Crono: *reads* Geez, this is pretty long.
Magus: *reads* Umm, this is kinda personal *attempts to white out the first few pages*
Yaoiboy: *snatches the story* Hey! You two can't read this! Back! Back I say! *cracks a whip*
Magus and Crono: *rush back into the bedroom where they are forced to...inspire Yaoiboy*
Yaoiboy: ^_^;;;;
Disclaimer: What is this, chapter 9? And you guys are STILL hounding me!? Look, I DON'T OWN CHRONO TRIGGER!!! Now leave me alone! *shoo's away the lawyers circling his story like vultures*
For a while, the trio (quartet if you counted the silent Robo), sat in silence while Lucca appeared to gather her thoughts. Her last statement, about Cronus being more powerful than any of them could hope to become, rose serious doubts in Magus's mind. Maybe Cronus was more powerful than Crono, Marle, Frog, and Lucca could hope to become, but not Magus. He had been born with his magic, and they had never even seen him come CLOSE to testing his limits. He allowed himself to feel appropriately smug and superior for a moment, before going back to digesting what he had been told thus far.
Apparently he, Crono, and Marle, had by some odd circumstances created a child who was now a tyrant oppressing the kingdom of Guardia. Lucca, Marle, and Frog had suffered from some strange overwhelming power increase, but apparently Lucca had found a way to control it since she didn't seem to be having the same troubles any longer. He studied her intently, noticing more fully the changes the magic had wrought. Her hair was a dark red-orange, and her eyes were a mottled, fiery color that flickered and changed with every glance.
Redirecting his gaze to Crono, Magus found the boy was also studying his changed childhood friend. He looked concerned, his emerald eyes a little squinted, as if he were trying very hard to understand all the things Lucca had said. His mouth parted just a little, the pink tongue slipping out to wet the lips periodically. Magus found his eyes following the curve of the soft curve of Crono's chin, down along his jaw line, his slender neck. With a sigh, he looked away, feeling that he had no real right to look at all. Hadn't he lied to Crono?
About more things than one, he thought dismally. I've lied . . . to myself as well. What good does it do to admit any of it now, though? Better that nothing . . . ah, what am I thinking? I should just forget it.
The blue haired magician could not forget though. Not with the surge of memories that he had been forced to endure just a short while ago. Why couldn't he just admit how he felt? It was hardly a secret that the red headed youth had feelings for him. Why couldn't he just go for it? He chuckled inwardly, a mirthless chuckle.
Just like before . . . the exact same situation, more or less, he thought. Destined for the same outcome . . . ?
Without Lucca's story to distract him, he fell into remembering while settling his red-eyed gaze on Crono's face . . .
He had ruled the mystics for several years now, and he was in his teens. The turbulent period of wresting control from Ozzie (who had been less than eager to give up his throne, and fought many more losing battles for it) was long past. Magus was the undisputed king of mystics, and Flea was his beloved companion.
They had both grown into stunning young men, each very handsome in their own right, but seeming insanely beautiful when compared to the other occupants of the castle. Victims brought within the walls would often see them and think they were guardian spirits come to rescue them from their plight. This, of course, was not the case. Magus made no attempt to alter the way things were run in the castle. His monstrous minions still plagued the people of Guardia without his interference, and Ozzie was still in charge of most of the goings on of the castle. This was the only way Magus could gain their loyalty, which he would need very soon when he was ready to move on with his plans to find, and destroy, Lavos.
He had done all he could in the seclusion of the hidden fortress. He had poured over the ancient books in the library, learning to read the cryptic mystic script in a matter of months. He read everything he could, and did indeed find mysterious mention of Lavos in few of the books, though nothing about how to defeat him per se. The mystic culture worshiped him like a god, generally referring to him as some sort of ultimate summon that would make the summoner unbeatable. In the end, Magus determined that all of these books referred to a single text that was not in the library. It was then that he came up with the idea of raiding the library within Gaurdia castle. It was a plan that was slowly coming to fruition, as the mystics incensed the population of the neighboring continent to new heights. They would soon be clambering for the war that would keep everyone from bothering him while he continued on with his plans of revenge.
The long wait didn't bother him much, as he knew that he was by no means strong enough to defeat the monster, even though his strength had grown with practice over the years. He had even been able to gradually teach Flea to use magic, and taken him on journeys in search of some lich or mystic lord that may have had some information worth fighting for. The two had been on very many adventures together, and had become closer all the time. Magus had fallen in love with Flea in this way, but he imagined that Flea had always loved him.
In the castle, alone in their shared bed chamber, Magus would relish in the only human company he had allowed himself in years. There was no need to be stoic with Flea. He could laugh with him and relax. He could talk about the things that bothered him. He could hold him as they slept, kiss him deeply whenever the moment seized him, make love to him every night...
But I couldn't SAVE him...
The memories came in quick succession, like his life was flashing before his eyes. There was the night he would never forget, that very first night...
"Can I...come in?" came the muffled voice from the other side of the door to Magus's bedchamber. It was Flea's voice.
"Of course," Magus responded.
He heard the low groan of the heavy wood, straining the ancient hinges. A sliver of light sliced across the darkened room, illuminating the burgundy rug, one cherry wood post of the four that held up the dark wizard's bed, glinting off of the mirror atop his dresser. The rest of the room was bathed in a weak blue light. Moonlight from the open window. Magus stood with his back to the large arched hole in his wall, the breeze lifting his hair a bit, then dropping it. He had been looking at the stars, thinking of his home, but he was happy to see Flea now.
