Thank you everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it. There will be more Marle and Janus arguing but only a little. There will also be another addition to their group
The three of them stood in front of the glass dome staring at it. There was no door or anything that closely resembled a door. Crono walked up to it, maybe there were control panels. None were present and he turned to Marle and Janus, who were still scowling at each other.
"Any ideas?" he was not entirely prepared for what came next.
"No…perhaps we could simply throw Marle through the glass. Then at least she'd have some use."
Crono put a hand on Marle's shoulder but she brushed him off screaming, "YOU MAKE ME SO MAD I WANT TO KILL YOU!"
"Empty threat there," he was sneering now and his eyes flashing dangerously. "Come now Marle, I wasn't being serious."
"Then don't say it! You're a filthy, stinking, I don't know what!"
"Really…I do believe you have a slight anger problem."
Crono stood by a large frown growing on his face, he had never seen Marle so angry and the way that Janus was acting he did not blame her. In fact he had a strong urge to punch Janus in the face. They were acting like two five year olds.
"I do not! You're the one with the anger problem!"
"I thought we had decided that my problem was being bitter."
Marle's face was turning red and Crono thought it a good time to do something. "Janus listen to me, if I hear you say anything to Marle that upsets her…" he placed his hand on his sword hilt.
"You think that you can fight me one on one and win?" Janus began to laugh. "I have to admit that you are rather noble, standing up for the woman you love."
Marle's face turned even redder though this time it was in pleasure. Crono said nothing but took her hand and together they went to look around the building. Janus followed with a resigned look on his face.
Crono was beginning to get frustrated. There had to be an entrance…there had to be. Marle had made the suggestion of knocking but the whole thing was made of glass panels and much as he loved her the suggestion seemed ridiculous. Sammy was now clinging to Marle's shoulder and he suddenly leapt off.
"Sammy!" she cried not wanting him to get lost but he ignored her. She darted after him and scooped him up, but not before he had managed to touch a silver object on the ground. There was a loud rumbling sound and they hastily backed away as glass panels began to slide to make an entry way. Out of it came a strange bronze creature…not a creature…a robot, one that looked very familiar…
"ROBO!" Marle screamed and flung herself at the stunned robot. He smiled; at least as much as a robot could smile. Marle continued, "I can't believe it! I'm so glad that you're here!"
Crono managed to pry Marle off of him. He could not believe it but he actually felt slightly well…jealous of the robot. I can't believe I feel jealous of a robot…just because Marle hugged him…Marle hugs everyone…why should I be worried? Especially because he is a robot and I know that while he has feelings I doubt that he…why am I even thinking of this?
"I am glad to see you also," Robo replied, swiveling around as if trying to spot someone. "Where is Lucca?"
"We could only bring three people on the Epoch and she decided to stay behind and possibly find another way to join us," Marle answered.
Robo looked around at the three of them. Robots could not express emotions very well but Crono was sure that he saw surprise register on his face when his gaze landed on Janus. Out of all of them Janus had been the one who refused to get close to anyone. They had all become a tight knit family except for Janus, refusing to speak unless absolutely need though towards the end he had loosened up a little. It was no surprise that the robot did not entirely understand their choice of company. In fact Crono would have rather Lucca been there then Janus but of course Janus needed to be there. Schala was his sister and that was the reason they were here in the first place.
Crono took out the pendant he had in his pocket. "I found this on Death's Peak shortly after you guys uh…saved me...its Schala's pendant. We were hoping that we might be able to find more clues to prove that she's alive. We need to find her."
"We'd better find her!" Janus hissed.
Robo looked at them all, then he glanced around behind him, "Come in so we can discuss this further."
The inside of the building was even more magnificent then the outside. Light filtered in softly, making the metal interior more pleasant, the function of the dome was not entirely clear. There were many machines lining the walls and people were bustling about, some giving odd glances towards the new comers but most chose to ignore them.
"What is this place?" Marle asked finally.
"This is where we receive imports from other colonies. All the domes around the outside have similar functions, transportation, imports and exports, power plants, security for the city, things to that effect. The inner domes are where the people live and where you have your stores."
"What do you do?"
"I function as a security guard, that's what I was originally built for, if you recall."
Crono flinched uncontrollably. He remembered it all to well. The stench of the long forgotten dome, the harsh grating sounds of the machinery, and their encounter with the robots. Lucca had managed to help Robo who they had all become fond of and for that he was thankful, but Crono held no fondness for other sentient machines. Thinking of this caused him to look around warily and now that he did he wished he had not. There were robots all around, some were helping unload the incoming freight while others milled around, he could guess what their job was. He edged slightly closer towards the group, and felt Marle take his hand gently and flushed, embarrassed. He had not realized that he had been so obvious. Looking down at Marle, he realized that she too felt uneasy being surrounded by all the other robots. Janus alone seemed unperturbed, gliding along silently looking neither right nor lift but strait in front of him. Even Robo looked uncomfortable which furthered Crono's uneasiness. If Robo looked on edge then there had to be something not quite right and he remembered the way that Robo had glanced behind him before he had bid them to enter. Whatever the problem was Crono sincerely hoped that it did not have to do with the other robots.
They made it out of the dome without incident and everyone relaxed as the warm sunlight hit their faces once more. Robo led them over to a smaller dome decorated with flowers. He pressed down a silver switch at the base and a door way formed. Inside the atmosphere was pleasant and Crono allowed himself to relax completely. It appeared to be an inn. Robo walked up to the metal desk where an old woman was sitting and returned with plastic cards. They followed him to their room.
"What is it exactly that is going on?" Robo asked, after they all had settled in.
"Schala may still be alive. I found her necklace on Death's Peak and since the Black Omen exists in all time periods we thought that she may have escaped. The thing is we changed the future in destroying Lavos so she may either be stuck somewhere between time or she could be here, we just don't know which."
Robo considered this for a moment then said softly, "Have you thought about an alternate timeline?"
"What?!" Janus snapped.
"An alternate timeline…it is hard to explain."
"Well you'd better explain it or I'll be forced to dismantle you!"
Robo took this calmly and he tried again, "We destroyed Lavos and therefore changed the future. You can look around now and see that, we saved the world from destruction—"
"We know this already!" Janus cut him off.
"Janus calm down!" Marle reached out and touched his arm. He withdrew it sharply with a cold glance at Marle.
Crono stood up suddenly, "Wait…I think I understand." Marle, Janus, and Robo stared at him surprised. "We changed the future but the future was already there…what happened to it? What happened to the broken down domes, the starving people, they couldn't have just disappeared."
"But I don't get it, we changed the future. So that never happened."
"But it did! It did happen it had already occurred. What we did wasn't really changing the future; it was creating a new timeline! By destroying Lavos we changed the course of time, we diverted it."
"So your saying that we didn't actually change anything, we created something new?" Marle was thoroughly confused.
"Yes…at least I think so…"
"So really my sister might not even be here! She could be trapped in some alternate dimension!"
"I don't know!" Crono snapped. This was to confusing, there were so many possibilities, he may not even be right about alternate timelines. This was something they needed Lucca for…but Lucca was not here to help them.
I know that last part might have been a bit confusing but I'll try to clear it up. I was also wondering which pairings you would most like to see:
A) Crono/ Schala, Marle/Janus
B) Marle/Crono, Schala/Frog (Glenn)
C) or just the regular Marle/Crono