It's over, three days of Hell that are finally over.

Like I thought, Admis won and I can't really say that I'm sorry. It became quite obvious during the tournament that Sarah could not be Lynx; it's just not right for her. I guess you can say that her Cosmo doesn't match the Lynx Cloth. If you ask me I think she'd do really well as Ophiucus.

But more importantly: it's over! The Tournament is over for a whole other year! I like kids but this…last year I had it easy. It seems that last year I was only consulted as a "oh, you did this last year, didn't you?" kind of person whereas this year it was more "oh, you're a Saint that won his Cloth that way, aren't you?" and believe me the difference is HUGE. I haven't slept in at least three days!

Next year I'll try to be away on a mission or something. Then again, you're not supposed to miss the Tournament and Festival unless you're dead or dying, even Saints that are away from Sanctuary are recalled. Which is cool 'cause we got to have a pre-Tournament party with Dragon, Andromeda, Cygnus and Phoenix. It was nice since we're rarely all in Sanctuary at the same time and an opportunity to catch up is always good.

We all met at a party, about a year and a half ago. It was Andromeda's party, really. He'd just been Introduced, claiming the last Bronze Cloth. So all of us (the forty-eight Bronze Saints, that is) spent the night partying. Somewhere that night we formed our little group. I'd met Dragon and Cygnus before: Dragon I'd met in the village, when he was just coming to be Introduced (about three weeks after me, I think). Cygnus I'd seen as a trainee. I've never seen his master but rumour has it that he was a Gold Saint. Anyway, Cygnus left about six months before my Tournament to search for his Cloth.

Cygnus met Phoenix when he was coming back. Their story is that they sort of bumped into each other on the way to Sanctuary, travelled a bit together (which could mean any amount of time considering that the Cygnus Cloth was apparently somewhere way up north and Phoenix never bothered telling us where he came from) and became quite good friends during that time. And Phoenix is Andromeda's brother so he introduced him to Cygnus who introduced him to me and Dragon at the party.

I have to say, Dragon is the first Saint I met that hasn't been trained in Sanctuary. And since the Dragon Saint is traditionally trained in China, he's also the first Saint that I met who wasn't Greek. Andromeda and Phoenix didn't train in Sanctuary either, although they're both Greek. Andromeda, of course, trained on Andromeda Island, everyone knows that. Everyone also knows that the Test there is the most difficult of the Tests for the Bronze Cloths, which is why it's pretty rare to actually have an Andromeda Saint around. Phoenix, of course, never bothered telling us about his training. He never bothered telling us anything about himself, really. I don't like him all that much anyway so I don't really care.

Since then Dragon's become my best buddy and we generally train with Andromeda and Cygnus if we can, and hang out together if we have the time. Phoenix usually isn't around, which is good 'cause he's a bastard.

One advantage to training with the same people, apart from the resulting friendships, is that we all end up knowing each other's fighting styles rather well and if we actually have to fight together we know how to coordinate almost perfectly. It also means that I had no qualms dumping half the kids that came to me in the past week on Cygnus. I could have given them to Dragon or Andromeda but Cygnus has watched enough Tournaments to know what these kids will need.

And I still spent the last 72 hours training kids non-stop!

And so, therefore, I now desperately want a shower (preferably warm) and a bed (preferably with Cade in it). Is that too much to ask? I mean, I did everything I had to: I congratulated Admis, I consoled Sarah, I spotted out kids with potential (I think there are plans to make me a full time master this year, meaning that letting me train Sarah so much was actually part of the conspiracy, you know, to see if I'm suitable), I even picked the one I'd like to train if I'm given a choice!

Well, whatever else needs to be done, I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow. I'm going home.

--

Home is...well, empty. As in Cade's not here. It's weird, not that he's not here, that's happened a couple of times before, but…I don't know, this feeling I get like…like something's wrong.

Well, I shouldn't worry. Cade can take care of himself. He probably figured I'd be home late and went out for a while. And it's our two year anniversary, so he couldn't have gone very far, no sense worrying, really.

Moreover, that shower's just begging me to get into it, and I'm not going to subject Cade to the way I smell right now. So I'll just take that shower and go wait for Cade in bed.

