Chapter 2

Friends, Dinner, and Accidents

The city of Truce had not changed much; it still is the largest city on the northern island in Guardia kingdom. King Guardia the Thirty-third lives in his castle on the other side of Guardia Forest west of town and the ferry travels to the south island twice a day, allowing easy movement between Truce and the next largest city, Porre. A magic using race of beings called Mystics still hate humans and hold a grudge over their defeat in the war nearly 400 years ago. Taban, that weird inventor guy, moved to a small island just south of town, you could still hear an occasional explosion. Most people are relived about that change though.

Life continues with a few bumps along the road to make it interesting. For Gina and Michael, that bump came along three years ago; their world never really has gone back the way that it was, and neither of them would want it to.

As the sun sank behind him and the shoreline of home came into view over the western horizon of water, Michael stood on deck and stared at the multicolored crimson and dark blue hues of the sky. Michael had plenty of time to think about how his life had changed in the last three years. Changed it had; he was now a father of a very active three year old and the husband of a very worn out Gina. He would have chuckled at the thought of poor Gina and how she must be after taking care of Crono by herself, but the thought of the glare he was going to be receiving quashed that thought.

'Damn slow ferry.' He mused, 'I would have really liked to get home before Gina gives up on me and marries someone else. Heck, at this rate Crono will probably have a better beard than I will! Of all the days for the engine to have a breakdown, it would be when I was so anxious to get home and see my family. Now I'm three hours late and the sun is setting. Good thing that I'm almost there, I may still be able to get through the evening with my head intact."

He had spent the last week on his semi-annual trip to the east islands. He was lucky to be the only blacksmith in the kingdom taught by the renowned sword smith Melchior. The extra teachings of Melchior helped to make Michael's shop a well-known place; although his work was not nearly as refined as Melchior's, it was still well above average. Besides, he had a special agreement with the old man, twice a year Michael would travel to Medina Ð avoiding the human detesting Mystics Ð and bring back some of Melchior's incredible swords to sell in his shop. The trip was rather arduous and made him wonder what went on in Melchoir's head to have made him move four days away from another human, across water and next door to beings that would like nothing more than to put all of humanity's heads on a pike. It was a win-win proposition though, Melchior got extra sales, and Michael would get a portion to help pay the bills. It was sufficient to say that because of Melchior his family was quite comfortable. Michael wouldn't go so far as to say that they were rich, but they had no trouble paying for the house and still had enough leftover to spoil their-selves a little.

So involved in his own thoughts, he did not notice the ferry coming into port until the sudden lurch of the ship stopping almost sent him spiraling over the guardrail. Quick reflexes and luck saved him from a premature bath in a very cold bay.

Within ten minutes, bags in hand he was hurriedly heading towards the center of town to sit in front of the fireplace with his wife and child. A smile continued to get wider as he neared his destination, by the time he reached the door his face was positively beaming.

"Hey! There's the man of the house!" He bellowed has he opened the door to find Crono sitting on the living room floor. Sweeping the giggling child into his arms, he rustled the child's unruly red hair and asked, "So, how has Crono been? Have you been taking good care of mommy?"

"Oooohhhh, He's been taking very good care of mommy. Running up and down the stairs, tripping up Mr. Robinson, and just making plain sure that mommy gets enough exercise for the next twenty years!" Gina replied. Her sarcasm dripping tone and the evil glint in her eyes were betrayed by the smile that she was trying to keep hidden.

Satisfied that his head was most defiantly going to stay attached to his shoulders, he reached over, pulled Gina into a group hug, and kissed her on the forehead. Crono smiled with delight at seeing his father again.

"As great as it is to see you both, I really need to take a shower. Can you take Crono for a few minutes while I get cleaned up?"

Gina took Crono into her arms and narrowed her eyes playfully, "Sure, just leave him with me, but you'll have to pay for such service. My work is exceptional after all!"

"Whatever you want, it shall be done, my lady."

"Taban and Lara are bringing their daughter over for dinner tonight."

"Except that... Why! I just got home, and you know I don't like playing host, especially with Taban. I don't hate him or anything, and I know he's a fine man and all, but he is always asking questions about Melchior's swords. It just gets irritating after the first two hours!"

"Oh! Stop acting like a spoiled little kid! I know you don't like to do this, but Lara is my best friend. And besides, I think Crono and Lucca would get a long well together. You know they are probably the two most intelligent toddlers in the city. Crono is more agile than most six year olds and Lucca could probably talk circles around the king's Chancellor."

"From what I've heard, a muskrat could talk circles around the Chancellor, " He recoiled slightly at the look in Gina's eyes. "I get your point." He sighed. "Only I was looking forward to a nice quiet evening with you two, the fireplace, and my chair."

"Oh come on, despite your belly aching, you know that you'll have fun tonight. I'd bet good money that you would manage to have fun if your head was stuck in a toilet."

"Okay. As usual, you are right. When are they due here?"

Gina looked at the grandfather clock in the corner before replying, "You have about twenty minutes to make yourself look presentable." Michael nodded his head in affirmation and walked through he door on the right wall and into the bathroom off of the main bedroom.

The warm water felt wonderful on his tired body. The last leg of his trip had taken its toll on him. He had not done anything physically tiring, but the stress caused by the ferry delay took its toll on his mental stamina. As his body and mind relaxed further into an almost sleeping state, all concept of time was lost. Michael was surprised to hear a knock at the door while he was still drying off.

"Shit, they're here!"

He hurriedly finished toweling off his lower body and threw on some clean clothes. In such a hurry, he had forgotten to dry his hair, which was now clinging in a giant soggy mess to his back and dripping water into his eyes. He hurried out the bedroom door and into the living room. His squinting eyes were not able to see what had positioned itself directly in his path. The sudden meow of a very disgruntled cat caused Michael to lose his balance as he tumbled headlong into the middle of the room, right where Lucca was sitting.

"Michael! Lucca!" Gina screamed from the kitchen as she started to run towards Lucca, who confused by all the sudden yelling, stayed where she was and looked around.

Seeing where he was going to land and quite certain that Lucca would be hurt if he fell on her at the speed he was going, Michael vainly tried to change his path. Just as he was about to land on the poor girl, Crono bolted across the room and pushed Lucca out of the way before he jumped clear of his flailing father who smashed headlong into the hardwood floor. His skin made a sickening squeal against the wood floor as friction slowed him down to a halt.

Michael slowly got up off the floor and cradled the sore patch of skin on his arm as he walked over to where Gina, Lara, and Taban were checking to see if Lucca was all right. Lucca just stared at the boy who had prevented bodily harm from coming to her as her parents checked her for any bumps on the head. Crono, since the crisis was over, went back to playing with his blocks on the couch, oblivious that he had done something very special for a three-year-old child.

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I would like to thank Xyn for the review of my first chapter. I took what you said to heart and tried to lighten up the descriptive sentences a bit. I took a second (or eighth) look at the first chapter and saw what you meant. I will probably re-edit that sometime in the next few weeks. Thanks for the input, and as I have said before, let me know if you see a way to improve this story. As I develop as a writer, so too will my characters develop into better people.