Disclaimer: I do not hold any rights to Chrono Trigger in any form or fashion, nor do I make any profit out of writing this fic.
Reviews: Woohoo! I got some reviews! So the human sacrifice really did work! I mean... uh... What bones? ...I don't know you people!
zipis1: Thank you and I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it, especially getting a light feeling out of it. I was aiming for such an effect, since playing Chrono Trigger always made me feel like that. As for the LuMa part, in a strange way it begins even in this chapter ;)
And yes, among severe blushing I have to admit I meant 'wheezing'. I have a knack for making such typos and this one outdid my former winner of 'fool moon'... Thanks for pointing it out:)
Sa'avryn: Thank you very much! Actually, in some bizarre way, this story is writing itself very fast for me, which is perhaps why it's not all that polished and re-read. I do intend to reedit it at some point, so please bear with me! ;)
GoldenSunGeek: Thank you! Personally, I played Chrono Trigger pretty late in my RPG-fan career, but it's still one of my all time favorites, if not the favorite. And despite its prehistoric graphics, I still rate it 10 out of 10:)
SaiyanLegend1: Thank you and yes, I think my version of especially Crono is a bit nonstandard. But I first played the game without the animated movies, so my take on the characters' personalities was based on their pixel-lumped forms. I'm glad to hear it's still likeable!
Note: As noticeable in this chapter, I introduced some minor changes to the story. Nothing major, only little things to make the story flow more coherently. Moreover, this chapter is still very fast and not very detailed, but I hope it's still acceptable. Personally, I've always felt that their real adventure begins only once they find out about Lavos and that's when I intend to start adding more details and extra events. The problem with novelization is that everybody knows the plot, so it's quite difficult to keep the readers' attention while not adding or altering anything. I can only hope I'll somehow manage to do that. Go me! ;)
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Chapter 02 – Save the Royal Family!
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Still dazed beyond all reason – for the second time that day, by the way – Crono hastily pondered his options. He couldn't just stay in the Queen's chambers, sooner or later somebody would come over and notice that the Queen was as gone as can be, and undoubtedly blame him for it. So that left only two options – he could make like the wind, or any other motion simile, and go hide in the town while waiting for Lucca, or come clean about the whole ordeal to the amiable King Guardia the XXI, in hope that he would actually take him seriously.
In either case, it was clear to him that he shouldn't stay in the Queen's chamber any longer, and so he moved to leave, as nonchalantly as he only could, especially when passing by the two dismissed maids who were still lingering on in the corridor.
"Has she dismissed you already?" one of the maids asked him as he was casually strolling past them. "You were polite, of course?"
He nodded slowly, but the maid pressed on. "You didn't do anything... funny, did you?" She had an unmistakable spark of gossip frenzy in her eyes and he momentarily wondered what kind of a wild party was going on in her head. Feeling relieved that her questioning was related only to her interest in royal dirt, he put on an indignant air.
"Of course not!"
Ignoring her disappointed sigh, he continued past them, briefly meeting the tired eyes of the guard who had let him in here before. The maids were standing right next to him, and apparently he had been subjected to a dangerously high dosage of gossip. Being at the front and facing the undead probably seemed like heaven to him at that point.
Casting the trio out of his mind, Crono headed down the endless staircases, considering the two options before him carefully. Scram, come clean, scram, come clean, he changed his mind every other step. Scramming and waiting for Lucca seemed much safer, but it also seemed very cowardly and very non-heroic, and he'd rather not hamper his budding career of a hero in such a careless manner.
Nearing the end of the final staircase, he was also nearing the decision to come clean after all, but to his immense relief a familiar voice delivered him from his distress.
"Crono!" A panting Lucca appeared in the corridor and ran up to him among pained wheezing. He wondered briefly how she had managed to get past the guards, but actually, it often seemed to him that there were very few things she couldn't do.
Lucca took a few deep breaths, crouching over slightly. "...you're okay! Did you find the girl?"
"I did," Crono replied, eager to dump his predicament on his intellectually blessed friend, "but she's gone now. Completely gone."
Lucca jumped up in surprisingly nervous manner. "GONE! Whaddaya mean she's gone!"
Drawing in a deep breath, Crono proceeded to account for all that had happened to him since he had been dumped by the blue whirl onto the future site of Leene's Square.
Lucca listened attentively, and once he was done, took her time to analyze the new input of facts. Crono waited patiently for the cogs of her perpetually busy mind to reach their conclusive turn and enlighten him too.
"Hmm... it's just as I thought," she announced finally, focusing on her spiky-haired friend again.
"I knew I recognized her! And," she looked around carefully, fixing her thick glasses further up her nose, a habitual gesture of hers, "this looks identical to the castle in OUR time!"
"I'll bet they mistook that girl for her ancestor..." 'Ancestor'...? Crono frowned questioningly. "You see, she's a member of the royal family in OUR time! She's Princess Nadia! Marle, that is, Princess Nadia, is a descendant of Queen Leene!
Holy mother of damnation! Crono felt his jaw drop slack. She's the princess! The tomboy of a daughter the King was constantly worried about! If it wasn't for the other bizarre and mind-numbing events of the day, he would've certainly done a back-flop over this one! But as it was, having been hurled 400 years into the past only to see Marle – Princess Nadia! – vanish before his very eyes, it took him only a few moments to overcome the initial shock. And it certainly did explain how come she had been so easily mistaken for Queen Leene, being her descendant and all. Before, he had just assumed that it was some odd coincidence, one supporting a theory he had once heard about, which said that everyone had a doppelganger somewhere in the world. Or in history.
Seeing that he was getting over the news, Lucca launched into the remaining part of her elucidating lecture. "Queen Leene has been kidnapped. As I recall, someone was supposed to have saved her. But history has been changed! Marle looks so much like Leene, that they probably called off their search when she appeared here. But if the real Queen is killed... Marle will simply disappear."
