AN - This is something I pieced together from the scraps of a multi-chapter Chrono Trigger fic that never saw the light of day.

I've taken some liberties with the game's plot, and even more liberties when it comes to certain things you learn about the history of humankind in Chrono Cross (which I'm mostly ignoring cuz I never finished the game anyways, so, uh, yeah).

Rated Teen. Lucca/Ayla and background Marle/Crono. Two chapters. I'll post the final one in a week or two, maybe.


The Quest for Fire by Imrryr

Chapter 1

...

"What do you think of this one?"

"It's nice, I guess."

"And this one?"

Lucca sighed and came to a stop. It took Marle a good ten seconds to notice. "Is that why you brought me here, to look for seashells?" Hiking down to the shore hadn't been hard, but they could've taken the Epoch and saved themselves a grueling, two-hour trek back up the plateau. Surely, not the use Balthasar had intended, but still…

The very thought of hiking back up the mountain to Ioka made her want to cry.

"No," Marle insisted. "Well, maybe? We need a gift, right?"

Lucca had to fight the urge to groan. Maybe they had been traveling together for months now, crossing the streams of time, battling ancient and powerful armies, passing through endless caverns, and flying over floating continents, but she would never have Marle's inexhaustible supply of energy. "I'm not sure if Ayla's people actually have that particular custom." She couldn't remember presenting any sort of gift at their first party. Although, if Lucca was being honest with herself, there were a lot of things about that night that she didn't really remember.

Iokan parties were exactly of the type of activity her mother would've warned her about, if her mother ever had the slightest reason to worry about Lucca actually attending such a thing. Loud music, drinking, sweaty half-naked people dancing impossibly close to one another...

She remembered those things at least.

Vaguely.

At this rate, maybe she would just keep their entire time-traveling adventure a secret. 'Yeah, mom, I've just been spending a lot of time at the library lately...' Several months, actually. Well, that wouldn't exactly have been out of character either.

And probably more believable than the whole caveman thing anyway.

Marle hummed to herself as her eyes scanned the beach. "It's the polite thing to do. We never would've defeated Magus without the dreamstone."

"Crono won that fair and square," she couldn't help but point out. Then he passed out five minutes later, but apparently that wasn't grounds for disqualification.

"True." When Marle's expression grew haunted, Lucca instinctively knew what was going through her mind. "Then there was Death Mountain."

She didn't need to explain further. It was Ayla's strength, her endless optimism and determination that pulled them up that mountain. When the first Lavos spawn appeared, Ayla threw it from the cliffs herself. When the winds threatened to blow Marle and Lucca off the slippery path, it was Ayla who had the strength to keep them on solid ground. Ayla was the one able to read and predict the rising and falling winds to keep them pressing forward.

That was the legacy of the world she had grown up in, and the people who had raised her. Ayla's knowledge of the natural world was second to none. She was, in a word, essential to their survival.

If there was one group of people Crono owed his life to, it was a small tribe of prehistoric hunter-gatherers and their fearless leader.

Okay, former leader, but, well, everyone still treated her as though she were in charge.

"So, we need to find something that cave-people would like."

"Uh huh." Lucca scanned the horizon; immense trees, glittering beaches, and rich blue seas. No stalls, no pushy salespeople, no giant billboards of a smiling cavewoman receiving a gift of a flint blade with a caption reading, 'This year, give her something they'll put in a museum sixty-five million years from now.' Nothing.

She frowned. Five months ago, Lucca had built Crono a pocket watch for his birthday - a rather prescient gift, considering the circumstances - but mechanical gifts in the Paleozoic era? Impressive, surely, but it wasn't like she would be around to fix it once it inevitably broke. Whatever 'it' ended up being.

Besides, cavepeople had no need for watches. There were no trains to catch, or shifts to work, or appointments to keep. It was probably another reason why they were always so darn happy.

So what else then? A washing machine? An air conditioner? A self-sustaining electrical grid in which to plug in said washing machine and air conditioner? She grumbled to herself, 'Yeah, you're a genius, Lucca'.

Marle turned over a shell with her bare foot before continuing on. "Something shiny, or something edible, I guess."

Lucca shook her head even as she stifled a laugh. Marle was probably on the right track. "So the plan is to give them lots of sea-shells?"

Her friend chuckled. "Maybe," she drawled. "One gift goes to the whole tribe, and one gift to Ayla for..."

For saving Crono's life. "I get it."

And just like that, Marle was smiling again. "That's your job, by the way."

"My job?"

"Well, you're the brains of this operation."

Normally, she'd be swelling with pride at such a compliment, but Lucca had the distinct impression she was being not-so-subtly tricked into something. "Riiiight. What's the real reason?"

"Er..." Marle scratched the back of her. "Because I can't think of anything to get her."

"Food?"

"Which she'd inhale in like five seconds?"

"Okay. That's a very probable outcome..."

Marle nodded sharply.

Sighing, Lucca mulled over the possibilities.

She'd never really tried before, but with some help from Melchior she could probably cut some sort of jewel out of a ruby, or even better, a shard of dreamstone. A nice memento of their adventures. Dreamstone factored into so much of what they had done so far. It would be appropriate.

