A/N: Oh the excitement! Last chapter and the action finally happens! Read on, read on:P
"Lucas! Finally! What did you do? What were you thinking? Is Josie all right? Are you all right?" Professor Z bombarded him with questions.
"I'm fine, Josie's fine, we need to talk to you and…" Lucas trailed off as he saw the Janitor. "And what do you mean 'Finally'? I've only been gone, like ten minutes."
"Lucas, you know time moves at a different rate, it's been hours!" Z frowned, "Did you figure out a way to get her back?"
Lucas grinned, "We think it's possible that she can come back to our timeline, without completely destroying everything."
"We've reached the same conclusion, but do you understand the risk involved? Do you grasp the concept of 'Everything' being completely and utterly annihilated, just because you rushed into it?" Z asked, softly.
Lucas paused, and shuddered. Everything…it was quite an idea to grasp, every human on earth, every animal, every single insect, and that was just on their planet, in their galaxy, in their timeline. To think that there were billions, trillions, an unimaginable amount of other timelines, other dimensions, and all of it being obliterated from this one action.
Z saw the look on his face and nodded, "It's starting to get through. We must be absolutely sure that this will work the way we want it too. If we can't be sure, it's not worth it."
The Janitor nodded in agreement.
Lucas's temper flared slighting at the notion that Josie, 'wasn't worth it', but he understood. If it didn't work, Josie wouldn't be with him anyway.
"Okay, what do we do then?"
Z stood up and arranged the papers into neater piles before answering. "This is what we've theorized; once Josie leaves the timeline, it will fold and bend as it destabilizes. If the dimension folds in on itself, the rest of the multiverse will be fine, but if the timeline bends outward it will disrupt the normal flow of time and damage, possibly destroy, the other timelines in the multiverse. If we can grantee that the timeline folds in then we can get Josie out, the only question is; How?"
Lucas looked at Professor Z in despair, his only hope was growing dimmer by the second, how could they possibly direct a timeline in on itself?
The Janitor stood up. "I may be of assistance."
Both Lucas and Z looked at him confused.
"I think it's time we pay Josie a visit."
Lucas reached for the watch, but stopped as the Janitor shook his head.
"We won't need that."
As Zachary and Lucas watched in amazement, Janitor drew his finger down through the air, leaving a bright orange strip of light.
Professor Z walked toward it, and reached out a hesitant finger. The moment he connected with it, he let out a short yell as he was pulled in.
The Janitor looked at Lucas and smiled crookedly. Lucas slowly walked to the strip and stepped in, rather then be pulled. The Janitor followed, stepping through then closing the strip as you would a tent zipper.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Z stumbled out of the strip into a dark room. He caught his balance as Lucas followed him through. The Janitor casually stepped through after and closed the strip.
Josie sat at a nearby table watching with interest.
Professor Z looked around, eyes light with excitement. "Amazing, absolutely amazing. Instantaneous, multidimensional transportation." He turned to the Janitor, "This is in our future?"
The Janitor nodded, not having the heart to say that it was not going to be in the Professor's lifetime.
A grin spread across his face, but it faded as he looked at the writing on the wall. "'Bye Blake Holsey'? 'R.I.P. 1879-1987'? What happened?"
Josie sighed, "The original Josie stole the ball from Victor, so Pearadyne never was, the explosion never happened and Sarah was never lost. It's hard to say exactly what happened to skew the timeline so much, but it had a lot to do with that."
"Incredible."
Lucas waved a hand to get his attention, "Professor Z! How are we going to...collapse the dimension into itself?"
The Janitor was silent as Z's brow furrowed, "Well, if the circumstances were different, I would say it's impossible. However, with his," he gestured to the Janitor, "…unique abilities, we may be able to do it." Professor Z looked at the Janitor again a frown on his face, the Janitor gave an almost imperceptible nod and Z's frown deepened.
After a moment, he continued more slowly, "Timing is going to be extremely important. I think that if, Lucas goes back to our timeline, then Josie, then I, and we leave…you," he gestured to the Janitor again, "to do what's needed, we should make it out all right."
Lucas grinned, and Josie followed suit.
"Well, are you ready now? No time like the present! …Or the past…" Lucas trailed off.
The Janitor nodded and once again drew his finger along the air, the light strip followed it and Lucas quickly stepped through. The Janitor gave Josie a smile and she stepped up to him and hugged him quickly before going through after Lucas. He looked surprised, but kept his stance.
Professor Z paused a moment before going through to address the Janitor. "Thank you…for everything. We couldn't have done this without you." Impulsively he grabbed the man's hand and shook it quickly.
The enigmatic man just gave a crooked smile and said, "I'm just the Janitor."
Z nodded and stepped through.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
On the other side, they all waited cautiously, barely breathing as the seconds ticked by. The only light came from the slip, still visible, hanging in the air of the dark office.
Suddenly the slip engulfed the room in a brilliant white blast, and vanished.
No one spoke for a moment; they still waited for the Janitor to come through another portal.
When nothing happened, Lucas broke the silence. "Where is he?"
Z sighed, "He's gone."
Another silence.
"What do you mean gone?" It was Josie.
"In order to collapse the timeline, a massive amount of gravitational energy had to be spent." Z sighed again, deeper and his voice softened. "After releasing that much energy…he wouldn't have been able to transport himself to safety."
"So…he's really gone?"
Z nodded sadly.
Josie looked at him, angry tears in her eyes, "You knew it was going to happen!" She stopped and turned away, "He knew it was going to happen…"
There was a moment of silence for the lost man.
"Well, at least you're back safe. He was a good guy, he stayed so you could come with me and no one would be hurt." Lucas tried to console her.
"She looked up at him and smiled through her tears, "Come with you?" She asked softly.
Lucas blushed, "That is, if you want to…You have no where else to go in this timeline, if I explained everything, my parents wouldn't mind, I'm sure."
"I might be able to help smooth things over," Z offered.
Josie smiled, "That sounds great."
A/N: PLEASE REVIEW this one! I really want to know what you thought. If you're angry at me for...getting rid of the Janitor, let me know! Whatever you have to say, I'm interested in! Thanks for reading!