Chapter 5
Separation
A flash of light, and the Epoch reappeared, in the exact same location, but eleven years in the past. As the vessel came out of its intense loop, Lucca turned it toward Guardia Castle. She leaned back to look at the two awestruck people sitting behind her.
"Well," she asked them. "What do you think?" Serge was staring out his window, silent as usual, but his amazement was obvious in his features. Kid turned from her own window, and looked at Lucca.
"I had no IDEA…"
"That Epoch was capable of this," Lucca finished for her. She smiled at her. "Yeah, that's EXACTLY what I said the first time I rode in her."
"So," Kid said, turning back to look out the window, "We're really eleven years in the past now?"
"Of course we are," Lucca told her, grinning proudly. "In fact--" She stopped, as an explosion near Guardia Castle caught her attention. "In fact," she started again, a grim look coming over her face, "it looks like we arrived just in time." Without warning, Lucca grabbed the ships throttle, and sent the engines running on overdrive.
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Who IS this guy, the queen of Guardia wondered to herself, as she jumped away from another explosion in the Guardia Forest, her husband the king beside her. Nadia, better known as Marle to her friends, looked over at her husband, Crono. Standing firmly beside her, he was holding his Rainbow Katana, examining their assailant.
Their enemy looked like a mystic to them, one of the creatures that inhabited the eastern continent, but he wasn't, they could tell. It was more like he as half human, than mystic. Yes, she thought, half human, and half…panther. No, this man, whoever he was, wasn't a mystic. The strange…creature…returned Crono's gaze, looking at him, disgust easily readable on his foreign features.
"Who are you," asked Marle, voicing her thoughts, "And why are you attacking us?" She took the time to look over at their other assailant, a young girl. But this girl, the one who was obviously following the other, she was also different. In fact, even as she looked at her, she realized what the strange girl reminded her of. A harlequin…
The panther-man didn't answer her, and started to gather some dark energy to hurl at them, as he had been doing. When he flung the ball in her direction, she dodged it easily, as she had been doing.
Damn it! It looks like we have to attack them. They had been avoiding this, trying to figure out WHY they were being attacked, but now it looked like they had no choice. She brought her hands forward, preparing a blast of ice magic.
But as she gathered the ice in her hand, the other girl attacked, throwing what looked like a bladed card in her direction. Dropping the ball of ice, Marle jumped out of the way of the card, quickly throwing a smaller ball of ice at her opponent. The ice smacked into her leg, freezing her foot to the stump she stood on, to the girl's own surprise.
She was vaguely aware of Crono dodging one of the other creatures attacks, as she prepared to fire another, larger ice blast at her opponent. She instant the ball of ice reached her desired size, she threw it at her opponent, who was still struggling to free her feet from the stump. But just before it could hit her, a sudden blast of flame impacted with the ball of ice, melting it before it could do any harm.
"What the..," Marle wondered, as she quickly looked around for the cause of the flame. It couldn't have been the other creature, she could see him of trying to fight Crono (and failing miserably, she noted.) Then who…?
Suddenly, a loud roaring sound filled the air. With combat honed reflexes, Marle dropped to the ground. She looked up as the roar got nearer, and looked at the source of the sound as it slowly descended and landed in front of her, realizing that it wasn't an animals roar, but…
Epoch…
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"What did ya do that for?!" Kid was yelling at Lucca from behind her. "Why didn't you let her kill her?" It had been a blast of Lucca's fire magic that had saved the harlequin.
Lucca quickly turned to look Kid right in the eye as the ship landed. "Will it affect your past," she asked her. Kid was surprised by the question. She hadn't even thought about it.
"Well, I don't--"
"That's why we can't kill them," Lucca said, interrupting her. "There's no way to be sure what will happen." She turned back to the helm, and opened the cockpit.
"Quick! Crono, Marle! Jump in! Don't try to fight them, I'll explain it all soon enough!"
Not ones to question her, Marle ran over and jumped inside, Crono abandoning his fight with the strange panther-man and joining her. Lucca closed the cockpit as they sat down in the extra seats next to Kid and Serge. "What's this all about, Lucca," Marle asked, sitting down next to Kid, with Crono on her other side. They now sat with Serge at the port window, with Kid next to him, them Marle, and Crono.
As she looked at Kid, Marle thought she recognized her, but she couldn't be sure.
"Lucca," she started, turning to her as she lifted the Epoch up and sent it flying off again. "What's going on? I know it must have been you who stopped my ice ball. Why did you do that? And who are these…" She ran out of words, not knowing how to indicate Kid and Serge, simply motioning to them.
"It's a long story." She looked back at them, smiling and happy to know they were alive. "But I would have figured you'd both remember Schala! Sure, her hairs blond now, but I still would have thought…"
Marle's and Crono's eyes both widened at the revelation. "Schala?! You survived the Undersea Palace?!" Marle grabbed Kid in a hug. She pulled away, looking into her eyes. "But…how?"
"Like Lucca said, it's a long story," Kid told her, smiling. "I don't really remember much of the actual event though."
Marle smiled back at her. "And who is this behind you," she asked, indicating Serge
"Oh! This is Serge." He waved at Marle and Crono. "He's my…"
"He's her husband!" Lucca blurted out from in front of them. "And he's almost as strong as Crono! Don't worry though, it'll all be explained as soon as we can get to The End of Time."
"Well!" Marle looked at both Schala and Serge. "Congratulations!"
"Well Lucca," Marle started, "Do you think you might just tell use a quick summary?"
"To tell the truth," the scientist answered her, "I really can't. I have no idea. All I know is that for some reason, the gates have started to reappear! I'm setting a course now for The End of Time, so that we might ask Gaspar!"
"All right," said Marle, "That makes sense. How long until we can war--" She stopped talking, as a red light suddenly filled the cockpit of the craft. "What the…My pendant…"
She looked down around her neck, at the amulet she had always worn. It was glowing. As she looked, she noticed that something around Kid's neck also glowed. Looking closer, she realized that it was the SAME amulet!
"Hey," she started, pointing at Kid's amulet. All of a sudden, their pendants started to float in the air, coming of their necks.
"What the--"
And then, with a flash, the two amulets came together. There was a horrible ripping sound, as if time itself was tearing, and the Epoch simultaneously leaped ahead into a time jump, and exploded.