Chapter III
The Queen is Gone
Seconds past, minutes led into hours, and then the sun rose. Crono had slept under the oak tree, with one eye closed, while the other was transfixed to the place Marle had stood screaming. He had decided that once the sun had risen, he would journey to Gaia's Navel, so that he could gather and seal another mana seed's power. Finding Marle is his main goal, but waiting here doesn't seem to help. Crono's best bet is to go to Gaia's Navel, maybe then he can find someone who will help him uncover Marle.
Gathering himself, Crono rose discovering that he was amidst a group of mushrooms and flowers. The beauty of these organic life forms made Crono's heart feel warm inside. He reached out to touch one petal of the pink rose, but only to find his hand being wrenched in teeth. Quickly Crono pulled his hand away, but he wasn't quick enough, the poison had spread throughout his body, he felt peevish. Crono then realized his apparel was not suited for adequate battle. The only way for Crono to beat these monsters was to run, and so he ran. Crono ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the grass wilted as he passed by, and the creatures sprang from the ground at the sound of his panting. He raced through Pandora without speaking to a single person, not realizing that almost all of the people were under a trance. Screaming he carried on north passing wild bees and shrieking mushrooms, and of course the venomous roses. Near a village he fought a mushroom, but with their fierce shriek he collapsed amidst the grass.
"Hey, boy! Wake up", an old man poked Crono with his cane. "Hey, boy, it's not a good idea to sleep here! You never know what might attack," the old man stood by Crono staring at him. The old man poked him again, "Oh, dear! I think he's dead." An elderly woman cackled, "You think everything's dead stupid! You think I'm dead!" "Well, ain't'cha ya old bee hive? I swear this guy's puny. He can't even fight the flowers. Dyluck would put him up fer a good ole' fight. I swear what are these kids eatin' these days . . . fat-free cheese?", the old man rubbed his belly, signaling to his ancient wife that he was hungry. His elderly wife wasn't impressed, "You're so stupid, Henry. I'll feed you later, now we have to take care of this weakling, come on, were going to carry him to the ole estate." "Do we have to, and why do you call it an estate? It's a pit sty . . . " The old woman hit the old man with her cane. "Ow! What'd you do that for? " The old woman scrunched up her face and spit, "You stupid old beggar. Pick up that boy, and quit ending your sentences in prepositions. Calling my house a pit sty, it's pig sty stupid!" The old woman carried on with these remarks and other strange obscenities, while the old man carried Crono, surprisingly the old man could carry Crono, and yet he walks with a cane, most likely his cane was used for style.
Kippo was a peaceful village north of Pandora. Banta the cannon man and the old couple who carried Crono lived here. Each tree was flourishing with green leaves and delectable fruit. Vegetation was prosperous here, even the people seemed healthier than the rest of the world had as of yet revealed. "Henry! You stupid mutt! Where's that cup of coffee? I asked for it an hour ago!" The old woman screeched this as Crono finally opened his eyes. He found himself in a warm bed, inside a small cottage. Out of the corner of his eye he could see what looked like a mahogany table set with china, the windows were open and he could see through the lattice to the evergreen trees, and through a fireplace was a blaze. "By, golly gee! Myrtle, I think the boy's finally come to. I guess our healing powers are still useful, " the old man did a jig across the floor, he obviously had too much whiskey. "Oh, Henry! Put that bottle back where you found it! I'm so tired of your drinking, especially in front of our guest, "Myrtle yelled this to Henry, hoping he'd stop his drunken sailor dance. "Oh, I'm sorry my boy, you must be confused" ,this was what Crono was entirely feeling, the last thing he could remember was racing across the plains attempting to go to Gaia's Navel. "Where am I? ",Crono thought he'd try asking this familiar question. "Oh, well darling . . . " the old woman inched her way over to Crono with a bowl of soup in one hand while the other carried a cup of coffee, "you're in the summer town of Kippo, a peaceful village in the middle of the road. I'm Myrtle and this is my husband Henry. We've been taking care of you for the past couple of days, recuperating your body. You had some sort of poison in you, it most have been from those dratted flowers. I swear one day those flowers are . . . " "would you shut-up ya ole' wind-bag? We've been intoxicating your body with medical herbs. You know it's dangerous to be traveling without any armor, you really should get some.",the old man went on a rampage of rambling to himself. The old woman sipped on her coffee, she kept giving Henry billowy stares. "You know, Henry, why don't you give the poor boy some of your old armor? I seriously doubt you'll ever be using it, besides you've already given Dyluck your best."
