The Persistence of Memory
By
Deborah J. Brown

A Wild Arms III Alternate Universe story: Wild Arms III is copyrighted to RPG Dreamers and Sony.

Chapter 7: A Dragon's Price

They came to a halt, blocked by the great boulder that had once blocked their path from the other side. "I'd forgotten about this," Virginia sighed, aggravated. After several days travel just to reach the extinct volcano where they'd first met Lombardia, after hours of climbing up and down and up again, to find their plan prevented by the landscape was more than mildly irritating. Especially considering that she ought to have remembered that this rock was here.

"Time to go back?" Gallows asked, about to turn around. He was looking rather frazzled. His size made the jumping and climbing required to get around the tunnels various steam vents and ladders a tricky thing. He was covered in sweat and very out of sorts with everyone right that minute. "We could ask around at the bar. Maybe even find that other Janus."

Big hands examined the rock. "Much as I dislike turning back myself," Clive admitted finally, "My bombs aren't strong enough to break us thru this thing." He paused, "Unless"

They all looked at Janus, who sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Do the dance and strut my stuff." He held out his ARMs to Virginia. "Here, hold this." A small grin crossed his face and Virginia knew perfectly well what he was thinking as she reached out to take the weapon. Somehow, Virginia managed not to respond to the expression, even with a blush, which only made him grin more broadly. "Be gentle, okay?"

"Would you just get on with it?" Virginia snapped.

With a laugh, Janus walked over to the boulder, the Dark Spear appearing in his hand, gleaming as if with his good humor. "Better get out of the way, kids. This is going to get messy."

As Virginia and the others got out of the way in a hurry, Janus slashed, and slashed and slashed again. His weapon shattered the rock to pebbles, the noise forcing Virginia to cover her ears against the rough sound. Rock scattered and fell in an avalanche of dust, pebbles and rocks that poured down through one of the chasms below.

As the dust cleared, Janus turned to face them as he bowed to Virginia. "Landscape reconstruction a specialty," he said. "Just for you, my dear. ACKKKKK!"

He disappeared in a cloud of dust, claws wrapped around his waist and pulling him backwards.

.oOo.

"Janus!"

The voice of his beloved was muffled by distance. Not to mention a farking big metal dragon screaming in my face. It would have terrified a braver man than he was and right now he was realizing he wasn't all that brave at all. Not grasped in the claws of a dragon, her breath hot in his face. Please. No. He would have put his hands up to protect himself but the dragons' claws prevented any movement.

"THIEF! LIAR! BETRAYER!" The dragon's yells were barely comprehensible, they were so loud. None the less, Janus realized that, for the second time that week, he was being blamed for something his other Self had done. "GIVE ME BACK MY CHILD, LITTLE DEMON, OR DIE!"

Child? What the He struggled to speak, but her claws were too tight around him. He could barely breathe, much less speak. Below him, too far below him for his comfort, he could hear voices calling his name, calling Lombardia. The dragon wasn't listening however, and her claws tightened on him, crushing his ribs and eliciting a scream.

"Lombardia! Stop it!" Virginia's voice was louder this time but not loud enough to get the dragon's attention. Fear rose in him, caused internal signals to go off and dark energy to fill him. The Dark Spear, dropped when he'd been grabbed, came flying through the air to him. Within him, cells shifted and changed, connections formed. Darkness flickered around him and he embraced it.

The dragon gave a cry of pain as Janus' sword cut into its clawed hand. Then Janus - demon once more - dropped to the ground and spun around to face her, prepared to fight, Dark Spear readied. Only one thing stopped him. Virginia's arms around him, holding him still. "No. Janus. Don't!"

.oOo.

Virginia knew she could be doing something incredibly stupid. Janus had been scared, probably injured. His natural reaction would be violent, and in his current form, that violence might be beyond her ability to control. Beneath her arms his body seemed different, the same hard shell of flesh that surrounded his face and arms had covered him entirely, as if he'd reverted, not only to the demon she'd found in the caves, but to the demon he'd been before, when they'd fought. "Janus. Please!" She was going to lose him, she was sure of it.

Rather to her surprise, however, Janus held still, as if aware of the damage he could do her in his current state. "That that thing" he gasped from behind the grating that covered his mouth. "That oversized." He descended to vulgarities of the sort that Virginia barely understood. Beneath her arms, though, she could feel him shaking. Behind the anger in his voice was the sound of a badly frightened man.

"Shhh. It's okay. You're okay. She must be mad at that other Janus. She doesn't know. We'll protect you." She held on to him, hands pressed against the steel hard spikes of his hair, murmuring, barely making sense. It was, however, working. His trembling slowed. Stopped entirely. His breathing softened, until the terrified panting had faded to deep breaths. "It's okay."