Crono digested the explanation carefully. Yes, he could grasp the main idea. If Marle's great-great-great- etc. etc. –grandmother was killed, before she had given birth to any offspring, Marle would have no right to exist.
Lucca pointed an energetic finger to his face, apparently having regained her stamina somewhat. "There might still be time! If we can save Leene, history as we know it should remain unchanged! We have to find the real Queen!"
Crono nodded his vigorous agreement, and they would've set off to search for the missing Queen at once, but unfortunately, neither had any idea where to begin their quest. The best thing they could do was to first gather all the information they could around the castle, and if that proved unsuccessful, go back to Truce and try there. Crono had a vague feeling that there had been someone in the Truce Inn, some colorfully dressed guy named Toma, who claimed to be a famous explorer and also to have some noteworthy information on the Queen. He had been willing to sell the info for some cider, but deflated substantially once he had heard that the Queen had been found. Hopefully, he was still there and his information was indeed worth the cider.
But first, they circled around the castle, picking up many various pieces of many various conversations. Slowly, a coherent image began to emerge from those pieces. Apparently, there used to be a beast called Yakra lurking in the western forest, but it disappeared once the cathedral, which both of them had seen in the distance on their respective ways to the castle, had been built. Interestingly, in 400 years, there would be no trace of any cathedral left in the western forest. Even more interestingly, they learnt that the Chancellor, a dried up, nervous fellow with a long white beard who looked a lot like the Chancellor from their time, had been acting suspiciously lately, sneaking out at night, as strange as it was. But one of the maids refuted such rumors, claiming that the Chancellor was a decent man, since he went to the cathedral everyday. Clearly, she was only a maid for a reason.
Even if it wasn't related to the Queen, it was still obvious to them that there was something dodgy going on with the Chancellor and the cathedral, and both agreed to go check it out. But not before Crono finally managed to grab a free meal in the dining room. The food there was great, despite the odd names of the dishes, and Crono enjoyed a 'Power Stew', while Lucca took the chance and the 'Hyper Kabob'. They also witnessed an energetic tiff between the Chef, who, as the rumor went, had a nasty temper, and the Knight Captain, a tall, stern man clad in a lavishly golden armor. As a waitress informed them, the two were brothers, and their brisk tiffs added to the local color.
Crono's hunger satisfied, they hopped over back to Truce, mugging a few more Imps on the way. Lucca insisted that they stock up on medicinal supplies before venturing into any shady places, and Crono admitted her point. Medicinal items were one of the very few instances of magic generally accepted by humans, maybe because everybody claimed those were just mixtures of herbs, none whatsoever magical, and could indeed come in very handy.
"No window shopping! Whaddya want?" growled the ruff-n'-tough, yet podgy shopkeep and they went for a hefty amount of tonics and a few ethers, as many as they could afford. Tonics, oddly enough not resembling tonic in the slightest but rather being the perfect example of green goo, healed the body, while ethers – considerably more expensive but also substantially more appealing, a very important factor since unlike tonics ethers were to be taken orally – restored one's energy. Of course, there were limits to what they could do. No tonic could reattach a cut-off limb, and no ether could ever replace sleep. It restored one's energy alright, no matter how flat out tired you were, but still left you with the majestic pain-in-the-ass headache of sleep deprivation. Ethers were annoyingly expensive, but they were well stocked-up on them, having had swiped a few from the castle during their search for information, neither experiencing any moral qualms about it. After all, they were about to save the Queen and thus the Kingdom, so surely, a few medicinal items were a very moderate price for such a feat.
And in Truce Inn they found Toma, who was not only still there, but was also tanked full of cider, the mighty explorer that he supposedly was. The sun was still not past the horizon and yet he was already wobbling dangerously on the high bar stool he occupied, hiccupping occasionally. They didn't need to buy him any more cider, he mumbled out all he knew on his own, and that was that the Queen had disappeared while visiting the cathedral, which only confirmed their suspicions. Giving him a healthy pat on the back – his head thudded heavily against the wooden counter then – the newly appointed keepers of the Guardian history set out for the cathedral.
The cathedral stood within the western forest, at least an hour's walk, fast walk, away from Truce. It didn't matter how much time their adventure took them, however. Lucca had always been free to go where she wanted; her parents were too preoccupied with their own lives – inner or outer – to have the time to smoother her with parental care. And Crono was already late for dinner anyway, a capital offense in his mother's eyes. Which meant that the later he would get home – and thus the more time his mother had to forget the transgression – the better.
As they walked on through the plains and forests, Crono felt a slightly nervous ball settle in the pit of his stomach. According to what they had heard around the castle and the town, many believed that it was Magus who was behind the Queen's disappearance. And as sure as Crono was that he could take on a nearly infinite number of Imps, he was also quite sure that the dark mage who had almost overcome the mighty Guardian Kingdom was ever so slightly out of their league.
"Oh, please," Lucca rolled her eyes when he voiced his doubts, "you're too old to believe in that magical mambo-jumbo."
Well, that was her stand on the matter – that there was no such thing as magic. She didn't deny that some creatures, even some humans, had the powers to control the elements, but in her opinion it could be easily explained in a rational, scientific manner. Bringing forth the lightning – they had seen a Mystic do that once – was one thing, but all the arcane hocus-pocus, secret spells offering all the power in the world, mythical potions promising eternal youth – all that was nothing more than the 'superstitions of the simple-minded' to her. Needless to say, she was one of those who believed that tonics and ethers were just mixtures of herbs. Crono had his doubts.
Lucca did indeed disparage all believes in magic of any sorts. In her science-bent eyes, every phenomenon in the world had a rational explanation; it was only a matter of finding the correct one. And magic was nowhere near 'correct'. Thus, she wasn't at all worried about being magically turned into stone, or whatnot, during their escapade to the cathedral. Even if it was crawling with Mystics – which was yet to be proven anyway – the dangers they would face were of the tangible sort, not spiritual. And against physical threats she had her trusty Air Gun – her own creation against the pesky Imps – that hefty amount of medicinal potions they had just bought, and an innovative mini-sized flamethrower. What they should fear was not magic, but numbers.
