Notable OCs: Pegasus Lance's Saint Generation, Civil War Saint Generation, World War Saint Generation, Daemon Lucifer's Specters, Maiden Elisa, Priam's Black Saints, Cyrulian Refugees

Notable Original Concepts: Mount Olympus Training Ground, Sanctuary Court, Teos Cloth, Athenian Empire mythology, Isle of Gardens, Stardust Prison, Hades' Dark Princes, Desert Beyond,

Saint Seiya Omega: Ionia

Saintia Sho: Olivia, (Cassiopeia) Elda

Recurring/Cameo OCs of Jenny DeVic: Mrs. Schafurwatt, Cyrus

Recurring/Cameo Concepts of Jenny DeVic: Great Bodyguard Legend, Golden Line Heritage, Sanctuary Orphanages, Andromeda Island's Geography & Tests, Sanctuary Nobility, 88 Knights Festival

Author Notes:

-Updated the OC & Original Concept listings above

-Updated Profile Timeline up to Chapter 22

-Added listing of contemporarily-placed spin off characters (so excluding LC) at the start of the chapter to help remind the readers of who they are, since they might be unknown to some.

-I'd like to thank Mahogany and Rihannon for patiently reading and commenting some excerpts of this chapter, in addition, of course, to Jenny DeVic's beta reading.

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All feedback and share is appreciated, don't hesitate to support this work

Please enjoy and review (^_^)

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"In 893BC, adventurous Greek Saints demonstrated through marathon-like trials that it was theoretically possible to sustain ourselves without food for the rest of our natural life so long as you burn your cosmos. As a doctor, I don't recommend it. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs becomes completely different once we get the power to act in nature as if we're car engines with an endless supply of fuel in the tank. Not to mention how cosmos also allows you to destroy a modern army battalion by yourself.

Psychology is therefore extremely important when talking about Saints. It's what differentiates us from Specters. Our environment encourages us to make decisions based on our personalities, not our fanaticism. I state this in spite of the fact that every Saint is made to swear a vow to an absent Goddess. But the life of a Gold Saint is still harsh and unfortunately Sanctuary's history is filled with cases where their heart surrenders to fear, greed or apathy.To understand what brings about the problems, it is necessary to put aside our needs and look at Sanctuary itself, a society that, for all intents, is anything but normal.

In this regard, what usually concerns about mental health is put aside by the belief that Holy War will test and steel our character and, yes, there have been many cases where previously lowly men have been tempered by the conflicts with the Gods into true knights of Athena at heart such as Deathtoll and Manigoldo of Cancer.

But what about the Gold Saints that live in periods outside the expected Holy Wars? What about the Silver and Bronze Saints who aren't even allowed to take part in them of their own volition? How do you convince a man capable of anything to act in benefit of the weak innocents? Preferably 'your' weak innocents? Do you tell them it's because they serve Athena? What happens in this world of Pantheons if you find out your God does not have your back? Let's imagine for example a scenario where we find out that Athena does not, after all, guarantee us the Promised Land on Earth. Do you despair? Do you revolt? Do you pick up another flag or do you fight on for her?

Ultimately, my research will indicate that Saints are motivated by a multitude of things; personal ambitions, religious belief, politics, ideology and more. The prevailing motive seems to be, however, idealism itself. The reality of each Saint will be subject to their preferences and they will consider the most important thing to pursue to be one that will oddly coincide with details regarding their consciousness. A mischievous Saint will fight Hades to get glory and treasure, this is the most worthwhile thing he can think of. A pious Saint will fight Hades cause some Hellenic priest told him that it would give him a front row ticket to Elysium while making him irreproachable to his peers.

All Saints, however, will follow a good leader. This is what makes fairytales like Teos more effective in motivating children to joining the army than myths like the GodSlayer. The Godslayer talks about an aberration of nature that occasionally shows up to punch Hades in the face and then leaves, while Teos talks about a Saint so dedicated and brave that he transcended the hierarchy of Cloths and somehow manifested a 13th Gold one to lead the Golds with.

But all in all, you will agree with me by the end of this reading that all Saints must be absolutely insane and that the world really is better off without interacting with us on a regular direct basis."

-Ophiuchus Iaso, 1969, on his mental health thesis' abstract.

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September, 1976

Two Months after the 88 Knights Festival

Livermore, California

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It was finally getting dark, but the crisis would not end. Loud bangs and rattling were heard, accompanied by high-pitched screams of terror and the splatter of blood on the linoleum floor of the barricaded house by the quarry. With a shrill sound, two adult, bloody bodies were thrown out the window through the crashing glass unto the floor, rolling to the surrounding policemen's feet with metal and leather thuds. The agents gasped and paled, seeing the male hostage's body had been torn to shreds all over the torso while the face was caved in.

The disguised foot soldier captain's black face twisted in anger. He was a locally recruited warrior of Sanctuary of African-American descent and had been called by Greece to deal with this situation so close to his home. It pained him to see this kind of carnage. "D-damn it, another dead hostage?! And our agent, too?! Did he get detected sneaking in?!"

"Is that the orphans' caretaker?!" another wondered, the face not recognisable anymore from the file photos. Walking up to the other body, he touched the neck. "D-damn it, Nilos is a goner! He was our assault Saint, how the heck did they get him?!"

"I'm sick of this, these guys are fucking with us!" the captain called in the radio. "Forget about the negotiations, we have a casualty on our side, they have no intention to come out peacefully! Send the 'heavy artillery' in!"

A younger man by his side, the lieutenant of their unit, stared wide eyed at him. "What? Is that really necessary? Sir, if you hadn't sent our guy in-"

"Don't you question that again! It's these vicious bastards' fault that Nilos' dead!" The veteran folded his arms, feeling humiliated. "... Besides, I don't have a choice, I think they have Silver Ranks with them."

Another foot soldier stared at the building's closed doors and windows. "It's been like this all day, though, Sir. They've broken their word to the American cops, so why would they honor it to us?" His fist closed angrily. "Damn it, if it weren't for those kids I'd bust through that door myself!"

The captain eyed him like he was stupid. "And end up like Nilos? They got cosmos too, moron, and Nilos had assault training! The second you walk in there they'll snap your worthless neck. If it were that simple, we wouldn't be in freaking California now, would we? It would be a problem for the FBI or whatever police force handles kidnappings in this country."

One of the windows opened up, getting their attention, and a bald, Caucasian muscled man in combat clothes reinforced by leather straps showed himself with his arm's blade firmly around a small boy's neck.

"Listen up, you Sanctuary bitches! I've been really, really patient so far! I want our way out of here stat, and if you don't comply or send another of your infiltrators, I'll start throwing dead KIDS next! Starting with this one!" and then he raised the child way up high for everyone to see. "So fucking try something, I dare ya!"

"AAHH, H-HELP ME! M-m-mommy!" he wailed, face drenched in tears.

"Your mom's dead, ya little shit!" the Black Saint then tossed the child rather carelessly inside and threatened the Saints again. "YOU GOT TWO MINUTES, Athena-lickers!"

The disguised foot soldiers gritted angrily and saw many pairs of vicious eyes in the darkness of the various windows, warning them not to try anything. "Damn it, there must be SOMETHING we can do!"

"There isn't." someone said, arriving at the scene. "You guys stay here before you get someone else killed."

The captain noticed the man, a young-looking, charcoal-haired warrior of red eyes, red shirt, hand wrappings and jeans. Most of his face was covered by a hoodie and a black mask and he looked like he had put on his face coverings in a hurry. "You… Are you the 'artillery'?"

Cancer Lance shook his hand. "Yes. What can you tell me about the situation? I heard we got casualties already."

They stepped aside to let him look himself. "Ten hostages, all kids. There were two adults, but they got killed on separate occasions, first when the Americans negotiated, and then when we took over… we wouldn't have called you, but we think some of them are Mach Fivers… and yeah, we already have a dead friend." The captain pointed at the bottom floor. "The head is bunkered down there. They got caught obtaining arms from smugglers in Reno and we cornered them here, now they want to get out in one piece or they say they're gonna shoot these kids they've been taking in the meantime."

"We got the American cops and civilians out, though." explained the lieutenant. "Our cover is that we are federal agents, but they protested something idiotic like jurisdiction."

While he wondered why local law enforcement had such a strange problem, Lance nodded along. "I understand, you did the right thing. Don't worry -" he then stepped forward and locked gaze with the laughing man by the window holding up the kid. "I'll avenge your fallen."

The inexperienced lieutenant grabbed his shoulder. "Wait, what the heck are you gonna do?! The situation-"

The tension in the air suddenly shot up! The captain gasped, like someone defiled a tombstone, when Lance eyed the guy so shockingly that the lieutenant himself removed his hand and trembled back a few steps.

"HEY, SANCTUARY FLOOZIES, take a look at this!" the kidnapper screamed, pointing up at the upper floor, where one of his guys, an equally violent looking vandal with spiked up hair, tattoos and leather-reinforced clothes, stepped on the railing and pulled over his shoulder a large, shoulder-mounted bazooka with an iron sight and a loaded missile. He saw the looks on their faces. "Ah, recognize the brand? We just cranked it out of the crate ourselves! That's an M72 LAW my friend has, an anti-tank rocket. How much do you wanna bet your sorry excuses for soldier armor can resist a shot of that?!"

"Shit!" the captain rushed over with the speaker. "You are immediately warned not to fire that weapon! If you ignore us, there will be no quarter, Black Saints! You'll be exterminated!"

A multitude of high-grade assault rifles that were capable of piercing foot soldier cuirasses then began poking out the holes of the various windows, aimed straight at them. While the quarry was evacuated, it was highly likely the firepower would draw attention of American cop reinforcements that would surely create a large bloodbath afterwards.

"Oh, why don't you shove that warning up your ass?!." mocked the Black Saint, burning a flicker of cosmos in his fingertip as if to act as a signal. "I don't think we'll comply though, not with these nice human shields and these Greek-killers, ah, ah. Here's what's really gonna happen! I'm gonna shoot your fucking barriers to shit with my rockets and we're gonna get outta here and enjoy our retirement, and there's nothing you pussies can do about it cause if you do, you're gonna have kid brain on your conscience!"

The foot soldiers saw the upper grunt lower the muzzle at their cars and defenses and rest the finger ever so slightly on the trigger. Cancer Lance's 7th sense felt out the cosmos signatures inside the building, detecting the hostage kids one by one and isolating them from the real targets in his mind. He then kept his eye on the shooters.

"Alright, guys!" yelled the Black Saint leader, tossing the screaming kid inside. "Send them to hell! FIRE!"

Time slowed down, the guns exploded into a frenzy fire, shooting off blazing projectiles at resounding speed while the rocket launcher fired off its missile! The captain and the lieutenant gasped, while the rest of the disguised foot soldiers took cover, all in less than a second. Cancer Lance locked sight at his first target, tossed off the wrappings over his golden plates and jumped!

The golden blur blitzed towards the air and an armored leg suddenly bashed the rocket, ricocheting it back at the quarry. The rocket launcher Black Saint shouted, but a large figure crashed through the glass inside and kicked his face across the room, crashing through a sofa and then into a wall. Slow motion fire immediately began blazing from three separate directions and the Gold Saint initiated his assault, sweeping through the distance, bashing an enemy throat in and shoulder-tossing the body at the other two over the bullets, knocking them back. He projected himself like a light ray and punched a stomach in, dodged all the flying metal and loudly elbowed a head to the ground before delivering an all-out sweep of blows that struck the four screaming Black Saints and sent them flying outside the building.

