WARNING: Violence, blood.
The Florist
Awakened from long darkness, Shun's vision blurred at the sights before him. The walls in Capricorn appeared featureless, though a person shifted in front of him. A gauntlet reached for his cheek and tapped it lightly, and incomprehensible speech spiraled in his skull, followed by cold sensation that washed over his joints to nail nerves and tendons. He groaned and went back to sleep.
More rudely, that hand slapped the same cheek such that his whole head shook, and he wakefully widened the eyes to see. A bright mask and red hair helped him recognize Marin, although the temple he saw himself in was unexpected — he last remembered falling unconscious in a frozen Sagittarius.
"Shun! How are you feeling?" Eagle said, her voice slurred in his mind still.
The boy groaned and uncomfortably shifted in place. "M-Marin…" he murmured and forced his back off the wall.
"Not too fast." Having grabbed under the armpit, she tried to bring him forward so he could kneel onto a leg, and they both succeeded with required care. "There. Do you think you can go on?"
Shun grabbed both elbows and gasped. "It's as if my bones just came out of a refrigerator," he complained and attempted to stand fully up, though this came with Marin's support. "Thank you."
"If you want to rest some more, I can go on by myself."
"Just give me a few seconds, I think I'm fine." Andromeda leaned back onto the wall once more and looked to the side, seeing Shiryu's broken state, apart from the pool and smudges of blood left near him. "Shiryu is…"
"He's alive," the amazon assured him, "just out cold. His cuts were shut by damaging the skin with ice. Someone did the same to June downstairs."
"That… that must've been Hyoga!" he assumed, seemingly more alert. "That means he survived after all."
"I hope he did, though Shiryu and June won't make it if we don't hurry up. Do you think you can run?"
Shun felt those lethargic elbows and knees, then, seeing the chains were tied around each arm, he nodded. "I'm somewhat sluggish, but we have no time to waste!"
The pair continued to the temple's backyard, and had to watch their footing over the cleft opened by the previous battle; they reached the stairway and skipped at great speeds to the next house, the frozen abode of Aquarius. Not unlike the prior, they found a scene of mass destruction.
It dawned on them that no Cosmos could be felt above if not the Pope's, and that this meant at least someone could be found under the rubble. Marin stared up at the ceiling, warped and twisted due to the absence of sustentation. "This place is falling apart," she remarked.
There was chilling mist inside, flowing ever downwards and then sideways, along the uneven surface of broken marble. Andromeda studied the surroundings and saw a golden glimmer react to the crystal light above. "Look!" he pointed, and Eagle jogged to it, since she was closest.
Hearing the cracking ice made her uneasy under that precarious structure, yet she was prompt in pushing the pieces of columns and cold stone from the body. "It's Camus," she told him, but Shun had already focused on looking for a sign of anyone else.
He knew deep down that Hyoga wouldn't be the kind to leave his master buried without care, and so his fears that he, too, had been taken by the damage grew more realistic. Marin knew from the sight that Camus was either comatose or already dead, but she checked for vital signs through an exposed part of his throat.
"I found him! Hyoga!" The boy finally ran upon meeting the pale shine of the Cygnus Cloth. He did the same to fully reveal him, and was kept aback at the vision of his state. The force which the Cloth could not withstand reduced the metal surface to shards, although much of it had survived with cracks or unscathed. Those sections unprotected, however, were injured without qualms; a few bones on the face had broken, the lips bled where they had not dried to a colorless shade, and the skin had been deeply scraped in the fall.
Shun lamented as he fell to both knees and dragged Hyoga's hair off his face. In that moment, a spark of promise filled him, for he saw air condensing under the young man's nostrils. He teared up and parted the lips into a puffy smile.
"He's breathing," Andromeda spoke in relief. "He's very hurt, but he's breathing."
Marin shook her head and stood in place. "I… I can't say the same for Camus," she commented, so they exchanged mournful stares.
"Are you sure?" Shun lied Hyoga on his side before approaching to check on Aquarius. "Maybe there's something we can do."
