Chapter 4-In the shadow of Crono
Year: 1000 AD
Marle sighed. She kicked her feet rhythmically at the side of her queen-sized bed, slowly. It was 3:00 PM. It was true that mornings and Crono got along about as well as a cat and a wounded bird, but that's the entire reason why they'd scheduled the date in the afternoon. She stood up and began to pace. Obviously, something was very, very wrong. Maybe something horrible had happened to Crono on the way to the castle; perhaps a group of rogue imps got him or something of the like. But then again he could still be sleeping.
Finally, she decided that she'd have to go and investigate herself. She quickly rose and changed into something a little bit more suited for traveling and marched through the halls of Castle Gaurdia. They were made of the most beautiful type of marble and their glimmer had not dulled over the ages. She made her way down the grand staircase and found her way to the main hallway. There, she saw quite a commotion. Her father wasn't at the throne and the chancellor was yelling at the knight captain while the other soldiers ran about frantically. She shrugged and went to the front gate, which was inconveniently blocked by two soldiers.
The two didn't seem to be disturbed at all by the commotion. Quite contrary, they were laughing and they seemed to be having a grand time. The first soldier was rather portly and Marle wondered where such armor was forged while the second was short and was skinnier than she was. They snapped out of their laughter and realized that the Princess was standing in front of them.
The portly soldier greeted her jovially. "What brings you here this fine day, princess?"
"Well Crono was supposed to meet me an hour and a half ago, and I'm getting worried. I figured that I might just have to go and see if anything has happened to him. So, if you'd please excuse me, I'll just be on my way and-"
The short soldier waved his arms and blocked Marle's path. "So sorry, dear princess, but I'm afraid we have orders not to let anybody leave this dreary fort today."
Marle's face reddened with anger and she managed to keep herself together, finally asking, "Why not?"
The first soldier tilted his head and put a hand to his chin. "Hmm…Let me think. I was briefed on this situation awhile ago. Err, it seems that there's a…"
The second soldier exclaimed. "Arsonist!"
The first soldier snapped his fingers. "Yes, yes that's it exactly! There's an arsonist loose in the village of Gaurdia, and he's set fire to a house. He's got the whole Kingdome upset, it seems. Apparently he's got some widow wailing' like there's no tomorrow."
The squat man put on a rather obviously feigned face and said, as empathetically as he could, "Yes, it's a true disaster."
Marle's anger turned to a sense of true concern. "A wailing widow" would definitely describe Crono's mother. Had something happened to Crono? No, she dismissed the thought. Crono eats dinosaur meet for breakfast; a simple fire couldn't do him in.
"Well, if it'll put your minds at ease, Crono is a very skilled swordsman and I'm certain I'd be completely safe with him; probably safer than I am here."
The round soldier shook his head sadly. "I'm certain that your honey is a strong lad, but I'd hate to see him go up against a fire. Dreadful, dreadful occurrences they are."
The second soldier nodded. "Oh yes, why, I don't know anything more powerful in the world than a well fueled fire! Except maybe the ocean or a fierce river."
Marle's temper was raising, but she felt that if she could keep herself collected she might be able to talk her way out of this situation.
The first soldier chuckled. "A river? Don't make me a laugh! A well- placed boulder could dam it up in a few minutes, tops. Now let me tell you about something truly powerful. The wind! Yes, I'm afraid my mind can't come up with a single thing more frightening than that. Just think, one good whoosh and down the castle'd go."
The second soldier laughed. "Foolish, foolish! A good rock would just block that wind. It could blow and blow all it wanted, but it wouldn't even be able to budge one, I tell you what."
The first man's brow straightened. "Listen here, I know for a fact that a good storm would nudge a rock about just as easily as"
Marle lost it right about there, and became enraged. "Silence! Listen to yourselves, babbling about things that even children wouldn't give a hair about while the countryside's in chaos! Eeeerrrrgh! Why on earth would my dad be stupid enough to hire you bums?"
The first soldier thought a minute. "Well, I think he should be rather happy to have us. I mean, we're volunteers after all. Take what you can get, I say."
The second soldier agreed. "Yes, Gaurdia's been at peace for ages. We're all volunteers now a days. Except the knight captain."
"'Course, he could've just volunteered to be captain."
Marle's arms flew up into the air, disgusted and maddened. She stomped off rather angrily and went down a hallway where she found two staircases. One that lead up to the king's room, and the other which lead to rather dull basement. Of course, inside of this sleepy basement was a secret passage that concealed a complex maze of caverns, one of which eventually lead to an area outside the fairgrounds. It was originally an escape route incase Magus' minions ever overthrew the castle, but had long since been forgotten. However, Marle had discovered it one quiet day when she desperately needed out and had since proven to be quite useful. The caverns were an abyss of pure darkness, but Marle had traveled through those pathways many times in the past. She was able to feel her way through the long corridors. At first, it had been rather frightening but now was rather old hat.