Plus, Ayla seemed to like the color blue. A red jewel would be rather striking against her furs, and her eyes, Lucca thought. Of course, the necklace of teeth she already wore was striking enough, particularly so because in Iokan society such necklaces could only be worn by the person who killed the creature. Whatever dinosaur had provided those teeth, well, it must've been truly enormous.

Her mind unwittingly pictured Ayla in the steaming jungle, a fierce look in her eyes, staring down a dinosaur easily twenty times her size. Lucca had seen that look a hundred times before, the way she charged in without fear while Lucca and Marle hung back, firing off well-placed shots at range. Crying out with the joy of the fight. And always, a bright infectious grin when the battle was over.

She remembered the last time, the way Ayla's eyes lit up when Lucca complemented her abilities. The way she smiled... no wonder she could charm anyone out of their most prized possessions -

"D'ah!"

Marle had stopped once she crested the next dune, leaving Lucca to plow straight into her, knocking them both to the ground.

A very awkward silence followed.

"Lucca?"

"Ugh… yes?"

"You okay?"

"Shut up."

Marle smiled and offered her a hand, but it slipped away before Lucca could take it. Her friend was already dashing ahead, mounting another small dune before turning around waving at her. "Wow, look at this one!"

When she reached the top, Lucca narrowed her eyes. They had spent all those weeks searching for the rainbow shell, and here was its prehistoric cousin just lying on the beach like it was no big deal.

"Do you think this is the same one from our time?" Marle asked as she knelt before it.

Lucca mulled this over for a second, tapping the surface with a finger. "It's not exactly the same," she said, noting the nicks and scrapes along the surface. Despite its similar great size, this shell appeared almost fragile by comparison. It was difficult, even for a scientist, to fully grasp just how long sixty-five million years truly was. Imagine something surviving for so long completely intact...

"Gaspar said that it was just a regular shell, enhanced with magic when Lavos fell to Earth. Looks like this one missed its chance." Usually she could sense magical properties, but this shell felt entirely mundane... well, mundane for an enormous, beautifully iridescent sea-shell that formerly belonged to some monstrous unnamed creature, at any rate.

"Aww. Poor little sea-shell."

Little was a relative term. Uncovered, it would probably be about the size of one of Lucca's teleportation pads.

"I guess that makes sense though." Using her bare hands, Marle began digging under one side. At the rate she was going, she'd have it uncovered by next Tuesday. "Our shell repelled magic. But this -" She trailed off as she gripped one side of it, quickly growing frustrated. "It's just a –," she began pulling, while Lucca crossed her arms and watched, "Regular. Old. Shell." She fell back onto the beach, wringing her hands. "Oww."

"Only Ayla could lift this," Lucca pointed out. At Marle's hopeful expression, she added, "I think it kind of undermines the value of a gift when you make the person you're giving it to lug it several miles back home."

"Hmm. Good point," she mumbled, meeting Lucca's gaze as she stood and dusted herself off. "Where is Ayla anyways?"

Just as Lucca opened her mouth, a terrifyingly loud screech from behind nearly shook the glasses right off her nose. Neither of them had a chance to react before a gust of wind knocked them both to the ground.

Marle was back on her feet in a second, shaking her fist at the soaring pterodactyl as it skimmed out over the lagoon before rising high into the air. "Hey! You... you jerk!"

Lucca hurriedly grabbed her friend's arm before she could conjure a block of ice. "That's one of the dactyls. See the harness and the saddle?"

"Oh," Marle said, hand dropping. "I guess killing it wouldn't be appreciated then."

"No, probably not." In addition to using them as a means of travel, the Iokans liked to play fetch with them, hurling large branches off the cliffs and watching the great birds swoop down to catch them, like a family dog, if the family dog were capable of ripping apart a Guardian battle tank with just its teeth.

For a time, they continued waking in silence, nervously eyeing the dactyl as it stayed always in sight, soaring up, then swooping down to pluck fish out of the clear, still waters. It used the strong winds to expert effect, hardly ever having to flap its enormous wings.

Gradually though, the silence and the incessant wind began to chill far more than Lucca's skin. It was hard to forget what she had seen just yesterday from the cockpit of the Epoch. On the other side of the planet, where the Tyrano Lair once stood, enormous firestorms were raging, molten rocks were falling from the sky, and a heavy poisonous dust cloud a thousand miles long was blanketing the land. One side of the planet was a paradise, while the other was fast becoming a wasteland.

And the wasteland was spreading.

Lavos' fall would change this world forever, yet before her remained a landscape as vibrant as any she had ever seen in her short life. The end was coming, but this place didn't know it yet.

She shivered. Lucca remembered how it felt to return home after being trapped in the bleak future that awaited her own people. It was such a relief to see a clear blue sky, and to hear the simple chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves again. Lucca, Crono, and Marle had that luxury - they weren't bound to their future, or at least they would change it or die trying - but the people here had no choice in the matter.

All this - the jungle, the dinosaurs, everything - was about to vanish.

"It's not fair," Lucca said to herself.

Marle looked up, tossing the tiny shell she'd been admiring back into the sea. "What's not fair?"

"That all this has to end."

Her friend's smile faded. Marle had seen that same wasteland with her own eyes. "It's not like the future - our future, I mean - is it?" she asked, eyes on her feet as they walked. "Lavos is already here... even if we could kill him right now, it wouldn't stop the coming ice age, would it?"

