67 — THE LIGHT OF ATHENA

The House of Aries briefly lit up as the glow of the Shield of Justice encountered the Crystal Dome of the temple of Mu. The Crystal dome reflected that majestic light making the entire temple illuminated for a few seconds. Especially the Golden Staff, Niké, who had been standing for twelve hours, without any support, between Saori's and Alice's bodies.

That glow, which seemed to carry something magical, resonated with the Staff, but also without a doubt covered Saori's entire body. And then it went out.

Mu looked apprehensively at the girls and even Shaka, who was still in the House of Aries, got up when she felt a cosmos that seemed to pour from a spring high on a mountain to become a powerful waterfall.

The Golden Arrow of Sagittarius in Saori's chest glowed intensely to the point of appearing to be incandescent and, as if possible, emitted a final glow like a very fast flash. And then Mu realized that the Arrow was no longer inside Saori's chest, but floating a few inches from her pierced and bloodstained dress.

Her eyes finally opened.

The first thing Saori saw was the Crystal Dome on top of the House of Aries, then the Golden Staff that remained standing and finally the Golden Arrow that floated near her chest. She took the Arrow in her left hand and the arrow finally lost its golden glow. She felt the touch of someone beside her. She looked to her right and found Alice standing up and taking her hands.

Mu was delighted to now be sure that Seiya and his friends had made it.

Alice helped her to her feet and neither Shaka nor Mu dared to interfere, as if they were not even allowed to go near what they were now sure to be the Goddess Athena. Saori saw on her friend's face a brief smile, as she knew that Alice wasn't so much for smiling, but in that moment she could recognize how proud she was of Saori for having found her own way. Her Bronze Dolphin Cloth was immaculate, but her spleen was heavily bandaged and both her legs were still stained with her blood.

On the other hand, Alice saw Saori with her hair a little disheveled, which she insisted on touching to straighten the strands that insisted on escaping her ears and bangs. Her white dress very bloodstained down to her chest. She raised her warm hand on Saori's face and saw how she had a slightly different pride in her eyes, as if she had fallen like the girl she had always known, but now that she had opened her eyes there was something deeper in her. As if she had actually discovered the Goddess she was supposed to be. And that made her deeply proud.

Saori pulled her into a long, tender hug. Athena's heart could never be far from Alice and there was no doubt that, from an early age they had been together through good and bad times. And there they were again.

They looked at each other again with sweetness.

"They did it, Mii."
"You came back from your nightmares too, Saori." she replied, smiling.
"We should go now." she announced. "Seiya and the others are waiting for us."

And together Alice and Saori finally turned towards the exit of the House of Aries; Saori took her Golden Staff in her right hand and passed the golden arrow that had pierced her heart for Alice to carry forward. Saori could feel a huge tension that night, so she was in a hurry to get to Seiya.

Aries Mu immediately knelt when Saori turned towards her, but Shaka remained standing, haughty and calm.

"Goddess Athena, allow me to introduce myself: I am Aries Mu, the Gold Saint who guards this Temple."
"Aries Mu." repeated Saori, sweetly. "You must be the Master Mu who helped Shiryu with the repair of the Cloths, right? Get up, Aries Mu, there's no need for that. Please take me to Seiya."

She immediately got up, but when she turned around she noticed how Shaka was still standing. Saori looked at that woman with long black hair, her eyes closed as if she couldn't see and didn't go any further.

"I see you still have doubts." Saori commented when she saw the hesitant woman in front of her.
"I am Virgo Shaka." she said.

Alice then handed Saori the Golden Arrow she had in her hands and Athena offered it to Shaka that, even without being able to see, she could feel the resonance of that golden arrow in front of her. Her hands came forward and, touching her with Athena, Mu noticed how Shaka's face seemed to soften, because in an interval of a few seconds she experienced the memories of the Sad Night.

Her breathing seemed to have stopped when finally Shaka realized her grave mistakes; but even more than that, she sensed the immense capacity of that man under the Camerlengo's Golden Helmet, for, after all, for all these years she, who was considered to be the one closest to the Gods, never for a second doubted his good intentions. .

