Chrono Trigger

Beyond the Ruins, in which the team discovers an interesting machine, and makes an effort to discuss unpleasant secrets…

So strong was their feeling of shock that even the person who had uttered the question aloud did not notice. Instead, they looked about themselves, finding more and more things within the landscape that made everything seem even more brooding. They did not expect to see anything living in this wasteland, yet they hoped to see any form of life. There was not a single flap of wings, a single scurry of an animal, nor the faint conversation of humans.

Were they all alone?

Crono felt his foot leave the hard metal floor as he walked out onto the broken pavement that used to connect to miles of road. It was unlike any thing he had ever seen: a road that had seemed as smooth as eroded stone, yet it gripped the soles of his boots as if it were coarse. He began that long walk down the road, looking about the streets that flanked both of his sides. His companions timidly followed behind, still apprehensive of what had caused such destruction. After they had walked several yards their minds were put at ease. Whatever had caused such devastation was obviously vacant.

"What the hell happened here?" Marle said breathlessly.

"It seems as if something exploded around here. Take a look at all the buildings! There are impact points everywhere!" Lucca said with a tone of solemn despair.

"Impact points?" Crono asked, scratching his head.

Lucca pointed towards the face of a crumbled building. The group observed that its walls had been blackened with flame and smoke. However, it almost seemed to be in a circular pattern, streaks of soot all shooting from the center of the blemish. "Yeah, like when I threw those grenades. It burns everything in the explosion and it leaves a mark that looks very much like that. If you look around, you can see that they are scattered all over the place! It was almost like explosives were thrown everywhere which means two things: there was a great accident, or this happened to be the scene of a great struggle."

"Like a war?" Crono asked, seeming to regret asking such a thing as soon as it left his mouth.

Lucca's face was grim as she nodded.

"Damn! We are in a world that's engaged in a war! We need to get out, now!" Crono said, pulling on his hair.

"We can't," Marle said, "the gate disappeared as soon as we went through."

"We shouldn't worry anyway…these marks are old." Lucca added.

"How do you know?" Crono asked, rather irritably.

She pointed ahead mutely, turning their attention towards a crumbled building in the distance. It was absolutely covered in a large dune of black sand. Crono looked about the area and saw that there were no corpses, the most certain sign of war. The building itself, which used to be covered in ebony glass, was now bare, showing the cement which had been clearly eroded by time itself. Also, the glass that lay scattered about had become cloudy and covered in water sediments. Crono conceded with a nod, leaving Lucca to say, "We don't need to worry about attacks, but we should worry about shelter and where to go…"

"There has to be somebody somewhere!" Crono said.

It was then that the group saw it. Miles ahead of them was a monolithic structure that seemed as large as a mountain itself. They wondered why they had not seen it earlier, since it only lurked behind the fallen buildings. The best way to describe it was that it had the shape of a dome. If they were closer they would see a world of pipes and metal plates that held the edifice together, but from a distance it all was a solid color of gray. A twisted spire rose from its center, occasionally attracting a blinding bolt of lightning, which illuminated the heavens, causing the solid gray shape to turn into a dark shadow.

"What is that? Do you guys see that too?" Marle asked, tugging on Crono's tunic while pointing at the distant landmark.

"Yeah, I wonder what it could be?"

"Wow! Look at this thing!"

Their attention was diverted to see that Lucca was running towards some object in the distance. They yelled for her to stop, but seeing that their efforts were futile, they had no choice but to follow. They began to sprint, keeping an eye on her yet looking ahead to see what could possibly be the object of her pursuit. Everything seemed to be merely scrap metal that had been rusted until it had turned orange and brown. Finally, they had caught up to her to see that she was gazing at a large piece of machinery that would have never caught the eye of her counterparts.

"What are we looking at, Lucca?" Crono asked, slightly irritated that she decided to flee so suddenly.

"You don't know what it is?" She said breathlessly, climbing a ladder that went along side it.

"Would I ask if I knew?" He said rather curtly.

Lucca frowned and stuck her tongue at him while she silkily said, "Well, just for that I won't tell you until I get it to work!"

Crono scoffed as he let his back lean against the strange device. He pounded the back of his fist into the hull behind him, which echoed, causing a distraught Lucca to warn him that if he hit this device again it would be his last move. He looked at Marle with raised eyebrows, which she returned while she stood in her spot, her hands behind her back. There was silence for a few moments, except for the sounds of Lucca rummaging through the interior of the device, occasionally exclaiming her praise to such a worthless piece of junk. Finally, Marle looked at Crono and saw that he was becoming gradually tense, and decided to be the deciding voice in the matter.

"Uh, Lucca? I think that we better get moving. There may not be fighting here, but what if there are some weird creatures in this world?"

"Just a moment; and Crono, if you are still leaning against this thing, you better move in three seconds!"

