72 — A NORMAL LIFE

On a beautiful sunny day, a child chased a girl across the grass. The two laughed while the little one tried to catch up with his sister, who was hiding behind tree trunks, tricking him slightly and making the boy run around the own trunk without reaching her. And so they ran through the woods. She hid and the boy screamed her name until he was surprised when she appeared on his back to squeeze his bottom. And he'd run out again after her, pissed off, vowing to catch her.

It was a different day, as it was a happy day.

At the end of it, Seika was carrying the boy on her back, the boy without his shoes and snoring because he was so tired of the games.

Seiya remembered so much of her scent and also how comfortable he felt in her sister's lap.

His best dreams were the ones where he remembered Seika.

His dreams weren't always so good, but for days all he could do was to dream.

Saori entered the second floor to find Seiya sitting with his head down, Shun was already standing beside Ikki hugging her, while Shiryu was still lying down being taken care of by June. Hyoga was sitting, his face very serious on the sofa where Saori used to sleep. Everyone's eyes met hers, who couldn't contain herself and opened a huge smile as she finally saw them all well.

She knelt down in front of Seiya and saw a small smile appear on his face, as he still looked a little dazed. Saori hugged him tightly, but Alice tried to contain her, as the poor boy was still very fragile; but he was awake enough to talk nonsense.

"If you strap me on a hospital bed one more time…" he threatened playfully and smiled.

Even Ikki couldn't escape a hug, which made everyone laugh, much to June's discontent as they shouldn't even be up on their feet.

They were all awake at dawn, as Seiya and the others slept for almost a month, while Saori couldn't seem to live for the same amount of time. Not that much had happened at the Sanctuary, but it wasn't like there wasn't much to talk about.

Though they'd had a long moment of silence after the battles of the Twelve Temples looking out over the ocean from the stone bridge, they hadn't spoken ever since they'd been induced into that coma. Hyoga was extremely sulky and was comforted by Shun, as well as Shiryu. Ikki was silent in her corner, as was her custom and even Seiya seemed to have his heart lost in his dreams.

And so the night dragged on.

As well as the days they lived together in that shack.

Saori was smiling again and Alice could see her in the small bedroom mirror as she brushed her hair. Her color seemed to have returned, even her posture was more haughty and her voice much more vivacious.

"Lucky the party isn't today, otherwise you'd be quite capable of saying yes to Julian's proposal."
"Are you jealous, Alice?" Saori asked, and Alice lightly tugged on her hair.
"I'll cut your bangs if you keep talking nonsense."

Saori laughed.

"Are you coming today?"
"No. I need to go to the Temple." Alice commented, and Saori fell silent immediately.

After all, she too should have been going to the Temple as many days ago, but each day there was something that kept her from going; whether it was a specific care for Shun, a walk Shiryu needed to take around the house to get her legs working again, or some care refused by Seiya's stubbornness. She took a deep breath before changing the conversation.

"We're all going to eat on the pier." commented Saori. "I think you should come too."
"I'll meet you guys later." just spoke Alice.

And so she put the gold clasp in Saori's hair again. She was ready, they hugged and Alice accompanied her to the door where her four friends were already waiting for her, as Ikki, as expected, had already left the hut to live somewhere even further away. A sign that she was already fine, as Shun remembered.

"Let's go then?" she invited, and together they marched down the road.

The day was wet, but not raining, as the intermittent rain always fell in the late afternoon and ran into the night. Together they went down the stone road being greeted by those who passed there until they entered the village of Rodorio, where they were received with a lot of celebration. It was always an enormous privilege that the Goddess Athena walked among them. While there were those who doubted Saori, and these weren't that few, there were those who didn't have any difficulty in believing her to be the Goddess who looked after them in that distant stone Colossus on the mountain.

Mainly children. The kids loved her dresses, her hair, the gold clasp, they copied her mannerisms, they laughed when they got a wave back from her. They found her hair dyed with the color of the twilight sea fascinating.

They walked together to the central square where Seiya remembered so well the first time he had met with Marin, sitting on that bench around the fountains. They went on, for from there the sea could be seen in the distance, and below, they descended a wooden staircase to the port where a beautiful but very simple seafood restaurant stood on the edge of the pier.

It wasn't elegant or grand, but it was one of the favorite places for those who lived there. It was said that one of the Silver Saints of that era now looked after the establishment, Cetus Moses, as he was known in the region. He was never there, of course, but the cook prided himself on telling everyone that the fish was always brought in by him fresh in the first streak of light in the morning.

