Chapter 1

Magus watched as the Epoch touched down, and as Lucca, Atropos and Robo got out of it. He didn't even know why he decided to come, because he had better things to do than have some crazy reunion with his old allies. Like finding Schala for example. However, Crono had been the one to retrieve him, and Crono wouldn't stop until he'd go.

Crono had to understand to know that no was no! However, Crono was a stubborn boy and, at the moment, stronger than Magus. Magus gave a sigh and walked inside of the castle, where Marle, Crono, Glenn, Ayla and Kino were waiting. He went to stand in a corner as the others joked around and talked about nothing important, at least, to Magus it was. Lucca and the two robots walked in, and they were warmly greeted by the others, while Magus remained in his dark corner, away from everyone's sight.

After awhile, they began to eat large amounts of food, but Magus didn't move; he was hungry, but he didn't feel like eating with them. Magus didn't understand why, but he had always had a huge appetite, especially compared to other Zealians. What is was with him, he'd never know, but it probably had something to do with his father, who he had never known, for he had disappeared even before he'd been born. His father had given him his name, which meant 'Predictor of Terror', but his father never once bothered. No one ever dared to fight against his father, although he never knew why.

"Hey Janus!" Crono yelled over at him, and Magus cringed; how many times did he have to tell that brat he didn't want to be called like that?!

"Come on Janus! You can't stay there all night! You at least need to eat something!" Crono called again.

Magus growled, before uncrossing his arms from his chest and stalking over to the table. He sat down on Crono's left hand, because that was the only vacant seat. Lucca was seated right beside him, like he cared.

Not to catch anyone's attention, he just scooped up a normal portion (for Crono and his friends, not for him), and started to eat slow and easy. After a while, after the table had been cleared, the old friends began to have discussions about all kinds of stuff, while Magus left to go to the gardens.

He looked up at the stars as he had done all those years back, when he was still the Prince of Zeal. Magus was always looking at one specific red star. It wasn't Lavos, no, Lavos was gone. It was a planet. A planet he didn't know, yet did. It seemed so unreal, what was he looking for? He had absolutely no idea.

"Magus?" a familiar voice asked, and when he looked over his shoulder, he saw a confused Lucca staring at him.

"Why are you out here by yourself?" she asked as she approached him.

Magus simply humped, and laid down on the grass, using his hands as a pillow.

"None of your business woman," he finally said, which made Lucca sigh.

"I have a name Magus, can't you just use it?" she asked pleadingly.

He didn't listen, he just watched that red planet, and wondered what planet that could possibly be.

Lucca looked at the mage strangely, he just zoned out on her.

"Hello?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Magus! Hello!!"

Magus caught her hand easily, making her shriek; she hadn't foreseen that.

"Shut up," Magus said simply, releasing her hand and replacing his own behind his head.

Lucca looked at him strangely, and then looked up, only to see a shining red star. She had seen that star thousands of times before, but never understood the meaning of it.

She looked at Magus, who seemed fully fixated on the red star, while his silvery blue hair twirled around in the wind, making him whip them out of his face continuously.

Lucca bit her lip for awhile, before making up her mind and saying: "Magus! Sit up!"

Magus looked at her strangely, and asked: "Why?"

"Just do it!"

Magus sighed and sat up, not knowing what that woman was planning.

***Magus's POV***

I sat up and looked at her strangely as she sat down behind me. I had absolutely no idea what she was trying to do, but if that was all, I shouldn't have to worry. I suddenly feel her hands in my hair, and I shiver a little at the sudden contact, but she didn't notice. She grabs something from her bag and tells me to look straight ahead. I wanted to say something back, but the words never made it out my throat as I look into her eyes. 'So blue,' I remembered hearing myself think, and I mentally shook my head before looking straight ahead, leaning on my arms.

She starts to comb my hair, but I don't understand why she would do that. She'd only done it once, but that was when I was still Janus. They had tried to make me sell my soul to Lavos, but the Black Wind had howled, and I heard a woman telling me to stay away from Lavos's grasp no matter what. I listened to her, and ran like the wind, though I did not know where too. I ran and ran, until I crashed into her. She had wandered away from her group of friends, and I wanted to run, but she stopped me. When Dalton came, she fired a few balls of Fire Magic at them, scaring them all away.

Once they were gone, she tried to soothe me, because I was scared of Lavos; I was afraid he'd come after me and eat my soul.

She told me that everything would be fine, when suddenly, she exclaimed: "Oh boy, just look at your hair! It's a mess!"

I had to agree with her, it indeed was a mess, and we laughed for a moment, before she hauled me onto her shoulder and sat down on a bench, placing me on her lap. She had started to comb my hair and had then braided it into a pretty nice braid. I had tried braiding it myself once, but I wasn't so good with stuff like that. Schala used to do stuff like that for me.

Right now, she was busy braiding my hair again, and she was very silent through all of that.

"Why?" I heard myself whisper, but I knew she heard it.

"Why what?" she asked right back.

I sighed and asked: "Why are you doing this for me?"

She didn't answer for quite some time and kept on braiding my hair, until she whispered: "I don't know."

***Lucca's POV***

Good question, why did I do this for him? I remember the first time I did this for him when he had been but 5 or so. I had gone solo for awhile and had avoided my other self at all costs. I had found Janus easily, or had he found me? He just crashed into me, his robes and hair a real mess. I stopped him but he was trying to get loose. Then I saw Dalton. I scared him and his men easily, after which I tried to get the shaking boy to calm down.

