118 — ATHENA'S ORDER
While the planet collected the rubble of the profound destruction that the rains caused across the four corners of the world, Asgard seemed blessed by what its citizens considered an unseasonable summer, a northern summer, as the humblest in the central square called it; a summer that consisted of brief intervals of sunlight, spread across long hours of a white sky, but without the precipitation of snow or even the biting mountain wind. It was enough to preach that Odin had indeed blessed them and forgiven Hilda for her sins in those last months.
A week passed from Siegfried's Fall until that peaceful day. Seiya and Geist spent their days with the young and inexperienced dockworkers at the port, as the older navigators and captains had succumbed to starvation as the years passed, and the craftsmen of Asgard had also lost themselves to madness or the thirst for power, so that the port really needed good maintenance if Princess Freya wanted to return to the region's trade routes, taking that country out of the deepest poverty and abandonment.
Sitting on the bow of a weather-eaten hull, Seiya observed the icy horizon of that region dotted with blocks of ice that collided in the distance.
"Your uniform is torn, Lieutenant." Seiya looked back and found Geist with her overcoat equally destroyed.
"Lieutenant?" he asked, frowning.
She just nodded and Seiya returned the signal in a serious manner, acknowledging his sudden and surprise promotion with a certain etiquette; he looked back at the ice floes on the horizon and Geist approached him. She noticed, closer to the boy, that Seiya was smiling or seemed to be holding back a weak laugh.
"What amuses you, Seiya?"
The boy looked at her and spoke with some grace.
"I remembered when we fought each other in the castle." she understood and returned to facing the ice blocks." And now I am your sea lieutenant."
"Had it not been the interference of the Gold Cloth, I'm not sure if we would have shared an adventure across the seven seas."
"I would have gotten up and beat you, regardless." he teased, looking back.
"We will never know." replied Geist, seriously.
Seiya took a deep breath.
"You look different from that boy who beat me on that Island."
"Different?"
She nodded and continued:
"You're growing."
Seiya was silent, reflecting on this as the waves crashed against the hull of the ship he was sitting on. He rarely reflected on anything, let alone his own life and all the life he still had to live. To grow.
"I feel at peace." he said, giving voice to his thoughts, almost without understanding very well what one thing had to do with the other.
"At peace?"
"Yes. Looking at this huge ocean brings me peace. It reminds me a little of my childhood."
"See how right I am?" Geist continued. "When we miss something, it's because we have a loving past where we came from. It is from that moment on that we start to grow."
"When we start missing things?"
"Exactly."
Seiya let out a smile, remembering what he missed so much and shared with his captain.
"I remember when I went to the beach with my sister and we both looked at the sea waves."
Geist took a deep breath, guessing that Seika's memory was still something that the boy held very tightly to his chest; and that perhaps from the moment he was separated from her he had been forced to grow up much sooner than he should have. And that fate seemed common to all Athena's Saints. As it was with her too; and on her side, the melancholy of that ocean dotted with blocks of ice made her think about Shaina, who had left without giving news of her arrival at the Sanctuary.
Seiya already seemed to understand his captain's silences a little better.
"She must have arrived already. Nothing can stop Shaina." the boy smiled and Geist felt a certain comfort, which seemed to be a type of sorcery from that brave boy.
The Bronze Saints alternated their duties to Asgard with a peaceful stay in Princess Freya's pretty mountain hut. June was sitting on the bed where the God Warrior Hagen still lay unconscious, although he was now attacked by feverish delirium only to return to his catatonic state minutes later. With a damp cloth, the girl took care of his fever and night sweats, as he was still suffering from the effects of the terrible Phoenix Phantom Strike. Princess Freya had to take her sister Hilda's place in Valhalla while she recovered from the burden of carrying the divine powers of the Nibelung Ring; the Voice of Odin was cared for in the ancient halls of the Palace by the master healer of Asgard, who had his full attention to it. And precisely for this reason, it was up to June to lend her knowledge to bring some comfort to that God Warrior.
