Part 2

The Search

1

The Early Bird...

This is what waking with broken bones is like. He's gone soft. He'd forgot how those camp beds were uncomfortable. Things for life-hardened soldiers. Or for Saints in the making. And he'd never slept in those with someone weighting upon him. Not that it was painful, the situation certainly had a few pluses. Willy-nilly she must stick with him. Something tells him that she's far more comfortable than him. An experience to remember, to better value the comfort of modern life. We'll buy a water-mattress. When we go back home we'll buy a water-mattress. He's in excellent spirit, and can't stop smiling. He's going back to Hell, yet he's glad. The sun, high in the sky, filters through the wooden shutters. The lame omelette he's eaten on the plane has stopped dancing polka inside his stomach. All thanks this healthy digestive workout... He starts to laugh like drunkard, without self control. Digestive workout.. Thanks God you couldn't hear me... Then he starts to hum "Happy birthday to you".

She moves lazily. "Five minutes..." she protests.

"Happy birth-day tooooooo yoooooooooooo...."

She raises her head, irritated. "Stop now, Seiya. Waking up with you singing is not one of the best things that could happen to anyone, you know...

"Waking up by my side is one of the best things that may occur in life" he replies humoured. Even in this most inhospitable camp bed. Where will you find someone like me?

She falls heavily back on his chest. "Oh, spare me... Owww..."
"Have you hurt yourself?"

She's massaging her cheekbone, that's just scraped against the medallion hanging from his neck. Then she takes the strange jewel in her hand. "It's weighty. You'll become hunched."

He lets himself yawn. The strange pendant is much lighter than the box he was used to carry. But, were Shaina not to have misgivings, she just wouldn't be Shaina. A quarrelsome disposition and a pair of never-ending legs. I couldn't ask for more. "Finally my dream as a frustrated teenager has come true..." he comments. She looks at him quizzically. "Well... When I was twelve I had this obsessive idea... To enter your shack and... You see... You were always around with that angry look, and you made me nervous and so... that's what I said to myself... Sooner or later I make her cry for mercy... In that sense..." Nerve-racking. A kid with brimming hormones and a masked witch who seemed to have a chip against him. He'd spent long wakes planning a racy revenge expedition...

"What were you planning at twelve?" she's laughing. Now it's her turn to looking tipsy.

"Ask Marin, if you don't believe me... Don't laugh. Things like these can mark you for life..." Especially when you find out that the evil witch is sweeter than honey...

"So, I should bear your child? Oh, good God... He would never forgive me... Poor thing, with a disturbed father..."

"Look who's talking" Seiya is vainly trying to locate his wristwatch. Something is telling him that it's rather late. "We'd better go, Shaina..."

She plants her nails in his shoulders. "Don't move if you prize your life..."

Ok. All this is very far from Juliet's babbling about larks and nightingales... "Bet I'll be back for tonight?"

"Yeah, with Saori alive and kicking, ready to bring you to the altar..."

Scathing... Seiya has often wondered which of them is really obsessed with Saori. He believes he knows the answer, but he knows that Shaina wouldn't like it.

"No..." she complains, hearing a knock at the door.

"Seiya, it's time!" Shun's voice says.

"Here I come!" he calls back. As soon as I untangle myself... She seems under a fit of anthropophagy. She's literally swallowing his lips. I've changed my mind. I'm staying here... I'm just having too much good time...

Again comes Shun's intruding voice. "Seiya!"

"HE TOLD YOU HE'S COMING!" roars Shaina, and Seiya asks himself how can the door stand still after such a sonic barrage.

Oh, well. Let's get it down... Because this is what it's like. Like extracting a decayed tooth. He'll resurrect Athena and tell her goodbye. Than straight for home.

000

It's a secret place. A mysterious, magical place. Marin has never been there before. In recent years she had the Sanctuary and the Twelve Temples restored. The Spectres' assault had left a ruin of them. But that place had been left untouched. No one dared to defile it. Shaka's secret garden is in total disarray. Springtime appears to have overlooked this spot. Or perhaps the dry earth is still bemoaning the passing of the Man closest to God. Two skeletal trees have welcomed the Saints in and Marin thought it a bad omen. At least the sky is blue and clear. There, a bit of history had taken place. The Athena Exclamation, cast after centuries of prohibition, the holy one's suicide, and a fatal message to Athena. Soon this garden will host her return and rebirth. She had thought proper to ask for Shun's permission before entering the Sixth Temple. Marin knows that it's time for the old rules to be reinstated. Shun has accepted his new status, but his uneasiness is showing off. Certainly he's not feeling confident of his ability to compare with Shaka. But after all it was the Virgo Saint himself who chose you, remember? Marin scrutinizes each one of the armoured Saints. Finally she can feel satisfied. The new breed has arisen, at it doesn't matter how unworthy of their status they're feeling now. Soon they'll be able to prove their merit, bringing Athena back home and protecting her putting their life on the line, as it's meant to be.

