Chapter 30, Farewell, my Guardia
Author's note:
I understand many would have wanted to see the fight against Lavos. But, I felt that after all that Janus had gone through with the Mystics, Lavos wasn't his main goal anymore, it was Flea. Therefore I decided to let the fight against the magician remain as the climax. Writing out the battle with the parasite would have destroyed that.
Now, the final chapter for part one.
Frog yawned as he stepped down the stair towards the throne room. It was almost ten am, but he was just as drowsy as anyone else after the late evening. There were possibly a few guards used to night shift who were alert today, everyone else would spend a day in a somewhat insecure state.
The swordsman stopped beside one of the storage rooms of the castle, on another platform making a difference in the stairs. With a sigh he rubbed his thick neck.
It would be a sad day today, the suppressed anguish he had felt last night would be set free throughout Guardia at the loss of their wizard. Frog sighed deeply again, shaking his head.
Then he looked up in surprise as he heard the sound of somebody nearly falling down a stair; insecure, quick steps and a cry of someone desperately trying to maintain balance.
Janus – now in a less white set of clothing but more normal purple and gray – almost tumbled down the steps, heavily leaning on the wall and pressing a hand against his forehead.
"God, I'll kill Lai!" he snarled.
"What ails thee?" Frog worriedly asked.
"The hangover is becoming my demise!"
Despite his sinking feeling a few moments ago, the queen's guardian couldn't help but smirk.
"I believed that thee had decided to fight against her attempts last night," he mildly commented.
"I thought so too… argh…" Janus groaned and leaned his pounding head at the somewhat cold stone wall.
He sort of melted down into a sitting position. There wasn't any more suitable word for the movement.
"Can't see the king like this…" he winced, weakly rubbing his temples.
Frog's sneer died and he sat down beside his friend.
"I suppose that is becomes my task to heal thee, so that thee can resign from thy position in a suitable way," he bitterly said with a hint of irony.
"Would appreciate the healing at least," the wizard grunted without looking up.
"Powers of the world…"
Janus straightened up with a relieved sigh a moment later.
"Thanks."
"Thou art welcome."
With a sigh Frog leaned his chin on a fist.
"I'm sorry," the wizard said in a low voice, shaking his head.
His friend attempted a smile.
"Thy sister means a lot to thee, and 'twould be a dark sin to leave a fair maiden lost in history without seeking to aid her. Thou dost only what thou must, even so it pains us all."
Janus stood, briefly putting his hand on Frog's much smaller shoulder.
"But I promise you, Glenn, I'll return someday."
"I dearly hope so, my friend," the green warrior said as he got to his feet, managing another small smile, "but also promise me to be careful during thy travels."
The wizard smirked a bit.
"Yeah, I better do that since I won't have anyone who can break in and save me anymore in case of emergency."
"In conclusion, thou art doomed," Frog stated with a chuckle.
"Probably… by the way…"
Janus stopped and looked up at the roof.
"Wouldn't Lai be feeling terrible too?" he said, a hint of concern in his voice despite all.
"Heh," Frog said with a renowned snicker, "I believe the amount of water she drank last night saved her from the pain."
The shorter one got a pained glance.
"That's all you have to do to avoid that living hell?"
"Aye. So I hear."
"Ah."
Janus sighed and shook his head.
"I swear, one of these days I'll kill her …" he muttered as he descended the stairs.
"Should thee not wait for her?" Frog called after him.
There was a brief pause before the reply.
"She told me that she didn't want to watch," Janus finally replied, and after another moment, "at least, I think she told me that. I can't really remember…"
The queen's guardian walked down a few steps to see the wizard press two fingers against his forehead.
"Are you awake?" he muttered in a low voice.
Three seconds' silence.
"I see."
He let the hand fall and continued down the stair without meeting Frog's eyes. With a sigh the swordsman followed in his friend's steps.
One couldn't claim that anyone in the throne room looked very alert. Even Leene was slumping a bit on her throne, as nobody really was in the right mood to care for proper behavior she and a couple of guards held a cup of coffee each.
Janus halted for a second in the door to take in a deep breath before stepping inside. Turning right and walking a few more steps brought him to the middle of the thrones' platform. He turned to the king and queen, bowed his head and placed his fist on his chest to greet them.
"Good morning, my liege," he said without looking up.
Frog silently took his place on Leene's left side, closing his eyes momentarily. He opened them again and forced a smiled reply as the queen mumbled a good morning.
"No use for such formalities this morning, Janus," king Guardia said and cleared his throat to get rid of the slight hoarseness, "I don't think any of us are up for it."
"I understand, Your Majesty," Janus said in a controlled voice, "and even though it pains me, since I know how tired we all are and because it already brings me sorrow, I must bring up one formality."
Leene slowly put down her coffee cup, a frown seeming misplaced on her smooth forehead. Frog looked down at the floor, clenching his fists. The guards looked up in confusion by his words.
"What do you mean?" the king concernedly said, straightening up.
