The Night Before

This is what could have happened if Milo had ignored the order to let Hyoga pass….

The Night Before

Milo:

I had no disciples, but there were plenty of people who wanted to take my place. I wasn’t entertaining that idea at the moment. There wasn’t anyone qualified enough to take my place. The war was officially reaching its climax and the Bronze saints had made their way to Sanctuary.

“Let him pass,” Camus said. I just remember staring at him, asking exactly what he meant by that. And he told me. He told me that he wanted to take Hyoga on himself. When I looked into his eyes, I knew what he was hinting at. He was ready to die. Why was he so determined to just let go? He was excited when he first found out that he had two disciples that were ready to be molded into Aquarius saints. He literally jumped at the chance.

“I’m going to Siberia,” Camus said.
“What? Why?” I asked.
“They’ve asked me to take on two new disciples.”
“And where does that leave me?”
“You can take on students of your own.”
“Don’t be naïve Camus. I’m not the teacher you are, nor will I ever be. Besides, I’m not interested and there is no one who can fill my shoes.”
Camus just laughed and continued packing his stuff. It was the first time in a long time that he smiled. But it was almost a sad smile.
“You know what that means, don’t you?” I asked.
“Sure, that’ll I’ll be passing on what I know.”
“No, that once they’ve mastered all you know. You’ll be killed!”
“I understand that.”
“Camus, you’re only nineteen. You haven’t even begun life! You have so many things yet to do!\"”

He knew that he was signing his death certificate, and he took it calmly as he always did. I could only imagine that his heart was skittering underneath his ribcage, but no one could ever tell when Camus was happy or sad. All emotions registered the same on his face. But it didn’t used to be that way.

The day we first met changed me forever. He walked up on top of that hill. The innocence of all the world glittering in his eyes. But it wasn’t just his eyes that caught me; it was everything. He was tall and slim with long blue-black hair that scattered indigo light when the sun hit it, and eyes as blue as Mediterranean seas. He had a mixed accent, a French accent tinted with Russian. And he had this knowing look about him and lips that always appeared ready to smile. He was beautiful even then, and he was only ten. We watched each other grow up, and everything about him only got better as he got older.

We had shared many moments, but nothing meant more to me when he came and visited me on my sixteenth birthday. It was a surprise and we hadn’t seen each other in almost four years. Camus became even more beautiful if it was possible to be so. My breath caught in my throat when I opened the door. His hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, and he was wearing a tight, white tank top and form-fitting black pants. It had been rather warm for November.
“This is an unexpected visit,” I said.
“Well, it has been four years. I had to pick my time. I only get one visit a year to somewhere. This time around, I picked here,” he said with a smile.
“Must be nice getting away from near the poles.”
“Definitely, it’s nice to be in a place with regular hours and sunlight, and around someone with a personality for a change.” I smiled and began to put his bags away. I turned around to see him staring out of the window.
“Time has been good to you,” he said.
“I can say the same of you.” He turned around and smiled.

It was weird how we had never really expressed how we felt with any touches or anything. We always casually flirted and always wanted to spend time with each other. But we always knew how the other felt. I looked at him as he stood there. He had put on some pounds because of muscle. He was a skinny boy the last time I saw him, and I had been the same skinny boy right along with him. His long dark hair hung to just below his waist and his pants left nothing to the imagination. Everything about him was just so tight.
“Milo,” he said startling me out of my muse. “I missed you. I had to see you.”
“I’ll admit, I thought that you were so happy where you were that I’d never see you again until you became a saint.”
“I could never do that to you.”

To ease some of the tension in the room I told him that I was going swimming today, because no sense in halting what I had planned. He agreed and we walked down to the swimming hole. The last time we had gone swimming together we were ten. Every time he visited we never really had time to do anything, because he was always escorted by his trainer. He never let Camus out of his sight.

We walked down to the lake in complete silence. It wasn’t that we didn’t have anything to say to each other; it was just a chance to look at one another, hopefully without the other noticing. We arrived at the lake and I immediately began to strip off my clothing. I turned and saw Camus’ face in a full blush. Me, being who I am and what sign I am, didn’t have a problem with showing my body. I went into the water.
“Gods, this water is cold!” I said. Camus modestly took off his clothes and stepped in slowly.
“You complain too much,” Camus said. “The water up north is ridiculously cooler than this. This water is so warm.” I smiled; then watched him submerge himself. He flipped his long hair back and smoothed it away from his face; then he turned and looked at me. His indigo eyes always managed to heat me up from the core.
“Mmm, it’s been so long that I’ve been able to relax,” Camus said.

