By Exile
Disclaimer: All of the characters used in this fanfic, except for Ryen who makes a short appearance in chapter 5, are property of Square. Any references to other stories, except mine, are purely coincidental. If you insist it's otherwise, I'll let Marle take you shopping in Medina.
Chapter 3: Nightmares and pies, the good stuff
The blue glare disappeared, and Janus ended his shielding spell. The greenish shield around him dematerialized. Below him was a large hole, probably a few kilometers in diameter. He was the only one for miles around.
"Good you are still of some use to me, Lavos." the mage said to himself. "Let's just hope Dalton hasn't escaped again."
He created another gate in front of him and entered it.
Gaspar woke up when he heard Epoch's engines come to a halt. He saw more visitors coming out of it than he expected.
"What do you think this is? A motel?"
"Sorry about that Gaspar. But we're taking them all to our time now." Marle said
to the Guru of Time.
"Good. When I wake up, this place will be totally empty again."
"Yeah, as if you'd ever notice. I bet you were sleeping until we arrived to
bring Frog here didn't you?"
The Guru didn't answer Crono's question, but fell into a deep sleep again. It was indeed crowded there, even more when they were on the quest to destroy Lavos.
"Where Frog-guy?" Ayla asked.
"He went practicing with Spekkio. They ought to be back in here." Marle
answered, while opening the door to Spekkio's room.
Inside, she saw a completely different decoration than she was used to. There were no simple fences bordering the square room, but there was a smooth pink-colored wall surrounding them, with little flowers painted all over the place. Also, a small fountain stood in the middle, with a water spewing Kilwala on top of it. Then Spekkio himself appeared with a quick flash and some fancy smoke-effects.
"Hiya! Long time no seen you guys! Came to practice too?" the immortal Master of
War asked the ones who stepped into his room.
"What in Earth's name have you done with your room?" an amazed Marle asked.
"I decided to brighten things up a bit. Staring into a black void isn't that
healthy for your mind you know. Just look at what happened to Gaspar."
"I can understand that, but why pink?"
"And why flowers?" Lucca added.
"I always liked pink, it's my favorite color. And flowers, well, they're kinda
pretty. All those colors you know..."
Marle blinked her eyes a few time, then turned around to quickly walk away from the seemingly psychotic Nu that was supposed to be the Master of War.
"Riiight..."
"Hey! Don't leave! I've got something I want to show to you. Follow me."
"Follow you? Where..."
Crono, Lucca and Marle disappeared with another flash before Crono could finish his line. They reappeared in what looked like a perpetually long hallway with an endless number of doors on both sides of it.
"...are you gonn... wow! Look at all those doors!" Crono exclaimed.
"Hehe." Spekkio grinned. "I always wanted to show you this. It's called the
Hallway of Dimensions. Each door gives you a short view of what other dimensions
look like. Here, check out this door." Spekkio said when he opened one of the
doors.
They couldn't believe what they saw.
"Is that... Janus?" Lucca said, as she stared with her eyes wide open in
amazement into the door.
"I'm afraid so." Spekkio answered as he gasped in horror.
In the door they saw a pale looking figure, with short blonde hair in a pony-tail just like Marle's. He also wore the exact same outfit as Marle usually did, the greenish baggy pants with a matching green tube-top. They also saw Leene's bell and someone about to run into the female version of Janus. Spekkio quickly closed the door, leaning with his back against it.
"Ack! That was... disturbing!!" the Nu-like form said, shivering a little.
"W..W...Was.. t..t..." Marle stuttered.
Crono also gasped in horror, still remembering the sight he just saw.
"Yes it was... That's just sick..." Crono said, heavily depressed by this memory that would forever haunt his mind.
"Let's get out of here!" Spekkio said just before he teleported them back to his room.
The figure took of his cape and gloves and laid down on his bed.
"Aah.. just what I need, a good nap..."
Janus dozed off. He had returned to his castle hoping to get some well-earned rest. So he thought...
He began to see shadows forming in front of him. But even as they came closer, they still remained pitch black. He couldn't recognize who they were, until one spoke.
"...Are you sure you're doing the right thing?..."
He couldn't recognize the voice either. It seemed as if it was far away, even though the figure stood right in front of him. The shadows then mingled together into one shape, a very big one with spikes sticking out of it. He heard a loud roar and the shadow vanished. Then he saw himself as a child, running away from something he couldn't identify either. He ran, avoiding the rocks and branches lying on the ground, which made him think it was in some forest. The trees and bushes which passed by seemed nothing more then a blur. The young version of Janus started screaming, as he saw a cliff approaching. It didn't seem as if he was able to stop, he just kept running and screaming, looking at what he was about to fall into.
Just when he was about to fall, he was grabbed by another shadow, which was now holding him at the back of the shirt he wore. The shadow spoke again.
"...Tell me, how did you manage to do that? You couldn't have just..."
