CHRONO TRIGGER DIMENSIONS
by
Jerm

Chapter 5

King Guardia sat back in the chair in his room. Alone and thinking. Strange things had been happening in his kingdom suddenly. Troubling matters, things that bore into his mind and filled it with thoughts of being overwhelmed. He had tried to make contact with Medina, but there was no answer. Plus, the people of Porre had been slowly turning against him.

He was certain that the latter had something to do with Pret, he didn't trust the man at all. However, the people had voted him, and if Guardia were to remove him, there would be an uproar. Another problem to add to the list that grew with each activity of others.

Why did they vote for him anyway? the king thought to himself, He was a sure underdog, he had no advantages in the race.

None but Nikades. The mystery that appeared out of nowhere one day and drew the noble's attention. Nothing was known of the dark advisor, however.

But he had the problem with the Mystics to deal with, currently. There was no point in worrying about two things at once. A few days ago, contact had been mysteriously shut off. All emmisaries he sent there had yet to return. He couldn't even think that the Mystics were turning hostile again, it was impossible. Another war would do more damage to them than good.

With my current luck, a war is what I'd get.

But what was the problem? Of course, maybe the people he sent were merely delayed for some reason or another. But wouldn't some report would have come back to him? He was so unused to these things, they'd never happened before. Why now?

There was a knock at his door. He was jolted from his thoughts as he spun towards the noise in his chair and stood. The chair tilted from his movement, but he caught it and righted it before speaking. "Who is it?" he demanded.

"It's me," replied the chancellor from the other side of the door. The voice sounded a bit urgent, the king would have to allow him in.

"Come in," the king finally said.

The door opened and the chancellor timidly stepped through. He carefully half shut the door behind himself, carrying the look of someone having to do something they didn't want to do.

"What is it, old friend?" the king asked, deciding to sit back down. His hand instinctively went to his forehead and he finally realized he had a headache.

"Well, sir, I was, um... I mean, I was checking on the Princess Nadia. It seems... seems that she is... well...-"

"Gone?" the king studied the chancellor, his hand dropping from his forehead to slap down on his desk.

"...Yeah." the visitor weakly nodded.

"Again? Why does she do this to me?" the king was suddenly livid with anger, his dropped hand rising and falling quickly onto the desk, this time causing the piece of furniture to shake from the force.

"I think you had better ask her that, your majesty." the chancellor replied.

"Shut up!" the king commanded, jumping from his seat to begin pacing. His walk was cut short however, when someone else peeked into the doorway.

"Your Majesty?" the person tilted his head around, trying to find the target of his message.

The king turned to the new figure and spoke spitefully, "What is it?"

The messenger stepped fully into the room and began, "Your Majesty, there was an attack at Truce. It-"

"Is there no peace in this world!" the king suddenly thundered.

The king was enraged. He began storming around the room, yelling about the unfairness of life. His pace quickly became a tirade.

The chancellor turned to the aide, "Uh, finish your message to me. The king's busy right now."

The aide took a deep breath, then went into his message, "A large beast was spotted in town. Several people confronted it, but they were all injured. The guard finally came in and put down the threat. They had two injuries. And one of the people who was injured... was that boy, Crono, sir."

"The 'friend of the princess' Crono?" the chancellor asked.

"Yes, sir. That is him."

The king picked up his chair and threw it against the wall. It struck and rebounded away, spinning, but not breaking. The chancellor stepped back briefly as it landed not too far from him, pulling the messenger's shoulders away from the danger zone as well.

"I'll tell him. You go on now."

The person quickly nodded and backed out of the room quickly. After he left, the chancellor took a deep breath. Time for more bad news. The chancellor tapped the king's arm. Guardia turned to the antagonist, "What?"

The chancellor looked at the angry image of the king's face and suddenly decided to start with the good news. "I think I know where your daughter is, Your Majesty."

x x x x x

Crono slowly stood up from the bed. It hurt, but he tried to ignore the pain. Soon enough, he was standing and beginning to walk. His legs were asleep, causing him to stumble a bit, but soon he was able to walk with little problems.

"Crono, I told you to stay down!"

Crono was startled by the exclamation and nearly lost what little balance he had. He grabbed the chair for support, which wobbled under his weight.

Marle came storming into the room, "You won't heal if you keep pushing yourself so much. Get back in bed until I say you're better."

Crono used the chair to hold himself up until he felt sure of his feet again, "It's alright. I feel much better."

To prove his point, he started to walk. He stumbled on the second step and Marle rushed over to help, but he waved her off and continued to walk. Soon he was able to move with minimum trouble, merely a slight limp.

"See?" he asked.

Marle was unenthusiastic in her answer, "Welll..."

Crono picked up the chair at his feet and held it over his head, "I've never felt better. Really."

"Oh fine, walk your legs out," Marle said, finally giving up. She leaned against the door frame with her arms folded across her chest, "After all, it's your legs, not mine."

Crono put the chair down and sat in it, "Now that that's settled, where are we?" he asked, giving another look around him.

"This is just an abandoned house that Lucca found in the backstreets," Marle replied.

"Backstreets? Abandoned house? What are you two so secret about? Why not a hospital or something?" Crono asked, tilting his head in question.

"We weren't being secretive," Marle replied.

"Why not a hospital?" Crono asked again, leaning back in the chair, "I must be slow not to notice the answer right now."

Marle ignore his sarcasm, "You can't go to a hospital because one of the other eight injured was the town doctor."

Crono thought about it for a while before saying, "Okay. Fine...but what happens to the doctor and the other seven?"

There are other people with some medical experience...just not enough to help you. Besides, your injuries weren't fatal or even close. You were just knocked unconscious. We took you here because your mom might not like the idea of her son being brutally beaten into insensibility by a large hulking monster."

He stood up from the chair and stretched. After that he began walking toward the door, "Fine, fine, I get your point. But, now that I'm all better, what do you say we visit Lucca now?"

"Right now?" Marle asked uncertainly, she stopped leaning and stared at him.

"Sure, I'm healed," Crono replied, grabbing her arm and escorting her out the door.

"But not comp-"

"Close enough," Crono cut her off, "I want to make sure that that machine doesn't turn on her again. I can't sit here and not do anything."

He shut the door behind him and led her down the winding streets toward the bridge that led to Lucca's house. It was beginning to turn dark, the sunset just now appearing to the west.