Chapter VI
The Storm
"Ready, guys?" Lucca grinned, thumbing a large switch on a remote control. They were standing some twenty miles from Zenen Bridge, about ten miles or so from Lucca's house.
"Yep," Nadia said grimly, hunching down in her armor, and Crono nodded from behind a large rock. Glenn had the Masamune drawn and looked like he was going to use it as a shield, and even the Magus stood some distance away from the brainy girl, his cloak pulled tightly around him. Only Chronos was anywhere near her, mild confusion and apprehension playing across his face.
"Ah, come on, ya pansies!" Lucca shouted at them. "My inventions work just fine!"
"Oh yeah?" Crono said. "What about the time you made that instant heat device and nearly burnt down your house?'
"That was years ago! And it would of worked out fine if my dad hadn't been messing with it!"
"What about the time with the Telepod, hmm?" Nadia pointed out.
"That was because of your pendant, not my—"
"And the cleaning robot that ate your laundry and went on a rampage?"
"Isolated incident, not—"
"Or the lawn mower that started eating trees?"
"Well—"
"Or the time with the printing machine that started shooting paper at people?"
"Hey, I—"
"Or the Combuster—"
"Or the Antigravity Boots—"
"Or the Shifter—"
"ALRIGHT, ALREADY!" Lucca roared, stomping a foot. "So my inventions don't always initially do what they're supposed to, but they all get fixed, don't they? Besides, none of them has ever seriously hurt anybody."
"What about the—" Crono began, but Lucca drew her gun and blew his boulder to gravel.
"Shut. Up," she told him. He nodded frantically, but nonetheless ducked behind another rock. She took a deep breath, and shook herself. "Anyway, all this is supposed to do is make Epoch lift off, fly to our position, and land. Nothing else. Okay?"
They nodded reluctantly, and Lucca sighed and pressed the button. After a few minutes, they heard a familiar roar in the distance. A single point of light appeared on the horizon, and then the Wings of Time came hurdling in, its sleek surface reflecting in the morning glow. It came to an abrupt halt in the air, then slowly began to descend to the ground. Almost as an afterthought, its port laser-cannon fired, carving a large fissure where Crono's rock had until recently been.
"See!" Crono shouted, leaning farther away. "What did I tell you?!"
Lucca ignored him. "Alright, everybody, climb in. I've added three extra seats, so we should all fit just dandy." She turned to Crono. "Come on, punk-head. You're driving."
They climbed quickly into the Epoch, Chronos albeit a bit hesitantly, and Crono flicked a few start up switches. He stopped abruptly. "You haven't changed the controls, have you?"
Lucca glared at him. "No. Just don't press any buttons you don't recognize, okay?"
"Right," Crono replied, nodding his head vigorously.
The top plate slid closed, and the Epoch lifted off. Crono punched a couple buttons (ones that he was sure he knew) and they went screaming off into the atmosphere.
***
Melchior smoked thoughtfully on his pipe as the sun continued to rise. Over his many years and places in the ages he had lived, he had found none so peaceful and calm as the eleventh century. Being a weapons dealer, peace was generally bad for business, but he enjoyed it anyway. Besides, there was always the occasional buyer looking for a shiny new sword, without much real worth, and he got by on that.
He sighed. The only problem with that was he never got a challenge anymore. No Dreamstone, no Rainbow Shell; not even some good old-fashioned mytheral for quite some time. Nobody could afford it. He had a fair amount in stock, but nothing to do with it.
He wondered abruptly how his favorite customers were doing. Crono and Nadia were supposed to get married soon, weren't they? He could have sworn they sent him an invitation. He would just have to go and look for it.
Melchior got up to go inside, but then a roaring sound that he hadn't heard in about two years made him pause. He smiled and rubbed his hands. It looked like he might get a challenge today after all.
A moment later, the Epoch screeched to a halt high in the air, and then gracefully settled on Melchior's front lawn. Familiar figures jumped out, including a couple he thought he would never lay eyes on again. Something must be going on.
"Crono, Nadia, Lucca!" he said. "Welcome! I assume this is something important?"
Lucca nodded briskly. "Yep. Shouldn't we discuss this inside?"
Melchior nodded. "Right this way, then."
***
"Sometimes, you people make me tired." Melchior muttered around his pipe. Crono shrugged, and Lucca and Nadia looked at him expectantly. Magus was in retreat, and Glenn and Chronos were examining some of the weapons that lined the walls.
"Well, I can tell you one thing," the old man said, "I know exactly where those extending weapons are from."
"You do?" Lucca asked. "Who? When?"
Melchior bowed his head thoughtfully. "Back in the early days of the Kingdom of Zeal, we had some trouble with riots by the Earthbound Ones. They were just starving, and needed food, but that was at the time when the queen was already losing her mind. She ordered Dalton to do something about it.
