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: Thank you, three wonderful beings, two of whom review regularly (thy sacrifice shall not be forgotten!) who have reviewed!
SaiyanLegend1: Thank you! Yes, I skipped Trann Dome to save time. After all, you don't learn anything new in Trann Dome and Lab 16, it's only an excuse for more fighting areas. The same applies to why Death Peak was on an island, I think – so that there could be the Sewers and Sir Krawlie. But what was fun in the game, just wouldn't make much sense in this fic, so since I could cut it out without losing anything important to the story, I did ;) As for Magus, I'm not going to go for either of those personalities. I will add some general angst, naturally, but nothing to the effect of making him either a wuss or a perpetually depressed teenager ;) And don't worry about being critical – I'm very open to critiques since I know I still have a lot to work on, sadly...
zipis1: Hahaha, thank you! I think that the Gate might've led either to Medina or to the Mystic Mountains, since those are the only other Gates at the End of Time. But true, there are way too many questions left unanswered in the game! As for Marle, I did it for two reasons. One, it's not very realistic that a home-kept princess would have a crossbow with her at all times. Two, I wanted to show her growth and determination in not being just a sweet princess. She is a bit of a scatter-brain, and a horrible flirt (at least with Crono), but she does develop throughout the game and I wanted to emphasize that.
The Dragon Sorceress: Hahaha, thank you! I would offer you my spell book, but judging from your main CT story (which I'm yet to review despite having enjoyed it a lot... cough) you don't really need spells to make it popular!
Note: I slightly altered Spekkio and Medina Village, just for the fun of it. Still, the events of the chapter generally follow the game. Also, I played around with how they learnt of Magus and Lavos, and with the original history of the Mystic War. In the game, it's not really explained how come the Mystics worshipped Magus before Crono & Co altered time while completely disregarding him after time was altered. Originally, Magus was probably killed – or assimilated – by Lavos, while in the CT time, he got sucked into a Gate. The difference is slight, yet if you go back to Medina Village right after waking up in the Prehistoric times (long before Magus can join the party), already the statue of Magus is replaced by the statue of Ozzie. I'll try to compensate for that, and also for how the Mystic War happened before Crono & Co meddled with it.
Also, I think I'm going to give up on going deep into the Marle/Crono part. I'm not a 'shipper of the pairing, though I like it, and it's just too much fun to focus on Lucca!
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Chapter 05 – The cupboard full of magic
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Entering the new Gate, the third one they had encountered, Lucca had been prepared for many things, but certainly not for what they saw upon leaving the blue nothingness that stretched in between one time and another. The Gate had deposited them to what looked like a square with an intricate golden fence around it. And beyond that fence stretched... nothing. A black, endless expanse of nothing. No shadows lurked within it, nor any sounds. Just... nothing.
"Where are we...?" Marle asked next to her, and Lucca turned to her companions, who seemed just as astounded by their new location as she was. As she turned, she noticed another strange thing. Usually, when a Gate deposited them to the new time, it would disperse, as if having served its purpose. But this time, it remained. Only that it was no longer a blue whirl, but a light-blue pillar of light. And what was even stranger, there were two more identical pillars next to it.
And that was not all. Out from the square led a narrow path enclosed by more of the golden fence. Frowning, Lucca walked into it and the others followed after her, although Marle had to pull Crono by a sleeve. The path led to a small wooden gate, behind which they could see a small square as if cut out from a street, complete with paved ground and a streetlamp.
And under the streetlamp, an old man with white bushy moustache, dressed in a brown bowler hat and long brown robes was dozing off happily, as if a street hanging in a middle of nothingness was the best place for such activities.
"Uhh?" Crono blinked, finally starting to come to terms with the reality of being awake. "What time is it?"
"We don't know yet," Lucca replied, deciding not to go for the 'quarter past five' joke that passed through her mind. Approaching the snoozing old man, she cautiously jabbed his arm with a finger, curious if he was even alive.
The man woke up with the accompaniment of a pop of the spit bubble he was just blowing. Blinking, he searched for the source of disturbance and quickly found three people and a robot standing in front of him. "Ah, more guests...!"
Lucca fixed him with a questioning look. "What do you mean, 'guests'...? And, WHERE are we?"
