Disclaimer: Nope, don't own, never did. Guess I'll go off and sulk in a corner now.
Author's Note: Hehe…I bet you're ready to lynch me by now! What's it been, over a week? Oh, and I apologize to you in advance for the crappy chapter. I suck royally at plot chapters, and this one would DEFINITELY be classified as plot. Noooo! Not the tar and feathers! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lucca winced painfully as a wave of dark plasmic energy totally engulfed her body. The pain was absolutely indescribable, almost as if dozens of knives were ruthlessly cutting through her flesh. Damn it all, why hadn't she just taken the two seconds to look over towards that other arm?! It sure would have saved her some pain…
The dark swirling cloud attacking her, its work now done, then dissipated as quickly as it had appeared; however, it didn't leave without a fight. With one last puff of energy, it raised Lucca up about six feet into the air and then slammed her to the rough, slimy ground. After being dazed for a few seconds, she stirred, moaning painfully, but with some effort she managed to crawl away and swallow a Full Tonic, which for the most part fully revitalized her. It just wasn't practical to ask Frog or Marle for a Cure spell, as they, along with Magus, were all fighting one of Lavos's arms over on the other end of the inner core.
Yes, you heard that right: they were now fighting Lavos. It hadn't been too hard to find him, after all; they just turned the time travel dial on the Epoch to 1999 A.D., witnessed when the spiky bastard had emerged from the Earth's crust, and then went to fight him. The battle maybe wasn't worse than what they had expected, but it sure was a lot different.
For one thing, there was more to Lavos than just the spiky outer shell, as they had just found out minutes ago. Everyone had thought that the stupid thing had died after Crono had severed that large orange eye, but then it appeared that the inside beyond the eye was hollow, that there seemed to be something else, that the REAL Lavos actually lived inside the outer creature. They hurried inside without any qualms, not stopping to think that if the outer shell was as strong as it had been, then the inside of the Lavos core might even be a hell of a lot more stronger.
That had led to where they were now, which was fighting a strange creature that looked like a cross between a roach and a samurai. A roach/samurai that had two arms which constantly cast nasty spells, like the one that had just hit Lucca, it had to be added. The stupid thing would have even looked laughable under normal circumstances, but...let's put it this way: even ridiculous-looking things look very scary when they're trying to kill you. And my sweet Lord, was it doing a good job at that. Ayla had been down twice, Crono and Frog both once, and, as previously demonstrated, Lucca had almost been knocked out herself. After all, it was inevitable; being attacked from three sides while trying to attack something yourself is quite a hard task.
That was the problem, Lucca mused, as she dusted herself off and threw herself back into the fray. Magus, Frog, and Marle were working hard on the right arm, as she, Crono, Robo, and Ayla were working on the left. If only they could go a little faster and take out at least one of the arms before everyone lost too much of their energy...
Crono raised his katana, which was dripping with purplish blood, and motioned for Lucca to cast a spell on it to power it up. She willingly obliged, doing her best to cast a good Fire 2 on it, after which he then leaped at Lavos's arm, hewing at it with all his might. Their little improvisional technique, which they had unofficially dubbed the Fire Sword 2, seemed to have some effect, as more blood spurted from the arm and it even seemed to droop a little. Lucca wasted no time and made preparations to cast her most powerful spell, Flare, but then- but then...
It hit her again. Before Crono or ANYONE could do anything, that terrible Shadow attack hit her again. It normally wouldn't have been a spell that would have even stunned her, but already weakened from several other attacks as she was, the results were not good. She could feel the vitality literally seeping out of her; giving one last cry, she did a header onto the floor and went unconscious almost immediately. The last thing she thought at that moment happened to be, "Geez, what an undignified way to die..."
***
Marle hit the table angrily. "I can't believe this!! You mean she's still knocked out?!"
Crono, crossing the room to sit across the table from her, nodded silently.
"But is she okay? I mean, she's breathing, right? So what could be wrong?"