"So, Dalton invented what are called ish-caren, the extendable weapons you described, and armed several squads with them. This was before he found that family of Golums and brought them under his control. Anyway, he decimated the poor beggars, and after they fled, the queen gave him a medal for his service, and the ish-caren were used in the Earthbound Control Corp. thereafter."
He snorted. "The problem with them is they all have definite weaknesses. The hilts are made of a slightly weaker magic substance to make the changing metal possible, so they could be easily destroyed by any of your weapons."
Lucca nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks for the information, Melchior. Now, could we convince you to make a splendid little axe for Crono's dad there?"
Melchior rubbed his hands together. "Certainly. Any of you wouldn't happen to have any material to make it out of, would you?"
Crono, Nadia, Lucca and Glenn shook their heads, Magus ignored them, but Chronos frowned. "Just a moment," he said. "I think I have something, if it's still in my pack."
He rummaged around in his rucksack for a moment, then gave a satisfied grunt. He pulled out a large silvery tube, about five feet long and an inch and a half thick, and handed it to Melchior.
"Got this from one of my buddies in the Dragoons," he told them. "Told me it was valuable, and if I should ever find a talented weapons master, I should have him make something out of it."
Melchior was running his hands over the bar, a nearly gleeful expression lighting up his face. "Young man, do you have any idea what this is?"
"Um… no?"
"This, my friend, is nothing less than pure adamantium. So hard, for ages it couldn't even be taken out of its ore form. The ways to do it have been lost for well nigh 14,000 years now, so this specimen must be very old." He grinned and smacked the bar into his palm. "Good thing I kept those Rainbow Shell carving tools, or I wouldn't be able to cut this at all. Give me a few hours, and you'll have an axe the like of which has not been seen in… well, ever.
"Come along downstairs and help me, Lucca," he said jovially, waving her forward. "We've got some work to do, and little time to do it in."
Lucca nodded, and walked briskly down the stairs behind him. He paused, and looked behind him, at Nadia. "Nadia, dear, would you mind assisting us as well?"
Nadia blinked in surprise, and then nodded excitedly. "Sure, I'll help!" She bounded down after them, and Melchior chuckled and rubbed his hands on his latest toy.
***
After some hours of pacing and boredom, Lucca, Nadia and Melchior emerged from below, bearing another masterpiece. "This," Melchior announced, flashing the four-foot handle already lined with beautiful scrollwork, "is what I'm choosing to call the Frost Axe. By combining the mytheral I have in stock with this excellent specimen of adamantium, and some very powerful forging fire from Lucca, and Ice Magic from Nadia, I've made another one that should be about on par with the rest of your weapons. Not as sharp as the Rainbow Sword, perhaps, and not as powerful as the Masamune, but still… It's a fine work in its own right."
He handed it over to Chronos, who balanced it carefully in his hands. "It's… incredible!" He exclaimed, running his hand along the aft of the weapon. "How did you make it so fast?"
Melchior chuckled, smoothing his mustache. "Trade secret, I'm afraid. I'll get some apprentices who I'll show it all to some day, but until then, I'm afraid I'll have to leave it at that."
Chronos carefully slid the Frost Axe into his belt loop as Melchior turned to Crono, Nadia and Lucca. "Now," he said, rubbing his hands together, "about my payment… Mytheral is not cheap, you know."
Lucca looked at Nadia; Nadia looked at Crono; Crono grumbled, and dug into his pockets.
***
"Later, Melchior!" Lucca shouted as Epoch rose into the air. He waved and nodded, and then shouted, "I'll see you all at the wedding!"
Crono grinned and nodded, then turned to Lucca. "Where to?" he asked.
"Let's go to my house," she said over the sound of the engine. "I've got to grab one last thing there I'd like to get. Then, we go back to the castle to check for news."
Crono nodded again, and kicked in the full engines, and they went rocketing out across the sunny sky.
***
Crono landed the Wings of Time onto the side of Lucca's yard with a slight bump, and Lucca herself leapt out and was already moving even before the engine had died. Nadia trotted along behind, evidently curious about what Lucca was getting, and the others got out and stretched a bit.
"How do you get used to that?" Chronos groaned, his hands on his stomach. "I thought I'd leave a trail of half-digested food every step of the way."
Crono shrugged. "Guess you just do."
Glenn got out and yawned, his amphibian mouth going very wide. He paused mid-stretch, though, and his hand shot to the Masamune.
"Someone has been here," Magus said suddenly. One second, the magus was still in the cockpit of Epoch, and then he was through the front door, without seeming to have bothered with the space between. Crono rushed in after him, worriedly noting that the door had been shattered. Glenn followed close behind.