Ikki's puny servant is kneeling and, with a finger, he's drawing something in the soil. His countenance is uncharacteristically serious. Nobody wants to interrupt him. Ikki seems to trust him blindly and Marin has resolved to give him the benefit of the doubt. Shaina is near her, and her worried expression is bothering her more and more. She knows that she would like to go with them, but she can't. And she knows that her faith is not as strong as it was. She's become so straight. Her presence is making Marin more and more ill at ease. She wants her to look at Seiya with the same pride she's feeling now. But Shaina doesn't see the warrior. To her, Seiya is just her partner taking his leave. Marin wonders how can she see nothing else. He's just so radiant in the morning light... Her creature, her pupil... He's looking at her, with a mixture of gratitude and boldness in his gaze.

"So here we are. This is really a wonderful Cloth. It feels like a second skin." Marin recognizes that sparkle in Seiya's eyes. He's hitching to go, to be himself again. Maybe even to fight again.

"It was forged especially for you, Seiya. You didn't receive it from Aiolos. Not this time" Ikki replies him. The new Leo Saint seems to have taken Seiya under his wing.

"It fits you perfectly, Seiya. You're an imposing sight..." Marin says, not taking the eyes away from him. At times she'd been misunderstood. Some people were talking at the Sanctuary, back in Athena's heyday. It was said that she had lost her head for her student. Neither her nor Aiolia had ever paid these voices any mind. Seiya is her creature. The outcome of her workings. Her greatest triumph. And, in a sense, the brother she lost many years ago.

Seiya winks at her. She's sure that he'll look boyish even in his nineties. "Nobody's ever called me imposing. Thank you, Marin."
Hyoga is the first to show impatience. He's looking excited. Marin wonders whether he'd accept any mission, Athena notwithstanding, just to feel a Saint again. "So, what are we waiting for? Let's go get our Goddess back..."

Our Goddess... I'm sure that it's not just Athena for you. For you, it's a way to be alive again. It's a laurel you'll wear proudly, a new triumph. But this is not time for doubts. Marin sees the Saints nod. She knows that it's happening soon.

"Kedalion, are you sure about what you're going to do?" Ikki asks to his servant.

He raises his head. "Trust me" he says. Marin asks herself if his manner of speaking is but a trick to make himself deceptively vulnerable in the eyes of a perspective opponent. This because his voice is now calm and deep. And she realizes that the little weirdo possesses ancient, wonderful black eyes. Even the others must have noticed the change in the dwarf's attitude.

"We'll keep an eye on you. At the first sign of danger..." she says.

"What will you do? You'll come to our rescue? Please, Marin... Nothing will happen. The Hades is empty and forlorn now. We just have to get Saori back home and nobody will stand in our way" Hyoga remarks with a humoured smile.

His tone wounds her. As if he was trying to cut her out. Marin fights the urge to tell him something spicy, then she decides that he's not worth of it. If she's staying in Athens, it's for a well-defined reason. Not just because she doesn't even have the Seventh Sense, not to mention the Eighth... That's the official excuse. In fact there's something she has to do as soon as possible. She will drag Shaina along with her kicking and screaming should it prove necessary.

"Don't take it so easy, Hyoga"

So finally June also opens her mouth, considers Marin. The golden mask she's wearing makes her features unreadable, yet her voice gives away her growing anxiety. C'mon, darling. You're the first woman to wear a Gold Cloth in centuries. You must do it with your head held high...

"Are you afraid, June?" Hyoga asks , in a mocking voice.

"Of course I'm afraid. I'm not a fool" replies June, with uncommon restraint. It's the wisest answer she could give . Because, at times, fear is a valuable asset. When it doesn't become panic. When it keeps your guard high. "And I bet that you also were the first time you went to hell" she concludes.

"We're not yet on the way, and we're already bitching like little kids. I say we should move..." Shun says, taking matters in hand. Marin knows that it won't be easy for him, too. He and Seiya will have to face the hardest task. And to put their personal ghosts behind. The young man takes June's hand, but not for affection. "The Circle, folks..."

That's right, the Circle, the Chain, the Bond keeping all evils at bay. The Saints are now one thing, each one bound to the others. Six souls, set forth to defy damnation eternal. For her... And at the centre of the Circle is Kedalion, who's gazing intently at a point ahead of him, concentrating his own powers. The powers he's going to reveal us, finally...

