From Far Away Times
I don't own Chrono Trigger, that is Squaresoft's joy. But just wait, I'll have my fantasies, and one day, it will appear real to me! Mwahahahahaaa!
Magus awoke the next morning, and was having a hard time believing that Schala was curled up in his bed with him. He was watching her as she breathed gently in her sleep.
Her peaceful face was marred by the bruises which Dalton had gifted her in his mistake. Magus smirked to himself at what he had finally had an excuse to do to the man. He wondered if anyone had found him yet, or if he had woken up in the observatory puzzled. Magus didn't care, the man would never be the same again.
A crueler fate had been bestowed upon Dalton, who had never actually been a good man.
His thoughts went back to his sister, as he caressed her face gently, wishing his magicks could heal her, knowing that they couldn't. He could only hurt her in the end, his head kept repeating. She had witnessed what he truly was the night before.
Schala woke up slowly, and Magus cherished every moment of it. Her blue eyes were muzzy at first, but slowly they gained clarity as time passed. Until finally she saw him, and gave a start.
"Good morning, my lady," he softly said, smiling lightly. She smiled at him shyly.
Her face reddened as the full impact of where she was hit her. She didn't move away, though.
"Did you sleep well through the night?" was his question, voice gentle.
"I think I may have slept better than I have for a while now," was her response, thoughtful. Magus arched one eyebrow, amazed that she had managed to avoid the type of nightmares that usually plagued him, and grateful at the same time.
"How are you feeling?" was his next question. And she mulled it over, brows crinkled slightly.
"I hurt," was the final answer. "But not too bad, I feel worse after communing with the Mammon Machine."
His hands spasmed slightly at her words.
It always came back to the Mammon Machine. And he knew where that led.
She misinterpreted his tension. "It's not too bad, really," and she smiled trying to reassure him. "I can fix it all myself," and that is what she continued to do, her eyes taking on a focus momentarily, eyes glowing with the power she held in check.
Her skin looked pale in the light spilling from her eyes, her hair more vividly blue than before. He watched as the bruises shone, and as the light melted away, it left unblemished skin.
The spirit his sister had become fled with the light, and all that was left was a slightly worried looking young girl. Which in turn caused him to worry more than was completely necessary.
She tried to say something, stopped at the first unintelligble sound, paused, and finally tried again, and was successful. Her cautious voice asked him something he had dreaded answering. "Will Dalton be alright?"
His slow answer caused her eyes to change to something slightly sad, slightly pitying. "No."
"Was it necessary to hurt him so?" she asked, and his relief was that the sadness, her pity was not directed at him.
"It was, and now he can no longer hurt you," was his diffident answer. "He may not remember what he has done, but the shadow of it will not allow him to look at you in such a vulgar manner ever again." His voice held no regret, only fact. She flinched at the finality in his voice, and he wondered at her capacity to forgive. After a while, her silence became too much for him to bear. "Do you mislike me now?" he asked, voice barely neutral.
Her surprised look caught him off guard. "Hate you? Why would I ever hate you?" she asked. And it seemed as if she would say something more, but she stopped, her face reddened, and she said something else instead. "You have saved me, and have been more than caring. I couldn't possibly hate you."
"You feel fear, though," he said, voice finally tinged with sadness. "I can feel it."
She didn't disagree with him. But she did add on to what he said, to make the sting of if less. "I also fear for you."
"Thank you for your honesty," he said, squeezing her gently, his embrace warm and protective. "You may find more reason to fear me later on."
"Why? Does it have something to do with things getting worse?" Schala asked him, voice demanding for once. "You knw what is going to happen, don't you?"
"I do, and I cannot tell you, or anyone else," his voice was brittle, and unyielding on this point. She swallowed her dismay at not knowing.
"When it is all over, though, we can go away together?" she asked. He was surprised she remembered asking to the night before.
"I promise," and his voice held passion, and love, which confused, and at the same time, made the princess of Zeal feel a yearning she did not understand fully. This time, she tightened the embrace. They stayed that way, taking comfort in one another, until finally, the sun came in through the draperies, and they both knew that they must let go, and face the times ahead.
The months passed faster and faster, it seemed, and Zeal was on a collision course with destiny.
Magus only spurred it on faster and faster, pushing past potential hold ups in anything that would get in the way of reaching Lavos.
Dalton's state of mind was taken in course, the Queen not even noticing, and everyone else staying out of his way. In fact, if anything, he became almost helpful, if just as bad-tempered as before. Dalton still hated 'the Prophet' just as much as ever.
Magus didn't care. His only two concerns were the progress of the Ocean Palace, and Schala, although he saw less and less of her as the progression continued.
The time he did spend with her, she was tired more often than not. He found himself becoming her strength, a solid wall against everything that was happening.
The leftover two gurus were isolated eventually. The Queen's reasoning, nudged along by subtle suggestions of her Prophet, was that if one guru could betray her, why not the other two? They didn't seem surprised by it, and took it quietly. They seemed just as saddened as Melchior had. Disappointed, almost. Magus smiled to himself. He hated those old men.