I watched him as he played. The way the water glistened like diamonds on his snow-pale skin. The sun caused his hair to gleam like a sapphire in the sun. I wanted to touch him. I was dying to reach out. But Camus wouldn’t have thought it proper. Intimacy was never one of his strong points.

Camus:

One more day and this would either end, or start all over again. I knew that the day would finally come when my student would come back to either surpass me or disappoint me. I knew that Hyoga could quite possibly defeat me. I knew that my life was no longer my own when I became a saint of Athena, and I certainly knew that my life went into the hands of my disciples when I decided to take them on.

“Do you have a death wish or something?” Milo screamed. He was always so fiery and passionate, maybe a little melodramtic.
“No, this is what I must do. I can’t hold this job forever.”
“Why not hold it as long as you can?”
“Our purpose was not to hold on, but to train people that could possibly become better than us.”
“Your fierce sense of duty is going to get you killed. And all you’re thinking about is yourself!”
“Myself?”
“Yes, yourself. You’re not even thinking about the fact that you’ll be leaving me behind!” I turned around and looked into Milo’s pained face. He had yelled at me plenty of times before, but I had never, never seen him shed a tear. Tears were actually brimming in his eyes; then one fell.
“Ever since you’ve become the saint of ice…you’ve become ice!” I bristled inwardly at his comment. He was right, but all emotion ever did was make one look weak. My trainer told me that, and never once did I ever after the day I donned the Aquarius cloth did I ever let anyone know how I felt, except once. My face always remained as clean and staid as a sheet of sub-zero ice.
“Camus! I love you!” Milo said; then he quickly caught himself and turned his back to me.
“I’m sorry Milo,” I said putting my bag over my shoulders. “I’m sorry.” And as I walked out, I heard metal clatter to the floor. I turned to take a quick glance and I saw Milo collapsed on the floor in a sitting position with his back to me. And I heard him faintly whisper,
“Aren’t we all.”

Milo:

We went back to the cabin later on that night after watching the sunset and I asked him if I could brush his hair. He looked at me; then went over to his bags and produced a brush and handed it to me.
“It’s been a while,” Camus said.
“Yeah, too long.”
He sat down on the floor in front of me and unloosened his hair from the bun it was in. His hair was still a little bit damp. I touched the top of his head lightly and brought up a handful of it to smell. His hair smelled so wonderful; it smelled like vanilla. I brought the brush down through his hair and I heard him let out a sound that was almost like a purr.
“I’ve missed this,” Camus said. I brushed his hair gently and pulled it away from his face; then he turned around and faced me, looking deep into my bright, turquoise eyes.
“I’ve thought about you everyday since the last time I left you. I don’t know how I ever managed,” Camus said. He got up on his knees and pressed himself between my legs. I almost slid back in surprise. This wasn’t totally like him; then he leaned up to my lips and pressed me back into the couch. His hair brushed my face as his hand did the same to my cheek. He sucked on my bottom lip gently and left his forehead touching mine.
“I don’t know when it will be the next time I’ll see you again, but I’d like for my day here to be everything that I’ve thought about for all these years,” he said.

I stood up and guided him down onto the couch; then I slid his tee shirt over his head. His nipples were hard from the slight chill in the cabin. His stomach muscles flexed as he breathed rapidly. He was excited. When I looked down between his legs, my observation was doubly confirmed. His hair was splayed across the couch away from his face and his lips were parted in anxiousness. His eyes never left mine as I removed my shirt. Then I walked over to him and straddled his lap. Camus’s hands slid down my sides and onto my hips. He tilted his lips up to meet mine. We began to kiss, hard and passionate. He began to moan and grind me into him. The friction between us was delicious.

“Please Milo, I want to be inside of you,” he whispered. His plea had all but excited me even more. I thought I was going to come out of my pants without having to undo them. Camus crushed me close to him and began to bite and lick my nipples.
“Uh, Camus!”

I rose up off of him and watched him as he sat panting, staring at me in a way that made hot chills run across my skin.
“I want you, want you so bad,” he breathed.
“And that’s what you’ll get.” I began to undo my pants. I was so hot and hard beneath them. My erection rubbed achingly against the zipper as I pulled my pants down. Camus began to impatiently undo his zipper.
“No, let me do that,” I said. His slender fingers stopped fiddling with his zipper and he looked back up at me. Camus’ freckled cheeks were flushed. His skin was also tinged a sweet, light shade of pink.
“You’re beautiful,” he said as I stood before him.
“Stand for me Camus.” He walked over to me and stood directly chest to chest with me. I had never been this nervous when it came to matters of the flesh. I had had my fun with men and girls alike, but this was something totally different. Camus was whom I had pined after since the moment I saw him. I slid my hands down his body and stopped directly at the open button of his pants; then I pulled the zipper down.
“No underwear, nice,” I whispered. He smiled down at me. I smiled at the lighter well-kept indigo hair between his legs; then it was on to what I most wanted to see. His cock was hard and bigger that I ever could have imagined or even taken. He was as big as I was. I slid his pants all the way off and he stepped out of them gracefully.
“Sit down,” I whispered.