Janus kept his head bowed, his eyes tightly shut as he sat down on one knee. As he had been many times before, to greet the king who he owned gratitude and respect.
As he had been on his birthday nearly three years ago, when he had arisen as the royal wizard.
It took a great deal of will to keep the voice calm.
"I came here as a child, I don't know how many of you remember it. A man very alike me brought me, some thought that he was my father. In a way, that was true but not fully. What I want to tell you about him is that he had gone through many ordeals to save me from death in the land we were born, and from the Mystics as we came here."
He had to take in another deep breath, without really wanting to creating a moment where dark realization began to grow in the listeners' hearts.
"The reason that both of us knew magic was never fully explained, as none of us wanted to create confusion. But I will let the truth be known now, that I was born in a world different from this one and a magic accident threw me and my savior here. However, my sister, my only relative, got left behind and I do not know what happened to her."
Again he paused, the hand that had been spread over the floor in front of him clenching. He continued before anyone else had time to speak and bring him off balance.
"I lacked the ability to go back to my world and search for my sister Schala before, my liege, my friends, and even as I gained it I still knew that Guardia needed me. But now that the Mystics are no longer a threat, the need to help Schala is calling me. Therefore, I wish to resign from my position as royal wizard and leave Guardia in pursuit of her."
A thick silence filled the room.
Frog glanced aside and saw Leene's hand squeezing the armrest so hard that her delicate knuckles were turning white.
King Guardia had lowered his head.
Another moment passed by before he straightened up again.
"I hate to see you go, Janus," the king slowly said, sadly, "and I am not alone either. But with the reasons you give us, how could I refuse you to leave?"
"Thank you, my liege. Believe me, I'm not leaving here with a light heart."
The king smiled a bit, joylessly.
"I can hear that very well in your voice," he admitted.
Janus finally stood, his hand drawing a flaring stroke in the air to summon his staff. He took the familiar wood in both hands and planted his weapon in the floor before his feet, still without raising his head.
"You have done more for me than I think you'll ever fully understand, my liege," he said with half a smile, "and you all have my word that if I can, I will come back someday."
'I keep promising,' he thought with an inner sigh, 'if I'll be able to, that's another thing…'
It felt somewhat empty not to get an encouraging, sarcastic or silly comment on thoughts like that anymore.
He finally looked up and moved the staff aside, taking it in his right hand only to bow to the king and queen.
"I'm sorry for choosing this moment when everyone is exhausted," he said, "but I didn't want any commotion, I hope you understand that."
Slowly king Guardia nodded. Queen Leene sighed and lowered her head for a moment.
"As for now, I bid you farewell, Your Majesties."
"Be careful, Janus," Leene said with a hint of harshness in her eyes, "even if the Mystics are peaceful here I highly doubt you'll thread any paths free of enemies."
At that, the wizard managed to smile properly.
"You are probably right, Your Majesty. I'll be careful."
"You're always welcome back," king Guardia clarified in a friendly voice, "and that's to your title as well as your home."
Janus' fingers clenched around the staff as he tried to keep the sorrow from shoving in his eyes. The kindness in the king's words cut like daggers down his throat and chest.
"Thank you, my liege. Farewell."
"Goodbye, Janus."
He turned around and walked out of the gates from the throne room and further ahead through the main gate, passing drowsy guards giving him puzzled looks.
For a brief moment he felt guilty for letting almost everyone only know through rumor about his leaving, but as the grief of loss clawed at his heart that feeling singed off.
The two soldiers that stood outside of the castle mumbled good mornings, but Janus only waved a little without even looking at them. He hurried down the stair onto the muddy road, his steps growing faster until he ran. Not until the castle was completely hidden by the trees and their last remaining leaves did he stop, trying to catch his breath for a second before he clenched his teeth and began muttering the spell to open a Gate.
A sparkling dark hole opened before him in thin air, quickly growing until it was big enough for him to step through.
A pebble hit the back off his head in the middle of his step.
With a wince Janus turned, expecting to see a smirking imp. He saw a glaring Lai instead.
"You know, any other woman would probably say something like 'I forgot to give you something yesterday' and then kiss you goodbye," she said in a cold voice as she passed the distance between them and crossed her arms.
"I know, but we both hate those sappy scenes," Janus said with a powerless smirk.
"Precisely. So…"
She reached up and grabbed the back of his neck.
"I'm just going to kiss you and that's it, alright?" she snarled.
"Fair enough..."
Even if Lai already was pushing at him Janus freely bent down the bit needed to meet her lips for a brief caress.
At the same time as a gentle, warm stream flowed within him, the tearing of loss was stronger and it was only painful.
When his student let go he smiled a little without any joy behind it, turned and disappeared into the darkness. It closed behind him and Lai stood alone, watching the empty spot and growling bitter curses of suppressed rage.
With a final snarl she spun around and hurried back towards the castle to find whatever alcohol was left from the night before. She wouldn't normally use such means to dull inner pain, but it was pounding at her with every furious beat of her heart and quickly growing to more than she could handle.