"Fine, you old wench!", the old man limped out of the house, in Crono's eyes it was impossible to tell whether this was out of rage or if he was just doing his duty and retrieving Crono armor. "So, my dear boy, what's your name? Where are you from? " Crono didn't know how to answer this, "Well, I'm Crono . . . and I'm from . . . Potos, but I can't go back there . . . " Crono made a dramatic pause. "Oh, my poor boy! You're house broken! It's been so long since we've had a youth here. Oh, how I miss my son Dyluck." Myrtle pulled out a stool and began to tell a story, obviously about her son. "Dyluck is a good boy. His whole life he wanted to be a knight. He trained hard and escalated in training in Pandora. He found himself a girl, oh I never can remember her name . . . but he moved to Pandora last year so he could be closer to her, he's become the Knight Commander of Pandora. I couldn't be more proud of him, I just hope he doesn't try too hard . . . His predecessor was Cyrus you know? Cyrus was a great knight. Cyrus and Glenn, they protected so much of the world. I can. . . . " No one will ever know what Myrtle was going to say, because Henry came storming in with a barrel load of armor. After showing Crono the proper way to wear Henry's old armor, giving Crono some extra medical herbs, and a long warm good-bye, Crono set out for Gaia's Navel.
Crono faced the lofty planes alone, he charged into them with ardor, rushing to Gaia's Navel. Finally, he had arrived at Gaia's Navel. A cave stood before him, a waterfall splurged over it, the only thing that stood before him and the cave was one angry bee. Crono dashed across the bee and found himself practically flying through the waterfall, he found himself face to face with a room filled with bats and one loony goblin. Crono hates nothing more than bats. With fear, and anger, Crono sporadically started to slash the bats in a frenzy that slaughtered everything in sight. Crono slunk his way through several goblin infested, bat raged rooms, prevailing, and eventually he found himself in the heart of the cave, where the rhythm of the dwarfs beat against the earthy rocks. In the dark cave, dwarf men ran around the place with their dwarvian beards and hats, they seemed to be protecting the place. A dwarf man came up to Crono, "You can hear rumblings from somewhere even deeper than here! Sounds like digging . . . There are so many earthquakes" , the ground shakes underneath them, "There . . . again!", the dwarf carried on with his business. The dwarf village for some reason was not intrigued by Crono, even though he was strange to the place. Crono then remembered why he had come here so he went up to a dwarf and asked, "Where is the Underground Palace? " "Underground Palace? ",the dwarf scratched his head and gave a malicious smile, "That's been buried for ages, Sunny.", the dwarf began to whack a stone repeatedly with his hammer. "My oh my!", a dwarf behind Crono cried, "You from the surface? A while ago a Sprite's child was washed down here. It's doing magic tricks . . . "
Crono found little help from the Dwarfs, they would either laugh at him or tell him to visit the Sprite who apparently had magical powers. After walking around Crono found a sign for a blacksmith, and then Crono remembered he had also come to this place to reforge the Mana Sword, so it could relinquish its former power. Behind the walls of the shop, the blacksmith carried out his career in a small steamy cave filed with hot magma and fiery lava. The blacksmith turned around wiping the sweat from his face, he narrowed his eyes at the Mana Sword and then with thrill he shouted, "Say, show me that sword! Oh, my . . . it's covered with rust! If I reforge this baby it'll break in no time! Hmmm . . . Let's see . . . ", the blacksmith takes out his hammer and begins to hit it against the sword, he took an orb of some sort and began to lather it against the sword, the sword began to change, but so did the hammer which began to glow as brightly as the morning sun. "Ah! My hammer! What's happening to you? ", the blacksmith threw it down, and stared at in curiosity. "What kinda sword is that, boy? I swear . . . by the way my name is Watts, I'm the greatest blacksmith in the whole wide world. Hmmm . . . Come back later, ya hear kid? Here, take your sword." Watts went over to his hammer and began to examine it carefully, he pulled out some spectacles and slowly moved his fingers over the hammer. Crono left the firey shop.
