Lucca opened her eyes. The bright, afternoon sun shone in through the window. "Am I dead?" she asked nobody.

"I should hope not!" said her mother's voice. Lucca turned. There was Lara, sitting by her bedside. "You were asleep for two whole days," Lara explained. "Which reminds me..." She stood up from her chair and called from Lucca's balcony. "She's awake!" she said, and sat down again next to Lucca.

"Your teacher is so thoughtful," she said as Magus came up the stairs. "He barely left your side. He looks so familiar, too, but I can't quite place it... have you really been learning magic?"

"Yeah," Lucca replied. She sat up in her bed. "I don't think I'm strong enough do any right now, but it comes in really handy when I'm building things. I don't need soldering irons or welding torches anymore."

Lara nodded. "You'll have to show me after you've gotten better," she said. "Imagine, my daughter learning such a lost art! By the way, what happened to you? Mr. Zeal hasn't been very talkative."

Lucca sighed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she said. "But do you remember what happened at the fair, when Dad and I were exhibiting our Telepod?"

Lara nodded. "Yes, Taban did tell me. A girl vanished because of it. Did you ever find her?"

Lucca nodded. "That girl was Marle. Remember? She came to dinner here. As it turned out, she was wearing an ancient relic of a destroyed kingdom, and that reacted with the matter transporter and sent her four hundred years into the past."

"No!"

"If I were lying, I'd come up with something believable," said Lucca. "Anyway, she left her pendant - that was the relic - behind, so Crono put it on to go after her. I managed to replicate the effect by building a sort of a key, so I went after him. So once we were there, we found out that Marle had been mistaken for her ancestor." Lucca took a deep breath. "Marle... is actually Princess Nadia."

Lara stared. She turned to Magus. "Is this true?" she asked.

"I hadn't met your daughter by then," Magus answered, "but I assure you it is true."

"So after we found the real Queen Leene and brought Princess Nadia back here..."

"...Crono was arrested for kidnapping her," Lara finished. "Well, at least it makes a little sense now, why he was arrested. I'm glad you got that all cleared up."

"Not without me quite literally tranqing guards and busting him out of prison," Lucca continued. "There was a... misunderstanding, and he was sentenced to death. Marle... Princess Nadia... came with us when we escaped, but the guards chasing us backed us into a corner in the forest."

"So... how did you escape?" Lara asked, not sure if she was simply playing along or if she actually believed her daughter.

"There was another time gate in the forest. We didn't know where it would take us, but we didn't have a choice, so we escaped through that. It sent us thirteen hundred years into the future. It was, shall we say, post-apocalyptic. Nine hundred and ninety-nine years from now, a giant alien parasite emerged from the planet's core and laid waste to everything, so we -"

"This is getting silly. A giant alien parasite? That sounds more like something from one of your video games."

"I tell you, every word of it is true. Why would I bother making up a lie that was as ridiculous as this?"

Lara shook her head. "You do make a logical point, but it's still hard to believe," she said.

"Is it any less believable that me learning magic, or maybe a talking, three-foot-tall frog that walks on two legs like a human?"

"When did frogs get involved in all this?" Lara asked.

"I'll have to introduce you to him," said Lucca. "He helped us find the real Queen Leene when we were looking for Marle."

Lara shook her head. "I suppose you will," she said.

"But to get to the point, Crono, Marle, er, Janus, and I, plus a highly advanced robot from the future, the talking frog I mentioned, and a prehistoric tribal chief all banded together to destroy the alien parasite before it could ruin the world in 1999. That's why I asked 'Am I dead' as soon as I woke up - I got knocked out or something while we were fighting it."

"Advanced robot... not the one that's turned off downstairs?"

"Robo's downstairs?"

"He is," Magus told Lucca.

"Well, that makes sense, I guess," Lucca replied, nodding. She turned back to her mother. "He was closer to me than to anyone else. If you turned him on, you'd realize he's definitely not of this age. He's got a whole personality, and self-adapting software that lets him learn things on his own, like a human."

Lara exhaled audibly. "If that's true, I have the most amazing daughter ever to live," she said. "Enough of that. Whether or not I should believe all that, you've been sleeping for two whole days. You must be famished. Can you get up?"

"I don't feel dizzy or anything," Lucca replied. "But yeah, I'm really hungry. We should fix that. And I've still got my time machine. I'll prove to you that everything I said is true."

After she had eaten, she went with Magus straight to the fairgrounds, Gate Key in hand.

---------------------------

Lucca couldn't sleep that night, four hundred years before her return home. She and Magus had checked into the inn in Truce with the intent of an audience with the king the next day. Her intent was to bring King Guardia XXI to her own time as proof of her ability to travel between eras, and he was only the first of three she would take with her. But something hung over her head: the Gate she had traveled through to get here had seemed weaker than usual. She would soon have to say goodbye to all of her dearest friends, save Crono and Marle.

She would have to say goodbye to Magus... forever.

"Magus?" Lucca whispered. He opened one eye as he turned his head toward her with a 'Hm?'

