WARNING: Violence, blood, injury.

Redemption

After another long stay at the hospital, having withstood injuries more severe than his last admission, Seiya felt anxious like never before to leave that place. With the Saints so far away, his single occasional visitor was Shaina, who could only come every now and then, as she was responsible for scouting the area and ensuring his safety.

Discharged, Seiya was rolled on a wheelchair down the reception, towards the front door. The sun outside was punishing and the sky was blue; this only made him excited to feel its natural warmth on his skin again, as he had naught but artificial light for over a week. "Aaah, it's so sunny outside! It's like the day is greeting me back out!" he said. The nurse pushing him smiled behind, however, she stopped shy of the sidewalk, making him raise an eyebrow and turn back. "Huh? Excuse me, you won't let me outside?"

The woman trembled nervously and looked from the corner of her eyes. "N-no, sir. I'm supposed to wait until your ride arrives", she explained.

The Saint sighed loudly and let his head hang back. "No way, I can't stand hospitals anymore!"

"Sir, Miss Kido said she was already leaving when we called."

"But she's on vacation or whatever, she's super far away, it'll take a decade!"

"I can't let you leave until she arrives. My apologies, sir."

"Aw, man! I can totally walk, can't I just get up and go?" he asked, but the nurse shook her head negatively. "My legs are fine, I bet I could jump over this whole hospital in one go. Come on!"

"No, sir. Please," she said, knowing he was most likely capable of said feat. She trembled a second time when he tapped the wheelchair's arms, seemingly unaware that a young Saint like Seiya was completely harmless to an innocent such as her.

"I'm gonna lose it here! Hurry up, Saori!"

In the midst of the densest portions of the vast park beyond the sidewalk, another pair of boots landed, and their shine made their owner obvious. The Gold Saint strolled in the hospital's direction with the clear goal of reaching it, but stopped a second upon sensing something strange.

Under the protection of the Leo helmet, it was Aiolia's eyelids shut in deep focus. He crouched and took a pebble, and it was clear to him that some of the shaking branches above were not a breeze's doing. As he stood, he looked to a shadow and threw the stone, hitting a shape that skipped from tree to tree beforehand.

This person stopped, the purple-stained boots being clearly Shaina's, and remained silent for several seconds. It was undeniable that she had been found, and that it was wasteful to try and escape the instinct and intuition of a warrior so refined, thus she dropped to the grass and revealed herself fully. They stared a little longer, taking in the situation and keeping their distance.

"Shaina, I didn't expect to meet you here," Aiolia said, but she seemed to ignore his words. "What is it, do you no longer recall me?"

"I know who you are, Aiolia", she ultimately responded.

"The Pope told me everyone he had sent got defeated."

"He was wrong."

"Evidently."

After a few more tense instants, Shaina broke the silence next, testing the waters: "Do you have news from Marin?"

Leo sighed impatiently. "Let's skip the usual, can we?"

"Alright. I have been stalking this place for the week, it is a waste of time to be here," Shaina said, and her tone went from the robotic and terse to her usual severe one.

"Hm. So where's the target?"

"They abandoned their headquarters in this city, and now have gone incognito. I entertain the possibility that they left Japan entirely."

"And what makes you think that?"

"I have seen them travel back and forth from Japan in the past, so it is only natural…"

Aiolia interrupted her: "Your lying tone hasn't changed since your teens, Shaina." At that Shaina went absolutely quiet and slid a foot forward, readying for something. "What's going on? What are you hiding from me?"

"It does not matter," she said. "I will have to die keeping you out of that hospital either way."

"Shaina…" His eyes were drenched in deep worry, shocked at the prospect of what was about to ensue between them. He wished that she would tell it was all a misunderstanding.

"Take as long as you want. The longer, the better for me."

"You're the last person I'd like to fight," said Aiolia.

"Then leave."

"That I cannot do."

"Then there is no other choice."

He shook his head in disbelief. "You are bitter, rash, maybe rude, but not evil, not a traitor!" he insisted, voice clearly rising in emotion. "You are not this!"

"Regardless of what I am, I will not allow you to enter that hospital."

"Why?"

"I am here to protect a person's well-being," she explained.

From those words he concluded his disappointment: "Then you are a traitor." Again she went silent, no longer bothering with semantics. "You, the young girl I saw go from a dedicated amazon to an elite Saint, must now be a traitor, as that hospital is the enemy's. It is owned by the Kidos, the family behind a conspiracy to kill Lady Athena."

"I could not care less about the Kidos," Shaina harshly responded.

"Then what…"

"It is someone else I protect!" she corrected him.

"Who?" Aiolia shouted, both confused and exhausted.

She paused in thought for a moment. "I refuse to say."

The Gold Saint growled out of pure, unbridled frustration and rose an immense burst of energy. Although Shaina burned a Cosmos her own, it came nowhere close to that one, which shone an awesome light, conjuring waves of heat. "I'm going through, Shaina!" he yelled. In silence, Ophiuchus simply lifted the claws, so he snarled, concentrating so much more power as to make his brown eyes glow yellow.

Following a muffled bang, Aiolia sent himself in the hospital's direction, but somehow Shaina mustered such sudden potency in desperation that she intercepted him, bumping him aside. It was clear then that, through effort and concentration alone, she had dangerously neared the speed of light, and Leo understood how serious her duty was to her.

He swung a forearm back, and she clashed her own gauntlet with his, blocking the path further. They were putting so much pith into the strife that they grunted, although the more force Aiolia pushed with, the more Shaina vacillated until she was forced to put a knee down and shove with all her weight. "Get out of my way!" he ordered, but she had no intent of doing that.

