Chapter 5, Same old, same old tricks

"Does your dad really call these things minions?" Lai scoffed as the flames in the insane eyes of the last beast died.

The monster fell into the sand with a strangled thump, knocked unconscious instead of killed by a well-aimed swing a la wizard.

"Shall we brand them 'warm-up', Dalton?" Frog called to the fortress' walls, with swift, professional movements cleaning the Masamune on cooling fur.

'I prefer the term "test".'

'Whatever you say,'Janus grunted and started towards the still open gate, 'now, if you're done we're coming in.'

'Go ahead, the throne room is straight forwards up the stairs and through the great corridor,' Dalton smirked, 'but if you should change your mind the dungeons are down the first stair to the right. Would save us all some time.'

"You know, in the land where I grew up the freaks know how to pull off threats," Lai snickered at thin air while she and Frog followed Janus up the foldable stair.

'I will admit that Flea had very… shall we say special qualities,' Dalton allowed and pressed his thumb and pointing fingers against each other, 'I prefer the more direct alternative however.'

His fingers snapped, and in the entrance hall the massive black gate slammed shut behind the three intruders. The sound echoed throughout the entire fortress like a giant gong, imitating the crash of a jail door.

Dalton glanced at Schala again, smirking at her wince born from seeing her brother with companions whip around a second before darkness engulfed them. The servants that hung around the walls exchanged terrified glances, unable to use magic since they were void of the knowledge. For all they knew, the sound could have meant the closing of a trap and thus the end of their frail hope.

But then Janus turned almost all feelings around with four simple words.

'Oh, for heaven's sake.'

"Powers of the world, lend me pure power…" he murmured aloud.

Those who'd be able to see him – magically or naturally – if the darkness hadn't been so thick soon got their visions cleared by a gentle light spreading from Janus fist, raised high above his head while he casually leaned on his staff.

The light grew, without becoming intense. Instead it seemed to flow from the wizard's hand to fill the entire area, sticking itself onto walls and floor to ensure illumination.

A giant stair faced the gate, leading up to an open hallway on the second floor. An opening in the wall was on either side of the way upwards, but there was not a living soul or piece of furniture in sight. Things looked very much like the Ocean palace with the black, mirror blank walls and floor, everything carved just like in the dark stronghold of queen Zeal and Lavos.

The only difference were the red tapestries on the wall, wearing great embroideries of a big D each.

'I think we're all past being scared of the dark,' Janus dryly commented, 'though I'm grateful of your attempt to save our eyes from the decoration.'

"Aww, I wanted to say that!" Lai snickered while Frog chuckled.

"Perhaps thy father still hast enough morals to be modest, despite all?" the knight smirked.

Janus glanced sideways at his short friend and lowered his fist to thoughtfully tap his chin.

"Could be," the wizard said in an overly examining tone, "either that or he's trying to excuse his poor fashion sense."

'Are you coming up here anytime soon or are you trying to bore me to death?' Dalton cut in with a snort, 'after I ordered all of the soldiers to stay out of your way it's rather rude to keep me waiting, isn't it?'

Shrugging, the three warriors started up the second stair.

"The lethal boredom was worth an attempt at the least," Frog sighed.

Lai thumped his back without slowing down for a second.

"Very good, Glenn," she cheerfully said, "I think we'll manage to teach you about sarcasm one of these days after all."

The teasing chuckles faltered and were replaced by grim resolution once again when the end of the stair was reached.

A dusky corridor lead towards a golden lined gate in a distance, towards the heart of the fortress.

"Are you ready?" Janus said in a low voice without looking around.

Lai silently reached out and put her hand on his upper arm, without a word assuring him that she wasn't going to take a single step backwards.

"I highly doubt that the battle ahead in any way can touch the horrors that Lavos served us," Frog murmured and began walking again.

His allies fell into step beside the knight without looking back.

'People like to claim that they have been into worse,' Janus thought to himself, pursing his lips, 'what they always seem to forget is that just because you've survived inferior situations doesn't mean that you'll manage all the time. It just means that you've got past experience.'

It was a long corridor, which didn't help their mood the least. All the gleeful mocking they had showed Dalton was being pressed down for every step, with a force that sent out needles of tension for every bit closer the end of the road came. A battle is always easier to look upon when it's not rushing towards you.

