Thanks for reviewing the first chapter, Jade Dixon :) So alright, following your request I have written more. As you will see there are some details about our original Janus missing in this story, but they'll eventually be added as well. For now, let us concentrate on the saved warlock.

And for heaven's sake, I STILL don't own anything!

On with the show!

Chapter 2, Assembly

Two years later.

  The wind was the only sound to be heard by the foundation of Denadoro mountains, apart from a few birds' chirping. But just a couple of minutes ago they had been silenced in fear. No threat was to be seen any longer, however, so they dared to pipe up again.

  Then suddenly some of the flyers fled in panic as a dark hole opened in thin air above one of the cliff ledges. Two shadows stepped out and looked down at the grassy path about eight feet below them. Their sharp eyes noted the strange marks in the grass, despite the distance. Two sets of eyebrows went up, they didn't even exchange glances to confirm their thoughtfulness.

 "What could be trying to ambush him?" one of them said.

 "No idea," the other muttered.

  Both of them glanced at the continued path. Some thick bushes grew at its turn ahead, and the ripped tracks seemed to end there.

 "We'll know when he shows up," the first one calmly concluded.

  The second nodded. He was about twice as old as the first one to speak, and when he moved it was with a slight stagger. The first of them watched his companion as he leaned back against a rock with a grunt.

 "Tell me what happened," the first said.

  The older slowly shook his head.

 "When he comes..." he said, resolutely.

 "Very well."

  The younger one pursed his mouth. He was worried for the older man, for more reasons than empathy. Even though the empathy for this particular person was about as deep as it possibly could get, that wasn't all.

  A distant sound caused both of them to turn their heads and they silently sunk down on one knee not to be seen. Any viewer would have gotten the creeps about how exactly alike they moved. And as if the mirrored movement wasn't enough...

  Footsteps came closer, down the path. And a figure came walking into sight, dressed in a light, white-brown cape with a hood that hid the wearer's face. The boots that were seen below the cloth were made of warmly brown leather. A polished, smooth staff hit the ground for every second step as the hooded person walked.

  Two pairs of eyebrows went up again, but the men kept still and just watched.

  The figure reached the first torn footprints in the grass and sunk down on one knee, reaching out a hand to touch the torn earth.

  He straightened up with a grunt and reached up to push the hood backwards.

  A sun burned face was revealed, marked with a scar that had torn up the right eyebrow and also forever changed the cheek. The red eye had been spared from the assault, however, even though it obviously had been a close call. A white headband held back a flood of blue hair as the two eyes followed the tracks and finally stopped by the lush bushes.

 "Alright, I'm here!" Janus called with a roll of his eyes, "and I know that you are as well, let's get it over with!"

  With a hissed snarl a thin green creature leapt, or rather flew out of the bushes. Three sets of eyebrows knitted.

  It was a seven feet humanoid mantis, standing on its back legs. Even if it only had two front legs, those were equipped with claws that resembled to broadswords.

  Janus deeply sighed, with one light movement releasing the ties that kept his robe tied up. The cloth fell and got thrown aside. Beneath it the man wore a pair of light-purple pants with a dark belt and a white-brown shirt. He was muscular, but not to the extremes. And it wasn't the shape of his body that gave the observer the idea of power; the man seemed to emit strength and determination harder than diamonds.

 "Flea is running out of ideas, isn't he?" he said with a small sneer, swiftly throwing his staff between his hands, "and I was starting to think that he was getting better..."

 "Don't be too full of yourself, you puppet," the mantis hissed, its completely black eyes flaring with rage.

 "Me, a puppet?"

  Janus' voice suddenly became sharp, and his almost amused look turned to steel. Without moving the slightest his entire body changed from the relaxed stance into something that promised instant death for any opponent.

 "You don't know what you're talking about, grasshopper..." he said in an icy voice, "but come on then, if you're so sure of your abilities."

  The mantis didn't even reply. Fast as a bolt of lightning it exploded forwards, but Janus was quicker. He leaped aside while taking the staff in his right hand. With a snort he stabbed it into a stone, and there was a sharp, zipping sound. As the human took his weapon in both hands and held it still for a second before the battle truly began it was unveiled that two metallic blades had erupted from the two ends of the hardened stick.

 "Interesting, that," the older observer admitted.

 "Truly. Hm, look over there."

  The older followed his companion's glance and smiled a little.

