Chapter 14, Revelations

There are moments when I think that some kind of divine, or at least quite powerful, force of fate is playing with me.

    It never was as strong as right now, though.

 'Heh…' my oldest guardian -or rather, my second oldest person in my head- snorts, 'you've seen nothing yet. I've felt worse than this in the hands of "fate".'

 (I shouldn't say this in a serious fic but… ;) Let's just say that me and Magus have a sorta strained relationship from my earliest fics. Couple a' crossovers (between games) and a parody and wham! He hates me with a passion.)

 'Did you ever have your archenemy in your head, giving art-reviews of your memories?' I dryly comment.

 'I've had to put up with my ex-archenemy hearing my niece call me "uncle Janus".'

 'Glenn, eh?'

 'I have never before nor after seen anyone laugh that much.'

 'Yeah, that was quite amusing to watch if I do say so,' Flea smirk somewhere in the back of my mind.

 (Author's note:

    As you might remember Lizard and co. in Another life told Janus and the others that spirits have insight in the whole history, that's why Flea can know about it.)

 'Not as fun as when Schala blew you and Slash through the wall of Guardia castle,' my guardian growls.

 'I don't recall you laughing right then,' the magician mildly comments.

    Silence.

    I start getting a headache because of the red-hot glare crossing through the center of my thoughts.

 'Quit it!' I snarl, frustrated.

 'Habit,' Flea grunts, 'sorry.'

 'For a cleaned soul you're still quite yourself,' my teacher comments, deliberately staying out of the area between the magician and older warlock.

 'As I said, habit,' the mystic shrugs, 'they're hard to kill.'

    He gives a short, grim sneer at the joke, but none of us follow up. I doubt he believed we would.

    I tiredly glance out of the window just above me. Any minute now they'll be here… from where I stand I have a perfect view of the entrance of Enhasa. I won't miss my friends when they arrive.

    For a moment I close my eyes.

    I waited thirteen years… even more since I got to know Glenn, above anything I wanted to be honest with him. But now I feel almost bitter when the time draws closer.

    The nearest future… might not be pleasant. Many things about my fate I have desired, others I have feared.

 'Don't go that way,' my teacher concernedly warns, 'it's not your mother anymore, remember that.'

 'It's nothing I can work out…'

    I straighten up a bit, clenching my jaw and fists.

 '… Besides, it's your fault I learned to love people.'

    I feel the leader of the Mystics and Flea exchange glances, for the first time I see them agreeing.

 'True.'

    My teacher sighs.

 'You've led a different life than the two of us,' he continues, 'so you're nothing like we were. But what you see of your mother is another shell of Lavos, remember that.'

 'I know… goddammit…'

 'Schala almost died because of her love of that shell, Lavos used her to destroy Zeal completely,' Flea's old leader snarls, 'and the queen laughed.'

    I'm silent.

    I know, I know, I know, I know…

    But… it's…

    I can't…

 'Milord.'

    Flea floats over to the man from the same time stream, putting a hand on his shoulder without flinching. 

 'Hm?' he mutters, drawn from his own grim silence.

 'I really think you should tell them,' the magician says, not a trace of mockery nor scorn in his voice, 'there's still time before Crono and the others come here.'

    I straighten up a bit again, like my teacher frowning.

    Our mirror seems distant for a moment. Flea moves away from him again.

 'Tell us what?' I finally ask.

    His whole spirit is turning as strained as a bowstring. Then suddenly the tension falls back a little, but I almost shudder at the cold rage he emits.

 'Fine…' he snarls and grimly crosses his arms.

    For a moment more he is quiet, I believe he's trying to assemble composure.

 'I didn't tell you everything about how I lost my powers,' he finally admits in a snarl, 'it wasn't just that Lavos fooled me in a moment of weakness.'

    His voice begin as a harsh growling until he's almost shouting.

 'I'm going to tell you the full truth now, both of you. Queen Zeal is not just a shell. But you're still going to kill her, boy. For no other reason than that it's the only thing she can hope for now. You have no idea! You have no idea…'

    He pauses for a moment longer, and then he literally roars in revulsion and dread:

 'You have no idea how it is to be possessed by that demon!'