Andreas, an older man with pale skin and terribly dark hair, visited that mansion at least twice to check on Hagen's condition. And his diagnosis wasn't very different from what June already knew: all the boy needed was care and time, as nothing would be able to wake him up from those delusions other than his own strength. But if he was now delirious, at least it was a better clinical picture than the catatonic torpor he had previously sunk into.
Sitting on the bed, June heard two knocks on the door, and when her eyes looked up to see the visitor who had entered, she found Shun's calm face. The boy left the door ajar, as he would soon leave; he saw how his friend re-bandaged Hagen's hands and asked him, without looking at him.
"Any news?" she asked about the Sanctuary.
"Not yet." replied Shun, keeping his distance, but noticing that Hagen seemed to be suffering. "What's happening to him?"
The boy looked worried, but June soon calmed his heart.
"He's finally reacting. His mind may be heading towards the end of its illusions. But there's no telling how much longer it will take before he wakes up."
June looked hopeful, but Shun remained heavy-faced.
"Are you ok?" she asked, always worried about her friend.
"I am. I can only imagine what he will feel when he wakes up and realizes that all his friends are not here. And all the tragedies that struck his homeland."
June looked at the sweet boy she had known for many years; and for many years she knew how much more painful it was for Shun to hurt than to be hurt. He knew the extent of his injuries, but he never knew exactly the extent of the injuries he caused, who would suffer besides the one who fell before him. June knew that Shun easily got carried away by the suffering of others.
"It's true that we don't know how he will react when he wakes up." added June, trying to get Shun out of that sadness. "But it's the least we can do for him."
Shun didn't respond and June realized she needed to get the conversation going to take him away from his own sad thoughts. That cold land had a curious effect on Shun, which only she seemed to be able to notice: he became sadder and sadder with each passing day, while the whole city seemed to flourish. His shoulders were more drooping, his voice was softer, his energy was gradually fading away, as if Shun was, more than all of them, a solar creature and, in the absence of sunlight, he dwindled like a flower that slowly dies. Ikki would also be able to notice that subtle difference in his brother, but Phoenix had disappeared since the day of the battle, as was her custom. A custom that June now hated, as she wanted Shun to have her sister by her side.
She tried to make him remember her, at least.
"What about Ikki, any word on her?" she asked, although already knowing the answer.
"She's out there." replied Shun, laconic. "I know what you're trying to do, June."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Shun." she covered. "I would like to talk to her. Hagen was hit long ago and is still under the effects of the Phantom Strike. This is not normal."
Shun raised his eyes to meet June's, who continued speaking.
"Are you absolutely sure of what she told you?" asked June, trying to remember what Shun had shared with everyone a few days ago.
"Yes. Ikki told me that he will return to normal, it's a matter of time. And that everything depends on the feeling that Hagen has inside his heart. Of it being true."
"What does that mean? I can't imagine Ikki saying something like that." June asked herself, looking at Hagen. "Hagen was one of Valhalla's guards. And then became a God Warrior to protect Asgard. What is this feeling that can save him? The duty to his land? Courage? What is he missing?"
"Ikki once told me that only two people were able to quickly recover from her Phantom Strike."
"Two people?" June asked, looking back at Shun, curious.
"Yes. I don't know how many were Ikki's victims and I don't like to think about it, but among all of them only two fully recovered, she told me. And so fast, that not even she understood. Not even Saga was able to come to his senses so quickly, and at the end of the battle in the Twelve Temples, he was still under the effects of my sister's technique when he was defeated by Saori."
"So who are these people who miraculously recovered?"
Shun looked at June when he confessed to her:
"Hyoga and Shaina."
"Hyoga and Shaina?"
"Yes. Both were able to recover quickly from the Phantom Strike."
"Hyoga and Shaina…" June babbled to herself, trying to find the answer in something common between the two.
"Maybe what Ikki meant wasn't about Hagen's feeling for his land, but perhaps about someone."
"Someone?" June asked, confused by all that impossible dialogue.
"Princess Freya seems to care a lot about him." added Shun.
"You don't mean to say that the feeling that will save Hagen is..."
