Chapter VII
The Last Tear Falls
Though the night is dark and dreary,
your heart raw and body weary,
should you stand the night and day,
hope will light your darkened way.
The woman known as the Black Heart was disappointed. Her opponent was far beyond any she had faced before. His skill was incredible: his techniques left craters of devastation in his wake; his strength was extraordinary. He had come so close so many times to killing her outright, but in the end...
He had never even touched her.
There wasn't so much as a blemish on her pale skin; not so much as the tiniest cut in her body. True, her clothes were in ruins, but he never actually cut her skin.
What a weakling.
A pathetic, slow weakling that had no idea what he was up against. In the end, he was just another fighter. Nothing special, like her; just a fighter that gotten lucky when he came against that alien, Lavos, as her Master had told her. He was nothing.
She stepped forward, her crystal sword shining red in one hand, and sighed. "I guess I just have to settle with killing you," she said, shaking her head mournfully. "Really, I thought you would be much tougher."
Crono's head was bowed, and he leaned heavily on his sword. His red hair was matted with his blood, and his bandana was now almost crimson. He gave no reply.
Black Heart took another slow step forward. She brightened suddenly as she thought of something. "I suppose after you are dead, though," she continued cheerily, "I'll have the pleasure of killing all your friends, too. Those that survive my little army, that is."
Crono shifted slightly in response, but no words left his lips. "Maybe I could find that fiancee of yours... what's her name? Oh, yes. Nadia."
Crono stiffened abruptly. "No," he said hoarsely, his face pale.
Black Heart smile sweetly. "Don't worry. You won't live long enough to see it happen. But just for you, I'll make sure to make it excruciatingly painful."
"No!" Crono said louder, bringing his sword up. Black Heart laughed. Her idea had worked. At least now she would get a little more life out of this one.
"And just what can you do?" she giggled. "I don't have a scratch on me. You can't touch me. You are nothing. You've just gotten lucky before."
"NO!" Crono howled, his eyes narrowing. He began to tense up; his knuckles were white from clutching the hilt of his battered sword, and a vein stood out on his forehead. His feet spread slowly, and he began to growl, a snarl baring his teeth. He crouched deeper into his stance, and the growl growing louder and louder, until it soon became a long, wordless roar. Slowly at first, and then fast and faster, a faint, blue/white light began to gather around him, like fairy dust in the air, flaring up higher and stronger each time he renewed his shout.
"More magic?" she laughed. "Come on. You can never win that way."
But it was not magic. Crono's eyes suddenly burned, like they were hot and cold at same time, and his body blurred and disappeared like he had been nothing more than moonbeams. The Black Heart blinked in surprise, and jerked her sword around. Their weapons met with a flash of sparks, bare inches form her nose. Then Crono struck again, and again and again and again, so fast Black Heart actually had to counter as fast as she could just to keep up. The man called Crono leapt backward again, bringing the point of his blade behind him and gripping tightly with both hands.
"SLASH ATTACK!" he bellowed, and the slicing wave came flying at the swordswoman, much faster than it had before. She desperately leapt to one side, the silvery object missing her by bare millimeters. She had just rolled to her feet when he was on her again, executing his signature double-slashing attack, and forcing her back. The Rainbow Sword came at her so fast, she had to counter two-handed, and she felt the left side of her hand go numb. She dived sideways and flipped back a full ten feet to avoid being stabbed.
Crono paused to watch her a moment, and then tensed again. The glow intensified around him.
Black Heart gasped for breath; her eyes were wide. How could he do this? How could he move so fast? She felt a slight sting on her left arm, and put her hand to it. It came away matted in blood. She stared at her hand, shock chilly coursing through her as Crono's wordless roar began again. Her eyes slowly traveled up to her opponent, her greatest challenge.
How? she thought weakly. How can he do this after losing that much blood? He hunched down, leveling his sword. What gave him this power? He spread his feet. What is he?