  By the turn of the path that the blue-haired man had come from three other warriors now stood. One young man with fiery red hair held up by a white-gray headband, one blond woman in his age and finally a creature made entirely of metal.

  They were all watching the battle with open mouths – well, apart from Robo because of his lack of such – which wasn't much of a surprise. The two combatants were almost invisible, moving so quickly that it was nearly impossible to see what was happening.

 "I think we better stop them before they decide to interfere," the younger said.

 "Good idea."

  The younger nodded and stood up while muttering in a low voice.

 "And freeze," he said and pointed one gloved palm at the battle and the other at the southern path.

  Janus looked up in surprise as the claw he had been ready to parry with his staff never came. With raised eyebrows he watched his frozen opponent, petrified in a stasis that normally should have brought it to fall.

 "You're doing fine, I see."

  He looked up in further surprise and gave a wide grin as a figure leaped down into the grass a few feet away. A blood red cloak flowed and swayed by the flight and impact, but the wearer seemed untouched by any movement. He smiled a bit as well, hardly able to contain his true delight upon seeing his young student in full strength.

 "I almost thought you had forgotten about me," Janus said as he walked past his enemy and grabbed the hand of the Pawn of the Mystics.

 "Certainly not, I've just been busy," the slightly older warlock said.

  He suddenly looked up at the ledge and added.

 "In fact, I'm still busy. But somebody needs our help."

  With a grunt another blue haired man with a crimson cloak landed on the path. He was definitely older than the other two men, even though he looked very much like them. Thin face, blue hair – even though it was a bit gray below his pointy ears – red eyes and a muscled body. But despite that he seemed very strong at first sight, something was obviously wrong with him. His shoulders were crouched and he grimaced as he reached up to massage his forehead.

 "Now this was unexpected," Janus said with raised eyebrows.

 "I thought the same," his teacher agreed and looked sharply at the older, "now can you tell us why you need our help?"

 "Yes, but you won't like it."

  The oldest Janus sighed and tried to straighten up properly.

 "I guess you see that something rather unusual happened to me," he darkly said with a hint of irony at the understatement.

 "It's not exactly difficult to notice," the one with different clothes said with a frown.

(Authors note; from now on the "original" Janus will be called the Prince, the one who was enslaved is the Pawn and the one of the time stream they all are in will be the one named Janus, to avoid confusion.)

  The one being questioned gravely nodded.

 "You know the rules, I shouldn't give you details," he said, but knew he didn't really need to say that.

  His mirrors of different time streams nodded agreement.

 "Well..."

  Another deep sigh before he finally managed to assemble enough nerve to let it out.

 "I've settled in a certain time with Schala, her family and a close friend you'll meet later. Yes, Schala. You'll find her."

  He sighed again and shook his head.

 "Things had been peaceful for years," he bitterly said, "when suddenly the emperor started a war, or if we got attacked, I don't really care. In any case he wanted me to help. I refused and..."

  He gritted his teeth and looked away.

 "... Because of that, the emperor made sure that Schala's son was in the first line. Of course he got killed. When we got there I..."

  His hand spread over his face for a moment before he let it fall and could continue.

 "... I knew it was my fault and I fell into more or less trance of despair. Of course there was a force that just had waited for a moment of weakness..."

  He fell silent and threw a bitter glance at his silent mirrors.

 "So, to sum it up," he darkly said, "I need your help to resurrect Janatzer, because I don't have the power to do it anymore."

 "Are you saying that...?" the youngest of them said in disbelief.

  The sky received a cold glare.

 "I need your help," the Prince darkly said.

 "So why are we still standing here?" Janus said, straightening up and letting the query pass, "our nephew's dead and we better mend that."

 "I agree," the Pawn gravely nodded.

  The oldest almost smiled a bit.

 "That would be appreciated," he said.

  He raised his hands and opened a Gate, but it wasn't without apparent hardship. It took several seconds before the portal reluctantly grew big enough. But as soon as possible the men left without looking back at the frozen mantis and heroes.

  The Gate closed.

  A few seconds later it opened again, and three Januses returned. But this time, they all moved more relaxed than when they left. For what had seemed like a handful of moments for the inhabitants of this time stream had been much longer for the blue-haired men.

 "Alright then, my turn to fight Lavos," the youngest grinned.

 "And remember what I told you," the Prince said with a small smile.

  The staggering was gone, he seemed filled with fresh new energy. Whatever had happened while they had been gone, it had obviously been good in some way.

