"Chiron. Come, Chiron, it is time."
Jun sat up in bed, not quite asleep but not fully awake either. She was calling, and he recalled he had promised to help. Pausing for a moment, he glanced down at the sleeping figure in the bed beside him, and smiled. "I'll be back soon," he whispered, giving Domani a soft kiss on the cheek.
The Italian stirred slightly at the contact, but it was the presence of something else that brought him to a partial wakefulness, a prickling that set the hairs on the back of his neck upright. Sitting partway up with a murmured "Jun?", the Italian caught sight of the other man just as he disappeared into a black hole.
"JUN!!" Domani sprang from the bed, reaching for the hole, but it vanished before his fingertips. "Jun, no! Jun!!" He clutched at the air, as if this would somehow return the young model to him, but the room was silent and unresponsive. Stumbling over to his nightstand, he picked up the small purple cell phone in trembling hands, barely managing to dial the number he wanted.
His legs had given way beneath him by the time the person on the other end answered, leaving Domani shaking and barely holding back sobs. "...Domani?" came a groggy male voice.
"Void Time!" the Italian all but yelled into the phone. "He's gone, oh god, he's gone!"
In his own apartment, Nikado rubbed at his face, holding the phone up to his ear with his shoulder. "Okay, calm down and tell me everything. What happened?"
"Jun," came the response in a small voice. "I was asleep and he was here, and then I woke up and Void Time ate him."
"I would ask if you were having a bad dream, but I'm plenty awake," the older man grumbled, pulling himself out of the bed. "It has to be Titania. Dammit, can't that woman operate on hours that aren't four in the morning?"
"BESIDE THE POINT," Domani roared into the phone.
"I'll meet you on Themis," Nikado stated. "Don't do anything stupid, okay?"
Domani quickly hung up the phone, grabbing for his Key Stone. Shifting it to its full staff form, he pushed it through the air and turned, opening a door to Themis.
He didn't even bother with real time, entering Void Time directly. Barely noticing the lines of bodies hidden beneath the black glass, he ran for the place where Titania lay sealed. He only hoped he could make it in time.
It was quiet, like it had been in his dream, the black glass room providing an unnoticeable backdrop compared to the only sign of life in the room. The girl was in the center of the room, still within the black monolith. "Come here, Chiron," she said gently, and Jun wasn't sure if the voice was inside or outside his head, for her lips did not move.
Jun approached slowly, laying his hands against the cool smooth glass. Unlike the dream, the real thing made his skin tingle from the power of the seal just by being close. What could he do against this monstrous thing?
"I will give you my power, Chiron," she stated, as if reading his mind. "Just do as I instruct, and all will be well. Keep your hands there, and do not move."
He did so, and a jolt ran through his hands, running along his body like a small jolt of electricity and leaving a warm sensation in his chest. "Start at the top," she instructed, and his hands moved without prompting, sliding across the glyphs along the top of the slab. It was almost like immersing a burning stick of metal in water; the glowing red runes vanished as he passed over them, leaving only a puff of dust that drifted away.
Domani pushed himself as fast as he could go, making his way into the room he had sent Titania to. Sure enough, Jun was there, hands resting against the black slab. "Jun!" he cried out in worry.
The model looked up, watching the arrival quizzically. "Domani," he said in surprise and curiousity, and the Italian had a brief moment to be thankful that Jun wasn't hurt.
It only lasted a moment, though, for the last of the glyphs had been wiped away, and the black glass shattered into tiny fragments, drifting away on an intangible breeze. Titania drifted down to the ground, landing lightly before the turned to Jun. "Chiron," she said lovingly, putting her hands on his face.
"Get away from him, Titania!" Domani snarled, leveling the Key Stone at her. "Let him go!"
Jun looked taken aback by the sudden venom in the older man's tone, but Titania merely turned to look at him. An invisible wall of force slammed into him without warning, throwing him back into the hallway and against the opposite wall with impressive force. "That is not the way you talk to your god," she instructed simply.
"Go to hell," Domani spat out, pulling himself to his feet with the aid of his staff. "Just leave Jun alone."
She eyed him for a moment, and then he was blindsided by another wall of force smashing into him and knocking him off his feet. She didn't wait, but brought down another punishing blow, and another, throwing him around the hallway like a rubber ball. "Domani!" Jun cried in horror, moving toward Titania.
