Chapter 5: Answers

He took a taxi over to Nezu Museum. While it was within distance of his wheelchair, he figured it would give the impression to any onlookers or spies that he was going pretty far. He even asked for a map for good measure. Most would say to use his Tele-Cam for all his needs, and he would remind them that it was a good suggestion, but he was still struggling with the kanji.

He reached his place of destination, making sure to pay the driver a lot more extra for the pain of having to fold up his chair to get it to fit. It was a wonderful place with luscious green. The buzz of cars and people were lost in the echoes of birds calling to each other and the leaves waving in the wind. But not long before he could enjoy it, he came across his first obstacle. The place he wanted him to go to had large stones and beams used as stairs. "Shit!" he cursed sharply to himself before throwing his head back. If Kento is one of Saga's spies, at least he can report how little of a threat he was with the way Sanctuary was set up.

"Sorry…I didn't think of it."

Aiolos turned and there, dressed in the tourist entourage of khaki pants, a faded shirt, and sunglasses, was his brother. He could see a crooked smile that was mixed with guilt, almost like he was happy to see him outside from hiding in the shadows. "Most people don't...the stairs." It was such a clear contrast to how Aiolia was coming at him earlier, that he wasn't sure what to do or say. "But, hey, it's alright..." He wasn't quite sure if he should say it, but it would be an excellent chance to see if all was good. "…if, you'll carry me up," he chuckled. To his surprise, Aiolia walked up and lifted him, chair and all like a large moving box down the steps.

"You know, from this height, if I drop you, you'd probably die," Aiolia spoke as he carried him down the stairs.

Aiolos shrugged. "That's what Saga and Shura said. By the way, this is sacred land. Make sure to say a prayer and donate some yen before you spill my blood." He watched his little brother crack a small smile. Brotherly banter will do it after being so close for many years and being apart for a long time.

"You've been living here for five years, know any good ones?"

"Not really, I can order food, have small conversations, watch the cartoons with the kids, and working hard at figuring out how to ask a waitress out." He really needed to work at learning the language more, but most of his time was spent helping the trainees with Greek.

Aiolia set his brother down. He turned to him and smiles, never realizing how much he missed the joy of bickering with his brother. He lifted his sunglasses a bit. His brother's mullet, carefully trimmed as most Saints had them, the color in his tan skin had returned rather than the sickly white he was before, wearing a ridiculously large red sweater in ninety-degree heat. He walked over to a bench, looked around to ensure they were by themselves, and let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry for treating you the way I did," he spoke, needing to let out the apology that he thought of for the past three years. He held his hands as if each word was sharp to the tongue. "You risked quite a bit making sure I was okay and I just…" He threw his hand on his lips and jerked them. "You should've at least sent a fucking letter or something, so I could've prepared better."

Aiolos shrugged. He supposed letting his brother know ahead of time that he was alive after those two years in his coma would've helped. "Sorry. I didn't want to risk Sanctuary knowing, especially with…Athena… where I was at." He looked up. "I guess you're not going to kill me now, are you?"

"Oh, shut up!" replied Aiolia. "You can decide to kill me or forgive me here in Japan…" he parroted. "I wanted to punch you in the fucking mouth, but no Cloth or honor would ever make me do that."

But the Sagittarius shook his head. "You were tortured for a year, and you expect me to live with that? I know what they do in that place…" He watched as Aiolia rolled his eyes. They may have been away from each other for close to five years, but he knew the signs of when he was lying. It was how he always got an extra cookie from Mom when they were younger. "It wasn't as bad, was it?" Aiolos watched him shook his head no. "They didn't torture you?"

Aiolia waved his hand unsure of what to say, hinting his words from long ago were a little exaggerated. "A lot of it was mental. They would wave around the tools, but then, Saga would walk in and protect me." He shook his head. "He told me that he would be my new brother because despite you being a traitor he did make a vow to watch over me if you were gone. He would talk to the Pope and work on freeing me. He would make sure they treated me well. After the first couple of months, they quietly escorted me to the House of Leo. Stuff was brought to me, and I had limited time outside. I guess you could call it house arrest." Now Aiolia started to hold back, his eyes were red. "Saga visited me often. I remember when they took Galan. Saga said he begged the Pope to stop but said the Pope was certain that Galan was in league with you. Saga said the best he can do with the Pope and my Cloth was that he would keep it and when Holy War came I can have it to serve Athena."

Aiolia sighed again. "Before I found out you were alive, I actually believed that Saga had become the brother that wouldn't let me rot in prison and be humiliated. Except for Marin, he was the only one I could trust."

