So this is the last chapter of the Silver Saints arc. After this Justice will be going on hiatus for a bit while I flesh out the Gold Saints arc and write something out of Infinite Possibilities.
If there is anything in particular that you'd like to see more of out of Infinite Possibilities, feel free to leave a review or PM me. The only one I won't do is Disaster, because that one would be a much longer story and I won't be taking that much time away from Justice.
(Look at me, shamelessly promoting my other fics).
Disclaimer: I do not own Saint Seiya or any of the included characters. They all belong to Masami Kurumada.
Aiolia stared at the mess his attack on the villa had made. Roughly a third of the villa was gone, mostly the balcony and the living room. Fortunately, the bedrooms were intact. Saori Kido-Athena-was currently resting in her room, watched over by Tatsumi and the Dragon Saint. The young goddess had passed out after inadvertently forcing Aiolia to stop his attack.
The rest of the Bronzes were gathered at one edge of the clearing. Three of them, Phoenix, Columba, and Pegasus, were fine other than some bruises and scratches. The Cygnus Saint had taken a nasty hit to the head, but it hadn't resulted in a concussion and he was icing it.
Shun was another matter entirely. The Columba Saint was crouched next the green-haired teen, who was sitting against a tree with his head tilted back as the older girl healed the fairly spectacular bruises around his neck.
Aiolia winced as he thought about it. He had almost killed Shun. Would have killed him, if Aiolos hadn't intervened.
Aiolia was dragged out of his self-deprecating thoughts by the sound of footsteps next to him. Aiolos was approaching, a touch cautious as he joined his brother.
"How are you doing?" The Sagittarius Saint asked softly.
Aiolia turned his gaze back to the young Bronzes. The Vanguard, definitely.
"I'm fine." He answered tersely.
Aiolos scoffed. "Don't give me that, little brother. I know that look. You can't blame yourself for this."
"It's my fault!" Aiolia argued. "I tried to kill Athena! I almost did kill Shun!"
"You were acting on orders that you had no way to know were wrong." Aiolos corrected patiently. "If anything, this is Saga's fault."
"Saga?" Aiolia asked. "Brother, Saga died at Shura's hand the same night you... left."
Aiolos shook his head. "No. That wasn't Saga. Saga has been posing as the Pope since before I left Sanctuary with Athena. He's the one who tried to kill Athena in the first place."
Aiolia frowned. That seemed... improbably, honestly, but it would explain the sudden shift in the Pope's personality. Aiolia, little more than a child at the time, had just chalked it up to old age.
"There's more isn't there?" He questioned his brother.
Aiolos sighed, and began to speak. Aiolia listened as the whole story unfolded. Aiolos earning the position as the next Pope. Saga's rage. The attempt on Athena's life and Aiolos's subsequent flight from Sanctuary.
"So that's what happened..." Aiolia murmured. "I'm sorry." He finally managed.
"Don't be." Aiolos sighed. "I could have tried to contact you, to tell you what was going on, but I thought you'd be safer if you really didn't know anything. It wasn't until Talus told me about you that I realized just how much you paid for what I did."
That phrase caught Aiolia's attention, drawing his thoughts back to something that had been bothering him since he was called to the Pope's chambers.
"Brother," He started. "Talus... I was told Andromeda Akio killed him. Is he really...?"
"He died from his wounds early this morning." Aiolos answered. "Follow me."
Aiolia followed his brother as the older Saint lead the way to a big tree at the edge of the clearing. On the opposite side of the tree from the villa was a patch of fresh turned earth, accompanied buy a carving on a tree.
"Fox Talus, Protector of Athena, Beloved Master and Student" Aiolia felt a smile curl his lips at that.
"Looks like there's someone else who wants to talk to you." Aiolos commented, and Aiolia followed his gaze to see Shun approaching slowly from the clearing.
As he reached them, Aiolos rested a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "I'll let you two have some privacy." With that, he left them.
Silence fell between the two Saints as they stood over Talus's grave. Shun was the one to break it.
"Talus left messages with me." He said. Aiolia turned to look at the younger Saint. "Or maybe not messages. It's more like there's a piece of him in my head. He wants to talk to you."
Aiolia blinked slowly. As far as he knew, Abstracts-psychic fragments of one's mind-were a Lemurian telepathy technique. Trust Talus to be able to do that without me knowing. He thought to himself.
"Let me see." He ordered.
Shun nodded. "Sit down."
They both sat down, and Shun reached out, pressing his hand to Aiolia's forehead.
Instantly Aiolia felt a sense of falling, like someone had just thrown him in to a pitch black abyss.
"Sorry. I haven't quite perfected this technique yet." Shun's voice echoed in his head.
"Sloppy. Talus would be ashamed." Aiolia huffed.