Slowly, Janus returned to his human form and collapsed against Virginia, pressing his face against her chest, his body trembling in her arms. For a bare moment he stayed there, then forced himself upright. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

It was with both relief and regret that Virginia let him go. "You were scared. You had good reason to think you'd be killed. You just called on everything you had to save yourself." She rose to her feet and barely heard him mutter, "That too." She would have paused to puzzle out the comment, but she had to do something about the still infuriated Lombardia.

Jet, Gallows and Clive were trying to talk to the big dragon, blocking her path to Janus and it was only their prior friendship that was keeping her from knocking them aside. "Lombardia," she called, walking towards their old compatriot. "I know this sounds ridiculous, but that Janus isn't the one who harmed you."

The great head turned to look at Virginia, eyes glowing red. Slowly she seemed to calm down. "A clone? This one, or the other?" At Virginia's puzzled expression, Lombardia explained impatiently, "A life created from the cells of another. It would be easy for a demon such as his kind. Easier than for those like you." The huge metal form shifted, settled into a crouch, voice becoming quieter. "I apologize. If the other one had not stolen what is most precious to me, had not forced me to act in a way I find repugnant had not betrayed me with lies and double dealing"

Janus' voice came behind Virginia, calmer now. "Sounds like my other Self is as, or more, expert in winning friends and influencing people. You said something about a child?"

Virginia stared in shock. "A child? A baby dragon?"

.oOo.

As the others made various confused noises, Janus creaked his way up to where Lombardia was sitting. Apparently the return to human form wasn't accompanied by anything as useful as a return to full physical fitness. If anything, his ribs ached all the more for the twisting and pulling they'd received from the shape-shift. "How? They told me you're the last?" He gestured at his companions, trying not to look at Virginia. He'd nearly forgotten himself for a moment there, nearly let himself hope for things he had no right to hope for.

Lombardia eyed him, "Now I see. No, you are not that one. The cells within you are similar, yes, but there is a difference - an ability to connect with my kind that you do not have."

The reminder of his differences from the other Janus didn't help his state of mind. None the less, Janus shoved back the fear. "If you say so," he answered agreeably. "So, going to explain this child business? Or are we going to have to make wild guesses?" He knew only a little bit about metal dragons - most of it what Clive had told him during their trip here - but the one thing he understood was that they didn't reproduce the way most species did.

"My kind are formed of the same nano-machines as the metal demons. Of similar nano-machines to you, little demon, though much more complex. With the right knowledge, it is no great thing to reproduce ourselves." The great metallic voice hesitated. "To tell the truth, it required knowledge and materials I did not have. That other Janus came to me. Offered his aid. I have been the only metal dragon upon this world for so very long." Her voice trailed off. "I allowed him to convince me. I allowed him to command me as others had long ago. And my only reward was the loss of the child that he had helped me create, for he has stolen my son away and bound Talyn to his service."

Janus almost forgot himself enough to reach out and touch the behemoth. He didn't have any particular wish to reproduce, but he had allowed himself to be persuaded into deeds that he later regretted. Deeds that were later rewarded by faithlessness and betrayal. Though I'll grant I was no more faithful to Them than they were to me. "Where'd he take the kid," he asked, forcing himself to stay on track. "Can you help us go after them?"

"I don't know for certain. Somewhere in the land to the north, where he got the material for my child's manufacture. In the ruins left behind when your enemies fell." Again Lombardia hesitated. "I will fly you to that place, yes. I will fly you wherever you ask to go, if it means finding my child. Yet I cannot fight. Even if I wished to battle my child, my weapons have been rendered useless by your other Self's trickery. It was because of this that I have not given chase, yet, for I have no way to fight him."

Another moment of silence.

"Yet I will fly."

.oOoOoOo.

It had been a very long time since Virginia had ridden within Lombardia's self, her hands grasping the controls that guided the great metal dragon through Filgaia's skies. Behind her, leaning against the side and gazing over the edge raptly, Janus was singing softly, something about the moon, the stars and the wild geese. He had a nice, if not particularly memorable voice and Virginia could - almost - pretend that they were just flying for the sheer sake of flying. If there was anything she'd missed after the war with Beatrice was over, it was this. There was nothing quite the same as soaring over the landscape. Somehow, it didn't surprise her that Janus seemed to share her enjoyment.

