IKKI:
The night was growing brighter, the sky was no longer pitch black but a lightening shade of blue; dawn would come soon. The stars had already begun to fade and if I looked hard enough I could see a streak of light on the far horizon. There would soon be no twinkling in the sky... Shun, that was what your name meant: a twinkling of stars...
He had left without any warning, leaving nothing to find him save for a small scrap of paper that stated that he would look for Hades...
After all the pain the Death God had given him my brother was going out to find him. Or had he been possessed once again? But if that were so there was no reason to look for Hades for he would be inside him.
Inside Shun.
Or was it Lim?
So many things had happened in the past weeks that I felt too tired to think of them now. I hadn’t been able to sleep a wink so I would be in a foul mood today... Not that it would make any difference, I was always in a foul mood.
It was nobody’s fault but mine. I had chosen to be like this on my own the day Guilty killed Esmeralda. I was not prepared to go through that pain again; she had died because she had grown attached to me over the years... So it was better for people to dislike me.
Safer.
The only person I allowed myself to be friendly with was my brother, and that was just because I knew that he needed me, the others didn’t require me to be like that; as long as I fought well and helped them win it was all right.
But Shun needed to be loved...
So why had he acted so hatefully when I tried to be friendly? Was it because he had sensed that...
I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. It didn’t matter how many times I told myself that I hadn’t felt what I knew I had felt, and still did. It was there tugging at my subconscious and keeping me form sleeping.
I was afraid of Shun.
I was terrified of my weak baby brother.
But he wasn’t weak now was he?
I wasn’t sure of what he was actually. He had changed so much! From the gentle, weak, dependent cry-baby I had always coddled he had shifted into a dark, introverted and emotionally unstable creature. Had it been the fact of being possessed caused that change? Or was it something else?
Somehow it had to be related to Hyoga´s shapeshift....
The Cygnus saint had also been victim of a sudden alteration so they were both probably under the influence of the same evil. But was it really evil what ailed them? The few times I managed to get Shun to look at me I saw no malignancy in his eyes, just an overwhelming melancholy and a shared feeling of loss through our empathic link.
But the loss of what? I closed my eyes and tried to locate his aura.
My powers had returned almost completely so I felt no discomfort when using them. As I had expected, no trace of him was detectable right now; he had blocked his energy so it would be impossible to find him unless he used his powers, and since he wasn’t very well yet I doubted he would.
I could hear the ocean in the background, soft and soothing with it’s endless litany of movement; a perpetual celebration to eternity. It didn’t matter if humanity died, the waves would continue to come and go from the shores long after we were gone, and they would watch life grow and disappear just like they had since always, water was the beginning of life and it would watch the end of it’s spawn.
I had spent the past two days thinking things over on my island, it was the only place where I could concentrate and possibly the sole place on this world where I felt at home. The darkness of the sooty beaches and the heat from the volcanoes were very akin in looks to my personality: dark, secluded and uninviting, so I felt comfortable with them.
It was better to let people hate me, if they grew to like me they would end up just like Esmeralda, and I didn’t want that. My brothers knew that deep down I loved them but my naturally spiteful personality repelled them; the only one that still insisted on spending time with me was Shun. That was probably why I had been so devastated when he told me to leave him alone....
Now he was gone, lost in the vastness of the world and travelling undetected.
I had tried looking for him everywhere; I went to the remains of Andromeda island hoping that he would have chosen that place to isolate himself, the Chameleon saint was there doing a solo training, when she spotted me she bombarded me with questions of Shun’s whereabouts and Athena´s safety, I answered the few I thought most relevant and left; our favourite spots in Japan where deserted; the servants at the Japanese Kido mansion hadn’t heard from him either; he had vanished. I had finally decided to come to Death Queen’s island and think my next move over carefully.
I could have chosen to return to my brothers and ask them to help me look but I felt that all this had put me in a dangerous mood and it was better not to tempt luck, there was a small line that divided what they could take from me and I knew that right now I would easily go beyond it. Anyway, Athena’s cosmo was resonating strangely and I had felt Hyoga’s aura disappear too for a while; it had reappeared a day or two ago apparently caught in a battle, but it had faded again after that. Seiya wasn’t very well the last time I saw him and Shiryu was not my ideal choice of company; he was too calm and forgiving with me, none of my comments ever hit home with him...
That was what I like about Seiya, he was a hothead and thus it was easy for me to keep him away with my “anti-magnetism”, but Shiryu... Shiryu was just the kind of person that would get me to open up, and I doubted he would like what was inside...
The sun rose quietly and the temperature began to lift almost instantly. I got up stretching the stiffness out of my muscles and yawning sleepily. I could have had a bath in the cottage I had re-modelled but I settled for a luxurious swim in the warm waters of the beach.
I picked up my towel and got undressed inside the house; I then proceeded to go outside with the towel wrapped around my waist and headed for the sea-shore. I was the only inhabitant of the island so the chances of being caught skinny-dipping were close to zero, or even lower since I kept and energy barrier around it to keep enemies out.

The water was just at the right temperature so I relaxed and let myself float face-up and doze a bit knowing that the high salinity of the waters would keep me from sinking if I fell asleep. After a while I drifted off....
 
 

SHURA:
Mu got up from the chair where he had been sleeping and nudged Shion asking him to move over and make a space for him on the bed. There were only two beds in the apartment we had rented this time, and no couches. That had been the hardest part, we had been forced to take turns on the beds while the others slept on the floor. Milo had been left to sleep on top of a pile of cushions; he seemed to be ill.
Since he had woken us up three days ago pleading for us to go and help Hyoga nobody had slept much. We had arrived at the place where the battle was taking place to find not the Hyoga we all knew but the angel we had seen in our dreams...
Nikolai...
Or at least that was what Milo said he was called. Apparently Nikolai and Hyoga were one and the same person, but didn’t explain how Hyoga had managed to give us life again. If it had been him which I sincerely doubted.
We had been shocked to find that one of Hyoga´s adversaries was  Jamilon, weren’t they extinct? But if Mu and Shion lived why shouldn’t there be others?
We had been too weak to stand a chance against his two opponents so Mu had teleported beside him, caught him in his arms and swiftly winked out of where he had been. Hyoga’s body was a mess, he had three broken ribs, a fractured knee and a dislocated shoulder; that was without counting all the cuts and bruises....
We had no money to pay the hospital with and we weren’t very sure if it was a good idea anyway; his anatomy might not be totally human anymore so it would be risky to take him there; in the end Mu and Shion had been forced to ignore the headaches and use their healing techniques on the boy.
They worked on him at intervals and slept the rest of the time to regain their energy. That was what they were doing right now as a matter fact. Both Jamilons were too tired to move.
“They look cute sleeping together like that.” Aiolos smiled as he spoke, keeping his blue gaze set on the two sleeping figures on the bed. “You know, master and pupil being so nice to each other...” Yes, Shion and Mu did get on well, which was something that couldn’t be said of most pupils and their teachers. Who else did I know that had such a good relationship with his student? Oh, yes; how could I forget: Camus.
I found myself wondering where he was now; most people liked him since he was honest, direct and had a mild personality, only a bit cold on occasions. He wasn’t as stuck up as most French tended to be and his accent had taken Russian connotations over the years making him sound frankly exotic. I hoped we found him soon, he was somebody we all looked forward to seeing again.
“Why aren’t you sleeping Aiolos?” I asked him in a friendly tone of voice, sensing something was wrong. Aiolos smiled half-heartedly and sat down on the floor beside me. “The floor’s too hard?” I pressed on, inviting him to tell me.
“What do you think of me and my lit.... my older brother?” I sighed. So that was it. Now that he mentioned it I had noticed a sort of tension. Aiolia was delighted to have his brother back but didn’t realise that the change in ages made Aiolos a bit... uncomfortable. It was natural; Aiolos had died being older than Aiolia and now he had come back to a world in which Saga had been finally forgiven and his little brother was older than him; and not to mention the fact that we were once the same age but now he was still fourteen and I was twenty four.
“What am I supposed to think? He’s happy to see you, hell, we all are!” He winced and looked away.
“I mean, you are all BIG! And me... I’m still a kid...It’s, uncomfortable and weird...” I put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him to lean against me. “Don’t you care about me being so much younger?” He whispered. I laughed heartily and shook my head with vehemence.
“No, you silly creature. I don’t care. Since when does age interfere with friendship?” He leaned even more against me and twirled one of his curls between his fingers. I couldn’t see his face but I knew he was smiling.
“I just feel so out of place when Aiolia starts calling me big brother and talks to me as if I had never left...” He sounded so... Vulnerable.
“I would have expected you to feel more uncomfortable with being  around me.” His head jerked up and he looked at me in surprise. “After all, I killed you.” I finished in a hushed voice.
Aiolos dropped his gaze to the ground and shook his head. “You were obeying orders, if I had been in your position I would have done the same thing.”
I laughed at the thought and waved my index finger at him. “You would have refused. I was not able to tell the difference between duty and justice, and because of that I lost your friendship.” He opened his mouth to protest but I held up my hands. “Let me finish. You would have wondered why you were being asked to kill a faithful saint and would have kept on until you hit the truth. I just gave in and killed the person I loved the most. Aiolia had seen me like a second “Older brother” but after I killed you he grew to hate me. He still does.”
Aiolos remained silent for a while, there was no answer to my comment. He hugged me silently and after a while we both fell asleep.
 

SAGA:
I saw Aiolos sit down beside Shura and smiled to myself; those two had managed to keep their friendship completely intact. I felt a pang of guilt as I thought of all I had done to them....
If I had been able to control the evil inside of me nothing would have gone wrong; Seiya and his friends could have enjoyed happy normal lives, Aiolos and Shura would have been able to spend all these years together; Aiolia wouldn’t have been left without a brother and would have bonded with Shura, Shion would still be Pope, there would be a reign of peace in the Sanctuary and Kanon...
No, Kanon turned himself into evil willingly, there was nothing I could do about him...
But watching Shura laugh and hug Aiolos made me feel empty and useless; everybody had done their best to convince me that I had been forgiven, but I didn’t feel that I deserved that. But that wasn’t what bothered me when I watched those two, it was the fact that they seemed like brothers... And it didn’t matter how many times I told myself that I had none...
I missed Kanon terribly. Not the cruel Kanon that I had locked up at Sunion Cape but the sweet loving child I had known during our younger years together, the protective brother that had always been there for me; even though I was never there for him.
How I regretted not having been by his side when our parents favoured me over him, all those times when my mother would lift me up in her arms and forget about Kanon who would stay sitting beside us watching longingly.
Was that why he had grown up to be the way he had? Even our master had seemed to like me better, but that was just because I was more powerful; but was I really stronger than him? It had always seemed to me that he could have surpassed me had he really wanted to...
My eyes scanned the room searching for something else to concentrate on. Aiolia was awake and silently eavesdropping on his brother’s conversation with Shura. The young lion had not been very happy when he realised that Aiolos wanted to spend time with his killer; it had not been Shura’s fault really, he had been too young to know he had better disobey my orders, the truth was that I had killed Aiolos; but Aiolia didn’t care about that, to him Shura was the cold-blooded assassin. When he had been younger he had loved the Capricorn saint dearly, but after he had killed his brother Aiolia grew to hate him...
I felt more alone than ever. Shion’s forgiving attitude had only made me feel worse, more undeserving.

Milo moaned softly and turned on his “bed”. I stretched an arm and touched his forehead; he had fever...
Milo leaned his head into my cold hand, his brow was damp with sweat and his cheeks were flushed. I debated whether I should wake Mu or Shion up; one glance at the exhausted men sleeping on the bed convinced me not to. I took my hand away and got up; Shura and Aiolos were sleeping so only Aiolia looked up. I smiled apologetically and crept into the kitchen to get some ice and a towel; I found the ice but there were no towel so I picked up a piece of cloth and wrapped the cubes up in it. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Hyoga sleeping on the other bed, he looked better than a few days ago, but he still hadn’t woken up. Mu’s and Shion’s psychic healing had fixed most of the external wounds and lacerations, as to what was wrong inside, Mu had said they would finish the worst part in the morning.
We had all been avoiding speaking of the “angel subject”; we were too confused about Hyoga’s apparent link to our resurrection and his odd enemies; but then again, earth was becoming odd lately: there were big and small dragons, new species of birds and animals( some of those included unicorns and such like); but the weirdest part was that nobody seemed to mind, it was as if they had always been there!
Hyoga’s wings had disappeared when we brought him here but the inverted triangle on his forehead was still unerringly visible, it was hard to believe the fact that he was the creature we had dreamed of, but the evidence was inescapable.
I walked carefully up to where Milo slept and pressed the home-made ice bag to his cheek and then his forehead; his eyelids fluttered open and he smiled up at me thankfully. I wished I could understand Milo... He was so odd in his way of being! One minute he was cold as stone, then he was downright seductive and all of a sudden he would become sweet and cute. It was as if there were two Milos and the true one hid under the image of the other one. Hyoga’s situation had had a strange effect on him... How on earth had Milo known where to go and find Hyoga in the first place; a dream!?
According to Shion he was suffering from exhaustion, both mental and physical. That was hardly surprising, but I strongly suspected that Milo had something to do with the whole weird situation too, something important.
His eyes had closed and he seemed to be sleeping a bit more comfortably now which calmed me. Hyoga curled up into a ball and let out a small sigh; I edged closer to his bed taking great pains not to wake Shura; the Cygnus saint was sleeping peacefully, his sun-tanned face hidden under the rich waves of gold  that were his hair. I delicately pushed them away and studied his face. The features were fine and gave him a handsome air, his skin was a delicate golden brown and the triangle on his forehead gleamed in an odd metallic way, it looked like a piece of a gold cloth, even though I knew it was just a birth mark and thus, completely organic.
Yes, he was the angel in my dreams!
Would he have a lot of explaining to do when he woke up! But for now it was better to let him and Milo rest, questions could wait.
I smiled and tiptoed to my spot on the ground; Shaka had stolen my pillow. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing and I bent down to take it away:
Shaka hugged it closer to him.
I frowned and let out and exasperated sigh. After a while of carefully silent tuggings I lied down and used Shaka’s stomach as my pillow, he didn’t seem to mind in the least so I relaxed and fell asleep. We had long ago realised that the only place to find answers to our questions was within our dreams.