In all honesty, she even doubted that Magus as such ever really existed. Unlike Crono, she had not spent that class pestering Cyril Fieldnear, although it was a tempting idea, he was an annoying git with eternally greasy hair, but rather on a heated argument with Mr. Riverbed, their history teacher. She had dared him to point her to even one remotely believable account of somebody who had actually met Magus in person, since for all she knew, none such accounts existed. There existed some written stories of supposed battles against Magus himself, but all were so over-colored that they were clearly confabulations, created most likely to cover up for the incompetence of the Guardian army during the war. She wasn't asking for much, she had told Mr. Riverbed, just something like a peace settlement signed by the alleged dark mage, who – incidentally – had quite conveniently disappeared into thin air after the war, never to be heard of again.
Mr. Riverbed had not been in the mood for her antics – she was well aware that the teachers used to call her 'Little Miss Know-It-All' behind her back – and haughtily replied, in a rickety paraphrase, that there were more things in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in her philosophy.
"Sure," she had replied at once, "but competent history teachers aren't among them."
She had been given a note to her parents for that – an empty threat since neither of them cared much – but it only served to strengthen her conviction that 'Magus' – what a lame and obviously fake name! – had been an imaginary creation of the Mystics, who needed an almost god-like figure they still believed in and worshipped in many parts of the world, to unite them and give them a sense of purpose in their war against the humans. And the humans happily lapped the story up and used the invented golden calf as a scapegoat, so to speak, one that could be blamed for their appallingly disastrous battle tactics.
Grumbling to herself over the annoying memory, Lucca focused instead on her historical surroundings. Despite the general gravity of the consequences messing around with history could have, this was a unique opportunity to study the past in a close-up and she was not going to let it pass her by. She wasn't even all that concerned about any possible punishment for disappearing Princess Nadia, apart from an unbelievably huge moral hangover, that is. If the Princess was wiped out from history, then she would have never existed in their time and thus nobody would ever notice her being gone. But the problem was that Queen Leene's death could have other serious implications for the flow of history, changing the world as they knew it beyond recognition. When she was leaving their times, everything was as it had always been, but it was still before time had caught up with them. So if they went back now, they could even discover that Guardia Kingdom had lost the war and Zenan was now the land of the Mystics. It was an interesting concept, and Lucca was determined to study it in-depth later, but now they had to ensure that they still had somewhere to return to when the accidental adventure was over.
When the hour of walking was finally over, they reached the western woods and the cathedral. Even in the growing dusk, it looked engaging and as unthreatening as can be. It was built in the classically warm Guardian style – with a reddish slopping roof and creamy walls. They could even see a few flowerbeds outside. It was hard to believe that there was some foul ploy being cooked up inside, but as both knew well, appearances could be deceiving.
Entering the establishment, they found only four nuns inside, looking nunly enough, at least at the first glance. On closer inspection however, they could plainly see that all had strangely elated and yet vacant eyes, and oddly stiff smiles plastered on their unremarkable faces. Their 'welcoming' comments didn't improve the impression that something was off here either.
"You might like to stick around for the organ recital. It's a real killer!" said one, blinking her blank eyes at them.
"Oh dear! It looks like you could use some food and a place to... rest!" added another, with a very unholy grin.
"Err... sure, whatever you say," Lucca replied, fixing the glasses up her nose. She was not religious, and thus had little experience with nuns, but it didn't take a genius – and she actually was one! – to know that either those nuns had spent the morning chugging the cider with Toma, or they had hit the bullseye in coming to the cathedral.
Crono wasn't paying attention to the nuns though, but instead to the unnatural sparkle near the altar that had caught his eye, and he moved closer to inspect the object.
"What did you find?" Lucca hissed after him in a conspicuous whisper – she had never been theatrically gifted, unless falsely innocent blinking counted as acting.
"A hair pin," she decided, when Crono picked the item up and they examined it carefully. Something at the back of Crono's head was telling him that somebody had mentioned a hair pin earlier that day.
Lucca jumped up suddenly. "That's Guardia's royal crest!"
It sure was, which meant that the chances of finding lost Queens in the area had just skyrocketed. But apparently, it was not going to be the nonviolent kind of a rescue operation. The nuns noticed them find the abandoned royal property and trotted over among ominously dark chuckling.
And before they even had the time to think about reaching for their weapons, the four nuns erupted into bluish flames and instantly transformed into four foul, and clearly Mystic, creatures.
Crono could actually recognize their Mystical species. Those were Naga-ette's - large, larger than any human, siren-like entities with purplish hair tied into high topknots. Actually, they were siren-like only in respect to the general principle of having their top halves shaped in human fashion, and their bottom halves shaped like thick and homogenous long tails. And in wearing only bras. But other than that, they were as un-siren-like as only possible – thick and sturdy, Naga-ette's had perpetually twisted faces and mouths constantly open in unceasing hunger. Their clawed hands seemed to be forever searching for something to satisfy that hunger with; preferably human flesh, from what Crono could recall.
The odds were not all that bright for the two of them. Naga-ette's were very strong and fairly resistant, so it would take quite a few whacks from his wooden sword to bring one down. It also didn't help that their breaths smelled like dog crap, to put it mildly. Supposedly, it was a side effect of drinking too much Naga-ette bromide, a very potent spirit that was a secret delicacy for many humans. And since they kept their mouths constantly open, the cathedral was soon filled with the nauseating and eye-watering stench.
But luckily, Naga-ette's were not known for brilliant battle tactics, so if they stayed focused, they should make it through. Crono was soon busy jumping at them, or rather at one at the time, to whack them solidly when their attention was away, while Lucca was keeping that attention away with her gun and her inventive flamethrower.
