3.
Athena was Not Amused.
She stood resplendent in a beam of sunlight, on the terrace, towering above him, very much like a greek statue.
Like her own satue, in fact, the one in sanctuary that was no more since Sion, former Aries Saint and late, lamented Pope, in his deaththroes, had sprinkled it with Athena's own blood, thus bringing to life her God Cloth. Except that she wore her totally unsuitable ballgown-like dress with the puffed-up sleeves, which in no way resembled the greek chiton, and that spoiled the effect somewhat.
Of course she had already been informed of the incident by the time Hyoga arrived back at the mansion : the eternally blacksuited and dark bespectacled guards where waiting for him. He could have swatted them like flies without even lifting a finger, but when they told him the Princess was waiting for him he trotted after them like an obedient dog.
Tatsumi as usual started hurling abuse and spit.
"Who told you you could go there ?!? What makes you think you can leave without permission? One such as Ikki is bad enough…"
"Permission? Do I need permission for every damn thing I do? Permission to wipe my arse on your face!"
"And look at me while I'm talking to you, you hear?"
"Fine. I'll look at you, so long as you stop spitting at me."
"Wha…" Tatsumi almost swallowed his own tongue in anger. Outraged into forgetting whom he was dealing with, he raised his hand to box the russian's ears…and screamed in pain as Hyoga froze his arm.
"Enough!"
Portrait of a Goddess in Anger at her Most Arrogant.
It would have been very impressive, and Hyoga would have felt properly chastised, if the Special Effects department, that is, the weather, had not failed her at the last moment. A huge cloud had come drifting before the sun, hiding it completely, and she no longer appeared a stark silhouette clad in shining light, but a rather ordinary 15-year-old with plain brown hair, grey eyes and a pout.
And "Gosh she really has got big boobs…"
A thought for which Hyoga would chastize himsèlf, later, in the privacy of his room, where she had sent him to ponder upon his many sins ( "And don't even think about leaving èver again without my permission!"), like a naughty child.
I'm a Saint, for Goodness' sake, I can Tear the Heavens and Smite the Earth and I get sent to bed without supper by…whàt? A spoiled rotten billionnaire brat…no, no, she is my Goddess, my Comrade-in-Arms…"
But was she? She had sacrificed herself – more than once!- and had cut her own throat to enter Hades' realm, she had blèd for them…Miho's words came ringing back to him :
"Not before making you shed all of yours!"
They had done most of the fighting, and in the end they had not known how to stop fighting, not even in a coma, having rizen from their hospital beds to rescue her from Poseidon's clutches. Saving her. Saving Athena, and the World as an afterthought. First from Poseidon's Flood, then from Hades' Greatest Eclipse. Rushing in where Angels fear to tread " And you know what they call people who do that, don't you." Hyoga told himself wryly,
"Always running towards battle – up staircases mostly!- never taking time to think. There hadn't béén time…"
And now there was too much time. To think. Think about Seiya. About the dead. The men he had killed…
"Camu…Isaac. All the others. Black Swan I tried to spare, but he selfdestructed, but then, who had been the first? There had been so many.Wait a minute, I remember, it was that Silver Saint on the beach, what was he now, Vega, or Capella, …no, they attacked us later, when Saori was kidnapped by that bird-handling Saint. I'm getting them all mixed up. My first kill and I've forgotten. So easy. Without thinking about it, actually killing someone. But that's what it is all about, isn't it? Killing people. Péople."
Well, Poseidon's and Hades' people, mostly, who might not count as such; But then there had been the Battle of the Sanctuary, first, against Athena's own Saints, most of whom had acted in good faith, upon the orders of the man they believed to be their Pope, And instead of trying to convince them that Saori Kido really wàs Athena, they had fought them. Not that they had been given much chance to explain, except with Gold Saint Aïolia.
