The words that came out of Milo of Scorpio's mouth stopped making sense at the moment when the words "they fell in combat" preceded the names of Deathmask, Shura, Camus, Aphrodite and Saga. She had barely been absent for three days when she received the immediate order to leave the entrusted mission and return to the Sanctuary, the girl knew that something wrong had happened because in a matter of twelve hours, the cosmos of these Gold Saints had been extinguished but she didn't want to believe that her heart told her until reality took her ahead.
However, although the girl's mind had gone blank due to the shock, she showed a completely neutral expression in front her superior, stuck a knee on the floor and let her brain act automatically:
"I, Elyn, Silver Saint of Pisces Australis, swear to be loyal to Athena until my last breath of life."
The moment the voice of the goddess gave her permission to get up and leave the room, Elyn looked up to cross her with Saori's for a second, then she stood up and turned around and she left the place. Her violet eyes hadn't really stopped at those of the deity, now embodied in the body of a girl younger than her, but had gone straight to perch on the Pope's throne that for many years, Saga had usurped. Yes, she knew the truth concealed by the highest authority of the Sanctuary but she was also one of the few people who knew the real pain of behind the dark ambitions of the Gemini Saint.
Milo followed her, worried about the so little emotional reaction Elyn had shown in front to Athena after know about the death of her brother and best friends; the girl was now his responsibility, she always had been because the girl had managed to make herself loved by everyone but now... to the warrior had no one left:
"Elyn, are you ...?"
"I go away three days of the Sanctuary and you lose half of the Gold Saints in an absurd battle. Is that how you intend to protect the goddess from the imminent arrival of the Holy War?" she interrupted him, turning suddenly to face him and rejecting his contact.
There was the rage that Milo was looking for in her, the frustration and disappointment he knew was beating the heart of the little sister of Camus of Aquarius. Despite look alike between them physically, the girl barely had a personality similar to her brother: she was impulsive, one hundred percent emotional, stubborn and extremely sincere:
"Saga was a traitor, if we had known the truth, the things would have been different for everyone." he said.
"A big sh*t for you, Milo. That's a f*cking lie. Leave me alone."
The girl's eyes indicated that the conversation was over, she considered Scorpio a great friend and wasn't willing to argue with him about something like that. The absolute reverse of the situation in the Sanctuary was to be expected, she herself knew that sooner or later the authentic Athena would appear to claim what belonged to her by rights, but the girl didn't expect the Goddess to do it just when she wasn't there to explain the situation that all of them had been going through for least fifteen years. Elyn had a plan, an idea carefully studied since the appearance of the Bronze Saints scattered throughout the world but now, everything had vanished and with it, the life of her dearest. She looked away from Milo and undertook the descent alone down the stairs that would lead to her home.
***
The reality hit her for the second time when her eyes met the deserted image that was now the Pisces temple: The roses were withered and the road gave off a toxic aroma capable of ending the life of the flowers that had been for many years one more fortress before reaching the Pope's hall. That was an image that slowly destroyed Elyn's heart, not only because it was horrible the way someone had cleared the way to Saori but because that scene was nothing more than the reflection of the death of Aphrodite. She swallowed, Aquarius was her real brother and she still needed time to assimilate that he hadn't left for a long season in Siberia ... but Pisces had been her teacher when she find her own armor and her best friend since her arrival at the Sanctuary; The fact to know that she wouldn't see him again pressed her chest and turned her stomach, but even with that mass of feelings, Elyn extended a hand towards the flowers, looking for any trace of life in Aphrodite's rose bush; she found a sigh that served to move all the roses away from the road and away from the bad smell that gradually consumed them; she hoped that with that gesture, no one else dared to poison the flowers of the Saint of Pisces. Elyn walked swiftly through the Temple, trying to omit the grief she suffered in the depths of her heart, although arriving at the eleventh temple was, without a doubt, the worst experience so far. It was extremely silent, much more than usual, there was absolutely nothing heard.
Elyn inspired, trying to calm her heart as it was obvious that the silence would expand from the Pope's temple until Scorpio's Temple: Sagittarius had fallen fifteen years ago, Capricorn was gone, Aquarius had frozen and Pisces withered:
"You were a idiot, Saga..."
The girl couldn't help for longer the tears drowning inside her. Elyn couldn't hate Saga, she had never done it and never would do it because she was a first-person connoisseur of the ordeal that the Gemini Saint had suffered since he usurped the position of the Paope. Nor could she hate Aphrodite, Camus or the others who had fallen following their own ideals, it was true that not everyone knew the true identity of their superior but they had proved themselves worthy warriors until the last moment. The rage focused on her right fist that collided with violence against the ground, the things would have been so different if she had been there...
"The mission is short, five days will be more than enough considering your experience." The Pope had said.
Of course they were enough... Gemini didn't want Elyn to be present when Athena approached the Sanctuary because he knew that the Saint of Pisces Australis would be a key piece for the victory of one of the sides.