But I dreamed of nothing that night.
 
 

HILDA:
The snow fell evenly onto the ground outside the window, the fire-cast shadows in the room flickered and then settled again as a swift gust of wind made the flames in the chimney dance. The door that had been opened was closed quietly and carefully, I did not need to turn to know who had come in, the only thing that surprised me was that I hadn’t heard him knock on the door when in the past he would have never entered without doing so. I backed away from the window and turned to smile at the intruder, a bit icily.
“I’m sorry, Siegfried. I did not hear you knock.” I was aware of the accusing tone in my voice but did nothing to suppress it. Siegfried winced visibly and bowed his head.
“I didn’t knock, my Lady.” He whispered guiltily and then looked up slowly. I frowned and walked up to him, tense and formal, letting no hint of privacy seep into the room’s atmosphere.
“Next time, you knock before entering.” He refused to make eye contact with me once I said this.
In the past I had always teased him and told him countless times that he could enter my room without having to knock and state his purpose. Nevertheless he always gave the door his customary tap before coming in; he was a gentleman after all and the risk of barging in when I was naked was rather high, so he continued to exercise that little piece of formality.
What had always annoyed me was that even after we made love for the first time he would still knock on the door before coming in; he had already seen me completely naked and had spent a considerably lustful night with me.
But he continued to knock before entering, all though we had become lovers for real. Now I was being as cold and as frigid as possible to him; I had deliberately told him to knock when he had finally mustered enough strength not to do so, I was pushing him away and I didn’t know why.
“I thought you wanted me not to.” He answered softly, his eyes fixed on his feet. It was ironic that being such a proud warrior he could be so meek in front of a woman.
“Yes, well... That was a long time ago. Many things have happened since then....” I let the sentence trail off, I did not need to tell him in what way things had changed; I no longer wanted him as my fiancé. The reasons for this change in me were unknown, even to myself.
Siegfried looked up and rested his pale-blue gaze on mine, his expression slightly pained. There was a determination I had only seen once shinning in his eyes, the day he fought Sorrento and asked Seiya to save me he had borne a similar look. I was startled by the force his stance had all of a sudden acquired; he wasn’t going to let go that easily.
“Siegfried, please leave.” Normally he would have left the room as soon as I had said this, mumbling apologies even!
He did not budge, his eyes did not leave mine. The intensity of his glare unnerved me so I avoided it. I turned my back on him and stood like that, saying nothing.
I felt him move. Suddenly, his left hand seized my arm and spun me around, pulling me towards him until my body was leaning against his chest. I shuddered at the thought that he might forcefully take me, but I knew better; he respected me too much to do such a thing. Was that why I now refused him?
The truth was that I had always felt that he respected more than loved me; he was too formal and polite. I was a priestess but no a nun! I had wanted him to be fiery, passionate and restless when he spent nights with me, but he was always careful and courteous. He seemed to venerate me more than love me.
“Let go.” I whispered, my voice muffled by his broad chest. He stroked my cheek with his other hand and lifted my chin up; he kissed me softly and slowly, but with no real ardor. I pulled away with a gasp and brought a hand up to my lips.
“Get out!” I murmured urgently.
The flames crackled, caught by a new change in the room’s air current.
He had left.
I was left alone in the dimly lit room before I could even blink. Tears stung my eyes but I refused to let them fall; I was prepared to admit that I had once, as an adolescent, loved him; but now, after years of this sick game of pretending to love I was fed up. He hadn’t ever loved me for all I knew, but he had obediently been my lover because I was the earthly representative of his and my god, Odin. Why didn’t he want to let go now? He had the chance to go out and find a real romance...
That was in essence what I wanted. To be loved madly and to love passionately, not this cold meaningless parody of the true thing.
I flopped bonelessly onto my bed sighing and closed my eyes.

..... There was ice everywhere, the trees and bushes were coated in a pale frost and the sky was dull with clouds that held the promise of a snowstorm as soon as the crisp, cold wind gathered them closely enough. I put my arms around myself trying to shield my body from the numbing cold; how on earth had I arrived here?
There was a rustle behind.
I turned adopting a fighting stance trying to recall my injudiciously brief teachings on self-defense. There was nobody in front of me.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure shifting like a candlelit shadow among the trees, it stopped for a while and I had a brief glimpse of blue; the first true colour I saw in this white-washed landscape. I heard a soft laughter and then he was off, running through the woods, agile as a stag. I tried to follow him but he was too fast for me and he knew the paths through this forest whereas I did not.
I tripped over a snow-covered rock and fell heavily to the floor, the cold seeped into my bones and my thoughts dimmed....
 

I awoke with a start and sat up on my bed, I had fallen asleep with my clothes on and the fire had gone out. That explained the icy feeling in my dream. I got up and lit it again feeding the small flame enough wood and coal to last the night. Outside the snow fell violently, the wind howled among the trees and the sky was dark as I had never seen it before.
Something big was boiling in the atmosphere, a fight was about to begin soon.
And I had to chose what side we would be on.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the cold window, dispelling the last blurred memories of the odd dream and concentrating on the task ahead of me.
 
 

SHUN:
The young boy slept undisturbed by my presence; he had fainted four days ago and didn’t give any signs of waking up yet. That didn’t matter, I could wait as long as was needed.
Johdas mumbled something incoherent and cuddled up to me. I smiled and stroked his pale face, he curled into the caress like a cat seeking attention. I leaned back on the bed I was sharing with him and fixed my eyes on the humid, half-peeled-away paint on the ceiling.
Abandoned houses were not my favorite hideouts but for now it was the safest place to stay in, nobody would come looking for me here and nobody would look for Hades here either.

Hades.... My smile broadened at the thought of having him with me again. Now, about that self denial problem....
That could be dealt with easily, he just needed proof and support. I could give both.

I continued to stroke his cheek and he smiled sweetly. Hades was a death God, but that didn’t make him cruel or evil. For years that was the image he had been given, a cold, sadistic bastard. It was ironic that in the end the most feared of all gods was the nicest one. But he needed to be like that, the only way to be fair in his occupation was by loving life, thus having a truly equitable judgement when it came to taking it away.
I wished I could go to my Niisan and tell him about all I had done up to now and ask him to help me on my duty; but I would have to wait until Athena manifested her emotionless side for real. As soon as the possibility of her past being revealed arose she would react. Seiya’s naturally inquisitive nature would be a problem to her, unless of course he remembered the whole story like he had done in our last battle and then he would be an even greater problem.
Whatever happened first Seiya would have to leave her side, and when he did there would be nothing to bind her to this world, nothing to bind her to her emotions...
Oh yes, I could wait.
For as long as was necessary.
 

JULIAN:
.....The two female warriors which had attacked us stood frozen in horror, staring through the lenses in their masks at the tall figure that had intercepted and thrown back the hit that had been aimed at me.
“Kanon...?” Sorrento was gazing at the silent man that stood before me with a mixture of surprise and hope. Just like I had said, he was with us, and only us. Abruptly he turned around and looked at me in the eyes.
“I will fight for you like I always have and I will protect you, like I always did; D’jyanne.”
I got up trembling and hugged fiercely, as effusively as I had done the day he arrived at my house a few weeks ago....
 

I was startled back into reality when somebody put a hand on my shoulder. I winced as pain shot down my arm making me jerk away. Sorrento backed off, visibly contrite.
“I’m sorry, I forgot you were hurt.” He mumbled guiltily and gave me a woebegone look. I laughed despite the pain and tousled his lilac hair playfully.
“Don’t worry, those things happen..” And I poked him in the ribs gently, deliberately choosing the spot where he had been hit.
“Ouch! Hey watch it!” He complained with no real anger.
“Ooops! I forgot!” I said throwing my hands up into the air and giving him a miserable look. We both broke out laughing.
“What were you daydreaming about anyway?” He asked me in his soft voice.
“Guess...” I whispered mysteriously.
“Ok, let’s see....” He pretended to think it over and answered . “A very cute girl with enormous breasts!”
I groaned and rolled my eyes upwards.
“A very cute girl with medium-sized breasts?” He offered weakly.
I shook my head and glared at him.
“A girl with no breasts...?”
“There are more important things in life than breasts, you know!” I replied hotly, knowing that he was just teasing me to lift my sour mood.
“Ok, I give up, tell me.”
“Our battle with those two female saints.” I answered, my tone becoming serious. We had been warned by Tethys of their plans, but her appearance had surprised us too much to heed the message she brought; Kanon wasn’t home so he didn’t know anything. They attacked as soon as Tethys left so we were still caught by surprise; Tethys vanished without leaving any trace....
Who had warned her anyway?
Kanon had gone out to buy some ice-cream and had come back to find us fighting the Eagle and Ophichus saints. His intervention had been swift and accurate; he had saved me from receiving a direct hit.
The two saints had left as soon as they had seen him, presumably to inform Athena on his resurrection. Sorrento had been punched a few times but nothing was broken, I had not wanted to fight the two girls and had hit my shoulder against ground while trying to avoid their attacks; but what bothered me the most was the fact that Athena was rising against us so soon. Our best choice of actions would be to start searching form my two soul-brothers, the other two princes. It was ironic that they ended up protecting the goddess that had been responsible for the fall of their empire and their deaths; but that was over now, the earth was reverting to its original state; a savage world full of beauty, but deadly, just like Shidral; Davos would come soon, and hopefully, so would Karenhath.

“So, it seems like the fun has finally started.” We both turned to see Kanon enter the my room eating some ice-cream and sit down on the bed beside me. Sorrento shifted a bit still unsure of how to react when he was around. “There was something I was meaning to ask you..”
I looked up obligingly and raised my eyebrows. “I was resurrected; so were the Gold saints and God warriors... What about the marinas and specters?” I had been expecting that question for a while already, though I was surprised that he hadn’t figured it out by himself.
“Among the Marinas only you, Sorrento and Isaac were part of the old Gaia disaster.” The thought of Isaac being alive didn’t particularly please me, in his past life he had been very faithful to Athena, she had found many followers among earth’s saints; all of them displeased with the laws by which the three royal races ruled for the simple reason that they felt they discriminated other ethnic groups. Little did they realise that in fact we were compelled to love them and only did what was bets for them; and they had killed us for that.
“Isaac is alive then?” I nodded, answering Sorrento’s inquiry.
“Yes, presumably. But he was among the warriors that supported Athena so I have no interest in finding him yet.”
Kanon frowned, concentrating in thought. “What about the Specters?”
“The Hades, Thanatos and Hypnos the bronze saints fought were fakes; they were just demons from Davos’s empire sent to keep the Earth in a steady cycle.” The very thought made me grit my teeth in anger.
“Was Poseidon like that too?” Kanon was clearly very caught up in the conversation, he was leaning towards me in a very alert way.
“Yes and no. The real Death trio of Earth is here, alive. They just don’t remember anything. Poseidon; the real Poseidon, is trapped in Davos’s headquarters, he has been there since the Great War.” A silence filled the room; he was the last of my appointed guardians, my divine protector, and I had plans to rescue him as soon as I could.
“So, what about the specters?” Sorrento cocked his head to one side curiously.
“They were fake too, weren’t they?” I smiled and nodded at Kanon. It had always marvelled me when I was a child in my past life to see how fast he thought and solved puzzles.
“Yes, most of them.” And noticing their querying looks I continued. “But I don’t know which weren’t so don’t ask me; only Lim or Hades could tell you that.”
“So basically, we are at war with Athena?” Kanon didn’t sound very happy. He had finally been granted her pardon during the war against the pseudo-Hades, the idea of being at odds with her again did not amuse him.
He had forgotten his past again...
While we fought the female saints he had briefly remembered me as D’jyanne, he had forgotten it a few minutes after. Sorrrento’s memory had been just as elusive so it didn’t particularly worry me, but I longed to be able to talk to him the way I had done in the past.... Yes, I had missed him.
“Unless she regains her senses, most definitively.” My answer was rather blunt but I felt too tired to be tactful.
Sorrento leaned against on of the bed posts and sighed heavily, I smiled and lay down on my bed wearily.
“Love....” I murmured softly. “Is the only thing that can save this world now.” Kanon turned to me and gave me a confused look.
“Whose love?” He asked me quietly while licking some ice-cream of the spoon. I closed my eyes slowly, blocking my mind from the painful memories.
“Mine, yours, everybody’s.... Just love.” They both looked at each other and then at me. I could feel their eyes on me, asking what I didn’t want to answer.
“Do you still love her...?” Kanon’s voice was oddly soft, he knew how much this hurt me.
I could have said no. I could have denied it all and had started anew.