"I told you, I turned around and I saw that big dark beam attacking her! I GUESS that's what knocked her out, along with some other hits she probably took. But even the doctor says she's okay. It'll just take her awhile to come around, that's all."
"But the Moonlight Parade's tonight! She'll totally miss it! And-and what about the others? She won't even be able to say goodbye to them!"
The two stared at each other, realization suddenly striking both of them like thunderbolts, but neither said a thing more about the subject, as each thought the other was totally in the dark. After an awkward, ten second silence:
"We can only hope she wakes up soon," Crono said thoughtfully, drumming his fingers upon the table. "As I said, she's perfectly fine, but just a little weak from that shadow beam. And I'm not surprised, either: the main gist of Shadow attacks are to sap the energy out of their victims, aren't they?"
Both jumped a little as the door suddenly opened. They found that the intruder was Crono's mom, who came in balancing two grocery bags and a rather large sack of kitty litter. "Oh, it's you two," she said, setting her burdens down and bustling over to the fridge. "How about some lemonade?" Not bothering to allow them to answer her question, she reached inside for the pitcher and went over to the cupboard to get some glasses. "But where are your other friends? I saw them with you only a few hours ago!"
Crono waved her off. "Oh, they're scattered all around, Mom. They'll be back when it gets closer to night."
"And where's that other friend of yours, Lucca? Now I haven't seen her at ALL! Don't tell me the two of you had some petty fight! It's going to be too wonderful a night to be feeling angry at someone, young man!"
Crono fought the strange urge to laugh. "Oh, we're fine, Mom. She just hasn't been feeling well lately, that's all. Don't worry about it."
"Oh, dear! I didn't know! But of course, I haven't talked to Taban or Lara lately. They've only just come back from that trip down south, after all..." She trailed off, staring away absentmindedly as she handed the glasses of lemonade to both Crono and Marle. "But you know, I'd keep both hands on your wallets tonight at the parade if I were you, dears! And you keep an eye on your pretty lady friend tonight, Crono, you hear? Lots and lots of weirdos around town and out on the fairgrounds today. Why, I saw a young man wearing purple skins and a pair of slippers! And he had a bone in his hair! A BONE! The get-ups you see on young people these days..." She swept out of the room and up the stairs, continuing to grumble to herself about the state of the world.
Crono and Marle both gulped as they stared at each other. "Oops," Marle groaned. "That must have been Kino."
Crono rolled his eyes. "Tell me again why you wanted them to stay a little longer?"
Marle exclaimed, "Well, I thought they'd all like to see the parade! It won't hurt anything, will it?"
"No...it's just that we've gotta keep an eye on things at the fairgrounds. Yesterday we all saw what was starting to happen, and screwing up history is really the last thing we want to do..." He trailed off, staring out the kitchen window thoughtfully.
He probably would have stared outside for close to an hour, but suddenly a bird hit the window rather violently and he came back to reality. "But honestly, Marle---" he added, smiling at her quite shyly. "Thanks for everything. Thanks for risking your neck to get everyone. I'd probably have my head chopped off right now if it wasn't for you rounding up Doan and all those people."
"Heh-heh, I didn't do it for you, you dork, I did it for myself!" She grinned at him flirtatiously.
He smirked. "I bet you did, Princess..." Suddenly, though, as if remembering something, he got up and downed the last of his lemonade. "Oh crap, that's right! Just make yourself at home here, I'll be right back! I'm just going to go check again. We're better off being safe than sorry, anyway..." He gave Marle a small peck on the lips and headed out again.
***
A small groan escaped from Lucca's dry, cracked lips as she hovered between sleep and consciousness. When it all came down to it she was reluctant to leave her lethargic state; there was the nice dream she was having, for one thing---she was out in a grassy meadow with her friends; all were just laughing and talking and joking around. Even Magus was there, looking as happy as the rest. ...Well, everything is possible when it comes to dreams, isn't it?