Seeing that she was about to fail, Shaina went for a violent last push, and Leo shoved her back to separate each other. When he tried to go forward again, she dove in to undo his course, and this once he reacted by trading blows.

The two escalated to such levels that only light and thunder were visible zigzagging for an instant, before the amazon was thrown down to the grass. She stood as fast as she could, dizzied and feeling a pain in her hip.

"I don't want to hurt you," said Aiolia, yet with vain hopes of avoiding conflict.

However, Shaina showed no signs of giving up. "Too bad. You will have to do way worse," she said.

This scuffle of intense Cosmoi did not go unnoticed by Seiya, who, from the wheelchair in the hospital's reception, felt the peaks of energy and the echoes of a developing battle like a pressure around his forehead.

"Hm?" Seiya turned to the nurse and saw that she was distracted by some inane broadcast on television. Sneakily he stood and began to leave, but, with the movement, she eventually noticed him and sought to stop him.

"Wait, sir! You can't leave!" she exclaimed.

With that he increased the pace and ran, waving back to soften her worries. "Don't follow me, I'll be back! Emergency!" he said. When he bounced afar with aid of the Cosmos, the woman stayed back in the sidewalk, followed by some other hospital staff that chased the commotion.

In their continuing attempts to stop one another, Ophiuchus was thrown against a tree trunk, but before Leo could go towards the hospital, she launched her whole self at him. This bent him partially off course, therefore he stopped, pushed her, and spun her off with a shoulder strike. The Gold Saint's movements were so quick that his outline left a flash as he dropped her to the ground.

"So unreasonable…" he murmured, turned around, and moved again towards his aim. Once more Aiolia saw his efforts frustrated, since Shaina held his ankle and forced it, putting as much as she could into keeping him back. The man wanted to pull away without hurting her, but felt it would be impossible. "Please, Shaina, just let me go."

She looked up, raven hair falling on the mask. "I cannot," she said.

"Aiolia?" Seiya's voice spoke from a distance, and the Gold Saint's expression twisted into stupor upon hearing it.

Shaina looked to the side, let go of the man's leg, and dropped her face onto dirt in failure. "Damn it…"

Leo and Seiya seemed shaken, both utterly confused at each other's presence. "I didn't know you became a Gold Saint," the young man commented. "What are you doing here?"

"You ought to tell me that first," said Aiolia.

While Ophiuchus got up, Seiya inspired courage to explain the matter, yet the amazon attempted to stop him. "Seiya, get out of here," she pleaded, as he did not have the Pegasus Cloth.

"No! Aiolia should understand," he said.

Fully up, Shaina approached and waved her hand, saying: "Do not bother, just leave!"

"Marin was right in her fears," Aiolia said with a meditative tone, reminded of his last conversation with Eagle, "you are like my brother."

"What do you mean?" asked a lost Seiya.

"My older brother, Aiolos, the one who betrayed Lady Athena! The one who tried to assassinate her when she was yet a baby!" Whenever that name came out of his mouth, he seemed to become especially aggravated, if not indignant that he shared blood with such a man.

Seiya's lips parted, learning now what they dealt with. Aiolos was the Sagittarius Saint Athena had spoken of months prior. "You've got that backwards. He wasn't trying to kill Athena, he was saving her!" he said.

"SILENCE!" screamed Aiolia, his deep voice breaking and reddened eyes glistening.

Shaina had positioned and, despite being in some pain, lifted claws to the foe, but Seiya still wished to convince him. "Wait, the Pope sent you here, didn't he?"

"He did, and for good reason."

"The Pope is manipulating you! You have to listen to me!"

Aiolia proceeded to speak what was, to him, indisputable reality: "He has sent me here to finish the job Shura started when he killed my brother."

"Aiolia!"

"He has sent me here to wash my blood of betrayal!" he finished more intensely.

"Listen to me!"

There was nothing to be done, it seemed. Leo screamed and finally advanced, and Shaina protected Seiya by parrying the strike off with a leg, although the impact pushed her and nearly brought her to a fall. The young man jumped up while Ophiuchus came in for a counter, however, Aiolia was so unbelievably fast that in a brief interval he both struck her back and stepped up to meet the other.

Seiya was hit off the air before he could comprehend the movements taking place before him, then landed behind Shaina. She crawled and helped him stand, and he groaned from the intense sting of such a powerful, direct hit to the flesh. "Are you okay?"

"I am, just hurts a bit," he whispered back.

"Quick, get out of here. I can hold Aiolia."

When they noticed, the Leo Saint walked towards them less menacingly and more incredulously. His voice cracked as he spoke of a realization: "I can't believe that it's them I must kill. I can't… fate has cursed me from my youth till now. For what sin must I do penance to suffer this no more?"

"He is too strong," Shaina said, taking advantage of his emotive state. "We have no hopes of defeating him, so leave."

"I don't care!" Seiya yelled, and when he saw that Aiolia was about to charge, he cared not the lack of the Pegasus Cloth and charged back.

Of course that Gold Saint's greatness dwarfed his, and so he was thrown back once more. Had Leo not pulled back out of hesitation, he would've been severally injured, but before the man had courage to do so, Ophiuchus came in and rained a sequence of clawed swings. He so simply dodged them as if he could read her every move before it came to being, then parried some more, always pushing with enough force to make her bones quake.

With a small space open between them, Aiolia threatened her with a slower kick from above, and this she evaded by sliding below the raised leg; however, when she reappeared to slash him, he rotated and connected the second kick, strong enough to make her twist and tumble down.

