39 — ALWAYS BY YOUR SIDE
In an office filled with shelves with many books, manuscripts, and even small figurines and ancient relics, sat an old man with a very white beard behind a huge table. Ahead of him sat a little girl who could barely reach the ground with her feet.
The office door opened and from it came running another little girl calling for her grandpa.
She came around the table and hugged old Kido.
"Did you called me, Grandpa?" she asked happily.
"Yes, my child. I would like you to meet someone."
Little Saori looked curiously at the little girl sitting in the chair opposite to her, she looked serious and a little shy.
"This is Alice." said old Kido. "She comes from another country and will spend some time at your school. In your class, Saori."
"From another country?"
"Yes. I'm sure you two will be great friends, she can tell you all about the castles you like so much from your books."
Saori looked at Alice with a bit of suspicion, perhaps moved by the shame of when we meet someone new for the first time. For Alice was really there for a short exchange period.
Just like in that room, the two didn't speak immediately and in the first few weeks of school, Alice noticed that that little girl seemed to be very much avoided by all the children in the school. Almost as if they were afraid of her. Sometimes, little Saori forced some girls and boys to do things for her. Some other times, a group even gathered around her, when she dedicated herself to showing something new in her backpack, some modernity that didn't even exist to be bought, a new outfit, a different shoe.
But Alice could also see that, actually, little Saori was very lonely.
As she was too. First, because of the language, since not everyone there mastered her native tongue, even though it was a compulsory subject at school, second because Alice was also very reserved, a quieter child.
Maybe that's why they got together.
For Alice in a few weeks would start a beautiful friendship with that lonely little girl and would never part her side.
Shaina fainted in Seiya's arms.
There was silence in the dark night of that wood.
"Seiya." Aioria spoke to him gravely. "I'll spare your life today out of respect for Shaina's heart."
"No, Aioria."
Seiya carefully left the girl's body lying unconscious on the grass and got up, furious. He stripped off the torn hospital shirt that still dangled from his body and swore the Gold Saint in front of him.
"Why didn't you stop your fist?" he asked through gritted teeth. "You could see her jumping in front of me, why didn't you stop your attack?"
Even though the Gold Saint cosmos was not lit, the Gold Cloth he wore seemed to carry a light and proper glow of its own.
"Aioria. I won't forgive you for this!" Seiya spoke, furious, apparently forgetting that it was a Gold Saint in front of him, on a mission to punish him for his sins.
But then this wasn't about the Pegasus Saint and the Gold Saint, or the sins of the Sanctuary of Athena. It was about Aioria, about Marin, about Shaina and about him. About people. Seiya forgot for a moment the abyss between them and had in mind only the man he had met in the Sanctuary in front of him.
"Even if I die here today, I'll land a blow on your face, Aioria!"
He ran with his chest open to that Gold Saint and, actually, managed to hit the strongest of his punches in a dry and direct way in Aioria's face; but it was as if he had hit a soft but terribly resistant wall. His fist stopped at the side of Aioria's face and the boy saw a trickle of blood running from his mouth.
"Are you satisfied now, Seiya?" asked Aioria.
Seiya withdrew his aching fist.
"You are right. This is my fault. I should have imagined that she would do that." he said. "Forgive me, Seiya."
Aioria then left Seiya with his aching hand to seek for Shaina's body.
"I'll take Shaina back to the Sanctuary." he announced. "And I will keep her feelings for you as a secret of ours."
Seiya looked at that man and saw eyes that his eys were confused and sad. He seemed to disappoint everyone.
"I remember you being a brave boy, Seiya. Why did you break the Saint's Oath?" Aioria asked, and Seiya had no hesitation in answering with an open heart.
"I did what I did because I wanted to find my sister! And I would do everything the same again." said Seiya, as he knew Aioria's history.
And, in fact, the words touched him.
"And now you are on the side of those who defy and pillage the Sanctuary of Athena?" he asked, not understanding.
"You're wrong, Aioria." said Seiya, bravely. "The Sanctuary you're willing so much to defend is plagued by a terrible force of evil."
"What a nonsense!" protested Aioria vehemently. "You have to be grateful for the Sanctuary as it is because of the brave Saints in there that you can live peacefully in this world."