"This is not the man I've always known under the mask." she said to Athena.
"He's the man who tried to kill me, no doubt about it."
"That is Saga." said Shaka, finally guessing the true identity of the one wearing the Camerlengo's dark cassock. "Two faces in a man's body. As his protective constellation."
"Gemini." said Mu to Saori and Alice.
"Gemini Saga." confirmed Shaka.
"Take me to him." she asked, handing the arrow back to Alice.

But in view of that revelation, and knowing that Saga had indeed attempted the girl's life fifteen years ago, as well as willing all sorts of manipulation for all that time and putting the lives of Gold Saints at risk that very day, the Aries Saint was apprehensive.

"It could be dangerous." Mu warned, but Shaka beside her immediately corrected her.
"This is the Goddess Athena you are addressing, Aries Mu."

And so she opened the way for Saori to follow the climb of the stairs of the Twelve Palaces to the Temple of Athena, where the Gold Saints still fought bravely against Gemini Saga and Seiya, defeated, lay dying on the ground.

The way was clear for Saori and Alice.

The two went up escorted by Aries Mu and Virgo Shaka, veiled by all the stars and constellations of that Greek night. They crossed the House of Taurus, where Saori denied any help to navigate the wreckage and gaps of a totally destroyed temple.

They passed Gemini, which, without its labyrinths of illusion, was actually one of the smallest temples among the Twelve Palaces of the Zodiac, and then they came to Cancer. Where before reigned a morbid smell of death, the cold mist of hell and the faces of so many dead spread across ceilings and walls, was now an empty temple, peaceful and dark that night.

But it was no longer empty, for if there was no longer the feeling of death that once permeated that temple, now there was a magnificent glow of a golden crab formed from the parts of the Cancer Cloth. Mu remembered Death Mask and how it had fulfilled its part of a plan that, in truth, still needed a final solution.

And together they went, always with the Guard of the Saints of Gold behind them.

The House of Leo was quite destroyed and there they found a huge body that now rested in peace. It was Cassius. His badly wounded body was covered with Aioria's cloak, but none of them there would know exactly the nature of his death. In any case, they respected him, and Saori took his hand, kneeling, and regretted that it had happened.

Despite the violence of those battles in which Alice and the others were always involved, the terrible wound that Saori had felt in her own chest, the trail of destruction in the previous temples, the two felt an enormous sadness when they saw Cassius' body. Even though he was huge and strong as a bull, he was a young man who lay there dead under circumstances they could not say but were certain he was a victim of that terrible battle. Saori's chest trembled at the memory of Xiaoling, whose body she hadn't even had the opportunity to say goodbye.

And there, beside Cassius, she wept copiously with the possibility that Xiao, or that huge boy, weren't the only victims.

And frightened, she hurried along with Alice and, soon enough, Virgo Shaka was again in her temple, now destroyed by the terrible battle between the two Gold Saints. But they didn't stop there either: the next Temple, Libra, still held the icy remnants of Camus' coffin, but it was veiled by Libra's beautiful golden scales, whose golden aura greeted Athena.

The blood smeared in the House of Scorpio was a horror to behold and Saori actually put her hand over her mouth upon seeing the pools and traces of blood near the exit. Mu mourned for Miro, but Shaka warned her.

"Miro still lives. It was the poison of his words that made me go to the House of Aries."

They left Scorpio for the Ninth House, where Saori stopped again, as she had been received by an old friend: the Sagittarius Cloth. Alice also felt her Cosmo resonate with that Cloth, as if she greeted her, after all the Saint wore that sacred protection and now it seemed to be part of its history. In such a way that the Golden Arrow that Alice held in her hands manifested a golden glow resonating with the Sagittarius Cloth for all to see. She seemed to understand the call and let go of the golden arrow, which simply floated in midair to rejoin again, after fifteen years, beside her Bow.

The arrow, which in Saori's chest was small, in the body of the Bow of Sagittarius elongated like a larger arrow, so that its tip went through the Bow and the golden plume of its base was in the hand of that winged archer centaur.

"To the young souls who get here: I will trust Athena to you." said the voice of Mu.

They noticed that she was reading an inscription on the wall.

"Aioros." guessed Shaka.
"It's Aioros' will." confirmed Mu.

