Author: Nemui
Fandom: Saint Seiya
Characters: Phoenix Ikki
Genre: gen
Rating: G
Status: complete
Summary: Ikki returns after protecting Shun from Fire Saint as a justice Saint.
“Fight! Never surrender yourself! Remember you can get all you desire!”
Ikki was speaking to his brother, his words laced with determination. The waves melted softly against the sand of Tokyo´s beach. The sun had long stopped to lend heat to the day, but instead gave orange hues to the sky blue, offering the two brothers an awesome sight.
“Ikki…”
Ikki smiled at him. He was glad he was able to advise his brother in such matters once more, retaking his position as the elder brother. It hadn´t been two days since they met again, after the battle in Death Valley, and suddenly luck laid its blessings on them, for now they were fighting side by side and no one would get on their way anymore.
“I should have told you this before, but at that time I didn´t know my fate for sure, and neither did you about yours…”
“It doesn´t matter. Thank to you Niisan I could become a saint and I´m glad for that. We´re fighting along with good friends now.”
And that was really the most important thing. They weren´t two lonely brothers who fought against the world anymore, but warriors with friends, fighting for a better world. Suddenly, sadness reached Ikki´s eyes and he turned his gaze to the sea.
“You must have suffered so much in Andromeda´s Island and in my return as well…”
Shun knew his brother still felt guilty about trying to kill him before, even though he did it only out of depression. Shun flashed his elder brother his most truthful smile.
“That´s not a problem. After all, we only grow up by pain, right?”
Ikki smiled too.
“You´ll never change…you´re right, Shun.”
The tide rose as the sun faded. It was already possible to spot some stars in the sky.
“I was so worried about myself that I forgot you also suffered in your own ways. Seiya suffers with the anguish of not knowing whether his sister is dead or alive. Hyoga could never erase from his mind the memory of his mother dying in front of him…and such a trauma is understandable.”
“Seiya was devastated when he found out Seika was missing. You still remember how close they were when little, don´t you? Exactly like us. I know how Seiya must feel. It´s scary.”
“I know. Tatsumi told me Andromeda´s Island was a place as harsh as Death Queen´s Island itself before I left, and I was scared… scared of finding another man using the Andromeda´s armor when I came back. A man who wasn´t my brother…”
“And Hyoga as well. Behind that cold mask there´s a heart of gold. His mask is more of sadness than of coldness. It´s as if a shadow followed him. But he helped us when Shiryu was in danger and that was a great proof of his kindness. He must carry an overwhelming sorrow…”
Ikki nodded. Fighting along with Hyoga, he could realize it better than anyone. Hyoga was never really a cold person, just a sad one. Maybe the real Hyoga was even like Seiya, or like Shiryu, but Ikki believed it to be hard to find out.
“It´s getting dark already, Shun. What about coming back to the others?”
Shun got up, shaking the sand off his pants.
“Let´s go.”
—————————————————————
Two days ago, when they were still celebrating Ikki´s return, Saori told them to rest well for the battle against the Sanctuary. So each one tried to find a way to relax the best they could. Shun and Ikki spent most of the time talking about the six years they were apart from each other. Seiya looked for news about his sister and flirted with Miho at the same time. Shiryu had gone back to the Five Old Peaks. Since a trip to Siberia would take too long, Hyoga decided to look for some leisure in Tokyo.
That night, despite the happiness for Ikki´s safe return, there was a cloud of melancholy hanging in the air. Everyone had their own personal problems to deal with, and that kept them from long-term euphoria. Shun seemed to be the calmest in the mansion, for obvious reasons. Saori went to her bedroom, or at least to what was left of it, after the house being set on fire by the Fire Saint. Hyoga strolled by Kido´s garden, back and forth, walking aimlessly. Ikki had disappeared from sight since dinner.
Hyoga sat under a tree and closed his eyes, hoping for a moment of loneliness. His thoughts strayed to master Crystal, whom he had killed, and to his mother, who was still waiting for him under the sea. What kind of a man was he turning into? Killing his own master…
A noise from above made him jump to his feet, moving into a defensive stance.
“Who is there?”
Ikki shows up in between branches, flashing a playful smile.
“You took too long to find me.”
Hyoga looks away, annoyed by Phoenix´s appearance. Ikki never showed up, but when he did, it was always when Hyoga didn’t want him around.
“I barely realized you were up there…”
Ikki climbs down the tree in a jump, standing in front of Hyoga.
“I came here to give this back to you.”
Ikki takes the rosary out of his pocket and handles it to Hyoga.
“I know how much it means to you. You may only hang it on a cross when you´re sure I´m dead. I´m not that weak!”
Hyoga´s lips curl into a small smile, and he puts the talisman around his neck.
“Alright.”
“You seem distant. What´s bothering you?”
“That´s none of your business, Ikki.”