"Star gazing...?" The boy asked, walking in slowly and closing the door behind him. He was his usual, beautiful self, dressed in white sleeping clothes that were as unisex as his androgynous face and genderless voice. His red hair was bound in a long ponytail, that bobbed side to side when he walked. He smiled his lopsided smile, a very appropriate smile for one as odd as Flea happened to be.
"Yeah," Magus answered simply, already striding towards his love, who still smiled, patiently waiting...When he was close enough, which meant inches from Flea, he gripped the boy's slim waist and pulled him forward, so that their body's were pressed together. He could feel flesh trembling beneath his fingers. He kissed the grinning lips without preamble, as was his way, and he kept it as chaste as he could, though he wanted it to be less so. Pulling back after a second, he asked "Why ask to come in when you were invited?"
"Because your door was closed. I thought you would be standing there waiting at the door for me," Flea responded with another of his grins.
"Don't flatter yourself," Magus answered gruffly, after laughing a bit. Flea wore a theatrical expression of pain, pouting his lips as if wounded. Magus kissed the pout away, and again felt the boy shivering. "Flea...are you SURE you want to go through with this?" he asked, able to accept an answer of 'no' even if he wasn't exactly willing to. After all this time together as a couple, Flea had finally agreed to take the next step. Magus recognized that it was a hard step to take for the boy who had been used for such a purpose throughout his childhood, but it was something they would both have to get through sooner or later.
"Of course..." Flea said, looking earnest. "Yes, I want to..."
Magus couldn't remember how much else they'd said to one another that night that wasn't a single syllable exclamation. He remembered kissing Flea again, deeply, invading the boy's mouth with his tongue, and then removing his clothes to see the beautiful form beneath them, well muscled and not at all misleading like his face and voice. He had kissed that chest, those nipples. He had tasted every inch of creamy skin, and touched every spot as well. He had gone down on him and tasted all of his most private parts and made Flea moan with pleasure for hours on end. When he'd finally "revealed" himself, he did remember Flea having asked him how he fit into his pants. They had laughed about that, and then they'd made love, more than a few times that night.
When it was over, and they lay spent next to one another beneath the sheets, Magus was left to wonder about how rough he had been, and how Flea had begged for it. Wasn't that just like the mystics had been with them both? Rough and unrelenting? Hadn't he envisioned it nice and slow, a departure from the tortures of their youth? He had enjoyed it though, and so had Flea, and that was all that mattered to him in the end. From then on, they shared his royal chambers, and whenever they decided to make love, it became increasingly rough.
I should have seen it coming, Magus thought, his memories transitioning from one to the next in that seamless way memories do.
Now it was a few years later, and he was standing in the shadowed stairwell, watching Flea do all manner of things in one of the underground rooms where a large number of mystics had gathered. The scene was an ever changing swirl of black and orange, lit by a large fire that had been made in the room's center. Flea's impassioned cries could be heard all the way up in the throne room. Not cries of displeasure though. He was enjoying himself. He was enjoying every second of it.
Without letting himself be known to them, Magus had made his way to his room, and locked the door. He lay awake in bed a long time, and he cried. That he tried to hold back and failed just made the tears even more bitter. When hours had passed, and he heard the door rattle, he could not move to open it. Flea knocked, then he pounded the wood. He called out to Magus, but the dark wizard could think of no words. He had looked out his window at the stars, and thought to himself that the number of stars in the sky could not equal the number of pieces into which his heart had been shattered. He had fallen asleep hearing Flea cry "I'm sorry!"
Ever after, he could not help but blame himself. There had been some failing inside of him, something he had lacked that turned Flea to such things, and that being so, he never took another chance with their relationship. He thought he had given Flea everything, but obviously he had not...
"It's not you!" Flea cried. They were in the room again, Magus sitting on the window sill, watching the smoke curl up from a village across the sea. Flea had been a part of that attack. Flea, who had taken to stuffing a bra to look like a woman, so that men might lust after him, and take him roughly. Flea who must have sex every night, with anyone, or everyone, it didn't matter. "I just love it! I've always loved it! Why is that so horrible?"
"Even as a child? Even when they..." Magus couldn't bring himself to say the words. He could not understand it. He thought it was a lie.
"Yes, even then! I liked it...everyone said it was wrong for me to like it, and I tried not to. I tried to hate it, but for what? It only made me miserable. And they knew that I liked it so that's what they used me for, all the while telling me it was some dirty thing, something to be ashamed of. They were ashamed, but not me!"
It's true, Magus thought. He just craved it...I don't know if it was wrong for him to or not but...
He could never shake the feeling that it was his fault. He became as unfeeling towards Flea as anyone else, and soon a young mystic swordsman named Slash became his trusted one, but there was no attraction between them. Slash was simply competent, and loyal. Magus didn't know what Flea was anymore.
Crono is nothing like that, Magus told himself. It's not the same thing.
It was true, he knew. Crono and Flea were nothing alike. There were no grounds to have those same old fears. This was something totally new. Yet he'd already managed to botch it up, hadn't he? Magus sighed and ran a hand back through his streaked hair. Outside the windows of the Rail Rider was a brown blur of subterranean walls. Crono looked down at the floor in thought, and Lucca had her head tilted upwards, her eyes shut tight. Either she was trying to remember what came next, or trying to compose herself. Magus didn't really care which it was. He just wanted her to continue. He didn't want to think of these things right now.
Hm, I never thought I'd see the day I'd want to hear Lucca talk, he thought, or that I'd run away from something...