"Love." completed Shun, looking at June. "I remember Hyoga telling me that the Phantom Strike made him see the most terrible of illusions, messing with what was most precious to him. His own mother abandoned at the bottom of the ocean. The thing he loved and loves most in life. And that it was thanks to this feeling that he was able to free himself from the effect of the Phantom Strike, like a miracle."
"Love?" June asked, incredulously, looking back at Hagen, who was suffering deliriously, before concluding what seemed very obvious to her. "This is ridiculous."
"Perhaps." Shun said, commiserated. "But it was what saved Hyoga."
June looked at Hagen for a long time and wiped off some more of his sweat, not believing that something so childish could be the best medicine for that illness. Because that antidote was exactly what made Hyoga emerge from his delusions to help Athena with so many miracles.
And on that late afternoon, the Cygnus Saint was with Shiryu making rounds at the entrance to the Lower City to give Valhalla's palace guards some rest. It was the same place where the two had fought against each other while Hyoga experienced an ancient possession through one of Odin's Sapphires. The boy's guilt-stricken chest relaxed when Princess Freya demanded that the boy stay at the Valhalla Palace, instead of living with his friends in the mountain mansion, living with the scars of his mistakes. Together they talked for afternoons and nights about the tragedies of Asgard, the weight of Odin; Freya told Hyoga some anecdotes about his Master Camus in that land, in addition to confirming more than once that those letters he had received as a gift were indeed from his former master.
The Cygnus Saint still felt guilty about having destroyed the Sea Relic, but the times in Asgard and the population were in such a good mood, that it was as if nothing terrible had actually happened as a result of his mistake.
"I think you like her."
"Ah, Shiryu, shut up." protested his friend, awkwardly, taken out of his thoughts.
"I can't see, but I can feel the warmth in the air. You must be blushing."
"You don't think I'm really going to believe that, do you?"
Shiryu let a brief smile slip across her face and didn't see it, but she knew that her friend was also a little dizzy. Nothing happened that round, but before Hyoga provoked her in any other way, she asked him to remain silent.
"Wait, Hyoga. I think someone is coming." she said, heading towards the road.
Hyoga looked ahead and little by little he really saw a shape emerging: a wavering silhouette. Whoever it was had a lot of difficulty moving forward along the snowy road, so he went ahead and ran until he noticed that it was a ragged figure, wrapped in lots of cloth and covered by a hood on its head; the person walked with the help of a crooked branch and, as soon as Hyoga approached, it fainted in his arms. The hood fell back and Hyoga recognized the face passed out on the floor. It was Alice.
Pictures of a diluted life in a dark ocean. The muffled sounds in an abyss, as she tried at all costs to reach the surface. The lights of a night-lit city appeared through the translucent water that she watched submerged in the ocean of her own sadness. A huge bright lighthouse pulsing its silver light reflecting on the water mirror. The stars in the sky approached like planets and their colors distort on a horizon where there was no longer a city, lighthouse or ocean, just the deep cosmic carpet.
An extreme cold in the bones and the calloused and suffering feet in an infinite and pale background. Little by little, that white curtain seemed to melt like slowly spilled paint, revealing behind the veil out-of-focus shapes on all sides and colors. Gradually, a dear friend's face takes shape. Someone she might have already learned to forget, but whose brown eyes were unmistakable.
"Alice! Mii!"
She reached out and touched her familiar face full of longing.
"Seika." she said, delirious, and with a little longing in her chest.
Seiya looked at Shun beside him and tried to sound a little calmer.
"No, it's me, Mii. Seiya."
"Seiya?" she asked, slowly coming to her senses, a little confused, but soon seeing clearly the messy hair on the Pegasus Saint's boyish face.
She came to herself, finally, and her mind immediately brought back the agony of those dreams she kept having repeatedly, because after all she was there for a deep reason.
"Seiya!" she shouted, trying to get up and scaring everyone. "We need to go. We have to go!"