She rolled, and so Seiya still came back with a storm of fast punches, which Leo initially allowed to miss by walking backwards. The last one was deviated with a slam to the wrist, and thus the Bronze Saint was shoved back with two palms thrust against the stomach. At that moment, seeking to let go of his inhibition to end them, Aiolia ignited in a raging Cosmos. "LIGHTNING PLASMA!" he shouted.

That fighter seemed to have been reduced to a blur of flashes for an instant, and a multitude of blinding light strokes descended from all around him. No matter how injured and slowed down she was, Shaina risked her life and, rather than futilely trying to stop Aiolia, embraced Seiya and covered his front as best as she could.

This came as a success, although Pegasus was heavily struck in a forearm, apart from a neglectful scratch on the face. That deep, rough, wide scratch on his skin was what the whole of Shaina's exposed body had turned into, the leotard being ripped in isolated points, flesh split open, blood spilling out mostly on the back, but many on the front. She had been hit hundreds — if not thousands — of times in a second.

Her Cloth suffered much more of the violence, and even with how reinforced it was, cracks appeared on it, and the mask got hit off by the vigor. When he was done and stood a bit away from the two, who had fallen onto each other, Aiolia closed the eyes in a baffling sense of regret.

"I told you… to leave…" Shaina's stern tone became breathy and feeble, like a dying murmur.

Looking in horror and covered in her blood, Seiya couldn't understand her motives for an act so foolhardy. "Sh-Shaina!"

"Idiot. You are always so… stupid." She stared up and let the hair slide off her face, revealing it once more. The scent was obvious now, and its familiarity excited long-lost memories; a subtle, natural lavender, mysteriously always coming from her neck and clothes. Those round, big eyes, which gazed on with hazel irises, were delicate in a way he never expected a woman like her to look, besides her straight-bridged nose and small lips.

"Shaina, you…"

It all made sense for a moment. Ophiuchus, allowing a window into her soul exposed, fell back into a moment she long suppressed. Masked again, her young self swung those beloved claws, yet in process of growing and sharpening. The one she sparred with in the amazon grounds of Sanctuary was a blonde girl, who would later grow to become the Dolphin Saint, who previously pestered Marin for training.

Around them were many other girls, most of which would not become Saints, although they surely would end up in the army's ranks. Under an ever starry overhead, three older women watched the training from above, sporadically exchanging observations.

Those long claws soon struck Alicia and slit the skin of her neck. Once she felt the piercing pain that came with it, the girl became filled with anger, saying: "Cut those nails!" Therewith she tackled Shaina to the ground, and the two used Cosmos no longer as a form of training, but as a form to hurt the other as much as they could. They fumbled violently on the ground, not the typical romp of pre-teens, but a perilous bout due to their knowledge as fighters. "I already told you!"

Alicia was then pushed aside, shoved to the rocks, and when Shaina punched her, her mask fell to expose a face of pale freckled skin with deep blue eyes. The other girl wanted to ruin it, and scratched it with all her might; she would've had free reign over it had Alicia not fought back and slammed the other's mask off.

When she gave Shaina a taste of her own medicine with her shorter, softer nails, their colleagues called the fight out. "Master! Master, look!"

"Hey!" the amazon in the center called and slid down a short fall and jogged in their direction. At that point the fight had devolved into grappling, Shaina having trapped her friend in an awkward choke from behind, although she still took hits to the head from the girl's forearm. When their master approached, they finally stopped. "Get off her now!"

Shaina rolled off and grabbed the mask as she got up, whereas the other girl sat a while longer to breathe before standing.

"What do you think you're doing, using sparring for your personal problems?" the woman asked.

"I lost count of how many times I told her to trim the nails, now look at what she did to my face!" Alicia replied, and the amazon examined the blood oozing from her forehead, nose, and chin. Shaina didn't bother defending herself.

"It's just a few scratches," said their master, "and you'll have the mask on, no big deal."

"Whatever! I won't train with her anymore if she doesn't get rid of those nails," said Alicia.

Expecting the other trainee to have spoken up at that point, the master noticed that Shaina was already leaving the area, only checking if the mask was left intact. "Where do you think you're going?" the woman called and ran after her, and when the girl turned with a frown, she saw that her face had smaller, shallower bruises of its own. "I don't know what has gotten into you. The nails can stay, but you'd better learn when to pull back, do you understand me well?"

"She hit harder, so I hit harder," Shaina responded halfheartedly.

"I'll be hitting harder than either one of you if you don't get along." The girl's eyes escaped hers when that was said, so the master knew she had absorbed at least part of her mistake. "You can leave, go fix those scratches," she said, and the youth obeyed.

Soon she sat in a lonely place, back resting against a rock. She curled up one of her knees and pulled the long leg of the unitard, which revealed a bad scrape. Around her there was nothing immediately revealing as a medicine, as Sanctuary was a mostly barren place, but she still passed fingers on the ground and grabbed some rock dust on them, which she then rubbed vigorously into the injury. The added friction hurt it further, so she twisted her expression in pain.

Whether this was a sign of ignorance or masochism, it could not be told, yet she kept repeating this and seemingly planned to do the same to other wounds on the elbows and face. What stopped her were shy steps crushing stones nearby, which she assumed to be another amazon's. Contrary to that, the one who came out was a younger Seiya.

As her mask was left to her side, she felt the face burn, a rush running through the veins. At that point Shaina felt paralyzed, for she knew well who that boy was. First he looked down at the bruises on her face, then of her arms, hands, and legs. "You're hurt all over. Did you get in a fight?" the boy questioned.

The young amazon looked away, then downwards, staying mute; so the boy crouched and looked at her dusty palm, then the tiny rocks on her bleeding knee. That up close, he had some faint clue of how floral her usual scent was, apart from the growing nails of the right hand, not much different from what it would be in the future.

