The Shadow of Gemini

Jabu and the others sparred on the training grounds of Sanctuary, an immense platform on a grassy field in the outskirts of the barracks. The entirety of the army enjoyed training there, apart from other low-ranking Saints and those seeking to acquire a Cloth of their own. They dressed in typical attire of the place, abandoning modern fashion in favor of starkly simpler and comfortable linen, all that under protective plates of iron made available to trainees.

Nachi and Jabu exchanged strikes while the others watched from the corners. Noticeable was the bandaging around the wrists, including Ban's, as they had offered blood to Mu in order to properly repair their Cloths.

The practice was intense for the average Bronze Saint, however, it didn't come anywhere near the level of what Silver Saints had already demonstrated. Their pace was fast and put the soldiers to shame, although Nachi's greater speed was finally overwhelmed by the quickness of Unicorn's many kicks. With a palm strike, he was therefore pushed to the floor, and then helped up with Jabu's aid.

"Did I go too hard?" he asked.

"No," said Nachi in between breaths. "I tried something new, and it didn't work out. I can see what I have to improve on, yet I have no idea where to start."

"I also feel like I'm no longer improving," Jabu spoke with a sigh, looking at those who only watched. "You guys should go next. I'll check if any of the Cloths are ready."

"Alright."

Ichi and Geki got up next to spar, whereas Nachi sat down to rest with Ban. Meanwhile, Jabu left the premises and walked a good distance to the stairs under the Ecliptic Temples. The amount of steps to the House of Aries alone was a decent voyage, but at a calm pace, it was nothing a warrior of his caliber couldn't deal with.

Once he arrived, he was impressed that it was the second time he sought Mu and found Marin to have reached him beforehand. At Aries' forge, Eagle leaned back at a marble table whereon lied tools and materials, watching the Gold Saint work busily with the plates of metal. At first they seemed to exchange words, but as soon the young man came in view, they fell quiet and shifted their attention.

"Seems you're back from your trip as well," Unicorn commented to her.

"How's the cardiac boy?" she asked.

"He says they put a gadget in his heart and told him not to do any effort, but he insisted on sparring with us anyway."

Marin looked at Mu and shook her head in disapproval, but he gave an innocent smile. "Why don't you slap those kids around a couple times so they stop being rash?"

"They are not my apprentices," Mu replied with a chuckle. "I cannot treat them the way you treat Seiya. Kiki, in the other hand…"

Jabu was perked up by the mention of Pegasus, and focused on that instead: "Wait… so you're Seiya's master?"

Stepping away from the table, Marin nodded and reiterated: "I am. Do you know anything about him?"

"My friends and I were raised with him in Japan."

"Oh, so…" she paused and thought a while about what she was about to say. With the political climate changing in Sanctuary, it would've been irresponsible to be too candid. "That must be why you reminded me of him. You were probably taught to be a hotheaded child as well."

"I don't plan on debating you," he said, at least having the ability to take in jest what Seiya would've taken personally. "You're a powerful Saint, and we need your help right now."

"I already know what you want. As long as you're willing to take a few slaps, my answer is yes," Marin said.

He became excited upon hearing that, but held back slightly so as to not annoy the two in front of him too much. "O-oh! I'm really thankful, Miss Marin! I'll go tell my colleagues right away!" He ecstatically paced back to the stairs, yelling: "We'll be waiting for you at the training grounds!"

Eagle watched baffled at the similarity, and Mu looked back for a brief moment. "He left?" said the Gold Saint. "He did not even speak to me regarding their Cloths."

"Impulsive too. The similarities are uncanny."

"I will finish repairing this piece and go tell Aldebaran what you said. Priestesses and Gold Saints should not be so ill-informed of Lady Athena's situation," he said, returning to their previous conversation.

"The High Priestess will be glad. If this information could reach as far as the House of Leo, I'll be personally thankful as well."

"Marin."

"Hm?"

"You went to see Libra after me. Did he say anything about a sign of a Holy War?"

"Oh, you know him…" she said, apparently finding an opening to say what she wanted Mu to hear "… a very collected man, as per usual. He seemed remarkably calm, and spoke of no such sign."

Aries sighed and continued hammering to fold metal on the anvil. "I would be relieved, but the Pope seems on edge either way."

"To be fair, Libra has his reason to be calm."

"Does he?"