"He shows no signs of life, Shun. He's gone."
The boy descended to a knee once more and looked at the Gold Saint's face. Marin had closed his eyelids so that he seemed to sleep peacefully, but his injuries were even greater, and the helmet wasn't enough to protect him from the many impacts he endured. At that point the body could no longer sustain life, and he already decayed.
"Camus, why did you fight us?" Shun muttered in dismay.
"Maybe the Pope did the same to him that he did to Aiolia. It doesn't matter now, there's no reversing death," said the amazon, and thus she wandered towards the exit. "I have mourned enough for a lifetime. Instead, I will focus on killing that monster for everything he has done."
Shun turned to Marin and comprehended more and more of her vindictiveness. He got up and, without a word, was led to the next temple. His greatest fear was not the sure conclusion that was to be given to their undeniable enemy, but how that venomous spite would affect their hearts in the long-term. He feared that compassion could not resist intact in his soul after all was said and done.
They charged on to the Temple of Pisces, once more sensing a despotic panorama of Cosmoi, desertic apart from the Pope's. They were delighted to reach the porch and see that the garden within was organized and well-lit, lacking evidence of a struggle. This, however, could've meant their doom, had Seiya not visited Aphrodite in any way.
As soon as he entered and felt the breezy warmth within, Shun fell pensive at the sight and scent of so many roses. A flashback of the dead rose Reda had shown him in Andromeda Island came to him, and he knew then that his master, Albiore, had likely fallen prey to the guardian of that temple. Somehow he tempered those feelings, but a gut-wrenching sensation brewed in him nonetheless.
Aphrodite tended for the dirt in one of the flower beds, standing up upon feeling the entrants' energies. He respectfully bowed the head at the two, basket in hand like before. "Miss Marin, you have come to visit. Make yourself comfortable," he softly welcomed her.
Marin exchanged a brief stare with Shun and went around the fountains to accost the Gold Saint. "Has any Bronze Saint passed by you?" she asked.
"Yes, in fact, a Bronze Saint has ventured past me a while ago, despite my protests," he replied. "Why? Is there an issue?"
"Who was it?"
"He presented himself as Pegasus Seiya."
Eagle looked back at Andromeda once again, and although he could not see through her mask, her tone was preoccupied: "Come on, Shun. Seiya is in danger."
Aphrodite took a quick glance of the pink Cloth the boy wore and moved back in the blink of an eye, thanks to a lissom, quiet slide of boots across the floor. Having an arm spread, he disturbed red roses off the dirt next to him, and with this he formed a blockade that estranged the visitors.
Because he noted Marin stared in confusion, he took advantage to move further back and ensure he had space to defend himself, if it ever became necessary. "The boy mustn't pass," stated the Gold Saint.
"Aphrodite, what's the meaning of this?" Marin said.
He pointed to the chains using the basket arm. "I reckon he dons the Andromeda Cloth, is that the case? It's among the few built with such mystical chains; the Cepheus Cloth, the Cassiopeia Cloth, the Cerberus Cloth… to those I cannot allow passage."
"But you would let me pass."
"You can go, Miss Marin, but the boy stays."
Eagle clenched a fist and stood stiffly for a few seconds. Seeing that it would take longer to debate than to continue, so close to their goal, Shun urged her: "Go on, Marin, you'd better check on Seiya. I will stay here and try to go after you later."
She pended to respond a while, circling Pisces unscathed. "Don't get yourselves killed," she ordered in passing and left after her apprentice. The corridor became fully blocked afterwards, for the guardian stood right in its center, and he produced a gentle Cosmos that raised the cloak to gradually reveal the Cloth underneath.