Seiya got up together and soon noticed that Alice lost her balance when she tripped over the basin of hot water that warmed her sore feet and fell to the boy's side; he held her and June helped him get her back to at least sit on the couch. She was still very weak, having spent almost the entire last day traversing the arduous Path of the North.
"We don't have time." she stammered, still a little delirious.
"What are you saying, Mii? What is happening?"
"It's Saori, Seiya." she said with difficulty.
"What? What about Saori?" Seiya tried, but Shun interfered to restrain the boy.
Princess Freya brought a pot of hot tea from the kitchen and June some bread from the pantry, as the girl was hungry and very weak. She refused everything with her hands and pulled Seiya back to her, because she knew there was no one in the world more stubborn than him, and now she needed the boy's hard head.
"Listen to me, Seiya. Saori is in danger. We have to save her."
Seiya felt his blood freeze in a first moment of confusion and then he took the mug of hot tea from Freya's hands and knelt in front of Alice.
"Hold it. It will warm your hands. Take some and tell us what's going on."
She nodded and took a first sip of tea, recovering some of the color in her face. She closed her eyes and finally told everyone what was troubling her so much.
"A few days ago, I don't know exactly how long, but a little over a week ago, perhaps, a strange rain began to fall all over the world. A heavy, never-ending rain that gave no rest. And then came the tidal waves that shook the oceans and raised waves that looked like mountains in the sea. They were so big. They swallowed bridges and tore down buildings and constructions in coastal cities. And the rain just wouldn't stop. The whole world didn't understand what was happening and the news that came from everywhere was terrible."
The boys were all close listening to Alice's story, to the point that no one dared to say anything.
"Saori knew it was Poseidon."
"Poseidon?!" some of them were frightened.
"Yes." she confirmed, sipping her tea. "She was at the Cape Sounion for many nights at Nicol's side as you all sailed the Seven Seas. Then, once the rains started, she was sure it was the God of the Seas. And she decided to go alone to the Cape Sounion one night. Master Mayura and I were together, but it was as if we weren't." she lamented, with sadness in her voice.
She swallowed hard before continuing and looked at Seiya with some despair.
"She screamed for Poseidon demanding to see him, to try something to make him stop. And she screamed so, so much, until finally he responded."
"What!?" they were all confused in their own way.
"The Sea became rough around the Cape. And from the bottom of the sea, a Messenger of Poseidon emerged. She knelt down in front of Saori and Saori demanded that she take her to where the Sea God was." her lips trembled with that memory. "And then they were both swept away from us by an impossible wave that rose to the Temple. We couldn't do absolutely anything."
"And where is she?" asked Seiya, desperate.
Alice continued her story with glassy eyes.
"I waited for two days for her to return to Cape Sounion, but she didn't return. I saw the rains stop and the entire sky miraculously open." she said looking at everyone, as if telling about a miracle. "But she didn't come back. Saori didn't come back. The one who came to me finally was that Messenger of Poseidon who had taken her away. I will never forget her face. She brought back with her the Golden Staff and the news that Saori had sacrificed herself for the Earth to live."
Shun almost fainted, but was held back by June who also had her stomach frozen with despair; Shiryu fell into an armchair, as her legs had wobbled for a moment. Hyoga's shoulders slumped and his eyes searched the ground, while Seiya just gaped. Even Geist was unable to suppress the feeling of helplessness at that moment.
"But we still have time!" Alice said, seeing that the entire room seemed to have melted with her story.
She stood and looked at everyone.
"She's still alive and we can save her if we go to Poseidon's Realm. That's why I'm here."
The color seemed to return to Seiya and he stood up to face her closely.
"I don't know how to explain it. All the Messenger told me was that in a few days, Saori's life would be consumed by the sea. But I still feel that she lives, Seiya. I know she is alive."
"I believe in you, Mii!" Seiya said immediately, sure of himself and her.
Shun seemed to revive in June's arms and Shiryu also got up confidently from the chair. Within that atmosphere of certain euphoria, however, they heard the door open with force and Hyoga bolted out of that hut. Shun made to go after him, but Princess Freya stood in front of him.
