Chapter 25, Back in Zeal, again
"I thank you for accepting Janus and Flea," the grown wizard said, straightening up, "I know that they will be safe here and I can continue my travels."
"You're welcome back if you need help, Cyrus," the king kindly said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Janus let his smile pass the people in the throne room, pausing briefly at his two pupils and Alfador.
'Are you ever going to come back?' the boy sent over to his mind.
'My own teacher came back to see me, and anyway there's no way I'd just leave you forever,' Janus promised again.
They had already had a similar discussion, but the boy was still worried, apparently.
'You two take care now.'
'Leave it to me, I won't let him screw up,' Flea chuckled.
'Better not,' Janus smirked.
'We'll think of something to save Glenn and Cyrus when that time comes.'
'I'm sure you will.'
"I bid you farewell now," the wizard said aloud, turned and walked out, staff in hand.
He left the castle and made sure he was out of sight before he stopped to chant.
'This should do it…'
The darkness opened and he stepped through time and dimensions.
He stepped out in a snowy plain and frowned.
'What the…'
'No, you haven't done a mistake,' the Pawn said in a controlled voice, 'this is all that remains of Zeal.'
The icy winds spread Janus' hair about as he stared towards the tiny village. Somewhere his brain noted that it didn't feel quite as cold as he remembered it. The eternal snowfall had ceased, too.
But these were the last remains of humanity?
'Because of my magic…?' he bitterly thought.
'It would have cost us the boy's life if you hadn't,' the Prince reminded, more friendly than he ever had been before, 'in our streams it was because of Schala. She doesn't talk about it.'
He let "but she knows all too well" remain unsaid.
"Just great…" Janus growled aloud and hurried towards the village.
Earthbound and enlightened ones were assembled in the center of the broken circle of huts, all looking dispirited and bitter. The wizard winced as he estimated their numbers. There could only be a tiny part of the magical kingdom's population left. The earthbound ones seemed to have done better though, but they hadn't needed to make it to the sky lifts…
'That Lavos is so powerful…' Janus bitterly thought.
'To destroy an entire land, yes,' Flea surprisingly gently said, 'with enough power he's able to do so and more. But you will still beat him.'
'I sure hope so…'
'Don't worry about it, cutie.'
"Prince Janus!"
He had been spotted. Now all the people looked up with either relief that he was safe or surprise for the call.
Janus hurried the last few yards forwards. As he began to slow down a child from the outskirts of the crowd stood and hurried towards him. Without thinking the wizard let go of his staff and lifted the little one as the boy clearly asked for a proof of security. Sobbing slightly the child buried his dirty face in the clean cloth over the shoulder and hugged the strong neck tightly.
"What has happened here?" Janus asked, looking around.
The enlightened ones stared at him in distrust while the ones in torn and dirty clothes closed in with relieved smiles.
"So glad to see you, prince," the elder said, "Lavos awakened and destroyed Zeal… we thought you were dead."
"Are there any injured people? Where are my friends?" Janus asked.
The smiles dropped.
"What?" the wizard demanded.
"Lord Dalton came here and brought your friends to the Black Bird," the elder sadly said and shook his head, "and that crashed into the ocean minutes ago."
'They're alive,' the three spirits said simultaneously.
Janus still let his gaze fall and slowly nodded.
"I see," he slowly said, "we can just hope that they are still alive then."
He reached out his free hand and put it on the old man's shoulder.
"As for now, are there injured among you?"
"Yes, but with the Mammon Machine gone no one can use magic to heal them," someone else in the crowd sadly said.
Janus hesitated for a moment.
'If you don't let them know how you do it, it should be alright,' Flea gently said.
'I agree,' the Prince said and the Pawn nodded.
'Alright.'
"Lavos did not create magic," Janus sternly said and let his gaze run over all the people, "there is still some left, and I'll use it to help you now. But then it's better that the mystical powers leave humanity, as you have seen proof of here today."
There was a light, confused murmur among the two groups.
Janus would have clarified a bit, but a sudden earthquake threw them all to the ground. The wizard managed to land on his back to protect the gasping child.
"What's happening?!" somebody shouted.
"Look! The Ocean palace!"
Growling Janus got up and glared towards the horizon as people began to point.