Crono didn't like the silence. It was making him think of all the things he had been told, all the questions he could not answer. What of his mother? What about Marle and Frog and Ayla? Most of all, what was up with his son, if it really WAS his son.
Gah, Lucca wouldn't say something like that if she wasn't sure...Its still weird though.
Looking at Lucca, Crono found it easy to find the face of his best friend, even amidst all the unnatural changes. When he looked over at the silent Robo, or at least his back, he still couldn't believe that was the same strange robot he had befriended a long time ago. Lucca had no reason to lie about that either though. In fact, she had no reason to lie about any of the things she said. This fact, which should have been reassuring, was actually frightening to Crono.
I wonder if my powers will overwhelm me, he thought. I've traveled through time enough times without anything like that happening but...never like this, and especially not with all the strange energy mixing, or whatever, that had occurred. Which reminded him...
Why did Magus lie to me about that? Crono wondered. Maybe he just didn't want me to worry...?
That didn't seem to make sense though. Even though it was, as Lucca had stated earlier, cause for worry, Crono could not imagine Magus not telling him for that reason. Unless the usually stoic wizard did care, which the Crono was beginning to suspect more and more each passing day. Looking back, he remembered that moment when he'd reached up to touch Magus's face and feared for his safety. Now Magus had hugged him, while he was crying, VOLUNTARILY no less. Since then, every time the boy looked up, those cool red eyes were on him. All this had to be indicative of some kind of attraction, or at least some stalker-esque qualities (which Crono decided he could live with). Not to mention his leaping into space time to save Crono from certain doom. That wasn't exactly the most uncaring action in the world either.
So what am I going to do? he asked himself, looking up at Magus to see that man's far away gaze aimed at one of the windows and the earthen blur of scenery without. Probably nothing, he answered himself, and sighed.
It was the unfortunate truth, though. Crono had never had the courage to approach anyone in a romantic sense, and though he was often approached by girls, he just wasn't interested in them. Over time, those close to him had discovered his preferences. His mother, Lucca, even Marle had discovered it, though she didn't ever really believe it was true. Nobody really seemed to care, but that didn't change anything.
He sighed again, and slumped back into his chair. Lucca turned to look at him, and offered a reassuring, though wan, smile. Crono barely, BARELY, managed to smile back. He just wished she'd get on with it, so he wouldn't have to think about his hopeless attraction to someone who would sooner swallow his own scythe than kiss him.
Suddenly, all the windows were filled with a beautiful vista of the golden sky, in the midst of dawn, and the choppy waves of the sea far below them. Just as suddenly, the monotonous brown returned. Apparently, they had just sped across the gap between the northern and southern continents. It wouldn't be too long now.
"Well," Lucca began. "We're halfway there...I'd better continue."
Finally, Crono thought. He cast a glance at Magus, who also seemed to be anxious for the tale to go on.
"So...I was telling you about Cronus, and how he might have been the key to my finding a way to get our powers under control..."
"It was easy enough teaching him to cast his spells, and he did indeed have the basic ice and lightening spells within his power to cast, as well as a dark bomb spell. So far, my hypothesis had proved correct. He did posses the magic of his..."parents". I admit, I was impressed by the ease with which he managed the castings; and though they were basic spells, they were powerful. I was too concerned with moving on with my research to really care about that though...too busy gathering blood samples and examining his cells, which were indeed structured differently to handle the extra, volatile energy..." She paused to sigh, and then went on.
"I was finished with him, as far as research went. I knew what we would have to do. Robo and I got to work on it, and we spent every waking hour creating the solution. No one bothered us, though Marle and Frog came down often to check on our progress, or suggest that we take a break. My point is, we were pretty much secluded from the goings on of the castle for a while. We didn't have any idea what was going on around us..."
"Anyway, my idea was to create tiny nano-bots, which are microscopic robots, with the same functions of the cells in Cronus's body. Basically, they are like little storage cells that gather all the excess energy and release it in response to the same internal signals that normally release our magic. Honestly, I could go into detail but it's all very complicated and unnecessary. The important thing is, it worked. I injected the bots into everyone of us, and the next day, we could all feel the power was coming under control. We were cured...but trouble was far from over."
Magus cocked a brow. What now? he thought.
"Everything was okay for several months. Within that time, I began to take notice of things that were different in the castle. There was an air of nervousness among the servants. I asked around and found out that it had something to do with Cronus. He was changing somehow, they said. He became rough and snotty with them. Worst of all, he threatened them with his magic, forcing them to do things they otherwise would not do, though none of them would tell me what these things were. Of course, my first course of action was to go to Marle. Surprisingly enough, she knew about it, and had tried her hand at handling the boy herself. He had promised to shape up, she said. She would wait to see if he meant it.
"Again, I thought that was the end of it...but I still wanted to talk to him myself. I felt responsible, somehow. Maybe if I hadn't made him use his power so early on...Well, I went to see him, and found him holed up in the library, pouring over old spell books and memorizing spells. He smiled at me and told me he wanted to be a powerful wizard someday, so he was studying up. He seemed so innocent there. I asked him about the incidents with the servants, and he apologized. He seemed remorseful...He asked my questions then, about you two. He wanted to know a lot of things about you...and then, he wanted to know how it was possible for him to have two fathers. I told him, without really thinking about it. I'll never forget the strange look he had in his eyes..."
Magus wondered what would have made her tell the boy such a thing, when he was so young. His existence had come about accidentally. Were it not for that disaster, he would never have existed.