"Let him go." she asked, looking deep into the boy's eyes, worried about his friend.
"What happened?" tried Alice, who didn't know about the tragedies of Asgard.
There was a moment of silence between everyone until Shiryu finally explained to Alice some of the pain that lived in Hyoga's heart.
"Many things also happened here in Asgard, Mii. And Hyoga is perhaps the one who suffered the most among us all."
"We managed to seal six Relics of the Seas around the oceans." Captain Geist began to speak calmly. "But when we arrived in Asgard, something terrible happened."
"And Hyoga ended up destroying the last Relic of the Sea."
Alice put her hand over her mouth.
"Do you think he could have freed Poseidon?" Alice asked, finally understanding part of the drama between them.
"And now he must be blaming himself for Saori's death." said Shun, watching through the window as Hyoga disappeared into the mountains.
The Athena's Owl fell back onto the sofa looking at Shun; and for the first time she noticed how the boy looked absolutely sad, with his eyes sunken and dull. Seiya wore the tatters of the uniform in which he had set sail, his hair was even more disheveled and his arms were injured. Shiryu was serious and June also had a worried expression when she changed the tea in her mug. It was the first time in months she had seen her friends again.
"Ah, Seiya, I'm sorry." she began speaking to everyone. "I'm sorry you've been through everything you've gone so far. I hadn't realized how long it had been since we'd seen each other. Saori and I were scared to death every night that something had happened to you and I'm really relieved that everyone is okay. But then... I'm sorry, but we have to..."
"There's nothing to apologize for, Mii." Shiryu interrupted next to Seiya.
"Let's go get Saori." Seiya announced, confidently.
"We shouldn't waste any more time. Marin told me that there was a way to get to Poseidon's Realm from Asgard and that's why I'm here."
"Marin?" Seiya was surprised.
"Yes, she was the one who helped me get here."
"Is that true, Princess Freya?" Shun asked her.
"Yes. The Bifrost Bridge. Legend says that the Bifrost Bridge is the one that connects the World of Men to the World of Gods. Hyoga left here to go after it, I'm sure."
"I remember him commenting that a Lieutenant Mariner had already attacked Asgard before we arrived." Shiryu remembered.
"Exactly. This means they used the Bifrost Bridge, but this knowledge has been lost to us in time. There's a group invested in searching for it as we speak." Freya looked at Shun. "The Phoenix Saint joined this group, because the deeper into the mountain the guards go, the more unbearable the temperature is because of the lava that flows underneath Asgard."
"This means that Hyoga could be in danger." Shun worried.
Princess Freya did not respond, as in fact the concern was real. In any case, she knew, as did everyone there, that nothing would convince him not to try. Seiya and Shun were already putting things together to be of some help, when Geist asked for the group's attention.
"Stop all you're doing." she asked, mysteriously, and then walked towards Alice. "There's something I'd like to understand better, Alice. I can't understand what brought you here. The reasons why you traveled the entire distance from Cape Sounion in Greece to Asgard in the conditions you are in." all eyes returned to the girl and Geist followed, very seriously. "Answer me, Alice, why didn't you and Marin return to the Sanctuary? And where is the Eagle Saint?"
Geist's speech was so accentuated that no one dared to interrupt her and, as she spoke, the Bronze Saints seemed to realize, each in their own time, how it really didn't seem to make any sense. And then all eyes fell on Alice, who felt cornered and, more than that, had to remember another terrible news that she needed to tell those friends of hers.
"Marin returned to her mission." Alice began with the easiest answer and prepared herself for the rest of her story. "Master Mayura seems to have already accepted that Athena is no longer in this World. And the Sanctuary will have to defend itself without her." there was a certain tone of bitterness in his voice.
"Do they believe Athena is dead?" asked Shiryu, calmly.
"It's as if it were. Poseidon's Realm is in Another World."
"The Lieutenant Mariners can come and go from that World." Seiya protested with that nonsense.
"But not the Athena Saints." Alice pointed out what was going on in Mayura's heart. "The truth is that the Sanctuary is already preparing for battle against the Army of Hades."