The low and slim shoulder plates were layered in three parts, each displaying the same marine shape, like the fins of a fish. The gauntlets and greaves were no different, often ending with ornate flippers following the smooth, ribbed outlines on the bluish electrum. Petal-like formations were often centered with cloudy sapphires, polished down to geometric faces; they peppered every section, including the helmet, which the Saint did not wear at the time. The etching on the front was of the twin fish, mirrored and dancing in the foreground, while the most visible stars of the Pisces constellation stood watch behind. On the back, yet largely covered by the cloak, was carved the image of a comely youth pouring a jar off his shoulder, and from its stream of water fell a great whale.
Shun had little doubts at this point. Taking position ahead of Aphrodite, he let the ends of his chain touch the floor. "I have a few questions to ask you, Aphrodite," said the boy.
"Feel free to do so," the Gold Saint responded.
"First, why would you let Seiya and Marin through, but not me?"
"Because they're likely to fail on their way to Lady Athena's temple." Hearing that brought a frown to Shun's face, although Pisces was forthwith in explaining. "In the breakout of war, we Gold Saints are instructed to stand our ground. The Pisces Saint, above all, being the last stand among the Twelve Houses, must seal the path to our Lady. A road of roses has been our preferred method for generations."
"A road of roses?"
From the basket, Pisces took a single red rose, unbothered by its thorns. "We gift flowers to our loved ones and the deceased; we wear them to grace our hair and clothes; we pot them to decorate our rooms and furniture… but the roses of the garden you see here are not like the average," he explained. "No, they are rather bred as tools of war. Andromeda, in my hand I hold no ordinary plant — what you see is a Demon Rose." With a sleight of hand, he spun it and allowed the fragrance to paint the air, and so he looked away. "Their poison alone is minor, but over time and in great quantities, the largest and strongest of animals are reduced to stiffened husks. The stairway behind us is the longest of any in the ecliptic, and it is loaded with flowers like this one. Miss Marin and Mister Seiya should be falling unconscious at this very instant; by tomorrow I will be able to give them aid, but until then, it is too dangerous for me to tread that road."
Shun seemed infuriated by what he heard, and said: "Even knowing they would be poisoned, you let them through! Why would you do such a thing?"
"I warned Pegasus, who did not listen. Now, Miss Marin…" he breathed out in thought "… knows of the flowers as well as I do. She left the temple accepting the peril she currently faces. You, ignorant or otherwise, are a different case — with those chains you carry, I fear you may find a manner to bypass it, hence why I held you back."
"Fine," the boy accepted and moved on to the next question, "but I still want to learn something else. You mentioned Cassiopeia and Cepheus."
"Indeed. They also bear chains like yours, so I'd be too wary to let them past me."
"Then you must be aware that Cepheus Albiore was my master."
Aphrodite shut the eyes and lowered the Demon Rose he so carefully held. He took a few seconds to come with a satisfying reply, though it soon arrived: "And I am also aware of your infamy, Mister Shun."
It all became perfectly clear in that moment. Shun breathed out the fury that built up in his chest. "You…" his voice cracked out of pent-up emotion.
"Though I aspire for mercy, I am also bound to Sanctuary," said the guardian, "thus I am obliged to do as the Pope orders me to do. Can you understand?"
"The Pope… the Pope is a damn traitor!" Shun growled. His eyes filled with water at the hopelessness of their state, with dear friends lost, a master fallen, and a goddess perishing. "You follow the orders of a traitor, Aphrodite! What does that make you?"
"A Saint," he simply replied. "I know not if you speak your truth, but I speak mine, and my truth is that the Pope's orders yet stand."
Shun subdued that revolt as best as he could. To that extent, the chains shook, perturbed and reaching closer to the one ahead of him. "No matter how I feel, it would be wrong to fight you," he spoke between the teeth. "That doesn't change the fact that I must try and help my friends. I need to make sure that they can reach the Pope, that we can save Lady Athena!"
"My desire not to hurt you is secondary to my role, and so this makes me ponder, what if I am wrong, and you speak the truth?" the Gold Saint proposed. "In that case, you need only reason further — a friend once taught me courage without power is foolishness. Since then, I've also come to learn that righteousness without power is a recipe for disaster. I cannot know for certain, but if your end goal is to save our Lady, then I hope you and your allies are victorious today. Abandoning my duty, however, is not an option I'm wont to pick."