If anything, it pleases me. I'm glad he can enjoy things like this. She forced back the thought that she was also glad that he shared some of her likes. That was a road neither he nor she was ready to walk down. Not until things were settled and they knew where he stood. Not until that other Janus was dealt with. For good or ill. But I can't ignore one thing. Aside from his less than perfect honesty, he and I share a lot of interests. Like much the same things. For much the same reason. She felt more alive around him, pushed to think about things that she didn't ordinarily think about. Pushed to examine her motivations and her wishes, instead of simply going with the flow.

Once again Virginia pushed the thoughts aside. She was, she began to realize, starting to feel something other than pity, something other than concern, for the not-quite-trustworthy Drifter. It was a feeling that she knew might well turn to love if she let it. The question was, could she? Should she?

"I said, we are nearly there." Lombardia's voice boomed over the speaker set into the panel in front of Virginia and she realized she'd been too distracted to listen. "Shall I land?" Looking thru the windshield, Virginia spotted the shattered remains of a building washed up on the sands. All that remained, she knew, of Siegfried's aerial fortress and his dreams of conquest.

"Yes. Land," Virginia started to say, only to be interrupted by a blast that missed them only because Lombardia's reflexes were as sharp as ever. Something was flying at them, a smaller dragon than Lombardia but much faster. "Get down, quick." She cursed. They should have realized this might happen. But why would the other Janus order the dragon he'd captured to attack something that could do him no harm whatsoever?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a strange chill and she reached for her Mediums. They were trembling, as if terrified or enraged. It was a feeling she'd had before. The awareness of the something fell and terrible approaching. What? What is it? Behind her she could hear the others reacting as well, only Janus silent and confused.

Lombardia spun in mid air, forcing everyone against the straps holding them into her. "I cannot outrace him," she said tensely. "He is younger and stronger than I am." She dropped a good hundred feet and Virginia heard Janus cursing. "I can, however, outthink him. I will deposit you quickly. Then go." She headed for the nearest land, only to pull to a halt as her child zoomed past them and spun around, firing again. Once again the explosion missed, but by a narrower margin than before as Lombardia dropped downwards again.

Janus' curses had an odd tone to them. When he managed to get past the profanity, though, he growled, "Can you outthink that other me? Because he's piloting the kid."

A voice boomed overhead. "Why Ginny, m'love. Whatever are you doin', hangin' around with that faker? Can you not handle th' real thing?" Virginia lifted her face, squinting past the sunlight at the other dragon. A human form was standing on the creature's back, not even bothering with straps or controls. Dressed in all too familiar clothing, the man's appearance sent a shock thru her system that caused her to, almost automatically, check the man behind her.

They were identical. Down to the Dark Spear that both carried in their right hands.

.oOo.

Eyeing the man standing above them, Janus knew they were in trouble. Whomever it was, the real Janus, a copy or something else entirely, this man had power. He could feel it even this far away. That Dark Spear's power seemed to throb and pulse, thirsting for blood. His blood, he was almost certain. That's the real thing. I haven't a hope in hell of fighting it.

"Well, well, well. I could sense yer existence Copy Me but I did not expect you so soon. I shoulda known better. Shoulda realized that even a copy would have ambitions." The other Janus laughed, signaling his mount to drift lower. "Wouldja care to fight it out? Do ya think that foolish copy of my Spear is enough to defeat me?"

Janus shrugged and deliberately mimicked his twin's hick accent. "Well, y'know, I might be convinced t'try. Time was I'da given you exactly what yer asking for." He gave the other man a long considering look. "Course, round about that time, I think m'brains, or were they yours, weren't operatin' normal like." He was getting odd looks from his companions and he could only hope they could understand what he was up to. Especially when he wasn't sure himself. He underestimates me for some reason. I want it to stay that way. If that means talking like Dario and Romero, I will.

Another drift downwards and Janus nudged Virginia slightly with his foot. She didn't look at him, but he sensed her attention. He nudged her again, then nudged his ARMs towards her. "Y'see," Janus continued. "I think I could care less if'n I'm called Janus Cascade or Aloysius Brown. So if y'want th' name that badly, I'm inclined t'let you have it. It's just a name, after all. I don't have enough of my sorry your memories t'be making it worth the arguin'." He let derision color his tone. Disdain for someone who would fight over a name clear in every word.

"Ah did not think you were that much a coward," the other Janus murmured as Talyn kept moving closer. Janus slid his hand over Lombardia's control, eyeing his twin, even as Virginia, very slowly, slid her hand over the stock of his ARM, undoing her strap with the other hand.

"Don' know me too well, do ya?" Janus shrugged, smiling bitterly. "I gotta good idea 'bout you though." He twisted the control, dropping Lombardia down, nearly into the Sea of Sand below them, then, as Talyn followed, raising her straight up as fast as he could. "NOW GINNY!"

