I'm so excited! This is one of those chapters I've been imagining writing practically since I started writing this story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Saint Seiya or any of the included characters. They all belong to Masami Kurumada.


"You think Shun is the true Andromeda Saint?" Seiya asked.

"I know he is." Aiolos said with conviction.

"But then how is he wearing the Canis Minor Cloth?" Esmeralda queried. "Historically speaking, the only time a Saint has had multiple guardian constellations was when a Silver or Bronze Saint became a Gold."

"I'm wearing this Cloth, but it doesn't belong to me." Shun answered.

"What do you mean?" Ikki asked warily.

"I mean that I can't control it's power the way the rest of you control your Cloths' power. And the longer I wear the Cloth, the worse it gets. If I'm not careful, I could lose control of the Cloth's power entirely." Shun told them in a grim voice.

"Then why are you still wearing that Cloth?!." Ikki demanded.

"Anything for Athena, remember? Anything."

"Is that the only thing you didn't want to tell us?" Aiolos asked in a gentle tone.

"No. There's one more thing." Shun admitted.

Ikki scowled. "I'm not gonna like this either, am I?"

Shun just shrugged, then turned around and tugged his shirt off.

"What the..." Hyoga trailed off, visibly shocked by what he saw.

Shun's back was all smooth lines and lean muscle, but what really caught his fellow Saints' attention was his right shoulder blade. There was a marking there, dark purple and looking like some kind of ancient glyph. Around it and spreading out in seemingly every direction were dark purple veins, as though the glyph was infecting Shun's very blood.

"What is that?" Shiryu breathed.

"I don't know." Shun admitted softly. He pulled his shirt back over his head and turned to face them again. "The Pope-Saga-put this on me when I first came to Sanctuary."

"But why?" Ikki asked. "And while we're at it, we found out that Saga payed off the driver that was supposed to take you back to the orphanage to drop you off in the middle of nowhere, but we don't why."

Shun hung his head. "That's..."


Ten Years Ago

Shun leaned his head against the window of the limo as he let himself be lost in thought. As nervous as he was to go back to the orphanage, he was glad he would finally be free of Tatsumi and the other guards. At least at the orphanage he would-hopefully-have a more peaceful life.

"Come one kid, we're here." The driver called.

Shun blinked, realizing the car had stopped at some point while he was lost in thought. "Coming!" He called as he hopped out of the car.

And promptly stopped.

If there was one thing that the kids at the Graude Foundation were not allowed to do, it was go on field trips. Shun had never been outside Tokyo, and therefore had never seen this many trees, or this much greenery. It was beautiful.

Suddenly, Shun's attention was drawn by the sound of a car engine starting up. He spun around and took two steps only to freeze.

The car was gone.

Shun stared in horror. The driver had left him. Left him alone in the middle of nowhere, with no idea where he was and no way to get back to the city. He should have been paying more attention.

"Oh, what's this? Are you lost, little one?"

Shun spun around, seeing a man standing behind him. The man was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing strange golden armor the likes of which Shun had never seen before. He had long, purple-blue hair, and dark, strangely sorrowful looking eyes.

Shun blinked. Once. Twice. He squeezed his hand into a fist hard enough that his nails dug into his palm. I'm not just seeing things. He thought.

Slowly, the boy nodded.

"I see." The man said softly. "Perhaps I can help you."


Present Day

"Saga picked you up himself?" Aiolos gasped.

Shun nodded. "He brought me to Sanctuary and offered to let me train as a Saint. When I agreed, he put that glyph on me. Said it was the first part of my training."

"And you just believed him?" Hyoga asked.

Shun made a face. "I was a child. Besides, in my experience, arguing with an adult would only get me in trouble."

Ikki shot a faintly murderous expression at Tatsumi.

"Did Talus know?" Saori asked.

"I was told not to tell anyone."

"Okay," Seiya said slowly, "So what does it do?"

Shun pursed his lips. "At first, it didn't do anything, I even forgot it was there most of the time. Then, when I was twelve, it just started burning one day. It felt like it was draining my Cosmo."

"Draining your Cosmo?" Aiolos echoed.

Shun bobbed his head lightly. "I couldn't train for two days because I was so tired. A week later, Akio showed up at Sanctuary and was proclaimed to be the true Andromeda Saint. Sometimes, when I was around him, I could have sworn I felt traces of my Cosmo coming off him, but I don't know why."

Aiolos stared at nothing for several long moments, the he hissed. "Of course." he muttered.

"Of course what?" Shun asked.

Aiolos looked up at the boy. "That glyph is somehow connected to Akio. He's using it to drain your Cosmo so that anyone who senses his Cosmo senses Andromeda's Cosmo instead.

Everyone stared at the Sagittarius Saint.

"You mean that Saga has been planned that? Why?" Esmeralda breathed.

"He's probably trying to break up the Vanguard." Aiolos said thoughtfully. "Historically speaking, if a member of the Vanguard died before the Holy War took place, they would just reincarnate again, so there's not point in killing any of you, but if one of the Vanguard Cloths went to the wrong person, and the corresponding member of the Vanguard was placed under the protection of a different constellation, it could interfere with legendary Saints' ability to fight together. All the better if the one who got the Vanguard Cloth is loyal to Saga."

"That's a lot of trouble to go to." Hyoga commented dryly.

"Saga probably thinks it's worth it." Aiolos answered. He sighed. "Has Akio been draining your Cosmo lately?"

Shun nodded. "More and more often. It's... why I stayed away from here as much as I could. I didn't want you to find out."

"So what changed your mind?" Seiya asked curiously.

"Master Talus left me a message." Shun explained. "A kind of... last will and testament? I can't really explain it. I guess you could say it gave a different perspective on things."

"A different perspective, huh?" Ikki grinned lightly.

"Yeah." Shun smiled. He winced, reaching up to rub his shoulder above where the glyph was.

"It's bothering you again?" Esmeralda asked, moving to get up.

Shun nodded.

"Let me see. I can't get it off, but I might be able to help with the pain." She offered.

Shun was slow to nod, but he did, and turned to let Esmeralda see his shoulder properly.

"Once Esmeralda is done with your shoulder, you're going to bed." Aiolos ordered. "All of us are. It's been a long day."

Aiolos was right, and nobody had the will to argue with him.


Thoughts? Feelings? Anything? What did you think?

See you next time.