Immediately continuing the storm, the light ray flew through the divisions at impossible speed, taking down one rushing enemy after the other in muffled screams and shouts throughout the entire upper floor. Machine gun parts began dropping to the ground, dismantled, and walls of the rooms started collapsing with the force of the blows denting them, breaking down the entire upper floor support, all in fractions of a second. The lower living room was reached, where all the heavy gunmen had been threatening the foot soldiers from, and they barely had time to turn to the stairs before the blaze of golden light exploded into a shower of blows that barraged all their weapons, exposed body parts and noses with gauntleted fists and kicks, spraying blood, broken teeth and shattered metal in the floor and walls.

The slightly faster leader, fleeing for his life as he heard the beating all around the house, ran to the reinforced hostage room, took one of the kids and brought him to a corridor to pointed his 'Uzi' right at the boy's face and laid a trap. A tense silence followed, the small kid too terrified of the gun barrel pointed at him to make a peep, and all the Black Saint could hear was the far off gasps of his last remaining men being knocked out.

His bloodshot eyes darted in search of the Saint, but the attacker eventually revealed himself as Cancer Lance casually walked in the corridor, dragging a fallen man through the wooden floor by the collar. The creaking in the upper floor suddenly got louder and an earthshaking crash occurred as the upper floor collapsed right above their ceiling, making clouds of dust seep down below on them and the electricity go out, darkening the corridor.

Heart rates increased, triggered by primal fear. The thick finger of the Black Saint rested on the trigger more tensely. He looked up and laughed, seeing the Gold-Rank stilled, and then noticing the Cancer Cloth chest plate's glint hidden beneath Lance's cloak. "AH, AH, look at you in your fancy armor, you can't do SHIT now." He then turned the Uzi to him. "Not as easy to blitz around a Silver-Rank's reflexes, right? I can follow you with my eyes wherever you go." Holding out the gun, though, he saw the gun's long ammo box gone.

His eyes glassened.

The Cancer Saint smiled mockingly, holding the part up in his hand.

Panicking, the Black Saint roared and fired the single bullet in chamber, blinding the room with the shot flash! An explosion of pain simply occurred on his forehead and his whole body crashed through walls, cement, furniture and glass to finally come flying out of the house, knocked out, spin over a couple of times and finally land with a thud at the feet of the foot soldiers outside.

Time resumed its pace. The disguised foot soldiers let out flabbergasted awes, seeing a crowd of Black Saints all falling face first on the ground, bodies completely broken, the hundreds of bullets previously fired by assault rifles clinking and clanking on the ground with completely flattened heads, as if they had hit a metallic surface. The sound of kids crying filled the air again, re-obeying the laws of physics.

It took a second or two for everyone to realize it was all okay.

"Hostage situation resolved." announced Lance, straight-facedly dusting himself off. "I think we can wrap things up."

The lieutenant couldn't believe his eyes. "H-holy shit! What?!"

"YEAH, we did it! Ah, ah!" another shouted.

The Gold Saint of Cancer, still without his Cloth, rested hand on waist and walked over the defeated Black Saints, ignoring the celebrations. "Don't think it's over, you will still have a job to do in taking down the associates of these bastards."

The captain regained his composure and saluted "YES, Saint Cancer! And what of the Black Saints?"

Hesitation deterred the answer. With a dead foot soldier plus two dead innocent adults, as well as a burned down orphanage building, there wasn't much reason to spare the criminals, and Lance wasn't the kind of guy to take pity on Black Saints. Years spent around his mission partner, however, had planted a weird seed of doubt in these moments of truth. All he could think about was that these men were gonna get executed by the people for what they've done. Pragmatism overcame mercy, however. Who would listen to that green haired kid, anyway?

He counted the reasons as if to convince himself of this. "Murder, arms smuggling, kidnapping, drug trafficking, dishonorable negotiation, affiliation with illegal gangs, suspicion of pedophilia…"

"Not to mention they're filthy Black Saint heretics!" reminded the captain, still reeling in indignance at the events. "We will surely eliminate them, won't we?"

Lance shook his head. "These men committed heinous acts, they're enough to judge them on. Take them back to Sanctuary, I want them on the Stardust Tower, and salvage all the documentation, weapon serial numbers, anything you can find! This will help the Undercover Saints infiltrate their ring." He then saw the overheated rocket launcher that had fallen to the floor. "I also want the source of these military guns tracked down! Make that your number two priority. I've had enough of Black Saints getting their hands on heavy firearms so easily."

The foot soldiers obeyed, moving around immediately to carry out the ordered tasks. With the situation now in control, it was a matter of making a real decision about what to do with all these crying, traumatized kids that saw themselves instantly pulled out of an exploding building. Chances were that no one would believe their stories about a single teenager rescuing them like a superhero. Usually child trafficking victims were taken back to their parents, when possible, but in most cases they were already hopelessly abandoned by life and Sanctuary tried to take a few in as potential recruits.

Tragically, they had a better chance in the streets than in a place that made you run for a Cloth. Lance wasn't required to have a final say in their fate, being a Gold Saint with more important things to do, but he didn't envy who was.

"That was an amazing job, Saint Cancer," one passing foot soldier of Hispanic descent thanked. "You did a great thing for us, thank the Goddess."

"Right… I appreciate it." he half-heartedly responded, surprising even himself with how melancholic he sounded.

"Is something wrong?"

The warrior stared at the unconscious Black Saints being carted off. He had no pity for their kind, thanks to too many missions seeing the worst they could do. There was concern, however, for the origin of this kind of violence and what it meant about how many leaks Sanctuary could really patch up before it all burst.

The foot soldier captain saw this. "Don't question Lord Cancer like that, you scrub!" he lambasted. "You think it's his problem how this area is handled?! Be honored to be in his presence, for some this is a once-in-a-lifetime event."

It was still bizarre for the previously mistreated Pegasus Saint to now be so respected as a Gold Saint of Cancer. His hand waved. "It's fine, my specialty is to work on the field like this anyway, it's what I do best."

The African-American captain was oddly honorable, though. "We won't call for artillery a second time, I guarantee you, Saint Cancer."

Red eyes closed somberly behind the mask. "I don't think it will be really up to you." All he could think about was how much paperwork he would have to go through now that he was called into action. "Shion has been going crazy about controlling everything we do. The attack on his Halls and the retirement of his friends has unscrewed something in his head… what if I don't go back just yet, though?"

"Umm… your orders, Saint Cancer?"

"Yeah… that's exactly what I'll do. You can only take so much of managing stuff from the Temple, I need action!" Making up his mind about it with a sudden smile of newfound excitement about doing the job he more or less loved, Lance shook it off and readdressed the situation. "Get the situation under wraps and I'll call for Undercover agents and help you lead your next step towards taking down this ring. Now I want to make sure this is taken care of personally."

They all widened their eyes at the honor of being given the chance to work with a Gold Saint for a prolonged time. "W-what? That would be amazing, Saint Cancer, thank you for the honor!"

"Excuse me, Lord Cancer?" another one by the communications called. "You've just received orders again, the Golden Zodiac wants you back immediately."

There was a sad sigh from the Saint, who rubbed his eyes. "...Shit!" he cursed. Back to work it was. "Forget about what I said… and help me get the deceased ready for transport back to Greece. I'll trust you to handle the children."

The foot soldier captain saluted. "We'll take care of things, sir. Go with Athena."

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Chapter 30

Second Arc

Episode 1

Dawn of a Generation

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The Next Day

Greece, Sanctuary Town

Sanctuary Cemetery

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Under the blazing sun warming the cemetery, the wooden coffin draped in a mantle woven with an image of Athena praying for the soul of the dead was slowly lowered unto the open grave, surrounded by the soldier's loved ones and the priest of the goddess chanting the final sermon. Standing nearby in silence and still in his masked outfit, Cancer Lance saw the crying and the throwing of flowers into the hole. Gold Saints weren't required to be at funeral services of soldiers killed in action in missions they were involved in, but they were so overwhelmingly powerful in the army that not doing so often gave family and loved ones the idea that they were coasting around with their obligations, or that they didn't care.

Aiolos happened to be by his side this time, though, also in civilian attire. He had been the one to call him. "Only one casualty, but it's still bad, huh?"

The Cancer Saint nodded. "It happens, unfortunately. They don't pay us for easy fights."

"...oh Goddess, carry our brother unto Elysium," chanted the priest, holding his arms up at the sky, sacred tome in one hand. "Let him not fall unto the slumber of the Underworld, but into your arms in the afterlife. Help us eradicate the heathens that have forced our hand unto violence and bring about peace and prosperity for all humans on Earth…."

"Amen…" the family members chanted, weeping and somber.

Joining hands together, the priest appealed to moving past the pain. "We will be with him again one day, but fret not, faithful of Athena. We live in a new time, and we are blessed." he raised his hands at the far off Colossus of the Goddess at the Golden Zodiac, visible from most locations in Sanctuary. "Athena has granted us new Gold Saints, a new generation of brave youths of shining cosmos, and they will not let our brother's death be in vain. Let us pray,"

"Talk about pressure, right?" Aiolos wondered, respectfully keeping his tone low.

Something about the priest's sermon didn't seem right to the skeptic Cancer, who frowned and squinted at the irony in the words. No wonder he never went to Sanctuary's kooky church.

"I've heard a bunch of these speeches in other places, though, people seem really excited about having new Gold Saints, like a president was elected, or something." confessed Lance. "I wonder what they would think at this funeral if they knew the world is being guarded by ten-year olds."

Still, the whole situation reminded Sagittarius Aiolos of an earlier funeral, one that took place right after the Eighty Eight Knights Festival. "It's so peaceful in this one compared to Cepheus', right?"

The memory of it shook the Cancer on the inside. "Tell me about it."

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The pebble-paved road was soaked in red juice. The coffin marched through the streets to make its way to the Saints' cemetery, carried by Saints who befriended Guardnia in his life, and was mercilessly bombarded by thrown rocks and tomatoes under the hot summer sun, clinking and splattering the wood. Kerberos Kastiel and Sagitta Nam tried to stay calm and collected at the front, taking the blunt hits on their armor while stoically holding the coffin holds on their shoulders.

"HE'S A TRAITOR'S STUDENT! BURN HIS BODY!" one screamed above the mob.

"Why is he getting buried in the same graveyard as my friends who fought for Sanctuary?!"

"That was Priam's bolt that hit the temples!" a Civil War crippled veteran screamed. "I'd recognize it anywhere! He and his kid are behind the Pope's injury, I'm sure of it! Shame on you Silver Saints! SHAME ON YOU!"

Some of the Gold Saints, including Lance, Mu, Shura and Aldebaran, watched from the crowd. Unfortunately there wasn't much they could do to put order in place. Someone had found out that the Saint being buried that day was Cepheus Guardnia, the former student of Priam, and since the man was widely known to have been honored with the chance to crown the retiring Gold Saints with Athena's laurels, the fact that he missed the task was linked with the public discovery of the Pope's injury. Naturally, the whole conspiracy theory was formed by the end of the day and by then everybody 'knew' that an attack had occurred and Guardnia was definitely involved in it.

Shura observed in awe the massive amount of fruit splattered in the ground. "These are some persistent lynchers. Reminds me of Tomatina."

Young Mu huffed and puffed, watching more insults and objects being thrown at the ceremonial march. "What's wrong with these people?! Master gave Saint Guardnia the honors of being buried as a Saint!"

It wasn't as easy as this, Shura was afraid. "From their viewpoint Guardnia's sudden disappearance was very strange, Mu. He wasn't popular earlier and King Cetus then made that affirmation that he himself finished him off, so the whole affair looks like a cover up by the Pope so he won't be embarrassed for giving him the chance to crown Master Kirin, Lord Malta and Lord Daniel."

But the Lemurian boy still pitied. "... I know, it just doesn't seem fair. Master was the one hurt after all. If he can pardon Guardnia, why can't these people do the same?"