"Why, this is 'The End of Time', of course! All lost travelers in time wind up here!" He seemed to beam at them, for whatever reason. "When 4 or more beings step into a time warp, the Conservation of Time theorem states that they will turn up at the space-time coordinates of least resistance. Here. Disturbances in the space-time continuum have increased recently. Far too many folks are just popping in here... I fear something is having a powerful effect on the very fabric of time..."
"Hmmm," Lucca considered the news carefully. "That's not possible."
"Pardon?" The old man seemed astonished that anyone would refute the reality around them so easily.
"It's not possible that this is the 'End of Time'. If it was the end of time, time wouldn't flow here. And since here we are, talking and thinking, then time must flow here."
"Ah," the old man stroked his long moustache amusedly, "that's a valid assumption, my dear."
'His dear' pushed her glasses up and was about to launch into further divagations about the nature of their new location, but Marle cut in.
"But... how do we get out of here?"
"See those lovely pillars of light?" He gestured back to where they had come from. "Those work like Gates, although you can see your destination through them. And with a simple modification of your innovative Gate Key," he gestured to Lucca, in whose pocket the Gate Key was resting, "you'll be able to use any Gate to come back here. But like I told you already, only 3 beings can use a Gate, so..."
"Logically," Robo supplied, "one of us must stay here."
Marle turned to him in incredulity. "Stay HERE? ALONE?"
"It is pretty bleak here..." The old man agreed candidly. "But not to worry. All time periods connect here... You can visit your friends whenever you wish."
"I do not experience boredom or strain," said Robo in his mechanical voice, "then I propose I stay here. Please come for me whenever you need me."
The girls and the almost fully awake Crono glanced to each other. Robo did have a point; unlike for them, for him it would be neither boring nor strenuous to remain here. However, Lucca decided firmly, she would find a way for all of them to travel together.
"Problem solved," the old man observed and looked as if he was about to doze off again, yet suddenly remembered something. "Oh, before you go, take a peek inside the room behind me!"
The wooden door behind him, one that led seemingly to nowhere, was among the very few objects to be found on the surrealistic street corner. Other than the streetlamp, the serene old man and the door, there were only two potted plants and a strange bucket that was glowing blue.
"Come on, it won't hurt to try... I hope," Marle headed towards the door, while her companions followed.
Inside, they found a surprisingly spacious room – paved ground and golden fence included. And in the middle of the room stood a white and fluffy hyperactive creature. Or so it seemed, since as they were to find out, perception was but a feeble attempt of penetrating reality.
"What're you lookin' at?" the creature eyed them suspiciously, the long, white fur on his ball-like corpus bristling up slightly.
"What... who are you?" Marle blinked.
"I'm Spekkio, the Master of War!" His tone was dead serious, self-assured actually. "I've seen all kinds of battles from here. So how do I look to you guys? Strong or weak?"
The group looked to each other, unsure whether he was even for real. "Strong," Crono ventured finally, since if he was, then that was clearly a tricky question.
The creature seemed placated somewhat. "Well, let's put it this way. If you're strong, I look strong. If you're weak, I look weak." Definitely a tricky question.
"You are strong of will... That's why the Old One let you through. Alright, I'll teach you magic."
Lucca raised a questioning eyebrow. "Magic?"
"No, folk dancing. Yea, magic! Quite a little skeptic, aren't ya?" He might've been the 'Master of War', but clearly he was not the 'Master of Politeness'.
Lucca was not amused. "And how exactly are you going to do that?"
The white fluffy ball rolled his round eyes. "By magic, of course, what else! Now shut up and listen. Once, people could use magic. There was even a kingdom once where everyone could use magic. Yet as time went by, people forgot all about it and now most have no idea that they could all use magic. Well, not ALL, most are just too dense for it. But you have it... determination, I mean. Magic needs power of the heart. It needs inner strength."
"I don't feel any more magical than I've always been, which is zero," Lucca commented dryly.
"And you won't, unless you stop interrupting me," Spekkio fixed her with a scolding glance. "As I was saying, Magic is divided into 4 types: Lighting, Fire, Water, & Shadow. Not just magic, but EVERYTHING is based on the balance of those 4 powers. Those born with magic have a natural inclination for one of the elements. You, with the punk hairdo! You're 'Lightning'. The one with the ponytail is 'Water'. ...The skeptic with goofy glasses is 'Fire'."
