While Manigoldo's life wasn't a living hell yet, it was on a very fast track to get there sooner rather than later.

While proud of the fact that Sage had chosen him for the mission, he was starting to regret the choice as he just wanted to be as far away as possible from both the future Ophiucus and Scorpio Saints.

"They are mad! I am telling you, Albafica! They are both nut jobs!"

In the privacy of the Twelfth House, Albafica was trying very hard not to laugh at the petulant and downright childish tone that Manigoldo was using. During the previous ten minutes of conversation, the Cancer Saint had reiterated the same concept in every possible variation and the Pisces Saint was sure that even the walls had gotten the message. Taking care not the upset the delicate balance of the water in the basin, Albafica moved out of Manigoldo's seeing range, to properly laugh at his companion's behaviour.

Communication through small bodies of water had been Helena's idea, one she had implemented with the help of the younger of her Gemini twins. Kanon had, apparently, spent a good portion of his life under Poseidon's rule – Degel had looked a bit sick at the prospect, but Albafica had really wanted to ask, even if he had refrained from doing it after having been subjected to Helena's iciest glare – and had mastered some neat tricks with water. One of those tricks had enabled them to connect two bodies of water, provided that Kanon was at one end and either Helena or Saga at the other. Whatever the reason behind this trick, it had enabled them to communicate with the three Saints outside on a mission, even if Albafica had the strong suspicion that Helena and her Guardians had their own, private, way of talking to each other.

In that moment, Albafica was the only one in Athena's temple – a courtesy that all the other Saints had done him so that he could talk in peace with Manigoldo – and he assumed that his companion was similarly alone in the dwellings he shared with Milo and Helena. Whether or not he was actually alone would not have put any kind of filter on Manigoldo's comments, but the Pisces Saint could only hope that, this time, he didn't end up insulting someone more powerful than him once again – Albafica was actually glad that he had been dead when Manigoldo had gone to face Thanatos, or he would have killed the idiot with his own two hands after having heard exactly what he had said to the Twin Gods' faces.

"I would like to point out that you aren't exactly a sterling example of mental sanity, Manigoldo! Don't you think?"

As always, Albafica's remark had gone lost in the verbal avalanche that kept coming from Manigoldo's side of the mirror.

Knowing that there was no way - short of shutting the man up by kissing him senselessly – to make Manigoldo cease his blabbering before he was well and truly done, Albafica sit down again and he let himself enjoy the rather adventurous re-telling of Milo's and Helena's escapades.

Just like all the other Saints, whether current or modern, Albafica was aware of what the three of them were doing in regards of the mission: Helena's daily check-ins, done to spare the coronaries of both her Guardians and apparently Athena herself, were punctual and thorough and so very detailed and vivid, that the Pisces Saint had had the impression of being there with them more than once.

Apparently, though, that level of detail didn't transfer over to their extracurricular activities; while Albafica was sure that both Death Mask and Aphrodite were aware of what their charge was really doing – for all his ditzy behaviour, his reincarnation was surprisingly scary when he put his mind to it, and Albafica was sure that this ferocity came out especially when Helena tried to pull the wool over his eyes – it looked like the Ophiucus Saint hadn't felt necessary to inform anybody else to what exactly she and the Scorpio Saint were doing with the free time.

It didn't look like they were trying hard to keep it a secret, otherwise Pisces was sure that they wouldn't have been caught more than once by Manigoldo, and the stories that the Cancer Saint had relayed until that moment were absolutely hilarious, even if a bit mad.

Catching sight of Regulus lurking outside the room where he was in, Albafica signalled him to come inside. Soon enough the young lion had reached him, accompanied by what looked like most of their companions and their reincarnations.

Paying attention not to be accidentally seen or heard by the still raving Cancer – while Manigoldo told pretty enough stories when he was aware of having an audience, it was when he thought to be talking only to Albafica or Sage that he gave the very best of himself – they all took up a space on the floor and made themselves comfortable enough to listen to whatever mad scheme Scorpio and Ophiucus had cooked up to drive Cancer to insanity.