"Wait, no!" he said, finally understanding what she was up to. "You definitely shouldn't do that! You know, that's just going to make it worse."

As she stared at the dust in her fingers — apparently at a loss — Seiya pulled a round tin container tied to a string on the back of the belt. He opened the lid, which was tightly shut, and revealed some orange powder in it. That's what he dabbed the tip of his fingers into.

"I'll rub this on your knee, it just burns a little," he promised and spread it over the scrape after wiping off some of the dust. Seeing that the pain it caused was nowhere near whatever she did before, not even a groan escaped her throat. He spoke in passing: "I know how it feels to end up alone like this, so I don't mind taking care of you. Sometimes we need a person to do us company a little bit, right?"

He dabbed some more of the powder and stared coyly at her face, as he thought she was rather attractive. In that instant their eyes met, but she understandably averted the gaze to stare at what he did to her knee, cheeks burning further.

"There. That's how much Marin tells me to put on, and it always helps," he said.

Suddenly something clicked in her heart. In one hand, Shaina's curiosity was piqued; in the other hand, envy deeply poisoned her, thus she did look back up, now with a subtle scowl. "You… should not be here," she warned, subdued and muffled.

"Eh? Why not?"

"You are in amazon territory. Boys are not allowed."

Seiya smiled brightly and scratched the back of his head, humming. "Oh, yeah, Marin is out on a delivery, and Aiolia is too busy to train me, so I started wandering and got lost. But I found you, so it was worth it!"

"Boys are… not allowed here," she answered, not giving in and maintaining the same tone.

"Is there a reason for that?"

Shaina shook her head. "They just cannot be here."

The boy pouted, annoyed. "Uhm, okay, never mind. As long as you don't tell, no one will find us out!" he said, then Shaina went quiet again, although this time her scowl diverted down to the ground. He kept on admiring her, but did not wish for silence to defeat him. "Are you an amazon too?"

"Yes."

"My name is Seiya. What's yours?"

Suddenly the amazon started getting up with the mask in hand, and the boy thought of pulling her up by the shoulder, until he was gently pushed apart. "I'm good. I have to go," she said.

"Oh, already?" said Seiya.

"I have to go back to training." And so she left without bothering to answer his question.

"Alright, we'll meet here next time, right?" he insisted. Shaina stared back reticently, then put the mask on when she turned back ahead, as she was ashamed. Feeling awkward but not wanting to let her leave without the slightest efforts, he gave his goodbye: "Good, see you some other day!"

The weeks passed, and never did she return to that place, although Seiya would visit, disregarding the risk of being caught by an adult. He did meet other amazons there, but never Shaina, not for lack of effort; she avoided him like the plague, and that way it would remain despite the fact that she secretly watched him from afar.

Around her colleagues, lying on top of a ceiling and watching the nebulae flow above Sanctuary, she was aloof and distracted while they talked sitting by the edges. It was rare that Shaina felt interested in whatever the other teens had to say.

"By the way, that boy showed up down there again, can you believe it?" Alicia told her friend.

"Really? What does he want there anyway?"

"I told him to stop coming, but he said he was after some girl."

The amazon laughed. "He thinks he'll get a girlfriend there or something."

"It seems like it." Alicia turned to Shaina, distant as she was. "Shaina, he seemed to be talking about you. Did you hear me?" There was no response. "Shaina?"

With the persistence, she raised her head and responded curtly: "Hm?"

"The boy seemed to be talking about you."

"What boy?"

"Marin's apprentice, you know who he is. He described a girl that sounds like you," the girl said.

"Dark hair, light skin, stone face… could be any other amazon," said Shaina.

"Smells like flowers, he said," Alicia commented that while audibly smiling, judging it to be entertaining at the very least.

Shaina didn't share her opinion, and clicked her tongue in disgust. "Heavens, keep him away from me."

The girls giggled at her predictable reaction. "What's the matter? It's not like he's ugly."

"Boys all grow up to be the same, drunk idiots who think they can fix anything if they punch hard enough. I don't want that in my life."

"Don't judge him like that!" Alicia said. "Some boys seem okay, and he does as well."

Shaina looked back up to the sky, replying: "Does he? He can't even stop going where he is not allowed."

"Because he's in love!"

"His love can bite me for all I care. I don't want him getting in my way to become a Saint. If I ever see him there, I'm kicking him out myself."

Alicia sighed through the nose and turned to watch the activity in the grounds. "So touchy," she complained.

But the years passed and her focus paid off. Not unlike Marin, Shaina became respected among the fighters in Sanctuary, and was appointed Silver Saint under the Ophiuchus constellation, two years before Seiya could have the opportunity of attaining his Bronze Cloth. Whereas in the years prior, Eagle and Leo had become too busy with Seiya to train her, it was no longer training that she requested, but directions on where to go next.

It was one evening in Marin's stone hut that the boy who was to become Pegasus met that young woman again. The two amazons spent some time together, a maskless Shaina drinking coffee by a table, back to the door, while the other leaned against a counter.

"… and they said he has been a soldier for four years?" Marin said.

"Four years already, yes," Shaina answered after a sip. "A brute, but cannot use the Cosmos to save his own life."

Eagle chuckled. "I'd say it's worthless, but at least he should know how to fight."

"What do you think, should I take him in?" the other asked.

"With Seiya, well, I took him in when he was yet a kid. That does take a lot of effort, but he has an aptitude for the whole thing, so it's all about taking your time, being patient... with a man like this Cassios, you already have half of the work cut for you, it's the perfect first apprentice," she said.

"I will do it then, sounds like a good..."

