Disclaimer: What?! Chrono Trigger?! MINE?!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Author's Note: Thank you to those who reviewed! :) This chapter is more of an accurate gauge of what my fic'll end up being like, what with the writing style and whatnot. By the end of this one, the story will finally fit the summary. How's that?

***

Lucca stared with hooded eyes over at the demi-human sitting across the table from her. He was a mysterious creature, a rather large cat who didn't seem to know any color to wear other than black.

It hadn't been long, and it was the only first time she had met him, but she already had taken a dislike to the feline. There was something about him that didn't seem to be right...maybe it was just her imagination. Demi-humans were a fairly new thing to her; they had only been around for twelve years, after all, after she and her friends had changed the timeline upon defeating Lavos.

She obviously had to start getting past this prejudice, however, if she wanted to be eating sometime soon. She had to make money to keep the orphanage afloat somehow, and that was by using her technological prowess to make and sell patents and to build weapons and other machinery for certain clients. This man (or cat, actually) was an envoy from Porre, a large country down south.

"So..." She voiced slowly, stirring her coffee with her spoon. "What you're looking for is a type of submachine gun that is capable of extremely rapid fire, right?"

The cat merely nodded, giving her a stare with piercing yellow eyes that made her squirm in her seat.

"Do you...need them right away?" she continued to prod, desperately wanting their meeting to end as soon as possible. She often met clients in this pub in Truce, some of them rather rough-looking, but never had she wanted to get out of here so quickly.

"As soon as possible," the feline replied in a low, smooth voice. "We need them for an operation coming up soon. I will meet you back here in two weeks to see your progress. Payment only after I've seen your work."

"All right." Lucca swallowed nervously, trying not to show that she was quite afraid of him. "I- I understand." She put down the spoon. "Is that everything, then?"

"Yes." He stood, his black robes billowing out all around him. "Remember, two weeks, or we'll be looking for someone who can do the job better."

"Can I- can I have a name, in case I have questions?"

He stared down at her, his pale eyes narrowing into slits. "You may call me...Lynx," he said after a moment, his gaze seeming to pierce her very brain. And without another word he turned out on his heel and left the pub.

***

As she began the half-mile walk back home, Lucca could not help but suppress a shudder as she recalled her conversation moments ago with the cold-looking demi-human.

(He was so...frigid. Something about him was inhuman. I don't know about anybody else, but I wouldn't like to cross THAT guy anytime soon.)

"Those stupid Porre bastards, anyway," she muttered out loud, quickening her pace. She felt bad, working for a country that would only use the weapons to take over more land, but she needed the money badly. As long as they never attacked Guardia...

But at any rate, she needed to hurry back home. The orphanage and the kids were now her life. She was twenty-eight now, past the age where girls would settle down and get married, and this way of life was the only one that she would ever know. Who would want her, anyway? Gigantic glasses, a love for anything geeky, and (in her opinion) a face that would petrify Medusa. What was there to love?

She hoped that Kid had managed to keep all eleven children in line while she had been away for the morning. Kid was a great help to her; she was almost twelve now, at least three years the elder of the next oldest kid. Lucca smiled as she recalled how she had found her as an infant, nestled in a blanket near a briar patch. She had been the single most important reason why she had started an orphanage. What kind of parent would have abandoned such a cute little girl in the first place?! She felt sorry for the children who would have to grow up on the street because of bad decisions their parents made. And besides, even back then she knew she'd never have a family of her own. So why not raise other people's kids?

She sighed as she remembered those days past, back to her seemingly carefree life before the orphanage (well, on the surface, anyway), during which she and her friends continually warped through time in order to save the world from a terrifying future. (We were so scared, but we were also happy. We supported each other to the end. Frog, Ayla, Robo, Ma-erghhhh, I don't care about YOU- I wonder what you'd all think of me right now...)

(YOU thought I was gonna be a great inventor, Frog... But look at me now; I like what I'm doing, but maybe it's just a waste of talent. I could be making a lot more money off those patents...)

