Chapter 2
By: MimiYamatoForever
Seiya wasn't sure if he was breathing or not when he heard Shun ask that question. His lungs soon told him that he wasn't breathing after all and he quickly regained himself before he could pass out.
"What are you talking about Shun? You know who I am. I'm Seiya."
Shun looked back down at his hands and remained silent.
Seiya felt himself shake from this.
How could Shun not know who he is?
"What's going on?" Hyoga asked as he and Shiryu rushed in. "Shaka said that something was wrong and asked us to keep an eye on Shun so he could get Athena."
"Are you alright Shun?" Shiryu asked going over to his friends side.
"I'm sorry. Am I suppose to know you?" Shun replied confusing the two saints.
"Shun, we're your friends. Remember?" Hyoga asked.
Shun shook his head to signal he didn't recall anything about them.
"But...we grew up together Shun. We all became saints and we fought in battles together. How can you not remember?" the blond asked.
"His memories have been suppressed." Shiryu stated with a tone of sadness and sorrow.
"Suppressed?" Seiya repeated.
"In other words, he's got amnesia." the dragon stated.
"No, he can't." Seiya stammered.
[][][]
An hour had passed.
Seiya, Shiryu and Hyoga were sitting in the newly furnished living room of the sixth temple. Athena had arrived after Shiryu came to the thought that Shun's memories may have been lost.
The war goddess was with Shun right now trying to help in any way possible. Shaka and Shion were with her lending their cosmo.
Ikki had arrived nearly five minutes after the three started helping Shun and the three Bronze Saints sure had a time trying to explain to him what was happening.
The Phoenix saint agreed to wait but declared that he was going to be looking after Shun from now on if amnesia was his condition.
The three didn't bother to argue against it. Ikki was Shun's only family after all and none of them wanted to be in his path if he got angry.
They felt the powerful cosmo belonging to Athena, Shion and Shaka fade away and they knew that they were about to come this way. They hurried out of the room and into the hallway where they easily spotted their goddess, pope and fellow Gold Saint.
They looked tired and upset. Right away they knew that it wasn't good news.
Still they walked over hoping that there was some sort good news.
"Anything?" Seiya asked.
"Nothing." Shion answered. "It seems that whatever happened in that last battle really affected Shun more than we thought. This only means that he always has and always will have a direct connection to Hades."
Ikki lightly huffed and made his way into the room. No one attempted to stop him. Seiya, Shiryu and Hyoga took it upon themselves to inform Shaka of what Ikki had told them.
Needless to say, Shaka wasn't very approving of the idea.
[][][]
Ikki went over and sat on the chair that was next to the bed.
The big green eyes of his baby brother looked at him with confusion and uncertainty.
"I guess you don't remember me do you?"
"Sorry, I don't." Shun answered.
"I guess that's understandable after what you've gone through." Ikki said. "I'm Ikki. You're older brother. I've looked after you since the day you were born."
Shun looked at him with curiosity and Ikki felt that this might be going in the right direction.
"We're...brothers?" he asked almost timidly.
"That's right." Ikki answered. "We've been together since the day you were born and I've always tried to protect you and keep you safe. I still do even now that you're a teenager."
"Then, can you tell me what's going on?" Shun asked.
"I can Shun. I'll tell you anything you want to know." Ikki answered.
"But he's going to do it here in this temple where you can be properly taken care of." a voice declared. The two looked over and saw the blond Virgo saint walk in.
"Did the others tell you that I was going to take care of him if this is what his condition was?" Ikki asked.
"Yes and I forbid it Ikki." Shaka declared.
"Forbid all you want. He's my little brother and I'm going to be the one to take care of him." Ikki stated.
"He's perfectly safe here in the temple with me!" Shaka replied.
"Guys stop this!" Shiryu nearly shouted. "This isn't going to help Shun at all."
The two saints right away stopped their bickering. The dragon was right that their bickering wasn't going to help Shun regain his memories of who he is. If anything the argument was giving him the wrong impression about them.