But I pretended to be asleep and answered nothing.
 

SAORI:

Alive....

They were alive; all of them.
Kanon was with Julian, the god warriors were with Hilda and the other saints were hiding from me.
I smiled with no real humor.
Let them do so, I would find them just the same.
Like I would find and kill Sei...
Something broke inside of me and I doubled over in pain.
Pain.
I felt pain. Burning knives that bore into my heart and soul.
Seiya....
I had kissed him... I loved him!
A cold emptiness  spread through my body, numbing my feelings and leaving me with that odd sensation of otherness that had haunted me since our battle with Hades.
Did I really love him?
He had betrayed me!
Me! His Goddess!
He had to die, he had to...

I tried thinking of something else; whenever my thoughts wandered back to Seiya I felt....

I felt.
He was what kept me from loosing all feelings, all emotions.
But I had to do so if I wanted to keep my earth, I had to be the way all things should have been from the start:
Heartless.

A knock on the door made me turn and leave that train of thought.
“Yes..?” I inquired, marvelling at the fact that even though I had been interrupted I didn’t feel anoyed.
I didn’t feel anything.
“It is Shiryu, my Lady.” The deep voice was muffled by the thick doors that separated us.
The Dragon saint....
The only one of my warriors that had chosen to stay beside me. But I was quite sure that he had helped arrange Seiya’s escape. So why was he here still?
Questions, questions!
And no answers.
Yet.

“Come in Shiryu.”
He entered my room quietly. He was dressed in a lavender chinese attire, his long ebony hair fell gracefully down his back and his deep wise grey-blue eyes shone with a sad light that gave him an aura of melancholy.
He missed the Pegasus saint, no doubt.
“My lady, I couldn’t find him anywhere.” I smiled and nodded. Seiya had left Greece then...
Or the Dragon saint had deliberately not found him.
“I understand. You can leave now; I will call you if I need your asistance.” He bowed and left as silently as he had come.
Maybe I should send Marin and Shaina against Kanon and D’jyanne again....
But first I would have to get rid of Kiki, so he would not be able to warn them.
And as for Shiryu, I was too intrigued about his choice of actions to get rid of him yet.
He could wait.
I was in no particular hurry.
 

SHIRYU:
I walked down the stairs slowly, concentrating on each step and murmuring a few runes and words that were introduction to a self-induced trance, necessary for satisfactory meditation. I had no plans of meditating now, but the whispered verses helped me focus on the stairs only and calmed my turmoil of feelings, or rather, distracted me from them.
I was quite certain that Athena knew by now that I had helped Seiya escape, but she seemed more interested in reading my actions than in punishing me for them; that gave me the unsettling impression that what caught her attention now was not his disappearance but my choice to remain here. I was known to be true to my word, but it was also common knowledge that I valued this planet and the human race’s well-being over that, my friends as a priority; so it was hard for her to figure out why I had stayed and decided to help her destroy everything she had once vowed to protect.
I wished I could just leave...
But if something happened to Athena, what would become of Seiya? He wanted to save her, to return her to her previous self. But who was the old Athena anyway? Gods weren’t known to be very kind, Saori had been a very unusual deity....
Was that the problem we were facing?
Could it be that the person we had protected up to now was not Athena but simply an empowered Saori Kido and that the cold being I was serving was the real Athena? She was after all a Goddess of war...
A Goddess of just war.
There was no justice in her present actions. She had sent me to kill my best friend who was also her most faithful warrior! I closed my eyes and continued to murmur the self-hypnotising runes. I didn’t want to think of that now, I was here because I wanted to protect the woman my best friend loved and keep her safe until he could cure her.
This could NOT be the real Athena, no world deserved to have such a callous deity in charge of it’s protection...
Or had we done something so abominable that we truly deserved it?
I shook my head and resumed contemplating the cold marble stairs that led to the exterior of Athena’s temple.
The sun shone right into my eyes the minute I stepped out of the ample yet shadowed halls, I closed them tightly and put my hand over them; it took me a few minutes to get adjusted to the change in light, but when I did I opened my eyes again and stood there  looking at the scene that stretched below me.
The temples shone in the brightly in the early morning sun and the trees rustled in the gentle breeze with that soft whispering sound that seemed to dominate the Sanctuary; as if nature were trying to say something to those who wanted to listen. I could also hear the cries of the youngsters training, fighting to become defenders of the being who now plotted against our lives. The scene was beautiful and saddening at the same time, it felt empty.
What was the meaning of us sacrificing ourselves for her if in the end she would kill us all?
Did Shun see the cold feeling that shrouded this place when he sat on a cliff to watch it? Had Hyoga felt this when he studied the land below?
Or was it just that I felt this way because I was alone? I had no one to talk to but myself.... Was that why this place was suddenly too cold and too devoid of any meaning to bear?
Even the cloths seemed to be suffering!
The twelve Gold cloths had apparently adopted the Aquarius temple as their new home and remained there, forming a circle and humming lowly. They didn’t speak or sing like they had done in our past battle but they emitted their feelings.
And they felt sad, so terribly sad and helpless; but above all that they felt trapped, caught and unable to escape,
this was what made them feel so helpless. But in what way were they trapped? Was it that they were bound to Athena but wished they weren’t? Or were they victims of a different kind of curse than what could be expected....
Caught within themselves perhaps? Was it that they couldn’t move freely or speak  easily in that shape?
Or were they bound to their warriors and thus unable to react without them?
Everything was so confusing! So meaningless if there was nobody to talk it over with...
But I could find answers on my own couldn’t I? It was just that if I did I wouldn’t be able to tell my friends what I knew, so I was trapped too.
But I had chosen this path on my own so I had no right to complain about it.

I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn’t hear Shunrei approach and was startled when I felt one of her small hands slip into mine. I turned to look at her and saw the fear and confusion in her eyes, but above all that, I saw trust and that awkward determination to be with me all the time that had always made me uncomfortable. She had been brought to the sanctuary three days ago “to keep her safe”, but I strongly suspected it was just to see if she was the reason for my choice of actions; Athena was testing me.
Her presence here did somewhat bother me, she was obnoxiously overprotective and adamant in the idea that she had to take care of me because we were going to get married some day; Dohko had drilled that concept into her head long ago and she had clung to it fiercely. At first I had thought that she was in love with me but later on I began to wonder if it wasn’t just that she considered me a duty, a sort of obligation she had to my master given that he had adopted her and had been like a father to her. What if she just took care of me to please Dohko? It was possible.... It would only mean that she considered that keeping me safe and healthy was her way of thanking her father for his love and attention; so it would mean that I was “engaged” to someone who didn’t love me but saw me as a.... Task to complete.
It was a depressing thought, but it would make it easier for me to leave her. For I would leave her at some point.
I had never been in love before but I knew just the same that the fondness I felt for her was not true love, it was more a brotherly feeling. I wasn’t too keen on the idea on spending the rest of my life with someone who saw me as final mission and for whom I didn’t have any particularly deep feelings. We both deserved a chance to find a real love, something of our own choosing, not my master’s and certainly not duty’s.
“Shiryu... You want go have tea with Shunrei?”  She had decided to learn Japanese so now it was all she talked in, she still needed practice but she had the basics quite clear and understood it better than she spoke it. Her English was not as good but she was progressing.
She was not very happy to be in the sanctuary but she kept quiet and dedicated herself to my needs. I had never touched her, never kissed her and never told her any words of love; but she stayed with me nevertheless so I had concluded she didn’t love me either; but still.... She sometimes acted as if she did care a lot for me...
It was probably just a mixture of sisterly-motherly love.
“No Shunrei, I need some time alone to think.” She nodded and smiled, letting go of my hand. Had she truly loved me she would have flinched at that comment, but she just accepted it. Her large blue eyes shone in the sunlight glinting with devotion and something else I couldn’t put a name to.... Determination and frustration at obvious fact that I was avoiding her? Discomfort at my refusal to let her fulfil her duty easily?
Women were not my speciality so I decided not to try and understand her.
“I go. If you need Shunrei she will be in your house.” I winced at that. She had moved into my “house” which was just an abandoned shack near Athena’s temple and had stayed there, like a wife of some sort. I sighed and smiled at her.
“Thank you, Shunrei.” She smiled sweetly and skipped down the stairs into a passage that led to the house. She was already sixteen but she still looked a bit like a baby. Her eyes were so huge and her mouth so  small that it made her look like a life-sized doll more than like a woman. Her personality was also rather childlike: very complying, dependent, sweet and playful, overemotional and too innocent to be safe. She was also a bit gullible and it took her  a while to understand complicated concepts; she was quite intelligent and imaginative, but a bit... Slow.
It was cruel of me to note it, but I couldn’t help it. I liked to hold interesting conversations and she just wasn’t interested in the same things as me. We had nothing in common at all.
So it all came down to one conclusion: she was not my type of woman.
I would much rather meet someone who was a smart interesting conversationalist and who was.... Passionate perhaps? I tended to  be so cold to other people that it was common belief in the sanctuary that I had no strong feelings; or even more, that I didn’t possess the ability to have them. The  truth was that I hadn’t found anybody who made me feel... The way Seiya felt for Saori; neither had Hyoga for that matter. He liked blondes, true, but I felt it was just that they reminded him of his mother, but he didn’t love them, not at all....
I laughed aloud and shook my head; this was no time to be thinking about women!

I walked down the last stairs and headed towards the house feeling hungry already and no longer in the proper mood for deep analytic thinking. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadow move amongst the pillars. I turned around adopting a fighting stance, but there was nobody there. There was a faint smell of lavender in the air but nothing else. Was it lavender season already?
It had such a strong smell! So full of unspoken mysteries that I was forced to admit it was my favourite flower as it was my favourite colour.
Was somebody trying to distract me with that perfume? I had that odd impression that I was being spied on.
I looked around and so no lavender plant, but no enemies either. I sighed and continued to walk towards my shack.
The scent followed me around for a while and the gradually faded as did the impression of being watched.

But I couldn’t shake the odd feeling of deja-vú.
 

TEMIS:
I leaned closer to get a better look and hear the conversation he was holding with the young girl. She didn’t look even half his age but she had had the temerity to hold his hand! My Ryu’s hand! I hissed in anger and fought back the sudden urge to go to that girl inform or on the fact that she was trespassing private property. She tried to get him to have a drink of some kind with her but he refused, good for him! That girl was most definitively NOT his type! She bowed to him and told him that she would be... In his house?! How dare she! It took all of my will power not to follow her as she left and set things right.... Patience was a virtue; one that I was not known to possess in great quantities, but I was smart enough to know when I should stand back.
Maybe she was his sister in this life? I sincerely doubted it, the look in his eyes told me that she was something else, though thankfully, not a lover.
A lover-to-be? She’d better not be or she would regret it. Yet there was something that bothered me about her...
I turned back to study my beloved and see how much he had changed from one life to another. His face was the same one I had dreamt of for years, the fine features and thin lips....
Those piercing blue-grey eyes that had always rendered me defenceless before him....
But they seemed to be a bit...colder than I remembered them.
His hair was the same colour I recalled: a black so deep and shinny it sometimes reflected a blue tinge here and there; I could still remember running my fingers through his silky mane.
I smiled to myself dreamily, aware that this was the time I did so without being with Karenhath.

I inched closer and contented myself with simply admiring him. Would he remember me if he saw me?
That thought was quickly suppressed as a more important one took form in my mind...

Would he love me still?

I had wanted to convince myself that he would, but nothing was for certain now. Even if he remembered me there was no guarantee that he would still...
In his past life he had sworn to love me forever but hadn’t kept his word. In the end he had left and had sided with the rebel Gaians... He had left me despite the fact he had promised not to!
I had been so weak then.... So vulnerable. His betrayal had hurt me so much I had fought Gaia with all my might, but I hadn’t really helped much. Yes, I had been one of the weakest warriors then.
But now I was strong; stronger than most warriors could ever dream of; I had accepted the duty of being Gaia’s sentinel, I had taken the responsibility of watching over the Earthians, cycle after cycle in hope of, some day, seeing my beloved and Karenhath’s reborn. It had taken millions of years but it had happened at last.
During that time I had died and been reborn so many times I could hardly keep count of them, but I had become strong; surely strong enough for him  to love me this time.
So why did I have doubts now?
I sighed and created a soft smell of lavender in the air around him.
He had confessed his love to me on a plain filled with blooming lavender blossoms and had made love to me there, slowly and tenderly... It had been my favourite scent ever since... His too.
He whirled and looked around for any sign of an enemy, I remained stealthily hidden. After a while he just relaxed and breathed deeply, savouring the perfume in the air. As a dreamtripper I not only possessed the ability to get into people’s dreams and control them, I could also create illusions and summon tastes or scents from dreams into the real world. He dreamed of lavender often enough so it wasn’t particularly hard to call that perfume into existence.
He smiled and walked away, presumably towards his house.
I smiled again, vaguely awed by the fact that I was doing so, and left to search out Nikolai; a promise was a promise and it was still morning... My work with Ryu would begin at nightfall.
When he dreamed....
Of me.
 

