Disclaimer: All characters in this story are property either of Square Enix or the fine makers of Doctor Who respectively.
This takes place during Chrono Trigger's Ocean Palace disaster, and between the Doctor Who episodes: "Runaway Bride" and "Smith and Jones".
Dark Wind and Oncoming Storm
By: M. Handy
The black wind howled, deafening to those sensitive to its cry. Princess Schala Zeal fought the overwhelming urge to cover her ears, knowing it would only bottle the phantom sound within her. Darkness and shadow enveloped the Undersea Palace, the latest addition to her mother's sprawling kingdom. Yet it smelled and felt foul, reeking of a soul-smothering miasma, the byproduct of that trice cursed machination, the Mammon Machine.
This underwater prison, so much closer to the heart of the world, amplified the machine's power - its every line and conduit, every chamber, bulkhead, and stairwell designed to channel the heat of the planet's core, and the power of Lavos.
Her mother called this her greatest gift to the world, the genesis of a new kingdom of Zeal, unending, ageless, and free from sickness and death. Here the Mammon Machine would draw an exponentially greater wealth of raw magic straight from the heart of that legendary creature. This should have been the greatest focal point in the history of the universe, a moment that would change what it meant to be human.
Instead, the black wind howled.
Forcing them to witness her grand triumph, Queen Zeal ordered the Gurus, her three former advisors, and her children into attendance. Melchior, the Guru of Life, Gaspar, the Guru of Time, and Belthasar, the Guru of Reason looked on in disgusted horror as the queen's workman finished the final attachments between the machine and her palatial abomination. Schala's little brother Janus clung to her dress in fear, watching the sparkle of insanity in his mother's twisted eyes. He could hear the black wind too, perhaps more strongly than the princess herself, but he bore up under the oppressive wave like the prince of the blood he was.
Yes... this should have been humanity's zenith; her mother knew that well.
"Schala!" ordered the queen, "increase the output to maximum. I will have the full power of my glorious creation!"
"I mustn't, Mother!" she protested, "It is too dangerous!"
"You shall, or I will feed these men into the Mammon Machine, extracting what I need from them, slowly, painfully, until you do as I command."
"Fear not, Lady Schala," called Melchior sternly, "We have within us strength to hold back its consuming fire."
The queen chortled darkly, "That might have been true before, but so close to the power of Lavos, you cannot withstand its fury." She paused to let that sink in. "However, should you be correct, I make you this promise, daughter: I will throw that useless brother of yours in along side them."
Schala's eyes went wide, and for a moment, she lost all mastery over her voice. Janus clutched at her skirts. The memory of his safety brought her back to herself. "Mother. You wouldn't."
"Lavos' will must be done. His order shall spread over our world. Any sacrifices necessary toward bringing about those ends are small indeed. Now choose."
She knew her mother well enough not to doubt her words. She had witnessed every hour of the queen's recent transformation from kind and loving mother to evil tyrant. Calling upon the magic of her pendant, she ordered the Mammon Machine to its maximum output. To her utter relief, the fields of magic it generated remained stable. Schala sighed.
Then a klaxon sounded, not in relation to the machine as she initially thought, but an intruder alarm. Panic spread briefly across the control room, but Queen Zeal's iron will silenced the clamber in a heartbeat, ordering her soldiers on guard.
The door to the chamber burst open, and Crono rushed in, the young man Schala had rescued earlier. With him were his two friends, Marle and Lucca, and the warrior held in his hand a long knife of red metal, the same crimson sparkle as the Mammon Machine.
Crono charged forward before anyone could stop him and thrust the knife into the device's display panel. It should have been enough to disable the machine. It would have been enough if she had not just locked the abomination's output at maximum. In a sense, she had just doomed her world to destruction, because the Mammon Machine immediately cascaded out of control.
Instead of being destroyed by the scarlet knife, the Mammon Machine's twisting aura transformed the weapon into a longsword of incredible power, which launched from the shattered panel only to be lost to the shadows. Arcs of cascading power sprayed throughout the control room, severing conduits, wires, and body parts without discrimination. Schala called upon her power, but the Mammon Machine did not respond.
And then something happened which dwarfed these other disasters by comparison...
Lavos slumbered as the Mammon Machine drew its trickle of power from the lofty heights of Zeal Kingdom, however, here at such great depths, the engine's out of control activity woke the beast, causing it to abandon its molten sanctuary, opening a portal to appear in their very midst.