And although the flamethrower was an immensely useful tool – he still preferred an old-fashioned sword though – Crono didn't particularly like it when Lucca would use it. The implement as such wasn't to be blamed for the sentiment however, it was rather the fact that Lucca would cackle maniacally while using it, making his skin crawl in irrational anxiety. At such times, she was the embodiment of why 'mad' had been put into 'mad scientist'.
But fortunately, the mini-battle didn't last long. Too long, that is. Thanks to their superior coordination – Naga-ette's often bumped into one another, considerably decreasing their chances for victory – they managed to put them out of commission for at least rest of the day in but a quarter of an hour.
"Phew!" Lucca sighed, pushing her glasses up her nose, "That was close!"
It was even closer than she thought. An extra Naga-ette had been hiding behind the altar and it chose that exact moment to jump out, its long hands stretching out hungrily towards the unsuspecting scientist. It probably would've made it, or maybe even managed to take a bite or two out of Lucca's shoulder, but the unlucky inventor had been saved at the last moment by a most surprising savior.
A creature, neither a man, nor a frog, jumped out from the shadows, reaching for his sword in the process, and walloped the Naga-ette down in one, well-aimed strike.
"Lower thine guard," the 'frog' said, sheathing his sword, "and thou'rt allowing the enemy in."
The two friends stood still, or rather were flopped down to the floor in Lucca's case, their eyes wide at the newest addition to the scene. The creature croaked casually and fixed them with a questioning glance. "Thou'rt here to save the Queen? The lair is deep within. Will thee accompany me?"
Apparently, whomever he was, he was a creature of few choice words, one who didn't waste his time on idle prattle.
Lucca finally shook out of the initial surprise and former fear. "A... a FROG?"
It was a redundant observation, especially coming from a supposed genius. The creature was clearly frog-related, if not a frog as such. He was fairly short, reaching five feet at most, and although clothes – Middle Ages traditional gloves and cloak included – kept most of his body hidden from their sight, his head was as froggy as could be. Round and brightly green, it incorporated bulging eyes, long tongue and a few randomly placed warts.
"Crono," Lucca whimpered slightly, "it's a talking FROG! I hate frogs!"
She really did, and it was probably one of the very few, if not the only, customarily 'girly' features of Lucca's. Rats, mice, bugs and snakes – none fazed her one bit, but frogs she just couldn't stand. Taban had once told Crono that in her childish and careless curiosity Lucca had fallen into a well full of frogs when she was four, but Lucca claimed that no trauma was needed to make her dislike the slimy amphibians.
The frog croaked again. "My guise doth not incur thy trust... Very well, do as thee please. But I shall save the Queen." Offering them a curt nod, the green savior began walking away.
Lucca collected herself, realizing how rude she had just been. "W, wait! You don't seem like a bad... uh, person-frog-thing... I mean..." Damn, there she was, constantly preaching that appearances could be deceiving and then she discriminates against somebody only because he looks like a frog! And not just anybody, but somebody who had just saved her hide! Sighing, she turned to Crono for assistance. "Crono! What should we do?"
Crono had been waiting for her to regain her composure before making any decisions. Personally, he was all for taking the frog up on the offer. Not only would they need all the help they could get, if the frog's info was really correct and the 'lair' was deep, but also he could recall somebody in the castle say that the Queen had a frog-like servant. So the frog was trustworthy and apparently knew his way around. Nothing but benefits.
The problem was whether Lucca would be able to handle it. He could still remember how when they were twelve, Crissy Fairweather had dumped a frog down Lucca's shirt. Crissy Fairweather was a clear case of an unambiguous airhead – wind frolicked unobstructed between her ears and a hair out of line was almost a criminal case for her. For obvious reasons, Crissy Fairweather downright detested Lucca, who had refused to kowtow to the unofficial queen of the superficial. But Crissy, and most of the school for that matter, had paid a great price for her frog-down-the-shirt trick. Lucca proved then that there was one girly thing she excelled in – screaming. Her unbelievably loud screeching was so ear-blowing and piercing that he could swear people on the other side of the Zenan Bridge had heard it. And their ears too kept ringing for hours to come.
But she seemed composed enough now, so he supposed they could try the option out. "Let's go with the frog," he replied and Lucca heaved a mighty sigh.
"I'll just have to handle it! I mean... deal with... him!" Suddenly aware that she was only digging herself an even deeper hole in the grounds of social inaptitude, Lucca jumped to another topic. "What's your name?
Their new acquired companion regarded them silently for a few moments, perhaps already regretting ever offering them his companionship. "Frog will do."
"All right...," Lucca took a deep, calming breath. "Nice to meet you, Frog."
And after completing the hasty introductions, the newly found party of three returned to the original issue – finding the Queen. She was not in the cathedral proper, that much was clear, since they were the only ones there, but as Frog had mentioned, the lair was deep.
"Mayhap a hidden door lurks nigh?" stipulated Frog, while Crono and Lucca exchanged quizzical glances. 'Mayhap'...? "Let us search the environs."
'Environs'? questioned Crono, but followed Frog's suggestion nevertheless and indeed searched the environs. They all did, for over half an hour, even checking under the red rugs fashionably laid out in the cathedral, but all for 'naught'. Their moods deteriorating substantially, they were on the verge of taking the whole damn building apart, when Lucca accidentally found what they had been looking for. With a tired sigh, she absentmindedly sat down on the organs, and when the discord and haphazard sounds filled the spacious building, they also caught an unmistakable sound of rock sliding over rock. And sure enough, part of the wall in the back had slid away, uncovering a set of doors.
"Woohoo!" Lucca announced joyously. With that, they finally entered the 'lair'.