Those words were cut by the opening wooden door, whence came Seiya, hurried to speak his mind. "Marin, I just saw… uh…" When he saw the dark hair of another woman in the room, lit by the lamps, he took an unsure step back.

"Hey, we're busy here," Marin sternly said. "Come back in a few minutes. And besides…" She approached him and quieted her voice for a sermon "… haven't I told you not to barge in like that? It's extremely disrespectful."

"No worries, I am done here," Shaina said, got up, and slid the mask back on. Only a slit of coffee remained in the ceramic mug. When she turned, Seiya was inquisitive of her identity. "I just wanted some of Marin's coffee again, is all."

Marin swatted Seiya's shoulder so that he would get out of the doorway, and he did after coming back to his senses. "Oh, sorry," he muttered.

Instead of leaving, Ophiuchus stopped in front of the apprentice, saying: "Should you not present me to him?"

"Seiya, this is Shaina. She's a Silver Saint," Marin said.

The boy proceeded to subtly bow the head in respect. "Miss Shaina, nice to meet you." With that angle, he had a glimpse of the dangerously long, meticulously sharpened claws she maintained, and wondered what sort of Saint would use that as a weapon.

"If you want to end up with a rank like mine, listen very carefully to what she says," Shaina suggested in reference to Marin. "Or do not. Be lazy, waste your chance, it will not be my problem."

"I-I'm not lazy at all! I listen to everything Marin tells me. I even do all those crazy exercises she puts me through without complaining!" Seiya replied.

"That last part is untrue," Marin corrected him, "you complain too much for my taste."

"Ah, Marin, come on! Don't make me look bad!"

"Hm," Shaina grunted and walked past the door, finishing: "Keep this one on a leash."

The door was shut behind her and Seiya furled the brow not only at what he heard, but at the strangely familiar scent left by her trail, one that satisfied him yet he nonetheless shrugged off. "Sheesh, what a scary type! Where do you know that woman from?"

"I trained her a while before I got my Cloth," Eagle responded as she took the dirty mug to be put on the counter. "She just got hers too, so you might see her around Sanctuary more often. I suggest not to get on her bad side."

"Why's that?"

"Shaina isn't fond of dumb men."

"A-are you…" The apprentice realized what she insinuated once she giggled, and so he raised his voice. "Ah, Marin, did you just call me dumb? Hey, you know how well I did on your last test, you can't call me that anymore!"

For each day that passed, Seiya's hopes of seeing that young amazon once more waned. Ironically, there was not a single day where she wouldn't think of how he made her feel. Ghosts within Shaina whispered she was not one to be cared for or loved, yet the boy incited notions both precious and shameful, that perhaps there was meaning beyond function, that her cynicism was on occasion ill-placed, and that she, too, had a soul. Regardless, to Shaina such venom seemed incurable, and in more mature years, the best she did to protect those rare gems was watching over Seiya's life and well-being without allowing him to connect the dots. For years she invisibly cared for him the way he did back then, expecting no reward but his welfare.

"I thought I'd never see you again, but you were there all along," Seiya said under her protection, powerlessly watching her blood bless his chest, as much as her eyes blessed his sight. "How didn't I notice?"

Insults came to Shaina's mind yet again — he certainly wasn't the smartest, but intellect wasn't why she cared for him. To avoid it, she nestled her face into him as soon as Aiolia's shadow loomed, expecting death's cold embrace.

In that state, Ophiuchus' body served as a living shield, and there was little Seiya could do without abandoning her. Taking reins of her weight, he pushed himself and pulled the ever limper amazon along, noticing that Leo yet debated the heinous act he was about to commit.

Minutes prior to this, a convoy of the other Bronze Saints had already reached the outskirts of the city, and headed towards the hospital with the intent of both delivering the Pegasus Cloth to the discharged Seiya, and taking the Sagittarius Cloth along, as they planned to stay the night there for ease. Although Hyoga, June, and Ikki jumped through buildings, much farther back, Athena and Shun were driven by a Graad employee.

Between high rises, Cygnus, the only one who didn't carry a Cloth box, stopped upon sensing peaks of Cosmos ahead. In that distance, the pressure was minute, but its constancy caught his attention, and so the others slowed down for him. "Are you feeling that?" he asked.

Ikki paid closer attention and nodded. "That is not Athena's," he said, "she and Shun should be far behind us."

"No, it's not as strong as hers, but still…"

"We'd better run faster," June spoke with a bad feeling. "Seiya and Shaina must be in danger."

With everyone in agreement, the three continued jumping to their destination, albeit putting much more energy into each stride. They would have to be quick, as Aiolia went through phases of denial, and even tried imagining the deaths of the two supposed traitors, which bittered in his chest and forced him to stray from responsibility once more.

"I have to… I have to do it," he nonetheless insisted, fist trembling.

"Aiolia, you're making a mistake!" Seiya yelled, and with how weakened Shaina was atop him, it was uncertain who protected whom at that point.

Leo gritted the teeth and burned Cosmos, letting sentiments of compassion and care escape him. "I have to do it!" he said, but a tear ran down his cheek.

"We are not the traitors here!"

Aiolia shouted with such force that one could've heard it damaging his cords. His eyes glistened both with horror and murderous determination, but this was unable to follow through. Flashes of energy encircled him, a metallic whip pulling back on the wrist.

He turned back in its direction, yet it was from the opposite one that he was properly attacked. "DIAMOND DUST!" Finally taken by surprise, Leo's gauntlet gained a thin sheet of frost, but he that promptly swung the arm back and sublimated the ice with the sheer heat generated by the Cosmos.