Now the Mana Sword was slick and shiny, but rust still remained around its edges, Crono sighed to himself, "I guess it was too much to ask to bring it to its peak in one step." Crono had no where to go, he didn't know where the Underground Palace was, Potos had banished him, he had no way to go back home, and once he had found Marle, she disappeared into thin air. Why not amuse himself with a little entertainment? He gathered himself and went over to the cave where the sprite child supposedly was performing. Something seemed wrong just from entering this cave, a hideous cackle burst against Crono's ears, it echoed against the cave. Perplexed, Crono followed his way to the noise finding an elderly dwarf lunging with laughter, "Ha, ha, ha! Oh, hello there . . . ", the dwarf spotted Crono holding his ears as Crono had tried entering the room. The dwarf collected himself and with a complete shift of emotion he said with remorse, "Welcome to the Dwarf Village. Have you been next door? There are many curious things in this village. Why not take a look? Step right on in! It's the Dwarf Village's world famous exhibit hut!" The dwarf said this with such twisted emotion that any fool could tell he had some sort of deception behind it all, but Crono didn't care, the diabolical dwarf said there was entertainment and that's exactly what Crono wanted so he willfully marched over to the other room inside the same dreary cave corridor. Crono found himself in a small room with a puny stage that was purely made out of rocks and dirt, a dusty old counter, and a blue carpet that held stains all over it, it even had a burn mark on it. A dwarf came around the other side of the counter, he resembled the other dwarf, except he was now wearing a different colored hat, Crono thought it made a pretty crummy disguise. "Welcome to the Dwarf Village's world famous exhibit hut!", Crono thought he'd take a chance, "You look like the Elder . . . ", the Dwarf cackled, the same hideous cry, "Elder? Me? Naw, I run a show. Wanna see it, it'll be one-hundred gold pounds? " Crono shrugged his shoulder, "Yes, why not? " The dwarf began to jump up and down, "The show's just starting!" The lights dimmed and Crono was forced to move to the shambled carpet where he stood in front of the stage. The dwarf cackled again, "And now, presenting Rabiteman! The only one in the world!" Crono hollered with joy. "Take one Rabite, and one man, and its . . . Rabiteman!" Crono didn't care he just flat out screamed with joy, jumping around like a little child. The dwarf was confounded, he just gazed at him wondering what in the world was going on with Crono, tell finally he blinked out of his mesmerize, "Hey, you! Pipe down! And now, presenting an actual and very rare, Sprite child!" All the lights were turned off, only a faint voice could be heared, "Boo, hoo, hoo. . . Ah! Won't you please help me?" Crono froze, where had he heard that voice before? It had the same texture, the same inharmonic value, the same exact geekiness that only one person he had ever met had ever had, "Lucca! Is that you?", Crono belted. The lights came on and in front of Crono stood his purple haired, thick glasses, orange dyed clothes, skinny legged, scrawny, brainy, failed at every invention, oldest best friend.
"Crono! You're okay! Did you find the girl?", Lucca, was so ecstatic that she jumped over the stage, inventor costume and all. At this point, the dwarf running the show was entirely muddled. He just kept scratching his head, and rambling things to himself. Crono was more confused though, "Lucca, are you the sprite child?" Lucca laughed, "Don't worry about it Crono. . . I'm not really a sprite. I'm just playing one, so I could get some money. I'll give yours back, no cinch. Now, did you find the girl?" Crono meekly put his head down, "Yeah. . . but she vanished." Lucca's eyes bulged, "Gone? Whadd''ya mean she's gone?" Crono, his head still down, "I had just found her in a goblin village, she was talking then all of a sudden she disappeared, she disappeared while screaming." Lucca put her hand on her chin, her foot was tapping the ground, "Hmm. . .it's just as I thought." She walked around in circles, obviously gathering her thoughts, "That castle it looks identical to the one in our time! I'll bet they mistook that girl for her ancestor. . ." Crono wondered when Lucca would jump off this tangent. Lucca carried on, "You see, she's a member of the royal family in our time! She's Princess Nadia!" Crono froze, his mouth dropped to the ground, and then all he could think about was how naive he had been to have not seen it before now. Lucca now began to talk speedily, "Marle, that is, Princess Nadia, is a descendant of Queen Leene! Queen Leene has been kidnaped in this world. As I recall, in history, someone was supposed to have saved her. But we've changed history. Marle looks so much like Leene, that they probably called off their search when she appeared, but if the real Queen is killed. . . Marle will simply disappear forever. There might still be time, if we can save Leene, history as we know it should remain unchanged Something must have happened to