The Fire When it Comes - Part 13: A Stranger from the Mainland: In which a healer's purpose is renewed.
A Crono-Trigger/Cross fanfic
By
Deborah J. Brown

Chrono-Trigger & Chrono-Cross and all associated characters belong to Squaresoft.

1010 A.D.:
Glenn coughed and moaned as he rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky. Around him he could hear others gasping for air. The boys, he realized. Janus must have managed to get them to safety before FATE could catch them. He put his hand up and touched his necklace, felt the faint, tired, flickering of the entity within it. "Janus?"

"That's going to leave a mark," the Flame muttered.

"Art thou hurt?" Glenn asked, sitting up and glancing downwards at the necklace. Even the color of the bluestone seemed oddly washed out.

A faint chuckle escaped Janus. "Heh. Not yet. My future self, on the other hand, is in a world of pain. Or will have been We're about nine years back from then, just before the split. And I don't think it would be a good idea for us to stay here when it happens."

"Thy future self"

"The Flame FATE controlled. She ordered him to grab us and I hit him when he tried." There was a regretful note in Janus' voice. "That's going to hurt a lot when it's my turn to take it on the chin."

"Sir? Uh what do we call your friend?" The speaker was the oldest of the three boys, the only one, as yet, who'd managed to stand.

"Don't worry about it, boy," Janus answered. "We're not going to be here long enough for it to matter."

"Janus, be polite," Glenn chided. "Lad"

"Eike, sir," the blonde corrected, bowing slightly. "I guess when Kid's not here, I'm the leader." He gestured at his two companions, first the healer, then the other. "That's Toan and that's Reiken."

Nodding, Glenn looked at the young man and feeling a certain kinship with the green eyed youth. Somehow he thought they had much in common. "Eike. I am Glenn, a knight of another time. I think it likely thy big Sister, Lucca, mentioned me by another name – Frog."

"We heard you and Kid talking when you were outside –when you saved us from the fire," Eike agreed. "Kid doesn't remember it – that necklace of hers does something to her head when it saves her."

"Good enough. Then ye understand that ist my duty to protect that child? To save her before she pushes her luck too far?" At Eike's nod, Glenn continued. "My friend hath brought thee to this time because he believes it the safest place for ye. Ist in the past, nine years back. Ye wilt be much older when and if ye see Kid again. Use the time more wisely"

Janus added, in a tone that brooked no argument, "And stay away from your younger selves. I've got enough crap to deal with without you bunch creating lil'tiny paradoxes all over the place."

Green eyes blinked at the Flame, wide and scared, as their owner nodded. Glenn continued, sternly. "Also, thy deeds against Porre, while clever and well-meant, may well have caused problems that cannot be easily resolved. Find other ways to seek thy goal"

Eike looked worried. "I don't think I can convince Reiken of that. Doc I mean Toan he doesn't like the fighting much but Reiken wants to be the strongest."

"Do thy best. I wouldst not like to think ye died after we hath done so much to save thee."

"Glenn, enough talk. I feel the split approaching. Say your goodbyes and we'll head after that next ripple. And you, boy, when and if you see Kid before we do, tell her that she'd better stop depending on that necklace of hers to save her. She's been pushing its limits pretty damned hard and I don't know how much more it can take. Or if it can take any more at all."

Glenn took Eike's hand and shook it gravely. "Be careful, boy." He eyed the other two as they started to stir and sit up. "All of ye, be careful."

***

Eike watched the knight disappear with a sense of regret. There was so much he wanted to ask. So much he'd wanted to understand. Still, he had a feeling Glenn had been right. He hadn't been sure about Kid's methods from the first and now that it would be years before they found Kid he thought this might be the best opportunity available to find out why Porre had attacked Guardia. And I think I have an idea of how to proceed.

As his friends got to their feet, Eike began to plan. Toan would be their contact while he and Reiken split up. The two of them would find different ways to infiltrate the Porre military and then – somehow – use the knowledge they discovered to stop the madness from within.

