Galaxy (GIVEN UP)

Chapter 28

"Ya're cold." Virgil commented, his head on Janus' shoulder. Janus looked over at him and the rocks he'd been focusing on fell to the ground with a thunk.

"Okay?"

Virgil shrugged. "I'm just sayin'. Ya're cold." He hugged Janus closer. "Ya're always cold."

"Why do you care?" Janus asked.

"Cause if ya're cold," Virgil laced his fingers with Janus', "I'll need to warm ya up."

Janus laughed. "Virgil Summers!" He exclaimed. "What's with the sudden come on?"

Virgil batted Janus on the shoulder. "Not like'that!" He said. "Like... I dunno, just hugs and... stuff."

Janus smirked and whispered in Virgil's ear. Virgil's face flushed and he started hitting Janus on the shoulder with both hands.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He snapped. Janus caught his hands easily, laughing.

"I was just joking, Vee." He said. He kissed Virgil on the nose quickly before going back to his rocks. With a huff, Virgil laid his head on Janus' shoulder again.

"I hate ya."

Janus laughed softly. "No you don't."

"Yeah, I do." Virgil muttered to the empty room. He'd been put here without reason or instruction but the door was locked. And, from a careful squint around the room, there were cameras everywhere. No point in trying anything. If he did, a hundred Stormtroopers would probably come battering through the door, ready to pipe him full of holes where he stood.

"Come on!" He said, raising his voice now. "Can we get this over with?!" Did he need to yell? Did the cameras even have audio?

"I wanna go home!" He tried. Nothing. He sighed and planted his hands on the table. "Come on, let me go. Ya don't need me so why-"

"On the contrary." The voice sent cold through Virgil's veins. A whoosh of air told Virgil the door had closed again. "I'd say we need you quite badly."

Virgil forced himself to breathe and hitched his belt up a little. Cutting tool, spanner, bolts on a keychain. It would have to do.

"Who am I talkin' to?" He asked slowly. "The Janus who hates my guts and wants to kill me... or my Janus."

"Neither." That was for damn sure. Didn't even sound remotely like Janus. "You're talking to Darth Incus, one of the last remaining Sith-"

"Yeah, yeah, spare me the talk." Virgil said with a wave of his hand. "I've heard it already."

With a short, indignant sigh through his nose, Incus brushed down his clothes. "Then who do you suppose you're talking to?"

That was a lie. It sounded exactly like Janus.

Virgil shrugged. "Depends on how we go about this." He looked out of the window, down at his feet, anywhere expect him. "If ya try to beguile, promise empty things ya'll just break later, I know ya hate me. But, if ya take'that stupid mask off and talk to me normal, I'll know ya back to who ya always were."

One of Incus' hands reached up like he was going to touch his mask but he stopped himself. "You're wrong, you know." He said slowly. "I don't hate you. In fact, I need you. The whole Empire does."

Virgil nodded slowly. "Bullshit." He said calmly. "Why should I help the Empire?"

"Because it will help me." There it was. The snarl, the bite of anger. Not his Janus. Definitely not.

Genar, this hurt more than Virgil had thought.

"Ya already seem to have all the help ya need." Virgil was on the move again. This time, towards Incus. Which probably wasn't the best idea. "Complete molecular reversal? Ya said'that was impossible, Jan. It should've been impossible." Virgil shook his head. "What did ya do?"

"I did what I needed to." Incus snapped. "Combined science and the Force and managed to create a way to bend the very atoms in this galaxy to my will. For you. For us."

Lie.

"If this was for 'us'," Virgil sketched quotations around the word and, Genar, it hurt. All of this hurt. "Then ya would've listened to me and not done this stupid thing in the first place. Ya would've come to me when ya got kicked out, ya would've-"

"Enough." Incus said quietly. Virgil took an involuntary step back. Incus was dangerous. Very dangerous. "Now, here's what we need you to do."

Well... oof.
Bye,
Blaize