Introduction

After Lavos had finally been defeated, the seven legendary characters each went to their own time period, making time fluctuate correctly. Without Lavos in the sequence of time, the time line changed dramatically, because now the evil that was the root of all problems no longer existed. All of time was rewritten from the point at which lavos had come into Crono's world, including the day in which Crono himself traveled through time to save the world.

Chapter I

The Millennial Fair

Truce in year one thousand AD, a new year, the sounds of birds can be heard traveling from the sea, while the sounds of the festival and the tolling bells are heard in the distance. Knock, Knock! "Crono, " pause, "Crono!" "Wake, up Crono!" Day light streams into Crono's room waking him from his pleasant dreams. He rubs his eyes in a confused daze then stares into the face of his mother. "Wake up, Crono! Come on Crono. You've waited so long for the millennial fair, how could you possibly be sleeping? " Crono's mother moves away from the curtains to the staircase that leads from his room to the living room. "Leene's Bell sounds so beautiful today, I couldn't possibly imagine life without it. You behave yourself today, and have fun." Crono rubs his face some more, "I will, don't worry." "Come on! Let's get a move on.", his mother goes downstairs and begins making breakfast.

Crono has no father, he only lives with his dear mother and a cat named Fritz. Downstairs there is a small living room and kitchen. There is a small room beside the stairs that belongs to his mother that is inaccessible to Crono. His whole life he has lived in Truce with his mother. The town is small with only a few residences, an inn, a shop or two, and a harbor. His life would seem ordinary to most.

Dressed in his favorite clothes Crono heads downstairs to the Millennial Fair, he plans to skip breakfast since he has already missed the opening ceremony. "Oh, I see that you've finally gotten up, " Crono's mother stands in front of the staircase with Fritz at her face, "Oh, Crono! I almost forgot! Your best friend . . . uh . . . you know . . . ", she concentrates, "Oh, crap! I've forgotten her name!" "Lucca? " "That's it Lucca! She wants you to come see her new invention as soon as possible, she said it's the best one yet. Now, run along, please be back before dinner." Crono's mother begins walking over to the kitchen stove, "Oh dear! I almost forgot. Here's your allowance. Now go have fun!"

The sky is clear and the sun is shining. Crono races over to the Millennial Fair around noon, and finds the place crowded with joyous people. Contests are everywhere, and at each place silver coins are passed out to earn prizes and real money. In the center square merchants sell all kinds of items. A gorgeous fountain shimmers, Crono looks in and sees his reflection, never before has he felt so alive with all the excitement around him. He spends his time gambling at the races and trying to pass the strength test. He spends his money and buys a music box for his room. Finally he moves north into another section of the fair.

As Crono walks under Leene's Bell a beautiful young girl ran into Crono without looking. The two fall over and the girl's pendant flies off her body onto the ground. "Ouch! I've got to be more careful." The girl stands up, her hair is pulled back into a pony tail, and she is dressed in a rich silk ensemble of a fine green and blue color. Her eyes are so beautiful that Crono stares blankly into them as he lays helpless on the floor. "I'm really sorry, sir! Are you okay?" Crono tries desperately to say something, but he can't think of anything intelligent to say, he just stares blankly at her. "Wait, oh no! What happened to my pendant? I couldn't have lost it, I just couldn't have!" Crono sees a pendant shimmering in a shrubbery, it was so bright it was amazing that the girl couldn't see it. Nevertheless, Crono didn't care, he got up and rushed to the pendant. Picking it up, with pure joy, he ran over to her and showed her that he had found it. "My pendant! It means a lot to me. May I have it back, please? " Crono, while thinking why she even needed to ask, "Of course, take it." "Thank you! I um . . . you see, I came to the festival, but I'm not from around here. I feel a little awkward. You wouldn't mind if . . . I uh, walked around with you for a while. Just so I won't feel lonely, and all." Crono stared at her dumbfounded. Did she read his mind? "Sure." The girl smiles and says, "Oh, you're so sweet. By the way my name is . . . uh . . . Marle! And you're? "Crono." She giggles, "Really, I like that. Pleased to meet you Crono."

