I've been feeling particularly inspired lately and so you get an update much, much sooner than all the other ones. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter – a good part of my inspiration came from reading them, huge smile on my face.

There's not as much revelation in this chapter as I had originally planned, but there's some hinting for you so you can take a few guesses and see if you're right next chapter. Also, I'm wondering if my elapsing of time is a little fuzzy. If it is, let me know and I'll provide a timeline at the end of next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Saint Seiya. If I did, there would be better romance than the hinting between Seiya and Sienna. Shun and Hyoga would shoot each other significant, secretive glances at least once an episode, if appropriate, and Shiryu would be able to wrap Seiya around his little finger.

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Golden Touch

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With a grim smile, Andy muttered, "I did ask him to surrender." Behind him, Ori snorted. Both were watching Seiya who now wore the loops of gold as Andy had moments earlier. His arms hung limply at his side, his eyes half-lidded and empty.

"Seiya?" Shiryu's blind eyes tried desperately to find his friend. "What did you do to him?" The Dragon was vaguely able to sense Seiya's cosmos beside him but there was something else with it, something unnatural. He tried to move toward him but was stopped by a tightening around his throat.

"Stay where you are," Ori said gruffly, hand raised but unclenched. "If you move so much as a finger you won't be able to breathe normally for the rest of your short little life."

Andy inspected his work, drawing near Pegasus who remained still and unresponsive. "They seem to be working. Should I test them out?" He asked, looking up at his silvery companion. Ori shrugged, uncaring either way. "Alright, then. Seiya?" Andrew's voice took on a sing-song quality. Pegasus' head turned towards his voice. "I want you to punch Shiryu the Dragon for me, okay?"

"What –?" Shiryu began but was silenced as Seiya's fist connected solidly with his stomach. The air rushed out of his lungs painfully and Dragon sank to his knees. Standing in front of him, fist still raised, Pegasus' face remained as blank and impassive as ever.

There was a light laugh as Andy threw an arm around Seiya's shoulders. "You don't know what's going on, do you?" he asked the gasping form of Shiryu. "How sad that a knight of Athena doesn't know his mythology very well." He gently turned Seiya back toward the newly discovered cabin that had yet to be put to use. "Seiya," Andy said with a smile, "destroy that building and everything in it for me, would you?" He stepped back and let the knight go. Pegasus calmly walked toward his target.

Slowly, Shiryu pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was getting tired of having to catch his breath, and now that Seiya had apparently lost his mind he was worried. Just what had happened? Not for the first time, Dragon wished he had his sight returned. Relying on his other senses, he tried to figure out what had happened. One moment had Seiya charging to his rescue – a thought that was reassuring – and then facing down their two attackers. That one was not a knight, the same person who had apparently taken Seiya's free will away, puzzled Dragon. What in mythology would account for that?

"He's good at destroying things, isn't he?" Andy watched as Seiya ripped through the cabin and all the equipment inside with little trouble. He glanced down at Shiryu and wondered aloud, "Has Shiryu the Dragon figured it out yet?"

"We need to get going," Ori interrupted. He walked to where the two captive knights had dropped their cloths in their search for the hidden cabin. "Call back your pony and let's go," he said as he hefted Shiryu's cloth onto his back.

With a sigh, Andy whistled. Seiya turned from the wreckage. "Put on your cloth, and then pick up your friend. Follow Ori back to the others. If he asks you to do something while I'm gone, go ahead and do it." Mindlessly, Seiya turned to his cloth and proceeded to follow instructions. Andy, in the meantime, crouched down in front of Shiryu. "Here's a hint: it starts with the letter 'B.'" He stood and waved at Ori. "I'll be off to report."

Andy disappeared into the jungle just as Seiya scooped Shiryu into his arms.

---

"Are you ready?" Ikki asked his brother for the second time.

He was nervous about what they were about to attempt, but hid it well. It wasn't that he didn't think Shun was capable of something like this. No, Ikki believed that anything his brother put his mind to was possible. He was concerned with his own mastery over heat and flame, worrying that maybe he would burn too hot and hurt Shun worse than he already was. Hadn't it been not that long ago that he was trying to steal the gold cloth away, fighting Shun and the others in the process?