"Little Cronus...became very reticent, studying and practicing his magic like one possessed. Each time I saw him, out in the fields alone, casting spells, I noted that he was more powerful than the last time. And no spell seemed beyond him. Fire and water spells came as easy as any other to him. Though he had kept his promise never to threaten the servants again, they grew ever more afraid of him. Even the King finally expressed some concern with the boy's unchecked growth in power. He advised Marle to go and talk to him. Again, he promised to slow down, and again appeared to keep his promise. Rarely did one see him out casting anymore, or pouring over what few spell books he had not read. He turned his attention to history, mainly the many chronicles of our battle against Lavos. This seemed harmless enough, and though the boy was already extremely powerful, everyone was at ease. I moved back out to my own home, to spend time with my parents, and your mother as well, Crono. Robo came with me, and Frog prepared to leave on his own, in search of a way to break his curse. There was a period of about a year that we were all tangled up in our own affairs, and though we kept in touch, it was by letters mostly, or in passing..."
Here she paused, looking off into space, obviously picturing something from back then. Magus saw some reaction in Crono at the mention of his mother, though he couldn't decide whether it was good or bad.
"Then the King passed away," she continued, the words coming out amidst a sigh,"and mourning swept over the land. You can imagine that Marle was devastated, as were we all, but the King was a very old man. It was not completely unexpected, but still...no one is ever really prepared to lose someone. The funeral was a huge affair, of course...so many people were there...I saw Cronus for the first time in a while, looking a bit older, and crying though I had not expected him to...I offered to come back to the castle, but Marle said she would be okay. She wanted to be alone...she would keep in touch....."
She sighed.
"But I never got a chance to talk to her again. She passed away...about a month later. Grief...she died from grief. She wouldn't eat or sleep. She just wasted away....I saw her at the funeral...I cried so much...we all cried. It seemed that the entire world was crying...Cronus had not come to the funeral. He was, apparently, not taking the death of his mother and grandfather very well at all. To make matters worse, he was now the ruler of the kingdom...
"Of course, the chancellor was pretty much in charge at first, but Cronus took the reins after only a short while. It was then that all the strange happenings began. Many things that I don't know about first hand, but heard from servants and soldiers who left the castle along with many others soon into Cronus's reign. He was cruel, they said, to everyone but the soldiers, whom he admired. He spent long hours in the libraries, again taking up his old habit of learning more and more spells. He used very powerful magic when he was angered. He had killed people...
"Then came the rumors about him resurrecting the dead. People swore that there were empty graves in the soldier's graveyard, and that the young king was often seen visiting the tomb where his own royal ancestors lay. He began to frequent the dungeons beneath the castle after that, and soon after made the area off-limits to anyone but himself. At any time of the day, loud noises could be heard coming from beneath the castle. People wanted to investigate, but there were deadly wards placed around the entrances...
"Over time, the castle workers migrated away from there, but the King took no notice of their departure. He was doing SOMETHING, but no one knew what. He delegated most of the responsibilities of running the kingdom to the chancellor, and even he had no idea what Cronus was up too. When he sent an excavation team to dig under Leene Square, he had us all confused. The Mayor demanded to know what was going on. Leene Square was a very special place. He wouldn't have them just digging it up without knowing why.
The soldiers came the next day, and they raided the village, and killed the mayor, and plenty of others. They set fire to the buildings, the crops...they destroyed everything they could. We were hardly able to resist, and even when we cut them down, they'd simply rise up again. Zombies...the rumors were confirmed. The siege lasted for several days, until everyone was either dead, or had escaped to the southern continent. My mother escaped, your mother as well Crono; a few other families made it out...My dad...stayed to fight..." She shook her head. "All resistance was futile. Even with Robo, Ayla, and myself aiding the militia...Truce was decimated, and for what? Why couldn't he just tell us what was going on? Why did he order THAT...?!
Crono noted the exclamation as the first spark of emotion that Lucca had not been able to hide since after mentioning Marle's death. She had tried to tell the story stoicly, but even her restraint belied her emotions, and she was shaking.
"Anyway, we escaped across the bridge to San Dorino. They knew, of course, that Truce had been under attack, but had no idea why. In the meantime they had agreed to allow an excavation in the middle of their town, but thought the better of it once we'd told them the whole story. A small force gathered at the bridge, made up of people from the village, and several mercenaries and ex-soldiers of the royal army. Ayla decided to fight with them, while Robo and I, along with a few spare soldiers, escorted the remaining refugees to Porre.
"By the time we arrived, the news had reached them as well, and they were forming their own rebel force. Tata, who I'm sure you remember," Crono nodded, " is the leader of the rebel forces of Southern Guardia. At the time, he was only in charge of Porre's sector...but now they all work together. Anyway, as soon as we arrived, they made sure the refugees were safe, and gathered the fighters together to start planning a preemptive strike on the castle. Only a few days later, though, the battle began at Zenan bridge, and we all had to go there to hold them off.
"That basically brings us to where we are now. Off and on, we've been battling at the bridge. At one point, we were able to push through, and make it all the way up to Gaurdia Forest, battling right before the gates. We had to pull back though, because the soldiers we had 'slain' on our way there were rising up and coming to surround us. Since then, it's been constant battling...."
"What about Cronus?" Crono asked, wondering whether or not the boy was spearheading the attacks, or just hanging back in the castle. Lucca shook her head.
"Nobody has seen him. For all we know, he might have left the continent. He's the one pulling the strings though, wherever he is..."
She sighed, rose up, and strode over to the door. The man that was supposed to be Robo also rose from his seat up front.
"We have arrived," he said, and Crono realized suddenly that the Rail Rider had come to a stop.