SEIYA:
I concentrated and tried to use my cosmo to run faster. I hadn’t been able to find Shun anywhere, I was also a bit worried about Marin and Shaina..... And Julian too, if D’jyanne died we would be in deep shit; there would be nobody to speak for Gaia’s ocean population or recognise the real Poseidon.
I shook my head and tried to locate Ikki, maybe he knew something. The only problem was that the use of cosmo invoked a terrible pain in my head so my last attempts to find him had ended rather quickly. I had tried to stand up to the pain once and had passed out in the middle of a park. Smart move!
I had used up most of my money in a plain ticket to Japan so now I was hungry, dirty and in pain. I didn’t think going to my apartment was a very good idea if I wanted to hide and I didn’t want to get Miho into any trouble either...
:Ikki, where the hell are you?:

Hell...?
Of course! He was probably in Deathqueen’s island!
I tried to direct my thoughts there but something blocked them out; he had a barrier around the dammed place!?
I was stumped!
My stomach growled demanding I eat something immediately; it had waited three days, it could wait a fourth.
I looked up at the sky and sighed, it was probably midmorning in Greece....
Shiryu.... I still couldn’t believe he had stayed with Athena....
The reasons for his behaviour eluded me; but then again, I never knew why people did what they did.
Still, thinking of him made me feel so depressed... I knew there had to be reason! I just couldn’t believe that duty would be more important to him than our friendship....more than this Earth!
I sat down on the cold pavement and tried to think of a decent plan to follow; up to now I had based my course of actions on what Ikki had dubbed “the cockroach technique”, which meant I simply charged against my enemy and refused to stay down until he was defeated; I had asked him why a cockroach.... He had mildly replied that it was the only known creature that could be just as obnoxious and persistent as I was.
I was not sure if I should be deeply flattered of deeply insulted!
The problem was that I wasn’t sure who was my enemy! Saori was acting too much like her past life’s self so I assumed that the only way to cure her was to find a way to convince her that Davos was the wrong deity to get allied with and that emotions were important.
But I had to find a way to do that first; and I had to find Lim, D’jyanne and Nikolai.
Not to mention the fact that if Davos was on the move then we would be hearing from the Shidralians soon; Karenhath and her warriors would either help us or try to destroy us, depending on the kind of welcoming they received and on the finding or not finding of our disappeared princes.
They weren’t the enemy either.
Davos hadn’t shown up yet for all I knew and besides, I wasn’t stupid enough to try to take down the Ultimate Death on my own. That left only Davos’s minions; Nyall for one, he would never give up until Karenhath was his, he had even killed her in order to make her forget Nikolai!
In the end the best thing I could do would be search for the rest of Earth’s team; if I was alive then so should be the other saints that had been alive during the old-Gaia reign.
I lay back and let out a frustrated huff; where should I start looking? I couldn’t go back to Greece yet so....
Maybe I should just stick to looking for Ikki.
I got up, stretched my knotted muscles and when to find a place where I could get a map of how to get to Deathqueen’s island.
I would find him and with his help I would find Nikolai and Lim.
Once I had done that I would save my beloved Saori, I would bring her back to her better self...
With my love.
 

IYLDEN:
Johdas had disappeared completely and not even the police could find him. Aeyr had been very insistent with the authorities but they refused to help us thinking we were only a pair of tourists trying to pull a prank on them.
We had finally ended up leaving signs on building walls and asking people if they had seen a red-eyed youth of about seventeen. Up to now we had found nothing.
I walked up to where Aeyr was and saw that he was reading a magazine on ESP cases and all that.
“Aeyr, for god’s sake, quit reading that!” I spoke in an annoyed tone of voice not bothering to hide my feelings, this was all so frustrating.
“Which God?” He asked me after a while and gave me a questioning look as he changed the pages.
That stopped me.
“What do you mean “Which God”?” I demanded, a bit awkwardly, giving him my deadliest no-nonsense look. But those looks were his speciality, not mine, so it didn’t come out very threatening.
“What you heard, Hypnos” I sighed, seeing what he was getting at and rolled my eyes upwards.
“Hades. For Hades’s sake.” I answered a bit angrily. I still hadn’t come to terms with my “Godliness”, but the memories were there all right so there was no denying it. On top of everything now I couldn’t swear over a god’s name because I was one!
“So am I so stop complaining! Anyway, I am reading this for his sake.” He replied calmly and smile up at me. “Have you noticed that we have a telepathic link now?” I searched for something to say but found nothing so I just stood there, staring at him.
“Oh, close your mouth Iylden! It was rather obvious! If we are Gods then we are bound to have some sort of powers; mine are, supposedly, destructive and useful to kill; yours should be able to put people to sleep or hypnotise them. I was just reading this magazine to find any useful tips we might need.” I did as I was told and closed my mouth and then tried to follow his train of thought.
“Have you found anything yet?” He shook his head and shrugged.
“I was just reading a section on ESP cases that want to tell their stories and experiences. Nothing useful yet.”
I huffed and gave him an ironic glare. “What did you expect to find? An article on how to be a Death God?” He frowned and shook his head.
“Actually, I was doing some research on telepathy. It might be our key to finding Johdas.” He spoke in a detached tone but I could see worry in his eyes. We had to find Johdas before he remembered anything...
“Anything I need to know?” He shook his head.
: Nothing you don’t know already:
I blinked twice in surprise and smiled, shaping an answer in my head. :Why, thank you!:
He groaned and looked away.
I was about to leave when a thought hit me. “Why are you reading the section on other people’s experiences then?”
He smirked and looked up again. “I was hoping there might be an article here on a strange red-eyed, black-haired teenager with strange powers.” I laughed and shook my head.
“Anything yet?” I asked still smiling.
“No, nothing up to now.” I nodded and was about to leave when I heard him let out a yelp  of surprise.
“What is it? Did you find anything about Johdas?” I asked rushing to his side. He said nothing and thrust the magazine under my nose.
I read the article he was pointing at and practically fell over.
 
 

APHRODITE:
I stretched lazily but still delicately on the couch I was occupying and got up. I hadn’t even realised what time it was! I should have started cooking dinner an hour ago... Dohko and Aldebarán wouldn’t mind, but if I didn’t have dinner ready on time when it was my turn to cook it would give Deathmask a reason to start behaving obnoxiously.
Of course, when you thought about it, he was ALWAYS offensive, it was just a matter of how much.
I sighed and padded to the kitchen wondering what I could come up with in less than 15 minutes; certainly not chicken or any kind of meat, maybe eggs...? No, we didn’t have any. I let out a frustrated sough and smoothed the creases from my pale yellow dress; I smiled a bit dreamily as I recalled everybody’s faces when I told them I was actually a girl...
A knock on the door forced me out of my reverie; I ran a hand through my hair unconsciously and went to open the it. Before I reached the handle I heard the sound of keys being turned in the lock and then the door opened. Dohko came in carrying a bag of groceries in his arms, I smiled at the sight of the almighty warrior being reduced to housekeeper.... And giggled as I realised I was no better off.
“Did you buy eggs?” I asked him smiling sweetly and batting my eyelashes at him, Dohko smiled as he realised I was just pretending to seduce him to fool around. He pushed my hair out of my face and shook his head with a vague, paternal smile on his face. I gave him a questioning look and he instantly jerked his hand away; after they found out I was a girl Dohko and Aldebarán had adopted a sort of fatherly-protective attitude towards me; they probably felt they had to protect me because I was a girl... I had been surprised, after all, I was a gold saint; but it had been so long since anybody had treated me like a woman that I couldn’t help enjoying the atention.
“I bought some bread and ham, that should do for breakfast.” He spoke slowly with his odd crossover accent which was both Greek and Chinese. It was my turn to shake my head.
“It will have to do for dinner.” I said smiling a bit guiltily. He frowned and sniffed the air.
“You haven’t cooked anything?” I blushed and nodded feeling stupidly embarrassed by my reaction to him, how long had it been since I last behaved so girlishly?
“I fell asleep on the couch and woke up only a few minutes ago. Sorry.” He smiled at my contriteness and walked to the small kitchen setting the bag on the counter.
“Well have to settle for sandwiches at dinnertime then.” He added sighing, not really annoyed. I gave him a grateful smile and began fixing the bread and slicing the ham, did we have any lettuce or tomato around? I fussed in the kitchen for a while and then began setting the plates on the Dollyhouse-sized table. Dohko sat down on the couch and began reading a magazine of some kind. After a while he smiled and closed it, leaning back against the old cushions, he looked... Satisfied about something.
“What are you so happy about? Did something good happen?” I asked a bit curiously. He pointed at the magazine.
I walked up to where he was lying and picked up the publication.
It read “ESP, World Of Mystery”. I looked at the magazine, then at him, my eyes wide. “Dohko... You didn’t really do it did you...?” He smiled at me, mischief shone in his deep blue eyes oddly clashing with the wisdom I could see in them. “Oh my God, you actually did it...”
“Yes, after all, we couldn’t just sit here and wait for them to show up!” He said laughing at my open-mouthed surprise.
“I still think it was a rather weird move...” I complained looking at him.
“Look whose talking!” He exclaimed spreading his arms wide and giving me a meaningful look. I took a step back and glared at him.
“What about me!?” I demanded crossing my arms in front of my chest and returning his look with an equally menacing one.
“What do you think?” He replied a bit ironically.
“Does this have something to do with the fact that I pretended to be a boy? Because if it does I find your comment downright stupid.” I told him feeling angry at myself for rising to bait so easily.
“Of course it does! Don’t YOU think it was a rather weird move?” He asked me in a goading tone of voice.
I bit my lip and glared at him, saying nothing. His expression lost it’s haughty air when he saw my face and his eyes softened; but it was too late, I already felt like crying. I bit back a sob and turned my back on him, going to work on the still-unfinished dinner.
“It’s all so easy for you men... You don’t know what it feels like.” I mumbled blinking rapidly to stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. Why on earth did I feel so wounded anyway? Maybe it was because I had hoped at least he would understand me...but all warriors were the same: a big bunch of violent chauvinistic pigs.
Except, perhaps Andromeda... He was so gentle and sweet, he was probably the only exception to that rule.
I began to slice some tomatoes and put them into the sandwiches; why the hell was I cooking for them anyway?
I sighed, knowing that this anger was irrational but still unable to ignore it. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dohko come into the kitchen, walk up to me and stop when he was right behind my back.
“I’m sorry Aphrodite, I didn’t mean to upset you...” He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed them lightly. I stopped slicing and closed my eyes. This whole outburst had been meaningless, but still it hurt.
“It’s not your fault Dohko, I was being childish.” I hated admitting it, but it was true.
I patted his left hand softly and begun slicing again feeling a bit more in control of my emotions. Dohko did not let go of me. After a few minutes of absolute silence he spoke up.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He offered softly. I shook my head, but in the bottom of my heart I knew I wanted to; so did he for he pulled me away from the kitchen and led me to the main room.
Once I was sitting he looked at me again. “Well...?”
I sighed and smiled at him. “It’s nothing important, really.”
“Why do women always pretend that they are all right when they are not? Is it to gain more attention?” He asked me raising an eyebrow.
“Actually, it’s to divert attention from us.” I answered smirking.
He sighed and looked at me in the eyes. “But since we know there is a problem we are going to skip all that and go to the point. Why did you start pretending you were a man?”
I breathed in deeply and lowered my gaze, it had been so long since I had though about it, and I had never told this story to anybody so I didn’t know where to start. “I was in love with one of my fellow trainees. I wore a mask then and my name was not Aphrodite, it was Shoshanna.”
“Shoshanna? The girl who disappeared?” He asked, his eyes wide with surprise.
“Yes, her. I confessed my love to this boy, but he told me he didn’t love me and that I had better leave him alone. Now, you may have noticed that I am rather... Flat-chested, and since I had a mask on he couldn’t see my face. In other words: to him, I was ugly; and he told me that. I was so heartbroken I decided to gain his love with a desperate move; I went to him and showed him my face. He was surprised and he told me that I was crazy and that he still didn’t love me.” I drew a deep breath in, remembering the pain I had felt. “That to him power was beauty, and that he thought I was ugly because I was weak. I was furious and trained as hard as I could to prove him wrong. Two weeks later he was transferred to another training group with another sensei; he had been chosen to contend for the Pisces gold cloth.”
“So you pretended to be a male to go with him?” There was curiosity in Dohko’s voice.
“Partly. The problem was that the fact of me showing him my face did not pass as unnoticed as I had thought... And you know what that meant.” Dohko nodded and frowned. “Either I killed him or I married him; he didn’t love me and would not marry me so I had been told by all female saints that I had to kill him. But how could I kill the person I loved the most? In the end I spread the rumour that I would run away, everybody believed it and so the search for Shoshanna begun. After doing that I destroyed my mask and changed my name to Aphrodite, presenting myself as a young untrained boy. I worked hard on my lessons and since nobody else had seen my face nobody suspected, I only had to make my voice lower. Three months later I was sent to where my love was training, one of the pupils had died and the sensei wanted to fill the vacancy. My plan had been to go there, defeat him and prove that I was worthy of his love.”
Dohko smiled and shook his head in wonder. “You were an incredible girl...” He murmured.
I closed my eyes and let the tears fall down my cheeks. Dohko looked at me in surprise. “Aphrodite...?”
I wiped the tears away and continued. “The trainee that had died was my love, I found that out the day I arrived.” Dohko’s eyes widened and he winced as he realised what a cruel  trick fate had played on me.
“Anyway, I couldn’t go back to being Shoshanna, too many people had seen my face and I had, technically, ran away; so I decided to remain as Aphrodite and defeat the person that had killed my love. Once he was dead I became the Pisces gold saint,  but I found no beauty in power so I set myself the task of becoming even stronger with the hope of someday finding the beauty my beloved searched for. It was ironic that I became known as the most beautiful warrior because of my Physical appearance.”
I looked up at Dohko and was surprised to see he was truly pained.