Regardless, the lynching continued, with several foot soldiers making sure the crowd didn't exceed itself by holding them back as lines, but able to do very little about the rotten fruit flying over their helmeted heads. In the midst of it, Cancer Lance and Taurus Aldebaran saw a weeping Andromeda Shinta being comforted by an equally shaken Cassiopeia Cynthia, both watching one of the most loved persons in their lives being desecrated.

Aldebaran's eyes softened. "My poor buddy… someone should do something about this."

"There's no helping it." Shura argued, blunt as always. "This is the treatment traitors get. Saints have a very important mission to fulfill, and these people trust us to live under our protection."

The Brazilian's large elbow poked him. "Have some sensitivity for once, geez!"

"No, Shura is right." Lance confessed, surprising Mu and Aldebaran. "For once I agree with him, we can't expect the mob to react differently to this suspicion, and I'm certainly not gonna shut these people up just to do Shinta a favor. I feel sorry for him, but…"

Aldebaran growled. "No, you don't." he accused rather venomously. "but what the heck do you care, right? You're mad at him now, anyway…"

The Cancer grumbled angrily, his fist clenching, but contained himself. There was not gonna be any winning on this front for a while. When he looked in the direction of the two chain users again, however, both Shinta and Cynthia were gone already.

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Aiolos sighed, pushing up his brown hair curls from the sweaty forehead. "And after everything he did to make sure the Pope allowed him to be buried as a Saint... I didn't know the guy myself, but -" he argued. "I hope that if I die in suspicious circumstances I get at least the benefit of the doubt."

"And let not the sins of the earth be his condemnation in Olympus, for he was faithful and brave, a warrior of Greece, but let him become as if stardust of the constellations, burning for eternity. Goodbye, Nilos, and may we see you in the promised land." finished the priest, who place the coins for Charon on the deceased's eyes, ordered the coffin closed and signaled for the first dirt handful to be thrown into the grave by the loved ones. "Carry his heart safely with you, Athena, now his cosmos burns through you."

The funeral service began its final departures and the two Gold Saints walked away, nodding in sympathy at the civilians they walked by. Lance's finger burned with the energy of the Underworld Wave, opening a gate to the Well to help syphon the lingering spirits in. It wasn't like it helped much other than speed up the fall into the hole, but at least it was giving the deceased a hand in his own way by pushing them off purgatorium.

"What a load of bullshit…" Lance mumbled to himself, getting Aiolos' attention. "He got caught trying to slide down the chimney and was slit in the throat because his captain thought the Black Saints were stupid enough not to watch their only weakpoint. He died for nothing and they're pretending it was glorious or meaningful or… something. If they had waited a bit more… or called me earlier."

The Sagittarius Saint saw the bags under Lance's eyes. "Are you going to stay alert for every occasion that might need you? Even Saints need sleep." The charitable boy then exhaled loudly. "Even me."

"You're still studying with Aiolia?" Lance had noticed the books on the desk when passing by the Fifth House.

"And training him… and trying to find a way out of this." The bandana-wearing Saint confessed, but the disheartened look in his eyes suggested little luck. He slapped his thigh. "But the Pope has been pretty serious about it. He wants Aiolia to be a Leo Saint."

The older Saint was honestly amazed. "But he's… six?!"

"Just last month, yeah. He liked your present, by the way." informed Aiolos, referring to the feline plushy keychain Lance found at the store. "Even if he's too shy to admit it."

"That's not the point! He's way too fucking young, what is Shi- What is the Pope thinking?!" argued Lance as they walked out of the cemetery's gateway. A sudden shiver went up his spine when he heard the metal 'crink' close behind them. "Ugh, damn it, ever since Maiden Elisa from the Isle of Gardens, these places give me the creeps. I can't believe it's my job to work with damn spirits."

Aiolos rolled his eyes tiredly as if he's explained this before to others. "Yeah, but most kids start that age anyway… to get Bronze Cloths, but I suppose when you have the talent for Gold, as the Pope seems to believe, the difference is mute." He saw Lance irk, still not content. "That's right…. You started much older."

But the teenager didn't seem to want to talk about it. "Ten, which is way too old to start learning about supernatural powers. Sometimes I wonder how I've made it here, so can you blame me for taking your side on Aiolia?"

The younger Saint seemed truly happy and relieved to have someone with genuine sympathy for what he was defending, so much he chuckled rather sadly at it. "Ah, ah, I suppose not… I want Aiolia playing soccer and going to school, not becoming a soldier." Duty then called for him. "After this we need you back to help us settle affairs with Saga. It's why we called you back."

"You cut me off a chance to escape the workload for a bit…" reminded Lance jokingly. "So it better be good."

"It's about the courtroom meeting we'll have tomorrow. Saga wants us to clean house and agree on a strategy beforehand." reminded Aiolos, which sent Lance on a fret, growling out loud and bashing fist on a nearby marble wall. "Whow, what's wrong?"

"I forgot about that stupid summoning!" he explained. "Ugh, what the hell do those people want?! We have better things to do than periodically explain ourselves to a bunch of toga-wearing assholes! Ever since the older Gold Saints left it's been one thing after the other! First we had to reorganise all of the temples to recover from that ridiculous attack in the Festival, then we had to start investigate the cause of it, something that is still ONGOING..."

Aiolos had more to add. "Then we had to get everyone prepared to continue guarding the temples and run through every nick and cranny to make sure the rebels didn't strike anywhere else, not to mention start making decisions about the fortresses and the army ourselves…"

"Decisions that we aren't even qualified for, mind you!" Lance bitched. It felt like every night he had six stacks of papers to go through and had aged five years in just two months. "And Saga went ahead and did what he usually does, which is make up all those plans to reform Sanctuary and improve our Zodiac! On top of it all, we don't know if we can trust the freaking Pope to be honest with us!"

While the Sagittarius Gold Saint had some reservations about these complaints, there was a heavy grain of truth to them. Pope Arles III had hidden from them the fact that the Temples were apparently reliant on a number of Gold Cloths staying in their temples to keep their defenses at maximum strength, something he would still not confirm, even though amongst them the three older Gold Saints had concurred that it was most likely true. It was a sign that Shion didn't trust them with the Zodiac's weak points and was still testing them on their ability to work as Gold Saints together without giving them all the rules to work with, which was discouraging at least.

To make things worse, the information Arles III accepted to give out about what happened on that fateful Festival day was still limited. Only Mu and Shura still seemed unquestioning of the Pope, the former for being his student and the latter for being a tool, according to Deathmask.

This was important because many of the new Gold Saints were still, for the lack of softer definition, children, and some very erratic at that, so they wouldn't easily listen to biased instructions like "stay in your temple at all times even though you can travel the world in a second". To Aiolos, it almost felt like the Pope was expecting them to just naturally get in sync with each other and adapt to the roles they obtained, said roles being given without an ounce of prior experience as any other kind of Saint.

In this sense, Saga had been a bit of a blessing, working around the clock to change the organization in the Golden Zodiac, giving the kids strict rules as to what hours they can go out of the Temples, instructions on how to best look out for each other, inspecting the staff and assigning Papal Guards that the kids trusted personally so everything could function with a semblance of normality expected of the most secure place on Earth. The result was that the gang, including Aiolos and Lance, felt a bit hostage to the inexperience of the kids and Saga's plan.

"You have to admit, though, that he's been doing a pretty bang-up job." countered Aiolos. "After the attack everyone was saying that the younger Gold Saints that were rolling in weren't prepared, and that Kirin, Malta and Daniel should stay for a little while longer. Saga proved the critics wrong. The least we can do is listen to him about the Noble Council."

Lance folded arms and tapped foot apprehensively. "It's like the trip to Kastoria all over again, uh?"

Aiolos nodded, also upset. He wasn't psyched about putting hospital work and taking care of Aiolia aside to give aristocrats explanations either. "Yup… but then again, that's our role, right? We're Gold Saints, the seeds of a whole new generation of them. People are looking at us to be the guardians of the new era… and they want to make sure we're not backing out."

"Yeah… let's show them we're no no-good kids." Lance looked up at the far off Golden Zodiac, where the marble Temples were visible. "I knew getting this Cloth was too good to be true. At least we won't get to fight the damn Holy War for now..."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Sometime Later

Golden Zodiac, Aries Temple

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

After making sure Mu was busy at the gate and not listening in, Gemini Saga welcomed his two friends inside the Aries Temple's meeting room in the upper floor, where they could speak in peace. Aiolos saw the stacks of papers and the drowsy look on Saga's face and immediately gulped.

"Things aren't looking good for us. They're gonna be at our necks tomorrow," the Gemini started, bluntly. He brushed his blue hair exasperatedly, sighing. "While the Hades front in Austria has been quiet for a while, the Black Saint incidents have been on the rise all over the world. It's like what happened at the Festival set them off somehow."

Lance sat down and folded arms. "I thought that guy Priam was a different sort of foe?"

Saga shrugged shoulders. "If you did, I envy your comfort in it; the Pope hasn't truly confirmed anything yet. He… won't speak to me about any of it." the teenager complained, resting lips on fist and shaking his head. "I've even gone to Akassius' estate to ask him personally about it… three times as of now. He kept 'advising' me to treat it like any other Black Saint problem."

This took them both by surprised. They did not know Saga had been taking trips, especially to visit a notorious former Gold Saint, much less asking them repeatedly for help. "And they say nothing whatsoever? That can't be true," insisted Aiolos.

Saga sighed and closed eyes, recalling the last conversation. "I did say I went there three times, did I not?"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

"Duke Akassius, with all due respect, you can't just tell me again to not think about it, the entire Golden Zodiac is in danger and it's up to us to defend it." Saga practically shouted, fists curling angrily. "What would you do in my place?! Surely you wouldn't rest until you had an open answer!"

They were in Akassius Steiner's study, in the estate mansion the Pope had brought him, Aiolos and the new Cancer Saint to back in January. The man himself sat at his desk, having patiently welcomed his successor back a third time to answer his doubts. All things considered, the retired warrior was being generous about Saga's visits. His reluctance to explain anything about the former Sagittarius Saint, however, was infuriating to say the least.

The black-haired, blue-eyed retiree in blue garment was unwavering in the face of Saga's protests. "In your place, I would 'lead'. And I wouldn't rest until results were produced," he simply retorted, embarrassing Saga even further. "I hope you understood when you received my armor that nothing about this job would be simple. Moreover, His Holiness has no obligation to divulge his secrets to you. My advice is to do the best with what you have; no one can expect any better from you."

Saga's fist curled furiously. He couldn't take the frustration of how unreasonable an obstacle this man was being. "The best with what I have isn't enough!" he argued. "I don't want this problem to haunt us for ten years after the conflict is resolved like it did with your group of Gold Saints!"

Akassius stared at him in genuine bewilderment. "Saint Saga, you do understand what you are dealing with, don't you?" he asked, taking out the stack of papers he personally had about this case. "Sagittarius Priam and his Black Saint friends are extremely dangerous; not only are they veteran Gold-Ranks, but they know the Zodiac from the inside out. They have a frightening amount of experience evading us. You didn't seriously think you'd be able to just sweep this problem out as soon as you and your friends took over, correct?"

There was a tense moment in which the younger warrior tried to answer back but found himself speechless. Saga's face sweated in embarrassment, struggling on the inside with what he really wanted to say, but couldn't; that he wanted to surpass the feats of the man in front of him as soon as possible. Every day it was clear to the Gemini Saint that, in the eyes of not just the Nobles, but the Pope and the people of Sanctuary, that he existed in the shadow of this great man in front of him, a war hero of Sanctuary. He could feel it in their judging eyes, in the countless stories he would hear about what his predecessor accomplished and in the sheer adoration in their faces about the guy that would set Sanctuary straight if he just hadn't retired after the war.

