PLEASE don't make me do this… I don't wanna… Okay, fine. I don't own Chrono Cross or any of its characters. I do own Ana, though.
Chapter 4: The Storm
The wind was strong and they were making good time on the small fishing boat. They were only about a half an hour from Arni, where they would gather some supplies and then head to Mt. Pyre. Ana sat near the back of the boat. Serge and Glenn were back at the front. For a while, things were tense between them. Ana overheard the word 'kid' come up many times, but that was about it. Now, though, the tenseness was gone, and they were back to normal. "Whoa!" SPLASH! Glenn fell overboard after Serge pushed him. Serge was laughing so hard that Ana thought that he might fall overboard, himself. Glenn's head popped up out of the water. He smiled an evil smile. He grabbed the side of the boat and pulled. Hard. Serge, who was standing up at the time, fell overboard. Ana was the one laughing this time. Serge and Glenn looked at each other. They grabbed Ana's arms. "No!" They smiled and nodded, and then proceeded to pull her off the boat. When her head popped up out of the water, she attacked the nearest person to her. It was Glenn. They got into a major water fight. It lasted for a few minutes. Serge had taken down the sail and was now on the boat cheering them on. "Watch out, Glenn! Behind you! Oops. Too late!" Ana now had Glenn underwater and was holding him there. When he started thrashing wildly, she let him up. "Guys." Serge said quietly. Glenn and Ana looked up at Serge. His face was pale. He was looking at the distant sky. Glenn and Ana looked in the direction he was looking in. What they saw caused their faces to pale also. They were looking directly into a large tropical storm. A large tropical storm that hadn't been there five minutes ago. The wind was already picking up. Glenn and Ana scrambled onto the boat. "Where'd that come from?" Glenn asked. "You saw what this 'evil' can do. He commands monsters. I think he did this too. He's trying to stop us." Ana's mouth was open, but no sound came out. Finally she mustered, "What in Gaia are we going up against?" Serge shook his head, "I don't know. I just don't know."
SPLASH! Another wave hit the small boat. "There it is! There's Arni!" Serge yelled barely over the howling wind. He was pointing at a small village in the distance. SPLASH! The boat nearly tipped over. Ana screamed and Glenn moved over to her to stop her from panicking. Serge was fighting the sail. "We'll never make it at this rate! We need to take down the sail! The wind's blowing us everywhere!" Glenn got up to help Serge with the sail. SPLASH! The sky was dark now, there were black clouds as far as the eye could see. Lightning flashed and for a moment everything was visible. They all wished they didn't see what they saw. There was a giant wave coming. It was enormous! They started up the incline. "HOLD ON!" Serge yelled. They were nearly vertical now. Ana was doing all she could to hold on, but she was slipping. They barely made it over the top of the wave, and it wasn't over yet! Because now they were airborne! The wind whipped around them as they fell. SPLASH! The boat hit the water! CRACK! The mast for the sail broke in half and fell overboard. "No!" Serge yelled. "Serge! She's gonna fall apart if we don't do something soon!" Glenn yelled back. "You think I don't know that? There's no where to go, but Arni! Everywhere else, there's the danger of the reef! We have to make it to Arni!" Glenn nodded. "Well, we'd better get there soon, or we're all dead!" Despite the circumstances, Serge laughed. His laughter was cut short as he saw the next wave. It was twice the size of the last one, and it was already white-capping. There was no way they could make it over this one! "Hold on!" The wave crashed down on the small boat.
Ana awoke to the sound of birds chirping. For a few seconds she had completely forgotten everything. Then it all came flooding back to her. The dragon. Chrono Trigger. The boat. The water-fight. The storm. The wave. Her eyes widened. Am I the only one left? She thought while looking around frantically. There was no one in sight. She looked for her bow and arrows, they were gone. She looked up at the sky, it was a dark blue color. It was nearly dusk. There was no evidence that the storm even had happened. She got up. I'd better find shelter. She looked behind her and saw a lush rain forest. There was a pathway leading through it. She smiled. Where there's a pathway, there's people. She started down the pathway.
