CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS
by
Jerm

Chapter 10

The room shone red.

In the monitor's screen, centered in its painfully red backdrop, Cid saw his own face, staring back at him in perfect symmetry. The soulless expression on its face unnerved Cid, but he stood his ground for the time being. His mind tried to work out what was going on, hoping it gave him time before getting down to whatever business it had with him. Instinctively, he blinked and his mirror blinked as well. In perfect symmetry.

What's this?Cid thought to himself, the silliness of the whole thing calming his nerves a bit.

He was taken aback however when those mental words flashed onto the screen, superimposing themselves in white letters over his image for a second before fading away. Cid cocked his head to the side curiously, and his image mimicked him.

Slowly, he stepped away from the door, knowing it wasn't going to open for him. The face continued to stare at him emotionlessly as he slowly approached the mechanical monster. Cid knew he should be scared, but being backed into a corner seemed to give him enough adrenaline to fight off the fear. He decided to confront Lavos.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

The face, his face, continued to stare coldly at him. Then the screen flickered, a line of static danced down it top to bottom, and the face in the screen began to move its mouth as though speaking, but no sound emanated from it.

Cid opened his own mouth to take the opportunity to speak again, but was cut off suddenly as a voice boomed directly into his mind.

SUBMIT YOUR MIND TO ME

The words spoken flashed onto the screen, in white letters just as Cid's thoughts had been. But Cid barely noticed this as he instead grabbed his head in pain and fell to the floor in a heap. Any advantage he thought he had, was suddenly lost. The words weren't entering his ears, they seemed to be drilling themselves straight into his brain. He contorted himself and looked up at the screen again, his doppleganger staring back at him, the mouth still moving in soundless speech. Then suddenly the monitor began to make a whirring, whining noise as gears and hydraulics became animated. It jerked from its perch at the head of the machine and crept over to the spasming figure below like a crane. The screen came face to face with its captive and flickered again. Cid could merely stare at it and brace himself for whatever was going to happen next.

Then images began to flash on the screen in rapid succession. He couldn't make them out, but they tore into his head just as strongly as the voice did. He closed his eyes to shut it out, turning his head away from Lavos, but that didn't help. His mind's eye continued where the screen left off.

RELEASE YOUR MEMORIES

The voice hammered him again, along with the images. Cid began to drag himself across the floor, away from Lavos and towards where he remembered the door being. Reaching it, he began to bang on it once more, not even bothering to rise from the ground to do so. He tried to call out, but all he could do was scream in pain.

RELEASE YOUR MEMORIES

"No!" he managed to yell in response.

Cid then realized what it was doing. Lavos was digging into his mind somehow, delving into his memories, trying to find something. He grasped onto that concept and tried to find a way to fight it, to prevent it. His hands drew away from the door and wrapped around his head as he curled into a ball, trying to focus on a way to block Lavos from its prying.

He needed to focus on something. Something Lavos wasn't interested in. Something it already knew, perhaps?

He blanked his mind as best he could, thinking of where he was. The white walls of his prison, the white floor, ceiling; white everything. He used that, building a mental wall of whiteness to shut away the images that continued to batter him. Soon, the pain began to dull as well, as thought it no longer had a point to fester and boil. Then finally, it halted.

Cid risked another glance at the monitor, seeing once more his own face staring back at him on the screen. It seemed to be studying him, trying to pry a weakness out of him, a means to break him. Cid slowly crawled back to his feet, grimacing as his sore muscles resisted him. Standing once more however, he realized he was unsure of what to say. Instead, Cid merely scowled at the screen and awaited a second strike if it came.

Does it have emotions? he thought to himself in a moment of bizarre philosophy, Is it calculating me or thinking about me?

The words flitted across the screen as he thought them and Cid almost laughed at the ludicrousness of the situation. But he stopped himself when he saw the voiceless mouth begin to move once more.

The monitor pulled back and retreated to its original spot atop the mechanical shoulders of its host, the face's mouth continuing to move as if mumbling quietly to itself. Then once it stopped moving, the monitor shut off. Cid blinked in surprise and took a step backwards. He was even more puzzled now; had he won?

Or had Lavos gleaned what it wanted from him already somehow?

The tension built in him so tightly that his body jerked reflexively when, with a snap, the lights shut off, following suit with the monitor. He stepped away another step, his back striking the door. Without turning around, he reached his hand back and knocked on the glass, "Hello? Doctor? Can you let me out now? I think I'm finished."

And then it hit him again. This time there were no images. There was no voice. No red light or face staring at him. It was pure force of will that struck him. And there was no pain.

Cid blacked out instantly.

xxxxx

"Yes, this definitely counts as water," Lucca mused as she turned away from the rope ladder, the illuminating fire spell making its third appearance, "Good boy, Crono."