"Wouldn't you be calm after seeing our Lady in person?" So nonchalantly had she asked this rhetorical question that it took a second for it to hit the other as out of the ordinary. He paused folding the plate and looked on with a confused frown, although Marin offered nothing back but the chaste stare of the mask, and then she made her leave.

For a few seconds after that, Mu continued chasing the Silver Saint with a stare, processing those words and piecing things together. In his analytical mind, those words could've been the key to understanding the duty calls. He slowly went back to work on the plate, more as an absent-minded way to continue reasoning through what he had heard.

He finished folding the metal, doused it in a well of water, allowed it to bubble with the extreme heat, then brought the piece onto the table to rest amid the mixed materials. "This cannot wait," he whispered, making his way to the stairway towards the House of Taurus.

Aldebaran sat onto the stairs to the temple's portal, back against one of the greeting pillars. With the horned helmet off, it was possible to see his long, thick, roughly cut black hair. In a hand he had a loaf of bread which he ate with large munches, and noticing his friend's approach, he stood and uttered with a mouthful: "What's up?"

"Just got some news from the grounds," Mu told him.

Taurus swallowed before saying: "Huh, tell me about it."

"The army is not preparing for anything yet, we got no word from any lower-ranking Saint of a threat, and apparently Libra himself said there is no sign of a Holy War."

"Hm, nice. Then why were we called?"

Mu shrugged in response, but acted as if recalling the High Priestess' request. "Ah, there is something else," he said, coming closer and crossing the arms. "The priestesses are staying on the grounds and have sent a message on their behalf. Aldebaran, have you ever seen Lady Athena with your own eyes?"

"No. I thought about it a long time ago, but Shura said the Pope isn't allowing anyone past the throne."

"Do you have any idea why that is?"

"He said a Specter could be disguised as a priestess and…" Aldebaran stopped for a moment and noticed the absurdity of what he had been told years ago. "Wait a minute, I don't look like a priestess, do I?"

"I would not say so, no."

"I'd hope that's the case. Maybe Aphrodite, but definitely not me."

Mu nodded, confirming: "There has to be another reason why you and Shura would not be allowed in our Lady's quarters."

"Well, it could be that she is just too busy preparing for a Holy War and doesn't want to be bothered," Aldebaran rationalized.

"Sure, but no priestess has been allowed in her quarters since we were children. No one has had any news of Lady Athena that has not come through the Pope, not even us. I am sure the Pope is a good man, however, such harsh measures make people feel divided, it brews distrust with the Cult. We responded to our duty calls the way we are expected to, now here we are, as ignorant as before."

The other Gold Saint raised an eyebrow. "Uhm, Mu… where are you getting with this?"

"Nowhere, nowhere. It is that the priestesses demanded an in-depth description of Lady Athena's health and the cleanliness of her quarters, and it felt wrong to have none in hands."

"Yeah…" Aldebaran pouted, nodded, and took another bite off the bread "… guess we can't leave them in the dark."

"Can you pass this information up to Saga?"

He scratched his long hair apprehensively and cringed at the mere thought of having to speak to that man. "Ah, Saga… I don't know, he's kind of scary, and I haven't seen him in a long time," he said.

"He is one of us too, so worry not. He just has a bit of a personality."

"Well, I'll try. No promises, though!"

"As long as you try, we are good."

Tasked with that, Aldebaran hesitantly went towards the House of Gemini, putting on the helmet and finishing the loaf of bread on the way. He had no hurry to arrive whatsoever, but chose to walk up fast so that this issue would be solved as quickly as possible. "Yeah, Mu is right, no need to be afraid," he mumbled nervously to himself. "Saga is a bit of a weirdo, but he's the strongest in Sanctuary, an example to us all! I'll go in there, tell him the thing, then leave. No games, no more comments about his hair turning white, no more jokes about the faces on his helmet…" The man gulped in these urges that came so naturally to him. "Just, uhm… no jokes at all. Here it is, the Temple of Gemini."

The sight of the twin sign at the front was a wonderful sight, the faces of Castor and Pollux, the identical half-brothers who shared their immortality. The insides of the temple, however, were not so welcoming. The dimness kept at bay in the rest of Sanctuary turned into near pitch-black darkness in the House of Gemini, the longest of the temples, set up as a trial of psychological prowess to any invader. Its structure was composed mostly by a single hallway, sprawling in the distance with a singular line of grand pillars through the center. On the walls, only one in three of each lamp was lit, and so most of the inside was plunged in unstable shadows.

