vengeance their pre-incarnations. She didn't want to do anything with them and she tended to avoid breathing the same air if that was possible.
Her training with young Sara was a sore spot of discussion mostly because Manigoldo and Kardia were so wary of her that had tried more than once to attack them while they were training. Not that she could not take them on with her eyes closed, but still she would have felt better if they ceased their futile attempts.
In spite of the added complications, though, Sara proved to be an excellent pupil. She was gifted and within weeks of rigorous training she had mastered a level of Cosmo befitting a Gold Saint, the second of the sore points of discussions.
The Snake Master had the sinking suspicion she knew which Cloth her young pupil was destined to, but since even thinking about that left with a devastating migraine she decided to let things play out and hope for the best.
She had started to appreciate her new life, had started to see the caring young men underneath the golden armour like the future Athena had told her.
She genuinely liked both Aphrodite and Death Mask whose presence around her was a constant balm on her aching soul. But her happiness around them was more often than not marred by the semi-constant presence of the little girl that followed the modern Gold Saints around like a small duckling.
Nathair had taken to the Underworld like a fish to water. It was normal to spot her with Death Mask, and even more common occurrence to see them perched on top of the massive wings of the Garuda, or laughing at the Gryphon's puppet shows, or even sipping tea with the monolithic Wyvern.
Where any other girl would have run away screaming from the constant dead aura surrounding the four men – and even Phi, who had seen more than her share of death was chilled out by the sheer intensity of it – Nathair seemed unfazed by it, laughing and playing with them like they weren't the Infernal Judges.
But what was worse was the fact that Phi had the impression that Nathair concealed more than she let on, that the little girl was a disguised of something more sinister, something that was going to be their ruin.
She had caught more than once the girl staring at her, a secretive smile on the small lips and a calculating look at odds with her young and innocent face.
But all in all things seemed to be going well even though Saori and her Saints worried about their prolonged presence in the past and absence of their young sister.
And it was exactly in the middle of that peace that tragedy struck, catching them completely unprepared like it always happens in these cases.
They had come out of nowhere, their cosmos suddenly blazing into existence bright, powerful and dangerous.
The guards had been taken by surprise, but even if they hadn't they would have been no match against the powerful soldiers that slaughtered them.
They had swarmed the Arena trapping trainees and Saints all together like cattle and it was then that Phi had the chance to properly look at them for the first time.
They were wearing full body armour, more like the Surplices of the Infernal Judges than the Cloths of Athena's Saints but the colour was a rich royal purple instead of pitch black.
They were all donning a full mask that covered all of their faces and those masks seemed to come from the worst nightmares. Beastly faces sneering, fangs and scales, they rendered the soldiers scary to look at.
They were all equipped with an arm shield with the portrait of a winged woman with long flowing hair. A woman that Phi was sure she had seen somewhere else.
It had been Manigoldo and Kardia who had started the attack and also the first ones to fall under the staggering powers of their enemies cosmos.
All of their comrades had followed suit both in the attack and in the subsequent fall and they were now being protected by their Athena's barrier.
Phi had pushed Sara in one corner, partially protected from the attacks and, after extracting the promise of not participating in the battle unless really necessary, she had joined the modern Gold Saints who were trying to build a solid strategy before attacking.
She would never learn what would have been the best plan of attack because she found herself flying backwards before having had the chance to charge her attacks.
While her body hit the rocky terrain of the Arena her mind finally remembered where she had seen the woman on the shield. She didn't have the time to dwell on it because after getting back up she was forced to fight for her life. Their enemies' attacks were brutal, relentless and they were soon overpowered. Half of the trainees laid dead in the dirt and the other half were too wounded to be of any help and they risked death as well if not treated properly soon.
The thirteen modern Gold Saints and the three Infernal Judges were a bit better due to their heightened strength but she could see their fatigue and their wounds, they were not going to last for long without help.
If only she had her Cloth…
The thought came to her unbidden. She was supposed to hate them, not try to save them.
They had had betrayed her, left her for dead, belittled her knowledge and expertise. They weren't worthy of her affection. But watching them fall, one after the other, shoulder to shoulder like brothers forged in battles, each of them shielding the others and enhancing their particular skills, she felt her heart break.
She was so busy looking at them that she completely missed the purple lighting directed at her until it was too late to do anything but hope to survive.
She had closed her eyes, waiting for the hit to strike, but the pain she was expecting never came. A grunt forced her to open her eyes and what she saw she knew would haunt her for eternity.
She saw, like in slow motion, the wall of roses exploding around her disintegrating to dust from the force of the hit. But it wasn't that wall that had shielded her. She saw light blue hair and gold armour and soft smile and kind and loving eyes before Pisces no Aphrodite crumpled on himself, back plate of his Cloth destroyed by the force of the impact.
She felt like underwater, struggling to reach him, to break his fall while, all around them his companions yelled his name.
She heard screaming and it took her a while to register that she was the one doing the screaming.
After what seemed an eternity she finally got to him and with trembling hands she turned his broken body around gently, stifling a sob when she looked into his scarred face.