He sat down on the couch and I got down on my knees and kissed his quivering shaft lightly. It twitched in anticipation and his mouth was open in a silent “o”. Then I slowly slid him into my mouth, all the way to the back of my throat. I began to do it quicker, sliding my tongue along the underside of his pulsing cock.
“Milo, so good,” he moaned. His thighs began to quiver under my hands. A light sweat began to break out on his skin.

Camus:

I didn’t really want to go as bad as Milo thought I did, but I had to get away before I got too involved. I loved Milo more than he even knew, and the fact that me training people could very well have meant my death kept me from being with him. Why would I ever want to commit myself when I knew that I wouldn’t be there for him in the future? It would have been different if I had decided not to take on any students.

“You have to let him pass, otherwise he won’t prove to be worthy of my cloth.”
“He’s not anyway Camus! You said it yourself. His heart was too weak!” he said.
“He’s going to come to you before he gets to me, and I know how you are. So, step aside and let him pass!” He gritted his teeth and glared at me.
“I wish I could say that I don’t care, but that’d be a lie,” he said. “But if you wish for me to let him pass, and quite possibly take away the person that means everything to me then fine.”
“This is my choice Milo and I don’t want what I trained those boys for to go to waste. I already lost one boy because of the carelessness of another, and I won’t lose another because of my selfishness.”

Milo walked up to me and grabbed my collar and yanked me toward his face.
“So then everything we shared was for nothing?! Camus you made love to me and you promised me that you’d never do this to me! Why don’t you just forfeit your cloth?”
“No, that’s not honorable.”
“Damn honor, Camus, you promised me! There’s nothing wrong with letting it go, at least you’d still be alive!”
“And I’d also be known as the saint who was too afraid to face his destiny!” I snatched my collar out of his fist and turned my back on him.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“I know you don’t, because you know…in your heart of hearts you’re wrong. And I take promises seriously.”

And that was the last time I spoke to him on the matter.

Milo:

I looked up at Camus, he was flushed all over. His cock pulsed in my fist.
“Milo, please, I need you,” he whispered. I stood and Camus leaned up, pressing his lips to the muscles in my stomach. I took in a sharp gasp. I could look down in his eyes and tell that he needed me.

I walked over to my cabinet and fished out a small vial of spiced orange oil. His eyes followed me all the way over and back. I stood in front of him and dripped the oil over my fingers. He licked his lips and smiled; then I leaned my hand over his cock and drizzled oil all over it.
“Oooh,” he breathed.

I began to stroke his cock gently, coating him. His slick shining member was all I could think about, and the fact that he would soon be inside of me began to make my hands shake. This was my best friend, the man I wanted more than air itself. He was everything in my mind.
“Let me have that,” he said reaching up and taking the oil from me. He spread it over his fingers and whispered,
“Come to me.” I walked over to him and turned around; I knew what he wanted. He stood and bent me over gently. He kissed me from my neck and down my back; then his tongue began to taste me. No man had ever taken the time to taste me there. And I was giving him something that I had never given anyone.
“Camus.”
“Yes, is something wrong?”
“No, but I need to tell you something.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve done this before, but I’ve never had anyone inside me.” Camus stood and looked at me; he looked almost surprised and at the same time honored.
“I’m the first?” I nodded.
“Milo, you’re blushing. I’ve never seen you blush. You don’t seem the type.”
“You’re the only one who could ever make me do it.”

I walked over to the couch and lay on my back; then Camus was over me, running his fingers through my thick, dark blue hair.
“I love you,” he whispered. I closed my eyes as I felt his hand slide over my hip and onto my thigh.
“I promise that I’ll never leave you,” Camus whispered rubbing his nose against mine. “I won’t hurt you.” I began to relax. I could feel the tip of Camus’ large sex up against me. He stayed poised over me. His eyes had locked with mine. My right leg was draped over his waist.
“Camus,” I whispered. “I love you.” And then I felt him enter me. I spread wide to accommodate his girth. The look on his face was exquisite. His eyes were shut and he was biting his bottom lip. I could tell that he was trying not to hurt me, because he was sliding in so slowly. He felt so hot inside of me, almost like molten lava; then he sank all the way into me. I began to sob into his shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” Camus asked, his brow knitted in concern.
“Nothing,” I said. “This is all I’ve ever wanted.” Then he put his lips back onto my neck and began to kiss it as he moved in and out of me. He rose up and looked down at me. He looked so beautiful. I looked down at where we were joined and my cock began to throb. I couldn’t believe this. Here we were, after so long, finally doing what we both had only dreamed about.