Finally the gate rose up before the small group.

Without a word Janus slammed his staff into the floor to set the blades free. He didn't really need them for his next trick, but it felt better knowing he was prepared.

He took in a deep breath.

Schala was waiting, he could almost feel her presence now.

Sadly that also involved Dalton waiting, and the wizard had no idea what kind of situation his sister was in. It would surprise him highly if his father hadn't planned on using such a weak point.

He raised his hand.

The gates split in four pieces and fell inwards with a set of deafening crashes.

Dalton leaned back on his throne while his son and company entered, glaring dangerously at the setting. The servants pressed themselves against the walls in shock.

"Don't you think that was a little overblown, boy?" the dark-blond man sighed with a roll of his good eye, casually massaging an ear with his fingertips.

"Not half as overblown as I could have done it," Janus replied.

"Ah yes, of course."

The king of the fortress held up his hand.

"I know, I know. This is when you demand to have your sister back and all. I'll save you the trouble, she's already here."

He spread his right arm to his side, motioning towards the floor.

Schala snarled as she stumbled into view, pushed by a couple of Dalton's traditionally masked soldiers. Her heavy purple robes flowed around her like water, a thought only strengthened by her flourishing blue hair. But though she looked just like she was remembered deep within a grown child's heart, there was something else within her. The snarl spoke for itself, the gentle sister who had obeyed her mother's wishes would never have growled at anything before. And her beautiful green eyes sparkled with rage as she ripped herself free.

But there was never a doubt in the wizard's heart that it truly was his sister, despite any change. No illusion or trick could ever make it past the siblings' bond.

Janus stopped breathing for a moment, too mesmerized by the buried emotions of longing to even notice that Lai turned tense as a bowstring upon seeing the princess. Frog did however, worriedly glimpsing at his friend.

With a quick glance towards their master who waved his hand at them to move, the two soldiers quickly backed off.

Schala snapped her face towards the middle of the room and panic flashed in the green gems as she met Janus' momentarily paralyzed stare. For a second her gaze pecked at the throne's direction, glistening with hatred.

"Dalton, you fiend!" she snarled, whipping back at her brother and throwing up her palms towards him and his friends in a desperately dismissive movement, "Janus, get out of here! Get out now! It's a trap!"

The wizard joylessly smiled, taking his staff in both hands.

"I know, Schala," he said in a soft voice.

But on the inside he was less calm than he acted. It was a little bit too suspicious that Dalton would bring such a precious upper hand as Schala's imprisonment out of the game. Something was foul, but he couldn't figure it out.

However, she clearly knew as she shook her head wildly.

"No, you don't!" she hoarsely claimed, "Janus, get away from here!"

"I will, as soon as I've finished something."

The brother's voice turned hard as steel, as did his eyes as the gaze moved upwards. Almost without noticing it themselves, Frog and Lai prepared for shielding their own eyes quickly.

Fingers moved slightly against the staff's familiar, trustworthy shape while Janus' mind raced with focus and preparing for an attack at the same time.

"There's something you should know, son," Dalton said, a little too quickly for courage.

"What then?" Janus spoke through his teeth.

Schala shook her head at him, but as the king removed a dagger that had been resting in his belt her eyes were mercilessly drawn to the sitting man.

Janus frowned as Dalton raised the knife to his own cheek, alarm bells going off in the back of the wizard's mind.

Sharp metal met soft skin and cut downwards.

Schala winced and pressed a hand against her cheek, trying to strangle her cry of pain and more than anything else fear for her little brother.

A red liquid slipped between her slender fingers despite her attempts to disguise the truth.

Janus froze like a statue.

"She is cursed," Dalton smirked.

"Thou filthy snake!" Frog snarled in rage, deep down almost wishing that he could feel more disbelief for the dirty trick.

He found himself the only one of his companions able to speak, clenching his teeth. Knowing the man beside him, there was something that the swordsmaster was well aware he had to try to prevent.

"Janus, I swear," the knight growled in a low, dangerous voice, "if thou dost allow this demon's schemes to snare thee, I shalt never forgive thee and I am certain that Lai and thy sister feels the same."

The reply was a violent shove, sending the general stumbling backwards. Lai fell over with a surprised shout, a second later seeing why just like Frog did.

