Understanding At Last Chapter 2
By Skankin' Lionel
Two hours later…
“Thanks Janus! We thought it would take over a month to finish these two buildings. You’ve sped everything so greatly. It’s too bad Schala wasn’t up to helping today.” The same short blue-haired guy told him. Janus figured out that the guy’s name was Augren Bethel. He had been a disciple of Belthasar and was on the Blackbird at the time that Zeal fell. He took a glider that he had invented to search for survivors. He said that he found a clearing full of people where a fight was brewing, but by the time he got there, they had gotten away. He heard that Dalton had gone crazy and attacked a couple of weird kids. He stayed there, helping the others rebuild civilization.
Janus wasn’t thinking about Augren’s life story though. He was thinking of Schala. He had gotten caught up in the construction and hadn’t had time to think about where she was. Now that Augren mentioned it, he hadn’t seen Schala all day. Oh…oh God no. I can’t lose her again. Not now. I just got her back. Waaaaiiiitttt a minute. That’s preeetttyyy paranoid of me now isn’t it? I’m sure she’s fine. Yeah, just fine… Jeez I’m paranoid. Janus walked back to his cabin to get some sleep. First though, he decided to go talk to the elder about Schala’s whereabouts.
“No, I haven’t seen her. Mackie went to look for you guys a while ago.”
“What? I haven’t seen Mackie at all. I…I don’t know. I just need some sleep. Putting up two buildings really takes it out of you. Y’know?” Janus said calmly, even though he was terrified on the inside. He ran home, desperately hoping she would be there. He yanked open the door to reveal a sight he really could have gone without seeing…
.
Ten minutes later, after the chaos ebbed slightly…
“Put down the scythe Janus. It’s alright, everything is okay.” Schala tried to calm her little brother down. Janus was fuming. Had he been his old self, Mackie would have been in pieces by now. His newfound tranquility had kept him from going over the edge though. He held back his anger just enough that he didn’t hurt anyone. He was still infuriated though.
“Whaddya mean ‘It’s alright?’ Mackie was macking you! I walk in on my sister goin’ at it with some guy she barely knows…”
“Some guy you barely know, Janus. We’ve been together for three years. It was a secret from everyone but Mother, Doreen, and her two brothers. I wasn’t keeping a secret from you; it was a secret from everyone. You don’t have to be so protective. I think that if I can face down Lavos I can take care of my love life. And that’s what it is, Janus. It’s true love, a true, passionate, romantic love. We’ve been together for three years and we’re meant to be together for the rest of our lives. It’s our fate. It’s what I want, we want for ourselves.” Schala was crying with emotion by that time. Janus backed down and Mackie sighed with relief.
“Now can we continue with our ‘macking’ now?” Schala asked her little brother.
“On your own damn cot!” Janus said as he stormed out of his cabin. He trudged up to the North Cape, needing some time to himself. He decided to lie down, staring at the dimming sky, and decided he needed even more time to reflect upon the person he wanted to be. I know happiness now, for the first time in my life. I know now what love really is. Is it the right kind of love? I have her back now. My sister is enough for me. I am content with her alone. She isn’t content with me. She needs that green-haired guy. There’s something about that green hair that bugs me.
Anyway, if that is what she needs to be happy, maybe I’ll need that sooner or later. She won’t have enough time for me, I’m sure. I’ll have to have more sometime. There isn’t any sense in being bitter and angry. Life is gonna be a joke from now on. I will find my true eternal happiness somewhere, if I have to venture across time itself…
In his sleep, Janus figured everything out. He reached his own personal Nirvana. He had enlightened himself to who he was and exactly who he wanted to be. Dawn came to the North Cape. He stood up slowly. Holy shit, I fell asleep. He turned to face the rising sun, leaning on his scythe. Life is going to be good from now on. The black wind howls, it screams it at me. I feel so good right now. Schala will be fine without me. The search is over. I’m certain now. I now where she is, that she’s safe. I guess that’s what mattered to me. I don’t need to be with her, I just need to know that she is safe. What pained me was the not knowing. I’ve found myself. I know what I’ve got to do to find everything else. And I know it’s gonna be fun. I’ve got to talk to Augren about my trip…
“Hello Prince Janus. Can I get you anything?” Augren asked him as he walked back into town. Janus smiled contently.
“Sure, Augren. If I give you some instructions, do you think you could fashion me up a gate key?” Janus asked politely.
“A what? Whatever it is it will take some time. What did you say it was?” Augren asked as his prince pulled him along.
“Listen as we walk, my friend. Listen as we walk…” They headed towards Augren’s cabin.
.
Three days later… “What!? Are you serious!? You…You’re PREGNANT!?” Mackie was hysterical. He was going crazy. His eyes were huge with bewilderment, like he came right out of Dragonball or something.
“You sound surprised. Are you angry?” Schala calmly asked.
