Lucca watched Schala playing with the Earthbound children. Schala seemed very at-ease with children. She was not like the Schala Lucca remembered at Zeal Palace, a young woman whose responsibility for the fate of the planet really bore down on her. She understood why Schala enjoyed being here. The children, even though having next to nothing, were happy with what they had. Their joy radiated to Schala, who had everything yet was very unhappy.

"Hello, Schala." Lucca said, coming in.

"Hello, Lucca." Schala said, warmly.

The children stared at her and backed up. Some hid behind Schala.

"It's alright, children." Schala said. "Lucca is nice. She is here for… important reasons," she said vaguely.

The children slowly left the room, still eyeing Lucca.

"Sorry to bother you, Schala." Lucca started.

"You are no bother at all."

Schala's warm smile put Lucca at ease. "I guess you've figured out that we're here because one of us has something important they want to ask you…"

"Yes…" Schala said. "But will they ask me?"

"Yeah, that's the problem." Lucca sighed.

"I can understand fear. Your friend Magus, he fears me."

"I'm not really sure how to explain, Schala. Maybe it's not you he fears."

"You're right, maybe it's just what I symbolize, or what I can tell him. Maybe he fears the answer he will receive from me will hurt him."

"Schala, deep down, he knows the answer. He's just afraid to ask you to reaffirm it."

"I see the worry in your eyes, Lucca. You care about Magus a lot, don't you? Even I can't really understand why."

Lucca looked down. "Well that makes the two of us. I don't know why either." She paused. "I guess it's not so difficult. When we first met Magus, he was a really evil person. He was responsible for killing many people. Then some… uh… events happened and he joined us. Because of his help, we were able to save Crono's life."

"And so you are grateful to him?"

"It's more than that." Lucca walked slowly to the cave door, as if afraid Magus was around the corner. "I don't get why Magus decided to stay with us after we saved Crono. He could have gone, but the events that we took part him left him kind of empty… I can't really explain in as much detail, but he strived for something and he failed, so he's kind of… I guess he doesn't know what to do anymore, so he's decided to stick around."

"And your opinion of him has changed?"

"When I met him, I thought he was the most despicable person I've ever met, but after he stayed with us for a while, I came to realize that he is someone who is just hurting and because of certain circumstances, he can't really get better. All he wanted to do his entire life is to get back to the time in his life where he was happy, and he failed to achieve this, so he's just clueless right now."

"So you want to help him?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't want to be helped, so I'm honestly not sure why I bother most of the time."

"But sometimes…?"

Lucca looked at Schala. "Almost every day, he tells me something really random. It could have to do with a story from his past, his views on the world, or something he hates… but he tells me these things and I wonder why he wants to share these things with me. Does he want me to get to know him? Does he want to be my friend? But then later on, he's cold again."

"Maybe he's just scared."

"I'm not scary."

Schala smiled. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do… you mean that he is scared he's getting close to me."

"It seems like Magus is a person who doesn't want to make bonds with anyone. But he's slowly making a bond with you. That scares him."

"It's not so bad to make a personal bond… but I guess I wouldn't understand because it's not like I kept myself from making any friends my entire life."

"Is that what draws you to him?"

"That he's cold and seems to hate life?" Lucca laughed. "Maybe. Maybe I just have a problem. Ever since I was little, I looked at life's problems as something I can fix. People are not always so different. If Crono got hurt, I cheered him up, but that was easy. Magus is not Crono. Magus is in a perpetual mode of pain and suffering, it seems… But sometimes for a split second, it feels like he wants to make progress. I don't know, I've been rambling… I'm sorry."

Schala smiled. "I understand. I understand your situation better now. If you are coming to me for advice, I don't think you need me to iterate what you already know. Magus needs you, and in some way, you need him too. He doesn't want you to give up on him. If you keep trying, it will pay off sometime… soon, I know, and you will never regret it."

"Yeah, Schala. I guess I did know that." Lucca smiled. "Thank you. I'll try to convince him to talk to you."

"You're welcome."

Lucca smiled, and left Schala in her cave. She had to get Magus to face his fear, once and for all.

***********************************************************

Luca found Magus at the same spot, staring at the stars.

"Hi." She said gently.

"Hi." He looked down at her.

"Um… I talked to Schala."