She had expected a lot of things at the end of the pathway. What she got was slightly more different. Not much less disappointing though. She arrived at a shallow pond. There was a crescent-shaped island in the middle. There were also small fairies milling around. Everywhere. There were hundreds of them! All activity stopped when she stepped into the pond. All eyes were on her. Two fairies, one in a blue dress and one in a green one, flew over to her. "You! Why are you here?" The first one asked. The one in the green dress was much nicer, "Hello, I am Razzly and this is my sister, Rosita. May I inquire as to the reasons of your visit?" Ana smiled, Razzly was a lot nicer. "I–My friends and I were shipwrecked. I woke up just a little while ago. I was looking for some shelter." Razzly smiled, "Because of your circumstances, we will be willing to provide food and shelter for you until you can secure a way back to the mainland. But we require that you leave as soon as possible." Ana smiled, "Hey. Have you seen any other humans around here?" Razzly thought for a moment and then nodded, "We have had reports of a male human down that path." She pointed at another path. Ana thanked her and ran down the path.
She ran down the path for a half an hour before she decided to take a break. "I didn't know that the path would be this long!" Her stomach grumbled, "Ugh, I'm hungry." She looked around for something to eat, she didn't see anything. "Well, I guess I'd better continue." There was a rustling in the brush beside her. She froze. She saw a flash of blue. There was another rustling behind her. She spun around and saw nothing. She heard a soft growl from somewhere. She chose that time to run. As she ran there was a crash behind her. She looked over her shoulder, there were at least a dozen Lagoonates chasing her. I wish I had my bow and arrows right about now. She thought. Then she got an idea. She stopped and turned to look at the blue creatures. She smirked as they surrounded her. They just looked at her, hunger was in their eyes. They were waiting for the order to attack. She didn't give them a chance to get that order. Her eyes flashed a bright yellow as she called up the magic attack 'Lightning'. The Lagoonates watched in curiosity as she slowly lifted off the ground. FLASH! Electricity crackled between her fingertips. Her hair stuck out in all directions. FLASH! A nearby Lagoonate was struck dead by a lightning bolt. FLASH! Another one was picked off. FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! Three more were dead. FWOOSH! She was hit by a stream of water. The electricity that she had so well controlled had now turned on her. She screamed as the water caused the electricity to electrocute her. She fell to the ground. Her clothes and hair were sizzling. Her leg was sprained. The remaining ten or so moved in to finish her. Her eyes widened as a webbed hand grabbed her off the ground. Saliva dripped off of the Lagoonate's teeth. The sunlight reflected off of a nearby object. She turned her head to look at it. There stood Glenn. His brown hair was matted against his face and his were ripped, but he still stood there. Ana and Glenn's eyes met. He winked. The Lagoonates saw him and moved into an attacking position. The one about to devour Ana stayed. It wasn't about to give up a meal. But the distraction gave Ana enough time to start concentrating on another magic attack. The first change was that her eyes went from green to an icy blue. Then her skin did the same. Next her skin became freezing cold. She began to feel power welling up in her hands. She smiled and looked into the Lagoonate's black eyes. It had no idea what she was about to do. She touched the creature's arm with her hand and, instantly, ice began to cover it. The Lagoonate roared in pain as the ice covered his entire arm began to spread to the rest of its body. Ana's weight on its now completely frozen arm was too much. It broke off, and Ana fell to the ground. There, she was reminded of her sprained leg. She was startled as a hand was extended in front of her face. She looked up and Glenn's and her eyes locked once again. She swatted his hand away and tried to get up herself. She was able to stand, but as she tried to walk she tripped and fell. Glenn grabbed her arm and stopped her fall before she could hit the moist ground. He pulled her up with ease. "Thanks..." She said quietly. Before he could reply she said, "But I didn't need your help!" She pushed him down. Seconds later she toppled over on top of him. They stayed like that, staring into each other's eyes for a few seconds. It was almost romantic, that is until, "Can you get off me? You're hurting me." Glenn said with a strained voice. Ana then noticed that her knee was in Glenn's stomach. She smirked and put more weight on the knee. Glenn let out a big "Oof!" Ana laughed and rolled off of him. She winced at her swollen ankle. Glenn got up and pulled her up before she could object. "Now, come on. We need to look for Serge." Ana looked at him in surprise, "What? If you haven't noticed, my ankle has been sprained. It'll be kinda hard for me to do anything." Glenn smirked, "What? Can't you handle a little bit of walking?" Ana growled. "It's not that. It's just–" Glenn cut her off, "It's just what? Too painful? If it hurts too much, I'll carry you." Ana's eyes widened as Glenn swept her off of her feet. "Let me down you big overgrown oaf!" She started to hit him. Glenn just smiled and continued down the path with her in his arms.