Magus: *reads* Umm, this is kinda personal *attempts to white out the first few pages*
Yaoiboy: *snatches the story* Hey! You two can't read this! Back! Back I say! *cracks a whip*
Magus and Crono: *rush back into the bedroom where they are forced to...inspire Yaoiboy*
Yaoiboy: ^_^;;;;
Disclaimer: What is this, chapter 9? And you guys are STILL hounding me!? Look, I DON'T OWN CHRONO TRIGGER!!! Now leave me alone! *shoo's away the lawyers circling his story like vultures*
For a while, the trio (quartet if you counted the silent Robo), sat in silence while Lucca appeared to gather her thoughts. Her last statement, about Cronus being more powerful than any of them could hope to become, rose serious doubts in Magus's mind. Maybe Cronus was more powerful than Crono, Marle, Frog, and Lucca could hope to become, but not Magus. He had been born with his magic, and they had never even seen him come CLOSE to testing his limits. He allowed himself to feel appropriately smug and superior for a moment, before going back to digesting what he had been told thus far.
Apparently he, Crono, and Marle, had by some odd circumstances created a child who was now a tyrant oppressing the kingdom of Guardia. Lucca, Marle, and Frog had suffered from some strange overwhelming power increase, but apparently Lucca had found a way to control it since she didn't seem to be having the same troubles any longer. He studied her intently, noticing more fully the changes the magic had wrought. Her hair was a dark red-orange, and her eyes were a mottled, fiery color that flickered and changed with every glance.
Redirecting his gaze to Crono, Magus found the boy was also studying his changed childhood friend. He looked concerned, his emerald eyes a little squinted, as if he were trying very hard to understand all the things Lucca had said. His mouth parted just a little, the pink tongue slipping out to wet the lips periodically. Magus found his eyes following the curve of the soft curve of Crono's chin, down along his jaw line, his slender neck. With a sigh, he looked away, feeling that he had no real right to look at all. Hadn't he lied to Crono?
About more things than one, he thought dismally. I've lied . . . to myself as well. What good does it do to admit any of it now, though? Better that nothing . . . ah, what am I thinking? I should just forget it.
The blue haired magician could not forget though. Not with the surge of memories that he had been forced to endure just a short while ago. Why couldn't he just admit how he felt? It was hardly a secret that the red headed youth had feelings for him. Why couldn't he just go for it? He chuckled inwardly, a mirthless chuckle.
Just like before . . . the exact same situation, more or less, he thought. Destined for the same outcome . . . ?
Without Lucca's story to distract him, he fell into remembering while settling his red-eyed gaze on Crono's face . . .
He had ruled the mystics for several years now, and he was in his teens. The turbulent period of wresting control from Ozzie (who had been less than eager to give up his throne, and fought many more losing battles for it) was long past. Magus was the undisputed king of mystics, and Flea was his beloved companion.
They had both grown into stunning young men, each very handsome in their own right, but seeming insanely beautiful when compared to the other occupants of the castle. Victims brought within the walls would often see them and think they were guardian spirits come to rescue them from their plight. This, of course, was not the case. Magus made no attempt to alter the way things were run in the castle. His monstrous minions still plagued the people of Guardia without his interference, and Ozzie was still in charge of most of the goings on of the castle. This was the only way Magus could gain their loyalty, which he would need very soon when he was ready to move on with his plans to find, and destroy, Lavos.
He had done all he could in the seclusion of the hidden fortress. He had poured over the ancient books in the library, learning to read the cryptic mystic script in a matter of months. He read everything he could, and did indeed find mysterious mention of Lavos in few of the books, though nothing about how to defeat him per se. The mystic culture worshiped him like a god, generally referring to him as some sort of ultimate summon that would make the summoner unbeatable. In the end, Magus determined that all of these books referred to a single text that was not in the library. It was then that he came up with the idea of raiding the library within Gaurdia castle. It was a plan that was slowly coming to fruition, as the mystics incensed the population of the neighboring continent to new heights. They would soon be clambering for the war that would keep everyone from bothering him while he continued on with his plans of revenge.
The long wait didn't bother him much, as he knew that he was by no means strong enough to defeat the monster, even though his strength had grown with practice over the years. He had even been able to gradually teach Flea to use magic, and taken him on journeys in search of some lich or mystic lord that may have had some information worth fighting for. The two had been on very many adventures together, and had become closer all the time. Magus had fallen in love with Flea in this way, but he imagined that Flea had always loved him.
In the castle, alone in their shared bed chamber, Magus would relish in the only human company he had allowed himself in years. There was no need to be stoic with Flea. He could laugh with him and relax. He could talk about the things that bothered him. He could hold him as they slept, kiss him deeply whenever the moment seized him, make love to him every night...
But I couldn't SAVE him...
The memories came in quick succession, like his life was flashing before his eyes. There was the night he would never forget, that very first night...
"Can I...come in?" came the muffled voice from the other side of the door to Magus's bedchamber. It was Flea's voice.
"Of course," Magus responded.
He heard the low groan of the heavy wood, straining the ancient hinges. A sliver of light sliced across the darkened room, illuminating the burgundy rug, one cherry wood post of the four that held up the dark wizard's bed, glinting off of the mirror atop his dresser. The rest of the room was bathed in a weak blue light. Moonlight from the open window. Magus stood with his back to the large arched hole in his wall, the breeze lifting his hair a bit, then dropping it. He had been looking at the stars, thinking of his home, but he was happy to see Flea now.
