"I am Elpida…"

Of all the things anybody had expected to hear this was by far the most unexpected of them all; if Helena had told them all that she was the reincarnation of Zeus it would have probably been less shocking.

"Wait a second…you are Elpida?"

"Yes…why so surprised Bringer? I did tell you that you hadn't seen the last of me, do you remember?"

No sooner than the last words had left her mouth, all of the Gold Cloths, with the exception of Ophiucus, had somehow extricated themselves from the various object or person they had been lounging upon and had formed a straight line in front of a bewildered looking Helena who, in all her years with them, had seen them doing a lot of strange things which, somehow, didn't compare to what was happening in front of her eyes.

And then, like a well-rehearsed chorus of pre-schoolers, all the Cloths, in full supplicant position with their foreheads on the hard ground, said:

"We are very sorry Elpida! We humbly ask for your forgiveness even though we cannot possibly hope that you would grant it! We understand if you do not want to have anything to do with us anymore, but we really hope that you could find it in your heart to give us another chance to prove you that we have really changed!"

Horrified beyond speech by the frankly embarrassing spectacle in front of her eyes, Helena found that she could only gape like an idiot at the terrible parody unfolding under her very eyes.

"Just for how long have you been rehearsing that? 'cause let me tell you, it's creepy as hell!"

If Helena had thought that some cheap humour – even though she had meant everything she said, especially the fact she thought the entire display creepy – could somehow dispel the serious atmosphere that had suddenly chocked the entire room, she was sorely disappointed.

None of the Gold Saints in front of her moved a muscle and, if possible, they stiffened even more, almost like she had physically hit them with her words.

"Guys?"

Suddenly afraid Helena tried to wiggle free of her Cloth's hold but the Master's strong hands suddenly clamped down on her forearms, effectively pinning her on his lap.

"Brother…"

Bringer's usually gravelly voice sounded almost lost in the thick silence of the room. If not for the fact that, usually, the Cancer Cloth was a loud, ill-tempered individual, Helena could almost swear that he sounded like a scared child, very aware of the fact he had made a blunder, and afraid of having lost his mother's love.

"Please, brother-in-law, say something!"

As if Lover's plea had struck some kind of nerve, the Snake Master abruptly rose to his feet – effortlessly shifting Helena so that she was being carried bridal style in his arms – and without looking at anybody, fled the small gathering.

As Lover made to follow them, she was stopped by a large hand on her shoulder.

"Let them go, pretty girl! We cannot do anything at the moment, the wounds are just to raw and deep. Let Helena work her magic; I am sure she will bring him back! After all she has always been looking out for him, even though none of us had really wanted to admit it. I trust her, don't you?"

"Of course I trust her, Taurus! How can you think I don't? it's just that…that…I don't think it's right…we were the ones who created this mess in the first place and she was a victim of our stupidity! How is it right that we leave her to clean up our mess?"

Cook's gentle smile dimmed a bit at her words and for a moment a lamp of agony flashed in his eyes, but before he could think of a proper response, somebody else beat him to the punch.

"You are right, Lover, it is your mess, and for all intents and purposes you should be the ones to fix it. But what you should do, and what you can do, are two different things. If you try to follow the Ophiucus Cloth now, you'll end up doing more damage than good…"

Aphrodite could see that his own Cloth wanted very much to argue his point, but he held up a perfectly manicured hand to stop her from speaking.

"Let me finish…I know you want to apologize! Believe me, I know that feeling better than you could ever imagine! It's like lead in your stomach, weighing you down, leaving you feeling bereft like you could never breathe easy again unless you apologize to the person you have wronged. And so you push this person, you force her to listen to you, you corner her like an animal until she has no other choice than to listen to you! And then you apologize to her, your mouth forms the words you have been rehearsing for a long time. You give her flowers and pretty words, you make big promises that, if you could think clearly, you would never make, because there's no way you could keep them! You forget to breath in your haste to pour everything out, sure in your knowledge that, after your heartfelt apology, she will have to forgive you, and you'll get back that relationship that your stupidity had ruined. But in your haste, you fail to notice what your self-centeredness is doing to the person you love like the sister you never had. You don't see her eyes dimming, her smile faltering. Too busy trying to say the words, you don't understand that the very same words you are saying have got no meaning, at least not to her. They sound empty to her ears and, if you had kept at least a slight grip on reality, you would have noticed it too…When she starts crying you don't understand, when she starts yelling at you, you scream right back at her, wounded by her blatant disregard of your heartfelt apology. In the end you are so incensed that you tell her something you never wanted to tell her, that you had never even thought about before that very moment. And when she leaves the room, slamming the door behind her, you fall to your knees, the heart you had already thought broken, completely pulverized in your chest, and the only thing you can think is that you never wanted this, that it was supposed to be a simple apology to start again, you weren't supposed to create an even bigger rift between you two. And in the oppressing silence of your temple you realize that you are an asshole, that your so-called heartfelt apology was nothing more than a selfish way to clean your conscience and it had nothing to do with seeking her forgiveness…"

Trailing off into silence, Aphrodite kept his eyes trained to the ground in front of him, not even acknowledging the warm hand he was sure was Death Mask's, squarely set on his shoulder. He hadn't been lying when he had told his Cloth that he understood her plight very well. He knew what it meant knowing you had made a grievous mistake and wanted nothing more to apologize, to have it forgiven not because it was the right thing to do, but to ease your conscience.