Aldebaran knew that a hall cut through the middle of the temple, where would've been located Saga's quarters, his hopeful destination. "This is what I'm talking about," he whined about the precarious visibility, "how can he take care of the temple when it's this dark?" The way he could barely see the sides, he thought perhaps it was best to call him, as much as this risked angering his colleague. "Saga, are you here? Saga! It's Aldebaran." No response came.

He continued on, still seeking that passage to the quarters which never came. Turning up, a bit of the intricate figuring could be seen between the wall and the ceiling, depictions of spearmen, a hunt, a pair of slender vases, a pair of wild horses, the delivery of an egg, among others. In this situation, these shapes only made things more macabre to Taurus.

"Huh, I thought the entrance to his bedroom was much closer. Did he remodel this place?" With a slight snarl and another look about, he felt cold wave down his spine. "Didn't make it any less creepy, I'll tell you that." Then he looked forward, seeking at least the light of the exit on the other end. If Aldebaran couldn't find Saga, he planned to either pass the information to Cancer, or, were he busy, walk all the way to Aiolia. To him, an hour of travel was better than another minute in that haunted house.

Unexpectedly, déjà vu struck him, something that called to his instincts yet felt incomprehensible. Nonetheless, he pressed onward, and nearly obscured ahead he noticed gold reflecting the unsteady shine of a lamp. The outline of what he saw was that of the Gemini Cloth and Saga's cape, however, features couldn't be made beneath such characteristic helmet. The faces pointing on opposite sides, one left and one right, made it clear who that was.

"S-S-S-S-Saga…" Aldebaran stuttered, voice breaking at first, which prompted him to clear his throat "… uhm, Saga! I have something to talk to you about."

Gemini, however, responded by outstretching both arms to the side and raising his Cosmos. Taurus frowned and took a step back; the amount of power he expected to emanate from an elite among the Gold Saints was not felt. Instead, he felt something more akin to a lowly Silver Saint. The aggression, too, took him aback.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, still without a word from the other one. The tension continued to build up, which forced Aldebaran to raise Cosmos too, one much greater, and pose with both fists clenched. "Answer me!"

Eventually Gemini brought the arms forward and closer to each other, and so bright rays illuminated the corridor hypnotically to assault him at awesome speeds. Taurus, however, too easily evaded them. When he noticed the glimmer of the Gemini Cloth approach, he instead lunged at it with his much larger body, tackling him such that the boots skid against the floor. From a distance, he stretched the arms once more.

"What are you thinking?" Aldebaran yelled, but there was still no response from his friend-turned-foe. When he burned Cosmos again, it continued to be minute, pitiful compared to Saga's usual, and then the man knew there was something afoot with that Gemini who blocked the path.

Rays of light came for Aldebaran like before, and, having prepared, he ignored the initial attack and aimed to strike directly, using the enemy's momentum in his favor. The punch he threw was hard enough that it sent Gemini falling back, and the crown-like helmet fell off his head for a moment. Due to the darkness, the shape of who was underneath remained invisible, especially since he so quickly put it back on and assumed the prior stance.

"Whatever is going on here, if this continues, I'll end up having to hurt or kill him," Taurus thought to himself. He took steps backwards and looked behind. "Eh?" The sight was unbelievable: the corridor whence he came now divided into two, separated by a forty five-degree angle and masking the temple's true shape. For both sides, no exit could be found. "An illusion…" he said, taking more steps back and then facing the opponent "… so maybe it is him after all, and he doesn't want me to leave. It doesn't matter; as long as I stay grounded in reality, I can step out of it."

Gemini did the exact same as the past two times, and they clashed into a brief combat, every reach of his being parried by Aldebaran's large arms. Unable to get a good view of the opponent's face, Taurus stepped forth with Cosmos peaking, an open palm striking Gemini's breastplate so violently that he slid and tumbled a much greater distance. After creating said opening, he sped back out the entrance, leaving a trail of afterglow behind. The mind game would've been tricky to an inexperienced fighter, but to him, the illusion blurred out as soon as he crossed through the false division between the spurious corridors, finding himself outside almost immediately.

After crossing the temple's pillars, he took another view of the inside and released a relieved whew upon learning he was no longer being hunted. It seemed that thing only guarded the passage through the House of Gemini, but nothing outside it. He walked down the stairway, although paranoia still made him watch his back every now and then. "Mu will want to hear of this," he said, "I'd better go straight to him."

