ENDGAME by AEMI

Contents :

Introduction

Prologue

Part One: Afterlife

Part Two : Family

Part Three : Ascencion

Part Four : Revolution

Epilogue

INTRODUCTION

The following story is based upon Kurumada's Saint Seiya MANGA only. Their are some major differences between the original and the TOEI animated version. To begin with, there is no Asgard-Episode, which is loosely based upon a short story 'Warriors of Blue Graad' (in the Saint-Seiya-Timeline I place it in the three months between the Medusa incident and the departure for Sanctuary). There are some other differences which will become apparent throughout the story, but the major one –and I must stress this, as it is the basis of my story- is that none of the Bronzes is keen to fight for Saori Kido, not even after they find out she is Athena. Seiya even tells her to become a member of a female Catch club, if she likes fighting that much!

Contrary to some fanfics, I place my story in our very own reality. There are clear references to history and the present day as we know it both in Manga and Anime, so I see no reason to come up with some involved post-nuclear holocaust world just to explain why Shun's hair is the colour of young spinach (sure, blame it all on radioactivity, the people of Tchernobyl would be so lucky if that was all they had to worry about) a Toei invention anyway. Besides, even if Japan were spared a nuclear holocaust, whom are they going to sell their Toyotas and Tamagotchis to if all of Western Europe and the USA has been bombed to the radioactive Stone-Age? 'It's the economy, stupid!' Japan would barely be able to support itsself, money would become valueless, the Graad foundation would simply cease to exist. Logic, economic reality and the rules of Cause and Effect won't have it any other way. Sorry.

A word of warning to the unweary. The people in the story (apart from the Kurumada characters of course!) are real, existing people, of the critical, European sceptic variety. They are therefore critical and sceptical and very politically incorrect on various subjects, notably on certain aspects of japanese society. There will be many references towards history, politics, art, poetry and literature so some knowledge of those subjects would be helpfull to the reader, though not required. Foreign languages (mainly french, german and dutch) will be spoken but translated whenever possible. Please don't let this put you off!

Finally, some fans, particulary those of Seiya (he's dead and stàys dead) Shiryu and Shaka, had better abstain. On the other hand, if Hyoga and Mu are your favourites, and if you would dearly love to see Athena get her come-uppance, read on!

PROLOGUE

The year is 1973, and the world is witness to a great many strange and wonderful (and quite a number of not so wonderful) things.

In Vietnam, war is still raging, but representatives from all sides gather for a peace-conference in Paris.

In Vienna, a similar conference on the demilitarization of Central Europe is held.

England, Ireland and Denmark join the European Community.

A small place in South Dakota, USA, is occupied by Native Americans, drawing the world's attention to the plight of their people and the massacre held there a hundred years ago. It is called Wounded Knee.

Famine threatens in the Sahel.

Greece becomes a republic.

The Chancelor of Germany visits the state of Israël, the first to do so since World War II

The Sovjet Party-leader visits East ànd West Germany, then, the USA.

The President of the USA is implicated in the scandal known as Watergate.

In Helsinki, Norway, 35 counties participate in a conference on safety and coöperation.

The USA stop bombing Cambodia.

Both East and West Germany become members of the United Nations.

Coup d'état in Chili, and, again, Greece.

On Jom Kippoer day, Israël is invaded by both Egypt and Syria.

Have died : Lyndon B. Johnson, former president of the USA

Pablo Picasso, artist

J.R.R. Tolkien , author

Pablo Neruda and W.H. Auden, poets

David Ben Goerion, former and first prime minister of Israël

And many, many more nameless and unmourned, exept by the few who survived them.

….And in a ruined temple in Greece , an aged japanese businessman on holiday is entrusted with the incarnation of the Goddess Athena. The Saint who saved her, Aioros Gold Sagittarius, dies.

In far-away Russia, a little one-year old boy is just beginning to walk. In Japan, a two-year old boy is watching over his baby brother, as a four-year old girl is watching over hers.

….And the world turned….

Wars were ended, and new ones were started, and some just seemed to drag on and on and on ….

There were floods and rioting and terrorism. Political leaders came and went, some deposed, others deceased, and in the best cases, voted away. Dictatorial regimes became democracies, or just changed leadership and stayed the same. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

The year is 1980.