However, just when the wonderful dream was stating to take a strange but even more happy turn (Magus was starting to get rather amorous), it was then that her brain told the rest of her body to get the hell up. Her eyelids fluttered open and she groaned again as she struggled to bring the room into better focus.
Ugh, she felt terrible. Damn mornings and everything connected with them! All of her limbs felt like dead weights, her hair seemed to have more grease than a ten year old deep fryer, and worst of all, she had a headache that probably was capable of blowing the top off Mt. Kilamanjaro. Trying to ignore her less-than-great-feeling state, she stared around at her surroundings, attempting to piece together just what had happened and where she was at the moment.
(Hmmm, now THIS is a sight I'd never thought I'd see again.) She seemed to be in her room and it was during the day; a small sliver of sunlight poked its way through the room's venetian blinds and onto her brightly colored afghan. But who was that figure sitting on her chair across the room? She couldn't tell; everything looked so fuzzy...
"Wh-what happened?" she managed to choke out, feeling confused above all else.
The person looked up, perhaps a little startled at her sudden awakening, and replied in an excited but very familiar voice, "My God, Lucca! We never thought you'd wake up! It's been two days!"
Well, that ruled out Magus....
The mystery person quickly jumped out of the chair and went up to her, grabbing her glasses from the nearby shelf and hastily putting them on her. Lucca blinked dazedly as Crono's visage slowly swam into view. Standing over her bedside and peering down at her worriedly, he looked like he just might barf of happiness at the same time.
"Crono...it's you! And...we're alive?? But- but what went on out there?"
Crono cleared his throat. "Well, Lavos is dead. The rest of us managed to kill him. But you were knocked out pretty badly by that shadow beam. We were so worried! Not even Revives or Life spells could get you up! The most we could do was put you down out of the way and grab ahold of you when we escaped. And now -well- it's been two days since then. You've been out ever since."
Lucca felt a little disconcerted. "Two days?! That long?! But where's everyone else? Where's-"
"Oh, Magus, you mean? He practically hasn't left your side since we got back. Well, not until I told him to get his ass downstairs and get some sleep, anyway..."
"DOWNSTAIRS?! My parents aren't back, are they?! Because if they are-"
"Relax, Lucca, relax. He's crashed out on the sofa and your parents know all about it. I had to tell them everything, you see. I couldn't lie about what happened to you, so-"
"But-but-"
"It's O.K.! It's really O.K.! They know all about Lavos; I showed them proof of it! But I DIDN'T tell them that Magus was from another era, much less that he's the guy that almost destroyed Guardia back in 600. I'll leave that up to you."
"Thank God...They'd just freak if they knew that..."
"Well, anyway," Crono went on, scratching the back of his head absentmindedly, "everyone's alive and well and they're all here in Truce right now. And you woke up just in time, too! The last night of the Millennial Fair is tonight, and there's gonna be a Moonlight Parade in the royal family's honor. Everyone from miles around is going to be there, and-"
Lucca, however, was still a little worried about what had happened. "So Lavos is really dead? Has history changed at all?"
"Well, the Black Omen's out of the sky. Disappeared without a trace... And then what parts of 1999 A.D. we could see before we had to escape seem to be undamaged... Yeah, I think history's changed quite a bit, but for the better."
Lucca smiled. "Well, let's see if I can get up. I'm not too keen on missing that parade tonight, after all!"
Crono quickly helped her out of bed and then left her, explaining to her that everyone else was anxious to know of her condition and that he'd better fill them in on the news. Lucca happily waved him goodbye, promising that she and Magus would meet them all at his house later so they could all go to the parade together.
Words could not describe how happy Lucca was at the moment. They had finally defeated Lavos, everyone was safe and well despite the whole ordeal, and now there was going to be a celebration at the Square tonight. She could really rest easy now...
She would not have been so happy had she caught the still-worried expression on Crono's face as he left.
***
"You know, you shouldn't exactly be up and about, four-eyes."
Lucca craned her neck to the side and stared at Magus, who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking even grumpier than usual. Now how had he gotten there all of a sudden? Crono had said he was asleep...