"Now thère's a fool. Instead of talking to his fellow-Gold Saints first, hé went ahead to confront the Pope on his own. Whereas if he had tried to convince Milo or Aldebaran, who were already halfway to turning their backs on their master… with Mu and Dohko that would have made 5 Gold Saints on our side, that would have saved us considerable time, not to mention lives…"
And why hadn't the gold saints hèlped them fight Poseidon, instead of sitting in their respective Temples – next to the Rozann waterfall , in Dokho's case- like a bunch of ancestral relics gathering dust, while hé had had to confront a friend….well, to be fair, Aïolia had wànted to help them, but Mu – of all people, Mu! Their first and for some time only ally against the evil in Sanctuary- had threatened to kill the Lion Saint upon Dohko's instruction ("Who made him boss?") if he set a foot outside the place. True, it had been explained to them that the Gold Saints hàd to remain in their Temples, as te final rampart against the enemy's onslaught. Somehow that didn't ring true. The whole point of Dohko eternally staying next to the waterfall was that from there he could observe the tower of Hades, sealed by Athena, and witness the breaking of that seal, like some kind of early warning system. If just two of the five surviving Gold Saints had been at their side in the realm of Poseidon, they would have made seven , one for each Marina General. Athena would have been saved that much quicker, and there would have been plènty of time to prepare for the coming of Hades. And if one of the Gold Saints had perished in combat, well, if he could not vanquish a Marina what chance would he have stood against a Spectre?
Even then, all the predeceased Saints, including those who had died twice already, had been able to come back and join forces to smite the Great Wall of Elysion. So why were they held back? Why where he and his brothers made to suffer so much? When would it be over, and wèll over? Never, apparently, for Athena had ordered him back to Siberia in order to start training new recruits there.
"Julian Solo and Sorrento the Siren are travelling the world to seek out orphaned children and already they tell me of some promising finds."
"I thought the whole object was to console these children, not draft them into our ranks."
"The two go together. What greater consolation can there be, then to be able to serve Peace and Justice?"
"A home and family, perhaps?"
It occured to Hyoga that peace and justice (with or without capitals) would be infinitely better served if these children were allowed to grow up into normal, welladjusted, hardworking, responsible and above all loving adults, not the fighting machines he and his brothers had been forced to become. But he wisely kept that thought to himself.
"And do, please, wéar your Cloth at all times. You four have become the sole protectors of Athena, now that the Gold Saints have gone. You have become semi-devine through reaching the Eight Sense, and your God-Cloths are stronger than theirs, too. Our defense rests upon you, while Sanctuary is being restored…"
He wasn't sure if by 'Our' she had not meant 'Mine'. Nor did he like the idea of wearing the God Cloth.
What with his golden hair and it's wings, he knew only too well what he looked like : an Angel, straight off an Andrey Rublev icon. . A most disturbing thought, as Angels were supposed to be creatures of startling purity, straight emanations of God's (the christian one) love; and he did not feel particulary pure himself.
If God – his God, the Christian one, he had to keep reminding himself- even existed.
So far he had had proof of the existence of the Greek ones, and they had started out as humans, to become Gods through reaching the Ninth Sense that allowed them to reach the Big Will.
The Christian God on the other hand had gone about it the other way : He had come down off his Heavenly Throne to become human and mortal, and had died an ignominous death. Hyoga wondered, briefly, if this God was perhaps the Big Will itself, but then, having consciously known the sufferings of a human life, how could it
in all conscience have allowed the Greek Gods ("No, Humans turned Gods"!) to continue their eternal wars, causing so much of that suffering? Eight in all since the birth and death of Jesus Christ, if he counted correctly.
What had all that fighting be for, if there was no promise of a permanent peace? The way Athena was going on, they were to expect another attack from a new enemy any time soon.
"So who is to be next? With the entire Greek Pantheon to choose from, there are plenty of likely candidates.
Let's see now, we've had Ares, whose evil spirit had possessed Saga Gimini Saint and driven him into taking over snctuary and insanity…then Poseidon, followed by Hades and his minions Hypnos and Thanathos.
Of the mayor Gods that leaves us Zeus himself, Artemis and Apollo, Aphrodite, Hera, Hermes, Demeter and Hephaïstos. Possibly also Dionysos and Pan. And when we – if we- have vanquished them all, in two hundred years it will start all over again. "
He breathed deeply, and choked back a sob. "And with my kind of luck, " he said to himself wryly, " I'll probably be facing another loved one.Except that the ones that are left are all with me …"
It was a comforting thought, which he clung to, as he lay on his bed staring into the dark, untill sleep overcame him. Yet in those last seconds between waking and sleep, that now-familiar little voice drove another question through his mind:
"Are all Gods liars?"