"Star gazing...?" The boy asked, walking in slowly and closing the door behind him. He was his usual, beautiful self, dressed in white sleeping clothes that were as unisex as his androgynous face and genderless voice. His red hair was bound in a long ponytail, that bobbed side to side when he walked. He smiled his lopsided smile, a very appropriate smile for one as odd as Flea happened to be.
"Yeah," Magus answered simply, already striding towards his love, who still smiled, patiently waiting...When he was close enough, which meant inches from Flea, he gripped the boy's slim waist and pulled him forward, so that their body's were pressed together. He could feel flesh trembling beneath his fingers. He kissed the grinning lips without preamble, as was his way, and he kept it as chaste as he could, though he wanted it to be less so. Pulling back after a second, he asked "Why ask to come in when you were invited?"
"Because your door was closed. I thought you would be standing there waiting at the door for me," Flea responded with another of his grins.
"Don't flatter yourself," Magus answered gruffly, after laughing a bit. Flea wore a theatrical expression of pain, pouting his lips as if wounded. Magus kissed the pout away, and again felt the boy shivering. "Flea...are you SURE you want to go through with this?" he asked, able to accept an answer of 'no' even if he wasn't exactly willing to. After all this time together as a couple, Flea had finally agreed to take the next step. Magus recognized that it was a hard step to take for the boy who had been used for such a purpose throughout his childhood, but it was something they would both have to get through sooner or later.
"Of course..." Flea said, looking earnest. "Yes, I want to..."
Magus couldn't remember how much else they'd said to one another that night that wasn't a single syllable exclamation. He remembered kissing Flea again, deeply, invading the boy's mouth with his tongue, and then removing his clothes to see the beautiful form beneath them, well muscled and not at all misleading like his face and voice. He had kissed that chest, those nipples. He had tasted every inch of creamy skin, and touched every spot as well. He had gone down on him and tasted all of his most private parts and made Flea moan with pleasure for hours on end. When he'd finally "revealed" himself, he did remember Flea having asked him how he fit into his pants. They had laughed about that, and then they'd made love, more than a few times that night.
When it was over, and they lay spent next to one another beneath the sheets, Magus was left to wonder about how rough he had been, and how Flea had begged for it. Wasn't that just like the mystics had been with them both? Rough and unrelenting? Hadn't he envisioned it nice and slow, a departure from the tortures of their youth? He had enjoyed it though, and so had Flea, and that was all that mattered to him in the end. From then on, they shared his royal chambers, and whenever they decided to make love, it became increasingly rough.
I should have seen it coming, Magus thought, his memories transitioning from one to the next in that seamless way memories do.
Now it was a few years later, and he was standing in the shadowed stairwell, watching Flea do all manner of things in one of the underground rooms where a large number of mystics had gathered. The scene was an ever changing swirl of black and orange, lit by a large fire that had been made in the room's center. Flea's impassioned cries could be heard all the way up in the throne room. Not cries of displeasure though. He was enjoying himself. He was enjoying every second of it.
Without letting himself be known to them, Magus had made his way to his room, and locked the door. He lay awake in bed a long time, and he cried. That he tried to hold back and failed just made the tears even more bitter. When hours had passed, and he heard the door rattle, he could not move to open it. Flea knocked, then he pounded the wood. He called out to Magus, but the dark wizard could think of no words. He had looked out his window at the stars, and thought to himself that the number of stars in the sky could not equal the number of pieces into which his heart had been shattered. He had fallen asleep hearing Flea cry "I'm sorry!"
Ever after, he could not help but blame himself. There had been some failing inside of him, something he had lacked that turned Flea to such things, and that being so, he never took another chance with their relationship. He thought he had given Flea everything, but obviously he had not...
"It's not you!" Flea cried. They were in the room again, Magus sitting on the window sill, watching the smoke curl up from a village across the sea. Flea had been a part of that attack. Flea, who had taken to stuffing a bra to look like a woman, so that men might lust after him, and take him roughly. Flea who must have sex every night, with anyone, or everyone, it didn't matter. "I just love it! I've always loved it! Why is that so horrible?"
"Even as a child? Even when they..." Magus couldn't bring himself to say the words. He could not understand it. He thought it was a lie.
"Yes, even then! I liked it...everyone said it was wrong for me to like it, and I tried not to. I tried to hate it, but for what? It only made me miserable. And they knew that I liked it so that's what they used me for, all the while telling me it was some dirty thing, something to be ashamed of. They were ashamed, but not me!"
It's true, Magus thought. He just craved it...I don't know if it was wrong for him to or not but...
He could never shake the feeling that it was his fault. He became as unfeeling towards Flea as anyone else, and soon a young mystic swordsman named Slash became his trusted one, but there was no attraction between them. Slash was simply competent, and loyal. Magus didn't know what Flea was anymore.
Crono is nothing like that, Magus told himself. It's not the same thing.
It was true, he knew. Crono and Flea were nothing alike. There were no grounds to have those same old fears. This was something totally new. Yet he'd already managed to botch it up, hadn't he? Magus sighed and ran a hand back through his streaked hair. Outside the windows of the Rail Rider was a brown blur of subterranean walls. Crono looked down at the floor in thought, and Lucca had her head tilted upwards, her eyes shut tight. Either she was trying to remember what came next, or trying to compose herself. Magus didn't really care which it was. He just wanted her to continue. He didn't want to think of these things right now.
Hm, I never thought I'd see the day I'd want to hear Lucca talk, he thought, or that I'd run away from something...