"I... let's go somewhere else," she said, her voice somewhat hoarse. Magus noted the expression of anxiety on her face, alighted at the end of his bed, and followed Lucca to the end of the upstairs hallway of Truce Inn, where there was a small balcony. Though he only had his hand on her shoulder, he could feel just by that that her entire body was tensed. He sat down next to her on a wooden bench, and contemplated the moonshadows cast by her worry-creases. "I... it's... ending," Lucca finally whispered, her eyes fixed on the railing. "Once... I remember, even... I couldn't wait to get rid of you, but now... it's tearing me up inside to think of you gone..."

Magus swallowed. It was true - Lavos had been defeated, and it would be a few days at the most before every Gate permanently sealed itself. He, along with Frog, Ayla, and Robo, would be departing soon, never to return. "I... you're... you're right," he replied, and heaved a heavy sigh. My fault again, he caught himself thinking. I should never have let this happen. I'm losing someone again, and this time I have only myself to blame... "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Foresight..."

"Foresight has nothing to do with it! Things like this... they just happen!"

"It's my fault and you know it," he shot back halfheartedly. "I fell for you first, and if I'd just kept it to myself, I'd have saved us both a lot of heartache. Really, there are some people I'd want to inflict that on, but not you... but I did it again; I let selfishness rule me. And look what it's done."

"Something you can't control isn't selfish!" Lucca persisted.

"No, but I slipped and let it cloud my judgment - I didn't register that we'd have to leave each other, even though I knew full well that was the case!" Magus nearly shouted. He sighed and lowered his voice. "I'm sorry. It's just... it's a shock when it shouldn't be."

"And it's worse because there really isn't any way for us to ever see each other again," Lucca said glumly. "And that we know what's coming. Not like Crono."

The inkling of a snide, nearly-cruel joke stirred in the back of Magus's brain, but it never developed into anything coherent. "Or Schala," he said instead. "I thought I could save her..."

"Could she have survived?"

Magus sighed. "I really don't know," he said. "But still, I feel that somehow, I have to find her. Even if she didn't survive."

Lucca nodded. "I know," she said. "I understand."

Magus sighed. "I'm glad to have known you," he said. "But there's no point in staying up this late before an audience with the king. You should sleep."

Lucca bit her lip. "I know," she said quietly, and turned to Magus, her eyes tearing up. "Why do you have to go? It's not fair!"

"There isn't a lot that's fair," Magus replied. "Come here." He took her in his arms and held her close. "You'll remember me. I'll remember you. And maybe you can find a new way to travel across the ages and find me."

Lucca sniffed. "I hope so," she whispered. "I hope so."

"There you go," said Magus, running his fingers through Lucca's hair and kissing her forehead. "Now, let's go back to sleep. I don't want to be tired when I sign that peace treaty with the King. And if we really are going to see the last of each other soon, we ought to make the best of it."

-----------------------------

Once Lucca had brought King Guardia XXI to her own time, along with Kino and Doan, she set off with all of them, plus Magus, to seek an audience with her own king. It had been a very strange feeling visiting a future that was as bright and green as her own time, as well as difficult to convince Doan that she was a time traveler who had saved their world, but with the help of King Guardia she was able to do it.

Getting into the castle once she was back in her own time was easy, since she was remembered as one of the three people who had cleared the King's name and revealed the false chancellor. The harder part was getting him to believe her story - but with the help of Guardia XXI, Magus, Frog, and the records in the royal library that spoke of Queen Leene's unique amphibian bodyguard and the peace treaty Magus and Guardia XXI had signed, the king believed her.

"I also have an idea for a positively brilliant prank," she told the King once he believed her. "If you're going to grant any honor to Crono, here's my idea..."

--------------------------------

Seeing Marle and Crono's faces when Marle's father revealed that he knew of their exploits had been worth every second of persuasion she'd had to pull on the king to get him to play along. Now, Crono and Marle walked at the head of the closing parade of the Millennial Fair as Lucca and the rest waited for them near the Telepod. She stood with the Gate Key, holding open the Gate which had started the whole thing. "Well, everyone, this is it," she said with a brave smile after Marle and Crono arrived. She looked at Frog, Robo, Ayla, and Magus in turn, then at her feet.

"Each to thine time," said Frog.

There was a pause, then Robo beeped. "The Gate has grown weak," he said.

Lucca stepped forward. "We have to say our goodbyes before the Gate closes."

"You're all leaving?" Marle asked, sounding a bit shocked.

Magus nodded. "All of us have things to which we must return."

With that, Ayla grabbed Kino's hand and pulled him toward the Gate. "Crono was strong! Marle too!" she said, smiling at them. "Ayla have fun!"

Marle smiled a little, and looked at Kino. "You're my distant ancestor," she said to him. "So you'd better have tough kids, or I'll be in trouble!"

Kino laughed. "No worry!" he said. "Ayla VERY strong!"

"Right!" said Marle, then she paused. "Hey... what do you mean by that?"

Ayla cuffed Kino playfully. "Kino dummie!" she said. "We go now!" She pushed him through the Gate, blew a kiss to her friends, and jumped in after him.