The inside was a mess; furniture overturned and machinery broken, and slight burns were on several of the walls. Magus stood in the center of the room, head turning about and hand outstretched, as if he were feeling for something.
"It's been here, too," the former-tyrant muttered. "But it has been gone for several hours."
"What's been here?" Crono demanded.
Magus looked at him carefully a moment, then growled. "Earlier this morning, I felt some sort of evil presence. It's hatred was so black, it left an almost palpable mark on the surroundings. Unsurprisingly, you didn't notice it."
Crono snorted and shook his head. "And it's been here?"
"Aye," Glenn answered, his eyes still darting. "I felt something as well, through the Masamune." He paused and frowned. "It felt oddly… familiar. My memory tells me not how."
Crono shook his head. "Whatever. Wait a second… where's Lucca?"
"Crono!" came Nadia's voice. "You better come look at this!"
Crono dashed into the other room. Nadia was standing off to the side, but Lucca was in the middle of the floor, on her knees. She was cradling something in her arms. He moved around to look at what it was, and discovered it was a large, well-polished crescent-wrench.
"Dad… he never goes anywhere without this… " she muttered, not looking up. Crono's eyes narrowed, and he looked around the room. After a few moments, he discovered a thick yellow piece of parchment on the floor. It was folded in half, and had only one word printed on the outside. Lucca.
"Lucca," he said, handing it to her, "I think this is for you."
Lucca looked up at the letter, and took it carefully out of his hands. She quickly scanned the writing on the inside. Something close to a snarl curled on her lips. It burst into flame in her fingers, and she stood quickly. "Crono!" she snapped. "We have to go to your house."
"But—"
"NOW! You mother might be in danger!"
He nodded briskly, and the three of them ran back to the Wings of Time. It began to rise into the air almost before everybody was fully inside. The time machine shot off again. Chronos growled and fingered his axe, a look of terrible worry lining his face.
***
They touched down in Crono's front yard, and all save Magus sprinted inside. The door here was also burst open, and a note in yellow parchment lay on the table. Crono got to it before anyone else, nearly ripping it open after reading his name on the front of it. It read:
Be at the site of the old Cathedral as the sun sets, or her blood will be on your hands.
Bring no soldiers.
There was no signature, and no other instruction. Crono silently handed the letter to his father. Chronos read it carefully, a vein standing out on his forehead. He began to shake, his muscles twitching and rippling on his face.
"The evil was here, but not so long ago." Magus announced coldly. "You know what this means, don't you?" Crono nodded grimly, and looked worriedly at Nadia.
"Daddy…" she whispered.
***
"Too late again!" Crono snarled, bashing a fist into the stone wall. Bodies were being dragged away as he watched, fully half of the king's personal guard dead. There was an awful stench in the air, and the sound of wounded men was clearly heard from the old Knight's quarters. The blood had still not been cleaned away.
"Indeed," Magus said flatly. "It would seem that we came close. If I'm right, they were here not twenty minutes ago."
Nadia was still crying slightly, but her tears had dried to a trickle, and an angry burn was in her eyes. Lucca looked much the same, only not a single tear had yet streaked down her face, and she was reflexively fingering something at her belt near her gun.
The current captain, as the other had been killed, saluted Nadia smartly as he stepped forward, and then bowed on one knee.
"What is it?" Nadia snapped.
"Princess Nadia, I have news from the front!"
She nodded for him to continue. "Your Highness, another army has arrived! It's marching across the Tarpon Plain just north of the Zenen Bridge, and is headed for the castle. They easily slaughtered our scouting parties; only one of them escaped to come and warn us! The army is being destroyed!"
Crono's eyes narrowed. "A battle on two fronts…" he muttered. He turned sharply to Lucca. "How long till sunset?"
"About two hours."
He shook his head. "Not enough time. Our last battle with one of Black Heart's armies took almost three times that long. We've got to split up."
"But what if that's just what they want us to do?" Lucca said. "I say we go after our parents first, where the real enemy will be."
Glenn shook his head. "Aye, perhaps, but what choice have we? 'Tis sheer folly should we let the army be slaughtered, of which I have no doubt they will."
"Fine!" Nadia said between clenched teeth, "but I'm going to my dad!"
Lucca nodded vigorously and barked "Me too!"
"I will go to my wife as well," Chronos rumbled.
"No," Crono said flatly.
"WHAT?!" the three said together.
"I said no. Nadia, Lucca, and Chronos, you will take Epoch and help the army. Glenn, Magus and I will rescue the others."
"NO WAY!" Lucca roared. "WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO GO TO YOUR MOTHER WHEN I CAN'T GO TO MINE?!"
"Same with me!" Nadia added.