It's not like she ran about trying to be a handful for everybody, she thought to herself in the midst of concentration. Certainly, some of her actions were rather immature and illogical, and in some cases dangerous, but were almost always caused by some need not being meet or actions of others. She always felt as if her life was being anchored down by a heavy chain of regulations and pollicies and she so often wished that she could break free and fly away, to a land where she could be somebody that she really was, and not a figurehead.
Of course, her last little adventure no doubt scared the king and his court out of their wits, or at least the ones who believed it at least. Traveling back and forth through time, traversing against deadly terrain and engaging in life-threatening battles. Heck, she had fought in the war against Magus, and then made peace with him! The droll man that was Magus could just have easily turned her and her friends into some vile creature, just as he cursed the poor knight Frog.
It took a little while, but she managed to navigate herself to the exit. Finally, a few beams of light peaked out and she was outside beneath the shadow of a tall, guardian like mountain. It was a bit of a walk to Crono's house, but the journey across the grassy plains would pass by very quickly, with such lovely views to take in. Finally, she stood in front of Crono's humble house. But something invaded her eyes and every time she tried to take it in the horrible realization of what she couldn't shake off her fears and the tears that began to pour instantly. It was Crono's house….But it was missing the roof and the vast majority of Crono's floor, including three of the walls. Unless, against all odds, Crono had somehow survived this.
Yes, she reassured herself, there was no way that the simple flames could have devoured the faithful friend she had only known for a short time. Crono and her friends had faced the impossible before and came out barely scratched. Crono had even died once, but by manipulation of the flow of time he had prevailed. A fire…so simple. It was not a fitting death for such a wonderful person.
She slammed the door open with excitement to, hoping to see Crono's smiling face, but only to find Crono's dear mother, sitting on a chair quietly looking outside at the horizon. She stopped. This was often a sign of distress for the dear woman, but surely she would've reacted stronger if her own offspring had burnt in a cruel inferno. Yes, Marle told herself, it was obvious that Crono had somehow prevailed. She walked towards the woman and pulled up a chair and sat next to her.
Crono's Mother murmured. "I can't believe that something so horrible, could've happened to my little boy…"
Marle's eyes bulged. "What happened?"
Crono's mother shook her head and then lowered it. "It was a very odd day, from start to finish. We heard a strange thump at the door, and it turned out this strange foreign man had slumped against it unconscious. So we attempted to waken him and when that didn't work, we let him rest in Crono's bed. Well Crono was about ready to leave for the little date you two had set up, when…. Something happened…"
At this point she couldn't continue and wiped her eye on a towel she kept close to her.
"Ah…I heard loud noises…And then…fire…and an explosion…and the roof was gone… and…sounds of a battle….then…my little boy…he was gone…as well as that stranger…I…" At this point she bit her lip and managed to regain her structure. "I don't know what happened. I called for an investigation from the royal palace and they came over and said that it was some sort of rogue arsonist. They sent out a troop of soldiers to find the fiend that did this to our house. But I believe that Crono put up a good find with this rascal, and must have escaped somewhere wounded. I begged for them to send out another search team, one for Crono. They reluctantly agreed.
Marle was barely able to talk. "Any luck…?"
The mother's head shook solemnly. It was all too much for Marle, who collapsed into the warm embrace of the caring person she was sitting next to. The concerned mother silently observed the need for emotional reassurance and her hand brushed through Marle's flowing blonde river of hair.
"I loved him," was all Marle could say.
"So did I," his mother agreed.
The embrace lasted for an unclear amount of time, but to Marle, it was one that seemed to last beyond the flow of time. Finally, Marle cut of the hug.
"I…I want to see his room. I…I want to find something to remember him by…err…is that…alright with you?" Marle said, as a lone tear slid down her cheek.
Crono's mother nodded. "Take anything you like."
Marle walked up the stairs slowly. She wasn't certain why she hesitated to go up to the remainder of the room, but in the back of her mind, she knew that the sight of the wreckage would only be a confirmation in her mind to an event she desperately didn't want to believe was true. She had to balance herself by resting an arm against the wall the entire trip.
She finally reached her destination. She saw a dresser turned upon its side with its contents sprawled out on the charred floor. The bed had several chunks of wood that had undoubtedly once been part of Crono's ceiling. The sole wall standing was rather loose and it looked as if it would topple over any minute. She slowly dazed over to the contents of the dresser. She saw all sorts of common items, various magazines and books; burnt clothes…But she couldn't find anything that had real emotional meaning to it. She sighed.
Then, she felt her hand lean upon something like paper, but not quite big enough to be a full sheet. She turned around and crouched down on the floor to get a good glimpse. There were five scraps of paper. Looking closer she saw…Herself and her friends! Yes, she could make out Frog, Lucca, Robo, Ayla, and even Crono. She quickly rearranged the pieces so that the picture would once again be reassembled. It wasn't perfect, in fact, there were large gaps here and there, and only half of Crono lay intact, but the most important part of him was still intact. His grin. It said so much about the personality of Crono, something that you wouldn't even always get from talking to him.