the Queen in this era. As a result, Princess Nadia ceases to exist! Hurry! We have to find the real Queen!" Crono had a few problems with all of this though, that he had to discuss, "If Marle has been mistaken for Leene, then how come I found her in the goblin village? Why didn't I find her at Pandora? Plus, why is it called Pandora shouldn't it be Guardia?" Lucca was stumped, "Those are very good questions, Crono. None of that really makes sense. Maybe there is more to this than time, maybe were in an alternate dimension, and somehow we replaced the life's of others with our own, and hence both of our life's have come together, intermingling as one." Crono laughed, "Don't you think that's pretty far fetched?" Lucca frowned, "You're not taking this seriously! We have to find the Queen now, and we have to fix whatever time travel alternate parallel quantum repeating universe we've created! Do you have any idea, any freakin' clue as to where Leene might be?" Crono brain stormed, "Well. . . back in our world she was captured by a cult of monsters who owned a cathedral, but I haven't seen any cathedral's. . ." By serendipity Crono remembered something that Toma said, "The Water Palace! Toma said there was something fishy around the Water Palace! Oh! Luka also said people were snooping around her palace! We have to go to the Water Palace!" Lucca's forehead scrunched up with wrinkles, "Crono, who is Toma and Luka?" "I'll tell you later. . .", Crono put his hand over his face and shook his head.
Just as Crono and Lucca were leaving the exhibit, the elder dwarf jumped in front of them, stopping them before either of them could even leave the blue carpet, "Wait! You two can't leave yet! Don't you hear all that commotion outside? Something big and bad is down 'dere. It might turn you into pancakes! It'd be best if you stayed in here tell all of the ruckus blows over!" "Now that the dwarf mentions it, there is something going on out there, could it be another monster?" ,says Crono. Lucca frowned, "Monster? You've seen monsters?" Crono didn't have time to explain that ever since he had teleported to this strange eerie world, monsters have been following him like a dog to it's tennis ball. Leaping out of the auditorium, and into the corridor, Crono found himself in the main gathering area of the Dwarf Village. All of the dwarfs were gone, they must have locked their selves into their cave homes, because they definitely would have had good reason. In the middle of the town square, a giant man-eating tropical flower had bloomed, it's body appeared half plant the other some form of duck, it's mouth was spurting fire, and all around it the cave shook violently. Crono didn't have time to think of a plan, he just raced to the bottom of the square with his improved sword, he stationed himself and waited for the monster to attack. Right as the monster was about to spray it's toxic flames and Crono was going to strike his head, a white light shot across the room, the sound burst Crono's ears, the tropical monster howled in agony, the flower shriveled up in flames, and all that was left of him floated away as a toxic black smoke that drifted to the top of the cave. Squinting, Crono could see through the smoke to Lucca who was at the front of the exhibit's door, holding her pistol in her left hand, she blew on it. The bullet from her gun not only hit the monster's body, it also caused a chemical reaction with it's powder causing the monster itself to ignite from it's own chemical structure. Slowly the dwarves began appearing, some were holding their heads as they walked, others focused on the floor as they took each step, and then some stood in their doorways dumbfound by the black smoke. "How did Tropicallo escape?" the elder dwarf from the exhibit moved through the crowd of stragglers, he examined the ground feeling it with his hands, a hole had appeared in the wall, this must have been where the monster had appeared. "I don't understand", the elder dwarf walked in circles, "How could this be? Tropicallo was sealed in the underground palace! Uh oh. . ." Crono smirked, "So, the underground palace. Everyone acted like I was a total lunatic when I came here to find it." The elder dwarf shrugged, "Didn't know. You can't get in their anyway." Lucca scratched her head, "Then, how do you explain that hole in the wall. . . Didn't you just say Tropical-loco came from the underground palace, isn't that it?" The elder dwarf whined, "Doesn't matter. Beyond that hole is another seal, that's protected by Ozzie. No one can get in there without him unsealing it." Lucca shrugged, "Oh. . ." The elder dwarf perked up, "But, since you two have saved our village from the infamous Tropicallo, that can only mean you our the legendary heros who have came to save all of humanity." The elder dwarf continued, "I must give you these gifts, here is a boomerang, a bow with its arrows, and an axe that was recently made from Watts. As well you may use the secret entrance that will allow you to leave this cave with ease, you will find it in Watts store." Crono and Lucca left the cave and journeyed northwest to the Water Palace.