"Crono," Chronos said evenly, "there is no way I'm going someplace else when my wife is in danger. I go."
They stared at Crono a moment, but the spiky-haired man remained impassive. "No."
All three began to talk at him, Lucca shouting and haranguing, Chronos coldly superior, and Nadia pleading. He stood there and listened to it all, but not a lock on his hair stirred; not a word broke through his hardened facade. Glenn stood helplessly to one side, unsure what to do. Crono's leadership had never been questioned before. Magus only scowled.
Three entire minutes dragged by, and finally Crono had had enough. "I said NO!!" he bellowed, slamming his sheathed sword down on the floor with a booming clang. There was an uneasy silence. "If you three won't except I know what I'm doing, then I'll tell you. Glenn and Magus and I are the best fighters in this group. That is an undeniable fact. We will have the best chance." He paused, looking for objections. None came. "Whatever technology Lucca could provide could be duplicated by Magus' magic, whatever field experience Chronos has Glenn has also, and more, and with our armor, we can go long without needing Nadia's healing. Is there any disagreement?"
Lucca opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again at Crono's furious glare. "And what do the soldiers have?" He continued with barely controlled anger. "None of that. Men are dying—EVEN AS WE STAND AND DISCUSS THIS!—and need help that you three can give. Now, I'm asking you to believe in me, as you have every time before. I know the lives of those we hold dear are at stake, but don't the lives of the soldiers matter just as much? How would you feel if we managed to rescue our loved ones, and the entire army died?"
There was silence.
"That's what I thought. Now, go to Epoch NOW, and get there as soon as you can. We'll be back, and with the King, with Taban and his wife, and with my mother. Alright?"
The silence stretched again, until Nadia nodded. "Alright," she said very quietly. Lucca hesitated, then nodded. Finally, Chronos bowed his head.
"Good. Now get going." They began to walk away, but Nadia stopped at the door.
"Crono?" she said.
"Yes?"
"Be careful. For me."
Crono smiled for the first time in hours. "I will. I always will be, for you."
Nadia grinned slightly, and blew him a kiss before ducking through the doorway. Crono sighed and turned grimly to the two remaining. "There is some hunting to do," he told them. "and blood to be spilt."
They nodded firmly, even Magus.
"Let's go, then," the mage said. "The time is now. The storm is upon us."
***
Black Heart gazed anxiously at her Master, seeing the slight blue glow fade around his form. The Dark Man looked up, and curled his lips upward in a parody of a smile.
"What news, Master?" she asked excitedly.
"We are almost done, my greatest disciple," he rumbled. "The King has been secured. There is but one person left to capture, who I have sensed here for the first time. I'll leave that one up to the minions we sent; she should be easily subdued."
"Then, we go to the Cathedral?"
He nodded. "Yes. And there, Crono," he snarled the name as if it were a curse, "will pay at your hands. He is their greatest fighter, and I give him to you."
The Black Heart rubbed her hand over the hilt of her crystal sword, a sweet little girl smile on her face. "My Master is kind."
***
"There they are!" Nadia shouted, pointing below them. "There's the two armies!"
Spread out beneath them lay the battlefield, weapons and armor shining in the last hours before sunset like a hundred-thousand candles in an ocean of grass. Guardian banners rippled and snapped in the roaring of the wind, and men in steel-disc and horsehide armor charged over the hills toward the uniformed soldiers. Lightning crackled out of the sky from no clouds, and fire and ice rained down among the ranks. The Royal Guardian Army was losing.
"Firing port and starboard laser cannons!" Lucca announced, and there was the sound of the anti-fusion coils heating up. Red/orange beams shot from either side of the Wings of Time, carving twin gouges in the enemy's front line. The ground collapsed under those that survived the blast, burying them in ten tons of dirt and rock.
"Repeat!" Lucca ordered, and the lasers fired again, slicing another line into their component molecules. This time, though, the wizards below fired back walls of electrical ice blocks, and Lucca jerked hard on the stick and shot up the engines. They barely missed.
"Auto pilot, activate! Epoch, you have the con!" Lucca shouted, and looked behind her at Nadia and Chronos. "We're going to have to jump in order to avoid getting Epoch destroyed!"
"From this high?" Chronos protested, looking at the one-hundred-foot drop below.
"Yes!" she replied, slapping something mechanical on her, Nadia's, and Chronos' shoes. Nadia looked down at it, and groaned, mouthing "Antigravity Boots" but nodded anyway.
"What about the ship?" Nadia protested. "We can see how much damage the laser thingies are doing!"
"I don't want to lose it! And besides, Epoch has a personality of its own! It'll fire at the enemy all on its own!"
Nadia nodded in understanding, but Chronos looked dubious. "Alright," Lucca told them, "JUMP!"