"Oh? What about?"

"You."

"What?" For a second, his face expressed complete panic.

"Don't worry, I didn't reveal any of your secrets. I didn't even tell her one thing she didn't already figure out on her own. She obviously knows that we're here because you need to ask her something, and she's wondering why you won't talk to her."

"Well you didn't have to confirm it." He muttered.

Lucca sighed. "Just talk to her already."

"It's not that easy."

"Maybe, but you can't just sit around here worrying about how to do it. She's your family, you love her."

"Maybe that's why it's so difficult."

"No, it's just too easy… that's the problem." Lucca stepped towards him, inches away. "Do it, Magus. You must. Do it because you need closure in your life. You never got a chance to say goodbye to her. You have the chance now. Don't blow it. You can't do that to someone you love."

Lucca then turned and left, leaving Magus to finally decide upon listening to her. After 10 minutes of thinking about what to say, he calmly walked up to Schala's cave.

"Oh, hello." Schala smiled. "I was hoping you'd come in to visit me."

"Yeah…" Magus said. Then his mind went blank. Despite the mental preparation now that he was in a room alone with her he had no idea what to say, how to say it, or how to even move. He had the sudden feeling like he wanted to cast a spell so he would disappear.

"You seem uncomfortable…" Schala said, her gaze not leaving his.

"I'm… sorry." He looked down.

Schala slowly walked to him. "Janus, since when are you afraid of me?"

"What?" He stared at her. "How did… what?" He started to panic. "Who told you?"

"No one of course. Why would you think I couldn't recognize my own little brother… though I do agree it's odd. I don't have a little brother right now… he changed to my older brother."

"Yeah… some things happened."

"Janus, I know you're reluctant to tell me about your life and the things you've done, but I assume you're here to save me from some terrible fate." She continued when he said nothing. "But you already know… you can't. Whatever this terrible fate is, I have accepted it years ago. I will die and you will survive."

"It doesn't have to be that way, Schala!" He blurted.

She turned away from him. " In your heart, you know that it does, Janus." She turned around. "I know you've been alone, but I'm not the answer to that. I haven't been for many year in your life… I'm sorry. I've told you countless times that in a perfect world, you and I could be together forever, but fate has made my life be sacrificed for some greater good that I don't even fully understand yet."

"I still don't accept it."

"I know… which is why you're here. It looks like whatever you did allows you to bend the flow of time. You are very powerful, but sometimes changing time cannot be the answer to your problems. Sometimes events are so interconnected that one alteration, and everything you love is destroyed."

"All my life I have tried to save you, Schala. I tried and I failed, and Crono died and we saved him. Why can't I save you, Schala?" He turned around. He was afraid to continue.

"You can't save me, and I'm sorry… but you have the chance to say goodbye finally. You are very lucky." She approached him and touched his shoulder.

He sighed. "It's what Lucca said."

"She's right."

"I know." He turned around. "I miss you Schala, I miss you every day I'm alive."

"Janus…" She pulled him into her arms and held him close. Even though she no longer could pick him up, it was the same as he'd always remembered. She finally let go of him, wiping the start of tears from his cheeks. "I don't have so much time, so you're going to have to tell me everything. Sit down." She took his hand and they sat on the earth.

"I don't think you want to hear about it, Schala. I was a very bad man, I killed a lot of people and I didn't even care about it. You would be mortified."

"Janus, I love you. I always have and I always will. No matter what you have done in the past, I will understand and the only thing I care about is what your future will become."

He sighed. " Ok, I guess I'll just start with meeting Ozzie…"

He talked and she listened patiently for two hours. When he talked about what he did to Frog and Cyrus, she didn't frown. When he talked about the countless lives he was responsible for, she didn't grimace.

"It sounds like you have had a… very interesting life." She smiled, after he'd finished. "You could just write a novel about it."

He smiled. "I know you care about my future, but my whole past was obsessed about brining you back and the events that lead up to it. Right now, I am with the rest of those guys because some things are… unfinished. I am not sure what the outcome will be."

"You will succeed."

"I don't know, I failed at saving you."

"Because you could not change destiny, but what you will encounter is the future of our world. It is not destiny, you can change the future, you are no longer alone."

"I still wish that you could see the world in the future. If we save it, I wish you could see that too."