She looked him in the eyes. They glowed a jade-green even in the deep night, filled with anger, with determination; hot and cold at the same time. She looked in the fire and ice of those depths and felt something she had not felt since she was a little girl.
She was afraid.
She didn't want to die. She was afraid of dying.
"NO!" the Black Heart screamed, shaking her head. "I will not be afraid of you! I will never be afraid! Never again! NEVER AGAIN!"
In an instant, the Black Heart's mind flashed back to a time she had made herself forget. Back long ago, when she had been a little girl, living with a family. She saw again as her father being robbed and killed, heard her mother's last scream as her throat was cut, felt every lash of the whip as she had been sold into the slave market, heard all of her endless cries of pain, of loneliness, of fear.
She saw herself standing on the edge of a cliff side, staring down at the waves crashing into the rocks below. But she had been too terrified to make the jump. She left, crying.
The Black Heart saw the first day she had met her Master, how he had shown her that the only way to beat death was to kill it. To kill everything that would cause it. To kill with no mercy, as death had killed her family without mercy. That way, she would live forever.
She would live forever.
Screaming, she lunged ahead, her crystal sword held low and glinting in the faint whips of starlight. In the same instant, the man called Crono shot forward like a coiled spring. The outline of his body blurred in the air, and she couldn't even see his sword. Black Heart's breath caught.
Was this what it was like to face death? Was this what it was like to be… inferior?
No! She would win! The Black Heart always won, even against a thousand men! She was untouchable. Death could not touch her. She was immune to death. She was its master. This punk was just that; another punk. Another fighter. Nothing more. NOTHING MORE!
Their blades rang like steel bells in the deep of that night; events seemed stretch out, and yet happen all at once. Reality seemed to lurch and shift, and there was a eerie silence. The world was quiet and still.
And then there was a sharp crack. The crystal sword shattered like so much ill-blown glass, and slowly hit the ground with a sound like the faint tinkling of chimes. She felt a brief, sharp pain. She looked down, to see a sword blade embedded in her chest. She gasped.
"And now," Crono said, "you will never kill again." He jerked his sword out with a steely rasp. There was no blood on it. He had been too fast.
The woman known as the Black Heart stumbled back as the red liquid began to flow out of her wound. Gradually, everything began to go dim as she sank to her knees, choking for breath. She felt cold.
She lay down suddenly, and looked up at the only man who had ever beaten her. A single tear gathered in the corner of her eye, and coursed slowly down her cheek. She blinked and shook her head, her eyes never leaving him.
"I thought..." she coughed, the metallic taste of blood coursing into her mouth. "I thought that the only way to beat death was to kill it."
Crono shook his head. "No. The only way to beat death is to live life well. That way, when you die, you have no regrets. You face the Void with without fear." He paused, taking out a sparkling red pendant and holding it up in front of him. "I know it."
Black Heart feebly shook her head, and choked as another spurt of blood came between her lips. "No... Can't die like this... I'm afraid. Help me. Help..." She distantly felt her head hit the ground, and her arms fall limp.
She did not stir again. Her world was finally the same as her heart.
Black.
***
Crono felt strangely numb, as if his limbs were made of rubber, and his wounds just didn't matter anymore. His entire body still shook with unharnesed energy, like he was a blade of grass quivering in a high wind. He felt...
Incredible. Invincible.
He looked down at himself wonderingly, and the question kept repeating in his mind.
How?
How had he done that? What come over him? Something about when she threatened Nadia… in that instant, he had somehow lost control of himself, and then taken it back again in a way he had never done before, not anytime when he was facing Lavos.
Crono frowned wonderingly, trying to take it all in.
Well, he would certainly have to remember this.
Crono turned back to his fallen enemy, and felt a small shock as saw the last tear fall down the Black Heart's cheek. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her wasted life. She was so young, so beautiful. But she was evil, a voice told him. No, he replied. She was only wrong.