Aiolos watched as his brother shook his head and then leaned over and laid it in his shoulder. He remembers when their Mother died, Aiolia did the same thing when he was sad as if he was some substitute. It has been a long time since he did it, but he understood why. Aiolia, his brother, who has done nothing was broken from the attack on Athena, healed by Saga before finding out that all he knew was a lie. He felt his shoulder grow wet.

"Sorry… I shouldn't cry…." He muttered.

"It's okay… I'm crying too…." Aiolos replied as he used his other hand to wipe his face. Hard to believe Aiolia was five years older now, but like many Saints, due to their training, looked and acted a lot older than they appear. "Does Sanctuary know you are here?"

Aiolia nodded. "But not about you. I'm currently gathering information on the Yakuza and some Black Saint activity that actually involved them stealing Kido Industry weapons and technology. The moment I saw it come up, I jumped for it, telling them I needed to go somewhere far and away to get me away from the controversy of you. So when I had a break, I would check on you. By the way, I know which waitress you're talking about. She's got nice legs and seems to unbutton her top a little when serving you," a small smirk came about.

Aiolos narrowed his eyes. "Hey, I saw Futaba first. Remember, it's hard to find anyone who could look past this."

"Yes-yes… I know. Don't forget that I have my own Japanese problem that I still need to say something too."

"Still?" Aiolos was shocked. "You still haven't asked Marin yet? You know she likes working with Hound Asterion and if you don't hurry up, he's going to get to her first!"

"I know! Jeez, yes I know! I'll get to it… don't worry about it." Aiolia rolled his eyes. "Anyways, back on subject. As for my mission here, unfortunately, a raid occurred, and things are wrapping up. If I didn't see you soon, I would be drawing too much attention going back and forth here."

They stayed there for a couple of minutes before they pulled away and cleaned their eyes.

Aiolia took a moment to put away his handkerchief and then widened his eyes. "You!"

Aiolos looked up to see the brown hair and black suit, "Kento? How did you find me?"

Kento raised the piece of paper and showed the impression of the map on it. "I thought your brother was going to kill you!"

Aiolia stood up. "Kill him? I thought you were going to kill him!"

Kento shook his head wildly. "NO! I would never! You are the one involved with the Yakuza! You're the one who kept stalking him!" He raised his hand. "I saw you two hugging and crying, and I wanted to make sure you wouldn't stab him in the back!"

Aiolia lashed out and began to punch furiously at him, knocking him to the ground.

Now Aiolos was really confused, and if he didn't do anything, the two guys he thought came there to kill him were going to kill each other. "Both of you stop!"

Aiolia, with only a sleeve ripped, halted and stepped back. Kento, bruised along his arms with a large black eye, stumbled up, a miracle considering he just fought one of the most short-tempered of the Gold Saints. Aiolia reached over and pulled him back up and tossed him in front of Aiolos.

Aiolos looked down. "Kento, we've worked together for the past three years. Please tell me who are you? Are you with Sanctuary?"

He shifted his eyes toward Aiolia, clearly knowing he was far too outmatched to try anything else. He took off his jacket and lifted his blood-stained shirt from his left arm and then raised it up.

Aiolos nor Aiolia ever learned Chinese, but that was a set of characters that every single Gold Saint in Sanctuary knew about. "Master Dohko?" the two mumbled.

He nodded as he gestured and sat down on the bench, to indicate a somewhat long tale. "When Master Dohko was young, he would travel to the countryside and be always searching, observing, and helping others in secret. Not even Sanctuary would know about it. When he grew older, obviously, he was not permitted to travel so he gathered and trained a set of warriors, 隐藏的匕首, the Hidden Daggers, to never take up a Cloth, swear loyalty to him and Athena, but oddly enough not the Pope."

"I've...never heard of the Hidden Daggers. The Pope never mentioned anything about them," spoke Aiolos.

Kento closed his eyes. "Most wouldn't because Master Dohko kept it secret. Most may never hear of them again, for I am the last one. Master Dohko sent them on a mission to spy on Saga, but they were discovered and promptly executed. I would have joined them except he asked me to remain here to watch over you. I lost many friends and my older brother. He left behind his daughter, my niece, Shunrei, whom Master Dohko agreed to watch over until I am done."

Aiolia nodded. "I think I heard about that incident. But, so many have been executed as of late in Sanctuary, that it's a bit hard to keep track. I'm sorry."

"No apologies. We all knew the risk. We take them," he curtly replied.

Aiolos brought his hand to his chin. "So, does Master Dohko not trust any Pope? I thought that the true Pope told me that he and the Old Master were comrades and the last survivors of the last Holy War?"

"That is a good question." Kento gave an odd shrug. "He said he trusted him, but not the current one. It is almost like he knew about the assassination long before and didn't want us confused since we take our vows when we first join. Then again, Master Dohko originally told us that we're supposed to kill ourselves if our identity is discovered, but changed his mind when he said he was sick of training more of us because we can't keep our mouths shut."

