The bronze saints began to feel their nerves being pulled at as they came close enough to sanctuary to see a tiny piece of it in the distance. They wouldn't have even known what it was that they saw, had they not been there before. Although they each thought of their own terrifying moments involving their battle against the gold saints, they all had the same thing on their minds. They knew that because of the leverage they had on their end, there wasn't much Ares could do, but at the same time, they were afraid of what he was capable of.
Tenshi wasn't really sure what to expect, but she knew that if Ares had her brave warrior friends concerned, whatever was going to happen within the next several hours wouldn't be good.
Everyone on board of the plane gasped slightly as they felt the plane jolt a tiny bit, apparently landing. Shiryu noticed Tenshi tense up a lot, obviously extremely nervous about what was to come. They all sat in silence until they felt themselves and the steel bird come to a complete stop. Without a word, they all unfastened themselves from their seats and stood up. Hyoga stretched out, making a groaning sound as he prepared his body for a fight.
The saints, along with Tenshi, exited the plane and the bronze saints instantly had shivers running up and down their spines, seeing the houses of the Gold Saints and remembering what they'd gone through the last time they'd been inside of Sanctuary. This time, they wouldn't have to cross through the houses and there wouldn't be a time limit to arrive at the chambers of the evil Pope, Ares, but they knew there would still be dangers and weren't looking forward to this little trip at all. They heard the engine of the plane roar and they looked back to see it taking off again. They would be able to get a ride from the island after their battle was finished, but they had told the pilot to leave the island as soon as they were all safely on the ground so that there wouldn't be any chances of him becoming harmed by Ares.
"Lets go rescue Saori!" the saints heard a voice say.
They turned to see Tatsumi standing behind them, a wooden practice sword in his hands, a pathetic attempt for a ready-for-battle expression on his face. All of the saints rolled their eyes at him and Tenshi gave him a look of confusion, as she didn't understand what a human planned to do against the forces of evil with only a nicely carved stick.
"Whatever, let the idiot kill himself. At least we can throw him to the wolves to use as a distraction," Shina rolled her eyes as well, leading the group instantly.
"Guess we do have to take him with us," Seiya began, "since the plane is already gone."
The bronze saints began to follow Shina, since she knew her way around sanctuary a lot better than they did and would be able to lead them past any guards or traps, straight to Ares. Tenshi nervously twirled her hair between her fingers, trying to calm her nerves, singing bits and pieces of a song that none of the others recognized.
"I don't feel the way I've ever felt," Tenshi began singing, "I know, I'm gonna smile and not get worried. I try, but it shows. Anyone can make what I have built and better now. Anyone can find the same white pills. It takes my pain away. It's a lie, a kiss with opened eyes and she's not breathing back. Anything but bother me, never mind, these are horrid times. I can't let it-"
Tenshi's song was cut off by a yelp, as she heard something from some nearby bushes. The saints all gathered into a clutter and took on a fighting stance, intense glares upon their faces as they saw a group of men emerge. They all stood shoulder to shoulder in a line, a tall man in the center who wasn't wearing a cloth at all, the men next to him all bearing silver saint cloths.
"Who are you?" Shiryu demanded.
"My name is not important, but the message that I bring you, however, is."
"Message?" Hyoga asked the man.
"The pope has come up with a new deal for you. In return for the girl, we will give you your princess back, as well as the Andromeda saint. Both will be alive and unharmed, only if you agree to these terms now."
"What do you mean, the Andromeda saint!" Ikki demanded angrily, "are you saying you have my brother? Where is he!"
"Right here." The man took a step back, and sure enough, Shun was chained up, gagged by a cloth, appearing to be asleep or unconscious.
"Shun!" Ikki screamed, the others holding him back.
"Where is the girl? The girl who was with Shun?" Shiryu asked, very concerned about Peggi's safety.
"Sadly, she didn't come with us as easily as the pathetic little bronze saint did. She fought us off hard; especially when we threatened to mess up this one's pretty little face. She didn't like us too much after we took Andromeda, and we had to kill her," the man smirked.
"Peggi is," Hyoga couldn't even begin to choke the words out, "you killed her?"