 "That shouldn't be a problem if I'm ready for it," Janus nodded.

  While the two others talked the Pawn was watching the still frozen mantis.

 "And what might this be?" he asked as the conversation was finished.

 "Oh that..."

  Janus rolled his eyes with a dry chuckle.

 "It's my latest assassin."

 "Your what?" the Prince said with raised eyebrows.

 "Me and Flea are waging a private war," Janus said, sounding almost amused, "I'm being assassinated once a month."

 "Flea never used transforming magic like that in my time stream," the Pawn said and grunted, "well, he never sent others to kill me either."

 "It's not really more than a swift irritation nowadays," the one with the staff said and shook his head, "none of them have been good enough to give me more than this scar ever since I was fourteen."

  He motioned at the right side of his face.

 "What exactly are you doing here in Denadoro mountains anyway?" his old teacher asked.

 "Looking for the Masamune."

  The Prince gave Janus a very sharp look.

 "You're what?" he slowly said.

 "Looking for the Masamune," Janus repeated and glanced towards the approaching, frozen heroes of Time, "and then I better go and kick some fighting spirit back into Glenn so we can get started."

 "I am not hearing this," the Prince extremely slowly said.

 "So you say?" Janus said with amusement, "what role did you fill in your time stream then? You never told us."

 "I was the leader of the Mystics."

  This time the Prince was the one receiving sharp looks, from two directions.

 "You were what?" the Pawn slowly asked.

 "I kicked Ozzie off the throne and led the war. That was until Glenn and the others showed up, but it didn't pass without complications. In the end we fought together, however."

 "That is indeed twisted..."

  Janus easily leaned at his bladed staff with a small smirk.

 "If you were the king of Mystics, that technically makes us enemies since I am the royal wizard of Guardia," he continued, amused.

 "I am not hearing this..."

 "I could say much the same about your profession," the Pawn grunted.

  He glanced at the mantis as a low, cracking sound was heard from it.

 "But in any case, I can't hold the spell much longer," he said.

 "Well, I need to get going I suppose," Janus said with a sigh, "it was interesting meeting you."

   His old teacher smiled a bit, but the Prince just looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he suddenly gave a small grin.

 "I think I actually want to see how you do," he said, "I'll be watching."

 "Good idea," the Pawn agreed with a similar smirk.

 "At your service," Janus sneered as he took the defensive stance in front of the mantis that he had been in before meeting his mirrors.

  The Gate closed behind two red cloaks.

 'Wake up,' the Pawn's voice almost immediately commanded from inside of Janus' mind.

  The royal wizard caught the two bladed arms against his staff and heaved forwards, causing the mantis to fly backwards with a screech. It hit the cliff with its back paws and shot towards his foe again.

  With a snarl Janus threw himself aside and rolled away from the sharp edges that plunged into the grass and earth.

 "Hang on, we're coming!" a young woman's voice suddenly called.

 "What the...!"

  The mantis screeched in frustration as an arrow hit the panzer on its thin chest. The dart bounced and fell to the ground, but at least the monster's concentration had shattered. Before it had time to recover a massive, metallic fist flung against its head and it stumbled backwards.

  Janus whirled to his feet, glancing at the three helpers. He tried not to smile widely in triumph upon seeing those he had waited for finally before him.

Take this! the young man of the troop called while rushing at the surprised mantis, katana in both hands.

 "Are you alright?" the young woman called and ran up to the wizard even while she was fidgeting with her bow to get another arrow into it.

 "I'm fine," Janus replied, keeping his voice at normal surprised gratefulness, "thank you for the help."

 'I see, you'll save them the truth for a while,' the Prince said.

 'At least until I know whether they know from which time I come or not,' Janus thought back.

 'Wise decision.'

 'Why thank you.'

 "Are you Janus, the wizard?" Marle asked, not looking at the blue-haired man but carefully aiming at the mantis.

 "The very same."

  He looked up as he heard Crono's chanting.

 "Save it," Glenn's old friend called, "Flea makes all of my assassin's magic proof."

  Crono stopped calling upon the world's powers and grimly nodded, getting ready for a direct assault with pure strength and sword skill instead.

  But before the young man had time to charge his enemy's wings turned into a blur and the monster left the ground.

 "You weakling!" it hissed, its black eyes locked on Janus.