He lay down on top of me, our hardened nipples touching. Our sweat caused us to stick together.
“Harder,” I whispered.
“But I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Please,” I moaned. He looked down at me, his eyes a muted sapphire; then he pushed into me deep and hard.
“Ah, Camus!” I whispered. I heard him grunt above me and a moan more beautiful than anything I had ever heard left his lips. My fingers dug into the tight muscles of his back and my legs were wrapped around his tight behind holding him ever closer. He worked hard over me, our skin slapping together made a hollow sound in the cabin. Our noses touched as he pumped into me. His eyes never left mine, our breath mingled.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” I moaned each time he drove into me.
“I don’t want it to end Milo,” he whispered. Then he pulled me to sit on his lap. I leaned back into his chest as one of Camus’ hands slid up my chest and the other wrapped around my waist. He pulled me up and drove into me each time. He felt so good inside. All of my weight forced me to take his considerable length. The hand around my waist wrapped around my cock and began to pump.

I began to buck my hips and ride him in earnest. He screamed out. I never thought that I would hear such a sound. It sounded like a mix of pain and pleasure. I turned and looked over my shoulder and could see his head thrown back, hair out from his face like rays of the sun. The harder I bounced, the faster his hand strokes became. My cock began to leak clear jewels all over again. Camus’ thumb teased the tip, spreading all of the sweet liquid; then he put the thumb into his mouth sucking it off.

Camus:

I never meant to hurt him. I didn’t like hurting people. Every tear that fell out of his eyes were like small wounds tearing into my heart.. I loved him, we had shared so much. I still do love him. Every time I was around him, the ice seemed to melt, a little. I didn’t want to show him too much. He didn’t know that he was more important to me than duty, but I couldn’t let Athena know that. I couldn’t let anyone know that. To shirk my responsibilities for love would have made me look like a coward and overly sentimental.

The moments that we shared together meant everything to me. It was a bit selfish of me to make love to him just that one time. But I had to. I didn’t mind dying the moment after I made love to him, because that was what I had always wanted to do. I didn’t want to go through my life wishing that I had made love to him, wishing that I had told him how I felt.

“You mean the world to me,” I said.
“Really?” he asked looking over at me with his bright, turquoise eyes.
“Of course.”
“Camus, I meant what I said when I said that I loved you.”
“I meant it too.”
“I just hope that the next time we see each other that it’ll be permanent.” I walked up to him and put his smooth chin in the palm of my hand and kissed his soft lips. I wanted to hold that kiss for as long as I could, so that I could never forget his taste.
After we had parted, he grabbed the back of my neck, pressing our foreheads together. Then he whispered,
“Promise me, that you’ll never leave me.”
“I promise,” I whispered back.

Milo:

He had branded me as his. I would never be anyone else’s, just as he had promised himself to me.

I felt him shake beneath me. I knew he was about to come. His moans were loud and insistent, urging me to take him to the heights of pleasure. I threw my head back, the shivers he sent through my body were amazing. His cock struck my sweet spot each time, making me tingle to the tips of my fingers and lock my thighs around his.
“Camus!” I yelled pitching over. Come spilled out of my cock, running down the shaft creating a wetness between my legs.

Camus shuddered beneath me and squeezed me tight; then I felt his warmth flowing into me. He fell back and sighed,
“I love you. I’ll always love you.” We parted from each other and lay on the couch with me on top of him. I put a blanket over us and he began to stroke my back and hair. I rubbed my cheek on his chest and fell asleep listening to his strong, steady heartbeat. This was all I had ever wanted.

I felt Camus smell my hair. He draped his leg over me as we slept. I would never forget the feel of him beneath me. His body was so warm, everything about him was so warm….

Then it changed.

