(Kit Thespian walks in)
Kit Thespian: Now, the review response...
zipis1: Hey, it ain't over until I say "The End" and THEN it'll be over. Please don't throw a chocolate muffin of doom at me!
Lone Gunmen: Gasp! (bows and kisses Lone Gunmen's feet) Thank you! Thank you so much!
MikariStar: Thank you for reading it! Here's another update...
Kit Thespian: Hey...where're my characters? One of them is supposed to give the Disclaimer and none of them are to be found!
(Dalton pops his head in)
Dalton: They're on vacation, and I'm stuck here keeping watch!
Kit Thespian: Oh...Then you can give the Disclaimer!
Dalton: Me?! I don't give Disclaimers! I'm an evil lackey! Evil! EVIL!!!
Kit Thespian: You won't do the Disclaimer?
Dalton: I won't do the Disclaimer!
Kit Thespian: Then I'm sure you and Golem Boss will be a very lovely couple.
Dalton: ...I don't believe you really would do all these things, these slash threats.
(Kit Thespian grumbles and snaps her fingers. Magus and Ozzie appear.)
Ozzie: Hey, where'd the beach go?
Kit Thespian: Dalton, you force me to do something I really don't want to do. (snaps her fingers again. Magus and Ozzie look at each other with strange expressions.)
Dalton: Oh, no. Oh, no!
Kit Thespian: Oh, yes.
Ozzie (batting his eyes): Magus, have I ever told you how lovely your red eyes go with your cape?
Magus (coming closer): Why, no! Did I ever tell you that green is my favorite color?
Dalton (on the floor, writhing): Stop! I beg of you, STOP!!!
(Kit Thespian snaps her fingers and Magus and Ozzie come back to their senses)
Magus: Aagh! Get away from me!
Ozzie: You get away from me!
Magus: What happened?
Dalton: DON'T ASK! PLEASE, DON'T ASK!
Magus (to Kit Thespian): What's his problem?
Kit Thespian (innocently): I can't imagine. (snaps her fingers and sends the wizard and the mystic back to their vacations) Now, Dalton, will you be a good boy and give the Disclaimer?
(Without a moment's loss, Dalton jumps up and faces the audience)
Dalton: Kit Thespian does not own the video game Chrono Trigger or the characters therein. And she is not making any money off of this fic.
(Heartily humbled, Dalton leaves the stage. Kit Thespian faces the audience)
Kit Thespian: Now, what you've all been waiting for...
Chapter Seven- Undying Vow
As it turned out, getting the Rainbow Shell seemed to make more of a mess than the party had intended, for when they returned to Guardia, Marle's father was on trial for selling the royal heirloom, the priceless Rainbow Shell. After straightening out that little problem, the group, at Lucca's suggestion, went to the Millennium Fair. Magus had been loathed to face the mystics again. But it was obvious that Yakra's descendant and its followers acted without the knowledge of the rest of the mystics.
When they spotted an imp browsing at the stands at the fair, they all realized that not only did Magus' ridding the Middle Ages of Ozzie, Slash, and Flea end the war for good, but it also ended the hostility, as Magus had hoped. People happily waved at the imp as it strolled along.
"I wonder how Medina is," Marle said.
"Yeah, maybe we should check it out," spoke Crono.
"But later..." Lucca interrupted. Crono and Marle looked at her with surprise. She finished, "Ayla and Glenn are still looking around. They'll never see anything else like this in their lives." Glenn was looking at the weaponry display, and Ayla had run to fight Lucca's robot.
"...Good point," Crono admitted, "We'll wait until tommorrow."
"Come on, Crono, let's go look at the dancing!" Marle tugged on his arm and dragged him away. Lucca shook her head, chuckling.
Magus was standing by the "Test Your Strength" bell, and when Crono and Marle left Lucca alone, she looked towards him and he nodded. The plan was that Magus would leave first, and two minutes later, Lucca would follow. No one would ask Magus why he was leaving, and if Lucca was asked, she would answer that she was going to her house to get something.
By the time Glenn noticed that either Lucca or Magus was missing, the couple were well on their way to the Mystic Island.
They went to Melchior's house and Lucca knocked on the door.
"I'm coming! I'm coming! No need to pound!" came the Guru of Time's voice from within.
"That's Melchior, all right," Magus spoke, "a little gruff, as always. He's going to think we're insane, but he'll perform the ceremony."
The door opened and there stood an old man with colorful robes. He looked down at the ground, as if expecting to see a small imp or gargoyle standing there. But he was shocked to find a lovely young woman and a very tall gentleman.
"Why, Lucca! What brings you here this fine day?" he asked, "And who is this?"
"You do not recognize your student, Melchior?" Magus said.
Melchior looked at Magus, puzzled, and then gazed at his eyes.
"You...You look familiar...You have hair like..."
"A Zealian?"
"Yes! Yes! My word! Were you taken here by a portal as well?"
"Look at my eyes, Melchior, for you once taught me that a person is what his eyes show him to be."
