At that same time, Aiolia and Marin arrived back at the infirmary's lover levels. Aiolia had managed to catch up with Marin and was holding her by the hand rather tightly.

Taking the lift up, they entered the intake area again. Aiolia noticeably stiffened, his hand clenching around Marin's. Marin gave him a meaningful look, reaching over and resting a hand on his stomach. Aiolia touched her hand and smiled at her before she pulled her hand away and they walked forward together.

"Oh!" Marin exclaimed as soon as the ICU area came into view. Mii was there at her station again, one of the previously occupied tubes now vacant. "Is Kyoko awake then?"

Mii looked up and greeted them both with a nod. "Not awake, but stable. She is upstairs with the general population then."

"That's great news!" Marin was genuinely thrilled, pointedly avoiding looking at Aphrodite's still motionless body for the moment.

Mii gave a minuscule smile. "Your brother Seiya is still upstairs. He has taken to assisting the other girls along with Shun."

Marin's face fell and she let go of Aiolia's hand. Aiolia reacted, while trying to suppress it as much as possible. He glanced at Marin with worry clear in his eyes.

Mii then turned to Aiolia. "Assuming that Marin would like to see her brother again, I would rather you stay behind with me, Aiolia. I have something to discuss with you."

Aiolia nodded. "Of course, Mii,"

Marin, feeling the very obvious nudge from Mii gave a resigned sigh. "Alright, I'll meet you later, okay?" Marin, as much as she wanted to, resisted the urge to kiss him in farewell. Respecting how much he disliked public displays of affection.

Marin was about to leave however when Aiolia suddenly stepped in front of Marin and swooped down to give her the very kiss she had been wanting.

Marin blinked, unable to fully grasp Aiolia's expression, as he pulled away just as fast. Marin glanced at Mii, seeing that she was smirking just slightly. Marin then waved to them both and took the lift up to the circle room.

Marin left the lift, letting out a steadying sigh. With a glance she confirmed that Seiya was indeed no longer in his bed. With that she took a stride and started to look for him. That however didn't last long.

"Marin!" Seiya yelled, running into his sister's arms without hesitation. Marin was taken by surprise, quite honestly not having expected that reaction. "You left without saying anything to me yesterday! Was everything okay?"

Seiya had already been asleep by the time Marin had left Shaina's spire the night before. And in general, she had barely been in a state to even face Seiya to begin with.

Marin, despite all the positive steps forward she had made with Aiolia, still found it difficult to deal with her emotions plainly in words. Seiya, for one, didn't seem very phased, despite how dismissive she had been the day before. He just stood there with his arms around her, as if nothing had changed since they were kids.

"Aiolia told me a bunch of stuff…after you went up with Shaina."

"Oh?" Marin asked, genuinely curious about what Aiolia would have chosen to share with him.

Shun, who was still standing by however, didn't have the desire to interject at that point. Marin still noticed him, and found his silence odd.

While Marin wanted to say something, Seiya instead spoke up. "Hey Shun! You saw that Ikki is awake, right? Have you talked to him already?"

Marin, having only known Shun for a day, still was unable to miss the pure physical reaction that suddenly gripped him.

Marin shoved a hand over Seiya's face to shut him up, pushing him away from her in a joking manner. "Don't mind him, Shun. As you know, all he knows is how to run his mouth."

Shun gave a small smile. "I'm glad to see that you two are able to get along after all."

Shun let out a sigh and let his arms fall to his sides. "But Seiya is right, I should talk to my brother now that he's awake."

Marin gave Shun a very serious look. "You should. Not to be over dramatic, but you never know if you'll get the chance again."

Shun sighed, pushing himself up from where he was leaning against the lift. "You are right." He gave Marin a wry grin.

Shun and Seiya and Shouko were all very lucky, their older siblings were still alive. Shun was aware of how selfish it would be to ignore Ikki, especially when Aiolia was no longer able to do the same.

Marin thoughts also drifted to Aiolia, wondering what business Mii could have had with him below. While she didn't dare to hope, there was one thing at the forefront of her mind.

Marin eventually released Seiya with a ruffle of his hair. He grinned up at her, eager to tell her about what he had been up to since she had been gone.

But just as that conversation got underway, the lift behind him began to move, and the lift carriage returned back to their floor where the door opened.

From where Seiya and Marin stood, they could not see the occupants of the carriage. But, after the doors opened, the first one to emerge was Aiolia.

"Hey!" Marin called, attracting Aiolia's attention so that he began to walk their way.

"Seiya! Marin!" He said warmly, taking in their relaxed appearances. "You seem to be getting along well today, I'm glad."

Aiolia was standing, somewhat conspicuously, directly in Marin's line of sight, keeping her from seeing clearly who else was leaving the carriage. But Marin heard movement and so moved to peer around him.