Crono sighed. "Goodbye, Black Heart. I don't know what led you to do what you have done, but death is the great equalizer. Maybe you'll have some mercy in that at least."
His eyes suddenly widened, and he glanced up sharply at the sounds of fighting in the distance. With a fresh surge of determination, he sprinted toward the sound. It wasn't over yet.
***
Magus shot a fireball the size of a city block at Dalton, but the former sorcerer of Zeal divided it in half with a tight uppercut with the blackened Masamune. Glenn chose that moment to stab in at the Dark Man's feet, but the shadow leapt nimbly above him and leveled a kick at the amphibians face. Glenn took the brunt of it on the little shield he carried, which shattered like glass, and whirled around to avoid being backhanded. Magus slashed in a tight arc with his scythe, scoring a minor hit before the larger man brought his blade to bear, yanking the weapon right out of Magus' hands.
Magus and Glenn leapt back, and the scythe reappeared in the former-tyrants grasp. They stood panting with the effort, but Dalton still looked at ease and unperturbed. He smiled at them.
"Catching a breather? Take your time. Every second you waste brings us closer to midnight, and at midnight I kill everybody."
"We must make a plan," Glenn whispered hoarsely.
"What do you suggest?" Magus snapped.
"Thou hast seen the X-Strike, have you not?"
"Of course I have, you imbecile! That won't work with my type of weapon, and anything less than our best weapons would have already shattered against the Masamune! I remember how my scythe was shattered when I first faced you."
"Aye, ye black-hearted conjurer," Glenn growled, "I know all that. It must needs be that we modify it a bit. Just focus energy on the staff of thy scythe, and use it instead of the blade!"
"Are you insane as well as stupid? It would take a tremendous amount of gathered magic to make enough force for a metal handle to work like a blade! That would take time, you green-faced Baffoon!"
"Then time ye shall have, by thunder, so—"
"Are you two quite finished whispering?" Dalton laughed. "If you think a little planing is going to help you, you're wrong. And besides," his grin widened, "I'm tired of waiting." He charged forward, raising his twisted sword.
"I shall hold him off," Glenn snapped, a sudden light flaring around his blade. "Prepare thyself, spawn of the dark world!"
The two Masamunes struck with a force like a thousand thunders had erupted in the still nighttime air, and the wind roared around beneath the star-filled sky. Glenn let out a roar of his own and struck again, sparks flying around him like rain, and he felt his body go numb. He gritted his teeth. He had to last a little longer, so Magus could have time to prepare.
Glenn struck out at the Dark Man, whirling the Masamune forward again and again, a steeling rasp and a crack marking his every blow. Somehow, the Dark Man had begun to be driven back, taken off guard by the frog-knights sudden fury. With a leapt and shout, Glenn brought the mythic weapon down with all his strength.
There was a whirl and a crash, and Dalton flew backward, colliding into a far tree and pulling it from it's roots. Glenn sank panting to his knees, feeling his strength leaving him by the second. The Dark Man looked down at himself, surprise and anger warring each other across his face.
Dalton lifted a hand and carefully touched a cut on his cheek, as if he didn't believe it could possibly have gotten there. His face darkened into a grimace, and then a snarl, and he lifted the black Masamune into the air, and waves of shadows swirled around it.
"Now you die." he said quietly, and then leapt forward. Glenn shook his head. He didn't have the strength to lift the Masamune, or even move. There was no way out, this time. He was going to die here. His fate was sealed.
There was a blur of red and blue, outlined by a brilliant white glow, and a sound like a hundred bells being struck at once. The flash of light was so bright, Glenn vision faded into a swirl of vague shapes and shadows. He covered his eyes and squinted, gritting his teeth in pain. There was a moments pause, and he began to wonder why he wasn't dead. After a few more seconds, his vision began to clear, and the world emerged from silvery-white mists.
What he saw made him smile.