Saori looked at those words and remembered the Sad Night, how that young man had suffered when he died to give her a chance to defy her fate. She looked to her side and saw Alice with a terrible wound to her spleen and a lot of blood in her legs; she remembered the huge body lying in the Leo's Temple, lifeless; and her chest constricted in pain as she imagined the worst in the Temples they had yet to walk through.

And she quickened her pace with an aching heart.

The House of Capricorn made them feel like they were in another dimension, as it was immaculate. There was nothing out of its place, no cracked columns, the floor gleamed perfectly, and all its torches were still lit. In the oval room, well lit by starlight, many spotlights with modern torches guarded the wonderful Statue of Athena in that temple. It was as if there was no sign of the bloody battle that had invaded all those temples there.

But at the exit of the House of Capricorn, at the base of some stairs that led to a huge crack in the plateau, was the sprawled body of a Gold Saint.

The huge and brave Capricorn Shura had a calm countenance and Saori knelt beside her.

"Capricorn Shura." Mu spoke, closing her eyes, not believing what she had seen.
"The Saint of Capricorn was admired by all for being the most faithful among all the Saints of the Sanctuary." said Shaka's deep voice. "It is said that she was the one who dealt the fatal blow to Aioros fifteen years ago."
"I can't imagine the pain she must have felt upon discovering the truth." added Mu, watching over her body.
"It's worse than that, Mu." said Shaka. "Shura was killed by Leo Aioria."
"What?" Aries asked, unrepentant.
"I recognize the remnants of the Leo Cosmos anywhere, as it's as bright as the sun. It must have been a terrible battle."

Saori looked at those two golden figures as they talked among themselves trying to imagine what life must have been like for that woman before her. The immaculate Statue and the untouchable temple denoted immense pride, but here she was another fatal victim of that terrible battle. Her Cosmo rose from her body so that Shura, at least, could rest in peace wherever she was.

In silence they continued on, as Saori realized a sadness slowly consumed both Mu and Shaka.

In Aquarius, what they saw was even sadder.

The entire temple was bleached white from the icy explosion, the water that had been moving slowly on the ceiling was now frozen, keeping a unique pattern of light on the white stone floor. They saw another body in the distance, but beside him there was a boy kneeling beside his master, still holding his hand. Saori recognized Hyoga's long locks and ran towards her, worried.

"Ah, Camus." regretted Mu immediately upon realizing that the Aquarius Saint was dead.

Even Shaka, who always maintained an elegant and haughty posture, upon noticing Camus' death let her hands abandon their always correct gestures, as she knew what Camus' death meant for the Sanctuary. The death of the Master of the Sanctuary Books. The Mage of Ice.

Alice also came forward with Saori, calling Hyoga's name repeatedly, but he didn't answer her, even though he seemed alive. His eyes fluttered still looking at his master stretched out in front of him, his face frozen with traces of his tears. He looked lethargic. Saori hugged him as she could and felt his body extremely cold. Alice joined in the hug, but he didn't respond to them.

The cosmos of the Goddess Athena, as well as Alice, manifested hot and bright in the House of Aquarius and brought Hyoga back at least to a light consciousness. So he recognized Saori in front of him and realized, at last, that he had fulfilled his mission.

"My Master Camus..." he stammered as his mouth thawed slightly.

Aries Mu knelt beside Camus, but his face was sad, and Saori guessed that he was beyond salvation. Hyoga didn't cry anymore because, to be honest, he seemed unable to feel anything anymore. With Alice's help, he scrambled to his feet and was carried the rest of the way to follow Athena's procession. She who prayed with her Cosmo for Camus beside her before going on with her chest loaded.

When they left the Aquarius Temple, close as they were, they could already feel and even hear the fierce battle that was still taking place on the top of the mountain.

They hurried in as best they could and found the most devastated temple of all they had walked. Neither the unevenness of the House of Taurus or the destruction of Leo and Virgo, nor the bloodbath in the House of Scorpio or even the icy explosion that froze the entire House of Aquarius came close to the devastation of the House of Pisces.