As she did so, Aiolia moved suddenly and caught her by the shoulder. Not forcefully, but purposefully. Aiolia looked down, meeting Marin's eyes, in a way that begged her to keep looking at him for the moment. Marin complied, staring back at him, trying to discern what exactly his intentions were.

From Aiolia's other side now, Marin saw Mii walking towards where Kyouko was still lying. As she approached, Shouko immediately got up from her bed and dutifully vacated it.

Marin's eyes widened as she saw not only the hovering gurney behind Mii, but an unmistakable head of sky blue hair.

Marin's muscles tensed as she was ready to lunge for him. Aiolia's arms went around her back, holding her. He wasn't constraining her, but just trying comfort her and keep her from doing anything rash. He knew that she would crash through, not heeding any barrier to get to Dite's side. And so Aiolia held her there, very gently and openly. Just long enough for Dite to be settled in his new bed.

Aiolia and Marin didn't speak, neither did Seiya as he watched the scene.

"Dite—how is he—" Marin began, Aiolia silencing her with a gentle hand to her cheek. "He's stable, that's all we know for sure." Aiolia then smiled. "Honestly, marin, it's all thanks to you. If it hadn't been for you, we might have left Dite for dead."

Marin closed her eyes, savoring the feel of Aiolia's hand against her cheek for the moment that she could. "Aphrodite..." The guilt and responsibility that Marin felt over Aphrodite's fate did not feel like it would wane anytime soon. Even if marin was also responsible for saving Dite's life in the end.

And with that, the feeling in the Infirmary changed drastically. Marin's carefree energy immediately dissipated. Aiolia let her go at long last and she drifted over towards Aphrodite. She looked hardly more vital than a ghost, her face blank and her body swaying as if about to topple over under the weight.

Aiolia could certainly sympathize. He knew this kind of of crippling guilt far too well. He wanted to help her, but in that moment, didn't have much faith that his words or comfort would do much good. It hurt to know that, but Aiolia was not completely despaired.

Two beds over from where Dite was being settled in, Aiolia noticed that Shouko was now awake and sitting up. Despite the commotion, Shouko was not looking at Aphrodite, but instead, her eyes were fixed on the still unconscious Kyouko.

Aiolia tore his eyes away from the beleaguered Marin and walked over to sit next to Shouko on the bed. She didn't react to his presence immediately and so Aiolia had to speak up.

"Hello, Shouko?"

Shouko then started and stared at Aiolia as if he had appeared out of thin air. "Ah! Lia!" She then looked around and took in the scene naught 3 meters from them. "Marin, you and Marin are back and—" She paused and then turned to Aiolia when the pieces connected. "Dite is stable too?"

Aiolia nodded, his expression gentle as he patiently waited for her to come back to reality. "Yes, as is Kyouko. I am so glad to hear that your sister is safe too."

Shouko's gaze then clouded over again. Kyouko and Dite's situations were incredibly similar, not only medically, but how they got that way in the first place. Kyouko as well had been doing all she could to protect others from Saga's rage. When he began to destroy the area around the sanctum, Kyouko had burned her cosmo to the very limit.

"I wanted to check on you," Aiolia said, his gentle voice breaking Shouko from her thoughts again. "We haven't even had a chance to properly talk since the battle."

"Yeah…" Shouko suddenly began twirling a lock of her hair nervously.

Aiolia gave her a puzzled look. "Shouko?" He asked, not sure why she seemed to be pulling away from him.

"Ah—I…" Shouko looked down. "It's…nothing" she smiled and turned to Aiolia. "I'm happy, thank you." Shouko was curious and worried. She wondered why Aiolia seemed to be ignoring Marin for that exact moment, but figured it would be useless to worry. Aiolia could care for himself, and the two of them had weathered much hardships up until now. Shouko could just be happy that Aiolia was worried about her, and that Shouko herself could still hopefully be of help to him and those that they loved.

Seiya, after watching his sister's mood change so suddenly, felt honestly quite helpless. He grimaced and turned around looking over at where Shun still stood with his arms crossed. Shun then let out a sigh and walked over to Seiya to put a hand on his shoulder. "Look," with Shun's suggestion they both glanced over to where Marin stood, seeing how Aiolia, rather curiously chose to go and speak to Shouko. "Go be with Marin right now," Shun insisted.

"But—" Seiya was about to protest, but was silenced by an unfamiliar seriousness in Shun's eyes. Seiya then nodded and turned away, heading immediately to his older sibling's side.

Shun, in turn, finally did the same.

Seiya never really quite knew what to do in situations like this. But it was obvious to him that his sister was in pain. Seiya had been paying attention enough to connect the dots, that the person lying motionless in front of them, was the person that Aiolia had mentioned in his story. Marin and Dite had been friends even before she was close with Aiolia. Even if seiya didn't really get things like love and romance; he could see how Marin was affected.

