And here's another chapter for you all. We're coming into the final arc of Justice, but I expect it will still be a while before it's over. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Saint Seiya or any of the included characters. They all belong to Masami Kurumada.
As the glow of the portal receded, Aiolos looked around. More than fifteen years since he had been in Sanctuary, and it honestly looked like nothing had changed at all.
Around the Sagittarius Saint, the Bronze Saints and Saori were busy taking in their surroundings, varying looks of awe and surprise on their faces. To be fair to the teenagers, even at the bottom of the Twelve Houses the view over the rest of Sanctuary was quite impressive.
To Aiolos's left, Saori let out a quiet gasp. "So this is Sanctuary..." She breathed in wonder.
"It's definitely impressive." Shiryu conceded, having dropped the defensive stance he'd adopted upon clearing the portal.
Aiolos felt his mouth twitch up. He'd had a similar reaction his first time coming here.
"We need get moving." He said, shaking away the sense of nostalgia that had briefly invaded his mind. "The sooner we get to the top, the better." Even as he spoke, something niggled at the back of his mind. It felt like something-or someone-was watching them.
One by one, the others shook away their surprise and nodded. Even Saori was quick to refocus on the task ahead of them.
The young goddess smiled, looking remarkably confident in spite of her reaction of a few moments ago. "Let's go then." She said brightly.
As they turned towards the stairs that lead up to the House of Aries, Aiolos caught sight of the thing that had been bothering him.
"Watch out!" He yelled as the Silver Saint that had been hiding near the bottom of the stairs drew his fist back.
"Phantom Arrow!" The man yelled, and a barrage of arrows flew at the assembled Saints.
Aiolos instinctively threw himself for Saori, aiming to shield her from the rain of arrows. He didn't quite reach her in time, and as the first few arrows reached the group, he brought his arms up to shield his face, only to start as the arrows seemed to disappear just as they made contact with him.
They're not real! He realized.
Before he could warn the others, another voice spoke up. "These aren't real arrows." Shiryu called. "They're just illusions!"
"They are!" Seiya yelled triumphantly. "You're done for." He told the Silver Saint as he drew his fist back.
"Pegasus Meteor Fist!" The Pegasus Saint shouted, and the Saint-Sagitta, if the arrows were anything to go by-was thrown back into the stairs with enough force to partially shatter his Cloth.
Ikki stalked up to the downed Saint. "You'd think someone a little stronger would be sent to try to kill us at the bottom of the Houses." He sneered.
The Silver Saint let out a wheezing laugh. "I wasn't sent to kill you. This is just a present from the Pope." He told them.
With a dawning sense of horror, Aiolos turned to Saori as the young teenager let out a soft, pained sound.
"Saori!" He yelled in alarm as he caught sight of the arrow in her chest. He darted to her side, catching his goddess as she stumbled.
Stupid! He thought. Never let your guard down so easily.
Esmeralda was at their side in a flash. "Let me see." She instructed, reaching out. Before she could touch the arrow, it dissipated into thin air.
Aiolos frowned. That was bizarre. "Are you okay?" He asked Saori.
The purple-haired girl shook her head as she gently pulled out of his grip. "It stings a bit, but I'm fine." She said with a reassuring smile.
Aiolos didn't argue, but decided to keep an eye the girl, just in case.
"If Miss Saori is okay, we should probably book it." Hyoga spoke up. "Who knows if the Pope has sent anyone else to get in our way."
Aiolos nodded and stood up, Saori and Esmeralda following suit.
"Keep your guard up." He ordered in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "We can't risk getting caught off-guard like that again."
They took off again and as they walked past the Sagitta Saint, Aiolos glanced down at him. The Silver Saint was out cold-or possibly dead, considering how much power Seiya had put behind his attack-and likely wouldn't be a problem. Not that it made Aiolos feel better.
What did he mean by "a present from the Pope"? What could Saga possibly be planning? For once, Aiolos really regretted not knowing more about the abilities of the Silver Saints.
As they neared the top of the stairs leading to the House of Aries, Shun snarled quietly.
"Not you again." His growl was nearly drowned out by the rattle of chains, and Aiolos turned in time to see Shun slip in front of Saori, catching the chain aimed for her chest and throwing it to the side.
Akio smirked as he stepped out from behind a nearby outcropping of rock. "What a surprise." He commented nastily. "I didn't expect you to catch on so quick, since you completely missed me last time."
Shun tensed at the subtle reminder of their first encounter with the Andromeda Saint, before abruptly relaxing his stance. "The rest of you go one without me." He instructed in a calm tone, not looking back. "I'll deal with this one."
"I'll stay too." Ikki spoke up quickly. "Two on one is better odds."