She picked up the pieces and stared at them. She had so many memories… She could remember when the two of them had so much fun at the Millennium fair, and when she was being erased from the time continuum, Crono and pals had managed to set the timeline strait. And the time they got to see the magnificent view of the magical kingdom Zeal. So many memories…Within one natural week and two weeks scattered throughout time Crono had quickly became a part of her life that she could never forget.
But just as the time and fate are cruel beings that can make no exceptions, nor is the natural world that surrounds every human. A gust of wind picked up and the last traces of Crono began to drift away from Marle. She tried to chase after them, but they flew away, over the side of the building. She was forced to stop for feel of falling over. She collapsed onto her knees. There was no getting around it this time.
Crono was really gone.
She fell down onto her knees sobbing. Amongst the chaos of the heart, it felt somewhat good to sweep the sorrow from the depths of her heart. She attempted to wipe a tear from her eye. Something shone through the tear for a second. For an instance, Marle dismissed it as a ray of sun but then realized it might be something else. She got onto the floor and moved about the rubble, revealing a pocket watch. It was Crono's family heirloom! Crono always talked about how someday he was going to walk down to Lucca's and the two of them were going to find away to wind it. She laughed. Crono might have a way with steel but he definitely wasn't a machinist. She reached to pick it up by the top, right where the chain started and the weird little nub was…
But as her hand touched it, a shock of electricity made her leap backwards. The simple device was glowing an odd color as electricity shot form it in every direction. The next thing Marle saw was the least thing she had expected! It was a time gate, a marvelous road through time! She tried to run through it but it closed it's jaws near instantly.
Marle was stunned. The next words that passed her lips were perhaps the most wonderful thing she had heard in a long time." Oh…my…God…Crono just might be alive…"
Marle stood up, her heart pumping. Thoughts and theories on what had really happened played through her mind as she carefully grasped the pocket watch by the tail end of the chain, careful not to open another time gate. Yes, she thought, it was all clear. The pocket watch must have been some sort of ancient time machine and malfunctioned, sent out waves of fire and then opened a time gate that Sucked Crono and the strange visitor through!
She'd find out if Lucca had visited the house already, and either way, would run over to tell her the good news. Then they could fire up the Epoch, that beautiful time machine, and fly through the ages looking for Crono. She could take the pocket watch and Lucca could analyze what year the gates were sending them to, and Crono would be back in a hurry! She wanted so badly to dash down the stairs, but she knew that Crono's mother was still in a state of mourning. Crono and friends had decided that Crono's mother shouldn't learn about his little time escapades just yet. She would either proclaim he's crazy or tell him he's not allowed to travel through time.
She tried her best to conceal her newfound excitement and softly walked down the flight of stairs, and finally made it back to Crono's mother. She didn't say anything at first but turned her head to the window and also gazed out of it. Marle felt horrible that she couldn't just tell the poor woman the truth, because she knew thoughts about the possible death of her son danced about in her head. When Marle gazed out the window, she wondered where in the fast grains of time Crono might be.
"Has Lucca been informed of this…news…yet?" Marle asked cautiously.
Crono's mother shook her head.
"I think that'll go talk to her then…I think that it would be best if I went to see her…Best for both of us…If you don't mind…"
The tired woman breathed "If you believe it is best, then go ahead…I'll be here if you need."
Marle nodded. She put her hands behind her back and left the house solemnly. After she felt she was a good distance away, she broke into a run. Lucca's family on an island that was connected the Gaurdia mainland by a bridge her great grandfather built years ago. It was somewhat out of the way so Lucca and her folks didn't get many visitors, but that didn't bother them much. They were always working on some sort of strange experiment or another. Except Lucca's Mother, Lora. She could never quite get into machinery.
The trip took a bit longer than the excited princess would've liked, but even this time flew quickly as the sun continued to shower onto the young girl's back. She had to pause at the bridge to catch her breath. A quick giggle escaped the chambers of her throat as she remembered the time that Crono, Lucca and herself had tried to fish at the bridge. Although they managed to catch a speckled Rinn, a small yet tasty fish, Crono ended up in the water himself after attempting to reel in a "big one". Turned out to be the scrap metal from Lucca's prototype of Gato, the singing robot.
Marle rapped on the door impatiently. After waiting a few minutes of waiting and not hearing a response, she considered just barging in since they never locked their doors. The door opened slowly to reveal Lora, who motioned for Marle to come in. What could be described as the living room was full of scattered pieces of inventions and metal, books left open, and the occasional miss placed tool.
"Come on into the kitchen, dear Marle-Poor Taban was up all night working on a little something that he said would revolutionize the way I garden and he just sort of felt asleep on the floor. He can be so sweet at times."
Marle observed Taban as she made her way to the kitchen. It was quite true. Taban was sprawled out upon his side, still clenching onto an oily wrench. His chest heaved up and down and a puddle of drool was beginning to form around him. With each breath he gasped in air and then a rather odd sound escaped his nose.