Crono cocked the Rainbow Sword over one shoulder, and spat red onto the forest floor. His body had a subtle glow that lit up the air around him, and for some strange reason he seemed to Glenn to be almost... larger than life. His clothes were dark with blood and cut to ribbons, but he stood like he was some hero out of a legend, a thousand miles tall.
"YOU!" Dalton screamed, clutching a bleeding arm. "HOW DID YOU SURVIVE? Where is... where is..."
"The Black Heart is dead," Crono said flatly. His eyes narrowed, twin orbs of glowing jade. "And so are you."
The Dark Man looked at him in shock a moment, and then through his head back and howled. The blackness around him swirled and circled and roared like it was in a high wind, and Dalton's feet slowly left the forest floor. His body rising above the forest floor, the sorcerer of Zeal howl continued as he stabbed the darkened Masamune at the sky above him, causing forks of red and black lightning to shoot across the horizon and rain down around the three of them.
Glenn managed to stagger to his feet as the earth began to shake and his vision began to blur. He could vaguely see Magus behind him, the mages magic powers still gathering unwaveringly around his scythe, a brilliant, steady purple-white glow.
Dalton's head came forward, revealing his face. It didn't look even vaguely human anymore. His skin had turned gray and scaly, and his features had been twisted into something out of a nightmare, with a blunt wide nose and canckered yellow teeth. Flecks of red flesh were mottled onto his angular chin, and his eyes were only endlessly burning black holes.
He pointed the tainted Masamune at them.
"DIE." he told them. His voice was one no human could utter, and a wave of blackness shot at them. Glenn's eyes widened, and he managed to raise his own Masamune to defend, but he knew that it would be like holding up a matchstick to stop the tide from coming in. He glanced at Crono, hoping to see some sign of hope, but the punk-haired youth wasn't there. There was only a blur of color and light.
Glenn felt something grab him hard around the waist, and had a brief image of he and Magus flying backward and into the air.
Suddenly, everything slowed, and he felt himself set lightly onto his feet. He looked in astonishment at his rescuer. Crono smiled briefly at him and winked, that subtle glow never wavering, and turned to Magus.
"Alright, you two," he told them quickly, "it's take him a moment to recover and cast, so there's only one way to do this. All of us, everything, at once, and right NOW!"
Crono didn't bother to wait to see their nods of agreement. He turned and brought his sword up, lightning hissing and sizzling around him and up his blade, blending with the glow that surrounded him. Glenn brought the Masamune up, and Magus readied his scythe.
As if the thought had reflect in all their mind at the same instant, they turned as one and charged, weapons aglow and war-cries trailing behind them. Glenn suddenly felt his strength return to him, at least for this charge, and he roared out a battle call as old as the Guardian line.
Suddenly, they were mere feet from the floating Dark Man, and Glenn leapt as high as he could, gripping the Masamune with both hands and swinging it fully back behind him as he soared well above the trees. Then, with a horrible sinking in his stomach, he saw the Dark Man's eyes focus balefully on his companions, point the black Masamune toward them. Glenn could only stare on as time slowed almost to a halt, the black waves spreading ever so slowly toward them.
It was to late to pull back now. They had to kill or be killed. This was it.
A earth-shattering shout broke Glenn from his reverie, and he turned wide-eyes on Crono, who had reach the black cloud first. Time resumed it's normal course as the Rainbow Sword parted the black tides like silk, and sunk hilt-deep into the Dark Man's chest.
"LUMINARE!" Crono roared, and his voice echoed endlessly in the imaginary silence in Glenn's mind. The blue-white dome of energy flared overhead, and then arced downward. The light flashed, far more brilliant than ever had the sun, and coursed through what was once Dalton. The monstrosity howled and shrieked, but it's dark eye slits narrowed, and it raised the Masamune again.
And then Magus struck. The glowing end of his scythe shredded through the black clouds, stabbing through to the Dark Man's collarbone just as the mage finished an intricate gesture, ending with one finger pointed at his foe. "Dark Matter," he said coldly, and his voice carried the same way Crono's had. A blackness that somehow makes midnight seem noon and steel blades butter appeared around the Dark Man, warring with the brilliant white of Crono's Luminare.