It was impossible to put up with it, especially with Kanon's pestering making things even worse.

"What I wanted, and still want, is to bring Sanctuary to victory," Saga declared, determined. "It's what I've been tasked with as a Gold Saint."

While he seemed sympathetic to it, if the slight wave of his head and eyes was any indication, Akassius still had the same condescending answer. "Then you should be able to figure out what you must do, and that is taking care of Sanctuary to the best of your abilities." He then gave him an olive branch. "Don't concern yourself with Priam, Saint Saga, he's not after you."

But this kind of branch only made things worse for the proud, ambitious teenager. "What? How can you tell me that?! If I don't -"

"It's NOT your concern." Akassius sternly interrupted, standing up tall from his desk. "Priam is not your enemy, he's the enemy of the Pope, myself and of my friends. Just protect Sanctuary like you would everyday, and you'll have done your part in stopping him."

Somehow the shadow his body now projected on Saga from the window light made him feel worse. Hopefully it was just because the man seemed ticked for once.

Akassius continued, closing his eyes and sighing in guilt. "You kids shouldn't be burdened with our problems. I admire the initiative, Saint Saga, but, trust me on this, it's better off if you leave it to us. Priam isn't a flag to take for careerist purposes, he's a menace to the whole generation of Sanctuary. Stop wanting to save the world in the first day on the job, and you might find a simpler solution to Sanctuary's problems."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Saga's hand slapped his thigh in exasperation. "Every conversation…. ending like this. You two understand that I can't just take his advice, though, right?" he appealed, though only received a couple of nervous glances from his comrades. "You agree with me, don't you?! I can't just leave a threat to retired Saints be!"

The Sagittarius Saint gawked in hesitation. His problem wasn't in Saga's logic, but in his steadfast attempts to make the Priam situation a top priority. While he agreed one hundred percent that they couldn't ignore such a massive threat, he knew his Gemini friend well enough to tell that sometimes he created problems to solve out of nowhere just to have something to work on and impress others with triumph.

There was no reasonable way they could just scour the Earth looking for these people whose grudge seemed personally directed at the older generation. They had more direct problems, both internal and external.

"How safe would it be to prioritize other problems right now?" asked Aiolos, immediately getting a shocked glare from Saga.

"It's clearly not! Those people were former Gold Saints…. Civil War veterans. And they're loose somewhere out there and can attack the Pope any time. How are we supposed to do our jobs?" argued the Gemini.

"We're not. Not in a reasonable way, anyway." Lance chimed in, seeing the two out of synch. "Saga, it's hard enough to stop regular Black Saint incidents from occurring. Prevention of crime is becoming harder and harder, and I've been only at it for two years. It might be for the best to let those guys handle it."

Holding chin, Aiolos thought over the significance of this. "It's kind of fortunate that the Pope ended up sending Malta, Kirin and Daniel to rule places close to Greece, right?" he reminded, referring to the land titles that were given to them at the Eighty Eight Knights Festival. "Daniel is so close-by, in Crete, and Kirin is just outside Istanbul. It's like the Pope wanted them close, just in case. Some retirement that it turned out to be."

Lance had not noticed this. "Uh, he's right… If an attack by them occurred, they'd be nearby to help catch the Black Saints. As it is this decentralization of Gold Ranks kind of makes Sanctuary more secure… but what if Hades himself attacked all of a sudden?" The number of potential threats made his head spin. "God, we're way over our heads."

Not willing to be convinced, Saga pulled out a drawing he made of the twelve temples and took a pencil to point over the various stops. "But it seems obvious that keeping Cloths at the temples has something to do with the real answer. I've talked to the kids and arranged a schedule to not take the armors with them outside more than eight at a time."

Perhaps influenced by his fears, Lance immediately interrupted. "That's not acceptable. Those Cloths need to be out there, in action, or we're never gonna get out of the defensive if we happen to find where these Gold Ranks are hiding, not to mention the kids need real, specialized training that their temples can't provide. Besides, what are we gonna do if an enemy attacks and starts crossing the temples? Hope that the rear guard takes care of it?"

This made Saga chuckle for once. "It's fine, that's not a plausible scenario for now." he defended. "There won't be a real Holy War with Hades for another 15 years, at least, and Poseidon won't wake up for another sixteen hundred. There's no need to be worried about Mu getting overrun, just ask the Pope…. He's the one leaving his student to guard this place."

"And it's better than giving them an opening to skip the Golden Zodiac's natural defenses." argued Aiolos. He clicked his tongue, though. "I don't like putting Mu and Aldebaran on the line any better than you, but…"

A golden foot tapped the floor anxiously. "I… don't understand you two." Lance confessed. "I don't know how you can just accept the idea of staying tight and cozy in your Houses every night. That rebel attack wasn't planned to occur, either." He stood up and walked around, working out the frustration in his mind. "Look, I don't know about you two, but if this Temple gets attacked, I'm not gonna sit back at the Cancer Temple, I'm coming here to reinforce Mu right away!"

The Gemini Saint, however, didn't seem impressed. "And that's an admirable initiative, Lance, but if every single one of us follows your example, the Houses will be empty and they'll just maneuver right through them. And the Gold Saints are at their strongest in their Houses," said Saga, not backing down before Lance's harsh look. "We need a better strategy than just concentrated firepower."

"Like what?!"

Saga paced around, grabbing his chin and musing about his next move. "I'll think of something, I always do. Don't worry…"

The calculating coldness in Saga's plan and the confidence he seemed to have that he would find an answer, as Lance perceived it, gave him a chill. He could see Aiolos wasn't happy about this at all, but willing to accept it. Lance's paranoid mission senses told him they were getting too lax on security, but he had enough sense to see that the real problem, as Saga was trying to explain, was that they weren't being given enough to work with.

All he wanted to do was take his Gold Cloth and go hunt the Civil War survivors himself. Memories of getting trashed by Cetus, who should have a comparable power level, and the massive attack he witnessed being fired on Andromeda Island, however, made him hesitate and wonder if he really stood a chance against such a problem was that he couldn't have these sort of considerations, not when the Pope was trusting him to be one of the twelve most important guardians on the planet. For all intents and purposes, Arles III was appointing him to be one of Sanctuary's problem solvers.

The Sagitarius Saint saw the older teenager fuming on the inside. "Hey, don't worry, I'm sure Saga has got this. He's way smarter about these things than the both of us put together." He then turned to his longtime best friend. "You sounded like this wasn't our only problem, though, Saga. You think the Nobles will clinch us on something else?"

"Yeah, and this might be our worst problem." Saga walked over to a stack of papers that detailed the people making up the staff at the temples. Lance recognized the picture of Mrs. Shafurwatt, Milo's maid, right on top. "During the Festival we were manipulated to leave the temples, and someone must have kept the enemy informed as to how many of us were still at the Zodiac…. and we don't have a realistic way to figure out who it was."

"Why do they get to decide who works in our Temples?" protested the Cancer Saint, trying to keep his tone controlled. "What is stopping us from telling them to mind their own business? We're freaking Gold Saints."

Again, Saga was unimpressed by Lance's attempts to throw off the problem. "They pay for our food, our well-being, our education, and more. They're our financiers."

But Lance's hands landed on the table harshly. "And we work hard and train to keep them safe!" he argued, and this time Aiolos seemed to have his interest piqued in taking Lance's side. "They don't wanna know about how we manage what they give us to work with, so why should they chime in about it?"

There was a respite of conversation in which Gemini Saga stared at him as if thinking how he would put his thoughts to clearer terms. While Lance didn't know Saga well enough to decipher his thoughts, Aiolos, who accompanied him since their orphanage days, was a different story.

The wing-armored Gold Saint stepped forward in the talk. "You want something else out of them in this council, don't you, Saga?"

"Aiolos, I -"

But there wasn't a doubt in the brown-haired teenager's mind. "Of course, I should have known, you want some kind of political gain so you want the ship to go above-and-beyond the call by the time they're up our throats tomorrow. Saga, it's more important to make sure our fundamental job is done!" his arm swept aside in revolt. "They want to put Aiolia in the Leo Temple! I thought I could come over here and ask you if there was a way to influence the Pope through them to not do it, but you want to badger these people!"

Lance blinked, stunned by Aiolos' intervention. He decided to stay quiet for then.

"Aiolos… we have to do what it takes to advance our Zodiac, our generation." Saga carefully argued, tapping his finger on the Golden Zodiac's drawing.

"Not at the cost of the kids!" Aiolos shouted.

"At any costs! They are Gold Saints now!" Saga shouted back, raising his tone for the first time. "And we inherited a BIG mess! Just like Lance over here has pointed out, they need to get out there and get ready for war as soon as humanly possible, and we can't make heads or tails about controlling this place if we don't even know who to trust! Important people are looking at us like a pack of headless chickens! Aiolos, these are the people who decide if your brother will get the respect and education he deserves or those who will make every attempt to have the Pope kick us off the Zodiac! People who protested against the Pope replacing three veteran Gold Saints at a time where the average age of the remaining Golds is just ten!"

Aiolos bit his lip, struggling to think how to counterattack. It wasn't unusual for the two friends to clash over politics and the right thing to do.

As Lance had observed, Saga would usually win out cause he took the most pragmatic, realistic approach, making sure to stress how he would usually leave the difficult choices to him. It was therefore no shock for the Cancer to see the Sagittarius now at an impasse in how to defend the younger kids, since he just didn't seem to have experience making tough decisions.

"The best way to protect Aiolia, then, is for us to work hard together to jumpstart our epoch." continued Saga, looking up ambitiously at the ceiling as if he saw their common future. "This is our time, our opportunity, the clock is ticking and we need to prove ourselves so we can make decisions for ourselves!"

This was an angle that impressed Lance. It was true that if they didn't make a splash, they would never be given autonomy from these jerks. "... He's kind of right, Aiolos."

"Thank you. The older Gold Saints retired in their thirties and forties, while I will be only twenty eight when the predicted start of the Holy War with Hades arrives," he then appealed to Aiolos' soft side. "I don't like seeing your brother put in danger, either…. But the Pope says he has the potential for gold level cosmos and that a kid as talented as him is hard to come by."

Aiolos laid down his arms, depressed. "I… No, I can't accept that. How can you ask me to..."

The other two laid silent, letting the clock tick away. They didn't enjoy putting Aiolos under this kind of pressure, either.

"Don't worry, Aiolos, just trust me, I'll find a way," guaranteed Saga, who then turned to Lance. "What about the law enforcement? I was told you just got called to solve something."

The Cancer Gold Saint scratched ear, pensive. "Another Black Saint incident. It could be that the attack on the Pope really did encourage more terrorism. Today's proponents were Silver-ranked and were really violent people, but I don't see why I would have anything to say tomorrow on that issue other than that…. it's all under control."

This time it was Saga who wasn't convinced. "Are you sure?"

Lance realized this wasn't an easy issue so he paced himself. "If you ask me, it doesn't seem any different than the crime rate flux from when I was a Bronze Saint. Don't worry, if they ask anything I'll take care of it." Saga stared at him, wondering if Lance was holding back things to explode on the nobles the next day. "Seriously, I'm more concerned with this staff mole issue. Why hasn't the Pope given us a heads up yet?"

Aiolos was shocked that they were leaving such big gaps in their tenure already. The thought of some Papal Soldier or servant at the Leo Temple around Aiolia being a possible traitor sent him to a fritz. "I don't want to accuse people unfairly, though. There's gotta be a way we can make the Zodiac secure."

"We're talking about former Gold Saints. Finding the mole will not be easy." reminded Saga, resting face on hands. "And tomorrow… we're gonna have to explain to the powers that be that we're not gonna be able to guarantee our job will be done…. And that drives me crazy."