"That is…" for a moment he stuttered and dug through thoughts to remember where he had last heard that technique be used.

He looked to its source and saw Cygnus Hyoga, recognizing the constellation by the Cloth's motifs. The one whose whip was loosened and flicked to the grass was June, standing in front of the Sagittarius Cloth's box. And now, closest to him, he saw Phoenix Ikki, who blocked the way to his previous targets, steps away from the Pegasus Cloth.

"I don't know any of you, but you…" Aiolia said and nodded to Hyoga, cautious of whatsoever would come next "… must be Cygnus, the first sent to cease this madness. I know your master well."

"Will that make you believe me?" Cygnus said.

"No."

"Then it's a waste to bring it up."

"Perhaps by some morbid curiosity, I wish to hear you explain yourself."

"I was ordered to kill sinners who used the Cosmos for personal gain. Instead I met those Saints," he said, motioning to those around him, "people who fought to the highest of their abilities, even at the cost of their lives. Those are not the acts of traitors."

"How are you so certain?"

"Because I am a man of honor, so I offer my life for my cause. The last Saints we killed, they too were men of honor, and gave their lives with the belief that they served Lady Athena. Their loyalty was perverted by the Pope, the actual enemy!"

"You say that, but the Pope is the one who knows Lady Athena's will first hand. As it is, you have no way to tell what she wants, whereas he has."

With conviction in the Cosmos he met and the woman he bowed to, Hyoga spoke: "There is no greater authority on our Lady than herself, and it is directly from her that I take my orders."

"Heretics," Aiolia lamented and shook his head in frustration. "I can't believe it."

Since he rose Cosmos once more, so did the others, and throughout their debate, Seiya had pulled Shaina far and laid her by a tree trunk, so she was out of the way from the action sure to rekindle.

"We will be proven right, by reason or tragedy," said Cygnus, and at that point he assumed the swan's stance, an otherwise menacing move if Aiolia had no trust in his own abilities. The Chameleon Cloth gleamed iridescent, and the Phoenix Cloth radiated with Ikki's scorching energy.

Although Leo was the one to initiate the assault, Hyoga was somehow so extremely fast as to delay his arrival. From the side Ikki came with a fiery punch and unbelievably struck him, yet Aiolia nonchalantly spun in the air to flash out of view.

When they came to notice it, Ikki had been kicked harshly to the grass. Cygnus descended with a heavy fist from above, and once more Aiolia seemed to vanish. Phoenix had rolled, aiming to strike once more, apparently having noticed his movements in subtle afterglows.

Aiolia would not be able to easily escape the situation, so he instead chose to dodge every move sent his way for as much as two seconds, nonetheless, with June's whip pestering from behind, he turned with the intent of bringing her down. That was taken as a successful distraction by Chameleon, who suddenly sped out into crypsis and disappeared in a manner strange to him.

He raised an eyebrow and calculated that it was a part of their tactic. Hyoga came with a titanic, energy-packed kick that he evaded by sliding ahead, as he had braced for an offense. Ahead of that, trees were shaken by the snowy wind generated by the motion, and Ikki approached to take advantage.

It was shocking to him that those Bronze Saints denied any safe openings to a counterattack, but Aiolia had zero issue keeping himself safe. Each swing thrown forth by Phoenix loudly exploded in ember, with enough force to shake the ground whenever it impacted its target's gauntlets.

Leo continued to hold up once Hyoga appeared, even faster than the other. With the best of his abilities, he proceeded to step out of one's strikes and slam another's back. At that moment June propelled herself to connect both boots into his back, and rather than treating that as a trap, he explored it as an opportunity.

"LIGHTNING PLASMA!" He blurred out in a multitude of lights across the perimeter. Used to extremes of speed, June and Hyoga were almost capable of seeing through the technique's secret, and although they escaped and dodged some of the fast-paced sweeps, eventually they suffered through dozens of inevitable hits. The first was compelled to take big steps back to maintain balance, while the latter curled up into a protective position, shield held up above the head.

Ikki almost chased a bundle of lightning-fast attacks coming his way, but as they all inhumanly converged into one, he took them with a forearm and was pushed heavily. Without hopes of defending, he allowed his body to be flown far, rolled, and landed on a knee.

The Gold Saint's onset had not ended — he wished to end Phoenix's life before they had a chance to reorganize, however, Seiya drove himself as a human shield, beating the man's arm off course. Aiolia took a step back and hesitated, always having second thoughts before a potentially fatal blow on him. "Are you suicidal?" he asked, referring to his continuous lack of a Cloth.

On purpose, he threw a slower punch than usual, which Seiya countered by leaning back and throwing a faster attack, also eluded. From there Leo stomped forward and shoved a single palm to the Bronze Saint's stomach, so he fell near Ikki, who had just finished getting up.

"Just stay out of this, Seiya!" Phoenix warned and strode with a flaming uppercut, blasted apart with a mere slap from the Gold Saint. The next to advance was Cygnus, whose freezing kick crashed into Leo's raised elbow like blades of grass, and thus he was punted off in response.

Ikki and June had no paths to safely advance from where they were. All of their past ideas failed, and despite seeing a minute level of success in the beginning, it felt as if they fought an impenetrable wall.

"It's futile for you to try and beat me. You miss a crucial element, something well beyond your comprehension," Aiolia said.

After being helped up by Phoenix, Seiya stood with a groan. "Don't you get it, Aiolia? We won't give up, because we know we fight for the right thing!" said the young man. "No matter how hard the challenge, we will keep going and hold our chins up the whole way!"