Lucca shook her head. Lavos' arrival was beyond stopping, and Lucca couldn't change the weather. She couldn't even change the temperature in her room. Only a place like Zeal had technology like that, but now it was at the bottom of the sea.

Then another thought struck her. Even if it were possible, to do so would completely rewrite history to such a great extent that everything she had ever read about in history books would never have existed. There would be no Zeal, no Guardia, no Lucca.

Was that selfish? She wasn't completely sure, but, well, probably.

At least humanity would survive, and Ayla would survive. She had to.

Still, it wasn't fair.

The way Marle frowned seemed to confirm the sentiment.

Already, Ayla had sent out messengers to the nearby villages, to warn them of what was to come. That in itself would alter history, but Lucca just couldn't bring herself to hide the truth from her. Ayla had helped them retrieve the gate-key, she'd helped them take down the Ocean Palace, she'd helped them bring back Crono. She deserved to know what was coming.

And if that screwed up the timeline, well, they'd just have to find a way to fix it later.

Lucca had yet to vanish into a void of non-existence. So that was a good sign.

Gradually, the beach became rockier and rockier, forcing them jump from stone to stone until it finally ended in a flat outcrop of volcanic rock that jutted fifty paces out into the lagoon. Northward, the terrain became a treacherous expanse of jungle grown up on top of ancient and jumbled lava fields. They could go no further.

They were both surprised to find a young woman sitting at the edge of the outcrop, feet dangling over the side with the water just barely lapping at her toes. Even with her back to them, she noticed their approach before they got within twenty yards. "Hello, friends," she said. Lucca finally recognized her as Zia, the woman who kept Ioka's sweet water. Her long blonde hair and well-defined muscles made her resemble Ayla from behind, if rather more modestly dressed.

Marle returned her warm smile. "Mehalo. Ubure nemini emnare, Zia."

Lucca had to shake her head. Marle was picking up the language so much faster than she was. "Um, hey," she mumbled, scratching the back of her neck. She cringed. It was considered polite to greet Iokans in their native language, or that's what the Larubans always did at any rate. "I mean, um... Mehalo, Zia."

"Nidayara entilezi, Aylauthanda." There was a conspiratorial smile when she said the words, like she knew Lucca would not understand, but there was no malice behind it. There was never any malice behind anything the Iokans did.

"What brings you all the way out here?" Marle asked.

Next to her was a large pot, the kind the tribe kept water in. Lucca peered inside to find it empty.

"Come for sweet-water."

"Is this where you get it from?"

She nodded. "Stream that way," she said, pointing to the north. Lucca couldn't see anything but boulders, trees, and thick vines in that direction, like the Forest Maze but less welcoming. "But stream gone now."

Lucca squinted. "Gone?"

The woman's ever-present smile faltered a little. "Never happen before."

From over her shoulder, Marle mouthed the words, "Lavos?" and Lucca shrugged. His fall to Earth had brought earthquakes, firestorms, and time-gates, not to mention an impending ice age. It certainly wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he could make a magical stream disappear.

Suddenly, a loud splash had her spinning on her heels and reaching for her pistol, but there was no expected screech or flapping of wings. Instead, a woman rocketed out of the sea in front of them, executing a perfect landing on the rocks.

Lucca froze in horror. It was Ayla, and aside from the necklace of dinosaur bones worn around her neck, she was completely naked. Seemingly oblivious to this, she shook her hair, before brushing it aside, looking up, and greeting everyone with a wide smile.

"Mehalo, Ayla," Zia said, not even bothering to look her way.

To her credit, Marle recovered her composure surprisingly quickly, while Lucca's expression remained twisted into some kind of horrible rictus. Green eyes darted in her direction, an almost malevolently amused expression growing on Marle's face. "What have you got there?" she asked, hands behind her back like this wasn't the most awkward situation ever.

Clutched in Ayla's hands was a large blue... something or other, about the size of Lucca's helmet. At first Lucca thought it must be a stone. Her mouth dropped open when Ayla stepped up and handed the thing directly to her, a look of pride on her face. Lucca nearly dropped it, and not just because Ayla was standing over her, all naked and panting and dripping.

This wasn't a rock. It was giant mussel, or clam, or something else that modern science had no name for. She really shouldn't have been surprised. Everything was huge here, the animals, the trees, Ayla.

Muscles already straining, she quickly handed it back. Lucca wasn't sure if she should be annoyed or impressed with the ease in which Ayla tossed the clam - she was going to go with clam - onto a big pile of other clams several yards away that had somehow escaped her notice. Impressed would be the more justified response. It was hard to be annoyed with Ayla when she took such joy in everything she did.

They watched as their friend began stacking her catch into an impressively sized mound. A net made of vines had already been laid out on the ground beneath it. Marle was still smiling at her.

"What?" Lucca whispered.

"She likes you."

Lucca's blush flared to life again, but Ayla chose that moment to return. The princess' looming death by flare spell would have to wait.

"So," Marle drawled, poker face back on, "Are these for the party tonight?"

Ayla beamed, "Catch enough for everyone! Others gather meat, and eggs, and many fruits. Big party!"