This time Lance got so mad he banged his fist on the table, making the stacks almost jump.

Saga's blue eyes looked them over, trying to swear with a gaze he did his best. "I ran down every hole, I personally spoke to every suspect… If anything I've found only rebel haters, people who suffered during the Civil War and would die before cooperating with those attackers. I can't find out if there's someone on the inside or if the enemy simply knew enough about the Zodiac to plan and observe all they needed from the exterior."

Aiolos rested back on his chair, also confused, "and their leader was from my House… I still can't believe it. We need to figure out something to tell them tomorrow. The Pope is counting on us to stand up for ourselves." He chuckled. "I guess we should have paid more attention when he brought us to Akassius' house. That was our one chance to get his guiding against these people." It was then that something occurred to him and Aiolos' eyes widened in hope. "Hey, wait a minute, Lance, what about that friend of yours?"

"What the… Friend?!" the Cancer wondered. Whenever he heard this, Shinta's face would usually come to mind and this pissed him off right away.

Aiolos snapped fingers to stimulate his memory. "Yeah, that… Ghisi person. I saw you two talking at the ball all night. Can't she give us a hand going through these faces? I heard she's the one training servants for the Zodiac and other nobles."

"It's not like I have her freaking address and newsletter!" defended the red-eyed teenager, folding his arms angrily. "Besides, what good would she be?! And why would we trust her?! For all we knew she slid the mole in!"

"I think you just answered your own question." Aiolos appealed, wondering what was the problem with this idea. "Come on, we're pulling hairs here, and she could definitely help."

While he understood there was no use to it, this lack of power nearly drove Lance insane with frustration. Every day it seemed like he could rely less and less on the Pope to be their guiding hand in all of this, and while the Gold Saints were the ones in charge of security, there was no going around the fact that none of them had the training or experience needed to guard the Zodiac. Watching Saga run his head out of fuel thinking about how to make Sanctuary look presentable to a bunch of practically foreign nobles didn't make things any easier.

"I knew that guy Akassius was on to something, talking to me like he did!" the Cancer suddenly spoke out, getting the attention of the two youths. "Right after the Festival he passed through my house and was just slightly suggesting about how we were basically gonna inherit all the problems of his retiring friends, but you'd think he meant the usual stuff, like combat and taking care of the Temples, not that the Pope would be this obstructing prick and his old enemies were gonna be part of it." He walked up to them, determined. "It's one thing after the other, first that attack, then we have to get ready to protect the goddamn world in a rush, and then Aiolos can't talk the Pope out of bringing his six years old brother into the fight! Then we have to present ourselves to these old guard douches again and legally prove we haven't jeopardized the fate of the world yet. Even then, no advice from the Pope."

"What are you suggesting?" Aiolos pleaded, interrupting Lance so he wouldn't keep reminding him about Aiolia's situation.

"I don't want to be a bitch about it, but it seems like something unreasonable is going on, like Shion thinks for some reason we're gonna be fine no matter what. And I can take that shit, fine by me -" Lance guaranteed, holding hand against chest. "-but it's not fair to you guys. Listen, let me speak tomorrow for you all at that dumb Noble Council, or whatever."

Saga's eyes brightened up. "Do you have a plan? I hope so cause if you can manage to keep them off our backs like this I'd be able to focus."

With some embarrassment, Lance shook his head. "I wish… I don't even really know what kind of people we're gonna be talking to, but I know it's not fair for them to put all this pressure on you two to solve this place's problems." With some reservations, he sighed and made his vow. "And I'll be damned if I let Shion's stupid enigmas make us look like we're not doing our jobs!"

The two of them blinked. "Are you sure? They could blame everything on you," warned Aiolos, whose mind recalled the conversations he had in Akassius' home. "You remember how they would eye us back in Kastoria, right? They're just waiting for a chance to score political points with the Pope for their families."

"I don't care, let them, I'm a goddamn warrior, not a politician! And if there's anything I'm used to, is this place thinking I'm the cause of all its problems," Lance ranted. "And after this meeting, I'm having a goddamn talk with the goddamn Pope! This is not gonna stand or my name isn't Cancer-fucking-Lance!"

Aiolos looked at the clock. "Speaking of which… don't you have to check on Deathmask at the library?"

"Look, his goddamn name is Mephisto and…" Lance rolled his eyes. "Shit, you're right."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Later

Sanctuary Town Library

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The large building stood amongst the lower streets of Sanctuary and was particularly well-maintained for a modern library, due to significant resources being spent in Sanctuary safeguarding their mythology and knowledge. With an external neoclassical architecture featuring white marble outer walls and pillars on the outside, the inside was less ostentatious in the sense it mostly used rinsed-up wooden furniture, inner walls and pavements, creating a two-storied labyrinth of bookshelves, spiral stairs and serialised studies to work on. All kinds of people could be seen reading and writing in the library, from older scholars figuring out alchemical equations to younger students wanting to pass Greek class and figure out the epics.

Standing by the disguised Aquarius Saint at the desk of Sanctuary Town's library, Lance tapped his foot and folded arms impatiently as he saw Deathmask grumble and complain about his task, filling up the books on mythology section for Camus. The distant squeaking of pest-hunting bats could be heard, but Lance assumed it was just his imagination.

"He's been doing a good job, even if he complains a lot," confessed the small, teal-haired French boy. "I just wish he wouldn't eye the wallets and valuables like he does. People studying here aren't very careful with their things."

Mephisto's ears perked even while he was busy putting back books that the dumb frequenters left behind in the tables. "Hear that, Lance?! I've been doing a good job!" he stressed. "Maybe that's a hint to ease up a little on the afterwork training!"

"You wouldn't have to do it if you and Milo hadn't been selling contraband Coliseum tickets! And you'd have more hours for a paced work-out." Lance bit back, wise to Mephisto's scams. "So GET TO IT!"

"Volume." Camus warned, eyes unmoved from his own reading.

"Damn it, sorry," Lance apologized. He felt like a sixteen-year old dad of a ten year old Sicilian bandit, though. "I don't understand why they couldn't have Milo here instead, so Mephisto wouldn't be putting his sticky fingers to work in such a public place."

The teal-haired boy sighed, resting his book for once. "I hate to admit it, but when I'm together with Milo, we start talking way too much," he rationalized.

Lance blinked, bewildered. "Isn't that a good thing to you?"

"Why would it be? It's a waste of precious time and I have a lot of work to do." Camus nonchalantly explained, tapping the ledger where he wrote down all the overdue book lends. "Having a good time with Milo isn't productive to it."

It was tough to feel more weirded out than this. "I think he might freak me out more than Mu." Lance pondered to himself.

A trio suddenly entered the library hall and approached Camus. "Excuse me, do you have my order yet?" a familiar voice requested. Camus perked up and Lance widened his eyes, both recognizing none other than Adriana Ghisi, the young aristocrat the Cancer Saint met at Kastoria and Syracuse, surrounded by a pair of sharply dressed, sunglass-totting bodyguards. "I've been waiting for two weeks. I don't mean to press you, but it's getting seriously unpleasant."

"Hey, it's YOU!" Lance shouted.

"Lance, I told you already to keep it low." Camus snapped.

"Ah, fuck, sorry, Camus! But Adriana… " Lance called out, approaching her. "... How the heck do I keep running into you? Look, I seriously need to talk-"

The two bodyguards stepped in and a large hand pushed Lance back. "Keep your distance, peasant!"

The Cancer Saint froze indignantly. "What?!"

"Miss Ghisi didn't come here to be bothered by street curs. Mind your britches or I'll mind them for you," the tanned, bald man warned, showing off a Gold-Rank pin on his suit. "with my fist!"

Camus frowned annoyingly. "And don't harass the readers or I'll stick your feet to the ground. Also, Miss Ghisi, there's no order done, Sanctuary's library isn't a bookshop, or a documentation requester. We don't sell genealogy, so quit with the condescending requests." he explained, his tone suggesting he's had to do this before. "If I have to refuse you again I'm banning you from my library."

The wavy-haired, silver-ringed blonde gal insisted, resting arms on the balcony, smiling gently and eyeing the boy like she would skewer him. "You… must be confused. I've been coming here for over a decade since your teacher was in charge. This is the only place that has registries going back earlier than the last twenty years on anything in Sanctuary. Even my thesis was written here. I know Sanctuary's library can help me out."

Camus huffed indignantly and took the backroom keys to his pocket. "Perhaps, Miss Ghisi, but not on my curation. The restricted records deposit is locked to you from now on." The Aquarius Saint then glared at her in warning. "Especially to anyone looking for leverage on her political rivals. That's not what knowledge of history is meant to help you out on."

She shrugged shoulders and sighed sadly. "Oh, that's a shame. I guess the donations will stop coming in." She then walked off towards the shelves. "If you don't mind, I'll look for what I want in these."

Lance stepped in. "Wait, Adriana!" The two tall men stepped in front of him, arms folded in warning, but Lance just rolled his red eyes. "Fuck off, you two, I seriously don't have time. Hey, Adriana, I'm talking to you! We need to have a chat! It's about Sanctuary."

The topic was more than good enough to get her attention and the noble halted and squinted at the Saint.

Camus was surprised to know that the Cancer Saint knew of this annoying aristocrat business woman that kept pursuing privileged data on family trees that Sanctuary kept on record, much less that he had something so important to discuss with her. "Lance, what's going on?"

"It's about the people she's been training to work at the Golden Zodiac." Lance explained in low tone, before turning to the young woman. "Look, I know you can help me out, my friends could really use someone with insight on this."

She spent like half a minute staring musingly at the two disguised Gold Saints, but the aristocrat chuckled and looked away. "Ah,... Pardon me, but do I know you?"

A vein popped in Lance's head. "What? Look, quit the bullshit, this is serious business." The teenager demanded. "Call off your gorillas and come with me."

One of the bodyguards held him back. "Don't push it, kid! Miss Ghisi, do you know this person?"

She held her chin in contemplation, eyebrows raised. "Hmmm…. He does look familiar…" she pointed at him in query. "Did you… landscape for my family last year?"

Lance couldn't believe this. "WHAT? Of course not! You know who I am! Do I have to freaking spell out how we know each other?!"

Camus noticed that people walking in and out of the Library hall were starting to stare. "Look, if you all don't keep quiet, I'll ask you to leave."

The Cancer Saint fumed. "Give me a break right now, Camus, something more important is at hand."

But the French boy was unrelenting. "I don't care, take your trouble outside before I take it for you."

Feeling pressed, the cryophobic Lance tried to walk through the two men. "See, there's no trouble-" they blocked him again. "Okay, I'm getting really sick of you two!"

"Kid, this is your last warning!" one of the bodyguards warned, grabbing Lance's shoulder. "You're asking for a handout from the wrong family. If you don't quit being an impertinent bum we'll toss you the hell out of this place!"

"And this is your last warning; Get the fuck off me before you lose that hand!" Lance snarled, losing his patience. He stared at the elegantly-dressed aristocrat gal, asking her to do the obvious right thing "It's me, LANCE! Wouldn't be insisting if this wasn't a real problem I wanted to talk to you about! So get your goons off me!"

The other bodyguard repeated the earlier question. "Well, miss Adriana? Do you recognize him?"

Acting rather impatient, she walked up to him as if to look closer. "...I'm afraid he doesn't come to mind." She then slid something into Lance's pocket and ordered her men. "Please get him off my hair, I have a busy day ahead."

"WHAT?!"

The teal-haired Aquarius Saint was sick of the yelling. "Okay, Lance, that's enough-"

"Camus, right now I don't care about your stupid library!" Lance snapped. The Aquarius Saint stared at him in shock. The red-eyed teenager immediately felt guilty. "Alright, I'm sorry, stepped over the line. I didn't mean to-"

Camus grunted and walked off. "Do with him what you want, Miss Ghisi!"