"Come on, Shaina, cheer up. Sadly for you I plan to be back very soon..." Seiya says, reserving himself a final joke.

"Idiot!" she replies.

Seiya smirks, then closes his eyes, as do the other Saints. Marin wonders if there's a storm coming. But the air is still clear and she realizes that the electricity charging the atmosphere is not being caused by any natural phenomenon. She shrinks back by instinct, noticing that Shaina does the same. Hot air is blowing around the Saints' bodies, tossing their cloaks around. Breathing is difficult. An unearthly force lifts the Saints a few inches from the ground. They appear not even to notice it. Marin's pulse is starting to rush. All of a sudden she wants to scream. The Cloths are alight, as if incandescent. It all lasts a moment, then goes quiet. In Shaka's garden the storm disappears just like it came. And it's taken the Saints along. Marin turns towards Shaina and realizes that her face is wet with tears. But she's not crying, her face is impenetrable. It's just that her body has reacted to the strange going-ons by making her eyes shed water and salt. What have we done? Marin wonders.

"Something's happened... Something terrible..." Shaina says, without a trace of emotion. Even her voice is different, cold and passionless.

"It must have been so that other time, at Hades' Castle... But this time, it was us who called Hell forth..." Marin observes the other woman with strange hesitancy. Something's wrong with her... With some relief she catches her thoughts. Those are heart lifting thoughts, however unworthy for a Saint of Athena.

"I've encouraged him to come here, to wear again a Saint's garment... And now I wish I never did that..."

"They'll be back. I know." Marin tries to be supported. But Shaina's gaze is not telling good. Marin realizes that she's angry with her for peeking inside her mind. Sighing, Marin watches away. Who the hell are you? what have you been through?

"What if all this... is just a trap?" Shaina asks. Marin can tell the silent reproach belied by her words.

"Have faith in Athena, Shaina. She won't let them down..." she replies. Then she realizes that talking of faith with her is like discussing philosophy with a basket player. Her faith in Athena has probably dried out now, even though she hasn't hesitated an instant to leave everything behind for the Goddess' sake. Perhaps she was hoping to find something else, some sort of sign. She found nothing. I will give you this sign, Shaina... You'll have your old self back... This is Athena's will... "Care to come with me to a place?" she asks.

She looks curious. "Which place?"

"Olympia." Yes, we must go there... there you'll have your epiphany. And there I'll also be born again... This is what I've been promised...

"What's the point of us going to Olympia?" Shaina is now looking bored, as if someone stuck in a discussion with a naughty little girl without any inclination for it.

Marin's patience is growing thinner and thinner. Once, many years before, Shaina had invited her to a joint training. Marin had barely walked out of it. Those were the days. "Will you drop that gloomy face? Where has your heart gone?"

"We have no business going to Olympia. I want to follow them into the mirror..."

We're going to Olympia because I've said so! "Come on! We couldn't be of help anyway. Hyoga is right. We'll check them out when we're back."
"Why Olympia, of all places?" Shaina asks again.

This chit-chat is starting to get on her nerves. "I'm not telling you, unless you do one of your good, old nasty faces right now..."

"Marin..."

Cripes, no. I could stand everything except this whiny and reproachful tone! "Please, Shaina, don't be offended... But you're really become soft. You've played at the good housewife for five years. Now do as a favour and draw out the Saint that's in you."

Anger flickers in Shaina's eyes. It's the second in a few minutes. Marin thinks it a promising sign. "I'm worried. If being soft is this... then I am, and I'm not ashamed of it!"

Right, natural, well-grounded... How should I reply? You're still driving me mad! "I'm going to Olympia. Come with me if you care. If you don't, just stay here and do some laundry, while you're at it..." If this is what you want... If you don't ask for more from life... Just stay here and enjoy the waiting... Soft, soft, soft!

Marin re-enters the Virgo Temple and exits from the other side. She's seething. There was once Ophiucus Saint. She's wondering where she might have gone. Step by step she climbs down the stairs leading to the Leo Temple. I'm still a Saint, my dear! Then she stops, hearing hurried steps behind. I won... she thinks with a grin.

"Marin, wait! I'm coming!" Shaina cries.

And so she waits restraining from jumping up with joy. Happy birthday, Shaina...