Janus threw his staff aside to be able to move freely, somersaulting over the red tentacles that lashed out at him from the floor. But as he evaded the first two for a moment, three more erupted from the smooth floor just in his path and he had to throw himself aside. Somehow he managed to land on his feet and leaped further away.

"If Flea just could have chopped you up at once back there in the future we wouldn't have to go through this now, you know," Dalton smirked, the fingers of his free hand twisting as he controlled the tentacles.

There was no reply, and the servants threw themselves out of the way of the living trap and the prey.

"Janus!" Schala shouted.

"The wall!" Lai roared in sync with the princess.

The wizard looked up, sadly one second too late. He had come very close to the wall on Dalton's left, and his father had taken note of this.

In the middle of a step and trying to keep his eyes on the pursuers Janus had no possibility to avoid the red, snaking thing that erupted from the red tapestry.

"Shit."

That was all he had time to utter before the force of the thick snare crashed into him, sending him flying back to the middle of the room. He landed gracelessly and stumbled to his feet, but before he could get further, and before his friends reached him, tentacles wrapped themselves around his arms and waist. With a half-strangled shout of protest he was ripped down on one knee.

"Aren't you a little paranoid now?" Janus snarled, having to fight just to straighten up enough to glare heatedly at his father.

"One cannot be paranoid enough when it comes to you, which I'm certain I am not the only one to have found out."

Janus just snarled at the reply, Lai's hands crushing down on his shoulders as she dove to his side with a growl rising from the depths of her throat.

"Thou filthy rat!" Frog spat at Dalton, leaping up behind Schala's back as she threw herself to her knees before her trapped brother, "I give the monsters that roamed our fair era this one praise; unlike thee they fought with their own hands and the bravery of their dark hearts!"

"Could be."

The king rose from his throne, his softly brown cloak dancing over his every movement.

"But the thing with the Mystics was that they failed, keep that in mind," he pointed out.

"So I hear that you did as well," Lai snarled, "quite a few times, too."

Dalton's triumph flinched with anger for a second, but then his smirk returned and he snapped his fingers with his free hand. Obeying the signal, the two soldiers that had pushed Schala earlier stepped forwards, brandishing their thin daggers.

The sound of dangerously many feet turned a couple of heads, though Schala only had to straighten up and Janus really couldn't look around that well. He didn't have to however, just listening to the sound and seeing his sister's lips turn thin as needles was enough to give him the idea.

"I want you to run," he spoke through his teeth, fixing his eyes on the floor.

Lai's nails rather painfully dug into his shoulders.

"Like hell," she snapped, shaking him slightly as if she wanted to wake him up from whatever made him delirious.

Her hands left him and she stood up, narrowing her eyes at the two dozens of soldiers that were entering through the smashed entrance. It was an ocean of expressionless masks.

"There is still hope for this land as long as the two of you live," Schala grimly murmured, getting to her feet as well.

"Lady Schala," Frog resolutely said, moving his feet into a defensive stance, "to tear Lai from Janus will require her demise, if even that will bring her away from him. And I will not step back either."

Schala looked up at the roof for a moment, sighing with a bitter smile.

"I believe I have heard something similar… Janus, I'll borrow this for a moment."

"What?" her brother said, blinking as he watched his sister pick up his staff, quickly weighing it in her hands.

"I don't think so, princess," Dalton called, threateningly turning the dagger towards his own chest.

"You demon scum!" Schala hissed, her eyes almost literally shooting lightning bolts at her nemesis as she took a step backwards.

Lai glanced at the princess from the corner of her thinning eyes.

"Powers of the world, lend me the power of Wind…" Janus snarled.

But his chant was cut in half at Schala's half-strangled yelp of pain. She was trying to fight it back, but the slice down her right arm was too painful. Still she clenched her fingers over the polished wood she held, seeking strength in the grip.

"Dalton, cut the hostage game!" she growled, with little hope however.

He just coldly smirked.

Frog eyed the soldiers as they kept moving closer, vary of the dangers ahead but more afraid of their king. The small army would definitely be too much for him and Lai alone, since it was apparent that Dalton's blackmail was horrifyingly effective.

The knight clenched his jaw.

Brave last stands were things for the ballads, but what they were in reality had little to nothing to do with the term bittersweet. Only the first part of the word applied.