Even hearing that, the only reply Aiolia offered was a reproaching stare, which turned to a pitiful expression when he watched Shaina standing once more, mask in place, bruises and cuts beginning to dry on her cracked Cloth. Pain notwithstanding, she lifted her claws with the same fighting intent she ever carried, showing willingness to die in the course of battle.

"Shaina, look at you. Was it really worth it?" Leo asked her, then Seiya positioned himself beside her with a fist put forth. "You two… there's no righteous cause here, it's all a ruse. You are apostates — you have murdered Saints! Why die in the name of sin?"

Yet another voice echoed, imposing but somehow tranquil and inoffensive. The Bronze Saints recognized it immediately as Athena, who said: "You misunderstand your colleagues' motives."

When Aiolia looked, he saw her in a white waist dress and flats, that luscious brown hair below a hard headband. Accompanying her was another Bronze Saint, Andromeda, who held the chains and came ready with the Cloth. The boy took a position in the circle formed around the foe, yet the goddess remained a step behind the line.

"And you are…?" the Gold Saint questioned.

"I grant you the chance to guess it, as I can affirm that you preside over the Leo Constellation," she said.

Aiolia squinted. "I'm not playing any games. Answer me!"

She shut the eyes and breathed in. "I am Athena," she admitted, and those three words came with serene authority.

A greater disbelief befell the man, then it mixed with feelings of anger, frustration, confusion… he nervously chuckled. "That's it, huh? The very core of this circus," he said, and that laughter grew more desperate while he theorized what happened. "That girl right there is the reason I must kill two kids I helped train and raise. Two good kids, dedicated people. That!" He pointed at her and his face soured, a hateful scowl replacing the former. "I will take her out first."

Calmly Athena opened the eyes, having expected judgment as with Old Master. She fearlessly stared him off without a single twitch to her muscles. "Do it. Kill me," she compelled him.

"But Lady Athena, it is unsafe!" Shun told her, reminded of the last time she was involved in fighting.

She softly nodded at Shun to reassure him. "I am prepared this time, do not worry." Thus she challenged the Gold Saint a second time. "Do as you wish. I will allow you an attempt on my life."

"Don't do it, Aiolia! This won't end well!" Seiya yelled, also resisting the idea.

But he wouldn't listen. Lowering the arm and raising Cosmos once more, Aiolia seemed resolute in ending that girl's life, thinking of her words as a bluff and their preoccupation as proof of it. It was when he watched her widen arms to receive him that he questioned her actual motives.

His eyes shone a bright yellow and so he launched himself apparently at the speed of light; the other Saints did their best to stop him, each slower than the next. The moment that Aiolia stepped off into the fray, he had already crossed past them with no effort. A blinding shimmer filled the park, casting shadows of trees and leaves all over the district; the sound of metal colliding deafened them.

The Saints looked back at what they could've only imagined to be a scene of terror, but indeed, they were astonished at the view. Aiolia did go through effortlessly, but another Gold Saint held back his fist to keep him from heinous error, and at first sight the Cloth he wore was the Sagittarius Cloth, evidenced by its sculpted wings and golden feathers adorning the circlet.

The details over its majestic golden surfaces were immaculate, depictions in white gold of hunts, centaurs, satyrs, and archery. The metal was oft decorated as if engraved with heads of plants and fruits across the cuirass, the belt, and the layered greaves. When Leo took a good look at that man, the one he saw was seemingly his brother, Sagittarius Aiolos, as youthful as he looked the day of his death, prepared to defend the life of the woman behind him.

Great strength was necessary to keep that arm back, but bit by bit, realizing what had happened, Aiolia let go of said force and teared up more. In front of him, for all intents and purposes, was a ghost whose leftover essence rose with Cosmos. "A-Aiolos? This can't be!" he stuttered.

Athena, who had readied to take his life in the process, was also shocked. When that man looked at the golden gauntlet he wore, it was unclear to him how he ended up in that position. "The Sagittarius Cloth… it helped us protect Athena!" he said, revealing himself to be Seiya.

Trembling, Aiolia felt like a younger self looking up at his older brother, and the memories this roiled enraged him once more. "In death, you still haunt us, Aiolos!" he shouted and punched the gauntlet, retrieving all lost strength.

Somehow Seiya held it and tackled him slightly back. Leo was nonetheless much swifter than him, pushing the young man aside with a powerful swipe of a leg, such that he rolled away. When Athena's image was revealed, he saw her with a palm raised; with a burst of Cosmos too high and fast for him to react, he was fully thrown back and lost equilibrium in the process.

This allowed Phoenix to slide from behind through the sound barrier and push his legs off center, and thus June flew in to kick him in the air, a series of successes that lost him his helmet. Flailing in the air a split second, he found ground and prepared to attack, making it a matter of life and death to defeat each and every one of them.

From opposite sides, Seiya and Cygnus approached with a barrage of attacks. With haste, Leo defended, but when he noticed Shaina's proximity, he was forced to jump up. Ikki followed suit, as did the two ends of the Andromeda Chain to support him; yet gliding above, Aiolia gyrated to keep them at bay with a blast of plasma, one that somehow disoriented the chains, an unknown possibility to Shun.

Aware that Ikki was busy flipping back to the grass, he focused on him next, flashing in that direction. Seiya did not allow this, using the Sagittarius Cloth's great coverage to meet him with its shoulder pad. He nearly fell back from the intensity, but Phoenix was rapid and relentless by producing a wall of fire from behind; Leo cut through it with an arm, remaining untouched.

Therewith Ikki became foremost, pushing with a palm. This was held by Aiolia and countered with a painful strike to the chest. Arching her leg sideways, June was met in the air with a downwards forearm and slid on the grass as she fell. Phoenix continued, rotating closer with a kick that got parried with force so much greater he faltered and tumbled back.