000

Daylight. He feeds on it, as if it were hot bread. Because that light is his. The sun won't shine unless I want it. Years before a God named Hades had tried to usurp this right of his. Never-ending Night. Greatest Eclipse. Not if I'm still around... As long as I stand the Sun will shine upon the world... It's a glorious day. He felt a strange vibration coming from Athena's Sanctuary. So they really did it... He's not really worried. He wants to enjoy the day. He's slowly sipping his coffee and, now and then, his eyes fall on the newspaper before him. He's very fond of the culture and showbiz pages. Oftentimes his boys are there. Boys and girls who graduated at his school, brimming with hope and talent. Many more will come. To him, art is everything. It's what makes pleasant and full an existence. And he's glad that the world hosts like-minded souls. At times he pauses to admire the garden. He like having breakfast on the terrace, sinking into the beauty of the Parnassus. The very same beauty nurturing his disciples. Absent-mindedly he returns the salute from a group of youngsters who are going to follow today's lessons. A pair of girlies giggle childishly passing him by. Their thoughts are as transparent as water... My, how beautiful he is this morning... Have you seen those eyes? God ... I'd like to jump upon him... Students. His mission. Because that's what Saori wanted. He's paying his dues. Her legacy has made his work possible. An art school, in an imposing villa somewhere in the Grecian mountains, named after Saori Kido. Thanks to the school, he's made a name for himself. Young people come from every corner of the world. True, no one of them suspects that behind the desk stand Apollo's sisters. His companions in exile. His wonderful Muses. It took years to track each one of them out, as they were scattered around the world, unaware of their power... But now they're with him, and they share his vision... But right now I wish that one of them could be a thousand miles far from here... thinks Abel, as the familiar, anxious voice of his wife robs him of any hope of peace.

"Abel!" she's bellowing, approaching him at a brisk pace. Tomboy, he thinks, taking her in. A Muse is supposed to be graceful and ladylike... But she will always be a tomboy... She's wearing a jumpsuit two sizes larger than fitting and she's drenched in sweat. She always wakes up at dawn to jog. She says it helps to keep her fit. Yet Abel doubts that she could put up a single pound, even if she should start gobbling profiteroles all daylong. Tomboy... Her hair are still cut short, like if she were a naughty little girl. Once in a while Abel pictures her in his mind with flowing black locks. A magnificent counterpoint to her large violet eyes... But she keeps trimming them. There's nothing he can do about it. Years before she lived under a bridge, utterly addled with heroin. Ready to sell herself for a few bucks. He brought her away. he gave her back her life. He told her about Calliope, the Muse residing inside her. And she was born again. My beloved Jenna... Abel loved just two women in his lifetime. One had died to return a boy to life. The other one is there with him, and she's fuming. Notwithstanding that she's a slip of a girl Abel can feel her loom upon him. "Hyacinthus is gone!" she says, hands on her hips. A belligerent posture that causes him to smile.

"Is he?" he says, bringing the mug of coffee to his lips.

"He had a dance lesson with Marie, but didn't show Up. He's not in his room and nobody has seen him!" Jenna goes on.

He smirks. He'd always wondered why Jenna had been so insistent with Hyacinthus to make him dance. That stuff is for women. Zeus, what will be of his Saintly honour should it come out? Marie... known among the immortals as Terpsichore. A jointless drill sergeant. Ravishing. Famous. With a past in lap-dancing to bury... many times Abel has asked himself why each one of his Muses has had such a marginal existence, before he stepped in. He doesn't have an answer yet. "Anybody would search for cover should they have a dance lesson scheduled with Marie" he remarks. Stiff, straight-backed, rod in hand... "Un, deux, trois, quatre, Hyacinthus, You're not keeping the beat, young man, Mon Dieu, this is total lack of rhythmic sensibility..."

"This is not a joke. Do you know anything about him?"

"I know everything that takes place beneath my roof..." he says smirking. And you know it well, so I'm taking a risk keeping you waiting...

"Where is he?" she asks with a voice demanding answers.

He's not impressed. "When the time will come you shall know..."

Anger leaves Jenna's face, replaced by a mortified expression. "Tell me.." Her tone has become beseeching.

"When the time will come you shall know" he repeats.

"I see. The same old charade. You're the God and I'm the Muse at your service... Ready for orders!" she complains.

No, no, sweetheart... It's not what I meant... It's always the same. Time and again Abel has tried to define the kind of power that girl has on him. In vain. "I'm sorry. But I don't want you to worry about Hyacinthus. He's not a kid anymore. And he's got a destiny to fulfil." He wishes he had a persuasive spell to make her understand that Hyacinthus wasn't going to be endangered. Yet he himself can't be really sure.

"I hope for your sake that his destiny will not cause him so much as a scratch..." Jenna says ominously. And Abel knows that should it happen she would really get physical.

Athena, he's yours. Protect him if you can. The thought of a raging Calliope terrifies me!