Things Unseen, Chapter One:
A Hero's Struggle
By Darknightdestiny
Disclaimer: I do not own Chrono Trigger or the characters involved. They are the property of Squaresoft. If I did own them, I'd be rich, because I'd also own Final Fantasy…hmmm….
Now let's begin.
Everything was a bitter cold atop the craggy slope. The wind bit into the skin of all who dared to venture that high above the ground, and numbness was the result. Pink skin, blue lips and a stinging sensation spread over a numbed surface of tissue.
Numbness and…shock.
Could it be? No, it couldn't be, it just couldn't! There was no way…
The bruised and beaten girl took a step forward, her short lavender hair whipping about her face, right hand trailing lightly and hesitantly over her pistol. With a trembling voice, she spoke.
"You…can't be! How is that possible? Y…you're him?!"
The only reply that she received was silence, and for a while she had felt a certain embarrassment for even daring to speak. What were they even doing, standing there? What could they expect? They could get nothing from this man, the one the townspeople had called the "Great Sorcerer of the Southern Lands," more infamously known simply as the "Magus".
For that is what he was, and he needed no other title. The name said it all; he was…the most powerful sorcerer in all the age, and now she tried to envision his words, but they just were not making sense. That was when she remembered…
What the old man had said back in the shelter of the village.
'A gate…' she thought to herself, perhaps even whispered aloud. She could not be sure.
"You really are, aren't you?"
She was surprised when he turned to face them, a look of contempt on his face and his eyes glowing a terrifying shade of crimson. His mouth was twisted into a scowl that suggested permanence and his eyes sunk deep into his skull with fatigue. His eyes were wet, not with sadness, but because of strained tear-ducts; it was as if he had not slept in decades. The effect was that of his eyes appearing as pools of freshly spilled blood.
His mouth cracked open and he smirked quite insanely; it scared her out of her wits, but for more reasons than one.
The first reason it scared her was because of the fact that during their previous battle with the wizard, the room had been dark…so very dark. She had barely been able to see his face, but could only detect the faint white gleaming of his sharp canines and the slightly brighter glow of his eyes. The rest of him had been cast in shadow, a silent silhouette against the eerie blue flames.
The second reason was different. Behind his ghastly white pallor, she could almost feel his skin crawling with conflicting urges. It was that he was making her skin crawl, rather, she felt that it was his she felt. Suddenly, looking at him, she could see the resemblance and it frightened her that she was capable of warping the child's image in her own mind so easily. That evil smirk reminded her of the proud and sullen face of the young boy when he was complaining about the state of the Earthbound villagers humble dwellings in Terra Cave.
"…Oh, yes… I am he. Does that surprise you, little girl?"
Her mouth trembled in response, unsure of what to say. It was definitely not what she had come to expect; the connection had never crossed her mind. Then again, she hadn't seen him before…
"We were told…that someone had come around the village, wanting to see us…" came a soft voice, the words being choked out amongst sobs. "Was that…you?" The crying had died down as the thought had been expressed, and both conversers turned to the source of the cries. Further down the slope, the limp body of a slender girl dressed in white petticoat top and pants was slumped to its knees in despair, wracked with soft sobbing and fits of trembling.
"Whatever would make you think it so?" tempted the wizard, one eyebrow arching slightly upward. He coaxed her to the brink of insanity with his vagueness. She wanted answers, and she would not give in until she had found some sort of clue, some small ray of hope.
"…Why…?" she whispered, her breath carried away by the wind, barely audible to any of the others.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he snickered. He turned away again, gazing out upon the recently disturbed ocean, now covered in an unnatural and sudden calm.
The first girl stepped forward, timidly challenging his arrogance. She was scared, but she was also furious, and she was not going to let this go, either.
"Why didn't you do anything?! Tell me that, why don't you! This…this is all your fault! You could've done something to change this…you knew! You knew and you did nothing! It's because of you that Crono-"
"Crono was a fool."
"How dare you!"
"He was messing with a power that he did not understand. I would have thought you'd have learned that by now. Pity it took such a tragedy to bring this to your attention. However…if you do not turn back now, you will end up dead as well. And no one- no one at all- will remember your heroism."
"We are doing this for the world! We're doing this for all living things… so that people can have a future! We're trying to preserve our own race! You have no right to tell us to turn away from them…you've no right-"
"I have every right to say that and more. Or have you forgotten already? You failed to defeat the beast. There was nothing you could do. What makes you think that you have a chance?"
"No! You failed! You're the one who failed, you didn't do a thing, and you had all the means to! Instead you waited until there was no way to stop it!"
Soft laughter could be heard from his direction- soft, insane laughter, carried backwards to her on the wind. The gentle sound caressed her ears, and then moved to sear them with fire as it arose in volume, becoming maniacal, almost a shout. Then it died abruptly before his voice came back to taunt her once more.