"Ikki, he's safe here with me. I want him to remain here. You can stay here as well until his memories return if you wish." Shaka said.
"Fine. Then that's what's going to happen." Ikki agreed.
"Alright. Now the next step is figuring out how to help him jog his memories." Seiya said.
"Maybe the photo albums we've got in the palace can help him out." Hyoga suggested.
"Excellent idea. Can you go get them Hyoga?" Shion asked.
"Yes sir." Hyoga answered with a bow of his head before taking off.
"Are you feeling alright Shun?" Athena asked.
"Yes." Shun answered. "I'm alright."
"Good. You've always been a tough one." Seiya declared.
"At what?" Shun asked.
"Believe me, it'll probably be best to wait until Hyoga comes back with the albums before we start trying to explain anything." Shion advised.
Shun nodded and cast his eyes to his hands again.
It was easy to tell that Shun was desperate to know who he was and what was going on. They could see the look in his eyes.
Confusion, desperation, loneliness, fear...They were all present and so were many other emotions.
It hadn't taken long for Hyoga to grab the photo albums and return to the Virgo temple. He arrived with his face flushed and lightly panting, signaling that he had run as fast as he could to get the items.
He had come in holding three thick books that held numerous pictures. The top album was given to Shun and he right away started to look at the pictures.
He across a few pictures of himself either alone or with the others but nothing ever came to him. Eventually he asked just Shaka and Ikki to remain with him since he didn't feel comfortable with so many people around trying to remind him of who he was.
Putting their differences aside for the moment, Ikki and Shaka both answered any question that Shun had about any of the pictures.
There was always one picture in particular that Shun kept going back to look at. It was a group picture showing himself in his Andromeda cloth, his brother in his Phoenix cloth and the other three named Seiya, Shiryu and Hyoga wearing cloths of their own.
Ikki had explained when the picture was taken and Shun had been a little shocked to hear what he said. That his brother returned to him after a horrible landslide during a battle against a man named Docrates.
Sadly, after an hour of looking through the photos, Shun didn't remember a thing. He couldn't even recall what his last name was and he kept forgetting the name of his Bronze cloth.
Shaka had told the others that Shun's condition was still the same and he hadn't recalled a thing. This caused them to go further into depression but they started making plans about how Shun would be looked after.
It was already agreed that Shun would be staying in the Virgo temple and looked after by both Shaka and Ikki. It was also decided that Shun could walk around Sanctuary like before but he was going to need at least two people with him to make sure he was alright or if something else happened.
Shifts would be taken between the Bronze and Gold Saints who volunteered. Which was most of them.
For now they managed convinced Shun that he should rest more so they could figure out a time pattern on who would watch him.
The young teen had been left alone in his room to rest more but he hadn't been able to fall asleep. He just laid in the bed on his side.
His mind was full of questions and thoughts.
Who was he? Was this where he was suppose to be? How did he lose his memories in the first place? Could he really trust these people and believe what they were telling him?
[Next day]
Shun had been up before Shaka had and had been given a delicious breakfast. Though he didn't eat much claiming that he hadn't been too hungry.
Shaka understood and didn't say anything against it.
He didn't want to pressure Shun into anything or make him feel uncomfortable.
The Virgo saint had then given the young teen a change of clothing saying that he wanted to show Shun around Sanctuary saying that a little fresh air and exercise might make him feel a little better.
Shun had agreed and changed into the clothing he was given. Once he was dressed he met up with Shaka who was in his gold cloth and they left the temple going up a flight of stairs where another temple was easily spotted.
"You've been up and down this pathway many times before." Shaka stated try to make conversation.
"Did I live here?" Shun asked.
"Somewhat." Shaka answered. "At first you and the others would come here to help Athena but then all of you agreed to live here with us. It's been very lively ever since. Not many of us are very upbeat and the five of you brought a great amount of that into Sanctuary."
