Tears through Time
A Crono Series fanfiction by Thomas Knapp
Prologue
It all started when a small envelope arrived by courier on what had started as a bright, clear, and promising day. Lucca took the article with a smile, and allowed the courier leave with a polite nod.
Upon tearing the fold free, a slight hint of rose floated up to her nostrils. Curious, Lucca freed the folded card from the envelope. On the front, bold letters told her that she was invited, to an event that she assumed would be described inside the card. Thus, she opened the invitation, and its contents stunned the previous slight smile off her face.
You are cordially invited to attend,
The matrimonial ceremony between
Princess Nadia of Guardia
And
Sir Crono of Truce
To be held on the 17th day of the six month,
In the year of A.D. 1002.
Lucca's hands trembled almost violently. It was at this point that her mother Lara leaned out the front door to their house, asking, "Was that a royal courier just now?"
Without a hint of emotion, Lucca affirmed, "Yeah… it's just Marle sending me a letter on how things are going at the castle."
"Oh, well okay then." Lara finished, "I just finished baking a cake, would you like some?"
"Umm… yeah, I'll have a piece."
"Okay then, just come on in when you're ready." With that, Lucca's mother disappeared into the house.
"A cake?" Lucca asked herself as she once again clutched the wedding invitation in trembling hands. "Will it be anything like the cake they'll serve at Crono's wedding?"
It was at that point that the young inventor physically slapped herself. "Oh, come on, Lucca. Why are you acting so surprised? You were there after Crono was killed by Lavos. Marle was absolutely devastated. It was obvious that she loved Crono…"
"Geeky Lucca! Geeky Lucca!" The tallest bully shouted, shoving the little girl into the mud.
"Stop it! Leave me alone!" Lucca cried as one of his friends tugged her backpack off her shoulders. "No! Give it back!"
Rummaging through the satchel, the thug pulled out a small pair of eyeglasses that had a strange blinking blue light on the bridge of the eyepiece and two small wires looping around the frame. "What's this, huh?"
"It's X-ray glasses." Lucca began with a sob, "They…"
"Tell you how geeky you are?" The leader howled, his two cohorts laughing spitefully in response. "Maybe we should see how sturdy these 'X-ray glasses' are?" Grabbing the spectacles from his friend, he tossed them to the ground, and raised his foot slowly.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Lucca cried as the boot came down swiftly.
However, the bully's foot never reached its target. A wooden object met the back of his knee midway, causing the creep's leg to buckle, and dropping him to one knee. The three ruffians whirled around, just in time to receive several painful swipes to various parts of their persons.
"YIKES!" The leader yelped painfully as he became the recipient of a nasty kick to his shin. Quickly retreating with his friends, he turned around and threatened, "I'm warning you, geek! One day, your little friend Crono won't be there to…" He was then interrupted when the wooden sword Crono wielded was suddenly thrown with uncanny accuracy and force into his jaw.
Finally turning his attention away from Lucca's tormenters. With a gentleness that was a stark contrast to the power he had recently displayed, he retrieved Lucca's invention, and with equal tenderness lifted her from the mud.
As he returned the spectacles to Lucca's hand, she looked over the young boy appreciatively, from his muddy shoes to the tops of his spiky red hair, and muttered shyly, "Thank you, Crono. What would I do without you?"
"Of COURSE it's safe, Crono!" Lucca assured, "I just need to fine tune it right now, that's all." She looked up at Crono with a pleading expression, one that the developing swordsman found too pitiful to argue with.
"Oh THANK YOU, Crono!" Lucca chirped with glee, pointing to the large device looming menacingly over a simple metal chair. "Just sit down in the chair, and breathe slowly." Lucca instructed, to which Crono quickly, albeit somewhat reluctantly, complied.
She stuck her tongue out slightly as she made the final adjustments to the control panel in front of her. "Now… stand very still…" And then she pressed the INITATE button.
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!
Lucca then jumped, and in a panic, shouted downstairs, "MOM, DAD, ANYONE! BRING ME SOME TONICS RIGHT AWAY!"
It was a considerably less confident Lucca that paced back and forth in the waiting area to the mayor's house in Truce. "What am I doing here, Crono?" Lucca demanded in a wail, "I've never shown one of my inventions to the mayor before! What if he hates it? What if he thinks I'm a danger to society? What if he forces me out of town? What if he…"
Crono ceased her irrational cries by placing one hand on her shoulder. His smile told Lucca all she needed to know.
"You'd still be my friend, huh?" Lucca finished, a grin starting to form on her cheeks. Finally, the self-assured, energetic Lucca returned, "HAH! There's a first time for everything, right? I'll show that mayor why they call me LUCCA THE GREAT!"
Crono's wry smirk made Lucca stick out her tongue playfully, "Fine… why I call me Lucca the Great. Geez… always raining on my parade…"
The mayor's secretary finally appeared in the room, and said, "Miss Ashtear, the mayor will see you now."
