Chapter Text
At seventeen years old, Janus had tried his best. He tried to return to ‘normal’ after his adventure through time but such a thing was impossible. Maybe if he had friends to return to or a loved one waiting who truly understood him, but not Janus. The first few months weren’t so bad. Schala was consoling to his heartache that he missed his friends from the future but soon she was reminding him that Lucca had most likely moved on and he should too. After all, he didn’t belong in her time. His home was here and now.
But Janus couldn’t move on. He regretted leaving Lucca.
As he quietly pined for Lucca, Janus started to feel like he didn’t have a place in Schala’s new life. She had a husband now and she had Xylia too. How could Schala possibly understand when she had two people she was in love with and they loved her back?
It didn’t help Janus that it didn’t take long before the people in the village began to lose patience with his ways. In such a small village, it didn’t take long for him to figure out the truth. Sure the others tried to act like they accepted him, but there was more than one occasion that he overheard people admit quietly that if he wasn’t Schala’s brother, they’d have less tolerance for his supposed needs.
The other survivors from Zeal also had little tolerance for him. They never understood him when he was the prince and now they had more reason to be frustrated with him. For whatever reason, he still had his magic while theirs had begun to fade. Even Schala had started to lose her magical abilities. Janus could have theorized for days why he was so fortunate but the fact of the matter was there was a growing sense of resentment from the others despite Schala consistently reassuring him.
So, heartbroken and feeling increasingly isolated and misunderstood, Janus made a decision one night. While he was never able to apply what he learned from Gaspar or Balthasar to the lessons they forced upon them, between their notes on time magic and his own understanding of magic and enchantment, Janus was confident he could find his own way back to Lucca. He knew in his heart that Lucca was working on rebuilding the Epoch but he couldn’t sit around and wait.
All he needed was the Gate Key Lucca had given him, the last bit of red stone he had kept and time to prepare. No matter what, he would return to his friends. He would reopen the gate in his time and find his way back to Lucca.
After all, time is not unlike a river rushing down the mountain to the ocean at its end. If one knew their destination, they could plot a course. To where they truly belonged. To home.