"They tried to kill Athena." accused Seiya, almost not realizing the faux pas at dawn.
"I know the story very well." responded Aioria, angrily.
"How can you defend the Sanctuary?" Seiya asked.
"Tread lightly, Seiya." the menacing thunder voice threatened, but the boy didn't flinch.
"You were born in the cradle of the Sanctuary and yet you are treated like us. Dirty and undignified foreigners. And all of that because..."
"I have nothing to do with my brother's crimes." Aioria interrupted immediately, as if he had spent his entire life rebutting that accusation.
For on that moment, Seiya wasn't making an accusation.
Between them, however, both heard a muffled laughter in the dark of the night. More than one. A hateful voice finally revealed itself, accusing.
"What have I told you?" asked someone in the dark.
"Yeah, but that was to be expected." answered another voice.
"Why don't you kill them both right here?" asked a third voice. "Shaina wanted to protect Misty's killer."
"The foreigner Corsara." said the second voice, to the muffled laughter of the first.
"Who's in there?" Seiya asked the night.
Three figures came down from the dark trees and spread out in front of Seiya. Three guys wearing the most diverse Silver Cloths; one of them had chains wrapped around both arms, another was huge and extremely muscular, and the last was more scrawny and athletic.
"What does this supposed to mean?" asked Aioria's voice to the three figures. "Were you sent to watch over me?"
"As the brother of the Traitor of Sanctuary, there is always a concern that you will not fulfill your missions." said the withered man. "It's really unfortunate, and I hope the voices of the mountains can't hear me from here, but it seems to me that they give Gold Cloths to anyone nowadays."
Aioria had anger in his eyes, which Seiya could see, but said nothing.
"And it's a good thing we're here. After all, you were really going to let two traitors to the Sanctuary alive." said the man with the chains. "You call this fulfilling your mission?"
Aioria did not respond.
Seiya was impressed with the lack of respect those Silver Saints had for the Gold Saint. His presence was no less than when he had appeared; he was without a doubt an imposing man and even more incredible in that marvelous Gold Cloth.
But he also remembered Aioria's fame in the Sanctuary very well, as the story of how Aioros, his brother, a spy for the Giants, had tried to assassinate the Goddess Athena, was even well known and retold throughout the region and beyond. Unleashing a fierce battle between the mountain folks and the Sanctuary. Aioros was killed, but his brother inherited all the fury that the Sanctuary nurtured for the traitor for all these years. The story was always told in squares and taverns; some details added, others enlarged, some forgotten, but in all of them Aioros was a traitor. And in all of them, Aioria was his brother.
That's why Aioria did nothing against that disrespect. It had too much of a story against him. And every single comma from him addressed to the Sanctuary was, no doubt, taken with great suspicion.
It was still a wonder to Seiya that this discredited man from the Sanctuary was the mighty Gold Saint.
"We'll take care of them." said the voice of the huge man.
He stepped forward and was nearly twice the height of the withered Silver Saint.
"I'm going to avenge Misty's death." and then looked at the Gold Saint before asking in a mocking way. "Or are you going to try to stop us?"
He did not answer.
The Saint's silver cosmos lit up Seiya, and his huge trunk-like arms shot up violently. Seiya felt his body being sucked into the sky, as if gravity had reversed itself with disproportionate force responding to that terrible man's guttural voice. A single word that lingered in his mouth as he conjured his technique; Seiya felt his body crash against many branches, before falling again as the Silver Saint's breath just said:
"Hercules!"
Seiya fell in front of him.
Defeated.
"Very well, Algethi." said the withered man's voice. "At least the punishment induction you've already said, so I don't see the point in repeating it again. Thank you very much, Aioria." the man commented, mocking, approaching Seiya's wounded body.
He knelt down in front of the boy and smiled; his silver helmet lit up and his fist landed on Seiya's chest, but was stopped before hitting him. Someone was holding him. A girl.
The Silver Saint let go of her, but she put herself between them and Seiya.
"You'll have to beat me if you want to put a finger on him!" she said.
"Ah, but this is wonderful." the Silver Saint who wore chains spoke behind them. "Now we can finish off three traitors and still bring back the Golden Staff that was stolen."
Seiya opened his eyes with difficulty and saw Alice in front of him, very brave. And on the other side, next to the wonderful Gold Saint, was Saori with a Golden Staff.