It was as if a terrible storm had razed its main hall, splashing water, stones and many flowers and petals all over the ground. Some columns had been knocked down, so impossible that some were upside down; large marble floor tiles of the temple were piled on top of what had once been plaster of the ceiling itself. And in the center of what had once been the pretty Hall of Pisces Fountains, still brightly lit by flaming torches — which were now on both the ceiling and the floor — was another body sprawled out.

A wonderful man, who still kept his infinite beauty, all covered with roses of the most varied colors. His Gold Cloth, as if it were possible, without a single scratch. A single trickle of blood ran from his mouth. Aphrodite, a handsome young warrior. Mu also bitterly mourned that other tragic fate and Saori watched over his soul crying as she remembered that young man taking her safely back home.

She cried, feeling that she had failed him. Alice put her hand in hers. Her Cosmo ascended so that he too could rest in peace.

Hyoga then seemed to revive and staggered towards the exit of the Pisces Temple, as he had recognized there the body of someone very dear. He tumbled to and finally dropped to his knees, turning Shun's body towards him.

Saori got up and saw that Mu would also watch over Aphrodite's body; Shaka moved to her side.

"Aphrodite would fight forever by Saga's side." she said.
"Do you think Aphrodite knew the truth?" asked Mu.
"Now I'm sure of that. Perhaps he was the only one who knew the whole truth." replied Shaka. "The Pisces Saint has always been closest to the Supreme Pontiff."
"And Saga was his Master."

The tragedy just stretched on and on.

A few steps away, Shun's body still dyed the Bloody Rose, which was once clear and white, but now was almost completely red, leaving only one or two slightly pink petals. Saori knelt beside him and they all saw how grand, pure and comforting her cosmos was. She touched Shun's chest and the petals of the red rose dissolved in the air; the thorny stalk that tore at his chest also disappeared.

His tired eyes opened and he was invaded by an extreme joy when he recognized Hyoga's tired face, because the snow that had said goodbye to them seemed to have been his last farewell. But there he was again. And, beside him, there was someone who made him even more happy, as Saori's face smiled at him beside Alice. It was proof that they had made it. Seiya and Shiryu had fulfilled their promise.

Hyoga lifted him up and, with this huge group, Saori burst through the Temple of Athena, crossed the outer areas, its corridors, and finally arrived at the altar where the Pontiff sat on his golden throne. The place was now totally destroyed by the violent battle that had taken place there. They crossed the uneven floor as best they could and Shun found Ikki's body on the steps of the short stairway to the curtain all ruffled by the fire that consumed it.

Though her Phoenix Cloth was scattered across the altar in shards, Ikki opened her eyes to meet Shun's.

"Am I dead?" she asked her brother and he smiled.
"Not yet, Ikki."

She then met Saori's eyes and behind her the countenance of the Gold Saints. Her voice spluttered with difficulty.

"You're finally making your own mistakes." she said when she noticed that Shaka was with Saori.

Saori held her injured hands and together with Shun she lifted Ikki so they could follow the corridor that extended at the bottom of that altar.

At the crossroads to the last steps that would lead to the top of the mountain, they found the body of Shiryu, who had rolled down the stairs after being defeated by Saga's dimensional rift.

She had all of her Cloth removed from her body, leaving only her leg protections, which were terribly cracked; her bare chest, her back still guarding the ephemeral color of the dragon that painted the cosmos on her body. Saori hugged her and again her Cosmo breathed new hope into a tired and very hurt heart.

"Saori?" Shiryu asked, very quietly, in her ear.
"Yes, Shiryu." she said. "It is me."
"So Seiya…"
"He did it, Shiryu."

Everyone greeted the brave Shiryu under the guard of the Gold Saints, who Saori realized were apprehensive, as they could clearly hear the clangs of metal clashing at the top of that staircase.

But before following, Saori looked to her left and saw that corridor full of recessed rooms with a door at the end. Her heart froze as she remembered not only the terrible moments of the Sad Night, but she was sure that the enormous familiarity she had felt on that corridor were also memories of her own from when she was still a newborn cared for by the Saintias of Sanctuary.

She looked at the ground and then looked up at the last steps of her terrible fate.

Under the eyes of the Colossus of Athena, Saga fought bravely against Miro, Aldebaran and Aioria. How could a single Gold Saint stand up to three of them? But the truth is that the fact that Saga was older than all of them and had faced terrible ordeals over the years made him unpredictable and also the master of a monumental strength.