"I think so. Are you?" Shun looked up into Ikki's eyes, seeing the grim determination to see the job through to the end. His brother nodded tensely. "Don't worry so much," Andromeda said with an attempt at a smile. "You're too serious all the time." He kept his own knot of worry to himself, though was sure it showed in his eyes or gave itself away in his voice.

"In case you haven't noticed, Shun, this is a serious situation." Phoenix sighed. "Turn around," he said, nudging Shun gently.

They had agreed that for the best effect, Shun should be close to Ikki because his personal atmosphere would be the first thing affected and one of the easiest things to control. Shun was to kneel in front of Ikki who would then fire his cosmos. Shun would get the brunt of the heat but his own cosmos would keep him from being consumed by flame. Or so they hoped.

"You're sure you know what you're doing? Ikki asked for the final time.

Shun nodded, not trusting himself to speak at that moment. His concentration was fixed between getting his cosmos ready to act the part of a shield and the small, little boy inside of him that wanted to give up and let himself fight off whatever was inside of him the old fashioned way, brother at his side taking care of him.

He felt the sudden burst of energy and heat as Ikki began to burn his cosmos. It wasn't instantly hot, giving Shun time to match and adjust as Phoenix increased the temperature. Eyes shut tightly, he enveloped himself in his own familiar energy, the cosmos of Andromeda. At a steady rate, Ikki poured more power into his aura making beads of sweat pop out along Shun's forehead. He felt a sudden wave of nausea and opened his mouth to let what little was in his stomach evaporate away as it spilled passed his lips.

The feeling of heat – fire and flame – and of his brother's hands tumbled Shun's mind back to the moment, hours ago, when he had been jumped and taken away.

---

He had been sitting outside the cabin listening to the distant argument between Sienna and the others as they discussed the day's travel and battle with the paid 'knights.' It was hot and humid and Shun had reached up a hand to wipe his hair out of his eyes when he heard something moving in the jungle that didn't sound like an animal.

Quietly he had stood, trying to peer through millions of leaves into the heart of the forest. Then, in a blink, someone was standing in front of him, brown hair, apologetic smile, and a strange shimmering quality to his arms. Shun had opened his mouth to shout for the others, even as he had started back to the cabin and his armor within, but something tight about his throat cut off the sound before it was made. Then the person in front of him had pulled back his arm and sent the world spinning.

He vaguely remembered being pulled along in the dark, voices talking over him. At the time, the only thing he'd really been aware of was a dull pain in his head and the dim sensation of movement. Had he been in a more rational state, Shun would have realized that he'd been knocked out and that his attackers were taking him deeper into the jungle, away from his friends. They had pulled him to his feet, hands firmly on his shoulders to keep him standing, and called him weak. He remembered seeing armor – one green and blue and silver, twisting around and around the one who wore it; the other wore shards of orange, yellow and green. "Let's have a little fun," one of them had whispered…

Shun couldn't remember much after that point. The blows had come too quick for him to really understand what was happening. There were moments where he couldn't breath, where he felt as if his chest was going to be crushed underneath something that must have weight a hundred tons, and others where something blew past him in a storm of strangely shifting colors that left him stinging all over. When they had finally stopped, though, they had come up with something else to do to him.

"We don't want him talking too soon, right?" one had asked almost cheerfully. "So I did a little research before we got here. Do you know what kinds of stuff grow in a jungle like this?"

"Just spit it out already."

A laugh. "A bit of this will make him too sick to say anything. It might even kill him. Won't that be fun?" And then there had been a strange, cool numbness that settled over him. He smelled something funny, and then the world was gone again.

---

Shun opened his eyes as the blazing cosmos around him reached a peak. It was stifling, working its hot fingers into his lungs with every breath and charring his bones from the inside. His own cosmos seemed like it was being burned away as fast as he could push it out around him. He tried to scream but that only let the fire in faster, burning him away until he was nothing at all…

---

The sudden flare of several auras pulled Apus from a moment's reverie in which he was considering how best to use his newly acquired information about Hyoga against him. He felt the familiar, though subtle, reach of Ori to some unfortunate prey, then a blast that was brash and unfocused, which he gathered to belong to Seiya, who shared the same nature. However, a rapid spike of power that blazed close to his position, though still quite some distance away, gave him pause. If he was watching the swan and Andromeda was out of the picture, it could only be one person…

"So Andromeda found his brother. How cute," he murmured, turning back to the warrior of ice in front of him. "I wonder if you'll thank them, or will you long for what they're about to steal from you?" he asked Hyoga, whose unblinking eyes continued to stare at the sphere in Apus' hand.