Lucca slapped Crono on the back, and stated, "Well, I'd ask you to wish me luck, but I won't need it." She strode to the mayor's office almost smugly, but when she turned back at the entrance, her face revealed intense gratitude.
"Crono… thank you again…"
Finally Lucca let herself feel what had been suddenly bothering her. "…but I love Crono too…"
A single tear splashed onto the scented invitation just before Lucca cast it away, its very existence suddenly repulsing her. Forgetting all about the cake her mother had just baked, she dashed upstairs into her room, locking the door shut before throwing herself on her bed, sobbing the tears of those whose feelings cannot be mended by all the sentiments in the world.
A month later…
No doubt Crono and Marle had been curious as to why Lucca had not attended the wedding ceremony. So when they arrived a day after the wedding on route to their honeymoon, Lucca was fortunate to have an adequate excuse fall in her lap.
"Oh, you are DARLING!" Marle cooed to the infant, "And you have a pendant just like mine!"
"I was heading to the castle, and I saw her on the roadside, abandoned." Lucca explained, a statement that wasn't ENTIRELY a lie. "I couldn't just come to the ceremony holding a crying baby. I mean, what would everyone had thought?"
Crono nodded, as if understanding the logic. Even Marle agreed, "Yeah… I would have done the same thing. So, are you going to take care of her?"
"Yeah… I just don't know of anyone who'd want the added burden of another baby."
Marle sighed happily, "That's so wonderful! Hey, maybe when Crono and I have a child, our kids can play together!"
The thought of Crono and Marle… conceiving offspring… sent pangs of anger and disgust through Lucca's body, but her voice instead reflected anticipation. "That WOULD be something to look forward to."
Crono looked down at the giggling infant girl, and turned to Lucca. But before he could even ask, Lucca stepped in with the answer, "Her name is… Kid."
Marle looked shocked, and she interjected, "Oh NO! That just won't do at all! Come on Crono, maybe we can think of a better name!"
The words triggered another unbidden memory of the three's travels came to Lucca's mind. At the time, the scenario hadn't bothered her… this time, looking back on it made her soul drip with seething hate.
"No… no…" Lucca interrupted, her voice letting a bit of her acidic feelings seep out. "I'll think of a better name later."
Marle stepped back as if she were stung. "Oh… all right. I'm sorry…"
Lucca recovered herself, and said assuredly, "No, don't apologize." She looked at Kid, and added, "Kid here actually gave me a bolt of inspiration. I think I'm going to start an orphanage here."
Even Crono reacted visibly to the statement, and Marle asked, "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, I am." Lucca affirmed, chuckling as she did so, "My mother is absolutely giddy with the idea of taking care of some more little ones, and you know my father… he loves an audience to impress with his newest trinket."
Upon the conclusion of Lucca's announcement, the three passed the time talking genially, but Lucca, despite her friendly voice, felt the anger in her heart growing rampantly, finally finding a target for all her pain.
Marle…
Two years in the future…
Over the flow of time, Lucca found herself become absolutely overcome with the maintenance and operation of the orphanage that she didn't even have time for her own inventions, much less harboring festering jealousy towards certain Queens of the kingdom.
However, that all changed on yet another promising morning, much like the one that had sent Lucca's heart crashing once before.
A knock sounded on the front door of the house. Lucca looked up, then ordered Kesho to keep on fingerpainting. "And NO making a mess this time." Lucca reminded. Approaching the entryway with a brisk step, she opened the door to her guests.
The sight of seeing Marle's smiling face was enough to make her blood boil all over again. However, the person accompanying the Queen was enough to nearly send Lucca over the edge on the spot.
The boy barely made it above Marle's knee. Dressed in a fine green silk shirt, and an absolutely out-of-place diaper, the child's spiky red hair and bright blue eyes left little doubt as to who he was.
Lucca had known that Marle had given birth about a little more than a year ago. Such news simply does not go untold. But to see the child first-hand, and the striking resemblance he bore to his father…
Marle interrupted Lucca's thoughts, "I realized that you probably were very busy at the orphanage, and that's why you hadn't visited lately, so I'd thought I'd introduce you. This is Allister. Allister, this is Lucca, a good friend of your mommy's."
Allister's cherubic face looked up appraisingly at Lucca, finally saying with a childish lisp, "Hi."
Marle laughed, and added, "He's so quiet. I wonder where that comes from, huh?"
Lucca giggled along, but it was very hard to inject any joviality into her tone. "Yes… I wonder…"
"Can we come in?"
Lucca jumped, "Oh… yes… of course! Just don't mind the mess."
They walked into the playroom, which connected directly to the entryway. Upon stepping through, a blonde haired flash jumped into view. Kid recognized Queen Nadia, countless descriptions and stories had been told of her, and Lucca of course, but the little boy with them was totally foreign. "Who he?"
Lucca dropped to a knee in front of Kid, and said, "Kid… this is Allister. He's Queen Nadia's son."
"I thought you were going to think up a different name, Lucca."