Crono didn't like the silence. It was making him think of all the things he had been told, all the questions he could not answer. What of his mother? What about Marle and Frog and Ayla? Most of all, what was up with his son, if it really WAS his son.
Gah, Lucca wouldn't say something like that if she wasn't sure...Its still weird though.
Looking at Lucca, Crono found it easy to find the face of his best friend, even amidst all the unnatural changes. When he looked over at the silent Robo, or at least his back, he still couldn't believe that was the same strange robot he had befriended a long time ago. Lucca had no reason to lie about that either though. In fact, she had no reason to lie about any of the things she said. This fact, which should have been reassuring, was actually frightening to Crono.
I wonder if my powers will overwhelm me, he thought. I've traveled through time enough times without anything like that happening but...never like this, and especially not with all the strange energy mixing, or whatever, that had occurred. Which reminded him...
Why did Magus lie to me about that? Crono wondered. Maybe he just didn't want me to worry...?
That didn't seem to make sense though. Even though it was, as Lucca had stated earlier, cause for worry, Crono could not imagine Magus not telling him for that reason. Unless the usually stoic wizard did care, which the Crono was beginning to suspect more and more each passing day. Looking back, he remembered that moment when he'd reached up to touch Magus's face and feared for his safety. Now Magus had hugged him, while he was crying, VOLUNTARILY no less. Since then, every time the boy looked up, those cool red eyes were on him. All this had to be indicative of some kind of attraction, or at least some stalker-esque qualities (which Crono decided he could live with). Not to mention his leaping into space time to save Crono from certain doom. That wasn't exactly the most uncaring action in the world either.
So what am I going to do? he asked himself, looking up at Magus to see that man's far away gaze aimed at one of the windows and the earthen blur of scenery without. Probably nothing, he answered himself, and sighed.
It was the unfortunate truth, though. Crono had never had the courage to approach anyone in a romantic sense, and though he was often approached by girls, he just wasn't interested in them. Over time, those close to him had discovered his preferences. His mother, Lucca, even Marle had discovered it, though she didn't ever really believe it was true. Nobody really seemed to care, but that didn't change anything.
He sighed again, and slumped back into his chair. Lucca turned to look at him, and offered a reassuring, though wan, smile. Crono barely, BARELY, managed to smile back. He just wished she'd get on with it, so he wouldn't have to think about his hopeless attraction to someone who would sooner swallow his own scythe than kiss him.
Suddenly, all the windows were filled with a beautiful vista of the golden sky, in the midst of dawn, and the choppy waves of the sea far below them. Just as suddenly, the monotonous brown returned. Apparently, they had just sped across the gap between the northern and southern continents. It wouldn't be too long now.
"Well," Lucca began. "We're halfway there...I'd better continue."
Finally, Crono thought. He cast a glance at Magus, who also seemed to be anxious for the tale to go on.
"So...I was telling you about Cronus, and how he might have been the key to my finding a way to get our powers under control..."
"It was easy enough teaching him to cast his spells, and he did indeed have the basic ice and lightening spells within his power to cast, as well as a dark bomb spell. So far, my hypothesis had proved correct. He did posses the magic of his..."parents". I admit, I was impressed by the ease with which he managed the castings; and though they were basic spells, they were powerful. I was too concerned with moving on with my research to really care about that though...too busy gathering blood samples and examining his cells, which were indeed structured differently to handle the extra, volatile energy..." She paused to sigh, and then went on.
"I was finished with him, as far as research went. I knew what we would have to do. Robo and I got to work on it, and we spent every waking hour creating the solution. No one bothered us, though Marle and Frog came down often to check on our progress, or suggest that we take a break. My point is, we were pretty much secluded from the goings on of the castle for a while. We didn't have any idea what was going on around us..."
"Anyway, my idea was to create tiny nano-bots, which are microscopic robots, with the same functions of the cells in Cronus's body. Basically, they are like little storage cells that gather all the excess energy and release it in response to the same internal signals that normally release our magic. Honestly, I could go into detail but it's all very complicated and unnecessary. The important thing is, it worked. I injected the bots into everyone of us, and the next day, we could all feel the power was coming under control. We were cured...but trouble was far from over."
Magus cocked a brow. What now? he thought.
"Everything was okay for several months. Within that time, I began to take notice of things that were different in the castle. There was an air of nervousness among the servants. I asked around and found out that it had something to do with Cronus. He was changing somehow, they said. He became rough and snotty with them. Worst of all, he threatened them with his magic, forcing them to do things they otherwise would not do, though none of them would tell me what these things were. Of course, my first course of action was to go to Marle. Surprisingly enough, she knew about it, and had tried her hand at handling the boy herself. He had promised to shape up, she said. She would wait to see if he meant it.
"Again, I thought that was the end of it...but I still wanted to talk to him myself. I felt responsible, somehow. Maybe if I hadn't made him use his power so early on...Well, I went to see him, and found him holed up in the library, pouring over old spell books and memorizing spells. He smiled at me and told me he wanted to be a powerful wizard someday, so he was studying up. He seemed so innocent there. I asked him about the incidents with the servants, and he apologized. He seemed remorseful...He asked my questions then, about you two. He wanted to know a lot of things about you...and then, he wanted to know how it was possible for him to have two fathers. I told him, without really thinking about it. I'll never forget the strange look he had in his eyes..."
Magus wondered what would have made her tell the boy such a thing, when he was so young. His existence had come about accidentally. Were it not for that disaster, he would never have existed.
