Happy Father's Day

 Happy Father's Day
It was a sunny, hot day as usual. A boy with blue spunky hair and a gold cloth was walking down the stairs to his temple. He sighed and wiped off his sweat  from his forehead. It was extremely hot. He looked around and spotted a boy with brown hair and a gold cloth sneaking around. He was holding something behind his back. He approached the boy.

He asked, "Hey, Regulus. Why are you sneaking around? Did you get into trouble? What did you do?"

Regulus turned around and quickly hid the object he was holding. He stuttered, "I am...not...sneak...ing...around. I was just hea...ding... back to my...temple which is...after your tem...ple."

Manigoldo rolled his eyes and said, "I know where your temple is. You are not really good at lying, you know."

Regulus looked down at the ground and muttered, "Sorry."

"Hey, don't tell me sorry unless you did something bad that was directed to me. Just tell me why you are sneaking around and maybe I can help you. What do you have in your hands?"

Regulus realized that he can't hide from Manigoldo. "It is not that. It is that tomorrow is Father's day. I know my father is dead but I want to give a gift to Uncle Sisyphus. He had been like a father to me and I want to thank him."

"Oh, that was it. So what are you giving him?"

"Well, I am giving him a picture of him that I drew. Aldebaran is helping me with the picture."

"Cool. Can I see?"

Regulus held out a very small painting. It was a picture of a badly painted Sisyphus. Manigoldo tried his best not to laughed at it.

"So, does it looks amazing?"

"...Sure"

Regulus smiled. "Thanks. I worked really hard on it. Painting is harder than training and fighting. Manigoldo, are you going to give something to Pope Sage tomorrow?"

Manigoldo blinked. "What? But he is not my father."

Regulus shrugged. "Well, I don't know. Isn't he kind of like his father?"

Manigoldo thought about it. Regulus was right. Although he was not related to Sage, Sage was like a father to him. He remembered the times when Sage found him and brought him home. He taught and took care of him. He was like a father to him. Then a shout brought him back from his thoughts. He looked and saw Regulus waving goodbye at him. He waved back and Regulus was gone.

He continued pondering. All these years, the old man took care of him and he never repaid him with anything. In fact, he think he caused more trouble than help to the old man. It was in his nature. Maybe he should give something to show that he was thankful for Sage for finding and taking care of him. But what would he give?

He was walking deep in thought. He bumped into a person and looked up. He saw a man with long, curly purple hair and a gold cloth frowning at him. He was holding an apple on his right hand.

He said, "Oi, I nearly dropped the apple I was eating. Watch where you are going, crab face."

Manigoldo said, "What was that, Insect"

"Scorpions are not insects!"

"Whatever. Now move out of my way. I am busy."

"Busy doing what? Busy running to the pope. Hey daddy."

Manigoldo glared at him. " Shut up, you want to fight."

"Oh yes and I bet I will defeat you."

"In your dreams."

They glared at each other and readied their position. Kardia strike Manigoldo with his index finger and Manigoldo tried to dodge. Then a hand came out and pulled Kardia's hand away. They turned to see a disappointed Sisyphus. They laughed nervously.

"Are you two fighting with each other again?" Sisyphus asked.

Manigoldo quickly make an excuse, "No, we were training."

Kardia nodded while Sisyphus raised his eyebrows. He didn't believe them but decided to let it slide.

"Have any of you two seen Regulus or know what he is up to? He had been very secretive and sneaking around me. He had been over at Aldebaran's temple a lot. I asked Aldebaran about it and he said it was nothing. But I feel like he is lying about something," asked Sisyphus.

Manigoldo quickly shook his head while Kardia shrugged.

"Maybe he is secretly meeting a girl at Aldebaran's orphanage. ," said Kardia.

Manigoldo said, "I don't think so."

"How do you know?" asked Sisyphus.

"I just know. You shouldn't worry so much. You will find out soon tomorrow," answered Manigoldo.