Crono's countenance immediately turned into bewildered incredulity as he looked towards Marle once more. It almost seemed as if he hoped she could answer what Lucca meant by her statement. To their surprise, there was a loud roaring sound that echoed throughout the quiet badlands. Crono leapt away from the mechanism, gripping the hilt of his sword as if he meant to strike the metal. Marle unsheathed her crossbow, but smiled in astonishment as the true purpose of the machine came to her realization.

They had failed to notice certain things, since they had been covered in a mixture of sand and scrap material. A roar echoed throughout the wasteland which had caused a storm of sand to become unearthed, revealing a set of battered gears that where surrounded by turrets that gripped the solid ground, spinning furiously. The hull shuddered as the metallic leviathan came to life, springing from underneath its sandy prison. The machine's roar had turned into a dull hum as Lucca poked her body from a manhole that sat at the top of the vehicle.

"Are you coming or what?" She said with a smile that denoted all too clearly that she was pleased with herself.

"By the sun, moon, and the stars, what is that thing?" Crono said with great skepticism.

While Crono was still hesitant, Marle was climbing all over the rusted surface with that child-like enthusiasm that was witnessed earlier. She whooped as she slid across a large pipe that jutted from the body of the beast, allowing it to hold her in the air above the ground. Lucca simply replied, "It's an assault vehicle! Take a look at the pipe that Marle is on. That must have been the launcher for incendiaries."

"Incendiaries?" was Crono's confused reply as he began to scale the turrets.

"You know…bombs?" She said with a sly smile.

"I know what 'incendiaries' mean! What I want to know is why do we want to ride on something so dangerous? Why is it still running?"

"Don't worry too much! What is wrong with you lately? You seem to be in an irritated cowardly mode as of late."

Crono seemed silent as if he took that into account. He simply muttered sorry as he climbed into the manhole. He was surprised to see that while the vehicle seemed very dead on the outside, on the inside it all sprang to life. Lights and radars buzzed and clicked in the small space that surrounded them. There were several chairs stationed in the area and despite the fact that they were dusty, they were still very comfortable. Crono allowed himself to sink into a chair that smelled very musty, yet he sunk into the mats and it seemed to ease his aching bones. He had not realized it, but it had been several days since he was allowed any stress-free leisure.

At that point, Marle came in and had a seat next to Crono while Lucca began experimenting with all the different buttons that were scattered over a console. Lucca could feel the pair suddenly become apprehensive as she pushed the many controls, "Don't worry! I already checked the cache. There are no more weapons on this vehicle. They were all used, and must be the reason why it is still running. The soldiers must have abandoned this thing! It seems as if it runs on UGEE, and there's no leak, so I think we can get to the dome with this baby!" She almost let out a maniacal chuckled as the vehicle lurched forward, throwing them all back in their seats.

Inside, they could only hear the manifestation of the vehicle's wake. If they were outside, they would be amazed at how fast something so big could travel. Solid walls of rubble would disintegrate before the vehicles momentous onslaught, the crumbled particles merely bouncing off the rusted, yet durable surface. For the first time since they had seen this strange new world, they were excited…

"You're a natural, Crono! I think you're actually better at this than Lucca."

"Thanks. You should give it a try sometime. It's pretty fun once you get used to it."

Marle watched with admiration while Crono sat at the controls. He had been driving for the last hour after Lucca had quickly grown tired from their former struggles. Crono was exhausted as well, but he did not wish for Lucca to strain herself, and something told him that Marle would not enjoy the responsibility of driving such a monstrous machine so he obligated himself to forego a well-deserved rest. Thankfully he had Marle to keep him awake with pleasant conversation, which she always seemed to deliver so well.

While Lucca stretched herself over the chair in the rear, Marle entertained Crono whilst sitting in the passenger seat. Up until this moment, they had been conversing on pleasant matters. They would tell each other embarrassing stories from their childhood, insipid things they had done, and the most horrifying events that had ever happened to them. While they conversed, there was something that was rooted into Marle's mind.

Women are nurturers by nature and they wish to ease any painful condition, especially when it was someone whom they cared for dearly. Marle was no different and she had quickly grown attached to Crono in the short amount of time they had met. Although their intentions are good, women can occasionally be as naive to think that they could cure an emotional malady that no one could cure, especially when that woman cared for someone and wished to be important in their hearts. Since that day in court, Marle had been concerned towards Crono and his father. Unbeknownst to Crono, she wanted to address the issue, yet she feared that it would be too painful for him, or even worse, he would not trust her with his secret. However, as they conversed, talking of things that could only be shared among close friends, she felt prompted to ask, despite what her senses told her…

Any person who is good with words certainly knows that such a sensitive topic cannot be immediately discussed. It would be incredibly untactful and cause the mere act of conversation to become incredibly awkward. So how else could she ask him? She would lead up to it, asking him certain things about how he escaped from the jail and why he had done so. She was stupefied and infuriated when she learned that the chancellor had commanded his death, and a chilling sensation went throughout her spine when he told her that there were true traitors in their midst that served the mystics.

