White. White everywhere. All around, except for up which was grey. Schala blinked and looked around, but the whiteness didn't go away. After a while she realised that it was because she was lying in the snow. Was this Zeal? No, it couldn't be. She remembered the white specks on Kelke's clothing and hair. So his universe was cold. That made sense, in a way. Magus hated the cold. Kelke hated the heat.
She struggled to her feet. Her head hurt. Why? There was no time for that, she had to see if everyone else was still alive. Over there, that redness was Crono's hair. She went to him to see if he was alive. He appeared to be unconscious. She knew that wouldn't do, so she revived him.
He sat up and blinked at her."It's all white."
"It's snowing," she explained patiently. "Are the others around here?"
"They should be." He looked around, pointed the Epoch out to her. "Did we crash-land or something?"
"Maybe. Do you think the Epoch still works?"
"I hope so. Let's go and wake up everyone else." He went to Ayla, who was lying nearby, and shook her awake. "Are you all right?"
"Ayla cold," she whimpered.
"Oh, you poor girl, you'd be colder than anyone. Except maybe Magus, who just can't take it," mused Crono. "Just try to keep moving, and we'll see what can be done about it. Maybe if we find a village or something...?"
The next of the group he found was Frog, who woke himself up. "Mine head hurts," groaned the frog man, blinking. "Did we crash-land here? It is white. Is it snowing?"
"It seems to be," Crono answered.
Frog blinked again, looked at something. "Should Robo ought to be smoking like that?"
Crono studied the prone robot carefully. "No... Schala, find Lucca!"
"One step ahead of you," Schala answered. She was already crouching next to Lucca. "Wake up! We already need you."
Lucca put a hand to her face, then groped in the snow around her, a fruitless search. Schala helped her look but eventually shook her head. "No, I can't find them."
"I'm blind," wailed Lucca desperately.
"Um... now isn't a good time to tell you this, but Robo's having problems," Schala said meekly.
"What do you expect me to do about it?" snapped Lucca. "I can't see anything! I'd blow him up by mistake!"
"Well, I'm sorry, but... could you try?" Schala pleaded.
"I... I suppose I've poked around in him enough to have a go at it," answered Lucca miserably, rubbing her eyes.
Schala led her over to Robo and left her there momentarily to go and talk to the others, who were standing in a shivering little group. Crono had roused everyone, even Magus, who looked too cold to complain.
"I see the cold has frozen your lips shut," Schala greeted him with a fond grin. "That's going to make life easier."
Magus glared at her but said nothing. After a moment he smiled good-humouredly. Crono was relieved that he'd remembered he was a good evil wizard now, not an evil evil one, and had learned to take jokes. He was especially happy that Magus was getting used to being teased. This little group tended to make jokes about each other all the time.
Then he glanced at Ayla, who was slowly but surely turning blue. "Does anyone know how we can keep Ayla warm?" he asked the group in general, going over to the scantily dressed prehistoric woman and trying to think of a way.
Magus sighed, unpinned his cloak, and held it out to her. Crono watched him warily for a moment, then took it with a slightly suspicious, "Thank you."
"I'll have it back if you don't want it," Magus said acidly, folding his arms. "I'll just turn into an iceblock, but she'll freeze to death."
Ayla wrapped the cloak around herself and smiled at him. "Much thanks."
"Don't you hold this against me," the good evil wizard warned darkly. "I think this snow's frozen away the last of my sanity..."
"You never had any," said Marle cheekily. "Anyhow, you're meant to be a good wizard these days. That was very nice of you."
"Nice!" Magus repeated with some disbelief and proceeded to ignore her. "Hey, what's Lucca doing to Robo?"
"You want to come over here and have a go?" demanded Lucca, pulling at a wire. "Ow! Shit!" She stuck her singed fingers in her mouth.
The others stared at her. "I didn't know you even knew any swear words," said Crono after a while.