He felt for me.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered softly as he drew me into a hug. I leaned against him and closed my eyes letting the tears fall freely.
We would have stayed like that for a long while if the small cell phone we had bought hadn’t begun to ring.
 

SAGA:
Mu yawned and got up from where he had been lying; Shion hadn’t woken up yet and I decided to let him sleep a bit longer. The Jamilon walked up to where Hyoga was sleeping and touched his forehead gently.
“No fever?” I inquired handing him a glass of cold orange juice. He took the drink smiling thankfully and nodded.
“The fever has broken and most of his wounds have been healed already; he should be waking up anytime now.”
Mu sounded so tired and sleepy it made me feel guilty abut not knowing any healing techniques. Milo groaned and drew the covers up over his head.
“Milo is also getting better.” Added Mu smiling. I sighed and looked at the two unconscious men.
“I’ll be glad when either of them wakes up for we will be able to get a decent explanation.” I mumbled a bit annoyed. Mu gave me a  strange look.
“What makes you think Milo knows anything about Hyo... The Angel?” I rolled up my eyes.
“Stop calling him that! We don’t even know it he’s the angel we dream of!” Mu looked at me ironically and pressed his thin lips together in a meaningful grin. I shrugged. “All right, it’s him.” I finally acquiesced not bothering to press the matter any further.
“His wings are gone though.” Said Shura’s voice from behind me. We both turned to greet the handsome Spanish man as he joined our conversation. Shaka came in after him, his blue eyes shone softly in the afternoon sun; he was going to keep them open, he said, until he regained his cosmo.
“Yes, but the upside-down triangle is still on his forehead...” Shaka said as he took a sip out of Mu’s drink. I glared at him.
“When will you stop taking people’s things away without asking?” I demanded in a tight whisper.
“What do you mean?” He asked offering me an innocent look.
“He is talking about his pillow, Shaka.” Laughed Shura and Mu hid his own smile by taking a drink of orange juice.
“You’re still upset about that?” Shaka looked at me in honest amazement.
“Your stomach isn’t particularly soft.” I grumbled angrily.
“Yes, I had imagined it to be quite bony!” Mu put in still smiling and patted Shaka’s shoulder. “You should eat more.”
Shaka smiled softly; it was still strange to see him smiling and traipsing around with his eyes open... But I guessed that in the end even he had a human side. It was only then that I realised Shura was carrying something under his arm.
“What’s that, Shura?” I asked pointing at the package.
“This?” He inquired putting a hand on the parcel, I nodded. “Oh...  It’s just a magazine on ESP, I thought it might help us find a way to regain our cosmo.”
“Oh, please! A manual on cosmo manipulating inside a magazine? I think not.” I answered raising an eyebrow at him.
“It may still be useful...” Shura didn’t finish his sentence as he saw the looks we were giving him. “It might still be fun to read.”
“Like hell it would.” I said and took the magazine from under his arm. “Let’s see... ESP, World Of Mystery. Who writes this crap!?” We all broke out laughing at my last comment.
“Come on, let’s get dinner ready.” Mu said between laughs and pried the magazine from my hands. “I’ll just... Put this on the living room table in case anybody else wants to read it apart from Shura.” We all laughed again and followed Mu into the kitchen.
 
 

DOHKO:
“Yes, hello?” I spoke into the phone.
“Is this the house where Dohko lives?” Came the voice from the small phone. I felt a bit confused, I didn’t know this voice.
“Yes, this is Dohko speaking.” I answered slowly.
“You were the person who put that add in the ESP magazine?” The voice asked a bit excitedly. So it was about that...
Aphrodite gave me a strange look. “Who is it?” She mouthed, I simply pointed at the magazine. “Oh!” She said.
“Hello?”
“Uh? Oh, yes! Yes, I put the add in that magazine, who am I talking to?” I tried to be as polite as possible.
There was a long silence .
“Hello, still there?” I asked, worried that we had lost communication.
“Yes... We’re still here.”
“Who is this?” I asked again.
“You are not going to believe this...” The voice mumbled nervously.
“Right now, I’d believe anything.” I said smiling.
“Uh...well, this is Hypnos speaking.” I stood there frozen for a while.
“You are right; I don’t believe you.” I said my tone becoming serious, this was probably just a high school kid trying to have some fun.
“Please, could we meet?” He did sound very convincing though...
“Where?” I asked, giving  “Hypnos” the benefit of a doubt.
“Anywhere... Anywhere will do, we just need your help urgently.”
“Who else is with you?” I asked cautiously.
“My twin brother, Thanatos.”
“Are those your real names?”
“NO! Oh no... My real name is Iylden and my brother’s is Aeyr. We are from USA.”
“I see. And those are your real names? They don’t sound American...” I heard a faint chuckle on the other side of the line.
“No, they aren’t. Our parents made them up... They were very exotic people.”
“ Could we meet at your place?” I didn’t want to bring potential enemies into our house.
“Yes, but it’s not very pretty... It’s a rented place, you see.”
“Fine, where is it?” He gave me the address and I wrote it down on a piece of paper. After that I said goodbye and hung up.

We would see tomorrow... Just as I put the scrap of paper away Aldebarán and Deathmask came in.
We discussed the matter during dinner and agreed to go all together to meet these two “Gods” and see what they wanted, and if they were real.

Tomorrow...
 

AIORIA:
I came into the apartment to find that everybody was in the kitchen, I would have gone in but I heard Shura’s accented voice and decided not to. I sat down on the floor and sighed, Aiolos was out buying some things and he wouldn’t be back until dinnertime... Milo and Hyoga were still asleep, so was Shion at this point. I didn’t want to go into the kitchen and be forced to act friendly towards Shura and Saga so I just stayed in the main room.

Something on the table caught my attention; it was a magazine. I picked it up and read what it was about.
“ESP, World Of Mystery... What the hell?” Who had bought this crap? Probably Shura, I told myself and rolled my eyes up. I leafed through the booklet a bit curiously and then, having convinced myself that it was nothing but a scrap of useless junk, I threw it into the rubbish bin.
 After that I got up and went into the kitchen to find something to drink; and to hell with Shura, I thought.
 

TEMIS:
Nikolai was with another bunch of warriors and they seemed to be taking good care of him. I could also see Akaren sleeping near him; the elf no longer had long graceful ears like mine but the blunt human ones, his eyes had probably lost the feline pupils too... We had been members of the same race, but of different family groups that lived on different planets; his lived on Gaia, mine on Shidral... Now he was a human...
I concentrated on Nikolai and let out a sigh of relief; the triangle shone on his forehead, he had regained his memory then; I would have to tell that to Karenhath...
Well, since Nikolai was all right and his aura told me the same thing I decided to do a final check on him.
I spread my cosmo around me and focused my thoughts on his, soon I felt my body dissolve and then I was in his dream.

The scenery was familiar; the Gaian royal palace, I realised. And the moon was out...
I saw a flash of white and I turned to see Nikolai running out of the palace towards the huge gardens. I followed him and soon the scene changed again.
We were in a prairie filled with emerald coloured dew-damp grass, there was a silver-shining lake and in the middle of it stood...

There was blood everywhere....
... Golden light all around me...
.... Fire everywhere....
The whole scene became a sea of red, orange and golden hues, I knew this colour...
It was not just a background, I realized, the whole dream eye was focused on one pinpoint of the earlier scene.
It was actually a sea of long strands of hair...
It was....

.... Karenhath stood in the middle of the lake wearing a long green robe that did nothing to hide her spectacular figure. It was not the real Karenhath though.... It was just a vision in Nikolai’s dream, her hair was swimming in the breeze and her eyes shone with that incredible emerald light...
Gods! He remembered her perfectly! And I could feel the love he felt for her in the dream!
Slowly, Nikolai walked up to her and took her hands into his; Karenhath leaned up and kissed him passionately.
The tension in the dream changed, I slipped out of trance realising this was not something I was allowed to watch, but I was sure Karenhath would be pleased to know he still thought of her that much....

I came back to myself and shook my head to clear my thoughts. I spared the house one last look and then gathered my cosmo to teleport away. Nikolai was safe with those saints for the time being so there was no real hurry, and now that I had fulfilled my promise to Karenhath I could concentrate on my own little love problem...

I reappeared a few meters away from my beloved Ryu’s house, inside a small shadowed spot where I could stay covered. As soon as I was sure that there was no danger of being noticed I slipped closer and examined the diminutive shack through a window; it was poorly furnished and not terribly comfortable looking... My Ryu had never been particularly fond of luxury but this was ridiculous! The house was barely big enough for two people to live in; there was a small kitchen, one table with two wooden chairs, a crumbling shelf that held some old dust-covered philosophy books and in the far corner I could see one bed... One bed?
My Ryu and the dark-haired child were sleeping together!?
She was cleaning a few dishes in the small sink while he read a book sitting on one of the chairs, there was no feeling of intimacy between them, it was like they were brothers, but Ryu had no sisters in this life! And she did give him a few rather meaningful looks... I huffed irritably and hoped that nightfall would come soon so I would be able to get into his dreams and find answers to all my questions.
“What are you read now?” The girl’s voice was soft and childish but it held a certain firmness within it, she was not as mousy a girl as I had thought at first.
“Plato.” And seeing the look of ignorance on her face he sighed and explained. “He was a philosopher, Shunrei.”
Her eyes brightened as she understood and nodded happily. “You always read that.” She added smiling as she put the last dish to dry and wiped her hands on a towel.
“In find it... Interesting.” He was obviously going to say something else but decided that she might not understand. She was still learning the language so it was possible that complicated words puzzled her, but something told me that he chose his wording in accordance to the girl’s... Ability to grasp certain concepts. Her eyes flashed slightly, almost as if annoyed by his comment, and then she was as cute as always.
 
What was he doing with a girl like that? Did he love her?
No... He had been fiery with me; passionate to a point even I found surprising and yet tender and careful; to her he was just friendly and tolerant. Why did he stand her presence if there was no blood-relationship or strong bind between them?
“You like what I cook?” She asked suddenly pulling as both away from our contemplation. Ryu looked up from his book and smiled faintly.
“Your cooking is very good, Shunrei.” He said it a bit tightly; he was probably annoyed by her constant interruptions which kept him from concentrating on the book. She seemed to notice this and blushed in embarrassment, he sighed and smiled at her no too honestly, but this she did not see and she immediately loosened up and continued to walk around the small house cleaning and dusting. But I knew what had caught my attention earlier; this girl was not as slow as she seemed...just uncultured, and I strongly suspected that she was not even has as gentle and cute as she pretended to be.
So. Maybe this girl did love him after all, she just didn’t know how to please him.
It would be a few hours until sunset yet... I settled myself into a space between two rocks and decided to take a small nap since I would spending most of my night up, dreaming but not asleep.
 

CAMUS:
The train rattled on its rail unsteadily as the snowstorm hit it with its full force. Soon I would be at the airport but I did not doubt that my flight had been delayed due to the impending weather; it would just mean I would arrive in Greece a few hours after what I had planned. Anyway, it didn’t  matter since there would be no one to greet me or pick me up when I got there, no hurry.
Beside me, a man was reading the newspaper and pretending to look absolutely absorbed in it. I said pretending because my returning cosmo sense told me that he was trying not to call my attention, I could feel a certain power emanating from him... A dark power.
The  man looked up from his reading and smiled cynically, he had noticed me probing his aura. I tensed and slowly uncrossed my legs putting both feet on the ground just in case I needed to get up fast. He’s smile widened and became even more daunting as he shook his head as if I were a misbehaving little boy. I gritted my teeth and gazed back at him dispassionately.
“Daring, aren’t we?” He whispered and narrowed his eyes. I felt a shiver run through me; this man was making me very uncomfortable, not because he might be an enemy but due to the strange glint in his eyes...
He was smiling and his tone of voice conveyed humour and vague annoyance.... But his eyes shone coldly, lacking all emotion. It wasn’t just that he didn’t feel amusement; he didn’t feel anything!
I swallowed hard realising that I was sitting right beside someone who could very well be one of Davos’s most trusted fighters.
One that did not possess the ability to feel either love or hate; a completely heartless creature.
“As daring as I need to be.” I answered coldly feigning the courage I didn’t feel.
He only shook his head and sighed, murmuring under his breath. “Flawed, all of them.”
I was about to ask him what he meant with that cryptic statement when he got up and walked past me saying. “I will be seeing you around, child.” And he left.
I got up and searched the train through for over and hour, it was to no avail, he had left.