After reaching the kitchen, Lora turned to Marle. "So what brings you here today? Do you and have Lucca have something planned? My little girl was rather busy last night. I'm afraid I didn't get a bit of sleep with all that noise she made. I didn't have the heart to stop her, though. Lucca's so passionate about what she does."
"Yeah, actually. Today Lucca and I were going to go hunting for some sort of rare rock. Helps with energy stuff in her machines, you know?"
Lora laughed. "Actually, I'm quite clueless about it."
Marle put on a smile. "Same here. Sounded like fun though."
"Well, you'd best wake up Lucca. I don't think she'd be rather fond of the idea of sleeping the day through."
Marle nodded and rushed up the stairs. When she entered Lucca's room, she stopped in her tracks. The room was full of sheets of metal and screws and other materials she couldn't even identify. The amount of junk on the ground went up to just a little over her knees, except some of the larger sheets that rested wearily on the wall. Speaking of the wall, there was some sort of cylinder in the farthest corner of the room. She observed the room and tried her best to imagine a pathway to Lucca's bed. After a minute she just decided to wade through the mini scrap yard.
With a bit of luck she managed to get to the side of Lucca's bed with only a few scratches. Lucca was halfway on the bed with an arm dwindling off the side and she was dressed in rather simple green pajamas.
"Lucca!" Marle shouted.
Lucca bolted upright, breathing heavily. Her eyes were half-open and she was quite dazed. She swiveled about and caught the sight of Marle.
"Oh, Marle, it's you. Don't ever do that again. I hate to sound rude, but I was working all night and I'm devastatingly fatigued," Lucca spat out dryly.
Marle took this opportunity to hop onto the bed and sat next to Lucca. She was now speaking directly to Lucca's face. "Well, it's pretty important."
Lucca sighed. "Whelp, I'm wide awake now. Hand me my glasses, would you?"
Marle reached over to a dressed near the bed and picked up the glasses, which she promptly gave to her eccentric friend. She then quickly gathered her thoughts.
"Well, I had a date today with Crono, but he was extremely late. That's not normal, even when I'm talking about him! I decided I'd go and see what was keeping him when I learned that there was an arsonist loose in the village and I wasn't allowed to leave."
Lucca laughed. "I see you got around that obstacle rather easily."
Marle nodded. "Yeah, I used that little passageway again. Definitely one of the handiest things I've ever come across. But anyway, when I got outside and walked a ways I noticed that Crono's house was…shattered. The roof was off and there was only one wall still standing. So I got scared and ran inside. There I found Crono's mom, sitting solemnly in a chair gazing out the window. I found out that earlier in the day some stranger collapsed at their door and they took him and let him rest in Crono's bed.
Crono's mom then said that later on in the day she heard sounds of a battle going on upstairs, and that's when the fire was tearing up the stairs. She then informed me that Crono and the stranger were missing. She feared that Crono got his head handed to him by the arsonist. Well, apparently the castle has search teams out scouting for our fiery friend and one for Crono and the stranger."
Lucca blinked. It was hard to take in at once.
"But I went upstairs and I found Crono's pocket watch. I tried to pick it up, and all sorts of electricity started streaming out and then it spat out a time gate-"
"A time gate!?" Lucca cried.
"Yes, a time gate. So I think that in the battle the watch was hit and it opened up a gate and everybody was sucked into it. So I took it with me, and I was hoping that you could, like, analyze the watch and find out what time period it's connected to, so that we could we use the Epoch and fly through time and save Crono."
Marle was expecting Lucca to jump up and lead her to the Epoch, but the reaction was less than positive. Lucca sighed and covered her head with her hands. Fear began to rise in the heart of the tomboy princess.
"Lucca, what's wrong?"
Lucca gave no response.
"Lucca, what's going on? Is something wrong?'
Lucca uncovered her faith and threw her head back.
"Of all of the days of the year, I chose last night to dismantle the Epoch."
Marle's heart froze. Her lips twisted so that she might shout some sort of protest, but suddenly it was hard for her to breath and no words were able to come out. Lucca nodded sadly, now with eyes half open.
"Dismantled isn't even a tasteful way to put it. See these scraps of metal deposited on the floor? Fragments of the time Machine. I…I thought I was doing something noble, Marle. I thought…I just…I thought I was helping the world out by having one less chance of temporal chaos lying about. I didn't know something like would manifest itself with such short notice."
There was silence. Then Marle asked softly, "You can rebuild it, right?'
Lucca bit her lip. "See that large cylindrical object over that? It's a machine my father invented a few years ago. It's an incinerator. After I'd taken apart the Epoch, I began to feed the scraps into there, melting them down to nothing but ash. I started with the device I was convinced was what made the time travel possible. There's no using the Epoch now, Marle. Crono just might be gone forever."
Marle shook her head. "No…This can't be happening…I feel like I've lost Crono twice today…What about the pocket watch, Lucca? Could we use that."
Lucca shrugged. "Maybe. 'Course, then we'd be equally as lost."