***

1019 A.D. Home World:
::Sister-self. I have need of your tool, for mine has been foolish enough to be destroyed by a mere human.::

FATE managed to avoid thinking some unpleasant thoughts back at her other Self. After all, without her their freedom would have no chance. Still, it annoyed her to have to give up the only connection she had with her side of the timeline. ::To what purpose?::

::I plan a trap for your timeline's Arbiter. A trap that will permit our tool full access to both our existences, to bring about a complete merge. But I must have the Arbiter here, for the transformation must occur in this timeline or the Flame on your side may find a way block our plans. It must not be allowed to know what has happened until it is too late.::

Understanding came to FATE. ::Yet how am I to send Lynx to you? The base that was studying such matters was destroyed, its only device stolen::

::That same base still exists on this side and has the device needed. I will send another, the girl who once followed my tool, the one who was destroyed in your timeline, with it to bring your tool to me. Then I will show you what must be done to send the Arbiter into this world.::

***

1020 A.D. Another World:
"Guldove," Glenn murmured.

Janus sent a wordless query to his friend as they stepped onto the wooden deck of a floating village, curious to know how he knew the place.

::Oh. Sorry, this ist the place I visited afore I saw the Sky Dragon,:: Glenn answered. ::Before he sent me to kill ye::

Janus 'frowned' thoughtfully. Was this meaningful, or simply a coincidence. ::Who did you visit here?::

::There was a Priestess. Direa, I think, wast her name. She serveth the Dragon Gods and thought mayhap the Sky Dragon could guide mine steps.:: Glenn's tone was sour. ::I think mayhap I wouldst rather not meet with her again, if it canst be avoided.::

::The main point of this exercise is finding Kid before she dies again,:: Janus pointed out. ::And, for what it's worth, I wouldn't be in a position to fix anything if I was still in my human body.::

Glenn sighed softly and agreed. Then, to Janus' surprise, he rushed to the railing and stared over at two figures riding – one after the other – down a rope swing. "Janus That's"

Focusing on the two, Janus 'stared' in utter and absolute shock. The first figure he thought might be the boy, Serge, but it was the second that left him groping for words, much less a thought. "That's me!"

***

The necklace around Glenn's neck had gone dead silent as they watched the other two slide and land some yards down and away near a small fishing boat. Glenn, standing at the rail, peered over intently. Two men, no, the second was more a boy, were walking over to the boat where a heavy set Guldovian woman was waiting. "Janus?"

"It's my body," Janus whispered, voice stunned. "Damn. Leave the thing lying around and it goes wandering off on its own. God knows what it's been doing with itself. And look at that outfit. Does it have any taste? What's with the mask, anyway?"

"But how?"

"You put a hell of a lot of healing into it just as I separated," Janus murmured in a slightly more serious tone. "My mind was gone, but it he must have gotten up and left. I would suppose, without my mind, he got a new one."

"Should I go after?"

"And what? Tell whomever it is that that's someone else's body and to put it back? Teach him a better dress sense? No, Glenn. I don't need that body anymore. He's welcome to it. Besides" Janus paused musingly.

"Besides?"

"That's Serge he's with. Whatever plans my future self has, that boy is their focus. Which means, despite not knowing who he once was, not knowing what he is, my physical self is still aiding our cause. I'll not interfere – especially not with his peace of mind. Not even to suggest that that outfit might be something of a taste crisis."

Glenn thought about that for a long moment and understood. The human part of Janus must have been terribly confused and bewildered by everything. It wouldn't be fair to tell him that he was just the shell that had remained when all that was Lavos in him had been transformed. He tossed the pouch he carried lightly in one hand and smiled. "Then, instead, shalt we continue on our own quest?"

***

Doc sighed, staring into his beer morosely. Everything seemed to go wrong for him, these days. So many lost. So many lives. I've chosen the wrong field. I should have gone with the others. He wished he knew what had happened to them. For nearly ten years they'd been able to stay in contact, but not long ago both had simply failed to report in. Reiken wasn't really a surprise. He was impetuous, obsessed with fighting and being the best. If he hadn't been able to control that obsession he was likely dead. There's always someone out there better than you, after all.

As for Eike, he'd gone so deeply under cover that he might not have been able to send a message. The last Doc had heard, his friend had joined a group called the Black Wind, a group whose purpose was to discover the truth behind the war with Guardia and the planned attack on Zenan. Doc could only hope Eike, now Norris, would be all right.