Sisyphus sighed and said, "Well, thanks. Remember not to fight each other."

Then he left. Kardia took one look at Manigoldo and started to finished his apple.

Kardia said between bites, "I am going to go too. Bye."

Manigoldo watch him and leave and sighed. Maybe he should go and find Regulus to ask what should he give to Sage. He walked to Regulus' temple but stopped midway. He remembered the painting of the badly painted Sisyphus that Regulus showed to him. Then he laughed. There was no way he was going to paint a picture of Sage. He doesn't even know how to paint. Then he remembered the paintings he saw in the pope's chamber. There were paintings and statues of the gold saints from the previous generations. He was never interest in them since they were boring to see. He walked to the pope's chamber and to the hall where the paintings were. He stared at them and remembered a time when the pope was teaching him about the previous saints.


Flashback


A little boy was standing and staring at the paintings while the older man was explaining each painting. The boy yawned and the man sighed.

The man asked, "Manigoldo, I know this doesn't interest you but you must learn this."

The boy known as Manigoldo looked up and asked, "Why do I have to learn this? We only need to learn how to fight. This information wouldn't help me with fighting."

The pope sighed and looked at the paintings sadly.

He said, "You are wrong. We need to know about them to honour and respect what they did in the past. They fought hard and without them, we wouldn't be here."

Manigoldo rolled his eyes and said, "Righhhttt"

The pope stared at him hard and Manigoldo became silent. He knew he upset him. The pope turned back to look at the paintings sadly.


End Flashback


Manigoldo remembered vaguely about the saints the pope talked about. It kind of upset the pope to see Manigoldo not interest in learning about the previous saints. The lesson and paintings bored him.

He continued looking at the paintings. He noticed each painting had the same pose for each saint. None of the saints showed their personality or life in each of them. Each were smiling in the portrait. He wouldn't know anything much about the saint by looking at it. He realized that his future portrait was going to be boring like the portraits he see. He also noticed that there were many portraits and each saints were by themselves.

Then he got an idea. What if there was a painting that have all the gold saints together and each saint would show their own personality in the painting. It would make the old man very happy. That would be a great idea but who would stand there for a long time to have all the saints painted. Besides, this painting would be a personal painting to Pope Sage. He shrugged. He would have to think about that later. He knew artists loved to travel. The sanctuary didn't have its own artist. They hired travelling artists to come and paint the portraits.  

He ran out of the pope's chamber and headed to the Rodorio village hoping to find a very talented artist. He doubt he would find one but it wouldn't hurt to try. He asked people and they all had the same answer. There wasn't an artist in the village. He grew tired and sat down to rest. Then a girl with brown hair wearing a white dress looked at him. She was holding purple flowers.

He looked up and asked, "What? Is there a problem?"

The girl frowned and said, "No. You just seem upset and I want to know if I can help."

"Well, if you know of a really good artist around here, that would be a great help. But I doubt it."

"A good artist?"

"Yes."

The girl thought for a moment and her face brightened.

She said, "Yes, I do remember an artist passing by here. He was staying here about a few days ago. We had a little talk and he told me that he was a travelling artist. I think today is his last day staying in Rodorio village."

Manigoldo stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Where is he?" he asked.

"I can show you where he is staying if you want. Why do you need to see an artist so badly?"

"I need them to make a gift for someone special."

"Aright. Follow me."

Manigoldo followed the girl as she led him through the village. As they were walking, he realized he never asked for her name.

He asked, "So, I forget to ask for your name."

The girl giggled and said, "My name is Agasha. What is yours?"

"Cancer Manigoldo."

"So you are the Cancer saint. I have a friend who is the Pisces saint."

"You mean Pisces Albafica?"

"Yes. He is a great man."

Manigoldo nodded. He didn't  know much about Albafica. Finally, they reached the inn. They went inside and Agasha talked to the owner. The owner told them that the artist was staying at the forth room. Agasha thanked him and they walked to the room. Agasha knocked the door. A man with short, messy, brown hair and blue eyes opened it. The man saw Agasha and smiled.