He came back, eighteen years old. Even more beautiful than he was before. And he was the Aquarius saint, Aquarius Camus. I went to the eleventh temple, hoping for that same warm smile that he always greeted me with. Instead, he turned around and I was shocked by the look in his eyes…it was a look of pure coldness.
“Hello,” he said.
He said it as if he didn’t even know me, as if I was an unwelcome visitor.
“Hello, Camus. How have you been?”
“Alright.” Everything about him was so curt. He didn’t even ask me how I was doing. It was as if talk was a meaningless waste of time, but before, all he ever wanted to do was spend time talking.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have things that I need to do.”
What in the hell was going on? I had been completely snubbed. I didn’t want to go over emotional, so I went back to my temple and sat on the steps. Then I was surprised by someone else’s presence.

“Milo, what’s wrong?”
“Why do you think anything is wrong?”
“I could feel your cosmo all the way down in the first temple.” I looked up into Aries Mu’s eyes. His light lavender eyes were full of concern.
“This is something that you could never help me with,” I said sadly.
“Just listen to me. I know the pain in your heart. You love Camus and he’s turned cold. He’s changed tremendously.”
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but whenever you’re ready you can come to me.”
“I thank you for that,” I said standing. I stood and watched Aries Mu until he was out of sight; then I turned my eyes to the eleventh temple. I knew that Camus’ cosmo was a tight, cold, little ball inside of it. I sighed and just stared up at his temple.

I stopped visiting him altogether. It didn’t seem like he wanted me there. But that wasn’t the entire reason why I didn’t go back. I didn’t want to go back because I felt so much love for him and to watch him just stand there and stare at me as if what we had was just a fling…hurt me more than anything.

Camus:

Milo came and visited me a couple weeks after I had become the Aquarius saint. It had been a little over two years. He came to my temple, looking more radiant than he ever had been. I looked at him quickly up and down. He had become taller, more muscular, and even more beguiling. He smiled at me, but I didn’t smile back, and once he saw that his face became as hard as stone. He asked me how I had been and I was rather short with him. I didn’t feel like talking.

He pretty much got the hint because all of my answers had been three or less words.
“Well, I’ll see you later,” he said.
“Right.” He turned his back and walked out of the temple. But I managed to catch the look on his face before he left. It was a look that rattled me to the core.

I sat down in my chair and put my face in my hands and began to cry. I never felt so bad in my entire life, but the words of my teacher kept echoing in my head.
“Never get involved. Don’t get attached to anything. It’ll only hold you back.” Tears fell from my eyes like rivers. I loved Milo. Why had I treated him so badly? I promised him love forever, and because I wanted to be a saint so badly I broke that promise. What kind of a man was I? My promises meant nothing. Then I tried convinced myself that it was a promise that I made while I was young and stupid. I didn’t know what I was doing. That wasn’t true. If I wanted to remain sane, I had to stay away from him.

But living only temples apart, that wouldn’t be possible and we’d have to face each other sometime…

He walked into my temple one day. We hadn’t spoken for months. If we had seen each other in passing, it was always a short hello and goodbye. We pretended not to care for the other’s feelings. Then the dam broke.

“You can’t avoid what’s going on between us forever!” he yelled. His eyes were full of fire and his chest was heaving with angry breaths.
“I have been eaten up inside and replaying the promise that you gave to me the day before you left two years ago. Do you want your promises to mean nothing to me? Because right now you’re doing a pretty good job of it!”
“Milo, people change, things change.”
“I…don’t….want to…hear…that! I know what kind of a man you are! Your promises are like gold to me! You wouldn’t even make love to me until you felt that it meant more!”
“Why would I ever promise you something I can’t deliver!”
“What?!”
“I can’t do what you ask.”
“You can’t love me? You can’t be my friend? If all you can be is my friend right now then say so. I’d rather you do that to me than pretend to be nothing to me!”
“Milo! You’re everything to me!” It was an outburst of emotion that I didn’t expect. The air became still and hot between us. Our eyes were locked as if magnetized to each other.
“I don’t want to disappoint you Milo, but I can’t give you love forever. And I can’t promise that I’ll never leave you.”
“Then you should never have said it.”

Milo:

His face iced over again, it appeared that ice had formed over his eyes again and another block of ice surrounded his heart.
“Maybe you’re right.” He appeared to have let it go so easily. And the subject was abruptly changed.

“I’m going to Siberia,” Camus said.
“What? Why?” I asked.
“They’ve asked me to take on two new disciples.”
“And where does that leave me?”
“You can take on students of your own.”
“Don’t be naïve Camus. I’m not the teacher you are, nor will I ever be. Besides, I’m not interested and there is no one who can fill my shoes.”
Camus just laughed and continued packing his stuff. It was the first time in a long time that he smiled. But it was almost a sad smile.
“You know what that means, don’t you?” I asked.
“Sure, that’ll I’ll be passing on what I know.”
“No, that once they’ve mastered all you know. You’ll be killed!”
“I understand that.”
“Camus, you’re only nineteen. You haven’t even begun life! You have so many things yet to do!\"”

But then I realized that that was the reason why he couldn’t give me forever, but I wasn’t about to accept that. I was going to think of every way possible to convince him that taking on students wasn’t the best thing to do. It was insensitive, selfish, and thoughtless.

