Chapter 11: Split-Second Chances
"No!" Crono heard Marle shout, "But I do know what happens to nasty demons!" She fired her crossbow.
Aku caught the bolt in one hand and flung the fireball at her with the other. Marle managed to get out of the way in time, but only just. "You have caused me a great deal of trouble," he said as he swiped at Lucca with a massive hand. "I am going to enjoy making you pay for it." His form began to twist in a way that hurt Crono's eyes.
In a few moments Aku had changed himself into a gigantic wolf with a green muzzle. He opened his jaws and leaped at Crono, who rolled out of the way and tried to slash the demon with his sword. But it simply rebounded off his hide, and with a bat of his paw Aku knocked the sword from Crono's hand. He opened his jaws again…
And a fireball, courtesy of Lucca, slammed into his side. Aku skidded into a pile of crates which fell down in cacophonous series of crashes. As the wolf tried to get free of the crates, Crono began to draw on his own magic. "Let's give him a run for his money – Delta Force!" he shouted. He, Marle and Lucca wove the spell between them. When Aku finally extricated himself from the boxes, they cast their spell.
There were three blinding flashes – white, blue and crimson – and Aku jerked at the impact of each. He resumed his original shape and glowered down at them. He was no longer amused.
"So, you are more powerful than I thought," he admitted, "But your power cannot match mine!" Aku lifted his fists and smashed them into the ground. The resulting shock knocked the three of them off their feet and sent the other objects in the bay flying. The corner of a crate hit Crono in the small of his back and sent a spasm of pain through his body.
Before he managed to recover Aku shifted again, this time into something that looked like a velociraptor. He bounded into the air, clearly intending to pounce on Crono and squash him flat. But he was caught in mid-jump by a flying icicle from Marle. Crono took the opportunity to get to his feet and grab his sword. He sheathed it – it was useless in this fight. He fired a lightning bolt instead, but missed and hit a pile of barrels instead.
Lucca, however, did not miss – she transfixed the demon with a bar of white-hot flame. Aku melted into an oily puddle and flowed toward Marle with quicksilver speed. Before anyone could act he had grabbed her and was holding her fast. He shifted back into his usual form, so that he was holding Marle in one hand. He lifted the struggling girl into the air.
"You," he hissed, "Will be the first to…what?" Aku's eyes went wide; he cried out and flung Marle away from him, then gripped his hand as if it had been burned. Marle hit the wall and fell to the floor. She managed to lift herself off the ground – Crono could see that the pendant around her neck was glowing brightly. It must have hurt Aku somehow.
But Marle was hurt too. She collapsed to the floor, unable to rise. Crono and Lucca ran to her, but Aku moved in to block their way. His eyes began to glow.
"Crono, get down!" Lucca shouted. She held up her hands and let forth another column of fire just as the beams shot forth from Aku's eyes. As Lucca and the demon struggled with each other, Crono ran to Marle's side and tried to help her get up again.
He heard an explosion and turned to see Lucca flying into a large crate. Aku whirled on him and raised his hands again. "Your efforts are useless! You are only human – you cannot win."
Crono felt something powerful and angry boil up inside him. It mixed with the magic he was tapping, intensifying its power and rushing through him like a tidal wave. He set Marle down gently and walked, slowly, to stand before the demon. Aku regarded him with a mixture of curiosity and incredulousness. Crono met him stare for stare.
"I…never…lose," he said through clenched teeth, as the magic poured out of him. He was lifted up into the air by the power, felt the energy crackling all through him. He wasn't himself anymore; he was pure, unstoppable power. Pure light.
The shockwave of blue-green energy carried Aku across the bay and slammed him into the opposite wall. Crono collapsed, the strange spell having taken all his energy from him. A moment ago he had been riding on an intense wave of power, but now he felt weak and drained. Lucca ran to him and Marle managed to get up and stumble to his side. The three of them huddled together and turned their gazes to Aku.
Although the Luminaire was powerful, it had not been powerful enough. Aku drew himself up again, then melted once more and flowed toward them. He reformed with a terrible scowl on his face and his hand raised high in the air, preparing to smite the three warriors who had no strength left in them to fight back. Crono prepared himself for the end.
"Akuuuuu!" Jack's howl caused the demon to whirl around. He snarled as the samurai's sword bit into his side. Marle let out a heartfelt cheer.
Jack landed from his leap and turned to face the demon again. He was a mess – his hair was a wild mane about his shoulders, his robe was in tatters and the cloth of it was stained with the blood of many wounds. But his fighting spirit was as strong as ever. He charged at Aku with his sword raised above his head.
Ketiya appeared from behind a pile of crates. She was hardly better off than Jack – when she darted behind an overturned barrel, Crono saw that she was running with a limp. When she appeared again behind a closer heap of boxes, he saw that there was a long gash in her thigh.
Even so, she grinned brightly at him. Crono smiled back at her. "Good to see you too," she told him.