Hours later, Crono and Lucca had finally arrived near the Water Palace, Crono, for the first time, noticed a sign "Need Rest or some goods? Come to my place! Just hang a left!" Tired and bewildered, the two decided to take a break, and so they followed the sign where they found a cozy cottage built in the wilderness where all the wild-berries and thorn berries grew, each window had lattice, and near this cozy setting a circus tent was pitched and oh, behold a giant purple kitty with their satchel was standing in front of some sort of monster, with their sword pointed at it's neck. Lucca spotted something glittering in the grass. She picked it up and held it close to her humongous spectacles. "Crono look! It's a hair pin! That's Guardia's royal crest!" The cat creature glanced at the new arrivals for a half-second then slaughtered the beast with one blow. "Lower thine guard and thou'r allowing the enemy in. Thou'rt here to save the Queen? The lair is deep within. Will thee accompany me?" The purple kitty bowed it's head. Lucca was startled, she shrieked at the top of her lungs, "A. . . A PURPLE CAT? It's a talking PURPLE CAT! I hate cats!", she covered her eyes. The cat lowered it's head more, "My guise doth not incur thy trust. . ." It jumped up and turned itself towards the circus and began to walk towards the entrance, "Very well, do as thee please, but I shall save the Queen." Lucca peeked through her hands, at the creature, containing herself she finally spoke, "Stop!" She took her hand away and stared at the ground, then gathered the courage to look the cat straight in the eyes, "You don't seem like a bad. . .uh, person-cat-thing. . . I mean. . . Crono, what do you think we should do?" Crono shrugged, "I think we should accompany him, we are here to save Marle." Lucca gave Crono a peevish look, "I'll just have to handle it! I mean. . . deal with. . .him!" There was a long and pointless pause then Lucca asked, "What's your name?" The cat looked up at the sky then smiled, "Frog will do." Crono's mouth dropped, "What? Why Frog, don't you mean Cat?" The cat began to shrivel, "Cat would make since to thine, but my truth belongs thus in another form, in another world, and thus I shall be called Frog, to continue my past identity. I don't know why I've been turned into a cat, but thy know why I was a frog." Crono and Lucca glared at each other, what did the creature mean? Lucca held out her hand for the cat to shake it, "All right. . . Nice to meet you. . . Frog.", the cat took it's purple paw and shook her hand. The cat again faced the circus entrance, "Behind this door lays waste to a religion profound in a pagan monster." Frog raced through the door as Lucca and Crono shrugged then skipped into the circus wondering if this was Marle's salvation.