I got to the airport four hours later and by that time the storm had abated and the plain was ready to go. I left towards Greece half an hour later, trying hard not to think about the strange red-haired man on the train and on what he had meant by: flawed.
 

AVATAR:

All of them.

They were all imperfect, bound to each other and to their stupid behaviour by their overemotional souls.
Even their gods had emotions! I felt a surge of what could be defined as mirth, it was self induced, but I laughed nevertheless.
Davos had insisted that I learned how to behave emotionally so I could pass as a “normal” creature, I had trained my body to respond in the same way that a common being’s would, but there was one big difference:
In their case, their reactions were triggered by certain emotions within them; in my case, it was just a matter of muscle spasms and voice levels, nothing more.

I formed a smile on my lips as I thought of the young Gaian on that rustic transportation vehicle, HE was terribly flawed. But killing him would be useless right now, I needed him to find that other child... Nikolai.
Davos had suggested that I give Nyall and Belial a little helping hand since they were obviously experiencing some problems, I had complied, all too bored in the fortress and mildly curious to study emotions more closely with the hope of finding where they had originated and how to get rid of them.
Belial was an interesting anomaly; he felt strongly for Earth and its princes yet he was allied with my Lord Davos and was helping us destroy all that. I had done some research on his past and present motivations and it seemed that he was in this because he believed that humans did not deserve such a wonderful planet -he had a point there-
and that they needed to be punished for their crimes. He knew that in doing this he would hurt Gaia’s Sacred Races but he was too involved in this to turn back; besides, the Sacred Races loved and protected all creatures on their worlds, in this case, humans included; so Gaia’s holy ones were also wrong, or so believed Belial. His feelings were confusing him and kept him from pulling off any mission successfully, he was, all in all, a flawed creature.
Then there was Nyall,, the dark elf who had, on his first life, been trained and raised on Shidral beside Karenhath. He was caught in a mad quest for revenge and love; his goal was to kill Nikolai and to then claim Karenhath’s heart by erasing all her memories; but, wouldn’t that erase the Karenhath he loved too?

It was delicious, they were all delicious; caught and tangled up in traps of their own doing, it gave me pleasure to study them and to try and understand their reasons to behave the way they did; but I had no feelings -I was thankful for that mercy- so the best I could do was hypothesise and try to predict them, which was in most cases easy.

I teleported myself to the house where Nyall and Belial were living and walked in calmly. Nyall practically fell over when he saw me; he had accepted the idea that I was Davos’s favourite warrior and no him in a begrudging fashion, he remained inwardly hostile to me, but polite and respectful on the outside. Still, he was always surprised when I appeared with no warning, used as he was to be treated with deference, so he considered my refusal to announce myself as an insult. Sadly, Nyall took everything as an insult, which made him hard to talk to. Belial smirked as he saw Nyall caught unguarded and made a sly comment on this. The Jamilon had learned to hide his feelings behind a mask of cold amusement, the worse he felt the more annoying he became to other creatures, curiously enough, he was actually a very kind an loving creature behind the cold facade, or at least he had been like that before. I glared at them, daring the poor little creatures to defy me, they both looked away making me form another smile.
All beings that possessed feelings found it hard to look at Davos and me, we both had something in our eyes that discouraged any attempt to bother us, or should I say, we both lacked something in our eyes?
I laughed and smiled at them showing the tip of my fangs, they both sighed and walked up to me.
“Well?” Nyall interrogated me pretending not to care about anything.
“I know how to find Nikolai.” I whispered leaning closer to him and fixing my eyes on his, he shuddered and looked away, swallowing convulsively. I loved it when he was destabilised by me.
“How, pray tell?” Asked the Jamilon tossing his dark burgundy hair away from his face, feigning confidence but unable to mask the fear he held for me in the depths of his purple eyes.
“We will let Terran lead us to him.” I answered and having said that, I walked past them to fix myself something to eat.
 

SIEGFRIED:
I pace nervously in my room and started when I heard a knock on my door. A part of me wished fervently it was Hilda who had disturbed me, but I knew better. She was above all things, a very proud woman who seldom offered apologies for her mistakes; and I hoped that what had happened the other night was indeed a mistake.
“Come in, it’s open” I called out and sat down on my bed.
Hagen walked up to me with a worried look in his eyes. I smiled innocently and tilted my head to one side, pretending to be curious about what was wrong with him.
“You didn’t come down to have lunch with the rest of us.” He whispered accusingly. I shrugged and shook my head.
“I wasn’t feeling very hungry... And my head hurts a bit.” He leaned closer and touched my forehead.
“You don’t have fever..” I shrugged again. “Stop shrugging, the only times when you feel ill is when you are burning up in fever, and even then you don’t loose your appetite!” I smiled as I realised how worried he was and how easy to read I had become.
“I just...” I sighed and closed my eyes. “ I wasn’t hungry, that’s all.” I was going to tell him everything, but then he might think ill of me... I had tried to force her...
“Something happened with Hilda?” He asked me softly, lowering his voice sitting down beside me. I nodded and leaned against him. He had been my best friend since childhood, we had always been together being Hilda’s and Freya’s appointed guardians and we had formed a bond of friendship since then.
He knew me better the anybody else, even more than Hilda perhaps, so I was not surprised that he had seen through me.
“She doesn’t love me... I doubt she ever did” It was a strange comment to make, but it seemed to fit the circumstances; maybe she had loved me long ago, but now there was nothing between us. I had worshipped her and tried to please her in every  way I could, sadly, it seemed that in the end all I had been able to give her was physical pleasure, and she could get that from anybody.
Hagen closed his eyes and fixed his blue gaze on the mattress. “She loved you long ago... But I guess we were not made perfect for the women we love.” I blinked in surprise and looked at him confusedly. We? He too had problems with his fiancée? I winced inwardly as I realised that indeed, the original plan had included us marrying the two sisters when we were old enough; I suppressed the urge to laugh at the irony of the whole situation. When I had been told I would be Hilda’s guardian and someday her husband I was horrified as all children are when the gates to their own path-finding are closed and their choices are taken by another. She, on the other side, was thrilled by the idea and clung to me devoutly. Now the tables were reversed and it was I who begged for the fulfilment of the plan.
“Is something amiss with Freya?” I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. He looked up at me and nodded weakly. I waited for him to continue.
“She doesn’t love me anymore... She loves Hyoga.” I sighed, I had known the answer even before I asked it; still, it was a terrible situation for Hagen, to have his beloved torn from him by the person who killed him...
“And she is going to stay with him?” I felt him tense and I saw a deep frown darken his features.
“I could almost forgive him if he at least had the decency to love her back...” He drew in a deep breath. “But he refused to see her and now, according to what Athena told Hilda, he left without even telling her where!” There was fury in his voice, he was angry at Hyoga because even though he had the heart of his beloved Freya he didn’t answer with the same love. Hagen couldn’t understand this, but I could.
“You shouldn’t blame him, Hagen. The same way Freya doesn’t love you it is possible that he doesn’t love her back.” He whirled and faced me angrily.
“So you are saying that he is right? That he can do that to her and get away with it because it’s fair?” He was on the verge of tears, so I put both hands on his shoulders to calm him and shook my head.
“I’m not saying that it’s fair, all I said was that love cannot be forced.” His eyes widened and I saw a flicker of understanding in them. He bowed his head and nodded again.
“I just want her to be happy.” He whispered and leaned against me. I closed my eyes and leaned on him to counterweight his body.
He was right, It wasn’t fair, it just wasn’t fair....
 

KARENHATH:
I paced in the ample room nervously and tossed a few unruly strands of my hair out of my face irritably. I had requested to be left alone for a few hours to think and to try to put an order to my thoughts; but I was too worried about Temis to be able to concentrate on myself fully. We had received word that another one of Davos’s warriors had been sighted in the Gaian perimeter. He was after Temis or...
The thought was too frightening to follow; Nikolai had awakened, I was sure of that, but he would still be too confused and unused to his full potential to know how to use it profitably in a fight, not to mention that the new enemy had been recognised as one of the new improved life-forms Davos was working on.
Ilumina forbid! How twisted could that God be? Not only was he tired of us but now he was creating unlife? “How could a heartless being be considered to be truly sentient or alive?”

“Like a very intelligent vegetable.” I jumped as I heard a voice behind me; I turned to face the person that had dared interrupt me and disobey my orders, but all anger was washed away as I saw my dear brother standing in the doorway, smiling at me.
“Kain!” I cried happily and dashed into his arms. He hugged me fiercely and laughed joyously.
“Ahh! You are going to topple me over one of these days Karen’!” I laughed at the thought and hugged him tighter. “Only if you loose weight and I gain some!” I replied teasingly. Kain patted me on the back and pulled away to look at me.
“I don’t think you are capable of doing that.” He said smiling as I twirled around for him. I took a strange childish pleasure in behaving like a baby when my brother was around, a sort of comical way of reminding him that he was the big brother here, even if I had lived a past life.
“I am glad to see that you are safe, brother. I take it that this means we won?” He had been sent with a small group of warriors to aid a small outpost colony on a relatively unimportant solar system; but they were our allies so we had been forced to help.
“Yes, we won this battle and I decided to barge into your meditation chambers and announce my victorious arrival!” He laughed after saying this and I shook my head at his self-flattery  with a sigh.
Kain cocked an eyebrow at me and then, upon seeing my rather worried expression, he frowned.
“Did something happen while I was away?” His deep baritone voice seemed to reach into my soul.
“Temis left... And I’m afraid Davos may find Nikolai before he is well enough...”
“Dreamscythe went to Gaia?” I nodded and smiled as I noted that even when we were in private he respected my best friend’s wishes and  referred to her as “Dreamscythe”, and not by her real name. Did everybody here on Shidral respect that wish when she wasn’t around?
“She wanted to see Ryu,” I mumbled blushing, for I knew he could read me and know why else I let her go.
“If he loves you still, Nikolai will get to you.” He scolded me.
And he was right, I was a Princess and I had a thousand things to do now that Davos was on the move, I couldn’t abandon my people to go and look for my love; I would have to wait for him to call me...
Ilumina... Please protect him...
“Come now” He said as he put an arm around my shoulders and led me outside. “Why don’t you update me on the most recent events since I left?” I couldn’t say no to him, I had never been able to; he hadn’t been there during my past life so the novelty of having a big brother had never worn off... If he had been beside me then, maybe things would have been easier; he was such a good diplomat, he would have probably convinced Athena to ally herself with us...
But I would not indulge myself with the “If” possibilities, they were useless and far too painfull...
“Well” I began quietly “For starters, we have just found out exactly how many members of each of Earth’s Sacred Races are left....”
He stopped walking and made me turn. “Really? How many?”
“Three.” I answered shortly.
“Three of each race?” He asked me incredulously.
“No” I stopped and sought a gentler way to break the news; but I found none so I just told him.
“One of each race.”
 

JOHDAS:
I was running away from something; it was close, following me.
Too close.
I was afraid, yet it felt so familiar....
Too close.
I couldn’t run any faster even though I was putting all my energy into it... I heard a hungry purr behind me and felt the creature’s warm breath on the nape of my neck. Too close.
I cried out for help, but Aeyr didn’t answer me, neither did Iylden. The creature growled as if to defy anybody to help me, but the lifeless plain was deserted. The blood-tinted sky darkened and the cold black stone ground beneath my feet began to crumble.
I was falling.
So was the creature.
Too close, too familiar; I knew this creature.
I shut my eyes and waited for the floor to crush me, or for the beast to catch me, but none did. I opened my eyes warily, expecting to see the creature’s jaws opening before me, but they were not.
I was in a vast prairie... It was filled with lavender flowers and their powerful scent teased my senses, these flowers meant something important... I saw a figure amongst them, tending to the small buds and making them grow, singing to the landscape and making it beautiful, telling it how she needed it to be perfect for her love to remember... Setting a trap to catch a dragon. I went to ask her where I was when the breeze became stronger.
Then a powerful wind rose in front of me blocking my vision, when it had died down I was standing in a whitewashed landscape. The pine trees were covered with a layer of shiny ice and the sky was cloudy. A cold breeze lifted the snow off the ground making it swirl and dance around me.
Then I saw it, a blue shadow running through the trees, laughing and calling out a name softly... A woman was chasing it, she was startlingly beautiful with long silver-blue hair that flew behind her; dressed in a light white robe that blended with the background.
The shadow-being turned and smiled at her, then kept on running. She was about to catch him when she tripped and fell down.
I ran towards her, as I pushed my way between two trees I had to close my eyes to protect them from the thorns and when I opened them I was not in the snow land anymore.
The stars shone brightly in a deep blue sky, beneath me the grass glittered with dew drops and rustled in the light breeze. I walked for a while looking at the peaceful scenery and admiring it’s quiet perfection.
Then I heard something, for a moment I feared it was the beast, but then I realised that the sounds I heard were not threatening, but passionate.
There were two beings lying together on the grass beside a silver lake... One of them had graceful white wings that contrasted with the complicated red/gold hues of the other’s hair; they were kissing each other hungrily and occasionally one of them would moan or laugh aloud, other than that they were as silent as the place they lay in.
A strange feeling of nostalgia and guilt coursed through me. This had been meant to be for a long time and it was my fault it hadn’t happened earlier, that it hadn’t happened yet.
But I could change that couldn’t I?
I left the two lovers alone as their caresses grew bolder and more demanding, this was strictly private. As I walked away I got the faint impression that somebody had been here a while ago; a presence that had left a faint scent of lavender behind...
Then I saw it, running towards me at lightning speed and growling like a mad dog. I screamed and tried to run away, but I was too tired to move and I fell to my knees.
The beast stopped it’s death chase and cocked its head to one side, giving me a curious look.
It wasn’t going to eat me?
I got up and walked away, it followed me docilely. Without warning I began to run again, the fear taking hold of me and pushing me forward, it roared in fury and sprinted forward.
I screamed and ran, then I heard a voice, a whisper in my ear.