Schala had cried for days.
Janus had only sneered.
Queen Zeal didn't even notice their absence, and her council shrunk, until only Magus and Dalton remained.
The people spun headlong into the dream of eternal life and power along with the Queen. Their greed overpowering their fear and uncertainties. Everyone seemed as if they were of the city of dreams, Enhasa, now. Only a few actually worried, and they mysteriously disappeared when they spoke of it too often. The Prophet and the Queen saw to it.
Magus clearly saw his puppet strings attached to those he wanted them on, and he only had to say a few words to make something happen the way he wanted it to.
The Ocean Palace was progressing greatly. It was now underwater, and if by his reckoning, it was only half a year until completion. Magus growled quietly to himself, as he sat in his room, bonelessly draped across a chair.
He knew those children would come. Along with that detestable knight. And that they would try to stop what he had spent his life preparing for.
His snarl was louder this time. He would prepare for them in due time. For now, he would continue to oversee the completion of his goal.
The earthbound filth were being bound to the Ocean Palace. His suggestion, and the Queen had loved it. When their use was up, strength gone, they became part of the whole, twisted into monsters and constructs, the power of Lavos coursing through them. The Palace began to glow with their life force within it. He smiled. The magicks used were dangerous and disgusting, but he didn't like the earthbound, and as long as he could destroy Lavos at the end of this road, he was satisfied.
Schala cried over the disappearances as well. And his heart ached when he watched her sorrow.
Magus didn't change his actions any.
Finally the children made their appearance, and Magus had forewarned the Queen of their coming. He told her they were meddlers, out to stop her attaining immortality at Lavos' side. She believed him, and this was because he did indeed speak truth. The children just didn't realize it yet.
He felt it when they came to his era. The power disturbance. They had gained strength since he had last fought them. So had he. His powers had become more honed, more destructive. Magus wanted to destroy them himself, if they dared to try and stop him once more.
Magus watched from the shadows as they came first to Enhasa, studying them in their wonder. He wondered again how they had beaten him. As far as he could tell, they were terribly simple-minded. The only one he didn't outright hate was the purple-haired girl. She was curious, but put everything together that they saw.
The black wind blew at him, singing a dirge as it whispered around the red-headed boy. Magus lost interest in watching them in person, and reported to the Queen that they had finally arrived, and she crowed in joy, wanting to play with them personally.
He directed against it. 'Good things come to those who wait'. She listened.
It took days, and Magus had no free time to warn Schala of the unpleasantness ahead of them.
In the end, it was Schala who led them to the Queen. She had unwittingly given them the key to enter. Magus almost choked when he saw the familiar pendant on a blonde girl. It disgusted him.
Dalton spoke first, always the brash one, "Oh! So it's you," he said lazily, having seen them on the Blackbird. He had a sick grin on his face already.
The Queen was less forgiving of intruders in her domain. "Who are you! How did you get in here?" she demanded, visibly angry.
Magus interjected before anything else could be said, voice low and hostile, "Your majesty...they are the evildoers I warned you of." And he grinned to himself as the desired effect took place.
"How dare you think you could oppose me, you, you...foreigners!" her screeched insult had less impact on the meddlers than she wanted. They didn't seem to understand how bad it was to not be an enlightened. "You're worse than the gurus!" the disgust in her voice was audible, her dislike of the gurus was hard to match.
The children's voices became lost in the Queen's anger at anything standing against her plans. So when they tried to defend themselves, she only screamed louder. "Fools! Dalton, take them away!" and with that, she had dismissed them.
Dalton sketched a quick bow, jaunty in his assurance they could not possibly stand against his power. "Yes, ma'am!" he laughed, voice distorted. "By your leave..." and it was suddenly quietly menacing, insanity not making him any less threatening. And he summoned a golem. Dalton moved everyone out of the throne room, to one where they could watch the proceedings.
Magus smirked to himself, slightly disappointed that he couldn't take care of them himself, but perfectly willing to watch them, as they put up their fight.
Indeed they did get stronger, and they did beat the golem, much to Dalton's dismay. He was strangely proud of those creatures.
"My poor golem!" he cried out when they finally did beat it, tired and not in such a good temperament anymore. "Inexcusable!" he continued to howl, unabashadly.
The Queen only laughed at this. She had found something interesting, like a bug that had unintentionally crossed her path. "Fear not, children," she told them, voice suddenly husky with desire. "You won't die yet, but you will be begging for me to end your suffering by the time I'm through with you!" and with that, she exerted her power, using it more wisely than Dalton did his, putting them to sleep and sapping their strength at the same time. "What a delicious diversion!" she laughed, smiling at Magus, eyes bright, lips wet as she licked them in her excitement.
She had the Prophet send them into a containment chamber, and he aquiesced to her will happily enough. He didn't mind containing the threats to his plans.
He felt a twinge, and saw the pain in Schala's face as he slowly disappeared with his cargo, into the rooms to hold them until the Queen wanted to play with them. He knew he needed to keep an eye on her.
