He stirred in his sleep and woke up in a cold sweat an hour after sunrise, right on schedule. He had lived like this for years now. He remembered when it started all too clearly. It was shortly after she had left. She had left him, so many years ago, and went heaven knows where.
He had tried to forget her, tried with all his might. He even married Leena, shortly after she left him. He did love Leena, he loved her greatly but there was still a hole in his heart, a hole left by her. Leena was truly a great and understanding woman, and he had known her all his life, and he had loved her for the longest time. She loved him also, and even bore him a child, a son but her life was taken in the process. He felt he was unable to care for and bring up his son in his condition. He was alone, and whenever he looked at the child it only brought more misery to him, reminding him of his second lost love.
He did the only thing he could do, he gave the child away for adoption and lived the rest of his life by himself in the very same home he grew up in. This was all within the last ten years.
The man, called Serge, sat up in his bed, his feet touching the cool wood beneath them. This was the end, he would no longer tolerate this, this hell. He would find his love, he would find Kid and would finally live in peace.
Serge dressed all in black, a seeming suitable color for him these days. He reached under his bed and pulled out a long box. He opened it to find two treasures hidden inside: his Spectral Swallow and Kid's Prism Dagger, a memento she had left him so that he would never forget her. Little did she know that he would not need anything to remind him of the days the two of them had spent together. He placed the swallow on his back, and fastened the dagger to a belt around his waist.
He didn't know where to start, he had no clue as to where she could have gone, he knew only one thing: she was from the mainland.
Serge sold his house, he wouldn't need it anymore, and used the funds to buy a boat suitable to take out of El Nido and onto the mainland. He wasn't sure which continent she was from, but he decided to start with Porre, his search brought up nothing. He spent years searching the entire world for his beloved, but nothing ever turned up, somehow noone had seen Kid.
He did whatever was needed in his search. He battled a countless number of monsters and reached a level of power greater than anyone had ever suspected, he even learned to use the other elemental powers not associated with his normal allocation. His soul was twisted by this one, sole ambition.
For ten years he searched, for ten long years he found nothing, and a bit of his soul died. He had nothing left, no family, no friends, noone to love, and noone to love him. He now stood where it all began, where the cogs of FATE first began to turn, 'Angelus Errare,' 'Where Angels Loose Their Way,' Opassa Beach. It was here that he first went into Another World, there he was able to meet up with Kid at Cape Howl. He had already seen the sun set at Cape Howl, just as before, but this time he was all alone. Karsh didn't come, and Kid never came to his rescue.
Now he was here, lying on the beach, listening to the waves and watching the stars. There was nowhere else to turn, he had searched all of the Zenan continent, and even the site of the orphanage that had belonged to Lucca, where he had saved her once. There was no where else to turn. He could not survive a search of the other continents, and he had already searched all of the El Nido archipelago.
There was no place he could go, or was there? There was one place he could possibly get any wish he could think of, one place where anything was possible, the same place where he met Kid once they were separated when he and his father, Lynx, swapped bodies. The place that was buried in the depths of the Sea of Eden, the complex of the future, Chronopolis!
He jumped to his feet and ran to the boat, not wanting to waste even the night, he knew this was the way, this was the only way to see Kid again. He pushed the boat into the water, climbing in he quickly sailed around the main island and towards the Sea of Eden. It was difficult to find the old entrance to the innards of the mountain ring but he found and sailed through it. In the center of the sea stood the building he had came to visit, a building that in all reality should not be here at this time, a building that was pulled into the past, the building called Chronopolis.
He came ashore and entered the complex, heading directly to the room holding the object of his desire. The object capable of granting any wish with the one who makes contact with it, the Frozen Flame.
Serge went to the nearest control council, somehow he knew the buttons to press to release the shield around the Flame, he didn't know how he knew this and he didn't even care. As the protective sphere dissipated, and the Flame descended down to eye level, Serge walked towards the item of legend.
He extended a shaking hand, fearing the repercussions of his actions, but at the first thought of his reunification with Kid he reached out quickly and touched the Frozen Flame. Suddenly he was surrounded by a blue light, a strong wind nearly pushing him away from his contact with the Flame. He stood his ground, never moving from the Flame, from his true desire. He focused his mind on the face of his beloved, her blonde hair, her blue eyes, every curve of his face. Within the flame he saw the face of the woman he has longed for all the time. He eyes were closed, she must've been asleep, but it didn't matter, she would be as happy to see him as he was to see her, he just knew it.
"Bring her to me!" he ordered, nothing happened. Becoming angry he shouted: "BRING HER TO ME NOW!"
Slowly the wind died down to a light breeze, then stopped all together, followed by the disappearance of the blue world around him and the return of the Chronopolis interior. He looked around, anger took over him as he found he was still alone.
