WARNING: Violence, injury, vomit.

Heart and Reason

Seiya and Aiolia pressed on with their fast-paced battle. From every corner that one escaped into or passed by, they continually met to strife. Above all the Bronze Saint wished to run away rather than risk hurting his friend, however, by virtue of some bestial instinct from Aiolia, an opportunity never presented itself. Even with his new, further inhuman speeds, he was either equaled or surpassed, pushed back into the hall of pillars over and over.

They traded many blows and often threw each other back with the force, the sound of metal against metal echoing loudly down and up the stairways. It was once their strikes hit more arduously that the effects grew catastrophic.

First Seiya aimed for the head, the easiest exposed part of the Leo Cloth, seeing that Aiolia wore no helmet in the occasion. This split the skin, covered the man in bruises, and came close to cracking some of the cheekbones.

Second, however, were Aiolia's successful slams, just as hard but coming with a dull sound as soon as they struck the Pegasus Cloth, because the material was quite weaker, thus Seiya felt each hit as if onto bare skin. This forced the Saint to pull back on swings, so that he would focus on avoiding the opponent's advances.

It was with careful tactic that he eventually cornered Leo, throwing a set of quick punches that were pushed off with both arms. Without calling for the technique, Aiolia grunted and rebound his body back and forth, producing many a streak of light with how fast his paw-like moves came.

Having awakened the Seventh Sense, Pegasus could surely dodge most of those now, nonetheless, even for him the might and speed of that Gold Saint proved to be too much, so he had to block a few descending strikes. Losing the pace, he was struck with a boot to be harshly slid through the narrow open area, coming to a stop by a column.

In that atavistic state, Aiolia worried not about the failings of the body, so he leapt in with promptness. Seiya flipped himself upwards to avoid the assault, then kneed the man's arm in the process before he could dominate him, although this further cracked his Cloth.

They bounced betwixt the temple's structure, Pegasus seeking to avoid the enemy in order to find his footing once more. It was during this chase that he found a chance, since Aiolia stopped and looked to the entrance in a moment of distraction. Because he was yet in the way and would with all certainty try to stop him if he sought to pass through, Seiya instead padded a fist with Cosmos and hit him square in the face.

The man's neck twisted and he was launched swiftly to one of the walls outlining the great room. Expecting an immediate comeback, Seiya only minutely took in the image of who had come in: Shun and the others, with the exception of Shiryu.

"It's you!" Shun yelled upon meeting him. "What's going on?"

"He's under a curse," Seiya responded in a hurry before Leo rocketed himself back into the fight. The kick he came with was defended by Pegasus' poor gauntlets, cracking more deeply than did the knee pads, but this allowed him to maintain control midair, flip, and rekindle the battle.

Despite being much weaker and slower, the other three got involved in the fight, June somersaulting and throwing the whip from behind. This was useless, something Aiolia effortlessly deflected, apart from the weapon's metal being outclassed by the materials of a Gold Cloth.

Hyoga did not hold back, stepping off the side of a pillar and punching with a shout: "DIAMOND DUST!"

This too came as worthless. Without as much as turning the head, Leo kicked right past the snow, aiming for Cygnus, but Pegasus was alert and pushed him brusquely with a shoulder. The two tumbled to the floor far from the others, where Seiya rolled off and parried a quick back-handed slap. From there he spun gracefully up, stepped back in, and pushed him with a palm heel to the stomach.

Aiolia had little balance for the while, so when the Andromeda Chain raced for him from both sides, he could only bet on his instincts and superior speed to not be trapped. While he was busy slapping them off, as brief as that movement was, it was enough for Seiya to pack up energy for a heavy punch close to the speed of a photon.

He had concentrated such a copious amount of power into it that Aiolia crashed into the bottom of a column, with force that actually cracked part of the marble. Thankfully, they had seconds of downtime before more clashes came.

"Don't even bother, just leave!" Seiya ordered his allies.

"What about you?" Shun asked.

"I'll hold him back."