"Come, come!" the cook chef received Saori's entourage.

There was already a table prepared facing the sea and with five places so they could have lunch in peace. Saori wanted to give them that gift, as they had survived on serum for the last month, and since they had woken up the feeding had been anything but pleasurable. And when they finally had Master Mu's release to eat something more substantial, she immediately thought of that place that served delicious fish and seafood.

"I don't believe this!" said Seiya. "I love this place, but I never had the money to eat everything I wanted here. Marin only brought me here after I had done a thousand sit-ups and still it was just to eat the fried pastry."
"You can order whatever you want, Seiya." said Saori.
"Ah, but you can be sure of that. Hey, Atlas!" called the waiter.
"Do you guys like it too?" asked Saori.
"I'll order soup."
"Oh, Shiryu, so many options and you're going to order soup? You spent a month drinking serum and now you want soup again?" Seiya said, disagreeing with his friend's request.
"It reminds me of Shunrei."

Seiya smiled at his friend accepting that it was really adorable.

"I'll get the lobster!" he announced.
"I want a fried fish." Hyoga commented, closing the menu.
"I'll get the rice and clams." Shun said.
"Good call, Shun!" congratulated Seiya. "I'll try a little bit of each of your dishes."

The boy was beaming and when Saori looked around the table she saw that everyone was at peace, and even Hyoga, who was usually more serious, seemed more at ease with his friends, or even Shiryu, who was not as lit up as Seiya, also seemed have a huge vivacity in the face. This made Saori take a deep breath of Mediterranean salt in the pleasant breeze that came from the sea, but she also missed Alice beside her.

Her eyes darted to the top of the mountain where her own statue stood.

"I'd like us to make a toast." Shiryu announced holding her own glass of delicious juice. "So we'll never forget Xiaoling."
"For Xiaoling!" they all repeated, toasting the glasses together and remaining silent for a moment, each one as if remembering a lovely moment of that little girl between them.

There was a disgruntled smile between them, perhaps longing, but at the same time it wasn't a funereal mood. Like the one experienced by everyone when they received the news in the first time.

"Shiryu, I remember at the House fo Cancer that you met Xiaoling at the Underworld's Threshold." Shun began.
"Yes it's true." Shiryu agreed, remembering.
"How was she, Shiryu?" Seiya asked.
"Actually, she was excited, as usual." said the friend. "Even though she was in that place for a few days, she still kept her spirit light and helped me fight Death Mask. The impression I have is that it was her choice to stay there."
"What could she want at Underworld's Threshold?" Saori asked herself.
"It is said by the Sanctuary that a Silver Saint once descended into the Underworld."
"What do you mean, Seiya?" asked Hyoga.
"It was before I got here, it seems, but it's a story told in Rodorio."
"Oh, it's true." Atlas agreed bringing some snacks and putting himself in the conversation between them. "He was a musician from the region, I remember him well, he was young and loved to play his harp in Rodorio square for everyone to hear. He has been missing for many years and it is said that he descended into the Underworld."

The way he came in, butting in on the conversation, the restaurant owner left them with that information hovering in their heads.

"It might be possible to rescue Xiaoling." Seiya commented to his friends.

Saori looked at the boy who had again a certain sparkle in his eyes and reflected how Seiya had a special desire to rescue whoever it was, to search for people from wherever they were but not in their places. How he wanted to do with Xiaoling now, how he did to her when she was kidnapped and how he always wanted to go after his sister.

The food arrived and the beginning of a plan was formed between them, but Shiryu reasoned that that had been Xiaoling's choice, that if she wanted to return, she would have done it.

"In a sense, I feel we need to respect her decision." she said.

The conversation died there not in a note of sadness but in a mutual admiration of those young friends for the courage and determination of that stubborn girl. Finally, they had lunch, with the sea in the background churning in the rocks. The hours passed between them, lightly and somehow good-natured.

Deep down, Saori wished they had days like that for the rest of their lives. A normal life. Ordinary, like the children they were still in her eyes. If she was to take her destiny and be a Goddess, she saw no reason why they should have taken a similar path. After all, she now had the Gold Saints to protect her, a Sanctuary that would keep her safe; she had Mayura, and as difficult as her relationship with Shaina was, she had every confidence that the Silver Saint would be by her side, as well as the undecided Sanctuary footsoldiers.

There was no reason for those boys to keep getting hurt for her.

