in the purest and simplest of ways

[imugi]

title: kicking up stardust.

series: Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas
characters: Sisyphus & Sasha

rating: g

summary: "Will I really change the world?"
author notes: Just a writing sample, so it's very short.

The gold box strapped to his back was a heavy burden sometimes, Sisyphus realized— Something that, during his travels across a good deal of continental Europe, had simultaneously threatened to weigh him down and press him forward. El Cid had accompanied him for a good part of that journey, a presence at his side as constant as wind and steadier than granite, but at some point they had separated temporarily. Sisyphus was left to himself to count steps and etch each mile into some part of his memory.

The weather in Italy that time of the year was mild. It was appropriate.

Each dirt-stained face in the poor districts held something unique, things that both made Sisyphus' heart ache and solidified his determination. They all watched him similarly when he first appeared, distrusting and wary, this shining newcomer. He knelt and smiled, wiping the tears from one of the younger ones' faces.

“It's alright. Don't cry.”

The small girl took his hand and led him to where he needed to go, and when he spotted her— Athena— he knew it almost immediately. Maybe she knew it as well, subconsciously or not. He saw it in her eyes when she turned, something like awe and something like apprehension. It was a something amplified immeasurably by the time he fell to his knees before her.

He offered to carry her back to the Sanctuary quickly, but she refused. They would travel the rest of the way on foot, see the world and taste the air. She seemed to leave a path of stars behind wherever she walked, dancing beneath the vast sky as if it could chase away her sorrows. Even when it started to rain, just a gentle mist, she refused shelter and continued dancing along their path until the mud lightly caked her shoes.

“Will I really change the world?” she asked, twirling along a grassy field with delicate steps.

“Yes.”

Utterly.

“I wish...” But those words trailed off into the patter of rain, and she blinked wide, green eyes up at him when he moved close and shielded her with his coat.

He smiled, the rain tracing paths down his face. “Let us retire.”

This little goddess, a gift to the world— perhaps it was his duty to make certain those wishes were not washed away before morning.