"And they're going to abandon Athena?" June asked, without understanding.
"Athena decided to leave Earth to give it a second chance."
"I can't believe all this is happening out there and we're just standing here making rounds every day." Seiya complained.
"Seiya is right." echoed Shiryu and spoke to Geist. "Why didn't the Sanctuary tell us anything?"
"For the same reason Alice did not return there."
Alice felt the weight of Geist's eyes and looked away from them for a moment, back to the fireplace.
"Say it at once."
They were all startled by the harsh voice coming from the door; They looked back and found the serious face of Ikki, who had entered the hut without anyone seeing her. Alice looked at them all before speaking, for what she had to say was painful to hear; her words, however, were clear to everyone there who needed to hear.
"We were banned from the Sanctuary."
Shock. Seiya and the others looked at each other, absolutely confused; Shiryu sat up straight in the armchair, incredulous that he had heard what Alice had said. Everyone wondered in their own way the meaning of that and, again, Geist had to intervene to prevent the room from turning into an incomprehensible fair. She shut everyone up so Alice could explain.
"Saori made one last request to Master Mayura." she said with teary eyes, as it was too painful to think about her in the past.
"What an idiot." Ikki said, guessing Saori's motivations.
"I won't let you talk about her like that!" Alice shouted, getting up from the sofa with a force that left everyone astonished.
The basin of water that warmed her feet overturned on the carpet, the blanket that warmed her ended up on the floor and no one dared to stop her. Not even Ikki followed through with her mockery. The girl's voice was vibrant and sad.
"The entire world was shaken by the forces of Poseidon with an endless and deadly rain. Many cities were submerged, entire villages were swept away, entire populations were decimated. Many people died. Many of them. Many children around the world couldn't resist, Ikki. And all this she felt on her back. And beyond the World trembling… The Crater Saint, Nicol, was murdered on Starhill. She couldn't take it all anymore. She couldn't bear to suffer any longer without doing anything like a stone statue. She couldn't bear the idea that you... that you might have died here in Asgard. Or on the high seas." she said, looking at Geist. "Then she decided to do something. She decided to march alone to the Realm of Poseidon and make the God of the Seas, an Ancient God of Olympus, stop the rains that were destroying the Earth. She did this for all humanity. She did it for us all. And for us all, the only thing she asked in return from the Sanctuary was that they no longer allow us to return. Because she knows that is where the battlefield against the Army of Hades will be in the Holy War to come. Her last wish as Athena of this Age was to spare us from this War."
For a moment no one dared to disagree with Alice's passionate speech. The first one who dared raise his voice was the one everyone was waiting for to do it.
"She can't choose for us!" Seiya said, angrily.
"She already did." Alice replied. "She wants us to live our lives away from these battles."
"That's bullshit!" said Seiya. "And we won't take it. Now she's gotten into an even bigger problem, because we're going to go down to the Sea Realm and change her mind."
Alice let out a smile in the midst of her sadness at how absurd that boy was, but at that moment that was exactly all she needed to hear.
"You said that this Poseidon Mermaid said she was still alive, right? Otherwise you wouldn't have risked coming here." he asked and Alice nodded. "Then it's decided. We'll go down to the Undersea Kingdom, rescue Saori, dry her white dress and return to the Sanctuary all of us together."
Seiya was crazy, but Shiryu beside him stood up, excited about the plan; Geist was proud of her Lieutenant, June was almost completely sure that all of that would really happen and even Ikki let out a sideways smile at that brainless kid. Shun was the only one who kept his face closed, while Princess Freya broke the bad news to everyone.
"Like I said, we unfortunately haven't found the ancient Bifrost yet."
"And we won't find it anytime soon." added Ikki, joining the discussion.
"The Phoenix Saint has helped us map the ancient paths of Asgard's underground. Caves and deep valleys that ancient Dwarves used to mine. It is said that in one of these caves there is a Rainbow Bridge that the Dwarves carved directly from the Stars Rock that has been deposited on the mountain of Asgard since the creation of the World."