"I'm not meant to." She took Magus's hand and squeezed it. "I'm sure it will be a wonderful place."

"I hope so…"

The sat quietly for several minutes until Schala finally stood up. "I'm sorry, Janus, but I have to go now. The longer I am down here, the more the possibility rises that mother will find out…"

"Screw mother." He said angrily.

"I know you hate her, and perhaps I can't blame you, but it's not entirely her fault. She's not strong like you and I… she is weak and she is under control of the mammon machine…"

"You used to tell me that all the time…"

Schala looked at him. "I'm happy that we were able to talk. I know the future is in capable hands. You will be alright, Janus… just." She paused.

"Yeah?"

"Don't run away from your feelings. If you feel pain, just experience it… stop running."

He smiled wryly. "It's the thing I was programmed to do."

"Well you're going to have to unprogram yourself... because it is detrimental."

"Your friend, Lucca, want to be your friend. She is worried about you."

He looked away. "I'm not very nice to her, I don't know why she feels that way."

"She sees in you what I do."

"Which is?"

"A young boy who has been hurting, yet still wants someone to be there for him. She wants to be there for you, so let her."

He blushed a little. "Maybe…"

She hugged him for the last time. "That's all I can really say to you. Goodbye, and I don't even need to tell you, but I will for the last time. I love you and take care of the world. I know you will look after it…"

"I love you too, goodbye Schala."

She gazed at him one last time before leaving him for the last time in his life. It only took five minutes for the tears to start on both sides.

*********************************************************************

In the middle of the night, Crono gently woke Lucca up from a generally unsettling sleep. He sat at her bedside and nudged her away.

"Hey Lucca, wake up…"

She opened her eyes and sat up in bed. "Crono?" She said, sleepily. "What's wrong?"

" It's Magus", he said, in a concerned tone. "I somehow woke up to listen to him get dressed and leave. I think he wants to run away."

"Oh no!" She was fully awake now. She put on her glasses. "I will go after him… he's making a mistake."

"I know you think he doesn't listen to you, but right now, he will because you're the only one who can stop him." He then hugged Lucca tight. "Good luck. He shouldn't have gone far."

She hugged back. "Thank you, Crono." She then quickly put on her clothes and ran to catch up with him.

************************************************************************

Magus closed his eyes and paused for a moment at the entrance of Terracave

It seems no one can help me now
I'm in too deep
There's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray

I can't face them. I'm too much of a mess. How can I fight Lavos again if I can't even fight my self demons. "I need to give up and be alone again." He said out loud.

Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

He was only able to take one more step when someone called his name.

"Magus! Wait…" Lucca ran to him and stopped about 10 feet away. "Where are you going?"

Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a slow torch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning

He turned around. He had to at least face her. "I can't deal with this, Lucca. I can't deal with people, I can't even deal with myself. I need to be alone in this world. It is my fate."

I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train

"Stop it." She said, angrily. "You are not alone. I came to stop you."

Everything is cut and dry
Day and night, earth and sky
Somehow I just don't believe it

"Lucca, I know you want to help me, but how can you when I can't even help myself?"

Can you help me remember how to smile
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded
Life's mystery seems so faded

"I can help you, Magus." She took a couple steps forward. "I understand what you're going through. How you blame yourself. But you could at least say good bye this time. That means something, doesn't it? You could finally say goodbye."

He looked away. " I just don't understand everything that went wrong with my life. I am the most powerful sorcerer anyone has ever come across. But it all means nothing."

Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughin' at the rain
Little out of touch, little insane
Just easier than dealing with the pain

"I know you don't want to deal with the pain, but you have to, you cannot devoid yourself of your own emotions. If you leave now, you may never again have the chance to try to be human again. Don't you understand?" Her voice broke

Runaway train never comin' back
Runaway train tearin' up the track
Runaway train burnin' in my veins
Runaway but it always seems the same

He made eye contact with her. He had to. He knew if he wouldn't, he would never again connect with anyone again and he had to take the chance.

"I can help you. I want to help you." She said, crying. "If you leave, I can't.. I can't help you. I told you I wouldn't give up on you. The only way I could is if you ran away from me. So please don't, please don't run away." She stood there, crying. She couldn't say anything more.