Crono laughed at the understatement and swept his arms towards the underground lake before them, "After you!"

"Oh yes," she remembered, "You were going to have me test the water to see if it was safe first. You always were my most valued and trusted friend."

"Well, what are frien-"

She clamped a hand over his mouth as she passed by him, interrupting his cliche before it got dangerously close to completion. One in a row was enough. He swatted her hand away, but didn't finish his quote. Instead, he followed her and her light as they trodded along what seemed like a makeshift walkway that led to the edge of the lake.

The lake itself stretched far away, turning into a river on the far end, which winded a ways before leaving their sight. They couldn't see it well yet, so they couldn't be sure if it flowed into or out from the lake. But if she had to wager a guess, Lucca would say it flowed into the lake, as it came from the direction of the mountain that overlooked the village. Perhaps fed by water seepage from the surface. Enhancing her theory were the numerous stalactites that dotted the domish ceiling over their heads, which towered over them about thirty feet up at its lowest point.

Lucca reached the bottom of the trail and hunched down, leaning over the water and cupping her hands into a bowl. With a moment's pause, she dipped them into the water, filling up before bringing them out. Giving a shrug to Crono, she brought her rapidly draining hands to her face and drank. She shrank away with a giggle as some of the cold water managed to drip down her shirt.

"How is it?" Crono asked as she finished and regained her composure.

"It tastes a bit like sulfur, but it'll do," she responded, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, "It's cold, but what do you expect?"

Crono stooped down beside her and took a slurping drink himself. Shaking the water from his hands, he confided to her, "I should probably mention that I already had a drink earlier, though. Just thought I'd let you think you were being brave for a moment."

She gave a ladylike snort in response and took another drink before leaning back on her hands, the cool rocks soothing to her. "I wonder if there are any fish in here," she mused, "That would cover our food needs."

Crono made as if to take off his shirt, "Want me to check?"

"No, please. Spare me that," she responded, covering her eyes in mock fright, but then paused briefly and added as an afterthought, "Although you could use a bath with all that mantis gunk and travel dust on you."

"No, the water's probably too cold," Crono suddenly backtracked, releasing his shirt, "I was just kidding anyway."

"No, it's cold but not freezing. As long as you don't stay in for too long it'll be okay."

She stood back up and started to walk back up the steps, "Go ahead, I'll wait for you back at the library. I need to read a bit more."

"Are you sure?" he was still skeptical about the idea, not entirely trusting of the dark depths of the lake.

"Don't worry, Crono. You're healthy enough," she pointed an accusing finger in his direction suddenly, "But that stuff's going to stink eventually and neither of us need that."

"You probably smell pretty bad yourself, you know," he turned the argument around on her, though he knew he had already lost, "With that mantis dust and stuff."

"Yeah, I know," she admitted, "But I thought I'd wait until you're done before I take my turn."

She took a hold of the ladder, and without another word or even a look back, she climbed up and out of sight. In her wake, Crono shrugged and put in his last words, "Okay, fine. But if I find any fish, you have to cook them."

xxxxx

"You're much stronger than initially thought, Cid. You should be proud."

Cid stared at the ground ahead of him with bloodshot eyes, ignoring the fake praise. The tiles passed and disappeared below his feet as he trudged on mechanically beside his caretaker. His limbs felt completely numb and exhausted, and seemed to move on their own accord. As if they had given up before him and were ready to follow the doctor's orders.

He had just been through hell.

When he awoke, he found himself lying before the door to Lavos' room, sprawled across the floor awkwardly as though he had merely been dragged out and dropped. If he hadn't been so numb, he knew he would be sore from the hard, cold floor. He had looked up to see Dr. Y looking down at him, a new emotion of anger on his wrinkled face.

That anger told him all he needed to know. Cid had beaten them this time. But he knew it was an empty victory, because after his mind recuperated enough that it wouldn't pass out so easily, there would be a second trip. He was going to need an escape plan before then, but he was starting to worry. He certainly wasn't in any proper state-mentally or physically-at the moment to be thinking of or trying such a plan. And before he would be, the second trip was going to happen.

Worry and doubt began to creep up on him, and his weakened mind couldn't fight it off at the moment.

His feet stopped and he realized he was before his room-his prison-once more. He ceased his thoughts briefly and watched as the doctor reached out and prepared to enter the password into the keypad. Then remembering something, he stepped over and blocked Cid's view of it.

"Damn," Cid muttered to himself.

Dr. Y laughed darkly at this, knowing he had read the boy's thoughts, "It won't be that easy anymore."

Cid realized though, that the man had left his back open to him. He reached out slightly, but knew he was in no state to overpower anybody. Still, he mumbled out the threat, "I could take you right now, you know."

