Cassiopiea

Before we start I have to admit that I don\'t know much about the Hades chapter (only seen the anime part and finding the comic translations are a pain). So from what I know the gold saints are dead from giving all of their strength to Athena, Seiya died, etc. etc. So I have it that Seiya some how survived and the gold saints are dead (it\'s really important to the plot that it\'s this way).
I\'m also posting this on a website of mine, if you want to see pretty backgrounds that go with the story then go there. Here is the link to the first chapter = http://freeze.fateback.com/cassi1.html

Cassiopiea
Chapter I; ŒŒ‚ÌŽ‹—Í - chi no shiryoku (blood sight)

The night was darker than usual. The crickets made no sound in the sleeping world as if afraid to wake anything up from a deep slumber. The reflective eyes of a cat caught the dim light of the stars as its ears twitched catching the sound of a choked scream. The creature\'s lithe body coiled, tail wrapping delicate ankles as the scream grew more desperate. The feline turned away from the site before it in favor to lick away a spot of blood that had been flung upon its delicate fur. Ringing from the bell attached to the collar echoed in the small clearing in the forest covered graveyard when the human sound died down. Once saticfied with being clean, the small animal looked up to the bipedal being that owned her. Cream colored fingers pushed on the back of the once alive victime, the black shirt spunging out a deep colored liquid that happily ran down the digits. With a shove the person fell forward, their lifeless body making a thick cracking sound as ribs broke over an arched tombstone.
Preditory eyes narrowed as a few nervherehere left alive causing the dead to twitch a finger and shoulder. The red tongue lulled out of the mouth with red vains prominant to the white of the rolled up eyes. Blood pooled from the eye lids to stream down the pale skin of the cheeks and bridge of the person\'s nose. The flesh surrounding the fine cut that encompassed the neck was swollen with the very last attempt from the body trying to survive. Crimson fluid spilled out to decerate the tomb stone that kept the cadaber\'s body buckled in half. The murderer looked up to the sky, taking in the sight of the stars that where dulled out by the city lights. With a sigh, the perpitrator took a hold of the back of the corpse\'s shirt and walked off, dragging the body behind, with a cat following.

@\'--- ---\'@

Being a Saint of Athena requires one to not be surprised over much. One had to accept that things would turn for the worse and/or for the better. It was the way that things worked, that was, if you wanted to survive long. But that didn\'t mean that finding out that there was a murderer in the town just below Sanctuary would be a shock. In fact it was almost mind blowing considering that the law inforcement there was particularly tight. There had not been a cerial killer in that town in over one hundred years. Upon hearing about this peculiar news the bronze saints almost emidiately met up at the Kido mansion. It had been seventeen years since the defeat of Hades and everyone had split up, keeping in touch just enough to know what was going on in each other\'s lives. The last time they all where together was at Shiryu\'s wedding with Shunrei three years ago. Shun even still had a scrap book filled with pictures all dated at 2001 for that joyous event. But now, they gathered to not talk of happy times. With Athena in Sanctuary, only proed bed by amitures they where left with very little opitions. The discussion only fully went underway after Andromeda finished making tea and served the surprisingly delecious beverage in fine china.

\"What opitions are there for us to take?\" Shiryu tapped his fingers against the table top. The low drumming resounding louder than he really would like it due to his sensitive hearing.

Seiya gave a rather bored almost anxious sigh, \"What else? We need to go to Sanctuary and see what\'s going on.\"

\"That shouldn\'t take all five of us,\" Hyoga leaned back in his seat between Shun and Ikki.

\"But we don\'t know what kind of threat this might pose.\"

\"I have to agree with Hyoga,\" Shun gently set his cup in its coster. \"We all are in our thirties now. We should send a reconaissance in and not act with out properly thinking.\"

The brunet raised an eyebrow, \"You calling me a child in a creative way?\"

Ikki snorted focusing attention on him, \"They\'re saying that we shouldn\'t act with out thinking. Remember Shunrei.\"

\"Oh man, I\'m sorry,\" he turned to Shiryu who only smiled and shook his head. He understood that his friend was just eager to meet Saori again. Pegasus leaned over the table a little, taking a spoon and stirring his tea around, \"I forgot that she\'s due in three months.\"

\"It\'ll be a miracle if she makes it to the end of those three months,\" Hyoga kept a straight face.

\"Excuse me?\" Shiryu felt his heart jump a bit from the ominous words coming out of his blond companion.