Nobody really knew how to tell Manigoldo that, but it seemed that whatever escapade Milo and Helena were caught in, they all somehow rebounded on the innocent Cancer, making him the prime victim of what looked like a long streak of high-calibre pranks.

Albafica had had his suspicions at the beginning but Kanon had been the one to properly confirm them: at least half of what Milo and Helena were doing, was done with the express purpose of being a prank on Manigoldo – if Albafica had had any doubts about Helena knowing that the Cancer Saint had, not so gently, turned down his sister this had blown them off. What was a bit worrying was the fact that the other half of what they were doing, was done in earnest in order to finish the mission, and it usually didn't involve Manigoldo at all, even if Cancer still didn't see it.

In the two weeks the three of them had been absent, Helena and Milo had managed to almost sell Manigoldo to a slave ring they had met on the road, 'accidentally' loose all of his clothes during his bath so that Cancer had had to go around the block with only a towel to protect his modesty, and, this one apparently not so accidentally, join the underground faction of the city they were supposed to investigate.

While the first two were deliberate, if not completely innocent, pranks on Manigoldo, the third one had been done, or so Helena had explained it, in order for them to gain better access to the city.

Albafica really had no idea how his reincarnation and the future Cancer Saint had been able to sleep the night in which it had happened; while Helena had reported a minor altercation between them and the city's thugs, Manigoldo's story had uncovered some scary details that would have made anyone with a sound mind blanche in horror.

"Sage I'm telling you, you need to get me out of here! Those two are mad! Worse than mad, they are suicidal! You would not believe what they just did! There is a fine line between insanity and genius, but I think those two have crossed it eons ago!"

It had not been the first time, in the scant two days the three of them had spent in the city, that Manigoldo reported some mad schemes that Helena and Milo seemed to cook up from thin air, but it was the first time that the young Cancer had done so with a detectable edge of panic in his voice.

"Manigoldo…"

"NO! You have to listen to me, Sage! They are unhinged! You know that we have not been making any progress in finding out the information we need on this creep, right? It doesn't really matter who we ask, be it a poor man or a rich one, nobody will give us any answers! Helena thought that this was because the creep we are looking for is good enough not to make any information leak to the general population. I agreed and we discussed the merit of trying some less-than-savoury establishments to see whether we could hear some juicier titbit. We had decided to go tonight to one of the less dangerous ones since there was no sense in risking our necks on some unfounded hunch. The evening went just about what you'd expect: we managed to pick up some interesting chatter, but nothing of substance and it had soon become very clear that nobody would tell us anything since we are foreigners. I had just about suggested to the Scorpio Saint that to call it a night, grab the girl on the way out and try again tomorrow, when I almost got bowled over by the not-so-light weight of the snake girl. And when I finally managed to regain my balance, I was greeted by none other than the idiot with a psychotic grin staring bemusedly, and I repeat bemusedly, at the fucking knife that was coming out of her shoulder!"

Sage would never know if his pupil had been aware that his retelling had gained quite the audience and had said what he had said on purpose just to rile his reincarnation up, or if Manigoldo had simply recounted the story for his master's ears alone.

Nevertheless, what happened after his charming description of what had looked like the fist stage of a brawl, had been Saori's rather explosive reaction – the sheer amount of yelling and cussing had deeply shaken Sage and his Saints to the core, even if it looked like Saga and the rest hadn't been particularly fazed by it.

"Where was Milo?"

The question had come, not surprisingly, from Camus, the one who knew best – even if the others were very aware of it as well – that if Helena had pulled that stunt, Milo could not have been that far away.

"Scorpio you say? That was actually the scariest part of all! He gave Helena a once over, grinned like a fucking lunatic and then, quiet as you please, grabbed the knife still protruding from the girl's shoulder and, without even looking back, flung it right in the middle of some thug's chest! And then he winked at him! And worst of all, he went back at the bar, ordered another drink, swallowed it like it was water and then ordered yet another, telling the bartender to make it extra strong because, and I quote, 'the lovely lady over there looks like she needs a stiff drink, don't you agree?'. Now tell me if this isn't madness?!"