Finishing with the coffee she had been pouring for herself (being asleep for two days definitely made one groggy), she put her hands on her hips and turned to face Sir Pissed-Off-A-Lot. "Oh, and what kind of a greeting is that, moron? No 'hello, Lucca, I was so worried about you'? No 'oh, Lucca, I love you so much, I never want to you leave me ever again'? No, instead of a normal greeting all I happen to get is 'you know, you shouldn't exactly be up and about, four-eyes'. Oh, I feel sooooo loved."
Magus's scowl deepened, as she sat at the table with her coffee cup, continuing on, "So I suppose defeating Lavos hasn't exactly made you happier, has it? You still have that weird look on your face; you know, like you're constipated or something."
He still continued to glare at her.
"Well, don't just stand there, you grump! Pull up a chair and have some coffee or something! The very happiness saps right out of me from just looking at you!"
Reluctantly, he left his spot in the doorway and sat at the table across from her. But he didn't seem to be too keen on talking. In fact, he sat in complete silence.
Lucca stared across the table worriedly. What was wrong with him? Magus wasn't exactly the most talkative person in the world, but...this was just weird. He might with the others, but he NEVER just sat in complete silence, not wanting to talk, whenever he was with just HER. So what had happened?
She decided that getting to the bottom of it was the best route to go. "Would you just cut the crap already?!" she exclaimed at him. "What's wrong with you?! You really DO look constipated, the way YOU'RE acting!"
Magus looked up. She half expected him to be angry at her little outburst, but instead there was, well...nothing. In fact, it might even be safe to say that he looked a little...worried. Whoa. Now THIS was scary. Magus...worried? She never thought she'd be putting those two words in the same sentence!
Finally he spoke. "It ends tonight. Tonight I must go back to my own time---and you obviously must stay in yours. It doesn't look like we'll be seeing each other again..."
Lucca stared at him in disbelief for a second...and then suddenly started to laugh hysterically. "You idiot!" she exclaimed. "I think you're forgetting something! Hello---it's called the Epoch?! Time won't be able to stop us! We'll be able to see each other whenever we want!"
He rolled his eyes. "Didn't that spiky-haired fool tell you ANYTHING when you woke up?! The Epoch is nothing but a scrap heap at the moment---Lavos destroyed it when we first landed. It was sheer dumb luck that we managed to find a Gate nearby and get to the End of Time using that...and now it looks like the Gates themselves are beginning to wear out."
Lucca laughed again. "Don't be silly! Gates don't just disappear! As long as we have the Gate Key we'll be able to control them whenever we want!"
"Aren't you forgetting something, poindexter? The Gates are somehow connected with Lavos, aren't they? Well, that means if Lavos disappears, then so will the Gates. And the one by the fairgrounds is already beginning to weaken. Now how's that for your faulty reasoning?!"
Lucca's mouth dropped open. Of course---it all made perfect sense. Lavos was most likely the one responsible for all the time distortions, and once he was gone, the Gates themselves would likely cease to exist. But why did it have to be so unfair?! It looked like Magus indeed was right. With the Epoch gone and the Gates starting to disappear as well, it looked like the two's budding young relationship was about to be snuffed out.
"Are- are you positive about this?" she managed to choke out at him.
"Absolutely."
Lucca suddenly became aware that she was fighting back tears. "Why- why don't you just stay in this time?" she desperately tried to reason with him. "I mean, after all, you don't really officially BELONG to any one time period, do you?"
"On the contrary," he replied coldly, "I rather much BELONG to 12,000 B.C., if only for my sister's sake. I am almost positive that she is not dead, and although things are looking futile at the moment, I feel it my duty to search for her. I owe her that much, at least."
Lucca sputtered angrily. "You- you are so IMPOSSIBLE! And you have the gall to say that MY reasoning is faulty?! You'd rather go off and try to find your sister, who is currently impossibly lost and very possibly not even alive?! How's THAT for faulty reasoning?! Why don't you just admit it? You're sick of me and you want a way out!"