She had his ARMs up and out, raising it over the windshield even as Talyn rose above them again. Her aim was good, but she wasn't used to firing a weapon that large, especially while standing on a moving surface. The first bullet missed and - warned - the other Janus dodged sideways. He took the bullet in his arm and fell backwards.

.oOo.

Virginia dropped to the floor and gasped. Janus' ARMs was too damned big and too damned unwieldy to fire without help. And I'll be damned before I say that to him. I know what he'll be thinking. Instead, she clutched onto the pilot seat, trying to get upright, even as Janus guided Lombardia away from the area, pushing the dragon to her limits. He was yelling something but the wind, and the noise of Lombardia's engines were too loud. She could just barely hear him say, "I know who" The rest was lost.

Later. When we're out of danger. I'll make him repeat that. Behind them she glimpsed silver metal gleaming in the sunlight. "TALYN!" She yelled, pointing behind them, and Janus pushed her back down. He shifted Lombardia's direction one way, then the other. It wasn't working. The smaller dragon was catching up.

"JANUS!"

An explosion again, this one striking Lombardia's wing and sending her into a tailspin. Somehow, Virginia clutched onto her straps, holding onto the chair for dear life. They were out of control, tumbling thru the air wildly, Lombardia crying out in pain. We should never have let her come.

More explosions, most missing now because while Lombardia wasn't trying to evade them, her out of control flight made it nearly impossible for Talyn to predict where she would be. Virginia caught brief glimpses of her comrade's faces. Saw Janus struggling to hold on, being pulled sideways and backwards. Saw disaster approaching from above, then below, then above again.

Then Janus disappeared, thrown from Lombardia's back in a moment of twisting terror. She reached out where he'd gone and felt Clive and Gallows grabbing her, holding her back. She was screaming his name, trying to break free, praying that he'd manage to catch hold of Lombardia somehow. Praying that he'd escape like he always had before.

She barely noticed it when Lombardia crashed.

.oOo.

It had happened entirely too fast. One moment spinning out of control like a top. The next, flying out, high and far, tossed into the air like a tuft of fluff on the wind. More like a pebble off a mountain, he corrected himself, hand clutching the Dark Spear as he plummeted. Far away from him now, he could see Lombardia, still out of control, headed straight for the mountain side. He howled in pain as the dragon struck, bounced and fell down, into the sea of sand below.

She can't be dead. I'd know if she was dead. That was his only comfort and it was a damned small one. Even if she wasn't dead, he was in no position to help her. He was, for that matter, very likely to be dead in a few minutes if he didn't think of a way out of this one.

Fortunately, his body didn't need him to actively think of the answer to his problem. The shift hurt, always had and probably always would, but he was profoundly grateful for it. The all too human flesh gave way to that other form, a shape he knew could survive practically everything thrown at it. Even, he hoped, being dropped into the Sea of Sand.

As the grains closed over him, though, he had to wonder exactly how he was going to get out of this mess. His memories of that time before Yggdrassil fell were enough to tell him that he knew how to swim. One did not, however, swim in the Sea of Sand.

He corrected himself as he struck living flesh. Monsters swam in those depths, crawled thru the sand and attacked unwary vessels. Monsters that were often as big as large houses, if not bigger. Monsters that could, if he were careful, provide him with an escape.

Clutching onto the creature's body, he let himself be carried to the surface. It barely noticed him and he was just fine with that. He needed to reach land, preferably land where he could get to Virginia's crash site. She's still alive. He knew that much and could only pray that he wasn't fooling himself.

A bit of persuasion, in the form of the Dark Spear pricking the creature's hide got it to flee the small, annoying, pain until it came close to a beach nearest to the spot where Lombardia had gone down. He leapt off, then. "So long and thanks for the ride," he yelled after it. Then he turned, intending to head after Virginia and bloody well rescue the wench.

Only to walk straight into Talyn's leg.

.oOoOoOo.

It was dark. Her head ached. She was almost certain her arm was broken. On the other hand, she was alive and that was something she didn't intend to argue with. "Clive? Gallows? Jet?" She almost called for Janus, but remembered in time that he'd been thrown clear. He's alive, though. I know he is. She wasn't sure how she knew, but it was a certainty as deep set in her as her ability to fire her ARMs. Or his, for that matter.

Clive's voice came first, strained and muffled. "I'm alive. I'm reasonably sure Gallows is too, as his head is on top of mine. He is, however, unconscious."

"You have it good," Jet grumbled, his voice even more muffled. "I have the rest of him on top of me. And your foot in my stomach, Virginia."

