Chapter Text
Deathmask was seventeen years old when he became aware of Kido Mei's existence and who subsequently became his first and only student.
He'd just come back from a mission overseas: an African warlord had begun working with a Chinese triad to create the modern day slave empire in the African continent and began kidnapping young children and killing their parents. But there was a catch; these children were also gifted in the use of Cosmos. The leader of the Chinese triad was a former Silver Saint turned rogue and was planning to use everything that he'd learned in the Sanctuary to train those children to take over the criminal world. Of course, Saga didn't like that so he had sent Deathmask to take care of the problem.
It had taken Deathmask three weeks to find the trial's headquarters. The rogue saint had been easy to kill and his underlings were the typical useless goons who had all writhed like worms as Deathmask wrenched their pitiful souls out of their bodies and sent them straight to the purgatory. Next he had to find the African warlord, kill him and his pathetic soldiers and free the children, who all had started crying loudly after he had destroyed their makeshift prison and freed them from their chains. The children's cries had been so loud that he was in a constant state of irritation until he managed to drop them off in front of a police station and hightailed out of the country before anyone else could see him.
His blood was still simmering and he was contemplating on whether he should go to the middle of the Amazon forest to unwind and spend his anger against the giant trees when he heard Saga summoning him again.
Knowing that trying to ignore Saga would only end up in vain, Deathmask groaned loudly before he turned towards the direction of the Sanctuary.
He arrived late at night and found Saga still up and disgustingly wide-awake inside the Throne Room. But like the perfect soldier that he was, he still knelt in supplication in front of the fake Pope and bowed his head.
“Greetings, Pope, the Holy Servant of the merciful Goddess of Wisdom, Athena.” Deathmask tried to hide his sarcasm as hard as he could, meaning: none at all. “I am happy to report that my mission has gone successfully. Which means that I've killed everyone who needs to be killed, destroyed all evidence which can lead to the existence of the Sanctuary and saved the kids and handed them to responsible adults. Yay for a happy ending!”
Saga stared down at his head and Deathmask lamented that he couldn't see if his bitching had an effect on the older man because of the fucking stupid mask that Saga was wearing. It looked stupid and outdated and he didn't care if it was helping Saga hide his treason and whatnot, he'd attempt to destroy it when he had the chance.
“Cancer Deathmask,” Saga intoned in his normal voice which meant that he was currently dealing with the regular Saga and not the crazy one. No wonder Saga hadn't smited him yet for being annoying and disrespectful. The other Saga had a god complex bigger than the galaxy.
“Yes, sire?”
“Congratulations on successfully completing your mission. Your reward shall be sent to the Cancer Palace later tonight. You have made me proud and proven that my trust in your ability isn't misguided.”
Deathmask stamped down the urge to preen at the compliment. He was already seventeen years old. He was an adult, damnit, and he wouldn't blush and giggle like a little kid whenever his older brother praised him. The Cancer Saint's reputation would be in shambles if the other saints inside the Sanctuary were to find out about it.
So he kept his face blank. “Thank you, sire. It is my honor to serve the Holy Servant of Athena using my strength and abilities. I will write the report the moment I arrive back in the Cancer Palace and hand it to your office later. Is that all, sire? May I now be excused?”
“No, Cancer Deathmask. You must stay, for I have a new mission for you.”
Deathmask swallowed hard so the groan building inside his throat wouldn't get out. He also kept his eyes on the polished marble floor so they wouldn't roll out of their sockets. Great. Another mission and when he really wanted to crash on his bed and sleep for days. What had he done in his past life to be born as the Cancer Saint in this one? And couldn't Saga be less of a slave driver?
He swallowed down his complaints before they could spill off his lips and make Saga angry. Aphrodite might have loved Another Dimension and see it as a personal playground but Deathmask preferred to have all his senses removed by Shaka instead of going to that place ever again. He didn't want to lose the contents of his stomach again, thank you very much.