"Am I this ugly mein leibling? Why are you crying?"
"You stupid fish! How could you do it? Why did you save me?"
"I have already lost a sister, dear one, I wasn't about to lose another, if I could help it…"
His blood was flowing out of his body way too fast, leaving him pale and cold. She stifled another sob when she realized he was not going to make it, that he had chosen to die so that she could live and she envied Helena again, because of the love and loyalty she had gained from these young men.
"I am not worthy of your life Aphrodite! Why did you sacrifice your life for mine? Why loose your love for my ancient hatred? I have given you no reasons to love me enough to sacrifice yourself for me so WHY?"
"Oh sweet Phi, you really don't see it, do you? You are like a beautiful rose, full of thorns yes, but no less worthy of love and acceptance…"
"Aphrodite…"
She couldn't stop crying because his breaths were becoming shallower by the second.
"Please…tell…tell…M—ask…I lo-…love…hi…"
She felt more than see him stiffen in his last breath and the broken wail of Death Mask only confirmed what she had already known: Pisces no Aphrodite was no more.
She cradled his body while broken sobs racked her small form and his companions led one last, hopeless charge against their enemies.
She saw them fall, too weary and tired to stand up again and for the first time she cursed the hatred she had harboured for all of those long centuries, the hatred that had led her in that life to be stripped of her cloth, rendering her useless in a battle like this.
"If you had the chance to save him, save them, would you take it?"
It was a testament of her despair that she didn't react to the voice that had suddenly materialized beside her.
Nathair's petite body was battered, like she had been sent into a wall but a powerful force and judging from the carnage it was probably exactly what it had happened.
But, somehow, the little girl had subtly changed. Gone was the playful innocence and the easy, almost naïve, demeanour.
Her eyes had a glint of steel in them and her mouth was set into a firm line that spoke of a maturity beyond her age.
"Who are you? You are not Nathair!"
"There is no time now for pleasantries! Do you want to save them?"
"WHO ARE YOU?"
"Fine! You stubborn creature! I am you! I am the part of you that makes you human, oh Snake Master! I am Heleiana!"
What?! The girl they had all been pining for had always been with them and no one had even suspected it!
The girl must have sensed her inner monologue because she lightly chuckled and proceeded to explain a little better.
"Do you remember the voice you heard in your head in your time in prison? It was me. You know perfectly well who has sent us here and why. I am you and together we are the two part of the soul of Ophiucus no Heleiana, the missing Gold Saint. When Leandro's henchmen had knifed you my part of the soul got separated from yours and I had despaired for your redemption. I have always known of you hatred, of your negative sentiments towards them. In all of our years together I have always tried to let you see their souls, their affections towards me, towards us. I had hoped that seeing them love us, you would have let go of your hatred but, as the years passed nothing they did ever changed your feelings. Nothing, until now. In the very moment in which Dite's life was no more, something in your heart shifted. For the first time in forever, your desire for your Cloth was dictated by more than vengeance. For the first time in forever you wanted to protect somebody else, and not just anybody, but one of the very same people that betrayed you. You wanted to protect all of them! So I'll ask again: if you had the chance to save him, save them, would you take it?"
If she had the chance to save them, would she take it…that was the very core of everything. Would the Snake Master really choose to save them? They were dead already, and if not their lives weren't going to be much longer, so the revenge she had been craving for centuries wasn't long in coming and she really didn't need to even lift a finger. But the little girl had been right, in the last months something has shifted and, for the first time in forever, she asked herself if she really wanted them dead.
And the answer was no!
But how was she going to let go of her hatred, how was she going to keep going without what had become such a big part of her life. If she didn't hate them anymore, what was she going to do?
"You'll love them! Believe me, once you have given them a chance, they are not that difficult to love! Plus, if you are really worried about the fact that you won't hate them anymore, let me tell you something: you will still do! Some day, some one will do something stupid and you'll think what am I doing here? And you'll hate them but, this time, it won't be permanent! So, what do you say? Will you take that chance?"
"If I take that chance I will need to reabsorb you, I will become Helena again and Phi will be forgotten, so why do I need to sacrifice me again for them?"
"Because you will not be forgotten my dear Ophiucus! Just like the others aren't forgotten! You will live in me and I will live in you. They have always loved you as well, it simply took you longer than me to realize that fact…"
The Snake Master supposed his host was right. The other Constellations weren't forgotten, their hosts didn't destroy them and if he was honest, his own host had never really over-shadowed him. His own hatred and heart-ache had blinded him so much that he had started seeing enemies where there were only friends.
And his friends had done everything in their power to make amends, to try and get past that mistake – he could see it now, how such a thing had only been a mistake – and to rekindle their friendship with him. He knew now that, in the very moment in which Aphrodite had shielded him, it hadn't been just him to make that jump. He had seen a glimpse of the very first Pisces Saint, his friend, and the same could be said for the others. Helena was right! It was time to stop running from his friends and to start fighting for them again!
"Ok little girl! You have convinced me! What do we do now?"