"What if we can…"

Seiya took note that Aiolia had already stood up and leaned to stride at him, so he prepared to fly to his encounter. "LEAVE!" he screamed and did as he had to, their gauntlets meeting with a bang that overwhelmed a chunk of the hall.

Seeing how he busied Leo, Shun knew they would be able to exit without danger, so he breathed deeply and nodded at his two friends. They understood and, past the sound barrier, weaved amid the obstacles to leave that temple behind.

It was half an hour or so prior to this taking place that a final assault to liberate the headquarters for the Cult of Athena broke out in the grounds. Marin led troops that made quick work of the loyalists, who, unprepared and without the aid of Sagitta's army, broke ranks and routed after bloody resistance.

Because those who escaped met dead ends in alleys and streets, or the recent blockades set up by Shaina's soldiers to siege the academy, they had no hopes of a typical flight, so they either sneaked into citizens' homes or surrendered on the spot. Regardless of the past attempt on Athena's life, the rebels seemed slightly less incensed, meaning they were merciful and oft brought them as prisoners of war.

After the great Cosmos felt all across Sanctuary, it wasn't an uncommon event for the Pope's troops to defect or desert, although in their dire state, those caught leaving their side were often executed on the spot in exemplar fashion. With how degraded their positions had become, the last major stronghold they had on the grounds was the academy, which suffered a grueling campaign of its own.

Having led the troops to victory, Marin returned to the barracks in the center, where she exchanged words with Alicia as they walked: "Before you move over to Shaina, remember to tell the soldiers not to dare enter the headquarters."

"Why's that?" the girl asked.

"It's sacred grounds," she replied, "so unless someone from the Cult invites them, soldiers and amazons can't enter."

"Well, you can kind of see why the officers were worried. It wouldn't be surprising to have people hiding in there — or worse."

"Our spies will keep us posted on the situation inside," Marin said, and that seemed to pique Dolphin's interest, but she spoke on, "or never mind that, if we learn that the enemy desecrated the headquarters, they will have much worse to contend with after the war."

"Did you just imply we have spies in the Cult?"

Marin nodded subtly. "It's quite the long story," she said. It was then that they arrived by one of the entrances to the cafeteria, and they noticed inside a few injured soldiers and some Bronze Saints. Ichi was there and seemed to quietly sob while supported by Geki, while Jabu and Nachi leaned side by side on a table nearby, visibly saddened.

Lowering the voice, Alicia whispered to Eagle: "I'd better go."

The other gave her a tap on the arm as dismissal. "Tell Shaina she's first in command, with Ikki and Jabu right after," she informed her.

"Alright."

After several seconds taken to prepare herself, Marin sighed heavily and walked into the room, going to Jabu and Nachi straightaway. The first deviated his tearful eyes, whereas the second stepped off the table to give her the news she already expected, since she had confirmed the absence.

"Miss Marin, it's Ban. He…" the words somehow got stuck in his muffled tone.

The woman raised a hand and turned the mask to him as if to interfere. "Don't," she uttered. "Just don't speak the words."

Indeed he fell quiet, but Jabu amassed courage and approached next, displaying a lameness in the heel where the arrow had struck. "You have to let me go up as well," he told her.

"I can't."

He raised the voice, tears nearly rolling down his cheeks as he spoke: "This is personal for us too!"

An ill omen haunted her senses and Marin growled in response. "You will stay here and lead my troops while I'm out!" she commanded. Out of frustration and respect, Jabu looked at the floor and nodded, so she started to leave.

In her way to the passage, some guilt doubted her steps. She thought if perhaps she hadn't been good enough of a teacher, or if she had allowed the boys much more leeway than Seiya in his youth. Instead of being held back by such sentiment, she lashed at it furiously, slamming the corner of the wall with a great burst of energy. The Bronze Saints watched pieces of brick be reduced to shards before she exited, her next destination being the Ecliptic Temples, and hopefully the Pope's ultimate location.