    I nearly fall to the floor, even if he hadn't screamed the message is nearly more than I can handle.

    None of us, not me nor my teacher, can bring forth a thought of counter.

 'He did not only manage to steal my powers,' the former lord of darkness hisses, 'oh no, that just wouldn't be enough. He had to try to get my body too. And you listen to me now, boy. He tried to break me by bringing my mind into an illusion of what he would have done if succeeded. And it would have been real, for Schala experienced it when she tried to assemble our friends to save me.'

    Another pause before he grudgingly keeps talking.

 'Through my own eyes I saw Robo fall to pieces and melt, I saw the Masamune shatter, I saw Glenn die trying to protect Schaliya, I saw Crono, Marle and Lucca flee in terror. And in the end…'

    He's shivering now.

 '… In the end I saw Schaliya plunge what was left of the Masamune into my chest, half insane. Help from the other side wouldn't have saved her mind, should it really have occurred.'

 'I could have helped save your soul, Schaliya is something else,' Flea mutters in the back.

 'You're going to kill queen Zeal, understand?' my oldest guardian coldly says, 'for as it is now, she is in hell. She'll be free only when she's dead.'

    I swallow hard and somehow manage to move my head in a nod.

    Fair… enough… good Lord…

 'And to know I've still got him hiding in my mind somewhere…' my teacher mutters in a rather hoarse voice.

 'He doesn't have a chance unless you lets your guard crash down,' Flea says.

    He leans his cheek in a hand and grunts.

 'Yeah well… he might interfere if something else tries to take over…'

    My oldest mirror slowly turns around and glares at the mystic, still shuddering slightly with tension and rage from his outburst.

 'Don't you tell me…' he growls.

    Flea backs further away without looking up, almost absentmindedly.

 'Lizard and Zeal discussed that it was strange that it seemed strange that you were able to hold up for so long. And when greeny removed Charash's curse he felt as if something was helping him pull it out.'

 'You're still an expert of making my temper move down to murderous.'

 'Already dead, sorry.'

 'Sorry indeed.'

    Me and my teacher just watch and listens to the argument with a sort of tense fascination.

 'So tell me,' our mirror coldly says, 'if spirits have insight in the whole history then why didn't you know that Lavos' soul was hiding in my mind all the while?'

 'It's not that simple, sadly,' Flea says, shaking his head, 'if we're to watch over someone then we're stuck with that person as his life goes on, though we can see the world around him and try to help. Lavos hid too well for us.'

 'The powers forbid. You're saying that you are my guardian angel?' the old lord sarcastically says.

 'Well… Lizard is the most powerful one of us, but eh… yes.'

    And with that the magician quickly ducks.

    Very slowly I rise my hand and cover my eyes with it. Following my movements exactly two of the spirits in my head does the same.

 'I'm not hearing this,' my teacher and the dark prince snarls simultaneously.

 'Regard it as a payback from us,' Flea says, a hint of cheerfulness back in his voice.

    … Us? Aw, damn.

 'I don't believe this…' I more or less groan in my thoughts.

 'You better do,' the infernal magician says, and I see a hint of his evil side again as his voice turns somewhat demanding, 'now shape up and get going, I feel two swordsmen and a princess closing in.'

    My mirrors scowl at him, probably because they have memories of that tone of his.

    Well, I'm glad to getting something else on my mind…

    Taking in a couple of deep breaths I move into one of the few shadows available in Enhasa, to observe the entrance completely unseen.

    Some part of me can't help but still being surprised with the fact that Flea is telling the truth. Within a minute I oversee Crono, Frog and Marle entering the magical city, a bit bewilderedly looking around at the strange place. Their journey here must have mystified them as well, finding this magical land…

    I clench my teeth and stay in hiding. Let them find out for themselves… it'll be much easier to explain. It's only a matter of moments until they meet prince Janus.

Hehehe… short chapter… I'm stretching things a bit, I know, I know. But in the next chapter Janus will tell the others everything, I promise.

There were quite a few spoilers for the Prince's story in this chapter, but I hope that'll just make you want to read it more ;) Don't worry, it'll come too.