"I know, but you won't," the doctor finished entering the password and turned back to Cid, "Maybe tomorrow."

The door opened, but Cid remained rooted for the moment, "I'm hungry."

"Too bad," Dr. Y shook his head, "We'll save it for breakfast in the morning."

With that he reached out and grabbed Cid by the front of his plain shirt with a speed that belied his age. Surprised and weak as he was, Cid could do nothing as he was thrown roughly through the doorway to stumble painfully to his knees and roll across the room. He came to a stop abruptly as his shoulder slammed into the wrought iron leg of his bed, forcing a moan from his mouth.

"Now get some sleep, you little brat."

The door shut, sealing him in near darkness. Cid remained where he was, half under his bed, curled into a ball of pain and misery. He was too hungry to sleep, and despite knowing whose side the doctor was really on from the beginning, he felt betrayed as well. He was so very, very alone.

All of these realizations came crashing down on him in a dark despair and he turned away from the door to huddle under the bed. He finally allowed himself to cry.

xxxxx

Cid was standing in the clearing again. Within the circle of trees surrounding the field and the shack that didn't seem to belong. It's door open, leading to a darkness that caused a primordial fear to well up in him.

He was in that dream again.

When did I fall asleep?Cid wondered to himself, not caring how self aware he had become in what was normally such a random, disorienting mental state.

More important was the question of what was going to happen.

Remembering last time, the hand that had removed him from the dream, Cid whirled around to face the forest and the tree he had bumped up against before. But it was empty, devoid of anybody. He was alone.

Insisting otherwise however, were the whispering voices. They returned, a cacophony of noise and sound, syllables that intermingled with others to be left wordless, meaningless. He slowly turned back towards their origin, the opening of the shack.

"Come here,"the voices seemed to say suddenly amidst the whispering.

He took a step forward, seemingly at the behest of the voice that beckoned him. He tried to stop, but his legs seemed to have a mind of their own. Like the dreams he remembered, suddenly he was no longer in control. The siren song pulled at his body relentlessly and he took another step.

"Enter," the voices continued, "You will find peace within."

But something told him he wouldn't. He couldn't enter that door. He wished it were just the hotel like it should have been in the beginning of this nightmare. Where he hadn't been captured and tormented, his mind and the world hadn't betrayed him yet. But try as he might, suddenly he couldn't remember why he was even at that hotel to begin with. Where had he been going?

Had I even been there?

He tried to pull up the memories, but the whispering was so distracting, he couldn't focus.

His legs took another step forward and he found himself halfway across the clearing. The door seemed to grow larger as he approached, and not from a visual point of view. It seemed to envelop the house and tower over him after every step, swallowing the breadth of the small world he existed in now.

"This is your home."

Then something seemed to pass across the blackness of the doorway. It lasted for a split-second, but Cid's mind caught it and froze the memory in his eyes. The dim outline of a human face, as if it had leaned too far into the sunlight for a moment too long before pulling itself back in.

Someone was inside watching him.

Waiting for him.

"I almost have you."

Cid broke out of his trance, and turned away in a run. To get as far away from that ghostly face as he possibly could. But before he had covered any ground, the world went searing white.

xxxxx

Cid's eyes flew open reflexively, as if trying to escape the nightmare before his mind was ready. He felt his heart thump in his chest, the heat of his rushing blood mixing with the cold of his sweat. As his vision slowly adjusted to the dim light however, he realized he hadn't completely left his dream.

"Almost," came a soft, far less antagonistic voice in the shadows before him.

It was then he saw something reaching out for him from the direction of the voice, a hand. Cid jumped up in a panic, but only made it a fraction of the distance before his head struck the underside of his bed. Luckily it was the mattress this time, and he didn't knock himself out. Though he was sure it would bruise. Fully disoriented now he crawled backwards, out from under the bed and away from what had been reaching for him. Half standing, he gurgled out a noise, fighting the urge to yell in either fear or pain, as soon as he made up his mind which. One hand went to the back of his head to feel for a knot as his other went to his chest to calm his already tormented heart.

"Calm down. Shh..." the voice continued to sooth from underneath his bed, "I'm not going to hurt you."

The voice was decidedly female, he deduced. But the tone it set, he didn't like. It spoke like it was attempting to calm a startled animal, a cornered beast.

Then again, at this point that might be closer to what he felt like than anything else.

The voice changed tactics, "Could you come back down here? I've got food."

Cid actually let out a laugh at hearing this, the absurdity of finding someone under his bed offering food. He quickly brought his hand from feeling around the back of his head to slap over his mouth, muffling the sound. As absurd as the situation seemed, he was very hungry at this point. There was no reason to blow it.