"Now, think 'MAGIC', and, starting from the door, walk clockwise along the walls of my room 3 times. And no cheating, I'm watching you!"
Lucca rolled here eyes. This was plain ridiculous. Even if people could control the elements – although what kind of an element 'Shadow' was? – which was doubtful to begin with, how was walking around a room under the vigilant eyes of a white fluff ball ever going to affect such abilities?
"Oh, come on," Marle grinned at her and promptly launched into a perky walk along the golden fence. Crono gave a small shrug that clearly said 'I dunno' and followed after the Princess. Lucca sighed inwardly. Fine, fine, she'll walk too. And on the plus side, if it worked, she'd have a whole new field of knowledge to explore!
And thus, among such discrepant attitudes, they performed the requirements and once more faced Spekkio, who had been keeping close tabs on their movements.
"Heh, heh," the fluffy creature grinned roguishly, "did you dolts really think that would work...? But now, for the real thing!"
Before they could voice their opinions on his little 'joke', the air around him seemed to thicken, while his pink face crumpled in effort as he uttered something that they hoped was not a standard 'spell'. "Ipso facto, meeny moe... MAGICO!"
This, Lucca thought in the meantime, was the epitome of ridiculousness. But just as the 'Master of War' finished his silly incantation, something exploded inside of her, sending a shockwave along her spine and spreading to every pore and cell of her body. She felt as if she was on fire, or at least standing in fire, and looked down to her hands, which seemed to smart the most. They looked just as normal as ever, and she wasn't on fire at all.
"Well, skeptic," Spekkio turned to her smugly, "wanna try out your new skills? Just stretch out your hands, think of fire and concentrate."
Still dazed and disbelieving, Lucca slowly stretched out her hands. And as she thought of blazing fire – one that would engulf Spekkio, preferably – an odd tingle ran down her arms and into her palms and fingers. Without any warning, a small blast of fire shot from her outstretched palms.
"Yikes!" startled, she yanked her hands back and the fire disappeared.
Next to her, Crono and Marle were staring at her with wide open eyes and slack jaws. "Wow", they said almost simultaneously.
"See?" gloated Spekkio, "Told ya! Magic is the thing! Now, you two! Try it out for yourselves!"
While Crono and Marle repeated her performance, although with different elemental results, Lucca was looking down at her hands, deep in thought. Fascinating, she admitted openly, her mind already buzzing with an onslaught of ideas and analysis. She was just as sure as before that this wasn't 'magic', not in the sense of being something inexplicable and arcane. There had to be an explanation for it, and she was eager to find it. Was it possible to replicate the phenomenon artificially? Why did some people have magic and others did not? And why did they vary in the type of abilities they had?
Next to her, Crono successfully brought forth a small lightning, while Marle conjured up a gust of icy cold air that could freeze everything in its wake. Lucca's thoughts shimmered with determination. There had to be a rational answer for all this and she, Lucca the Great, was going to be the one to find it!
"Nice!" Spekkio commented appreciatively, "You're still weak as puppies, but practice and your magic will grow! And if you practice long enough and put your heart into it enough, you will learn new things too."
"New things?' Crono prompted.
"Hypnosis, paralysis, ensnaring, controlling. But also good things, like healing. You, ponytail one," he nodded to Marle, "you have the aura of healing. Practice, and you'll be good at it."
Marle frowned lightly. "But how do I practice something I can't do?"
"Just listen to what your guts tell you. You can only learn what you're predisposed to learn, and those skills will manifest themselves once you're ready. Just keep an eye out for them. Plus, the more you practice, the more resistant you'll be to the magic of others."
"And that's it?" Marle asked. "No secret spells or the like?"
"There aren't really any secret spells." Spekkio grinned again. "Those are just for concentration. You can make your own or pick up somebody else's, up to you. But incantations do come in handy with the more powerful spells."
The three considered the news, feeling slightly disillusioned in Marle's case. But it seemed Spekkio had enough of them for the time being. "Once you've reached a decent level come back and try yourselves out against me. Remember, I am the Master of War! See ya!"
Thus dismissed, they turned to leave. At the door, Lucca paused and turned back to the white fluffy ball.