Shun had stayed quiet when Shaka was speaking and he watched in fascination as they came to another temple that read LIBRA at the front.
They walked inside and Shun right away saw two people walking over to them. He recognized the younger one to be Shiryu. One of the people he had met claiming they had been friends since childhood.
"Hello Shun. I'm glad to see you're doing alright." the second man said. He was wearing Gold armor as well and looked a little older than Shaka.
"Thank you sir." Shun replied not sure what else to say.
"Shiryu told me what happened so I know you don't remember me. I'm Dohko. The Gold Saint of Libra." he said.
"You're a Gold Saint too?" Shun asked.
"There's ten more." Shiryu stated.
"Why so many?" Shun asked.
"It's just something that's always existed since Athena created her saint army." Dohko said. "Twelve Gold Saints to represent the zodiac and the other saints represent the constellations in the sky. In total there's eighty eight saints in the army."
Shun remained quiet as if he had accepted the answer given to him. Shaka then continued to lead him through the temple.
Shiryu watched with a heavy heart as Shun followed Shaka out the back of the temple. He wished that he could help Shun in whatever way possible to help him remember even one thing of his life before being possessed by that dark demon.
He hadn't seen Shun when he was being controlled by Hades, and he was glad for that, but hearing the news from Rhadamanthys was more than enough to scare the life out of him.
When the Wyvern judge had told him, Hyoga and Kanon that Shun was the reincarnation of Hades he felt his heart had jumped out from his body.
Those words had been silenced for a long time but after what was going on with Shun now they were starting to return.
Could everything that happened in the battle against Hades really have affected Shun that much?
"I know that it's hard Shiryu but this is something that can't be rushed or helped right away." Dohko said. "It's something that only Shun can do."
"I know Master but I hate seeing him like this. It's painful to know that a lifelong friend doesn't remember anything about who he is." Shiryu admitted.
"I know Shiryu but the only thing that we can do right now is help Shun be at ease in his surroundings and try to help when we can. Just remember that this is something that's going to take time to overcome. Otherwise his already delicate mind could get worse." Dohko said.
Shiryu nodded understanding his mentor's words. This was something that Shun had to do mostly on his own. Amnesia was something that couldn't be cured right away or by force.
Just with time and patience.
[][][]
Shaka kept a close eye on Shun as they continued to pass through the temples. Shun had been kindly introduced to Milo and had right away met Shura since Aiolos and Seiya weren't in the Sagittarius temple. Milo and Shura offered their help to Shun whenever he needed and offered their homes to him if he ever felt he wanted to be somewhere else for a while.
The Virgo saint was pleased to see Shun smiling kindly at their offers.
They were already coming to the Aquarius temple and Shaka was curious to see how Shun would handle being inside the coldest of all twelve temples.
"Camus! Hyoga! We're passing through the temple!" Shaka called out since he didn't see the two ice saints anywhere.
Shun on the other hand felt the intense cold of the temple and started to shiver. How could anyone live in this kind of atmosphere?
A blanket suddenly appeared over his shoulders and covered his body. He turned around to see a blue haired man in gold armor lightly smiling at him.
"Hello Shun." he said kindly. "I'm sorry that it's so cold in here but Hyoga and I are use to this kind of atmosphere."
"Thank you, Mr..."
"Camus. I'm Camus of Aquarius." he answered. "Don't worry about the formalities."
Shun saw Hyoga walk out from a room with a small smile on his face.
"Hey Shun, glad you're doing alright." he said.
"Thanks Hyoga." Shun replied.
"What do you think about Sanctuary so far?" the blond asked.
"It's actually pretty impressive." Shun answered.
"Great."
"Well, we should get going. There's still a lot more ground to cover." Shaka said as they started walking toward the back exit.
"Are you going to show him all around the grounds?" Camus asked.
