Chapter 5
"Bless you!" Schala shouted.
And that was the common opinion.
"Where is Lavos?" Janus asked with relief.
Cered helped Molor to slump down on the floor, and he did his best to support himself with his borrowed arms.
"He's gone, as driven out of existence as is possible," the dragon in the human body said with a faint triumphant smirk, "it wasn't easy however. And I had some trouble getting rid of those tentacles too."
"Sorry about that," Schala said.
"It's fine. All you need to get free from them is actually a certain pattern of magic, it might be hard for a human to grasp though. Anyway…"
He sighed, tiredly.
"Just let me rest for a few minutes and then we can switch back."
There was a short silence.
"Should I… get Schaliya and Glenn?" Schala finally said, glancing towards her dead son.
"It won't do any good to hope," Janus bitterly said and shook his borrowed head, "I can't do it anymore. And he's too far gone now in any case. I wouldn't have been able to bring him back even if I still had my powers."
A thicker silence filled the room, this one only sorrowful. Marle leaned at Crono, Cered reached out for Schala as Ceredan heavily sat down on the floor. Lucca stared at the ground, clenching and unclenching her hands helplessly. Lashey just looked away from everyone else.
A dry sound pierced the scene. Almost like a chuckle.
"What?" Janus muttered, watching his own body ironically smile.
"I had an interesting idea," Molor said with a light, thoughtful smirk, "your power alone would not have helped, but what about twice the amount?"
Janus hissed; it took a moment to realize that it was the closest to a laugh he could produce in his current state.
"Of course," he said, "I suppose it could be possible."
"What of it?" the rest of the room asked.
"A little game with destinies," Molor said with a more proper smirk, "provided Janus can find his ways through a different kind of Gate."
"I've still got all the powers he didn't feel a need for, I could manage."
The snake straightened up.
"I'll get the help we need, from other lives," he said, almost grinning.
"Are you planning to go back to the past and get yourself or what?" Lucca wondered.
"No, that wouldn't work. That could endanger history and we've had enough of that already," Janus said, "but as you might remember from the time we had troubles with Charash I suddenly knew that Dalton was my father."
"Yes, I clearly remember that one," Schala said with a slight grimace, "you were dreaming about another life, right?"
"Correct; I learnt to know a different version of my path, and that Janus found out about Dalton. He managed to travel to and from a third version of me, and I think I can remember how he did it."
"Isn't that risky?" Marle asked.
"Probably, but I'm not leaving Janatzer dead."
Even the cold eyes of Molor's body glowed with determination.
"Are you ready to switch back?" he asked his companion.
"I'll manage."
As he wasn't used to human arms, Molor was rather clumsy as he reached out and carefully took his own head between his borrowed hands. He leaned forwards and Janus reached up until their foreheads met and the human body closed his eyes.
A stream of light flashed between their heads and they recoiled with a grunt.
"Did you make it?" Schala worriedly asked.
The human lifted his hands to his face and rubbed it with movements too distinct to be the ones of a guest.
"Yes…" Janus muttered, "but I feel like hell…"
Marle took that as a perfect reason to cover him in healing stars.
"Much better…" Molor muttered while Janus straightened up.
The snake coiled himself up in a dark tower of muscles and scales with a sigh of relief.
"Art thee going right away, brother?" Cered protested as Janus made a suspicious stretching movement as if to get ready to move forcefully, "in thy state!"
"I have to get this over with," the warlock grimly stated, "the longer Janatzer is dead, the harder it'll be to get him back. It's a question of a few hours if you're trying to perform a resurrection."
Schala's husband fell short of protests in face of that.
"You can go to get Schaliya and Glenn now," Janus said and turned to Schala.
He looked at Molor, who waved a bit with the tip of his tail in an understanding movement. Whatever it was Janus had meant to say, the snake already knew. So the warlock kept turning.
"And you, don't do anything until I get back."
"We weren't planning too, commander," Lucca said with a hint of irony in her grim voice.
"Good."
Janus faced Lashey, who sternly looked back at him with concern.
He held back a sigh.
"I don't know how much magic power you have, but you must have a bit since you could use the brooch," he acknowledged, "we'll need all help we can get."
"I understand, lord Janus. I will do anything possible to repay my husband's sin."
Janus looked away, shaking his head.
The empress' face showed naught.
"I'm going then," the warlock muttered and raised his hands.
His lips moved without a sound, not leaving his secret spell to anybody.
At first nothing happened and Janus deeply frowned in frustration. Once again he tried the spell, and this time a Gate did begin to open before him. But it went much slower than usual, several seconds passed before it was big enough for him to pass through.
Without a glance backwards the warlock entered the darkness and it closed behind him with a hiss.
"Will he be well?" Lashey worriedly asked.