Together, they leapt from the Wings of Time. Their clothes billowed around them as they fell, and just as it seemed they would slam right into the grass below, there was an enormous rush of power that slowed them, enough to blow both front lines back away from them. Without pausing, Lucca snapped her gun forward, firing off six shots at positively identified wizard targets. She felt the hair stand on the back of her neck as some of Nadia's cross-bow bolts passed her, and a chill as Chronos' new axe came into play.
Suddenly, she was barraged with magic from everywhere. It blew the electromagnetic shield the gravity "boots" made like it was nothing, and threw her to the ground, almost smoking her in her armor. She gritted her teeth and rolled to her feet again. Apparently, these magic users weren't as weak as the ones in the other army.
"Fine then," she growled, reaching for her belt. She pulled out what looked like a solid-black shotgun shell, and pressed a button on her Wondershot. It hatched open, the sun-stone energy glowing inside, and she put the shell in beside it. She cocked it back together again, and took careful aim at the group of wizards, bracing as much of herself as she could.
"TAKE THIS, BASTARDS!" she roared, and pulled the trigger.
There was a low pulse from the gun, like it was gathering its breath, and then a surge of yellow/white light went pouring from the barrel. The light grew so bright, she had to close her eyes tightly in order not to be blinded. It lasted only a few seconds, and then faded.
She opened her eyes as slowly as she dared, and then smiled. Nothing remained of the wizards but a charred section ten meters wide and a hundred meters long, stretching into the enemy ranks. Her satisfaction was short-lived, though, because she had to dive and roll in order to avoid a volley of arrows. The ground where the arrows struck erupted in acid flames, and geysered skyward.
"Alright!" she grinned ferally, "How about some more!" She pulled out another black shell, and un-cocked her gun again. "My science eats pigmy wizards like you for breakfast!" She loaded, re-cocked, and then once more took aim.
***
"Alright. This is it."
Crono stared around them, looking at the somewhat-familiar landscape of this forest where a cathedral had once stood. The ruins of the building were not even visible anymore, obscured by a large lake, and the forest had overgrown in four-hundred years what little might have remained. Of the enemy, there was no sign.
"They are here, somewhere," Magus growled. "I can feel that evil lurking… evil I have not felt since Lavos."
"Mayhaps we are early," Glenn muttered, the Masamune unsheathed in his green-fingered grip.
"No, you're are just in time," a high voice called gaily. They whirled around to see a women standing there, seeming to have appeared from nowhere. She had thick, silky black hair and pale, delicate feature with high cheek bones. A crystal sword rested in her grip.
"YOU!" Magus and Glenn said together, and without pausing to even consider anything, they charged. They were about ten feet from her when a monstrous black shadow was suddenly in front of them. One shadowed fist shot out, nailing Magus in the face hard enough to send him sprawling backward head over heels. He hit a tree with enough force for a spider-web of cracks to wind their way around where he hit, and his head slumped. He wasn't moving.
Glenn dove backward just in time to avoid another blow, and staggered back from the sheer malevolence that permeated from this figure.
"I have given it to my disciple to fight Crono, Glenn of Guardia," the figure rumbled, "but you are mine. And when you are done, Magus will be the pray of the Dark Man."
"You shall not win, Dark Man," Glenn challenged, saluting with the Masamune.
"There is no way to stop me," he laughed.
"That's what you think," Crono spat, and drew his sword. He raised it skyward, and he concentrated. An arc of lightning struck its tip. He whipped the blade forward, and a long, oddly-straight fork of light struck and hurled the Dark Man back. But, he suddenly stopped mid-air, and landed easily on his feet. The Dark Man began to chuckle.
"Yes, you were always powerful, Crono. Even as I am now, you can shake me. But it doesn't matter. I always survive; I always triumph in the end." Then, he threw back his head and roared with cold laughter, revealing his face. Crono and Glenn gasped as one. Crono recovered first.
"You… you're dead!"
"Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated," Dalton grinned with no mirth.
***
"Hit the dirt!" Chronos shouted, bringing the Frost Axe over his head. Lucca and Nadia glanced at him, and then complied. He didn't know what Lucca had been firing off earlier, but now it was his turn.
He roared wordlessly as he gathered the magical energy, until the axe blade began to glow a brilliant blue. Abruptly, the ground burst beneath him, and he fell backward, the magic dissipating with his loss of concentration.
"We'll cover you!" Nadia shouted at him, and she and Lucca began firing their weapons into the enemy ranks, distracting them for a moment. Chronos once again rose to his feet and gathered the energy. He concentrated hard on the effect he wanted, as he had taught himself through all these years, and then focused on the target.