Lucca glared somewhat vaguely at the mass of wires she could only dimly see before her. She grabbed one, pulled, and wrapped it around another. With a jerk Robo came back to... well... animation.
"Are you fixed?" Lucca asked him gently.
"The moon is cheese!" was Robo's reply.
With a sigh Lucca tried a different wire. "How about now?" She couldn't even translate what the robot said, but clearly she hadn't fixed him just yet. She yanked out a few more wires and touched others together.
"Destroy all humans," growled Robo nastily.
"That one's not right!" yelped Crono with some alarm.
Lucca quickly disconnected the wires, then with a sigh leaned back. "I can't do it. There are so many wires, and they were all rearranged in the impact anyway. I don't know what to do!"
"Told you, you needed rest," muttered Crono.
Lucca looked in the direction from which his voice had come and snarled, "Don't you tell me what I should do!"
"Lucca, Lucca. Calm down," Schala advised gently and knelt down beside her. "There are seven wires here I can see. There's a blue one wrapped around a yellow one, a green one, a silver one, a pale yellow one and a red one in a bunch, and a black one and a gold one barely connected."
For some crazy reason this reminded her of the time-travelling group. "I don't know, but let's try this. Keep the blue one and the yellow one together. Put... um... the gold one with the main group. I mean the other wires. Take out... the red one, and make it touch the black wire."
Schala followed her instructions. Robo buzzed into movement. "Greetings, Lucca and Miss Schala!" was the first thing he said.
"You don't have to call me that," Schala scolded lightly. "Just 'Schala' is fine. Lucca, you're amazing!"
"I know," replied Lucca with false modesty.
"Are you long or short sighted? How much can you see?"
"Short sighted, and about... four centimetres ahead of me," Lucca replied. "Approximately."
"That's not really convenient now, is it? Okay... I'm going to try something." Schala began to softly chant. Her pendant glowed, this unearthly glow reflecting in Lucca's eyes for a moment then fading away.
Lucca blinked. "What did you do?"
"Your lens are too strong," explained Schala. "They focus too much. I just made them a bit weaker. I don't think it's perfect..."
"No, I can't see perfectly," Lucca agreed. "I can see a lot more than I could before, though. You're the amazing one!"
"Speaking of chants," Marle remembered and turned to Magus. "What came next?"
Magus looked blank. "Next in what?"
"In your chant! To summon Lavos. You know, neuga, zeiga, zeiber, zom..."
"Hey! Don't say that too loudly!" cautioned the good evil wizard. "Don't quote me on this, I've never had a particularly good memory. It went... it went 'neuga, zeiga, zieber, zom, now the chosen time has come, exchange this world for...' Damn! I can never remember that bit. That's why I couldn't do it. I could never remember that damned chant."
Schala sighed with fond exasperation and rolled her eyes.
"Okay!" Crono clapped his hands together. "We need to find Kelke."
"Find me?" repeated Kelke with delight. "Oh, I like the sound of that!"
"Can you stop suddenly appearing?" Crono demanded of the evil evil wizard.
"No. I like to add a little excitement to your lives. I'll look forward to meeting all of you in battle... if you can find my castle." Kelke studied Schala very carefully, so carefully it made her uncomfortable.
"What?" demanded the Princess of Zeal nervously. "Stop looking at me like that!"
"Ever thought of becoming the Queen of Darkness?" Kelke asked her seriously.
There was a horrified silence. Finally Magus came to terms with it and forced himself to understand what Kelke was implying. He gave an exclamation of disgust and hatred, snatched his scythe and moved as if he would attack the evil evil wizard.
Kelke extended his arms, crossed them at the wrist. His hands flashed blue and a sudden torrent of rain pounded the wizard. "Would any of you care for the same?" queried Kelke calmly. "I could extend it to you all, if you'd like."
He did it anyway, then briefly surveyed his handwork. "Excellent. Now, unless you freeze first, I'll see you in my castle... and please, make it sometime in the next ten years. I do have other things to destroy," he said reproachfully and disappeared.