It was then that Glenn knew exactly what to do. He ended his leap, steeling himself with all his will to make a cut that would make the gods shutter, and the heavens split. There was more light and color as he brought his blade down, dividing the light and dark asunder, and he shouted in a voice that came from the earth itself, screaming wordlessly into swirling power that erupted around him.
***
Nadia suddenly felt a shock run through her, and her eyes rose from the blackened battlefield that was once Tarpon Plane to gaze at the horizon. She gasped.
A plum of blue-white light glowed over the hills like an early sun was rising, and a shadow Nadia had seen before blotted out the outlines of everything around the light. She felt the hairs on her neck and arms stand up as energy coursed tangibly through the air. Nadia shook her head.
"I hope they're okay," she whispered worriedly.
"Don't worry," Lucca said softly, weakly trying to rub the dirt off her glasses from where she lay on a small cot. "This is Crono we're talking about. Nothing short of a planet destroyer will take him out."
Nadia gave a yelp and turned back to her friend. "Lucca! You're awake! You're ALIVE!"
The genius smiled wanly. "Yeah, I guess I am."
In an instant, Nadia had Lucca in a fierce embrace, "I'm so glad! You weren't breathing when we found you, and your pulse was really bad, and you weren't responding to my magic, so we brought you over here for help, but we'd thought for SURE you'd--"
"Okay, okay!" Lucca winced, pushing the princess off of her. "Mind the bruises, will ya?"
Nadia drew back, abashed. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to--"
"Forget it." Lucca painfully scooted herself into an upright position, dusting herself off with one hand. "Where's Chronos?"
"He's out looking for stray monsters." Nadia frowned and added, "Against my advice."
Lucca shrugged. "He's his son's father. How are the wounded?"
"Recovering fine. There were quite a few burns and broken bones and such, but we were lucky in that area. None of them will have any permanent physical damage."
"Good," Lucca nodded, and then her eyes grew very serious. "And how many did we lose?"
There was a long pause while Nadia stared into the distance, fiddling with a lock of her strawberry-blond hair and smoothing the corners the shirt under her armor. It suddenly felt colder in the little wood and burlap shelter, the first beams of dawn that were just beginning to shine became somehow dimmer. A chill breeze rocked them with small wispy fingers.
Finally, Nadia sighed. "Over half," she whispered, and Lucca's caught her breath sharply. "Almost all of which died before we got to the battle field."
Lucca bowed her head. "Sometimes, I really hate it when Crono's right."
"Yeah... I still hope he's okay."
Together, they looked at the now-fading blue glow that etched out the trees and mountains in the distance. They started as a single white column of light suddenly flared up, shooting upward and racing across the sky. It rushed overhead, erupting with a shower of sparks like stars falling as it went. Wearied soldiers, wrapped in bandages and blankets, looked up with wonder as the earth-born star lit their sunken and pale faces. They murmured and pointed and gasped as it shot by, like children watching fireworks.
"I hope so, too," Lucca said after a while. "I hope so, too."
***
At last, the summer sun rose gracefully over the horizon, returning some measure of beauty to the once-green Tarpon Plain. Though the battlefield was blackened and dead, the rusty remains of armor that was all that remained of the invading army glittered dully, and the smell of ash was thick in the air, the hills and paddocks around the devastation glowed lushly with life. The blackness and remains and smell seemed to fade as the daystar took flight across the morning skyway, promising that there would indeed be a new day to live in.
Nadia silently watched the sunrise. Her hair was loose in the wind, flowing down nearly to her ankles, and she hummed softly as she slowly stroked it with a small ivory brush. Crono had always said he liked her hair long, so she had grown it out for him. She wanted it to be perfect when he came back.
If he came back.
