Recap: after the battle with Zeus, the saints and Athena were sucked into a warp and found themselves back in Tokyo. This should have been fine. Only this was a different Tokyo. They were greeted by Saori's counterpart who brought them to the Kido Mansion to have some rest. Over a conversation, they discover that thought a lot of things are similar, a lot of things aren't exactly the same either. For example, their family ties. They discover that their mothers are, to their surprise and joy, alive and so they decided that they were going to pay them visit on the next day. Hyoga meets his counterpart's 'mother'. Though a bit awkwards at first, the scene ends up with Hyoga crying in his 'mother's' arm and 'she' consoling him. Now, back to Seiya and Co. coz Seiya is supposed to meet his mum now. **************** A SAINT SEIYA FANFICTION: ANOTHER REALITY Saint Seiya and all the characters in it are the legal possession of Masami Kurumada and the respective companies. Note: All character having their names in '...' are the characters from the dimension in which the saints and Saori landed in. Chapter 2: Excuse me but are you really my mother?! ****************** "Seiya wait for me!" 'Saori' exclaimed as Seiya disappeared behind a rock near the beach "You don't even know where your 'mother' is!" But Seiya had already disappeared. 'Saori' stopped running. She was panting and sweating and trying to catch her breath. After having gone to Seiya's 'mother's' house, only to discover she was not there but at the orphanage, they had all gone to it. As soon as they reached the orphanage though, Seiya had ran off himself in the direction of the orphanage house. 'Saori' had tried, though with little sucess to catch up with him. It was not that the path to the orphanage was very long, but they had discovered there that Seiya's 'mother' was again not present, having taken the kids of the orphanage to the beach. So off they had all gone again, with Seiya being really exasperated this time. At the beach, Seiya had run off, determined to finally find his 'mother' this time. All would have been just fine except for the fact that Seiya, not having given the time to 'Saori' to indicate the place, had just run off on his own...in the wrong direction of course. The car and the rest of the Saints along with her counterpart Saori having been elsewhere in a building near the beach waiting for her, 'Saori' had had no choice but to pursue Seiya alone. Which was what she did. But after 15 minutes of running, she had to admit that this kind of endurance was hard to keep...especially if you ran after someone as fast as Seiya. Saori's breathing slowed down a bit as her heartbeats became close to normal. She breathed in the fresh sea air and stopped and sat on a nearby rock. she said to herself She gazed at the sea for a while before taking out the portable handphone that was in her bag. She then pressed buttons and dialed a number. "Moshi moshi?" replied a man's voice. "Tatsumi?" Tatsumi's voice immediately tensed up. "Saori-sama, what can I do for you?" "Please tell the rest that I'm waiting for Seiya and that they should go along without me. Bring Shun and Ikki to Mari-sama's house and bring them both to her in person. Tell them not to worry, I'll call her to tell that they are on their way. I'll come along as soon as I can. Wait for me at Mari-sama's house is that clear?" "Hai." "Good. If there is anything else or any problem, call me. If on my side something crops up then I'll call you. Any problem?" "No." "Very good. Then I'll meet you later?" "Hai Ojisama." "O.k" 'Saori' said as she put down her phone. Now, all she had to do was wait for Seiya to come back and then she could bring him to see his 'mother' before going to meet the others. If her predictions were accurate, she wouldn't have to wait for long. And, truly, soon afterwards, she saw a distant dot coming closer to her. About 10 minutes afterwards, a messy Seiya appeared before her. "I didn't find her 'Saori-san'" he said "I think she's not here again. We're just wasting our time." 