Lai's voice brought him out of his reflection.

"The irony will kill me before these lapdogs do," she icily told the room in general, the fingertips of her right hand briefly touching Janus' shoulder.

She removed her touch and turned towards the throne, glaring heatedly at the amused king.

"Well, if it comes down to this and we are all going to die here," she continued while clenching and unclenching her hands, "there is still something that I need to do."

"If so, you better hurry up," Dalton informed, but there was a hint of suspiciousness in his voice and the dagger was held close to his chest for the occasion of a trick.

Schala turned away from the eerie sight of the man who could kill her with a stab at his own heart, looking at Lai with her lips pressed white due to the pain and despair.

Lai's lips twitched in a bitter smile, relaxing her tense stance. For a second her fingers hovered above Janus' shoulder again and she glanced down at his tiredly gleaming ruby eyes. Meeting his eyes right then was too painful however, and she quickly looked away before her courage wavered. Instead the sister of her fiancé gazed back at her.

'Schala…'

Yes… it could work. And she could.

"There is… something that I always wanted to tell you, Schala," Lai said, her voice eerily calm.

Janus' eyebrows twitched and he cocked his neck, trying to catch his companion's eyes again to no avail. There was something in her voice that sent a chill down his chest. Apparently Frog noticed it too, as the dark bulb eyes swept to his right before turning back to the soldiers.

"What?" Schala said, her voice hardly audible.

Lai joylessly smiled.

"Schala…"

She moved faster than should be humanly possible.

"Go to hell!"

The blade of the dagger cut into Schala's robe, for half a heartbeat seeming to float in the air against the root of her right arm. Dalton screamed in pain and dropped his own dagger, blood breaking through his cloak as he clutched his bleeding shoulder. Before anyone could react Lai sent another throwing knife through the air, masterfully hitting the stumbling princess' throat.

Schala fell backwards of the pure shock alone, but Dalton's legs crumbled as his own blood mercilessly streamed into his breathing channels.

The murderess' knees hit the carpet and she pressed her hand against her eyes, desperately trying to block out the disgusting sounds the false king made during his last moments of life.

"Twandor na chamei!" Janus roared, while the tentacles were still disintegrating he released the spell that had been forbidden by Dalton.

The fact that the soldiers had frozen in shock upon seeing their king die was cast aside. And so were they. The spell released a tornado that swept every single masked warrior into the walls. It wouldn't kill them, but they wouldn't be a problem for at least a few minutes. Janus didn't even wait to watch the fruits of his work, as soon as he could move he dived aside.

Lai made a retching sound when two tanned hands grabbed her arms and rather forcefully tore her up against the light shirt covering the wizard's chest.

"Lai!" Frog scowled with concern, reaching over Janus' shoulder to touch their female friend's arm.

Her face was gray as ashes, eyes pinched shut below a constricted frown.

"Blech…" she rather weakly murmured, the attempt to at least fake toughness failing completely.

"Never actually killed before, did you?" Janus asked in a low voice, gently pressing his hand against the back of Lai's head.

"No."

The voice was still rather shaky and she showed no signs of a quick recovery, as was quite natural. Frog recalled the first time he had killed, the young soldier and his friends slung into a battle against a group of goblins. Monsters were monsters, but they were quite humanoid too, and they were living creatures as well as everything else.

Ballads and tales call it bravery and tend to happily glorify it, but killing can never be anything but slaughter in a greater or lesser sense. The adrenaline rush supporting a scared soldier or a teenage wizard in training might relive them for a moment, but it's a filthy thing to do and no matter how brave one can be it's impossible for a human heart to prepare itself for slaughter – not without brainwash. A great piece of innocence is forever lost, and there is nothing honorable nor great about that.

Janus knew this too, all too well.

"Breathe, you'll feel better if you just breathe…" he murmured, carefully straightening up a bit to more or less crawl over to Schala without letting go of Lai.

Truly graceless, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

Frog felt rather out of place as he just followed, absentmindedly sheathing the Masamune as he did so.

A hand reached out and Schala gratefully took it, though she regarded the pale Lai warily.

"Are you alright?" Janus asked, a careful smile daring to touch his lips as things were slowly settling.

"Yes… just a bit shaken."