“Are you telling me or do I have to use my illusion against you again?”
“I don´t need you to know about my problem.”
“I know it anyway. I know enough to realize why you are acting like this. Right then you were probably thinking about master Crystal, weren´t you?”
Hyoga gets pissed over Ikki´s proud smile and sits down again, ignoring him.
“It isn´t hard to find out. The look on your face was one of guilt.”
“Shut up and leave, Ikki.”
“You don´t need to be mad. It wasn´t your fault.”
“I killed him, Ikki!! It doesn´t matter he forgave me, I killed him. You can never understand what it is to kill the man who raised you like a son!”
“You´re right, no one has ever raised me like a son. I was treated as a slave. And maybe I´ll never understand the pain you´re feeling.”
Hyoga kept still, without voicing a single word.
“But I have a pain as deep as that one.”
Hyoga looked at him. It didn´t seem, but Ikki´s face hid great anguish, scars from Death Queen´s Island.
“I loved her too much, Hyoga. Too much. I would low myself and crawl so that my master would never have killed her. If I could, I would like to have had died in her place. But sometimes I wonder if that would be egoism, since it would make her cry. And despite the blood, the pain, she passed away smiling for me. Smiling!”
Ikki looked aside. He didn´t like remembering that scene, but it played over and over in his mind since he became a saint.
“I had it all planned in my head. I would bend myself backwards to win the Phoenix armor, kidnap Esmeralda and come back to Japan to meet Shun. But things didn´t go that way…”
At that moment, Hyoga could clearly identify the far away look in Phoenix´s eyes. They flickered, haunted and, above all, lonely.
“Ikki…”
Ikki turned back to Hyoga, trying to smile.
“Now that I´ve told you about my problems, tell me yours. Or do I really have to use my illusion?”
Hyoga was puzzled. What Ikki was that who cared about his problems? Who smiled in such a friendly way, ready to listen to his problems, understand them? What ikki was that who turned from stone into a sensitive man? Had Ikki really been reborn, changing so much?
Not Really. That was the same Ikki who wiped his younger brother´s tears away tenderly, whenever Shun was harassed by the other kids of the orphanage. That was the same Ikki, the protective elder brother, who was hostile to strangers, but gentle to the people he cared about. It was as if…As if Hyoga was now his brother.
“Aren´t you staying with Shun?”
“Just with me being around, he is already happy. He doesn´t need my help.”
“Neither do I. Go away.”
“Alright, you make the calls!”
Ikki burns his cosmos, being soon surrounded by the Phoenix aura.
“Ikki, don´t tell me you will…?!”
“Well, since you ain´t telling me what´s wrong, I´ll have to force my way into you! Last chance! Are you telling me or not?”
“Are you crazy?!”
“Time out. I´ll even send you a nightmare for free!”
“OK, alright! I will!”
Ikki stops the rising cosmos, displaying a winning smirk.
“That´s way better!”
Hyoga sighs and looks aside.
“I wished he would punish me.”
“Hn?”
“My master. For having killed him. I wished he would come back and punish me.”
Ikki´s eyes then softened.
“Hyoga, it´s not your fault, it was a fight after all. When you enter a battle against saints, you know you´re risking your life in it. Your master knew he could be killed by you.”
“But it wasn´t fair! He was hypnotized by the master of the Sanctuary when we fought each other! He received the blow unguarded because he was suffering from Ares´s control on him! And I did it with all my power…”
Hyoga closes his eyes shut, in an attempt to stop the tears from falling. Ikki sits by his side, leaning on the tree.
“And you couldn´t help it. You wished you could have helped it, but you couldn´t. And that´s why you´re blaming yourself. Hyoga, has it ever occurred to you how much your master must be proud of you?”
“Proud for what?”
“For having fought like a true saint. If I had a disciple, I´d never allow him to avoid my attacks if he was fighting for a noble cause. I know it´s hard, but that´s the Achilles´s heel of a saint who serves justice.”
Hyoga remembered master Crystal´s last words: You must never hesitate when fighting for justice.
“Besides, a man who loved his pupil like a son would never stop loving him even after the pressure of the last blow.”
Hyoga stares ahead. The night was falling, licking away the remnants of light in the garden.
“It was his time to go…”
“Yes…”
Hyoga hugs his knees, burying his face between them.
“I miss him…”
Ikki remained silent by his side, like a protective brother, listening understandingly to his tears. His thoughts strayed to Esmeralda, whose gentle and lovely face was always lit with a smile, even when Ikki was in a bad mood. He sighed and carried on offering silent sympathy to his brother in spirit. Yes, he was his brother. Not only Shun, but Hyoga, Shiryu and Seiya were now his brothers. And, as a brother, he would help them any way he could. Although with several more scars, it was indeed the old Ikki who was reborn.
* THE END *
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