She would have moved the offending limb, but movement seemed impossible for the moment, because apparently she was tangled up in Gallows' legs. "Why is it the biggest, heaviest and most difficult to maneuver member of our party is the one who gets thrown on top of us?" she asked plaintively. "And knocked out?"

"Perhaps you are just lucky?" The voice was Lombardia's. Tense and weak, it was the voice of a creature fighting to hide its weakness. "Count yourselves truly fortunate that I was able to reshape myself around you before we struck."

Realizing that their companion was hurt, as or more than they were, Virginia struggled to pull free of Gallows' limbs. "Are you going to be all right?"

"I have taken worse in battle. Not a lot worse and I will be glad, very glad, to be out of these sands and resting. Yet I believe, given time, I will be well." Virginia realized they were moving, very slowly. "Get yourselves in order, just in case we are attacked. I do not think we will be, however. The currents of the Sea have carried us far from our landing spot and my child and his new master may not be able to find us. Or realize we have survived, for that matter."

Virginia nodded, though the gesture was pointless. Untangling herself from Gallows made her want to scream, the pain in her broken arm about all that she could bear. Still, with him unconscious, only their supplies of healing fruit would be able to help her, their magic almost as powerful as Gallows' strongest healing spells.

At last she was free and able to help Jet. Then Clive, too, was out from under the snoring Baskar. "As long as he's making that noise," Virginia noted sourly, "he can't be too badly hurt." She slipped a berry into his mouth, forced him to swallow. As he sputtered to awareness, she called out to Lombardia. "We're up and ready. Will we be landing soon?"

"We are just leaving the sands." Light flickered above them and metal screeched. "Ahhh. I pray you will not need me for a long while. I must rest."

The group climbed out and onto the hard rock of a small spur of land that Clive identified as part of the railway. Which meant that they should be able to get back to civilization. She picked up Janus' ARMs and held it.

"Virginia," Clive said, gently and she knew what he was going to say. She shook her head. "We all saw him fall."

"He's got that demon form," she pointed out, clutching the weapon in her hands tightly. "He can survive it. He has survived. I know it."

The others looked at each other and Jet said, finally, "If he is, then we'll find him. Or he'll find us."

.oOoOoOo.

"I am not askin' much of ya. Do it, and I will not only let you live, but will share some of my power with ya. You are not as strong as I, no, but I kin feel it in ya. The ambition that burns like fire. The need for strength that consumes you."

The only thing consuming Janus right that moment was a longing to punch his own smug face right in the jaw. His twin was really making him hate the sight of himself, expression so certain of its owner's superiority that he had to wonder why Virginia had ever trusted him. Or maybe it's because of who this guy is? We're not the same. I'm sure of that much. The other man's speech alone proved that much "All I want," he told the man standing over him, Dark Spear to his throat, "is t'be left alone. Let me go n' I won't bother you." It wasn't easy to keep up the charade, but he didn't want the other man to realize how much he understood.

It came as no surprise that his twin didn't agree with that idea. "I think not. You are one not t'be trusted. Ya betray those ya do not care for easily, and ya care mostly for yerself." Thin lips curled derisively. "I know you like I know m'self, after all. An' I know you cannot be allowed t'wander entirely free."

Janus sighed. It had been worth a shot, trying to squirm out of his twin's plans for him. "What makes ya think I can get th' guardians offa them, anyway? They're likely to make a fuss, y'know."

"Ya have traveled with them. Ya have gained that foolish girl's trust. Think of something." Thin lips curled in a derisive smile that did not reach the eyes and the other Janus pressed his Dark Spear closer, so that its point pricked even Janus' demonic skin. "And do not think t' betray me, little copy of mine. Or you will once more taste the power of m' blade."

"Yeah, yeah. Wuhtevah." Janus got to his feet, rolling his eyes. His twin couldn't even maintain the speech pattern for fifteen minutes. Who did he think he was fooling?. "I get yer point. Or I will, if'n I make trouble fer ya.."

"Your pretty little Drifter will get it as well, if you fail me." Janus' twin gazed at him and smiled as the statement hit home. "Ya know her well enough. As long as she has th' Guardians to aid her, she will feel confident enough t' attack. Without them, she will know she is outnumbered."

Somehow, Janus managed not to say that even without the Guardians on her side Virginia would probably try her damnedest to stop his twin from whatever cruelties he was plotting. "I gotcha. Just one thing, how'm I supposed t'find her?" He knew the answer to that question, but he wondered if his twin did.

The other Janus shrugged. "I neither know, nor care. You are a resourceful man, for all that you are merely my copy. You will resolve th' problem."

"Guess maybe I will," Janus answered agreeably. "Don't suppose you'n Talyn could give me a lift?"

To Be Continued...