At that, even Deuteros looked put out by the sheer amount of lunacy that the Scorpio and the Ophiucus Saints had exhibited. But before any of Manigoldo's comrades had found their voice again, it was Shura who asked a question.

"Did it work?"

That had thrown the 18th century Gold Saints for a loop; what had Shura meant? Was it possible that the entire thing had been nothing but a well-rehearsed play?

"You don't mean to tell me that it was staged, right?"

When it looked like Shura had decided not to expend another word on the subject, it was with a fond smile that Saga decided to take over.

"Of course it was staged! Milo and Helena have always done this kind of things together and, I really don't know anything about it, I would presume that to infiltrate a gang of lowlifes and thugs, you actually need to show them some of the merchandise you are selling…"

"What. The. Fuck? What merchandise are you talking about?"

"Tsk…there is no need to be this rude so late at night, Manigoldo! And to answer your question, they needed to see what talents we had to offer them in exchange for a place in their gang; I'd say that with the show we put on they should grant us a higher status, don't you think Milo? I really don't want to loose my time with petty crimes…"

Apparently Manigoldo's rant had been loud enough to cover the entry of the two missing Saints, who were still grinning like idiots even if they were covered in blood and bruises.

"From your grins I'd say it went well…even if I don't really approve of your methods you two! I thought I had ordered you not to blow anything up! Did you think I would have approved of a bar-brawl of all things? You are reckless and impossible! I should have you punished for what you did tonight! Good work!"

The abrupt about-face done by Saga at the last possible second in his tirade, had all of them, not just Helena and Milo, secretly smiling.

Just as the two newly-appointed members of the gang were about to go change out of their bloody clothes, it was then that Saori decided to take action.

Albafica would always remember the thorough dressing down that Saori had done to her two Saints as one of the most hilarious and fulfilling experiences of his life.

It hadn't really mattered that Helena had tried to explain to the Goddess that she had been wearing armour underneath her clothes and thus she had been perfectly safe and the knife hadn't even nicked her. It definitely hadn't mattered when Milo had tried to say something in his defence, ending up stuttering out the last few words under Athena's iciest glare.

On his part, on one hand he could see the logic behind Helena's and Milo's actions, but on the other hand there had been so many ways that brawl could have played up, that it had been sheer luck that nothing really serious had happened. And judging by the cross looks on Helena's Guardians' faces, they both thought the same thing.

Still, the plan had worked and they had successfully started to obtain the information they needed, and they were closing in on the perpetrator of the crimes.

"You still rattling us out, Manigoldo? What are you? Five?"

Once again it looked like Manigoldo's rant had covered the entry of the other two Saints, even if, this time, their attire had been much more conservative and, luckily, bloodless.

Before the Cancer Saint had had any chance at formulating a response beyond senseless spluttering, Helena got over the water basin and peered inside.

"Oh, good! You are all here! We have managed to infiltrate the palace of the noble who should be behind the weird abductions. We start tomorrow!"

The close time-frame had come to a shock to most of them; intellectually they knew they needed to hasten the end of the mission, but the fact that in just a few short hours three of them would be cast in probable danger once more, had left them with a bitter aftertaste.

"Be careful, brat!"

The softly spoken 'whenever am I not' had all of them smiling.

"Bonne chance, mon coeur…"

"It's going to be fine, guys! It's just recon, and we've done this lots of times before! It's probably going to be one of those cases where there's a rich, bored, guy who has decided to abuse his power just for fun! Me and Helena will be out of there in a jiffy! You'll see it!"

Milo's optimistic tone had Camus and the others smiling, once again believing that the mission would end well.

After that, there was nothing else that needed to be said and so they all quickly made their goodbyes and the connection was interrupted, waiting for the following day to be picked up again.

Nobody really knew, or could even predict that the next time they would talk to each other like this, the situation had become so dire than a positive result would almost seem impossible.