Even as she nodded, Lucca promised herself to avoid any suspicious beverages this time.

Ayla looked back to the lagoon before returning to the very edge of the rock. As she turned away, it was impossible to miss the way the beads of water traveled down her back, try as she might. Marle grabbed Lucca's upper arm and mouthed the words, "Oh. My. God."

Lucca replied through gritted teeth. "Shut. Up."

Ayla glanced over her shoulder as both women tried to look casual. At that moment Lucca was struck by just how long her hair was. It covered Ayla's nakedness rather well at least.

Thank god.

"Friends wait here. Ayla back soon."

And without another word, she dove into the water with all the grace of a diver, and both women let out a relieved breath.

"You know," Marle drawled, earning a preemptive sigh from Lucca, "Red's a good color on you."

That blush would never go away. It would mar her skin for the rest of her days, she was sure of it. "Shut up."

Marle peered over the edge, into the still water. "She's very, erm-"

'Naked,' Lucca supplied mentally.

"I mean, if I looked like that I'd probably just skip wearing clothes altogether too," she added.

Lucca pinched the bridge of her nose, adding another sigh for good measure when she caught Marle staring at her expectantly. "You look fine."

Marle smiled, flipping her ponytail back over her shoulder. "I know," she chirped. "But anyway, Ayla likes you!"

Lucca shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

"See how she handed that... um, whatever that thing was, to you?"

"So?"

"So, she's always doing stuff like that. When she kills things for dinner, she shows you first, and when she finds something valuable she always gives it to you."

Lucca froze. "I... uh... ok. Wow, I never noticed that." It was true though. Unfortunately, Marle seemed to take that as an admission that she was right, and it was imperative she be distracted before the gloating commenced. "Maybe Ayla just doesn't like you?"

"Ha. Ayla likes everyone, even Magus, and he's a total jerk."

Again, a valid point, but Lucca was shaking her head. Memories kept coming to the surface: Ayla diving in front of her to catch a needle from a Lavos spawn on Death Mountain, the way she watched, fascinated, if uncomprehending, the last time Lucca repaired Robo's circuits.

And yes, there were the frequent little gifts, not to mention the various actions in battle that in retrospect looked like Ayla was showing off for her benefit.

The evidence was pretty solid.

And, okay, maybe this attraction, or whatever it was, was the tiniest bit mutual. Ayla was… well, Ayla was Ayla.

"How come I never noticed this?"

"Because whenever she's with us, you're too busy staring at the ground because you're a huge dork."

"Hey!"

Marle grinned as she dodged a half-hearted shove. "It's true though. But you're a loveable dork, so it's ok."

Lucca huffed, blowing some hair out of her eyes. Why would Ayla like her especially? It wasn't like she could break a tree in half with her bare hands or anything. In fact, Lucca lacked all the skills that Iokans had in abundance. She couldn't catch her own food, she couldn't build her own shelter, she couldn't even walk unaided in the forest for more than ten minutes without getting lost.

Maybe that was it? Lucca was a small injured bird that needed looking after, and Ayla felt sorry for her, or, well, something like that. Metaphors were not her strong suit.

They had completely forgotten that Zia was there, still swinging her legs over the edge of the rock and enjoying the warmth of the bright prehistoric sun. "Ayla strongest in village. Best at everything. Everyone like. Zia like too."

"Oh," Marle said, eyes widening. "Is she... um, seeing anyone?"

Zia glanced at them, confused. "Ayla see everything. Best hunter in village."

Marle's lip quirked. "No, I mean, is she, um," she intertwined her hands, failing to fight back the blush spreading across her own cheeks, "withanyone?"

Finally, there was a glint of understanding, and Zia shrugged. Iokans didn't have the same reservations when it came to talking about such things. They had all learned that lesson about thirty seconds after Ayla first opened her mouth. "Ayla like strong people, maybe no one in Ioka strong enough." Then Zia's eyes lit up, and there was that conspiratorial smile again, "New friends very strong though."

Marle grinned at that, pulling back the sleeve of her dress to flex an actually very impressive bicep. Lucca blanched. "Well," she drawled, turning back to Lucca, "if you're not going to ask her out, maybe I will!"

Lucca huffed and rolled her eyes while Zia actually laughed out loud.

Marle giggled. "Oh my god. Can you imagine? My dad would flip!"

"Uh huh. I'd imagine Crono would not approve though."

She seemed to consider that for a moment before clapping her hands together. "Then I'll just date them both!"

Lucca covered her mouth. It was impossible to not laugh at that mental image. 'Dad, here's my boyfriend, you put him on trial once, he still doesn't have a job, and likes to sleep all the time. And this is my girlfriend, a time-travelling cave-woman who hasn't figured out how to use forks yet.'

"There's no reason to be so nervous around her, you know? When you think about it, she's really only about 30% more naked than usual. Scientifically speaking."

Lucca closed her eyes, fighting yet another sigh. That knowledge really, really didn't help.

Zia nodded. "Ayla very pretty, but look better naked."

As she rubbed her temple, Lucca mouthed the words, "Oh my god," to herself. What was this bizarre universe she had found herself in?

Marle coughed, her tone growing serious. "Um… she's been gone an awful long time."