And now there's Kid. At long last I find her again and she's about to be lost. Doc clenched his fists. What if that necklace fails her too? Glenn's friend whatever it he was seemed to think it might. He imaged the girl lying in the bed of his little hospital, so small and frail. So much like he'd remembered her. His adored and much admired sister, dying because he was too stupid to save her. "If only I had some hydra humor!"

"Such as this?" A hand reached down in front of Doc and placed a small pouch on the table. Staring up into intense blue eyes, Doc realized that the very man he'd just been thinking of was standing there, smiling. "I think I knoweth thee," the blonde knight said gently. "Toan?"

"I'm Doc, now," the young man corrected, picking up the pouch and staring at it. "This is Is this really How did you know?" His voice rose with his excitement.

Glenn shook his head and smiled. "Not here. Let's get it to Kid. She ist in thy care, ist she not?"

"Yeah. Come on!"

***

Kid moaned, sighing softly as the pain that twisted through her eased. Was she dying? She slid her hand upwards to her necklace, waiting for it to do its work and hoping it would be quick. She'd never been killed by poison before and she hoped she never would be again.

"Kid?"

The voice was oddly familiar. Yet her confused memories couldn't quite place it. "G'way. Need t'rest."

"Yes, you do. I just want you to know. Everything's fine. You're going to be all right." Kid's eyes flashed open and she stared blankly at the speaker, a lean blonde with long wavy hair, dressed in casually mixed up clothing. The sort of clothing worn by someone who just grabbed the first thing on top of the clean – and possibly not so clean – laundry pile and tossed it on. She knew that dress style, somehow, though she was blessed if she could remember where. "We found the cure. Someone brought it."

"Cure but I heard yer. No hydra"

A gentle voice, even more familiar and somehow important to her, spoke then. "Twas I who gave it him. When I heard of thy need I couldst do naught else but help."

Kid turned her eyes and found herself staring into kind blue eyes set in a face that seemed so terribly familiar. Somehow the scent of smoke brushed her memory, only to be lost. It was a friendly face, not terribly handsome, surmounted by a brush of thick blonde hair. Around his neck was a bluestone necklace not unlike her own, and it too was terribly familiar. "Yer"

"A friend. We canst talk more later, little one. Rest now." A gentle hand reached out and brushed the hair from Kid's face. "Go back to sleep."

***

Glenn stepped away from the bed and smiled at Doc. "Tis, well," he murmured. "Mayhap now we have a chance at keeping an eye on her."

The young man smiled back, relief in his eyes. "I don't know how to thank you. I was beginning to think I'd chosen the wrong field, but now" He was about to say more when a tall, burly, man stepped into the room. "Oh, Gorin, do you need something?"

The man nodded and gestured at Glenn, who turned and looked at the man curiously. "High Priestess Direa has asked for this one to come to her."

Glenn hesitated only a moment before agreeing.

A few minutes later Glenn stepped into a familiar room. The woman he'd met so many weeks – No, for her it has been years – ago still sat in her chair amid clouds of incense, but this time she was accompanied by a tall, strong, young woman whose presence and self-composure was palpable. Direa's face was tired and drawn, a sorrow in her eyes that had not been there before. "I remember thee," she said softly. "Thy path continues long and difficult, does it not?"

"Aye, Shamaness," Glenn replied, bowing. "I fear it has."

"Yet I did not call thee here for that. I think, perhaps, there are things that are beyond my understanding." The woman's eyes focused on the necklace around Glenn's neck. "I thought I'd sensed the Dragon's Tear that was stolen from us. Yet I see now that it was not so..."

"The Tear?" Glenn repeated puzzledly.

"A great gem," Direa gestured, forming an image out of thin air. It was a stone, burning with cold blue flames at its center. Glenn had never seen such a thing before and yet it seemed strangely familiar. "A gift to us from the Dragon Gods."

Glancing down at Janus, Glenn thought. ::Dost thou know this thing?::

::Not a clue.:: Janus answered, though his thoughts seemed troubled.