The shirt was then ripped apart because it couldn't hold the child any longer, and he fell into the deep canyon. His scream echoed against the side of the cliff walls.
He woke up, sweating and panting heavily.
"So you're telling me he came out of a gate?"
"Yep. A blue one, just like the ones we used on our adventure." Crono answered
to Spekkio.
"Time traveling with magic... never thought it was possible."
"How do you think he learned that?" Lucca asked.
Spekkio thought for a moment.
"Must have something to do with the Epoch. You see, when you travel through time
with that thing, it must generate enough energy to create a small hole in the
space-time-continuum. Just big enough for the Epoch to fit through. If Janus can
also create that much energy in the right way, he should be able to do the same
thing the Epoch here can do."
"Amazing!" Lucca exclaimed while shifting her glasses.
"Well, that's fine for him. Can we go and have that party now?" Crono asked. It
was clear that he was anxious to go.
"Keep your pants on! Spekkio, could you tell me more of how that energy is
generated?"
"No way! That's mine and Belthasars secret!"
"Come on! Please? Pretty please?" Lucca almost begged.
"No! Do what you want to get it out of me, it won't work!"
Lucca grinned evilly. Spekkio's face (or his whole body, for that matter) started to turn pale.
"I've seen that look on your face before! I'm outta here!" the Nu said.
He immediately teleported himself inside his own room, locking his door.
"Hmpf. I bet he sees dead people too."
"Come on! Don't be so rude!" Marle said to the now grumpy Lucca.
"I don't see any reason not to. That Spekkio is just a big blue ball of lard."
"Ok, we know what he is, now lay down a bit. Let's just bring everybody to our
time."
They got everyone back to 1000 AD, three at a time with Crono serving as the driver. They were all gathered in Guardia forest at the moment.
"You guys go to the castle, we have some business to take care of." Marle said
to everyone while standing next to Crono.
"What business? I just wanna party!" Crono said.
Marle looked into Crono's eyes for a few seconds.
"Oh, that business."
"Now I would like to hear what Taban has to say to this."
"Of course sir."
Taban was sitting in a large conference room which was barely decorated apart from the Guardia banner on the end of the long table. Many more people were sitting on the table, with a guy in an expensive suit on the end of the table. Taban stood up and cleared his throat.
"First off, we discovered that the decay of the forest is caused because of the
bad ground on which it has been growing for decades. As we all know, the forest
was replanted 400 years ago by a creature we know as 'Robo'. But before that,
there was nothing more than desert were the forest now is."
"Of course." the chairman said.
"The ground is in a bad state because it consists mainly out of a thin upper
layer made out of normal sand, but everything below it is made out of solid
rock. I believe this layer of rock was probably lava erupted from a volcano of
some sort."
"But that's nothing new, we know volcanoes existed already." a guy from the
other end of the table said.
"Yes, but we know that this layer of rock reaches a depth of up to 10
kilometers, which is abnormal for any normal volcano."
"And your point being?" the chairman asked.
"There used to be a large crater, if not a gap, where the forest now is."
"You suppose this happened because of a meteorite impact?"
The other people were quickly taking notes of what was being said.
"Could be. But a meteorite of such a size would've smashed the earth into a million pieces."
A woman suddenly ran into the room, with two guards trying to catch her.
"Taban! Taban!" Lara shouted at her husband while running towards him. "It's
Lucca! She used that flying-machine again!"
"What? Sir, could you please excuse me? I have already told you everything I
have found out about the current situation."
"Of course Mr. Ashtear."
Taban and Lara ran off together.
"You dolt! Gimme back that lipstick!"
"Not when we're training! I told you before!"
"Quiet you two, I'm eating!"
That's obvious. One women with a desperate need for make-up attributes, a guy who only spends his time training and another one who needs a meal every hour. Flea, Slash and Ozzie.
"Go eat somewhere else! We don't need to be disgusted by your 'ways' of eating,
or whatever you want to call it." Flea remarked.
"What do you mean by that? I eat just like everybody else does!"
"That's what you think!" Slash interrupted. "You use both your hands to stuff a
complete pie in your gaping mouth. That's not eating, that's just a failed
attempt at filling that incredibly huge body of yours!"
"You take that back! I don't have a huge body!"
"You can't even stand on your own two feet and you're wider then you are tall!
You have to use a floating spell if you want to go somewhere!"
"Oh, stop whining you two." Flea said while she was using a new found piece of
lipstick. "Ozzie, you get lost or I'll take you shopping in Medina next time,
and Slash you take a rest before your spine snaps out of itself."
"Who do you think you are, telling me what to do!" an angry Ozzie said, his
whole body moving when he spoke. "You're not my boss!"
"No, after Magus left, nobody is. So get lost or I'll make you!"