All three women peered over the edge of the rock. The sea was clear - clearer than any body of water Lucca had ever seen - but this part was so dark in contrast to the rest of the lagoon, like some ancient god had punched a hole into the deep. There was no sign of her.

Just when she was beginning to contemplate a rescue, bubbles appeared from the gloom and Ayla came rocketing up, breaking the surface with a mighty splash and dousing everyone in the process. Hastily wiping her glasses on her shirt, Lucca found Ayla floating there, shoulders just breaking the surface. With a broad smile, she lifted something out of the water. Not another mollusk, but a bright red stone that sparkled in the sunlight.

"Look!" she said happily, not even out of breath as she reached up and handed the palm sized object to Lucca.

The weight of it was impressive. In the light of the sun there were glints of every color of the rainbow in its facets.

"Rare red rock," Ayla added.

Lucca nodded. It was just like the rock Crono had won months ago, only about a quarter of the size. What could she do with another piece of dreamstone, she wondered. The possibilities were endless.

Marle tilted her head. "There's magic in this one."

Now that she mentioned it, Lucca could feel it too, a vague sensation of... something... beneath the surface, something that she hadn't felt in the chief's rock. She stared into it a moment longer, trying to place what it reminded her of, but eventually had to give up. It was simply... familiar. Everything Lucca knew about magic was self-taught, or picked up from her brief travels in the now lost Kingdom of Zeal.

What she didn't know about magic was practically endless, and yeah, that fact was rather annoying. It would need to be rectified.

She tried to hand the stone back, but Ayla pressed it firmly into her palm. "For Lucca."

It was a foregone conclusion that she was blushing again, and Lucca dipped her head in thanks. The last thing she wanted to see was Marle's stupid smug know-it-all expression. "Do you, um…" every time she looked up, there was that horrifying reminder that she was conversing with a very beautiful, and very naked woman, one with rivulets of water still running down her smiling face.

And the rest of her.

Which she was trying very hard not to look at.

She bit back a growl of frustration. Ayla's presence made her voice stammer like Robo after taking a hit to his voice processor. "Is, um, this where your people found your red rock?"

Ayla shook her head. "Not know where red rock come from. Passed down from chief to chief for very long time. Maybe come from this place. Don't know. Not safe to come here often, too many reptites." Then, without warning, she grabbed the ledge and hoisted herself completely out of the water.

Lucca scrambled backwards as water splashed everywhere. Ayla had no concept of personal space.

Oblivious as ever, she turned around and began wringing her hair into the water. Lucca immediately averted her gaze.

Marle was staring at her sharply, making a snapping motion with her fingers, but earning nothing from Lucca beyond a confused tilt of the head. Stepping around Zia, she leaned close to Lucca's ear. "Do that trick!"

"Trick?" Lucca repeated.

"The one from Heckran's cave."

Finally, she understood. Taking a deep breath as she pushed herself up, Lucca held out a calming hand at Ayla's curious expression. "Everyone hold still." Ayla and Zia, eyes wide, nodded, and Lucca snapped her fingers. A sphere of fire magic expanded slowly from her palm before bursting out in all directions with the fury of a flare spell.

No one had a chance to flinch, and in an instant every ounce of water evaporated. Lucca swore under her breath as she quickly tore off her helmet and tossed the smoking thing into the lagoon.

Everyone stared at her with gaping mouths.

"Er... still working out the bugs," she mumbled, rubbing at her singed hands before patting her hair to make sure it wasn't on fire.

"Not see bugs," Ayla said, kneeling over the floating helmet until her fingers grazed the surface. "Hot!" she cried, jerking back and bumping forcefully into her.

Marle was kind enough to barge her way in between them before Lucca had a stroke. With a few whispered words, she froze the helmet in a block of ice before pulling it from the water.

Lucca sighed at the sight, rolling her eyes when Marle shrugged at her.

Fortunately, being easily distracted, Ayla was already making her way over to the tree-line. Her clothes, what little there was of them, hung from a thick jungle vine. Lucca didn't realize she was staring again until she caught Zia openly doing the same. Again, she averted her gaze, and Marle, ever amused, leaned close to her ear. "She likes you."

"Shut. Up."

Marle only continued to smile.

The wind picked up again, and this time Lucca was only slightly shocked to see the dactyl swoop down and land with surprising grace on the outcrop, mere inches from Zia. The woman jumped up and gave the enormous flying dinosaur a strong hug.

Returning to the rock, mercifully fully clothed this time, Ayla joined Zia in wrapping up the catch of sea-creatures into a large net. The dactyl rested on its hind legs like an enormous bird, eyes darting from horizon to horizon. Even though they were surprisingly docile in the company of Iokans, Marle and Lucca both took a few steps back.

Her friend's expression grew contemplative. "They really aren't like I expected."

Lucca hummed, sensing the shift in mood, and grateful for any chance to not think about Ayla's water soaked form.

"They, erm, really like to bathe, for one thing," she continued

Lucca pinched the bridge of her nose again, her cheeks going pink at the all too vivid memory, but it was true. The stereotype of the dirty caveman was clearly just that; a stereotype.

"And they're really friendly."