"No." Shun's voice was firm.
"But Shun-" The Phoenix Saint started to protest.
"Protecting Saori is our first priority. There's no reason to waste more than one person on a fake Saint."
Ikki scowled in displeasure, but ultimately gave in. "Catch up with us when you're done." He told his younger brother.
"I will." Shun answered. "Now go!"
Without another word, the remaining Saints made their way past Shun towards the entrance of the House of Aries.
Behind them Aiolos could hear Akio's snarl of rage, and the rattle of his chains as he no doubt attempted to attack the retreating Saints, but Shun was faster and the attack never reached them.
The Sagittarius Saint didn't like it, but this would probably be the nature of the entire journey up the Twelve Houses. They didn't have time to all stop and fight every single Gold Saint on the way up. Letting out a small sigh, Aiolos opened his eyes.
There was no time to dwell, and nowhere to go but forward.
"I didn't know the Aries Saint liked shiny things so much." Shiryu's quiet musing had Aiolos biting back a chuckle as they all made their way slowly through the House of Aries.
The crystalline walls and pillars were certainly eye-catching, but Aiolos knew-as Master Shion had once told him-that the extravagant appearance of the House was a defense in its own right.
"No one takes someone who likes that much decoration seriously." The aging Pope had told him. Speaking of which...
"Don't take this lightly." He warned the Dragon Saint. "If you let yourself get distracted you could be taken out in the blink of an eye."
"I know that!" Shiryu protested.
"This is weird though." Hyoga commented.
Seiya frowned. "What is?" He asked.
"The fact that we're almost through the House of Aries and we have yet to run into the actual Aries Saint." The blond pointed out. "Shouldn't he have, I don't know, tried to stop us already?"
"The Aries Saint stopped the Cancer Saint from attacking Shiryu's master and offered to stay in Lushan to keep an eye on him, didn't he?" Saori pointed out softly. "Maybe he stayed in Lushan instead of coming to Sanctuary to stop us?"
"Maybe?" Shiryu said thoughtfully. "It would be fortunate for us, but there's no guarantee."
Aiolos nodded. "Shiryu is right. If Mu isn't here, good, but be prepared to have to face him if he is. We can't count on luck to get us through this."
"Yeah," Ikki scoffed, "We haven't exactly fallen on the nice end of the luck spectrum recently."
"I get it, I get it." Seiya muttered. "Keep our eyes open and don't get distracted."
Moments later, they stepped out of the House of Aries into the open air and started up the next set of steps.
The Saints slowed down to a walk for the last few steps leading up to the House of Taurus.
"This is it." Aiolos said with a slow breath. He glanced around. "Everyone ready?"
The Bronze Saints all nodded, Saori bobbing her head lightly in agreement.
Aiolos hesitated and pursed his lips as he looked over the entrance to the second House. Something was bothering him.
Unlike the Cloths worn by the Saints, the Twelve Houses of the Zodiac were not alive. However, the nature of their construction-the use of Stardust Sand in both the foundations and the main body of each House-meant that each of the Houses had, over the centuries since Sanctuary was built, absorbed small amounts of Cosmo from their many guardians. As a result, every House had its own aura of sorts, like a faint imprint of leftover Cosmo.
Each House's aura was unique, and tended to be indicative of the personality traits common to its respective guardians, from the welcoming House of Aries to the unyielding House of Capricorn. Additionally, the Houses tended to give off stronger vibes when the Gold Saint who guarded it was inside. Over the centuries it had become common practice for Gold Saints to artificially enhance that aura with their own Cosmo in order discourage would-be invaders from entering the Houses.
Aiolos thought back to the House of Aries. Aries had always had one of the quieter auras, consistent with the generally mild personalities of its Lemurian guardians, and on their way through he had barely picked up on it at all, which he would have if the Aries Saint was present. Mu really hadn't been there. He should have realized earlier.
The House of Taurus, in direct contrast, had one of the more noticeable auras. It was big and kind of overwhelming, but not unfriendly. And yet it was different this time.
Aiolos winced as he watched the others draw back slightly. Clearly even they were picking up on the fact that something was off. The impression Taurus was giving off was more than overwhelming. It was... almost oppressive. And yet it didn't feel dangerous.
It's deliberate. Aiolos realized. He's putting on a show. Aldebaran, what are you up to?
Aiolos shook away his momentary hesitation, keeping a bit of his attention behind them so that no one could sneak up on them as they passed into the House of Taurus.
It didn't take long to pass through the entrance hall and into the main chamber of the second House, at which point the Saints came face-to-face with their first opponent.
So this one was actually quite fun to write. I almost ended it a lot earlier, but decided I that it would turn out better if I covered all this in one chapter.
See you again soon!