"You won't touch her!" threatened Alice.
She jumped a flying kick toward the nearest Silver Saint, but found herself hanged by another saint's chains. She went to the ground with the chains around her neck. She felt her body being dragged through the grass until it was lifted by her chin by another huge hand.
"I can't understand how insects like you were able to defeat Misty and the others." said the owner of the chains.
She seized the moment and hit him in the stomach with a knee.
"Oh, she's got guts, Dante." said Algethi to his colleague.
But what followed that was bloodthirsty. For Alice tried to attack the three Silver Saints alone, but from all of her sides she not only had no success in hitting them, but each one of them hit her decisively. Her Bronze Cloth cracked and blood began to spurt down her body.
"Mii!" shouted Saori, going towards her friend, but found herself hampered by the huge body of the Gold Saint.
She noted that the wonderful Gold Saint still had Shaina's body in his arms. Saori continued to listen in amazement to the terrible sound of metal bending, breaking, bones cracking. She called for her friend in every way, but the Gold Saint was still ahead of her.
"This is her destiny." he said.
"Shut up!" replied Saori, sharply, running to her friend.
"No, Saori!" she asked not to approach. "Don't come here."
She was panting, her Bronze Cloth was in shreds, blood was pouring from her eye, running down her mouth. Saori knelt in despair supported by the Golden Staff.
It glowed, ringing a distant bell in the woods.
It was the end of Alice. She first felt her body enfolded in Dante's chains, and then heard Algethi's terrible voice.
"Hercules!" he announced, throwing her body into the sky.
As she fell, she found the illuminated fist of Canis Major Sirius, the third Silver Saint, who hit Alice in midair and threw her to crash into a tree beside Saori.
Saori had never seen the horrors of the fights between Saints so closely. Alice coughed up blood beside her and still got up to keep fighting.
"Stop it, Mii." asked Saori.
"Never." she replied.
She couldn't stand to lose anymore. She couldn't stand to leave Saori unprotected anymore. How could it be possible that everyone was able to produce miracles, but not her. Why just her? She wasn't there against the Black Saints, she couldn't resist the Raven's attack, and she wasn't with Saori when she was kidnapped by the Gold Saint.
Her Cosmo again burned much more strongly. Saori looked at her in awe.
And she got up again.
She was enveloped by the Silver Chain and pulled violently towards the three of them; again hurled by Algethi into the air with his guttural roar. With no branches in the way this time, however, Alice's body took off unchained beyond the treetops. When she begin to fall the chains released her. Falling infinitely. She didn't knew how long she fell for.
It felt like minutes, hours, days.
A golden star shone in the dark sky and only Alice saw how it opened in front of her, as if the sun was rising at dawn. In flames, a winged centaur brandished a bow in the sky. Maybe she was dead, she thought.
And no longer she fell.
Her body floated still above the trees and she was terribly drawn towards that mythological figure, engulfed by its flames and its cosmos.
Saori looked at the golden spectacle in the sky without understanding what light phenomenon had engulfed Alice. Beside her, the Gold Saint was haunted looking toward the light.
"Stand back!" he shouted at the Silver Saints, trying to warn them of a terrible danger.
But the Silver Saints would put an end to their plan and move on: the three of them leapt towards the golden light to deliver the fatal blow to Alice. As they vanished into the treetops, a flash shone brighter in the sky and their bodies, beaten and destroyed, fell on either side around them with their Cloths shattered.
And finally, the golden glow in the sky landed beside Saori.
For it was always next to Athena.
And she was always next to Saori.
The Gold Cloth was on Alice's body.
Saori saw in front of her how Alice was, from head to toe, covered in a wonderful Gold Cloth; but this was a different Gold Cloth. On her back, huge massive wings of golden feathers spread.
"The Gold Armor." said Saori, marveling. "It returned."
Alice looked refreshed and smiled at Saori, her pride regained. She felt dignified, worthy to be beside Athena as she had always been beside Saori.
"The Gold Cloth." Aioria repeated to himself.
His face staring at Alice as if she was a ghost.
He calmly walked to a nearby tree and gently let Shaina's unconscious body lean against it. He walked again in silence to Seiya, sprawled on the ground; he also took it in his lap and placed him beside the unconscious girl.