That earned a nod. Ayla was nothing if not friendly. Anything they needed, she and her people went out of their way to provide. Lucca and her companions certainly never had that kind of reception in any of the other lands they had visited so far, no matter the time period. "Yeah," was all she could think to say.

"I'll miss them when this is all over."

Beyond the expectation of a brighter future, Lucca didn't enjoy thinking about what would happen if they succeeded. Robo, Frog, and Ayla... likely she would never see any of them again after all was said and done. Visiting the past would be inadvisable in case it altered their new future, and Robo... would he even exist?

She looked over her shoulder. Ayla was pulling up the edges of the net, tying the ends together while Zia held the catch in place. There was a lot to learn about prehistory. The land, the people… everything was so different from what she was accustomed to. Just as she had spent hours upon hours with Robo, learning all she could from him, it would be a waste not to take advantage of the opportunity to do the same here.

Not only would Ayla be gone one day, but soon so would this entire world. An entire lush continent, ten thousand miles from tip to tip, lost under an endless sheet of ice and snow. How long did they have? How many days before the weather began to change?

How many days before the dinosaurs vanished, then the birds, then the trees...

"Find sweet-water?" Ayla was asking, hoisting the net and its entire haul over her back as though it didn't weigh several hundred pounds.

Zia shook her head as Ayla stepped forward and peered into the jug. "All gone."

She frowned. "You take food back to village. Ayla look for water." With practiced hands, the two women quickly lashed their catch to the back of the great beast which continued to take little notice of them.

When finished, Zia jumped expertly onto the dactyl's back and gathered the reins. Lucca flinched when a strong hand clapped her shoulder. "Come with Ayla?"

She found herself nodding before her brain could catch up with her. Meanwhile, Zia had offered a hand to Marle and pulled her onto the saddle behind her. "Wait! You're going?"

Marle grinned, wrapping an arm around Zia's stomach when the dactyl reared up, "Three's company, you know!"

"At least give me my helmet back."

Still clutching the block of ice, Marle shook her head. Lucca was forced to step back when the dactyl flapped its enormous wings. "Have fun!" she shouted as they took off, Lucca staring at them incredulously as they disappeared into the sky. 'Traitor!'

All the times they had traveled together, this would be the first time it was just her and Ayla without the presence of Marle, or Crono, or several dozen partying cavepeople nearby. She let out a steadying breath. If she embarrassed herself utterly in her presence, at least Ayla wasn't the type of person to lord it over her. Lucca met the woman's gaze and nodded, cheeks again turning pink with the way Ayla's eyes lit up.

Beckoning her along, Lucca jumped from the far side of the rock ledge and followed Ayla north to a curious break in the dense forest, a path lined with smooth stones and pebbles, like the dry streambeds of Denandoro, leading from the lagoon into the deep forest. An out of place sight in this lush jungle paradise.

Ayla's expression grew more and more concerned the further they trekked into the interior, bringing to mind their search for Kino and the other captives in the Tyrano Lair. Not angry exactly, but focused. They came to a stop in front of a nondescript puddle in the muddy ground. Streams in this land rose and fell with the daily rains, but it was rare to see one this large so nearly dry.

"Ayla?"

She continued to regard the puddle at her feet. "Sweet water gone," she said, brow furrowing.

Lucca knelt before it.

A familiar scent lingered in the air, but otherwise there was no way to differentiate sweet water from regular water by sight alone. Visually, it was exactly the same as ordinary water. "So, it came from this river?" Upstream, the path was quickly lost among the trees. She wasn't sure what she expected to see. Rainbows… gold, or some magical plants, surely. The reality was decidedly less dramatic, but she'd be lying if she said that made it any less interesting.

Ayla nodded. "Never safe to stay here long. Reptites often camp in this place." She looked around, nodding as if seeing obvious evidence for this that was completely invisible to Lucca. "Now all gone, but water gone with them." Ayla rubbed at the puddle with the toe of her leather boot as she adjusted her top. "Not sure why."

Lucca blinked. The fact that Ayla was now clothed was really only helping a little, to be honest. "This hasn't happened before?"

She shook her head.

What could cause that, Lucca wondered. The rains were as plentiful as ever, and the usual mid-afternoon storms hadn't missed an appearance since they'd returned. It must've been something sudden, and localized, presumably. An earthquake? A sinkhole? Certainly, Lavos' fall had caused plenty of both. Or maybe the river had simply changed course?

Lucca looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder again.

Ayla's blue eyes twinkled. "Want to find out?"

She found herself nodding, again before her brain could kick in. Ayla just had that sort of power. So on they went, continuing to shadow the damp streambed as it meandered its way through the jungle, with Ayla walking slowly enough for Lucca to keep up.

She never seemed to tire, nor did she put a single foot wrong despite the frustratingly bumpy ground. Inexorably, they rose above the forest of trees as the streambed grew smaller and smaller until it became impossible for Lucca to track even as Ayla continued confidently on. Up here, the only vegetation consisted of ferns and slim trees that managed to cling between the jumbled rocks. And well above them rose the high plateau on which the village of Ioka stood, draped with clouds.

When Ayla finally stopped, Lucca slumped against a boulder as nonchalantly as possible, hurriedly looking away as her companion brushed the sweat from her brow.