He's too damn stubborn to even consider failing, Crono muttered even though he tried to sound optimistic, it's one of his sides that I'm not sure is good or bad. He's got loads of those.
"I see…"
"I'll be back soon, as well," Schala announced and easily ripped a Gate open before her.
She hurried through without awaiting a word from anyone.
Silence settled for a few moments.
"It's not often they show that kind of proof of being siblings but…" Lucca muttered and sat down on one of the room's low beds.
There were two beds of course, since it was the room of two young men. One by each side wall. Apart from that it was a fairly naked place, furniture wise. A fine, bluish carpet covered most of the floor and there were a few pots with big leafed plants in the two otherwise empty corners, but apart from that and Ceredan's staff resting against the wall beside the door, it was empty. It was a room for resting, not living in.
And Janatzer's body was on a stretcher, supported above the floor by a pair of crossed wooden legs. Marle thought it looked like a military bed, but apart from her idle thought nobody really bothered about what the dead son was resting on.
Seconds snailed by.
Finally Cered felt himself forced to break the silence.
"I'm sorry thee had to experience these horrors, my empress," he sadly said.
Lashey tried to smile a little but failed.
"'Twas my fault, sir Cered," she bitterly said, "in the truth as thee all know, I was the one who chose lord Sere as my husband and thus the emperor who caused thy son's death."
She hardly had time to finish her sentence before she was attacked by profuse reassurances that it wasn't her fault. This was the first time that the woman actually showed a sign of being taken aback. She almost took a step backwards as almost everyone else in the room dived for her defense.
"Thou could not know that he carried such raw ambitions within, my empress!" Cered resolutely stated.
"Indeed, my father speaketh the truth!" Ceredan chimed in, "'twas by no means thine crime!"
Really now! the fruit of the two men's family lines snorted.
"Listen lady, you're looking at this the entirely wrong way," Lucca growled, "how was you to know that that damn parasite had infested Janus' mind and just was waiting for a chance to attack? It wouldn't surprise me if Lavos was behind this entire mess, he's done stuff like it before."
Lashey blinked at the support, surprised by their overwhelming kindness. She wasn't used to feelings being expressed this way.
"I… thank thee, however…" she began.
But as Marle held forth a perfectly clean handkerchief with a careful smile, the empress' voice trailed off.
"Here," the princess gently said, "why don't you get rid of that makeup and I'll heal that nasty bruise."
Lashey stared at the much younger woman for a moment, then her hand flew to the tears in the powder as if she had forgotten all about it.
"I… nay…" she mumbled, shaking her head.
"How can you blame yourself when you've got such a bastard of a husband?" Marle demanded.
The harsh words sounded alien in her mouth and even her friends looked strangely at her.
The crystal-blue eyes below a smooth forehead and blond hair were hard as steel, nothing like the princess everyone knew.
Without a word Marle took Lashey's hand and forcefully put the handkerchief in the shivering palm.
"We should all give Janus a harsh one for leaving you to that demon," the princess angrily stated.
Lashey blinked again. And she wasn't the only one.
There was a dryly amused hiss. Marle shot Molor a heated look.
"Do not misunderstand me," the snake said and laid his head back on the highest coil, "I'm not expressing any scorn."
"Then why were you laughing?" the princess demanded.
"It is because I saw something familiar for a moment," Molor said.
He straightened up a little again and shook his head.
"Accept her help, empress," he said, "and stop blaming yourself."
His tongue played nervously before he reluctantly added:
"When mating you can never see the fruit of your choice until it faces you, such is the rule of life."
Silence fell again as all eyes rested on Molor, hesitantly.
A few moments moved by.
The snake sighed.
"You understand fully well what I might have meant, and yes it is so," he gruffly said, "but Janus doesn't know it and if you tell him I'll swallow you whole. It's not pleasant. What I mean, empress…"
He glared at her again.
"… Is that making a mistake does not place the entire guilt on you. What you did might have given life to these slumbering dangers, but your fault, it was not."
"Molor, I need to make it clear," Lucca said in a somewhat weak voice, "are you…?"
The snake hissed, irritated.
"Listen, inventor," he said, "this is not the place nor time to discuss it and I only brought it up to make it clear for the empress that her shame is unprovoked. I do not want to delve further in that matter, understand?"
"Yep, you are," Lucca calmly concluded.
Molor grunted, frustrated.
"I am not in the mood this, humans," he said and his head disappeared into his own private tower.
"And I thought he and Janus were perfectly alike…" Marle mumbled to Cered, who shook his head in disbelief.
"Let it go already!" Molor growled, "I should have kept my mouth shut…"
"I actually had a suspicion," the princess carefully said, "but I didn't ask since I didn't want to bother you with something like it."