'Saori' raised her eyebrown at this. "Are you ready this time?" she asked questioningly. "For what?" "To listen to me." "Isn't that what I've been doing for the past half-hour? I followed your directions right?" "Seiya!" said 'Saori' a bit exasperated from having to chase him "that's not what you've been doing at all! What you've been doing for the last 30 minues is chasing for someone who is not at the place you were looking at all! Now, if you had *listened* to me instead of just rushing off into whatever direction, you would have heard me calling you to turn back. Your 'mother' is *not* in that direction" And then, her finger pointing in the opposite direction from where Seiya had rushed off too, continued saying "...but in that one. Now, are you prepared to *listen* to me and go in the *right* direction this time?" "Gomen" said Seiya sheepishly "o.k, I'll listen before I go off somewhere this time." "A very wise decision Seiya" said 'Saori'"One that I am glad to hear. But before we go, wait a second, I have to call someone." And with that, she fished her headphone out of her handbag again and dialed a number. "Moshi moshi?" answered a voice. "Yes," said 'Saori' "could I speak to Mari-sama please?" "Of course" replied the voice "whom shall I say it is from?" "Her niece" said 'Saori' simply. A few minutes later, a woman's voice was heard on the phone. "Saori-chan?" "Konnichiwa Mari obaasan" "Konnichiwa Saori-chan, why have you called? I thought you were supposed to come in with my two other sons?" "Well obaasan, there's been a slight change in the program. They'll be coming, but not me. I'll join them as soon as I can though, to pay a visit on you as well." "Alright" Mari answered pleasantly "Drop by to say hello later. I'll be waiting for you, and I'll also be expecting them." "Do you think you can handle two extra sons?" asked 'Saori' who had always especially loved her Mari obaasan. "Sa-chan" Mari answered pleasantly, the only person to use her pet name except for her husband "no matter from what dimension, they will always be my sons. And if you were me, if I could live with all your other aunties, then I can certainly meet my 2 other sons without fainting." "Won't you be awkward?" "Of what?" Mari sounded surprised "for what?" "Oh nothing." "Thinking about Stasia aren't you?" "You know you're scary when you know my thoughts like that auntie?" said Saori, surprised at the way she had guessed who she was talking about. Mari laughed lightly. "Sa-chan" she said "I practically raised you up, you're like a daughter to me. And besides this fact, only your auntie Stasia would have a reaction like that. She's nice, but over-protective." "Auntie!" "Well it's true isn't it? She's nice, but over-sentimental, not that that is bad or anything, but she really will defend her family against anything." "True but..." "You told me , was it this morning? That Hyoga seemed to care for his deceased mother a lot and that he missed her terribly right?" "Yes..." "Then there will be no problem. After all, although he isn't exactly really her 'son', he is still her son, though from another dimension. Do you get what I mean?" "I think so..." said 'Saori', slightly confused. "They will probably love each other like mother and son, after the first moment has passed. After all, they *are* mother and son in a way, and your aunt Stasia does *have* a lot of love to give. Which will be just as well since he needs a mother and she a son." "Why?" "You know how often 'Hyoga' visits his mother don't you?" "But he's busy!" "I know that, she knows that, she understands that, but that doesn't change the fact that she still misses him very much. If I don't guess wrongly, she won't be totally opposed to the fact of having a son besides her full time." "Ah..." said 'Saori' thoughfully "You know what? I think you may be right." "Maybe Sa-chan, maybe not." "Auntie?" "Yes Sa-chan?" "Now I know why everyone comes to you to tell when they are in trouble. You seem to understand everything." Mari laughed. "Maybe so Sa-chan, maybe so. Well, I'll better leave you now alright?" "O.k" And with that, they each put down the phone. "Who was that?" asked Seiya, curious. "Mari obaasan" said 'Saori' "'Shun' and 'Ikki's' mother." "Oh." said Seiya thoughfully "Is she nice?" "Very nice. She's my favorite auntie. I guess I always regarded her somewhat like my mother. She's the kindest, most comprehensive person I have ever met. You would never want to hurt her, and she would never even *dream* of hurting anything living. She wouldn't even kill an ant." "Hum. Sounds a bit like Shun." "Really?" "Yah. You know, in the beginning, when people tried to kill him, he would just try and reason them out, trying to defend himself and attacking only at the very end. Which is why he would always end up half-dead in the end." "Hm-hum, yes you did tell me bad guys were always trying to destroy your world didn't you?" "You don't believe me?" "No, not at all, I've heard of stranger worlds then that. Please continue." "Hum-hum. Anyway, Saori had this