Locked in her chamber, Saori was aware of the battle between Hades and Seiya. Her heart was breaking. She knew full well that Seiya will not win. Even if he did, he'd have to pay for deicide.
You are not a mortal but a goddess. Act like one!
That's what Hades had told her before he locked her up. As hard as she tried, she was a mortal by heart. She had grew up as a mortal and loved Seiya as a mortal. If Seiya has to die, then she was more than willing to die with him.
But could there be any other option?
Can the battle be stopped? Can she find a way to convince Hades to spare Seiya?
Her chamber's door was locked. She tried but couldn't open it.
Wait...she could open it by force with her power, couldn't she? She was a goddess after all.
She closed her eyes and burned her cosmo.
The Specters who guarded Saori's door unexpectedly felt a strong cosmo and the door was blown open.
Saori stepped out and faced the Specters. "Is your Lord Hades battling Seiya?"
The Specters were silent.
"We have to stop them!" Saori insisted. "I can feel Seiya's cosmo. It is powerful as any divine power. Even if your lord Hades can defeat Seiya, he will be harmed. If we don't stop this battle now, all of you will be responsible for any harm that came to your lord Hades."
"You can't stop him," a young man with dark hair came forward. "Thanatos, God of Death."
"Is there anything you can do?" Saori asked.
"My lord Hades is passionate," Thanatos said. "But he is also strict with the rules. He understand your heart, Goddess Athena. He had loved and still does."
"What do you mean?" Saori asked. She had seen his throne room and found only one throne, which means Hades doesn't have a queen.
"Hundred years ago, he fell into love with a mortal, Sasha," Thanatos told her. "She died from tuberculosis. Her soul is now in Elysium Field. My Lord Hades can see her from his crystal ball, but he can't be with her."
"Why not? She is in his realm."
"By the rules of the Underworld, souls of mortal are to receive their judgment based their past deeds. Those who are pure and good are sent to the Elysium Field. Regardless where they are sent, all souls are powerless to go anywhere else. Only deities can move from one field to another."
"Like you?"
"Yes," Thanatos replied. "My Lord Hades looks at his crystal ball every day."
What if, Saori thought to herself. Somehow, I can get my hand on the crystal ball and threaten Hades to spare Seiya?
"Seiya," Hades said as he fought Seiya with his sword. "Do you really love her? What is your true intent?"
"I have any intention," Seiya responded. "I only followed my heart."
"Really? Look at you. You are in Divine Cloth and became one of the most powerful Saints. Is it because of your own capability or is because of your relationship with her?"
Seiya's face reddened.
"If your intention is to gain power by being with a goddess, then I highly recommend you to reconsider," Hades continued. "Mortals and deities do not belong together, no matter what your heart says."
"You are saying that because you failed to fight for Sasha," Seiya pointed out. "You are a god, feared by many. Yet, you can't even fight for the woman you love."
"I gave her what I can give!" Hades defended himself. "She is now a soul belongs to Elysium Field."
"Or she belongs with you, as Saori-san belongs with me!"
"Thanatos, can you get me to the Elysium Field?" Saori asked. She had thought of threatening Hades by breaking his crystal ball into pieces so he can never see Sasha again, but another idea came to mind.
"What are you up to?" Thanatos asked.
"I want to give your Lord Hades something his heart desires."
"Sasha cannot leave Elysium Field," Thanatos reminded her. "Her soul will disappear if she does. She is not a deity."
"But I can give her the power, can I?"
"By how?"
"With my blood," Saori replied without a hesitation.
"I love Saori-san as she is, goddess or mortal," Seiya said. "And she loves me as well. She wants to be with me."
"Is that so?" Hades raised his eyebrow. "That's not the case according to her."
"What?"
"Athena can't stop thinking of you," Hades said. "But she doesn't want you to be here."
"How would you know?"
"She told me," Hades said. "And she told you in that letter she left you."
"The 22 pages-"
"Front and back," Hades said. "You didn't read it, did you?"
"I only read one page," Seiya said. "By her handwriting and length of the letter, I know how much I meant to her and how much she wants to see me no matter what she writes in that letter."
Seiya remembered that Saori had stopped writing by hand since age nine. When they were hiding from the Silver Saints, he saw her trying to write by hand. She did it slowly and painstakingly.
"She may be safe here in the Underworld," Seiya went on. "But her heart is hurting. She needs me as I need her, even if she's only a mortal."
"Mortals die, Seiya," Hades reminded her. "If Athena were a mortal, there will be a day when death separates you."
"But that day is not today," Seiya said. "Saori-san is alive."
"Not for long," Hades said, withdrawing his sword. "You can still get to her."
"What are you saying?"
"She's in the Elysium Field," Hades said, knowing everything that is happening in his realm. "She's sacrificing herself, for your sake."
Beneath her feet were beautiful flowers and before her eyes was a girl about her age. The girl had similar eyes and hair to Saori. She paid no attention to Saori, however, only busying herself with her flower rings.
"Sasha!" Saori called out.
The girl before her eyes looked up and smiled.
Saori came closer to her and reached out her hand. The two girls pressed their palms together before interlaced their fingers. Slowly, Saori slashed her wrist. Blood stained her arm but also Sasha's. Sasha didn't seem to know what is happening though she began to feel different.
You will be able to leave here soon, Saori thought. And be reunited with your beloved. In exchange, Seiya will be spared. He will be given a chance to return to the mortal world.
As her blood spilled, Saori's knees gave out. She lied among the flowers but still refused to let go Sasha's hand. She looked up in the blue sky and saw the white clouds. The shape of the cloud resembled a white horse with wings.
"Seiya," she muttered. "I want to see Seiya."
Tears fell from her eyes as she closed them.