"Then there's no other way," Andromeda whispered. Sliding a boot forth, he allowed the chains to finally reach towards Aphrodite's legs in an attempt to immobilize him, but the guardian stepped off into a flip which sent much of the basket's flowers flying. From behind the cloud which they shaped, he sent that red rose raging for the Bronze Saint.
There was no dodging the speed at which that stem preyed him, especially being so focused on trapping the enemy. Shun was only able to lean back by the time that stem lodged into his shoulder plate, penetrating the flesh within. A freezing sensation followed the sting, and once he pulled the flower out, some blood oozed with it. Numbness beset the skin surrounding the wound in a matter of seconds.
Hunting a Gold Saint with that method was proven fruitless, perhaps dangerous. It came to be that Pisces was no longer being targeted, but rather targeting his visitor, bouncing wall-to-wall and raising plants into the air with cold winds as he did. His steps brushed lightly over hard surfaces, and he could maneuver acrobatically along corners, often hidden by the cloak or the walls of petals he produced.
Each time a Demon Rose threatened Shun, he raised the chains to push it away, though they moved too fast to be met by the metal. He was thus hit on the inside of an ankle, on the hip, and on the back. Because he could not remove the stems faster than they came to strike him, he spun the circle end about him and shouted: "ROLLING DEFENSE!"
That sparking sphere of rings, spinning as it did, became a nigh impenetrable wall for Aphrodite's roses, or so it seemed at first. He landed back onto the corridor, right behind the fallen basket, roses floating like escaped butterflies in the air. "Impressive, Mister Shun," he murmured alone and grabbed a black rose among those that rotated nearby, which he swiftly licked at the tip. Using two fingers, he pinched the saliva, and revealed a Cosmos the likes of Camus', freezing the substance to a sharp point.
Pisces therewith threw the stem, and it nonchalantly crumbled part of the chain to pieces. Andromeda looked in shock while the Rolling Defense's regular pattern wobbled to expose larger cavities and weaknesses. Yet another black rose was thrown that way, and not only did it explode a further section of the chains, but it also passed close to the boy's face, slicing a strand of brown hair and a piece of the Bronze Cloth.
"What is this?" Knowing that he could soon be left without his precious tool, Shun undid the defensive move and attempted to spread chains around the opponent, but the circle end had been separated from the rest, and only the square end responded. "My chain, no!"
His last shout echoed once Aphrodite aimed at the oncoming point, and the flower he used split through the material like knife through butter, so it was reduced to scraps. That done, he took steps back to better block the passage. From curled fingers spread, he revealed to now carry many flowers with stems betwixt their folds, and three of them were of the darkest hue.
"Are you hurt?" he asked, the Bronze Saint doing little but stare at a loss, processing what had taken place. "These are Piranhan Roses. They can sever the hardest of bonds, or penetrate Gold Cloths such as my own. I wished only to stop the chain, so I hope you haven't been struck by accident."
Shun sighed and let the chains come loose from the arms. "This was your concern, as you told," he remembered. "Since it has been reduced to shreds, it's safe for me to go after Marin and Seiya now."
Aphrodite shook the head left and right. "Oh, no, I'm quite observant, you see?" In that moment he skipped flowers from the right hand to the left, letting them arc near the face before they landed amid his fingers. "Your chain appears to be your mercy's greatest tool. It is used as restraint for your power, and what you have shown is that your Cosmos controlled more than just the metal." As soon as he finished exchanging flowers hand to hand, only a Demon Rose remained sinister, which he raised close to a cheek. "I'm no fool. You could sweep these flowers off the stairway with the stroke of an arm."
Without further escape, Andromeda gave exactly what the guardian expected; he burned great energy and grew a set of charged winds that ever so slowly disrupted the garden's calm. His magenta aura burned and spun with the spirals, therefore petals loosened to further coat its path. Pisces did not await his foe's action, sending a red rose to continue to weaken him as quickly and safely as possible.