"Shut up. You're almost there." Shun retorted.
"Almost where?"
Shun didn't answer, and instead Aiolia heard the distinctive chirping of birds. He opened his eyes-when had he closed them?-and found himself in the Colosseum back in Sanctuary. His armor was gone, replaced by his usual brown and tan trainer.
"What the hell?" Aiolia muttered, looking around. He was standing in the middle of the arena area. The seats were empty, all except for one person.
"Took you long enough, little cub." Talus said with a grin. Dressed in his red trainer, his black hair a wind-ruffled mess, the Fox Saint looked like he was in the middle of a break from training. He jumped to the floor of the arena and stepped up to Aiolia.
"Your student's telepathy is sloppy." Aiolia told Talus, hooking his arms loosely around the man's waist.
Talus just laughed. Cupping the back of Leo Saint's head with one hand, he leaned up a bit to rest his forehead against the Aiolia's.
"We," He said softly, "Have a lot to talk about."
Seiya frowned as he sat next to Hyoga and Ikki. Aiolos had appeared from behind the tree where Talus was buried a good thirty minutes ago, immediately heading to check on Saori.
The young Pegasus's thoughts were racing. He remembered seeing Aiolia a number of times during his time training to be the Pegasus Saint. The blond man had been a seemingly constant fixture through the years, stopping by to oversee Seiya's training and talk to Marin. He had always had a kind word or a bit of encouragement for Seiya, little things that made the cruel words of his fellow trainees-the ones who didn't approve of people who weren't Greek-seem less important, because Marin clearly respected Aiolia, and the words of someone who Marin respected meant a lot more than those of some mere trainees.
What Seiya couldn't seem to process was that Aiolia was Gold Saint. Seiya had always assumed that Aiolia was just another Silver-level trainer like Marin.
"Aren't you the brat who was trained by Marin? It's funny, I heard that you were looking for your sister, but did you know that Marin has been looking for her brother for years? Funny coincidence, isn't it?"
Lizard Misty's words echoed in Seiya's head, as they had many times since his fight with the Silver Saint a solid week ago.
Could Marin really be my sister? Seiya wondered.
The sound of footsteps drew Seiya's attention from his thoughts to where Shun and Aiolia were approaching.
A small smile graced Shun's face as he moved to join Ikki, leaning against his older brother's shoulder.
Aiolia, on the other hand, looked like he was a wrong word away from breaking down as he looked over. He turned his attention to Seiya.
"We need to talk." He told the younger Saint.
Seiya stood up and followed the Gold Saint out of earshot of the others.
The first thing that burst out of Shun's mouth when Aiolia turned to face him was, "Why didn't you tell me you were a Gold Saint?"
Aiolia sighed. "I'm not supposed to reveal my status as a Gold Saint if I can avoid it."
"But Shun knew!" Seiya protested.
"Talus was a far more open person than Marin had ever been." Aiolia explained. "Shun had all the clues. Speaking of Marin-"
"That Misty guy said Marin might be my sister!" Seiya blurted out before he could stop himself. "Is it true."
Aiolia's expression softened. "I don't know. Marin has always been a very private person when it comes to her past. You'll have to ask her yourself if you ever get the chance. Just remember that you're a member of the Vanguard. Athena has to come first."
Seiya bit his lip. "I know that." He mumbled.
At that moment Aiolos approached.
"I hate to interrupt," He started gently, looking to Aiolia, "But you've been here for more than an hour. Sanctuary is going to get suspicious."
"I know." Aiolia murmured. "I'll be going then."
Aiolos watched as Aiolia prepared to return to Sanctuary. It wasn't like there was a lot to prepare, it was just a matter of opening a portal and stepping through, but the Leo Saint seemed to be hesitating.
"I'm going to talk to the other Gold Saints." He told Aiolos and the assembled Bronzes. "See what they know."
"Be careful." Aiolos warned. "You're risking a lot by doing this. If any of the others don't agree you, they might report you to Saga."
"I will be." Aiolia promised. He turned to step into the portal, only for Shun to call out to him.
Aiolia turned to stare at the Canis Minor Saint as he stepped closer. "What is it?" He asked.
"Take these." Shun said, holding out a handful of Cloth tags. "I've been collecting these."
"Those belonged to the Silver Saints that have come after you." Aiolia breathed, taking them. Then he blinked, and gave Shun an unreadable look. Whatever he saw in the teen's eyes must have satisfied him, because he nodded and turned back to the portal.
A moment later he was gone.
"Looks like we'll be going to Sanctuary sooner rather than later." Ikki commented.
Aiolos shook his head. "That's up to Athena. We'll talk tomorrow. For now there's nothing we can do."
No one had any answer to the older Saint's words.
So, what did you think? I feel like this chapter was a little... rough?
See you soon!