In the domain of this vile contentious circus, imp's dressed in pirate suits danced around the hallway, as half women half snake creatures slithered on their bellies swallowing the dust. Frog whispered to Crono, "Becareful, it would be best if we didn't fight these beasts, thus no one will have knowledge of us being here." Crono, Lucca, and Frog tiptoed in the shadows avoiding the imps and nagas. Lucca pointed to a door and then moved towards it, the other two followed. Lucca pulled the door and stood there in the doorway as she opened a room to a fabulously made dining room, "Burrrp!", an Imp threw his cup at the door, it shattered into a thousand pieces. The imp along with his naga friend and blue suited neanderthal laughed hysterically. The imp spoke up to Lucca, "Hey what's with that disguise? No need for that here!" Strangely enough the imp looked at his watch, "It's almost my shift! I hate pretending to be human. . . it's so repulsive." Lucca thought to herself, "They've been pretending to be human?" The naga burped. She then cackled to herself, "The onesss we ate resssently weren't ssso bad. And thossse two sssoliders we caught look rather plump, and juisssy." The blue-suited neanderthal cackled, "Yakra's so smart! His plan to capture the Chancellor and take his place worked perfectly! Now we have the Queen, and the castle's in an uproar!" Crono and Lucca looked at each other in horror, Frog squeezed his palms. The imp stretched his arms then leapt from his chair which crashed to the floor, "I'll look in on Magus' statue before my shift." He raced past Lucca, Crono, and Frog. Lucca shut the door. Lucca pondered the atmosphere, "It is truly amazing how this circus structure stands. How did they build all of these rooms inside of the tent." Crono and Frog stared at her, wondering why she even cared. They followed the imp to another room. Inside was a giant statue that resembled an elfish man with long hair, his cape covered him, and in one hand he carried a scythe. Several imps were worshiping the statue. One of the imps began to sing a strange tune, "Oh. . . dearest Magus. . . Your flashing eyes. . . like stars. . . And flowing hair. . . Like waves atop the sea. . . No sad sunny day nor any frightful bright place can get us down as long as you're near. . . There's nothing to fear. . ." A chrous then irrupted from the other imps, "Magus, oh Magus, Our Hero, Magus Come join us in singing your funeral dirge!" One of the imps spotted Crono and company, he pointed at them "They want the Naga-ette Bromide!" Get them!" "The Naga-ette Bromide?" Crono wondered what a Naga-ette Bromide was while the imps with their pitchforks began poking and prodding at Crono's tush. "Yeeeow!", Crono squalled then took his sword and began slashing mercilessly. A round object fell to the floor and Lucca scooped it up in her hands. The three backed their selves out of the room as Crono continued to slice and dice. Eventually they found himself back in the main hallway. "Crono?" Lucca suddenly stopped and pointed to a strange object on the wall, "What's that?" Frog examined it, "It's a switch." He hit the switch and a row of spikes that were on the floor magically disappeared, a door was free to open. Lucca moved closer, "Let's see what's inside." Crono and Frog moved in, "No!", but they were to late, she opened the door.
Behind the door two soldiers sat on a table, food baskets circled the room. A soldier turned his head and narrowed his eyes, he looked well-fed, "Y,you're humans? They're hiding the Queen in the back. Please rescue her!" The three began to leave then Lucca turned around, "You guys know you're free right? Why are you still sitting there?" One of the soldier boys remarked, "Because we would just be recaptured again. Until someone saves the Queen and defeats that Yakra character. . .", the other soldier interrupted, "we'll remain here." The three left the room, Frog called them a bunch of cowards and then they continued down the hallway, avoiding monsters and passing the obstacles that had been set in place to offset outsiders.
At the top most room an old man's voice was heard through the door, "Prepare yourself, Queen Leene!" Frog broke through the door, unsheathed his sword and pointed it straight at the old man's face, a beautiful lavishly dressed maiden was tied to a chair. The old man spit at the sword, "How did you get in here?" The maiden screamed, "Frog!", the old man slapped her face. The old man cackled to himself, and then he stood up from his desk. "It's useless to fight! No one will leave here alive! Stupid frog. . . I mean cat, it's time you scratched off this mortal coil! The old man bent over and began rippling in form as his body changed into a hideous monstrous creature that resembled a giant carpet with feet. Frog, Crono, and Lucca began to fight the shag carpet who referred to himself as Yakra. As Frog and Lucca were fighting Crono secretly went over to Leene and untied her ropes. Yakra noticed the heroic act and then began to charge towards Crono, but Frog spliced him when the carpet turned, and thus the carpet was eternally stained.