Just because Dite was "just" her freind, didn't make it any less painful. Seiya still had a long way to go in understanding his sister, and so he wasn't about to leave her alone when she clearly needed it the most. Marin stood there, completely motionless, even after the others cleared away. Mii walked over to talk to Shouko and Aiolia, and so Seiya focused on his sister how he could.

Marin stood there, watching while Mii and her assistants finished up their work. Aphrodite was settled in and Mii had a couple of chairs brought over. Marin sat down, still looking distant.

Seiya then made his way over, dodging past the saintias and throwing a word of thanks towards Mii. Seiya was then left standing by Dite's bed, staring at the stranger for a few moments before looking at Marin. He opened his mouth, thinking to ask but then thought better of it. Marin and Seiya had always been similar in that they were better with actions than they were with words. Marin certainly knew that about Seiya, and so, she had to appreciate him being there, even if there wasn't much else he could do.

Mii, seeing this, now felt fully secure in saying that her work was now done. Though she still was deeply concerned for Marin, she had her primary duty to think about. Before leaving however, Mii left Dite's bed and walked the short distance over to where Aiolia and Shouko sat. The two of them were just as silent, and so Mii politely imposed.

Mii gave them a short bow, the kind that was often a greeting or farewell. "Shouko, I must take my leave, now that the ICU no longer needs attending."

Aiolia gave her a curious look. "Oh, well, thank you so much for your hard work."

Mii gave a small smile in reply. "This is after all, not my area of expertise, or my main charge."

Shouko gave a knowing nod, Aiolia, however not fully understanding. Despite how close he had been with he Saintias, he had not actually be trained as one.

"I am only here out of necessity. Now that the worst is passed, I must now return to Athena."

Aiolia took in a surprised gasp, suddenly feeling foolish as it was extremely obvious. But, understandably, Aiolia had grown used to the distant, fraudulent athena of the past 16 years.

"Mayura, as well as Sari and Nerissa have been tending to her so far, as I understand it."

Aiolia nodded, remembering Mayura from the battle's immediate aftermath. "I can't imagine how much work you all have ahead of you, with Athena returning after so long."

Mii replied. "It goes without saying that all the other saintias will be returning to her once they are able," she said, clearly indicating Shouko. "But there is no rush for you," Mii said directly to shouko.

Shouko nodded, her face still quite downcast. "I assure you that I and the others will have things under control," Mii then turned towards the lift, preparing to leave. "With Athena back, first we much all rebuild; but even before that, we must all be healed and ready to stand."

Aiolia gave a small nod of understanding. "Of course. And I will do all that I can, once I am able."

"That is all that the goddess asks of you." Mii then smiled giving them both one final bow before finally making her exit.

She took the lift down to the lower levels. And just as Aiolia was about to turn back to Shouko, they saw that the lift carriage then moved right back up.

—

Shun, after goading Seiya towards his own sibling, finally relented to the, at this point, badgering from those around them. He let his arms fall to his sides and headed back over to where Ikki still was.

Genet, as it happened, had chosen to occupy bed 7, two over form where Ikki was sitting. Seiya having left an opening now meant that Shun's original bed was now vacant as well.

Genet was lying down, appearing to be asleep; while Shun suspected that she was just pretending. It was awfully convenient, as now, Shun was all but forced into finally facing his brother.

Shun sat down on the edge of the bed, facing ikki.

Ikki was sitting cross-legged with his back up against the wall, his eyes closed and his body overall unmoving.

Perhaps it was the result of Shun taking far too much time to act, but at that moment, another interruption appeared.

From behind Shun, Genet suddenly shifted into an upright position. When shun also turned back, he saw Shaina approaching them.

Shaina and milo had both returned and Shaina now wasted no time in getting back on schedule.

"Ah, Shaina!" Shun said, flagrantly taking yet another excuse to ignore ikki. "Katya mentioned that Ikki needed some special care, so I'm glad you came."

Shaina gave Shun a somewhat suspicious look before glancing back at ikki. "I need you to come with me, Ikki."

Ikki, suprisingly, complied without complaint. He stood up from his bed and started to walk towards Shaina.

Shun then shot back up to his feet. "Well then Shaina, I trust you can take good care of my brother. I'll leave you to it!"

Shaina, taking Shun comepletely by suprise, suddenly grabbed the fleeing Shun by the collar, dragging him towards the lift. "There will be no need for that, I will have you come with me."

"Wait, Miss Shaina—"

Ikki smirked and lagged behind for just a second before Shaina grabbed him too. "We are going up to my spire."

Ikki met Shaina's eyes, and Shun swore he saw a flash of genuine fear on his face.

The spire room was dimly lit when they entered, somewhat different than what Shun had initially expected. Shaina walked ahead of them, immediately going towards her desk to begin preparations.