"Yeah, that definitely sounds like something he would do," Aiolos commented, feeling relief that the two people at that moment had no intentions of ending his life. "Alright, so why did you wait until now..." his words trailed as Kento pointed to Aiolia. "Oh."

Aiolia rolled his eyes and threw up his arms. "I thought you were an assassin! You almost shot him once!"

"That was on my first day! I never saw a gun in my life until that point! I thought the trigger was the safety!"

"Why the hell did Kido hire you if you've never held a gun?"

"I don't know, I guess I knew Greek and I was cheap."

"Are you fucking serious?"

Aiolos turned to his brother. "Actually, that's probably it. My waitress gets paid more than Kento."

Aiolia's mouth dropped. "Seriously?"

"Excuse me, the museum will be closing in fifteen minutes," spoke a small Japanese woman in slow English as she leaned her head from a trail and quickly rushed away, perhaps nervous about what the foreigners were arguing about.

Aiolos needed to divert the conversation. He could tell that the two needed something different to talk about until the tension eased from all of this. Coincidently, Kento pulled out a glowing orb.

"Master Dohko, for reasons I don't know, predicted the betrayal of Saga. He says he wants to talk to you, now that he knows what side Aiolia is on. Use this so that Sanctuary can't listen in. It is a Lemurian Message Orb that has been charging with energy at the bottom of the waterfall by the spirit of the dragon."

"Oh, a Dragon ball!" chimed Aiolos drawing inspiration from the kids favorite show.

Kento rolled his eyes. "Yes, Master Dohko jokes about that too."

Aiolos gazed at the orb. The Pope spoke of the different ways that Sanctuary used to communicate since speaking through the cosmos was risky. He then took the sphere and then focused his cosmos. "Master Dohko, it's me. It's been a long time!" The glow felt different, far warmer than usual. He watched it swirled, as it feels like it's magic was distorting his message and then reassembling back to the target.

Good to see your too, Aiolos. Yes, I have been keeping an eye on you. Your brother is nearby, I can sense him through the orb.

"He is, and I can't be happier," he smiled looking over before returning back to the orb. "Master Dohko, please tell me, why did you send Kento here and how did you know of Saga's betrayal?"

There was a long silence before the orb glowed again.

How I know of Saga's betrayal is too long of a story for me to tell through this orb. But what I will say is that I was warned about what Saga would do, but for some reason, the future has changed. In fact, when you fell in Greece with Athena, you were actually left to die, and Kido took your entire Cloth.

"Dead…" he muttered. It felt so long ago that he couldn't have imagined any other outcome. His body felt cold. He may, at times cursed feeling useless, but the idea of being dead all this time left him speechless. "But, I'm alive..." was he all he could utter no matter how redundant it felt.

Yes, and in some ways, it is more important that you stay alive, than Athena herself.

The shock was replaced by anger. "No... that is heresy! You can't be serious? No one is more important than her! I can die a thousand times, and it wouldn't equal a single life of her." Aiolos lowered his head and cradled the orb, much like he did a long time ago when he was carrying the Goddess in his hands. "I...I..." it was too much before he broke out in a burst of half-mad laughter. "I can't...even... get up... the fucking stairs at Sanctuary!" he let out, ignoring the stares that his brother and friend gave him. "How can I be more important than the Goddess herself!" he screamed as if the louder he became, the better of an answer he would receive.

But there was a good reason.

Because the last order of the Pope was to decide between two candidates to take over the role as the one who would guide the Goddess until she was old enough to do so. If one died, the other by default would become Pope and all Saints, Bronze, and Gold...

"Don't forget Silver!" interrupted Aiolos.

Oh yes… them too… anyways, all Saints would all be forced to submit to Saga and make an effort to protect him as the default Pope! But, since I knew you were alive and I bide my time...

Aiolos was starting to see why he sent Kento to him. "As Old Master and one who was to serve as a transition should something happen to the Pope, you never declared Saga. He's still a technical candidate after all these years..."

There was a slight dimming of the orb.

If you had died, I for the sake of Sanctuary, I would have been forced to officially declare him no matter the consequences that followed. Instead, I merely allowed him to act as Pope. It kept his darkside at bay, and buys us time, even if it was a long version of when you and Saga would take turns giving out orders for the Pope while he was still alive.

The Sagittarius knew the lesson all too well based on past Civil Wars. For the real Athena to take her place, Saints would be forced to take their place in Sanctuary, and the casualties would be numerous. "But I can't just go there and tell everyone that Athena and I are alive...can I?"