Leene cried and ran over to Frog, "You came to resuce me! Thank you Frog." Frog bowed, "The King awaits. Let us return to the castle. I thank thee Crono, and Lucca." Leene turned to her other rescuers, "Yes, thank you so much. Please join us at the castle." The four left the mad circus. Frog panicked, "Look what those foul beasts have done to my safe haven. It will take me years to get this vile tent out of my yard, let alone the smell of blood." There was a long lull after this, alongside awkward stares. The resemblance between Leene and Marle was uncanny. Both had the same green eyes and the same golden red hair. Leene smiled, "Your timing was perfect. Who knows what would have happened had you not saved me! By the way, where is the girl who was mistaken for me?" Lucca jumped, "Oh, yeah! I totally forgot all about Princess Nadia", she turned to Crono, "Where did Princess Nadia disappear? She may still be there!" Surprisingly the area in which Marle vanished was nearby. Crono surged through the woods and Lucca followed close behind him. Near the giant oak tree, a scorching light was penetrating a point at which the outline of Marle began to emit. Crono stared as Marle finally appeared. She fell to her knees, and shyly looked up at Crono and Lucca, "What happened?" Lucca bent over and examined her, "Princess Nadia!" Princess Nadia seemed as if she was in a trance, she sat on the ground frozen, "Crono, it was awful. . . I can't exactly recall it all. . ." She arose from the ground, she stood there shyly with her hands behind her back, "I was somewhere cold, dark. . . and lonely." She paused then moved in closer, moving her arms to her sides "Is that what it's like to. . .die?" Crono shuttered, he wanted to comfort her but he didn't know how. Lucca joyously exclaimed to the young princess, "Welcome back, Princess Nadia!" Marle slowly turned, slightly moving her eye-brows lower, "You rescued your life to help me, too? Wait. . . Princess Nadia! Oh no. . ." Marle looked ashamed as she turned her head and stared deep into the grass, "I guess you guys figured it out who I am." She looked up, her eyes glowing, "I'm sorry Crono" ,she began to shake her head, "I didn't mean to deceive you. I am Princess Nadia. My father's King Guardia the XXXIII." She moved her hair behind her ear, "I really enjoyed being with you at the fair, but if you had known my identity. . ." She held her hands together and put them in front of her face, "Crono, you wouldn't have shown me around the fair, right?" Crono said, "No. Of course not." Marle's face beamed with joy, "Oh, Crono! That's why I like you! The real Queen's safe, right? So then let's go home, Crono!" Lucca glowered, "Home? How do you suspect we get home?" Marle blinked, "We can't go home?" Lucca shook her head, "No, somehow my telepod sent us here, and there hasn't been any clues on how to get home. We'll have to stay here until we can find some sort of way home. What's more, I think this all has to do with your pendant. It was the only thing that caused the telepod to malfunction. That pendant must be the key to home, you still have it, right Crono?" Crono actually had the pendant clutched in his hand, he wanted to return it. "Here Marle. It belongs to you." Crono placed the pendant in the palm of her hand, she stared at it in astonishment, then put it around her neck. Lucca looked annoyed, "I actually wanted to see it." Crono was annoyed, "And what do you plan to do with it? You're the one that got us into this mess, Lucca! It's truly amazing how many flawed inventions you've created, we're lucky that none of us perished!" Crono had been wanting to say this for awhile, but he never felt that he actually should. Lucca frowned, "I guess there's no point in examining it." She said this way too casually for Crono's comfort.
Queen Leene and Frog were finally coming down the road following the others, they were obviously headed for Pandora. Marle froze, "You're the real Queen Leene?" Leene was puzzled, "You really could be my twin." Both of them stared at each other wondering what the other was thinking, how is it possible that Queen Leene from the Middle Ages could be standing with the young princess in the present? What time continuum have they fallen into? Frog began to walk away from everybody, "'Twas a fault of mine, which endangered the Queen. I shall depart for good." Over his shoulder Frog glanced at them, "Crono, you hath potential to be a good swordsman!" He began to walk away into the woods, Lucca called after him, "Wait!" He stopped, but he didn't turn to look at her, "Froggy you weren't such a bad guy either." Frog walked away into the woods, all of them watched him until he disappeared.
"I don't understand what he means", said Queen Leene. "I think I do.", Lucca said under her breath. Queen Leene sighed, "We must return to the castle. I hope you will all accompany me." "Crono, Lucca why don't you come home with Leene and me to the castle? I'd like you to come over for dinner!" Queen Leene stared at her, "Marle, how is it your home?" "Well. . . Even though we seem to be mixed up with the past, I still consider the castle my home." Queen Leene was confused, but she decided to accept it rather than argue over something so complicated. Lucca became apologetic, "Sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, Marle." Marle smiled, "Are you kidding? This is the most fun I've had in months! And I have some new friends! I haven't had this much adventure, since well. . . ever!" Lucca smiled, "Okay. Crono, be a gentleman and take them to the castle. I'm going to head back to Gaia's Navel and do some research on the underground palace." Marle waved good-bye to her as she drifted away to the dwarf village.
Crono began to escort the royal family to the castle, but all he could think about was how Marle said "That's why I like you. . ." What did she mean?