Year: 1000 AD
Marle sighed. She kicked her feet rhythmically at the side of her queen-sized bed, slowly. It was 3:00 PM. It was true that mornings and Crono got along about as well as a cat and a wounded bird, but that's the entire reason why they'd scheduled the date in the afternoon. She stood up and began to pace. Obviously, something was very, very wrong. Maybe something horrible had happened to Crono on the way to the castle; perhaps a group of rogue imps got him or something of the like. But then again he could still be sleeping.
Finally, she decided that she'd have to go and investigate herself. She quickly rose and changed into something a little bit more suited for traveling and marched through the halls of Castle Gaurdia. They were made of the most beautiful type of marble and their glimmer had not dulled over the ages. She made her way down the grand staircase and found her way to the main hallway. There, she saw quite a commotion. Her father wasn't at the throne and the chancellor was yelling at the knight captain while the other soldiers ran about frantically. She shrugged and went to the front gate, which was inconveniently blocked by two soldiers.
The two didn't seem to be disturbed at all by the commotion. Quite contrary, they were laughing and they seemed to be having a grand time. The first soldier was rather portly and Marle wondered where such armor was forged while the second was short and was skinnier than she was. They snapped out of their laughter and realized that the Princess was standing in front of them.
The portly soldier greeted her jovially. "What brings you here this fine day, princess?"
"Well Crono was supposed to meet me an hour and a half ago, and I'm getting worried. I figured that I might just have to go and see if anything has happened to him. So, if you'd please excuse me, I'll just be on my way and-"
The short soldier waved his arms and blocked Marle's path. "So sorry, dear princess, but I'm afraid we have orders not to let anybody leave this dreary fort today."
Marle's face reddened with anger and she managed to keep herself together, finally asking, "Why not?"
The first soldier tilted his head and put a hand to his chin. "Hmm…Let me think. I was briefed on this situation awhile ago. Err, it seems that there's a…"
The second soldier exclaimed. "Arsonist!"
The first soldier snapped his fingers. "Yes, yes that's it exactly! There's an arsonist loose in the village of Gaurdia, and he's set fire to a house. He's got the whole Kingdome upset, it seems. Apparently he's got some widow wailing' like there's no tomorrow."
The squat man put on a rather obviously feigned face and said, as empathetically as he could, "Yes, it's a true disaster."
Marle's anger turned to a sense of true concern. "A wailing widow" would definitely describe Crono's mother. Had something happened to Crono? No, she dismissed the thought. Crono eats dinosaur meet for breakfast; a simple fire couldn't do him in.
"Well, if it'll put your minds at ease, Crono is a very skilled swordsman and I'm certain I'd be completely safe with him; probably safer than I am here."
The round soldier shook his head sadly. "I'm certain that your honey is a strong lad, but I'd hate to see him go up against a fire. Dreadful, dreadful occurrences they are."
The second soldier nodded. "Oh yes, why, I don't know anything more powerful in the world than a well fueled fire! Except maybe the ocean or a fierce river."
Marle's temper was raising, but she felt that if she could keep herself collected she might be able to talk her way out of this situation.
The first soldier chuckled. "A river? Don't make me a laugh! A well- placed boulder could dam it up in a few minutes, tops. Now let me tell you about something truly powerful. The wind! Yes, I'm afraid my mind can't come up with a single thing more frightening than that. Just think, one good whoosh and down the castle'd go."
The second soldier laughed. "Foolish, foolish! A good rock would just block that wind. It could blow and blow all it wanted, but it wouldn't even be able to budge one, I tell you what."
The first man's brow straightened. "Listen here, I know for a fact that a good storm would nudge a rock about just as easily as"
Marle lost it right about there, and became enraged. "Silence! Listen to yourselves, babbling about things that even children wouldn't give a hair about while the countryside's in chaos! Eeeerrrrgh! Why on earth would my dad be stupid enough to hire you bums?"
The first soldier thought a minute. "Well, I think he should be rather happy to have us. I mean, we're volunteers after all. Take what you can get, I say."
The second soldier agreed. "Yes, Gaurdia's been at peace for ages. We're all volunteers now a days. Except the knight captain."
"'Course, he could've just volunteered to be captain."
Marle's arms flew up into the air, disgusted and maddened. She stomped off rather angrily and went down a hallway where she found two staircases. One that lead up to the king's room, and the other which lead to rather dull basement. Of course, inside of this sleepy basement was a secret passage that concealed a complex maze of caverns, one of which eventually lead to an area outside the fairgrounds. It was originally an escape route incase Magus' minions ever overthrew the castle, but had long since been forgotten. However, Marle had discovered it one quiet day when she desperately needed out and had since proven to be quite useful. The caverns were an abyss of pure darkness, but Marle had traveled through those pathways many times in the past. She was able to feel her way through the long corridors. At first, it had been rather frightening but now was rather old hat.