"Don't come!" the older man screamed out, and Jun stopped in his tracks. "Don't come, Jun, it's not safe...."
Titania stepped toward her guardian, eyeing him for a moment before she raised a hand. Liquid black surged around his limbs, fixing them in place as it hardened into black glass. "Stay there for a while and think about your misbehavior," she instructed coolly as Domani struggled, reaching for the Key Stone.
Jun shook his head in horror, eyes wide as he watched the black glass engulf his lover. How could this woman even think of doing to someone else what was done to her? "Titania, please--"
She cut off his words with a soft kiss against his lips, putting her hands on his arms. "Let us depart this time, Chiron. We have much to do."
With that, they were gone, but Domani could not respond, could not move. Being stuck in Void Time, all he could do was wait until his mistress showed mercy and came to release him.
When he got out of this, he was going to kill her.
The shock of the seal being broken was undeniable, and could be felt all over Themis even in real time. Favonius and Flora were immediately on the move, although not sure where they were going.
Ahead of them in the garden, there was a ripple, and Titania appeared, still holding onto Jun. "Titania!" Favonius gasped in surprise, stopping in his tracks. "What are you doing here?"
She made a dismissive wave of her arm, throwing the pair back. Favonius threw up a shield hastily, but it only absorbed part of the force, pushing them back out of the garden. "Do not enter my garden without permission."
Jun bit his lip, reaching for Titania as she walked toward the pair, but something grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Don't," Nikado's voice told him gently. "You'd be killed."
Jun turned to the man clad in white. "Nikado, you have to stop her. You have to help them," he begged.
The older man did not respond, merely looked to the group as Titania continued her vengeful onslaught against the pair. "Nikado?" Jun questioned slowly, feeling a deadly lump settle in his stomach.
"Not just yet," he said softly, more to himself than to Jun. "Let's give it a little while longer."
"A little while longer? They're going to be killed," Jun exclaimed tearfully. "What on earth could you be waiting for?"
"A miracle, I suppose."
After a while, Domani had stopped struggling. There wasn't any point. Titania was much better at making seals at him, he had to admit; he couldn't force the least bit of power out. It galled him, for he could sense how fragile the seal was on the outside, how easy it would be to break for someone that wasn't locked inside it.
With nothing to distract him, worry for Jun jumped to the front of his mind. What had Titania done to him, what would she do to him? Dozens of possibilities jumped to mind, each worse than the last. All he could hope was that somehow the other gods could somehow stop Titania. He would still be stuck here, but it was better than waiting on her fickle mercy.
So distracted in his depressing thoughts was he that he didn't notice the presence behind him until the seal shattered, dropping him to the ground. He coughed, throwing off the last traces of the spell and trying to return functionality to his aching limbs.
"Janus?" a soft voice said behind him, and he turned. Chiron was watching him, knife clutched in bloody hands as she watched him tearfully. "I don't know where I am," she began to sob, "you were all still and I think bad things are happening."
"Shh, it's okay," he soothed her in a whisper, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay now. You did very well to come here."
He forced himself to his feet, setting his mind back on the situation. Was Jun still okay? What of the other gods? "We need to get back to real time," he told her. "Hand me my staff, and stay close."
She nodded wordlessly, giving him the Key Stone. He held it out and concentrated, and a hole opened in midair.
Jun could only watch in continuing horror as Titania continued to pound away at the now-defenseless Favonius and Flora, and still Nikado continued to watch silently. Just when he thought he wouldn't be able to take any more, something split the air between Titania and her victims.
Titania was momentarily surprised at the hole that opened up, but showed no reaction as Janus and Chiron stepped through. "A little faster than I expected, but it makes no difference," she said with a shrug. "Janus. Have you accepted your misdeeds against me? Will you return to your obedient servitude?"
"Go throw yourself in a black hole," he spat.
She narrowed her eyes, but her next words were cut off by Chiron. "You're being a very bad girl!" she declared authoritatively to Titania, pointing. "You're gonna get in trouble. You'd better apologize before someone sends you to time out!"
Titania hissed in rage, throwing another wave of power at them. Domani clutched Chiron to him protectively, shielding her with his body as they were thrown back. "How dare you speak to me like that."