He bent back over, using the bed to balance himself as he peered underneath the mattress. His eyes worked themselves overtime reading the darkness he was in, and he could make out the wall on the far end, though sideways. And in the middle was an air vent, the mystery arm still spouting from within. The hand gave him a friendly wave before resting on the floor.

"Don't be so obvious. They have a camera in this room watching you," the stranger hissed quietly, "It doesn't record sound at least, so we can talk as long as the guard outside doesn't hear. But don't looklike you're talking to somebody." Cid leaned back onto the ground, acting as though he was trying to sleep again, crawling partially under his bed to hide his face from anything.

"Who are you?" he asked, still not fully trusting of her.

"I'm a friend," came the reply, barely over a whisper, "At least in a few minutes I hope to be. If you think you can trust me."

"It would be nice if I can," Cid acknowledged, "Can you get in here? Can you open that vent?"

"No, sorry," came the reply, "I just brought some food. I thought you'd be hungry since they didn't feed you."

"I'm very," he agreed, "What do you have?"

"Bread. No butter, though," there was a pause, "Nothing to drink either. Sorry. I couldn't find a way to sneak it in past security. Let alone carry it through these narrow vents without spilling it."

"It's okay, no need to keep saying sorry. I should be happy to get anything from this place at the moment."

"Here," the hand disappeared back into the grate briefly, then reemerged with a roll, "It was cooked a few hours ago, so it's cold. But it's still edible."

Cid stretched his arm out, trying to keep his body still for the camera, and grasped the meal, pulling it back to an awaiting mouth. It was indeed cold, but he didn't care. He chewed rapidly, trying to get it to his stomach as soon as possible. He could savor the taste on the second or third bite.

"Take your time, that's all I brought this time," the voice seemed bemused by his eating habits.

"This time?" Cid half-mumbled through the food, "I'm not getting out?"

"I can't, I didn't bring anything to get you out. Besides this way isn't safe for you. It ends still pretty far into this base, too much security to run through. I had enough trouble navigating that part alone."

"How did you get in then?" he swallowed and held back from taking another bite so he could get more information from her.

"Fake ID and all that. It's not easy, but I'm more up to wandering around here freely than you are. They're not looking for me."

"That's true," he admitted, "Do you plan to get me out? Or were you just here to feed me?"

"Of course," the voice was beginning to sound fatigued, not wanting to answer so many questions, "But we'll get to that later. I need to work out a plan."

"You don't have one now?"

"No, sorry. This was short notice," she paused a moment after this, collecting her thoughts to finish the conversation, "I have to get back out now. Finish your meal and I'll try to have something planned tomorrow. And after we've escaped and all that, I'll tell you everything I know. I'm positive you have questions."

"I have questions about everything right now," Cid responded, "I'll try to be patient."

"Okay then, good night, Cid."

She knew my name,he realized.

"Wait!" he knew he had called a bit too loudly, even as a whisper, and flinched at his own idiocy.

A long moment passed and he began to fear she had left him already. A pang of loneliness started to set in as the moment became longer. Finally the voice returned, noticeably stiff, "What?"

"What's your name? I mean, you know my name and all..." he left it hanging.

"Celia," she replied after a pause.

"Celia," he repeated, then replied, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," the voice was honest, but seemed more urgent now as she continued, "Now really, I have to go. I'm really sorry, but if I'm not out of here in the next twenty minutes, they shut down the room this vent exits and I don'tget out. And then they catch me. And they'll do worse to me than they do to you."

"I doubt that," Cid said, forcing some humor into the topic, though he didn't feel it.

Suddenly her hand reached out through the bars once more; no food this time, but with a gesture he still understood. He extended his matching hand and grasped hers, shaking it. The contact alone made him feel better, much less alone. He felt hope well up in him once again, knowing that someone knew he was here. Someone was helping him.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, Cid. I promise you," she tightened her grip on him, "And when we're out and free as birds, I'll buy you a big meal to make up for that roll. And while you eat I'll tell you everything about everything I know. Deal?"

He reciprocated her grip and nodded, knowing she could see him backlit from the light streaming through the door's window, "Deal."

"Don't forget to hide the crumbs, either," she added as an afterthought, "There'd be hell to pay then."

She released him and drew her hand away, snaking it back through the bars, "Well, wish me luck."

"Good luck, Celia," he responded, saying her name mostly as a means to not forget it.

And then she was gone. He couldn't see, but he felt it. The loneliness creeping back into his heart. But still, he had hope he hadn't had before. And it did well to combat the negative feelings. He smiled to himself, and reminded by her promise of a big meal, he took another bite out of his roll, feeling suddenly much better than he did hours before.