It's not like she ran about trying to be a handful for everybody, she thought to herself in the midst of concentration. Certainly, some of her actions were rather immature and illogical, and in some cases dangerous, but were almost always caused by some need not being meet or actions of others. She always felt as if her life was being anchored down by a heavy chain of regulations and pollicies and she so often wished that she could break free and fly away, to a land where she could be somebody that she really was, and not a figurehead.
Of course, her last little adventure no doubt scared the king and his court out of their wits, or at least the ones who believed it at least. Traveling back and forth through time, traversing against deadly terrain and engaging in life-threatening battles. Heck, she had fought in the war against Magus, and then made peace with him! The droll man that was Magus could just have easily turned her and her friends into some vile creature, just as he cursed the poor knight Frog.
It took a little while, but she managed to navigate herself to the exit. Finally, a few beams of light peaked out and she was outside beneath the shadow of a tall, guardian like mountain. It was a bit of a walk to Crono's house, but the journey across the grassy plains would pass by very quickly, with such lovely views to take in. Finally, she stood in front of Crono's humble house. But something invaded her eyes and every time she tried to take it in the horrible realization of what she couldn't shake off her fears and the tears that began to pour instantly. It was Crono's house….But it was missing the roof and the vast majority of Crono's floor, including three of the walls. Unless, against all odds, Crono had somehow survived this.
Yes, she reassured herself, there was no way that the simple flames could have devoured the faithful friend she had only known for a short time. Crono and her friends had faced the impossible before and came out barely scratched. Crono had even died once, but by manipulation of the flow of time he had prevailed. A fire…so simple. It was not a fitting death for such a wonderful person.
She slammed the door open with excitement to, hoping to see Crono's smiling face, but only to find Crono's dear mother, sitting on a chair quietly looking outside at the horizon. She stopped. This was often a sign of distress for the dear woman, but surely she would've reacted stronger if her own offspring had burnt in a cruel inferno. Yes, Marle told herself, it was obvious that Crono had somehow prevailed. She walked towards the woman and pulled up a chair and sat next to her.
Crono's Mother murmured. "I can't believe that something so horrible, could've happened to my little boy…"
Marle's eyes bulged. "What happened?"
Crono's mother shook her head and then lowered it. "It was a very odd day, from start to finish. We heard a strange thump at the door, and it turned out this strange foreign man had slumped against it unconscious. So we attempted to waken him and when that didn't work, we let him rest in Crono's bed. Well Crono was about ready to leave for the little date you two had set up, when…. Something happened…"
At this point she couldn't continue and wiped her eye on a towel she kept close to her.
"Ah…I heard loud noises…And then…fire…and an explosion…and the roof was gone… and…sounds of a battle….then…my little boy…he was gone…as well as that stranger…I…" At this point she bit her lip and managed to regain her structure. "I don't know what happened. I called for an investigation from the royal palace and they came over and said that it was some sort of rogue arsonist. They sent out a troop of soldiers to find the fiend that did this to our house. But I believe that Crono put up a good find with this rascal, and must have escaped somewhere wounded. I begged for them to send out another search team, one for Crono. They reluctantly agreed.
Marle was barely able to talk. "Any luck…?"
The mother's head shook solemnly. It was all too much for Marle, who collapsed into the warm embrace of the caring person she was sitting next to. The concerned mother silently observed the need for emotional reassurance and her hand brushed through Marle's flowing blonde river of hair.
"I loved him," was all Marle could say.
"So did I," his mother agreed.
The embrace lasted for an unclear amount of time, but to Marle, it was one that seemed to last beyond the flow of time. Finally, Marle cut of the hug.
"I…I want to see his room. I…I want to find something to remember him by…err…is that…alright with you?" Marle said, as a lone tear slid down her cheek.
Crono's mother nodded. "Take anything you like."
Marle walked up the stairs slowly. She wasn't certain why she hesitated to go up to the remainder of the room, but in the back of her mind, she knew that the sight of the wreckage would only be a confirmation in her mind to an event she desperately didn't want to believe was true. She had to balance herself by resting an arm against the wall the entire trip.
She finally reached her destination. She saw a dresser turned upon its side with its contents sprawled out on the charred floor. The bed had several chunks of wood that had undoubtedly once been part of Crono's ceiling. The sole wall standing was rather loose and it looked as if it would topple over any minute. She slowly dazed over to the contents of the dresser. She saw all sorts of common items, various magazines and books; burnt clothes…But she couldn't find anything that had real emotional meaning to it. She sighed.
Then, she felt her hand lean upon something like paper, but not quite big enough to be a full sheet. She turned around and crouched down on the floor to get a good glimpse. There were five scraps of paper. Looking closer she saw…Herself and her friends! Yes, she could make out Frog, Lucca, Robo, Ayla, and even Crono. She quickly rearranged the pieces so that the picture would once again be reassembled. It wasn't perfect, in fact, there were large gaps here and there, and only half of Crono lay intact, but the most important part of him was still intact. His grin. It said so much about the personality of Crono, something that you wouldn't even always get from talking to him.