To his right he started to see a bright light and turned to face it. It was her! She was appearing, the golden haired goddess was floating before him, dressed in a white gown, still with her eyes closed. He was filled with joy, followed by perplexity as a strange oval shield appeared around her. He understood it all as another form appeared, being connected to the blonde girl by tentacle-like appendages at the bottom of the shield around the girl. The Flame had made a mistake, it did not bring him Kid, as he had hoped, but rather it brought him Schala, while she was connected to the infusion of Lavos and the Dragon God. Before him stood the Time Devourer!
He took out his Swallow and ran in for attack. He was stopped a few feet from his starting position by the sheer power of the Time Devourer, and his Spectral Swallow was destroyed and he flew back. He moved onto his hands and knees, he pounded the grand with his fist, saying: "Why? Why are you here?" he raised his head and pointed an accusing finger towards the Time Devourer "Why the hell are you here? We defeated you!"
The answer came as a voice in his head, a dark, menacing voice, a voice that carried three different voices in one, a voice that echoed in his mind. "You cannot defeat me, I extend the boundaries of time and space!"
"That makes no sense!"
It responded: "I am all powerful, no one can defeat me so easily!"
The next voice that he heard in his head was a soft, sweet voice, the same voice of his beloved. Only this voice belonged to Schala Zeal, not to Kid. She spoke to him: "You cannot truly believe that with all of our power that you can destroy us so simply! The combined powers of Lavos, the Dragon God and I are far too powerful to be so easily destroyed!"
"But I saw you, Schala! I saw you, I talked to you!"
She replied: "Did you? Or do you just think that it was truly Schala you saw? I have told you, the power of the three of us combined is greater than you can even imagine! We knew you would do what you did those twenty years ago! And we acted accordingly! We created another copy, a third copy of us, another copy of me!"
The first replied now, the voice of the three parts of the Time Devourer combined: "The Chrono Cross you used was not altogether useless like you may be thinking. After all it did release the second daughter-clone of Schala! Leading you to believe that your mission was complete, but it was far from complete."
Now was a new voice, still dark and menacing, it was a voice that was prevalent in the voice of the combined Time Devourer, much like Schala's voice had been. It spoke: "We have been acting on this planet for centuries now, using our power to make sure that all would go as planned. From me falling to Earth in 65,000,000 B.C."
A third voice, representing the third and final part of the Time Devourer, spoke: "To me being brought into their world and being absorbed into their ultimate being."
The first voice he heard, the voice of the Time Devourer, containing the voices of all three parts of the monster that stood before him, spoke: "So you see it was your fault that the world you saw in the Dead Sea had came about. You caused the future to be destroyed by releasing me, the Time Devourer! I have been altering the course of history just so I would be formed!
"It was I who allowed Schala's pendant to fall into the royal bloodline of Guardia. I caused the reaction that brought Marle to the year 600 and I am responsible for sending Crono and his friends to the year 2300, where they found out about Lavos, and destroyed him. Thus I was able to be created, once all the other pieces were set into motion. I needed to capture Schala, and the Dragon God, but those were simple, compared to what I had just gone through!"
Serge stood and drew out his Spectral Swallow, "So, you are the reason all this happened. You orchestrated the destruction of the whole world, and I am at fault! So now I am left with only one option, I will have to kill you!"
Again the voice of the beast before him echoed in his mind, "Hahaha! You can't destroy me! The future has already been written!"
"I killed you once."
"You can't kill me! You never have, you never will!"
Serge charged forward. He didn't get far until he crashed into an invisible barrier, he kept his balance, but he felt an energy serge from the Time Devourer that shattered his weapon into a myriad of pieces.
"You haven't beaten me yet!" he drew the Prism Dagger from its sheath behind his back and charged once again, not revealing this new weapon. He pulled out the dagger at the last moment and stabbed his enemy with all his might, piercing through the thick hide and causing a scream of pain.
"You fool!" Serge was pushed back by the pure power of the Time Devourer. "You can't defeat me! I am immortal!"
"Then I will just have to send you into the abyss!" a black aura surrounded him as he called upon the elements. A black hole formed in the middle of the room and started sucking in all the loose objects in the room as it slowly grew in power. This was not the normal black hole used to deal damage to one's enemy, his intention was to suck in the Time Devourer, and possibly this whole complex, into the hole for all eternity.
"I cannot be defeated so easily, boy! My power is much stronger than you can possibly imagine!" slowly the black hole started to shrink, and lose its power until it was nothing. "See, boy? See the power that you have unleashed?"
"I will never let you destroy this world!"
"It is too late for that, boy! This is my hour!" with those last words the floor of Chronopolis started to shake and crack. A dome of light appeared where the black hole once was, and was steadily growing in size, destroying all that it encompassed. Serge did not have the will to move, he realized the futility of it all. The Time Devourer had the power to destroy the entire Sea of Eden, even the world. There is no way he could escape the power of the Time Devourer, and now he did not even want to try. The path for eternal happiness turned into the path of worldly destruction. He caused the destruction, he was at fault, and now he will pay the ultimate price, and hope that he could be forgiven, not only by those that will die because of him but also those who will survive the attack and live in the hell he had created.
