Tainted Tears

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FIC : Tainted Tears – Chapter 8
Author : Sagakure
Fandom : Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac, Cavaleiros do Zodiaco, Caballeros del Zodiaco, Chevaliers du Zodiaque).
Pairing : There is BIG innuendo for Saga x Kanon and Kanon x Saga, though. (\"Obvious\" would be a better word than \"innuendo\". ^^;)
Rating : NC17 (For utter angst and mature content. Don’t read if it’s not your cup of tea).
Warnings : Timeline went to space, so it could be considered AU, but I’m otherwise sticking with the canon story whenever it’s possible. The original timeline for their ages couldn’t have worked with this story. ^^;;; Even with the AU timeline, Saga and Kanon are very young when they get rescued by the Gemini saint and he becomes their master.
Saga and Kanon are in their early adolescence at the beginning of this fic. That means they\'re pretty close to the age of Seiya and Shun in the series. Just wanted to mention that so you can picture some of the scenes without getting too shocked, since ages are not mentioned and people could think they\'re even younger. This fic has a very heavy subject, but the point here is more the things they go through to get over the trauma caused by their past, rather than anything kinky itself. There are scenes with sexual content, but they\'re only there when deemed necessary for the story.
Disclaimer : I do not own Saint Seiya.
Saint Seiya is (C) of Masami Kurumada, Toei, Shueisha, Akita Shoten and quite probably some more people. No copyright infringement or disrespect intended here. This is a work of fanfiction, done completely for fun. No profit is taken out of it.

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Drop #8 – Breach the line.


Things followed in a very quick pace, and Kanon felt his head spinning.

The panic caused by the apparent closeness between Saga and the man, along with the fear of the unknown were enhancing the weakness and exhaustion caused by the younger twin’s recent fever and the horrible night he had just gone through without resting.

Kanon faltered, and had to blink several times before his blurry sight returned to normal.
For some reason, his head felt very hot.
He turned to look at his brother, but Saga’s expression was unreadable. It had a mix of awe and utter panic in it, which didn’t do anything to reassure the younger twin.

Was that turn of events supposed to make things better or worse for them?
On one hand, leaving the place was a dream that they thought would never come true…but on another hand, they knew that destiny didn’t normally pop up and do something nice to the two of them, so why should it start doing that now?

They always believed that if one day they managed to leave the “house”, it would be to go to an even worse situation in the streets or in another “house”.
And there was nothing they could do to prevent it, since as long as they lived, they would belong to the brothel that held their ownership papers.

Learned hopelessness isn’t something you can easily fight against.

And the terrifying unknown outside, along with the fact that Kanon didn’t know if their worst fears were coming true or if they were really going to be saved made him cling to Saga’s chair, afraid of even breathing.

When Kanon clutched the arm of the chair as if he was about to fall, Saga glanced at his twin worried and gently put his hand over Kanon’s to try to reassure him, but in the older twin’s eyes there was almost as much fear as in Kanon’s, for he didn’t know what would happen either.
He had faith in the gold saint’s promise of taking them out of there, but it still didn’t tell him what would happen to them afterwards.

The old woman checked the contents of the purse and sucked her breath in noisily at the sight.
It was filled with gold coins.

Yet, she had the nerve to declare that it wasn’t enough, and claim that the boys’ debt was too big to be paid back with so few, saying that even if the man could cover it, it still didn’t change the fact that they were too valuable to be sold like that.

Greed filled her face, and her intentions of inflating the price or keeping the boys were more than obvious.

Leon didn’t fall for such tricks though, and to every single argument of hers, he had a flawless counter.
The gold saint had spent the whole night and morning studying how the mafia-controlled brothels worked, and how they managed their ownership papers and the debt records of their slaves.

He knew well that the boys didn’t really owe the money recorded as their debt, and that the benefits the “house” had made with them were certainly much superior to that debt.

But even if the purse contained more money than the boys supposedly owed, it was still much less than what the brothel managers knew they could make if they kept the twins working for a few more years. So the the old hag and her son latched onto their property with the greed of a spider entangling its prey.