strange habit of getting kidnapped each time so every time, we'd have to rescued her and end up almost dead in the process." "Sounds like a fun job to me." "Oh it could be worse I guess, but it's a very rewarding job." "I don't doubt it." "It's just, I guess, sometimes, I really wish I could lead a normal life, you know, do all the fun stuff that people do at my age. I didn't really have much of a childhood. I always felt that I missed out something very important in life." "Is that why you act in such a childish way sometimes?" Seiya blushed. "You noticed?" he asked, embarrassed. "Kind of hard not to" she said, with a twinkle in her eye. Seiya rubbed his nose awkwardly. "Yeah, well, could be one of the reasons why, it's hard to act as a child why you're in a life and death fight so I guess I do act stupid when I have the time too, just to have the feeling I'm a child again with no worries. That's why I like to be around kids you know, no worries about who I'm going to fight or what evil me and the others have to defeat." "Oh. I'm sorry." "Don't be. Could have had a much worse life. At least I had a very good teacher. Marin-san. Yeah, she's like a sister to me. Now you should hear Ikki and *his* life story, you gotta admire the guy's tenacity when you hear that. That's why he seems a psycho at times and so anti-social, it's amazing that he actually came out *alive* and quite sane. At least, as sane as one can still be." "Must be a hell of a life." "You're telling me" said Seiya, grinning "each of us has his own story but one thing's for sure, we'd die for anyone of us any day." "Even Ikki?" "Especially Ikki. I don't really get along well with him in normal life, guess our characters clash too much. He's much too provocative for my taste, and I'm just too much of a big mouth. Guess my really best friend is Shiryu. He kinds of cools me off you know? Anyway, Ikki would gladly lay his life down for any of us. Especially Shun. We're the only friends and family he still has left in this world you know, and thought he doesn't really show it, he would lay his life down for us. He did that several times already." "My counterpart, Saori, is she really *that* weak?" asked 'Saori' hesitatingly. "Why?" asked Seiya surprised. "Well, she *does* seem to get kidnapped a lot and from what I've heard, she always being rescued." "And you don't like that?" asked Seiya, grinning widely. "Well...no." 'Saori' admitted "I don't like to hear myself as a really weak person. Even if it's only my counterpart." "Actually, it's not that she's really weak I guess but well..." "'Saori'!" exclaimed a voice cutting Seiya's sentence "Over here!" 'Saori' grinned broadly as she recognised the person calling her. As they been talking, Seiya and she, they had been walking as well, in *'Saori's'* direction this time. And they had reached the place 'Saori' was aiming, a quiet spot on the beach nobody knew about except her and her auntie...'Seiya's' mother. 'Saori' waved her hand at the figure. "Inoue obaasan!" she called out loudly "We're here!" "Then come here *quickly*!" the voice replied, impatient "I haven't got all day and the kids are still waiting for their barbecue! I could use some help here! Where's 'Tatsumi' when you need him?!" 'Saori' laughed and shouted back. "Sorry auntie! He's not here! But I've got a better person who can help you! And he's besides me!" "Is that the Seiya you were talking about last night?!" the woman continued shouting. "Yes!" "Good! Then bring him here to make himself useful, the kids sure are getting hungry and barbecuing alone is not easy!" "O.k!" 'Saori' exclaimed. Seiya looked at her with big eyes. "*That's* my *MOTHER* ?!" he exclaimed disbelieving. "Yup." 'Saori' replied "Your 'mother' in this dimension anyway. Come on, hurry up, she's getting impatient." And with that, she dragged Seiya by the arm and they ran to the figure. The figure turned out to be a woman in her middle forties, very cheerful looking and very enthousiastic. She had brown hair tied up in a bun behind her, sparkling dark brown eyes and a determined grin. She was wearing a simple dress that suited her slim but athletic figure and that did not restrain her mouvements. Most surprising was the group of about a dozen children running around her and looking with hungry eyes at the food that was cooking on the barbecue. "*THAT'S* my MOTHER?!!" asked Seiya again, incredulous. 