It was many minutes later that Seiya and Aiolia's fight raged on after the Bronze Saints' departure. No interval came to it, as those under the Pope's curse did not mind weaknesses of the flesh it controlled, and this meant Leo dispensed energy without bother.

Of course, unlike the accursed, Pegasus began to feel exerted. In a vain hindrance, he got swept off the feet by a low move, but took advantage of the impulse to flip fully forward and land. He came back to instinctively slam an incoming strike with the elbow, then tackled Aiolia to the floor with a burst.

He continued in that direction while the foe recomposed, then disappeared by the obstacles near the entrance. Behind a column, Seiya caught his breath as silently as he could, but Leo's boots approached with exactitude to that very position.

Before the young man could slide to the next row, a block of marble was split by the opponent's golden gauntlet, crushing some of the form inward. Seiya avoided that by crouching and leaping to the distance, although he was diligently followed.

They kicked off walls and bricks in another chase, but came face to face near the core of the hall, where Pegasus punched the enemy right in the chest. Since Aiolia was caught by surprise and slid in abandon, he lost Seiya a second time, and got up to scan for the one he yet recognized as an intruder.

His every sense was finely tuned to the temple's dimensions, attentive to the crackle of every flame, every shifting block beneath his feet. Were he to ever falter, Seiya would surely escape, and that was his plan for that juncture.

After hurriedly patrolling gap by gap, Leo finally stopped near a target, but the person who took in his unkempt likeness was not the one he expected — it was Marin. She paused, recognized him, and took a slight step closer.

"Good, you're here. I felt a Cosmos raging, so I was wondering…" she told him with the same comfort they were used in speaking, but when she saw him threaten with his power, she became immobile. From the side, the evolving noise of speedy steps could be heard. "What are you…?"

"PEGASUS METEOR FIST!" Assuming Aiolia was about to harm her, Seiya did not think twice about his actions and sent him all the way to a faraway spot. When he had been kicked off, Marin was able to better observe the sheer velocity with which the two fought, and wishing to understand what took place, she did her best to follow suit and keep herself safe.

She avoided their lethal moves by staying away and anticipating where they would come next, but whenever she saw the possibility, she hindered Aiolia from behind so that he would not hurt her apprentice. In such a situation, Seiya threw him to the floor with a massive backhanded bash, opening up a window to exchange the shortest of words.

"What is going on?" Eagle questioned.

Seiya answered with haste: "I think the Pope cursed him. You need to pass through, Marin!"

"No!" she promptly countered, and again Aiolia recovered and attacked, this once targeting Marin from the get-go. Seiya held his pounce with the gauntlet, one so hard that it crushed through the entirety of the metal and blew the part to pieces, proceeding deeper to burst veins within the forearm and paint dark spots on the skin.

"Don't stay here!" the Bronze Saint asked and groaned from the pain. "If he kills you, he will never forgive himself."

"There has to be a way to wake him up," insisted Marin.

Aiolia swung the free arm, but Seiya retaliated much faster by kneeing him in the stomach, an act that opened a small distance between the two. He proceeded with a long uppercut to ensure his defenses were broken, and then pushed a palm into the man's chest.

This was not strong enough to stun Leo, who once more filled the vicinity with shining streams by means of the Lightning Plasma, and Seiya had to put his every effort to be able to dodge it. Marin, in the other hand, was not capable of seeing his moves with clarity, so she was slammed in the leg in an attempt to skip back.

To protect her, Pegasus yet again used all his weight and Cosmos to force Aiolia into the distance. "I can't think of anything!" he told her and dove back in to keep him occupied.

Marin had suffered decent but superficial scrapes in exposed parts of her leg, and only minor ones on her arms from a painful fall. Having stood back up, her only plan was to actively partake in the fight with the goal of dominating Aiolia, so that they could then find a manner to awaken him.

It was difficult at her skill, but upon approaching, she noted that some of their slowest movements were readable enough that she could safely step in, especially when Aiolia had his back to her. Even with all of this, however, she kept on missing him by a hair.