"Do you think that the chancellor could be a mystic in disguise like in the past?" Marle asked, forlornly.

"It's possible. But when could he have possibly been kidnapped? We don't know for sure."

"When he talked during the trial he didn't seem like the kind chancellor I knew while growing up…" Marle said, a tinge of hope in her voice, thinking more along the lines of the less pleasant topic.

"Yes…The things he said and those accusations…" No sooner had he said this he had become tight-lipped and tense…

"Crono, are you okay?" Marle froze for an answer with baited breath.

There was an awkward moment of silence as Crono only stared ahead into the endless wasteland. His shoulders rose as he breathed deep and fell as he exhaled long and loudly as if it were a cleansing sigh. To Marle's disappointment, he shook his head and simply muttered, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Well, if there's something you want to talk about, I would be more than happy to…"

"I'm okay." Crono said, not meaning to sound so curt.

Unfortunately, Marle took it to heart and leaned back into her chair, feeling a strong sense of rejection at his words. In her boundless zeal to gain his trust, she had fallen short, and as it was said before, she realized that she could not touch that part of him just yet. She knew that such a thing would not be easily revealed to her, yet she felt indignant and ashamed all at the same time. Why couldn't he trust her with something that had happened ages ago? Wasn't he her friend? Instantly, her heart was beginning to flood with jealousy as she imagined that Lucca knew everything concerning his past. Crono probably told her himself and that made her cheeks flush as she folded her arms, and began to pout to herself silently, yet feeling guilty for being so ignorant.

"Why would he tell me? True, we've been through a lot, but we've only known each other for a few weeks…I trusted him. Why won't he trust me?"

She thought back to the time when she argued with her father. She remembered very clearly (for it had not happened long ago) that she approached him with a broken heart and she bore her soul to him. At that moment, she despised all men for their pig-headed nature. True, women may be as naïve to think that they can cure any malady, but men are naïve in their belief that they do not need to rely on anyone else besides themselves. What profit is there in his silence? What accomplishment or progression is there in boarding up such a painful part of his life?

"You're not okay…" Marle said, no longer wanting to be civil about it.

"Marle, I think I know what you are talking about. I know that it's not fair for me to know so much about you and your father, but please, for now, I don't want to talk about it."

"Does Lucca know about it?" Marle asked, her voice suggesting that the question was a trap.

"She does, but mostly because she was there when it happened."

"So why can't you tell me?" She asked, her brow furrowing.

"Because I don't want to think about it right now. Please, trust me when I say I will tell you sometime, but not now…" His voice was beginning to break.

At that moment Marle felt horrible. She had not succeeded in gaining his trust, she healed no emotional wound, and she only seemed to apply figurative salt to the scar. She only looked down to her knees that were pressed against her chest. As for Crono, he had felt rather depressed over the recent turns of events, and now, just as Marle feared, he felt pangs of guilt for not wanting to tell Marle what she wanted to know. He did know almost everything concerning Marle and her father, but his story was far darker than she realized.

There are some friends that are so close to you that it is impossible to keep any secrets from them. Lucca knew all about Crono and his horrible past concerning his murderous father, and he knew a past concerning Lucca and how she failed to help her mother. Although they knew about each other's past, it was seldom discussed and it never became easier to talk about it. Whenever it was discussed, the day would suddenly become morbid and they would simply brood over what had transgressed. The topic simply became something that would come about on a rainy day when they were trapped indoors, forced to engage in theological discussion if they could not discuss more pleasant matters. If Crono could not openly discuss such a thing with Lucca, how could he discuss such a thing with Marle? However, he knew that she cared for him deeply, and his feelings were the same, so therefore he felt guilty for his lack of trust.

So, for the time being, not another word was uttered between the two of them concerning anything private…

Author's Note: Everyone, once again, thank you for your reviews and I'm thankful that there are people reading. I wonder how many people have read my story, but I'm still too stingy to shell out the money for the special service. I know that this chapter seems incomplete, and it is. I meant to have them arrive at the dome and whatnot. The guru does make an appearance next chapter, just so you know (Kit Thespian). I didn't finish this chapter because I knew it would go on for a while. I haven't been able to write so diligently because I have a nasty cold, work, and college at the same time, so I've been in a few different directions. I write this because someone told me that they think I will abandon this story, but don't worry. That would be downright idiotic of me if I typed up all of this and left it unfinished. This might actually get revised once the cotton in my head clears out. Don't you hate the way your head feels when you have a cold? Like it is full cotton?

Oh yeah, does anyone think the tank is far-fetched:-)

PJ