The western democraties boycot the Olympic games in Moscou, in protest of the Sovjet invasion of Afghanistan.

In Poland, the forbidden trade-union Solidarnosc, led by electrician Lech Walesa, calls for a general strike in the dockyards of Gdansk.

War breaks out between Iran and Irak.

Solidarnosc is officially recognised : one small step for democracy.

Have died : J.P. Sartre, Philosopher

Alfred Hitchcock, Filmdirector

…and countless others, not so famous perhaps, but they, too, matter. Perhaps more.

John Lennon, musician, peace-protester, former Beatle is murdered.

… And in the icy sea between Russia and Japan, a sailing ship is wrecked, a woman drowns, a little blond russian boy desperately cries out for his mama…

….and is brought to his father, Mitsumasa Kido, an aged japanese businessman, who sends him and his other 99 sons to trainingcamps all over the world, to become 'Saints' of Athena. And dies soon after.

…And the world kept on turning….

All over western countries, people march through their cities in protest of the nuclear-arms race, crying out for peace.

Peacemakers are murdered by fanatic warmongers.

Greece joins the European Community.

Lech Walesa receives the Nobel price for peace, and lives.

The Sovjet Union boycots the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Racial riots in Great Britain. Famine in Ethiopia. A poisonous cloud escaping from a chemical plant in India kills 700.000 people, foreboding other man-made disasters to come.

Bravely, Solidarnosc keeps demonstrating for better working conditions and democracy in Poland.

Band Aid, Live Aid … the World tries to feed the starving, but it is not enough, it is never enough. Yet it tries.

A new Partyleader in the Sovjet Union and a new hope : Michaïl Gorbatchov .

East and West celebrate 40 years of peace in Europe since the end of World War II. One small island of peace in a world at war. Peace and prosperity have never been so real for some, and never so far away for others.

The year is 1986, and former dictatorial regimes Spain and Portugal join the European Community.

The Spaceshuttle Challenger explodes during launch.

After years of toil, the Dutch have won a piece of land upon the sea and add a new province to their small nation.

Space probe Voyager II discovers new moons and rings around Saturn.

Haïti and the Phillippines : dictators Baby Doc and Marcos are forced to flee their country.

Another peacemaker murdered : swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme.

The comet Halley sweeps past Earth.

In the Sovjet Union, an accident in a nuclear power plant leads to disaster and massive radioactive

contamination : Tchernobyl.

The USA celebrate the 100 years of the Statue of Liberty.

On September the fifth, a violent end is brought to the highjacking of a plane, 20 die.

On the sixth, 6 die in an attack on a Synagogue in Istanbul, Turkey.

On the seventh, Desmond Tutu, peacemaker, becomes archbishop of Zuid Afrika.

…And on the tenth, the world's attention is drawn to a unique sporting event held by the Graad Foundation led by Saori Kido upon the death of her grandfather Mitsumasa, in which 10 young boys compete for something called 'The Gold Cloth of Sagittarius'.

On the thirteenth, there is an earthquake in the Peloponese, Greece. 18 dead.

On the sixteenth, fire in a goldmine in Zuid Afrika. 150 dead.

On the seventeenth, a terrorist bomb attack in Paris kills five.

… and in Japan, the first battle in the Galactic Tournament is held, only 8 contestants are present yet.

Five days later, the last of the contestants appears only to steal the Sagittarius Cloth.

October 3. A russian nuclear submarine catches fire and sinks in the Atlantic.

…and in Japan, 4 Bronze Saints fight their Black counterparts, led by renegade Bronze Phoenix Ikki.

Though they win that battle, they are attacked by several Silver saints and saved in extremis by a mysterious ally called Mu of Jamir, and his little apprentice, Kiki.

October 4. In the Netherlands, the great dam on the Oosterschelde finally becomes operative. From now on , the people of that low country need not fear the sea's attacks anymore. Or do they?