Finally, the Frost Axe went hurdling through the air from his grasp, turning into a whirlwind of sharpened crystal ice-blades midway through the enemy ranks. Agragre and other nameless creatures were torn to pieces in the blast, and men were frozen solid where they stood. After a precious few seconds, the axe came spinning back, and he snatched it out of the air.
"Nice job!" Lucca shouted at him, grinning over her shoulder. He grinned wordlessly in return. A wizard in the line chose that moment to step forward. He shot a small, arc-shaped beam of light right at Lucca while she was turned. She tried to jerk away, but she wasn't fast enough. It cut her dead center.
She flew backward, far enough to land right in front of Chronos. Her armor was dented badly, and it looked like her arms were almost sliced completely off. She gritted her teeth to keep from screaming, and Chronos shouted up at Nadia. "Lucca needs healing, and NOW! I'll cover you!"
"I'm on it!" Nadia yelled, firing even as she ran backward. Chronos leapt ahead, his axe leading the way, and began hurling little daggers of ice even as he slashed his way through the crowd. He could hear Nadia murmuring her healing magic behind him, but he had no time to pay attention to it.
He glanced behind him to see Nadia slump in exhaustion, and Lucca rise to her feet, giving Nadia something to drink. As soon as Nadia drank it, she, too, was on her feet again. The two rushed forward to rejoin the battle. Lucca didn't appear to be in shock at all, or even a little horrified. Chronos shook his head in disbelief. Kids these days.
***
"Allow me to change that," Crono said hotly, and leapt forward, the gleaming Rainbow Sword a mere reflection of the anger in his eyes. But, there was a blur of motion, like black smoke, and another blade met his. The Black Heart smiled at him, showing a row of perfect white teeth. "Ah, ah, ah. You are all mine, pretty-boy." They tensed a moment, and Crono's feet began to slide beneath him. He gritted his teeth, and the veins stood out on his arms. With a tremendous effort, he pushed her backward. Their weapons met with another steely clang, and they backed off again.
"Hmm… you're strong, pretty-boy. Much stronger than I thought a kid like you could be. But do you really know how to use that sword? We'll see."
She snapped her crystal sword forward, striking with quick, decisive cuts at his weak points. He parried and countered, sending a spinning side-slash to her right side, which she smoothly sidestepped and redirected, while simultaneously trying to kick him in the groin. He let go of his sword with one hand and grabbed the foot midair, and forced her into a spinning back-flip. She fell into a defensive crouch, and then sprang fully ten feet into the air, her sword attacking even as she sailed over Crono's head.
But Crono had faced agile opponents before. He spun the Rainbow over his head, and then concentrated long enough to send a brilliant flash of lightning out of the sky. As he expected, he could parry any air attack she directed from above him with his spin, but then something went wrong. When the lightning touched her, it seemed to suddenly wane in power, as if its source had been cut off. It flickered and disappeared as if it were nothing but moonlight.
The Black Heart laughed. "You really do have to fight fair in this match. You see, I have this little immunity to magic… It comes in handy every once and a while." She nodded happily. "But you do have skill. Good. That'll keep you alive just a little bit longer."
"Oh, shut up and fight, you witch," he snapped. "I have friends to help, and I don't have time to chat with a lunatic like you."
She tisked. "How rude. Oh, well. I guess I just have to test how fast you are now, won't I?" She suddenly blurred, and Crono blinked.
"Wha—" he barely got up his sword in time as hers came from overhead. She struck three more times, so fast it was all Crono could do to block them, much less fight back. She leapt backward again, and then forward. She blurred once more, and Crono desperately dove to one side. He rolled to his feet and came into a crouch, his teeth bared. He could feel the blood beginning to drip down his arms.
Black Heart sighed. "I see you don't know how to be fast. Sad, really. I wish I had the time to teach you, so you could be a real challenge, but… oh, well. Now, I can test your endurance." She smiled brightly, as if she had just announced she was going for a pleasant little walk. "I've always wondered how much blood a great warrior had to lose before he dies."
Crono straightened painfully. This didn't look good. He had beaten Lavos because of how well he and his friends united, but also because his swordsmanship and magic worked flawlessly together. Now that magic was useless, things could get ugly, and fast.
***
"This time," Glenn announced, "thy blood shall be spilt upon the ground."
"Pretty words," the Dark Man laughed. "Have you ever considered writing bad poetry?"
"And your words are as empty and meaningless as thou art," Glenn replied. He raised the Masamune. "This blade shall purge the living matter which your soul pollutes."
Dalton laughed. "That blade? Then I shall use mine. I'm sure you'll recognize it." He reached deep into his black cloak, and pulled out a sword. It was rusty and canckered, but it had a look like it had once been great, with a long, thick handle and twin edges. The very air seemed to surge with malevolence as he drew the sword out, all bitter hatreds rising in the air like bile. They were the same feelings Glenn had gotten at Lucca's house, and Crono's. Again, the odd familiarity was apparent, but he couldn't quite identify it. Glenn staggered back slightly from it, but raised the Masamune, and the feeling ebbed away.