---

"Shun!" The heat was gone and Ikki's face floated above him. He looked worried, Andromeda noticed, and couldn't help but think that it was nice to see Ikki acting human. A tired smile curved his lips as he closed his eyes. "Shun, open your eyes. Tell me that you're okay."

Shun took assessment of his body, feeling the heaviness of his limbs. He was exhausted, drained of energy. Slowly, he opened his eyes again; smile never once having left his lips. "I'm fine, just tired," he mumbled. "My head feels better. Thank you."

Ikki's look of worry dissolved into a scowl that Shun knew meant he was relieved. "We're never doing that again," he said. "Ever."

"I need to get my cloth, but I don't think I can walk," Shun whispered slowly. It was an effort to talk; each word felt like it was being dragged out of him.

"Shouldn't you rest first, considering you had me nearly fry you to a crisp?"

"I'm fine, and time's important."

With a sigh, Ikki stood. He wondered how Shun was able to make him do things against his better judgment. He was the older brother, not Andromeda! But that was just it, wasn't it? Because Shun was younger he could appeal to a protective side that Ikki had reserved just for him. "If you die or something, I'm going to be seriously angry, Shun," Phoenix grumbled as he hefted his cloth onto his back. He then bent and carefully picked his brother up, cradling him in is arms as he had when he was young and Shun just a baby. After making sure he had Andromeda's chain, Ikki set off in the general direction Shun had come from.

---

Hyoga smiled as Shun pulled away, acting like he'd just shared an important secret. "I'm not Ikki, but of course I watch your back. We're a team." He clapped Andromeda on the shoulder, though the hand fell away when he saw Shun frown.

"I don't want to be just part of a team with you, Hyoga. I want you watching more than just my back," Shun said softly. He threw his arms around Swan's neck in a sudden, fierce hug. "I want to make sure you're okay even outside of a fight." Shun's breath tickled Hyoga's ear as he pulled back to stare, green eyes into blue, at his friend. "I want," he whispered, tilting his head and moving closer, "you." Shun pressed his lips against Hyoga's.

Before the moment could fully register in Swan's mind, as it was overwhelmed by the suddenness of what just happened, the scene in front of him fell apart. Shun dissolved into shards of green light that danced away, along with the pieces of Crystal's house and the Siberian winter outside. Hyoga found himself staring at the pressing green of a jungle, and the memories of where he was clashed against the memories of what had just happened.

With a crack, ice breaking off of his armor with a spectacular snap, Hyoga took a step forward, as if to prove that what he was seeing was real. Had he spaced out on his quest to find Shun, imagining his fellow saint in an entirely… different situation? The darkness around him suggested that most of the day had to have passed. A daydream couldn't have lasted that long…

Sudden footsteps forced his confused mind to pay attention to his surroundings. Hyoga tensed, ready to ice whoever it was he could hear approaching. He straightened, however, when Ikki crashed into view carrying something in his arms, cloth strapped to his back. "Ikki?" he wondered aloud, trying to make sense of everything.

Phoenix turned, an eyebrow quirking in surprise. "Hyoga? What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Shun…" Swan trailed off as he noticed what, or rather who, exactly was in Ikki's arms. An unwanted blush crept onto Hyoga's cheeks as he looked up from the unconscious form of Andromeda. "But it looks like you found him instead," he finished.

"He found me, actually," Ikki confessed. "Where's the cabin our gracious princess thought to provide?"

Hyoga gestured toward the jungle. "Follow me."

---

Feel free to shout guesses at who the mysterious 'B' figure is. I'm always eager to know if my hinting is too subtle, so I can fix it. And I hope no one minds this taking a shonen-ai turn. I had originally hoped that it would, then wasn't sure if it would work out with the story, and finally found a way to sneak it in. The disclaimer kind of hinted at it, too. Heh.

Next chapter: Ikki steps up, Hyoga thinks, and Shiryu tries to weedle information out of his gruff captor, Ori.