"One question. Why did you give us those abilities?"
Spekkio looked up to the non-existent ceiling for a moment. "The way I figure, if I keep waking magic in humans, one of you dolts might finally be able to restore the balance."
"The balance...?" Lucca prompted, slightly curious.
But Spekkio wasn't cooperative. "Yea, the balance! Are you lot all hard on hearing or something? Now watch the door on your way out!"
Shaking her head, Lucca left him to whatever it was he did with his time here, and followed her companions towards the pillars of light, once more saying goodbye to Robo on the way.
Crono and Marle were watching the three new Gates curiously, unsure where they led.
"Umm...," Marle began, "didn't that old man say that we could see where we were going through those? But I can't see anything!"
"Step into one and check then," Lucca suggested.
Marle considered it briefly and stepped into the middle pillar.
"Wow! I really can see things through it! But it's a little unclear... like a water reflection."
"What do you see?" Crono prompted.
"I think it's Proto Dome, it sure looks like it. Let me test another one!" Stepping out of the pillar, she quickly jumped into the left one.
"Hmmm... I can see lots of trees and a village in a distance. But I don't think that it's our times. The village looks... sort of primitive."
Lucca fixed her glasses. "I wouldn't be so sure that's not it; we have lots of primitives in 1000 A.D."
Marle laughed, stepping out of the pillar. "Not that kind of primitive! Let's check the last one." Quickly, she submerged under the shimmering blue light of the right pillar.
"It's really dark in here... And I can see china..."
"China...?" Crono felt a sudden need to scratch his head.
"Yes... Plates and cups... Wait, there's a crack here! I can see a bit of something that looks like a house in our times!"
"Then let's take it," Lucca replied, "we can always go back through it and check out the primitive villages later. But right now I could really use some food and sleep, preferably in my own home." She twisted her neck, eliciting a few cracks from it. She had spent long hours of the day fixing Robo while the other two were taking a nap; sleep and food sounded unbelievably appealing at the moment.
"And a bath, most importantly a bath," Crono added, stepping into the light pillar next to Marle.
Nodding in vague agreement, Lucca joined them. She pulled out the Gate Key to activate the Gate, but found it wasn't needed. As if knowing that they were ready, the Gate's light intensified and soon they were plummeting through the blue whirls of time. Most interesting, Lucca thought groggily on the way, fighting the sudden impulse to close her eyes for a short nap during the trip.
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"Ouch!"
"Stop pushing!"
"Watch the plate!"
The doors of the cupboard couldn't take the pressure any longer and sprang open. The three time-travelers fell out of the cramped compartment and onto a hard wooden floor. The china in the cupboard jingled, shaking and falling off the shelves. Marle and Crono grabbed whatever they could, but a cup slipped their fingers and shattered on the floor.
"Hey! What do you people think you're doing? Jumping out of our cupboard like that!"
Lucca struggled to her feet, pushed the glassed up her nose and surveyed their new surroundings and the owner of the annoyed voice. An Imp, she found immediately. They had landed in a quaint little house, or rather its wooden kitchen, and judging from the sight before them, it belonged to Imps. Two of the ass-headed creatures were sitting at a table, under a cheerful window with frilly curtains, currently at dinner. Or rather at desert, since they had been eating pieces of sweet-looking cake. One of the owners, a blue Imp, was pointing a whipped-cream stained fork at them, an accusatory look on his naturally smug face.
"Sorry about the cup," Marle piped in apologetically. She and Crono were stacking the china they caught back into the cupboard.
Lucca heaved a sigh. There we go again, she thought, preparing an explanation. "We didn't choose to land in your cupboard, a time-warp brought us here. And yes, sorry about the cup. But could you tell us where and WHEN we are?"
"Oh, great, we have a time-warp in our closet," groaned the other of the Imps, a mud-green one. It had a high-pitched voice, so apparently it was an Impess. "And it just had to drag humans in here, retarded humans at that."
The blue Imp put down his fork with a sigh. "A time-warp, eh? Stranger things have happened. And you're in Medina Village, in the year 1000 A.D."
The three cupboard spit-outs glanced to one another.
"At least we're back in our own times," Crono said finally, "but Medina Village...?"
