Seiya
Seiya trudged. There was no other way to describe the desperate plodding that took the Pegasus Saint slowly through the snow. Despite that he wore enough clothes for three people or that Milo's boot's protected his feet, the cold had managed to seep into his very bones—an ever constant ache in his hands and feet to add to the already constant pain he had been suffering since they crashed the day before. Seiya trudged because it was all that he could do to stay upright and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
They had found a small cave to shelter in the night before; an old burrow of some animal or another that had been long since abandoned but it had been large enough for both Saints to squeeze into and if not warm than at least tolerable in comparison to the bitter air. They had no food though Seiya didn't imagine he could have managed anything in any case, but they had found an empty soda bottle shoved into the side pocket of his suitcase and filled it with snow that melted slowly and burned with freezing cold in every sip—it was water though.
The little burrow had warmed eventually so that by morning it was a trial to take their stiff bodies back out into the elements, but Seiya hadn't slept at all, and Shun not much more. They had tried to talk at first, but Seiya's skull had been splitting as though he had one of Thor's axes buried in it and sound had died out quickly. Shun had taken hold of him though, even through layer and layers of clothes and gloves and though it was too dark to see the sweet green haired Saint's expression the tightness and desperation in that grip was enough that Seiya understood. Shun was frightened…for him. Seiya's return grip was just as firm.
The Pegasus Saint had to be strong. He had tried to pretend that he was warm and with Shiryu and the other man had warned him that if he squirmed one more time he would be sleeping on the couch!—that was why he had to be still…not because the splitting pain in his scalp made him terrified that if he closed his eyes he might never open them again. He had wanted to pretend he was sleeping for Shun's sake.
One foot in front of the other Seiya trudged. The Andromeda Saint was leading them now and Seiya trusted the green haired man to know the way. The sun had never quite come out of the clouds entirely and a bitter wind had picked up that nipped bitterly at their faces even unable to penetrate the many layers on their persons. One foot in front of the other.
He and Shun had made it through the night—which meant that for Seiya the worst was over. He had waited up and greeted the Sun and they were both alive to see it, and Seiya would see them to the end. Shiryu was waiting for him and Hyoga was waiting for Shun, and that fact was like a glowing beacon over the horizon that he would walk a thousand miles to reach. He had something important to go back too. The wilderness was just one more enemy on the long list of obstacles that the Pegasus had faced, and no matter how many times it knocked him down, he would just keep getting right back up.
One foot in front of the other, Seiya trudged.
Ikki
"He's on his way sir." Ikki didn't even bother to look at whatever errand boy Athena had running for him at the moment, just nodded absently as he continued to peruse through the papers he had had sent to him from the Kiddo Foundation on his way back to Greece.
Davenport had been found late the night before tied up with his co-pilot in the storage closet of the small strip near the bottom of the temples stairs. He had been uninjured though, and more worried about the plane and its occupants, which was all to the good in Ikki's book. It wasn't Davenport that held the Phoenix's Saint's unwavering attention though. No…the proud gaze was locked completely on the papers spread out on the table before him as he searched through them with a fine tooth comb to drag out any little detail that might clue him as to what had happened and why.
The 'why' was just as important as the 'what' in the Phoenix Saint's mind because it was the 'why' that would pave his trail back to the source and that was where this problem had to be beaten. He had, had a long time to think about it the night before and what Ikki had come up with was unpleasant. Unpleasant because the Phoenix Saint wanted as little to do with the person that went by the name of Saori Kiddo as possible, and that was where this all started.
His first thought upon hearing about 'the accident' had been that it was another attack upon the Saints themselves as they'd experienced in the past, but that theory had about as much chance of holding water as Swiss Cheese. Anyone who wanted to challenge a Saint was welcome to and anyone who wanted Athena dead would have no reason to lay this sort of trap on the Sarengay. The trap itself was a puzzle too. If this enemy had wanted his little brother and Seiya dead there were certainly better and more effective ways of going about it than trying to crash their plane, which all led Ikki to believe that this had not been an attack against the Saints of Athena, but a political maneuver against Saori Kiddo.
Somebody had wanted Seiya and Shun alive to use as leverage and the crash was the unexpected factor. Neither Shun nor Seiya was fool enough to try flying a plane themselves, which mean that something had happened to the original kidnappers but that was likely. Whether he was one of the lesser among the Saints, Shun was no weakling to take an abduction lying down and neither was Seiya. Then that would account for the missing pilots, and possibly the crash itself, but that still left the 'why.'