To that Shun reacted by blasting the flower with a gale, although Aphrodite had already flown to a corner whence he threw another Demon Rose, this one with greater velocity. Howsoever the winds decelerated it, the stem penetrated the surface of the Andromeda Cloth, only centimeters away from flesh.
After having twisted around the boy's perimeter, Pisces resorted to throwing a blood-red bouquet with the right hand, and the petals exploded in the Bronze Saint's thunder, spread by fluid motions. The more they broke, the more their scent intoxicated that space, and Andromeda sensed his airways falling numb. He pushed the Cosmos with a palm, for he sought to summon a gust so harsh it would find its way out the temple and wash any impurities faced by his allies, though this was met with resistance.
Aphrodite softly landed on the corridor, the air ahead scratched with petals and frost. That freezing energy of his shone a pale gold, and the gust was instead deflected by the interaction of temperatures, for Shun's aura was as warm as the hall tended to be. While the winds looked to spun clockwise, the boy forced them to move the opposite direction, and with this he generated an increasingly severe vortex that shoved the water of fountains till they became mist.
The Gold Saint's recourse was cocooning that twister with a wall his own, composed of crumbling scarlet petals and sheets of fleeting snow. "BLOOD ROSERY!" he shouted while bringing both hands together. Buds seeped wherever allowed to free the way for the rest, and soon Shun had been swallowed by the frozen remains of Demon and Piranhan Roses.
His own maelstrom further fueled Aphrodite's ability, therefore he gained superficial cuts, many a crack to the Cloth, a few shards lost, and a prevalent aching on the skin. To stop the pain, he rather pushed the flowers outwards, and thus he was freed until a deeper stiffness assailed him.
Shun growled and took a step back before falling. The nerves barely responded, twitching, feeling as if padded with thousands of ants. That cold sensation only caused piercing pain, yet it was nowhere near his dizziness and confusion. Both arms failed to hold the torso up, so he fell a second time and eyed Aphrodite only by virtue of his will to fight.
Because such sight pained him, Pisces approached to meet the boy's injured visage. His face was covered with minor bleeding, as were exposed parts of the body. "Forget this, Mister Shun," he asked of him, "so that no more lives are lost by the end of this war. In the event that you speak the truth, I'm sure we can solve this later. Be patient."
"You don't understand…" Shun faltered to finish, gasping at a pain in his hand. The fingers crumpled to shove nails in the palm, an involuntary movement. "If her life is lost… we…"
Aphrodite squinted out of worry, taking that there had to be truth in what he heard, although he could not know whether it was by virtue of Shun being deceived by a higher being. "It's fine, you speak the truth," he feigned acceptance, henceforth the boy looked at him with furled brows, shocked. "As soon as it's safe, I'll check on the two of them, and then confront the Pope with your grievances."
"No, no! There's no time!" the Bronze Saint yelled and nearly curled to a ball. Soldiering through the pain, he planted a knee over marble.
"Stay down, Mister Shun. The poison has impaired most of your circulatory system. Don't do anything dangerous." At that moment he turned around and walked towards the exit. "Allow me to check on the situation at the road, then I'll bed you to rest."
Disregarding the weakness in every limb, Shun continued forcing the muscles, but no balance ever came. He stared on to see Aphrodite's cloak dangling while he neared the end of the corridor, then gritted the teeth at the thought of their efforts being in vain. So he began raising Cosmos, frustrating the other's solution and stopping Pisces in his tracks.
Because that power was neither lower nor higher than what had been exhibited before, he only turned to confront Andromeda's persistence. "There is only death if we continue," he said, "for you and everyone else. Just rest, I promise it will be alright."
That anguish nearly overwhelmed Shun's heart, such that he teared up and so soon wept. "There's no time," he muttered, though Aphrodite could not hear. In the exasperation of defeat, ingrained memories echoed like stakes to the skull, the kind to put even his very Sainthood in check.