Marle frown in concentration. "If I remember my history classes right, Medina Village is the main settlement on the Medina Continent, populated mostly by the Mystics who settled here after the Mystic War to avoid persecution."
"Persecution, hnh," grumbled the Impess, picking at her cake with a fork, "we just had enough of you humans."
"But," Marle frowned again, "why are you being so... fairly nice? Mystics aren't supposed to get along with humans."
The blue Imp shrugged indifferently. "Humans fought the Mystics over 400 years ago. My motto is 'forgive and forget', but not many seem to agree with me. Most still hold a grudge against humans, so you better watch your backs in the village." He gestured towards the doors, prompting them to get lost and let them enjoy their cake.
But Lucca had one more issue on her sleepy mind. "From what I recall, Medina Continent is pretty much isolated from the outside world. Do you know how we can get to the Zenan Continent?"
The blue Imp creased his brow-less forehead. "You can ask that weirdo human who lives nearby, just two hours of a walk to the west. He's an arms dealer and travels to Zenan sometimes, so he should know. What was his name again...?" he turned to the Impess questioningly.
"Melchior," she replied in a tired, 'I told you a million times before' tone of voice.
"Melchior?" Crono blinked, recalling his time at the Fair. "But didn't he go to the Millennial Fair?"
"You mean that silly circus you humans are so wound up about lately?" the Impess asked, swinging her stubby legs as she sat on her chair. "Nah, I heard he's back already. Too much crowd, he said."
"Sounds good enough to me," Lucca said, stifling a yawn. "If he could go to the Fair, he should know how we could get to Zenan. Let's go."
"Bye," Marle waved to the blasé Imps on their way out. "Sorry about the cup again."
"Just stay out of our cupboard!" the Impess shouted behind them as the door was closing.
Outside, they found themselves on a street paved with dark cobblestones. Various houses and buildings stood alongside of it, and a clear distinction between two types of edifices was apparent. Some, like the house of the Imps behind them, were built pretty much in the human style, with sloping roofs, smooth light-colored walls, square wooden windows and even with curtains and flowerpots.
Many other however, were made of dark brick, with curved windows and architecture that clearly aspired to be 'ominous'. There was even a rickety spire with a wizard-hat type of a roof further down the road, although it looked as if it was about to collapse. It seemed that while some of the Mystics preferred comfort and peace, others opted for some Mystic edition of 'style'.
They had to admit though, the dark architecture did have a potential for being ominous, and probably would've been if the weather was more favorable to the gothic Mystics. Instead of an evening with a dark sky and gloomy rain, it was a bright mid-afternoon, and the sunlight pouring down from the skies greatly diminished the psychological effects of their efforts.
There were a few Mystics on the street, Imps, Diablos, Henches and whatnot, pursuing their Mystic businesses. Most only glared at them contemptuously when they stepped out onto the street, but one tall and bulky Hench stopped in front of them.
"Humans, hnh!" he literally spat the word at their feet. Crono's hand instinctively reached for his sword, but the Hench didn't seem in the mood for a fight. He only eyed them up and down with obvious disgust and went on his way.
Lucca sighed resignedly. "I'm dead tired and hungry, but I think that we should go to Melchior's directly. Even if we found an Inn here, I'd be too worried about being either poisoned or killed in our sleep to go there."
"Agreed," Crono replied.
Marle tilted her head. "Can you hear that...? What's that weird chanting?"
The other two strained their ears and soon they too caught a distant hum of chanting, somewhere under the noises of the street around them.
"Probably some Mystic ritual, but we can go see," Crono suggested. "The Imp said that we should go west to Melchior's, so it's on our way anyway."
Since his companions didn't object, they followed the street towards the source of the noise. On their way, they passed by the rickety tower they had seen from afar. It was attached to an obviously 'ominous' building, made of dark brick with arching windows and reddish touches. Or at least it would've been ominous, if it wasn't for both the weather and the two Imps outside. They were toiling at the ropes in the front, hanging out the laundry, and the sight of a slightly billowing pair of giant white underwear completely nullified the ominousness of the rickety tower.
"I hate this job," one of the Imps grumbled, adding a bedsheet to the ropes, "Ozzie VII is only using his ancestors' fame to boss us around. I should be the Chief!"