Hyoga was the incoming fighter, Shun aiding him this once. Somehow expecting this, Leo both swatted the chains like flies and dodged fluidly from Cygnus' dangerous blows. His every move was completed by the next, and he lastly came with a weak first punch, a stronger second with the opposed hand, and thus the Bronze Saint was thrown to the trunk of a tree.

Andromeda had not given up, and tools like his and June's were the most unbearable to deal with. Tired, he grabbed the ends and pulled on them harshly, and although Shun lost ground, he thought he had the upper hand. "THUNDER WAVE!" the boy screamed.

Leo frowned, grunted, and blocked the electricity from ever passing the surface of his Cloth. One could've seen a shine surrounding his hands at that instant, canceling the nearing current through means of an electromagnetic field. As quickly as they were both done, a pulse was generated to — like before — disorient the chains, and Aiolia took advantage to leap at the Bronze Saint.

Shun had nothing to counter him in that situation, and therefore he was body slammed, despite attempting to escape, sent spinning on the ground. From the side, Shaina dared attack again. In her weakened state, she had to put the wildest of efforts into each movement.

At first manageable, Shaina became a more difficult foe, seeing that Seiya peppered Aiolia with punches whenever decent chances presented themselves. There came a point when Leo parried the Sagittarius gauntlet with violence, and that was when Ophiuchus strode closer with the claws, nipping the shallowest of cuts to his neck.

When the sting deepened, the Gold Saint descended into greater fury. He took advantage of each hand to strike them back to the ground. The amazon fell more easily, as she was terribly injured, but Pegasus had the strength to crawl and pull her back with him. Ikki and June tried to get in his way, but they were both thrown aside one last time.

Aiolia marched towards his old friends and brief apprentices, the intent to kill palpable like never before. "I must do this. It will hurt me like none else, but I must end the two of you. I can't let this weight in my heart keep my hand from fulfilling its duty!" he said, lifting the same hand he just mentioned.

His Cosmos inflamed, yet Seiya looked up in confrontation. Were he to meet death, he would do so with fearlessness. That would not come to being, however, as Leo became paralyzed with awe by delicate fingers dug between his exposed hair.

Aghast, he had to accept defeat and subside the aforementioned Cosmos lest his trip there end up a total loss. It was the voice of Athena that soothingly spoke: "Much like you wish not to hurt the ones you love, I wish not to hurt those who are meant to protect me, whom I love more than I do my own family. If you put your fellow Saints in harm's way, however, you will learn my mercy is secondary to their well-being."

He could not understand how, without hitherto demonstrating a Cosmos greater than a Gold Saint's, that he was twice surprised by that young woman. Athena took a step back so that he could see her face, albeit with fingers threateningly aimed at his head as an extant warning.

The man turned stiffly. "Are you truly…?" he questioned with a gasp.

"I can assure you," she said. She took a glimpse of Seiya checking on a weakened Shaina and remembered Leo's response to the Gold Cloth. "You have called Sagittarius by his name, if I heard correctly." Aiolia nodded. "The man who raised me said Sagittarius saved my life. He took me in his arms and protected me from certain death."

"No, that can't be true!" Leo said, distrustful. "Aiolos threatened Lady Athena's life, and Shura punished him for it!"

"You have been lied to. Aiolos was an honorable man, and if not for him, Sanctuary and humanity would be doomed."

"No, no…" he shook his head. Memories of Sanctuary's prejudice of him for who he was, and for his brother's supposed treason, washed over him. "Since then I grew up being told my brother was an evil man. They cursed our names and our blood, all for what?"

Athena finally lowered the arm, and the other Saints approached the situation. "That explains why it was you the Pope sent, and not anyone else," she noted.

"How?"

"He used your past as a tool to push us back. He was sure that if you fought with your brother in mind, there would be little capable of stopping you."

"You can't expect me to believe in your claims," said Aiolia. "Do you realize how absurd they are? Lady Athena should be in her temple!"

"Surely, yet here I am, thanks to your brother. Had he not escaped with me, I would be neither here nor in my temple. My soul would be traversing the Underworld, or eternally gone."

Reason wasn't enough to convince him, and he said: "Aiolos was not a traitor… for years people believed in lies? The Pope wouldn't do this. It can't be, it can't!"

"Fine," Athena said with a kind smile, and once more she spread her arms as if offering an embrace. "I will give you a taste of my Cosmos, and through it, a confirmation of my identity."

She concentrated, allowing energy to flow from the soul within to the matter without. Her hair was lifted by the power, and the sunlight cast behind her crowned her alongside a white corona. That being the first time he also experienced that in full, Ikki raised the chin slightly and pulled off the helmet in reverence. A sense of duty overwhelmed the Saints, as if primal instincts precluded all reason. "So this is how Athena's Cosmos feels. I understand now," Phoenix said.

Her aura grew gallant, enormous, soon lensing the sights around her. A warm breeze touched their skins, the grass, and the leaves in the clearing. Leo stared at that girl in awe, eyes pooling with water that inadvertently ran down the cheeks. Assiduities permeated the air as if the goddess' feelings were tangible.

"To convey kindness and love through means of a Cosmos this grand…" he spoke, voice failing "… no denial withstands truth, and the truth is that this is the goddess we are meant to protect! Then this means that Aiolos was a good man. He was a good man!" Aiolia approached and received her embrace, basking in that comforting warmth. "My brother was no traitor!" When that realization sunk in deeper, his legs failed, and Athena leaned slightly to continue holding him. Leo joyously sobbed without scruples. "Our Lady lives thanks to him! Aiolos was a good man!"