Schala pushed the staff aside and sat up properly. Her gaze moved between the face of her brother and the one he was holding, confusion sparkling in her gem eyes.

"I'm grateful, but… she…?"

Her voice trailed off and she shook her head a little, unsure on how to voice the obvious question. Janus understood, pursing his lips slightly as he looked down at the halfway hidden face of his fiancée.

"Lai, are you still angry?" he wondered, as carefully as he could.

He could feel her grimace against his shoulder.

"Noth'n persn'l," Lai grunted and straightened up a little to force herself to look at Schala despite the sinking feeling in her stomach, "I don't hate you, not anymore. The idea from the past still stung a little, 's all."

Her forehead crashed on Janus' shoulder.

"I don't mind you guys reuniting now, but I need a hug and I'm getting one. What?"

She added the last rather bluntly when the wizard's fingertip gently tapped her head.

"I'm complying, but tell me one thing," he said in a neutral voice, "when you threw the dagger, were you aiming for Schala or Dalton?"

"Dalton, you dolt!" Lai grunted, both her words and tone lighting relief of both the immediate kind as well as the one about signs of recovery, "I wasn't sure if it would work but I'm not that sadistic."

"I am most comforted by thy rising spirit, my dear comrade," Frog mildly said, squeezing Lai's shoulder lightly.

She muttered something inaudible that sounded vaguely reassuring.

"You have strange friends, Janus," Schala said, a weak smile creeping onto her lips since the light trauma had begun to melt.

"Really?" the wizard said with a twitch of his mouth, "I hear you have a giant snake in your party."

Schala's smile helplessly grew wider at the comment.

"I guess you've got me there, little brother."

Then her expression softened as she raised her hand and carefully touched her brother's cheek, lightly stroking the sharp scar running down his face with her thumb. Janus gently smiled, only moving his eyes towards the touch but remaining still otherwise.

"He saved you, I see," Schala spoke in a soft voice, "you're nothing like that other, grown you."

"My teacher, yes," Janus murmured, "not without complications, but he did it."

He chuckled slightly, nodding to his side.

"I can assure you that Glenn and Lai here can attest to the fact that I've been doing a good job trying to get unsaved, though."

"Truly," Frog mildly chuckled, "now that we hath found thee, lady Schala, I pray that thy guidance will mend thy brother's lack of preservation instincts. It has brought us great grief already."

At this he lightly whapped at the thin blue stream of hair.

"I still claim that all of it was necessary!" Janus defended himself, smirking by now however.

"Like fighting Flea alone? And fighting Slash alone? Serving yourself to the Mystics on a silver platter? Arguing with Cyrus? Even worse, arguing with lieutenant South? Diving into the ocean to beat that octopus assassin? Hunting Yakra on your own?"

Lai was apparently feeling better and better as she sat up in Janus' grip and looked him straight in the eyes as she finished her listing. Finished – for now. She could go on forever.

"I'm going to love telling your sister all the details on what she's missed during your childhood," she almost brightly said.

"Now I'm really starting to worry," Schala said, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh, you don't know half of it."

Lai was starting to smile a little again, though how forced it was, was hard to tell. Reaching out for her shaken mind in order to help further, Janus let the mild torment continue.

"Neither do you, you weren't there all the time," he pointed out.

"But Glenn was," she shot back, "and when he wasn't, the king still was."

Janus groaned, finally managing to draw a braver smile from Lai. He dropped the pained expression and patted her back lightly.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"A bit," Lai replied, her pride still hiding somewhere in her stomach after she had been forced to swallow it.

"Will do, I wanted to get to introductions. Ow."

He grimaced at the minor punch, not any more honest about that than about the groan earlier.

"In any case, you remember Glenn I believe, Schala."

"My lady, I never got the honor of meeting thee before, though I heard my dear comrades speak highly of thee," Frog said, bowing his head courtly.

The smile of recognition that had touched Schala's face was stricken down by grief, and she nodded quickly in an attempt to hide it.

"No need to thank me, I should thank you and your friends for your… sacrifices…" she said in a low voice, her fine hands clenching.

Frog and Janus exchanged quick glances.

"Aye, thou speaketh of Crono?" the knight said.

"Yes, he…"

"He was resurrected," Janus interrupted her, smiling calmingly, "we reworked time and managed to save him."