"What the…"
'I never really understood why he did that,' the Prince grunted.
"Is Lavos bringing even more suffering to us?!" yet another voice croaked.
"Are we gonna die too?" the boy Janus held whimpered.
The wizard's eyes narrowed and he calmingly put his hand against the small, shivering back.
"No, I promise," he muttered, "it's alright."
'What's the point of making the palace fly?' he asked in his thoughts.
'Nothing as far as I ever saw,' the Prince said, 'whenever going to a future era it was just floating there, never doing anything. That was, until we fought the queen in there and trashed it.'
'It never hurt people by me either,' the Pawn nodded, 'any idea, Flea?'
'We're talking an intergalactic parasite from outer space, in a ship looking like an overgrown hedgehog,' the Mystic pointed out, 'do you expect logic?'
'He seemed all too intelligent when he talked to me and Molor,' the Prince grunted.
'Just a showoff methinks.'
"Calm down!" Janus shouted, "I don't think it's going to hurt anyone, if so it would have launched something at us already. Just calm down and try not to think about it for now, we have to get you back on your feet!"
The people were still in uproar of new fear. They went from one shock to another these days, the poor…
Janus clenched his teeth and muttered a spell under his breath, so silently that not even the boy heard him. He wasn't going to risk somebody rediscovering the powers and use them to take command of the small world.
A flame erupted towards the sky and the wizard finally got the attention back.
"Listen," he said in a calming voice, "I'll tend to your wounded. Further, there must be something edible around, on land or in the ocean. Hunters, fishermen?"
"We'll send out people," the elder nodded after a moment of collecting himself.
"Good," Janus said, smiling to encourage them all, "select those who should get food and the others start collecting firewood. This winter won't last forever but it's rather chilly still, isn't it?"
'Am I a leader?' he dryly thought as the people began carrying out his advices.
'You were born a prince, it's in our blood,' the Prince said with a slight smile, 'even if you're rusty you're doing well.'
'Thanks, I guess.'
The Epoch's engines slowly died. The driver heavily leaned forward, supported by the wheel.
"You okay, Marle?" Lucca worriedly asked.
"Yeah…" the princess mumbled.
"Marle like Crono best…" Ayla sadly purred.
The daughter of king Guardia straightened up with new determination in her eyes.
"Crono… I'm finding him, no matter what!" she muttered, more to herself than anything else.
Lucca faintly smiled. She missed her childhood friend too and her heart ached as she thought of his fate, but she saw that her newer friend felt more than just the regular grief. And she had turned the pain into a resolve to right what had been wronged.
But Crono was dead… would even time travel help this time?
She was brought out of her thoughts by Marle's jump out of the cockpit.
"Let's check the village out, who knows what Dalton might have done while we were imprisoned!"
"Coming!" Lucca shouted, "wait up!"
Ayla leaped down in the snow and shrieked.
"Brr! Ayla miss Janus too!"
"I'll see what I can do…" Lucca promised and tried to figure out how a warming spell would work.
It worked fine in a way. The snow melted away as if it had been touched by red hot iron wherever the cavewoman trampled.
The three women found the camp in a better state than they had left it. The dispirited humans were now rushing about carrying firewood to one of the huts, which apparently had been turned into a storage for such. The older and younger parts of the population had been shrouded in roughly cut pieces of the many robes the enlightened ones had worn on a daily basis.
"Something apparently happened while we were away," Lucca mildly said.
"Hey, you three!"
They looked up and smiled at the elder.
"You're alive!" he smiled.
"Yeah, we're fine," Marle said with a brave smile, "are you guys alright?"
"Yes, things are looking a bit better as you see," the old man smiled.
"Dalton is gone," Lucca reported, "you won't have to fear him anymore."
The elder smiled gently.
"I want to thank you from all of us," he gratefully said, "you have done so much to help. Ah yes, and prince Janus is here."
"He is?!" the three shouted simultaneously, nearly pouncing the elder.
"Yes, he's helping the wounded," the old man said and waved at the northwestern houses.
His beard almost shivered by the wind created by the women's speed.
"Janus!"
The blue-haired figure stood and turned away from the lying form he had tended to, smiling slightly as Marle, Lucca and Ayla dashed into the simple house.