“Do you have a death wish or something?”
“No, this is what I must do. I can’t hold this job forever.”
“Why not hold it as long as you can?”
“Our purpose was not to hold on, but to train people that could possibly become better than us.”
“Your fierce sense of duty is going to get you killed. And all you’re thinking about is yourself!”
“Myself?”
“Yes, yourself. You’re not even thinking about the fact that you’ll be leaving me behind!” He turned around and looked into my face. Shocked that I had yelled at him, and then I did something that I had never done…cried. “Ever since you’ve become the saint of ice…you’ve become ice!”

“Camus! I love you!”
“I’m sorry Milo,” he said putting his bag over his shoulders. “I’m sorry.” And as he walked out, I collapsed to the floor; then I whispered,
“Aren’t we all.”

That was the last time I saw him for two more years.


Milo:

I watched him walk away. I was done; he was dead-set on going. I sat down on the floor of his temple with my head in my hands—wailing. My heart was officially broken. The eight months that he was in Sanctuary were the hardest eight months of my life. I punched the marble floor of his temple.
“How could you do this to me!” I just wanted to get up and start smashing things in his temple, his ice sculptures, fountain, pictures, wine bottles, everything, but to break anything of his would have pained me. At the time I wished that he had as much regard for my heart as I did for his things. When he walked out of that door, he just wrenched my heart out. Tears blurred my eyes as I tore out of his temple. I didn’t want to be around anything that reminded me of him.

“Hold on, Milo!”
“What do you want!” Pisces Aphrodite stepped back, but his arm was still on me.
“I know what happened between you and Camus.”
“How could you possibly know?”
“The arguments between you two in his temple were less than quiet.”
“You don’t have a clue what’s going on! You’d never understand, and why do you even care!”
“Maybe I know a thing or two about lost love, or don’t you remember!” I looked up at Aphrodite with tears in my eyes; then I quickly brushed them away.
“Do you remember Lacerta Misty?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he’s dead. I have nothing left of him. At least while Camus was here, you were able to be graced by his presence. You two could have at least made the time around each other pleasant before he left. Misty was snatched from me; I didn’t expect it. You can go to Camus in Siberia if you want to see him.”
“I don’t think he’d appreciate that.”
“Milo, when he walked by my temple I heard him say, “I don’t know why I did this to him. I love him.” Milo, look at me! He…loves…you. I could and can see in his eyes that he was born to love you.”
“He changed on me.”
“When you take on more responsibility your life and sometimes you are bound to change. Don’t lose your love because of your pride, and fight for that love no matter what. Love’s so hard to find, and just hope that you never have to go through the pain of loss.” Aphrodite turned around and walked back up to his temple.
“Wait!” He turned back around and I said,
“Thank you.” He just smiled at me and continued to walk back to his temple. I never thought that I’d take advice from him or even sit long enough to listen to it, but what he said was right, to fight for it no matter what. Camus was what I lived for, no matter what he did to me, and I wasn’t going to let anyone take him from me…no matter what.

Two years later…

Camus:

“You have to let him pass, otherwise he won’t prove to be worthy of my cloth.”
“He’s not anyway Camus! You said it yourself. His heart was too weak!” he said.
“He’s going to come to you before he gets to me, and I know how you are. So, step aside and let him pass!” He gritted his teeth and glared at me.
“I wish I could say that I don’t care, but that’d be a lie,” he said. “But if you wish for me to let him pass, and quite possibly take away the person that means everything to me then fine.”
“This is my choice Milo and I don’t want what I trained those boys for to go to waste. I already lost one boy because of the carelessness of another, and I won’t lose another because of my selfishness.”

We argued a few more moments and he conceded, or appeared to. His face turned to stone and he threw his cape over his shoulders and walked out.

Milo:

I’ll be damned if I let him pass me. I know that I told Camus that I would, but I didn’t promise. I never promise things I can’t or won’t do. He’s right, he does know how I am, and what Aphrodite said to me two years ago rang clear in my ears. I began to sharpen my red-needled finger; I would press it through Hyoga’s heart if it was the last thing I did in this life.