Melchior, puzzled by this riddle, took Magus' face in his hand and looked deeper into his eyes. Magus felt like his very soul was being searched by the Guru's piercing gaze. Melchior seemed to find what he was looking for, for he murmured,
"Your face...and your eyes...You must be...Janus?"
Magus nodded. Melchior completely forgot Lucca's presence for a moment and he embraced Magus with exceeding joy. His excitement went so far as to allow the Guru strength enough to pick Magus up off the ground a couple of inches. The man had aged, but he had lost none of his stamina. Magus' eyes nearly bugged out with the force of the hug.
"Janus! You're alive! You're alive!"
"It's good to see you too," Magus strained, trying to breathe.
"Come inside, my pupil, come inside!" Melchior grabbed Magus' arm and began to drag him through the door. Lucca followed, laughing at the old man's antics. Melchior remembered Lucca a moment later and asked how she had been faring.
Melchior hastily brewed a pot of tea and served his guests.
"Now..." he sat down, taking a cup for himself, "tell me where you have been and why you are here. And where is that kid with the weird hairdo?"
"He's at the fair," Lucca said.
"What? He didn't want to visit me?"
"He...doesn't know we're here."
Melchior blinked, "Well, why the secrecy?"
Lucca swallowed, "Melchior, we've come to ask you something very personal. Janus and I...we...we want to be married."
Melchior paused and stared at the couple for a few moments before taking a sip of tea and saying,
"This is unexpected. One moment I'm forging some iron swords and the next minute my Prince and a former assistant of mine come telling me that they wanted to get married, to each other. Well...I'm happy for you," he smiled, "I had always hoped that you find happiness one day, your Highness. But where have you been all this time?"
"...The Middle Ages. I came here with Lucca in the Epoch."
"The Epoch?"
"The Wings of Time...Belthasar's invention."
"Belthasar?" Melchior observed Magus for a moment, seeing the wizard's eyes avert a little. He murmured, "Belthasar..." And seeing Magus look more uncomfortable confirmed his suspicions, "So, you know the truth. I won't ask how you came by it; it's enough that you just know it. You know, you have his eyes."
"I know now."
"I'm sorry," Melchior spoke to Lucca, "Did you know...?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Good. Well, you wanted to be married? Then let's get on with it. I'll get things ready. I haven't done this in a long time, a human marriage, I mean. I've done about...four mystic marriages. You'd be amazed at how many of those creatures elope. Never thought you the eloping type myself, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. Uh..." Melchior just realized a slight awkwardness in what he just said. He said, "It's not really desperate, is it?"
Magus didn't know what Melchior meant, but Lucca did.
"Oh, no," she declared, "nothing like that."
"Oh, good."
Magus whispered to his intended, "What is he talking about?"
"I'll tell you later," she whispered back.
The little ceremony was simply this: Magus and Lucca kneeled before Melchior, and he spread his hands over their heads, chanting an ancient blessing. Melchior, knowing that the two hadn't brought any, was gracious enough to provide two gold rings for them from his store of wares. He held them up and prayed a prayer of prosperity and fidelity over the couple, and gave them the rings to exchange. Melchior must have worked a little magic into the bands, because they fit perfectly. And he had them both repeat a vow:
"I will love you...cherish you...and look after you. You are mine..and I am yours alone. I will defend you through all things...And endure all things with you...Until death comes to me."
"You may now kiss your bride," Melchior said, grinning from ear to ear.
A little later...
Leaving the Epoch at Melchior's, Magus and Lucca walked to Medina, hand in hand. Magus experienced extreme culture shock by seeing the mystics skipping about in a merry fashion and shouting pleasant greetings to the couple as they passed through. Lucca pointed to the square and said,
"Before we went to your castle in 600 AD, there was a statue of you in the courtyard, and there was a whole crowd gathered there to worship it."
"Well, I think the courtyard looks better for the lack of it. I wish no one to worship me as if I were a god," Magus said.
Lucca looked at the sky, "It's getting dark. I left the others a note saying that I had business to attend to, so I hope they don't look for us."
"Glenn's probably hoping that I ended up in the mouth of a forest beast or something."
"Poor Glenn..."
"He needs to get through his bitterness or it will consume him, as it did me once."
The couple walked into Medina Inn, and were pleasantly surprised to find that this inn was the cheapest one they had ever stayed at, at a mere 10 Gil per night. While Lucca was talking with a mystic woman standing nearby, Magus leaned over to the innkeeper and whispered,
"We've just been married, so we'll need some privacy, if you know what I mean."
"Ohhh, I see. I make doubly sure that you are not disturbed, good Master."
"Thank you." The innkeeper gave Magus a key.
The End of Time...
"No! I refuse!" Spekkio stamped out the past image that he and Gaspar were watching.
Gaspar protested, "Hey! Stop that!"
"I draw the line here! We can watch a betrothal kiss, and we can watch a wedding, but we are not going to watch pornography!"
"Party pooper!"
"Dirty old man!"
"What are you two yelling about?" Crono and the rest entered the End of Time through the gate from Leene Square. Gaspar quickly made the image of Lucca and Magus entering their room disappear.