"I can't watch this any longer." Jun shook his wrist free from Nikado's grasp, placing himself in front of Janus and Chiron. Titania paused. "Please forgive them," he said to Titania quietly, watching her with a tearful expression. "I don't know what wrong they've done you, but they've suffered enough. Please, no more."
"Jun, run away!" Domani shouted hoarsely. "She'll kill you!"
"You said I was the only one that loved you," Jun said softly, ignoring Domani. "If you love me back, won't you please stop? If not for them, if not for yourself, then for me?"
For a brief moment, she seemed to be considering his words, but then she raised her arm. "Servants need to learn their place."
Jun covered his face with his arms, expecting the worst. Something roared in his ears as heat brushed against his skin, a wall of fire taking the blow. "You should listen to him," Nikado spoke in a low tone, walking toward the model. "Are you so lost in your rage that you would strike the very one that freed you?"
"Don't lecture me, Sol," Titania spat, watching him with a sideways look. "I do not take orders from you or anyone."
"It's isn't an order, it's some goddamn common sense," he replied, his back turned to her as he paused near Jun. "Let it go, Titania, and stop this madness. I don't want to have to fight with you."
She scoffed, throwing a blast of invisible force at him. Without even moving, Nikado called a wall of flame to take the hit, and responded with an attack of his own. The heat in the area grew thick, oppressive, withering the nearby leaves and vines into ash as flames circled around Titania. "You and I have a common realm, Titania, of destruction," he commented softly as the flames obscured her form, and she shrieked. "You should have remembered that we are evenly matched."
Domani watched in awe as the flames condensed into a tightly whirling sphere, barely large enough to hold a person. "You did it, Sol."
"What the hell took you so long?" Favonius snapped irritably, pulling himself over to Flora. "Were you waiting for a goddamn starting flag or something?"
"No, it isn't over," Nikado corrected, looking to the sphere behind him. "I've suppressed her power for now, but that won't hold terribly long. If it comes to a straight-on clash of power, she will win."
Domani felt his momentary elation evaporate, leaving him with only a dull, sinking sensation. "Then what do we do, now that she's going all out? Maybe if you counter her, I can--"
"Seal her? And then what? She recovers her power and thinks up some other trick to get around your seal and get free," Nikado countered in a low tone. "Seals don't last forever, Janus. This will only repeat itself in the future."
"So then what? Do we kill her? Can we kill her?" Domani shouted. "I don't know what you want from me, Nikado."
"Neither do I," the dark-haired man admitted. "Give me a moment, I'm thinking."
Domani shook his head. "We need to seal her, it's the only way. Her power is too dangerous to counter."
There was a flicker of something in Nikado's eyes for a moment, then he turned to the standing model. "Jun."
He looked up in surprise at being addressed. "Jun, you left this realm once," Nikado said seriously. "You can still return. You won't have to give up anything. But if you stay...I'm going to ask to be able to use you once again."
"No, Jun," Domani said softly. "You can't."
"This isn't your decision, Domani," Nikado said, eyes closed. "It's Jun's. Only his."
He closed his purple eyes, swallowing. "I didn't stop him before. I can't let him go again."
Jun gently put his arms around Domani's shoulders, wiping a bit of blood off the older man's cheek before giving him a kiss. "It's okay, Domani. I know." Looking back to Nikado seriously, he asked, "Would I die again?"
Nikado smiled slightly. "No one ever has the right to ask that of you, Jun, especially not again."
The model nodded solemnly. "What do you want me to do?"
Nikado smiled, then looked to Domani and Chiron, the latter of which was licking blood off her injured hand. "Janus, Chiron. This is what I have in mind."
Domani listened, then shook his head. "We can't do that, Nikado, it's impossible."
"I don't know how to do that," Chiron admitted slowly.
"You'll know how, it's in your blood," Nikado reassured her. "Janus will guide you. I know his abilities, he can do it."
He stumbled forward suddenly, a burst of blood gushing from his arm. "Nikado!" Jun cried in alarm, catching and steadying the taller man.
He winced, clapping a hand over the sudden wound. "Getting about that time, eh," he muttered. "Prepare yourselves, here she comes."
Domani quickly grasped for one of Jun's hands, sending lines of glyphs down his arm. Chiron grabbed his other hand, following suit. "I'm nervous," the girl admitted.
