"Chiara, now!" Janus shouted at her. Chiara felt his hand reach up and over the side of the dart, grabbing her wrist. Chiara snapped out of her reverie, jumping down and racing after Janus.
"You did park the dart near your gate-ship, right?" she asked worriedly.
"Of course, why shouldn't I?" he replied.
"Well there was that time on . . ."
"That, my dear wife, is beside the point!" he shouted back at her. White lights began sweeping around them and it took all the concentration of the pair just to dodge the culling beams.
"This way!" Janus said, turning into the forest. She followed him, confused. The forest was too dense; he could never park a whole gate ship in it! Chiara still followed him, however she accidentally tripped, sprawling at the foot of a tree. Janus stooped down by her, reaching out his hand and pulling Chiara up again.
"Just a little bit farther, Chiara, just a little bit farther!" he said. She nodded wearily and once again forced her tired feet to race after him. She heard the darts still humming over them, waiting until the pair came out into a clearing large enough to send down another culling beam. Chiara looked behind her, making sure that none of the Wraith were following. When she looked back around Janus had disappeared. She stopped dead in her tracks.
"Janus?!" she called frantically. He seemed to step out of a rather large tree.
"Here!" he yelled back, waving. It was only a few steps away. There was a clearing to cross first though. Chiara saw a culling beam sweep near the tree and she stopped, waiting for it to pass. As soon as that beam ended another began from the other direction. Chiara's heart stopped in her throat in fear . . . she swallowed, waiting, trying to figure out the right timing where she could fit between both beams. Janus watched worriedly, preparing himself to leap out into the clearing if she was swept up, thus following her.
"Chiara, quickly, you can do it!" he called. She swallowed again and watched. Now. She raced out, trying to dodge the beam sweeping to her side and racing towards the tree. Her eyes closed instinctively as she prepared to slam into the tree, but she didn't, she raced inside a gate ship. As soon as she was there Janus slammed down on a small handle and the door lifted up, locking them inside. Chiara nearly fell down on one of the bench-like seats, trying to breathe, trying to stop shaking. Janus walked to the front of the ship and took a seat, and soon Chiara felt the gate-ship slowly lift up into the air. They flew low over the surface though, and they soon landed again, away from where the darts thought they were.
Janus stood and walked towards the back, watching Chiara. She was staring in front of her with a wild look in her eyes, her face deathly-pale and her hand trembling. She wasn't making a sound but silent tears were streaming down her cheeks. Janus gently sat down beside her and put his arm around the trembling woman.
"It's alright Chiara, we're safe . . ." he quietly said, drawing her towards him. She melted into his embrace and they stayed like that for several minutes. Slowly, Chiara un-tensed slightly, her shaking stopped and some color returned to her cheeks. She was still panting though and her mind was racing through various things. What if they were caught again? What if the Wraith somehow found the ship? And even if they still escaped then where would they go? Atlantis was destroyed, their home was gone! Chiara couldn't bring herself to live on a human world; there would be too much danger of the Wraith. It was more than likely that they would be caught again. Her breath caught in her throat as she thought of being forced to go through the last several years all over again.
"Janus, they will be waiting at the astria porta for us, how can we possibly get through?" Chiara asked, her voice cracking slightly.
"We'll get through, they won't know what hit them," Janus gently responded.
"What are we waiting for? Why aren't we leaving? Is something wrong with the ship?" Chiara asked. She could only think that anything that could possibly go wrong would go wrong.
"Don't worry, Chiara, don't worry. The ship is fine, we're safe, it's cloaked right now so the Wraith can't see it. They probably still think that we're back at the clearing where we were before. And we're waiting here because we probably both need to take a breath before we go back." Janus gently stroked Chiara's hair back, looking into her blue eyes.
"Where is 'back,' Janus? Atlantis is gone! Where will we go? A human world? Janus we can't go to a human world, we would be captured again almost instantly . . ." Chiara protested brokenly. She had thought of escape so long, and now that it was finally here there was no place to go. Her thoughts were shattered slightly at Janus giving a short laugh. Chiara looked almost startled at the sight and Janus quickly calmed himself.
"The humans told you that Atlantis was destroyed, didn't they . . ." he said. Chiara gave a short nod in reply.
"Of course they just had to . . ." Janus sighed. He looked at her again carefully. "That must have broken you . . ." he said in a tender tone of voice. Chiara stared at him.
"It isn't destroyed?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"No . . . the humans have been living there for the past several years. The Wraith laid siege to Atlantis while they were there . . . and to get out of it the humans cloaked Atlantis and pretended that the city had been destroyed. To keep up the front they've gone around telling everyone that Atlantis has been destroyed . . . but it's still there." Chiara looked up at Janus. She had thought . . . but they had said . . . her mind shifted back to when Sheppard had told her the city was destroyed. His eyes had twitched. He had been lying, Chiara had known it then, she just hadn't known exactly what he had been lying about.
"Where will we go then? If the Ancients no longer hold Atlantis . . ." Chiara trailed off. Janus smiled slightly.
"Well I've been living in Atlantis for the past good two months . . ." Chiara looked at him curiously.
"They thought I was some human scientist who specialized in Ancient technology . . . The Ancients have actually sent a few of their people to . . . look after . . . the humans," Janus said with a shrug.
"So we'll return to Atlantis?" Chiara asked, a small smile playing on her lips for the first time.
"Yes . . . to Atlantis it is. And quickly as well, I don't believe the humans will appreciate a missing gate-ship . . ." Janus said with a sigh, standing up.