“This servant is always at your service, sire.”
Saga nodded. “It is always a pleasure to hear those words from you, Cancer Deathmask. Then I will go straight to the point: Your new mission is to take a student and train him to obtain the Coma Berenices Cloth. This child is Kido Mei and I order you to train him in Sicily until he is ready enough to win the Cloth against the other aspirants.”
Deathmask's head shot up, his eyes widening in shock. “But sire, I don't have the qualifications and experience to become a master. I don't believe that I can train that child how to become strong enough to obtain a Cloth, especially one that is unranked. Please rescind your order, sire.”
“Cancer Deathmask, this decision of mine to hand Kido Mei's training on your hands is something that I have contemplated for five months by now. And after going through the choices available to me, I believe that you are the person who is most qualified to teach Mei Kido and prepare him in becoming the Saint of Coma Berenice.”
Deathmask groaned. Saga was using that tone again, one that was a clear sign that Saga had made up his mind and nothing Deathmask could do would change his mind. Great, now he would be stuck with a snot-nosed brat for five years. A snot-nosed brat whom he had to live with and train for half a decade and make sure that he would be the one to obtain an unranked Cloth. Deathmask was so happy that he could dance.
“As you wish, sire.”
“Good. I trust you that you shall do a good job with Kido Mei. Remember this, Cancer Deathmask, there will be the day that we shall need Kido Mei's cooperation against Athena and the other gods who will try to take the Earth from us. Teach Kido Mei everything you know and turn him into a weapon we can use and I'll make sure to give the proper rewards for this mission. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sire.”
“Good. You're now dismissed, Cancer Deathmask.”
“Hello! Are you the Cancer Saint, Mister Deathmask? My name is Kido Mei and from today I will be your student! Please take care of me!”
Deathmask grunted. It was only two minutes since he met the snot-nosed brat who would become his student but he was already getting a headache. How had Camus managed to handle two of these things? Was the Aquarius Saint crazy or did the endless snow tundra in Siberia have frozen the useful cells in his brain?
Mei didn't seem to take his silence as a rejection, though. The ten-year-old Chinese-Japanese kid continued to yap about every subject in the world, the languages he was using seemingly switching from English, to Chinese, back to English before switching to Japanese and then Greek in a single breath. The brat was lucky that Saga had forced Deathmask to learn every language available to mankind, dead or otherwise, and didn't let him sleep until he'd mastered them all.
The two of them were going to live in a small one-story building in a coastal town in Sicily, right next to the blue sea. The moment their sailboat had reached the town, his nose was immediately insulated with the smell of fishes, cooking meats and the unwashed bodies of fishermen coming back from a long day of fishing.
The sun overhead was blazing hot and he couldn't help but wince when its death rays touched the skin of his bare arm. He'd wished that he'd prepared himself for the climate before he and Mei had taken the boat to travel to this place. Speaking of a brat, Mei didn't seem bothered by the various smells or the heat unlike his new Master. The ten-year-old boy was looking everywhere with a wide-eyed look of wonder in his eyes. Everything seemed to be a new experience for the boy who had been raised as the heir to a billion-dollar empire. No wonder since his father had kept him locked up and secluded from other boys of his age in their billion-dollar mansion where his only friend and companion was a girl who was also the reincarnation of a goddess and two years younger than him.
“Be careful not to fall,” he warned the boy when the plank connecting their boat and the port was laid down in front of them.
Mei beamed, his expression as bright as the sun and Deathmask almost squinted for fear that he might become blind just by looking at it.
“Don't worry about me, Master Deathmask! I'll be careful not to fall! I swear on my father's honor that nothing shall happen to me under your watch—WAAAAAA-AAAHHH!!!!!”
Deathmask groaned when he heard the loud tell-tale splash of a ten-year-old free falling straight to the shallow water.
Deathmask had only lived with Mei for four days but he was already exhausted.