She picked up the pieces and stared at them. She had so many memories… She could remember when the two of them had so much fun at the Millennium fair, and when she was being erased from the time continuum, Crono and pals had managed to set the timeline strait. And the time they got to see the magnificent view of the magical kingdom Zeal. So many memories…Within one natural week and two weeks scattered throughout time Crono had quickly became a part of her life that she could never forget.
But just as the time and fate are cruel beings that can make no exceptions, nor is the natural world that surrounds every human. A gust of wind picked up and the last traces of Crono began to drift away from Marle. She tried to chase after them, but they flew away, over the side of the building. She was forced to stop for feel of falling over. She collapsed onto her knees. There was no getting around it this time.
Crono was really gone.
She fell down onto her knees sobbing. Amongst the chaos of the heart, it felt somewhat good to sweep the sorrow from the depths of her heart. She attempted to wipe a tear from her eye. Something shone through the tear for a second. For an instance, Marle dismissed it as a ray of sun but then realized it might be something else. She got onto the floor and moved about the rubble, revealing a pocket watch. It was Crono's family heirloom! Crono always talked about how someday he was going to walk down to Lucca's and the two of them were going to find away to wind it. She laughed. Crono might have a way with steel but he definitely wasn't a machinist. She reached to pick it up by the top, right where the chain started and the weird little nub was…
But as her hand touched it, a shock of electricity made her leap backwards. The simple device was glowing an odd color as electricity shot form it in every direction. The next thing Marle saw was the least thing she had expected! It was a time gate, a marvelous road through time! She tried to run through it but it closed it's jaws near instantly.
Marle was stunned. The next words that passed her lips were perhaps the most wonderful thing she had heard in a long time." Oh…my…God…Crono just might be alive…"
Marle stood up, her heart pumping. Thoughts and theories on what had really happened played through her mind as she carefully grasped the pocket watch by the tail end of the chain, careful not to open another time gate. Yes, she thought, it was all clear. The pocket watch must have been some sort of ancient time machine and malfunctioned, sent out waves of fire and then opened a time gate that Sucked Crono and the strange visitor through!
She'd find out if Lucca had visited the house already, and either way, would run over to tell her the good news. Then they could fire up the Epoch, that beautiful time machine, and fly through the ages looking for Crono. She could take the pocket watch and Lucca could analyze what year the gates were sending them to, and Crono would be back in a hurry! She wanted so badly to dash down the stairs, but she knew that Crono's mother was still in a state of mourning. Crono and friends had decided that Crono's mother shouldn't learn about his little time escapades just yet. She would either proclaim he's crazy or tell him he's not allowed to travel through time.
She tried her best to conceal her newfound excitement and softly walked down the flight of stairs, and finally made it back to Crono's mother. She didn't say anything at first but turned her head to the window and also gazed out of it. Marle felt horrible that she couldn't just tell the poor woman the truth, because she knew thoughts about the possible death of her son danced about in her head. When Marle gazed out the window, she wondered where in the fast grains of time Crono might be.
"Has Lucca been informed of this…news…yet?" Marle asked cautiously.
Crono's mother shook her head.
"I think that'll go talk to her then…I think that it would be best if I went to see her…Best for both of us…If you don't mind…"
The tired woman breathed "If you believe it is best, then go ahead…I'll be here if you need."
Marle nodded. She put her hands behind her back and left the house solemnly. After she felt she was a good distance away, she broke into a run. Lucca's family on an island that was connected the Gaurdia mainland by a bridge her great grandfather built years ago. It was somewhat out of the way so Lucca and her folks didn't get many visitors, but that didn't bother them much. They were always working on some sort of strange experiment or another. Except Lucca's Mother, Lora. She could never quite get into machinery.
The trip took a bit longer than the excited princess would've liked, but even this time flew quickly as the sun continued to shower onto the young girl's back. She had to pause at the bridge to catch her breath. A quick giggle escaped the chambers of her throat as she remembered the time that Crono, Lucca and herself had tried to fish at the bridge. Although they managed to catch a speckled Rinn, a small yet tasty fish, Crono ended up in the water himself after attempting to reel in a "big one". Turned out to be the scrap metal from Lucca's prototype of Gato, the singing robot.
Marle rapped on the door impatiently. After waiting a few minutes of waiting and not hearing a response, she considered just barging in since they never locked their doors. The door opened slowly to reveal Lora, who motioned for Marle to come in. What could be described as the living room was full of scattered pieces of inventions and metal, books left open, and the occasional miss placed tool.
"Come on into the kitchen, dear Marle-Poor Taban was up all night working on a little something that he said would revolutionize the way I garden and he just sort of felt asleep on the floor. He can be so sweet at times."
Marle observed Taban as she made her way to the kitchen. It was quite true. Taban was sprawled out upon his side, still clenching onto an oily wrench. His chest heaved up and down and a puddle of drool was beginning to form around him. With each breath he gasped in air and then a rather odd sound escaped his nose.