They became entangled in a series of substitutions, Marin distracting the beast as a bait, and Seiya constantly coming in to harass him and seek a fatal weakness. He eased himself from behind Eagle and kept Aiolia still with a fist to the belly, then a spinning elbow to the neck.

While being sent back, the Gold Saint twirled with a kick that was dodged, but he took note that his easier target, the woman, had vanished, and a shape loomed from above. "EAGLE DIVE!" Despite how fast and relentless was her descent, he avoided it by rolling in the exit's direction, and she left only a dent into the marble floor.

Seiya wished not to offer Aiolia any breathing space, in the hopes that his body would collapse before their own did. Howsoever fast he was, Marin could only back him up with sluggish moves in comparison, and so she was always deemed to be the best candidate for a victim. Each time Leo went for her, her apprentice threw himself from the side and protected her no matter the consequence.

The two men threw hands back and forth until the Pegasus Cloth critically failed a second time, an occurrence that separated the remaining gauntlet into large shards, and trembled the affected arm with piercing pain. This overwhelmed the Bronze Saint and allowed Aiolia to follow with tiger-paw strikes twice to the chest.

Marin flew in to push him back, but she was easily swatted off without the man losing a single beat. Unfortunately for him, a third Cosmos finished coming up the stairway and invaded the temple. This took him off-guard and therewith he was blasted with stupendous thrust into a pillar, and this meant the structure partially crumbled above him, the longest stun he had so far experienced.

The owner stepped off a wall and swerved back to the other two Saints, coming to a halt with golden and green sparks flowing from the boots. Seiya smiled at the sight, saying: "Shiryu, you're back!"

"What are we up to?" he asked.

In that moment they looked back to Aiolia's general location. "I want to pass everyone by him, but he's too fast and won't stop attacking," Pegasus explained, and as per usual, although the foe had fallen in a daze, he already stood and prepared to come back. "See?"

Before they lost the upper hand, Seiya crossed his advance at a similar speed, dodging and ending up in the distance. Marin and Shiryu ran in opposite directions in order to confuse him, but Aiolia's eyes naturally fell on easy prey.

Seiya never allowed her to be directly hit, but whenever he risked himself too much, the Cloth suffered the results. He feared he'd be without it if he ever reached the top.

Shiryu came to aid his friend imbued with complete ignorance, not at all measuring his own power, and beat Leo to a wall. The Gold Saint flailed a second, corrected mid flight, stepped off a wall, and insisted on going after Marin.

"If he keeps going for her, use it!" Seiya told his ally, but the two interrupted any chatter so that they could bar his trajectory, first with a kick from Seiya and then a heavy bash from the other, which was loudly blocked. Because that hit made the Gold Cloth vibrate around his skin, Aiolia wished to avoid the second swing that Shiryu gave, thus he swiftly bounced away from the motion.

"Use what?" Shiryu got to ask.

"You know what."

Somehow they understood one another well. They knew based on their fighting style and newfound energy that they achieved absurd levels of strength, and they knew that their techniques had grown more dangerous for it. Of any of the attacks known in that temple, there were only two that Seiya believed to be capable of neutralizing Aiolia, and only one would be willingly utilized.

He hunted down Aiolia to ward him off from Marin, but the man was nonetheless able to intercept her with a push of the body. Shiryu came close to sending him back with a double-legged kick, yet this glanced off the plate with how Leo slanted out of the path.

Seiya hurled his whole self in, head covered by unprotected forearms, and spread them with a blast of energy as soon as he was close. This series of moves lost Aiolia precious balance and made him nearly tumble back, but the boy wasn't finished, pushing forth with a front-flip mixed with a downward kick that carried such Cosmos his leg shone.

This, once more, brought Aiolia closer to a fall, yet such was not Pegasus' plan. He knew the next move would be defended, but packed it with the utmost impetus, planting a fist to that golden gauntlet. It was after this that the Gold Saint did his best to dive backwards in preparation for a fall. "Now!" Seiya signaled.

