Chapter Two

"I don't know who that is," she wanted to say, but somehow doubted they would believe her. Her intuition told her she needed to choose her words wisely.

So, she settled for "why do you want to know?", giving very little either way.

This answer gave Saori pause, and she looked at her, considering.

Hyoga moved to approach her, but Saori stopped him. His face, a question in reply.

"I don't believe that will be necessary," was all she offered him. "Stand back," she said, addressing all of her companions.

Hyoga was reluctant, but when Shun lightly touched his arm, he relented, falling instep with the others.

Unsure of the other's intentions, Rei fell into a defensive stance. This didn't go unnoticed.

"I can tell you're being careful, but I am not here to fight you. I only want answers."

"And what if I don't have them?" Rei said.

Saori's face turned deathly serious, her eyes, sharper, as if overcome by something, but when she spoke, it was with that same calm and measured tone. "You must, even if you aren't aware of it."

A flap of wings from above told her that her crows had started circling overhead, but they didn't move to attack. Awaiting their mistress's decision.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because," she shuddered, bringing a hand up to cover her eyes. "...I felt an echo of him here."

And then, there was quiet.

In less than a breath, Seiya was there to support her, hand at her shoulder, the other at her side. She didn't draw him closer, but didn't yet push him away, placing her hand on his chest in some compromise while she recomposed herself.

Only when she looked up did Rei see she'd been trying not to cry.

"You must believe me when I say that he was someone dear to me," she breathed. "And now I fear that something's happened to him that I cannot help."

Rei narrowed her eyes. "When?"

Saori frowned.

"When did you feel this 'echo'?"

When...

Behind her eyelids images flickered, as if she were caught in sleep – a dream taking place of vision. But she was far too aware to be dreaming, even in the most lucid of dreams. These images slipped away.

She opened her eyes, but further movement didn't come, her body, heavy. She couldn't lift even a finger, or form her tongue into words; paralysed.

Something shifted.

Her eyes scanned the darkness, making shape out of shadows, desperate to find its source. They found nothing.

She closed her eyes and tried to even her breathing. This was all the movement she could muster.

There was nothing there, she told herself.

You're body is still asleep.

She kept breathing, breathing, and let sleep retake her when it could.

The images played again.

This time, she could make sense of them. They were more than random flashes, becoming more refined and specific in what they showed.

Faces, eyes that looked up at her with what once was devotion. Now, they looked on in fear, in wanting. Seeking comfort she did not know how to offer. When they reached for her, their hands slipped through.

Eyes, so many eyes, with everything from sorrow to anger, resentment and guilt.

Tears dripped down her face and turned to vapour in the air, and every last soul that breathed her in crumbled and turned to dust.

She wanted to scoop up their ashes, her last chance to touch them, but that, too, was taken from her. They scattered across a blackness, like stars, far from her grasp, to form new constellations.

Unlike stars, their lights soon dimmed, husks before they could even start burning.

Where did their light go?

Where did their light go?!

Saori woke with a start.

"I see it every night," she whispered. "Those dead stars. And ever since, I've tried to feel for them with my cosmos, that is, my aura... I don't know how much you know of myths, but you, yourself aren't unfamiliar with the supernatural, I'm sure. You give off a powerful essence of your own."

"Perhaps that's because she's a holy woman," Shiryu mused, wandering back over towards them.

"Perhaps..." Saori said, though she wasn't quite convinced. There was something else...

"And you said you felt one of them here?" Rei asked, refocusing the conversation.

"Yes," she said, and then sadness took her anew. She went to cover her eyes again for shame, but Seiya squeezed her shoulder, pulling her closer to him.

This time, she let him, her head resting gently at his collarbone.

She mumbled something like an apology against him.

"Don't be silly," he said simply, holding her.

Rei wanted to look away, give them privacy in their tender moment, but it lasted only as long as her train of thought. Saori was the picture of composure, and Seiya, at arm's length.

She'd question it, but felt it wasn't her place.

"If I might ask," Shun interjected, taking a seat back on the porch, Hyoga by his side. "From your line of questioning, is it fair to assume that you have some idea of what we're talking about?"

Rei bit her lip. "Maybe."

When they looked at her, she put up her hands.

"Look, I don't have any clear cut answers, I only have a hunch."

"Then what's your hunch?" Hyoga asked.

"Well, one, I get the impression that this is someone that's recently passed." She waited for them to confirm.

Hyoga nodded.

"That being the case, I unfortunately think it's a much more pedestrian answer than you might like."

"How do you mean?" Shiryu said.

"It's hard to explain."

"Take your time," Shun encouraged, giving her a patient smile.

"Okay," she sighed, and tried to form her thoughts into something coherent.

"I had a friend inquire recently about a strange meeting she had... or, rather, the memory of this meeting. It's not something she had any recollection of until recently, and the details she has of it are fuzzy at best, if you can even believe the circumstance of it. This is the only thing that stands out to me.

"She wanted me to see whether I could find out anything about this person, but I have drawn blanks every time. I can't focus on him, I can't picture him, no matter how she describes him. My clairvoyance won't fill in those gaps. It's like he's... nobody.

"But if this person is the same as the one you're thinking of, it's more likely an effect of trying to focus him that caused this 'echo' you felt."

"What does that mean?" Seiya cut in.

Saori pressed a hand to her mouth in thought, before she said, quietly: "He isn't here."

"Tch, then this was another dead end?"

"Not necessarily," Saori replied, then met Rei's eyes.

"I'd like to meet this friend of yours."