"Plus, how do you know he's even around? For all we know, he might be dead!" Ana complained. They had been on the path for another hour by now. Glenn laughed, "Serge's stronger than both of us put together times two. If we managed to make it, I guarantee he's still alive. In fact, he's probably built a shelter now!" Ana was silent, and then started complaining again. "Ya know, for a rugged thief, you sure don't act like you've been living on the streets very long." Ana froze. Does he know? "Say? How long have you been a thief, any–" He was cut off as they reached the end of the path and found themselves at another beach. There was a figure down farther along the beach. "You see? What'd I tell you? There he is now." And it was indeed Serge. But he wasn't in the state that they expected. His eyes were red as if he'd been crying, there were the remains of his boat in front of him. He looked up at them, Ana noticed a tear roll down his cheek. He had been crying. Ana was dumbstruck. Serge was crying! Over what? His boat? Glenn sat Ana down onto the sand and walked over to his friend's side. "Serge? Are you okay, man?" Serge didn't reply, he just looked out to the ocean. Ana crawled over to where they were, "Serge. It's okay, you can always get another boat." Serge stiffened. Glenn sighed, "It's not the boat." Serge looked at the remains of his boat and whispered, "Kidd."
Glenn told Ana everything about their former adventure. Serge hadn't moved from that spot during the entire story. "So, the main you are in this is to save Kidd?" Glenn shook his head, "No. I'm in it to save the world, although saving Kidd is very important to me also." Ana nodded, "What about Serge? Why is he in it." Glenn looked at his best friend, now he was messing with the dagger he had found, "I'm not sure anymore. He wants to save the world and everything, but Kidd is the world to him." He smiled, "Although I'm not sure when it happened. He and Kidd never got into a real relationship on our adventures." Ana looked at Glenn, "You don't understand love, do you? Being away from a person can make you love him or her even more!" Glenn nodded, "I guess you're right." Ana yawned, "Now. If you will excuse me. I'm tired, and I want some sleep."
Glenn looked at Ana's sleeping form. "What do you think about her?" Glenn jumped, and looked to see Serge sit beside him. Glenn smiled, Serge looked a lot better. "I don't know, Serge. I feel kinda weird around her though. I can tell you that much. She's really an amazing woman. So independent, but at the same time, so fragile almost." Serge smiled at his friend and gave him a pat on the back. "So. Can the boat be repaired?" Glenn asked. Serge looked at the scattered pieces of wood on the shore. He shook his head. "Okay then. Do you think we could use it for firewood?" Serge smiled, "If we let the remains dry in the sun, they should be fine by night." Ana shivered in the cool ocean breeze. Glenn sighed, "Well, I guess I'd better get going." Serge looked at him, "What do you mean?" Glenn laughed, "I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm about to run to the fairy village and try to find some blankets for her. Er... I mean us." Serge chuckled, "Okay, be careful, friend." Glenn smiled. "Of course." He gathered his swords and ran down the path. Serge watched Glenn run out of sight, and got up. He grabbed the Mastermune and headed toward the tree line. It was time to start building another boat.
Ana awoke to the sound and heat of a crackling fire. She felt a heaviness on her chest. She looked down to find two heavy, wool blankets over her. She also noticed that her ankle had been bandaged. She looked around at where she was. Serge and Glenn had built a shelter over her. The shelter simply composed of a roof and supports, but it would do. She saw Serge across the fire from her, with one blanket on him. It looked as if he was whittling with the dagger he had. On closer inspection, she saw that he was cutting a log up for a boat mast. She looked to where Glenn was, just a few feet away from her. He had, at sometime, lost his shirt and he was sleeping soundly. He had no blanket and was using a rock for a pillow. That's when Ana noticed her pillow, Glenn's rolled-up shirt. She slowly got up. She groaned and Serge looked at her. "What happened?" She asked. "Where did these blankets come from?" Serge smiled. "Glenn. He ran all the way to the fairy village and all the way back to get those for us. Then he ended giving you his. He also bandaged your ankle, and gave you his shirt. You really need to thank him." Ana absorbed all of this and smiled. "Yes. I guess I do." Ana was silent for a moment. "How 'bout you? Are you okay?" Serge laughed, "Why wouldn't I be o–"
"Glenn told me everything." Serge sighed, "Oh. He told you. Everything?" Ana nodded, "Yeah. He did." Serge was silent. "Serge. I–I'm sorry." Serge looked at her. "Why? You have nothing to be sorry about."
"I know. I'm just saying that I'm sorry about everything that has happened to you. It has to be hard." Serge nodded slowly, "Yeah. And getting shipwrecked makes it even worse. Every second I don't save her, she has more of a chance of dying! This evil can't destroy the world in a matter of days, but it would only take a split-second to kill her!" He threw the dagger into the sand in anger. Glenn groaned, and Serge went back to his mast. "Is there anything that I can do?" Serge thought about that for a moment and then tossed her a make-shift fishing pole. "We could use some food." Ana smiled and limped toward a small rock that hung over the ocean.