Lingering in his thoughts, he finally turned to face what was haunting him.
"Who are you?" asked Saori.
Without taking his eyes off Alice's Gold Cloth, he replied.
"I am Leo Aioria." He spoke gravely. "And this is my brother's Gold Cloth."
They didn't knew whether what was in his voice was a vengeful force or pure disgust. But there was something powerful inside that Gold Saint to see Alice wearing that particular Cloth.
"I can't understand why the Gold Cloth chose to protect you, but I can't stand here and do nothing about it anymore. In front of me are two Sacred relics looted from the Athena Sanctuary and I will take them both back with me."
His golden cosmos lit up the forest.
"If what you say is true, then you are Aioros' brother." said Saori.
Aioria's Cosmo was immediately erased with the name said.
Maybe he even stopped breathing.
Saori didn't knew, but Aioros' name was forbidden to be spoken. In such a way that perhaps that was the first time in fifteen years that Aioria had heard his brother's name aloud.
"The Armor and the Golden Staff were not stolen." said Saori, seriously. "But they were a gift from the Sanctuary for my mission. A gift from Aioros, your brother, and the Camerlengo of the Sanctuary himself."
Again the name in the wind. The madness was out of control, Aioria thought.
"You're delusional!"
"Saori, be careful." asked Alice.
Cautious, however, she herself moved away from Saori, putting herself on the side of the Gold Saint, guessing that the fire burning inside of him could put Saori in danger. And, in fact, of the two relics that night, it was the Gold Cloth that seemed to disconcert him the most.
"I don't know what kind of madness or spell or curse you all are sharing, but I don't care. This Gold Cloth belongs to the Sanctuary and to the Sanctuary it will return!"
His Cosmo burned and Alice had to brace herself, as the Gold Saint this time wouldn't just use his finger to punish them; his fist tore through the air and slashed at the trees for many yards behind Alice. But she didn't reach her, because, endowed with golden wings, the girl took flight in the sky and fell low towards Aioria, with her powerful legs forward, hitting the Gold Saint in a decisive way.
He went to the ground.
He stood up immediately and Alice saw his shoulder glow in a strong flash along with his powerful voice.
"Lightning Plasma!"
Alice found herself engulfed in lightning, obliterating her body in a split second.
She fell.
And she soon got up with difficulties, to fall again.
Scared. Terrified.
It was as if her lungs had been ripped out and a mountain dropped on top of her. She had never felt anything like it. Her chest stopped breathing and, when she jumped to her feet in fright, she finally gasped for air, letting out a terrified cry.
Dread because she was supposed to be dead. Just like that. If it weren't for the Gold Cloth, she wouldn't have breathed again. Alice felt death.
"It's no use just wearing the Cloth." said Aioria. "You will never be a match for a true Gold Saint."
From Alice, however, a golden aura manifested itself beyond her body. Aioria was amazed again. His face livid, for it was the same feeling he had when that Cloth had first appeared and protected Alice. It was a terrible familiarity.
On Alice's part, she felt something inside her that was inexplicable. She pulled her right fist close to her hip and her left hand naturally opened at the level of her right breast. She sucked in a breath and said two words she had never said, but that felt as right as the night was dark. She threw her fist forward with strength and courage.
"Atomic Thunderbolt!" came her girl's voice through the woods.
Aioria was swallowed.
For the power, for the gold, for the longing.
And he fell to his knees.
"How…" he stammered. "How is this possible?"
"Aioria…" Seiya stood up next to him. "You are terribly mistaken."
The Gold Saint looked at the boy waking up, still in his hospital pants and his wounds all over his body.
"Aioros was not a traitor." Seiya finally said.
Aioria faltered at those words, as if out of breath.
"Listen to me, Leo Aioria." Saori spoke, approaching him, and the man looked at her. "Your brother sacrificed himself to save my life fifteen years ago. There is an evil placed in the Sanctuary, but he managed to save me from it. Not only he managed to save me from death, but also gave me the Gold Armor, so that I would be protected in my mission."
"No." Aioria refused. "No, no."
"I am the Goddess Athena." Spoke Saori, haughty, with her Golden Staff beside her.