Inside, they quite predictably by now found the whole place to be crawling with Mystics, of many various kinds, including the Diablos, deceptively cute in their ghastliness mini-devils with mini-wings and a kicking mania. Lucca and Crono mostly aimed just for knocking their opponents out, not all that sure how they felt about killing Mystics. After all, so far most of their experiences with fighting Mystics were related to the Imps, and it just didn't feel right to kill an Imp. But Frog didn't experience such qualms, slashing the magical creatures left, right and center, with some gruesome satisfaction in his yellow bulging eyes. Crono recalled hearing at the castle that supposedly Frog had been turned into a frog via a spell, and it looked that he had kept a grudge over it. But it didn't seem all that polite to raise such a personal topic, especially after insulting him about it before, so he let it be.
On the other hand, Frog proved to be a surprisingly good swordsman, even despite his incredibly bowled legs. He actually gave Crono a few excellent pointers and Crono missed no time in putting them into practice. He was beginning to feel that the adventure could turn out quite beneficial to him after all, and his spirits were lifted even higher when they had run into a Mystic with a sword. The poor fellow got cut almost in half by Frog, but despite his sympathy, Crono quickly picked up the suddenly master-less weapon. Finally! He had a real sword!
Yet he didn't start using it at once, still unsure how he felt about actually killing somebody, Mystic or not. His life had been very much on the peaceful side up to that point, and the closest he had ever gotten to killing a living being was when he went fishing. And the Mystics weren't animals, although it seemed to him that Frog might actually think so, in harmony with the popular belief of the era. Yet a sword was a sword, and so he stashed it away behind his sash.
They quickly made their way towards some even more inner parts of the place, where they had been met with a surprise. The Mystics around them no longer attacked them, or paid them any attention, as if it was totally natural for them to be there. The puzzling phenomenon was explained quickly though, when they entered a room with three Mystics inside, currently at dinner.
"Hey," a Diablos turned to them with a burp, "what with the disguise? No need for them here!"
That's right, they realized, remembering how the nuns in the cathedral had changed into Naga-ette's. Apparently, the Mystics had the means to make themselves appear human, and thus, not having seen the trio forcibly enter their lair, assumed that they were simply still in their human disguises.
And that was not the end of the surprises, they found, when a customarily plump Hench broke out into casual conversation. "Yakra's so smart! His plan to capture the Chancellor and take his place worked perfectly! Now the Queen's captive, and the castle's in an uproar. This is rich!"
And so there was light. And some relief on Crono's part that they would not have to face off with any ultra powerful wizards, only 'Yakra', whoever that was. But as soon as that thought crossed his mind, the Diablos got up from the table.
"It's almost my shift," he sighed, crumpling his mini-gargoyle like face, "I hate pretending to be human... it's so repulsive. I'll look in on Magus's statue before my shift."
Lucca rolled her eyes. There it was for all to see, another proof of the nearly religious cult of the nonexistent figure! But she had to admit that she actually felt curious to see how the Mystics could possibly have depicted the alleged mage. And so, she grabbed Crono's arm and pulled him after the hard-working Diablos. Frog followed them with a surprisingly stern expression on his froggy face.
What they found after tailing the Diablos through some stone corridors and entering the room where the Mystics kept the statue, made Lucca nearly cough up her lungs in suppressed laughter. A group of Mystics, all with unbelievably mushy and adoring looks in their eyes, were engaged in a chant-like song. Their voices were generally coarse and clearly not intended for musical careers, but they made up for it, or at least were trying to, in enthusiasm.
Oh... dearest Magus...
Your flashing eyes... like stars...
And flowing hair...
Like waves atop the sea...
Biting on her lip to hold back the laughter that was threatening to spill out of her and thus blow their cover, Lucca focused on the statue instead. It was heroically styled and placed on an elevated platform, in harmony with the surreally sweet adoration that was pouring out from the Mystics around them, but it was also very much surprising. She was expecting various things, a ten-foot high gargoyle for example, but not a human, and the statue, despite being rather vague and generic in details, clearly depicted a human. With 'flowing hair' indeed. And a scythe.
No sad sunny day nor any frightful
Bright place can get us down
As long as you're near...
There's nothing to fear...
Crono seemed to be having similar problems with keeping his cool, since he was getting progressively redder and redder, and only Frog was still as oddly stern as he had been. Lucca intended to pull Crono out of the room before one of them got them in trouble, but it was too late already. A Diablos nearby broke out into a falsetto solo and she couldn't hold it in any longer. Doubling over, her glasses sliding down her nose, she laughed long and hard to her heart's content. The Mystics cut the song short and after a few moments of surprised blinking finally realized that those particular humans – and one frog – were not in disguise at all.
For a short moment it seemed that the heroes-to-be would meet their end at the feet of 'dearest Magus's' effigy. There were simply far too many Mystics in there for them to prevail, and the magical creatures seemed far too riled up over Lucca's indecorous outburst. But as the Mystics were closing in around them, Crono found the way out, literally. Grabbing the sleeve of the still chuckling Lucca, he pulled her towards the door, swinging his sword around wildly to clear the path. Frog apparently grasped Crono's intentions, since he followed them without delay, covering their backs.
They darted out of the room, narrowly missing the clawed hands of some Naga-ette's. Crono quickly grabbed the first thing in the vicinity – an ornate candelabrum – and lodged it in between a crack in the floor and the door's handle. It wouldn't hold the magical creatures in for long, but the time it offered was enough for them to make themselves as scarce in the area as only possible.
But it also meant that they couldn't dawdle any longer. As soon as the indulgent Magus worshippers got out of the room, every single Mystic in the 'lair' would be after them, and it was hardly a pleasing concept. And so they hurried through the long stone corridors – all surprisingly inlaid with comfy red carpets – whacking, scorching or downright slicing various magical behinds on the way, opening secret passages and narrowly avoiding a few booby traps. And after nearly an hour of such spirited activities, they finally found what they had been looking for. In a large chamber indeed deep within the lair, they spotted an elegantly dressed woman, whom they could easily mistake for Marle, in the company of the long-bearded Chancellor.