Two pairs of large arms suddenly swoop in at light speed and carted up Lance. "HEY, WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE!" the two body guards carried him off kicking and screaming. "GET OFF ME, YOU BALD FREAKS! "

Mephisto finally got back from his chore. "Hey, Lance, I'm done with my shift - hey, what the heck?" he saw Lance getting swung by the two bodyguards, as well as Adriana watching the whole thing. "Hey, you're that woman from the docks in my home city."

She turned to him confusedly and her face beamed up suddenly, recognizing the blue-haired boy. Adriana chuckled and waved. "Oh hi, you're… the little thief boy from Syracuse. It's great to see you, how have you been? I thought you wouldn't resist training so long, but..."

The grim prediction completely flew by him. "Nah, I've been great! This place has got nothin' on me!" the cocky boy bragged, inflating chest. "What are you doing to my guardian, though? He's supposed to take me back, so… I kinda need him."

"Oh no, I'm afraid I don't know that person." she assured, folding arms relaxedly, and looking away.

"What are you talking about? I remember you two speaking back home." Mephisto saw Camus of all people keeping his distance. "Umm…. can she do that?" he nervously asked him, seeing the two large men opening the doors to outside with a struggle as they tried to contain the fighter at the same time.

The Aquarius Saint shrugged. "For the next five minutes, I'm looking the other way."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Outside the library of Sanctuary, the people of Athena went on their daily business, occasionally sparing glances at the building for the tourism of it but not making it their priority. Everyone quickly put it on top, though, when the large wooden doors loudly opened all of a sudden and two suited men carried a wild wolverine of a punk outside.

"Stop struggling, damn you!" one complained.

"IF YOU TWO AS MUCH AS DO WHAT I THINK YOU WILL, I'LL TOSS YOU OFF STAR HILL!" Lance threatened, but they opened the large library doors with a careful kick. "Don't you fucking dar-"

"Get some fresh air, PUNK!" one shouted before the two tossed him. Lance shouted bloody murder in the air and fell on the steps, rolling down the marble staircase to the dirt floor, coughing. "And stay away from the Ghisi household!" They then closed the library's wooden doors.

The Cancer Saint got up and dusted himself, not believing what just happened. "What. The. Fuck!" he gritted between teeth. Seeing himself full of mud and dirt, he angrily dusted himself off. "I'm gonna kill that woman, I swear to Christ! Has she gone insane?!... Wait...'" As he did so, his fingers felt a rolled up paper in his pocket.

He took it out, unfurled it and read the message written in cursive handwriting and pretty calligraphy:

Meet me by the Coliseum

Though he struggled a bit to decipher the dancing form of the letters, the Cancer Saint stared at them, flabbergasted, when he understood the prank he just got put through. He furiously crumbled the paper and burned it inside his hand, hiding his cosmos from the curious eyes. "Yeah, this better be damn good!"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Later

Coliseum Outskirts

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Situated at the edge of Sanctuary Town, the Coliseum's surroundings were emptier outside festival and games seasons. Pacing angrily between the citizens, the Cancer Saint tried to not draw too much attention to himself and how ready to explode he was. He looked around impatiently for any signs of his interlocutor and raised an eyebrow when he spotted a person of Adriana's frame trying to keep her face hooded by an alley and discreetly waving at him to join her.

He walked up to her and saw the cloak she put over her fancy adventurer dressing. "Why the heck are you wearing that?"

She discreetly rolled her blue eyes, making an effort to turn her face to hide it and grabbed his wrist, dragging him with her amongst the people. "Come with me," she leaned closer, "Lance, Gold Saint of the House of Cancer," she whispered.

"Can we talk now?" he asked, trying really hard not to shout instead.

She chuckled. "Yes, we can, ah ah, I apologise for all this," Adriana begged, seemingly genuine. "But you were in a position I couldn't resist taking advantage of."

He noticed the change in her speech pattern, which now returned to her usual careful addressing trained by years of etiquette. "You're just all over the place, aren't you? This is the third time we just happen to run into one another."

Allowing him to slow their pace amongst the crowd once she decided they were sufficiently mixed in, Adriana raised fingers in count as if figuring out for herself how many times it has happened already. "Hm, hm, you're right! Maybe we should keep a tally for future recurrences. If you think about it, though, I think you'll agree with me it's just a coincidence. I was just as surprised to see you."

"JUST AS SURPRISED?! What the heck is stopping me from-"

"I have a better excuse for what I did!" she assured, interrupting him before he drew attention again.

"Just get on with it!"

It went against all of her etiquette instincts to not address a Gold Saint with his title, but an effort was made, especially since Adriana had some explaining to do. "You see, Lance… well, it's not considered a peaceful gesture for someone in my position to maintain a friendly relationship with someone like yourself on her own. At the dinner in Kastoria it was different, since it was a social event, but if I'm seen too often discussing with you… people will imagine an alliance."

To his great surprise, Lance then saw her frown nervously and look around the street, as if making sure one last time no one was listening to their perfectly innocent conversation. It finally dawned on him what she meant; if a representative of a powerful family was known to keep in regular contact with a member of the Golden Zodiac, it was probably easy to assume something was being arranged in private between them, or worse. Remembering what he could from what he has seen of Sanctuary's nobles, particularly the dwarf Gigas who offered to tutor Lance in Sanctuary's ways, they seemed like a very politically involved bunch who jealously fought for connections with established Saints.

There was also the fact that a number of the current Zodiac's Gold Saints hailed from such families themselves; Scorpio Milo and Aquarius Camus came to mind. Lance had not thought about it, but before even the damn meeting with the nobles planned for the next day arrived there were probably already all sorts of interests put in motion.

He decided to feign some consideration. "Did I… put you in danger?"

After looking over a few more times, the young woman smiled rather reassuringly. "I appreciate the concern. No, but it's best to avoid trouble, don't you agree?" Something told Lance she was being euphemistic about it, if not lying for his sake. "Besides, and hopefully you won't misunderstand, but I think that your solitary ways will make you quite secure. People tell me you haven't left your House since the Eighty-Eight Knights Festival."

Red eyes narrowed. "People? What people?"

Elegant shoulders shrugged and blue eyes looked away. "You know, people."

Memories of all the servants, cleaners, cooks and even soldiers working at the Golden Zodiac flashed through his mind. It was true. Except to run errands regarding Mephisto and take part in missions, Lance had kept to himself at the Cancer Temple for the previous two months.

And the fact that Adriana knew about this worried him. "I don't think I appreciate how you basically have a spy network in the most important fortress in the world."

She took him around the street, obviously intending to fake a walk through the town and make their way back to the Coliseum. "And I assume this is what you wanted to discuss with me?"

"You know what I've been doing, apparently." Lance reminded her, eyes narrowed. "So maybe Aiolos' paranoia isn't off the mark."

"Priam's successor, correct?" she guessed, trying to recall the names and faces. "That's a bit of a maladroit statement, don't you think? They're hardly spies. My family's business is just that; teaching people to serve others of high standing. You twelve can't take care of that huge place by yourselves, though if you believe you can keep all those stair steps clean, you're welcome to try," she confidently challenged.

The idea alone made Lance grumble and fold his arms in surrender.

Keeping a chuckle to herself, Adriana continued, pulling her hood closer over her head. "Lots of people dislike how entrenched my family is with the Temples, so I have to keep our interests protected. My grandfather taught me to look out for myself," she rather self-consciously explained, as if she had noticed how often she was hounded about it. Her hand waved gracefully. "Besides, do you really think I get to know more than whether or not those kids have been wetting their beds? It would be frankly a 'faux pas' to try to spy on the place headed by a Pope that can read thoughts. I'm afraid that if you have a spy problem, you'll have to look somewhere else."

Lance scratched his head, caught off guard. He couldn't really blame Adriana for taking advantage of her contacts, not after the debacle back in the Festival with the Black Saint attack and Guardnia's effective betrayal. To that day the Cancer Gold Saint still had the feeling that the Pope and the Gold Saints hid things from him about Cetus, their old enemies and far, far more, so he could understand why someone looking out for the business empire of her family would not hesitate to gather as much info around her as possible.

A threat was a threat, though. He couldn't go back to Saga and Aiolos empty-handed after this off-chance meeting. "If I catch your employees doing more than chores, I'll be the first to kick them out of the Zodiac."

For a split second she frowned in such a way that it looked like an argument would start, but she then shook her head, chuckled, and brought light to the conversation with a smile. "I believe you, Lance. You seemed stressed out, though, how about we go on a little tour?"

Lance blinked. "Excuse me?"

Seeing he was the type that wouldn't get a hint, the noblewoman practically gripped his arm and dragged him back towards the Coliseum. "We'll just discuss … business."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The odd couple moved through the corridors of the massive building, trying to not draw too much attention. This was because soldiers and Saints weren't allowed inside the field off-schedule to avoid scuffles with other training men.

As exercising Saints and soldiers passed them by, the Pegasus/Cancer Saint saw Adriana make further efforts to conceal herself. While swords and cloths were not uncommon in Athena's land, Adriana's particularly flowery-looking rapier-blade, haircut and fine adventuring coat made her stand out a bit for the slight ostentation of it all. Lance saw her hand discreetly cover the blade handguard, her distinctive silver ring being pocketed and her head lower a bit.

"...Trying to avoid someone?" he asked, though he also took a subtle, similar stance since he wasn't exactly popular.

She gently huffed a smile. "I don't want to be seen with you, you see? Not by the wrong people." her expression then got serious. "The public has been gossiping since the Festival. They seem to realise the Zodiac was struck. The nobles know even more."

This genuinely startled the Saint, whose red eyes blinked in preoccupation. "What?! Are you serious? How did those FUCKS-"

Her finger touched her lips, gesturing a hush. "Now don't be too loud about it, will you? It's gauche to call attention to court foulplay." she started. "Also, since I know how old the new Gold Saints are, it's not hard to tell who's the current leader apparent."

He stared at her stupidly. "... You mean 'me'?" he practically protested. "Look, I don't know what you're going to propose, but I have no interest in political bullshit. Let's make one thing clear about all this; I'm not the new main Gold Saint! And I'm not interested in any alliance, either!"

She stopped for a second, blinking. "... Pardon me? Who said anything about that?"

The Gold Saint's eyes darted back and forth in bewilderment. What was actually on his mind was how Saga had approached Lance with similar talking points right before the Cancer departed to the Isle of Gardens to get Aphrodite and, even earlier, when the dwarf Gigas had 'advised' him on how to behave around aristocrats. Not only that but the Pope seemed to have some weird plan for him and the fact that he was investing so much in Lance's education, while something to be grateful too, was definitely not gonna be without its tradeoffs

To make things even worse, he felt compelled just now to promise Aiolos and Saga that he would take the lead the next day in explaining to the Nobles how they've been running Sanctuary. The two teenagers seemed scared about their prospects and honestly relieved when the Saint volunteered, in his fit of frustration, to personally 'wing' it. Now he felt like the circumstances planted the idea in his head and he couldn't go back on it.

"What a fucking mess." he thought. The sensation was one of different spiders moving around him to string him up in their web games. "You didn't, but you're gonna suggest something else. I'm a warrior, not a senator or whatever you people think Gold Saints are." he argued. "I don't do favors in the name of the Cancer House and, if I have anything to do with it, none of the others will."

But the young woman found this even stranger. "I don't understand… You became a Gold Saint. I don't want to assume, but…" she then came out with the obvious. "... this was your objective, right? You're one of the twelve most important people in the city."

"So what?!" the teenager protested. "It doesn't mean anything!"

Adriana wasn't convinced. "Lance, every kid here wants to go gold. And everyone knows wanting a high post like this has its risks, at least every grown up person does." she then covered her mouth. "Wait, I forgot… you weren't raised here, correct? You were an outside kid from the orphanages."

