… and to celebrate and give me that sneaky last push into finishing the damn thing, you get a preview 
Now help me against the “last page” writing block that I always get 
“You people are true optimists,” Janus said as he with a pleasant sigh had looked around his old room to find it in the exact same state that he had left it in.
“Either that or stubborn as hell,” Lai nodded, stepping in behind him, “hey!”
The small shriek was due to the fact that Molor slithered inside past her moving feet and curled up on the simple blue carpet beside the bed with a content hiss.
“Sleeping in a dungeon is not very comfortable even for me,” he said, resting his big head on top of the tower that he had created out of himself.
Schala stepped inside the room, closely followed by Cered.
“Neither is a prisoner’s bed, I assure you,” the princess somewhat dryly informed, but then smiled, “it’s a nice room, Janus.”
It sounded a little awkward coming from her, as she was not used to rating her brother’s choice of life just yet. But the wizard just smiled.
“A bit empty now, I’ll take care of that. Tomorrow.”
He added the last bit while rubbing his neck, glancing at the reddish evening sky outside of the window.
“The guest rooms that the king promised you are down the…”
He didn’t get further as running steps came down the corridor outside. The wizard almost closed his eyes, instinctively knowing that this meant the end of any plans of a peaceful evening.
The guard diving into the doorway was no calming sight with his wide eyes and face red with the strain of his dash.
“What?” Janus demanded with a scowl, absentmindedly reaching for his staff while his sister and Cered turned around in surprise.
The moment it took for the poor man to gain enough control of his breathing to gasp out the broken information stretched out like ages.
“Queen Leene… Flea!” he finally choked.
“Where?!” five voices shouted in shock.
“Royal… room…!”
“Damn him!”
Janus didn’t think, he simply teleported. And stumbled on the floor of the royal bedroom just when Frog leaped over the heads of five shocked guards and the king, uttering words that seemed alien coming from his knightly lips.
Flea glared daggers at the room in general, standing by the far back wall behind the royal bed. The all too well-known mantis was with him. And the insect was holding one of his sword arms against the queen’s neck. Leene meanwhile was desperately gripping the steel-hard, thin green arm pressing her shoulders backwards into the armored chest, her face pale as death with tears of horror flowing from her eyes.
“About time,” Flea said in a cold, bored voice, folding his arms.
Janus narrowed his eyes further, confusion being added to the rage. There was no triumph in the magician’s voice, only a dull hatred despite his obvious upper hand. This was strange enough to cut though the anger that otherwise clouded the wizard’s head.
“Release the queen, thou bastard!” Frog roared, the green fingers turning white-green under his gloves as he clenched his hands around the Masamune’s hilt.
In any other situation, such a phrase coming from the knight would have driven anybody off focus, but right then it was too diminutive to bother with.
“I’m not talking with you,” Flea just said, his icicle glare not for a second leaving Janus.
“Let her go, Flea,” the wizard hissed, his fingers twitching as he dearly wished that he could have summoned his staff without endangering Leene’s life further.
“No.”
Janus opened his mouth again, but whatever he desperately was trying to think of was cut off by Schala’s telepathic shout.
‘Lai says that she’s calling for help, try to win time!’
The wizard wasn’t in the right mind to care to ask, he didn’t have time for that. Gripping for hay he desperately replayed what had been said so far.
“What, no nicknames for us today?” he dared, with a rapidly sinking feeling realizing that he was pushing a limit which he couldn’t see as Flea’s teeth became visible in a growl.
“No, Janus, not today, not ever again,” the magician hissed, “and your queen is going to die.”
Janus clenched his teeth tightly while Frog tried to keep himself under control. Vaguely he heard king Guardia suck in his breath and saw Leene tense further, her already wide eyes growing even bigger in fear. Armors clanked hesitantly as the soldiers made movements only to realize that they were worthless in the next moment.
‘Schala!’ the wizard shouted to his sister’s mind, on the verge of pleading.
‘Hang on, he’s on his way she says!’ the princess harshly replied.
Janus opened and closed his fists, his brain racing for ways to delay Flea’s plan.
“Why Leene all of a sudden?” he finally said, hoarsely.
“You’ll suffer.”
The chilly reply was not exactly what Janus had expected, but it gave him more options though he didn’t dare to look at Frog, nor anybody else in the room.
“There are other ways that you could make me suffer,” the wizard said in a controlled voice, though large parts of him were screaming things similar to “not again, not again, good powers, <I>not ever again</I>!”.
He had at least expected Flea to sneer, but the magician’s cold, indifferent face did not change.
“This is the way I choose,” he said, in the same way as the whole conversation had gone in.
Leene made a pathetic squeaking sound as the mantis’ grip tightened.
Janus’ jaw almost broke.
“No, Flea, listen,” he quickly said, all pride discarded for the safety of the queen though it left a bitter taste of hopelessness in his mouth, “you’ve got me, alright? You win.”
The last words did have an effect, however it was yet again nothing that was expected. Flea’s eyes closed and his head fell a slight bit.
“No… I don’t,” he muttered, bitterness lacing his voice.
Even Frog lowered his weapon a little in pure surprise at this.
“Flea…” Janus said in a much softer voice, through the confusion aiming for the sudden weakness.
This again did not have the desired effect as Flea snapped back up with rage flaring in his eyes. The wizard tried to fight a wince to little avail.
Without another word the magician raised his right hand, pressing the thumb and middle finger against each other to snap his fingers as a signal to the mantis.
“No!” half a dozen voices shouted in despair.
Flea’s lips were pressed white as the muscles in his fingers constricted.
Suddenly the room was showered in a rain of broken glass and the mantis stumbled aside to avoid the blade cutting through the air. A pair of leather boots hit the ground, a pure white jacket fell to wave behind a tall monster as he straightened up with the pieces of the broken window still hitting the floor around his feet. The sinking sun outside painted flames on his bare, purple head and the Slasher’s thin edge.
“Put the queen down, you damn insects,” Slash said, cold as ice.
Bonus points if you without help caught the reference to Magus’ Quest at the end of this bit. I actually copied the text from that one and modified it a wee bit 