The pain flashed from Schala's face in surprise and she smiled once more.

"He was? How did you manage that?" she wondered.

"By exchanging his body for a doll bearing his exact guise, with the help of a magical item," Frog simplified the tale.

"I'm glad…"

But as Schala looked back at the knight, the recognition that had shown earlier returned and she frowned with a bit of confusion.

"But, how come you said that we never met?" she asked in puzzlement, "you were with Crono and the blond woman in the group that Janus and I freed from mother's prison, weren't you?"

Now it became Frog's turn to look confused.

"Nay, I was never imprisoned by thy mother, neither were Crono nor Marle…"

"Ah, I think I know what this is about," Janus said.

He paused for a second, trying to figure out how to explain it. It all worked in his head, but describing it would be a bit trickier.

"Schala and I… we remember what happened when I was the little prince, when there was no Janus of Guardia who could warn the heroes of time about queen Zeal and her minions. In our memory, there was no one who had lived through Lavos' rule of the kingdom up until the last few days of Zeal, and that grown Janus was my savior and teacher. As far as we recall, we had to save you three from the palace after Dalton caught you. But you remember it differently because what I remember from my childhood didn't happen when I returned to Zeal. Do you follow?"

"Hm…"

Frog massaged his massive forehead.

"Of that, I believe time will create sense. For the time being, I will only be grateful of never living that shame."

He was rewarded with a few chuckles. Then Schala's glance fell to Lai and hesitance swept over both women's features.

A couple of seconds passed, during which the two men figured it would be wise not to intervene.

Eventually Lai figured that perhaps it was her duty to reach out since it was she who had been the hostile part.

"I'm Lai," she said and held up her hand, for her it could pass as carefully, "Leila Martindaughter really, but just say Lai. And I'm sorry. I panicked."

The last two sentences were spoken in a rather dull voice, and it was pretty clear to everyone listening that if they spread that information they would regret it dearly.

But despite everything, Schala was prepared to be open-minded about the woman who had freed them all from Dalton. Especially with Janus' arms still encircling the lady.

"I believe I understand how you felt," Schala said, stretching the term "understatement" quite a bit.

She cautiously smiled a little wider as she added:

"And thank you, you saved our lives."

Lai's eyes shifted briefly, obviously still uncomfortable with the subject. Janus' hand squeezed her shoulder lightly, but it was his sister that with the duty of creating the situation also saved it. And she did this by carefully turning the hand she held to make the golden band around Lai's finger visible.

"Apart from that," the princess gently said, "congratulations. Not that I could ever have imagined Janus considering getting married, but…"

She looked at Frog and Lai with a soft chuckle.

"What on earth have you done to my brother?" she demanded.

"Schala!" Janus protested, failing completely to sound honestly hurt.

"I pledge innocent on the matter," Frog claimed.

Lai had no plans of imitating the knight, however.

"Don't listen to him," she said, freeing her hand to point at the green one with her thumb, "he knows fully well what we've done to Janus here. We've hit him over the head repeatedly since he was seven years old, and he deserved it every time."

The wizard glared at his fiancée for a moment, not too honestly though.

"Enough of that. What have you been doing, Schala?" he not so elegantly changed the subject.

"Looking for you," she mildly said, chuckling sympathetically at him, "after the Ocean Palace I fell into a time gate and ended up in southern Garadia, a kingdom covering the mainland around 5300 BC. Cered…"

Her voice faltered and she quickly stood, not even bothering to brush off her robes.

"He and Molor are in the dungeon, we have to get them out," she said, seemingly scowling at thin air as she reprimanded herself furiously for briefly forgetting the situation of her friends.

Janus nodded and stood, carrying Lai with him as he got to his feet. She stepped back with a hardly strangled sigh.

"Why certainly," the wizard said, reaching out his hand to call the staff, "do you know the way?"

"I think so," Schala nodded, grabbing a handful of cloth to get the hem of her dress out of the way as she began to walk with quick strides, "let's go."

The soldiers had begun to move, but were still too dizzy to do anything as the group of four hurried through the broken gate. And the servants had no plans of protesting in any way, still trying to get over their shock mixed with relief that Dalton's sudden death had caused.

Far down in the bowels of the bowels of the fortress, Cered frowned as Molor began to hiss. It sounded strangely much like a purr.