/What are you afraid of?/

The beast!
The beast!
It was too close! I could never outrun it!

/Is that what you fear?/

It’s going to eat me! I’m afraid of it!
The creature screamed and dove for me, only my efforts to go on running saved me from its deadly teeth. But this was a dream wasn’t it? Nothing could hurt me in a dream could it? Why was I so afraid then?

/What are you afraid of?/

I slowed down to a halt and turned to look at the animal. It was standing a few meters away, licking its paws lazily.
How could I be afraid of it? Why was I still afraid? Why did it feel so familiar?

/What are you afraid of?/

I walked up to it and gazed into the deep red eyes, so like my own.
Then the creature’s body dissolved and shifted into a shadow that rose before me until it was at level with my eyes. I screamed and tried to run away when I saw what it became.
No.
This wasn’t real.

/That is the truth./

No! I ran faster and saw a shadow in front of me. He was following me! Why? Why couldn’t it leave me alone?

/Didn’t you want to help the lovers?/

He was so close now! Why couldn’t I just be what I was?
He leaped and almost caught me.

/This is what you are. Stop running away from the truth!/

I am not evil! I can’t be that, I can’t! I am not a monster! Not a beast!

/It will be only what you make it. If you want it to be evil it shall be so, if not, it shall be so too. But stop denying!/

It would obey my desires? It was the truth? How could that be so? I am not a monster!
I slowed down and so did he.

/You aren’t. It is your own fear that is twisting the truth and making it evil./

I stopped and turned to look at the monster. It was dressed in long flowing black robes that swam in the wind, two dark feathered wings sprouted from his back and stayed folded there... I raised my eyes to look at his face.
It was my face.

/What are you afraid of?/

Myself.
The black pentagram shone eerily in the darkness, a glowing shadow on his forehead. His deep red eyes mirrored my own, but they were... Sadder, pained.

/Do you fear that?/

How can a Death God not be evil? I am not evil! Yes, of course I fear it.
He dropped his gaze and closed his eyes.

/You are not evil, and you ARE him. How can a Death God be evil? He needs to be a compassionate person, and needs to cherish life so he knows that it is a rare gift that must not be taken unless it is time. A Death God must be good and fair so that he completes his job correctly. A corrupt Death God is and evil God./

And the beast? It chase me!

/You fear made it look like a bad thing when the truth was that it was not. It was your own fear that twisted the truth. Had you stopped running it wouldn’t have chased you this far./

It was true, when I had stopped, so had the beast.
So this is it, this is me.
I looked at the being and put my hands on his shoulders, it looked up and smiled. I smiled back at him and leaned into its embrace.
A corrupt Death God is an evil God... So as long as I cared for life, as long as I knew what was right I would not be evil.
I felt a strange warmth spread through me, my mind was bombarded with images and memories long forgotten...

/You are not evil./

No, I was not. I had never been. It would take time to clean my reputation, but I was myself at last.
I walked up to the lake and saw the two lovers sleeping in each others arms...
Nikolai... Karenhath... This time I would make the right choice.
I looked at myself in the lake and smiled as I saw the pentagram on my own forehead.
I spared the sleeping children one last glance and leapt into the air, spreading my wings and flying into a different world, into the land beyond this place.
 

I opened my eyes to find that I was lying on a pile of clothes in a decidedly neglected house. The room was lit by a few candles that flickered when I got up. I spread my wings a bit to gain some leverage...
Wings...?
I strained to look behind me; yes I had wings now. But it was fitting.
It was the way it was supposed to be.
“You finally woke up” I looked around until I found the source of the voice. I felt my knees turn to water when I saw him.
He was alive.
“Lim.” He smiled and walked up to me, put his arms around my shoulders and drew me into a hug, I leaned against him and sighed.
“I heard you  in my dream.” I told him softly.
“Did it help any?” He asked already knowing the answer.
“I am awake now.” I told him earnestly. He sank into my arms and let out a small sigh.
“I’m glad... Hades” He whispered and fell asleep, too tired and too happy to really have the strength to remain awake.
I stayed up the rest of the night taking care of Lim and thinking about what I should do next. In the end I settled for asking Shun in the morning and I lay back simply enjoying the fact of being alive.
 

IKKI:
I had to leave this place, I knew it; but I hated going out into battle without a good plan.
I had spotted Shun’s energy a few days ago but it had disappeared again before I could pinpoint its source. This was all so frustrating!
After he had told me to leave him alone in the hospital I felt so crushed, but now I had began to realise that he had been under a great stress, something had hurt him after our fight with the Death god. Something had happened to him and Hyoga and that thing was changing the world around us; I still couldn’t see any connection but my sixth sense told me it was so. What I needed now was some substantial proof of my theory and a few good answers.
From what I had been able to guess it seemed that the God we had fought was not in fact the real Hades but a fake one and that when he died it caused Shun and Hyoga to.... remember past lives? See a terrible future? Well, something of that kind. Seiya also saw what they saw and the shock of it made him try to forget it; also, the gold cloths reacted oddly, I was quite sure that they knew what was going on; then there had to be a connection between all this and the change in the planet’s temperature, flora and fauna. No living thing had disappeared, but there were new types of creatures and plants sprouting out of nowhere, some of these were even mythical.
Finally, the mysterious silver-eyed warrior whose cloth held a strong resemblance to our Gold Scorpio cloth; he too had a place in this puzzle, I  just didn’t know what it was.
So, I had the facts but I was unable to find the link between them... I had to be missing something, something crucial.
I growled in frustration and decided to go and prepare myself a meal, I couldn’t remember when I had eaten last; I had been to busy thinking to notice the flow of time.

I sat down on a stool near the in the small kitchen in my house and sighed as I waited for the fish to cook.
I let myself relax and watched lazily as the fish sizzled on the frying pan... I didn’t even realise when I had started to fall asleep, I just slipped away leaning my head against the wall beside my and closing my eyes.
I was woken up by an insistent chirruping outside the window, I yawned and stretched a bit annoyed and turned to see what had disturbed me; I hadn’t been quite aware of how tired I was...
One of those miniature dragons was sitting outside the window keening and tapping it with its small snout. I blinked at it, a bit startled by the fact that it had deliberately come close to the house; I would have expected them to be shy creatures. I walked up to the window and opened it, the little dragon regarded me quizzically and chirped confusedly, I leaned down to get a better look at it and it did not back off.
All the other ones I had seen were either green or blue with the exception of a few black ones, this one was a strange coppery shade of red with whirling amber eyes. It was indeed a very pretty beast, by dragon standards anyway.
It began to keen again and it leaned its little head into the house sniffing, it took me no time to realise that it was hungry; the smell of the frying fish had probably attracted it here. I shook my head and walked to the stove, turned it off and cut a generous piece of fish setting it on a small plate; if I was going to eat I might as well do it in company. The small thing glanced down at the plate I had set down beside me on the table and shifted uncomfortably, the challenge was plain: if it wanted the fish, it had to come and get it.
After a while it leaped into the air and glided into the house to land beside the plate and proceeded to eat the fish hungrily. I studied the animal noting how finely built it was, very well proportioned and indeed an exact copy of a dragon.... Only smaller.
When it had finished it left through the window; I almost regretted its departure.

It was about three thirty in the morning when I heard a tapping on my bedroom window, I opened it up and the small beast swooped in and landed on my lap where it promptly fell asleep. I was not used to being like by animals so it took me a bit by surprise; but then, this wasn’t a common animal, more like a small demon, so it didn’t shock me too much.
“I’m going to have to find a name for you, little critter.” One eyelid cracked open revealing the soft amber light within. I stroked its hide softly and marvelled at how soft it was and how the it glinted in the moonlight like a red jewel.
Red jewel? Yes, that would be a fitting name for it. “How do you like the name Garnet?” I mumbled stroking the little head and smiling as it began to purr like a kitten. “Garnet.” I repeated and then lay back with the intention of getting some sleep.
 

SHIRYU:
I was in a large field  that stretched in all directions and was filled with blooming lavender flowers, the scent was so overpowering I felt dizzy, but I loved lavender so I just walked around slowly loving the gentle breeze that made the endless lilac sea dance around me. The whole scenario was so quiet and peaceful, it soothed my strained nerves and made me feel relaxed and comfortable...
“Love....” I turned violently as I heard a gentle whisper behind me, but there was nobody there.... Could it have been the wind?
I continued to walk and slowly I began to relax again. This was the kind of place I would like to come and read in, so silent and so beautiful.
“Love....” I started, there it was again; and now I was sure that it hadn’t been  the wind. There was somebody else here, somewhere.
“Who is there!?” I cried and looked around me waiting for an answer. Once again, silence fell upon the fields so  my question remained unanswered. I stood motionless spreading the limits of my awareness so that I could probe my surroundings.
Nothing. I gave myself a mental kick and sighed. I had gone to sleep and had woken up to find myself in this strange place, in other words, unless somebody had decided to play a prank on me, I was dreaming. My senses might not work right here; dreams tended to twist reality and rob the mind of any sanity when they became nightmares. Indeed, I had that strange feeling of awareness-that-you-are-asleep.
So all I had to do was wait until my body dropped out of REM and fell into a deeper sleep or simply face whatever was to come and then wake up; I didn’t like this feeling of defencelessness that dreams gave me. True, if one concentrated dreams could be manipulated, but that could hardly be defined as “resting”.
Still, there was something odd about this dream... The images were very vivid and it did not feel as if I were in control...
“Ryu....Love...” Again that voice. It was beckoning me, but whoever it was obviously didn’t know my name.
I tensed and straightened a bit, there was something oddly familiar about that voice.... Like the feeling of being watched I had earlier in the day and the scent of the lavender blossoms.
I felt suddenly weak and small, as if something within me were trying to break through; something bigger than myself.... Or the combination of it and me. I hugged myself and shivered, this was so familiar, this place, this voice....
“Who are you!?” I screamed at the voice, wishing that the person would come out and let me see her.
Her? Yes, it was definitively a girl’s voice.
“Ryu...” Again. A soft whisper, like a caress, only gentler, warmer and more intimate.
I turned around hoping to find a way out of this dream when I saw her.
She was standing a few meters away from me; her dark blue hair dancing and swimming in the wind, her dark-tanned skin highlighting her brilliant golden eyes. Her features were extremely elfin; slanted eyes that had feline pupils, a short sharp nose, triangular face and long pointed ears. This girl reminded me a lot of the strange elf that had attacked us... But she was much more beautiful, and there was something about her that appealed to me, something terribly familiar about her that seemed to call me.
“Ryu, I have come” She spoke in a clear smooth voice and her full lips curved into a delicate smile, so sweet and loving it took all of my will power not to run  to her. I had never felt like this before, never felt a pull like this one towards a woman; and I could feel my usual coldness leaving me and being replaced by a warm heat that came from within me.
“Who are you?” I whispered, feeling too dazed to do anything.
“I am Temis, Ryu.” She said smiling and walking towards me. “And I have come back for you”
I was too confused to speak. Come back for me? Who was this girl?
Temis.
The name was so painfully familiar... Like I had waited all my life to hear it.
“My name isn’t Ryu.” I informed her mildly, trying to sound calm when I could hardly keep myself from shaking.
She cocked her head to one side and seemed to think this statement over. “What is it then, my love?”
Her tone was so intimate, so right, so.... So mine!
I wanted to hold her, to laugh, to cry, to do anything to relieve this tension and this feeling that was taking over me.
I knew her! Somehow, somewhere; I knew we had met before. And I knew one more thing.
Wherever she had come from, I did not want her to go.
I loved her.
So I called up my remaining strength and spoke up. “My name is Shiryu.”
 

TEMIS:
He trembled every time I spoke but not in fear; there was longing in his heart; he didn’t remember anything but his soul knew mine and his heart recognised me! I felt my own heart swell with joy, could it be that he loved me still?
Then all my years of suffering, all the centuries I spent watching over Gaia and growing stronger, had not been in vain!
“My name isn’t Ryu.” His deep voice sent shivers down my spine.
What is it then, my love?” His eyes widened as I called him that and a strange light shone inside them, for a second I thought I saw the old Ryu waking up, but it was only and illusion. Still, the coldness had vanished and the light in his gaze was so like the one I had known!
Why did he have a different name? What could be more fitting than Ryu? Why had destiny allowed his name to be changed?
“My name” He spoke, breathing deeply to calm himself. “Is Shiryu.”
I was struck dumb by the last word that hit me like a rock.
Slowly, memories came to me, old memories; but still cherished in my heart. And with them came understanding, indeed, it was a better name.
The name I had given him.