--

Someone's shaking me awake.

Not Cade.

Not Cade, don't care.

Dammit, whoever it is, quit it. It's annoying and I'm not waking up...wait...not Cade? Then who...?

"Dragon?"

"Pegasus, there is a general call, you better hurry."

A general call? This is serious, it means that every trained man (Saint, Guard or whatever) must come to Sanctuary by special order of either the Pope or Athena. It usually means an emergency of some sort, otherwise only the council is called.

Damn, this has never happened in all the time that I've been in Sanctuary. I grab my shoes and run outside after Dragon, it doesn't even occur to me to wonder why I'm fully clothed (which I've practically never been in the morning for the last two years).

It looks bad, there's talk of another God attacking Sanctuary. Lynx in practically shaking, I'm not sure if it's excitement or fear. Probably both. Me too, for both of us it's our first real fight, and this is what we've been trained for, after all.

Our group seems to have homed in on each other, we already know that if we are called to fight we'll fight together: protecting each other's back. We're all scared but we're ready for this, we really are.

Athena steps forward, dressed in her Cloth. This is bad.

"Saints, I have called you today for we are under attack! Hades has declared war on us and sent his Spectres to attack Sanctuary. They are getting closer as we speak."

WHAT? There is a murmur of disbelief in the crowd, everyone voicing the same thought: attacking us in our stronghold? Everyone except for me.

"Hades chose to fight on our home ground and I choose to deny him entry into this domain! We will stop him before the boundaries of Sanctuary. I will ask a select number of you to stay back to defend it in case the rest of us fail."

No, no, not...it can't be! Why? Why now?

"I ask the Gold Saints to stay and defend their Houses, I ask the Pope to stay and defend his Palace, I ask the Guards to stay and defend the grounds, I ask Silver Saints Aquila, Sagitta, and Lynx to stay to defend this very arena leading to the Houses and to avenge our losses."

The ones who were named started leaving at this point to get to their designated positions. I'm glad that Athena asked Lynx to stay: he may not yet have the training to be very effective but he will be of less use and in more danger if he was sent to the front. The crowd is silent now, grave, listening to the plan but my mind is elsewhere. This is it. This is the day that I've dreaded for the last ten years.

This is the day that will end with Cade's blood on my hands.

A/N: lookit me, I ended with a sorta cliffie!

Sei-chan: you suck
Hila: shaddup

Someone please tell me WHY I'm using first person present in this series?

Sei-chan: 'cos you suck?
Hila: you know you're in for it in the next chapter, don't make it worse for yourself.
Sei-chan: at the rate you're writing these, please excuse me if I don't care.
Hila: remember those other three attempts I made at this chapter?
Sei-chan: yeah, so?
Hila: you don't think I forgot them, do you? The beginning of chap4's already written and it's full of you angsting! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ok, so it worked really well when Sei-chan was a kid but uuuuuugh, no good at all for describing action without sounding too artificial

Sei-chan: still blanching from the previous statement dare I re-point that this only happens to you and that it happened 'cos you suck?
Hila: you are stupid, aren't you?

Anyway, next chapy will be mostly in past tense (just felt like sharing) and yes, there is an actual reason in the plot that calls for it (which is the same reason that allows me to not have to detail the fight scene, woohoo!)

Sei-chan: a-
Hila: remember that idea I had the other day? I could use it in chap4...

Yeah, yeah, I'm babbling so, merry chirstmasukkah and happy new year to all of you people out and you can always give a nice gift to the author by reviewing, and it won't even cost you money! Ain't it great?

Sei-chan: Cade! cries the author's being mean to me TT
Cade: cuddles Sei-chan there there.
Sei-chan: but…
Cade: wait until the nice people leave and we'll persuade the author to treat her characters better. glares
Hila: gulp well…hmmm…you don't catch flies with vinegar you know
Cade: your point?
Hila: I work better while bribed rather than threatened?
Cade: is that so?
Hila: well, I can always settle for nice make-up sex sounds hopeful
Cade: works for me pounces on Sei-chan
Hila: O.O