"I am most grateful," the snake muttered.
Marle turned to Lashey and found that she was somewhat hesitantly removing her makeup with the handkerchief.
"Who'd imagine he was the father type…" Lucca muttered to Crono, who shook his head in disbelief.
"I can hear you perfectly," Molor coldly informed, "one more word about my son and I swear you'll see the inside of my stomach."
"Alright already, cut the death threats. I'll shut up. Geez…"
Lucca rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smirk a little at the pure obscurity.
The princess of Guardia was carefully working on removing the bluish, aching spot from Lashey's face when a Gate opened again, causing everyone to spin at it.
But it wasn't Janus who came back, it were Schaliya and Glenn who stumbled out. Schala followed them closely and the darkness shrunk into nothingness behind her.
"Isn't he back yet?" the older woman asked, looking around.
The only reply were head shakings, while the daughter of the house hurried over to her oldest brother's side.
Crono, Marle and Lucca looked at Schaliya's white dress, exchanged glances and winced.
It was a white sundress with no sleeves, quite pretty on her.
But last they had seen it, it had been covered in the blood of the man who now calmingly wrapped his arms around his wife.
'Not a word to them about what could have happened to Janus,' Schala muttered in the three youngsters' heads, but it wasn't a necessary order.
The people from the most distant future hadn't had any plans at all to mention Janus' fall to his niece.
"How long hast thee been waiting?" Schaliya grimly asked and stood, leaving Glenn's embrace to give her living brother a hug.
"Not very long," Molor informed and finally lifted his head to a normal level again, "but he should be back soon. As it is now I cannot feel his presence however so I'm not sure."
"What if he is trapped somewhere?" Cered worriedly asked.
Molor sighed and shook his head.
"It won't do you any good to worry. He knows what he's doing."
He laid his head on his back again.
"I hope…"
Books is one of the better inventions of man, but when you collect a lot in one place they seem to dry the air. Even if the smell of paper is nice it might become disconcerting.
The man who hurried down the hallway of ridiculously tall bookcases had been lightly irritated about how quickly he got thirsty when he'd been searching through the library. That had been then, now was now and it still bothered him. He hadn't felt well when he started off and even though he tried to rush himself he wasn't able to. The dry air clawed at his throat as he stopped to regain his breath, gritting his teeth.
'Damn you, Lavos…'
Apart from his breathing everything was silent. The few windows allowed due to the age of some of the scripts gave away that it was getting late.
'To hell with this.'
Janus shook his head and straightened up. He knew that the one he sought was close, but he wasn't in the mood for hide and seek.
'I need your help.'
At least his sense of telepathy was untouched, and he easily spread the call's reach over the entire building.
The silence lasted for a second. Then the sound of a book hitting the floor was heard from somewhere ahead, on the other side of the bookcase that Janus was leaning on.
He gave half a smile.
'What the hell?' came the suspicious reply.
'I don't have much time to explain, just get over here,' Janus ordered.
Another moment brushed by, during which the warlock felt the pull at his mind.
'Clumsy at that…' he absentmindedly thought.
But at least it worked. In a flash of light another man showed up in front of Janus, looking at him with slightly wide eyes. It was like looking into a mirror showing your past or future. They wore exactly the same clothes, but Janus carried a much older and more haggard expression.
It was quite fair, since he was twice as old as the man facing him. But they didn't have the same history, even if the visitor had been agonizingly aware of his mirror's painful life as a brainwashed slave.
The Pawn of the Mystics opened his mouth for the obvious question, but Janus cut him off since he understood fully well what it would be.
"I'm from yet another time stream," the older one quickly explained, "and we don't have much time. I'll explain everything when we've found your student."
A pair of blue eyebrows twitched.
"How can you know?" he asked, hesitating whether he'd believe what he saw before him or not.
"I will explain," Janus grimly said, forcing himself not to let his frustration show, "as for now just trust me. I'll tell you and our saved version everything."
The Pawn watched the guest for a moment longer before he slowly nodded.
"Very well," he said, "I'll take us there, you don't look so good."
"I don't feel so good either," Janus allowed himself.
There weren't much use in trying to deny it.
The younger of the two eyed the older for another second, then he shook his head lightly and turned to his left, away from the bookcases. With a low mutter and a wave of his hand he made a new Gate open, and the two stepped in.
None of them had been sure on what to find on the other side of the darkness, but what was there surprised them both thoroughly.
But that side of this story has it's own place and time.
Author's note:
The other story is named "The Janus Saga: A Look on Another One", and I tell his tale just as well as this one. Buut, you probably knew that already.
To Jade Dixon: Great to see you back ^_^
To Lord Cirenmas: Love your recurring comments ;)
To everyone else: Enjoy the show, love ya too ;)