"Little Cronus...became very reticent, studying and practicing his magic like one possessed. Each time I saw him, out in the fields alone, casting spells, I noted that he was more powerful than the last time. And no spell seemed beyond him. Fire and water spells came as easy as any other to him. Though he had kept his promise never to threaten the servants again, they grew ever more afraid of him. Even the King finally expressed some concern with the boy's unchecked growth in power. He advised Marle to go and talk to him. Again, he promised to slow down, and again appeared to keep his promise. Rarely did one see him out casting anymore, or pouring over what few spell books he had not read. He turned his attention to history, mainly the many chronicles of our battle against Lavos. This seemed harmless enough, and though the boy was already extremely powerful, everyone was at ease. I moved back out to my own home, to spend time with my parents, and your mother as well, Crono. Robo came with me, and Frog prepared to leave on his own, in search of a way to break his curse. There was a period of about a year that we were all tangled up in our own affairs, and though we kept in touch, it was by letters mostly, or in passing..."
Here she paused, looking off into space, obviously picturing something from back then. Magus saw some reaction in Crono at the mention of his mother, though he couldn't decide whether it was good or bad.
"Then the King passed away," she continued, the words coming out amidst a sigh,"and mourning swept over the land. You can imagine that Marle was devastated, as were we all, but the King was a very old man. It was not completely unexpected, but still...no one is ever really prepared to lose someone. The funeral was a huge affair, of course...so many people were there...I saw Cronus for the first time in a while, looking a bit older, and crying though I had not expected him to...I offered to come back to the castle, but Marle said she would be okay. She wanted to be alone...she would keep in touch....."
She sighed.
"But I never got a chance to talk to her again. She passed away...about a month later. Grief...she died from grief. She wouldn't eat or sleep. She just wasted away....I saw her at the funeral...I cried so much...we all cried. It seemed that the entire world was crying...Cronus had not come to the funeral. He was, apparently, not taking the death of his mother and grandfather very well at all. To make matters worse, he was now the ruler of the kingdom...
"Of course, the chancellor was pretty much in charge at first, but Cronus took the reins after only a short while. It was then that all the strange happenings began. Many things that I don't know about first hand, but heard from servants and soldiers who left the castle along with many others soon into Cronus's reign. He was cruel, they said, to everyone but the soldiers, whom he admired. He spent long hours in the libraries, again taking up his old habit of learning more and more spells. He used very powerful magic when he was angered. He had killed people...
"Then came the rumors about him resurrecting the dead. People swore that there were empty graves in the soldier's graveyard, and that the young king was often seen visiting the tomb where his own royal ancestors lay. He began to frequent the dungeons beneath the castle after that, and soon after made the area off-limits to anyone but himself. At any time of the day, loud noises could be heard coming from beneath the castle. People wanted to investigate, but there were deadly wards placed around the entrances...
"Over time, the castle workers migrated away from there, but the King took no notice of their departure. He was doing SOMETHING, but no one knew what. He delegated most of the responsibilities of running the kingdom to the chancellor, and even he had no idea what Cronus was up too. When he sent an excavation team to dig under Leene Square, he had us all confused. The Mayor demanded to know what was going on. Leene Square was a very special place. He wouldn't have them just digging it up without knowing why.
The soldiers came the next day, and they raided the village, and killed the mayor, and plenty of others. They set fire to the buildings, the crops...they destroyed everything they could. We were hardly able to resist, and even when we cut them down, they'd simply rise up again. Zombies...the rumors were confirmed. The siege lasted for several days, until everyone was either dead, or had escaped to the southern continent. My mother escaped, your mother as well Crono; a few other families made it out...My dad...stayed to fight..." She shook her head. "All resistance was futile. Even with Robo, Ayla, and myself aiding the militia...Truce was decimated, and for what? Why couldn't he just tell us what was going on? Why did he order THAT...?!
Crono noted the exclamation as the first spark of emotion that Lucca had not been able to hide since after mentioning Marle's death. She had tried to tell the story stoicly, but even her restraint belied her emotions, and she was shaking.
"Anyway, we escaped across the bridge to San Dorino. They knew, of course, that Truce had been under attack, but had no idea why. In the meantime they had agreed to allow an excavation in the middle of their town, but thought the better of it once we'd told them the whole story. A small force gathered at the bridge, made up of people from the village, and several mercenaries and ex-soldiers of the royal army. Ayla decided to fight with them, while Robo and I, along with a few spare soldiers, escorted the remaining refugees to Porre.
"By the time we arrived, the news had reached them as well, and they were forming their own rebel force. Tata, who I'm sure you remember," Crono nodded, " is the leader of the rebel forces of Southern Guardia. At the time, he was only in charge of Porre's sector...but now they all work together. Anyway, as soon as we arrived, they made sure the refugees were safe, and gathered the fighters together to start planning a preemptive strike on the castle. Only a few days later, though, the battle began at Zenan bridge, and we all had to go there to hold them off.
"That basically brings us to where we are now. Off and on, we've been battling at the bridge. At one point, we were able to push through, and make it all the way up to Gaurdia Forest, battling right before the gates. We had to pull back though, because the soldiers we had 'slain' on our way there were rising up and coming to surround us. Since then, it's been constant battling...."
"What about Cronus?" Crono asked, wondering whether or not the boy was spearheading the attacks, or just hanging back in the castle. Lucca shook her head.
"Nobody has seen him. For all we know, he might have left the continent. He's the one pulling the strings though, wherever he is..."
She sighed, rose up, and strode over to the door. The man that was supposed to be Robo also rose from his seat up front.
"We have arrived," he said, and Crono realized suddenly that the Rail Rider had come to a stop.