The Dark Man laughed again, his sanity almost visibly absent. "You mean you don't recognize it, my green friend? Well, that's just fine. You will soon." Then he whipped the weapon forward, and the two crashed together in a brilliant arc of flying sparks. Glenn's arm seemed to lose some of it's feeling as the two weapons collided. They strained a moment; Glenn pushed with all his strength, but Dalton seemed to be barely trying. The knight lurched backward again and struck, and again the swords crashed.
With a roar, Glenn leapt into the air, bringing the full force of the Masamune to bear. There was a brilliant flash and a rushing sound, like the sound of a flash flood, and both he and the Dark Man were blown back. Glenn skidded to a halt on the starchy grass, his eyes wide.
"There be no greater weapon than the Masamune!" he exclaimed. "None, not even Lavos, simply took a blow like that!"
"I whole-heartedly agree," Dalton told him. "That's why I invested considerable time and effort to get this weapon. Come, Frog, take a closer look. Doesn't this look familiar at all?"
The Dark Man raised his sword in salute, a sneer plastered on his in-humanly cruel features. Glenn's sharp eyes caught a glimpse of something written on the hilt, and he gasped. It read Melchior in dull, rusty letters.
"The—the Masamune? How?" he reached his mind out to it, just like he did his own blade, but found nothing there but a terrible hatred, a mindless want to kill and destroy. Masa and Mune were not awake in that canckered blade.
"No more time for chat," Dalton said. "Time to die!"
With that, they began again, the Dark Man attacking with incredible strength and ferocity, Glenn using his decades of skill and experience; he could tell his strength was nothing compared to Dalton's. He struck forward, rotating his blade at just the right angle to deflect the other Masamune, and leave Dalton open on the left side. Dalton quickly leapt sideways and attacked instead of defending, forcing Glenn to duck suddenly and parry with the hilt. Glenn shot a powerful kick at the Dark Man's midsection, making the former sorcerer of Zeal grunt and stumble back.
Glenn once again pressed on the offensive, sending three quick side slashes and an overhand, all of which Dalton, even stumbling, easily brought his Masamune up in time to deflect. He grinned and put his other hand on the broadsword. "Let's see how you handle this!"
He began taking huge two-handed swipes, and Glenn leapt and dodged as best he could, the sheer wind of the attack nearly bowling him over. Finally, he didn't move quite fast enough, and desperately brought the Masamune up. The two mythic blades met, and Glenn felt his arms go numb with the force, and he was hurled backward. He slammed hard into a tree on one side, and he felt the sharp pain of a bone breaking. Gasping for breath, he laboriously got to his feet, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side.
"You see," the Dark Man thundered coldly, "there is no way you can win. I have grown far too strong: strong enough to defeat all of you myself. Do you know where I was sent after I was defeated in the Wings of Time? Do you? I was sent so far into the future, technology was a legend to be laughed at, and magic was alive again. With but little prices, things like promises to lower-realm entities, I slowly bought my way to unrivaled power. My visage changed, my hatred grew, and I began to lust after the only true freedom I had left. To kill.
"But my perfect new world was not to last, because even as the years passed and I gained more power, a group of young fools like yourselves fought me, and eventually managed to banish me back in time. At the cost of their lives."
He laughed. "Little did they know they had given me the perfect excuse to simply destroy all of humanity back in this time of peace, between magic and technology. One by one, all will die. And then, my disciple and I will be the only ones left, to live forever."
"Ye shall not survive the day, Dalton," Glenn growled.
"You pitiful idiot! And who's going to kill me? No one is strong enough! You are all nothing! Who, I say?"
"Me," a cold voice snapped, and a ball of pure darkness shot out of the night. Dalton whipped up the Masamune, and blocked the crackling sphere with the flat. There was a moment where he strained against the magic energy, and with superhuman effort, he hurled it upward. It exploded in the evening sky like a black supernova, spreading across the stars that were just beginning to appear.
Magus stepped forward, tightening a leather glove. A slow trail of blood ran down his forehead, but his cold eyes burned with hatred. His scythe blurred into view in his hands. "Get yourself together, you slimy reptile," he told Glenn, his eyes never leaving his target. "This man has a date with the reaper, and must be on his way."
Glenn grinned despite himself, and stepped forward, raising the Masamune. The Dark Man began to laugh. "Alright, boys, let's have a show!" he said, his face twisting in glee. "But first, how about some inspiration, hmm?"