"You are much to kind. You would never believe me, even if I told you how much I truly did fail at my attempt. So, I ask you again, what makes you think that you have a chance?"
What do you think you can do?
"That…beast…" the girl tried to reason, "was at the peak of its power. If we go to the era of its emergence, it should be considerably weakened, because of the disaster in this time period…"
"You will never beat it as you are. Pity… I can see you will not be dissuaded. And to lose your lives at so young an age…"
The girl wanted to rip the man limb from limb. Who was he to deny them their chance? Who did he think he was to berate them for only wanting to help? At least they cared for the people of their planet. But she had to calm herself; now was not the time to get into a fight, not with her friends in the condition they were in, physically and emotionally as well.
"I'll tell you something, girl. The gurus held such thoughts as yours. They tried to oppose this monstrosity. Can you guess what happened to them?"
"They're alive, you know…"
"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." He snorted. "I hadn't noticed, because I was busy rotting away in an uncivilized, forsaken hole! And I had nothing to do with the entire ordeal! Do you think for one second, that you will be safe in opposition of such a power, when those who have nothing to do with it are so easily removed?"
"But that is why we are fighting! We're fighting for people who can't fight for themselves! We're fighting for people…like you…"
"Silence. I do not need, nor do I want your pity. I am only warning you; turn back now or face certain doom. No one will come to save you when you lie dying at the foot of evil given that most horrifying form."
"You could have… if you really cared at all."
"I did not come here to save you."
"Or your people? Why did you come here, then?"
"Oh, but it's so much simpler than that." He snorted in contempt of himself. "I came here for revenge, plain and simple. But I suppose it was not meant to be…"
"And now the beast is weakened…"
"It would appear so."
"But think of the cost! All those people who died…"
"Do you not think that I know the cost? I know all too well. I did lose everything I ever knew, after all."
"Well, I lost something important too."
"Hmph. It seems you have quite a bit of growing left to do. That idiot paid for his foolishness with his life. He only got what was coming to him because he ventured into something that did not concern him in the least. You would do well to learn from his mistake. What's done is done; sentimentalism will get you nowhere here."
"Thou vilest of villains!" The new voice came from beside the second, crying young woman, from the cursed knight kneeling next to her, attempting to comfort her in her time of loss. All eyes fell on him, including those of the dark mage.
"I speak only the truth."
The knight pushed himself up from the snowy ground and drew his sword, venturing forward. "Magus, hold thy tongue!"
"…Play with fire, and you get burned. This is the way of life."
"Thou callest the lad a fool, when he hath saved all our lives, even thine own! And thou speakest of his sacrifice as if it were for naught!" The warrior advanced on the wizard, enraged at his cruelty and at the wry humor the enemy had seemed to find in the death of his comrade- no…his friend.
The warlock looked at him, sneering at him, mocking him. "You wish to fight me?"
"Indeed!"
And with that one word, the knight charged the mage with all his might, aiming the mythical sword straight for his heart. But the noble warrior had let his anger get to his head, and found that his hastiness in battle would quickly bring his end if he did not regain his composure. The valiant charge was executed beautifully, only to be blocked by the enemy's scythe, which materialized out of thin air as the Masamune was only inches away from hitting its mark. The knight staggered back, breathing heavily after only one attack.
"…You will have to do much, much better than that!" jeered the Magus.
The sorcerer conjured up a lightning spell and hurled it at the knight, who rolled out of its path just as it struck the ground, leaving several snowy potholes in its wake. The knight staggered to his feet just in time to avoid another barrage of spells, this time of the element of fire. He avoided the intended incineration, but received some nasty burns on his unprotected arms, while his leg of his trousers caught fire, the flames licking at his flesh underneath.
The knight managed to snuff out the fire with a hasty water spell and quickly regained his footing on the ledge. The wizard gripped his scythe tightly and advanced on the swordsman, backing him towards the east ledge of the precipice. The knight circled round quickly to the left, and jabbed at the sorcerer's right side with his sword, but the mage dodged it quickly and leapt backwards, steadying himself on the snowy ground.
The Magus then summoned up an ice spell, focusing all the energy towards the knight's footing, throwing a bit of the water element to the mix hoping to immerse his legs and trap him to the ground in time to strike the final blow. The knight's flung himself to the side, dodging that one as well and almost throwing himself off of the west side this time. He was unbalanced, and thus vulnerable to any attack, physical or magical.
The mage flew at him relentlessly and the knight held up his sword, blocking the fierce blow from the instrument of death. A fiery pain shot throughout his arms as the metals clashed against each other, neither about to give way to the pressure that was growing between them. The knight adjusted his footing over and over again, slowly bringing the two fighters away from the cliff's edge. He flung himself sharply to the right, breaking out from under the cruel implement, and receiving a hideous gash on his left shoulder.