That left Ikki and Shun to lag behin by the lift somewhat awkwardly as both of them felt quite out of place in what was after all, Shaina's Personal office.

"I need you to strip down to the waist," Shaina called over her shoulder, continuing to collect what she needed.

Shun gave Ikki a brief look. Ikki then got himself up onto the patient's table without any more complaint. Shun looked over Ikki with his keen observation, and quickly noticed that Ikki's range of motion was extremly limited.

When he braced an arm on the table to lift himself up, his entire upper body tensed and Shun saw him bite his lower lip. There was a pause before Ikki braced with his other arm and then pulled himself up.

The whole time, Ikki's arms never lifted more than 30 degrees from his side. And while it would have been easy to sit on the bed backwards and push himself up with both arms, Ikki instead had opted to more or less flop forwards and then roll himself onto his back.

Observing this, Shun then went to help Ikki undress.

"Here, I'll help get your top off."

Ikki's shoulders tensed and his hands moved, but not anywhere close to being able to stop Shun's hands.

"I can tell that you can barely move you arms," Shun stated, a little annoyed. "You can't hide it from me."

Ikki paused, his shoulders still tense, but he let his arms relax.

Shun then started to undo the collar of Ikki's top, pulling down the zipper and pushing it off over his shoulders. Shun saw lots of damage and scars, but first busied himself in fully taking off the top and putting it aside as Shaina required.

The light in the room was rather dim, and so Shun didn't get the full effect until he walked around the where Shaina was and saw him head-on.

Shun let out a sharp gasp, just as Shaina approached the table, directing a mobile light in Ikki's direction.

"Shaina, what—"

Shaina first handed Shun her tablet, clearly not wanting to waste time. Shun held on tightly to the tablet, but found it hard to tear his eyes away from Ikki at that exact moment.

It was bizzare to Shun, that Ikki was allowing Shaina, a total stranger to touch him at all. But there he was, in immense pain, but allowing shaina's gloveless hands to rest against his scarred skin.

Shun glanced at the tablet and read along as he absorbed the fulls stake of Ikki's body.

Around Ikki's neck was a bright violet rune, nearly identical to the one that had almost cost Saori her life. Shun didn't understand initially, but saw that Shaina was not about to stop and listen to his questions so he watched.

Shun walked around to the other side so that he could get a clear look at Ikki's mangled chest. It was like what had happened to Saori, but only the rune itself. Otherwise, Ikki's neck and chest was covered in darkened scars and what looks like swollen veins; but due to their location, couldn't possibly be.

It looked like, to Shun, as if something had burrowed and spread out under his skin, like the roots of a malignant plant. The obviously intense pain that Ikki was in was starting to crack through his resolve, his lips pulling open into a snarl as Shaina's fingers took in the extent of the damage.

Shaina's fingers had started to glow gold with her cosmo, and she had Ikki lie down on his back. While she did that, Shun looked down at the open documents on the tablet screen and pages through them.

There was a report on Marin's procedure the night before; a report on Aiolia's condition, summary of Saori's condition, and one more labeled "Maouken, practical application variations" which was a very bland way to put the horrific contents of that particular report.

Shun started with the report on Marin's procedure, glancing up as he read. He followed along with how Shaina described her process in the report, and how it matched up with her treatment on Ikki.

Shun found himself engrossed in the details of Shaina's report, and he was grateful for it. It was useful to have a distraction as Ikki's pain continued to become worse and worse.

Shaina's writing was perfectly professional, and extremely clear. But, he noticed that towards the middle of the report, where she would usually say "patient" Shaina started to use marin's name. but that quickly changed after the middle section, back to the normal dry report.

After reading, Shun couldn't stand it any longer, just as Shaina must have felt, watching someone she was close to in so much pain. Shun set the tablet down and rushed to Ikki's side, taking a hold of his hand without thinking.

Shaina acknowledged him but kept working. Shun expected to be admonished but she instead seemed to be grateful for his appearance. "Perfect, Shun." She grunted thought a concentrated grimace. "Here's your first Lesson in medicinal; cosmo,"

Shun nodded, squeezing Ikki's hand and giving her all his attention.

"I need you to channel your cosmo, into Ikki. This…thing. This goddamn glyph. It's draining him. I need you to give some of your cosmo so—" She grunted. As shun looked at her face again, Shaina seemed to be growing a bit pale.

Shun nodded and concentrated. Never had he much relished using his cosmo for hurting people, only when necessary. And so being able to use it to heal others was something he greatly welcomed.

Shun then reached out his hands, placing one hand over Shaina's and the other on Ikki's neck. Shun felt Ikki react to his touch and Ikki looked at Shun with a look of utter bewilderment. Even though ikki was in severe pain, he still couldn't seem to comprehend why Shun still cared about him. Shun grimaced and bit down that painful though, instead putting everything he had into giving Shaina what she needed to save Ikki's life.