What could somebody hope to gain from Saori Kiddo by holding Shun and Seiya—or maybe more importantly, who would know that they could gain something from Saori Kiddo by holding the pair. All of the Saints had been adamant at separating Athena whom they served from the lavender haired business woman who ran the Kiddo Foundation and as far as the Phoenix knew none of Saori's fellow companies should even be aware of the Saints existence, but that wasn't the case clearly, because his little brother and Seiya were in trouble and god only knows where at this very second!
Ikki forced himself to relax smoothing the paper he had unwittingly crumpled into a ball in his fist in anger. It was all the information from management to employee information that the Steel Saints had been able to dig up on Albiecorp, the first of the Kiddo Foundation's business partners and also the first of the set of companies that Miss Saori would be meeting with in the next few weeks. His eyes drifted unthinkingly to the complete list. Daichi had shoved it in straight off of Athena's desk, still printed on an overhead for presentation purposes and backed now with a plain white sheet of paper and sitting in the place of honor at the head of the document littered table.
Ikki picked it up cursing colorfully as the damn backing page slipped out leaving the flimsy clear sheet folded over his hand and righted the mess glaring at the list. There were nine names for the nine companies that Saori would be meeting with from that with Albiecorp which would take place that very weekend to EC Enterprises in just over a month. Nine: Albiecorp, NCT, Worthings, Do Co Mo, Exabite, Shaparel Networking, JTB Industries, Nodiesop, and EC Enterprises, and one of them was behind what had happened.
On the surface they all seemed like just what they claimed and had the evidence—at least on paper—to be approaching the Kiddo Foundation, but one of them was not was it appeared to be and there had to be some clue somewhere that would single them out—he just had to find it. Maybe Davenport would have something useful to add or could at least confirm for certain that abduction had been the primary purpose of those who had hijacked the Sarengay. Ikki wasn't holding his breath over it though. Davenport had been bound and gagged and somehow the Phoenix doubted the culprits had stopped and introduced themselves first, but it was something to do in any case and Ikki knew he had to keep busy or he might as well be out hiking through the snow with those two lucky bastards he had seen off yesterday…or was it two days now?
The Phoenix Saint was just too practical for that. In the end, where he was needed the most right now was in front of this infuriating stack of papers making the pieces come together. It had to be one of the nine companies on his list, but which one and 'why'.
Shiryu
Oh Seiya… Shiryu's mind would give him no peace. He led the way with Hyoga a blue specter at his heels through the ever still and clear beauty of the untouched Servin Mountains. Another time such a grand display of nature would have been breathtaking to one who grew up in the Five Old Peaks of China, but now the long haired Dragon Saint barely noticed.
"They have to be okay," he heard Hyoga muttering to himself as he did every so often. The two of them didn't speak much, but there was a sort of camaraderie in the shared silences and the Dragon and Cygnus Saint had never had much to say to each other in any case. Shiryu wasn't thinking straight and he knew it, but somehow knowing didn't change anything. Seiya was in trouble and nothing else in the world even seemed to matter anymore. All the little things that had been so important at one time or another just seemed to fade into the one all time consuming thought that if he lost Seiya, Shiryu would have nothing left.
It wasn't so bad now and during the day when he could tell himself that Seiya and Shun were strong and they were probably already on their way down the mountains. He could force all of his effort into making his feet move at a ground eating pace while his eyes always searched and searched the horizon and his pulse quickened at the crest of every hill, but the nights always came bleak and dark and seemed to swallow away all of his hope in their bitter cold. Hyoga would just keep repeating that they were alright and Shiryu would just keep nodding because it was all he could do.
Because at night when they threw up the two man tent after having trekked from the first light to the last and sat there splitting whatever ration Hyoga had pulled out, there was no escaping the inevitable fact that somewhere, Seiya and Shun were out in this. How terrible the thought that Seiya might be somewhere hurting and scared crying for him in the dark, but how much worse if he wasn't…
"They have to be alright," Hyoga continued on his litany and Shiryu just nodded as his eyes continued to scan the horizons in their ever desperate search into the deepening dusk of twilight. He nodded because that was all he could do.
Dark was falling and this would mark the fourth night since Seiya and Shun had been lost in these mountains. Hope was getting harder and harder to dredge from the depths of his soul and the growing blackness was like a stain working its way around his heart, but if he lost Seiya, he would loose everything. So, he would continue to nod every time Hyoga reassured himself desperately that there was still a chance and even if hope slipped away completely he would just walk—walk a thousand miles.