The battle that ensued lasted but a moment, and in truth, Schala scarcely perceived it through the light of combat. However, the results imprinted themselves indelibly upon her eye. Crono lay dead, his body dissolving under a beam of inexorable power issuing forth from Lavos' open maw. Chono's friends vanished into portals opened by the creature's power, and once more Queen Zeal's mirthless laugh rang throughout cathedral-like chamber.
To Schala's dismay, the wrath of Lavos did not end here. Its rage, infusing the Mammon Machine with greater power than ever, fractured the seams of the surrounding universe, tearing open cracks that threatened the stability of even the Ocean Palace's massive structure. She heard the tearing of substance-less fabric, and abruptly Belthasar vanished from sight. With a cry, Melchior and Gaspar disappeared likewise.
"Schala!" screamed a panicked Janus, and in that instant, the pull on her dress redoubled and dissipated altogether. She spun around, her heart clenching, but Schala's brother had been swallowed up by the destructiveness of Lavos' power.
"Mother!" the princess screamed.
Queen Zeal merely laughed, "What does it matter? They were nothing to our glorious empire. Lavos shall take us into itself, granting my kingdom power for all eternity!"
If possible, the black wind escalated in intensity, becoming something more… the dark premonition of an oncoming storm. Only to her amazement, her mother and the few remaining soldiers now showed signs of hearing it as well. Then… it became a strange, rushing, grating sound, like the thrum of an engine even more potent than the Mammon Machine.
Materializing out of nothingness appeared an unusual blocky object, a kind of a diminutive shrine. Schala struggled to make sense of the sight to no avail. It was a rectangular, blue box, smaller by far than the Mammon Machine.
Scarcely did the bizarre construction become wholly tangible when a double-door opened in its side and a tall, lean man poked his head out as if to test the natives' sentiments. "Hello! This isn't Alpha Centauri is it?" he called rapidly, "Thought not. See I was on my way there when several trebly things bumped me out of the vortex, and next thing I know my ship lands herself here. And mind you me, anything with enough power to detour my TARDIS is usually… fairly interesting." His words she understood, though Schala could not place the accent. But the voice... ancient and young, devastated but driven, rang with more shades of meaning than she could well see into.
"Who is this latest interloper?" bellowed the queen.
"I'm the Doctor," replied the man, "But don't let that distract us from the really important question."
"And that is?"
"I'm famished," he said, tonguing his cheek, "Anyone got an apple?"
Queen Zeal's face twisted into a scowl. She motioned to her guards, "Feed him to Lavos," she said carelessly.
"That was quick," Schala heard him mutter. "Now hold on," he said, holding his hands up in front of him, "You really don't want to do that." For whatever reason, the guards took him at his word for a moment before starting forward again. "Okay. Feed me to this Lavos. But a dying man's request here. What is Lavos, and... what is that thing?"
The Doctor was now looking at the Mammon Machine with keenest interest. He pulled a pair of black-rimmed spectacles from his jacket, jutting out his jaw thoughtfully as he put them on. "Some kinda tech? Looks like an energy converter." Then he swiped his finger across thin air, tasting it like a connoisseur, "Oh! An energy extractor... but for what?"
Scratching his head, suddenly a huge smile burst onto his features, "For that creature! That's brilliant! But... why do you want to extract energy from a giant porcupine?"
Not waiting for an answer, or even for the once more advancing guards, the Doctor made a fearless beeline for Lavos. "Amazing!" he called, reaching out as though he might embrace the creature, "You're beautiful! But what are you?" Removing a tiny silver wand from his long, brown coat, he pressed a button on its side and bright cerulean light blazed upon the monstrous abomination.
Lavos grumbled in irritation, but made no move to stop him. After a moment, the Doctor switched the device off again and peered at a little indicator on its shaft. "An organic, silicon-based carapace... I've seen silicon-based life forms before and you're nothing like them. You're huge but you don't have the mass to back it up. Doesn't seem natural, does it," he continued to mutter. "Were you made by hands, tentacles, nanites, ninnies… certainly not by this lot. And if this is only a shell, what's on the inside?"
Schala's head began to reel at his commentary. Her mother possibly felt likewise, for she did not scruple to call out, "Silence! You are such a small-minded man. My husband's death taught me the fragility of life. In Lavos, we shall gain so much more. Now we shed these clumsy shells of ours and become one with the greatest force in the universe!"