However, he was not unharmed, for his body was already sore from three or four stings of the Scorpion, as well as his bones were already weakened by the fury of the Golden Bull and his spirit also shaken by the wrath and roar of the Lion.

"We're going to beat you, even if we have to use the Forbidden Technique!" Aioria roared, running again towards Saga.

Both Miro and Aldebaran looked shocked at that idea. But just as Aioria went, he returned, thrown by the magnificent cosmos of Saga, that now, they could feel, little by little faltered.

Gemini Saga then charged his Cosmo of hate and painted the universe around the three of them, ready to destroy the galaxies in their bodies, but was surprised by another Gold Saint who would stop him from following.

"Khan!"

Shaka's intervention pushed Saga away and returned them all back to the top of the mountain under that starry night, pushing the galaxies away from Gemini.

"What is this?" asked Saga.

And finally he saw the Goddess Athena ascend brightly with Victory in her right hand and a huge group of resolute young fighters behind her.

"Your defeat is decided, Gemini Saint Saga." Saori spoke, full of strength in her voice.

He was stunned.

Fifteen years ago, in a terrible delirium, his hands took the life of a good man to try to wrest the fate of a newborn child. Fifteen years of enduring and maintaining a terrible lie that victimized so many people in that Sanctuary. And there the lie now marched before him to torment him, reappearing with her girlish face carrying in her right hand a gift that he himself had given her: Victory. His footsteps faltered and his cosmos also hesitated.

Saori immediately recognized in Saga the man by whom she had been received there not long ago. The man from whom she received the Golden Staff. A good and fearful man who only sought peace. But there the man's eyes were not the same. His face was twisted, even though the posture was the same.

Two faces on a man's body.

Athena remembered Shaka's words and finally understood who the person in front of her was. For it was the same one that had helped her before.

"Gemini's Gold Saint, acknowledge your mistakes." she asked.

Saga looked around and saw all the Gold Saints alive against him, all the Bronze Saints who had invaded the Sanctuary again on their feet. The Sagittarius Cloth was back in the Sanctuary. And Athena was there before him.

Saga took a few steps back for the first time.

But then his face twisted with hatred again. She was just a girl. And he again armed himself on guard.

Aioria was the one who stepped ahead of the group, placing himself between Saga and Athena, something that not even the other Gold Saints seemed capable of doing. For the other Gold Saints lacked the anger and pain that remained in Aioria's chest, for there was the true murderer of his brother and the cause of fifteen years of hell in his life.

"Athena can be merciful, Gemini Saga. But I won't be. If you still maintain this arrogant stance towards the Goddess Athena herself, I will have nothing left but to end your life."
"Do you think you can stand up to me, little Lion? When not even your brother was able to?!"
"Bastard!"
"Aioria is no longer alone!" announced Miro, placing himself beside him, while Aldebaran placed himself on the other side.
"The truth has finally caught up with you, Saga." said Mu, also stepping up beside the Gold Saints.
"Even you, Shaka?" Saga asked, but she didn't even answer him.

Saga now found himself cornered by five Gold Saints who kept Saori and his group of friends safely behind them. His eyes were still manic, and although his cosmos seemed to waver, his words were still hateful.

"Well, listen here, Saints of Gold. Look at the Sanctuary!" he announced, as if showing the entire region from that mountaintop. "We are the only ones still able to protect this Earth. Even though I've took hard decisions, I've done what was necessary for this World to be protected from the many divine invasions that can still drive humanity into misery. And this can only be done by the one who has the greatest power and strength among all, as I have been doing for so long with you by my side. Are you really going to follow a girl and a bunch of brats? Will you let the World be destroyed? Do you think she could have defeated the Titans or even the Gigas? Don't you care about the ruin of the World?" he asked, maddened, stumbling over the words like a lunatic.

For whoever answered him was none of them, but the girl's resolute voice.

"Listen to me, Saga." she placed herself ahead of the Gold Saints and before him. "If you are right and if this World is to be controlled by whoever is stronger no matter what evil it propagates, no matter what is fair and what is not, then I would dare to say that this is a world that really deserves to be destroyed."