Ayla held up a hand, palm out, and for a split second Lucca thought she was checking her nails. Her eyes were darting around as though tracking some unseen game before she sniffed the air and looked up.

Lucca followed her line of sight, seeing nothing but pretty, yet otherwise unremarkable limestone cliffs, towering over them. Then, without warning, Ayla began climbing the boulders. She made everything look effortless.

"Ayla?"

The woman dipped her head as she gripped the next rock, indicating some place above them in the limestone cliff. "Smell cave."

"You smell a cave?" Lucca repeated, her expression dubious.

Ayla smiled and nodded. "Come," she said, beckoning her up.

Taking a deep breath before setting off, Lucca did her best to trace Ayla's steps, but the other woman was much faster than her. To say she was exhausted by the time she pulled herself above the canopy would've been an understatement. Ayla sat waiting patiently for her on a limestone perch, and there beside her, just as advertised, lay the dark entrance to a cave, shaded by stunted trees.

"See? Cave," she said proudly. "Not here before. Village come here for sweet-water - safer than shoreline - but never could climb inside."

"Huh," Lucca replied, stepping forward. Running along the cliff face to the east was a narrow path heading in the general direction of Ioka. It reminded her too much of the paths high on the Denadoro Mountains. Just the thought of walking those trails again…

"Old path dangerous. Easy to fall, easy to get ambushed," Ayla continued, as if reading her mind. "Always bring many people. Walk slowly so not fall."

A tell-tale bed of fine stones formed a winding path out of the cave itself, and now that she'd thought about it, the rocks on the way up had seemed rather fresh - as far as rocks went at least - covered in white scuff marks like they had fallen very recently. "You think maybe Lavos did this?"

Eyes widening, Ayla peered inside. "Torches back in village."

Fortunately, Lucca had exactly what was required. Next to the gate key hung another tool that was absolutely essential for exploring both past and future. With just a flick of a switch the cavern was illuminated by a bright white beam. "Flashlight," she explained. Ayla only smiled.

The entrance narrowed as they made their way through. Ayla took the lead, flashlight in her steady hand. Lucca followed closely behind, her ruby gun drawn, but there was nothing to shoot at, not so much as a bat or a frog. And exactly zero Lavos spawns. It was likely then that until Lavos came to Earth, this cave had truly been inaccessible to the outside world.

About fifty paces in, the passageway opened up into a large but fairly unremarkable chamber strewn with boulders of all sizes.

Several side passages were apparent, and through some process that may had been years of expertise, or simple guess-work, Ayla soon chose one. They entered a narrow passage that showed no damage from the recent cave-in. Puddles of sweet water dotted the ground, splashing as they stepped in them but Ayla's pace began to slow and Lucca could understand why. She'd never seen a cave like this. Brown stone gave way to white, and at first she thought that fine cloth had been draped from the smooth rock above them, but what she was really seeing were stalactites covered with tiny crystals and sparkling in the light of the flashlight like curtains sewn with diamonds.

The crunching sound at their feet told that these crystals extended all the way to the floor. She cringed with every step. It felt wrong to even been in here.

As before, the passageway widened into another chamber, this one with high ceilings and relatively free of debris. It was like walking into Manoria Cathedral, only without the ever-present music. All she could hear was the crunch crunch crunch of their footsteps and the sounds of her own breathing.

Then she saw it. Carved into the walls were images of dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. Every creature she'd ever seen since first coming to this time, and others that she couldn't tell were real or imaginary.

"Sacred place," Ayla said, her whispered words amplified by the walls.

Lucca could only nod. She wondered what was going through Ayla's mind at that moment. Were prehistoric humans religious? If they were, Lucca hadn't noticed. Ayla had spoken of the Law of the Earth, but it didn't seem like the same thing as 'believe in such-and-such a god or be damned for all eternity.'

Not being particularly spiritual - or spiritual at all, really - that had been a bit of a relief. Religion ranked right up there with Imperial politics on Lucca's list of subjects to avoid at all cost.

Still, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious as to what Ayla thought about it all.

Her friend stepped closer to one of the drawings. Lucca wasn't certain, but she thought it might be a depiction of what Ayla's people called a tarta, or runner; a large, but very quick two-legged dinosaur that was a favorite target of the village's hunters.

She traced the outline of it reverently. And as she watched, Lucca could make out faint footprints on the ground that were too small to belong to Ayla, or indeed herself. They weren't fresh like her own. Just how long had it been since people last walked these halls?

Picking up a stone, Ayla pressed the sharp end against an untouched section of the wall. When she dragged it across the surface, the crystals fell away, leaving bare dark rock. She paused for a long moment, as if lost in thought, then began to work, drawing sweeping lines across the bumpy wall of the cave as easily as artist wielding a stick of charcoal on paper.

The practiced strokes were long and smooth, and soon there two dactyls, wings outstretched, soaring through the air together.

Ayla leaned back and smiled at her handiwork.

Lucca opened her mouth to ask what it meant, but quickly thought better of it.

A faint flash of light reflecting off the rim of her glasses caught her attention. From the dark abyss she thought she saw another tunnel, illuminated by the faintest red light. For a second it appeared to be a reflection, but it didn't move as the beam from the flashlight moved. She called Ayla's name.

Ayla turned her head and immediately noticed it too.