“Wha…surprised! F***in’ right I am. But am I angry? NO WAY!!! This is the happiest moment of my life!” He grinned like a crazy man. Schala sighed, rubbing her abdomen, and just laid back down, happy as she could possibly be.
The tranquility was broken though, as Janus burst in. He was clutching the new gate key. “I need your help Schala. I…” She cut him off.
“I’m pregnant, little brother. Mackie and I, we’re having a child.” Schala said to him just as calmly as she had to Mackie.
“What!? Are you serious!? You…You’re PREGNANT!?” Janus shouted. Jeez! If this is the response I’m going to get every time I tell someone the news, I don’t think I want to publicize it. Schala thought as Janus ranted on like Mackie had. After a few moments of frantic behavior, he composed himself.
“So Schala, if it’s a boy, will you name him after me?” Janus asked, changing moods in an instant. Mackie intervened though, not giving Schala a chance to respond.
“Actually, Janus, in my family we pass down the first name for the males. Most of my relatives have gone by their middle name though, so maybe his middle name could be Janus. Does that sound alright?” Mackie asked tentatively, probably afraid that Janus would try to kill him for making the suggestion. Janus didn’t care though; he just wondered why Mackie’s family had such an odd tradition.
“Why the hell does your family do that?” Janus “tactfully” asked.
“Damned if I would know. The family’s been doin’ it for centuries. Glenn just happens to be the family name.” Mackie replied. Janus’ mouth hung open. HOLY FLYING F***!!! I’M GLENN’S Great-great-great-great-etc. granduncle! I knew that damn green hair looked familiar. Mackie’s f***ed up hair genes are even more dominant than our beautiful blue genes. Janus then came to a realization that should have come much earlier. I turned my nephew into a frog. I think that I have my next stop in time planned once I borrow the Epoch. I wonder if he’ll forgive me if I start doing all the uncle-like things I didn’t do when I was killing his friends.
Uh…I really don’t think it’s gonna be that simple. I killed just about every soldier in Guardia Kingdom short of him. It didn’t help that I turned him into an amphibian. I’m the worst uncle ever. I have to go fix our relationship without him trying to kill me first. Maybe Crono or Marle or Lucca could do it for me. Yeah, that might work…
“Schala, you’re not too tired to do me a favor are you?” Janus asked hopefully.
“What’s the favor?”
Janus told her what he needed. “Remember the three outsiders that showed up here? Y’know how they cam through that gate that you sealed? Can you unseal it for me? It’s the only stable one left because it wasn’t accessible when the rest became unstable. So, will you do it?” Schala stood up, and walked right out the door.
“Only if you calm down. You’re really hyper.” She said from outside. Janus smiled, and ran outside to follow her. Once he got up to her he could barely contain his excitement. He did want to start hopping in circles around her or else she might not help him. Instead he walked on, all his pent-up energy making his legs convulse. He looked like he had a couple angry ferrets in his pants. Schala didn’t care though. She hadn’t meant it really. But they made it there anyway.
It had been a month since Zeal fell and the water level had dropped drastically. The world looked much more like it had prior to the fall. The cave that the gate was in had almost completely dried out. Schala and Janus entered slowly, drops of water echoing loudly.
“All you need me to do is open this? Okay, that shouldn’t be a problem. Alright, now stand back.” Schala said confidently. Janus took a few steps back. Schala yelled an out a spell and…it was open. Janus silently walked over and kissed Schala goodbye. He hopped into the last gate. Schala understood why he had to leave without a word between them. The black wind’s howls told her all.
Janus landed back in front of his demonic altar in the keep of his castle. He destroyed it, replacing it with a large obsidian statue of Schala. He cleaned up the area, adding many room-height windows. He didn’t feel like sulking alone in dreary corridors. He finished with his lighting renovations and was pleased to have a much brighter feel around the house. He ran out some mystics that had tried to make it their home in his absence. He went to take a shower. He then realized that he didn’t have any full bathrooms in his castle. He added some.
I have lived in this castle for over twenty years. I must have had bathrooms. Maybe those guys who tried to take my castle tore them out. Flea was the only other mystic I knew of that bathed. What happened to those guys? Ozzie might’ve been killed, but I doubt it. He survived a much larger fall from my keep than from his. They were probably shamed and kicked out. If I can find them I should apologize to them for treating them like idiots all those years. Even though they are, I should’ve been a little nicer to them.
Magus lathered up his hair, which needed shampooing badly. He stood under the steady stream of water, contemplating how and where he would fulfill himself. He had a lot of apologies to make before he would feel better. Words alone wouldn’t do it. He would have to help repair the damage he had done. He only regretted that he couldn’t bring back those he had slain. It was a horrible blemish on his soul, and the only thing that placated him was knowing that the person he was now couldn’t do such a thing. It was Magus who killed all those people, not Janus. He had been reborn. He hopped out of the shower, invigorated with his life.
.