"Wasn't easy to kill her, either! Stabbed her right in the gut, she went down, and as soon as we had our backs turned, she made another attack. Took down one of my men, too. Bit into his neck, ripped his throat out, and tried to get her little friend out of our custody. He took it like a bitch, not fighting back, yelling at her to stop, but she didn't listen to him any better than us. Had to beat the girl to death with the sheaths of our swords."
The saints felt their faces turn red with anger. Even Ikki was absolutely enraged by the fact that they had murdered an innocent girl who was only trying to save someone else's life. They were all losing their tempers, but managed to hold each other back from attacking.
Hyoga began to lose it first, Seiya and Ikki holding him back as he spat out obscenities at the man. After the string of vile words had finished pouring from Hyoga's mouth, he let more pour out as he spat on the man's face, crying. It was well known to the saints that Hyoga and Shun had, at one point, gotten into some arguments over who would ask Peggi out, as both of them had fallen in love with her, but Shun had managed to win the girl over, and now Hyoga almost resented it. He had been alright with it for quite some time now and had moved on, but he also realized at that moment that if he had been the one to win her heart, maybe Peggi would be alive.
Knowing that Hyoga would possibly jeopardize Shun's life, the saints held him back, but then the man kept pushing.
"So, either you let us have the girl, or this little bitch and your pretty princess both lose their heads."
Ikki's temper flared, "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL MY BROTHER!"
Letting go of Hyoga, Ikki prepared to make an attack, but Shiryu and Shina held him back, while Seiya worked on controlling Hyoga's anger.
"Temperamental bunch, aren't you? Well then, I suppose you won't make the trade. Guess we'll have to shed some more blood in order to shed some light on our generous offer."
The man drew a sword from behind his back and prepared to cut off Shun's head, when they all realized they needed to let go of the two angry saints and protect their friend. Before anyone could do anything or even have time to react, Tenshi's anger increased and she made a move.
Lunging at the man, she placed her hands on his shoulders, using her arms to lift up her body vertically into the air, his face at level with her feet, and she whomped his face with her foot, blood flying from his nose and mouth instantly. The men who had been standing with the other man, hiding Shun, tried to attack her, but before she landed on the ground, she spun around, one leg in front and one to the back, kicking the man in front of her and the one behind her in the face. She landed, doing the splits, and the saint to her right side pulled out a sword and swung.
Tenshi twisted her body so that she was facing him, and just as the sword was about to land on her head, she caught it between her hands, twisting it out of his, and throwing it. It flew right into the chest of the first man who was just recovering from the kick to his face. He looked down, realizing that there was a sword in his stomach and pulled the blade out. Tenshi could smell human blood, and it made her thirst for revenge on the evil that had threatened to harm her friends. The man who was to her right was stunned by her move, but managed to hit her across the face and was now trying to strangle her. He had her on her back and was right above her. The man without a cloth was still holding the sword he had pulled out of his chest and began to approach Tenshi and her attacker. Before the bronze saints could warn her, she lifted her feet to the chest of her attacker above her and with a swift extension of her legs, sent him flying into one of the other men on the ground who had apparently been knocked unconscious by her first kick. The man with the sword stared at her, eyes wide, and he and the last remaining man began to run away.
Shiryu approached Tenshi to see if she was alright, when he noticed her eyes. They were glowing a brilliant red color, and she looked absolutely terrifying.
"What was that!" Shun asked, barely waking up.
In the woods, Satsuki and her group of girls had finally located their targets. A girl and the Andromeda saint were making their way through the woods and weren't expecting the attack at all.
END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEENPeggi-Yes, I know, its almost as short as me but it also is an UPDATE so be HAPPY. I have my job at Subway and work from 10 to 5, go to driver's ed from 6 to 9 and don't have much time to write, but I had some inspiration for this fic, so I figured I'd update. Yes, this ending is confusing so CLIFFHANGER! Deal with it :P Okay well Review pwease! Or I shall sick Malik on you, dressed as the inappropriate comedy tree! (You should never have shown me the P.H.F. video, Eev!