It appeared that they had made it there just in time, for the Chancellor was approaching the petrified looking Queen with a devilish grin on his wrinkled face. "Prepare yourself, Queen Leene."
The three saviors wasted no time in running towards the fake Chancellor and his intended victim. The Chancellor noticed them at once and his eyes narrowed in disdain. "YOU! How did you get in here?"
"Frog!" To say that Queen Leene sounded relieved would be a major understatement. Her pretty face light up in relief all over.
"Majesty," Frog replied with a courteous bow, "stand back and allow us the honor!"
The Queen gathered up her white frilly dress and obediently moved aside. "Be careful!"
The false Chancellor chuckled darkly. "It's useless to fight! No one will leave here alive!"
"Stupid frog!" he continued, backing away slightly, "It's time you jumped off this mortal coil!" Suddenly, he erupted in bluish flames they had seen not so long before, and in a jiffy reverted to his true form, that of Yakra.
Yakra turned out to be a large amorphous blob of yellowish hide, with a disproportionally big head endowed with a hairy snout, and with oddly spiky limbs. In short, he was heavily on the hideous side.
But he also turned out to be surprising fast, uncomfortably fast in all honesty. He leapt at the group swiftly, nearly impaling them on his spiky extremities. They jumped away, quickly organizing themselves into an efficient formation. Lucca stayed away, diverting the beast's attention with well-aimed blasts from both her gun and the flamethrower. Yakra seemed to dislike fire in particular, shaking and shrieking whenever he was thus scorched. That was when Frog and Crono would leap at him to deliver blows from their respective weapons.
Frog was determined and effective, slashing the beast mercilessly whenever he could. And Crono was beginning to discover that his wooden sword was nowhere near enough to get through Yakra's thick hide. Moreover, it was clear that this time, just knocking their opponent out wouldn't be enough. If they let Yakra go, he would undoubtedly cook up some new insidious ploy against the royal family, a family whose well-being lay heavily on their hearts since the future depended on it. So this time, they had to take their opponent out permanently and Crono was to have a hand in it.
He really shouldn't have any moral objections about it, heroes slew various beasts all the time, and it did seem morally justifiable at the moment but... he just couldn't help feeling somewhat queasy. Actually, he was feeling queasy enough not to feel afraid at all, only a little apprehensive at most.
Frog delivered another slash to the beast, while Lucca was aiming for another shot, and Crono reached his decision. Clenching his teeth, he reached for the katana at his side, his slightly sweaty fingers gripping the hilt tightly. When Lucca fired her shot and the beast shrieked madly, turning its attention towards the scientist, Crono leapt forward and imbedded the sword deeply into the monster's side. It was not a fatal wound, but some greenish, pus-like blood began oozing from it. Yakra roared loudly, turning back to the newly-made slayer and Crono quickly rolled away from its reach. Rolling, he inspected his feelings. He didn't feel any different inside now than he did a moment ago, apart maybe from a sudden adrenaline rush. So it was that easy to kill somebody...
The battle didn't last long after that, perhaps because they were quite lucky and nobody got impaled on Yakra's spikes. A few cuts and bruises was all they received, while the beast got a storm of slashes and gushes. Crono delivered a few more blows, feeling progressively less and less uneasy about it.
Finally, Yakra shook violently and with a feeble whimper thudded onto the floor, its long red tongue rolling out of its hairy snout. The greenish blood kept oozing out of its wounds, and the pungent smell of the pus-like secretion was quickly filling the chamber. Crono looked down to the blood-stained sword in his hand, feeling a slight sensation of distaste at the back of his throat. It was of no matter, he decided firmly, shaking the pus off from the blade, he'd think about it later.
The deed done, they collected the still somewhat shaken Queen and even managed to find the real Chancellor, tied up and stuffed into a nearby closet. It was not entirely clear to them why Yakra had kept him alive, perhaps to milk him for information on how to play the Chancellor, but what mattered was that he was alive, the Queen was alive, and they were only slightly worse for health.
Fending off a few more Mystics on their way out of the cathedral, the party set off to return to the castle. Lucca said that if they had indeed set history right, Marle, that is Princess Nadia, should reappear exactly where she had disappeared. Crono sincerely hoped that it had indeed worked, since otherwise they'd be in a serious fix, not having any other ideas.
Outside, the dusk was already in full bloom, although since it was already late spring, surprisingly enough both here and in their own time, the days were long and nightfall came late. As they walked towards the castle, Crono took a better look at the real Queen Leene, to whom he had already returned her coral hair pin, receiving a warm smile of gratitude. She really could pass for Marle, or the other way around, with no problems at all. From what he had heard in the castle, the Queen had married into the family ten years ago, meaning that she had to be somewhat older than Marle, but she was so well-preserved that if he didn't know better, he would've easily mistaken the two himself.
And it seemed that the King pretty much adored his young looking wife, since once they reached the castle and he finally grasped that this was the real Leene, one that was not behaving odd at all, his face lit up with immense relief. Lucca and Crono remained in the back, not wanting to disrupt the joyous occasion, but strangely enough, Frog didn't experience such qualms.
"I failed to protect Queen Leene," he announced, stepping forward with a solemn croak. "I hath disgraced thee."
The Queen was about to protest, but he would have none of it, and turned to the King. "'Twas a fault of mine, which endangered the Queen. I shall depart for good."
And with that, he pivoted around, his cloak billowing behind him in an odd air of amphibian duty, and marched towards the exit.
"Crono," he decreed, pausing in his steps, "you hath potential to be a good swordsman."