"Oh. Don't be daft." He whirled on her, evidently forgetting the dangerous monster beside him. "Every storm in this universe has its end. Every night brings a new morning. I understand a heart that must be free. It burns with a need to know the reason why. How we feel, the secrets hidden in the spheres... hold on..." his face scrunched into an annoyed chagrin. "Sorry, channeling Mulan there. But the moral still applies. To challenge conventions is written into the makeup of every sentient life form ever conceived. History proves that out time and again, but there are some boundaries that must be tread lightly, and others that should never be crossed at all."
"What does that matter for you? With the Mammon Machine's power coursing through my veins, I can wring the very life from your heart."
The Doctor nodded. "Well yeah, you could... or I could just do this." He pointed his silver wand at the Mammon Machine and a flare of blue light blazed from its tip. Instantly the device began to stabilize, reducing its extraction rate to a safer level.
Lavos' scream rent Schala's ears. She realized that without the corridor of power to sustain it, the creature could not yet remain in the outer world for long. Retreating into its collapsing portal, Lavos fled back to the bowls of the earth where it would sleep once more.
Silence settled across the chamber, broken only by the queen. "You dare thwart the will of Lavos?"
"Oh, I dare," replied the Doctor through clenched teeth, a shadow crossing his face for the first time. She went stark livid, but held her tongue. He ignored her, however, taking note of Schala for the first time. He approached her, placing a firm hand on either shoulder, smiling warmly, "And you there. You've been standing there quietly this whole time. What's your name?"
"Schala Zeal, sir."
"And do you have any eager plans, Ms. Zeal?" he said, still smiling.
"I do not know. You slowed Lavos down, but I doubt you stopped it. I fear my mother will grant me no liberty after all this."
He nodded almost gravely, "I suppose you're right. But if you are afraid..." he paused, passing her a grim, sheepish look, "you could always... come with me."
Schala swallowed hard. A strange emotion fluttered her stomach. She felt bemused, flattered, but in the end, she had to shake her head. "I cannot. I must learn what became of my brother and friends. Lavos' power banished them, but I cannot believe they are dead. Besides, we are barely acquainted, sir. You seem quite impressive, but for all I know you are nothing more than a madman with a box.
The Doctor's eyes twinkled, "That's as maybe, but there's one thing I am not."
"And that is?"
"I'm not running off to gather reinforcements."
Schala turned just in time to see a secret door sliding shut behind her mother and her men. A needle of ice thrust its way into her heart. They hadn't much time.
"I was on my way for a bit of a six week holiday when I got diverted," volunteered the tall man, "You look like you could use a breather yourself."
"Regardless, I have much to do here."
"Suit yourself," he consented. He strode back to his blue box, hesitating when he got there, "I'll check in on you if you'd like after I'm done."
She nodded, "If I still live, I would like that very much, sir."
He stepped into his ship. Now that she looked, it appeared much bigger on the inside, though that could be some sort of illusion. She could see him toss his jacket on a nearby coat rack. Then with only one serious parting glance, he closed the door to his TARDIS. A light strobed on the box's top, and the pounding engine roared to life again. Seconds later, the TARDIS faded from view.
Schala swallowed hard again. So much to do. Too much. First, she must use her pendant to shut the Mammon Machine down entirely. Her mother would find a way to activate it again, but that would take precious time. That accomplished she had to flee this place, learn what she could about Lavos' true nature and... the grinding noise met her ears again. Thoroughly confused, Schala watched as the strange transport rematerialized.
"Now that was a holiday," roused the Doctor as he emerged once more. To her surprise, he was now clad in gray slacks, a boisterously colored shirt, several flower garlands and a large straw hat. "Six weeks really can fly when you're having fun. What have you been up to all this time?"
Mouth falling open, Schala could barely speak for several seconds, "Six weeks? You were barely gone for a minute. Surely you jest, sir.
"I do not jest, and don't call me Shirley... oh wait. Did I not mention that this is a Time Pod... well sort of a... time machine?
Her heart skipped a beat. Gaspar had always told her time travel was possible, but she scarcely believed it. He even showed her rough plans for several time bending devices he wished to build in the future. Now, if the Doctor told the truth, here was a functioning time machine being placed at her disposal. Hope crept into her being. She could save Janus. She could save the Gurus. Together they could stop Lavos forever.
He must have seen the look in her eyes. "Alright then. Allons-y. Let's go!"
She did not argue this time. For the first time in far too long, her face broke into a warm, genuine smile. Lifting her skirt, Schala ran into the TARDIS.