\"Don\'t think I mean anything bad from it, Shiryu,\" he smiled even though he knew that his friend\'s blind eyes couldn\'t see his expression. \"I just mean that women tend to deliver early, and the last few months of a pregnincy are the most crusial considering everything.\"

The chinese man released a breath that he didn\'t know he was holding. He felt the edge of his mouth turn up in a small smile when he heard someone swat Hyoga with him replying in a grunt. From the sound of it, it was Shun. Actually taking in acount his friends\' different addituds, it would only leave Shun who would do that.

\"So who\'s all going to go to Sanctuary?\" Seiya nearly chugged his tea down after asking.

\"You know that I would go under normal cercomstances but with a child coming, I don\'t want Shunrei to be alone for too long,\" Dragon\'s expression fell serious as well as everyone elses.

\"Considering that it\'s hard to contact someone up on the Five Peaks then I think we should send someone with you, just in case it gets ugly,\" Shun shifted his feet to lock them at the ankles.

\"I agree,\" Hyoga nodded. \"So we\'ll need to send someone that is quickly notified... Someone that\'ll find out even if someone may intersept the message.\"

Three sets of eyes locked onto the perfect canidate. The eldest grunted as they did not utter a word, only watched him, as if waiting for a reply. Running a hand over his face, an irritated sound rumbled from his throat. He wasn\'t good with women after Esmerelda\'s death, let alone pregnant ones. Besides being in a house of a mairried couples would feel weird and he didn\'t want to do it. Then again he knew that his little brother would pull something and he would end up going anyway. Curse that soft spot that he had for his sibling.

\"Fine,\" he finally spoke up.

\"Good,\" the youngest smiled pleased with his brother\'s dicision. That meant that he wouldn\'t have to pull some strings or beg, \"It seems that the remainder of us will be the ones to go to Sanctuary.\"

\"But what would be our plan of action soon as we get there?\" the Russian got out of his seat, not liking to sit for too long.

\"I\'ll go to Sanctuary to see how things are going so far. Marin should know at least something,\" Pegasus finished his tea, tapping his hand on the table to signify that he wantnothnother cup as he continued, \"Jab will be there as well as Shaina. I might get a little bit of trouble but that\'s only if there really is a threat to Athena.\"

\"Good point. Meanwhile Shun and I will scope out the city and get rooms at a hotel.\"

\"Remember Seiya, to come back as soon as possible, we don\'t want to cause a stir in Sanctuary,\" Andromedacefucefully poured his friend another cup of tea.

\"Yeah yeah. So when should we start?\"

\"In the morning,\" Ikki nodded his thanks to his brother as he got a refill of tea as well. \"We need to buy plane tickets as well as make reservations.\"

\"Why not use Saori-san\'s jets?\"

\"Do you even know what the word \'reconaissance\' means? We need to remain undercover. If this murderer really can pose a threat to Sanctuary we don\'t want to alert him that we are on his trail.\"

\"Point taken. I guess all that\'s left now are the tickets, reservations, and hanging out like old times.\"

All the bronze saints nodded in unison. Might as well relax before a possible storm.

@\'--- ---\'@

The air was filled with a metalic sent from the pool of crimson that was craddled by the dip in the white stone and marble floor. The sun glistened against the liquid as it warmed the pale skin of the person that sat in the middle of the craddle. Eyes closed, their long, straight, brown hair casading down the slender back down past the hips with the rest of it lost in the fluid. The white robes the person wore where stained, the cotten soaking up the red with a spung like effect. The liquid started to drain away through some vents that where built into the marble tub. The person lowered their head and looked over their shoulder, their green blue eyes only half way open, to see the person that was silently approc the them.

\"Got anything Beo?\" the person stopped, their tenis shoes only a few inches away from the rim of the marble bath.

\"The one called Athena l, Lo, Lord Hades must start again,\" Beo\'s voice was smooth and delicate with the words.

The person gave a grunted curse before placing down a bucket of soapy water, a towel, and some clothes. \"What about the others?\" they knelt down and started to work a rag into the bucket.

Beo slowly stood, hair pulled straight as the red drained away from the long locks that hung to the back of the knees, \"The others are moving quickly, their target is the one that is closest to Athena.\"

\"That\'s all we needed to know, now it\'s time to make our move,\" a wicked smile spread across the brunet\'s companion\'s face. \"Come on girl, let\'s clean that blood off of you.\"

To be continued