"As dubious as it may sound to you, I WOULD stay with you if I had the choice! But I don't. This is something I have to do, whether I want to or not!"
"Have to, my ass! Your own stupid pride is on the line, and that's REALLY the only thing that's keeping you!" She stood up, white with fury and hands clenched at her sides, feeling hurt and confused beyond words. "Well, if your pride is SOOOO damn important to you, then why don't I be the one to tag along?! I'll go with YOU to 12,000 B.C. and that's how it'll be. How about it?" She knew that if this came to pass she would be making a huge sacrifice on her part, but…Let's face it, if they were separated now, she would be completely miserable. And that was something that had to be avoided at all costs. If she was the one that had to keep them together, then she would do it.
However, her reasoning never got to be proved, as Magus chuckled humorlessly and cut back, "As intelligent as you are, four-eyes, you do not even realize what you're saying. You are saying that you will sacrifice your comfortable home surrounded by good friends for cold, starvation, unfamiliarity, and ME, no less. I would be a moron to allow it! As much as you have done lately, you're still quite young and VERY sheltered. No, you're staying HERE, at HOME, where you belong, whether you like it or not!"
"You talk as if I'm a child!"
"You ARE!! And that's all the more reason I cannot allow you!!"
"Let me ask you this: do you even care about me at ALL?! Because the more we talk, the more it seems you don't!"
"You really don't understand my point, do you?" he said coolly, trying very hard to pretend that he was unaffected by her words. "My point is is that I do this only because I care. 12,000 B.C. isn't exactly the easiest place to live, and I should certainly know; I grew up there! Life there is hard and miserable; in reality you will ultimately end up regretting it. Just listen for once!"
Even the words "I care" were not enough to placate Lucca's rage. "Bastard! Why don't you just tell the truth; that you've had your fun and now you're sick of me?! Just admit it, why don't you?! You never cared for me at all; I can see that plainly now!"
"No, you don't-"
"Oh, just shut up! I'm sick of you trying to make excuses! They're not gonna cover up what you did, and- oh hell, I'm sick of talking! I- I HATE YOU!!" Slapping his face even harder than the last time, she turned away and ran off towards the door, sobbing uncontrollably.
***
"Um…Lucca?"
Lucca tried to ignore the persistent voice that had been trying to get her attention for the past three minutes. Pretending to be enticed by an especially large explosion of violet colored fireworks, she shifted slightly on her perch, which was on the lip of the elaborate fountain in the square. She honestly didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment, not even Crono…
"Lucca?"
She didn't care. She was determined to ignore him. Besides, facing him would mean that he would see the silent tears still running down her flushed cheeks. No, she would NOT let anyone know that she had been deeply affected by the whole matter! No, that would mean Magus had won, and she certainly was not going to allow THAT to happen.
"LUCCA!!"
So he was going to play hardball, was he? Damn him anyway! It had always been that way; he had never been able to take a hint! Why couldn't he just leave her in peace, like most normal people would?!
"LUCCA! Dammit, I know you can hear me! Stop pretending!" Lucca's heart sank when she felt Crono's hand grab her shoulder and wrench her around his way. (Shit! Of all the best friends there are in the world, why do I have to have the most persistent one?!)
Crono stared at her worriedly for a second but then said very gently, "Listen, it's not your fault. It's nobody's fault. Sometimes it happens; things don't always work out perfectly and you get stuck."
Lucca started up another wave of crying. "But he didn't even care about me! Not one bit! He was probably just using me the entire time, and I was stupid enough to-"
"You don't know that, Lucca…"
"Oh, but I do! Why else would he cast me off like that?"
"Listen, this isn't the end of the world. There'll be others-"
"Oh, THAT'S a real comfort!"
