Seiya paced in front of Athena's throne when Aioros arrived to see her that night.
"I just want to see her. Just let me speak with Saori for a moment," he asked.
Athena dismissed his request with a wave of her hand. "I will let you see her soon. She's still here. She can hear you. But…not now," She looked beyond Seiya, to where Aioros stood at the entrance. "Aioros, please come in. I have been waiting for you."
Aioros walked in and kneeled before the goddess.
Seiya left.
"You waited for me, Athena?" asked Aioros
Athena stood from the throne and walked down the stairs, the clicking of her shoes on the floor echoing in the hall.
"I knew you were coming to see me," she said. "Come, let's sit in the balcony."
She led him to the side, the curtains parting before her. Aioros noticed he now saw something different about her. A slight glow to her hair, a lighter fall to her steps. He let his soul drift away from his body, his spirit becoming just diffuse enough to see the merging of the spirit world with the physical world.
The glow to her hair became pure light, a great form of pure energy contained into a single vessel. Aioros could not stare at her for too long, and he pulled himself back completely into his body. It felt like falling from a tree and he stumbled.
"Careful," said Athena, taking a seat at the table in the balcony. "It can be painful to look so closely into the heavens."
"Apologies," he said with a bow.
"None needed. Please sit down and tell me what is on your mind. Sadly I don't have anything I can offer you. Water?"
Aioros nodded. "Water is fine, thank you," he said, and saw her pouring a glass for him with her same floating touch, and the same glow of light to her. He noticed in her the same act he put up for others. Pretending to the greatest extent that there was really no difference between her and any other human. Acting out the part of being the same as anyone else.
And failing.
"It wasn't right to bring me back," finally said Aioros.
"You feel that way?"
"I'm not the same, and I can't be what the others want me to be. It's hard enough as it is to be fully human again. Even Aioria regrets bringing me back."
"Well, that's not true," she said with a sigh and a shake of her head.
"But I keep thinking…you had to have known that this was all a terrible idea. That this could only end badly. But if you gave the choice to Aioria, what else would he have chosen but to bring me back?" said Aioros, thinking back to all the choices of all the people who had brought him to this moment. "So, I was wondering…Why? What is it that you need me to do?"
Athena reached across the table and grabbed his hand, giving him a sad smile. "I needed you to be back. Aioros, won't you make one last sacrifice for me? I need you to suffer just a little more."