I had said his hair was a mess, and we both laughed for a moment, before I hauled him onto my shoulder, as if he was my own son. Maybe that's why I combed and braided his hair, out of loneliness. Maybe because I wanted a child of my own. However, I would always be the girl with the geeky glasses, so who would want me? So what if I saved the world? Crono had been the real hero.

I let out a sigh after I finished braiding his hair, and he looked at me in confusion.

"You don't know?" he asked, one perfect eyebrow raised at me.

SHIT! Where'd that come from?!?! This is Magus we're talking about!!! ………So? I nodded solemnly, averting my gaze to the ground. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn't look up to meet his gaze.

***Magus's POV***

She looked at the ground, trying no to look at me, and for some reason, I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. I suddenly heard Crono calling us.

"Lucca! Janus!"

I cringed, I've told him a million times I don't want to be called that way!

"Come on! We're going to Leene Square! Hurry up!"

I gave a sigh and got up. I tapped Lucca on her shoulder and she looked up at me in confusion. I held out my hand for her so I could pull her up, and she hesitated, before grasping my hand and allowing me to pull her to her feet.

"Hey come on lovebirds! Let's go already!" Crono yelled, and I felt my cheeks burning, and I could see those of Lucca were burning too.

"Oh shut the Hell up!" I yelled back at him, but he just grinned that stupid grin of his before walking toward the Square.

I cursed a few words in the ancient Zealean tongue before walking to the Square also, with Lucca not too far behind.

***My POV***

The 8 friends walked toward the Square, Magus not really caring where they were going. They just walked over the Square, until they came to a certain area where all their adventures had started. The Gate there was closed, and they all sat down in silence to watch it, their minds racing with all the long lost memories from 5 years ago.

Crono gave a sigh and asked out of the blue: "I wonder what would've happened if we never discovered the Gates."

"The world would've probably been destroyed," Marle said silently.

Suddenly, without a warning, the Gate opened and a cloaked figure fell out. The figure was definitely feminine, and she was a very strange girl indeed. She had sapphire blue hair and she was dressed in an old armor that the gang had never heard off, let alone saw it. When she opened her eyes, her light magenta eyes instantly looked at them in confusion, before she got up.

"Sorry if I disturbed anything, but I still had to get used to using these Gates," the girl said while dusting herself off.

Crono looked at her quizzically, before asking: "Who are you?"

The girl looked up and answered with a simple: "Janice, Janice Zeal."

The 7 people who had been in the Zeal Kingdom, gasped in shock, for Zeal was only the last name for the royal family.

"That's impossible! The only other female in the royal family besides the Queen was Princess Schala! And she's dead!" Glenn said with an angry glare at the girl.

Janice simply rolled her eyes and said: "Schala isn't dead."

The gang gasped again.

"If she's not dead, then where is she?!?!" Magus demanded.

"My Father keeps her prisoner to get his second child, and my stepbrother, to him. My Father possess nor life, nor death, he has…"

"Life Eternal," Magus finished for her.

Janice gave a nod and continued. "A few hundred years after my birth, my father seemed to have another child, whose name was based on my own because the child was XY."

"Ayla no get. What girl mean with XY??" Ayla asked, and the others looked confused as well, besides Robo and Atropos.

"It means the child was male," Robo explained.

"Ah," the gang exclaimed simultaneously.

Marle: "Just a question, but how did your father get immortality?"

Janice bowed her head, before raising it and saying: "One word you probably already know."

The gang blinked.

"……Lavos."

Everyone of the gang paled and was in shock for quite some time. Magus suddenly remembered something he had never told anyone before; something when he got sucked into the Gate and was transported to 600 AD.

***Flashback***

Janus held on for dear life as Schala tried to struggle from her mother's grip, when he looked at the giant Lavos, and saw something unusual.

He had hair that stood up like a flame with stiff spikes, a windows-peak, an extremely muscular body, wore a body armor that held three sharp spikes on the shoulder plates, a pair of dark brown gloves with blood red claws on them, dark brown boots that were momentarily floating just above Lavos's body, flaming red eyes and he held something in his hands that looked like a swallow, but had axe-like ends. The man smirked violently at Janus, and Janus noticed the razor-sharp fangs the man had.

No one else seemed to take notice of the man, and when Lavos seemed to laugh at Janus, the man laughed as well; a maniacal laugh heard only by Janus. Schala finally ran over to Janus, but it was too late, Janus was thrown in by the strange man, but the others didn't seem to notice him, and Janus fell down the Gate. All he heard, was one sentence.

"Now you fall, just like your sister!"

***End Flashback***

'There's no way in hell that she…'

Magus's thoughts were cut off at an ear-piercing screech. They looked up and saw something shoot at them, but they all jumped away, still lightly shocked. However, Janice wasn't scared in the least, just… enraged.

"ERCASSAM!!!! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!?!" she hollered.

The monster that was covered in armor made from giant metallic spikes and was the size of Crono, just snarled ferociously; his snakes-tongue darting in and out as he bared his sharp teeth at the gang and his spiked tail whooshed about angrily. Crono was the one closest in range from the monster, but was somehow frozen in place out of fear as he heard a screech he knew all too well reach his ears. His eyes were wide with horror as he took a few steps back.

The monster's red eyes suddenly flashed toward Crono and the poor boy felt his body freeze in response.

"CRONO!!! GET OUT OF THERE!!!" Marle screamed as Ercassam made a move to race straight at Crono, but he didn't hear Marle at all.

Ercassam shot at Crono and punched him in the stomach, making the red haired man gasp out in pain. A kick to Crono's head made him fly back, and a sudden Gate opened and swallowed him up, before closing as fast as it had come.

The faces of Crono's allies showed only pure shock. He was gone, Crono was simply gone!

To Be Continued…