In unspoken agreement, they followed the light into another passageway that curved slowly up and to the right. Reaching the top of the rise, Lucca's heart nearly fell out of her chest. A sight she'd never forget. It was a gate; a portal the color of fire, fixed to the ground.

A red gate.

And it was open.

Lucca saw herself as a little girl, heard the terrifying screams of her mom as the machine pulled her in. Stepping through the gate had changed all that.

Ayla reached out, shocked backwards by a burst of wind. Lucca grabbed her arm, but the woman's stance was firm.

The walls were the color of fire as the wind began to howl, as though the gate sensed their presence and was trying to pull them in. Lucca peered around the side and saw a heavy stream of water rushing into the portal from behind. Sweet water.

Rivers of time indeed.

"Remember how I told you about the red gate?" Lucca asked over the noise.

Ayla nodded, her eyes gradually widening in understanding. "Where this take us?"

Lucca reached for her gate key, holding it up and tapping the necessary buttons. She blinked. Nothing. The digital display indicated the presence of a gate… but it was miles in the other direction; the gate in the Mystic Mountains. She swept the air, but the readings didn't change. This gate was invisible.

Only then did it occur to her that she hadn't actually had the key on her person that night in Fiona's forest. It had been lying next to her sleeping bag the whole time. The knowledge was just the tiniest bit unsettling.

There was no indication to where the gate might take them.

"I don't know," Lucca eventually admitted, slipping the key back into its holster. "Maybe it's for you?"

Ayla tilted her head. She frowned at the hovering wall of light even as she inched closer to it, hand still grasping Lucca's own. "Have nothing Ayla want to change."

"No regrets?"

"Everyone have regrets," Ayla began, shaking her head. "When young, not listen to advice of elders. Make mistakes. Sometimes do listen, but advice no good. Learn too late one way or the other."

Lucca nodded in understanding.

Ayla looked down at her leather-clad feet. "Ayla… impulsive. Not always think first. Not always make best decision." She caught the way Lucca's brow arched at the word. "Frog's word. Mean to act without thinking."

A ghost of a smile touched Lucca's lips. She misunderstood the reason for her surprise, but Ayla could easily be forgiven for thinking that Frog spoke a foreign language.

"Not change that though. Learn from mistakes. Part of life."

That was a lesson Lucca knew all too well, but it was impossible to not think of her mother. "What about when your mistakes hurt other people?"

Ayla shut her eyes and said nothing for a long moment. Lucca could've sworn she was ashamed. "Laruba hide from reptites. Their decision. Ayla should not have gone there."

'Oh.' She felt like a heel for even bringing it up.

"They not fight. Even when village burn, still not fight. Was mistake to go. Many die for no reason."

"But... the chief," Lucca began, still feeling foolish. She had no idea about what it was like to actually have to lead people, to be responsible for the lives of dozens, if not hundreds, through war, dinosaur attacks, and the ever changing seasons. Keeping Crono and Marle safe was trouble enough. How could she give advice to Ayla of all people? Still, it was impossible to keep her big mouth shut, "He gave you the horn to summon the dactyls. Without them, how long would it have taken you to get to Azala's lair?"

Her brow furrowed. "Don't know," she eventually admitted, shaking her head.

Lucca had some idea. It had taken four days of flying, with agonizingly few stops in between, just to get there. And the whole time, the ground beneath their feet had been nothing but jumbled stone, high cliffs, and deep gorges. She couldn't imagine finding a way through that unmapped morass in a month, let alone a few days. "Who knows what would have happened to Kino and the others if you hadn't gotten there so quickly."

It made her wonder. Did any of them survive in the original timeline? Ayla was a force of nature, but if she had taken longer to reach Azala… if she had to fight through that castle all by herself…

Ayla grimaced. "Laruba lives just as important. No good trading one for the other."

"Would you stop yourself? If you could do it all over, I mean?"

Again Ayla shook her head, hands crossed over her chest. "Lose other villages too, before you first come to Ioka. Navira, Eburu. All torched by reptites. Just as important as Laruba. Not want to lose more."

Lucca put a hand around the woman's back in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. Ayla didn't shake it away.

"Sometimes make mistake, think of mistake every day for rest of life. No can move. Not want to live like that."

"I think I understand." It had taken Lucca a long time before she had come to terms with what had happened to her mother, with being unable to save her. Imagine having a hundred lives you might have saved. Imagine having to balance the lives of those you knew, with the lives of those you didn't.

It clearly wasn't a choice Ayla took lightly.

Finally, the cloud that passed over her eyes seemed to vanish. She had made a decision. "Gate take us to Laruba?"

Lucca shook her head. There was no way to tell. The last gate had her nearly running into her nine-year-old self. Who knew what would happen if both she and Ayla stepped into this gate together. "It could take us anywhere, really." The thought sent a shiver up her spine. Something told her that if she kept stepping through gates like this, eventually she'd find herself dropped inside a volcano, or emerging two miles under the surface of the sea.

Quickly recovering her courage, Ayla's fingers disappeared into the gate's fiery surface. When she pulled them out they weren't burnt to cinders or frozen in a block of ice, so that was a good sign. "Come," Ayla said, eyes sparkling as she grabbed Lucca's hand and pulled her in.