"I hope to but I don't want to exhaust him." Shaka answered as they came to the exit. Shun folded the blanket and Hyoga took it from him with a kind smile.
"Perhaps we'll come by again later." Shaka said.
"Didn't anyone tell you about tonight?" Hyoga asked.
"No."
"Aldebaran heard about everything that happened and is having a dinner tonight. Everyone is invited to go. He's hoping that Shun will remember his cooking." Camus answered.
"Would you like to go Shun?" Shaka asked.
"If it'll help then I would like to." Shun answered.
"Very well. We'll go ahead and visit for a while tonight." Shaka said.
"See you tonight." Hyoga called as the two started up the next flight of stairs that would take them to the last temple.
Once they were out of sight his smile faded and he appeared sad and worried.
His mentor didn't fail to notice this.
"I know that it's hard Hyoga but perhaps seeing everyone tonight will help Shun remember something." Camus said.
"I hope so. It's not very pleasing to see Shun being led around like this." he replied.
[][][]
Having to take the secret path to get around Aphrodite's roses, Shaka and Shun quickly found their way to the front entrance of the palace but were walking past it to the large statue of Athena.
Shun marveled at the size of the statue and was in awe at the view it had.
"All of this is Sanctuary." Shaka said. "You can see all twelve temples, the training arena and even some of the small villages around the Sanctuary."
"Are we allowed to go to those villages?" Shun asked.
"If you are a saint then you have automatic permission." Shaka answered. "Those of us allowed to come and go from Sanctuary are the Gold and Bronze saints. You're one of the Bronze Saints so you right away have that permission."
Shun smiled a little and Shaka guessed that Shun was impressed he had been such an important person to not have to ask permission to leave the grounds.
The green haired teen then looked down to see the twelve temples going up alongside the mountain.
"Do any of the other Gold Saints have Bronze Saints living with them?" Shun asked.
"Not really." Shaka answered. "Of the twelve Gold Saints only five had Bronze saints living and training with them. Aiolos has Seiya, Aioria has Ikki, Dohko has Shiryu, Camus has Hyoga and I have you."
"What are we training under you for anyway?" Shun asked curiously.
"The five of you are being trained to one day take our place as Gold Saints and protectors of the temples you will represent." Shaka answered. "We train all of you to master your cosmo but it's going by quicker because the five of you have gone through great battles and have won every one of them. You have all proven yourself time and time again to everyone."
"And it has earned them great respect and honor." a voice added.
The two turned and saw a young woman with long lavender hair walk over holding a gold staff in her hands.
"Hello Athena." Shaka greeted kneeling to her. Shun followed his actions and knelt to the young woman.
"Hello Shaka. Hello Shun. How are you feeling?" Athena asked.
"I'm alright. Shaka is just showing me around the grounds." Shun answered.
"That's good to hear." Athena said with a smile. "Shaka, can I have a word with you?"
"Of course." Shaka answered.
Shun went back to looking at the view while the two talked to each other.
The view was very impressive and calming. It looked like a relaxing country.
He looked down toward the closest village and blinked a few times when he saw a black shadow fly over the roofs of the houses and headed in their direction before it vanished behind a few trees.
He rubbed his eyes and looked for the shadow again but didn't see anything. Perhaps it was something that normally happened since there didn't seem to be any kind of commotion going on.
"Shun,"
The said teen turned back to Shaka and Athena.
"Come on Shun. I'll take you to look at the other temples and saints." Shaka said.
Shun nodded and walked over. After saying goodbye to Athena the two were on their way back down the stairs.
Shun noticed that the Virgo temple was the sixth temple on the mountainside.
"Why is the distance between each temple so far?" Shun asked.
"Well, incase an enemy or someone not allowed in Sanctuary somehow managed to get through the temples the stairs are meant to wear them out. Most people are worn out by the time they get to the Gemini or Cancer temple. Saints are in such great shape that they can make it through all twelve temples with no problem. As long as the Gold Saints allow them to pass of course."