'Saori' said nothing but smiled. "What were you expecting then Seiya?" she finally asked after a while. "Well..." Seiya mumbled, not really knowing what to say "maybe somebody more...more...motherly like maybe?" "I'm not motherly enough for you sonny boy?" asked the woman while adopting a falsely severe look. It was a very bad acting expression especially if her cheerful eyes betrayed her, but Seiya feel for it anyway. "No, no, no" he hastily said "That's not what I meant at all, moth..., I mean auntie...I mean okaas..Oh drat!" Seiya kicked the sand around him. "How should I call you?" he asked in a somewhat timid kind of voice. "How about mum?" she said "less formal." "But..., I mean, I'm not really you son..." The woman looked exasperately at him. "Look. Is your name Seiya?" "Yes." "Was your father the late Mitsumasa Kido?" "Erm...yes I guess." "Do you look like this photo?" she said pulling a photo of her son out from her pocket. "Well...yes." "Good. So you're my son. So don't make such a fuss about it! Call me mum." "Yes...mum." "Good! Now stop acting like you've done something wrong and help me with the barbecue. The kids are starving!" "Yes mum." "Hurry up!" "O.k mum." "Chidren!" she scolded at the kids playing around "Sit down on the sand! Your lunch will be ready soon enough. Seiya will cook it for you. I'm too tired for this." And the children sat down on the sand most obediently at the sound of her voice. Thus, the brave and courageous Saint Pegasus, started to cook the pieces of meat on the barbecue for the children in the orphanage and actually enjoyed himself doing it. "Well auntie" said 'Saori' after seeing this scene "looks like you have the situation under control... as usual." "Well somebody has to control the kids or they'll wreak havoc. Might as well be me." she said wiping her hands on a towel she had grabbed. "I was talking about Seiya auntie." "Oh. Well, he's not much different from my son, maybe a bit thinner, I'll have to fatten him up though. He looks more stubborn and determined then 'Seiya', my son that is, and 'Seiya' is the most obstinate boy I've ever had, not that I had anymore children after him of course. But, my son will always be my son, no matter from what dimension. And *no* son of mine, remember that, *no* son of mine resist me." "Seeing that you have the situation under control auntie, I'd better get going now." "To where?" "Mari obaasan's house. I promised to have lunch with her and her 2 new boys." "Better get going then. You wouldn't want to be late would you?" "The car will fetch Seiya tonight for dinner. Until then, both of you have fun." "Oh don't worry 'Saori-chan', he's very safe in my hands." "Hum...yeah" said 'Saori' not totally convinced "O.k then, I'll come and pick him up later." "Do. Now go off before I make you leave!" said Inoue laughing heartily. "O.k, bye then Inoue obaasan!" said 'Saori' as she quickly left. "Bye!" shouted Inoue as she saw 'Saori's' figure slowly disappearing "And call me auntie, it's more pratical and less complicated!" **************** The car stopped. The people got up. "Mari-sama is in the garden" the servant bowing to Ikki and Shun said "watering her roses." So off they all went, a small party of five comprising of Shun, Ikki, Shiryu, Saori and 'Tatsumi.' The garden was full of blooming roses of all different kinds of varieties. Red, white, yellow, pale orange all mixed together to form a beautiful picture. An in the middle of all these bushes, a woman was standing simply, smiling. "Hello" she said softly with a warm smile on her face "And welcome. I'm Mari, 'Ikki' and 'Shun's' mother." thought Ikki silently remembering something at the sight of the familiar face... ****The scene flashbacks to the time when Ikki was very young and Shun was still a baby. They both lived in a wooden house in the forest alone with their mother. Amazingly Ikki is smiling happily while looking and playing with Shun. There isn't much furniture, the house being very simple, but the happiness that is in there more than compensates this. In this one room house a woman is smiling while appearing to mend an old T-shirt. She looks a lot like Shun, but not quite, her dark blue-hair, the same colour as Ikki's falls on her shoulders in the form of a mass of locks.