He snapped his fingers, and the air behind him seemed to blur. After a moment, five figures appeared. Glenn recognized them; they were the king, Crono and Lucca's parents, and one other. Her lavender hair was draped in her face, and her clothes were scorched, but there was an unmistakable glow around her, holding her prisoner.
"SCHALA!" Magus roared, his face twisting in anger. Glenn's hardened grimly, and he snapped his broken arm back into place.
"Prepare for the Void!" Magus spat, and he and Glenn leapt forward. Dalton grinned, and let them come.
***
Lucca's breath was coming in and out in painful gasps, and her shoulders slumped with weariness. A slow trail of blood made its way down one leg, too small a cut to waste Nadia's energy on healing, and her face was red and flushed with effort. She was almost ready to give up.
She furiously shook her head. She fumbled at her belt, and pulled out her last Sunfire shell. This was the big one, but after that, she would be on her own with her magic. It would take hours for the Wondershot to recharge after so many firings.
She dodged bonelessly behind a rock as a fireball went rocketing by her, close enough to make her cringe at the heat. She could hear Nadia's crossbow making solid thunk sounds off to her right, and Chronos was somewhere on the other side. Epoch was defending the soldiers in back. She felt so alone.
"I figure," she mumbled to herself, "that I've got two big attacks left in me. One Sunfire shot, and one Flare. Gotta use the Sunfire first, 'cuz I don't think I be awake after the Flare."
Lucca loaded the Wondershot, her hands shaking and fumbling. She finally got the shell in and snapped the gun shut. She gritted her teeth, pushed a pair of goggles over her eyes, and then leapt up, brought her gun to bear, and shot off the biggest firepower she had. The whole world seemed to go white: the ground shifted and rumbled: the air was blasted around everywhere: the screams of man and beast reached out at her, but she scorned them in her mind. They had brought this on themselves. Nobody has the right to kill for the sake of killing. Nobody has the right to take an innocent life.
Finally, the blast was over. The light faded. The sky darkened into night again. She looked carefully around her, and saw that her shot had gotten all the way to the back of the other army. In the back, right in the wake of the explosion, stood six mages, each chanting and pointing at her. Somehow, they had managed to survive.
"Alright," Lucca said angrily, the hair on her neck rising, "You want a piece of me? Fine. See an attack only equaled by Crono's Luminare, or Magus' Dark Matter. See the fire." She began to chant loudly, her fingers making intricate gestures around her. A steady red glow flared up around her, and she rose into the air. Her helmet fell off her head, and her hair flailed wildly. Small spurts of flames shot off of her body, and her eyes began to shine.
She stopped chanting, and pointed one finger at the wizards. She shouted one word.
"FLAAAARE!"
And the world was fire.
She slowly settled to the ground, her face tired. The Tarpon Plain seemed made of thick syrup; everything moved with placid slowness. Ash floated through the air like a black cloak, and molten rock boiled where once had been stone. Not a speck of blood, not a single hair, was left after the fire. Hundreds of empty armor suits were scattered around her. Of the mages, there was no sign.
Lucca smiled as she settled back onto the ground. She had done her best. She had fought the good fight. All that was left, was to sleep. Her eyes fluttered shut, and her body became still. Her heartbeat weakened, and her breath began to slow, become ever so slow. Her chest stopped rising, a smile on her lips.
***
Crono gasped and sagged. His clothes were soaked with blood, and his every movement felt like torture. His sword seemed incredibly heavy, and his legs were made of stone. He was losing.
And the Black Heart laughed.
He had tried every trick he knew. The Spincut, the Confuse, the Lightblade, the Slash Attack… all had failed. She was too fast, too smooth, too deadly. She didn't even have a single mark on her. She said he was no challenge at all.
And the Black Heart laughed.
Every second he felt his life blood drain away. The night seemed cold to him, oh so cold. He felt alone, and helpless, like a little child that has lost his way in the woods. He wondered how the others were fairing: he hoped they were well. That's all he had left, was hope for them. He had no hope left for himself. He knew he was going to die tonight.
And the Black Heart laughed.
He had been dead before, in another stream of time, and he had been brought back. He didn't think that he'd get that this time. No more Chrono Trigger. No wise counsel from Gaspar. No chance.
He didn't want to die. He had so much he wanted to do still; he wanted to marry the woman he loved, and spend his life with her. He wanted to be zapped or tripped or attacked by one of Lucca's inventions again. He wanted to take a long summer's nap and eat a huge breakfast. He wanted to ride the wind of adventure for forever.
But now he wouldn't, because of her. Because of her, his grave would be dug before the week was done. He found himself crying. He didn't know why: he didn't feel sad, exactly. He felt… nothing. Like his feelings were gone. But the tears came anyway, no matter what he felt.
And the Black Heart laughed.