The man said, "Why isn't it Agasha? Are you here to ask me to draw a painting or buy a painting?"

Agasha said, "No, but this man is."

The man turned to see Manigoldo and gasped when he saw him. Manigoldo looked confused at why the man react the way he react. He decided to not ask.

Instead he said, "You must be the artist Agasha told me about. You look a little...never mind."

Manigoldo didn't want to upset the artist with his remarks.

He continued, "I have a rather difficult request. I need you to paint twelve saints in...positions...that identifies with their personality."

The man blinked in confusion. "Identifies with their personality?"

"Yeah. For example, I am confident and awesome. Therefore you should draw me as being awesome."

"...Alright..."

"So can you do it like really quickly because I am sure most of the gold saints are not patient."

"Yes,  it seems that you asked the right person for the job."

"What do you mean?"

"I have an eidetic memory."

"...What's that?"

"Seriously! You don't know."

"Nope."

The man sighed. "It means that when I see something, I remember it perfectly."

"Really, cool!"

"Thanks."

"So how much is it?"

"Well, it is free."

"...What? Why?"

"You really don't remember me. It is fine. Well, I will tell you a short story. I am a travelling artist travelling everywhere. One day, I was at a Vanvie village. I remember it was a peaceful day and I was painting for a family. Unfortunately, the peace didn't last when specters attacked the village. I ran for my life. One of the specters caught up with me and I thought I was going to die. Then someone saved me and it was you. I am alive because of what you did. Of course, I couldn't say thank you for that time. I am really grateful for what you did. I know it is not much. But I hope this painting will be my thanks of gratitude."  

"...Oh, I remember that mission. Unfortunately, I still don't remember you. No offense, I saved a lot of people."

"It is fine. I just want to say thanks."

"It is my job."

"So can you do it today because I need it for tomorrow...It is a present for the
old man. It is for father's day."

"Alright. So should I come with you?"

"Yeah, I am going to have to recruit all the saints. I am really lucky that all the saints are here. I think a good place to paint is the Twin Sala Garden. I hope I can have all the saints come together and Asmita to allow us everyone stay there for the painting. Thank you, Agasha."

Agasha smiled and said, "You're welcome. I hope it goes well."

Manigoldo asked, "Oh, I forget to ask what is your name? I am Cancer Manigoldo."

The man smiled, "And I am Oroitz."

"Alright. Let's go!"

Oroitz followed Manigoldo to each temple. Some saints were hard to persuade while the others were easier. The Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius saints were easy to persuade.

When Manigoldo asked the Kardia, they got into a fight and Oroitz had to settled it. Finally, it was Oroitz who persuaded Kardia to come.

Manigoldo proceeded to ask the Capricorn saint, and he just gave him a cold stare.
Luckily, Sisyphus was there and persuaded El Cid to come.

It took Manigoldo fifteen  minutes to persuade Degel to come out and be with the group.

It took thirty minutes of persuading Albafica to come. It included begging from him and Agasha. Albafica was worried but Manigoldo told him that he will be a few meter away from the group. He told him if he came with Manigoldo on the mission to Italy and was fine with being around so many people around, he should be fine with being a few meters away from the group. Finally, Albafica agreed due to Manigoldo's nagging and Agasha's puppy eyes.

The last and most difficult person to persuade was Virgo Asmita. He had to persuade him to come out of the temple to spend time with the other saints and used his garden for the gathering. After a few minutes of trying to persuade Asmita, he realized it was going to be impossible when Asmita is refusing to cooperate and talking to them in riddles. Manigoldo could hardly understand what Asmita was saying. Manigoldo had enough and blackmailed Asmita to bring Regulus and bothered him (Lol, read Asmita's Unexpected day to understand). Asmita  went with them.