"It cannot be." he denied. "Athena is in the Sanctuary. She is at the Holy Temple."
"She is not there. There is a terrible lie in the Sanctuary created to deceive you all."
"No, this is where the lie had spread!" he accused. "We fought alongside the Pontiff. We fought alongside the Camerlengo, his brother. We fought and won battles together and restored peace on this planet!"
"For now the war will be with me." said Saori haughtily. "I am the Goddess Athena and I will eradicate the evil from the Sanctuary."
Her staff sounded. Her dress shimmered in the night. His divine cosmos finally ascended, spreading across the planet, illuminating that forest with light, pacifying the night and everyone's chest. Her presence was a mystery to Aioria, because she comforted the doubts in his chest. She wasn't menacing like the cosmos of so many warriors he'd fought, but it was the most unshakable presence he'd ever felt. Impossible not to bow to her.
The cosmos subsided back into Saori's girlish body.
And his doubts returned, with less force, but they were in his chest again. He finally got up. His Cosmo strong and golden, like a lion. He wanted to fight, wanted to punish, wanted to erase the doubts that were created after so many years burying them in his mind.
Alice placed herself in front of him again, but something terrible happened to her. The parts of the Gold Cloth slowly floated out of her body, abandoning her and remounting the figure of the winged centaur in front of them all.
The centaur with the bow in hand moved the sight of an arrow that did not exist in Aioria's direction. He again with his face crossed with amazement. An arrow of light zipped from the bow and flew into the Lion Saint's chest. Only he saw it.
He felt taken over by his brother's Cosmo.
And then there was silence. Alice helped Seiya to support himself, so that together they could be beside Athena. She, with her Golden Staff, watched Aioria, paralyzed in front of her, catatonic and with trembling eyes. The Gold Cloth mounted in front of him.
Aioria finally dropped to his knees. And as soon as he fell, he immediately started crying.
"Brother…" he lamented. "My brother Aioros was not a traitor. And he remains by Athena's side even after he is dead."
He then looked into Saori's eyes and looked away from her, unable to meet her gaze.
He saw near her feet the dirty hem of the dress of the one who was, without a doubt, the Goddess Athena. He straightened, kneeling, in front of her, still not daring to look at her.
"Athena." he began in a shaky voice. "Please forgive me. Forgive me for doubting and raising my hand against you."
"Aioria." said Saori, sweetly. "Are you willing to fight by my side?"
The question made Aioria breathless, for it was enourmous.
"Yes," he replied. "My sins can only be forgiven if I dedicate my life to you."
Saori nodded.
Inside himself, however, Aioria had another debt that he didn't know exactly how he could pay: that of having doubted his brother for all this time. His brother, who had trained him, who had taught him the value of being a Saint. His brother Aioros.
As if responding to Aioria's heart, the Gold Cloth shone in its golden cosmos; it spread its wings in a fabulous way and, riding through the vault of heaven, disappeared among the stars.
He got up, following his brother's cosmos in the sky back home.
"I don't exactly know the challenges that awaits you from now on." said Aioria, with his back to them. "But do what you've always been doing. Follow the Gold Cloth."
"Do you know where it went?" asked Saori.
"It went home." said Aioria, gravely. "To the Sagittarius Temple."
The Gold Saint then reached for Shaina's unconscious body and took her by the arms.
"And I'll be back too." He announced.
"Aioria." said Saori. "Be careful. Your strength will be needed when the time comes."
"I will see you again in your Sanctuary, Athena."
And, carrying Shaina, he disappeared into the forest at last. Leaving behind the young and wounded, tired and facing a terrible mission ahead of them.
Panting, Seiya was confused.
"Sagittarius?" he asked, looking at both of them.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Okay, we need to talk about Sagittarius Alice. I know, Seiya is the hero who wears Sagittarius Cloth, but as was writing, it was clear that the Cloth has always been on Saori's side. And Alice was always on her side too. Unlike Seiya. Within my story it made a lot more sense that she was the person wearing the Cloth. And yes, I know this is going to give me a hard time in the future.
NEXT CHAPTER: THE GOLD CLOTHS
The Gold Saint also pays a visit to the Old Master of the Five Old Peaks, while Seiya makes an impressive discovery. Added to all this: a tragedy that will change the course of the battle.