Truce Village
5:30 p.m.

This was probably the most eventful day of my life, I thought to myself as I walked alongside Lucca back to her house. I just hope that Santsu learned his lesson.

"Errol, it's time," I heard Lucca tell me.

"Huh?" I mumbled confusedly. "What time?"

"Time for you to tell your story. How did you escape, and how did you find me?"

Aw, damn. "Well, it went kinda like this," I started. I'm not gonna like this.

While I conveyed the events leading up to my duel with Santsu, I noticed Lucca intentionally slowed her pace so that I would be sure to finish before we got to her house. "We found Santsu in his office," I continued. "We did our introductions, and I went head-to-head with him after convincing him to put his sword away." I stopped abruptly. "He was no match for me," I added after a bit.

"You don't sound to thrilled about it," Lucca observed.

I shook my head, feeling like I should be laying in a psychiatrist's office telling this story instead of walking through Truce. "I pulverized him. I went wild against him for what he did."

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing!" I stressed, straining to keep it below a shout. "Nothing to me, but what he had done to you just sent me through the roof. I was uncontrollable, uncivilized. I turned his own sword on him, and I even sliced into him in order to get him to tell us where you were." I looked down at the sword, and she did the same. I still carried the hateful thing with me, but now that we were safe, what was the point in keeping it except to remind me of the day I lost myself in anger and hate?

"You rescued me," she finally interrupted my thoughts, "You did what you had to do. Would he have told you where I was if you hadn't done what you did?"

"We'll never know that answer," I whispered.

"Why don't you think he deserved what he got?"

"It's not that. I just don't want to be the one—" I cut off.

"You don't want to hurt others. That's understandable, but you should understand that the ends more than justify the means."

"I could've killed him."

"But you didn't."

During the silence that followed that, we were finally within sight of Lucca's house. When she stopped halfway across the bridge that lead to her family's island, I stared at her as she moved to the edge of the bridge overlooking the flowing water below our feet.

As I moved to join her, she looked over her shoulder to me, and of all the things to do, she smiled at me. It was unthinkable. After what I had done, how could she smile knowing that I was capable of such bloodshed and violence.

She finally spoke, "Doesn't your guilt tell you something? Doesn't the fact that you feel regret over his suffering tell you that you are not a bad person?" Our attentions turned to the water below, flowing with a sense of tranquillity about it.

"How can you possibly forgive me for that?"

She didn't reply, but I felt a sense of inner contemplation around her until she reminded me, somewhat reluctantly, "Earlier today, you... asked about my mother." I turned my head to face her. An expression crossed her face, one of regret and sadness. "My mother is a sweet, kind, loving person, and I love her very much. Seven years ago, June 30, 990, my father had an invention of his in the house. He had warned mother to keep her distance from that blasted thing, but she felt that it was getting to be dusty." Lucca was nearly in tears as she conveyed the story, and I listened silently. "When she moved to clean it, her dress was caught in the machine. Neither of us could pull it out, and Dad was out of town on business. I dunno how, but the machine started up, and it pulled Mom—" Her voice began to stifle, and she stopped herself, trying desperately not to cry, barely succeeding. She struggled to finish her tale. "Mom lost the use of her legs that day. She hasn't walked for seven years, and all I could do was watch as that thing pulled her into its maw. Ever since, I've thought about that day, thinking that if I could learn more about machines, that I might somehow atone for what I did... or couldn't do."

Finally, her defenses broke down, and she let her tears flow, at last. I was struck completely speechless. What could I say that no one had already said to her before? It wasn't your fault. There was no way you couldn't seen that coming. It's all in the past. None of those nor anything else I could think of could do justice to this scene. Nothing could've prepared me for that story, and deep down, I felt ashamed for making such a fuss about Santsu when Lucca had this within her all along. Then, I remembered her words from an eternity ago. "No one will get hurt because of me!" They took on a completely new meaning after hearing her story. It explained many things, but none of it mattered right then. Not sure what else I could do, I put my arm around her on her shoulder. She then turned around and hugged me tightly, crying on my shoulder. We held onto each other, comforting each other until she finally whispered through the tears, "I forgive you because you won't forgive yourself, just like I won't."

"Maybe someday," I whispered, "we will forgive ourselves." Lucca and I stepped back from each other, both of us wearing weak grins. "Until then, we should get you home."

"Okay," she weakly concurred, and we restarted our short stroll across the bridge. As we stepped off the final plank of the bridge, we slowly made our way to the door to her house.

"Errol, that song," said Lucca, "Crono interrupted it."

I nodded in understanding, and I took a breath and performed the ancient song to my fullest ability.

Conveniently, when I had finished the song, Lucca and I had reached her home. We stopped just off the front porch, and she turned around to look upon me. "That was beautiful," she complemented. "Well, Errol, it was a pleasure spending my day with you," she smiled, which was a major improvement over what we had shared at the bridge. "I'll see you around." She started up the porch, but then stopped like she had hit a wall. Lucca immediately jumped down the steps she had climbed, ran up to me, and pressed a small and short kiss against my cheek. The surprising young girl stepped back and smiled wider than previously, then wordlessly climbed the steps of her porch and disappeared into her house.

The expression on my face had frozen in shock after she had kissed me, and I stood there for the longest moment trying to make sense of it. Eventually, I decided it would be best to go back home, and I turned back and walked away, leaving the house, but not the memories, behind.

Just when I thought this day was over, however, a familiar figure sat waiting at the bridge. My shocked expression, which was still on my face even as I neared the bridge, finally dissipated into one of annoyance as I shouted the name of the spike-haired warrior, "Crono!"

He grinned childishly. "I knew you'd be good together!" he reminded me.

"You're just jealous 'cause I got the girl," I countered.

"You think I wanted her? Sorry to burst your bubble, but she ain't my type, ya' know." I tried to walk past him, but he followed me, continuing, "If I had wanted her, you wouldn't have gotten that kiss, because I would've walked 'er home!"

"I really don't wanna get into this," I tried telling him. "So, you saw everything?"

"Saw, yes. Heard, nothin'. So, you love her yet?"

"I don't think that's any of your—"

"I take that as a yes."

"Will you just go away?! Don't you have a campsite to go back to?"

"You'd be shocked at how my priorities are structured, Errol."

"Why're you here, anyway? After what we went through, I figured that you would be dying to get away from me."

"Maybe it's just you dying to get away from me."

"Look, Crono," I started off, "You're a cool guy, and I bet you're a great friend, but I would appreciate to be left alone. If you're really that desperate to be around me, then I'll be at Leene Square tomorrow between 10:00 and 1:00."

He sighed in defeat, "Okay, sure." As we finally crossed the bridge back onto the mainland, he broke into a run off into the northeast, yelling back at me, "See ya' later!"

And I was alone, at last.