"It's a dead end." added Ikki. "There are many paths underground and I don't think I've covered even a tenth of what there is. And so far no sign of a rainbow inside the mountain."
"Damn it." Seiya sank onto the sofa.
"I'm sure if we all help, we can find it." Shun said to his sister.
"No, you will only get in the way." Ikki said.
"What are you talking about, Ikki?" Seiya rebelled. "Hyoga left here to go after the Bifrost, we are all Athena Saints, the heat shouldn't affect us that much."
"That cry baby will only slow me down, just like all of you."
Ikki almost caused an incident between her, Seiya and Alice, who couldn't stand that pose in a moment of crisis like that, while Shun tried to contain his temper, covered in emotion and desire. Again Geist had to calm everyone down to give them some hope.
"Wait, Seiya. I believe we can do something. Princess Freya, Seiya and I have been working at the pier recovering some vessels. Tell me, would it be possible for the People of Asgard to lend us any of them?"
"Yes, we have some that we can use, it may take a while for them to be ready, but…"
"Don't worry about that." returned Geist.
"What do you have in mind, Captain?"
"The Orichalcum."
"The Crystal?" he asked, thoughtfully.
"Yes. If we use the Orichalcum Crystal, it may be possible to reach the Undersea Kingdom, as we did in Captain Meko Kaire's Land."
"Yes, you're right!" Seiya reacted, lighting up his entire face. "But Lunara came back with Shaina, how are we going to create a mechanism like that?"
"We don't need a complicated mechanism to sink a ship, Seiya."
"Oh, of course not, how stupid I am!" the boy soon realized, getting excited again.
"Is the plan to sink a ship?" asked Alice, a little suspicious.
But Seiya had already started running up the stairs of that mansion to the second floor.
"There is no time to search all the Caves of Asgard. You need to leave as soon as possible or it will be too late." June said and reassured everyone about that crazy idea. "We've done this before. It will work, trust Geist."
"Won't you come with us, June?"
"No, Shun. I will stay to take care of the God Warrior." she replied looking at Freya, who thanked her. "I entrust Athena to you all."
"Here it is!" Seiya returned, out of breath, with a crude box in his hands; it opened and revealed, floating, a beautiful crystal of subtle and very beautiful amber light. "The Orichalcum Crystal."
"Well, then let's go at once." Alice said excitedly, not really sure about that idea, although always confident in the Pegasus Saint.
Geist asked for Freya's attention, while the Bronze Saints were already getting ready, each one looking for their Pandora Boxes.
"I will go with you to the pier and notify the grand master to prepare any vessel that you need." confirmed the Princess of Asgard.
"I need to tell Hyoga." Seiya announced, trying to leave through the door, but being stopped by Ikki.
"Leave that idiot to me."
Seiya looked deep into Ikki's eyes and saw within her that there was, in her own way, a certain concern for the boy as well. And that insisting on that at that moment would only delay everyone there from the urgent mission of finding Athena at the bottom of the sea.
"Don't let him go, Ikki." asked Shun beside him.
"He'll get over it." she just said.
They chose to trust Ikki and finally they all walked out the door, with heavy hearts in many ways. Saori was slowly walking towards her death and Hyoga had his heart torn apart blaming himself for all the tragedies around the world. Nicol was dead. Another battle was about to begin, as Shun certainly wasn't mistaken in thinking that bringing Athena back would be simple. His sad expression was broken by June's warm hug that enveloped him and lifted his head.
"I promise I'll come back, June." he said, almost automatically.
As always, June wanted him to stay with her. But as always, she knew there was no point. He would be by his friends' side in any battle, even if he hated it.
"Take care of him." June asked Seiya next to his friend.
He nodded and pulled his friend by the arm, throwing him off balance as if they were rushing to lunch, when in reality they were leaving to fight Gods. Shiryu, Geist and Alice were waiting for the two on the Asgard road and had to run after them when Seiya appeared, pulling Shun by the arm. June said goodbye from a distance and saw Ikki on her left looking at that group between the trees.