Shaking her head furiously, Nadia threw the brush down and whirled to stalk over to a nearby tent, whipping the flap open with on hand.
"I'm going to look for him," she said flatly. She glared from Lucca to Chronos, daring them to disagree. Lucca opened her mouth, though better of it, and then closed it again, but Chronos wasn't going to be swayed so easily.
"Look, Nadia," he told her, obviously trying to sound reasonable. "I know you want to find him, but there still may be more creatures and assassins out there, and, well--"
"Oh, please!" Nadia snapped. "I think I can take of my self, thank-you-very-much. You'll have to think of a better reason than that."
"Well, would if Crono's still fighting?" Chronos suggested. "You would only get in his way."
"Ha! And I suppose I was 'in his way' when we I healed him over and over when we fought Lavos, then?"
Chronos slammed his fist down on a table. "All right! What if he lost?"
Nadia gasped. "What?"
"What if he lost? What if he died fighting? Do you really think that you would fare better? No! You would only get yourself killed!"
Nadia shook her head, disbelief flooding through her. "Crono wouldn't... Crono can't..."
Chronos sighed. "Every man runs out of luck some time."
Shocked, Nadia turned to Lucca. "Do you agree with this?"
Lucca sighed. "I don't know. His argument seems pretty sound, but..." She paused, and looked Nadia in the eye. "It's up to you."
Nadia nodded shortly. "Good. Then let's go."
Chronos stood, his hand stretched out to her. "But--"
"You've been gone a very long time, Chronos," Nadia said quietly. "And in that time, you've had to miss knowing your own son. Well, let me tell you something about Crono that I have learned. Crono doesn't NEED luck. He can, has, and always will win just by being who he is."
Nadia glared at him challengingly, but Chronos only looked back sadly.
"Fine," he grunted. "Do what you wish."
Nadia snorted. "As if it would be any other way. Come on, Lucca!"
"Right!"
Together, Lucca and Nadia strode purposefully out of the tent, checking weapons and armor as they went, determination etched into their every step. Nothing was going to stop them.
"Nothing," Nadia muttered, and the wind picked up around her, tossing her unbound hair into the sparkling sunshine. She looked up into the horizon and beyond into the hills. She stopped suddenly, squinting at something only half seen.
A shadow wavered at he crest of the next hill, blurred by the morning heat and the waves of grass stretching into the distance. Slowly, the more figures joined the first at the rise, the sunlight outlining them in a brilliant halo. They paused, turning their heads as if they were talking to each other, and then turned back to the camp of the Guardian army.
Nadia looked harder as the first one to top the hill stepped forward, letting the shadow of the hill reveal first his booted feet, and then his blue trousers and belt, where rested the long silhouette of a katana. Then, the light shifted suddenly, at least lighting upon a blood-stained white bandana, and a shock of spiky red hair that glowed like fire.
Nadia thought she had never run faster in her life, and it was still not fast enough. In a time that was a breadth of a heartbeat and year, she hurled herself into her fiancé's arms, promising herself she would never let go.
And then she cried, burying her face hard into Crono's shoulder. "You came back... you came back..." she sobbed, her voice muffled by his thick shirt and armor.
Crono carefully pulled her away, grinned, and gestured to all the people behind him. "We all came back," he said, winking. "Just like I said we would."
Behind Crono, her father waved merrily, his white beard curved around an enormous smile. Glenn chuckled and soluted her with the Masamune, which rang, bell-like, in the sunshine. Taban and his wife, Lara, were already hugging Lucca, talking furiously amongst themselves, and Magus walked close behind his sister, as if afraid she might disappear if she wasn't watched closely. Crono's mother wasn't looking at any of them. Her eyes were on a man standing back by the tent, who gazed back with fear in his eyes.
Nadia looked at them, and then back at Crono. She couldn't think of a way to thank him. The words wouldn't come. There were no words that could possibly do him justice.
So, she thanked him with her lips instead.