Shiryu had come from behind with an aura bright and intolerable to the eyes. Merciless, he checked Leo with an elbow to the back, putting him in the perfect position to almost immediately raise the opposite arm and detonate with terrifying power. "ROZAN RISING DRAGON!"

A tunnel of energy ascended somewhat diagonally from the ground, and with immense push, it collided with the ceiling, shattered the top of a column, and sunk that section to the foundation. As she witnessed how fearsome Shiryu's Cosmos was, Marin fruitlessly reached forth past the sound barrier, but she was only able to aid Aiolia due to him trying to dodge on his own.

Regardless, his arm was momentarily struck by the Rising Dragon, and so that part of the Leo Cloth had become hot to the touch. Underneath, his skin burned, but the curse was never afflicted by the pain its host endured.

"Marin, don't!" Seiya called, and they had already rolled onto each other.

Aiolia got released from below her weight and pushed her off. Pegasus plunged forward to pepper him in punches, though Marin assumed the function of a shield and took the violence in full. "No, you're going to kill him!" she said.

"It isn't him!"

"It is, I know he's in there!" she argued, but Aiolia shoved her to the floor and lunged in to strike her face, this being enough to finally separate the mask from it. In that split second, he was able to take in her exposed features, something unknown even to him; almond brown eyes; a youthful yet long, straight, and slender nose; delicate lips between ever rounded, tapering cheeks; and fair skin under a faint sheen of sweat.

He paralyzed and suddenly a torrent of questions and feelings drowned out the deafening voice of the Pope's control. That mien before him was no simple woman, but the face of a female Saint, one that carried a portion of Athena's blessing; and much more than that, it was the face of one he was most passionate of.

She stared him in the eyes without shame, haply with some determination. The Bronze Saints watched in awe that he no longer seemed intent on chasing or hurting her, that such a simple action could have grand effect, and so Seiya no longer blamed Marin for chastising him over Shaina's face. It could be that she had a point of its sanctity.

"Aiolia, I would never hurt you, and I'm sure you feel the same way about me. You have to be somewhere in there," Eagle said. "You have to!"

An anguish he could not comprehend tied around his throat, and it was only comparable to one not in a distant past, a memory that flashed past the senses to be relived in seconds as long as minutes.

The view of Marin's face folded into the arresting spectacle that was Sanctuary's open, starry sky, and Aiolia walked over rock to somewhere in the outskirts of town. When he looked forward, in fact, he saw her in the mask, despite her being dressed in civilian clothing, as he was. Leaning over a boulder, she took in the sight above and relaxed.

Once she heard the man come hither, Marin turned. "Hey," she muttered.

"Finally getting some rest, yeah?" he asked.

She chuckled and nodded, saying: "He went to sleep earlier today. I might've gone too far with the aerobic training, so he was exhausted."

Aiolia looked up at the stars and smiled. "Seiya always does his best — admirable."

"By the way, tell me..." she caught his attention again "… have you found something to do? The Pope can't leave you on the back burner forever."

"I have… been called for something," he spoke pensively.

When Marin fully looked in his direction, she paused a few seconds, curious on whether that meant good or bad news. "Sounds interesting. What is it, anything exciting?"

"No, quite the opposite," he replied and shut the eyes. "Earlier today I was given my duty call."

"That means…"

"I am to don my Cloth and stand guard at the temple until further notice."

She still appeared bemused, so she stammered and stared at the ground beside her in awkwardness. "It's fine, don't… don't fret over that, it's a temporary thing," she said.

"Of course."

"We expect these things, being Saints and all."

"I suppose so."

"You are the Leo Saint, so you must do as the Leo Saint did throughout history."

Realizing that they would not speak beyond that, Aiolia took a step back and spun halfway to the direction whence he came. "Excuse me," he said, "as I must arrive in the temple by the end of the night."