While this took place back in Sanctuary, the Kido Mansion experienced the same routine of the past week; the inane, fruitless patrols, and Shaina's frustrating lessons. Seiya and June witnessed their friends go from sitting in meditation to sparring impressively in a matter of days, whereas they still had to keep cycling through the Cosmos back and forth, as the teacher was never satisfied with their progress.

To not generate further confusion, they refrained from asking them if there was a secret to the technique — if anything, there was no secret, and it was all a result of genuine effort. The issue is that effort itself wasn't the key, but the path to understanding it, and there came a day when Shaina decided they were ready to hear the solution to this question.

That afternoon she was engaged with drawing on a notepad with a pencil instead of intently watching them, as she had told them to practice only for the sake of it, haply as the soft sadism of a master such as her. At that point, both Pegasus and Chameleon could heighten their energies faster than before, even higher than they ever could, however, they didn't seem anywhere near the abilities of the weakest Silver Saints they had met.

Of course, the practice's goal wasn't to achieve that capability, which became clear when Ophiuchus told them to stop. "Alright, that is enough. The two of you have plateaued," she said, lowering the notepad she held.

June sighed and Seiya opened his eyes, letting the arms go lazy to recuperate from all the tension. "Sheesh… I still feel miles away from what I saw these guys do," he said.

"Surprisingly, you have done well. Come over here and let me show you something," Shaina called, motioning to them with a hand. The two got up and crouched behind her, looking at the scribbles she had done — either she wasn't the best artist, or she didn't care.

Nevertheless, the meanings and words were somewhat understandable to them. The sphere of the mind was illustrated as tethered to the sphere of the soul; the mind, of course, was illustrated as a product of the brain, being contained within it, and so it was the door between the material and the ideal; the Cosmos, however, permeated each and every realm that these occupied. Despite this, it was only through will — which Shaina represented with an arrow — that one could use the Cosmos to alter the physical world. Will, as one would expect, was a tool of the mind, as the soul was idle on its own; however, the greatest potential was found in the soul, and thus the mind required it in order to bring about the feats of Saints, if not the miracles of Gold Saints and the gods.

"This illustrates the mechanism I spoke of before. Did you sense anything while you phased through your Cosmos?" she asked.

"After this long, I've gotten good at how the whole thing feels, and it helped me pull that energy from my thoughts," Seiya tried to explain.

June attempted something more abstract: "Yeah, it's like an infinite well of potential hidden inside me, and I can pull it with the right way of thinking."

"Hm, the two of you are smarter than I thought," Shaina mumbled, tapping the pencil on the drawings, "I might have not needed the drawings. Regardless, the Cosmos is a potential contained in all that exists, from the soul to the trees you see around you, and we can explore it with the mind. The mechanism of this exploration is that of pure will; you must comprehend will, how to rid it of other feelings, and how to redirect it, which requires a discipline the two of you lacked." She took a handful of grass from beneath her thigh and ripped it, bringing it to the height of their eyes. "Said discipline involves understanding the physics of your goal, then the inner workings of your mind…" as she continued, sparks snapped the blades betwixt her fingers, burning them "… then willing the Cosmos unto the space within and around you."

Seiya exclaimed: "Ah, that makes more sense!"

"While you phased through your Cosmos, you sensed how will affected it. In other words, you have experienced enough of what you must focus on, and you only have to improve upon it," she concluded, and that was the ultimate goal of this initial training.

"I get it as well," June confirmed with a nod.

"Just to make sure, let us do an exercise," Shaina said, got up, and walked to a reasonably-sized tree behind them. "I want each of you to rise your Cosmos and punch this tree trunk as soon as I say go. Do not give yourself time, will it quickly and properly, then punch with all the energy you mustered." She waved in with a hand. "Seiya, you first. Come on."

He came along to a position few steps in front of the trunk, side by side with Shaina. "Will is the key, I get it," he said as he stretched the fingers and prepared a good strike. It had been a while since he last got to throw a proper punch.

"Are you ready?"

"Hell yeah!"

After a few seconds of silence, Shaina gave a calm: "Go."

Upon hearing it, Seiya cleared his mind and achieved oneness with will, forthwith burning his Cosmos to greater heights. He therefore willed that potential through the arms and into his knuckles, in order to punch with realized energy at the tree trunk. This feat took place in less than a second.