There was a certain silence before it exploded again.

"Listen to what she's saying!" Saga accused, not understanding what she was saying.
"What's the point of living in a world like this?" she asked, interrupting his madness. "Well, that's not how it should be. What you did is wrong and there is no victory that will erase it. The world is only worth protecting because there are people in it who love each other and who believe in each other. That's how we got here and defeated your evil regime. And we'll keep fighting that way until everyone like you, who believe it's possible to keep the peace by killing at will, are defeated."
"You are weak! Humanity is weak and needs someone like me!" he roared.
"Humanity can sacrifice itself to create miracles. And even when these people die…" Saori reminded her of the bodies in her path and let her voice trail off as she remembered Xiaoling's smile before continuing to speak, as the memory of Xiaoling's nonsenses gave her even more strength. "…their wills become like stars, lighting the way for those who live. I'm prepared for what's to come. I will fight, even if only by myself, to protect what is good. I will fight to protect the love and the bonds created between people. I will fight for the infinite possibilities that people believe as they march into the future."

Saga was enraged and so made his Cosmo burn around him.

"I'm tired of this nonsense! Let us see now if the strength of your love can stand up to my Golden Cosmos!"
"Saga, are you really going to raise your hand against Athena?" Aldebaran asked in disbelief, but Saori interceded and asked the giant golden warrior not to interfere.
"Until now Seiya, Xiaoling and the others have been taking risks to save me." and then she looked at Saga. "This time I will face your hatred alone."

And she took a few steps forward to place himself again in front of that huge man.

"All right, girl, get ready!"

He started to run towards little Saori, but stopped, paralyzed and trembling; the Gemini Cloth that covered his body lit up in the night and simply abandoned Saga's body completely, leaving him unprotected in front of everyone.

"What is the Cloth doing?" Saga was surprised to find himself abandoned by the Gold Cloth. "I can't believe the Cloth willingly renounced me?"

Saori advanced her Golden Staff and made it resonate with the Cloth of Gemini, lighting up the top of the mountain. She closed her eyes and seemed to communicate with the deep cosmos of the Cloth. And when her young eyes opened, Saga took a few steps back, as it was as if she could see him completely free of his paranoia and fears. Saori looked into his heart.

"Saga, you're scared of the truth. Your heart has already understood, but you refuse to accept it." she said, very determined. "Your Cosmo was hit by the glow of the Shield of Justice, isn't that right? The Shield of Justice is able to ward off any evil. Your body may look the same, but the Shield struck a fatal blow to the evil cosmos that lived inside you."
"The Shield hit the cosmos within me?" Saga repeated, not believing that ridiculous and childish nonsense.
"Now, little by little, your virtuous heart is waking up. That kind heart that received me and presented me with this Golden Staff so that I could exorcise this demon from you. The Cloth has not renounced you, but it is protecting you. Now show your repentance and lower that fist, Saga."

But Saga's fist was still trembling, as if he was fighting himself, as if he didn't accept the words as much as the Cosmo that tightened in his body.

"Shut up!" he spoke with difficulty and moved forward to hit her.

His mind invaded with doubts and pains, but his body carried on on. His terrible fist buckled and he launched himself towards little Saori, who was actually much smaller compared to his complexion. The Gold Saints who were behind her were left watching in amazement as her hair opened in the air, as if she had actually been mortally wounded by Saga.

But, curiously, her body remained there when her divine cosmos manifested. When they expected her to be thrown off the top of that mountain and away, given the difference in strength between the two, she actually didn't even move, like a stone statue. Because Saga didn't hit her.

Saori was breathing with difficulty when she saw that in front of her Saga's face that, although still kept the colors of the demon that took him, slowly seemed to subside. His right arm, where it once held a terrible violent fist, opened in his hand so that he could touch her face gently. The left arm, however, Saori watched as Saga used to take the Golden Staff, Niké, and force it against his own chest, releasing a deadly golden pulse into his body.

"Ah, Saga..." lamented Saori, guessing the man's sacrifice.

When they spread all around Saori, a little closer, that's when they saw that Saga had the Staff pressed against his heart. His voice was calm.