A defeated Ozzie took the plate with the cake on it cake in his hands and floated away into the hallway. He still remembered what Flea did last time when she wanted him out of her sight. And it wasn't pretty, involving make-up and all.
"If only Magus were here, he'd keep things quiet around here."
"What did you just say? I heard that!" Flea shouted behind him. "Come back here
this instant!"
Ozzie floated back into the room Flea and Slash used as training court, the plate with the pie on it still in his chubby hands.
"You think Magus would've kept things quiet around here? And how would he have
done that? We three together are superior to him in every way."
"You think so?" Slash said. "He defeated all three of us together last time."
"That was him and those two kids. If that spiky-haired one hadn't been with him
last time, he'd be dead by now."
"If you want him dead so badly, then why don't you go find and kill him then?"
Slash' eyebrows went up.
"Ozzie, that's the first good idea I have heard from you since... since... well
since ever." the swordsman said. "We go and find Magus and then just kill him
for fun! That would serve him right! We raised him, and then he starts telling
us what to do! Glad he left."
"You're right! You suppose he's still in his old castle?" Flea wondered.
"Don't know. I haven't been out here since he defeated us. Let's go and see!"
"Not until I finish eating my pie." Ozzie said, pointing at the filled plate he
was holding.
"Hehe. You two finished your 'business'?" Lucca smirked to the two who had just entered the room.
Everyone, except Ayla and Kino, were sitting on a table. They had all gone to the castle were they were welcomed by the king himself. They had settled in the knights quarters, since it hadn't been used for decades.
"Of course we did! Show it, Crono!" Marle answered, looking at Crono.
"What?!" the inventor said. Everyone in the room looked at Crono.
"Uh, here's the cake." He said when he pulled a large, pink cake on wheels into
the room.
"A... a cake?"
"Of course! What did you expect?"
"Oh, nothing... Say, did you bought that for all of us together? Must've cost a
lot."
"I didn't buy it, the chef baked it. So what do you think?"
"Kinda... pink. I hate pink."
"But your hair is pink too." Crono mentioned.
"It's not pink, it's purple. Can't you see? Oh wait, I forgot. You're
colorblind."
"Just ignore her Crono. Now, put that over there in the corner, 'cause we're not
going to eat it yet. We'll wait until midnight, okay?" Marle said to Crono.
"Yes ma'am!" saluted Crono before he moved the cake to it's destined place.
Marle and Crono also sat down at the table. Ayla was playing with some yarn she found in a closet, Frog was polishing his sword which he always seemed to carry with him and Lucca was making some strange calculations on a piece of paper. It was quiet for a few moments.
"So... Tell me Frog, what have you been doing lately?" Crono asked the
swordsman.
"Nothing important at all. I taketh' some jobs from the king, things like that."
It was quiet again. Crono started tapping his fingers on the table. He tried to play the Guardia Castle theme.
"Are you nervous?" Robo asked Crono.
"Oh, so you do speak. Thought you were malfunctioning."
"Well, you normally don't say that much either, do you?"
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. You're just supposed to be mute."
"I talk, so what? Are you supposed to care?"
Marle saw where their conversation was going. She tried to stop it before it got out of hand.
"Quiet you two. Can't you see I'm... err... doing stuff?"
"Okay, sorry Robo."
"Sorry Crono."
"Aw! You two softies!" Lucca remarked.
"You be quiet now, Ayla try to make sweater."
"You can do that? What happened to you? Kino hit you on the head too hard?"
"No. Ayla just need to get mind off bad weather. Ayla not like rain."
"Makes sense." the one with the red hair said.
Everyone was quiet again. Even after a year, they didn't have anything to say. Strange, no? Wait a sec, I'm supposed to keep myself out if this. Let's just skip to Magu... err, Janus again.
Janus was sitting behind his desk, his scythe and cape lying next to him. He was reading a book. The title read: 'How to summon Lavos for dummies'.
"Ah! Two times the energy. Now I get it." he said to himself.
He continued to read. While he was reading he casted a few simple spells in front of his desk, probably to try out a few things he had just learned.
"Good. That'll do for today."
He put the book down on the desk and stood up from his chair. Just when he was about to pick up his cape, he heard voices coming from above.
"Why can't you remember where his room was Slash?"
"It's been a while you know. And I think he redecorated the place."
"Magus and redecoration? Ha! Not in his life. I designed this whole castle. I
wanted to make it pink first, but he insisted on black and gray. Too bad. And
what do you think of..."
"I'm hungry! You brought some food with you Slash?"
"Idiots. I'll show them."
Janus casted a spell and the ceiling opened up, with the three mystics falling through it. Slash and Flea landed softly, compared to the loud bang and rumble made by the fat one.
"Aww! That hurt!" Slash moaned.
"How did you find us? We kept quiet and... oh, I see." Flea said, also rubbing
her behind.
"So, what brought you three here then?" grinned Janus.