Title: Halo

Author: Shadow Arashi

Pairing: MiloxKanon

Fandom: Saint Seiya

Theme: #22 Crimson

Disclaimer: Me don't own Saint Seiya or any of the characters used in this story. I only borrow them and give them back in 'relative' good shape. ;;

Halo

There were many things Kanon didn't like. Thinking too much was one of them, especially in the middle of the night when nothing could stop his overactive brain. At least the lack of colors brought him a sort of peace.

Kanon had always seen colors as one of the many ways humans have found to describe their feelings, mood and emotions.

Green with envy, feeling blue, seeing red… they are only a few example of what men came up with. Sometimes, one could even give a color to a person's life, just like a painter would on his canvas.

When faced with such expressions, Kanon's could help but think the artist who painted his life did a really lousy job. His whole life had been painted red, with no shades to sooth him.

At least that's how he saw it, for how far as he could remember his life has been this ruled by a crimson shade, like a bad dream leaving him with a ruby veil upon his eyes. People usually consider red to be the color of love, desire and passion. It was a noble color for most, like royal blue, it was warm and vibrant like flames.

They must have forgotten that red was also the symbol of madness, rage, pain and blood. And that the Gemini child had understood it quickly.

It was a lesson he learned everyday when he came back to the house he shared with his twin covered in blood, a lesson tattooed into his skin with each scars given by uncaring hands, a lesson burnt into his heart with each deception and each hateful words thrown at him.

He spend most of his childhood fearing for his well being, his body more used to pain than the comfort a child should have received. The rare emotions he was allowed to feel were always tainted by a red daze brought by the harsh words attempting to crush his hopes, red like the blood that covered him so often and not unlike the ruby shade his brother's eyes would take sometimes...

It became a constant part of his life, something Kanon learned to for it seems to stain his very soul, like the blood which refused to leave his hands no matter how hard he washed them.

There was something dark and primal about it, something animalistic… something old, disturbing and creepy for a young child. Kanon tried to change it. Any means was good, anything was justified to see something else than the scarlet that reminds him of everything he was losing day after day, that he had been thrown on the bad side of the fence without a chance to fight back.

Blue was a much better choice.

Blue like the sky… Like the sea.

Despite the aversion he could have developed against the sea due to his captivity, he couldn't help but love the clean sea's water and its endless blue. Serving Poseidon had been an opportunity to change his life's color, cleaning all the red with pure blue.

But the dream didn't last. When you have been stained for too long by something, the mark it left will never completely disappear. It will stick to your skin, like a bad perfume that just won't evaporate into the air and leave you. And just as surely, he couldn't remove those stains totally from his being and once again ended up covered with its sickening presence, drowning into the hellish and nightmarish shade it gave to everything he did.

Kanon thought he was going to lose it all this time; thought he was going to sink forever into endless crimson with no hope of every breaking free from its curse. Strangely he realised that there was a fate worse than death for him, to be condemned to drown in the blood red he had fought so hard to escape.

At this moment he decided that his torture had to end.

If he couldn't escape it, he would embrace it and let it cover him until there was nothing left of him to be dirtied. Because then he would know that his time was up. When the crimson shade would fill his world it will be for the last time, for it would wash away everything in its path. Then maybe he could rest, for he was tired of fighting against this sickness eating at him, tired of fighting and losing, sick and tired of getting stained but more over of staining his surrounding. He was somehow used to it, but he had no right to impose his fate on others.

Except that things didn't turn out as he planned it. Life seems to go out of its way to never let things go his way; it was almost starting to be annoying…

He came back to die and put an end to his suffering. Two persons refused him that right.

Athena he could understand, she was a goddess who loved all living things. She had forgave him and allowed him to live this far, even recognising him as one of her saints. But she wouldn't let him die for what was a vain excuse in her eyes. He didn't like it but he understood at least her reasoning.

But what could he say about Milo?

All Milo had to do to "cure" him was to bath him in the crimson he dreaded so much. When he first saw the hardened eyes, Kanon had known what would come and welcome it with no reserve. He deserved it and this was what he wanted, right? Milo was simply the one who would achieve the job his brother never finished.

And at first the events appeared to give him reasons when Milo strike him with the Scarlet Needle, blinding his vision in a ruby colored light stronger than everything he had experimented before. He could even remember the twisted pleasure he felt when his wounds finally started bleeding, adding more red to the picture they made, each new drops of scarlet liquid taking away a bit of his sins.

Then nothing.

The Scorpio had stopped his attacks, leaving him exhausted on the floor, eyes wide and wet while Milo proclaimed him the new Gemini Saint. The shock prevented Kanon from going after Milo right away but the signification of his act had sunk in.

What Milo did was… giving him a new life. He saw through him and literally baptized him in blood, offering him a whole new world with a warm smile.

Suddenly he could associate the cursed color to something else, something positive. He could associate it to a certain Scorpio Saint.

For the first time of his life, Kanon didn't mind the color red.

----

"Mmmph…? Kanon what are doing up at this ungodly hour? It's 3 in the morning for Athena's sake…"

Kanon jumped, not expecting to hear the deep voice, now heavy with sleep, of his companion. In a swift gesture he was on his feet, leaving the relative source of light the window offered and walking back toward the bed.

"Sorry, did I wake you up? I didn't think I was making that much noise."

"It's not the noise that woke me up; you are as silent as a shadow."

"Eh?"

The second Saint of Gemini made a confused sound, obviously failing to see what could have woken up the other Saint if it wasn't for him. His partner couldn't help but chuckle low in his throat, before catching his run away bed mate by the waist and throwing him carelessly back into their bed.

"Milo!"

The 'victim' protested in a hushed voice, not kind on waking the rest of Sanctuary with their… activities.

"He he, sorry I couldn't resist."

The Scorpio smiled down at the man laying under him, eyes shining with glee at the delicious sight. His prisoner looked torn between enjoying his captivity and sending him back to bed alone. Thankfully Milo knew better, just like he knew the reasons for his lover's insomnia and the best way to cure them.

"By the way, I couldn't sleep anymore because you just had to go and leave me alone. Don't you dare think you can slip by me unnoticed Kanon."

He murmured gently against an exposed ear, lost in a river of blue silk, enjoying the small shiver in the pale body. When two bright blue eyes focused on him with a renew hunger he knew he had chased his lover's demons for the night, like he intended to do every other night if Kanon needed him.

OWARI

Author's notes: Forget the crappy title, I was out of ideas. As a side note I was originally planning to stop the story after "Kanon didn't mind the color red." Then I added the MiloxKanon bed scene as a bonus, mostly because I wanted them to interact more (after showing how deep an impact our favourite Scorpio had on Kanon) and because I wanted to lighten up the mood after the rather angsty scene above. The style/mood is not the same but I think it adds a nice touch. As always comments and ideas for improvement are always welcome, because writers are their own worst criticisers.