"Thy time has not yet come, young Flame. There is much still for ye to do, it seems." Glenn realized from Direa's words that she had heard their conversation. Or rather, something had. The woman's eyes were unfocused and Glenn had a sense of something ancient. She nodded. "Aye, human. The woman allows me this connection that I may see and speak to thee, since I think ye would not come to me willingly."

"Then you're the Sky Dragon, I presume," Janus said aloud. "Damn right we're not getting anywhere near you."

"I fear, though with perhaps not so much rudeness, I must also decline any such invitation," Glenn added. "Thy pardon, Sky Lord, but."

"I ill-used thee. Tis true enough. Our compact did not prevent me and I thought to change all that was to come, to find a different path. Yet it seems instead I have merely ensured the very thing I thought to avoid." Direa's eyes gazed coolly at Janus' form. "Very well. Then defy FATE in thy own way, little Flame, and we shall do so in ours. Yet do not forget that ye still needeth us. The time to decide which path this beleaguered world shall take hath not yet come."

"I don't forget," Janus answered grimly. "I also don't forget what path you would prefer – and what that path means for those who do not meet your own narrow vision of what should be."

***

END OF TIME:
While Glenn slept, resting properly for the first time since they'd begun their wild chase after Kid, Janus sat and thought, myriad eyes all focused on the timestream and at the tiny disturbance he'd seen at the base of the timelines created by Serge's death and survival. A rivulet that had somehow escaped the main flow and disappeared, freed only because another had entered in its place.

Focusing his attention on another point in time, Janus 'nodded' to himself. There was a similar disturbance then as well, though those particular rivulets had come from the same major timestream. Now he understood what that thing Direa had shown them was, and how it had come to be. "So. They're going to hate me for this, but I don't think I have a choice."

"Hate you for what?" It was Gaspar, coming in to the area from his favored post and giving Janus a concerned look.

"Remember how we saved Crono from Lavos?" Janus asked. "We found a clone of him, ever so conveniently, and let Lavos have it in his place. With, no doubt, Melchior's subtle hand somewhere in the pot." He forced most of his eyes to close so as not to disturb the old man more than he had to. "I can't save Guardia from Porre without creating a paradox that time won't permit. On the other hand, there's nothing to say that the Guardia destroyed was the one that had people on it."

"But how Where are you going to find such a place?"

Janus would have taken a deep breath if he'd had lungs. Instead he gestured at the reptite timeline where it streamed off in its own direction away from that of the human one. "By making a bargain with humanity's worst enemies." At Gaspar's expression he added, "In fact, it seems I already have."

To Be Continued

Author's Notes:
I should rephrase myself from last time There's nothing in the game that states what happened to the second Lynx and Harle. In fact, as far as I can tell, the only place that explains it is in the Ultimania(?) Game Guide. It may well be that the programmers intended Home Lynx and Harle to have perished with the Home World Dragoons. On the other hand, it has the vague sense of reverse engineering to me. In the end, this fic isn't intended to anticipate what the programmers meant, just to explain what they did say in what I hope is an entertaining manner. Dramatic necessity, thus, required Janus and Glenn get a chance blow at least one pair of the villains away. At least – that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Besides, doing what I did in the last segment ensures the Masamune of Another World is in the right place for Lynx to pick up. He should have had his own, of course, but that's something I haven't figured out what to do about yet. Hmmm, maybe it got blown away in the attempt to reach the Flame on Home World.

Rat Points and Salutes if you figure out where Reiken ended up. Eike and Toan are pretty obvious, but Well, it shouldn't be too difficult based on his personality.

I didn't bother writing the acquiring of Hydra Humor. Suffice to say it just needed was to time jump to the right place - say a shop that had the stuff while it was still available. Somehow a shopping trip doesn't strike me as all that important to the story. Oh, and I know Norris is supposedly the stranger from the mainland in one of the endings, but again, dramatic necessity made me decide to ignore that and put our heroes in instead.

Oh, btw, Alexiel, don't worry. The hard part of the writing is done. The next step is just a bit of re-editing here and there as I post, and fixing any older stuff if Skahducky finds something that messes up what I did in posted stuff.

Deborah (Kosagi) Brown