… and in Japan, the Bronze Saints beat the Silver ones. Whereupon Saori Kido reveals herself to be the reïncarnation of the Goddess Athena, whom all Saints are sworn to obey and protect. The Bronzes are unimpressed, refusing to bend to her will, and each goes his own way. Two days later female Silver Opiochus Saint Shaina attacks Bronze Saint Seiya, closely followed by Gold Lion Saint Aïolia . Athena intervenes, and Aiolia is convinced she's the real thing, and that there is something very wrong going on in her Sanctuary in Greece. How wrong, he is soon to find out, as he is brainwashed into obedience by the false Pope, leader of the Sanctuary.

… And the world still keeps on turning

Following the call of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church Pope John Paul the second, religious leaders from all over the world hold a day of prayer for peace, begging the warmongers for a ceasefire.

A small victory won in the war against Apartheid in Zuid Africa : Blacks may now ride the buses together with Whites.

Chemical waste polutes the river Rhine.

Student revolt in Paris.

Scandal in the USA : the government has delivered arms to Iran. President Ronald Reagan is implicated.

Elie Wiesel, Human Rights activist and survivor from the nazi deathcamps, is awarded the Nobel price for Peace.

A new year begins. In Zuid Afrika, Blacks and whites may now bathe on the same beaches.

Students protest in China, demanding democracy and freedom. Instead, political reform is put way back on the agenda.And they should consider themselves lucky.

The Anti Apartheid boycot of Zuid Afrika is, controversially, broken by musician Paul Simon whose tours the world in concert with Zuid Afrikaanse colleagues .

A photo of a dying Aids-patient wins the World Press photo Award, thus drawing the world's attention at last to the gravity of the problem. A world wide campaign is held to inform people of the dangers of unsafe sex, declaring war on the terrible and still incurable disease.

Michaïl Gorbatchov speaks of 'Glasnost' (= openness) in politics.Dissidents such as Andreï Sacharov are finally freed from the Goelag.

On march the third, 1987, Bronze Pegasus Saint Seiya, Dragon Saint Shiryu, Andromeda Saint Shun, and Cygnus Saint Hyoga accompany Athena to her Sancutuary, where, with the help of reformed character Phoenix Saint Ikki, Gold Aries Saint Mu and Kiki, and Gold Libra Saint Dohko, they fight and beat the evil Pope, alias Saga, Gold Gimini Saint.

March the sixth. The ferry 'Herald of Free Enterprise' capsizes off the Belgian coast. 200 drown.

March 21. Julian Solo, Greek shipping tycoon, celebrates his sixteenth birthday and proposes marriage to Saori Kido. She refuses. That same night he is kidnapped to the Underwater Sanctuary of Poseidon, where he is told he is the God of the Ocean's reïncarnation. He declares war on Athena.

March 24. Terrible floods ravage the world; it won't stop raining, either.

April 3. Athena makes a deal with Poseidon: locked inside the central pillar which supports his realm, she will receive all the waters he was planning to engulf the earth with. The five Bronze Saints save her, and the world, and vanquish Poseidon, whose spirit leaves Julian Solo.

April 5. Hades, God of the Underworld, resurrects and attacks the Sanctuary.

April 6. The 12 Gold Saints make the ultimate sacrifice to open the way for the Bronze Saints to enter Elysion and vanquish Hades once and for all.

…And the World keeps on turning…

This is a story about people.

Real people, with all the faults and frailties and failings real people have, and all their strenghts too.

People who care, or don't care, who are often afraid and occasionally brave, who love and laugh and live, and never say die but do so anyway, for all living things must die in the end.

This is a story about the world.

The real world, where people work for a living, and sometimes don't, and often can't, and wonder then where the next meal is going to come from. A world of loving and learning and leaving, of buying and selling and politics. Especially politics.

This is a story about change.

True change: the growth towards wisdom. Towards the realisation that there is not One Thruth, but several.

Towards understanding and compromise, so that people may work togèther for a change, for mutual benefit, instead of fighting for their petty selves, and their own truth.

Things that have always been càn change, if one tries hard enough. But only if one truly tries.

This is a story about freedom. Freedom from dogma, freedom from 'This is how it has allways been and allways will be'. Freedom from those who want to impose their singleminded version of truth upon the world.

Freedom from the tyranny of so-called destiny.

This is a story about Life.