Author's Note : I'm back! We came fourth, if you're interested. I, um… will refrain from mentioning how many orchestras were actually in the Eisteddfod… it makes me feel better about losing. I mean coming fourth! Well anyway.

Teapots, (can I call you that? It's just that I can't spell 'Apocalyptic') as if I could really kill Kelke! He's so… Kelkish.

I'll probably post the next two chapters soon, otherwise I'll get caught up with schoolwork and you'll have to wait five weeks for this to finish. I'm halfway through writing the story that follows on from this, but I'm in the last, like, six weeks of Year Twelve so I'll be focusing on schoolwork if you don't mind!! Does anyone out there want to do my chemisty exam? Pleeeeease? I'd be ever so grateful…

Lavos countdown : two chapters…

Chapter Eighteen – The End of Time

There were eight little flashes of light. These yielded, in approximate order, Crono, Lucca, Marle, Frog, Robo, Ayla, Magus holding Alfador, and Schala.

"Thank you Tarreiz!" Schala called in the hope that Tarreiz would hear her, which she probably had.

Crono gave a sigh of contentment, happy to be finally back in the good old crowded End of Time, and then glanced over the others to ensure that his little group were all safe. "Hey!" he realised, "everyone got an item but me! Where's mine?"

"Yours is in our universe somewhere," Marle told him. "Didn't you listen to what Tarreiz told us?"

"Um." Crono tried to remember. "Probably not." He challenged, "Okay then, smarty pants, what is it?"

"I don't know," Marle shrugged. "She didn't tell us that."

"Yeah, it's not like Tarreiz would ever be remotely useful," Lucca muttered, walking over to a barrel to peer down at a glowing blue speck. "Hey Gaspar!" she added, waving at the Guru, but he was apparently asleep.

"The Masamune," Frog remembered. "Magus, where be my sword?"

"I left it with Cyrus in the Middle Ages," Magus replied. "Seemed like a good idea at the time…"

"Crono, may I please travel to the Middle Ages to reclaim my weapon?" Frog asked politely.

"Oh sure, go. Schala, what's my item?" Crono wanted to know.

"I shouldn't really tell you…" Schala began.

"Oh please," Crono begged.

Schala gave in. "Okay, it's a sword called the Rainbow. We'll have to go and do all sorts of things in order to get it, though."

"Then let's go!" Crono decided. "I'll take… Marle, and Ayla, and we can all go off and get my sword!"

"Oh, here," Lucca remembered and finally gave Magus the scythe, which, yes, she has been carrying since Chapter Eight, although I swear it was intentional. I didn't just forget about it. Honest.

"Wow! Thanks!" Magus exclaimed and gave it an experimental swing. The others scattered. "Fantastic!" the magician enthused. "Now find me something to hack with it! Ooh!" he exclaimed delightedly. "Like Lavos, for example!"

"Hang about," Crono put in sharply. "I hate to burst your bubble, but we're not going anywhere until I get my sword."

"Well, hurry up," said Magus impatiently, leaning on the scythe in much the same way that he had done with his previous one before Lucca burnt it to a crisp. "I want to get on with it! Hey! I can go and fight Spekkio!" he exclaimed and bounced off to do just that, Lucca running after him, as always.

If he had been concentrating on anything but getting his sword, which sounded cool, Crono would have seen warning signs about Magus' eagerness to be doing anything now that the wizard had magic, hands, scythe and swishy cloak returned to him. As it was, Crono just said happily, "Marle, Ayla, let's go!" and led them to the Epoch to see about this item.

By the time the three of them returned, Crono proudly carrying the Rainbow, Lucca was already on the trail of something called the Moonstone. Frog had returned before Crono and the others, happily carrying the Masamune. Several adventures, which included defeating the Mother and replanting a forest, later, the group finally assembled in the End of Time with nothing else to do than make the attempt to defeat Lavos.

"We'll get out butts kicked," Marle announced. "We still have some training to do, in my opinion."

"Let's try it anyway!" suggested Magus, who had been having friendly and sometimes not-so-friendly magical battles with Spekkio for the whole time.

"What if we all die?" Marle argued. "Then the whole of humanity will perish!"

"Not so," Magus argued, for the others had taken him to the future once or twice. "They'll all just live in domes and be dominated by machines and other such."

"I would like to try out my sword," Crono agreed. "I mean, before I take it into battle and see how it works against Lavos."

"You just want to swish it around," Magus accused.

"Well… true," Crono admitted, "but that's hardly a crime."

"I fear Crono and Marle both have points," Frog put in. "We may never be truly ready to go up against Lavos, but there is no dishonour in as much training as possible."

"Pick me! Pick me!" Magus, of course. "I'll train!"

"There may not be many places left," Robo warned. "I believe that extra experience is indeed a useful thing, but most of the more powerful enemies have already been defeated and the others no longer pose a threat."

There was a momentary pause while they tried to work out where they could go to gain this extra experience. Magus enthusiastically suggested fighting Spekkio but the others refused. Lucca woke up Gaspar, who told them to quickly find a person close to one of them who needed help. There was an argument between Lucca and the Guru that ran mostly on the lines of the fact that they had already done that, thank you very much, and Gaspar no longer needed to tell them to do something they had already done. Marle asked Spekkio, who asked if she wanted some practice and then, when she said no, hopefully wanted to know if Magus could come and play. Marle was left privately wondering who enjoyed these magical battles more, Magus or Spekkio.

"I can't think of anything," Marle was finally forced to admit as she rejoined the others in the main area.

"Hunting ground no good," Ayla agreed. "Dinosaurs now all too weak."

"We could go and find Flea," Magus suggested. This was shot down in flames as it probably required returning to the Alternate Universe. They were not planning to go there any time soon.

"There is," Crono began reluctantly, "a place."

"Where?" asked the others in unison so perfect it was scary.

"Only three of us should go, though," he continued. "I mean, only three of us can go in the Epoch anyway."

"We can fit more in there," Lucca argued.

"I meant safely," Crono clarified. "I'll go, because it was my idea."

"I'm there!" said Magus excitedly. "I have no idea where we're going, but I want to play!"

"I'm not letting you go off by yourself," Lucca told him firmly and, taking Magus' hand a bit nervously, not sure how the others would react to it, said to Crono, "Magus and I will go with you."

Crono nodded, not having expected anything different. "Okay, let's go."

"No, wait!" Marle protested, putting out a hand to stop him. "You can't just pull a Magus on us, and leave without telling us where you're going. I'll worry. So tell me, where are you going?"

Crono smiled grimly. "To take a little training run in the Black Omen."