Too much time has passed. Not only that, but you must demonstrate evidence that you were the first choice, Saga was the one to attempt taking Athena's life as well as ending the life of Pope Shion for a clean transition, otherwise we might as well just declare civil war.

He closed his eyes as the memories just flooded right in that fateful night he found Saga holding a dagger above Athena's crib. It was the last thing he expected to see from his noble friend and training partner. Even simple moments such as the choice whether to twist left or right could've killed both him and the baby would bring trouble in his dreams. Even after five years, he still never took time to honestly think of the ramifications that his life would bring as well as how to proceed to save for his attempt to come to see his brother in Greece. He did do his best to honor the Goddess and Sainthood despite how much ill it thinks of him. It was then he raised his head. "But you wouldn't be telling me all of this if you hadn't thought of some plan, would you?"

Ho Ho... good, that fall didn't knock out the perceptive side that Shion valued in you. My word, and certainly not yours would carry enough weight. Athena could speak, but Saga would call here a fake. No, the only way to assure everyone that he chose you and Saga killed him, is to take the memory from Shion himself. Knowing about his assassination and being a Lemurian, he performed a technique where he firmly locked his decision in his memory. Proof must be seen with one eyes, and not through the lips of others. The only way to extract that memory and reveal it will be to use another Lemurian to do so. After that, you will become Pope.

Aiolos remembered years ago at how much he yearned for the title of Pope, never knowing how much more Saga desired it more. But now things were different. He didn't want the title just to rise in status, but to avoid the death or unnecessary suffering that would follow should word about what Saga did come out. "So, head to Sanctuary, ask for Mu and head to the Pope's Chambers."

"Mu's gone, he left Sanctuary."

Aiolos turned around and spotted his brother holding the handle of his wheelchair. "Have you been listening to Master Dohko and me this entire time?"

Aiolia shrugged. "Yeah, apparently, your wheelchair is a pretty good cosmos conductor." He sighed. "Mu disappeared about two years after you did. Then after you came back briefly, he comes back, and rumor has it, he's in prison inside a giant rock." He began to scratch his head. "Why the hell is he in a rock?"

But the Sagittarius knew. The Pope loved to tell him and Saga the history of the continent of Mu and his people. "Double Crystal Revolution. The Pope told me about a special move that Lemurians used to save themselves from drowning when Poseidon tried to sink it. They make two Crystal Walls on either side and shoot a beam of cosmos that bounces back and forth and wraps them up like a cocoon. Unfortunately, he never said how to open it back up except that it takes a lot of cosmos."Aiolos gritted his teeth. "Mu had a close relationship with the Pope, but he never told me why. He must have left because of Saga and came back when I did, dammit…." another one of his friends in prison because of him. He turned to the orb, "Master Dohko, what do I do?"

Well… that's up to you. You are the future Pope, after all. You have Athena, you have your brother. Now you the rest is up to you. There is not much time. I can answer a question or two when you need it. Good luck and make use of the life you were given.

The orb stopped glowing. The two brothers turned to each other, sensing the heavyweight upon them.

That was when Aiolia got up. "Alright… I'm going to go tell Aldebaran. He's going to be as fucking pissed as I am and we're going to break Mu out, beat the living shit out of anyone in our path."

"No you're not," Aiolos snapped. "Haven't you been lis-"

"I have!" Aiolia shouted back. "We've been lied to. Saga can't continue this and anyone who stands by him deserves…"

But Aiolos grabbed his arm. "Don't say that. Everyone has their reasons for siding with Saga and it may not be simply because he's in charge. But think of this? If we attack and barrel in and kill those who support Saga and spare those who don't, even in the best case scenario of 50-50 we won't have enough against the upcoming Holy War with the Specters that is predicted to occur this generation. At a minimum, six golds must remain in the Houses. Who would that leave? Bronze? Silvers? Except for those of exceptional strength, they will be slaughtered. The Golds that are left will be forced in one vs whomever duels and they will be killed one at a time. It happened in the last war. Let's not repeat it."

Aiolos paused,overwhelmed by the sheer thought of it. Pope Shion praised him for his battle intellect but at the same time, he cursed it. "As long as we don't make the first strike yet, we have time to go about this rationally. We must approach it in a way, to spare as many Saints while cutting off Saga's grasp."

Aiolia sighed and nodded. "Alright…"

"Alright?" questioned Aiolos wondering if he heard right. "That's it?" He was so used to the two of them arguing for hours. It was worse during the World Cup.

"Yeah… it is." Aiolia folded his arms. "Okay, so what are we going to do?"

Aiolos was silent. "We'll still run through Sanctuary, but right now, we still have a few things to do to ensure it is as bloodless as possible."

To Be Continued...