Authors Note: Almost done! It's not ended here!
The Mammon Machine
Even when he was all alone, he remembered them. After all the blood on his hands, he would mourn the loss of their love. That he wasn't the same boy they both loved. Schala and Acul where memories of his past. Ropes to hold onto. He loved them both. It was small, when he first met Acul. A little halfling had caught his attention. She didn't whisper his secrets. She didn't make fun of him. And she would always listen, with those same curious eyes. When he saw her fall through that portal, he chased after her. He didn't see the portal appear under his own feet.
And here she was, taken away from him by somebody he thought he could trust. Flea had always been some sort of a friend. He met Flea a few days after he met Ozzie. Flea was a lot younger, but he had eagerness to learn something from Janus. He wanted to learn how to be cold and ruthless. They both grew up together, and learned some of the best fighting tricks from the teenaged Slash. That day when Flea hired Yakra, Magus saw something in Fleas eyes that didn't look normal. And he realized that it was the same look his mother had. Yakra had several purposes. He was first supposed to bury as deep down as he could go to build a base. Then he was supposed to disguise himself as the Chancellor to capture Queen Leene. And finally, he was supposed to bring in any would-be rescuers, for torture.
If Frog hadn't arrived when he did...
"Magus! Guile is Magus?" a deep voice rang out, interrupting his thoughts. Magus turned his head towards Glenn. The former frog had his torso propped up on his arms. Marle was sitting next to him. Crono was standing, his arms folded and eyes lowered.
"Flea also has Sala. Or should I say, Princess Schala." Crono informed Glenn.
"DAMMIT!"
"They want Magus to come alone to the Undersea Palace. Unarmed. They're going to kill him!" Marle cried.
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here." Magus grunted.
"We hide and fight too!" Ayla said. Robo beeped and bowed in agreement.
"If I know Zeal, and I do, she's going to use them as sacrifices for Lavos. Their power will be added to his. Fortunately..." Magus paused, and shook his head.
"What?" Crono asked.
"Don't worry about it. Let's go." Magus said.
"Right. Let's go. The others will wake up soon. Most of their energy has been drained for the summoning of Lavos. They'll wake up and recover later. There's nothing we can do for them now." Crono stated. The others agreed. The whole gang quickly rushed out the doors, weapons in tow. All of them forgetting the now thawing Dalton.
***
"Schala! Raise the power of the Mammon Machine to it's limit!" the Queen commanded. Schala clenched her fists. She didn't want to do it. The fate of the world rested in her hands, and her power.
"Schala!" screeched Queen Zeal. "You dare to disobey me?"
"I have prepared for such an event." Flea said quietly. He snapped his fingers, and two children appeared, not even having the dignity of being bound with an invisible wind rope.
"Janus! Acul!" Schala cried.
"My daughter!" Nabat yelled. He tried to rush over to the children, but one of the guards stopped him.
"They both will be offered as sacrifices to Lavos." Flea chuckled "That is, if Schala decides not to raise the power of the Mammon Machine."
"I'll kill you! You betrayed me, Zeal! You said our families wouldn't be hur..." Nabat stopped, as blood began to gurgle out of his mouth. He coughed, and more blood spewed out. He fell to his knees, and finally his face made contact with the ground.
"Thank you Dalton." Queen Zeal said quietly. "He was beginning to get on my nerves."
"It was no problem, your highness." the General said. He warily stepped over the fallen body before him. Aculs sobs became deafening. Janus was trying his best to comfort her.
"So if you don't want these children to suffer the same fate, I advise you to do as we say."
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT, MOTHER?! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO YOUR OWN CHILDREN? YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD?"
"We shall all be together, living in Lavos, as one powerful being! NOW DO AS I SAY AND RAISE THE POWER!"
Schala, defeated, dropped her head, and began to commune with Lavos. Janus's pendant began to glow, and float. Aculs sobs and hiccups became quieter, as she watched the bright glowing pendant with curiosity. The Prince held onto her hand protectively.