(Wish I could see you all again. I still say that dismantling the Epoch was the most retarded thing I've ever done. But Marle wanted it that way. Go figure...)

Upon arriving home she was rather surprised to see that the very person she had been thinking of about was currently sitting on a chair on the patio, and waving at her so hard that it looked as if her arm might fall off. Yes, this person was Marle. She had always been a little on the energetic side...Crono, of course, was sitting next to her, smiling but not waving as furiously as she was.

They had been the poster couple of Guardia about six years back, when they had been married in an ornate church with all of the kingdom's richest, most influential people attending. Marle and Crono...they had become inseparable during their adventures. Lucca would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous of them; Crono, after all, HAD been her best friend practically since birth, and the two both seemed so happy together, even after years of marriage. She wasn't one to cry over it, though. She had never been interested in Crono in -ahem- that way anyway. He was just not her type romantically. But...Marle?

Maybe it was the whole royal lineage thing, but she had just never related to Marle. At all. During their journeys they had been good acquaintances at best, and sometimes outright enemies at worst. The only time that they had ever really come together was when Crono had died and they all had to try and find a way to revive him. Picky, fastidious, and with a spoiled attitude that would even put most royalty to shame, the two were polar opposites. It was still sometimes a rollercoaster with her even now (although since the wedding the two had taken quite a downhill turn; since then they had taken to picking at each other while Crono looked on helplessly).

They rarely stopped out to see Lucca anymore; their duties as King and Queen (Marle's father had passed on about two years ago) didn't allow them to come out to the orphanage very often. When they did, though, it was always fun to sit around and remember the past. Twelve years hadn't changed the two one bit; Crono was still Crono and Marle (perhaps even unfortunately) was still Marle. It was something that she could always count on.

"You GUYS!" she screeched breathlessly, running the last twenty odd yards to the house. "You should have called!"

Crono just smiled as he, ever the gentleman, stood up from his seat so that Lucca could sit down. "Yeah, well," he replied, scratching his head, staring around at the small group of kids playing in the yard nearby, "We figured you'd just say you were busy again, and it's been four months, so..."

"I NEVER say I'm busy!" Lucca exploded, discretely attempting to cease little Tommy from succeeding in secretly wiping boogers on Marle (although in all truth she wanted to just let her have it).

"Well, you do!" he insisted. "I don't know if you really are busy, or just pretending to be busy, or wha-"

"CRONO!" Marle scolded, her strawberry blonde hair angrily whipping to one side.

"Er---well..." He grinned sheepishly, not wanting to ignite what was known as The Wrath of Marle.

But Lucca just grinned and shrugged it off. "Well anyway, it was great for the two of you to come down here," she voiced while trying to steer Tommy (who had still had a cunning look on his face) towards the other children. "'Cause, as you can see, it's not very -er- economical for me to come to your place too often." She finally succeeded in her task and sat back down with the two.

Marle stared at the happy, carefree children with a disgusted look on her face. "Honestly, Lucca, I really don't see what possessed you to run an orphanage. All those rowdy kids, with their grimy, mucky hands---ugh!"

"Well, it works for me, at any rate," Lucca replied coolly, staring right back at Marle, with her fashionable attire and slender, diva-like body. "And besides, Marle, you'll get your turn soon enough, that is, if you want to keep the Guardia line going. Remember to work out a lot in order to lose all those pregnancy pounds!"

Marle, although she had a strange, cross-eyed look on her face, was either too polite or too dumb (Lucca was betting on the latter) to retort. (She's just asking for it today,) she thought in disgust. (It's so weird with her. One minute she's acting all sugary and the next she's pure venom. Must run in the idiot gene...)

Crono, who had been sitting and watching the exchange with a sort of a half-open mouth, decided to cut in before the conversation escalated. "Heh-heh, I see you two are as witty as ever!" he cut in, letting forth an obviously fake bout of laughter. "It makes me feel as if we were journeying around the world just yesterday!"

Lucca could not help but roll her eyes. "Yeah, Crono, sitting around here and talking about having kids is exactly like traipsing for thirty miles for thirty days in the literal middle of nowhere with a frog, a robot, a cavewoman, and a warlock with destructive tendencies."