It wouldn’t be too much longer before the bronze saints took over the first seven temples before mine. I could hear them coming. Sanctuary was crumbling around us. I pursed my lips and wrung my hands. I was pissed off, beyond pissed. I wasn’t very good at taking orders, and this was one that I wasn’t about to take.
“I’ve let him slip through my fingers before, and it’s not going to happen again. I’ve taken temporary losses of him, but a permanent one I’m not will to accept.”

I stood and threw my cape to the floor; then I put my helmet on. I could smell him. It was Hyoga, the boy that was “supposed” to take the love of my life away from me, because of tradition. He would not wear Camus’ cloth! That cloth belonged to him, and so what if I was going to help him retain it for my own selfish reason. Hyoga’s death would be something that Camus would get over in time. Pain doesn’t last forever, but death does…and I’ll never let its icy lips touch Camus before his time.

Hours later…

I had paced the floor until I thought I had worn a groove in it; then he arrived. Hyoga stood in the door of my temple, wearing his bright Cygnus cloth. He was so much smaller than me, and he did look so fragile. He was everything that Camus had described. He looked afraid, but at the same time willing to face anything.

“I’ve come for you Scorpio Milo.”
“You can drop the formal title Hyoga. I have no intention of letting you speak my name ever again, or any other.” He raised his hand at me, freezing me to the floor. I laughed in his face and just shook the ice off.
“That the best you got?” Then his little friend Dragon Shiryu joined him.
“Two for the price of one, better than I expected.” The both stood in front of me defiantly. They were prepared to fight me to the death, and I had no intention of losing.

Shiryu ran at me, brandishing the sword of my fallen comrade Capricorn Shura; then Hyoga froze me again, but much better this time. This gave Shiryu enough time to strike a blow and cut a gash into my arm. I hissed and broke out of the ice. I threw out my hand sending a wave of energy out knocking the two boys to the floor. And I had decided for sure, in that one moment that I was going to kill them both!
“You’ve signed your death certificate!” Shiryu was right next to me about to take another strike from behind me and I turned quickly sending my arm right through his chest. I felt his heart still against my skin. Shiryu’s eyes glazed over and his last breath came in one loud whoosh. I held his dead body up on my arm and toward Hyoga.
“This will be you,” I hissed, and I let his impaled body slide to the floor in a bloody heap.

Hyoga’s eyes were flooded with tears. I had made him angry.
“Good, give you your best shot!” Hyoga Diamond Dusted me; it froze me a little, but because he wasn’t a gold saint, it wasn’t as affective as one done by Camus. I just waved it off as a small blast of cold and I was standing two feet in front of him and I extended my hand, beginning my Scarlet Needle Attack. Once my finger sank into his skin, his blood gave me energy. I had fifteen more holes to make and the final one would be into his heart.

“I will make you bleed,” I said stabbing away at him. And bleed he did. Blood now stained the floor of my temple, like a fresh coat of paint. Before I made the final strike I grabbed him by his collar and yanked him up to my face.
“I love Camus more than you ever have or will, and I do not apologize for not letting you see him again.” Blood leaked from Hyoga’s shocked lips. His eyes were full of tears of pain. Not one of those tears made me feel any worse. I showed him the scarlet needle on my index finger before I drove it into his heart. His heart beat two final times around my finger before it stopped and his eyes closed heavily. I dropped him to the floor and stared at his hole-filed body which made the shape of my constellation.
“The only person that I feel sorry for is Camus.”

Camus:

I looked up and I saw Milo standing in my doorway, covered in blood.
“What did you do?!” I yelled. He didn’t answer me. It looked like he was just staring right through me. Blood dripped from his fingers.
“I killed him,” he said lowly.
“What?” I said walking over to him.
“I killed him.” I grabbed him around his shoulders as he sank to the floor.
“Why?” He jumped up and grabbed me around the knees.
“I killed him because I didn’t want him to take you away from me!” I looked down and saw tears in his eyes. I was so angry that I kicked him onto his back.
“How dare you break your promise to me!?” He sat up and began to laugh, and his laugh got louder; then he stopped.
“I didn’t promise you anything. I only said alright. I never said I promise! Teaches you a lesson doesn’t it…never make promises that you can’t keep!”

I began to feel violently ill. I looked at his bloodstained face. The dark blood on his face made his eyes appear an electric shade of blue; then he smiled at me. It was so sick. I had never seen him look that way. He stood and walked over to me.
“I promised myself a long time ago that I would never let anyone take you away from me, and I’m very good at keeping promises. But I have one question to ask you,” he said. “Why are you so determined to die?”