When Glenn awoke, the first thing he noticed was that Ana was gone. The second thing he noticed was that he had a blanket draped over him now. The third was that he didn't have his shirt back. And finally the last thing he noticed was that it was now morning. He groaned and sat up. His stomach grumbled. A large, cooked piece of fish was cooking over the dying fire. He looked at Serge quizzically. "Go ahead. It's yours." Glenn nodded and grabbed the hot fish off of the stick it was cooking on. In between bites he asked, "Who caught the fish?" Serge pointed at the figure of Ana. She was sitting on top of a rock with a fishing pole in her hand. "She fishes too?!" Glenn asked half-jokingly, half-seriously. Serge smiled and nodded. "So. Let's get started on that boat." Glenn said after a few moments of silence. Serge smiled and helped Glenn off of the ground. "Okay, we've got the mast nearly done, we just need to build the body now. Two or three good-sized trees should do it." Glenn nodded and got out his two swords.
CRASH! Ana jumped at the sound of the felled tree. She looked over her shoulder to see Glenn and Serge working on another tree. They were using their weapons like axes. She got up and limped over to where they were. "What's going on?" Serge and Glenn stopped working and turned to her. "We're building another boat." Glenn said, "Why don't you go back to fishing, we'll have it done in a couple of hours, I think." Serge sighed, "It'll probably take us most of the day, Glenn." Glenn made a face. "It'll take us a couple of hours to cut down the trees and cut them into small enough pieces." Ana smirked, "I am not going to sit around all day long!" Glenn looked back at her, "Ana, you have a sprained ankle, you aren't going to be able to do much else!" Ana glared at him, "Watch me, Glenn!" Her eyes turned yellow and her hair stuck out in all directions. She pointed her hand at a nearby tree trunk and concentrated. FLASH! The trunk was hit by a huge bolt of lightning. The part of the trunk where the lightning hit shattered. The tree groaned and toppled over. She looked at the two boys and smirked at their open mouths. "Okay, now I believe you about that magic stuff." Glenn said after a few moments of awkward silence.
FLASH! The final tree trunk fell and Ana floated down to the ground. She landed wrong and yelped when she felt the sharp pain in her ankle. Glenn was by her side immediately. "Are you okay?" Ana looked into Glenn's eyes, "Yeah. I'm okay." Glenn offered her his hand, this time she took it. Glenn pulled her up, their eyes never left each other. "Are you two done? We still have a lot of work to do." Serge's voice brought Ana out of her trance and she noticed how close Glenn's face was to hers. She smiled and promptly pushed Glenn down onto the ground.
After using the magic a couple more times, Ana was exhausted. Serge and Glenn looked at her, silently asking why she stopped. "I can't–" She said in between deep breaths, "I can't do any more." Serge looked disappointed, but Glenn nodded. "Okay. Go rest." A pause, "Or better yet. Go catch us some lunch." Ana nodded and left to find the fishing pole. Glenn watched her as she left and sighed. "You really like her, don't you?" Serge asked. Glenn scrambled for an answer, but realized he could never lie to Serge, "Yeah. I do." Serge smiled and patted Glenn on the back. The 'pat' sent Glenn sprawling onto the sand. Serge looked at his hand and smiled, "Looks like I'm getting my old strength back." Glenn looked at him in bewilderment, "You weren't at full strength earlier? That means you beat that dragon..." He trailed off. Serge just smiled. "That dragon never would've stood a chance against me at full strength. You know that, Glenn." Glenn grumbled and went back to the wood-cutting..
With Serge growing stronger by then second, they cut the trees into small enough pieces in no time. After that, they cut off all of the smaller branches leaving only about a dozen logs. "You know. I think that we only needed two trees." Serge said with a big smile plastered on his face. His smile grew bigger when he saw Glenn's expression. "Serge! I'm going to kill you!" Glenn started to chase Serge around the beach.
Ana laughed at the two men. They were acting like children! Her mind wandered to Glenn's and her water fight. Then again, maybe acting like children isn't so bad. She thought with a sigh. She felt a tug on her line and turned back to her fishing.
Okay. That's all I have written so far. I'm a good amount into Chapter 5:Return to Arni though. You can expect it by tomorrow possibly today. Please Read and Review. Thanks.