Chapter Thirteen – The Chamber of the Mages, Altrisiac
Dead silence in the room.
Magus, so recently reunited with the people who were beginning to become good friends, stared at the woman he had always considered to be his sister. The others were no less shocked. Crono had always known that Schala was powerful, and the recent discovery that she was the Eighth Mage served only to reinforce this. However, the news that she was also the Entity had been completely unexpected.
Magus was the one to finally break the silence. "How?" he asked quietly, stroking Alfador, who was curled up in the wizard's lap.
"I became aware of you by accident," Schala admitted, twisting her hands together in a nervous gesture that was so very human, "and I watched you for a while. As time passed I decided that I had to be with you somehow. Family seemed to be the best way to do that. I had, and still do not have, no interest in you – intimately. If you know what I mean. Something about you… fascinated me… so I found a way to put myself into your life. To be able to look out for you more easily."
"So you're what's behind all of this?" Magus demanded. "You're the reason I was taken out of Zeal?"
"I had to get you away from there," Schala insisted, looking at him. "Your mother would have killed you otherwise. Besides, out of Zeal, you became… what you are."
"A bitter, twisted man whose only reason to live was built around an impossible revenge."
"A wizard who is more powerful than you know," Schala countered. "Besides, out of Zeal, you encountered Lucca and the others. You would never have met them – no, you met them, you would never have joined them," Schala corrected herself. "You'd never have joined them if you'd stayed in Zeal and remained… well… powerless Janus. You are… necessary to this group. Which is also necessary. All of you are," she told them, glancing at each of them. "To save your own world from Lavos, if not… more."
"What do you mean?" Crono demanded tightly.
"You've felt how fractured this universe is," Schala said by way of response. "The Mages are meant to be keeping it together, but they can't. Very soon it will all fall apart. One of them is tainted by a dark madness. Another is losing control over their magic. Two of them are way too caught up in their own games to be any use. Yet another of the Mages doesn't have much control over their element, one of them is suicidal although the others don't know, and the only one who can be helpful never spends any time in the same universe as everyone else. I can't fix them all by myself. This isn't… isn't going to be your last venture here."
"Damn it, leave us alone!" Marle exploded, thumping the table. "I don't want to be like this! I just want to have a couple of adventures, and then settle down with the man I love and maybe raise some children, I don't know. I don't want to run around fixing your mistakes!"
"I will not force any one of you to continue in this path, Marle," Schala told her quietly.
"Well, good."
"Unfortunately, should you choose a safer journey, I'll need to send you back to your own time and erase your memory of all of these events. It will be as though you never even bumped into Crono that day."
That brought the young princess up short. She glanced at Crono, opened her mouth as though to speak, then thought better of it. Biting her lower lip, she looked back at Schala.
"What will it be, Marle?" asked Schala matter-of-factly. "Danger and adventure with the man you love, or a safe and pampered life at home? You never know. You may marry eventually, and perhaps to a man you will come to tolerate, if not appreciate."
"I'll stay here, then," Marle decided finally, reluctantly. "I guess I can handle running after the Mages if I'm with Crono."
Crono smiled at her and, leaning over the table, took her hand. "If Marle's made that decision, I can't very well say no. I'm in, too."
"Knowing my stakes, do any of you wish to back out?" Schala asked, glancing around.
"Hey, I've been in from the start," Lucca said almost defensively. "I'm not quitting now!"
"Ayla not give up!" Ayla agreed firmly. "Ayla want help funny silver woman…"
"I have no wish to forget any of my new friends," Robo put in.
"I can't speak for him," Crono began, "but I'm sure Frog will want to help, too. You'll have to ask him."
Schala nodded, glanced at the person whose opinion meant the most to her. "Magus? What will you decide?"
"Why didn't you tell me, Schala?" he asked bluntly.
"Because I knew that you'd freak out, much as you're doing now," she answered truthfully. "I didn't want that. You understand, don't you? I've done everything for you. Well, mostly. I arranged a lot of things because the world needed things to happen."
Crono asked a question that had been bothering him ever since Schala had admitted to being the Entity. "Why Lavos? I mean, why did you arrange to send Lavos to our world?"
Schala smiled slightly. "Some things are beyond my control. Lavos is one of them. I didn't arrange to send him here. Rather, I arranged for you lot to kill him. Now, I'm counting on you, and if any of you let me down, then I will be very upset. And you'll also be in quite a lot of trouble. Then again, some of these gifts from the Mages ought to come in fairly handy."
"So you've been… travelling with us all this time…" Lucca began.
"I'm not exactly a mind reader, but I can guess what your next question will be," Schala broke in. "I don't know exactly how the battle with Lavos will turn out. By your standards, I am indeed omnipotent, but I know every possibility and couldn't really say which ending you'll get."
"That's not reassuring," Magus remarked.
"You never gave me your answer," Schala remembered. "Are you in, or are you out?"
"Of course I'm in," was the good evil wizard's response. "Did you ever doubt that my answer would be otherwise?" He gave the others a meaningful look. "I've thrown my hand in with you all so thoroughly that Schala won't be the only one who'll get upset if we lose."
Schala smiled. "Good. That's really quite reassuring. Your choices are another thing I didn't know. There was one possibility where Marle went home and Crono and Lucca were both killed."
"Thank you," said Lucca firmly to Marle, "for deciding to stay with us."
"You're very welcome," was Marle's shaken reply.
"If Frog agrees to stay with the group, and I sincerely hope that he will, then you stand a very good chance against Lavos," Schala continued. "I can't help you in that battle. I'm sorry."
Robo had been planning to venture a question when they were interrupted by a very familiar voice. "I have already told you that I do not need your help!" snapped Tarreiz as she stalked into the room, followed by an equally angry-looking Tarkyn. "If you knew anything about healing, you would realise that people recover in different times and I have obviously quite recovered!"
"I know you, Tarreiz, and I know you don't recover from tiredness that easily," Tarkyn shot back.
"Considering that you obviously weren't aware of my magic when we first met, I suppose that you don't know me as well as you thought that you did," Tarreiz informed him coldly. "And you never tired me, either," she added before turning to Crono and his friends. "The Mages would like to make use of this room, if that is quite all right with you. I will show you to your own rooms in Altrisiac. Not you, Schala," said the Mage of Vision as all of them rose to their feet. "You will need to stay here. You know why." She glanced at the others. "Please, follow me."
Magus smiled a little uncertainly at the woman he still considered to be his sister as he followed Tarreiz out.
Schala glanced at Tarkyn. "What, exactly, is happening now?" she asked him.
Tarkyn smiled. "Why, Schala, you are going to be brought into the fold of the Eight Mages."