Don't misunderstand, Mei was a good kid, which Deathmask had learned from day one. He always listened to Deathmask's words, followed all his instructions to a tee and hadn't blown anything when using his Cosmo during training yet, which wasn't something he could say about the children training inside the Sanctuary.
Mei was a smart, clever and resourceful child and he had never once cried or complained about pain or exhaustion during training and Deathmask knew that he was lucky that out of the other trainees, he had gotten Mei. He also liked the fact that the boy wasn't a picky eater and he'd eaten all of the food that Deathmask had cooked for him with gusto.
However, the child had one fundamental flaw.
He was prone to getting into dangerous scenarios, even in the most ridiculous ones.
One afternoon, Deathmask and his student were walking side by side near the coastline. Deathmask was feeling particularly annoyed after he had to save his student from a flock of seagulls and got pecked in the process too. He didn't know what Mei had done to earn the avian animals’ wrath and he didn't really want to know. He only hoped that his student wouldn't start picking fights with birds ever again after he badly lost.
He peeked at his student through the corner of his right eye.
Mei's arms, legs and the left side of his face were covered in bandages because Deathmask was feeling uncharitable and had refused to use his Cosmo to heal the boy's wounds. It didn't really matter; Mei could live with little but of pain for a few days and hopefully he would learn his lesson at the end of it.
However, the usually talkative child who always had a grin on his face, even when he was completely exhausted and his small body couldn't get up from the training field after Deathmask was done with him, was currently silent and had an unusual serious expression on his face. His eyes were staring at the blue sea even though his body was following Deathmask. Looking at him now, Deathmask was suddenly struck with an uneasy feeling. And another feeling which he couldn't name and something that he hadn't felt in his life before.
“Hey, watch your steps, you brat,” he snapped at the kid, who seemed to have been startled by his loud voice.
Mei immediately turned his head back towards Deathmask, his green eyes wide and his mouth hanging open in surprise.
The strange feeling left his stomach. Deathmask nodded. Everything was back to normal now.
Mei lowered his head in a fraction, his spiky bangs covering his eyes half-way.
“Sorry, Master Deathmask,” the boy asked, sheepishly.
Deathmask harumped, although he was no longer feeling irritated. “You are a future saint of Athena. You shouldn't lose yourself inside your head and keep your focus every second of a day. You'll never know when your enemies are close enough to ambush you otherwise. If you become distracted even for a second, then your life is forfeit. Remember that, brat.”
Mei nodded. “Thank you, Master Deathmask. I'll remember this lesson of yours for the rest of my life,”the boy said earnestly.
Deathmask harumped again, although he could feel a warm glow of pride building in his chest.
Maybe having his own student wasn't that bad at all, he thought.
With a grim press of his lips, Deathmask watched as the blood mixed with the water running from the faucet and ran down the sink.
It was the third time that he had coughed blood that day. Fortunately, none of the other Gold Saints were aware of his illness yet. All of them, even those who still harbored some resentment towards him, would undoubtedly raise a fuss and alert Shion or Athena about it and then his secret would be revealed to everyone in the Sanctuary.
Deathmask couldn't let that happen.
The world was at peace now and he shouldn't shake that peace. Even Poseidon was ready to meet up and talk with Athena. He wasn't sure what had convinced the irascible god to become amicable towards the same goddess who had sealed him inside a jar dozens of times but Deathmask couldn't afford to worry about it, could he? And the expression on Kanon's face when Athena asked him to accompany her to Atlantis had sent him in a stitches.
Good luck to that bastard.
Humming an Italian song under his breath, he began washing the blood and spittles from his hands. Where should he go visit later? The Pisces Palace where Aphrodite was tending to his rose garden? The Virgo Palace so he could annoy Shaka into cooking something sweet for him or the Gemini Palace so he could irritate Saga out of his self-inflicted agony over his love life?
Hmm. Where should he go now?