Frog shut his eyes. "'Tis a feisty crowd!" he said as Ayla vanished into the blue. "But they art thine kin, and 'tis of consequence." He turned to King Guardia XXI. "Queen Leene awaits. Your Majesty, we too shall take our leave."

The king nodded and stepped through. "Mr. Frog..." Marle called just as Frog was about to do the same.

Frog turned. "Long farewells ne'er were necessary," he said sadly.

"Right!" said Marle, stepping up to him. "Besides, actions speak louder than words." She leaned forward and kissed his head. Frog leaped half his height in surprise.

Lucca laughed weakly. "Yeah," she said. "Don't these things usually end with the princess kissing the frog?"

Frog's throat fluttered in a laugh, and he disappeared through the Gate. With a sigh and a last look toward Lucca, Magus glided over to the Gate.

"So..." Marle began. "You're going to search for Schala?"

Magus nodded silently by way of a reply as he stood in midair before the rapidly-fading Gate. The blank expression on his face threatened to break at any moment. Only Lucca saw the single tear that clung to the side of his nose. Tearing his eyes away from her, he disappeared into the fluctuating blue. Lucca clenched her teeth.

Last to go were Robo and Doan. There was a hissing of pneumatic valves a Robo approached the girl who had restored his life on more than one occasion. "Lucca, I will miss you," he said.

Lucca was silent. She merely examined her feet.

"What's wrong, Lucca?" Marle asked. "Aren't you going to say goodbye to Robo?"

Robo bowed. "She knows," he said simply.

"Knows... what?" Marle obviously didn't.

Lucca shook her head. "Robo was born in a bleak future," she explained in a whisper. "When we defeated Lavos, we changed history." She closed her eyes. "Robo... may not exist in the future."

Robo laughed mechanically. "Please relax. The new future has a place for me!"

Lucca hugged the robot. "Damn it, Robo! Don't pretend you don't care when you're really sad! It just makes things worse!" Tears were not yet forthcoming, but were very close.

Robo knelt and laid a metal hand on Lucca's shoulder. "Lucca, YOU have taught me these emotions. Thank you."

"Tears don't become you, Lucca! Robo will be there in the new future!" Marle said with a forced smile, trying her best to comfort her friend.

Doan vanished into the portal, and Robo stood up. "Good...bye," he said, and walked toward the Gate. He bumped into the Telepod with a metallic clank. "Caution! Oil has washed over my sight sensors. Sight diminished..." He held his hands over his photoreceptors, and Marle laughed.

"Robo..." Crono gave a small smile. "You're crying..." As Marle helped Lucca up, Robo disappeared.

Crono, Lucca, and Marle stood gazing into the Gate. "Do you remember that talk we had?" Lucca asked quietly.

"Talk?"

"You mean about whether our lives flash by before we die?" Marle asked.

"Yeah. I get the feeling that the 'Entity' is finally at rest."

"Yes, I feel that too..." said Marle, and Crono nodded. Marle grinned. "Time travel... how exhausting!"

"We should dismantle the Epoch," said Lucca hoarsely. "Its job is finished."

Crono nodded, and the reality of what was happening hit Lucca full force. She stood stock still, though her knees felt as though they might give way at the slightest provocation. Her lower lip trembled as she struggled to fight back a flood of tears, watching the Gate grow steadily weaker, knowing that she had just seen Magus and Robo for the last time. She closed her mouth and swallowed hard.

Seconds later, the sensation that time had stopped was broken. Lucca yelped a mild curse of surprise as a streak of yellow fur darted between her legs, and hastily jumped aside as Crono's mother shouted "You naughty thing, come back here!" while in hot pursuit of the creature. Just as Crono's mother was reprimanding Crono for the cat's misbehavior, the mouse it was chasing darted between the Gate and the ground. At the very moment it pounced, Crono's mother lunged for the furry body, and both fell through the Gate, which promptly closed, just as Crono was about to yank his mother back. Crono stumbled and knelt on the stone-paved ground, a look of shock on his face.

All three stood paralyzed at what had just happened, mouths hanging open in disbelief. Marle broke the heavy silence. "Oh, great! Crono, that Gate will never open again!"

"I know that! I..." Crono swore with such eloquence that even Lucca was impressed. "I... what the hell are we going to do now? That was my mother! Bad enough that my cat had to go, but..." He swore again, his face a mask of horror.

Marle looked thoughtful. "Well, it looks like we have no choice but to go after them!"

"Go after them?" asked Lucca. "But the Gate's..."

"Lucca, don't turn off your brain yet!" Marle giggled.

Realization dawned upon Lucca's face. "I forgot!" she said, breaking into a wide smile. "We still have a time machine!" She threw back her head and laughed with a combination of relief and wickedness. "Its job isn't finished after all! Marle, I'd probably fall in love with you right now if you weren't a girl! Crono! Hug me!" She threw her arms around Marle's shoulders and kissed her cheek as her tears finally came - but rather than grief, they were for joy.