Saga was putting away books in the study when he felt Aioros's cosmos announce itself. He set the tomes down on the desk and wiped his dusty hands with a rag.
"You could have rang. I have a guests bell," he said and looked up at the small window near the vaulted ceiling where Aioros was perched up and looking down at him.
"Last time you didn't let me in," he said, a mischievous smirk in his lips.
"You could at least get down from there. Though I know you enjoy sitting on your moral high horse."
"Actually, it's my full time job to be half moral high horse. I got a horse uniform and everything," he said, and jumped down from the window.
"You still think you're so funny, uh?" said Saga, leading him to the living room.
"The underworld didn't take that from me. It was the crash back to the living world that messed me up."
Saga nodded. He sat down on one of the couches and motioned for Aioros to take a seat too. But Aioros climbed on the back of the couch, perching himself up like an overgrown child. Saga rubbed at his temple.
"I take it you came to talk about Aioria."
"Yup. But I promised him I wouldn't attack you right away."
"Thank you. That's very nice, but you need not worry. I will…I will be breaking things up with Aioria," said Saga, looking away.
"What? Why?!" demanded Aioros, scrambling over the back of the couch. "If you were just playing with him I really will kill you!"
"Please sit like a civilized person," said Saga, leaning back away from him. "And it's for the best. I would prefer to keep this between us for now, but…I have a problem. There seems to be some side effects left from the possession of the darkness I had. Now that it has been extracted, my mind is…not working correctly. Shion and some doctors have been testing me and it seems like the symptoms resemble those of paranoid schizophrenia, but they need to make more tests to be sure."
"Uhuh, but why do you want to break up with Aioria?"
Saga grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shook him furiously. "Were you even listening to me you horse brained idiot?!" he yelled.
"I was," said Aioros, confused. "I don't know what that paranoia sofrania is, but if you're sick and going to doctors, then what is the problem?"
"You're just as hurtfully innocent as Aioria, but nowhere near as cute. On you it's annoying," said Saga, and let him fall down on the couch. Aioros ended up with his legs over the back of the couch, looking up at the way Saga was passing his hands through his hair in distress. "The problem. The problem is what if I don't get better Aioros? What if my mind is permanently damaged? What if I only get worse and worse from now on?! I can't…I can't ask Aioria to stay with me when I don't even know what's going on with my mind."
"So you were planning on just breaking up with Aioria without telling him any of this?" said Aioros, finally moving to sit down right on the couch.
"I don't…want him to know about this yet. I don't want him to think differently of me because of this. And if it really only get worse…"
"You don't even know if you have that thing and you're worrying like that? It's like you just decided that it's over for you."
"Aioros you don't even know what I'm talking about, don't dismiss it like that! I've gone mad! I'm losing my mind! Of course I can't ask Aioria to endure this with me!"
Aioros wrapped his finger around a lock of Saga's hair. "It sounds to me like you're being too dramatic. It also sounds like you're very lonely with all this, and that you think that being more alone is the answer. Why don't you try calming down and wait? There's nothing that can be done about this thing until you find out what's the real issue. So just wait, and let us wait with you. Don't push everyone away."
Saga looked at Aioros playing with his hair, and realized that he felt the same way as when he had laid in Kanon's arms, wondering when things would get better, when he would be able to change all that had gone wrong through the years. And yet once more, there was nothing that he could do. There was only waiting.
"Do you hate me?" he asked before he could stop himself.
Aioros gave a soft laugh. "Hmmm, I don't think so," he said, thoughtfully. "I think I'm jealous of you, of certain aspects of your fate. I think there is…a lot I resent about my fate. And all those things I wanted were things you got. Isn't that funny? It's always jealousy that had made us hurt each other, uh?"
Saga took a deep breath. "It…yes, it really has been."
Aioros reached out to ruffle Saga's hair. "Take it calmly. Just let us be there. Let us help," he said. "But if you ever do hurt him on purpose, I'm gonna have to kill you. And not even Athena is going to stop me. I'll tear off your head and drag you down with me back to the underworld. You understand?"
Saga remembered his own words to Rhadamanthys. "If you hurt him I'll kill you! I don't care what happens to the underworld, if you ever hurt him I'll tear off your head!" The memory made him smile.
"I understand."