Ikki faded above him, a judgmental stare. "I pampered you your whole life, so you grew up too soft," he spoke and aimed an index at his sight. "Maybe you will understand once you know suffering."
The voice of Shiryu interrupted him, and the same's image faded from the opposite end, saying: "Shun could probably kill you in an instant, but he's a pure person. As his ally, I'll make sure he doesn't need to get involved. I will win by my own merit!"
Right ahead he took Hyoga's semblance. "Fate?" he scoffed. "I believe no one and nothing is destined to anything. It's up to circumstance and action where we end up."
"Maybe you were right in way," Shun murmured, a vanquished grin to the corner of his lips. "If I am not fit to be a soldier, it no longer matters. That is what I have become. I am one among Athena's soldiers." The boy shut the eyes, burned greater with Cosmos, and stood onto those battered legs as if by some occult force. "I will kill and die to protect her."
The winds were reawakened, and Aphrodite fully faced him one more instance. He pushed the cloak back and somehow revealed himself to be holding three roses; these were neither red nor dark, but the most undisturbed white, stems bearing the sharpest of thorns. With the tip of two fingers, he tapered the ends with sharp ice as he did beforehand, and looked at the Bronze Saint in tranquil expectation.
Andromeda was lost in his friends' words no more. Instead he delved in the details of the goddess' explanation for the Seventh Sense. "I shall be estranged from my own mind; I shall meet it as external to me," he thought. "I must gaze therein — witness consciousness."
His eyes reopened, revealing an overwhelming light that outshined any of the temple's crystals. Hot air condensed into streams of colorful gas, creeping to his feet and then raising to paint a wonderful outline, coated in purple plasma and overwhelming glow. Shun widened both arms, therewith the winds grew more violent, never minding the poison of the roses it swallowed. Once they enclosed him, they were reduced to ash by loud sparks.
Thunder struck wildly to break marble beds, which blew wet dirt in the air. Aphrodite flinched and frowned more openly now, hair and cloak swept back by the force. "The Seventh Sense," he noted, protecting the flowers with the other arm. "This is my safest choice after all. I apologize, Mister Shun."
After a long scream, Shun pumped both arms and aimed the palms to the exit: "NEBULA STORM!" A colorful tempest reached for the exit, enveloping Pisces in the process. Hurled from deep within it was loud, vigorous lightning which he always dodged by very little.
Noticing that he would not survive for long if this continued, the Gold Saint risked his well-being and pierced the wind at the speed of light, elbow aimed forward. From there he launched the three white roses thanks to a burst of Cosmos, and they funneled towards the target, only slightly affected by the gales.
Nonetheless, a whip of electricity swept straight for him, the charge strong enough to split the shallowest of cracks on the Gold Cloth, then to blast him back limp and unconscious. His plan, somehow, was successful. Although two of the white flowers came loose, finally caught by the Nebula Storm, one of them swerved up and cleanly struck the Andromeda Cloth in the chest, deeply lodged under Shun's heart.
An unbearable spasm paralyzed the boy's whole body. His aura diminished with immediacy, and every wind dissipated such that only the one he sent onward endured out the exit. Yet another spasm climbed the flesh, so he stared down and reached to grasp what was stuck to him. In that instant his arm felt suddenly constrained, legs trembling to the ground.
No effort seemed to escape him that ill; the pure fabric of the rose gained red spots, nurturing itself with the boy's blood. A last memory flashed before his brain failed him: a dead rose, red as per usual, in the hands of an Andromedan amazon. His heart pumped above the same weapon used to assassinate Cepheus Albiore, and like the master, apprentice fell prey to it.
Before the next spasm robbed him of the senses, he awkwardly pinched the stem and pulled it entirely out, and so he trembled a last moment. He could only entrust his allies, since, for all intents and purposes, he believed himself to have failed. Shun could no longer be of use to his Lady. Like many before them, Bronze Saint and Gold Saint lied motionless over the rubble of bloody combat.