Magus watched as Schala argued with Janus over the intruders. Janus was on his side, and thought it best to let them rot.
Schala won, as she always did against Janus, and they went to free the children. Magus followed in the shadows, as a shadow. He had to stop her from acting without letting Queen Zeal know of it.
Janus showed his repulsion of them as they entered the room. "Idiots..." he muttered, looking at them, and huffing. His sister was concerned with their safety.
"Let us rescue them," said, determination in her sweet voice. She couldn't stand the thought of strangers being involved in the works of her mother.
"You'll be in trouble for this," Janus warned her, voice worried finally. Schala stepped forward anyways, closing in on the containment field.
"Don't worry about that," she told him. "Besides, they might be able to rescue the gurus," she reasoned. Janus only grimaced at the mention of them.
"Schala..." he finally said, starting to argue once more, but cut off by her actions. She had already disabled the field, and it was too late. They were free, even if drained of all energy and power.
"Are you all right?" she asked them, the concern in her voice audible, as she hovered over them, considering healing them. At the affirmative nod from the red-head, she let out a relieved sigh, and continued to talk to them. "You must escape from the palace! And if you could, rescue Melchior?" she asked, hesitant. She felt she was asking too much of people who had been mistreated by her people. At their slightly slack-jawed look, she tried to explain further, even as she was trying to get them able to stand up. "He was sent to the Mountain of Woe for opposing the Queen..." and she trailed off, the memory of him being gone painful still.
The serious look she received from the boy panicked her. "Please, you have to help him!" and the desperate tone of it caused an apologetic look on the boy, as he nodded again, in assent to helping.
Magus finally had to step forward, before Schala actually succeeded in destroying the delicate balance of events he had carefully planned out.
He stepped out of the shadows, and entered the room itself finally. "I'm afraid I cannot allow that," he said quietly, menace in his voice.
The group attempted to get up and unsheath their weapons, an futile effort to protect his sister, and themselves, he assumed. He sneered beneath his hood.
Magus prepared to summon his scythe, anxious to kill them, and his voice promised murder as he spoke. "I'm tired of all your meddling, so you'll just have to disappear."
"You musn't!" Schala cried out, near tears, and the look on her face, and the sound of her voice made him pause. He knew if he killed them, she would not forgive him so easily this time. Even Janus made a noise that wanted him to stop his actions.
"I'll...spare them," and it hurt him to say it, as he had dreamed of destroying them for a while now. It had hurt his pride to be defeated by mere children, and he couldn't even alleviate the feeling without severing the bond between him and his love. "In return, you will cooperate, Schala," was the only thing he could say. She had begun to oppose the progression of the Ocean Palace and joining the Mammon Machine with Lavos more and more of late. She couldn't stop until the end.
He stared at her, his eyes penetrating, until she whispered, "I'll cooperate."
Satisfied, he turned back to the children, "Now, show me how you came here." The power in his voice compelled them, and they could do nothing but obey.
Magus cloaked them all in shadow, and like people asleep, they were led out of the palace, and through all of the transporting columns, and followed, as they went through all of the Sky Ways, until finally, as they trudged through snow, they reached a cave at the base of one of the numerous mountains.
Magus was impressed. "Hm. So you came in through here," he muttered to himself, thoughtful. He shook off his musing for later, needing them gone now, so he could return to the palace.
"Schala, when I throw them into the gate, you must seal it on this side," he directed, unable to force them through and seal it at the same time himself.
Schala gained some courage, to oppose the man who caused her emotions to fall into turmoil, even as she was afraid, for he seemed a completely different being than the one she had come to know. "N-no! You can't make me!" she stuttered, her voice coming out as a squeak.
He grumbled to himself, wanting to shake his head. "Obey me!" he growled, putting energy into his voice, compelling. "Their lives are at stake, my lady."
As she looked at him, she saw truth in his eyes. "They will be dead one way or another if they stay here, or return," he whispered, and she knew his meaning. If Queen Zeal got her hands on them once more, they would suffer a long and painful death, and she would find them if they remained.
"I...oh, all right," she mumbled, having no other option, her urge to save Melchior fighting against the need to save their pitiful lives.
That was all Magus needed from her. He took his power into his hands once more, hearing the black wind howl within the cave, bouncing off of it's uneven rough walls. He shunted them through the gate, and they fell in and through it. Schala began her chanting, eyes shut, but he could still see the glow through her eyelids, and her hands were surrounded by her power. His eyes glowed a deep red as he kept the force of the portal pushing to wherever it led, until at last, she sealed it.
"Forgive me," she whispered wretchedly, afterwards.
Magus started towards her, then thought better of it. He couldn't help her with this. Not after what he had forced her to do.
He left her crying in the cave, heart heavy with her pain.
a/n: Well, that chapter wasn't the happiest either. It's probably bound to get worse. Dunno yet. Sorry it took so long to come out, and it is kinda short. I'm not satisfied with it...but I tried to follow the story for what I could, filling in my own details. Then back on to wonkiness!