**** "Ikki." calls the woman softly "Come here." Ikki quickly leaves his baby brother, while making sure he is safely put in what appears to be a rudimentary kind of cot. He smiles at the woman while his eyes twinkle with joy. "Yes mama?" "Come here and see if this shirt fits you" she says lovingly. "Yes mama." says Ikki obediently while putting on the shirt. As he does so, he recognizes the material. "Mama?" he asks surprised "Isn't this from one of your dresses?" The woman blushes and admits "Yes it is dear." "But mama!" Ikki protests "I can't wear that, you already have so few pieces of clothing!" "Sshhh..., Ikki-chan," she says soothingly "I have enough clothing for myself, don't you worry about anything." Ikki does not look convinced but says nothing. Seeing this, the woman gently carries him and makes him sit on her lap. "My, Ikki-chan," she says as she feels his weight "you *are* a big boy now. Soon, your mama will not be able to put you on her lap anymore." Ikki put his head on her chest and closes his eyes as he is gently cradled by her warm embrace and her brushing his hair softly. He suddenly looks up at her. "Mama!" he exclaims, happy at the thought of his bright idea "Since I'm a big boy now I can help you with your chores, then, you won't be so tired anymore!" "No Ikki-chan" she says lovingly as she hugs him further "You are still too small, you don't have enough strenght" Ikki looks up at her determinely. "I have strenght mama!" "No Ikki-chan, not now you don't, but I promise you, when you have the strenght to help me I will allow you do to so now alright?" "It's a promise mama?" "Yes Ikki-chan, yes." "Let's do the pinky with our fingers then." They then each use their little finger to touch and for a promise. "Yeah! Mama promised me!" said Ikki happily. Tears started to come out of the woman's eyes. Ikki immediately notices as he gets closer to her. "Why are you crying mama?" he asks suddenly. "Don't be sad. Was Ikki naughty?" "No Ikki-chan" she says softly "mama is crying because she has such a good boy." "When Ikki grows big" says Ikki fiercely "Ikki will protect mama and make sure mama never cries again." "Ikki-chan is a good boy" she says as they lock themselves up in a warm embrace. ****The scene flashs then further a bit. Ikki is gathering wood for his mama, or rather, he is carrying little branches of wood that he carefully carries back home.**** *Cough Cough* "Mama!" Ikki exclaims as he sees his mother on the bed, "are you all right?" "I'm fine Ikki-chan" she says quickly "I'm fine." "Who are they?" asks Ikki suddenly, in an aggressive voice, pointing at two big-sized men that are standing nearby. "We are here to collect money boy" says the taller one of the two "Money your mother owns our boss." "You're not money collectors" says Ikki suspiciously "I've never seen you before." "Ah the boy is quite clever" says the shorter one of the two "You are right boy, we are not here because of money. We are here because of you and your brother." "NO!" Ikki's mother exclaimed "Please, I beg of you, don't take my two boys from me!" "Shut up woman!" scolded the taller man. "Tss..." said the shorter one "Now don't be so stubborn, you know it won't do you anything good." With that, he grabbed Shun who started crying. "Stop yelling you brat!" said the shorter man, and, pointing Ikki he said loudly "Grab that boy! They are still waiting for us! These are the last two of the hundred!" "Let go of my brother!" cried Ikki as his small fists strated to pummel the smaller man. The smaller man just laughed. "And what are you going to do with me?" he said confidently "Kill me?" "Leave my son alone!" Ikki's mother shouted desperately. "Oh we are going to leave the brat alone, but not after beating him up!" laughed the taller man hideously as he grabbed Ikki and started to beat him up with a long stick that was laying nearby. Blood started oozing out of the freshly made wounds as Ikki started to struggle, but he was too weak to do anything. Yet, despite of the fact that his whole body was starting to look like one big, bloody, living wound, he did not utter a single sound. "The boy is stubborn it seems" remarked the shorter man laughing cruelly "He has more backbone than you." "You'll see" snorted the taller man "He won't be stubborn for long. How about the mother?" "I broke her leg and her left arm" said the other man coldly "She can't move now. Less protect her precious son." "Will she survive after the beating you gave her earlier?" asked the taller man curiously. "Depends on how strong she is!" "Hey! What do you know, I think the brat fainted!" Both men laughed. "Be gentle with him, you wouldn't want to kill him now would you?" said ths shorter man. called his mother silently, tears overflowing Ikki thought, surprised though Ikki softly cried Ikki suddenly The beatings continued. "Cry out boy damn it! Say something!" said Ikki fiercely in his heart the voice grew softer and softer. Soon, it was but a whisper. And with that, with a