~***~
Ketiya went to join the three and helped them to their feet. She was surprised that they'd managed to stand up to Aku for so long, but it had obviously taken all their strength to manage it. None of them were in any condition to fight – and anyway, it seemed as if the battle was just between Jack and Aku now.
Aku, now in the form of a preying mantis, stabbed one of his forelegs at Jack. When Jack dodged out of the way he did so clumsily; he and Ketiya had fought their way into the building, and the effort had taken a terrible toll on them both. Jack was running on reserves now, and there was no telling how long they would last.
He knew it, too. "Ketiya!" he shouted as he blocked a blow from Aku. "Get them to their ship! Get out of here!" He jumped out of the way as Aku took another swipe at him.
"But you…" Ketiya objected.
"Go!" he roared as he slashed at his adversary. There was no disobeying him.
Ketiya gritted her teeth. "All right. You heard him, come on." The four of them ran for the open door, toward the dock where the little white craft was parked. Her leg was solid agony with every step, but she tried to ignore it. As they reached the door, she thought frantically of something, anything, that she could do to help Jack.
Lucca jumped onto the ship and pulled a lever somewhere. The canopy of it had not yet fully risen when she was in the cockpit, opening a panel in the front of the ship. She took something off her belt and slammed it into the panel, then closed it and pressed a button. Inside the cockpit, lights flickered on and the sound of a warming engine accompanied the noise of the battle outside.
Ketiya went to help Crono get into the ship – he was took weak to do it on his own – and stepped back when all three had managed to get in the cockpit. "Go on. We'll be…all right," she said, knowing that it was a lie.
In the bay outside, the sound of the battle suddenly ceased. Then she heard Aku's grating voice. "It ends now, samurai."
And a terrible, agonized scream followed. Then, silence.
No…
~***~
Lucca knew what she had just heard. Ketiya was frozen, facing the door out into the bay, from which they could hear Aku's terrible laughter. Lucca gritted her teeth and took action.
She leaned out of the cockpit and, with a strength she didn't know she possessed, she pulled Ketiya in with her. She got Marle and Crono to sort the Ranger out while she prepared the Epoch for a time jump. The canopy closed over them, and Lucca set the dial as far forward as it would go. Then she hit the large yellow button.
She felt the familiar sensation of moving while staying in one place, and then the ship was flying through a blue tunnel. Lucca didn't breathe a sight of relief just yet – she wouldn't do so until the ship was safely arrived at its destination. After a few tense moments (or a zillion years, depending on where you stood), they were out of the blue tunnel, and surrounded by purple mist. She pressed a switch and the canopy lifted again.
There they were – the stone stairs. They led onto a floating platform, with a lamppost in its center, and an old, moustached man in a brown coat and bowler hat standing beneath it. He looked up and smiled when he saw them.
"Gaspar!" Marle cried. She leaped out of the ship and dashed up the stairs. "We tried to follow Crono's mother but the Epoch ran out of fuel and…" she fell silent as the Guru held up a hand.
"I know. I've been watching." He descended the stairs to the ship and helped Ketiya to get out. She seemed to be operating on autopilot. She wasn't blinking, either. Her eyes were frozen open.
Crono and Lucca got out of the ship. Each of them took one of her arms, and they led her to the small fountain in the corner of the platform. Lucca took the cup that sat on the edge of the fountain, filled it with the healing water, and put it to Ketiya's lips. Ketiya swallowed, then coughed; her wounds healed as if they had never been. She lost her thousand-yard stare and came back to reality at last.
But reality was something she could not face. She began to shudder, then she fell to her knees and put her head in her hands. "No…" she said in a hoarse whisper. She curled into a ball for a few moments. The three of them knelt around her. Lucca put out a hand to touch her shoulder, but drew it back quickly when Ketiya reared up and screamed.
The scream went on for an impossibly long time; then Ketiya collapsed into a fit of sobs. Marle put an arm around her shoulders and made shushing noises. Crono and Lucca exchanged glances.
Lucca took the cup and held it in the fountain again. She drank from it to heal her own wounds, then passed it to Crono, who drank from it as well. Marle, however, waved the cup away. She patted Ketiya on the back, trying to comfort her.
"Stop your crying, woman," a cold, dry and familiar voice said. "Tears never accomplished anything worthwhile."
Lucca whirled around to face the speaker. "Magus?" It was indeed him, Magus of the pale skin and pointed ears and flowing blue hair, as proud and haughty as he had ever been. "How did you…why…?" Crono and Marle just stared at him.
Magus strode up to them. "My methods are not any of your concern, nor are my motivations." He put a hand on Ketiya's head. She ceased her crying and jerked upward, then turned to face him. Her eyes were red and her face was streaked with tears. "You can save him, you know. I will help you do it."
Ketiya just looked at him for a few seconds. "How?" she asked in a raspy whisper.