A shock wave ducked the grass and shrubs in the surroundings, then shook the leaves above. Seiya's hand bore a great split into the bark, and the tree leaned heavily, the root ball becoming exposed off the dirt. With how the trunk had been crushed, a part of the tree dangled off the rest, branches shaking dangerously and sticks falling to the ground.

Pegasus stared in awe at the yield of that newfound control over the Cosmos, and June held hands close to her chest in equivalent surprise. "Eeeeeh! It was that easy?" she gasped.

"I… I barely put any effort and did this!"

Shaina scratched her hair and looked back at the mansion for any signs of Tatsumi or Athena in the balconies. She only saw Shiryu in the distance, who stared with a slight grimace, as the blow had been rather loud. "I should not have told you to test it like this. Oh, well… remind me to tell them to call for tree removal later," said the teacher, to which the pupil nodded yet in astonishment. "It is best if you practice by sparring like the others."

That's exactly what they proceeded to do. As the sun settled in the distance, they traded blows along the gardens. Gaining full control over that new knowledge could only come with practice, so they were careful not to hurt each other.

With ease, June dodged every single one of Seiya's blinding punches, twisting her body back and opening up distance. Without the whip, she felt much freer to bounce around the place, so she skipped forward to counterattack with a series of fluid palm strikes, all defended by his gauntlets. She finished with a claw strike, peaking with Cosmos, and the area was engulfed by a bubble of warm air.

Seiya took it well with an arm, but the force was such that he was spun several times in the air, gliding to land a few meters back.

"This power is absurd!" June exclaimed, the Chameleon Cloth glowing iridescent, yet Pegasus came forth with a blow. She parried, but the force was enough to push her back, and the next hit from the same fist was blocked with both arms, which were brushed aside with the strength.

Seiya could've connected the next punch to the ribbed stomach of her Cloth, but pulled back, afraid of hurting his friend. Still, the energy and the sheer speed seeped through the fingers and generated a blast that slid the girl back a couple steps. He widened the eyes, mouth agape, whereas June shook the arms in excitement.

"W-woah, did you see that? Did you see that?" she said, huffing for air out of exhilaration.

"I just… pushed you without touching you!" Pegasus noted.

Enthused, June bounced in place. "This is so cool!" She then screamed and came back in with a rapid wheel kick, rotating around herself for added harshness. Seiya dodged that and the ensuing palm strikes that came alarmingly close to connecting.

With the intent of keeping her away, Seiya stepped off the ground and extended a leg up, parrying her next strike with a vigorous kick to the bottom of the gauntlet. This made her revolve halfway and pull back, holding that wrist in pain. "Ow!"

"June! Did I hurt you?" Pegasus said as he came closer and grabbed her shoulder.

"No, my Cloth took the brunt of it, look." She showed the state of the piece, with a couple slim cracks soiling its otherwise limpid surface. With a giggle, she commented: "I'll be the one seeing Mu next."

Shaina had walked closer after noticing them chat, then interrupted them by gently pushing Seiya apart from the girl. She looked at June's wrist and noticed nothing was wrong. "It is obvious you got the hang of it," she told them, "so let us call it a day."

"Did you see what I did?" Chameleon asked the woman, pumping a fist up. "Next time I fight a Silver Saint, I'm going to crush them!"

"Do not get cocky. This knowledge is just the start, and you must keep practicing over and over to get to the level of the strongest Silver Saints. In particular you, Seiya, if you want Marin to teach you the Comet Fist someday."

Seiya nodded with determination. "I'll do my best!"

With the passage of days, their patrol and training continued, despite how much more powerful they felt. Even then, there was no telling when Pegasus would've been prepared to learn a technique as remarkable as the Comet Fist, let alone how to make it his own as he had done to the Meteor Fist. Not only that, with the situation in Sanctuary, there was uncertainty if Marin could ever be free to teach him its secrets.

She was mostly busy teaching Jabu and the others the same ins and outs that Shaina taught in Japan, and in the process, she kept her instincts honed. Her deadly encounter with Misty reminded her that, as a Saint, she had to stay prepared to kill or be killed, and that peace was unlikely to last in the span of Athena's reincarnation.

Returning from a tiring day of sparring, she approached her stone hut in the tranquil outskirts of Sanctuary, although the place wasn't as desert as she expected. Instead of the dead air and the quiet surroundings, two swift shadows distanced themselves from behind the house, a sight to stop her on her tracks. "Huh?" She scanned the darkness of the area, wondering if someone hadn't set up a trap.