After reaching the kitchen, Lora turned to Marle. "So what brings you here today? Do you and have Lucca have something planned? My little girl was rather busy last night. I'm afraid I didn't get a bit of sleep with all that noise she made. I didn't have the heart to stop her, though. Lucca's so passionate about what she does."
"Yeah, actually. Today Lucca and I were going to go hunting for some sort of rare rock. Helps with energy stuff in her machines, you know?"
Lora laughed. "Actually, I'm quite clueless about it."
Marle put on a smile. "Same here. Sounded like fun though."
"Well, you'd best wake up Lucca. I don't think she'd be rather fond of the idea of sleeping the day through."
Marle nodded and rushed up the stairs. When she entered Lucca's room, she stopped in her tracks. The room was full of sheets of metal and screws and other materials she couldn't even identify. The amount of junk on the ground went up to just a little over her knees, except some of the larger sheets that rested wearily on the wall. Speaking of the wall, there was some sort of cylinder in the farthest corner of the room. She observed the room and tried her best to imagine a pathway to Lucca's bed. After a minute she just decided to wade through the mini scrap yard.
With a bit of luck she managed to get to the side of Lucca's bed with only a few scratches. Lucca was halfway on the bed with an arm dwindling off the side and she was dressed in rather simple green pajamas.
"Lucca!" Marle shouted.
Lucca bolted upright, breathing heavily. Her eyes were half-open and she was quite dazed. She swiveled about and caught the sight of Marle.
"Oh, Marle, it's you. Don't ever do that again. I hate to sound rude, but I was working all night and I'm devastatingly fatigued," Lucca spat out dryly.
Marle took this opportunity to hop onto the bed and sat next to Lucca. She was now speaking directly to Lucca's face. "Well, it's pretty important."
Lucca sighed. "Whelp, I'm wide awake now. Hand me my glasses, would you?"
Marle reached over to a dressed near the bed and picked up the glasses, which she promptly gave to her eccentric friend. She then quickly gathered her thoughts.
"Well, I had a date today with Crono, but he was extremely late. That's not normal, even when I'm talking about him! I decided I'd go and see what was keeping him when I learned that there was an arsonist loose in the village and I wasn't allowed to leave."
Lucca laughed. "I see you got around that obstacle rather easily."
Marle nodded. "Yeah, I used that little passageway again. Definitely one of the handiest things I've ever come across. But anyway, when I got outside and walked a ways I noticed that Crono's house was…shattered. The roof was off and there was only one wall still standing. So I got scared and ran inside. There I found Crono's mom, sitting solemnly in a chair gazing out the window. I found out that earlier in the day some stranger collapsed at their door and they took him and let him rest in Crono's bed.
Crono's mom then said that later on in the day she heard sounds of a battle going on upstairs, and that's when the fire was tearing up the stairs. She then informed me that Crono and the stranger were missing. She feared that Crono got his head handed to him by the arsonist. Well, apparently the castle has search teams out scouting for our fiery friend and one for Crono and the stranger."
Lucca blinked. It was hard to take in at once.
"But I went upstairs and I found Crono's pocket watch. I tried to pick it up, and all sorts of electricity started streaming out and then it spat out a time gate-"
"A time gate!?" Lucca cried.
"Yes, a time gate. So I think that in the battle the watch was hit and it opened up a gate and everybody was sucked into it. So I took it with me, and I was hoping that you could, like, analyze the watch and find out what time period it's connected to, so that we could we use the Epoch and fly through time and save Crono."
Marle was expecting Lucca to jump up and lead her to the Epoch, but the reaction was less than positive. Lucca sighed and covered her head with her hands. Fear began to rise in the heart of the tomboy princess.
"Lucca, what's wrong?"
Lucca gave no response.
"Lucca, what's going on? Is something wrong?'
Lucca uncovered her faith and threw her head back.
"Of all of the days of the year, I chose last night to dismantle the Epoch."
Marle's heart froze. Her lips twisted so that she might shout some sort of protest, but suddenly it was hard for her to breath and no words were able to come out. Lucca nodded sadly, now with eyes half open.
"Dismantled isn't even a tasteful way to put it. See these scraps of metal deposited on the floor? Fragments of the time Machine. I…I thought I was doing something noble, Marle. I thought…I just…I thought I was helping the world out by having one less chance of temporal chaos lying about. I didn't know something like would manifest itself with such short notice."
There was silence. Then Marle asked softly, "You can rebuild it, right?'
Lucca bit her lip. "See that large cylindrical object over that? It's a machine my father invented a few years ago. It's an incinerator. After I'd taken apart the Epoch, I began to feed the scraps into there, melting them down to nothing but ash. I started with the device I was convinced was what made the time travel possible. There's no using the Epoch now, Marle. Crono just might be gone forever."
Marle shook her head. "No…This can't be happening…I feel like I've lost Crono twice today…What about the pocket watch, Lucca? Could we use that."
Lucca shrugged. "Maybe. 'Course, then we'd be equally as lost."