"Shh," the other one admonished, glancing warily towards the open window, "he'll hear you!"
"Did you minions say something...?" came a gurgling voice from inside. Neither of the Imps replied, their pointy ears flat on their round hairless heads. But as the three time-travelers were already past the house, they heard a very disgruntled grumble.
"This work is brutal..."
On some level, they actually felt sorry for the 'minions'; having to wash and hang out such giant underwear definitely was brutal.
Following the street, they soon found the central square of the village, and also the source and cause of the chanting. The square was quite vast, with tufts of grass growing in between the cobblestones of the ground and with a raised pedestal in the middle. Many Mystics were gathered around the pedestal, performing something that looked like a ritual dance, and their voices blended together into a monotonous, humming chant. They were clearly venerating the object placed on the pedestal, an object Lucca and Crono recognized at one.
"Oh, lord," Lucca groaned, "he's made a comeback!"
"You have to admit, though," Crono added, his lips quivering, "they've improved at singing... slightly."
Marle looked at them questioningly. "What is it? What's with the statue?"
Lucca pushed her glasses up. "It's the Magus statue we've seen in the cathedral in 600 A.D. when we were looking for Queen Leene. I doubt it's the same statue, but it looks pretty much identical."
"Magus and the Mystics...," Marle repeated slowly, looking again to the scythe-wielding figure on the pedestal. Her brow wrinkled in thought, and gradually, her expression changed to one of such deep concentration that her companions could only stare at her questioningly. "I was looking out of the window... Mr. Oakleaf was there..."
"Marle...?" Crono ventured, but the Princess suddenly jumped up.
"I remember now! I remember where I heard of Lavos before!"
Crono and Lucca's eyes could easily be mistaken for huge question marks by that point.
"It was at a history class," Marle began hastily, turning back to them, "I was only half paying attention, because Mr. Creekstone, my history teacher, was arguing with Mr. Oakleaf, you know, the one from the Royal Library...?"
Crono and Lucca nodded, still not sure where she was going with it. But they were both familiar with Mr. Oakleaf, Lucca in particular. The Royal Castle of Guardia wasn't just the home of the royal family, but also the home of many public institutions. It housed the court, the prison, the annual meetings of the land representatives, numerous beaurocratic offices and also the Royal Library and Archives, of which Mr. Oakleaf was the head librarian and archivist. He was also a very passionate historian.
"They were arguing about the Mystic War; that was the subject of the class. Mr. Creekstone claimed that Guardia won the war simply because it finally prevailed over the Mystics. But Mr. Oakleaf countered him, saying that the Mystics claimed that Magus was assassinated by the humans, who–"
"Well, duh!" a gruff voice cut her off. A disgruntled looking Diablos was standing right behind them and must've been listening on their conversation. "You stupid humans sent assassins armed with that damned magic sword! Oh, Great Magus, why didn't you exterminate them all?"
Marle jumped up again. "That's what I meant! The Mystics claimed that the humans assassinated Magus because he was about to bring forth Lavos and destroy the human race!"
"Exactly!" A plump Hench nearby joined the conversation, yet his agreement was only superficial. "But don't kid yourselves, filthy humans! As soon as Magus's creation, the mighty Lavos, awakens from his long sleep, the human race is doomed. DOOMED!"
"Creation...?" Marle repeated slowly. Mr. Oakleaf didn't mention that!
Lucca looked around cautiously. The raised voices were attracting attention of many of the Mystics nearby. So far, the Mystics of Medina Village didn't seem that bloodthirsty, but the angry expressions of the ones worshipping the Magus statue told her that if they hanged around too long, they might get lynched as a collective symbol of the humans' crime.
Marle looked as if she was going to continue her historical discussion with the Diablos and the Hench, and Lucca reached out to grab the Princess' sleeve.
"I think it's time we were on our way," Lucca whispered meaningfully, pulling Marle back to the street they had come from. Crono easily grasped her intentions and began backing up after them, with a sheepish smile that said 'we're ashamed to be human... at least for now'.
Once out of the square, they broke into a run, turning hastily into the first side alley. They followed it towards the end of the village, where they could finally stop and catch their breaths.
"Did you hear that?" Marle began at once, "he said that it was Magus who created Lavos! We have to stop him!"