As she approached, she studied the house from afar and noticed no one seemed to hide near it. To open the front door, however, could reveal what she was unable to see, which made her ponder if it was the right act in the end.

"I'll have to check at some point anyway…" she said to herself, lightly touched the handle, then gave it a push. For good measure, Marin took two steps back and stared intently inside.

All was concealed from view, but as the eyes settled to the lack of light, it was clear there was a total mess within. Petty crime was nearly nonexistent beyond Sanctuary's portal, so she had no explanation if not ransacking, especially with how thorough they must've been.

Eagle entered the house and went to a chest they had left open, taking a piece of flint and a firesteel before shutting the lid. Both were used to start a fire in a lamp, and the kerfuffle was thus illuminated.

Her mattress had been yanked off the frame, as had been the mattress stored below it, and her kitchen utensils had been thrown in wild abandon over the cabinet. They pried a loose piece of wood from the flooring until it cracked, although they found nothing underneath. "What the hell were they looking for?" None of what she checked had gone missing, so she reorganized the mess and placed the mattresses back in place, putting the cracked flooring back into the hole. "Breaking my floor too… what a mess."

Marin walked back outside and took another look, checking the hut's entire perimeter and going up a hill. There were no more signs of anyone sneaking about, and the two who escaped the scene had left tracks that were too difficult for her to follow, so she decided against chasing after them for clues. "Things are getting dangerous around here," she whispered, looking up the Ecliptic Temples in the distance, all the way up to the statue of Athena. "It's good that Shaina stayed, but these boys having come here with Mu… it might not end up well."

The next day had the same lack of signs, as if the ransacking was a one-off thing, which certainly made it more suspicious. Aries and Taurus, however, were curious by the sight of five passing Silver Saints who traveled up to the Temple of Athena; they had to have been called by someone who spoke to the Pope during the night while they slept, an uncommon occurrence.

Later those five arrived at the top, and it was their shadows cast over the Pope's image, although he spoke of five others: "Five Silver Saints do not simply vanish, would you agree?"

"Yes, sir. What's the situation?" said one of the men.

"As I have made you aware last time we spoke, a group of traitors resides in Japan, and they serve a woman known as Saori Kido. What you were not aware of was that a squad composed of Hound, Whale, Centaurus, Lizard, and Ophiuchus was sent to solve the issue, who have hitherto not returned."

"That's alarming. I've noticed their absence weeks ago, and I would've expected them to have taken down the traitors with ease."

"I have grown weary of waiting, so the five of you will travel to Japan and check on the situation."

Another one asked: "Sir, wouldn't it be best to scout ahead first?"

"Why the extra caution?" the first Silver Saint replied. "They're weaklings, Bronze Saints who think too highly of themselves. We will defeat them in no time." Three of the other men chuckled at that.

"Scout ahead if you need," said the Pope, "but do not disappoint me."

"We will not."

"Crux Georg! You will be the one leading this operation." He referred to the man who had first answered him, a fair-skinned, tall Austrian man with blond hair down to the neck. His height, however, was dwarfed by two others in the group. "The rest of you, listen to his command. I expect to receive good news, and the Sagittarius Cloth as a bonus."

"Yes, sir!" Crux began walking away. "Let's move out."

The operation was immediate, albeit not urgent, so they went down at a pace not too tiring for them. It had been a while until they reached the House of Taurus, and next the House of Aries, where Mu still worked on the Bronze Cloths. From the corner of his eyes he counted the five down, murmuring: "Crux, Cerberus, Canis, Musca, and that is definitely the Hercules Saint again… they have all returned unscathed."

He continued hammering and folding metal, although at the bottom of the stairway, someone else waited in the grounds to stalk the squadron. It was Kiki peeking from behind a rock, and when they crossed to the streets, he went after them. He mixed with the crowd and frequently concealed himself behind pillars, walls, and boulders, trying to approach so he could overhear their conversation.

"Sirius, they're Bronze Saints, no need to feel tense," Georg told a somewhat shorter pale man, his hair thin, slightly longer, and much darker.

"Then what do you ascribe the last squad's lateness to?" Sirius retorted.

"With Misty and Shaina among them, they might've killed the Kido traitors already, and are taking their time sightseeing on the way back. You know the type, they get tired of standing around here without seeing action." Kiki's brow raised at the mention of Saori's family name.

"I'm unsure about that."