Lucca shrugged, and she replied, "It kinda stuck…"
Kid, ignoring the two adults, strode up to the young boy. Despite being almost a year older, she was only a few centimeters taller. "So… that would make you a prince, eh?"
Allister blinked twice, and replied, "Yup."
Kid, expecting more, was taken somewhat aback by the disturbingly short reply.
Marle looked down at the pair, and said, "Why don't you two play along? Lucca and I need to catch up."
Kid smiled broadly, and grabbing Allister by the arm, slowly helped the younger boy around to various points in the playroom.
At that moment, Kesho jumped to his feet, and displayed the picture he had so dutifully painted. Marle chirped in glee upon seeing it, and Lucca smiled in congratulation, but deep down, a much darker feeling burned.
"It's Queen Marle!" Kesho announced, displaying the picture proudly.
It was everything Lucca could do to keep from incinerating the picture on the spot.
Things went totally downhill for Lucca from there. Not even the passing of two more years was enough to quell the increasingly angry, and disturbingly violent, feelings in her heart. It didn't help that Marle continued to ram the fact that she had given birth to Crono's child down Lucca's throat every so often with occasional visits.
Lucca slowly gave into her jealousy and rage, even though she continued to publicly suppress them. However, even her young charges began to note that Marle was starting to take a less and less important role in Lucca and her friends' adventure to save the world with each telling. By the end, Kid commented confusedly that Marle had somehow become almost cowardly…
Finally, the former inventor totally surrendered to the dark and violent urges. Leaving the children of the orphanage in the care of her parents for "a short while", Lucca decided to visit her "friends" at the castle.
Fortunately, the guards still recognized her. "Madame Lucca, we are honored by your visit. It has been a long time."
"Yes, I have been extremely busy." Lucca noted, then decided to get down to business. "I am looking for Queen Nadia. Where would she be?"
"The Queen?" One of the guards stated, "She went upstairs just a few minutes ago to set Prince Allister for his nap. Shall we announce you?"
"N… NO!" Lucca yelped, "I don't wish to disturb the young prince. I know the way."
She strode past the guards, and stopped when one of them finally stammered, "Madame Lucca… I must ask you to leave your gun at the gate with us. King Crono, since the prince's birth, has banned all weapons from the palace."
"Of course." Lucca said amiably, handing the gun over to the guard. Continuing on her way, she had actually anticipated such a request. Lucca didn't at all blame Crono for loving and wanting to protect his son. He was such a wonderful man, who didn't at all deserve to be saddled with a backstabbing slut like Marle.
Lucca waited patiently outside the prince's bedroom, and finally Marle emerged, closing the door softly behind her. Noticing Lucca, she said gleefully, "Lucca! It's so good to see you! How long have you been waiting out here?"
"Long enough." Lucca replied, eyes darkening in hate.
Marle noticed this, but pressed on nervously. "Then… why didn't you just come inside? I'm sure Allister would have loved to see you."
Finally, Lucca shed all her veils of decency, hissing spitefully, "I didn't want Allister to see what was about to happen."
"What on earth do you mean?"
In one quick motion, one that she had been practicing for some time, Lucca pulled up her left pant leg, and pulled the dagger from the holster she had set there. Straightening, her arm swinging upward with the movement, the blade sank into Marle's chest, a precise blow to the Queen's heart.
Grinning maliciously, she watched in sheer venomous delight as Marle collapsed to the floor, uttering not a sound, totally stunned by what had just happened. But once the carpet started to swell with the crimson tide of Marle's blood, it was like the hatred, jealously, and spite swept away with it. Soon all that was left in Lucca's soul was guilt, loneliness… and shame.
Bolting away in terror of herself, she rushed out of the castle, past the pair of stunned guards, not even bothering to retrieve her gun.
Most of the world mourned that following day. However, a small group of rebels in Porre decided now was the time to make their move. With Guardia in chaos, it didn't take long for the rebellion to totally overrun the kingdom. It was also at this time that a demi-human named Lynx enacted his plan to capture Lucca at her orphanage. From there, Lucca was forced to some things that she would normally have regretted, had she not been in the depths of regret as it was.
Eventually, she escaped Lynx's clutches, but while she could escape from the almost demonic demi-human, she simply couldn't escape the demon that haunted and tormented her the most… herself.
Eventually, she found her way to a small series of islands, almost completely sealed off from the rest of the world. In a world where no one knew her, Lucca changed her appearance, altered her name ever so slightly, and cultivated a thick German accent.
Adventure would once again find the woman now named Luccia. An old foe reared its head, and albeit with some trepidation, Luccia joined the fight. Reuniting with Kid, who did not appear to recognize her, the woman once known as Lucca felt like she was beginning to atone for her transgressions.
The dimensions fused into one, a bright future emerged for all, and Luccia felt that maybe, just maybe… she would be able to completely face what she had done.
But as fate would have it, one bright, clear, promising day, her life would once again change forever…