Lucca eyed her doubtfully from where she was hunched over against a side of a building. "Even disregarding the dubiousness of Magus' existence, you're suggesting that we go meddle with one of the cornerstones of Guardian history!"
"Dubiousness...?" Marle frowned. "What do you mean by 'dubiousness'?"
"Lucca doesn't believe Magus existed," Crono cut in, "she supports the theory saying that the Mystics 'imagined' him."
Lucca straightened up and threw him a scolding glance. "Not 'imagined'! Fabricated for the purposes of war and unification!"
Marle looked from one to the other for a moment. "What are you talking about...? Everybody knows Magus existed and led the Mystics into the war!"
"Then please tell me how he looked like," Lucca said, pushing the glasses up her nose. "And I don't mean something like – I more or less quote here – 'he be death come to life; shrouded in the shadowes, he swoopeth downe on his enemyes and calleth forthe the darkeness to devour them'."
"...All right," Marle admitted reluctantly, "that does sound a little far-fetched. But what about the statue? And besides, you can't really know whether that wasn't true. Yesterday, I would've never expected to use magic, but now we've met Spekkio and can use magic ourselves!"
Lucca shut her mouth that was already open to voice further objections. True, that was a valid argument, especially since Spekkio did mention a 'Shadow' element, whatever it was. As for the statue, it was easy to say that the Mystics fabricated an effigy of Magus to add flesh to their beliefs, but one thing bothered her – why did it look so human? Of course, for all they knew some Mystics could very well look human, but if the Mystics had indeed created a fake image of Magus, she would've expected them to incorporate elements common to them. Not use a human model.
Finally, she sighed. "Okay, let's say that it's possible Magus existed. And had created Lavos. But even so, trying to stop him could mean altering history beyond recognition! Accidentally, we could cause the Mystics to win the war, or blink ourselves out of existence!"
"And do you have any other ideas on how to stop Lavos?" Marle challenged her with a small grin.
"Hmph!" Lucca pushed her glasses up. "Fine, fine, you win. We go back to 600 A.D. and screw around with history. But before that – and I mean it! – we do some thorough researching on the events of the war. Let's at least try to avoid Mystic-fying the world."
Marle jumped out in victory. "All right! Then onwards we shall go!"
Without waiting for her companions, she pivoted around and marched west, although this time around the village rather than through it. Crono, with a slightly miffed expression, followed after her, motioning to Lucca to follow too. Sighing once more, Lucca obliged. Soon, they passed the village altogether and found a small path leading west, among green groves and tall, waving grass. The sun was slowly edging down towards the horizon, but it was still sunny and bright. With the sunlight dancing on the leaves and birds chirping in the distance, the Medina continent looked peaceful and appealing.
But Lucca didn't have the energy to appreciate the scenery. In general, she enjoyed nature, despite being a technology supporting individual. Perhaps it was due to growing up on a secluded island and thus learning to value the peace and quiet offered thus. Yet right now, she had a major headache, was devilishly hungry and badly needed sleep. She had spent long hours first walking, then repairing Robo and then being spat out by a cupboard in the middle of a Mystic village. And on top of that, she had freshly learnt that she could use 'magic' and that they were now to travel to the past to look for a historical mage who might've or might've not existed in attempt to prevent a cataclysm that was to happen in a 1000 years. Without even knowing whether they could prevent it or not.
Sighing again, she reached up and rubbed the bridge of her nose under the glasses. Marle might've been displaying appalling disregard for proper preparations and research, but in an uncanny spark of logic, she was right. The cataclysm caused by Lavos was real; there was no denying that. They could just say 'who cares, it won't happen for a 1000 years!', but... It just didn't seem right. In an odd coincidence, they had been given a chance to prevent it and it would've been inhuman not to try. And since the only clue they had so far led to Magus and the Mystic War, that's where they had to go.
She could only hope that Magus would turn out to be an Imp in disguise, who had been tempering with things he didn't understand and had accidentally brought forth Lavos. Then they would whack him firmly over his ass-shaped head, tell him to behave and go home.
Oh, yeah. That would be good.
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Since the last Review spell worked so well, this time I'm casting a Double-Review Ultra Magical Meeny Moe Spell!
...You heard me.