Another one for which I would really appreciate feedback, especially since it looks like this chapter and the last one will actually be parts of the same story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Saint Seiya or any of the included characters. They all belong to Masami Kurumada.


Aiolos slowed to a stop on the shore of Death Queen Island. Behind him he could hear Saga land with a near-silent thud, while Dimitri skidded slightly as he slowed down and out of lightspeed.

He set Marin down and looked around, searching for some sign of any of the island's inhabitants.

He found what he was looking for in the form of a small Amazon in a pale green trainer and white leg warmers, her face covered by a mask with black streaks on the cheeks.

The girl moved to join them, picking her way carefully through the mixture of sand, rocks, and bone on the shore. When she reached them, she looked them up and down.

"You are the Gold Saints sent by Sanctuary to help us." She stated easily.

"We are." Aiolos answered. "I am Sagittarius Aiolos. This are Gemini Saga, Crystal Saint Dimitri, and Eagle Marin. Who are you?"

"My name is Esmeralda, trainee for the Columba Cloth." Was the Amazon's answer.

Aiolos carefully didn't comment on the fact that this girl was also the daughter of the Master of Death Queen Island.

"Follow me." Esmeralda instructed crisply. "I will show you to where the rest of us are located right now."

Aiolos nodded and moved to follow the young Amazon-she couldn't be more than eight or nine years old-across the beach and up a narrow path that led up the nearby cliff.

"What happened here?" Saga asked as they traversed the path.

"How much were you told before you came here?" Esmeralda countered.

"Not much..." Saga answered grimly.


Flashback

"Aiolos, Saga, I have a mission for you." Pope Shion said grimly.

"A mission, Your Holiness? At this hour?" Aiolos asked, confused. He had been woken up at 2 A.M. by one of the servants of the house of Sagittarius coming to tell him he had an urgent summons from the Pope.

"Yes, Aiolos. I'm afraid you will be leaving for Death Queen Island early." The Pope answered.

"Death Queen Island? But you said that could wait until the morning." Aiolos didn't mean to argue, he just didn't understand.

Just yesterday evening Aiolos and Silver Saint Eagle Marin had been called to the Pope's chambers to be informed that they would be traveling to Death Queen Island, the hellish training ground known for having the highest death count among all of Sanctuary's training grounds, because there was a situation that the Master of Death Queen Island felt required the judgement of an Amazon. Aiolos was only being sent to provide Marin with easy transportation. The current peaceful state of Sanctuary meant that Aiolos could be spared for such simple things.

"What happened? And why does this situation require more than just the two of us?" Marin asked, echoing Aiolos's own thoughts.

The Pope sighed quietly. "Death Queen Island has been attacked. We received a distress call from Master Guilty just half an hour ago."

"Attacked?" Saga asked. "By who?"

"We don't know. Just that there were a number of casualties. I'm sending the four of you to help with the wounded. Eagle Marin, you will resolve the original situation at the same time."

"Four of us, Your Holiness?" Marin clarified. "Who else are you sending?"

"I have ordered Crystal Saint Dimitri to join you." Shion answered. "Aquarius Camus will look after his students in the meantime. You will leave immediately, understood?"

"Yes, Your Holiness!" The three Saints replied promptly.

"Good. You will find the Crystal Saint in the House of Aquarius.."

The two Gold Saints and one Silver Saint left the Pope's chambers and hurried down the stairs toward the House of Pisces.

"Marin, what are you doing with your student?" Aiolos asked, barely pausing to nod at the night shift guards of Aphrodite's House.

Marin huffed. "I left him a note saying to go to Shaina for a few days. I'll leave a message with one of the guards to warn Shaina in the morning."

"Poor guard." A voice said as they entered the House of Aquarius. They turned glanced to the left to see the Crystal Saint, Dimitri, walking towards them.

Marin snorted as the white-haired man fell in to step with them. "I'd feel worse, but I don't have the time to listen to Shaina complain." She said.

"Fair enough. Are you all ready to leave?"

The other three Saints nodded.

Together, the four Saints turned to head out of Sanctuary.


"I see." Esmeralda mused. "We're not really sure who attacked us. They used flying machines, the likes of which I've never seen before. They had weapons that fired small metal spheres too. That's how we lost most of the trainees who died. That and some kind of explosive weapon."

As they reached the top of the cliff, Dimitri asked another question. "Did anyone manage to take down any of those flying machines?"