......... “Ryu! Wait Ryu!” We had been racing each other in the vast plains that served as gardens to the Gaian Queen’s palace, the pungent smell of lavender rose all around us as we ran among the blooming flowers. Ryu stopped and turned to me, I reached him panting and leaned against his chest. He put his strong arms around me and leaned down to kiss me. His soft warm lips touched mine teasingly and the wandered down to my neck. I giggled and pushed him away.
“What if they see us?” I whispered pretending to be worried.
“We are too far away for them to care.” He mumbled and went back to kissing my throat. I smiled and leaned against him even more as he drew me into a protective hug. He was dressed in a loose white shirt and comfortable lavender-coloured pants that matched in colour with the satin scarf he wore around his neck. I buried my face in his shoulder and breathed in.
“You smell like lavender.” I whispered.
“We are surrounded by it, it’s natural.” I shook my head and hugged him close.
“You always smell like lavender...” I informed him while drawing lazy circles on the nape of his neck. He shivered.
“It’s my favourite flower and colour.” He answered nibbling at my ear.
“Then we have to rename you, Ryu is no longer fitting!” He laughed at my comment and pulled away to look at me.
“What will you call me then?” I smiled playfully and stroked the smooth skin of his face.
“Lavender Dragon.” He looked at me oddly, like he wanted to hold me like this forever and yet, there was a sad pain in his eyes that cut me like a knife.
“Shiryu.” He whispered softly. I shook my head and drew him into an even tighter embrace.
“MY Shiryu.” He smiled and stroked my hair, his eyes shining with an adoring light. I stood on my tiptoes so that I could kiss him and he laughed and leaned down to do so.
“Your Shiryu....” He acquiesced and buried his head in my hair....

.... I came back to myself with a start. That had been so long ago, and soon after that day he had left me without giving any reasons. Now I was in front of him again and even though I had played this scene over and over in my head for aeons I found that I could think of nothing to say.
He looked at me silently, waiting for a reply; his deep blue-grey eyes wandering all over me, searching for a clue or anything that might help him recognise me.
“It’s a very fitting name.” I told him and he nodded.
He wind picked up a few flowers and lifted them away, still, we didn’t move or say anything.
Tired of this situation, I walked up to him until our faces were only inches away from each other. He lifted a hand and stroked my cheek softly, a caress that I had known a thousand times before.
“I love you.” I told him, fixing my gaze onto his.
He did not look away, instead he bent down and pressed his lips to mine. “I know you.... I..” There was confusion in his voice, but he could not deny what he felt.
“You will remember everything, in time.” I spoke steadily to calm myself and smiled.
He seemed to think of something else then for his eyes clouded with worry and frustration. “Do you know.... Are you in any way related to what is going on now?” So. He wanted to know what was wrong with his friends and his planet.
“You will remember, but first, tell me who is the girl you live with.” I needed to know who she was.
“A sort-of-fiancé.” I tensed and pulled away slightly. He had a girl friend? He sensed my sudden discomfort and pressed on. “My Sensei arranged it; she is his daughter. But I...” He let his voice trail off. I waited nervously.
“....I don’t love her.” I felt my muscles relax and I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Are you the one who brought me here?” He asked suddenly.
“Yes, but don’t worry, It’s only a dreamspace, you will wake up in your house.” He nodded and without any warning he put his arms around me and kissed me deeply.
“When will I see you again?” He asked me softly.
“Soon, Shiryu.” I mumbled against his broad chest. “Soon.”
“In reality?” He whispered longingly.
I smiled and put my arms around his neck as I let the trance begin to dissolve and I felt him begin to grow insubstantial as he neared the point of wakefulness.
 “Maybe.” I told him before he was gone, and then I let myself  slip out of the dream and back into reality.
 

MU:
I yawned softly and leaned back into the bed with a small sigh of contentment, Shion stirred slightly beside me but then he drifted off into a deeper sleep. How long had I been out?
Oh, well. Since I had been forced to use my cosmo to heal Hyoga I found that I hardly felt any pain now, it seemed that all that was needed to overcome the headaches was a slowly increasing constant use of cosmo.
I turned my head to one side to get a better look at the Cygnus saint. He was sleeping quietly, the fever had left and his wounds were almost completely healed; soon he would wake up. Milo had also got better, having been through a state of shock.
And why had he been shocked? I knew Milo enough to know that he was a very controlled person who was rarely surprised or taken off-guard by anything. What could he have seen that had that effect on him?
And what about Hyoga?
His wings were gone but he still strongly resembled the “angel” we had all dreamt of... Who was he really?
If this being was indeed the Hyoga we all knew.
And if not?
I closed my eyes and let out a frustrated huff; this was getting annoying.
A face appeared in my head, burgundy hair, purple eyes, green spots.... I opened my eyes to dispel the image.
A Jamilon.
Hyoga had been fighting a Jamilon. That in itself was strange since we were an endangered race.... But why had he been fighting? Jamilons tended to be non-violent in their approach to things!
I didn’t like the idea of having another one like me as an enemy. It was bad enough as it was.

Milo groaned sleepily and turned around on his pillows.
I wished they would wake up....There were so many things we needed to ask them!
“Mu?” I lifted myself up and turned to greet the voice.
“Good morning Shura.” He smiled at me and stretched wincing. “Sleep well?” I inquired smiling.
“Yeah, sort of.” I gave him a questioning look and he sighed. “I was never fond of sleeping on the floor.”
I chuckled softly and got out of bed. “Lets get breakfast ready.” I told him, also stretching and running a hand through my knotted hair. He nodded and followed me into the kitchen.
Saga was there, fixing a large bowl of sliced fruit and natural yoghurt. I blinked a bit surprised at the fact that I hadn’t noticed that he was awake.
“I thought we should have a healthy breakfast this time.” He said as he smiled and beckoned us closer so we could help him chop the fruit up. The day before we had eaten buttered toast and Shaka had complained that we would get fat by eating things like that.
As if we didn’t do any exercise to compensate! Still, Saga’s choice was rather appealing: a fresh breakfast.
It was strange, all of us living together like a group of friends when we had been enemies... But it had given us all a chance to get to know each other better.
There were many things that I would have never suspected about their characters; like Saga’s honesty and his cute way of being around kids when we ran into any or Shura’s shy way of behaving, not at all like the usual Latino attitude and his fondness for guitar music, or Shaka’s not-so-condescending ways and the fact that he liked reading science and fiction novels, or Aiolos’s quiet and calm behaviour (very unlike Seiya) and Aiolia’s tendency to overreact.
They were all so different from the way they acted when they were on duty, but then, so was I.
Milo was the greatest puzzle though; he could be sweet and innocent one moment and then sly and sarcastic the next, it was impossible to know when you were speaking to the real Milo or another one of his many masks.
It was also common knowledge that he was a great admirer of beauty and that he had bedded a large percent of the Female saints in the Sanctuary, and also a few very attractive men. That last part was not so widely spread but Shion, being Pope, had known this and had told me to watch out, since the Scorpio Saint was by all means a wild card and one never knew what he was thinking.
I certainly regretted that he had fallen ill for it eradicated all my chances of seeing him in a different environment than that of the Saints; it would make the task of understanding him even tougher.
Sometimes I got the vague impression that Shion knew why Milo was like this, but if he did, he had no intentions of telling it. Anyway, Saga seemed to be trying to find out more about our strange companion so I would just leave it up to him.

Suddenly, we heard a commotion coming from the main room and we all dashed in to see what was wrong. The dim morning light cast strange shadows into the room and outlined the contours of...
Milo was sitting up looking a bit dizzy but definitively conscious.
“Milo!” Saga jumped over the groggy Aiolos and sat down beside Milo. He turned to Saga and smiled innocently, almost as if apologising for all the trouble he had caused.
“ G’morning Saga.” He mumbled rubbing his eyes and smoothing his hair. “Got anything to eat?”
I laughed at the last comment; it was so like him to break the moods. Saga raised an eyebrow at him and sighed.
“Sure, I’ll bring you something.” Milo shook his head and hoisted himself upwards.
“I’ll get up.” He almost fell back down but then he managed to regain his equilibrium and followed us to the kitchen.
All that noise had woken the rest up so we were all squashed together in the small kitchen. Shion growled at his hair as he tried to run a comb through it making us all laugh at his failed attempts and dread the moment we would have to brush our own untidy manes.
I could see that still, everybody in the room was tense, waiting for somebody to start questioning Milo. He seemed quite calm but I could sense that he did not want to be asked anything right now; and for strictly medical reasons, it might not be a good idea...
“So... Milo...” It was Saga who spoke up. “ Care to tell us what the heck is going on?”
Milo winced and shuffled uncomfortably, his eyes acquiring a pained dullness. He didn’t want to think about it, it was obvious, and Saga’s choice of words hadn’t been very... Tactful.
“Maybe I should try and do that.” Another voice made us all start and turn to face the doorway.
Hyoga leaned against the wall and smiled at us, the triangle on his forehead glinting in the growing morning light, his ice-blue eyes shining softly with a light that I knew we all found to be painfully familiar.
He was awake.
“I guess it was about time I gave some explanations, ne?”
All we could do was nod and leave him space to walk in.
As he sat down on one of the chairs I found that I was feeling oddly calm and happy, as if this was something that I waited all my life to hear.
All my life to remember.
 

ATHENA:
I sat quietly on my throne and frowned as I felt the energies around the earth change slightly and become more agitated.
“He’s awake.” I said aloud and smiled to myself.
“Are you afraid of him?” Another deeper voice spoke from within the shadows of the pillars. I didn’t even flinch, I had been expecting this for days already and it surprised me that it took this long.
“No, he is after all, terribly flawed.” I said smiling and licking my lips in hungry anticipation.
The owner of the voice stepped out from behind a pillar and walked up to me with a smile on his face, his eyes glowing with a cold red light. He was dressed in a simple red robe and had his blood-red hair tied behind him in a ponytail; his face was fine featured and terribly beautiful, but the coldness I could sense made me wary of him.
He seemed to be even more emotionless than me.
Somewhere within, the old-yet-new Athena screamed to be let out, to run away from this monster;  but she was flawed, had become flawed in all the years she reigned over this world and now it was time for her to die and to bring a new era with her death.
A new universe I would build beside Davos.
“My name is Athena.” I informed him icily keeping my gaze fastened on his.
“My name..” He began bowing slightly as if to honour me. “Is Avatar of Death... but you can call me Avatar.”
 

END OF CHAPTER THREE
Within dreams...
 

Author’s note: All disclaimers apply! Don’t sue me! All the characters belong to Kurumada-sama and Toei!
(But sometimes I would give an arm to be able to say that they are mine!)
AAAAGGHHH! Look at the monster I’ve spawned! I wanted this to be a normal fanfic and before I know it I’m writing the weirdest thing ever! Oh well, I guess I deserved it for disliking the two main characters in the series...
One good thing though, is that my dear Hyoga is finally awake! I wanted this to be a fic centred on him and look what happened to me! Well, now I can do some catching up on his romantic troubles.... (Bhuahahahah!)
WHAT!? Stop looking at me like that! I warned you that this would be a weird fic!
Come on, sing with me: WEIRD IS GOOD! WEIRD IS GOOD! WEIRD IS GOOD!!
Ahhh, now I feel better.
If you liked this aberration please Mail me at Karenhath21@hotmail.com. I’ll answer all the mails, I promise!
(But I don’t promise to do it fast *snicker*) And if you didn’t like it... I -erm.... don’t tell me unless it is strictly necessary for your personal well being.
Since this is getting a teeny tiny bit long *sweatdrop* I think that I ought to try and do shorter chapters... only that would mean doing MORE chapters! Oh boy, what did I get myself into!?
Anyway, in the next chapter you will find:
What will be Ikki’s next move. (Reading playboys to his new pet?)
How will Dohko and Co. react when they meet Iylden and Aeyr? (Probably surprised)
Hyoga will finally tell the tale! (And things will get even weirder after that ^-^;)
What of the Hilda/Siegfried and Freya/Hagen relationships? (Not good, definitively not good)
How’s Julian and Co. doing? ( finishing off the ice-cream...)
What will Athena do now that Davos has contacted her? (Be evil?)
What about the Temis/Shiryu/Shunrei triangle?
And much more!!!
AAAAHHGGG! It’s too much to fit into one chapter!! This is going to take time....
*Sigh* Oh, well. As long as SOMEBODY likes this I’ll go on writing it. So mail me!
Do you hear? MAIL ME! I NEED OPINIONS!!
Phew! Anyway, I wonder if anybody is bored enough to even read this!?
Well, Good bye.

                                        Lotsa luv
                                                      Toffee
PD: Remember:
WEIRD IS GOOD! WEIRD IS GOOD! WEIRD IS GOOD! BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!
Take care! ^-^ ??