"Thanks," Crono replied absentmindedly, not entirely sure what to think about the situation. If Frog really felt somehow responsible for the Queen's misfortunate adventure, then wouldn't it make more sense that he stayed at her side and strived to protect her even more from now on...? But admittedly, Crono wasn't too fluent when it came to medieval honor, so perhaps estrangement really was the answer.
Lucca pushed the glasses up her nose, looking towards the departing green bodyguard. "Froggy, you weren't such a bad guy yourself." It was a lot coming from somebody whose screaming whenever in the presence of a frog could easily wake the dead.
But what's done, it's done, they decided, and leaving the royal couple to themselves – and a multitude of guards and servants, of course – sped up the countless staircases towards the Queen's chambers, where the future Princess had disappeared before. Or rather they would've sped up, wasn't it for the fact that Lucca was in no shape for such marathons. Having lost her breath quickly, she was clambering up the stairs heavily, grumbling occasionally. It was like Crono often told her, staying cooped up at home, like some antisocial hermit who valued machines and books more than people, was not good for one's health. And he had no objections towards telling her so again.
"Oh, shut up," she panted out crossly in reply. Crono grinned back at her. Clearly, she was cut out to be the brains of adventures, not the legs.
But even the long, torturous climb had to end sometime, and thus they finally made it to the Queen's chambers. Only to find the shadows-filled room thoroughly empty. Not even one lost Princess inside. Crono was even tempted to look under the bed, just in case, but controlled himself.
Frowning in anxiety, he turned to his still panting friend, who had collapsed onto a chair nearby. "So what are we going to do now?"
Yet before Lucca had the time to catch her breath and come up with some plan, bright shimmering light exploded in the middle of the room, blinding them momentarily. When they finally regained their vision, Marle, Princess Nadia, was standing there already, looking as intact as could be.
"Huh?" She looked down to her hands, blinking confusedly. "What happened?"
"Princess Nadia!" Lucca shot up from her chair, revitalized by relief. She was really beginning to think that she had involuntarily gone a step too far in her inventing passion.
But Marle had a different favorite. "Crono!" she exclaimed, a sudden spark in her green eyes. Yet then some memories of what had happened seemed to have come back to her and her eyes darkened considerably. "It was awful... I can't recall it all... I was somewhere cold, dark... and lonely. Is that what it's like to... die?"
Neither knew what to reply to the Princess's metaphysical question, so they stood there in awkward silence until Lucca decided to skip that part of the conversation and cleared her throat. "Welcome back, Princess Nadia!"
It was only then that the Princess finally noticed that Crono wasn't there alone and she turned to Lucca with a surprised expression. "You risked your life to help me, too!" But the moment didn't last long. "Princess... Nadia...! Uh oh... I guess you guys figured it out, huh? Sorry, Crono. I didn't mean to deceive you."
Suddenly somewhat sullen, the Princess turned her royal eyes away from them. "I'm Princess Nadia. My father's King Guardia the XXXIII. I really enjoyed being with you at the fair. But if you had known my identity... Crono, you wouldn't have shown me around the fair, right?"
To be perfectly honest, the day had been far too long for Crono to have the energy to ponder the matter in detail and candor. But he knew what the right answer was, and delivered it firmly. "Wrong."
"Oh, Crono! That's why I like you!" The Princess was practically jumping up and down in joy, but caught herself quickly. "The real Queen's safe, right? So let's go home, Crono!"
Not entirely sure how they were to that, since he had somehow forgotten to ask Lucca how she had gotten here in the first place, taking it as a given that she would, Crono turned to his brainiac friend. Lucca, who was currently rolling her eyes behind the Princess's back, just shrugged and fixed the glasses up her nose. "Oh, let's just go."
She was obviously not feeling impressed with the Princess at the moment. Crono could see why, but personally, he was against classifying her as an airhead. True, she had been acting a bit too 'girly', especially for Lucca's tastes, but considering that she had led a secluded life of a princess, it wasn't all that surprising. Yet despite having grown up in a golden cage, the Princess evidently wanted more from life than that, and it counted for a lot in his opinion. He could name many girls who would love to swap places with her, and who would spend the rest of their lives looking down on everything and everyone. Actually, he was feeling quite impressed that she had ventured into the Millennial Fair without the escort of her royal guards. Clearly, there was more to her than just a pretty face and an easy-going manner.
The object of his thoughts was currently busy smiling at the people around her, who were mostly exchanging comments on how amazingly like the Queen she looked. They had not informed anyone that she was in fact a descendant of Queen Leene, something that would've probably added to the gossipy chatter around them even more, so it was indeed a mind-boggling phenomenon for the contemporary inhabitants of the place.
The comments accompanied them all the way through the castle, until they finally reached the front gates and, borrowing a torch on the way, set off for Truce Canyon, that is Leene's Square in the future. It was already dark outside, meaning that the adventure had taken them an entire day in total, but oh well, all is well that ends well, right?
After the short walk, they reached their destination and quickly found the place where the blue whirl had spat them out originally. The Princess looked around the area in confusion. "How do we get home?"
"Your Highness, er, Princess... we..." Lucca had little experience in addressing royalty, especially royalty that kept ignoring her.
But the Princess waved her hands dismissively and demandingly. "Please call me Marle!"
Lucca quirked an eyebrow. She had never been too fond of formalities herself and thus the Princess had just reinstituted herself in Lucca's good graces. Partially, that is. "Well then, Marle... Observe!"
Reaching under her unfashionable top, Lucca quickly pulled out a small metallic device. Moving more or less towards where the whirl had deposited each of them at some point in time, she clicked some buttons on the gadget. As if called forth by a potent spell – although Lucca would bristle up at the magical comparison – the blue whirl blossomed once more before their eyes.
"Wow!" Marle was clearly impressed. "Lucca! You're amazing!"
Lucca cackled to herself. "Ain't it the truth! Oh, um... I mean..."
"Enough with the false modesty!" Marle waved her hands again. "You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!"