"Master Guilty managed to take one down." Esmeralda answered. It's on the north end of the island. Why?"

"I may be able to identify it if it's in decent shape." Dimitri explained.

"I see." Esmeralda said. She glanced back when the four Saints following her paused. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"How do we get down that?" Saga asked, staring at the rather steep side of the cliff. There was no path to be seen, and the cliff was so smooth that there were no hand holds to climb down with.

"Oh. Just follow me." Esmeralda said, and leapt over the edge.

Aiolos startled, almost fearing for the young girl's life, until he realized what she was doing. The girl was sliding down the side of the cliff, leaning back and using one hand to brace herself so she didn't fall down. The Gold Saint blinked. That was impressive.

Marin let out a small laugh. "Impressive. This must be the only way to get to the bottom. With that being said, the Amazon took off after the younger girl.

Aiolos shared a look with Saga, who shrugged, then Dimitri, who smiled.

"Don't want to fall behind, now do we?" The Crystal Saint asked.

The three men quickly followed the two women. It proved to actually be quite easy to slide down the cliffside.

They reached the bottom only a few moments after Marin and Esmeralda, joining the two Amazons.

"Where to next?" Saga asked.

"The housing area is just over that hill there." Esmeralda said, pointing off the right a bit. "The flying machine that my father destroyed down is up that mountain that way, near the training ground."

"Take us to the housing area. We need to take care of the wounded first." Aiolos instructed. "Later you can take Dimitri to see this flying machine while Marin deals with the other situation we were sent here about."

Esmeralda nodded and started walking, the other four following after her.

"What was the other situation that we were sent here for?" Marin asked. "We weren't given any details."

"Oh." Esmeralda deflated visibly. "That's..." She trailed off.

Marin softened at the sight before her. "What happened?" She asked gently.

"Well..." Esmeralda started again. "What do you know about the Kido Orphans?"

Aiolos shared a look with Saga. Everyone in Sanctuary knew about the Kido Orphans.

"The one hundred boys sent to Sanctuary's training grounds from Japan." Marin said. "A few months after they arrived it was discovered that they were all sent by the same organization, called the Kido Foundation. I'm training one of them myself."

"There's another one under my tutelage." The Crystal Saint added. "What does this have to do with the situation Marin was called for?"

Esmeralda continued to hesitate. Finally, as they were just reaching the bottom of the hill that sat between them and the housing area, she spoke.

"There are two members of the Kido Orphans here on Death Queen Island, a pair of siblings named Ikki and Shun."

"And?" Saga prompted after another moment of silence.

"Master Guilty will explain in detail, but the short version is that there was an incident two days ago." Esmeralda said. "Several of the other trainees attacked Shun unprovoked. That was when we found out that it wasn't one hundred boys who were sent to Sanctuary's training grounds. It was ninety-nine boys... and one girl."

"You're saying that this Shun is a girl?" Dimitri clarified. After Esmeralda nodded, he shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not nearly as familiar with the laws regarding female Saints as I should be, so what am I missing?" He turned to Marin with a curious look on his face.

Marin tilted her chin down in a gesture that, from an Amazon, meant distress or displeasure.

"According to the laws of the Amazons, pretending to be a man is a grave offense. Before the time of Pope Shion, it was an offense punishable by death." She explained.

"Ah." Dimitri said in understanding.

"Fortunately, that law has since been changed. We won't have to execute anyone." Marin added. "But we can't let this go unpunished either."

"I know it isn't any of my business, but I think you should talk to Shun before you make a decision." Esmeralda said. "He-she-hasn't spoken a word since she was caught, but from what his-ergh, her-brother has said, I think there's more to this."

"Well, I can't pass judgement without talking to Shun first." Marin said.

Esmeralda relaxed, some of the tension draining from her shoulders. "Okay." She said.

Silence fell over the group as they crested the hill and found themselves overlooking the housing area of Death Queen Island.

Aiolos stiffened in alarm, even as he heard Dimitri gasp behind him.

'Mess' didn't even begin to describe the scene below them.

Most of the stone buildings were half-destroyed, rubble lay everywhere, and there were several large craters in the ground, the likes of which Aiolos had only seen when Aldebaran used his Great Horn.

"This is worse than I expected." Saga murmured, and the other three Saints had no choice but to agree.


Soooo... What do you think.

For reference, this chapter is based off the idea that Saga didn't kill the Pope or try to kill Athena.

I want to turn this into a full story eventually, so feedback would be really appreciated.

See you next chapter.