He saw it coming better than his teacher had done and steeled himself not to stumble backwards over his patients as the blonde princess threw herself at him.
"At least you are alive!" Marle almost growled, her voice choked with emotions.
Janus gently hugged her back for a moment, meeting Lucca and Ayla's relieved gazes.
'This will hurt…'
'Your conscience is too big, cutie,' Flea said, gentle however.
'It's not fair to them.'
He looked down at the blond horsetail. It brought his mind helplessly to Lai, the hug didn't exactly help him to feel any better.
Janus was constantly feeling bad for letting his student down again and again with history's need for refusal. He couldn't take much more of a similar thing.
'They'll forgive you when you get him back,' the Pawn kindly said.
'I hope so.'
"Marle… all," Janus carefully said.
Two crystal blue eyes looked up into his ruby red ones, hesitantly.
"What?" the princess said.
"The black wind said…"
Janus sighed and shook his head.
"It said 'the young man will die, so that his friends may live, so that the ones he cares for won't perish like him'."
Marle opened her mouth but only a choked sound came out. Lucca looked down at the floor with shaking fists and Ayla made a sad, growling noise.
"I'm sorry," Janus said, "what do you think had happened if I had told you? I'm sorry. But look at me. Look at me!"
He sternly looked down into Marle's eyes again after meeting the other's gazes.
"We're getting him back, understand? My guardians tell me that they managed, and so will we then."
"Are you sure?" Marle asked with new hope.
Janus smiled a bit and gently let go of her.
"I'm sure. Let's go talk to Gaspar, he'll know."
"Alright!" Lucca cheered, punching the air with a big, hopeful grin.
"Blue haired one good friend!" Ayla grinned.
Janus' smile turned a bit bitter.
"Not quite…"
He looked back at Marle again and then sunk down on one knee, lowering his head before the women's surprised gazes.
"As the princess of Guardia you are, after all, the same as my liege," Janus said with the hint of a smile, "and on my honor as the royal wizard of your cause I hereby swear that not telling you all that I knew Crono would die was the last time I ever hid the truth or lied to you."
'You're nuttier than a room full of imps,' Flea commented, his pointing finger spinning about an inch from his head.
'Your general says wise things every now and then,' the Pawn mildly told the Prince, who simply grunted.
"Stand up, wizard," Marle said, not sure if she should scold him or chuckle, "and quit the act."
"It's not an act," Janus gravely said as he straightened up, "you have to admit that I have been keeping a lot of things away from you."
"Not like you didn't have a reason," Lucca said, "can't say I like it but in retrospect we wouldn't have wanted to know about Crono."
"Still, I am sorry for lying," Janus said.
"It's alright," Marle stated, "or it will be alright when we get Crono back."
The wizard nodded and waved a little with his hand to bring their attention to the rest of the hut. There were about ten more people in there, those who were awake watching the four visitors rather strangely.
"I just need to finish healing these ones, then we'll go," Janus said.
Marle nodded.
"And we'll help," she said with a stronger smile than last.
"Then kill Lavos!" Ayla grinned.
Janus' smile widened and he nodded with determination.
'Onwards towards the end…'
He forced the smile to stay.
'Now don't get all depressed there, honey,' Flea cheekily said.
'Oh shut up…'
Lucca didn't notice that the wizard bitterly glanced at her as she helpfully went to check that the fire warming the hut wasn't smoking too much.
'I'd strongly recommend keeping Lucca away from Lai, yeah,' the Mystic went on, 'she'd positively roast her. And apart from that…'
He didn't get any longer as the Prince absentmindedly kicked his ankle, used the unbalance to bring the Mystic down with a light shove and then planted his boot on the white-robed stomach.
'Okay, okay, I get it already!' Flea pouted, 'sheez! Why do you always have to exaggerate everything?'
'I exaggerate?' the Prince said, soft as silk.
'Of course! If you fall into complete despair you don't just have to go crazy, you have to go get possessed by hurk!'
'If you'd believe my personal thoughts,' the Pawn muttered, 'I'd say they somewhere deep down just don't want you to be depressed.'
Janus' lips even twitched, even though he still felt a bit down.
'That theory is better than the one about them trying to drive me crazy…'