"It'll be okay, Chiron. Just follow my lead." Domani looked over at Jun, fixing a vibrant purple gaze on him. "I forbid you to die on me."
The model smiled. "I'm not going anywhere," he reassured Domani. "I trust you."
The flame sphere exploded outwards with force, shreds of flame flying everywhere as a raging Titania became visible once again. Nikado gritted his teeth as she sent another blast at him, drawing on his reserves of power to counter her. This was going to suck, he reflected sourly to himself. He hadn't drawn on his full power in a very, very long time.
Titania glared at him, and the ground began to tremble as she too drew out all her remaining power, sky darkening as a dark purple light formed above her head, made of crackling energy. Nikado watched grimly, heat in the air ready to respond at a moment's notice, and with a shriek, she threw it at him, sending every last bit of her power at him in order to purge him, her guardians, and all of Themis back into oblivion.
He met it with the very depths of solar fire, burning away her destructive energy into harmlessness, but it just kept coming, sizzling through Nikado's last bits of power. "It's coming!" he shouted at them as he dropped to the ground.
"Catch it!" Domani yelled, reaching out with one hand as Chiron matched the gesture from his other side, stretching out with her bleeding hand. Domani could feel Chiron's power in the air, and he tugged it toward the weakened bolt, swirling both their energies around it, slowing it as it approached the trio. His grip on Jun's hand tightened as he pulled, tugging at the end of the bolt, drawing it to him. Even weakened, the bolt could not be brought to a stop, and there was a flash of light as it met the trio, knocking them backwards onto the ground.
The ripples from the shockwave were intense, scattering dirt and stones effortlessly. One gloved hand in front of his face, Nikado looked toward the trio. The three still had their hands locked, Jun laying between the two guardians, panting for breath as he shifted uncomfortably, like he was laying on a hot surface.
"Jun?" Domani questioned fearfully, barely having the strength to push himself up partway. Every part of his body felt drained, exhausted. "Jun, please say something."
"It's hot," he gasped out, opening his eyes to meet Domani's with a feverish expression. "It's very hot."
Titania smirked, walking over to Nikado as he pulled himself up partway. "Serves you right for getting in my way," she gloated as she raised her arm, preparing to finish the job.
Nothing came.
She scowled, trying to draw on her power, but there was no response. "JANUS. What have you done?"
"Given you a lesson in humility," Domani replied coolly, putting an arm around Jun.
"Your powers are sealed away, completely," Nikado told her calmly, standing up. "If you want to be able to use any sort of magic at all, you'll have to get Jun's permission. I suggest you start learning how to behave."
"You can't do this to me," she ranted, stomping her foot. "I'm Saturn! Undo this at once, you--"
Chiron's patience had run out. Pulling herself to her feet, she stormed over to the other girl, giving her a solid thwack in the head. "Stop that, you're being stupid," she commanded.
Domani looked wearily to Nikado. "You are a really bad influence on her."
The older god laughed at that. "Couldn't have said it any better myself, Chiron m'dear!"
"You're laughing at me!" Titania said, mortified. "Stop that at once!"
Chiron responded with another thwack. "Flora, Favonius, are you two all right?" Domani called.
"We'll be all right," Flora reassured him.
"No thanks to certain sun gods," Favonius added with a mutter. "I have no idea how you've done it, but you've now sealed up the power of one of the most powerful gods in existence. Now what?"
"I'll take her back to Earth with me," Nikado replied seriously. "I'll see if I can't beat some logic and manners into that thick skull of hers. Oh, man. Ow. Really ow," he winced, sitting back down heavily. "I think I might have overdone it a little."
Titania geared herself up to rant again, only to be stopped by another thwack. "What was that for?!"
"Preemptive strike," Chiron told her firmly, then beamed. "I learned that from Sol."
Domani stroked Jun's hair, looking back down at the man in his arms. Jun opened his eyes again, focusing on Domani's face with more clarity. "I'm okay now. You forbade me, remember?"
The god clutched his lover to him, chuckling in relief. "Yes, I did. Let's take you back home, Jun."
Jun leaned against him, closing his eyes. "I think I'm going to sleep in when morning comes."
"Yes, let's both do that. It's been a long night."