Everyone was there and Manigoldo told them to do a position that defined them. Asmita took this opportunity to meditate. Degel decided to finished his book. El Cid looked at them and turned around to continued training. Unfortunately, Asmita didn't approve of this so El Cid had to stop. Albafica stayed a few meters away from the group and decided to look at the roses. He didn't know what to do. Manigoldo decided to stand there and look cool. Kardia did the same thing. Manigoldo noticed this and soon they were fighting each other again. The other saints didn't know what to do so they just stood there awkwardly and smiled a smile that defines them.

Oroitz laughed at the sight and memorized everything. He told them that he had memorized every detail and they could leave if they want to.

Manigoldo and Kardia were too busy fighting each other to hear. Asmita decided to go back inside to the temple since it was too noisy. However, Regulus grabbed Asmita and tied him up with the help of  Dohko. Then he proceeded to try and have another conversation with Asmita. Asmita tried to ignore him and continued meditating but he failed. After Dohko helped Regulus, he had a conversation with Shion, Sisyphus, Aspros and Aldebaran. Shion left the group and had a conversation with Albafica who want to leave. Sisyphus also left to talk with El Cid who listened quietly. Degel closed his book and tried to stop the fight by pulling Kardia away. Kardia was too stuborn to listen to Degel so he gave up and continue reading.

Finally Oroitz finished painting and showed the picture to them. The painting was different from what they expected.

Oroitz said, "I made a few changes to the pose you did earlier. I think now it is more interesting."

The painting showed Manigoldo was fighting with Kardia, Asmita was tied up to a tree trying to meditate while Regulus talked to him, Degel reading, Albafica was looking at the roses while Shion was talking to him, El Cid training while Sisyphus was talking and the other saints talking among themself.

Manigoldo and Kardia was upset that Oroitz didn't drew him in a cool pose. Asmita couldn't see the painting so Sisyphus lied to him that he was mediating in the painting. The other saints were fine or didn't care.

Oroitz  just laughed and said, "It is best this way."

Manigoldo thanked him and took the painting.


~Next day~


Manigoldo stood outside of Pope Sage's room. He knocked nervously. Then he heard a voice telling him to come in. He came in and Sage looked up, surprised to see him there. The painting was behind him and covered by a white sheet.

Pope Sage asked, "Manigoldo? Do you have something for me?"

"Hey, old man. Uh...Yeah, I do," said Manigoldo.

"Oh, what is it?"

Manigoldo showed him the painting and took off the white sheet that covered it. Pope Sage examined the painting and smiled. Manigoldo was hiding his red face behind the painting.

He said, "Happy Father's day."

Pope Sage continued smiling. "Thank you, Manigoldo. That was very thoughtful of you."

Manigoldo was blushing red and mumbled, "Although you were not my real father, you took me in and treat me like your real son. So I want to thank you. I didn't know what to get you and hope you like it..."

"It is wonderful. But you know what is a better present."

"What?"

"You. Although, you are arrogant, and a troublemaker, you are the best son I ever had."

"...Thanks..."

"Now let's put this up here."

Sage took one of the paintings down and replaced it with Manigoldo's painting. He knew he was going to treasured the painting forever.


~A few years later~


Sage was showing Sasha around the pope's chamber. It was important that she knew her way around. Sage had led her to his office and Sasha was currently looking at a painting. She giggled at the silliness of the saints.

Sasha asked, "Are those the gold saints?"

Sage said embarrassingly, "Yes."

"They look so silly."

"Yes, they do although they are not like this most of the time...I hope."

"They looked as if they were having fun."

"I am sure they were."

"Who gave you this painting? Was it someone important?"

"How did you know?"

Sasha smiled. "This painting was different from the other paintings. This painting hold a lot of warmth. This person must put a lot of thought in it. It shows how each saint's personality."

"My son gave it to me as a father's day gift."

"He must love you a lot."

"He does. So should we continue the tour?"

"Yes."

Pope Sage led Sasha out of the room. He took one look at the painting and smiled. Then he closed the door.