  It then shot upwards and disappeared above the cliffs.

  With a snort Janus held up his staff in his left hand and waved a little with his free fingers. Accompanied with another zipping sound the two blades shot back into the wood, without a trace.

 "Another one down..." the wizard absentmindedly murmured, glancing towards the monster's escape route.

  He turned to his helpers and smiled a bit.

 "Thanks, that was unexpected," he said and reached down to pick up his robe, "and who might you be?"

  Of course he knew already, but as he had decided to hide his past until he had information about his allies' knowledge he was determined to play the game to the fullest.

 I'm Crono, the young man said as he sheathed his katana, this is Marle and Robo.

  He pointed at his friends while saying their names.

 "You helped save the queen," Janus nodded while shaking Crono's hand, "Frog told me."

 Yeah, him, Lucca and me saved Her Majesty, Crono said.

 "I have to thank you for that. You did what I failed to, as I was on the completely wrong track at the time."

 'I'm not hearing this...'

  Janus had to fight a smirk at the voice in his head.

 "So, what can I do for you?" he asked and turned to Marle after shaking Robo's hand without even blinking.

 "We are here in pursuit of the sword Masamune," the robot informed with his beeping voice, "we received the information that you had gone here to find it as well and decided that it would be logical to search your help, sir."

 "Is that so?"

  Janus' smile turned a little wider.

 "Then let's go, it's said to have been placed somewhere on top of this mountain after the last owner died."

  His smile faltered and his eyes darkened during the last few words, however.

 "I... take it you knew him?" Marle carefully said after a moment's tight silence.

  Janus slowly nodded.

 "Yes, Cyrus," he explained, "Guardia's finest knight, and a good friend of both Frog and me. The leaders of the Mystics killed him. And Frog was..."

  He fell silent and shook his head.

 "That's not a tale that I should tell," he said and threw the robe over his shoulder, "let's go."

 "Yes, but... eh... what about that grasshopper thing?" Marle said, a bit nervously glancing at the sky that was to be seen between the cliffs, "shouldn't we have stopped it in case... well..."

 "Don't worry about that, I've seen several dozens of his kind," Janus said with a tired sneer, "Flea just won't give up trying to kill me. Nothing to worry about, it's set on me and won't attack anyone else, if that is what bothers you."

 "I don't know if I'm relieved or even more worried..." 

  She straightened up and looked around.

 "So, who's coming along, now that we've got Janus here?" she asked, "I still think that somebody should go and try to get Frog back on his feet."

 "He's still depressed?" Janus grunted and rubbed his forehead, "that stupid amphibian..."

 'That's in fact the only normal thing you've said so far,' the Prince dryly commented, but the small smile wasn't a sneer.

 "Considering you resemble to queen Leene I believe that you are the one who'd succeed in making him feel better, Marle," Robo beeped, "however the roads aren't safe to travel alone with the monsters around."

 "I know..."

  Marle sighed and leaned her cheek in her hand.

 "It might be out of place, I know," she said, shifting between sad and sheepish, "but I can't help but feel sorry for him. He really thinks he's a failure."

 "Ha!"

  Janus snorted and shook his head.

 "He's a failure?" the wizard said in disbelief, "he's the one who saved the queen from Yakra!"

 Yes, but he's still feeling lower than a mole, Crono grunted.

 "Is he in his home in the Cursed woods?" Janus asked.

 "Yeah," Marle nodded, "I'd go but..."

 "No problem, I'll teleport you there."

  The young man, the woman and the robot looked at the wizard in surprise.

 "Can you do that?" Marle asked.

 "Certainly. Do you trust me?" Janus returned.

 "I know Frog and everyone else around here does, so yes," the princess said with a smile.

 "Very well. We'll be there in a few hours or so."

  Janus raised his staff to point at Marle with it.

 "And tell him that if he doesn't get a grip of himself I'll drag him out of his hole in his tongue," the wizard added before he closed his eyes and muttered a short spell.

  A strong light erupted from the staff and swept around Marle. As it faltered she was gone.

 Whoa! Crono stated.

 "The unknown force was truly very impressive," Robo agreed.

 "It's nothing too complicated, however I can only teleport to places I have visited earlier, or use people's memory for it. So we'll have to climb the mountain."

  Janus motioned at the path ahead with his staff.

 "Shall we?"

  And so the royal wizard of Guardia finally joined the heroes of Time, after thirteen years' waiting.