"Nothing," the Guru of Time said, "just arguing about who was the greatest warrior in history."
Though the group didn't fall for it, they decided it was probably better that they didn't know what it had really been about. But Crono asked,
"Do you know where Lucca is? Or Magus? We haven't seen either one of them since the fair. Lucca left a note at her house, but it's not like her to just run off like that, and with the Epoch."
"Since you see everything from here," Marle spoke, "we thought you might know what she had to do."
There was a silence before Spekkio said, "I'm going back to my room now. Anyone up for some practice?"
Glenn now knew something was going on. He said to Gaspar,
"What fate hast befallen them, Gaspar? Dost they live?"
"Oh, yes, they live..." Gaspar answered, leaning on his cane.
"Then tell us where they are," said Marle.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," said Gaspar.
"Why not?"
Gaspar straightened his hat before replying, "Because I just don't want to."
Crono stepped forward, "What do you mean you don't want to?"
"I just don't."
"Anybody want to practice?" Spekkio tried again. But he was once again ignored (even by Ayla, who loved to practice). A fire lit in Glenn's eyes as realization came over him and he spoke, fuming,
"They art together, art they not? Thou miserable traitor!"
"Together?" Marle said, "What do mean 'together'? But they don't like each other!"
"Actually," Crono said, "they do."
"Ayla knew it!" Ayla started jumping up and down, "Ayla knew it all along!"
"You mean to tell me," Marle said, "that at this moment Magus and Lucca are in who knows what period in time, who knows where in what period of time, doing who knows what together?!"
"Actually, it's not what you think it is," Gaspar remarked.
Everyone blinked for a moment and Crono spoke,
"Then they're not together?"
"Oh, they're together. They're also married," said Gaspar, nonchalantly.
The group stood in stunned silence before Glenn, Crono, and Marle all exclaimed, their voices raised about two octaves each,
"Married?!"
"Oh, wedding!" Ayla clapped her hands in jubilation, "Ayla love wedding!"
"Oh, shut up!" Crono and Marle shouted in unison. Glenn was marching towards the Guru of Time, his sword drawn.
"How darest thou go over our heads in this fashion!" he seethed. It looked like he was preparing to do some great harm to Gaspar in his rage, but Spekkio leaped in between him and the Guru and cast a Dark Bomb at the knight. Glenn flew back and hit his head on the wall, knocking him unconscious. Spekkio said, calmly,
"I need to give that man a little talking-to."
Crono and Marle were smart enough not to provoke a reaction out of Spekkio, so they rationally approached Gaspar and Crono said,
"Gaspar, what part did you play in all of this?"
"I simply let the two know that they had a slight attraction towards one another. The rest took off from there. They went to Melchior, near Medina village, and he married them. Janus' intentions are perfectly honorable, and he means to cherish Lucca for the rest of his life, and vice versa. There is no reason for any of you to behave so childishly about it, unless you are merely angry because they didn't want to tell you. You would have tried to stop it, though. You know that, and Janus and Lucca knew that. That was the reason for the secrecy. I understand why Glenn is so unhappy about it..."
"...Does he like Lucca?" Marle asked, "Surely not..."
"Oh, no. His regard for her is merely a knight's regard to a fine lady. No, the reason for his anger is because he is constantly trying to find a fault in Janus, an excuse to continue being angry with him, and he is slowly running out of excuses. Glenn is slipping into a deep hole, and he doesn't even realize it. He is slipping into the same hole that Janus himself fell into when he was a youth, filling himself with so much anger that it blinds him to all else. Spekkio and I will speak to him about it, so do not concern yourselves with it. It worries you, yes, but there is little you can do to help."
Crono and Marle could barely fathom their noble friend succumbing to this fate, but the more they thought about it, the more sense it made to them. They solemnly went to their resting places and sat in silence for a long while.
Much later...
Magus and Lucca parked the Epoch at the End of Time. They both felt rather embarrassed at the upcoming confrontation, but had talked it over and agreed that they would stick it out no matter what the others said to them. When they went into the main area of the End of Time, they were surprised to find that Gaspar was not there, and neither was Glenn. Crono, Marle, Ayla, and Robo were in the room, and when the couple entered, all eyes fell on them and there was an awkward silence.
"What?" Magus said, hoping to end the stares.
"Nothing..." Crono said. Marle shrugged. Ayla, however, jumped up and ran to the couple. She kissed Lucca and Magus on the cheeks and exclaimed,
"Ayla happy for Blue-hair and Lucca! Gaspar tell us about wedding."
"Did he?" Magus raised an eyebrow.
"How did he know?" Lucca asked.
Magus shrugged, "He's the Guru of Time; he just does."
A moment after, Gaspar emerged from Spekkio's room with Glenn at his side. The knight looked extremely dejected, with tear trails on his face. He went and sat down near the refreshment bucket, not saying a word and obviously not wishing to be disturbed. Everyone thought it best to not ask what had occurred. It would probably come out eventually.