sweet smile on her face, she died. cried Ikki desperately There was no response. And then Ikki felt welling up in his chest and anger so great, and anger so painful that he was surprised by its force. He did not care of what could happen now, he didn't feel his wounds so overwhelmed was he by his pain. And then, from the deeps of his soul, Ikki felt hatred, this hatred that was afterwards going to play such an important part in his life. And he was filled with a force that he never felt before as his body started to to glow in an uncanny shade of light. He hated them his mind screamed. He hated them. He wanted revenge. He wanted it badly. And then, something happened. When Ikki opened his eyes, he was no longer crouched on the floor, his two arms trying to protect his body the best they could, but standing up, his right arm outstretched and his right hand in the form of a fist. And then, as he looked around him, he saw the two man, lying still on the floor. They were dead. And Ikki realized something. He had killed them. He suddenly felt all the strenght leave him and he fell onto the floor, exhausted. He had to leave. Go away, go somewhere, take Shun with him. He crawled to his mama and gazed at her lovely face one last time. In a supreme effort, he got up. His whole body rebelled at the thought of having to leave her here. He took her two arms, and dragged her to the secret place behind their house. ****Back to the present time*** Ikki thought silently, remembering the scene very clearly now as if it had been yesterday... ( mama had said to Ikki one day, pointing at a big whole that was cleverly covered by leaves and other things. Ikki has asked innocently. Mama had nodded Ikki had nodded, not quite understanding. But Ikki understood now and, with his bruised little hands had done just that. It was not easy, and it certainly must have hurt his body, since every step was a torture, but Ikki couldn't remember that. He could only remember the pain, the emptiness, the void, the feeling of abandonement and despair. He was only 6 after all, what could he do? After having buried his mother, Ikki came back to the house. He was attracted to the sound of little cries nearby. He looked at where they came from. Shun. Shun was feeling alone and Shun wanted the presence of someone. With much difficulty, Ikki cradled Shun in his arms. Comforted by this familiar presence, Shun smiled, oblivious to what had happened ealier. And for the first time, Ikki smiled as he held his brother fiercely. He knoew now what he had to do. Fufill his promise to his mama. Escape from this place. Go somewhere else. He thought of his mama. She had said that she would always be there for him. And indeed, he immediately felt comforted as he sensed her presence. he thought He felt a new determination rising in him and said to Shun. "Don't worry Shun-chan, I will *never* let anyone bully you ever again. I will be strong, and I will protect you." He gazed at his brother who was still smiling. Life has to go on afterall.) Ikki sighed. He remembered everything all too clearly now. He saw the image of his mama as clearly as he could see Shun. Pandora had erased more than he thought. But now, nobody could make him forget her. But he had failed her. With his memory gone, he had let himself be brought to the Kido mansion along with his brother. He had come to hate the world. Even hating his mother unconsiously for having left him. He had failed her. He had allowed himself to be used and transformed into this hate-machine. He had failed her and he was ashamed. Ikki jerked up his head in surprise. He felt like a hand resting on his shoulder. Oddly, he felt comforted. The hand became reality as when he looked at it again, he saw that the woman in the garden had stopped looking after her roses and had put her arm around his shoulder. "You have not failed me Ikki-chan" she said softly, her arms tightening a little "You have protected your brother, and saved the world many times. I am proud of you my son." "Mama?" said Ikki in a rough voice, feeling tears coming up his eyes "But how?" "Remember I said I would never leave you?" Ikki nodded. "I never have. Here or there, I am always your mother and you are always my son Ikki-chan." "Mama..." Ikki simply said. "Shhh..." she said as she stroke his hair "You are strong, you promised me" Ikki stood straight and seperated himself from her embrace and looked at her. "I am strong, I promised you" And mother and son just looked at each other, saying nothing yet knowing everything. ***********************