Crono was raising his eyebrows and Marle was knitting them in an attempt to work out Lucca's cryptic wording when suddenly a high-pitched shriek sounded out from the backyard. "SIS!! SIIIIIIIIIIIIS! HELP! QUICK!"

Lucca sat bolt upright in her seat. "That sounds like Kid," she half-whispered, scrambling out of the patio chair. "Oh God, what could be happening?!" An adrenaline rush consisting only of sheer panic suddenly overtaking her, she sped off in the direction of the backyard, all the rationale that she normally had seeping out of her like an off-brand paper towel.

(Oh no, oh NO!! I KNEW it! I just absolutely, positively KNEW it! That dream she had---I KNEW I should have listened to what she was saying! But I blew it off--serves me right.)

(Or what if it's---what if it's...THEM?! SHIT!! And what if they decide to-)

However, the unknown entity known as "them" remained shrouded in mystery for the time being, as Lucca cut off the thought when she skidded to a halt in front of a very distraught-looking Kid, standing in the middle of the backyard, who looked upset but none worse for the wear.

"Kid!" she gasped, looking her up and down for any sign of injury or -well- wrongness. "What's going on?! Why did you yell like that?!"

"Luccaaaaaaaaaa!" Kid wailed, tears welling up in her eyes. "It's terrible! There's---there's a- a man lying in our backyard!"

And Lucca, despite the fact that the man in question for all she knew could be a serial killer or something equally as bad, breathed a sigh of relief.

"S-i-i-i-i-i-s! HOW can you be relieved?! HOW?! The man looks dead, for crying out loud!"

"Well, I thought that you were hurt or something!" Lucca reprimanded indignantly, giving her charge a stern look. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Hey, what seems to be the trouble, guys?!" Crono and Marle were both running up at this point, puffing and wheezing. Both of them looked extremely flabbergasted as they looked around and didn't see anyone maimed, injured, or hurt.

Kid gestured towards the back grove. "C'mon, he's back there!"

They all ran up to where she was pointing, only to find that what Kid was saying was indeed true. There was a man lying facedown in the ferns, and he looked as if he had had a terrific fall at that, with his leg bent at a weird angle and his long cloak tangled under him. The fact that his back was heaving up and down, however, ruled out the fact that he was dead.

"We-ell, it looks like he's alive," Lucca said reluctantly, squinting down at him as she bent over to pick up a large stick lying nearby. "Whatever made you think he was dead anyway, Kid?!" She began to prod the poor man quite voraciously with the stick. "See? Watch! He's twitching!"

"Uh---uh---Lucca," Crono sounded out, staring at the scene with his mouth half-open, as was usual with him. "He looks really injured right now. Uh---maybe you shouldn't do that."

"Oh yeah, right." She tossed the stick into the underbrush, looking at the others in confusion. "But what the hell is he doing IN MY BACKYARD?! Why did he have to pick HERE to be unconscious?!"

Crono shook his head. "He didn't. And your guess is as good as mine."

Marle squinted. "Why don't we take a look at his face and see who he is?! Maybe he's from around here or something."

"Yeah..." Crono bent down and slowly began to turn the man around so that his face was visible, making careful sure to not bump his injured leg as he was rolled over. Slowly, slowly... As the features of the man slowly became visible, everyone but Kid paled as it dawned on them that THIS man was indeed very recognizable. So recognizable that it hurt.

"Lucca!" Marle gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. "Why--why--what is MAGUS doing in your backyard?!"

Author's Note: I'll prob'ly update this anywhere from six days to a week and a half. Not sure. It all depends. This fic is even older than some of my recently posted ones, which means I already have quite a bit planned and written out, but I still don't want to feel rushed when I start writing new stuff.

And, of course, I can't finish this out without my usual desperate plea for reviews. So, um...PLEASE?! I am especially curious about my plot. The part with Lynx and the stuff in the beginning greatly has to do with things that happen later in the story, and I need to be able to fix any problems before I'm too far in. Thanks! :)