"Oh.. what bright splendor!" the Queen swooned. "The incredible power of Lavos!"
Schala let out a small moan of pain. Flea sent a cautious glance in her direction.
***
Crono made a final slash at the now defeated monster. He let out a small breath in relief. Even though the Undersea Palace was incomplete, it still had it's share of monsters.
"We're almost there." Magus said.
Glenn took another step foreword. A bright flash came through. All of them clutched onto their weapons, expecting to see a monster. Instead, a familiar looking imp appeared.
"Mune!" Glenn gasped.
"The ancient Red Rock has been passed down through the ages. From it, a magic pendant, and a knife were made. We embody Melchior's dreams, sealed, within the knife... Now hurry, if you plan to confront the queen. We're counting on you!" he said. He waved at them, and disappeared in the same manner that he came.
"Knife?" Glenn asked curiously.
"Oh yea!" Cronos face brightened. He pulled out a small red knife from his pocket. "Melchior gave it to me."
"Melchior...but I thought he was..."
"He was sucked into a portal and appeared, along with Acul, in your time," Magus responded, tossing his head towards Crono. He was obviously annoyed at having to explain so many things.
"It doesn't matter, anyway. We have to get moving. We have to save Schala!"
***
The room became brighter and brighter. As the huge aura of energy increased, many of the guards fell. Acul was slumped forward, against her bonds. Janus fought with the dizziness that was willing to overcome him.
"Ahh! I can feel it! The pulse of eternal life!" the Queen laughed. Her face, in the bright light, became so twisted that she barely looked human.
"Dark forces...wild energy! I can't..." Schala fell to the ground. Yet she still was able to sit up, her arms supporting her body.
"Mother..." she whispered.
At the address of being called that, the Queen relaxed her face, and for a brief second, she almost looked human. She sent a sympathizing glance towards her daughter.
"Schala...don't stop. We're almost there." she said soothingly. The Queen twitched again, and her face returned to the gruesome position it once was. "Immortality will be ours! I have waited so long for this!"
"Sorry, your majesty, but all your waiting will have to be in vain!" a proud voice proclaimed at the end of the hall.
"Magus! I see you came." Flea said. Magus crouched low, pulling out the glowing red knife from his cloak.
"Here we go, Mune!" a small voice sang out from the knife. It pulsated with each inflection of the word.
"Ready Big Brother!" Mune shouted. Magus raised the knife into the air and threw it with all of his might at the Mammon Machine. It slowly morphed and changed, until finally it turned into the only weapon of Magus's defeat.
"The Masamune..." Magus marveled in awe. He was interrupted in his thoughts by a low rumble coming from the ground. Magus scowled. "It's coming!"
Janus and Acul screamed, as a large red spike came under them, breaking their ropes, and separating them. Time and space fluxuated, until finally they where all in what looked like a large blue rippling dimension.
Magus gripped his scythe. He heard footsteps behind him, and turned around to see Marle, Crono, Robo, and Glenn appear.
"We're here to assist you." Robo said.
"I don't need your assistance!"
"YOU SHALL ALL ENJOY ETERNAL LIFE AS A PART OF LAVOS!" the Queen roared. Lavos opened it's large beak-like mouth and breathed in. Large rocks burning rocks fell from the sky.
Every one of them where able to dodge the first few, but it felt as if more and more came. After about five minutes, all of them fell, barely able to stand. All except for one. His blue hair hung over his face. He gritted his teeth.
"I SHALL DEFEAT YOU! I don't care what it costs! But I won't let you take away anything from me again!" he shouted.
"You can't defeat Lavos! You're a mere insect to him!"
Magus wasn't listening. He dived at Lavos, uttering a spell he had been working on ever since boyhood. He swung the scythe, and it hit the large beak of Lavos, a weak point that he always thought would be affected. Instead, nothing happened. Lavos breathed in again, and sent a large powerful force blowing him away. He guided his body to the fallen Schala. The Queen cackled evilly. Everyone was fallen.