"First," Magus said, "I need to see the pendant you are wearing." Ketiya blinked, then put a hand to her neck and drew out the pendant from beneath her tunic. It was made from the broken blade of a red crystal dagger, one that had through lucky circumstances saved a life. Magus took it in his hand and focused on it for a few moments. It began to glow; then the glow faded away.
Magus stood up again. "It now holds enough of a charge to transport the two of you to a safe place – just touch him and it will activate the spell. Now for the second thing." He reached into his cape and drew forth an arrow. He held it up so that everyone could see its silvery tip. "All you will need is one shot, if you do it correctly." He handed it to Ketiya, who took it and stood up. She looked at the arrow, then put it in the quiver (empty but for her bow) on her back.
"Thank you," she said numbly. She was obviously very confused, but then again, so was everyone else.
"And as for the rest…" Magus took a step back and gestured to the Guru of Time. "Gaspar?"
Gaspar stepped forward. "I can send you back. So much magic was used in that battle that it created perfect conditions for a Gate. But you'll only have a few seconds to change things."
"A few seconds are all she will need," Magus said. Gaspar nodded at him.
Ketiya stood up confidently. "Thank you both. I'll make good use of your gifts." She turned to the three teenagers. "And thank you too." She looked down at her feet. "I'm going to miss you all. I wish I could repay you somehow."
"You don't have to," Crono told her. "Just get back and do what you have to do."
"And when you can," Marle added, "Tell Jack that we said goodbye, and thanks for everything. We'd never have gotten back here without him."
"We couldn't have done it without you, either," Lucca said. "Thank you."
Ketiya looked at each of them, then smiled and opened her arms. They all hugged her. Marle started to cry.
"I just hate goodbyes," she choked out as they disengaged. "I have to say so many of them." Lucca found herself wondering, suddenly, where Magus was, but she didn't see him anywhere. He had left just as quickly and quietly as he had arrived. That was just like him.
Gaspar came up and touched Ketiya's arm. "The Gate's ready. How about you?" Ketiya nodded at him, and followed him up another set of stairs to a higher platform. Lucca and her friends went up as well, to see Ketiya on her way.
"Step into the pillar," Gaspar said, "And it will take you where and when you need to go."
Ketiya took her bow and Magus' arrow from her quiver, then fitted the arrow in the bowstring. "Farewell to you all," she told them, "And good luck."
"You too," Crono said. She's going to need it, Lucca thought. But she didn't say it. She just waved.
"Wait!" Marle insisted. Everyone turned to look at her. She took a small vial from her belt and handed it to Ketiya. "It's a healing tonic," she said. "He might need it." Ketiya took the little corked vial, looked at it, and put it in her own belt. Marle smiled at her and stepped back.
Ketiya nodded respectfully to them, then turned to the pillar of light. She took a deep breath, and then a step forward. Just like that, she was gone.
Lucca exchanged glances with her friends. "I hope everything works out all right," was all she could say.
Marle was looking thoughtfully at the pillar of light. "I have a feeling that it will," she said quietly.
~***~
The time warp was disorienting – Ketiya felt as if she were moving very fast while at the same time standing still. Then she found herself standing in the loading bay again. She pulled back the arrow in the bow, preparing to fire, and looked around.
There was Aku, with a clawed hand poised to strike, and there – her heart jumped – was Jack, on his back on the floor, looking up at Aku with an expression of defiance. Ketiya knew what she had to do.
She took aim as Aku spoke the words, "It ends now, samurai." Time seemed to slow to a stop as she watched her target, feeling more focused and more confident than she ever had before. Everything depended on this…one…shot… She let it fly, straight and true.
By the time the arrow had buried itself in Aku's arm, she was already running as fast as she could go. While the demon clawed at the painful shaft in his arm, she took a flying leap, and her fingers barely brushed Jack's shoulder.
~***~
Aku's hand came down, but when he lifted it he found that there was nothing beneath.
With a bellow of rage, he smashed his fist into the floor. "Next time," he said to himself, "Next time…"
~***~
There was a flash of blue-white light, and she fell on the grass of the Lady's courtyard with an impact that jarred her bones. But she hardly even felt it. She dropped her bow, turned around and scrambled on all fours to Jack. He was conscious, but just barely, and as she got to him he passed out completely. The fingers of his sword hand went limp and his katana slipped to the grass.
Ketiya pulled the vial that Marle had given her from her belt and ripped out the cork with her teeth. She lifted Jack into a sitting position with her other arm and, trying to quell the shaking of her hand, put the vial to his lips and trickled the stuff into his mouth. After a few terrible seconds, his wounds closed, and he opened his eyes.
"Ketiya? What just…" but he never got to finish the question, because she interrupted him with a kiss.
He was very surprised for a moment, but then he kissed her back, and lifted his hand to stroke his fingers through her hair.
Above them, the leaves of the Lady rustled contentedly.