"Lucca, it's going to be fine. Just trust me on this one. I know it hurts right now, but-- eventually the pain will leave. It's not gonna stay permanently. Now I think it's high time you say goodbye to your friends. The Gate's not gonna hold much longer, and if we don't go now, you'll probably never see them again."
"But I don't WANT to! He'll be there!"
"Lucca, I know you're brave. You always have been, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Just hold your head up high and ignore him. Now come on already! Three days later you'll end up wishing that you said goodbye to Frog and the others!"
Lucca wiped her face gingerly. "Oh, all right, all right. I guess you've got a good point."
He gently steered her across the Square, over towards the back clearing where her father's Telepod was set up, the place where all of this nasty business had started. As they walked over she stared miserably at her surroundings. At the throngs of happy, well-fed people. At the beautiful display of fireworks and colored lights that danced and flashed as far as the eye could see. At the many attractions and stands and booths that were set up throughout the premises.
Damn, she hated it all.
***
They turned a corner and suddenly the rest of the group came into view. Making sure to pick a path that was nowhere near Magus, who was standing and scowling over to the left, looking like he was damn well ready to just jump inside the Gate the minute someone held up the Key, Crono continued to steer Lucca closer to everyone. Finally they stopped at the immediate righthand side of the Gate, near the controls of the Telepod. Marle, who smiled at Lucca as they passed, also stood nearby. Lucca could only glower back. Damn that princess. She never had to worry about anything.
The Gate was starting to glow a faint pale blue color and it was also starting to waver and distort, so it was decided that they had better say goodbye quickly, as the thing might disappear altogether any minute now. Crono grabbed the Gate Key and started to open the Gate for those that had other time periods to go back to. Ayla was first, and then Robo. Frog was the third to go; his goodbye had been an especially tearful one; both Lucca and Marle had always had an especial soft spot for the poor guy (or at least they did after they got over their fear of him). Finally it was Magus's turn.
He never looked at anyone; he just looked straight ahead and walked briskly towards the Gate. Lucca could feel herself tense as he came closer. Damn him, he didn't even seem affected! He had gone away feeling nothing while her heart, on the other hand, had been shattered into pieces.
Everything seemed to go in slow-motion. As Magus continued to get closer and closer to the Gate… As Crono slowly held up the Key and opened up the portal… As the portal itself suddenly began to waver even more unstably, looking as if it was going to dissipate any moment now… One of Magus's feet was bathed in the blue light…
Suddenly, though, something unexpected happened. It only took a second, but that split second changed Lucca's life forever. Suddenly Marle flashed a grin at her and unceremoniously pushed her into the Gate right behind Magus, who had actually disappeared only a moment before.
Lucca closed her eyes as she felt the familiar sensation of traveling between epochs. Dammit, how would she get herself out of this predicament NOW?! And what would Magus say? It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he wouldn't be happy about this.
After emerging from the Gate, which immediately disappeared behind her and took away any hope of going back to the fairgrounds, she dusted herself off and looked around nervously. Magus, who was a few feet away from her and looking for the Gate to 12,000 B.C., turned and raised an eyebrow at her.
Author's Note: Hehe! Until next time! Right now I'm writing up the epilogue, and it's gonna be pretty long, so I have no idea when I'm posting it. Here's a little hint, by the way: I'm gonna have more fun writing it than all of the other chapters combined. It's THAT weird! Hehe!
And yes, I know that the ending that I wrote isn't quite in sync with the game. But hey, I said before that it's slightly AU, right? Plus I haven't played Chrono Trigger for awhile and I can't quite remember the main ending.
It also has been brought to my attention that some people seem to want a sequel. I have been playing with the idea for a little 2 or 3 chapter vignette myself and am wondering if there are any others who would like one as well. I know some people might not because sometimes sequels aren't as good as the original piece, but… Well anyway, just let me know. I really can't guarantee it because I don't have a main plot yet and it also won't be out right away (let's just say I'm working on a little piece with Seph and Vinny and a bungalow), but if some people want it, then I guess I can attempt it.
Thanks for all the reviews! They really have been wonderful lately!