So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
Promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep

He never stopped looking at her until the tears that had been locked away for so many years began spilling out. He didn't have to say anything to her, it was all the same. I won't leave you.

With a sob, she ran to him and clutched on. Thank you…

They both collapsed on the ground. They wouldn't let go of each other. They finally were as one, as she held him through all the pain. She had to keep holding him, he wouldn't have made it without her. She knew that he had 20 years of pain to let go and she would never let go. She kept holding him when her tears were starting to fade, but his were still strong.

"This… this is good." She said, gently. "I will never let you go."

She said no more for the next 15 minutes as he kept crying. She just kept holding on because she knew that was all that he needed. He had needed it for 20 years and it came just in time.

****************************************************

Crono turned around from his hiding spot near the two of them, guilty for spying, but pleased to know that Lucca was alright, and Magus finally was going to turn out fine. He turned around and gasped when he noticed Schala standing behind him.

"How long have you been there?" He asked.

She smiled. "Long enough. You are a good friend, Crono."

"I just needed to know that she was going to be ok."

Schala looked at the two of them. She smiled, but there was something remorseful about her expression. She knew this would be the last time that she would ever see her brother and at least it would be at a such a pivotal moment in his life.

She touched Crono's shoulder. "Let's give them some privacy now. I can talk to you for a little while in your room."

They headed in there. "It must be hard for you." Crono said, having to say goodbye to your brother like that.

"It was much worse for him. At least I will get to be with him for a year. He will be there, waiting for me when I get home. I can still hold him. But… he will be ok now. I love Janus, but Lucca's love means so much more than mine ever could. He understands that now."

Crono turned around. "I have to admit to you. I never saw Magus as anything but a ruthless warrior… someone who didn't understand pain, or love. To me, he was more of a robot than Robo."

"That's understandable. Janus always tried to hide it whenever he felt ill at ease. I think that whatever happened to him in the last 20 years made it worse." She sighed. "I would never have wanted that for him, to know that no one in the world cared for him after he was taken from me. But he can finally begin to heal now."

"Even though I feel bad about spying, at least I now understand he feels pain too, even if he hides it. He has more pain than any of us."

"He does, and only right now could he let go of it. Your friend is very special, Crono."

"She is. Magus said that she likes to 'fix things' and that's why she is so interested in him, but I think it's more than that. She always has a strange way of looking at things. I think she's fallen in love with an evil sorcerer… who somehow isn't evil."

Schala laughed a little. "I am indebted to Lucca… Someday soon, when the time is right, please tell her to take care of Janus. Please tell her how thankful I am that she was able to save him. Janus means the world to me. I can now be at peace knowing that he will be safe." A few tears fell.

Crono touched her back. "I will tell her. And I will tell him too."

She turned around. "Thank you, Crono. I know that this will not be the last time we meet."

"Well…" He laughed. "It depends on how you look at it. The next time we meet will be the first time for us."

"I knew the minute I met you that our lives were entwined somehow. Whatever fate will bring us at our next meeting, I know that the world will depend on it." She turned around. "Goodbye Crono. And thank you."

"Goodbye Schala." Crono waved to her as she disappeared beyond his sight. He crawled into bed, and tried to fall asleep before Magus and Lucca would get back.

****************************************************************

He finally was able to sit up. He wiped the tears off his face. "Lucca.."

She took his hand. "It's ok, Magus. You don't have to say anything."

He looked at her. "It's been so long, I almost forgot what it was like."

"I'm sorry. It shouldn't have been. I think… that of all the things that went wrong in your life, this was the only thing that almost couldn't be repaired."

"But you were here just in time." He squeezed her hand. "I don't know how to thank you."

"You have… you let go and you let me in."

He smiled slightly and pulled her close to him. "You held me. Now I want to hold you for a little while."

"I would like that.." She said, climbing up into his lap and wrapping her arms around him.

He held her close and rested his head on hers. They stayed like that for even longer, not speaking, just in bliss.

*********************************************************************

Author's note:

For all intensive purposes, this story is over. I hope that people like it and everything. I enjoyed writing it. I don't think I will continue it not because of lack of interest, but because the story ended where it should and I think that if I milked it, it might be worse…

"Runway Train" lyrics are credited to Soul Assylum