Leon had decided that if he was going to breach the line between his world and the underworld of the “houses”, and thus break the Sanctuary rules by interfering in the normal human society to rescue the twins, then he had to do that in the less obvious way possible, to reduce the amount of interference that his intervention would be causing.
He wanted to do things according to the ways of the “normal” humans, and so, he didn’t have an option other than talk his way out of it to convince the old woman to relinquish their ownership over the two boys, but he couldn’t afford more money than he already had brought, and the situation was very hard to manoeuver.

When the old harpie finally made what she thought was the proposal that best suited both sides, the twins were so terror-stricken that they seemed to have been hit by lightining.

She wanted to keep Kanon and sell Saga for the contents of the purse.

The twins clung to each other with all their strength, but they were so shocked that no word came out of them, only silent tears filling their burning eyes.
Kanon felt like his chest was about to explode, and Saga’s gaze was locked on the gold saint with such strong fearful expectation that he didn’t dare to blink.

Leon’s voice breaking the uncomfortable silence was a blessing for the children and e renewed annoyance for the managers, as he answered that the offer wasn’t satisfactory, and that he insisted to have both kids, claiming that the price was more than enough for two boys that age, based on the usual prices that most brothels practiced.

Taken by surprise to find out that a man in such elegant clothes could be so well informed about the prices of things in their world, both the old woman and her son snarled in anger.
Not being in control of the situation infuriated them, and the old harpie barked that it was completely different, since those children were twins and were also much more lucrative than any boy their age in any other “house”.
And to the twins’ horror, she decided to support her argument by going into details about how much the two attracted more customers to the “house” than the adult prostitutes and the younger women, be it because of the obvious fact that they were twins, which added to the kink, or be it because of their unnatural beauty that immediately fascinated anyone who saw them performing in the erotic ”shows that the “house” organized in their main hall.

At the mention of their performances, Saga lowered his head, ashamed that the gold saint would hear what his brother and him were forced to do in their everyday life.

Things were taking a turn to the worst once again, and the boy started thinking that saint or not, their potential savior was quite probably not going to be able to purchase them.

Furthermore, Saga feared that if the gold saint’s intentions were pure, he would be so disgusted of them after hearing all this that he would leave immediately, and if they weren’t, then he would probably refuse to pay such a high price for just two boys.

The two managers were both sporting angry expressions, now that they had lost their illusions of being able to milk more money out of the man. If he wouldn’t have things the way they wanted, then he would have nothing. And besides, they could always keep his money anyway, if they were careful enough.
It was a considerable sum, worthy of taking the risk, and nobody would know what happened if the man never left the place…
Soon, “Sick-face” and “Skinny” joined the group, probably warned that there was a problem by a secret button behind the counter, where their mother was now hovering, safely out of the way in case things evolved into a fight.

Kanon suddenly realized that if the man left without them, they would be alone to deal with the fury of their owners. Not only that, but considering the way the man had asked to see Saga, after having met him yesterday during the errand, it was clear that the managers would believe that Saga had asked for help to leave the “house”.
And the beatings that both the twins suffered in the past whenever one of them tried to get help from a customer were memories that time would never wipe from their scarred minds.
The younger twin shivered at the idea, and begun desperately trying to think of something to say later to attempt to convince their owners that they were innocent.

The thoughts racing through Kanon’s mind sent the younger twin into such a deep concentration that he didn’t even notice when “Gorilla” approached him, until the man grabbed his arm and savagely pulled the boy towards him, almost making the chair and Saga fall when Kanon released the older twin’s hand. “Gorilla” had decided to take matters into hand and finish that discussion quickly to get rid of the man.
“You’re not taking any of them after all!! They’re not for sale, and especially not the one that can still work!”

Kanon felt dizzy, and Saga gaped at the scene in horror, unsure of what to do.

“You’re the one who did this to that child, aren’t you?”-Leon asked in a cold tone, pointing at Saga’s wounds.