"My dear Athena, thank you."

And then he dropped to his knees in front of Saori, his hair metamorphosed and colored again, leaving that ominous gray that had once covered his face. His eyes lost the crimson of hatred and his face calmed. Again he looked at her, and Saori recognized that kind face that had received her before in his chamber.

"Athena. I didn't want to hurt her, I never wanted it to be like this."
"Gemini. You gave me the Staff so that…"
"Only death, Athena. To me, only death. Don't cry, Athena. I have been waiting for this moment for fifteen years." Saori saw how Saga's face was now like the god he was said to be. And his eyes were crying now. "I wish I had lived by your side and fought for justice, but that was not the path of my destiny. Sorry, Athena. Forgive me."

And his eyes closed one last time, wiping away his last tears in Athena's lap. Saga was a man as good as he was bad. A god who walked the earth as he was so kind and admired by all, but equally a devil when his anger and thirst for power took him. Eternally tormented by the duality of his strength, eternally torn between good and evil. Someone might say that Gemini Saga may have been the one who suffered the most for all these fifteen years, for if the dead rest in peace and the living are left with the torment and pain of their losses, Saga not only lost but caused the downfall of so many who he loved himself.

For now he too would rest. Impossible to tell if he would be at peace.

Saori led the group of young brave kids who entered the small temple under the Colossus of Athena. It was a small, well-lit place where there was a miniature of that same Statue, but made entirely of gold. Beside the Statue, lying with his face on the stone and his arm on top of the Shield of Justice, was Seiya's body.

She hurried to him and knelt down, taking Seiya's body in her arms, brushing the hair out of his eyes and wiping the blood off his face. She looked to the side and touched the Shield of Justice that lay on the stone, understanding the enormous effort he had made.

With Pegasus Seiya in her lap, she closed her eyes and let out her comforting Cosmo, which brought him from far away from his universe where he was marching to his death into a flower garden. His eyes opened again, the way he had so often felt an unquestionable and unknown force cause him to rise again and again. Whether against the Golden Bull, whether against the Lion's terrible roar and, above all, against Saga's fury. But actually it was a force that seemed to be with him forever, in his saddest and most lost nights. For that unquestionable strength was Athena's warm heart.

"Saori." he said, muttering a name that echoed in his chest as he traveled through his Cosmo unconscious beside that statue. "Is it really you?"

His eyes cleared and he could see more clearly that it was in fact Saori who was smiling at him very closely. Her voice was also very clear and brought immense joy to him.

"You did it, Seiya." she replied, moved. "You all did it."

Then Seiya saw many faces appear behind Saori. He saw Shiryu's huge hair, once again far from death; Ikki in a sorry state like he never thought possible; Shun absolutely horrified and hurt, but with his usual sweet smile; Hyoga frozen from head to toe, but alive again. And then he saw Alice, and his chest made him finally cry. Because whenever Alice looked at him like that, he knew she remembered Seika.

But there was a face that should have been there too. A face that would be smiling terribly, making everyone glow with joy. But it wasn't. And seeing all his friends together like that made her absence even more painful.

Finally, Seiya let all the tiredness, all the pain, but also all the longing he felt for Xiaoling drain from his eyes, because her death now seemed hopeless. All those tears made him sob in Saori's arms.

She sat next to Seiya and hugged him, also letting her tears flow, because if Saori had been until then decided, haughty and acting like the Goddess who had discovered herself inside her heart, the truth is that she was still a girl who walked all that journey with a huge fear of losing someone more.

But here they were all together; in a way, they had avenged Xiaoling's death by erasing the evil from the Sanctuary.

One by one, they sat down and joined in the hug Saori gave Seiya.

Athena's Cosmo shone wonderfully in that small space and it was joined by the universe of all the young ones injured on that terrible day in a rainbow of light that renewed in each one of them the certainty that they could face the worst of fates. As long as they were together.

ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Athena's march after waking is one that deserved greater care in my opinion. It is super significant. Saori x Saga, I tried to keep what Saori thinks both in the manga and in the anime, but put Saga in defying her tenderness.

NEXT CHAPTER: EPILOGUE

After the battle at the Sanctuary is over, there are uncertainties that need to be healed.