"If you have a better explanation, be my guest."

"They have the Sagittarius Cloth. I bet the Sagittarius Saint is behind all of this," he suggested.

Georg disagreed with a smirk. "Capricorn killed Sagittarius almost twenty years ago, he's long gone. We can go back up to his temple if you want to ask him for the story."

"I'm skeptical, but it's my word against everyone else's."

"Yeah, moreover, we have to do this regardless of our opinions. It's our duty." To that Sirius had no reply if not a nod.

Kiki hid behind a vendor's shop and said to himself: "Did they mean Miss Saori has the Sagittarius Cloth?" When he peeked more, one of the Silver Saints was staring, so he flinched back into hiding in panic. "P-please, don't tell me he has seen me…" Seconds later, when he spied slowly and carefully, he saw the curtain to the portal move as if someone had gone past it, and the squad was no longer in sight. "I thought I was a goner for sure!"

Presuming they had gone after whichever traitors they spoke of, Kiki returned to his master and told him nearly all he had heard, apart from the Kido name. To Mu this was all unsurprising, yet gave him insight into the probable cause of the duty calls to Sanctuary. "The Sagittarius Cloth has been missing ever since its Saint was deemed a traitor, or so we were told," he told his apprentice to clarify the matter. "For him to have survived and become the leader of a band of traitors would not be out of question."

"Do you think this is why the Pope called you guys back?"

"That is the better explanation, although it does not explain how they were able to pass the House of Gemini, whereas Aldebaran was not."

Kiki leaned over the table impatiently, watching the repetitive process of folding the metal over itself onto the anvil. He knew he'd have to learn that one day, lest Sanctuary's Cloths be permanently damaged, yet he couldn't brush off other questions in his head.

"Master Mu," he said, "I don't get why people become traitors."

"Historically, they do so for personal gain, convinced by another god's doing. Hence a Saint's pledge to Lady Athena, justice, and humanity, and not to one's own aspirations."

"Then how can't Athena bring them back to our side?"

Mu turned and looked at Kiki, stopping the hammer for a moment before his eyes deviated in thought. "Yes, yes. Much like other gods are capable of convincing a traitor to defect, our Lady is capable of bringing them back to reason," he answered with a thoughtful tone ere continuing the labor — Athena couldn't bring traitors back to the light while in permanent hiding. He realized then that his apprentice's naivety was likely a good tool to reaching difficult answers, and that perhaps this was the essence behind the Aries Saint's traditions. "You are quite an intelligent boy already."

The kid scratched his head with a big, bright smile. "I know, right?"

"Keep asking questions."

He stared up to try and come up with something else. "Hmmm… yeah, what about what they said of Bronze Saints? Isn't it impossible for a Bronze Saint to defeat a Silver Saint?"

"Typically, yes, but you would be surprised at how far effort can get you."

"So it's possible that these guys are pretty powerful."

"Mhm."

Once again he sighed and, resting the chin on a palm, continued watching the repair of the Cloths for a while. With the courage to relay that information, he stood up straight and said: "There's something else."

"What is it, Kiki?"

"You remember Shiryu, right?"

"Of course I do, that much is obvious. It is hard to forget a personality so striking."

"When you sent me to deliver the Pegasus Cloth, I met a bunch of other Saints, but in particular, I met this rich girl called Saori Kido. She's really beautiful, you know?"

Mu chuckled and shook his head. "You are not thinking of getting a girlfriend, are you?" he asked with a grin.

"Don't misunderstand!" Kiki replied, face reddened. "I mean, she gave me this thing called lemon pie, it was delicious, but I don't think she likes me that way."

"Then what about her?"

"I think I heard those five guys call their target 'the Kido traitors', so I was wondering…"

Mu abruptly slammed the plate on the anvil, pulled it by the cold end and set it hurriedly into the well. Letting go of the hammer onto the table, he cleaned his hands and told the boy: "Do me a favor."

"Y-yes?"

"Go wherever Jabu is training and very carefully pry for information on Shiryu. Make sure no one but the Bronze Saints and Marin are listening."

"Uhm… what do you want to know?"

"I need to know the one who guided Shiryu towards Jamir."

Kiki nodded obediently. "Fine, leave it to me!" he happily spoke and skipped down to the grounds.

He had a long walk to Marin's stone hut. Due to the recent ransacking, she thought it was best to train where they wouldn't be surrounded by many people, so that if anyone spied on them, they would have a better chance at noticing. Above all, training in empty, open spaces left less room for accidents, and more for experimentation.

