CHAPTER EIGHT

They pooled their magic together to see what would happen. Robo and Ayla didn't have magic but they helped anyway. They used Crono's lightning, Lucca's fire, Frog's and Marle's water and Magus' shadow. What actually happened was a burst of magic which swallowed Alfador and spat him out a few moments later. He had in actual fact become a she, namely a blue-haired woman in purple.

"Schala?" everyone exclaimed in surprise.

Magus continued, solo. "Damn it, where's my cat?!"

"But we found Schala!" Lucca pointed out. "Aren't you happy?"

"Yeah, but what about poor Alfador? Where did he go, then? Schala? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Schala assured him, rising. "Oh. You HAVE grown. I had hoped you only looked taller because I was a cat. Oh well. Hello, everyone."

"Okay," Magus began, "where's Alfador, and how exactly did you end up as a cat?"

"And where did your clothes come from?" Marle asked.

"They come as part of the transformation from animal to human," Schala explained. "My family have trained ourselves to know how to do that. Otherwise it would be indecent, not to mention horribly embarrassing. Anyway. Janus, you know that one of the main powers running in our family is changing the true forms of beings, both ourselves and others."

Magus nodded. "I was never any good at it. That's why Frog isn't entirely a frog. I always screw it up somehow."

Schala continued. "I finally rebelled against Queen Zeal and now she wants to kill me. To escape the Ocean palace without detection I transformed myself into a cat similar to Alfador, who was the only cat I had close to copy. I was transported out by a Nu. However, as you know, to perform the transformation on anyone including yourself requires a lot of power and I was already drained from that stupid Machine. I couldn't turn myself back."

"Doth thou mean, thou canst not turn me back?" demanded Frog.

"Defeating Janus will break the curse," answered Schala without thinking and honestly. She added quickly, "Not that you're going to, when I've just found him."

Marle suddenly worked it out. "Oh, so you're Janus!" she told Magus. "You were the little boy who spoke of the black wind and predicted that one of us was going to die."

Magus raised an eyebrow. "Yes, and do you know for how long everyone's known that? I explained it on the North Cape."

"Well, I was so upset over Crono's death, they made me stay in the End of Time. You explained it to Lucca, Ayla and Frog," Marle replied.

"Really?" asked Crono with surprise. "How upset were you? Are we saying, just crying a bit or absolutely unable to live without me? You didn't tell me you were that upset!"

"I have to find Alfador," declared Magus, changing the subject. "He needs me. Somewhere, sometime, my little cat is lost. I want him back. Now!"

"Well, you can go and look for him," Crono offered. "You can take someone along if you like."

"Schala," said Magus instantly.

"And Lucca," Schala added. "I would like Lucca to come as well. I like Lucca. She always got that itchy spot right under my chin." Schala half-closed her eyes and purred blissfully in remembrance.

Magus poked his sister. "Wake up! Take a bite of reality!"

"We get the Epoch," Lucca announced and the three ran off.

Marle sighed. "So much for keeping Lucca and Magus separated. Do you think Schala is on to us?"

Crono asked, "So were you really bawling your eyes out and everything, or just a bit upset?"

"Crono!" Marle complained.

"What? Yes, definitely! Or no, not at all, depending on which response you want."

Marle sighed. "You're insane."

"Aren't we all?" replied Crono with a grin. He heard the wooden gate creak open, turned, and drew his sword. Frog drew the Masamune. Marle followed his gaze and instantly readied her bow. Robo flexed his hands and Ayla jumped to her feet, ready for a battle. Looking slightly lost and absolutely miserable, Flea crept into the main area, hands up.

"You're not allowed to hurt me either," he/she whimpered. "I want to join you."

Crono did not allow his guard to drop. "You? Join us? Good grief, who's next? Ozzie? Lavos, perhaps?"

"Ozzie kicked me out," Flea admitted uncomfortably. "Said it was my fault Slash's dead and we lost Magus. Slash being dead... that's not really my fault, is it?"

"No. Blame Magus," Crono replied. "You'd have to promise not to kill anyone..."

"You'd have to protect me from Magus," Flea replied instantly. "I may not be able to do much but I was sometimes useful. Every now and then. But mostly I got in the way. That's what they said. Look, can I join you or not?"

"You may as well," Crono shrugged. "Do you use any weapons?"

"Oh, no. They never let me touch weapons, I'm just a magic person. I like it that way. Slash can have his weapons. I'll use magic."

"And while we're having this nice chat," began Marle, "are you male or female?" It was the question everyone wanted to ask but no-one except Marle was brave, or rude, enough to venture.

"What's it to you?" was Flea's only reply.

"Well, I was curious," shrugged Marle.

"Yeah, and curiosity killed the rude little blonde princess."

"No killing anyone!" Crono reminded Flea.

The magician shrugged. "I don't mean it. I rarely do. So do I get to join you?"

Crono nodded his assent.

"If you let Magus touch me I'll scream and do something nasty," said Flea flatly. "I cannot be responsible for my actions if he tries to hurt me."

"We won't let him hurt you," Crono promised. "We won't let him, but I honestly don't know if we can stop him. Oh- Schala probably could."

"Who?" demanded Flea instantly, jealously. "Schala? Oh, her. That's fine then."

"We'll introduce you to Spekkio," decided Crono. "Come along, then," and that was how Flea ended up on the team.