"And in the end we will all die. They will drown in the ocean, while Hyoga and I will be buried by lava. At least we'll all disobey that stubborn girl." she let out a mocking throat to herself. "Live our lives. As if."
Asgard was not a huge citadel, so the path from that mountain face to the lower city's dock was short enough for the Saints and Freya to cross as quickly as they could, each with their own silence. And it didn't take long for them to be among the dockers of Asgard, with Freya jumping from sailor to sailor, while Geist was already shouting some demands to Seiya from atop a deck.
It was definitely a simple vessel, just like the one Shaina had used to return to the Sanctuary, but even smaller and with a lot of repairs to do. Geist reiterated to Freya that it was perfect for what they planned, after all what they planned was to sink the ship until they reached the Deep Sea Kingdom. Seiya and Geist placed the Orichalcum Crystal on the bow of the boat, attached in a crude but efficient way, so that it would not disappear into the Ocean, leaving them adrift and without protection in the depths.
Alice observed the way Seiya worked alongside Geist, his composure, his confidence, his clear eyes; After so much suffering, Alice felt a lightness in her chest that she hadn't felt in a long time. She hadn't seen him for a long time, since he had left with the crew of the Galleon. Seeing him again with all that desire brought back some of the spirit that the Northern Path had taken away from her. The boy even seemed to have grown a few centimeters and his face had stretched, albeit subtly. His eyes looked even more like Seika's.
The boy finally jumped out of the boat announcing it to everyone.
"We are ready."
Shiryu and Shun nodded and climbed aboard with their Cloth Urns on their backs.
"Come on, Alice." he said to her, closer.
And she smiled like she hadn't done in a long time. She hugged Seiya and also boarded the small schooner. Seiya made some final preparations outside the boat and turned to board when he came face to face with Geist waiting for her next to the bridge.
"Captain?"
"Not anymore, Seiya." she said to the boy.
"What are you saying? No, don't say that now. We need you to sail this ship."
"This ship already has a capable captain." Geist smiled. "Your time has come, Seiya."
"But, Geist…"
"I need to be somewhere else, Seiya."
"What place is more important than next to Athena?" Seiya asked, in disbelief.
"Athena will always be in good company alongside Pegasus. I will be where I need to be."
"Will you return to the Sanctuary?"
"No. You heard Alice's story." Geist said, very seriously, and added: "After the calm comes the storm. Seiya, I don't think you will have an easy life at the Bottom of the Sea, nor do I think we will be safe on the surface. But I'll be on this side to contain the storm when it comes."
"Oh, Geist." he lamented, while she fixed his worn-out overcoat that he insisted on bringing for his last mission. "It was a great pleasure to serve by your side."
"You already speak like a great sailor." she returned, with a minimal smile on her face.
Seiya looked at Geist full of strength, when his Captain finished:
"Captain Seiya."
The boy couldn't stop a brief smile from appearing on his face.
"Carry Hope in your chest, Seiya, and bring the Goddess Athena back."
He nodded and turned back, where his friends were all looking at him confidently: Shun, Shiryu and Alice were inside the boat waiting for his commands.
"May Odin protect you, Saints of Hope." Freya wished when Seiya boarded. "May you be successful in finding the Goddess Athena again and may we see each other in better days."
"Thank you for everything, Princess Freya." thanked Shun on behalf of everyone.
And the Bronze Saints entered that crude vessel with a very important mission ahead. The eternal mission of their lives: to save Athena.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: This is considered the last chapter of the 'Athena's Order' arc. The idea was to make a pun about the Athena's Order being about the Saints, when in fact it was about the order that Saori gives to Mayura and Shaina about the banishment of the Bronze Saints. We know that in the Classic Manga, the banishment happens at the beginning of the Hades Saga, for similar reasons. Here I chose to bring the banishment before the Poseidon Saga, for the same reasons, to give more drama to the choices of Saori and the Saints themselves, not to mention that it was a way to isolate the Sanctuary.
NEXT CHAPTER: Journey to the Bottom of the Sea
Seiya and his friends arrive at the Undersea Kingdom.