“I don’t think I owe you any answer.”
“If there is anyone that you owe an answer, it would be me!”

Milo:

I stood there waiting for him to speak. His head appeared to be hung in shame; then he looked up at me. His eyes were filled with unshed tears. I let out the breath I had been holding and relaxed my stance.
“I’m tired,” he said lowly.
“Tired?” I asked kneeling in front of him. “Of what?”
“Of failing.”
“Camus, what have you failed? You’re good at everything you’ve ever done.”
“No. Can I tell you something?” I nodded.
“When I went to Siberia and my teacher told me that I was wasting my time on love, I knew that I had broken my promise to you. I didn’t want to come back and look you in the eye after knowing that I had broken my promise. I wanted the Aquarius cloth so badly that I had pretended to build ice around my heart; then it became real. I didn’t want to feel anything anymore. I didn’t want to feel the guilt of lying to you, the feelings that you radiated when you were disappointed. Most of all I didn’t want to feel anything because of the looks of hurt on your face. And believe me, I honestly thought that turning off all those feelings would make me feel better. For a time they did,” he said. “Sealing off everything helped—I didn’t mourn Isaac so badly when he died. I had to quickly get over him and do what I had to do.”
“Who’s Isaac?”
“He would have been the best one to wear the cloth. He was my favorite, admittedly. I wouldn’t have minded dying at his hands. He had everything at the time that I didn’t. He had the heart of ice, the cool soul. I saw Hyoga as weaker and everything that I despised. Isaac had everything that it took to be an Aquarius saint and because of Hyoga’s carelessness and his constant attachment to his mother, he died.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Hyoga constantly dove to the bottom of the frigid ocean everyday for a glimpse of his mother’s dead body, perfectly preserved in ice. One day the ocean was more torrid than usual and he was taken over by the current. Isaac dove in to save him, which he did, and neglected to save himself,” Camus said. “I always knew that Hyoga could never make it. He had too much emotion, not enough ice. I failed. I failed to save Isaac and be there for him, I failed to turn Hyoga into the Aquarius saint, and most of all, I failed you.” He hung his head again and I saw his tears drop to the floor.

Camus was melting before my very eyes. He was becoming the boy that I had grown up with. I reached down and helped him up off of the floor. He looked at me then held his bloodied hand to his face.
“If you did this to him, and so easily—he never would have stood up against me.”
“Camus,” I said quietly. “I still owe you an appology.”
“Maybe what you did was best. If he wasn’t strong enough; he wouldn’t be good enough to take my place. I probably would have killed him too. I don’t think I could have taken killing him. I really did see him as the future. I thought I had done right by him.”
“I should have listened to you and let him pass. I should have respected you enough. I should have trusted you ability.”
“No, I think you’re right by what you did. I would have let him kill me, because I was so tired.”
“Let him?” He nodded.
“Sometimes I thank the gods that you never listened to me,” he said. I smiled.
“Well, I need to go clean up.”
“Will you stay?” he said. “I need you to.” I was startled by his request, but far be it from me to not listen—I nodded. Any time was a good time with him. He escorted me back to his bathroom.

I climbed into the shower and watched the red water swirl down the tub. The water cascaded warm down my back. I stared down at the drain. I felt awful for doing what I did to him, but at the same time relieved….because I had him. Nothing could take him away, not as long as I was alive and then…

Camus:

I didn’t think I had the courage, but I climbed in the shower behind Milo. I looked at his wet, blue hair clinging to his body in tendrils. I stood there for what seemed like an eternity, watching him watching the red water swirl down the drain. He didn’t even know I was there; then I reached out and put my arms around his waist. Milo stiffened against me as if he didn’t know what to do. I pressed my cheek against his warm wet back.

“Camus—“
“Milo, don’t speak. I have things that I need to say.” He turned around and looked at me. His bright azure eyes jumped out at me from underneath his dark, water-jeweled lashes. His eyes held that same wonder for me that they did when we were about to make love for the first time.
“I hate myself for the things I’ve done to you, and I’m sure you feel the same way about me too, and—“
“Camus, don’t you ever say that I hated you. I never hated you and could never ever hate you. Even when you pushed me away, I loved you. Even when you became the total opposite of the person that I had always known, I still loved. Nothing could ever change the way I feel about you. Nothing.”
His statement quieted everything that I had to say. I had years of apologizing to do and he stopped me from doing it. He didn’t hold me responsible for anything that I had done or said to him.
“How can you be so forgiving?” I whispered.
“Because,” he said, touching his lips to mine. Water ran down between our lips.
“I love you.”