The blood was hot, and flowed freely from his arm, but he could not break away from the fight for long enough to call up a healing spell. The two girls, silent observers the entire time, stepped forward in protest, ready to help him. The girl in white had a cure spell already flowing through her fingertips when the knight called back to them.
"Stop!" he cried, in between strikes. "This is my battle…" he jabbed again at the wizard, "Leave this to me!"
The wizard tangled the warrior's sword with his scythe in that precise moment and leaned down into his ear. His icy breath quietly issued the words into his ear, a menacing whisper…
"You too, will die."
The mage flung himself backwards and glared at the knight, daring him to continue. The knight merely looked on, not letting his guard down. He would not make the same mistake again.
The two circled each other for what seemed like hours to the two bystanders, though it was only the span of a few minutes. The knight held his shoulders back, his sword down by his hip, ready to swing at will. The wizard, however, moved in an inhuman manner. His shoulders were hunched up around his neck and angled forwards, protecting the soft flesh connecting his shoulders to his head. His steps were quiet, even though he had nothing to hide, and left no indentations in the snow, almost as if he were floating in mid-air. The overall impression was that of a deadly, animal predator.
Without warning, the knight lunged forward. The wizard's keenly trained senses picked up on this movement, but it was much too late. However, the knight let up on his sword suddenly, and threw his body weight against the man instead, knocking him to the ground. The warrior leapt onto his victim, pinning him to the ground with his knee dug deep into the man's chest. He raised his sword high above his head, ready to strike the final blow…
And he heard a blood-curdling shriek from behind.
He chanced a quick glance over his shoulder and saw his two friends; the young girl in white, who had already seen so much bloodshed and had been brought near to the point of breaking, was sitting back on her knees once again, her head turned into the outside of the other's leg; her eyes were tightly shut, and she winced in anticipation of the coming end. But the screaming hadn't come from her.
Standing next to her was the other girl, the one who had been so brave before in spite of her fears. The one who had been the strength for the other…
She held her face in her hands, afraid to watch. Her shoulders were trembling at a faster pace than the shoulders of the other girl when she cried, and her legs shook beneath her. It seemed as if at any moment she would collapse in the snow. He even thought that he could hear her sobbing into her hands.
A shout from the other end of his sword shocked him back to the situation at hand.
"Do it!" shouted the Magus. "What are you waiting for?!" He raged like a madman, "Kill me!!"
The knight just stared at him.
"Kill me!!" he screamed. Did he really want to die?
But the knight continued to stare. He looked back once more at the violet-haired girl; she was still holding her head in her hands, and she was shaking her head back and forth, like she was trying to wake from some horrible nightmare. And this time he could hear her crying audibly and knew it wasn't just his imagination. The cries were real.
It was so different, trying to kill a human being…
And he'd always anticipated and feared this moment at the same time, because he knew he wouldn't be able to do it. He just couldn't kill another human being. And he looked into the eyes of the raving man beneath his knee…and he saw…
A little boy.
The man continued to wretch beneath him, breathing heavily and gasping for air. He screamed with all he had left within him over and over.
"Fool! You've waited your entire life for this moment; now end it once and for all! Kill me, now!"
It was an awful, mad scream that reeked of insanity. His air gurgled with liquid from deep within him, fueling his scream to an awful vibration that made the knight's scaly skin crawl. Yet he could not bring himself to kill the man, though he hated him so.
"Do it!!"
The victorious warrior flung his sword to the side, landing it in the snow, white flakes floating up all around it at impact.
"What are you doing…!" shrieked the mage.
His screams were cut short when the knight brought his left fist back and struck the wizard square in the jaw, sending his face to the side, lain against the cold. The Magus lay silent, panting with his mouth slightly parted and bleeding into the snow and onto his silver-blue strands. His breaths were short and ragged, and the glow of his eyes was suddenly dull.
"Why…" he said between gasps, "didn't you kill me…?"
The knight stood up and turned, his cape whirling about him in the wind. "Thy pride hath been thy fall. My debt is repaid. Farewell, thou poor soul."
The knight walked away, down off of the slope and the girl in white shot the disheveled mage one quick glance and then ran after her friend, perhaps in fear. The other girl lingered a bit longer, staring at the magician. He did not move or acknowledge her presence, only stared at the ground in front of him with a sullen face of defeat. Even in defeat, it seems she could detect a hint of pride in his expression, however. It looked more like morose contemplation than sheer disappointment.
The violet-haired girl turned away, feeling a mixed pang of feelings towards him; she was angry that he couldn't feel, couldn't care. She also felt something else towards him…
Pity.
Sir Glenn, Nadia Guardia and Lucca Ashtear walked away from North Cape in silence.
(A/N): Hmmm, I don't know, tell me what you think! Should I continue it? My heart says "yes"! I may just anyways, but I'd still like to hear what everybody has to say!