The boy saw no one near it, nonetheless, he heard the clash of fighting echoing from a distance. With a squint of the eyelids he was able to notice movement in a further area. "That must be them," he thought before approaching.

The blows that Jabu and company traded were much greater than ever before, possibly because Marin had taught them proficient manipulation of the Cosmos the past days. Ban was the one sitting on a short ledge nearby, waiting for a turn to spar.

Marin clapped aggressively at some point. "Hey! Hey! You're done here!" she yelled. "Sit those asses down and rest." Without replying, they all quit their fighting and began walking to the ledge, but she placed a hand on Geki's chest to interrupt him. "Except you. Ban, you'll be sparring with him."

"Yes, Miss Marin." Ban got up and bumped fists with the colleague before they got to it. His wounded heart was not enough to shy him away from becoming a better Saint.

Jabu, Nachi, and Ichi sat at the ledge, drinking water and whispering, and those present noted Kiki's presence, swaying their heads at him. Eagle gave him a few pats on the hair, saying: "Did you come to watch some fighting?"

"Yeah!" the boy answered with a giggle. "I'm almost at the age to stop studying and start training."

She made a mess of his hair next. "You'll get there soon, but you should keep studying anyhow. It will make you a better fighter." As Marin went back to watching and yelling judgment to the sparring students, Jabu stared enviously from the background.

"Wow… Kiki always gets the good treatment," he said to Nachi.

"I wonder if she treated Seiya well when he was a kid."

"Nah, I highly doubt it. I bet she's harsh with all of her apprentices."

Kiki had come over to the rock whereon they sat and took a place beside Unicorn, crossing arms with a snobbish grin and a sideways glare. "You guys seem much stronger now," he told them.

Jabu chuckled to Nachi upon hearing that, and asked the boy with a teasing tone: "What about you, huh? At your age, we already knew how to fight."

"Master Mu says I'm too young, so all I do is study and do his chores."

The Bronze Saints elbowed each other playfully and laughed, ripping a frustrated expression from Aries' apprentice. "You can't become a Saint like that!" Jabu said.

"You know, I'm very likely to become a Saint! I might even become the Aries Saint one day!" he argued.

"Sounds like a dream to me."

Kiki looked to the opposite side and scoffed. "Well, what do you know? I'm being taught by a Gold Saint. I bet your master wasn't a Saint at all."

It was the other one who seemed annoyed this time. "S-so what? It's not because I wasn't trained by a Saint that I'm weak!" Jabu replied, the quickness in his speech a symptom of his insecurity.

"You're having to train with Miss Marin now, aren't you?"

"This is supplementary!"

"Sure, sure, calm down!" said the boy, both hands to the air as a sign of peace. "As I said, you guys look much stronger now. But tell me, were none of Shiryu's friends trained by Saints?"

"Not all of us. Marin used to be Seiya's master."

"Eh, really? He must be very strong."

"He is; just a bit too full of himself at times."

"What about Shiryu? Master Mu called him a striking personality."

"Shiryu? Good question…" Jabu nudged Nachi beside him.

"Hm?"

"Shiryu was trained in China, wasn't he?"

Nachi frowned the brow and thought for a second. "Oh, I believe so. I'm fairly certain he was trained in Rozan," he said.

"Right, I remember that." Jabu then looked back at Kiki. "But I've only heard Shiryu call his teacher 'Old Master', so I don't think he's a Saint."

"Interesting!" Kiki said. "Then there's hope for you guys after all!"

Unicorn tightened a fist and grunted furiously at the kid. "You're really trying your luck here, brat!" However, all the boy did was jeer and jump off the elevation. "Did you just come here to piss us off?"

He shook the head negatively in response. "Master Mu sent me on an errand, and I took advantage to come see you guys. Despite everything, I think you're cool!" he told, taking his leave.

"O-oh…" Jabu felt guilty for taking the boy's teasing so seriously "… okay then."

"Bye, Miss Marin!"

"See you, Kiki."

Walking off, the child went from a pleased look to a pensive one. "This'd better be of some use to Master Mu," he murmured and sighed. When he was far enough, he looked back at the training Bronze Saints and the sight of Marin, bothered by unwanted thoughts. "If you think about it, this whole thing doesn't sound good. It's an awful lot like Shiryu and the others are the traitors Sanctuary is after."