Once again the Cancer Saint was caught off guard, because she was absolutely right. His red eyes looked away frustratedly.

This was more than enough for the clever young woman to draft the answer in her head. "...Oh, I think I see what you're trying to tell me, Saint Lance." For the first time since they met, the warrior saw the cunning woman's usual untrustworthy smile soften into a sympathetic frown. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

She raised her hand. "What does it feel to be raised into Sanctuary, like you were?" she queried, looking over the arcs of the Coliseum corridor. "You see, to me… and to many others, this is all we know. And most of the kids coming in from 'Heart of Sasha' and 'Gift of Alone' have a very low success rate so… we never get a chance to exchange ideas with them. Then you add my stature in and… well, I'm justly pretty curious about it."

Lance thought it over. "From the way it was first explained to me when I was ten… Sanctuary sounded amazing."

She blinked. All of her experience with the Cancer Saint, plus the info she had on him prior to their meeting, pointed to the red-eyed youth being a skeptic, an insulter of Sanctuary and Athena. "It did? How so?"

The Cancer Saint nodded. "What's there not to awe at? You grow up an orphan, thinking you'll never be adopted, and then some person in shining armor comes in and gives you everything; a home, a purpose and even superpowers. They tell you they know God, and that it's a woman, that they have living proof. They also tell you you'll be a hero, protect the Earth from Hades and whatever…" He kicked a stone, reliving old fantasies. "But then it turns out that 'God' only comes around every two hundred years, that you have to slave yourself to death for a glimpse of a superpower, of this strange power called Cosmos, and chances are you'll die."

The noble woman stayed silent, contemplating his words. For Lance, it felt like an odd moment of honest sympathy from the etiquette-driven aristocrat, who never knew a world that didn't include Sanctuary and Athena.

Having had to go through her share of trials to unlock her own cosmos, albeit with a large advantage thanks to her bloodline, Adriana offered a slightly understanding nod. "I guess a lot of people in our world are pulled up into strange roles. It's… really headspinning to be pulled to such a high place, right?"

Lance's head shook. "Especially if you didn't even know if you wanted to be in the 'low' place to begin with… and just fall off the rail," he then saw her hand slide down to the pocket she stored her silver ring in.

They continued to walk in somber silence, moving between the pairs of aspirant warriors going on with their days of work. The blazing sun welcomed them back when they reached the standings, making them sweat and clean their brows, but for a while nothing seemed to break the blueness in them.

The sound of weapons clashing in training could be heard and the crowd was lighter, creating a different murmur that helped the mood transition. Adriana moved ahead and stepped her boot on the safety edge, discreetly rolling it. The feeling was familiar to one from her childhood, of stepping on a stirrup.

"Ah, I have good memories of this place." she recalled, referring to the arena. "I never wanted to be a warrior or watch fighting, of course, I'm not that kind of gal, but my grandfather taught me equestrianism here." Adriana confessed, smiling slightly. A little girl never forgets the first horse she gets to saddle around a field. "Something my useless parents didn't bother to teach me… They were content with my business skills growing. Uh… I used to think that I could maybe become sort of a female knight too if I just learned how to ride a horse. It sounded better than wearing a mask or being the maid to a dead Goddess."

Lance couldn't be more bored with the idea. "You said you wanted to talk business."

"Well, yeah, but…for once I don't feel like it." She then recalled something. "You know, Saint Lance, I can't help but wonder… how is it that you don't want to be a Saint? It's everything every boy and girl here is taught to aspire to."

Instantly the example of Alexis came to Lance's mind. "I've met one or two people whose parents spoke against joining the army, but sure, let's admit that."

Her hands laid flatly. "Didn't you, though? There's money, career, prestige… certainly attractive when you remember war only comes every two hundred and fifty years. You seem pretty proud of calling yourself a warrior, at least."

For once, her question interested him. He scratched his nose and looked at the Coliseum. "Yeah, but is it the same as being a Saint?" he pointed out. The fight with Kastiel was what he thought of when he stared at the massive building's entrance halls. "My first memory of this place isn't a good one like yours, at least not nowadays. It sure felt damn good at the time, but now I wonder if getting the Cloth, made me happy in the least. To me, being a warrior meant fighting for what I thought was right, and being a Saint meant trying to do it in the name of Sanctuary so I'd get a roof and food as well. It made me feel content for a while..."

"What are the things you are most proud of doing?" she asked, curiously.

He thought genuinely hard about this. "...I was going to say risking my life for others, but does it mean the same when you don't value your own life to begin with?" he gave her a moment to try to answer, but Adriana didn't seem interested. "What about you?"

"Oh, oh…" she chuckled, holding chin. "Getting my silver ring is definitely in the podium, but I think driving the Alexopolous family out of business was an especially sweet triumph, mh, mh."

The Pegasus and Cancer Saint returned her a flabbergasted look. Was this person for real? Ruining others sounded like an absurd thing to be proud off.

She resumed her initial point. "The reason I ask these things is that, when I was growing up, all the young boys seemed to want to become Saints because they looked up to someone in the army, someone who was already a Saint. It was kind of annoying."

Lance shook his head. "I wouldn't know, I got here, from their perspective, an old age… I guess the Triangle Saint, but… nevermind -" While he wanted to avoid talking about Noah, something about this topic intrigued him, especially cause he never liked the other kids. "Who did they fawn over? I seriously can't picture anyone in the army worth the fuss."

Adriana's eyes rolled. "You know, the usual, some action-figure-looking adult like Herakles Aguilon. He is very popular even today, which is surprising with how long he's been in the game. But the big ones are always myths like the Godslayer, the Great Bodyguard and the Teos Saint. It's like kids look at Saints like they're toys."

The name ringed inside Lance's head. "Teos?... The Pope told me about that Cloth. I don't get what it means, though."

She chuckled, gently covering her mouth and patting his arm. "You don't know the song? I'm surprised, he's a pretty big one. Every kid knows about it; the strongest Saint ever, the thirteenth Gold Saint and all that," she elaborated, once again ringing bells in Lance's head from Shion's own explanations about the myth. She suddenly grasped her beautiful rapier and flashed it to him as if she wanted to raise it in the air, and began to sing, "When Sanctuary became in grave danger, when all hope is botch', the Teos Saint would emerge and kick Hades in the crotch!"

Lance snickered with the weak rhyme. "Ah, ah, what, are you serious?"

"It's a the knight in shining armor for knights in shining armors, you couldn't think of a more on-the-nose bedtime story to get kids to dream about being Saints. Boys always want to be the center of attention. The Godslayer, while well known, only appears very briefly toward the end while the Great Bodyguard was a saintly Saint. Being good and kind, is just too boring for boys with active imaginations especially with rumors that the Great Bodyguard was actually a woman." She snapped her fingers, as if to simulate a spark. "But a thirteenth Gold Saint? Someone in armor like the sun, stronger than the Twelve Gold Saints, coming in to fight in the most famous battles and saving the day from out of nowhere? You can't tell me that even you haven't thought about this sort of thing. It's the kind of thing you draw with crayons in kindergarten, a superhero."

There was no real need to spell this out for the Cancer Saint, since he still remembered having these kinds of aspirations. In all honestly, explained this way to him, the Teos Cloth did sound kind of cool. It sure broke the norm of what was expected of a Gold Saint, of being some sort of zealot warrior of Athena, and this seemed to address some of the things he felt frustrated about what he was doing.

Was this the reason Shion showed Lance the myth to begin with? To try to give him a hint about what he should aspire to? If this was the case, Lance had to admit that maybe the Pope wasn't as out-of-touch as he seemed.

"Of course… no adult is going to believe something like that, but the feeling stays with you, wouldn't you agree?" Adriana argued. "And when Skeleton Soldiers surround your house and throw torches at it, your loved ones inside and all… are you going to believe the Twelve Saints stuck defending the temples will rescue you? People never put their faith in just what they can see…especially in a world where Gods are very real."

Once again, the Cancer Saint felt himself nodding. "It feels a bit silly, but it's true, I suppose."

He then saw Adriana turn toward her sword and unseath it just a little, letting the sunlight bath the handle. For some reason she stared rather intently at it, seeing the reflection of her own determined eyes and hardening her lips into a deadly frown. Small, sticky threads seemed attached to it, as if the interior of the sheath was drenched in some web-like substance.

"Personally… I don't believe in heroes." she started, looking over the handle's reflection. "My own world is too cutthroat for that. I only trust in what my blade and skills can cut through in the darkness."

Adriana sheathed her weapon, letting the click at the end snap her out of her trance. Lance noticed how she took a deep breath with this and looked back at him with a much softer glare. "But you're not in my world, are you? You're not an aristocrat, nor wealthy, nor well-educated, but you are privileged, Lance, since you're one of the twelve Gold Saints. What are you going to do with what's been entrusted with you?"

The warrior, however, did not have an answer. "I don't know yet…" He then thought back on Teos. "Maybe it's as simple as daydreaming about some sort of super armor, but I don't see it that way yet."

She sighed, touching her forehead. "What a waste of time, then. And here I dragged you to the Coliseum to see if I could convince you to let my staff back into your House after you kicked them out." she lied, disguising all of her previous concern with her normal interests. "We ended up not talking about any business, didn't we? If only you had someone that knew how to keep that head straight I'd have a new contract signed by now."

For some reason, the image of a purple, dwarfish man in Chinese hat and shirt came to Lance's mind. "Roshi… you'd just tell me to snap out of it, wouldn't you? I bet you can tell I'm all confused and you're just laughing all the way from China."

While she saw in the new small shine in his red eyes that she somehow got through to him, the aristocrat feigned ignorance and gestured an invitation to leave the Coliseum. "Shall we? I think my escorts will call the guard if I'm missing for much longer."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Hours Later

Temple of Cancer

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The dusk approached, darkening the Golden Zodiac. After parting with Adriana back at the Library, Lance made his way back home with Mephisto, who grumbled on and on about how the only person authorized to bring him back and forth went missing for an hour.

"You know, Lance, just cause your head is a mess, it doesn't mean I gotta spend extra hours paying my dues!" the dark-purple haired boy whined.

"Well, you got a good laugh at my expense, so I'll say we're even," the teen argued. Mephisto laughed out loud again just from picturing Lance flying out the library again. The red-eyed teen lifted him up and threw him ahead to pick up their pace. "Stop cackling like a crow and get inside!"

Mrs Shafurwatt, the Polish older lady who served several of the Houses, was waiting. "Welcome back, Lord Cancer."

Lance stared at her, bewildered. "Didn't I tell you guys to get off my House?"

The grey-haired woman shook her head. "The Pope has different orders, I'm afraid. He has warned that he'll pass a law saying the Cancer Saint will have to scrub the whole House himself if he kicks us out a fourth time. Also… Saint Gemini has sent up here the portfolios on your meeting tomorrow with the Lords. He asked you to look them all over to prepare yourself." She grabbed the grumbling Sicilian boy by the wrist. "Come on, Mephisto, you're gonna tell the cook why you and Milo have been taking the desert trays!"

"Hey, lady, it's not my fault! It was his idea!" he claimed.

A huge headache came over the sixteen year old Cancer Saint, who rubbed his nasal bone in a wince. He thought Adriana was kidding about the serfs, but apparently not so. Of course this was just the tip of the iceberg that was the anvil hanging on his head; from his assignments overseas, the periodic meetings with the aristocrats, the endless shitstorms waiting for him back home to help solve, the impending problems he had with Shinta and the rest of the Golden Zodiac that he's been dodging for two months and, finally, to the infuriating silence about vital issues that Shion had been subjecting them to, it felt like the departure of the three older Gold Saints had left behind a mountain of unseen issues just for him.