'This is it. I failed all these years. It was never meant to be...'
"CRONO! NO!" he heard a high pitched voice shout. He turned, and saw that Marle was yelling at the red haired youth. He walked towards Lavos. The wind was blowing his spike hair flat. He raised his arms, and summoned the strongest spell that it was possible for somebody of his power and age. He felt the electric bolts from the heavens run through his body. He directed them at the head of Lavos. So much electricity. His throat, his fingers burned. As the spell completed, he opened his weary eyes, and Lavos still stood.
"You've been a thorn in my side since the beginning of time." Queen Zeal said in a throaty voice. Lavos opened his beak, and breathed in once again. Air sucked in. Magus struggled to hold on, being the last one conscious. He crouched lower, trying to get a better view of what was going on.
Crono held up his sword in defense, his last rope hanging onto this mortal world. A bright light came from the mouth of Lavos. As the bright light became nearer, a clear young voice rang in his head.
"One among you… will shortly perish."
He dropped his sword as he felt his strength draining him. Black energy cackled around him, and his back arched. He knew what was happening. But he couldn't hide his surprise when his feet lifted off the ground, and he saw his life force, his purity, leaving him. It was disguised as a shining glisten of light. He felt his body crush in on himself. With nothing inside, he could not live. The bright light of his life-force was the last thing he saw, as his body was ripped apart, and washed down to the abyss.
"No..." gasped Schala. "I won't let this happen. I'll send the last of my power to teleport you all to
safety."
Glenn, Magus, Robo, Ayla, and Marle found themselves in the hallway of the Undersea Palace.
Schala was using all her strength not to fall to the eternal sleep that threatened to claim her.
Glenn held onto her hand.
"Schala..."
"I know you can't forgive her, but don't hate my mother." Schala interrupted. Glenn got on his knees, and held her closely.
"I don't want to let you go."
His words reached air. He was hugging the cold winter air of the Earthbound Village. Exhausted from the stress and loss of energy, he felt his face hit the cold snow, along with the rest of his comrades.
***
"You shall be joined with Lavos! You shall make him become powerful!" Queen Zeal stated triumphantly over her fallen daughter. She was still perched on Lavos's shoulder, as if she was not even denying her own daughter a loving, personal death.
"Not today!" a young male voice said. Flea smiled triumphantly. He gathered Schala up in his arms. He sent a protective look in her direction.
"Why are you doing this? You can't do this!" Zeal shouted. Flea sent a cocky grin in her direction.
"I don't want to. You see, her self sacrifice reminds me too much of my own mother. Seeing this has made me realize what I could have been, and what I am. And I thank you." Flea knew he had to make his speech quick and brief. Lavos had control, but only when he tried to use massive amounts of power. He feared that if he stayed to long in the place, he may have done something he would regret later. He smiled, and blew a kiss at the Queens direction.
"Catch ya later, Queenie."
***
Great Magus/Lucca Authors:
Yuffie-Girl: I always read her chapters twice. Once at home, once at school.
Imania: FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY!
Dark Creation: It'd DAMN good.
Azalai: Write more, or the Gods of LuMa shall smite thee!
Rhianwen: Best...one shot...EVER! Oh, and look for the Comic Book Guy in Old Quarrels, New
Love. LONG LIVE THE SIMPSONS!
Triad: Crossover story. Chrono Trigger/FF7. You know you wanna read it.
Red Mage: Nobody can pull off an MTV parody better!
Warui Nekochan: Got the HIGHEST score on the Bash the Marle game
Aylakat: Magus shirtless and singing Metallica. I'd like to see a better image than THAT!
I love you guys! I'm sorry if I missed anybody. Let me know! Oh, and thanks to the Dragon Sorceress for IMing me! See, it pays to give the author gratitude! Now if only I could get some LuMa fanart. One last note: I'm looking for a beta reader. Anyway, don't forget to leave a review, or I shall smite thee!