They walked very calmly out of the pier restaurant, their footsteps creaking the boardwalk. Shun stopped at a small tent near the stairs that led to the sandy strip of that place; there he took for him and Hyoga a cut and iced piece of a slice of red watermelon. Hyoga looked at him confused, but Shun had a sweet smile on his face.

"How do you know?" he asked Shun.
"In the House of Libra." he began. "I think when I reached the Seventh Sense at your side, somehow our Cosmos came together, our universes, and I remember feeling some sensations that I didn't understand at first. But then I imagine it was some of your memories."
"Shun. So you…"
"Yes. But I will keep your secret hidden." said the friend. "Now eat your fruit."

He gave a smile to Hyoga, who smiled back at him. Shiryu appeared to hurry the two, as Seiya and Saori were already on the sand strip looking at the waves.

"Do you feel better, Seiya?" asked Saori.
"Now that I don't have wires running through my body, yes." he replied, looking at her.
"Shiryu is planning to return to China for a few days." said Saori. "Why don't you go with her to see the mountains of the East?"

Seiya smiled as he remembered Xiaoling.

"I remember Xiaoling saying that the Master of Shiryu forces any visitor to train as well. I think I will pass the opportunity."

Saori tried to laugh, but noticed that Seiya's eyes looked far into the ocean.

"What do you have in mind, Seiya?"
"I'm going after my sister, Saori." he said, not taking his eyes off the sea. "Now that I know she came here to get me, maybe I can find her if I go looking for her."

Saori tried looking at the waves that made Seiya's eyes so far away; she took a deep breath, swallowed and spoke to him again.

"When I learned from Master Mayura that Seika had come after you so many years ago, I created a specific task force at the Foundation to find her. We have an entire sector dedicated to recovering everyone who was sent by my grandfather." there was a certain sad heaviness in her voice. "Every week I receive a report on it."

Seiya looked at her, torn between hope for Seika, but at the same time with a certain regret for Saori, as she was weekly reminded of mistakes that were not hers. But he met her trusting eyes, her face looked so much more mature than that first time they met. If he and his friends had unbelievable battles to get where they were, Saori hadn't stopped fighting her battles to be there beside him as well.

"We still haven't been able to find Seika, but we've been able to eliminate a lot of places from there to here. And even here in Greece, we have good intel and I'm sure we'll find it, Seiya."

He smiled.

"Do you think I can help?" he asked. "I thought of asking everyone in Rodorio and in the big city beyond the mountains. It can be a start."

Saori smiled at him.

"I think we can help, yes." she said, to Seiya's confused look. "I'll join you on your quest, Seiya. I think together we can find her."

Seiya smiled back at her.

The others arrived and sat in sarongs on the sand, watching the waves crash against Rodorio's cliff on the left, while the sun fell on the horizon already covered by the clouds charged with the everlasting rain that fell through the night. It was still a pleasant day, although the sky was not entirely clear.

Saori looked at the stairs of the pier and caught Alice coming down, almost as if she felt her coming. Soon Shun and Hyoga greeted her, as well as Shiryu and Seiya. She sat beside her best friend, as usual, and the two looked at each other briefly, and Saori looked away; she knew that there was in Alice's face all the discontent of the Master of Sanctuary in her new absence. The sea was the only one that spoke that late afternoon and the waves seemed to break closer and closer to them on the sand strip.

Until the sea receded in a curious way, so much so that Shiryu even touched at Seiya, asking him what had happened in the ocean. The friend thought the question was strange, but then he realized that the sea seemed extremely peaceful, as paralyzed as a lake; Hyoga noticed that the sea no longer formed waves and Shun saw how, in fact, the sea actually seemed to retreat little by little.

Alice was the first to rise and, as if released from a paralysis, the sea finally broke again violently on the rocks, and the salt water surged through the sand until it wet all of their clothes. Hyoga cursed, Seiya died of laughter, but Saori met Alice's face with a stern look back at her.

ABOUT THE CHAPTER: The famous restaurant chapter. Light, with nothing going on but them all getting back together after a good rest. The initial idea came from the episode of Omega's restaurant, but here I didn't put any 'threats', as it was just for Saori to see how they could be happy with a normal day. It's still important to the story that Seiya doesn't forget Seika too.

NEXT CHAPTER: THE SEAL OF THE SEAS

Saori finally returns to the Temple of Athena as there is something urgent to be taken care of. A possible new threat.