Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

38 - The Power of Hate

The worst place ever.

The hospital.

He wished he were in hell as it would be better, he thought whenever he woke up. And he always woke up. Seiya therefore chose to stay awake that night. It was quieter and he could read his favorite comic book collection, left there by his friend Shun.

Shun. He thought about his friend, wondering if he was okay, but he knew he was. Shun was great, after all. During those days, he received the usual visits. His arm was still in a cast and his head was still bandaged from the seriousness of the injuries that had affected him. But he was already fine, and in a few days, he was told, he would be able to remove the cast, all-covered with funny messages.

Sleep caught him off guard at dawn and he closed the collection of stories, placed it on his bedroom desk, and turned to go to sleep. All lights out.

The door opened, however, throwing the shadow of a woman into the room. Still dizzy, Seiya assumed she was a doctor to do something with his exams and didn't seemed to care that someone was there at that hour.

But she wasn't just any doctor. She wasn't even a doctor.

Her claws descended and Seiya rolled to the side, throwing himself off the bed; the mattress exploded with foam in the air. And when it settled down, his eyes found that hideous war paint over the eyes he knew so well.

"Shaina!?" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here, Shaina?"

She was panting and he could see that her eye paint was already very blurry, her eyes half-closed, tired and maybe delusional. Her armor was cracked and had leaves stuck in her disheveled hair.

"Now that the Silver Saints have lost..." she spoke and her voice was hoarse and cracked. "I can't go back to Sanctuary like that. I'll take your head with me!"

And she threw a vase of flowers that shattered on the wall next to Seiya.

"How is this possible, Shaina? I already told you that we are on Athena's side! Open your eyes!"

"Shut up!" she said, turning the bed towards him; Seiya answered with a flying kick, throwing the bed back towards Shaina.

Taking advantage of the moment when the girl was covered by the bed, as she was unprepared, Seiya jumped through the open window in flight.

The hospital was in a secluded part of town, and that window immediately looked out onto a luscious wood that preceded a distant forest. Seiya fell from the third floor onto the lawn and from there he ran into the forest lit by many globes of light.

"Wait, Seiya!" he heard Shaina's voice scream behind him, who between her name and other things, were screaming as if she'd lost her mind.

She jumped from where she was to a tree in front of Seiya, took off and got back on him with a flying kick. He easily managed to dodge.

"Why are you running away, Seiya? Fight me. Fight me!"

"I won't fight you, Shaina." he said. "What happened to you? You are in no condition to fight."

"Coward!"

She tried again, but he dodged again and ran into the nearest trees, trying to hide from her.

"Why, Seiya? Why don't you attack me?!" he heard the hateful voice looking for him, shouting a thousand things. Many are meaningless. She seemed to be talking to herself.

He was silent, but was soon found. Shaina's claws cut into the white shirt he wore. There was an uncontrollable fury in that woman, Seiya thought, but she also looked like she hadn't slept in at least a week.