"Why wouldn't they?"
"Well, not everyone has the best intentions for getting through the temples. In order for someone to get through they have to prove it to the Gold Saints and earn the right to be let through. Other than Athena, the pope and the Gold Saints, only you Bronze Saints are allowed through the temples without being questioned."
"It sounds like we had were somewhat on the same level of respect and authority of the Gold Saints." Shun said.
"The five of you do have a great level of respect. All of you went through great battles and have saved the world many times." Shaka answered as they cleared the empty Scorpio temple.
"How many battles have we gone through?" Shun asked.
"Well, let's see there was the battle against Eris, then the God Warriors of Asgard, then against Poseidon and his Marine Generals and then..."
Shun looked at Shaka when he suddenly stopped. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Well, the last battle that all of you went through was the toughest by far and...it's the possible reason you may not have your memory." Shaka explained as they stopped about fifteen steps away from the Libra temple.
"What happened? No one has told me yet."
Shaka looked at Shun and saw the need to know what happened to him heavy in his eyes. It was easy to tell that he wanted to know what happened.
"Let's return to the Virgo temple and I'll explain." Shaka said.
Shun silently agreed and followed the taller saint down the stairs. After exchanging quick greetings with Shiryu and Dohko they were back in the Virgo temple sitting in the den.
Shun was sitting quietly waiting for everything to be explained to him. Shaka sat in a chair across from him but was mainly looking down at the floor.
"It happened during the last battle you were involved in." Shaka started. "You and Seiya had been separated on the way to the Underworld."
"The Underworld?" Shun repeated.
"Yes, the dark god Hades had started a Holy War against Athena. It happens every two hundred years but Athena always wins and peace remains on Earth. Most of us had gone to the Underworld in order to stop Hades before his master plan could be completed. He was planning on using his power to block the sun's light with the moon so that Earth would enter another ice age and everything on the planet would die. When we were in the Underworld, you and Seiya managed to get to Hades' palace before the rest of us and you both were about to attack a specter in his army when something...unimaginable happened."
"What was it?" Shun asked softly.
"You...were revealed to be Hades human reincarnation."
Shun looked surprised as his eyes went wide but he remained silent and still.
"I was one of four people to see you like that. The other three were Seiya, Athena and your brother Ikki. It was just us four who witnessed Hades rebirth through you. Athena managed to drive Hades soul from your body using her boiling blood. Us Gold Saints had used our powers to make it for the five of you could follow Athena and Hades to Elysium to end the battle. With Athena all of you managed to defeat Hades but then…then you collapsed and wouldn't wake up. You were brought back to Sanctuary to rest but days went by and you never woke up. We were all starting to get so worried and we were so relieved when you finally woke up. But then you didn't remember who you were or who any of us were. You had completely forgotten who you were. It scared us all to know that you don't remember anything about your life before waking up. We all want to help you remember who you are but it's going to take a while and it's something that you may have to do for yourself. This is something that can't be rushed and your condition had made your mind so delicate that we don't want to harm you any more than you already are."
Shaka cast his blue eyes to the Andromeda saint. He was a little surprised to see that Shun had paled a bit and looked a little shaken.
"Shun, are you alright?" he asked with heavy concern.
"Y-yes. I'm ok. Can I…just lie down for a while?" Shun replied.
Shaka rushed over when Shun tried to stand and nearly fell over. He caught the younger man in his arms and carried him to his room to rest.
It was too much for him to handle. Shaka noted as he lay Shun on his bed and covered him with the blanket. But he needed to know. He needed to know how he came to be like this. Now that he knows, I can only hope I did the right thing by telling him.
.
.
.
(A/N: To the readers, sorry I've been putting a lot of Lost Canvas in nearly all my stories. I've been watching the Lost Canvas episodes way too much these past few days. ^^; Anyway, don't worry about seeing anymore LC in this story. Thank you everyone for the awesome reviews. Hope to see more.)