What he had told them had really happened and it almost ruined completely his relationship with Helena.

"I'm sorry beloved child…"

Forcing a smile on his stiff lips, Aphrodite refocused his eyes onto the people still kneeled on the ground.

"Don't be sorry! What happened what nothing more than my fault! You cannot change it, and I will have to live with it, like I have to live with every other mistake I made, every other hurt I dealt Helena! But there is one thing you can do, the only thing that will make my mistake less grievous: you can avoid it! Do not make the same mistake I made! Do not apologize now, because it will be perceived as nothing more than the easy way to unburden your conscience, and the Master would be right if he assumed that. In cases like this words have got no meaning: don't say you are sorry, be sorry! Don't say you will change, make the change! And above all - the one thing I have learned is your best course of action - trust Helena! I probably have no right to say this, but I think you owe her! Without her telling you this story, you would have never had the chance to apologize to your brother and, even though she didn't say it, I have the feeling she has done more than she will ever tell you for you, during the centuries!"

Unbeknown to Aphrodite and the other inhabitants of the small garden, Helena, and subsequently the Snake Master, had heard everything that had been said in their absence.

Smiling softly to herself, Helena watched the Cloths pick themselves up, a glint in their eyes that spoke volumes about their newfound resolution, spurred by Aphrodite's confession.

"He sure has grown a lot; don't you think Master?"

When silence was the only answer she got, Helena turned around to face her Cloth, slightly worried by his evident lack of response.

She had expected, and was prepared for, a variety of reactions, but what she really saw broke her heart.

The Snake Master had always been a tall man, both in physical stature and in moral capacity, but there was no trace of that proud being in the man in front of her. Helena was sure she had wanted to kneel, but he looked more like he had crumbled to the floor, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

When she started to approach him – slowly, cautiously, like he was a wounded and skittish animal who could lash out at any given time – she was surprised when he suddenly fixed his wild eyes into hers. She fumbled, at loss for words, and the sheer wrongness of everything hit her like a ton of bricks: because the Snake Master didn't cry, ever.

Deciding to forego the empty words of reassurance that had automatically formed on her tongue, Helena quickly closed the distance between them and, after kneeling in front of him, she proceeded to gather in her arms the trembling form of her Cloth.

"What do I do now, Helena? What am I supposed to do? What do they want me to do? I have hated them for so long! I have despised them, scoffed at their pathetic tries to reform me, to recreate that lost camaraderie. I have lived all of my life secure in the knowledge that they had wronged me. Worst of all, I have always thought they hated me, that they would have never apologized to me, recognized their errors! And now this! Now you tell me that, what I had thought was a cruel punishment, me being transformed into a Cloth, was actually a blessing, my last chance at salvation. And that I have them to thank for it! And even worse: I discover now that they had willingly sacrificed their own life to stay with me on the off chance they could apologize to me! My own younger brother, the one I had strived to protect from everything, had given up his own life as not to condemn me to an eternity alone! They all did! So, what do I do now?"

Helena could almost see the inner struggling her Cloth was experiencing: on the one hand there was his hate towards his former family, a strong and familiar feeling, but on the other there was a blooming new seed of hope, one that the Master had been powerless to stop, that was slowly drowning every other negative feeling.

The young healer knew, with the clarity that only those near death possess, that, in his heart, her beloved Master had already made his decision, and that it was only his head that needed some convincing.

Unfortunately for them all, Helena despaired having the time needed to do that convincing, for she could feel the cold hands of death creeping upon her, colder that Camus' icy Cosmo, and scarier than Death Mask's souls. Nevertheless, she had to try.

Steeling herself she changed their positions slightly so that she could look into the Master's eyes.

"Dear, dear Master, listen to me and listen good, because I don't have much time to tell you this! I have never lied to you, and never will! I won't apologize for what I did in the past because I would do it again if there was even the slightest change of saving you. I'd sell my soul to Hades and ally myself to anyone, anywhere, if it would aid you! I am telling you this so that you know that I am on your side! That being said, I think you should give them another chance!"

She had expected his shock, and the knee-jerk reaction that followed and she easily ignored it.

"Don't lie to me Master! I know you want to forgive them! Hell, to be honest I am pretty sure you would have forgiven them even if I didn't tell you what they did! This is just icing on the cake! Yes, they wronged you, they condemned me without even trying to save me, they despised you and ignored your wishes and needs, but you know they have changed! They have changed so much that they even took under their protection a young girl, and not because I was destined to be your host! Heck they didn't even know I was Elpida! They had simply taken a liking to me, and this tells you more than anything else that they have changed. Even without remembering what they had done, they devised a strategy to protect the bearer of your Cloth, and before you argue that they had done so to keep you in check, may I remind you that they are called Guardians and not Jailers?"

Helena could see the Master caving, could almost taste his desperate need to believe in her words, to give his relationship with the rest of his family another chance.

"Say I do give them another chance…"

Finally! Sure, to anybody else this hypothetical would have been nothing more than that, an hypothesis, but Helena had lived almost all of her two lifetimes with the grumpy healer, to recognize every sign of his changing mind.

"…what am I supposed to do?"