Crono is totally thrown off by why the girl is following him. The only girl who normally even talks to him is Lucca, this girl is so different from any other girl Crono has ever seen, yet she has a familiar quality to her, something that seems beyond anything he has ever seen before. While the two are enjoying a drinking contest a little girl begins to cry because she lost her cat. "Are you okay? " Marle asks the little girl. "Waaaah! I want my kitty." "I'm sorry sweety, Crono have you seen any cats? " Crono actually had seen a tabby cat before. In fact it had been around the deli. Crono and Marle found the tabby cat and brought it to the little girl. "You're such a gentleman, Crono. Where I come from, no one would care enough to have brought her cat to her. I wish there were more people like you." Crono thinks to himself. "More people like me? What is that supposed to mean? " Crono and Marle went shopping in the town center. An old geezer named Melchior came up to Crono, "Sir, would you mind asking that young lady you're with if she would sell her pendant to me? " Crono looked at him funny then walked Marle away from the stall. He didn't want Marle to be upset by such a strange, obscure question. "Ladies and gentleman, " a person's voice was heard over a speaker box, "Lucca the great has finally gotten her new invention set-up in the northern part of the fair! Please come enjoy a show that she has set-up for your entertainment." "Ooh! Let's go see what that's all about!" Marle says pulling Crono by the arm to Lucca's sideshow. Crono felt lucky. Most people are annoyed by Lucca's inventions, although she's never seen one so that lucky feeling might go away once Lucca blows-up another church or turns a puppy inside-out.

"Hey, wait!" Marle suddenly stops right before the entrance to Lucca's invention. "Yeah? " "Is it okay if I get some candy? " "Um, sure I guess. Doesn't bother me." Marle turns around and buys some candy from a lady. Crono waits patiently. Then Marle grabs his arm and she races him to Lucca's show.

"Ladies and Gentleman! Step right on up, and be amazed by my daughter and my new invention. Our "Super Dimension Warp" is the invention of the century! Step over here, and wa-la you will suddenly be teleported to this device on my right. Pretty cool, eh?" Everyone stares blankly at Taban, Lucca's father, no one dares make a move. Who in their right mind would dare their entire life? "What a kick! It looks like fun! I'll try it!" "Whoa, who's the babe, Crono? Doesn't she seem kinda out of your league? Is she blind? " Lucca says this only to Crono. Crono looks at her like he's about to kill her. First, her invention will go all wrong, and Marle wants to try-it-out. Second, Lucca is Crono's best friend. When the invention goes horribly wrong, he'll have to make a decision. The bookish kindred best friend or the totally hot babe that he just met today. Lastly, Lucca just made a comment that he had been thinking about all day. "Okay, everyone, let's give her a great big hand when she reappears. Just step onto the platform on the left side." Taban says with relief. "Okey, dokey!" Marle jumps up onto the platform. Taban, "All systems on" Lucca in reply "Beginning energy transfer." Father and daughter crank the machine, when suddenly a huge volt of electricity runs through the machine. Behind the machine a dark hole appears. Volts of light flash out of it, and Marle screams. Her pendant shimmers a bright white light that. She is sucked into the hole, screaming. She vanishes.

"Where is she? Lucca, where is she? The show's over folks! Get out of

here," Taban was furious. Everybody leaves, they seemed so shocked they didn't even care to make a commotion. "She . . . she disappeared. What could have possibly happened? The warp field, it seemed as if that pendant she was wearing was affected by it." Lucca stands there pondering. She's in a panic. Taban shouts, "What in tarnation do you propose we do now?" Lucca frowns, "She looked so familiar. Who is that girl Crono?" "Uh, well, she's Marle, a girl I ran into and nothing really happened, but . . . " Lucca looks at him like she wants to hit him, "What are you talking about Crono? We have a crisis on our hands. We can't have a missing girl! We could be put in jail for manslaughter!" Crono hesitates, "Then I'll go. I'll go in after her." Crono steps onto the platform as he says this, and holds firmly onto the pedant, as if it is going to magically jump out of his hands. Lucca is shocked, "You're going in after her? You could be lost! You might even die! You have no idea if this is even going to teleport you somewhere. Have you lost your mind?" Crono doesn't care, "It's the only way to find her." Lucca is impressed, horrified, but mainly impressed, "Then, let's do this." Taban, start the engine! "All systems on!" Lucca runs over to her station "Beginning energy transfer!" The hole appears again, Crono holds firmly to the pendant, he doesn't want to lose it, because it could be the only key back home. The pendant shimmers, and his hands feel as if they're on fire. He's body begins to shake and he loses consciousness. He is sucked in into the unknown vortex.

"Crono! I'll follow you after I know what went wrong!" Lucca screams as he vanishes. Her words echo in the darkness millions of times, even after Crono finally awakes from his unconscious mode he can still hear her words throughout the vortex. Lucca's words were repeated so many times that Crono thought it would never stop. Then they did. A new voice was heard. . .

". . . Though the civilization had been destroyed, the world was peaceful again. But time flows like a river. . . and history. . . repeats. . ."

"Where am I?" Crono says as he slowly lifts his head from the ground where he sees two boys standing on a bridge with a waterfall rushing behind all of them.