It was difficult to believe that this is what it meant to be a Gold Saint. It couldn't be! Who would spend a lifetime mastering the art of fighting at the speed of light when a large portion of the job was dealing with the slow trudge of bureaucracy?. The hours of the day seemed so small now, and he still had training to do just so he could be on par with what was expected of a normal Gold Saint to act like.

"You didn't think this life would be roses, did you?" Karkinos mocked, laughing cavernously inside Lance's head like an underwater creature. "All of this would be easier if you dedicated yourself to the Underworld Arts."

"I don't see how that's the case!" Lance argued.

"You'd make an acceptable Cancer Saint faster." the crab simply retorted, disarming an irking Lance. "And you'd be setting the example for all the other young new Gold Saints. Without Pegasus and the Andromeda Saint to hold your confidence afloat, it's not so easy to think otherwise, is it?"

The Gold Cloth couldn't be more on the nose about how it was trying to steer him. "Shut up, I don't need your mocking and I'm not a goddamn necromancer!" He followed the other two inside through the Cancer Temple's main hall, but this somehow only made the creeping laugh of Karkinos louder. "What good are your stupid powers anyway? I bet they wouldn't work on a Specter anyway!"

"It would on those Black Saints. You wouldn't even need to storm the house," the constellation pointed out, once again defeating Lance's point. "Would probably be safer for those useless orphans, too. But we'll see what you'll think when the Specters knock at your door, won't we?…"

"Oh, one more thing, Lord Cancer." Mrs. Shafurwatt said, stopping. Her hand took out a letter with a red wax circle inscribed. "This arrived for you today."

The wincing Gold Saint reluctantly took it, expecting another problem for him to take care of, but his red eyes widened when he saw the red wax was marked with the Andromeda princess cloth box carving. "It's from… Shinta?"

Mephisto snorted. "Oh, nice, your girlfriend called."

"Come with me, Mephisto!" the old servant snapped, dragging the kid off the hall.

Lance waited till the doors closed off before he dared to open the seal. The simple paper letter was short, but the Greek was hesitant to read it. He had not spoken with the green-hair since he kicked Shinta out of the Cancer Temple and his usual over-complicating self already imagined all sorts of unseen terrors in the words. Still, he somehow braced himself and faced the dreaded document, ready for some yelling and protesting.

Dear Lance,

How is everything? Has Aldebaran been doing fine with Lord Daniel gone? I hope you're all doing great in the Temples, cause I really miss the kids. The first thing I noticed after getting back on Andromeda Island was that the soccer matches were gone for good. Things are fine here in Andromeda Island, though, thanks to Saint Kerberos' help.

I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you lately, even through mental messages. Maybe I was afraid you were still mad at me, but things changed. It's easy to understand if you still are angry and just want to burn this letter with your cosmos. Miss Cynthia says that I shouldn't bother people training at the Golden Zodiac, cause she thinks you're just a House trainee. I wonder what she would think if she knew I was pestering the actual Cancer Saint?

Anyway, in case you're still reading, Saint you-know-who has been really helpful, putting the place in order and walking me through important procedures for a Training Ground caretaker. It wasn't easy to adapt being in Andromeda Island with Master gone, but, well, these two children called Albiore and Elda are coming in soon, so I need to make an effort to get things ready. They will be students for the Cepheus and Cassiopeia Cloths for you see, I have news; I've been picked to be their teacher.

It's insane, I know. I'm so terrified.

I wanted to ask if you think I'll do well. I don't think so myself. I've never even truly taken care of myself. When I heard the news, I thought back on things and realised I always had either you or Master Guardnia guiding me out, and now I'm supposed to guide two children. I'll do my best to be kind and comprehensive, but still demanding, just like Master Guardnia was. He started teaching when he was my age, after all. But the wooden swords and the graves by the Elysium Cliffs are too many as they are, don't you think? More than anything, I don't want to add another two.

You'll probably never answer this, though. It's fine. I won't take back what I said, but, again, I understand if you don't want to listen to my problems in addition to yours. You even have Mephisto and Aphrodite to take care of. The two lives they'll put in my hands are nothing compared to the thousands you're expected to protect. I bet this will make me feel better when I get scared about Elda and Albiore, whatever kind of kids they may be like.

Still, I hope you forgive me. There are things I can't compromise on, some innate to myself and some my teacher passed down on me. Ever since that awful day, I've been thinking a lot about what I'm doing in Sanctuary and what I can do to help things around. That might be what's been getting me out of bed. What about you, Lance? Have you found something to hold on to? I bet you have, you've always been a lot stronger than me, always had a lot more answers.

Athena be with you. Your friend,

Andromeda Shinta Akiyama

Sighing out loudly, the tanned Greek boy put down the paper. He would have to burn the letter, yeah, but not because of how frustrated he still felt, but more so cause Shinta was stupid enough to mention the fact that Lance was the Cancer Saint in it. If the wrong person got their hands on this, it would be another huge mess for the House of Karkinos to take care of.

But as his hand flared up with cosmos and swallowed the words in a burning torch of energy, incinerating it, its contents rang strongly inside the teenager's head. Did Shinta really think Lance had all the answers? It was so laughable, if only the Cancer Saint actually was the person the Andromeda idolized him to be. He wouldn't have half his current headaches.

Was this what people felt, picturing legends like the Teos Saint, the Great Bodyguard and the Godslayer? It was true Lance once idolized the idea of being a Saint, for a short time, but he forgot a long time ago what it felt like. As far as he could tell, being a Gold Saint wasn't any more special than being Silver or a Bronze. At least the other two ranks didn't include more work, more scapegoating and the sensation of being trapped and pulled from all directions. There was no denying, though, that travelling as a Gold Rank was a heck of a lot easier, and cheaper.

Once again, the idea of speaking with Roshi came to mind. It was always like this now. The idea of escaping to China had become the natural response in Lance's mind to things Sanctuary had been throwing at him ever since Shinta first showed up at Rozan with that order from the Pope to come back.

"It's decided, then, no more delaying. After I handle the meeting tomorrow with the rich bags, I'm talking to Shion to see if I can head back and finish my training," he concluded, though he wondered yet again if it was really okay. He would have to arrange for things to progress normally with Mephisto's education while he was gone and Aphrodite to be more or less at peace in the Twelfth Temple, not to mention his absence from the Cancer Temple would have to be accounted for. Unstrapping the golden chestplate he hid beneath his clothes, he loudly dropped it on the table. "Guess I'm leaving you here for a while after tomorrow."

"You might escape my voice, Lance, but you won't escape your problems," Karkinos mocked. "Whether you want it or not, you have these infants to lead for now. It's the dawn of a new Gold Saint era, rushing in the tracks to accomplish great, distant feats… and you are strapped to the train shield."

This was true. Lance could deny it all day, but his age would put him at the forefront of these new Gold Saints. What a hard spot to be put on, but Lance volunteered to head the meeting tomorrow for a reason. "I'm not alone in this… so I'm not afraid, you graverobber," he walked off to the distance, intending to use his short free time before his desk work to watch the sunset from his temple. Hands on his waist, he took a deep breath and braced himself for the darkness to come ahead. "And after tomorrow I'll be even readier to take these problems on."

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Sanctuary Town,

Golden Zodiac's outskirts

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The tumbling carriages going back and forth on the pebble Herculean Road raised clouds of dust in the air as workers and merchants finished the day. A passing woman in a hood coughed unpleasantly, bumped shoulders with strangers and cursed Athena's capital. She made her way, hiding her face, to near the entrance of the mountain housing the Twelve Temples. Pretending to be a religious pilgrim, she kneeled by the stairs with several other faithful worshipers of the Goddess.

From there she could see the doors of the Temple of Aries, a place that housed the alchemists of Sanctuary. A lilac-haired boy had mounted a stand by the start of the world's longest staircase and sold gadgets and toys stacked on it.

Mu spotted her. "Hello, weary traveler!" he welcomed her with a huge, toothy smile. "You've come a long way, haven't you? I'm selling all sorts of useful goods to tired pilgrims. Would you like a 'drinking bird'?" he offered, picking up a wooden peacock whose beak went up and down on a small water container. "Designed for India's faithfuls, this one is actually water-powered! If you attach a magnet and a wheel to it, your house will be liberated from the electric bills!"

She harshly shoved it back. "I want nothing, you brat, don't pester me!" she screeched, trying to observe the Aries Temple.

The Lemurian boy's cheeks puffs. "Hey, don't be mean, I'm offering you a great deal! Come on, I'll give you a discount," he thought really hard on it. "How about… five percent?" She eyed him venomously through the hood's cover, making him eep. "H-hmm...ten percent?"

The person decided to leave instead, somehow lifting up a sensation of darkness that had crept on the area. The disguised Aries Saint's eyes followed her for a while, but the movement of the crowd eventually made him lose track of her somehow, even with the power of the cosmos.

The workshop sales kid pondered the event. "...your loss."

Far off amongst the streets, Nasu Erika, spy of Daemon Lucifer, took a turn inside a darker alley and looked down her sleeve, where the wrist guard of her insectoid Surplice was still worn. She whispered a dark poem of worship into it and dark Cosmos burned in the object, making her eyes close and her mind picture a figure in the Underworld.

"Lord Daemon?... Sanctuary's defenses are still intact. No lasting damage from Priam's attack is visible after two months."

"What about the Gold Saints?" a low voice in her head asked.

She counted the cosmos she sensed in her head. "The Aries Saint is pretending to be a salesman right at the doorstep. I thought it to be misinformation… but it's really just a small little boy. Could eat him up in a second. The rest are hiding well behind the sensorial barriers, there's no telling how many are on alert."

There was a moment of silent calculation on the other side. "Good, come back to Cain. We have work to do."

Before anyone could see her, mortal or not, Nasu Erika's hood turned into a mass of black sludge that swallowed her up and merged with the shadows, disappearing.

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Chapter End

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Next Chapter: Second Arc – Unrest and Disenchantment

Description: Pegasus Lance faces off the aristocrats of Sanctuary, representing the new Golden Zodiac. Meanwhile, in the Underworld, trouble seems to rise up as the Specters are unsatisfied with the treatment the Dark Prince has been giving them.

Author's Note:

The note Adriana gave Lance and the letter Shinta sent to him were initially going to be shown in dedicated fonts, hence the narration mentioning why Lance had trouble deciphering the handwriting, but does not support a lot of fonts, so it had to be changed back to TNR to be uploaded here.

Anyway, this chapter sets off the Second Arc, which will be renamed after we reach a certain point in the story, though old readers already know what it's really called. It's just a courtesy to new readers, really, to name it the Second Arc, for now. I have no intention of keeping it that way. Most of the plot of this arc is already written down, but the earlier parts need some work put into them since some of the stuff has gone obsolete or is just plain comparatively bad to this third edition. Hopefully this means it will take less time to go through these and get to the meat of the Arc.

I think none of the characters so far are new or need explanations, as I often feel compelled to give when I bring someone from the spin off works like Ionia from Saint Seiya Omega, Olivia from Saintia Sho or even just a character from Jenny. I don't think I've forgotten any, but then again I'm not so sure. Also, there were a bunch of author notes this time mostly cause of things pertaining to the production phase of this chapter, but nothing to worry about.

Finally, make sure to check out Hitagi Gahara's SKD scanlations of Next Dimension, Saintia Sho and others. The writer of this fanfic is proofreader of Saint Seiya Next Dimension's English releases and they're your current top source for high quality scanlations in English. Also, if you're interested, contact me through PM or review this story with a request to get an invitation to the new SKD Discord server, where you can get updates on Sho and ND directly, not to mention chat with me and many other English-speaking SS fans.

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I hope you enjoyed reading (^_^)

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