Lucca blushed slightly. "Well, if you say so..." Needless to say, Marle had just not only made up for her earlier faux pas, but firmly established herself in Lucca's mind as a worthwhile gal. Crono grinned to himself. There you go, he knew that the Princess had more to her than just a pretty face.
"Anyway," Lucca continued, pushing her glasses up, "I call this thing a 'Gate'. It's a kind of portal that takes you to the same location in a different era. Gates are very unstable, so I used the principle behind my Telepod device to create a 'Gate Key'. Now we can use them as we please!"
Crono had to admit that this time Lucca had outdone herself. Not only she had somehow managed to recapture whatever that was that the combination of Marle's pendant and Lucca's Telepod did, but she had actually done it in less than two hours! Had he ever entertained any ideas of being Lucca's intellectual equal, they would've shattered now with a loud bang.
Marle frowned slightly, obviously thinking about something different altogether. "But why did this Gate suddenly appear?"
Lucca tapped her chin. "Either the Telepod had something to do with it, or... something else made it."
"This is getting pretty weird," Marle sighed. "Let's at least head back to our own time!"
"All right!" Lucca nodded her agreement. "Coming, Crono?"
He cast her a flat glance. No, he was going to stay here for good and set up an Imp amusement park. Honestly... "Let's go."
Without any further ado, they moved closer to the Gate and were instantly pulled inside. This time, the journey through the blue nothingness wasn't that bad at all. They knew where they were going and the sense of security obtained thus allowed them to marvel at the phenomenon rather than worry about being reduced to a pile of bloody goo.
But the journey was as quick as before, and soon enough they were dumped back onto Leene's Square.
"Phew!" Marle clapped her hands, "We're back!"
A smile adorning her pretty face, she turned to her companions. "Crono, Lucca, why don't you come home with me to the castle? I'd like you to come over for dinner!" She'd really love for them to come, it would've been the first time she had her own friends over, not some 'appropriate' friends.
Lucca actually smiled back, for once. "Sorry for putting you through that all, Marle."
Marle laughed merrily. "Are you joking? That's the most fun I've had in months! And I have some new friends, too!"
Relieved that the Princess was not going to hold a royal grudge over having been winked out from existence for a few hours, Lucca turned to her friend. "Crono, be a gentleman and take her home. I've got some work to do." Actually, she didn't have any work to do, but what she did have was a powerful itch to get her hands on her books again. The whole experience had opened her eyes to quite a few novel concepts related to many space-time continuum theorems and she badly wanted to capture her ideas while they were still fresh in her mind. Even the fact that she was feeling horridly worn out after all the running she had performed that day, something she was not used to, was not going to stop her, it never did. In all likelihood, she was going to fall asleep at her desk, her nose squashed up against some fat tome.
"See you soon, Lucca," Marle waved as Lucca began walking away, but the scientist didn't seem to hear her. She was already too engrossed in muttering to herself.
Marle turned back to Crono. "Will you escort me home, Crono?"
She was smiling that bright smile again, and that meant that Crono would escort her even to El Nido and back. "Of course," he replied, offering her a smile of his own and they were off.
Although the hour was pretty late, Leene's Square was by no means less crowded than in the morning. If anything, it was even more crowded, since many people from the nearby villages had to work during the day hours and could only satisfy their want for festivity in the evening. The clutter of their voices blended nicely into the music that was coming from somewhere, and the colorful lampoons used to brighten up the night hours of the Fair only served to highlight the cheerfulness abundant in the air.
But Crono's generally content mood soon suffered an abrupt drop. In the crowd in front of them, he spotted a very familiar figure – his mother. And she was just turning around their way. Wincing, he prepared himself for some major scolding, but instead he saw his mother's eyes turn to Marle and her face brighten up at once.
"My, How nice! I've only seen you with Lucca! Who's your pretty new friend?"
"Hi, I'm Marle!" Marle smiled back.
"Eh! Marle?" His mother frowned in slight confusion. "I'm sure I've seen you before, dear! Now, where was that...?"
Deciding that he'd rather not have his mother figure out that Marle was in fact Princess Nadia, and thus jump to needless conclusions, Crono opted for a quick escape. "Mum, I have to take Marle back to her home. It's late."
His mother smiled at him knowingly, in the 'I'm gonna be a happy grandma' manner. "Of course, dear. Now run along!"
Wasting no time in doing that, Crono led Marle out of the crowded square, thinking about that motherly train of thought. ...Not about grandchildren, but about Marle in that context. She was a very nice girl and he could easily like her a lot, but... She seemed unattainable even when he didn't know that she was the Princess, but now that he did know that little detail, she was as unattainable as the moon and the stars combined. Crono sighed to himself dolefully. Why had he never added 'and gets the girl' to his adventure wish list? It was evident that today some compassionate deity decided to fulfill his wishes, so if he had added that tiny bit...
"So," Marle interrupted his thoughts as they entered Guardia Forest, "what exactly happened back there? I mean when I... sort of disappeared."
Crono pondered how to put it best for a moment. "You ceased to exist because Queen Leene had been killed. But when we saved her, you were brought back."
Marle made a confusedly questioning face and Crono laughed to himself. It really did seem absurd now that they were back home, all still in one piece. Nevertheless, he relayed the whole story to her the best he could, and she oohh-ed and wow-ed in all the right places. They spent the rest of the walk in such fashion, both enjoying themselves. But the castle loomed before them all too soon, much to Crono's disappointment. Although Marle seemed to think otherwise, he suspected that even his being only friends with the Princess of the lands was pretty much out of the question.
Yet Marle really appeared to believe that it was a doable concept, and pulled him inside with a bright smile. "Come on! I'll show you my room!"
Curious to see how a princess lived, Crono followed her obediently. But what was awaiting him inside was the last thing he'd ever expect. To put it mildly.
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If I offer thee a live Crono clone, wouldst thee review?