"Mhm." Therefore he began to walk away, yet Marin's thoughts of their future plagued her. "Oh, wait," she nonchalantly uttered and stepped off the boulder, so the man stopped walking and looked back. "You can still come down to the grounds every now and then, isn't it? So we can eat together and count the stars."

Leo responded by shaking the head negatively, a truth she knew well already, but that she formerly expected him not to conform to. "Not until I'm discharged," he told her.

"Sure, sure," she accepted with a shrug. He went to leave once more, but Marin walked behind him and hastened the pace to cut the space between them. As soon as his back came in reach, she stole and embraced it, side of the head tucked into its flesh. To that Aiolia could only look down as a lament. "I… I don't know…"

"Hm?"

"… if I will see you again," she finished.

To that he deeply desired to respond, however, in the occasion that he did, he feared Marin would be as hurt in their separation as he already felt. "Marin, I…" he took a deep breath and allowed her warmth to intermingle with his, fighting heart in favor of duty "… I must go now."

He walked on and she allowed her arms to untie from his outline, possibly for a last time. Thereon they no longer conversed, and she stood aloof, seeing that familiar shadow diminish in the distance. At a loss, she embraced her own arms instead, and once he could be seen no more, she came back to the boulder. This once she gazed not at the stars and galaxies, more at the nothingness of the stones below, a fitting image.

That vision forcibly blurred out, and Aiolia, now back in the Temple of Leo and faced with her dark eyes, felt struck by an intense migraine. His fingers stiffened and reached for his head, groaning with how every minor shine near him became too unbearable to withstand.

With an abrupt shout, he fell back and the pupils lost that strange gleam previously pervading them, despite them remaining as dilated as before. He whimpered and forced out a hoarse groan, since he fought the curse similarly to when it had been initially cast. Marin crawled over and held his shoulders, following the aimless wandering of his gaze.

"It's fine, I'm here with you," she whispered, but he blathered nonsense, spit dripping from his lips.

"Get out… of my head!" was the best he could muster.

"What are you feeling?" He put effort into a description, but a shrill feeling enveloped his brain and made him force the skull against the pillar behind him. Marin did not allow that and softened his forehead with a hand. "Stop doing that!"

The more she attempted to meet his eyes, the more they strayed from sense. Unable to give him the ground he needed with reason, she did so with heart, and fully embraced him from the front the way they weren't able to in his leave. Sweaty and wet-eyed, he moaned less aggressively, sheltered by a beloved shoulder.

"That bastard… made me try to… he made me try to kill you!" he said.

"It's okay, it's okay. You're back to me now," she soothed him and caressed the back of his messy hair, while the shadows of Seiya and Shiryu approached to check on them.

In that moment Aiolia pushed himself aside, retched and contorted, so the Bronze Saints gave space. "Oh." He came to empty the contents of his stomach, of which he had very little, a sign of how long he had gone without proper meals.

"Aiolia!" Marin called for him, but he had gone weak and limp, perhaps the exhaustion of the battle kicking in at once. Before he fell over that pool of filth, she took him and rested him on her lap, where he continued to heave. Sure that he was too out of it, Marin warned, although she did not raise her face to them and did not pull the hair off her eyes, lest they see her too candidly: "It should take a while for him to recover."

"So he was under some form of mind control," Shiryu assumed.

Seiya was reminded of when they last saw him in Japan. "He was tasked with coming back to Sanctuary after we met in Japan, so there is only one person who could be responsible for this," he said.

"Certainly the Pope's doing," Eagle concluded. "Once he's a bit better, I'll continue up with the rest of you."

But seeing a man he believed to be so strong reduced to a sickly, weakened muddle, was enough to impact Pegasus greatly. He stared some more at the unrecognizable expression of a Gold Saint, an elite atop Sanctuary, and wondered if he would even survive on his own. "Maybe it's better for you to not go up at all. Stay and take care of him," Seiya suggested.

"You don't understand," said Marin, her expression to Aiolia a more nurturing rather than pitiful one. "After this and everything else I have gone through, I need to make sure that man doesn't leave Sanctuary alive."