“The boy deserved his beating! And besides, they belong to us, it’s none of your businness what we do to our merchandise!” – ‘Gorilla’ replied in an aggressive tone, shaking Kanon by his arm to demonstrate his rights.
The boy whimpered weakly, the tiredness and aching of a whole night sinking harder into his body.

Unable to watch it any longer, Saga stood from his chair suddenly and ran towards them thinking of pleading for his brother, but his body betrayed him and he fell to the ground heavily, his legs giving way beneath him.
Dazed and seeing everything through a dark veil, the boy lifted his head wearily, unsure of what happened and wondering if his body was so wounded that it didn’t want to obey him anymore. He tried to get up, but the agony that flooded his senses stopped him, and he couldn’t stifle a scream. There was blood running down his legs again, for the woman had applied make up on his body, but done nothing for his wounds other than covering them.
Even with the pain tearing at him, Saga still blushed hard, ashamed at the idea that the gold saint would see the blood and understand where it was coming from.

As soon as Saga fell to the ground, Kanon let out a ear-piercing cry and begun trashing around, trying to free himself from the man’s grip to go for his brother. Irritated by the unsuccessful trashing, “Gorilla” released the boy’s arm, shoving him forward abruptely and making the boy fall to his knees, then swung his arm back, planning to slam his fist with all his strength into the back of Kanon’s head.

Time and space seemed to suspend their flow just before the brute’s fist connected with the boy’s head.

The old harpie and her two other sons stared with their mouths agape as Leon’s hand started glowing, and the larger of the three brothers didn’t even understand what happened, only that what seemed like an invisible wave slashed through his mid-section, making him feel like every single thing within his body had turned inside out then back in place in a fraction of second. He was left frozen in place in excruciating pain, unable to move a finger.

When the silence was finally broken once again, the gold saint’s voice had a blood-curling dark tone in it, almost like it belonged to a completely different person, and his eyes were filled with barely contained violence.
“You have forced me to do this. I wanted to settle matters in a peaceful manner, but it is not possible with beasts like you. Now, you will sign the papers handing the ownership of those children to me. Keep this money as payment, but bring all the papers. And believe me…I will know if you try to fool me. I have opened a pathway to another dimension inside this man’s body. One more wrong move on your part and his end will be swift, but extremely painful… Now get moving.”

The old harpie reluctantly brought and signed everything, from the receipt for the money, acknowledging the transaction, to the boys’ ownership papers, a document immediately recognizable by any branch of the mafia, making it impossible for the managers of the “house” to get the mob to take the children back for them, since at their eyes it would be a sale done properly and in due form.
What made the harpie even more furious was the realization that the price paid was way more than enough for two boys that age, and with that along with the papers, nobody from the mafia would ever believe that it was a forced sale, no matter what she said.
Trying to explain to anyone that those boys in particular were worth more would most likely only earn laughter at best.

Fear won over greed, as no man or woman in Greece, especially in the cities nearby Athens, ingnored the stories about the saints, even if many believed that they were but legends. This was obviously not a normal businessman, and they were in no position to oppose him.
She fumed, but she had no choice other than hand the papers to Leon, who double-checked everything before releasing “Gorilla”, who fell to the ground loudly.

Saga and Kanon had been clinging together closely during the whole end of the transaction, unsure of what to do and too afraid to dare to say anything.
It was only when the gold saint turned to them and asked if they had any belongings that they wanted to take with them that the twins finally understood that it wasn’t just a dream, and that they were really getting out of the place where they had lived in a waking nightmare for as long as they could remember.

And then, regardless of their deliverance and of all the countless mature situations the two boys had lived through in the past, nothing could prevent them from reverting back to childishness, and unabashedly crying in each other’s arms, unable to do anything else under the weight of the emotion. The very idea was so overwhelming to them that when all the pent up tension burst at once, they were both left incapable of any coherent thought

But as much as the future was uncertain, they were still tears of joy.

It was time to step into another world, and for the first time in the twins’ lives, they wouldn’t be alone.


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[To Be Continued]
[Next Chapter : Drop #9 – Into another world.]


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Sagakure, May 28th, 2005



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